A/N - Slightly late, but again, it's a long one! We've got a few things going on here with a new face popping in. I'm sure ya'll will figure it out. And YES. Damian and Delilah finally do meet one another.
Anybody can become angry - that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way - that is not within everybody's power and is not easy.
– Aristotle
Batman walked a very fine line between right and wrong. I'm not saying that temptation and anger hadn't ever tested him, that's something I know to be fact. But I also know that my father's moral compass and quick thinking always prevailed, despite the beckoning of the abyss that so many fell prey to. He had never fallen in spite of coming so close to crossing that line.
It occurred to me that night that if the party responsible wouldn't show their face, then I would have to force their hand somehow. Bruce Wayne had taught me how to think on my feet. Batman had instilled in me a moral compass quite like his own. I had the will, and the mind to make it work, the only glaringly obvious problem was…I didn't quite have the skill. I was only hoping I had the strength not to fall.
"You rappelled out of your bedroom window?! You serious?!"
Delilah sank into the chair beside Sam's bed, trying to ignore the hum of the hospital intercoms. Her only response was to let her lips twist into a half smile. Sam flopped onto the pillows.
"Oh. My. God. You did!"
"Who does that?"
Del cut her eyes to Jordan, Sam's little brother. The kid was sitting on the floor against the window, with a tablet in his lap. Like his sister his cropped hair was brown, and his dark eyes were wide. The sun had placed a few freckles across the bridge of his small sloped nose. He just stared at her incredulously. Del was still public enemy number one.
"She does."
The boy rolled his eyes. "Crazy rich people." He grumbled, sliding his attention back to his tablet without giving the girls another glance.
"Since when do you rappel?"
Delilah shrugged her shoulders, watching the traffic out in the hall. "Since I started watching YouTube tutorials?"
Shortly after the Talia incident, Delilah's own wing was fortified to something akin to Fort Knox. No one came through the heavy doors without the proper code. Tampering only put the wing on lockdown. No one in. And no one out. When Delilah explained this, Samantha scoffed. "I don't know, why not just use a phone and call for help like a normal person?"
"Gee, thanks, Alfred Jr. "
At hearing his name, Alfred poked his head in the room. "Precisely. Maybe you should take to listening to Miss Cleary's advice?"
"I promise, Alfred, that's what I'll do, next time."
"Yes, Miss, I'm sure you will, after all I was only born yesterday." With that the man returned to his post in the hall, and to his book.
"So how did you end up getting locked in to begin with?" Sam asked, trying to shift herself so she could sit up.
"Thanks to a certain someone, the number pad was left hanging by wires." She hadn't even met Damian yet, and the little twerp had already managed to get on her nerves.
"Someone who?"
Delilah shook her head, leaving Sam's mouth to make a perfect 'O'. It wasn't hard to find out the details of Delilah's past, especially when the internet was still teaming with conspiracy theories about Wayne's secret lovechild. When the proverbial light bulb went off over Sam's head, Del nodded, pressing her finger to her lips.
"You look awfully fancy in that get up." Sam commented, eyeing the neat black slacks and the stark white blouse with lace sleeves. It certainly wasn't Del's usual wardrobe choice. "Heels?" Sam quipped giving the girl a raised eyebrow.
"Hey, my chucks are in the car."
"Those will be on before lunch."
"Dad thought it would be a good idea if I shadowed him at the office today." The girls stared at each other. Translation: Wayne wanted her in arms reach today. He didn't trust the school to keep her safe.
"Who wants to go to school anyway?" Sam said with a shrug. "Jor, can you get me my bag?"
"If you end up here for too long, you're going to lose your scholarship to that stupid prep school." Jordan snipped, rising to his feet to grab his sister's backpack. "It's not like Mom and Dad could afford to send you there without it."
"Lay off, Jordan, I know."
Samantha Cleary lead the life that Delilah might have had if the Fates had seen it in their hearts to let her mother live. A middleclass life. A life without the public peering in. A life where there wasn't a camera being shoved into your face every time you stepped a foot outside the house. People weren't intimidated by a name, or trying to get close to you simply for your connections.
The Cleary family, was just that, a family, a quiet and unassuming bunch. They opened their home to Delilah, though it seemed to make Sam's mother really nervous, and Sam's father a little too intrigued for his own good. But as a unit they were the kind of family Del found herself wishing she could have had. It was always a curious notion to wonder just what her father would have been like had fate been just slightly different. But it was never an idea that the girl entertained for long. The fates must have had some clue of what they were doing. Or so one could hope.
"Don't worry about the scholarship. Nothing is going to happen to it."
Sam stopped rifling through her bag and stared. "Oh? And how the hell do you know?
"Guess who funds the scholarship…"
Sam looked up at the ceiling and sighed. Seeing the relief cross her face was little consolation when it compared to how she arrived here. Delilah watched as Sam pulled a sleek black tin tube from her bag and handed it to her. "Ta Da."
It was full of black and yellow smoke bombs. "I made those while we were waiting. You didn't specify a color so…" Samantha shrugged, tossing her bag on the floor. "You never did tell me what they were for. Inquiring minds want to know."
"Inquiring minds will have to wait for another day." Delilah teased, slipping the tube quickly into her purse.
"You're no fun."
As the sound of heels drew close from the hall, Delilah rose to her feet, trying to offer Evelyn Cleary a smile when the woman entered the room. Her hazel eyes looked worn, as if she had been awake the entire night. As if she could blame the woman.
"Hello Mrs. Cleary."
"Miss Wayne."
Delilah felt her brows knit together. Weird. She always called her by name.
"I think it's time for you go."
Delilah grabbed her purse as Sam's face twisted. "She just got here." But Sam's mother raised her dimpled chin defiantly. "I'm sorry, but the truth of the matter is, you being near her puts you in danger."
"MOM!"
"Please understand…" The words weren't met for her daughter, not when Delilah could look right into the woman's eyes when she spoke. "It's just not safe. I would prefer it if you didn't come around anymore."
"It wasn't Delilah's fault, Mom." Samantha snapped. But Del held up her hand. "No. I understand." She said softly, her heels clicking as she made her way to the door. "Call me when you feel up to it." She offered, stopping at the door. Mrs. Cleary's arms folded in front of her as she spoke. "That's not a good idea either." She said primly. "I'm sorry, Delilah. But I have to protect my daughter."
Alfred was already on his feet when she crossed the threshold into the hall, closing the door gently behind her. It didn't stop the voices from carrying. "Really Mom? It wasn't her fault that some lunatic decided to inject me with chemicals."
"No, I'm she was the target, but I'm not willing to bet your life on it."
"If it was her instead of me, she'd be dead."
"Yes she would have. But you would have been safe."
Alfred touched the girl's arm, pulling her away from the door. "Perhaps we shouldn't dawdle here." He said softly, letting the buzz of the lobby drown the conversation. "She's just doing what most mother's do."
Delilah sighed, feeling the sunlight brush her cheek as they step out to the sidewalk. "I know, Alfred." She paused, smoothing her coat over her arm, as Alfred opened the door to the car. Jax had somehow managed to mash his body into the floorboard behind the driver's seat. He offered her a toothy dog smile as he struggled to untangle himself. At least the dog was happy to see her.
"Master Bruce will join you at the office shortly." In other words, he wasn't leaving the house until Alfred returned. Oh, she had an inkling why that was…
"So, what's my kid bother like?"
The girl watched the man's face twitch in the review mirror. "He's just a barrel of fun."
"Oh, joy."
"Although… he has yet to rappel from his bedroom window…like someone else I know."
Delilah lifted her hands as Jax forced his heavy head onto her lap. "Dad hasn't called me yet, so I take it you haven't told him." She said, watching the dog's big brown eyes close as she rubbed his head.
"No. I didn't see any reason to." When the teen looked up, she realized he was starting at her. He knew. Surely he knew she was up to something. "Don't give me reason to."
"I'll try not to."
Alfred said nothing more, except to grumble about the foolishness of fathers and daughters.
The girl could hardly make it off the elevator before she was swarmed. "When is you're father coming in. he really needs to hear about this." Delilah didn't even hesitate; she simply took the folder from the woman. "He'll be here shortly." She said, peering into the folder. "Now that's not right." Account skimming. She closed it, but didn't give it back. "When do you think your father could hold a conference about the Kaiser account?" Del spared the man a look, aware that Jax was all but leading himself to their destination.
"Soon."
"6?"
"Not that soon. C'mon, he'd kill me." Definitely not. Now that the sun was starting so set earlier and earlier, it meant Batman was also able to leave at an earlier time, of course that never meant he'd be home any earlier.
"What's this rumor I hear about Lex Corp is sniffing around?"
That got them quiet, for all but a split second.
"And how did you hear about that? You're all of what? Fifteen?"
Delilah paused. "Do you want to break it to my father?" She asked looking up at the man as his mouth flopped open and then closed. "Kaiser was seen having lunch with some members of the board in Metropolis." He loosened his tie, as if it were strangling him. "That's the rumor anyway."
"Oh, really now? We'll just see about that." Reaching the large double doors, the girl wrenched one open. " See, now that's why I like this kid." She was one of the closest voices in her father's ear. They knew that…and so did she. Perhaps most adults wouldn't take order or direction from a fifteen year old but Bruce Wayne had been grooming the girl from the moment the world learned that Wayne Enterprises had an heiress. In other words, they had no choice. He who holds majority share, makes the rules.
"Can I bring you anything?" the secretary asked, as she managed to cut through the small group of sharks that had built up around the door. "I'll be fine, Janice, thank you. But would you be so kind as to warn the ladies around the water cooler that I'm here." The woman grinned. Nothing made gossipers scatter quite like the boss's daughter. "I thought watching them put their feet into their mouths was one of your favorite pass times."
"It is, I just want to make sure they can't say they weren't warned." With that Del shut the door.
When Bruce finally made it in, his daughter had already made herself comfortable at his desk. Jax was sprawled out in front of it, he didn't even bother to lift his head. "They're freaking out about the Kaiser account, you know." She told him, peering over the monitor. "If it were me, I'd drop the snake on his ass. But I think I'm more vengeful than you are…businesswise."
"Uh, huh." He was still trying to adjust his tie, it was then that Delilah realized that he seemed a little flushed and that veins in his neck were budging. "Who has high blood pressure issues again?" Del asked, shoving herself away from the desk, and crossing the room. "Geez, what are you doing to that thing? Haven't you ever paid attention to Alfred?" she asked, righting the tie for him before he knotted it to death.
"Damian must have set you off this morning. Full on Batman butt chewing?"
"You could say that." Of course she could. She's had one or two of those herself, and if she wasn't careful there was bound to be a third. If he didn't confine her to her wing for the rest of her life to top it off.
"The test?" She asked softly, knowing full well he was checking for the results the second they became available.
"Part MDMA, part venom."
"Ecstasy?"
"It's such a high concentration that it causes the body to literally boil." That explained the bleeding. A body's blood pressure would get so high that it would literally force the blood out of any opening it could squeeze through.
"Mom never, and I mean never–"
"I know, Del. But it is the same mixture. Compared to your mother's samples, they're a close match." Bruce said carefully, aware that his daughter was pacing the length of the office and back again. But when his words finally sunk in she paused, her face was impassive. A trait she had picked up from him, not that he cared to see her mirroring it so well. "A close match?"
"What Sam was injected with had more MDMA, less venom."
"But with Mom?"
"It was the other way around. It was enough MDMA to cause her to bleed out, but also-"
"To feel the effects of the venom…."
Bruce nodded.
"They wanted me to die as quickly as possible. I'd die of heart attack before I'd even start to bleed..but Mom…" Delilah felt herself shudder as realization began to seep in. Her mother's screams always echoed back to her in anger, but knowing now that her mother was in severe pain…
Del crumbled back into the chair; the simple motion seemed to pull Jax to his paws, warranting a head in the lap. "I don't understand." She said softly, tracing the shape of the dog's head with the pads of her fingers. "Were the Santa Prisca accounts that big of a deal?" She asked, finally willing herself to look up at her father, who was leaning on the desk. "I mean, we still get revenue skimmers. Hell, we have one right now. Were the amounts large?"
"How do you know about those?"
"I heard you guys in the kitchen…"
But her father was shaking his head. "No, they weren't. Most to the Analysts didn't even notice." He said crossing his arms against his chest. He was staring out the window rather than looking at her. "It was a pattern of small sums that been filtered over a span of years."
"Where do the Zesti Cola deaths come in?"
"Bigger chunks started to go missing, right as people started to die. The accounts haven't been touched since then."
"Could it be someone here?" Delilah asked suddenly, causing her father to finally look at her, even if it was just a passing glance. "If it is, they're still here; no one has up and quit or left the department that handles those accounts."
"The accounts haven't been touched. Not once?"
"No. I've been monitoring them myself."
"Then they got their payoff some other way." Delilah snagged her bag from under the desk, and began fishing for her sneakers. "What I don't get is why. Maybe Mom found something, and that's why they went after her. But why come after me? No one stands to gain anything from it."
"They may not think that's true."
"Damian? You mean in a scenario where he and I might actually be related?"
"You are." Bruce said gravely. "I ran DNA tests this morning."
Yikes. "You have a kid with Talia?" Delilah put her head in her hands. "Oh, crap Dad. Talia?! Seriously? Of all the women in the world to-"
"She drugged me."
"Ugh. That sounds like her, but ugh." With that Delilah held up her palms. "Okay… that aside why would she…" The words fell from Delilah's mouth. "A pity I never met your mother, but perhaps for you it was for the best…"
Her father was gazing at her now, eyebrow raised. No question he was waiting on an explanation. "She said that to me when I met her. Why would she say something like that to me?"
"Intrigued and jealous."
"Jealous of what?"
"Not what, who. You. I raised you."
"But not Damian." Delilah jammed her foot into her shoe, wrenching up the laces. "That could have been changed long ago. She should have thought about that!"
"Easy."
Delilah clamped her mouth shut, realizing just how loud she was becoming. "Sorry." She muttered, tossing her heels into her bag. She didn't even make it to lunch, Sam was right…as usual. "But she knows who I am. We've met. Whoever did this to Sam, picked her because of a number that was on a roster…not because they knew what I looked like."
Wayne opened his mouth when the intercom on his desk beeped. "Mr. Drake has arrived, Sir."
"Thank you, Janice, We'll be right there."
"As much as I don't like her, I seriously doubt this was any of her doing. Even if Damian stood to inherit, she's too methodical and too controlling to let something this sloppy happen."
"Agreed." He told her, draping her coat over her shoulders when she finally stood. "So why go after me? Unless it was to get to you…"
For the space of breath, her father didn't move, but just as she thought there might have been something to it, he was moving toward the door, only pausing to wait for her to catch up.
"We'll have to talk about this later." Translation: I don't have the answers...yet. But knowing him, he would figure it out. He always did.
"There's the man of the hour."
Delilah stood back letting her father deal with the niceties. But as she watched men shake hands, she quickly noticed the young man who was standing off to the side. "Jack, always good to see you. Of course you know my daughter, Delilah."
Delilah's eyes cut to the man, offering him a smile. "Hello, Mr. Drake." Drake? Right? Oh, fuck.
"Haven't seen you, Missy in a long time. I'm sure you keep your father on his toes."
"Of course."
He then gestured to the dark haired boy who was standing so quietly off to his side. "This is my son Timothy." But Tim simply smiled. "Delilah and I go to school together, Dad." He explained,
"Well that makes things easier then, doesn't it?"
Timothy Drake by all accounts was a pretty decent guy, if a bit of a know it all. But he never bothered her so that was a plus. They were by no means friends, just acquaintances at best. "So the rumor is, you gave Pike a bloody nose."
Delilah flinched when her father's fork clattered against his plate. "Oh, really?"
"Uh oh, Bruce, sounds like you have a spitfire on your hands."
Delilah stabbed at her salad, trying to smother the overwhelming urge to stab Tim with her fork.
"He gave himself a bloody nose, when he did a face-plant in the hallway the other day." At that the girl held up her hands. "I don't know what's worse, admitting he busted his own face, or saying I did it for him."
Tim was grinning.
"Pike? Who names their kid after a fish?" Jack wanted to know, easing the tensions she could feel radiating off of her father.
"Celebrities." Delilah offered, liking the husky sound of the man's chuckle.
"You're awfully busy for a fifteen year old." Jack commented, leering at Tim who slumped ever so slightly. A duck if Del ever saw one. "Not only do you shadow your old man around, you're constantly volunteering…what was it last week? Quest Kids- Kid's Quest?"
"An organization that helps put community parks back together."
"Right." He said, stopping only to take a sip of his drink, "And when I passed 'Page for Parents' the other day, I could have sworn I saw you there."
"You probably did. Just because you put an organization together, doesn't mean you only pass through every now and then. Philanthropy only goes so far. If you want something good to come of it, you have to actively be a part of it."
"Oh I see, Dad funds, you participate. Quite the tag-team."
"Don't let her fool you, she's badgered me into participating a few times."
Delilah feigned shock. "I don't badger." She protested. "I simply suggest…over and over. "
"Until she wears me down."
Delilah wanted to snort. Wear Batman down? Please. No one simply annoyed him into doing anything he didn't want to. Page for Parents had started out as the idea of a ten year old girl. For all her ranting and raving about the lack of support for single parent families, she never thought her father would take the steps to make the idea into something real. One could only guess that it struck a chord with her father since he himself was a single parent.
Barbies, tutus, teary eyed tantrums, bogyman checks, and bedtime stories. It was all uncharted territory for him. Had it not been for Barbra, Bruce wasn't sure if he could have navigated 'little girl land.' And he was Batman for crying out loud! But everything seemed to be turning out okay. So far.
The moment the plates were cleared from the table, Jack spoke, "Wayne, why don't you ask your lovely daughter to take that dog that's all but drooling at your feet for a walk, I'll have the boy escort her and we'll be free to talk business."
Delilah had to fight not to make a face.
"Have your phone?" her father asked her.
When she nodded, he simply handed her the leash. Tim excused himself, following the girl and the dog out into the plaza just under the shadow of Wayne Enterprises. For a long moment, neither said a word.
"Did that seem weird to you?" Tim asked suddenly, tilting his head up at the pale blue sky.
"Very. My Dad never asks me to leave when it's business."
"Mine either."
"It doesn't mean I won't find out later." The girl said with a shrug. Tim just stared at her, keeping his pace. "What?" She asked when he just kept staring. "Nothing, you're just kind of different outside of school…less ice woman…more-"
"Human?" Del supplied, as Jax lead them into the park, knowing the route they usually took.
"Sorry, that sounds worse than I thought."
"I'm used to it." She said, listening to the tags on the doberman's collar jingle as they walked. "There's more important things than high school popularity…so I rather focus on those."
"Page for Parents. The gymnastics, the piano lessons, choir, volunteer work, the business."
"And the animal sanctuary."
At that Tim paused. "Seriously?"
"Yeah. Saturdays. I stopped doing the choir thing when my tonsils were removed."
"Do you keep yourself this busy on purpose? I mean, you're making the rest of us look bad."
At that Delilah laughed, covering her mouth when she actually snorted. "You tell anyone I did that, I'm kicking your ass." She said when he started to chuckle at her. "So I take it you're not as involved with things as your Dad would like."
Tim pursed his lips. "That obvious?" he asked, looking away from the branches above their heads. "According to him, I spend way too much time tinkering on my projects."
"Tinkering isn't bad. My bother says I stay this busy just so I can get out of having a social life."
At that Tim raised a brow, "I didn't know you had a brother." He said, watching her stop at a hot-dog stand. Surely she wasn't hungry. When she caught him looking at her funny, she smiled. "Chill, it's not for me." She told him. "Dick isn't related." She said, digging into her purse for the cash.
"If it's for who I think it is, keep the money."
"Thank you."
"Tell him to come see me; I think I have a job for him, if he wants it."
"Will do."
"Dick?"
"Dick Grayson. My Dad took him in when he was younger."
Tim followed the girl as she veered onto the leaf ridden green, weaving through the balding trees as if she had done it millions of times before.
"As in the 'Flying Graysons'?"
"Mmm hmm." She answered, but she didn't even look back at him, her eyes seemed locked onto a gray-haired man who was reading on a park bench. "Mr. Harold, how's Verne today?" The man peered over the worn leather book, giving the girl a tight lipped smile. "Fantastic as always." He told her.
"Jax and I brought you some lunch. It's kind of hard to read through 20,000 leagues under the see without some sustenance you know."
"And if I refuse to take it?"
"You know I'm just going to leave it here." She warned. Setting the food down beside him on the bench, but handing him the cup of coffee. "Mr. Cho said he'd like to talk to you. Says he has a job if you're interested."
The man sighed. "Never argue with the lady." He told Tim. "She's hard to bargain with."
"Bargain? Who said I bargain?"
"I see your point." Tim said, tilting his head as he read the title in the man's hands. " I liked 20,000 leagues under the sea, but Journey to the center of the Earth, that's a favorite."
"Now you sound like her." The old man jested, jerking a thumb to Del.
"To each their own. Don't forget about Mr. Cho."
"Oh, I won't. Thank you for the lunch, Sweetheart."
"I'm just looking out for my fellow Vernian, but you're welcome."
Tim was beside himself, watching the girl kick up the leaves so the dog could try to catch them. "You're on a first name basis with the locals around here."
"Most of them. When I was younger, Dick and I would mingle out here while Dad worked."
"We have pictures of the Graysons. My parents saw them perform just before they died; Dick is in a few of them. I'll have to bring them to school so you can see them."
"I don't really know when I'll be back at school. Dad may not let me go back."
"Oh… I'm sorry about your friend."
"I am too, more than you realize." Delilah said, cutting her eyes to the ground, watching shadows build up behind them. She listened for a moment, trying to hear the sound of shoes scuffing or tapping on the concrete, but there was nothing. When someone touched her shoulder, she dropped the leash, balled a fist and swung. The sound of her fist hitting her father's open palm was loud. He held her fist just a breath away from his face.
She recoiled, when he let her hand fall. "Jesus, Dad. I'm sorry."
"Damn, Wayne. Those are some relaxes." Jack sputtered when he recovered from his shock. Bruce smirked as he shook his hand out. "Good thing too, she hits hard." Tim didn't say a word; he only watched the father and daughter curiously. There was more here than what they saw. He could feel it.
"I am sorry."
Bruce's only response was to step out of the elevator. "You're still too slow." He told her, flashing her a smile out of the corner of his mouth. She immediately socked him in the arm, letting Jax run to the office door, dragging his leash behind him.
"Slow he says. You just wait until we get home!"
But as Jax stood at the door and growled, the teasing look slid from her father's face. The second he opened a door, the dog shoved his way inside, barking and snarling as he charged forward. "Down."
Jax was sitting obediently in the middle of floor, baring his teeth at the dark haired boy who was lounging with his feet on the desk.
"What are you doing here?"
"Reviewing my inheritance."
Delilah chocked on a laugh. "Cute."
At that moment, the phone in Bruce's pocket began to vibrate, shaking his head he whipped it out.
"Yes, Alfred?"
Delilah moved from the door way, eyeing the boy carefully. He wasn't that tall, even for ten, he was thin but lean. Looking at him she could almost pull out the parts of him that belonged to her father…or their father. The chin, the shape of his mouth, the hair, the ears. But unlike a complete Bruce Wayne mini, his eyes were a dark shade of green, and his nose was slightly rounder, like one she knew Talia to have.
"He's here…yes, if you don't mind."
As intently as Delilah was studying Damian, he seemed to be regarding her just the same. She plopped on the thick black sofa in the office, summoning Jax to her side with a snap of her fingers. The dog came and hunkered down on the floor at her feet, though his posture was anything but relaxed.
"And just who are you?" Damian asked, swiveling the chair to face her, his elbows were propped on the arms of the chair, his fingers neatly locked. It certainly wasn't the posture of a ten year old.
"What your Mommy didn't tell you?"
"Ask Dick if he would, he's more likely to if it comes from you."
At that Del's eyes moved from the kid, to her father. Just what was he up to?
"She must not have thought you were important."
"Del?"
Her chance to retort was stolen. "Yeah, Dad?" but out of the corner of her eye she could see Damian's eyes widen just ever so slightly. "Alfred is on his way; Dick will be meeting you at the manor later."
"All right…what about Mr. Fox?"
"I won't be staying much longer myself, so if you want to visit with him, do it now." Delilah pulled herself from the sofa. He didn't trust Damian by himself. That was clear. "Alrighty." Visiting with Lucius Fox was something they always tended to do together, so when offered the chance to talk to him alone, she jumped at it.
"What? Did you think you were an only child?" She asked, smiling when Damian's expression soured.
"I can rectify that." Damian said simply as she opened the door to let Jax out first.
"You have to go through him." She said giving a nod toward their father, as she moved to shut the door behind her. She ducked out as soon as something hard and heavy went flying through the air, hitting the door frame instead of the intended target. She quickly shut the door to keep any shrapnel from bouncing into the hallway.
"You missed." She called, knowing full well he could hear her. Poor Janice stared down the hall wide eyed. "Is everything okay?"
"Yep. Just another day at the office." The girl said easily, calling Jax to her with a pat on her leg. "Let's go see the Fox, Jax." She jested, racing the Doberman to the elevator with her backpack in tow.
"Oh, no. here comes trouble."
"Who? Me? Nah." Delilah plopped herself on a stool, and rolling herself to the table where he sat. Her father had made sure he had been reappointed to the board, but after so much time in the prototype hanger, one could say it grew on the man. She picked up the glove in front of him, surprised at how light it was.
"Kevlar weave if you can believe it." He said, watching the girl.
"Why doesn't he use something like this? It's so light."
"Not enough of it to make an entire suit. He's a big man, you know." He said, sliding from his chair to retrieve the rest of the fabric, when he came back to the table, the girl was turning one of the grapple guns over in her hand. "There may not be enough for him, but for someone a lot smaller, that's another story."
Delilah reared her head up at that. "You never come down here without your father, let alone toting a bag. Does your father know what you're up to?"
"God, I hope not."
Fox was shaking his head. "I'm not going to lie to him if he asks."
"Then I'll have to make sure he doesn't ask." She rolled the grappler in her hand. "Got anything bigger?"
"Why don't you show me what you have in mind and I'll see what I can drum up."
Del immediately opened her bag, pulling out a note book, hidden between some pages of math, were few designs and algorithms for distance, speed and trajectory scrawled out in pen. Every page screamed that it was a product of sleepless night. "I can make minor adjustments." She said, as the man took the notebook from her. " But anything major might get me busted, he hoards most of the tools. And I definitely can't go back up there without something for him."
Lucius dark eye's crinkled when he smiled. "Child, who do you think you're talking to?" She could have hugged him right then and there. "Just tell me where to send this stuff…though I'm a bit surprised, no bats?"
"No. He'd know it was me immediately. I want to hold that off for as long as I can."
