Chapter Thirty Eight
Adriana was careful to look both ways when she entered the underground parking garage of her hospital, and instead of turning right to her TT RS Audi, she turned left and headed towards a very unassuming, grey panel van. She unlocked the back door with the keys from her desk and looked into what looked like a mobile operating room. She clambered through to the front seat, depositing her bag onto the stretcher in the back and sank into the driver's seat and started it up.
She drove through the mainly deserted streets of Gotham without incident. Her mind seemed oddly clear. She came to a stop, and put the van in park, not bothering to shut off the engine. She jumped out and ran to open the chain link fence, displaying signs that read 'Wayne Enterprises Private Property NO Trespassing'.
She drove the van up to an old red freight container, and jumped out once again to unlock the hatch of that. Manoeuvring the van into the space was a little tricky. She could feel the wing mirrors graze against the sides if she twitched the wheel even the smallest degree.
Adriana then had to climb back through the van to be able to shut the container door. As soon as she had the descent began. Soon she was looking at the hiding place of the Batman. Alfred turned at her sudden appearance. He looked slightly shocked as she pulled the van to the side of the compartment and put it in park, killing the engine and jumping out, only to hurry to the back of the van.
"Hello Alfie."
"Miss Stark! I thought Master Wayne told you to wait at the penthouse for him?"
"Oh he did, come and be a dear and give me a hand?" Alfred complied without argument and came around to help Adriana haul the stretcher out of the back of the van. "I just have never been good with polite requests." Adriana smiled at Alfred who looked at the stretcher and then back into the van.
"What is all this?" He asked waving at all the medical gear.
"Oh it's a concept of mine actually, to take hospital's to the people, since most seem unwilling to go to them, especially in lower income neighbourhoods, where insurance cards are few and far between. I mean you would be shocked at the amount of people who show up at my medical clinic's with surgical cases and want a G.P. to simply patch them up." Alfred looked at her, "Well, maybe you wouldn't be but anyway, one of these vans can carry everything needed in a general surgery operating room, including everything needed to create a sterile field, problem is they cost about ten million dollars to out fit, and that kind of money isn't exactly in my overhead."
Alfred sat back and looked at Adriana, "You should have talked to Master Wayne about this, I am sure the Wayne foundation would be interested in backing this idea. How many trucks do you have right now?"
"Three, personally funded. But it isn't just the van's, it's also staffing. Each van would need a surgeon, and an anaesthetist and at least three scrub nurses. All of whom would need to be willing to make just about nothing for a days work. There are a lot of kinks to be worked out still."
Alfred nodded and continued to stare at Adriana, "Well, be that as it may, doesn't answer what it and you are doing here."
Adriana smiled quietly, "I saw the news, Alfred, this is big. This isn't business as usual. Bruce is taking on the Joker and all his minions, and don't get me wrong, I hope he only has a few scratches. But if he has more than that," Adriana had to swallow hard against the lump in her throat, "I want to be prepared, and since he refuses to go to my hospital, I figured I would bring my hospital to him."
Alfred watched her for a few seconds before nodding, "Alright, what can I do to help you?" Alfred being a former military medic was a source of great help to Adriana in setting up. After that she changed into her scrubs to be more comfortable and more ready just in case the worse happened. She wasn't sure why she was bracing for the worst but it just seemed to be the smart thing to do.
Adriana and Alfred lapsed into silence as they waited for Bruce to either show up or call. Neither happened.
Adriana sat on the floor leaning up against one of the tires, she was reminded of a night nearly twelve years ago where she had had to wait in a clinical setting, all alone.
She had been fourteen and in the St. Joseph's Hospital waiting to hear about her parents. Tony had finally shown up. She remembered hugging him, crying, she had been scared. He was soaked to the bone, it had been pouring out. He looked young, his hair all slicked down from the rain, really looking like the seventeen year old he was, not the genius he also happened to be. The doctor's had talked to Tony, and Tony had been the one to come to kneel in front of her as she sat on the hard, uncomfortable hospital chair.
"I'm sorry Addy, it's just going to be you and me from now on. Mom and Dad didn't make it." The rest of that night kind of bled together. That had felt like the beginning of her end. The end to who she was, who she knew herself to be. What could she do? She was alone…. she had had Tony, but it had taken her years to realize that. How could it not? What did Tony know about raising a brilliant fourteen year old girl? Their intellect was the only thing they had in common for years. Then there was the alcohol, a good solid Stark trait, and then even that, among other things, had carried her away from Tony, she disappeared….
Then she found herself to be in Gotham, where she happened to meet a brilliant billionaire named Bruce Wayne. And everything seemed to start to make sense again, only to once again unravel.
Now where did she stand? How was she going to fit into Bruce's puzzle of a life?
Suddenly Adriana's attention was caught by the floor of the red storage unit moving again. It was going up back into place, meaning someone had entered the lot, since neither she nor Alfred had hit the switch.
She looked at Alfred, who stared back at her. They both shared looks of concern. Adriana stood up as she heard the rumble of Bruce's makeshift Batman take on a motor cycle and slowly the floor of the compartment moved down again.