I, V, Gotham Legend

This was a simple thing from the beginning. It must be the hormonal disorder that made me hesitant. Women are trouble.

Valerie was generally blaming herself in her heart as she opened the door. Her Sword in the Stone had already stopped at the ground level at the door.

Helena looked back at Marlon, apologized politely, and then followed him out.

Looking at the door that closed automatically, Ma Long rubbed his tired eyes and then took out a phone.

He has a good impression of Harvey, so he wants to do his part.

NO8. Negotiation

On a cargo ship in Gotham Harbor, a group of people were busy moving cargo, and boxes of teddy bear dolls were being sent from the port into the cabin.

These thugs were busy and nervous. Unlike in the past, they were not only fully armed, but also looked around vigilantly at all times.

With the enactment of the Dent Act, the police department became unexpectedly efficient. After several big guys were actually arrested, smugglers throughout Gotham finally paid attention to secrecy like normal smuggling.

These thugs are the subordinates of Maroni, the new drug lord behind the Black Mask.

It is said that two months ago, Black Mask's steel plant was attacked and the gang leader was unable to escape. He was engulfed by fire and collapsed building materials, but was fortunately rescued by his men.

But even so, the burns still forced Black Mask to be hospitalized. It is said that because of the fire, the mask on his face could no longer be removed, and he became the real "Black Mask".

That is, when Black Mask was in the hospital, the Dent Act was officially promulgated. This former king of Gotham was arrested in the hospital and should have been transferred to Blackgate, where he is a classmate of the Penguin.

Fear of the law and the police is the reason why these thugs hide, but there is something else that really makes them so timid.

A thug carried a box and brought it to the deck, panting. Without paying attention to others, he threw the box to the ground.

In addition to needing to take a break, another reason was that he felt it was a bit too quiet, and based on the rumors of the past few days, he felt that something was about to happen.

The thug held the submachine gun in his arms and looked at the deck nervously. He felt his teeth chattering.

They had all been so cowardly as to act so late, yet they were still armed as if they were going to war, so low-key as if they were guerrilla warfare, all because of one man.

He didn't even know if he was human.

The pressure made his mouth salivate. The thug swallowed his saliva and walked forward slowly in fear.

"Is anyone there?" the thug asked bravely. The breeze on the deck was not strong, but even so it was too quiet.

Looking at the deck littered with containers, he felt that a monster might burst out at any moment and break every bone in his body.

The thug thought about the salary Maroni offered him and felt that it was not worth the risk of his life, and it was not even enough to pay for the medical expenses of his broken bones.

He held the gun and looked at the deck vigilantly, slowly backing away, wanting to leave this damn place.

But he had only taken a few steps back when he felt his back hit a hard chest.

"No way..." He realized the current situation in despair, but the black arms had already locked his neck.

...

"Master, your plan to incarnate fear was very successful. Now these thugs are really afraid of you." Alfred complimented Batman over the comms.

"They weren't scared enough to let go." Batman opened the box, pulled out a stuffed bear, tore off the cloth head, and inside was white powder wrapped in a plastic bag.

"It's been a long time since I've seen a Gotham criminal remember to disguise himself when smuggling drugs," Alfred said.

"It's not just drugs." Batman denied Alfu's words. He raised the plastic bag in front of his eyes and scanned the structure of the white powder with his eyes flashing white light.

"A very familiar hallucinogenic ingredient... If nothing unexpected happens, Maroni is working with Scarecrow." Batman speculated. "Are they going to ship this batch of drugs out of Gotham? Is someone doing business with Maroni?"

"If nothing unexpected happens, the smuggling ship will arrive in the metropolis. Should we ask the branch there to investigate?" Alfred suggested.

"Let them act as covertly as possible." Batman threw the drug bear back into the box.

"Well... Master, it seems that there is finally some progress on the troublesome matter concerning the scarecrow, but I just received another troublesome matter from Miss V. Would you like to take a look?"

As if he had made full mental preparations, Alfred spoke.

"Let me see it." Although his expression did not change, Batman's heart sank.

...

Harvey Dent returned to his cheap apartment with his tired body. Because he had made many enemies in Gotham, his residence was very secret.

The newly bought house is still being renovated, and it would be too troublesome to move to a more upscale apartment now. Fortunately, his wife doesn't mind.

But when he returned home today, he found that the door of the apartment was ajar and there was no sign of violent damage to the door lock.

Did Jenny forget to lock the door? No, she wouldn't be so careless.

Harvey felt uneasy. He took out a pistol from his pocket and opened the door cautiously.

The room was empty, with only the windows wide open.

"Jenny?!" Harvey shouted, hoping to get a response from his wife.

The room was still silent, with only the sound of the draft, and no other response. Harvey walked to the wide-open window and looked out anxiously.

"Jane..."

"She is safe." A cool voice sounded in my ears.

Harvey turned around and glared at the woman who suddenly appeared.

Valerie was standing beside him at some point, and her golden eyes seemed to be smiling.

"Did you do this? Where is Jenny?!" Harvey recognized Valerie at a glance, but he cared more about his wife's safety, so he asked like a reprimand.

“She’s safe. Someone is targeting you guys, so I asked her to stay in a safe place for a while. Don’t worry, someone is protecting her.

Let me first tell you why I came to see you. I just received a message that this person named Tang De did transfer money to you. "

Not long after Valerie took over Harvey's house, she received Barbara's investigation results.

The human traffickers’ account records did show Harvey’s account, which made Harvey’s suspicion increase sharply.

"Are you saying I took bribes?" Harvey couldn't believe it.

Valerie pulled out a photo: "Does this photo remind you of anything?"

The photo showed Harvey hugging two little girls. Valerie hadn't checked the surveillance yet. She planned to go and see it together after catching Harvey.

"What do you want to say?" Harvey's expression turned cold, and it was obvious that he was impressed.

"Someone reported you as a protector of human traffickers." Valerie glossed over the specific details. "But overall I still want to trust you. The question is... are you worthy of trust?"

"I have heard of human traffickers, and they are also what I want to fight, but it is ridiculous to think that I am a human trafficker. That photo is just me sending the children home."

"Their home is in a warehouse?" Valerie flipped over the photo, exposing the girl's miserable death to Harvey.

"How come..." Harvey was stunned.

Was it because I really didn't expect the girl to die? Or was it because I didn't expect that I could come up with this?

"Come with me." Valerie clicked her fingers, "Let's go to the base of the human traffickers. If you are wrongly accused, I will give you justice. But if it is really you, I will kill you there and make you become like this little girl."

The hovercraft was lifted up from an empty place, with the empty door facing the room.

9. Putting the blame on others

The warehouse area of ​​Gotham's Westport was once the money laundering area of ​​the Penguin, but after the gang war, it was officially incorporated into the fold of the Ventriloquist.

Even the Penguin does not have a complete grasp of the criminal chain under his command, and this warehouse hides the deepest darkness.

The gold-painted hovercraft slowly descended from the warehouse area, and the high-temperature jets blew the sand until the car finally sank to the ground.

Valerie opened the car door and motioned for Harvey to get out first.

Harvey got out of the car with a frown on his face. Looking at the devastated warehouse area, his expression became more serious.

This place seemed to have been bombed by a large number of rockets. Although there were signs of great efforts to clean it up, there were still dried blood and scorch marks that seeped into the walls.

It seems that the warehouse has not been officially put into use yet because it has not been cleaned up yet, or it may be to avoid the police. There are no people in the warehouse area, but there are indeed signs of human activity.

"Have you been here before?" Valerie asked Harvey.

Harvey turned around and looked towards the exit, and sure enough, he saw a familiar landmark in the distance.

Although he was unwilling to admit it in his heart, he had really been here and had really seen those two girls.

"The girls I rescued from a group of gangsters when I first arrived in Gotham a month ago, said themselves, their home is this warehouse," Harvey said tremblingly.

"That makes sense, but how do I know if you're making it up?" Valerie stared at Harvey's face.

"I won't lie. If this is the base of human traffickers, then I undoubtedly made a big mistake."

The only light in the warehouse area shone on the side of Harvey's face, hiding half of his face in darkness. His expression did not seem fake.

"That's just an empty promise." Valerie didn't hear the explanation hard enough.

"I'm sorry, but I only know their names. The elder sister is Sarah and the younger sister is Sansa." Harvey told all the information he knew.

Valerie didn't say anything else. She had already done a quick scan of the warehouse from the outside. After finding a target, she took the lead and walked over.

There should be a computer host connected to the camera, and Valerie can use her abilities to call up all the surveillance footage from the past few months.

Having said that, if this is a base for human traffickers, it is hard to say how much surveillance there is. This photo of Harvey holding the child looks more like it was taken from a street surveillance camera outside.

Valerie was walking in front. She didn't turn back to call Harvey, but Harvey followed her consciously.

Pushing open the door, Valerie walked into a narrow room with no windows and naturally no light.

Valerie did not go looking for a light. Instead, she used her technical skills to create a flashlight. The light was like the sun in the room, and she immediately found a computer.

After glancing at the dark monitor, Valerie turned around, only to find Harvey looking hesitant, as if he didn't want to enter.

"You want to run?" Valerie raised her chin.

"No... I just..." Harvey was a little nervous and wanted to explain something, but seemed to give up after thinking and struggling.

"I'm coming." Harvey walked into the room anyway, but deliberately didn't close the door.

Valerie turned her head back, turned on the computer host, and connected the data cable in her palm to the computer. A large surveillance screen like a chessboard was successfully projected on the monitor.

"How did you find this computer connected to the surveillance camera?" Harvey couldn't help but be curious.

"A random computer." Valerie didn't say anything further.

She herself has no way of explaining most of the superpowers she gains from the game.

She checked the surveillance footage and based on the dried blood on the way here, she knew that this warehouse area was taken over by the ventriloquist during the gang war. In other words, even if there was a human trafficking stronghold, it was wiped out by Scarface during that time.

She rewound the playback time back to a month ago, when the gang war was at its most intense.

While flipping through the surveillance video, Valerie suddenly raised her head and looked at Harvey in confusion: "What's wrong with you?"

At this time, Harvey was standing not far behind Valerie. As if to prove that he had no intention of escaping, he deliberately stayed far away from the door.

At this time, Harvey's face was covered with sweat and he was trying hard to suppress his heavy breathing. In Valerie's scan, his heart rate was very fast.

"Are you nervous?" Valerie narrowed her eyes.

"I..." Harvey swallowed and tried to explain.

There was a sound like a buzzing sound, and the entire warehouse factory suddenly lost power, and the monitor in front of Valerie suddenly went black.

Valerie thought she heard Harvey holding his breath.

"There's a power outage. Were you prepared for this?" Valerie's tone turned cold.

"No, I don't know!" Harvey wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. His voice didn't tremble, but that didn't mean anything.

"You know what? You're full of suspicion right now." Valerie turned on the scanning vision, and Harvey's distorted face was clearly visible to her.

"No...please let me explain...I'm just afraid of the dark." Harvey seemed to be in a panic and couldn't even come up with such a reason.

Valerie's suspicion only deepened. After all, the scar-faced man had a motive to deliberately cut off the power supply in order to frame him.

But Harvey's self-destructive excuse made Valerie even more suspicious. She stood up and approached Harvey: "Are you still a child?"

Harvey realized that if this continued, V might attack him. He took a deep breath and said, "Listen to me, V. We can fix the electricity first. It doesn't matter what happens next. I'm sure I'm innocent..."

But before he could finish his words, he saw Valerie rushing towards him with a pink samurai sword in her hand.

"Wait a minute!" Harvey was already panicking, but Valerie was much faster than him, and the samurai sword was already in front of him.

Then it deflected like a baseball.

Harvey looked at Valerie's face in shock, with the long knife across his eyes, less than a meter away.