Chapter 16: The Court of Owls

Chapter 16: The Court of Owls

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"It is possible to make no mistakes and lose. That is not failure; that is life."

- Cpt. Jean-Luc Picard, (Star Trek)

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<(Unknown pov)>

"Good morning ladies and gentlemen, since all of us are already here, we should officially start the meeting." A man in a suit wearing a golden owl mask said as he entered a room with a dozen people wearing white owl masks sitting around a luxurious big table.

There were also about half a dozen people wearing black skin-tight body armor and weird black owl masks looking like monsters guarding the doors of the room.

All of the attendees said nothing as they just nodded at the man's words.

"As all of you know, some days ago we were successful in eliminating the biggest hurdle in our path, Thomas Wayne after he denied our invitation to the court and threatened to expose us to the public. Although we had decided to eliminate the entire Wayne family, the person we used to complete this job failed to kill the youngest member of the family, Bruce Wayne. We had let him live after confirming that he had lost his memories to amnesia and was no threat to our plan.

But a few days ago I was informed that he was able to recognize the face of the person we used to complete the job indicating that he had either gotten his memories back or he had never lost them in the first place.

Now, rest assured I have made sure that the man we used to kill the Wayne couple died the same day in police custody before he could reveal anything about us, but the main topic of discussion today is what to do with Bruce Wayne." The man with the golden eagle mask who seemed to be in charge asked as he looked at the people sitting around the table.

"I think he is no danger to us. He is just a spoiled little innocent boy. I doubt he knows anything of value about us or the incident. Also, if he does become a problem later on, we can always just remove him and make it look like an accident." A woman with an owl mask on said carelessly.

"Hmm. What do you think Mr Twelfth? You are one of the board of directors at Wayne Industries. So you might have an idea about the boy right?" The golden owl mask-wearing leader asked as he looked at another man at the table.

"I agree with Miss Fifth. I think Bruce Wayne is just a spoiled kid. According to my intel, he is just a kid who doesn't even like to go to school and just lazes in his room all day. He is extremely anti-social and is just wasting his family's fortune by donating expensive research equipment to charity as part of his Martha Wayne Foundation efforts.Findd new stories at novelhall.com

The pipsqueak even thinks that he can run a company at his age as his little caretaker had the galls to request the board to hand over control of a company that is not doing well to him to practice his leadership and business skills." The man laughed smugly as he said his piece.

"Also the League of Assassins would like you to leave that boy alone as well. This was a 'request' directly from the Demon's head. That boy might be important to our plans. We hope that you can respect this small 'request' of ours." A man with a similar white owl mask but with a different demeanor than the rest of the members present said as he seemed to look directly into the leader's eyes like he was threatening him.

"I see. It is decided then. We will leave Bruce Wayne alone for now unless he becomes a thorn in our side in the future." The leader said with an expressionless voice as he didn't react to the member's thinly veiled threat. None of the other members there did.

The League of Assassins might be extremely strong but the Court of Owls wasn't a pushover. It had its own power and fighters. It didn't want to directly make the League an enemy but it also wouldn't cower in fear if it ever came to a fight.

"Now, the main question. How much money do we have in personal accounts? Can I even afford to buy one of them?" Bruce asked as he looked at Alfred's displeased face.

"Unfortunately your parents normally didn't keep liquid assets much. Some ranches, international residential properties, and houses are all bought as fixed assets under their name. As for liquid assets, you only currently have about two billion dollars..." Alfred said with a bit of regret.

Bruce was almost heartbroken. Each of these companies would cost about double or triple that even though they are all loss-making ones being sold to him at market value.

"However the two foundations do have some money that we can use since we have complete control of them," Alfred asked as he looked at Bruce like he remembered something.

"How many liquid assets do they have?" Bruce asked without much hope.

"Not a lot. About thirty-five billion in cash and bonds." Alfred asked after thinking for a moment.

"..."

"..."

"You couldn't have told me about it sooner. And I was almost worried that we had money problems." Bruce sighed as he relaxed. He was ultra-rich again as the money in the two foundations under him would alone make him the richest person in his previous world in this era.

"Well, your parents were always extremely charitable," Alfred said as he seemed to grow nostalgic with a smile on his face.

"Whatever. Inform the board members that we will be buying Wayne Entertainment, Wayne Electronics, and Wayne Capital from them. Buy it under the foundation's name since I don't want this 'I am too young to manage a company' fiasco to repeat. Oh and also make sure that we complete this entire process as silently and quickly as we can." Bruce ordered.

"Sure young Master it will be done," Alfred said as he nodded and left, determined to not let Bruce down again.

'The Board of Directors, huh? They are probably in cahoots with the Court of Owls or some other nefarious organization since if they were alone they would not have the nerve to do this to me. After all, even they know that once I reach my adult age, I could effortlessly take back control of my company again and easily take revenge against them. I promise you, whoever you guys are messing with me, you will be in a hell of pain soon. Nobody takes my money away from me, NOBODY.' Bruce thought grimly as he clenched his fists tight until they became white and then silently went back to making his drones again.

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