(no subject)
Who: Riddler
What: Correcting Clueless Cops
When: Too damn early in the morning for this crap
Where: GCPD station, Gotham City
Interactions: Closed; plot point
Riddler's expression was perfectly stoic, but underneath his calm mask he was seething with frustration. He beckoned the police chief toward the evidence table, upon which was scattered many gruesome photos, a map showing the locations of the crimes, a TV replaying the brief, blurry seconds of video footage they had been able to obtain, and several lab reports. “Let's look at the first crime scene, shall we? A small coffee shop downtown. You want to know why I think this was not Batman's work.
“First, let's look at the shattered lights. They were broken by gunshots. When has Batman ever used a gun? He has broken lights before, for both practical and dramatic effects, but always with his batarangs. Why stop now? If he were to suddenly take up use of a gun, why would he only use it to break the lights and not to kill the criminals? None of the bodies had any bulletwounds... that we could determine. A few of the bodies were... excessively messy.
“Which brings me to my next point: the bodies themselves. Speaking as a, ah, man who has weathered numerous beatings from Batman himself, I know his movements. He is precise, methodical, never sloppy. His detective work, his gadgets, and, most importantly in this scenario, his combat skills, all have been honed to perfection. He knows exactly how much force to apply to bruise, to cut the skin, to break a bone, and he will use exactly that much force- no more, no less. The victims were killed in various ways, all of them lacking this precision. Several were simply torn apart, quite messy, very uncoordinated. Other bodies had either punctures in their heads or broken necks. In no way does this indicate to me that Batman was behind this.
“Finally, may I also speak on his choice of targets? These were by all means petty crooks. If Batman were to decide to start killing after all these years, is it really likely that he'd overlooked notorious murderers like the Joker, Zsasz, or Killer Croc in favor of petty thieves? These men were robbing a coffee shop for God's sake! We shouldn't even be wasting our time on speculation if this was or wasn't Batman and focus instead on catching the true killers!
“I do mean killers, plural, because I would like to put forth the theory that we are dealing with a group of vigilantes, rather than one. The coffee shop killings, as well as all the subsequent murders, have shown a wide variety in the methods. Some of the deaths are messier than others. Besides which, these killings frequently occur with a large group and happen in a very short amount of time. I do not think, given the evidence, that one man- or woman- could cause so much damage in such a little time.
“We are probably dealing with an assorted, but coordinated, group of killers. I have not yet ruled out the possibility of a meta-human or other abnormal force, but I believe the group theory fits our evidence best.”
That said, he calmly sipped from his cup of coffee, waiting as, one by one, the officers he was collaborating with indicated their agreement with his observations.
What: Correcting Clueless Cops
When: Too damn early in the morning for this crap
Where: GCPD station, Gotham City
Interactions: Closed; plot point
Riddler's expression was perfectly stoic, but underneath his calm mask he was seething with frustration. He beckoned the police chief toward the evidence table, upon which was scattered many gruesome photos, a map showing the locations of the crimes, a TV replaying the brief, blurry seconds of video footage they had been able to obtain, and several lab reports. “Let's look at the first crime scene, shall we? A small coffee shop downtown. You want to know why I think this was not Batman's work.
“First, let's look at the shattered lights. They were broken by gunshots. When has Batman ever used a gun? He has broken lights before, for both practical and dramatic effects, but always with his batarangs. Why stop now? If he were to suddenly take up use of a gun, why would he only use it to break the lights and not to kill the criminals? None of the bodies had any bulletwounds... that we could determine. A few of the bodies were... excessively messy.
“Which brings me to my next point: the bodies themselves. Speaking as a, ah, man who has weathered numerous beatings from Batman himself, I know his movements. He is precise, methodical, never sloppy. His detective work, his gadgets, and, most importantly in this scenario, his combat skills, all have been honed to perfection. He knows exactly how much force to apply to bruise, to cut the skin, to break a bone, and he will use exactly that much force- no more, no less. The victims were killed in various ways, all of them lacking this precision. Several were simply torn apart, quite messy, very uncoordinated. Other bodies had either punctures in their heads or broken necks. In no way does this indicate to me that Batman was behind this.
“Finally, may I also speak on his choice of targets? These were by all means petty crooks. If Batman were to decide to start killing after all these years, is it really likely that he'd overlooked notorious murderers like the Joker, Zsasz, or Killer Croc in favor of petty thieves? These men were robbing a coffee shop for God's sake! We shouldn't even be wasting our time on speculation if this was or wasn't Batman and focus instead on catching the true killers!
“I do mean killers, plural, because I would like to put forth the theory that we are dealing with a group of vigilantes, rather than one. The coffee shop killings, as well as all the subsequent murders, have shown a wide variety in the methods. Some of the deaths are messier than others. Besides which, these killings frequently occur with a large group and happen in a very short amount of time. I do not think, given the evidence, that one man- or woman- could cause so much damage in such a little time.
“We are probably dealing with an assorted, but coordinated, group of killers. I have not yet ruled out the possibility of a meta-human or other abnormal force, but I believe the group theory fits our evidence best.”
That said, he calmly sipped from his cup of coffee, waiting as, one by one, the officers he was collaborating with indicated their agreement with his observations.