Chapter One
"Are you angry with Robin…Tim, Sir?" Alfred asked his employer as he descended the narrow stairs to the Batcave.
Bruce Wayne, currently in his 'evening wear', briefly looked up from where he was working on his latest case (The Riddler). "Am I angry that Tim quit being Robin?" he guessed. "No, it was the boy's choice, and I respect him for it. Tim has been through a lot these past few years and I'm certain that he didn't come to the decision lightly."
Alfred smiled at the man who he had raised as a surrogate son since he (Bruce) was eight. "So, it seems that, for the time being, the Batman is once again a lone vigilante. Would you like me to put a 'help wanted' advert in the gazette sir, or would you rather we just drive around the city and take in the circus?"
The Batman turned and glared at his butler. "I don't think that will be necessary, Alfred. I am not prepared to put another child risk for my crusade again." He turned back to his computer.
Alfred shook his head and muttered, "Where have I heard that before?" He raised his voice again, "by the way, I came down to inquire as to whether you would like a snack while you go about your busy work, Master Bruce."
Batman grunted and continued to stare at the screen. "Just bring some sandwiches Alfred. Peanut butter. Crunchy."
"Very well, Sir," Alfred began to go back upstairs. "I shall be back down with them in, how does the phrase go, two shakes of a donkey's tail."
"Alfred?"
"Yes, Master Bruce?"
"…….Cut them into little triangles, would you?"
Alfred chuckled and walked back upstairs, "as you wish, Sir."
In the kitchen Tim was sitting at the large pine table, tucking into a bowl of Choco Puff cereal. He was dressed in casual clothes, having tried to return the costume to Bruce who refused and said that he could keep it as a memorial.
"You can go down and see him, Master Timothy," Alfred said as he came into the room. "He's working on his latest case."
"What case would that be"? Tim asked curiously.
"I afraid the Riddler escaped from Arkham yesterday. Master Bruce is trying to figure out what our bowler hat friend is up to."
"Hasn't he left any Riddles or anything then?"
"I'm afraid not Master Tim, however Master Bruce may have found something out by now. Why don't you go down and see him?"
Tim thought about it for a second. "Yeah, ok," he finally decided, "I might as well."
He put his empty bowl in the dishwasher and headed towards the antique grandfather clock that acted as the secret entrance to the cave. Before he went through he turned to Alfred and asked, "got any ideas on what I could do now that I'm no longer Robin."
Alfred smiled at the teenager. "Master Tim, I believe that you should do whatever you think is best. You have many great talents and you should use them wisely, but how you use them is your choice." He then put a plate of sandwiches in Tim's hand, "take this down to Master Bruce, will you please?"
Tim thought about Alfred's words and then nodded. "Thanks Alfred, I'll do that." He disappeared behind the clock that led into the cave.
Batman turned from his computer as he heard footsteps coming down the stairway. He spotted his adopted son and swiveled in his chair to greet him. "Hello Tim."
"Hi Bruce, I bought you your sandwiches." He placed them on the console, selected one, and took a bite. "How's the mystery with Nygma coming along?"
"Hmm, not well," Bruce replied. "To be quite frank he hasn't made a move yet. It's almost as if he's biding his time for some reason."
"Anything that I can help with?" Tim offered.
Batman stared at him. "I thought you had quit all that."
Tim shook his head. "Just because that I'm not the Teen Wonder anymore doesn't mean that I can't help you out on some cases."
Batman considered that for a second and then leant over, opening a file drawer. He pulled out a folder labeled 'Josh Brixton' and handed it to Tim. "This was given to me a couple of days ago but I haven't had a chance to work on it yet, think you can handle it?"
Tim took the folder and leafed through it. Inside was some newspaper snippets about the death of Josh Brixton, a thirty-two-year-old man from central Gotham. There was also some information about Josh himself and a copy of the autopsy report.
"Are you sure you want me doing this, Bruce? I mean…"
"Tim," Batman interrupted, 'I have every faith that you can solve that case. You may not be Robin anymore but that doesn't mean you've lost your detective skills."
"Yeah I know," Tim agreed. "So you're not angry that I quit?"
"Like I said to Alfred, no, I'm not angry. You obviously didn't make the decision easily and I respect your choice in life." Batman turned back to his computer and after a couple of minutes said, "that case isn't going to solve itself, you know?"
Tim blinked from where he had been staring at the back of Bruce's head. "Um, yeah, yeah ok. If you need me I'll be upstairs."
Batman just nodded.
Meanwhile, in another part of Gotham.
"Girl! Get here this instant!" a man with scraggly dark hair bellowed at his daughter who was sitting on the windowsill of their top floor apartment.
The girl, thirteen years old, turned her head away from the window and glanced towards the rather rude man. "You say something Dad?"
The man pointed an index finger to the floor in front of him. "I said get here!"
She got up and went over to her father who placed a bunch of notes in her hand. "Take this to Smithy, you know what to get."
"Oh, but Dad! The girl moaned. "Do I have to? Smithy's real creepy and you promised you wouldn't do that stuff anymore!"
"Don't backchat your father," a woman's voice came from the kitchen. "Do as you're told."
"I wasn't back chatting him, Mom. I was just…"
The man grabbed her roughly by the arm and 'escorted' her to their apartment door, opened it and shoved her into the hallway. "Don't come back until you get what I want," he growled, slamming the door in her face.
The girl stuck her tongue out at the door and then proceeded to walk down the hallway to the stairs (the elevator was out of order again, as usual.)
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Batman had been studying various files on documents on Edward Nygma for almost two hours now. So far he hadn't found anything that would suggest what his green clad 'friend' was up to. He glanced at the clock in the corner of the screen and noticed that it was almost nine pm; he would have to go on patrol now.
Shutting the computer down, he headed over to the Batmobile and jumped in the front seat. The car's engine revved as he roared out of the cave.
Tim came down into the cave just in time to see the car exit. "Goodbye to you too," he muttered.
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Gotham City was a dark and dangerous place at night, especially for someone as young as her. Even though the teenager could probably take care of herself if she came across someone (she was a blue belt in karate). The girl didn't thugs would have the time to take martial arts lessons; they were too busy committing crimes and mugging people.
She took lessons twice a week because it got her away from her parents. It was cruel thing to think, but with parents like hers you needed to get out whenever you could.
She walked down the street, her yellow jacket glowing under the street lights. It was quiet at the moment though that would change once she got closer to her destination. The notes given to her were stuffed in her pockets.
The girl turned down an alley way and came face to face with a scrawny bearded man. He was dressed in a tattered jacket and leaning against the wall.
"Hey, carrot top," he said as she passed, "Got any spare change?"
She shook her head and carried on, unfortunately she didn't get far when 'Scrawny' grabbed her arm. "Let me rephrase that: give me your money…NOW!"
Trying to wriggle free of his strong grasp was impossible, so she kneed him in the stomach. He 'oofed' and doubled over. The girl took that as a chance to send a flying kick into his face, shattering his nose.
"You little brat!" Scrawny cried, clutching his bloody nose with one hand. He launched at her with his other hand, aiming for the girl's throat. She ducked and swept his feet out from under him.
'Scrawny' toppled forward, hitting his head on the wall. He slumped to the floor, out cold.
The girl looked down at him. "Jackass," she growled.
"Indeed," a voice came from behind her, "very impressive."
She spun around in surprise. "Smithy!"
Smithy smirked. "Well, if it isn't Little Red Yellow Jacket. Your dad wants some dope does he?"
"Yeah," she replied, shoving her hands in her pocket to remove the money. "I got a hundred dollars here."
"Not here kid, you ever know who might be 'flying' around, we'll go into the warehouse."
She followed him through an old wooden door, hanging off its hinges. The warehouse was stacked with boxes, some of which were turned upside down and being used as chairs by Smithy's mates.
"Wait there," Smithy instructed her, "I'll be right back with the stuff." He disappeared into a back room.
The girl stood around and shuffled her feet. She hated being here, it made her uncomfortable. The sooner she was given the dope the sooner she could get out of there.
The door opened and Smithy came out holding a bag. "Here you go kid, tell your dad we got some smack if he wants to try that as well next time."
She hesitated; it was bad enough that her parents were smoking dope; she didn't need them taking heroin as well.
Before she had a chance to answer though, an immense crash was heard from above and a dark figure landed in front of them. He glared silently at the gang and then his gaze turned to the girl, softening only slightly.
"I'd drop that if I were you," he growled slightly, advancing towards the group.
Letting the drugs fall from her hand, she backed away. However Smithy's men advanced forward, stupidly believing that they could take on the Dark Knight.
Two of the men, a blond and a red head, ran forward simultaneously. Batman ducked and then brought his fists up into their jaws. They both fell backwards but came at him again. The Dark Knight sent a round kick into red's head, knocking him out. He then turned to blondie who was attempting to sneak up behind him and swung his fist into his cheek, sending him crashing to the floor.
Watching the battle, the girl was fascinated. Batman moved so skillfully and his martial talents were exceptional; she'd give anything to be able to fight like that.
Suddenly a big, beefy, bloke came towards Batman. As he went past the girl stuck her foot out, tripping him ass over tit. He turned and glared angrily at her before Batman kicked him in the face.
With Smithy's entire trio out cold, Batman glared around for the man himself. A click of a gun sounded behind him and Batman turned to find himself staring into the barrel of a 9mm Browning Hi-Powered pistol.
"You dare to point a gun at me!?" The Dark Knight angrily stated.
Smithy was visibly trembling as he spoke. "You stupid….bat! You're always poking your nose in where it's not wanted. I'm just trying to make some decent cash here, and I don't need you messing it up!"
"Decent cash!" Batman roared. "You call selling teenagers drugs 'decent cash'!"
"The drugs weren't for her," Smithy argued, they were for her dad!"
The Dark Knight glanced quickly towards where the girl had been standing and noted that she had disappeared. He made a mental note to track the girl down and give her father a piece of his mind about sending his kid out for drugs.
"I'm going to shoot right between the eyes, Batman. We'll be rid of your nosey ass once and for…"
Wham
Something struck him across the back of the head and Smithy slumped to the floor.
Batman bent down to check him over. "I thought you would have run off," he commented offhandedly to the teenager. "Why did you come back?"
The girl dropped the mop handle she was holding and stepped over to look down at Smithy unconscious body. "I guess I just wanted to see you take down these guys…and give you a helping hand of course."
"Hmm, thanks kid, but next time leave it up to me, ok?"
"Sorry," she mumbled.
The Dark Knight bent down to handcuff the fugitives. "What's your name?"
The girl smiled and held out her hand which, of course, Batman ignored so she put it behind her back. "Kelley, my name is Carrie Kelley."
A/N: Yey! My first chapter! I kept the girl's name a secret 'til the end 'cus I wanted it to be a surprise, though knowing my luck every probably guessed it before then.