At nine o'clock at night, on the rooftop terrace of the Manhattan Police Department, right beside the giant Bat-signal.
Police Captain George Stacy had been waiting here for a long time. He had also closed off the stairs leading to the terrace well in advance to ensure that no one could come up.
However, he hadn't turned on the Bat-signal, choosing instead to stand nearby and wait in silence, holding a cigarette whose ember had burned all the way down to the filter, though he hadn't taken a single puff of it.
Not until Batman appeared silently behind Captain George and the sound of his cape whipping violently in the wind was heard did Captain George raise his hand, intending to take a draw.
Yet glancing at the tiny scrap of cigarette butt left at his fingertips, Captain George sighed, tossed it onto the ground, and stubbed it out by grinding his shoe back and forth over it.
"Captain George." Batman's voice was as low and raspy as ever.
"Batman," Captain George spoke up as well, his voice sounding somewhat hoarse. "I figured that ever since the Avengers formed, you wouldn't be contacting me anymore."
"Why?"
"Because your enemies are Hydra."
"No. My enemy is crime itself, no matter how big or small."
Captain George didn't know a single thing about Daredevil and the others forming the Defenders, nor about Batman joining the Defenders.
In the eyes of nearly everyone, including him, the superheroes who appeared during the Battle of Manhattan all belonged to the Avengers.
Specific groups like the Justice League or the Defenders hadn't appeared in the public eye at all.
"I'm very glad to hear you say that," Captain George looked at Batman. "I honestly thought this Bat-signal would need to be dismantled."
Batman shook his head.
Even though he was in Gotham, his identity was the heir to the wealth-surpassing Wayne Enterprises.
Yet from the perspective of Batman, during all those years of training, he had entirely cast aside the identity of a Wayne Enterprises heir, dragging himself through the mud as an ordinary person—even from the very bottom rungs of society.
He would devise counter-plans for cosmic-level threats, just as he would put a stop to the most ordinary robberies in narrow alleys.
As long as it was crime, it stood as the antithesis of Batman.
"Someone made an appointment with me, saying you would come tonight. Who is he? Your informant?" Captain George asked.
The person he was referring to was Alfred, only with the Manhattan Police Department's capabilities, it was utterly impossible for them to investigate and discern that Alfred was merely an artificial intelligence.
Let alone the Manhattan Police Department, even Ant-Man's Ultron drones didn't know Alfred's true identity to this day; only Jarvis knew that this fellow was also a being whose level of intelligence knew no upper limit, having directly transferred data with Alfred before.
"That's right, an informant." Batman's tone was filled with matter-of-fact certainty. "Captain George, I hope to establish a true cooperative relationship with you through my informant."
"Sigh," Captain George Stacy sighed—this time, a relaxed sigh.
He trusted that Batman genuinely hadn't given up on cracking down on criminal activities among the lowest-class civilians:
"What kind of cooperation? Though I'll most likely not refuse, I still want to know the contents of the cooperation beforehand."
"I need criminal profiles, big or small. And I need a surveillance network deployed across Manhattan in the name of the Manhattan Police Department," Batman said.
Captain George Stacy pulled a cigarette from his pocket, gesturing for Batman to have one. Seeing the other party gaze at him with a pair of cold eyes, he had no choice but to pop it into his own mouth unlit:
"The former is easy enough to talk about, but don't expect all the profiles to be handed over to you—at least leave some work for our cops... Otherwise it's too discouraging for the young guys at our precinct. We had this exact situation back when Spider-Man was around; the guy took every single criminal activity into his own hands down to the finest detail, to the point where the officers' resignation rate exceeded 30%."
"As for the latter... a surveillance network? That sort of thing is hard to pull off, even harder than fighting crime."
Batman wasn't surprised by Captain George's reservations regarding the deployment of a surveillance network:
"I know it's hard, which is why cooperation is required."
"Cooperation alone isn't enough to get it done, Batman," a look of worry hung on Captain George's face. "It takes funding, it takes police manpower to monitor the surveillance network, it takes getting approval from all the administrative districts of Manhattan... and those are just minor matters."
Batman remained silent, quietly waiting for Captain George to continue.
Staring at Batman, who stood like a statue in the chilly wind, Captain George bundled his coat tighter around himself, feeling a chill in the air:
"The most crucial part is, once the surveillance network is laid down, I guarantee you that within three days, these newly deployed cameras will be torn down by all sorts of characters—like thugs, gangs, and even major corporations. Everyone here, every single district, has secrets; no one wants those secrets exposed beneath a camera lens."
"I hold secrets that belong to certain entrepreneurs that they wouldn't dare let see the light of day. I can use those to threaten them, and all you need to do is expand outward point-by-point, letting the scope of surveillance gradually widen," Batman said.
"Entrepreneurs' secrets?" Captain George looked at Batman in bewilderment.
"Osborn Corp, Pym Technologies, the Baxter Building, Parker Group, Fisk Industries, Parker Group, Stark Industries," Batman listed. "First, deploy the surveillance network within the radiation range of these enterprises."
"Wait?" Captain George hurriedly called a time-out. "The Baxter Building is the Fantastic Four? You hold secrets on them? You can even use threats to make them obediently toe the line?"
Batman nodded.
"What about Stark Industries then? Everyone knows Iron Man of Stark Industries and you, Batman, are both members of the Avengers," Captain George pressed further.
"Trust me." Batman said only those two words.
"I'll also need political support... So Mr. Norman Osborn of Osborn Corp, who is currently an Osborn Councilman in the New York government and formerly the Green Goblin—you have leverage to hold over him, too?" Captain George asked.
"He is perhaps the single person you can trust the most," Batman said.
Captain George lit his cigarette, watching the ember flicker on and off in the cold December wind.
He took a hard drag down to the cigarette butt, then forcefully stubbed out the ember with his heel. In the eyes of this veteran cop who had spent over a dozen years cutting his teeth in the Manhattan Police Department, a fierce, youthful drive burned bright:
"Damn it! Let's do it!"
If the surveillance network was truly laid down successfully with Batman's assistance, Captain George could even foresee the future state of Manhattan.
With the surveillance network coupled with the aid of superheroes, Manhattan's crime rate would likely drop to its lowest level in history.
Captain George didn't even need to ask Batman what they should do if they installed a camera and it got stolen, or if they laid down a surveillance network and a section of it got snipped.
The old captain knew precisely what had to be done: make examples of offenders! Hit them hard!
With even Fisk Industries—the company belonging to Wilson Fisk, who once practically controlled Hell's Kitchen—included on Batman's list of threats, Captain George had no reason not to complete this cooperative mission.
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