I did not first write of, nor do I own, Batman/Bruce Wayne, Alfred Pennyworth, his "cousin" Fredrick, Amanda Waller, or Leslie Thomkins.
I did first write of Leslie Thomkins sister, Evelyn Elizabeth Ainsley, Madge Peterson, and the great Hound Juniper, as well as the five young men, Malachi, Luke, the talkative one, Soccer/football player, and worried older brother also seen in this story with Bruce Wayne during his private meeting with five of them and walk through Amanda Waller's camp with the other.
This story is for fellow fans like me not meaning to either make or spend any money, nor create bad feelings between us and those who actually own and created these characters we love that we maybe make a teensy bit our own here. :)
Evelyn Elizabeth Ainsley, once Evelyn Elizabeth Thompkins, looked to Alfred Pennyworth and Fredrick. "Could you two leave us alone for a moment?"
Fredrick turned away from feeding yet another bit of croissant to Juniper to look at her. Alfred raised an eyebrow at her. Madge lifted both of her own brows while staring at her.
Evelyn smiled sweetly, yet mischievously, at them all. "Don't look so worried, I just want to engage in a bit of girl-talk with this young lady without any men-folk around to be embarrassed by it."
Alfred lifted his arched eyebrow higher. Fredrick coughed into his fist. His own brown eyes twinkled. Evelyn became engaged in a staring contest with Alfred for a few moments before she spoke again. "Well, we 'could' have out little chat while you're still in the room I suppose."
Fredrick chortled across the round, breakfast table from Madge, but watched Evelyn E. Ainsley. "I'm all ears, Darling."
Alfred rolled his eyes across from Evelyn, and rose from his chair. After he stood, he began to put on his coat that had been hanging on the back of the chair. "Come along, cousin. I can take you to a pub I know of that reminds me strongly of those we used to frequent."
Fredrick jumped from his chair, grabbed his keys from the counter, flung his own coat over his shoulder and strode out the door. "If you're buying, Cousin Alfie, I'll meet'ja there."
Alfred put on his hat while glancing at the 'girls'. Then he rolled his eyes while raising his voice for his 'cousin's' benefit, "How will you do that when you don't 'know' the address?" He bent over Evelyn's head and whispered to her "Don't scare her away." He then turned and went through the swinging door after his comrade.
The two disappeared with Madge staring after them. Evelyn grinned at the red hair covering the back of Madge's head until they both heard the front door close behind 'Alfie.' Then Miss Evelyn Ainsley spoke. "So ... have you seen Alfred kiss my dear sister, Leslie, yet?"
Madge spun around and stared at her mouth open in a small "o." "Noooo …" Then she leaned over the table with wide eyes toward the older woman. "Have you?"
While leaning back in her chair, Evelyn raised her cup to her lips. Her eyes twinkled over its rim. "Heavens no, they'd neeeeeever let me catch them. They know I'd never let them live it down."
Madge straightened in her chair, perked her head up a bit, and smiled with glittering eyes of her own. "Can we set up a camera?"
Evelyn threw back her head and laughed. "I 'knew' I would like you!"
. . .
Five years earlier Bruce had had a very different conversation with another woman in Africa.
"Do you want to capture The Investor?"
Bruce stood a little straighter and stared more fixedly at the woman behind the desk. "What are you 'really' asking me?"
Amanda Waller put her folded hands on the table, tipped her chin inward, and looked up at him from beneath her furrowed eyebrows. "He hurt you. He hurt your family, 'extended' family, but I know the look. You would do anything for these people. So we can both hunt and investigate this man to the best of 'our' combined abilities, will you agree to take orders from me from here on out?"
Bruce stared at her … considering.
. . .
"Don't let them push you around too much dear."
Made snapped her cup down. She stared at "Evie" or "Elizabeth" or "Lizzie" or whatever she was supposed to call this sister of "Doc" who actually had a good sense of humor. "What?"
The woman gave her a warm, sad smile. Madge found that odd coming from her. She'd only cracked jokes, guilted people into accepting dogs, or offered them fantastic "opportunities" in Madge's own short experience with her.
The younger woman just kept staring at the older as she continued. "They mean well, but they can run you off with all their worrying. Trust me that doesn't end well, running away after your nerves are finally frayed enough you don't care where you're going anymore. I finally found the trick to deal with them though. I'll share it with you for free now. You tell them they can't hold on to a sane, sober adult forever. Other people need them more than you. They need to move on with their own lives for now. And yes, you'll call them if you really need them. You have their number."
Madge murmured as she let all those words sink into her mind. "But I don't have their number."
"Evie," Madge suddenly decided she would call her, "Evie," winked at her. She raised her cup of tea to her lips while replying to Madge, "I'll give it to you."
. . .
Five years earlier, Waller had given Bruce a much colder smile. "You're extremely talented Bruce. I could use you on my team. In fact, I could use you to 'lead' a team …"
"I'm … not very partial … to teamwork."
Amanda Waller's grin widened. "That's not what I saw today. You had a plan. You ran into an ambush. You talked those ambushing you into a new plan. It worked. When you received new information you followed it. While I can't compliment your recklessness, with 'my' team backing you up, you got closer to, and lived longer than most, I've sent out 'prepared' to meet 'God's Attribute,' 'Huntress,' or 'Sportsmaster' alone let alone meet them together like that. I need you. You need me. We both have the same plan. 'Stop' chaos. Bring peace back to a place as fast as possible so others can live in it. Use quick and effective action to save more lives than are spent in the process. We're both good at what we do, together we might save even more lives and spend fewer, which I see is important to you."
That last comment brought something to Bruce's mind. He stared at her another long moment. His brows furrowed. "Before I accept or deny your proposal, I want a more direct answer than you've yet given to a question I've asked you twice since I've arrived.
Waller frowned, and the furrow between Bruce's eye grew deeper as he knew he needed the answer more than ever. "Where are the four boys I left in charge to meet you at the 'leader's' camp and tell you where I went? I made promises to them, I intend to keep them."
She frowned at him. A little ripple of chills ran through him. He lowered and hardened his voice further. "Where. Are. They?"
"Have you talked to them, or any of these other boys? I have, and I've talked to the men too. They've all killed, Bruce. Or, they've at least been close enough to violent death to taste it, just like you. No one gets over that. This life you and I live has seeped into them already. It will never leave them. Asking them to pretend it hasn't, to try to fit them into a normal, peaceful routine with the rest of the world is cruel. Trust me, I know this from personal experience."
"Where. Are. They?"
"Gone."
. . .
Madge stared at the paper and thought about the freedom it represented along with "Evie's" words. Now she had this, she could go back to her old life and then escape it again at any time. She could even go back and forth, jumping out when the water got too hot in one place for the other, it would be ... freedom ... from both. It would be not being trapped by either.
She put the paper down on the table and sighed. Her shoulders sagged, but a corner of her mouth curled up. That wouldn't be fair to the Bat or any of them. And it might not even be fair to herself.
That last thought surprised Madge. She sighed, took a sip of tea and set it back on the table. Man, was she changing. She almost liked the stuff now.
. . .
Bruce started slightly at Amanda Waller's answer. Then he stiffened. Then he stared at her. "Gone where?"
"Training. As will most of these 'boys' out there. They're soldiers Bruce. Just like you. They'll never be anything else."
And the two just stared at each other, and Amanda Waller sucked in her breath, because she knew she'd lost him. In fact, in that moment, she was a little afraid of him.
. . .
Five years later, Bruce stared at the form in the light spilling in from the window pane above them both showing the stars and moon above the hanger. He stepped toward him. "I didn't know before she told me, when I got back."
He took another step toward the young man, but froze when he laughed back at him. "Liar! Of course, you knew! You set us up for her."
Bruce shook his head and began moving forward again. "I didn't."
The younger man's face creased into a scowl. Bruce raised his hands to either side of his head and opened them while continuing his approach. "If I did, why am I here, unarmed, in the midst of all four of you?"
The other youth nearly spat his answer. Bruce sensed the other three closing in around him as the first young man gave it. "Because even among the four of us, now, you're better than us!"
Bruce froze and raised an eyebrow. The other youth raised his gaze slightly. His eyes squinted. Bruce heard his voice grow tight. "She has been watching you. You are her favorite, even not there! She has us watch footage!"
Bruce's brows rose at that. The other young man continued. "She says you are even better than before, when she wanted you then!"
Bruce raised his eyebrow higher "Then, if she wants me, why do you believe she 'has' me, or had me before?"
The other young man's face went lax. His gaze wondered away from meeting Bruce's. The detective could discern a 'thinking' face when he saw one.
Bruce lowered his hands and continued to look into that face. "I'm not hers. I haven't wanted to be hers since I learned she broke my promise to you, and yes, she wants me. More than you, but I'm not going to work with her."
The other man gave a huff of a laugh. "Indeed. You had a choice."
Bruce nodded. "I did, unlike all of you … but by having that choice and remaining free, I have found and used an opportunity to free you, if you want that."
"How?"
"By finding someone she wanted more than the four of you, and whom I'd promised 'nothing' to, except to not kill him."
The man clenched his fists at his sides. His gaze grew harder. Bruce wondered if he'd made a mistake by telling the man the truth about Amanda having more faith in yet another over him.
He gentled his voice as he went on and looked away from the fists to the man's face again. "You've grown. She's trained, well. I can see that. You would all make excellent soldiers. If that is what you want, I will leave. I'm willing to bet, though, you can take what you've learned, the discipline you've been trained with, and apply it to other things, things you might prefer doing to this."
"Do you know where my family is?"
Bruce turned his gaze over his shoulder. He then stared into a long, thin face belonging to a tall youth behind him. Bruce nodded. "They run the vegetable gardens behind my parents' school."
The man stiffened and stared. Bruce reached into his back pocket. The four men around him froze. They riveted their gazes on his hands. Bruce raised and opened his free hand, but his other continued its current activity as he spoke to them in a calm voice. "I'm just getting out pictures."
The tall, thin man looked interested and stepped forward toward him. Bruce fished out the photos and held them out to the man. He took a tiny, flashlight out from somewhere on his person and examined the photographs. His eyes squinted, but then widened as he smiled. "It is them."
He then held the photos out to be examined by the two other youths flanking him. They stepped closer to look. After sliding one slip of hard paper behind the other as he studied them, the young man holding the pictures frowned at the last in the pile. "Except this one."
The shortest among the three men standing together whispered, "That's my parents."
Bruce met Luke's gaze as the boy, even five years later, this one was still a boy in his sight, looked up into his face. Bruce nodded. "They are. They still wait for you to be found. I told them the remains could not be recovered, and there was reason to believe some had escaped the camp in another direction. Perhaps even their son."
"Waller must have been furious."
Bruce looked back to the youth who'd first spoken to him and still stared at him with a hard gaze across from the others. The oldest man there nodded. "She was. She is. And so were others when I gave them hope, but I always wanted to get you all back from her to keep my promises to you, like I did for Malachi."
"I remember you making no promises to Malachi."
"I did. I promised him I'd take him home, and help him finish his education, and do what I could to help him keep the nightmares away with God's grace."
The hardest youth raised both his eyebrows and then lifted his chin to try to look down on him. "That's quite a promise."
Bruce nodded. "It is, but I try to keep the promises I make. Will you trust me?"
The young man looked away to glance at the other three. They looked back at him over the photographs. The one to the right of the man holding them grinned and said, "I still prefer the idea of being a football star to a secret soldier, Judah."
The other man looked back to Bruce. He glowered at him. Bruce smiled, though, because he knew he had won.
What did you think? :D
God Bless
ScribeofHeroes