Gotham is a great place.
The residents here only need to worry about theft and robbery. They don't have to worry about superpowered people setting off fireworks in the city or aliens suddenly descending.
The television in the electronics store cabinet was playing 90s-style city news. The suited host had a solemn face as he mourned the death of the Waynes. The Wayne Enterprises representative being interviewed stated that the Wayne Charity Fund would not stop providing welfare assistance to hospitals and schools.
Gwen spent twenty bucks to hire a muscle-bound guy to carry her bags. It wasn't that she couldn't carry them herself—she just wanted to buy more good stuff and didn't have any hands left.
You know how women's shopping urges work.
What she didn't expect was that the two-hundred-pound-plus muscle beast would suddenly shoulder the two huge duffel bags and bolt while she wasn't looking.
What did you think was inside? Frozen pork?
Even a muscle beast carrying two big bags of hardware tools couldn't run very fast. Gwen wasn't in a hurry and just followed behind at a leisurely pace, all the way into a small alley.
She originally thought some weird gang members would jump out to give her some easy EXP, but the person blocking the way was a polite, refined young man.
He wore a not-too-expensive black suit, holding an umbrella in one hand and a baseball bat in the other. His expression looked awkward, but his eyes were excited.
A few other burly men in suits stood around a middle-aged man kneeling on the ground, his head covered in blood.
Ah… the legendary mafia.
Gwen wasn't excited at all. Back home she had dealt with these kinds of people for many years.
There was an interesting fact: in the era before superheroes were born, many cities were controlled by the mafia and enjoyed two hundred years of peaceful development. Until superheroes appeared, everyone was living pretty well…
Of course that wasn't the heroes' fault. It was mostly the writers' fault.
The muscle beast was clearly terrified—he obviously wasn't a brave man, or he wouldn't have robbed a girl's bag… well, big bags.
One of the men built like a bear pushed the young man aside and walked over, frowning. "This is Falcone territory. Get lost!"
The muscle beast turned his head and looked at Gwen blocking the way behind him. His face was filled with despair. He had just personally felt how heavy those two duffel bags were, and only then remembered how easily the girl had been carrying them. His not-completely-stupid brain finally realized he might have offended someone he really shouldn't have.
Bosses on both sides. He was completely fucked either way.
"Aaaaaah—!"
The muscle beast screamed, dropped the bags, and charged straight at Gwen.
At least he wasn't completely brain-dead. Unfortunately, he chose the wrong answer.
Gwen lifted the hem of her skirt, spun, and kicked—elegant lady's spinning kick!
One-hit K.O.!
The heel of her leather shoe made intimate contact with the beast's chin. His body flew up involuntarily, then slammed backward onto the ground with a loud thud.
The suited gentlemen not far away watched the whole thing with their mouths forming perfect "O" shapes.
Gwen squatted down and patted the muscle beast's head. "Tom… I remember your name is Tom, right?"
"Uuuuugh—"
Tom's eyes were full of tears. He nodded hard. He had bitten his tongue and blood was spraying from his mouth, so he couldn't speak.
"You took my money but didn't want to carry my bags, and you even tried to steal my stuff, right?"
"Uuuuugh—"
"I have a little suggestion. Why don't we just forget about this whole thing, pretend nothing happened, and go back to shopping and buying more stuff. If you behave yourself and don't cause any more trouble, I might even consider giving you a little extra tip…"
"Uuuuugh—!"
They reached an agreement in true Gotham fashion.
Gwen stood up and bowed to the suited gentlemen. "Sorry for disturbing you. We'll be leaving now."
The young man holding the umbrella smiled and returned the bow. "Have a safe trip, miss."
But right at that moment—
"GCPD! Hands up!"
Wild Officer Gordon popped out of the grass!
Gwen was stunned. Where the hell did you come from?
Then she saw Officer Gordon's gun pointed straight at her.
Everyone was stunned. The atmosphere suddenly became extremely quiet.
Officer Gordon raised the muzzle slightly and aimed at Tom, who had just crawled up behind Gwen. "Come here! Over to me!"
Tom subconsciously took a step forward.
"Not you! Stop! Hands on your head!" After saying that, Officer Gordon finally sensed the weird atmosphere and asked cautiously, "Miss Gwen, are you alright?"
Did this guy misunderstand and think I was being robbed or kidnapped?
From the scene, one side of the alley had suited gentlemen, the other had a grimacing muscle beast, and in the middle stood a delicate, pitiful, helpless young girl.
Hmm…
Gwen put on a kind smile.
"Don't worry, Officer Gordon. I'm not in any danger. I just got lost while shopping and happened to walk over here. Right, Tom?"
"Uuuuugh—!" Tom nodded vigorously and picked up the two huge duffel bags at his feet.
Officer Gordon frowned. He realized things weren't so simple.
"Shopping?"
"Yes."
"Then why is his face covered in blood?"
"Who knows who threw the banana peel."
Officer Gordon turned to look at the suited gentlemen on the other side. His gaze moved back and forth between the baseball bat in the young man's hand and the blood-covered guy kneeling on the ground.
"And what are you guys doing?"
The young man thought for a moment and smiled. "We're… playing a game."
"Yeah, yeah."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah!"
The guy on his knees gave a thumbs-up and showed a humble smile.
"Then the blood on your face…"
"I accidentally stepped on a banana peel."
Officer Gordon pondered for two seconds. "You all stepped on the same banana peel?"
"Yeah, yeah… no… it's like this—"
The young man spread his hands. "Just now a very socially immoral guy walked by with a bunch of bananas, eating and throwing the peels… That guy is really rotten. Do you have any more questions, officer?"
Gordon slowly exhaled, gritted his teeth, and lowered his gun. "Then never mind."
Seeing him turn and walk through the door, leaving only a lonely back—turns out there was a back door here—Gwen was about to leave when Officer Gordon suddenly spun around and roared, "Wait!"
He aimed the gun at Tom again. "What's in the bags you're carrying?"
Tom looked down at Gwen.
"Lay's and Cheetos."
"It's Lay's and Cheetos!"
Officer Gordon strode over. Tom's face changed. He dropped the bags and tried to run. The duffel bags hit the ground with heavy thuds.
"Freeze!"
Officer Gordon rushed forward and delivered a perfect national-football-team castration kick, knocking Tom to the ground.