Bruce drove the van toward the GCPD, trying to reach the police station before Gordon walked into trouble. He pushed the upper edge of the speed limit, attempting to reach his destination without risking a delay due to a speeding ticket.

Turning into the parking garage, Bruce found a spot and left the van as he raced inside. He climbed the steps two at a time. When he reached the second floor where Gordon had his office, Bruce pulled open the door and darted inside.

The wood floor of the police station was crowded with more desks than it could comfortably hold, constricting the walkways and creating choke points in the flow of foot traffic. Equally cluttered to the floor plan were the desks, stacked high with papers and bulging folders of police files threatening to topple over if someone walked to close. Hanging fixtures added to the light coming in through the tall windows surrounding the wide and square room on all sides. Situated along the upper perimeter of the room, almost hiding in the darkness above the lights, were eagle shaped gargoyles extending outward from the walls.

Bruce barely glanced at the design of the room because he was more concerned with finding Gordon. He spotted the Lieutenant emerging from the elevator at the other end of the room. Navigating his way between the crowded desks and the numerous officers blocking the narrow walkways, Bruce approached Gordon.

"I wasn't expecting to see you here," Gordon said when Bruce suddenly appeared from around one of the pillars supporting the high ceiling. "Something up?"

"I missed something," Bruce told him, keeping his voice low to avoid anyone nearby overhearing their conversation. "I had you looking into Fairbanks to see if he had anyone on the take inside the GCPD, but I'd failed to consider the possibility of a partner who might."

"I appreciate you bringing this to me, but I thought of it," Gordon admitted. "I didn't get to be a Lieutenant because of my good looks. Fairbanks did have a partner, and I just now presented the evidence to the Chief of Detectives; we'll be scooping up the partner too."

Bruce felt relieved but also stupid for not expecting Gordon to have figured it out beforehand.

"I'm sorry I bothered you over nothing," Bruce apologized.

"Hey, Kid," Gordon said. "You did great work on this. I appreciate you having my back and checking in to make sure all the angles are covered. This thing could have gone sideways in a host of different ways, and it's nice to have someone I can rely on."

"Anytime, Lieutenant," Bruce replied, feeling marginally better.

"Call me Jim," Gordon suggested with a smile.

                                                                                            ***

Bruce drove away from the police station with the intention of completing his earlier errands. The sun was half hidden behind the western horizon, and he needed to hurry if he was going to reach the stores before they closed. He took a few moments to call Alfred and tell him what had occurred. Alfred was relieved nothing had befallen their friend in the police.

Despite Gordon not actually being in danger, Bruce was still angry at himself for missing the potential hazard. His mind repeated the events over and over again in his thoughts, obsessing on his mistake. There was no excuse for such carelessness. He had to be more diligent in the future. One day he would miss something, no one would be there to catch it, and someone would die because of it. Bruce refused to accept such an eventuality. He forcefully determined to be more careful in all his work. Bruce needed contingencies in place for all possibilities and every situation that might occur, no matter how farfetched. If people did come to harm, it wouldn't be because of his mistakes.

                                                                                             ***

The van eased to a stop in front of Wayne Manor. Bruce turned off the lights and climbed out, shutting the door with a soft thump.

"Welcome home, Master Bruce," Alfred greeted as he exited the front door. "The emergency lights and generators have arrived. I had them placed in the garage for the time being. Do you want to start putting them in the cave tonight or wait for the dawn?"

"Getting the equipment inside the cave will be challenging enough in daylight," Bruce decided. He'd moved too fast against Fairbanks and had almost made a fatal error. Since he refused to make such mistakes again, Bruce decided a more cautious and planned out approach would serve him better. He knew there would be times when quick action was called for, but if slowing down and proceeding carefully was available, Bruce decided to make it his first choice. "We'll wait for morning."

"Very well, Master Bruce," Alfred accepted. "Shall I help you with your things?"

Bruce nodded, opening the back of the van and digging out the purchased items he'd brought back with him. A few supplies, such as the steel struts he'd picked up for building the support structure inside the bat cave, were too large for being put in either bags or boxes at the store and had been stacked on the floor of the van instead. With Alfred's help, Bruce was able to transfer everything he'd bought into the spacious garage where they organized it for tomorrow's endeavors.

                                                                                            ***

Despite working into the night getting everything put away and prepared for construction, Bruce still woke up in the early morning hours, eagerly looking forward to making some progress on the construction in the cave. Alfred had anticipated Bruce's attitude and had breakfast already prepared when Bruce came down the stairs from his room. Bruce accepted the meal, eating it at a speed slow enough to enjoy it while not delaying his intended work for the day.

After breakfast, Bruce helped Alfred clear away the dishes before they both headed for the garage. They used a four wheeled cart they already had in storage to pile the basic supplies for transport to the edge of the cliff where Bruce would be lowering it down into the cave. The wheels on the cart were large enough to compensate for the soft terrain of the back lawn, letting them keep moving and avoid getting stuck.

One of the primary pieces of equipment they'd brought along was a motorized winch. The parts they intended to move were heavy in large quantities, and the winch could carry the weight much easier than Bruce and Alfred combined. Bruce had decided on the motorized winch rather than a manual one because he didn't want either Alfred or himself getting exhausted moving things when their energy would be required more in putting it together and securing it in place down below.

They made several trips from the garage until everything had been moved to the cliff. They bundled the parts and equipment, rearranging them to prioritize the items and determine the order in which they should be moved to the cave.

As he had done before, Bruce descended down the side of the rock face until he reached the crevice opening into the cave. Tied to his belt was a second rope. The opposing end of the rope was attached to the first bundle of supplies. Although the lights and tools would be lowered by the winch, Bruce needed a way to swing them inside in order to reach the interior ledge where he could off load them. The rope he carried would allow him enough of a pull to navigate the bundle into position. He swung into the cave and landed on a ledge. The outcropping of stone was wide enough to stand on near the entrance, but its width increased further in.

"I'm in," Bruce announced into the mic clipped to his collar.

"Very good, Sir," Alfred replied from Bruce's earpiece. "I'll lower the first bundle."

Even inside the cave, Bruce heard the gas powered motor start up. The winch gradually lowered a tied collection of tools and emergency lights. The tall tripods for supporting the lights were strapped on the side of the bundle with their legs folded flat.

As soon as the winch had lowered the bundle far enough to reach the crevice, Bruce began pulling on the rope tied to his belt. He didn't loosen the knot on his belt as he wanted an extra precaution in case he lost his footing. The winch could easily hold his weight in addition to the supplies if he slipped or was pulled off the ledge.

Alfred was waiting for Bruce's command to stop, and until he gave it, the winch continued adding more slack to the rope, lowering the equipment to the resting place Bruce designated.

"That's good," Bruce said, and the winch immediately stopped. "Give me a foot of slack to untie it."

Alfred reactivated the winch and let out more rope for Bruce to start working on the steel hooks and clips holding everything together. He unsecured the rope connecting him to the bundle first, tying it to a large outcropping of stone to serve as an anchor. Because he was about to release the bundle from the main line, he couldn't use the bundle any longer to keep him from falling into the depths if he made a misstep.

Bruce detached the main rope and freed the bundle. He called Alfred to let him know.

"Rope is loose," he reported. "You can pull it back up."

Alfred turned on the winch again, retracting the rope and preparing to send down the next load.

Bruce began working with the supplies he'd already brought in. Pulling apart the bundle, he extracted the tripods and folded out the three legs on each before moving around the cave to set them up. He attached the lights to the top of each tripod and strung cables between the lights and the open space where he intended the generator to be placed when Alfred sent it down next.

A bag from the middle of the bundle contained climbing gear, a pair of battery powered drills, and a collection of masonry bits for drilling into the rock. He wanted the lights working before he started climbing around since attempting to do so in the dark was asking for a broken leg or worse, so he set the bag aside where it would be out of the way.

Heading back to the crevice, Bruce climbed out of the cave and hung in front of the opening in order to take hold of the new guide rope and pull the generator inside as he'd done with the first bundle. While waiting, he had time to consider what he and Alfred were attempting to do here. Bruce had known overhauling the cave with only Alfred's help would be a major undertaking, but as the work commenced, it seemed larger than he'd first estimated. The size of the obstacle did nothing to dissuade him. Bruce understood his mission of cleaning up Gotham would be a monumental task, perhaps beyond even his abilities, so he looked to the cave renovation as a challenge. If he could overcome this, his plans to save Gotham would be one step closer to possible.