DC: I am Bruce Wayne

Chapter 157: The Smell of Money

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"Love, passion, why do we get caught up by such troublesome feelings?"

- Takumi Usui, (Maid-Sama!)

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<{August? 2008}> 

<(Bruce Wayne POV)> 

"Cortana, are you sure that you don't want me to oversee the change in your new looks? I mean I get that you wish your new appearance to be a surprise, but if you just let me help, I can make sure that you turn out to be prettier than most models or actresses on the planet. I'll even keep it a secret from the others till you are ready to upload yourself into your new body." I proposed, trying my best to convince her to let me see the new looks she had chosen for herself.

Normally, plastic surgery or its more complex form, biological transfiguration, aka, flesh crafting wouldn't be possible for a being as... tough and indestructible as a Kryptonian through normal scientific means but fortunately for us, red solar lamps and surgical tools made from kryptonite were immensely useful in performing surgeries on the species, something that we were immensely grateful for. 

"Sorry, Bruce, but I have already decided on exactly how I want my new body to look, and it will be a surprise for everyone, including you. However, what I can tell you is that it is somewhat similar to my current teenage appearance, and you can regard it as my adult form. Also, I think my new appearance might be quite familiar to you. After all, it was inspired by one of the few memories of yours that you allowed me to see." She answered with a teasing smile.

'Inspired by one of my own memories, huh? I wonder whose appearance it is that she was inspired by.' I mused to myself with a curious raise of my brows. 

It has been a few months since I started helping Cortana with her new synthezoid body. Initially, I thought it would only take me a few weeks to do this but it turns out that bending the laws of life according to one's wishes isn't exactly quantum science... It was much harder than quantum science and a LOT more time-consuming too. In fact, at the pace this was going, we would be lucky if we could finish the project by the end of the year. 

Of course, I hadn't stopped being a vigilante during this time as well. I have been clearing the streets of all the minor gangs and criminals who have been trying their luck to make a name for themselves in Gotham's criminal underworld. Most of them weren't the supervillain type and were just doing it because they either thought it was cool or because they needed some money. However, there were a few people who were genuinely evil and wanted to harm others. But those criminals along with the psychotic ones all either permanently ended up in the hospital or died under mysterious conditions while the ones who were just desperate and were only committing minor crimes because they had no other way to fill their stomachs often found themselves being offered jobs from Wayne Enterprises or sometimes even fully paid scholarships in colleges from one of my foundations. 

The only major gang that was still more or less able to grow unhindered was Black Mask's gang and the major reason they were able to grow or operate without any major difficulties was because I allowed them to do so. Except for some pruning here and there, I made sure not to touch them in order to fatten them up for later. Only when the gang had grown enough to be considered the number one dominant underworld gang in Gotham, would I start my real plan, the plan to take over Gotham's criminal underworld directly under me. And quite fortunately, I would not have to wait long before I start implementing the strategy which I plan to do after the 2008 economic recession starts.

"By the way, Cortana, what about Project Midas? Since we have already concluded that the mortgage market is going to crash almost as early as next month, I hope you have already taken all the positions we discussed, right?" I asked as I looked up the dangerously increasing mortgage prices on the computer. 

"I have, sir. As you instructed, we have been using the Gotham Merchant's Bank you bought to purchase massive CDS contracts on the riskiest tranches of mortgage bonds. We are probably the biggest buyer of CDS contracts in the US right now. Of course, there are a few other investment firms like Scion Capital who are doing the same thing, but they are doing it on a much smaller scale. We will make a hundred times our investment whereas they will only make 10 to 20 times. Plus, I have also taken short positions on various mortgage bond securities, especially the ones which according to my algorithm will fall the hardest during the crash. We will be able to increase our investments by 20 to 40 times if we succeed, which we surely will. Moreover, since Wayne Enterprises is a private company owned completely by you, I was also able to use company funds to take short positions on various stocks, futures, and commodities like oil, aluminum, and copper. We will be making tens of billions from stocks like Freddie Mae, Fannie Mae, Citigroup, AIG, General Motors, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, and Lehman Brothers alone, even more if they go fully bankrupt." Cortana dutifully answered.

Honestly speaking, making money from a recession or a financial crisis was something I didn't really want to do since I knew that most of the money, I would be making from the crash was being taken out of the pockets of the common people. I knew that the crash would result in a lot of them losing their homes and jobs. Hundreds of companies would go bankrupt, thousands of families would fall into poverty while the more desperate people wouldn't even shy away from committing suicide if it meant escaping the financial nightmare that was the 2008 crash.

However, despite all that, I was still going to profit from the crisis since I knew that even if I didn't, someone else would. Money doesn't just disappear from financial markets. Every single cent that gets wiped out in a crash always goes to someone else's pockets, and since this crash wasn't something that I could just stop by myself, it would be better if that pocket was mine rather than someone else's. At least, that way I would be able to do some good with that money later... Also, the ones who would get the most hurt from the mortgage crisis and the stock market crash were the banks (at least before they get bailed out by the government), and everyone knows that you never trust or pity a bank.

"Since we estimate that the mortgage market is going to crash as early as next month, we will probably be getting our investments back from the mortgage bonds and CDS contracts first. We can further use that money to bet against various currencies and more stocks later. By the end of 2008, we will be able to make half a trillion dollars this way which will balloon to 800 billion dollars by 2009." Cortana continued to explain, "... However, I can effectively double this amount if you authorize the use of the God's Eyes algorithm. Even making 2 trillion dollars by the end of 2009 won't be far-fetched that way. Wayne Enterprises will legally become the richest company in the world, and you will have your claws so deep into the global economy that no government will ever dare to antagonize you without risking an economic or an actual war." My cute digital secretary did her best to bait me into agreeing with her.

"Cortana, you know very well how I feel about using that algorithm. It is meant to be used as a final resort kind of thing, not to make money from the stock market. I understand that you feel the most confident in being able to help me when you get access to the power that the algorithm gives you, but you have to understand my worries about it too. You NEVER use a power that you aren't a hundred percent sure you can protect from others. Also, I already don't like the fact that I am basically cheating my way to unfairly make money from a stock crash but now, you are advising me to use the algorithm as well. That would not just be overkill but almost like stealing from people and corporations all over the world." I complained.

I was ready to cheat my way into making money but stealing from normal people was a line I wanted to cross.

"I am not telling you to steal from normal people. Look, I still don't have hard proof but the way the market is behaving is very weird. It almost seems like someone or some organization is manipulating things from behind the scenes. I have tried to dig deeper into this, but there are no paper trails, and everywhere I look is a dead end. The entire thing is pitch-perfect like the market followed a script to get to where it is today and nobody noticed, which is even more suspicious. I can't say for sure if the mortgage market is being manipulated or not but if it is, I haven't been able to figure out who they are or what their true goal is.

Regardless of whoever it is, they were either trying to profit from the artificial ballooning of the markets like a bunch of idiots or they carefully engineered this entire situation so that they can make money when the mortgage market crashes because when that happens, the rest of the financial markets around the world will be falling one after the other like dominoes. However, if you just let me use God's Eyes, I will be able to use the extra processing power to figure out exactly who these people are and what they truly want while also making you a few extra couple of hundred billion along the way." She revealed in the tone of a spoiled kid who was negotiating for candy to do her job. 

Well, I guess even AIs can get addicted. 

"Fine, we will see what to do when it comes to it. Once the market crashes, whoever is behind this will definitely try to make their move. You can use the algorithm to look into it then. For now, just focus on holding our positions and monitoring all market activity. I can't allow any mistakes. After all, this type of opportunity only comes once in a decade. If something goes wrong, my multi-billionaire status might get downgraded to a millionaire one and if that happens, I'll have to work for weeks to become a billionaire again." I sighed while tiredly stretching my body. 

"Got it, sir. Oh, and you might want to get ready for your date with Miss. Nyssa tonight. You two will be going to a fund-raising charity auction where you can impress her, do charity work, and get dinner, all at the same time. Believe me, with how much she has been preparing for this date with you, you don't want to keep her waiting... Wait, you do remember you have a date today, don't you?" Cortana questioned with a deadpan.

"Of course, I do. And even if I didn't, I still wouldn't be worried since I have you, my beautiful perfect hardworking secretary who never lets me down. Thank you for your hard work, Cortana." I praised her, hoping that she didn't catch my lie about remembering the date.

" q(≧▽≦q) " -Cortana.

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