Saturday, January 10th, 2009, 14:20
New Jersey
Gotham City
Robinson Park
Three weeks of training with Ted had left Malik with reflexes that noticed things most people missed. The way shadows fell differently when someone was watching from across the street. How foot traffic patterns changed when a surveillance team was trying to blend in. The subtle wrongness that settled over a place when it was being observed by professional eyes.
That wrongness was following him through Robinson Park.
"You're tense," Selina said, adjusting her grip on the shopping bags they'd collected during their afternoon trip through the Fashion District. To anyone watching, they looked like guardian and ward enjoying a Saturday outing. The reality was considerably more layered.
"Someone's watching us," Malik said quietly, pausing to tie his shoe while scanning the park's layout. "Has been since we left Nordstrom."
"How do you know?"
"Same person in three different locations. Brown jacket, baseball cap, stays about fifty yards back." Malik finished with his shoe and stood up, his eyes tracking movement in his peripheral vision. "There's also a woman with a coffee cup who's been sitting on different benches reading the same page of her book for twenty minutes."
Selina's stride didn't change, but Malik caught the subtle shift in her posture that meant she was listening with complete attention.
"Anything else?"
"The cameras." Malik gestured toward a light pole with casual indifference, but his voice carried certainty. "They're not city surveillance. Wrong angle, wrong housing, and they're positioned to cover intersections that don't have enough traffic to justify the expense."
"Very good. What makes you think they're not standard municipal equipment?"
"Dad used to take me around the city when I was little. Taught me to read street layouts, understand how traffic flows worked." Malik's voice carried the particular mix of pride and sadness that always came when he talked about his father. "He said knowing the geography of a place was the difference between being a tourist and being a local."
They continued walking, but Malik's mind was cataloguing details with the methodical efficiency that had impressed his calculus teacher. The surveillance network wasn't random. Someone had mapped the park's sight lines and placed equipment to create overlapping fields of coverage. It was professional work, the kind that required serious resources and institutional knowledge.
"This isn't street-level surveillance," Malik said. "Whoever set this up has access to city permits, utility infrastructure, and probably law enforcement databases."
"What makes you say that?"
"Because they knew we'd be here." Malik stopped at a hot dog cart, using the transaction to study reflections in the vendor's stainless steel surface. "This isn't a random patrol or lucky positioning. Someone anticipated our route.I-I don't know who..."
Selina bought two hot dogs and handed him one, her expression thoughtful. "Impressive reasoning. What else?"
"Well, they're not trying to arrest us. If this was GCPD or federal surveillance, they'd have moved by now. This feels more like intelligence gathering." Malik took a bite of his hot dog, using the motion to glance at a nearby bench where the woman with the coffee was still pretending to read. "Someone wants to know about me specifically, I think."
"Why you specifically, because of me?" Selina asked with a glint in her eyes that implied she knew the answer.
"Because you're not acting surprised by any of this. Which means you expected it." Malik met her eyes directly. "So either you led them here on purpose, or you've been waiting for them to make contact."
"Malik..." Selina's smile was sharp with approval. "Very, very good."
They found a bench overlooking the park's central pond, where families fed ducks and couples took photos that would end up on social media. It was the kind of aggressively normal scene that made serious conversations feel surreal.
"How long have you known?" Malik asked.
"About the surveillance? Since Tuesday. About the interest in you specifically? Since you solved that calculus problem on your first day at Gotham Academy." Selina settled back against the bench, her posture relaxed despite the watchers positioned around them. "And your with me...that draws attention from those who know what line of work I'm in."
"What kind of attention?"
"The kind that comes from people who make it their business to know about potential assets or...worse" Selina's voice carried the weight of experience. "Gotham has a lot of freaks, Malik. Heroes, villains, crooks, and people who fall somewhere in between. Most of them are always looking for talent."
Malik processed this information, connecting it to conversations he'd overheard and patterns he'd observed over the past few months. Selina's mysterious phone calls. Holly's cryptic comments about tall, dark, and brooding. The way certain names made adults in his life go quiet and careful.
"Wait... is this about Batman," he said.
"Very likely."
"He knows about me because of you, right."
"Yes, but he also knows about you because you're smart enough and skilled enough to be valuable to me." Selina's tone remained conversational, but there was steel underneath. "And because association with me automatically puts you on not only his..but certain watchlists that we shouldn't be discussed in public."
Malik looked around the park with new understanding. The surveillance wasn't random or threatening. It was assessment. Someone with serious resources was trying to figure out what kind of person he was becoming and whether that person represented an opportunity or a problem.
"What does he want?"
"Information. Background checks. Psychological profiling." Selina's smile was wry. "The same things any responsible adult would want to know about a kid who's being trained by one of Gotham's premier cat burglars that he can't admit he enjoys."
"And if he decides I'm a problem?"
"Then things get complicated." Selina's voice carried the particular calm that suggested she'd thought through multiple scenarios. "But I don't think it'll come to that. You're twelve, you're in school, and you haven't committed any crimes. As far as Batman's concerned, you're a potential asset who needs guidance rather than a threat that needs to be taken care of."
"Potential asset for what?"
Selina simply smiled, once again, her face implied that she knew the answer.
"That's the million-dollar question, isn't it?" Selina stood up, gathering their shopping bags. "Come on. Let's give them something interesting to report."
They walked deeper into the park, toward areas where the tree coverage was thicker and the sight lines more complicated. Malik found himself thinking about layers and identities, about the difference between who he was and who he appeared to be.
At school, he was Malik Robinson, scholarship student with good grades and a quiet demeanor. At home, he was the kid Selina was teaching to move through shadows and read people's secrets. And now, apparently, he was also someone worth watching by Gotham's most famous vigilante.
"This is going to change things, isn't it?" he asked.
"Everything changes things, kid. The question is whether you adapt or get left behind." Selina paused at a crossroads where several paths diverged through the trees. "But yes, this probably means our quiet little domestic arrangement is about to get more complicated."
"How complicated?"
"The kind of complicated that requires backup identities and emergency plans." Selina's voice was matter-of-fact, like she was discussing grocery shopping rather than the fundamentals of operational security. "Nothing dramatic, just good sense. If Batman's interested in you, other people will be too."
"Other people like who?"
"Like everyone who has a problem with Batman. Like everyone who has a problem with me. Like everyone who sees a smart kid with potential and decides they want to shape that potential for their own purposes." Selina's expression grew serious. "The flip side of being noticed by heroes is getting noticed by villains."
Malik felt something cold settle in his stomach. He'd been thinking about surveillance and assessment in abstract terms, but Selina was talking about something much more personal and immediate. The kind of attention that could make him a target rather than just an object of curiosity.
"Alright, So what do we do?"
"We prepare. Multiple identification documents, safe houses, emergency funds." Selina's voice carried the confidence of someone who'd navigated dangerous waters before. "And we make sure you're skilled enough to handle whatever comes next."
They continued walking, but the park felt different now. Less like a peaceful afternoon outing and more like a stage where multiple audiences were watching different performances. Malik found himself hyperaware of sight lines and escape routes, of which faces he'd seen before and which ones were new.
The paranoia felt familiar, an echo of his time on the streets when constant vigilance had been the price of survival. But this was different. This wasn't about avoiding immediate physical danger. This was about understanding that his life had become part of a larger game with rules he didn't fully comprehend yet.
"Selina?" he said as they approached the park's exit.
"Yeah?"
"When you decided to take me in, did you know this would happen?"
She was quiet for a long moment, her expression thoughtful. "I knew it was possible. Smart kids don't stay invisible forever, especially not when they're connected to people like me."
"Do you regret it?"
"No." Her answer was immediate and certain. "But I want you to understand what you're signing up for. This isn't just about learning to pick locks and move through shadows anymore. This is about becoming someone who matters in a city where mattering can be dangerous."
Malik nodded, processing the weight of what she was telling him.