Legend's Apprentice

Depressed

I woke up around two and felt slightly better. I took a nice long bath with some Epsom salts, then applied my super concealer and dressed in my own clothes. I called Bucky first and left a message that I was up and ok. Then I bit the bullet and called my folks; they were silent when I told them what had happened, and for the first time, my dad asked if I wanted to transfer home. I said no, that it had been a fluke that I'd been at the club, and that I'd just been bruised a little. I don't think they were really happy about it, but this really had been a coincidence. I texted the girls to let them know I was ok, and got a return text from Aslyn; she'd kept her head and retrieved my purse as well as the bolero I'd borrowed from Mindy, and we met for a late lunch. She had seen the Joker single us out and wanted to know what happened. I gave her a slightly misleading account that indicated that I'd been with the group sent to the brothel and quickly rescued. I didn't know anybody in that group, so I bet nobody would be able to gainsay me. Aslyn shook her head and said she was glad nothing horrible had happened. "That makes two of us," I said, and she hugged me and picked up the tab. On my way home, I ducked into a department store and bought a watch that was supposed to be extra rugged, for extreme sports enthusiasts. It was water-resistant to 50 meters and had a compass built in. That could be helpful. And while I was there, I also picked out half a dozen fine linen men's handkerchiefs for Bucky. And then I went back and bought myself some because they were just so handy. Plus if a borrowed one got stained and I couldn't get it out, I could substitute one of mine. I had just gotten home and put Mindy's bolero on the bed when they got home. Amazingly, they hadn't heard about the dustup at the Yale Club, so I filled them in on my edited story.

They were appalled and felt terrible that they hadn't known. I thought they were lucky, and said that they deserved a nice night out and nothing truly terrifying had happened. Sam turned around and went out for ice cream, and Mindy asked if I needed to see a doctor, but I told her that Bucky had taken me to the tower for medical care and that it hadn't really been necessary. It was true enough, I hadn't needed to go to the tower, I was just vain about the bruises. She nodded and said that she was here if I needed to talk. "You're such a nice kid, I don't know why this had to happen to you," she said, hugging me. It felt good to talk to another female about it. When Sam got back, we ate ice cream and watched a hockey game on TV, then I went to bed early. I had school the next day.

It felt good to be back to normal, the organized sanity of classes. I thought that art appreciation should be pretty interesting, and we had a couple of assignments at some of the art museums in town. Bonus to living in one of the world's great cities: lots of museums. It wasn't structured just as a history of paintings and sculpture; we would also have units on applied arts and archaeological treasures. After school I hustled to work; there was a biting wind that cut right through my coat. I was planning on waiting until the end of the season sales and getting a warmer one, but I might rethink that. I was debating that with myself when I went into the lab. Dr Renaud wasn't there, he must be somewhere else in the building, but Mr Wayne was. I put my things down at my desk and turned, planning to get myself some nice hot coffee, and smacked right into him.

After apologizing, I asked how Damian was.

"He's staying home for a few days, but he's going to be fine," his dad said gravely. "But I think that you should keep your distance from him." I was shocked and tried not to gape. "You've been seriously hurt twice because you were around him. The Joker is nobody you want to encounter, Alex. You were lucky." He was silent a moment. "I've had a series of Robins. The Joker killed one of them. Lured him in using his desire to find his birth mother, whom the Joker had corrupted, beat him almost to death with a crowbar. Then blew up the warehouse with the boy and his mother." He drew a ragged breath. "I couldn't save either one of them. Believe me when I tell you that the Joker wouldn't lose a moment of sleep for doing anything, up to and including killing you."