Infiltration #111

"I'm sorry, oh mighty door inventor. Please forgive my sin, and rest in peace...' I mused, joining my hands in silent prayer before I opened the window before me and snuck into the Iceberg Lounge.

The Penguin's club was incredibly secure, with cameras and motion sensors strewn in every corner, not to mention the mobsters patrolling outside and inside the establishment.

Luckily, I was something of a computer wizard. Disabling some surveillance devices was child's play at this point, and my phantom belt allowed me to sneak my way inside right under the guards' noses.

I broke into a room on the second floor after climbing my way to its windows with my boots, surveying the surroundings, and only entering after making sure no one was there.

'Looks like The Penguin is in his office...' I noted as I listened to his conversation with Scarface as the two mobsters discussed their plan to take over small gangs on the sly when no one was watching.

'So he's looking to expand as I thought...' I mused, nodding as I exited the room and inspected the surroundings before walking towards the staircase, having already memorized the layout of the building.

I even took it upon myself to hack into every camera before coming here to see if that would help me make sense of the situation. Though I observed a shit ton of shady dealings, nothing was remotely related to the missing losers.

There were at least two cameras in every room, except the huge basement where the fights took place in the arena, so I knew that I'd find what I was looking for there and didn't bother to look anywhere else.

It also made sense to keep the dangerous super villains who could punch through concrete walls in the basement, where no one would see them and hear the fuss they would inevitably cause once they realize their situations.

'He's been doing it for a while too...' I raised an eyebrow as I heard Scarface casually name at least ten small gangs he took out or incorporated into The Penguin's mob this week alone.

I suppose it made sense that The Penguin would immediately make a move once Black Mask was in police custody, especially with how embarrassing the latter's fall from grace was.

Imagine issuing a bounty on someone. Hundreds of mercenaries come from all over America, only for that same someone to kidnap you, use you as bait, and beat the shit out of everyone that came up without lifting a muscle.

Many gangsters lost faith in Black Mask since they were attracted to him because of his reputation as a ruthless, brutal cutthroat, which he cultivated through years of committing atrocities.

Any respect these people had for Black Mask immediately evaporated after his disgraceful defeat, and The Penguin was the next best thing, so many rallied under his banner.

'Hah... whatever. Better The Penguin than some other crazy piece of shit...' I shrugged my shoulders as I continued to cautiously make my way for the basement, having already reached the first floor.

There will always be crime in Gotham, organized or otherwise. There will always be mobs and mobster bosses until I have the power to do something about it, which will come in due time.

I will eventually fix this retched asshole of Cthulhu excuse of a city and make it some place I wouldn't mind living. But I intend to do it right, with money and politics.

Until I could do that, I was content and happy to let The Penguin run the show since he was more reasonable than the other substitutes this city had to offer.

'And here we are...' I mused as I stood before the basement's entrance, moving out of the way and accessing nearby cameras with my personal computer power.

Convinced no one could see me, I retrieved my steel wire and moved to the basement's entrance. I inserted the wire into the lock, and the tip immediately began transforming once inside to match the pins.

Turning the wire, I smiled as the door opened with a satisfying click. I walked through, not forgetting to close and lock it behind me as I proceeded towards the ring.

My steps were deliberate, and I was acutely conscious of the environment, making no sound as I walked down the stairs, unseen and ready to react to any sudden encounters.

I started looking for cameras and found none, much to my surprise. Even if I couldn't access any in the basement, I didn't think they didn't exist. I only thought they'd connected be to a separate database to maintain secrecy.

The revelation confirmed my suspicion that someone was forcing The Penguin to kidnap the tournament's losers. That certain someone, or someones, seemed to value their secrecy highly by the looks of things. Enough to make The Penguin remove the basement cameras.

'Sounds more and more like Amanda Waller...' I sighed at that thought. It makes sense that the task force x director would value the secrecy of her operations.

The U.S. government would be forced to disband her task force and throw Amanda in jail to rot for the rest of her if the public even got a whiff of the shady shit she was doing in the name of justice.

Amanda The Wall Waller was not someone you'd want to get involved with under any circumstances. Any interaction with her would be a lose-lose situation.

She was so paranoid she'd make even Batman look cute in comparison, especially with how far she was willing to go and her readiness to shed blood to get things done.

Amanda was one ruthless bitch I wanted to give a wide berth to if possible, but that didn't seem like an option at the time. She was operating in Gotham, and I didn't feel like waiting for her to make the first move.

It was the perfect opportunity to get ammunition against Amanda Waller in case she does come for me, which I imagine she would since she even targeted The Justice League at some point.

She was suspicious of everyone and everything that had an excess of power, and I'd sooner or later match the general description of the people she was famous for taking down.

'I should start from the arena...' I decided, making my way to the fighting ring where I last saw the defeated contestants, to follow their trail, hoping it would lead me to Amanda Waller or whoever was responsible.

Wherever The Penguin's goons took the losers, it has to be connected to the arena, and I only have to find the right trail and follow it to get there, granted that tracking wasn't my forte, but I'll manage somehow.

I quickly reached the arena and took the right entrance, walking for a minute until I arrived at the first crossroads. 'Left or right...' I frowned as I inspected the two paths.

The left path was spotless without a speck of dust, while the right one obviously had more traffic, evidenced by barely distinguishable footsteps here and there.

I was about to go with the right path, but I stopped as I noticed the wet sheen on the left one. Frowning, I walked closer as I took off my gloves and squatted to touch the ground.

The ground was slightly wet as if someone had cleaned it not long ago, and the water was about to dry out. Upon a closer look, I also noticed some scratches on the floor.

I took out my steel wire and dug into the scratches, raising an eyebrow at the red residue that got stuck at the tip of the wire when I took it out, and immediately concluded it was the right way.

'Blood...' I noted as I got up and walked into the left hallway. That wasn't the last crossroad I encountered. The Iceberg Lounge's basement turned out to be one giant maze, but I only had to follow the scratches to reach a big room akin to a storage room.

'Bingo...' I had to resist the urge to exclaim and do a fist pump as I finally arrived at what seemed like a storage room upon noticing the unconscious figures of Killer Croc, Amygdala, and Kite Man in cage-like containers.

There were mobsters running all over the place, doing all sorts of busy work. Some carried needles, which they continuously injected into Amygdalas's body, while others patrolled the area.

I quickly began moving, installing bugs and cameras in every hidden corner I could find before moving towards Killer Croc's cage, the only one unattended.

'Now that I know he's keeping these villains here... I just have to figure out where he's taking them next...' I mused as I took out a tracking device and immediately put it into Killer Croc's pocket.

'What's that...?' I tilted my head as I noticed some dirt in the pocket with a patch of weed growing into it, but I didn't give it much thought and I retreated after planting the device.

...

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