Anna Ramirez was angry, but she wasn't stupid. Not anymore. Her run in with the owner of the mob club, or Ramon, as she now knew him to be, had only served to strengthen her resolve. Now she didn't just want to make things right, she wanted revenge…
Memories came flooding back… memories that she had not allowed herself to see. Of picking Rachel Dawes up from her apartment, of playing on her desperate need to be reunited with the man that she loved. It sickened her now just how easily the lies had slipped from her lips, and how little guilt there had been until now.
But even then… when she had been consumed by her insane desire for money… she had hesitated.
Ramirez had delivered Rachel into the hands of three men, who had been sent by Maroni. Two of these men were just your everyday hired thugs… barely half a brain cell between them. But the third had been something else. He had worn a black mask rather than a balaclava, which was so tight that it traced the outline of his skull, and a dinner suit… and only his eyes were visible. They were a deep blue, and they revealed a vicious intelligence underneath that mask. His name had been Ramon, which she had found out courtesy of a slip of the tongue from one of his colleagues. It seemed that this man had since gone on to bigger and better things…
They had taken Rachel to a warehouse on the outskirts of the city… Four-fifty fifty-second street… At the time, Anna kept telling herself that they wouldn't hurt her, that they'd promised her they wouldn't, and that Rachel was only going to be used as bait… but deep down she had always known better. And her suspicions were confirmed when they tied her down, and surrounded her with barrels of oil… linked to an explosive device.
Anna had hesitated when she saw the truth of what they were about to do, and one of Ramon's friends had pointed a gun at her head.
"Allow me to make it easier on you" Ramon had said. "If you don't leave right now, my colleague will blow a hole right through the back of your thick skull".
And so Anna had scurried off with her tail between her legs, leaving Rachel Dawes to her fate. The look that she had in her eyes the last time she had seen her still haunted her dreams… the same as Harvey Dent's horrifically scarred face did…
So now, back at her home, in the early hours of the morning, she plotted her revenge. She had pulled a sports bag out of her cupboard, and into it she threw all the guns and ammo she owned, as well as knives, Tasers… she was determined that if she didn't pull this off then it wouldn't be for lack of shooting.
When she was satisfied that she had packed everything she thought she would need, she finally allowed herself to rest. She was exhausted… and she couldn't remember the last time she had slept. It must have been at the hospital, the day before yesterday…
It took barely a minute before she was out cold.
It must be your lucky day, officer…
Anna awoke with a start several hours later, with the dawn sunlight shining through the window onto her face. It's going to be a beautiful day… she thought, bitterly. I need a coffee.
She would need the cover of darkness to do what she had planned, which meant she would have to wait until just before nightfall. The club didn't open until seven, and she figured there would be no one there up to about six… so she'd sneak in before then and wait. God, she thought. I can't stand it… I can't stand this feeling in my stomach. If I can't pull this off I might die. I'd rather get it done as quick as I can, than have to wait here for ten hours imagining the pain that I'll go through if I fail…
The whistling of her kettle mercifully interrupted her thoughts. She took her hot cup of coffee, blowing on it as she lifted it, and walked over to the window. Staring out, she could see groups of people walking past, going about their lives. Across the road there was a playground where children went to have fun… watching them always made her smile. She liked to be reminded of when she was young, a time when she didn't have the responsibilities that she had now. It gave her a warm feeling inside…
One child caught her eye in particular. He was a young boy, maybe twelve or thirteen, sat on one of the swings. He seemed to be… staring straight at her. She squinted, sure that he must have been looking at something else. However hard she looked, though, there was no changing the fact that he was staring straight at her… She shivered, involuntarily. Creepy, she thought, but she saw no reason to take it any further.
Instead, she sat down on her couch and drank her coffee. Once she had finished, she quietly washed her mug and walked up her creaking stairs to the bathroom. She slowly took her clothes off, leaving them in a heap on the floor, and stepped into her shower. She savoured the way the water gently hit her skin, letting it wash the tension away. For whatever reason, she took great care in making sure every inch of her body was washed clean.
After drying herself off, she threw her old clothes into her washing machine and switched it on. From her wardrobe, she selected a grey t-shirt and blue jeans and slipped them on. She wasn't at all surprised to find that the intense anger that she had felt when she'd first retuned home had dissipated, being replaced by a cold sense of… calm. Calm before the storm, no doubt.
On her way back downstairs she glanced out of the window again. That boy was still sat in the same spot, staring at her, even though more than an hour had passed. For some reason that she couldn't explain, his intense stare made her feel… uncomfortable. Frightened, even. Who was this boy? And what did he want with her? She tried her best to convince herself that she was just being paranoid, but the idea that he was waiting for her niggled at the back of her head until she couldn't resist heading outside to confront him.
Anna slipped on her jacket and pushed open her door. Walking across the street, she realised how detached the boy looked from the children around him. While they were busy laughing and playing, full of life, he simply sat like a statue, swaying gently on the swing. His hair was bleach blond, and it blew around in the breeze. His eyes were a bright blue, but they were narrowed, as though he was deep in thought. They followed Anna as she walked slowly over to him, and his head turned to watch her as she sat down on the empty swing beside him.
The pair sat in silence for several minutes, both simply staring at the traffic passing by. Finally, the boy spoke. "You looked sad", he said, his voice soft.
Ramirez was caught off guard, and looked at him with a shocked expression before her face softened into a smile. "So do you", she replied, and it was true… his eyes were red, which she hadn't been able to see from across the road. He looked as though he'd been crying.
He smiled thinly, and turned to face her. "You first", he said.
Ramirez hesitated. Why was she even considering telling this strange boy how she was feeling? Was she just… desperate to tell anyone? There was definitely something a little… off about him. As though to him there was nothing else in the world at the moment other than the two of them.
"I…" she started, and then hesitated. "My mother just died".
"I'm sorry", he said, and he sounded as though he really meant it.
"I did a lot of things to try and stop it from happening", she continued. "Lots of things I'm not proud of. Things that hurt people, including me. But… now I realise that I never had a chance of stopping it, because some things are just… inevitable…
"But… I can try to make up for the things that I've done. And I mean to do that… soon". Her voice trailed off, and she realised that she did feel better for sharing her thoughts with someone who… wasn't in a coma. She smiled. "Your turn", she said.
The boy looked at her, and then down at the ground. "My mom died nearly a year ago…" he said quietly. "You remember when all of that… gas was released into the narrows? Well, she died then… got killed by... some people. Some of the ones that got out of Arkham. They were wearing those bright orange outfits.
"But I got rescued… first by this woman... I think her name was Rachel, but my memory is still a little fuzzy from then because of the gas. She's dead now, I think… And then we both got rescued by the Batman. He risked his life to go into the narrows to try and help people. Since then he's kind of been my idol. And… one of the reasons I'm upset is because now everyone says that he's a murderer".
Ramirez had put her guard up the instant the boy had mention Rachel… could it have been Rachel Dawes? She had heard that she had been caught up in all of that… nastiness. So what was this kids deal?
"But I don't believe it", he continued. "As soon as I heard it I knew it was all lies. Batman is a hero, and people don't even realise it. So I started to investigate things on my own… I've been learning how ever since I first saw Batman, y'know? Trying to be like him? Anyway, I figured out that Batman was in the middle of a fist-fight with an entire SWAT team, trying to stop the Joker from blowing up two ships full of people, when at least one of those people was murdered.
"It was all shown on the news, so I started to wonder… how come no one else has noticed this? it's gotta be a conspiracy, right? But what reason would anyone have to blame these murders on someone who was innocent? Unless… the real murderer was someone important. Someone who, if it ever came out that they'd done these things, it would cause more damage than if it had been hidden. And I hit on Harvey Dent".
Ramirez's eyes had been widening slowly as the boy had been talking. Who is this kid? She thought. "Kid", she protested. "You're barking up the wrong tree. There's no conspiracy, no cover up… Batman murdered those people, end of story". Even as she said the lies, she felt dirty. Hadn't she told herself that she wouldn't lie to people anymore, after all the harm it had done before?
The boy just smiled, thinly. "You don't have to say the words", he said. "You've already answered me with your eyes. I know I'm right… I just wanted to confirm it. Thank you, Lieutenant Ramirez". And with that, he stood and started to walk away, Ramirez staring, mouth open, after him.
When he was about ten yards away, Ramirez managed to speak. "Hey, kid", she shouted. "Who the hell are you?"
The boy turned slowly to face her. "My name's Timmy, ma'am", he replied. "Timmy Drake".