"The Boy is attending the Academy."

The council sat around the table.

"It's interesting…" a deep baritone came from the head of the table.

All eyes looked up and saw who was speaking.

"Interesting?" Council member 7 asked.

"Indeed." Baritone replied. "The boy is young but at the same time he's the being closest to my own age."

"How do you mean?" 2 Asked.

Baritone steepled his fingers and looked over the council.

"You know my origins, or at least enough to know what I am capable of doing. But there are things that I do not even know. But I do remember plenty of things over the course of my long life. This boy has fought in as many battles as I did during the evolution to the common age of mankind, he has fought in all of the greatest battles you could ever think of, throughout Human history.

"He has fought as a soldier, a politician and as a revolutionary. We have fought on the same side many times, with either one of us as a superior officer, myself more than he, as the superior. Though he would deny it he was commonly my better, but he always prefers to be within the heat of battle while I do not. I've always known what he could do, both as a warrior and as a ruler.

"The boy, as a warrior, is formidable and is a dangerous opponent when he has a blade, I know of few better than he skilled enough with a sword, spear or bow, that can survive in the middle of a battle field and walk away without taking anything more than minimal damage.

"As a ruler he was both kind, and terrible. He garnered the respect of those he was ruling over. He was kind to those that he had never met, be they nobility or they poor beggars on the street. He was terrible when needed being both cruel and righteous to those that broke the laws of his land. I witnessed him barely shed a tear when a man begged for his life after stealing a loaf of bread before ordering the mans offending hand be taken from him, then turn around and send for a weeks' worth of ratios to be handed to the mans family."

"If that is true." 7 replied "Then why do you not remove him now? Surely an enemy slain before they stand against you is an enemy no longer."

"That is true." Baritone replied. "But there is the how, that must be brought into question."

"Are there not enough criminals in Gotham city that will perform the deed?" Another council member scoffed "That makes this no more than a matter of money, does it not? I can name more than seventeen of our own people that will be more than happy to add another name to their list."

There were sounds of agreement amongst the council members present. They could understand the logic behind the comment, it would be a simple thing to do. Tell one of their men who to kill and wait for the confirmation.

"It is not that simple." Another council member's voice broke through the noise.

"What makes you say that? How is it not simple?" Baritone's humoured tone questioned.

"The how." He replied.

Baritone allowed a rare smirk to appear on his scared visage. Not that it was seen by the council.

"Then perhaps you best explain the how to us."

Council member 9 nodded once.

"The how, in question, is not the question of 'How to kill' it is a question of 'How did this boy become this respected Warrior?' isn't that right?"

Baritone nodded. "Indeed."

"It is something that has eluded me since he told me about himself, though I know he did not tell me everything. Even when we were friends, we were enemies." Baritone told them.

"We spoke more than once about the place he was from and he was very careful with his words, but eventually he told me about how he knew the things he knew and the place he called home.

"The reason I do not reach out and remove him is because I do not know how he appeared in the past and while we know that there are more than a few time travellers throughout the years; Zoom, Kadabra, Fate even Batman. The one thing that is common for those that go through time, either the short way or those like me, who take the long way, is that we know that we can shape the future however we wish.

"But the past is something that we cannot change. It is even more dangerous to try changing the past when there is someone from the future that we create, over time we both chose a path of diverging ideals. He wished to create one future and I wished to forge one that was different to his, our greatest argument started the greatest of wars known to man. Until I was defeated and he vanished from the world once more, assuming a simple guise and travelling throughout the land until we met once more in battle."

There was a respectful silence as their leader swam through the rich memories of ancient times unknown to the council, it was not often that their leader spoke of a man that he clearly respected, it was a rare sight that they relished in as it reminded them why they were following such a man.

"My Lord, If I may ask."

He gave a slight nod.

"By which name were you known as?"

Their leader chuckled and rose from his seat, signalling that their conversation was over as he walked to the heavy oak doors. He placed a hand on the door, about to push it open when he replied to the question.

"Khan."

And without any explanation he strode out of the chamber.

Gotham City
July 3rd 02:30

It was a peaceful night in the Upper Middle-class district of Gotham City. It was an overcast night blocking out the light that would have graced Gotham's ancient stone gargoyle lined high rises and apartment buildings. The overcast sky filled with dark black clouds forewarning of a coming storm did not reflect the light that the city generated, allowing for the deep shadows that the city was famed for. amongst other things, to be particularly dark for the night.

Seated in one of those shadows, concealed by the darkness of the night and something more mystical was a young man wearing dark clothing. His face was obscured by a pair of what looked like Dark Black Combat Goggles and a plain black half face mask, completely obscuring his identity.

He reached up and used his middle finger to lightly draw a clockwise circle, unseen by those not using the goggles, the image through the glasses zoomed in, allowing the concealed man to see further, to see through the windows of the museum across the street. He watched as guards made their rounds, listening to them through a signal jacker connected to a standard issue walkie talkie. He sat there in the darkness watching and listening to them as they moved through out the night.

Sometime later he had figured out their routes and times that they would move through the building.

He lifted himself to his feet and slipped the walkie onto his belt, stretching out his stiff joints as he rose.

He groaned as his neck popped.

"Maximum effort." He grunted as he stepped off the rooftop, dropping twelve floors to the ground.

Just as he would have touched the ground the shadows of the building he was about to land in, to a trained eye, became darker and rippled like a pond in the night. He snapped his arms to his chest, forming an X with his arms not dissimilar to a trained diver dropping from a helicopter into the ocean, taking a deep breath he dropped into the puddle of darkness.

He moved through the darkness, unrestrained by concepts such as Gravity, Space or any other simple law that existed on earth, even time was barely a concept within this realm.

Looking around the world that he now inhabited was barely a shadow of the one he was just in. The very ability to transition between what could have been called reality and the shadow reality, if one could call it that, was something very misunderstood, even to him.

As he floated in the darkness he imposed his will on the shadowy world he was in, forcing it to take a near solidified form of the Gotham city that he had just inhabited. Focusing on the darkness… on the shadows of this world to become a perfect mirror image of the shadows that exist in Gotham city, the area of Gotham City that he had inhabited. It took a few moments but the shadows changed their forms and solidified into the mirror image of Gotham city.

Once the shadows had solidified he willed himself forward moving from his position.

'As close to being Superman as I will ever get…' he smirked, this was the reoccurring thought he had whenever he travelled this way.

He 'flew' through the world of shadows, moving as quick as he could as he focussed on maintaining the shape of the world.

It was barely a few minutes before he needed to resurface into the 'real' world once more. Considering all the amazing things that he could do in a world made of shadows that he had predominate control over there was a downside, something that he couldn't ignore only devise a way around or assist. That was the biological need to breathe.

He had experimented with taking things into the shadows with him, but nothing that he had taken into the shadows had allowed him to breathe as if he was in the real world. So, whenever he needed to breathe he was forced to emerge from the shadows enough to refill his lungs with oxygen.

It took two emergences from the shadows to reach the museum, another small trip following and he was now inside the building without having tripped any alarms. It took him a few moments to reorientate himself to the differences between the shadow dimension and the real world.

Adjusting the duffle bag that he was carrying he made his way through the Museum, carefully avoiding the cameras and guards, using the shadows as best he could. There were very few times that he needed to completely immerse himself into the shadows and only one time when he needed to enter the world of shadows completely to avoid one particularly thorough guard.

'Newbie.' He shook his head at the guard as he stepped out of the shadows.

Ensuring that the guard was gone and mentally recalling the estimated positions of the guards that he could see from where he had been sitting, he made his way through the Museum. There were few guards that came across his path. There was only one that he needed to deal with, even that was a simple matter.

He had dropped into a shadow, using the darkness to propel himself higher than he would normally be able to do on his own by solidifying a wall of darkness itself and using it to push himself off, using the momentum to increase the power of the kick to the head that knocked out the guard. He quickly made a soft platform out of the guard's own shadow to nullify the sound of him slamming into the floor.

'Sorry mate' He thought to himself as he looked at the guard. 'But you're just in the wrong place.'

He took off at a jog it taking only a few quick minutes to reach the Roman Gladiator Exhibit.

Upon arrival he looked around for anything that stood out to him, but there were several interesting things to look at.

'Might have to come back during the day.' He mused as he looked around.

He reached up and touched a button on the left side of his goggles changing the lenses of his black goggles into a dull purple. Had anyone been near him they would have noticed the sharp intake of breath when he saw the numerous glowing aura being emitted by a number of items within the exhibition.

'No wonder they hate museums.' He mused as he looked around.

He looked around and saw the items that he had been sent to recover. Double checking to ensure that he'd not mistaken them for something else.

Spartacus' Retiarius Net;
Once belonged to the Thracian Gladiator Spartacus.
Assumed as Dangerous: Extreme – Immobility / Solidification.
(Conditional Activation; Tactile connection – Placed over a target)

Nero's Lyre;
Belonged to the ruler of Rome during the time of the Great fire of Rome.
Confirmed as Dangerous: Extreme – Spontaneous Combustion.
(Conditional Activation; Motion Activated – Movement of Strings)

'Get the targets. Don't let them be used. Get to the drop site. Make the report.' He went over the mission that he'd been paid for, but now that he could see just how many things similar to the items he was sent to find there were in the world. Just what could those other items there do?

He found the net in a mannequin's hands, it was positioned as if it had been throwing the net over another armoured mannequin.

He rolled his eyes when he saw the styling of the mannequin's but continued his work.

Dropping the duffle that he carried with him for the job he pulled out a metallic purple coloured postal tube, it was an odd tube with a metal lid with an ominous red button on the top. Unscrewing the top, he placed it on the floor, retrieving a pair of purple latex gloves to wear as he had been cautioned, taking the rope net gingerly from the mannequin he gingerly folded it over to make it as small as possible.

It was as small as he could make it, almost as if he'd rolled the net up.

Gingerly lowering the net into the tube, he had to stop himself from flinching as the net sparked and flashed as he lowered it into the tube.

Once it was completely inside the tube he screwed the lid on the tube and pressed the red button on the top and was rewarded with the sound of a Vacuum sealing the tube shut.

"One down." He spoke aloud, for the first time of the night.

He returned the tube back into the duffle bag that he was still carrying.

The next thing that he pulled out of the bag was a folded large metallic silver bag.

He looked around, checking for guards once again and also checking to see where the lyre was.

The sound of footsteps echoed throughout the empty museum.

He let out a silent groan, when he heard them.

"Don't move." One of the guards shouted at him. "Put the duffle down and put your hands above your head."

"I don't think so." He replied, not even bothering to turn around to look at the guards.

"Do it now, or we'll open fire." Another guard shouted at him.

"No. You won't." He replied. "After all you're pretty sure that I'm carrying one or more of the museum's artefacts in my bag, hence why you asked me to drop the bag."

"I don't give a fuck. You're breaking and entering, we're sick and tired of criminal scum like you breaking into the museum and stealing things."

"Do any of you criminal's even care who you hurt when you break into the museum and take the things we're supposed to be guarding?" another asked.

He nodded slowly and moved slowly but deliberately.

"I do care, actually." He told the guards. "That's why when I broke into the museum I didn't break anything as I entered, I sat on a roof nearby for over an hour mapping out the routes of the guards as to ensure that I encountered as few guards as possible, the one guard that I encountered before you all, will wake up in a while and have a headache for a few days but will ultimately be alright.

"I have acquired one of the two items that I've been sent to retrieve, these two items are extremely dangerous and when they're used, even accidentally, these items can lead to the deaths of many people."

He turned around looking at the guards for the first time.

Several of the guards instinctively flinched back.

"The Wraith." One sneered.

He, now identified as The Wraith, cocked his head and gave a single nod.

"I rather enjoy that name, to be honest." He told the guards. "But yes, I am The Wraith. Known thief, information broker and secure item transporter. Well… That and more to be honest. But as I said, I've only come here to complete my job and then I will leave, the only thing that will happen is that the failure in the camera's network.

"When the security company send someone out they will find that the camera's in this room and several others throughout the building have been chewed through by rodents, an exterminator can fix that problem for you. As such there is no blame on any of you guards and the items that will go missing will be catalogued as missing and suspicion will be placed on the transport company."

The explanation made the guards look at each other before looking back at Wraith.

"What?" He shrugged. "Did you really think that I hadn't considered everything that would happen over the time that I worked this job? I am a professional and government buildings are known to be infested with all kinds of vermin, which is why there is a booking for an exterminator to give a quote next Tuesday.

"As such there is no way that any of the guards working tonight will be blamed for the theft of the items that I am taking."

"Well aren't you nice." One of the guards replied sarcastically, this was the same guard that had spoken first. He was a rather outspoken guard.

"I'd hope so." Wraith replied.

"That was sarcasm, jackass." He sneered.

"No… Really? I couldn't tell." Wraith replied just as sarcastically.

"Smart ass."

Wraith just shrugged.

"Put the bag down." Another guard told him as he stepped forward. "I don't care what you've planned out. Sure, it's impressive. But we really don't care. So, put the bag down and put your hands above your head. The alarm has already been triggered."

Wraith's shoulders sagged.

"Why'd you have to do that?" He groaned. "That just makes things harder to handle."

"It's your own fault son." The same guard replied. "Now put the bag down and we can at least put a word into the police for you, after all, you only knocked Cory out."

Wraith smirked, not that it was able to be seen under the half mask that he was wearing.

"Well, as nice as you all are… I am actually being paid for the items that I've been asked to retrieve, as such there is an expectancy that I complete the job I've been paid to do." He sheepishly replied. "So, for the sake of my reputation and everything… I'm going to need you all to-" His head snapped up. "Begone!"

Wraith's arms flicked up and the shadows followed, unleashing a tide of Shadow-like energy that sent the guards flying back. Two were slammed into the wall and were rendered unconscious right away.

Leaving only six of the original eight left to deal with.

Wraith quickly moved behind one of the exhibit stands knowing that he'd be safe, after all just because the museum was broken into often enough doesn't mean that they don't have people that want to at least ensure that those who break in have a hard time getting what they want. The somewhat simplest way to do that?

Put Reinforced Bulletproof Glass everywhere in the museum that was logical.

Wraith knew that the artefact that he'd taken so far was safely contained within the metal tube, and would remain so until it was removed from the bag, but he didn't know how they would react be transported through the shadows with him, meaning that he couldn't travel the same way out of the museum as he did getting in. Not that he had the energy to make such a trip at the moment.

Those trips into the shadows took time and careful work to ensure that he was able to survive through the journey. He may be able to manipulate the shadows a bit, but that did not mean that he was the only thing in there… or the most powerful.

"You think you're such a wise guy, don't you?" The outspoken guard from before called out. "Just because you have powers doesn't mean that we're going to let you walk all over us."

"Yeah?" Wraith called out. "It seems like I've been doing a bang-up job of it so far."

He knew that it was foolish to torment the people with guns that were aiming to injur… no, Wraith mentally amended as a bullet whizzed past his head, to kill him. Definitely trying to kill.

Wraith reached into his waistband and pulled out his own weapon.

The weapon itself was rather simple and looked unassuming, other than its shape.

It was a steel grey pistol, but had no visible barrel for a bullet, or even a hammer to fire a bullet. The only feature that the weapon had that stood out was the two long vertical lines on the rectangular end of the weapons barrel that had a third small vertical line between them.

"I hate using this, feels cheap." He grunted as a bullet nicked his thigh when he emerged from cover.

He took carful aim and fired what looked like a mass of light from the weapon.

When the light hit the ground, it spread out into the form of a dull muted brown circle and violently shook, causing the guard that had been the target to fall over, the violent shaking caused several display cases nearby to shatter raining down shards of glass over the guard as the nearby display toppled over, some of it landed on top of him.

Thee guards down, five to go.

Landing on his shoulder Wraith rolled, maintaining his momentum as he ran. He athletically moved through one display, leaping off one of the strands landing with his legs on either side of another guard's head, he pivoted and rode the guards body to the ground. He trapped on of his legs under the other cutting off the guards' air supply.

He levelled his weapon at another guard and pulled the trigger.

For a moment the guard was confused, nothing had happened to him.

But as he was about to say something there was a ringing in his ears and he could feel blood leaking from his nose as his body lost all strength, then all he saw was black and a sense of vertigo as he collapsed onto the floor.

Wraith made a noncommittal noise as he felt the trapped guard go lip and the other guard fall to the floor.

Five down, three to go.

He released the guard that he had trapped and spared a moment to check for a pulse. Wraith was happy that the guard had a pulse, he let out a small sigh of relief. He didn't want to kill someone on a simple retrieval job like this. That and he was also being paid extra not to kill anyone, something that wasn't that common in Gotham, but for thieves there was always the option to be paid for a non-lethal approach, which he wasn't against.

He'd already lost a small bonus when he had encountered the eight guards at the start. But he wasn't stressed about it, after all. The Seventy hundred and fifty thousand he was being paid as his basic fare wasn't something to sneeze at, especially for two small artefacts that he was sent to retrieve.

Wraith looked at the guards laying on the floor.

He hadn't wanted to be so rough with the guards, in fact he'd really not wanted to deal with them at all. But, as he was more than aware, life was not nearly as kind as movies made it look.

Adjusting the duffle that was strapped across his back he felt the weight of the metal container and the lyre against his back, his pistol was where it had been originally before he'd entered the building against the small of his back in its holster.

He had spent too long dealing with the guards that he had no idea where the others would be or how far away the police were. But it was actually Gotham's Dark Knight and his Ward that he was concerned about. While he was on good terms with them they did not know, as far as he was aware, about his alter ego as the Wraith.

He had been asked to help them to catch Wraith before in the past, which took some careful planning on his part as to how it'd happen. The Dark Duo were not pleased that he had been able to slip away from the three of them, even though he'd be trying his best, anything less would show that there was something happening and would cast suspicion towards him and there was already enough of it on him.

So, he took off at a brisk jog, keeping to the shadows and moving as best he could to get out of the museum without being spotted. As he jogged be pressed a button on his belt, annoyed that he hadn't even thought about doing it earlier and was pleased to hear the sound of a small pitched sound coming from the button. That would shut down the cameras long enough for him to make his way out of the museum.

Or so he'd thought.

The sound of a skylight shattering raised alarms to him.

"They're coming." He thought aloud.

"Actually." Came a young voice. "We're already here."

Wraith was caught off guard and was on the receiving end of a powerful flying, or would it be swinging since he was using a grappling hook, drop kick from the sidekick of Gotham's Dark Knight.

Wraith was sent crashing back going head over heels from the powerful impact dead center of his chest.

"Your entrances are getting better, Tweety." Wraith commented as he pulled himself to his feet.

"Maybe you're just losing your touch, Ghost-boy." Robin replied.

Wraith rubbed his chest.

"Haven't we done this enough?" he sighed. "I mean… we've gone around the block a few times. Each and every time I've gotten away."

"We've ended up keeping you from whatever it is that you were trying to steal." He smirked.

"That's true." Wraith admitted. "But then I've just stolen it within the next few days anyway."

Robin blinked.

"Seriously?"

Wraith nodded and adjusted the length of the duffle's strap keeping it tightly pressed against his back, assuming a defensive stance knowing that simply escaping wasn't going to be on the books right now.

"I get paid to… well… steal things and deliver them to people that pay me, or to where they tell me to take them." He said. "I'm not going to deny it. But I am actually proud of the fact that I'm a thief."

Robin raised his arms and Wraith pulled out the two police batons that he had in his belt, causing robin to raise an eye at the sight of the blunt weapons as the two started circling each other.

"Yeah I'm pretty sure that your parents would be happy about your career path." Robin commented.

Robing rushed in, quickly executing a quick 1-2 jab then surprisingly having to moving back as Wraith's batons came down and slammed into his arms, deflecting the attacks.

Wraith shot forward, pressing his advantage.

"Actually, my mother doesn't mind that I'm a thief, especially because I don't attract attention from people like you and Batman." Wraith told the sidekick. "She thinks that I'm wasting my potential, but I'm sure that all parents think that about their kids."

"Yeah, sure." Robin agreed, ducking under a baton swing. "But I'm not a criminal."

Wraith shrugged as he back stepped away from a flip kick. "True. But that's neither here nor there really."

"I don't think so." Robin commented. "But I'm not really clear about the actual meaning of that saying."

Robin unleashed a strong round house kick that Wraith was able to avoid and then counter with his own powerful spartan kick dead center into Robin's chest, sending him skidding across the ground.

"Sorry mate, but I need to get these out of here." He patted the strap of the duffle.

"I don't think so." Wraith spun around.

Wraith's eyes widened as he saw Gotham's Dark Knight standing several feet behind him.

"Batman." He gasped.

"Wraith."

He swallowed at the cold tone he received. If he wasn't so intimidated he would have checked to see if the Goosebumps that he was feeling were real.

"Explain."

If anyone had told him that one-word statements were going to be the most dangerous things he'd hear, he'd not have to look any further than Batman himself.

Wraith took a single step back.

Batman took one forward.

"It's a job. That's all." He told Batman.

"Not good enough."

Wraith flinched and vanished into a could of, what seemed to be living shadows. Reforming several meters away from Robin, placing the sidekick between Batman and himself.

The two vigilantes saw that wraith was visibly shaken by the sudden movement, as he kept looking himself over and was audibly breathing heavily.

"Woah…" Robin was in awe of the sudden appearance of a different power that he'd never seen before.

"Doing that long?" Batman questioned.

Wraith swallowed.

"It's been known to occur." He replied guardedly.

"Impressive." Batman offered.

Wraith knew that he needed to get away from Batman and Robin, the sooner the better. He really needed to figure out how to get away from them without using too much magic, he'd need to use just enough magic that they would mistake it for a Super Powered Thief. But at the same time, it would be difficult to avoid upsetting the Artefacts that he'd acquired, he had learnt in the past that large amount of magic near dangerous Artefacts was an extremely bad idea.

As in, enough magic being used could set the artefacts off and cause wide spread chaos, the effects of the artefacts, even hindered by the neutralizer, would affect everyone around.

Spartacus' net would turn everyone to stone instead of just those that it was thrown over.

Nero's lyre would set the entirety of Gotham City alight with magical flames more powerful than anything that Gotham City would be able to handle.

So, the only answer was to call upon something that he'd been keeping hidden from the dynamic duo. At least in the form of Wraith that is.

He flicked his arms out, as if he was catching something in each of his hands.

Though he couldn't see Batman's expressions clearly, the shock and awe on Robin's was more than enough.

"Since when could he use fire?!" Robin exclaimed as he was forced to dodge a fireball that had been launched at him.

"Focus on the mission at hand, you can complain later." Batman scolded his ward as he too dodged another fireball.

"I really don't want to do this tonight." Wraith told them, unleashing a volley of fireballs at them. "But you're leaving me no real choice here."

He brought two fireballs being held in his hands together, combing them and increasing their power.

"I would dodge this if I weren't me." He warned.

Without hesitation Wraith slammed the now larger orb of fire into the ground.

He would later reflect on the feeling of the improvised technique, the feeling of the flames, the excitement of the pyromania that accompanied the use of such raw devastating power and scorching heat. Wraith would swear that he had felt the excitement of the flames as they raced towards what they had perceived as fresh meat.

Both Batman and Robin were forced to flee the hallway by way of the windows in fear of being burnt by the unnaturally powerful flames.

They had just landed on the ground below when the explosive roar of fire shattered the windows above them, showering them with heated shards of glass.

They remained in silent contemplation for several moments before Robin couldn't help himself but to speak.

"Did you know he could do that?" He asked his mentor. "Or have ever seen him give any indication that he could do it?"

"No."

"But that's what worries you, right." Robin translated the unspoken message from his mentor.

"Indeed." Batman replied.

They remained silent for a short while more, the air now filled with the sound of sirens crying in the background.

"This isn't going to affect tomorrow is it?" Robin asked.

Unknown Location
July 3rd 04:23

"I heard that there was some excitement at the Museum." The white hooded figure commented as Wraith placed the duffle bag on the table between them.

"There was, and as agreed in the stipulations of the agreement, bar my fee, the offered bonuses that were placed in the contract have been rendered null." Wraith replied calmly, hopefully hiding the displeasure he felt. But he needed to remain professional right now.

"I was spotted by the guards, was forced into a conflict, was required to incapacitate several police officers on my way here and was seen by civilians. That just leaves me with the agreed upon fee."

The hooded figure remained where he had been standing before Wraith had appeared.

Feet shoulder width apart, arms behind their back, stiff posture.

Wraith had pegged him as a military type from the posture alone. Which was all he had to go on in regards to his identity, which was perfectly fine with him. After all, the hooded fellow wasn't the only person wearing something to conceal their identity when they met.

"Understood." The hooded man replied. "Was there anything else to report?"

Wraith nodded.

"Batman was there, along with the sidekick. They didn't seem to know what it was that I had taken but I was forced to fight them so the artefacts may be a little agitated when your do… whatever it is that you do with them."

Wraith then got the distinct feeling that the man before him had raised an eyebrow at him.

"This isn't the first time I've been around Artefacts of this kind." Wraith explained. "One of my previous employments ran across one of your other teams in Texas, I passed along my card and that was how you received my number."

"You don't have a number." He countered.

Wraith smirked. "Exactly."

There was a knock at the door.

"Enter." The man called out.

"Sir." A new, clearly feminine, voice greeted as they entered the room.

Wraith immediately assessed the newcomer.

She was short, shorter than he was at the moment, standing at a rough 145 cm in height. She wore a, what he believed to be, midnight blue cloak of the same appearance as the man he had been talking to.

'A young woman of a lower rank?' he thought to himself.

"Why are you interrupting?" he asked the girl.

"Message sir." She held out a folded piece of paper to the hooded man. "It's from the superiors, sir."

Once he took the paper the girl nodded once and exited the room without sparing Wraith a look.

The hooded man read the note over and sighed deeply.

"Looks like someone higher up has decided that there were things out of your control so you're being paid some of the bonuses that were agreed in your contract." He told Wraith, who just nodded in turn.

"Also, one of our teams has found an item that you requested of our order."

Even obscured by the hood he could tell that the hooded man was narrowing his eyes at him. The unasked question was obvious to both and demanded an answer, regardless if Wraith wanted to answer or not it was expected of him.

"I requested a divining of future tasks that will be required of me to achieve my fate." Wraith began.

"While I stand true to the belief that fate is something that a warrior makes for himself every day, I cannot deny that there will be things that I will need in order to survive the trials that will be placed before me, so I requested an item that will assist me in preparing for those trials."

Silence reigned for several moments between them before he nodded.

"I will be your contact between the order and yourself." The hooded man said.

"If there is ever a time that the order has a request of you, I will be the one to contact you. This also works in the reverse, should you have need of the order you will be able to contact me and then I will inform the relevant parties within the order of the assistance required.

"The means of the assistance provided will, more often than not, require something from you, commonly a financial commitment will suffice, other times there will be a job, such as the one that you have performed for us tonight will be required."

Wraith listened to what the stranger in the hood was telling him.

"If that is all it would take then why not just give me a number to call and then tell me this when I tried to call it?" Wraith asked. "There must be more to this than you're telling me.

"I am not foolish enough not to realize that you could have had someone acquire the artefacts legally or by swapping them out while they were being transported. I even thought about doing it myself, the only reason that I didn't do that was because there are commitments in my future that require me to be committed to them wholeheartedly for some time. Hence why I stepped up the timetable.

"So why don't you tell whomever it is that's in charge of you that I want to know what's really going on and why it involves me." Wraith snarled.

Very well then.

Wraith spun around, looking for the source of the voice. But there was only Himself and the hooded man in the room.

"I shall take my leave then." The hooded man seemed to be speaking to whomever the voice belonged to and not Wraith. Without waiting for a response, he strode out of the room, leaving Wraith seemingly alone.

"I think you hurt his feelings."

Wraith spun around and saw that there was a man sitting in the hooded man's abandoned seat.

"I don't think I've ever seen him walk off in such a huff." The stranger said cheerfully. "I had thought he was immune to annoyances now, considering everything that I've put him through."

"Who are you?" Wraith asked, his fingers itching for the feel of a weapon.

He was scolding himself for not bringing one with him, and the room was too bright to allow for any strong use of shadows, using fire was also an option but the room was small and he'd be caught up in any attack regardless if he'd win or lose.

"I'm who you wanted to see." The stranger replied. "I am this orders leader, young thief. I've been wanting to meet you for a while and you've given me the perfect opportunity to do so."

Wraith remained where he stood. Stoic silence filled the room.

"Oh yeah… You were probably asking for my name." The stranger spoke offhandedly.

Wraith took in the stranger's appearance.

He seemed to be both young and old at the same time. His youth came from the undeniable appearance of a man close to Wraith's own age, but clearly older than he was, closer to the younger side of someone in the early stages of their late twenties, but there was the undeniable appearance of all knowing wisdom, and humour, contained within the amber eyes of the man before him. He had dark black hair tied in a low ponytail, giving him a respectable look especially paired with his trimmed beard and moustache.

The man wore a Black Tee shirt and dark blue jeans, with a pair of black leather shoes one would not be remiss to find on a business man.

Everything about the person before him seemed to create the air of a young man that knew things and dressed smartly but casually enough to be comfortable around other people without drawing unwanted attention.

"You can call me Bayek." He introduced himself. "I know your name already, but for decorum's sake I'll stick with Wraith."

Wraith nodded without speaking.

"Don't want other people discovering who you really are, after all." Bayek commented.

"True." Wraith agreed.

"Here." Bayek said as he tossed something over to Wraith.

Wraith caught the tossed object with both hands and looked at Bayek in question.

"It's the item that you requested." Bayek explained. "I know that you said that you'd be able to retrieve it on your own after we gave you any information that we could get, but I thought to myself 'This young man knows what he wants, but… why does he want this?'

"So, I figured the best way to find out was to get the item and hand it to you in person."

Wraith just stared at Bayek for several moments.

"Well…" Bayek practically waved his arms. "Aren't you going to open it? I want to see your amazed look. Which I would be able to do if you took off your goggles and face mask."

"The Goggles and Mask remain." Wraith replied, now looking down at the item in his hand.

"You know I did a bit of extra research into that." Bayek pointed to the object he'd thrown to Wraith.

"It has an interesting piece of history to it; did you know that?" he asked. "Its maker is unknown, which isn't uncommon for pieces dating back past the 1700's, for small items like that, but the materials themselves are another story.

"The case your holding is a carved and carefully formed is made from pure Lapis Lazuli, that specific colouration is only found in a small handful of locations throughout the world, four being within the Mediterranean."

Wraith opened the case and saw the interior.

"The craftsmanship on the compass itself is amazing, from what we've been able to deduce the interior of the lid was supposed to be a rendition of the heavens divined by the creator of the compass itself.

"It has a central shadow vane, se the gold item in the middle, that's what that is." Bayek pointed out. "The gold, or what we believe is gold, used throughout the inlays of the compass were believed to have been taken from-"

"The stone chest containing exactly eight hundred and eighty-two pieces of Aztec gold that was used to stave off the wrath of the murderer Cortes himself. Because of his insatiable wrath, bloodlust and greed it was believed that the gold itself was cursed by the Aztec gods." Wraith cut Bayek off.

"It was believed that the gold would corrupt Cortes, driving his lust for wealth and gold higher and higher, pushing him to take upon himself dangerous adventures to find even a trace of gold, Jewels or precious metals that he would then horde.

"It was believed that the gold that was cursed by the gods was what allowed Cortes to find the riches that he discovered throughout his life and so the creator of the compass used pieces of the gold with the goal of using the compass' natural purpose, to allow a traveller to find their destination, would allow the gold to give a more direct way of revealing the treasure.

"The Lapis Lazuli was used as a containment for the cursed nature of the gold to protect the mind of the compass' owner, since it is believed that Lapis protects the mind from psychic attacks, thus making the compass safe to use. The stone has also been known to help release stress and bring about deep peace.

"The actual compass dial itself comes from the tusk of a walrus that nearly killed Cortes himself when he travelled far to the northern seas in search of treasure, supposedly on of his first adventures after being cursed. The Walrus' tusk was covered in Cortes' blood as well as its own, tinting the outer rim of the compass red, which still remains faintly." Wraith pointed out to Bayek.

"The Walrus was able to get away, after nearly killing Cortes, but it wasn't uninjured. Cortes was able to cut off the Tusk of the Walrus and used it to signify his dedication to his cause and willingness to put his life on the line in search of treasure." He concluded.

"You know your history Wraith." Bayek applauded. "But what made you so interested in the compass in the first place, if I may inquire?"

Wraith nodded his acquiescence and explained.

"This compass was made for Cortes, but it wasn't even mentioned in his legends until it resurfaced in the hands of the Spanish Pirate hunter Armando Salazar, who desired nothing more than to rid the world of Pirates. One day when he was searching for a pirate named Morgan, last name unknown, if he even had one that is, who captained a ship called the Wicked Wench.

"Salazar hunted this man down because he had been one of the men that killed his family when he was a boy, for whom he had sworn vengeance against Pirates. When he was hunting a known associate of Morgan's he found that captains horde, so he did his job and took it all back to Spain with him eventually finding the compass.

"When he found out the properties of the compass he cut a bloody swathe throughout the ocean, killing thousands of Pirates wherever they were. Legend spread around that somehow, he knew how to find every and all pirates, whether or not they were sailing or resting on an island. None were safe from him.

"So, an armada of pirates gathered, with the singular purpose of tracking down and ending Salazar's reign of terror throughout the ocean. After the battle Cortes lay dying on his ship, the only person left aboard was a young cabin boy that had been hiding while all the fighting had been going on. Salazar thought he was one of his crew and passed on the compass to him, not finding out he was actually from the pirates' crew.

"That young man went on to become a successful pirate using the compass to amass wealth and fame throughout the Mediterranean until he was in turn killed and the compass faded into history." Wraith explained.

"That, Mr. Bayek, is why I wished to find the compass." He said calmly. "The legend of this compass, should it be true, will lead me to the things that I desire when I am in need of them."

Sometime later Wraith appeared on a random street corner in Gotham City, he removed his mask and goggles. Replacing them with a pair of dark glasses and a walking stick, gone was Wraith – the mysterious thief, and in his place was Harry Potter – War Mage of the Potter family and Blind fifteen-year-old, standing on the cement footpath as he began his walk home, with a compass hidden away in his jackets inner pocket and cane tapping along the ground in front of him.

Sorry about the lateness, Life has been a little crazy this month and didn't get started too late.

Make your guesses about who the council are; i'm sure many will figure it out pretty quick.