Black and Red Chapter 21 Planning Council

Red Robin had unrolled a map of Gotham across Commissioner Gordon's desk and was marking various points on it. "Here's where last night's crimes attributed to the False Face Society were," he said. "And these are the edges of the adjacent gangs' territory prior to the offensive." He drew several lines between the dots and picked up another colored pen. "These were the borders as of this morning." These lines circled around the dots.

Gordon examined the map. "These three gangs lost nearly half their territory and these two a quarter," he mused. "Big losses."

"And today the gangs started fighting back," Red Robin continued. "Here are gang fights, these are other crimes, and this is the border as of about an hour ago."

"At least it's confined to just one sector," Allen said.

"That won't last. These gangs share borders with the warring gangs; they'll try to expand. And then they'll end up fighting, so their neighbors will try to steal their territory and so on."

"Come on, no gang leader is stupid enough to do that, not after the first few go wrong," Montoya snorted. "What do they have to gain?"

"Gang leaders don't actually have complete control of their men," Red Robin sighed. "Since the gangs realised they could make some cold money dealing drugs or through various other crimes, they got organized. But the only way for a junior to advance is to make a name for himself, so the rank and file do actually have an interest in fighting, even if it's against the interest of the gang as a whole."

Gordon frowned. "If we took out the leaders, the gangs would promote one of their own and keep fighting."

"Or start fighting each other for the top slots," Red Robin shrugged. "But whoever ends up in charge would have a rather vulnerable position-"

"And would redirect their gang's attention to their rivals," Gordon sighed.

"But it's more complicated than that because of the False Face Society," Red Robin continued. "It's more of a cult of personality, and they're organized. The boss, Black Mask, wants to take over the city, so his men are more focused. Look at what happened this afternoon. When the other gangs fought back, they defended some of their new territory and abandoned other parts." He traced a finger around the map. "They've let this one reclaim almost all their territory; why?" he muttered. "Why push against most, but yield to this one? Oh, I get it." He looked up at the trio of police officers. "They're leading this gang, East Eagles, into a trap. The Eagles will advance against the Faces, then the Faces will fold in, circle around, and take them out. The other gangs will be too busy defending their own borders to get involved."

"Do you have any ideas for our strategy?" Gordon asked. Montoya looked at him curiously and slightly incredulously, but he just shrugged.

"Oh yeah, lots," Red Robin said idly. "But it depends on what you want in terms of long-term versus short-term, how far you're willing to go in terms of levels of force, how much you'd let the gangs get away with as long as it stays between the gangs…" The police stared at him. "Well, I could just break the arms of every gang member in Gotham, but I'd be bound to miss a few, and the media reaction would be absolutely horrendous," he suggested.

"Why not just kill them?" Montoya said snidely.

"I don't kill people," Red Robin answered sharply. "Not intentionally, no matter how much I may want to."

"Yeah? Ever killed someone unintentionally?" Allen asked.

Red Robin paused, staring at the map without really seeing it. "Once," he admitted. "There were…unusual circumstances. There was a legitimate threat to my life, and a police investigation cleared me of culpability."

"Er, I think we'd know if that was true," Montoya said, crossing her arms.

"I wasn't Red Robin at the time," Red Robin said simply. "We can discuss this later. With regards the situation at hand, there are several options. We'll have to take Black Mask out; the False Face Society will collapse. But getting to him will be difficult without compromising any case you may want to build up against him. Dealing with the other gangs will be more complex. It may be possible to intimidate some into staying out of it, or to negotiate. Whether you'd want to compromise by dealing with criminals like that is up to you. The gangs are going to be mostly focused on each other, but they won't care who else gets hurt. I can take out as many of the leaders as I can, which will keep most of the gangs busy with their own hierarchy. I can't promise that we can get convictions, but I don't mind injuring them enough to keep them home for a month. What would you like to do?"

"Keep them off the civilians," Gordon grunted. "But without making it look like I'm depending on you, or letting the gangs off."

"Fair enough," Red Robin agreed. "I can pass you as many locations as possible for crimes and let your people sweep onto the scene. I can start investigating the gangs. I'd start with the Eagles; they'll be vulnerable when Mask closes his trap."

"You want to wait until after the Faces take out most of them before we move?" Montoya frowned. "Any particular reason?"

"In all honesty, I'd fear for the lives of any police officers moving against a gang at full strength," Red Robin admitted. "I'd be worried for my own safety. Nothing personal. And I don't care all that much for the gangsters themselves. That's what I'd recommend. Stay on the defensive until we have the information for an offensive."

"You make it sound like a war," Allen stated.

"Isn't it?"

AN: Not my best chapter, but...

Also updating this week is Flashback, which I'm sure all you lovely readers will check out. Next week will be back to Family Ties. I don't actually know what else I'll be writing for next week; probably Little Bird's Vengeance. With luck, I'll get back to updating on Monday...

Anyway, please review. I promise I won't be offended if you think this chapter is a let-down.

See you soon,

Katara