Chapter Four

Bruce

The town car pulled into an alleyway a couple of blocks away from Police Headquarters. Alfred strategically went down several more streets before turning down his intended target. With a quick glance at his rearview mirror, he checked to make sure no one was following them. He then hit the button for the garage door. It opened without making a sound.

Once the car stopped, Bruce sprang out from the backseat of the car, wearing the under armor of the Bat Suit.

"Seven minutes…" Barbra's amused-sounding voice called out over the overhead speaker. "Did you run into traffic?"

Alfred's lips twitched as he closed the door behind him. "I see you're in a humorous mood tonight, Ms. Gordon."

"Well, it should have only taken you five minutes to get here, not seven." She pointed out.

Bruce shook his head. The concreate and steel beams of the building's garage greeted him. Their main base of operations within Gotham City proper stood a towering ten stories. Most of the floors were empty. It housed everything Barbra needed to contribute to their mission. "She's right, we should have made better time."

Not wanting to see Alfred's reaction, Bruce made his way over to the elevator/suit enhancing room. Upon stepping inside, the outer layers of the Bat Suit clipped into place as he ascended to the building's roof.

The speaker about Bruce's head turned on. "It doesn't hurt to be cautious," Alfred responded with his usual nonplussed attitude.

"Question." Damein interrupted. The tone of his voice sounded a bit perplexed. "Is there frost in the forecast for tonight?"

The elevator door opened. Bruce found himself inside a rooftop shed. It assisted in hiding their activities. For a split second, Bruce wondered if his son needed to spend more time focusing on his schoolwork. Which reminded him of his conversation with Damien's teacher from earlier in the day. "Shouldn't you be able to tell if it is cold enough for frost to form?" He sarcastically asked as he shot the Bat-Grapple at the neighboring building.

"It was a rhetorical question." Damien's normal arrogance returned.

"Then why did you ask?" Barbra asked. "You know what? Never mind. And even though you said that you asked it rhetorically, I feel like answering you anyway. No, it is at least ten degrees too warm for frost to form."

Bruce landed on the rooftop of the neighboring building. He then sprinted to the opposite side of the roof to do the same thing to the next building.

"It's something I have to fill out for my umm.. Homework…" The sound of Damien's movement made Bruce want to stop and go back to the gala. But he had to give Damien a chance to prove that he can handle being on patrol by himself.

"You do homework? I thought you bought your grades." Barbra laughed.

"If only." Damien's voice came out as distracted.

"No Wayne has ever bought their grades." Alfred stated with pride.

There was some muted muttering that came from Damien speaking under his breath. Bruce knew that Damien didn't care about his education. If he weren't a Wayne, Damien would have been expelled several times already.

The wind whipped through Bruce's cape as he glided from one rooftop to the next. He mentally blocked out the ongoing conversation. Several rooftops later, Bruce landed on the ledge of a building. Gazing down at Police Headquarters, Bruce used his binoculars to scan the area. Gordon was alone. A light shone in Commissioner Gordon's face from his laptop.

Year after year, Gordon waited under the Bat Signal for Batman to arrive. Eventually, he decided to set up a temporary workstation under a nearby awning.

Jim pulled his glasses off his face before rubbing his eyes. "Damn computers…" he muttered before putting his glasses back on. Whatever he was staring at on his laptop's screen made him lean over to look at it again. He leaned back in his chair and frowned. Pulling his phone out of his pocket, he pressed the screen several times, and then he brought the device to his ear. "I got the image. Print me out a paper copy." Jim stood, causing his chair to fall over. "Well, call me old-fashioned, then…" He slammed the lid of the computer with his free hand. "No excuses. I expect a printout copy of the document on my desk by the time I return to my office." He ended the call. Jim raised his arm as if he were going to throw his phone, but then his arm limply fell by his side.

"Trying to get some work done while you wait for me, Commissioner?" Bruce stepped out of the shadows.

Jim spun around and grabbed his chest. "One of these days you're going to give me a heart attack." He shook his head as he pocketed his phone. "I should be used to this by now… it's not like I was expecting you."

Bruce narrowed his eyes while he waited for the commissioner to continue to speak.

"There have been some interesting developments concerning one of your favorite adversaries." Jim lifted the laptop to uncover a manila folder. "Somehow everything in here has remained off the internet."

Receiving the folder, Bruce mentally noted the thickness of the folder. Normally, Jim gave him a brief outline focusing on what he needed to know. This time, it felt like he was just given a novel. The first piece of paper in the file was a birth certificate. "Noel Fries?" He raised a brow as he glanced over at Jim. "Is she related to Dr. Victor Fries?"

A sigh escaped Gordan's lips. "Afraid so. Apparently, Nora Fries kept her pregnancy a secret from her husband. She was not showing at the time of the lab accident."

The next few sheets of paper were of little Noel's hospital records. Images of her first few months were also present. Sad crystal blue eyes stared back at Bruce. Her skin appeared as pale as her frozen mother's. Meanwhile, she also had pouty, blue-tinted lips and shoulder length white blonde hair.

"One of Dr. Fries' colleagues removed her from Nora and placed her in a surrogate." Jim shook his head. "I have no idea how she survived. The same colleague adopted her and raised her as his own daughter."

"Why bring this to my attention?" He continued to flip through the pages.

"Her tutor filled out a missing person's report. They swear she has never missed any of her sessions."

"Do you think her father has something to do with her disappearance?"

"It's doubtful. As far as I know, no one has attempted to visit him in months. I can't imagine that he would arrange to have her kidnapped." He stuffed his hands into his pockets. "I asked my detectives to take an inventory of Dr. Freeze's equipment. Unfortunately, they found that some of it was missing." Jim pulled a flash drive out of his pocket. "This is everything we've compiled about Noel Fries. She's still a minor, so finding her has become a priority."

The last page in the file consisted of her missing person's report. Bruce took a few pictures of the pages he didn't think would be on the flash drive. "Fourteen-year-olds can be unpredictable. She may be going through a rebellious phase." He took the flash drive while handing the folder back to Jim.

Shaking his head, Jim placed the folder on top of the laptop. "Don't I know it..." When he turned back to say something else to Batman, he found that he was now alone.

From the adjacent rooftop, Bruce stood in the shadows. He observed the Commissioner turn off the Bat Signal, but then stop. Pulling a radio out of his pocket, he turned in the opposite direction as he spoke to whoever was on the other line. Then without a second glance, he sprinted toward the door, leaving his laptop and the file behind.

"Batman, are you still with the Commissioner?" Damien's voice broke through the silence.

Bruce's eyes narrowed as he returned to the rooftop he just left. "I need a few more minutes. Why do you ask?" he asked as he tucked the folder under his arm while inserting a cloning device into the laptop's USP port.

"You need to get back here. Something is going down."

"Damien's right, chatter just broke out across the police scanner. Give me a minute to listen in." The slight white noise from Barbra's feed went silent.

"Can you be more specific? Robin, what are you seeing?" Bruce studied the file's contents. The cloning device needed a few more minutes.

"You... I just saw you land on the roof of the building where the gala is taking place."