A Daughter of Gotham.

Part 6. Under the Garden.

"I think that to love bravely is best, and accept as much as one can."

Marilyn Monroe.

****

Early October, 1984.

When his parents returned earlier than expected, Bruce asked Nadia if she wanted to drive somewhere else, to be away from them.

Nadia was slightly annoyed with their intrusion, but she wasn't ready to leave just yet. Wayne Manor was where Bruce was the most comfortable, and she didn't want to relinquish this intimate setting.

Instead, she asked to go back outside, to look again at his mother's spiraling gardens.

"But I already showed you everything out there," he answered.

"No, I don't think you did," Nadia dared to tease him. "You didn't tell me what was behind that little rock bluff at the edge."

"Yes, I did," Bruce insisted. "I told you that the other side goes to my neighbors property. There is nothing back there."

"Yeah, that's what you said. But you had a funny look on your face when you said it. Like you were trying to hide something from me.

"Kind of like you are looking at me right now," she added.

Bruce eyed her suspiciously for a moment, then smiled. "Ok, wise guy. You want to find out what's back there? Can you keep a secret?"

"Oh, you would be surprised how many I keep. Anything you tell me, I promise to take to my grave."

Bruce gave in, and agreed to take her back to the rock bluff on the edge of his sprawling backyard.

They quickly climbed up and over it, coming down on the side he said was over his neighbors property line. This little area was unkempt, too wooded to easily get to for maintenance, and too secluded for anyone to see them from the homes nearby.

Bruce stopped her halfway down the hill. "What I am about to show you is something I have never shown anyone, except for Harvey. My parents would have a fit if they found out about it."

"What is it, your secret lair," Nadia joked, not realizing how close she was to the truth.

Bruce reached his hand down into the wild grass. Pulling back, he pulled a patch of the grass with him.

It turned out to be fake grass, attached to a large strip of hard plastic. Underneath was a small rock cave entrance, about 3 foot wide, and 2 foot high.

"Oh, you gotta be kidding me,"
Nadia said.

"When you get inside, it turns and goes down at a 45 degree angle, for about hundred feet. Then it drops down for about 20 more feet, and drops into a chamber about the size of a city bus. There are some more cracks I want to look into. I think I may have to do some more blasting. I am trying to reach the Gotham River, and I am betting it will connect to my cave somewhere. I put in some hooks and built in a rope ladder, and made an electric generator at the bottom, to give me light."

Nadia shook her head. "I don't know what to say. That's...... impressive, I guess."

"Do you want to go inside?"

Nadia was quick to answer. "No, I do not. I absolutely do not."

"It's pretty safe inside. And I always call Harvey to let him know that I am going in, just for an extra precaution. You won't get that dirty, or anything. It's mostly rock."

"I don't care about getting dirty. I'm only afraid of suffocating, and being buried alive."

"Oh, you're afraid of caves."