WHO: The Dark Knight, OPEN (2/3 slots) WHAT: Initial Investigation WHEN: Three A.M., the morning after... WHERE: Church's Ruins STATUS: Complete. RATING: 13+. Moonlight stretched upon the Los Angeles horizon. If one would look up, it looked similar to most cities of urban sprawl... no blues, purples; the skies were a morbid tapestry of gray, an odd contrast to the unwavering lights of the "City of Angels."
A stillness permeated the air. The night had settled.
Eyes peered downward at the burned church. As promised, the scene was clear of all bystanders. The police had not gathered their evidence.
The thing in the costume opened his senses, smell... taste... hearing. Not a spectator to be found within half of a mile. Indeed, Gordon's connections were broad.
Without pause, the beast dove into the night... silently dropping twelve stories down. Moments before the shadow touched the ground, gloved fingers flexed, and a long, black cape became erect. Two seconds later, the glide had ceased.
Two fingers touched the bottom left horn, and a small audio recording relayed the information in his ear.
The two-story church was built circa 1925, a remnant of the official Art Deco movement. As the architectural structure did not normally extend to religious buildings, this church was somewhat of a rarity. A partial fire severed the foundation in 1940, as a protest to the federal government during the Great Depression. The foundations were strengthened in 1946, where a line of wealthy aristocrats found need for political influence. The church received negative publicity in 1980, when the minister had been caught with an underage girl. The congregation stopped coming, and it had been abandoned since.
The shadow removed a vial from the belt, and took a sample of scorched earth from the northeastern quadrant of what would have been the first floor. He repeated the process every ten yards, preserving possible DNA samples with an airtight seal on each vial. Then, microscopic samples of charred wood and stone were removed and cataloged as private evidence.
Not a trace of gasoline filled the air. No matches were on the ground. No firearms.
Gloved hands touched a tiny sensor below his cranium, and a video image captured and rendered itself for further evidence. His initial investigation was complete.
According to the police records, Eighteen women, and twelve men were unaccounted for.