Tim Drake¹

Heavy rain fell on Gotham City while the red and blue lights of police cars reflected in the puddles scattered across Bristol's narrow street. Police tape blocked the entrance to the alley where the body of an important politician had been found a few hours earlier, initially treated as a common robbery that ended in the worst possible way. But Tim knew better. Gotham was never that simple. Dressed as Red Robin, he stood silently atop one of the building's structures above the crime scene, observing every movement of the police officers below through the red lenses of his mask. The preliminary report made no sense. Wallet stolen. Watch missing. Minimal signs of a struggle. Everything seemed too carefully orchestrated to appear random. His gaze slowly swept across the wet alley as he analyzed details overlooked by the police. Small inconsistencies. Wrong angles. Wrong timing. That familiar feeling returned immediately, heavy in the back of his mind. The same invisible pattern. The same absurd care in hiding connections. Another body. Another man dead without explanation. Tim pressed his fingers against the switched-off communicator in his ear, his eyes narrowing behind his mask as the cold wind swept across the rooftop. It had been weeks since he'd last slept properly. The case was consuming his thoughts more than he cared to admit. And the more he investigated, the more he began to feel that the person responsible for the murders wasn't just covering their tracks… but silently watching his every move during the hunt.