Arkham Asylum — West Residential — Morning
Alberto went down hard.
The shot struck him at the base of the skull, the impact sent him falling forward onto the corridor carpet with his arms sprawled out. Roman stood over him for a moment, the gun still raised.
Then his Predator Sense screamed.
He was already moving sideways when Alberto's hand shot out and caught the corridor wall, stopping the forward fall and reversing it with sudden power. Roman put two full meters between them and watched as Alberto Falcone somehow stood back up.
There was a clean hole in his skull above the left eye socket and blood flowed down his face from the injury and dripped steadily from his jaw. His left eye was gone nothing but a clean hole through his head was left.
The Pendulum had swung.
Everything composed and generous that had been in Alberto's face just minutes earlier was gone completely burned away completely by the betrayal and humiliation he was feeling this was worse than anything he felt before. The Butcher state rose, dominating him now as he charged.
Roman's Predator Sense showed him the next two seconds where Alberto's attacks would commit and where he would leave openings. He stepped right off Alberto's first punch, ducking under it, positioning himself behind Alberto for no more than a second.
He aimed the gun again and fired.
Two shots, right to the chest.
Alberto staggered and slowed for a second but then he turned, and Roman understood that slowing him down was all those two shots would achieve.
Alberto punched him.
The hit caught Roman's left side and sent him crashing through the common room's internal wall. Luxury furniture exploded around the impact. Roman hit the floor rolling and came up already reading the entire room but only had a second until Alberto came through the wall.
He moved through the common room, driven purely by the Quirk's amplified aggression and power toward whatever was nearest, then whatever came next. One of the west wing residents who had been standing at the pool table made the mistake of being between Alberto and Roman. Alberto picked him up by the head and threw him into the wall with enough force to leave no question of if he survived or not.
Roman shot Alberto once more in the chest.
It produced the same result, a momentary stagger, a brief reduction in speed, and then Alberto continuing forward at roman who pulled another prisoner in front of him using him as a human shield as Alberto's next powerful blow landed.
He went through the wall as it exploded outward in a shower of concrete and rebar landing on the grass outside then looked at his shield with a crushed chest dead when roman dropped him.
Alberto hit the ground beside Roman and rolled upright, a guard 10 feet away had his radio raised to his mouth yelling breach and he needs backup.
The guard received no answer then just a few words saying that theyre are other breaches ongoing and his is lowest on the danger level.
Alberto moved toward him.
The guard drew his weapon as Alberto got closer to him, but before he could fire Alberto picked the man up by the collar, and snapped his neck then refocused entirely on Roman with deepened Butcher state fury.
Roman turned and ran looking for a better battlefield than openground.
Arkham Asylum — Medical Wing — Continuous
The doctor was in the wrong place at the wrong time, a fate all too common in Gotham.
Roman put him down cleanly with a single shot, took the keycard from his coat pocket, and kept moving without pausing with Alberto behind him. He burst through the next door and into a parking bay containing three vehicles, one already running. Alberto hit the door frame behind him and tore it completely out of the wall as Roman reached the running car and slammed the vehicle into Alberto at full speed.
Alberto went across the hood hanging onto it as Roman floored the accelerator forward. The car smashed through the facility's front wall debris scattering in every direction and Roman continued driving it into the interior of the facility.
The car finally slammed to a stop once it was too damaged to keep going.
They were now in a hallway with mostly empty cells lining both sides, heavy reinforced doors but he could only look for a moment before Alberto pulled him out of the car through the shattered windshield, throwing him down the hall.
Alberto now bled heavily through his clothing from all the separate wounds and Roman than reached for the gun and fired a shot that struck Alberto in the stomach and dropped him to one knee.
"You're genuinely as strong as a Falcone should be," Roman said.
The words landed deep in the Quirk's mechanism. The Butcher state's absolute hatred heard the compliment, and the Pendulum found something to shift slightly to the other side while Alberto's expression shifted. His remaining eye lost some of its raw aggression as he coughed blood.
Near the center of the Pendulum's range he was at his weakest. The extreme ends provided the full amplification that made the Butcher state or the Prince state so formidable. In the middle he was simply a mentally ill man who could practically be Quirkless.
Roman moved down the cell block corridor at speed.
Further down the hall the cells on both sides were more occupied. Most residents had pressed themselves against the back walls. One man in a green jumpsuit sat in the corner of his cell with an expression of great amusement. He watched Roman sprint past and Alberto lumber after him and when Alberto's bulk slammed into his cell and tore away a section of bars, the man in green stood up. He looked at the new gap in his cell door, then down the corridor toward the exit.
"Let the riddles begin again…"
He smiled quietly and walked calmly in the opposite direction.
Meanwhile Roman reached the end of the corridor and turned.
Alberto now held two thick cell bars in his hands, each roughly the length of a man's arm. He threw the first one. Roman's Predator Sense showed him the trajectory before it left Alberto's hand. He moved sideways and the bar struck the wall beside him and clanged loudly across the floor.
Alberto swung the second bar like a heavy weapon.
Roman read the arc perfectly and dropped beneath it watching the bar pass over him close enough that he felt the air before rolling backward and getting back on his feet while Alberto pressed forward.
"Your ancestors used weapons like that, they must be watching proudly from beyond the grave" Roman said as he moved.
The Pendulum caught the historical pride and swung towards the center again. Alberto's next swing came slower and weaker.
Roman shot him in the leg.
Alberto dropped to one knee, for a moment as the bar clanged loudly on the floor beside him but then immediately rose again.
Roman ran knowing that this was a battle of attrition.
He was ten meters down the next corridor when the bar sailed past him from behind and struck a fire extinguisher mounted on the wall. The extinguisher exploded and dense white foam erupted through the corridor in both directions, filling the entire hallway with a thick cloud.
Roman hit the door at the end of the corridor and went through it.
Arkham Asylum — General Corridors
He nearly took the nurse off her feet.
She was coming around the corner with a medication tray when Roman collided with her shoulder at full speed. The tray flew away while both of them stumbled in another, but his Predator Sense had already warned him of what was close behind him.
Roman turned and threw the nurse directly toward the doorway.
She slammed into Alberto's chest as he emerged from the dense white cloud, creating a brief, chaotic collision. Roman used those precious seconds to gain more distance down the corridor. He heard Alberto throw her into the wall behind him, her lower body dangling while her head and shoulders were deep in it.
Roman looked back.
Alberto stood in the middle of the corridor. His remaining eye was still focused, but his pace had noticeably changed.
"That woman was only fit for someone like you even in death" Roman said looking to further swing Alberto's state.
Now each step Alberto took was slow and heavy as he was now close to his neutral state. The cumulative damage from the bullets and the prolonged exertion now almost fully hit him as his extreme Butcher state was fading.
Blood had soaked through his jumpsuit at the chest, stomach, and thigh. The hole in his skull was still leaking blood and he was now finally starting to feel it.
Roman fired three more times.
Click.
Click.
Click.
The gun was empty.
Alberto looked at him, then at the gun, and continued moving forward with what he had left.
The attacks became slower, weaker, and more readable, to the point where Roman caught a heavy punch with his hand and didn't take any damage. He stepped inside and drove his elbow upward with sharp precision into Alberto's chin.
Alberto's head snapped back.
Roman hit him three more times in the exact same location Alberto now barely putting up a fight. He then grabbed the back of Alberto's head and drove it forcefully into the door frame beside them.
Alberto stumbled forward through the doorway before Roman grabbed him and threw him again.
He crashed into the window on the far side of the room, shattering it completely. Alberto fell through the opening and dropped.
Roman reached the broken window and looked down.
Two floors below outside Alberto had landed on a parked car, the roof caved in under the impact, the vehicle's alarm blaring loudly. For a moment he lay still, then rolled off the car slowly, used the door handle to pull himself upright, and stood with visible effort.
He looked up at Roman.
Roman dropped from the window.
He landed cleanly on a large truck then another drop to the pavement three meters away on the vehicle-scarred pavement.
"You are truly what we expected…" Roman said, astonished that this man was still alive.
Alberto turned toward him, the Pendulum sat dead at the center now after hearing that but now without the extremes needed to amplify his power he slowly began to fade and his body was failing him.
Roman raised the gun.
Click.
"That's right, it's empty…" Roman said with an exhausted tone.
Alberto looked at the weapon, then continued limping forward with stubborn determination while his one leg needed to be dragged and he hunched over from the damage slowly choking on blood.
Roman dropped the gun.
He reached into his sock and pulled out the knife, the other piece Strange's guard had given earlier that he decided to keep as a backup.
Roman walked to Alberto calmly as he closed the distance and slashed the blade across his throat in a single clean, decisive line.
Alberto stopped.
Blood poured freely from the throat wound and from every other injury gushing onto the pavement as the man finally was falling.
Roman stepped back before wiping some off his mask…
It now was fused to him on this man's fathers orders and in a need for more personal satisfaction he slashed again then a third time and a fouth.
Alberto's head came loose from his shoulders and landed separately on the pavement marking a final to the battle.
Roman stood over what remained of Alberto Falcone, breathing heavily. He leaned against the demolished car, covered in blood that was mostly not his own, and took a long, steadying breath.
A speaker on the security camera above the parking bay crackled to life.
"Bravo," Strange said. His voice carried the tone he used when genuinely engaged with something impressive.
"I'll be honest," Strange continued, "I did not anticipate that outcome though I anticipated you killing him, I did not anticipate how strong and resilient his Quirk truly was." He paused, "but using the Pendulum's swings against him, feeding compliments in the middle of combat. That was inventive."
Roman looked directly at the camera.
"So you were watching us like a TV show?" he said, a little annoyed.
"I have several feeds running at the moment," Strange replied pleasantly. "I set up multiple ongoing situations though yours was the most compelling." Another brief pause. "It is time to send your regards to Carmine Falcone."
Roman looked down at what lay beside him on the pavement.
He reached down, grabbed Alberto Falcone's severed head by the hair, and held it up to the camera with steady hands.
Strange was quiet for a moment.
"Yes," he said. "That will do."
Falcone Tower — Carmine's Office — Post Maroni Attack (picking up from last chapter)
The large screen lowered smoothly from the ceiling mount.
Strange's face appeared first sitting at his desk with his usual smug smile.
"I want to express my genuine appreciation for the generous offer extended by the Falcone family," Strange said on the recording. "The amount was substantial and the arrangement would have proven mutually beneficial. Unfortunately, certain developments within the facility have made releasing Alberto Falcone impossible."
The feed shifted.
A still image appeared on the screen showing a man standing in a damaged vehicle yard outside one of Arkham's facilities. A crushed car sat behind him with its roof caved in. Debris covered the pavement and a window-shaped hole marked the wall two stories above.
The man held Alberto Falcone's severed head by the hair.
Carmine's eyes changed instantly.
The room changed with them.
The Quirk activated faster and deeper than it had during the captains' meeting. His eyes shifted to full red-black, and dense energy radiated outward immediately with heavy pressure filled the entire office like a physical force pressing from every direction at once.
Four guards collapsed to the floor and clutched at their chests they could do nothing. Blood ran from the noses, ears and mouths as Carmine's skin at the neck and hands deepened to a rich red. The surface began to peel back, revealing tissue underneath that carried the same red-black energy as his eyes.
Then he saw the face of the man holding his son's head.
Roman Sionis!
The pressure in the room intensified dramatically. More guards went down, coughing blood as internal injuries took hold, it was more than most could withstand; they just weren't powerful enough.
Butch remained on one knee, both hands planted on the floor. He was one of the strongest still here and he fought to stay upright through sheer stubborn will, one of the last men still conscious in the room.
"Sir," Butch said, his voice tight with strain. "Sir, you need to control it!"
Carmine stared at the image of Roman Sionis holding Alberto's head.
"Sir," Butch continued, his voice beginning to falter under the crushing pressure. "we need you, the war has already begun if you lose control now—"
"I know," Carmine replied, his voice dangerously quiet.
He closed his eyes.
The pressure gradually decreased and the guards on the floor began to stir and move again. One took a full thirty seconds before he could push himself up.
Carmine's eyes returned to normal.
The skin settled back into place.
The recording continued with Strange's final message: "I regret that I will be unavailable for future contact as Arkham is currently managing multiple concurrent Breach crises that require my full attention. I trust you understand the circumstances."
The screen went dark.
Carmine stood motionless in the center of his office for a long moment.
Carmine walked to the large window. Multiple columns of smoke continued rising across the Gotham skyline. Maroni had launched his surprise attack with greater preparation than Carmine had anticipated.
But in truth he couldn't face the idea that he was simply distracted with his son.
"When this war is finished," Carmine said with cold certainty, "I will go to Arkham Island myself."
Butch remained silent.
"And slaughter the entire island and everything on it, saving Strange and Sionis last until they beg for death," Carmine continued. "Once Maroni is dead."
He turned away from the window and walked toward the study door.
"Come," he said to Butch without looking back. "There is a war to win and I will not lose my family's city."