Gotham Knights – Chapter Three

I managed to wake up the next morning, thanks to my alarm. Bruce stayed over and slept on the sofa, which was really kind of him. Helen had woken up as well, and was in the kitchen making her breakfast.

"Morning!" she greeted me with. "You better?"

"Yeah, I guess so." I looked over at Bruce on the sofa. He looked very adorable, which is not a word I would usually use. "Should I wake him?"

"Wave bacon under his nose, and see what happens!" my cousin joked. I giggled a little bit, but just came about face to face with him. I rubbed his shoulders to try and wake him.

"Bruce? Bruce?" I called. Eventually, his small eyes opened, and I saw how blue they were.

"Oh, morning Vicki." he said. He sat up straight, and stretched himself, as he was taller than the sofa. "Nothing else happened during the night, did it?"

"Well, apart from a weird dream involving Paris, and mariachi bands, and the fact I could hear your cute snoring, no, not really."

"I could hear that snoring as well, but I wouldn't call it cute!" Helen called from the kitchen. For a moment, I was scared that Bruce would fire her for making that comment, but he just laughed, and threw his arm around my shoulder.

"Your cousin makes the weirdest jokes, doesn't she?"

"Sometimes, I guess." He pulled me in for a kiss, which I gave. Although I could hear Helen making gagging noises behind me, I didn't care.

"Now," Bruce said, after we broke apart, "I need to head off to work. I'm helping organise a charity event at the Gotham Zoo to raise money for a bat sanctuary. Alfred will pick you up, as I said. I think he said he was cooking chicken tonight. You know, wrapped in bacon with a cheese sauce inside it."

"Looking forward to it!" We kissed again, and then he left out of the front door. I felt incredibly lucky to be going out with Bruce. Not because he's a millionaire or anything (that's pretty much the last reason!), but because he is a man who is quite famous, yet he is the nicest person I'd ever met. He was kind, and very sensitive, but also strong and courageous.

"Oi! Love-Dove! What time do you need to go to work?" my cousin called from behind me. I turned to look at the clock above the stove. 8:45! I need to be there at 9! I grabbed a piece of toast from Helen, gathered my things together, and was out the door by 8:47. Before realising I didn't know where the Gotham Gazette headquarters were located, so I turned around and knocked on Helen's door.

Luckily, Helen was quite a fast driver, and I got to the reception desk at 8:58.

"Hi, Vicki Vale." I said to the receptionist. She looked on her computer, and directed me to the office of a man named Perry White. I found his office and knocked on his door.

"Come in." I heard, and I walked in. Perry was very strict. If you meet him, do NOT call him chief! One guy walked passed him, calling him chief, and he went ballistic! Oh my gosh, I cannot even describe how scary it was! (And I won't try to here!) However, after that disastrous meeting, he showed me to my desk, and told me to write up everything there. He also sent me out into the street to take pics and find a story. So I did so. Snapping pictures around Gotham's Main Square, and hoping something would come up so that I would have a story on my first day. I managed to snap some pictures of the people putting up posters for the charity event that Bruce was talking about; the bat sanctuary. I asked the people who put up the posters about the event, and got enough information to create a story. Back at office, I started typing up my story. Perry looked over my desk, and seemed to approve it, but then again, I wasn't exactly sure. As I was putting the photos onto the document, my eyes turned to the television that hung above my desk, and saw a news report from the GCNN. I felt a little bitter, as that's where I wanted to be, however, I still took notice of what was being reported: The Joker had escaped from Arkham Asylum. This made me think again about that encounter I had with Batman the night before. Something, I don't know what, made everything seem like he was familiar to me. It was strange-it was if the man behind the cape and cowl was someone I knew, and was very close to. Something else also occurred to me; how did Bruce know about the attack in the ally? Helen didn't call him, and neither did I. These thoughts going around in my head made it difficult to write; I hope this wouldn't cause my job to be in jeopardy.

Once 5pm rolled around, a call came for me that a man named Alfred Pennyworth was downstairs, waiting for me to give me a lift to Wayne Manor. Luckily, I managed to complete about half of my article, so I saved my work on a memory stick, and left my desk. An old man, who I guessed was Alfred (and I was correct), opened the door for me, to which I got in, and he drove me to Wayne Manor. As he drove me, we started a conversation.

"So, Miss Vale, how did you and Master Wayne meet?"

"Well, I was with my cousin, Helen, and he just called me to meet him. Was quite out of the blue, if you ask me."

"Oh, well, Master Bruce does usually have an element of surprise. It's one of the things many reporters write about in the papers. I assume that you've seen the posters for the charity event?"

"Yes I have. I'm actually writing a story about it at work. I've almost finished it, so I'll probably work on it when I get back to the flat."

"Ah, so you're one of the reporters?"

"Well, I want to be a newscaster, you know, someone in the field, working for GCNN, but I guess you have to start somewhere."

"Very true, Miss Vale, very true." After that, we had left the city centre, and were driving up a hill, and through tall gates, which led to the magnificent house, known as Wayne Manor. Alfred got out of the driver's seat, and opened my door, which was in front of the giant door. And in the doorway, there was Bruce. I ran to him, and wrapped my arms around him. He seemed to be very surprised by that, but gave me a warm hug back, which was very soothing. He kept one of his arms around me, and led me inside the house.

"Was work alright?"

"Yes, fine thank you. Everything prepared for the charity event?"

"Almost there. We just need a few more things to prepare it, but we should nearly be ready." He guided me into the house, and led me to the drawing room-style room. I sat down on an armchair, and Alfred served me tea.

"So, Vicki, you like it here in Gotham?" I sipped my tea, unsure why he sounded nervous.

"It's alright, I guess, I mean, it's no Garden of Eden, but it's ok." He looked down at his coffee, and smiled. He didn't say anything though. I put my tea down on the coffee table, and shifted my body to face him.

"What's the matter? C'mon, tell me." He puts his coffee down and sighs.

"I'm just…nervous."

"Nervous? About what? You're Bruce Wayne, when are you ever nervous?"

"When I've met someone like you." I was gobsmacked at this.

"Um, I, err, um, we've only, um, known each other for, err, a few days, or so."

"Still, you're nothing like I've ever seen or known before. It's refreshing." He got up, fiddled with the cuff of his shirt, and turned to me.

"Excuse me for one second." He then left the room, leaving me with my tea, the fireplace glowing, and my thoughts. Since when are guys like this? They see someone, go out with them, and then they call you special? After three days? Maybe it's just America liking everything fast; I don't know. I looked up, and noticed a grandfather clock at the other end of the room. For some reason, it took my intrigue, so I put my tea down, and went to it. Studying the face, I noticed that the cover for it wasn't properly closed. I could've just shut the cover, but for some reason, I really wanted to test something out. I looked at my watch, and decided to test my timezones, and make sure it was ok to be able to call my parents. As my watch said 5:48, I imputed the time I thought it would be in the UK – 5 hours ahead. Once I put the minute hand to the 48th minute, suddenly, the wall next to it backed up, moved sideways, and revealed steps down to some sort of basement area. Curiosity leading me, I took my first step down, and never looked back.

I couldn't see much as I went down the steps, making sure that I didn't slip. I was then greeted by a smell. A smell of damp and wet; it also felt very cold. Suddenly, many lights came on, and I realised that we were in a cave. And not just any cave, giving that there was a very similar symbols around the whole cave. It had a black bat over a yellow background.

"Wha-what does this all mean?" I asked. I was extremely confused. Why was this underneath Bruce's house? Was he working with Batman, his friend, associate, brother, or… A clocked figure was shown in the shadows, catching me by surprise.

"How did you get down here?" he said, gruffly.

"I just input a time in the clock-why are you down here? What's your agenda with Bruce Wayne? Who even are you?!" We stared at each other for a few seconds, probably because that's how long it took me to get it.

"Oh my gosh!" I finally got it. "You helped me in the alley the other day, you knew my skills, you knew about everything because you're Bruce!"

"Yes, you are correct. Hello Vicki." I smiled, reached up, and took off his cowl, seeing his face glow as he softly smiled at me. It was a little weird though to see him with big black circles around his eyes. He almost looked like a raccoon. Almost...

"Ah! So she finally gets it!" A familiar voice came from the computer bay. Someone was sitting in a big black chair, which swivelled round to reveal why the voice was so familiar.

"Helen! What are you doing down here?"

"I'm here to wait for you!" She giggled, but I was not impressed.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Err, for obvious reasons! I can't seriously go around saying "I'm the Batgirl", now can I?" I blinked at her for a second. I wasn't sure if what they were saying was true. Bruce saw my face, and guided me to a chair for me to sit in.

"Look," he started, "you remember that time that you inputted into the clock to get in here?"

"Yeah, it was 10:48, I think."

"That was the time that my parents were gunned down when I was young. Since then, I wanted to take justice upon this poor city, and save it from the crumbling mess that it was put in because my parents weren't there to care. I trained for many years in martial arts and science to prepare myself for what I was to return to. And since I've been back, as Batman, the city has benefited from growth in population and wealth throughout the masses as I, well, we've managed to help Gotham."

"You see," Helen continued, "before I came here, Gotham was pretty much a wasteland with no hope of redemption, a breeding ground for gangs and criminals. Virtually no justice system whatsoever! Then, after years of training, Bruce took on the persona of Batman, and made the city stable again. At least, for now!" I stared at my cousin, then at Bruce. I took a step backwards, so that I could look around the place. I found some cases which contained some costumes inside. 4 were in there, I saw one that I recognised immediately-Bruce's of course. Luckily, it wasn't rubber!

"How come there are four? Do we have an extra member?" I asked.

"That would be Dick." Helen said, smiling. The cave doors swung open, and someone covered head to toe in leather, with a black helmet, on a motorcycle, sped through the doors, and conveniently stopped right in front of me and Helen. They took their helmet off, to reveal a young man, who looked very cocky.

"Perfect timing!" said Bruce, unamused.

"Hey, would it make it any better if I managed to get takeaway on the way here?" Dick held up a brown bag, which we later discovered to be filled with Chinese food.

"Perhaps." my cousin answered, before skipping up to Dick, taking the bag, and kissing him on the cheek. My confusion still was shown on my face, which Dick saw.

"Who's this girl?" Helen raised an eyebrow at him.

"She is the cousin I was telling you about." Dick looked like he had said something incredibly offensive.

"It's ok, I wouldn't have recognised myself!"

"Dick, this is important. You can't just waste time when your stomach calls for it." Bruce did not seem happy.

"It wasn't just my stomach! Had to think about my lady's as well!" Dick wrapped his arm around Helen's waist. She just looked up at him with that same quizzical look.

"If that is so, then why is there only a serving for one?"

"Because we have to be careful of what we put into our bodies! Plus, I didn't have enough cash, and they don't take credit."

Whilst everyone seemed to be having a lot of banter, as much as I wanted to enjoy myself with them, my mind was still racing, and trying to take everything in. My boyfriend is Batman, and my cousin is an associate of his?

"Wait!" I exclaimed. Everyone turned to stare at me, some confused, whilst others concerned.

"Vick, what's wrong?" my cousin asked.

"Is my whole reason for being here is just as an extra pair of arms? Back-up for your little cosplay group?"

"Vicki, it's not like that at all!" Bruce seemed very stern with me, the first I'd seen of him.

"So, when I got the call saying that I could work here, that was all a part of a ruse? Just to get me here? Do you even like me, Bruce?" Helen looked shocked, then solemn. Dick still looked confused, whilst Bruce was speechless.

"Vicki, you need to listen." But I didn't want to hear anymore. I bolted back up the staircase, and ran out of the mansion, not daring to look back. I couldn't take it. This is not what I signed up for. Running back to the flat, and falling onto my bed in tears, the only thing I could feel was hurt.