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Chapter 22: The Rose Family
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The circumstances of Gotham have been quite strange for the next two months. Many could feel the tension in its streets.
The rest felt the tension due to the massive increase in violence. Gunshots and explosions were a weekly occurrence, daily even.
That wouldn't have been too strange if not for its massive scale. An ongoing war was happening in the shadows of the city.
The heroes of the city knew the most about that, they knew the severity of the situation and knew exactly who is responsible for what was happening.
Batman was the most familiar with them because he had faced the society of shadows many times before. He fought their leader several times, yet the latter always survive just like he did this time.
And war has started between the crime families of Gotham and those who walk in the shadows... A one-sided war, when the society of shadows hit, they do so swiftly and brutally.
The only ones who have a chance against them were Batman and his crew, and they were somewhat successful.
The crime families, not just the Falcones, every crime family suffered a lot. The loss of men wasn't so important to them, what's truly painful is the loss of their weapons, narcotics, and cash.
That naturally led to an increase in aggression, unaware of the perpetrator of the heists, or perhaps some were aware, they just chose to keep a blind eye on their actions.
The Rose family has been quiet recently with not much activity. Their new name has already spread on the east side of the city as they somehow took over two other neighboring streets without doing anything.
The Sicilian family's eyes were on them because despite the Rose family doing nothing.
More and more of the homeless were making their way to Olster street, seeking a home and support.
However, a time came when the Rose warehouses became filled, thus Ian took to the kindness of his heart to buy other warehouses... In the neighboring streets.
The homeless moved in under the personal overseeing of some of the twenty Rose members, and well, the family was new, and Ian is picky, so there are still only twenty-four members in it so far.
That spread and concentration of the homeless that are under the command of someone led to the silent takeover of the family.
Many of the shop owners and residents sought the Rose family's protection, all due to their spot-clean reputation.
Friction started to rise between the Rose family and the Sicilians, but the latter had plenty of things to deal with, not only from Batman and his crew but also from the society of shadow.
The Rose family's income was thus stable just from the territory ownership and protection fees though its main source of money was always the heists.
Ian did most of the work in that regard as his partnership with Selina continued. Their relationship was perhaps a bit more distant not just due to Selina but also due to Ian.
He had to keep a bit of distance from people until he figures out how his power acts when in contact with other people, thus he started to always have gloves on.
The major thing and the most beneficial thing about the establishment of the Rose family is its new information gathering system.
Ralf oversees everyone while Barney manages the family warehouses. Ian saw it fit to give him that position just due to his pettiness and love of valuable things.
Mike was responsible for the protection system, overseeing the income from protection fees and helping in managing the 'Workers', specifically the ones responsible for the protection.
Still, Ralf basically manages most of the things. He has more experience, and he is wiser thus Ian specifically told him to oversee everything.
Ian on the other hand was just being Ian, planning things, and thinking about the future... Definitely not about amusing ways to die or at least trying to die.
Anyway, regarding the information system. It was something Ian saw as a benefit since long ago.
You pass by beggars regularly yet most often find yourself forgetting that even happened or your brain simply deletes that information.
They're everywhere, they can be everywhere, and they're the least suspicious people on the planet.
That's the life of a beggar. Wouldn't a system of information gathering built on that be as good as it can get with the provided circumstances?
"Well?" Ian muttered as he eyed the man standing before him, Nightwing formerly known as Robin, but he seems to have graduated, "Go on, speak."
Yet Nightwing remained silent and just stared at him, leading Ian to say, "Ok? This is getting weird... I'm not interested? I don't swing that way..." He said, even he was not sure if he was being eyed that way.
Nightwing tried to keep his face just as emotionless, but Ian could clearly see it twitching even from miles away, "It seems that I came to a conclusion too fast. If not that, could it be that you're trying to scare me?"
He wondered before adding, "Forgive my bluntness, but you're nowhere near as intimidating as you think you are though I could guess why some would be afraid of you... I guess?"
"We're watching you. We know of what you do... Stay in line with the rules and know that if you do anything bad, we'll be there to stop you, and send you where you belong."
His twitching face simply couldn't handle staying there any further, so he used his grapple device to leave in the blink of an eye.
"Hmm, somehow he made it weirder... What a weird guy, the weirdness was so intense it almost... Ahem,"
He refrained from thinking about that any further and focused on the serious stuff.
'My Id is fake which is illegal. I refuse to believe Batman doesn't already know that, and there are several reasons why he should've already investigated me, yet he chose not to take action... It couldn't be?'
A sliver of light passed through Ian's brown eyes, seemingly understanding something, 'He's smart, so he can probably find a way? However, he doesn't kill... Well, whatever.'
He halted his thoughts as he noticed another visitor has arrived. The cat's rest's roof has become a meeting place of special people by this point.
The new arrival was none other than the cat herself, "It's rare for you to contact me yourself, but I happened to want to talk to you about something anyway."
Ian nodded and said, "We need to be in private, follow me to my room."
"Oh? Being naughty now? What might we do in your room?" Selina let out a small laugh, being the mischievous cat she is.
Ian walked with her to his room, it's the closest to the roof for obvious reasons.
"I have a job in mind, a beautiful little thing."
"You do? We, this is a first. I used to always set targets just because you didn't want to, but this is better... perhaps?"
Selina was surprised, glad but also afraid. She knows just how dangerous he makes everything, so wondering just what his target is drives a chill through her.
"This will be quite dangerous, so feel free to leave now before I say anything."
He spoke those words as a formality, stealing was more like second nature to her at this point, perhaps she can give it up for some special circumstances, but those have yet to appear.
"Our goal is another city... Metropolis city, specifically its museum. Everything we get will be mine, and I'll give you your cut. I assume you don't mind traveling to another city?"
Selina frowned contemplating his words, "I don't, but what is it that you want? What is its price?"
"Stones... Just a few stones. There is no particular price to them... Worthless even, but I want them for my collection." He responded.
"It couldn't be that simple, right?" Selina believed none of it, his eyes must've caught something valuable, else why would he go through the trouble?
"I was talking about their known price, they're nothing too valuable. Of course, the stones being useless in someone else's hands doesn't mean they're worthless in mine."
Ian looked through his phone and opened the museum's official page, he then showed her some pictures.
"Here they are. I want you however to be silent about this, no inquiries, nothing should ever get out about this... Can I trust you with this, Selina"
She could swear she had never seen him be this serious. His seemingly harmless eyes told her that she won't like the consequences of betraying his trust, "I-I promise... No one will know of this."
Ian let out a light smile, "Perfect, so what is it that wanted to tell me? I'll tell you about my plans later."
"R-right. I already told you before that I've worked with Batman just like how he asked for my assistance for what happened two months ago.
I've helped him long ago thus he feels indebted to me. That's why he never handed me to the authorities despite catching me in the act of theft many times... As long as I don't do anything excessive of course."
Perhaps she went to overexplain things and she realized that. She just didn't want him to misunderstand despite already deciding to keep her distance... Her emotions were betraying her despite her loathing of death, and the latter is Ian's friendly companion.
"What I want to say is... He contacted me and he wants to work with you. I don't know how or why, but you should be careful if you decide to proceed."
"Well, isn't that interesting?"