Chapter two- Investigating

Okay, now where did I leave off? Oh, yeah. My dad just lied to me about my birth certificate. As anyone could probably see I was not too happy with him about that. In fact our relationship was pretty chilly the next morning when Dad tried to kiss me goodbye before he went off to work.

As I said before my relationship with my parents is pretty easygoing and we are very close. I could tell my attitude had hurt my father, but I honestly didn't know how to tell him about the milk carton. I was furious that my father had lied, but if I told the truth I'd lose him and Mom. I'd be swapping them in for new parents that I didn't need, want, or remember.

I walked to school slower than usual, every so often looking at my face on the carton. Yeah, I was carrying it. Like Janie, I just couldn't leave it alone. Like her I had to know it was still me on there and not some mistake.

I stopped instantly as a memory then came. I don't know where it came from. It just happened.

Flashback: "Bruce where are you going?" A beautiful woman with brown hair asked a tall, handsome man with dark hair that was standing by a grandfather clock.

"I have to go out for awhile, Rachel. I'll be back later," the man said, kissing the woman softly.

"Bruce, you promised to spend some time with Roberta. She's been looking forward to this all day," Rachel said, slightly miffed.

Bruce looked over and saw Roberta and an elderly man. "I did promise, didn't I?" Bruce asked, walking over to the two.

"Yes, you did, Master Wayne. Miss Roberta has been climbing the walls for hours," the old man explained handing Roberta to Bruce. Bruce kissed Roberta's soft cheek gently and pulled her braids causing her to giggle.

End Flashback

I gasped slowly as the memory ended. Where did that come from? The woman in my memory was named Rachel, but that was my name. And I apparently liked being with Bruce. The old man called him Master Wayne, but I loved being with him. And I answered to the name Roberta. Whoever Bruce and Rachel were I needed to find out about them. From my memory there was nothing frightening about them.

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I started that day to investigate. The internet is a good place to start so I went to the library and started to look up old newspaper articles from Gotham City. Batman monopolized a lot of the headlines. The whole world knew who Batman was. He was as popular as Superman, just not as easygoing.

Okay, now I was getting somewhere. I typed in the name Bruce Wayne. At this point I didn't know who Bruce Wayne was exactly, but judging from the 1000+ articles I found he was the second most important man in Gotham, besides Batman. I started the articles in chronological order. The first started with the deaths of his parents when he was a boy.

Finally one article answered one question for me right now; What did Bruce Wayne look like? I stopped in shock as the handsome man from my memory looked back at me. It also answered what Rachel was like. It was a wedding picture. It looked as if they were looking right at me. I swallowed hard as I looked at them. So these were Roberta Wayne's parents, but could they be mine? Could I really be Roberta? I had answered to it in my memory.

I looked at Mr. Wayne's face again. Fortunately for me, the picture was colorized. I gasped again softly as I looked at his face. I had seen those features a million times as I looked at myself in the mirror. I had the same light-green eyes as he did and he was smiling widely. When I smiled like that it was the same smile. My Wayne's teeth were small and slightly crooked and so were mine. I also had the same hair coloring; dark brown with a few black tints.

On a premonition I typed in the name Roberta Wayne. If it was the same as on the milk carton and looked like all the family pictures in my house then I was Roberta Wayne. The milk carton picture looked back at me, shocking me yet again.

Actually there were a couple of other pictures too. Pictures of Mr. Wayne and Mrs. Wayne holding me in their arms were there. Of course, I noticed that I was with Mr. Wayne more than I was Mrs. Wayne. I must have been closer to my father than my mother. Wait a second. I just called them my mother and father. Just because the pictures are there doesn't make it true.

I then looked up the articles dealing with my kidnapping. That day I was with Mr. Wayne at Wayne Enterprises; a company started by my father's father. They don't know how it happened. My father said that he had turned his back for one minute to talk to his CEO and the next I was gone.

I then checked to see how far Gotham was from Cedar Rapids. Not that far, judging from a map. But my parents would never let me go. My parents are very cautious people, like most parents. Maybe if I showed them the milk carton they might feel different, but like I said, if I did that I would lose my parents and I didn't want to do that.

That was when I formulated a plan in my head. I know that my plan was stupid and I should have known better, but I was desperate and my curiosity far outweighed my common sense.

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Later that night, after leaving a note, I snuck out of the house and to the bus station. Getting a bus to Gotham sounded like a good plan to me. I just didn't know how stupid it really was at the time. Like I said before, everyone knows that Gotham is dangerous. Even in the daytime it's not safe.

Wearing a baseball cap over my dark hair I walked in pretending to be a boy. "Hi, I'd like a ticket to Gotham please," I said, lowering my voice to a raspy, wheeze. It made it sound as if I had asthma or maybe smoked a lot.

The ticket agent didn't even blink as he rattled off the price and I paid him. The bus would leave in thirty minutes and I would be in Gotham by sunrise. What I planned to do was go to Wayne Enterprises. I wasn't planning on meeting Mr. Wayne. I just wanted to see if the sight of my father's company would jog my memory in any way.

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Gotham City was dank and disgusting. Even the richer section looked bad. I looked around wrinkling my nose at the smell of trash. Apparently no one had thought to clean up the trash that littered the sidewalks.

I looked around again, feeling a little lost and confused. Where did I go from here? I know I said I was going to Wayne Enterprises, but how do I get there? Maybe I could ask someone.

"Excuse me, how do I get to Wayne Tower, please?" I asked a business woman in a mud-brown suit and red pumps.

"I would suggest that you take the train from here to the tower," the woman said crisply. She walked away before I could even ask where the train was or how much it even cost to ride.

Stopping at least three more people I found out what I wanted to know. To my greater relief it was in my price range. I rode the train all the way to Wayne Station, keeping the Wayne Tower in my sights. That was where the train would stop. I got off the train and looked around.

I wondered how I was going to get inside the building. I doubted that there would be a back door or that they would let me walk into the building like I owned the place. To my greater relief I saw a group of schoolchildren about my age. If I could pretend to be a part of their class I could just walk in unnoticed.

I pulled off my baseball cap and stuffed it into the pocket of my navy blue coat. I know I wasn't really a student, but none of them would be wearing baseball caps and I didn't want to call any unnecessary attention to myself. Of course there were a few other factors I hadn't considered.

"Who are you?" A tall girl, with gray-blue eyes asked me, putting her hands on her hips.

My mind drew a blank. I couldn't tell her why I was really there and she was too smart to probably fall for the lie that I went to whatever school she went to. "I saw you going in and I've never been here so I decided to follow you," I said, giving only half of the truth.

"Oh. I guess it is pretty fascinating. I'm Claudia Wilson," the girl said, shaking my hand.

"Rachel. Rachel Hamilton," I said. I felt like kicking myself for easily giving away my name like that. I didn't know this girl! I shouldn't be giving this much information away. Well, at least I didn't say what I thought my real name was. If I had told her that I thought my name was Roberta Wayne she might have turned me over to the police.

We walked into the building and through security. I had to go twice on account of this necklace I wear around my neck that my grandparents had given me when I visited them last at the reservation. But at last we finally got through.

I looked around fleetingly. I couldn't recognize anything yet. That is I couldn't recognize anything until we got to the top level. A tall black man with a white mustache and hair greeted us in a friendly way. My mind clicked with recognition as soon as I saw him. Mr. Fox. I remembered. Mr. Fox was the CEO, but I remembered a little bit more than that. I remembered a long ago birthday gift of scented crayons.

"Welcome to Wayne Enterprises. I am Lucius Fox. I run the company for Mr. Bruce Wayne," the man said, obviously not aware that I was hyperventilating in a corner.

Without even looking or anyone even paying attention I ran out into the hallway and to the women's bathroom. Bolting the stall door I collapsed on the floor and dug my fingernails into the knees of my black jeans. This was a mistake. I never should have come here. I don't know what I was hoping to find and I don't think I even want to know.

Standing to my feet shakily I got out of the bathroom and tried to sneak out of the building without being spotted. Maybe I was hoping that no one would notice me leaving. But at this point I think I'm wrong about everything.

I ran blindly out of the bathroom. I came close to reaching the elevators when someone grabbed me by the shoulders. "What are you doing?" A gruff guard asked, looking as if he could frighten a grizzly bear.

"I'm just leaving. I want no trouble," I managed to say, trying to control my breathing and get his meaty hands off of my shoulders.

"What's your name, Girl?" The guard asked. I would have answered him, but something gave me a reason to forget that he was even asking me. My father, Bruce Wayne, came out of an office then and looked at the scene. I looked down, hoping that he didn't see my eyes. My eyes might reveal everything.

"I asked you a question, Girl! What's your name?" The guard asked again, looking like he was about to hit me.

"Roberta Wayne!" As soon as those words came out of my mouth the room got deathly silent. I couldn't believe I just screamed them out loud. I hadn't even planned to reveal this soon my relation to Mr. Wayne. The guard released my shoulders as we both saw Mr. Wayne coming towards us. I felt the blood drain out of my face as our eyes met.

It was my good fortune that the elevator door opened just then. Bolting like a scared rabbit I ran into the elevator and rode down to the ground floor. If Bruce Wayne was my father, like I thought he was, I couldn't look him in the eyes. I had probably been bad if I had been kidnapped. The tears started then. I had to get home. The only problem was that I didn't have any more money to actually get on a bus.

Another problem then looked me in the face. In my rush to get away I had forgotten my necklace. I had left it at the metal detector and getting it meant going back. That would present another chance to see my father. Making a decision I went to the stairs instead of the elevator. I had to get my necklace back.

I made my way to the top floor without anyone stopping me. I went in the direction of the metal detector and was very close when someone else grabbed me by the shoulders and spun me around. I looked up at the man who had grabbed me next. Bruce Wayne's eyes locked onto mine.

I was uncertain what to say to him, but apparently that didn't matter as Mr. Wayne took me in his arms and hugged me in a tight hug. I couldn't even break free from this hug. It was that tight. I guess what they always say about parents always knowing their children was true. If he had thought I was lying he wouldn't have hugged me as tight.

Mr. Wayne then cupped my face gently with his hands and looked at me. His eyes misted slightly as they looked at me with a look I had seen in my own father's face. He hugged me yet again, this time kissing the top of my head. I didn't know what to do about this now. I wanted to go home, but since everything had gone wrong I doubted that Mr. Wayne would let me leave.

"Roberta," Mr. Wayne said softly.

"Mr. Wayne, my name's Rachel Hamilton," I said without thinking. Saying this was my next big mistake. Mr. Wayne's eyes had gotten hard and angry. I had no idea that being this honest would get me in trouble, but it did.