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What makes these people harder to deal with than serial killers is that, although serial killers are criminals, and even if rules can't restrain them, they can ultimately be punished by law. On moral grounds, you can stand firm; what you lack is merely the firepower.
This is why, after Gotham Police Department upgraded their equipment, they could almost stroll through Gotham with ease, for no matter how capable the mob is, they are still a bunch of criminals. I don't need any other reason to strike you down; it's my inherent duty. Justice serves as the best justification for action.
But when it comes to struggles over interests, things get complicated. There's no talk of justice there. When two companies battle over interests, the police naturally can arrest whoever breaks the law. But what if neither side is breaking the law? What if both sides, while not breaking the law, are harming others?
In such cases, whom do the police stop? To stop one side is to take sides with the other, and once fairness is lost, the good days for the police are over.
For Shiller, it's the same. His bottom line is simply not to let others disturb his life; if he had to add another, it would be not to harm Gotham University, and ideally not to harm Gotham either.
The original intention behind his investigation was that he learned from Edward that someone was harming students, and he worried this might affect the recruitment of students at Gotham University. Although the local students lack discipline, they indeed have exceptional talents. What if the killer's victims included a future prodigy in the field of psychology?
However, as they dug deeper into the case, Shiller and Pamela discovered that the culprit was unlikely to be a serial killer acting out of interest. Of course, interest might be involved, but it wasn't the primary motive; someone wanted to gain something through this series of cases.
Once the motive is not pure, the issues involved become numerous. If there are overwhelming interests behind it, they would spare no effort to eliminate any variables in their plan.
The means they would take aren't limited to hiring a killer; it's more likely they would resort to destroying property, disrupting work, smearing reputations through the media, surveillance harassment, and even dirtier tricks. To safeguard their vested interests, they would stop at nothing.
Since Shiller's bottom line is not to let anyone disturb his life, he should have stopped the investigation at this point. Otherwise, these endless methods, even if they can't kill him, would at least be unbearably annoying, and Pamela was precisely reminding him of this.
Pamela is a bona fide superpower user, but she still grits her teeth when mentioning those environmentalists hounding her, which shows that she's had quite a few bad experiences at their hands.
In the end, it's difficult to fight an interest group alone; history proves this, time and again. Even the strongest carbon-based life forms known to history have had their moments of compromise, haven't they?
Back in the office, Constantine had disappeared who knows where, and Doctor Brand was clearly still up all night grading papers; his expression alone revealed that his interns were going wild outside the law again.
Seeing Shiller sitting on the couch, cutting his cigar, Doctor Brand frowned and said, "If you're going to smoke, do it outside."
Shiller didn't say much, began packing up his things to leave when Doctor Brand stopped him and sat down after putting away his stuff, asking, "What's wrong this time?"
Then he muttered to himself, "Are you the psychiatrist, or am I? Why is it always me comforting you?"
"You call this 'comforting'? Is this why you didn't choose psychology and became a pathologist instead?" Shiller bit back mercilessly.
But no psychiatrist in the world could be better than Nya, who didn't even have to ask his patients to understand the entire situation behind the issues.
After a pause, Doctor Brand spoke up, "You're someone who dislikes trouble unless it comes knocking on your door. This time, you went out of your way to assuage your emotions and stirred up some trouble, but it turned out to be more of a hassle than you anticipated."
Shiller silently snipped his cigar, and after a moment, he finally said, "None of this has anything to do with me, and I can stay out of it without anyone saying anything."
"Your dilemma lies in the fact that you know you don't have a common person's sense of right and wrong; your interference in everything is merely a matter of personal interest, just like mine."
"But you're different from me in that you want to be an ordinary person, following the very simple values cherished by the ordinary people you love the most."
"I'm no hero."
"Yes, which is why you're sitting here in conflict instead of relentlessly fighting crime. You don't want to be disturbed, but you also wish to be an ordinary person with normal views."
"What's your opinion?"
"I think you can try it out; after all, your margin for error is still much larger than that of ordinary people."
"Gray Mist isn't with me right now."
"I'm not talking about that." Doctor Brand took a sip of water and said, "You've never realized some people are drawn to you not because of how much you pay them, but simply because of your charm. They would willingly pay a price to protect and help you."
"Should they do that?"
"There's no should or shouldn't because that's how the society of ordinary people operates too. Following a charismatic leader to pursue their own ventures and achieve self-worth, in this process, they both receive and give appreciation, are loved by and love others. Or do you think ordinary people lack charm?"
"Of course not, even among their peers, some are exceptionally outstanding and worth following."
"Therefore, you can let go and do it, because if things don't go smoothly, you're not the only one bearing the cost."
"I don't want others to bear the cost for me."
"Yet they are very willing to do so; they even feel honored by it, hoping that one day after they have helped you, you will do the same for them."
"Even if they don't help me, I would still…"
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"That would make them feel guilty and anxious because they've always considered you as a person, not some natural phenomenon. The difference is that a person's time and energy are limited; helping others always delays oneself to some extent, but not a god. A god is omniscient and omnipotent, never harming themselves no matter how much they help others."
"So if one day they accept and get used to it, even no longer wanting change, that means they've deified you. But if they're always worried, wanting to repay you out of concern, it's precisely because they see you as an ordinary human."
"I take back what I said before, have you really never considered switching to psychology mid-career?"
"And end up exasperated by students, just like you?"
"Aren't you exasperated by your students now?"
"My students may be inept, but they're not stubborn, nor do they talk back," Doctor Brand huffed.
"But they still need to postpone their graduation," Shiller said.
Doctor Brand's expression soured, clearly having certain unpolluted academic passages pop into his mind. It had always been the Outer Gods contaminating the human race with knowledge, but now, humans were beginning to contaminate the Outer Gods with nonsensical papers—where was the justice in that?
However, Shiller's mood seemed much better. He put the freshly clipped cigar back into its box, clearly not intending to smoke it. After thinking it over, he said, "I think I can do a hypnotherapy session for Edward. I admit I want to learn more through the treatment, but I assure you, it will have a positive effect on him."
"You want to make up your mind," Brand saw through his thought and said, "You want to know just how terrible that incident was back in the day, whether it's worth all the trouble."
"I'm not a street hero," Shiller shook his head, "If it's just school bullying, it's not my place to intervene. I've got enough issues of my own."
"Alright, I can arrange that for you, but I think you better go see a psychiatrist to make sure you're in a stable mental state."
"Do you need the evaluation results?"
"Not this time. But if something goes wrong, I'll kick you out and file a complaint against you at Gotham University."
Shiller slightly raised his hands in surrender, then stood up and said, "Is Cobblepot in his mother's ward now? I need him to get in touch with Edward, to prepare for the hypnotherapy. Also, I need an assistant."
"He's always in the ward; you can go directly to him. But this assistant you're bringing…"
"Of course, it's not someone from the medical field, otherwise I wouldn't need to specifically mention it to you. She's a young girl, to ensure my own safety."
Brand frowned slightly and said, "Do you think the situation is that grave?"
"You're indeed just a pathologist. I must emphasize to you that deep hypnosis is an extremely dangerous act, which means I'll be diving into the psychic world of a mentally ill person. It could contain all the absurdities of this world. Even if he's close to recovery, the dangers there are greater than those of the most unhinged normal person's mind."
Brand did not argue further, saying, "How many days do you need to prepare?"
"Tonight and all of tomorrow should be enough. Mainly I need someone Edward trusts to comfort him, so he can calmly accept a new therapy."
"Fine, you'll have three hours to yourselves tomorrow evening at 7. Will that suffice?"
"No problem, but there's one more thing I'd like to ask of you," Shiller stood up and said. "Keep an eye on Williams by the lakeside for me."
Brand shook his head, "That's too far from me."
"What about the giant octopus in the water?"
"You can't find it," Brand said. "The time of the Old Ones' return has not yet come; even if you drained all of Earth's oceans, you would not get the giant octopus to warm up your stomach."
Shiller chuckled, and the two walked towards the door, bumping into Cobblepot who was about to enter.
"Ah, Professor, and Doctor Brand," Cobblepot greeted. Seeing no tension on his face, Shiller knew there were probably no issues with his mother.
"I was just looking for you, Professor," Cobblepot said, as expected, and Brand left the office on his own, leaving them to talk privately.
After a slight hesitation, Cobblepot began, "Are your relatives staying at your place recently? There's a raccoon, and two purple-skinned girls, a big guy…"
Shiller knew he was referring to the Guardians of the Galaxy, nodded, and said, "Yes, they're staying at my place now. What about it?"
"They're at the Gotham Police Department right now."
Shiller raised an eyebrow, "Why hasn't Gordon called me?"
"He should be calling soon. I came to you because someone has reached out to me, hoping I can mediate, you understand."
Shiller realized it must be Williams who contacted Cobblepot through connections. What exactly had the reckless members of the Guardians of the Galaxy done to get themselves into the police department, and now Williams had Cobblepot mediate?