Chương 1: The First Notice Letter of Phantom Kid
"On the night of the full moon, after the curtain of sunset falls, I will claim the Stone of Destiny under the first rays of moonlight.", Phantom Kid joined in!
GCPD, the headquarters of the Gotham City Police Department, received an odd letter today, a provocative letter, to be precise.
The paper was of premium quality, rough, like a piece of cardboard but far thinner than that. The text on the letter was printed on, so there was no way to tell by whom it was written through the handwriting.
In the lower right corner of the text, there was a drawing of a cartoon head with a tall bowler hat and monocle.
The Stone of Destiny is an alias for sapphire, one of the most precious stones in the world.
Coincidentally, only three days later, the Gotham City Exhibition Hall will be exhibiting the world's largest sapphire, the Adam's Star!
It is valued at $170 million.
And that day as well, concurrently, is the day of the full moon.
From the contents of the provocative letter, it seems that a thief has taken a liking to Adam's Star. Obviously, he had planned to steal it on the day of the exhibition and sent a teaser to the police…
You're kidding!
No thief in the world would inform the police before stealing, unless he was a psychopath.
This letter shed all the police's lights upon him…
Jim Gordon, Commissioner of the Gotham Police Department.
The security of the Adam's Star, the national treasure, was the sole responsibility of the GCPD. They have scheduled to deploy over a hundred police officers on site.
However, right after receiving the letter, Gordon immediately pulled close to a tenth of Gotham's police force to take charge of protecting Adam's Star.
"Commissioner, would the number of men scheduled to the Exhibition Hall be a little too much?", Aaron Cash said, right after he joined Gordon in his office.
He was the one who had discovered and then reported the forewarning letter, although he himself had been completely dismissive of it.
"Aaron, don't you think it's been too quiet these last few years?"
Gordon's eyes were as deep as a tunnel, as if he was remembering the old days' catastrophes.
"Oh, dear Chief, why do you want me to think of Arkham's criminals, whereas they have all been defeated by Bat …?"
"Don't say that name, he's gone!"
"Okay, Chief, I won't say it. But what I must say is that Gotham has changed since that incident eight years ago, it's not the same Sin City it once was.", Aaron said, with intent.
"I know, but… this teasing letter makes me uneasy."
"You think this might be another nutcase?"
"Aaron, you've been through all that with me, you should understand that this city is never short of lunatics… no matter how many years it's been quiet."
In this city where prosperity and sin coexist, no matter how shiny and bright the skyscrapers are on the outside, a dirty and dark alleyway exists behind them, even the GCPD is no exception.
In the shadowy alley behind the Gotham Police Department, Mathison Fang emerges. A young man of Asian descent whose parents died young, Mathison is a twenty-year-old second-year student at Gotham University.
He is our destined Phantom Kid.
Yes, it was he who sent the teaser letter to the GCPD not long ago.
«All other villains have all kinds of talented great powers, why do I only have a thief's superpower?»,
Leaving the police station, Mathison thought, depressedly, as he was walking home.
Ever since he has been transmitted to this world ten years ago, he was shocked to find out that this place was called Gotham and there was a super-rich man with the surname Wayne.
Just when he thought this was the DC universe, he saw some report that a legendary inventor, Tony Stark, had slept with another magazine celebrity…
«Good lord, DC is dangerous by itself, you had to add Marvel to it?»
«Thanos dancing with Darkseid?»
«The Infinity glove vs the anti-life Equation?»
«I'm afraid Earth is going to be rebooted infinitely!»
"If it was just Marvel, I could bet on the half who survived Thanos's fingers' snap, but with the presence of anti-life Equation, only death is expected.»
After years of observation, Mathison was sure that he lives in a world based on the Marvel Cinematic Universe with some of DC's, all merged in a mess. Only, in this world, there was a Gotham but not a Metropolis: a Batman without a Superman.
As for the exact number of other DC heroes who might still be in hiding, Mathison was not sure.
Timeline wise, Gotham here is before the start of Nolan's version of the Dark Knight Rises storyline, and, on the New York side, Stark has just announced himself as Iron man.
The Great War in New York has far-reaching implications, but has little to do with Gotham and may not spill over into Gotham until the Age of Ultron.
And so, Mathison has, still, long enough time to develop.
Whenever he thought about how dangerous this world was, Mathison sighed that he was in the most miserable transmigrator in history.
Everyone is granted some kind of ninjutsu, superpower, immortality, Kryptonian blood, alien magic…
«How about myself? Seriously, a thief system?!»
«I admit that being a thief is very pretentious, but what am I to do with it in this dangerous environment?»
«What's even scarier is that this thief system did not grant him anything other than a newbie pack of smartass skills.»
At first, there was not even a manual to explain to him how to use his powers, what their potential is, or how to unlock their full mastery.
It was up to him to fully discover his skills and it took him ten years to do so.
In the spirit of not wasting his skills, Mathison decided to be bold. Perhaps, his thief system would be completely activated once he becomes a Phantom Thief.
Anywise, these last few years have been quiet in Gotham, with super-criminals, such as the Scarecrow, all in the net, and Batman who retreated into obscurity.
Before Bane came to Gotham, there was not anyone in particular who was difficult to deal with.
But currently, it is Gordon on his own against the existing villains.
Consequently, there couldn't have been a better time than now for Phantom Kid to make his move.
Three days passed, and it was finally the day Kid had announced.
On that day, Gordon and Aaron arrived early at the Gotham City Exhibition Hall with a team of police officers, and were, then, surprised by the overwhelming crowds.
What they saw was the Exhibition Hall gates packed with people, all held back by the dozen police officers who had been placed to guard at the entrance.
It was not even yet the time for the museum to open…
"What the hell is going on here, why are there so many people coming?", Gordon asked, frowning.
"That… I don't know, sir.", Aaron also looked dumbfounded.
Although the Adam's Star is so precious, it usually isn't so attractive to ordinary people. It captivates the attention of an exception from the upper class.
At a cursory glance, the entrance was blocked by more than 300 people, and this number is increasing by the second.
One should know that it was only seven in the morning and the exhibition would not start until two in the afternoon. The event will last for twenty-four hours, until two in the afternoon of the following day, and it will not close halfway through.
"Could it be?", a possibility suddenly occurred to Gordon, "these people couldn't be here for Phantom Kid, could they?"
How was that possible? The GCPD hadn't announced this to the public, only the exhibition's staff and the police department knew about it…
"Look, it's him, Gordon!", a scream of alarm suddenly came from the crowd.
And immediately, dozens of people pushed out from the crowd and surrounded Gordon and Aaron. The group of people, both men and women, some carrying cameras and others holding microphones, were obviously journalists from the mass media.
As soon as they appeared, they began to ask Gordon questions, each with their own. Yet, the stream of questions thrown out didn't shock Gordon.
"Commissioner Gordon, may I ask if you know the true identity of Phantom Kid?"
"Commissioner Gordon, may I ask if it's true that Phantom Kid is coming to steal Adam's Star today?"
"I heard that you made an exception and mobilised a tenth of the GCPD's police force to protect the exhibition hall, as far as I know, the value of the Adam's Star does not seem to require such a large mobilisation of the police force."
"The need to mobilize so many police officers against one criminal only occurred eight years ago during the supervillains' wave. Do you think that Phantom Kid will be another supervillain in Gotham after eight years?"
"SHUT UP!", Gordon yelled.
The reporters' mouths were sealed with their eyes glaring at Gordon.
"Before I can answer your questions, what I need to know is why do you know about Phantom Kid, and why are these civilians gathered here?"
At his statement, the crowd of journalists looked at Gordon with strange eyes.
"Don't you know about Kid's letter? Last night, a person from Gotham's downtown found a teaser letter from Phantom Kid the thief saying that he would take the Stone of Destiny today."
"The story has already gone viral on the internet. You wouldn't be unaware of it, would you?"
The journalist who asked the question wore a duck-top hat that was pressed down low enough to make his face unreadable.
Gordon turned to Aaron.
"Hey, sir, what are you looking at me for? Everyone knows I'm not good at online socializing or anything…"
Gordon: "..."
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