Wowza. Thanks for all of the alerts, everyone! I give you all internet hugs and tiny plastic Batmobiles! I wish XD
Here's the next chapter for you awesome watchers!
Disclaimer: Don't own Batman and all that old cup 'o Joe.
I sat on my bed the next morning, examining my knee. I figured I needed a good excuse for Alfred and Bruce for why I was limping. I couldn't very well tell them I'd been out last night, sneaking around a cave and avoiding a masked vigilante. I honestly couldn't say I thought it was the best idea.
So I settled on faking a trip in the hallway. I stood and hobbled for my bedroom door. As I made my way down the hall I intentionally fell, but onto my bum. I uttered a loud curse as I rolled onto my knees just as Alfred appeared at the top of the stairs.
"Miss Larrabee!" he exclaimed, rushing to my side. "What happened, miss?"
"Tripped over my own feet," I lied, faking a wince. I let him help me to my feet, then I took a few fumbling steps forward.
"Seems you may have injured something, miss," Alfred said, looking curiously at my legs. "Shall I get you some ice?"
"That would be awesome," I replied as I carefully made my way down the staircase. I leaned on the railing for support. I reached the dining room and collapsed into a chair at the table. Alfred entered moments later with a towel filled with ice. He handed it to me, and I pressed it to my knee. I then realized we were short one person.
"Where's Wayne?" I asked suddenly. "Or is he not joining us for breakfast?"
"Master Bruce is still asleep, miss," replied Alfred.
"Did he get a little wild with his date?" I asked, chuckling a little afterward. Alfred simply nodded, grinning.
"Might I interest you in some breakfast, miss?" he asked as he noted the loud grumble my stomach had just made. I nodded sheepishly, busying myself with the ice on my knee to avoid his gaze. He disappeared into the kitchen, and I relaxed slightly. The door ahead of me opened and Bruce appeared.
"Good morning," he greeted, heading for the kitchen. I gave him a small nod. I watched him vanish into the kitchen and I stood, stumbling after him. I leaned on the kitchen door's frame.
"Could you drive me into the city?" I asked, looking at him. Bruce looked away from his mug of coffee to look at me.
"Sure. I can have Alfred drive you. When?" he asked, going back to dumping sugar in his drink.
"After breakfast. I need to do some…some things," I said, trying to sound convincing. I shifted my gaze back to my knee and I didn't see the skeptic glance pass between the two men.
"Certainly, Miss Larrabee," Alfred said. He handed me a plate of food and I smiled, making my way back to the dining room to eat.
"Thanks again, Alfred," I said as I sat in the back of the black Mercedes.
"Not a problem at all, miss," he replied. "Where is it you wanted to go?"
I couldn't tell him I was going to talk to a bunch of mob bosses to try and find Joker, so I settled with telling him I needed to go to the library. He obliged merrily and turned onto Main. I thanked him again as he pulled up in front of the library.
"Here's my cell-phone number, in case you need to talk to me," I said, handing him a slip of paper. I waited until he pocketed it, then opened my door. I got out and limped up the steps, disappearing into the building. I waited until the Mercedes was out of sight before I hobbled back onto the street.
"Alright," I said, patting my pant pocket to make sure my chalk was there. "I just need to figure out where the mob spends their days!"
I'm pretty sure Alfred dropped me off around eleven, and my little digital watch now read nine thirty-eight. I leaned against a wall and sighed, rubbing my sore knee.
"Jesus, this is taking longer than I thought," I said, frustrated. The street seemed darker suddenly, and I looked up to see grey clouds move in overhead. "Wonderful," I hissed as rain began to pound down. I retreated into the nearest building, which happened to be a restaurant. I peered outside at the rain, then turned to face the rest of the restaurant. I sat at the counter, running a hand through my hair.
"Can I get you anything?" asked the woman behind the counter. I shook my head.
"Just trying to get out of the rain," I said, smiling. She returned a smile, then went off to cater to a gentleman at a table.
"More coffee, Mister Maroni?"
I whipped around. Salvatore Maroni was one of the men I was looking for. I grinned at my luck and stood, walking toward his table.
"Salvatore Maroni?" I asked, as if I could have possibly been wrong. I didn't wait for a reply as I took a seat. "You're a hard guy to find, you know that?"
"She hasn't called yet?" Bruce asked as Alfred noted Evelyn had been gone for over ten hours.
"No, sir," said the butler. "I'm not sure as to who she is, exactly, but I've never known someone to mill around the library for ten hours."
"Have you called her?" questioned Bruce as he stood. Alfred nodded.
"Several times, sir. All I got was her voicemail."
"You said she was at the library, right?" Bruce asked, grabbing his suit jacket. Alfred nodded.
"Shall I pull the car around, sir?" he asked, reaching for the keys that hung in the kitchen. Bruce nodded as he pulled his shoes onto his feet. He followed Alfred outside and toward the Mercedes. They had just gotten down the first few steps when Bruce stopped and stooped to pick up an envelope from the ground. He turned it over in his hand, sliding his fingernail under the flap to open it.
"What is that, Master Bruce?" Alfred asked. He had stopped and was now staring at his charge. Bruce shrugged, pulling out the piece of paper the envelope contained. A picture fell out onto the pavement and Alfred stooped to pick it up. He stared at it, horrified, as Bruce read the letter.
"That….sadistic bastard," he muttered, crumpling the letter and snatching the picture from Alfred's hands. He stared at it, then crumpled it as well. "She's not at the library, Alfred," Bruce said as he hurried back up the steps. Alfred was on his heels.
"Will you be going after her, sir?" he asked as they reentered the manor. Bruce nodded, heading for the elevator that would lead him down into the Batcave.
"I have to," he said. "I just hope she's still alive."
I'll admit. Talking to a mob boss to try and find Joker was not one of my more well-thought-out plans. I found Joker, which is what I had wanted. The trouble with that was, I didn't work out a plan for when I finally found him. Not to mention the fact I hadn't had a weapon.
Long and gruesome story short, I was a prisoner now. I'm pretty sure I had a concussion, or my throbbing migraine was coming from all of the blood that had to have rushed to my head by now.
Did I mention it probably wasn't the smartest thing to say that Bruce and I knew the Batman's identity? I figure, you know, that maybe that would make Joker more inclined to talk to me, so I could exact my revenge. That certainly didn't work out as planned. Maroni had told Joker what I had said, and then I was being herded down some hallway and into a dimly lit room with a couple of psychopaths. I thought Joker was going to kill me when he realized just who I was, but he seemed surprisingly pleased.
I probably should have taken that as a bad sign. I didn't. I figured that was good, considering he wouldn't want to kill me if he was pleased to see me.
I should really start reading up on the nature of psychopaths.
Before he knocked me out he told me that he was going to send a note to "that rich boyfriend of mine." He said since I wasn't going to reveal Batman's identity that he was going to make Bruce tell him.
I could only hope that Bruce was smarter than to come and investigate. Hopefully he would call the cops.
However, as I hanged upside down over the edge of a god-knows-how-many-storey-building, I couldn't hear any sirens. It was either due to the fact that I was becoming incredibly light-headed from the blood rush, or that there weren't any. I really hoped it was the former of the two.
The one good thing about this whole situation was that Joker hadn't tied my hands. I guess he suspected that I wouldn't be too keen on untying my feet over such a tremendous death dive. He would be right on that point. My untied hands, however, made it easy for my to grab my chalk and begin to think of a plan.
The only problem was that my chalk couldn't help me much here. The one thing I could do to help would be to transmute the beam I was dangling from to where it curved, so I could safely deposit myself onto the unfinished floor to my left. That left me completely unguarded against the lone figure that watched over me. I wouldn't call him a guard, since he wasn't doing a very good job at anything except napping. He did, however, have a gun, and I'm sure my transmuting would catch his attention.
Not to mention trying to shift the form of something with such a complicated atomic structure would mean I would be out of it for a day, at least.
So that plan was scrapped. I was just starting to think of another one when a loud roaring came from below. I craned my neck so I could see the street below and the gargantuan vehicle speeding down it. I could only think that Bruce must have connections somewhere, or that Batman just happened to see my swaying scarlet hair from the streets of Gotham. Whichever it was, I was sure glad to see him.
For once he wasn't sneaking up on me, either.
Bruce, now clad in his Kevlar-line Batsuit, roared into the bottom floor of the unfinished skyscraper. It overlooked Gotham Harbor, but he wasn't here to do any sightseeing. He came to a screeching halt, sitting for several moments in the Batmobile before he opened the top and jumped out, landing with a flourish of his black cape. He found it odd that Joker didn't have guards stationed.
"So she was right." Joker's voice echoed around him. "They DO know how to talk to the Bat-man."
"Where are you?!" shouted Batman, turning full circle. A chilling laugh filled the expansive space.
"Ah, ah, ah," tutted the Joker. "Should you really be wasting time on me when her life hangs on a string? Or a rope, rather." Another laugh followed. "Oh, and you might want to hurry. I can't see the timer, but I'm sure you're only down to a few minutes!" Joker's laughter was cut off and Batman took off in a sprint, heading for the elevator shaft. He stopped short, staring wide-eyed at what was now surrounding him.
Oil drums. Dozens and dozens of them. What looked like C-4 was planted on the support beams of the building. Uttering a curse, Batman stole away from them and into the elevator. He clambered up onto the top of it, then grappled to the top floor. He ran past several more oil drums, and could only assume that they were planted on every floor.
Evelyn was in sight when the explosions began.
The rumbling started from below, and I shot a look downward. The lower floors of the building were spitting out flames and plumes of smoke like I'd never seen.
"Oh shit! Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit!!" I said, twisting and turning as the flames climbed higher in the building. They were only a couple floors away, and I could feel the heat of the fire on my face. Something ran into me, ripping my feet free of the rope with a vicious jerk.
Then I was free-falling, not knowing that I was desperately clinging to the chest of my savior. I managed a look downward and realized that we were heading straight for the murky waters of Gotham Harbor.
"Oh shit!!" I screamed, clutching the familiar Kevlar chest tighter.
"Hold on!" I heard Batman shout as he tightened his grip around me as well. Right before we hit the water I took a deep breath, squeezing my eyes shut.
The water came up to meet us and we hit with such force that I was surprised I wasn't ripped from Batman's grasp. I don't know how far we sank, but I could feel the caped crusader kicking his feet to bring us back up to the surface. I kept still, figuring I would get in the way if I tried to help swim.
It seemed like an eternity before we broke the surface, and I took in the biggest gulp of air I could manage. I coughed and sputtered slightly as Batman swam with me toward the shore. He helped me onto the pebbles and sand and I laid on my back, breathing heavily. I could hear him doing the same to my right.
"Are you…are you alright?" he asked between gasps of air. I nodded, then realized he couldn't see it in the darkness.
"I'm….okay…I think," I managed to say. I got a hold on myself after a few more moments, and I sat up, clutching my soaking body. The rain from earlier began to start up again, and I looked up, cursing the sky several times. Then I turned to look at Batman. I could barely see him in the almost non-existent light, but I could see a tuff of wet brown hair shining in what little light there was. The realization hit me like I'd just fallen from a thirty-storey building to collide with ice cold water.
Batman wasn't wearing his mask.
I wasn't sure of the reason that it was gone, and I didn't much care. At that moment all I wanted to know was his secret identity. I began to crawl over toward him. He was sitting now, and I'm pretty sure he looked up at me.
"Stop," was all he said. His voice rooted me to the spot, my knee positioned on a very uncomfortable rock. I repositioned myself so I was sitting again, staring at the sand.
"Sorry," I sad quietly. "One of those irresistible urges, you know? It's not everyday you can find out the identity to one of Gotham's most famed heroes." I looked at him as he stood. His face was covered again, and I assumed he'd found his mask. Or he carried a spare. I allowed myself a small chuckle at this as I wondered where he would keep one. He walked over, helping me back onto my feet.
"I'll take you home."
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