Title: "The One Left Behind"
Author: Calico calico321@yahoo.com
Rating: PG-13
Summary: This is a sequel to 'Broken' (http://www.fanfiction.net/read.php?storyid=661242), which must absolutely be read first. What do you do when you lose everything? Warning: this will be depressing. It'll also be funny and sweet and just on the far side of normal.
Prologue
Excerpt from:
Sins of the Father: A Discourse on the Reality of Family Curses
By: Timothy Byron Price
© 2050
[…]While the history of kings can often be attributed to mere fable, we can easily turn to a modern, very prominent family as an example of the hereditary of family curses, those who seemed to have incurred the wrath of some vengeful deity, who will not be happy until the line has completely vanished.
The Wayne family dates back to colonial days, though their financial success seems to have been rooted around the Civil War. Judges, businessmen, and even one almost-governor, the clan has predominantly lived in or around Gotham City since settling over three hundred years ago.
Outward appearances give the impression of familial bliss and harmony, but a deeper look shows so much more. Other than a record fifteen reported crib deaths in the last ten generations, no member of the Wayne family has died of natural causes. One strapping son by the name of Kenneth Josiah Wayne, spent six months in 1863 fighting with the Union Army during the war of sedition. Thrice decorated for merit and bravery, Kenneth managed to survive many long, bloody battles, including Gettysburg. While on his way home for a much-deserved furlough, his train derailed, killing everyone on board. Enroute to claiming the body, his father and two brothers were killed by a band of highwaymen.
[…]
The most recent tragedy to befall the family was mid last century when Thomas Wayne, a well renowned doctor who had started a small medical supply company under the auspicious name of 'Wayne Enterprises', and his wife Martha, were murdered by a common mugger one evening after a cinema show. Surviving the ordeal was eight-year-old Bruce, who, after spending several years abroad, took control of his father's legacy and turned the small company into a global conglomerate that has stayed on the cutting edge of technology for the past seven decades.
It had seemed that the sole-surviving member of the Wayne family was determined to let the curse die with him, as he spent as much time with as many different women as possible, giving no sign of settling for any one. Then inexplicably and very quietly at the age of 60 he married a woman twenty-three years his junior, who has since born him two daughters.
As of this writing Bruce Wayne, now age 82, is still living in his ancestral home atop the cliffs of Gotham City, and though it appears he may well live out the entire life destined to him, this writer believes that it is not a question of if the curse will strike again, only when.
2058
"Miss Wayne? Are you okay? Can you continue?"
A young woman sat in the chair opposite Detective Benjamin Hudson's desk, weeping softly. A small bandage on her forehead and a larger one on her right arm were the only evidence of her recent ordeal. Petite with light brown hair and ivory skin, she looked as fragile as a rose in the middle of a snow-covered field.
Nodding slightly in answer to his question, she sniffed in an effort to compose herself.
"Do you have any idea who would want to harm your family?" Ben asked gently for fear of sending her back into tears.
Her heart-shaped, tear- and soot-streaked face turned up to him and those bright blue eyes, piercing and dramatic surrounded by the pale, creamy skin like a china doll, took his breath away. They were stunning and Ben decided he could die a happy man if he were just looking into them as the Grim Reaper came.
Ben gave himself a mental shake; what was he thinking, she had just been through hell and she was only seventeen.
"I'm pretty sure I know who did it," she finally replied with a soft voice barely above a whisper.
"And who would that be Miss Wayne?" he prodded gently.
"Please, just call me Grace." She dabbed her eyes with the handkerchief he'd given her after she first sat down. "You've heard of the Kobras?" she asked.
"Uh, yeah," Ben replied slightly confused. "They're a gang of international terrorists who want the earth to revert back to its reptilian origins." She nodded. "What do they have to do with this?"
She seemed to summon up her strength before answering, gripping the handkerchief unconsciously. "They killed m…m…my family be…be…cause they found out our secret."
"What secret is that?" he asked with narrowed eyes.
"That…" She took a deep breath. "That my brother-in-law is…was Batman."
"Excuse me?" he exclaimed with a raised voice. He cleared his throat before continuing. "I'm sorry, did you say Batman?" Once again she nodded and Ben shuffled through his notes. "This is Terrence McGinnis, who was married to your sister Isabella?"
"Yes," she replied weakly.
"I'm sorry Miss, uh, Grace. What you're saying is a little farfetched. Are you certain?"
"Of course I am," she said slightly annoyed. "Why would I lie?"
"I'm not saying you're lying intentionally, maybe you're just a little confused. Perhaps you misheard something, or someone was playing a little joke on you."
She shook her head sadly. "No mistake. I practically grew up in the Batcave."
"You…did…what?"
"Well basically if I wanted to spend any time with my father I had to go down there."
"Your father…? Bruce Wayne? Are you trying to tell me that he was involved somehow?"
With a bitter smile she said, "Who do you think was the first Batman?"
Ben sat back in his chair, dumbfounded. Finally he found the strength to talk. "Uh, listen can I get you something to drink? Coffee? Water?"
"Water would be nice." He rose from his chair and she called out to him, "You don't believe me do you?"
"Yeah sure I do." He smiled reassuringly. "I won't be but a moment." Ben left the room and went down the hall to the water cooler. The job was just too much sometimes. He'd always wanted to be a cop like his grandmother Renee, who had been a highly decorated detective and had worked with the Batman years ago. While he never hoped to live up to her stellar reputation, Ben had done very well for himself. Promoted to detective at just twenty-five was a major coup. Yet having spent two years working on some of the most gruesome cases Gotham spat out, somehow it only made things worse. It never seemed like they accomplished anything. Recently he'd come to the conclusion that the city's caped crusader was the only one doing any good. And now this woman - this girl - was trying to tell him that Batman was dead.
Five hours ago Gotham's famed billionaire Bruce Wayne and his wife were celebrating their thirtieth wedding anniversary at a restaurant called As the Wind Blows along with their two daughters and son-in-law. Upon getting ready to leave for home, their car exploded, killing all on board. Grace, trailing behind because she had left her handbag on the table, was stepping onto the sidewalk as the fireball engulfed the vehicle, leaving her slightly singed, greatly shaken, and amazingly still alive.
Ben shook his head. Bruce Wayne, a notorious playboy for most of his life, was the first Batman? Maybe she had been hurt worse than originally thought.
"Wake up Hudson!"
Ben looked up to see Henry Peters walking towards him. "Hi Henry."
"So how you doing with the Wayne chick?"
Ben scowled. "She has a name, it's Grace."
Henry raised his hands. "Whoa! Calm down already. Did you get anything out of her?"
"No, I'm afraid she's pretty shook up. How are you doing?"
"I've interviewed all the restaurant's staff, but no one saw anything. Man who could do something like this? A whole family for God's sake."
Ben nodded. It was going to be a long night. "I'd better be getting back to her." The two detectives waved to each other and walked on.
Stepping back into his office he smiled and handed Grace a cup of water. She thanked him demurely. He sat back down and sifted through the notes on his desk. "So where were we?" he asked.
"You were trying to convince me you don't think I'm crazy."
He laughed, but noticed she didn't mean it as a joke. "Grace, I don't think you're crazy at all, but this allegation that you were in a family of superheroes is a bit unusual. Next you'll be telling me your mother was Batgirl."
She blinked at him for a second and then broke out into a bittersweet smile that just about melted his heart. "She would freak if she heard you say that. She hated the 'life'. She only tolerated it for Dad and my sister."
"Your sister? Was she Batgirl?" he asked incredulously.
"No." She rolled her eyes. "But she did her share, although with college and the company she was really busy, until…" Grace looked down at her lap and pulled at the fabric of her ruined dress. "She took over the controls in the Cave as back-up to Terry after Daddy, you know, got older."
"What about you?"
"What do you mean?"
"Were you a part of the 'life' as you put it?"
She shrugged. "Almost from the time I could walk I was training with them, just as form of family bonding. I'm an expert a dozen forms of martial arts, a master at a variety of weapons, and I can swing on a line thirty feet like it was a walk in the park. I could have dedicated my life to it if I wanted to, even though Mother would have had a coronary, but I didn't. It just wasn't me." She looked up at him and smiled. "I'm an artist. I draw, paint, do a little sculpture."
"Really?" he said and leaned forward on the desk. Beautiful and talented. They locked eyes for a few moments until he shook himself out of the reverie. She was really doing a number on him.
"I was going to go abroad to art school after I graduated high school next year, but now I guess I'll be sticking around. I have to take care of little Bruce."
"Huh?" Ben looked down at his file. "Oh, the infant son of Isabella Wayne-McGinnis and Terry McGinnis, Bruce Warren McGinnis?"
"Yeah."
There was an uncomfortable silence, then Ben said, "Grace, I really want to help you…"
"But you can't believe me," she finished for him. He smiled uncomfortably. "Somebody's got to be Batman, Detective Hudson. Do you have a better idea of who it is?" Ben felt terrible doubting her, but he couldn't fathom Gotham's most public family hiding such a huge secret. "Why don't you stop by some time," she said standing up. "I'll give you a tour of the Batcave…before I close it up for good." She reached across his desk to shake his hand. "Thank you for all you've done."
Helplessly Ben watched her walk out his door, his belief in angels firmly in place.