|December 23|
Wayne Manor 5:59 AM
"It's morning Dick get up!" she shook him lightly "it's 6 am now" she shoved him a little rougher "you have to study beforehand come on!" she let go of his shoulder taking two steps back "it that's how you want it" she whistled softly and Bruno came tapping his way in, she kneeled down wrapping her arms loosely around the back of his head whispering a word into his ear; he jumped up at the command turning in a circle as he softly jumped on the foot of the large bed. She smirked wildly walking around the bed crawling to him looming over his shoulder "get your lazy batman butt up!" she cried hitting his face with the extra pillow Bruno jumping on him knocking the air out of him
"I give!" he exhaled
"You're going to get out of bed?" she questioned holding back
"Yhes" he wheezed breathlessly
She whistled once again Bruno jumping off rolling onto the floor leaving Dick grasping for a breath. "How did you know I wasn't asleep?"
"Come on you make it too obvious" she shrugged "your shoulder twitched a second when I came in"
"I heard you get in"
"no you didn't?!"
He rolled to the end of the bed to stand with a jump stretching back "I'm a bat you know"
"Whatever" she shook her head wildly shaking off the remaining moisture from her shower "here's a bit of water to help you wake up bat"
"I'm already up" he huffed whipping his face
"good so now we can study" she smirked dragging him to the door "we've only got 3 hours before you have to go to school for your five-hour long test"
"I am very overwhelmed for this" he sighed sarcastically
"I know, just try to hold onto your excitement" she laughed handing him a textbook
"Bye Dick good luck" she hugged him as he left for the tests, she climbed back into the car closing the door "hey Alfred can you drop me off a few blocks down from here"
"Of course" he responded though she knew he was questioning about her request
She hopped out of the vehicle and to the snowed pathways turning to watching it drive off; she began to walk. Taking a turn from the block she entered the a glass door with the jingle of a bell.
"Thank you, have a nice day" the clerk called to her
"You too" she smiled the package in her hands. She walked down the street passing people by; couples with their children, vendors, adults rushing to get to work, people walking their small dogs that wore funny little Christmas sweaters. She crossed the street fixing her grip on the packages, the light counting down slowly. She passed the gates walking down the cement path before going to the snow covered grass her boots crunching down on the thick flesh of pale white, and stopped. She placed the package on top of the surface taking a step back placing the other portion on another leaving the last one to rest on her arm.
She sighed heavily a refreshing breath leaving in a puff of white "well ... Um," she scratched the back of her neck "it's been a long time, since, you know. I was by a couple years ago but and I wasn't aloud- I could get myself to see- to be here after even all this time… but you know like you two used to tell me 'better late than never' I still have the scarf you made me" she chuckled lowly "yea well I'm here and I don't know what to say… Mr. and Mrs. Grayson" the two graves sat silently in the snow the wind blowing lightly against the bouquet of flowers that rested at the foot of their graves. She talked for an hour talking about the recent occurrences of the past five years, but through her expressed delight, she felt sorrow. "It was nice to talk to you two I'll be back to talk to you more later" she waved bye as she walked down the many unknown tombs that were placed in rows to the numbers. She stopped in front of one placing the bouquet at the base of the grave that read
'Mathew Solace
A dear teammate and beloved little brother'
she cleared off the snow of his grave as she did with the others dusting off her hands, she once again stood in front of the stone "hey Matt I came just in time for your 13th birthday, I got you some flowers" she smiled weakly "though I know you weren't very fond of them I got you your favorite the chicory ones and some wild maypops you were always saying how cool they looked back then, be happy cause they cost extra" she sighed heavily "sorry I didn't visit after two years, well you know Erro hasn't spoken much lately he's actually opening up a bit more, but still he hasn't been the same since you left, he has yet to completely laugh, well we managed to squeeze a smile out of him to that's some progress." She shrugged with a nervous laugh "Your big brother is such a… big brother, I wonder if he has been able to visit you" she sighed as snow began to fall "well business is as usual, every one's doing fine, we've still got that funny looking snow globe you gave us, we all really like it you know, your brother really cherishes it." She took a deep sigh "so I have to go, I also have older sibling things to do, see you soon.. Though, hopefully not too soon; bye" she waved a goodbye as she began walking out the cemetery to the direction of the manor.
She opened the front door shaking off the snow from her hair like a dog taking off her snow-packed boots, Bruno jumped up from his place on the floor of the couch running up to Daniell to give her the closest kind of hug a dog could give his paws resting on her shoulders as he licked her face "whoa call own there bud" she laughed "come now let's see if we can ask Bruce if we can go to the mountain"
'Blue Jay B-10 Bruno ' the computer announced
"Hey Daniell" Wally greeted from the couch
"Hey Wally" she saluted with two fingers "where's everyone else?"
"Supper boy's in the training room, Artemis is in her room, Aqua lad went back to Atlantis, and M'gan's in the kitchen." He paused for a breath "say where's Rob?"
"He's busy dealing with a common enemy batman has him face alone" she chuckled as he gave her a confused stare "hmm maybe I should put myself to work, how does pie sound?"
"Awesome!" he exclaimed
"Alright let's get started" she turned away to hide her sinisterly innocent smile
She walked into the kitchen taking off her gloves to throw them on the couch "so M'gan how do you use the stuff here?" she inquired
M'gan hearing her question placed the cooking utensil at hand on the table cleaning her hands on her apron "well the stove and oven is over there the refrigerator is around the corner, and to the right of it is the first pantry where you'll find the canned foods, junk food, and flour. In the second you can find the pasta, cereal, peanut butter, jelly's in the fridge, bread…"
"in summary all the breakfast stuff," she pointed knowingly
"Yes" she responded "I'll be making lunch over here so if you need anything you can ask me"
"Thanks" she watched her walk away back to the place she first began "alright let's get this ready"
She placed all the items on the table counting them off as she placed an unused type of item for the recipe. A union.
Bruno walked through the corridors in boredom looking for something to do, turning the corner he found one of the superheroes messing around with the other pet. He trotted to them in hopes of playing with then. "Hey there fella," the superhero approached "what's your name?" hepet his head reaching for his slightly hidden engraved collar "Bruno; nice to meet you boy I'm captain marvel" he introduced. Bruno barked and licked his face, he liked this person "come on and play with Wolf and me" as he approached wolf they began to sniff each other curiously as the reminded themselves of each other, Bruno barked in excitement as captain marvel grabbed a ball "hey Bruno let's see if you knowa any tricks," he threw the ball a couple yards away down a corridor calling out for them to fetch. Bruno jumped back in pursuit of the rolling ball while would simply stood and watched him go after the blue ball "aw come o wolf you can do it too, just do what he does" wolf knocked his head to the side in bewilderment "aw come on wolf" he sighed in defeat hanging his head. Daniell ran past the captain at a pace stopping at Bruno who ran back with a ball for her "hey boy, I'm going to be leaving now so stay, I'll be back soon" she told him with a hand through his white fur. She threw the blue ball at captain marvel "take care of him will you." She told more than asked as she ran to the zeta tubes.
Daniell ran from the platform to batman's main computer in a rush "hey Batman, Rick sent me the text," she slowed down to a half stole looking around "he's… not here?"
"Yet-" he corrected as he continued to type on the large keyboard "his tests ended thirty minutes ago, Alfred has gone to pick him up, he'll be here in five minutes."
"Oh, well, I guess I got here a bit early" she stammered sharply "…I guess" she shifted about awkwardly scratching her head "I'll be over here…" she pointed "just sharpening my um, swords and stuff" she took a turn to the chair stationed a couple feet from her last position taking out a small pocket knife from its sheath.
"I'm here" Dick announced upon his entrance
"Good, there had been a recent robbery of technology and other various other items,"
"Like what?" Daniell asked
"Tools, electro magnets, and other small accessories," he paused "They left a letter at each location" he pulled up pictures placed in certain locations on a map on the computer screen
"Cite 1; I have two bodies joined as one when I stand still I run and run, but when I stop what I count continues on… a riddle?"
"The Riddler" Robin pieced
"Who's that?" Daniell asked
"a villain we fight from time to time completely into the riddle thing" he briefed hastily
"Wow, do you guys get many of those" "yea"
Batman cleared his throat gaining their attention
"Two bodies joined in one" Daniell paused in thought
"Standing still while running and when it stops, it counts continues on…"
"An hourglass-" "Time!" they answered in unison "jinx," they glared "double jinx, triple jinx, quadruple jinx, quintuple jinx-
"Richard! Pay attention" batman corrected with a glare
"Sorry" he replied ignoring Daniell who laughed at him behind him
Daniell recovered quickly composing herself lightly "there are three more"
"Cite 2; I grew in darkness but I shine a pale light, round I am, and always a lady's delight" Dick read
Daniell's face lit up "a pearl, grows in an oyster, pale, round, and often worn in jewelry"
"That was fast" he commented
"Bertha used to always show off her engagement ring, with the same riddle I saw no end to, you were too young to remember" she brushed off with her hand
Dick shook his head continuing with the next "Cite 3; with three eyes as dark as night, I knock down 10 in a single strike"
"Three black eyes, knock down in one strike," Daniell thought aloud "a bowling ball" Dick solved
"Three holes, a strike, adds up nicely" she concluded patting his shoulder
"The last one, the fourth and last location he was spotted"
"Quad I may be, but tri and change me and you shall see the key" Daniell ended "is that a spelling error or does he not know how to spell?"
"The Riddler isn't someone to make mistakes without purpose" batman informed
Daniell nodded with a finger pointed to the screen "quad and tri are both numeral prefixes; four and three,"
"Four I may be; like a triangle and square" Dick added leaning closer
"But the key? What would that be?" she paused in thought, she looked to the side to see Richard's smile that held a light laugh "yes I know I rhymed, lock it up" she rolled her eyes with a huff
"We should figure out what an hour glass, a bowling ball, and a pearl have to do with this" he questioned
"We're looking for his location right so those could be clues to his location
"A bowling alley, a jewelry store or a type of pawn shop, and what about the hourglass?"
"Time, the grand Gotham clock tower," Batman entered typing the coordinated into the computer " Benjamin's bowling alley is the closest one to the original point for miles, then there's Darlene's jewels where they house one of the few largest Akoya's pearls" three red spots presented themselves on the map as the screen zoomed out on Gotham city
"hey batman can you connect the three locations with the last place he hit," with a touch of a few keys he connected them into a square
"quad, the square and the triangle represents the tri as in three"
Batman stood from his chair walking past the two who watched him "were going to check out the areas on the map-"
"Wait how are you going to get all four locations in one night, there like at least 12 miles in between each one-" she questioned
"I thought you were going to join us seeing that you had nothing else-" he trailed off "unless you don't want to.."
"I'm fine with that" she cheered silently with a fist pump behind his back "I'm going to change. Be back in a flash" she ran then stopped to turn to him "pun not intended"
"Dick you going to suit up as well?" he asked running to him
"Yea" he answered running off
He pulled on his shoe running back to Batman "what took you so long?" jay bluffed
"Shoe" he explained blankly
"Oh- well I didn't expect that," she said light stunned, "I thought you were going to give me some kind of sly remark"
Batman jumped into his car "let's go" the two talked into the car about the same when Daniell stopped him "oh, and Rob for the record, you owe me a soda"
Hey guys sorry this was so late as well as short (2,528 words, wow that's one of the shortest chapters) but I was gone from home for like an entire month, and just got home about two days ago, ill try to upload, if not I might put it on temporary hiatus depending on the responses. Thanks guys
Minor update 8/4/16