Eric was watching the news. The city had just gotten over the Tetch virus epidemic and now there were reports of a vigilante. According to reports, he was short and had a lean build. He was also reported wearing all black. The news was saying that he should be considered armed and dangerous. Eric actually had no issue with the vigilante. He thought that he was a good thing for the city.
It was about eleven or so and he decided it would be a good idea to go to bed. He had to go to work the next morning. Wayne Enterprises had hired him to tear down an old foreclosed building. Well, actually they wanted him to demolish it. Eric liked it when he got to use explosives on the job. It reminded him of when he was in the military. He let out out a slight grin thinking of that and fell asleep contently.
When Eric woke up it was raining. He liked rain, however it was a pain to drive in. Especially when it was torrential like this. He got up out of bed and got dressed. He put on a pair of jeans and a plaid, flannel shirt. He looked in the mirror and smiled thinking about how stereotypical he looked. He put on his coat and proceeded to the garage of his building.
His first stop of the day was to his favourite coffee shop for breakfast and, well coffee. He ordered and took his bagel and coffee to his truck. Eric always ate on his way to work. He would normally have his coffee at work however mainly because you can't chug coffee.
He parked his truck and got out. He walked into his portable office and found his crew waiting for him. "Hi boss." Said John. Immediately everyone said hello and then went back to their conversations. They knew the drill, Eric would walk in and they would all wait for him to address them before really doing anything. They all had their coffees and breakfasts with them. "Alright guys," Said Eric, " it's the first day on the work site so you know what that means." They all nodded in agreement. "Look for anything of value and if you have any structural concerns come tell me, everyone good with that." Again they all nodded in agreement. "Alright, you know who you're working with, don't forget the masks and the suits."
Eric always had his crew work in pairs. It may not have been the most efficient way to go through a building but it was much safer. Especially in a building such as this. Eric and John stayed back as they had to look at the plans for the the building first. This was so that they knew how much explosive they would need and where to put it.
"Hey John, come take a look at this." Said Eric. "What is it?" "Well, as you know the building isn't supposed to have a basement." That's because it doesn't." Replied John. "Then why does the foundation go down so far. There is no logical reason for it." "Well, did you check the building codes for the time?" "I did and it does not call for foundation to be that far down, even for a basement." Said Eric with a quizzical look on his face.
"You stay here and I'll go figure this out. I probably won't be back for the rest of the day. Lock up for me will you?" "Of course." Said John. Eric had full confidence in John. He was almost like a second in command. Eric quickly got in his truck and proceeded to go to the Wayne enterprises building.
That had not gone well. The executives would not explain as to why the foundation was so far down. The problem with that was he needed to know if there was one for the demolition to be safe. The work day was over so he called John to see what the crew had found. They hadn't found much as he suspected. Some loose change, some office supplies. Not anything out of the ordinary.
Eric thought and he remembered something he had heard on the news. How a former Wayne enterprises employee had saved a detective from the Riddler. Something Fox he thought. Lucky, no, Lucius! That what his name was, Lucius Fox. With a newfound determination Eric headed for the police precinct.
He headed up the stairs and went to the front desk. "Hi," Said Eric "I was hoping I could see Mr .Fox?" "Of course," Said the secretary. " up the stairs and to your right you will find the forensic lab, Mr. Fox should be in there." "Perfect, thank you." Said Eric. He quickly went up the stairs and he had no trouble finding the forensic lab. He was about to open the door when two detectives walked out and actually hit him in the face with the door.
"Oh my god, I'm sorry are are you OK?" Asked the detective. "Yeah I'm fine" replied Eric. "C'mon Jim we have to go!" Said the other detective. "Alright Harvey," Replied Jim. "Again,I'm so sorry." "No problem" Said Eric. The detectives then quickly left. "Mr. Fox?" "Yes that's me", Said Lucius. "Are you OK" "Oh, yeah I'm fine" "Good, is there anything I can help you with Mr…" "Thorn," Said Eric "Eric Thorn." "Alright what is I can help you with?" Asked Lucius. "You used to work for Wayne enterprises, right?" Asked Eric. "Yes, but what does that have to do with anything?" Said Lucius with a highly quizzical look on his face. "Well, They hired me to demolish one of their old buildings however something on the plans isn't right."
Eric pulled out the plans and showed them to Lucius. He didn't even have to say anything and immediately saw Lucius' interest peak. "It would appear that there should be a basement in the building however there isn't supposed to be." "Yes, exactly, It's an old Wayne Enterprises building so I was wondering if you would know whether there is a secret basement or not." Asked Eric. "I'm afraid I don't know however I have a friend who would know. Let me take the plans to him and I'll call you back tomorrow morning." "Wait, is that legal?" Asked Eric with genuine concern "Of course it is Mr. Thorn, these are city plans meaning that any citizen may have access to them." "Oh yeah, sorry, I should've known that." "No problem Mr. Thorn, Just leave me your number and I'll call you in the morning.
After giving Lucius his number Eric went John's house for their weekly poker game. There was no money involved, they just thought it was a good excuse to have beer and and spend time with each other. John did this every Wednesday night to try and break up the work week.
Eric woke up the next morning and it was grey out but no rain. Eric had just gotten dressed when Lucius called. "Good morning, I had my friend take a look and he said that there was no basement so you are safe to demolish all you want." "Perfect, Thank you Mr. Fox." Said Eric "Please," said Lucius "call me Lucius." With that he hung up and Eric was satisfied with the answer.
When he got to work he told everyone that they could start putting explosive in the building and that they would demolish the next day. They were all certified to handle explosives and so they had to take turns pressing the button. They used remote detonators. More expensive but a lot safer and easier to work with.
They had finished rigging the building with explosives and everyone had left except for Eric and John. They had to stay back and lock up the site. They then said their goodbyes and headed home. Well, Eric didn't head home immediately, he decided that he would eat out for dinner. He had found this diner called the Burger Union. They had what he considered the best burgers in Gotham.
After having a lovely burger he got in his truck and went home. As soon as he got in the door he found that he was particularly tired. He kicked off his boots and and slowly drifted off to sleep.
Eric woke up and found a man standing in front of him. He was dressed in all black. Eric immediately reached for the gun he kept in the couch cushions but he couldn't find it. "Looking for this." Said the man pointing his own gun at him. The man had an english accent and had a gravelly voice. On the coffee table were all of the guns Eric kept hidden around the house. This man clearly knew what he was doing.
"Listen sir," said the man "We know you discovered a secret basement in the old wayne building you are demolishing. We need you to tell us everything you know." We?" Asked Eric with a very confused look on his face. "Alfred, take your mask off, we don't need to scare him." Said a very young voice. "Sorry master Bruce." with that Bruce Wayne walked in the room also wearing all black.
They explained to Eric after he had gotten over the initial shock that they wanted to get into the basement and they wanted his help. "A secret Wayne Enterprises facility is housed their known as The wolf's den. We aren't sure what is down there but we know that something is." "Well, that explains a lot" said Eric. "Alright, so you want me to help you guys get in there?" "That is correct." Said Bruce. "Alright," Said Eric "I'll do it" "that's excellent sir," Said Alfred "we are leaving as soon as possible so please change into something more discreet and select one of your many sidearms to bring with you."
All of a sudden it made sense. Wayne Enterprises wouldn't tell him that there's a basement because there it was a secret facility for something. Eric sat in the back of the car as they drove to the work site. It was raining again only this time there was lightning.
They all got out of the car. "Are you sure we won't get caught?" Asked Eric. "We haven't yet." Replied Bruce. "So how exactly are we going to get into the facility?" Asked Alfred. "We are going to blow a hole through the floor." Said Eric "Since reinforced concrete wasn't used in foundations of buildings this size we should only need one stick of dynamite." Eric grabbed a stick of dynamite and a drill then proceeded into the building. He then quickly drilled a hole in the floor and put the dynamite in the hole.
"Alright, stand back." Alfred and Bruce went into the other room. Eric Quickly lit the fuse and yelled "Fire in the hole!" He then ran into the other room with Bruce and Alfred. "Cover your ears." Said Eric.
BOOM! The dynamite had gone off. As soon as the dust cleared they all ran to the hole it had created. They saw a brightly lit hallway with white floors and walls. "Let me grab a ladder" said Eric.
After returning with a ladder they climbed down. On the wall at the end of the hallway said "The wolf's den" In all capitals. "Jesus Christ" Exclaimed Eric. "It's just like Indian Hill." Noted Alfred. "Wait, You were at Indian Hill" Eric said; the disbelief clearly in his voice. "Yes" Said Bruce as he began walking down the hall.
They looked at all the windows into the various rooms. All they saw were weapons. Guns, explosives and anything in between. "Where are we going?" Asked Eric. "I'm looking for a computer." Replied Bruce. They had finally found one and Bruce immediately started trying to send the data to another computer. "It's taking too long." Said Bruce. "It will take eighteen hours to send all of this data and we don't have that time." Eric immediately went to the computer tower and opened it. "What in the blazes are you doing!" Said Alfred alarmed. "I am taking out the hard drive." Eric responded. "Well that's bloody brilliant" An astounded Alfred commented. Eric took out the hard drive. "OK, what now?" Asked Eric
"If these weapons are being sold on the black market we can't let production continue." Said Bruce deep in thought. "There are a lot of explosives here so we could just blow everything up." Suggested Eric. "Yes but if the building goes down now they'll know something's up" Commented Alfred. "There's a lightning storm and we use electronic charges. I'll make up something about interference." Said Eric. "It's settled then. Tim, I want you to place the explosives so that they take down the building." "Alright." Eric replied simply. He spent the next hour rigging the facility with explosives
"Time to go." They climbed the ladder and went just outside the fenced area. "Bruce." Said Eric displaying the detonator in his open palm. Bruce looked at him for a moment. Then he took the detonator and pushed the button. Almost a loud thud occurred and the building went down in a tremendous cloud of smoke and dust. "We should go now." Said Alfred urgently.
They dropped him off back at his apartment. "We'll be in touch Mr. Thorn" Said Alfred. Eric was happy. He felt as though he had accomplished something that night. A sense of accomplishment he hadn't felt since the military. He slept quite soundly that night.