The next morning, a corpse was discovered hanging from a street sign on 22nd Street in the Baileys District.
Jim Gordon led a team to the scene. The early light was pale and thin, casting long shadows across the pavement.
Uniformed officers had already cordoned off the area, and a small crowd of early commuters lingered at the edges, phones raised to capture the grim spectacle.
"Jim, the deceased is Francis Guen. He was a city councilman who reportedly took massive bribes from the mob during his term and made plenty of enemies. This could be revenge from someone he wronged."
His old partner Bullock stepped up beside him and spoke, voice low and gravelly from too many years of cigarettes and late nights.
"An enemy?"
Gordon fell into thought, eyes fixed on the body swaying gently in the breeze.
"What's wrong? Did something occur to you?"
Bullock asked when he noticed Gordon's expression.
"Harvey…"
Gordon murmured.
"Yeah, I'm right here. I'm listening."
Bullock thought Gordon was calling him.
"Hm? No. I wasn't talking about you, Bullock."
Gordon came back to himself and explained.
"I meant Harvey Dent."
"So you think Guen was killed by Two-Face? What's your reasoning?"
Bullock did not seem bothered by the misunderstanding and continued the discussion calmly.
"22." Gordon looked up at the street sign. "This is 22nd Street."
"Two-Face does like things connected to the number two, but Gotham has several 22nd Avenues. How can you be sure this was him?"
"Have you forgotten, Bullock?"
Gordon reminded him. "Years ago, Francis Guen proposed a bill in the city council to expand the legal scope of marijuana operations. It ultimately failed after Bruce Wayne intervened, but the one who would have benefited the most from Guen's plan was undoubtedly Salvatore "The Boss" Maroni."
"Maroni. Right, there were plenty of rumors back then that Guen and Maroni were working together."
At the mention of Maroni's name, Bullock suddenly understood.
Twenty years ago, Salvator Maroni was Gotham's second-largest mob boss, second only to Falcone. Harvey Dent's face was disfigured after Maroni threw acid on him, giving birth to Two-Face.
Back then, with Falcone and Maroni at the center, gang wars never seemed to end, plunging all of Gotham into chaos.
To many people, today's Gotham, with its Arkham "superstars," is a mad and terrifying city. But compared to those years, the living environment now is far better.
At the very least, people can go out during the day without worrying that by nightfall three different gangs will show up at their door demanding protection money, or that two rival groups will run into each other and start a gunfight in the living room.
They no longer have to fear that when fleeing danger and encountering someone in a police uniform, that person will stop them and only let them go after taking a bribe.
Now, even at night, as long as one does not deliberately wander into dark alleys, going out is generally safe because of Batman.
Gotham's criminal organizations have not disappeared completely, of course, but they have greatly restrained themselves. Large-scale gang wars are now rare.
Although they have been replaced by more bizarre supervillain lunatics, on closer inspection, few of those villains actually cause more destruction than the old gang wars. The real problem is that madness itself has begun to spread like a contagion.
Gotham was indeed slowly getting better.
Compared to the Gotham of the past.
The shift from barely surviving to managing to live was nothing short of earth-shattering.
Compared to cities outside Gotham… forget it. There was no point in comparing.
"Honestly, Jim, I don't want to remember those years at all."
Bullock sighed as he spoke.
"In any case, Guen once worked with Maroni. Even though Maroni was killed by Two-Face long ago, he may have redirected his hatred toward Maroni's associates. Combined with the crime scene being on 22nd Street, the picture becomes much clearer."
"Check everyone who worked with Maroni back then. Any of them could be Two-Face's next target."
Gordon made the decision at once.
"We can't just wait for Two-Face to show up on his own. That will only mean more victims."
"Jim."
Bullock suddenly stopped him.
"Sometimes I feel, and I know it's wrong to think this, but I can't help it, that the people who were willing to work with Maroni were basically scum like Francis Guen, experts at exploiting legal loopholes for profit. Maybe… letting Two-Face take care of them isn't necessarily a bad thing."
"…"
Gordon shot him a sidelong glance without saying a word.
"Ah, Jim, I'm just venting. I don't actually support vigilante killings."
Bullock quickly added.
"You're right. I also believe those people shouldn't exist in this world."
Gordon spoke unexpectedly.
Bullock froze for a moment.
"But can you guarantee that Two-Face won't drag innocent people into it while he hunts them down?"
Gordon continued.
"Or even if they aren't completely innocent, will Two-Face leave a way out for the hired bodyguards who at least don't deserve to die?"
Without waiting for Bullock to answer, Gordon replied to his own question. "He won't."
The answer was obvious.
"So we absolutely cannot allow Two-Face to carry out his so-called justice. If the original Harvey Dent were here, he would make the same choice I am making."
"As for those hypocritical beasts, what we need to do is devote everything to gathering evidence of their crimes. That is what we must do, no matter how difficult the process."
Gordon met Bullock's gaze, his eyes filled with resolve.
"Tsk, you know what, Jim? If the guy partnered with you twenty years ago hadn't been me, I'd laugh out loud hearing those idealistic words. But damn fate made us partners, so now I actually feel like maybe one day we really can pull it off."
Bullock met Gordon's gaze with excitement.
...
Meanwhile, at the Gotham Clock Tower.
Oracle, who had been monitoring the citywide surveillance system, naturally received news of Francis Guen's murder. Even before Gordon's team arrived at the scene, she had already determined that the killer was Two-Face.
Moreover, she sensed that something was off.
Beneath the surface of revenge against Maroni's former allies, Two-Face seemed to be hiding other motives.
Because the place where Guen actually died was not 22nd Street. He had been deliberately transported there by Two-Face.
The evidence was clear. While tracing Guen's movements from the previous night, Oracle found that the last place he appeared was a nightclub.
After leaving the club, he vanished without a trace, only to later turn up hanging from a street sign on 22nd Street.
Since the spot where Guen was hung was positioned at an awkward angle, just barely blocked by the street sign from the surveillance camera, it was impossible to determine when he had been brought there.
It was also worth noting that after Guen left the nightclub and got into his car, the vehicle remained parked for a full fifteen minutes before moving. That detail immediately struck Oracle as suspicious.
She leaned back in her chair, fingers hovering over the keyboard, replaying the grainy footage on multiple screens.
Fifteen minutes. Plenty of time for someone to climb in, take control, and drive away unnoticed.
Two-Face was planning something bigger than simple revenge. Oracle could feel it.
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