Chapter One
Gotham loomed dark and ominous over Drake. He gulped, it reminded him of the day of his adoption. A bloodbath followed his arrival that day. He was concerned how his presence would affect this city. He had come to the isolated island under the name Allen Smitheson. To the police, Drake he had dissappeared off the face of the earth, he was probably even dead. He was content with that status and wanted to keep it.
He had come to Gotham in pursuit of Malak, the man who had dragged him into the life he now lived. His guardian and mentor, Logan, also known as The Custodian, had told him he had resurfaced here to kill off some insanely rich guy named Bruce Wayne. Drake knew nothing of this city, knew nothing of its rules, and of its people. He hung his head and pulled his coat collars to his ears against the cold Winter wind. He would just have to lay low and observe for the time being. He had time before the execution date.
Drake collapsed on the dusty couch of his rented apartment situated in the Gotham slums where nobody asked anybody's name. As long as you had money, who cared about who you were? It was simple, Drake liked it here. With a tired sigh he rummaged through his coat pockets for his notes. He squinted in the dim light to read the scribbles properly. So far, he had posed as a tourist, a school kid, a cop, and a potentially rising star in the criminal world to ask around Gotham City; who were the most powerful people in Gotham?
There was Bruce Wayne; Drake knew the name from the Custodian. Apparently, he was an airheaded multimillionaire playboy who had inherited his wealth and fame from his murdered parents. Interesting.
There was also Batman; a man who dressed like a bat and roamed Gotham's roofs at night to fight crime. He was definitely a nutcase. An intelligent, clever nutcase with a great sense of justice. Drake pulled up all files an information on the Batman from the Gotham City Police to judge for himself what was fiction and what was fact with the character. He also studied his sidekick; Robin. The boy never seemed to age, he always grew like normal boys would and suddenly disappear for a while only to return as a young boy again. There must be more than one Robin, Drake decided. He pulled up a security feed of the sidekick around the time he first appeared, then one several years later, and finally a recent one. He nodded grimly to himself. Three different personalities, three different styles of fighting, three different people. He would investigate this further.
Then there were Batman's many enemies; The Joker, an insane man who liked lame jokes and blew things up. But with the many chances to kill Batman, he never took them. He intrigued Drake. There were a great many other villains. Two-face, Poison Ivy, Penguin, Bane... the list went on. The only ones to catch Drake's interest were two remarkable women.
Catwoman and Harley Quinn. Drake clearly felt the thrill of sneaking around, bypassing intricate security systems, and stealing from people. He found nothing wrong with a woman who loved wealth, diamonds were a girl's best friend, right? Drake held women who could get it for themselves in high esteem. She was a feline fatale with nine lives. He admired the woman, but preferably from a distance. He wasn't interested in her civilian identity but had decided to stick to his adamant view of ignorance being a sin. But he liked her name and had heard rumors of the villain's beauty but he couldn't stay in Gotham long.
Harley Quinn gained his admiration for an entirely different reason. She was the sidekick of Gotham's... no, the world's greatest madman. There were also rumors of the two being an item. He couldn't quite wrap his mind around it. Why would a beautiful doctor like her throw away her whole career for a madman who would just as soon wash his hands of her? As he thought, this couple would need a rational eye on them... someone who wasn't Batman.
He lowered his notes with a sigh and covered his eyes with his arm. He yawned and felt sleep creeping up on him. It must be the jetlag. He leapt to his feet and slunk into the bathroom to wash his face. He would need to be wide awake and alert for his first glance... or meeting with the Dynamic Duo. He wiped his drenched face and stared at himself in the mirror. He would need a plan.
'This is stupid' Drake thought when he found himself crouched down on the roofs of Gotham not twenty meters from the GCPD building. There was a bombing incident a little out of the city and the police would most likely not spare a second glance at the case as nothing but deserted warehouses were destroyed. But Drake knew Commissioner James Gordon had a sharp mind. He would know that the bomb wasn't made by some lowlife thug who didn't know what he was doing. It was a pretty complicated and powerful bomb. Drake would know, he made it.
Now he was sitting, watching as the Commissioner operated the large spotlight he had heard to be referred to as the 'Batsignal' to summon the legend. Drake watched the light reflect of the smog overshadowing Gotham and realized that this wasn't the first time he had seen it. He had seen it the first night he spent in the gloomy city. He had seen it from afar, and had thought it was the moon. It took him a while to wrap his mind around the thought that Gotham had no moon.
There was a slight rustling sound directly above him that made Drake immediately freeze, every muscle in his body tensing. He held his breath as Batman himself swooped over his hiding spot followed closely by a young man that Drake had deduced to be the third Robin. The two landed gracefully, silently on the GCPD roofs unnoticed by Commissioner Gordon. Once making their presence known, the legend and the link that tied him to reality spoke briefly about Drake and Batman had promised to find him. As soon as the two vigilantes disappeared, both he and the Commissioner let out a unified sigh of relief. Batman wasn't someone Drake wanted as an enemy, that was for sure. By the look on Commissioner Gordon's face, he thought so too.
After returning to his apartment, Drake continued his research on Bruce Wayne. He studied the man's career, his lifestyle, and his schedule. It was imperative that he knew when the hit would most likely take place. There was one problem. After chasing and studying Malak, he knew his usual methods. The hit would be quick and effective, leaving too many suspects for the police to handle. But the millionaire was alot more cautious than the press gave him credit for. His security was tight and he was rarely ever alone. He was always accompanied with his faithful butler, Alfred Pennyworth. Or one of his adoptive sons Richard 'Dick' Grayson Wayne, former Flying Grayson. Or Timothy Drake Wayne, the son of a late family friend. Bruce Wayne also had another adopted son, Jason Todd, who had passed away. Drake really had nothing to say about the millionaire's many female escorts. He couldn't rely on the press or security to know where Malak would strike. The assassin would personally get close to the target to find a hole in his security, so that's where Drake would also be.
The easiest way to get close to Bruce Wayne was through his youngest son Tim Drake. The name was a little disconcerting but Drake was Allen Smitheson now, anyway. He hacked into Tim's school and registered himself as Allen Smitheson and was sure to get himself in the same classes as Tim. After studying a final case file on Batman, Drake closed his tired eyes and slept on the couch.
