Chapter 145: Plot

"Remember, no man is a failure who has friends."

—Clarence the Angel (It's a Wonderful Life)

...

Dean disguised himself as Matches to enter the Iceberg Casino, where he made a high-stakes bet of thirty million dollars with the Penguin.

So, what's the story behind this?

Well, it all started with the 'Stone of Misfortune' incident last month.

From Dean's perspective, the 'Stone of Misfortune' was another plot by the Penguin against him.

This time, the scheme was far more dangerous and secretive than the previous 'Dragon's Egg Ruby Necklace' incident.

If Dean hadn't suspected something was wrong and disguised himself as Batman to interrogate Henry, he would have fallen into the trap without even realizing it.

Even though the system could make sure Dean didn't die suddenly from the curse of misfortune, the Penguin's plan to trick Dean into stealing the cursed gem instead of the real one was very cunning.

If the system didn't have immunity against the curse, Dean would have been in serious trouble.

This made Dean realize that his battle with the Penguin was getting worse and that it was impossible to fix.

However, he couldn't figure out why the Penguin hated the Phantom Thief so much.

It's not that Dean doesn't understand that stealing their wealth is like killing their parents, but the Penguin's obsession with killing the Phantom Thief didn't seem to fit with his understanding of the Penguin.

After all, Batman had caused the Penguin much more financial loss than Phantom Thief, but the Penguin never kept trying repeatedly to kill Batman.

He seemed to be able to tell the difference between the pros and cons.

The Penguin had already forced the Chandler family to give up their treasured gem and hire Firefly, but he still hadn't eliminated Phantom Thief.

In most cases, that should have been enough.

However, he continued with the "Stone of Misfortune" plan rather than stopping.

It's worth mentioning that in Gotham's underworld, it was rare to see such endless hatred, especially since the Penguin was known for turning enemies into allies.

Honestly, Dean was expecting that Penguin would offer a lot of money to hire him, but things turned out to be very different.

Now, he wasn't even hoping for a generous offer.

He just wanted the Penguin to remove the large bounty on the Phantom Thief from the underworld. Dean wasn't the type to let things go, especially after Penguin kept going after him.

The Penguin had schemed against him multiple times, and if he didn't retaliate, what kind of person would he be?

Moreover, he had to prepare for his upcoming performance in front of Batman.

If the Penguin were to interfere in the shadows, Dean couldn't afford to be distracted and on guard against him.

So, while preparing the operation plan near Gotham City Stadium, Dean also kept an eye on what the Penguin was up to.

Then he noticed that the Penguin's actions had been rather strange lately.

The Penguin usually stayed at the Iceberg Lounge, but he started moving all the time and only came to the Iceberg Lounge sometimes as if he were trying to hide from someone.

There wasn't much evidence, but Dean had a feeling that the Stone of Misfortune he was carrying had something to do with it.

Penguin might have believed that Dean was unaffected by the "Stone of Misfortune" and been concerned that Dean would use it to exact revenge on him.

Dean had planned to do just that at first, but then he found out that Penguin had bought the Stone of Misfortune and the container that stopped the curse.

This meant that Penguin could easily get his hands on something that could shield him from the curse.

So, Dean thought the Penguin would have quickly gotten something similar to protect himself if he thought his enemy might have the 'Stone of Misfortune' and could use it against him.

The curse of the Stone of Misfortune would also spread to anyone who touched it, and it would only stop when someone died.

It could easily lead to disastrous consequences if not careful.

Therefore, Dean abandoned the idea of using the 'Stone of Misfortune' to get revenge against the Penguin.

However, this didn't mean Dean would allow the Penguin to scheme against him without fighting back.

Dean had been looking for ways to infiltrate industries controlled by the Penguin's empire long before Bruce challenged Phantom Thief at the press conference.

He installed various surveillance cameras and listening devices in places such as the Iceberg Casino, Iceberg Lounge, and others.

It didn't take long for Dean to receive some interesting information.

That was the moment when Ignatius came to the Iceberg Casino and instructed the casino manager to organize a gambling event involving the Phantom Thief. He said it was Penguin's plan.

Dean never expected to become the center of a secret bet.

He immediately realized that there were many ways to manipulate this gambling event.

So, Dean decided to make the Penguin bleed financially.

He had anticipated everything that had happened in the casino, from 'Matches Malone' suddenly showing up to betting with the Penguin.

He wasn't that confident in escaping Batman's attention, but he had a secret weapon specifically prepared for Batman.

If things came to a desperate situation, he was confident he could escape.

Of course, the best result would be not needing to use 'that' plan at all.

The Penguin is a big player with a big empire, so thirty million dollars may not be a lot for him, but Dean couldn't believe that he wouldn't feel bad about losing so much money for no reason.

The only thing that might have gone beyond Dean's control was how the Penguin got rid of the casino manager.

The death of the casino manager had some connection to Matches speaking up, but Dean didn't particularly feel guilty about it.

It wasn't because he was heartless, but because he had investigated the background of the casino manager.

The guy and his whole family were criminals.

He worked for the Penguin and was involved in dirty work, while his wife was a prostitute who had served time in prison years ago for trafficking young girls and had only been released a few years ago.

As for the casino manager's two sons, one was a collector for the mob, and the other was involved in drug dealing.

This kind of family is not unusual in Gotham's East End. At least nine out of ten families were involved in a crime.

Now, why did Dean decide to disguise himself as Matches Malone?

It wasn't because he thought Matches had some mysterious identity.

It was because Matches had a different trait compared to other Gotham criminals that he frequently went off the radar.

Matches had a reckless personality, but he had a low-key profile.

He didn't show up in public very often, took vacations all over the world, and moved around so much that even his own henchmen sometimes didn't know where he was.

No one knew where Matches went for a few months, and no one knew when he would return.

Dean thought about it and decided that this guy was the best disguise he could find.

So, without hesitation, he got ready in a way that matched Matches' usual clothes and added a mask, which was a perfect match.

He could get Matches' voice and basic information from old GCPD footage and archives from Matches' imprisonment ten years ago.

Those archived in the GCPD evidence room weren't really secured, so Dean was able to take them without much trouble.

With this setup, Dean made a bet with the Penguin that if Batman caught him, Matches' money would be at stake, not Dean's.

What did Dean have to lose?

In addition, he got the Penguin's promise not to interfere with Phantom Thief's actions at Gotham City Stadium and to keep the rest of the troublemakers under control.

This allowed Dean to focus only on facing Batman.

It seemed like a win-win situation.

...

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