Chapter 6

Although Bruce Wayne acted like a party animal, the contrary is the truth. He despised being at the gala he was in attendance at. Of course, he was there only to see if there was anything to learn about a certain rival of his.

And moving through the sea of people, there she was. Talia Al Ghul, daughter of the infamous Ra's Al Ghul. She was phenomenal in her olive green dress, and Bruce mingled his way through the crowd, until he reached her, and led her into a slow dance.

"Long time no see, Talia," he said, softly into her ear.

"The same for you, my beloved," she murmured.

"Come back to Gotham for the memories?" he asked, a grin appearing on his lips.

"You might say," she returned.

"What do you say we lose this place, in favor of a, more private accommodation?" he half teased.

"I would like that very much, beloved," Talia purred.

Bruce grabbed her hand, and they rushed out of the gala, as if they were schoolchildren. He helped her onto his limousine, and set a course back to the manor, courtesy of Alfred, who was driving.

They soon arrived, and while walking through the hallway, Talia made her move. She held on to Bruce with one arm, and activated a taser, concealed underneath her coat Bruce had provided for her. The shock had no effect on him, however, as he had prepared for something like this from her, he let her think she had easily defeated him. At least, he hoped.

Alfred had hung back, but was tracking Talia through cameras placed in the manor. He called Bruce through the comms to warn him about her next move.

"Master Bruce, I'm afraid she's heading for the cave, and there's someone in there she might take hostage," he notified.

Bruce got up from the floor where he had been laying, suddenly remembering Elsa. He was furious with himself. He had managed to forget her! He only hoped she would be in her room, where Talia wouldn't look.

Unfortunately, she was on the platform in the center of the cave, where the Batmobile usually rested. Elsa had been practicing her ice magic, and had had no warning of anyone other than Bruce or Alfred coming down when she heard the door to Bruce's place open.

"Well, well, who do we have here? Has my beloved gotten another play toy?" Talia jibed.

Elsa was trying to comprehend what she had meant by all that, when Talia ran up to her and struck her, hard enough that Elsa fell to the ground. The runaway girl quickly reached the Batcomputer, and started to download something onto a flash drive she was carrying, when Bruce came in, silently, and held her in a headlock.

"You know, that drive you have contains some of my information," Bruce said, face grimaced.

"I'm aware," Talia said, innocently.

Once the transfer was complete, she managed to slip out of his grip, and bashed him in several pressure point areas, to which he dropped, out of air. During all of this, Elsa had only been watching, still dazed by Bruce, but seeing him in pain woke her up, and she used her powers to blast Talia, who managed to evade the first blast, but was hit by the second one. Elsa rushed over to help the Caped Crusader, but he was already getting up, seemingly fine.

"You got her." He gave her a rare smile that almost melted her heart.

"Y-Yes," she stammered. His face returned to normal, and he started examining Talia, which snapped Elsa out of her trance.

"Hey, wait a moment," she complained, "Why did she call you her beloved, and me your play toy?"

"Not right now," he said, as he looked at what Talia had tried to obtain from the console.

"Why not?" she demanded.

"There's something more important right now than this," he hissed.

Elsa backed down, noting from his tone he was serious about this. "Oh. I understand."

After his inspection was complete, Bruce started changing into his suit, and Elsa stared the entire time. She couldn't believe her eyes. He looked perfect to her. Muscles in places she didn't even know could have them. He, on the other hand, was so focused on his mission, he had completely forgotten about her, until he faced her.

"We'll talk when I get back," he stated, as he tied up Talia, and put her in a cage. It was the Batman's turn to come out and play. He got into the Batmobile, and was gone.

He was tracking who he assumed was Ra's through the radio signal he and Talia had established to communicate with each other. Batman knew he was heading into a trap, but he had no choice. He already had an idea of what to expect, but there was no way around it. He would face Ra's Al Ghul face on.

The location of his hideout was somewhat peculiar, seeing the source of the signal was coming from an abandoned warehouse. Typical of supervillains. Leaving the Batmobile behind, he continued on foot. There was something wrong, though, he noticed. His peripheral vision picked up moving shadows around him. And suddenly, plants sprouted from the ground, which took a hold of Batman. He fought them, and used a Batarang to cut himself free. Soon, he found himself facing the culprit he had suspected.

"Batman! What a pleasure to see you." Poison Ivy taunted, as she ordered more attacks from her flora on him.

The Dark Knight jumped out of their reach, and used more Batarangs, this time with mini explosives, in order to destroy the vines. He succeeded, and soon enough was face to face with the once botanist again, this time trapped by more of the green.

"My, my, Batman," she whispered, "Come here..." She was going to kiss him, in order to put him under her spell.

"Go." The command was effective, as from his cowl, a sleeping agent was sprayed into Poison Ivy's face, rendering her unconscious. She was down, and now Batman was closer than ever to defeating one of his most notorious enemies. He cautiously entered the warehouse. There was no one inside, which only made it more suspicious. He saw at the end of one of the loading areas a small light, but bright enough to catch his attention. He walked over to it, and picked it up. It was an alarm clock, but Batman knew it was more than just that. He pressed it everywhere, until it finally revealed itself to have an interface. There was a passcode needed in order to unlock it, but he didn't have time for that. Instead, he plugged a small device into the USB port of the 'alarm clock', and it automatically triggered the response from it. He heard hissing, and he looked up to see doors to an elevator open. It looked like he was about to discover what was really going on down below.


As the screeching halt of the elevator came to an end, and the doors opened, Batman quickly assessed what was inside of the sub-level. A lot of goons working, he observed, but the main course was absent, it seemed. Until a voice rang out from the crowd.

"Well, well, well," he sneered. "If it isn't the Batman himself! Everyone, look! The world's greatest detective! Seems he really lived up to the name, huh?"

"Harvey Dent." Batman's eyes narrowed. A coalition of three criminals like these? It was surreal. The goals of each of these villains were very different, so why work together? Unless there was someone else controlling them, but there was no sign of mind control, or blackmail. Or... there was a greater goal they all worked towards, but that would be the worst case scenario. It would mean they either saw a greater goal, or a greater threat.

"Stop. Stop right there," he ordered. He pulled a man to his side, and pointed a gun at his head.

"What do you want?" Batman growled.

"It's simple," he began. "I want you out of our affairs."

"Let the man go," Batman implored.

"Luck will decide," said Two-Face, as he let go of the man, and pulled a coin out, all while still pointing the gun at him. He flipped the coin with his fingers, and it stayed frozen in the air for a second, and when it fell back to his hand, Batman threw a Batarang at Two-Face at high speeds. The gun was knocked out of his hand, and Batman threw himself at Dent, delivering a devastating punch. Laying on the ground, Batman searched him, but found nothing. His next move was to search the complex, but before he could, a timer began to count down, and all the workers and minions inside started to evacuate the building. He knew it must be a self destruct mechanism that someone had activated, most likely remotely. He dragged Harvey Dent with him to the exit, and as the blast went off, Batman was knocked down, while Dent ran off, taking advantage of the opportunity.

After Batman picked himself up, and searched the area for Two-Face, to no avail, he made his way back to the Batmobile. Bruce was mad at himself. He had failed to find information on what Ra's Al Ghul, Poison Ivy, and Two-Face were planning, or even doing. And they had all gotten away. The only thing he had gotten from this experience was cam footage. He hoped there could be something in it he missed, but he doubted that. Either way, he would return to his base of operations to study it.


"Alfred, prepare the Batcave for video analysis," Batman said through the comms.

"Right away, Master Bruce," Alfred replied. He could hear his trustful butler scurrying down the stairs that led to the Batcave.

"Oh, and make sure Elsa is in her room when I get back," he added.

"Are you certain you don't want her around? I feel she's a good influence for you. You know, a pleasant contrast to your usual, brooding ways," Alfred offered.

"That's alright, Alfred. I want her out of my way. No distractions," Bruce instructed.

"I'll do my best, sir," Alfred concluded.

Once more, the cave's secret entrance was opened, and Batman parked the Batmobile. He exited the vehicle, only to discover Alfred speaking to Elsa. When she saw him, however, she stopped arguing with him, and ran up to Batman.

"I thought Alfred made it clear. I want you in your room, where you won't be a distraction to my work," he grunted.

"Well-" she hesitated, a little scared of him. "It's just, I've seen your face, but I still don't have a real name to go with it."

He took off the mask, and again, her heart fluttered with emotion.

"My name is Bruce Wayne," he answered her. He stopped, and then put the cowl back on. "Now, go to your room for the rest of the night. I have work to do."

This time, she did what was asked. Elsa was going to wait until he was gone, in order to figure out who this Bruce Wayne really was. She assumed that in the modern day she lived in, you could find anyone on those computers. It was only a matter of time before she discovered the true identity of the Batman.


Once Elsa had gone back to her room, Batman got busy with the footage he had from the warehouse incident. He inspected every frame, until he came across one in which there was a strange symbol he had missed. It looked like there was a star in the center of the rectangle of which it was in. He enhanced the image, and noticed it was a STAR Labs logo. So they were tied into this too. But how, and why? What could have brought STAR Labs to work with super villains? Something wasn't adding up, and there was not enough information for him to make an accurate theory on what was going on. His only choices were to either go to STAR Labs and interrogate someone there, or to find any of the three villains he encountered last night.

Only, now he realised that although he had seen three villains, there was a great probability there were more than just them working together. Bane and Joker were still at large, and he hadn't been able to locate them since they had escaped Arkham. And then there was Catwoman...

"What have you uncovered, Master Bruce?" Alfred seemingly asked from nowhere.

"Nothing helpful, except that STAR Labs might be tied into all of this," he replied, sounding exhausted.

"Perhaps, you should get some rest, sir," Alfred suggested.

"I can't. Not when these three are working together," he maintained, as he corrected his posture and pulled up the case file pictures of all the villains he encountered earlier that night.

"Sir, it's one in the morning, and you haven't slept in two, almost three days, I can only insist as much for you to rest," Alfred attested.

"Fine. I'll have a few hours of sleep. I trust you'll get some yourself?" he asked him.

"Of course sir."


The next morning, Bruce Wayne awoke sharply at five in the morning. He was still tired, but a cold shower took care of his fatigue. Soon, he was dressed and ready to continue business as Gotham's favorite son, but before that, he had something else to do. During the early hours of the morning, before he went to bed, he ran a program on the footage he had, in order to scan it for anything unusual or strange. Once at the Batcomputer, he was disappointed to see nothing had come up, but it was expected.

However, something he had not expected at all was the sound of the door to Elsa's room opening. He looked back to see who would emerge from the chambers, and sure enough, there she was. It looked as if she had just awoken, but still, she looked stunningly beautiful. Bruce Wayne had been with many, many women over the years, but never had he seen one as dazzling as Elsa, and never had any woman captivated him the way she did. She wore no makeup at all, but still looked like a princess. She truly was a sight for sore eyes.

"I'm sorry, Bruce," she said, shyly. "But, I couldn't sleep well. I had a nightmare, and I tried looking for you, but couldn't get past that." She pointed at the door that led into the manor.

"You mean you left your room?" He was confused. One of the systems in her room was programmed so that he and Alfred would both receive an alert if she had left her room. Which come to think of it, had not worked just now when she had left it...

"Well, yes, but I didn't touch or do anything," she quickly said.

"I never accused you of anything," he said absently.

"Of course! It's just that, well, nevermind. Actually, there are some more things I've been meaning to ask you," she half stuttered.

"Go ahead."

"What were the monitors on my clothes for?" she asked.

He sighed, and responded, "They were only to track your heartbeat, and if you're alive or not. It was to help me with your powers, to monitor them."

"Oh." She really didn't know what she was expecting.

"Well, my other question I wanted to ask you, was why the woman that was in here in that cage called you her beloved?" She knew he would have a hard time explaining this, for sure.

"We used to be lovers," he curtly said. Elsa was not expecting this answer, and she had to stop for a moment to compose herself.

"Um, my last question is why she called me a 'plaything'?"

"There was a time when Catwoman snuck into my home, and Talia was present. So when I interrogated Catwoman, and Talia saw, she thought I was playing with her. She must have figured the same for you," he explained, far too quickly. Elsa picked up on it, and realised he must have made it up, to cover up the real answer. But she played along with it.

"And, this Catwoman... Was she another lover of yours?" Elsa didn't want to hear the response, but she knew she needed to distract him from thinking she was suspicious of his previous one.

"Wasn't the question before that one your last one?" Bruce raised an eyebrow, in a playful manner.

"Was she?" Elsa pleaded with her eyes for an answer.

"Yes. She was," he said, as he looked away.

"I understand," she nodded.

Bruce turned in surprise, only to see her leaving, back to her room.

"Wait. Come," he asked her.

She stopped, and turned, revealing that she looked close to tears, which pained Bruce's heart. She stood in front of him, a short distance away.

"Come with me. I'll show you the day in Gotham," he offered. "I'll show you what I do."

"You will?" Her eyes widened. Although what she had just heard from him made her feel awful, she held hope that he was past whatever had happened with his former lovers.

"Of course." Bruce gave her a smile that brightened her heart. "Only requirement is to change into something more, formal."


They used a spare sports car in the Batcave to leave, and Elsa was amazed at how the waterfall in the cave also served as an entrance and exit to it. The pair spent the remainder of the morning together, as Bruce Wayne showed Elsa around the city. His first order of business was to head to Wayne Building, and attend another meeting. But this time was different. This time, he had an urge to spend more time with Elsa. This time he excused himself by saying he had a call, an excuse he had used plenty of times before, and left the meeting room. He had left Elsa outside, waiting on a couch for him. As soon as she saw him, her body language completely changed, from anxious and bored, to joyful and eager. He led her to the elevator, which they waited for. Once they were in, she spoke up.

"So why have you been treating me to something like this?" she asked, cheerfully.

"I think it's time you saw something other than the cave, no?" Bruce smirked.

She blushed, but he missed it, as he was looking up at the doors opening.

"This is our stop," he told her, as they left the elevator.

As they passed the lobby, Bruce greeted the secretary to show courtesy.

"Well Mr Wayne, another one?" she teased, thinking Elsa was with Bruce. However, the damage was already done. The press was already outside the building, waiting. The secretary must have called them after he and her walked in earlier, he thought.

"What?" Elsa sounded shocked as she looked at him.

"Oh honey, didn't you know? Bruce goes out with a new girl every week. He always manages to find girls who know nothing of him. He usually doesn't tell them either, but when they find out themselves..." she smugly said. Elsa had the feeling that the secretary had history with him as well. But right now, she felt as if she wasn't special to Bruce at all, and just another girl to him. Her stomach sank, and her happiness evaporated.

"Bruce, is this true?" she asked, her voice shaking.

He didn't answer immediately, looking around the lobby, and when he didn't, she understood.

"Elsa..." he tensed.

"That's fine, I get it," she said, and then took off. She yelled back, "Don't follow me!"

He didn't plan on it. Bruce knew she would eventually find out about his playboy side, but he just wished she knew that it was all a guise, an appearance he wore to make sure no one suspected him to be smarter than he looked. He decided to give her time, because for now, there were other problems he had to face, apart from Elsa, and they were urgent.


That same night, Batman was staring down at the Gotham STAR Labs building from a taller, nearby skyscraper. He would find Garrison Slate, the CEO of the company, and make him tell him if there was anything going on. He was quite confident in his interrogation skills, and felt they weren't going to be needed as much as with other criminals.

He had directly glided to the top of the skyscraper, and entered from the top, downward. He located the CEO soon enough, and the owner of STAR Labs looked as if he'd just seen a ghost. Batman held him by the throat, and started to question him.

"You know why I'm here. So if you want this to be over, start-" But Batman never finished the statement, because he felt something warm on his glove coming out of the mouth of Slate. He shone a light on him, and saw it was a white, foam liquid. It was cyanide, no doubt. Probably hidden away in his mouth, but, unless it was Slate's mind that prompted the pill or capsule to open in his mouth, then there was no way he killed himself. The only theory he hoped wasn't true was becoming the most likely to be true. The one where someone was controlling Slate, and Two-Face, along with the other villains. But for what? There was nothing else he could do, so he brought his body down to the first floor, and dropped him off. The police would find him in the morning, and start their investigation. He knew they wouldn't find anything else, but he hoped they would bring him to justice. For now, however, he would have to finish his patrol in Gotham, and tomorrow, he would have another job to do. Find the queen, and explain to her why he was the way he was.