BWDC:SDDK Chapter 134: Joker, I'm Going to Break Your Legs!
"An automotive company? I'm the Chairman!"
"The Black Organization? I'm a Senior Executive!"
"If anyone dares to cross me, even Gin, I'll slap a 'traitor' label on his head just the same!"
At this very moment, inside the brightly lit Chairman's office of the automotive giant, Pisco—known internally as Kenzo Masuyama—hummed a soft, arrogant tune.
Had Gin known what Masuyama was singing, it's likely a bullet would have reached the old man's side well before a disciplinary text from That Person. However, Gin was oblivious.
Kenzo Masuyama toyed with his computer. He was a titan in the Tokyo financial world, and the Organization frequently funneled funds through him to maintain their economic liquidity. Because of this, he was privy to a fair share of internal secrets.
Take Gin, for example. Last time, Gin helped Sherry secure a title deed for a pharmaceutical company over at Tropical Land. The money for that transaction moved through Masuyama's accounts, laundered under the guise of a donation to some charitable foundation. Since then, Gin had left Tokyo, and there had been no news of his return. Therefore, no matter how much he mocked Gin now, the man wasn't going to suddenly pop up and give him a "grand send-off."
"Let's see what new expenses we have lately..."
Masuyama hummed while checking his data. He was utterly unaware that his computer files had been copied so thoroughly that not even his metaphorical underwear was left private. The Night Baron program, which the Organization had forced Itakura Suguru to develop, failed to trigger at all.
Night Baron—currently one of the Black Organization's highest achievements in the field of computing.
It had taken immense coercion from Tequila to force a computer genius to develop it, which spoke volumes about the lack of high-level IT talent within the Organization. Its function was simple: hack target systems and immediately wipe all local data the moment a breach was detected.
In Ren Ichimonji's view, Night Baron was decent for this era as far as viruses went. If it went up against a peak-performance Noah's Ark, it might even manage a "curved victory" by deleting half the AI's database before the latter even realized what was happening.
But against Ren Ichimonji, it was useless.
Oracle was the technical backbone of the Bat-Family. Considering the "Old Bat" could plant viruses in Cyborg, it proved that cyber-warfare was one of the family's primary specialties. When the Black Organization's Night Baron met Ren Ichimonji in the "Oracle State," it was a case of a small ghost meeting the King of Hell—completely powerless to resist. Even if Itakura Suguru were suddenly resurrected, facing Ren would only be a matter of whether he lasted one second or zero.
"Let me in! Let's see what's going on here!"
Ren Ichimonji rapidly duplicated everything in Masuyama's automotive company. Then, he began filtering for abnormal transactions linked to the Black Organization. Suddenly, he noticed a very strange cash flow.
Strange... this money is flowing into the Beika City Dark Web?
Wait, Beika City actually has a Dark Web?
Ren was stunned. Talk about "though the sparrow is small, it has all five vital organs"—this city really had every kind of vice imaginable.
Following the digital breadcrumbs, he hacked into the Beika underground network. Scanning the information, he spotted a record that looked familiar. He clicked it.
As expected, it involved an acquaintance.
The Ryujin Economic Research Institute, and the kidnapping of Suzuki Sonoko.
The surface-level fronts for the Dark Web went by many names. One was "Beika Construction Company," a shell corporation for illegal activities. However, an old man working there—who usually just went through the motions—suddenly grew a conscience and tried to blow the whistle.
The old man went to report it to the newspapers at dusk, just as he crossed paths with Suzuki Sonoko, who was heading to the hospital with a cold. The thugs from Beika Construction didn't recognize her; they assumed she was the old man's accomplice and snatched her up too. They locked them inside the Ryujin Institute, but the guard was eventually knocked out by someone unknown.
After that incident, the Beika Dark Web went quiet for a while. The Suzuki Financial Group had started pouring massive investments into the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, demanding a crackdown on underground illegal networks. Only recently had the Dark Web begun to show signs of resurfacing.
"Ryujin Economic Research Institute? Isn't that the plot from Episode 162?" Ren Ichimonji was surprised.
Since the changes in the The Last Wizard of the Century plot, he knew this world wasn't exactly as he remembered. Seeing this Dark Web record confirmed it. However, Ren quickly composed himself. He wasn't the helpless person he had been when he first arrived. Even if the plot deviated, it didn't matter—he had been monitoring the shadows; nothing major would go wrong.
"...It hasn't fully resumed operations yet. Looks like I'll have to eat this 'experience pack' later," Ren muttered.
He checked the time on his screen. He estimated how much longer he could maintain the Oracle State and found he had only twenty seconds left—not enough time to put the pressure on Noah's Ark.
Ren made a choice. Can't let it go to waste. I'll tap into Oracle's memories.
He closed his eyes.
Ding-dong.
The doorbell rang.
Ren Ichimonji opened his eyes and was surprised to find he could control this body. Unlike his previous memory trip with the coffee cup where he was just a spectator, he was in the driver's seat.
But there was one small problem.
Why is this version of Oracle... standing?
Ren felt something was very wrong. The next moment, the person outside grew impatient. With a manic laugh, he blasted the door lock open with a gun.
The garish outfit, the blood-red grin... Ren recognized the intruder instantly.
The Joker.
Batman's ultimate nemesis, the highest-caliber villain in Gotham City. The immortal prince of crime.
"Surprise!" The Joker laughed maniacally. He leveled his gun at Ren—or rather, at Barbara Gordon's waist—and pulled the trigger without hesitation.
In the original timeline, this shot would have landed perfectly, causing the severe injury that paralyzed Barbara Gordon from the waist down. But that was assuming the "pilot" of Barbara's body was the original.
As the saying goes: It's not about the hardware, it's about who's behind the wheel.
The Joker had fired.
But Ren Ichimonji didn't sit there to die. He sidestepped the bullet with impossible grace. Then, right in front of the Joker, he produced a crowbar that looked hauntingly familiar to the clown.
"Joker," Ren said coldly. "I'm going to break your legs!"
Joker: "?"
End of Chapter
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