Evil Shadow

20.

Elaine

Pete laughed along with most of the other men as Elaine made her way downstairs to the lobby the next morning. She was a mess, her hair sticking out in odd places and her clothes turned inside out. Bags were under her eyes and all in all, she looked like she had been inside of a tornado.

"The lady's first hangover," announced Pete louder than necessary, patting her on the back.

Elaine glared at him, only earning more laughs from the men.

"You shouldn't have had the entire bottle," said Mark with a shake of his head.

"I hate you," retorted Elaine, sitting down at the bar, resting her forehead against the cold material of it, hoping the coolness of it might help her throbbing headache.

"Cheer up," said Pete. "The boss is preparing a plan for your birthday present."

Elaine quickly looked over at Pete and the others, her eyes wide with excitement.

"For real?" she breathed before standing up, quickly walking over to Pete. "I want in."

Pete chuckled. "You're kidding, right? The boss won't accept that."

"Why not?" asked Elaine with a glare. "I can fend for myself."

"Yeah, but you've never done a kidnapping before," said Pete. "He'll never agree with it."

Elaine scoffed. "He doesn't have a choice but to let me join…"

"What, are you going to argue with him?" asked Mark with raised eyebrows.

"Yeah, I'll fight him if I must," said Elaine, earning laughs from the other thugs to which Elaine only rolled her eyes.

Millie

She awoke in pain. Her throat hurt, her stomach hurt and her head hurt. Though the pain seemed far away, as though she knew it was there but at the same time it also wasn't. And as she opened her eyes and saw that her world was softly swaying back and forth, she realized why the pain was so far away.

She was drugged.

She let out a sigh, remembering her break-down on her 18th birthday; the birthday that should have been the happiest day of her life though which turned out to be the most embarrassing and most devastating day of her life. Not only had someone probably found her as the mess that she must have been, but this would become public as well. She was Bruce Wayne's, sort of, daughter and the fact that she had ended up in the hospital would not be overlooked.

"You're awake."

Millie turned her head to the right, seeing Bruce sitting on a chair next to her bed. Dick was sitting there as well, though his head was resting next to her hand and he was sound asleep. Bruce stared at her, his arms crossed over his chest. For a moment, she had actually thought that he would begin to yell at her, though he let out a breath instead.

"Good. That means you're healing," he said, leaning forwards slightly and placing a hand on her upper arm. "How are you feeling?"

"Like hell," she whispered, her throat nearly burning up as she spoke and a faint taste of blood appearing in her throat as well.

Bruce continued to stare at her, a tension growing between the two of them. She was sure that Bruce actually wanted to yell at her for what she had done to herself and the manor's wallpaper, but was trying to contain himself as best as possible. Of course he was mad at her, it had been a rather stupid thing to do after all, though she had been heartbroken and the feelings inside of her had simply been too much to handle. It all had been too much to handle and she had snapped.

She wondered briefly where she had gotten her messy, over the top, emotions from. She did not know her real parents and as far as she knew, Bruce had not managed to figure out who her real parents were either – not that she had asked him. It seemed an awkward question to ask. Either way, their personalities could have answered why she was so emotional.

"That's not surprising," said Bruce, nodding his head once more. Millie quickly figured that smiling during his state of mind was not an option and that that was the reason behind why he was nodding instead. "You went through a lot. The top of your stomach was punctured by some glass, they needed to do two surgeries to stabilize you and heal you."

"How long…?"

"A week, almost. The surgeries happened five days ago," he explained. "But you'll be fine now that you've woken up. It means you're healing."

"Da-"

"Alfred brought some of your presents here," interrupted Bruce, looking away from her and gesturing towards the edge of her bed.

There, a small table was placed, probably indeed meant for the patient's personal belongings. Though instead of her belongings, it was filled with presents that Alfred, Bruce and Dick had bought for her. She never did get around to opening them.

"Some of your friends even sent you some gifts and cards," said Bruce, standing up and walking over to the table, lifting up one card and reading it. "Get well soon. Love, Alex."

"Alex?" she asked. "I don't even know an Alex."

"You're a Wayne. This Alex here is the son of another wealthy family. Though I don't want you hanging out with them. They're… Corrupt," he said before gently placing the card back down and picking up another instead.

"Dad, I just want to say-"

"Happy Birthday and get better soon, pumpkin. Love, Ha…"

Bruce's eyes widened as he paused, his eyes scanning the card over and over again before he looked over at Millie, who grew worried with each second that passed.

"Da'?"

"I have to go."

Millie tried to sit upright or move or even stand up again, though it only resulted in pain. She needed to apologize for her behavior, she needed to talk to him; ask him what had gotten into her – though Bruce had already left the room, card in his hand. Dick had awoken when she had moved and he immediately grew worried at the pained expression on her face. He shot up from his chair and helped her to ease back down onto the pillows she had been propped up onto before she had moved. His hand lingered on her shoulder as he remained standing up, towering over her with his intensely blue eyes looking down at her.

"Thanks," she breathed, relaxing as the pain disappeared. "I need to talk to Bruce. He just left but… I need to talk."

"I'll get him," said Dick, nodding his head.

As his hand left her shoulder, it felt cold. It was of course quite natural that it would, though it felt colder than it should have done and it almost felt as though it passed into her heart. She immediately regretted indirectly asking for his help, wanting him to stay by her side, though there was not much she could do now. After all, she could not move without being in agonizing pain.

Several minutes passed and Millie had almost fallen asleep again when Dick returned.

"He, uh, needed to do some work. Something urgent came up."

He was lying. Once again, Bruce and Dick were keeping something from her. It nearly broke her heart and she could feel those emotions rising up once more, though she did not want to show anyone that side again; in fact, she did not even want to see it herself. It was ugly and gruesome and not something she wanted to ever experience again.

"I'm sure he'll be back though," said Dick reassuringly, probably seeing the saddened look on her face though not truly knowing what it was about. "Then you can talk to him."

"It's okay," she said, looking back up at the ceiling.

"No, it's not. Everything is far from okay," said Dick, his wavering voice causing her to look over at him again and when she saw the sadness in his eyes, an overwhelming feeling of wanting to wrap her arms around him and make him feel better took over her body and she grasped his hand, which he squeezed tightly as he sat down again. "You could have died. I thought you had. When Alfred called… I was so worried."

"I'm sorry," said Millie, relief flowing through her body as she realized that she could finally apologize to someone, which she had wanted to do with Bruce too though he kept cutting her off, not wanting to hear it. "I truly am. I know it's stupid to be sorry when I've clearly done this to myself, but I swear to you that I did not mean for it to happen. Honestly, I don't even know what happened."

"You broke the bottle and swallowed some glass…" he reported monotonously."

"Oh…"

"That's lethal, you know." He tried to give her a smirk, but failed terribly. When not even Dick Grayson can make the mood lighter, then he truly is feeling bad about something. It hurt Millie a lot to realize this.

"Look, I know this is complete bullshit to you, but I just want you to know that it wasn't me. It was like something took over… Like an inner darkness. But I couldn't control it. I can't remember if I wanted to stop it even… God, I'm such a mess…"

"But you're a hot mess."

Millie snorted at his comment, and let out a chuckle as he wiggled his eyebrows at her. Though she tried to stop herself from laughing too much, her throat hurting tremendously as she did, it still felt good. Her words must have calmed him down a little bit; at least enough for him to return back to normal again for a little while and come with stupid remarks as that.

"Look," he began, suddenly serious again. "We've all got this weird darkness inside of us. We're all a bit creepy… Don't let this get to you. You just accidentally reacted very, very strongly to something that would've hurt anyone."

"No one came…" she whispered.

Dick tightened his hold on her hand, "I know M. I know…"

"What do I do wrong? Why… Why does no one like me?"

"You don't do anything wrong. Hey, I like you, right? And Barbara doesn't seem to mind you. Or Wally – "

"Who?"

"My friend, you met him once, I think. Oh! Or, um, that new girl with the blonde hair. There's just… People just get very jealous."

"But not of you," deduced Millie. "And you live where I live too."

"Yeah, but I don't have the Wayne name."

She quietened.

"Look. I'm gonna be honest with you right now… Fuck those people. They're all just insecure children running around thinking they're important."

"Wow… Where's this coming from?"

"My inner darkness."

Millie smiled at him, to which he smiled back.

"We're all a bit fucked up."

Dick chuckled at her words, "Indeed."

"That just makes me adore you even more."

As though he suddenly realized something, he wriggled his hand free from her grasp and stood up, "I should go."

"Wha-"

Before Millie could say anything more, Dick had already left…

Bruce

Multiple cars were parked in the driveway, and thugs clad in the Penguin's clothes were marching over to the front door. Alfred and Bruce had been working on figuring out who had sent Millie that birthday card signed 'H', though before they could scan the handwriting with the bat computer, an alarm had gone off. The security cameras were now showing to them both what was going on at the front door.

Wayne Manor was under attack.

"What's the Penguin's crew doing here?"

"Millie." The word came out of Bruce's mouth before he had even realized it himself, and immediately he stood up and walked over to a catwalk to the left. From it, one could look down a waterfall that fell down into a smaller underground river. Above the river, their jet was standing on a small platform, ready to fly up and out of the Batcave should the Batman need it.

On the catwalk Bruce was currently standing on, his and Robin's current suits were stood on mannequins, ready for them to put them on whenever they needed. And right now, Bruce needed his suit badly.

Putting it on in record time, under thirty seconds, Bruce made his way to one of the many exits. That particular one would take him to the gardens, so that it would not be so obvious that the Batman lived at the manor.

The thugs were currently kicking in the door when Batman quietly snuck up to them. Bruce had no problems identifying the man obviously leading the group.

"Mark."

All thugs turned around in shock at the deep, growling voice of the Bat. Mark in particular looked completely out of it. They had obviously not counted on the fact that the Batman would be out during the day. Normally, that was true. Unless something big happened, Bruce stayed at home during the day as Bruce Wayne. But they were, unbeknownst to them, attacking the Bat's home, and so, they were going to have to get through the Batman before they could get inside.

Luckily, Millie was at the hospital and if Bruce, although he knew it was not going to happen, failed to fight these thugs, she would still be safe.

One by one, the thugs fell to the ground, unconscious, until he finally reached the last one. A couple of thugs ran over to a van and drove off though Batman didn't care about them.

"Why are you here?"

Mark was pressing himself up against the wall of the manor, staring wide-eyed at the Bat.

"W-What?"

"WHY ARE YOU HERE?"

"O-Orders from the boss! We're here for the Wayne girl!" exclaimed Mark.

"She's not available at the moment," countered Batman before kicking Mark in the stomach. Picking him up by the sleeve, Batman stared Mark in the eyes, "Tell Oswald these grounds are off-limit, according to the deal I made with Anna."

At the mention of her name, Mark seemed to grow some confidence.

"Deal!? She died because of you! Whatever deal you two made, it's over!"

Without a strain, Batman threw Mark over towards the car. His back hit the car first and he groaned before slowly sliding down to the ground.

He hazily glanced at the Batman who stayed put at the veranda, glaring at Oswald's right-hand man. Mark took the hint and entered the car, coughing up some blood as he did, before driving off and away. Four cars were left and at least ten men were unconscious on the ground.

"Sir, I've called the GCPD. They're on their way. Perhaps Bruce should meet up with them?"

"Good idea."

Millie

"Happy Birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear Millie, happy birthday to you."

She could not wipe the smile off of her lips as Barbara and Dick entered with a slice of cake and a small candle stuck into it. They held it up in front of her, letting her blow out the candle before they placed the cake to the side (knowing Millie could not actually eat it in her current state), bringing the presents over to her bed instead. Barbara had added two presents of her own, and by now Millie had at least fifteen presents.

"Go on, open up!" exclaimed Dick eagerly.

"You guys didn't have to do this," blushed Millie.

"Are you kidding me? You just had the worst birthday of your life. This was the least we could have done," smiled Barbara, sitting down on the bed next to Millie while Dick grabbed a chair. "So, go on! Open them up!"

Ten minutes later, all presents were opened. Most were insignificant stuff some of the rich families had sent her, meaning bracelets and necklaces she knew she was never going to wear. Though some of them had stood out.

One was from Alfred, who had bought her the third part of a book series she was currently into. One was from Bruce, who had actually bought her a chance to meet up with the author of the book series she was into. One was from Dick, who had bought her a poster of the current book series she was into.

"I feel like there's a theme here," had Dick joked when she had opened up those three presents.

Barbara had bought her a pair of beautiful earrings and a mascara she had once, a while back, mentioned she had always wanted to try out. For being just Dick's girlfriend and not really Millie's friend, Barbara had actually bought her pretty things, which warmed her heart greatly. Maybe that was a sign of friendship? Though Millie didn't know as she had never even come this close to a female friend.

Then there were two presents left. Two smaller, both wrapped professionally with string and bow. One was purple with a green string, while the other had a red and black theme.

Dick's smile faltered slightly at the sight of the presents.

"Who are they from?" asked Barbara.

"I don't know. Da' left with the cards before I could read them."

"That's why he left in a hurry?" asked Dick quietly, earning a look from Barbara.

"Yeah… Why?"

"Nothing," answered Barbara for him with a forced smile. "Let's see what's inside."

Millie smiled, although she felt slightly confused.

As she pulled the bow on the purple present, the lid flew off, confetti spraying all over Millie. Everyone gasped, Dick nearly having run over to her to rip the present away from her. As the confetti came to a rest on Millie, she let out a giggle.

"What was that?"

She looked inside of the box, seeing nothing more but a small card. A sloppy handwriting had written 'haha' on the card.

"Wow…" she mumbled, showing it to Barbara and Dick who grew eerily quiet.

They stared with wide eyes as she opened the last present, the black and red one. No confetti came out though, and instead there was a tiny little stuffed animal lying in the box. A note lay in there as well.

The stuffed animal was dirty though one could still see that it resembled a cat with a turquoise bow around its neck. Though the stuffed animal didn't mean anything to her, until she read the note.

Was with your mum an hour before it happened. An hour after it had happened I returned. Found this. Think it belongs to you.

Happy Birthday Millie.

Love. Auntie.

"W-What does that mean!? Who is this from!?" she exclaimed, showing the note to Dick and Barbara, and cringing at the pain in her throat and stomach upon suddenly exclaiming that. Whoever had given her that present knew about her parents, knew who she was. Desperately she clung to the little kitten, shaking from top to toe.

Though Dick and Barbara hardly seemed equally as excited as her. Instead, they stared at the note and the wrapping… a haunted look on their faces.