I don’t own anything to do with Batman. I do own Eleanor Black, her parents, her background, her dog, her friends Adam and Shauna, the NanoShift technology, Ashlynn Chiang, her henchmen, background and this plot. This fic doesn’t go along with the movie, which is why Rachel doesn’t know that Bruce is Batman, and this fic has NOTHING to do with my other Batman fics. It’s rated T for violence, blood, language and drinking. Maybe some mild sexual content. Oh, and some REAL bitchy-ness on the part of Eleanor. I hope you enjoy this fic.

Reflection of His Enemy
Chapter Eight / Christmas Approach-eth

It was the early hours of the morning when Eleanor finally got home. Her side hurt like you wouldn’t believe. The painkillers she’d been given weren’t doing much to dull her pain, but she was walking around with her head swimming. She ignored Blaze and his whining as she stumbled inside and collapsed on the couch with a loud grunt. Her mother had come over at some point that night to get the mail for Eleanor and had even made dinner that was currently sitting on the island in the kitchen, steam occasionally rising in near-invisible wisps. Obviously, it hadn’t been long since Naomi had left. Saying a silent thank-you to her mother, Eleanor ground her teeth against the pain and pushed herself into a half-sitting position so she could flip through the stack of envelopes inviting her from the coffee table.

The only piece of interesting mail amongst the bills and the junk was the invitation to Bruce’s annual Christmas party. Eleanor grunted again, tossing the bills and fliers on the floor and pulled the fancy red, green and silver card out of the envelope. A small sprig of mistletoe fell into her lap. At that moment – painkillers and exhaustion not withstanding – she hated Bruce and his mistletoe and his parties, and she ripped the stupid fancy piece of paper in half. Why would he want to have a party now anyways? She and Rachel had just had their lives threatened and there was a new criminal on the loose in Gotham. Not like there was ever a shortage of crazy people terrorizing the streets, but why the hell would someone have a party in the middle of it all? The action seemed completely selfish, but, somewhere in her mind, she knew Bruce’s party had been planned for a long time and, in actual fact, the festivities would bring everyone, even her, a few hours of happiness in the dark times.

Eleanor discarded the two halves of the invitation on the floor and headed into the kitchen, mumbling to herself. Knowing she was being a tad bit ridiculous, Eleanor allowed herself to take the insult of the upcoming party personally. It wasn’t something she normally would have done, but she was grumpy and in pain, and she wasn’t feeling like her normal self in the slightest. In the kitchen, Eleanor stuck the plate of chicken, rice and vegetables into the fridge – she felt like she would throw up anything she ate – before heading past the partition and falling on her large bed, angry and in pain, but she was asleep in a matter of minutes, her face buried in her overly massive pillow. Blaze wined softly at the unusual lack of attention.

The shrill ring of her phone woke her five or so hours later. She rolled over and seized the phone off the bedside table. “What?” she snapped, untangling her legs from the blankets and spitting hair form her mouth.

“I’m sorry to wake you, Eleanor, especially after what happened to you yesterday, but, if you can, I’d like you to come into the office. There was another robbery last night, around one in the morning.”

Eleanor sighed, closed her eyes. “I’m sorry Mr. Fox. I’ll be in shortly.”

“Thank you Eleanor.” His voice was apologetic but appreciative.

She hung up the phone and sat up in her bed, catching a glimpse of her reflection in the mirror on the opposite wall. Her reddish hair, which she had neglected to take out of the ponytail she had put it in at the hospital, was piled on top of her head in a mass of knots and it resembled quite closely a bird’s nest, and there were dark circles under her eyes. One side of her lip was rather scabbed from chewing on it to get through the pain that was still plaguing her side, and the makeup she’d be wearing was smeared over her face. All in all, it was one of her worse morning faces, and had anyone seen it, they would have laughed. With another sigh, Eleanor got to her feet and labouriously went through the motions of showering, getting dressed and applying only enough makeup to make her look halfway-normal. She popped three of the painkillers into her mouth, swallowed them with a gulp of hot tea and then called a cab to take her to Wayne Tower. Thirty minutes later, she was sitting uncomfortably in front of Lucius Fox’s desk, Commissioner Gordon on one side, Rachel on the other, and Adam and Shauna standing against the wall. Bruce was absent, and she was OK with that. After he had left her and Rachel to fend for themselves the night before, he was the last person she wanted to see. Obviously, everyone had been informed to the threats Eleanor and Rachel had received, as Gordon and the two engineers mumbled something about wishing they could help. There was a terrible tension in the room, and Eleanor kept her eyes firmly ahead, ignoring everyone but Gordon and Lucius. Sociable this morning, she was not.

“Can we get on with this, please? I’d like to get home and go back to bed where I’m supposed to be.” Eleanor slouched down in her chair and then sat right back up as her ribs flared. She settled for leaning her head back.

“There was another robbery last night. After the bank,” Gordon said, shifting uneasily in his chair. “Exactly the same thing happened – Batman arrived and stopped the robbery. He chased the perpetrator but she just disappeared. There were a couple reports of a woman changing appearances in plain sight of everyone afterwards.”

“Well that wasn’t very smart.”

Everyone turned towards Shauna.

“Well, it wasn’t! She’s got to know that we know she has the technology! How could she not know? And even if we didn’t, she just as good as told us that whoever has the technology is in Gotham. She just exposed herself.” Shauna huffed and crossed her arms tightly, bunching her mouth in frustration as she realized everyone had already come to that conclusion. “It still wasn’t smart.”

“Regardless, it doesn’t tell us anything.” Lucius sighed and leaned back in his chair.

“What do we know?” Rachel asked.

Adam took the opportunity to speak. “The NanoShift technology was stolen en route from Japan and someone has been using it to rob banks on their way to Gotham. Whoever has the technology has a large group of people working for them, because they were able to take out anyone sent to stop them, and they’ve been able to move across the country quickly. Gotham seems to have been their target, although what exactly they’re trying to do, we’re not sure what exactly they’re after.”

“Yeah, it can’t be about the money…” Rachel slumped in her chair and looked at Eleanor. “You have any ideas what they might be after? Mr. Fox told me you were in charge of keeping the information.”

“Well, if it’s not money…” She looked to Gordon for confirmation because she knew he would see her thoughts. “It’s gotta be revenge. Or, most likely it’s revenge. Those are the two most common motives. I think that would be a good place to start. Plus…” Now Eleanor looked at Rachel for the first time. “The threats Rachel and I received suggest she has a specific target and we’re somehow involved.”

“I don’t see how that’s possible,” Rachel said rather snippily. “We don’t have anything in common.”

Eleanor, too doped up on painkillers to think properly and state the obvious, nodded her agreement. “It doesn’t make sense. We don’t have anything in common.”

No on else seemed to pick up on the obvious, either.

“The only thing we can do is track this woman’s actions, and try and find out who she. We can only hope for some sort of slip up,” Gordon said, shifting again. “I’ll hand pick a team and get them on that right away. Now that she’s in Gotham… I have a feeling things are going to escalate quickly. They always do.” The last part was added more as an afterthought, and Eleanor, for the first time since she’d met the Commissioner, could hear the weariness the man dealt with on a day to day basis. “Eleanor, Rachel, I don’t think you two should be alone at any time. Or, at least not for long periods of time.”

“That’s easier said than done.”

All eyes turned to Rachel.

“My parents don’t live in Gotham, and I’m not leaving my job, my apartment or anything.”

“It’s easy enough for me. I’ll just go stay at my parent’s house,” Eleanor breathed through a fresh wave of pain.

“Rachel, find a friend or coworker or someone to stay with,” Gordon urged. He rose from his chair and adjusted his tan trench coat before he headed for the door of Lucius’ office. “I’ll head to the station and get a team together. Let me know if anything new comes up, or,” he turned to Adam and Shauna, “if there’s anything else I need to know about this technology.”

“Will do.” Adam fashioned an awkward salute.

The others who were assembled in the room watched the commissioner leave, and then turned their attentions back to the centre of the room. With a few last words and promises from Eleanor and Rachel that they would not be alone, the group dissipated back to their supposed-to-be places. Adam and Shauna descended into their lab, Lucius glued his eyes to the reports on his computer screen, Rachel headed to the district attorney’s office several long blocks away and Eleanor caught a cab home and promptly fell on the couch. After a few minutes of pointless lying around, staring at the ceiling and thinking about nothing in particular, she pulled her phone of its hook on the end table behind her head and dialed the number for her parents’ house.

“Hello?”

“Nathan? Hi, it’s Eleanor.”

She pictured the cook smiling brightly as he pictured a younger Eleanor who had frequently been caught with her hands in the freshly baked cookies and muffins. “Eleanor! It’s been a long time. What can I do for you today?”

“Are either of my parents in, Nathan?”

“Not at the moment. Do you want me to give them a message? You know they’ve been worried sick since they heard about what happened at the bank.”

“I know, Nathan. I’m fine. And no, there’s no message to leave for them. I’m coming to live at the house for a while, that’s all. It might be nice to surprise them, actually.”

“Do you want me to get Charlotte to get your room ready then, Eleanor?”

“That’d be great, Nathan. I’ll be there shortly.”

“All right. I’ll keep my mouth shut about your arrival then, Eleanor. I’ll see you later.”

“Bye Nathan.”

A small smile at some random memory of childhood crept onto Eleanor’s face as she hung up the phone. But that smile faded quickly as the full reason she was going to stay at her parents’ dawned on her. Again. She had been threatened, and Commissioner Gordon didn’t want her left alone. God, how many times am I going to have go through this? Eleanor pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes until it hurt and then sighed. She really was glad to be staying at her parents’ house. It had been far too long since she’d spent a decent amount of time with Liam and Naomi Black, and far too long since she’d dwelt at all in her childhood. This not-allowed-to-be-alone thing will be good for me, Eleanor mused.

She mused for a few more moments, and then pushed herself off the couch and moved about gathering the things she would need. Eleanor filled a suitcase with pajamas, her favourite clothes, her necessary clothes, all her makeup and toiletries, and several books. In a small duffel bag, she put Blaze’s food, toys, leash and blanket. In one last bag, she put her laptop, all its plugs, and both her external hard drives, the one with her photographs and the one with the information about the NanoShift technology and the case. Once again, she popped a few painkillers into her mouth, called another cab and got help from her neighbour Matthew to carry her bags downstairs and into the trunk of the cab. Blaze hopped into the backseat beside her. The ride to her parents’ house out on the Sheal was a good forty minutes with traffic. She paid the fare, and Nathan, who had been watching from the kitchen window, helped her get her bags up to her room on the second floor. Blaze immediately ran into the backyard where Naomi and Liam’s two big dogs could be heard barking.

“It’ll be so good to have to you in the house again,” Nathan said cheerfully, hugging Eleanor to his broad chest.

“It’ll be good to be home.” Eleanor returned the embrace, wincing as her ribs protested slightly.

“Your mom and dad should be home around dinner time, Eleanor. I’d better get back at it. I’m making roast beef and Yorkshire pudding. You’re favourites for your welcome home dinner!”

Eleanor beamed as Nathan headed back downstairs, and stared unpacking her things. Memories started flooding back into her head as she ran her hands over the furniture; as she looked out the window on the familiar view of the expansive gardens; as she listened to the subtle creaking of the old floor boards.

She felt safe.

The fear she had felt at being threatened welled against the feelings of safety and Eleanor sat down on the bed and cried for the first time she’d received the letter.

Eleanor had been wrong. The obvious connection between Eleanor and Rachel had donned on someone, and that someone took immediate action.

“Bruce, I believe the threats Eleanor and Rachel received were because of their connections to you.”

Instantly, Bruce knew what the commissioner was getting at. The woman with the NanoShift technology, who had sent the letters to Eleanor and Rachel, wanted him and she probably wanted him dead. “You mean to say someone is after me?” he asked, trying to make his voice sound like that notion was inconceivable.

“That’s exactly what I think. I also think you should get some extra security for your Christmas party, because that would be an excellent time for someone to get to you.”

“Have you done anything for Eleanor and Rachel?”

“I’ve told them not to be alone. Eleanor is at her parent’s house, and I’m not sure where Rachel is. She wasn’t happy when I asked her to find somewhere to go. I don’t think she has any family in Gotham.” Bruce heard Gordon cough to clear his throat and then he continued. “Just get some more security for your party, since I know you won’t cancel it, OK?”

“I will, Jim.”

Bruce ended the call, closed his eyes and sighed. Somewhere in the far back of his mind, he had known this was beyond just Eleanor and Rachel. Whoever this woman was, she wanted revenge. Bruce’s first thought was she wanted revenge against Batman and she’d figured out Bruce Wayne was behind the cowl. But, she had obviously come from Asia, and that didn’t make sense with her wanting revenge against Batman. Bruce ran over the events the last time he’d been in Asia, but nothing stood out in his memory. It had been an uneventful business trip, of which he had spent most of the three days in a hotel boardroom. There had to be a clue somewhere in his memory… No matter how hard he thought though, nothing came to mind.

Except worry.

He’d never wanted either Eleanor or Rachel to get involved like this. But now, they had been dragged in and had their lives threatened.

Bruce picked up the phone again, intending to phone Eleanor at her parents’ to apologize and to make sure she was all right, but, after staring at the device for a moment, the dial tone humming around the room, he hung it back up and headed down into the chill air of the Batcave. The monitor he used to find his batarangs was sitting on one of the long metal tables, and the lime green blip belonging to Eleanor’s batarang was moving in a tight circle. Bruce smiled a small smile to himself. She had the weapon with her, and was walking around in a circle. Bruce’s smile grew a fraction as he pictured her, frazzled and trying to figure out what to do with herself. The threat she’d received was his fault, he knew that now, and it was a painful truth to accept. Again, he picked up a phone and thought about calling Eleanor, but she would still be mad at him, and he still didn’t know what he was going to tell her when she asked where he’d disappeared to the night before. Maybe he should get Alfred to come up with something… He was good at that.

“No,” he said aloud. I need to deal with this myself. Eleanor deserves that much.

She deserves the truth, said another voice in his mind. And she did, but that, he couldn’t give her.

Sam knew Ashlynn’s moods were always fowl, but lately, they had been getting ridiculous. He also noticed she was always wearing a long-sleeved, turtleneck sweater, long pants, gloves and a hat pulled low over her eyes, almost like she was trying to hide. Currently, she was glowering on the grimy couch in the apartment, staring at the wall above the broken television, keeping her mouth firmly shut as her jaw worked back and forth. Sam knew this meant she was deep in thought and would not like to be disturbed, but there were things they needed to talk about, like what the hell the plan was for crashing Bruce’s party. Ashlynn had managed to keep everyone in the dark about the details.

“Ashlynn,” Sam said cautiously, sitting beside his sister. “What exactly are you planning on doing at Bruce’s Christmas party?”

For a long time, the small woman said nothing, her grey eyes moving back and forth slightly as her focus shifted from one point on the wall to another. Finally, she sighed heavily and leaned back, sinking into the couch cushion and shifting her gaze to the ceiling. “I’m going to get her out of the way. Put her in prison. Destroy her to get at Bruce.”

“I know that, Ash. You’ve said that, but what are you going to do to accomplish that?”

“I’m going to change myself to look like her. That’s all you need to know, since you won’t be there. I’m doing this alone, Sam.” She crossed her arms under her chest and closed her eyes.

He sighed. Whenever Ashlynn said “that’s all you need to know”, it meant something bad for someone, and in this case, it was this Eleanor woman. Sam had never actually seen her, but Ashlynn was convinced she was the closest woman to Bruce Wayne, and thus, the quickest way for Ashlynn to start their revenge. Sam was a little worried about what was in store, but it wasn’t his place to say anything, nor did he want to deal with Ashlynn’s rage.

He got to his feet and headed towards the door.

“Well, if you don’t want my help, I’ll head down to check on the men.”

Ashlynn didn’t say anything as her brother left. When she was alone, and sure her brother wasn’t going to come back, she got to her feet and walked in a slow circle around the small living room before heading into the bathroom and staring at her face in the mirror. Taped to the wall were two photos: one of Eleanor and one of Rachel. It was the one of Eleanor Ashlynn was focused on, eyes narrowed in a dangerous glare. Her skin slowly began to bubble as the transformation took over. Ashlynn doubled over, propping herself up with her hands on the sides of the sink, her fingers turning white as she grabbed the porcelain bowl tightly, and a harsh gurgling sound escaping from her lips as she gasped. The transformations had become increasingly more painful since the first time she’d changed, but they had to be done and Ashlynn felt she had to change into her target at lest three times before she had it right.

Once her skin had ceased its fits of bubbling and the pain had started to subside, Ashlynn lifted her gaze and found herself staring into the cobalt eyes of Eleanor Black. A very nasty smirk slipped across the face in the mirror, turning Eleanor’s face into something completely different than what it normally was. Ashlynn was finally satisfied. Unlike the rest of her transformations, this one needed to be perfect, and she had not been happy with it until now; she had preformed the Eleanor transformation four times before this one and she had always found something to complain about. But now…

Retaining the evil smile, Ashlynn grabbed the small tape recorder from the ledge on the sink and pressed the play button. Eleanor’s voice filled the room, uttering the sentences she had at the Halloween party, where Ashlynn had been spying on her and gathering any information that might come in useful. Or, in this case, absolutely necessary. Ashlynn opened her mouth and spoke in Eleanor’s voice, lower than her own, and smiled darkly at the perfection of the impression.

Things were going well indeed.

Ashlynn-Eleanor walked out of the bathroom and to the table sitting beneath the grimy windows, and unrolled the black tool kit. She slid one of the long, six-inch knives out of its pocket and twirling it in her fingers. The motion was second-nature to Ashlynn, but in the window, the reflection of Eleanor looked bizarre with the knife dancing over her fingers. The face was still split with a nasty grin.

“I wonder if Eleanor is capable of murder…” she breathed. Ashlynn-Eleanor stabbed the knife deep into the wood of the table and bared her teeth in a savage grin.

Eleanor headed upstairs after a deeply satisfying dinner, feeling a little less than such. Her parents’ enthusiasm at seeing her when they walked in the door had alleviated her earlier displays of emotion temporarily, but now she was alone again, and all those fears had appeared again, stronger than before. Tears were filling her eyes as she ascended the stairs, and her hands were shaking. Naomi and Liam had tried to consol her, but they were angry with her for not telling them as soon as she was threatened, and they were furious that she had been threatened, so their emotions were getting the best of them and leaving no room for their words to help Eleanor. She had felt strangely foolish when nothing her parents had said worked, and had spent the last several hours sitting in the living room staring blankly as the pictures moved across the television screen.

She opened the door and stepped into her blue room and closed her eyes as a breeze washed over her.

A breeze?

I didn’t leave the window open… Eleanor opened her eyes again, panic rising in her chest. What if whoever had sent her the letter had broken into her room? What if they were waiting for her? She quietly shut the door and made her way past the closet and peered around the corner, looking towards the large window that was the source of the breeze. When she saw who had invaded her room, she set her jaw and stepped around the corner, putting her hands on her hips. “What are you doing here?” she snapped.

His presence was a surprise, but it wasn’t totally unwelcome. Bruce Wayne was sitting in the seat below her window, holding one of her favourite high-heeled black sandals in his hands. “You’ve got quite the shoe collection,” he said a second later.

The absurd sentence threw her through a loop. “What were you doing in my closet?”

Bruce set the shoe down and got to his feet. He wasn’t dressed in a suit, just jeans and a t-shirt, which obviously means this was a completely personal visit, and as he walked towards he, Eleanor realized she didn’t mind at all. Her fear for her life had vanished and the threat seemed never to have happened. Her anger at Bruce for abandoning her and Rachel at the bank robber had dissolved under his gaze and she was wishing he’d walk a little fast to close the distance between them. She shook her head slightly, trying to bring back the fear and anger she knew she should be feeling, but she couldn’t. Bruce’s presence in her room made her feel safe.

“Ellie,” he breathed. “I’m sorry.” As she opened her mouth to respond with a feeble protest, he continued. “I don’t know what came over me when I left you there. When Alfred gave me your message, I felt horrible. Sorry might not be enough for leaving you to get your ribs broken.”

Eleanor smiled against her will. “It’s not, but… thanks for coming here to apologize anyway.” She wrapped her arms around him and hugged herself close to the warmth of his chest.

“How are you?” he asked, returning the embrace, and rubbing his back slightly.

“In pain.”

“That wasn’t all I was referring to.”

“I know.” Eleanor sighed, walked over and sunk onto the window seat. “I don’t know what to think, Bruce. I’m scared.” As he sat down beside her, she leaned her head on his shoulder. “But I don’t know how to deal with this. I’ve never had a serious situation to deal with pertaining to my own life. The only thing I ever have to deal with is the business problems.” Tears started to well in her eyes again. “The open window freaked me out. I thought someone had broken into my room to kill me.”

“That’s a reasonable fear, Eleanor.”

The musical ring of her cell phone suddenly sounded, cutting off any further conversation. She got to her feet, walked over to her desk and put the phone to her ear. “Hello?”

“Eleanor, it’s Adam.”

The engineer sounded panicked, worried and excited all at the same time. “What is it? What’s wrong?” She looked at Bruce as she waited for an answer, a worried expression on her face. Bruce returned a confused look.

“I’ve uncovered something about the NanoShift technology – the main problem they wanted us to look at.”

“What is it?”

“It causes the user to become deformed. The more she transforms, the more deformed she’s going to get. That means, if she keeps transforming, soon she’ll be easily recognizable. I’m pretty sure she won’t even be able to transform eventually.”

“Did you tell Mr. Fox?”

“Of course I did! He told me to phone you. I’ve e-mailed you the files with the information highlighted, and the hard copies will be on your desk whenever you come in to get them. And I told Gordon too, so I’m sure he’ll notify Batman. Everyone’s been alerted to this new information. I also found photos of test subjects after they’d started to deform. I sent you those as well. Whoever has the technology is most likely going to follow the same patterns they did.”

“This is great information, Adam. Thanks for letting me know.”

“So… how are you doing, Eleanor?”

“I’m doing OK, Adam. But, I don’t really have time to talk right now though. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Her and Adam said their goodbyes, Adam’s sounding slightly suspicious of why she wanted to go so soon, and then Eleanor hung up her phone and walked back over to the window seat. “Adam found out some new information about the technology. I’m sure Mr. Fox will inform you.”

“I’m sure he will.” Bruce wrapped one arm around Eleanor’s shoulders.

But they were interrupted again by the ringing of another phone. Eleanor caught the anger flash over Bruce’s face. He stood up, put the phone to his ear, listened intently, and answered everything with a simple “yes”, before hanging up and turning a regretful gaze to Eleanor.

“Let me guess,” she said, “Something’s come up?”

He nodded, bent down and kissed her cheek. “I’m sorry Eleanor.”

“It’s OK…” As Bruce stood back up, Eleanor followed suit and grabbed his wrist. In an uncharacteristically bold movement, she stepped in front of him, rose to her tiptoes and kissed him deeply. He returned the kiss, but only for a brief second, and then pulled away and left the room, looking back over his shoulder once to smile at Eleanor.

Author’s Note… So the chapter is crap. Don’t tell me that, I already know it. I had to force my way through it though, because somewhere in the midst of school, exams and a job search, I lost my muse and only recently got it back, but I couldn’t remember what I was going to write, and my cryptic planning notes weren’t helping. And what I did remember seemed stupid, so I didn’t write it, but this is probably just as stupid. But it’s done and I can move on.

On the bright side, I got a job. And I passed everything in school.

Next Chapter: The Eleanor Phase.