8 Chapter 8-Rattled Cages!

Chapter 8

Rachel Dawes

Rachel Dawes was on a war path as she walked up the steps of the Wayne manor. It had been months since Bruce's return, and things had been going well between them, and both of them had met a number of times.

Yet, for some reason, she could not bring herself to commit to anything, for whenever she was with him it felt as if a massive wall hung between both of them, and despite everything, she couldn't bridge that gap.

"Miss Dawes," Alfred, the ever-dutiful butler, frowned as he saw her striding into the manor so early in the morning, but what could she do? It was the only time she had.

"Where is he?" she asked Alfred, and before he could answer, he walked down the stairs.

"Rachel?" he uttered her name slowly, still dressed in loose pajamas and a nigh robe, as he walked down the stairs with a frown.

"What happened?" he questioned, and she raised the paper she had picked up on the way and pointed at the headline.

"Want to explain this?" she questioned pointedly as she showed him the headline covering the whole front page.

EARLE PIERCE'S NEW ALLY! RIFT BETWEEN BROTHERS! BRUCE WAYNE PLANNING TO REINSTALL EARLE PIERCE AS CEO!

"Ohh," he said as he took the paper from her hand, appearing nonchalant about the whole issue.

"Do you have any idea what this looks like and how this would affect Thomas? He is your brother. How could you do something like this to him!" she shook her head as Bruce simply raised a brow.

"Ra…" but she cut him off.

"Earle Pierce ran your empire in a way absolutely opposite to the vision of your parents! The man was a greedy piece of shit who shuttered every welfare project of Wayne Enterprises. Thomas made all that effort to remove him, and now you want to reinstall him. How could you even do this?" she uttered all that in a single sentence.

"What's going on here?" suddenly, she was interrupted by the familiar voice of Thomas from behind and turned to find the younger Wayne brother walking in.

"Thomas!" she spoke up as he walked towards her and Bruce, who still hadn't explained anything.

Thomas walked up to her and, took the paper from her hand and read the headline with a raised brow.

"So, my dear brother wants to oust me from the company," he said with a smirk as he came face to face with Bruce and there was tension in the air until suddenly, Thomas broke out into a chuckle, followed by Bruce, and she was taken aback by the spectacle.

"What is the meaning of this? Why are both of you laughing like idiots?" and she couldn't help at seeing the two of them chuckling.

"Ohh, it's nothing. I am just surprised that you took the Post seriously," Thomas replied, and she turned towards Bruce, knowing she had a better chance of getting a proper explanation from the elder brother.

Bruce stifled his laugh as he moved towards her, his arms gripping her shoulders.

"The whole thing with Earle was a setup. The man wouldn't let me sleep, so I met him. And that was it. He planted the whole article, though this also helps us learn of his plans a bit earlier," he explained.

"Though I wouldn't mind even if it was real," Thomas cut in and then suddenly smirked at Bruce, who narrowed his gaze.

"The competition has become quite dull these days,

"Are you sure you could handle me, Thomas? After all, I am the older brother," Bruce remarked, and she realized it was all for the ruse it was and ground her teeth as she rolled up the newspaper and swung it at Thomas's head.

"You idiots! You had me worried for no reason because of your silly games!" she complained as the newspaper struck Thomas, who winced mockingly as Bruce mimicked his reaction.

"Ouch! Ouch! Why are you hitting me for your mistake," Thomas complained, and she just huffed, seeing through his pretenses.

"I don't care!" she replied indignantly as Thomas just sighed, and Bruce chuckled, making her still as she felt her cheeks heat up and his gaze land on her.

Tomas then turned to Bruce and continued.

"I am telling you, she is just using us to vent her workplace frustrations," he complained, and she sighed as Alfred led them to the sofas.

"Don't even get me started on that! Someone beat up a number of Falcone's goons last night," she then turned towards Thomas.

"Speaking of that, they were vandalizing properties of Wayne Enterprises. Would your company like to pursue charges?" she questioned, and for a moment, she felt that the atmosphere in the room was rather tense as Thomas stared at Bruce with a complicated gaze while sipping his freshly made coffee.

"Yeah, why not. I will have the lawyers contact the DA office," he replied, and she was thankful for that. Though the case was not very strong, it helped them put more of Falcone's men behind bars.

Many in the city were too afraid of the Italian mob boss to move against him, yet things were beginning to change. Slowly, yet at least now, there was a semblance of hope.

And it all began with one person's efforts. Thomas.

And she felt proud of the young man she considered a younger brother.

"Do you have the new phone on you?" he suddenly asked, and she frowned as she reached into her bag pocket and took out the phone he had given her. It was a marvelous piece of technology, and she could understand why people were going crazy over it.

Several people in her own office had asked her whether she could help them get it before the early knowing of her relationship with Thomas, the man who had helped build the thing.

Thomas began to fiddle with her phone as Bruce finally spoke up.

"Speaking of that, I wanted to ask why doesn't your office go after Falcone himself," he questioned her as Alfred handed them both their own drinks.

And she shook her head, having grown frustrated by that damn question.

"The man is extremely well connected. Half the city fears him while he owns the other half, judges, policemen, and detectives. He has them all in his pocket," she complained as she sipped the smooth hot chocolate, having a sprinkle of cinnamon, just the way she liked it.

"Thank you, Alfred," she spoke to the aged butler, who gave her a warm smile.

"It was nothing, Miss Dawes," came the answer as always as she turned to face Bruce.

"Though, things are changing. The man himself probably orchestrated the attack on the shelters, I am going to push the men we arrested to confess to the fact so I could bring him in for questioning, though given he has the Judge in his pocket, it will not be easy," she added.

Bruce nodded.

"Interesting," he said as his eyes narrowed, and she frowned as she saw his expression, failing to realize what was going on in his head.

"Here," Thomas handed her back her phone as she frowned.

"What did you do?" she questioned as she examined it, yet found nothing different.

"I was just activating the SOS system," he said as he pointed toward the small power button.

"Now, whenever you feel that you are in danger, you just need to press it four times, and the phone will automatically send your location to the relevant authorities." She raised a brow, impressed by the functionality.

"Nice, that seems rather helpful," she remarked and clicked on the power button, and the screen lit up, the time highlighted right there, making her still.

"Shit!" she cursed, as she jumped to her feet as she saw that she was now late for office.

"I have to go. I am running late," she said as she hastily packed her bag.

"Let me drive you," Bruce offered, but she shook her head.

"No, I will manage. I did bring my own car," she replied as she rushed out of the manor after a brief farewell, hopping into her car as she raced away.

In her hurry, she decided to take a shortcut through the narrows, a destitute part of the city often avoided by the people because of the prevalence of crime, and as she was racing down the road right across the railway lines, she was suddenly forced to push hard on the brake paddle as a few people stepped right in her path.

SCREEEEEECH!

Her head hit the steering wheel, making her wince in pain, though thankfully she was wearing her seatbelt and she avoided anything worse.

"Ouch!" she screamed as she reached for her forehead, and realized that she had cut her skin as she felt her hand become wet.

"This must be our lucky day! This is the pretty little DA the boss asked us to handle" she heard one of the goons questions in a gruff tone, and she realized that these people were no simple beggars.

No, they were Falcone's goons. And her heart thumped as she quickly locked the car doors and reached into her bag, reaching for her phone and the taser gun.

She shakily pressed the button three times as the goons surrounded her car and began to force open the door.

"Bring me the crowbar!" one of the goons, trying to open her door, shouted as someone threw him a crowbar.

He aimed it at her window and gave her a toothy grin, showing her his crooked teeth as he swung it at her window.

THUNK!

The window cracked from the force of his attack yet didn't break. The man frowned as he pulled it back and swung it once more.

THUNK!

The cracks expanded, and she turned around and saw that the men had surrounded her car.

THUNK!

The window was struck again, and she could tell that it was on the verge of breaking, seemingly the man recognized this as well and smiled cruelly as he pulled it back and swung it once more with all his might.

CRACK!

The window broke, spraying her with shards that stung her skin, as she instinctively closed her eyes as the crowbar inched towards her.

Yet the pain never came and she slowly opened her eyes and found a massive shadowy figure standing by her side, holding the crowbar, which was inches away from her face.

She saw the man's face turn ashen white as he glanced at the towering figure and spoke up with a shaky voice.

"You!"

THUNK!

THUNK!

THUNK!

And then she watched in awe as the shadowy figure made quick work of the nearly half a dozen men, and in a second, all of them were down on the ground writhing in pain, as the shadowy figure finally turned towards her.

A mask covered half his face, and his gaze was sharp and chilling enough that she felt a shiver run down her spine as the man finally spoke up.

"Falcone has called a hit on you!" he uttered, his voice grazy and mechanical.

Her eyes widened as she heard those words. And though there was animosity between her and Falcone, this was excessive.

"You have rattled his empire! Keep rattling!" the man continued, and she realized that this was the man who had beat up all those henchmen some nights ago.

"Who are you?" she questioned, and the man halted for a second before he answered.

"Someone just like you. Someone who will rattle the cages!"

And then, the whole area became covered with smoke, and the only thing she heard was the sound of men falling and screaming.

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