Chapter 16: Dinner is a bust

"If one more person asks me about Spellbinder or my expulsion I'm going to scream." I mumbled to Bruce on Saturday night at the charity dinner. Although 'dinner' was a bit of a generous word for it. More like over the top cocktail party. With a super expensive silent auction going on.

Tables were set up on one side of the room and paintings hung on the wall, all fancy items guests could bid on. Bruce and I had already looked around, bidding on nothing. I tried to get Bruce to bid on the most expensive thing, a 300 year old painting that was $200,000 but he said no. What a dreg.

"Just answer their questions politely and they'll move on." Bruce reminded me as he waved to someone across the room. He had given me a crash course in high society etiquette that afternoon when he showed up out of nowhere with a dress for me. Oddly enough, Bruce had good taste and had chosen an elegant floor length navy colored gown. Thankfully it had sleeves that covered the bandages on my arm and loose fitting bodice so I could actually breath in it. I guess being a former playboy had its good side.

"All I want to do is find Rogers and leave." I huffed, crossing my arms. I turned to look at Bruce but he was gone. How the hell could he still do that? I stood rooted to my spot, hoping I could find him again. How did I manage to loose a 6'2" old man? I eventually spotted him talking to Derek Powers and a woman. I hurried over to join them before anyone else could ask me about Spellbinder.

"How nice that my trip coincided with your dinner Derek." The woman said as I approached. She had an accent, but I couldn't tell where it was from.

"It was very fortunate you could come Dr. Rogers. And I'm sure those at Mercy Charities appreciate your donation." Powers said. That was Victoria Rogers? She was a doctor?

I stood beside Bruce and ignored their conversation while observing Victoria. She looked like she was in her late thirties. She was tall for a woman, in the heels she was wearing she was as tall as Bruce. She held a stern look on her face as she talked to the guys, making her look intimidating. Her skin was darker than mine, a rich toffee color, and paired with her accent, made me think she could've been from Eastern Europe or South America. She had silky dark brown hair that was starting to gray up in an elegant bun. A tight emerald colored dress hugged her figure in the right places, accentuating her curves and the neckline dipped low enough to give a teasing view.

She was a very stunning woman overall, but her most notable feature was her deeply intelligent amber eyes. The years of running a large company and organizing people to her needs showed. She looked young, but she had old eyes. She was a woman who got what she wanted and knew just how to manipulate people to get it. We locked eyes and she gave a me a small smile. And that little smile made her seem less intimidating.

"This is my granddaughter Jamie. She's staying with me while going to school here in Gotham." Bruce took advantage of a pause in the conversation.

"Nice to meet you Ms. Wayne." Derek shook my hand, fake sincerity evident in his voice.

"Oh! I'm not a Wayne. My last name is Grayson. Richard Grayson is my dad." I corrected him. I thought he would've kept better track of potential heirs to his company. Sure, it was a long list before it got to me, but I was still on it.

"It was an honest mistake, my apologies. You look like your grandfather." Powers apologized without a hint of actual remorse. Or actually looking at me. It made me uncomfortable to be around him. It was clear he would rather be anywhere else than his own fundraiser and he was only here out of requirement. On top of that he seemed to be wary of Bruce's presence, like he was hiding something specifically from Bruce. Which I guess was justified since Bruce knew what Powers had ordered Terry's dad to be killed. And I was pretty sure Powers knew that Bruce knew it too.

"So why come to Gotham for school Ms. Grayson?" Victoria asked, breaking the tension that had formed.

"Hamilton High has a better robotics program than my school in New York and Grandpa Bruce was so nice to let me stay with him." I hugged Bruce's arm for added effect. He wanted me to be charming, I would give it overkill to annoy him.

"You're interested in robotics? I happen to run a company that specializes in robotics." Victoria bragged. I'm was pretty sure everyone knew that, but I played dumb anyway.

"Oh really? What company?"

"MedCorp. Maybe you've heard of it?"

"The world's largest medical equipment manufacturer and medical robotics researcher. Of course." I told her.

"I hate to interrupt, but I should go greet other guests." Powers excused himself.

"I'll leave you two to alone. I never understood robotics." Bruce left as well. No! Bruce! Don't leave me alone again!

"What kind of robotics are you interested in?" Victoria asked me. The question threw me off. I hadn't really thought that far. I started an interest in robotics in seventh grade where I enjoyed tinkering and building. I only started it as a focus study last year because it was the only thing that really interested me. Specialized robotics hadn't crossed my mind as a career.

"I guess something that would help people? I haven't put that much thought into it." I admitted. She chuckled.

"That's okay. When I was your age I thought I would be a journalist, but I was needed to run my Abuelo's side company. Now here I am as CEO of his main company and with PhD in psychology. Oh well." She laughed.

"You ran another company before MedCorp?" I asked. I knew damn well that she had. That company was the reason for my recent nightmares and the strange microchip in my skull.

"Yes I did. It was MedCorp's North American research division. Rogers Research Technologies. I was in charge there until my Abuelo passed away and left me MedCorp." She explained. Abuelo was Spanish for grandfather. Maybe she was Spanish? Or Latina? I wanted to ask, but it didn't really matter at the moment.

"What kind of research did you do?" I asked, focusing myself. Hopefully she could give me a hint as to why my mother potentially turned me into an experiment using Roger Tech.

"We focused on neurological experiments, things that would help the mentally ill or handicapped. And technically we still do, just under MedCorp's neuroscience research." That sounded promising.

"Did anything you create work?" I pressed. Subtlety. Not my strong point.

"You seem very interested in the researched end of things." She mused. Her phone beeped from in her clutch, and she pulled it out to look.

"Dios mio." She rolled her eyes in annoyance. "I'm sorry Ms. Grayson, but I have to go. Here." She handed me a business card. It had her name and office number on it. "You seem interested in experimental robotics. If you call me later, I can have a tour of Gotham's offices set up for you. MedCorp is always looking for new talent and you have potential. It was nice to meet you."

"Same here." I said as she rushed away through the crowd.

I spent the rest of the night at Bruce's side, dodging questions about Spellbinder or my expulsion. Ironically Victoria was the only person who didn't seem to know who I was. It was kind of nice. My overall impression of her was that she knew how to work people. She made herself easy to talk to. I guessed that was because tonight was her night off, she didn't need to order people around. Or she was nicer to me because I was technically a child, especially amongst those at the dinner. She reminded me of Commissioner Gordon, as in Victoria Rogers was someone I did not want cross. Which sucked because if she hand anything to do with the chip in my head, I was going to have to eventually confront her. Unless my mother had done it without company permission. Then Victoria wouldn't be involved and I wouldn't piss off a possible boss in my future.

"Thank god that's over." I sighed, pulling my heels off the second I walked into the manor.

"I've been to worse." Bruce said, as he loosened his tie.

"You're just as eager to get out of that suit as I am to get out of this dress." I teased as we walked upstairs.

"If you don't like it, I can return it." Bruce said. I looked at him in horror.

"No! I'm keeping this!" I hugged myself. Bruce smirked. "You were...joking. Don't. Its weird." I told him and turned for my room.

"Meet me in the cave once you've changed."

Oh fun. Time to tell him what I didn't learn.

"Learn anything interesting after you ditched me and Dr. Rogers?" I asked, walking into the cave.

Bruce was looking at the holo of the microchip again.

"No. And nothing I found on MedCorp or Rogers Tech was related to this."

"What did you find?" I asked.

"The most basic information that they legally have to make public. Their stock is private so there wasn't much."

"Wait. So even the bat-computer's 'special access' came up with nothing?" I questioned. As far as I knew, there was nothing the Bat-computer couldn't find. Saved my ass on a few research papers. "What does that mean exactly?"

"None of their records are digital or they've manged to create their own private internet." Bruce explained.

"It's not that strange is it? Aren't there some countries that have their own internet? I'm guessing they have their own private internet. Who still has paper files anymore." I laughed. Bruce gave me a look.

"You're kidding. Where do you keep 30 plus years of paper records?"

"The cave has enough room." He said, turning to the computer. I'm pretty sure he left that room out of the tour."Did Victoria tell you anything useful?" Right back to business.

"Not much before she had to leave. Roger Tech was their neurological research division. She said they focused on helping the mentally ill and handicapped. She never answered my question if anything worked though." I realized. "Sorry I don't have more info. Although," I remembered, "She did give me her office number in case I wanted to take a tour of the Gotham offices."

"Good. You can call on Monday to set one up." Bruce said.

"Hope you can wait until after Thanksgiving for that. I'm working with Max on a statistics project tomorrow and Monday, then leaving Tuesday night."

"I'm not the one with a microchip in my head. Go whenever you want." Bruce said, looking at files on the computer. I could argue about him not having a microchip because the man seemed so damn robotic sometimes.

We were interrupted by the Bat-mobile roaring into the cave. Terry hopped out looking like the happiest Batman I'd ever seen. To top it off he was whistling.

"Whats with you?" I asked.

"Nothing," he smiled, pulling off the cowl. Liar.

"Interesting Patrol, McGinnis?" Even Bruce was commenting on Terry strange mood.

"Just the usual. Pretty quiet tonight." Terry was already half way out of the Batsuit.

"You're in a hurry." I noted.

"Just ready to go home." Terry smiled. Oh God. If I heard something from Dana about a wonderful Saturday night on Monday I was going hurl.

"Whatever." I walked over to Bruce. "Can I go? Because I'm starving and tired."

"The fancy dinner didn't fill you up?" Terry called over. I rolled my eyes.

"That was not dinner. It was an over glorified cocktail party." I saw Bruce smirk out of the corner of my eye.

"Go. We'll deal with this tomorrow."

"Thanks. Good night!" I hugged him, and froze halfway through. It was a habit. Something I always did when I lived with Dad. It took Bruce a second too before he patted my arm.

"Good night, Jamie."

I rushed out of the cave, blushing at the sound of Terry's laughter.

SO...I'm back! This chapter gave me a lot of issues for...reasons. And life got in the way. But I've been on a writing roll lately so I hope it won't be as long until my next update.

Oh and today marks one year since I posted this story! But I've definitely have been working on it way longer than that.

Fun Fact: Jamie has no idea what she wants to be when she grows up. Robotics is her main interest, but she hasn't put that much thought into it as a career.