What the Storm Brings --OUTDATED--

Part 6

~*~|Vulnerable Truth|~*~

"Bat... man?" Rudy's forehead creased as he tried to process the masked man's name –or was it some kind of title? Honestly, he really couldn't tell. The azuret shook his head... now wasn't the time to get hung up on names or titles. "Where am I, other than a modified cave?"

It was the older man –the masked man called him Alfred– who replied. "Surely you knew that, before you started to use the computer?" That earned another sharp look from Batman, which in turn was answered with a soft sigh and curt nod. "Yes, indeed, sir. The Batcomputer's sudden activity is what alerted me to something potentially being amiss."

"You have strange names for things," the teen stated bluntly, shifting his weight uneasily and looking off to one side when he realised he'd said it aloud. "I meant no offence, sorry."

"None taken." Batman's eyes narrowed in what was clearly a well-practiced glare, pinning Rudy to the spot –he was somewhat glad that he didn't shrink back from the screen, or even flinch. "I take it you're new to Gotham." It wasn't a question, but Rudy nodded anyway. "How did you bypass the security protocols, not only for the cave itself but also for the computer?"

Briefly, he contemplated spinning some sort of lie, idly recognising that the truth would seem fanciful... but that wouldn't get him anywhere, in the long run, and –if discovered– would make things worse, outright. Plus, he wasn't that good at maintaining a falsehood, especially without someone to help him keep the story straight. As such, it had to be the truth. "I didn't enter through the cave mouth, or any other true 'entrance'; one minute, I was tending the campfire... and the next, I was just over there."

He raised his empty hand to point at the exact platform he'd initially found himself on, waiting for any comments from either of the others. Nothing came, apart from expressions of confusion. Very well, at least they weren't trying to interrupt him.

"As for the computer..." Rudy trailed off, unsure how to continue. Should he simply say that he had absolutely no clue why computers seemed to just... work... for him? All he did was touch the machine, after all –not a single button had to be pressed. Then again, this 'bat computer' responded to vocal commands, so perhaps it wouldn't seem as strange to them. "It just... worked?"

"I suppose that may be one way of putting it." Alfred said quietly. "Is that a regular phenomenon?"

"Regular enough, I suppose..."

The edges of the computer screen went fuzzy for a moment. "That's enough beating around the bush. I assume you wanted something... tell me."

Again, the blue-haired teen remained silent while he weighed his options, not that he had very many of them. Trusting a masked person was usually considered to be naïve at best –foolish or even dangerous at worst– but at the same time there was something about Batman that he couldn't help but find worth the risk. "My friends, they... I don't believe that I was the only one to be suddenly relocated."

He watched as the sharp iciness in Batman's eyes warmed and softened slightly –it really was a human under that mask. "I take it that you want my help with that."

"I'm not asking for free help," Rudy replied, choosing his words carefully. "I noticed from the articles that you have some kind of 'vigilante reputation'... I can help you, in return for you helping me find the others and maybe learn more about what happened." The azuret could feel the masked man's gaze turn calculating once more, and felt the need to add, "I can hold my own in a fight, after all."

"If you carry a gun, then I can only assume that you think so, at least."

The word 'gun' was uttered with such thinly-veiled contempt that he nearly did flinch. "It's... not quite the same thing, but I suppose that doesn't matter." Now, he did re-holster the weapon, if only as a show of good faith; the tenseness in Alfred's body eased in response. "Please."