Chapter 32:

Endings and Beginnings

Summary:

Everyone heads to Neptune (except Logan because, you know, the navy). But first, Bruce has something to show Veronica.

Superman leaves shortly after lunch. Veronica spends her afternoon with Logan; they end up in the manor library after a brisk walk through one of the manor's garden paths proves the outdoors too chilly for comfort.

They talk about Logan's navy career, and Veronica tells him about her plans to enroll in Gotham University, about Bruce wanting to keep her on retainer at Wayne Security.

"My dad doesn't know yet," she says. "But I think he gets it. And Bruce needs someone to call him on his bullshit as much as Lilly ever did, so I want to stick close, at least for a while. He doesn't have a lot of friends."

"I'd worry about you here in Gotham, though."

Veronica smirks. "Like you wouldn't worry about me in Neptune?"

He sighs. "You have a point."

"I also want to distance myself from Jake Kane. I'm supposed to meet with him next week to conclude our… business. But I think he's going to try to get me to stay on, and he can get pushy if he really wants something. So it'll be better for me and for my dad if I'm not there for him to put the screws to."

Logan scowls. "Why did you end up working for him anyway?"

"I messed with something he could help with, so I owed him. We're more than squared now, though."

"You're not going to tell me anything more than that, are you?"

"Nope."

"The more things change—"

She laughs. "I'm still me. Plus none of it is relevant to the present or the future. I just don't want to give him a chance to try anything. And I like Gotham."

Logan rolls his eyes. "Of course you like it. It's the city where you're most likely to run into trouble, and you're Veronica Mars, trouble magnet."

"I thought you said last night that I was a badass?"

"'Trouble magnet' and 'badass' are not exclusive states of existence."

"You'll come visit me, though? When you're on leave? Or I could come visit you."

"Just try and stop me."

Bruce treats them all to dinner that evening in some fancy restaurant. The press eats it up, and only a small army of personal security guys keeps the paparazzi at bay.

Logan teases her later that, despite the fact that he's been recognized, he's small fry compared to Bruce and Veronica. It's such a huge role reversal from their high school and college years that Veronica has to laugh when he warns her against reporters masquerading as long-lost relatives.

That evening, Logan and Veronica talk more about books and flying. Veronica listens more than she talks—she's afraid she'll tell him just how much she identifies with his love of flying, given her own antics when she'd gotten her hands on the controls of one of the League of Shadows' jets.

He tells her about another famous aviator whose books have inspired him: Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.

"He wrote The Little Prince, right? I remember there was a pilot in that one," Veronica says.

"Yeah, we had to read that book in seventh grade English class, remember? It's his most famous book, but I recently read his novel Night Flight and queued up his memoir, Wind, Sand and Stars, on my Kindle. He was a military pilot rather than a civilian one like Markham was, so I'm looking forward to it."

"Maybe I'll pick them up too," she says.

"Start with Markham's," he urges. "She really did remind me of you in some ways."

"I will," she promises.

After lunch on Sunday, Logan flies back out to Newport. Keith, the Fennels, and Mac go to their rooms to pack, but Bruce asks Veronica to meet him out back, handing her a pair of sturdy boots and telling her to dress warmly.

He takes her out to a wooded section of the property, to an old well. "I want to show you something."

"Is this where you fell as a child?" Veronica asks as she spots the rope bolted to the top of the well. Bruce removes the board covering it. "When you thought you were being attacked by a colony of bats?"

"It was a few meters in that direction—" he gestures to a spot deeper in the woods "—but it's the same cave system."

She starts to snicker. When he raises an eyebrow at her, she grins and says, "Dude. You're going to be a vigilante who dresses like a bat. Whose HQ is a literal bat cave."

"Your point?"

"No point, just enjoying how all-out you're going with your theme."

"I am merely committed. We should head down as we will be leaving in a few hours."

He's brought a bag filled with climbing equipment, and he hands her a helmet, harness, and gloves. He double-checks her gear when she puts it on, and she rolls her eyes. "I did pass the initiation for the League. I know how to put on a harness."

"Better secured than surprised," is all he says.

So she steps forward to check his gear, which has him huffing in impatience.

"Better secured than surprised," she says sweetly, ignoring his glare.

They rappel down to what turns out to be a larger cave system than Veronica had imagined. "I can't believe there's an honest-to-god waterfall in here," she says in awe.

"Hnn. The main cavern should be sufficient for a base of operations. They connect to a couple of hidden passageways under the southeast corner of the manor. One of my forefathers made Gotham a stop in the Underground Railroad, and there are rooms that were used to house whole families, even a medical ward and common kitchen-and-dining area."

"So you have secret doors and tunnels at your house?" Veronica shakes her head. "I feel like Nancy Drew."

Bruce smirks. "Does that make me a Hardy Boy? The passageways are not all secure. Alfred is using my return as an excuse to have the foundations shored up and secured, the rooms converted to storage spaces. We thought a second wine cellar might come in handy, especially as I have plans of reviving many of the events my parents had used to fund their charitable endeavors."

"Well, a wine cellar certainly would come in handy to keep your high society guests well watered," Veronica says drily.

"I thought so as well," Bruce says mildly. "My new security consultant, Ms. Sheila Soo, also suggested strategically placed panic rooms and secret escape routes, seeing as Wayne Manor is such a well-known target for thieves and the like."

"I'm sure she did," Veronica murmurs.

"Work will begin tomorrow morning," Bruce tells her. "Alfred has kindly offered to oversee it while Sheila and I fly with you to Neptune to inspect my new property there."

"Sounds grea—wait. What?"

"I still can't believe you bought a house in Neptune," Veronica says, shaking her head as they fly westward in the Wayne jet later that afternoon.

"Technically, I didn't buy anything," Brucie says, and Veronica suspects that self-satisfied tone isn't entirely put on. "As you've pointed out several times, I'm still legally dead and not in a position to make large purchases, much less own property. Wayne Family Holdings recently acquired some real estate in Neptune and Metropolis to add to its portfolio. That's all. Besides, where would I stay when I come to visit you?"

Veronica snorts. "There are these things called hotels."

Bruce shakes his head. "I like my own space," he says blithely.

"He'll fit right in with the 09ers," Mac says, giggling.

"Give me a day," Brucie says loftily. "They'll be fighting to fit in with me."

"I don't doubt it," Veronica says wryly.

Bruce glances around, sees CJ, Keith and the Fennels are either sleeping or engrossed in in-flight entertainment. He looks at Veronica, Mac, and Shiva and tilts his head toward the dining cabin.

"Care for a snack, Nica?" he asks, pitched so everyone can hear him. "I'm feeling a little peckish."

"Sure, Bruce. What have you got?"

"Let's find out, shall we?"

"I could use some coffee myself," Mac says.

The three of them get up and head toward the dining cabin, which boasts a sleek kitchenette on one side. Shiva follows silently and closes the door behind them.

"I'm guessing Bruce had a different reason for buying an 09er mansion?" Mac says, moving toward the coffee machine. "Or maybe the Bat did."

"Hnn. Gotham is our primary mission, but from what Veronica's told me, there's no reason why cleaning up Neptune can't be a side project," Bruce says. "And as both your families are there, I would prefer you have access to a base of operations while on the West Coast. My Brentwood property in LA would be better equipped, but not convenient for you."

"Makes sense," Mac says, watching Veronica, who is pouting. "So why are Bond's panties in a twist?"

Bruce smirks. "It has more to do with the, ah, location of the house I bought."

Veronica huffs in annoyance. "He bought the place between the old Kane estate and the Echolls mansion."

"Wasn't that Sean Friedrich's place?"

The blonde PI smirks at that one. "Here's a bit of high school trivia for you: Sean Friedrich's dad wasn't actually the guy who owned the place. He was the butler."

"What do you have against butlers?" Bruce asks, rummaging through the cabinets before giving up to peek in the fridge.

"Nothing," Veronica says, smiling when Bruce pulls four ice cream cups out of the freezer and passes them out to each of them. "But this guy, Sean, pretended he was the richest kid in school, when really he was the butler's son. I found out when I caught him stealing the pot from one of Logan's poker games back in junior year."

"Sad," Mac says, shaking her head.

"What's the plan when we land?" Shiva asks. She ends up passing Veronica half her ice cream when the tiny blonde scarfs down her chocolate chip cookie dough in record time.

"We bring everyone home and settle in for the night. The house I bought has a large sub-basement I'd like to convert into a training and operations area. The security system was overhauled earlier this week, but I'd like to run some infiltration scenarios individually and as a team to check its efficacy and identify the breaches I'll have to patch manually.

"Mac, you'll need to work with me on this to familiarize yourself with the protocols for setting up safehouses and bunkers. Shiva and I will also want to identify the best martial arts training for you. You will take classes, and additionally, Veronica will be tasked with training you until you move to Gotham, whereupon she and I will share the duty."

"Okay," Mac says, a little startled by the flood of information and orders. "I can come over whenever I'm not in class or working out the remaining hours of my internship. I'm not sure how much training I'll need, though. I mean, I won't ever be joining you in the field."

"Command centers can be infiltrated. Better to be able to defend yourself and never encounter the need to do so than find yourself in danger without the means to keep from being harmed."

"Uh. Okay."

Veronica pats her friend's shoulder comfortingly and glares at Bruce, who just raises his eyebrow at her. She bares her teeth at him and is about to warn him off when the pilot's voice comes over the announcement system, telling them the plane is on final approach.

The group makes its way back out into the main seating area. Soon, everyone is strapping in as the jet makes its final approach and lands on a private airstrip just outside of Neptune.

Fifteen minutes later, Veronica is standing at the top of the stairs leading to the tarmac, staring at her first view of the California sunset in almost two years. She blinks away tears.

"Welcome back, sweetie," Keith says, coming up behind her to engulf her in a bear hug. "You're home. It's over."

Veronica's blue eyes meet Bruce's over her father's shoulders.

No, she thinks with a determined light in her eyes. It's just beginning.

End Note:

And it's a wrap for my first posted fanfic ever! Thank you everyone for reading and commenting. I'm working on the next volume in this series—I've outlined several more covering the partnership of the World's Finest, the formation of the Justice League, and the advent of the BatFamily, as long as a LoVe story, although I'm not sure if they'll be as long as this one.

Then again, the original draft for this was about half the length it ended up being, so who knows? I will post when I finish things (I'm not sure I'd be the type to post chapters as I write the story because I tend to like going back to fix things as I identify problems that crop up in latter chapters).

I wrote this entire fic without a beta reader, and I'm not sure how beta reading works in fanfic, so whether I get one or not, I'll be happy to post my stories. If you'd like to volunteer for the craziness, though, I'd be keen on getting reader experience—and happy to return the favor for VM or Batman/JL fics. My Twitter and email deets are in my A03 profile if that's the case.

Again, thanks for sticking with my fic this long!