Summary: So Oddly Enough, I got inspiration from a rather weird story on a forum so I decided to try what would happen if I played it straight. I do not know how this will turn out. Feel free to boo me if you wish. Also keep in mind this thing makes a lot of references to the DCAU including stuff like Return of the Joker, but it takes place on its own universe. I hope you like it, but if you review it please give some in-depth criticism. Let me know what I do right and what I do wrong please. I hope you enjoy it. This chapter is crazy long and not to be expected for normal chapters. It's as long as it is because I needed to establish a lot.
Disclaimer: All properties belong to DC comics. Fanfictions only exist because they allow it.
They said the sun never truly rose in Gotham, the light in the sky was just a ball of gas that hid the darkness and shadows for a short amount of time. Bruce was the same place he always was. The Batcave seemed to be a place of comfort like a child's room. In fact more often than not, he found himself sleeping in the cave even more than his own room. Still today his heart was heavy and that didn't escape Alfred's notice as he came down to give Bruce his breakfast.
"Tea or coffee master Bruce?"
"Huh?" Bruce asked out of his daze.
"Your drink sir."
"Oh. tea."
Bruce didn't so much as move his head as he just continued to stare at a picture that he held. Alfred peered over his shoulder sighing as he saw what the picture was. It was a picture of him and Diana Prince at the justice league headquarters .
"I really had high hopes for the two."
"I know."
"you know more than anything that the wounds don't just go away. "
Bruce simply nodded in agreement. The last mission he had with Diana was one that he still could not get out of his mind. It all happened so quickly, The Mad Hatter, a bright light, Diana pushing him out of the way, her Tiera falling to the ground. Had had searched every angle he could think of for over a year but it had been a dead end eventually even Hippolyta told him to let her rest in peace. The Justice league managed to recover with Troy being her sister's replacement but for Bruce, letting go seemed to be easier said than done there was still a part of him that refused to believe that Diana did not die, that maybe there was something he had missed. At the same time, a part of him believed she would not just disappear either. Either way, he knew that she would want him to move on and stay strong. Whether Diana was dead or not, he still had a life to live as Bruce Wayne and a job to do as Batman.
The last decade had been very interesting for the caped crusader. The Joker had died only to rise again through Tim Drake only to finally met his end once and for all, Fries had managed to cure his wife and he had recently joined a newly reformed suicide squad along with many other newly reformed former rouges of Batman's. It didn't mean that Batman's work was done though far from it in fact, there were still plenty of notorious criminals at large including Deathstroke,John Crane, Killer Crock and of course the Mad Hatter. Even New villains were starting to pop up. There was Delbert Billings the Spellbinder, Elliot Caldwell a dangerous copycatesque criminal known as Wrath. Gangs started to breakout to because of the void that Joker left. A clown based gang simple referred to as the Joker Gang popped up. One of the former members of the royal flush created a vigilante group known as the Straight Flush gang.
" A dark knight's work is never done." Bruce found himself saying.
"Neither is the work of a billionaire known as Bruce Wayne. Don't forget you still have that charity dinner.
"Oh joy." Bruce thought to himself. Bruce had no issue with the charities. It was the people he had a problem with. It was always the same Dinner followed by a trip to a luxury hotel and a weak sexual advances , no rich billionairess cared about Bruce Wayne the broken lonely man with demons to bear, they just cared about the billionaire, the playboy, the love machine. There was only one exception to all of that, and it became pretty clear that she had chosen a path different from his.
"Cheer up Master Wayne. Maybe you'll be lucky and Ms. Kyle again."
Bruce couldn't help but chuckle at that remark "Alfred we've been over this."
"I know I know. She chose her path and you chose yours. I just wished it wasn't the same shallow swine that always came to these events.
Bruce nodded as he straightened his tie 'You and me both, but let's face it. Their Money's still good. Besides it's not like this would be the first time I let a girl down easy.
"Nor, the last I fear." Alfred gave a dejected sigh. He had honestly given up any hope that Bruce would settle down. Diana was the one woman in the world that had everything Bruce needed, she was strong and sturdy yet compassionate she understood the kind of loss that Bruce was going through plus there was added benefit that she was a Superhero, as much as Bruce wanted to dismiss her as just a co-worker, even he came to realize this. Not that it mattered much now. What made it all the worse for Alfred was that he seemed powerless to do anything about it.
"Master Bruce. If it's all the same to you, I'd feel more comfortable staying here. I don't want to be in the way of your night and someone really needs to keep an eye on Master Tim."
"No problem." Bruce didn't want to say anything, but was secretly relieved to hear that request. Nothing bad had happened since Tim was "Dejokerized" but it was clear that many of the aspects of the clown prince were still there. Even if Tim was the one in the driver's seat, the idea of another Joker vigilante or otherwise, made Bruce's skin crawl.
Bruce clicked a button on his wristwatch and got in the Batmobile as it turned into a limo.
"Master Bruce, good luck."
"Bruce Smiled. "Don't worry Alfred. I'll try not to break her heart too badly."
As the batlimo drove away, Alfred shook his head.
"It's not her heart I'm worried about."
The Iceberg Lounge still gave Bruce the Creeps. Cobblepot had been going "Legit" for five years but still didn't exactly trust him. He had seen people vow to commit crime nor more only to regress a short time ;later. Still for better or worse, this was still where the charity event was taking place. Gazing at the people, it was exactly as he expected. A bunch of over pampered rich women looking to get it on with Bruce Wayne.
"Let's get this over with." The billionaire thought to himself. However his thoughts were interrupted
"Mr. Wayne."
Bruce turned around to see Cobblepot waddling towards him. Out of habit, Bruce found himself shaking the man's long yet pudgy hooked like fingers.
"Ready to have a date with a lovely lady?"
"I'm just looking forward to raising money for the Gotham cancer center."
"Ah a humanitarian to the very end. Now considering this isn't your first rodeo I'm assuming?"
"Highest bidder gets a date with the one and only Bruce Wayne for a full 24 hours."
Cobblepot nodded . Their conversation was interrupted by a shrill voice.
"Mr. Wayne!"
A woman in a white feathered dress long platinum hair and an ungodly amount of makeup came walking toward him. Bruce simply smiled and shook her hand.
"Excuse me have me met?"
"No, but I assure you we'll get to know each other real soon. My name is Veronica Matthews I'm the owner of The Golden Caravan and Pawn."
"Ah well I wish you luck."
The woman giggled and then walked away. Bruce softly grunted in discomfort.
"She's quite a striking woman."
"Oh yes, um if you don't mind Oswald I think I'm going to get a drink."
Bruce sat back as he sipped the rum from his shot glass. From the corner of his eye he saw a man probably in his sixties, with white messy hair a large nose and a bleached Goatee. It didn't take long for him to recognize the man
"Steven Brookes?" the man looked over and let out a chuckle in response.
"Mr. Wayne. The man of the hour."
"What are you doing here? Don't you work in Union City?"
"Yeah, but I figured My daughter deserved a crack at this."
"Your daughter?"
"Yes, my missing daughter has been found. It turned out the she had been kidnapped Crazy hatter fellow. How many families has that man torn apart? "
Bruce found himself gritting his teeth "you have no idea."
Steven Brooke was the owner of Brookes Industries a technology and medical research center in Union City. While Bruce had heard of Brooke's missing daughter Tim's own disappearance at the time unfortunately tied the Dark Knights hands. However, he was happy to see that she had been found.
"I'm happy to hear you have your daughter back Steve."
"Thank's Bruce. Hey, Howabout a drink on me?"
Just as Bruce was about to give a response, a call echoed around the room.
"Mr. Wayne to the stage please."
"I'll have to call a raincheck."
As Bruce headed to the back of the stage, Oswald walked to the front and the spotlight gloomed over him. Soon the man cleared his throat and began to speak.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the 5th annual charity dinner auction. One of you fine rich ladies will soon have the chance to win a full 24 hour date with the one and only CEO of Wayne Enterprises Bruce Wayne."
The Curtain unveiled and shined a light on Bruce Wayne who gave a sheepish grin.
"Now remember all proceeds will go to the Gotham Cancer research center so every dollar means one step further into helping humanity so remember to bid big. Do I hear ten thousand, ten do I hear twenty, how about thirty-five, thirty-five to the lady at the front. What about fifty?
The bids gradually got higher and higher veronica was the one biding the most viciously finally betting one million
"One million going once twice…"
"Ten million!"
Everyone gasped in shock as they all turned around, no one dared bet against the voice that made the bid. Even Oswald found himself shuddering.
"Uh sold to Miss Kristina Brookes."
The lady came forward with a smile on her face her prize smiling back in habit.
Veronica certainly stood out from the rest of the crowd. The most obvious fact was her size she was at least six feet tall and judging by her dress she was at least a size 32 if not larger, but he found himself ignoring that and more drawn to her long black hair, red lips and bright blue eyes. Bruce simply smiled.
"Steve's daughter right?"
The woman simply smiled and nodded. "I know I'm a bit…different compared to what your used. I'll try not to make you too uncomfortable."
"Oh it's fine. I could use a bit of different in my life."
The ladies father then came to congratulate the winner.
"Hey, you knocked it out of the park. You should have seen the look on that ladies face when you dropped that bomb."
"Thanks daddy."
"So Bruce, still up for that drink."
"Sure Mr. Brookes but this ones on me, it's the least I can do for the lady that just gave ten million to a noble cause."
The three began to talk Bruce took the time to try and learn a little bit about his date. she was big, loud, fun-loving, and had a big appetite no surprise there. it seemed it also wasn't much of a surprised that she did a lot of strength related sports as a hobby. Mainly powerlifting, and wrestling though she did not specify which kind.
"What about you Mr. Wayne? Any hobbies you wish to discuss.
"Eh, I've dabbled in martial arts didn't exactly get very involved. I mean look at me I am too much of a pretty boy to get rough and tumbled. "
Kristina laughed. "You seem to have a pretty nice physique from what I can tell."
"Well we all have appearances to keep."
Kristina stared at him intently. "You know a thing or two about wearing a mask don't you?
Bruce found himself pausing "What makes you so sure?"
"You just…seem like that kind of guy."
Bruce found himself tensing up a bit but then started to relax playing the situation cool.
"Everyone tries to be something they are not at some point or another. People expect you to be something you're not, or sometimes they don't expect you to be something you truly are it's hard to balance the two and heck sometimes you don't even know who you are. Everyone says your one thing, your convictions say your something else. After a while you just find yourself confused and deep down your wonder how long you can keep things up before you go mad trying. Someone I once knew said All it takes is one bad day to reduce the sanest man alive to lunacy. Sometimes I can't help but wonder if he was right."
Veronica smiled. "Wow that's deep."
"thanks," Bruce then looked at his watch. "Well you have me for 24 hours. Ready to go?"
"Sure."
The two got up, said goodbye to Steven Brookes and then head to the limo, Veronica let out a grunt in discomfort.
"You ok?" Bruce asked.
"Er…I don't know if I'll be able to fit in the limo."
Bruce smiled "trust me I got it covered."
As Bruce pressed a button, the shape of the vehicle changed to accommodate the passage. Veronica let out an audible wow.
"Hey, I like my toys."