Hiding in the sand, splitting into many places, starting with Arkham

"Oh, my friend, you've finally emerged from your little dump of a base. Is that your weapon? He's quite the perfect big guy."

The Penguin walked into the factory and immediately spotted the tall, steel-tech aesthetic of the Black Gold Puppet.

"Where's the stuff?"

Shimizu took off his welding mask and looked at the Penguin.

"Boss, the stuff is all outside, more than twenty guns, thousands of bullets! And riot shields and bulletproof vests!"

The accountant nodded and bowed towards Shimizu.

"Heh heh, these guns are just small business. If you could mass-produce this thing and sell it, I guarantee you could become Gotham's first... well, second richest man."

The Penguin rubbed his hands together, puffing on a cigar as he sized up Black Gold.

This thing looked like it had considerable fighting power.

"Why second richest?"

Shimizu asked the Penguin.

"Because Gotham's richest man is Bruce Wayne. You can't surpass the Wayne Group's wealth with just this."

The Penguin adjusted his glasses.

"How about it? Want to work together? You provide the technology, I provide the resources and channels. Then who cares about Batman? No matter how strong he is, can he beat an army made of these robots?"

"Unfortunately, only I can use this thing. Even if I give you all the technology, you won't be able to make it move."

Shimizu stretched out his left hand and used an invisible chakra thread to control Black Gold, causing it to disassemble and walk to his side, then cover his entire body in three seconds.

"Let's go."

The massive black puppet moved with steady yet swift steps, walking towards the factory gate.

Buying ordinary things from the Penguin only required money, but those extraordinary things, like Quinn Enterprise's small, cutting-edge sensors, required more than just money.

Fortunately, the Penguin knew some of Shimizu's background, so he tentatively proposed a collaboration.

Shimizu provided money to buy weapons through the Penguin's channels to develop his gang, and to buy materials and high-tech products to strengthen his puppets. The Penguin also needed a strong ally, ostensibly unrelated to him, to help him deal with some opponents.

This time was a test, to test the true strength of Shimizu, a villainous colleague who could escape from Arkham Asylum, which had Batman and Nightwing.

As it stood, it had already exceeded the Penguin's expectations.

"Going there directly like this is too conspicuous. I'll sell you the delivery truck, a friendly price, only fifty thousand dollars."

The Penguin stood at the door with a chuckle, pointing to a large truck parked in the open space in front.

"I want you to help me get rid of the Sparaletta family on Decker Street. They hijacked a batch of my goods last month. Although they did it very discreetly, I have no evidence, but I'm sure they did it. Get rid of Simmons Sparaletta and his son John Sparaletta, and Decker Street will be your territory."

"We have no reason to act. You find us one."

Shimizu glanced at the truck and said to the Penguin.

"Isn't that simple? Just find one at random. For example, you can directly blame them for the death of the former leader of your Cole Gang, Kiddy Cole. This can also directly help you avoid conflict with the Two-Face Gang, right?"

The Penguin took a puff of his cigar and replied.

"Okay, but we're not called the Cole Gang anymore, we're called the Hogg Union.

And I can't cough up fifty thousand dollars, and although your car has been modified, it's second-hand, thirty thousand at most, and..."

"Deal."

The Penguin said readily.

Shimizu: ...

Miscalculated, should have pushed the price down further.

"Thirty thousand on credit for now, no money."

"It's okay, my interest rates are very low, only three percent..."

"Oh, that's really low, how about I borrow a million first..."

"Three percent monthly interest, you just said you wanted to borrow a million, right?"

The Penguin adjusted his glasses, his old face full of smiles.

"You call that a low interest rate?"

"Of course, among Gotham's loan sharks, I'm the most conscientious. Others give you an interest rate that's impossible to meet, but I'm different. I'll squeeze you to the limit, just enough to drain every bit of your value, so you can better create more wealth to be harvested by me."

"I'm not borrowing it, I'll pay you back the thirty thousand tomorrow."

"Alright, what a pity, but at three percent a month, that's a daily interest rate of one per thousand, you have to make up for it when you pay me back tomorrow."

Shimizu was speechless.

This guy really had a way to make money, but he would also try his best to squeeze every penny, just as he said.

"The driver is my man, he'll take you to Simmons Sparaletta. Good luck, and don't make too much noise, although someone from the Gotham Police Department will help us suppress it, it's best to keep it small, so as not to be targeted by the Bat brats, and finally..."

The Penguin took off his cigar and exhaled a thick smoke.

"My driver's salary is calculated at fifty dollars per hour, you have to pay that too."

This money-grubbing bastard.

"Let's go!"

Shimizu walked into the truck's carriage and shouted to his men.

"Wooo!"

"Charge!"

"Fuck those sons of bitches!"

...

A group of thugs cheered, grabbing their newly acquired weapons and getting on their motorcycles.

The truck's carriage door was lowered, and the roar of motorcycles and truck engines sounded, as the group marched mightily towards the street.

"Boss, will we win?"

A man in a suit stood behind the Penguin, watching the Hogg Union disappear into the distance.

"Shouldn't be a problem, the Puppeteer's strength may far exceed our previous assessment, just look at the big guy he's wearing. It's just that his subordinates aren't very good, they don't seem to have done any hard work, probably only good at fighting favorable battles, waving flags and shouting."

The Penguin leaned on his umbrella, looking at the sky.

Night quietly fell, Gotham's sky was darkly gloomy.

That was Gotham's base color, and the Bat's color.

But...

"Perhaps soon, the power structure of Gotham's underworld will undergo considerable changes. Although it won't change the world, we should make a profitable investment now, at least I'm sure we won't lose money."

The Penguin looked at the time on his watch and opened the door to the luxury car next to him and sat down.

"Let's go, Bob. Next, we should go talk business with Maroni, we can't waste valuable time making money."

"Yes, Boss."