Chapter 2 is finally up!!! Sorry it took so long, figuring out exactly how I wanted to edit the story was more difficult than I thought…But, here it is for your enjoyment! Once again, Batman and all related characters are property of DC comics, the only thing that I do claim is the character I created. Lorelei. Please review!!! And thanks to those that took the time to post a review for me!! J
Chapter 2: Hospital Meeting
The senses were confronted with a swirl of color and muffled noise. A blinding light shone in the room. Colors solidified into shapes, the shapes began to distinguish themselves as people. But these people were strangers, acquaintances that knew nothing about her. Sinking spirits brought forth a desire to leave this place right away. But as she started to sit up, a hand reached over and gently pushed her back down to a lying position.
"There is no need for me to stay here longer," she said weakly. She then realized that she was so full of tranquilizers that her body felt like a puddle of shapeless glue.
"I'm afraid not," the commissioner replied. "You've been out for about forty-eight hours, and even though you appear to heal fast, the doctors wish to keep you here for observation."
"Good for the doctors! It is not safe for me to stay here, and if they gave me any more painkillers, I would be dead. If those guys come after me right now, I'd be defenseless."
"That's what the guards stationed outside your door and at every entrance around the building are here for."
"You really think that they can stop any potential threat? No number of guards can create absolute security! Besides, most of them wouldn't know what to do if they were disarmed."
"All of our officers have basic self-defense training."
"I've seen your officers in action. Most of them have the reaction time of a slug. Most of them are so focused on their weapon, when they lose it, their minds go blank and they freak out. Besides, the people after me hired well-trained assassins. The only reason they ran away was because they heard sirens and knew that they would be outnumbered."
Bruce Wayne had walked in when she woke up, and listened to the conversation, somewhat bemused at her reply to the commissioner's reassurance, but decided to cut into the conversation before it became a heated argument.
"It is their job to protect you, I'm sure that they will do the best job they possibly can. You shouldn't wear yourself out with worrying, just lie back and relax, let the police worry about any potential threat."
That's what he said, but secretly, in his detective mind, he knew that she was absolutely right; they couldn't handle the sort of people that had assaulted her earlier.
"I always borrow trouble and get stressed out, it's just the type of person I am. I know what's coming after me and how to deal with it."
"I'm sorry, I'm not trying to upset you, commissioner, I just don't know how much more of this being chased after I can handle."
"We'll leave so you can rest." They left the room, shutting the door behind them.
Bruce attempted to appease the commissioner's anger. "She's just dealing with the shock of being shot right now, don't take it personally, she doesn't really mean what she said."
"Well, it would help if I knew what I'm up against, but she won't say, and there really isn't a lot of information on the Martellini Family that I have access to."
"How is that she's involved in this?"
"Apparently, she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time."
"Let me try to talk to her, she seemed upset about something else."
"If you want to talk to her, be my guest, but be prepared, she is honest to a fault."
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A few hours later Bruce walked back into the room. In his most pleasant tone, he asked, "Are you feeling any better?"
"Yes, thank you." she replied. "I do hope that the commissioner's aware that I'm sorry about what I said, a lot of that was just frustration and exhaustion."
"A lot of it? What about the rest?"
"The rest I feel to be true."
"How do you know whether what you said is true or not?"
"Because an earlier encounter ended up with me saving my 'protectors'. I don't think we've met, you are…"
"Bruce Wayne."
"Ah! So you're Tim's guardian."
"Yes…I just wanted to come by and thank you for protecting Tim from those men."
"You don't need to thank me for that. I don't want to see anyone get hurt because of me."
A light shined in through the window, a calling card of sorts, beckoning the dark knight. "Look, I don't want to wear you out, get some rest. I'll come back later."
Commissioner Gordon waited patiently for Batman to come, and as usual, when he least expected it, he walked up through the shadows, nearly giving him a heart attack.
"I wish you'd stop doing that."
"What is
it?"
"I have a case for you."
The commissioner then explained the case to him in as best detail as he could. "The problem is, I don't think that we can do much for her, with our limited knowledge of the situation."
"I'll see what I can do." He left, disappearing as quickly as he came.
Batman's first move was to head to the hospital and keep watch over the area. Everything seemed quiet. He noticed the commissioner and the woman talking. He decided to find out what they were talking about.
"You can't just leave, where will you go?"
"Somewhere where they won't find me. I cannot sit here while I'm putting other people's lives in danger."
"You don't know that they would hurt anyone else if it's you they want."
"They will do whatever it takes to get to me, even if that means killing those that stand in their way."
Now he was certain that she did indeed know more than she was telling the police. He was about to make an entrance and speak with her himself when the room filled with smoke. He charged in, heading towards her hospital bed, quickly putting on his gas mask. He jumped over the bed and pulled the commissioner out of the room just out of range of the explosion that followed.
A figure outside darted into a side alley, then hid behind a trashcan. She fell down on her knees, feeling the lingering sluggishness in her body, and the pain that ensued when she removed her IV. Still, she knew she had to; she never would have managed to walk out of the range of the smoke in time before the explosion. These assassins were clever, she thought, but not clever enough. Still, she was tired of this constant running and fighting to save her skin, if only there were some way to get away from all this; to make it stop. Then she heard a sound near her, and whipped around, ready to defend herself, but no one was there.
She asked, "Who's there?" No one presented himself or herself, and she heard no immediate reply.
"Maybe you should tell me what's going on."
Lorelei turned around to get her first clear look at the dark knight.
"Was it necessary to startle me like that?"
"How did you get out in time?"
"Luck. What do you want?"
"Answers."
"What do you want to know?"
"How are you connected to the Martellini family?"
"I just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."
"That's not the answer I want." His eyes narrowed.
Inwardly Lorelei was a little taken aback by his direct manner but outwardly never faltered. "The company I used to work for had major dealings with the Martellini's, and I was sent information on a deal between them and my company by mistake. I reported this to the police, and soon after that, the company shut down."
"What's the name of the company?"
"Smith and Associates." Lorelei sank down to her knees, hands gripping her hospital gown. Batman bent down to assist her.
"You ok?"
"So tired…everything's spinning…" Without another word, he took her back inside the hospital and disappeared.
After sneaking a peek at some files in the hospital, Batman returned to the cave, turning over what he knew in his head, trying to figure out the sequence of events. There was one thing that just did not make sense, and that was how Lorelei was able to get out of the room before the explosion when she was on all that pain medication. The more he thought about it, the more it didn't make sense, making the problem all the more perplexing. As Alfred walked in with a late night snack, he noted Bruce's furrowed brow and politely inquired, "Something wrong, sir?"
"How could someone have a quick enough reaction time to get out a room in ten seconds after just being administered with strong pain medication?"
"That's a riddle I don't have an answer to, sir."
"Neither do I."
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Back at the hospital, Dr. William Hathcock was making sure that Ms. Spencer was situated in her new room before leaving to check on some other patients. A doctor in his late thirties, with gray eyes and thinning brown hair, he had seen many weird things as a doctor, but never anything as strange as this. He had never seen anyone fully healed from a gunshot wound so quickly. He had heard of fast healers, but fully healing from such a serious gunshot wound in about forty-eight hours? Let's not be ridiculous.
"This may require some more research," he mumbled to himself as he marked on his notepad that she would need to have some additional tests before her release.