Role Play Board: Friday Night Part Two

Friday Night Part Two

Posted by Robin on 6/18/2009, 3:10 pm
69.180.153.101

What would it take for me to give this up? I defend a city that doesn't want my help. A city that, despite my constant vigilance and painful sacrifice, seems to be content on a hasty road to certain destruction. I aid a police force that sees me as a vigilante and an outlaw. They are a group of men and women who lack the ability to differentiate between myself and the likes of Clayface and The Joker. Either that or they're just blaming the former for the existence of the latter. And while their point may have some validity, the disappearance of Batman wouldn't cause the psycho-paths to go away, in fact it would probably bring even more out of the woodwork. How many innocent people would lose their lives if we weren't around? Am I selfish for resenting the way they shun us?

Despite my malaise and insecurity I know full well why I do what I do, and why I'll continue to do it, whether the city of Gotham wants me or not. Stated simply I made a promise to my parents, the two that are dead and the man who adopted me, to live my life following a code of conduct and to exhibit personal responsibility. My birth father taught me that those with the power to help should exercise that power, or become no better than those who oppress the people in need. And my current father, he gave me that power, and trusted me to use it with accountability and zeal.

So what would it take for me to give this up? Right now nothing, but you can only bask in minor and moral victories for so long, until the weight of the larger losses crushes you beneath a wall of pressure. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't feeling the strain, but I can only hope to escape it before it all tumbles down.

----------Friday June 12th, 8:00PM----------

"How has it come to this?" Commissioner James Gordon asks himself as he stares wearily at the seemingly bottomless pile of incident reports for the week. His red and swollen eyes burn from exhaustion but his passion and penchant for duty drive him far beyond the capabilities of an average man. "What could I have done differently?"

"Nothing," An emotionless voice responds from just inside his office window, startling the typically unshakable man, causing him to drop the case file he was reading.

"After all these years I never have gotten used to that," he complains, fully aware that he had intentionally left his office window ajar in the hopes of attracting a visitor. "That being said, I appreciate your vote of confidence, but things seem to only be getting worse lately and I have a hard time finding blame anywhere else." The sullen public servant responds, sounding meek and despondent, two words rarely used to describe the good Commissioner.

"The night is always at it's darkest before the dawn," Tim proclaims hopefully, attempting to ease Gordon's pained mind.

"Sorry if I don't feel like waxing poetic," Jim responds sorrowfully, "But I have a string of bank robberies, a high profile homicide, some loony torching people, and worst of all, some new drug that's turning kids into God damn super heroes!" The Commissioner slams his clenched fist against his solid oak desk in clear frustration. He lifts his hand, shaking the painful tingling from his fingers and looks back to the Boy Wonder, "But I suppose that's why you're here. The guards at the bank were acting on the will of..."

"Jervis Tetch," Robin interrupts while tossing the computer chip he'd collected from the bank robbery atop Gordon's desk.

Jim shakes his head in forced disbelief, "Then I suppose you know that Mad Hatter,"

"That Tetch managed to escape Arkham a week ago Wednesday," Tim interjects while refusing to use Tetch's villain name, "while leaving a guard, under his control, in his place in solitary confinement."

"Any idea where he's hiding out?" Gordon questions, hoping to close at least one of his many cases.

"He'll show himself," Robin states instead of flat out saying no, " he can't help but draw attention to himself. The better question is who let him out?"

"We're reviewing the camera footage from the Asylum, but if it's an inside job there's no guarantee that the tapes will be accurate." Gordon lowers his head and removes his glasses setting them softly on his desk. "I was wondering if you could look into the Jack McKay murder. Most of my force is tied up with this meta-human drug, and I just can't spare anymore than two detectives for the case."

"You don't trust your detectives abilities?" Tim questions puzzled. Through more than five years of work with Gordon he can count on one hand the number of times the Commissioner directly asked for help on a case when one of the "Rogue's Gallery" wasn't involved.

"It's not that," Gordon is quick to respond, "I just have a bad feeling about this one. Like there's something going on here that I can't put my finger on, though it's right in front of my face."

"Get me caught up," Tim replies, saying "yes" in a roundabout way.

"McKay was found murdered in his office," The Commissioner begins while searching for the case file through the ocean on his desk. "He was injected, straight into the jugular, with a syringe full of oxycodone that was spiked with arsenic."

"Sounds personal," Tim states.

"It gets worse. His pants and underwear were removed and apparently stolen, though none of the pricy possessions in his office were missing." Gordon says while shrugging. "No fingerprints on the syringe, and way too many throughout the office to be useful, and..."

Before the Commissioner can finish his office door opens and Detective Steiner, one of the detectives assigned to the McKay case pokes his head in with a confused expression on his face. "Who are you talking to sir?"

Gordon peers toward the window and isn't surprised to find that the Boy Wonder is nowhere to be found. "As usual nobody," he mutters to himself before replacing his glasses on his face and looking into his detectives eyes, "I guess I just need to get some sleep."