Cheshire/Batman Pt. 02: Begin datin

They had the cover of night to work with. Batman had kept his batplane safely hidden and now that the transponder was fixed and the clouds had cleared up, he could access it. He was able to send his coordinates to the pilot-less plane, which arrived on the island twenty awkward minutes later. When they landed somewhere closer to Ambon City, she disappeared immediately, making no secret of her resentment.

UPON RETURN

When Bruce got back to the Batcave, he immediately parked the batplane and got out, happy to be headed to the shower. When he got out, Alfred was there, expecting him. He had brought down a big plate of foods full of protein and carbs.

"Well, Master Bruce, aside from being stranded and underfed... Was the mission a success?" Alfred asked as Bruce stuffed his face.

Bruce informed him of the details regarding the drugs and the criminals.

"...and then, I heard his partner, Sinaga, and he has Cheshire. Do you remember her? The one with the armor and the poisons?"

"Yes, of course, Master Bruce."

"And he's about to assault her..." he said, pausing to chew. "So, I get down to the lower floor and incapacitate several of them. And the next thing I know, I hit my head and I'm on the island."

"How did you get there?"

"Cheshire brought me there after there was an explosion and I was knocked unconscious. I know, you're going to ask if it was her that knocked me out, but she was tied up across the room. I saw her." he explained, now grabbing a bottle of Gatorade. The safety seal cracked as he twisted off the top. "She was building a shelter on the island. She was after Sinaga, too. Ended up having to kill him. Was kinda upset about it."

"And why would that be, sir?" Alfred asked as he cleared an empty plate from the console desk.

"She said she hadn't killed very often. Makes me wonder. I should look that up." he said, fumbling for a pen and writing a note on some scratch paper. "She didn't have her mask anymore, either. Sinaga had taken it. Did you know she's Asian and Hispanic?"

"I did not, sir," he replied. He watched Bruce go on with interest.

"Yeah, it's interesting," Bruce said. For a few moments, he concentrated on ingesting more food. "Oh, wait. I think she's Portuguese, so, latina. Not hispanic. You know what else?" Bruce said, smirking and shaking his head. "She was flirting with me. Flirting with me! She had me 'accidentally' see her naked," he scoffed.

Alfred said nothing and started hosing down the Batman suit while Bruce finished his food. When he was done, Alfred stacked the dishes back won the tray. Before he walked back to the elevator, he gently patted Bruce on the shoulder from behind.

"You've been at this too long, old boy," Alfred told him.

"Oh, come on. When she tried to kiss me, I decided I'd better think about it first," Bruce added. "She could've taken a page from Poison Ivy's book and had poison lipstick."

"How wise of you. You do seem rather intrigued, though, don't you?" Alfred asked, holding the tray with one hand and summoning the elevator with the other.

"She was attractive and may be turning over a new leaf. It's worth looking into," Bruce said firmly. He pulled up some old articles from the Gotham City newspapers and started to browse them on the batcave's computer. Alfred went back upstairs, leaving Bruce to solve his mystery about Cheshire.

WAYNE TECH

Bruce Wayne sat at his desk on the top floor of Wayne Tech headquarters. A few weeks had passed since his adventure in Indonesia with Cheshire. Due to an intense curiosity, he had almost immediately started to look for her identity in Gotham City. Why was he so interested in pursuing her? Was he overlooking some serious issues because he was physically attracted to her? He decided to discard such questions and label the whole thing "criminal research."

Finding her had not been difficult for him. Gotham City was huge, but once he figured out her ancestry, there were not many Japanese-Brazilian women in their twenties with a background in art. When he saw a photo of Jada Versailles at the opening night of her art gallery in the Gotham Observer, he recognized her as Cheshire. The gallery was about six years old. She had bought it from a wealthy pillar of the art community who later died from breast cancer. Still, it could have been a front for something, he speculated. He saw a local magazine's photographs from four different events.

One spread showed her looking flawlessly professional at the beginning of the evening, but as the night went on, she became the life of the party. Gorgeous, he thought, looking at a picture of her getting a kiss on each cheek from two drag queens.

For the second event, Jada looked shifty. Still dressed immaculately with perfect makeup, there was something elusive about her eyes. Her nose looked slightly red. The picture was taken in August. Not time for allergies or cold weather. Crying for a long time? Drugs? This was around the time he had tangled with her as Batman. As Cheshire, she had gotten in a few good hits and evaded capture.

The next series of photos showed a DJ and a few minor celebrities in attendance. The pictures of her were nothing special. Pretty, of course, until... he saw her in the background of a photo of a sculpture. She was talking to a man dressed in black, tilting her head in that flirty way that women do when they're talking to someone they like. She appeared to be on his arm for the rest of the photos, but there wasn't a good picture of his face.

Jada was not pictured in the last event at the gallery with photographers present about 8 months ago. He checked, she still owned it. Bruce was scrolling through some tax documents for the gallery when he was interrupted by a group of coworkers who were calling him into a meeting.

The first presentation was about their new solar power technology. WayneTech Industries had developed very safe methods of using this power source, with minimal risk of environmental damage. Technology was not able to store large amounts of power yet, so their plant would be very large and have a wind power system for backup. WayneTech was considering donating their technology to a city in need to showcase their discoveries but also because philanthropy was an important part of their mission statement.

During the presentations, Bruce's mind was wandering back to Jada Versailles. Then his ears perked up. One of the locations his coworkers were recommending was in Coroada, Brazil. Apparently, their nuclear power plant had been assembled on the cheap because different groups skimmed from the funding. There had been a nuclear waste spill and the area had only recently begun to be inhabited again, years later. There was no longer an adequate power supply in the area, so only very poor people were living there.

Bruce voted to give the new power plant to Coroada. At the end of the week, the company had decided that Coroada was the least problematic location overall and decided to move forward. Bruce asked a plucky young intern to find people in the Gotham area that grew up near or in Coroada around the time of the accident. He wanted to speak to them about what the needs of the community were. He also didn't think anyone would trust his company to come in and build this power plant for free. He wanted to have real Brazilian people understand the project and guide them in how to set up the power plant to be sustainable, to eventually run on its own in Brazil without foreign interference. It was true, his company would get a lot of big contracts from other governments if this new power plant ran well, but it was a win-win because Coroada would get a new power plant and local jobs.

A few days later, the intern came to Bruce with a list of Brazilians who grew up in the area where the power plant accident had been. Unfortunately, most of them were too young to really remember important details about the corruption and devastation. There were six people that were in the right age group and three of them spoke okay English, the other three spoke almost none. Of course, Wayne Tech had the resources to hire a professional translator, but Bruce had Jada in mind. He planned to introduce himself at her gallery and eventually offer her the translating job to spend more time with her.

During a night as Batman, Bruce had injured his shoulder for the millionth time and it was taking a long time to recover. He was advised by a doctor friend to rest it for at least a month if he wanted it to heal well. So, the day had arrived when Bruce finally got himself to go to Jada's gallery. He thought he was being extremely irresponsible, mixing Wayne Tech business with someone from the Batman world, but it seemed like it would benefit all parties involved. And, just to be safe, Bruce arranged for a hologram projection of Batman to be outside on the roof across the street from the gallery.

Once he saw that she caught a glimpse of "Batman," he entered. He also had to admire her poise. She acted as if she hadn't seen anything unusual.

Bruce started to walk around the sculptures off to the side. It was the only way he could take a good look at her without being completely obvious about it. Looking past the artwork, he saw her, standing at a brightly colored MacBook laptop at the front desk. It was definitely the woman from the island, in a beige cashmere sweater with an oversized collar, black leggings, and black stiletto heeled boots, floating around the gallery from one thing to the next.

He watched her walk from the computer to a well-dressed preppie couple. It looked like she was telling them the price. The man looked displeased at the information and his wife or girlfriend gently rubbed his forearm and cooed something into his ear as Jada looked on politely. Bruce moved along slowly to the next statue and continued watching her.

Her transaction looked like it was a success. Jada called over a younger (but just barely, Bruce noted) female employee to assist the couple as she turned away and walked to the front of the gallery. Momentarily, she rolled her eyes and smiled to herself. Bruce knew that smile. It was a smile of detached amusement that he would smile to himself after speaking with a particularly self-parodizing person from the world of the wealthy. Even though he knew he was getting ahead of himself, he felt like she was a kindred spirit. Confirmation bias, he told himself. He was seeing what he wanted to see. He turned his attention to some canvases on the back wall.

"That's THE Bruce Wayne, Jada. The millionaire guy who owns all those tech companies and funds orphanages and shit," a young employee named Ricardo told Jada, pointing Bruce out to her. "He could buy every painting in this room and it wouldn't put a dent in his bank account."

Jada had heard of him, but wouldn't have known it was him without Ricardo telling her. Her impression was that he was in his thirties, took good care of himself physically, and could pick out a good suit. But this didn't mean he wouldn't say something disgusting to her before she was done selling him some art. It was often part of the job, and worth enduring for a potentially huge sale. She told Ricardo that she would be handling this customer herself.

"Hi, I'm Jada Versailles, I own the gallery. Were you looking for anything in particular today?" she asked him. It was her, standing there beside him, looking so professional. Bruce felt guilty that he had seen her naked already. And knew her secret identity.

"Yes. Well, sort of. I'm looking for a piece for this weekend's silent auction at this benefit thing," he told her, which gave him a lot of different options to look at.

Jada talked to him about at least a dozen paintings. He enjoyed her liveliness and expressiveness, neither of which were common in the wealthy, British-influenced culture he was raised in. Soon, he chose a $350k abstract acrylic painting for the auction and then, he decided to buy a piece for himself.

"I notice a lot of these artists are from Brazil," he commented.

"Yes, I grew up in Brazil. I came to Gotham for art school and ended up more on the business end of things," she told him.

"Do you still do any art at all?" he asked. "I mean, like, make it, yourself?"

"Oh, sometimes. Look, I did that one. It's on the door to my office so no one thinks I'm trying to sell it!" she said, pointing across the room to an abstract portrait of a very emotional-looking woman. Bruce went over to take a better look. Jada followed him, a little embarrassed that he was going to check it out. He stood in front of it for a few moments before he spoke.

"It seems like a very personal piece. You don't mind having everyone see?" he said.

On a cerulean background, a woman was gripping her breasts and face, the ink from her shading spreading throughout the canvas. Her hair was magenta wisps and she had no facial features. Her body language suggested delicacy and vulnerability.

"Personal? Well, if anything, it reminds the people who work for me that I'm human! They need the reminder because sometimes I'm very demanding. It tells me to slow down, too... that we're all, you know, vulnerable." Jada flashed him a quick and brilliant smile. She was so used to talking to rich and powerful people at this point, she could just be herself with them. Even a little more charming than normal herself, since she was selling them expensive art.

"In my line of work, vulnerability isn't an option," he told her.

"You mean revealing vulnerability isn't an option. Everybody is vulnerable. Even men at big companies," she corrected him, smiling coyly.

"Well, I take a lot of risks that leave me vulnerable. Nothing ventured, nothing gained," he said.

"Here, speaking of risks. This Tibetan sculptor was imprisoned for drawing attention to the oppressive government of China. I feel really fortunate to have acquired this one," she said, seamlessly weaving the sales pitch into the conversation.

After a few moments, Bruce decided to buy it. The piece spoke to him. He had spent a lot of time in Asian countries, most of which had some conflict with the Chinese government. "I'll take this one, too. And I'm still thinking about a few more."

"That's great. I hope we see you back here soon. Alright, let's arrange the delivery for you..." she said and went to look up the delivery schedule.

Jada was pleasantly surprised. When Ricardo told her he was millionaire Bruce Wayne, she thought he was going to be an asshole. Lots of men who walked into her gallery wearing suits that expensive were total pigs. She hadn't caught him ogling her even once. Bruce came across as an analytic and gracious visitor. He was also a fairly guarded person, but that made sense since he was famous in Gotham City. A lot of the men in Jada's family were guarded, so she was accustomed to that type of man. And, if she chose to pursue someone like this, she tended to enjoy the challenge of getting close to withdrawn men.

Jada immediately typed his name into a search engine in her office after he left. She read an article about his charitable foundation funding pro-bono legal work, his date with a famous model/tennis player, and his supporting a mayoral candidate who later built many low-income housing projects. More and more articles popped up calling him a "millionaire playboy," but she took it with a grain of salt. The media publishes sexier, more exciting versions of everyone and everything. Still, Jada didn't exactly consider herself "on the market" for dating. She closed the web browser and went on with her day.

SECOND VISIT THE GALLERY

A few days after the benefit, Bruce came back to the gallery to tell Jada about the silent auction. When he entered, some of the staff were setting up for a new exhibit's opening party that evening. She was dressed formally in a backless, long-sleeved black lace dress, her hair up in a chignon.

"Mr. Wayne, you're back!" she said happily. Her heels clacked loudly across the room as she came over to greet him. She clasped both her hands around his as she greeted him.

"Please, call me Bruce. I wanted to thank you for that abstract painting. It raised over $500,000 for free after-school programs on the North Side. It was highly coveted at the silent auction," he explained. He was surprised by how striking she was and how excited he was to talk to her again. He tried to tone down his smile a little bit. Jada, sensing his introspection, could tell he was a little interested in her. It was a fabulous dress.

"Wow! That's incredible. I'm so glad. I'll make sure I let the artist know. How are you liking the sculpture?" she inquired. Over Bruce's shoulder, she could see Ricardo raising his eyebrows up and down, which she ignored completely.

"I'm lucky you told me about it. The sculptor was in the news this week."

"Yes, I saw that. I had many people calling to ask about that piece and I had to turn them away. Are you interested in anything else in the gallery?" she asked him, smiling to herself at the lame double entendre.

"Um, actually, I had something come up at work and I thought of you," he said, hoping he didn't sound too forward. He had to admit to himself that he was a little nervous. He had asked out plenty of women before to support the playboy persona, but he was pretty invested in spending some more time with her.

"Oh? Really? Me?" she asked. She was surprised. Kind of surprised.

"Well, you said you grew up in Brazil and I have this project where we want to donate a small power plant to a city in Brazil, kind of a pilot program. We, uh, wanted to get the community's support. It's Coroada, where the nuclear accident happened. So, the people that remember it that lived nearby, some of them don't speak English very well and I was wondering if you still spoke Portuguese," he asked, stumbling over his words. This was an odd endeavor for him. Part of him was checking up on a criminal, a Batman-related interest, but a smaller part-- one he wouldn't acknowledge too often- was hoping this all could lead to a significant relationship. It had been ages since he took dating seriously.

"Yes, yes. I speak it all the time. How could I help?" she asked. She was actually intrigued by this project. She remembered hearing about that accident a lot as a kid, even though it happened before she was born.

"We're setting up a dinner at that restaurant, Ipanema, for six people who lived there around the accident and the engineers and PR guys from Wayne Tech. We just want to sit down and explain the project to them and see what they think. Some of them don't speak a lot of English. Their hometown would get free power and we'd get free publicity. We just know it will be difficult to win their trust," he said. Once he had gotten over the initial effect of her appearance in that dress, it was a lot easier to talk to her.

Jada was no fool. She knew that she wasn't the only person in Gotham City that could serve as a Brazilian Portuguese translator. It was a thinly veiled excuse to ask her to spend time with him without having to risk outright rejection if he asked her on a date.

"That sounds like an interesting project. I'd love to. When is it?" she asked, feigning a lack of suspicion.

Jada and Bruce exchanged details and phone numbers. The event was in a few days. He said it would be sort of casual and hopefully fun. Jada had been to the Ipanema restaurant before and remembered liking it. So, at the very least, she would get a free meal out of the deal.

IPANEMA

Bruce called and offered to give Jada a ride to Ipanema. She was coming straight from the gallery. She would not have allowed him to pick her up at home, no matter how rich and well-known he was. "Careful!" was her new mantra.

A black limo pulled up at Versailles and Jada was teased mercilessly by her employees before she left. Like a true paulistana, Jada was dressed to the nines: a long sleeve fuschia blouse with a big keyhole detail, a black pencil skirt, and black platform heels that looked exactly like Louboutins. Bruce got out and held the door for her. They chatted about Brazilian food in the car, since Bruce didn't know a whole lot about it. He had emailed her some details about the plant's proposal and caught her up with a few more aspects of the project on the way to dinner.