The Heroes and The Villains (sequel to The hero and the villain)

Chapter 41: Dinner

I hesitantly walked down the grand staircase of the manor. After staying in my room for four days I was finally going to have dinner with the rest of the Waynes.... Well technically a Wayne, a Grayson, a Todd and a Pennyworth.
I hadn't seen any of them outside of my room for days. Alfred would come in every now and then with meals and would clean some things. Bruce would walk in to see how I was feeling. Jason, well I haven't seen Jason since the.... 'incident' a few days ago. And Dick, he would try to be with me every single second he was able to. He'd eat with me, sleep with me. Even used my shower (I wasn't in it of course...Sadly). He'd only ever leave the room for patrol with Batman or for school, which I was not attending at all.
I'd spent four days in that room and Dick finally convinced me to come to the dinner table. Although I wasn't fully convinced. A huge part of me wanted to stop walking down the steps and sprint back up to my room. It wasn't a bad idea so I stopped and turned around. I was immediately met by Dick who was standing behind me.

"Whats wrong?" He asked as I stood there.

I could see in his eyes that he was ready to stop me from sprinting up the stairs. But I tried anyway. Before I even got a foot on one step he had his arms on me. I tried to push him out of the way but he was too stable.

"C'mon Dick. You can't seriously expect me to be able to do this." I stated as I continued to move against his will.

He put his arms around my waist and held me tight.

"You can do this Katie. You're a strong girl. You can handle anything." He said, giving me a small smile.

I stopped resisting him and stood still, staring at the floor.

"But–but what about Jason?" I asked.

"Don't worry. I'm not gonna let him hurt you."

I frowned. "Its not him hurting me. Its me hurting him. I–I don't want to hurt him again."

"Don't worry about Jason. The kid's a survivor. He'll be alright." Dick assured me. He then offered out his hand. "Now c'mon, we have mouths to stuff."

His last comment made me smile a little bit and I took his hand. He then lead me to the dinner table.
Bruce was sitting at the head of the table, it then went Jason and Alfred on the left side and Dick and I on the right side. Alfred was bringing out the meals as we arrived. The British man gave me a smile when he saw me walk in.

"Miss Katie. So glad you decided to join us tonight."

"Thanks Alfred," I replied before sitting down.

Jason hadn't come in yet. I wonder where the kid was. Bruce looked at me and nodded with a smile.

"So Dick finally convinced you." He said, taking a sip from a glass of water.

"Yeah," I said, nervously smiling at him. Bruce noticed my nervousness.

"Katie please, relax. No ones going to bite you here." He joked.

As soon as he said that Jason walked in. His eyes widened when he saw me and they then went straight to the floor. He walked over to where I was sitting. Beside me, Bruce and Dick both shuffled in their chairs, getting ready for an attack. Jason stopped beside me, Looked up and then immediately shot his eyes back down to the floor.

"Umm. Katie, I just want to say..." One of his hands went to the back of his head and started scratching. "...I'm sorry for what I did to you. I-I was wrong and... I didn't know the story of what happened to. John." He almost choked when he said his name. Jason looked up at me. "I understand now. And I know that you had no control over your actions. You'd never kill John willingly. Its not your fault."

Tears started to form in my eyes and I grabbed the boy and hugged him.

"Thank you." I cried.

I felt Jason arms wrap the top of my shoulders.

"I swear Katie. The clown will pay for what he's done. He will get everything that he deserves."

We released the hug and I could see a fire in the boy's eyes. He was determined to catch the Joker. It made me determined too.

Alfred had served up a brilliant meal of vegetables, meat and Ice-cream for dessert.
After Jason had finished eating he got up and started walking away.

"Jason!" Bruce said in his stern parenting voice.

"What?" Jason said, turning around.

"Aren't you forgetting something?..... Like manners." Bruce added when the boy stared at him confused.

"Oh right, may I be excused?" The boy asked.

Bruce nodded and Jason ran off, heading towards the Batcave entrance. Dick and I finished our meals and we stood up. Dick then mimicked Jason's 'may I be excused'. Bruce smiled and waved us off, getting up from the table himself and walking towards the Batcave. We'd only made it to the stairs when Dick received a message from Bruce.

'Batcave. NOW!'

We ran down there to see Bruce already dressed as Batman. Typing frantically on the computer.

"Whats wrong?" Dick asked.

Bruce continued to type as he answered.

"He figured it out. Took a suit, a vehicle and left!" Bruce exclaimed.

"Figured out what?" I asked.

Bruce put on his mask, fully becoming Batman.

"Get dressed, I'm calling in the team. We have to stop him before he gets himself killed!" He ordered.

"Batman, what did Jason do?" Dick asked.

"He's gone after the Joker!"

Well, this could end badly.

Ocelots are Cats.