DC: A Cop in Gotham

Chapter 9: Justice League and Meeting Batman Again

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"Hal, the task of observing the new round of landing points will be left to you," Arthur said with authority.

"Alright, alright," Hal Jordan, the Green Lantern of Sector 2814, replied with a shrug. "But why is Batman not here? How did you end up assigning tasks, Arthur?"

In the Watchtower, high above Earth in the cold expanse of space, the Justice League convened in the Hall of Justice. Aquaman, Arthur Curry, stood at the head of the table, guiding the meeting. His response to Hal's protest was calm but firm:

"I'm a king who ruled Atlantis. I understand leadership. Unlike someone who gives themselves the hardest tasks and assigns the easiest ones to others."

Superman, sitting nearby, nodded in agreement. "Hal, you have a tendency to take on everything by yourself rather than using the team. It's inefficient and wears you out."

Wonder Woman's voice cut sharply. "Assigning soldiers to easy tasks is an insult to their capability. We work as a team for a reason."

Hal sighed and glanced at the Flash, who was sitting beside him. "Barry, back me up here. I'm not that bad, am I?"

Barry Allen, the Flash, shrugged and grinned. "Sorry, Hal. I'd be lying if I said otherwise."

Seeing that even Little Flash said this, Hal seemed like a deflated balloon. He muttered softly: "Arthur, the king is a thing of the past. Don't forget that you have given up the throne of Atlantis. "

Arthur smiled and replied: "But the experience will not disappear."

"I promise I won't do this again..." Hal chose to give in, glanced at the empty seat, and whistled.

"The person who likes to call himself a leader didn't come. What's the reason this time? Another bank in Gotham was robbed?"

Superman immediately explained for Batman: "He must be busy with something important, Hal"

Hal's voice became loud again. He crossed his arms and looked dissatisfied: "I am responsible for the entire 2814 sector and I can still find time to come over for a meeting. He can't even handle a small Gotham City. He still claims to be the leader." Where is the leader of this alliance?"

In fact, everyone knows that Hal has long since agreed that Batman should lead the Justice League. He is just annoyed with the Batman's repeated absence from Justice meetings.

Cyborg, who had been silent, spoke: "I have contacted Batman. Gotham has recently experienced two small earthquakes in succession. He is investigating the cause."

Flash said in surprise: "Gotham isn't in an earthquake zone."

Cyborg opened the city model of Gotham and projected it onto the conference table: "We all know that, so he suspects that the earthquake is related to the first and second batch of things that landed on the earth."

A murmur of concern rippled through the room. Superman leaned forward, studying the holographic display. "It makes sense. We've already seen the kind of havoc those objects can cause. If even one of them is landed on Gotham, it could destabilize the city."

Hal frowned. "And let me guess—Batman's handling this alone, isn't he?"

Diana's voice carried a reproach. "You know how he operates, Hal. He believes Gotham is his responsibility."

Hal rolled his eyes but said nothing further.

Meanwhile, the Flash's thoughts wandered to his friend, Dean, who was now living in Gotham. Barry knew how dangerous the city was, even without alien artifacts causing problems. 'Stay safe, Dean, he thought. Gotham's already a cursed place; you don't need more trouble.'

Everyone's expressions turned a lot worse. Wonder Woman knew that they were worried about their city: "This is the end of the meeting. Let's go back and pay more attention to unusual matters. Hal, your mission is particularly important."

Hal cheered up. He liked being entrusted with heavy responsibilities: "Leave it to me outside the Earth, and I will convince the Green Lantern Corps."

Cyborg opened the explosion channel, and the heroes dispersed, including Arthur. He returned to the lighthouse cabin where he lived.

Pushing open the door, Arthur stopped walking. Although the lighthouse had not yet turned on the lights and the lighthouse was dark, his keen senses originating from Atlantis still made him notice that someone was inside.

And he smelled a sea water.

"Mera, is that you?"

Arthur held the trident in his hand and pressed the switch, and an Atlantean appeared in front of him.

"Vulko? Why are you hiding in my house without saying anything?" Arthur sat casually next to the Atlantean.

Nuidis Vulko looked at the Neptune Trident held by Arthur with complicated eyes: "The magic aura on the trident is very active, which means you are ready to fight. What makes you so vigilant my king?"

As soon as Vulko opened his mouth, Arthur knew his purpose. Ever since Arthur handed over the throne of Neptune to his brother Orm, Vulko has been coming to persuade him to regain the throne.

"No matter how many times you tell me, I will never go back, Vulko, I am now Aquaman of the Justice League.

Let me beg you. "

Arthur has a firm attitude but speaks in a gentle tone. Vulko is his mentor and teaches him how to use his power. Arthur respects him very much.

Vulko was not surprised by Arthur's rejection because he had heard it countless times, but still he would not give up.

Vulko stood up, Arthur noticed that his standing posture was a bit awkward: "My king, I will come again."

Arthur was helpless. He came outside the lighthouse and watched Vulko jump into the sea.

"Vulko's walking posture is very strange. Is he injured somewhere? Damn it, I should chat with him for a while." Arthur saw on TV recently that what old men needs most is companionship.

Vulko fell into the sea and looked up at the dark sky.

"Deeper than the Mariana Trench is the sky above my head. The world is undergoing unknown changes. I don't know if Arthur is ready, but for the sake of Atlantis, I must find it."

Dark clouds covered the sky, thunder and lightning flashed, and raindrops fell in.

Under the pouring rain, Dean climbed over the railing and gave a clean knee to knock the robber who robbed the convenience store to the ground. He handcuffed the prisoner and escorted him to the police car.

Opening the car door, Dean stuffed him into the back seat, then kicked him: "If you don't want to suffer, just be honest."

The driver's window was lowered, and Kevin pointed at the three men crowded in the back seat: "This is the third one today. If you arrest so many people on your first day at work, you will be targeted by gangs."

Dean ignored Kevin's cautious tone. "Do you think I'm afraid of retaliation, Kevin? Let me tell you something: I'm not. In fact, I'm afraid they won't try to retaliate. How else can I catch more of them and send them to jail?"

Kevin sighed, pulling out a clipboard and starting to write. "Alright, what's this guy's charge sheet look like?"

"Robbery, assaulting a police officer, and intentionally causing physical harm. That's enough to keep him behind bars for three to five years," Dean replied confidently, already familiar with the process.

"It's okay this time," Kevin said, lowering his voice, "But you don't have to arrest the one who secretly took the photo. You don't have to arrest everyone."

"No." Dean sternly refused, "There is an old saying by Sun Tzu: Don't overlook small acts of goodness, and don't ignore small acts of evil. Even the smallest crime deserves to be stopped before it becomes something bigger."

[Successfully prevented a sexual harassment crime and received 1 point. ]

Kevin complained after hearing this: "If everyone in the police station were like you, Dean, the prison would be full in less than a month."

Dean smirked, undeterred. "Then they can build a new one, or ship them to another city. Prisons are meant to punish criminals. If there are empty cells, then taxpayers' money is being wasted. And besides," he added, rubbing his thumb and index finger together with a sly grin, "the more arrests we make, the stronger our case when we ask Commissioner Gordon for a pay raise. Do you know how expensive Gotham is compared to Central City? Patrol officers are underpaid here."

Looking at the young man who changed his face frequently, Kevin sighed helplessly. Commissioner Gordon asked him to keep an eye on Dean to prevent this rookie policeman from being stained by Gotham. Now it seems that Gordon is completely over-worrying. At the end of the day Dean was completely at home.

"Excuse me, supervisor, please send them to the police station." Dean knocked on the car.

Seeing that Dean didn't get in the car, Kevin recalled yesterday and his expression changed slightly: "Don't you want to do something dangerous again?"

Dean waved his hand casually, leaving a brisk look on Kevin's back.

But as he walked away, a thought crossed his mind: How could I not be afraid? I'm terrified, terrified of the day Darkseid shows up with his Omega Beams. But until then, I've got a goal to work towards: bringing Apokolips under Gotham's jurisdiction

Dean grinned at the absurdity of his thought. One step at a time, he told himself.

The are Kevin was patrolling is called Flock Avenue. It is said that the street actually covers most of the neighborhood. According to Kevin, this place was originally the territory of the Penguin, and was later occupied by the Black Mask.

However, Black Mask has been very low-key recently, and even the "Masked Gang" under his command are rarely seen.

"Being different from the past means abnormality, and abnormality is the beginning of conspiracy. Black Mask definitely wants to cause trouble, but it involves Manaphy, which means it has nothing to do with the plot in the comics."

In this way, Dean would not have the advantage of being a "prophet".

Dean chose to patrol Flock Avenue for no reason. He wanted to fish and lure Black Mask out.

Come on! I deliberately put Kevin away, and now I'm alone. Doesn't Black Mask want to defeat Batman and become the King of Gotham? He won't be afraid of even a small policeman.

Dean walked around twice more, but still didn't see a person with a black mask. It seemed that they had really abandoned their stronghold on Flock Avenue.

"If you don't take the bait, then I will take the initiative."

Dean held an umbrella and came to the place where he met Edward. The cordon here had been removed by the police, but because of the cracks in the road, few people dared to walk here.

"Manaphy, do you remember where you were imprisoned? Take me there."

It was a rainy day and there was thick water vapor on the street. Manafei was very excited and her two antennae swayed in the wind. She liked rainy days, but when she heard that Dean was going to the place with the glass jar, the antennae above her head immediately drooped.

"Mana..."

Dean quickly comforted it: "I know you are scared, but I'm here and I will protect you this time. Besides, there may be other Pokemon locked in that place. We can rescue them together."

"Mana!"

Manaphy's eyes widened, and it flew behind Dean and pushed him forward.

"There's no need to be in such a hurry."

Dean didn't expect Manaphy to have such a big reaction. It seemed that it really missed its Pokemon companions, but Dean was in trouble again. What if there were no Pokémon in that place?

Manaphy took Dean to a fire hydrant, where it escaped from. Dean looked at the building closest to the fire hydrant.

"A private clinic..."

I found the place, but the clinic is closed. How to get in is a problem.

Manaphy flew to the rolling shutter door and became invisible. Her body dissolved into blue liquid and "flowed" through the gap in the rolling shutter door.

Dean's eyes lit up when he saw this. This must be the "Acid Armor" move. Manaphy actually knows this move and which is at least level 30.

Taking advantage of the opportunity to open the door, Dean took out the multi-functional Pokémon Navigator, which was one of the items in Dewen's briefcase.

[Name: PokeNav pro version]

[Type: Other]

[Quality:★☆]

[Description: The new model launched by Devon Corporation has a new Pokémon radar function, which can search for Pokémon types within one kilometer nearby. ]

Turning on the Pokémon Radar. There is only a blue dot and a red dot on it. The blue dot is Dean and the red dot is Manaphy.

"Ah get ready to coax Manaphy."

The rolling shutter door rose, allowing Dean to enter the clinic. Inside, he quickly discovered the underground passage hidden behind the medicine cabinet. Strangely enough, the passage wasn't even closed.

"Did they leave in a hurry? Leaving the secret passage open like this... No, wait—the outer door was shut." Dean frowned, his thoughts racing as he examined the situation.

Someone opened the door to the secret passage before him, and there are others here!

Before Dean could react, a batarang was placed on his throat, and a hoarse voice sounded behind his ear.

"What are you doing here?"