Book One - Part One: Dark Knight

Chapter Two

Dick and Elena head back downstairs once she's dressed and ready. Pulling her jacket on Elena glances to Bruce who pauses entering the kitchen to look to them both, he notes the bag in her hand and the sports bag in Dick's hand, panic settles in.

"Where are you going?" Bruce asks, Elena pulls her bag closer and glances to Dick.

"I'll wait in the car" he offers and then leaves them alone.

"I'm going into the office to work" Elena answers, Bruce's shoulders relax significantly. "And then to the gym" which explains the sports bag, Bruce lets out a small breath not letting himself hope just yet.

"I thought..." he stops and looks away.

"You thought I was leaving" she whispers. "'M not going anyway, Daddy" she assures him. "As long as you want me here...." he looks to her and smiles.

"I'll always want you here" he promises her, she nods and smiles a little. "Did you get a letter?" Bruce asks she nods.

"Yeah I did" she answers and then shakes her head. "And no" she answers quickly. "I don't want to see her" she assures him, he nods a little and moves to her pulling her into a tight hug, she takes a breath and hugs him back clutching to the back of his shirt. "I have an appointment" she pulls away. "I'll see you later" she offers and then walks away, Bruce takes a deep breath and looks to Alfred as he appears at his side.

"What about you sir?" Alfred asks. "Will you be visiting Miss Kyle again this year?" Bruce looks to him and nods slightly.

"Will you make sure Lena's beast hasn't locked himself in the cave again?" Bruce asks, Alfred nods. "I haven't seen him this morning"

"Last I saw he was in the library, I'll check there first" Alfred turns and walks away.

..................

Dick's car is black with a deep blue line along the side of it, Elena can't say what make and model it is she's not a car person, it's nice, that she does know. And comfy. And warm. And smells like Dick. Her brother's smell always reminds her of when she was younger and they'd curl up in front of some horror movie, and she'd spend most of it hiding in his chest. So she is slow to leave it as they reach their destination. Elena shuts the car door, parked outside of an imposing building in Manhattan. She turns back to the car as Dick leans across the seats.

"An hour?" Dick asks.

"Just text me" she offers leaning back in through the window. "If I don't hear from you by the time my meeting is finished I'll grab some lunch, don't worry, I've not got else on today"

"Have fun" Dick teases as she leans away, his car peels away from the curb and Elena smirks and shakes her head before heading inside Wayne Enterprise's main building, Manhattan, it's impressive, stark and dark against the skyline. As she heads across the lobby, her heels click away.

"Hello, Grace" Elena greets as her blonde assistant hurries to her side, arms filled with files.

"Ah Miss Wayne" she greets back struggling to keep a hold on the files. Elena shrugs her bag up her shoulder and takes the top half of the pile from her. "You're guests are early, I told them you weren't in yet, they assured me they'd wait in your office" Elena hums arranging the files in her arms. "They....they are wearing uniforms" Grace offers knowing how the Wayne family feels about the government and it's 'children' departments. Elena sighs and shakes her head.

"They just can't take no for an answer" she complains as the two women disappear into an elevator car. The doors close behind them.

..............

Dick drives as Elena sits next to him, her fingers brushing subconsciously at the bottom of her skirt, her meeting had been beyond boring, military trying yet again to get her and her company involved in weapon production. But she wants nothing to do with that side of science. To her Wayne Enterprises heals it doesn't do more damage. She turns her head to Dick.

"How is Babs?" she asks looking to him, he smiles.

"Good" he answers. "She loves the new Wayne cell phone prototype" he looks to her and smiles. "Seriously, she's obsessed with it..."

"That's good" Elena counters. "Means everyone else will be too" she teases, he smirks and glances to her.

"Sometimes I forget that you're actually a very successful businesswoman"

"Cause I drink and dance all night?" she asks, he nods. "Yeah....guess that's why no one takes me seriously" Dick frowns a little. "Despite the fact that when I took over as CEO Wayne Enterprises was only the sixth largest tech conglomerate in the world and now it's the second...." she looks to Dick. "People look at me and see this little girl"

"That's not true" he argues, she sighs a little. In the blink of an eye, Dick's window fills with a van, barrelling right at them and Elena's eyes zero in on it, her eyes widen.

"Dick!" Elena yells, Dick slams on the brakes but it's too late, the van smashes into the side of the car. Elena screams as Dick pushes her forward, protecting her head from the glass that shatters around them. The car spins out coming to a stop slow stop in the centre of the road, the van screeches to a halt blocking the cars path. Then everything seems to happen almost too fast to process, the van door slides open and four men in grotesque masks spill out, Dick pushes open a compartment on the dash of his car revealing his Escrima sticks, he grabs them and turns pressing his feet to the car door and pushes, throwing the door out hitting one of the men, he flies backwards with the door and Dick climbs out of the car.

"Stay there" he tells Elena who nods rapidly.

"Yeah, I'm not going anywhere" she mumbles. Now wishing her father had taken to training her. So she wouldn't feel so helpless now. Two of the men concentrate on Dick, and the other rounds the car. Elena watches him turning to grab the door handle, holding it shut tightly, her heartbeat pounding in her ears, her palms are sweaty. She's always felt lucky, despite how much Bruce is in the public eye she's been lucky this hasn't happened earlier. A bystander gets out of his car rushing toward the scene to intervene to help, a fifth masked man leans out of the van wielding a machine gun. A torrent of gunfire slams the bystander to the pavement. Elena sees the samaritan drop surging towards him is a young boy, the samaritan's son.

"DAD!" The boy rushes to his father. Tears streaming down his cheeks. Elena is transfixed by this heartbreaking scene that her hold on the door goes slack and the masked man pulls the door open, her head swings around only for her to receive a sharp, hard fist to the side of her face. And then another. Blood pools in her mouth and there is a sharp ringing in her ears that drowns out a lot of the other sounds, she can hear the boy crying, can hear Dick fighting but everything else is just white noise. 

"Dick" she mumbles as the masked man pulls her out of the car, dragging her up by her armpits, she tries to fight but her head is pounding now, her head swimming, her vision blurry. "Dick!" she manages to cry out, Dick's head spins around seeking her out.

"Lena!" he shouts back and lands a sickening punch to the masked man in front of him before he vaults over the car trying to reach her. But the fifth man opens fire causing Dick to duck for cover behind the trunk of the car. Dick looks terrified for her but she knows, she knows he can't get to her without getting hurt himself and then what use would he be. Elena is pulled up into the van, the door sliding closed before her eyes as she is laid down, her eyes rolling as she looses consciousness.