Hi y'all. A lot of stuff's been going down lately, for lack of a better term. So let's distract ourselves with another chapter, shall we?
I duck into a nearby closet and wait to see if Alfred's going to come back out. He doesn't, so I assume he's still inside. Good. It means I can just wait and hunt when he's not around.
I've got to think logically. The Batcave's supposed to be underground; that's the impression I've gotten from the other prisoners talking about it. It's underground and there's a hidden way to get in, supposedly through the manor. How specifically nobody knows. The other thing they don't know is just what's in the Batcave. I know they were talking about bat-shaped boomerangs and bat boats and bat cars and that sort of stuff, but what else is up for grabs? More importantly, does Alfred know the way in?
It's a long shot, but if it's necessary, I'll kidnap Alfred and force him to talk.
That'll probably end up being a last resort method, though. I don't want him to alert my prey that I'm inside the manor. I've got to play this cool.
I hear Alfred exit the room and risk a look out of the closet. He's walking back upstairs, probably to check something else. That's good - he'll be out of my way. Quietly I walk around the manor's first floor; I don't dare risk following Alfred. There's a nice little kitchen and dining room setup, as well as a drawing room and several other rooms - two of which have a grandfather clock in it and one of those two also containing a desk and a piano.
I stop in that room and look around. This has to be where the Batcave's secret entrance is located. Has to be. If it isn't, I'll eat my mask.
I look around the room and spot the grandfather clock, fireplace - with no fire - and the piano over in one specific corner. It's too suspicious. Three objects in one corner? Yeah, nope. That warrants an investigation.
I walk over to the piano, quietly now so that I don't disturb Alfred's business upstairs. I have to move quickly. I don't know when Bruce Wayne is supposed to be home; he's not home right now, which is good news for me, but if he gets home and I'm not ready, I'm in so much trouble I won't even begin to comprehend it. I've got to be ready. I don't even want to imagine what'll happen if he gets home and I'm not ready to strike.
I run my hands over the piano keys, not pushing down so I don't make any noise. There's no music, so it seems like nothing is wrong, but I'm not so easily fooled. This could be the way in. Or it could be the grandfather clock in the corner. Or maybe, just maybe, there's a secret route in the fireplace. All of these are possible routes to get at him, but I'm a bit uneasy on just how this is pulled off. It's time to do some digging.
There's nothing for me with the piano. If it's a set of keys, I certainly don't know the order to push them in, and I'm certainly not going to alert Alfred to my presence by playing the piano. I check the fireplace; nothing looks out of the ordinary except the floor... the grate's not attached to the floor, so that tells me it slides away somehow. It also probably slides back into place when the door's been ordered to shut. Not surprised. I'd drag it out of place, but that would give me away, so that's out of the question.
I turn my attention to the grandfather clock and examine its workings. Looks like a regular old grandfather clock, honestly... wait a second. It's not ticking. Is it broken? Then I take a closer look at the face and pull away the part covering the clock's gears and mechanisms.
Just as I thought.
There are several cords running down from the back of the clock and into the wall. Looks like I've found the trigger to open the door; that explains why it wasn't ticking. Now I've got to figure out how to get the door open.
I replace everything on the clock to make sure it looks inconspicuous. I've got to keep my cover silent. There must be a way to open this damned entrance into the Batcave... maybe the desk holds a clue or two.
Quietly I walk over to the desk and rifle through it, searching for some sort of code. I don't find much aside from bills and pens, inkwells and other various memorabilia. Then I find something buried beneath a stack in the lower drawer: a sheet of paper with several words written on it.
The time of your parents' deaths is the time you should remember.
I don't know this, which means only one thing:
"I've got to kidnap Alfred," I mutter to myself. "Either that or force him into staying silent. Something along those lines."
Oh come on. Surely the Batman's not THAT stupid.
I pause for a brief second. Something's coming back to me... on that government file it stated that I was programmed with memories of Bruce Wayne. Maybe... just maybe... I already know the answer to this? It's possible. I mean - I'm not positive myself, if I'm real. But it's worth a short.
I start looking around at the walls. Hanging on them are mainly portraits, but there is a picture over by the piano that's not. I tidy up the desk, make it look nice and clean, before I walk back over to the piano and look at the picture behind it. It's a newspaper article with a picture of - no doubt - Thomas Wayne and his beloved wife, and that'll be a young Bruce Wayne at the bottom with them. The headline's talking about their deaths.
"'Thomas Wayne and his wife Martha were shot by a mugger on Thursday at 10:48 pm,'" I read softly so as to keep my cover hidden. "Park Row, home to the...' wait a minute."
I turn back to the clock and very carefully move the hands so they read 10:48.
Immediately there's a soft clicking noise and the fireplace floor slides back, revealing a long tunnel and a ladder.
I grin beneath my mask. "Gotcha."
Quickly I start down the ladder and, partway down, find a button that has written above it "To Close/Open Batcave Entrance, Push". I push the button and watch as the fireplace floor slides back into place above my head.
I crack my neck and continue down the ladder.
The clock is ticking, Bruce Wayne. Now that I've found your little hidey-hole, it's time for me to take what's mine.
Including your life.
