Children Of The Bat

Chapter 11: Danger in a Restaurant

Mary's P.O.V
17:00 EST, Gotham City

I walked into the Wayne Foundation.

"Oh, excuse me miss," I heard someone say. "You can't go in there."

"I'm pretty sure I can, ma'am," I wasn't trying to sound snobby, but I'm sure I did.

"I'm sorry, but you can't," she responded not seeming offended. "Mr. Fox doesn't accept walk in's."

I bit my lip attempting not to yell at her, she didn't do anything...It was Alfred! I opened my mouth to explain who I was when someone said, "Well, look who it is!"

I turned and saw Lucius Fox walking up, a big smile on his face. I couldn't help it, I haven't seen the man in a long time, I ran up to him and hugged him.

"Hi, Mr. Fox!"

"Hey now," he said. "You're a big girl now, go ahead and call me Lucius."

"I'll stick to Mr. Fox, if you don't mind."

"Your choice, suit yourself," he said, he started walking to the elevator and gestured for me to follow, which I did without hesitation. We stepped inside and he hit the button for the top floor.

As the elevator rose so did my stomach. The main reason was, I was nervous about being here, it's been so long.

What did he do to Pops' office? Is it the same? Did he change it all?

He looked at me and gave me a big smile, which I returned.

I hate elevators...

The doors opened and I sighed in relief. I stepped into the office and looked around. I smiled at the room. Nothing had changed, it was exactally the way it was the last time I saw it.

"I'm guessing you're not a fan of redecorating?" I joked.

He chuckled sitting down, "Well, I liked the place so much, I didn't think it needed any touch-ups."

"I guess," I said walking to the windows that started at the floor and stretched to the ceiling. "Pops was a good decorator."

"Any reason you're here, Mary?"

"Nope, just needed to get outta the house."

"Does Alfred know you're here?" He asked looking at a paper on his desk.

I scoffed, "Like it matters."

He looked up from the paper, "What do you mean?"

I ignored his question and walked to a shelf with pictures on it. "You didn't even get rid of the pictures?"

I pulled down a picture of Pops, Lucius, Alfred and I on the patio of the manor. Five year old me was on Pops' shoulders we were both smiling and I was hugging his head, Alfred was looking at us with worry on his face, and Lucius had his arm around the man's shoulders laughing at the childishness of me and my grandfather.

"No, I didn't," he said. "Now, what's this about it not mattering whether Alfred knows you're here or not?"

"Well," I said not hesitating. "It's clear he doesn't care about me."

"Now what does th-"

He was cut off by the elevator. A woman walked in.

Lucius sighed, "Mary, I'm afraid you have to leave now."

"Okay," I said. "Not the first time I've been kicked out of the room...Can I take this?" I asked, holding up the picture.

"Sure, I got a spare," he sighed.