New target
Like that, the tragic story of the punisher was prevented from happening in this world. Sitting down on one of the bunk beds, I started considering what my next plans of action would be.
1. I guess I could legally buy this warehouse and use it as a vigilante man-cave. Considering the hidden bunker and in general how safe this hideout was, there was a very low chance of someone stumbling upon it. Furthermore, this entire area barely had any sort of CCTV so the odds of ever being found by the government are practically zero.
2. Throw a hell of a lot more parties for criminals. Not only was it a good thing to do, I kind of started enjoying the process of ransacking a place after I clear out the crooks in it. The singular trophies I usually get are a nice and interesting bonus.
... Although nothing beats the Desert Eagle I got from the third suitcase, even if I should count it as loot and not a trophy. From the entirety of my arsenal, right now it has become my favourite weapon by far, mostly due to never needing to reload with its infinite ammo gimmick, and its raw disgusting firepower that can blast men to bits and pieces. The recoil, due to my 11 strength, was also very manageable.
Right, speaking off.
"System, can I get a reward for preventing the killing of the Punishers family?" I asked, attempting my luck.
"Oooooh! That's great. That's really great actually. Now can I ask something more? How exactly do strength increments work?" Thinking back to the moment I leveled my strength to 11, it didn't feel like a simply increase of 20% like usual... It much stronger, and even now I feel a world of difference compared to before.
"Woah, won't I become really overpowered then? At 90 and above strength I'll have the punching power of uhhh... 180 men or so? "
"Marvel?"
"... Oh."
"I didn't think I was this much of a small fry..."
Noticing no response after a few seconds, I went back to planning. I had option 1 and 2 so far, is there anything else I could do. Hmmm...
Right, I still had that. Standing up from the commanders... Or operators chair? I went back to the bunk room and started rummaging through the duffel bag. Finding the things I needed under heaps of cash, I grabbed my laptop from the bed, before retreating back to the Comms room. Placing the laptop on the table, I looked at what I brought with me.
First, the three USBs, as I recalled one of them mentioned a shipment of goods. Second, the hard drive whose contents I did not check yet. Checking all three of the USBs for now, I finally looked at the shipment files I had recalled.
Sifting through them, they described in great detail a list of shipments that stored goods in a certain warehouse. The type of the goods was not mentioned, yet It mentioned everything ranging from who the gang escorting it would be, to the method, and the quality of the goods as well. Sadly, I had missed the mark for the original shipment I saw when I opened the USB, it had been yesterday on the 3rd. The next one would be on August the 11th, at 11PM.
Making a note mental note for that date, the next thing I had to do was to sift through the contents of the hard drive.
Connecting the hard drive to the laptop, I leaned back on the chair, before starting to leisurely scroll.
The leisurely time didn't last long however, as my shout rang out in the bunkers enclosed space, startling both of the kids.
"SON OF A BITCH!"
"Hiiii!" Elizas startled cry came from the next room.
Going back to the door, I looked at the startled Eliza, that had faint tears in her eyes. Then at Bruce who had fallen off his bed.
"Sorry! I'll buy you whatever stuff you two want later, I'm so sorry for that outburst just now. I just... Saw something that pissed me off. Really pissed me off."
"It was just out of nowhere. What did you find boss, if I may ask?" Eliza asked.
"...Don't worry about it, it's not something for the two of you to deal with or be bothered by." hesitating for a bit, I finally replied.
"Got it." Eliza replied, going back to watching videos on how to code things.
"Boss can you buy me a laptop as well? There's no TV here and it's really boring." Bruce suddenly asked.
"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'll get to it tomorrow or day after, pinky promise." I replied after a moment, completely forgetting that Bruce was stuck here with no TV.
"Yay!"
"What about you, Eliza?" I turned to look at her.
"Can I save the opportunity for later?" she replied without looking up.
"Yes, of course!" I replied confidently, "I owe you an apology and that won't go away unless you get an apology."
"Great! I promise it won't be too expensive!" she smiled, still looking at her laptop. Should I be concerned?
Closing the door with some doubts about what she's gona ask for, I sat back down to the chair, looking at what I found.
A human trafficking operation, run by a bastard son of a bitch cop. Feeling my blood boiling, I started carefully reading everything that was written there. Occasionally, I had to pause reading and take a break, as the impulse to find the bastard cop and shoot him in public grew far too strong.
To summarise everything I learned...
Arthur Collins was his name, and he worked in the 60th precinct, in the Coney Island neighbourhood.
He never faced any issues and his track record was perfectly clean, even with God knows how many reports and internal investigations, either due to the higher ups being bribed or him blackmailing them.
Worse still, he wasn't just a thug in the human trafficking operation, he was the overseer of it. He not only picked the victims himself, helped with kidnapping them by using protection as an excuse, working hand in hand with the gangsters.
Their way of doing things was extremely simple and effective.
First, gangsters would harass the target he picked. The victim, feeling threatened, goes to a conveniently nearby police car, upon which he offers to take them to the station. Needless to say, they never see the station and are instead handed over to the underworlds gangs.
Theres also evidence of him having pulled strings to ensure the continued operation of the ring, including tipping off the other people involved with it, leading to many operations against them being completely fruitless. Or worse yet, the operations resulting in massive casualties due to the place rigged with explosives or other things.
This bastard... He's getting hit tonight. He'll pay for what he's done. All of them will.