Author's Note: If you wish to comment on my story, either positively or negatively, don't hesitate to contact me at treetop@voicenet.com. Sailor Moon and all related characters are the property of Takeuchi Naoko, Toei Animation and DIC. Batman and all related characters are the property of Bob Kane and DC Comics. So, please, don't sue me because I haven't any money. I do this strictly for entertainment purposes, not copyright infringement.
To Live And Die In Tokyo
by Jeffrey C. Branch
Chapter Seven: Hunting Down The Devil
Rating: PG-13
Because of a high rise fire along the route from his hotel suite to the waterfront, Falcone's car was stuck and traffic, something that annoyed the impatient Mafiosi no end.
Curious about what was happening with the hit team he sent to Tokyo General Hospital to take out the Batman, Falcone dialed the number to Dino Pasquale's cell phone but got no response. He waited a couple of minutes then tried again. No success. That did nothing to soothe his already foul temperament.
"Dammit! Rocky's not answering!" Falcone growled. "What's going on?"
"Maybe Rock's under cover and doesn't wanna give himself away," suggested Antoine 'Tony Speed' Spicoli, Falcone's handpicked wheelman.
"Or maybe he's already been nabbed by the freakin' Bat!" the Capo grumbled. "He slammed a fist against the bulletproof glass of the left side passenger door. "Tony! Get us out of this! Fast! We gotta get down to the waterfront!"
Tony Speed, inching along saw an opening on a side street and took it, tires squealing as he turned off the main street. With each passing minute, Falcone was becoming more and more pensive about the entire situation. Millions were riding on the merger with Tomba and the Yakuza, not to mention his head if the deal falls apart. The Falcon was going to make damn sure nothing went wrong, no matter whom he had to kill to get the job done.
The air was thick with tension as the Scouts stared down Batman. Unlike their first meeting, this time, the Sailors had nothing but animosity towards the Dark Knight.
"You're in our way, freak!" growled Sailor Jupiter, her fists balled. "Carry your ass out of here or we'll send you back to Gotham in a box!"
"Highly unlikely. And watch your language," Batman replied. "Go home, ladies. Let me deal with this. You're out of your league, and I don't have time to babysit amateurs."
"Amateurs, huh? Well, babysit this!" a furious Sailor Mars snapped. "Mars Celestial Fire....SURROUND!"
Mars hurled her fire rings at Batman with a vengeance, but the Dark Knight, having anticipated an attack dodged the rings which incinerated a tree behind him. After having been unprepared for Sailor Mercury's ferocity, Batman wasn't about to make that mistake twice and meant to put the Scouts down. Before Mars could launch a second attack, Batman hurled a silver cabled bolo from his belt that wrapped up a surprised Mars. An instant later, an electrical charge ran through the cables, causing the Fire Scout to scream, then she slumped unconscious to the ground.
"Mars!" a shocked Sailor Moon yelled.
"That does it! He's dead meat!" an enraged Jupiter hissed, the antenna shooting tip on her tiara. "Jupiter Thundercloud....ZAP!"
Despite the speed of Jupiter's attack, Batman was faster, but just barely, dodging the lightning ball scorched the earth where the Dark Knight stood on moments earlier. Still, he felt a portion of the blast as it briefly stunned him. Without breaking stride, Batman removed a small globe from his belt and threw it on the ground, producing a thick, choking mist that blinded the Sailors, buying the Dark Knight the moment he needed to recover.
"That won't work, you creep!" growled Sailor Venus from twenty feet behind Batman. "I've got you in my sights! Venus Crescent Beam....SMASH!"
Batman, sensing movement from the other direction ducked under the powerful light beam as it whizzed over his head and into the mist where a shriek of pain could be heard. Venus' insides turned to ice as she knew who that voice belonged to. As the mist cleared, the Scout of Love gasped from horror at seeing Jupiter prone and unmoving on the ground, blood oozing from an ugly wound on the right side of her head.
"Oh, God! No! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" a hysterical Venus screamed. "JUPITER!"
Forgetting Batman, Venus, tears pouring from her eyes ran sobbing to the side of her fallen partner. The Dark Knight took advantage of the situation by pulling out a small dart gun and ramming a cartridge into the butt. He sight acquired his target and fired, the gun emitting a soft hiss of air as a tiny hypodermic dart, filled with a powerful, quick acting tranquilizer hit Venus in the shoulder and she immediately lapsed into unconsciousness. In only thirty seconds since the fight began, three Sailors had been incapacitated, but a scowling Batman took no pleasure from the actions the Scouts forced him to make.
"That will be quite enough, misanthrope," a coldly sharp voice snarled from behind Batman. With a speed even he hadn't counted on, Sailor Vulcan clamped a hand around the Dark Knight's throat and slammed him against a tree, and he dropped his dart gun. Quickly shaking off the cobwebs, Batman scrambled to his feet as Vulcan moved in with a flying kick which he deflected with a forearm. Wincing from the pain of impact, the Dark Knight grabbed Vulcan's arm and judo threw her over his shoulder and she landed hard to the ground. But she wasn't down long as she jumped up, glowering at her adversary.
There's something definitely unusual about her. And it's not just the malformed ears either, thought Batman, shaking the feeling back into his arm as he stared down Vulcan. Her demeanor, it's cold, almost....unearthly. Could she be an extraterrestrial like Clark or J'onn?
"This will keep you still. Vulcan Shockwave....STRIKE!" shouted Vulcan, unleashing her sonic energy blast at Batman who just managed to avoid it. The force of the blast reduced several trees behind him to kindling peppering him with debris and he fell to the ground, his ears badly ringing from the sound of the blast. As the Dark Knight lay stunned and weakened, Vulcan leaped on him before he could roll away. The Scout of Order pressed the fingers of her right hand on Batman's left shoulder, and, with a grunt of pain, he collapsed.
"You did it! You stopped him!" cried Moon, running up to Vulcan who glowered menacingly at Batman's prone form. She barely managed to repress the desire to kill the Dark Knight after he had hurt her friends. She took several deep breaths to reassert herself.
"Yes. But we can't afford to waste anymore time, Sailor Moon," Vulcan replied. "Use the Crystal to revive the others while I see to it Batman causes us no further trouble."
"I don't think so," growled Batman. The Dark Knight's legs shot up with the speed of a cobra, scissoring Vulcan around her neck and he threw the surprised heroine into Moon and they fell to the ground in a tangle of limbs. Enraged, Vulcan disengaged herself from a stunned Moon and charged Batman like a bull as he dove for his dart gun. Rolling into a crouch, the Dark Knight, acting on a hunch, fired two darts into Vulcan's chest. The Scout stopped short, wobbled on braced legs for several moments, then dropped to the ground.
Batman rose and walked over to where Vulcan, still conscious lay. Suspecting the girl was an alien, he wasn't surprised that she was fighting the effects of the tranquilizer. Vulcan stared up at him while experiencing an rare and uncomfortable feeling: confusion.
"How?" she asked, struggling to stay awake.
"Kevlar padding in the shoulders of my tunic," Batman replied. "After watching you incapacitate Sailor Mercury the other night, I came up with this as a defense."
In spite of herself, Vulcan nodded. She was losing her fight to maintain consciousness. "Of course. Just as Kevlar....blunts the impact of a bullet....your padding negated....the effects of my nerve pinch. And you feigned unconsciousness to take me....by surprise." Just before she went under, Vulcan whispered, "Logical. A flawlessly....logical....strategy...."
It took only a minute for four Scouts to have been subdued, leaving Moon alone with the Dark Knight. And she was on the ragged edge of panic.
"No! It can't be! We're the Sailor Scouts!" Moon cried, shaking from fright, refusing to believe what she had just seen. "We've whipped monsters lots tougher than you! No way we could be beaten by an ordinary man!"
"That was your first mistake, Sailor Moon. Underestimating how resourceful an 'ordinary man' could be," said Batman in his graveyard cold voice that chilled Moon to the very core of her being. "Brute force alone doesn't win a battle. You also need skill, cunning, resourcefulness, and, when necessary, ruthlessness. Traits none of you possess. That's why you lost. And why I can't afford to have you underfoot on this case."
'But what about those lizard creatures'? We just fought four of them at Tokyo General Hospital!" Moon pointed out.
"I know. Like I told Amy last night, I'll deal with them," said Batman. "Despite the powers your friends have, I could've killed them all. Easily. But that's not how I operate. An opponent as skilled as I am won't be as forgiving. Consider that a warning. Stay out of my way."
Moon, her eyes narrowing felt a white-hot anger overpower her fear. She held her right arm high and, in a flash of light, the Cosmic Moon Scepter appeared in her hand. "Screw you! The Scouts have as big a stake in this as you do! No! Bigger! And I won't let you get away with hurting my friends!'
Batman, unfazed stood his ground as Moon leveled the scepter at him. "Have it your way."
"Arrogant jerk! I'm gonna shut you up big time! Moon Scepter...."
Before Moon could finish, Batman pulled out a batarang with a line attached to it, and, with perfect aim, hurled it at Moon, the line wrapping itself around the scepter. The Dark Knight then gave the line a quick and brutal pull, yanking it out of Moon's hands with such force, she lost her balance and fell to the ground. When she looked up, Batman was holding the scepter. Moon was horrified. She never had that happen before.
"Oh, no," she whispered.
Batman examined the scepter briefly, then casually tossed it over his shoulder and it landed in a thicket of bushes several yards away. "Apparently, you didn't learn your lesson," The Dark Knight growled as he moved towards the now frightened and helpless Moon.
The Tokyo waterfront, one of the busiest in the world was it's usual hotbed of non-stop activity as ships were loaded and unloaded while fork trucks jockeyed here and there and stevedores by the hundreds worked at an almost frenetic pace.
From a rooftop of a building across the street from the piers, Sailor Mercury scanned the area with her VR visor, looking for any sort of suspicious activity. Having deduced that the poison responsible for Sarah's mutation was secreted in a warehouse, Mercury realized that finding the right location would take time, given the enormous size of the warehouse district. And she knew time was not on her side, what with Batman surely on her trail by now.
Then there was the added problem of conducting the search itself. Stealth would not be an easy task in her Scout uniform, but while Amy Anderson could blend in better with her surroundings, she'd need the visor to scan the warehouses, and she couldn't access it in human form. Mercury scowled, wishing she had Serena's disguise pen to camouflage herself. For a moment, Mercury's heart softened when she thought about Serena.
How will Serena respond to my actions? Will she still love me once this is all over, she wondered. The thought of losing Serena's friendship brought a terrible ache to Mercury's heart, but she forced herself to concentrate on her mission. NO! I have to do this. Sarah saved my sanity, if not my life when she kept me from being raped by Paul. I owe Sarah. I have to avenge my friend.
Her mind set, Mercury descended catlike from the roof Crouched in shadows, intently watching workers and vehicles pass by on the street, the Water Scout waited for just the right moment for traffic to clear. Once it did, Mercury dashed across the street in a blur of azure and secreted herself behind a ten foot high stack of pallets. Satisfied that he hadn't been spotted, Mercury scanned down one end of the pier then the other while trying to decide on a direction to head in.
Acting on a hunch, Mercury headed to the south end of the waterfront which she knew from memory was sparse in terms of warehouses and activity. It was in that general area a long time ago that Mercury and the Scouts had been lured into a deadly trap sprung by Zoicite and Malachite who were after the seven Rainbow Crystals. Had it not been for the timely intervention of Sailor Venus who just arrived from England to join the team, the girls would've been killed that fateful night.
The girls. They probably know by now that I never went home. I'm sure they're searching for me too, thought Mercury as she silently made her way down the pier. No matter. They'll never find me before I complete my mission. Before I have my revenge.
Twenty minutes into her search, Mercury stopped fifty yards away from one particular warehouse where she saw a sleek black luxury car pull up to the front door. Hiding behind a stack of oil drums, Mercury watched as four men climbed out of the car and followed a scowling, slick haired man in a dark gray suit to the door and press a bell. After about a minute, the door opened and the men scampered inside. Her curiosity piqued, the Scout of Water trained her visor on the building and switched to infra-red mode.
What Mercury saw inside was a flurry of activity. Human forms, outlined in red busied themselves about at workstations which reminded her of a laboratory, but this was large, larger than any she had seen before. She also spied many burly forms slowly patrolling the floor throughout the warehouse, toting what Mercury assumed to be weapons. That clinched it for her. Mercury's lips curled into a wicked grin. She found the warehouse she sought. Her revenge was not far away.
Checking to see if there were any guards and finding none, Mercury rose from her hiding place and stealthily made her way towards the warehouse, plans already forming in her mind. Burst in from the rear and cut off their vision with fog, rendering their weapons useless in the enclosed space, then put everything on ice----literally before destroying everything inside, and the men responsible for taking Sarah away from her. Mercury's grin widened. It was a good plan.
After reaching the side of the building, the sound of footsteps from above caught Mercury's attention. She looked up and gasped at seeing one of the lizard creatures descending straight at her. Mercury never had a chance to defend herself There was a brief moment of blinding pain, then darkness.
Suddenly, a red rose came out of the darkness like a knife, the stem planting itself in the cement between Batman and Moon. They both looked up and saw Tuxedo Mask perched on the branch of a nearby tree. Moon breathed a sigh of relief while Batman scowled. Mask leaped from the branch and landed in front of Moon. The top hatted hero pulled out his cane and brandished it at the Dark Knight like a saber.
"Tuxedo Mask! Thank God you came!" a grateful Moon cried.
"As I always do, beloved. As I always will." After seeing the Scouts sprawled and unmoving on the ground, Mask glared angrily at Batman. "I don't know what your game is, Batman, but no one hurts the Sailor Scouts and gets away with it. Sailor Moon! Summon your scepter!"
"I already did! And he took it!" a tearful Moon wailed.
Mask's eyes widened and it took all his willpower to keep the surprise from fully showing on his face. How could any mortal take the Cosmic Moon Scepter, the most powerful weapon in the world from Sailor Moon's grasp? And defeat the Scouts who had beaten the mightiest opponents the Negaverse could throw at them? What sort of foe was he up against?
"All right, then. I'll just have take you down the hard way," Mask growled.
"I would advise against that," said Batman. "I've wasted enough time here as it is. Stand down, son. I don't want to hurt you."
"Don't worry about that, friend. You won't!" Mask snapped, lunging at Batman with his cane like a foil. While Mask was faster than the Scouts, the Dark Knight was still able to dodge his lunge, but not by much. Mask, surprised to have missed whirled around and swung his cane at Batman's head, but missed again as his opponent ducked under the swing and, in one fluid motion, launched a thrust kick at Mask in his solar plexus intent on quickly disabling him.
However, Mask dove to the side and the kick only grazed his side. Going into a roll, Mask popped up, produced a rose from the folds of his cape and hurled it at the Dark Knight who retaliated by throwing a batarang at the fast approaching projectile. The two objects met in the middle of the distance separating Mask and Batman with destructive results. The rose was snapped in half at the stem while the batarang shattered into several pieces.
Mask was not prepared for something like that and was momentarily stunned into inaction, but Batman wasn't, launching himself into the air to nail the younger man in the chest with a flying kick. The impact slammed Mask against a tree and he slumped to his knees, dazed and unable to defend himself as the Dark Knight grabbed him by the lapels and roughly hoisted him to his feet. But Mask cleared his head and rammed a knee into Batman's midsection and he grunted from pain.
Mask pressed his advantage by breaking Batman's hold and headbutting the Dark Knight who staggered backwards. Mask then executed a spinning wheel kick at Batman's head, but the Dark Knight recovered quicker than Mask anticipated and blocked it with a forearm. Mask then tried a sweep kick to take out Batman's legs, but the Dark Knight did a somersault to avoid it. Mask tried another lunge with his cane, but Batman grabbed one end and, with a knife edge blow, snapped it in two.
Batman, having met the measure of his foe decided to end the battle. Mask, angry at being unable to put the Dark Knight down feigned a snap punch then followed with another wheelhouse kick with all the speed he could muster. However, the Dark Knight, a grandmaster at all forms of unarmed combat ignored the feint and grabbed Mask's leg in a vice-like grip as it swung towards his face. Batman used his free hand to thrust it against Mask's chest, sending him hard to the ground.
Before Mask could recover, Batman put him out with a heel palm blow to his jaw and Mask went limp. The Dark Knight moved away from his fallen foe, mildly impressed with Mask's fighting skills. Batman figured on only needing thirty seconds to defeat Mask. The younger man lasted for forty-five.
Tuxedo Mask!" screamed Moon, rushing to Mask's side.
"Relax. He's not dead. Like I said, I don't kill," Batman said gruffly.
Moon, tears streaming down her face cradled Mask's head in her lap. Then she looked up at Batman with hate filled eyes. "You....MONSTER!"
The Dark Knight was unmoved. "I've been called worse. Fighting evil is no game for children, Sailor Moon. What you just saw was proof of how violent this war can be. Go home. If you're lucky, you'll never see me again."
Without waiting for a response, Batman spun around and retreated into the night, leaving Moon alone and heartsick. She led her friends into this debacle and they paid the price for following her on what turned out to be a fool's errand. Moon softly stroked Mask's hair, wishing she never become a Sailor Scout and, in the process, lost her cherished innocence. Moon silently wept for all the pain, physical and emotional she endured since that fateful day she became the Champion of Justice.
When Luna and Artemis finally came into the clearing and saw the Scouts strewn all over the ground, they were horrified.
"Good Lord! Sailor Moon! What on Earth happened?" Luna demanded, her heart in her throat.
Moon, her head down, still stroking Mask's hair was silent for almost a minute before she responded. "Batman happened."
"What? You mean to say he did all this? By himself?" a shocked Artemis asked.
Moon nodded slightly. "Tal was right. Despite our powers, despite all our training, Batman found a way to beat us. And he made it look easy to boot."
"No way! That's impossible!" Artemis cried. "He must've gotten lucky or something!"
"Luck had nothing to do with it! Batman knew what he was doing, and we didn't!" Moon yelled back at the white cat. "He took us down like amateurs! Worse, he treated us like children! That's what hurts most, how little respect he had for us, the almighty Sailor Scouts. God, what a joke we are."
The familiars were stunned into silence. They both knew Moon was a creature of wildly shifting moods, that it took little to alter her emotional balance, sending her either soaring into flights of delirious joy, or plunging down into the depths of despair.
"Maybe Batman was right," Moon muttered. "Maybe we should go home and leave this lunacy to him. After this disaster, we'd only make a mess of things, just like he said."
"No! You can't give up! Not now!" Luna shouted angrily, striding up to Moon and staring her straight in the eye.
"Give me a reason."
"All right! How about Amy? She's out there right now! Alone! Facing God only knows what!" the black cat pointed out. "You're her best friend, Serena! If you care at all for Amy, then you can't abandon her! Not when she needs you most!"
Moon pondered Luna's words for several long moments, then, with a little smile, she nodded. "You're right, Luna. As always. Thanks for making me see reason." Her face then hardened into a scowl. "Okay! Let's get the others back on their feet! We've got places to go! And this time, Batman better not get in OUR way!"
The first sensation Mercury experienced upon regaining consciousness was a deep, throbbing pain in her head. Considering a lizard creature had attacked her, the Scout of Water considered herself lucky to be alive.
As Mercury's blurred vision cleared and she could focus, she found herself on the cold tile floor of a sparsely furnished office with a sofa, chair, a desk in one comer, and in the other, a 19 inch monitor on a stand that showed a flurry of activity outside on the floor of the warehouse as men were busy moving pallets with banded bails on them.
"Welcome back to the land of the living, Sailor Mercury," said a smooth, oily voice from behind her. Mercury tried to turn around but found her arms shackled behind her while her legs were bound at the ankles by thick leather straps. Two men walked around to face the helpless Scout who glared at them. "My name is Hiroyuki Tomba, and my associate is Giancarlo Falcone from America. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance," said the Japanese with a smarmy grin.
"You'll forgive me if I don't shake hands," Mercury grumbled.
Tomba chuckled. "That's quite alright, my dear."
Falcone gave Mercury a long, critical stare. Then he snorted derisively. "So she's one of those Sailor sluts, huh? Doesn't look like much."
"Oh, you'd be surprised at what this young lady and her friends can do, Carlo," said Tomba. He then smirked at Mercury. "In fact, according to everything I've read and heard, you're supposed to be the brains of the Scouts. It came as quite a shock to me that you had been taken so easily by surprise."
Mercury, her face locked in a scowl silently seethed, cursing herself for being reckless . She had been so consumed by thoughts of revenge, she neglected to scan the building for any surveillance equipment before making her move. That she had been easily ambushed like a rank amateur proved she made a horrible mistake in underestimating the enemy's defenses. A mistake Mercury knew that could end in her death.
"What I wanna know is, how'd this twit find us?" Falcone growled.
"A good question indeed, my friend," said Tomba. He then pinioned Mercury with a harsh glare. "Well, Miss Mercury? Would you care to respond to my associate's inquiry?"
"No, I would not," a defiant Mercury snapped back.
Tomba chuckled. Mercury found it to be a chilling, unnerving sound. The Yakuza crimelord rose from his crouch, walked over to his desk and pulled a loaded, black Beretta 92F handgun from the top drawer. After pulling back the slide to chamber a round, Tomba walked back to where Mercury lay, knelt in front of her, lightly pressed the barrel of his gun against the gem on her tiara and flicked off the safety.
"You see, Carlo, while the Scouts possess amazing powers, they're quite mortal," Tomba casually explained. "They can bleed, be hurt, even killed, just like any mortal. All I have to do is pull the trigger and this young lady's brains will decorate my floor. Humans like her are so incredibly fragile."
Falcone missed the meaning of what Tomba said, but the implication came through loud and clear for Mercury whose eyes widened from the realization. Mercury harshly recriminated herself for not figuring it out sooner than this. For a brief time, Mercury had wondered if by some freak happenstance, 'Project Shapeshifter', the unholy nightmare of psychopathic scientists Kenji and Keiko Mitsumo to create half-human, half-animal hybrids had been brought back to life. Before now, she never stopped to consider the possibility that the lizard creatures hadn't been created by humans at all. The answer literally screamed in her tortured mind:
Dear God in Heaven! He's from the Negaverse!
Tomba, seeing the horrified expression on Mercury's face smirked. She knows, he thought. "Say goodnight, my dear," he whispered. With his back to Falcone, Tomba's eyes glowed a bright red, the Water Scout grimaced, then slumped into unconsciousness.
"What happened to her?" a curious Falcone asked.
Tomba shrugged. "I guess the poor girl just couldn't handle the truth." Standing up, he flicked the safety on his weapon and casually placed it on his desk. He then focused his attention on the Sicilian. "By the way, Carlo, I wasn't expecting you to visit this evening. To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"Er, I just wanted to tell you that the old men in New York have agreed to the deal," Falcone replied haltingly. "They'll be here on schedule to put everything in writing, but you can ship the stuff to the States whenever you're ready."
Tomba smiled. Inwardly, he suspected Falcone was lying, but that was of little consequence, considering he'd been keeping secrets from the Mafiosi since the first day they met. No matter. This insufferable maggot hasn't long to live anyway, he thought. A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts. "Come in."
The door opened and Genryu entered. "I apologize for the intrusion, sir, but a private matter requiring your attention has just arisen."
"Of course. Carlo, if you will excuse us. This shouldn't take long," said Tomba. "There's a kitchenette down the hall with a wet bar well stocked with spirits. Help yourself. I will join you shortly." Falcone nodded and left the office. He had other ideas in mind rather than guzzling booze. Once the door closed behind the Sicilian, Tomba fixed his subordinate a steely gaze. "What is it?" "Arod and his team haven't returned from their mission to silence Tanaka, Master," the older man replied in hushed whispers, fearful that Falcone might be listening outside. "When he failed to call at the prearranged time, I monitored the police band for any news. There were eyewitness reports of our agents having fought the Scouts outside the hospital. We must assume they've been eliminated."
Tomba scowled fiercely at the news, then he shrugged it off. "I see. An unpleasant, but not unexpected development. After the events of two nights ago, it stands to reason that a major confrontation with those sailor suited troublemakers was inevitable."
"There's more, sir. Five unconscious gaijin, all bearing weapons were found in the parking lot where the battle took place. I think they may have been some of Falcone's foot soldiers."
"And he's here with more of his thugs. Curiouser and curiouser," said Tomba, thoughtfully rubbing his chin. "Suddenly, the Sicilian's appearance here isn't quite the coincidence I first thought. Have the guards keep an eye on Falcone and his men. I suspect treachery."
"What of the Scouts? Do you think they'll find us?"
Tomba nodded. "Almost certainly. If they got to Tanaka before Arod did, it's a given he will have spilled his guts to them. How goes the packing of the merchandise?"
"Everything has been safely delivered to the ship, Master." Genryu then glared at the unconscious Mercury on the floor behind Tomba. "What about the girl? Should I kill her?"
"No. Seeing how we're going to have company, she will be of more use to us alive."
Instead of going to the kitchen, Falcone headed back downstairs onto the main floor. His objective: the room with the barred metal door. What was on the other side? Why wouldn't Tomba tell him what's in there? Tomba had boasted that a way to combat Batman was in that room, but what could it be? A brainwashed Superman? Having seen the Dark Knight in action up close and personal, Falcone figured it would take the Man of Steel to beat him. And even then, there weren't any guarantees.
Spying the door, curiously unguarded, Falcone slowly made his way towards it when the lights suddenly went out and everything on the floor shut down. Surprise and confusion reigned as a thick white gas filled the air and the men began coughing and gagging. Falcone shivered as if freezing. He knew what was going on and, covering his mouth, he ran back upstairs. The Sicilian's private nightmare, one he traveled seven thousand miles to escape from had finally caught up with him.
Tomba stormed out of his office angry at the mayhem he saw below. "What's going on here? What happened to the power? Where did that smoke come from?"
Falcone, homing in on Tomba's voice ran towards him. "It's him, Tomba! He's here! Sweet baby Jesus! He's here!"
"Make sense, man! Who are you babbling about?"
"Batman, you idiot!" yelled a shaken Falcone, pulling a Colt .45 from beneath his suit jacket. "He's found us! Just like I knew he would!"
"Impossible!" growled Tomba, annoyed with Falcone's theatrics. "There's no way even Batman could've gotten inside! Our security is perfect!"
"Wrong, slimeball. No security is infallible," came a graveyard cold voice from behind the two men. As one, they whirled around to face the grim visage of Batman. Tomba was openly surprised to face the Dark Knight while Falcone looked ready to have a heart attack. Then he became incensed.
"Miserable son of a bitch! I'll kill you!" the Sicilian roared, raising his gun to fire at Batman. But he never got the chance as the Dark Knight whipped out a batarang and hurled it at the gangster, knocking the gun out of his hand.
"Bad move, Carlo. You know I hate guns," said Batman.
Tomba smirked at what he saw. "Impressive. So you're the famous Batman. Carlo's told me a great deal about you." He then bowed low as a sign of respect. "My name is Hiroyuki Tomba. It is truly an honor to meet you, sir."
"The feeling's anything but mutual," Batman growled back. "If you're Falcone's Yakuza connection, then I'm here to shut you down. Permanently!"
Tomba's smile never wavered. "Is that a fact? Well, I hate to disappoint you, but I'm afraid I can't let that happen. I have great plans in store for America, and I will not allow a crazed vigilante like you to derail my ambitions."
"And how do you propose to stop me?"
"Oh, quite easily. You see, I anticipated interference, though not from you. However, my ace in the hole will work against you equally as well." Without taking his eyes off Batman, Tomba snapped his fingers. "Genryu. If you please."
Genryu lugged a still unconscious Mercury out of the office under one arm. Grabbing a fistful of blue hair, the older man yanked the Scout's head back, ripped off her choker and pressed the blade of a wickedly long knife on her exposed throat.
"If you so much as twitch, my assistant will slit the young lady's throat from ear to ear before you can blink," said Tomba. "To show you that I mean business, Genryu? Give the Dark Knight a little demonstration of my sincerity."
With a nod, Genryu, his lips patting in a sadistic grin lightly pulled the knife across Mercury's throat an inch, drawing a thin line of blood that trickled down her neck. Batman's teeth clenched.
"Stop it!" he demanded.
Tomba nodded and Genryu, looking disappointed, did as he was told. "Now then, will you risk Sailor Mercury's life in order to subdue me? I think not. You annoying do-gooders would never allow helpless people, or your peers to suffer. Care to prove me wrong?"
Batman weighed his options and knew he was in an indefensible position. Even though he was only ten feet away from Tomba, Genryu, his eyes glued fast on the Dark Knight looked ready to kill Mercury at the drop of a hat. First and foremost, Batman devoted himself to protecting the innocent, to preserving human life. He would not endanger Mercury when the odds of saving her were so poor.
Then there was the matter of the drug plant he came to destroy. His brief reconnaissance told him that mass amounts of drugs----perhaps the mutagen itself----had been prepared for shipment abroad. He couldn't allow that poison to leave this city. The Dark Knight decided to bide his time and wait for a better opportunity to rescue Mercury and smash the Mafia-Yakuza alliance.
Batman held up his hands. "It would appear you have me at a disadvantage."
Tomba grinned as one of his guards scampered up the stairs. Without breaking stride, the guard slammed the butt of his assault rifle against Batman's skull and he crumpled to the floor.
"Yes. I do," said Tomba.
Next: War on the Piers