One Winter Knight | Arkhamverse

Prologue

"We should not be afraid to go into a new era, to leave the old beyond." ~Zack Wamp

JANUARY 9TH, 2016 – PARK ROW, GOTHAM CITY

          One winter night on January 9th 2016 in an alleyway so corrupt and dark the devil himself wouldn't dare set foot in it; Sal Maroni inadvertently snuffed out the light of one era and brought on the dawn of the next. It happened in the same alleyway where Bruce Wayne's late parents were murdered in cold blood. It happened not five meters from where their stone cold bodies lay limp as a traumatised, sobbing eight year old boy gripped their scarlet stained clothing in anguish and unrecognisable ire. It happened only one agonising hour apart from Thomas and Martha Wayne's undeserving demise.

          And just like their two deaths brought on the era of Gotham's Dark Knight that one fateful evening, the two deaths of Alexandra Markovic and Sean O'Reilly dawned a new era of change; the era of Gotham's Guardian Angel.

          Sal Maroni is generally a reasonable man, which is why it took the other major mafia families some time to fathom why he would kill the eldest daughter of mob boss Dmitri Markovic and the middle son to mob boss Colin O'Reilly. The two heirs were to be married, as a form of strengthening the bond between the Markovic and O'Reilly crime families. Why crime lord Sal Maroni would unjustifiably gun down the kids to two very powerful crime bosses and instigate a ruthless, bloody mob war that would run the streets redder than an infinite poppy field, no one knew.

          No one knew, but Evangeline Winter.

          The Monarch Theatre was showing The Revenant, and contrary to what a lot of men thought, not all women frequented the theatres to watch it simply so they could fawn over a very rugged Leonardo DiCaprio. That was just a bonus to Eve.

          She tossed the rest of her stale popcorn into the bin carelessly, drinking dry the rest of her Pepsi before the paper cup met the same fate. All in all, it wasn't a bad movie. Definitely one of Leo's best in her opinion, but she could think of a few of his movies that deserved an Oscar before it.

          She strolled out of the theatre leisurely, the crisp, winter chill instantly slapping her cheeks mercilessly. She tugged her white, just above knee-length trench coat closer around her, attempting to ward off the cold. What to do now, she wasn't too sure. Eve didn't need to worry about staying out late and being tired for work the next day. She didn't have any cases on at the moment, which was one of the perks of being a private investigator/detective. She chose her own cases when someone called her up, and if she wanted to, she could easily decline them. She was her own boss, and that was definitely another great pro about working a one-woman job.

          Sure, she had worked with Commissioner James Gordon privately the past four months when he found himself in a pickle, but due to her not legally allowed to visit crime scenes or have access to classified files, he hired and payed her under the table. Not even his esteemed ex-detective partner Harvey Bullock knew her name, only a vague knowledge that someone was occasionally helping Gordon out, and that that someone wasn't Batman for once.

          Batman knew of her. Of course he knew of her. He hadn't bothered or approached her thank the lord – she may have had a heart attack if he did – but she knew that he knew of her identity and what she did. He was the World's Greatest Detective for Pete's sake, a title she would probably parade about a tad more if she was him. He was, after all, the only one who had the rights to imprint that on a mug or t-shirt.

          She cast the alleyway that led down past Monarch Theatre a fleeting glance. Despite being born and raised in Greenville, North Carolina, she knew of the historic deaths of the Waynes. The Wayne family was widely well-known and acknowledged for their business, philanthropy and millionaire lifestyle. Thomas and Martha Wayne were a rare breed of people in such cruel, harsh times. They were genuine, kind and actually helped others simply because they desired to, not for a sharp reputation or ego boost.