A Scheme to Set Tiger Against Wolf (Part 2)

Of course, it's impossible to expect the entire Gotham to be completely under the Godfather's command. Gotham has no shortage of rebellious troublemakers, and right now, Sal Maroney is one of the best among them.

Maroney is an ambitious man, as evidenced by the names he gave his gangs. In Gotham, not all gangs can be named after surnames. Initially, only the Falcone family could do so, and now the twelve Falcone Mafia families are all named after surnames. Apart from them, the other smaller gangs are named after their code names.

In Gotham, it's a great honor to name a gang after yourself, because Falcone was the first to do so and achieved unparalleled success.

By doing this, Maroney demonstrated that from the very beginning, he harbored the ambition to challenge the Godfather.

After the Red Crow Gang was wiped out, Maroney ate most of its remains and also destroyed another gang that had been his rival. He was now virtually invincible on that main street in the East District.

He certainly wanted to go further, especially since he knew that the Godfather was getting old and the transition of the Falcone family was the best opportunity to make his move.

Falcone entrusted many of his businesses to Evans. Although Evans was also very smart, he lacked the experience and ruthlessness of the Old Godfather. The two bartenders who were attacked by the outsiders in the Metropolis were from the two bars that Evans wanted to reform.

Maroney keenly sensed from this incident the fact that the Godfather was running out of successors. Little Falcone still too inexperienced. He wanted to reform, but he didn't have the ruthless and decisive methods of the Old Godfather. He wanted to maintain stability, but he didn't have enough experience. Maroney thought that this was the perfect time to deliver a fatal blow to the Falcone family.

Maroney's speculation was that the Godfather wouldn't go to great lengths to deal with the murderers. Although losing face might indeed shake his authority, the Godfather was indeed old. More important than face was the transfer of power. At this crucial juncture, if his attention was diverted, it could easily lead to major trouble. Falcone wouldn't risk losing more than he gained.

Originally, Maroney had intended to use this incident to further undermine the Godfather's authority, and he even planned to impersonate someone from Metropolis to attack the Godfather's other businesses. But who knew that Schiller would be hospitalized on the spot and the gangsters would start hunting down the murderers like madmen.

This really caught Maroney off guard.

He originally thought that even if the Godfather went to hunt down those murderers, it wouldn't matter. As long as his attention was diverted, he would always find an opportunity to nibble away at the Falcone family's assets.

Maroney was an audacious man. He didn't believe the Godfather had any unshakeable power, and even if he did, he wanted to take a piece of him.

But to his great surprise, this caused an uproar throughout Gotham City, with almost all the gangs starting to dig deep into the city.

Amidst this commotion, Maroney was unsure of what to do. If he made a move now, would the Godfather go berserk and target him? He wanted to launch a sneak attack, not actually stand on the stage and fight the Falcone family; he couldn't win anyway.

But if he doesn't take action, Maroney has already made some small moves. If he hasn't gained a foothold after this wave, the Godfather will settle scores later, and he will be completely finished.

Just as he was struggling with this decision, to his surprise, the leader of the gang approached him.

These guys are really unlucky. They were originally a group of terrorists operating in the Middle East, working as mercenaries for years. They were lured to the East Coast by another order, but ended up taking on another order in the Metropolis.

The employer was very generous, so they worked very hard. But who knew that Gotham was such a godforsaken place that even Satan couldn't help them. They were chased all over the city, beaten up, and the docks were under the control of the Mafia families, so they couldn't get out.

Left with no other choice, they had to cooperate with the enemy of their enemy.

Even Gordon knew about Maroney's provocation of the Godfather, and these thugs certainly knew as well. They wanted to make a deal with Maroney: if Maroney was willing to send them out of Gotham, they would take care of a problem for Maroney before they left.

Maroney initially didn't want to do this business, but he thought that these people had survived for so long under the siege of all the gangs in Gotham, so they must be quite capable. With such a group of Assassin, he could do even more.

Of course, Maroney wouldn't let this group assassinate the Godfather; it would be pointless, and they wouldn't do it anyway. So he set his sights on another link in the Godfather's newly developed industrial chain: the police.

Maroney knew that the Godfather was making a considerable profit from this new industry chain. If this continued, the Falcone family's rule would remain very stable, and he would have no chance. Therefore, he had to destroy this industry chain and prevent the private prison model controlled by Falcone from continuing to provide him with so much profit.

Police and judges are indeed an important part of this industry chain. After all, they need to make arrests legally and reasonably, and then conduct trials in order to put criminals into mental hospitals.

Falcone went to great lengths to protect Schiller simply because he felt Schiller wasn't very capable of protecting himself. But since he provided the police with so much heavy firepower, he stopped paying attention to them. After all, anyone who dared to be a cop in a hellish place like Gotham must have some skills, and with enough weapons, protecting themselves shouldn't be a problem.

Maroney set his sights on Gordon.

Back then, in order to deal with the old Director Victor, Maroney chose to support Gordon to take over. He didn't know much about this policeman at the time, and he felt that he didn't need to know much about him. Gotham's police were all the same, and it was perfectly normal for them to cooperate with gangs. Even the lowly clerks who served tea and water in the office had at least one gang behind them.

Maroney figured that since he was the one who put Gordon in power, all he had to do was talk to him and he could get Gordon to work for him.

Although it's dangerous to defect from the Godfather's supply chain to his side, now that we have this gang of thugs, if soft tactics don't work, we can try hard tactics.

Gordon was overjoyed because his fiancée Barbara had finally arrived in Gotham.

He met Barbara at the Chicago Police Training School, where he was a police probation officer and Barbara was an intern lawyer. They worked together on the same internship case, fell in love, and got engaged.

Then, Gordon came to Gotham to take a job. Originally, they could only have a long-distance relationship because neither of them was financially well-off, so they couldn't quit their jobs or even consider marriage and having children. But now that Gordon's financial situation had improved, they chose to come to Gotham to live together.

On this day, Gordon went home from work as usual. Although he hadn't been earning any extra money lately, Barbara had some savings. Together, their money was just enough to buy a nice apartment.

He and Barbara had arranged to go see a house tonight, and if all went well, they could move into their new home within two weeks and no longer have to squeeze into this old rental apartment.

He got home and heard Barbara come out. The aroma of food wafted from the kitchen. Gordon took off his coat and said, "What did you make? It smells so good!"

"Your favorite roasted lamb ribs." Barbara blinked, and Gordon put his arm around her shoulder as they walked to the restaurant.

"My friend gave me a good suggestion. I contacted the landlord of the Pelican neighborhood, and we'll go see the house there tomorrow. If we're satisfied, we can pay the deposit and move in immediately."

"That's wonderful," Barbara said. "You know, my family isn't well-off, and I've never lived in a luxury apartment. Does that house have a nursery? I really want a daughter, my little princess!"

"Of course, that's what I think too." Gordon kissed Barbara's cheek, and then the two sat down separately to eat.

"I want my daughter to learn to dance. I originally wanted to be a dancer, but unfortunately I didn't have the opportunity."

"If you became a dancer, you wouldn't know me anymore?" Gordon said with a laugh. "I think our daughter should be free to do whatever she wants, whether it's learning to dance, learning to paint, or becoming a great lawyer like you."

"Come on," Barbara said with a helpless expression. "This job is exhausting. I don't want her to become a lawyer. She'd better have an easier life."

"Dance is the same. It's just that you haven't learned it, so you're full of longing for it. I see the cheerleading students at Gotham University doing leg stretches every day. Some dance students have also complained that this industry is a young person's game, and it's easy to lose your job when you get older..."

"You're really putting a lot of pressure on me. What if our children don't live a good life?" Barbara asked.

"You have to have faith in her, and how she lives is her own choice."

"Even as a policeman in such a dangerous city as you?"

"Oh, darling..." Gordon said, "Don't say that."

"I know you've told me before that your dream is to be a police officer because you were born in Chicago, a dangerous city, and a police officer saved your mother, so you want to be a police officer who upholds justice."

"But this job is really too dangerous. I've said it more than once: we can go back to my parents' home to live together. Even if we're a little short on money, it's okay. It's safer that way."

Gordon sighed. He knew Barbara was right. With the money he was making, he could buy a villa in rural Arizona. He could then find a job as a police auxiliary officer and Barbara could be his legal advisor. That would be a comfortable and happy life.

Even though Gordon knew Gotham was a horrible place, he still didn't want to leave.

He thought, what's the point if the police can't be in the most dangerous places to protect people?

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