Orientating the Board: Latrones
"Alright, the grave is in section D, row five."
It was after visiting hours in the East Gotham cemetery. Dick had easily been able to climb over the back fence. Bruce had taken a bit more effort to haul himself up but the real effort had been getting the x-ray machine over. It was about as big as Dick was, even compacted down. They had managed with the help of some rope, Dick pulling on one side, and Bruce pushing on the other.
While Bruce checked the x-ray over to make sure it hadn't sustained any damage from being pulled over, Dick took a look around the graveyard. It was quiet and dark at this time of night. Light from the street lamps on the main road leaked into the edge of the graveyard but aside from them, the only light came from a circle around the American flag in the military section of the graveyard which was illuminated by a spotlight. That was section F, Dick remembered from the map he and Bruce had pulled up online. Section D shouldn't be far away. He gestured for Bruce to follow him.
They were halfway across the graveyard when the sound of a car pulling up interrupted the quiet. Bruce and Dick ducked behind a few gravestones. The car was sleek and black. It came to a stop at the end of one of the pathways and five people got out. Three of them were large and muscular, the others were a young man and a young woman. They were around the same height, with dark hair. The larger men had flashlights to light the way through the graveyard. The small group walked off in the same direction that Bruce and Dick had been heading towards.
"Did someone beat us here?" Bruce asked. "Your officer friend?"
"I don't think so. Kate knew I would be looking into this and seemed to trust me to do so. And why would she be here at this time of night? If she had permission, she would just do it during the day."
The group came to a stop in section D in front of a large marble grave. Since they had already been most of the way there themselves, Bruce and Dick were close enough to hear them when the young man and woman began to speak.
"So here we are," the woman said. "I'm not sure what you want to say that you couldn't say during the funeral but feel free."
"You know what I couldn't say then." The young man took a flashlight from one of his companions and stepped towards the grave. The beam illuminated the name on the grave, Carmine Falcone.
"Hi Dad, it's me. And some friends." He gestured behind him to the rest of the group. "I didn't think we needed to bring them but Julie insisted."
"Someone is killing my people all over the city," the woman said. "We weren't going out without protection."
The young man sighed. "I'd rather be visiting during the day but due to the current situation, Julie decided this was safest." The young man turned around and gestured to the woman who was hanging back with the gangsters. "She's here too. Julie, do you want to say hi to Dad?"
"I'm good, Mikey," Julie said. "It's not like he can hear us anyway." She pulled out her phone to check something. "But you can take as much time as you need."
Mikey turned back to the grave. "I really am sorry that everything turned out the way it did. I didn't want to have to…" He trailed off and stood there for a second, staring at the grave. "I'm sorry. I wish there was a way for things to be different."
Dick heard a small noise coming from somewhere off to his left. Bruce didn't seem to have heard it, nor did the group gathered by Carmine Falcone's grave. He peered into the darkness. A dark shape was curled up behind a tall cenotaph in section F. For a brief moment, he thought he saw a flash of light reflecting off of something metallic before the figure shifted. Dick nudged Bruce and gestured towards it.
"Should we get out of here and try another night?" Bruce asked. "It's getting pretty crowded here."
Dick frowned, thinking. They weren't going to get close to the casket tonight, but something was going on here.
"I suppose," Mikey continued. "I was hoping saying good-bye would give me some sort of closure. I hope wherever you are in the afterlife, you can understand-"
"What is there to understand? You killed me. Patricide is a very serious crime."
The group by the grave spun around to look at the cenotaph. The figure behind it had stepped out into the circle of light created by the spotlight on the flag. It was a man dressed in what appeared to be some kind of homemade armor, with sheets of metal strapped to him. In one hand he held a net, in the other a trident. This was already pretty unusual and surprising but what was most shocking of all was his face.
It was entirely metallic. The light reflected off of its silvery sheen. Dick would have thought it was a mask but when he continued to speak the lips moved.
"Do you have nothing to say? You seemed to have a great many things you wanted to say to me earlier."
"Who are you?" cried Mikey. The gangsters moved to stand between the man and Mikey and Julie.
"You don't recognize me, the man you dethroned, the man who raised you?" The man's voice grew louder as he continued talking. "You don't recognize your own father?!"
Julie scoffed. "That's ridiculous. Dad's body was dissolved by the chemicals."
"That's what you thought. By the grace of the gods I was spared the Underworld and stand before you today. I stand before you to make you answer for your crime." The man, Carmine Falcone apparently, began striding forward. "You, my beloved son, took my life, took my empire. It all would have been yours one day anyway. But no, you got impatient."
"What?" Mikey gasped. "No I-"
"I have returned, with the blessings of the gods, to take my revenge upon you and all those who aided you in-
"Oh my god. Seriously?" Julie suddenly stormed in front of the gangsters. One of them tried to reach out and stop her but she shot him a glare and he backed down. She turned her piercing gaze on her father. "It was me."
"You- what?"
"I overthrew you. I orchestrated the plot to kill you. It was me." She crossed her arms. "Me. The one who always wanted to take over but you kept ignoring. The one who worked for this to try and prove myself to you but ultimately had to resort to the only way you would ever allow it. Now, since you're talking about revenge, I assume you're the one who has been killing my best men?"
"You-" Falcone froze and just stared at her for a moment, perhaps really seeing her for the first time. "You- you must have put your brother up to this. You- YOU TOOK EVERYTHING FROM ME." He lowered his trident to point at her and charged.
Julie took a step back and gestured to her guards. "Shoot him."
The guards pulled out their guns and took aim but Falcone was moving quickly. He was upon the first man just as the first bullets went flying past him. There was a crunch as the trident plunged into his chest.
Dick held back Bruce who seemed to start forward at the carnage. "No, don't. Bruce, we can't let them know we're here."
"Dick, I can't.."
"No!" He hissed quietly, "What was it you told me? The first thing a first responder learns when they make an evaluation? Is it safe?"
In their little hidden section of the graveyard, Bruce settled back while Dick guided them silently into a mausoleum. "It's not. I can't believe that I'm just going to sit here and watch."
The other two guards had tossed aside their guns and were going after Falcone with their fists. He had gotten in close when he had skewered their companion so he dropped his trident and swung his fist into an eye. Julie had started dragging her brother, who was frozen in shock, away.
"Finish him!" She called. "He's a dead man walking!"
One of the guards shoved Falcone off of him. This gave Falcone enough space to throw his net, tangling him up. The other guard was still able to run up and tackle him. The first guard took the opportunity to shake off the net and race to help his companion. Before he could get there Falcone threw him over his shoulder.
"This is not the end!" He hollered in the direction Julie and Mikey were escaping. "I will get you!" He jumped backwards, dodging a guard.
The two guards had positioned themselves surrounding him. Falcone looked around and saw that one of them was reaching for his gun again. He reached down, grabbed some dirt and flung it in the other man's face before bolting past him.
"I will be back! The gods will have their revenge!" He screamed as he climbed up and over the fence as fast as Dick had.
The two guards had started to give chase, but he was long gone before they got close to the fence. The two of them looked at one another and shrugged. They turned around and followed Julie and Mikey to the car.
Within a few minutes, the sleek black car had driven off. Silence descended on the graveyard again. It was empty; except for Bruce, Dick, and a freshly dead body with a trident sticking out of it.
"Well," Bruce said. "I guess that answers some questions."
"And raises several more." Dick sighed, "I'm going to have to grab any security tapes and give the Sergeant a call."
AN: Thanks once again for reading! If you'd like to contact us via tumblr, my handle is eastoniablogs! Reviews appreciated! Note: