The Roof Of The GCPD, July 4th, 1987
At the same time that the small funeral at Potter's Field was just wrapping up, a lone man walked out onto the roof of the Gotham City Police Department building, staring up at the firework display lighting up the sky with a sick sense of dark irony. He couldn't blame the citizens of Gotham for celebrating, they could hardly know what had been going on right underneath them, and reasons for celebration had been thin on the ground around here for a long time, but it was hard to ignore the hollowness of it all. Liberty for all... until there wasn't...
Commissioner James Gordon hadn't wanted a stiff drink more in his life, not even during the darkest days of Loeb and Falcone's reign of terror over Gotham. Granted, at least then he'd had adrenaline, and pure, undilluted fury to carry him through the worst of it, but this... there wasn't anyone to direct his anger at, no face responsible for all the horror. Well, there was, Gordon just didn't know who it was, which was somehow even worse. He was sorely tempted to head back downstairs and sneak a drink from the flask Bullock kept stashed in his desk that everyone at the GCPD pretended they didn't know about, but decided to settle for a cigarette. He was on duty, after all.
He'd just stuck a cigarette into his mouth and lit a match when a breeze making the small flame flicker heralded the arrival of the man he'd been waiting for, and Gordon allowed himself to roll his eyes before adressing him.
"Are you going to do that every time? Because it's rapidly going from dramatic to annoying!"
A figure stepped out of the shadows, and James Gordon once again found himself face to face with Batman, the man who had helped him and Dent to do the impossible, break the iron grip of Carmine Falcone, and take the first step towards turning back the rot that infested the city. Gordon owed him more than he'd ever be able to put into words, but it didn't make getting snuck up on like a rookie traffic cop any less frustrating.
Batman gave a slight nod in greeting "Commissioner."
Gordon sighed and lit the cigarette before the match burned out "Glad you're here, Batman. I've seen some sick shit in my life, but that cave..." he shook his head "It's going to be pandemonium once this gets out. We've set up a crime scene and blocked off all access to the tunnels, but this is too big to keep under wraps for long. Word is going to get out sooner or later, and when the news get wind of this..." Gordon took a puff from his cigarette "I've put together a file of what we have so far, what little there is, see what you can make of it."
"Appreciated, I'll add it to what I've found in my own investigation."
Gordon blinked "What? How did you get- no, of course you did, I forgot who I was talking to for a second. Can you at least tell me how you got past the cordon?"
"There's an old maintenance hatch leading to an abandoned section of the tunnels near the construction site at Five Points. It's been left out from newer editions of the municipal schematics, likely due to oversight or negligience on the part of officials."
"Great, another leak to plug up" Gordon sighed "Well, I doubt you came all the way out here just to tell me you're already ahead of us, you find anything?"
"Not much more than you" Batman admitted, to Gordons surprise "The perpetrator was very thourough in covering his tracks, none of the remains I was able to study had any real evidence of what was done to them, aside from possibly some medical expertise, judging by the incisions and surgical stables used on them. Could mean the killer was doing some sort of research..."
"...or it could just mean he's some sick fuck with medical training trying to keep his victims alive for as long as possible." Gordon sighed, taking another drag from his cigarette "Though that room above the lake seems to at least hint at the first option. Any luck there?"
There was a slight shake of the Batmans head "Inconclusive. Most of it was inaccessible, and what little I could reach had been burned beyond recongition. However, some of the equipment I could reach seems to be of too recent design to be part of the remnants of the World's Fair. There were also some metal structures in the outer room that seems to have been cages of some sort. However, until your officers have cleared the laboratory, it's too early to draw any conclusions."
"And we have to do that inch by inch to keep the whole thing from collapsing on top of us, perfect.." Gordon groaned, finishing his cigarette and stubbing it out against the brick railing of the roof before tossing it over the side. "Which means we're going to need get the survivors to talk to us, if we're going to have any chance to catch this sick bastard before he disappears completely." And wasn't that just on this side of impossible. Few of the citizens of Gotham held any love for the police, even with the improvements that Gordon had managed to push through, but the homeless population by far held them in absolute contempt. Not that Gordon could blame them. When a citizen was murdered, even under Loeb's time as commissioner, the police would usually at least pretend to care, and write down their name on a report, even if it never went any further than that. If a homeless person was murdered? You might as well have told them that a rat or a cockroach had been killed for all the reaction it got.
That would probably change this time, once word got out about the exact details of the murders, but Gordon doubted it would make the survivors any more eager to talk to the authorities about it. "What about that other guy Dr. Thompkins mentioned? Randall Flagg? You think he might be willing to talk?" If they could find him, that was. It was a fake name, had to be. There wasn't a trace of any Randall Flagg in any of the city or government systems, no I.D, no police records, no social security number, nothing.
"I've been hearing... rumors, lately" The Batman said. Gordon looked back at him, surprised "Word from some of the gangs. Apparently, someone named Randall Flagg has made himself quite a few enemies on the streets. Someone with that name, fitting the description Dr. Thompkins gave us, attacked Los Bolesaros last week, and injured their leader. From the intelligence I've been able to gather, he interrupted one of their gang initiations."
"Another vigilante?"
"A possibility, though it could simply be a coincidence. Unlikely though. I will have to investigate the matter futher."
"You do that, I'll keep working on the case from my end" Gordon said, glancing down as he reached into his coat for another cigarette "By the way, Dent was talking about-" He stopped, as he looked back up and found himself staring at an empty rooftop.
The Batman was gone.
Gordon sighed. Yeah, this was going to get old.
He was just about to pull out the cigarette pack when his thumb brushed against something unfamiliar in his pocked. Confused, Gordon felt around, feeling something like a playing card right next to the pack. That definetly hadn't been there before. He pulled it out.
"The hell?"
It was a card alright, but not from any card deck he'd ever played with. It was illustrated with a figure with long, blonde hair, sitting on a throne. The figure wore a golden crown, and in one hand, held a sword, while the other held a pair of scales. And right beneath the throne was one word, written in black ink.
JUSTICE
Where the hell had this come from?
....
The Office Of Randall Flagg, July 5th
I walk to the other side of my desk, turning my back to the window to allow Batman to salvage some small part of his intended dramatic entrance. Only a very slight rustling sound is heard, only notable because of the unusual stillness tonight. If there'd been the usual orchestra of sirens, gunshots and barking dogs outside, he could have waltzed in here with bike horns tied to his boots and I probably wouldn't have heard him.
"You about done yet? Feeling sufficiently mysterious?"
There's predictably no answer, and I turn around anyway, getting my first real look at The Caped Crusader himself, and the part of me that grew up with Batman: The Animated Series and the Adam West show can't help but feel a little awed. The lights in here aren't exactly great, and he's sought out the gloomiest corner of my office apartment to, I'm guessing, regain a bit of his mystique. Still, there's more than enough light for me to get a good look at him.
There's no armor plating on his costume, that's my first thought, strangely enough. At least none that I can see. It's been so long since I saw any live-action Batman media where the suit wasn't basically a suit of armor with pointy ears it's almost a shock to see him wearing an actual costume. I suppose that grey material he's wearing could be kevlar or something, I don't know what that looks like, but unless he's padding it, his muscles are faintly visible through the fabric. The bat-symbol in the middle of his chest is just plain black, no yellow circle, and his utility belt consists of leather pouches, not capsules. The cape is draped over his arms, helping him to blend into the shadows, long enough to cover most of his boots as well, though it doesn't pool around his feet like it did in some of the comics.
The mask though, that really pulls the whole outfit together. The ears are longer than I expected, and his eyes are hidden by white lenses that actually seem to glow in the gloom, though they're probably just reflecting the light from the single lamp on the ceiling. I honestly didn't think the lenses would work in real life, but he actually pulls it off. I can see why he scares the shit out of people who don't know who is actually under the mask.
It doesn't seem like he's about to speak first, but just as I'm about to break the silence, he begins "Randall Flagg. Freelance Magician."
Damn, he actually does sound a bit like Kevin Conroy! Though some of that is probably just fanboy thinking on my part "That's what it says on my front door! And you would be The Batman Of Gotham City. How'd you hear about my services? Word of mouth? My brilliant avertisment campaign of handing out random business cards?"
He doesn't react "How did you find the World's Fair Killer?"
"I was the guy who got hired to track him down" I sigh "Didn't do a very good job, I'm afraid. I mean, I found him, but he got away again. I had to choose between chasing after him or saving what was left of his victims. I've tried to get back on his trail, but no luck so far..."
"Who hired you? You do not have any qualifications to operate as a private investigator in Gotham City."
And there's a hint at the legendary Bat territorialism I was expecting. Not that he's incorrect in any way, but still "You really want to get into this with me? Last time I checked they don't hand out uniforms like that at the police academy. But to answer your question, while I won't give up any names, a homeless individual had noticed that their friends were disappearing faster than usual, and decided that the weirdo claiming to be a magician might be able to help when no one else would. I was able to use my abilities to confirm that the people who were vanishing didn't just skip town. They were being taken by this psychopath calling himself Doctor Death, who used them for some kind of bioweapons research that he needed human subjects for..." I shudder, thinking back to the lake "I don't know how many people he did it to, but there were a LOT of bodies in that cave..."
"And why didn't you contact the authorities with this information?"
"And tell them what, I saw it in a magic vision? Best case scenario, they'd think I was some kind of lunatic looking for attention and toss me out on the street, worst, I'd get fitted for a straight-jacket. And my abilities only let me see that something IS happening, not WHERE it's happening, unless I'm able to see a landmark or identifying features or something. I was only able to find Death's lair because another aquintance of mine gave me the idea to search underground."
"Yes, your...abilities..." He pauses "I'm sure you're already aware that claims of magical powers is greeted with great skepticism from the majority of people. In cases such as this, it's more likely to make yourself a suspect of the crime."
"Yeah, I'd noticed that after the first few dozen people coming in here did so on a dare or to gawk at the crazy guy" I roll my eyes "But I'm willing to bet you're not one of them, otherwise we wouldn't be having this conversation. Am I close?"
There's a movement beneath his cape as he crosses his arms "I have encountered individuals with... esoteric abilities before. Some were heraditary, others were the results of study. Their origins don't concern me, but yours do."
"Me?"
"You are an unknown in Gotham. There are no records of any kind for a "Randall Flagg", no birth certificate, no social security, no medical or dental records. The closest trace is a military file for a "Richard Flagg" and his immediate family, but there are no records for a relative named "Randall", which leads me to believe that you've either managed to erase any sort of trace of your identity... or that you're simply using a fake name."
Well, nice to get confirmation about Richard Flagg Jr. at least "Let me just say this much... there's only one other Flagg I have any connection to, and if he ever shows up, we're both in a lot of trouble." Batman doesn't look satisfied with my answer, but he'll have to deal with it "On a more relevant note, as I said before, Doctor Death got away from me, but he didn't do it completely unscathed..." I open the left drawer of my desk and take out a small glass vial, inside of which is a few dried, green flakes. I hold it out towards Batman, who simply glares at it for a moment, before stepping out of the shadows and grabbing it, holding it up to the light to study the contents.
"...green paint?"
"Doctor Death was wearing some kind of fucked up disguise that made him look like a corpse, I don't know if the sick fuck just got off on terrifying his victims even more, but when me and my associate confronted him, he punched Death in the face, and some of his skin came off. That's what I managed to scrape off his knuckles, I tried to use it to track Death, but I haven't been able to pick up anything. Maybe you'd have more luck?"
"What exactly is this tracking ability of yours capable of?" Batman says as he slips the vial into one of the pouches on his belt.
"Under most circumstances, I can get a vision of what any one person is doing at that moment, just by knowing their name, though if I have a personal possession to use as a focus, the image is clearer. For some reason, it doesn't work on Doctor Death..." I shrug helplessly "I've tried everything I can think of, I doubt Doctor Death is his real name, but the face paint SHOULD be enough... The only explanation I can think of is that whoever he really is, he's able to dissasociate himself from his other identity so completely that Death is essentially a different person. Like some real-life Jekyll and Hyde..."
And the only person I can think of off the top of my head with that kind of mental discipline is standing right in front of me. Well, him or Dent, and that was a psychotic breakdown, not a matter of discipline. And either way, Two-Face never struck me as the scientific type.
"Is this ability how you discovered the identity of Wildcat?"
Shit. Guess I should've seen this coming...Last edited: Mar 2, 20221179