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Chapter 16: Progress
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Ian walked down the stairs from the roof. He went to the building's first floor, the coffee shop. It was late at night at this point, so the workers were already preparing to close it.
He found the trio of his group already waiting for him around a table. He took a seat with them and asked, "Any trouble today?"
Ralf shook his head as he signaled for one of the workers to bring them coffee, "No, as you predicted. The Falcone family has given up on the area, and very few other crime families try to get here. At this point, it seems they're more scared of us than of batman."
"Well, that's the result of having thousands of beggars under your hand," Ian couldn't help but let out a chuckle. He was sure Batman has already started investigating his group but he didn't care at this point.
"I admit when you spoke your proposal then, I thought you've become crazier but seeing how things worked out makes me think I've gone crazy," Mike added still just as baffled by how far they've come.
"Yeah, who thought investing a few tens of thousands of bucks every month in the homeless of Gotham would create such force of venomous people."
Barney might not have noticed it himself, but he sounded envious while saying that, leading the group to eye him strangely.
They've become extremely rich at this point yet Barney still wishes to keep everything to himself.
"That's what investing is, putting money into something with the expectation of profit, and we're already seeing a profit.
We've basically taken over the entire street and are expanding to its surroundings without doing much.
We still can't take over the crime alley as that will bring too much attention. In fact, the only reason we didn't get much resistance from the crime families is because of Batman, he seems to be quite active recently."
It's fascinating what a bunch of people could do for a piece of bread. They could literally crawl themselves to the depths of hell for a steady source of food which Ian gladly provided.
The warehouse he lived in once was empty as pretty much every beggar moved to Olster street not just for the food but also because of the two large warehouses Ian bought for them.
The warehouses had numerous beds within and any daily necessities they might need. There isn't much privacy as everyone will be sleeping close to each other but they're used to that by this point.
Of course, Ian had to spend quite the sum of money to make that happen. He pretty much sold everything he ever stole and he has been stealing with Selina leaving only the diamond.
He also provided them with new clean clothes, spending even more money. However, it was all worth it.
He had an army of people at his disposals, he even hired some of them to work at his coffee shop.
This many people would in theory lead to an increase in the crime rate in Olster street, but it was the opposite.
Ian established a protection system in the area... Indeed, he went with the protection fee trick except in Gotham it's a welcomed trick.
If the shops and stores wish for a safe environment, they'd pay the fees to Ian and the group, then the beggars themselves would protect themselves, and there is nothing more ferocious than a bunch of homeless people in need of money and have nothing to lose.
The homeless will then be paid by Ralf as he oversees them... Of course, they'll get paid a small sum of that money and in the end, the group ended up making much more money than they were spending.
That wasn't the only benefit as seeing their success, many groups started approaching them for money laundering business.
They launder the money given to them and they get a cut, but as with all illegal businesses, there is a risk.
The Olster street was pretty much taken over in a matter of weeks in its entirety, a street that was once the Falcones was that no more, and the thing is they could do nothing about it.
They are pretty much the largest crime family in the city, and that's why their every move is easily traced and attracts too much attention... The bat's attention was on them as theirs was on him.
It's almost as if Ian planned the whole thing perfectly to the point that even attempting to take back the street now is simply not worth it at all... However, he actually didn't foresee things to this point, it all just worked out.
Ian started stroking his chin. He already sensed the strangeness in the streets of Gotham... Something major is about to happen.
"Have you thought it through?" Ralf asked as Ian's next decision will basically carve their future in the book of fate.
"I mean, what's there to think of? Every mob family is doing it, so why shouldn't we? It's not that much but it's a start." Mike voiced his opinion.
"More money? Sold! I don't see why not. We already did some nasty stuff so why not dig ourselves deeper?" Barney's words attracted everyone's bizarre looks, his way of phrasing things is... Well, special.
Ian frowned then shook his head, "I've thought it through. We won't be going into the drugs business, in fact, we should stay as far away from it as possible."
Their reputation has gone up to such an extent that several groups approached them for collaboration in the narcotics business.
Ian brought his phone up, searched for something, and showed them, "Do you see what this is? I showed it to you before."
"That new flash hero? But isn't he far away from here?" Mike wondered.
"We have someone more dangerous, Batman. The point I'm making is the surge in people calling themselves heroes who work against crime, going into that business will definitely attract their attention." Ian explained.
"How is batman more dangerous than the flash, the latter is all flash flashy flash, super fast I mean, while Batman doesn't seem to be special? Doesn't he just wear a bat suit and jump around?"
Barney's focus was elsewhere as he spoke all the nonsense in his head.
"Batman has survived so far in a city like Gotham and even brought fear to its sinners.
That in itself is a great accomplishment but this isn't the topic of focus today.
Batman must already have an eye on us thus we should be careful and prepared for the worst, I absolutely see no benefit in involving ourselves in that business, so as always, I have a better idea."
"Oh, what is it?" His words got their full attention.
Ian mysteriously smiled, "It's the art of screwing people over, or in this case, the crime families."
"Say what?" Mike was baffled, they just talked about not doing something dangerous because it's dangerous yet here he is talking about doing something suicidal.
"Just be patient, I will explain. It's actually quite simple, all we have to do is to screw them over, perhaps let batman do the work, and then take all of their hard-earned money.
Imagine just how much those old crime families have accumulated during the decades of their existence." Ian was passionate about his plans but the same couldn't be said about the rest.
"But won't we just die? I know you don't mind but I do," Mike spoke his mind and Barney seemed to agree as he said, "I haven't even seen my dear yet, so I really don't want to die."
Ian smiled further, seemingly about to speak the gospels, the words of wisdom, "That's the point. We might die, isn't that exciting?"
"Ah? N-no?"
He stood up, "It's okay, I mean it's just death. Anyway, I will be doing the majority of the work, you guys won't really have to do anything.
You three just focus on our organization and the expansion. If any of you wish to pull out, you're welcome to do so right now, otherwise, let's have some fun."
Ian left them to do some thinking. They already know that working for him is dangerous but it has been working out so far, so they were okay with that.
Ian felt the responsibility to remind them of the risks. Perhaps he exaggerated a bit there, but he really needs them to know that he'll never change, death will always follow him, protect him, and perhaps harvest the lives of those around him.
He went to sleep and woke up the next day quite early, he usually woke up at 10 PM, but today was different as his phone started ringing, which either means business or the cat had come.
"What?" Ian muttered lazily.
"As lazy as always, and who thought someone like you can rise so high," A mischievous voice sounded from the phone.
"I'm just lazy because I can be, you would've had this luxury if you don't always lose everything," Ian casually responded as he stood up.
Selina was silent for a second before she playfully responded, "Why be so harsh? But you're right, so why don't you teach me how to be like you, teacher?"
"I assume you're on the roof, wait for me to put some clothes on," Ian hung up directly after, failing to hear her next words, tempting ones, but she was just being naughty.
Ian put on a long-sleeved black shirt, black clothes, and casual shoes. He then made his way to the roof, finding it empty.
However, just like always, she was hiding in a place not visible from the roof door and she moved swiftly once she saw him as he found her standing behind him.
"Too bad you're always in your costume else we'd take a walk around the city, I've somewhere to go today anyway," Ian remarked as he faced her.
"Oh, is that a date? Well, I have a better idea for a date, why don't you follow me? And make sure you keep up, you're quite fit so I am sure you can do that."
She gently whispered in his ears before she started walking towards the edge of the roof.
"Oh? That sounds kind of dangerous... I'm in."