| Synopsis | - Falcone Imports is under siege by the Penguin. This is the third time that the Penguin has launched such an attack, and Batman sees this is a sign that the Falcones have lost their underworld primacy. As Zucco and Skeevers attempt to fight off Penguin's thugs, Batman leaps into the fray. As Skeevers takes a bullet to the arm, Batman deploys a flashbang, disorienting the Penguin's goons. As Zucco tends to Skeevers' injury, Penguin attempts to escape. Batman corners him and demands to know where Two-Face is. Penguin refuses to answer, seemingly more afraid of Two-Face than he is of Batman.
At the roof of the Gotham Police station, Gordon, Gustavson, and O'Conner assemble the rest of their Special Task Force: Julia Lopez, David King, and Laureen Wilcox. Gordon tells the team that their ultimate goal is to dismantle Gotham's still powerful crime families, independent of Batman and even their fellow officers. For now, they will investigate the Hangman. Gordon assigns each of them to investigate one of the Hangman's victims, Gustavson gets O'Hara, Lopez gets Loeb, King gets Flass, O'Connor gets Branden, and Wilcox gets Pratt. Their meeting is interrupted when Batman drops off an unconscious Penguin, restrained in a fishing net.
Sofia and Mirti are discussing the Penguin's attack and the Maronis' recent alliance with Lucia Viti when they discover that they have been locked out of the Penthouse. Mario tells Sofia that he knows about Zucco's smuggling operation at the shipyard, and that the Falcone name can no longer be associated with illegal activities. He is freezing her assets and kicking her out of the Penthouse. Gotham City is changing, and if she will not change with it as he has, she will be left behind. After Sofia has left, an unknown figure tells Mario that Sofia will now go to the only place that will take her in. Mario tells the contact that he does not want his name associated with any of this. The shadowy figure assures him that no one is interested in him.
The Gordons are celebrating St. Patrick's Day by having a few drinks at Sully's Bar. Porter arrives and introduces herself to Barbara. The conversation soon moves to Gilda Dent, and Porter wonders if she is even still alive. Before Barbara can offer her opinion, Jim arrives, and they are soon joined by another old acquiantance, Stan Merkel, who is now a Watch Commander at the Eleventh Precinct. When Gordon introduces him to Barbara, Merkel recalls that his own wife was expecting him home hours ago and rushes out of the bar. Barbara comments that Merkel has had too much to drink, prompting Gordon to offer to drive him home. However, by the time Gordon is outside the bar, Merkel seems to have inexplicably vanished.
In the Gotham Sewers, Joker tells Two-Face that Penguin has been captured. Two-Face seems indifferent to the news, leading Joker to suspect that he and the other Arkham escapees are nothing more than expendible pawns. He pulls a gun on Two-Face, demanding to let him in on his plans. Two-Face reminds him why he is in charge.
Batman goes to the former Dent residence hoping to find more clues to Two-Face's whereabouts, and his connection to the Hangman killings. Instead, he finds Commander Merkel's body hanging from a tree. The deed to the Dent house has been pinned to his jacket, a Hangman puzzle reading "Jury of your peers" scrawled into it. Without warning, the Special Task Force arrives. Believing Batman to be the killer, they draw their weapons and demand his surrender.
|
