White Knight-Batman SI (Patreon)

Chapter 13

THOMAS WAYNE

They reached the Wayne manor late into the night, only after the doctors had given Helena all the required treatment. The little blonde was not quite fond of hospitals, much like himself so he could sympathize with her and had taken her to Wayne Manor.

The attack on Helena and Selina had caught him off guard. To be more exact, it wasn’t the attack that had caught him off guard. No it was the person who had attacked her. Yet he was thankful that he had taken all those precautions, and though he could tell that Selina wished to confront him about them, yet she was too preoccupied with Helena to do that at the moment.

Though one person wasn’t too tired for that. And as he descended down the stairs and watched Bruce sitting down in the dining Hall waiting for him. He was tired, his body ached from the exhaustion, yet he knew that they could not push this off anymore.

Their eyes met as he entered the dining room and sat down on the chair opposite Bruce, who was looking at him with narrowed eyes. Their was complete silence in the room, which was only broken when Bruce began.

“So, you know,” he began and he smirked and nodded, knowing that there was no use in pretending any more.

“I do,” he replied and saw Bruce lean forward.

“How?” he questioned, and Thomas shrugged.

“I could give you a dozen reasons. The company financials at first, your orders for your suit were easy to spot,” and they were, and he had to plug those gaping holes with his personal funds to smoothen it all out.

“Then there is the timing of Batman’s appearance, your lack of a social life, and on and on. It was quite obvious, honestly,” he said as he pointed out all the mistakes.

“No one else has managed to figure it out,” he challenged and he leaned forward as he warned.

“They will if you keep going like this. Just give them time,” he told him and saw Bruce’s lips thin, for he also knew that he was right,

“Want to hear my thoughts about that?” he offered, and Bruce nodded.

“Make Bruce Wayne’s life very public, go out, have fun. Make a splash on the news. Be just as loud as Batman isn’t,” he advised as he took a sip of water and saw that Bruce was conflicted at that before he replied.

“I have been offered similar advice,” he said as he glanced towards Arthur, who seemed a little smug having someone else endorsing his own advice.

“Then why haven’t you followed it? Afterall we are doing something rather similar with Earle right,” he said as his own mind raced. And then suddenly it all clicked together as a smile appeared on his face, and he saw Bruce neasly groan as he saw his expression.

“It’s because of Rachel!” he nearly shouted, and the way Bruce stiffened he knew that he was right. And saw that Alfred had been oblivious to this as well.

“Ahh, that makes sense. But have you ever thought that perhaps you could trust her with this secret,” he offered, and Bruce shook his head.

“No, I will not involve her in this,” he said sharply, and he raised his hand.

“I am not asking you to announce it to the world but just something between you two, and as much as you may hate it, she is already involved with us. The whole of Gotham knows about her relationship with me. Some of them even think we are dating each other,” he replied, just as Bruce’s eyes narrowed.

“We are not, obviously!” he quickly clarified as he saw Bruce’s expression falter.

“It doesn’t feel right, but I will think about it.” He said, and it felt as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulders as he glanced towards him.

“And you are fine with all this? With me being him?” he questioned, and though it should have been obvious, he still replied with a shrug.

“It’s your life. I won’t object to how you choose to live it. I can tell that we both want what’s best for this city and act towards it in the way we see fit,” he replied, and then Bruce cut in a tone much colder than before.

“By buying the police and judges!” he said, referring to his actions. And Thomas raised a brow as he simply retorted.

“As I said, we do things in our own ways,” he replied as Bruce stood up and began to walk towards him.

“And those men that were guarding that house, the same men who keep an eye on Rachel as well,” and it surprised him that he had been able to spot them.

Well, they had come very close to intervening when Falcone’s men had surrounded her, though before they could do so, Batman had shown up, saving him from another explanation.

“They are there for protection, for assurance that my actions would not land them in any danger,” he replied.

“And what if you decide that protection is not enough, that you need to be more active,” came the question.

And he felt the air crack with tension at that. He knew what he wanted to hear, yet he couldn’t say that for that would be a blatant lie.

“Then that is what they will do,” he said as he stood up and stood face to face with Bruce, looking him in the eye.

“Let me make one thing clear, Bruce. I don’t like violence. I find it to be primitive. Yet I can understand its necessity, especially in a city as rotten as Gotham where a life is cheaper than a damn meal. Those who have pulled this city into this mess aren’t afraid of using violence to maintain the status quo, and though I avoid lowering myself to their level, I am very sure about one thing,” he said as he saw Brice’s eyes narrow.

“When it comes to people I care about. Nothing off the table. And I mean nothing!”

And with that, he walked out of the room. Maybe Bruce won't agree with him over this, yet he would have to live with it.

“Thomas!” Bruce called out just as he was about to walk out of the room, making him stop.

“The men that attacked the girl. They are dangerous, very dangerous, and were from an ancient order called Ra…”

“I know who they were, or more precisely, about whom they represent.” he cut in and saw Bruce’s eyes widen as his head snapped towards him.

“How?”

“Well, let me just say that this isn’t the first time Ra’s al Ghul has appeared in Gotham,” he replied, and Bruce was surprised by his answer.

“We can talk more about this in the morning. I am too tired for this,” and with that, he walked out of the room, as he quickly climbed the stairs, reached the upper floor, and moved to his room.

Ra’s al Ghul was after him, and he could reason out why rather easily. It was the same reason they had gone after their father, for he was going against their so-called order and was trying to reform this hell hole of a city.

He had been content on leaving them to Bruce, yet now they had made it personal. So they were going to get the personal treatment. Had they attacked him, he would have been fine, but they had gone after a child. A literal child, and though he didn’t like doing this kind of stuff, he was not going to let this stand.

But he couldn’t be careless. He knew that he had to plan, for taking on Ra was not going to be easy. Yet he could do that with a fresh mind in the morning.

And as he opened the doors to his room, he stopped. Even before he had turned on the lights, he could tell that he was not alone in the room. He slowly reached for the switchboard and flipped on the lights, and his heart calmed down as he saw just who it was inside his room.

“Selina!” he spoke out as he closed the door behind him and frowned as he questioned.

“What are you doing here?” he questioned as he unclasped his watch and began to empty out his pockets, his face turned down at the dresser.

“If you are here to talk about those me….” And then, before he could continue, he felt her hand on his shoulder as she forced him to face her, and he finally noticed that the only thing between them was only the robe around her as she reached for his face.

“No, I am here to do what I should have done years ago,” she replied as she looked him in the eyes; his own hands wrapped themselves around her, pulling her into him as their lips met.

And then her hands reached for his shirt, pushing it off him, as the robe around her fell to the floor as well. His bandages opened up, causing his wounds to bleed, yet as both of them lost themselves in each other, the pain failed to register at all.

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