The next morning, I awoke to the doorbell ringing throughout the Manor. I quickly got up, threw my hair into a ponytail, tossed on a sweatshirt, and went to answer the door.
Mr. Fox stood there like I had expected.
"You're answering the door for him now?" he asked me.
"Yeah…"
"Is everything okay?"
"It's just—"
I didn't get to finish as Bruce came down the stairs. I didn't miss the look in his eyes when he looked at me, and I don't think Mr. Fox did either. I let him come into the house and he handed Bruce a newspaper.
"Page three. Seems you made a series of large put options on the futures exchange, verified by thumb print. Those options expired at midnight last night."
Bruce looked at the newspaper in horror. The headline read "Bruce Wayne Doubles Down and Loses".
"Long term we may be able to prove fraud, but for now, you're completely broke. And Wayne Enterprises is about to fall into the hands of John Daggett."
"The weapons. We can't let Daggett get his hands on Applied Sciences."
"Applied Sciences is all locked up and off the books. The energy project, however, is a different story."
"Miranda Tate. We need to convince the board to get behind her. Let's show her the reactor."
"We're meeting her there in thirty-five minutes, so you better get dressed." He looked at me. "I'll meet you at the office."
Mr. Fox went out the door and Bruce began to go up the stairs.
"Bruce," I called as I followed him up the steps. "Are you sure you can trust her with this?"
"Yes," he replied shortly.
"What makes you believe that you can?"
"She never stopped backing me up for the last few years. She's remained a very loyal employee."
Of course she has. She was trying to gain Bruce's trust, and more than that, so that he wouldn't suspect her of having anything to do with what happened later. The sad part was that it worked. At least I wouldn't have to worry about him kissing her and taking it a, uh…a step further. Right?
"I know you're worried about all of this, and I get that. I'm just afraid she's not the best person for you to tell this secret to," I said.
"Kris, you don't even know her. You met her once for two minutes. I've known her for years. I'm going to tell her."
I sighed. "I get that you're mad at me and I understand. But please, just listen to me on this."
"It's done, Kris. We're telling her."
I was fighting a losing battle. I got ready and headed over to Wayne Enterprises. Stupid Miranda/Talia.
When I got to Mr. Fox's office, I began preparing everything he needed for his upcoming meeting with the board. A meeting Bruce was going to get kicked out of. Not on my watch.
Mr. Fox came in and board members began to pour in. Bruce arrived last and took a seat at the end of the table.
"Alright, ladies and gentlemen, this meeting will now come to order." I stood at Mr. Fox's side, ready to hand him the necessary documents he would need.
"I'd like to point out that we have a non-board member here," Daggett said. "Which is highly irregular, even if his family name is above the door." Was it possible for me to strangle him? No, even in fictional worlds, there was still a law. Shoot.
"Bruce Wayne's family built this company," Fredricks said. I liked him, always defending the man who needed it.
"And he himself has run it—" another board member started.
"Into the ground, sir," Daggett finished. "Does anybody disagree? Check the share price this morning. Crazy gambling on futures has not only cost Mr. Wayne his seat, it's lost us all a lot of money. And he has to go."
"I'm afraid he has a point, Mr. Wayne," Mr. Fox said. I'm sure there was some reason why he said that, but I never figured out what it was. And I wasn't going to take it.
Bruce stood up to leave and headed to the door.
"Bruce," I said. He turned to me. "Wait." I looked at Mr. Fox and I knew that he could tell what I was going to do. I had the best job anyone could ever have, and I was about to lose it. But I didn't care. Besides, I didn't have much longer here anyway and no one was going to be showing up to work once Bane took over. I turned to the board members. "What is the matter with you?" I said angrily. "Bruce Wayne has done everything he could to do what was best. Everything he's done was done with the best judgment he had. Do any of you realize how much he has sacrificed?"
"Mr. Fox," Daggett said, eyeing me. "I think you should teach your assistants to hold their tongue."
"I'm not finished. This man has done so much. So much that you aren't even aware of. I've seen firsthand the work he has done for this city as a whole, and if you can't see that, then you don't deserve to work here." I turned back to Mr. Fox and used the words he had said to Bruce at the end of the last film. That might've been a little cruel, but I needed him to understand. "Mr. Fox, consider this my resignation. As long as there are people here who don't respect the person who started this and worked hard to keep it going, I won't be." I'm pretty sure I saw a look of admiration, but I might've been imagining it.
I walked over to Bruce and took his arm and walked out with him. When I met Miranda/Talia's eyes, I could notice a…coldness forming in them. I don't think she liked me being so close to Bruce and going to such lengths for him. She was trying her hardest for years to get in with him and now that I was here, that plan was unraveling. Her problem, not mine.
"What was that?" Bruce asked as we left the boardroom.
"I couldn't just stand there and let them say that to you. You have done and lost so much more than they'll ever realize. Hearing them say those things kind of just…sparked a fire. And it didn't exactly want to be put out."
"Why did you do that? You loved that job."
"I told you I was going to make everything up to you. How am I doing?"
"You're on the right track."
I was worried he was still mad at me, but then he smiled and held out his hand for me. Together, we walked out of Wayne Enterprises with our heads held high.