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Chapter 37: A Riddle To Be Solved
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The sound of footsteps reverberated in the surroundings, many steps
The walking people came to a halt following their leader's example. Before them were a bunch of refrigerator units... They were in the morgue.
The leader was attired in a green suit, complemented by a green hat. He had a golden cane in his hands which seems to be useless because he seems to be able to walk just fine. Its shape was similar to that of a question mark.
"Open it." The man instructed one of his underlings, and the latter obeyed without a second thought and started walking towards a specific unit.
Somehow the leader's face contorted into a frown. He just had this bad feeling about all of this despite being confident about his plans.
His mind worked on deciphering all the possibilities before he started silently backtracking his steps. Some of his underlings did notice as they did the same.
A cue was heard, a faint sound that made everyone in the room freeze except for the leader who directly jumped out of the room while shouting, "Run!!!!"
Then it happened, a loud boom and the whole building shook by the explosion, "AHHhHhhh... No no no! Why? This wasn't how it was supposed to go down! I don't understand!?"
The leader bellowed as he tried to stand up, feeling the pain in his leg, an exasperating amount of pain. He was barely able to move his leg, but luckily he had the cane with him.
He put most of his weight on it and slowly walked out of the building, but it didn't take long for some of his underling waiting outside to come rushing in and quickly take him out of the area.
Unfortunately, everyone else was dead, and the bodies in the morgue were destroyed.
"WHY??? I don't understand! I left a bug on him, so why wasn't he asked anything?! Right! I need to calm down." The man tried to calm himself down, but the pain thought otherwise.
His men just drove him hastily towards their base, still tense because of what happened. He on the other hand just kept thinking back on all that happened.
He started targeting the Rose family for several reasons, but he knew he needed to remain hidden, so he did a little bit of manipulation, deduction, and investigation to get what he desires.
However, things soon went awry. His manipulation of the Penguin went to naught as the latter failed, all due to something unexpected happening.
He thought and thought and the only conclusion he came to is that the Rose family is in possession of a weapon of mass destruction. A weapon capable of destroying an entire building in a second, and he didn't believe for a second it was the result of some kind of bomb.
A period of observation then started, and he noticed the Rose family's aggression in the last month and several other actions that led to him believing that somehow the Rose leader have deduced that someone is behind the Penguin's strange actions.
He realized there and then that he was facing a worthy foe. Someone who isn't interested in fame to the point that even the family name is someone else's, specifically Ian Rose who seems to be the boss's right-hand man.
The man wanted to figure out who the Rose family's true leader is to the point that it almost became an obsession of his, so he used his power and influence to put a bug on the Penguin, just waiting for the day the Rose family comes for answers.
However, he listened and listened but only heard explosions and useless talk. Ones he heard the day of the Penguin's transfer to the courthouse as that specific trip was interrupted, and the Penguin simply died.
No one asked him any question, he was just put down. However, the man still didn't lose hope and listened as the body was transferred to the morgue.
He expected something similar to happen, so he planted the bug in an unreachable place despite the resistance of the Penguin.
And so, the body was washed and placed in the refrigerator unit, and that's all he had heard, so it made no sense to him that a bomb was in that specific unit.
'Someone saw through my means and expected my every move. I don't even know who is the Roses' leader and he probably doesn't either. He just played me like a toy, all based on my past actions.
He didn't need to know who I am, so he didn't bother asking the Penguin anything, he just killed him, but how did he expect I would visit the morgue? Wait...'
Perhaps his thoughts and the pain blinded his usual vision but the man only reacted once they already reached the base, "Wait!! Turn around and leave right now!!!"
His screams confused his men as the driver pushed the brakes, coming to a full halt, not what the leader desires, "Why did you stop!! Drive away from here!"
The driver sensed the tension and the panic he rarely sees in their leader, so he did as told though a bit too late as gunshots sounded from behind them.
The driver panicked and just drove away as bullets flew right through the car's back window nailing one of the henchmen in the head.
The driver drove into the base which appears to be just a worn-out warehouse and the gunshots stopped. "Gather all the men! Be ready to defend!"
However, nothing happened, no one came but the police and perhaps a dark shadow observing the surroundings.
The ones who fired on the other hand have already started their next course of action and waited for the final piece to arrive, and he just did, "How did it go?"
"We didn't have to do much, so it went perfectly. We followed them to a worn-out warehouse and forced them inside. A shootout against the cops should start at any moment."
Mike was the one to answer Ian's question. His face was a bit more stern, a month since the previous incident and Ian could tell that while he didn't grow out of the guilt yet, he has adapted it to it.
"Show me the picture," Ian said. The picture was that of his enemy, the green suit man. 'As I thought, it is who I thought it was.'
He noticed something else in the picture, it isn't very clear due to the vast distance it was taken from but he could see that the man was injured.
"Don't tell me he entered the morgue??" Ian was a bit confused as that was never his intention, he didn't think his target was stupid at all, so he assumed he'd send his men to search the body first.
"He did."
Ian looked at the picture again in confusion, 'Are my eyes deceiving me? It's definitely him, someone with extreme wits, so why? He's fucked in the head though, so that might be it.'
"I guess I can only ask him myself, and since he's injured, a change of plans is required," Ian muttered before nodding at Mike. They then got to work.
The shootout didn't last long as the lurker in the dark interfered, and the group could only look around at the dark corners, waiting for their turn.
"Dammit!!! Bat, you too?! I just want to ask some questions!" Indeed, their leader's mental state is certainly fucked as he bellowed in madness.
The Bat however just knocked him out, took a look at his face before leaving everything else to the cops, only God knows what he was thinking.
The ones still living and uninjured from the criminals were apprehended, put into a police car while the others were in an ambulance headed to the hospital.
The patients were transported to different ambulances and there were several due to the severity of the situation.
Two paramedics brought the passed-out green suit man to the ambulance, they got on and an officer followed inside as per normal procedure.
Several police vehicles followed alongside the ambulances as the medics inside started doing their job.
One of them injected his patient with a syringe which resulted in the patient waking up, all due to the syringe.
The officer next to them remained seated there with his eyes closed as one of the medics muttered, "The Riddler I believe?"
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