2 The Beginning

New York City, 19th August 1992....

A ragged looking woman walked through the New York slums in a heavy rain deep in the night. Her body was bloodied, and her legs threatened to give in, however she knew she had to hold on. She had no one to go to nor anyone to comfort her. She was all alone and sadly, it was time for her to leave as well.

She look at the cute baby boy in her arms who was fast asleep and well covered, as she let out a small motherly smile; full of love and care. The injuries on her body seemed to worsen with every step she took, but she gritted her teeth and held on, she knew she wasn't going to make it, however at the very least, she had to get her baby to safety.

After a few minutes of walking, She eventually reached a shelter full of homeless people, both male and female. " Help please, help my baby." She mustered strength and shouted to get their attention, as she walked to them. " What the hell is that?" " Is it a person?" " Oh shit it's a woman." Few of the homeless men and women took out torchs and rushed towards her, however at that instant, her legs gave in and she fell.

But she turned her body at the last moment and landed on the floor with her back, safely protecting her baby. Soon after, the baby began to cry as drops of rain fell on its face waking it up from sleep.

The woman bled through her mouth, as tears flooded her eyes.

" Ma'am, are you okay? Call am ambulance !!! She's dying !!" The man in the lead, a middle aged man wearing a dirty brown jacket immediately alerted the others, as one man rushed to the call post to call in the rain.

" Ma'am, calm down, you're going to be fine." The man said as he tried to reassure the woman. "No please, take..my..baby..." She shook her head vigorously and held the hand of the middle aged man, as she handed the baby over to him in tears, as she tried her very best to speak.

The man hurriedly took the baby from the woman and placed him the care of one of the elderly women around.

" Ma'am it's going to be alright. The ambulance would be here soon, you're going to be fine with your baby. Just calm down." The middle aged man tried his very best to calm her down, however in the next few seconds, he watched her slowly place her head on the ground, her eyes still filled with tears, as she took her last breath.

"Sigh. She's dead." The man sighed and shook his head. The next few minutes, the ambulance arrived and came for the corpse.

" Should we give the baby to them as well?" The man who had run to call the ambulance asked the middle aged man.

" You idiot! She could've gone to an orphanage, but she decided to come here. Why is that? It's either her life is in danger or her baby is in danger. Didn't you see the state she came in? Someone probably tried to kill her." The middle aged man smacked the other man on the head before shaking his head.

" We can take care of the baby." The man smiled and looked at the baby who was fast asleep in the arms of the woman. He saw a small name tag on the baby which he slowly took off from the baby's neck.

" Duke Evander Holland Jnr. Nice name for a cute boy." The man smiled walking back into the shelter with the rest of the homeless people.

... 7 years later.......

Within a small market place, three homeless dudes stood at a corner with a cute little boy in their midst. The little boy had a cunning and crafty look in his eyes, as he smiled softly.

" Alright little Duke, your target is the man in the fancy suit. Remember, first distract the target and the crowd if possible, then act. You'd have less than 3 seconds to complete this due to large crowd hmmm?" One of the homeless men spoke as he rubbed the boys head. " Remember, once you blow up, run and don't look back." The second homeless person spoke.

" Alright, Alright. I heard you, now let me go and finish this quickly, I still have to fix uncle Dan's radio." The little boy shrugged and placed his hands in the pockets of his torn trousers as he walked with a bored expression.

His goal, to rob the fancy looking middle aged man with the huge belly buying fruits.

The moment he entered the market, he stealthily stole a banana, sat on a small bench and began eating it.

" Hahaha. Thank you very much brother." " Arrrghhh!!" The day middle aged man immediately bought whatever he was buying with smiles and turned around. The moment he took a few steps forward, he ' accidentally' stepped on a banana peel, slipped and fell heavily.

" Oh my God, someone help!" Immediately the cute boy rushed towards the middle aged man who was wincing and groaning in pain, as he screamed to attract the attention of the villagers. " Oh my God, I am so sorry Sir!!" The boy continued to act and accidentally touched the fat man's hand and instantly took of his watch stealthily.

" Why are you so clumsy kid!!" " Yeah who eats a banana and throws the peels away haphazardly!!" The market men and women scolded him as he apologized.

" Sir are you hurt over here? Or here? Or here?" The little boy run his hands all over the man's suit, as he stealthily took out his wallet among other things.

" Get away from me you filth!" The fat man immediately bellowed, pushing the small boy away. " I'm so sorry! " The boy then stood up, picked the man's bag which had fallen a few meters away and the bag of fruits before walking back to the corner.

" He's a natural." The three homeless dudes watched the drama as they forced themselves to hold back their laughs.

" Way to go kid!" They immediately rubbed his head in appreciation, as they took the things from him happily. " Let's see we got 50...250...700.. oh my God it's 830 dollars!!! We're rich now!" One of the homeless men took out the wallet and inspected the cash inside before he happily rejoiced.

" Here's you cut kid. You get 100." He immediately took some notes and placed them in the boy's hands before adding the bag of fruits. " See you later uncles." The boy rolled his eyes, as he took an apple from the bag and ate before walking away.

......

" Duke. You're back? So early?" Walking back to the homeless people's shelter, he was greeted by the figure of a middle aged man with a stern look.

" Yeah uncle Dave. It wasn't even much of a challenge for me, you know, I'm kinda like the smartest person alive.." The boy sat on a staircase and handed out some of the fruits to the man as he continued eating his apple.

" What was the total share and what did they give you?" The middle aged man asked as he took a bite from a peach.

" It was 800 in total or so, along with an expensive watch a well designed leather bag.." The boy thought before saying unconcernedly.

" And they gave you only $100?" The man roared in anger. " Calm down uncle, you know I was doing them a favor." The boy smiled, calming the man down which worked surprisingly.

" So uncle, mmm, about the talk we had the last time. " The boy hurriedly remembered and sat closer to his uncle. "What? Don't tell me you still want me to train you?" The man rubbed his temples in exasperation. " Come on uncle, I'm the smartest person alive. I'm the best pick pocketer, even better than you, you said it the last time. I'm good in Mechanics, Nuclear Science and Advanced Mathematics. Why can't I become a mercenary? I'll be the greatest criminal mastermind ever." The boy proudly smiled and said.

" Shut up... cheeky brat." The man scowled which made him sit his ass down. " There's a lot more you'll need to learn if you want to become a mastermind like me, but if you can impress me more with your intellect, I don't mind training you." The old man smiled and said. " Oh it's on, old man." The boy smiled and rushed to his hideout or his little fortress.

An old abandoned warehouse where he spent all of his time. There he fixed broken machines, used some and sold the rest to support the homeless people who took him in.

A/N: I'm not really good at writing backstories, but there you have it. Stay tuned for more. This stories has more surprises than Santa on Christmas. Peace.