The Beginning

New Gotham City

June 5, 2025

23:46

'What a lovely night'

Nightwing also known as Timothy Drake thought as he stood on a stone building in New Gotham. Granted that the sky was cloudy but nevertheless the city was still beautiful; Wayne Tower's lights were contrasting against the darkened sky. The maple trees and poppies were blooming all around the city. WayneCorp had even invented a chemical that could genetically modify plants so it could speed up the CO2 intake. It would take few years for it to get rid of the smog that hung in the city but it was a step in the right direction. WayneCorp, was a leading world power and would soon be changing CEOs. It would be the final merge of WayneCorp and Drake Industries.

Nightwing shot his hook into the night to begin the usual patrol. As he was swinging to the next building there was a flash of white light inside his mask. Blinded Nightwing stumbled onto the building's roof.

'What the-?'

A message appeared inside his mask in simple white text.

"Change in the season, time is now the place, the Gardens"

'Who talks like this? Yoda? Riddler?' Nightwing stumbled to the edge of the building. There was no one in sight. The Batcomputer inside his mask was analyzing the message. Its speech pattern didn't belong to anyone that was closely related to him. Thank goodness for that if it was the little Demon he'd be in so much trouble. Attempted murder, yeah he'd put it under attempted murder while swinging to roofs if it was Damian.

His mask drew him out of his fantasy, "Speech Pattern identified, Gypsy"

'Oh, Gypsy.'

Whenever this girl showed up it always meant trouble or misfortune. And usually it would end up being a mission that would include all of the Bats and all of the League and its allies.

Her identity was a secret kept tighter than the Batclans'. It was one Scarlet's many open case files that she'd look at during her 'free time'. According to Scarlet this girl was a threat, she knew everyone and everything, from correctly predicting Luthor's mindset to accurately guessing what Alfred was going to make for breakfast in a week. From what they could gather she was a time traveler bound to the entity of time somehow.

Due to this fact her personality often varied. One minute she'd be happy and perky the other she'd be quiet, cryptic and rude. It was sort of like Scarlet, happy and engaged at the manor but as Scarlet Bat she'd become focused, closed and stoic.

Tim pushed those thoughts aside. He needed to figure out the message. "The change in the season, time is now the place, the Gardens" It was probably personality two talking here.'the time is now the place the gardens'. Nightwing cross referenced garden and Gotham together. 'Gyoss Gardens, the Mirror Garden, Oracle Gardens, Midnight Gardens and many more'. 'Why does New Gotham have so many gardens?' Tim thought pinching the bridge of his nose. Knowing the girl's personalities' every clue was there, it just took a quote "skilled mindset that mankind had to achieve". What was the other clue? "The time is now" 'Now' it was almost 12. 'Midnight' 'The Midnight Gardens' Why on Earth would Gypsy want to meet in such a public place? Nightwing wondered. He shot off to towards the park.

Nightwing landed softly on his feet in the south side of the park. It was a well lit thanks to the New Gotham city plan. Nightwing walked around the shadows of the park, Gosh this must be how Gordon feels every time the Bats come around. Never knowing when they would show up.

'Wait what was that?' He heard a faint rustle behind him.

Tim whipped around to see a female girl. She was standing toe to toe with him. He was still taller but the effect was still unsettling. She looked sort of like a civilian but more unusual. A more accurate term resembled Tonks in muggle clothing. She was trying to fit in but failing. He noticed her hair; it was long and pulled back into half a ponytail it was colored purple, blue and pink, and looked like a galaxy. She also wore a flimsy ornate white mask. That covered a small part of her face. How was her identity still a mystery? No one really knew. Under a black hoodie she wore a shirt that said "I'm not weird, I'm a unicorn!" Nope nothing unusual about her…

"Gypsy" Nightwing said greeted breathlessly, taking a step back. She was so close he could smell her. (She smelled of fresh linen sheets) "Hello Timbo!" She replied, a huge smile crossing her face. Personality number one...

"Yes that's a real name!" she burst out. Tim looked at her quizzically.

"Ha ha ha, just because you've never met anyone named Timbo doesn't mean it's not real!"

"Figure out that one by yourself ay mate?"

"Hey my body my rules!"

"What do you want Gypsy?" he asked cutting across the girl's one sided conversation. Gypsy seriously needed a cell at Arkham. She'd fit right in with all the other crazies.

"Uhhhhh, Why did I come here?"

She started to pace back and forth.

Nightwing stared through his mask saying nothing. His computer was running an analysis on the girl so far it had no results only Carbon particles on her clothes and belonged in the time era 7 years ago. He focused back on the girl, a glowing blue screen appeared front of her. On it were words of gibberish. The computer helpfully stated that it wasn't any known language.

"Oh yeah! I did write it down!"

"No I was not drunk when I wrote it down"

"Getting hung over was your idea of coping!"

"Just because you can't read it doesn't mean I can't"

Nightwing cleared his throat. Correction she was pure Arkham material.

Gypsy shook out of her argument and relayed her message "The ultimate metamorphosis is at hand. Beware its power" Her white pupils met his masked ones. Once again they were standing toe to toe.

"Seek Warden Hilt Town. Understand its significance. Uptown sky, go I no"

"Yes MOM" And they were back to the internal conflicts.

"Shut up! It wasn't my idea it was yours"

"Welll since he bound us together we're quite literally stuck for the rest of you"

"It wasn't my idea of!-"

"Uptown sky, go I now?" he repeated blinking at the unusual message. While the crazy continued to scream at herself. He turned around in the grass. What kind of message was that? A calling card? A I'm gonna stick around while the world is in peril and this is where I'll be? "What does- he turned to interrogate Gypsy.

The girl was gone. Dang it Gypsy had an annoying knack of disappearing at the most inconvenient times.

Nightwing looked around the trees and shadows, nothing. He even looked and the ground to see if she had shrunk down. Sadly she wasn't there. He clenched his hands. He felt something cutting into his palm. He opened it; in his hand was a silver charm in the shape of the letter I. On it, it had a wreath of laurels set upon it. The tower clock struck 12. He needed to get back to patrol, Tucking the 'I' into his belt for later inspection. Tim ran off into the night. Thanking that his computer had recorded the entire conversation.

Nearby a clearly drunken man sat down on a park bench, 3 bottles of wine could make a man a wee bit tipsy. He sat down on a nearby park bench. A black blob came out of the woods. 'is it 'alloweeen already?... I thoug it wass in July' A white blob came into view. 'Hallowen is early… and I furrrgot to buy condy…itll be on sale tommmorrow' the man consoled himself.

The white blob watched the black blob thing bounce out of the park, a few… goats… no that wasn't right… seconds (that sounded better)… later the white blob disappeared before the man's eyes. He looked at the bottle in his hand, then to the spot where he last saw the blobby thingy and then back down again. He threw the bottle away, the last night of drinkin for him; Hilt Town was promoted to be head of Cape May city prison. His 8 years steady girlfriend had just broken up with him, ooh how alcohol soothed the soul. The man got back up retrieved the bottle and began walking back to the bar. Singing a tuneless song to himself…

AN:

Nothing belongs to me!

*(Ducks, wacks on head)* Hi there! I rewrote this story again... Yeah sorry bout that; the last chapter was fighting me tooth and nail, iwas looking at a writer's block the size of the Jupiter. Not to mention I had answered pretty much all of the questions I put into the summary. And I also hehehe decided I actually needed a plot, so now I have one :P YAY! The idea is that this chapter is to remain standing and when I finish the story the other chapters will be uploaded.

Many thanks to PikaWings who has been MORE than patient and kind with me and my useless mind. :P

Any ideas? Thoughts? Questions? Let me know! Ideally the comment section for an anonymous reviewers should be activated many apologies if not!

BB131762 Out for who knows how long?! :P

Comments help the process go faster :)