Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics Chapter 6060 - 5076: Fighter’s Fate (22)

One day ago.

Inside the base of the Court of Owls. The sound of leather shoes echoed as someone paced.

Bruce said, arms crossed, "If you really plan to raid Stark Tower, the most important part isn’t how to break through the defenses or how to kill Iron Man. Because even if you succeed in that, there’s no way to retreat safely with the spoils. Don’t forget, there’s Thor."

"Anyone familiar with Gotham’s situation can guess where you’re hiding. Once Thor finds the base, do you think he’d really give you a chance in court?"

Bruce shook his head, "Thor doesn’t respect procedural justice at all—he’s not even an Earthling. Even if the Rebirth Alliance demands he capture you alive, with a mere distraction, you’d all end up as charcoal. And as long as you’re within the Nine Realms, there’s no escaping him. It’s incredibly dangerous."

The masked members of the Court of Owls began to whisper; they had to admit Bruce was right. In such dangerous ventures, one must assume defeat before contemplating victory.

Suppose everything goes smoothly with their raid on Stark Tower: breaking the lab security, acquiring crucial Symbiont factor samples and the Extremis Virus Mother, and even managing to kill Iron Man and Pepper, severely crippling Stark Group. But once they employ Sentinel Robots and Talons, everyone would instantly know they did it.

Common people can’t touch them, but Thor is different—he is the master of the Nine Realms. If he wishes to find someone, he will. If he wishes to kill someone, he can. The greater the destruction, the more likely Thor will eliminate them, and they cannot resist.

Thus the best strategy is not to provoke him, or in other words, not to stir trouble. Yet the Sentinel Robots are incredibly powerful; in the previous church raid, they even rendered mutants like Magneto and the Scarlet Witch helpless. And that was just using a bit of stolen Stark technology.

If they could snatch Iron Man’s technology directly, imagine how formidable their Sentinel Robots would be? Forget mutants—not even the Rebirth Alliance could handle them. It’s worth a gamble.

"What good plan do you have?" a woman asked, "We acknowledge, being able to take down Spider Man means you have some prowess. You could replace this universe’s Bruce Wayne. Help us once more, and the Court of Owls will ensure your prosperity for life."

Bruce appeared pensive, pacing for a long time before saying, "If nowhere in the Nine Realms is safe, you’d better evacuate."

The members of the Court of Owls began to whisper again, as Bruce observed them and continued, "I reckon, after the establishment of the Rebirth Alliance, the Court of Owls has found it hard to operate? Superheroes are united now, patrolling vigorously. Coupled with the omnipotent Thor, getting caught means no chance of survival. For a secret organization, Earth is no longer safe."

Bruce’s words were endorsed by most members of the Court of Owls. Despite their previous advantage over Hydra, since the superheroes united, these secret evil organizations have been struggling immensely.

Spider Man’s intense patrol duties were indicative. He truly worked hard for the Rebirth Alliance, stationing superheroes like Superman, who could patrol globally, in Forward York City for eight rounds a day. It’s said even mosquitoes could hardly escape, let alone criminals causing trouble.

The Court of Owls wasn’t like Hydra, with numerous low-level members. They were higher-ups primarily; the Talons mostly served as assassins, unable to conduct surveillance activities. Consequently, there was no intelligence source—they were essentially blind and deaf, resorting to news reports for information, always one step behind.

In this context, the Court of Owls had to continually retract its battle line, having gathered so rarely, only due to a large wedding event could they gather information and dispatch robots to stir trouble. If not for such grand events, they’d gain nothing.

Moreover, they feared gathering, unsure if Thor was surveilling. A sudden flash and thunderstrike might finish them all. Over time, many members of the Court of Owls disappeared—either dead or vanished—with tough days.

"Retreat is inevitable," Bruce said, "You’re not combatants initially; seeking profit through affiliation doesn’t necessitate remaining local. Remote operation is inherently safer."

The Court of Owls was aware, but the difficulty was immense. One member said, "We wish to leave the Nine Realms, but the cosmos is even more dangerous. We have no foundation there; how could we retreat?"

"Finding allies in the cosmos is also difficult. On one hand, we can’t reach them; on the other hand, they may not help us," another person said, "Even if someone wishes to use us, we can’t guarantee they won’t betray us later."

"Indeed," Bruce nodded, "if you seek out established cosmic forces, like Apocalypse Star, Guardians of the Universe, or the Three Great Empires, they might wish to use you, but you’d be suppressed, losing initiative. But what if you find someone not so strong?"

"Do you have candidates?"

"You must have heard about the conflict between Thor and Loki," Bruce said. "The two of them are at each other’s throats. Loki doesn’t want to be imprisoned by Thor, and Thor desperately wants to restrain Loki. Besides, Loki’s own strength isn’t weak, and he could be a worthy investment."

The members of the Court of Owls began to communicate again and had to admit that this was indeed a novel approach. If they were to connect with organizations like the Three Great Empires, they’d essentially be working for others. But if they were to reach out to Loki, it would be different.

Firstly, Loki is quite alone, perhaps even in a worse position than them; he could be considered exiled. However, he’s a magician with strong survival skills in the cosmos, and he’s familiar with the cosmic forces, allowing him to navigate in outer space. Furthermore, he’s a Prince of Asgard with a claim to the throne, posing a threat to Thor.

If they find Loki, it would be mutually beneficial. They would rely on each other and would not completely lose their initiative to the Court of Owls. Supporting a second exiled prince to destabilize the current king’s throne is a common and effective tactic throughout human history.

If Loki could gather some other allies in the cosmos, he might genuinely be able to harm Thor. By then, there would be Sentinel Robots on Earth, and their people would be on the outside, both internal and external troubles for the Nine Major Kingdoms, allowing the Court of Owls to profit from the opportunity.

"Unfortunately, I don’t know Loki," Bruce said. "You’ll have to reach out to him yourselves. You must be fully prepared before the raid begins. Otherwise, no one can save you."

After leaving the base of the Court of Owls, Bruce stopped concerning himself with how they would contact Loki. Although it’s quite difficult for a purely Earth-based organization to reach out to aliens, the Court of Owls isn’t entirely composed of ordinary people because they have the Eagle Owl Priest.

This group, belonging to the Court of Owls, consists of magicians and are direct followers of Barbados, in essence, subordinates of the Dark God Pope Bruce Wayne.

They can utilize some power of darkness, but they need to report through ritual ceremonies. As long as Bruce approves, they can be considered half a magician, capable of seeking out Loki.

Since Bruce has restructured the entire faith system of Barbados to some extent, enhancing the overall quality of the followers and standardizing the personnel procedures, such matters must be reported. Sure enough, it wasn’t long before Bruce received ritual requests from the priests.

Bruce approved them casually but didn’t provide too much energy, fearing they might use it to blow up the Stark Building. With the acquired energy, the Court of Owls quickly took action.

They contacted Loki and were pleasantly surprised to find that Loki had already teamed up with interstellar pirates and found a foothold in a certain star system. Loki agreed with their plan, and most importantly, after witnessing the power of dark energy, Loki seemed to believe that Barbados, backing the Court of Owls, was truly worth cooperating with, making their collaboration seamless.

Subsequently, the Court of Owls began their relocation, and they moved so quickly that Bruce became suspicious. Normally, it should involve smuggling a spaceship from outside the Nine Major Kingdoms and taking people out while Thor is distracted, but instead, they used a teleportation portal.

If Loki could use a teleportation portal to move freely within the Nine Major Kingdoms, he wouldn’t have been imprisoned by Thor for so long. Bruce paced in his office in the Wayne building.

The Bruce of this universe was away at school, and Bruce had to play the role of substituting for the Bruce of this universe, so he directly took over Wayne Enterprises and the Joint Office, while dealing with company matters and following up on the Court of Owls.

Bruce pondered over what insight Loki might have had. It’s impossible that his magic level improved so much in such a short time, or it could be the Shi’ar Empire’s teleportation technology, but it seemed unlikely for Loki to acquire such core technology this quickly.

Suddenly, Bruce stopped in his tracks, struck by a sudden realization. Could it be that this isn’t the Loki of this universe?

Bruce’s mind opened up; the people from the Court of Owls might not have seen Loki themselves. They only knew the basics: an Asgardian prince, a magician with black hair, green eyes, and a horned helmet—but there was no way to determine which universe this Loki belonged to.

If, by any chance, he belonged to the Central Universe, that would certainly explain the ease of coming and going. People of the cosmos ridden by Greed have their ways, and teleporting under Thor’s watch isn’t impossible.

Apparently, Greed was involved again in this matter. But who’d have thought they’d relocate the Court of Owls themselves? Or maybe it wasn’t a premeditated act at all, and the priests just happened to contact the wrong person?

Bruce thought it couldn’t be. With Greed, there’s no such thing as mere coincidence; only inevitable choices. He believed that even if they searched a million more times, they would still find another Loki because that’s the trick Greed was playing.

Well, now they’ve fallen into Greed’s hands. Bruce shook his head; he initially just wanted to threaten the members of the Court of Owls with the isolated forces of the cosmos to make them reveal their list or create some incidents, allowing the Rebirth Alliance to clean them out. But in Greed’s realm, who knows how much they’ll be squeezed?