Phantom Kid in the World of American Comics

”It’s not easy to see your smiling face.”

Alfred smirked.

”Huh, let’s leave that aside for now Alfred, what do you think about this teaser letter?”

Bruce chuckled lightly, he was somehow in a light mood these days, since Phantom Kid had appeared.

”Master Wayne, Phantom Kid’s coded message is one of a kind, but it’s still a lot worse than the Riddler.”

”Yes, those riddles Edward devised back in the day nearly pushed me to break my head.”

Alfred laughed happily, not just at Bruce’s rare joke, but because he was finally willing to bring up a memory from the past.

”How many have been solved?” Bruce asked.

”No response or answer from the GCPD.”

”No, you know I’m not talking about the police.”

”A good chunk, I guess, I only know the date, the location, and the target of Phantom Kid’s crime.”

Alfred said, truthfully, if it was a Riddler’s riddle, he was afraid he wouldn’t be able to solve anything.

Bruce nodded, “Well then, let’s talk about it, maybe we’ll both have different opinions.”

”Let’s start with the easiest, he said he wanted to take the cat’s eye, no doubt the target was the Cat’s Eye Emerald, the most valuable emerald with the highest value in Gotham… is the Cat’s Eye Emerald that Daggett auctioned off not long ago.”

At this point, Alfred’s expression suddenly became weird, “It’s not nice to say this, but, for a moment, I have to admit I was pleased to know that Daggett is the victim.”

This was because, during the eight years, due to Bruce’s seclusion, Wayne Enterprises had been declining. Especially that the negative annual revenue led to the displeasure of many of the board of directors, all of whom were shareholders in Wayne Enterprises. The largest shareholder was Daggett, he was ambitious and wanted to take control of Wayne Enterprises but never had the chance.

The second largest shareholder was Miranda Tate, a philanthropist and one of the few members of the board who supported Bruce, although her support turned out eventually to be fake…

It was clear that Wayne Enterprises was down and Bruce, its isolated owner, knew nothing about it, only Alfred saw some of what was happening to it.

Bruce didn’t care for Alfred’s confession as he added, 

”The Cat’s Eye Emerald was housed in Daggett’s private collection after it was bought by him, which is located at the southernmost tip of the island of Lower Town, right next to the Atlantic Ocean. And since it’s summertime, and the wind will be blowing from the ocean to the mainland, the “waves” mostly refer to the direction the waves are facing, which means he will somehow detour from the Atlantic to Daggett’s collection.”

Yes, that’s what Alfred had thought too.

”The last thing is the date, and the first two sentences refer to the date.”

Alfred affirmed, “The ‘fickle brothers’ mean Gemini, and the ‘second of the Twelve Trials’ refers to the birth of Cancer, which means that Phantom Kid will commit his crime between the last day of Gemini and the first day of Cancer, which is June 21 to 22!”

”Only the last sentence, ‘when Selene cannot look far enough to see Helio,’ which I’m not sure what it refers to.”

Alfred sighed and said.

”Pah-pah-pah-pah.”

Bruce applauded approvingly.

”Great, Alfred, so far you and I are on the same page, and as for this last unexplained sentence, I’ve got a clue as to what it says about the exact time when Phantom Kid will strike.”

”In fact, the contents of this teaser letter are so simple that anyone who has studied Greek mythology will understand it at first glance.”

”Selene is known as the god of the moon in Greek mythology, while Helios is the god of the sun.”

”Oh, I’m sorry, Master Wayne, isn’t Apollo the god of the sun in Greek mythology?”

”That’s the hard part!” Bruce’s eyes were playful.

       “Usually popular Greek mythology describes Apollo as the god of the sun, which of course he was, but as the successor to Helios.”

”In Hesiod’s Genealogy of the Gods, it is recorded that Helios was the son of the Titan gods Hyperion and Thea, the brother of Selene, the god of the moon, and Eos, the goddess of the dawn and that the gods in their line were responsible for bringing light to the world.”

”In this way, Selene is the moon and Helios is the sun, and the inability to look away refers to-“

”The moon and the sun are separated by another celestial body, a lunar eclipse!” Alfred said in surprise, but the next instant he rejected the explanation.

”No, according to the Observatory’s estimates, the lunar eclipse is supposed to happen on June 26th, which doesn’t match the date on the teaser letter.”

”Exactly, so it doesn’t refer to a lunar eclipse, which means it’s not the Earth that separates the moon from the sun, but an artificial satellite!”

Bruce cut to the chase.

”The time when the artificial satellite is located between the moon and the sun, which is nine o’clock at night, is when Kid kicks off!”

On the other side, Mathison was still unaware that his teaser letter had been deciphered by Batman, he is busy picking out his new base at the moment.

With the 170 million dollars in hand, Mathison first forged a series of identity documents for himself, which, of course, did not look like his real self.

He then made his way to Wayne Real Estate, there was no way around it, it was hard to find anything in Gotham that Wayne Enterprises hadn’t claimed already.

”Mr. DiCaprio, may I ask what kind of property you need?”

Mathison was dressed as he was on his ID, wearing a high-end suit that the young agent knew at the first glance that a big order might be coming in, and rushed over to talk to Mathison.

”I need a single-family home on a large lot with a quiet setting, preferably with little foot traffic. The price doesn’t matter.”

At these words, the agent’s breath caught, she felt that this customer’s last remark was just too manly, she adored this kind of young and handsome man who was also rich…

She pressed down her restless heart and introduced the finest properties to Mathison one by one.

”Look at this villa, it covers a total of one thousand square meters, the villa is over six hundred square feet, located at the southeast end of the diamond district, the environment is absolutely quiet….”

Without waiting for her to finish, Mathison interrupted, “Not in the Diamond District.”

The agent had to switch to another villa.

”Does this one, with seven hundred and fifty square feet of land and five hundred square feet of villa space, located near the Robert Kane Memorial Bridge, meet your requirements?”

The Memorial Bridge? There really weren’t many people, and Mathison thought about it for a moment before finally shaking his head.

The Memorial Bridge was on the East End, the most chaotic part of Gotham, where almost half of all crime took place.

Although the Memorial Bridge was on the edge of the East End, there was no guarantee that it would be bombarded one day.

The agent frowned; she felt that this customer was very picky.

Next, seven or eight villas were introduced in quick succession, all of which Mathison rejected.

”Sorry sir, we are down to the last villa that meets your requirements, but I don’t recommend that you choose this one.”

In the end, the lady had to move that one…

”Oh? Let’s see, a luxury villa estate, covering an area of seventeen hundred square meters, with a villa area of eight hundred and twenty square feet, four floors above and below, and a basement with a good amount of space, and a great overall decoration… To be honest, looking at the condition of the villa itself, I like this one the best.”

”But this estate is located in the Edinburgh district.”

The Edinburgh district was the largest industrial area in Gotham, originally nothing famous, but no one dared to settle there now because of an accident at a factory that had led to the birth of some villain. This factory is the famous ACE chemical plant…

The agent was helpless, she was ready to be rejected again, she hadn’t been able to sell any of the houses today and it looked like she was going to have to live a hell of a month again.

”I like this one, I’ll take it!”