After saying goodbye to them, Luke stood in front of the bulkhead in front of them. The mechanical arm put on the Bat Armor again, and he left the submersible cabin.
The yacht automatically floated up and transformed into an ordinary yacht, sending Tony and Natasha back to a small pier in New York.
Watching the yacht turn around, Tony turned around and started to call for a taxi.
After he finished the call, Natasha asked, "Bruce Wayne, did you find anything?"
Tony replied simply, "No."
Natasha chuckled. "His face is a nanomask, isn't it?"
Tony sneered. "Do you think he'll use his real face?"
Natasha glanced at him. "You can't see what he really looks like?"
The sunglasses that the tycoon was wearing weren't ordinary goods. They had a lot of detection functions that the equipment she was wearing couldn't compare to.
Tony said, "He's not that stupid. My equipment can eliminate the influence of the nanomask to a certain extent, but he has other methods of interference. Didn't you take pictures of him?"
Natasha sighed regretfully. "This Batman is really …"
She didn't know how to describe it.
She knew too well how important confidentiality was for dangerous work. Batman was a target of public criticism, and he couldn't be too careful.
If it were her, she would probably erase all traces and go into hiding immediately if she had to go against the American authorities.
She wouldn't do something like Batman coming out to meet them.
Tony chuckled inwardly. He wasn't surprised, but felt that it was normal.
He had known Batman for so long, but this was the first time he had seen what he looked like under the armor! Although it was fake, it was still better than looking at the armor.
That was how people were. If their expectations were always low, it would be easy to be satisfied as long as they got something.
Moreover, Tony had only poured wine for Tony throughout the meeting, and hadn't given a beauty like Natasha any preferential treatment.
It was clear that Tony, who had been personally acknowledged as a "friend," had a much higher status than Natasha.
So, even if he did discover some of Batman's secrets, he wouldn't tell Natasha.
If Batman didn't trust S.H.I.E.L.D., how could Tony? He was just an Avengers consultant.
He trusted Batman more than S.H.I.E.L.D.
…
In the next few days, New York City was in chaos, and Luke and Selina couldn't slack off anymore.
NYPD had suffered heavy losses this time. More than a hundred officers had died in the line of duty alone.
Unbeknownst to most of the officers, Deputy Commissioner Brad had been taken away. No one knew where he had gone.
Chief Nilsson was not too happy about this.
After Brad left, all the pressure was on him. He was the only four-star officer in NYPD, the highest leader.
The families of the police officers who had died in the line of duty needed to be comforted, the work needed to be adjusted, and the dissatisfaction of the New Yorkers gave him a headache.
However, opportunities also accompanied crises.
After the biggest competitor left, many groups opened their wallets and started to donate.
Two of the huge donations had entered NYPD's account through him. Stark Industries donated twenty million dollars, and Titanium Phone Company donated ten million dollars.
It was at least enough for Sheriff Nilsson to pay the pension for the hundreds of officers and the medical expenses for the rest of the injured officers.
Captain Nielson had consecutively removed several middle-level officials and dozens of low-level managers from Brad's system.
Then, Selina became a First Lieutenant, and Dustin became the second-in-command of the FBI. Elsa was directly promoted to take over the position of her boss, who had been fired.
The newly expanded cyber intelligence department was purged, and the newly expanded personnel were all taken away by the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security for investigation.
Elizabeth went from being a team leader in charge of two people to a team leader in charge of more than ten people.
Sheriff Nilsson wasn't flustered at all.
Brad's subordinates had been purged, and he only received a small portion of the benefits. The other bigshots of NYPD were also throwing stones at him while he was down and dividing up the empty positions.
Everyone communicated in private, and the fates of these people were decided.
Selina, Dustin and the others were only promoted in passing. After all, Luke really couldn't be promoted any more in the near future.
The chaos in NYPD was just the aftermath of the attack by the Experimentals. It could even be said that it was the least of the concerns.
The public and the media's attention was still on the thousands of dead citizens.
All kinds of bloody photos and videos circulated endlessly, shocking and impacting the onlookers.
If it was a natural disaster, there was nothing people could say, and they could only try to find fault with those who hadn't done their job.
But this time, it was clearly a conspiracy. Although there were many voices in the public and the media, almost all of them said the same thing: someone had to be responsible for the attack.
Saks Corporation and the Big Foot Gang were the first to bear the brunt.
Various businesses were quickly seized, and the relevant personnel were arrested, interrogated, and put under surveillance in almost a day.
Then, the bigshots who had been close to Saks Corporation in the past were pulled out one by one to analyze who their supporters were.
The bigshots who had been connected to Saks Corporation in the past did everything they could to get rid of their ties.
But Saks Corporation had been in New York for more than ten years, and many people couldn't be cleared of suspicion at all.
In a short period of time, two senators, one attorney general, two district attorneys, and Brad, the deputy commissioner of NYPD, resigned. What awaited them was another long story.
But that wasn't enough.
In 2001, because of an attack, the United States launched an anti-terrorism campaign.
Military spending soared, anti-terrorism personnel and expenses soared, and the FBI and CIA gained more authority.
As long as someone was suspected of being related to the terrorist activities, there was no need for conclusive evidence. The FBI could directly arrest people for interrogation.
Although the number of deaths this time wasn't as high, it was more tragic than before.
The resignation of a few politicians and bureaucrats wasn't qualified to be scapegoats and punching bags. People needed an outlet to vent their anger.
The investigation into Saks Corporation, the main culprit, hadn't been made public. Besides, no one believed that the attack was carried out by a business group and a gang.
When did gangs stop making money and only think about terrorist attacks?
The people in the Big Foot Gang were all local American gangsters. People might believe it if they said that some of them had helped the terrorists for money.
No one could accept that they were the ones who planned the attack.
Under the manipulation of some people, the authorities had never given a clear culprit.
Eric Saks, the president of Saks Corporation, and Tang Jing, the second-in-command of the Big Foot Gang, weren't qualified to be the masterminds. The leader of the Big Foot Gang, Schlade, had disappeared without a trace.
Things began to change subtly at this point.
People with a fire in their hearts naturally focused their attention on the other main character in the attack — Batman and his superhero friends.
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