Chapter 6

She kept screaming. The sliding wasn't stopping! "Oh God, why did I get into the maiden! I'm probably going to end up in a furnace or something! Somebody! Help me!"

Suddenly, she hit the hard, cold, and dusty ground. She closed her eyes in pain; that hurt! Then, she looked around at where she had landed and gasped.

She was sitting in the middle of a cave!

It was amazing; there were large platforms made of stone that seemed to be the flattened tops of rather large stalactites. There were different computer bases alone on separate platforms, and something that looked like a safe off to her left side. Since it was closer to were she stood; she made her way cautiously toward it. To the side of the doors, there were two small computer systems embedded in the stone wall; one for a palm scanner and the other, a retinal scanner. Deciding to avoid an alarm, she did the next best thing to see what was in the door. She bent over and stuck her head through the large metal doors. Inside, were shapes that looked like men's bodies. She was ready to draw her head back but then noticed they all looked the same. She leaned in to see what they really were...

Bruce walked through the front doors of the manor and threw his briefcase and coat into the nearest chair. He made his way up the staircase toward the girl's room. He had been planning this discussion all day, and now he was finally going to get to the bottom of the mind-reading, wall-walking, burn-evading thing that had been on his mind for days now.

He opened her door, and looked at her bed- it was empty. He felt a twinge of worry go through his mind. She didn't know the layout of the mansion, did she? She was probably with Alfred, that's all.

He found Alfred in the kitchen putting away some of the foods he had purchased when he went to town.
"Alfred?" he asked, "is the Martin girl in here with you?"

Alfred paused as he was putting a can of something or other in the pantry. "No, sir, I haven't. I haven't seen her, come to think of it. Why do you ask?"

Bruce felt cold dread flow through his veins. She could be anywhere in the mansion. Oh, God help him if she found out he was Batman. "Alfred, we have to patrol the mansion."

"Yes, sir," Alfred said, quickly abandoning his post to go and help find the missing girl.

She reached forward to touch one of the figures. It was slightly rubbery and very thick, defiantly for protection. She ran her hand up and down the front of it; yep, washboard style all right, then, she hit something smooth and in an oval shape. She leaned ever closer to look at what was on this oval. She gave a small squeal at the sight of it. Bruce was Batman! But the more she thought of it, the more it dawned to her how obvious it was. Why else would a multi-millionaire like Bruce Wayne take in some unfortunate such as she was? What was she supposed to believe, Batman had called this rich guy and he said something like, "Sure! I'll play foster guardian for some kid whom I've never heard of?" Nah, it didn't really seem that plausible. She then left the closet thing and walked to an empty platform and looked at the beauty of the cavern.

Bruce thrust the doors of the library open, Alfred right behind him. "Master Wayne, I looked in here after I came back from running errands, I assure you."

"That may be true," Bruce said, moving quickly up the stairs, "but there are defiantly ways you couldn't have seen her in here. God knows, she might have ducked under my desk!"

With that thought, he moved toward the desk to look. On the top of the desk sat his gold and glass paperweight. A small puddle had grown around it, and it was still rather wet.

Quickly, he moved toward the fish tank and looked at the gravel. There, behind the castle and just centimeters away from the hidden button, was a small impact space where the paperweight had landed earlier.

"Have you found something, Master Wayne?" Alfred asked from below.

"I think I know what happened..." Bruce mumbled under his breath. "Alfred, I have to go down to the cave. I'll call if I need help with anything," he said as he stuck his arm into the tank and hit the button, which opened the iron maiden. He quickly went into it, and it closed. The ground opened beneath him, and he was off.

As she stood looking at the different formations in the cave, she heard a sliding sound coming from the tunnel. Panic seized her. She couldn't move. If she were to stay were she was, Bruce would be furious, but if she were to hide, he would be even more upset. What if it wasn't even Bruce? Before she could think of a plan of action, Bruce came through, and landed in the cave. As soon as he saw her, he made his way toward her, but she spoke faster.

"Bruce I'm so sorry I'm in here! You and Alfred were gone and I wanted to see the mansion without being interfered with because I just want to be alone, so I was walking through the house and then I went into the library and found your paperweight, and I started to look at it and then something startled me and I dropped it in the fish tank and when I got it out I think I touched something because then the iron maiden opened and I was just goofing off, I didn't mean for it to close on me, then I fell through that tubey-slidy-thingy and landed in here, but I didn't mean to be in here, I really didn't, I'm so sorry!"

Bruce just looked at her after her speed-speech. It almost looked like he was surprised that a person could talk to so fast. But he just kept staring at her, his gray eyes boring into her blue eyes. After what seemed like an eternity, he let out a sigh and nodded his head. "I believe you," he said, still nodding.

"Thank you..." she said quietly, totally filled with happiness that he forgave her.

"But, since you know my secret," he said, staring at her again, "you'll have to share yours."

She gulped. She had never explained her "gifts" to anyone before, but she nodded. "Alright."