Starting from scratch, Batman crushed my dream of getting rich

Chapter 222: Why are there so many familiar faces deep inside the enemy camp?
"Oswald Copport?"

"it's me."

Why?

"Don't you remember, Mr. Thor?" the Penguin countered. "You were ordered by the Riddler to kill the Mad Hatter, and then what happened?"

"I've been arrested."

"You've been tricked."

At this point, the Penguin chuckled: "You've caused our friend too much loss. Remember? The Riddler used to have a lot of supervillains under his command, but because of your skillful maneuvering, now only Poison Ivy, Firefly, and Mr. Zass remain. I guess our friend may not have realized your betrayal, but he's certainly noticed something fishy about you."

"He sold me out?"

"To be precise, he sent you to the Mad Hatter, and if nothing unexpected happens, you should become one of the Joker's cannon fodder—provided, of course, that I'm not involved."

"I should thank him for not shooting me dead."

“To be honest, I also think he’s too concerned about saving face,” the Penguin replied. “What’s the point of sending you to be killed by the Mad Hatter? If you were to perform better under the Joker’s command, he would probably regret his mistake last night.”

"There's no need to worry too much about that."

"In any case, things have come to this." The Penguin shrugged. "Anyway, the Riddler has very few supervillains left, and the Joker only has you and me, two traitors, to rely on. You've already fulfilled your promise to get most people out of the game with Batman's help, so we can continue with the next steps of our plan to take down the Riddler and the Joker in one fell swoop—or even better if there are a few fewer."

"Is it?"

Ma Zhaodi glanced at the controller in his hand and laughed, "Now that you have control of me, why continue with my previous plan? Why not just keep all the spoils for yourself?"

“You can’t live without me, my friend,” the Penguin replied. “Just as I can’t live without you. Our plan is going well, but it’s not enough to control the whole situation. I need you to help me kick out a few more people, you need to help me completely overthrow the Joker and the Riddler, you want me to give you a substantial reward, and I want to go it alone and become the new king of crime in Gotham City.”

“In other words,” Ma Zhaodi interrupted, “it’s like before, I’m risking being killed to continue being cannon fodder on the front lines. And you just need to stay in the villa, obediently hiding behind the clown. Even if I die in front, it won’t affect you at all. And if I succeed, you’ll be the one to reap the biggest rewards.”

“We simply have different roles, Mr. Saul. You can’t help the Joker take over Falcone’s vast underworld empire and assets, nor can you do all the organizational, intelligence management, and financial operations for him. But I can. That’s my strength and my value.”

Ma Zhaodi remained silent.

"Besides, I offered better terms. After we succeeded, I would give you a portion of the assets and rights, or even a share of the profits each year. But you refused. All you wanted was a fee as payment for scheming against the Joker and the Riddler. To be honest, if I gave that money to Slade or Freud Jr., they could have done the same thing, and the TV would have praised them for being good guys and heroes."

At this point, the Penguin waved the remote control in his hand: "I understand that you might be afraid that the Joker and the Riddler will come after you in the future, or you might simply be an undercover agent sent by Batman, so you just want a 'legitimate undercover income,' even though no one ever questions the Gotham Police Department's income from taking money to deal with criminals. But I don't care about any of that. Right now, whoever deals with the Joker and the Riddler is my ally."

“I can break free from the Mad Hatter’s control. I can triple the promised reward, but you have to finish what you’re supposed to do—now, is our deal done?”

“No problem,” Ma Zhaodi readily replied, “I promise you.”

"?" Damn it, Penguin cursed inwardly. He'd fallen for their trap. This guy only wanted money; he'd do it even if they kept the original price.

How can someone be so greedy and reckless?

At this moment, in the Penguin's mind, the possibility that Ma Zhaodi was an undercover police officer or Batman agent began to decrease significantly.

Good people fight for their beliefs, which is why they are not afraid of death. This guy has no beliefs; he is not afraid of death only because he can get money. He is a typical desperado.

The journey to see the Joker was uneventful. In fact, the Joker didn't even bother to look at Ma Zhaodi again. He waved his hand dismissively, as if throwing away trash, and told the Penguin outside to take "Thor" to meet his partner for the night.

“Take this guy to see Man-Bat directly. Give the controller to Mr. Freeze for now; he needs to assign tasks. And I don’t trust that beast—Thor. Don’t you think your current situation is quite interesting?”

Ma Zhaodi remained silent.

The clown curled his lip.

"Okay, it's not very funny, you can leave now."

"Yes, boss." *2
In the office, Penguin led Ma Zhaodi to meet Mr. Freeze and Man-Bat. Mr. Freeze still looked as bitter and resentful as ever, while Man-Bat was, literally, a giant humanoid bat.

"Thor, these two will be your companions from now on: Mr. Freeze Victor Frith and Man-Bat Kirk Longstrom."

"Hello, Mr. Saul."

Mr. Freeze extended his hand in a gesture of friendliness, while Man-Bat remained standing still, his claws ill-suited for handshakes—in fact, he was not entirely lucid either.

Naturally, Ma Zhaodi did not respond.

“Excuse me, let me explain briefly.” The Penguin said to Mr. Freeze, who was looking angry, “Mr. Thor was ordered by the Riddler to assassinate the Mad Hatter yesterday, but he failed. He is currently under control. He has only retained the most basic behavioral abilities and is unable to think or react to the outside world.”

Mr. Freeze's expression softened: "So, he wasn't turned by us?"

“That’s right, we control all his actions now, and this is his remote control—Victor, keep it safe.”

“No problem.” Mr. Freeze breathed a sigh of relief and took the remote control: “I’ve seen the Mad Hatter use this thing before, so I guess I probably don’t need the instructions.”

"That's good. Please remember not to break free from his mind control casually, at least not when he's caught off guard—as for other things, he'll do whatever you ask."

Mr. Freeze smiled and assured Penguin, "Of course, I won't easily release him from control."

"But just to be on the safe side, I'd like to double-check which button is the release button, is that alright?"

(End of this chapter)