Once Bruce was gone and she was alone in his office, Adriana pulled out her phone. She wasn't even sure what her plan was...she just knew that she needed to act. She called the Commissioner.
"Navarro," Gordon said as soon as he picked up. He sounded winded and stressed
"Is there anything I can do?" she asked.
"I'm afraid not," he said. "I don't have anyone detained that was close to the situation."
"And you only have four hours to find her," Adriana said. "That's what I heard in the video-"
"We got the video ten minutes ago," the Commissioner told her. "But apparently it had been in the governor's possession for almost two hours. He...he suffered a heart attack when he saw it. A member of his staff just got it to us."
"Oh no..." Adriana said breathlessly. "Is he..."
"He's alive but in critical condition...unstable," Gordon managed to say. "We are keeping it quiet. We have to. The Joker gave him a location to turn himself in. He was supposed to go alone. No police, no security. The location is supposed to be a public train station, busiest hour of the day. We are not certain what was supposed to occur there. Obviously the girl isn't there at the station, and clearly...it won't be possible for the governor to arrive at the meet. He is hospitialized and as far as I have heard, not conscious."
"So you're saying.." Adriana said, fearfully.
"If we don't find her by 4 p.m.," Gordon said with misery. "This is going to be tough...and according to the Joker there are three individuals that can detonate the bomb in the room at any time. We have no idea who those people are.. we don't know if they are remotely located or on site...which means if we do even find the location-"
"You have to be silent...undetectable..." she said to herself. "You have to get in without raising any alarm..."
"Yes," Gordon said as voices spoke in the background, he needed to go. "Navarro I-"
"Okay, Gordon good luck," she said quickly and hung up.
There was no way that she could go as Shade and beat up the Joker's men and risk one of them having a detonator to blow the place. She would have to go as Sheena. She needed the location but needed to find a way to locate the building they were holding Pavla in without raising suspicion. Then she remembered..Bruce had call signal triangulation. On the computer she was standing in front of. She would have to hide the identification of the call and erase the evidence when she was done.
She logged on to the computer and was surprised at how easily she was able to, using her memories of Bruce's previous call tracing, find what she needed. She navigated away from the Wayne Enterprises screens and into the concealed programs on the computer. The phone on the desk was in her hand a few moments later and she dialed.
"Yo," Brake said when he answered the phone. Calling him on her cell phone and asking him the location would be too suspicious. She didn't want to Joker to be aware that she was coming at all.
She hoped that Brake would be a part of this. If he wasn't, it was hopeless.
She was quiet and waited for the program to trace the location..it showed Gotham and was pinpointing the exact area.
"Hello?" he asked, hearing nothing. "Hello?"
He hung up at the exact moment the location was determined. An abandoned metal factory.
.
.
.
Adriana had to use her grapple gun to ascend the surrounding buildings with enough distance to see where there were men guarding the entrances. She could see a man guarding each of the three entrances. Only the north side of the building has no man posted there, because there was no door. All windows. There was an alleyway leading to a large busy street..that would have to be the escape.
She only recognized one of the men..Chris on the west side of the building.
"Freeze!" Chris said as he saw a figure pass by the dumpster near the door, but then recognized the bright red hair. "Oh..you. Sheena."
"Yeah," she said with her hands raised. She was wearing a ski mask to cover her face.
"Didn't know you were going to be on this job," he said and lowered his gun. "If I did I would have worn cologne and shaved."
She gave a fake laugh as he kept talking.
"You should let me take you to the movies after this-" he said.
"Actually," she said, interrupting him. "Is he here?"
"Boss?" Chris asked. "No he went to Henry Street I guess. Close to the train station. Should be back soon."
Adriana wondered how obvious her sigh of relief was that he was not there. Henry Street was a few blocks away from the train station where the governor was supposed to surrender himself to the Joker's men.
"I should go inside," she said.
"Always late," Chris smiled. "Guess it takes time to get pretty huh?"
"Yeah...sure," she said and walked in past him.
"Let me know about that movie later!" he called behind her as she walked into the building.
She walked through the factory, it was very dark and she couldn't see much. The ceilings were four stories high and there were holes in the ceiling that let in a small amount of light. The walls were covered in pipes and many more pipes came up from the floor to the upper levels. She heard the footsteps of two people..she could hear the men talking. She ducked into a corner behind a large metal box and stayed quiet. She watched them pass..they seemed to be patrolling the building.
Once they were a good distance away she turned and ran as quietly as she could to a metal set of stairs. She crept up them, not sure where she was going..and then she heard crying. Pavla. She walked a bit further and saw Brake. He was standing at the door holding a pistol.
He raised the gun at her but she pulled her ski mask up.
"You almost got shot, sis," Brake said after lowering his gun. He sighed and shook his head.
"She's in there..." she said and pointed at the door behind him.
"Yeah," Brake said. "Twenty-one more minutes."
Adriana swallowed.
"Brake.." Adriana said, knowing to waste no time. "We have to let her go.."
Brake looked away.
"Yeah, in twenty," Brake said. "Once the old man turns himself in."
"No," Adriana said. "Now. The governor won't make the meet...he had a heart attack. He's in the hospital."
"Shit..." Brake said.
"So we have to get her out of here," she told him. "I know you wouldn't have signed up for this if you thought her dying was a real possibility."
"Ya..but," he said. "If we let her go we might as well stay and wait for the bomb to go off. Boss will kill us both."
"I'll deal with him," she said.
"No, sis," Brake went on. "I let the girl go, he will kill me no matter what."
"Okay," she said. He was right. "He might kill you. If he thinks you betrayed him. But most likely, he won't if he thinks you were ambushed."
"And how are you about to make him think that?" Brake asked.
"Sorry..." she apologized.
"For what?" he asked but she struck him in the face hard enough to make him fall to his knees and then kicked the back of his head with enough force to render him unconscious.
Once he was down she stepped over him and pushed open the door. The room full of drums of gasoline. Suddenly she felt very emotional as she recalled the look on Bruce's face when he saw the room in the video. He was thinking of Rachel. She only saw the wrath and grief in his eyes for a few seconds before he left his office but she could tell he had reached the end of his rope. He was going to do something extreme...she knew he wanted to kill the Joker.
There was no time to worry about that now. She pulled the ski mask down over her face again and ran over to Pavla to pull the cloth bag off of her head. The girl looked terrified and sweaty, her skin was red and her eyes puffy from long hours of crying.
"Pavla," Adriana said, disguising her voice.
"I didn't touch it," Pavla said quickly, starting to cry again. She was afraid of Adriana, a faceless masked woman.
"Touch what?" Adriana asked.
"That," Pavla looked straight ahead at the bomb. "He said...he said...it will explode and cook me."
"Who said that?" Adriana looked at the bomb, knowing she would have to deactivate it. It was far enough away that Pavla would not be able to reach it at all while tied to a chair.
"The one...the clown one..." Pavla said.
"Don't worry," Adriana said. "It's not going to cook you. I'm going to turn it off okay?"
Pavla looked into Adriana's eyes, the only part of her face that she could see.
"Okay," Pavla said.
Adriana stood up and turned to the bomb. She could do this, she told herself as she looked at the timer. Seventeen minutes was plenty of time for her to run through her memories...it was so much harder without her gift but she was certain that this would be simple. She pulled the knife out of her pocket and heard Pavla start crying again.
"It's okay, Pavla," Adriana said. "I have to cut it to turn it off...don't worry...don't cry.."
She sniffled a bit before stopping the crying sounds. Adriana needed to focus. Don't overthink...Don't overthink... You can't read thoughts but you're smart. You've seen it done a million times..
She cut a white wire on the side of the bomb and the timer stopped. She let out a deep breath that she had been holding. Then she carefully disconnected a steel grey wire on the side...remote detonation would no longer work either. She turned to Pavla to free her from the chair.
"Let's get you out of here," Adriana said and pulled out the cheap prepaid phone in her pocket. She had purchased several disposable phones for situations like this. "Gotham police...the governor's granddaughter...she's fine. She will be in between Perth and Caraway street in three minutes. Tell the police to come down Caraway..no sirens."
"The cops are coming?" Pavla asked and Adriana used her hand to push the hair back that was sticking to Pavla's forehead.
"Yes, and they will take you home," Adriana said. "I need you to follow me and be very quiet. Can you do that?"
Pavla nodded quietly.
Adriana held her hand and they walked around Brake who was still laying on the floor in the doorway. They needed to get to the north side of the building. They walked down two halls and a corridor and ended up on a metal grated floor. They could see through all the way down to the lower levels. The two men patrolling with guns were beneath them and Adriana prayed they wouldn't look up.
Adriana placed a finger over her lips to let Pavla know to stay quiet as they crept along and got to a set of stairs. They walked down as quietly as possible. There was another set of stairs down that would lead to the basement and Adriana held Pavla's hand tightly as they went down.
"You did so well!" Adriana whispered as they entered the basement. It was pitch black except for some lights shining in through small windows close the ceiling. "Just one more thing you have to do...I need you to be brave okay?"
"Okay," Pavla said and wiped a tear from her face.
"I'm going to pick you up," Adriana said. "And you will pull on one of these little metal chains to open the window. Then you will craw out and run straight ahead. You will get to a street and the police will be there soon. You need to be quiet when you run, alright?"
"I'm scared," Pavla cried.
"I know sweetie, I know," Adriana said and gave her a hug. "But you're so brave and strong and smart. You can do anything! I know you can do this!"
"I...think I can do it.." Pavla said nervously.
"Yes!" Adriana said, her voice heavily disguised. "Let's try okay?"
"Yeah," the girl peeped.
Adriana and Pavla walked over to a window as close to the right side of the building as possible. Adriana knew this would give her the best chance of not being seen since she would be running out of sight of the men outside as long as she ran in straight line.
Pavla pulled on the chain and the window folded out, lowering more and more until it went flat.
"Run straight ahead, close to the building, until you get to the street, okay Pavla?"
"Yes," Pavla said and crawled out. She looked back at Adriana for a second before she began to run.
Adriana felt overwhelming joy as she saw the girl run impressively quickly to the street and then disappear behind the building there as she turned the corner. She was free and it was only a matter of seconds before the police came.
Now she had to get out herself.
Slowly and quietly she went back up the steps, keeping a careful lookout for anyone who might be around. It was strangely quiet. She began to walk, keeping close to the wall and only wanting to find her way to the exit on the opposite side of the building. The two men were coming back in her direction...she could hear them. They sounded carefree...they hadn't come across Brake laying unconscious on the floor yet. She hid by ducking into a room with no door. The room was in shambles, there were bricks all over the floor.
There were a number of holes in the wall. She found one that looked like it might have been large enough for her to fit through. There wasn't enough room. She loosened up one brick with her hands, and then another, and then another. The wall was crumbling and the cement holding the bricks together was heavily cracked, making the task easier than it looked. She continued to move the bricks quietly...but in the background she could hear a struggle. Someone was fighting. She felt sweat on her face under the ski mask. No time. She moved the bricks quicker and quicker as the hole got almost large enough for her to fit through. That was all she needed, enough space to crawl through. Once she had it, she got onto her hands and knees.
"Where is she?" a voice said behind her before she could make a move through the hole.
.
.
.
She stood slowly after dropping a brick.
"She's gone," she answered and turned slowly to face him.
The Joker.
"And you..." he said. "Let her go."
"Yes," she answered immediately. She was not ashamed. She knew he was furious. "The governor is in the hospital..he wasn't going to make it-"
She was quiet. She swallowed. He didn't seem to want to hear anything.
"I-" she started to apologize but he pulled out a gun and aimed it at her face.
The click as he pulled the trigger almost made her leap out of her body. Her eyes shut.
"The next chamber contains a bullet," he said to her.
Adriana closed her eyes.
"You are dead," he repeated.
She couldn't believe this was happening. This was how it would end. At least she had saved the child, she told herself.
"If I ever see you again," he said to her. "I will pay you the courtesy of a bullet in the brain. And that is a promise. I am a man of my word."
She was speechless. She opened her eyes.
"Go!" his voice surged, a mad growl like a volcanic eruption that burned through her.
She started to run through the factory. He had let her live. She felt like she could barely breathe with the ski mask over her face and she was out of breath after only running a short distance. While running she tripped over something. It didn't make her fall but it made her stagger and let out a sound. She let out an angry grunt.
And the she felt it. A pinching sensation on the side of her neck.
Suddenly, she was thinking about the Joker again..and how absurd she was feeling. She wanted to run back to him..to apologize for lying, but her lies were necessary. How could she apologize for saving a child's life? It suddenly became hilarious that he would threaten to kill her for saving an innocent child. She began to laugh. She could not stop. She told herself that she needed to be quiet and get out but it seemed like she could not control herself.
Her feet stayed planted where they were on the floor and she felt howling laughs escape her chest. Tears of laughter began to flow.
"Hahahaaaa," she screeched. "Ha! Haha! Hee!"
She reached over her shoulder and felt something where the pinching sensation in her neck had come from. Something was stuck into her neck. Her arm gave out before she could pull it out. The ski mask on her face felt like it was strangling her in her laughter. She fell onto her chest, unable to control the violent laughter...and after rolling on her side she caught a glimpse of him...the Batman.