The Games We Play

A Journey into Kate's Past

~Kate~

Riddle me this, what could be worse than a notorious Gotham criminal that you're slightly obsessed with finding out you are actually the hero he killed years ago?

ANSWER: The Riddler discovering who you were before you became that very same hero.

Panic flushes over me, as my chest begins to feel heavy. I roll over to my side to stare at a slipping Edward. He was at peace in his sleep, why couldn't I be like that.

How much do you know? You have the name right, what else did you find? Do you know the reason why I even fled to Gotham in the first place.

I was twelve, on the run, and looking for a place where the crime made it easy to find a vacant apartment that a twelve year old could live in, and claim to be supervised by an adult.

Do you know the accident? What happened before and after? How much did Dr. Crane tell you about my fear, what I saw?

The fire was an accident, caused by a candle that was left on. That's what the police said...

I knew better. I knew better.

I turn to stare at the wall, hearing Edward's soft sound of snoring behind me. He thought I was asleep hours ago. My mind a mile away prevented me from sleeping. I slowly creep out of the bed, not wanting to wake him. The name he spoke still rings in my ears, I bit my lower lip recalling when I first came to Gotham. Prior to meeting Bruce or Richard, Batman and Robin, I was just a girl trying to lay low.

The fire happened when I was five. The first two years I lived in and out of foster care with my birth name and weird things kept happening. I became untrusting, always hiding in a new city up until I was a teenager. Ice was a part of me before I found my way to Gotham...once here she kept running into both Batman and Robin, and I kept seeing Bruce and Dick as our respective identities. For a few months, Bruce and Dick never put together the connection between Kate and Ice.

I am Kate Monroe. I've been her since I can remember. That name Edward spoke doesn't exist. I've made sure she's been dead years now. She's nothing but a scared little girl who couldn't save her parents. Ice, Kate, they are who I am.

How can Edward, a mark, know something that the Bruce, Dick, Alfred, those who took me in never knew. Perhaps out of everyone, Bruce may have discovered my old name. Luckily, he has never brought it to my attention. Kate Monroe was the closest I've had to a real identity my whole life.

Lies. Edward mentioned the Lies.

The other names. My stomach turns at the thought of how many names Edward went through. Prior to meeting Dick, I went by many names. Kate was always there in the background so I would have a bank account or two, but I would always tell people another name as a safety measure. Even Dick I lied to at first. Told him I was some researcher, Jamie, doing research on Wayne Enterprises. Of course that didn't last long because later that week my lie unraveled as someone introduced me to Mr. Wayne as another identity of mine Lily. Mr. Wayne was smart, he ended up tracing both back to Kate and next time we met referred to be as such.

All these thoughts, fragments over the years run about my brain. What was the truth? A question that hindered my sleep. Now that Edward knew my past, I couldn't help but recall moments from my first time in Gotham. Times like when me and Dick ran circles around one another, not knowing the person we were dating in the daylight was also the hero we worked along side of at night. Times like Bruce first figuring out my "real" name was Kate, and me coming up with perfect lies to why I lied about my names earlier. Every moment we shared since the beginning.