Maroni's Scheme

After several calls to Qin Wei went unanswered, Oswald had no choice but to invite Harvey upstairs first.

He had been present at the negotiations that day and heard Falcone's plan. Now that Harvey Dent had actually come to him, reason told him he should establish contact as soon as possible.

But Qin Wei was the brains of the operation. Without him around, Oswald dared not make any rash decisions.

"Want a drink?"

Oswald deliberately changed the subject, but Harvey refused to let it go.

"Just answer the question. Will you cooperate with my investigation? I've got plenty of other things to do!" Harvey looked impatient, but his hand readily accepted the beer Oswald offered.

"I just want to know why you want to go after Mr. Maroni."

Oswald sat on the edge of the bed, his fingers spread and his hands crossed. He stared straight at Harvey, trying to imitate Qin Wei's tone and slow cadence.

Sitting on a small stool, Harvey squirmed under his stare.

"He's a criminal, and I'm a prosecutor. Do I need any other reason to go after him?" He raised his voice, putting on a stern front to conceal his unease.

Before Maroni recruited him, Charlie had been an ordinary prisoner.

At twenty, he had accidentally killed someone and spent eight years in prison. To make life behind bars easier, he had reinvented himself as a heinous serial killer.

He had been a starting football player in college, tall and packed with muscle. Combined with his fabricated, wildly outlandish criminal history, that physique had somehow intimidated his fellow inmates, making him a prison kingpin nobody in Blackgate dared cross.

But lies always unraveled eventually. Hotheaded newcomers were constantly trying to climb over the old hands, and the repeated challenges put him under mounting pressure. At first, he could rely on his associates to keep up appearances, but eventually even his trusted followers began to question his real abilities.

He lived in terror. Once someone exposed him, all the lies he had told over the years would come back to destroy him.

He would be beaten to death in prison.

Just as he was about to crack, he heard a bombshell piece of news.

Maroni wanted to bail out a group of criminals to form a bodyguard detail.

Charlie attended that meeting, keeping his head down and saying nothing throughout. With the acting skills he had honed over the years, he successfully fooled that old fox Maroni and secured a spot on the parole list.

His gamble had paid off. Nobody in Gotham dared attack Maroni, so being his bodyguard turned out to be the safest job around.

Until that evening, when his employer pinched his face and said:

"Oh, sweet Jesus! That face of yours is perfect! I've got a plan for you. Impersonate Harvey Dent and root out the ticking time bombs around me."

"Don't worry. Nobody will touch you without my orders. I've already told them not to make any rash moves."

"Why me?" Charlie appeared calm, but inside, he was terrified.

"Why? Because you're a good enough actor to fool me. Surely you can fool those guys too?"

Maroni's words chilled him to the bone.

That fox had known everything all along.

"Everyone is like a screw. Whatever its size or type, there's a hole somewhere in this world that fits it. Now that I've put you in the right place, it's time for you to prove your worth."

Maroni patted Charlie affectionately on the shoulder.

"You know what happens if you screw this up, don't you?"

Right. I can't screw up the boss's plan!

Coming back to his senses, Charlie rubbed the space between his brows and raised his head to meet Oswald's eyes. In that instant, his entire demeanor changed.

"Gotham has been shrouded in darkness for too long. Its citizens need a ray of light. From the standpoint of justice, of course." Charlie stood up, looming over Oswald to put pressure on him.

"And all I can offer you is the status of a cooperating witness, earning leniency for your crimes. Once Maroni is brought to justice, you won't be among those I prosecute."

Charlie had memorized Maroni's script so thoroughly that, at that moment, even he believed every word.

He believed he was Harvey Dent.

Oswald frowned in silence. His thoughts were in turmoil, and the fake Harvey had already cowed him.

"That's all right. You don't have to answer. But I'm afraid that means our cooperation is over before it begins. You've missed your last chance. Even if you come crying and begging later, I won't be able to help you."

Charlie picked up precisely on Oswald's hesitation and fanned the flames in his heart.

He turned to leave. Just as he reached the door, Oswald called out behind him.

"Wait. I've got a story. Want to hear it?"

With the light behind him, Charlie's eyes glinted coldly.

Leaving the police station, Qin Wei glanced at his phone. It was already one in the morning.

He hailed a taxi to the Senate. Throughout the ride, he kept taking out the comic and flipping through it, as though he had developed an anxiety disorder.

Nothing.

Still nothing.

Danger lurking in the shadows was the most terrifying kind. Qin Wei felt much as he had a few years ago while playing Resident Evil 7 in VR, never knowing when his father-in-law, his face covered in festering sores, would spring out of a corner and deliver a jump scare right in his face.

Back then, Qin Wei had screamed in terror and punched a hole straight through his monitor.

He had no desire to experience that kind of dread again.

After paying and getting out of the taxi, Qin Wei stretched. When he looked up, he noticed that the light in Oswald's room was still on.

Oswald usually kept an extremely regular schedule. What could have kept him up this late? Surely he wasn't hiding under the covers, shedding little tears because he couldn't recruit any underlings.

Imagining Oswald crying, Qin Wei couldn't help laughing aloud.

Just as he opened the front door, the wooden door upstairs opened too, its piercing creak echoing through the empty apartment building.

Qin Wei headed upstairs and met a figure coming down. A top hat concealed the man's face, and his coat was wrapped tightly around him.

An interview this late at night? Even if it is an interview, why dress like that? Afraid to show his face? Puzzled, Qin Wei muttered a few words under his breath.

Reaching the third floor, he pushed open Oswald's door.

"You're back!"

"Who was that just now?"

"I was just about to tell you. Harvey-you know Harvey Dent, right?"

Qin Wei froze and worked out the timing. He remembered Harvey talking to Gordon when he left the police station, and he had taken a taxi straight back.

Harvey Dent couldn't possibly have arrived before him, unless he had inherited Barry's Speed Force.

An impostor!

Qin Wei shuddered violently. The terrifying jump scare had finally caught him after all.

After that brief flash of fear, he quickly sorted out his thoughts. Whoever had sent this fake Harvey, and whatever his purpose, the priority was to keep him from leaving.

"Hey, Mr. Harvey Dent!"

Making a shushing gesture at Oswald, Qin Wei called downstairs and hurried after the man.

By the time he reached the ground floor, the fake Harvey had already opened the door. Most of his body was outside, with only one foot still planted on the floor.

When the man turned his head halfway around, Qin Wei froze.

The resemblance was uncanny. No wonder Oswald had fallen for it. If Qin Wei hadn't met Harvey that day, he might have been fooled by this impostor too.