Gotham — Early Morning
The sun was just beginning to rise over Gotham when the plane touched down and when they reached the Maroni hanger, Jaina was waiting.
She stood in the center of the hanger with her arms crossed, and behind her, in a neat row, sat seven trucks of varying sizes, each one was running, each with a driver already in the seat well a duplicate of herself in each to be precise.
The Nomu tank came out on its handling frame, heavy enough that two of Roman's men had to steady it going down the ramp. It was loaded onto a truck carefully, and the weapons cases followed, the quirk-erasure bullets and restoration rounds they had taken from Overhaul, as well as the weapons they brought with them all organized and strapped down in the second cargo van.
Overhaul's and the UA student came out last, still strapped down and sedated as the were wheeled into separate trucks..
Silver came down the main boarding ramp with the group's final acquisition from this trip beside her.
Eri.
She had spent the last forty minutes of the approach pressed to the window, watching Gotham and its many tiny islands materialize through the haze. She stepped onto the pavement slowly, her hand loose in Silver's, and when her feet touched the ground she stopped and looked around and saw a woman with white hair and the driver behind her and the one getting out of the truck then realised all of them were the same woman.
Eri looked up at Silver, confused.
"That's Jaina," Silver said quietly. "All of them are part of her Quirk, she can duplicate herself but is still in control of each one. It's strange at first but you'll get used to it."
Eri looked at the row of identical women again. Then back at Silver.
Silver guided her toward the nearest truck before she had time to process it further. The vehicle pulled out almost immediately, sliding into the convoy as it began to move.
At the exit of the private airstrip, two GCPD officers were on what was technically a coffee break but mostly just an excuse to avoid doing anything. They were leaning against their cruiser, sipping from paper cups, when the large convoy of trucks rolled toward them.
Crane stepped out of the lead van, walked over, and handed each officer a thick stack of cash without a word.
The older officer looked at the money, and he smiled back at Crane.
"We didn't see anything," he said.
His partner nodded, already pocketing the cash. "Have a nice day."
The officers got back in their cruiser and drove off in the opposite direction.
The convoy continued into Gotham proper.
Crane's Wings Underground Facility — Armory — Morning
The bullets had arrived first.
Roman's men moved them into the secured cabinet.
Cameron stood at the far end of the armoury, arms crossed, watching them work.
"These are to be used only on Crane's explicit order," he said.
The men acknowledged it without protest, they'd been in the organization long enough now to know when something wasn't negotiable by now.
One of the newer guys who hadn't gone on the trip to Japan spoke up.
"What are they, exactly?"
"Quirk erasure and restoring bullets," Cameron said. "They are permanent." He looked at the cabinet.
"Crane said these can change the world."
The room was quiet for a moment, the weight of that statement settling over them.
A Jaina duplicate appeared in the doorway looking at the group, who left leaving Cameron and Roman alone with her.
"Our personnel numbers need to go up," she said. "Crane's approved expansion. The Thorne crew who are loyal now are working directly under us, he is also reaching out to Maroni and other villains, as well as planting seeds for followers still in Arkham.
Roman's posture shifted as this was his first time hearing of this "why?"
"because," Jaina continued, "our next target is Carmine Falcone."
Roman tilted his head back slightly. "That old fossil up In his ivory tower, finally."
He cracked his knuckles.
"Tell Crane I'm ready whenever he is."
William's Laboratory - Same Time
With Waylons help the Nomu tank was now secured.
It now sat in the corner of William's secondary lab space while William stood in front of it for a long moment without moving.
Waylon was already at the lab door, already leaving. Whatever William was about to do to the thing in the tank wasn't something he had any interest in watching.
William connected the secure line.
Hugo Strange appeared on the screen and he was in what looked like his Arkham office behind him.
His eyes moved immediately to the tank.
"Is that—" He stopped himself, making sure his eyes weren't deceiving him. "You actually acquired one."
"We did," William said pleasantly.
Strange leaning forward excitedly couldn't find the words to describe what he was witnessing "to see a completed specimen…"
"I thought you'd find it interesting," William said. "I haven't started studying yet. I'll share what I find as I go as per my bosses orders."
"You know when the time comes–" Strange began, "I would offer subjects to create these Nomu from some of Arkham's inmates that I have… taken off the record."
"One step at a time, Doctor," William said.
The call continued for nearly an hour.
Restricted Room A-6 - Same Time
Basil had pushed the gurney through the lower corridors, Overhaul still unconscious and strapped down. The wheels made a loud sound on the concrete that Basil found unnecessarily loud but he wasn't going to complain about it.
A Jaina duplicate walked ahead, keys in hand, directing him left at junctions without looking back.
She stopped at a reinforced door Basil hadn't seen before. The additional locks suggested whatever was in there wasn't meant to be seen without authorization.
She unlocked it and pushed it open.
The room smelled of preservation fluid and something electrical Basil thought as he pushed the gurney in and stopped.
The walls were lined with shelves, from the floor to the ceiling.
Each shelf held jars but the strange thing was–.
All of them contained a brain.
Basil stood with the gurney and looked at the wall of jars for a long moment.
"What," he said, "is this room."
Jaina was already moving to a heavy chair at the room's center.
"It's probably one of the worst things we do, at least in my opinion" she said with indifference. "But I'm allowed to explain it, so I will." She crossed to the wall and pointed. "Each of those contains a person who we have decided is too valuable to kill. They are still conscious and will provide what we need to know, it took a while but William managed to accomplish it. Now they are nothing but resources for us."
Basil looked at Overhaul, strapped unconscious in the chair beside him.
"However, making a machine to extract information from them is beyond our capabilities for now, but that problem shouldn't last much longer."
Testing Level 3 - Same Time
The room they had put the hero student in was filled with computers, and many vents, unfortunately for the teenager who hadn't woken up yet he was now in a toxin variant testing room. Padded restraints now were hooked up onto him as he lay down as Ivy finished checking that everything was secure. A Jaina duplicate then appeared at the door.
"Do we know who he is?" Jaina asked.
Ivy raised an eyebrow and pointed at the UA tracksuit. "Can't you see the uniform?"
Jaina laughed. "He really fell for Basil's act?"
"Idiot just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time" Ivy said as she shoved her lightly on the shoulder as they left.
Upper Corridors - Same Time
Eri walked beside Silver and did not reach for her hand but stayed within half a step.
Silver kept the pace slow so the little girl could keep up and pointed things out trying to get the girl familiar with the tunnels but made sure to not take her near any rooms that she shouldn't see and she also taught the route back to the main level if she ever needed it.
A Jaina duplicate appeared from a side passage.
"The room for the girl will be done by tonight," the duplicate told Silver. "Crane has allocated a large team of drones to finish it soon."
"Good," Silver said.
The duplicate left but then a group of drones approached from the other direction, eight of them, moving in perfect alignment, eyes forward, no acknowledgment of anything around them.
Eri stepped sideways until she was directly behind Silver.
The drones passed by them as Silver waited until they were gone before continuing, giving Eri time to settle.
"They won't bother you," Silver said. "They don't do anything unless they're told to."
Eri looked after them down the corridor.
"Why are they like that?"
Silver weighed the honest answer and chose a version of it. "They were made by the Pyg man, don't go near his lab."
Eri looked at her.
"ever, understand?" Silver told the girl
Eri nodded then she reached out and took Silver's hand.
Silver didn't even like going down there herself…
Silver was explaining the layout of one of their residential levels when the floor shook followed by Solomon Grundy coming around the corner.
Eri was behind Silver immediately, both hands gripping her jacket, pressing herself into the smallest possible space.
Grundy then noticed the pair and looked down at the girl hiding.
He lowered himself into a crouch, massive hands resting on his knees, bringing his face closer to Eri's level.
"Who little girl?" he asked.
"Her name is Eri," Silver said. "Crane says she'll be staying with us."
Grundy looked at Eri with careful, earnest attention.
"Boss Crane said so… Does little girl want to be friends?"
Eri didn't quite know what to do so she just looked at Silver, who gave her a small nod.
Eri gave a very small nod back and Grundy smiled.
"Grundy always protect littlest friend," he announced.
Eri stared at him from behind Silver's jacket.
"Grundy," Silver said, before he could elaborate, "weren't you supposed to be somewhere?"
He thought about it. "see Waylon for training."
"Then you should go."
Eri watched him go all the way to the far turn until he disappeared.
Falcone Tower — Head Office — Same Time
Falcone Tower had stood in Gotham's Financial District for almost as long as the city existed, the centre of power for over a century with its dark glass and old stone, gothic arches, and the family crest worked into the lobby floor in marble. It was a building that had survived assassinations, mob wars, villain attacks, hero raids, and anything in between.
Carmine Falcone sat behind his desk on the forty-second floor with a Cuban cigar between his fingers and the Gotham skyline behind him. The city stretched out through the floor-to-ceiling through his massive windows.
As well as a team of bodyguards completely loyal who had served through multiple generations.
Sophia had been talking for five minutes.
She stood near the edge of the desk in a dark suit and kept her voice measured.
"Maroni has almost matched our revenue," she said. "The eastern lieutenants and some of our captains are starting to do math, Father, if we don't give them a reason to stay on our side, they're going to start looking for one themselves. We need to adapt, this city isnt the one you used to know we need new—"
"No," Carmine said.
"You haven't heard what I'm proposing."
"I don't need to." He set the cigar down on the desk's edge. "I know exactly what you're proposing because you've been proposing some version of it for three years, Sophia." He looked at her. "And every time I tell you the same thing the Falcone family has ruled this city for five generations because we knew what we were and didn't compromise on it. My ancestors dealt with many rivals, all lost. Maroni is no different, we are in no crisis."
"You need to get over the past!"
Sophia looked at him and when she finally spoke again, something had shifted in her voice.
"Alberto is in a cell."
Carmine didn't say anything.
"He's been in a cell since the Financial District arrest," she continued. "For what he did to that woman and to keep up your appearances you had no choice but to cut him off publicly, you had spent fifteen years preparing him to run this family, always overlooking me!" She looked at her father directly. "He is a psychopath, we both know the things he has done..."
"Sophia—"
"I have been running the eastern operations for five years and have been keeping everything on this side of the city functional. Better than he ever would have, and you know that and you have always known that and it has never once made a difference to you."
Carmine picked up the cigar again.
"You let Roman Sionis go," he said.
The room went quiet.
"Sionis," Carmine said, his voice calm and flat, "is operating in this city right now under the name Black Mask, part of something that I still don't have a full picture of. You were the one who interrogated him that night."
Sophia's jaw tightened.
"You have no idea what happened that night."
"Then explain it to me."
She said nothing.
Carmine turned back to the window.
"Perhaps cutting off Alberto was a mistake."
He exhaled a slow breath of smoke at the glass. "Go manage your department, Sophia."
She left while her bodyguard remained behind.
Butch had been against the far wall the whole time.
Carmine waited for the door to close all the way.
"What do you have?"
"She's been meeting individually with 3 captains and six of the eastern lieutenants over the last two weeks," Butch said. "Nothing direct that I could prove to you as a formal move against us."
Carmine was quiet for a moment, looking at the two towers visible on the boulevard below.
"The appreciation of loyalty seems to be lost on many in this generation, even on my own daughter it seems," he said, narrowing his eyes.
Butch said nothing.
"Keep watching and don't give her a reason to suspect you." He put out the cigar. "What about Zsasz."
"Medical says a few more weeks. Red Hood left him with lots of bullets, a punctured lung, and a few knife wounds, but I guess the doctors you have are either really motivated or terrified. He's mobile but not field-ready, but he says he doesn't care and he keeps asking when you need him."
Carmine kept his eyes on the window. "Tell him soon."
"Yes sir."
"Go, you've been here long enough that she may be suspecting you."
Falcone Tower — Sophia's Office — That Afternoon
"Out."
"My job is to—"
"Butch I said get out!"
"As you wish…"
Once he was gone she turned on her left monitor showing the family's revenue updated daily. The gap between Falcone numbers and Maroni's had been shrinking even faster now. When Rupert Thorne was killed and his organization's headquarters destroyed out of nowhere. Some of his territory went to Maroni while one of his former captains took the rest but strangely the two seemed to be in a strange peace. While her father believes it was orchestrated by Maroni her informants seemed to believe otherwise…
She pulled up the second screen.
One of her inside sources in the Maroni organization had sent three pages last night. He was now moving heavier weapons but with Bane being in Arkham, he could break out at any time so he wasn't pushing too far. He also had increased his business in the drug trade but had also been beginning to start trafficking women, none of which particularly surprised her the man was a horrible person.
She pulled up the third screen.
A Falcone associate who was part of their smuggling operation at the airport sent a quick message that was forwarded to her about a group of unknown individuals using one of Maroni's private jets, unfortunately he couldn't get a good look.
Her private line then rang making her pause from work.
An unknown number?
It rang again.
She picked up.
"Ms. Falcone I thought it was best to speak directly."
Sophia kept her breathing even and her eyes on the third screen reading reports.
"Who is this?"
"Someone with a mutual interest in seeing you at the top unlike what your father said this morning..."
She turned her monitors off now very interested
"I'm listening," she said.
Crane's Wings Facility — Crane's Office
Crane's call with Sophia Falcone ended after a few minutes.
"Time to gain some trust…"
He opened the next call.
Strange picked up on the second ring.
"Ah. I was wondering when I'd hear from you." Strange's voice had that quality it got when something had his attention. "William's notes from the Nomu work are remarkable, by the way. I've already been looking at three long-term subjects in Arkham who I think could—"
"Later," Suguro said. "I need something from you now."
"Of course."
"I'm sending Roman to Arkham, he should only take a couple days to arrive at most. What I need is placement in a specific block."
Strange was quiet for a moment.
"Which block?"
"I want him near Alberto Falcone's cell in the west wing."
A longer pause this time.
The west wing was the wing Arkham officially claimed to use for inmates whose connections were significant enough that housing them in the general population created security concerns. Alberto Falcone had been placed there after his arrest specifically because the judge had wanted him away from inmates who might have loyalties to his family or reasons to approach him.
"That's a delicate placement," Strange said carefully.
"You've done harder things than moving around inmates," Suguro said.
"Understood," Strange said. "Now back to the Nomu specimen, I've been thinking about the neural suppression work and there are two subjects currently in my care who—"
"Give me a couple hours Doctor," Suguro said, and ended the call.
Uptown — Hamilton Hill Island — Evening
Hamilton Hill was one of Gotham's last respectable districts on its tiny island, one of the many in Gotham's archipelago. The kind of neighborhood where people walked only having to check over their shoulders once or twice when outside.
Roman Sionis walked out of a side street onto the main boulevard and stood there slowly gaining attention.
His skull mask drew them in first, fused into his skin on Sophia Falcone's order, now a mark of his pride in his new purpose as a member of Cranes Wings.
Only then did they notice the submachine gun held casually at his side.
As Roman raised the weapon and fired a burst into the air.
The sound cracked across the quiet street causing mass screams and panic.
He lowered the gun and stood in the center of the clearing crowd.