Chapter Text
July 24th, 2005
It was a clear night in Gotham City. That was a surprise. I had been hoping for a cloud cover tonight but I would just have to run faster than ever. I had to get back to Penguin with the stolen tech he had hired me to get. It was a simple job. In and out without a sound. No alarms had gone off and there was no sign that I had ever been seen on the camera feeds. Bruce Wayne would never even know that I had stolen the new piece of tech he had been developing. It was a collapsible cane that could be turned into a blow dart tube or gun. And it’s supposedly better than Penguins. I had broken into a safe, disabled the laser field and had replaced the object I had stolen with a perfect replica. Not necessarily in that order. I smirked. It had been too easy. Bruce Wayne must be losing his touch.
As I ran across the rooftops of the city I looked behind me a few times to make sure that I wasn’t being followed. Everything was clear. It didn’t look like Batman was around. I jumped over the next gap between the buildings and kept on running. It wasn’t until I got to the ground that my luck started to run out.
I silently took the fire escape down to ground level and got my bike out of the alleyway I had hidden her in. She was a beauty and she was mine. I had stolen her a couple years ago, learned some mechanics and had tuned her motor so that it ran as silent as a kitten. She was painted black and her name, Black Beauty, was painted on her in dark gray. I was just about to get on when a dark shadow encompassed the alley. Batman had arrived and he was between me and my way out. I knew that I would have to fight my way out of this one. I scowled. I was almost done. Why did he have to get in my way?
“Batman. A pleasure as always but I’m afraid that I must be going.”
“You won’t get away this time Prowler.” Batman said in his dark gruff voice.
“Why did you think it was so easy to steal the tech? I learned when you were going to steal from Wayne Enterprises and coordinated with Mr. Wayne so that you would be able to steal the tracker.”
I bit my lip. I had been played. I took the tech, or should I say tracker, out of my bag and extended the cane. I snapped it in half and threw it to the ground. I wouldn’t be able to get that tech now but I would make it up to Penguin later. He was not someone you wanted to make angry. I covered up my disappointment with a smile.
“Nice try but The Prowler always gets away. See you later, Bats.”
I threw a smoke bomb down and used my grapple hook to run back to the rooftops. I thought I had gotten a head start when Batman suddenly landed in front of me. We fought, throwing punches back and forth. I punched him in the face and tried to keep on running while he was distracted but Batman grabbed me from the back of my shirt and threw me backwards. I landed on all fours like a cat and doubled back towards the bike.
I practically jumped down the side of the building and despite the pain in my left foot I got when I hit the ground, I ran to my bike. I got on, gunned the engine and drove out into the street. I looked behind me and saw Batman staring at me from across the rooftops. I had gotten away this time but I had a feeling that he hadn’t fought as hard as he could have. Weird.
Half an hour later, I arrived at my base of operations: a simple apartment on Chadwick St. I put my bike in the garage and closed the garage door behind me. Then I carefully climbed the fire escape and came down into the apartment through the trap door in my ceiling.
I hopped over to a chair and collapsed. I took off my mask, boots and socks, blowing a gum bubble and popping it. I loved Dubble Bubble. It helped me concentrate.
I studied where the pain was coming from in my left ankle. It looked a little inflamed. I tried to put my weight on it but winced. It hurt a little. I sighed. Looks like I’d be out of a job for a few weeks. I got out my work phone. It was how I communicated with the villains I did jobs for.
Some of them were D-list thieves that would rather pay me a few bucks for a good job than be sloppy and get caught. Among my regulars were drug addicts, drinkers and nicotine addicts that just had me swipe a pack from a drugstore once in a while. But my big time payers were A-list villains like Penguin, Joker, Killer Croc, Catwoman, and even Ra's al Ghul. Because I did my job so well, I got paid a lot but I had it all stashed away in a bank account Charlie made for me. At this point, I just liked to steal things for fun and also because it was the only life I had.
I gathered up my courage and called Penguin. The phone rang for a moment and then I heard his nasally droning voice on the other end.
“Hello?”
“Penguin, It’s Prowler.”
“Ah yes. Prowler. You have the cane?”
“I found out that the one Wayne has is fake but I know where he has the real one. I can get it to you but I need more time.” There was a pause on the other line. I really hoped he wasn't too mad. “You have one more chance.
You've got 3 weeks. And for half the price. And if you don’t come through…” He didn’t need to finish that sentence for me to understand. I gulped and rubbed my neck.
He hung up.
Well this was great. I had 3 weeks to get better and then I had to pull off a seemingly impossible heist. I might as well get some rest and deal with it in the morning.
My apartment’s layout was simple. It had a small area with some chairs to the left side at the entrance where I was. Then that spilled out into the kitchen and a small living room with a TV and a couch. I had had it renovated so that the color scheme was white cabinets with black marble counter tops and the walls were a bluish gray. I had replaced the kitchen table with an island with a few bar stools. I didn’t need a table anyway.
With some difficulty, and wincing, I hopped across to the bedroom. I changed into some sweatpants and a comfy shirt. I needed to fix up my ankle now so that if it really was broken it didn't set the wrong way. I went to the bathroom and wrapped my ankle up. I had learned how from the aftermath of a run in with a big scary man. He had grabbed me as I tried to get away and flung me into a trash bin. Then the lid fell on my ankle and almost broke it. I could still remember the harsh words of my past: fight or die. There was no other way.
I finished wrapping up my ankle and got out my crutches. After I hiked to the bedroom, I set them next to the bed and threw out my gum. Then I went to sleep, dreaming of my past.