Chapter 5

After Elsa had talked with the Martian, she had been brought to the meeting room, with the rest of the League, Batman excluded. They had talked with her extensively, and given her other options for training. Themyscira, Star City, even Atlantis. Anything to keep her away from him. But she kept insisting on training with Batman. Although she had made her mind up quickly, there was something that wanted to pull her back. Maybe it was because he worked in the strangest way she had ever seen, and she wanted to figure him out. The League finally agreed to letting her go back, but only on the condition Batman would stop any experiments on her. They had contacted him, and he had agreed, mostly because he knew they weren't going to hear him out either way. They had also demanded he actually train her, which he had avoided up until now. He had trained Dick, who turned out alright, but remembering Jason only reinforced his idea of working alone. He didn't want to go wrong with her. He didn't want her to end up like him. Batman supposed he would train her, but not let her out. Though she would probably insist on leaving at some point. Even he got tired of the cave, sometimes. And everyone who had ever worked with him had left him sooner or later.

Batman had installed a simple system in her room during the time she stayed in the Watchtower. It was only to alert her to leave her room and enter the Batcave, but he still had to test it. Once done, he had Alfred clean her room, as she had left in a hurry when she last encountered the Bat. He returned to his chair and watched the Batcomputer, until Elsa was teleported into the cave.

"Hello, Batman," she called, sheepishly.

No response from the Dark Knight.

"Listen, I know what I did was wrong, and I'm sorry about what-" she began.

"Go to your room, and get yourself dressed. I want you to go down those stairs once you're ready," he instructed, pointing at a corner in the cave.

"Ready for what?" she answered, a little confused.

"Training," he replied.

Elsa couldn't believe her ears. After being cooped up in her room, now she was going to learn something. Maybe there was still hope after all.

She was ready in less than two minutes. She climbed down the stairs, and was surprised to find he wasn't there. Disappointed, she called out his name.

"Batman? I'm ready," she said, eagerly, looking around.

And then, a shadow fell from the ceiling, and landed on the platform she was standing on. It was him. She readied herself, and they engaged.

He let her come at him, and blocked every punch she threw. When she decided to utilise her magic, he leaped backwards, evading it all. She was extremely impressed by his skill . He was very agile, and graceful in all of his moves. He was much more composed than she was.

"What are your abilities?" she called out, as she blasted a wave of ice towards him.

Batman didn't respond, as he dodged the attack.

Finally, he decided to finish the sparring match, and threw the same gloves at her. Her hands were clasped together, and she no longer had use of her powers.

"You show great incentive," he told her. "Soon, you'll be able to match your coordination to your motivation. For now, you may return to your room, or you may visit your sister in Arendelle. The choice is yours." He walked towards the stairs, and left her alone. This time, Elsa would not visit her sister, however, because she would return to her room, to prepare for what came next.


The next few days went by in a blur, as Elsa received proper training from the Caped Crusader himself. He taught her hand to hand combat, and self defense. But he had yet to teach her how to control her powers. She occasionally still froze up, and used them out of fear or emotion, and she wanted to learn how to use them to her advantage, but he had provided no answers. She had started to doubt his ability to teach her control, and still had not figured out what power he possessed.

They had just finished another session of dueling, and now seemed like a good time for her to ask him some questions, so she took the opportunity.

"Batman, before you go, there's something I've been meaning to ask you," she started.

"Speak."

"What exactly are your powers? Are you a vampire?" she blurted out.

He squinted. This was something he had known she would ask at some point. He had discussed this with Alfred extensively, and they had come to the conclusion that Bruce would let her learn he was just a mortal, like anyone else on the planet.

"I'm just a man," he responded.

"So you don't have any special power?" she asked, eyes widened.

"I have other means of power."

"So then why are you training me? Why am I here? There's nothing that connects you and I!" She raised her voice, angry at herself now for wanting to go with him. He wasn't special; all he had were his gadgets and technology. Sure, it was mind-blowing seeing technology do incredible things, but he couldn't know what it was like to have powers. She wished she could take the offer to train somewhere else. Now she wanted to head back to the Watchtower. Maybe the Martian could help her. After all, he was a telepath.

"How are you going to help me?" she questioned him.

"I'm going to show you what I do," he answered, as he moved towards her. "I'm going to use a gas on you that will render you unconscious for a while, and then I'll wake you when we arrive."

"Why can't I be awake?" she asked, nervously.

"In this world, I have a civilian identity. One I use when I'm not fighting crime. To protect it, there needs to be almost no one who knows who I really am. Including you."

"So that's why you wear the mask? You don't trust me?" she said, bewildered. How he still didn't trust her baffled her completely. Even after everything they had been through?

"The only person I trust is my butler."

As they mounted the Batmobile, Batman took his knockout gas from his utility belt.

"This won't hurt," he informed her, as he sprayed it over her face.

She was out in moments, and the Batmobile roared to life. They drove out of the cave, and into the jungle of Gotham.


Once in the city, the gas wore off, and she was exposed to the city for the first time. It was nothing like Arendelle; it was dark, and looked almost filthy. She wondered if it was like this everywhere.

"What happened to this place?"

"Crime happened. This city is considered one of the most corrupt in the world. It doesn't help there are plenty of super criminals here to keep the police and I busy," he explained, as he looked through the streets, until they reached an alley.

"This is as far as the Batmobile goes. From here, we'll go on foot," he informed her.

They both exited the vehicle, and the sounds of the city life filled her ears. The buildings were massive, reaching the sky. They were incredible works of architecture to her, and she marveled at them. And the lights. Thousands of shimmering lights lit up the night in every direction.

"Here, hold on," he instructed, as his hand reached out to hers. Surprised, she took it, and suddenly, he wrapped his hand around his her arm, and he looked up, shooting his grappling gun into the rooftops. It clung on to a building, and Elsa could no longer feel the floor. She felt as if she were flying, ascending. When they reached the top, he helped her to the roof first, while he still held on to the gun. She gave him her hand, but he didn't take it, and jumped on to the roof himself in one impressive, fluid motion.

"From here, I keep police radio channels open, scouring the city for signs of criminal activity." He pressed something on his cowl, and gazed out into the city as he did.

Elsa didn't know what to do or say, so she stood next to him, not moving a muscle. After a while, she decided to look away, and put her mind on concentration of her powers. She was learning to use them, but this was the first time she had been exposed to the real world. Elsa was distracted enough that when Batman tapped her shoulder lightly, she was momentarily frightened, and used her magic on him. Although he was caught off guard, he managed to evade the blast.

"It seems you still have work to do. I suggest you keep wary of your surroundings," Batman told her, sharply.

Elsa's face reddened, and she looked at her hands to avoid eye contact with him.

"If there's anything you want to say, now's the time." Elsa turned to a deeper shade of red with that statement.

"There's nothing, Batman," she quickly said.

Their attention was taken by a loud explosion they heard in the far off distance. Batman held out his hand to her, and she slowly took it, confused. This time, he wrapped his arm around her waist, and he made his way over to the edge of the building.

"Hang on tight," he instructed her, and he suddenly jumped off the building, with her. Elsa let out a shriek, thinking he had lost his mind, but quickly understood he was swinging from building to building with his grappling hook. Her hair and his cape blew while they moved, and she closed her eyes, only for a moment. She was soaring through the city night, full of life. Soon, he slowed to a halt, and they both landed on another building. He put up his index finger to his lips, to make sure she stayed quiet, as he peered down below. She, too, looked at the ground, and saw the general outline of a woman dressed in all black running away from police. She took out a whip, which she used to wrap around a street light, and flung herself into the air. She was very graceful, and moved almost like a cat. Batman's eyes narrowed, and he focused on her.

"Stay here, hidden, and wait until I get back," he ordered her. Leaping off of the edge, he fell four stories, and Elsa thought he was for sure going to hurt himself. But Batman was agile as well, and he landed on his feet, chasing the woman. She felt there was something more to her than Batman had said, and she couldn't help but feel a bit, resentful towards her. She was, after all, a criminal. Looking around, she found herself staring at the lights. There were so many, and they illuminated every bit of the city. They were fascinating to look at, but she was being distracted. She regained her focus, and looked for a sign of Batman and the woman. They were running around a corner, and Elsa knew she could catch up to them if she moved fast enough. To get to the next building, she used her powers to make ice stairs. She had already done this before, once at her castle, and by now she had fully mastered it. As she climbed towards the next building, Elsa got a glimpse of the pair, both atop a nearby building, and stopped abruptly, afraid she would be seen by either. But it was too late, as the cat lady had spotted her, and seemingly, a grin appeared on her face. She leaned into Batman's ear, and whispered something, but by then, Elsa had ducked out of fear. After a moment, she slowly rose out of curiosity. By now, she had expected Batman to be nearing her, to scold her or whatnot for disobeying orders, but instead, the two were kissing! Her eyes widened in shock, and she raised her hand to her mouth. So maybe there was more to the Bat and this cat woman. So what? Why was it bothering her?

As she watched, there was obvious tension between them, and the Dark Knight pulled away from her. The 'cat' said something to him, which Elsa was unable to hear, and she took off, leaving Batman alone. He looked at Elsa, who was still crouched, and she, unbeknownst to him, turned a bright shade of red, again. She took a deep breath before confronting him.

"So, who was she?" she asked as sweetly as she could.

"An old adversary," he said, carefully, not elaborating any more, as he held a jewel he had swiped from her while she wasn't looking.

"The way she held you, so tenderly, it seemed like there's something more you're not saying," she teased, almost giggling.

"Drop it," he said, sounding irritated. She might have been tugging at his heart strings, if he even had one to start with.

"Fine," Elsa replied, taken aback a little by his tone.

"This was not a good idea," he said to no one in particular, as he stared into the city. "Return to the Batmobile, now, and get inside of it. It'll automatically take you back to the cave," he instructed her.

"But won't you need-" She was cut off.

"The only thing I need right now is for you to be gone."

Elsa knew he didn't mean it like that, but hearing those words leave his mouth...

"You should have told me from the start you didn't want me around," she spat, bitterness evident in her voice.

Elsa stormed off, and made an ice slide to get down to the ground. She felt hurt, and couldn't stand how he had made her feel. Batman on the other hand, had somewhat expected her reaction, and continued his patrol through Gotham, while she was brought back to the Batcave.


As she slowly recognised her surroundings, and her mind started to clear, she huffed in anger. She didn't realise that the butler was cleaning something up, and saw her the entire time.

"Tough night, I take it, Miss?" Alfred spoke.

Elsa was startled, but responded, "How do you put up with that man? He's so infuriating, you can't say anything less than formal to him, and-" She stopped when she noticed there was ice growing around her and the Batmobile. Alfred noticed too, and he cleared his throat.

"If I may be so bold, Miss," he began, "You should tell him what you think, personally. It will certainly help your image with him."

"I don't care about how he sees me," she scoffed, and paused. "How much longer until he's back?"

Alfred chuckled, and answered, "He won't be back until tomorrow's sunrise."

She shook her head in disbelief, and went into her room. It had been a long night, and she was very sleepy, as she was discovering. She crashed on her bed, and dozed off.


The next morning, Elsa awoke to find no one in the cave. She searched a big portion of it, but to no avail. When she returned to her room, she found a note on the door. She had missed it because it was on the outside. It read 'Back at 12'. Elsa took the note, and started ripping it to pieces, and dumped it in the dustbin in her room.

There wasn't anything for her to do for another four hours, and she thought of visiting her sister. So she went back to her room, and started to prepare. However, upon grabbing her clothes, she felt something break in them. When she inspected it, there was a little piece of technology that had been broken. Strange, she thought. Elsa assumed it was something new in the era. But she was still curious about it.

There was something else that had been on Elsa's mind. The stairs that led above. She made her way up the stairs, slowly, carefully, afraid of what might be on the other side of the door above. Once she had knocked, she waited, until a voice that seemingly had no body started to speak.

"My dear, return to the cave, I'll be with you soon."

Elsa walked down back to the open platform of the cave, and awaited who she presumed to be Alfred. She was correct. After a pair of minutes, he had emerged from the staircase, she assumed, and now he was coming down to greet her.

"Why are you here?" She got straight to it.

"Well, because you were going to use the door," he simply said.

"Nothing else?"

"Nothing else."

Elsa looked in her pockets for what she had found, and when she did, she held it in her hand to show Alfred.

"Mind explaining what this is?" she inquired.

Alfred looked closely, and realised what it was. He cleared his throat, and told her, "It's better if you hear it from our friend himself."


Bruce Wayne had been at a Wayne Enterprises board meeting, and although he acted like a complete dunce, he knew perfectly well what they were talking about. He probably could run the company buy himself better than all of them combined. It must have been around thirty minutes into it when he excused himself, and left the building entirely. Going to the ground floor, as he passed the front desk, he noticed a very pretty assistant. He stayed a minute to flirt with her, but eventually was caught by the press, and had to escape. He went out a back door, and into the parking lot, where he entered his McLaren. He zoomed out, and started to head home to catch up on Bat business, when he received a call from his butler.

"Business?" Bruce asked, now in his Batman voice.

"I'm afraid not. The girl has found your vitals monitor on her clothes. She showed it to me, wanting an explanation, but I told her to wait for you," he explained.

Bruce sighed, "I'll deal with her when I get back."

He gradually slowed down, so he would have more time to think about what to do, but really, he didn't need much.

The secret entrance to his lair opened, letting him inside. He knew it wasn't meant for his McLaren, but right now, he felt as if he owed her an explanation, as fast as possible.

Once out, he patted his clothes, but then realised he wasn't wearing any sort of disguise. He leapt into the Batmobile, looking for his suit, when he heard the door to Elsa's room open. He made the windows "black out", so she couldn't see inside, but he could see outside.

"Batman?" she called out.

"The Batmobile," he responded gruffly.

"Oh," she said, and made her way over. "Are you in there?"

"Yes, I don't have my suit."

"You're not wearing any clothing?" she asked, incredulously.

"I am, but I'm not wearing my suit that disguises me," he clarified.

"Oh. Well in that case, I'll get to what I was meaning to ask you," she stated. "Why was there-"

"To tell you the truth," Bruce said, exasperated. "It was there to monitor and track you."

She frowned, and turned furious. "Why did you not let me know?"

"There was no reason to," he replied, coolly.

"I think I deserved to know," she snapped. Elsa was done with his treatment of her.

"Well what will you do now? Everything depends on the next choice you make," he warned her.

"I want you to face me, so I can tell you exactly what I'll do, eye to eye," she shouted.

"Fine!" he yelled back, and he opened the sunroof of the Batmobile. He rose from it, looking mildly angry, but looking at her.

Elsa completely forgot about everything they had been arguing about, and was completely mesmerised by him. She couldn't believe all this time, this gentleman had been hiding behind the cowl. He was unbelievably handsome to her, and she was lost in his sparkling, never ending blue eyes. There was something else to them, though. She thought it might be a lot of suffering and pain, but right now, she was completely at his mercy and disposal.

"What was it you wanted to tell me?" he asked, almost impatiently, ignoring the impact he had on her.

"I, uh, I-" Elsa stammered.

"Listen, now that you've seen who I really am, you pose a great risk to my mission. But right now, I have other business to attend to, so we'll talk about this when I get back," he concluded, as he hopped back into the McLaren, and sped off.

Once her head had processed what had just happened, she remembered why she had even wanted to talk to him in the first place. The little "bug" she had found on her clothing! And now that she thought about it, she bet it was on the rest of her clothes from him. She checked, and was proven right. Obviously, another confrontation was due soon, but for now, she was going to take a long hard contemplation on her mentor's reveal.


Bruce Wayne was feeling a little more grumpy than usual. There was something bothering him from his revelation to Elsa. He wasn't feeling enraged or discontent from his rash actions; rather, he had enjoyed them.

It was odd, in all the times he'd revealed the Dark Knight was Bruce Wayne to anyone, he had often felt regret or remorse. But with her... He had felt like he was getting something off his chest. He felt relieved.

What was he thinking?! He was the Batman, for goodness' sake! It was why he wasn't allowed to get serious with any woman, much less someone like her. The list of things that could go sideways was endless. It was wrong, and he knew it, but he just couldn't stop thinking about her. And besides, now that she had seen him, out of the suit, he couldn't trust her outside of the cave. What if someone found her alongside the Batman, and took her? Now he couldn't stop worrying about her safety. In situations like these, however, he had a contingency. He played a recording from a year back, and as he listened, the old Bruce Wayne who had shut the doors to his heart completely returned. Head clear, he drove back to the Wayne Building, ready to take on anything.