173 Chapter 173: New Agenda
"Any place is probably beautiful when you stop running for one second."
– Joe Goldberg (You)
...
"If I remember correctly, the FBI has a branch in Gotham and someone in charge of the investigation, but I can't seem to recall who it is."
Dean rubbed his chin and pondered.
Gotham was pretty strange. The FBI was considered powerful across the United States, but in Gotham, it was practically invisible.
The citizens of Gotham might act like they don't respect the GCPD, but the truth is that they are much stronger than the police forces of most cities.
In certain situations, they might even be better than military personnel, but only when it comes to weapons.
In other cities, the local police assist the FBI in their investigations. However, in Gotham and other cities with superheroes and supervillains, the GCPD always takes the lead.
This situation is not unique to Gotham, but it happens in most cities where superheroes and supervillains are common.
For example, cities like Metropolis, Star City, Central City, and Coast City are difficult for federal organizations like the FBI to intervene with.
In other words, these cities have a lot more freedom.
Since there are more and more criminals with superpowers every year, it's getting harder for reputable organizations like the FBI and CIA to deal with them.
It was hard for them to deal with criminals with superpowers, even ones who didn't have very strong powers. It took a lot of people and resources to solve the problem.
As a result, these spy organizations were slowly being replaced by rising departments dedicated to dealing with superpowers.
However, the federal government wasn't stupid. They know that the global situation is changing rapidly.
They were very worried about both the Justice League and the growing number of criminals with superpowers living in their country.
The Justice League is too powerful and uncontrollable. They have a terrifying social influence and are a more serious threat than nuclear weapons.
Therefore, the federal government has established two departments, A.R.G.U.S and the Department of Metahuman Affairs, which have similar authority to the original CIA and FBI.
One focuses on external threats, while the other focuses on internal ones, but both are limited to supernatural events.
Within the normal range of work, it is usually left to the FBI and CIA to handle it.
However, that doesn't mean they have no involvement in supernatural events.
In many cases, things may appear unrelated to superhumans until a deeper investigation reveals their involvement.
After that, the specialized Department of Metahuman Affairs is called in to assist, and the FBI can only provide support.
The advantage of this is that while the FBI itself may not have many means to handle supernatural crimes, they do have many records of supernatural criminals.
The only difference is that their information may not be as wide as that of the Department of Metahuman Affairs.
For someone like Dean who wants to uncover Cassandra's past, wouldn't this be the best place to investigate?
'While the FBI's branch in Gotham may not have much appearance, their defense systems should be good. After all, I've heard of the GCPD being bombed but never of the FBI branch being targeted.'
Dean thought to himself as he returned to his hideout.
'Infiltrating the FBI branch will require careful planning.'
...
On the other side.
Gotham, Janus Cosmetics Company
Roman Sionis returned to his company with a rage that seemed to come out of nowhere.
The employees were afraid to speak as he walked through the office, as they could see how dark their boss's grim expression was.
They quickly lowered their heads to focus on their work.
"Damn you, Bruce, do you think I can't see through your true intentions? You're just pretending to want to help, but all you want is to buy my company, isn't it?"
Roman schemed darkly in his mind.
Janus Cosmetics had been losing money every month while Roman was in charge.
Roman had to use the family's illegal money to pay his expenses by laundering it through the Penguin.
It was normal for ancient noble families to have many shady businesses. There was even a lot of illegal money in the Wayne family before Thomas was born.
Roman didn't believe there was anything wrong with his way of running the company. In fact, he was convinced that everything was everyone else's fault.
It was either his employees were going against his orders behind his back or their competitors were playing dirty tricks.
Especially the cosmetics subsidiary of Wayne Enterprises, which grew quickly during Janus's decline and now has a big share of the market.
Roman stubbornly believed it was Bruce Wayne's malicious competition.
"Damn you, Wayne. Damn you, Bruce. Everyone should just die, just like you!"
Roman howled angrily in his office.
As he uttered the last sentence, his gaze unconsciously turned towards the portrait hanging in the corner of the wall.
The painting showed an old couple, which were actually Roman's parents.
Roman despised his parents deep down because of their endless domestic violence during his childhood and their nauseating vanity.
They looked down on the poor and only let Roman associate with people from the upper class, which was normal for the Sionis couple.
They even insisted that he deliberately maintained a good relationship with Bruce.
This made Roman resent his parents from a young age, and he also disliked Bruce as a result.
Later, like a cliché love story, Roman falls in love with an ordinary girl, but his parents are very against it.
Roman accepted his parents' arrangement and severed ties with the girl.
Then his parents died in a fire.
It was after this that Roman, who had gotten Janus Cosmetics, started a big change.
Roman added countless strange and terrifying masks to the company's products, and it became very different from the previous image.
Why did Roman make these changes?
Because he had an unusual fetish for masks.
After receiving the inheritance from the Sionis family, he spent a large sum of money to acquire countless masks from around the world.
These are all strange and terrifying masks, and Roman sincerely believes that they are the best works of art in the world.
How could anyone not appreciate masks?
As for the results, well, it was quite clear that consumers weren't buying it, but Roman refused to accept this fact.
He invested almost all of the money he obtained from the Penguin into the development of a new product.
He ignored the negative reputation of Janus Cosmetics among consumers.
Roman hoped that this new product would revive the company, and he firmly believed in it.
To be honest, this fearlessness and determination were something most people simply didn't possess.
'Everyone is doubting my decisions. What do they know? Just wait and see; time will prove me right!'
Roman thought angrily.
"Bruce, you won't take my company from me! I will make Janus glorious again!"
Knock, knock!
At this moment, the office door suddenly knocked.
"Come in!"
Roman growled unhappily.
"Bo...Boss, the Re...the head of the research department said there has been significant progress in the experiments for the new product... and...and he would like you to visit."
A young secretary dressed in tremblingly opened the door and cautiously said.
He didn't even dare to go inside; instead, he left the door slightly open and stayed inside, reporting to Roman.
Hearing this, Roman's face brightened, and his gloomy expression eased a bit.
"Great, take me there quickly!"
...
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