Bang!
The Golden-haired young man's body slammed heavily onto the ground, causing the ground to shake violently.
Where his back hit the ground, a crater instantly formed, and countless soil particles burst out, scattering into the air.
Wonder Woman rapidly charged towards him, pressing down on his shoulder with one hand, forcefully pinning him to the ground, controlling his movements and rendering him unable to move.
Before he could react, Wonder Woman, without hesitation, aimed a powerful punch at his head.
A massive wave of dizziness instantly assailed him.
Accompanied by the sharp pain in his head, the Golden-haired young man fell to the ground, groaning in agony.
His spine was already in excruciating pain, and now an unbearable ache radiated from his head!
He no longer had the strength to even twitch.
Seeing the Golden-haired young man instantly knocked down, the nearby protesters were all stunned!
Originally, these protesting citizens had a lot of confidence in the Golden-haired super-powered individual, but seeing him so easily defeated, their hearts were instantly filled with terror, and they cast fearful glances at Wonder Woman and Eric.
Eric descended from the sky, glanced at the Golden-haired young man lying on the ground, his face full of terror, and shook his head slightly.
He was just an artificial super-powered individual who didn't know the immensity of heaven and earth; it was merely his luck that he wasn't casually dealt with.
Then he turned his gaze to the protesting crowd.
"Disperse!"
Looking at the shocked, frightened, or hateful gazes of these "troublemakers" around him, Eric slowly uttered the word.
Many citizens, intimidated by the powerful aura emanating from Eric, involuntarily took a few steps back.
But there were also a few hardliners who controlled their fear, mustered their courage, and confronted Eric, showing no intention of backing down.
"We… we won't back down! We are here to demand our legitimate rights, and you have no right to deprive us of our pursuit of legal rights! This city doesn't need an army, it doesn't need authoritarian rule. You have no right to legislate for us and control us! Even if you are the President, you don't have such a right."
A citizen, mustering his courage, spoke to Eric tremblingly.
Although intimidated by Eric's powerful presence, he still expressed his thoughts.
Eric hadn't spoken yet when Wonder Woman, standing beside him, frowned and said to the outspoken citizen, "No matter what your demands are, what you need to do now is to return home or to your workplaces, instead of gathering here to storm the city hall. You have seriously violated the laws enacted by Homelander! If you don't retreat, you will be arrested!"
As a staunch supporter of Eric, Wonder Woman naturally wouldn't indulge them, and she sternly rebuked them, "So, now you all disperse!"
Seeing that some people still refused to disperse, Wonder Woman raised her fist and warned impolitely, "I'm saying this one last time, disperse!"
Her expression was serious, like a hunter ready to attack at any moment.
Everyone could hear the warning in her voice.
Gordon, standing behind the crowd, had no doubt that if these citizens didn't leave, this woman would treat these ordinary people just as she had treated that super-powered individual, without hesitation.
The atmosphere on the scene instantly became tense, and a murderous aura permeated the square, everyone holding their breath.
The enhanced soldiers began to gather, fully intending to forcibly disperse these citizens at Eric's command.
Many people had second thoughts and wanted to leave this troublesome place as soon as possible.
They were not all citizens with political demands; most were just following the crowd to participate in this protest.
If they lost their lives here because of this gathering, it would truly be the most unprofitable thing.
Gordon glanced at his old friend Harvey and whispered, "You take these citizens away, disperse the crowd from Sunset Boulevard, don't let them continue to provoke them here."
"What about you? Stay here and negotiate with them?"
Harvey Bullock put away his already extinguished cigar and asked Gordon.
Gordon tightened his overcoat, threw his cigarette to the ground, and crushed it with his foot.
"I'm going to talk to our President as the Commissioner of the Gotham City Police Department. You'd better pray I'm lucky, otherwise we'll all lose our jobs."
"Uh-huh, unemployed? What's worse than that is I still have a lot of bank debts."
Harvey Bullock said to Gordon, casually showing his empty wallet.
Gordon ignored him and walked straight towards Eric.
The surrounding citizens, under the persuasion of the police led by Harvey, slowly began to retreat.
Even if Harvey hadn't led the police to persuade them to leave, these citizens wouldn't have dared to stay here and continue to cause trouble.
After all, Wonder Woman's aura had already suffocated them, not to mention there was a more formidable Homelander nearby.
Most people were not fools who disregarded their own lives.
"Mr. President!"
Gordon took the initiative to greet him, "It's a pleasure to meet you. I didn't expect you to come to Gotham, and in this manner. I must say, it's quite surprising."
As he spoke, Gordon extended his hand, ready to shake Eric's hand.
Eric did not shake Gordon's hand, merely observing the haggard old man in front of him.
James Gordon, a Gotham police officer who had suffered multiple assassination attempts, not to mention countless kidnapping and attack attempts by various villains.
He even lost everything he once had in order to uphold so-called "justice."
Compared to Batman, he was an even more tragic and stubborn fellow.
Eric had long heard of this famous "one-on-one king" of Gotham City.
He had only heard his name before and had never seen him in person. Now that he saw his true appearance, he felt that he was older and more haggard than he had imagined.
Only his eyes were sharp, unlike those of a middle-aged man.
"James Gordon?"
Eric frowned and asked him.
"It's me. Mr. President actually knows me?"
Gordon looked surprised.
He truly hadn't expected Eric to call out his name.
"It's truly surprising that Mr. President knows a small fry like me."
Eric gazed at him, and after a moment, slowly said, "You are not a small fry. You are the Commissioner of the Gotham Police Department, right?"
"Yes, the Commissioner of the Gotham Police Department."
Gordon nodded at Eric, "And also the enforcer of this city."
His tone towards Eric was neither overly respectful nor disrespectful; he remained humble yet firm.
"Not anymore."
Eric pointed to the enhanced soldiers behind him and said, "These soldiers will take over this city starting today, and this city will no longer have intermittent curfews. Instead, starting now, a curfew will be implemented after dark, and the lifting time is undetermined. These soldiers are the enforcers of this city, and the Gotham Police Department will no longer be an enforcement agency."
Eric was fed up with Gotham, this rotten city, with its hidden super-criminals and countless intricate forces.
He was tired of playing so-called hide-and-seek games with these villains and lunatics.
When the Green Lantern Corps invaded, many of the rats here began to stir.
He even received news that enhanced human serum had appeared on Gotham's black market.
To solve these rats hiding in the sewers once and for all, he brought the enhanced soldiers here, preparing to use military means to clear out these scums.
As for whether it would fail?
With all the national resources at his disposal, using the strength of the entire nation to deal with one city, the last thing he feared was failure.
Anyway, his cost of trial and error was infinite.
He could simply replenish resources after losses.
Whether it was enhanced soldiers or various other resources, as long as he still controlled most of the resources in the United States, these were not problems.
"I think—"
Gordon looked directly into Eric's eyes, and after a moment, said to Eric, "The people of Gotham will not easily give up their homes. The people here are not afraid."
"Many methods do not work in this city."
Gordon said with a complex expression.
"Mr. President, we both understand that we cannot do our job well with violence alone. My friend, Harvey Bullock, who is also a police officer in this city, was beaten just yesterday for trying to pull out his badge. What we need is not mere violence; that won't change this city. Implementing curfews and deploying troops will only provoke more opposition! Some gentler methods, or other approaches, I think, you could consider."
Eric had no intention of debating with Gordon. He shook his head and slowly said, "Commissioner, you just need to follow orders."
"But this city will ultimately fall into resistance!"
Gordon's brows furrowed even more tightly as he said this to Eric.
"What does that matter?"
Eric looked at Gordon, a mocking expression on his face.
He wouldn't care how many people died in this city.
Compared to the countless tragic events the simple Gotham citizens had already endured, what did this "resistance" riot even amount to?
Compared to before, where they would stay at home for no reason, suddenly get shot by bullets from gangsters, and die innocently and unluckily; or walk in an alley, inexplicably get robbed and shot, with no guarantee of safety.
Now, I have provided them with protection, allowing some of the haze to be dispelled from this gloomy city.
Am I not doing something "right" and merciful?!
He even felt that the citizens here should gather to thank him.
Just as Commissioner Gordon was about to say something more, Wonder Woman suddenly stepped forward and said to Commissioner Gordon in an unfriendly tone, "If you, as the Commissioner, cannot lower the crime rate in this city, then don't blame us for taking action!"
Wonder Woman had no good impression of this Commissioner who had been in office for many years but had allowed Gotham's crime rate to remain high.
She believed that he, like those incompetent and corrupt bureaucrats, was one of the culprits behind the city's downfall.
Frowning, she said to Commissioner Gordon, "Don't let your incompetence hold the entire city hostage."
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