Already Inside
Overnight, the entire army of the Riverton Underground 4 was obliterated in one clean sweep.
Truth be told, Charlie didn't even recognize the four of them at first. As far as he was concerned, they were just a group of men with a strange posture and an aura that screamed "small-time boss." It wasn't until he took them down and ran a quick detective mode scan that he realized who he had just cornered.
A casual scan revealed the truth, and Charlie was momentarily stunned. He hadn't known, but once the scan confirmed their identities, he was floored.
Good grief. These weren't just regular thugs. They were the Riverton Underground 4, the very same "Four Kings" who ruled the city's underworld from the shadows. Catching all four of them in one go was as big a catch as one could hope for. It was the equivalent of hooking four great white sharks at once.
There was no question that by tomorrow morning, the entire criminal world in Riverton would be in an uproar. News would travel fast, and the word on the street would be clear: The Four Kings had been brought down. The shockwave would ripple through every alley, dive bar, and safe house.
Of course, the Four Kings weren't without resources. They still had deep connections, untold wealth, and powerful allies in the city. Charlie had no doubt that they'd eventually find a way out of the clutches of the FBI. The legal system could only hold them for so long, but no matter how quickly they wriggled free, the damage to their reputation would be irreparable.
It wasn't just the leaders who would suffer, though. The real fallout would come for their men. Hundreds of their most loyal enforcers—gangsters, hitmen, and bodyguards—had been rounded up. The muscle behind the four major factions was gone, taken off the streets in one swift, unexpected strike. The underworld had lost its backbone. It was impossible to pretend that such a large number of highly trained, heavily armed criminals could be arrested without serious consequences. These weren't low-level street thugs. They were the core of Riverton's criminal machine.
And beyond the arrests, there was something else. Something far more chilling. The aftermath of the battle further solidified the underground world's growing fear of those masked vigilantes, particularly Batman, who seemed to be everywhere and nowhere at once. It wasn't just the capture of the Four Kings that would send ripples of terror through Riverton, but how it had happened.
The criminal world would soon learn that despite all the preparation—the dozens of elite enforcers armed to the teeth, the pre-planned ambush, the artillery that turned entire streets into warzones—it had been meaningless. The battle had been as fierce as any war, with gunshots echoing for blocks, explosions shaking buildings, and chaos reigning for a brief but intense period. Yet, the vigilantes, led by Batman, had cut through them like a hot knife through butter.
It wasn't a fight. It was a massacre.
The entire operation had been dismantled, almost casually, and without so much as a warning. It didn't matter how many guns the Four Kings had or how many of their best men they'd deployed. They had come prepared for war, but the war ended before it had even truly begun. To the vigilantes, this had been nothing more than routine.
And when word spread about how the Four Kings had put everything on the line—about how they had rallied their best men, prepared an ambush with military-grade weapons, and yet still lost—it would ignite a terror Riverton had never seen. What hope did the rest of them have if even the Four Kings, with all their power and resources, had fallen so easily?
Rumors would run wild. Some would say the Four Kings' men hadn't stood a chance, that Batman and his allies had cut them down like they were nothing more than paper targets. Some would say the vigilantes had supernatural powers. Others would claim that Batman had used tech far beyond anything they could comprehend, turning the battlefield into his playground.
One thing was certain: this battle had changed everything.
Even those arrested that night, including the Four Kings themselves, began to seriously consider whether staying behind bars might actually be the safest option. For the first time in their criminal careers, they had a new fear—one that couldn't be solved with money or connections. The vigilantes weren't going away, and if Batman could do this, who knew what he might do next?
It was almost laughable. Here they were, the most feared men in Riverton, and they were genuinely wondering if life behind bars would be better. Inside the prison, they were safe. They had their brothers-in-arms, and they didn't have to constantly look over their shoulders. They could rest easy. But outside? It would be like walking on thin ice. The memory of that night—the fear, the chaos, the hopelessness—would haunt them forever. Every time they closed their eyes, the nightmare would return.
The contrast between the power of Spider-Man and his unassuming appearance only deepened the gangsters' terror. His small frame and youthful energy belied his monstrous strength. Here was a hero who could scale walls, flip cars, and dodge bullets with ease. And yet, he looked so... ordinary. That was what scared them the most.
Spider-Man's powers, while perfect for climbing and sneaking around, had transformed in Charlie's hands into something far more terrifying. With his 20-ton strength and almost supernatural reflexes, Spider-Man wasn't just an agile scout. He was a weapon, a powerhouse that could smash through any defense.
If Batman was the cunning mastermind, the Slytherin of Charlie's lineup, then Spider-Man was his Gryffindor—a bold, reckless, and unstoppable force, tearing through anything that stood in his way.
But in truth, Charlie hadn't been targeting the Four Kings specifically. He wasn't on some grand mission to bring down Riverton's underworld. He was simply a gamer, testing out a new hero, and looking for something—anything—to punch. The Four Kings and their army of thugs just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
If the Four Kings did decide to stay locked up, Charlie might even feel a pang of disappointment. After all, catching the four biggest sharks in the pond all at once wasn't exactly ideal. He had wiped out the most valuable targets in one go. The criminal ecosystem in Riverton was thrown completely out of balance, and Charlie knew that finding new opponents wouldn't be as easy.
If Riverton's criminals collectively decided to clean up their acts and retire from crime, Charlie might have to get creative in finding new adversaries to take down.
After spending some time testing out Spider-Man's abilities, the night had fully descended. Charlie ordered some takeout, finished his meal, and returned to his computer. It was time to focus on the real business.
The Ninth Special Service Division's sky fortress had been breached the previous night. Charlie had always been skeptical of the security there, but even he hadn't expected it to be breached so easily. A group of psychopaths had broken in as if the place had no defenses at all.
Intrigued, Charlie had used Batman's backdoor into the system to investigate. What he found shocked him. There was a mole—a traitor within the ranks of the Division. And to Charlie's surprise, that mole was none other than Melanie Chase, someone he had encountered multiple times before.
He hadn't expected that. Melanie had been playing both sides all along, deceiving everyone.
But the biggest surprise wasn't Melanie's betrayal—it was that something had been stolen from the fortress during the breach.
The Ninth Division had immediately raised the security clearance on whatever had been taken. The level of secrecy surrounding the stolen item skyrocketed overnight. It seemed that whoever had stolen it hadn't just swiped some minor trinket. Whatever it was, it had significance far beyond what anyone initially thought.
Curious, Charlie dug deeper into the Division's records. All he could find was a single serial number: a086. What it referred to, though, was still a mystery. The database had no further information.
Charlie made a decision. If he wanted to find out what a086 was and why it was so important, he'd have to visit the Division's mothership himself. And if he was going to make the trip, he might as well make it worth his while—perhaps secure a lifetime VIP membership at the Ninth Special Service Division while he was at it.
He wasn't in a rush, though. After all, he'd spent the evening testing out new heroes, and the night was still young. It wasn't fully dark yet, and the night belonged to Batman. Sneaking around in broad daylight in a black suit just seemed disrespectful. Besides, the Ninth Division, despite its flaws, had an impressive logistics team. The sky fortress that had been downed the previous night was already back in the sky, resuming its mysterious journey.
Dr. Hines, who had been so confident in the fortress's defenses, was sweating bullets after the breach. Fortunately for him, the chairman seemed to believe the real problem had been the mole, not the security systems.
Still, Commander Ross had visited Dr. Hines, subtly pointing out that the security system needed a full overhaul. The mole may have been the root of the issue, but the fact that the alarm system had been disabled without anyone noticing? That was a flaw they couldn't ignore.
Not long after the fortress resumed flight, Dr. Hines reassured the chairperson, "Don't worry. The system has been upgraded—both hardware and software. It may look the same on the outside, but inside?
It's a completely new system."
He puffed out his chest and added with pride, "I guarantee that nothing like last time will happen again. Not even a senior detective or an insider would be able to disarm the system."
Realizing he may have said too much, Dr. Hines quickly backtracked. "I mean, it's perfectly secure. Not even a mosquito could get in."
Meanwhile, on the other side of the fortress, an electronic door slid open with a faint beep. The system had been hacked, and Batman slipped through the opening silently. His landing in the empty hallway was as quiet as a shadow, and the door closed behind him without a sound.
Batman's stealth was so understated and effective, it was almost boring in its simplicity. No one noticed. No alarms were raised.
He was already inside.
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