Weiss Schnee placed two pieces of cloth on the table.

She smiled at a confused Ruby. "I need you to pick a tablecloth."

Ruby stared at them in confusion. "Aren't they both the same?"

Weiss grumbled in frustration. "I don't even know why I asked!"

She and Yang were setting up the ballroom for the school dance, while Ruby was sitting at a table, upset about Blake refusing to take a break.

Yang approached the group, setting down a large speaker.

"Hey, Weiss!" she said. "Have you heard the news?"

She turned to Yang. "About what?"

"Some rich kid named Bruce Wayne is back," Yang said. "I heard he was dead, but he just walked right into Wayne Enterprises."

Weiss' eyes widened. "Wait, wait, wait, where did you get this information?"

"I saw it on the news," Yang said with a shrug. "Why?"

Weiss panicked, filled with anticipation to either see the boy she loved, or a phony. She scrambled to grab her scroll. She pulled it out, and turned it on, scrolling the internet for a photo of the supposed "Bruce Wayne".

Then, she found one. Her jaw dropped, and she felt hope begin to build inside. That was Bruce. She knew him when she saw him. There was no mistaking it.

For seven years, she'd thought he was dead. She'd thought that she would never get to grow up with him, as she had hoped she would before his disappearance. She had regretted what she'd said and done to him on the last night that they had been together. It had eaten her up inside, and caused her to close herself off.

Seeing how he'd grown made her happier than she'd been in years. She wondered where he was, and if he was mad at her for what she'd done to him years ago.

If she had known Bruce was down in the cave beneath the mansion, setting up lights on the rocky walls, she would have been surprised.

Alfred stood at the generator for the lights he and Bruce had set up, and flicked a lever to turn it on. Now that he had a clear view of the cave, it was still as creepy as before.

"Charming," he said, looking up at the bats above. "At least you'll have company."

With more light in the cave, Bruce finally got a clear view of something he hadn't seen before. There were foundations in the cave. Alfred caught sight of it too.

"This must be the lowest foundation of the southeast wing," he said.

The curious Wayne made his way towards the foundation, and looked around. It seemed as old as the manor did from the outside. It was a simple path, which led from some sort of entrance to the cave beyond.

"Your great-great-grandfather was involved in the Underground Railroad," Alfred explained, "secretly transporting faunus slaves to Menagerie, and I suspect these caverns came in handy."

Bruce headed for the entrance, and realized that it was an old elevator, made entirely of steel grates. He looked through the top of the elevator, and saw that it seemed to lead up to the manor.

Exploration of the cave continued, and Bruce used the suit Lucius had given him to explore the waterfall. As he stepped up to it, he found himself excited as he realized this was an exit from the cave. An easy way to get out of his new lair without worrying about being seen in the house.

Bruce turned back to the butler, who stood far from him, watching at a great distance.

"Alfred!" he shouted to him. "Come up here!"

"I can see everything fine from down here, sir!" Alfred shouted back. "Thank you very much!"

Bruce looked back to the waterfall, and reached his hand through.

That day was filled with preparation. Bruce created a pair of gauntlets for his wrists, meant to block bullets, knives, or the blade of someone's weapon. He spray painted it black, along with the suit.

Alfred came down later that day with blueprints on his ideas for the cowl.

"We order the main part of this cowl from Singapore," Alfred said, pointing a pen to the cowl shape.

"Via a dummy corporation," Bruce finished for him.

"Indeed," Alfred nodded. "And then, quite separately, we place an order to a company in Mistral for these." He pointed the pen to the bat-shaped ears.

"Put it together ourselves."

"Precisely," Alfred nodded. "They'll have to be large orders, to avoid suspicion."

"How large?"

"Say ten thousand."

Bruce turned to him with a shocked expression, but shrugged.

"Well, at least we'll have spares . . ."