Shadcwforged - Tumblr Posts
"Hi, Leslie. It's Bruce." The voicemail continued onward. "Been a while since we had a session. Kind of wanted to discuss things, and I've been thinking alot about Jason recently. I can pencil in anytime tomorrow morning or the next, on your schedule. If you can call me back. Thanks." - @shadcwforged
To say the voicemail was unexpected was an understatement.
Recalling Bruce's earlier hesitance to explore anything remotely to do with Jason, this was certainly promising. The fact that he had reached out spoke volumes. Leslie wondered what the catalyst for it had been.
Leslie dialled in his number, keen to return the call quickly and monopolise on the sudden willingness to engage with her. She skimmed through her appointment book as the call began to ring through... It was maybe too late notice for a morning appointment now, but she was sure she could arrange something to see him sooner rather than later.
shadcwforged:
The lights of Gotham City was bright, and the golden light of the spotlight with the stylized bat symbol emblazoned in the sky. Ordinarily, he wouldn’t be cooped up on the seventy five floor of Wayne Tower, in his office, in front of the ceiling to floor windows, and would be out there, geared up and meeting a coffee-fueled Captain James Gordon on the rooftop of the GCPD building, for a late night sit down. Nightwing or Batgirl, or Robin would be out there to find out what the cops needed from him, as he was under a microscope by the board of directors, as profits and what was in Wayne Enterprises’s books didn’t quite match.
Someone was skimming money from Wayne Tech, and it wasn’t pocket change either.
Bruce felt his phone vibrate, and he saw Leslie’s name on the screen, as he looked at it, and he brought the phone up to his ear, after acccepting his call. It had been years since Jason’s funeral, and he had a new young man to don the Robin colors and carry on the name as Batman’s junior partner, but it was still a hollow mark inside of him. Leslie had been there for him, which had brought him out of Wayne Manor, spending the majority of his time in front of a monitor in the Batcave, running criminal cases through the Batcomputer, and the man known as Bruce Wayne being more of a reclusive, rockstar-ish figure who never left his own palacial house, not the respectable, figurehead of Wayne Enterprises who funded all of the city’s social programs with his own money.
Leslie was one of the few people he trusted, who knew his identity as Gotham’s shadowy protector, besides Alfred, Vicki Vale, Talia and the people from the Bat-Family and the Justice League that he directly worked with. It was Alfred’s idea, as Leslie needed to know everything about him and peer deep into his darkened soul, full of broken pearl necklaces and shell casings, and roses scattered across the ground in Crime Alley.
“Hi, Leslie. Thanks for returning my call.” He went to go shut the door to his office, before walking back to the window, as rivulets of rain dropped down the glass. “Hope I didn’t catch you at a bad time.”
"No, no not at all." Leslie sat back in her office chair, rolling her pen between her fingertips. "I was actually thinking I might have caught you at a bad time, given how late it is..."
She left the rest of her words hanging unspoken in the air, her surprise that he wasn't out on patrol. It was safe to presume he wasn’t, as Bruce generally wouldn’t take calls while preoccupied. Not from Leslie at least.
"I'd just finished for the day and picked up your voicemail... how are things? Its been a while since we last caught up. I think we are overdue to have dinner actually, I was going to call next week myself if I hadn’t heard from you."
"I could do that." Leslie pondered. "But would you be coming to me, or out into the night? I presume the others are all out there, Oracle keeping an eye on them should they need you?" She knew him well enough to know he must have some contingency plan.
"If your position in the company is at stake, me being concerned for your mental health might not exactly strengthen public opinion, Bruce. Think about it for a moment. If theres an emergency with the company, you need to be there and show face." He really did seem agitated, and Leslie was concerned, but there was more to it than that. Bruce usually managed the line between Bruce and Bat better than this.
"Talk to me more about this panic attack. Where were you when it happened? What were you doing?" His attempt to deflect and minimise the whole reason for their call wasn't lost on her and if he was going to try and manipulate her into giving him an excuse to leave work, then she wanted more information.
shadcwforged:
The lights of Gotham City was bright, and the golden light of the spotlight with the stylized bat symbol emblazoned in the sky. Ordinarily, he wouldn’t be cooped up on the seventy five floor of Wayne Tower, in his office, in front of the ceiling to floor windows, and would be out there, geared up and meeting a coffee-fueled Captain James Gordon on the rooftop of the GCPD building, for a late night sit down. Nightwing or Batgirl, or Robin would be out there to find out what the cops needed from him, as he was under a microscope by the board of directors, as profits and what was in Wayne Enterprises’s books didn’t quite match.
Someone was skimming money from Wayne Tech, and it wasn’t pocket change either.
Bruce felt his phone vibrate, and he saw Leslie’s name on the screen, as he looked at it, and he brought the phone up to his ear, after acccepting his call. It had been years since Jason’s funeral, and he had a new young man to don the Robin colors and carry on the name as Batman’s junior partner, but it was still a hollow mark inside of him. Leslie had been there for him, which had brought him out of Wayne Manor, spending the majority of his time in front of a monitor in the Batcave, running criminal cases through the Batcomputer, and the man known as Bruce Wayne being more of a reclusive, rockstar-ish figure who never left his own palacial house, not the respectable, figurehead of Wayne Enterprises who funded all of the city’s social programs with his own money.
Leslie was one of the few people he trusted, who knew his identity as Gotham’s shadowy protector, besides Alfred, Vicki Vale, Talia and the people from the Bat-Family and the Justice League that he directly worked with. It was Alfred’s idea, as Leslie needed to know everything about him and peer deep into his darkened soul, full of broken pearl necklaces and shell casings, and roses scattered across the ground in Crime Alley.
“Hi, Leslie. Thanks for returning my call.” He went to go shut the door to his office, before walking back to the window, as rivulets of rain dropped down the glass. “Hope I didn’t catch you at a bad time.”
“No, no not at all.” Leslie sat back in her office chair, rolling her pen between her fingertips. “I was actually thinking I might have caught you at a bad time, given how late it is…”
She left the rest of her words hanging unspoken in the air, her surprise that he wasn’t out on patrol. It was safe to presume he wasn’t, as Bruce generally wouldn’t take calls while preoccupied. Not from Leslie at least.
“I’d just finished for the day and picked up your voicemail… how are things? Its been a while since we last caught up. I think we are overdue to have dinner actually, I was going to call next week myself if I hadn’t heard from you.”