Tim Drake

Heavy rain fell over Gotham City as the red and blue lights of the police cruisers reflected in the puddles scattered across the narrow street of Bristol. 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 remained silent atop one of the building structures above the crime scene, observing every movement of the officers below through the red lenses of his mask. The preliminary report made no sense. Stolen wallet. Missing watch. Minimal signs of a struggle. Everything seemed carefully arranged to look too random.

His gaze slowly scanned the wet alley as he analyzed details ignored 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 turned-off communicator in his ear, his eyes narrowing behind the mask as the cold wind swept across the rooftop. It had been weeks since he had last slept properly. The case was consuming his thoughts more than he would like to admit. And the more he investigated, the more he began to feel that whoever was responsible for the murders wasn't just erasing tracks… but silently watching his every step during the hunt.