"Hey Malandra. Can I borrow your textbook? I left mine at home" Tim asked, looking over at Malandra, who was sketching instead of actually paying attention to her work. The teacher had given up with her years ago, and just let her do her own thing, at least that way it didn't end up in a big fight. Tim Drake however was a promising student, and the teacher never understood how a bright boy like Tim could be friends with Malandra. She was one odd girl.
"Sure. Keep it. I won't need it, it's way too easy" she replied with a shrug, chewing her bubblegum. Tim took the textbook and flicked to the relevant pages. Crime and punishment was one of his best topics; helping Gotham as Red Robin had it's benefits after all. Of course, Malandra didn't know about Tim's crime fighting alter ego, but neither did anyone else. If they did, all hell would break loose. There would be another death in the Bat family. Tim flicked over to a page about vigilantes and snorted when he read that, in the eyes of the law, vigilantes could be looked upon as criminals. "You ok?" Malandra asked, raising an eyebrow at the random laugh and snort.
"I'm fine, no worries" Tim replied with a smile. "Just laughing at some of the stuff in this textbook. It's all rubbish" he added, looking over at his friend. Malandra hid her sketches and threw the notebook into her bag as the teacher began to end the lesson. "Wait! Do you wanna come over?" he asked as Malandra slowly turned back to him.
"You live with Bruce Wayne. I'm not too kind to people who get adopted, it reminds me of how unwanted I really am" she rolled her eyes. "Maybe some other time, Tim. I'm not really in the mood and I'm busy with some other random schoolwork" she added, before swiftly walking out of the classroom. Tim sighed and packed his books and his textbook into his bag before leaving only a few minutes after his 'best friend' had left.
In downtown Gotham, somewhere off Crime Alley and some other backstreets, where the poor thrived in the densely packed and crowded houses, Malandra was walking back to the orphanage. With a long sigh she reached the dingy and decrepit building, the bricks and stones growing into disrepair. She hoped that one day it would crumble. That it would fall into itself and never return. The owner of the orphanage hurried Malandra inside, insisting that it wasn't safe for a girl of her age to be out and about. She had a lot to learn, Malandra thought to herself. "You barely know me."
Running up to her room, she bounded inside and barricaded the door shut like she did everytime. She threw her schoolbag aside and sat at her desk that was covered in papers. Research, to be more specific. Not research for school, or for a project, but research on the crimes in the city, and most importantly, the villains that committed them. The Riddler, Two Face, Catwoman, The Joker and Harley Quinn, Scarecrow, Mad Hatter, Mr Freeze, Clayface, Poison Ivy...the list was endless. She had information that outshone anything the police would have. She needed it: it was vital to what she was hoping to achieve. "Who first?" she asked herself. "Eenie, meanie, minie, mo" she sang to herself, placing her finger on the paper she landed on. "And...Two Face" she grinned, looking over the scarred man's file. "This should be interesting."
The man, or men in question, was sat in his hideout, smoking a cigar with a scotch in his hand. He watched some of his goons chat about how Joker had caused an unsuccessful explosion in Amusement Mile, and Two Face laughed. "Stupid clown" he huskily remarked, sipping his scotch. He wiped a stray trickle of liquor away from his chin with the back of his scarred hand. One of the goons ran over, a large machine gun in his hand, panicking. Two Face sat up in his chair and narrowed his eyes. "What do you want?" he asked angrily.
"T-Turn on the news, boss" he replied, pointing to the TV. Two Face flipped his coin and slapped it onto the back of his hand, looking as it faced heads up. He turned the TV on to watch GCN through the static.
"Gotham's Second National Bank has been robbed today of all of its two dollar bills and half of the rest of the cash. Several pieces of evidence has linked the notorious criminal Two Face, former district attorney Harvey Dent, to the crime. Several of his goons were also seen running from the scene soon after police began to arrive. Commissioner Jim Gordon has yet to comment" the newsreader began, but the TV was broken through the remote being thrown at it with enough force to break the screen. Two Face was angry. very angry. The goon shrunk back in fear.
"Whoever framed us for this will pay dearly" Two Face narrowed his eyes, looking around at his goons. "We couldn't have committed that crime, as we were here the whole time. However brilliant this crime may have been, we want you searching every inch of this city until you find who is responsible, understand?" he asked, glaring. They nodded quickly and ran out in different directions.
A goon, who had received his orders over a walkie-talkie, looked up to the Bat-Signal illuminating the cloudy sky. Little did he know, that the person responsible for that crime,w as watching the signal over Gotham too. He looked around frantically and hoped that he could be the one to find the culprit, so that he might get on the good side of his boss. But the coin would decide; he knew that. "I really need to find this person. Whoever it may be. Young or old, villain or hero, child or adult, man or woman."