A Bat Observes and Another Letter

The Wayne Manor. The place where the richest man in Gotham lives. The place that could be called the embodiment of Gotham's success and wealth. Its current owner had once been a well-known billionaire playboy notorious for being late just like Tony Stark in New York City is now.

Strangely enough, about eight years ago, this super-rich man disappeared entirely from the public view. No one even knew whether he was dead or alive. And if it weren't for the announcement that Bruce Wayne had been missing for seven years in the past, people would have already held his funeral, even with his corpse missing.

　　 Only one person knows what had caused Bruce to become like this, and only one person knows that he was not a just a public playboy, but also Batman who protected Gotham in the darkness of night.

　　 "Master Bruce, are you in the room?"

　　In a huge and luxurious manor, a grey-haired old man dressed as a butler walked to a bedroom with a meal in his hand and shouted.

　　 "Master Wayne, you haven't eaten for several days again. With all due respect, people shouldn't destroy themselves, the body is what makes one human."

　　 There was no response after several attempts of persuasion, not even a hint of a sound came out.

　　 The old man looked puzzled and put his ear on the door to listen, he realized that no one was even inside the bedroom to begin with.

　　 But it was clear that Bruce could never get out of his bedroom at this time, which meant that there was only one other place he could be.

　　 The old butler Alfred's face was temporally flushed with excitement at the thought, and he hurriedly took out the only spare key he had and unlocked the bedroom door. As expected, there was no one inside.

　　 A smile flickered across Alfred's aged face as he went to the piano and played it seemingly in a casual manner, and the wall in front of him opened automatically to reveal the elevator behind it.

　　 He then stepped into the high-tech elevator. Turning around he adjusted his suit with one hand as he watched the doors close. No panel indicated his descent but he knew he was going underground to the most secret part of the entire manor.

　　 "Master Wayne, it's been a very long time since you've been down here and I've had to come remind you that humans require sustenance."

　　 Alfred walked into the Batcave to see a ragged-bearded Bruce, watching a video in front of the Batcomputer of the increasingly popular Kaito Kid's crime.

　　 "Alfred, Adam's Star has been stolen."

　　 "Yes, Master Bruce, everyone in Gotham knows about "The Phantom Thief" by now, but still, I'm surprised you actually are paying attention such trivia matters as theft now."

　　 "I normally wouldn't concern myself with these sorts of crimes, but Adam's Star is different."

　　 Bruce's face showed a hint of determination for the first time in a long time, "It is a gem that my father personally bought a long time ago, and although it does not count as my father's legacy, I just cannot let it be stolen like that."

　　 "So, you think that 'he' is going to make and appearance?" Alfred asked calmly.

　　 Bruce remained silent for a while.

"No"

Meanwhile at Gotham University, Mathison's classes where just coming to an end.

　　During the all the class, Mathison noticed that Barbara hadn't taken her eyes off her laptop screen. Whenever the bell rang to signal the end of class, just she picked up her laptop and ran out of the classroom aimlessly.

　　 'I wonder what she would say if she found out that I am Phantom Kid.', Mathison thought with amusement.

　　 'In any case, it's time to send the second notice letter.'

　　 Mathison had completed the teaser riddle and was ready to deliver it to the police.

　　 As for his target, Mathison had looked at news reports on his phone and saw "John Daggett, a veteran director of Wayne Enterprises, acquires the Cat's Eye emerald, a priceless gem said to be desired by many across the world" so there was no problems for that part.

　　 It had been a few days since Adam's Star was stolen and even though Kaito Kid was still the man of the hour, he will soon be forgotten if he kept his face hidden for too long.

　　 The feeling of the limelight as a magic thief could be addicting. Only those who have experienced it once would understand.

　　 Not to mention the fact that the only way to get more system rewards is to steal more treasures. The more precious the treasure is, the harder it would be to steal, and the better the rewards will be.

　　 In the future, there will be many chances of claiming those precious rewards.

Thinking about it, if one day Mathison got strong enough, he would be able to sneak into Asgard and steal Gungnir and the likes from the Asgardian vault, but it will take an extensive amount of time to even plan something like that let alone having the power to pull it of…

　　 Returning to reality, Mathison decided to head out. After all he had a few stops to make. A while later, Mathison ran into an empty alley, disguised as a middle-aged white-collar worker with a common face, and then headed for the GCPD.

　　 Inside the Gotham City Police Department, in the Commissioner's office, Gordon was deep in thought, the sudden appearance of Kaito Kid had left him in an irritable mood.

　　 A few days ago, he mobilized all the police forces to search the entire city. Despite that, he couldn't find any sign of The Phantom Thief, whose age and appearance are still unknown.

　　 Even now, the scene in which Kaito Kid pretended to be Aaron lingered in Gordon's mind. No matter how he reviewed it, he couldn't believe that "Aaron" was fake.

　　 There were no flaws in his appearance, voice, or manner of speaking. Kaito Kid's masterful disguise skills really shocked Gordon.

　　 "Sir, you have been sitting in your office since last night. Your body will not be able to hold up if you continue this way."

　　 Aaron walked into Gordon's office with a pot of coffee, an action he shouldn't have done considering his position. Anyone else would have been dismissed straight away as soon as they walk into the office.

　　 "Aaron, I'm just thinking about things."

　　 "Thief Kid?"

　　 "That's right."

　　"Sir, there's something that's been bothering me. Why are you so adamant about Kid? Kid is certainly troublesome, but he's not nearly as dangerous as the criminals of the past. After all, he's just a thief, not a terrorist."

　　 "You don't understand, Aaron, it's not the thief himself that worries me."

　　 Gordon shook his head.

　　"What I'm worried about is if Kaito Kid keeps trampling on the law, continues to play the police like fools, and expose it all to the public…"

　　 "How many people do you think will start imitating him? Once the number of people who no longer respect the law grows, a terrible storm will be triggered…"

　　 That was what Gordon was really worried about.

　　 Kaito Kid is very different from other criminals, he would not hide his criminal actions, instead, he would make it public and let the crowd see for themselves how easily he escaped from the police siege.

　　 After a while, people will question the police's ability to enforce the law, once disregard for the law begins to take hold, Gotham will be flooded with crimes.

　　All the gangs that have been pinned down by Gordon for eight years will no longer repress themselves and there may be riots like never before seen.

　　 Hence, Kaito Kid is a criminal who has to be arrested urgently to enforce the public's faith in the GCPD.

　　 "Sir…" Aaron didn't know what to say. In his opinion, Gordon's description a bit blown out of proportion, but upon seeing the heavy look on Gordon's face, he kept his mouth shut.

　　 "I've put the coffee on the desk, old champ, I don't suppose I need to pour it for you."

　　 Aaron placed the coffee pot and exited the door when he saw Gordon nod.

　　 After a while, Gordon felt a surge of tiredness and thought that he is indeed getting old. A decade ago, he could have stayed up for days, now he could barely last through one…

　　 He got up and poured himself a cup of coffee, however the moment he picked the pot up, Gordon froze, staring at the table or rather what was on it.

　　 He saw a white card lying there quietly, a clear cartoon head came into view…

　　 "Sir, you have been in here since-"

　　At that moment, the office door was opened again and another Aaron Cash with a coffee pot walked in!

　　 Gordon quickly stepped forward, grabbed the coffee pot in one hand, and then grabbed Aaron's face tightly.

　　 "Hey! Hey! Jim, what are you doing, I just came to give you coffee!"

　　 Gordon stopped and walked back to the desk without saying a word, his anger ignited.

　　Kaito Kid can just waltz in and out of the GCPD freely, just like coming into his own house. This was a blight on the GCPD's honor.

　　 Taking a deep breath, Gordon calmed himself down, knowing there was no point in chasing after him now. He picked up the card and examined it carefully.

　　 After reading the contents of the notice letter, Gordon's pupils shrank instantly!

　"The fickle brothers are going to the end.

　　By this time, the Twelve Trials had reached their second,

　　When Selene cannot look far enough to see Helios,

　　I shall listen to the call of the waves and come to snatch the cat's eye.

　　See you soon, Kaito Kid!"

　　Looking at the notice letter, Gordon read it out loud word by word.

　　"Err…are you writing a poem? No wait, what was all that about earlier?!"

　　Aaron was momentarily puzzled about the deal with this letter before he remembered what Gordon just did.

　　"There's a new notice letter from Kaito Kid."

　　Gordon was already deep in thought and answered both questions at once. It was clear from the content of the last notice letter that Kaito Kid was a man who liked to bite more than he could chew, only this one was more enigmatic than the first one, which was written in a direct manner.

　　However, it could be that this was how he preferred to send his letters. After all, no one would take him seriously if his first notice letter was so fancy.

　　'Who are the fickle brothers? What do the Twelve Trials refer to? What does he mean by Selene and Helios?? Is this from Greek mythology… could 'waves' just be a reference to the waves of the sea?'

　　For a moment, Gordon felt a sudden feeling of déjà vu, remembering a certain criminal from the past who also enjoyed playing similar puzzle games. Unfortunately, the person who had managed to solve the puzzles every time was now gone, which meant he was left to solve them on his own.

　　The only certain thing was that in the last sentence, the 'cat's eyes' referred to the target of Kaito Kid– the Cat's Eye Emerald of recent fame.

　　"Aaron, call Mr. John Daggett, now, and ask him if he's received a similar notice letter!"

　　Thinking of this, Gordon immediately shouted at Aaron to go call the owner.

　　"I don't think that's necessary now, sirs"

　　At that moment, another voice broke into the conversation. It was Blake, pushing his way through the door and saying in a deep voice, "Mr. Daggett has just called the police, claiming that he has received a notice letter from Kaito Kid."

　　At these words, Gordon slumped back into his chair at pondered again what his next step should be.