Crane's Wings Facility — Rooftop — Hours After Carmines Defeat
The first helicopter came in from the east and touched down on the apartment building's rooftop landing pad, Basil stepped out first in his base appearance followed by his passenger Butch who came out behind him looking out at the Gotham skyline.
The fires and smoke had largely subsided in the East Narrows and even from here he could see across the isles that the war had finally ended.
"Crane will be here soon," Basil told him, and went downstairs.
Butch waited on the roof thinking the base must be nearby but then started imagining how to spend the reward Crane promised him, maybe he'd buy some of girls the Russians sell or perhaps he should live it big in retirement out of Gotham the possible fantasies seemed endless.
A second helicopter came in from the south twenty minutes later, snapping him out of his thoughts.
Crane stepped out first in his worn down armour and looked exhausted from the massive battle earlier, a couple armed men and that green skinned bitch followed him down onto the roof.
Crane took his phone from Ivy and walked to Butch while Ivy began walking down into the building below.
Butch looked at Crane before smiling and initiating the conversation eager to wrap it up fast and get paid then get out.
"I had total confidence that you would beat that fossil," Butch said. "The whole time, never doubted it."
"sure…" Crane nodded while walking over.
Butch made a small shift in posture, a little uncomfortable but he decided to quickly move onto to business.
"So… about my reward." He said with a glint of smug greed. "I was told a couple million to start, which was fair for the baseline amount of information you wanted. I gave up Carmine's movements, Sophia's schedule, and our numbers.
"Agreed howev-" Crane began before being cut off.
"But when I think about the full scope I think the value I gave you was over 10 million and after you also-"
"There's unfortunate news," Crane said this time cutting Butch off.
Butch stopped and his arrogant facade cracked ever so slightly.
"There's another man's payment I also have to honor tonight," Crane said. "And there's only room this evening for one reward."
"Why does that—"
The helicopter crane had arrived in, had its pilot door swung open.
Roman Sionis stepped onto the roof quickly walking his way over to the two.
Butch in turn quickly took a step back.
"Sionis." His voice had dropped in register. "Hey… Didn't know you got out of…" he cleared his throat looking at that mask he helped fuse to the man's face "good to see you, how's it going?" After no response he tried again. "No hard feelings, right? I was just following orders, you know how it—"
"I already relented to Crane when he told me Sofia was off limits…," Roman said. "But I wont swallow my pride twice… I want my vengeance!."
The two then looked at Crane who didn't say anything and that's when Butch began to panic.
"You can't do this to me!" he yelled. "I was the first to flip, I betrayed Carmine before anyone else did, none of this would have happened without me!"
"You did a good job," Crane said. "You did help me achieve what I sought to do however–"
He looked at Butch who began sweating with a face full of panic.
"Outside of being an informant you have nothing further to offer."
He nodded at Roman before looking back at Butch.
"And you have no one left to inform on…"
"I needed Carmine dead," Crane continued as he began walking to the building's edge overlooking the city.
"Now I control the city; however, at least for now I need Sophia in control as my puppet." Crane paused, turning back from the city.
"I promised Roman vengeance when he joined me but of the ones responsible for his… appearance only you are available."
Butch took more steps back.
His heel found an uneven part of the old concrete and he went down hard onto the rooftop surface.
Crane looked at him.
"It's just business as your types say" he said before looking over to a running Roman.
When Roman reached Butch he used no weapon and took his time tearing and beating Butch to a point where all that remained was pulpy bits of flesh across the roof.
Crane remained at the building's edge and looked at the city ignoring what was happening behind him and when Roman finished he stood up, rolled his shoulder once, and walked past Crane toward the rooftop access door saying nothing and heading down into the underground below.
Crane glanced at what was left of the mobster, then calmly took out his phone and texted Jaina telling her to send some drones to clean up the mess.
Crane's Wings — Rooftop — Later
Crane sat on the ledge and looked out over Gotham thinking about how now the old blood of the city served him but the work was still not over for his plan. However his thoughts were cut off when he felt a strange feeling in him, one he used to never feel and it was still uncomfratble.
He looked at his new phone Jaina gave him earlier after she came to see what was left of Butch, and called his mother…
"Suguru! Are you hurt? Are you okay? What happened? Are you safe? Are you—"
"I'm… fine," he said, almost smiling.
She continued for another three seconds before catching herself.
"You're sure..?"
"I'm calling you, aren't I?" he said. "Trust me when I say I'm fine."
He heard her exhale before she began to start again. "Ivy actually called," before pausing. "She read me something you wrote… and that you had a fight."
"Did—"
She stopped herself deciding to let him answer.
"It was difficult," he said with a pause. "But I won and no longer have to worry about the mafia telling me what to do ever again."
She fell silent but he could feel her relief in it, even though she had no idea what his words truly meant then she began with her questions again.
"What happens now? With the city, I mean. The news has been showing the bridges for days, and the military won't let anyone through. Can people leave yet?"
"The Joker and others have been targeting any evacuation efforts on the bridges and people have given up at this point and the harbour is too far from the mainland for most to swim," he said. "With the mob war over, the organized violence should decline but the Joker operates independently of all that, the lunatic will move on eventually once he gets bored. Until then, leaving isn't an option and I doubt the government will relent for a long time to come."
Nemuri fell silent at that even across the world everyone knew of the Joker, the most wanted villain on the planet, and she felt guilty that as a hero she couldn't help her son.
"And you? Will you be ok?"
"I'll be fine, don't worry…"
He looked across the skyline at the gaps where huge towers and skyscrapers had once stood, a city reborn.
"The city will stabilize, it always does though the who runs it and will rebuild it will be whoever won the war."
She remained quiet long enough for him to realize she was deciding whether to ask the obvious question.
"So a city run by criminals," she said followed by another pause.
"Can I ask you something?"
"What is it?" Crane answered.
"Have you ever heard of a man with a moth quirk? Large wings, white hair, and Moth-like eyes. Does that description match anyone you encountered in your…" she cleared her throat "previous work?"
He paused, not answering for several seconds.
"Not that I can recall," he said sharply. "Why?"
"We have security footage from the festival. A man matching that description was seen near U.A when one of our students disappeared, then we found a video recorded from inside an apartment during the fighting in Gotham and saw the same man with the same moth wings attacking a Maroni-aligned gang near the harbor."
"That is troubling…" he said to her quietly.
"I still have connections in the city mother... If this person is in Gotham I can ask around though I wouldn't know where your student is or why someone in Gotham would want him kidnapped… that would be harder to find out."
"No! I don't want you to go back into that world. It's dangerous!"
He laughed, a rare dry laugh but to Nemuri it was the first time she ever heard her son laugh…
"I'm not going hunting for him," Crane said. "If this student is in Gotham, and the person who brought him here is connected to anything I can access, I'll find what I can but im not reckless I hoped you would think better of me than that."
"That would mean a lot," she said. "He's one of my colleague's students. His parents don't know where he is and–" she paused "I know how it feels to not know where your son is..."
"If, and that's a big if, I find anything ill let you know…"
Another pause, softer than the others.
"Suguru, that's…" She seemed to search for the right word. "That's a very kind thing to do."
He didn't answer immediately.
"I'm not a hero…" he said.
"That's fine… You don't need to be a hero, a villain, or a mobster. In my eyes, you're my son and that will always come first no matter what happens."
He said nothing, he didn't know how to feel or what to say at that… Only one other man had ever talked to him like that and Freeze was as different from his mother as anything could be.
Watching as the city moved below him he heard distant sirens rise and fall. Lights reflected across the water as power came back on and saw the sunset through the smog.
"I'm glad you said that…" he said.
She was quiet for a moment.
"Goodnight, Suguru."
"Goodnight."
He ended the call.
For a while, he sat on the ledge with the dead phone in his hand. His old cracked mask rested beside him, broken and useless after the fight with Carmine, he looked down and studied the mask he had worn for years… Through lessons with his mentor, time with Rossi as a teenager, his early days recruiting Cranes wings and the many fights from here in Gotham to his "trip" to Japan.
Crane then picked up the cracked mask and held it in his hands.
And tossed it down into the rubble of the neighborhood below.