"Alright, it's all yours. On the way out, I'll grab some jewelry or gold."
It's just pocket money anyway, for a bit of psychological comfort.
"One of your swords is broken." Cindy looked behind him. Of the two swords originally slung on his back, only one remained.
"Broken, cheap product." Su Ming shrugged, cigarette in mouth, watching Briss and Barry's movements. "I'll grab an exhaust pipe from the scrap pile later."
Cindy thought it was only natural because she also liked to use local materials. Steel pipes, bricks, kitchen knives, all were deadly weapons in the hands of the Weapon Master.
"Next, we deal with the Owl Court, right?"
"Already on it, took down a Hawk Priest. Even though it's just a cat... The number of priests is unknown, but definitely not many."
Su Ming extinguished his cigarette in the rain. In an instant, the flame went out.
Cindy also dropped her cigarette butt, watching it float away with the water, the last wisp of smoke quickly dispersing: "Do you have a plan? The Owl Court is well hidden. For so many years, Gotham has only known their legends."
"That's because everyone who's seen the Sharp Claw is dead. But incidentally, I know where they're hiding, and even a few leaders' names. About 11 families are involved." Su Ming rubbed his temples and put on his helmet.
Among Gotham's current rich, excluding those with underworld backgrounds, like Penguin Man and Silence, and eliminating the mayor, speaker, and the like, whatever wealthy are left, killing them off won't be mistaken by much.
Yes, the Owl Court has always hidden in the shadows, emerging at night, secretly gathering, thinking no one will discover them.
But they're like other bird species, they like to build nests.
As the silent overseers of Gotham, could their nests be crude? Unlikely. They are the Owl Court but more so humans, driven by instinct to eat better, live better, and have more entertainment.
All of these require money.
Money is the key to sustaining an organization in the shadows. Besides serving Barbatos secretly, it's their only interest.
Su Ming is neither a cop nor Batman. He doesn't need evidence to act. With the world on the brink, even killing a few wrong ones can be considered a sacrifice for the world...
After Su Ming whispered the method to Cindy, she understood as well. Isn't judging by money the best method?
In Gotham City, besides Vayne Corporation, there's no other leading company. Below Vayne, it's Red Hood's security company and Penguin Man's Iceberg Restaurant. All those ancient families should be wiped out.
As long as there's a 30% chance, in this world situation, there's complete justification for murder.
"Briss won't agree, hehe." Cindy smirked at Su Ming: "You're about to wipe out all the old families of Gotham."
"She won't know. I'll distract her, have Barry take us to Egypt. You handle Gotham City." Su Ming had a plan. Even as fast as The Flash is, he can't be in two places at once.
As long as Su Ming says the Hawk Priest's base is in Egypt, Barry must follow along, being the transportation. Briss surely will go too since Su Ming plans to reveal the Owl Court's involvement in her parents' murder.
DC Comics describes it chaotically—some worlds say it was a hired assassin by a gang, others a contract from the Owl Court. Su Ming isn't sure about Earth -11's case.
Events in darkness are often blurry.
If evidence points to the gang, it could be the Owl Court's framing. If it points to the Court, it might be a setup by the top ten gang families, or simply none of them, and an outsider manipulated it...
Given this, consider everyone involved, share the blame evenly.
Witnessing her parents' murder is Briss's nightmare. She doesn't know who exactly did it, as the assassin was just a street thug, with the mastermind still hiding in darkness.
If Su Ming reveals the Owl's secrets here, Briss will definitely follow to Egypt. She seeks not revenge, but to confront her fears.
Barry, with only two arms, holding Briss in one, Su Ming in the other, allows Cindy to legitimately stay behind and execute the purge plan.
"This is quite the undertaking, killing all these people. I probably won't have much business in Gotham after this." Cindy shrugged, donning her helmet, checking her weapons: "But it's fine. If we let them summon Barbatos, none of us have a future anyway."
"Good, you should contact Barbara, have her provide a list of Gotham City's wealthy from the past fifty years, targeting the long-standing families," Su Ming whispered, his speech somewhat intermittent as his mind began to fill with auditory hallucinations again, as if someone from his memories was talking to Slade.
Cindy nodded. While Barry and Su Ming handled the cat, Briss and Cindy watched Gordon and others leave for the TV station. She remembered Su Ming mentioning Barbara's excellent computer skills, hence she specially requested Barbara's phone number.
It's unclear what Barbara was thinking. Perhaps she anticipated needing dark forces in unsolvable situations in the future; or maybe she just wanted to keep in touch with Su Ming, so she also gave her number to Cindy.
"So it's a kill-all, leave-none colossal slaughter. Got it. Once you get them out of the way, I'll strike." Cindy's head shook slightly. It was unclear what expression she wore, but her tone lightheartedly accepted.
"Another lead: Bowers Clan members, all Owls. If you can loosen their tongues, you'll get a list, but..." Su Ming, watching Barry talk with Briss on the street, heard another sound in his ears, trying to focus on Cindy: "The Owl's beak is quite tough."
"Hehe, the Bowers Clan, huh? The most luxurious hotel in Gotham City is theirs, 45 floors high, with a wooden gym, bowling alley, swimming pool, and a platform for docking a Zeppelin Airship on the roof." Cindy laughed delightedly, as if thinking of something amusing: "I've never played there before. Today I'll visit once, and if I can get something in thirty seconds, all the better. Otherwise, I'll send the family rooftop."
"It's best to disguise them as accidents; when Briss returns, we still have leeway." Su Ming nodded in approval: "And, be careful of the Sharp Claw."
"I know. I've remembered their weaknesses from your fight with them." Cindy nodded.
"Ordinary Sharp Claws are manageable; be wary of Zero Claw. She's special, her abilities uncertain." He looked at the puddles on the ground, now at a higher elevation, observing them flow down the streets like a small river, the auditory hallucinations gradually fading: "If you encounter a priest with a bird-skeleton mask, don't use knives or guns—use something containing promethium to kill it."
"Understood, they're coming."
Cindy looked up. Barbara and Barry were walking towards them.