Night slowly fell, like ink soaking into Gotham's sky. Dark clouds churned, and rain began to patter down again.
Three ghostlike figures in black used grappling hooks to slip silently onto the roof of the East End Police Department. The squad leader swept his sharp gaze across the empty rooftop, finally fixing it on the heavy iron door leading to the stairwell below.
For some reason, a plastic mannequin in a police uniform stood in front of the door. It held a pistol, and a conspicuous card was taped to its chest, bearing several lines in almost mocking calligraphy:
> I am born in an instant,
> With a thunderous roar, I proclaim my might;
> I turn order into chaos,
> My fury none can fight.
> What am I?
A simple question mark was also drawn in the corner of the card.
"The cops even use dummies to stand watch now?"
One assassin snorted contemptuously and reached out to tear off the card, but the leader beside him stopped him.
"Careful!"
The leader pointed beneath the card, where an extremely fine thread was wound around the trigger of the gun in the mannequin's hand.
"Childish tricks," he muttered, pushing the muzzle down and kicking the mannequin aside.
Click.
A barely audible mechanism clicked.
The assassin squad leader's pupils contracted, and he barked, "Back!"
But it was too late.
An extremely fine metal wire behind the mannequin had been tripped, tugging a hidden lever above the doorframe. The lever released, and an M67 Fragmentation Grenade with its safety pin removed rolled out of an inconspicuous recess, clattering down between the three assassins.
Time seemed to freeze for an instant.
The next second-
BOOM!!
The grenade exploded in front of the stairwell entrance, spraying fragments wildly in every direction. The