Smoke filled the conference room on the second floor of the Eastern District Precinct's new building. The atmosphere was even heavier than the Gotham sky outside.
Chief Bob's bulky body nearly filled the chair at the head of the table. He took a drag on his cigarette and studied the whiteboard in front of him, where a few keywords had been scrawled: "Church," "Monsters," "Fake Medical Staff," "Girl-Raven," "Father-?" Beside it hung several blurry but deeply disturbing photos the Forensics Division had hurriedly taken before the monsters' corpses dissolved completely.
"So do I really have to attend a technical meeting like this?"
He blew out a string of smoke rings, breaking the silence. Then he noticed Li Jie's serious expression, cleared his throat, stubbed out his cigarette, and sat up straight.
"Let's recap. A little girl from... what was it called again?"
"Azarath," Li Jie supplied from his seat beside the long table. His polished Thermos sat in front of him.
"Right. A little girl named Raven, from Azarath." Bob tapped the whiteboard. "Her father, who sounds like a real piece of work, is hunting her down because... she ran away from home. This father sent a bunch of monsters that looked like failed experiments from a barbecue in hell, plus two assassins with lousy disguises, to drag her back. And all this happened in a church in our jurisdiction, where they blew a huge hole in the altar."
He looked around at everyone present: Li Jie, Wilson, Nygma, and Otis.
"Don't you think that, if we take out the so-called monsters, this is no different from an ordinary custody battle? At most, the kid comes from some rich family, and there's an order of succession involved. So..."
"Ed, I don't want to hear these idiots talking nonsense. You're the