[Rolling Gold Gacha Ticket]

  [Vaunt]

  |Rare Trait|

  You're quite vauntful, aren't you? It's easier to build fame, gain recognition, and receive rewards for your achievements. On top of that, it's easier to assert your accomplishments and have people believe what you say.

  Hell yeah.

  I could already see how useful that would be in cementing my position.

  With my trusty war banner in hand, I strode toward the meeting ground with as much swagger as I could muster. My motley crew had thinned out after I ordered most of them to help pacify Gotham as best they could. The city wouldn't calm itself, and letting things run wild wasn't exactly a winning long-term strategy.

  My lieutenants—I somehow had lieutenants now—had taken up the task with gusto after our little triumph over the two crazies. Still, even if I didn't feel fear, there was practical reasoning behind being careful with our next move.

  Fortune Lover proved its worth again. Maybe because it counted them as "my crew," but their pushes into new territory had been absurdly successful. Every mission had been touched by ridiculous luck. Small gangs were either folded into us, or citizens welcomed us outright since we weren't terrorizing anyone like half the other criminal groups were.

  So in a matter of hours, I had several blocks worth of territory under my name.

  Of course, it wouldn't truly be the Union's until we took down the head honcho who was acknowledged as the ruler of this piece of Gotham.

  I stopped at the final roadblock. Thugs lingered around overturned cars and makeshift barricades, guns half-raised as they shot wary looks at the sizable crowd behind me.

  I didn't sweat it. Even with my numbers thinned, the crew behind me easily doubled the men in front of us.

  "Is the boss in?" I asked, leaning casually against my fg.

  The thugs shifted, gncing at one another.

  "Let him in," a gruff voice called from deeper inside. A big thug stepped forward and jerked his chin at me. "Only you and a couple of guys."

  "I'll be enough."

  That earned worried looks from the crew behind me, but I fshed them a grin. "Have no fear, my friends. Just stopping in for a little chat."

  It said a lot about the reputation I had built in the past day that they actually believed me.

  I handed my banner to one of my guys and stepped inside.

  The building was dingy, an abandoned apartment complex converted into a hideout with the bare minimum effort. It looked like the pce had been burned down once and then patched up just enough to be barely livable. More thugs lounged inside with guns across their ps, their eyes tracking me as I passed.

  They shot me dirty looks, but I didn't react.

  I simply took it all in with a grin as I walked toward what passed for an office.

  Harvey Dent sat in a battered chair behind a salvaged desk.

  He didn't disappoint. One side of his face was still the handsome former DA Gotham once trusted. The other was a ruined mess of scar tissue that turned him into something closer to a monster. The split two-piece suit only sharpened the contrast.

  "You're new," Two-Face said.

  "You're old, Harvey."

  His hand twitched. I caught the fsh of silver as the coin appeared. "Call me that again, and I'll kill you." He paused, breathing out sharply. "No… no. It's just a name. I'll flip for it."

  "Harrveyyyyy." I grinned.

  His fist smmed against the desk. The coin shot into the air. "Heads, you're dead, kid."

  A pistol rose, barrel steady at my forehead.

  I simply grabbed a stool and took a seat.

  The coin spped down into his palm. He looked. Then he scowled.

  "Guess I'm spared," I said lightly.

  "Get out," Two-Face replied.

  "Aren't you supposed to flip for it?" I asked.

  He scowled. "Heads, I'll listen to whatever crap you're spewing. Tails, I'm kicking you out." The coin flicked into the air again.

  It nded on heads.

  "Talk." Two-Face roughly caught the coin and pocketed it.

  I'd come here with plenty of ideas for how this might go. Maybe a big fight. Maybe punch him out. Hell, I'd even considered just throwing lightning at the building and calling it a day.

  But standing in front of him, staring at that split face, had me thinking.

  Harvey Dent had once been Gotham's golden boy. The hopeful DA who was supposed to drag the city back into the light. And just like everything else in Gotham, the city ruined him. Twisted him into another lunatic.

  What a waste.

  And yet… as insane as it sounded, Two-Face felt like the embodiment of what I wanted to fix. A jangled mess of good spttered with evil.

  I was never a good person.

  But shouldn't we at least strive to be better?

  So I went with a wonderfully stupid idea instead.

  "Want a job?"

  "What?" Two-Face went sck-jawed.

  "I'm serious. You were a wyer, right?" I leaned back. "I've recently started a venture. A union. If you hadn't heard."

  "A union?" he repeated, skeptical.

  "Yep. One for criminals."

  "How's that work?"

  "I have no idea," I admitted.

  His fist smmed against the desk. "You'd have me join a criminal union you don't even understand? Why the hell would I do that?"

  "Well, it's not like you've got anything better to do."

  He twitched before catching himself, scowl returning.

  "Not good, not evil, just fifty-fifty, a whole kingdom of gray," I pressed on, leaning into the idea as it took shape. "How great would it be to build something like that? Something that actually does some good for Gotham while still giving us plenty of good crime to profit from. A criminal union for the low and downtrodden. No more insane bomb plots, no more drugs being shoved onto kids, no more flesh peddlers hunting in the streets." The words kept pouring out, the idea growing more certain in my mind the longer I spoke. "Not the hypocrites of Cosa Nostra. Not the crazy schemes of the Joker. Something better."

  "...You're insane." Two-Face leaned back in his chair. "I wonder who crushes you first. The crime families, the government, or the Bat."

  "Isn't that the fun part?" I grinned. "Finding out?"

  That earned a snort. "Nice dream, kid. Terrible time to start."

  "On the contrary." My confidence only grew. "This is the perfect time. Wanton chaos means everyone's too busy putting out their own fires to notice ours. The Bat is stretched thin, the cops are overwhelmed, and every crime organization in the city is scrambling to protect its own turf. That's exactly why we move now."

  He gave me a long, appraising look. "Alright… that makes a strange sort of sense. But that only matters if you can win it. You think taking advantage of chaos is easy? Every greedy idiot in this city is jumping at the same chance."

  "I one hundred percent agree." I stood. "Words are air. So I'll let my deeds talk." I raised my arms and looked the man straight in" I united three gangs in a single night. I turned the Riddler into a damn disco ball. I beat Scarecrow and kicked his teeth in. I won. And I'm going to do it again and again until I get what I want."

  I leaned over his desk. "What about you?"

  Two-Face twitched. "What exactly about me?"

  "The way I see it, I've only got two paths ahead. Phenomenal success or phenomenal failure. Two destinations." I tilted my head. "Ain't that your style?"

  He went still as stone, fingers tightening around the coin.

  "Come on, Harvey. Why don't you flip for it?" I stepped back and walked away. "I'm confident fate's on my side."

  I didn't look back.

  But I heard the sharp flick of a coin leaving his fingers.

  [Feat Achieved! Union Lawyer Obtained]

  [+1 Silver Gacha Ticket]

  "Wait," Two-Face said. "I have conditions."

  "Of course," I replied, already smiling. "Let's get to work."

  ***

  I'm currently running a 50% discount for my till March 1st for anyone interested.

  Comments and Thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Likes are like a drug to me and boost my creative juices.

  I have advanced chapters on my if you wanna read ahead.