Martin Variety in American Comics.

Chapter 380 Identity is just a link (please subscribe to read, monthly ticket comment)

Bruce didn't sleep all night. As Batman, he was already accustomed to such high-intensity work, so he immediately answered Martin's call.

"Hahaha, I didn't expect you to become an employee of my company. This is really a reversal of fortune. Now it's my turn to give you orders."

Bruce laughed loudly, and his laughter echoed in the empty Batcave, scaring Alfred who was holding breakfast, and almost dropped the tray in his hand.

"I haven't seen you this happy in a long time."

Alfred steadied himself and placed the breakfast in front of Bruce, feeling surprised and relieved.

As a butler who was an agent, Alfred understands the plight of the Justice League even better than Dick and the others.

At first, he was worried that Bruce would face greater difficulties if he got involved in such a big event.

But the opposite is true. Bruce has been smiling more and more since joining the league.

If Bruce became the Dark Knight in the darkness of Gotham, he was like a small stone under a hydraulic press. No matter how hard he tried, he could not change the ending of slow collapse.

After joining the alliance, the despair in him did not dissipate, but it turned into a sprouting seed, dormant in the darkness, absorbing strength, waiting for the day to sprout and grow.

"It's Martin calling. He has become an ordinary employee in our company today. He was just woken up by a bombardment of phone calls from his boss, so he came to complain to me."

Bruce smiled and told Alfred about Martin's situation.

"I'm wondering if I should give him some work."

"No, if you dare to do such a boring thing, I will never let you go."

Martin angrily rebuked Bruce and then submitted his resignation.

Of course, this was just a joke. Bruce knew what Martin was going to do today and certainly wouldn't stop him.

"I just didn't expect you to become such an ordinary person. A company employee? It seems like there's no difference between changing and not changing."

"There are not so many exaggerated things in this world. Being a company employee is not bad. It is much better than being a servant for others."

Martin got up from the bed, washed up and started preparing breakfast.

But while he and Bruce were having a passionate argument, that damn manager called again.

"This guy has a problem in his head. I've made it so clear, can't he just fire me?"

Martin really couldn't understand what was going on in this kind of person's head. If he didn't suppress others, could he not be considered a human being?

Bruce quickly pulled up Martin's file and examined the sales department. "There are a lot of low-level managers like this. To put it bluntly, there are a lot of people who want to work for my company, and this guy's life is really worthless."

"Do you need me to fire him?"

"Of course, since these guys believe in the power order so much, let them have a taste of power!"

Martin shooed the fly away without thinking any more. He said to Bruce, "Last night I asked Clark to connect me with General Sam. Since I was woken up by that guy, I might as well go and complete this meeting."

"It's only 5 o'clock in the morning. Even if the general is very diligent, he won't see you at this time!"

Bruce knew Martin's intention of meeting General Sam and was worried that his hasty rush might backfire.

"Let's give it a try. There aren't many quiet moments like today. I want to solve as many problems as possible."

After Martin got up, he started to work on various things and couldn't rest at all: "Besides, I believe the title of Superman is still very useful."

"I think you're overthinking it. A son-in-law can never hold his head up in front of his father-in-law, even Superman is no exception."

Everyone knows about the relationship between Clark and Lois. In terms of their love life, marriage is a certainty, so General Sam is undoubtedly Clark's father-in-law.

Coupled with General Sam's own personality, he became one of the most suitable partners of the alliance.

Just because something is suitable doesn't mean that the cooperation can be achieved.

Since this highly respected general has an upright character, he must also respect the order of the US military.

Under such circumstances, it is not easy to convince the other party to cooperate with the alliance.

"I know you're good at persuading people, but are you sure you can convince an old soldier like General Sam?"

Bruce originally wanted to contact General Sam himself. After all, he was an American and one of the most important people in the United States.

"It's impossible to achieve success overnight. There are many conflicts between me and this general. But it's not difficult to leave a good impression. At least Louise is on our side, and General Sam, the old father, won't use any drastic measures."

Previously, General Zod used the research of the A.D.O.C. to invade the Earth, and General Sam also got involved. Martin had a good fight with him.

Bruce felt a little uncomfortable about having to work with someone from the military for the first time.

He personally felt that it was more reliable to look for bureaucrats in the government as partners, because the nature of the military meant that those officers were destined to be conservative and might not agree with the Justice League's propositions.

Strictly speaking, the proposition defined by Martin for the Justice League is anti-modern colonialism and anti-imperialism.

These two points are unacceptable to an army that absorbs violence from the lower classes.

Of course, this does not mean that the relationship between the Wayne family and the military is very bad. On the contrary, the Wayne family has very powerful allies within the military.

This ally is the Kane family, one of the four major families in Gotham. This family left Gotham after World War I and began to develop in politics and the military, but always maintained a close relationship with the Wayne family.

Bruce's mother Martha is the eldest daughter of this family. The current patriarch of the Kane family, Nathan Kane, also relied on the help of other families when he developed in the military.

In addition, the Wayne Group is involved in most of the US military's equipment and logistics, and naturally has a certain relationship with those officers.

It’s just that Bruce personally felt that interfering with the military was too much, so he hadn’t touched these relationships for all these years.

Now that Martin is preparing to cultivate allies for the Justice League within the United States, Bruce begins to think about whether to sort out these relationships and hand them over to Martin.

But before he could make a decision, Martin spoke first: "I know that the Wayne family has many connections wherever they are, but I can also tell you that these connections cannot be developed into our allies.

Under the current order, those people can drink soup even if they can’t eat meat, and even if they just bite a few bloody bones, they can still keep themselves and their families fat. It’s impossible to expect them to cooperate deeply with us.”

Martin certainly didn't need to explain this to Bruce.

Human society has not yet evolved to the point where it can get rid of rent-seeking. The difference lies in whether it is controllable or uncontrollable.

In countries like Europe and the United States, rent-seeking has become the norm and even an open business.

The amount of money that the Wayne Group pays in bribes to the political and military circles every year is simply incalculable, and it also hires a large number of retired politicians and generals. Of course, these efforts ultimately gain it a large amount of resources and overseas control.

Bruce is also helpless, but human society can only function to this extent at present, and even if he is Batman, he can't do better.

"General Sam clearly regards us as enemies. It is not easy to turn such an old stubborn man into a friend."

"Sometimes a clear enemy is better than an ambiguous friend." Martin had certainly considered these things. "Besides, Clark's father-in-law is upright, brave, and principled. Although he was promoted to general, he was assigned to deal with superhuman issues. It shows that his situation is not good either."

General Sam didn't become a general in recent years, nor did he start to be in charge of superhuman affairs in recent years.

But the fact is, before Martin appeared, superhumans were always hidden beneath the surface, even though the Sky Eye had been causing trouble.

But letting an officer who was promoted to general at the age of 40 be in charge of such a secret event is itself a form of suppression.

General Sam could have had a brighter future. With his resume, it wouldn't be difficult for him to join the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

But because he was transferred to manage superhumans, the best 10 years of his life were wasted.

If the Justice League had not emerged, General Sam's best future would have been to reach retirement age, receive a medal, and then retire with no one paying attention to him.

I don't know if this general has ever complained privately, but at least in the past 10 years, he has always been doing his job conscientiously and has not given up on himself.

But now the Justice League has emerged, and the number of superhumans has skyrocketed after the Battle of Los Angeles. General Sam's status has risen, and his career seems to have enjoyed a second spring.

Martin was not sure what the general's attitude would be, so he used this as a starting point to test the waters.

"Clark notified his father-in-law last night, and it has been eight hours now. I believe the general will not just sit there and wait, and he must have prepared a team to handle this meeting."

Negotiation is never a one-on-one affair, but rather a team of different professionals analyzing the political and economic trends, the psychology and actions of the negotiators, etc.

The Justice League cannot form such a professional team in a short period of time, but Martin has one biggest advantage, which is information.

Sam doesn't know what he is, and no matter how professional the team behind him is, it is impossible for them to find any clues about Martin.

"Clark sent a message. We agreed to meet on the rooftop of the Daily Planet."

Martin looked at this place and smiled: "This is really a special place. General Sam is really powerful!"

Martin took the initiative to propose a meeting, and the other party chose such a symbolic location, almost telling others that he had Superman in his control.

"I wish you success. If there is anything I can help you with, please let me know."

Bruce has a lot to do. Now that Martin has taken Diana and Arthur away, almost all the important work of the alliance falls on him.

"Don't worry, I won't be polite with you."

Martin hung up the phone and waved to Diana who was standing at the door, inviting her to come for breakfast.

Diana was dressed in a smart outfit, a vest, a leather jacket and jeans, and her long hair was braided into a braid hanging behind her head.

"As soon as you opened your eyes, you contacted Bruce without calling me first. I smelled something bad and I was jealous."

Martin smiled and said, "I talked to him about business matters. Today I became an employee of Wayne Company."

"That's quite interesting."

Diana wasn't really angry at first. She knew that with Martin's personality, even if a man really liked someone, he would say it openly.

She sat beside him, looked at Martin, smiled and said, "I just can't imagine you sitting in the office, being a bored clerk."

"I can't think of it myself."

If there was any possibility, Martin didn't want to do such a thing. It was too meaningless and was just torturing himself.

"But identity is only one link. Such an ordinary identity can reduce the restrictions on me and allow me to exert more power."

Martin held Diana's hand, knowing that she came so early because she was worried about his condition.

"You are really a worm in my stomach. I was just about to ask you how you are going to protect yourself in this identity today?"

Martin kissed Diana on the cheek.

"I'm not a weak child, you don't have to worry about this kind of thing."

"Wow, looks like I came at a bad time."

As soon as Martin kissed him, Arthur pushed the door open and walked in, winking at them both.

Of course, Martin and Diana were not shy about such things, so they just invited him in.

"If I had known you had prepared food, I wouldn't have spent over ten dollars on those awful burgers."

Arthur looked at the steaming breakfast on the table and complained regretfully.

Martin asked in confusion: "Isn't there a cafeteria at the Alliance's temporary base?"

"We got up too early, and the staff in the cafeteria had just started preparing, so I didn't bother them."

Arthur sat in the chair as wide as his old jacket, grabbed his breakfast and stuffed it into his mouth.

The body of a person like him is like a high-speed machine. No matter how much food he eats, it will be quickly broken down into energy for the body to move.

"We... wuwuwu..."

Arthur's words were unclear because of his full mouth, but Martin understood his meaning.

"There's a change of plan. Before we leave for Paradise Island, we'll go to the Daily Planet. I made an appointment to meet Clark's father-in-law, General Sam, last night."

"Isn't this too dangerous?"

Diana had no good feelings towards the US government or military.

The same thing happened to Arthur. He looked up from his meal and looked at Martin worriedly.

"You two are worrying for nothing. With Clark here, what can they do even if they set a trap?"

Martin is not worried about these things at all: "After Bruce and I's devilish training, Clark's tolerance to kryptonite has increased a lot, and ordinary attacks can't do anything to him.

If General Sam is so cruel as to exploit his own daughter, then there is no need for us to cooperate with him."

"Okay, I'll listen to you this time."

Since Martin has made the decision, and it makes sense, Diana and Arthur cannot directly object.

After Arthur had eaten, they left the Martin family in Diana's invisible plane and headed straight for Metropolis.

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