(General P.O.V)

Blackgate Penitentiary used to be a fortress back in the colonial era.

The fortress was built on an island.

With high walls that covered the cell blocks and facilities within, including 2 thick metal gates that were the only way in or out, it cut an intimidating picture.

Not to mention the guard outposts built along the perimeter wall and the additional guards with weapons patrolling the yard.

The penitentiary was connected to Gotham by a roadway that came from Madison street and transitioned into a bridge with metal beams from the halfway point to the prison's gate.

"This course of action is Ill advised."

Chase grumbled as I continued to study the small island in the middle of the Gotham bay.

Lights periodically passed over the compound, revealing the rocky banks and the sea water churning below.

Blackgate was the home for the henchmen, regular law-breakers and finally the supervillains who were not deemed insane and carted off to Arkham.

"This was always the plan."

I told Chase.

"No it wasn't. The plan was to go behind your friend's back and kill this Mafia Lord after you had secured enough money to start a new life. You said you would eventually tell her but...I doubt it."

Chase shot back with sass.

I winced at the reminder of my premeditated deceit. After we'd hit a few of Falcone's drug houses with Artemis and Raven, I had felt...disgusted.

I had sold drugs before and the stuff that Falcone had, was hard. The type that broke families, made mom and dad, people who were supposed to protect, sell out their own kids for another hit.

That's when I had decided...I couldn't let Falcone get away. He was too much like Papa Fred.

The decision to try and live this life without staining my hands weighed heavily on me. I had wanted a new start...Falcone had shown me how naive I was.

There will always be people who need Killing. And there will always be someone to carry out the deed.

And with my powers being related so heavily to death, there was no one else to take on that responsibility.

Falcone therefore would die by my hands.

If not for the people his operations kept on hurting, then for my own personal satisfaction.

I huffed, getting to my full height on the rooftop of a skyscraper looking out into the bay.

"She's dead now. So it doesn't really matter."

I said, a hard tone overcoming my previous neutral one. I immediately regretted saying that for the callousness.

Chase stayed quiet.

"I can't leave an enemy like The Roman alive, Chase. You know that."

I implored, my thumb rolling around the pommel of Chesha Neko. A nervous tic I had acquired recently.

He sighed.

"Well then, let us go commit more felonies."

I smiled.

"Yes. Let's."

I strapped the mask on my face, and then jumped, feeling the wind whip through my hair while falling towards the ground from over 20 stories.

The mask seemed to meld even more onto my face, stopping the wind pressure from buffeting my eyes, which had already begun to tear up.

Whenever I was reinforcing my body, I made sure to pour more Reiryoku into my sensory organs than any other part of my body.

Combined with Reikaku, nothing would ever get the jump on me.

Unfortunately, my skill with reinforcement was not the greatest. Instead of reinforcing it was mostly enhancing.

Which meant...my eyes were much more sensitive to stimuli.

Much more sensitive to the air.

The mask took care of that. It shielded my face almost perfectly. It had started to change when Chase had advised me to start sending my Reiryoku into it. Not too much though, otherwise I would end up destroying it.

But...this instance, something told me to push further.

I run a little test while in the air, sending a little more of my Reiryoku into it. I blinked as my vision wavered between different color gradients.

"As dastardly fun as it would be to see you splatter on the ground in gory fashion, alas, you're the only wielder I have."

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Chase pointed out.

My eyes widened.

There was a sharp ring as Chesha Neko left the sheath on my hip.

'Shikai!'

A second later, a small gale rushed out from my position as I spun in the air, blowing the leaves and litter on the sidewalk away, before I rose up on wings of dark purple.

As dark as I could make the strings making up the wings. The darker the better to blend in with the night.

"That was close."

I whispered to my self while strafing to the left, flying along the west wing of the Penitentiary.

"And shouldn't it be the wielder 'you' want?"

I jokingly asked Chase.

"With your stubbornness, anyone else would be a suitable master."

I received the light jab with a laugh.

The plan was to sneak in by avoiding the spotlights randomly lighting up the place. Only...it wasn't random.

It had taken me a few minutes but I had memorized their path, tracking the routine sweep through the yard and perimeter wall, then sticking it into my mind.

I flapped my wings almost instinctually. It felt like I could feel the bones connecting the two purple feathered limbs to my back. Not unlike the wings I had in my Spirit King Form.

"How are you going to locate which cell block he's in?"

Chase asked as I landed on the island behind the ruins of the fortress the penitentiary had been built on.

I smiled, settling into a meditative position.

"That's easy. I'll just look through every cell block."

With Chesha Neko on my lap, I breathed in and out, smelling the sea water from the random spray of water as it hit the banks.

"Chase do you know the most common deaths in Jail? It's death by suicide. That goes double for a place like this."

My tone took on a gloomy note as I explained.

"Which means..."

"There are always Shrouds hanging around. Whether to collect a soul or waiting for someone to die."

My Zanpakuto spirit concluded.

"Exactly."

I responded and through my Reikaku, it was easy to spot a few Shrouds, unseen by anyone else, just hanging in the air... drifting after soon to be dead inmates.

It was easy to extend my control into those few Shrouds..I sent them through each cell, looking for Carmine Falcone.

I blinked my eyes and found my vision split into half a dozen perspectives. The Shrouds didn't see like a normal person.

They saw souls. Saw when they were destined to die. And which souls belonged to hell. Anything else was cast in a gray and colorless tone.

It was...empowering in a way that made me wonder if I was losing my humanity. To see the exact date and way someone would go out. I literally held the power of life and death.

The shrouds phased through the walls, floors and ceilings unimpeded until finally they arrived in the right cell.

It was bigger than average with even a few luxurious items like a huge king size bed, a soft rug and a couch facing the cell window which showed the Gotham skyline.

On a poker table, Carmine was playing poker with a few other inmates. He didn't look agitated in any way, which assured me he hadn't heard the news. Hadn't heard that he was down 100 million dollars.

I recognized some of the inmates as villains, from the mandatory research Chase had advised me to do.

I had about a dozen open tabs on my phone, mostly about villains. A couple about the heroes and a few about me. People were curious on who the Scarlet Devil was.

Falcone looked like I expected he would. White hair, a sharp jawline with a smooth moustache and beard. There was a scar on the side of his forehead and his eyes were as sharp as knives.

They joked around, smoked cigars and even had drinks. His was the definition of 'money can buy anything'.

Even a good lifestyle in a correctional facility.

It grated me. Made me mad. I'd been in prison for 5 years and I hated every second of it. There was no privacy, it was overcrowded and the violence...

I informed Chase about my findings.

"Do you recognize the others around the table?"

Chase asked.

Despite the gray and colorless perspective, it wasn't hard to recognize 2 of the 5 men sitting around Falcone.

"There's the Ventriloquist and Victor Zsasz."

I ground out the name of the second inmate. One with scars littering his entire body.

"The others probably wear masks in their other identities."

It was obvious they were Supervillains too. Their souls were much stronger than the average person.

As for Zsasz, his soul was the darkest I had ever seen. Were he to die, I was confident he would be headed to the lowest pits of hell.

"So the puppeteer and the serial killer. Something tells me Carmine Falcone will not be only one to meet his maker this night."

Chase said with a snort.

He could feel the murderous intent I had. A slow smile appeared on my face. He was right.

(General P.O.V)

Falcone and the rest were enjoying themselves when suddenly, he and Zsasz slumped onto the table, eyes wide as their hearts stopped beating.

There was no break in. No fight. They just...died.

And from far away, the roar of a contingent of cop cars sounded out as they approached the prison, too late to stop Davian.

(Davian's P.O.V)

"That was easier than I expected it would be."

I commented as the Shrouds dragged Falcone's and Zsasz's souls away.

It was a simple matter of materializing my spirit pressure through the Shroud, making it potent enough to instantly kill Zsasz and Falcone.

I made sure to only focus on the two of them. The Ventriloquist and the others immediately banged on the cell bars, trying to escape but they were lucky.

It wasn't their time yet. One would die from food poisoning a few days later.

The other would die at 46 and the Ventriloquist? Something told me he would die by my hands, a few months from now.

All in all, the brief stop at the prison was successful.

Chase hummed in agreement.

"I should have gone after the rest of the villains though."

I added to myself, winding through the air as I left Blackgate behind.

"Had you stayed behind, one of the superheroes would have arrived. Would you have spared them when your hatred for Batman's involvement in Raven's death still burns so strongly?"

Chase questioned.

I grit my teeth.

"No."

"Patience my Wielder. Patience will help you prepare. Patience is how you'll beat him."

He went on to advise.

I sighed.

"Yeah. Patience."

'And power'. I added to myself.

With Falcone dead, the PRT wouldn't have anyone coming after them for the raid on The Roman. And with the masks I'd given them, there was literally no way they could betray me.

Chase had...done something to those masks. A sort of compulsion where their souls were bound to his power. They couldn't lie to me, sell me out or cheat me out of my money.

So I had secured myself a team that would be invaluable in gathering Intel due to how Danny was connected. Not to mention...

"Chase, we need a way to protect the guys. What other function can you add to their masks?"

I asked, knowing eventually they would come into conflict with the other gangs. Or Batman.

"Not much. You need to train, increase your spirit energy control and unlock more of my power."

He said.

I stopped in midair.

"You think I'm ready for Bankai?"

There was an undertone of excitement as I asked.

"No."

Chase immediately shot me down.

"However,in a few years you will be. It all relies on how hard you push yourself. I can promise you, however that once you achieve Bankai, you will be nigh unstoppable. Stronger than even the Kryptonian at his Max."

I sucked in a deep breath.

Stronger than Superman at his Max?

"What are we waiting for then? Let's go get stronk!"

I said, pumping myself up as I headed towards the meeting point with Cheshire.

I could feel it. This was the start of something incredible. My path to true power. And when I came back, I would kill every single villain, not only because they deserved it but because the heroes of this world needed to learn.

Batman needed to learn. Sometimes death is not the question, it's the answer.