"I found her in an alley."
"An alley? They sure are popping up in unusual places these days."
"She's not hurt. It's probably just exhaustion."
"Or she saw you and blacked out in fear."
"Well, that means I'm doing my job, doesn't it?"
I could barely make out these voices—they sounded so far away. I should probably open my eyes now. Here I go…1, 2, 3. Okay, trying again. 1, 2, 3. Nope, not working.
I decided to let out a little moan so that they would at least know that I was awake. Whoever "they" were.
"Glosketpeskivem," I muttered groggily. Way to sound intelligent!
"I think she's awake now."
"Gee, Alfred, what tipped you off?"
"Ha ha, Master Wayne."
"Where am I?" I tried. Yes, coherent words this time! Opening my eyes a crack, I saw a white-haired man, and another Jack look-alike. Why does the latter not surprise me.
"Gotham," 'Jack' responded. Huh. Good to know. Sitting up, I found myself on a bed in a strange room. Judging by the darkness and smell of the room, I figured that it was a guy's.
"Bruce Wayne," introduced the young man, holding out his hand. I took it and shook it, replying,
"Sarah Jacobs." This time there was no officer to club me over the head for my statement. I took the older man to be Alfred, remembering the conversation the two just had, also assuming that he was a butler by his attire.
"So, Sarah, what brings you to Gotham?" Bruce asked. Time to have some fun…
"A purple button," I replied in all seriousness, because—well, I was serious. Alfred let out a little laugh.
"Oh, I see," replied Bruce, clearly disbelieving. He turned to Alfred, thinking I wasn't looking and made little circles around his head, signaling that he thought I was crazy. Hey, I wasn't crazy; I was just in the wrong time period. There is a distinct difference.
"I saw that!" I said, sticking out my tongue. In case it wasn't that obvious, I'll point out that I am in a very foul mood at the moment.
It was then that I realized I was no longer in my old dress, nor was I in my swishy dress. I was wearing—get this—pants. My parents would be appalled. I was appalled just feeling them there! And it wasn't like they were light cotton pants or whatever; these were of a thicker material, sort of bluish in color. For my top I was wearing a shirt that read "Marilyn" on it, and there was a face on it! A face on my shirt! Can you believe that? It was of some blonde girl. And don't get me started on my shoes. They were open toe and open heel! That is so improper. But I did realize that my purple button was hanging on a chain around my neck. That's good—at least I would have a lesser chance of losing it, something I did not want to do.
"Listen, Sarah…what did you see exactly before you blacked out?" Bruce asked.
"Well, I saw a big black figure, and I could kind of make out the face…actually, it kind of looked like you a little bit…" Now that I realized it, I wondered why it took me this long. It was the SAME EXACT JAW, and the same formation of the lips. I would know those lips anywhere.
"Oh my goodness, it was you in that get-up!" I exclaimed, yelping in delight at figuring it out. Bruce immediately shushed me.
"Look, I've never seen you around here which leads me to believe that you're not from around here, so it would be best if you could just keep this a secret, okay?"
"Keep what a secret? That you go around in big black costumes? I mean, it's not like everyone goes traipsing around in weird outfits everyday. I've certainly never heard of anyone doing such things." Bruce raised his eyebrow.
"You've never heard of Batman?" What man?
"Um. No," I answered honestly. "What's this…bat-man?" Bruce looked at Alfred and chuckled. Would they just stop looking at each other like I wasn't there? I'm right here!
"Batman is the reigning superhero of Gotham," Alfred responded.
"A what-hero? Do you mean like Greek mythology or something?" David was always fascinated by Greek mythology, and it's hard not to recall certain aspects of it when one is confronted with it every day for three months or however long his phase lasted.
"No, just a superhero." When I still looked at Bruce with a blank stare he sighed, clearly exasperated.
"Do you not know what a superhero is?" Do you think if I knew what a superhero was that I would be in this position? No! That much must have shown on my face, because Alfred immediately chimed in with,
"A superhero is someone who uses powers to fight evil."
"Although I consider myself more of a 'local helper' than a superhero. I don't have superpowers I just have super equipment," Bruce interjected, causing both men to laugh. I don't know why—that wasn't in the least funny.
"So a police officer would be a superhero? They usually fight for evil. Hopefully, at least."
"No, Sarah. Never mind," Bruce stated calmly, giving up the fight. I, for one, wanted this fight to be given up so I could move on with my life. Or to the next Jack, as the pattern was clearly showing. "How long are you going to be in this area?" he asked.
"With any luck, I'll be home as soon as possible. I do not planning on sticking around long, nor do I plan on returning," I informed the two guys.
"Should we tell her?" I heard Bruce whisper to Alfred.
"I don't know, Master Wayne, only few know," he replied. "Wouldn't want to give it away unnecessarily. Then the whole town would know, and you wouldn't exactly be the most popular man."
Know what? That he goes around wearing a costume and calls himself Batman, doing good deeds to the townspeople? I'm only inferring what their definition of 'superhero' is here. Of course he can't just be a hero; he has to be a super one. Isn't that just like all guys?
"Why do you not want people to know that you're Batman?" I inquired. I was immediately met by hushes and 'shh's' from both. Bruce placed his hand over my mouth for emphasis. I don't know why; it's not like there were dozens of people around here.
"How did you know that I was Batman?" asked Bruce incredulously, removing his hand.
"Geez, you just said it! First you asked me what I saw, and I said I saw you, and then you asked if I knew of Batman, so it's only natural that you are Batman." He practically spelled it out for me, anyway.
"You cannot tell anyone about this! Only few people know, and it should be kept that way." Bruce took my arm and started walking to what I assumed to be downstairs, with Alfred in tow.
"Who else knows? Anyone important?" Not like I would know these people, but it would give me a good estimate of what new league I'm in here.
"Well, you know, a cop, Rachel, Alfred here—" Hold up there, cowboy. (Ha. Cowboy.)
"Rachel? Hmm, sister maybe?" Who was this Rachel person? This could prove to be very interesting…it certainly was more fun than going back to face David's wrath, so I figured that stalling was probably the best option at this point.
"No, Rachel is my, erm, friend." This caused Alfred to release a snort of laughter. Bruce glared daggers at him.
"What, it's not like the young lady actually believed that, did you?" queried the butler. "Miss Dawes would be well able to show Sarah around the DA's office if she pleases."
"Oh come on, somehow I doubt that this random girl that I found would hardly want to be associating with other random people that she just happened to meet." I don't think that he had time to finish what he had meant, because there was a loud noise coming from outside. Which was odd, because this is obviously a mansion, and hearing anything sounding like a siren (which it did) must be pretty loud for the sound to get in here.
"I'm just looking to get home," I said honestly. I did want to get home; I mean, this was all fun, but meeting different Jacks wasn't nearly as fun as having my Jack. Meet the downside of stalling.
But I didn't get to say any more, because before I knew it Bruce had run off. Okay, can we say bad manners much?
"Where's he going?" I asked Alfred. The man shrugged, and replied,
"He's probably doing his duties." Could he be any more specific? I heaved a giant sigh, and ran after him. He was just opening a secret compartment in what looked to be the back of his living room. Neat! I wasted no time in following him.
Unfortunately, that's where he had the problem.
"What are you doing here?" He didn't look too happy about me following him. Well, he's just going to have to get over that.
"Where are you going?" I answered, question for a question.
"None of your business. Look, you're obviously fine and there's no need for you to be hanging around here, so have Alfred show you to the door, okay?" Oh, he's not getting rid of me this quickly. If I have to hang around here then I at least have to be doing something exciting. Here--boring. Going with Bruce--exciting.
"I'll come with you!" I suggested. But he just laughed in my face.
"No." And before I could bellow out excuses at him, he shut the door! Can you believe that?
Okay, how do I get the door open? I saw him playing something on the piano before I got here. That's no good, seeing as even if I did know how to play piano I still wouldn't know the right notes to pluck to open the stupid door. Great.
Ignoring Alfred who tried to offer me a drink or something, I ran out the front door and briskly walked up the lane until I reached where it turned into another part of the road. I was met by a loud vroom vroom-ing noise. I looked behind me in shock to find a humongous black—thing. It looked sort of like a car, but way bigger. The only reason I thought it was a car was because of the four wheels. Other than that, it didn't resemble anything that I've ever seen before. Which wasn't a surprise, considering that I wasn't in the right time period. Maybe this was the norm?
I looked in astonishment as the top popped up. It just sort of…activated itself. Whoa.
"Sarah?" Oh, it was Bruce in that thing, wearing the creepy black costume. His voice had changed; it was all low and raspy now. I kind of liked it that way, actually…
"I don't have time for this sort of thing. I have to go somewhere!"
"Well, what am I supposed to do?" I whined. Yes, not the most mature road to take, but I was desperate. I have found that my mission was to stick close to the Jacks, and by George—Jack—I will!
Swearing under his breath (bad Bruce!), I heard him reluctantly add,
"Hop in." Yay! I was doing something exciting. Now how did I go about entering the vehicle with without looking awkward? If I flipped too violently then something weird might happen to my pants, and who knows what this strange and unusual shirt will do…
"Quickly," he added through gritted teeth, prompting me just to fling myself in. Ouch, there was definitely going to be a bruise there later…
As soon as the 'door' was shut, we took off—at a very high speed. Oh goodness, oh goodness, perhaps this wasn't the best idea I could have had. I bet the town was just zooming on by outside. I winced as he accelerated to follow the sound of the siren. While I was in this predicament, I took a moment to observe my surroundings.
And let's just say that David would have been in heaven. It was a science geek's dream. I haven't seen anything like it to compare it to, but that isn't surprising. There were all these flashing light thingies, and multitudes of buttons. But none, I noticed satisfactorily, were as pretty as my purple one.
I was interrupted by the cease of motion. Bruce had pulled a handle and we were no longer traveling; I also heard the silence of the siren.
"Stay here and don't move if you know what's good for you," Bruce instructed in his deliciously low voice, and I could do nothing but nod. I watched as he exited the vehicle, taking special notice of how he got the top open. I had no intention of leaving.
Well, okay, so I kind of got bored. Wouldn't you? When Bruce didn't come back soon, I began to get incredibly antsy. And if that wasn't bad enough, my foot fell asleep. Darn it! Deciding what I wanted to do, I opened the door and stumbled out.
The sight that greeted me was not exactly my kind of a scene. I saw cars with moving lights and the word "police" written across them—complemented by the uniformed officers carrying guns. But if that wasn't bad enough, I saw Bruce in the middle of all of it, fighting with some guy. The guy was clearly in a tiffy, and it was clearly Bruce who was aggravating him. He kind of reminded me of Spot on the days that Jack got the better of him. You know, small and bitter looking.
Finally Bruce looked up and saw me standing there, and screamed at me.
"Get back in the car!" he said, obviously annoyed at my lack of following instructions.
"But—" I started, but he interrupted me. Why can I never finish a sentence around him?
"Go!" he screamed. I wondered why; it's not like I was in the way all the way over here on the sidelines. But before I could ponder any more, I immediately felt someone grab my arm and yank me in front of everyone. It was the shrivel-ly Spot-like guy!
"Let me go free of charge or she dies," he growled in Bruce's general direction, and before I knew what was happening I felt something cold against my temple. No, it was not an ice cube; it was the feel of steel. A gun. What did I do to deserve this? Seriously.
"Look, if you just put it down we can—" It was clear Bruce wanted to make a deal, but this maniac was in no mood for a deal.
"No!" the uncompromising man replied, tightening his grip on my arm violently. I really didn't appreciate being in this situation. I found myself wishing desperately for David and my doilies and my room and my comfy chair…
All of a sudden, I felt myself detach myself from his grasp by no help of my own. I sighed in relief when I realized that it was the purple button at work again. I watched the dank colors of what I took to be Gotham swirl and merge into yet another strong wind.
I thought in anticipation of where it would carry me, hoping that it would be anywhere but this—but not including home. As much as I wanted them to be, I had a feeling that my adventures weren't quite over yet.
So very very very very very sorry for the lack of updates! I had hardly any free time at all in the past few months, but I didn't quite forget this story. I also have an inbox full of updated chapters that I will review when I have some down time, so I'm sorry if yours is one of them. I will slowly but surely get to them!
I know it was a little rusty, but I hope you liked the chapter!