Chapter 2: The Woman with the Gleam of Madness
It's the small moments that Allison takes notice of. Like the fake, but charming, smiles people at galas give her. Like the glaze that suddenly forms in her parents' eyes whenever she starts to speak about her day. Like how Dick unsuccessfully tries to convince her he's fine when the bullies mock his circus past (he's never fine). Like the protective glances Mr. Wayne sends towards his ward every few moments. Like the same protective glances Dick sends towards Allison and Babs whenever they are in the city.
Allison is far from naïve. She may be young, but she is highly observant for her age. That's why her own observations were starting to confuse her.
When Allison met Dick for the first time in that gala, she was puzzled. The boy who lost everything he had only a year before acted as if he was the happiest boy on earth. But that wasn't what caught Allison's attention; no, it was the strange message that was trapped in the boy's cerulean eyes. It told her that the young boy, who wasn't even a teenager yet, was somehow older than people thought. Allison saw that look many times before in the charity galas for veterans of war. It was definitely not the eyes of a young boy. It was the eyes of someone who has seen the worst the world can offer, but still continues to fight.
That was the first observation of Richard Grayson that made her realize something was amiss.
As their friendship grew, Allison couldn't help but see more of the kid. She remembers every single time he came to school mysteriously injured. She also remembers every single excuse of the different 'accidents' that caused said injuries.
Then there were the days when Dick just wouldn't show up to school. Allison didn't really take much notice into that until later in their friendship. Dick would always say he was off with Mr. Wayne on business stuff or visiting his family. Allison was bored to ask about the first excuse (after hearing too much business talk from her parents daily) and felt it was never her place to ask about the second. Though after the continued use of the same two excuses, Allison realized they are simply what they are: excuses.
The rest of the observations were more minor, but it was after the whole situation with the Mad Hatter that her detective prowess deduced an explanation.
One day at the Wayne Manor, Allison won a bet against Dick. The specifics aren't necessary, but if she won the bet, Dick would have to show her some of his circus tricks. Allison couldn't keep the grin of excitement off her face as Dick trudged up the trapeze. It was during his performance when Allison saw the reason his family was called the Flying Graysons. (Though after he got down with exaggerated flourish, Allison hit him for his arrogant performer's nature.) But she couldn't deny that she was in amazement of when Dick did the quadruple flip. One that is said no other person could ever complete in the world.
So when Robin saved her from falling to her death, Allison put all of the pieces together. Perhaps she would have been still scrambling for the full picture if the Mad Hatter hadn't released her of his control before she fell. Maybe if she passed out she would not have witnessed the quadruple flip Robin performed in his act of saving her. The same quadruple flip that no man, woman, or child could possibly perform. No one besides the Flying Graysons can do such a thing. They were the family that created the flip. They were the only people known to ever successfully make that flip. And only one Grayson remains… One who so happens to have the very same characteristics and voice as the Boy Wonder.
Now it's only time for share and tell. And if Allison so happens to give her friend a slap to the face for keeping this secret hidden for so dang long, well, no one can really blame her.
Allison doesn't avoid things. She is above that. So if one were to say that she has purposely avoided talking about the thing with Dick, well, she would strongly deny that. She never avoids things. There just… has never been a good time for her to talk to Dick. Yeah, that's it.
It has been three incidental-free weeks since she was kidnapped. Three weeks of peace. Three weeks of Allison deliberately lying to her best friend; something she told herself to never do. Allison did try to confront Dick and tell him, but something would happen every time she tried.
Maybe it was fate telling her to just walk away.
And Allison seriously considered just pretending for the rest of her life that her best friend wasn't in danger every night. In these past three weeks, whenever Dick would suddenly leave for 'family business,' Allison tried to imagine Dick was leaving for normal and ordinary things. She was good at imagining this, too.
She hated herself for that.
Allison knew she had two choices: either lie to her best friend for the rest of their lives… or share her revelation. She was scared of both options. She may lie to people, but she swore to herself that her best friend would never be a person she lies to. Breaking that oath will destroy her. Actually, it is destroying her! If she chooses this path, she will have to keep with it forever. She can never stop lying…
The alternative will only last a moment. It will only take a moment for her to say it. A moment isn't too bad. But considering what she has to reveal, it is kinda too bad.
After all, it isn't every day a girl realizes her best friend is a superhero.
She decided. Allison figured that her current strategy, the long-term one, was never going to work. That is why she is walking to Wayne Manor (not late at night, this time), mentally preparing herself.
How do you tell your best friend that you know he's Robin?
"Dick, there is something I need to tell you… Nope, that sounds like I'm about to declare my undying love to him," Allison frowned, "Um, Grayson, explain right now that you-No no no, way too aggressive… Dick, guess what? I know your secret. Ugh, why is this so hard!"
Allison threw her head back as she continued to walk. At first, she was excited at the prospect of Dick being the famous Robin. Now, she's internally yelling at herself for being so observant.
This sounds extremely vain, but why couldn't she just be dumb?
Then there was Bruce Wayne. She was able to figure out the identity of the Boy Wonder, so it wasn't difficult at all to connect the dots between Mr. Wayne and the Batman. It did take her a while, though, because she was in disbelief someone like Mr. Wayne could be so serious and… Batman-like.
It confused her, it honestly did.
But it all makes sense. The reason why both Mr. Wayne and Dick leave galas without saying a word when disaster strikes Gotham. The reason why Mr. Wayne constantly has this protective glare on his face when he glances at Dick. He has seen the worst of the world and is prepared to defend his ward against it.
Bruce Wayne was Batman. Richard Grayson is Robin.
What is her life?
She was nearing the manor when she felt something off. Before the whole situation with Mad Hatter, Allison was as innocent as they come. She still is innocent, but she is starting to recognize more and more when things aren't exactly normal.
For one, the gates at the Manor were open. They are never open for longer than five minutes, but Allison can tell they were open longer. Call it intuition. Then there was the dark van parked right outside the manor. The doors were wide open and the car was partially parked on the grass. That was the second thing that told Allison things weren't right: Alfred would never allow someone to park on the grass or it was their head.
But the main clue that someone was definitely wrong was pretty obvious. You know, unless people carrying fancy and expensive pieces of artwork and jewelry to a black van was normal.
Allison smirked a little. Batman was being robbed. The Dark Knight, the cleanser of Gotham, the monster under the criminals' bed, was being robbed. Allison almost laughed at the situation. She wondered how Mr. Wayne would react to all of this.
Then it hit her. Allison could see that the van was filled with many, various things. From that, she could see the robbers have been unloading the house of its valuables for quite some time. Batman and Robin wouldn't wait this long to attack.
Her eyes widened as she rushed from where she was. She kept hiding behind bushes and trees to avoid her being spotted by the criminals. She was so far away, though, that she doubted they would be able to see her. That didn't stop her from being careful.
Allison slowly crept to the other side of the Manor, and when she was out of sight of the intruders, she ran to go inside. Her heart was rapidly pumping and she wasn't sure if it was out of fear or adrenaline. Allison tried to slowly breathe in and out to calm herself, but the severity of the situation made being calm a lost cause.
The young girl knew these hallways almost as well as she knew her own home—which is quite a feat if one considers the sizes of the homes of Gotham's elites. Because of this, Allison was able to navigate the halls so that she remained hidden; she hid in every hiding spot, used the lesser-known passages, and was able to find the main sitting room faster than she thought she would have been able to. Allison figured the main sitting room was the best place to begin her search of Mr. Wayne and Dick.
Though when she saw both Mr. Wayne and Dick, slumped with wrists tied up with strong rope in wooden chairs, Allison honestly couldn't believe her luck. She went to move forward to help the pair when she heard voices echoing from the hallway across from her. She immediately went to hide in her number one hide-or-seek hiding spot, a very small cupboard standing next to the fireplace. Just as she carefully closed the door to conceal herself, a man and a woman appeared in the room.
By this point, Allison was shaking. However, she was unable to pin-point the exact reason why she wasn't shaking out of fear, but excitement. She supposed it was because she was going to be a witness to Batman and Robin kicking these robbers' butt! Yeah, that was the reason. (The time when Batman and Robin saved her from the Mad Hatter didn't count because, well, she was about to die which put a depressing swing on things.)
She anxiously peaked her eye through the crack of cupboard and waited to see the Dynamic Duo at work.
"We are almost finished with packing up, Miss. Only Wayne's office and a couple more minor rooms to go." The man spoke. It was quite obvious he was the henchman while the woman was the leader. While the man was meek and nervously twisting his hands together, the woman stood over Mr. Wayne and Dick with a confident stance. She sent a smug smirk over to the man.
"How much longer must we wait, Reginald?" She had a very posh British accent. If this woman wasn't a robber, Allison would have freaked out even more. She is a stereotypical American and is obsessed with British accents, "Because we have been here for more than three hours! And yet, it seems like barely any work has been finished."
The woman brought out a small dagger and began to fiddle with it in her hands. The man—Reginald—gave a small squeak and rushed to the woman's side.
"W-Well, Miss Veronica, Mr. Wayne's house is quite large. You can't expect us to gather everything up in an hour!" Reginald nervously started to laugh. When Miss Veronica didn't start to laugh with Reginald, he abruptly stopped and bowed his head.
Miss Veronica stared at the small man for a moment and went to stand behind Mr. Wayne. She put her hands upon his shoulders. Allison smirked. This was the perfect moment for Mr. Wayne to strike against her. All he needed to do was reveal that he freed himself from the rope, knock Miss Veronica out, and he could probably leave Reginald alone because he looks like he is a scare away from peeing himself.
"Then perhaps I need to find myself another who would gather all of Wayne's valuables in an hour," The woman raised the dagger to Mr. Wayne's throat and Allison tensed, "Do I, Reginald?"
Reginald paled drastically and started to visibly shake, "N-No, I mean yes, Miss Veronica! The Manor will be empty of its valuables in the hour."
Miss Veronica gave a shark-like smile, "Perfect. I expected nothing else." She pocketed the dagger. She patted Mr. Wayne's cheek and turned to leave the room. Reginald scattered to follow her.
Allison waited a few minutes before stepping out of the cupboard. She waited a few moments more before going over to where Mr. Wayne and Dick were at. She looked at them in confusion.
"Why did you guys not do anything?" She went to untie Mr. Wayne's hands when a voice made her jump.
"Because Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson wouldn't be able to free themselves from some rope, would they?" Allison looked up in shock to see both Mr. Wayne and Dick staring at her. Dick was looking at her in shock and concern. Mr. Wayne, however, had this little suspicious glint in his eye.
He knows I know! Or, at least he thinks I know.
Allison nervously laughed, "I-I don't mean that, Mr. Wayne," Yes you did, stop lying, "I meant, why didn't you guys call 911 or… something?"
Dick gave her a deadpanned look, "Gee, I don't know, calling 911 might be a little hard considering the fact that we're a bit tied up at the moment!"
"Oh, right." She couldn't have come up with a better excuse. Dick seemed to have bought it, but Mr. Wayne narrowed his eyes and tilted the sides of his lips up. Yep, he knows that she knows.
Allison began to untie Mr. Wayne's hands and ignored Dick who started to go on a tiny rant about how stupid Allison is for coming inside the Manor where robbers who have weapons are at instead of just calling the police and are you even listening to me, Allison! She just gave a small smile and continued to untie the rope. She was actually almost finished when a small noise froze her where she stood.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you, darling." A posh British voice rang out behind her. Allison lifted her hands up and slowly turned behind her. It was Miss Veronica. And the small noise was the cock of a gun.
Allison figured both Dick stopped his rant and instead got extremely concerned for Allison. She figured Mr. Wayne probably felt the same way. But Allison couldn't focus on anything else but the woman and fully-loaded gun right in front of her.
"Move away from them, please. We can't have them getting freed. That just wouldn't do." Miss Veronica jerked her gun to the side, indicating where she wanted Allison to go. She obeyed and went where the British woman wanted her to go. It was to the side, right in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows.
Allison started to shake. Unlike earlier, she was now shaking out of fear.
"Now I was planning on leaving these boys alive. The drug I injected them should have kept them unconscious for around a day. But plans change. I'll just kill them." Allison shuddered at the word 'kill.' Despite that, she forced herself to stop shaking. She refused to let Miss Veronica see her fear.
"Oh, but you, darling. You are brave, aren't you? I see it in your eyes. You see, men are incompetent. I have this proposition. You can work with me. You make sure our operations work smoothly. Simply just making sure that all the valuables we are after get into our possession. Of course, you would have to be under my tutelage for the time being… But do not fret, I have a positive suspicion you will be ready in under a few months."
Allison's eyes widened, "What about Reginald?" Her voice was small, but she refused to let it waver. Miss Veronica's eyebrows rose at her question.
She hummed, "You are sneakier than I originally thought. Well, Reginald will be disposed of, obviously. Why do I need weak Reginald when I can have a strong woman with so much more potential?"
Miss Veronica's offer made her finally turn her focus from the gun. Her eyes strayed to the older woman's. Her eyes itself were beautiful, a mix between gray and ocean blue. However, it was the message inside of those eyes that made Allison pause. They were hard and unforgiving. Allison knew that those eyes have experienced things, horrible things. They had no ounce of empathy left in them. Hidden deep in the eyes was a gleam of madness. A gleam that Allison saw in one other place only three weeks ago.
Allison closed her own sapphire eyes and took a deep breath. Dick was going to hate what she was about to do.
"Miss V, have you taken a moment to consider this offer? I mean, the offer itself sounds quite nice, but the delivery? If I didn't know any better, I would say it was very sexist, Miss V! Of course, you wouldn't be like that. Reginald may be weak, but he is a person. Also, I am flattered, but you mustn't kill a person just for me!" Allison gave Miss Veronica a roguish-grin.
Miss Veronica gave Allison an ugly scowl and put her finger on the trigger, "If that is what you wish, little girl."
Allison closed her eyes and anticipated the swift pain that will soon coarse throughout her body. She winced when she heard the loud bang of a gunshot… but she didn't feel anything. She slowly opened her eyes to see Miss Veronica lying unconscious on the ground and both Mr. Wayne and Dick freed from their ropes.
She pushed away the shock she had from being close to death and instead focused on frustration.
"You had to do that when she was this close to shooting me? Really?" Mr. Wayne stared at her with a very good poker face while Dick just looked at her in disbelief.
"You're complaining when we saved your life? Again! You, who basically just told the bad guy, 'Hey, you suck so shoot me!'" Dick had a terrible impersonation of Allison and walked over to her with his hands in the air out of frustration. Allison barely noticed Mr. Wayne kick Miss Veronica's gun from her hands and begin to tie her hands together with his rope.
Then Allison remembered what Dick had said. She was smirking madly on the inside but kept on an innocent façade for him to see. He set himself up completely.
She crossed her arms, "One, I do not sound like that. Two, I didn't tell her to shoot me! I just very politely declined her generous offer and she didn't really take it lightly."
Dick scoffed, "Yeah, if taking something lightly is shooting somebody."
Allison rolled her eyes and decided enough was enough. Time to start playing the game, "Whatever. Anyway, what did you mean you already saved my life?"
Dick froze at his mistake and stole a look to Mr. Wayne, "Uh, I have no idea what you mean."
Allison rolled her eyes more dramatically, "Shove off it, Grayson, you said that you and Bruce saved my life again."
Dick went as pale as a sheet and his voice went substantially higher than normal, "I said that? I don't think I said that. I didn't say that, right Bruce?"
Mr. Wayne fixed his impenetrable gaze onto Dick and Allison. When he looked at her, she could swear she saw him wink at her, "I don't know, Dick. I was busy making sure Miss Veronica was taken care of."
Dick slightly winced at the subtle hint but continued strong, "There you have it! I totally, definitely, positively did not-"
"Hey," Allison interrupted, "How did you guys get out of the rope, anyhow? I remember losing Mr. Wayne's rope, but I didn't touch your rope at all." Dick was speechless and had his mouth opened wide. His head swirled from Mr. Wayne to Allison.
"Uh-"
"And how did you both wake up from Miss Veronica's drug? I mean, she said it was supposed to have you knocked out for a whole day!"
"Maybe, uh, she was… wrong?"
"I don't know, she seemed pretty legit to me. But how were you guys able to knock the gun out of her hands while making sure I wasn't shot? I saw it with my own eyes," Lie, but he doesn't need to know, "And it was pretty impressive."
Dick was visibly sweating and Allison was just about to burst out laughing. She could have continued this charade until the day ended if it weren't for Mr. Wayne.
"Were your suspicions completely after tonight?" Both Dick and Allison turned toward Mr. Wayne. If Allison was anyone else, she would have totally missed the corners of Mr. Wayne's mouth rising. However, Mr. Wayne probably made sure she could see it. He is Batman, after all.
Allison gave an unladylike snort, "Well, I would have to be unbelievably stupid not to know after tonight, but no. I've known for about three weeks, I think." Mr. Wayne nodded and turned to go out of the room. Dick, on the other hand, was the most frazzled she had ever seen. It was hilarious, actually.
"Dude, wake up," She snapped right in front of his face. He jumped a little and seem more aware, but didn't completely regain himself, "So, is Mr. Wayne going to ask me more questions? Because I feel like he totally let me go easily. Like, too easily. At least for what I figured out." Allison shrugged.
Dick still looked completely lost, "What did you figure out, exactly?"
Allison rolled her eyes for the third time that night, "For the dark squire, you are extremely daft. Honestly, did you expect me, your best friend, to not figure out you are Robin?"
Dick's eyes bulged out of his head, "What?!"
I hoped y'all liked this chap! I honestly didn't plan to name Miss Veronica and Reginald, they just appeared magically. Like I was writing that part and I was like "I'm actually gonna give these characters a bigger part" and Miss Veronica and Reginald were born. I kinda like them and there may be a chance they can come back. Idk we'll see.
I figured I should try to do the ANs at the bottom of the chapters. I think it looks better. Let see how it works. It prob isn't gonna last but whatever.
ANYWAYS thank you guys so much. Literally 10 of you favorited this and 8 of you followed. And two reviews. That's actually awesome. It doesn't seem like it, but it really is. Thanks sm guys.
Another anyways, so I kinda left this at a cliffy, but we love cliffies, don't we? Actually, that's a lie, I hate them. But this really isn't that bad of one. Allison finally let it out that she knows their secret but Bruce already figured out she knew. But Dick is still clue-less. We love him for it lol.
Next chapter is gonna have a scene very similar to one from Spiderman: Homecoming. Y'all can probably guess which one. It's gonna be fun to write, that's for sure.
Also, sorry for the late update but I didn't really have much time to edit the chapter and everything. I had my school's musical, which was fun but very stressful. Around the time I published the first chap, I had tech week and then the actually performances. Very stressful, ngl. But it was fun. I also visited my grandma's for Thanksgiving and didn't really want to do fanfiction when my family was around. Sorry not sorry lol.
But I have a chem quiz to study for and 19 pages of this old Greek book to read and annotate (If you don't know what annotating is, you are freaking lucky and make sure it stays that way. Annotating sucks and ruins books.) It is 11 PM rn and I am procrastinating rather than studying. Honestly, though, it's nothing new. Wish me luck bc I am probably gonna die tonight.
If y'all have any questions at all, anything you liked, or anything you wanted to point out, there is a lovely box right below that would love for you to leave a review! ;D