This was bad. Today should have been his easy day, too.

Just a simple stroll around Gotham, hanging around the area just in case Batman needed some backup with handling the Mad Hatter. With most of Gothams notorious villains locked up in Gotham, he didnt anticipate any huge catastrophe save for another breakout from Arkham. Plus, he had promised that hed meet up with Nightwing later on during patrol, to take some time to catch up with each other while finishing their last rounds nearby Amusement Mile. But after two hours of relative criminal inactivity, Tim figured taking a little detour would make his patrol more fruitfulthough at the consequence of being a little late to his meeting with Nightwingand in no time, he stumbled upon a corpse in the Bowery. A woman, in her late twenties. Signs of recent blunt trauma to her skull she was killed by several blows to her head or blood loss. In her hand was a handheld walletwhich was strange since murder usually came hand-in-hand with theft within the Bowery. Either way, he arrived too late, leaving him with no choice but to tip the GCPD of the murder. But before he left the scene, he spotted a second purse not too far away, tucked behind a few trash bags. Nonot murderbut perhaps an abduction? Meaning the other victim could still be alive. With that in mind, he searched the area, following the meager signs of struggles sprinkled throughout a few blocks away from the crime scene, until he finally arrived in a long abandoned apartment building. But after five minutes in, searching the building (finding evidence of recent activity, drops of blood sporadically staining wooden doorframes, etc) he heard a soft click. Slowly, he went in the direction of the sound, following it into the next room. But as soon as another click sounded, Tim immediately moved out of the room, realizing what the sound was, before the explosion in the other room knocked him onto the ground, the force causing him to hit his head against the floor. . He should have anticipated that this was a trap. The trail leading him to the location had been much too easy to follow. Yet, he had written it off as an easy casejust another sick but regular-to-Gotham serial killer, clumsily leaving behind tracks as usual. Of course, no regular serial killer would be setting up a timed bomb. For one thing, it was much too meticulous and *precise*, given the fact he was nearly caught in the explosion just a few seconds ago. Secondsecond Tim blinked, waking up from his sudden unconsciousness.

Tim squeezed his eyes shut as he slowly pushed himself from the ground, his fist tightly clenched. Wincing, he limped towards the edge of the room to press his back against the wall. Weakly he lifted his hands, noting the particles of dust and debris coating his leather gloves, before idly curling each finger, noting the stiffness in the movement. His mind was far from clear, and he needed a moment to recover from the intense ringing from his ear. The explosion from earlier was way too close for comfort, and it left him wondering what would have happened to him, if he had failed flee to the next room. He brushed the sparse tufts of hair peeking out from his cowl, tucking them back into place. His eyes narrowed. His uniform was falling apart. Perhaps the explosion affected him more than he thought. But more importantly than his current condition, he did not know who had set up the bomb. Perhaps with further investigation he could easily discern the true culprit but as of right now, the world was getting darkerharder to see, and the young man was rapidly losing a copious amount of blood. Murmuring a few words about being an idiot and staying awake and calling for backup and then feeling really sleepy, his eyes began to flutter close