Bad, I'm better [Bruce Wayne]

Chapter 30.

The room was light up by daylight when I was woken up by a noise at the door. Immediately, I sat up on the mattress and grabbed my bag, ready to defend myself with it if needed. I heard a key being turned in the lock and got off the ground in preparation.

The door finally opened and a relieved breath left my lips when I saw the head of Ms. Ramirez peeking through the small opening. Her eyes met mine and when they wandered up to my hair a small smile appeared on her lips.

"Good morning, did you sleep well?"

Getting the feeling that my hair must be a mess, I quickly combed through it with my fingers.

"It's fine, just a little messy, don't worry about it." She reassured me and I nodded, but continued to comb through my hair one more time.

"I slept okay, what time is it?" I asked and she pointed at a clock at the wall that I had not noticed up until now.

"It's 9am and we were wondering if you were fine, so I came to check up on you. I know things got quite late yesterday, but we wanted to make sure." She explained and entered the room with her entire body now.

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine. Any news about Harvey?" I asked and her features hardened.

"None. But..."

As she was speaking the door was opened once again and James Gordon appeared in front of us. He looked like he was in a rush and after looking at Ramirez his eyes wandered over to me.

"I got in contact with Batman. Which means he's on the rooftop right now. He usually disappears when he's done talking to me, so we should hurry." He breathed out and motioned for me to follow him, before disappearing from my view again.

I glanced at Ramirez one more time before hurrying after Gordon. She did the same.

We rushed to the elevator and Gordon held the door open for me, before pressing the button to close it right after I stepped into it.

"You wait here. You know he rarely talks to others." Gordon instructed Ramirez and she nodded, although she looked a little disappointed.

Then the elevator doors closed and Gordon and I were left alone once again.

"Sorry to rush you like this. I told him that there is someone that has valuable information for him, but you never know if he stays long enough. I think he never waited for me before, so this would be a first." Gordon apologized with a chuckle and I swallowed thickly.

Of course this is what I came here to do. But now was the moment of truth and I didn't know how this mysterious man in a costume would react to me spilling his secrets to the biggest threat to Gotham, the city he's trying to protect.

"Don't worry about it. I hope he's still there." I answered, my voice even drier now that my nerves got the best of my body.

"Are you worried?" He asked me and I hesitated to look at him.

But when I did there was no judgement in his eyes, only sympathy. He probably knew what it felt like to talk to Batman for the first time and could understand my situation. Of course he also knew that the things I would have to say weren't things Batman wanted to hear. So none of us knew what to expect.

After a moment I nodded and faced the elevator doors again.

"But whatever the consequences, I have to face them."

Gordon remained silent and it didn't take much longer for the elevator doors to open.

Now that daylight fell upon Gotham's rooftop the view on top of the GCPD was even more breathtaking. It didn't look as frightening as it did when it was night. Now in the morning light, it even seemed kind of calm.

After managing to take my eyes off the sight in front of me, I scanned the area. And after we closed some distance and got closer to the extension with the flood light my eyes spotted a dark figure that looked rather out of place in broad daylight.

He turned to face us when he heard our approaching steps and I could hear Gordon sighing in relief next to me. Instead of speaking to Gordon, like I would have expected, Batman's eyes remained fixed on me and I could only hold his intense stare for a few seconds before averting my gaze.

"Thank you for waiting. This is Jane Benton, the person that wanted to meet you." Gordon spoke up when we were in hearing range and for a second Batman lifted his uncomfortable stare from me to look at Gordon. Instead of giving an actual answer, he replied with a short nod. Then his eyes landed on me again and I took this as the signal to say what I came here to say before wasting more of his time.

"Let me get straight to the point. I did something I shouldn't have done and I want you to know that I'm sorry. I used to live in Gotham a few months ago and I worked at Wayne Enterprises in the Research and Development department. After a while I got pulled into some shady business and was forced to look around for information on you in the department. I don't know who you are, but it was obvious that your gadgets must come from there. The person that I gave my information to is the Joker. So now the Joker knows how some of your tools work and knows how to work his way around them and I want to take this advantage from him. I want to tell you everything I told him."

After ending my short speech silence engulfed us and he stared at me, no change of expression visible on his face.

"Tell me." He demanded with a voice much deeper than I remembered from my brief encounter with him. Did he remember it?

I nodded and glanced at Gordon once before opening my mouth again.

"In the begining I only found materials and substances you use for your ropes for example. But knowing that your grappling hook uses monofilament wire didn't really help the Joker, so I had to look into your more challenging gadgets. One thing I stumbled upon was the gun you use to attach timed bombs onto surfaces like windows. I also found some info on your car. That you can control it without being inside through a remote. That you can listen in to various radio channels all over Gotham. They can keep track of when you most likely know about where something is happening and can plan accordingly. You know the Joker isn't one to avoid you, but he'd rather outsmart you. He doesn't want to stop you using these things, but he wants to use them to his advantage. But I'm sure you are aware of that."

As I went on he averted his gaze and stared into the distance. After I told him everything I knew and had told the Joker, he remained silent and I started shifting on my feet, unsure of what he was thinking about what I had done and the consequences it meant for him.

"I knew you were looking for information, so this is no surprise. I take it that you telling me this means you're willing to help?"

"Willing to help?" I repeated with a blank face.

"I know you're capable of doing more than just dig up information, that's why you worked at Wayne Enterprises."

"How..." I started, but shook my head. Apparently Batman knew everything. "And what do you want me to do?"

"I'll contact you the next time I come across the Joker." He stated and placed a black object inside my hand. A walkie-talkie.

I briefly looked at it and when I looked up to talk again, he was gone.

Then I heard a sigh next to me.

"He always does that." Gordon informed me and I sighed as well.

"I take it he accepted my apology then?" I asked and Gordon chuckled.

"I think so. Don't think he'd give you that if he didn't."

Turning the walkie-talkie in my hand I frowned. I had no clue how he expected me to be of any help to him.

"Let's head downstairs." Gordon offered and I followed him back to the elevator.