Ch 27: Pieces
"This doesn't add up!" I whispered angrily.
"Statistics or Chem?" Max whispered. I had forgotten she was working near me. We were in the school library, working on homework. Well, at least Max was. Michelson's autopsy had been released that morning, and Ko had sent it to me.
"Robotics," I lied.
"Oh, sorry, can't help ya," She turned back to her computer.
"I'll figure it out. Or ask Sharon later," I shrugged.
"You're doing better than I thought you would."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"You're best friend died, and your sitting here, doing homework like it's nothing. I'd be a total mess if I were you."
"I guess its in my genes. Tragedy is common place for my family. We pick up the pieces and move on." I shrugged.
What I didn't tell her about was the dull ache that had set in my chest and had stayed for the past two weeks since I had found out about Anni. Or the persistent nightmares that kept me in a restless sleep and forced me to stay awake on caffeine and pure will power. How I was struggling to pack my closet because half my clothes reminded me of Anni, whether she had borrowed it from me, or I from her, or she insisted I buy it because it would look good on me.
I was still a complete disaster, I was just getting better at hiding it. I was a Grayson. We dust ourselves off and carry on. That's what Dad had told me when Alfred had died, and again when a close officer friend was killed. Anni's death would haunt me until I died, but I wasn't going to wallow in grief. I wasn't Bruce. I was going to get justice, starting with this damn autopsy.
"I guess that's one decent thing about Mr. Wayne. Look what he did after his parents died." Max said.
"What?" I forgot the public knew a different Bruce than Terry and I. "I meant my dad, but I guess Bruce moved on too. Uncle Tim too."
"The world could use more people with your mind set. Resilient people. Imagine a whole team of people like Batman. Gotham would be a better place."
"You volunteering?" I was so telling McGinnis Max though he needed help.
"Maybe. Depending on who Batman is. That's what I'm working on. A program to narrow down who Batman could be." Oh, I was definitely telling McGinnis about this.
"You very far with it?" I casually asked, turning back to my laptop. I knew I could make her whole project redundant in two seconds, but it wasn't my place to tell. And I had an autopsy to figure out.
I had great respect for the NYPD, and I knew many great cops, but this report felt so wrong. For how long it took them to examine him, it was a stunningly simple report. Cause of death was what I already knew, knife to the throat. There was a few other medical things, but nothing that wouldn't be found in a preliminary exam. They were hiding something. The whole thing sat uncomfortably with me.
"Jamie? You still here?" Max waved her hand in front of me.
"Yeah. Sorry." I snapped out of it.
"The bell rang. You look like you could use some coffee, my treat." Max offered, packing up her stuff.
"Sure," I agreed, following suit.
"Where is it?" I ripped open another moving box. I rifled through it with no luck.
"Whoa." Terry said from the doorway of my bedroom. I looked up from the box.
"Need something McGinnis?" I asked, opening another box.
"Not really. Just came to see how you were doing today."
"Bruce sent you up here, didn't he." I sighed and pushed the box aside.
"He said you've been avoiding him since you got back."
"I've been busy. Dad wants to move next week, I have two projects and a paper due before Christmas. Not a lot of free time."
Even though that was all true, I had been avoiding Bruce lately. Ever since I found out about Anni, he had been nothing but sympathetic, which was nice then, but now I needed answers, not sympathy. I also didn't think he would approve of my questioning police reports. Especially since Dad worked on the case and Bruce and Dad had seemed to come to a weird understanding when it came to dealing with me.
"So you haven't been avoiding him?" He asked skeptically.
"Not on purpose. If you want, I'll come down to the cave after I'm done, just to prove I'm not avoiding anybody."
"You've hidden in your room since you got back." Terry pointed out.
"Did I mention I'm moving next week?" I countered.
"It looks like you were unpacking."
"I'm looking for something."
"Maybe I can help." He offered.
"Don't you have Batman stuff to do?" I got up and went over to the desk.
"Already went on patrol. Things have been quiet since I caught Powers. I think criminals are starting to take me seriously."
"Until some else comes along and kicks your ass." I teased.
"Thanks for the confidence. Now what are we looking for?"
"Commissioner Gordon's number. I want to call her."
"When did you get her number?"
"Awhile ago. The night that dreg tried to rob Dana and me." I shuffled through my desk. "Maybe I left it in my purse?" I thought aloud.
"Here it is." Terry picked up my purse from my bed. I shook my head.
"Wrong purse. I can't remember which one I had that night."
"You have more than one?"
"Well yeah. That bright red one doesn't match all my clothes. Maybe it was my black one?" I looked around the room. "It's probably in the other room, if I think about it."
"Other room? You have another room? I thought I was bad for claiming one to crash in sometimes."
"Calm down McGinnis. I only use it for the books." I said walking out the door.
I entered Jason's old room, Terry close behind. My purse was sitting next to one of the books shelves.
"This is like a mini library." Terry observed. He scanned the solid wall of books.
"Yeah. From what I understand, Jason loved books. When he came to the manor he couldn't get enough to read. Bruce said he was the easiest to get presents for. Just get him a book." I said, digging through the purse. "Here it is!" I pulled up the little piece of paper in triumph.
"I can't believe you have the Commissioner's number and Batman doesn't." Terry pouted.
"It's not like I call her all the time. And besides, I don't think she's too fond of Batman. Now go away, I need to talk to her alone." I said, pulling out my phone.
"Why? You hiding something?" He teased.
"Just go McGinnis." I pushed him out the door. "Go polish your cowl or something." I shut the door behind him. I could hear him laughing on the other side.
"Finally," I sighed as the phone rang.
"Hello. Barbara Gordon."
"Commissioner Gordon. It's Jamie Grayson. You gave me your number awhile ago, saying call if I needed to talk."
"Thanks for meeting me so quickly, Commissioner. I know you're a busy woman."
"Being part of the police force is more than just arresting criminals. I'm glad to help. It's a nice change. And call me Barbara." Com-Barbara said, sitting in a booth. I sat across from her, and looked at the cafe's menu.
"I was surprised you called. I was starting to think you took after Bruce, brooding instead of letting things out."
"I couldn't do that. I'd go insane from not saying anything. I blame Dad for that," I chuckled. She gave me a small smile.
"I heard about your friend and her father. I'm very sorry." She patted my hand.
"Yeah, me too." I sighed. "That's kinda what I wanted ask you about. Get you professional opinion." I admitted.
"Me? New York is a bit far out of my region. I know nothing about the case."
A waiter appeared and took our drink orders.
"What exactly are you hoping I can help you with?"
"Well, the autopsies came out today. I was wondering, is it legal to knowingly leave something off of it?"
"Knowingly, it's illegal. Plus that would be cruel to the family. If they need more information, they won't release the autopsy until the investigation is finished. What happened?"
"My friend's dad's autopsy seems wrong. They kept his body until yesterday, but the autopsy doesn't have anything out of the ordinary on it. It seems strange to me." I explained.
The waiter came back with our drinks. I took mine and breathed in the steam from my peppermint mocha. One of mine and Anni's favorites.
"There could be a number of factors as to why it took longer." Commis- Barbara started, "Sometimes, especially with such an obvious cause of death, they take more care to examine everything to make sure there wasn't foul play. Or maybe the med examiner is new, or training someone. Or he could've been an organ donor. There's a lot of possibilities. I know many people in NYPD. They're some of the best at what they do. I know their Chief doesn't tolerate corruption. You have nothing to worry about."
"I guess you're right. Maybe I'm just looking for something more than what is. I'm having a hard time accepting he would kill his own daughter." I sighed, staring into my mocha. "It's been a crazy three weeks. First finding out about Jason and my mother, and then my best friend dying. Maybe I'm finally loosing my mind."
"Like Jason Todd? What about him?" Damn, I was bad at remembering who knew what. I guess I just assumed the Commissioner knew like the rest of the Bat-Family.
"Um yeah. He's kinda my father. Biological father." I explained. She looked at me in shock for half a second before smiling.
"I can see it."
"You can? I mean, apparently I have his eyes and hair, but Uncle Tim said that was about it."
"Not so much in your looks, although you do share the same icy blue eyes. More in your personality and how you carry yourself." She said.
"Could you tell me about him? He's a really sensitive topic around the manor, and especially with Dad right now. You did work with him right?" I asked. She nodded.
"Sure. What do you want to know?"
"Tell me everything you can."
"See? Not avoiding you." I said, entering the cave. Bruce turned towards me.
"I didn't think you were. How is Barbara?"
"How did you... never-mind. She's good. Says hello. Still doesn't agree with the idea of Batman." I shrugged, sitting down in my usual chair at my worktable.
"I think I'm going to scrap this whole idea." I said, tracing lines on a failed blueprint.
"It's your choice." Bruce was still facing me. Usually he would've been back to work.
"It something wrong?" I asked after a moment.
"You don't have to leave. You can stay here as long as you need. Some consistency right now might be good for you." he suggested. I looked down at the blueprint and smiled.
"I'd like that, a lot, but I don't think Dad would agree." I sighed.
"We still need to figure out what Victoria is up to." He pointed out.
"Yeah, about that. I finally read those files I took. Have you found anything about phase two?"
"No. We would need to pull more files from them if you want to learn more. But there's no guarantee that what we want to know is in the Gotham data connections." When had this become a joint project? I had to admit it was nice he was willing to help me figure it out though.
"So, it's a dead end for now?"
"For now, you should focus on yourself. Victoria and MedCorp can wait. The door is always open to you."
I debated if it would be worth it to tell him the only way I was going to focus on myself was if I could figure out Victoria and MedCorp. I decided it wouldn't be worth the argument. Plus I had a feeling he'd throw my promise about staying out of vigilantism back at me. Not that I was getting into vigilantism, but Bruce might not see it that way, and Dad especially wouldn't see it that way. His offer to stay was enticing though. Maybe I could stay at the manor and figure this out on my own.
"They're hounding us juniors at school to start looking at colleges. I suppose I could start on that." I suggested. It would best to keep everyone out of my plans with MedCorp until I got what I needed. Now if only I could figure out what I needed.
"Any ideas where you want to go? Or a major?" He asked. This was really the first time he had taken an interest in me, outside of Batman or the microchip. It threw me off for a second.
"Not really. There's never been a set career I wanted. As a kid I wanted to do so many different things. I never really cared about what college I went to. At Einstein Prep they only really pushed the super prestigious schools" I shrugged.
"What about robotics? You seem to have an affinity for it." Bruce offered. I chuckled.
"You and Victoria both seem to think that. I can't even create a simple blue print for a surveillance bot." I gestured to the worktable in front of me.
"You'll get there." He said, turning back to the Bat-computer.
"Thanks for the support." I rolled my eyes. "Is there anything I can do around here? I need something mind numbing to do." I asked.
"The surplus gear could be re-organized and inventoried." He held out a tablet with an inventory list on it, "It should take you a few days."
"Thanks." I said, taking the tablet and heading for the storage room.
The cave's storage room was on the unused lower floor of the cave. It held a collection of old gear, prototypes that never made it to patrols, and outdated suits and gadgets.
It felt like stepping into a museum. Belts, grappling guns, and assorted batarangs littered the tables around the room. Along one of the walls was were all the old and unused suits were hung, while more specialized gear was on another. Sometimes I forgot how long Batman and company had been around until I saw just how many pieces of equipment they had used throughout the years. I got the same feeling when I looked through the trophy collection on the main levels.
"Where should I start?" I asked Ace, who had taken to following me around since Anni died.
He sighed and plopped down near one of the tables. "Tables it is then." I started at the table Ace was near.
"For a man as meticulous as Bruce, you would think he'd organize his extras better." I groaned after finishing a third table. Ace yawned in response. "I know Buddy. One more table and I'll call it a night." I patted his head. I approached the forth table, which seemed to be the worst of them. It looked like someone had ransacked it.
"Three utility belts belonging to Uncle Dami's fourth Robin suit. Check. One prototype Batgirl belt for Aunt Cass. Check. Gun holster for the Red Hood. Check. Nightwing's utility gauntlets. Check. One current batsuit prototype belt, camouflage function damaged. Check. One-" I stopped and picked up the bad belt. I looked over it. The camo component wasn't too much different from Terry's current one. I was sure if I looked over the schematics, I could fix it and Terry could have another back up. Or...or I could modify it for myself. A camo suit would help me get into MedCorp unnoticed. I could get the missing information and learn more about Phase 2. Maybe that would give us a clue about how to remove my microchip.
I went over to the wall of suits. One of these had to be compatible with the belt. I checked the tablet list. These seemed better organized than the tables.
"Here! Failed Robin Stealth Prototype 6.3." I pulled the suit from the rack. It was just a plain black suit. No colors or symbols. Dramatically different from anything Robin ever actually wore outside of the cave. It had to have been from the last few years Uncle Dami was Robin. I held it up to myself. It would be a little big, but it would function for what I needed.
I took the suit and belt back to the main level of the cave and pulled up the schematic for the belt on the computer. I pulled out the necessary tools and set to work on the belt. Two hours later, I finally got it working.
"Okay Ace, last test and then we'll go to bed." I said with optimism. Ace didn't look impressed.
I set the belt against the suit and turned on camo mode. The suit disappeared on the table. I started timer on my phone. If it could last a minute, I could use it. I waited impatiently as the time counted. It hit a minute and the suit still stay invisible.
"Yes! It worked! It worked!" I danced a little around the cave. Ace huffed, unfazed by me. "Alright, let's go to bed." I told him. I hid the suit and belt and head up to the manor.
I went to bed feeling better than I had in weeks. Finally, something was going right.
HAPPY BATMAN DAY!
Jamie swears she's not trying be a hero. But if she has the resources, why not use them to her advantage.
I can't help but add Ace in where I can. I just love how the Batfamily interacts with their pets!
Fun Fact: Tomorrow is Jamie's birthday! (Sept 24). She'll be born in 5 years, in 2022.
To get some idea of the story timeline, Victoria would be starting research for Project Whisper around now.