Profession

Waiting

The rest of the night passed quietly. No muss, no fuss, not a peep from the tunnel. Bemused, I finished my shift and clocked out. I set off for home and checked my communicator. There was a message from Ari, saying that the bugs had caught people filing into the hidden room with the chairs, and that furthermore, a bathroom had been discovered in the second room with the cot. There were no messages from any of the batpeople, so I called Grandpa Bruce. It went to voicemail and I just asked him to call me as soon as he got the message. I sat and thought as Bob headed to the city. I changed course and went to Grandpa Damian's.

Alfred let me in, imperturbable as always. "You are just in time for breakfast, Miss Lys," he said, escorting me to the breakfast nook where my grandparents were tucking into a hearty meal. He held my seat as I sat down and gave me coffee and orange juice before turning to the stove.

"What's wrong, Lys?" Grandma asked.

"Construction is going on at the asylum and we, the staff, have been asked to look around and see if we could find odd nooks or forgotten spaces. There are a lot of blueprints dating over hundreds of years, and we've found some hiding places that prisoners could possibly use during a breakout. But a couple of days ago, I found a tunnel that leads to the exterior, where the entrance is so well hidden that Grandpa Bruce couldn't find it." I shook my head. "I should have just told my boss, let them deal with it, but I called Batman instead." My grandparents nodded.

"Batman's always found access," Grandpa said. "Perfectly reasonable to call Father."

"Well, I borrowed some mobile cameras from a friend because I didn't have time to let Grandpa in the night before this last one, and they found two hidden rooms. One, a room with chairs, one a room for habitation that has a bathroom. There's not enough dust in the tunnel or in the rooms, from what I know of the recordings. They must be in use, but I haven't seen anybody. I let in Grandpa around two this morning, he had Nick and Pete with him. They couldn't have gotten through the entrance into the asylum because their body armor is too bulky. I can manage it myself, but you'd still have to be on the thin side because it's obscured by HVAC vents on the room side and the opening itself is a small rectangle. I got a note from my friend who said that there were people going into the room with the chairs. There wasn't a time stamp on the recording so I don't know if it was pre- or post-Batfamily incursions. And I can't reach Grandpa on his communicator."

My grandparents thought this over as Alfred served me and I thanked him. He sat down with his own breakfast. "I'll drop by Father's home before I go to work," Grandpa said. He asked me questions about the tunnel and the equipment that I'd seen Nick and Pete with, and sighed. "I know that instruments and communications back up to the bat computer as a matter of routine. I'll go out there to see what's what. The boys had instruments designed to see through walls to find any other rooms or equipment and to test air quality."

"I'll drop by Bruce's instead," Grandma volunteered. She and Grandpa exchanged glances, then he put his hand on hers.

"I'll update Xander," he said, and Grandma dropped her eyes. I felt terrible. There'd been a falling out between Xander and his parents when he fell down the rabbit hole that is Batman, really committing to it, choosing it over a normal life, and encouraging his sons from this lifetime into taking up life as vigilantes too. I should have just told Cathleen about the damned tunnel and let security and the cops take care of if. The family grapevine had it that Xander only really speaks to his parents on the rare occasions he encounters them, usually at a family or work thing he can't avoid. "Don't worry, Buttercup, we'll get this sorted out. Where did you say you got those bugs?"

"I didn't," I said, smiling faintly. Grandpa smiled and let it drop. Then Grandma asked me questions about the asylum, which somehow led to Deri's wedding.