JLA Watchtower (Archive)

Jeffrey Patterson hated his job, hated this city, and hated the fact there was zero movement for one of his views. Gotham. The city was a cesspool of lunatics and freaks. It hadn't always been that way. It used to be the worst thing you had to worry about was a little bit of corruption and the occasional mob hit, but now... Patterson was an attorney, albeit not a very high-ranking one, who frequently tried to garner support in the Gotham legal system to enact harsher punishments for the city's lunatics and its vigilantes that made a mockery of the law and law-enforcement. Alas though..he got very little in the way of actual aid, despite the numbers of people he knew who shared his opinion. The cycle of crazies and vigilantes in costumes had to end. There had to be some normalcy restored damn it!

It was then his phone rang. With near robotic precision, an act he'd done so many times before, he picked up the phone. "Patterson office."

"Evening, Mr. Patterson, I would like to speak to you in regards to the events in the East End."

Patterson was immediately startled. The voice was electronically altered and his caller id was getting squat. "Who is this?"

"Who I am, Mr. Patterson is not important. What is important is that I am someone who wishes to see real change come to this city, one step at a time. I have in my possession evidence of the Scarecrow's entire operation. His distribution network, his associates, and a list of facilities in which he has supplemented his formulas into legitimate medicine. I am willing to give this information to you and you friends on the police force. Interested?"

"You bet your ass I'm interested!" Patterson was now wide awake. "Who are you? Are you with the second group? I'll tell you right now I may not like the capes, but I don't deal with criminals."

"Mr. Patterson, you've lived in this city a long time. Fifty years, yes?"

"How the hell do you...?"

"My point is you lived during a much simpler time in this city. A time where the worst a person had to worry about was a mobster stealing some of your tax money. Now you have to worry about some lunatic mowing down a group of children in public, on a regular basis. Am I wrong?" The voice sounded almost smug.

Jeffrey didn't respond. It echoed nearly everything he himself believed. "Yeah, but..Batman helps..."

"I'll grant you in the beginning he did. I'll even grant you that he had good intentions. However, the criminal element has become something far worse than it was. Arkham is merely a revolving door that accomplishes nothing. If anything, it only gives these lunatics a chance to rest up. Batman catches them, only to start the never-ending cycle all over again. He's a part of the problem. You know I'm right."

Jeffrey sighed. Yeah, he knew the guy was right.

"I want to see this city returned to its glory. I may not perhaps represent your side of the fence, but we want the same thing. The firsts step is for the police to start taking back their streets. To show that the capes are ineffectual and unnecessary. This will not be a grand and sudden instance, but it will get the ball rolling. With this information, you will destroy Scarecrow's entire operation., but in exchange, I want you to set up some introductions between my people and your friends on the force. Can you do that?"

Jeffreywas quiet a long time. For years he championed the law, the real law. He didn't like the idea of working with criminals at all, but... It had to end. The masks, the lunatics, the killings..it had to stop. They had to take their city back.

"Okay, I'm in."