The sun was barely rising as the clock hit 7:30 in the morning. I had almost overslept and had to rush to get in front of the apartment building. I heard the sound of a car engine revving down the street. I could see the silver Lamborghini approaching. He sure is punctual, I'll give him that.
The car stopped in front of me with the passenger side facing me. I opened the car door and got inside.
I immediately saw the smirk on Bruce's face, "Wipe that smirk off your face. You're enjoying this a little too much." I said and closed the door as I got in.
Bruce chuckled, "I'm just simply driving you to work. Think of it as carpooling." I rolled my eyes. He pressed on the gas pedal as soon as I had my seatbelt on. He sure did like to drive fast. Might as well if you have the car for it.
"Except most people that carpool don't do it with their billionaire boss." I lied hard on that one. How many car rides and private jet rides did I take with Tony? Too many to count.
"This is true but I assure you I'm not that bad." He looked at me for a split second before paying attention back to the road. I frowned seeing bags under his eyes.
"Didn't sleep that well?" I brought up. He looked at me in slight shock before catching himself.
"How'd you know?" He asked. I pointed a finger under my eyes.
"You got bags today." He gave a small smirk.
"I should have expected you to notice. After all, you noticed a woman not wearing her wedding ring. I had meetings all night with companies all cross Asia. Their middle of the day is the middle of the night for us." That made sense.
"No sleep then?"
"None at all." He answered.
"Is driving while sleep deprived really the best combo?" I asked. A laugh came out of Bruce enough to where the wrinkles by his eyes formed. That was a tell sign that it was genuine.
"Typically no it's not but I'm an exception. You're safe with me, Mel." He assured me with a smile.
"Good because I would haunt your ass if you weren't." I joked. I expected a chuckle or a quip back but nothing. His smile disappeared and formed a straight line.
He stopped at a red light and he turned to look at me with a serious look on his face, "I mean it. You're safe as long as you're with me, Mel." Where did this come from? I felt a thump in my throat at how intense the look in his hazel eyes were. He was dead serious. I could feel my cheeks heat up from the intense gaze. The look made his handsome features stand out in a way I thought wasn't possible.
"Okay." I managed to muster out but very weak. Bruce focused back on the road and took off at the light turned green. What was with this guy? Bruce Wayne had many walls surrounding him but for a second there I got to see through them.
"So no records at all, Athena?" I called out to the AI. I leaned against the glass of the center console as I stared at the hologram images. I had uploaded her AI to it as soon as I got in.
"There are no records anywhere regarding any of the Avenger members. It seems like they don't exist, Mel." Athena answered.
I sighed and stood up. I rubbed my face with my hands. I cupped my hands over my mouth and nose while in thought. I'm starting to look at the grim fact that I might never be able to go home. I have no clue how to get back since it was the Infinity Stones that sent me here.
I heard the sound of the door unlocking. I quickly stood up straight and closed out the window. I quickly brought back the next project I had in mind to show on the hologram. I had a feeling I knew who was coming in anyway.
Sure enough, the door opened and Bruce walked in with a carton in hand with two coffee cups in it.
"I thought you could use this." He said with a smile and held up the coffee.
I raised an eyebrow at the gesture, "Cream and sugar?" He nodded. I walked over and grabbed one of the cups.
"Thanks, you didn't have to do that." I said and walked back to the console.
"No, I didn't but I wanted to. You looked like you were tired as well on the car ride here." No kidding. Staying practically all day long here then half the night with Batman was exhausting.
"So, what are you working on today?" Bruce asked as he walked around the console.
"Nothing too fancy. I was mainly just updating software all this morning." He frowned looking at the hologram.
"Is that a bullet proof vest?" He asked, pointing to the image.
I nodded, "Yeah. I noticed all of the vests and other armor around here from when Mr. Fox has done here. Everything is Kevlar which is fine and all. Kevlar protects somebody from getting fatally injured by guns or knives. I don't know about you but I'd rather have a nasty bruise than a bullet hole in me." Bruce smirked and nodded.
"I can agree with you there. Why are you looking into this then?" He asked with sincere interest.
"Because I found a recent study from a university where a team of scientists have successfully created a new fiber that is stronger than steel and tougher than Kevlar." Bruce held an impassive look and his eyes flickered back to the bullet proof vest on the hologram.
"You think you can make it?" He asked. He didn't take his eyes off the hologram.
"Their research is still in testing phases and they wouldn't release the components of the material of the fiber. All I know is that it's basically synthetic spider silk." Reading the article made me think back to Peter's webs that he made. Peter's web formula…
"Unless…" Bruce turned to me as I got a grin on my face, "I know a similar formula to making synthetic spider silk but it's not the kind you would use to make armor. I'd have to mess with the formula to try to make one that can be used for armor. I just don't know how long that would take me." I answered honestly. I remember Tony and I wanted to know how Peter made his webs. He showed us the formula and it was surprisingly simple. Only problem is, his webs dissolve after a couple hours.
"Then consider this your new project for Wayne Enterprises. Anything you need, you'll get it. If you can create a fabric tougher than Kevlar and stronger than steel we could send bullet proof vests like that to Gotham's police force." I smirked a little.
"Who said stopping at just a vest?" I pulled up the next hologram to show a full body suit, "I'd be gunning for making an entire protective suit made of the fiber. Go big or go home." Mine and Bruce's eyes met. He had a small smirk on his face.
"I like the way you think, Mel."
I set the cup of coffee at my corner desk and stretched. "Thanks for the coffee. I'm going to take a quick break. Being in a room with no windows gets a little depressing. I need some fresh air." I said and headed for the door.
Bruce set his coffee down, "I'll come with you. I've been cooped up in my own office all day."
I stopped and turned to face him. I crossed my arms, "Okay, you don't have to follow me everywhere I go. What do you want?" I demanded. This game of follow the leader was getting old.
Bruce grimaced, "Here I thought I was being subtle." I raised an eyebrow at that.
"Far from it." I said in a monotone voice.
He chuckled at that, "I've been trying to be around you more because I want to get to know you better. I find you interesting, Mel." He said honestly.
"Well you could have just said that to begin with. You know simple conversations of where you were born, who your parents are, your favorite color. You know those types of questions." I countered.
"Maybe you could answer those questions over dinner perhaps? Tonight?" Oh damn that was a smooth transition.
I narrowed my eyes at him, "Normally I would say no especially to a playboy but I respect how smoothly you just brought that up. On one condition. You stop picking me up and dropping me off." Bruce shook his head with a hard stare.
"That's a hard pass, Mel." I huffed in frustration. What would it take to get him off my back about the whole driving me thing?
"Fine. Dinner tonight then. Where would we go?" I asked, caving in.
Bruce smiled, "I was thinking at my place." I raised a brow at that.
"Why there?"
"To escape the press. If I go out in public with you to a nice restaurant, they'll swarm us. Since this is a casual dinner I don't think we want them to get the wrong idea about us." Damn vultures. I had my own experience with the press with just being Voltess back home. Every little thing I did in public got monitored. Honestly, having my secret identity back while being here in Gotham has been a breath of fresh air.
"Your place it is, then. I'm still getting some fresh air." I said and turned back around.
"And I'm still going with you." I let out a sigh and opened the door.
We took the elevator down and walked out into the lobby. I heard distant police sirens. They were getting closer too. I narrowed my eyes seeing a car chase ensuing.
"Oh crap." Bruce turned around, "I forgot my phone upstairs. I'm gonna grab it real quick. I'll meet you outside." I pretended to walk back to the elevators. I turned my head to see Bruce opening the glass door of the main entrance.
Batman may only come out at night but that's not the case with Voltess. I made a run for the back exit of the building. I shot a quick bolt in the direction of the security camera to turn it off. I tapped my bracelet and let the vibranium form against my body. In one swift motion, I threw the silver board down and took off around the building.
The police sirens were now louder. The car they were chasing was getting closer to the building. Taking that particular road to try and lose the cops.
I shot down to the car until I was keeping up speed with the car. I tapped on the window. The driver did a double take seeing me.
"Hey buddy, you know you're going over the speed limit right?" I quipped.
"What the hell is that?!" I heard the muffle yell of the driver.
"Mel, it seems these people just robbed a bank down the street." Athena's voice said in my ear.
"And you stole from the bank? Not looking good for you here, bud. This car chase ends now." I said the last bit with a serious tone. I picked up speed and flew over the car and several hundred feet in front of it.
I unclipped two of my black magnetic disks from my belt. I threw them onto the pavement of the road. Both of them were directly in the path of the car.
Just as the car approached, I shot a bolt of my electricity to the two disks. Once the car drove over it, my blue electricity crackled as it surrounded the car. It lifted the car up just enough that the tires were no longer on the pavement.
I heard tires screeching behind the getaway car. The police cars came to a halt and officers got out of the vehicles. They stood there stunned at seeing a floating car.
It was this point that I noticed the crowd I had drawn in. I looked around and saw several people looking at me. Many had their phones out and recording. I guess this is my introduction of Voltess to Gotham's public.
My eyes then found Bruce who was standing outside the building. He was staring right at me with an intense gaze. I could have sworn that look was familiar.
"Get out of the car! Hands up!" My attention turned back to the officers. They had their guns out and pointed to the robbers. I flicked two fingers and all four car doors sprung open.
I watched as the officers dragged the robbers out and arrested them. One of the officers approached me, "Thank you…" He trailed off.
"Voltess and no problem officer. I'm glad I was able to help before somebody got hurt." I held my hand out and let blue electricity form around my hand. The two disks on the ground that were holding up the car then shot up to my hand. The car fell to the ground and made a loud noise as it did.
I clicked the disks back to my belt. I turned my board around and shot back off into the sky. Now I just had to get back as Melody.
I turned around the back way of the building. I quickly got off my board and deactivated the suit. I grabbed my phone from my pocket and sent one bolt to the camera above me that I had turned off earlier.
I walked through the back exit and headed through the lobby. I could still see Bruce standing at the end of the steps. The officers were piling the robbers into their cars at this point. The crowd had dispersed at this point.
I opened the glass door and headed down the steps, "Did you see that?" I brought up as I got within earshot of Bruce.
He turned his head to me slightly before back at the getaway car that I stopped moments ago. "I did. Crazy right?" He said with that fake smile that I could see through.
I decided to let it pass, "Who even was that?" I asked as I played my part.
"She called herself Voltess. I guess she's trying to help." Bruce stated.
I crossed my arms, "She's kind of like Batman in that regard except during the day." The corner of Bruce's mouth curved into a smirk.
"It looks that way, doesn't it?" He said and looked at me with an expression I couldn't recognize.
"Well after that excitement. I need to get back to work." I said as I turned around.
"I'll see you in your office when it's time for dinner." He reminded me. Right, I almost forgot about that. I guess Batman might not see Voltess tonight anyway.
Bruce pulled up to a penthouse that had a view of a large lake and glass walls to the building.
"That's a lot of glass, you're not worried someone will invade your privacy?" I asked him in reference to all the glass.
"It's private by location alone. It's too far out of the city for me to worry about privacy." He said and opened the driver side door.
"Good point." I muttered and opened the passenger side.
I followed Bruce to the front door. He opened it and I saw an older man wearing a very classic butler attire.
"Welcome home, Master Wayne." The man had a British accent to his voice. No. Nuh huh. This is not happening. I was seeing Tony and Jarvis right at this moment. Jarvis was just an AI but originally he was the butler that practically raised Tony. Tony even used the recorded voice of the human Jarvis for the AI's voice.
"Evening Alfred. I brought a dinner guest with me. Alfred, I'd like you to meet Melody Moser." Bruce introduced us.
Alfred bowed his head slightly, "Please to meet you, Miss Moser. I shall set the table for two then." Alfred left to what I assumed to be in the direction of the dining table.
"Billionaire with a butler. I should have seen that coming." I muttered. Bruce chuckled which meant he heard me.
"Come on, I'll show you around." Bruce offered. I followed his lead as he gave me a tour of the penthouse.
It was definitely big and most definitely private now looking just how big the land was. He even had a part of the house that broke off into a pier into the lake.
I walked along the pier and stopped at the end. I overlooked the lake where the sun was starting to set. Leaving the surface of the water with an orange glow.
"Beautiful view." I heard Bruce's voice come from behind me.
"Yeah. It is." I looked just over my shoulder and smiled at him. I saw him slightly tense up.
He opened his mouth but no words came out. He cleared his throat and finally managed to say "We should go inside. Dinner is ready."
I nodded and walked past him and turned the corner back to the house. After a slight pause, I heard his heavy footsteps following behind me.
We had both finished our meals and I had thanked Alfred for the food. He could really cook. At this time, Bruce was just making small talk with me.
"Alright, you said you wanted to get to know me tonight but you have yet to ask a question." I reminded him of the whole reason I agreed to come to dinner.
"You're right. Where are you from?" He asked.
"My dad was a Marine so we got stationed around. I was born in Hawaii but I spent most of my life growing up in California. In my teens, he got stationed in New York and he eventually retired there. That's how I ended up going to MIT." I said.
"Well that explains why you're so independent. You were a military brat." Bruce said with a playful grin.
I nodded my head, "Yeah and it was just how my dad raised me." Bruce titled his head slightly.
"How your father raised you? Your mother wasn't in the picture?" I shook my head.
"No. I wasn't old enough to remember her. She got really sick after I was born. She passed away when I was only a year old. My dad raised me on his own while working in the military. I had a lot of live in nanny's growing up." Bruce gave me an apologetic look.
"I'm sorry." I shook my head again, "It's fine. It's sad yes but I never really had that connection to her. I wish I did remember her but it is what it is." I said with a shrug.
"Well it sounds like you had a very caring father to bring you up." I smiled sadly as the thought of my dad crossed my mind.
"Yeah…he was." I could tell Bruce immediately picked up on my past tense verbiage. He opened his mouth but I quickly put my hand up to stop him.
"Don't apologize for things you don't know about. That's why you're doing this in the first place right? To get to know me. Well that's one thing you know about me now." I assured him. Bruce looked like he wanted to say something until Alfred walked in.
"Pardon me, Master Wayne. There's a phone call for you." Bruce's demeanor suddenly changed. He seemed more serious now.
"Excuse me." He said and got up from the table. I watched him and Alfred walk to a separate room and closed the door.
I let out a breath that I didn't know I was holding. I didn't tell Bruce but I hate bringing up my dad especially when it came to his death. Unlike my mom, my dad didn't pass away from natural causes. He was killed by some druggie looking for extra cash to get his next hit. My hand clenched into a fist as I thought about that memory. My knuckles turned white and a blue spark danced along the top of my hand.
I heard the door open behind me and I relaxed my hand and quickly hid my anger. I stood up as Bruce approached me with a solemn look.
"That was work. There's been an emergency regarding one of our overseas companies. I'm sorry to cut this short, Mel. I'll have Alfred drive you home." Bruce apologized.
"I understand." I said with a small smile. He nodded and quickly left through the front door.
I heard the engine start to his Lamborghini before it peeled out of the driveway.
"Allow me to fetch my keys, Miss Moser." Alfred said and turned to leave.
"Actually, Alfred. I don't want to bother you. I'll call a cab." Before he had a chance to argue I was already out the door.
I pulled out my and pretended to put it against my ear as if I was calling. I kept walking down the gravel path that led towards the main road. I waited until the tree line blocked the view of the penthouse. I put my phone back in my pocket and tapped my bracelet.
Bruce's work emergency happened just in time for me to keep that promise to Batman of showing up tonight.
I shot into the air on my board and headed back towards the city. I furrowed my brows behind my mask as I saw a spotlight coming from the building. There was a bat symbol in the middle of the spotlight. That's the first time I've seen that.
I would bet money though that wherever that spotlight is coming from is where Batman will show up. I changed course and headed to the building where the light was coming from.
As I got close to the building, I noticed it was at the top of Gotham PD building. I got closer and noticed a man waiting by the spotlight. He looked at me in confusion and shock.
"You're not who I was expecting. I was told about you earlier today. Voltess right?" The man asked.
I nodded, "That's right. You could say Batman and I have been running into each other these past few nights. I saw this," I pointed to the spotlight above, "and I figured he'd show up here. This is the first time I'm seeing it. I wasn't expecting to see it on top of the police building." I stated.
"I'm Commissioner James Gordon. I've worked alongside Batman for years now. I normally only flip this on when something serious is going on or I need to talk to him." I drew my brows together under my mask.
"Which one is it this time?" I asked.
"Mix of both. Once he gets here, I can give you both the gist of the situation." Gordon stated.
"I'm here." I turned my head to see Batman drop down from the power box of the building. He looked at me as he walked over. I hovered the board down lower to the roof.
"You're here." He commented.
I smirked under my mask, "I said you could count on it." Gordon looked between us with a look of confusion.
"Am I missing something here?" He asked and gestured to us with a finger.
"Not really."
"No." We both answered at the same time. I could see Gordon roll his eyes.
"Anyways, we're getting movement from the Russian Mob. That bank robbery earlier today was their doing. They're not too happy that somebody here stopped their heist." I rolled my eyes.
"Right, next time I'll let the bank robbers get away." I said sarcastically. I didn't miss the smirk on Batman's face.
"We don't know when exactly they'll strike but some of my undercover guys got a tip off. There's going to be a large event happening at the mayor's house this weekend. Supposedly there's this treasure that the governor obtained from overseas. The mob is planning to crash said party." Gordon explained.
"So there's time to plan then." I stated. Gordon nodded, "Yes, but we need to be careful. The leader of the Russian Mob has been elusive for quite a while now. We can't rush in for an arrest."
"Which is why you called me." Batman stated.
"You'd have a better chance of going in and stopping them." Gordon stated.
"I can help." I offered.
"No offense, Voltess but stealth doesn't seem to be your forte." I raised an eyebrow at that.
"On the contrary, I can be very stealthy when I want to be Commissioner." I corrected him.
"I could use her help, Gordon." Gordon looked at Batman as if he'd grown another head.
He let out a sigh, "Alright, do what you want but come up with a plan and tell me of it the day before." Gordon told us.
Batman nodded and we watched as Gordon walked through the roof access door.
"So, you want to talk about plans now? It's not until the weekend, which is three days from now." I asked Batman.
"I need to collect more information before putting a plan together." He said gruffly.
"What kind of info?" I asked and hopped off my board.
"Building schematics, access to security cameras, and verify that the head of the Russian mob will make an appearance." He said.
"I can handle the schematics and security cameras. My powers can do much more than just magnetize and electrocute things." Batman raised his brows at me.
"How then?" I looked around trying to look for an example. My eyes caught onto a digital billboard just across from us.
"Watch this." I told him. I pointed two fingers out and a bolt of blue electricity shot out. It hit the digital billboard. A hologram then popped up on my control panel located on my left wrist.
Batman looked at my wrist now in complete shock. I could see his eyes glance up at where my eyes were behind my mask. I then started to scroll through images on the hologram. As I did that, the images on the billboard changed in real time.
"You can access any data just by spending out a spark?" He asked.
I nodded, "Exactly and I can get past any firewall or security protocol. I can pull the schematics on this and view the cameras at the same time." I said and gestured with my wrist that had the control panel on it.
I canceled the hologram and it returned back to my control panel. "Who are you?" I heard Batman say in a low tone.
I shook my head, "Sorry, I'm not telling you. If I showed you who I am, you would have to do the same. Only fair." I informed him.
"What if I did?" He asked. I didn't buy that for a second.
"Would you?" I asked him seriously. He didn't respond.
"That's what I thought. I'll work on getting the schematics and security cameras. You find out about the mob boss. We'll meet here tomorrow night to make a plan." I instructed as I got onto my board. Batman didn't say another word as I flew off into the night sky.
No One's P.O.V
Bruce watched as Voltess flew off. That hologram tech that was on her wrist was all too familiar. He thought back to that morning at Wayne Enterprises. She forgot her phone upstairs and disappeared. Then Voltess shows up and stops the bank robbery. Voltess disappears and Melody is suddenly back. It couldn't be though…could it?
"Alfred." He spoke into the comms.
"Yes sir?"
"Melody. Did you take her home after I left?" He asked.
"No, sir. She called for a cab to take her home." Alfred responded. Bruce's heart thudded against his chest.
"Did you see a cab?" He pressed further.
"No…Master Wayne, what is this about?" The butler asked him with concern.
Bruce looked back up at the sky where Voltess disappeared. There were way too many coincidences for him not to notice.
"Melody Moser is Voltess."