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Chapter 42 - Crime Alley Business
🕑 Added 2025-10-30 23:01:47 +0000 UTC“Resurgence in metahumans, individuals with superpowers acquired through either genetic mutations or exposure to chemical, biological, and radioactive contaminants, has the government and the citizens worried. Most metahumans are ostracized due to their unique looks and abilities, leading to an increase in crime. Experts warn that this could overwhelm the local law enforcement due to the sheer numbers.”
—
“A what?” Mary wasn’t sure she heard her boss correctly.
“A meta human recruitment drive.” Miles repeated himself.
His ideas so far had worked wonders, and Mary wanted to see where he would go with this. “How do you believe that will help the company?”
“Metahuman powers are too economically valuable to not hire. Take Claire, for example.” He pointed at his bodyguard, who was leaning on the door. “She is a pyrokinetic that could burn down an entire city block and doesn’t require any more energy than the average woman.”
Mary did not know the finer details of Claire’s powers, but if that was true, she was beginning to see why Miles pitched the idea.
“Find a geokinetic, and you have a one-man digging crew and can save tens of thousands of dollars on heavy machines. Find a hydrokinetic, one-person water treatment facility. It’s not about finding the right person for the right work, but finding the right work for each power.” Metahumans were varied, and most had no choice but to lean to crime, while several were just enabled by their power.
“This might just be an untapped market that the people are too afraid to see.” Humans tended to shun or kill what they did not understand, and metahumans were just the latest in that trend.
“My thinking as well. Pay them the worth of their job, and we’ll have the most cost-efficient work power in the world.”
“It does present security problems, but if we can gain their loyalty, then it opens a new world of possibilities for us. I’ll task someone to start the process, the security evaluations, and the orientation.” It would be tough work, but there were few problems money could not solve, and Mary was glad to work for someone like Miles, whose resources did not seem to have an end.
“Keep me informed if any issues arise.”
—
Gotham
“Pamela.” Miles decided to visit Poison Ivy to see how her project was going and could not be more delighted at the results.
The change in air quality itself was worth getting Pamela out of prison.
“Miles.”
“How do you feel?”
“Good enough.” The green woman shrugged, tending to her small garden of roses.
“I meant about this patch of land?”
Now, Pamela smiled, caressing the flowers as they all leaned to her hand. “It does feel like I am making a difference, even if it’s a small one.”
“Then let’s change that.” Miles brought out photos out of the briefcase, showing a place in Gotham that all its citizens would recognize in a heartbeat.
Pamela did a double take. “Crime Alley? Are you serious?” She had considered the idea of flooding the whole neighborhood with plants mutated for accelerated growth, but there weren’t enough nutrients in the soil for long-term viability.
One more thing the humans had destroyed in their greed.
“Why? Is the challenge too much for you?” Wiping that smug grin off Miles’ face would be well worth going to prison.
“No, it’s just those wealthy bastards will just keep poisoning the area.” What she wouldn’t give to wreck all those factories, mostly belonging to the same company.
“Leave that to me. I just need to know if you are up for it.”
“What the heck are we waiting for?” This was what Pamela was fighting for, and it was time to take things up a notch.
—
Crime Alley was once part of Gotham’s working-class neighborhood, now abandoned, filled with derelict buildings and toxic runoff.
Exploited to the brink of total collapse by the industrial elite, with Roland Daggett at the helm, Crime Alley was now nothing but a dead land.
Which reduced its value to dirt cheap because no one wanted to spend the capital necessary to clean the area without any returns in the short term.
Daggett’s shell corporations, under the guise of demolition and redevelopment, were further working to displace the population and exploit the land, as if there was anything left in it.
Just because it was cheap and worthless, Daggett wasn’t going to sell the land he intended to build luxury developments on.
Miles was going to send Daggett to prison for life and buy whatever remained to clean up the mess.
Ferris Boyle was already out of the board, and the rest of Wayne Corporation’s rivals could not present a danger once EnviroCorps bought everything Daggett had and decided to work with Bruce Wayne.
—
“How do we send this guy to prison? If he hasn’t been convicted of anything so far, he must have strong connections.”
“By catching him red-handed, of course.” Miles stabbed the knife on Roland Dagget’s photo, nailing it to the board that connected the businessman to a litany of crimes.
Taking out another photo, Miles pinned it to the board with question marks around it. “We need to find Clayface first, though.”
“I get it. Clayface impersonates him and confesses to everything, right?”
Miles just smiled without revealing anything.
—
Finding a metahuman that could take the shape of anyone and was a decent actor meant finding Clayface was like searching for a needle in a haystack, with the added difficulty that the needle itself looked like a straw.
With the latest breakout in Arkham, Clayface was at large.
Searching for him was a waste of time, and with Batman slated to return to the field soon, every second mattered.
But if there were rumors of something that might cure him, Clayface would come slithering.
Spreading them among the criminal underground was simple and quick, as long as one could supply proper motivation.
—
A tentacle reached out, his sludge-like form pouring inside, and Matt forced the window open, climbing inside under the cover of the night.
News that a new metahuman research center had discovered a universal cure was too enticing for Clayface to not investigate.
He would do anything to be back to his old, human self.
Crawling through the corridor, he followed the sign to the research wing, avoided cameras, and squeezed himself through the opening under the door.
Scanning the room, he was momentarily blinded by the lights shining on his face, thinking he was discovered.
“Matt, how is your night going so far?” The man in the hat asked as if they were two old friends, sitting in a chair while a red-haired woman stood behind him.
Turning around the run, the exit was blocked as a door came down from the ceiling, blocking his escape. “Now, now, we are not here to arrest you. I just want to offer you a commission.”
“A commission? I came here for a cure, not for money.” Matt retorted. He should have known it was too good to be true.
“Even better, because I am the only person in this world who can offer you that.”
Cautious and weary, Clayface could not contain his curiosity on a matter that might cure him. “Why is that?”
“Simple. I understand you, Matt. You did not want to become Clayface, nor a villain. You just wanted to heal your face, and look at what Daggett did to you.” The name itself caused Clayface to shudder in fury, his form rippling like the surface of a lake with a stone thrown in it.
“Can you offer me a cure?” He got straight to the point, and the man in the hat nodded.
“Not yet, but I have some of the best scientists in the world working for me. If they can’t cure you, I know more esoteric means to do so.” Clayface did not know what the man meant by esoteric means, but there were few boundaries he wouldn’t cross to be a human again.
“What will that cost me?” Nothing in this world was free, of course; Matt knew this was no exception.
“How would you like to get revenge on Daggett?”
That alone could be worth taking this commission, but he still couldn’t be sure. “Your offer is good and all that, but why should I believe you? I’ve been burned before.”
The man responded by pulling out a communicator, one that he had seen Batman use once before. “I work with the Justice League.”
“So you are a hero too?” That had Clayface seek an exit again, but the room was too well barred.
He might have to fight his way out.
“I am an individual trying to fix the world. The Justice League can beat criminals and villains all they want, but as long as avaricious and arrogant people like Daggett cause destitution among the general populace, crime will never go away. I intend to solve the problem at the root, not just manage the symptoms.”
—
Once Clayface was in, the next step was to create a diversion and have him impersonate Daggett, gather information on his illegal activities, and live stream him to the world, appearing to unwittingly confess his crimes.
If he still did not go to prison for life, Miles would just put a bullet in his head.
Tracking Daggett was not difficult, because he was so assured of his power and control over his part of Gotham; Daggett did not think anyone would assault him.
That did not mean his security was lax, far from it, but they did not think to do more than just secure his office, limo, and house.
Creating a legit competition to send Daggett’s driver to a cruise, they stopped the man from contacting anyone while Clayface took his place.
His acting career came in handy, because Matt’s hatred was palpable, and Daggett was observant enough to notice it.
Now, it was time to give Clayface the opportunity to switch places with Roland.
—
For Daggett’s convoy, it was just another business day. Surrounded by two cars in the front and two in the back, his armored limousine made its way to Crime Alley so Daggett could see the coming of his empire.
What he couldn’t see coming was two front cars getting hit with two devices that crackled like a thousand birds, electrocuting the jeeps and everyone in them to unconsciousness.
“Turn back! Turn back now!” Ronal screamed to his driver, whose head did a one eighty, and a grin impossibly wide for a human was the last thing he saw.
—
The security following the limo leaped into action to secure their boss, but Roland Daggett himself came out running with a terrified look.
“Sir, this way.” The security surrounded him immediately, escorting Daggett to the car at the back, ready to get him away from the scene.
“What about the driver?” A member of the security team screamed, approaching the front of the car to pull the driver out.
—
Claire watched Miles raise the rocket launcher to his shoulder, lock the guided explosive right at the front of the limo, and pull the trigger. Daggett, or Clayface if he had succeeded, had just left the car, with the real Roland Daggett knocked out in the back seat.
The explosive itself was carefully tailored to ensure Daggett survived while convincing everyone that the driver was dead.
The rocket cut through the air, too fast for anyone to react, and the front half of the limo turned to a wreck, but the rear half was still in good condition.
—
“Forget the driver, get me the hell out of here, now.” Daggett screamed out his orders, and within seconds the security team was driving away for security.
Miles’ mercenaries moved out of the derelict buildings, quickly securing Ronal Daggett before the flames reached him, and the members of his electrocuted security team out of the jeeps.
The fewer casualties, the better.
—
Crime Alley was not a place where GCPD could afford to patrol regularly, but an industrialist elite like Roland Daggett getting attacked by rocket launchers and high-tech weapons?
That got their attention.
Officers and SWAT rolled into the scene, searching for any sign of the attackers, finding nothing except the wounded but alive security of Roland Daggett, the limo with the front half and the driver gone, and the sole casualty of the attack.
“What do we have?” Jim asked the officers on the scene, who shook their heads in the negative.
Meaning nothing good.
“It happened too fast. The front cars were hit with a device that electrocuted the security and knocked them out, while a rocket took out the front half of the limo. Daggett got away with no wounds. Whoever it was, they were well armed but amateurs. The time between the attack on the jeeps and the limo is too long, and they only fired seconds after Daggett left the limo.” Jim frowned at the explanation. If this was an assassination attempt, it did sound amateurish.
“Could it be a message?” Someone else asked, which could also be a possible reason for this attack.
“Why kill the driver and not Daggett then? Any sign of the attackers?” Could Daggett have had a fallout or a disagreement with someone, and they decided to warn him to change his mind?
“Nothing. There are no cameras around here and no witnesses. Forensics is combing the scene, but it was a clean getaway.”
Jim considered the situation. His gut told him that something was wrong with the situation, but there simply wasn’t enough to know what. “I don’t think this was the work of amateurs. You don’t just do all this without leaving any evidence behind, all the while missing your shot at killing Roland Daggett and making him alert for any future attempts.”
“So it could be a message, and the driver was just the unlucky medium.”
—
It was for the best that Roland Daggett was out of commission while his empire came crashing down, and he was kept in a medically induced coma.
The imposter, on the other hand, was busy raining orders on real Roland's men.
“I want those bastards found, now.”
“Yes, boss. What about the plans for the Crime Alley?”
“Can’t you idiots do things right? I wanted those people out of there yesterday. Do whatever you have to do. Cut their water and electricity, and keep pouring our waste near their houses. Hell, make an example out of someone, break a head or two.”
“Understood, sir.”
—
The meeting was secretly recorded via the surveillance devices brought inside by Clayface, but he had one more thing to do before continuing to act and incriminate Roland Daggett.
Connecting the access module he was given to Roland’s personal computer to access all the data and knowledge kept in air-gapped servers.
This was his greatest performance to date, with no one the wiser.
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