At Gotham Airport, Reid stood quietly, waiting for the Stark family's private jet to land in the distance.
Standing beside him was none other than Carmine Falcone, the current head of the Falcone family.
"Thank you for your help these past few days, Mr. Falcone."
The reason why Gordon couldn't find evidence of Alfred providing financial support to the Joker Gang was, naturally, due to the Falcone family.
Perhaps because the Falcone family's businesses were so common in Gotham, he hadn't noticed that the funds Alfred had been using for Wayne Manor's maintenance had mostly been spent at Falcone owned businesses.
The Falcone family, who had partnered with Alfred, had only symbolically provided products with prices they could set themselves. Afterward, they handed over that money to the Joker Gang.
This way, from the surface, it appeared that Alfred had merely overpaid for some essential goods from the Falcone family. Even if Gordon investigated, he would only come to the conclusion that the Falcone family was intentionally overcharging.
As for the Falcone family's financial aid to the Joker Gang, well, it wasn't unusual for one mafia family to have financial dealings with another.
Gordon wouldn't be able to find the connection between the Wayne family and the Falcone family.
Not many people in Gotham knew that Thomas Wayne had once saved Carmine Falcone's life, making it difficult for Gordon to trace that connection.
Not to mention, all the members of the Wayne family had disappeared, so even if he investigated, there wouldn't be much to uncover.
The Falcone family, unlike Alfred, wasn't someone you could easily challenge. For the police, the Falcone family was an untouchable behemoth.
"It's no trouble, Alfred. Your actions are truly admirable. I'm impressed that you would go so far for the Wayne family."
The two exchanged pleasantries. The reason the Falcone family helped transfer funds wasn't because they were moved by Alfred's actions.
The Falcone family couldn't afford to wait any longer.
Like the Maroni family, the Falcone family had long relied on Gotham Bank for money laundering operations.
Now that Wayne Enterprises was in turmoil, their money laundering operations had come to a halt, and they were feeling the pinch. If the Wayne Enterprises can be stabilized quickly, they are willing to do some simple things.
Moreover, Alfred's establishment of the Joker gang proved his capability.
Falcone was willing to believe that Alfred truly had the ability to stabilize Wayne Enterprises, even as a butler.
"The plane has landed. I'll take my leave now, Alfred."
"Thank you for your company, Mr. Falcone."
The two exchanged polite farewells, without too much closeness.
After resolving the issues with Wayne Enterprises, Reid would use the Joker gang to gradually take control of Gotham from the shadows.
Falcone, however, was unaware of all the details. He only sensed that even though Alfred had formed the Joker gang, it didn't mean they were of the same kind.
Maintaining a good relationship wouldn't do much—it would only add unnecessary complications when the time came to act.
...
Reid boarded the plane and inside, a large, muscular bodyguard was waiting.
"Please take your seat, Mr. Pennyworth. The plane will be taking off shortly."
"Alright."
Reid smiled slightly and gracefully took his seat.
"May I ask your name?" Reid suddenly asked the bodyguard. Given that this bodyguard was entrusted with the task of picking him up on Stark's private jet, it was clear he had Tony Stark's deep trust.
"Happy, Happy Hogan. Is there a problem, Mr. Pennyworth?"
"No, there's no problem."
Reid simply had a feeling that this bodyguard looked familiar. After asking the question, he realized—wasn't this an old acquaintance?
However, the younger Happy didn't look like the overweight version from the movies. Instead, he was quite muscular, fitting Reid's own image of a boxer. Of course, it was possible that in this Marvel universe, the character of Happy Hogan followed the comic book version, where he was never depicted as a fat guy.
After a brief exchange about names, there was no further conversation between them. Happy was a bodyguard, focused on his job, while Reid, taking advantage of the time to rest his eyes, began conversing with the system in his mind.
'System, the Joker's role playing percentage has reached 100%, I should be able to release a clone now, right?'
The system's manual had mentioned that reaching a 100% performance level would allow for the creation of a clone. However, at the time, when Reid had read the manual, his performance level was only at 1%, far from 100%, so he hadn't given it much thought.
However, the situation with the Joker was different.
The Joker was the result of Reid forcibly taking a soul from the system and merging it with the Alfred card.
The newly formed card even had two role playing degrees, so the specific details still required asking the useless system.
[This…]
The system hesitated, but still answered Reid's question. Perhaps it was genuinely afraid Reid might do something again and steal another DC character's soul.
[In theory, it's not possible.]
'Then tell me something outside of theory.'
Reid directly and rudely interrupted the system. This broken system couldn't even transform into a beautiful girl, so Reid didn't feel the need to be polite with it.
[Fine…]
The system's tone sounded defeated, speaking under Reid's pressure.
[Under normal circumstances, with two separate role playing degrees, you can only successfully split them into clones once both reach 100% rating. However, there's a special case where the two fused cards could be forcibly separated... but...]
'Just finish your sentence.' Reid interrupted sharply. He hated when the Riddler left things unsaid. He had just shot the real Riddler, and now the system's stuttering was starting to irritate him.
[Yes.] the system replied.
[As already you know, the fusion of the Joker and Alfred was forced. Alfred's chance of becoming the Joker was minimal, and the fusion itself already damaged Alfred's card. It was only the Joker's influence that kept Alfred from collapsing entirely.]
[Now, forcibly separating them will cause irreversible damage to Alfred's card.]
Reid nodded, understanding. This explanation made sense.
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