XXI
The Bad Day
Bruce awoke the next morning with Raven beside him. It was rare for her to sleep, she preferred to meditate, but she had slept last night… beside him. Her long, black hair fell across the bed sheets like a calm, midnight lake along white shores.
He knew he had a million things to do. The Barbara Gordon and Big Blue situations had taken more time than he had hoped. Still, his mind drifted to Richard. He wondered if the other two pilots suits would be ready by tomorrow. It was now down to stress tests. Lucius would get it done, he was sure. But why did he have such a bad feeling about the whole mission? Raven's words of two days ago still haunted him;
"…Events are put into place. This ends horribly, dearest.
The Fate that has cursed me has now conspired against you."
Bruce had always followed Henry Ford's philosophy on the matter of outcomes;
"Whether you think that you can, or that you can't, you are usually right."
Bruce Wayne would determine how this ended, or do all that he could to protect those around him. If Fate chose to conspire against him, it would find a willing adversary. With that in mind, Bruce brought up Oracle and placed a call to Lucius Fox…
"Good morning Mr. Wayne. Up and at it early, I see."
"Not as early as you Lucius. How are the suits coming along?"
"Very well. We began the stress testing an hour ago. So far, so good. You could have saved us some time if you returned the cloaking sheath and hardware that you borrowed two weeks ago, Mr. Wayne. When the army picked up the first prototype last night, they again expressed their sense of urgency…"
"I'm sorry…they what?"
"Expressed their sense of urgency. That's understandable, all things considered."
"Why wasn't I informed they picked up the prototype?"
"It's in your morning update, Mr. Wayne. The sale had already been approved by the board, so I didn't see a problem. General Johnson himself was here and very insistent. We'll certainly include you for the next two. Be a hell of a photo op, Bruce."
"Yes… please do. Anything else I should know Lucius?"
"No sir. Right now, we're focusing on getting the other two suits ready by day's end.
"Thank Lucius… End call."
Bruce became aware that his wife watching him from the bed. Raven had awoken. As he turned to greet her, he saw tears streaming down her cheeks.
"What's wrong? What happened?!" The was the first time Bruce had seen Raven upset.
"…. Trigon!"