Biggest Gotham City drug bust leads to over $54M worth of illegal substances seized
by Iris West-Allen

August 24, 2009

This is Gotham City Police Department's heftiest drug bust to date.

Last August 18, the GCPD, led by Commissioner James W. Gordon, infiltrated an unmarked warehouse at the Dixon Docks, successfully seizing around $4.5 million worth of methamphetamine pills, $10 million worth of cocaine, and $40 million worth of a new drug called Crane serum.

Upon exposure, either through injection or inhalation, the Crane serum causes its victims to experience hallucinations. Anyone who is exposed to larger-than-average doses of the serum will experience severe hallucinations. Prolonged exposure can induce minute brain damage.

The GCPD received an anonymous tip that the drug ring routinely held their operations in the area.

"The drug problem in Gotham is getting bigger and bigger," said Gordon in a press conference the day after the operation was made. "The GCPD is more than happy that we were able to deal a big hit to the Cult, but there's more work to be done."

The Cult of Blood, one of the key players in the drug syndicate, was discovered to be running the operation at Dixon. There were no casualties but over $500,000 worth of damage to the docks. The Gotham City government have stated that they will be undergoing construction to repair the damage.

"Rest assured that Wayne Enterprises will join in cooperation with the government to rebuild the part of Gotham City that has been damaged," Wayne Enterprises owner Bruce Wayne said in a separate press conference.

Construction will begin by the end of August. - The Central City Citizen

The Art Department of the Jump City University found life in an old brick building on campus, one of the first structures built when the campus was founded in 1955, a decade after the end of World War II. In its early days, it housed students, before being converted into a classroom building, but a fire razed the premises (faulty wiring) in the early 90's and, upon its repair, was declared as the stomping grounds of the then-budding art department.

In 2006, in line with his partnership with the California Arts Council, a hefty donation by multi-billionaire Bruce Wayne via the Martha Wayne Foundation allowed the JCU Art Department to expand and upgrade its facilities, as well as open up scholarships and new courses of study that were in demand in the current century, such as animation arts.

Over the years, the JCU Art Department built a itself to be a reputable department within the school, with high employment rates in the entertainment industry, particularly in gaming. The BA Game Development program was one of the most coveted programs in the department, its rigorous coursework trained their students to transform into enthusiasts to creators in a span of of four years.

That said, it still sucked to be a BA GD undergrad.

"Fucking hell," Garfield Logan groaned, taking the time to carefully angle his body just so. Once he was satisfied, he slammed his head a little bit to the side of his keyboard. (If he landed dead center, he would've ruined everything he worked on for the past four hours.)

"That's it," Gar muttered, slowly straightening. He dragged his hand to the mouse and saved his work. "I'm going home." A steady stream of clicks as he saved, saved, and saved his work (saved once again for good measure, can't forget that) before booting down the computer he was using.

"Not doing to good, Gar?" Victor asked from his left.

Victor Stone was a year above him, a junior majoring in Biomedical Engineering. The Sciences Building was on the other side of campus, but the dorm building he and Garfield shared the same floor of was nearer, so he tended to hang out a lot in the Art Building.

"I give up," the younger boy whined, "I need sleep. Can't finish games without sleep." He eyed Victor's complicated-looking 3D model. "What's that?"

"It's an arm."

"Oh." Victor twisted the model around. When Gar didn't respond, the bigger man hid several layers of his model, leaving a bare bones outline. Gar nodded, finally understanding. "Sweet."

"Well," Gar began, rubbing his arms on his thighs. "I'm gonna go. Good luck with that, Vic."

Packing up his things with one last goodbye, he ventured out of the almost-empty computer lab. It was much warmer outside than it was inside, so Garfield shed his jacket and stuffed it into his already-crowded backpack.

"Gar, hey!"

Lifting his head from his wrestling match with his shirt, he smiled at his friends. "Hey, Dick. Hey, Kori."

Dick Grayson—rich, handsome, taking up Mechanical Engineering and Business Management, the program that had the highest mortality rate, and of course the guy was top of his class—and Kori Anders—gorgeous, statuesque, foreign International Relations major who was literally the nicest person Garfield had ever met in his life—were the power couple of the school.

"How are you, friend Garfield?" Kori asked politely, leaning in to kiss both cheeks, as they were wont to do in Europe.

"Surviving."

Dick laughed. "I hear that. At least midterms are almost over."

"Where'd you guys come from?" Gar asked.

"Oh, we're meeting a friend of ours," Dick answered. "She actually lives in your building, on the lowest girls' floor. We can all walk there."

Garfield nodded. "Oh, sure." Falling into step, they exited the Art building and walked to the dormitories a ways away. "Who is she? Why're you meeting her?"

"Her name is Rachel," Kori answered, "She has been ill these past few days, so I am dropping off some French homework since were are in the same class."

"French?" Gar asked, confused. "Weren't you taking German?"

"I was taking Russian, and that was an elective. I have chosen French to be my minor."

"Oh, I get it," Garfield said, not getting anything at all.

As soon as they got to the building, Kori whipped out her phone and pressed a few buttons before placing the headpiece of her ear. Garfield, who happened to be staring at a tiny group of smokers at the side of the building, watched a short-haired girl take out her phone, speak briefly into it, before killing her cigarette and walking over.

"Is that her?" Gar asked. At Kori's nod, he frowned a bit. "I thought she was... She doesn't look sick to me."

"No, she does not," Kori said, mirroring his displeasure.

"Bonjour, Kori," the girl greeted in perfectly accented French, once she was in earshot. "Merci d'avoir pris la peine de me les donner."

"Vous êtes les bienvenus." The redhead gave a crisp brown envelope with a small frown. "Rachel, je sais que je ne suis pas en mesure de vous gronder, mais vous devez vous concentrer sur votre rétablissement. Fumer ne va pas aider."

"Je suis d'accord, c'est une mauvaise habitude." Rachel shrugged, reaching over to kiss Richard's cheek. "Mais c'est dur d'arrêter." Finally laying her eyes on Garfield, she gave him a once over that made him shift uncomfortably.

"Voulez-vous s'il vous plaît me présenter à votre ami?"

Garfield had no idea what she said, but he straightened.

"Oh! Oui, I apologize," Kori said, gesturing between the two. "Rachel, this is Garfield. He is a friend of mine, Dick's, and Victor's. Garfield, this is Rachel. She is a Literature major and is in my French class."

"Victor Stone?" Rachel queried.

"Uh, yeah. Hi," Gar greeted, awkwardly extending a hand. "I'm not well-versed in French."

Rachel delayed her handshake long enough for Gar to feel self-conscious, but eventually she shook his hand with a blank gaze. "That's fine, I can speak English. It's nice to meet you."

"Ni vyema kukutana na wewe," Garfield said with a small smile.

Rachel's brow crinkled, a genuine show of emotion from her otherwise lacklustre expressions as she took her hand back. "Oh, I'm not good with African languages."

"Hey, not bad!" he said earnestly, eyes lighting up. "You have the right continent, which is more than I can say for anyone. It's Swahili."

"You can speak Swahili?" Dick asked, brow furrowing at Garfield. The redhead chipperly nodded. "Huh. Didn't know that."

"Rachel has an interest in foreign languages," Kori supplied, ignoring her boyfriend.

Gar grinned. "That's so cool! English and French?"

"Some Japanese and Russian," she said.

"Wow," Gar said with awe. Rachel shifted.

"Oh, we gotta go," Dick spoke up, peeking at his watch. "Kori and I have dinner with Bruce downtown." He gave Rachel a small smile. "I'll say hi to Bruce for you."

"No need to; Bruce hates me," she said flatly.

Dick frowned. "You know that's not true."

Rachel raised an eyebrow, then rolled her eyes with a heavy sigh. "Fine. He's not fond of me."

"Rachel," he admonished with a shake of his head. When her surly expression didn't change, he decided to leave it be. "Whatever. I'll say hi to Alfred for you." Dick leaned in and kissed Rachel's cheek. "Want me to ask him to make brownies for you?"

Rachel went from surly to slightly hopeful. "If it's not too much."

Dick chuckled. "You know Alfred. It's never too much."

"Good bye, friends," Kori said, kissing their cheeks.

"Bye," Rachel said, accepting the kisses. "Have fun." She turned to Gar, who was waving them goodbye. "Aren't you leaving, too?"

Surprised by the bluntness, he just blinked. "Uh, oh, um," he said intelligently. "I live here. Third floor. Three-oh-nine?"

"Is that so?" Rachel said, uninterestedly.

For some reason, Gar couldn't stop his mouth from making words. "Uh, yeah. I don't actually have a roommate, though. My roommate got expelled. Hacked into the school system to change his grades and called the principal a 'snot-brained turd.' His words."

"That's…," Rachel cast him a glance, "Interesting." She pause. "Wait. You mean Gizmo?"

Garfield nodded. "Yeah, that's him."

"I didn't know he got expelled. The last I heard was that he got suspended."

"He got suspended for hacking into the system to change his grades. He got expelled for the 'snot-brained turd' comment."

"Oh. Makes sense."

"Anyway. Yeah."

She stared at him.

Garfield swallowed, forcing himself not to fidget under the awkward silence, "So, uh—"

"I'm going to go now," Rachel said offhandedly, shrugging.

Gar blinked, and cleared his throat. "Oh. Okay, then."

Without another word, she pulled out a cigarette pack and a lighter from her pocket and walked back to the smoking area. No one paid her any mind.

Garfield stared after her, taken aback by her attitude. "Uh, see you around, I guess?" he muttered under his breath, walking into the building without another look in her direction.

I don't speak French or Swahili. All translations are by Google Translate.

"Bonjour, Kori. Thank you for taking the trouble to give [the homework] to me."

"You are welcome. Rachel, I know I can't scold you, but you have to focus on your recovery. Smoking will not help."

"I agree, it's a bad habit. But it's hard to stop. Would you please introduce me to your friend?"

"It's nice to meet you."