1932 Drug & The Dominos/Collapse

Synopsis
At noon on January 2, Firo enters The Alveare for lunch before opening his casino. Inside, rather than the usual spread of tables, he sees Isaac & Miria lining up dominos in the cleared-out center of the room. Upon asking Maiza, who's sitting at the counter, what they're doing, Firo also notices several other members of the Martillo Family setting dominos up behind the counter; Randy and Pezzo, Lia, Ennis, Ronny, and Yaguruma are all participating, preventing Firo from sitting at a table and ordering lunch. Upon further prodding, he also finds out Maiza was behind the design.

At the Runorata-backed hotel, Gustavo Bagetta hears about the events that led to the bag of Runorata drugs ending up at The Daily Days from a subordinate. Assuming Roy Maddock, Eve Genoard, the Gandor Family, and the Daily Days are in cahoots, Gustavo angrily destroys a marble ashtray.

Some time later, Gustavo's subordinate informs him that the freelancers he'd asked for have arrived. When Gustavo checks in on them, he's immediately greeted by a smiling Mexican woman with two katana. Also in the room is an old man with a drink, and a younger man in a long coat. Seeing this ensemble of people, Gustavo furiously tells his subordinate he was meant to get hitmen, rather than street performers. As the subordinate stammers out a reply, the Mexican woman darts under the table, ending up with her sword at Gustavo's throat unnaturally quickly.

The woman berates Gustavo for fighting. When Gustavo in turn berates her for turning his sword on an 'amigo', as she'd called him, the woman excuses her actions by blaming it on her sword, Murasámia. Reluctantly, Gustavo commends her apparent skill, then tells her to stop calling him her friend. He concedes to his subordinate that this group of people at least seems to have guts, and his subordinate informs him that there's one more hitman on the way. Just then, the missing hitman arrives, and everyone present takes interest when his subordinate refers to the man as 'Felix'. Gustavo inwardly recalls the "Handyman" Felix, who was said to rival Vino in strength.

Felix explains that because he already has a job to do, he can't take another hit on someone, but he's available to do any job that isn't strictly a hit. Gustavo asks him if he has any interest in fighting Vino, but Felix brushes the idea of competing with another hitman like that as childish, and refuses. Just as Felix is about to leave, Gustavo asks him to carry out a kidnapping job, and Felix immediately brings him into a discussion about rates.

Some time later, Gustavo addresses the people he's managed to gather regarding the plan for their later raid. He instructs the freelance hitmen to stay out of things until Vino shows his face, telling them they're not getting paid until after the job to deter them from running. He then addresses his own subordinates, declaring that they're going to teach the information brokers at the Daily Days a lesson first. As the group is leaving to carry out the raid, they're stopped by Begg Garrott standing in the way. Begg asks where they're going, and Gustavo threatens him not to try and stop them, which prompts Begg to furrow his eyebrows.

At the Coraggioso, Luck Gandor finishes up the tail end of a phone call, then addresses Keith and Berga. He tells them that the plan has moved up a day, and that the Runoratas are about to launch an attack on the Daily Days. Luck complains about not getting to sleep before the attack, but quickly becomes slightly happier thinking about getting revenge for all of the wrongs the Runoratas have inflicted on them lately. As they prepare to leave, Luck picks up the phone and says a code phrase; "Medical exam starting at two o'clock." He hangs up promptly, then instructs Tick Jefferson to keep an eye on the place, and to tell Claire where to find them if he came around. Though the brothers debate as to where Claire might have gotten off to, they ultimately decide that they can handle the situation with or without him.

Back at Kate Gandor's house, Roy and Eve discuss what they plan to do from their current position. Roy urges Eve to go home to safety, even insisting he'll take the blame for her disappearance. Though Eve resolves to return home, she's stopped before she can by a strange man entering the house. He tells Roy and Eve to come with him. Since the pair hesitate, the man strides forward and knocks Roy unconscious, reassuring the still-conscious Eve that he hadn't done anything to Kate. With Roy over his shoulder and Eve in tow, he heads for the Daily Days.

The Daily Days is unusually quiet in the editorial department, but a variety of people have gathered in the Presidents' office to be debriefed about the current state of things: the Genoard house staff, the newspaper executives, and Edith. After hearing the full story, Benjamin had attempted to hit Henry, but was stopped by Fang Lin-Shan and Jon Panel, only for Samantha to take a swing at him and connect. As this plays out, The President of the Daily Days informs the group that Gustavo will be attacking the information brokerage in an hour, at two o'clock.

Nicholas asks if the Daily Days will be counterattacking, but the president replies that Keith Gandor had asked that the Gandor family be allowed to take care of him. Despite this, he says that since they're part of the incident now, they can view it subjectively, so he expresses that he would like to get rid of Gustavo.

A short time later, the president begins to give orders for how the assembled group should handle the imminent attack from Gustavo, telling everyone to evacuate the building through the sewers, which connect to the police headquarters. Just before he connects to Luck on the phone, he tells Nicholas and Elean to bring materials for publishing the newspaper with them when they evacuate, since the Daily Days never stops publication.

At the Alveare, Isaac & Miria finish setting up their elaborate domino design. As the Martillo executives---with the exception of Firo---cheer, they push the first domino over.

When the scheduled time of two o'clock comes to pass, Gustavo kicks down the doors to the Daily Days' entrance, but is shocked to find the building completely empty. Gustavo interrogates the man he'd posted to stand guard outside, but the man says he hadn't seen anyone enter or exit through either of the main doors to the building. Puzzled, Gustavo tells his men to search all floors of the building for any hint of the journalists, or something that might lead to them.

The Runoratas, accompanied by the Mexican woman, begin to search the building. Meanwhile, outside the back entrance, the hitman in the long coat speaks to a guard posted by Gustavo, remarking that Gustavo doesn't seem to be very smart, attacking a place like this in broad daylight. The guard asks why he isn't inside, and the man in the coat explains that he can't afford to be caught as he is---pulling open his coat very slightly, he reveals around ten rifles just in the visible portion.

The hitman further complains that he'd like to kill Vino and be done with it, so the guard tells him he seems to be a little crazy, too. As the man in the coat responds that nobody in this business is sane, Felix returns with Roy and Eve, and the other hitman asks him whether he agrees that all hitmen are short a few marbles. Felix dismisses him coldly, calling his fixation on the mental state of hitmen lame, and carries on through the back entrance. The hitman in the coat hesitates before following him into the building, stopping to pull out a handgun and remark to the guard that he's not a good shot, so he aims for quantity over quality with his bullets. Since that's the case, he'll have an excuse if he accidentally happens to hit Felix with a stray bullet. As the man in the coat leaves, the guard remarks that all of the hitmen are idiots.

Elean frets about the situation from a nearby roof, informing the group of people who had been with him in the president's office that he's just spotted someone taking Eve and another man into the building through his binoculars. Edith grabs the binoculars and recognizes the man as Roy, then sprints down the stairs before anyone can stop her.

Ennis and Firo watch the dominos fall in the Alveare, remarking on the colors they reveal as they lay flat.

In their search for any remaining journalists, Gustavo and his men have gathered in a room on the third floor when they hear the door shut behind them. Turning around, Gustavo is faced with a man he takes a moment to recognize as Luck Gandor. Baffled, he remarks that Luck had gotten his throat cut in a used bookstore; Luck affirms that this happened, but dismisses the subject, inviting his brothers in for a discussion. Ignoring Gustavo's fumbling, Luck addresses the men who came with him, inviting them to join the Gandors' side of the dispute.

Everyone in the room goes silent following this request. Gustavo begins to laugh it off, but Luck doubles down, informing everyone that they've made a deal with Bartolo Runorata to ensure that nobody who refuses to side with Gustavo will be punished. Gustavo attempts to call his bluff, but Luck counters that they've been gathering evidence in regards to everything Gustavo has been doing under his boss's nose, and once more brings up the deal with Bartolo as an escape for Gustavo's subordinates, adding that anyone who chooses to remain by Gustavo's side will become a target for Vino.

Seeing his men hesitate, Gustavo picks up a nearby subordinate and slams him into the floor. Luck taunts him over his violence, and Gustavo calmly declares he'll kill the Gandors here. Luck says they haven't drawn their guns yet, and Gustavo counters that that's only because firing a gun will alert the cops. He goes on, presuming the first one to fire will 'lose'. When Luck confirms this is the case, Gustavo declares that he loses, then blows Luck's head off with a shotgun.

Gustavo then begins advancing on Keith, but his path is stopped by the voice of his subordinate prompting him to look over at Luck's body, which Berga has calmly made his way over to. Gustavo watches as the viscera from the shotgun blast begins moving back toward the place where Luck's head should be, reforming itself back into a proper head. When Luck fully regenerates, Berga pokes at him to wake him up, and Luck complains that his instincts have dulled so much that he hadn't been able to avoid the shot.

Standing up nonchalantly, Luck offers the deal one more time to the Runorata men. As they stand, frozen, a quick flash of gold slices one of Luck's arms clean off, and the Mexican woman who'd just detached his arm comments on how interesting his immortal body is. Luck asks her if she'd like to join their side, but the woman says that she'd like to meet Vino, which is only possible if she keeps attacking. Seeing her relatively composed demeanor in such a strange situation, Luck also notices that a man in the back with a bottle of liquor is also seemingly unaffected by the scene he'd just witnessed.

As Luck takes note of this, Felix enters the room with Eve and Roy. Gustavo thanks him for his work, then proposes another job for him: tying up his enemies so they can't move. Felix replies that he can, but only if Gustavo pays him thirty quadrillion dollars, since that's how much money it would take for him to make enemies of the Gandors. As Gustavo reels in shock, Felix ushers Eve and Roy out into the corridor, urging them to hide. Gustavo tries to get answers out of him, but Felix flippantly answers that Gustavo had only told him to bring them here, which he'd done.

At this point, Berga speaks up, asking Felix what he's doing in "that getup". The Mexican girl impatiently turns to Luck, demanding to see Vino, and 'Felix' replies: "You rang?"

During the ensuing silence, Felix spends several seconds tearing off his fake beard, revealing himself to be Vino. Furious, Gustavo asks the Gandors if this was another trick of theirs, but Luck expresses confusion and asks who 'Felix' is. Vino explains that he'd gone and bought the name Felix Walken from the original, since he wouldn't be able to get married without a proper identity. He'd gotten the whereabouts of Felix Walken from Henry, and had been interrupted in his conversation with the former Felix by a call for a hit, so he'd gone over instead to check out the enemy's situation.

As Vino carries on, he interrupts his own speech so he can fire a bullet at the man with the liquor bottle, who simultaneously fires one at him; Vino's bullet hits the man's bottle, while the older hitman's embeds itself in the wall behind Vino. Sending all of Gustavo's men into shock once more, Vino quotes The Jazz Singer and declares, "You ain't heard nothin' yet!"

Over at the back entrance, Edith is stopped by the guard at the door as she attempts to enter the Daily Days, but seeing Begg, is distracted momentarily. Begg tells the guard to allow Edith in, since she knows Roy.

The Mexican woman breaks the shocked silence inside the building by enthusiastically asking if she'll get the fame from Vino and Felix if she kills Vino now. Vino distractedly answers to the affirmative, then asks Luck who he's supposed to be killing. Luck repeats that he'd like to settle things peacefully still, and Vino informs him that the people he'd brought to the Daily Days had seemed to be Kate's guests. Suddenly frantic, Luck berates him for not giving him that information first, before hurrying out of the room to go find them.

Gustavo makes a run for the other door, intending to follow Luck. Vino tries to turn his gun on Gustavo, but is forced to change targets when the Mexican woman takes a slash at him, knocking the gun out of his hand and allowing Gustavo to escape. She notes that she'd been aiming for his wrist, and apologizes for her katana moving on its own like that. Vino warns her to surrender since he doesn't like killing 'amigas', to which the Mexican woman becomes indignant, accusing him of making fun of her because of her gender. In her frustration, she slices at him.

At the Coraggioso, Tick notices that a few pairs of his new scissors are missing; in the office at the Daily Days, Vino uses a pair of scissors to block the woman's katana completely, rebutting her claims that he's making fun of her being a woman and instead telling her he's making fun of her weakness. The woman lets go of her katana with one hand, using that hand to pull out and attack with her second katana, but that attack is also blocked by a second pair of scissors.

From the other side of the room, the hitman in the long coat takes out two shotguns and takes aim at Vino and the Mexican woman. However, just before he can fire, Berga forces his arms downwards, damaging the floor and injuring both the hitman's and Berga's legs---however, since Berga is an immortal, he regenerates. The man in the coat howls in pain and rolls around on the floor, but still manages to take out a pistol and shoot at Berga, only injuring him temporarily before he begins regenerating again. As he continues getting shot, Berga raises a fist, managing to land a heavy blow to the hitman's face despite taking a bullet to his hand.

Vino and the woman with katanas trade blows a few more times, though each time the katana blades are stopped by Vino's scissors. Taking advantage of the woman's fatigue, Vino raises his leg up and stomps down on her wrist, causing her to drop the sword in that hand. He repeats this motion with his now-free hand, causing her to drop the other sword. As this fight reaches its close, several of the Runorata men finally make their move at Vino's prompting, turning to Keith and joining the side of the Gandors, which surprises everyone but Keith and Berga.

Berga explains that a lot of the people who'd just turned tail and ran were the moles who'd gotten them the information on Gustavo's movements. As Vino reflects on this, he hurls a pair of scissors across the room. The older hitman who'd had the liquor bottle had fired another shot at him and missed, and Claire had intended to return the favor with the scissors, but they instead ended up in the shoulder of the man in the long coat, as the older man was using him as a meatshield.

Vino laughs, chucking the other pair of scissors and making a dive for the gun, managing to avoid a rain of bullets from the older man in the process. Though he fires back, the old man continues to use the hitman in the coat as a meatshield, blocking the bullets with the guns inside of the coat. The two of them exhaust their bullets, and Vino compliments the old man, then asks if he'd consider taking the Gandors' offer and leaving. He refuses, saying he's still after Vino's head, then proclaims he can't betray a client even after that client has left due to his hitman's pride.

At this statement, Vino begins laughing hysterically, telling the man there's no such thing as the pride of a hitman. As he carries on, he's stopped in his tracks by the feeling of a handgun against the back of his head. Behind him, Keith berates him for making fun of other people's philosophies, and Claire's expression and tone softens as he addresses Keith to apologize. Abruptly, Keith slips past him to knock the old man to the floor, temporarily disabling him. Claire jokingly tells Keith to be nice to old people, but Keith emotionlessly replies that enemies are enemies. Claire responds that, of the three brothers, Keith is the most cut out for the mafia.

Berga asks the Mexican woman what she plans to do now that the fighting has cooled down. Fixated on Keith, she asks him earnestly if the offer "the fox-eyed guy" had made earlier was still in effect.

Meanwhile, after hiding in the reception room on the first floor of the building, Eve has lost track of Roy. Determined to find him, she creeps towards the door only to be stopped by a figure in the window. Before she can react, the figure kicks the door open. Eve screams, sinking to the floor, and Gustavo tells her to quiet down, beginning to speak threateningly to her about how she'd set him up despite the fact that he'd never done anything to her personally. Eve is confused, which turns to fear once he points his shotgun at her.

Deciding not to kill her right away, Gustavo winds up to break her legs, only to be repeatedly struck by a wooden chair. Luck Gandor hits him with the chair until he's fallen down and presumably been knocked unconscious, and Eve averts her eyes from the scene in front of her. Luck calmly offers a hand to Eve, but she doesn't take it, prompting him to apologize for frightening her. Luck introduces himself as Kate Gandor's younger brother in law, and Eve asks him if he's the leader of his family. Luck agrees that that's close enough to the situation, and Eve frantically asks him if her brother Dallas Genoard is still alive.

Luck, after a moment of hesitation, begins to tell her about how Dallas had become an incomplete immortal a year ago and, after killing four of Luck's men, had found himself in an oil drum at the bottom of the river. Luck cuts himself with a knife to prove he's not lying about immortality, and Eve sinks into despair, begging Luck to forgive her brother and his friends, or at least let them be judged by the law. Luck coolly responds that he won't forgive them, since nothing he does will bring Luck's friends back from the dead---however, he reflects that any other mafioso probably would have gone further and shut her up by now.

Eve continues to protest that Luck's decision not to forgive Dallas is selfish, since she's affected by it despite having nothing to do with the world of the mafia. Even so, Luck attempts to put the conversation to rest, but is suddenly struck over the head by the reception room's sofa. Before he can regain his bearings, he's hit again from the side and sent flying into the wall.

A vengeful Gustavo yells at both of them for 'playing him', having entered an enraged state after getting back on his feet. Luck attempts to fire at him multiple times, but despite hitting his mark each time, Gustavo continues to advance towards him, and he reaches Luck, beginning to relentlessly beat down on him until he stops moving. At that point, he turns his focus towards Eve, telling her that he'll kill her the same way he killed her father and brother. Realizing by her reaction that Eve hadn't known he killed her family, Gustavo begins gloating about what he'd done to them.

Before he can speak more, a regenerated Luck cuts him off, berating him for his attitude. This provocation causes Gustavo to pick him up and throw him towards Eve, though he misses and Luck hits a table instead. While Gustavo looks for his shotgun, Luck begins telling Eve to run while she can, but stops once he looks at Eve and sees her pointing Gustavo's own shotgun at him.

Eve apologizes to Luck for saying selfish things to him earlier, then tells him she can't forgive Gustavo for what he's done. She pulls the trigger, but the bullet doesn't connect; Luck had grabbed the barrel of the gun and aimed it at his own left arm, blasting his hand off in the process. Without looking at Eve, he tells her he accepts her pain, before charging at Gustavo and stabbing him in the neck with the bone of his left hand. After making sure Gustavo's body has stopped moving, Luck turns to make sure Eve is alright, but passes out before he can properly do so.

In another part of the building, Roy desperately frets about having lost Eve at some point during their attempt at escaping the building. His worrying is interrupted by a call of his name, which he recognizes immediately as being Edith, seconds before she slaps him to snap him out of his own thoughts. She begins to lecture Roy about running away from her and dragging other people into the mess he'd created, and when she hugs him, all Roy can do is apologize to her over and over.

Suddenly, their reunion is interrupted by an unfamiliar voice. Begg Garrott introduces himself to Roy, reflecting on Roy's unusually strong reactions to the drugs he'd created. Begg takes a rubber band and syringe out of his jacket and gives them to Roy, instructing him to shoot it and explaining that it's a stronger version of the drugs Roy used to take. Edith begins to protest, but Begg holds her at gunpoint, repeating his instruction for Roy to shoot up.

Roy obliges, and begins preparing himself to take the drug, forcing Begg to promise he'll let Edith go once he does. Begg agrees, and Roy immediately jams the syringe into his arm, taking the drug. He tells Edith that since he wasn't able to keep his promise to her, she's under no obligation to keep her promise to him, then slams his hand into the glass of the nearby window.

After the glass shatters, Roy begins jamming his arm down onto the shards of glass he can reach, pointing out that Begg hadn't forbade him from attempting something like this after he took the drugs. Begg tells him there's no way hurting himself like that will get the drugs out of his system, but Roy continues to cut his arm on the glass, determined to try. Begg asks him why he wouldn't want to die in the world the drugs could create for him, to which Roy responds that he doesn't want to go to that world because Edith isn't in it, and he once again pleads with Begg to let Edith go.

Shaken by Roy's sentiment, Begg reflects on his choices for a moment, conflicted about whether he wants to hate Roy or save him. Eventually, he pushes Edith away from him and tells her to leave before he regenerates, then shoots himself in the head.

At the Alveare, the Martillo Family with the exception of Firo celebrate having successfully knocked over their dominos. Firo wonders aloud who's going to clean the dominos up when he notices the peculiar pattern of the dominos, and asks Maiza what it is. Maiza explains that the design is based off of Phoinix, a Phoenician god who eventually came to be known commonly as a phoenix. Isaac and Miria butt in to explain that a phoenix design is perfect for dominos, since they can continue being set up and knocked down forever. Incredulously, Firo asks if they plan to set up the dominos again. When Isaac and Miria answer in the affirmative, Firo groans and slumps over on the table.

Maiza reflects on the meaning of the phoenix, musing to himself that coming back from death stronger each time was more like humanity than immortals; he asks an absent Begg if he agrees that humans are much closer to gods.

On January 3, the day after the attack on the Daily Days, the president relays the flow of information for his executives; Tick had gotten information about Gustavo's underhanded activity from the man he'd tortured. Then, the president had given Bartolo's contact information to Keith, and further told Edith about the Gandors' plan. Publicly, they had claimed that Gustavo had rampaged in their office while shot up on drugs, using the black bag that had made its way to them as evidence of his drug-induced attack.

The president concludes by saying Gustavo will probably be taken from the hospital directly to prison, and expresses relief that the executives at the company are alright. Nicholas and Elean ask why the police arrived to the scene so late, and the president explains that Huey Laforet was being transferred out of Manhattan that day, so the police were likely on high alert for any attempts to free him. Elean then asks the president where he'd been while the attack was being carried out, and he responds that he'd been behind his papers at his desk the whole time.

Several days later, Henry stands behind the information desk, reflecting on the information he'd gotten from Vino and how powerful he feels. As he tells himself he won't get quite so carried away in the future, a young man with a tattooed face enters the information brokerage. Henry greets him, and the young man begins by bringing up the train robbery that happened a few days ago, something Henry is delighted to hear.

Trivia

 * During the final confrontation between the hitmen and the Gandors after Claire has revealed himself, the narration changes depending on who he's currently engaged with. If he's talking to his brothers, he's referred to as "Claire". Otherwise, he's "Vino". Because he spends the majority of this chapter being referred to as Vino, that decision is reflected in the synopsis for the chapter.

Characters in Order of Appearance

 * Firo Prochainezo
 * Isaac & Miria
 * Maiza Avaro
 * Randy and Pezzo
 * Lia Lin-Shan
 * Ennis
 * Ronny Schiatto
 * Kanshichirou Yaguruma
 * Gustavo Bagetta
 * Maria Barcelito (unnamed)
 * Alkins (unnamed)
 * Laz Smith (unnamed)
 * Felix Walken
 * Begg Garrott
 * Luck Gandor
 * Berga Gandor
 * Keith Gandor
 * Tick Jefferson
 * Roy Maddock
 * Eve Genoard
 * Benjamin and Samantha
 * Henry
 * Fang Lin-Shan
 * Jon Panel
 * The President of the Daily Days
 * Nicholas Wayne
 * Elean Duga
 * Edith
 * Jacuzzi Splot (unnamed)