Chapter 402: City of Sin III
[With your help, the Irish mob gradually gained the upper hand in their war against the Mafia. Although the Sabatino family, who led the Italian Mafia, was powerful and operated across both Metropolis and Gotham, their boss, Johnny Sabatino, was a man with more brains than brawn. You'd seen far too many like him in your long life.]
[Even though he hired several supervillains as reinforcements—including the Trickster and Killer Moth—his downfall was inevitable, happening step by step.]
[During the final stage of the conflict, Gotham's long-time mob godfather, Carmine "The Roman" Falcone—who had ruled the city for nearly twenty years—sent people to negotiate. But you ignored their threats and went ahead with the destruction of the Italian Mafia. After all, your next target was Gotham City itself, the City of Sin on America's East Coast—the most crime-ridden city in the world, bar none. And Falcone was your primary target.]
[According to Jonathan Crane, Falcone had secretly ruled Gotham for the past two decades. The mayor, city council, and even the police commissioner were all under his control. You found that amusing—didn't that mean controlling Falcone was the same as controlling all of Gotham?]
[On September 2, 1972, you arrived in Gotham with Peyton Riley and Jonathan Crane. The sky was always overcast, and eerie Gothic buildings towered over the city, reminding you of your old homeland, England. Sometimes, you couldn't even tell day from night—and you were always wary of accidentally being caught in sunlight.]
[Just as you had done upon first arriving in this world, you chose to stay in hiding until you fully grasped the situation in Gotham. You continued your nocturnal existence as a vampire, leaving Peyton Riley and Jonathan Crane to expand your influence and deliver useful intelligence.]
[The intelligence revealed that the city was home to four great families, thirteen crime families, and seven secret organizations and gangs—an extremely tangled web of power.]
[Of all the people in Gotham, two interested you the most. The first was Bruce Wayne, head of the Wayne family, one of the city's founders. What drew you to him was not only his immense wealth but also his apparent potential to awaken a Stand ability.]
[The second was Thomas Elliot, head of the Elliot family. According to your investigation, his parents had recently died in a car crash. The stench of depravity around him was unmistakable—you were fairly certain he had murdered them himself.]
[He too showed signs of possessing Stand potential.]
[The results left you both satisfied and disappointed. Bruce Wayne appeared to be nothing more than a frivolous playboy, yet aside from loneliness and fear, he had no real weaknesses. He wasn't your kind of person. At one point, you even considered using flesh buds to control him directly.]
[Thomas Elliot, on the other hand, was exactly as you had judged—a complete degenerate. He'd always envied everything Bruce Wayne had and became obsessed with imitating him, to the point of madness.]
[After you exposed his greatest secret and demonstrated your power—using both threats and persuasion—Thomas Elliot quickly surrendered completely and joined your team.]
[His Stand was called Survivor, a power that provoked anger in those nearby, inciting chaos and internal strife.]
[This ability could affect targets regardless of their strength, and with clever use, it could be extremely effective.]
[On the night of December 9, 1972, several of your subordinates launched a joint assault on the Falcone family. Peyton Riley used her "Goddess Bast" ability to stop their convoy. Thomas Elliot's Survivor caused infighting among them. The silent killer, Queen, detonated Carmine Falcone's car. Immediately after, the Irish mob launched a full-scale attack on the Falcone family. You didn't even need to show up—your subordinates handled everything perfectly, taking over all of the Falcones' assets.]
[The gang war sent shockwaves throughout Gotham. Your rising organization instantly became the city's focus. Countless people wanted a piece of the action—or to issue a warning. Among them were the Maroni family, ranked second; the Sullivan family, ranked fourth; and another being who, like you, only emerged under cover of darkness—the Dark Knight, Batman.]
[You clashed with Batman several times. During your first encounter, you immediately saw through his identity—Bruce Wayne, head of the Wayne family. Yet the outcome astonished you. Even after crossing into this world, your time-stopping ability still lasted its peak duration of nine seconds. But within those nine seconds, you couldn't inflict enough damage on Batman.]
[His black armored suit looked ordinary but could withstand tremendous physical force and even deflect thrown blades. The battle ended in a draw. However, by your last fight, you suspected that Batman had already uncovered the secret of your Stand ability.]
[After Thomas Elliot joined your ranks and you absorbed the Falcone family's assets, your wealth skyrocketed. Using either money or coercion, you recruited more and more supervillains. Among the most notable were Count Vertigo and Gentleman Ghost.]
[Each possessed unique powers. Count Vertigo—Werner Vertigo—was a hereditary noble from Vlatava whose power stemmed from a medical device originally designed to treat inner-ear infections. The electronic implant at his right temple disrupted his opponents' balance, inducing severe dizziness and headaches. It could also interfere with electronic systems, such as missile guidance. Gentleman Ghost, meanwhile, was a British thief who had died in the 19th century—making him, in a sense, a countryman of yours.]
[Both men had useful talents and potential to awaken Stands of their own.]
[Eventually, Count Vertigo awakened a Stand called The Lovers, which could invade an enemy's brainstem from a distance, amplifying any damage he suffered and transferring it to the target. Your fellow countryman, Gentleman Ghost, awakened a seemingly unimpressive Stand: Horrific Beast. It allowed him to transform into a dinosaur and use its physical prowess to attack—or to unleash swarms of smaller dinosaurs. Given a thousand chances, your elegant self would never have chosen such a Stand.]
[Then, perhaps drawn by some "gravity" of fate, you encountered a strange man with green hair and a purple tailcoat. It began when he witnessed your battle with Batman and suddenly took an interest in you.]
[He laid a web of intricate traps to push you into the depths of madness, curious to see how you would react.]
[Every one of his traps preyed upon the weaknesses of human nature. Truth be told, there were moments when you seriously wanted to kill him. But in the end, strangely enough, you found yourself agreeing with his view—that one bad day could truly shatter a person's life. Eventually, the two of you laughed together, sharing a mutual understanding of that sorrowful sense of helplessness.]
[Though utterly different from Pucci, his mannerisms and behavior equally bizarre, you keenly sensed a similarity between them. Like Pucci, he was devoid of worldly desire—no interest in power, fame, or fortune. He was driven solely by a pure urge to destroy order itself. Perhaps he was destined to become your second closest friend.]
[After some probing, you half-truthfully told him about your plan—to slay thirty-six souls steeped in sin, ascend to heaven, and then destroy and remake the world. When you described your concept of "Heaven," the Joker was so overcome with exhilaration that he nearly wept. You hadn't misread him; for him, this plan was almost a lifelong dream. Perhaps this was the "gravity" at work.]
[He even gleefully provided a list of thirty-six names—the first of which was Batman's. But he quickly crossed it out himself: "No, Batman can't die yet." The final list contained a mixture of infamous supervillains and superheroes, roughly one-third of them the latter, including well-known names such as the Flash and Green Arrow.]
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