"And he thinks he can find her," Adriana told Lucius. She was stopping by his office for the second day in a row.
Lucius looked at her, appearing completely puzzled.
"He can find a woman who filmed the video based on no evidence whatsoever," Lucius said.
"It's crazy right?" Adriana asked.
"If it's even a woman," Lucius said. "How did he come to that conclusion again?"
"I have no clue," Adriana told him.
Lucius sighed. "Okay," he said after taking a deep breath. "We were curious about his thoughts and ideas and now we have them, but I wasn't aware it would be so much. No tangible proof whatsoever of anything conclusions he's drawn."
"Maybe we should get some," Adriana suggesting, finally sitting down after pacing.
"I can see where this is going," Lucius said.
"If we give him the opportunity and the go-ahead to look for her.." Adriana said. "We'll be a step closer to figuring this all out."
"Adriana," Lucius said calmly. "Then what? What if he does find her? What's your plan then?"
"Well.." Adriana said. "Okay...fair enough...I haven't thought that far ahead. But she's harassing my husband so it's safe to say I'll kick her ass."
"Are you sure that's wise?" Lucius asked. "If we are to believe what the Joker has guessed is true then she has superiors. Punishing her won't stop them. Unless you plan on torturing her to get information about who they are."
"I'd torture her," Adriana said as if it wasn't even a question. "She's attacked my husband's freedom and future."
"I still don't think this is the answer," Lucius said.
"I'm open to suggestions," Adriana said and rolled her eyes.
"As far as we know...no one has linked you and the Batman. Adriana Wayne, yes. Shade, no. They do not know who you are, otherwise they would be threatening your identity as well.." Lucius said. "Attacking her will put you at a great risk of that happening."
"So..." Adriana said. "Your point is.."
"We need to involve Bruce," Lucius said. "There's no way we can search for or track this woman down independently on his behalf without this ending poorly. He needs to be involved. We need her on his side and that's not possible if he's not there."
"We can't involve him," Adriana said. "You know the Joker wants to look for her, and when he finds her-"
"Then what?" Lucius asked. "If we find her, we have no established plan."
Adriana rubbed her forehead. "So..what?" she asked. "We just do nothing?"
"I'm merely suggesting that if any contact or approach goes wrong," Lucius said. "There's a chance that instead of sending repeated copies of that footage to the police...who they know are on the side of the Batman..they could easily send the footage to any news station and Bruce would be exposed immediately."
"Ugh..." Adriana said in frustration. "This is hopeless."
"It's precarious," Lucius said.
"I better go," Adriana said tiredly. Her brain was hurting from thinking so much and was still aching from the treatment Sidi had given her. "Bruce is in today."
"Yes," Lucius said. "I haven't seen him though."
"Is something going on?" Adriana asked Lucius. "I mean..is he mad at you for something business related that I don't know about?"
"I have no idea," Lucius said. "He's distant for some reason but perhaps it is just stress."
"He was gone when I woke up this morning," Adriana said. "He texted me this afternoon to make sure I had the tea Sidi prescribed. I guess he needed an early start here today."
"Running Wayne Enterprises is stressful itself," Lucius said. "On top of everything else."
"Yes," Adriana said prepared to leave. "I'll call you later if I think of anything we can do about this mystery person."
Lucius nodded and went back to typing. Adriana left his office and walked through the halls of Wayne Tower. It was a busy late Thursday afternoon however everyone took the time to smile at her and greet her. Several people asked if they could get her anything. The attention she got at Wayne Tower was unlike the attention she got anywhere else. Everyone wanted to make a good impression.
She finally reached Bruce's office and allowed a few minutes for his secretary to make sure he was available. After waiting she went down the corridor to his office.
"I missed you this morning," Adriana said to him and walked over to his desk.
Bruce stood as soon as she came in and wrapped his arms around her. "I needed to go over a few proposals before 8," he said.
"Proposals about what?" she asked.
"I won't bore you with that," he said, knowing the proposals were surrounding pending mergers and acquisitions that needed to happen before he could liquidate some of the smaller businesses he owned so that he could pay Madame Twyla.
"You look so tired," she said so him and touched his cheek. "A little thin too.."
Adriana was surprised that Bruce looked like he had lost a few pounds since the previous day.
"Did you have breakfast?" she asked.
"Coffee," he told her a lie. He had eaten a full breakfast and lunch in an effort to prevent what Madame Twyla told him would be inevitable weight loss. It wasn't working.
"And lunch?" she asked.
"Espresso," he lied again.
"Why?" Adriana wanted to know. "I could have brought you something..it's almost three, you have to be starving."
"I'm fine, dear," he told her. It wasn't true. Last night's nightmare about being in police custody had drained him. "I'll have my assistant bring me something shortly."
"Okay, my love," Adriana touched his cheek and looked concerned. He looked so tired and a bit sad although he was smiling.
.
.
.
"11 million," Madame Twyla said as Bruce handed her a check. Her voice was slightly disappointed, she wanted more. "And from a different account. Hmmm...you're hiding all of this from your wife aren't you?"
"That's none of your concern," Bruce said. "I will have more for you on Monday."
"It will be yours though when your wife notices," Madame Twyla said.
Bruce was doubtful that Adriana would notice the money missing. He was selling off a lot of the smaller companies and properties that he owned. What he put on the market were things that Adriana had never concerned herself with. She rarely checked their bank account and did not spend large amounts of money. When all was said and done, they would still be wealthy but things would be different. Bruce was sure he could earn back most of what he was giving to Twyla, apart from the gold that he had inherited. He would have to get used to working hard again to expand his finances back to where they used to be.
"We will be fine," Bruce told Twyla.
"Hmhm," Twyla smiled, looking up from the check. "You are looking exhausted."
"Well, it's a lot of work selling off half of my assets," he told her.
"Not just that," Twyla said. "You're having terrible dreams aren't you?"
"It will pass," he responded.
"Not for a while," she said. "What were you doing today? In the erased past?"
"I was still in custody," he told her. "They let me go this evening."
"Right," Twyla said. "After telling you about your wife's autopsy report. Hmmm..now I remember. It was in the news right? Coning is what they called it-"
"What are you doing?" Bruce asked why this woman was saying these things to him now. It seemed like she was trying to make him feel worse.
"Oh, I'm just remembering the old days," she said. "Coning...when the brain swells and is forced down to the spinal cord. They told you all about that didn't they? When you were in custody?"
Bruce was becoming angry, so angry that he was trembling. "Stop talking."
"Yes, her brain swelled from what they could see..meningitis perhaps? They found out she had elevated temperature even after being unresponsive for so long..hmmm," Twyla ignored him and kept on. "There was no trauma or evidence of foul play so they let you go right?"
Bruce blinked. He finally understood why Adriana had destroyed her shop before. He wanted to do the same now.
"Did they show the report to you?" Twyla said. "Ohh look at you..so furious. But imagine how you will feel tonight when you dream of this. You'll see everything all over again and it will feel real."
"Why are you saying these things?" he asked her seriously.
"Because," she said, her voice suddenly logical and calculating. "I don't want your sorrow and mental complications to arise and complicate my money."
Finally, Bruce understood. She thought he would become unreliable and wouldn't finish paying her.
"And how exactly is this helping?" he asked. "How does this help you get paid?"
"You need sleep," she said. "Sound sleep without these reminders of what you erased."
"Well, that doesn't seem to be what's happening," Bruce said. "You'll get your money."
"Would you like to stop those dreams?" Twyla asked.
"Let me guess.." Bruce said. "You want to sell me something."
Twyla smiled and turned away. She walked to a glass case behind her and pulled out a bottle shaped like a volumetric flask filled with an orange gold liquid. He could see specs of gold floating through the thick liquid.
"A quarter teaspoon before sleep," she said. "And you won't dream of the dark past that will lead you into depression. Oh yes...the whole world wondered how Bruce Wayne could fall so hard. Your company's stock plummeted. You looked weathered and gaunt. No one understood how you could suffer so much over the death of a woman you were married to less than a year."
"That's not going to happen-" Bruce said.
"Tell me," Twyla said. "Are you sad today? Angry? Confused? Nearly as much as you were when the cops were holding you?"
Bruce didn't answer.
"I want my fee," she said. "You need to be in tip top shape."
He looked at the glass and she began to laugh.
"Well, physically you won't be in tip top shape," she laughed. "Of course you will still become as gaunt and thin as you had after losing your wife. But your mind will be much better without the dreams. You can stay focused to getting my funds to me."
Bruce didn't want to have another dream like the one he had the previous night. But he knew how Twyla's concoctions had affected Adriana in the past and he worried about side effects.
"What is the downside?" he asked.
"Hmm.." Twyla said. "Does your wife have nightmares?"
"No," Bruce answered, not knowing what Adriana's dreams had to do with anything. "Not anymore as far as I know..not since Sidi removed her gift. What does she have to do with-"
"Because this," Twyla swirled the glass. "Is the only thing that will help you. Oh I have many things for nightmares but your nightmares are a different kind. And the reason you have them...well...it is because of your wife. If you stop being intimate with her the nightmares will stop, but that's not going to happen is it?"
"No.." Bruce answered honestly. "My wife is very...she's a beautiful woman-"
"She has a potent libido," ssaid. "No need to be bashful with me."
Bruce took another look at the glass.
"This..." Twyla said, looking at the solution she had created proudly. "Will mute your own memories...you will share the dreams of the one you merge with. You wife. You will dream what she does."
"What?" Bruce asked.
"Ohh I know it's unsavory to peek into another persons mind," Twyla said. "But your wife has been doing it all her life."
"She had no choice," Bruce said.
"Well this," Twyla said as if not hearing him. "Will allow you something similar. You will take this and you will dream as your wife dreams."
"This is infrigement on her privacy-" Bruce started to say but then began to think of all the things Adriana never shared with him. He didn't know what to do. It felt wrong to impinge upon her thoughts and dreams but he also did not want to spend the next few months slipping further into what he was already feeling from his nightmare. Tragic sadness and depression.
"Mhm," Twyla said. "Surely her dreams can't be worse than yours. She looks well rested whenever I see her on TV."
Bruce didn't know what to say.
"You don't have to take it if you don't want," Twyla said. "It's merely an option."
"Okay..." Bruce said carefully and reached for the glass. "Thank you-"
"Two thousand," she said.
"What?" he asked.
"You have cash don't you?" she asked him. "Two grand per bottle. This will last 60 days. Quarter teaspoon a night."
Bruce fumed as he pulled out his wallet. This woman was a parasite and he was sure he was paying her just to get out of there. The counted out the hundred dollar bills and handed her twenty of the fifty that he was carring.
"Sweet dreams," Twyla said as she counted the cash after handing him the bottle.