Nightwing: Legacy

Chapter 4.1

Gotham nights. Dark. Stormy. The stench of the city flowing through the thin night air. One of the sky scraper rooftops was occupied by a single man. A familiar voice echoed in the night, "Joker and Mad Hatter?"

Thomas wasn't in sight, only the view of Gotham as the sun slowly began to rise over the east horizon.

"How did this happen? They've been locked tight in Arkham for years now!" His voice was raised.

"Thomas," Barbara Gordon spoke on the other side, "there's been nothing since the breakout last night. Go home, get some rest, and go to work."

"Oracle, can you--"

"No. I'm going to bed. I've got three hours before I need to wake up and go to work. Look, I love you Thomas, but I need rest."

***

Thomas went through his normal routine the next morning. Shower, coffee and whiskey, steroid shot, get dressed, go to work.

Thomas stood in a board room in a skyscraper. The wall behind him and to his right were glass, looking out at the Gotham Skyline. The wall to his left and in front of him were solid, barring the place off.

The ground was black tile, and the table was similar. It was full of old men in fancy suits. To the right of Thomas, sat an older man with dark skin and gray hair, holding his hands together.

Thomas stood at the head of the table, wearing a black suit with a white dress shirt. "--What do you mean stock went down 10%? How did this happen?"

One of the men spoke up. He was pudgy, with a thin blonde comb-over, "there's an issue with the drivers running the servers that filter through the requests from the products."

Thomas pinched the bridge of his nose, "Bogdan, come on. Jeez, okay, get your team to filter through them by hand. Mike, you're on damage control. Get some IT guys on fixing the drivers. Richard, get your team in contact with the customers, you have your normal resources. Lucius..."

Thomas looked to the man to his right, "if they need help, halt some of the lower priority R&D projects to get your guys on those assignments."

Lucius nodded, but Bogdan spoke up, "sir?"

Thomas looked at him, his eyebrows drawn in. "Yes?"

"Are we sure this is worth it? The money lost on everything we have to halt, versus--"

"This is an issue with one of our top products. 10% of stock price is too much to just let go. Get on it, or I can't afford to give you all Christmas Bonuses. I'll be available during working hours if you need something. Get it fixed, report back to me."

Everybody got up as Thomas turned back to the window. He loosened his tie as he focused on the skyline. Footsteps approached him, and he turned to see Lucius Fox walking up to him, holding his black file in hand.

Thomas turned back to the window. "I don't know if I can keep doing this, Lucius. They don't respect me. A majority of that room thought I was making the wrong decision. I mean, I'm not even legally an adult yet. I'm still seventeen."

"They're still following your directions, no?" Lucius stood next to him, his deep voice bouncing off the window as he followed Thomas' gaze.

"What would you have done?" Thomas asked.

"The exact same thing. And don't worry about Bogdan, he doesn't know what he's talking about. Guy like him needs close management."

"I'll keep it in mind." Thomas looked back out at the window. The sun was overhead. Lunch rush traffic was in full swing.