C3: Happy April Fools' Day
April 1st—April Fools' Day.
While most New Yorkers were still wrapped in the lively spirit of harmless pranks, Times Square was under lockdown as the NYPD mobilized early and in force.
"What's going on?"
"Mommy, why are there so many police officers?"
"Is this some kind of prank?"
"With real rifles? Doesn't look like a joke to me."
"We should go. If something happens, it's better not to be in the blast zone."
"Hey, officers, you guys look like S.W.A.T. from The Punisher!"
Unbothered by the chatter of the crowd, Police Chief George Stacy, recently seconded to New York from Gotham PD under an intercity task force exchange, turned to his subordinate, African-American officer Sidis, and asked:
"Are you sure it's here?"
Stacy himself was commanding the operation. Snipers were posted on rooftops from the Daily Bugle building to the NASDAQ tower, their scopes sweeping the area. The target: Kaitou Kidd, the elusive thief whose recent string of heists made him as infamous in Manhattan as the Riddler in Gotham.
"Based on the riddle in his notice, we're confident the hit is here in Times Square," Sidis said, holding up a glossy calling card left behind in dramatic fashion. "He mentioned 'the day of fools'—April 1st—and the 'crossroads of the world.' That can only mean Times Square."
Planning a sting based on the criminal's own announcement gnawed at Stacy's pride he'd worked cases against the Mad Hatter and Calendar Man, and being led by riddles was never a good omen. Still, he pushed aside his irritation and focused.
"And the 'red moonlight' he referenced?" he asked.
Sidis shook her head. "Nothing concrete. I ran it past the S.T.A.R. Labs astronomers, but there's no lunar eclipse, no blood moon scheduled. It might be metaphorical."
"Don't worry about that," Stacy said. "You've done well just narrowing the location."
Just catching Kidd at the announced time and place would salvage some of the NYPD's tarnished image after the debacle last week, when the thief absconded with a diamond auctioned by Oscorp while the room was crawling with security.
"Still, sir," Sidis said, eyeing the swelling crowd and the news vans from WHiH World News, "Isn't this... a bit too conspicuous? If he sees all this, won't he bolt?"
Stacy offered a tight smile. "On the contrary. We've analyzed Kidd's pattern with input from Arkham's psychological profiles. He exhibits classic exhibitionist tendencies like Trickster or Mysterio. The more eyes on him, the more stage-like the scene, the more compelled he is to act. It's performative compulsion."
Though Sidis didn't quite grasp all the psych jargon, the Phantom Thief's past escapades escaping with Tony Stark's monocle at a Stark gala, vanishing from a S.H.I.E.L.D. charity event suggested the NYPD wasn't wrong.
"As long as he appears," Stacy said, voice resolute, "this ends today."
Yet despite the confidence around her, Sidis grew increasingly uneasy. She watched the civilians pack in tighter, saw a Nelson & Murdock legal intern taking selfies near a squad car. Something wasn't right.
"You okay, Sidis?" asked her patrol partner, Officer Rem, a tall Irish-American cop with a linebacker build.
"I'm fine," she murmured, then asked, "Rem... have you seen a red moon tonight?"
"Red moon?" Rem blinked. "No, I checked with the folks at the Bureau of Astronomical Affairs, it's a rare event. Only during a total lunar eclipse, when Earth's atmosphere filters out—"
Sidis cut him off. " blue, green, and yellow light, leaving only red wavelengths to scatter. When that hits the moon, we get a red moon."
Rem stared. "You knew that?"
"I asked the same bureau," she replied. "But they said no eclipse is scheduled. Which means…"
"Means what?" Rem asked, his expression sobering.
Sidis glanced toward the crowd and media circus, her stomach sinking.
"It means," she said slowly, "there was never going to be a red moon."
"Rem. What day is it?" she asked.
"April 1st. April Fools' Day," he replied.
"Exactly," she said with a grim smile. "Happy April Fools', Rem."
He inhaled sharply, realization dawning.
"We've been had," Sidis confirmed. "It was a prank. Kaitou Kidd played us like Loki plays the Avengers."
She glanced at Chief Stacy, steeling herself for the task ahead.
"Now comes the hard part: telling the Chief."
"This is going to be a PR nightmare," Rem muttered.
…
[Fame Points: +5 from Sidis]
[Fame Points: +1 from Rem]
[Fame Points: +10 from George Stacy]
"It seems the NYPD finally caught on to my little April Fools' joke."
Perched casually atop a fire escape near Midtown Manhattan, Li Ran, now disguised as a casual black pedestrian with the aid of Kaitou Kidd's legendary disguise tech originally reverse-engineered by Lucius Fox watched the scene unfold.
His disguise was effortless, thanks to the Phantom Thief Skill Card, a gift from the system he carried since his transmigration. The stunt today wasn't just for laughs.
If the notice to the NYPD was a decoy meant to reduce Kidd's notoriety and keep the public guessing...
Then the real notice delivered directly to Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin was no joke.
To infiltrate Fisk Tower undetected, even a master thief like Kidd required reconnaissance. Because unlike the police, Fisk employed metahumans, symbiote mercs from Latveria, and even had hired a few off-the-books ex-HYDRA agents.
Li Ran understood one thing: tricks that fooled S.H.I.E.L.D. wouldn't work twice.
Fortunately, the system didn't stop at a single card. He still had assets.
His gaze lingered on the looming Fisk Tower across the street an architectural monument to power and intimidation.
Then, blending into the crowd with smooth, confident strides, Li Ran disappeared around the corner—one more shadow in the city that never sleeps.
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