quiet_tiger: (DC is Crack)
quiet_tiger ([personal profile] quiet_tiger) wrote2012-07-09 11:02 am

Ficlet: Chasing the Enigma

Title: Chasing the Enigma
Author: Quiet Tiger
Universe: Nolanverse
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairings: Jim Gordon, Edward Nygma
Word Count: 527
Warnings: None
Summary: Gotham faces a new super villain...

Note: For [livejournal.com profile] batfic_contest theme "Look Who's In Town Now," introducing a DC character into the Nolanverse (who isn't expected to show up in TDKR).


~*~

Gordon sighed as he opened the creased manila envelope on the top of his inbox. He’d know what it was even without the stylish green and black question mark glaring up at him from the envelope’s surface. It was the fourth one received this week, and no doubt would prove just as baffling to him and his staff.

Pushing back the flap, Gordon pulled out the cardboard sheet. The calligraphy was hard enough to read, but then the words that didn’t seem to go together…

There should be four of me but only three exist. The second was dented. The fourth will lose value at 4632 into 8760. Your presence is requested for the exchange of more presents.

What the hell? Gordon sighed as he read the note over and over. Clearly some nut job was going to do something in Gotham, but it wasn’t as if that was a new occurrence. Ever since Batman disappeared, a new loony popped up every other week, at least! Most of them were easy enough to apprehend, but now here was this guy leaving, what, clues? Clues to what? A where, but where, and who and why and when?

Gordon could only pray he didn’t have another Joker on his hands. He wasn’t sure if the city was ready for another costumed homicidal maniac.

~*~

Noon on July 12th, Edward Nygma robbed Gotham’s Fourth National Bank. He’d already knocked over the first and Two Face—poor Harvey Dent—the second, and the third had burned down years ago and never been replaced. He looked around at his hostages, though he only had them tied up so they wouldn’t call the cops.

The cops were supposed to earn their tickets to the show.

And, clearly, none of them were worthy. They would never get to the second stage of any of his crimes! The green-wrapped box mournfully sat in his trunk.

He was well on his way back to his apartment when he finally heard sirens. They’d never catch him. The green suit, mask, and hat went a long way towards disguising his identity. And if the cops never figured out his riddles, it wouldn’t matter if he showed up naked with his driver’s license around his neck—they’d never be at the scenes of his crimes in time to see him in the flesh.

Locking himself inside to count his newly acquired money, Eddie sighed. He wished with all his heart he’d been able to get his costume and plans in place before the Batman up and went crazy then disappeared. He knew the man—myth?—would present to him a real challenge. Someone with whom to match wits.

Surely the Batman would figure out his clues and they could really engage in a true contest. He’d been planning the complete game for so long; the robberies were just preparation and capital for supplies. He truly yearned for the competition and the chance to show off his ability to riddle and puzzle and plan.

Gotham would bow before his genius. Everyone would know him as the smartest man in town.

Now, if only he could think of a name for himself…

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