HEIST OF THE CENTURY - Modplot

[legionnpcs]

[The video snaps on. It’s Ferro, and even through his iron mask it’s easy to tell that the boy is disturbed.]

So, uh. After, you know. Blue Rose dropped in. And vanished. After that, I felt like I needed to visit the Hall Of Fallen Heroes and, you know. Pay my respects to her and our other friends.

[He clears his throat and glances around.]

Um. All of the statues are gone. It’s supposed to be impossible, only Legionnaires have access to the memorial hall, but, well. Take a look.

[He sweeps his camera across the room. It’s a peaceful area, meant for solemn remembrance It’s also completely empty. The pedestals that the massive golden statues stood on are still there, but none of the statues, not Monstress, not Element, not Blue Rose, are present. He refocuses on himself.]

Judge Beeny, Mr. Allen, could you come down and sweep the area with your, uh. Forensics stuff? I’m not trained for that, you might find something I missed.

[They won’t, but it would be good to do a sweep anyway.]

I did find these, though. They were on a saucer in the middle of the room.

[He holds up four cards with question marks on the back. One of them just has pictures. Another says ’ Even if I said that it was the Opal of Earth, you wouldn't understand the gravity of it.’ The third says ’ Even though I fell on Judgement Day, I came back. It took much longer than three days, in my case.’ And the final card says ’ Some revered me like a god. To others, I was a waste hauler. To all, I mean something.’]

I’m no good with riddles. I always just turned the magazines upside down to get the answers. Can any of you make sense out of this?

Comments

[rushing_by]

I'll come take a look.

As for the riddles, I think the second one might have something to do with Opal City, but I'm not sure where gravity would come in to it.

[thedreamisdead]

You know, normally I'd make this a challenge, given the forensics conversation beforehand.

But considering the powersets involved, I think I'll just remind you that this isn't a race.

[muroieda]

Ididn'tdoit!

[Way to make yourself look instantly guilty, Junkrat.]

[snoutback]

He didn't do it.

[This exonerates him completely.]

[legionnpcs]

Visitation records would have showed if you had been in the Hall near the time of the theft, don't worry. We already know when you have and haven't been around there.

Even if you were, I think someone would have noticed you moving around thirty five tons of gold statues.

[muroieda]

That's...a null point, mate. I know that, and whoever took it knew that too. Anyone that's halfway decent caper-artist knows that ya can't just walk inta the front door and take. They would've either bypassed the check-in or made a back door.

As for not bein' seen with 'em--would be easy ta pull off with me powers.

[He shrugs.]

Just need the right bag.

[legionnpcs]

Bypassed check-ins or made a back door in a Brainiac 5 designed system?

[Theoretically, it's possible. But Ferro's not sure he wants to believe that kind of thing is possible]

Why would you want to blow a perfectly good alibi, anyway?

[muroieda]

Greenie's one alien with many hats. All it takes is one bloke with a dogged obsession in his craft ta figure out the weak point. Y'd be surprised what some people can pull off while hidin' in plain sight.

I still have my alibi! Two of 'em, in fact. I ain't been out of either Roadhog or Fareeha's sight in weeks. [A beat.] Plus I don't leave riddles. My calling cards are smiley faces, like the one on the back of my jacket.

[kickpushbaby]

What'd somebody want statues for?

[rushing_by]

Some people steal things just for the challenge or the thrill of it.

[kickpushbaby]

That's dumb.

[leverageintceo]

Some people like puzzles.

But I will agree that once you start stealing things to help people, stealing just for the challenge doesn't really give you the same buzz.

[legionnpcs]

Gold's still pretty valuable, even in the space future.

[kickpushbaby]

Why'd'ya make your statues outta freakin' gold?!

[legionnpcs]

If you died, would you want people to skimp on your memorial?

[kickpushbaby]

Why would I care, I'd be dead.

[whyarewehere]

What the fuck, weren't those things heavy?

[legionnpcs]

In the area of seven tons, I think? There's not that many people who have access to the Hall and can lift that much.

...Not that I'm saying it was a Legionnaire! Just, you know. Only Legionnaires can get into that area. Even the staff isn't allowed.

[steelandtemper]

Locks only deter people who're honest to begin with. I'll see what I can get from the network logs, but it's not looking promising.

[legionnpcs]

Junkrat thinks that someone could've spoofed their identity somehow. I don't know if that's possible on this system, but it's still a start?

[steelandtemper]

Doable. Hard, but doable, especially if you don't care about getting discovered after the fact, and our smartass here clearly wants to be noticed.

[She shrugs.]

No security is perfect. Trust me on that.

[circusbat]

I'd offer to come down and help with the forensics, but I think Barry and America probably have that well in hand. I mean, I'll go help if either of them want it, of course.

[Dick sits back, grabbing a stylus and padd that works as a notebook for him.]

I don't suppose anybody knows if the Nygma family still exists? Or...well, I suppose Edward probably has descendants around, even if they aren't going by the same last name.

[He bends his head, starting to make some notes.]

Barry's probably on the right track with the second riddle having to do with Opal City. And, given that I think my world is a bit closer to that of the Legion than Barry's, I'll go with what I know. And that means that, more than likely, the hero most closely associated with Opal City is Ted Knight, Starman. Who used two rods he had created, the cosmic rod and the gravity rod, to create his "powers".

[Yes, he airquoted. Hush.]

"Judgment Day" could refer to a few different things, but the main one that comes to mind to me is when Overmaster tried to ransom the Earth. The only one who fell that day and took time to return was Tora Olafsdotter, also known as Ice. It was a few years later that we got her back.

I'm...not sure what the first one is. Carpenter or handy man, sure. But I'm not sure what the ent...

[Dick pauses, considering for a moment before he starts writing again.]

Carpenter without the ent, of course, is Carper. Which makes no sense to me.

Not sure about the last one. There IS a guy that Batman once fought called the Garbage Man. Who wasn't a villain, but he was acting pretty weird at the time. But I don't think he was ever revered as a god by anybody.

[steelandtemper]

Carper, noun, one who complains or finds fault querulously or unreasonably. Could also be someone who fishes for carp, I suppose, but I just searched a few hundred thousand separate historical sources and it's not attested anywhere.

[Cortana: like having a dictionary that sometimes calls you an idiot.]

Anyway, probably not smart to get too literal on any of this and assume that last clue refers to an actual sanitation worker. What about that Superman guy? He ever do anything that could be described as taking out the trash?

[circusbat]

Not impossible for it to be somebody who complains. The green question mark could mean something too, unless that's just part of his calling card.

[He shifts a few things.]

It could also be something else. A carper is also a fisher. And there was a hero by the name of Fischer back in my time: Scott Fischer. He died young of leukemia, though, so maybe that's not what we're going for.

[rushing_by]

Any heroes from your time that would be associated with fish?

[circusbat]

[And THAT takes Dick a moment because he can't believe he forgot the obvious one.]

Aquaman. Actually, could be any of the Aqua family, but Aquaman is the most obvious.

[rushing_by]

Can't rule out the idea our suspect actually is this Nygma guy.

...please tell me his name isn't actually E. Nygma.

[legionnpcs]

I remember him from when I lived in the past! Yeah, Edward Nygma, the Riddler.

Anyway, I'll check in with the Opal Museum of Cosmic Energy. I went there about a week ago and had a nice chat with Mr. Reese and I'm pretty sure I saw Starman's old Gravity Rod there.

[circusbat]

Thanks, Ferro. That would be a great help. Especially if the gravity rod is what this person is after. And even if it's not, giving them a heads up couldn't hurt.

[legionnpcs]

Yeah, he says that it's one of the original models. Not like the replica Cosmic Rods they have.

[circusbat]

Yep. Edward Nygma. The Riddler. He was one of Batman's rogues gallery for a long time, though he's been trying to turn a new leaf and help people as a detective recently. Hard to tell how that's going to go, but he's been doing some good.

[leverageintceo]

I'm not good with riddles, but I can come poke around and see how I'd do it.