I walked into the main lobby of Wayne Enterprises. I looked around for moment until I made out the secretary desk. She looked up as I got closer. She gave a polite smile.
"Hello. How can I help you?" She asked.
"I have an interview with Mr. Fox." The woman looked surprised. She looked me up and down. I could practically feel the judgment coming from her.
The woman's polite smile was replaced with a fake one, "Can I get a name?" I heard the sound of the ding of an elevator. I paid no attention as people filed out of it.
"Moser, Melody Moser." I answered. I suddenly got an uneasy feeling of eyes on me. I looked up just slightly and tried to make it look discreet as I scanned the crowd of people.
My eyes caught on a man that I had seen from the news tabloids. Bruce Wayne the billionaire himself was the one that had his eyes on me. I had a hard time tearing my gaze away from him. His gaze was piercing and I would be blind if I said he wasn't attractive. He had short styled dark hair and wore an expensive tailored suit.
"I'll let Mr. Fox know that you're here. You can take a seat while you wait." The receptionist broke me out of my thoughts. I turned to her and she was giving me a fake smile while disgust was in her eyes. I returned the fake smile to the receptionist.
"Thanks…Jenny." I said and read off her name tag. Jenny scrunched her nose but kept the fake smile on her face. Oh I don't like her. That's when I noticed her left hand, specifically her ring finger. It had an indention showing she clearly wore a wedding ring but not while at work. A coy smirk grew on my face.
Jenny here wants to judge me on my clothing choice while here she is potentially cheating on her husband.
"Say Jenny, does your husband know you don't wear your wedding ring while at work?" Jenny looked at me in alarm. I pointed to her hand.
"You have an indention on your finger which tells me you wear a wedding ring. From the reaction you just gave me, I assume I'm correct. The next time you judge someone you don't even know, you better hope they don't notice small details like that." Jenny glared at me. She picked up the phone by her desk. I narrowed my eyes at her as she gave me a smirk of her own.
"Security. I need a woman at the front desk removed from the premises." I glowered at Jenny as she hung up the phone.
She gave me a cheshire cat smirk, "Next time, think about what you say before you open your mouth. I'll let Mr. Fox know you unfortunately decided against the interview at the last moment."
My blood boiled as I glared at the secretary in front of me. "Excuse me. Is there a problem here?" A deep voice sounded next to me.
I turned my head to see Bruce Wayne standing there now. I didn't expect his voice to be that deep. I could smell the expensive cologne coming off him from here. He was watching me earlier. Did he see what happened?
"Mr. Wayne! Not at all sir. I just told this young woman to leave the premises. She refused so I had to call security." That lying…
Mr. Wayne looked from Jenny to me with a look I couldn't read. He hummed in thought. He tilted his head slightly then pointed at me.
"You're Melody Moser, correct?" I looked taken aback that he knew my name.
"Huh…yeah." I said slowly.
Mr. Wayne gave a smile that screamed fake to me but he hid it well, "Mr. Fox was just telling me about your interview coming up with him. I saw your file." I looked behind him as security showed up.
Mr. Wayne turned around, "Ah, good you're here. Please make sure Mrs. Thorn collects all of her things and escort her off the premises." My eyes widened as did Jenny's.
"W-what?" She stuttered out.
Mr. Wayne turned to her with an unamused look on his face, "You heard me, Mrs. Thorn. Your position at Wayne Enterprises has been terminated effective immediately." I bit the inside of my lip hard to stop myself from laughing. Oh damn. He had heard her.
Mr. Wayne turned back to me with amusement in his eyes, "If you would follow me, Miss Moser. I'll take you to Mr. Fox personally." Once his back was turned, I gave a shit eating grin to Jenny. Oh if looks could kill. Karma's a bitch, Jenny.
I followed to the elevator and he kept it open as I stepped inside. There was an awkward silence between us as the doors closed.
"So," I said, breaking the silence, "How much of that did you hear?" I asked with a grimace.
He let out a deep chuckle and looked down at me with the same amusement in his eyes. "All of it. I was quite impressed at your attention to detail. Your intuition was spot on. Mrs. Thorn has a habit of disappearing with some male co-workers for periods of time. Not many people noticed that she was actually married. " I raised an eyebrow.
"You knew?" I said in slight surprise. gave a small smile, a real one this time, "I've known it since she got hired." I'm kind of shocked right now. The Bruce Wayne standing in front of me was nothing that I saw on those tabloids. Maybe he isn't like Tony…
The elevator dinged as it opened on the top floor. "Ladies first." gestured with his hand.
I walked out of the elevator and it looked like this floor only led to one office. That being the office of the CEO. He took the lead and walked me to the office. I noticed the charming smile and wink he gave the secretary to the CEO. My face deadpanned. I spoke too soon. He's exactly like Tony.
The woman in return gave a flirty smile to and twirled her finger in her long red hair. I resisted the urge to gag. Did she think that was actually cute?
knocked on the door before opening it. "Mr. Fox, I have your next interview." said and kept the door open for me.
I walked in to see Mr. Fox standing there. He had a smile on his face, "Miss Moser, it's a pleasure." He then noticed what I was wearing. Here it comes. I'm going to get kicked out now.
"Pardon me, but I think you are the first and only potential employee I've seen wear jeans to a job interview." He had an amused look on his face.
"About that. I just recently moved to Gotham. A complete fresh start if you will. This was all I had. I kind of had to leave everything behind. Including clothing." Mr. Fox looked surprised to hear this. I caught Mr. Wayne giving me a look of mixed concern and…suspicion?
"That sounds very serious. You don't have anything?" I shook my head. "Money?" Again I shake my head. "Food? Phone? A roof over your head?" I gave a tight lip look and shook my head again.
"You could say I'm down on my luck right now. Kind of pathetic right? An MIT graduate with nothing to show for it." I lied. My main concern was finding a way back to my world. I needed to get back home.
"Miss Moser," I turned my head to Mr. Wayne , "May Mr. Fox and I have a quick word? Alone." I nodded my head and walked out of the office. had an unreadable expression on his face. At least it wasn't a pity look.
The pity look from the secretary didn't go unnoticed by me however. What is it with me and secretaries today? I was waiting for maybe five minutes before they opened the door again.
"Miss Moser?" Mr. Fox beckoned me with his hand. I gave a sigh and walked into the office. The door was closed behind me.
"Due to your…unfortunate circumstances." Here it comes. They don't need a charity case, right? I should have known this was a little too good to be true. I should probably go back to the drawing board after this.
"I have decided to forgo the interview and offer you the job on the spot." What?
"Huh…" Was all that came out of my mouth. I blinked rapidly, "I'm sorry. I don't think I heard you right. You're saying I got the job? Without an interview?" I was in complete disbelief. I had to be dreaming...there's no way.
Mr. Fox chuckled, "You got the job. Your resume was impressive enough. Miss Moser you have a genius level IQ. I'd be a fool to not hire you. Consider today to be the day your luck is on the up and up." Mr. Fox said with a smile.
A grin broke out on my face, "Huh wow. Um okay. Yeah. Tomorrow?" I asked and pointed to him as I started to back out.
"8am sharp." Mr. Fox said with a grin of his own.
"Thank you. I won't let you down, Mr. Fox." I told him and quickly walked out of the office.
I hit the button to the elevator and quickly got into it once the doors opened. I got in and hit the close door button. Once they had just closed I let out my excitement.
"Yes!" I hissed out in a low tone and held my fists in the air. I heard the elevator ding which meant someone was getting on. I quickly ganged back my composure. The elevator hadn't moved it so it meant someone was trying to catch it before it did.
The doors reopened to show Bruce Wayne standing there. Of course he is. That fake smile that he was good at hiding adorned his face again. He walked into the elevator and I pressed the lobby button.
"Congratulations are in order. Welcome to Wayne Enterprises." Mr. Wayne spoke up, breaking the silence.
"Thanks." I said politely. I didn't like how fake this guy was.
"Seeing your current situation, I was going to ask if you'd let me take you out for dinner. I can also make temporary living and clothing arrangements." I let out a dry chuckle.
"I'm sure you could, Mr. Wayne but I'm not a charity case that you can flash your money at and expect me to be all over you. Keep your money. This isn't the first time I've hit rock bottom. I climbed back up to the top myself once before and I can do it again." The elevator doors open to reveal the lobby. Mr. Wayne's expression was a look of amazement. That wasn't what I was expecting.
I gave him a fake smile, "You're not the only one good at faking feelings. Have a good day, Mr. Wayne." I didn't miss the hard gaze I could feel on my back as I walked to the exit. I'm not buying this whole nice guy shtick. He's good at faking it, I'll give him that, but I've gone through that personally to know when to see it.
No One's P.O.V
Bruce watched the woman retreating back as she left the building. It alarmed him just how easily she was able to see through his act. He was also shocked how she wasn't like most women her age. Other women would have jumped at the chance of what he offered, but not her. She refused it. She'd rather be on the streets then accept charity from somebody like him. Melody Moser was certainly prideful and stubborn. Which made her more of a mystery now than ever.
Bruce let out a rare genuine smile as his thoughts went to the blonde haired woman. He made a mental note for Batman to keep an eye on her tonight if she was staying out in the streets.
Tomorrow however, she'll get some help from Bruce Wayne. One way or another. He wasn't just going to let her live like this at least not while he could do something about it.
Melody's P.O.V
The sun had gone down long ago at this point. I decided it'd be safer to stay on a rooftop then down in the streets. I needed to find a place of operations for any Voltess activity work. During the day I was looking at some abandoned old warehouses down by the docks. One of them was perfect. Whatever it used to be was nice enough to have locker rooms which meant showers. Something I needed I'm sure at this point. I'd have to go there to take one before heading to my new job.
The rest of the warehouse was big enough for a bed and to set up what I needed for Voltess gear. As for food, I was able to get some food stamps earlier and was finally able to put something in my stomach. This definitely sucked, but I've gone through worse.
My thoughts were interrupted when I felt the same presence behind me from last night. I had looked him up since then. People here called him Batman. I was right on the nose about his aesthetics. He was a vigilante that only came out at night. Hence all the dark clothing he sported.
"You again?" I said as I turned around with my arms crossed.
"You shouldn't be out here." His synthesized voice spoke through his cowl.
I rolled my eyes, "Last I checked, you don't dictate what I do." I said and turned back around to gaze at the city. Gotham reminded me of New York. I was getting homesick just staring at it.
"I mean it. You need to go home." He practically growled out. The guy was definitely intimidating sounding.
I scoffed, "I told you, I can handle myself. Now just leave me al-" My sensitive ears picked up on a scream.
I stopped and walked over to the edge of the building. My eyes tried to see in the darkness where the scream came from.
"Stay here." I heard a flap next to me. I watched as he jumped off the roof and his cape stiffened to catch any wind and glide him down.
"Like hell I am." I muttered under my breath. I tapped my bracelet and the vibranium armor trailed across my body as I jumped off the building.
I threw my board in front of me as I free felled down. I straightened up and landed on my board and shot off.
"Athena, I need night vision." I called out to my AI. In an instant my vision through the eye pieces changed to show green night vision.
I flew in the direction where I heard the scream from before. I could see in the night vision Batman was fighting some guys on a rooftop. My vision zoomed in as I saw a young woman with a little boy. A mother and child got targeted.
I watched in horror as one of the men made a desperate attempt. He grabbed the little boy from his mother and held something up to his head. Most likely a gun or knife. Batman went on edge and ceased his attack, noticing the boy's life in danger.
Without warning, I watched in almost slow motion as the man threw the boy over the roof.
"Athena!" I yelled.
"On it." Athena transferred all reserved power in my suit to my feet. I shot off instantly and swooped down past Batman and the others on the roof.
The little boy screamed as he fell through the air. I flew down below the boy and easily pulled him into my arms.
"I gotcha ya, buddy. You're okay now." My own synthesized voice said as I held the shaking little boy to me.
I changed direction on my board and headed back to the rooftop. The mother was in tears and the bad guys that attacked them were sprawled onto the floor.
I held out my free hand to the mother, "Let me get you two down." The mother nodded and took my hand. I put my arm around her waist to steady her as I slowly had my board hover down to the ground.
I helped the mother down first then handed her son to her.
"Thank you. Thank you." She said as she shook my hand.
I smiled underneath my mask, "You're welcome. Can you two make it home okay?" The woman nodded and pointed to the building just across from us. That's where they lived.
The little boy waved bye and I waved my hand back at him. I heard the sound of flapping behind me. I already knew who it was but this time I have my own mask on.
"Who are you?" He demanded. I could see the glare from under his cowl directed at me.
"Wow. Hostile much? Relax Batman, I was in the area and heard a scream. I saw the kid get thrown off the roof and flew down to grab him. You're welcome by the way." I heard what sounded like a growl come from him.
"You're not a people person, are you?" I said as I crossed my arms.
"I won't ask you again. Who are you?" I rolled my eyes behind my mask.
"Yeah, you see that's the whole point of a secret identity thing. I would think you of all people would know that. But if you absolutely want to call me by something then call me Voltess." I responded to him.
"What do you want, Voltess?" I snorted at that.
"You have trust issues. I don't want anything. I'm just somebody that likes helping people. Some even call me a hero. Relax, I'll get off your turf now." I muttered the last bit and began to hover higher in the air.
I shot back off in the night sky. Only leaving a trail of blue electricity from my board.
I looked behind me, my night vision still active, and I could faintly see Batman watching where I was going. One thing is for sure, he doesn't trust me.
Melody and Bruce meet and as do their alter egos. Melody can see through Bruce's fake act right away and knows he's hiding something.