"You..."

  Through the gas mask, Gordon stared at the chilling face before him, struggling to say something.

  But the earlier beating from the gangsters had already left his body wracked with pain, and now his spirit was nearing its breaking point. Before he could utter a single word, he slipped into unsciousness.

  "Oh dear, passed out already, huh?"

  At that moment, Solomon and Killer Croc, also wearing gas masks, approached Reid's side.

  "Let's go, gentlemen. Tonight's performance has ended. In the ing days, we have a series of es to deliver."

  With his two enforcers in tow, Reid slowly disappeared into the shadows.

  …...

  Crack!

  A bolt of lightning struck, briefly illuminating Gotham's dark night. Moments ter, a torrential downpan, as if it had been waiting for this moment all along.

  The rain washed away the lingering traces of crime from Gotham's streets but simultaneously provided the perfect cover for the city's criminals.

  In the alley, the ughing gas gradually dissipated, washed away by the relentless rain. Gotham Police Department officers arrived betedly, as expected.

  When they reached the se, their faces turned pale in unison.

  What greeted them were grotesque corpses in bizarre poses.

  The bodies beloo the Maroni gang thugs, well-doted in Gotham Police Department's records. Eae y lifeless, their fabsp;frozen in an unnatural blue hue. Even ih, their mouths were twisted into wide, ear trins, a macabre, haunting smile that sent chills down the officers' spines.

  Amid the grotesque corpses, the officers discovered a familiar figure—a man who, by all ats, should have vanished into the shadows of the night. He y silently among the bodies.

  "Captain Gordon!!!"

  Among the responding officers were some who had been involved in the Marohe ones who had knocked Gordon out and handed him over to the thugs. But now, with the thugs all dead and Gordon the sole survivor, they didn't dare y another finger on him.

  Was this the work of the Fale family? Or perhaps the handiwork of one of Gotham's newly rising lunatics?

  Why had Gordon survived?

  And more importantly, would they share the same fate as the dead gangsters if they made a move against him?

  The officers didn't dare take the risk. They weren't willing to gamble. If keeping Gordon alive meant ensuring their own safety, they were ready to protect this steadfast captain, so out of p Gotham's taireets.

  As time passed, Gordon slowly regained sciousness.

  An ambunce soon arrived, ready to transport him to Gotham General Hospital for treatment.

  At the crime se, iigators made a peculiar discovery: a pying card tucked ihe mouth of one of the dead thugs.

  At Gordon's request, one of his fellow officers retrieved the card and ha to him.

  "A Joker? … The Jordon muttered as he stared at the card in his hand.

  As he was transported to the hospital, three figures hiding in the shadows watched in silence. Only after the ambunbsp;disappeared into the night did they quietly leave the se.

  …...

  Two nights ter.

  A group of police officers gathered at a bar owned by the Maroni family.

  These weren't just any officers—they were the ones involved in Gordon's abdu. It was their coordinated effort that allowed them to knock Gordon out within the police station and "sell" him to Maroni's men.

  "You think Gordon's figured out that we're the ones who did it?" one of them asked nervously.

  The gruesome murders two nights ago had been eerie and terrifying, but in Gotham, there were always more horrifyis unfolding daily. Two days had passed, and their initial fear of the killer had gradually faded, repced by a growiment tordon, who they feared might be closing in oruth.

  "I say we do it again." one officer proposed. "There are still plenty of people in the Maroni family who hate Gordon's guts. In just two days, he's already raided several bars, and now he's even pissed off the Fale family. He's got a death wish. This time, we'll make sure he's done for."

  "Exactly! If we let him keep this up, Maroni and Fale will be fine, but we're the ones who'll get fired!"

  Gotham Police Department might be powerless to trol the city, but it still had the means to police its own ranks. If Gordon's iigation persisted, it was only a matter of time before these officers faced sequences.

  If Gordon truly had solid evidence, even though the issioner of Gotham wasly a good person, it was entirely possible that he'd throw them under the bus to cim credit for a successful case.

  As they fiercely debated whether to cooperate with the Fale family or the Maroni family, the bar's door slowly creaked open.

  Gradually, as everyourheir gaze toward the massive figure walking step by step toward the bar ter, the entire room fell silent.

  It was a t figure, humanoid in form with four limbs, yet covered entirely iilian scales—a humanoid crocodile.

  Bang!

  Killer Croc dropped heavily onto a barstool at the ter and said to the bartender,

  "Otle of brandy, lots of ice."

  He spoke while obediently pg a few crumpled dolr bills on the ter with his massive cwed hand.

  "S-Sure... right away..."

  Lag the ce to toubsp;the filthy bills Killer Croc had pced on the ter, the barterembling, grabbed a bottle of brandy, poured it into a gss, added ice, and ha over.

  Killer Croc didn't do anything extra. He simply picked up the gss, opened his massive jaws, and dowhe drink in one gulp.

  Seeing this, the bartender began to rex slightly. It seemed this monstrous creature was capable of versation and had indeed only e for a drink.

  Thinking along those lihe bartender, driven by professional instinct, struck up a versation with Killer Croc.

  "Sir, your skin... Is that really something a human could develop? It looks almost like..."

  Bang!

  Killer med the gss down on the ter, then gnced sideways at the bartender, who had been startled by the sudden movement.

  "You want to say I don't look human?"

  The bartender, shaking with fear, hesitated for a moment before responding, nodding slightly.

  "No..."

  Smack!

  In the instant, Killer Croc threw a punch, and the bartender's head was crushed like a watermelon, shattered in an instant by the force.

  The se stunned all the ers in the bar, causing the Maroni family thugs to grip their ons tightly.

  "I hate it when people say I'm not human."

  He was human. If his Dested, it would prove he was 100% human. It was just that due tression phenomenon, his appearance had turned into something monstrous.

  Killer Croc then sed the room, his gaze nding on the Maroni thugs, who had already drawn their ons and aimed them at him. A cruel smile spread across his face.

  "Looks like you think I'm not human too, huh?!"

  A massacre began.

  Killer Croc exploded into a, using his cws and sharp teeth to tear through the Maroni thugs, ending their lives oer another.

  The cramped bar was certainly not ideal fiant like Killer Croc to fight in, and the bullets fired by the thugs were nearly impossible for him to dodge.

  However, the same was true for the Maroni thugs, they had no way to avoid Killer Croc's rampage.

  The bullets that struck Killer Croc's body merely got stuck between his scales and muscles, doing little damage.

  But Killer Croc's cws and fangs could easily take away the lives of those who crossed his path.

  **

  **

  **

  Hey guys, I’ve edited the earlier chapters a bit, especially the ones where Alfred verses with others (specifically tony). So, if you want a better reading experience, go check them out. Future versations will also follow this style. Also, I’ve ged the quotation marks “” to square brackets [] for when the system speaks.

  Thank you for reading! If you'd like access to extra chapters and want to support my work, you visit my P@treon:

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