Chapter 3 - Exploring the City
Waking up slowly as the sun shines through the window. As I sit up, I take a look around, still trying to get used to my new environment. As I start to make my way towards the bathroom, I notice that my diary has fallen to the floor.
"I probably accidentally threw it out of bed while tossing and turning in my sleep. Ever since the night I lost both of my parents, I have suffered from severe nightmares. As strange as it may sound, I feel like there's more to them - like a story waiting to be told.".
As I pick up my diary, I can't help but notice that it's opened to the page where I wrote about the fateful night. "This is weird," I mumble to myself. Moreover, I could have sworn that the window in my room was closed before I went to bed, but now it's wide open.
Shruging it aside I enter into the bathroom and turn the shower on. After I'm finished I try to decide what to wear for my city tour with Bruce today.
"Good morning Miss Ella. I hope you had a good night's sleep" Alfred immediately greets me with a warm smile.
"Yes, I did. Thank you so much for the breakfast. It looks wonderful" Sitting down I almost have a hard time to choose with what to start. Usually, there wasn't much for breakfast, well usually there was hardly any, so I'm slightly overwhelmed with the amount to choose from.
Deciding to go with sweet and salty, especially considering my sister wasn't here to criticise me on my weight I started to eat my toast with jam. "Good morning Ella. Are you ready to explore Gotham?" Bruce greets me as he enters the kitchen. "
After breakfast is finished the long-awaited tour can finally start and oh boy, when Elena said that Gotham was way bigger than it looked, she wasn'texaggerating.
The first stop was at Wayne Enterprise and Oh my goodness, this building is huge!
"So here we are" Bruce proudly announces. "And since your sister told me that you like old history, I'd like to tell you about every stop that we are going to make." Taking this amazing view in, I nod at him eager to hear Gotham's history.
"Wayne Enterprise was originally founded in the 17th century as a merchant house. The company began as a dozes business started by 2 brothers. Judge Solomon and Joshua Wayne. After a while and with some revenues generated, Judge Wayne hired Cyrus Pinkey to help him in buying Gotham.
My great-great-grandfather, Alan created Wayne Enterprises in 1888. It is the tallest building in Gotham City. A symbol to welcome everyone who comes to Gotham. When you look up you can see there are 13 gargoyles, well my great-great-grandfather Alan insisted on calling them "guardians". At the top of the tower is an observation deck which is open to the public for free on the weekends."
He turns to me as I take the beauty of the building in. "Do you care to take a closer look at it?" Judging by my grin, he knew that I wasn't going to pass on this opportunity.
Walking around the building, it was hard to imagine how on earth Bruce could have everything under control with so many employees and customers, partners. "Mental note to myself, this probably wouldn't be my career path" thinking to myself as we passed a few people who seemed to be running late to their next meeting.
"Mr. Wayne. I wasn't expecting to see you here today sir. Is everything alright?" Turning my head, I see an older gentleman standing next to Bruce.
"Everything is fine, Lucius. I'm showing Elena's sister, Aria around our beautiful city since she'll be living here from now on."
"Hi, I'm Aria. It's nice to meet you, Mr..." Damn I didn't catch his name, but thankfully the man next to Bruce takes my hand into his shaking it while smiling at me warmly.
"Fox. Lucius Fox. It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Brooks. I hope you like your new home."
"Lucius is my right-hand man. Wayne Enterprises would be lost without his support and knowledge."
"Well thank you very much, Mr. Wayne. However, I will still insist on my salary increase at the next employee meeting" The two men start laughing with each other as we continue. Once on top, my breath is taken away. The view is so stunning you can see over the whole town. "Bruce, this is beautiful."
"Bruce?" As I turn around I can see him mumbling something to Lucius, but since it's none of my business I focus back on the sight in front of me, and after only a few minutes he appears behind me asking. "Are you ready to continue? Or should I give you a few more moments to take everything in?"
Our next stop is the Gotham City Police Department. Entering inside, I am still a little confused as to why Bruce would take me here.
"Bruce, what are you doing here? Is everything all right?", a man with brown hair and glasses approaches us.
"Yes of course. I just wanted to introduce you to Elena's sister, Aria. She's moving to Gotham and so I thought it was best for her to meet the man who ensures order and justice."
"Nice to meet you, 'Mam. I'm Detective James Gordon." Shaking his hand I can't help but feel a sense of warmth and guidance coming from him.
"I excuse any inconvenience. Just wanted to stop by to let you know about Harvey's campaign.
"Well, you know. The biggest mobster inside Blackgate. Let's just say that he isn't peaches and cream, we're on the right path."
Starring confused between both men, Bruce turns to me. "The night that my parents died, Jim was the one who promised me justice for them, and ever since I have tried to help out wherever I can to support the GCPD."
I nod slowly as my flashbacks are starting to come up. Jim seems like a nice man, but I just can't stand cops. Maybe because the one who was at the hospital with me was more than just a dickhead.
Looking around the building, I notice an article from a newspaper. "Batman" Now that I take a closer look, "Batman" is written a lot of times, and another article reads "Gotham City now the home of psychopaths, mobsters and a self-proclaimed fighter for justice?"
"Aria?" Bruce nudges me softly.
"Yeah? I'm sorry."
After saying our goodbyes to Jim we kept on driving and one thing that I was not aware of was how many bridges Gotham had. I still wasn't 100% comfortable with them, but I was trying my hardest to overcome my worst part was still the drive here. The bridge where the accident happened was the same one you had to cross if you wanted to get to Gotham.
By now it was already 2 p.m. so we decided to take a short break and have lunch near the Solomon Wayne Courthouse at a restaurant called Bamonet's.
The restaurant is beautiful although my eyes almost popped out of my head once I saw the prices, which earned me a laugh from Bruce. "You don't think, that I'll let you pay for yourself, do you?"
"No, you don't have to, Bruce" but he interrupts me quickly. "Trust me Aria, as arrogant as this might seem, but this is nothing."
Well if he says so, then I don't have to feel bad for not ordering just a salad. As the waitress Stacy comes over Bruce orders for a glass of sparkling water and spaghetti carbonara and I also order a glass of sparkling water and the chicken alfredo.
"So" Bruce starts talking after taking a sip of his drink. "What are your plans?"
"Well, I guess the original plan was to finish High School and then well start college, but to be honest I have no desire whatsoever to go to college, so I'm probably going to start looking for some jobs and try to figure out what it is that I want from my life." This is the first time that I've answered this question truthfully. I don't know why but something tells me, that I can trust Bruce and unlike my sister, he doesn't seem disappointed with my answer.
"That sounds pretty reasonable. Any intrests?"
"Well, I was always the creative type. You know, writing, singing, painting. But I should probably stick to something ... safer I guess?"
It's the first time that I've answered this question truthfully. Not sure why, but something about Bruce made me trust him. He seemed like someone who would understand me and where I was coming from.
If it would be just as easy to talk to Elena like that...
As I lose myself in my thoughts, I notice a man in the distance who seems to be looking at us, but as I take a look closer, I realize there is no one there.
As our food arrives Bruce starts to tell me more about Gotham City and the important parts of the town. Starring out of the window I have a clear look at the Courthouse.
"And that right there is the Solomon Wayne Courthouse. Once I was old enough I left Gotham to try and find peace within myself. I was trying to cope with the murder of my parents. The only reason I returned in the first place was because the killer was finally caught. His name was Joe Chill and he was hired by the most powerful mob boss Carmine Falcone to kill my parents because they were on a mission to make Gotham a better and safer place."
So now I understand why he was so dedicated and was always looking out to help wherever he could.
"He was already in jail, but because he has so much information on Carmine Falcone the court decided to grant him an earlier release, but as he walked out, a member of Falcone was there and shot him point blank in the chest."
Oh my goodness!
"Bruce" trying to find the words that don't want to form. "I'm ... I'm so sorry."
"Don't be. That day I learned an important lesson. Joe was dead, but I didn't feel better. That's when I realized if I wanted to make an impact I needed to keep my parent's legacy alive."
Nodding slowly I took another sip from my water.
"Look I don't want to pry, but are you somewhat okay? Do you need to talk? A therapist maybe?"
"NO!" I quickly interrupt him. The offer was more than appreciated, but that wouldn't change a thing. And frankly, I didn't want to talk to someone who was getting paid to listen to me.
"I'm fine. Really. What happened was a tragic accident, but it was just that. A stupid accident that seemed lik it had to happen." Not remembering every detail of that night, I remember enough to know that he doesn't need to know all the details and neither does Elena.
"Alright. Well, there is still one thing that I can tell you about and that would be Arkham Asylum. The Asylum has a long and brutal history, beginning when its architect became mentally unwell and hacked his workers to death with an axe. He was convicted and sentenced to spend the rest of his life in the same asylum he had been dark history began in the early 1900s when Arkham's mother, having suffered from most of her life, committed. However, it was later revealed that her son had her and repressed the memory. Amadeus then decided, as the sole heir to the Arkham estate, to remodel his family home to properly treat the mentally ill, so others might not suffer the same fate as his mother."
"Before the period of the hospital's remodeling, Amadeus Arkham treated patients at the State Psychiatric Hospital, where he, his wife Constance, and his daughter Harriet had been living for quite some time. Upon his telling his family of his plans, they moved back to his family home to oversee the remodeling. While there, Amadeus Arkham received a call from the police notifying him that, a, referred to Amadeus Arkham by Metropolis Penitentiary while at State Psychiatric Hospital, had escaped from prison and sought his considered opinion on the murderer's state of mind. Shortly afterward, Amadeus Arkham returned to his home to find his front door wide open. Inside, he discovered the mutilated corpses of his wife and daughter in an upstairs room, with Mad Dog's alias carved on Harriet's body. Despite this family tragedy, the Elizabeth Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane officially opened that November."
Well, that's what I call a capturing story, but there is another story that I'm way more curious to find out more about. "Uhm Bruce, can I ask you something?"
He nods telling me to go on. "Batman? I've seen some articles at the GCPD and well it's..."
"Confusing?" Not exactly who I would've put it, but yeah sure. "Gotham is ... let's just say special. Unfortunately, we have a high crime rate and the people here are very dangerous, and a lot of them are mentally ill. And the corruption here is extreme almost to the point where it might be better to trust no one. Well, one night Batman appeared out of nowhere and helped crash a drug deal that was about to take place. "
"And the city proclaims him a hero? Where I lived people like that were proclaimed criminals as well."
My comment earns me a laugh from Bruce.
"You're right, but this town has so many dangerous people, that Batman has become a symbol of hope. Of course, people are fighting legally for justice in Gotham. Like good friends of mine. Harvey Dent is the district attorney and with his help, there's a lot of potential. A lot of criminals have just pleaded to be clinically insane and went to Arkham instead of Blackgate. Harvey is working on prosecuting those who commit a crime to not get the chance to go to Arkham Asylum and he succeeded when he was able to lock up every single one of Carmine Falcone's men."
"Men? What happened with..?"
"Carmine? We don't know. Unfortunately, he was able to disappear before the GCPD could arrest him and like I've mentioned the town is really corrupt. Someone switched papers and the Falcone Family was set free."
"And you said a mentally ill. What do you mean by that?"
"We have a lot of criminals who just don't have any remorse. Oswald Cobblepot is still ruling more or less the whole Arkham City." He stops for a moment contemplating if he should go on or not.
"There is a criminal who is worse then all of them combined. He dresses up as a clown and kills without any sense of remorse. He calls himself the Joker and let's just say wherever he goes, death follows."
A clown? Seriously?I stare at him for a short time taking all of the information in. Why didn't Elena ever say anything about the crime rate? On the other hand though, what city doesn't have mobsters, gangsters, criminals, and lunatics?
The Clown part was new, but seriously just how bad could Gotham be?
After the nice conversation with Bruce, he pays for the food and as we head back to his mansion he tells me about the upcoming party that he is about to throw.
"So yeah, there is still some preparation that needs to be taken care of that's why you sister and I'll go to have dinner with Harvey and Rachel."
Bruce has also told me about his childhood best friend Rachel Dawes who works and also dates Harvey.
"Would you like to join us tonight?" Bruce asks kindly. Although I was never really the type for a fancy dinner, it would be kind of rude to decline after he took time out from his day to show me around town. So I nod in agreement as we enter the mansion
"Wonderfull. Well, we are here. The dinner is at 9 p.m. Until then feel free do to whatever it is you want to do." And with that, he leaves to take care of his business as I make my way to my room to freshen up.