//------------------------------// // Chapter 15 The Roman Empire // Story: Gotham City Heroes (canceled version) // by Batfan98 //------------------------------// A man in a black suit sat at his desk in an office with a huge window overlooking the city. The man was in his late 50s, he had short white hair, a mustach, and had three scratch marks on his right cheek. He was Gotham's notorious crime boss, Carmine Falcone, A.K.A. The Roman. He looked at the city, through the window. Gotham was a city full of crime, there were a lot of criminals but the criminals that stood on top were the Rogues Gallery. There was a lot of rogues, but the ones that stood on top of them all was The Joker, The Riddler, The Penguin, and Two-Face, but The Joker was the most feared one out of the bunch. But Gotham didn't always have rogues, before the Rogues there was, and still is, mob bosses in Gotham. Gotham's most greatest crime families were the Maronies and the Falcones. The two leaders of the mobs, Salvatore Maroni and Carmine Falcone, fought each other for control over the Gotham criminal underworld and Falcone always came out on top. Carmine named his criminal empire The Roman Empire, because of his alias. He was an untouchable crime lord. He worked with the corrupted mayor, Hamilton Hill and the corrupted police commissioner, Gillian Loeb in his pocket. That was until Mayor Hill and Commissioner Loeb were exposed to the public by Batman and James Gordon, who was lieutenant at the time. But Falcone didn't believe in giving up. Falcon kept running his operation but it was starting to call thanks to Batman and Gordon. But The Roman Empire fell even more when The Joker showed up. At first, Falcone didn't take him seriously, he thought of him as the same thing he thinks of Batman, a costumed freak. Joker escaped Blackgate prison one month after Batman sent him there, and when he escaped he started targeting Falcone's operation. He stole 20 million dollars from him, made some of his men join him, and destroyed a few of his warehouses where he kept the drugs and weapons he was going to sell. Now Falcone started taking him seriously and hired a hit man named Deadshot to kill him, but he was stopped by Batman. Joker was not only a threat to Falcone, but to every bit mob boss there was. Other rogues have rised, they were Poison Ivy, Firefly, The Riddler, Catwoman, and Mr. Freeze. Everyone in Gotham became more afraid of the Rogues than they were of the mob. Falcone tried to get help from two of his allies, Roman Sionis and Oswald Cobblepot, but instead of helping him they decided to become Rogues themselves. Falcone remembered when they became Rogues. It was twelve years ago. Flashback "What the hell do you mean 'our partnership is done'?!" Falcone asked, angrily. "I mean that we're done bein partners. It's over, Carmine." Roman said, he was wearing an orange suit and was holding a black skull like mask in one hand and an orange fedora in the other. "You see Carmine, it's high time that we became something bigger than we were before." Oswald spoke in a cockney accent. He was wearing a tux, a monocle, and a top hat. He held an umbrella in his right hand. "What do ya mean, Cobblepot?" "He means that now that these rogues showed up, people are starting to be more afraid of them than they are of us, you see, the best way to run a mob is through fear and intimidation." Sionis explained. "Some tried killin these rogues but no one was able to bring them down." He then put the mask and fedora on. "So we thought, if you can't kill em, join em, and that's what we're gonna do, become Rogues." "So, you gonna give up yer business and become freaks?" Sionis chuckled. "No, we're gonna keep our business and be rogues runnin a mob. People will still know us as Roman Sionis and Oswald Cobblepot, but they'll also know us as Black Mask and The Penguin." He and Cobblepot, now known as Penguin, left. End of flashback Carmine hated those two for joining those psychos, for becoming freaks. Since they could no longer help him, he had to strike a temporary alliance with his rival, Salvatore Maroni, A.K.A. The Boss. But even that didn't help. The Joker was unpredictable, which is how they fell. Of course they were still powerful mob bosses, but not as powerful as before. Falcone looked at his reflection in the window, he looked at the scratch marks on his cheek. He remembered how he got them. Flashback Catwoman was turning the lock on the safe, and put her ear on it, listening for the combination, after a few minutes she opened it. She was about to take the money out of it but felt a gun touch the back of her head. "Alright, I've had it with freaks like you crippling my operation. No one steals from me and lives." said Falcone as he was about to fire the gun. Catwoman quickly spun around and knocked the gun out of Falcone's hand and slashed her hand across his face, giving him a scar. The slash caused him to yelp in pain and fall to the floor. "See ya Falcone." Catwoman said as she escaped through the window. End of Flashback Falcone put his hand on the scar as he remembered that night. That cat became one of the people he hated most, other people he hated most were Gordon, The Joker, and Batman. After a few moments, the phone on his desk rang and he answered it. "What?" Carmine said, annoyed. "We arrived at the docks sir, things are going good so far." someone said on the phone. "Good, and if anyone shows up, kill em." Carmine ordered as he hang up the phone. 10 Minutes Earlier Batman and Robin were standing on a rooftop, overlooking the city of Gotham at night. They then noticed some guys coming from an abandoned building, walking into a van, carrying bags. Batman and Robin turned on detective vision in their lenses, which was a mode that can help them see through anything, and they saw that in those bags were drugs , that made it obvious for Batman that these men were drug dealers. "What's in that bag?" Robin asked "I'll tell you about it when your older, but let's just say it's illegal." Batman said, knowing that someone Robin's age should not know about drugs. They turned off detective vision. "So, any plan of attack?" Robin asked. "No, we follow them instead." Batman said as he pulled from his belt a small pistol like object, a med it at the truck and pulled the trigger. The pistol like object shot out a small chip that was in the shape of a bag and it hit the fan as it drove off. "Let's go." Batman said as he and Robin glided off the building and followed the truck but the lenses in their masks showed the van on a map thanks to the chip, which was a tracking signal, that was on the van. They followed for ten minutes until it finally arrived at the docks. But when they arrived, they saw a dark figure standing on a rooftop of a warehouse. "Who's that?" Robin asked. Batman turned on detective mode to identify who it was. "It's a friend." Batman said as he glided to the figure and Robin followed. They landed on the warehouse and approached the figure. "What are you doing here?" Batman asked. "I listened to who Falcone was talking to on the phone earlier and came here." the figure explained. She turned around and revealed that she appeared to be a female figure. She wore an black bodysuit with a yellow hat symbol on her chest, a yellow utility belt, a black cape, a mask that covered her face, and like Batman, her mask had hat ears. She noticed Robin. "So, your the child from another world." "Uh...yeah, who are you?" Robin asked. "Robin, this is Batgirl, also known as Cassandra Cain." Batman explained. "Oh, well it's nice to meet you." Robin said. Cassandra had a stoic personality like Batman. "So, you said Falcone is responsible for this?" Batman asked. "Yes." Batgirl confirmed. Falcone, Robin remembered that name from the bio when she read up on The Joker, saying he was his rival. "Who is Falcone?" "Carmine Falcone, A.K.A. The Roman, is Gotham's biggest mob boss. He was the ruler of the criminal underworld before The Joker and the other rogues appeared." Batman explained. Then a car pulled up to the van. Two people stepped out, one was wearing a brown suit jacket and brown pants and he had short blonde hair, the other had short brown hair and he was wearing a blue buttoned short and black pants. They were Arnold Flass and Howard Branden, two people who were dirty cops on the GCPD before Loeb resigned. "So, ya got the stuff?" Branden asked. One of the men nodded. "A'right, here's the cash." said Flass as he was about to hand them the money. "And here's a kick to the face." Robin said as she glide kicked Flass in the face. Branden pulled out his gun but a batarang knocked it out of his hand. Batman and Batgirl then glided down and fought the thugs. Brandon and Flass both ran up to Robin, but she jumped up and split kicked them in the face and jumped forward doing a front flip, then threw a bolas at them, tying them up. Batman punched one thug across the face, causing him to turn and he kicked him in the back, making him fall forward and Batgirl kicked his face as he fell down, knocking him unconscious. The next two thugs ran up to them and Robin jumped over them and landed in front of them and punched them both in the stomach, making them bend over, clutching onto their stomachs and Robin double uppercutted both of them, knocking them out. One thug ran behind Batman but he turned around quickly and dodged his attack then grabbed his arm and twisted it, breaking it, then punched him in the face, knocking him out. One thug pulled out a knife and thruster it forward, towards Batgirl, but she grabbed his arm and kicked him in the stomach, making him clutch it. Then Batgirl kicked him in the face, knocking him out. The tremendous trio then walked over to Flass and Branden, who were tied up thanks to the bolas. "Brandon and Flass. It's been a while." Batman said. "Batman." Flass stated, hatefully. Batman put a finger to his ear. "Penny One, call the police and tell them about the drug dealing at the docks." "Of course sir." Alfred stated. "Have fun in jail." Robin said as she, Batman, and Batgirl grappled to a rooftop to a warehouse. "Alright, now we need to arrest Falcone." Batman said as he pressed a button on his gauntlet, summoning the Batmobile. He and Robin got in. "Hey, you coming?" Robin asked Batgirl. Batgirl then walked over to an alley and a few moments later came driving out on a black motorcycle with a yellow hat symbol on it. They then drove off to The Roman's Penthouse. When they got there, they grappled up to the roof of a building right next to the penthouse. The Tremendous Trio saw through a window, that Falcone was sitting at his desk, smoking a cigarette. They then glided over, breaking through the window, sending glass everywhere. "Damn bat!" Falcone said as he pushed a red button under his desk. "It's over Falcone." Batman said. "Yeah, so why don't you just give up?" Robin said, crossing her arms. "You got a lot to learn kid, cause the Falcones don't give up easily." Falcone said. Just then five men in suits came running into the office. "Get 'em." Falcone ordered. One thug came running up to Batman, about to punch him, but he grabbed his arm and threw him onto the floor and stomped on his face, knocking him out. Two thugs came running up to Batgirl and she bent down and slid her leg under their legs, knocking them over. She jumped on one thug and punched him in the face, knocking him out. She got up and so did the other thug, he ran up to her, but Robin leaped and kicked him in the face, knocking him out. "I could have handled him." Batgirl said. "Your welcome." Robin said, sarcastically. "Screw this, I quit." the last thug said as he ran out of the office. Now only Falcone was left. Batman grabbed him by the arm and cuffed him. "You think this'll work? You think I'll stay locked up? I'll get out of the slammer, like always." Falcone said as Batman called Gordon to come and arrest Falcone. The next day, Scootaloo read that Carmine Falcone payee bail and was no longer in Blackgate. "What?! How is this guy out of jail?!" "Falcone's rich. He has enough money to pay bail not long after he's arrested." Bruce explained. Scootaloo put down the paper. 'I swear, the next time I see Falcone, he better stay behind bars.' she thought.