"Boom!"
The concrete ground was smashed into a large crater by Solomon Grundy.
Hardy, controlling the White Samurai, withdrew his sword and retreated, watching as the deep, bone-revealing wound on Grundy's neck healed within seconds.
Mr. Freeze knew that the behemoth under his control was nowhere near the White Samurai's level in terms of speed, so he didn't bother to give chase. Instead, he waited for Hardy to make the next move.
As long as the White Samurai engaged in close combat, even Grundy's slow speed would still give him a chance to land a hit.
After all, Mr. Freeze was a seasoned villain. Even if he couldn't make it into Gotham's Villain Hall of Fame, he'd certainly been part of the city's all-star villain lineup more than once. With his intelligence and combat experience, he was no pushover.
Hardy dodged Grundy's attack and clicked his tongue.
That's the thing about this immortal zombie—unless you take him down with overwhelming force or target his specific weaknesses, Solomon Grundy can outlast even stronger opponents thanks to his incredible defense and regeneration.
Of course, Hardy had ways to take Grundy down without using his trump cards, but that would be wasteful.
After all, using excessive force might mean having to repair the internal components of this human puppet all over again.
But there were other options.
The White Samurai aimed his right arm at Solomon Grundy and fired a thick freezing ray.
The frigid air instantly dropped the surrounding temperature, and before Grundy could react, most of his body was encased in ice.
"Oh, controlling this big guy really reminds me of playing arcade fighting games as a kid—but this is way more complicated."
Seeing the outcome was decided, Mr. Freeze set his tablet aside and quickly pressed a button on the right arm of his freeze suit.
A colorless spray with a distinctive odor was released onto the ice, causing it to melt rapidly.
This was an alcohol compound with a chemical structure similar to isopropanol, which Mr. Freeze had discovered. It had a strong thermal reaction and worked efficiently at low temperatures, lowering the melting point of ice, rapidly releasing heat, and disrupting the crystal structure.
Hardy was quite satisfied with the combat performance of the Solomon Grundy puppet.
Hogg United's foundation was too shallow. The mid-tier forces were propped up by their stock of Titan serum, but at the high end, it had been just him alone.
After Nora's condition was stabilized and her life extended, Mr. Freeze had a reason to return, barely adding another high-level combatant to the roster.
However, his abilities were rather specialized, his weaknesses too obvious, and he was more of a scholar than a top-tier fighter.
Now, with the Solomon Grundy puppet, which could exert considerable power even without direct control, that gap was finally filled.
Don't be fooled by Hogg United's recent dominance over the Two-Face Gang and the Iceberg Lounge. Their foundation was still shallow.
Although the Two-Face Gang now worked under Hogg United and paid a hefty monthly tribute, Harvey Dent didn't even dare show his face in front of Hardy anymore. He was putting on a show with the Penguin, pretending to settle old scores with the Iceberg Lounge, but it was all thunder and no rain.
There was no choice—the situation demanded it.
Hogg United's overwhelming strength had turned Gotham's underworld into a landscape of one dominant force and two lesser powers.
And Hardy had achieved all this in less than two years.
Who knows what will happen next...
Will the ever-expanding Hogg Syndicate eventually swallow them up?
As long as they're not stupid, Two-Face and Penguin will definitely join forces in secret to protect themselves.
With such a powerful puppet at his disposal, even if Hardy is sometimes tied up elsewhere, he doesn't have to worry about any major mishaps.
However, at this point, the Hogg Syndicate has pretty much reached its peak.
It's not that further development is impossible, but the strategy needs to change.
No matter how big a gang gets, there's a limit.
Sure, if a gang grows to the extreme, it becomes a local warlord, and if a local warlord grows to the extreme, it can even change the regime. But at this moment in time, the government ruling this land is still the most powerful regime in the world, its mandate unexhausted. There's no way it would allow local warlords to emerge on its own turf.
Not to mention, this world is full of capable people, with countless superheroes. Overthrowing the government isn't that easy.
"But fortunately, I've now accumulated a certain amount of capital, which is a huge difference from before. Plus, with the League of Assassins, I now have enough power to take the next step."
In the top-floor office of the skyscraper, Hardy tapped a pencil as he looked over the documents in front of him.
After helping Hardy with the test, Mr. Freeze had gone back to the luxury mansion Hardy bought for him to spend time with his wife.
As an employee, you just need to do your job. But as the boss, Hardy had a lot more to consider.
The Hogg Syndicate was already approaching the upper limits of a conventional gang. To go further, he'd have to take the official route.
And now was the best opportunity—Sharp, that idiot, had only been mayor for less than a year before almost destroying Gotham in the Arkham City incident, and thanks to Batman's intervention, he ended up behind bars.
With the power of the League of Assassins, even someone like Dr. Hugo Strange could push a clown like Sharp into the mayor's seat, so why couldn't he?
The only thing was, he needed to pick the right candidate.
Not someone as dumb as Sharp, but not too smart either—those are hard to control.
Ideally, someone with some dirt on them, easy to manipulate.
Hardy flipped through the intelligence gathered by the League of Assassins, page by page.
This one's too upright. No good.
This one keeps a mistress, takes bribes—put him on the backup list.
This one's also pretty corrupt, colludes with gangs, but no wife or kids as weaknesses—not suitable.
And this one… Commissioner Gordon, you want a promotion too?
Definitely not!
After several rounds of screening, Hardy finally settled on a suitable candidate.
Hamilton Hill, a Democrat, clean background, a typical middle-class white man in his early days, used to work at a law firm, entered politics at forty, was part of the administration two mayors ago, has some government experience, inherited some political assets from that former mayor, served as a city councilor last year, and ran for mayor.
He came in fourth in last year's election, with a decent voter base.
Judging by his campaign strategy, he's trying to position himself as a moderate reformer who wants to provide more jobs for Gotham.
He believes Gotham's high crime rate is due to high unemployment, and if that's solved, crime will naturally drop.
...
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