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Part Five: Chapter 26: Next Level

Jack's next target was bigger than Maroni's operation. Next he would be targeting the Galante family, which wasn't even led by a Galante anymore. Junior Galante had been removed of his power. He didn't have what it took to run a mob organization. Now the Galante family was currently being led by Tobias Whale, and he controlled the entire East side of Gotham City. Whale was still new to running a mob family, meaning it would be easy to get him to make a mistake. At least, that's what Jack was hoping for.

With the Red Hood now having control over the South side the other four families were starting to sweat. They expected the Red Hood to move in on either the East side or the West side of Gotham. So far, Jack had only gone after the Five families, all of which had been Italian until fairly recently. But Jack's soon-to-
be waged war with Whale would show that it wasn't merely Italians that the Red Hood was after. Soon they would see that Jack was after the entire city.

But before Jack goes after Galante, he makes a visit to the Irish families. First was the Sullivan's, that operated on the East side. But they had to pay their dues to the Galante family to even be able to pull off jobs. The Galante family received fourty percent of all Sullivan earnings. Jack also pays a visit to another Irish family, from the South side, the Riley's who had formerly been under Maroni's thumb. They were easily persuaded to join Jack's Red Hood organization. Jack wasn't looking for a percentage of their earnings, he merely wants their allegiance to add to his numbers.

And Jack's number of men went from the original dozen, five of which were dead, to over four hundred. Even Jack never imagined that so many people would be willing to follow a man whose face they couldn't even see. But apparently word had gotten around that the Red Hood wasn't someone you wanted to cross.

Unbeknownst to Jack, it wasn't just the mafia whose attention Jack had managed to get. Batman too had turned his radar towards the Red Hood. No one could take down an entire mob family and not manage to get the infamous bat hot on their trails. But Batman quickly hit a dead end. He couldn't figure out the Red Hood's identity. He was able to trace his origins to Metropolis but that's where the trail both began and ended. No one had ever seen the Red Hood's face behind the hood. But Batman knew it would only be a matter of time before the Red Hood made a mistake. The bat would be there when he did.

It wasn't all business all the time. Jack spent more time with Jeannie than he had in Metropolis. They had a much larger apartment and actually had a view. They had the perfect relationship. They never had fights. Each day they became closer. They have been together over a year now, and the love buzz between them never fades. They truly were starcrossed soul mates.

So what do two people do when they have a love that strong?

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Jack's POV

I got home around four. I had stopped on the way and picked up some pizza. I had Frost buy a bottle of wine and drop it off with Jeannie. Today was her 20th birthday. She has it iced down when I step inside and lock the door. I wanted to go out and do something extravagant for her birthday, but Jeannie insisted on just staying home. It's her night, so I didn't push her.

I toss my keys down and sit the pizza down. I look at Jeannie on the couch. She's wrapped up in a blanket and watching something on TV. "Hello?" I shrug, wondering if she even heard me come in. She looks up at me sniffling with tears in her eyes. "Baby, what's wrong?" I ask and am sitting next to her in an instance. Had something happened?

"Henry was gonna leave because Donna said she couldn't be with him. He got to the airport and decided he couldn't give up and he went back. Donna decided she couldn't take not being with him. She opened the door to go catch him at the airport and there he was," she emphatically tells me and I don't have a clue what she's talking about.