See No Evil: Win Condition (ch. 48) (Patreon)

I honestly had no clue how things were going to work out with Jason. What I did know was that he and Batman had some serious communication issues. Part of that was on Jason -- he was a dumb emotional teenager doing dumb and emotional things. I know the fandom woobiefied Jason Todd because of his tragic backstory, and it was tragic.

But just because you had a sad backstory didn't mean you were immune to idiocy. Jason was assuming too much, he wasn't listening, and every decision didn't need to be emotionally charged to 110% before you did it on impulse.

Likewise, Batman dropped the ball and he dropped it hard. As a mentor, as a father figure, as a guardian -- he really fucked things up. How a man as brilliant as Bruce Wayne managed to be so completely emotionally stunted that he had mangled his relationship with Jason so badly… I honestly would never know. He didn't give Jason what he needed and, to be completely honest, I don't think that he could.

In the end, the outcome was in the air. One thing was certain though, Sheila Haywood would not get her hands on Jason. That piece of filth watched her son get beat within an inch of his life while smoking a cigarette -- she was trash. I'd murder her myself before Jason decided he wanted to spend his life with her. No way.

That wasn't a possibility. Evidence was there that she was embezzling. Jason, for all his desperate need for a parental figure, didn't have it in him to accept a woman that would steal money and medicine from dying children as his mother. And Batman had no better tactic to use as to why Jason shouldn't stay with her in Africa. So, the only question was what would happen between Jason and Batman -- would they come back from Africa stronger for it? Or would their relationship be broken beyond repair?

I had absolutely no clue.

What I did know was that I had a call to make. Entering the phone number I had been given, I watched Samantha answer the phone. "Batman has left the city," I told her, making the grandmaster of the Court of Owls go still.

"You have proven your value," Samantha responded her tone even.

"I would like to call in my second favor. I want Bruce Wayne's house bugged to hell and back." I told her, watching Samantha purse her lips in thought for a moment. That, I knew, caught her off guard. As far as she knew, I was a big fan of Bruce Wayne. "Jason Todd just came into my office to run away from home. I suspect abuse."

There was a plausible reason. Samantha's eyes narrowed -- for the leader of a murderous secret society, she had a number of soft spots.

"Consider your desire granted," she said before she hung up. I watched her walk down to her basement, where the Talons were stored, and every single one of them was taken out of storage. They thawed out… and each one gained an order.

Theft. Observation. Assassination.

Unknown to her, each Talon had been sprayed down with microscopic cameras courtesy of Cass. I had the idea from Spy Kids, and it worked. I could see each Talon moving through the mansion as they hurried to complete their tasks -- the cameras were on their masks, gloves, torso, and shoes. Each one offered a dozen slightly different camera angles that gave me a near three-sixty view of their surroundings.

Removing the phone from my ear, I entered another number and sent a simple text. That a key official on Cobblepot's payroll was about to be assassinated to silence him. One out of a half dozen people that would be killed tonight.

I didn't hide behind things like picking a name out of a hat or choosing a random number. Something, anything, that could somehow remove me from the responsibility of choosing those that lived or died tonight. I might have before, but now… now, I picked who among them would be saved by Nightwing and Batgirl -- one of the men that signed off on Lowtown. The rest would die. Nothing I could do about that. One life saved could be brushed off as the Batfamily getting lucky. All of them, though? That would stink of a rat.

And… it was better for me. My folder of blackmail to be used against the Court was building nicely. I didn't have their entire network, but I had all the key players. I had their support network. I was just missing the foot soldiers, and who owed favors. For that, I wouldn't know until they called in those favors. But, that's what I would use my final favor for -- to shake the tree and see what fell loose.

I was almost ready to take on the Court. Almost. The trap was being set, and the Court would find themselves bound within it before they even realized that they were in danger.

I dragged a hand down my face, my heart pounding despite the fact that I was sitting at my desk. Lowering my hand, I saw Cassandra sitting across from me. Or, rather, just her head. I think she was a little too fond of the invisibility suit, to be honest. But, I wasn't going to complain. Cass was a master of stealth and the only reason there I had a chance of pulling this off.

>Ready?< I signed at her, earning a nod from Cass and a smile. She picked up a gum packet sized device -- those were the bugs that I would be planting in Bruce's house behind the Court of Owls. Only Cass would also be going someplace that they wouldn't. The Court's bugs would likely be found because Batman was Batman and he would find a way to find them. The ones in that container, however…

They were expensive. A-Rank expensive.

Invisible to the naked eye, infrared, electronics, and so on. Their signal was masked, so they were next to impossible to actually find. Each one came with five hundred terabytes worth of storage on them -- not to store data that had been collected, but that's how much room that Pod 042 needed to project his consciousness in them. The bugs were based on his designs, just in a much smaller size.

What I was doing was perhaps the riskiest thing I've done so far. To the point I wasn't sure if I should actually go through it, even if this was the golden opportunity I was waiting for.

I was going to bug the Batcave.

Cassandra seemed to pick up on my anxiety because I felt a hand touch mine, even if I couldn't see it. She wore a soft and reassuring smile as she squeezed my hand. "Ooooookayyy," She said, and that blasted away all my concerns about bugging the Batcave and gaining access to the Batcomputer. My eyebrows shot up, making Cassandra look incredibly proud of herself.

>Well, look who's talking,< I signed at her, the leap in progress catching me completely off guard. I knew she hadn't stopped working at learning how to read, but I knew progress had stalled on that front. It was the first time I heard Cassandra speak and communicate. >I knew you could do it.<

Cass smiled, giving my hand a squeeze before she stood up. She gave me a pointed nod, conveying her message with her expression -- that she could do this too.

I took in a slow breath and nodded >Same deal. Press the button if you're in trouble,< I signed at her, giving her a stern look. She hadn't needed it so far, but that wasn't an excuse to not take this seriously. Cass would be trailing an undead ninja while he bugged the Bruce Manor, then find a way to slip into the Batcave and slip out. This was dangerous, no two ways about it. The only silver lining was that her life wouldn't be in danger if she was caught, even if it meant that I was done for, because there was no way I was giving up Cass.

Cass gave me another nod before she pulled up the mask and vanished from my sight entirely. The only sign of her leaving was the door opening and closing.

When she was gone, a massive sigh escaped me. My foot bounced in place, anxious already. The die was cast, but the tension would be unbearable until Cass was back, safe and sound.

"This… will be the day that makes or breaks me," I muttered into the palms of my hands. Because this wasn't the only iron in the fire -- Revy hadn't reported back yet about the Joker. She wouldn't for hours, possibly days. The best case scenario was that he was dead, with no risk of infection of his bullshit philosophy that was an actual disease, and sealed for transport. Next best case was that he was a no-show. Just never showed up. A less good case was if the rails of canon happened despite my efforts -- Jason dies and so does his mother. Absolutely worst case scenario -- I sent Revy against a monster that would kill both her and Jason.

And, as if to agree with me, my work phone beeped. I looked at the text for a good long second which felt like a solid hour before I typed out a confirmation.

Cobblepot was bringing his servers online. He wanted the top-ranking officials there -- not as a moment of glory, but to clean house, so to speak.

Standing up, I straightened out my tie. Leaving my office, I sent a message to Miranda. 2B was standing outside of my office door, standing at attention. Recently, she had developed an understanding of privacy, so she chose to leave my office if the person in there was among a trusted list. I wasn't complaining -- it beat having to explain every action I made to her.

I don't think she would disagree with them per say, but right now all cylinders were firing. I couldn't afford to be slowed down with questions.

"2B, I want you to go to this location," I told her, sending her to an address. Cobblepot's vault. One of ten. That I knew about, at least. They were dotted around Gotham city. He likely had others outside of it, but… Cobblepot was like me. He liked to have all of his cards in an easy-to-access location. I wouldn't put it past him to keep a vault or two as a backup for the backups, but the bulk of his physical assets were in the city. And, after much hesitation, he sent the twenty-five million to several of his vaults.

I would only hit one of the ten. Because, much like with the Batfamily, hitting all ten would reveal my hand.

This was a trap that Cobblepot laid out for me. A test of loyalty. That's why he spread the money that I gave him across his vaults instead of consolidating it all in one place.

"Of course," 2B agreed.

“It’s a storage container -- passcode is 1957846284904,” I read off the passcode from a note I had made, because there was no way that I was going to be able to remember that. 2B could, though. “Catalog everything inside, then call the police.”

“If there are hostiles?” She asked, her tone decidedly even.

I didn’t think 2B had it in her to kill a human. I knew that she would do her absolute best to follow every order that I gave her, and… I think she could kill one, if she absolutely had to, but it would be terrible for her. The kind of thing that she wouldn’t ever be able to let go of. It would destroy her in the worst possible way even if I was the one that told her to do it.

“Try not to be seen. If you are, disable them. I’ll have someone pick them up before you call the cops so it can’t be connected to us,” I answered. I didn’t know if 2B could act as my bodyguard and never have to kill a human, but I was going to do what I could to make sure that if she ever killed one, it wasn’t because I forced her hand. It wasn’t much, but it was what I could do. 2B gave no outward sign that she was relieved or not, but I imagined that she was.

The thing with traps is that when you knew they were there, you could use them to your advantage. The obvious thing was to hit them all, loot their contents, all at once. But that was the obvious solution. All that money and the valuables? Who wouldn't be tempted?

Which is why I was only hitting one. One that was just as likely to be connected to me as it would be Mr. Wake, the lieutenant that had sent me to Brazil to meet with Snowflame.

Right now, I was piling on the pressure on Cobblepot. The loss of the bulk of his fortune and shell company chain was hurting him. If he felt like his physical assets were at stake too? He would crack. From there, there were only a select few possibilities that he could perform.

"Consider it done. Do you need me to leave immediately?" She asked, likely realizing that I was tense as all hell. 2B was picking up on my tells enough to know that I was heading into danger.

It was tempting to accept the implicit offer of protection, but I nodded. "I do," I told her. I wasn't defenseless. Having 2B there… It was a reassurance that I couldn't afford. I could handle myself, and I needed 2B to hit the vault. This meeting was the closest thing I was going to get to a controlled environment. It's where Cobblepot's actions would be most limited, so the pressure would be more intense.

2B seemed a bit displeased by that but she nodded all the same. Reaching the opening, 2B split off while I headed upstairs. I met Miranda in the middle.

Miranda looked at me, waiting for me to explain what I called for her as she trailed behind me. "Revy is going to need a pardon," I told her and Miranda didn't so much as miss a step.

"I'll reach out to the President, but I don't know if they'll get back in a timely manner," she pointed out as if there wasn't a doubt in her mind that she could get a pardon out of the President of the United States. And I really wish I could take a moment to let that sink in -- I had come a long way from the man who walked into Gotham with nothing.

"It's urgent. Tell them that unless they want the person that killed the Joker to be an ex-convict that served three months of her life sentence, I'm going to need a pardon." Miranda had one hell of a poker face because she simply nodded in response. "Send them Revy's file. It's grounds for a retrial to make it legitimate." It was a bit premature, but I had faith in Revy.

I was about to extort the president. What the fuck was wrong with me?

But it would work. The Joker… he was the granddaddy of all terrorists. America wanted his head on a platter and they wanted it yesterday, which is why the Joker had been laying relatively low since he took part in the founding of the Injustice League. He only popped up in Gotham once a year or so to fuck with Batman. Whoever killed the Joker would be an international hero.

And America did not want their hero to be an ex-con who was convicted for murdering an extremely corrupt cop that had raped her as a young child. Because I would make that story the one that was on the face of every newspaper in the country, and I would make sure that it blew up in their face in the worst way possible. The sane thing to do was to sign the pardon, go through the motions, and make it all go away.

"Is that all?" Miranda questioned me as we headed upstairs.

I thought about it for a moment. There was nothing else. Everything was as perfect as I could make it.

"No. Thanks, Miranda. I'll see you later," I said, silently tacking on a 'hopefully'. There was always a risk, after all.

Miranda nodded, and I headed for the door. Unsealing a hat, glasses, and a scarf, I hid my appearance while I took a moment. To breathe. I really wished Tifa was here at the moment, but she was off doing her own thing. Almost of its own will, a camera feed appeared of Tifa helping a family settle in into their new home. She bounced across all of Lowtown it felt like, helping anyone that she saw.

Taking in a deep breath, I dismissed the camera feed and stepped outside.

…

I found myself sitting at a long table, my hands on top of it, revealing my cast that was completely covered in various names and messages. And a few dicks, which was expected of Revy. Sitting across from me was Mr. Wake, to my right was Candy and Tracy standing by an empty chair at the head of the table. Down on my left were various men I had rarely met in person -- I knew them. They were the captains of the Penguin Mob.

They didn’t look surprised to see me, but I knew that they were. Each and every single one of them was wondering what this was about. They had suspicions, of course. Every single one of them had set up a separate backup server… and three of them had taken it upon themselves to give themselves insurance. They thought it gave them leverage.

There was a tense silence in the room, everyone too nervous to so much as make a sound. Cobblepot’s office had been repaired using some of the money I gave him -- the server room beneath the desk was sealed back up, the window had been removed on account that Batman had finally showed up in his office, and all other signs of damage were gone. It looked no different than it ever did, but it now had an air of oppressive tension that it lacked… every time but my first time stepping inside.

Unlike the others, I had distractions -- Cass was progressing through the Wayne manor. No alarms had been tripped. The Talon performed his task, while Cass performed hers. She ghosted around Alfred, waiting for him to go down into the Batcave. And it would only be a matter of time before he did.

2B found the vault that was thankfully unguarded -- a storage container that looked no different than any other on the outside. She was inputting the code-

My check on her progress was interrupted by Cobblepot pushing open the doors to his office. He said nothing as he strode inside, walking by us all without so much as a glance. The tension in the room ramped up. Mr. Wake across from me straightened out his tie that he had already straightened three times. Cobblepot took a seat next to me, clasping his hands on the table while he looked down it at the rest of us.

“You are all here because you are ambitious men. But, more than that, you’re smart men. You found a way to thrive in this line of business where others drowned, or worse, wound up behind bars,” he began, his tone flat enough to take away any friendliness to be found in the compliments. In fact, they sounded like a death sentence. “Which is exactly why I don’t trust any of you. I trust you to look out for your own interests, but some of you seem to think that my interests are not your interests.”

He was lashing out verbally. Something that he had never done before. There was an expression of growing anger on his face, his lips twisted into a mockery of a smile. He was feeling the pressure of his lost assets.

“Each of you was given an opportunity in recent weeks,” Cobblepot said, licking his lips as he turned to look at each of us. Everyone kept their surprises off their faces, but more than a few had other tells. They shifted, they stiffened, or they gave absolutely no reaction at all. I just blinked to show surprise that I wasn’t feeling. “There it is. Cards on the table. Now… I’m going to press this button,” Cobblepot said, reaching into his pocket, his hand lingering for a moment too long before he revealed the button in question.

A simple square box with a red button on it. Nothing comically huge, but it certainly felt that way in his relatively smaller hands.

He set the button on the table before he leaned into his chair. In a casual display of power, he slowly reached out and pressed the button, watching the room squirm. The moment the button clicked into place, the backup servers came online. All but one of them were getting false data. Mine was one of them. However, I knew who was getting the real data and took measures.

The moment the servers came online, Pod 042 worked his magic. Mr. Wake’s servers received the data while Cobblepot activated his backup to initiate the transfer, the streams of data were like the strings of a violin to Pod 042 and he played them beautifully. That much was proven when I nearly immediately received a message from him.

The backup of the video had been destroyed.

Oswald Cobbplepot officially lost all leverage over me.

It was an honest struggle to keep the sheer relief off of my face. That video that had been weighing over my head like a Sword of Damocles was finally gone. In its place was a corrupted file. Along with every other file that was coming in. My personal safety measure to make sure that Cobblepot wouldn’t assume it was me. Either it would be enemy action… or incompetence on Mr. Wake’s part.

And given the situation? One of those was far more likely than the other.

Cobblepot leaned back into his chair, taking out a phone, and looked down at it. He… I honestly learned a lot from Cobblepot, but it still seemed he had a lot to teach because I knew the news he got was nothing but bad. It was the worst possible news he could have been given. Yet, there was no trace of it on his face. You’d think it was good news based on how he reacted -- a small nod, pursing his lips before he gently placed the phone down.

I could only imagine what was going on in his head. How would he react to realizing that he was done for? After over a decade, his carefully crafted base of support and networking was ripped out from underneath him. He had lost his money. He had lost his leverage. And because he lost both of those, he was going to lose his connections the moment when they realized that he was now dead weight. His phone dinged, making him looked back at it.

It was an alert. The police were confiscating the contents of the vault. Jewelry, gemstones, paintings, rugs, ancient artifacts -- anything that could have value and be liquidated on the down-low.

Cobblepot nodded, dismissing the alert. He reached back into his coat pocket, and no one so much as breathed. Slowly, he pulled out a gun. Nine millimeter by the look of it. Nothing much, but that’s all it took to kill a man. Everyone in the room stared at it, the room so silent you could hear a pin drop. Cobblepot stared down at the table for a long moment, as if he was considering his position, the best course of action.

But, he understood that he was fucked.

“Looks like that’s it,” Cobblepot decided, nodding to himself before he raised the gun and fired. Mr. Wake’s head snapped to the side, splattering blood over the man that he sat next to. He didn’t even have time to react before Cobblepot shot him. Then the man that he sat next to. By that time, people started to react. They scrambled out of their chairs, only to be gunned down before they could escape.

There had been ten men seated at the table, including myself. When Cobblepot put the gun down, there were only two; myself and Cobblepot.

I looked over the bodies -- not everyone was dead, but they were dying. It really said terrible things about me that my first thought was that this was my golden ticket.

Cobblepot lost his leverage over me, but now I had about eight murders on tape to be used against him.

“That’ll be all, Vergil,” Cobblepot said as if he hadn’t just murdered the bulk of his captains. His tone was perfectly calm, even. He looked at me without the faintest hint of suspicion. Because he thought that I understood that I was under his thumb, and I would stay that way. He thought that I wouldn’t make a move against him… or that I wasn’t capable of making the one that I just did. “Keep up the good work,” he said as if absolutely nothing was wrong.

I looked to him, then at the body of Mr. Wake, who was slumped over and bleeding on the table from a bullet to the side of the head.

“Will do, sir,” I said, pushing my chair back, looking to Candy and Tracy. Both of them gave me serious nods, the message clear -- get out of dodge. “Let me know if you need me,” I said, getting a dismissive wave in response before I started heading to the exit. Through my cameras, I saw Cobblepot grip down on the pistol, as if he were going to shoot me in the back of the head.

I continued forward as if I were completely unaware of his thoughts. He might have done it if Candy hadn’t reached out and placed a hand over his, stopping him from pulling the trigger. I strode through the doors without looking back, taking his chance from him. He had missed his shot -- that would be the last time he would ever get a chance to take a shot at me.

Walking down the stairs, I headed out through the back entrance and left the building behind me. I checked my reflection in a camera feed and wiped a bit of blood off of my cheek before I wrapped my scarf around my face. Black and red were perfect colors for hiding blood. I made my way down the pier, everyone oblivious to me. Getting in the car, I drove back to Lowtown, my mind completely blank.

I checked in with Cass, and she was still in the manor, undetected. 2B was on her way back and she was going to beat me back home. Tifa was heading to my office, but I would beat her there. I was greeted as I headed down, but it was white noise to me. I could barely hear it.

Within minutes, I was seated behind my desk, and only then did I let out a breath of relief.

“Fuck,” I breathed, taking off my jacket, then my tie, and tossing them on the floor. My heart hammered at my ribs like it was trying to escape my chest entirely. My breathing became ragged, forcing me to take huge gulps of air. Wiping away some sweat, I leaned into my chair and tried to force myself to relax.

As if the universe wanted to disagree with me, my phone rang. Revy’s ringtone.

I swallowed thickly before I answered, “Vergil speaking.”

“It’s done. Jason’s on his way back to Gotham with Batdad, and I picked up the cargo you said would be there,” Revy said, a savage smile on her face. “I’ll be back in a few. I’m expecting a surprise party when I get back,” Revy told me before she ended the call. To be dramatic, probably.

I set my phone aside, mulling over that for a quick moment. The Joker was dead. Jason was okay and on his way back. The Penguin was panicking… he was giving the order to consolidate the contents of the vaults, just like I knew he would. We were similar, after all -- we couldn’t accept risk to the things we cared about.

Nodding to myself, I took in the situation. Then I got another update. This one from Cass. A green light.

“Yes,” I muttered, a slow smile finding its way onto my face as my fists smacked into my desk, unable to keep it in. “Yessssss!” I hissed, beating my desk with my fists, a disbelieving laugh making its way out of me. A green light. A green fucking light. Cass did it. She had bugged the fucking Batcave. In and out with no problem. All Pod 042 had to do was hack into it and that would be it.

I got one over Batman. I had the Penguin exactly where I wanted him. The Court of Owls was marked. The Joker was dead.

Every plan I had made had gone off without a single hitch for what felt like the first time.

There was a knock at my door, “Vergil?” Tifa questioned before she entered, opening her mouth to say something when her gaze met mine. She adopted a puzzled smile as I practically leapt out of my chair, and rounded my desk. “Did something good happen?” She questioned as I crossed the distance between us and swept her up into my arms, earning a surprised laugh.

Setting her down after a quick twirl, I looked into her eyes and smiled big.

“We’ve won!”