Investigation in Egypt (Bruce/WW)

[Jade4813]

BRUCE'S STORY CONTINUES FROM HERE.

---

Bruce's eyes scanned the crowd while his listened to his companions' stories. It seemed to be the casual action of a man who was new to the area, a tourist taking in foreign sights. But he wasn't terribly interested in the bustle of the outdoor market, the wares being sold at stalls, or the chatter of patrons and vendors. As the man who was secretly Batman, he had trained himself to always be aware of possible exits and to take note of faces in a crowd. Since the Batman had become a fugitive in Gotham, it had only become even more imperative that he do so.

Once he'd finished his scan of the area, he adjusted the tilt of the hat he wore to help block out the sun and smiled at his companions. He had come to Egypt under the alias of "Gary Stewart" to follow up on the strange readings he'd seen on his computer. (If he had to investigate further as Batman, he didn't want to deal with the unfortunate "coincidence" of both Bruce Wayne and Batman being in Egypt at the same time.) In an attempt to pinpoint the origin of the strange readings, he'd been casually questioning locals about areas of odd activity. His companions had been telling him about areas nearby where no locals would go. There were rumors of djinn, and while it would be easy to dismiss the stories as superstitious nonsense, Bruce wondered if these areas could be the source of the strange readings.

As he scanned the area again, he caught sight of a familiar face. He had no idea who the woman was, but he had seen her before. He frowned, taking a moment to place her. He'd seen her in Libya, where his investigation had taken him before leading him to Egypt.

There could be no mistake that it was the same woman. He would have noticed her regardless, because his continued survival (not to mention freedom) so often depended upon him being aware of his surroundings and the people around him. But even if he hadn't spent years learning to be aware of his surroundings, he would have noticed her. A woman as stunning as she would be hard to forget.

Bruce frowned at the coincidence of seeing her in two different countries. He didn't believe in coincidences. So what was she doing here? Was she investigating the same strange readings as he? Was she after him?

As he seemed to have gotten as much useful information out of his companions as they had to give, he murmured his thanks to them and moved away. As he skirted the outside of the crowd, keeping his eye on her, he pulled sunglasses out of his breast pocket and slipped them on. He kept his route circuitous, to hide his purpose, as he "casually" made his way over to her.

When he was near her, he tripped over a fellow patron's foot and "accidentally" careened into her. As he stumbled into her a little harder than he intended, he reached out to help steady her and realized only belatedly that she didn't appear to need his help keeping her feet. She turned to look at the man who had barreled into her, and he threw her a sheepish smile as he lifted his hand to adjust his glasses, hitting a small button on the side as he did so. A tiny camera in the sunglasses took a picture of her face. He would send the picture to Alfred or Lucius, to see what they could find out about her. He could swear she looked familiar, like he had seen her somewhere before.

"Sorry about that," he said, injecting sheepish apology into his voice. "I'm not usually that clumsy. I guess I'm lucky there's a lovely lady around to break my fall." Seriously, she hadn't even staggered a little under the force of his weight, which was a little emasculating. He wished he had his Bat gear on him, so he could have slipped a tracer on her when he stumbled against her. "Allow me to buy you a cup of coffee to make it up to you?" He really needed to find out who this woman was and why she seemed to have been following him. He wouldn't mind finding out a little more about her...such as why she'd been completely unmoved (quite literally, in fact) by him.

TAG: Wonder Woman

[Sana]

The man in the sunglasses offered her another sheepish grin as he waited for her response.

Out of habit, Diana took a step back and accessed him silently; her stance very much one of a warrior observing a probable opponent on the field. A quick glance told her that he was a tourist; or, at the very least, he was attempting to look like a casual tourist. When he’d adjusted his sunglasses, she hadn’t missed the way he’d very carefully touched one section of the frame. A camera maybe? Or some sort of weapon?

His light blue linen shirt was wrinkled and mussed – a little too wrinkled and mussed. The khaki shorts looked like they’d seen better days. Her eyes strayed down his feet and she was amused to see that he was wearing very expensive running shoes – something that was at odds with the casual attire he sported. All around them, people were wearing leather sandals, but he looked like he was ready to go for a sprint at any moment.

Diana had seen him loitering around Libya when Steve and she had been there. Was he CIA? Diana imagined he was – that agency was always stumbling into her division’s investigations. Chances were that she’d have to contact Jason and let him know that he needed to contact the other team and let them know that this was COGNOS territory.

“How about that coffee?” The man asked again, this time with a bit of a frown. Clearly, he wasn’t used to waiting for a woman to respond to him.

Letting out a bit of a sigh, Diana offered him a bit of a smile. “Yes, coffee sounds fine.”

Chances were high that he didn’t know anything, but she was a good agent and didn’t leave any stone unturned. If he had been investigating the same anomalies she’d been for the past few days, he might have picked up something that she and Trevor had missed. It was unlikely but possible, so she should interrogate him just in case.

Diana followed him to the closest outdoor café and they sat down in a crowded area, managing to find a small table that could barely fit the two of them. When they sat down, they were so close that she could hear the strong beat of his heart.

After they’d been served their piping hot espresso in tiny sized cups, she turned to face him. “So, what’s your name?”

“Gary Stewart,” he responded, with an easy smile. His eyes were still hidden by the dark sunglasses so she couldn’t tell if the smile reached his eyes. “And what’s yours?”

Diana didn’t respond. Instead, she reached out and took off his sunglasses. A glance at them confirmed her suspicions. There was a camera installed in them. With a decisive snap of her fingers, she broke them in half. “I don’t like having my picture taken without permission,” she said, by way of explanation.

Then, Diana looked his way to see him looking at her with an odd expression on his face; strangely, he didn’t look angry or even that surprised. He appeared to be – for want of another word – a bit amused.

<<< TAG: Bruce Wayne >>>

[Jade4813]

OOC: By the way, "Gary Stewart" was just for you, hon. I thought you'd like that.

Bruce was, in fact, amused by Diana's straight-forward method of preventing him from getting her picture. Well, at least he could be reasonably assured that she wasn't an undercover spy. If she WAS, she was definitely the worst undercover spy he'd ever seen. First, she was entirely too beautiful to be forgotten or to pass unnoticed, and second, she was too open about her observations. A spy would have found a way to break the camera without being so obvious that it had been noticed or straight-forward about breaking it to destoy the picture that was taken.

If Bruce were capable of being charmed, he would have found her forthright nature charming. And a little annoying. Okay, more than a little annoying, possibly. Either way, he supposed it was fortunate that Alfred decreed him incapable of anything as akin to "joy" as charm, anyway.

What he definitely would have found charming was her obvious reluctance - even distaste - at the idea of taking him up on his offer for a cup of coffee. As obnoxious and tiresome as he often found his need to maintain the Bruce Wayne persona, it was a fact that few people refused Bruce that sort of personal request. Fewer still agreed with such obvious distaste in doing so; even if they wanted to refuse Bruce, they usually carefully hid it. Perhaps he was a glutton for punishment, but there was a simple joy to be found in the honesty of her reaction to his offer.

Of course, he reminded himself, she didn't know who he was. Or, rather, she didn't know the identity of his public persona, the mask he sadly had to maintain.

"Fair enough," he conceded unperturbably, slipping the broken remanant of his sunglasses into his pocket. Whether or not they'd be able to retrieve the image, which he had to admit was unlikely, he tried to prevent his technology falling into the wrong hands. Besides, if there was an image that could be retrieved, he didn't want to run the risk of the wrong people doing so.

Not that he had an idea who the wrong or right people were, as of yet. He still had yet to figure out the nature of the anomoly he was investigating.

She had been forthright with him; the only question was whether he shoud reciprocate. It would be so much easier if he were Batman. As Batman, he could be as blunt as he liked. He was almost tempted to act like Batman, anyway, but she had seen his face. As unlikely as the connection would be, if she DID connect him with Batman...well, that would be dangerous, particularly if she later realized he was secretly Bruce Wayne.

"You still haven't given me your name," he pointed out as he considered the woman in front of him, as if she were a puzzle he was trying to put together. He couldn't shake the feeling that she looked familiar, and not just because he'd seen her before in Libya. Of course, that wasn't a fact he could easily ignore. But the feeling that he should recognize her nagged at him, driving him insane.

"You look familiar," he said slowly, almost reluctantly, since he wasn't entirely sure it was a good idea to show even that much of his hand. "You're not a movie star, by any chance, are you?" Not likely, since he had little interest in movies or their stars and would be unlikely to recognize one if she appeared in front of him.

She at least didn't seem to recognize him, so she probably wasn't one of the endless, faceless women "Bruce" occasionally took out as part of the (boring) charade. That at least brought a bit of peace of mind.

He considered asking her what she was doing in Libya and Egypt, but he wasn't ready to reveal that he'd noticed her - or admit that he'd been there - just yet. If she hadn't noticed him before, he would be foolish to call her attention to his travels. If she had noticed him, it would reveal too much for him to so readily admit that he had noticed her.

It would be easier if he knew who she was. She wasn't a movie star, he had little doubt about that. She was entirely too strong, for one thing. Uncannily strong, even. She was, however, fit and well built; she obviously stayed in shape. Hell, she had a face and physique most women would kill for and many couldn't achieve after numerous plastic surgeries. Her muscle tone and powers of observation would lead him to believe she was government trained - CIA, perhaps - except that she was a little too straight-forward and blunt. Which led him back to his initial impression of her: she either wasn't a government secret agent, or she was the worst government secret agent to have ever been allowed into the field.

If she was a government agent, then who was she working for? Was she trying to track the same anomoly he was investigating. And if she wasn't a government agent, what was she doing in Libya and Egypt?

He leaned back and slumped into a casual posture that belied his ability to move quickly if necessary. "And what brings you to Egypt?" he asked mildly, taking a sip of his coffee as he watched her carefully. Over her shoulder, he waw some police officers walk past, and he watched them out of the corner of his eye until they moved out of sight. He wasn't terribly concerned about them, since it was almost ludicrously unlikely that they would have any reason to associate him with Batman. However, he hadn't survived this long by taking anything for granted.

Then, pretending to take interest in the bustling outdoor atmosphere, he scanned the area again, checking possible points of escape, noting possible obstacles that might either help or hinder him, should it be necessary to take flight.

It seemed he could even relax enough to simply enjoy a cup of cofee, begrudgingly accepted by a reluctant but beautiful woman, under false pretenses and an assumed name, as "normal" people could. (Was that something normal people really did, on a regular basis? He was pretty sure they did in Gotham, but he was also reasonably certain that Gothamites had grown accustomed to things working differently in Gotham than they did in the rest of the world.) It was all in a day's work.

<<TAG: Diana>>

[Sana]

Rolling her eyes a bit, Diana shook her head slightly. “I think you know why I’m here,” she told him, attempting to mask her impatience. “I’m here for an investigation.”

Gary had been leaning back in an affected slouch, but her words made him sit up.

Without waiting for an answer, she continued. “My name is Diane Prince. Agent Diana Prince. FBI.”

A quick glance at him showed her that he was a bit surprised at her frankness. However, she couldn’t tell if he had already known who she was or if he was merely playing along. “You might as well tell me what agency you’re from. I saw you in Libya. I’m assuming Gary Stewart isn’t your name and that you’re looking into the same things I’m looking into.”

At that, the man became very still. Diana waited for him to respond. After a few seconds ticked by (by her count, about fifteen of his heartbeats) she arrived at the conclusion that no answers would be forthcoming. It didn’t matter anyway. She’d go back to DC and have Jason look into the man’s story.

With an impatient sigh, Diana got up. “Listen, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that the COGNOS division is in charge of this investigation. I don’t know if you’re with the Agency or the Bureau – or maybe even you’re working on your own. In any case, I’m sure our paths won’t cross again.”

As she started to walk away, she realized she’d been a little abrupt and probably came across as being rude and arrogant. Steve was always warning her that she came across that way at times and that mortals in man’s world were a little more accustomed to inane pleasantries when it came to conversations. With that thought in mind, she turned back around to say, “Thank you for the coffee. It was lovely.”

The man blinked at that and then the corner of his mouth lifted in a slight smile. “You’re welcome. Agent Prince.”

He appeared satisfied with her politeness, so Diana nodded and started to turn away. His voice stopped her.

“One thing, Agent Prince.”

Diana looked back at him quizzically.

“I’m sure our paths will cross again.”

Diana raised a brow. “Oh? Why do you say that?”

“Because I’ll make sure of it.”

Before she could respond, he gave her a sardonic nod, stood up and walked away, blending effortlessly in the crowd around them. Within seconds, she’d lost sight of him.

Looking down at the table, she saw that he’d taken the sunglasses with him – along with the cup that she’d used. Looking for DNA and fingerprints, perhaps? Shaking her head slightly, she wondered out loud, “Who are you really?”

For continuation of Diana's story, go to aonceandfuturething.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=fbi&action=display&thread=55 :