Marvel: The Sole Player

Like most supervillains in Gotham, Black Mask was just an ordinary human who, at most, knew a bit of martial arts.

But in the face of Darian’s overwhelming attributes, his meager skills were far from enough; with a single punch, he was sent into a baby-like slumber.

Darian looked around, confirmed that no one else on the field could still stand, and called in Harvey, who was responsible for backup outside.

Harvey had been waiting outside, his heart racing with anxiety.

Earlier, with the sounds of gunfire and explosions coming from the warehouse, he had momentarily feared that Darian might have met his end inside, only breathing a sigh of relief when he received the signal.

As Harvey stepped into the warehouse, he saw a scene of devastation; all the members of the False Face Society were sprawled across the floor, each with a hole in their head as blood pooled on the ground.

He stared, dumbfounded, at Darian standing in the center and asked, "You did this?"

"That’s right."

Darian admitted it candidly.

Harvey’s lip twitched. "Didn’t you say this was a quiet infiltration?"

Darian replied righteously, "There were no witnesses the entire time. Does that not count as infiltration?"

Harvey: "..."

Technically true, but something felt very wrong about it.

Harvey surveyed the carnage, then suddenly leaned in and lowered his voice. "Darian, tell me the truth. Your real identity isn’t Batman, is it? A Gotham Police officer by day, and the Dark Knight by night."

Darian was amused. "Harvey, your imagination is a bit wild. I’ve only been in Gotham for about half a year, and Batman has been active for how long? How could I be Batman? Instead of suspecting me, you should suspect Director Gordon."

"Think about it. Gordon is famous in the GCPD for being a king of one-on-ones; his combat power isn’t weak. Not long after he became Director, Batman appeared. Plus, he’s the only one who can summon Batman, and like Batman, he shows mercy to criminals. Think about it, think carefully."

Harvey: (—)

Putting it that way, it actually seemed to line up?

Harvey frowned and thought for a moment, then shook his head. "No, Batman and Gordon have appeared in the same frame several times. How could Gordon be Batman?"

Darian said nonchalantly, "How hard is it to find a body double? Batman is wrapped up so tightly anyway; who knows who’s inside?"

Harvey fell into silence.

Could it be that Gordon really was Batman?

Was Batman right by my side all along?

"Alright, let’s interrogate this guy first."

Darian hauled up the unconscious Black Mask from the ground and delivered a few of those heavy slaps that even kids love to eat.

Black Mask slowly opened his eyes, and the first thing he saw was Darian’s face. Memories from before he passed out flooded back, and he was instantly consumed by rage.

"You damn bastard, I’m going to—"

Bang!

Darian landed an elbow strike, and Black Mask’s eyes instantly cleared up.

Harvey watched from the side and curiously poked his head over. "Who is he?"

"Black Mask, the leader of the False Face Society."

Harvey: "..."

You said you were going in to find clues, and you just went and kidnapped their boss?

Ignoring Harvey’s expression, Darian began attempting to use hypnosis to control Black Mask.

As he probed the edges of the man’s consciousness, he found that this guy’s will was significantly stronger than an average person’s. After all, someone who could make a name for themselves in the Gotham underworld wouldn’t be so easy to crack.

However, since Black Mask was a normal human, using physical hypnosis methods might accidentally kill him.

Since magic wasn’t working, it was time for technology.

Darian pulled several bottles of blue potion from his coat, unscrewed the caps, and poured them down Black Mask’s throat.

Harvey asked, "What are you giving him to drink?"

"Obedience water... cough, Vitamin B."

"..."

Harvey’s lip twitched.

I heard you; you said obedience water, right?

Why would you, a Police officer, carry such a thing with you!?

This potion was an enhanced truth serum produced by HYDRA’s research department. Its effects were more than a grade higher than S.H.I.E.L.D.’s original version, though the side effects were slightly more severe.

But Darian had always been a tough guy who didn’t fear side effects, so he poured five whole bottles into Black Mask at once, making him full of liquid. His eyes visibly glazed over.

Combined with Darian’s hypnotic control, the dual effect caused Black Mask’s willpower to collapse instantly, losing all resistance.

Ultimately, he was just an ordinary human; no matter how strong his willpower, it had its limits. He wasn’t like Batman, whose mental resistance was so high it was like he was cheating, able to resist mind control even from villains hundreds or thousands of times stronger than himself.

Don’t ask why; the answer is just because he’s Batman.

What followed was much simpler.

Under the control of technology and magic, Black Mask answered every question. From the details of arms deals to the passwords of secret accounts, he spilled everything like beans from a bag, even proactively confessing the glorious deed of personally sending his parents away.

The great filial son of Gotham, he certainly lived up to his reputation.

[Mission ’Arms Smuggling’ settlement complete]

[Rewards obtained: Experience +1500, Gordon Favorability +10, Anchor Fragment *1, Equipment ’Black Mask’s Mask’, Item ’Death God Mask’]

[Equipment: Black Mask’s Mask (Forged from the coffin boards of Black Mask’s parents, it can control the minds of those with weak wills)]

[Item: Death God Mask (Upon use, summons a Death God to devour the target’s soul into its belly, thereby sealing it. The size of the sealed soul is determined by the user. Targets caught by the Death God cannot use skills. Weakness is a C-section)]

The mission had directly rewarded two masks, one of which was the skull mask on Black Mask’s face.

Darian hadn’t expected this thing to actually come with a weakened mind control ability; he hadn’t seen Black Mask use it just now.

Presumably, Black Mask was taken out before he had a chance to use it, or perhaps Darian’s mental attributes were so high that he was simply unaffected by the mask.

Regardless, this item was of little use to Darian.

Firstly, he already had the hypnosis skill, and secondly, it was made of coffin boards; wearing it on his face felt truly unlucky.

He decisively threw it into his storage to collect dust.

As for the Death God Mask, that was a good item, serving as a powerful sealing skill.

He just didn’t know how strong the so-called Death God was. The weakness being a ’C-section’ sounded quite abstract.

Once the interrogation was over, Darian sent a message directly to Gordon, telling him to bring people to clean up the mess.

When Gordon received the news, his heart skipped a beat.

In less than ten minutes, the lights of Police cars painted the perimeter of the warehouse in red and blue.

Looking at the warehouse scene littered with corpses, the arriving officers were all stunned.

Had some new supervillain emerged in Gotham?

Gordon was equally shocked.

But having spent so many years struggling in Gotham, there was no major scene he hadn’t witnessed, and he quickly steadied his nerves.

"Darian, did you do this?"

Harvey, standing nearby, was unhappy to hear that. "Hey, Gordon, what do you mean by that? Couldn’t it have been me?"

Gordon rolled his eyes. "If you had this kind of ability, my position would have been yours long ago."

"Bullshit, I just couldn’t be bothered to compete with you!"

Gordon didn’t care to bicker with his old friend, his gaze falling back onto Darian.

Darian nodded. "Yes. Also, the leader of the False Face Society, Black Mask, has been captured by me. He has confessed to all his crimes and even took the initiative to admit to stealing his own weapons."

Gordon: "...."

Stealing his own weapons? What kind of move was that?

Gordon looked at the tied-up Black Mask, sharing the same thought as Harvey.

I sent you to investigate the False Face Society, and you wiped out the entire organization along with their boss?

The Police quickly cordoned off the scene and took the only survivor, Black Mask, back to the GCPD. Once the paperwork was done, they would send him to Blackgate Penitentiary.

Blackgate Penitentiary was an island prison in Gotham City for high-risk offenders, but its status in the Gotham criminal world was far inferior to Arkham Asylum.

If Arkham Asylum was a top-tier university, then Blackgate was at most a local college.

Although Black Mask was an underworld boss, in the talent-filled Arkham Asylum, he would barely count as an elite soldier, still a step away from the admission threshold.

If he were forced in, he would likely face school bullying from the senior students on the very first day.

For the sake of Black Mask’s physical and mental health, it was safer to send him to Blackgate to play with soap with his cellmates.

As for Darian, with his outstanding score of over thirty kills, he was once again awarded administrative leave.

It couldn’t be helped; Darian had only been on the job for two days, and the number of criminals he’d taken out combined was nearly equal to the GCPD’s performance over several months. Even a Director like Gordon found it hard to explain to the public.

To protect Darian, Gordon could only put him on leave again—leave with full pay.

Of course, the bonus for solving a major case wasn’t lacking a single cent either.

Under the sponsorship of Wayne Enterprises, the GCPD’s bonuses and benefits had always been very generous. Otherwise, how could they get officers to stay and risk their lives? Not everyone was a pure idealist like Gordon.

However, Darian no longer cared for these small sums.

With the enthusiastic sponsorship of a certain Mr. Sionis, he had jumped into the ranks of Gotham’s wealthy. While he couldn’t compare to the ’billionaire-talented’ Bruce Wayne, he could be considered quite well-off.

Having picked up such a large sum of money for free, the first thing to do was naturally to go on a shopping spree.

These past few days, Darian had been staying in a luxury hotel. The amenities and service were good, but it was ultimately inconvenient.

He planned to buy a house of his own in Gotham.

If an ordinary person had money, they likely wouldn’t choose to settle in a place like Gotham; they would have long since fled to relatively stable cities like Metropolis or Central City.

But Darian was different.

To him, the more dangerous a place was, the easier it was to grind for missions.

Currently, Superman, The Flash, Aquaman, and many other Superheroes had not yet officially debuted, and consequently, their opponents hadn’t appeared in the public eye either.

Looking across all of America, Gotham was the most suitable ’treasure land’ for Darian to settle down.

The next morning, Darian made an appointment with a real estate agent to look at houses.

His requirements weren’t high: the house just had to be large enough and close to a teleportation point on the map.

Upon hearing these requirements, the agent knew a big client had arrived. Their attitude instantly shifted to maximum effort, recommending five or six properties in a row.

Darian quickly took a fancy to one of them.

A detached three-story house with a basement, a front yard, and a back garage. It was luxuriously decorated and ready for move-in. The price was a bit high, but that was no issue for him.

It was worth mentioning that this house was a property under Wayne Enterprises.

Darian wasn’t surprised by this; Wayne Enterprises’ holdings in Gotham were so vast that buying one of their houses was perfectly normal.

After learning of Darian’s intent to purchase, the agent immediately contacted the seller’s representative and arranged a meeting at a private cafe for a detailed discussion.

The following afternoon, Darian arrived on time.

A waiter led him to the door of a second-floor private room, pulled it open, and made a gesture of invitation.

Darian took a step inside and then froze.

Sitting in the room was a middle-aged man in a black suit. His posture was relaxed and natural, and every movement exuded a ’billionaire-approachable’ aura.

Bruce Wayne—Gotham’s richest man, a traffic driver for the news media, a regular in national gossip magazines, and the nation’s husband.

Darian’s face darkened, and he decisively took a half-step back.

"Sorry, I’ve entered the wrong room."

"Mr. Darian, we haven’t discussed the house yet. Why are you leaving?"

Bruce set down his coffee cup, a friendly smile appearing on his face.

If this smile were paired with a Batman cowl, it could definitely scare half of Gotham’s criminals into surrendering on the spot.

Darian gave a dry laugh. "Is the richest man so down-to-earth now? Personally showing up just to sell a house."

Bruce replied amiably, "Not at all. Officer Darian’s reputation in Gotham lately is quite significant. Even the title of ’Gotham Gun God’ has reached my ears."

"Furthermore, I heard that a few days ago, you single-handedly took down the entire False Face Society and brought Black Mask to justice. I naturally wanted to meet such a formidable officer in person."

Meeting in person was a pretext; personal testing was the reality.

Bruce’s paranoia was so severe it bordered on obsession.

He had to investigate any slight disturbance in Gotham to the bottom, and Darian’s astonishing track record naturally wouldn’t be missed.

Overturning a criminal gang single-handedly and sending Black Mask to Blackgate was no longer something an ordinary officer could achieve.

Harvey: Am I a person? Am I even a person to you guys?

Add to that Darian’s pleasant conversation with The Penguin a while back, his discovery of the surveillance device Bruce had planted on him, and the theft of the Grapnel Gun from Bruce’s person.

All these factors combined were enough for Bruce to mark Darian as a subject of key focus.

However, Bruce had pulled Darian’s entire file.

From birth records to school grades, to the application documents for his transfer from the Metropolis Police Department to Gotham—not a single page was missing.

The result was that the file was suspiciously clean; every timeline fit perfectly, and every record was verifiable, leaving no room for fault.

And that was precisely the biggest problem.

How could someone who could talk and laugh with The Penguin and fight through an entire criminal gang have a resume as clean as a freshly unwrapped sheet of A4 paper?

Clearly, this file had been tampered with.

Bruce had many doubts about Darian, which was why he decided to meet him in person.

He wanted to see whether Darian was a friend or a foe.

If he were an enemy, he would take this opportunity to gather intelligence and arrange targeted plans in advance for the future.

If he were an ally, he would take this opportunity to gather intelligence and arrange targeted plans in advance for the future.

***************************

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