Pamela watched Tim run off, and since Natasha had not returned after a long wait, she also grew impatient with dealing with agents and decided to run off herself.
Before running away, she didn't forget to cause a potted plant riot at the FBI office. All the small flowers and ornamental plants there started attacking people, which kept the FBI too busy to chase after them.
"Everything's a mess, a total mess," Tim gulped down a large swig of coffee and sat down in a corner of the coffee shop where the view was obscured. Pamela put on her hood and sat next to him asking, "What exactly happened?"
"I think my original assumptions might have some issues," Tim, still in shock, said. "I thought it was just a problem among S.H.I.E.L.D., the FBI, and Hydra, at most maybe The Avengers involved, but it seems it's not that simple."
"Oh?" Pamela responded nonchalantly, prompting Tim to ask first, "What's wrong with you?"
"Natasha invited me to dinner earlier, and I didn't seize the opportunity. This time our heart-to-heart was disrupted by those agents. At this rate, by the time we leave, I won't even catch a glimpse of the beautiful lady…"
"Beautiful lady, my foot!" Tim said through gritted teeth. "Do you realize she's from the Soviet Union!"
Soviet Union or not, Pamela said indifferently, "It's not like I've never met one… Wait a second, there's no Soviet Union in this universe, right? Ah, the poor beautiful lady is homeless."
"No Soviet Union?" Tim said sarcastically. "The Soviet Union is probably everywhere. You still have the spirit to worry about her being homeless?!"
"What do you mean exactly?"
Tim took another sip of coffee and said, "I just saw an investigation report in the archives of the FBI. It said that several of the most famous members of The Avengers have ties to the Soviet Union to some extent."
"So? You suspect they are revivalists?"
"No, no, no, it's just that if this involves the Soviet Union, it's probably not as simple as a three-way power struggle."
Tim scratched his head, genuinely feeling overwhelmed. When he saw that list, his mind was buzzing.
This was where Tim differed from the other two Robins. Although all were adoptive sons of Batman and had never known hardship since Bruce adopted them,
Dick and Jason were still essentially proletariat, both being orphans with tragic family histories. Even living at Wayne Manor, they didn't control any means of production.
Theoretically, since Dick had changed his surname to Wayne and had a legal adoption contract, he was entitled to inheritance. But things don't work that way by themselves, and Dick wasn't interested in taking over Wayne Enterprises, so he wasn't considered a big capitalist.
But Tim was different. Born into the wealthy Drake family, and in a universe where Bruce had no biological sons, Bruce had no choice but to hand over Wayne Enterprises to him after going out as a street vigilante.
To put it a bit retroactively in terms of class, he was an American capitalist through and through, from start to finish under the Stars and Stripes, his bloodline richer than even Bruce Wayne's.
Moreover, Tim had no education or upbringing that aligned with communism; he was a typical American capitalist.
As is well known, the American upper class has a severe case of the red scare. In other universes, by Tim's generation, the Soviet Union would have long been out of concept since it had already perished.
But in Shiller's universe, the Soviet Union landed smoothly, though now it's hanging by a thread with much of its territory already carved out, only maintaining Greater Russia and its surroundings, basically just a head left, but it's still alive.
Meaning, when Tim took over Wayne Enterprises, the Soviet Union still existed. How could his leadership at Wayne Enterprises have no friction with this country across the ocean?
In fact, they had already clashed several times. The KGB was like gum stuck to a shoe, relentlessly pushing into the East Coast. The FBI would dare to go where the KGB also dared, and even into places the FBI wouldn't, all in the name of intelligence over life.
The economic lifeline of the East Coast, Wayne Enterprises, was naturally a target they strived to conquer. For a long time, Tim's main job focus was to try to pick someone who didn't look like a Soviet spy among all those who looked suspiciously Soviet.
You could say he was another sufferer of the red scare.
So when he realized that although the Soviet Union in this universe had perished, it still lived on in many people's dreams, he felt like everything he had previously assumed about the struggle had an invisible hand pushing it from behind.
Seeing that list, Tim didn't doubt for a second. For the Soviet Union, this type of operation was basic, and Tim, who had sparred with the Soviets a few times, understood that this world is a giant KGB; anyone could be KGB.
Captain America made sense, as he was from a previous era when the Soviet Union was at its peak. He was also the arch-enemy of 'Little Mustache,' sharing common ideals and goals with the Soviets, so being flipped was all too normal.
Natasha went without saying; she was a Soviet agent before, and top-notch at that. Tim couldn't even imagine who had approved her entry.
Spider Man, well, his origins and personality were just too typical; Tim didn't even want to analyze him.
Thor, though an alien and of royal blood who became the Divine King, had a temper similar to those Soviets. Maybe he had some dealings with the Soviets in the past.
Nick Fury, a Black man, so definitely part of the Black Panther Party.
Black Panther, his name says it all, doesn't it?
Stark, the reason he isn't on the list must be that no one can afford the cost of him being a Soviet spy, just like Bruce.
Doctor Strange, the medical profession is a disaster area, the Kamar-Taj headquarters is still up in the Himalayas, so there's no escaping it.
The Hulk, I really haven't heard who the true identity is, might be an underground worker showing only glimpses.
Doctor Lizard, I haven't heard who the true identity is either, same reason as above.
Lastly, Shiller, half Chinese descent, can even get authentic Mainland cigarettes, not much need for analysis.
Good, Tim thought, holding his forehead, could The Avengers be about revenge on the Soviet Union?
Of course, it's not likely all of them, but Tim, with his rich experience in struggle, knew very well that if you find one cockroach in your house, it means there are cockroaches everywhere.
The key is if any one person on this list is, then it might involve three or four others, if there are three or four, then every incident they've been involved in is millions of times more complex than just an internal fight in America.
Even if they weren't before, give them a few months and they definitely will be. Don't ask how Tim knows this; the recent mass layoffs at Wayne Enterprises weren't just because of the economic crisis.
Tim shared his suspicions with Pamela, who obviously lacked any sensitivity to class struggle. She said, "So what if they are? What can they do? At most they fish in murky waters and gather some intelligence. What are you afraid of?"
"It's not that simple. I guess there's a decisive force above the many facets of the struggle that restrains them from going overboard. This kind of struggle helps agents train, but the premise is that it really is training, not meaningless consumption."
"Do you think the KGB would purposely stir trouble to use them up?"
"Not to physically eliminate them," Tim said skillfully, "but to turn them directly into part of the KGB."
"Then let it be," Pamela still seemed indifferent, she said, "You said it, all forces fundamentally stand for the human race, so the KGB is human too. Are they going to turn around and side with aliens?"
"But they have an ideological advantage," Tim made no secret of this, "In the interstellar colonization era, ideological expansion always trumps physical expansion, ideological invasion is so much easier than armed invasion."
"Aliens aren't human..."
"But aliens also have poor people," Tim said. "Just turn 'liberating the whole world' into 'liberating the entire cosmos.'
"There's nothing you can do about it then, what she says makes sense," Pamela looked at Tim unhappily: "You damned capitalists have been bossing around on Earth, isn't that enough? And you want to continue exploiting as you enter the cosmos?"
"How are you like the KGB?!" Tim exclaimed in shock.
"Because I'm poor!" Pamela shouted at him, "I work every day but I'm still poor! I should just hang you all with vines!"
Pamela grew angrier as she spoke, she slammed the table, stood up, and said, "Why should I even be here under your exploitation? I'm going to find Natasha now and ask her if she can introduce me to the KGB. At least they pay on time!"
After she said this, she turned to leave, Tim hurriedly grabbed her, saying, "It's not like I owe you a salary... Okay, we can talk about money, but it has to wait, first listen to me."
"What I mean is, if the KGB knows they have the advantage of ideological expansion, then in this game, just like us, they are able to create their own independent capital, so it's really not a three-party struggle, but four."
"But from beginning to end, we haven't seen the fourth party, which means that one of the three must be deeply collaborating with the fourth, allowing them to disappear without a trace."
"The list is all members of The Avengers, and the head of S.H.I.E.L.D. is a black man, they are highly suspicious," Tim pondered. "If we could find evidence... Hasn't Shiller been doing psychological therapy for superheroes?"
"What are you thinking?"
"I think we should go to where he works and look up conversation recordings or notes," Tim pulled out his phone, dialed a number, and said, "Hello? Dick? Are you still in New York?"
"Alright, I didn't mean to interrupt your romance, but please set aside your personal affairs for a moment, help me check out Arkham Sanatorium, preferably find any conversation records Shiller left with superheroes."
"Don't worry about it, just help me check if the records mention anyone who has been to Moscow, read Russian books, or owned a Siberian Forest Cat..."
Dick hung up the phone looking puzzled, Raven, holding a shopping bag, asked curiously, "A cat? What cat?"
"Nothing," Tim said, "What Siberian Forest Cat, maybe he's thinking about getting a cat. Should we check the pet store?"
"A Siberian Forest Cat? Are they cute? Then let's go have a look."
"Alright, I'll check online for catteries that have Siberian Forest Cats."