Getting into the swank party at the Mountain View Waynetech office had been relatively easy, avoiding Bruce Wayne on the other hand was a different matter entirely. Despite being on the arm of half the city's single female socialites Bruce somehow managed to be everywhere at once. Brian understood that the tickets were a personal invite from the Waynetech CEO himself but he wasn't interested in providing the additional press coverage Mr. Wayne was looking for. Brian did his best to be friendly but he could only smile his awkward smile and pose his awkward pose so many times before frustration finally began to take over. Bruce must have finally sensed Brian's anger growing because he finally backed off and let Brian fade into the crowd where he belonged. Brian was grateful for the respite, after all he needed time to process what the hell was going on.
Even though Batman was headquartered on the east coast in Gotham he was still well known even in the San Francisco bay area. Press coverage knows no distance after all. Hell, Brian wouldn't have been the least bit surprised to see aliens land on the White House lawn and instead of saying; "Take me to your leader" saying: "Take me to Batman." Rumors abounded on the west coast and some people even claimed to have seen the Bat flying over the city. It always a hoax of course, Batman's heart truly was for the city of Gotham but what with all the budget cuts to emergency services in California the people were becoming no less desperate for a hero. Brian couldn't help but wonder if the hoaxes and the copycats weren't really a plea from the people to the Bat. "Come save us." Now that Batman was really here, was that plea about to answered? Was Brian somehow supposed to be a part of that answer? If that was the case then where was Batman? Why did he and Bruce lure Brian to this stupid party?
"Mr. Grissim?" a deep voice with a faint British accent broke Brian's reverie.
"Huh? Uh, yeah. Call me Brian please." Brian turned around and saw a mountain of a man standing behind him. Despite the man's impeccable (and most likely extremely expensive) suit he was quite intimidating.
"My name is Alfred Pennyworth, Bruce Wayne asked me to collect you for the private after party." Alfred announced quietly.
"Collect me?" Brian reacted.
"It is a figure of speech sir, I apologize for any offense." Alfred bowed slightly.
"No, no its okay. I'm sorry but I'm a little on edge. I'm not used to this kind of atmosphere." Brian held out his hand for Alfred to shake. "Its nice to meet you." Alfred returned the gestured and smiled.
"Likewise sir. Now if you could please follow me."
Alfred led Brian through a small maze of hallways into a back room that was empty save for a couple of desks and half assembled computers. Boxes filled with various components littered the floor and made it difficult to find a place to stand. Only one broken chair was in the room and looked quite uncomfortable.
"I apologize for the sub-standard accommodations sir but if you could please wait here, Mr Wayne will be with you shortly." Alfred bowed and left without waiting for Brian to respond.
"He's holding one strange party." Brian shook his head. At first he just leaned against a desk and waited but eventually curiosity got the best of him and he started digging through the open boxes. He was shocked to see that the boxes held a lot more than simple desktop components.
"What the..? Is this a gas mask? This looks like armor, and these goggles. What is all this stuff?" Brian began talking out loud.
"Do you like it?" Batman spoke from the open door.
"Who the hell are you?" Brian stood up in shock.
"A friend." Batman lifted his mask and Brian almost fainted. It was Bruce Wayne!
"You!" was all Brian could think to say.
"I'm sorry for the deception and the runaround but I had to make sure you could be trusted." Bruce told him.
"Y-you're. Batman?" Brian stammered his brain practically in shut down mode.
"I was doing some background on you. Ex-Navy engineer, kicked out as an anthrax vaccine refuser, auto mechanic, auto performance enthusiast. You've got a great resume of mechanical skills but what I find most impressive is that you are largely self taught." Bruce Wayne put his mask back on.
"Hey wait a minute. What's with all the stuff? is that for me? Is that why you left me in here?"
"Follow me." Batman asked him. Brian ran into the hallway and followed Bruce. Bruce didn't seem to be in any hurry but walked with a purpose.
"The gear is all yours if you join me. Feel free to change it to your liking, I designed it to be customizable."
Brian ran in front of Batman and stopped him in his tracks.
"Hang on, hang on, hang on! Look I know you're Batman and all but I'm not. I can't just strap on fancy gadgets and go fighting crime." Brian began to shout more confused and agitated than ever.
"Let me get this straight. You can't wear my armor and fight crime with my gadgets but you can wear a ski mask and fight crime with a torque wrench and frisbees?" Batman crossed his arms over his huge chest.
"Touche." Brian looked at the floor. Batman walked past him down the hallway without saying anything else.
Brian followed Batman down the hallway until he opened up a hidden door built into a false wall. There wasn't a whole lot of room in the opening behind it and most of that was taken up with a small bank of monitors but there were two very comfortable looking chairs. Batman sat in one and Brian sat in the other.
"Your city is hurting. Its not as bad as Gotham but it will be if something isn't done." Batman faced Brian and waved at the monitors. Various CCTV camera angles showed replays of crimes being committed throughout San Jose.
"The police had their budget slashed. The vice squad got it the worst, the burglary department is now only manned by one person. Petty crime has been basically ignored." Brian shook his head. "I bet you've done more for Gotham in the last six weeks than the SJPD has been able to do for San Jose in the last six years."
"And then this happened." Batman punched a few buttons under one of the monitors and a masked figure was shown on all the monitors. It didn't take long for Brian to recognize himself during his daring rescue of the 13 girls that had been kidnapped as sex slaves.
"Yeah. That happened." Brian looked at Batman. "I was so frustrated. The police did nothing. They couldn't do anything, they knew where my daughter was but they couldn't send anyone after her. Said they didn't have the manpower and that other crimes were higher priority. I couldn't just let those animals have my little girl. I didn't care what it took, I was going to get her out."
Brian stood up and started to pace around the small space.
"You want to know what? When I found my daughter I was ready to bolt, all I cared about was keeping her safe and getting the hell out of there as fast as possible. 'Daddy wait.' she said. 'We have to save my friends.' she said. Her friends. She didn't know most of their names but she considered all of those other girls her friends." Brian chuckled softly. "You a family man?"
"Yes and no." Batman replied.
"You could learn a lot from your kids." Brian sat down again smiling. "I'm so proud of her Batman, she begged me to save those other girls even though she knew she may never see freedom again if we tried."
"The same could be said for you. You risked everything, your family, your freedom and your life for what you knew was right. 13 little girls got see their families again thanks to what you did. That's why I came to you.
"The city already knows you're a hero. I just need you to realize it yourself. Come on Brian, is it really so hard for you to believe that you have what it takes to make a difference in this city? How many more little girls will be able to see their families again if you just take up the cause? Join Batman Incorporated." Batman held out his hand for Brian to shake.
"When you put it like that how can I refuse?" Brian shook Batman's hand.