"I imagine that rent and labour costs are still below-average."
"Gotham's got a bit of a niche workforce."
"Ex-gang members?"
There can't be that many former goons in Gotham, surely.
"Sometimes. But there's a surprising number of specialists around. Chemists, logistics experts, middle managers…"
"Chemists? Drug manufacturers?"
"Sometimes. But Joker and Scarecrow don't make all of their own product."
"Crane didn't? I thought it was a point of pride with him?"
Pretty sure he doesn't take kindly to copycats, any more than Joker does.
"He made the doses he uses when he fights, but he couldn't make enough for his big attacks all by himself. And anyone who's ever worked with him takes lab safety really seriously."
"He's still in-" I turn, looking in the general direction of the twisted strands of light which mark out Arkham Asylum and looking for the pattern of beating, interwoven threads which define Doctor Crane. "-in Arkham, right?"
Impressive, especially considering he's not using the Honden directly.
"Last time I checked. Which was about six hours ago. After the last big breakout Batman had an independent surveillance system added in."
Surprised he didn't have one after the first big breakout...
"Yeah, he's still there."
He glances back and sees where I'm looking. "I didn't realise you could see that far. I thought it only worked with your normal vision."
"Arkham's only… Seven miles from here? If it wasn't for all of the stuff in the way, you could see it from here."
I'm reminded of the LEGO Batman games' open world, where you can walk from Wayne manor to Arkham in a couple of minutes tops...
"All the people in the way aren't a problem?"
"It blurs the detail, but Doctor Crane has a distinct shape." I turn back to him. "Did Batman tell you to pump me for information, or are you taking the initiative?"
He smiles. "What, I can't be a little curious?"
Why not 'D: All of the above'?
"I don't know. Is what I just said going on the bat computer?"
"Not until I can test it objectively."
I snort. "If you want to test me objectively, you can just ask."
"Yeah, but it's more of an accomplishment if I set things up without you noticing."
Heh, he is still a teenage boy, after all.
I snort again, but it's more of an amused snort this time. "We're not going to have to talk to Napier about this, are we?"
"Why would the Joker worry you?"
"I've been struggling to come up with reasons for not killing him. So long as I'm not in close physical proximity, it's easy to just push him from my mind."
Out of sight, out of mind. And less temptation to put a railgun bolt in his skull.
"He's insane and in a secure hospital?"
"But he's never going to get better, is he?"
"He might. Weren't you going to talk to Melinoë about that?"
Goddess of Madness. Not of Sanity.
"Melinoë doesn't so much heal the insane as.. stop doing it. And she didn't have anything to do with him."
"So who's the Greek god who cures madness?"
"Apollo, probably."
"Isn't he the one you..?"
So no help coming from that front anytime soon.
"Yes." I look up at the screen. "Any leads?"
"Too many. None of the equipment they had is all that special. And whoever is backing Kaligari was smart enough not to buy everything from the same place."
Broken line spacing here. And I'm surprised whatever Weirdo is behind this is so sneaky.
"I don't suppose that there's anyone else who uses Smilex? I mean, how rare is the stuff?"
"Most people think of it as something the Joker uses as a weapon, but-" He pulls up some statistics on narcotic usage. "-low concentration versions have been sold on the streets since… Well, before the Joker got a hold of it."
Probably looted from whatever program created it as an anti-depressent in the first place, eh?
"So whoever commissioned this batch doesn't need to have had anything to do with the Joker?"
"Joker kind of eliminated the other suppliers. There might be some of them still around, but they'll be hiding pretty well."
Like I said, he hates copycats. Diluting his 'unique brand of humor', maybe?
I look at the search summary. Hm. Hundreds of buyers who could have assembled all of the equipment. Ring, start checking those addresses.
Compliance.
"So how would you follow up on this?"
The ring creates a grey ring in my head, the colour gradually turns to orange as it checks that real companies exist at the stated locations. It's not taking all that long.
Seriously, if Lanterns were able to involve themselves in street-level stuff more often, crime would be much tougher...
"If you'd been a bit quieter, we could pick up the guys that Kaligari was using to carry out the robberies. Honestly, that's still probably the best option. It's that or interview someone at every one of these companies."
"Done."
"I know you can teleport, Oh El, but I don't think you talked to them all that quickly."
And OL proceeds to give him the Look. You know, the 'leveled brows, half-lidded eyes' Look of 'are you serious?'
"No, I was just checking if every company listed as a buyer genuinely existed. Three are no longer at their delivery addresses and have been listed as 'closed', two with suspiciously short lifespans."
I connect a orange wire to the batputer and pipe over the analysis.
Seriously, Batwoman's being foolish to pass up this assistance...
"And the identities of the owners…"
"Lawyer. I know the firm; they've set up front companies for the Penguin a few times."
"Are the companies dodgy like 'tax planning' or are they actually illegal front companies?"
He smiles at my use of the word. "Dodgy."
Ah, one bit of savviness...
"How is Mister Cobblepot these days?"
"We haven't caught him doing anything major. Hm." He thinks for a moment. "It might be worth paying him a visit. He won't want Smilex on the streets any more than we do."
"Because he isn't in that market?"
Even Cobblepot has
standards.
"Him and the Joker never really got on. Think you can visit him without killing him?"
"Think you can get into a place that sells alcohol without getting carded?"
"Pretty sure I can pull it off."
Such confidence. But he basically is a ninja...
"Are you going to get into trouble with Talia about this?"
"Only if you don't finish all of the analysis work she was running first."
"Okay. Give me… About a minute?"
Ah, bro outing. Chance to build up some reputation score with the batfamily...
