A CEO ordered well done [Open]

[Deleted]

((Playing a NPC rookie detective in this))

The call had come in about two hours ago.  Detective Peter Simpson was new to GCPD transferring in from Central City. The position as detective was his first in the role. He'd been trying for the past 3 years at CCPD but could never advance. He saw this as his big break. He'd been on the job a month and was still getting lost in the maze that is Gotham.

Eventually he found his way to the building that housed the offices of Fun Times, Inc. A corporation that ran several amusement parks throughout the country, including Gotham's own Amusement Mile.  He flashed his badge at the parking attendant and found a spot in the garage. He grabbed a stick of gum and popped it in his mouth.  Simpson, was also trying to quit smoking.

As he walked towards the elevator he beeped his key ring to be sure his car was secure and punched the up button. It didn't light up.  He punched it again. Nothing. Rapid fire punching didn't help either.

Soon he was climbing the stairs after being told the garage elevator was out of order, and was suggested to try the lobby. At least he didn't have to climb all twenty floors. Soon after a functioning elevator ride he was at the door to the office.  However, he didn't have his ID, and must have left it in his car. He sighed and pleaded.

"Look, Is Lt. Bullock on scene? He can vouch for me. Come on guys, don't make me walk all the way back down there."

The two cops who guarded the closed door to the office smirked and shook their heads in a chuckle.

"I'm remembering this come the holidays..."

He turned around and started his trip back to the car.

[Deleted]

Harvey got commed about a guy trying to get on scene. They told him he claimed to be Detective Simmons.

"Well, where the hell is he, I need him here, like twenty minutes ago."

They informed him his ID wasn't sufficient.

"FOR CRYIN' OUT LOUD! HOW MANY TIMES I GOTTA TELL YOU GUYS TO STOP BEING IDIOTS! YOU SEEN HIS FACE BEFORE!!! LET 'IM IN OR I'LL HAVE YOU SUSPENDED WITHOUT PAY FOR A WEEK!"

Harvey went back to what he was doing muttering curses and other choice phrases under his breath. Nothing irritated him more than people doing their jobs to the point it made his job harder to do. He got that policies and rules were in place for a reason, but when they prevented a man from getting to the crime scene and doing his job that's where Harvey drew the line.

Harvey continued to grumble for a minute or two more and finally turned to see Simmons getting there when he did.

"What took ya so long?  Had to go get yer nails done with the girls or som'thin'?"

[Deleted]

As Simpson entered, he gave a look at the cops guarding teh door and muttered under his breath.

"Jerks."

"Sorry Lt. I'm still getting used to these zig-zaggy streets...and....got....lost...."*hrk!*

He turned around quickly and bent over taking deep breaths. One of the cops near him at the door was half chuckling and patted him on the back.

"Hey buddy you gonna be ok? You look a little green there."

Peter took another deep breath and let it out wiping his watering eyes.

"Yeah, I'm good, I'll be o..." *HURRRRRRRL*

Breakfast landed squarely on the cop's chest who shouted out several expletives as he made his way to get cleaned up and put on his spare uniform packed away in his car.

Simpson swayed a little as he waved to the cop storming down the hallway.
"Sorry about that!"

He turned and looked and the second cop who held up his hand in defense and took a few steps back. Simpson took a last deep breath popped in some mints and went back into the waiting area of Fun Times, Inc.

The scene, obviously was grisly. There appeared to be seven victims of multiple gunshots. Many were unrecognizable and blood was everywhere. There was a heavy stench of burnt pork as well, but Simpson could determine where from yet. Nothing and no one had been burned in this part of the office. He swallowed as he realized this wasn't all the victims.

He paused when he saw something on the wall. Some kind of writing but it appeared to be done hurriedly and quickly.

"Guss why? Ha Ha Ha" There was also what appeared to him to be a sideways "D" below the writing.

"Oh. it's a smile."

"Who's Guss...."

[Deleted]

Harvey just sighed and shook his head, looking away to continue working the scene when the young man began unloading his breakfast on the unfortunate officer that was trying to lend him a little help. Harvey couldn't help but scoff and snort as he looked away.

Once Simpson was back to planet crime scene Harvey didn't even bother to look at the kid. He just kept examining.

"Its not guss... It says 'Guess why? Ha ha ha!' And the smile only made it that much easier."

Harvey finally turned to the kid and folded his arms.

"Somethin' you need to know now is certain criminals in this town have a great love for making sure you knew whodunnit. Any time you see scrawled handwriting on wall, the word 'ha' a few times over, and especially smiley faces then you should know its the Joker. Everything is a big fun joke to him. That's his whole schtick. If you're looking forward to a future trying to catch these looney tunes all the time and keep them in the looney bin before they bust out again then you better start learning up on these guys. They have tell-tale marks of their work and you need to know those marks."

Harvey said something to some forensics people and few other officer before turning to Simpson.

"And you might want to start eating lighter breakfasts and lunches on this job. You're going to see a lot worse than this and no one wants breakfast burritos to stink up the crime scene they're going to be disecting for a coupl'a hours, capiche?"

Harvey pulled something out of his pocket and offered it to the kid.

"Its a mint rub, dab some under your nose, it'll help ease the smell."

[Deleted]

Simpson really wanted to leave a good impression at the new job and so far it wasn't going as planned. He kept looking at the scrawling as he put the mint rub under his nose. he had heard of the stuff but never used it. The smell was a bit strong or he used to much, he wasn't sure which. He handed it back to Bullock and looked over his shoulder at what the Lt. was working on.

"In Central City, the criminals there just know when it's over and give up freely...."

He wandered into the office and gulped. Sitting at the desk is what he thought was a person was a blackened char. Peter guessed he knew where the pork smell came from.

"It looks like someone had a cookout in here."

He smirked at his joke as he poked around the desk. The name on the plaque at the front of the desk said Gus Winesbury. Simpson suddenly felt a little more clever.

"I found Guss...er, Gus. I think. Is this Joker guy a pyro?"

He looked around and noticed no other scorch marks finding that unusually strange.

"Hm....no other scorch marks. Maybe he burned the victim else where drug him up here & sat him at the desk."

[Deleted]

"Joker likes a play on words I suppose..."

Harvey mentally berated himself for forgetting the damn plaque said Gus. He hated puns anyway, unlike certain clowns.

"Maybe, that's very likely, but it still seems like a lot of work. We should probably catch up with the guys and see if they found any other signs of what all he did while he was here."

Harvey sighed and adjusted his hat. He headed outside to have a cigarette and get out of the crime scene for a few minutes. He had been one of those guys that just had to walk away for a few minutes here and there to get his brain juices working a little more efficiently.


"Simpson, take another officer with you and go see if any of these other schmucks have found anything of use to us. I'll stick around here, have my smoke and get back to examining the scene. The fire marshall should be on his way to try and help us figure our all the fire crap."

Harvey was thankful it was not his job to investigate the fire stuff. The firefighters and cops may always have a bit of a rivalry between them, but when it came down to it they worked together well. Harvey had enough work to do as it was.

[Deleted]

Simpson nodded and tapped the door guard cop get sick sick upon on the shoulder. he had returned after changing uniforms. The cop groaned and shuffled along with the detective.

"Lt, we'll go check the surveillance tapes. I'm sure this guy got caught on cam."

They got in the elevator and the detective stared at the buttons confused.

"Uhhhhh, which floor is security on?"

The cop sighed and tapped a sign which was a notice for any in an emergency situation to call 911 or go to security on the 5th floor. Simpson looked up and read teh sign giving an embarrassed chuckle.

"Oh."

The ride down for a few moments was a bit awkward so Peter decided to break the silence.

"Look, I'm really really sorry abou-"

"If you ever throw up on me again, I will shoot you myself. This has been the worst day ever. My car broke down on the way to work. I had to walk half a mile to call a tow because my phone was dead. When I get back, it had been stripped! Right there! Just the....the....leftovers was there. Then the garage elevator shaft isn't working and I gotta work that scene up there and then....YOU. So don't say a word to me.....SIR."

Simpson clamped up and nodded understanding. The elevator soon stopped and the cop stepped out leading the way. Soon they were looking over the tapes. Security reported no fire alarm, no sprinkler alert. The officer pointed out on the video that The Joker did get caught. He was seen going up the garage eleveator.

"It was in service. When was it put out of commission?"

The building guard grabbed a clipboard and leafed through it and looked at the time on the video recording.

"Uhhhh about 2 hours after he entered."

The tape showed him entering the office and they fast forwarded to when he exited and he took the stairs down and left.

"Hunh......I think we need maintenance."

Simpson dialed Bullock to inform him they were going to check out the garage elevator and shaft for anything suspicious.

[Deleted]

By the time Simpson rang Harvey up the detective was still outside, about half way through his cigarette talking to a few of the beat officers that were assisting in looking the whole thing over.

"Alright, Simpson. I don't know if I feel great about you going down there with just one other guy. Never know with Joker, might be some sort of death trap down there. I got canine units coming, ETA is about five or ten minutes. Don't do anything stupid, kid."

Bullock took another drag off his cigarette. He looked at his phone realizing the call cut out only a few seconds in. The call had cut from Simpson's side as they were heading down there. All that concrete and metal loved to drop calls.

Harvey grimaced and pocketed the phone, taking a few more drags of his cigarette before heading back in. He had a weird feeling.

"Hey, the rest of ya start scrammin' outta here for a minute. I gotta find Simpson before he does somethin' dumb."

[Deleted]

Maintenance showed up and told them the elevator was stuck on the same floor as the murders. Simpson went back up there and with the cop they forced the shaft door open. The cop shone his flashlight into the elevator.

"Oh......maaaaaaaaan."

"What? What?"

Simpson pushed him aside and snatched the flashlight and looked. Any simpleton would have noticed the device as a bomb. Simpson looked around quickly and stepped into the elevator.

"Get everyone out of here! Now!!! Call Bullock tell him to not come back in! I gotta do something."

He moved carefully towards the bomb and could hear it beeping. The cop got on his radio.

"Evacuate the building! get this place empty! We have a..bo.....ahhh....a situation. Keep it orderly but get everyone out fast!"

He unclicked the radio.

"I shoulda stayed in bed. Look I'm really really sorry about threaten...."

"I don't care! Go! Get out of here!"

He saw the timer.

"Damn....."

"What? What?"

Simpson looked up at the cop.

"Too late."

To say the bomb exploded was an understatement. The blast was powerful almost immediately reducing the 10th floor to ash. A side of the building blast out shattering all windows nearby from the shockwave. The building shook and the sound from the bomb deafening. Dust fell throughout the building as well as shattered glass. It could be felt tilting drastically as it toppled. The building next to it the only support it had as the weight from the fallen building tore into it's neighbor.

[Deleted]

"SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT!!!!!!!"

Harvey was in the building and was hauling his Harvey ass to get out of it. The officer with Simpson's call was clear. Get the hell out. All the other police Harvey had already ordered out of the building were running and trying to get civilians out of the area. They had cleared a decent amount of the blast zone, save a few poor souls who lost some limbs and lives.

Harvey barely dodged a piece of rubble at least twice his size once he got out.

"IDIOT!" he scolded at himself. He looked up, using his hat as a sheild for his eyes. His eyes grew wide and began hauling it again. Just as he thought he was clear enough he got hit by a driver who was too startled by the explosion above. Harvey rolled onto the hood and his blood painted the wind shield.

The detective wasn't that easy to knock down. He groaned after a moment and again upon looking up and seeing chunks of the first building splashing into the second. More rubble was thrown, a bowling ball sized chunk grazing Harvey's shoulder. The person who hit Harvey was already out of the car and freaking out.

"ALRIGHT, SHUT UP, I'M STILL ALIVE!"

The driver began apologizing profusely and trying to explain they didn't see him coming. harvey grabbed the man by his collar and yanked him to himself.

"SHUT UP AND GET HELP, I DON'T HAVE THE PATIENCE TO BE ANGRY WITH YOU RIGHT NOW!"

Harvey reached for his radio, but help was already on the way. His arm was broken, his right leg wasn't but it didn't feel great either. His elbow was definitely shattered. His nose was also broken and he had one hell of a concussion.

Harvey forced himself off the car and began to hobble off toward other officers that were still living.

"BIVINS!!! GIVE ME YOUR GOD DAMN FLASK, ASSHOLE."

Bivins, usually Harvey's least favorite jokester in the bull pen was about to become his favorite cop. Bivins didn't hesitate, running to the Lieutenant, pulling the flask out of his back pocket and situating himself to support a decent load of Harvey's weight.

Harvey took the flask with his good arm and splashed the vodka on his bloodied and cut up face. He took a swig of it and handed back to Bivins.

"You might need the rest of that once we see how many of our guys we lost."

[Deleted]

Though Shayera literally gets up with the sun and has therefore already spent hours patrolling, she still has plenty of energy in the tank. But that's how it is most days - little ever makes her weary. At least not physically - mentally, she finds a lot of this crime fighting rather tedious. She finds the worst crooks that she can, but so many of them just aren't a challenge even though she can go home knowing that she got a lot done.

So when she hears the sound of an explosion - a very familiar sound to her ears, she reacts with a mixture of horror and excitement. The horror is because something very bad is probably happening. The excitement is because whatever it is would probably be something that's actually difficult for once. Perhaps she'll feel guilty about the latter reaction later - for now she takes off at high speed in the direction of the explosion, finding the precise location easily thanks to the rising smoke.

And when she sees the scene, her eyes go wide... one building in dire shape, and she's unfortunately seen enough buildings collapsing to know that its neighbor is threatened too. But she's not one to sit there in stunned silence - she doesn't even hesitate before she gets to work. She already knows her job here: the severely wounded. Those who aren't hurt can flee the scene themselves, those who are dead can't be helped. Sadly, there's a bit of triage involved - she has to turn a blind eye to anyone who is still alive but obviously won't remain so for long even if she tried to help, as there just isn't any time to worry about them when there's plenty of people who would live with some help and would surely die without it.

And these people are unfortunately in the middle of the mess. But she's never let a little thing like structural instability influence her too much. Moments after arriving on the scene, she spots a man trapped right in the midst of things and flies right through a solid window to retrieve him. It takes only a few seconds for her to lift some rubble off of him, scoop him up, and fly back outside. A few more and she's landing on the ground, not too close to the buildings, and simply lays him down there where he can be aided further by others. Better to focus on using her skills to do things that others can't - she can leave the details of getting the mobile people evacuated to someone else.

Though in spite of the chaos, her ears pick out a familiar voice. Turning to look, she spots Harvey, who looks like he's been beat up. But he doesn't look like he's in imminent danger of dying, so if he looks her way she'll give him a nod, but she's very quick to take off again - there will be others in both buildings that need her. Too many, probably, but she'll keep it up until there isn't anyone left for her to save or something even more pressing rears its ugly head. So for now it's back into the building to get more survivors.

[Deleted]

Harvey grabbed his phone out of his pocket and yelled at it to call the commissioner. Once he got an answer on the other side his voice was a low cross between a growl and pained words.

"Commish, you should get out here, fast. We got a blown building and another one starting to crumble from bits of the blasted one getting into it. I know I been doin' this a while, but this one is big and I think you want to get here."

Harvey cradled the phone to his ear with his broken and shattered arm while the other was fishing for his cigarette case and waving people around like some chaotic composer.

Harvey was good at commanding a crowd in panic but he didn't have the diplomatic touch and assuring cool of the commissioner. Especially when half his body felt like busted engines and lead.

[Deleted]

Stormy happened to be walking down the street and saw the confusion ahead. She was in all black and wore a hoodie that concealed most of her face. Since she found herself alive a few days ago she'd learned many things about the world had changed very quickly. Apparently she was in something called a 'viral video.'

She didn't think about reacting to the scene ahead. She began sprinting, she was fast. Within a minute she was there and dived onto someone to help them avoid a beam that fell. She dragged them off to safety and ran back toward the toppling buildings. A wall was about to fall onto a downed police officer. She caught the wall and held it up. The man looked up to her, unable to make out her face.

"GO."

He didn't need to be told twice. He quickly got up and took off. Once he was clear she checked around her and dropped the wall, jumping out of its way quickly. Stormy turned her head at the sound of a crying kid in the building that got knocked into by the first. She leapt up and clung to the wall momentarily before bounding off it and onto a piece of falling rubble. She pinged off of that and changed its direction toward a safer location and back to the building she was trying to scale. After a few more bounds she made it to the window she sensed the kid in. Without thinking she flew into the now smashed window and saw a small child sitting on the floor screaming for his mother who lay unconscious beside him. Stormy was quick to grab the woman, toss her up over her shoulder and to cradle the child in her other arm.

She backed up a little and ran through the window. She flew through the window, managing to bound across the rubble of the first building and landed only inches away from the wall of the next. She turned and ran through the street and set the child and mother down near paramedics that were already dealing with someone else.

Stormy turned toward the destruction again and went back at it. Her reflexes needed no time and her senses were sharp and clear. It was as if she was made for this...

[Deleted]

Extracting people from buildings is, unfortunately, not an unfamiliar task to Shayera. And she soon finds herself getting into the proper rhythm of spotting someone through the window, using a window as an entrance to reach them quickly - smashing right through the glass is something she can easily shrug off, pulling them from any rubble, leaving back through the window, landing and putting the victim on the ground, then taking off and going back for more. She works as quickly as possible, knowing that there could easily be a collapse at any moment. After her next trip into the building, she emerges with a man and a woman - she can carry two if they're not badly hurt.

It's when she's about to land with them that she spots a woman she doesn't recognize who apparently has some super-strength, saving an officer from a collapsing wall. This is odd enough to catch her attention, since she makes it a point to try and keep up with all of the 'less usual' people in the city. However, now is not the time nor the place to question that, as the woman displays more skills and continues to help save people. She's not going to stop and complain about that while she's this overwhelmed.

In fact, taking into account the woman's presence, Shayera finds herself keeping her focus a bit higher as she takes off to find more. One clear advantage that she has is that she can fly, after all, so she can easily reach the people higher up while leaving the people on the lower levels more to the woman. Though this time instead of spotting someone through the window, she suddenly darts forward to catch a man falling from the building where the bomb had been - whether he fell or jumped in a panic, she doesn't know, but she scoops him out of the air before he hits the ground.

[Deleted]

Upon the rooftop of a nearby building sat a small clown doll. To any normal person it would appear to be one of the cutest little toys ever imagined, the type that a child would cry over for wanting it so much if they were denied. It had a light blue and gold jester's cap and matching outfit. It's eyes though, upon closer inspection were lenses as the doll recorded the event, sending the signal through numerous channels making it virtually untraceable.

It was of course booby trapped to detonate if tampered with, and Joker had a knack of packing a lot of punch into very small things.