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Description

It was the largest crime spree in the Pittsburgh area since the death of The Joker. 17 murders, all in the homes of the victims, all within a month. And the Batman, the dark defender of the city, had finally deduced the main common factor that connects the victims: they are all members of the now-defunct Maroni Famiglia. Salvatore “Sal” Maroni was one of the biggest criminal masterminds in all of Pennsylvania, until his murder at the hands of Joe Chilman, who worked as a hitman for rival gang leader Carmine Falcone. What is more, Sal Maroni is the biological father of Bruce Wayne, CEO of Kane International and the unmasked identity of Batman. After his father’s death in his infancy, Maria Wayne, Bruce’s mother and wife of his step-father Dr. Thomas Wayne, disbanded the famiglia. All this before the deaths of Thomas and Maria during a riot at the Arkham Institution. Knowing now the killer is going after Maroni’s former soldiers and lieutenants, Batman drove off in the night to find one of the few remaining members of the famiglia before the killer can reach them. The first man he found was one Ricky “Loose Lips” LeBlanc, a former gun runner for the famiglia. From the shadows of the night, Batman accosted an armed LeBlanc in his sleazy apartment, demanding to know what information he could have on the killer. LeBlanc, knowing of the killer, offered the Batman an idea of who it could be. There was an Irish crime family that rivaled the Maronis from before Bruce Wayne was born, the Riley Gang. Sean Riley, the patriarch of this gang, and most of his crew were gunned down at a church, leaving behind a two-year-old daughter named Peyton Riley, who saw her father’s murder. LeBlanc suggested that someone from the Riley Gang is the murderer, and that Peyton herself might have more info. But before he could say anything else, a glint came from across LeBlanc’s neck. Before Batman could react, a thin metal wire strangled LeBlanc to death! Batman followed the wire from the vent LeBlanc was sitting under to the roof of the apartment complex, but found no one there. He examined the wire and found where the fingers holding the wire would have been, except there are no fingerprints… just wooden shavings. Batman decided to go to the Arkham Institute to see if there is any medical records on Peyton Riley; if she saw her father’s murder as a child, she could have received help for her mental trauma there. Batman got to her files after being let in by the Arkham staff, and discovered that she was a resident of the institute. A few years ago, Peyton had killed her husband after discovering his connection to the old Maroni famiglia, and she was found not guilty by way of mental illness. As a patient, she struck up a friendship with another patient, a scar-faced man named Arnold Wesker, who later died; they were trying to escape the institute during a storm, when a lightning bolt struck a tree and it fell atop Arnold, aflame. In the institute’s recreational woodworking shop, Peyton took the reclaimed wood from the fallen tree and made a ventriloquist’s dummy from it. In the end, Peyton and her dummy were discovered missing from Arkham after the villain Lady Arkham caused a mass escape from the hospital a couple of years ago; Batman and his allies were the ones to quell this crisis. However, there is one bit of information in these files that managed to shock Batman: Peyton and her husband had a son, but she killed her son as well, claiming ‘no-one in Maroni’s family will be safe from me!’. Bruce tried to get in contact with his wife, Barbara Gordon-Wayne, to ask her to tighten up security at their home, thinking that Peyton Riley is the killer and might go after them and their young son Damian at some point! However, there was no answer, just another woman’s and a man’s voice on the other end of the line. Thinking he’s about to be too late, Batman raced to their luxury apartment in the Batmobile, realizing that all security feeds within their apartment have been cut. In the apartment, Batman found Barbara still alive, but unconscious, and the sounds of crying from Damian’s room. Batman turned back the sheets in his crib, only to find a ventriloquist’s dummy, resembling the scar-faced Arnold Wesker, in it! Batman turned back to see a large and muscular man swing a hammer at his protected skull, and everything wet dark. When the Batman awoke, he was chained up, and stripped of his utility belt. Next to him, in a makeshift crib, was Damian. They were in a warehouse, surrounded by mannequins, along with three people: two legbreakers named Rhino and Rosie (Rhino was the one who knocked out Batman), flanking Peyton Riley herself, now calling herself The Ventriloquist. And in Peyton’s hands was the dummy. The dummy, referred to by Peyton and her flunkies as “Mr. Scarface”, spoke to Batman and asserted ‘himself’ as the leader of this gang. Scarface explained that he gave his ‘moll’ Peyton her chance for revenge against Maroni’s family, in exchange for her service as his right hand for his new criminal empire. Batman tried to talk down Peyton, saying that her trauma from childhood has resulted in a secondary personality, one based on her friendship with Arnold Wesker. And that killing children, like Bruce Wayne’s son or her own, won’t undo her tragedies. Peyton told him to shut up, and then apologized to Scarface for ‘speaking out of turn’. Scarface ordered Rhino and Rosie to shoot Batman to death, but “not kill the kid, yet, since we wanna ice his pops, too.” Batman managed to undo his bindings in time to evade the gunfire, and he battled the two thugs. Peyton and Scarface grabbed Damian and threatened to kill him with a gun, unless Batman backed off. Batman appealed to Peyton once more, saying that Scarface’s criminal ambitions will lead to more deaths, and more people coming after them in revenge, just like they came after the Maroni famglia. Peyton realized the vicious cycle and hesitated long enough for Batman to rush in, stab the Scarface dummy in the head with one of his Batarangs, and safely catch his son in his arms while pushing Peyton away. Thinking Scarface was dead, Peyton cried over the dummy while Batman left with Damian, leaving the poor woman for the incoming police to arrest her. Bruce and Damian safely returned home to Barbara, who regained consciousness. Peyton Riley was returned to Arkham and the Scarface dummy was locked up in a police evidence locker.

Notes:
* Peyton is missing her right eye. She was stabbed in the eye by her husband during the fight that led to his death. SHe also has a huge scar over her empty eye socket.
* Ricky “Loose Lips” LeBlanc is from the videogame “Batman: Arkham Origins”, as a goon of The Penguin.
** It was Scarface who strangled LeBlanc to death with that wire, not Peyton. That’s why there was wood shavings on his end instead of human fingerprints.

Description

It was the largest crime spree in the Pittsburgh area since the death of The Joker. 17 murders, all in the homes of the victims, all within a month. And the Batman, the dark defender of the city, had finally deduced the main common factor that connects the victims: they are all members of the now-defunct Maroni Famiglia. Salvatore “Sal” Maroni was one of the biggest criminal masterminds in all of Pennsylvania, until his murder at the hands of Joe Chilman, who worked as a hitman for rival gang leader Carmine Falcone. What is more, Sal Maroni is the biological father of Bruce Wayne, CEO of Kane International and the unmasked identity of Batman. After his father’s death in his infancy, Maria Wayne, Bruce’s mother and wife of his step-father Dr. Thomas Wayne, disbanded the famiglia. All this before the deaths of Thomas and Maria during a riot at the Arkham Institution. Knowing now the killer is going after Maroni’s former soldiers and lieutenants, Batman drove off in the night to find one of the few remaining members of the famiglia before the killer can reach them. The first man he found was one Ricky “Loose Lips” LeBlanc, a former gun runner for the famiglia. From the shadows of the night, Batman accosted an armed LeBlanc in his sleazy apartment, demanding to know what information he could have on the killer. LeBlanc, knowing of the killer, offered the Batman an idea of who it could be. There was an Irish crime family that rivaled the Maronis from before Bruce Wayne was born, the Riley Gang. Sean Riley, the patriarch of this gang, and most of his crew were gunned down at a church, leaving behind a two-year-old daughter named Peyton Riley, who saw her father’s murder. LeBlanc suggested that someone from the Riley Gang is the murderer, and that Peyton herself might have more info. But before he could say anything else, a glint came from across LeBlanc’s neck. Before Batman could react, a thin metal wire strangled LeBlanc to death! Batman followed the wire from the vent LeBlanc was sitting under to the roof of the apartment complex, but found no one there. He examined the wire and found where the fingers holding the wire would have been, except there are no fingerprints… just wooden shavings. Batman decided to go to the Arkham Institute to see if there is any medical records on Peyton Riley; if she saw her father’s murder as a child, she could have received help for her mental trauma there. Batman got to her files after being let in by the Arkham staff, and discovered that she was a resident of the institute. A few years ago, Peyton had killed her husband after discovering his connection to the old Maroni famiglia, and she was found not guilty by way of mental illness. As a patient, she struck up a friendship with another patient, a scar-faced man named Arnold Wesker, who later died; they were trying to escape the institute during a storm, when a lightning bolt struck a tree and it fell atop Arnold, aflame. In the institute’s recreational woodworking shop, Peyton took the reclaimed wood from the fallen tree and made a ventriloquist’s dummy from it. In the end, Peyton and her dummy were discovered missing from Arkham after the villain Lady Arkham caused a mass escape from the hospital a couple of years ago; Batman and his allies were the ones to quell this crisis. However, there is one bit of information in these files that managed to shock Batman: Peyton and her husband had a son, but she killed her son as well, claiming ‘no-one in Maroni’s family will be safe from me!’. Bruce tried to get in contact with his wife, Barbara Gordon-Wayne, to ask her to tighten up security at their home, thinking that Peyton Riley is the killer and might go after them and their young son Damian at some point! However, there was no answer, just another woman’s and a man’s voice on the other end of the line. Thinking he’s about to be too late, Batman raced to their luxury apartment in the Batmobile, realizing that all security feeds within their apartment have been cut. In the apartment, Batman found Barbara still alive, but unconscious, and the sounds of crying from Damian’s room. Batman turned back the sheets in his crib, only to find a ventriloquist’s dummy, resembling the scar-faced Arnold Wesker, in it! Batman turned back to see a large and muscular man swing a hammer at his protected skull, and everything wet dark. When the Batman awoke, he was chained up, and stripped of his utility belt. Next to him, in a makeshift crib, was Damian. They were in a warehouse, surrounded by mannequins, along with three people: two legbreakers named Rhino and Rosie (Rhino was the one who knocked out Batman), flanking Peyton Riley herself, now calling herself The Ventriloquist. And in Peyton’s hands was the dummy. The dummy, referred to by Peyton and her flunkies as “Mr. Scarface”, spoke to Batman and asserted ‘himself’ as the leader of this gang. Scarface explained that he gave his ‘moll’ Peyton her chance for revenge against Maroni’s family, in exchange for her service as his right hand for his new criminal empire. Batman tried to talk down Peyton, saying that her trauma from childhood has resulted in a secondary personality, one based on her friendship with Arnold Wesker. And that killing children, like Bruce Wayne’s son or her own, won’t undo her tragedies. Peyton told him to shut up, and then apologized to Scarface for ‘speaking out of turn’. Scarface ordered Rhino and Rosie to shoot Batman to death, but “not kill the kid, yet, since we wanna ice his pops, too.” Batman managed to undo his bindings in time to evade the gunfire, and he battled the two thugs. Peyton and Scarface grabbed Damian and threatened to kill him with a gun, unless Batman backed off. Batman appealed to Peyton once more, saying that Scarface’s criminal ambitions will lead to more deaths, and more people coming after them in revenge, just like they came after the Maroni famglia. Peyton realized the vicious cycle and hesitated long enough for Batman to rush in, stab the Scarface dummy in the head with one of his Batarangs, and safely catch his son in his arms while pushing Peyton away. Thinking Scarface was dead, Peyton cried over the dummy while Batman left with Damian, leaving the poor woman for the incoming police to arrest her. Bruce and Damian safely returned home to Barbara, who regained consciousness. Peyton Riley was returned to Arkham and the Scarface dummy was locked up in a police evidence locker.

Notes:
* Peyton is missing her right eye. She was stabbed in the eye by her husband during the fight that led to his death. SHe also has a huge scar over her empty eye socket.
* Ricky “Loose Lips” LeBlanc is from the videogame “Batman: Arkham Origins”, as a goon of The Penguin.
** It was Scarface who strangled LeBlanc to death with that wire, not Peyton. That’s why there was wood shavings on his end instead of human fingerprints.