Joe sprinted around the corner into the alley, panting and sweating. He reached for his waistband under his hoodie and felt the pistol still firmly in place. He pulled it out, but bumped into a well-dressed man with dark hair. "Thomas!" the man's wife screeched.

"Take it easy, what do you want from us?" Thomas calmly said, noticing the man's revolver. A young boy hid behind his mother and father.

Joe looked panicked. "L-listen, I don't want any trouble, I just..."

Thomas took out his wallet and waved it in front of Joe. "Take it, it's yours, just leave my family alone!"

"N-no, it's, it's not l-like..."

Joe lost his focus when the figure jumped down behind him. "Joseph Keaton. Thirty-seven years old. Still married, but your wife isn't in the picture right now. Bachelor's in chemistry, and a PhD in chemical engineering from Central City University. You're a pretty smart guy, but you're not that smart. Want to know why?"

Joe immediately bolted deeper down the alleyway. "It's because you're still running from me!" The shadowy figure shouted before continuing its pursuit.

Joe stumbled through a puddle and tripped over uneven pavement while the shadow kept the hunt up. Reaching the alley's dead end, Joe panicked. He wiped the sweat off his brow and then jumped straight up, arms grasping for the fire escape. His fingertips latched onto the ladder, sending it thudding down, sparking on impact with the concrete. He scuttled up the ladder and bounded up each flight on stairs. Once on the rooftop, Joe stopped to catch his breath, only to look back up into the eyes of his hunter. He was a tall man, wearing a sleek black full-body suit. There were some striking blue accents on the suit's legs and hands, along with a symbol on the chest: a bird. The man pushed his raven hair out of the way of his eyes, which were obscured by a domino mask. "Have you seriously never heard of how fast I am?" Nightwing said.

Joe's eyes widened. "You're not him..."

"What?"

Joe let out a war cry and ran right towards Nightwing, disorienting and pushing past him. Joe huffed and huffed while keeping his sprint up, but quickly approached the end of the building. He built more speed and took a leap of faith onto the next rooftop. Nightwing kept in pursuit, and the two raced from apartment building to apartment building. "C'mon Joe, I know you did the long jump for your high school track team, but you can't keep this up forever! I just need you to tell me a couple things!"

Joe looked back briefly but kept his speed, causing him to stumble. Nightwing took advantage of this and threw an escrima stick at the back of his knee, making him completely collapse. Joe stayed alert on the ground, shaking and pointing his pistol back up at the vigilante. Nightwing sighed. "Now, let's be reasonable here. Just put the gun down and-"

A gunshot rang out. They weren't uncommon in Gotham City, but this one was too close for comfort. Nightwing dove in to disarm Joe, but he had already dropped the weapon - along with his index and middle fingers, which were sitting alongside the gun in a pool of blood.

Nightwing heard a voice over his shoulder. "Don't move. I've been tailing this guy all night. Just let me deal with my business."

Nightwing stood up and turned around, coming face to face with a man holding a smoking glock. He was wearing black military-style boots, a grey bodysuit with a striking red emblem on the chest, holsters around the waist, an old brown leather jacket, and a bright red helmet completely covering his head and face.

"Jason."

"Dick."

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Welcome to the first chapter of many in a saga spanning all across Gotham City's grimy, crime-filled underbelly. While this may start out as a straightforward mission to find out whatever the hell is going on, this will soon build up to become so much more.

Feel free leave a review offering criticism, advice, or even what you're enjoying about the story so far, where you hope it goes, and what you think you'll see. I have plenty of free time this summer, so I'm hoping to write out a lot more of this story soon. I already have roughly the next five chapters planned out so far, this story is going to get intricate.