Bruce eventually used his cell phone to call Alfred and arrange a meeting at a small cafe where Bruce stopped in for a sandwich. While waiting for the police to clear out of the hotel, he'd missed lunch.

"If I had known about your current state of attire, I would have brought you a clean set to change into, Master Bruce," Alfred said as Bruce climbed into the passenger seat of the glossy black, four door car.

"Sorry, Alfred," Bruce apologized. "I had a lot on my mind, and I didn't really think about it."

"I'm almost afraid to ask how your time with the police went," Alfred mentioned, driving back toward the house.

"There were unexpected developments," Bruce explained. "I went with Gordon to catch a fugitive, but we also ran into a bribe taking judge and a cop who is either covering up for a murderer, or he is one himself."

"Oh dear," Alfred lamented. "Sounds rather dreadful. What are your plans?"

"I'm still thinking about it," Bruce admitted. "I have the gun the killer used, but if whoever is behind all of this can bribe judges, how easy would it be to get to someone working in the police evidence room? A few bills handed over, and the gun vanishes."

"I can see how it would present a problem," Alfred admitted.

"There's more," Bruce informed him. "If there are killer cops in the GCPD, will any of them go after Gordon if he has incriminating evidence on them?"

"Police officers don't have the safest of professions," Alfred replied. "Staging a murder to look like a line of duty shooting might be very easy for them to arrange, and it would prevent any further investigations."

"I don't think we can involve Gordon in this, not yet," Bruce concluded. "I'm fairly certain an armed robbery and our recently captured fugitive are at the center of all this. I need more information to discover anyone else who may have been a part of it before we move against them. If the net drops too soon, some might escape or retaliate."

"The police files might have the information you seek," Alfred pointed out.

"I can't ask Gordon for the files," Bruce denied. "Firstly, he's not allowed to give police files to civilians. Secondly, if anyone is paying close attention, they might notice Gordon looking into the files and think he knows too much. No, Alfred. I'll have to get the files myself."

"I hate to ask, but how exactly do you intend to get them, Master Bruce?" Alfred questioned.

"The GCPD updated its record keeping methods some time back. They now have both paper and digital copies," Bruce explained.

"I don't like where this is going," Alfred commented.

"Sneaking into the police station to appropriate files isn't my idea of the best option either," Bruce admitted. "However, I don't see a better choice. Hopefully, I can get in and out unseen."

"If you wish to avoid notice, I might suggest a less fragrant attire, Master Bruce," Alfred offered in reference to the clothes Bruce had been wearing while squatting in garbage all morning.

Bruce grinned slightly, rolling down his window and allowing some fresh air into the car. "Good idea, Alfred."

                                                                                              ***

Bruce had Alfred drop him off at Wayne Manor before sending his butler to pick up a few things Bruce would need for his unorthodox visit to the police station.

Standing out front of his home, Bruce looked up at the tall and imposing building. The palatial residence, situated atop a hill overlooking the ocean, resembled a castle more than a place to live. Square towers at the corners of the building, gargoyles perched on every eave, and the sharply angled or conical roofs made the stone structure appear as a brooding fortress of ancient times. Bruce considered his plan to help Gotham against the criminals besieging it. This house would become his base of operations for the foreseeable future, so the resemblance to an ancient fortification was fitting.

Opening the front door, Bruce stepped into the entryway and looked around. It felt familiar but also old and nearly forgotten. He'd spent a year traveling with Giovanni and his family of magicians. Two more years had vanished during his training in Japan. After three years being absent, the house felt both the same and different than he remembered it.

The foyer was open to the upper floors with its vaulting ceiling accommodating a massive chandelier in its center. The curving railing of polished wood on either side of the expansive stairway was covered in dust, but the furnishings had been draped in white sheets to protect them during the long absence of Bruce and Alfred, making the covered items look like ghosts.

Taking the right hand hallway, Bruce passed the library, armory, and a game room with several pool tables inside before reaching the dining room. The lights turned on when he flipped the wall switch, bathing the room in a warm glow. He dragged the sheet off the twenty foot long table dominating the center of the room, turning his head away so as to not breathe in the cloud of dust that blossomed from the covering fabric when it was dumped onto the floor. He repeated the process on the high backed chair at the head of the table.

Stepping out of the dining room momentarily, Bruce headed upstairs to his father's office, retrieving a pen and a legal pad. Returning to the dining room, he set both items on the table before taking a seat. Bruce could've made use of the upstairs office, but he still considered it as belonging to his father.

Writing a number one on the page and circling it, Bruce began laying out his plans in a more organized format. The first item on the list was creating a disguise to slip into the GCPD and gain access to their files. He needed to discover who was making the payoff to Judge Leeson; Bruce marked it as number two. Three designated Cunningham for investigation. In parenthesis underneath the notations for Leeson and Cunningham, Bruce wrote down surveillance, personal and electronic.

If he could identify the people involved in the original armed robbery Harris had been a part of, it could give him a better direction of who to look for in his investigations into corruption. Realizing he'd need to do the check of the armed robbery first, Bruce wrote it down and drew an arrow in the column to put it in the secondary position after getting access to the police files.

His list was a bit sloppy, but since he'd never done anything like this before, it didn't bother him much. He fully intended to rewrite it on a second sheet of paper once he was sure he had everything. Furthermore, he considered running it past Alfred as the butler's experience with British Intelligence would prove invaluable. Ultimately, it didn't matter how many times Bruce made and remade his list of plans while working out the flaws and improving tactics and the order of progression. It was only when Bruce put the plan into operation there would be no turning back or changing things; he be committed at that point. It was the reason behind everything needing to be worked out in advance; the plan had to be perfect with contingencies for every possible problem imaginable.

                                                                                            ***

Bruce had worked on his ideas and strategies for over an hour, a pile of wadded up papers growing increasingly larger on the table and on the floor around his chair. He stood up and stretched, his muscles sore from his time hunched over the table while working. Bruce decided his plan was as good as he could make it for the time being. He needed to shower and change before infiltrating the GCPD, so he headed upstairs to the bathroom. It was only when he turned on the faucet he realized Alfred had the water shut off when they'd departed for his training three years ago. The electricity had been reconnected, but the water was still unavailable. Shutting off the faucet, Bruce returned to the dining room and left Alfred a quick note explaining where he would be.

Finding a storage closet, Bruce dug through the items contained there until he found a bundle of rope and some climbing gear. Taking both with him, Bruce grabbed a towel on his way out the back door. Since Wayne Manor resided on a hill overlooking the ocean, he had an abundant source of water nearby if he could only reach it.

Tying the rope securely around a tree, Bruce also knotted the towel around his waist to keep from dropping it on the way down. He cast the excess rope over the cliff and began repelling down the side of the rock face. When he was two thirds of the way down, he noticed a rather sizable crevice in the native stone. Even with the bright light of late afternoon shining directly on it, the depths of the crevice refused to be revealed, staying black and mysterious in the unknown depths.

Bruce was curious, angling his descent and swinging into the crevice on his rope. He stayed close to the inside wall so he could see what was around with the light coming in from the opening behind him. Finding a rock ledge wide enough to stand on, Bruce unfastened from the rope, tying it to a large rock in order to be able to come back for it later. Keeping his back to the opening to the outside world, he peered into the dark and waited for his eyes to adjust. In a short time, the bare stone of a massive cave became slightly visible.

Bruce moved deeper into the cave, his footing careful to maintain balance at all times. Examining what he could see of the cave in the marginal light, Bruce had a strange thought. He needed a place to hide all his work, the criminal evidence he gathered, weapons, equipment, surveillance gear, disguises, and anything else he might require to help Gotham. It needed to be kept secret so no one could accidentally stumble upon it and inform the criminal scum he was pursuing. Secrecy was essential, not only to protect himself but also all those he cared for who would surely become targets to either force his compliance or punish his continuing efforts.

A bat sailed out of the darkness and flapped its leathery wings almost silently as it flew past him. He watched the animal depart the cave. Like the bat, this cave would become a haven for him, shielding him from outside threats. He needed to bring in a few things to make it habitable and useful for his purposes, and in his mind, he could already see how it would look and what items would go where. His plan to fight corruption and crime in Gotham would begin here in this bat cave.