You made my week, you saucy minxes ,you.
Well I don't own the characters; someone else did all the hard work. I'm just writing away about it.
Oh yeah sorry if I have some legal stuff wrong, I have no idea how American law works.
Anyway please read and review. Please please please?
Chapter 3
"Ok go over this again, why did Bruce have my friend arrested?" Dick asked from the back of a long black stretch limo.
Dick wanted to sit in the front but Alfred wouldn't hear of it so now he was flicking through this file his guardian had put together for him, in the back seat .
He didn't want to wade through all this information that Bruce had managed to find on Kori so he just skimmed through it, not really taking in any information..
He was curious however about the news clippings in there, he hadn't
read them but he wanted to know what the girl had done that was
newsworthy
Dick never could read in a car, it always gave him a headache.
"Not arrested, Master Dick detained. It seems your friend Ms Anders is underage, she should not legally be working"
Dick looked at her Birth Cert and indeed the year she was born was highlighted in luminous yellow.
She was fifteen.
"And the young miss has no legal guardian"
"What about her family?" Dick asked, assuming a girl like her would be a family baby.
"Young sir, you really ought to examine those files. Her parents are dead"
Dick winced, thinking about what those newspaper clippings could have been about.
"And her sister is, well being detained elsewhere. The young miss in underage and is living on her own and Mr Wayne thought that if we drew attention to these facts, that she might flee as the young lady does seem to be tad prone to running"
"How much of this did Casper know?"
"Oh not to worry young sir. That unsavoury character the young miss worked for only knew of her age. He employed her knowing that the young lady would allow him to be as cruel as he liked as long as he didn't tell anyone she was underage. Young Ms Anders does not appear to take kindly to social services and they would most certainly had to have had meetings"
Dick leaned his head back and closed his eyes, second guessing his own motives.
"We're here, young sir" Alfred's voice called out breaking his reverie.
Dick snapped up and looked out the window at the tall granite building where Gotham police station resided.
If Kori really did have such a problem with being tracked down, then she was probably terrified about now.
Alfred slid out or the car and moved to open the door for Dick who climbed out himself and shut the door, still staring up at the skyscraper.
"Come along now" Alfred said as he led Dick through the building to the main desk.
Dick couldn't stop himself from gazing around the building.
If Bruce hadn't taken him in way back when, he could still be bouncing
around the system, coming back to this office every second week because
he couldn't settle down with a foster family, or worse still, he could
be completely backed into a corner like Kori was because she was so
scared of getting caught.
"Master Dick?" Alfred probed gently.
Dick looked at him.
"Just thinking" he answered.
Alfred walked over to the elevator and waited for Dick to step inside before he stepped in and closed the door.
They both were the focus of everyone's puzzled glances in the elevator.
It wasn't everyday you say the richest and most powerful man in the city's heir and butler walking about social services.
"Certainly allows us some perspective, doesn't it?" Alfred muttered to Dick who looked at him, impressed.
It was not the first time Dick was convinced that Alfred was psychic.
The elevator came to stop with a pleasant "Bing bong"
"This is our floor, right?" Dick asked and Alfred nodded.
The left the elevator, leaving the confused expressions behind them.
Alfred seemed to know where he was going so Dick followed suit when a flash of red caught his eye and he stopped.
He was standing in front of a small grey room with a glass door leading into and a pane of glass making up half the wall.
Inside a teenage girl sat , curled up in a chair, hands underneath her
folded legs, head hanging and her long red hair left loose and
curtaining her face,.
Dick recognised her instantly.
"Alfred!" he hissed at the butler who was walking on oblivious of Dick's discovery.
Alfred approached him and glanced inside the window.
"Ah that's the young miss?"
Dick shushed him and slowly wrapped his hand around the door handle twisting it slightly so that the door opened lightly.
He leant up against the wall, looking as if he was bored out of his
mind all the while listening into the conversation in the room inside.
Across a small table from Kori, a man and a woman were seated.
The man spoke first.
"You know you're underage?" he asked.
Kori nodded again.
"You know you shouldn't have been working" the woman continued.
She nodded again.
"You know you're too young not to be in someone's custody?" the man picked up.
Kori nodded again.
"Listen, Kori. We're not the bad guys here; we're just trying to get you a nice environment. You're still a child, you're still learning and developing and if you're not in a thriving environment then you're talents will be wasted. We want to see you make something of yourself. Your intentions are good, we can see that, a lot of other girls your age would have gone down a different path, trying to make a living on their own and they would probably be going down that path the rest of their lives. But you chose an honest job and that's a great start" the man explained studying Kori, waiting for a reaction.
"We know about your family's troubles"
Her head shot up at that.
Her eyes burned with anger.
"That's none of your business" she growled.
Alfred decided that this would be a good time to make their presence known.
He cleared his throat drawing everyone's attention to Dick and himself.
Kori looked at Dick wide eyed, trying to figure out what was going on.
"Can we help you?" the woman asked curtly, not taking the interruption too kindly.
"I have a letter from Mr. Wayne regarding Ms Anders" Alfred explained, pulling out a pristine white envelope from his waistcoat.
The man took it from Alfred.
Everyone watched him as his eyes flicked back and forth over the letter, making a surprised sound when he had finished.
"Well this is an interesting revelation" he commented, handing the letter to the woman and sank into his chair.
He looked at Kori who was still trying to figure out why a guy she knew for two days had showed up suddenly.
"It seems Kori that Mr Wayne has taken it upon himself to be your legal guardian. Seeing as no one else directly related to you is in the position to take you, I'd say someone up there likes you"
Kori uncurled and stood up looking back at Dick with eyebrows knitted.
"Why would he want to do that?" she asked the man sitting at the desk.
"Why, he wishes to help" Alfred replied,
"But he doesn't even know me!"
Dick suddenly became very aware if himself.
"But I do" he admitted.
Kori stared at him in awe.
"You did this? Because of you Mr Wayne has offered me such a wonderful opportunity?"
"Kinda" Dick hoped he didn't look as embarrassed as he felt.
In a blur, Kori has grabbed him and hugged him tightly, her arms wrapped around his neck and she laughed with joy.
Dick put his arms around her awkwardly; hugging was definitely something he was not accustomed to.
He managed to hug her back weakly when Alfred cleared his throat loudly and Kori pulled away from him just as suddenly.
"Um Alfred, this is Kori. Kori this is my butler, Alfred" Dick introduced.
Kori fidgeted; feeling terribly underdressed for meeting a butler.
She watched him shyly as he appraised her in her yellow vest and old loose jeans.
She offered her hand gingerly and he took it gently in his own.
"It's nice to meet you?" she sounded half afraid that he'd lecture her about something.
"The pleasure is mine, young miss" he replied politely.
"Well looks like everything is taken care of" the woman with the letter muttered bitterly.
Dick placed his hand in the small of Kori's back and was about to guide her out of the room when the woman blocked the door.
"Listen up because I'm only going to say this once. I don't like this at all; I think your precious guardian has just made a big mistake because he wants to handpick the prettiest ones for his precious protégé. When and believe me when I saw when and not if this goes wrong, I will be all over this and I'll make sure this girl gets a real chance"
The man with her grabbed her by the arm gently and gave him a grave look.
"Calm yourself, Carmen" he warned.
"I can safely assure that there will be no better place for the young lady than Wayne Manor" Alfred promised his tone even and dignified.
Once they were a safe distance from the office and were standing on the footpath outside the building, Kori let out a cry of joy and twirled around.
"Thank you so much. I really thought I was trapped there" she gushed, looking at the other two with relief written on her face.
"We just wanted to help" Dick said with a grin pleased with their work.
Kori turned to leave but stopped and turned around facing them.
"I really do own you, all of you. Thanks for the help; I'll make it up to you"
Dick and Alfred exchanged puzzled glances.
"Where are you going?" Dick asked bluntly.
"Well I was going home and then I was going to look for a job. Safe to say I won't be getting a job at Casper's again" her tone was matter of fact.
"Young Miss, I was instructed to ensure your arrival to Wayne Manor"
It was Kori's turn to look bewildered.
"You were...that was not something you said to upset Carmen?" she asked.
"No we're here to bring you back with us. You thought we did all this to irk someone?" Dick asked.
He reached out to her but she jerked away from him.
"No that doesn't make sense. Why would you someone like Bruce Wayne want someone like me hanging around. I assumed he'd just check in on me every now and again"
Alfred's lips quirked upwards in a brief smile.
"That would make him a rather irresponsible guardian, wouldn't it?"
"But I cannot impose like that" she insisted.
"Not really your call anymore" Dick argued.
Alfred watched the teens interact and sighed. The young lady's stubborn nature would have made Bruce proud.
And often the best way to respond to stubborn behaviour was reasonable behaviour.
"Would you rather that you continued to live on your own, waiting to be caught yet again?" he asked calmly, his tone left very little room for argument.
"No" Kori admitted, his tone was somewhat sulky and she looked up at Alfred under her eyelashes, he was reminded of a young child who had just lost an argument.
Dick watched them with amusement.
He always found it amusing watching people deal with Alfred when they were unused to his tactics.
"Its not that I don't appreciate, I really do. But I couldn't impose myself on Mr.Wayne after he has done so much for me already" Kori made her last ditch effort at protesting.
Alfred was holding her elbow and was leading her into the car.
"Hey you're in luck, Bruce's not here at the moment. So you won't be imposing on him and me and Alfred could never turn down having a fresh face around the manor, could we Alfred?" he joked.
"Indeed not, sir"
Alfred had opened the door and both males were waiting for Kori to get in first, partially die to a sense of chivalry but mostly due to fear of Kori making a break for it.
"And you are certain that this is acceptable?" she asked, scrunching her nose at Dick and looking at him suspiciously.
Dick had to laugh at her expression.
This girl had to be good for your health.
"If it were not, miss, I daresay we would have left you here due to sheer exasperation" Alfred answered somehow managing to make a threat sound flattering.
Kori let out a giggle and slipped into the car, much to the relief of
Dick and Alfred who both harboured fears of standing by the door of the
limo for hours reasoning and debating with Kori.
Dick followed her in and after he had closed their door, Alfred slipped into the front seat.
"I'm of the belief that no three finer men could be found than the three who have done me such a great service" Kori announced proudly.
"See, if we left you behind, there would be no one to stroke our egos shamelessly and with a house full of men, you need that"
"And I am of the belief that the Manor shall be a much cheerier and pleasant environment with your arrival" Alfred added, making Kori blush.
"Hey, are you saying me and Bruce aren't cheery and pleasant?" Dick asked jokingly.
The clucking of Alfred's tongue spoke more volumes than his word would and Kori's laughter filled the spacious car.
"I have never been in a limo, I cannot imagine myself in a manor" she began, looking around, wide eyed.
"It's not so different from a normal house. In fact it's probably not so different from where you live. Where do you live?" Dick asked, congratulating himself on the smoothness of his question concerning her past.
Kori was staring out the window and she didn't turn to look at him.
"I lived in a small street near the city centre" she began but her voice drifted off.
"All your life?" Dick pushed.
Kori turned to look at him.
"No I lived there for a couple of years, up until that stage I lived in Maui"
Dick blinked.
"Maui, like Hawaii?"
Kori nodded and Dick cocked a grin.
"Ok so maybe they're not exactly alike"
Kori gave him a small grin when suddenly the limo skidded to a stop.
Something had exploded outside the car.
Dick and Kori scrambled out of the car and found themselves in a thick mist.
Dick pounded on Alfred's door and practically pulled it off its hinges.
Kori helped him pull Alfred out of the car who had struck his head on the wheel.
"Dick, what's going on?" Kori cried in a panicked voice.
"I don't know!" he snapped back, trying to wake Alfred.
"Well then, perhaps you'd appreciate my version of events" a silky smooth voice stated, coming from somewhere in the mist.
To be continued.