Gotham was a dark city in general. Something about the mix of gothic and art deco architecture made the city dimmer even in the brightest of sunny days. But at night Gotham was a veritable black hole with only the neon of signs and streetligts seem to pierce the inky blackness like stars in the night sky. Alleys were like black holes that too many people never returned from.

That thought made Bruce wince as he stood on a rooftop overlooking his city. It had hit too close to home, but of course his mind was never far from his parents. He had been trying to move on. His crusade against the scum of Gotham had consumed his life for the most part, but the memory of their death still crept back into his mind now and again.

Alfred tried his best to dissuade him from dwelling on it. Bruce figured the old spy was remorseful for sending his charge down the path he was now on. Alfred wanted Bruce to leave Batman and Gotham behind. He never mentioned it outright, but Bruce knew. Alfred had seen Dick as a way out of the life, at least until Bruce brought him into the vigilante life as well. When the young man walked out on Wayne, Alfred figured all hope was lost. Batman was all there was now.

And Batman was about to catch his biggest fish.

Across the street from where he was perched was Carmine Falcone's nightclub. At least it was normally a nightclub. As of now it was a fortress, manned by every gun left in the Falcone Crime Syndicate. Carmine knew the Batman was coming for him, and he believed he was saef holed up in there. He was wrong, of course, but that's what he believed.

"Are you ready for this?" Alfred's voice came through the comms system in the cowl. "Because this is basically suicide. I just want to make sure you realize that."

Bruce smiled faintly, "You're so confident in my abilities."

"I'd be more confident if you were Superman," the Englishman responded dryly.

"Well that would take all the fun out of it," Batman shrugged. "Besides I look terrible in blue."

"Drole," Alfred sighed. "I can turn off the power whenever you're ready. Outside of that, you're on your own."

Bruce took a deep breath. He had worked so hard to get to this moment. They had put away Zucco and Maroni, sure, but Falcone was the linchpin of organized crime in Gotham. Batman had the evidence to leak to the press. Once that was in the wild Carmine would have nowhere to hide. He had bled and punished himself to get here. He watched Dick walk out on him to get here. But finally, one of the main men responsible for his parents' deaths would be behind bars.

"I'm ready. Do it."

With that the lights on the whole city block went dark. Alfred had patched himself into the city's grid, which was far easier than it should have been. Gotham was woefully unprepared for a real cyber attack.

Not wasting any time, he fired a grapnel towards the roof of the building. Once he felt it secure, he swung towards the building before landing softly on the roof. He had breach about a hundred hostile areas before in his life, but he had to admit this was the first time he could remember being nervous. Nervous might not have been the best word. Maybe it was anticipation.

As he approached a skylight for the building, he centered himself. Emotion, no matter what it was, could get him killed. Especially in a situation like this.

Bruce pushed on the skylight gently at a pressure point and felt the glass pop away. He pulled it out and laid it on the roof.

His cape fluttered lightly as he dropped down into the building silently. As his feet touched the floor, however, heavy metal shutters closed up around the skylight above him.

"Well, well, well," a fat, confident voice came over the intercomms of the building, "Batman. Funny you should drop in."

"Falcone," Batman growled.

"In the flesh," Carmine Falcone responded. "Well, no. Not actually. But my men are there. All of them. Tell them I said hi."

Bruce heard a stampede of footsteps coming his way, and cursed under his breath.