Chapter Fourteen
"Bruce, sorry to come up here and trouble you again" Bruce could see Barbra's distress across her face.
"No trouble, come in Barbra" Bruce's soft voice gives her some comfort.
"Have you heard any thing from him?" She desperately asks.
"No Barbra, I'm sorry, I am trying, I will let you know as soon as I know anything" He turns around to face Barbra and is taken aback to see a tear roll down her face
"You really care about him… don't you?"
"More than you can imagine"
Bruce looks deeply at Barbra and thinks of his next action very carefully.
"Follow me"
"Where?"
"You'll see"
Barbara follows Bruce down the many dark and winding corridors and stairwells until they reach a door at the end of one of the corridor, which leads into a large study; she looks around at the many awards Bruce has won over the years… awards for being the largest donor to the children's hospital, awards for first place in martial arts and so on. She looks around to see where Bruce has gone and notices a small door in the far corner, she warily walks down the cold stone steps, and she can smell the dampness in the air.
"Oh my god!! I don't believe it… it's the… I never imagined it" She says in amazement as she looks around the Batcave "But why do you trust me with such a secret?"
"For Dick's sake…. And besides, i'm not the only one here with a secret, am I… Batgirl"
"How did you?... You have known all this time, how?"
"I make it my business to know"
"Wait a minute… if you're Batman then Robin must be… Dick!?"
"Was, but after he left me. He set himself up in a new city, Bludahaven as Nightwing"
Barbra is left speechless, kind loving Dick is actually one of the toughened vigilantes.
"I think that he has got himself in trouble with a man called Bane, heard of him?"
Barbra thinks for a moment, trying to picture her father's computer that she secretly logs into at night, so that she can find out what new in the underground world.
"Yes I have heard of him… ex body builder, after he lost his title in the last world championships he resorted to a new experiment, tested out by Professor Long, who specialized in using venom from reptiles to make humans ten times stronger that what they already were. Bane was Longs first and last test subject, as his lab was inexplicably burned to the ground with him inside, but his experiment was a success for Bane, he then found a job in Bludahaven as a hit man, making big money by killing off many of the mob leaders of different gangs. But when Nightwing managed to link him with the killings, Bane was found guilty and imprisoned, but after the evidence wouldn't stick, as many of the witnesses disappeared into the woodwork, he was released. He has lay low for quite some time, found a business in gun smuggling in Gotham I now heard"
"That's why he must have been down the docks, organizing his latest shipment, he didn't suspect Nightwing to be there, but when he saw that he was watching him, he grew concerned that he was on his tail, ready to again ruin his plans, but knowing that Nightwing hadn't yet spotted him, that just put the icing on the cake, he knew that then would be his best chance to get his revenge by catching and stopping him from continuing his mission"
"So you think that Bane has got him then?"
"I don't think… I know he has, and if his record is any thing to go by, I need to move fast"
"Don't you mean we?"
Batman turns around to see Barbra already changed into her Bat suit and standing beside the Bat mobile"
"No… it too dangerous, I'm not risking it"
"You can't stop me, I'll go by myself if I have to, I need to help, for Dick's sake, please let me Bruce"