Divination Chapter 51, a batman begins/dark knight fanfic

"You can do it," Bruce said to Adriana.

Adriana's palms and fingers burned as she held onto the pole and try to pull herself up. Her skin felt like it was tearing as her chin barely reached the bar and her hands finally slipped.

"Why is this so difficult?" she asked Bruce as he caught her and placed her onto the floor.

"You have to build more strength," he answered. "This in exercise in particular is never easy starting out. Plus you have been avoiding pull ups for a while. If you don't practice you won't get stronger."

"I don't think I want to practice this pull up thing anymore," she said. "Look at my hands they're all red."

"No problem," Bruce replied and watched her sit on the bench by his weights.

"Do I sound like a snob?" She asked as she shook her hands loose.

"Not exactly," Bruce replied.

"You think I sound like a girl," she laughed.

"Well, it's not my fault you're in my thoughts," he responded with laughter.

"That is true," she replied. "I guess I better get going. I know you have that conference call to to Tokyo in a bit."

"Unfortunately," he said with boredom in his voice at the thought of the call. "You know I have been thinking maybe we should take a trip together. "

"A trip?" She smiled. "What's the occasion? Where will we go?"

"The occasion could be a celebration of the fact that the Joker is finally behind bars, once I make that happen. We could go anywhere you want. "

"That sounds amazing. How long do you think it will take to find a way to finally stop him and get him arrested again?" Adriana asked.

"I'm not sure. All I know is that in my search for him over the past few weeks, I have lost a lot of time and energy. Once he is finally detained I will be able to relax and we can finally really spend some time together. I could actually leave Gotham for once without worrying about having to rush back."

"I'd love that," she said and stood up.

"We'll go someplace special," he said and wrapped his arms around her. "Disappear for a couple of weeks. Once the Joker is finally away and hopefully in a maximum security prison I will finally be able to leave Gotham for a bit. Leave my phone here. Leave any interruptions here."

"You wouldn't leave your phone," Adriana started to laugh. "That's ridiculous."

"It's ridiculous how much I know I need some alone time with you with no interruptions or distractions or meetings or emergencies."

"Mhm," she said as they kissed. "I hope it won't take too long to apprehend him. "

"I was thinking," he said well sounded like he was being careful with his words. "Perhaps this so-called vigilante, Shade, can help."

"And now you want her help? I thought you didn't like her," Adriana said.

"I never said that I didn't like her. I said that she was suspicious and that I did not trust her," Bruce explained.

"Right," Adriana burst into laughter. "Because that's completely different. "

"It is."

"So you trust her now?"she asked.

"Not exactly. I trust that she has access to good information and I am not sure how," Bruce said. "She hasn't made any attempts to stop the Joker so far.. She had an opportunity to shoot him at the church and didn't take it. Perhaps she's afraid. She's good at what she does. She may be of some assistance at some point."

"Only with your help?" Adriana asked.

"She couldn't handle the Joker on her own," Bruce said.

"Why?" Adriana asked.

"Can you see my thoughts? My memories? "

"Sure. Anything in particular I should be looking for? " Adriana asked him.

"The last time that I saw her. She was... " Bruce said.

"She was what? "

"I'm not entirely sure. First time that I met her she was very serious, sharp, precise. She performed surgery in the back of an ambulance without hesitation or nervousness as far as I could see," Bruce explained.

"And this last time?" Adriana said.

"After the museum robbery which she was able to successfully end," Bruce said. "I spoke to her and she was clearly intoxicated or on something. She was laughing a lot and seemed a bit looser than the first time that I encountered her."

"Oh.." Adriana said and thought of the blue potion that she had used. She didn't remember feeling are behaving in the way that Bruce was describing. At the very least she was glad that she had maintained keeping her voice disguised. But when she looked into his thoughts she could see what he meant. She was clearly under some kind of influence.

"So you're sure you will ask her to help you with finding the Joker? " Adriana asked.

"Yes. The next time that I see her," he said. "I gave her a card but she may not use it."

When Adriana got home, she realized that she was feeling incredibly impulsive. And lonely. Her home was empty and quiet. Bruce was hyper focused on the Joker.

It was not a feeling that she was used to. She felt rebellious. Daring. She needed to take action and could not wait any longer. The bottle of the blue potion that on the countertop was what she wanted and needed. The color was alluring and hypnotizing in the dark.

Immediately she picked up the bottle and without measuring took several gulps. As she waited for it to take effect, she thought of Madame Twyla's words... Telling her to take no more than one dose in 48 hours. The first dose did not make her feel any after effects so she felt pretty sure that it would be fine. Fine. Everything will be fine, she told himself.

She closed her eyes and waited for it to take effect. Bruce said that he was sure that there was no way that Shade could handle the Joker on her own. She wanted to prove him wrong. She imagined bringing the Joker in, turning him over to the police and then finally revealing to Bruce the truth. That she was Shade.

He would be impressed. They would move forward with and do more than just kiss. He wouldn't be distracted and stressed and neither would she. Everything would be perfect.

"So I suppose you're never going to tell me how you figured this out?" Batman stood in front of Shade and asked her. "How you knew they were planning to abduct the Van Doren's son for ransom before they even arrived on the scene. And how you knew that the maid was involved? "

She realized what was happening again. She had forgotten everything that had happened. The drink made her have these blackouts and she would have to search through both hers and Bruce's memories to put the pieces together.

"Oh.." She said as she began to have somewhat of a clearer picture of what happened. "Well I can't reveal all my secrets. Can I have this?"

She took his grapple gun.

"If you tell me who you are working for and how you knew about all of this," he said as she admired the grapple gun in her hands. He didn't want to give it to her but thought it was a small price to pay for good information. As far as he could she didn't have any fancy tools or weapons and seemed impressed with the gun.

"I can't tell you that," she said. "But, I really like this..."

"Fine," he said. "Keep it. I have more."

"Thank you," she said.

They were in a wooded area in the hills of the outskirts of Gotham. The Van Doren mansion in the distance was visible in the blue and red reflecting lights of the police cars.

"Well I must be going," she said.

She started to walk away through the woods but he stopped her. He walked around and stood in front of her quickly.

"Yes?" She said and smiled at him expectantly.

"Do you have any intel on the Joker?" He asked very directly.

"Why?" she asked.

"Because he must be stopped," the Batman said.

"You've been trying to stop him for a long time," Shade said as if she was just an innocent observer. "And now you've realized you need help? "

"Gotham needs help. Do you have any Intel or not? " he asked.

"No.. Not yet. I haven't been doing much work involving the Joker," she told him.

"Except for the night where you saved my life? In the church? I think you know more than you are letting on," he said.

"Not really," she said. "But I know what you mean. Maybe I should go after him. "

"On your own? " he said with obvious disapproval in his voice.

"Why not? And it would be a great triumph I guess...but I suppose I can see how you feel? I mean you have been going after the Joker forever with no success," she said. "It would be pretty strange for a new vigilante to get him so quickly and send him off to prison. "

"You think this is about acknowledgement? That I want to take credit? Is that why you're doing this? " he asked.

"No. I think you know why we're doing this. Because of them," Adriana looked out over the dancing beads light of the city of Gotham through the trees. That's the reason we don't stop. Reason why we barely sleep. The work in Gotham never stops and we have to be the heroes. We have to fight the battles. Ego doesn't really play a part. If it did we would have given up long ago."

The Batman was quiet as he understood what she was saying. Sometimes he wondered how he could continue going on fighting, damaging himself, putting his life on the line every night.

"I want the Joker stopped," he said in his breathy growl. "If you can do it alone great. "

"Are you serious?" she asked him.

She couldn't tell if he meant what he said. His thoughts indicated he was trying to convince himself that what he was saying was true.

"Yes. But if you need my help you know how to reach me," he said. "I gave you my card. I must warn you..the Joker is dangerous, manipulative...And you may want someone on your side who has experience with him before you make any attempt as going after him."

"Thanks for the heads up," she smiled innocently. "Goodnight."