Martin Variety in American Comics.

Chapter 416 A simpler way (please subscribe, read, comment on the monthly ticket)
"If Bruno doesn't compromise, will you do anything to his child?"

The first thing Nightwing said after walking out of the interrogation room was to question Martin about the threat he made to Bruno.

Martin sent the news that Bruno had been invited out to Barbara, asking her to notify the alliance and get the things back as soon as possible.

Then he answered Nightwing's question: "If Bruno resists to the end, I won't do anything to his child."

"If we don't intervene, Bruno's partners will attack her child."

Nightwing understood what Martin meant. If the Justice League did not intervene, Bruno's family would all die.

"How can we just sit back and watch this happen?"

Martin smiled and said, "From a legal perspective, the Justice League does not have the power to enforce the law. We cannot intervene in advance like government departments in matters that have not yet occurred.

From a moral perspective, the Bruno family has forgotten the bloody benefits they enjoyed by selling out the Earth. Whatever happens to them is their own fault and they don't deserve sympathy."

Of course Nightwing knew that Martin was making excuses. The Justice League had done many illegal things, and Martin was just threatening Bruno.

But Nightwing couldn't use words like "they're still children" to excuse Bruno's children.

Bruno's children are all adults, and they are not good people either.

Even if they were good people, Martin would not hesitate to take advantage of such a thing.

Nightwing found it hard to accept this, but he didn't know how to talk to Martin and was extremely troubled.

When confronting Bruce, Nightwing was able to grasp the boundaries between them and argue with reason.

But Martin's position was clear, and he seemed to be unscrupulous in doing things, leaving Nightwing with only two choices: accept or reject, and he had no way to talk to Martin.

"I didn't ask the alliance to hide the identity of the person who went to retrieve the account book. This news will spread quickly, and the person recorded in the account book will take action against Bruno."

Martin calmly told Nightwing his speculation: "I'm not interested in what he did with anyone in the United States. Please help Alfred contact the people in Congress and ask them to calm down and not interfere."

Nightwing was still thinking about Martin's style of doing things, and suddenly heard him say this, and subconsciously reacted: "Are you going to drive me away?"

"That's fine if you want to understand it that way."

Martin didn't explain anything: "Since you can't accept my attitude towards work, there is no need for us to get together."

"If you don't want to meet with the members of Congress, you can also replace Barbara and let her help me."

Nightwing felt a sense of powerlessness as he listened to Martin's resolute words.

He knew very well that given the current situation of the Justice League, if Martin publicly stated that he could not cooperate with him, he would leave the core of the Justice League, and even Bruce would probably not say much.

The power structure of the Justice League has not yet been formed. Apart from the core six people, it is normal for other departments to make personnel adjustments.

What's more, Nightwing made a lot of noise for a while and made himself the representative of certain opinion groups.

In this situation, leaving the core of the Justice League became a natural thing to do.

Nightwing is arguably the second smartest person in the Bat-Family, and he thought of these things immediately.

But his awkward personality prevented him from expressing his thoughts, and he left silently.

"Ugh!"

Martin sighed as he watched Nightwing leave.

"Nightwing doesn't actually object to our route."

Barbara saw everything through the surveillance and spoke well of Nightwing, which of course was the truth.

"He has to say it himself and prove it with his actions. We can't just let others go along with his weird personality!"

Martin has always been optimistic about Nightwing's abilities.

But in this world, what determines ultimate success or failure is often not ability, but stance.

Nightwing and himself were having a quarrel and Martin couldn't understand why. He couldn't just coax him like a nanny and wait for him to slowly change.

"It wouldn't be a bad thing for him to leave his current position temporarily and think things through."

Martin made a quick decision: "Given his current state, he might cause trouble, which would not be a good thing for him."

"We can handle it this way first!"

Barbara also knew how many people's files Nightwing had to handle every day to decide whether they could cooperate with the Justice League.

If something goes wrong with this work, he won't even have a chance to correct it.

"Let's meet at the port. Arthur should be arriving soon with the Mother Box. Gordon, please send some reliable men to keep Bruno under guard."

Nightwing took the Batmobile's motorcycle but left it with Martin.

"What a good man! I hope he can figure it out soon!"

Martin drove the Batmobile straight to Gotham Port.

When Gordon got the news, he immediately sent special police to put Bruno in the most heavily guarded cell in Blackgate Prison.

When Bruce learned that the International Gang still had the account book hidden, he pulled Barry out of the laboratory and asked him to retrieve the account book in front of everyone and start analyzing and studying the relationships inside.

Martin received the news from Bruce as soon as possible, and wanted to identify which ones were informants from Apocalypse.

Although the Justice League is also hostile to arms dealers like the International Gang, Bruce does not care about those people in Congress.

He made the same judgment as Martin and asked Alfred to tell those congressmen to be honest and not get involved in this matter.

Dick, who originally had no intention of getting involved in this matter, went to Washington obediently after being scolded by Bruce.

Martin rushed to the port, but Barbara was a little slower.

She changed into Batgirl's outfit and rode a motorcycle, looking very cool.

"It was very quiet in several places. The Flash was so fast that he didn't even attract anyone else's attention when he retrieved the account book."

As soon as Barbara got out of the car, she told Martin, who was standing on the shore, about the current situation.

"It's only a matter of time. Alfred and Dick will go and inform those congressmen. As soon as they step off the plane, the news will spread everywhere."

Martin never thought that such things could be kept truly confidential. The business of the International Gang involved a lot of people, and he didn't know how many people were paying attention to Bruno and the Justice League.

Even the slightest movement would attract everyone's attention.

"Perhaps we should have Alfred speak out about this matter in a more focused manner. This will help us better identify the enemy."

Barbara stood beside Martin and looked out at the rising waves with him.

"That would be too energy-consuming, and the results might not be good. Besides, our operation to uncover the Apocalypse informant already requires a bit of drama. Let's spread this news more widely!"

Martin was not afraid that the government would know about this, but he was afraid that they would pretend to be stupid and suppress the news of the impending invasion of Apocalypse.

Although the group of politicians in Bai km can basically be said to be neither moral nor responsible, as the actual controllers of the United States, they also control most of the world's resources.

When Apocalypse invades, if these people pretend to be stupid, the battle will be very difficult.

Wow!

The sound of the waves became louder and louder. Arthur rode the sea water to Gotham, jumped through the waves, and landed in front of Martin with a few waves.

"Yo, Barbara!"

Arthur held the Trident of Aquaman in one hand and the sealed Mother Box in the other. He greeted Barbara first and then looked at Martin.

"It's just as you said. After my mother returned, the division in Atlantis not only didn't ease, but became even more severe."

Now that Orm has not been defeated by Arthur, it is difficult for Atlanna to punish Orm by launching an attack on land.

In addition, most of Aum's supporters were in the military, so the two sides were in a standoff and neither could do anything to the other.

"Don't worry about what's happening under the sea for now. Let's dig out the informant from Apocalypse Star first, then we can talk about other things."

Martin took the Mother Box from Arthur's hand and felt a wet and slippery sensation, as if he was touching something like fish skin.

Unlike Paradise Island, which used the magic of the gods to seal the Mother Box, Atlantis used Atlantis' special technology to suppress the activity of the Mother Box and block its possibility of tipping off Apocalypse.

"I'm not familiar with Atlantis' technology, but there's a simpler way to seal the Mother Box. That's using life force."

Martin raised his wrist and the Mother Box fell into Arthur's hands again.

"If you had said earlier that you could seal it with life force, I wouldn't have to make this trip again!" Arthur took the Mother Box and complained, "I just contacted the princess of the Kingdom of Zebel. She is really dissatisfied with Atlantis's war against the land, and asked me to meet with her."

"Then postpone it for a few days. Mera can be trusted, but given the situation on the seabed, I'm afraid we won't be able to send anyone to help resist Apocalypse."

“That will also let the people in the sea know that the land is not as bad as they think, and the traditions they pursue are not as good as they think.”

Arthur has a different opinion on this matter. Disagreeing with going to war with the land is one thing, but integrating into human society is another.

"Well, you can handle this matter yourself."

Martin accepted Arthur's proposal: "If you feel it is necessary, you can leave early. However, the league is indeed short of people, and you should at least help Bruce complete the personnel adjustments."

"no problem."

Arthur agreed immediately and raised the Mother Box in his hand.

"Let's first talk about how to seal this thing up! I don't want it to suddenly explode and have a bunch of enemies pop up around me and hit me."

"That's simple. All you have to do is superimpose the various states of life force onto the Mother Box, keeping it in a constantly changing state. Apocalypse Star will then be impossible to locate."

After Martin explained the principle of this sealing method, he taught Arthur how to put it into practice.

The process is actually very simple. Arthur just needs to point the trident at the Mother Box.

Magic requires ritual, but life force does not.

As a person recognized by the force of life, Arthur only needs to superimpose this power on the Mother Box.

Although Arthur did as he was told, he still couldn't help but complain: "Could you please write a manual or something in advance next time? There are some things you can understand yourself, but I don't understand!"

“There’s no need for so many manuals. You’ll understand things by doing them. Knowing too much theory will only affect your operation.

Besides, I am just an ordinary assassin today, and it is very difficult to use magic."

Martin grabbed Arthur's wrist or the hand with the trident and moved it towards the Mother Box.

Arthur didn't believe Martin's nonsense. He was just an ordinary captain yesterday, but he was able to use all kinds of magic skillfully.

But even though he complained, once he started to work, he cleared all distracting thoughts from his mind, concentrated on sensing the state of the life force, and began to use the life force to influence the mother box.

From the outside and the various results, the Mother Box seems to be just a useful prop.

But after Arthur got his hands on it, he discovered that there was actually consciousness in this thing, and it began to resist the influence of the life force.

The consciousness of a single Mother Box is very weak, not even as strong as the will of a human being, but under the influence of the power of the Mother Box itself, this consciousness begins to spread outward, trying to pull Arthur into the illusion and thus break the seal of Atlantis.

"Interesting, but that's not enough!"

As a third party, Martin has always been observing the relationship between Arthur and the Mother Box.

When the weak consciousness of the Mother Box began to act, he grabbed Arthur's wrist and turned it around, then stabbed the Trident of Aquaman directly into the Mother Box.

The sharp blade of the trident pierced through the biomass isolation layer on the outside of Atlantis and collided with the mother box with a crisp sound.

Golden light burst out from the gap, forming golden ripples like waves, instantly covering the entire mother box.

The biomass that isolated the mother box suddenly came to life and began to squeeze the mother box inside, squirming and trying to become some kind of living life.

Arthur's consciousness proactively cut off the pull with the Mother Box. He opened his eyes and looked at the Mother Box that was constantly changing its shape with surprise.

"This thing won't come back to life and go find Apocalypse on its own!"

"Even if he comes back to life, he's your creation. Why would you go looking for Apocalypse?"

Martin let go of Arthur's wrist, patted his shoulder, and told him to put his mind at ease.

The mother box was affected by the force of life and was constantly changing into different life forms. Although it was covered in a layer of golden light, it still looked very strange.

"I'll teach you another illusion spell that can conceal the Mother Box's appearance. You carry the Mother Box with you, and as long as you can survive this period, you can discard it."

"Fine!"

Arthur had no intention of using the Mother Box. It was too dangerous and had its own consciousness. Using it carelessly might cause trouble.

Following Martin's instructions, he used magic to transform the Mother Box into a pendant in the shape of Krasen and hung it on the trident.

"When you kill someone with your trident, be careful not to get too much blood on it."

Martin gave Arthur a reminder and let him leave to help Bruce.

Arthur asked curiously, "What will happen to this Mother Box if it takes up too much blood?"

"It's possible that the seal of life force could be broken. I don't know much about the Mother Box, but it's always better to be careful!"

Arthur exclaimed, "I thought you were going to say something serious. Now it seems that it's not so bad."

He said this, but still took off the pendant, put it around his neck, then jumped into the sea and disappeared.

"Do you usually take risks like this?"

Barbara watched from the side, but waited until Arthur left before asking.

"Actually, there's nothing mysterious about magic. If you want to learn it, I can teach you."

Martin said as he checked his phone and got a message from Bruce.

Before Alfred arrived in Washington, some congressmen received news that Nightwing was interrogating Bruno and began to interfere in the case, wanting to transfer the person to a prison in Washington.

Gordon has also received a notice from the FBI, and FBI agents have sent people to the prison to take Bruno and his wife away.

"These guys are pretty good. They acted much faster than I expected. I thought they would take action only after Alfred and Dick landed."

Martin unexpectedly shares the news with Barbara.

"Now what?"

Barbara didn't expect the opponent's speed to be so fast, which caught her off guard.

"Of course, we detained them and told the federal officials to get out."

Martin had no intention of giving those people face, and neither did Gordon: "We arrested the people, and we also tried them. Those people have no right to participate in this matter."

There have been several major riots in Gotham, and the Federation's attitude has been to blockade it and watch Gotham slowly die.

After doing this a few times, federal law enforcement agencies were unable to move forward in Gotham.

The reason why the GOG under the leadership of Amanda Waller is rampant in Gotham, committing murder and kidnapping at will, is largely because no one in the local area is willing to cooperate with them.

Therefore, Gordon's attitude is also inclined to hold on.

The old director knows those people's methods too well.

As long as he leaves Gotham, Bruno will definitely disappear and never appear again.

Although Barbara didn't say anything, she didn't think that confronting the federal department head-on was a good option.

Maybe people in Gotham would support this approach, but what about people elsewhere?
Being against politicians and being against the United States are not the same thing.

"Don't worry, Bruno is of no value to us. He's just a bait to lure out those who are hiding behind the scenes."

"I'm keeping him now just to see how much those people are willing to expose in order to rescue this guy. If things get to the point where they have to fight, I'll hand him over and see where he'll be taken."

This kind of tug of war is a test of determination, to see who has the strongest trump card.

It would be even better if those people couldn't afford to flip the table.

Hiding behind the system and using federal departments to fight the Justice League is actually the best way to hide.

With so many federal departments and officials, it would be almost impossible to conduct an investigation.

But if the other party directly sends someone to snatch the person away, then things will be much simpler.

As long as Martin and his team follow the traces left by the assassin, they will be able to dig out those who are hiding behind the scenes.

　Please invest, read, collect, vote, and recommend! Please leave more comments, thank you for your support!

(End of this chapter)