Chapter 21 The Owl Makes a Dazzling Debut; Having Subordinates Is Really Convenient...
Just as Thomas predicted, Gotham really is in chaos.
It started as a Roman family affair. His youngest son, Alberto Falcone, murdered his brother and even claimed to everyone that he had cut off the Roman's frontal lobe with the help of a strange man called the Night Owl.
Thomas was surprised when he heard the news.
At that time, he was eating a fairly healthy breakfast, carefully prepared by Alfred, a cucumber sandwich with a sip of milk, while his leg was in a cast.
He reflected on why, when he was faking a serious injury, he didn't just cut himself in the stomach again, but instead chose the cruel method of putting on a cast to torture himself.
Well, he thought that the three non-fatal stab wounds would easily reveal something and would also affect the Night Owl's actions to some extent.
Thomas opened today's newspaper and immediately saw Alberto's declaration.
?
He quickly finished reading the report and put the newspaper down, looking confused.
Thomas knew, of course, that a war was inevitable among Falcone's three children, but he did not expect the infighting to be so irrational.
In his vision, the three Falcones should fight amongst themselves after they have gained complete control and the Gotham underworld has returned to stability.
Instead of now, when other powers could easily tear a piece off the Falcone family, starting an infighting now and exposing the fact that the Romans have become useless would be a terrible mistake, minimizing the interests of all three.
Out of curiosity and vigilance, Thomas had the Court of Owls secretly investigate the matter.
The survey results show that humans are indeed incredibly stupid and unstable.
After being visited by the Night Owl, Falcone's three children decided to hide the fact that Falcone had become a cripple, and not to immediately confront Thomas Wayne, who was at the height of his power and had an unknown number of trump cards up his sleeve.
Outwardly, they claimed that the Romans were seriously wounded, with Sofia temporarily managing family affairs, Mario handling social interactions and negotiations, and Alberto personally caring for his father. Secretly, however, they tightened their grip on power, hiring suitable mercenaries to infiltrate Gotham, preparing for the coming storm.
Unfortunately, the top mercenary Deathstroke had just been paid a huge sum to come to the Metropolis to carry out a mission, so the three Falcones had to settle for less outstanding individuals.
During this period, Alberto only needed to stay by the Romans' side, using a voice changer to imitate their voices, and attend some urgent occasions where the "Romans" had to make an appearance.
With the technical support of Night Owl and the deliberate concealment of a group of people, Alberto hid quite well. He only needed to be surrounded by loyal followers with the Romans, say a few words in large gatherings using a voice changer, and read some texts personally finalized by Mario and Sofia.
At first, he did very well; his involvement in the family's criminal activities gave Alberto a twisted sense of satisfaction.
Alberto obediently did as Sofia and Mario asked, but he soon discovered that his reputation was still not as good as Mario and Sofia's. In everyone's eyes, he was still a clueless little kid.
Mario and Sofia clearly had no intention of bringing Alberto into the core of their power. They didn't consult Alberto on anything and even planned to send him abroad after news of the Roman incident was exposed.
Dissatisfied, Alberto began to act according to his own whims, speaking recklessly and causing a lot of trouble.
Mario scolded his short-sighted brother, only to be killed by the enraged Alberto.
Alberto, who killed Mario, was not idle either. He attempted to seize power with the help of a voice changer and Falcone, who had long been under his control, but was defeated by Sofia, who firmly controlled the Falcone family's power.
Alberto escaped, submitting this report to the Gotham Daily before fleeing.
For reasons unknown, he took all the blame upon himself and Night Owl.
This was a pleasant surprise for Thomas, and from then on, no one could associate "Thomas" with this incident.
But this was an undeserved disaster for Sofia, who began putting pressure on the Gotham Daily.
The shrewd editor-in-chief of Gotham Daily didn't want to miss out on this big story, but also didn't want to be targeted by the Falcone family. So he simply used this opportunity to pledge allegiance to Maroney, telling him this important information in advance in exchange for protection.
Maroni clearly seized the opportunity, taking advantage of the internal strife in Falcone to launch a surprise attack on Sofia's forces.
Sofia, of course, was not to be outdone and quickly retaliated against Maroni. However, Alberto's report clearly severely damaged the family's authority, and the internal divisions weakened her power. Many of her allies in Gotham's upper echelons also died, which removed Falcone's dominant position.
So Sofia relaxed her control over some of Gotham's hardened criminals, letting them deal with Maroney.
The chain reaction of this series of events directly led to a war on the dark side of Gotham.
Thomas was speechless.
Intelligent people may be very energetic, but the destructive power of fools and madmen is always limitless.
To prevent the war from escalating to an uncontrollable point, it's time for the night owl to take action.
Night owls, of course, use simple and brutal methods.
He first dealt with several privately controlled armories in Gotham to prevent the situation from deteriorating further. Then he sent Claws to arrest several leaders and hang them upside down on the tower. These powerful underground bosses now looked like a string of comical wind chimes.
Night Owl announced to them that a curfew would be imposed in Gotham, prohibiting nighttime shootouts and illegal heavy weapons transactions, and that if their men broke the law, Night Owl would punish them.
“You’re too noisy,” Night Owl said to them. “I wish you could be quieter.”
"Who...who do you think you are?" A drunk guy bravely asked the question, and then his dizzy brain just slumped onto the ground in front of the tower.
With a scream and the sound of something heavy hitting the ground, the owl continued, "I am the owl."
Does anyone among you disagree?
No one spoke.
“Excellent.” Night Owl smiled. “This is good. I sincerely hope that Gotham will have a quiet night from now on.”
"good evening."
Night Owl became famous overnight.
After that, he punished those who violated the "curfew" several times, establishing his authority with severed limbs and bloodshed.
Of course, in a place as vast as Gotham, there will always be ignorant people who try to defy the authority of Night Owl. At this point, Night Owl is clearly not yet the "uncrowned king of Gotham's night."
Therefore, he needs to find someone to cooperate with and learn from the experience; this person must be a stable and intelligent individual.
Quite by chance, a guy who was still an unknown nobody at the time volunteered to stay at the scene of the shootout and said he wanted to cooperate with him.
-
When Bruce returned, the first thing he did was change out of his hastily made suit, put on some old clothes, and attach fake scars and tattoos to himself, disguising himself as a thug who had come to Gotham from out of town, before entering a bar.
This bar primarily caters to lower- and mid-level gang members and thugs, and probably also handles some intelligence gathering and contraband transactions. Experienced people can tell at a glance what's going on.
The dregs and scum of society come and go, and Bruce mingles among them. He carefully observes the people around him, selects a talkative bartender, and sits down near him.
He had just returned to Gotham and was planning to gather intelligence on the city's dark side.
Bruce, speaking in heavily accented American English with drawn-out vowels, said to the bartender, "A bottle of ice-cold beer, please."
"Chicago guy." One of the thugs rolled his eyes at him, took his drink, and walked away.
Bruce didn't care about that; he was more concerned about why none of these fugitives, thugs, thugs... were carrying guns.
It's strange, it doesn't make sense. After all, this is America, Gotham, a small bar where gang members relax and make deals. It shouldn't be without guns, even if there's no alcohol.
The bartender was perceptive; he knew what an out-of-towner needed and was most curious about when he arrived in Gotham. He leaned in and said, "Just arrived in Gotham? Fifteen dollars, and I'll introduce you to the rules of Gotham. Thirty dollars, plus an explanation of the power dynamics in Gotham. How about that?"
Bruce didn't immediately hand over the money; instead, he gruffly haggled, trying to extract more information.
"Expensive? This little bit of money is expensive? This is money to buy your life!" The bartender laughed, as if the Chicagoan had said something ridiculous. "Don't apply your out-of-town thinking to the situation in Gotham. You come to Gotham to make money but don't know the rules. You won't even know how you died."
"That's so strange," Bruce thought.
He's a native of Gotham, how could he not know about these deadly rules?
"Do you know why they all avoid you? To prevent your stupid brain from getting on their heads!" the bartender added enthusiastically. Bruce hadn't misjudged him; he was indeed very talkative. "It's because you Chicagoans never know the rules. Yesterday, some Chicago guy came here looking for someone, and the next morning his body was plastered on the ground!"
“Think about it carefully, Chicago guy,” the bartender said finally. “Don’t think you can get information from others for free. Things are bad lately, everyone’s short of money. We’ve standardized the prices, and all the bars in town are charging the same price. And ordinary gang members may not know as much as we do, and there’s no guarantee they’ll tell the truth.”
Another, younger bartender chuckled and chimed in, "This is the lowest price yet, the Penguin boss still takes a cut... Why did you hit me?"
"Who told you to talk nonsense?" The first bartender smacked the young man on the head again. "You brat, don't say things you shouldn't."
Penguin...I think that's Oswald Copport's nickname?
Bruce has indeed been away for too long; he doesn't fully understand the current situation in Gotham.
He glanced at the two bartenders again; they stood there with smiles on their faces, saying nothing.
It seems that you can't get these bartenders to talk without spending money.
He pulled out thirty dollars from his pocket and slammed it on the table like a gangster who was still doubting himself and felt he had been ripped off.
The young bartender whistled: "Hey buddy, you're one of Carla Vitti's men too?"
Bruce did not respond.
The older bartender took some banknotes out of his pocket, stuffed them into the younger bartender's hand, and punched him again.
The young man took the money with a grin and ran off.
“Listen up, Chicago guy.” The bartender lowered his voice, bent down, and leaned close to his ear. “Gotham nights must be quiet.”
A note from the author:
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I bought a ton of games but have no time to play them, it's so frustrating! [crying emoji]
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