Chapter 142: Matches Malone

"I'd rather die tomorrow than live a hundred years without knowing you."

-John Smith ( Pocahontas)

...

"Who is this person? How dare he speak so arrogantly on Penguin's territory?"

All the gamblers turned their heads toward the direction of the voice.

A middle-aged man with glasses, a mustache, and a multicolored suit stood there. He arrogantly adjusted his collar and stood there with his head proudly in front of everyone.

As soon as people saw his appearance, they started to show signs that they knew him.

"Just look at how you're all betting on the same side. Is this even a gamble?"

Matches Malone looked around at the crowd with disdain.

"What if Phantom Thief wins? Then all of you will lose everything, and the dealer will take all the money. Who said that Batman would definitely show up? Did he send you all a notice? Did you receive it? I certainly didn't."

When he said this, everyone stopped talking for a moment. The casino manager's face looked terrible for a moment.

Luckily, he quickly got back to being professional, and he put on a smile.

It seemed that this was actually the case.

The only mention of Batman possibly showing up was from the "inside information" of the casino manager.

Who leaked this information and where it came from remained unknown.

Indeed, it was only a matter of time before Batman targeted the Phantom Thief, but nobody could be sure it would be today.

Matches Malone was a famous criminal in Gotham and was active for many years. He was popular, but his influence wasn't as strong as Penguin's.

He was even older than the Penguin in terms of age. But his power was very weak.

He started as an arsonist and worked with his brother.

Originally, he wasn't that skilled, but after an accident in which his brother died, he disappeared for two years.

But Matches seemed to have a sudden success during those two years. His skills and power grew by a huge amount.

He went from being a simple arsonist to being an excellent crime boss.

After returning to Gotham in less than two months, Matches formed a team and became famous in the arson industry, which attracted much attention.

In a short amount of time, his power had grown quickly.

While Matches' gang wasn't as big as the Penguin's or Two-Face's, he was still a top-tier figure in Gotham.

Matches had a rule for his henchmen that they were never to start a fire in a building when there were people inside the building.

He does this because his brother's death makes him realize it's not worth it.

Matches was lucky in that the arson business didn't have many strong competitors.

The older generation of villains wasn't particularly interested in arson, unlike typical criminal organizations, which always had the Penguin as a strong leader.

Firefly and other newbies had a lot of potential, but they often worked alone, had serious mental health problems, and couldn't lead a gang.

Therefore, Matches has become the natural leader of Gotham's arson team. He has good relations with others and is usually willing to cooperate.

The only bad side of this guy is that he is very straightforward and weird.

Matches probably would have been killed a long time ago if it weren't for his incredible arson skills and the fact that he doesn't have any main-interest conflicts.

"What's even more important is, do you think it's hard to manipulate Batman's actions?"

Matches surprises everyone by saying this.

"When the day comes for the Phantom Thief to steal the gem, all I need to do is have someone set a big fire at GCPD or City Hall. Batman will immediately drop everything and rush over to save people. Do you believe that?"

Of course they do!

After fighting Batman for so many years, they know precisely when he loses his patience and hits back with all his strength.

At that time, if someone killed a few city councilors or took the mayor hostage and put him in a department store with several timed bombs, it would easily catch Batman's attention.

For them, these things are as simple as eating and drinking. If Penguin wanted to do something like this, it was no different from blinking an eye!

Thinking about how cheap a bomb is, it's a huge profit to exchange it for the millions of dollars they're betting.

Batman goes somewhere else when the Phantom Thief comes out.

How can they win against the Phantom Thief with just Bruce Wayne and the GCPD?

The crowd of gamblers immediately realized the massive trap hidden behind this gambling event.

It doesn't matter if Batman catches the Phantom Thief or if he can even catch him.

These things can be easily manipulated.

The rules of the casino state that if there are bets on both sides of a wager where you guess the result, the casino will take fifteen percent of the total bet, even if only one person plays on the other side.

But if only one side bets and no one bets on the other side, and their bet loses, all of the money they bet goes to the Iceberg Casino.

Penguin usually doesn't allow this situation to happen because it would ruin the reputation of the casino.

If this really happened, Penguin would secretly send someone to place a bet on the other side.

It's not clear what the casino manager was thinking when he told everyone about Batman's insider information and also intentionally manipulated the bets in favor of the Phantom Thief.

What's even worse is that he said the bet was set up according to the boss's wishes.

There's no need to mention who the owner of the Iceberg Casino is.

"I came to the Iceberg Casino because I believed in fairness. not to manipulate any gambling event, but today, I'm disappointed!"

After Matches' announcement, everyone there saw that the gambling was a secret scam, and they started to get angry and complain.

At this moment, a person suddenly appears in the Iceberg Casino and is surrounded by a group of people."

In an instant, the entire place fell silent, and no one dared to speak again.

Because this person was none other than the owner of this place, Oswald Cobblepot, known as Penguin in Gotham!

"I heard someone is causing trouble in my casino?"

Penguin scanned the room with his gaze.

"Cobblepot, don't think that you can deceive us just because you are powerful. You owe us an answer for what happened today with this gambling event."

Matches stepped forward fearlessly.

"Malone? My answer to you is that I have never heard of any insider information about Batman pursuing the Phantom Thief. It looks like I have some very useful sources."

The Penguin glanced at the casino manager and calmly replied.

"The Iceberg Casino never manipulates gambling events. It has been an absolute rule since this casino opened."

"Anyone who dares to break this rule will die."

...

A/N: For those who might not be familiar with DC comics, this Matches Malone is really Batman in disguise. He is using this name as an undercover identity from the underworld.

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