Legend

Cleaning up

I took a moment to appreciate the sight of Tony shaking the goon like a dog with a toy, then turned my attention to my brother. His face was bruised and his mouth still bled sluggishly. His arms and legs were zip tied to the chair. I carefully checked out his mouth first; all the teeth were intact although a couple might have been loosened. He was going to need stitches on the inside of his mouth, though.  He gargled at me when I said so. Tony floated over, dragging the goon with him.

"Wayne's on his way," he said, popping up the mask on his suit to talk. "What do you need me to do?"

"I'm going to find something to pack his mouth with. Could you pop those zip ties?"

"Of course. I've been here for fundraisers before. I think there's some first aid stuff down the hall. There's a butler's pantry with a dumbwaiter." I nodded and headed for the door, then turned and scanned the area.

"Fuck," I half-shouted. The Joker was gone.

As I made my way down the hall, wrapping the blouse around me and tucking it into my waistband,  I felt pretty certain that the Joker had just bruised the hell out of me. He'd been very skilled with the sap and I felt like he didn't want to kill me just yet. The pain didn't get any worse and there wasn't any feeling of pressure or anything that would make me worry. I was looking forward to going home and having Alfred check me out, though. In the pantry I did find a barely adequate first aid kit and trudged back.

As I rolled up gauze to pack J's mouth, I thought to ask if Detective McIver had been called, because I sure hadn't. Tony dragged the goon with him in search of either a land line or my purse. I was betting on a landline here. I placed the last gauze roll delicately, then asked him if he was hurt anywhere else, checking his wrists and ankles to make sure the zip ties hadn't broken the skin, but they'd just been tight. J shook his head.

I stood up when I heard footsteps on the stairs. Bruce burst in the room, surveying the space. "Are you two worse than you look?" he asked me, and I shook my head.  "Where is he?"

"Got away. I thought I'd choked him, but he must have not been unconscious." He nodded and took off for the doors  at the other end. I ambled over to the table and started picking up the buttons that had been torn from my shirt, putting them into my pocket. I don't know why, the shirt was torn in a couple places and I couldn't see wanting to wear it again after this. J got up and we leaned against the table.

"This isn't payback for calling off our plan, is it?" J asked, not seriously, nudging me with his elbow. I grimaced as he accidentally hit a sore spot.

"No, but if you keep poking my bruises, you'll regret it," I said testily, and he looked as contrite as possible. I heard more footsteps and we looked over. This time it was the one I was waiting for, and I smiled as Damian ran over.

"Oh, Alex, Sweet Pea, are you ok? Where is he?" he shot these questions at me as he folded me gently into his arms.

"I'm bruised but ok. He got away, damn it, your dad is in pursuit." I snuggled into him and felt better just from his reassuring presence.

"Is this your brother?" he asked, extending one hand long enough to shake J's hand before wrapping his arm around me again.

Uncle Bucky arrived just then, shook his head. He and J hugged before Bucky checked his mouth. Damian released me, although he kept his arm around my waist and I leaned against him. Tony came back, goon still in tow, dropping my bag by my feet. "McIver's on his way," he said briskly. "Did Wayne go after the Joker?" I nodded. I was getting pissed with myself for not having done better. After a brief conversation, Tony shoved his goon at Bucky and blasted off. I could see the goon's eyes widen as he saw the metal arm and put two and two together to make a very frightening four.  Bucky scowled at him,  directing the goon to sit in the chair J had been tied to, then standing where he could intercept any threats.