Gotham's New Bird | T. Drake

Prologue

Prologue

"Robyn Lancaster, Mr. Haly is here for you!" Amanda, the "mother" of the foster home called.

"Really?" She piped up from her room and scrambled to collect her already packed bags.

"Yep! Come on out!" Robyn ran out of her room and down the stairs, the wheels of the bag banging loudly as it was dragged down the stairs with her. And then she stood before Mr. Haly, her new dad. She looked up with him with a toothless grin and her copper hair pulled into braided pigtails. She looked like most of the other seven-year-olds at her now former school.

"Hi, Mithter Haly!" She greeted with a lisp that was barely there.

"Hi, Robyn. Ready to go?" He chuckled happily.

"You bet'cha!" She giggled and subconsciously grabbed Mr. Haly's hand.

Little did she know, Robyn's sweet innocence was soon to be ruined before she even turned fifteen.

Robyn was nineteen. Gerimone, or otherwise known as Jeppy the Clown, was a forty-seven-year-old drunk. He'd taken away the innocence of many girls who played a part in the circus; sadly, Robyn was one of them.

It had to have been the third time that Gerimone had tried to molest Robyn this week and she was sick and tired of it.

"Go away!" She yelled, "What is wrong with you!?" Gerimone had her cornered in her trailer.

"Listen, beautiful, we've been over this too many times." He explained and lurched forward. Robyn dodged him and snuck between the gap of Gerimone and the wall. She quickly reached for the knives she had laid out on her tall dresser.

Gerimone was quick, though, and Robyn saw a blur and felt pain blooming in her left cheek. She quickly ignored it and punched his quad. He groaned and swung out again; using the knife she had in each hand as a shield, Gerimone ended up running his knuckles along the blades. Blood pattered to the floor as he groaned in agony. Robyn kneed him in the crotch and he stumbled, gasping for air. She delivered an uppercut to his face then quickly jabbed him in the stomach, then watched him as he fell to the ground. She climbed on his back and pressed one of the knives to his throat.

"I said stop," she growled so fiercely that even the circus's big cats may have been scared. Gerimone whimpered in return.

"Robyn!" Keelie, one of the supervisors, screeched, "What are you doing!?"

"Gerimone was-" Robyn was cut off by Keelie talking into her walkie-talkie.

"Haly, Robyn's trailer. Now." She demanded. Within thirty seconds of silence, Mr. Haly was there.

"Robyn, get off Gerimone. Both of you come with me." He commanded in the calmest voice she'd ever heard. Which wasn't a good sign coming from Mr. Haly. She stood up and walked to the door. When Robyn turned, she saw Gerimone being helped up by Mr. Haly and Keelie. Gerimone groaned and held his bleeding knuckles as they escorted him to the door. Robyn waited for the trio to pass, and when they did, she closed her door and followed them to Mr. Haly's trailer.

It was a long, silent, and grueling walk down to the trailer, and as soon as Keelie left, Mr. Haly let loose his anger.

"I'm sorry, but you guys struck out. I gave you three chances to shape up. What did you do? You blew it!" Mr. Haly rubbed his right temple and paced back and forth as if he was stressed; there was no doubt that he was. Robyn bowed her head, not in shame, but in fear.

"I'm sorry." She tried to apologize.

Mr. Haly looked up at her, "'Sorry' won't do. As soon as this act is finished, I want you out."

"What, in the streets?! It's fucking Gotham!" Gerimone almost screeched.

"If that's what you want, yes." Haly pointed out. Robyn ran her fingers through her hair and sighed.

"Mr. Haly. You can't just disown me. You're like my dad. I- I don't want to leave," she begged.

"No, Robyn. You know I love you. But you're nineteen. You need to look out for yourself." His eyebrows were raised and his forehead was creased as as he looked down at her.

"But-"

"Robyn. No means no. Now please leave." Robyn pursed her lips and held back the water works as she followed Gerimone out.

And that was it. Her life's one passion was gone. Sure, Haly'd made sure that they could grab whatever they wanted, but all Robyn wanted was to stay at the circus.

"Look out for a cop named Dick Grayson. He's got black shaggy hair and blue eyes, and is about, say, five-foot-nine. Tell him I said hi." Haly said to Robyn with a parting hug.

That's how we got to where she was present-day.