Dianna's New Secret Life

After putting away her school bag and messing around on her computer, Anna gathered up some clothes and headed to the bathroom to take a quick shower. Anna itched to leave the house and explore the dark alley ways of Gotham, curious as to what Batman was up to that night. Unfortunately, Anna knew that if Alfred caught her sneaking off or if Bruce caught her following him she wouldn’t be getting any special training with Bruce this summer or next and pushed aside the urge and headed to bed. Quickly, Anna drifted off to sleep.

Anna was sound asleep, her face buried in her soft pillows, when her room was suddenly flooded with light. Thinking that she had left a light on, Anna pushed herself up with a groan not wanting to wake up. As she reached for her bed side lamp, she realized that Bruce was standing next to her bed clad in a completely black outfit.

“You ready?” Bruce asked.

“Wha…… wait………ugh I’m tired,” Anna complained rubbing her eyes as she tried to get her brain running again.

“Do you want to train or not?” Bruce asked, his arms crossed over his chest and a slight scowl etched on his face.

“Ha, I should be the cranky one, you just woke me up,” Anna smirked, “How long was I asleep?” Looking at the clock it was about three in the morning, so Anna guessed that she had probably been asleep for maybe only four and a half hours.

Bruce smiled slightly, “Sorry, but if you really want me to train you I can’t go easy on you. So, if you want to be trained get up and get ready. I’m leaving to the Wayne estate in fifteen minutes.” And with that Bruce walked out of the room, leaving a groggy Anna to get ready for her first round of training.

“So much for meeting him at the manor like his little note said,” Anna grumbled to herself as she changed into some of her gym clothes (black shorts, a grey muscle shirt, and a black workout jacket). Slipping her tennis shoe on Anna hurried to the awaiting elevators doors, where Alfred stood holding a long coat for her to put on. After a somewhat long car ride, Bruce and Anna arrived at Wayne estate. It was an eerie sight; the night was dark and filled with dark clouds that covered the sliver of the moon, and the mounds of burnt timber seemed to be radiating dark fog around them.

“Wait til you see the new Batcave,” Bruce said as he pulled the car to a stop. Climbing out into the muggy summer night, a chill ran down Anna’s spine, remembering the last time she had been here at the manor. Her home had been burning to the ground and she had been slowly bleeding to death as evil men tried to destroy every person that lived in Gotham city. Pushing aside the memory Anna followed Bruce to a hidden entrance to the Batcave. A narrow stairway led down to a room about the size of Anna’s bedroom, which was just big enough to place two regular sized cars.

“This is it?” Anna asked, for the ceiling was just large enough for Bruce to stand up comfortably, but still it felt slightly claustrophobic. Bruce just smiled and walked over to the far walk, ran his hand over a certain spot before the room began to vibrate with life and started sinking into the earth.

“This is only the elevator,” Bruce laughed. Anna just shook her head and stood still. As the elevator came to a stop, bright light became to snap on from the back, progressively making its way towards Bruce and Dianna. The room was huge, probably the size of a football field, if not even larger. At the very end, Anna saw what looked like a desk and a large standing case that held the Batman Armor in it. But as the lights neared her, something else caught her eye. In the middle of the room was a work out area, with a treadmill a small weight lifting machine, and other goodies. But the ones that caught her eye the most were the large polls stood up in the midst of all these things and a gymnastics area.

“Alfred mentioned to me the other day that when you had been younger you had taken a few gymnastics lessons,” Bruce said proudly as he walked forward. Anna smiled, remembering her childhood training. It had been so long since she had even remembered her gymnastics that she had almost completely forgotten that she had ever been daring. Back then heights weren’t her enemy, in fact, she loved the thrill of lunging herself onto a trampoline and launching herself as high into the air as possible. What had ever happened that had caused her to be so fearful?

“Anna?” she heard her dad say as he pulled her back to the present.

“Sorry, just remembering,” Anna said, “So where do I start?”

“Defense is first,” Bruce said as he led her over to some training mats.

“Okay, so what do I Woow-“ Anna was cut off as Bruce came at her with lightning speed. She had just enough time to dive to the side as Bruce’s fist went swinging through the air where her body had just been, “Holy crap. You’re crazy! What ever happened to a warning?!”

“Those men I chase around Gotham aren’t going to give you any heads up,” Bruce said coming at her again, “You’re just lucky I’m only using my fists and not guns.” For the next hour, Anna continued to dodge and attempt to block Bruce’s attacks. On occasion he’d stop and show her ways of deflecting and countering moves. Luckily for Anna she was a quick learner, and by about five o’clock Bruce called it quits. By this time Anna was exhausted and socking with sweat. Bruce was about in the same shape, but less sweaty than her as he was used to this kinda thing and had hardly broken into a full on sweat.

“Okay, time to head back home,” Bruce said shutting down the new and cool, high-tech Batcave. When they got back to their apartment in Gotham, Anna ran straight for the bathroom and took a cool shower and began to head off to her bedroom to sleep but was headed off by Alfred.

“You can’t go to sleep now Mistress Wayne, the day has only begun,” Alfred said, turning her around and sitting her down at a table with her breakfast already made.

“But Alfred, I was up all night,” Anna complained.

“You’re the one who wants to be a vigilante,” Alfred stated, “You’ll have to learn to live with as little sleep as possible.” And with that Alfred walked off. Anna groaned to herself as she knew Alfred wasn’t going to let her off the hook. He hadn’t been all too pleased about Bruce training her and this was his way of getting back at her.