No Heroes

Unbreakable Resistance

Bruce: 15 Minutes Earlier

After he walked out of that room, he couldn't keep still, and he sure as hell couldn't keep quiet.

When he saw Selina laugh, that careless, way-too-loud laugh that he could listen to all day, his resolve hardened into an unbreakable resistance and his mind started to devise a plan.

Now, he ran to catch up to Alfred, and once he did, he explained what they needed to do.

They needed to go back to the building where they found Edward Nygma. The Riddler was being controlled somehow, and he had a strong feeling as to who had their hands on the controls.

They left immediately, and they got there in half the time it took them before. Lucius no longer cared about the speed limit, there were no limitations other than how long Selina could hold out.

They all but jumped out of the car as soon as it stopped, and they decided that their tactic of in-and-out with no witnesses required them to travel in pairs. Barbara and Lucius would stay in the car, Barbara because she was anything but quiet and Lucius because- he was Lucius. Jim and Harvey would search the east wing, and Bruce and Alfred had the west.

"Alright, meet back at the rendezvous at 23:00. The only ones who know we're there are us, and Strange as soon as we have him," Jim explained in his captain voice.

20 Minutes Later

They made their way as quickly and quietly as they could through the building. They had started with 40 minutes, but that time had been cut in half quicker than Bruce could've expected. There had been no sign of Nygma, Lee, or Strange, and they couldn't ask Jim and Harvey because they had decided against walkie-talkies.

They had gone through most of the west wing, too, which wasn't helping to calm his worries. They were on the second to highest level, which meant that they would either have him soon, or their mission would go unanswered.

Bruce was getting frustrated, we don't have time for this. Shit. He almost walked right into a clear vantage point. He was getting sloppy, and he knew it. Alfred knew it, too.

"Bruce," Alfred whispered, putting his hand on his shoulder, "You need to stay calm. I know you're worried, but so am I. The best thing we can do for Selina is to hold our composure, not fall apart."

It didn't sound like Alfred, who usually took time to explain things with more ease. But Bruce nodded to indicate that he understood, they didn't have time for Bruce to act like a child.

They made their way into an air duct to watch the entire floor, and they got into position as they had done so many other times.

"I'm sorry that you walked in on me and Selina," Bruce murmured, unsure of whether or not he should've brought it up. Alfred went rigid, and Bruce immediately regretted his decision to do so. Part of him wanted to chuckle that, out of everything, romance was the one thing that Alfred couldn't handle, while the other part wanted to run away from whatever was going to come out of his mouth.

"It's okay.... I'm sorry, I'm not good at this kind of conversation.... erm," Alfred cleared his throat as quietly as possible, "I just hope you two are being safe, you know-,"

Bruce choked, and slapped his hand across his mouth in order to stop himself from giving away their position.

"We're, uh, not doing anything like that," Bruce forced out, and he felt Alfred's body relax. Bruce thought he might die of embarrassment.

"Can we-,"

"-never address this ever again? That sounds lovely," Alfred finished, and Bruce couldn't agree more.