Chapter 46: The Dove
”Cuckoo-“
With the loud noise coming from the exploded dummy, a series of chirping birds emerged one after another, as a result of the explosion.
Countless tree branches swayed and flocks of white pigeons flew out of the forest towards the central statue.
From all corners of the entire park, pigeons flocked in varying numbers and converged on the statue.
”Report: there is another large flock of pigeons flying over in the distance, the number is hard to estimate!”
More than a dozen helicopter pilots had the most shocking experience towards this huge flock of pigeons.
It was as if they formed a white cloud in the dark sky, obscuring the entire sky.
Of course, this was only an exaggeration. In reality, the pigeons were flying at a much lower altitude than the helicopters were hovering.
By the time the huge torrent of pigeons approached the statue, the pilots’ view was completely blocked from what was going on below.
A sharp-eyed pilot spotted the pigeons’ claws seemingly clutching something. He immediately realised that something was wrong and reported to Gordon.
”Report: this is the Eleventh unit, these pigeons seem to be clutching something!”
”What!”
Gordon’s brow furrowed as he watched the flock of pigeons fly over from a distance. It was more clearly seen from the ground level. Each pigeon was indeed clutching an unknown object in its claws.
Gordon felt extremely anxious.
The flock of pigeons was seen to quickly disperse in all directions as they reached the position of the statue, and even lowered their flight altitude.
All of a sudden, the entire fifteen-metre space above the central statue square was filled with pigeons flying back and forth.
A rough estimate was that at least tens of thousands of pigeons had converged on the area.
”Phantom Kid has actually trained so many pigeons. This is definitely not something that can be accomplished in one year or two, which means he has definitely been preparing for this for at least several years!”
Starling pondered, “Could Kid’s real identity be a professional pigeon trainer?”
”But how on earth did he manage to train such a large number of pigeons in Robinson Park without anyone noticing?”
Starling felt a tremendous pressure; this Phantom Kid seemed far less simple than she had thought.
”Did he train them somewhere else and then migrate them here? But I haven’t heard of any recent incidents of pigeons migrating in large numbers, unless they were transported by truck … But it’s also impossible because since Her Majesty came to visit, every car entering Gotham, even the FBI’s, was heavily inspected … “
”How on earth did he accomplish this?”
Robinson Central Park covers a very large area, hence it’s not difficult to hide so many pigeons. It’s not a problem even if their number increases a few times.
But training flocks of pigeons was a different matter, and with tens of thousands of them flying in the sky, it was impossible not to attract people.
It was a pity that Starling still guessed one thing wrong: that Phantom Kid had been training these pigeons not for just a few years, but for a whole decade.
The reason that Mathison had been coming here regularly every month for over a decade was to train these pigeons in secret, and instead of grouping them together, he chose to do it in batches.
His training of only a dozen pigeons at a time would appear to be just a young boy feeding the pigeons and would not arouse anyone’s suspicion.
Thanks to his seemingly natural affinity with all kinds of birds and animals, Mathison would not have been able to accomplish such a sensational training job otherwise.
Hiding in the shadows, Mathison smiled slightly and pressed a button once more.
«You think I am done?»
A simultaneous whistling sound was heard as the stereos around the square activated.
«You thought wrong!»
After listening for a few seconds, Bob, who was experienced with pets, instantly spotted the matter; this whistling sound seemed to imply some kind of command, which was not addressed to humans, but conveyed to pigeons!
”Agent Starling, Barbara, watch out for those pigeons!”
Upon hearing the whistle, the tens of thousands of pigeons flying low in the sky received the command and threw down the object they were holding in their paws in an orderly fashion.
After throwing down the mysterious object, the group of pigeons scattered in all directions and flew away towards an unknown destination.
”Why hasn’t Kid appeared yet?”
Many of the young girls in the crowd who wanted to catch a glimpse of Phantom Kid complained in discontent and even more glared at their male companions with annoyed faces.
”I’m not Phantom Kid, how would I know when he’s coming out… And why are you mad at me if Phantom Kid doesn’t come out! Shouldn’t you blame Kid?”
Countless men gritted their teeth and vowed to punish this Phantom Kid one day for putting them in such a situation.
”Hmm? What’s falling from the sky?”
”Why is it still exploding!”
”Where’s all that smoke coming from?”
”Cough, cough, cough, it’s choking, there’s a burning sensation on my face, my eyes hurt, and I can’t stop the tears!”
Tear gas!!
Yes, this was the preparation that Mathison made every night without Barbara’s knowledge, he had spent a lot of money making a large quantity of hypnotic gas at his stronghold.
Because it needed to be made so that the pigeons could easily hold it, each tear gas grenade was condensed many times, so its effect wouldn’t be intense. Yet, such a large number of small tear gas grenades, once exploded, still covered the whole square.
No one was spared.
The ordinary people, unlike the trained GCPD police officers and the UK royal guards, could not do anything but cover their eyes and noses, even if they were affected by the tear gas. They ensured at least that they would not move around.
The same could not be said for the tens of thousands of people, who were frightened, rushing in a panic. Some managed to run in the right direction out of the tear-gas-covered area, but many more crashed inside of it.
The police defences, at a touch, collapsed!
”Damn it, I can’t see anything!”
Gordon was beyond remorseful at this point. He should have prepared a batch of gas masks but he still knew too little about this monstrous bandit.
All he could do was cover his mouth and nose as best he could and feel his way over to the Queen’s position. No matter what, protecting her was the uttermost priority!
Starling and Bob acted in line with Gordon, and so did Barbara.
It’s unknown whether if it was intentional or not, but the smoke was thinner near Queen Elizabeth. And after the Queen covered her mouth and nose with the handkerchief she carried with her, she was largely unharmed.
”Your Majesty, it’s dangerous here, let’s go!”
At this point, Prince Charles also covered his mouth and nose with his handkerchief and walked over to the Queen with a look of concern and worry in his eyes.
”Okay, Charles.”
The Queen nodded, no matter what unpleasantness she had just experienced, her son was her own after all. And although she couldn’t see into the smoke, she could tell just by the sound that the place was in chaos.
It was not a place to stay for long!
Charles approached the Queen and was just about to help her get on her feet when a hand suddenly grabbed his wrist!
”Prince Charles…”
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