psychopathic gambler

"What is this!!" I burst out grabbing him by the collar and lifting him.

he smiled at me calmly saying "I believe Iver called it 'Act 1 Scene 2'"

I froze what does that even mean?

Seeing me hesitate he used this chance to break free from my hold, as I wasn't trying.

"This task is simple just as Iver said you need to catch 30 specific targets every day this month. As for who I'll tell you one name daily, but if you do decide to be proactive in your fight against crime then nothing will happen as the target would change" he spoke while straightening his shirt.

"what if we decide not to play your game," Tim said.

"well that's what's interesting, you see of all the cities in the U.S. Gotham has the highest suicide rate from what I remember it has a 20% give or take..."

"your point" I snapped.

"Yes, well, I've come to learn that later today, a woman named Stephany is going to include herself in those statistics, but not just her. She will take her entire family—her husband and three children. That is if you don't finish the game in time," he said, bringing a tense silence into the room.

"wha..."

"I would suggest you hurry, your target is the penguin, from what I remember getting him arrested is difficult so you need all the time you can," he said seemingly losing interest in the conversation as he sat back down and opened up the book.

I stood there staring at him thinking of my next move. Is he serious, why is he doing this, what does he mean Act 1 Scene 2. all these questions raced in my head, but I knew they weren't important as I had a life to save.

"This isn't over," I said turning around towards the exit.

"indeed," he said chuckling to himself.

"Orphan stay here and watch him," I said as I needed to investigate if this was true, and if so I would need to gather probable cause to arrest Oswald.

Orphan nodded and with that, the game began.

...

(Iver P.O.V)

'Bruce should be done by now, but in Johan still safe' I questioned myself as I was resting in my room after spending the day training.

I pull out my phone and scroll through my contact list until I find the number I'm looking for.

*ring*

*ring*

*ring*

after the third ring, he finally answered.

"you were supposed to call earlier when you landed," Johan said skipping the formalities 

"I was preoccupied. How did it go" I asked not really, seeing no need to explain.

"Well the bat flew just like you told me, though I don't see what makes him special," he said flatly.

"I see" I nodded satisfied that things were going as planned so far.

"by the end of those 30 days, you'll see,e," I told him, as what makes Batman, batman needs time to be seen.

"keep me posted on his progress, we'll talk later. Oh before I go who did they leave to watch you" I asked knowing Batman wouldn't leave him unsupervised.

"a batgirl, with a face mask covering her whole face, I think her name was Orphan"

(image)

"And am I right to assume she's listening" I said, knowing that the bat family wouldn't let us have a chat alone.

"Yes, in fact, she's holding the phone for me seeing as I'm tied up," he said in a relaxed tone, confident that the situation was still under control. But even if it wasn't, I doubted he'd worry in the slightest.

"wow sounds like you're having fun" I chuckled.

Speaking of Orphan, my knowledge of the other Batgirl variants is nearly non-existent as the only info I know about them is Barbara, and Kate Kane, who I'm not sure existed in this universe.

"Well anyway enjoy your stay, I'll call daily to get updates on the situation, Orphan when I call I expect Johan on the line, if not there will be consequences," I said hanging up and walking back to bed to sleep.

...

(3 days later)

it seems I forgot to account for something with my plan, with Johan in their custody, all the work I was planning on dumping on him has fallen back on me.

'Finally,' I thought as I finished going over the paperwork. This was supposed to be Johan's job with his soon-to-be promotion to V.P., leaving me time to pursue other plans and training, but this adds an unnecessary delay in my business. Hell, I was supposed to go out and try increasing my count, but I couldn't as I've been in the villa all this time.

"One of the reasons I have Johan is so he can do stuff for me now that he's too busy," I said, stretching my neck as I went downstairs.

----------------------

Name: Ivar Smith

Age: 17

Powers:

-all sight

-special snowflake 

points:(2 was remaining) 6

Templates completed:

-sora (no game no life)

Templates in progress (3/3):

 -Spider Miles (Marvel) [38%]

-taskmaster (Marvel) [97%]

-licht bach(plunderer) [14%]

Summons:

-Johan Liebert (monster)

Abilities:

-ban immortality (7ds)

-absolute cancel (7ds)

-Somnambulist (MHA) x1

-mystic eyes of death perception (fate)

-Brainwashing(MHA)

Inventory:

-casual and jackal(hellsing)

-dark saber (Star Wars)

-[cyoa- costume]

-Heatwave (halo)

-kilo kilo no mi (OP)

-Aldan (7ds)

-Black Widow(mass effect)

-1 ton of adamantium

- hollow custodian (Warhammer 40k)

Gacha draws:

-weakness removal card x4

-merge card

-background creation card x5

-power increase card x2

-five (umbrella academy)

-world travel (4 months) 

-Akiko Yosano (stray dogs)

-integrate card

-Medusa (Rider) (fate)

-neferpitou (hxh)

-Juri Han (street fighter)

-merge card

----------------------

I checked the gatcha to see if I had left out anyone who could help ease my workload load, as I would prefer not to employ someone I can't trust to control so much in my company.

Seeing that there's none I close the system and move towards the garden.

"Mary!!" I called out as she was probably in the kitchen preparing lunch.

5 minutes later she appeared with lunch in hand, a tray with different slices of sandwiches, a cup of tea, a bottle of brandy, and cheesecake "Here's your lunch sir" she said.

I nodded and moved to sit down near the TV where I switched it on to the G.N.N to see how Batman's manhunts were going.

"Batman has recently been more active in his pursuit to clean up Gotham, as seen with his recent efforts as in the last 3 days he has apprehended 17 villains and criminals, making this the safest week in Gotham's history, "The news anchor said showing statistics of the crime rate during this time.

Bruce has been working harder than usual ever since he started playing, the penguin was a perfect choice for a first target as he was near impossible to arrest under such short notice as he hasn't been active in Gotham's criminal underground. This led to a woman who Bruce later found out to be Stephany a maid who used to work for me killing herself in front of the gates of the G.C.P.D holding a bag with the heads of her family. The police think it's due to some sort of psychotic episode, but Bruce gets the message.

Later that day he called me on Johan's phone, the whole time he was pissed arguing the morality of what I just did, the blabbing made it difficult to have a proper discussion but I still managed to get my point across.

...

"I don't see why you're blaming me seeing as I didn't do anything wrong," Batman said confused by what he perceived to sound like a child passing the blame for his actions.

"What!" he said his anger boiling to the surface.

"I didn't kill her or her family, you did," I said causing Johan to chuckle audibly at what I said.

I continued before he could speak "This whole game is about you, your morality, your code, your mission. If you killed Oswald long ago or at the very least let someone else do it this could have been avoided, so don't put their lives on me this is a consequence of your choices, along with all the other people that will die in this game, is you" I said

"why, why do this what do you get out of this, what's your goal?" he said seriously accepting that he held some of the blame but refused to filter on his crusade.

"I want one thing from you, for you to deserve my attention show me what makes Batman so great," I said coldly in a tone lacking serious tone hanging up and smiling bemused knowing that soon Johan would see the spark in Batman.

...

Back to the present I continued watching TV noting who Batman caught and preparing the target for tonight, as it was too soon to up the difficulty I think Victor Zsasz would do for today.

I then continued with my lunch, while going over my plans in Central City, curantly I have yet to meet any heroes or villains as I've been cooped up at the villa. While I was hoping Batman would get Flash to apprehend me, my threat level hadn't been properly measured so he wouldn't do that so soon, "maybe next week" I thought downing the glass of brandy as this amount isn't enough to make me the least bit tipsy.

I checked my phone to see Emily was finally calling, it seemed I could soon finish my business with S.T.A.R labs, I let my phone ring for about 6 minutes, enjoying her growing annoyance. 

I finally answered, "Emily how are yo..." I said cutely.

"What did you do!!" she screamed the moment I started speaking.

"calm down what happened" I questioned her enjoying this little game.

I hear the sounds of heavy breathing probably her attempt to calm down, "I'm talking about the negotiations with the other members. My boss was informed that the negotiations went well and had concluded, this was surprising considering it only took a day, but worse the contract is a legal mess that puts us at a massive disadvantage, when they were questioned about this they started complaining that negotiating with you is difficult and that this was the best contract they could get, but now my boss is threatening to take legal action against you if this mess isn't fixed"

"oh, when can we meet," I said sounding confused with some playfulness leaking through.

She sighed hearing this "I'll be coming over in about 30 minutes, alone since the C.E.O doesn't trust others to get this done" she said speaking with something I recognized as pride seeping through.

"I'll be waiting," I said teasingly.

...

(Emily pov)

'such a troublesome child you left behind, Sina' I thought to myself sighing, while driving to Ivers house.

To others, Iver is a young genius businessman, cold and pragmatic in the business world, someone who is never seen but whose impact is felt. But to me, he is my nephew, a kind, shy boy. He has had a difficult life up until now, but he keeps moving forward, not letting anything weigh him down.

Iver was a good business partner for Star Labs, if not the best. Even though he was young, he was an accomplished businessman, and more so, he was honest. He was one of the only companies that consistently fulfilled their obligations without backpedaling or giving excuses. He was effective and efficient. Even his father wasn't as reliable.

S.T.A.R Labs is at the end of the day a research organization not a tech company like Lex Corp or Wayne Enterprises. Meaning we don't make products often that could be mass-produced and sold on the open market for a profit, because of this many suppliers hesitate to enter contracts with a business that does more research than selling.

And the pool of suppliers to choose from was nearly abysmal, as not many had the variety of products and the ability to match our specifications to such precision. 

But Iver somehow makes it work, and he's able to deliver on ridiculous expectations, like when S.T.A.R labs wanted to build the particle accelerator, a project like that needed a massive supply of materials made to such high specifications that any divergence of corners cut would lead to the project failing, sure it did fail but that was due to a human error, not any problem with how the machine was built. 

Pulling up to the driveway a group of guards stopped me, but after seeing who I was they opened the gate.

I then park and exit my car and head towards the houses, where I see her standing by the door.

"Mary," I said snarling looking her up and down in disgust.

"Emily," she said smiling warmly which worked to piss me off more.

"this way Iver is expecting you in the garden," she said, walking towards the backyard.

I hate her.

If there's one thing I detest more than murderers and rapists its pedophiles, and that is what Mary is, you could tell just by looking at her speak to Iver with that twisted smile, the way she stared at him when his not looking, hell I once caught her sneaking out of Ivers bedroom the morning after his parents funeral. Though when I asked Iver about it he insisted that nothing happened but I'm sure of my instincts.

'disgusting pervert' I thought watching her sway her ass alongside the bow she wears on her 'uniform'.

I mean it's the 21st century who dresses like that, the least she could do is dress appropriately instead of trying to seduce my boy with her cosplay bullshit. All she does is earn us weird looks when we're in public.

I can't even remove her from Iver's side as she is Iver's legal guardian, according to documents she showed the court when I was fighting her for custody. I suspected she did something, but I couldn't prove it, so in the end, she won.

We soon reach the garden and I see Iver sitting there staring at us. I take a second to admire the way the sun glistened on his hair, the way his hair contrasted with his skin, the celestial glow of his eyes that drew you in, and that handsome face able to make lesbians question their sexuality he looks more divine every time I see him. 

I notice in the corner of my eye Mary staring at me with the same look of disgust I shot at her while also looking like she'd have swung at me by now if Iver wasn't here.

 I'm not like her, is it wrong to think my nephew looks good and to admire that beauty, I'd never take advantage of her, we are not the same. 

'though I despise her I do have to admit she did a wonderful job raising him,' I thought.

"are my eyes playing tricks on me or did you get taller" I said reaching Iver who was now standing looking down at me from the clouds above.

"well I'm still young so growth spurts are bound to happen, I think I'm 6,8 now," he said smiling while reaching down for a tight warm hug that lifted me off the ground slightly, making me blush.

[Iver pov]

Emily was a rare kind of exception to my views on people. I like useful people, people who having close to me are beneficial to me in some way, whether long-term or short-term. Emily's use had long since reached its expiration date when I managed to secure a deal with S.T.A.R labs, yet I find myself enjoying her antics too much to cut out of my life so she stays.

 The only other person who had outlived their use is Mary but I would never get rid of her, even if she sometimes proves to be more trouble than she is worth.

"wow have you been working out" she said touching my body briefly before realizing what she was doing and moving back while blushing slightly.

"Well Mary has been helping me train a bit, and I guess the results are showing," I said while admiring my body which has become bigger and stronger as a result of my Taskmaster and Miles templates.

I then looked down at her smugly "Would you like a better look" I said reaching to unbutton my shirt.

She stared at me for a bit not making any attempts to stop me, but as I undo the third button she realised what she watching and snapped out of it.

"N-No you, Stop!" she said waving her hands around franticly.

I chuckled a bit, enjoying her flustered expression.

"We should probably get back to business," she said coughing lightly.

"Ya, we'll catch up later," I said going to sit back down.

"so what do you want to talk about" I asked Emily as she sat down, staring at Mary who moved to stand behind me.

To that, she put on her game face and reached into her folder and through a contract on the table "What the hell is this?"

I raised an eyebrow and slowly reached out to read the contract.

"This wasn't the agreement that was discussed, the prices are more than double the agreed rate, the manufacturing speed is way too slow, along with several alterations in there that make it unsuitable for us to sign off on. I know you aren't the type to be greedy and value this partnership so what happened" Emily said while I faked surprise at this situation.

"I honestly don't know. Mary do you mind" I said reaching behind me to grab the tablet that Mary was handing me.

"See," I said handing her the tablet to see another version of the contract I had prepared.

Emily looked more confused seeing this completely different contract, that had signatures of members of the negotiation in it.

"I had already sent this contract back home after signing and the materials are being prepared for delivery as we speak, so I was unaware that there was an issue with the contracts on your side," I said.

"I see" she sighed "but that doesn't explain how this could happen"

"I see it as they were too eager to undermine you they messed up the contracts," I said snarling at their mistake

"They always do this, going behind your back to weaken your position in S.T.A.R labs just because they don't trust you to be an impartial judge, yet this time they went too far and messed up the entire arrangement," I said sounding angry at their incompetence. 

"Well there's not much we can do about it other than resign the contracts at a later date" she sighed rubbing her temple at the mess this causes.

"Actually they something else I'd like to discuss," I said leaning forward and staring at her seriously I said.

"I want you to quit your job,"