The force of the explosion threw her from the pier and into the cold dark waters of the bay. She hit the water hard and, ignoring the stinging in her back, she surfaced searching across the dark waves for the black clad man. She saw nothing. Just the pieces of the suitcase falling into the water. Suddenly, she heard a gasp behind her. She spun around to see Batman struggling to stay afloat, his hands still bound tightly.
She hurriedly swam over to him and grabbed him around the shoulders, pulling him up just as he began to go under again. She felt him struggling to breathe as she pulled him toward the shore. Even in the water, he was heavy. She wasn't sure if it was the suit or the man. "I certainly hope you don't use this outfit for swimming." With difficulty, she swam him to the shore. She rested his back against the concrete to let him catch his breath. "You okay?" Coughing, he nodded.
"Shields open," Batman whispered.
"What?" She looked at him, puzzled, until, with a roar, the black car came whizzing along the wharf.
"Stop." The car came to a dead halt just above them. She stood them helped him to his feet. He was even heavier out of the water. Finally, he stood by himself, taking most his weight off her. "You drive." He walked to the other side of the car.
"You have got to be joking." He held up his tied hands in response as the top of the cockpit of the car slid back, exposing two seats inside the sleek automobile. She took a deep breath and climbed in next to Batman and the cockpit closed. She nervously took the wheel and the car began creeping slowly forward. "Can't this car, like, drive itself or something?"
"Faster." He remained focused on the handcuffs, not even seeming to notice that she had no idea what she was doing. "Turn left." She turned left. He continued to call out directions never once looking to the road. She looked around. He had directed her toward a forest that she'd never seen before in all her years of living in Gotham. Looking straight ahead, she saw a stone wall blocking their path. The huge hill seemed to have come out of nowhere. And they were headed straight for it. She put her foot on the brake. "Faster."
"But there's a wall-"
"Faster." She said a quick prayer and slammed her foot down on the accelerator. As they sped toward the mountain, she shut her eyes, bracing for impact. She felt nothing. Cautiously, she opened her eyes and gasped at what she saw. They had entered a dark, monstrous cavern. She kept driving, marveling at the sheer size of the cave. "Stop."
She pressed on the brakes and the car silently pulled to a stop. The cockpit slid open and Batman stepped out immediately and walked to a computer console against the wall. She understood why he hadn't offered to help her out of the car. She climbed out, looking around the cavern in awe. It was like they'd stepped into another world. Futuristic computers and machines lined the walls.
The floor she was standing on suddenly began sinking. Startled, she jumped to higher ground. She turned to watch the car slowly lower on a circular platform until it was out of sight. She climbed the stairs and joined Batman at the computer console.
"Do you think you'll be able to get the handcuffs off?" A thin rod had slid out from the computer and was busily speeding through numbers searching for the correct code. With a chill, she thought of the man with the frightening sneer. She shuddered. "Was that guy who I think he was?"
"The Joker." She remembered the Joker. He'd gone on a large killing spree in Gotham. She used to have nightmares about him. She suddenly felt very cold. She didn't know if it was her wet clothes or the thought of the white-faced menace.
"I thought you killed the Joker?"
"So did I." With a snap, the handcuffs slid off his wrists. "Excuse me." He pushed away from the console and walked back down the stairs. She watched as he entered one side of what appeared to be a huge vault and emerged from the other wearing an identical, but perfectly dry Batman suit. In his hand, he had a towel and some clothing. "Here," he said, pushing the clothes at her. "You can wear these. They'll be too big, but they're dry. You can dress in there." He pointed toward the vault.
"Thank you." She took the clothes and walked slowly down the steps and into the vault. Nearly fifteen identical Batman suits stood of every side. It was slightly unnerving to look at. On the wall behind her there were numerous, what she assumed to be, weapons. Boomerangs, grappling hooks; all in the shape of bats. She studied them. They were ingenious devices. Whoever that man was, he done some research and taken time to perfect his trade. It was all so insane and yet so genius.
She dried herself off as much as was possible with the towel and unfolded the clothes. A T-shirt and a pair of sweatpants thankfully with drawstrings. As she pulled the shirt over her head she wondered if perhaps those clothes belonged to the man behind the mask. Her thoughts turned to Bruce. She hoped she'd be back in time to see him. But first, she wanted to find out how the Joker had "come back." When she came out of the vault, Batman was typing furiously on the computer. "If the Joker was pronounced dead by a coroner, how is it that he's alive?"
"The body was supposedly laid to rest eight years ago, but there are no records of a burial." Batman continued typing as pictures of various thugs and their rap sheets flashed across the screen.
"Maybe the coroner was one of Joker's men," she suggested.
"The coroner was," he began, as a picture of the Joker appeared on the screen. It was just after he'd been disfigured at Axis Chemicals and gotten that evil grin. "Sam Brooks."
"Sam Brooks?" she asked, hoping that wasn't what she'd heard. Batman turned to her.
"You know him?"
"Not personally, thank God. That guy is bad news. Pure genius, he was a doctor until something pushed him off the edge a few years back." She sat down in the black chair next to Batman. "He was locked up at Arkham Asylum for a while, but he escaped. The guy is a total lunatic and with brains like his, he's seriously lethal."
"And now he's teamed up with the Joker." Batman slowly turned back to the computer. The thought of Brooks and the Joker working together made her feel sick. Gotham City was in serious trouble.
"But why?" He began typing again. What he was searching for, she didn't know.
"That's what we have to find out." They worked for hours, searching every possible lead. She could still hear Batman punching away at the keyboard when she slowly drifted off to sleep on the cave floor.
As usual, she dreamt about the night her bother was shot. Most the time, she saw it from where she was standing that night, just watching from around the edge of the building, but sometimes it was worse; sometimes she was the one who had shot him. She hadn't even tried to help him, she might as well have been the one.
"What's she doing here?" The harsh whisper broke her from her sleep. Through hazy vision, she saw another masked, caped figure talking to Batman. She assumed he must be Robin. She closed her eyes, pretending to still be asleep and listened.
"She helped me tonight," Batman replied somewhat defensively. "And she helped me solve something. Don't worry, she doesn't know." She figured they were talking about their secret identities. Not that it would matter if she did know. She would never tell. "Robin, the Joker's back." She slowly drifted back to sleep as Batman filled Robin in on all they'd found out. Thankfully, this time she dreamt of Bruce.
"Lieutenant, Lieutenant." She opened her eyes to see Batman kneeling beside her. Robin was nowhere to be seen. "It's almost morning. I'll take you home now." She nodded and he helped her to her feet.
"What about the clothes?" she asked as they walked slowly toward the car.
"Keep them." His deep voice sounded much gentler. "May I ask you a question, Lt.?" With a yawn, she nodded. "Why did you help me?" They stopped and she looked directly as him.
"You were just like anyone else who needed my help. So, I helped. Now, may I ask you a question?" With a bit of hesitation, he nodded. "Why do you go out night after night and risk your life for people you don't know?" He smiled.
"I could ask you the same question."
She smiled, admitting she walked right into that one. "Well, here's a question I always want to ask anyone who fights for what's right: what keeps you fighting when there seems to be no way out?" He looked at her a long time. It was if he was examining her, seeing if she was worth his trust.
"The thought that as long as I'm out there fighting, no one else will have to become what I've become." She was struck by the sadness of the comment. She'd never before seen what Batman did as something he had to do out of his care for the people of Gotham. "How about you, Lt.?" She thought about all the thoughts that had entered her head when she saw that timer begin the final countdown. Only one thing came to mind.
"Strangely enough," she began, smiling slightly. "All I could think about was this man I just met." Batman looked at her, a bit surprised.
"Just met?"
"Yeah. I don't even know him that well." Her mind drifted to him. "I guess I just wanted the chance to get to know him better." Batman smiled at her.
"Love at first sight, Lt.?" She shook her head.
"No, more like lust at first sight." She looked off into the air and how she truly felt suddenly hit her. "Love came later."
The Batmobile, as he'd told her it was called, pulled to a stop on the deserted street outside her apartment building. The top slid back and Batman hopped out then put his arms out and lifted her from the car. She looked up at the moon in the slowly brightening sky.
Glancing at Batman, Gotham City suddenly didn't seem so lost, even from the ground. "Well, you keep me posted on anything you find out about the terrible team." He nodded. She turned to go inside and then she looked back. "Uh, and remember Com. Gordon isn't your only ally on the police force. I know I don't have as much power as he does, but if there's anything I can do." Batman smiled and nodded. As she turned to go inside, she heard him climb back into the Batmobile.
"Lt." She looked back to him, her hand on the doorknob. "Are you going to tell him?"
"No," she replied, smiling sadly. "I don't think he wants me." She swallowed back the lump in her throat and took a deep breath. Batman's face, what was visible of it, seemed to echo the sadness she felt.
"He'd be crazy not to." She smiled and walked into the building as the Batmobile roared off. A young boy stared at her while his mother sifted through the large amount of mail in her mail slot.
"Mommy, Mommy," he said, tugging his mother's sleeve. "She knows Batman." His mother looked up at her and rolled her eyes.
"We get back a little late from vacation and he's so tired he starts imaging things," she commented, shaking her head and looking back to her mail. The little boy stared up at her wide-eyed. She grinned and winked at the kid and walked on up to her apartment. She went to her bed and lay down for some much needed rest.
She walked into the dept. at nearly two in the afternoon. She didn't know why she'd slept so late. The soft bed just felt so good after the hard cave floor. Cave floor. She'd almost thought it was all a dream. "Hey, look it's Batgirl!" One of the cops was pointing at her, apparently ecstatic about making a joke.
"Please, Joe," Anderson said, walking up to her. "Give the woman the respect she deserves . . . Batwoman." She rolled her eyes and tried to make it to her office before someone else stopped her with their side-splitting jokes. "So, how is old Batsy?" She glanced around at all the laughing faces.
"How do you guys know about all this?" The room seemed to practically shake with laughter, or so it seemed.
"Are you kidding?" Anderson asked, grinning. "It's all over the news." Anderson shoved the day's newspaper at her. She unfolded it and stared in shock at the headline. "Batman's New Sidekick: Police Lt. Saves Dark Knight's Life." She had to laugh.
"So, where was Robin?" Anderson asked, continuing the joke. She shrugged and tossed the newspaper on Anderson's desk.
"I think he was busy." She tried once again to make her way to her office. She hated to hear anything, good or bad, about something she'd done.
"By the way, Bruce Wayne called. He said to call him at home. He said you'd know the number," Anderson informed, suspiciously. The rest of the officers hummed whimsically at the revelation. "What's the story with you and Mr. Moneybags?" She started walking through the door to her office then stopped, feeling that she was being watched. She turned to see all the officers staring at her skeptically. Rather than face more jokes, she smiled and closed the door.
She was so glad Com. Gordon had given her the day of because of the Batman thing. Normally, she would have worked anyway, but she really wanted to see Bruce. She'd been so excited when he'd asked her to come over. She didn't let him know that, of course.
Alfred lead her to Bruce's bedroom, where Bruce was in bed, "feeling under the weather," as Alfred had put it. As she approached the oak doors she heard the end of what she assumed to be a TV newscast. "Though the Lt. could not be reached for comment, eye-witnesses say that without the Lt., Gotham's Dark Knight might not have survived to fight another night." Seeing her walk in the door with Alfred, Bruce instantly switched off the TV.
"Hey, look, it's the celebrity," he teased. She walked over to where he was covered up in blankets on his bed, apparently still in his pajamas.
"Yeah, I'm the biggest thing since sliced bread." She walked over to him and sat on the chair next to his bed.
"So, what do you think of Gotham's masked avenger?" She looked out the window at the perfectly kept lawn, thinking of last night's adventure.
"He's a real nice guy, real smart. Gotham's lucky to have him." She suddenly noticed that Bruce looked rather pale. She moved to sit next to him on the edge of the bed hoping that was acceptable. "But enough about him, how are you feeling?" Bruce shrugged.
"I'm okay. I just caught a chill last night." She noticed Alfred promptly leave the room. When she looked back to Bruce, she knew why. She leaned down and kissed him. As she pulled back, Bruce gently touched her cheek, brushing her hair behind her ear. "Now I've probably given you my cold." She shrugged and made herself more comfortable.
"Oh well. That happens."
* * *
She glanced at her watch. She only had an hour until Bruce came to pick her up for dinner. She went to the window and pushed it open. A soft wind blew into her apartment and she resisted the urge to climb out on her fire escape and watch the sky, like she used to do. She went to her closet and chose her best outfit: an elegant suit, black slacks with a black double breasted jacket. She had to dig through all her jewelry to try to find the best.
Bruce had warned her that since it was their first date out on the town, the reporters would be buzzing around them most of the night. She was most worried about making him look bad. If she remembered correctly, the last woman he'd dated had been an absolutely gorgeous criminal physiologist. She looked in the mirror trying not to grimace at her plainness, plain dark brown hair and brown eyes. She grabbed her brush and walked to look out the window.
Bruce really did deserve some devastatingly beautiful woman, a woman as good-looking as he was. But maybe he did want her. That criminal physiologist had been gorgeous and he hadn't stayed with her. Maybe what he wanted was a real woman. As her mind wandered, the brush slipped from her hand. She bent down to pick it up and as her eyes became level with the window she saw two black boots. Slowly, she stood up.
Batman stood majestically on her fire escape, cape billowing in the wind. She stepped back as he climbed in the windows.
"Your hunch was right. Sam Brooks has become the Joker and, fittingly, he's raiding Axis Chemicals tonight." She practically leapt out of her skin. Sam Brooks as the Joker was almost as deadly as the two separately. Batman turned to climb out the window, but she grabbed his arm to stop him.
"Wait let me come with you. I can help. Let me fight this one with you," she pleaded. Batman steadfastly shook his head. She could tell that there was no changing his mind, but that didn't mean she couldn't try. "Oh, come on. I'm a cop. I can take care of myself."
"No, I don't want you to get hurt. This is just too dangerous." She sighed frustratedly. Superheros! Once they've made a decision there's no swaying them. "Do you still feel the same about Bruce Wayne?"
"Yes, but how did you know it was Bruce Wayne?"
Batman stuttered over a few sentences before answering. "I have connections."
"I'll bet. Why do you care about how I feel about Bruce?"
"I just think you may be wrong about how he feels about you." He climbed out the window onto the metal grate fire escape.
"Why is that?" she asked. He turned, looking back at her through the thin pane of glass.
"You're not the only one with hunches, Lt." She climbed out on the fire escape to see where he had so dramatically jumped to, but he was nowhere to be seen. She did notice a silver Rolls-Royce parked across the street and a kindly old gentleman standing beside it.
Alfred politely opened the door for her and she climbed into the empty car, puzzled. "Mr. Wayne asked me to inform you that he had some business to attend to and he'll be a little late," Alfred informed her as he climbed into the driver's seat. "He asked that I give you this." He handed her a small black box. She opened it slowly. Sitting on the velvet cushion was a beautiful diamond ring. She gasped staring at the ring. "And he said he had a very important question to ask you."
She grinned and leaned forward to hug Alfred, startling the old butler. Excitedly, she slid the gold band on her ring finger. Looking at the gem, she couldn't think of a time when she'd been more happy, but there was something still nagging at her.
"Alfred, when you see Bruce tell him, whatever it was, I said 'yes'." She opened the door and stepped out onto the dark pavement.
"Miss," Alfred called, alarmed. "Where are you going?" Ignoring the call, she looked again at the ring and set off running toward Axis Chemicals.