Family Line // B. Wayne

one

The train rocked back and forth in a false sense of lulling comfort. The rush hour passengers were silent, their eyes downcast and focused on their shoes. Some people took eye contact to mean a challenge and no one had the time or energy to get into a brawl on the monorail at eight in the morning.

She gripped her messenger bag a little tighter as the familiar feeling of being watched washed over her. Her fingers enclosed around the pepper spray in her left hand but she refused to raise her head to meet the eyes of whoever stared at her.

The monorail came to a screeching stop and she hurried off. Her sneakers squeaked against the platform steps as she descended onto the bustling streets of Gotham. A pair of heels was tucked into her bag for when she got into work, but the walk from her apartment to the closest monorail station required comfy shoes.

Wayne Enterprises loomed over the city, the sun glinting off of its silvery metallic facade. Men and women in suits bustled in and out of the revolving doors at the front and she fell in line with the rest of the crowd pushing to get in before the work day began.

"Good morning Ernie," she greeted the security guard behind the counter.

"Mornin' Lily," he replied. The dark haired woman stepped up closer and reached into her bag. She extracted a small paper bag and held it out for him.

"I had time to swing by that bakery on Fifth that you like. Grabbed the last danish for you."

"You're a godsend. An actual angel." Ernie clasped his hands together and sent a look up to the sky before he grabbed a copy of the morning newspaper off of his desk and passed it to her.

"Thanks, Ernie. Have a good day. Don't let any troublemakers in, alright?"

"Just you," he teased. Lily grinned and rejoined the steady stream of employees as they swiped their badges to gain access to the building. While most people ascended to higher levels in order to join meetings, create spreadsheets, and slack off at their jobs, Lily entered an elevator all on her own and pressed the down arrow.

Wayne Enterprises - Applied Sciences was etched into the walls of the hall she entered. She swiped her badge and the door buzzed before unlocking. Lily flipped on the lights to the main sector of the floor and made a beeline towards the radio propped up against the wall.

There were no windows in this underground sector. The only light they got was artificial and that did little to liven up the drab concrete walls, floors, and ceiling. Lily had added cheesy motivational posters and random pieces of art here and there, but the oppressive dreariness of the Applied Sciences sector got to her some days. Her boss acquiesced to her request for a radio and she played it quietly in the background as they worked. Today's tunes were some classic 80s.

She set about getting ready for the day. Lily laid the newspaper and another paper bag on the main desk tucked behind one of the columns. She started up a pot of coffee on their aging machine. It sputtered to life and coughed out a thin stream of shit brown liquid. She would doctor it up with powder creamer and sugar, but that was the best she could do.

At promptly 8:58 in the morning, the door opened once more just as Lily was setting a mug of steaming coffee next to the newspaper, a stack of files, and a book on white collar crime that she had seen in a passing bookstore and felt was a little too on the nose not to pick up.

"Good morning, sir," she greeted her boss.

"Good morning, Lily." Lucius Fox set his briefcase down next to his desk and turned to face his assistant. "No trouble coming in today?"

"None, sir. I even had time to grab breakfast today. Bagel sandwiches, of course. You have a meeting with compliance at three today to go over our recent expenditure reports and that's it. Another slow day it seems."