Scars & Hearts: The Batman Fanfiction

Chapter Twenty Seven

Anya woke in a large room: a warehouse, she quickly realized.

Empty of everything except two chairs. Patches of gray cement peeked through the chipping in the alabaster painted walls.

The ceiling was made of an intricate array of metal piping with large glass panes creating a center skylight above her head.

She sat strapped to one of the chairs, and the other sat, unoccupied, in front of her: a bottle of water at its feet.

She shuddered; who had sat there and watched her sleep?

Her head ached from the impact of the wall, and she was sure she'd have to get screened for a concussion, if the piercing headache were any indicator.

She heard a door open in the distance followed by footsteps.

"You're awake. Good. I was beginning to think you were gone there for a second."

It was the man from before in her apartment.

"Why are you doing this to me?"

Her tongue felt foreign in her mouth. It wouldn't surprise her if her words had come out a jumbled, incomprehensible mess.

The man shrugged. "Because I can."

The door opened again.

"There you are." The scarred man greeted. "We've been waiting for you."

"I got held up at the university." The voice grunted.

It was a familiar voice. Anya knew it, though a part of her wished to deny it.

"Yeah, well, you haven't missed much. She just woke up."

She could see him move in from her peripheral vision, but she only recognized him when he was directly in front of her.

"Hello, Ms. Flores."

Dr. Espinoza stood, a menacing grin twitching on his lips.

***

"Why?"

"Why what?" The man asked.

"Why do you have me here? I- I don't understand?"

"You don't understand?" The man laughed. "I have to say, Anya, you're impressive. Really impressive. I thought you were just a really below average doctor, but you're so much more than that."

"I mean," he continued. "I knew you were pretty, but I didn't think you'd nab Bruce Wayne. That's- wow. You can imagine my surprise when I read the Gazette. This is so much better than that charity crap I planned with Shorts."

Anya looked up at the mention of her mentor.

Her puzzlement must have been very visible.

"Oh, you know. Don't act like you don't know. It's what you and Brucey Boy were working on wasn't it? Millions of dollars into some little free clinics. You didn't think all that money was actually gonna go to them, did you?" A pause. He gauged Anya's reaction. "Oh, you did. That's so sweet."

Anya shook her head, disbelievingly. "Dr. Shorts would never do something like that."

Dr. Espinoza rolled his eyes. "Of course not. He's as blind as you are. No, I just planted the idea in his head. Over some coffee I said, 'hey, it'd be good for Bruce Wayne to invest in some mobile clinics, right? Maybe the hospital can be involved,' and he ran with it. Then you ran with it, and so did Bruce Wayne. I really thought we had it. Just another thing you're shitty at. I mean, how does the guy with his last name on the building lose a vote like that? It's shameful, really."

The scarred man chuckled.

"So there went that plan, but then. I thought about it. Sure, maybe I wouldn't be able to funnel money out of the account, but I had something better. You. Bruce Wayne's girlfriend. Oh, and I saw the way he looked at you, and I knew. This was a gold mine. So, I had Junior here follow you around, and to our surprise, you're a two timer. I have to hand it to you, you found the most powerful men in Gotham and ran with it. I mean, Bruce Wayne and The Batman. You're an inspiration for women everywhere."

"Junior?" So much information, but that had stuck out to her the most.

Dr. Espinoza nodded. "Anya, this is my son."

The scarred man grinned.

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Author's Note: I'm back. I've been dealing with health problems + university. Let me know what y'all think! - C