BATMAN? [Open to those who see or want to solve]

[Deleted]

North Side folks pretended to live in ignorance to the happenings of Gotham. They had control of everything; at least they loved to think so. What happened in other areas in Gotham did not affect them because they happened to bad people. They were safe.

So of course, when a woman steps out on the patio in an apartment building on eighteenth street, she is stricken in shock when she steps into green wet paint. The coffee mug falling to a crash on the ground as she screams for her husband to get out and explain what he was doing last night with the boys. She naturally thinks it’s their fault for her ruined patio.

Anyone on the ground however or the apartment building over would look across and see the large word sprayed across the entire twenty-three floor building.

BATMAN?

[Thread is open, but Edward will not respond because he is not present.]

[Oswald Cobblepot - The Penguin]

It was early when the Iceberg security team confirmed reports of messages left around the city. Oswald had barely risen and was still in his dressing gown, at home in his mansion on the north side. Shooing a pheasant out the way of the door with a wave of his hand and a quick chirp he wandered into the dining room and settled down at his usual place at the large, empty table and unfolded his newspaper while the news quietly reported on the morning from the big tv on the wall as he waited for the butler to arrive with his breakfast.

The phone rang and Oswald left it to his staff to pick up. Mike, who was also rolling out for breakfast and lived in Ozzy's mansion because he'd be a perfectly useless bodyguard if he weren't around, ended up the first to it "Ya?" a small frown appeared "What?" Puzzled, Oswald watched him flick through channels on the tv until a more local report appeared "Boss, message" Abandoning his newspaper with a small frown Oswald watched for a few seconds before he recognised one of the buildings and crossed to the window.

Of course the rich had pitched such a fuss once they'd worked out what had happened that they'd gotten the reporters in so fast they may as well have had them living in the building. Some of the more famous ones probably did. That anywhere else in Gotham had been hit was barely mentioned in passing by that particular early report.

Oswald squinted and could make out nothing on the distant apartment blocks, he'd never admit it but he needed his glasses or monocle to have any hope of seeing properly that far away. A pat of his pockets and he remembered they were still by the fire in the other room. Muttering a curse he opts, rather than bothering to go into the other room, to remove a hidden rifle from a nearby giant vase and steal the sight off it to look through as he takes the phone from Mike "What's going on?"

Even with the sight it was a bad angle, too far away with other apartment buildings in the way. He thought he could see the edges of something green but little else "We've reports of three messages so far, Mr Cobblepot. 'Is the' 'Who' and the one nearest you sir, 'Batman?'. The others are located in East and Central Gotham. All green" "Hmm...Nigma presumably. 'Who is the Batman?' Hardly subtle, perhaps he's finally figured it out. There's probably more to it, there always is with him. Get me photos and the information on the locations before I arrive at the lounge. Inform me if you find any more" Oswald hung up the phone and passed both it and the sight to Mike before he returned to his newspaper and that was that, his usual scheduled resumed "Never a dull morning" someone else would do his investigating for him and he'd deal with it when he got into work.

[Jonathan Crane - Scarecrow]

Dr. Crane had been quite busy the last few weeks, making preparations for his current plans. Everything was all set in place, and everyone was in the right position to do exactly what he wanted. There was always room for personal will or ‘human error’ but that is why The Scarecrow planned the way he did, he planned for things to go wrong. He didn’t do this to prevent wrong things from happening, but to be able to work around anything that did go wrong. In his eyes, he made no mistakes when it came to his planning, it was everyone else that was capable of making the mistake, and he planned accordingly for it.

When he had left that night it had been with intention of finding a new patient for his dark room. The containment room was already filled and his dark room had just recently become open. It was in the later point of the night so he made no effort to cover his face as he walked into the night air. Dr. Crane stood sharp looking on the street and began to walk like any other noble would in North Gotham. Sometimes he wondered how Edward could ever live for too long in a place like this. It almost seemed like plastic to him, it wasn’t real. That’s not who Edward was. Or at least not what he had seen behind his eyes, which was his true self.

He kept his eyes toward the sky for most of the walk, for some reason it looked different on the North side of Gotham. He thought he may have even been able to make out a star among the lights of the city. Just as he thought he may have caught one, something else caught his attention. A group of people were gathered on the opposite side of the street, staring and pointing upward toward a message written across the building in large green lettering. ‘BATMAN?’.

The image made Dr. Crane stop in his tracks and look up at the spectacle with the others. They were so focused on the image in front of them; none of them noticed that they were among the presence of The Scarecrow. It almost brought a smile to his face; Edward would have wanted it that way. This meant that Edward was back in town for whatever reason, and he had done what he set out to do. Images of the night before he left flashed through his mind as he looked up at the riddle that was left on the building, but he tried to shake it off by taking in the message itself.

The Batman was someone that many Professional’s like himself took quite seriously. To Dr. Crane it was on a different scale entirely, compared to others. He did take The Batman seriously as an opponent but he simply had no personal interest in him. He had explained this to Edward before, about the folly of trying to find out who or what The Batman claimed to be. It was a pointless endeavor that some professionals dug themselves so deep in, they couldn’t crawl out. Dr. Crane hardly had the time for such things.

It was obvious what had happened here. Edward was one of the professionals that were obsessive over that Batman for whatever reason. He had figured out who he was and was trying to make a statement. He had left a riddle for Gotham to figure out, because he already knew the answer. It wasn’t very difficult to determine what had gone on here. Shaking his head he moved to turn away from the spectacle, good for The Riddler. He knew who the Batman claimed to be and Dr. Crane had no interest in what he claimed.

The doctor placed his hands into his pockets and continued down the street away from the people that gathered in awe. He had no interest in this, and had difficulty understand why Edward would do such a thing. To expose himself like this wasn’t very intelligent, that kind of information could make you very wealthy and also very buried in this world. Perhaps Edward would come to his senses and place that it was all a bluff.

As he walked a thought came from the darker parts of his mind and whispered to him. It caused him to halt his movements and stare down at the pavement. Nothing was quite that simple when it came to Edward Nigma. Slowly he turned back and took in the bright green lettering again. He had already determined what was going on and he wasn’t going to get sucked into this, he had no interest in who the batman claimed to be….But there was something that he did want…

Perhaps he did have the time…

[Nina Stenet]

It might surprise some just how early Nina wakes up for work in the morning if they knew just how late that she tends to stay there, but work is the only thing that she does with herself anymore except when Shawty drags her somewhere 'for her own good' so her apartment mostly exists for sleeping and often breakfast.

But breakfast today is put on hold when the morning news begins - how can she possibly have an appetite when Edward is the top story after so much silence? Three messages... It isn't difficult to piece them together once all of them are found: Who is the Batman? The moment that the news moves on to something else, she turns to Shawty. "I want to see it," she says very intently, though her expression is largely unreadable.

Shawty is a bit taken by surprise: not by the request - given how obsessed Dr. Stenet is with the man it's no shock - but by the tone. Normally anything at all relating to Mr. Nigma causes her boss to go into a depressed silence or, much less often, a silent rage. That insistent but blank look is not like the woman. Knowing better than to argue with it, she comments, "Well, the 'Batman' one we can pass on our way to the lab..."

Nina nods to that instantly, "Yes, that one." A part of her wants to argue and demand to see all three of them in person, but the more rational part of her notes that it would take quite some time to take that mini-tour of Gotham, especially with the impending morning traffic. Besides, the one on the apartment building sounded much more impressive than the other two.

She rushes through her morning routine, but it still takes entirely too long for them to get in the car and make it to the apartment building in question. The graffiti has already some attention, but the traffic jam caused by people taking a long look at it makes it easy for Nina to get a long look at it herself. "How did he manage to do that without anyone stopping him?" she asks out loud, though Shawty doesn't bother to answer. Well, obviously, Edward didn't do it personally, but that still begs the question of how, exactly, someone manages to apply that much paint to that much building overnight without either the police or the vigilantes intervening. She knows that the people in this part of Gotham are overly complacent, but not by that much.

On an impulse, she asks Shawty to forget going to the lab this morning and instead take her to Edward's apartment - it isn't far. When she gets there, she finds him watching the news - on several different stations simultaneously. Most of them are talking about him, so he's grinning like a devil - only to suddenly frown and snap at one of the stations for getting a part of their report glaringly wrong. She asks him about how he managed the feat, and listens in rapt attention as he explains how incredibly simple it all was. Simple, and yet so exceedingly clever! And it turns out that he has a little free time before the next phase of his plan... Is there anything in the universe better than Edward with a little free time?

She suddenly snaps out of the daydream to find herself still staring at the building, and frowns at it. Her mind is so cruel to her! Still holding onto that fantasy? She closes her eyes, no longer having any desire to look at green paint no matter where it is, what it says, or how inexplicable its presence is. "Lets get out of here," she says softly, swallowing hard in order to hold back the threatening tears. The best thing for her to do is put this new riddle out of her mind as much as she can - it's probably a hint to something deeper, but how does that matter to her? Would solving it make Edward love her again?

No, the only thing that matters is that it tells her that she can stop worrying - wherever Edward is, he's back to his chess match with the Batman, so he must be okay... Unless Selina is right about just how odd his behavior has been... No, she's definitely still worried about him - perhaps Selina will be able to either confirm that it's necessary or ease her mind soon. Still, she'll take it as a good sign - at least she can be completely sure that he isn't dead.