Disclaimer: So you can pretty much guess that I don't own Batman, Bruce Wayne, etc. (Crap!), but I do own the main heroine and a few other of the new characters that I am introducing to you here. Reviews are much appreciated since this is my first try.
Chapter One -- "Don't Wait Up, Alfred"
"Do you understand me? You must do this!" He grasped at her arms, her wrists, her hands. Anything he could to get her attention. "Listen to me! You must not let him win."
She nodded carefully, avoiding the site of his gnarled and claw-like fingers as they gripped her hands. "I-I will." She whispered. Shaking, she struggled to pull away. But his fingers only tightened their hold. "You must do this. You cannot let your fear stop you." He wheezed, a cough swallowing up his following words.
She could only nod. "Yes. Yes. I know."
He shook his head. "No. No, you don't." He pulled himself up and jerked her down to him. "He cannot go. You must not let him get there. Stop him. He must...lose."
The man started to tremble as he fell back upon the bed. He shook wildly as his eyes rolled back in his head. Blood trickled from the corners of his mouth, and he thrashed madly, muttering out of his head as the last effects of the control took over him in a frenetic climax. "End it!" He challenged, his glassy eyes glaring at the unseen force around him. "End it!"
Stumbling backwards she fought against the rise of her terror. She lost her footing and began to crawl, pulling hard against the ropes of fear that had begun to twirl up her arms and around her neck like noose, immobilizing her. Clawing at her throat she gasped for air. Her binds became tighter. She couldn't move. She couldn't breathe.
HELP! Her mind screamed. Help me!
No one can help you now...
Someone can! I can! She thought, falling prostrate to the floor.
You cannot let your fear stop you, the singsong voice taunted.
"No. I won't." She gasped. Her throat tightened once more and she knew that all hope was lost. A curling scream tore from her soul, and then she was gone.
Bruce Wayne leaned over his desk and paged through his notes once more. "It doesn't make any sense, Alfred. There's no connection. They seem like nothing but random events."
"Did you ever consider, Master Wayne, that they may only be random events?" Alfred remarked, spying over Bruce's shoulder.
"Never, Alfred. They are connected. They are. I just haven't found what connects them. I just haven't figured out what that is yet."
"Then I don't suppose, sir, that I will be able to convince you not to go out tonight?" Alfred asked in a resigned tone.
" I don't know enough yet, Alfred. I can't stop until I know everything." Bruce stood up and left the study and strode down the hallway.
"You've gone out every night this week, but never once as Bruce Wayne. The good people of Gotham are going to start wondering what you are doing with your time. And money." Alfred pointed out.
Bruce glanced over his shoulder. "I haven't missed any of the important charity events, have I?"
"Not one." Alfred replied briskly.
"Then I have no doubt that neither I nor my money have been missed. The superior people of Gotham haven't really wanted me at their social soirees since the 'Drunken Billionaire Burns Home' incident." Bruce smirked.
"That really wasn't you fault." Alfred began.
"They don't know that." Bruce rejoined, swerving into the library and flipping up the antique brocaded rug.
"But I must admit that Wayne Manor has never looked better." Alfred observed.
"I did it all just for you, Alfred." Bruce murmured , his reply muffled from his position under the secret trap door.
"Especially the foundations, wouldn't you agree?"
Bruce's head appeared. "All the more reason for me to go out again." He winked and then disappeared again.
"And where would you be heading to tonight, Master Wayne? Maybe to dig up some breaking news?" Alfred's eyes held a teasing twinkle. "She won't be happy if she catches you."
"Since when does she catch me?" Bruce asked flippantly. "I'll be back late. Don't wait up, Alfred."
"Just who does he think he is? Lording over the city of Gotham like some twisted guardian angel. The man is a freak, and yet all these people...these damn do-gooders think he's wonderful." Ceasing his pacing he gazed out the window and down into the Narrows. A storm seemed to gather above his furrowed brow as he plotted and planned there. "I'll show him! I'll prove them all wrong. Soon Batman will be doing my bidding, and then what shall the city of Gotham do?"
