Crane's Wings Underground Facility - Main Meeting Room -
The meeting room was quieter than usual, just Suguro and William, Suguro sat at the head of the table with a tablet displaying everything he'd been able to pull together on Overhaul and the Shie Hassaikai in the hours since the call ended.
Which wasn't much. The organization was deliberately obscure, yakuza remnants operating in Japan's underworld, beneath the notice of most hero agencies precisely because they'd been considered irrelevant for decades.
"Quirk suppression and deletion?" William said, his voice carrying the particular quality it got when something genuinely interested him rather than just entertained him.
"That's what he described."
"That's extraordinary." William leaned forward,
A vine dropped from the ceiling and landed on the table between them.
"I see you've been listening," Suguro said,
Ivy dropped from somewhere near the ventilation system, landing in a chair
"Japan though," Ivy said. "That's not a short trip."
"No," Suguro agreed. "Which is what we need to solve." He looked at the clock on the wall.
Ivy followed his gaze and straightened slightly. "The LexCorp raid."
"Started twenty minutes ago." Suguro pulled up the operational timeline on his tablet.
"You're not worried?"
"Cameron is capable. I wouldn't have given him the assignment otherwise."
Ivy studied him for a moment, then accepted this and leaned back in her chair.
The door opened.
Roman entered with a Jaina duplicate who'd led him here when he returned.
Silver and Grundy were notably absent.
"Silver's sleeping," Roman said, dropping into a chair without waiting to be invited to. "Grundy's... I think he found a room with a TV, he'll be fine."
"Thorne?" Suguro asked.
"Dead. Went off the building himself rather than submit." Roman said it without particular satisfaction or regret. "His loyal captains went down in the fight. We lost two men with the flamethrower rigs, one in the building and one went out a window with a loyalist as well as some of the men who joined us" he paused, "Salvador Marquez is managing the transition, he's competent."
"Marquez was your inside source."
"Ive known him for months when I used to work for Falcone when the two families were at peace," Roman confirmed. "He approached me after Thorne promoted him and heard I was still alive, said he'd been watching the underworld shift and wanted to be on the correct side of it when things changed."
"So hes the new boss but works for us?"
"Correct most of the organization wasn't there at the time but they had already sided with Marquez, only a few loyalists remain but Thorne's only son and his 3 grandsons are locked up in Arkham so they have no natural leader left" Roman looked at his hands briefly. "One more thing. Thorne had an incoming call when we took the floor."
Suguro waited for him to finish.
"Someone calling himself Overhaul from a Shie Hassaikai? Said Thorne had expressed interest in specialized ammunition and he was calling to confirm the arrangement."
"I know," Suguro said. "He called me directly afterward. Good work on directing him to me."
Roman met his eyes across the table, "seemed like something you'd want to know about."
"It was" Suguro pulled up his tablet, "something like this changes our immediate priorities, we need to get to Japan."
The room absorbed this.
"Japan," Roman said flatly.
"This Overhaul has something we need to be in front of. It can change everything."
William leaned forward with renewed interest.
"How?" Jaina's primary form asked "Japan isn't a drive away."
"Penguin's submarine?" Ivy suggested.
William made a dismissive sound through his mask. "Too slow and too large, we need something faster and less conspicuous."
"Falcone used to bribe Gotham air traffic," Roman said. "Private jets, cleared whenever he needed, no manifests, no questions, had it running for years." He paused. "Two-Face destroyed his fleet last year, some sort of personal statement."
Suguro was quiet for a moment.
"Maroni has jets," he said.
The room waited.
"And Salvatore Maroni owes me a favor." Suguro stood. "Thorne's removal benefits him considerably. One of his top rivals gone, his southern territory pressure significantly reduced, and he didn't have to spend a single man or dollar to make it happen. He'll know that by morning if he doesn't already."
"You think he'll give you a jet over that?" Roman asked.
"I think he'll give me a jet because Rossi will ask him to and Rossi is now a captain in his organization and they know how to pay their debts." Suguro looked at Jaina. "I'll contact Rossi tonight"
"Which brings me to Two-Face," Suguro said. "I had a meeting scheduled with Harvey Dent for later this week. I'm moving it to tomorrow night."
North Atlantic - LexCorp Island Research Facility - Same Time
The last phase of any operation was always the least elegant.
Cameron van Cleer directed the flow from above, his moth wings carrying him in slow circles over the loading area, his silk lines dropped to the dock serving as informal guides for the carrying crews. Below him, Bane's militia moved weapons and equipment flowing from the facility's breached storage areas to the boats in steady human chains.
The resistance had largely evaporated.
LexCorp's private security force had been competent and well-equipped and had fought hard for the first forty minutes. Then they'd done the math on what they were fighting and found reasons to be elsewhere.
The ones who hadn't were scattered across the facility floor, the dock, and one ill-considered defensive position near the eastern storage block that Waylon had dealt with.
"We're clear on the eastern wing," Langstrom reported over comms, his echolocation painting him a detailed picture of the facility's remaining spaces. "Last security team went into the water about eight minutes ago."
"Went into the water?" Cameron repeated.
"Swam away," Langstrom clarified. "Mostly."
Below, a figure emerged from the facility's main research wing carrying a large containment case. Average height, average build, LexCorp security uniform,
One of Bane's militia, a Chilean sergeant named Ortiz who'd been covering the research wing entrance, raised his weapon and put a round through the figure's head without breaking stride.
The figure didn't react at first
It kept walking forward
Then it rippled.
The security uniform dissolved into shifting brown-greyish clay, the neat hole in the skull filling in as the form restructured itself, and Basil Karlo emerged in his default appearance, the containment case held carefully in both hands, an expression of mild annoyance.
Ortiz stared.
"I was coming to the boat," Basil said.
"Sorry," Ortiz said, though Basil thought he didn't sound particularly sorry.
Basil carried it to the designated boat, set it down with care, and straightened up to look at the facility one last time. It was burning in three places now, smoke rising into the night sky, the kind of fire that would be visible from the mainland coast.
"Time," Cameron called from above.
"Loading complete," one of Bane's lieutenants confirmed.
The boats pushed off from the dock, engines running, moving away from the island in formation. Cameron and Langstrom dropped altitude as they cleared the facility perimeter, matching speed with the lead boat.
Langstrom pulled alongside Cameron in the air, wings beating in comfortable rhythm.
Below them, the island receded into the darkness, its burning research facility painting orange light on the water, and Bane stood at the prow of the lead boat looking at the horizon with the expression of a man calculating his next move.
The division happened two miles from the coast, boats separating in the darkness, Bane's larger vessels peeling north while Crane's Wings small team continued toward a private dock that Jaina had arranged weeks ago.
Bane's weapons and three quarters of the valuables. Crane's Wings only quarter share but they got all the chemical weapons research and every containment case from the facility's secured storage.
Including the one Basil had retrieved last.
They unloaded onto the dock in the pre-dawn darkness, and Langstrom was already airborne before the boats were fully secured, pushing his wings to their limit, making for the 18-wheeler parked two miles inland where the road connected back to Gotham's highway network.
When the last case was secured and the rest of the team got in the back, the truck's doors sealed, Cameron pulled himself up into the passenger seat and looked at the driver, one of Black Masks men.
"Ready," he said.
The truck pulled out, headlights off until they hit the main road, and began the drive back to Gotham.
The Iceberg Lounge - Underground Private Section - Next Day 9:00 pm
Harvey Dent occupied a booth with Grace on his right, her angelic features arranged in an expression of polite interest that was doing a great deal of work to cover something more complicated. Gilda on his left, the demonic wings folded neatly against her back, her expression showing the particular satisfaction of someone who'd arrived somewhere and found it lived up to expectations.
Both women looked up as Suguro, Roman, and Ivy entered.
"You moved up the meeting," Harvey said, by way of greeting. "Either something came up or you're more eager than you let on which one?"
"Something came up," Suguro said, sliding into the seat across from him. Roman positioned himself nearby,
"You said you wanted to talk about working together but you understand that's a broad topic."
"I'll narrow it down for you," Suguro said. "I'm going to bring Gotham's under a coordinated structure. Not a hierarchy exactly, think of it as an alignment of people with common goals"
Harvey's scarred lip pulled upward. "But let me guess you're the "coordinator." right"
Harvey studied him,
"Why would I give up my autonomy for your quote on quote "coordination" which lets be real is me working under you" Harvey asked "What does joining you give me that I don't already have?"
"You'd be the first one, think of it like you get to help shape the structure before its done."
"Assuming this actually happens," Harvey said "Assuming you can actually bring in Bane, Freeze, Joker whoever else you're planning to approach. That's a significant assumption."
"The Joker," Gilda said suddenly, her dark wings shifting. "Where does he fit in this grand design of yours? Because Harvey and the Joker have a history that doesn't resolve cleanly."
"I can deal with him" Suguro said cold and flatly
Harvey was quiet for a moment then told the girls to go and they left going to the bar near Ivy
"I like you," he said finally. "You speak honestly about dishonest things, which is more than most people manage. But I'm not going to commit my organization to something based on a conversation in a bar. That's not how I make decisions."
"I know," Suguro said.
Harvey smiled, "Then you know what comes next."
His quirks coin appeared properly now, his famous coin that all the underworld knew.
"My organization commits to yours when the time comes," Harvey said, "or I put a bullet in you here and we see what that does to your grand plans." He looked at Suguro directly, the bright gold eye and the normal blue eye trying to read him. "Those are the terms, I think they're fair"
"I agree," Suguro said.
"Heads or tails."
Suguro looked at the coin, at Harvey's expression, at the gun that had appeared in Harvey's other hand.
"Heads," Suguro said.
Harvey flipped the coin then caught it and pressed it to the back of his hand.
Let the tension build for exactly as long as it wanted to.
Then he lifted his palm.
Harvey looked at the result for a moment, then he started laughing, genuine and slightly delighted.
"You know," Harvey said, pocketing the coin and the gun in the same motion, extending his right hand across the table, "most people who take that bet with me aren't breathing afterward."
"When the time comes, Two-Face delivers, you got my word, and my word on something I've staked a coin flip on is as good as anything gets in this city."
"I'll remember that."
Harvey slid out of the booth, his wives joining him at his sides with practiced ease, Grace on the right, Gilda on the left.
Suguro remained in the booth, the space Harvey had occupied now empty.
Ivy slid in beside him, her vines winding around his arm.
"Well?" she asked.
"He's in,"
Meanwhile - Somewhere in Japan
Magne was dead, Compress had lost an arm.
The League of Villains was looking at Overhaul ready to fight
"I don't need your response today," Chisaki said, smoothing his coat where it had been disturbed. "Think it over. Consider what you're actually building versus what you could be building." He looked at Shigaraki directly. "You have people who are loyal to you. That's rarer than you think. The question is whether loyalty to a failing direction is worth anything."
He turned to leave.
"One more thing," he said, at the door. "I've been in discussions with a foreign organization and what we have learned is that they are considerably more sophisticated and powerful than the likes of you. If the League decides it can't work with me, I lose nothing." He paused. "So make your choice soon"
Then he left.
In the silence that followed, Shigaraki's hand lowered slowly from his face.