Wayne Enterprises

"So are you and Renee, still fighting?"

"Yep, there's no doubt about that."

Abby rubbed the inside of the oven using a sponge. The rest of kitchen had been already been taken care of, but so far cleaning the oven was the real challenge.

"Why did you guys start fighting in the first place?" asked Bruce.

"I don't really remember. I think I was trying to be nice, but she was being snobby towards me. Something like that."

Abby shrugged. She took out the soiled oven racks and set them on the island.

"Alright, now just scrub these down with a sponge," she instructed to Bruce.

He did as he was told. Bruce grabbed a sponge and began scrubbing. Abby couldn't believe how little he knew in cleaning. She would expect that Alfred had a least taught him a little bit, but her expectations were proved wrong.

"So how's your mom?"

"Don't you already know that?"

"I do and I don't," he sounded uncertain. "I only know the information I'm given and sometimes it's wrong. So how is she?"

Abby paused. Had she really asked Rachel how she was lately?

"She's well…uh good I guess. Well last I saw her she was really fed up with Crane putting criminals in his Asylum. You should have seen how angry she was. Anyway, she is very irritated with me—"

Bruce chuckled.

"—and she seems to have this obligation to herself to fix Gotham. I keep telling her that it's impossible, but she just won't listen."

"Yeah, that's your mom," he agreed with a smile.

"Hey, Bruce, why did you guys break-up?"

He still kept his eyes focused on the rack. "What do you mean?"

"I mean…when I was born. How come you guys kinda separated?"

"Well…one: your mother's parents might've killed me. And two: we just decided to stay friends."

"Was it because of me?" she asked quietly.

"No," he answered firmly.

Bruce stopped cleaning, looking directly at her.

"None of this has anything to do with you. It was my and your mother's mistake alone. You are not to blame for this at all. Don't you ever think of that again."

Abby became a bit scared of Bruce's stern tone.

"Okay, I was just asking."

Silence came between them after that.

The sunlight woke her early that morning. She couldn't believe how late she stayed up with Bruce. Compared to the night that she went out the Narrows, it wasn't that bad. But still it was late. The aroma of pancakes soon walked into her room. Following the demands of her hungry stomach, she made her way to the kitchen.

A plate of pancakes was already laid out on the table when Abby arrived. She smiled to herself. Alfred knew her so well. She sat down and began to stuff her face with pancakes.

"I see you've finally come down from that room of yours."

Alfred emerged from the back door of the kitchen, smirking.

"And at your own will, if I might add."

"Good morning, Alfred," she gulped down her first bite of her pancake.

"Good morning, Miss Wayne."

"So how was your day off?"

"It was very well thank-you. I was able to relax for a change. How was your day yesterday?"

"Okay," Abby paused. "Bruce almost burnt down the house, but other than that it was A-okay."

Alfred's suddenly eyes widened in worry.

"Relax, I—we—Bruce and I took care of it."

"Your father tried to cook again, didn't he?" he smiled.

Abby nodded.

"Yes, Master Bruce never learned how to cook properly."

"Didn't you ever teach him?"

"I tried…but he didn't seem to show any interest at the time."

"I see," she said. "So where's Bruce?"

"He went to work early this morning to speak to Mr. Fox, but he'll be right back this afternoon."

"Alfred, if he's got a billion dollars…probably more, why is he working at his own company?"

"Your father just wants to know how his company works," said Alfred. "Plus you should probably see how Wayne Enterprises works too. Since you'll be in charge of it one day."

"Yeah, tell me something I don't know," she chewed down her last pancake.

"Don't worry, just like in everything else, there's no rush for the future."

She gulped down her pancake as Alfred began to leave the room.

"Oh by the way, Mr. West called earlier this morning asking for you. I told him that you'll be able to call him later when you're up."

"Okay, thanks Alfred."

Great, now he was talking to her. Classic Aaron. He would always act when needed to when it was too late. Sasha and Heather must've even convinced him to finally call her. Well two could play at that game. She wouldn't even call him back. Even if she didn't call him back, she would still have to face him at the boxing match that night. Oh, shoot the boxing match! Abby had almost forgotten about it. She immediately ran to her room to prepare.

Abby used her duffle bag stuffed with most of her clothes hung on a hook to portray a punching bag. She punched it as she would to a regular one. Rest wasn't even her vocabulary at that moment. She needed to be ready. Not that anybody was counting on her, but she had high expectations for herself. After the fake punching bag, she went on to do countless push-ups, sit-ups, squats, and jumps on the jump rope. Abby breathed heavily as she repeated each of these exercises. If only Aaron was there to suffer with her. She finally collapsed on her bedroom floor.

"Tired yet?"

She looked up. Bruce hovered over her, giving her a small smile. That was weird. She didn't even hear him come in. Abby could've sworn he wasn't this quiet seven years ago.

"Exhausted, yes," she answered breathlessly, "tired, no."

He held out a hand. "Well then if you're not tired, then I guess I can give you a few pointers."

Abby raised an eyebrow. "Pointers? What do you know about boxing?"

"I know enough that you need a different type of strategy."

She took his hand and got to her feet.

"What type of strategy?"

"The type where it's not predictable."

Abby still held her confused look. Since when did he know so much about fighting?

"Here let me show you."

Bruce held out his fists in front of him as if he were ready to fight.

"Go ahead, hit me."

"You're not serious, are you?" she chuckled.

"I'm serious. Hit me."

"Alright if you say so."

She balled her hands into fists and hit him towards the waist. He suddenly grabbed a hold of her fist and tapped his other fist towards her stomach. Abby stood there, shocked at her own father's reflexes.

"See, just by the way your fist was aiming at my waist, I was able to stop it and hit your stomach."

Bruce released her fist from his hand.

"Dang, since when did you learn so much about fighting?" she asked.

He shrugged. "I took a few karate classes."

"Yeah, but how is this going to help me in boxing? I mean we're wearing gloves while we're doing this. And those gloves don't allow us to grab anything."

"Just be unpredictable is what I'm saying. Don't let your opponent know what you're next move is."

Abby nodded her head. "Got it."

"C'mon, how 'bout you take a break. You sound like you been at this for hours."

"It feels like it anyway."

He chuckled. "So even if you're not going to your boxing match tonight, you still prepare for it?"

"Yeah, well, you've always got to be prepared."

Abby tried block off her high nervous voice. Hopefully, since Bruce hadn't been around long enough, he wouldn't notice.

"Anyway, I feel bad about trapping you in this house and I wanna make up to you."

"You're gonna let me go to the boxing match!" she said, eagerly.

"Sorry, no."

Her hope went down. Escape plan was back on.

"I was actually going to take you to work with me."

"You might as well keep me prisoner here forever," said Abby, harshly.

"Attitude," he coughed.

"Right—I mean no thank-you…I'd rather stay here."

She found it hard to say that politely. Her mom was right. Once you get into the rebellious attitude you can't really get out.

"Are you sure? I mean you can sulk around here while you could have some fresh air on the way towards Wayne Enterprises."

Abby had gotten a pretty good amount of fresh air when she was in the Narrows, but most that air wasn't really fresh. Maybe she could take Alfred's advice in exploring her father's company.

"Ok, I'll go for fresh air's sake."

"Great," his face lit up. "I'll wait on the bottom of the staircase."

She nodded as he exited the room, closing the door behind him. Abby then quickly went to change into a fresh pair of clothes.

Bruce waited exactly where he said he would. At the bottom of the large staircase, awaiting her arrival. He smiled when she arrived.

"Are you ready?" asked Bruce.

"Yeah."

"Alright then, we'd better get going, my lunch break's almost over."

Abby followed him towards the front door. He led her to the black Lamborghini sitting in the front yard. She had to admit Bruce had a pretty good taste in cars. They loaded up in the car and sped off into the road.

"Aren't you worried about the press finding me?" she asked.

"Yeah, but there's really nothing to worry about considering the parking lot is under Wayne Towers and that it's guarded."

"Oh, and Mom's okay with this?"

"I didn't say that now, did I?" he smirked.

"Man, Mom's right. I do take a lot after you."

"Did she say that?"

"Yeah," Abby paused. "In good and bad ways."

Bruce chuckled.

"So, have you visited Wayne Enterprises since I was gone?"

"No, I've just been on the train that takes me to Wayne Towers and that's the closest I've gotten to it."

"Really? Mr. Earle didn't even invite you to come visit it while I was gone?" he raised his eyebrows.

She shook her head.

"Do you know why?"

She shook her head, again. But it wasn't truthful that time.

"Did your mom talk about it with you?"

Abby nodded.

"Abby, is there something you're not telling me?"

She didn't respond this time. Once Bruce stopped at the red light he faced her with a stern look.

"Look, if there's something going on, you need to tell me right now."

He looked back at the road and went on the green light. Abby didn't answer right away, but she thought a least one of them could tell the truth.

"They've been treating me like trash," she admitted.

Although Bruce was looking at the road, she could see his confused expression.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Ever since you left, they've completely ignored me. The last time Mom and I had contact with them was when we finally sorted out your will and everything. And when Mom called them for a tour, they just said 'don't even bother to bring that girl over here because without her father she's nothing.'"

"And it was Earle that said that?"

"Yeah, or at least it sounded like it on the phone."

"That's weird. They never treated me like that when I was a kid."

"Yeah...well Alfred wasn't exactly trying to raise a daughter on a lawyer's hourly wage," she added sourly.

"Are you saying they've been treating you like this because of your mom?"

"Partly that and because we had no power against them."

She looked away from Bruce and stared out the window.

"Well, you won't have to worry about that anymore, Abs. I'll try to make things right."

She smiled meekly. Before she knew it, they had arrived to Wayne towers.

They walked through the hallways as they made their way towards the elevator. Abby had to admit she was quite impressed with the place. It was well built and had a nice vibe to it. She ignored other people's glances as they passed by. Bruce must've forgotten to account for people who actually worked inside the building. Relief came over her once they finally made it inside an open elevator.

"So where exactly do you work?" asked Abby.

"I work in the Applied Sciences lab with Lucius Fox."

"Oh."

Abby was shocked. She expected him to work in a much higher level job.

"So you're letting those snooty people like Earle take over your company. Awesome," she said sarcastically.

"I need to know this company before I can do anything about it," he defended. "And that means starting from the bottom."

"Whatever, I just never really took you as a science kind of guy."

He shrugged. "It's a little interesting, I guess."

Before she could comment, the elevator doors opened revealing a large dimmed room. She assumed this to be the lowest level in the building besides the parking lot. Bruce didn't seem to be joking around when he said the bottom. He led her to an African American man sitting in front of his computer, hard at work.

"I see you finally came back, Mr. Wayne."

The man spun around in his chair to face them.

"Yeah, sorry for the hold-up it took a while for my daughter to get ready," Bruce placed a hand on her shoulder.

Abby snorted. "At least I'm not nearly as bad as Mom."

"You must be Abby, I presume," the man smiled.

"Yeah and you must be…somebody Bruce knows."

She couldn't quite put a finger on it if she had met this man or not.

He chuckled. "Yes, I'm Lucius Fox. I work with your father."

"Oh, right he mentioned you."

"So, what brings you here?"

Bruce answered for her this time. "I brought her down here just help her get out of the manor."

Lucius nodded.

"What exactly is this department for? I've never really heard of it," Abby's eyes traveled around the room.

"I'm sure you haven't. Basically it's a department of inventions that are only made into prototypes."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"Mr. Earle won't mass produce these because he thinks it's a waste of money," he explained.

"Geez, what kind of inventions do you have down here that Earle doesn't like?"

"I'll show you."

Lucius motioned for them to follow him. He led them a large green drawer and opened it. He revealed a large suit that seemed a little familiar for some reason.

"Nomex survival suit for advanced infantry," Lucius knocked on the hard chest of the suit. "Kelvar biweave, reinforced joints."

"I have no idea what you just said, but it sounded cool," commented Abby.

He grinned in amusement. "I'll put in simpler terms then. This suit can stop a knife and is bulletproof, except for straight shots."

Her eyes widened in awe. "Wow and the army doesn't have this stuff?"

"They didn't think it was worth the money for a soldier's life."

Lucius closed the drawer. She could sense a little bit of the grave tone in his voice. Poor Lucius, he all of these great inventions and they couldn't be shown to the world.

"Abby," Bruce spoke up. "Not to ruin the little tour here, but Lucius and I have to get to work."

"Alright, but what do I do while you guys are working?" she asked.

"You can look around the lab if you like," proposed Lucius. "Just don't touch anything."

"Will do."

Abby quickly left them to do their work. The lab seemed to have a nice collection of inventions. As she looked at the other inventions, she became more and more impressed with Lucius. Why did Earle have to be so stupid and ban from mass producing these? Wayne Enterprises would actually gain money, not lose it. Abby focused her attention towards a table filled with blue prints. Her eyes stopped upon a blue print that read, 'TUMBLER.' Looking around to make sure no one was watching, she pulled out the blue print. She couldn't believe it. It was the exact same tumbler that she rode in with Batman.

"Abby," called her father.

She immediately put the blue print where she found it. "Yeah?"

"It's time to go."

"'K, coming."

She hurried towards where Bruce and Lucius were located. They were in deep conversation by the time she got to them.

"There you are, Abby," Bruce smiled at her and then faced Lucius. "Thanks for letting me bring her down here."

"No problem," said Lucius. "It was quite a pleasure having her down here."

They said their final goodbyes to Lucius and headed home. Abby began to wonder if Lucius was designing gadgets for Batman and why. She even wondered if he knew who Batman was.

The grey clouds were starting to bundle together in the sky when she and Bruce returned to the manor.

"Looks like it's gonna rain tonight," said Abby as she got out of the car.

"Looks like it," agreed Bruce.

She looked gravely up at the sky. Dang it, the rain would make it harder for her to make it to her boxing match. Abby would have to call in some help.

She hurried up to her room and pulled out her cell phone. Abby dialed the number she wanted and waited patiently as the phone rang.

"Hello," Devin's voice came.

"Hey, Devin. It's me Abby."

"Hey Abby, where've you been all of this time?"

"I've been stuck in my own home thanks to the media."

"Well, that explains it. But don't sweat it, you've been lucky. The coach is literally working us to death."

"Look, not to sound pushy or anything, but I need a favor."

"What kind of favor?" asked Devin, suspiciously.

"It's just one little favor. I'm sneaking out to the boxing match and I need a ride."

Abby hoped she didn't sound like she was pleading.

"Why don't you ask Aaron's older brother, Jared?"

"Aaron and I are kind of in an awkward phase right now," muttered Abby.

"He told you liked you, didn't he?" she teased.

"No—why you people keep assuming that?!"

"Chill out, Abs it was just the obvious answer. And to tell you the truth Aaron seems to have his mind somewhere else right now."

"So can you take me?"

"I guess. Usually, I wouldn't agree with this, but I'm just waiting for this plan to backfire."

"Great, thanks for the support," she said sarcastically.

"No prob. So where are you right now?"

"Wayne Manor."

Devin paused for a moment. "Alright, I'll just have to search it on MapQuest, but other than that I'll be there."

"Great, just park a few blocks away and I'll be there."

"Alright see ya."

"See ya."

Abby hung up her phone in relief. The next phase now was to escape as soon as it was safe.

The rain pounded on her window as she packed her things. She had eaten dinner alone that night. Apparently, Bruce had a date that Abby didn't know about until Alfred told her. Sneaking out would be easier than she thought. Alfred had just left to go home and Bruce was gone. She could just sneak out the front door. Abby slipped on her jacket, grabbed her things, and headed down stairs. She made sure that it would it appear as if she never left. There was even a backup plan in case Bruce decided to come home early.

Abby met Devin where she said she would be. If this plan worked, Abby would still have Bruce's trust. If not…she did not even want to think of the possibilities. As Devin drove away, Abby began to ask herself, am I making the right decision?

Thanks for reading! For the sequel's title, I still can't decide, so I'm gonna leave it up to you. I've come up with a list of titles and I'm going to put it as a poll. Each time a chapter is posted on here, I'm going to take the title with the least votes off of the poll. The one that gets the most in the end will be the title. Thank you for your support. I really do appreciate it.

~Emyrox567