Chapter 1 - "Follow me" - a blog series

 FOLLOW ME
       Chapter 1 - Hellos








When she got the blank envelope from the frail, old, white butler who rode a Rolls-Royce, Commissioner Barbara Gordon knew that the sender was one of the most influential men (going by the number-plate) in the Northern District of Gotham. Not many people had white butlers in Gotham these days, only a few families do; The Lovetts, The Waynes, The Cornells, The Nelsons to name a few. As she opened the envelope, Barbara couldn’t even have guessed what it would say,

“Dear Commissioner,

Edward Nygma is back in town. I would suggest you take necessary precautions to avoid any damage to public property.

The concerned citizen

Please burn after reading”

In an age of high tech communication, Barbara wondered why someone would give a hand-delivered letter to her. It was of course possible to make electronic communication non-traceable.

And then she finally came to the subject matter of the letter. Edward Nygma. She could immediately recollect the name. But his time seemed like long ago. She had to log on to the database and make a search.

Nygma was a computer expert, highly intelligent and innovative. He had created this video game for GameCorp which was based on riddles, called the “Minotaur’s Blade”. It was a maze through which the player was expected to get through by solving riddles. It was an instant hit.

But Nygma was never the big-money player and wouldn’t make a sequel to the game because he didn’t find a justifiable continuation to the storyline. The corporation decided to make the sequel with another designer and when Nygma questioned them, he was kicked out.

The sequel, “Minotaur’s Blade – The Revival” was a big failure and was heavily slashed upon by critics and fans alike. The fans demanded that Nygma be brought back to the GameCorp, but the board wouldn’t agree.

Nygma went rogue and was on a wreckage spree to avenge his career’s death and his game’s spoilt reputation. He had this unique way of settling things with people. He liked to place them in real-life puzzles and watch them solve their way through life-or-death problems. This psychopathic behaviour of his warranted a criminal charge against him and when the price on his head grew, he disappeared, like the bird in the magician’s cage. Whoosh!

It wasn’t until many years later that with the help of “The Dark Knight”, Nygma was found to be behind the crashes and booms of the Gotham Stock exchange, through which many people had earned a fortune to serve many a generation. Nygma was never caught by the cops or by the Batman.

Nygma was clever, but he always had a problem. Barbara recalled the time when she had accompanied her father Jim Gordon to one of his New Year’s Day talks with the Batman at one of the old-town cafes.

“An hour and a quarter...” said the Dark Knight in his gruff voice, “that’s the maximum head-start we get to prevent what’s coming, considering we’ve figured out the clue by then.”

“Why does he have to leave a clue behind every time? Is he crazy to plan so much and give us a chance to stop everything?” asked Jim

“He’s a bit more than just crazy. He is ‘superior’ and he needs to prove it.”, said Batman.

“So, what do we do? Just figure it out before he starts executing his sinister plans?” and Jim’s voice began to rise.

“Yes.”, came an unexcited voice.

“We can’t just sit and watch, we need to catch this guy. He can’t just call himself the “Riddler” and go around giving us puzzles to solve. We’re not playing games here; it is human lives and this city’s integrit...”

Just then, they heard a loud noise outside the mildly lit cafe. Both Jim and Barbara turned around to check what the noise was and before she had turned back, the Batman was gone and there were unsettled coins on the table for the bill and a box of chocolates with the name “Barbara” on it.

“One of these years I’m gonna race him to the bill!” said Jim and then he noticed the box with his daughter’s name on it and said, “How on earth did he know that you were coming?”

Nygma would leave minute clues behind, always. Not on the scene of the crime, but an hour or so before the crime actually took place. He was a class act, committing polished crimes with no traces of his involvement. One could never say whether or not Nygma was involved in a crime unless they had deciphered the clue and seen the crime coming. There was never any way of knowing whether he was in action or out of it. "So," thought Barabara," “Nygma is back” probably came from a source who knew that Nygma was out of action for a while at least."

“My father would have figured this out, already!” she thought. “But he always had the Batman to help him out even if he hadn’t found out himself.” And as that very thought went through her mind, her face grew pale and worried.

Ever since her father died, Barbara had wished the Batman would not have disappeared. He always seemed like a brave man, taking up responsibility. She could see no reason for him to quit his vigil, but then she hardly knew him. "Maybe he was a family man with his own issues to face," she thought "and could no longer jump from roof to roof, saving lives. Maybe he got injured badly on the night her father died and the Joker was caught and sent to Arkham to be executed. After all, the officers did say he had a major fall from the Gotham Central Library’s roof. But it was the Batman, he never dies! "

The Bat Signal

Hoping against hope, Barbara went to her office, the same office that Jim had held for thirty years. She climbed up the fire escape, reached the roof. After a considerable amount of cleaning it, she finally turned on the “Bat signal”. She waited for what seemed to be eternity, pondering over the letter she that she had torn and began to burn piece by piece.

She thought, “If this person knew Nygma was back, he must have seen a clue. And as far as I can remember, only one person has been able to decipher Nygma’s cryptic clues time and time again. And that person was...” and she looked up to notice a dark figure with huge wings flying across the night sky and landing on the very roof she was standing on. Thrilled like a small kid in front of a merry-go-round, she said, “BATMAN?!”

"Barbara..?" he said as he picked himself up.

"This wasn't a very bright move, I have narrowed you down to a member of one of four families, you know?" she said, pointing to the burning pieces of the letter.

Puzzled, Batman said in his gruff voice, "What are you talking about?"

Now, Barbara was concerned. The letter was not from Batman. She had thought the Batman had sent a letter through to her to not involve himself in this, but to somehow prevent the damage impending. "I got this letter tonight, delivered to my hand" she said and she described to him the contents of the letter.

"I'm afraid that someone's playing with us, Barbara. And we've got to find out who this is..." said Batman "but, I'm sorry!" he unplugged the "Bat signal" and ripped off the bulb. "I can think, but I cannot run! Here... ", he said as he handed over a device to Barbara, "you can reach me on this. You can send files, call me and trouble me using this. I think you are capable enough to run this city by yourself." she took the device and started examining it. Batman continued, "Press the green button to turn it on. Keep it safe, there's no duplicate."

She could hardly believe what was happening. She turned on the bat-shaped device and it asked for her finger-print. She placed her thumb on the screen and saw it scan before it granted her access. "But how do I know when I can reach you?" she said as she looked up to realize she was alone on the roof. But the device replied "you can always reach me, as long as the device is on." said Batman. She was sure he was flying and she could hear the wind whizzing by him. "Goodbye" she said and she went back downstairs, to her office.

Barbara was very confused. She had a million thoughts running on her mind. The Riddler, the Batman, the device, the letter, the history, the clues, her dad. She was sure only about one thing though, Gotham City was in for a series of crimes and she would have to guard Gotham and be responsible for any losses of any kind.

But, of course, she had the Batman's brains to help her.