Chapter 24

ONE MONTH LATER

BRUCE WAYNE

Today marked a month since the calamity now known as the 'Toxic Rain' struck Gotham, devolving the city and causing havoc and mayhem all over. Despite the heroic actions of the leaders of Wayne Enterprises, the city did not come out unscathed.

The rain had begun before the antidote could be distributed widely and had caused a massive amount of destruction all over. The League had broken out all the prisoners, flushing the streets once more with all crime.

It seemed as if all the work done by his brother had been undone in that single accursed night. The City needed a leader more than ever as it came out of the disaster, they needed someone they could look to in these difficult times, yet the Gods had decided to test Gotham's resolve as they robbed the city of its foremost pillar of strength and leadership in these difficult times.

For even after a month. Thomas Wayne had yet to wake up.

He stood outside an extremely private and specialized unit of the Gotham General, looking through the window at the person lying on the bed inside, his body still covered by bandages, as various machines were hooked to him, keeping him alive.

His injuries were too extensive, though according to the First Responders, it was a miracle that he was still alive given the state he was found in, his body crushed under a collapsed roof. His spine had multiple fractures, along with numerous life-threatening injuries, the aftereffects of all of which even the doctors hesitated to comment on.

Yet he didn't lie there alone, no for beside him sat someone else. Someone who had been sitting there for months now.

Selina Kyle, his brother's girlfriend. She hadn't left his side since the day she had woken up from her own injuries, and had refused to leave her side. Her eyes were heavily swollen as she sat there beside him, holding his hand while reading to him the latest happening in the world around them.

"She cares a lot for him," a rather familiar voice cut in from the side, and he looked to the side and found himself face to face with a rather familiar face of Rachel Dawes.

He hadn't seen her in the month, the city in its hour of need had needed him both as Batman and Bruce Wayne. Then there was also the fact that, for some reason, she had been voiding him for the last month, and this was the first time they were meeting face to face.

"She does," he said as she walked to his side and looked him over with a complicated gaze before she continued.

"How have you been?" she questioned, and his lips thinned as he answered.

"As fine as I could be," he answered cryptically and she seemed to nod as she turned away from him. It had been a month since he had seen her and he couldn't help as his gaze lingered on her, much more than he would have liked his heart beating nervously as he saw her so close to him once more.

In the end, he decided to ask away.

"Why have you been avoiding me, Rachel?" he questioned and saw her raise a brow. She didn't answer immediately, and silence lingered on between them.

"I think you already know the answer to that," she uttered after a minute of silence as she put forward her hand. His heart skipped a beat as he recognized just what she held in her hands.

It was a card. One of two master cards created by Thomas to override any systems in Wayne Tower.

A card Batman had thrust in her hands.

"Where did you get that?" he questioned nervously as his heart thumped in his chest, and she seemed disappointed by his answer as she cut in.

"Don't play games with me, Bruce. You and I both know you were the one who handed it to me that night," she cut in, and he felt himself still at those words, her accusations true as she looked at him with a narrowed gaze.

There was no point in lying anymore, she knew.

"When did you figure it out?" he asked as he pocketed the card.

"Initially, I suspected that it was Thomas behind that mask," she began as she turned away from him.

"But then, when I thought a bit more about it, I realized the truth: I wasn't Thomas. No," she continued as she side-glanced at him.

"It was you behind that mask, that you were the caped crusader," she said as she looked at him and continued.

"And that whole ruse about that very public life, it all began to click together, all of it except one single thing," she began in a somber tone.

"Why?" she questioned, and he gulped down and waited before he finally began.

"Because this city needed it. Thomas was having an effect in the city, yet it was too slow, and I knew that the city was running out of time, that if I wished to change Gotham, I would need to become a symbol of fear and resistance for the deep-rooted criminal entity of this city, and so I donned the mask," he answered and saw her nod.

"Who knows of this?" she questioned next.

"Thomas does, as do Alfred and his girlfriend, and one more person apart from that," he answered and saw her eyes narrow.

"She knows," she questioned, pointing towards Kyle, and he nodded.

"Yes, Thomas told her. Plus, she herself isn't as simple as she may seem," he replied cryptically and saw her lips thin as her voice shook as she continued.

"Yet you lied to me," and her words quivered making him turn towards her as he tried to hold her, yet she pushed him away as he pleaded.

"I was going to tell you," he pleaded.

"When?" she questioned.

"That day. The day of our date, after you left, I realized that I didn't wish to lose you, that I wished to be with you, so after you left, I rushed back for you, yet by then you were already gone, and then when I drove to your office I realized that you weren't there either, that you had gone missing," he began, telling her and saw her frown as her eyes watered up.

"Why couldn't it ever be simple between us?" she complained, and he bit his lip as he shook his head.

"I do not know," he said as he looked her in the eye.

"But now that you know of it all, what's your answer," he questioned, hope bubbling in his chest as her lips thinned.

"I do not know, I nee…."

"DOCTOR! DOCTOR!" they were interrupted by the shouts from inside the room. His feet moved before he could think as he opened the door and rushed in.

"What happened?" he questioned the crying and wide-eyed form of Selina Kyle.

"He moved! His hand it moved!" she shouted as doctors began to flood the room.

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SELINA KYLE

Selina Kyle found herself staring at the face of the person lying in front of her once more, her eyes refusing to look away as she looked for any sign of movement, any small flutter of his lids, as she sat beside him, holding his hand.

Yet even as a month passed, there was no sign. The doctors had given her multiple latitudes, yet she saw them all for what they were.

Lies.

She had had enough of them. And as she sat there beside him, she blamed herself for putting him on that bed, blamed herself for the state that he was in.

Yet she could do little for him, despite everything he had done for her over all the years, and all she could do was pray. Pray and sit by his side, waiting for him to wake up.

She felt her eyes water up, as she wiped away the tears and kissed his hand gently, whispering quietly into his ear.

"Please, Thomas. Please, wake up…." She pleaded in a broken voice.

"… Please, I cannot take it anymore," she pleaded, yet there was no movement, and she had never thought she would ever miss his cocky smile so much as she leaned back and prayed in her heart again for him, as she had done many times now.

She had not been to the outside world and knew that the whole city was praying for him. They would often be visited by their butler, his brother, and some other close friends.

She had known most of them except a black man with a weird contraption attached to his eye. He introduced himself as Floyd Lawson and apologized rather profusely to her. Since that day, she could feel an eerie presence around the hospital, keeping an eye on them all the time.

She had an inkling just who that man might be, yet she didn't have the courage to go out and investigate, yet it hadn't been only well wishers who had wished to see him.

Thomas, by virtue of his actions over the years, had made many enemies, enemies who thought of his comatose state as an opportunity to take him out permanently, yet their efforts had been futile.

Thomas's men were on security round the clock, and not just around the room but all around the hospital. And until today, they had thwarted over a dozen or so attacks, themselves with many others having been taken care of by some unknown people.

And then, as she was lost in thought, she saw it happen. And she stilled, as her heart skipped a beat.

His lid moved.

"Thomas!" she screamed as she squeezed his hand, hoping against hope.

And it happened again.

His lid moved as she felt his fingers try and squeeze her hand, and relief filled her as she cried out in a hitched voice.

"DOCTOR! DOCTOR!" she screamed as she flipped the emergency button and rushed out of the room to look for the doctor.

Outside, she found two people waiting there, ashen and looking at her with complex expressions.

"What happened?" his brother questioned, and she managed to eke out.

"He moved! He moved!"

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Outside the hospital, on a building far awaited, a man sat on the roof with a pair of rather special binoculars examining a particular hospital's surroundings and watched as an inconspicuous man, wearing a simple hat, tried to move inside the hospital; he wore a heavy jacket.

Just as he was about to enter the building, he fell to the ground, screaming in pain, gripping his leg, making his eyes narrow.

"Interesting!" he whispered as the police surrounded the man.

"It seems you aren't quite the saint you present yourself as, Mr. Wayne," he began as his focus then shifted to another room at the top, a room where none other than Thomas Wayne was admitted.

Yet his eyes didn't seek out the young Wayne heir, no they were focused on another figure, one who sat beside the Wayne heir, as a smile erupted on his face.

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