Bruce Wayne

Chapter 22: A Thin Line

Bruce knew he couldn't break the lock as too many cops were around, and they might hear the noise it would make. The high police presence also prevented the possibility of picking the lock. If he was going to get inside the maintenance room, Bruce realized he needed to bypass the door entirely.

Walking calmly around the side of the room, Bruce examined his surroundings as if he were heading someplace else and never intended to enter the locked room. A beam of concrete, supporting the next level of the parking garage, prevented the air conditioning ductwork from being installed up high, and the flat gray metal of the rectangular shaft ran along the floor instead. Bruce followed it until he found what he was looking for, a large vent.

Pulling out of his pocket a pair of thick leather work gloves, Bruce put them on and glanced around before taking hold of the edge of the vent cover. The cover was a square frame with a series of horizontal slats at evenly spaced intervals from top to bottom for controlling airflow. Safe from observation for the moment, Bruce pulled hard on the upper right corner of the frame until the securing bolt broke away enough for him to change his grip to the sides of the frame. Pulling carefully, Bruce leaned back and used his weight against the vent cover. It bent slightly in the middle before coming completely loose from the ductwork. Setting the cover aside, Bruce vanished into the vent and headed toward the maintenance room.

Because the air duct ran along the floor, the flimsy metal was supported by the concrete of the parking garage, allowing him to progress without concern of it collapsing under him. Spider webs and thick dust coated everything, and they quickly accumulated on Bruce as he crawled through them in a low crouch.

When Bruce reached the end of the air shaft, he sat down inside the vent and pushed against the cover with his work boot. It bent slightly. A sturdy kick would've sent the cover flying off, but it would've also produced a great deal of noise. He opted to remain as quiet as possible. If anyone discovered him here, his disguise wouldn't be enough to explain what he was doing in a locked maintenance room.  He gently but firmly pushed until it loosened enough for him to take a hold of it and slide it to one side.

Bruce didn't bother to clean off the dust and webs clinging to him as he exited the vent since he knew he'd have to go back the same way when leaving. Setting down his toolbox, Bruce quietly lifted the lid and removed a few tools he needed. Opening the largest of the three wall mounted panels in front of him, Bruce examined the interior electronics.

Because the GCPD was situated inside a very old building, most of the rooms had already been constructed before computerized electronics and networking had been invented. The earlier construction meant most of the building's rooms were already allocated for other things. It was for this reason the maintenance room had been built in the open area of the parking garage. It wasn't the best placement, but it was the most readily available.

Three different lines of communication were responsible for all information coming in and out of the police station. The first was the data lines housed in the upright and rectangular box he examined. Picking one of the interceptors and transmitters out of the false bottom of his toolbox, Bruce plugged it into the network hub, splicing into a few wires to make the final connections and provide access to the computer systems inside the station and every other computer in the network.

Closing the door on the first control box, Bruce opened the next. The second method of information coming and going was through the telephone lines. Bruce spliced in a transmitter to send a duplicate call to the computer Alfred was setting up at Wayne Manor. If any calls were either made from the station, or received from here, an identical transmission would be relayed to Bruce's computer, making certain he knew everything he needed to know about what went on around the station.