The Joker's capture bothered him.
It wasn't the fact that The Joker had been arrested. Gotham was safer whenever the clown was behind bars.
What bothered Batman was how it had happened.
Bruce Wayne stood silently inside the Batcave, the glow of the Batcomputer illuminating the dark cavern.
Multiple screens displayed the footage from Gotham's security cameras.
Police reports.
Tactical movement patterns.
Radio transcripts.
He replayed the operation again.
And again.
And again.
Every police vehicle had moved with precise coordination.
Roadblocks placed exactly where the Joker would attempt to escape.
Snipers positioned at key vantage points.
The entire operation had unfolded like a chess match that had already been solved.
Bruce leaned forward slightly.
"Someone planned this."
Not just a police commander.
Not just an experienced officer.
This level of prediction required something else entirely.
A mind capable of modeling criminal psychology with extreme accuracy.
Bruce rewound the footage again.
The Joker's van turned into the industrial district.
Exactly where the police trap waited.
The timing was perfect.
Too perfect.
Bruce's eyes narrowed.
"The Joker was guided."
The police hadn't chased him randomly.
They had herded him.
Every route he tried had been closed off except one.
The route leading directly into the trap.
Which meant the person running the operation had already calculated the Joker's behavior.
That narrowed the possibilities considerably.
Bruce accessed the Gotham Police Department communications.
Most of the files were available.
But the most important ones—
Were missing.
The transfer records.
Operational commands.
Authorization logs.
All of them had been replaced with encrypted placeholders.
Bruce leaned back slightly.
"…Interesting."
Whoever had orchestrated the operation had covered their tracks extremely well.
But not perfectly.
No system was perfect.
He isolated the encrypted firewall protecting the files.
The architecture was unfamiliar.
Layered encryption.
False data pathways.
Recursive security loops.
Bruce's fingers paused above the keyboard.
"…This isn't standard police encryption."
It was something far more sophisticated.
Something built by someone who understood not only cybersecurity—but investigative countermeasures.
Which meant the person responsible had anticipated that someone might try to investigate.
Someone like him.
Bruce closed the files.
There was another source of information.
Commissioner James Gordon.
Later that night, the rooftop of the Gotham City Police Department was quiet.
The Bat-Signal glowed against the clouds.
Commissioner Gordon stood beside it, smoking a cigarette.
He didn't look surprised when a dark shape descended behind him.
"You're late," Gordon said.
Batman stepped out of the shadows.
"I was busy."
Gordon exhaled smoke into the cold night air.
"I figured."
There was a brief silence.
Batman's voice finally broke it.
"The Joker operation."
Gordon glanced at him.
"Yeah."
"Who planned it?"
Gordon hesitated.
Which was answer enough.
Batman noticed immediately.
"You didn't."
Gordon sighed.
"No."
"Then who did?"
Gordon rubbed his forehead.
"That's… complicated."
Batman remained silent.
Waiting.
Eventually Gordon spoke again.
"There's someone helping us."
Batman's eyes narrowed slightly.
"Helping how?"
"Information," Gordon said. "Investigation reports. Criminal profiles. Evidence we didn't even know existed."
"And this person orchestrated the Joker operation."
"Yeah."
Batman looked toward the city skyline.
"Name."
Gordon hesitated again.
Then finally said it.
"He calls himself L."
Batman turned slightly.
"…L."
"No last name," Gordon continued. "No background information. No location."
"How does he communicate?"
"Encrypted calls. Video feeds. Body doubles sometimes."
Batman's mind immediately started forming patterns.
Anonymous.
Remote operations.
Psychological profiling.
It sounded less like a police consultant…
And more like another detective.
Possibly even a rival.
"What do you know about him?" Batman asked.
Gordon shrugged.
"Not much."
"But what he's given us works."
Batman said nothing.
Gordon continued.
"He's already solved multiple cases in a few days."
"Mafia operations."
"Financial crimes."
"Serial killings."
Batman turned his attention back toward the city.
"And his success rate?"
Gordon gave a small, uneasy laugh.
"…So far?"
"Perfect."
Batman's expression didn't change.
But internally, something clicked.
A detective capable of predicting the Joker's behavior with perfect accuracy.
A strategist capable of coordinating an entire police operation remotely.
A cybersecurity expert capable of building encryption strong enough to challenge the Batcomputer.
Bruce Wayne finally spoke again.
"…Interesting."
Somewhere out there in Gotham…
Another detective had appeared.
One who preferred shadows.
One who hid their identity.
One who manipulated the police like pieces on a chessboard.
And most importantly—
One who had captured The Joker before Batman could reach him.
Bruce looked up at the night sky.
Whoever L was…
They were dangerous.
Not because they were a criminal.
But because they were intelligent enough to challenge him.
Which meant Bruce Wayne would need to learn everything about this mysterious detective.
Starting with one simple question.
Who exactly…
…was L?