Guys from Gotham
16th February
20:12 GMT -5
Huh.
That's… The bat-signal. I'm honestly… A little surprised that a twenty-first century Gotham uses it. I mean, it sort of made sense when Batman was
first published. Telephones were strictly fixed point and connected to traceable wires, and Batman would have to have been waiting around by it to get a message. Or Mr Pennyworth could have taken a message, but the man himself might not have picked it up for
hours. And a radio wouldn't have been much better. But… Even in the eighties a bat-pager would have made more sense. It's not as if a giant light shining up into the sky is a
subtle signal. Criminals would
know that the police were calling in Batman anyway.
Maybe… To get around
jamming? But it doesn't work in the
day…
Pass.
Actually, where
is Batman?
Hm. Well. I suppose they can't expect him to turn up
all the time.
Still, I am…
Living here now. And Richard has school tomorrow. And I'm not.. doing anything this evening that I can't put off.
I smile and raise my right index and middle fingers to my forehead.
Commissioner James Gordon, Detective Harvey Bullock and a couple of uniformed officers I haven't met before are standing next to the signal on the roof of police headquarters. Gordon's holding a paper folder-
How quaint. Ring, copy it.
Compliance.
-in his right hand. None of them seem particularly excited, but then I suppose that they're used to Batman taking a while to arrive. And a person's capacity for being horrified… Takes a bit of a beating in Gotham.
Well, let's see what's going on. I let my environmental shield glow as I head towards the rooftop. Harvey spots me first, and subtly makes eye contact with Commissioner Gordon before gesturing to me with the end of his cigarette. Then Gordon spots me and… Doesn't exactly look thrilled.
"Something I can do for you gentlemen?
"
"Orange Lantern." The Commissioner walks to the edge of the building closest to me as I stand in empty space adjacent to it. "Thank you, but that won't be necessary."
"No?
"
Harvey frowns at me. "What you doin' here, anyway?"
I smile.
"You'll
laugh.
"
"Yeah?"
"I live here now!
"
He drops his cigarette, but his facial expression doesn't change all that much. "Since when?"
"Christmas. My girlfriend moved away for work but she wanted to keep the place, so I'm house-sitting for her.
"
Harvey snorts. "Yeah, word of advice, buddy? If she moves to a different city-."
"Planet.
"
"That too. Then she's
gone."
"I can instantly teleport interstellar distances, so it's not really
that far… It's like she's got an overseas posting with the army or something.
"
He looks sceptical. "If you say so, buddy."
"So… What's the signal for?
"
Gordon turns to me after wandering back towards the signal. "It's for Batman."
"I'd… be happy to help?
"
"Orange Lantern. I'm…
Grateful for the offer, but last time you were working in this city we got invaded by plants, zombies and plant zombies."
"That wasn't last time. Last time was when I apprehended Otis Flannegan.
"
"It stuck in my mind."
"I didn't
bring any of them here.
"
"And then there were the angels. Do you know how many religious crazies we had to deal with because of that?"
"Hey, I was the victim there.
"
"We'll wait for Batman. If he wants your help, fine."
"Could be a long wait.
"
"Batman is a highly skilled criminal investigator with an excellent understanding of the minds of deranged criminals. We need his intellect. We don't need your… Firepower."
Harvey snorts, while Commissioner Gordon looks hopefully at the bat signal.
"I just.. happen to know that he's in the Ukraine right now and probably won't make it back.
"
Commissioner Gordon sags slightly.
"Come on: don't look a gift-Lantern in the-
" Hm?
"-mouth.
"
I look up as Batwoman cape-glides down from a nearby building and lands just in front of Gordon.
"Batman is unavailable."
Gordon glances my way. "We heard." He lifts up his folder-.
Ring, summary?
Thefts of chemicals and medical equipment have led Gotham police to believe that someone is creating Smilex. Joker is still confined to Arkham Asylum. Thieves unidentified, but not wearing Joker motifs.
Can we scan for Smilex and its derivatives?
Smilex found.
I'm sorry, say that again?
Smilex found.
Huh. Someone's not connected to the criminal grapevine very well. I'd gotten a bit used to
not being able to skip to the end like this. I mean.
okay, those concentrations are probably left over from one of Napier's old crime sprees, but… Yep, that's the stolen equipment.
I transition across the city, to a professional-looking low rise business complex. Just the sort of place for start-ups, and my target isn't the only one with gas tanks. Hah, reminds me of that time back on Earth Prime when the Cells4Life lab team left a nitrogen tank in the hallway and people started panicking about it. But that's definitely Smilex and a.. few novel variants.
One man inside. Smilex is very illegal, theft is somewhat illegal and I'm pretty sure that he's breaking zoning laws too.
I drift towards… Whoever that is, the walls and racking in my way breaking into bits and floating aside. He draws a gun -just a chemical kinetic pistol- and I bind him in construct chains before shutting down and grabbing all of his equipment.
Right, that's… About everything. And
transition.
"Commissioner?
"
They look up in astonishment.
"Looking for this?
"
