Therefore, with no suitable successor, they no longer cared about Penguin's deformity; for the wealthy, psychological deformity is far more difficult to cure than physical deformity.
At least Penguin's mind and spirit were normal.
Under these circumstances, Penguin naturally developed disloyalty towards the others. He took his old buddies Two-Face, Riddler, Black Mask, and others, splitting from the Joker Gang to form his own faction.
And conflicts arose with other organization members led by Bane.
Bane, Scarecrow, Mad Hatter, Balloonman, and others inherited the will of the Joker Gang's leader, Jester. They knew that other families behind the scenes in Gotham City were secretly controlling everything.
Therefore, they opposed all authority, all forms of government management, because those were also the powers of the behind-the-scenes families.
They were anarchists!
Jester's original goal was to overthrow all existing order in Gotham City. He believed that absolute freedom could only be achieved without government, and he was willing to sacrifice for this, to be a "martyr."
And he succeeded.
Now Penguin actually wanted to become one of those controllers. Although he claimed it was for the better construction of the city, Bane did not believe him at all. He firmly believed it was just a politician's rhetoric; Penguin clearly wanted to become a new exploiter!
This was a betrayal of the Joker Gang's power!
Besides these two opposing factions, there was also a neutral camp, a third force led by Catwoman. They were the weakest and only wanted to protect the integrity of the Joker Gang, not taking sides with any particular faction.
When conflicts erupted between Penguin and Bane, the neutral faction was always responsible for mediating, but as the conflicts deepened, the role of mediation became increasingly diminished.
The Joker Gang split apart. Those behind-the-scenes manipulators did nothing, yet they had already disintegrated them.
And the citizens of Gotham found that even though Owlman had disappeared, the terrible living conditions in Gotham City had still not improved.
Prices remained sky-high, life remained difficult, the crime rate remained high, and incidents of drug dealing, robbery, theft, and murder still frequently occurred in the streets and alleys.
Gotham was still Gotham; she silently mocked all the ants living on this land.
The rich partied every night, while laborers had no place to stand, struggling even to fill their stomachs.
"This city is fucking disgusting!" Red Hood cursed.
His scope was aimed at a "little darling" who was about to pull out a knife and "enlighten" a worker who had been working late into the night.
Encountering such a situation, Red Hood could only help this idiot get an "enlightenment" first!
With a "bang," Red Hood loved that sound.
A spray of blood erupted in the distance, and another evil disappeared. If Red Hood knew the meme, he would have a "Merit +1" sound effect for himself.
But he had his own slogan: "Fuck Batman!"
"I don't recommend you do that."
Red Hood reacted extremely quickly, turning around, chambering a bullet, almost firing, but thankfully he released his finger at the last moment.
He sneered, "Don't just appear behind me, Dick."
"Don't call me that!"
Dick's face darkened. Although his name was indeed Dick Grayson, he didn't like being called that.
Because the word "Dick" in English means "penis," which in a Chinese context would be like someone calling him "Diao."
Red Hood scoffed, "Okay, Dick, no problem, Dick."
With that, he turned his head and continued to focus his gaze on the scope, searching for the next lucky audience.
"You've killed quite a few people recently," Dick said, walking up to Red Hood with a casual tone.
"What? Have you become a nun now?" Red Hood mocked.
It was well known that when Dick was a Talon, he had innocent blood on his hands. By Red Hood's standards, he should have been one of the targets to be killed.
It was just that facing this face, identical to Nightwing's, Red Hood really couldn't bring himself to do it, especially when the other party wasn't utterly heinous.
This was like Captain America facing Bucky; he knew Bucky was actually guilty, but out of personal bias, he instinctively made excuses for him.
Red Hood could only comfort himself with excuses like "he was also deceived by Owlman before," but this didn't mean Jason would be fond of this guy.
"What exactly are you here for? If you have nothing to do, get out of here quickly; you're disturbing my work!"
Red Hood was originally quite hidden lying there, but with Dick standing so conspicuously, wasn't he exposing his target?
"Let me guess, you're waiting for someone, is it Penguin?"
Red Hood shifted his gaze from the scope and stared directly at Dick: "How do you know?"
Dick looked down at him: "Do you remember my current identity?"
Red Hood raised an eyebrow. Right, Dick was currently impersonating Little Thomas Wayne. As one of the behind-the-scenes manipulators of this city, he could naturally get information that others couldn't.
"So, that bastard won't be showing up tonight, right?"
"Not only that, in fact, they've sent out quite a few people who want to use this opportunity to catch you."
Dick took out his hands from behind his back and threw several blood-stained masks on the ground.
Red Hood recognized them as the masks worn by Penguin's forces.
"They've changed their name now, not the Joker Gang, but the Penguin Gang… I'm a bit curious, how would those other arrogant guys allow him to use such a tasteless name?"
Dick smiled. Although he wasn't a Talon for the time being, his skills were still there, and dealing with a few henchmen was no problem.
"Penguin is indeed the Penguin I know," Red Hood sneered. These guys who had studied at Arkham were, as expected, still as troublesome as ever.
Then he asked, "What's his goal?"
"They want to make a deal with Batman, to make him leave this city."
Even the forces behind Gotham dared not provoke the Justice League, which could overturn the Syndicate. Therefore, their only demand was for Batman to leave Gotham.
If they couldn't afford to provoke him, they would send this great god away; that was their plan.
But Red Hood only felt they had lost their minds. Batman didn't care about the Syndicate at all; since he came to this city, he had never thought of leaving.
Red Hood had a faint feeling that Batman was using this Gotham as an experimental field, testing whether his transformation of the city could achieve his desired results.
So that he could replicate these results in his own city.
Red Hood suddenly asked Dick, "Do you know where that guy is hiding now?"
"What? Do you still want to kill him?"
"Why not?"
Dick reminded him, "That might not be easy. Penguin has many accomplices there; you alone are no match for them."
Red Hood, however, smiled, "That's because you don't know me, Dick. I'm an old hand at hunting this trash!"
In his World, Gotham's villains were originally massacred by Red Hood, and he didn't mind replicating that in this World.
Dick thought for a moment, still feeling a bit uneasy. He said, "I'll go with you."
Red Hood stared at him for a long time before saying, "Suit yourself!"
With that, Red Hood put away his sniper rifle and leaped from the rooftop.
Dick took off his suit, revealing a repainted Talon uniform underneath, indicating that he was a reborn Talon.
He put his cowl back on and, pulling a grappling hook, also leaped from the tall building.
Ever since the Joker Gang defeated the Court of Owls, they no longer confined themselves to the sewers. Most of their members' outposts had moved above ground.
The location Penguin chose for his outpost was something no one would expect: the Vauxhall Opera Chamber Music Centre.
He was still a man of taste!
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