Chapter 94: After The Falcon's Fall

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"If You Can't Beat The Game, If You Can't Solve The Puzzle, You're Nothing But A Loser."

- Near, (Death Note)

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<(Omniscient POV)> 

After Carmine Falcon's mysterious death, the entire city of Gotham went through a series of massive changes. Gotham's entire political and criminal landscape transformed in a fortnight as dozens of government officials previously aligned with the Falcon gang resigned from their posts and went into hiding in fear of attacks from other gangs.

The official press announcement was that Falcon had died of a heart attack while in prison but truthfully it was an open secret that his death was anything but natural or ordinary. Almost every well-connected man in Gotham knew that Falcon died a very terrible and awful death. The higher-ups in GCPD, FBI, and DEA who had become involved with the investigation into Falcon gang's illegal drug cartel empire suspected that he was killed by one of his own partners in an attempt to silence him permanently. Still, a very few intelligent men in Gotham knew better.

One of them was Commissioner James Gordon. Even before arresting Falcon, Gordon knew that there was quite a significant chance that someone would try to silence Falcon and he was in fact quite ready for it as well. From constant monitoring through multiple CCTV cameras to 24/7 guard by his most loyal officers, he had done everything to make sure that there was no way the Joe Chill situation would be repeated again. But alas, lady luck was again not with him. However, even though Gordon still had no idea about how Falcon died in his cell without anyone even going near his cell, he was still able to figure out something else.

He was able to deduce that Falcon's death was most probably not caused by his allies but instead by something else... or someone else because he had seen this type of death before. He had seen this method of killing in his younger days when he had to investigate the sudden death of most of the Bertinelli family. He remembered the strange case of criminals dying with their bodies shriveled up exactly like Falcon died. 

So, it either indicated that Falcon's death had some sort of connection with the massacre of the Bertinelli family or it simply meant that someone out there was targeting and killing criminals for some reason. But the question was why? Was it revenge, a rival gang trying to eliminate competition, or maybe just some guy out there who finally cracked and started killing gangsters to satiate his anger?

Whatever it was, Gordon had been saved by a stroke of luck because despite Falcon dying in his custody, the Commissioner still wasn't fired. Turns out that all the hard evidence James Gordon had gotten from Batman or recovered from the Iceberg Lounge pointed to Falcon being the biggest ringmaster of the Gotham criminal underworld but it could just as easily be slightly twisted to implicate others as well. And that was exactly what his superiors did. 

The public and the government wanted someone to blame, to direct their anger and hatred at. They could not get Falcon since he was dead before they could prove anything in court, so they instead turned their attention to someone else. It was unanimously decided that Penguin who was one of Falcon's major partners and was one of the few who was caught red-handed with his hands completely and permanently stuck in the metaphorical cookie jar, would be the one to be sacrificed.

He would be the sacrificial lamb who would take the fall as the biggest Kingpin of Gotham. Of course, Penguin himself had no idea of what was happening or why he was suddenly being called the biggest criminal in Gotham City. He always wanted to be the most famous gang leader in Gotham but he never thought that he would become one so easily without even being able to enjoy any of the benefits.

When he did come to understand a few things, Oswald Cobblepot could not help but curse at his own luck, Carmine Falcon as well as the Dark Knight who had been the indirect cause of all his sufferings. All of his properties were directly seized by the government including his nightclub. His power and influence were crushed as all of his allies isolated him in fear that they would be targeted as well by the government if they tried helping him too much. 

Even his men left him, not wanting to further endanger themselves while Penguin himself was sentenced to imprisonment for 50 years without any chance of bail or early parole.

All the while this was happening, the city of Gotham again began to go through a series of extreme changes as rumors of the Dark Knight's involvement in the arrest of Penguin and Falcon circulated within the media, especially through the Gothan News Network which was owned by Wayne Entertainment.

A lot of criminals got scared and even considered retiring from their life of crime but there were also those who thought that they were smarter and better than any newbie vigilante out there. 

However, there was also a third sort of dangerous group of criminals as well besides the previous two. They understood that they could no longer survive with how things were, so they began to adapt and evolve too. From operating much more stealthily in the city to searching for better weapons and technology to grow faster, they didn't leave any route unexplored to increase their power and influence. To them, this was the best time for them to grow without attracting too much attention. The recent death of Falcon was a rare opportunity and according to them, they would be a fool to let it go.

But amongst all this, one thing still remained unclear in everyone's minds.

Just who the hell was the Dark Knight and where was he now?

And most important of all, what was he going to de next?

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<{Wayne Manor}>

<(Bruce Wayne POV)>

"Can you all stop looking at me like I am some sort of criminal? This is seriously unsettling." I said while calmly taking a sip of my coffee.

"You know young master, you could have just told me that you wanted to roam about the city at night in a bat costume while beating up criminals. I wouldn't even have tried to stop you since you seem so determined about the entire thing but instead, you hid everything from me. For a moment, you almost had me worried that you were doing drugs... although in hindsight drugs would have been much safer than what you have currently got yourself in." Alfred gave me a disappointed look.

I was currently sitting at the head of the table in the dining room of the Wayne manor with Alfred, Vicki, Nyssa, and Talia all sitting around me, giving me all sorts of looks.

They had found out about my recent adventures as Batman as well as my role in the Fall of Falcon courtesy of Selina yelling in the hall about how cool she looked as Catwoman and how much she wanted to have sex with me while in our costumes which both Alfred and Nyssa had heard.

As for Vicki, she had just figured everything out on her own. In her own words, there was only one man in Gotham who could design that high-tech Bat-themed armor to fight crime while having a cat-obsessed girl following him.

Of course, Selina had already managed to escape this 'interrogation' by giving the excuse of meeting her friend, Holly who had just returned from Washington. Unfortunately for me, however, I didn't have such an effective and believable excuse which meant I had to stay back here to explain everything to them.

"Sorry Alfred but this wasn't exactly something I could tell you during a dinner conversation although I should tell you that I wasn't going to keep it a secret for much longer... Anyway, now that you guys know everything, I think I should go back to my lab. I have a pair of soul-killing twin swords to research. So, catch you later?" I tried to make up an excuse to escape.

"Is it true that you and Selina had sex?" Nyssa asked with a blank face as she took a glance at her elder sister.

"I feel like this is a conversation I should not bring myself into, so I am going to leave you kids alone to solve your own problems. Best of luck young master..., I feel like you are going to need it." Alfred muttered the last part mostly to himself as he quickly made his exit before I could answer her. 

"... *Sigh* Yes, I won't lie, Nyssa. I did sleep with Selina but it was not because of some one-time fling or because I wanted to sleep around behind your back or something... It was because I love her... just like I love you. In fact, I fell in love with her even before I met you. I could never tell you anything because I was afraid to let you go. I still am because I love you and her both... and believe me, I know how much of an asshole I sound right now. But that's the honest truth."

Nyssa was not the only one to wince at my words. Even Vicki who was trying to make herself seem invisible too tsked at my words while looking annoyed for some reason. I could swear that I even heard a small mutter of 'That bitch got ahead of me' coming from her.

"And you want me to just accept your relationship with Selina? To pretend that it's normal? What if I had done the same thing, Bruce? What would you have done then? If I had cheated on you, would you have moved on and accepted it?" Nyssa asked calmly. None of the turbulent emotions that I was expecting were visible on her face.

Maybe she is just too angry to show any emotions... I hope she doesn't go dark and become a villain trying to kill me to get her revenge.

Talia also seemed a bit too calm to my taste as she just watched both me and Nyssa with amused eyes. She looked like she was barely holding back a smirk.

"No..., I would have most probably ruined the life of the person you have cheated on me with if not outright killed him. I am not a proud hypocrite but honestly, that's what I would have done if you had cheated on me without breaking up with me first." I admitted as I struggled to meet her eyes. 

"I guess you were right about him sis..." Nyssa released a heavy sigh as she got up from her seat.

God, I think I really screwed up. I really didn't want to break her heart. I never wanted to cuckold a woman, I always looked down on partners cheating on each other but now, I have done it myself... I fucking hate myself right now.

"I accept your proposition. I love him too much to leave him. But, if I had to share someone, I don't see why I shouldn't do it with my own elder sister. At least, that way, there isn't any chance of you stealing him away from me." Nyssa finished as she got up to leave. There was a heavy blush on her face as she quickly left the room in hurried steps without looking at me even once.

Wait, what?

"Of course, I won't my dear sister. There is no way I'll ever try stealing away your man." Talia answered with a small smile as she gave me a playful look.

Wait, what? What the fuck just happened here? Is there anything I am not aware of or did I just unlock some sort of ultimate harem protagonist halo? 

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