Chapter Fifteen
He might as well have driven a 15 inch needle through my chest cavity and into my heart.
My insides had turned into searing stakes with white-hot tips, saudering away at the entrails of my inner most being. Every resolve to scream escaped me, and my throat compressed shut. I could've breath for an instant, and I'd thought for sure I'd had a mini-heart attack. Mentally telling myself I had not drifted into a partial coma, I let my bottom lip drop open. Tears welled in my eyes as the inevitable crashed into me like a wave made entirely out of bricks: this man was going to kill Bruce, and I was powerless to stop him.
The fact that I know was held prisoner by Ra's Al Ghul really had nothing to do with my trauma. What petrified me was that he was going to kill Bruce Wayne; my love, and he was going to destroy Batman; my...other love. It felt as though the major ingredients of my life were being thrown into a wild mixture of confusion, love and desperation. I was not prepared to live my life without Bruce, and Reacher wouldn't be able to survive Gotham without Batman at her side. I gulped and fire preceeded in its wake.
Bruce moaned heavily as Ra's stood, leaving him on the ground. It occured to me that it must've been one heck of a punch, because Bruce shouldn't have been down that easily-unless he'd gotten so used of kevlar protection already. Ra's gave a few orders to his men in their tongue and approached me, gesturing for the men to release my arms. I jerked away from them and straigtened my gown somewhat neatly and Ra's stood before me. His eyes scoured my own and I looked away, unwilling to let him see the weakness brewing in my eyes. I exhaled a shaky breath and then looked behind him, only to find Bruce roughly being jerked up by two of his ninja's. My brow furrowed and Ra's looked partway over his shoulder. The ninja's began to head towards the stairs and I lunged around Ra's in their direction, a scream rupturing from my lungs.
"No! What are you doing with him? Bruce! Bruce!" I was almost to the bottom of the stairs when a rough hand clamped around my forearm, jerking me to another halt. I crashed into a spicy-smelling chest and collasped to my knees, unwilling to lose another struggle. Tears now fell down my face in salty lines. "Bruce! God, no! Please. Bruce, wake up! Wake UP!" my sobs made my words barely legible. "Bruce, please..."
Without a second thought, Ra's chuckled and crouched to his haunches beside me. I could sense a smile playing on his lips as his words reached my ears with no resolve. My stomach clenched tightly and my heart turned to a hard stone as he whispered in my ear tauntingly. "What only hurts us makes us stronger, my dear."
I opened my eyes and looked up at the stairs again, where Bruce had disappeared to. Another tear poured down my face, mascara and blush going with it. I bit down on my tongue and closed my eyes again, begging God for some type of plan to get us out of this. Only hours ago He'd rescued me from insanity, only to leave me here, a prisoner? That wasn't the likeliness of Jehovah, and I wasn't about to believe it for one moment. I turned my head to find Ra's standing slowly and I wiped at my eyes. He extended a hand and I took it gracefully. I rose to my haunches and then looked up at him again, fire bursting forth from my soul and into my veins. He looked at me strangely, as if confused. I looked away and he led me towards the stairs. Thoughts swirled through my brain as my heart thudded like a brass drum.
We reached the top of the marble platform and Ra's gestured a hand signal to his ninja's. They bowed respectively and hurried off to do their bidding. He then gave me a half smile and released my arm, bowing at the waist and gesturing for me to climb the next set first. I did so compliantly, lifting the hem of my gown above my ankles. I scanned the banks of my memory as I caught a glimpse of the hall, about six steps up.
"You will thank me someday," he said lightly. I stopped and looked down at him. "What I am offering you is a high honor for any woman."
"How can I be thankful?" I replied quietly, still climbing the marble steps slowly. Bruce's smile just an hour before flashed across my memory and wrenched my heart inside my chest. I swallowed thickly and whispered. "You're taking me away from everything I know."
"As I said. What hurts us will eventually make us stronger."
I stopped, glanced over my shoulder to look at him and offered the older man my best smile behind salty tears. He stopped and smirked up at me. I tilted my head to the side and nodded slowly. "That's the most convincing thing you've said all evening." With that, I whirled around and roundhoused him. The heel of my foot slammed into his chin, sent him flying off his step and down the staircase. His body tumbled and rolled and he moaned, and finally he slid down the last steps, motionless. I wasted no time as his moan echoed down the staircase. I bolted, taking the last steps two at a time and hustled down the hallway.
Broken English was hushed near the steps. I slipped into one of the many rooms lining the hallway and closed the door softly. I didn't bother to flip on the lights and I hustled through the room, cursing my dress for its inconvience and unpracticality. I hurried towards the window as something caught my eye. Whirling around, I scrambled for the closet and flung it open. I shuffled some of the bagged clothing away, only to realize this was indeed the room I'd hoped for.
The design of Wayne Manor was indeed Victorian, but when Thomas had the electrical system re-done with a security feature, he'd paid a significantly large amount of money for many "boxes" to be practically spaced throughout the house. Instead of going to the basement every time a fuse needed flipped, he went to many of the different boxes throughout the Manor to fix the problem. The ones I knew of where in the conservatory, the piano hall, and the guest bedroom...
Relief overcame me. "Thank you Jesus," I pried open the switch-box and scanned over the writing on the left-hand side. Deciding that no light was better than some, I grabbed all the wires and yanked hard. Static sizzled and then they came loose. Looking over my shoulder, I saw that the little red numbering of an electic alarm clock had died into blackness. Satisfaction came over me. "Well done."
Sliding the closet closed, I listened as men scrambled throughout the hallway, cursing and hollaring in their tongue. I heard nothing of Ra's-he must have been down still. A smirk floated onto my lips and I slid the window open and looked down. Two stories up and the ground so far below, with no gear. A twinge of doubt flooded through my body, turning my feet a disturbingly icy cool.
Without a second thought, I wiggled my toes and slid out the window, then slid it back closed with a thump.
Twenty minutes later, Leslie's X-Terra skidded to a stop at the end of Bruce Wayne's driveway. I flung open her passenger door and grabbed the suit tossed half-hazardly on the front seat. Unbuttoning the back of my gown, I slid it off right in front of her and began to suit-up. Leslie flicked the lights off and reached behind her, grabbing my quiver and bow from the backseat. I zipped the suit up the front and placed the Venetian mask over my eyes.
Accepting the bow, I slipped it over my shoulder and then tested the taut in the string. "Pray for me, Les. Bruce is in trouble." I choked back a sob. "I...dunno if I can get him ou-"
She stopped me and she clasped my hands. "Shh. Don't even say it. All things are possible with Christ, remember that."
I nodded. "Thanks. Get to the PD and tell Gordon to seal off the Narrows. Crane's up to something with the wat-"
She snorted sarcastically. "Something? Honey, didn't you hear? Wayne Enterprises lost some-type of water vaporizer. It was stolen yesturday at noon," her eyes turned sad.
It hit me suddenly. "Crane was going to administer his hallucinagen through the water, and vaporize it throughout the city. Before his drug was just airborne, which would've been impossible to administer throughout the city without spending millions. This way he could vaporize the drug-infected water and..." I stopped and my eyes widened. "Oh God. He's poisoning the entire city!"
Leslie shifted her car into reverse. "What do you want me to tell Gordon?"
I thought fast. "Seal off the Narrows. Get whatever units he can and lockdown the entire island. Tell him to get the mass-production on whatever aircraft he can." I handed her a smaller arrow and she looked at me, brow wrinkled in confusion. "Tell him Batman and Reacher are on their way."
"But are you?"
I smiled at her and winked. "We will be."
