Well, welcome one and all to my new story! For years I've been meaning to write a Batman fic, but I never could come up with anything good (and the thought of writing the villains was rather intimidating). But finally, I managed to find some inspiration!

I didn't want to write an OC or a plot line that was commonly found in the Crane/OC fics that I've, so I hope that I've created a well-rounded story that everyone will enjoy.

This prologue is short, I know. But it's not a full chapter; my goal is to make the story long and to not rush things along too quickly (catch me if I ever am, though). I'm going to try to update once a week, probably every Sunday, so hopefully I can keep myself to that schedule.

I hope this prologue is enticing enough for everyone to follow and return to!


"Come on, hot shot, why don't you give me a little tour?" a young woman giggled and slurred flirtatiously as she hung off the arm of an inebriated businessman. The pair had wine glasses in their hands, both stumbling over their feet through the halls of one of the many Gotham skyscrapers. Some floors above, in the penthouse event hall, a charity masquerade could be hear, the air full of laughter and music and alcohol. The two had disappeared from the party a few minutes back, the young red-haired woman insisting that they spend some time alone together. And who was this man to say 'no' to such a lovely little thing like her?

All evening, Mr. Robert Waite had been eying the redhead, who boldly stuck out among the crowd-the event called for a theme of black and gold attire, yet the woman arrived in a dress akin to the colors of a labradorite. The shades of blue adorning her body in a skin tight dress caught the attention of many men and women that evening, yet she only had her eyes set on Robert Waite, much to his astonishment (after all, the only time such young and beautiful things were caught with men his age is when they were after money).

Eventually, the young woman boldly approached him as he took a moment away from his colleagues to refill his drink. She immediately opened up with flirtatious remarks and a request for a refill on her own drink.

Throughout the night, the two were at each others sides, drinking and flirting to their hearts' desires as they kept to themselves. After a good hour or so of this, the sultry woman began to drag him away, leading them to where they were now.

"What would you like to see, sweetheart?" Waite grinned wickedly as he received another giggle from the woman, causing him to tighten his grip on her waist excitedly.

With a glint in her eyes and a soft bit of her lip, she replied, "Your office?"

Waite was more than happy to oblige the request, and so they began the trek to his large and luxurious office. The redhead continued to sip at her wine, jesting that she'd steal his as well if he didn't finish it quickly. And as an extra reassurance, she jokingly brought the glass back up to his lips with a teasing grin, practically pouring the content between his lips and down his throat.

Finally, the two were entering his office, with Waite shutting the door eagerly behind them. He finished the last drops of his Merlot in a swift gulp as his companion set her glass down on a side table.

In the near dark of his office, Waite stumbled around in search of a light switch, but was stopped by a silk-clad hand on his chest and the woman's breath against his neck, taking him by surprise.

"There's no need for that…" She whispered while slowly leaning into him. Waite grinned largely as his burly hands reached down to grab a firm hold of the redhead's waist. She began to reach up, her lips inching toward his in a teasing fashion.

Then, she stopped, causing Waite to groan as his fingers dug into her skin. The woman looked up into his eyes innocently for a few long moments, almost as if in anticipation. For what, Waite wasn't sure, though it became frustrating to have to delay any longer. Just as he was about to begin questioning her, he stopped.

He began to feel dizzy. A dizziness that caused him pain and confusion. And that's when the woman's green eyes went from innocent to menacing.

Waite's body began to feel heavy as the woman stepped back, watching as the man pressed his palms to his forehead and began to stumble around. He managed to mutter out a small "what" and take a final glance at the woman before his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he collapsed to the floor.

The redhead smirked subtly as she kicked the man's discarded wine glass with her heel-some people were too easy. Robert Waite was one of these people. She knew he would be when she was asked to take the assignment, so of course she would accept these sorts of things; it was just more easy money for her.

Quickly, the woman turned to the desk in front of a large window, making her way to the computer atop it; luckily, she wouldn't be rushed and limited on time (as she had been on a number of other assignments), but nonetheless she wasn't a fan of working slow. There were too many risks involved sometimes.

The woman was soon clicking and typing away on the computer, searching for the data files she knew would be there. If she worked quickly enough, she could have the drive handed over to her client tonight, and have the second half of her $10,000 pay in cash by tomorrow morning.

For a brief moment, she stole a cautious glance up at the security camera positioned in the far corner of the room-of course, she knew it wasn't actually monitoring her (as she had gone into the security before the masquerade and put the feed on a loop), but old habits die hard. After all her years of this work, sometimes she'd forget that she was no longer a sixteen year old learning to pick a lock.

Soon enough, the documents were found, loaded to a hard drive, and completely wiped from the computer. And the woman left the room, retrieving her wine glass with a gloved hand and slipping it into her small clutch bag. Casually and innocently, she took the elevator door to the ground floor and exited the building with a friendly smile at the doorman wishing her a good night.


Okay, so there's not a lot to go on so far, but isn't the mystery part of the fun? Leave some reviews, lemme know what you think so far-writers can't live without their reviews, after all!