Survivor | T. Drake

[13]

Just like a lot was changing in Tim's life, Steph was also going through a rough phase. She had gotten her father caught for his crimes but her relationship with her mother turned very strained after that.

Crystal Brown worked even longer shifts at West Mercy Hospital and even at times when she was home, she would neglect her daughter and keep herself occupied with cleaning.

Stephanie had to deal with most of her life on her own so she began to get accustomed to her mother's behavior, making herself content with just the fact that she was there. The mother and daughter grew apart and they existed under the same roof as strangers.

Sometimes, Steph would come to her father's house in hopes of finding Tim somewhere around or at least getting a message from him. Tim didn't know where she lived with her mother as they had only ever met in that shabby old house in Alleytown. 

Once or twice when she hadn't been there, he had slid in notes through the front door for her to read later, including a time when he would visit again. In that way, they kept meeting with each other and their friendship had deepened but it all came to an abrupt end rather soon.

A long time had passed since she had seen Tim or gotten any note from him. He seemed to have vanished and it worried her because she doubted that his current guardian was only keeping him around to be able to get to Drake Corporate.

She feared that the man would get rid of Tim once he got his purpose and judging by the radio silence from Tim lately, she thought that he was in life-threatening danger.

Her guess wasn't entirely wrong though, she just didn't know that he was staying with Gotham's deadliest crime lord and was completely under his control.

Not having heard anything from him for so long, she was becoming quite anxious herself.

She wanted to be certain that he was safe but there was no way she could make sure of that.

That morning she was having breakfast on her own, her thoughts drifting to the timid young boy with glassy eyes when her eyes flickered to the newspaper her mother had left on the table. Crystal had left early for her shift at the hospital and in her hurry, she had forgotten to take the paper with her that she usually read on the way to work.

Not having anything else to do, Steph picked up the paper but paused, seeing the headline on the front page. TIMOTHY DRAKE: GOTHAM'S YOUNGEST CEO TAKES THE HELM AT DRAKE CORPORATE.

Accompanied by that headline was a photo taken by the press showing a rather flustered Tim being herded by the reporters while his lawyer tried to shelter him. They were clearly not keen on giving any interview too soon but Gotham Press was known for being nosy and stubborn.

Steph sighed softly, reading the article to see what she could find out about Tim. It could just be a rumor as the press was always vying to create news when things got stagnant but then the article featured an official statement from Drake Corporate's business partners on accepting Tim as the CEO in place of his father.

So it was true. At the absurdly young age of fifteen, Tim had become Drake Corporate's CEO. That could mean a lot of things including the fact that his father had still not recovered so the burden of being the CEO had passed onto Tim.

He was so young and already so troubled for him to be shouldering that burden too, she thought, putting the paper down after she had read that article. She knew he would be going through a rough time so she wanted to meet him and give him a tight hug in hopes of making him feel a little better.

It had been an awfully long time since she had seen him, her eyes focused on that unclear image again. 

She missed him.

***

Tim missed Stephanie too.

Each day seemed to bring with it more darkness for him and as he was unable to see Steph, it felt twice more horrible to bear with Roman Sionis and his controlling demeanor.

Stephanie had become the only source of some sunshine in his gloomy life but that too was compromised by Roman getting overly conscious of his every move.

It was like Tim was constantly put under a radar where the slightest of mistakes could get him shot at.

He always had to watch himself, he always had to make sure that nothing he did ended up displeasing the crime lord or his unnerving daughter. He had to think twice before breathing even.

It was the worst possible confinement for him but he had no other choice. He was putting up with it for his father's treatment and his company's future.

If his father wasn't barely alive, Tim would have not waited for a second to leave everything and run away from Gotham forever. Sometimes he wondered if he was given a chance to escape even then, would he really take it or not?

Mostly, the answer came out to be affirmative considering all the things he had to put up with due to the deal he had made with Black Mask.

He just wanted to be free.

But freedom would not grant him his survival so he had to keep swallowing the bitter poison of the feared crime lord's presence in his life and try to find a way out nevertheless.

He had made a deal with the devil and now he was putting up with the consequences. Sometimes it got too much for him to bear and those were the times when he would pray that someone, anyone, would come and save him.

However, the angel destined to save him was nothing like what he expected. 

Instead of having wings and a halo, that resurrected angel had a pair of firearms and wore a red helmet.

He could more rightly be called an angel of death. Though Gotham was very soon going to learn his name that had been a symbol of fear and power years earlier as well.

The new Red Hood was back in town and his top target was none other than Roman Sionis.

***