Chapter 346: Crisis In Gotham (Part 1)
The scene inside Commissioner Gordon's trashed office had shifted dramatically.
Where moments ago, the masked attackers had been filled with arrogance, laughing as they destroyed the space, now they stood frozen, gripped by something far worse than uncertainty—pure, unfiltered fear.
It was the voice.
Arias's voice had resonated through the room like a death sentence, and every single one of them knew what that meant.
The leader of the group, the same masked man who had been running his mouth in the broadcast, snapped his head around in a panic. His breath hitched as he scanned the room frantically, as if expecting Arias to materialize from thin air.
"Where is he?!" he yelled, his voice cracking just slightly.
None of the others answered. They were too busy gripping their weapons, hands slick with sweat. One of them, his mask slightly askew from the sheer tension, finally choked out—
"That... that was his voice... he's here!"
Another man, already trembling, turned to glare at the leader. "You said we'd be gone before anyone reached us! He's fucking here! I'm outta here!"
To say he was panicked would be an understatement.
The fear people in the underground world had for Arias wasn't normal. It wasn't the kind of fear reserved for rival gangs or hit squads. It was the kind of terror associated with myths—the kind that made people check over their shoulders at night, the kind that kept them from even whispering his name unless absolutely necessary.