So sorry to take so long to post. I had LASIK surgery about three weeks ago, and focusing on the computer to write fic after a long day of focusing on the computer for work has been hard. But I’ve learned my lesson. I won’t be posting the next story until I have it finished, so it could be a month or so before Exile: Covert comes out. Thanks for all the feedback on capes. I am still going back and forth on that one, so it could just turn out to be whatever I feel like when I am writing that part…

Chapter 5: Plans

Well, it wasn’t Argentina. By the time Cass and I made it back to the manor, and I had vowed emphatically and frequently that I was driving next and every time, Barbara finally couldn’t take it anymore and had emailed me a detailed report of what she had in mind. She wanted someone to go undercover to work on a puzzling gang situation in Gotham. She had considered using Dinah, but she was a little too well known, and possibly a little too old, although she didn’t mention that part. I, on the other hand, was currently relatively unknown and just about the right age. Maybe a little young, but a good disguise would take care of that.

The reason for the undercover op was that there was appeared to be a new gang in town. Now, Gotham had seen plenty of gangs rise up and die off, but this one was different in that the usual run-of-the-mill drug dealers, gun-runners, or teenage wanna-bes were noticeably absent. The lack of grandstanding was unusual for Gotham. Crimes were carefully chosen, meticulously planned, and carried out by people, who, if they were caught, didn’t know enough to help anyone find the leaders.

It appeared that there were several people at the top, giving orders to a small group of crooks who actually pulled off the jobs. Barbara had taken to calling them the Masterminds, for lack of a better term. If they had a name for themselves, then it was a secret.

Even the choices of crooks was unique in that it was clear that careful thought and planning had gone into that as well. Two men had been caught in a Mastermind crime by Batman, and they hadn’t been able to tell him anything more than there were shadowy figures that met him and gave them the details to do the job in exchange for half of the take. The computer paper with typed instructions that they had was not traceable to anywhere, and included what to do if caught. The perps had stated that there had been at least two of them, and that the voice that had spoken was male.

If they’d known any more than that, they would have told him.

Whomever these Masterminds were, they appeared to be highly intelligent, wiling to stay under the radar, and were causing a multitude of problems for small business owners. The crimes committed were relatively low key, but were growing more and more common. And they never, ever, killed or even assaulted someone. By keeping the jobs small, they were falling under the radar of the cops, and even to some extent the Clan. It was difficult to spend too much time on cracking down on a non lethal group of thugs, when there was always someone actually dying somewhere else.

On the other hand, every bad guy gets a turn in Gotham. It’s a Bat Clan law.

The trick was figuring out just who the brain or brains behind the scenes were and where they were at. So far, regular methods hadn’t worked, and that was where I came in. I was going to try to infiltrate and get some more information. It might not work, but at this point, short of a full out focusing of all clan resources on what wasn’t really an emergency, it was what we had. So, the goal was to make me the sort of crook that might get approached to pull off a job. Or, if that didn’t work, at least tap into the underworld gossip and see if there was anything floating around that we could use.

I pulled up yet another crime scene report and scanned it, looking for something that was missed, as well as familiarizing myself with how it had went down. The more info that I had, the better able I would be to tailor myself into someone that the Masterminds would be interested in working with.

My preparations were interrupted by a looming presence behind me. “Why did you come back to Gotham?” The question came out of nowhere. But, knowing Bruce, that didn’t surprise me much. He was big on throwing questions out there suddenly, to provoke a more accurate answer.

I’d been joking and making light of the situation ever since I’d got here. For once I told the plain unvarnished truth. “I discovered that I am content with being just a soldier, and this is the place where I can do the most good.” Maybe I could even be happy here, today certainly made the situation appear hopeful, but in any case, it didn’t much matter. I had come to believe that my purpose in life was to fight, either here or somewhere else, to make crime fighting my purpose.

Bruce’s eyes widened almost imperceptibly as my slightly cynical but truthful reply. I wondered what he’d been expecting. Maybe he was surprised at how hard I seemed just then. He was a genius; he’d figure it out. The happy go lucky Tim face that I had worn today was at least mostly a mask. A very enjoyable mask, but one I wore like any other. One I could leave behind like any other, if I had too. Bruce should understand quite well, he did it himself, or used to, and from what I’d seen over the last couple of days, it didn’t seem as if much had changed.

It didn’t mean that I couldn’t have fun, or enjoy hanging out with friends. But that wasn’t the whole me. Not anymore.

I met his eyes, and for a second, it felt like looking into the mirror. The face, the eyes, even the expression on the face was totally controlled, totally under his command. I wondered if he experienced the same things I did sometimes. If he ever wondered if his emotions even existed if they never showed their face to the world.

After all the fears that I’d had as Robin, the ones that had me turning into a teenage Bruce, here I was going into that state of mind willingly. I could actually understand him, why he was so driven. He had no other options that allowed him any recognizable amount of humanity. To ignore what when on around him, to let the city die as many thought that it deserved, would kill him as quickly as a bullet to the head would. But at least a bullet would kill quickly. Forcing Bruce Wayne to be the playboy that he pretended to be would be the worst kind of torture.

It would be nearly the same for me. Gotham stunk, and it was crime-ridden, madman overrun, and the best place to get mugged, raped, or killed in the entire world, but it was home. When all you have is home, you protect it with everything you have, or you aren’t fit to be called human. Or so it was in my eyes. And, I could tell, in just that split second of recognition, it was the same with the Batman.

I lowered my eyes, slightly surprised by the realization of our similarities. I turned my eyes back to the screen and asked quietly. “Anything else you want to know?” I’d answer honestly any question he asked me. Well, almost any question.

“No.” Bruce left as silently as he had come and I was left alone with my thoughts and a computer screen. Almost absentmindedly, I called up the next file on my list and tried to read. I was almost a page down when I realized that there was no way that I was retaining any of this information. Somehow, continuing to work just didn’t appeal to me much.

I sat back in my chair and pondered. This was getting dangerous. I admitted to myself that this whole week was totally not going the way that I’d expected. I hadn’t expected to be back in the clan emotionally as well as physically. I wasn’t sure whether I liked the feelings that I was getting from and for the people that I had now committed to work with on a daily basis. I had been prepared to work, not feel like a part of the family again.

What I didn’t like about it was the fact that I liked being a part of the family so much.

If this doesn’t work out, it’s going to kill me. And I really, really don’t like the fact that there’s a good chance that it will all fall through.

But, I’ll play the odds, and see what happens. Maybe they won’t find out.

Yeah, right. I’d better enjoy this while I can.

END of Exile 5

Authors Note: Foreshadowing not to be addressed for a while. Just warning you… Comments and suggestions and even constructive criticism appreciated.