The Philadelphia refinery explosion jolted residents awake within a hundred kilometers, even rattling New Jersey.
Minutes later, Philly PD's armed choppers arrived to find the refinery a raging inferno, flames far fiercer than expected.
Black smoke, thick as storm clouds, drifted outward, choking the air with a foul stench.
While Philly's government scrambled with the mess, the mastermind, Jason, was already back at his New York hideout.
At this hour, Harley and Christine were asleep. Jason crept through the door quietly.
"Sir, congrats on the mission," A smooth female voice chimed.
Chloe sat on the couch, legs crossed, smiling.
Jason patted his chest, steadying himself. "Chloe, can you not fucking startle me like that?"
"Startle?" Chloe tilted her head, confused, like her greeting was perfectly normal.
This human supercomputer didn't eat or sleep, could work anywhere, yet somehow got attached to the living room couch.
Sitting, lying, sprawling—she was always there, scaring the shit out of Jason when he came back at night.
Still, since Chloe's presence kept Harley and Christine safe, he didn't stop her.
Too lazy to explain, Jason pushed open the master bedroom door.
Cool air hit him. On the massive 2.5-meter bed, Harley and Christine slept soundly.
He watched for a moment, not wanting to disturb them, and softly closed the door.
In the living room corner, he grabbed a cold beer from the fridge, bit off the cap, and sank into the couch, chugging hard.
"Chloe, anything weird online?"
Chloe handled the Joker Organization's network, comms, and security.
Never resting, she monitored global networks 24/7.
If something went down—like a country launching a missile at the Joker Organization—she'd alert Jason instantly and hack the missile's guidance, sending it off course.
After a quick scan, Chloe said, "All clear. I scrubbed every drone clip of you and the crew."
Jason nodded. With Chloe's computing power, the Joker Organization ran like a well-oiled machine.
Taking another swig, he asked, "How's the crew's mission progress?"
Months ago, the shitty system updated.
No more villain points for random crimes—now you had to complete system-assigned tasks.
Tasks dropped daily, random in number and difficulty. After completion, the system scored you.
Higher completion scores meant more villain points; lower scores, less.
Jason was pissed at first—no more racking up points through kills—but the system threw him a bone.
Before, he and his inner circle had to do the dirty work for points. Now, anyone could complete tasks, and he'd still get the points.
This freed Jason and his crew to mobilize thousands of Joker Organization grunts to grind tasks for him.
High-difficulty tasks still needed Jason or his lieutenants, like the refinery job he just pulled.
Chloe finished her scan. "David's done—back in New York in two days. John's task wraps in two days. Franklin's just started, but his powers match it perfectly; he'll be done in a day…"
Jason was pleased. With his lieutenants leading elite teams, tasks were getting crushed.
"How's the Joker Community? Anything valuable?"
Six months back, Chloe built a private network for the Joker Organization.
Now live, the "Joker Community" was a social platform for criminals worldwide.
Users could speak freely, no fear of government tracking, thanks to Chloe.
Got a rep as a killer? Share tips, charge newbies to read.
The neighbor bought a pricey necklace? Post it, earn an intel fee.
Low payout for small tips, but if they're gone for weeks? Jackpot.
Need muscle for a big job? Post it. Like: *Robbing the Federal Reserve next month. Got three, need a hacker and shooter. Big split. Send résumé.*
The Joker Community thawed the criminal underworld's winter, bringing spring.
Crooks found like-minded pals, bought dream guns, and some niche players made bank they'd never see otherwise.
The platform's daily activity was insane—hundreds of thousands of posts. Chloe could scan them in seconds, using algorithms to pull valuable intel for Jason.
Beyond admin, she was his personal info butler.
Like Tony Stark's Jarvis, but smarter, stronger—a product of fifty years' advancement.
A second later, Chloe said, "Since last check, 73,467 new posts. Nothing valuable."
Jason snorted. Seventy fucking thousand posts, and nothing useful? Were they treating the community like a chatroom?
He chugged the rest of his beer and stood, heading for the study to crash.
"Sir, need me to tuck you in?" Chloe teased.
"Shut it, Chloe."
…
Next noon, Jason woke naturally and flicked on the system interface.
[Ding! Mission 'Blow Up Refinery' complete. System score: 85. Reward: 10,000 villain points. Current progress: 30,374/26,000]
[Ding! Congrats, host, on reaching level 27. Awarded 10 attribute points. Current progress: 4,374/27,000]
Jason tapped, allocating the points.
[Level: 27 (4,374/27,000)]
[Strength: 103 → 103]
[Agility: 100 → 100]
[Endurance: 100 → 100]
[Intelligence: 70 → 80]
[Remaining points: 0]
[Reputation: 790,234 → 834,545]
[Allies: T-X, David… (Next recruitment: 1,000,000 reputation)]
[Points: 534,740]
[Rechargeable points: 0]
[Abilities: Combat Mastery (Level 10), Driving Mastery (Level 10), Firearms Mastery (Level 10), Melee Weapon Mastery (Level 10), Superpower 'Energy Absorption' (Level 1)]
[Store: Click here]
…
In six months, Jason had raked in cash from New York's crime network and the Joker Community's cut.
Besides the 530,000 points in his account, he'd maxed out several abilities to level 10.
David, John, Franklin, and Stanfield's superpowers hit level 2.
Harley and Christine, pregnant and frail, stayed out of gang ops and missions, so no upgrades for them.
Jason thought the system update would tank his villain points, but the Joker Community made them soar.
He sorted tasks into high, medium, and low tiers.
High-tier tasks he and his lieutenants handled with elite crews.
Medium tasks went to trained Joker Organization members wielding SHIELD's black-tech weapons.
Low-tier tasks? Chloe posted those to the Joker Community for ambitious criminals aiming to join the ranks.
All three streams hummed, keeping Jason busy and boosting the organization's rep to a terrifying 830,000+.
Just shy of the 1,000,000 needed for his next allies.
[Ding! Daily system tasks updated. Click to view!]
Jason rolled out of bed and tapped "View Tasks."
Let's see what fun shit's on today.
[Task 1: Someone's Outside]
[Details: Late at night, sneak to someone's window, tap gently, and see what faces the startled residents make.]
[Reward: 100–1,000]
[Hint: The scarier, the better the reward!]
Jason scoffed. Just ghosting people.
Low-tier. Let the community handle it.
…
[Task 13: Amusement Park Terror]
[Details: A new amusement park opens in Staten Island, New York, with celebs and politicians attending. Over 20,000 visitors expected on day one. Give them a surprise they'll never forget.]
[Reward: 1,000–10,000]
[Hint: Explosives or indiscriminate shooting are solid choices!]
Blow up an amusement park?
Hmm…
Making a mess is easy; escaping's the tricky part.
Send a few terminal-illness branch members with bombs to "celebrate."
…
Jason scanned all thirty-some tasks in a flash.
When he hit the last one, his eyes lit up.
.
.
.
.
You can read advance chapters and view R-18 images of the characters on pat reon page.
pat reon.com/GreenBlue17
500 power stones.
Top 50. All time.