Legend

J's visit

The next day when I drove into work, I have to admit that I white-knuckled it and it took conscious effort to release the steering wheel in the tower garage. But no psycho clowns leaped out at me, so I shook it off and was glad to go up to the training room. Bucky was there alone, and I updated him about McIver's call. He scowled.

"You're as safe as it's really possible to be, given that you won't stay in a secured place constantly--and I understand why you won't--but I wish the cops would get off their asses and catch this guy. And what's Wayne waiting for? I thought he was supposed to be a hot-shit detective."

"He is, but you know it's not easy to track somebody down, the Avengers haven't always been able to find their enemies quickly either," I chided gently. "They're having a meeting of the Justice League to determine what to do about the aliens. The possible alien approach. That takes priority because it's hard to coordinate that many schedules, but I'm sure he'll get back to the Joker once that's over." I was pretty sure because not only was the Joker his bete noir but Damian would be pushing him about it.  Bucky just grunted and we used the time before Avengers started showing up for their training for practice.

"Sweetie, I know that you have an aversion to killing, but if it comes down to you or somebody else, I expect you to choose yourself and wrestle with your conscience later," he said at the conclusion. "You'd be safer if he was dead." I didn't have the time to reply before the elevator disgorged the first students of the day. He was right, and I know I thought that I could kill him, but down really deep I wondered if I really could. If I could live with blood on my hands.

I finished the morning with Hogun, who had a present for me today, two short, matched swords that were a hallmark of his people. They fought with both of them, one in each hand, and he offered to teach me the method. Never one to pass up an opportunity to learn, I agreed, and we carved out some time later in the week. Then I had time in the driving simulator and lunch with Aslyn. She listened to my news about the Joker and shook her head.

"Kick his ass good this time," she urged me, and I shrugged.

"I did last time, for all the good it did," I said moodily.  She didn't really have a response for that, not that I expected one. I didn't have any answers either.

Tony was pissed when I told him. He expressed it differently than anybody else, though. He stuffed a cookie in his mouth and spoke around it. "It's a dick move to divert your attention just when we're getting somewhere with our research," he muttered, then swallowed. "Plan to stay here if you're at all uneasy," he directed me, sticking his hand back into the Cookie Star and feeling around. "You're out of cookies," he barked, then stomped out of the lab. Madison arrived then, accompanied by a strange boy.

"This is Lewis, one of the interns from IT," she introduced me. "He's going to fix a glitch on my computer." I didn't pay much attention as they chatted; it sounded like they were getting to know each other. Tony stomped back in with some coconut cookies from his own cookie jar, courtesy of Emma. He dropped a handful on my side of the desk and kicked back in his chair. This time we talked about the data we were generating with the algae and then he helped me set up for the evening's procedure with both the algae and bacteria.

That night when I got home, I had enough time with Damian to reassure him that everything was fine, then the Justice League went down to the bat cave to continue doing their thing. I waited for a bit to give Alfred some time to clear out so he could relax, then silently made my way to the kitchen to bake some cookies. I was using one of my grandma's recipes--sandwich cookies with jam. It was nice to do something for myself. Alfred caught me, though, when I was assembling the cookies from the first batch once they'd cooled. He offered to take over, but I refused and put the kettle on.