Chapter Nine
"All these things I hate revolve around
You...me..." All These Things I Hate, Bullet For My Valentine
I sat in the cave for thirty minutes at least, breathing shallow. I had money. I knew Batman's secret identity. The latter was safe, for now. But the Joker would soon find out I was staying with probably the most famous man in Gotham. It was unavoidable. And as long I stayed here, I put Bruce, Alfred, and myself in jeopardy. But I couldn't just leave, could I?
I pondered this thought for a few minutes. No, I decided. I couldn't leave. Not only would I be putting myself in incredible danger by leaving, Bruce, as Batman, would surely find me. With this figured out, I decided to get out of this cave as soon as possible and find Bruce. He would be able to take precautions. I looked up at the hole I'd fallen into, and realized I was totally trapped.
Damn. I hadn't realized before that holes may be excellent for finding secret passages, but they were terribly awful at getting people out of secret passages. I bit back my scream of fury and sat down on the cold floor, which was littered with little rocks that poked my bottom quite painfully.
I didn't like the silence after awhile. I didn't like the coming peace that left too much room for thoughts. I didn't like it when my thoughts caught up with me. I liked out running them, erasing them by simply forgetting about them after a time, not meeting the demons face to face and walking with my head high into battle. But now, alone in this place, with nothing but time, time, and yet more, you guessed it, time, it was all i could do.
I thought of Alfred. I wondered if he knew about Bruce being Batman, I wondered how it had come to be that way. I wondered how long Alfred had been there for Bruce.
I thought about Bruce, himself. I would die of exhaustion trying to live and conceal two completely different lives, but he seemed to take it in a stride. What in the world was his secret? I wished I knew. I wished that I was as brave as him. As good. As not stupid.
I thought of his other face, Batman. He was feared, he was gloried, he was mistrusted, yet always welcomed in times of need. And he never gave up hope in this poor, terrible city, he just kept on protecting it. And I admired that oh so much. And I admired him for not being afraid of the Joker. As I was.
The Joker. I was positively head over heels for him. Positively terrified of him. Positively terrified of him finding out. Postively everything. I couldn't even put a finger on what precisely it was about him that I loved so much. Maybe it was that he didn't care what people thought about him. Maybe it was his sense of humor. Maybe it was that he was insane. Maybe it was the war paint.
What had started as serious, fearful thoughts were quickly becoming daydreams when a voice broke into my head. Alfred was looking for me.
"Larisa? Miss? Are you nearby? Larisa?"
I mustered all the strength of my voice that was left. "ALFRED! I'M STUCK! DOWN HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERE!" I started waving my arms about wildly, even though I knew he couldn't see.
"Larisa?" he had knelt down beside the hole, and had seen me flapping my arms. He looked more than a little alarmed to find me down there, but i couldn't tell whether he was alarmed because he knew the hole was there or because he didn't know the hole was there.
"Yes, I'm here! Do you think you could find a way for me to climb up?"
"Yes...yes, I will!" he called down. "I'll have to go and get some things, but yes, I'll get you out of there!" and with that he quickly started jogging back up to the manor. "Stay where you are!" he called over his shoulder.
I rolled my eyes. "Thanks for the advice." I mumbled, kicking a pebble with my shoe. "As if i could do anything else."
I sat for at least ten more minutes, mumbling to myself, before I heard another voice. It wasn't Alfred this time, but Bruce. "LARISA!" he shouted. "I...I..LARISA!"
"I didn't mean to come down here!" I shouted back, trying to sound apologetic. "I was looking at the garden and I fell in." I looked at the ground as I said this, even though I couldn't see Bruce's face from here.
"I'm coming down to get you!" he yelled, and I saw him take some rope thing out of his pocket. I had barely time to think wryly of the coincidence of having something to save me in his left pocket, before he came spinning down towards me.
He motioned for me to hold on, and I clung to him. We whizzed up the cave so fast i had no time at all to feel awkward for holding him around his waist. And then we were through, and I was kneeling on the grass, breathing heavily and looking up at him.
"Umm...when i was down there, I...I sort of...saw some things." That was lame, I know, but now that I had the opportunity I just didn't have the heart to gloat.
Bruce looked incredibly uncomfortable before replying, "I suppose I should've told you."
I blinked. Seriously?! "You had no reason to."
"I did. I took you in to keep you safe. I shouldn't have tried to hide something as big as that from you."
"You didn't have a reason to tell me!" I was indignant. Of course he hadn't told me! I would've been more valuable to the Joker, and besides, it's called a secret identity, and the keyword in that phrase was not identity.
He laughed. "I won't argue with you, though I do believe I'm right. I came home early to tell you something else." As quickly as he'd cheered up, he had suddenly looked dead serious.
"Do I want to know?"
"You don;t, but you need to know."
"Okayyy..."
"All your money has been stolen."
