Tell me about it - Chap6

Bruce was shifted to the special ward. He had a cast covering his forehead, with a blotch of blood marking the wounded area. Alfred went in, followed by Diana. Bruce had his eyes closed.

"How are you doing now, Master Bruce?" Alfred enquired, trying not to sound emotional. Bruce opened his eyes with a start, looking up towards the ceiling. That worried Alfred. He went around the bed and placed his hand on his shoulder, "Master Bruce!" He slowly drifted his eyes in the direction of the sound. "Alfred!" he said in a low voice, "what happened?" he looked around again, "What am I doing here?" He slowly brought his arm around Alfred's and gave it a light scratch. Alfred realised it was his master's indication to play along. So, he had noticed Wonder Woman! "Well, sir, you were hit by the door of your car as a result of the blast. Superman brought you here, and Wonder Woman was here all this time." Alfred raised his eyebrows during the last remark, suggesting Bruce to take appropriate action, which would be, to thank her.


Bruce tried to sit up right, but his head hurt. "Ouch!" he winced, holding his hand to his forehead, "are you sure it was just the door of the car?" Diana couldn't help but smile at the way Bruce was trying to exaggerate. "It was the door of the car, Mr. Wayne," she stressed. "We were really worried as we couldn't stop the bleeding. But thank Hera, you're fine!" Bruce frowned, "Thank who?" he said, as if he never heard about Hera. Diana's smile vanished. "You men never feel thankful anyone, do you?" she frowned. "Well, I am sorry Miss. Amazon, but I've never met this Hera you're talking about. Why should I be thankful to her? I'd rather be thankful to Superman, though I hate to say it, and to you." He looked satisfied by the statement he made, as it was logically correct. But Diana wasn't happy at all. She thought she'd instil some sense into him, but decided against it, as it was a hospital. She turned to Alfred and said, "I think I should leave now, Alfred. Superman and others might need me on the scene. Take care of your master." She left, slamming the door shut. She didn't intend to disturb the other patients, but Bruce had pushed her over the edge. She did not as much as turn around to apologise to the astonished staff.


"You shouldn't have behaved like that, sir." Alfred said, turning to his Master, "you know that she has a firm faith in Hera." "She has the faith because she is one of them, Alfred. Here, in man's world, that doesn't work. She has to learn to accept the truth and respect others' feelings too." He said, his eyes fixed on the door.


Diana took the flight. She was physically far away from Gotham general, but her mind was still stuck there. She reconsidered his statement, as a whole and found herself grunting her teeth. She let it pass. By that time, she was above the crime scene. She could see Superman and Green Lantern observing some foot prints. Jonn was analysing the burnt bouquet. Hawk Girl, who was standing beside Jonn, looked jobless and staring into the sky. She spotted Diana and took the flight to join her. "Anything?" Diana asked. "Well they are collecting samples of anything and everything. I think it is a sheer waste of time. I suggested that we should talk to Mr. Wayne and know if he has got any enemies, and then round them up one by one." Diana nodded in agreement. Hawk Girl was pleased that she had at least one vote. They landed at the site.


Superman, who was till then discussing with GL, became aware of Diana's presence and spoke abruptly, "How is Bruce? Why did you leave them alone?" Diana got temper struck, "He is fine!" she said, unaware of the unusual acerbity in her voice, which struck them all. Superman was taken aback, but recovered and said, "Diana, the man faced certain death. I don't understand your apathy towards him." Diana realised that she must've sounded bitterer than she wanted to, prompting Superman to draw such a conclusion. "I am sorry. He insulted Hera, and I was enraged," she said. Just then, Flash zoomed in, "What? He insulted Hera?" "He said that he need not be thankful to Hera for saving him." The others were dumbfounded. "This is what angered her?" they thought. Diana saw the look on the faces or her team mates, and reconsidered her statement. On the whole, it seemed valid once again. But as she dissected it, she began to see the point. She was trying to force her beliefs on him. She couldn't expect someone who didn't know Hera to worship her and be thankful to her for everything, as she is. No wonder he was wrong in being indifferent to Hera, but he could not be blamed for it. She felt a little humiliated. "I think I owe him an apology," she said abruptly, killing the awkward silence which prevailed till then.


"It was a serious attempt on his life." Jonn, who was checking the interior of the car remarked. The others went up to him to see what he'd got. "The bomb was detonated manually. But I don't understand why there is a timer attached." Green Lantern interrupted, "Perhaps someone triggered a timer manually, like with a remote control. That means, someone was watching his moves." "I hardly think so," Hawk girl interjected, "If someone was operating it manually, he would have done better than this." "Well he might've thought that he'd remain in the car," GL pointed out, "so he activated the timer as soon as Bruce stepped into the car. But luckily, Bruce got off immediately, and the Butler followed too." The theory seemed to make perfect sense, until Jonn drew their attention to the timer, "According to this, the bomb went off 1 minute before the set time" he remarked.  "That means someone manually detonated the bomb before its set time. Perhaps the culprit was on the scene, and when he saw that Bruce and Alfred got off the car, he wasted no time in detonating it." Diana added. "Then why didn't he detonate the bomb immediately? Why did he wait till they were almost half way down?" Flash said. There was no answer to that question. They fell silent again. "Did you call for Batman?" Diana asked. The others looked towards Superman. "Well, I did. But he was unreachable," he said.


Suddenly there was an incoming communication to Superman. "Yes! Oh, ok. Yes, I understand. All right, we'll leave right away." That was all the others could get from the communication. Superman turned towards the others, "He said he'd take over from here. He asked us to leave." The others looked at each other. "That's insane," Hawk Girl protested, "why should we leave? Why can't he just join us?" Superman let out a sigh, "He says our stay here might put the criminal or guard and he won't make his next move." "This is the single dumbest reason I've ever heard." Hawk girl muttered through her teeth. "But isn't that good?" Diana asked, "If the criminal doesn't make a move, he will not try to hurt Bruce again. So Bruce will be safe!" She looked at the others for acknowledgement, but didn't get any. "All right, let's go!" Green Lantern sighed.  Diana looked confused again. But the others decided not to try to explain.  



25th December – early hours


Bruce was discharged as promised. But despite Dr. Leslie's advice to "stay in bed", he managed to sneak out that night to carry out his detection. Despite the Christmas eve, he was able to meet and discuss the case with Commissioner Gordon, and called in Nightwing to take over his patrol duty for him. He was more than happy to oblige. He reached the Wayne Manor at 3:00 AM, with an aching head. Alfred changed the dressing and after having a hot chicken soup for a belated supper, he went to bed.


A tap on his shoulder woke him up, at 8:00 AM. It was Alfred. Bruce winced and looked at the watch. He was satisfied to see that he had got five hours  of sleep he got for the day. "There is a lady downstairs to see you, sir. She says you know her. Her name is Lisa." Alfred said, folding his sheets.


Bruce jumped and sat up in the bed...



<to be continued>