How do you stop a rival from developing?
Simple. Whatever they want to do, make sure they fail.
Ever since Maroni learned of the Red Crows Gang's plan, he had already put together a series of countermeasures. Once the Red Crows Gang secured that weapon, the Maroni Family would lose any chance of gaining the upper hand.
The first step was straightforward. No matter what, the Red Crows Gang could not be allowed to bail Jonathan Crane out before the trial.
Solving that problem was not difficult.
One pitch-black night, Gordon got off work as usual. His immediate superior, Arthur, who had taken all the credit, could not stand him and had stopped assigning him any real duties.
Although Gordon still held the title of a police officer, in practice he was no different from a clerk. He was not even sent out on patrol.
So he left early that day.
Arthur walked ahead of him, loudly bragging about how he had established a connection with the Red Crows Gang and would be attending their drinking party that night.
Just as Gordon stepped outside, he saw Arthur turn a corner.
The next second, a speeding car slammed straight into him.
Arthur, a police officer, was struck at the very entrance of the station and sent flying more than ten meters.
Gordon's mind went blank. Without thinking, he rushed back inside to call for help.
But before the ambulance could arrive, Arthur was already dead.
What followed felt unreal.
With Arthur's position suddenly vacant, everyone in the station fought fiercely over the promotion, as if they would tear each other apart for it.
In the end, by sheer twist of fate, the position fell to Gordon.
That result left many people grinding their teeth in resentment.
Gordon, however, did not care about that.
What mattered to him was that he could finally get back into the field and work on real cases again.
His promotion was no coincidence. It was the result of Maroni's influence behind the scenes.
Eliminating the Red Crows Gang's contact within the police was the first step. Choosing someone they could neither approach nor control was the second.
Gordon became the perfect candidate.
The conflict between him and Arthur had been obvious to everyone in the station. Maroni had taken notice long ago.
There was also another reason.
Arthur's death would not go unnoticed by the Red Crows Gang. By placing Gordon in that position, Maroni was sending a clear message.
He had seen through their tricks. As long as he was around, they would never turn things around.
The leader of the Red Crows Gang was furious.
Maroni did not care.
Sabotaging his rival was only the beginning. From the moment he learned about the Fear Toxin, he had been pushing his people relentlessly to reproduce it.
He did not have a chemical plant of his own.
That was not a problem. The Red Crows Gang did.
The real issue was that his chemists could not replicate the toxin. No matter how hard they tried, the results were flawed and completely off target. What Maroni wanted was Fear Toxin, but what they produced instead was an experimental genetic serum that caused human mutation.
It had its uses, but it was nowhere near as effective.
A single dose could turn someone into a half-human, half-beast creature, but the mortality rate was extremely high.
Fear Toxin was different.
Although the police had arrested Jonathan Crane and destroyed his laboratory, the man had more than one.
After an extensive search, the Maroni Family uncovered an abandoned lab containing a small remaining supply of the toxin.
Maroni had seen its effects firsthand.
It worked exceptionally well.
The moment he saw what it could do, he decided to invest heavily in it.
A single spray was enough to drive someone completely insane.
If he controlled that weapon, who in the East End could stand against him? Once he took over the district, tens of millions, even hundreds of millions of dollars, would be nothing.
He even began to dream of controlling all of Gotham.
So Maroni began importing large quantities of equipment from Metropolis and elsewhere, then launched a sudden gang war against the Red Crows Gang.
The attack came so abruptly that the Red Crows suffered heavy losses and were severely weakened. The Maroni Family also paid a price, losing more than thirty of their best men before finally seizing a small chemical plant from their territory.
Everything was in place. The experiments could begin.
At that moment, one of Maroni's men came in with a report.
A new case of genetic mutation had appeared in the East End.
"What case? Where did this come from?"
The experimental genetic serum developed by the Maroni Family had already been fully tested. Every mutated subject had been rounded up and brought back to the base. There should not have been any new cases.
Maroni initially thought his subordinate was high and talking nonsense.
But the man insisted. The person in question was downstairs.
"So bold?"
Maroni stood up immediately and headed downstairs to see for himself.
...
Meanwhile, at the entrance of a bar,
On the ground floor.
"Remember the plan," Lance said. "Go inside, order the cheapest drink, and sit in a corner. If anyone gives you trouble, don't kill them. Breaking a couple of ribs is enough. Then wait for me to come get you out."
Waylana nodded and pushed the door open.
She walked up to the bar, used the loose change Lance had given her to order a beer, then moved to the darkest corner and sat down.
As expected, less than three minutes later, trouble found her.
Two large men in leather jackets staggered over. One of them reached out and slapped Waylana on the shoulder.
"Hey, girl, that's gotta be the biggest ass I've ever seen, but what's with your face? Some kind of new tattoo?"
Waylana said nothing. She simply looked up at him.
The man froze for a moment, then laughed.
"Damn, that's intimidating. Come on, get up. Boss wants to see..."
Before he could finish, Waylana caught his wrist and twisted it lightly.
A sharp crack followed.
The sound of breaking bone was swallowed by the music. The man in the leather jacket let out a scream. His companion immediately pulled a knife and lunged forward, but the blade stopped just short of Waylana's throat.
Waylana caught it with her other hand.
The metal bent and curled between her fingers like soft clay.
"Monster..."
She released the blade and stood up. She was a full head taller than the two men. As her shadow loomed over them, the surrounding crowd instinctively backed away.
Bar security rushed over, gripping baseball bats.
"Stop!"
___
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