SHIELD [Book 1 of Alex & Allie Save The World]

Chapter 25 I Knew Him

III

Allison Gray ends up in her privately owned brownstone on the Southside of Gotham. Her copies are already waiting there with her two emergency bags in hand and a cat carrier with Pretzel and Hank snuggled inside.

Allie has always been a paranoid person she started obsessively saving cash in hidden places when she was twelve, she started packing Go Bags when she was thirteen, and the one time she let her guard down and had no safety net prepared she fell to the ground. Since then she has had this brownstone secretly, had bags packed in her room, and had cash hidden under her floorboards. She trusted Alex but no matter how much trust Allie may have for a person she has vowed to always have a backup plan. She has to rely on herself, she can only truly rely on herself.

Maybe that's why her metahuman powers manifested into vectors and duplicates, so she could have helping hands she could trust.

She has only herself now.

Allison Gray is alone again.

III

Alexandra Aldridge is in no better shape she is sobbing and cursing and damning the man who took everything from her.

Alex despised Slade and she told Allie he was bad news but Allie didn't listen, Allie loved him.

Allie loved him, she loved him so much. She was so enamored with him, Alex remembers how she gushed over him.

The hardest part for Alex is that he was Allie's first love, he's the person Allie will always have love for. He made the room in her heart for romantic love and even though he may be gone his mark is still on her heart and it will always be.

"But he killed me, he took me away from her," Alex murmurs, shrinking down into a ball behind her desk. "He killed me and she loved him. I was dead, dead."

III Monday Night III

Bruce Wayne has received no replies from Alex nor Allie all day, not even a patrol confirmation from Alex, and he is beginning to worry.

He finds GrayRidge Estate in a bad way and the owner even worse off.

Alexandra Aldridge sits alone in front of a burning fireplace, various items of furniture destroyed around her with some pieces in the flames, empty wine bottles, and a tear stained photo of Allison Gray with her first boyfriend clenched in her hand.

"Alex?" Bruce says softly as he approaches with caution. "What happened?"

"My best friend was in love with the man who shot me in cold blood on live TV in front of my family and all of Metropolis," Alex responds soberly, not bothering to beat around the bush. The depressed billionaire takes a swig of wine from the bottle and then tosses it into the fireplace unceremoniously causing the flames to flare up higher.

Bruce's calm facade cracks, revealing his true feelings of confused shock, sympathetic grief, and reluctant betrayal.

"And now she's gone," Alex slurs and carelessly tosses the picture aside allowing Bruce to see.

The photo is Allie smiling widely tucked under the arm of a half-grinning Slade Wilson.

"She loved him, Bruce. She loved the man who murdered me! And he killed me because she loved me more than him but she still loved him."

Another onslaught of tears starts up and Bruce sits heavily beside his partner, not knowing how to react but most assuredly feeling the need to cry and drink. He comforts her for hours but ends up falling asleep.

Alexandra Aldridge stares into the flames and finds herself lost in thought.

Alex wonders if Allie ever planned to tell her or if she would have hidden it forever. Then again does it matter? Allie had every reason to hide this and Alex can't exactly be angry about the omission, Alex neglected and continues to neglect informing Allie any details about her time in the metahuman trafficking ring.

Did Allie include a full disclosure of all that in the flashdrive left in Hank's collar? Alex wonders what happened between them after Alex died, if they stayed together or broke up.

All the questions send Alex spiraling into a full blown ransacking of Allie's room in search of that goddamn flash drive.

She finds nothing and gives up after only an hour, Allie surely took it with her.

The only way Alex will know the full story is if Allie recounts it to her and neither of them could bear that.

III Tuesday Morning III

Bruce Wayne spends the night comforting his partner but in the morning he starts the hunt for Allison Gray, this time solo. Luckily this time Allie isn't wandering the streets drugged out of her mind...hopefully.

It takes an unexpected amount of time to locate Allie's secret brownstone, the girls paranoia drove her to some pretty extensive lengths. She paid in cash and has the house listed under the name Katie Stevens. Bruce managed to locate her checking her monthly subscriptions for Dr. pepper and Iams Dry Food on Amazon and finding she changed her address. Allison Gray will always jeopardize her cover and her location for her Dr. Pepper and for her cats.

III

When Bruce knocks on the door Dike answers, eyes red and puffy but lips drawn into a tight line. She is very pointedly trying to look like she hasn't been crying; Dike is trying to be strong.

"If you're here to yell or lecture or accuse feel free to leave," Dike hisses defensively.

"I made you a promise. I promised I would let you explain so I'm here to hold you to your end of that promise," he explains clearly and Dike nods, stepping back to let him in.

Allison Gray and Eirene are bundled in blankets on the couch, eyes much puffier and much redder than Dike's. When Eirene lays eyes on Bruce she lights up with hope and hops to her feet, ready for a hug or some other sign of affection.

"Eirene, come on," Dike beckons and ushers the softer double upstairs. Allie doesn't turn to look at Bruce though he comes to sit by her on the couch.

"Here for an explanation?" Allie asks, voice scratchy.

"I made you a promise; I assume this is why."

"It is."