Thanks for all of the reviews. What did you guys think of the kiss? Was it well awaited? I'm currently trying to figure out how to start the next movie. Should I put a story line in the middle, should I cross over wth Bird's of Prey, or should I just go to the next movie? What do you guys think? I could really use to the help!

I do not own anything in this story, besides Alyson, everything else belongs to their rightful owners. Enjoy!

Chapter 14!

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Bruce's eyes slowly opened, his vision being blurry at first. His head was really killing him at the moment. He almost didn't even want to open his eyes, but he knew that he had to. The last thing that he could remember was . . . was fighting off at least a dozen thugs. He jumped straight up when the memories suddenly all came back to him. "Alyson!" He called out, hoping that she was in the room and would tell him that she was alright.

She hadn't done that, though. It wasn't a dream, like he had hoped. Everything was very much real, and actually happening as he sat there. "I'm sorry, Sir. Just me. Dr. Meridian went home a few minutes ago." Alfred said to him as he moved to Bruce's side. "How are you feeling, young man?" He asked Bruce, bringing back memories of when he was little to both of the men.

He had to actually grin at that. It seemed like just yesterday when Alfred was helping grow up and move on from his parent's deaths. The old man had always been there for him, not once had he let him done or shunned him like many others had. "Not that young." He said to him. "It's been a long time since you've called me that." Bruce said to the older man.

Alfred nodded his head to him. The two had a very long history together. It was hard to forget, though, it wasn't like either would ever want to in the first place. "Old habits die hard." He chuckled out to the younger man before him. "Are you alright?" He asked him again. Bruce was still fuzzy on a few things, but he knew that Alyson was in danger. He had a bad feeling in his gut about it too.

He needed to keep a clear head on about all of this, though. He couldn't just go in blind, especially when his daughter was involved. He had to be clear headed when concerning his daughter's safety, even though that called for the exact opposite thinking. "As well as can be expected, I guess. Give me the bad news." He said to him, just wanting Alfred to fill in the blanks of what happened after he blacked out.

Alfred found it the right course of action to go with the summary version of the night's events. They didn't have long, he suspected, to find Miss Alyson before it was too late. "Master Dick has run away. They have taken Miss. Alyson. And I'm afraid they found the cave, sir. It's been destroyed." Alfred gave Bruce the short version of what he had missed while he was out. Bruce couldn't believe it. This was all his fault.

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Alyson has been chained up on the couch in the Riddler's throne room. Her struggles were completely useless, seeing as she was hardly up to the challenge of even trying to pull on them, but she wasn't going to give up any time soon. They had injected her with something to knock her out. She was still a bit hazy from what it was. Batman was going to rescue her like he always had when she was in trouble. Riddler came toward her, singing to himself. "Batman will come for me." She told him angrily.

He had just continued to sing, though. What she had said didn't seem to bother him as much as she had hoped it would have. "Someday my bat will come. Some day my bat will come." Riddler sang out before turning to her. "I'm counting on it." He said to her, his voice suddenly lethal. He put his face close to Alyson's.

"You're frying your brain." She told him upon seeing the device.

He wasn't hearing it, though. "Nap time, gorgeous." He said to her before he drew a hypo filled green liguid. He plunged it into her neck before she even knew what he was doing, and she passed out cold a second later.

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The batsignal lit up the sky. Suddenly, the air above the familiar circle began to shimmer and glow, becoming a giant green question mark. The batsignal itself was now just a small period at the bottom of the symbol's bottom. Gordon paced around on the roof. "Where is he?" He asked out to himself.

A concerned deputy emerged onto the roof. "The Mayor's called again." He tells the Commissioner. "He's not going to show. Maybe he's hurt sir. Maybe he's . . ."

"No!" He says, but suddenly he isn't so sure of himself. ". . . No."

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Bruce stood at the ruined control platform. All of the riddles that he had ever received were spread out before him, including the most recent on he got tonight. "All the answers are numbers." Bruce pointed out to Alfred.

"But 1, 3, 1, 8, and 5. What do they mean?" Alfred asked him, now more confused than ever.

"What do maniacs always want?" Bruce asked as he paced around.

"Recognition, of course."

"Precisely. So this number is probably some kind of calling card." Bruce explained to the Alfred. He stared at the numbers, trying to figure them out. He added them together, then squares them. 1916425. It didn't make any sense. No luck, he started again. He separated the numbers. 13/18/5. "Letters in the alphabet." Bruce blurted out to Alfred.

"Of course. 13 is M . . . Mre." Alfred said out loud, trying his best to figure it out.

"How about, Mr. E." Bruce said to him, having figure out the first part.

"Mystery."

"And another name for Mystery?" Bruce asked him, hoping that he caught on, which of course he did.

"Enigma."

"Exactly. Mr. E. Mister Edward Nygma." Bruce said to Alfred before he led the way out of the room, Alfred following closely behind him. He led Alfred down through a secret stairway. "Good thing Mr. E didn't know about the cave under the cave." Bruce said back to Alfred as they descended down the stairs. It was a dark, jagged room, surrounded by water. Here was where the batwing and batboat were stored.

"What now, sir?" Alfred asked down to Bruce.

He now had, had everything figured out. "Claw Island. Nygma's headquarters. I'm sure that, that's where they're keeping Alyson." Bruce said up to Alfred. He normally would have been thinking irrationally because it was Alyson's life that was on the line, but there was no time for him to fall apart right now. He had to believe that she would be alright until he got to her. "Are all the batsuits destroyed?" He asked Alfred, having just realized that he might not have a suit.

Alfred was glad that they had prepared for this, mostly, at least. "All except the prototype with the sonar modifications you so disapproved of." He told him. "But it hasn't yet been tested." Alfred said to him, though he knew that Bruce wouldn't care a bit if it was tested or not.

Especially not if it were a life or death situation, which it was. "Tonight's a good night." He said before he followed Alfred to go get the suit and to change. Once he was suited up, he had only got one more question left to ask his old friend before he went off to rescue his daughter from the Riddler and Two-Face. "What do you suggest, Alfred. By sea, or by air?" He asked out to his old friend.

Before Alfred could answer him, another voice cut him off. "Why not both?" Bruce looked up to see Dick coming down the stairs. He was wearing a new suit as well. His cape was now black, with yellow on the inside only. A red armored vest complimented the green tights with knee armor well. He also had a utility belt and flexible black boots to go.

He was more surprised to see that he had even had a suit to begin with, and why he hadn't known about it at all. "Dick . . . where did you get that suit?" He asked out to him.

Behind Dick, was Alfred, who gave Bruce a sheepish look. "I . . . um . . . took the liberty, sir." Alfred told him. He didn't regret going behind Bruce's back one bit on this matter. Bruce didn't mind as much as Dick thought that he would though. Alfred only meddled when he thought fit to.

This being one of those times, and he was now glad that he had done it. For Alyson's sake at least. "I thought you could use a friend." Dick told him. He had seen the upstairs. It was a total mess. There was only one person he had thought about when he had seen the chaos. Alyson Wayne. He had first checked for her before he came down stairs, to find that she was no where to be found.

Bruce just stared at him for a moment. "Not a friend." He says to him. Dick's face fell instantly in disappointment. To his surprise, though, Bruce had extended his hand toward him. "A partner." He said to him. The Dynamic duo clasped their hands together. A partnership has been formed.