Riddle me this, Riddle me Kat! *Watty Awards 2012 Completed*

chapter four

“Bruce!” I yelled as I ran down the stairs. “Bruce I’m going! Have a nice day!” I yelled up the staircase as I ran into him. What was with him appearing out of nowhere? I thought he stopped doing that a while back.

“Where you headed to?” he asked me as I grabbed a pancake off the counter. Alfred had made chocolate chip pancakes this morning. I took a bite out of the amazing chocolate fluffy-ness that is awesome-ness.

“Job shadowing silly.” I tried to play off.

“But where? You’re not coming with me to work so where are you going?” Bruce asked smiling. It didn’t sound like he was upset and I know that he does tend to support me in my decisions, but I just couldn’t risk it this time. There’s always the off chance he puts me on lock down.

“Oh you know, around.” I gave the lame excuse as I ran out of the manor and onto a motorcycle. Richard had taught me how to drive one and I absolutely loved it. I felt so free on the road. I totally zoned as I took my normal back road route to the Arkham’s entrance; the guys and I had come once before to get a picture for a project at school. I also had a habit of camping out just outside of the grounds in the middle of the night when I couldn’t sleep. Every now and then I could even hear the insane laughter of those being held within the walls of the massive fort. In all honesty that’s what it was; it’s what it had to be.

---Bruce’s POV---

I watched her as she ran out of the manor and jumped on one of the many bikes she and Richard owned.

‘Oh you know, around.”

That’s what she had said when I asked about where she was shadowing; and I have a bad feeling about that. I shook my head and decided to try and fix my cuff links. What was with that child? She was amazing and I loved her like my own child and at the same time, like she was a sister. Her father was one of my most trusted friends and I couldn’t believe what happened to him and his wife. They got mixed up in the wrong crowd and unfortunately got their daughter mixed in too. I’ve done my best to keep the men away and to keep her safe, but with being Bruce Wayne in the day and Batman at night, I just didn’t have the needed time to be part of her life.

“Do not worry yourself Master Bruce, she knows what she’s doing.” Alfred said as he walked in to clean up the breakfast dishes. Katrina hadn’t really eaten much, which she would regret later with that blood sugar problem of hers, but nonetheless there was a dent in the food amount.

“Alfred, are you a mind reader? I’m being serious because if that’s true then you’ll have to come to work with me and tell me what my business partners think.” I smirked.

“As if you honestly care what they think about you or your decisions. Miss Kat has definitely picked up on your independence and it’s rubbed off on her.” He laughed a little.

“Ya, I can tell.” I said a little concerned. She’s been keeping more and more to herself lately and I’m really wondering why. Oh well. I shook my head as I started to calculate how much press coverage I’d get if I stole the Russian Ballet again for the weekend.

“Master Bruce, do not worry yourself. She’s gone over the protocol for weeks and she’s met the guard that she’ll be with and nothing bad’s go—“ I cut him off.

“What?” I ask looking at him and he looks confused. “Where is she going?” I ask a little more sternly than I meant too.

“I thought she told you; she’s going to job shadow at Arkham Asylum. She was invited to be the one from her school to go.” Alfred said cautiously. “I could have sworn she said she told you.”

“Ya, secrets have become more and more of a thing for her.” I sighed frustrated. I was walking to my garage when my phone went off and I looked down to see that Richard was calling. “Hello?”

“Bruce, I got some good-ish bad news.” He said tensely.

“What happened?” I had sent Richard out to do some digging on the mentally unstable people he and I kept throwing in Arkham. Richard was of course my trusty partner Robin. He had heard news of a major break out that was supposed to be happening soon and the both of us agreed he should go check out the sources. I had, as Batman of course, called Gordon to let him know the potential threat.

“The break out is happening. And too soon.” You could hear his displeasure with the situation.

“How soon?” I asked forgetting about taking the Russian Ballet on an early vacation and headed to one of the many entrances to the Bat cave.

“You’re not going to like this.” He said and I could hear him speeding up ever so slightly. He was probably using the headset in his helmet. My guess is he’s on his bike.

“Tell me.” I growled. Please, please, please don’t let it be-

“It’s today.” He said.

“Damn it!” I yelled as I switched my phone call to the computers in the cave and I soon had a visual of the inside of Richard’s helmet; I knew he could see me too.

“What? What’s wrong?” he asked speeding up ever slightly.

“It’s Katrina.”

“What?! What happened?” his eyes got entirely too wide.

“She’s there.”

“What?”

“She’s job shadowing at Arkham today. She’s on her way there.”

“And you let her go in the first place?!” he yelled as I saw the speedometer jump up twenty mph.

“No, I knew she was shadowing but she never told me where she was going. Alfred just informed me.” I cursed under my breath. How could I have let her just go somewhere and not wonder about it? She was so excited this morning and got nervous soon as I asked her about her trip. I had gotten in my suit and was walking down to the Bat mobile when I heard Richard say before he hung up,

“Don’t you let them touch her; I’ll be there in five minutes.”

Shit, what am I supposed to do? I can’t just show up at Arkham as Batman and tip them off, but I can’t just wait while Katrina’s in there. Shit, shit, shit.