I do not own Batman. Sucks, don't it? I do own Eleanor Black and all the other characters and plot points that aren't part of the movie. Rated T for the same reasons the movie was rated PG-13. Enjoy.

Chances Are…
Chapter Two: The Goddamn Impostors

When I returned to my apartment, it was nearly eight in the morning. All I felt like doing was crawling into my bed and going back to sleep. Sleeping hunched over on a desk wasn't exactly the most comfortable way to go about it, after all, and the back of my neck throbbed painfully, reminding me never to do that again. I knew I probably would, regardless of what my body told me. My neck could just be stiff and sore. That's what painkillers were for. I popped a couple pills in my mouth and swallowed them with a large gulp of water and then flopped down on the couch while I waited for the pills to kick in. Blaze leapt up beside me and laid his large head in my lap.

"I supposed you'll want to go for a walk?" I asked, scratching the top of his head.

He just looked up at me, as if to say: "Obviously."

"Just let me phone Mom and Dad. They're probably wondering why I wasn't at home last night." I looked at the blinking number 2 on my answering machine and just knew one of the messages was from my mother. But I had no idea who the other was from, so I pressed the NEW button and listened to the machine tell me what I already knew.

"You have two new messages. First new message."

"Ellie, it's Mom." I knew it. "I was just calling to check up on you. You seemed kind of frazzled when you left Bruce's apartment last night… Call me back. Love you."

I pressed the DELETE button.

"Message deleted. Next new message."

"Good morning, Eleanor. I was wondering if you could come in a little earlier this morning. There is something I would like to… discuss with you. Talk to you later."

Ah, Lucius Fox. I pressed the DELETE button again and sat there for a minute and then something in my head snapped. "Damn it!" I cursed out loud. "I've got to go to work still!" And now that Mr. Fox had asked me to come in early, I would have to be there at nine or nine-thirty instead of at ten, like I usually was. Grumbling, I pushed myself off the couch. "Come on Blaze," I said as the husky leapt to the ground and ran to the door. "Just a short walk. Mommy was stupid and stayed in the Bat Bunker all night because she forgot she had to go to work today." I attached his leash and locked the door as we shuffled into the hallway. I barely had time to shove my keys in my pocket before Blaze was dragging me towards the elevator.

It was eight twenty when we got back upstairs.

I checked Blaze's food and water and then had the fastest shower of my life. Still dripping, I pulled my clothes – a black skirt and bright blue button down blouse – on and brushed my hair after ringing it out over the sink. I nearly fell over as I put my shoes on because I was moving towards the door, and then I almost forgot my purse.

I hated rushing around. Especially when I'd had maybe three hours of sleep.

Lucius was seated behind his desk when I finally made it up there, his normal friendly smile planted on his face and his brown eyes sparkling warmly. I slumped into the chair in front of his desk and tried to smile back. As tired as I was, I had a feeling it came out more as a sign of relief to be sitting down again.

"Tired are we?"

Lucius knew that Bruce was Batman. He was a very intelligent man, so, even thought Bruce hadn't told him outright, he had been able to guess. Also, he had built all of the gadgets Batman used and it hadn't been that difficult to recognize them; since he was the only one in the Applied Sciences division, he was the only one who could recognize them. They had made a game of pretending they weren't talking about Batman, which was useful when it came to keeping the secret in a busy workplace, but was also very entertaining to watch. And, when I was feeling up to making clever comments, participating in. But, somewhere in the game, my involvement with the caped crusader had come up and now, well, things were a whole lot easier at work.

"Yeah. Late night."

Lucius smiled his knowing grin and pushed a steaming cup of coffee towards me. I looked at for a minute and then back up at him. He shrugged. "I can get another mug. You need it more than I do, I think."

I nodded my thanks and took a long drink from the cup. "What did you want me to come in early for?"

"I hate to do this to you Eleanor, but the Wayne Enterprises charity Gala—"

"You want me to get the plans finished?" My mouth lifted at one corner. I wasn't mad or anything, I just hated planning the Wayne Enterprises Charity Gala because it was one of the biggest parties in Gotham. And it had a reputation to keep up. "What happened? Did the head planner get the flu or something?" I took another sip of coffee and ran my fingers backwards through my wet hair. "There aren't many other reasons you would get me to do it."

Lucius chuckled and leaned back in his chair. "No, but you're right. There aren't many reasons. Unfortunately, Monica's mother is very ill and she had to rush home to Colorado to help take care of her."

I nodded and took another sip of coffee. "That's not good… Ah, well, I'll do my best. When's the rest of the team getting here?" I didn't really get along with the constantly giggling and hyper young women who took it upon themselves to plan the gala every year. They were always so… insufferably happy.

Again, Lucius laughed. "Around ten. I also wanted to ask if you'd seen the news."

"Not from this morning. Why?"

Lucius pointed behind me and then grabbed a slim remote from his desk. I turned the chair to look at the flat-screen TV and Mr. Fox pressed play. The image on the screen abruptly jumped to a recorded copy of the morning news. On the screen, there was a tired-looking man with his arms crossed and a disturbed look on his face. The reporter was holding the microphone up to his face, and behind them, sirens blared and red and blue lights twirled.

"So you're saying you saw Batman shoot a gun?"

The man nodded and opened his mouth. It took a few tries for the words to come out though. "I was going to my car, in that parking garage—" he pointed somewhere behind the woman "—and there was this loud bang and then I looked over there—" he pointed to the structure behind him "—and I saw Batman, holding a gun and there was something that looked like-like-like blood on the window." The man's face paled and he convulsed slightly, like he was going to throw up. "I thought we could trust Batman not to go to that level! He's never used guns before!"

I turned back to face Lucius, my face set in an expression of anger. "He doesn't use guns."

Lucius nodded and leaned forward on his desk, folding his hands and sighing softly. "I know. Do you know if Bruce has seen this yet?" he asked, his voice a whisper.

"No. I don't. But he'll want to. I'll go call him."

Smiling a smile that was obviously forced, I got to my feet and headed to where my desk sat, near the door, a short distance away. I nodded briefly to Coleman Reese, the corporate lawyer Bruce had recently hired. The mousey man was kind of irritating, but he was good at his job and polite enough. I didn't talk to him too much, but that was beside the point. I sat down in my swivel-able desk chair and picked up my phone; after digging in my purse for a minute, I realized I'd forgotten my cell phone on the kitchen counter. Smooth, eh?

"Hello Ms. Black," Alfred said as he answered the penthouse phone.

"Hey Alfred. Is Bruce there?"

"Just a moment."

I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, and then logged onto my computer as I waited, cradling the phone between my ear and my shoulder.

"Morning Eleanor."

"Did you see the news this morning?" I asked, ignoring the fact that he sounded very tired. He probably had had less sleep than I did. I'm sure he would be more interested in the impostors on the news than sleeping anyway.

"No. Alfred did, and he told me about the impostors using guns. He recorded the footage, and I was going to watch it after the LSI Holdings meeting at Wayne Enterprises this morning."

Damn it, I forgot about the meeting too. It the first in what was for sure going to be a long string of meetings between Wayne Enterprises and a Chinese company that provided many business opportunities. "Right. I can see if I can find more information from other news stations, if you'd like."

"Eleanor, you don't have to do all this for me. Alfred and I can handle anything."

"I'm not arguing with you about this Bruce. I want to help. I'm going to help."

He sighed. "I'll see you at the meeting then."

I hung up the phone and pinched the bridge of my nose between my forefinger and thumb. My eyelids felt like they were made of lead and they kept closing of their own will. I drained the coffee Lucius had given me before walking over to the pot and pouring myself more. Stirring sugar and cream into my drink, I returned to my desk and once again, picked up the phone. I knew my mom would call soon anyway if I didn't return her message.

"I was wondering when you'd call honey!"

"You just left the message this morning, Mom."

"Well, whatever. Are you all right?"

"I was just frazzled because I was tired. I'm fine now." Of course, my body chose then to betray me and I yawned. Loudly.

"You don't sound like you've had much sleep. Are you sure you're all right?"

"Mom, I am fine," I said, putting a strong emphasis on every word.

"OK, OK. Did you see the news this morning? About Batman and the guns? Can you believe that? I know he's your hero honey, but maybe he's… I don't know, lost touch or something? I mean, there's all those rumours about The Joker and crazed, masked villains running around…"

"Mom, I don't want to hear it. It's not Batman."

"How do you know?"

"I just do. I'll talk to you later, OK?"

As soon as she said goodbye I hung up the phone and plunked my head down on the keyboard, closing my eyes. When I lifted my head, there were lines of gibberish in the address bar of the internet. I backspaced them away and then typed in the URL for Gotham Cable News' website. I spent the next few minutes sifting through the headlines – all of which were about Batman – looking for something that hadn't already been said. There wasn't much. I was on the second page of the article when a myriad of people in business suits started filing off the elevator and into the boardroom, Mr. Lau, the head of LSI Holdings and Bruce Wayne included.

Instead of going directly into the boardroom, Bruce turned and walked over to my desk, just as I was rising to my feet. There was a strange look on his face. Slightly confused. Worried. Upset. I knew the minute he walked into that boardroom though, all those emotions would give way to false indifference. A talent he was proud of, I think: being able to control his emotions.

"I watched the footage."

"And you seem greatly disturbed."

Bruce sighed and slipped his hands into the pockets of his pinstriped pants. "This isn't what I wanted to happen."

I walked around the desk to stand in front of him. He looked at me and we stood there in silence for a minute. These were the moments I savoured. The moments when there were no masks, no Rachel and nothing except me and him. I sighed and placed a hand on his arm.

"You'll figure something out. You always do."

He smiled a half-smile at me.

"Mister Wayne? The meeting is about to start."

Bruce and I turned and he let me lead the way across the hall to the boardroom. As I passed into the large room, completely empty except for the long table and the many swively chairs set up around it. Bruce and I hunkered down into two of the chairs a few paces away from the main grouping of meeting-goers. The chairs in here were much more comfortable than the one at my desk, but I figured it was so those who had to suffer through long meetings like this one didn't become uncomfortable in the grey-and-beige-coloured room and lose focus. Of course, on three or less hours of sleep, the chairs were comfortable enough to fall asleep in.

And that's what I did.

And man, did I regret it later.

"Eleanor, we can't have someone as high up in the company as you falling asleep in important business meetings!"

I rolled my eyes at Coleman and sat backwards in my chair. "I already said I was sorry. What else do you want me to say? That it won't happen again? OK, I can say that." My eyes narrowed slightly. "It won't happen again."

Coleman looked from me to Lucius and ran his hands over his short reddish hair and then pulled at the front of his black suit jacket, straightening it. He cleared his throat. "Mister Fox, I suggest you do something about your assistant. She seems a little out of control."

"I will handle the situation, Mister Reese." Lucius smiled at me out of the corner of his mouth and then gestured for the lawyer to leave. Once Coleman had left, Lucius fixed his dark brown eyes on me. "Eleanor, if you keep this up, you will run yourself ragged."

"I'm afraid it's my fault she fell asleep," Bruce said, appearing in the seat beside me from God knows where. I was so startled, I jumped slightly, and both the men chuckled a bit. "I won't let it happen again." He turned his green eyes on me, and I knew what he meant: No more Bat Central for you.

"Well, I can see there is something you two want to talk about, so I'll just go attend to some other business."

I watched Lucius get up from his desk and then turned to face Bruce, who was looking at me with the same look in his eyes. He didn't want me in Bat Central, but I wasn't going to cave. I fixed him with a look of my own and crossed my arms. For a while, we just sat there and looked at each other. I think Bruce knew I was determined to stay involved with Batman, but he was as stubborn as I was, maybe even more, and he was determined to keep me at a distance.

"Eleanor—"

"Shut up. I'm staying."

"Ellie—"

"Don't even start with the nicknames Bruce. You can push me away all you want, I'll keep coming back."

He rolled his eyes. "Ellie, I can't—"

"Just shhh and give it up."

"No, Eleanor, it's too dangerous to have you that close to Batman."

"What? No one knows where Bat Central is—"

"That's not the point, Ellie." Bruce sighed, got to his feet and walked over to the floor-to-ceiling windows of the top floor of Wayne Enterprises. I followed him, and stood slightly behind him and to the side. "I'm already risking Alfred's life, and possibly Rachel's if anyone finds out that she knows who Batman is, and I can't have your life in my hands too." After a minute of silence, Bruce turned to look at me. "Being connected with Batman will be dangerous, if it's not already."

"… Just shut up, Bruce. You know why I'm doing this. At least, you should. And if you do you'll know that I'm not going anywhere. You need help." I took a step closer to him, swallowed the lump that had, for some reason, appeared in my throat. "You and Alfred can't do everything by yourselves," I said, my voice dropping to just above a whisper. "And… Rachel is too busy to help you…" I looked at the floor and frowned. "And she doesn't want you to be Batman anymore, anyway." Gotta make Rachel sound bad. Mhm. Go Eleanor. Moral compass pointing north, for sure. I looked back up at Bruce. "I am going to help you whether you like it or not, so stop pushing me away, because I'll just keep coming back. OK?" I smiled bitterly. "You can ignore me if that makes it easier for you, but I'm. Not. Going. Anywhere."

Bruce just started at me. Either he was trying to process what I'd just said, or he couldn't believe that I'd said it in the first place. Then he nodded. Just once. And then he walked past me to the elevator.

I went to join the ladies of the planning committee.

"Good evening Ms. Black."

"Hey Alfred." I slid onto the stool in front of the computer terminal and twirled to smile at the butler sitting beside me.

After work, I had gone home, changed into knee-length jean shorts and a baggy t-shirt, taken Blaze for a good long walk in the park, ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for dinner, shoved a bag of carrots and a bottle of diet pop into my purse and drove to the train yard. Following instructions from Alfred, I parked behind the shipping container, hiding my brightly coloured car in the heavy shadows and then descended into Bat Central. My flip flops had echoed loudly in the concrete room, and at first, I hadn't thought anyone was there, but then Alfred and Bruce appeared from behind the compartment the Batsuit was usually stored in, Bruce dressed in Batman's attire except for the cowl.

Bruce came up beside me and I twirled around to face him. He smiled his slightly-lopsided smile at me, like everything was OK. Anger flared in my stomach, but I pushed it down and smiled back.

"Be careful." Lame. But I felt like it needed to be said.

He nodded once, but didn't say anything. Alfred opened one of the panels in the wall, revealing a road that sloped upwards. I had no idea where it came out, but I didn't really care. I just thought it was cool what unlimited monetary resources could accomplish. I mean, my parents had money, but they never did anything like Bruce did… Obviously. The tank-like Batmobile roared to life and took off down the road like a shot, the noise from the engines resonating in my chest for a few minutes after the massive black vehicle had disappeared.

"He needs to drive more carefully," Alfred said absent-mindedly.

"It can't be easy for you… Watching him go off every night and not knowing what's going to happen to him."

Alfred nodded, but didn't say anything. We both donned our headsets and I flicked a few switches on the terminal to connect us to the Batman. There was a few bzzts and blips as it connected, and then we could hear the rumbling of the Tumbler's engines. I listened as the sounds changed, and tried to guess what he was doing. Turning a corner, slowing down, speeding up. Stopping. The engines cut and the resulting silence seemed heavy after the constant roar.

"I'm going up to the roof."

"All right. I'll tune you into the police scanner." I flicked some more switches and pulled the headset down to hang around my neck. While he was listening to the scanner, he couldn't hear us and we couldn't hear him. We could both just hear the fuzzy voices of the police and the dispatcher. He hadn't quite figured out the multi-channel thing yet.

"Ms. Black, could we have a few words while Master Bruce is out of… earshot as it were?"

"I guess." I wasn't sure about the tone of Alfred's voice. He sounded like he wanted to discuss something… important. I had a feeling he was going to tell me to stay out of the way too, but I could be wrong. The elder butler had a way of surprising me. He was unpredictable. I swallowed and turned to face him. He was smiling.

"I know this can't be easy for you, Ms. Black."

"…What can't?"

"Being around Master Bruce while he's so focused on Ms. Dawes." His kind and knowing eyes locked onto to mine. "It's quite obvious your feelings for him have grown. I can't help but think his indifference is hurting you."

You can't get anything by Alfred, no you can not.

Afraid to test my voice, I just nodded.

"If I may offer you a few words of advice?" He took my steady stare as a yes, and continued. "Just give Master Bruce some time to realize what you mean to him, because, even though he'd probably never admit it, he does like having you around." Alfred smiled an encouraging smile. "Besides," he said, his voice dropping to almost a whisper, "Rachel wants Master Bruce to stop being Batman, and you're here supporting his efforts. I think he'll come to appreciate that." Alfred smiled another warm smile at me and I felt myself smiling back.

"Thanks Alfred."

"It's no problem Ms. Black."

"Call me Eleanor, please."

Alfred nodded and opened his mouth to say something else, but the voice of the dispatcher was suddenly very loud. "All units respond. Drug buy taking progress at 349 Flanders Drive. All units respond."

I flicked the switch, turning the line back over to Batman. "You hear that?"

"I'm on my way."

I did some fast typing and clicking. "Three fastest routes downloaded to your GPS."

"I think I can get to the docks without the GPS."

I rolled my eyes and beside me, Alfred smiled. "It's just in case, Batman."

The roar of the engines filled the headphones again and Alfred and I sat there in silence, listening as Batman drove across Gotham to the shipping district and the docks. I had the police scanner fizzing constantly beside me, and the noise was distracting, but I knew I'd get hell if I turned it off and missed something. I was only down there in Bat Central because I had been stubborn about it, and Bruce would no doubt kick me out for real if I messed up and the perpetrator got away because of it. It'd be all my fault.

As the engines died out again, distant gun shots became audible, and I swallowed. Ever since I'd found out Bruce was the man behind the bat-eared mask, I'd always been nervous about him going into situations where there were heavy arms. Small guns were no problem, and I knew his fancy Kevlar suit could deflect most shots – I got a whole speech about it when I asked Bruce what the suit was made of a while ago – but hearing those shots getting louder as he got closer… I had to force myself to ignore the hard knot of fear in my gut. Alfred showed his fear more outwardly; sweat beading faintly on his forehead and his hands balled into fists on his lap. I only recognized these as signs of fear for his ward because I had been around him so much recently.

The gunshots were suddenly very loud and surprised shouts were joining the symphony. Noises that I could only place as expert kicks and punches meeting their marks and heavy breaths, expelled in a rhythm indicative of an experienced martial artist performing his craft told me Batman was in the middle of the fray. I briefly closed my eyes, picturing him moving in and out of the shadows like he was part of them. I'd never actually seen him fight, but it seemed to me that's how it would look. Part of the shadows and all.

"Get out of here!"

I shifted forward on the stool, my back straightening, suddenly alert. "What's going on?"

"The impostors showed up," he grunted.

I settled back in my chair, satisfied there wasn't any terrible threat or anything. Like the Joker. Although, I seriously doubted Batman would say "get out of here" to the Joker or the Scarecrow or anyone else that would pose a serious threat. The gunshots that seemed to be more frequent now were what was really worrying me. Images of bloody bullet holes kept flashing through my thoughts.

No Ellie. Think positively. He would be fine.

He always was.

But what if he wasn't this time? What if one stray shot caught him in just that right way?

I bit my lip, my fingers sliding off the keyboard where they'd been positioned for a few minutes. I couldn't help picturing Bruce stumbling out of the Batmobile, beat up and bleeding. Falling to the floor.

I shook me head.

Stop it Ellie. That's no way to think if you're going to help Batman, now is it?

No. Batman had enough pessimism for ten people. Sometimes.

"Ms. Black, are you all right?" Alfred asked.

I realized I was holding my breath and exhaled before smiling rather shakily at the butler. "I-I'm OK. Just a little worried." He nodded and placed a hand on my shoulder. "Did I miss anything?"

"Master Bruce is on his way back."

I nodded and pulled the headset off, setting it on the desk before I got to my feet and started walking in squares around the computer terminals and other workstations. I wasn't exactly sure why I was so nervous this time. I had waited for Bruce to get back before, and I always knew he would come back OK… but I'd never heard gun shots that loud over the headset before and… Never that close.

STOP IT ELEANOR. He'll be fine.

I was making my third circuit of my square path when the wall lifted and the Tumbler came sliding down the ramp into its regular parking spot. The hatch opened and Batman leapt out, in one piece and not bleeding. He looked a little tired, but who wouldn't after a night of running around the city looking for crime to fight?

"They nearly got themselves killed!" Bruce exclaimed as he pulled off the cowl. He set it on the hook as the Batsuit-holder-thing rose from the floor. "So I had to make sure they didn't get themselves killed as well as trying to catch the Chechen's drug dealers." There was a look of frustration and rage on his face as he turned to face Alfred and me. "I can't have them interfering like this! I can't spare the time to keep them alive! They're just regular guys in hockey equipment… What do they think they're doing?"

"If I may sir," Alfred assumed, rising from his stool and moving to stand beside Bruce. "You are just a regular guy in hockey equipment as well, no matter how expensive it may be."

"But I've had training, Alfred."

"They've got guns," I offered. "Guns make people do stupid things."

Bruce looked at me for a minute and then nodded his agreement as he shrugged out of the upper part of Batman's suit. Alfred took it and placed it on the hooks. I must confess I stared at Bruce for a minute before I turned and walked away from where he was changing, my mind running over what Alfred had just said and applying it to my earlier worries. Yes, Bruce was wearing uber-expensive hockey equipment, but he could still be hurt… He could still be killed.

What was getting into me?

Was it the fate of everyone who was close to Bruce to start thing pessimistically?

Excepting Alfred of course, who seemed immune to negative thoughts.

"Eleanor, can you come over here?"

I turned and obediently walked back to the computer terminal. Bruce had taken my stool, and I wasn't going to make Alfred get up, so I leaned backwards, supporting myself with my palms on the desk top. Bruce stuck a slim memory card into a port and brought up a few images he had snapped of the scene, obviously after everyone had been cuffed since there was no one in the pictures; I figured Gordon had somehow got everyone to leave Batman alone with the crime scene. The first image was of skids of drugs, stacked neatly in those taped bundles you see on TV crime dramas. The second image was of stacks of money sitting on wide tables. The third image was of pages in a binder looked like records of some kind. I squinted, trying to read the barely-visible words.

"Just a second and I'll adjust the contrast."

Bruce clicked a few keys and moved a few things on the screen and abruptly I was able to read the blue pen on the computer screen. "The Scarecrow?" I asked, seeing a shorthand "JC" scrawled beside the word "Shipment". "You think Crane is behind this? That he's found somewhere to manufacture his fear toxin?"

He nodded. "That's exactly what I think. I also think he's going to want to make a deal with the Chechen. He's been dealing in his territory and I don't think the Chechen is happy about it. Those were his men at the scene, but they were burning the drugs. Destroying them." He brought up a third picture of three metal garbage cans in a row, purple- and blue-tinged flames blossoming out the top. "The only reason we were able to overwhelm them and their impressive amount of fire power—" he paused to bring up another picture of a pile of guns that was indeed impressive "—was because they inhaled the fumes from the fire. They were afraid of everything."

"So we're keeping our ears open for any news of a meeting going down?"

Bruce sighed, and for a minute, I thought he was going to protest my involvement further, but he didn't seem in the mood to argue with me anymore, for he just nodded again. "Gordon's got a mole in with the Chechen's men. He'll call me as soon as he hears anything. So you can go home, for right now," he added when he saw I was about to start another tirade.

I beamed. "OK, good. Anything else you picked up at the scene?"

"Yeah. Some of the lightly irradiated bills I gave the police to find the mob's banks were there."

"…Fothermucker. That's not good."

Bruce just rose an eyebrow at my not-so-swear. I just smiled oddly back.

Author's Note… So, with the great response to the first chapter, I'm not going to make you all wait as long as I thought I was… So I guess I'm working on two Batman fics right now. I want to say a big thank you to everyone who read and reviewed the first chapter, and I hope this one met your expectations! And no, maraudergurl2010, I am not offended that you think Superhero's Confidante sucked in comparison to the first chapter. I agree with you! My writing has improved a lot since then… (grins sheepishly) Anyways, I hope you all enjoy this chapter as much, and no, we're not in the movie yet. We join the movie in the next chapter. (gives you all two thumbs up and a cheesy smile)

Oh, and about the secret-road-behind-the-wall, it was the only way I could think of to get the Batmobile out of the bunker place… And it's kind of feasible in the bat-verse. Right? Don't throw things at me. (hides behind her Batman pillow) Yeah, and you get a bizarre ending too. I just wanted to say fothermucker because I think it's funny. (grins from behind the pillow)

Next Chapter: A Robbery and a Scarecrow.