Book One - Part One: Dark Knight

Chapter Twenty One

In the Batcave the only light that is on is one illuminating a work bench that Elena is sat at, a soldering iron in one hand, a pair of tweezers in the other as she works on what appears to be a pair of night vision goggles, Catwoman's goggles, taken from the safe in Selina's apartment. She works on the inside of the device. Behind the work bench is an array of sketches and designs, various forms of the Batsuit, various weapons, differing Batcars, even jets and other vehicles. She's been busy since leaving her mother's apartment. A few days really. She attaches a small camera to the goggles and behind her on the batcomputer the feed comes to life, the computer is in the middle of a update too, the screens years old and now out of date, but she'll fix that too. Elena looks up and smiles, proud of her work.

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

In Tony's workshop sketches and diagrams splayed on the worktable. Tony finishes soldering work on two sculpted metal boots. Monitors flicker behind him, the robot arm "looks" over his shoulder.

"Still having trouble walking, Sir?" Jarvis asks.

"These aren't for walking" Tony comments.

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

"Hit the lights, Alfred!" Elena shouts, and the lights of the mansion drop out plunging her into darkness, she reaches up and pulls down the googles from her head down over her eyes. "Activate night vision" she commands and the goggles come to life. "Ready, Dick?!" she shouts.

"This is the weirdest game of hide and seek I've ever played" he shouts back from somewhere in the house, the intercoms lines all open for communication. "But yes, I am ready"

"Count down please, Dad" she comments and adjusts her hair slightly.

"5" Bruce states over the intercom, he's sat at the Batcomputer watching from the Batcave through the cameras around the manor. "4" she takes a breath and listens to the countdown, number by number until... "1" Elena takes off at a run, using the furniture to get around rather then the floor knowing where the creaking floor boards are from years of sneaking out at night. Bounding towards the stairs she leaps up onto the back of the couch before she jumps grabbing hold of the railing above her and swings herself up, using the googles to gauge her surroundings. Swinging up she balances on the railing and then she hears movement, turning her head she catches the culprit. She reaches up and presses a small button on the googles, they zoom in revealing Dick, crouched, hiding from her. She smirks and taps the side of the goggles again, pulling the zoom back before she is moving, walking along the railing in silence, her bare feet curving around the wood to keep her upright. She drops silently to the landing and shifts on the balls of her feet crouched down and heading for her 'brother'. She picks up her speed, eyes on the prize. Reaching out she goes to grab his shoulder, he s grabs her wrist and throws her aside, Elena rolls back to her feet and back flips backwards as he follows after her. Mid rise into the second flip she spins on one hand thrusting out her foot and kicking at his chest, sending him into the wall, she jumps up to her feet and lunges for him, Dick wraps his legs around her waist and turns them both. They both roll, pushing and pulling at one another. Dick pushes her onto her back and chuckles pinning her arms.

"Lights!" he shouts as Elena turns off the goggles pushing them up to her head. "Not bad, little Bat" he teases as she pushes him off of her.

"You've got your mother's agility" Bruce's voice states over the intercom. "And you're silent"

"I barely heard you" Dick agrees. "It was the sound of them zooming that gave you away" he points at her goggles.

"I'm still working on them" she scolds pulling them off her head, revealing that they are a crude design, mostly stripped of the former design leaving the basic framework underneath. She sighs.

"You're getting there though" Bruce assures her, she smiles a little and touches the googles.

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

Tony is finishing marking a 'test circle' with pieces of tape. He's now wearing the boots, wired to a chest 'bandolier'.

"Ready to record the big moment, Jarvis?" he asks.

"All sensors ready, Sir"

"We'll start off easy. Ten percent" Tony activates hand-controlled joysticks. He shoots up, flips over crashing, he lays there a moment before Jarvis pipes up:

"That flight yielded excellent data, Sir"

"Great. I, uhh, think I know what this needs"

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

Elena is back at her workbench, the googles propped up and open for her to work on, wires exposed. Dick pushes his chair across the room and settles at her side to watch her work.

"Are we going to talk about it?" Dick asks, she doesn't look up from the goggles. "Lena" he warns. "You and Stark..."

"Nothing happened" she snaps quickly. "Go away and let me work" she kicks his chair and it rolls across the floor, he rolls it back to her side.

"Did you want something to happen?" he asks her. She looks to him and then away again. "You both suffered together, you were the only human contact you both had for 3 months, of course you bonded, Lena" he adds her. "What I saw today....I think" he starts. "He likes you" he assures her.

"I don't have time for any type of relationship" she comments grumbling away. "Can you just go away...." she draws off shooting him a look.

"See you've got the Bat glare down" he teases as he stands, she rolls her eyes and goes back to the goggles. Dick walks away leaving her alone in the cave. Maybe that is the problem here. Maybe she's unsure about Tony because she does actually feel something for him. She's been with men, and with women in the past but they've all been there to scratch that itch, but Tony, she feels....something that could be real around him. And she's not sure how she feels about that.