Ode to Nightwing

Chapter 12: Bruce's Test

        "Miss Callie, Master Bruce would like to see you in his office." Alfred murmurs to me and I glance up from the couch, which Dick and I were sitting on... Well, he was sleeping with his head in my lap. "Downstairs." Alfred then claims with a smile and I blush. I didn't think he knew that I knew Bruce Wayne was Batman. At least someone in this manor didn't underestimate me. "I suppose you know the way, then." Alfred says, the smile hidden in his voice as he walks off, all proper-like. 

        I nod to myself as I gently slid out from under Dick, creeping over to the secret entrance to the lair. It wasn't much of a secret since I knew about it, but it was worth a shot. I walked down the steps, descending into the dark and cold lair of the bat, careful not to slip on the water residue from the waterfall... "How is that even in here?" I whisper to myself before finally getting to the main level of the Batcave. I don't spot Bruce there, so I glance around, looking over at Batcomputer, the training area, the weaponry, and even the holding cells, but he wasn't down here. I frown and just walk back over to the Batcomputer, sitting down in the chair before hacking into Dick's laptop upstairs, working on the newest case he gave me to look over from down here. This case was actually from Bludhaven instead of Gotham, since Dick was trying to get me away from the idea of actually working as a detective here, along the world's two greatest detectives. He thought it would make me want to work with him more as a hero. Instead of his sidekick. 

        As I type away on the Batcomputer and figure out the case, I hear a faint rustle as something falls from a vantage point down to the ground behind me, trying to be silent. I don't freeze my fingers on the keyboard, trying to make sure that it didn't seem like I noticed, but my whole body tenses up, my feet ready to push and spin the chair so I could attack. 

        But then I think. Alfred said that Bruce wanted to see me down here, and yet he wasn't- so that means, "I know you're there." I murmur, glancing up at the huge screen of the Batcomputer. I could hear your cape rustling. 

        There was silence, so I turned around. Sure enough, Batman was there, cowl, scowl, and an attitude just as foul. "I don't recognize this case." Bruce murmurs, regarding me and the case I was finishing up. 

        I turn slowly in the chair as he comes around to stand beside me. "It's from Bludhaven's Police Department files. A homicide, believed to be a suicide at first."

        "What makes it a homicide?" He questions me and I raise an eyebrow.

        'Was he testing me or something?' I just click to some pictures of the crime scene. "Well, the original report claimed that this man, Elroy Gib Prescott, jumped off that building and feel twenty stories to his death because of his wife's affair with his employee. His wife, Hailey Prescott, had recently told Mr. Prescott that she was leaving him, thus the assumption that he committed suicide due to the pain and grief." I glance up at Bruce, who was very quiet. "However, I was looking into the bank records of Mr. Prescott and noticed how he and his wife did not share a bank account, and-" I pull up the records, "yet, it was wiped clean twenty-four hours after the murder. Another clue to show this is not suicide, is the reasoning that he was shot, through the heart. But that isn't it. He wasn't shot at the tower he fell from. The bullet wound," I pull up a picture off the corpse and zoom in on the small stitched circle over the corpse's heart, "was from a day or two before. Mr. Prescott did not die from the fall. The bullet, which was found at the crime scene, I had analyzed and found it to match a gun that a William, Willie for short, Thacker owned. Evidently, Mr. Thacker is also the man that Mrs. Prescott was having an affair with. So, Mrs. Prescott hooked up with Mr. Thacker and the two wanted the company and the money all two themselves. Therefore, Mrs. Prescott makes the affair official to make the ruse that Mr. Prescott would kill himself from grief, and then Mrs. Prescott has her boy toy kill him and stitch up the wound, however, with the bullet inside. Mr. Thacker then throws him off the tower and boom, suicide. I'm almost done with the report so I can give it to Dick to send to the B.P.D to apprehend the happy couple, if you would like to look it over." Bruce nods and I pull up the digital file, which he reads very thoughtfully for a few minutes. 

        "How did you come by all of this?" Bruce suddenly asks and I shrug. 

        "I catch onto things quickly. I don't like being kept in the dark when I know I can help, Bruce." I murmur.

        Bruce removes his cowl and sighs. "You want to help protect Gotham."

        "Yes, but Dick thinks it's a really bad idea. He doesn't want to see me get hurt."

        "It is a bad idea. But I could use someone like you. I've seen how you fight, and I've now seen your detective skills. The last thing to test is your capability with aim and accuracy."

        "Give me a pipe and I'm good." I smile at the joke me and Dick had, but realize Bruce didn't get it. "Never mind. Actually, Dick has been teaching me Escrima, and I've used his Escrima sticks, so those would be a really good weapon for me."

        "How are you with the other gadgets?"

        "Oh, those goodies? I actually tinkered with some I found, and I think I improved them to my abilities." 

        "Tinkered with?" Bruce questions and I laugh nervously.

        "Well, that's a little harder to explain. I just, made some new weapons out of different ones, that's all."

        "We need to get one thing settled then."

        "What? The costume? I had ideas-"

        Bruce holds up a gloved hand. "No. Alfred will take care of that. I'm talking about the alias you will take up."

        "Okay, so... is it all right if we don't go the whole Batgirl way? I mean, it seems like a cool job, but... not for me." 

        "Very well. What will it be then?"

        "I was thinking... Nightglider."