Author's Note: Poison Ivy is halfway through the destroying the city. Bruce needs help. Lucius Fox lends a hand to proceedings. Bruce's POV.
Enjoy.
Lucius
Bruce
Pamela Isley has gone too far with her so-called eco terrorism. Normally she keeps her crusades small and her army of plants controllable. However, as I hang off the side of the Batwing, narrowly avoiding being impaled on hundred-foot high vines whilst Tim attempts to pilot us to Wayne Enterprises, it is safe to say this latest venture is beyond her control. The plants infest more than half the cityscape and destroy anything in their path. Their size and aggressive nature make the loss of life potentially number into the hundreds of thousands. Unless we can find a way to poison the forest before it poisons us. Already plants are threatening to bloom. When they do, toxic spores will be released and saturate the atmosphere, rendering it unbreathable to anyone unfortunate enough to require oxygen. From the maturation rate of the buds, which are nearly six feet wide and number in the high two-hundreds, we have less than ten minutes to solve our problem.
"Tim, lower the pitch and aim for the south side of the tower. We're heading for my office." I instruct the boy over the communications link whilst climbing back onto the roof.
"Should I just circle above the building after that?" He asks with more than a hint of nerves. It is entirely understandable: tonight was supposed to be a routine outing, not the apocalypse.
"Yes. If I cannot launch the drones using Wayne Enterprise satellites, we will need to get far away from here." I reply. In case of emergency, I keep twenty-five drones equipped with advanced spore-eating pesticide canisters in an abandoned aerodrome, ten miles east of Gotham. They are our only hope at this time. Tim navigates the final gauntlet of tendrils and stalks and I identify my office by its balcony. It is the only one that has such an obsequious entry point. Satisfied at our current altitude and speed, I take a running leap and glide onto the balcony as Tim pulls the plane sharply up to avoid collision.
I do not have to time to gain entry by delicate means and smash through the glass to enter the office. I make a note to replace it with something sturdier once this madness is over. I flip the switch underneath my desk and watch the standard computer network disappear from the screen. A moment later, the cave's mainframe has infiltrated the desktop and given me the necessary tools to hack into the satellite system and repurpose it for combat operations.
"Plants are at ninety percent of their maturation cycle, Bruce." The boy informs me over the radio. I am aware of time constraints.
"Acknowledged. Activating the drones for flight now." I respond typing in the override codes needed to disable Wayne Enterprises security grid and task the drones. As I bring them online, I am aware of footsteps at the door of my office. I do not have time to worry about a night watchman or custodian making his rounds. I need this to work. I patch into the camera feeds of the drones and designate the master drone that I will control the formation and flight with. The door is unlocked by someone with keys. I still do not have time to waste.
The door opens as the drones become airborne. I use the keyboard controls to pilot the lead drone and select a standard arrow-head formation for the others to assume. Whoever has entered the office is now almost in front of my desk. I am clearly visible behind it, illuminated only by the glow of my twin computer monitors.
"Good evening, Mr Wayne." I hear Lucius Fox's voice say without much surprise or shock. So, he knows. I am hardly taken aback by this revelation. I do not look up in responding.
"Now is not a good time, Lucius." I say as the altitude display on the drone's camera informs me they are at optimum height for maximum dispersal of their payload. "Everyone in the city will die within five minutes if I cannot pilot these drones to the pinch points of Isley's mutated plants."
"I know. That's why I came here. I can pilot the drones. You can do your superhero thing. Poison Ivy's still at large, right?"
"Her whereabouts are unimportant. I need to..." The lead drone has suffered a cascade error. It is now locked on a path that will take them beyond the city and into the sea. "Cascade failure on the lead." I say aloud. Lucius quickly rounds the desk and takes control of the system. He expertly tasks another drone as the lead and begins to pilot it seamlessly. All the others are brought into formation under the new drone whilst the previous lead continues off course.
"I have this under control, Bruce. I take it these co-ordinates here are the drop zones?"
"Correct. You have three minutes to execute the command." I tell him before preparing to exit the building and chase down the rogue drone before it can hurt innocent people. There is no time to debate the merits of leaving Gotham's fate in the hands of Lucius Fox. The lead drone will detonate its payload in three minutes. We need to stop it before it kills someone.
"Good luck, Batman." I hear Lucius call before I am out of earshot. I leap off the balcony railing and into open air. The Batwing just catches me before I am snatched by an ambitious tendril. I find the roof hatch and drop back into the cockpit. Tim looks over from what was supposed to be the co-pilot's seat.
"Problem?" He asks as I motion for him to concentrate on piloting the mayhem outside.
"The lead drone has suffered a cascade error. We need to stop it before it drops the payload on a city that is not blighted by killer plants."
Tim flips a handful of controls to patch the navigation system into the lead drone's current position and speed. "It's moving faster than we can manage. The best we can do is..." The boy turns to me and frowns. "Who's flying the other drones?"
"Lucius. I will explain later. Did you prepare the missiles I asked for?"
"Yeah, but they won't reach it in time either. It's too far ahead of us."
"They will if we hit the afterburners."
"That might knock off the targeting sensors. It could miss by inches or feet."
"We have less than a minute. We have to take that risk or answer for our mistakes. Fire the missile and hit the afterburner once it reaches maximum speed." I tell him settling into the other seat and entering the necessary course to intercept the drone. I feel a sudden and sustained increase in the craft's speed as we reach maximum velocity. I look over in time to see Tim hit the launch button.
"Firing now."
There is a distinct whoosh as the missile is launched from underneath the body of the plane. We both watch it increase its speed through the windscreen. It only takes three seconds to reach its top speed. This is recognised by a single beep from the control panel. "Afterburners." I say. Tim wants to hesitate in hitting the button but does not. This is a considerable gamble, but we have no choices left. We have twenty seconds to bloom in the city. I pray Lucius is as competent a pilot as he is a software engineer and financier. Palpable silence descends on the cockpit as we await confirmation of the drone's destruction.
"So, Lucius knows then?" Tim checks to break the tension.
"Yes. I get the impression he has known for some time." I say as the time dwindles to five seconds. The time comes and goes. No confirmation is heard. I clench my jaw and brace myself for...
'Target destroyed.'
"Confirmed." Tim says looking at the targeting display. He sounds as relieved as I am. "Whatever course you put in, it was perfect."
"I deliberately programmed it too low for intercept. I estimated the afterburners would heighten its trajectory by no more than two feet. It appears I was right to do so." I offer sheepishly. Tim glances over at me and grins.
"Then it's a good job I didn't recalibrate the guidance systems then. Otherwise it would have missed by miles." He reveals with a brief chuckle. I smile in return.
"Yes, it is. Would you kindly fly us back to Gotham? We need to see whether Mr Fox has fared well in his attempt to play hero of civilisation."
"Don't you want to pilot again?"
"Why? You are doing an excellent job."
Tim says nothing. His smile just grows wider as he returns his focus to the skies ahead. I stand up and pat him on the shoulder as a plant-free Gotham greets our return to the city limits. A moment later I am back on the roof to survey the devastation left behind. The city looks as though damaged by a severe earthquake, but nothing that cannot be replaced with some generous donations by the wealthier members of society, Bruce Wayne included. Lucius Fox has been successful in executing the commands needed. I should not have expected anything else of that man. He has always been reliable in a crisis, whether it is business-related or life-threatening. I would promote him if it did not mean him usurping me as head of the company.
I glide back to Wayne Tower and land back on the balcony to find Lucius sat awaiting my arrival. He smiles at me in the dark. "You stopped it then?"
"Barely. But there are no casualties beyond those already counted." I say drawing up in front of him. He stands up and shakes his head in disbelief.
"I never thought this was your secret, Bruce. When I stumbled across the gaps in our weapons division, I thought you were selling arms on the international market behind our backs, not fitting them to your crazy-ass plane to save the world dressed as a bat. Got to say that somehow, it's a relief." He tells before chuckling. "My God. I hardly know where to start unravelling this ball of yarn."
"We can discuss my personal life during work hours. Rough estimates of the damage suggest we need a minimum of fifty million just to initiate repairs. Kindly make the arrangements as soon as you are able and call everyone in my phonebook for donations on my behalf." I say before turning away to leave yet again.
"Going after Poison Ivy now?" Lucius asks.
"She needs to be stopped before this episode receives an encore. Make sure you get someone to replace the balcony doors too. I don't like an open-plan office." I answer climbing the railing in preparation for another flight into the ether. I hear Lucius crunch broken glass under his feet in approaching me.
"What about the threat of me exposing you to the press? Or blackmailing you for more money?" He inquires, as if I was ever concerned by such behaviour from a man of his character.
"We both know you're too well-paid and loyal to do anything so ridiculous." I say, signalling Tim to fly by and collect me once more. Behind me, I hear Lucius sigh in agreement of my assessment.
"What time should I come in tomorrow, Mr Wayne?"
"The usual time, Lucius. I will be here. No ties though. It is Casual Friday after all."
It is just after eight on Friday morning as I enter my office and find the balcony doors have already been replaced and the mess wiped from existence. Lucius is already sat in the chair in front of my desk, leafing through a lean folder in his hand. He turns his head and smiles at me genially. "Good morning, Mr Wayne."
"Good morning, Lucius. How did you sleep?" I ask rounding my desk and finding he has been courteous enough to restore the normal computer system on my behalf. He nods.
"Yeah, not too bad considering I saved the city last night. I thought I'd be up all-night thinking about it. Adrenaline and all that. Instead, I slept like a baby." He says handing over the file for my inspection. "That's a gross estimate of the costs for repairing the city's most devastated areas. Not bad on the rough figures, Bruce. The total runs to forty-eight million, seven-hundred and ninety-eight dollars, ninety-nine cents."
I raise my eyebrow. "Ninety-nine cents, Lucius?"
"I added in the cost of your new balcony doors as collateral damage. They cost eleven-hundred and ninety-eight dollars, ninety-nine cents." He informs me with a good-natured grin. I look at the figures again.
"Did that include labour and fitting?"
"Yes, Sir. Got them in at ten last night and they were done by eleven. Disposal service was free of charge."
"Thank you for being so prompt, Lucius, and for not wearing a tie." I say with a smile. He inclines his head.
"It's the least I could do for Gotham's Dark Knight."
I always hated that moniker. I do not quite know why. Perhaps it is because I do not think of myself as a chivalrous man. I will take any advantage in battle afforded to me. I push it out of my mind and continue. "Well, I appreciate you coming in to help with the fallout. Due to the structural damage to schools, residences and places of business, practically the entire city has been cautioned to stay at home today, for their own safety.."
"I saw it on this morning's news. I also saw that you caught Miss Isley less than an hour after I last saw you. That's impressive stuff, even for a man of your considerable capabilities." Lucius says as I return the file after signing at the bottom of the contract.
I shrug my shoulders. "She admitted to going too far in her quest to save the planet. Her own plants had injured her when we found her in the botanical gardens. For her, that was a clear sign to stop."
"Too bad she didn't stop before she tore apart half the city with them." Lucius says with a sigh I fully sympathise with. Thousands of people are displaced from their homes in the aftermath. Rescue shelters are working around the clock to meet demands. All because one woman's narrow vision could not be confined to peaceful methods of protest.
"We will remedy this, Lucius. No matter the cost, we will fix this. How much capital did you gather from donations?" I ask getting to my feet and gesturing for him to join me on the sofa in the far corner.
"Your little black book was very profitable. It took less than twenty phone calls to drum up twenty million dollars for the relief efforts and those in need of financial aid. It's being distributed as we speak...with very strict scrutiny of those claiming it. We don't need people jumping on the bandwagon." Lucius says in sitting beside me in more relaxed circumstances. I nod in agreement.
"No, we do not. Excellent work, Lucius, as always."
"Stuff like this seems happen at least twice a year if we're lucky." He sighs in deflation before slouching back against the sofa and folding his arms. "So, it's a damn good job we've got you to save us. Both sides of you."
"How long have you known?" I ask in folding my own arms and leaning back. Lucius puffs out his cheeks.
"For sure? Six months. Suspected something like this? Almost a year."
"Why did you not confront me earlier?"
"Truth is, I wasn't sure how crazy you really were, Mr Wayne. I mean, if you're Batman, that means Jason was Robin. And if that's true, that means he didn't die in a traffic accident in Ethiopia like you said. I thought you were going around brain-washing boys in doing what you wanted and damning the consequences. Got to say that terrified me more than anything else ever has."
"So, what changed?"
"Last night, I saw my boss hanging off the side of a repurposed Wayne Tech spy-plane sporting a repurposed Wayne Tech tri-weave carbon fibre battle suit, fighting with the forces of nature itself on live television. That's when I knew that you were literally crazier than half the inmates at Arkham, but also the bravest man I've ever known. And that's when I knew I'd been wrong about you. If you were a monster, you wouldn't have risked your life trying to stop another one. Not for people you didn't know."
"And how exactly did you know I would be re-tasking the satellite system last night?"
"Full disclosure, Bruce, I've hacked into your mainframe before, the, uh, other mainframe before. Don't get me wrong, took me best part of four months to find a way past your encryption, but once I got in, I could see your secret drones and liberal use of your own satellite network for piggybacking signals around the world. After that I just put two and two together. Ivy has plants, you have a hangar full of pesticide...you kind of need the two things to make a reaction." Lucius says as if breaking into my mainframe is a straightforward task. It is nigh on impossible. And, no offence to Lucius, but he is not that good of a hacker to crack my system in four months. Even the best in the world would average four years for the same task. I know because I checked. Which means someone let him in. I glance in the direction of the office door.
"Tim? Come in here, please." I call getting to my feet. Lucius frowns at me.
"There's nobody out there, Bruce. I checked myself before walking in here. Are you talking about Tim Drake? That boy who came by a few weeks ago to drop some things off?"
"You must have gathered I did not pilot the plane myself last night. I had help."
"Tim? You let a sixteen-year-old boy fly a fifteen-million-dollar aircraft? What about the auto-pilot?"
"Isley's mutated plants damaged it. I needed to task the drones but not let the plane crash. Robin was the only one available and he did an exemplary job."
"But isn't he...too small to be Robin? Both Dick and Jason were big, strong kids: Tim's kind of..."
"Bruce is an equal opportunities employer, Mr Fox." Tim says, having spent the better part of the last twenty minutes tinkering with the projector in the conference room. The boy has an obsession with improving mechanical devices beyond their natural limits. "So, don't take a crack at me, just because I'm under regulation height for a sidekick who isn't under twelve." Tim adds in wandering past Lucius to stand beside me. I said he could join me this morning only if his father approved. Jack Drake was all too happy to give his son something stimulating to do, since his high school is closed until at least next Monday. If only he knew how different Tim's version of stimulating activity is to everyone else.
"Tim, why did you let Lucius into our mainframe without my permission?" I ask plunging my hands into my trouser pockets. Tim mirrors my actions with his own jean pockets and shrugs.
"I was curious what he was looking for, and what he'd do when he found it."
"Wait a minute...that was your encryption?" Lucius checks in what can only be described as utter astonishment at the notion. His amazement has even prompted him to rise off the sofa and stand next to us. He looks at Tim with wide eyes. "Did you have help to make it?"
"I used the Pentagon system as a starting point and then added a few other subroutines and algorithms to make it more layered and sophisticated. Essentially, I cribbed off everyone else's work to make my own. It's pretty awesome though, huh?" Tim explains with a winning smile. The boy could be a billionaire himself if he applied his intelligence to something other than crimefighting. I am thankful he likes his current job. I would not like him as an enemy.
"Don't let people in out of curiosity, Tim, it only leads to compromise." I warn whilst considering how different the previous evening could have gone without Lucius' timely assistance. In hindsight, pulling him into our confidence is a good move, even if it is incredibly bold.
"Yes, Sir. Sorry about overstepping the mark." The boy apologises with the utmost sincerity despite knowing he has a good track record where calculated risks are concerned. His very involvement in my world was down to a calculated risk on his part. I have not forgotten that. I turn my attentions to Lucius.
"Now that you've officially volunteered your services to help us, Lucius, perhaps we could get your opinion on something. I need a new suit and Tim needs a new bow-staff for combat. Do we have anything in Research and Development that might...improve on our current equipment?" I inquire.
Lucius' wide-eyed gawping at Tim's technological genius gives way to a grin, now he realises his role is something far easier than the boy's contributions. He nods his head. "I believe we have, Mr Wayne. If you and the young gentleman will kindly follow me, I'll show you what we have in stock..."