escape from hell

𝔠𝔥𝔞𝔭𝔱𝔢𝔯 𝔱𝔢𝔫

edward bounced his leg relentlessly. he explained to batman how he ended up in the lounge with a suspicious dull pain in the back of his head.

"i'm deeply sorry, master. if i had seen her prior to that, i would've stopped her. have some water, please" alfred offered weakly, trying to stop bruce from pacing around.

he shook his head "no, thank you. not now. i just need to..."

"to calm down" alfred sighed "please"

he finally obliged and sat down.

edward placed a hand on his own lap, the shaking was a clear manifestation of the stress he didn't want batman to notice. instead he looked over to bruce and attempted to give him a sympathetic smile, which he awkwardly returned.

"i'll call gordon" bruce announced and left the room.

alfred turned his back to edward and said "sorry" as if he owed him an apology.

a puzzled edward looked away "it's okay"

"gordon" bruce said the second he picked up the call "there's something bad going on"

"you tell me" the older replied, his voice unusally harsh over the phone "i was about to call you over this"

"what?"

"the girl, jessica..."

"no" bruce interrupted him "do not tell me"

"listen, it was the night shift..." he tells him "and no one checked the cameras as far as i'm aware"

"that doesn't mean shit" bruce hissed "did no one see her escape? do your people just sit around and do nothing? they're useless. they all sit behind a desk, drink coffee and pretend to sort documents like you do"

he could only hear gordon grunt on the side of the speaker.

"what did you guys gather from the footage?"

"there was no footage" gordon said breathily.

"what?"

"the cameras were hacked. it must've happened a moment before she escaped, the footage from hours before was perfectly fine, then nothing. static"

bruce put his face in his palms, defeated.

"hey, you there?"

he nodded weakily, before remembering he was on an audio call "yeah"

"good" gordon said.

edward, overhearing the conversation, looked at the man with concern. batman's jaw clenched, his mind working through the implications.

"she didn't do this alone," bruce growled. "selina helped her. there's no way jessica could have pulled off an escape like this without her."

alfred's brow furrowed, but he remained silent as bruce continued to pace around.

„you're saying that selina and jessica are working together right now?" gordon asked, his disbelief evident.

„i'm saying selina probably helped her escape," bruce clarified. "they've likely gone underground—together."

there was a pause on the other end of the line before gordon sighed. "we'll track them down. keep me updated on your end."

bruce ended the call and stood there, fists clenched. the silence in the room was heavy.

edward stepped forward hesitantly. "what now, batman?"

bruce's gaze shifted toward the window, the skyline of gotham dark and sprawling beyond it. "now," he said, voice steady, "we find selina. and we find out why she helped jessica. and why she lied to me again."