Marvel : Master of Role-Playing

The gangsters didn't resist much. They knew how things worked. Killing a cop over a brawl might be easy, but in the grand scheme of things, it wasn't worth the trouble.

After all, they would only be sitting in jail for a few hours. There was no reason to put up a fight.

On the other hand, if they killed Gordon here, and their boss had to buy the life of a cop, they would be in serious trouble.

Killing a cop didn't scare them, but making their boss lose money over something like that was a huge problem.

Once the gangsters had calmed down, Gordon didn't keep firing. He checked the injuries of the Falcone member, called for an ambulance, and then brought in his fellow officers to take the Maroni thugs to Gotham Police Station.

He noticed the hate-filled glares from the Maroni thugs, but he didn't care.

He had come to Gotham to clean up its mess. He was a cop, and they were criminals. Why should he be afraid of them?

…..

But the next evening, his confidence was shattered.

"Still so cocky, huh? Keep acting tough!"

The Maroni thugs, who had been arrested the day before for causing serious injury, were back. This time, they found Gordon in a dark alley. He was bound, helpless, and at their mercy.

They started beating him without hesitation, delivering punches and kicks mercilessly.

"How tough are you now, huh?" one of them sneered, delivering a harsh blow to Gordon's side.

With each strike, Gordons earlier resolve began to fade, and he realized the true nature of Gotham–Its corruption, its violence and how little he had truly understood before. Gotham was far darker than he'd ever imagined. His idealistic view was crumbling fast, and the brutal reality was taking its place.

"Cough!"

A mouthful of fresh blood was spat from Gordon's mouth.

The light had faded from his eyes.

It wasn't because he was afraid of the gangsters, nor because his internal organs were damaged, but because of everything he had encountered.

In the police station, right there in the Gotham City Police Department, he had been ambushed and knocked unconscious. When he woke up, he found himself in an alley, enduring the attacks and retaliation from these gangsters.

He could accept that these gangsters held a grudge against him, but he couldn't accept the corruption of the Gotham Police Department.

He was a police captain! Right there in the police station, his own colleagues had handed him over to these gangsters.

What kind of deal had they made? Gordon had no idea, but he could clearly see the corruption in Gotham.

The righteous ideals in Gordon's heart began to crack at that moment. Even the pain from the gangsters' attacks no longer bothered him. He only felt sorrow, sorrow for Gotham, this once-prosperous city.

"Hey, hey, hey, what are you guys playing at…?"

As the group of thugs reveled in their abuse of Gordon, accompanied by a sinister laugh, Reid, playing the role of Joker, appeared at the alley entrance and slowly approached.

"Who are you, and what do you want?"

These thugs knew exactly what Gotham was like. In Gotham, a cop like Gordon was far less dangerous than a lunatic dressed strangely like the Joker.

"Nothing much, I just wanted to... join your little game."

Saying this, Reid glanced at Gordon, who collapsed on the ground.

He wasn't here to rescue Gordon. Indeed, Gordon was a charismatic character in the DC universe, but just being charismatic wasn't enough to warrant Reid's personal visit.

The real target of his visit were these thugs from the Maroni gang.

Before Batman made his appearance, Reid wanted Gotham's nights to be steeped in the terror brought by the Joker.

This required the Joker's reputation to echo throughout all of Gotham, and the Maroni gang's thugs, as stepping stones to that reputation, were the perfect targets.

As for Gordon, he was merely a casualty of circumstance.

'So, it's another criminal?'

Lying on the ground, tears of bitterness fell from Gordon's eyes, but they only strengthened his resolve.

He couldn't give up. It was precisely because he was the last person holding onto the light in this city that he couldn't let go. He had to fight against this evil to the end.

"So, you have a grudge with this officer?"

The Maroni thugs chuckled, not at all bothered by someone stomping on this annoying cop a little more. But Reid simply shook his head.

"No, no, no. My target isn't this poor officer."

As soon as the words left his mouth, the Maroni thugs tensed up, gripping their weapons tightly. If this clown wasn't here for Gordon, then he was undoubtedly here for them.

"Bingo~~ Looks like you guessed right!"

Reid raised a hand, causing the thugs to jump in fear. At the same time, the motion revealed the ticking time bomb beneath his purple suit, its timer already counting down the final ten seconds.

"Run! He's a lunatic!!!"

The first thug to react tried to flee, but before he could take more than a step, Reid swung a baseball bat—seemingly pulled from nowhere—crushing the man's skull with a single strike. It was as effortless as smashing a watermelon.

Though the Joker's frame appeared thin and frail, in truth, when he got serious, he was capable of taking on Batman in hand-to-hand combat and even coming out on top. His strength was anything but ordinary.

"Son of a—!"

The remaining thugs had no intention of avenging their fallen comrade. No one wanted to risk being taken out by a madman like him. Survival was their only concern.

But as the thugs rushed toward the alley's entrance, they discovered that the narrow passage was blocked by two massive figures.

It was Solomon and Killer Croc.

However, Killer Croc, glancing toward the interior of the alley, occasionally displayed an expression of fear. Unlike Solomon, who had been calmed by Red with a simple nursery rhyme, Killer Croc was utterly terrified of the Joker. As far as he was concerned, as long as that lunatic didn't cause him trouble, he'd do whatever was asked.

Unable to get past the two, the thugs were forced to retreat.

At that moment, they deeply regretted not bringing guns. If they had, they might have stood a chance instead of being utterly defenseless.

And so, under the desperate gazes of Gordon and the thugs, the countdown on the time bomb reached zero.

"HAHAHAHA!!!"

Instead of an explosion, what followed was the sound of the Joker's iconic laugh, playing from a small speaker attached to the bomb.

"You're messing with us?"

The thugs turned their angry gazes toward Reid, who was standing there with a smile on his face.

Reid's response was simple and calm:

"Didn't I say we were playing a game? And games should always be played with a smile. Heehee…"

The next moment, a massive burst of green laughing gas sprayed from the bomb, engulfing the entire alley in an instant.

"Hahaha... What's... hahaha!! I can't stop... hahaha!!"

The thugs who inhaled the gas began to laugh uncontrollably. Their wide-open mouths strained their airways, and one by one, they started to asphyxiate, their laughter turning into grotesque, dying wails.

On the ground, Gordon, seeing the green gas flooding the alley, immediately held his breath. But as the eerie, wailing laughter filled his ears, terror crept into his heart.

Holding his breath could only last so long. No matter how hard he tried to resist, he eventually gasped for air, unable to hold out any longer.

Just as Gordon was about to inhale a lungful of the toxic gas, Reid crouched down and pressed a gas mask over his face.

"No, no~ You're not part of the game. You're not allowed to laugh."

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