Gordon was wrong about the time-frame of how long it would take to clear everything up. Three weeks went by and there was no sign of Batman anywhere; there was also no sign of Bruce Wayne. Most people believed that Bruce Wayne was lying in a ditch somewhere, dead for some time, and most people weren't aware that Batman had gone missing. A lot had happened after the explosion; G.C.P.D. was revealed to be 'compromised' and a millionaire from out of town came and took over the helm to keep peace within the city. Gordon found that his job's title had been drastically reduced to nearly nothing now that this new man, Carlist Brummer, had added a new division of peacekeepers to the G.C.P.D. So while Gordon had not been fired, too many new positions had been added ahead of his for his job to have any proper purpose. During the day he filed paperwork that further put this man, Brummer, into power and at night he moonlighted trying to find clues to help him uncover what happened to Batman. There was no success; however, nothing he could find gave him any clue to what happened that night and, as time went by he knew that whoever he was hiding Batman from, would find out that there was no body on the roof that night.
There was no trust between Gordon and this man, Brummer, either. They had met once and it didn't go well; Gordon retreated back into his monosyllable shell and refused to answer any questions to the man. Gordon knew Brummer had something to do with something; but, he could be positive as to what it was.
The same could be said for Brummer, his plan went well. The two most powerful men in Gotham city were out of commission. There was no legal power or vigilante power that could stop Brummer from doing what he wanted now.
"Imperialism is part of human behavior…" Brummer explained to Elliot, his secretary and friend, one day. "…Everyone on this planet wants something more; but, what exist already exist. You can create something new for yourself; but, things like land and personal possessions can't be recreated, or at least can't be recreated fast enough to be still desirable at the end result. As much as that is true, most human beings, actually, do not want to be seen as villains. They have an underlying desire to be seen as, at least, decent people. Anything less becomes a nagging sensation in the back of one's head. "Am I wrong?" "Do I deserve what I have?" etcetera, etcetera, so as a mean to appease both desires they turn to one thing: flaws. Flaws provide a reason, an excuse, for one to take what he desires. If a man wants land and sees a vacant lot, he plants a tree in it and calls it his. The lot had no purpose before; but, now sustains life, it now has a beauty to it, so when the state tries to take back the land he says: "look what I created, look at the value I gave this lot, it's mine." Or when animals are displaced in a natural disaster, someone adopts them; but, when the time comes for the original owner to start their life again and they ask for their pet back, one is extremely reluctant to return the animal. Flaws in the world make it easy for imperialistic ideas to become true. If you want something so bad, get it used and abused and then fix it; by that token you are the owner at that moment…" Brummer paused to sip his coffee. "…Gotham city is a prime example of that kind of flaw. Here a city, wracked with violence, broken with sorrow and crippled with corruption. The people are so tired of living in a society where tomorrow is not granted, that they give up on it and live day to day with no caring for what happens around them. So when a solution comes along, it doesn't matter what kind of solution it is; just as long as it guarantees a change in the societal programming. That's why people turn to crime, if you can break down the system into nothing then it has to be forced to start over and hopefully the change that comes will be better; but, most of all it will be different. That's the ripest time to strike, if you can offer a change in society then people will follow you no matter what the course is, just as long as it means something different. That's where Gotham is, it's at that point where the people are so tired of seeing another rape or murder or mugging on the news that they will willingly accept any option given to them and that allows for one to take over. To stake his claim and achieve what he's been striving for. That's what we're going to do with Gotham, we're going to offer them a solution, a change of path, something that they won't refuse when you show it to them and in the process we will gain an entire city. Money is of no importance, you can buy almost anyone off and we have enough money to set them up for life. There are; however, people who cannot be bought. People in which money is not an option, what they want is to change the society; but, keep it intact. Idealist, dangerous people who will do anything to save a society on the brink of self destruction; these sort of people will stand in your way, they mean to inspire and, their ideals spread like an infection. That infection helps the corruption to continue and the society breaks down until there is nothing left. In this town those people are Harvey Dent, Batman and James Worthington Gordon; there's no amount of money one could offer them to give up on Gotham. Dent has the legal and political power to stand up to any sort of problem that comes into this city. His skill in the courtroom can only be explained as sheer brilliance; it would only take Dent a matter of time to slow and stop any change that we may bring to Gotham and then there is the Batman…" Another sip and a smile. "…He's different; he has no legal, political or financial power; but, he has vigilance. The Batman inspires people to look at the world they live in and strive for a better one and, when those other people who come as crooks and criminals threaten that ideal the Batman is not afraid to knock them back down into the dirty pits that they came from. The process that we are going to create here is something that cannot be compromised by these two men; Gordon can be dealt with, his power is in his own mind, in his determination; but, we can block him with power and keep him from being trouble. However, Dent and the Batman must be destroyed, not only will this keep them out of out affairs; but, it will also be symbolic, it will show the people that they have nothing left to look to; that their only option lies solely with us. What happens after that is simple; the money begins to flow and we set up idols throughout the city; but, we are the controllers. Within weeks this entire city will be in turmoil and we will be there to pull it out of that disaster and then the people will be happy to surrender their lives to us. It's a plan that is supported by human nature and will not fail." Brummer concluded; Elliot smiled and agreed.
Of course there were other obstacles that came with the plan. There always going to be that one person who saw through the veil put around their eyes, or simply was too suspicious to go along quietly. They could hurt the plan to with fussing and fighting the change. Plus word of mouth was contagious, if one person said one thing then someone else would pick it up and spread the idea elsewhere, granted everyone wouldn't subscribe; but, there was the chance that someone would pick up the idea and continue to spread it and after a long amount of time you would have a rebirth of people like Harvey Dent and Batman. To counter that one would offer incentives for silence, prettier streets, affordable housing; things to keep peoples minds off of what was happening elsewhere. There was; however, a group of people who weren't satisfied unless the truth was revealed, it wasn't because they necessarily cared about the truth; it was because it was their job to out the dirty secrets in society. These people left unchecked could bring down an entire operation; because these people were the most dreaded of all…
Those people were reporters.