Chapter 116: The Butler Did It (Sort of)

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"Stress makes you bald, but it's stressful to avoid stress, so you end up stressed out anyway. In the end, there's nothing you can do."

- Gintoki Sakata, (Gin Tama) 

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<{Wayne Vista Grand Hotel}>

<(Omniscient POV)>

"Stop stressing, Pennyworth. If you continue to worry like that, you'll even lose the rest of your grey hair from that thinning scalp of yours." Leslie Thompkins sternly reprimanded Alfred while trying to give him a relaxing back massage, something she was quite good at due to being a professional doctor.

She was a woman in her late forties, set to enter her fifties soon, although the only thing reminiscent of her age was her silver-colored hair because just like Alfred, she too was extremely well-maintained with a body that could even compete with Alfred's muscular physique in terms of fitness.

[{(Image of Leslie Thompkins from Discord)}]

"But you don't understand Ms. Thompson. Young Master Bruce always picks up the phone of those he considers his family. Even if he is unable to answer immediately for some reason, he always calls back. But it has been more than a day and there is still no news from him. At least, Cortana should have given us some information, but she just disappeared after telling us that something important came up and Young Master had to leave all of a sudden.

Even then, I would have believed her, had she not increased our security level for no reason at all. She didn't even allow the girls to contact Master Bruce, which is unlike her. Also, when I asked the guards and maids back at the manor as well as the officials at the Gotham airport about Young Master, they all confirmed that he had already left in his private jet for Greece to meet up with us. Suddenly changing his destination mid-flight without informing us first is just too suspicious for me to ignore." Alfred voiced the reasoning behind his worries after his body began to relax at the massage.

"I agree, maybe it is slightly suspicious. But you have to understand that Bruce isn't a kid anymore. He is one of the biggest businessmen in the world. You cannot baby him all the time, no matter how worried you are about him. He is a responsible young man who can more than take care of himself. So, just trust in him and wait for him to come back. As for that AI of his, I know her recent actions are slightly suspicious but you yourself once said that she is one of the most trustworthy individuals that has ever worked for Bruce. I am sure that whatever she is doing has a valid reason behind it." Leslie tried to calm the worried butler down with her reasoning.

"Also, is that truly the only reason you are so stressed? Are you sure that this has nothing to do with the news you recently received from your... ex? The reason why you even insisted on coming to Europe for a vacation? Maybe instead of being worried about something happening to Bruce, you are actually worried about what he would think of you when he finds out about your past?" Leslie tried her best to understand Alfred's current thoughts to better comfort him about his worries.

"That's not... *Sigh* You are right, I shouldn't deny it anymore. I probably am a little worried about what the Young Master would think of me when he learns that the person who has been raising him all these years, has a daughter he didn't even know about. The man whom the Wayne couple trusted their son with, could not even raise his own daughter... All these years, I thought that I had accomplished so much Leslie, but today, I feel like I am the biggest failure there is." Alfred accepted with a pained expression on his face that clearly reflected his broken heart.

"But it isn't your fault. How are you supposed to know that she even existed when her mother kept this a secret from you all those years? You said she was a one-time fling. You didn't even meet her after that. If a romantic person like you didn't even try to track that person down again, then that means you probably lost her location, right? If she didn't want you in her life, then it's her fault that you were not present, not yours." Leslie still tried her best to defend him.

"Not exactly. I never lost her address; I don't think it's even possible to lose the address of the place where she lives. I just never went back because... I was afraid the situation would become too complicated. But I should have guessed that there was a chance she could become pregnant and that she would try to hide the baby because of her unique identity. Well, at least, she didn't abort it." Alfred accepted the real truth of the situation.

Leslie didn't know how to respond to that. Even though she was slightly sad about the fact that her new 'boyfriend' had a daughter from a past one-night stand, she still didn't want to come up as an insensitive or unsupportive woman, especially since she knew that the kind Englishman wasn't even to blame for it. She was young once too and she herself regretted a lot of the decisions she had taken at that time including the incredibly stupid decision to not be there with Bruce and Alfred every step of the way after the senior Wayne couple died.

Leslie knew how to read people accurately and it was very clear to her that Alfred truly regretted not being able to be there for the child he had recently come to know about, so there was no reason for her not to try and support him. "At least, tell me who your ex is. Maybe we can all sit down and figure things out together. Also, how old is your daughter? I think you should at least have a talk with her before we decide how to go forward with this." Leslie advised what she thought would be the wisest and most mature decision of all.

"My so-called ex... She is... the Queen of England. As for my daughter, I don't know any actual details about her. Elizabeth made sure not to mention any of her information except her gender in the letter she wrote to me, probably afraid that she could be targeted by the other members of the royal family... or maybe because she is ashamed of her birth. But if I had to guess, I would say that she had probably sent our daughter to some royal boarding school for spies and secret agents since she was not grooming her as a direct member of the royal family. I remember she once told me that she would have liked to become a secret agent herself if she were not the Queen." Alfred said with a serious face after thinking for a while.

"..."

"..."

"Hey guys, did you find anything about Tige... Bruce? Everyone is using their contacts, but we can't even find a single trace of his plane except the fact that he had already boarded his private jet and was headed towards Greece. I know he is more than capable enough but... wait, what's happening here? Why do you two look like you are discussing divorce despite not even being married?" Selina who had abruptly entered the room without even knocking paused in her steps as she looked at her father figure sitting there with an innocent face while Leslie looked like she could not decide between killing the man and praising him.

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<[Three hours after Bruce Wayne went missing somewhere over the Mediterranean Sea]>

<{Batcave under Wayne Manor, Gotham}>

<(Omniscient POV)>

Dozens of Cortana's holograms could be seen working diligently on a multitude of projects around the cave while almost every computer in the cave was running at full efficiency.

Cortana had been repeatedly trying to establish a connection with the lost jet, Bruce's bracelet, and his nanobots but anything she was trying was constantly ending up in failure. All her efforts to track the plane or Bruce's current location were useless.

Cortana didn't want to admit it but for the first time in her life, she was powerless and thus "panicking".

Bruce had a ton of contingency plans in case situations like this ever arose. For example, the Judgment Day plan was supposed to be enacted if the lives of Bruce and his "family" were in serious danger because of the government. There was the Genesis plan if he for some reason became a psycho, hell-bent on killing everybody. Then there was the Rebirth plan if he were ever to be possessed by any demonic entity or evil god. There were hundreds of plans for her to choose from but unfortunately for Cortana, he never made a contingency plan where he was lost at sea or... dead. So, she was completely on her own.

Cortana had no idea if Bruce was even still alive. He was not just her master but her entire purpose. She existed solely to serve him. So, she HAD to find Bruce and bring him back alive, for both of their sakes. It was what her very purpose was, what she was made for. Of course, that was easier said than done. Despite scanning the area where Bruce's jet was last located before the storm dozens of times by almost every type of analysis method available, she had discovered nothing new.

It's like something supernatural was stopping her from finding him. Of course, she had instantly thought of getting help from the experts in the field for this, but she couldn't find an expert and convince them to work for her in such a short time. After all, the only two magical experts Bruce knew were currently not even in the US. Cortana had searched for the father-daughter duo all over the world using every internet-accessible camera and satellite she could connect to, but she came up with absolutely nothing.

So, the only choice she had was to wait for the nanobots in Bruce's body to come online and connect to the main server. His nanobots also had a mini clone of hers installed in them which worked even without any sort of network connection. The mini clone was not the real her, but just a "lite" version of her who could do certain tasks for Bruce. Its primary purpose, however, was not to be an assistant for Bruce but to help the real Cortana connect with Bruce when the nanobots would again go online. Cortana would be able to sync with this lite version of hers to get access to all the recorded data of her clone.

The AI assistant knew that she would be getting Bruce's location sooner or later, but she wanted to be prepared when it happened. Initially, she had planned on implementing the strategy she had herself devised in case Bruce was ever killed or his life ever seriously threatened, a strategy she had named Project Failsafe, a project that even Bruce wasn't completely aware of its details.

Failsafe was designed for vengeance, something Cortana had been working on for years as her own pet project after Bruce donated the Kryptonian woman's dead body to her, but she hadn't been able to perfect it yet. She could have asked Bruce for help, but she didn't want to since this was supposed to be her gift for him. She still needed about a year or two to truly perfect the weapon.

So, right now, all she could do to prepare was just make more drones while printing more and more nanobots until she could track his signal. She was making an army for Bruce and...

[Signal Detected: Target confirmed as Master Bruce Wayne!]

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(A/N: I forgot to explain how Hera is a virgin in the last chapter... Well, she is not. According to some myths, Hera regains her purity once every year by bathing in some mythical fountain to please her husband, Zeus. This festival is held on the same day and celebrates Hera when she is at her purest.)

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