"I sincerely hope neither of us will regret this," Lucius said as he and Adriana entered a freight elevator in Wayne Enterprises.
"Don't worry I can handle it," Adriana said, even though she was totally unsure of herself.
Lucius turned and gave her a doubtful look as the elevator doors opened. After they left the elevator Adriana saw what appeared to be an enormous storage facility. A very spacious area which seemed to be a basement with high walls, and random things everywhere. There were several boxes and cases that were stacked in every corner. Several rows of servers on the left side of the enormous room caught Adriana's attention. Everything looked like it could possibly be just junk but she could see lights flickering from the aisles of servers.
"Right this way," Lucius said.
He let her over to a stack of black cases and started to press buttons that unlocked one that was on the top.
"What is this place?" Adriana asked but she could see Lucius' thoughts. There was an enormous amount of weaponry stored in this area. Black cases full of everything the Batman could ever need.
"Storage," Lucius answered plainly.
He opened the case in front of him and Adriana looked into it. Her breath was taken away by the material of the suit. The first thing that came to mind was that she could not even really tell what color it was. It seemed to be a merger of dark, very dark blue, and black but at times she felt she could see flickers of purple and possibly red. It didn't appear to reflect any light but seemed to have a sheen of it's own. She placed a hand in the air over it and it went completely black under the shadow of her hand. She had never seen anything like it.
"Wow, what material is this?" Adriana asked.
"Well, to be honest it does not have a name yet," Lucius answered. "This material was just invented. Frankly, I was quite happy to have something to make just to try it out. I was considering making something for Bruce with it... possibly redoing his entire suit or at least parts of it. But he is not fond of the appearance of this material."
"Well, it little.." Adriana searched for the words. "Feminine."
Though the suit was dark there were many colors when the light hit it correctly. It was elegant.
"Yes," he said. "He barely looked at it before giving it a 'no', so I do not believe he would recognize it or even remember the material."
She nodded.
"It's entirely bulletproof," Lucius said.
"Really?" Adriana reached into the case and touched the suit. "It feels smooth and soft."
"Not if you hit it hard enough," Lucius said. "Try it."
"Really?" Adriana asked and Lucius nodded.
"The only downside to this material is that is does not protect against knives or blades. It can be cut. "
"That's okay. I'm good at disarming anyone holding a knife for blade. I've been practicing a lot with Bruce."
"That's great," Lucius said not sounding entirely convinced. "I'd prefer it if you would avoid any serious fighting in this."
"Who invented this material," Adriana asked.
"I did," Lucius said in response.
"It's beautiful. Looks like something from the future. Can I try it on?"
"Here?" Lucius asked. "I suppose. There's a mirror here somewhere, I will look for it."
"Ok, I'll change over there," Adriana picked up the incredibly lightweight suit and walked in between the tall rows of servers, extremely excited to try on the outfit.
She took off her clothes very quickly and held up the suit. There were no zippers or anything to show her how to get into it. She considered asking Lucius for help but then saw that if she pulled hard enough that the front opened a few inches and she could step into it. Getting the suit onto her body was incredibly easy. It seems like the suit was designed to be put on in less than 10 seconds. It molded and stretched over her figure very easily. Once the suit was on she pressed the small opening in the chest area together and it sealed perfectly and effortlessly. She imagined she would feel nearly barefoot on the ground where the stretchy black boots that felt almost as thin and lightweight as pantyhose were on, but the base of them felt solid and secure.
After the suit was on she wondered what it would look like in front of the mirror. She looked down at her body and was amazed. But at the same time incredibly nervous. It did not look like her. The suit was alien and foreign, it literally looked like something from another planet. There were slightly firmer plates that she could feel inside of a suit around her abdomen. And one of the wrists had material at the end felt a bit heavier than the other. As she looked down at her figure, the curving color shifting dark material over her legs and down to her feet, suddenly she felt out of place. She felt silly for getting herself into the situation. There was no way that she could be a vigilante, feeling this self-conscious. The suit was absolutely amazing and felt like it was meant to be worn by someone serious, powerful, and confident. Could she be all of those things?
She walked from behind the servers and over to Lucius and looked into the tall mirror on wheels that he had found.
"It fits perfectly.." she said. "Gosh...his suit is very flattering."
"I had to guess all of your measurements, I'm glad they seem to be correct."
"I still can't believe you put it together this quickly," she told him.
"Here," Lucius handed her a mask. It was made of the same material as her suit. It was very simple and covered the middle half of her face, leaving her hair free.
"So..does it just stick to my face?"
"Yes," he answered and placed it on for her. "Look." He took her by the shoulders gently and faced her towards the mirror again.
"Wow.." Adriana felt entirely different with a mask on. She now felt a surge of confidence. It was amazing, she had never felt so powerful. She wanted to go out right now and fight bad guys and haul them off to prison. "Lucius I can't thank you enough."
"You are welcome. One of the wrists of your suit has a communication device. Here," he held her right wrist. "If you hold it up to your face and pinch here, you can send me a message. It has to be fifteen seconds or less. You can send them in bursts one after the other though."
"Oh, that's awesome!"
"You need to contact me if you ever need help," Lucius said.
"I will," Adriana said and looked back into the mirror, stunned at the amazing suit but so self assured.
"So..Club Core.." Lucius said and walked over to the cases again.
"I want to go tomorrow night," she said. "It's Halloween and...maybe everyone will just think this is a costume."
"Good idea," he said. "Here's a small utility belt. I have some blades attached, you can use them as weapons but hopefully you will not need them."
"Thanks!" Adriana said and put the thin belt on. "Do we know anything else about Club Core?"
"Not much, other than very likely drug trade. We can go over the blueprints," he said.
As they went over them Adriana noticed a folder on the table.
"What's this?" she asked and opened it.
"Maintenance records, not important-" he said and tried to take the folder from her.
"There is evidence that a large safe was installed into one of the rooms eight months ago," Adriana noticed. "Probably an office."
"That is nothing for you to worry about," he said. "You won't be infiltrating any offices. You are to stay in the areas for clubgoers."
"Right..." Adriana said. "Got it."