Superman and Wonder Woman shared glances, they were still holding onto their comrade who'd been trashing about violently just moments ago. Superman had woken up to the sound of distressed moaning which quickly turned into pain-induced groaning. Diana had probably been woken by the same sounds, judging by her fast responses to getting to Bruce' side. He was holding onto his head, clutching it between straining hands, fingers stiff from tensed muscles frozen into a claw-like grip. Bruce had maneuvered himself onto his side where he tried to curl in on himself, but Clark's hands were preventing him from getting there. He was pushing his hands up against his friend's back to keep him from moving too much. He might tear his stitches, Superman thought to himself. Diana's other hand was resting on his shoulder trying to push Bruce back, but the man underneath them was struggling too much. He didn't even seem to be aware of them.

"Bruce, stop fighting us." She told him, momentarily forgetting he probably couldn't hear her. J'onn emerged from a corner in the room, coming to their aid with a syringe in hand. The sedative was strong and fast-working. Bruce calmed down forthwith the moment the syringe was pulled away.

"He passed out before the sedative started working." J'onn commented quietly. Clark raised his eyebrows in surprise at having his earlier conviction eradicated from his mind. If he didn't already know the answer, he would have asked himself if J'onn wasn't a mind reader. Bruce really must have been in pain for him to react like he did.

"Is he on any pain medication?" Diana asked, voicing the thoughts in his head before he had the time to consider asking the same.

"The sedative I just gave him has a pain reliever. He usually refuses anything that contains tranquilizing or pain relieving countermeasures. I didn't feel like testing him this time, not while he should take it easy instead of fighting me." J'onn admitted with a hint of shame and guilt. Clark had to give it to the Martian though. The poor guy had treated Batman's injuries often, the times he'd seen them arguing in the halls, J'onn insisting he should rest or at least accept a simple aspirin, it brought a sad smile to his lips. He understood where he was coming from, he'd witnessed the cranky bat at both his best and his worst when it came to mood swings regarding the bat's time spend in the medical bay. Diana was fixing J'onn with a glare that could match the batglare, but Clark decided to quickly put an end to it.

"It's okay. He's really does get testy whenever someone does something against his will." Clark started snickering as his words brought on something else in his mind. "He's rich and spoiled, what else can we expect?" He asked light hearted. His initial intention of stopping Diana from glaring daggers at J'onn had failed miserably. Instead, the Amazonian had turned her dagger-throwing eyes towards him. Right. She was a princess and often perceived as spoiled as well, a curse that came with her title. He gulped, swallowing his smile instantaneously. J'onn knew better than to interfere once Wonder Woman got mad. She didn't take lightly to offense.


The room was ice. Not literally of course, but it probably would have been literally if Diana had the power to freeze everything with her eyes. She was livid with everything and everyone. She had even turned off the sound of the heart monitor's beeping. Now on mute, she was glued to the screen in case something happened. Clark was just glad her attention wasn't directed to him. He also didn't feel like telling her that the mute button was just for the constant beeping and that it would still go off in case of emergency. But the monitor was only there to alert them of any significant vital changes. Bruce' heart wasn't suddenly going to give out. Not now. Not as long as there was a stubborn Amazonian and a loving friend with him. Superfriend. Clark corrected himself with a self-satisfied grin. He was paging through the sign language book, taking in as much as he could at superspeed while they waited.

Another half an hour passed when he put the book aside with a yawn. He hadn't slept much and a lot had happened in one day. It was early morning, he dully noted, looking at the clock on the wall. Diana had fallen asleep again in the chair, neither of them had slept all that well. The chairs weren't comfortable and his back was stiff. He stood, stretching his limbs. He went to the heart monitor and turned the sound up again. He could perfectly hear Bruce' heartbeat without the incessant beeping, but the monotonous sound was a comfort in itself. He looked at the bed next to Bruce' and figured it wouldn't hurt to lay down for a while. Clark didn't have to go to work for another couple of days and Superman didn't have any immediate urgent places to be at. So he snuggled up in the white blankets of the medical bed, relishing the sense of security it provided.

It was noon when the sound of tedium beeping got breached by the involuntary rustle of sheets. A breath drawn in a pained gasp followed shortly after, alerting the other occupants of the room in an instant.

"Bruce?" Diana asked. Superman was getting up, seeing Bruce move to sit, mistaking the sudden movement as one of distress. The memory of last night's incident pushed to the foreground. His mind reminding him to go help his friend because he was in pain and Clark didn't want him to be in pain. He didn't want anyone to be in pain. Bruce' eyes locked onto his, they looked clear and coherent enough for him to relax. Superman's hand had unconsciously grasped his shoulder in an attempt to brace him were he to start trashing about again. He saw Bruce' hand coming up to his ear, wordlessly telling them he still couldn't hear them. Blue eyes flickering from him to Diana.

'How are you feeling?' Diana signed when she finally caught his attention. She was smiling at him, her mood had significantly improved after her nap. Clark was very grateful for that indeed.

'My head hurts.' Bruce signed back slowly. Clark nodded in sympathy while Diana stood to get something to help him with the pain. He was working his arms underneath his body now, trying to lift himself off of the mattress. Clark could get a good look at him now as he helped him sit. Bruce looked like a Dalmatian. His hair was mostly white, but black spots were appearing in patches.

'We should redo your hair.' Superman told him, standing so Bruce would look at him. 'The dye got partly rubbed off.' He signed. Bruce looked confused until his expression hardened into one of annoyance.

'Rubbed?' He repeated. 'What did you do while I was asleep? Pet me?' He asked, one of his hand reaching out to take the bottle of water from Diana. She held out two pills, but he waved them away while sipping at the water. Diana wouldn't budge though.

"Superman?" Clark heard from the door. He turned towards the voice to see Cyborg peeking in, not looking at Bruce, just him, respecting Batman's wishes not to be seen without a mask. Knowing he wouldn't be wearing it right now. Clever kid. Clark smiled.

"I'm coming." He answered. Cyborg nodded and left to wait in the hall. Clark looked back to see a frustrated Bruce taking a big gulp from his water and a happy Diana smiling encouragingly. He shook his head and walked out to see what was going on.

"Someone put a frequency blocker in the conference room." Cyborg informed him. He looked thoughtful, his mind going over a list of every criminal he knew who would resort to measures like that. He crossed out a fair few and already had a potential candidate of who could possibly hack into their frequency and build something to block it with. Why block and not destroy or even harm? Superman wondered to himself.

"Any possible matches on fingerprints or traces of where the device might have come from?" Superman asked. Cyborg shook his head tiredly.

"That's Batman's alley." Superman winced at the poor choice of words, but ignored the onslaught of sombre feelings it brought forth. "Besides, I couldn't really get into it. I was working on the hole you created." Cyborg explained. Superman huffed, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Why do I get the feeling everyone is blaming me?" He asked with upraised eyebrows. "I never intended to make it that big." He said with a resigned sigh.

"I know, Superman. I discovered something else." Cyborg said, looking patiently at Superman who moved his hand in a "speak up" gesture. "The explosive got placed around the time Batman left the monitor room and was supposed to be back. It was placed right where you decided to make that hole." Cyborg said. This explained why the wall had been so easy to penetrate. It had already been damaged.

"That explains why I could laser through it so easily." Superman nodded in thought.

"Well, you are the man of steel." Cyborg said as if it explained everything in the world. If he had a "Because I am Superman" catchphrase like Batman, it wouldn't have ended as well for him as it did with Batman. People would taunt him, with Batman, people were scared and never really mocked him when it came down to silliness. Superman just stared at Cyborg for a moment longer before the other broke down in laughter, probably having realized the same thing as him. "Here." He said, giving him a small green-purple device. This basically confirmed his suspicion. He clutched it in his hand, careful not to break it. He thanked Victor with a nod before re-entering the infirmary where he was greeted with the sight of both Diana and Bruce covered in white smears and stains.

'And I'm supposed to be the klutz.' Superman signed, laughing all the while. Bruce was shooting him his best glare, effectively silencing him while Diana went to the sink to clean up. One of Bruce' eyes was covered, forcing him to keep his eye shut or endure the stinging it would cause. Clark retrieved a washcloth and wet it under the running water tab Diana was using. He went to Bruce' side again, moving in to help him, but stopped when the cloth was pulled from his hands. Bruce started cleaning his face thoroughly, rubbing his skin red to make sure the dye got off.

'What did Cyborg say?' He saw Diana sign from behind Bruce. Even though Bruce couldn't see her with his back turned, Diana was still respective of his presence and condition.

'He gave me this, said it was what blocked the comms.' Superman said, holding out the small device. Having seen him sign, Bruce looked at the device in thought.

'We both know who that belongs to.' Bruce signed with a frown. Clark nodded. 'Judging by the colours, the Joker isn't nearly has resolute on trying to kill me without making a big show. Lex Luthor, however.' Bruce signed, confirming Clark's own suspicions.

'Congratulations, Batman.' Clark signed with a smirk. 'We're now sharing Luthor's wrath.' Why though? Why Batman? Luthor held a grudge specially for Superman, what had Batman done to get Luthor on his back?

'I don't want it. You can have it.' Bruce signed as if it was a choice either of them could make. If he could, Superman would gladly lift the extra weight off of Bruce' shoulders.

'No, keep it. I insist.' Superman signed back playfully. Bruce just shook his head, a small smile barely tugging at his lips. Diana moved to stand next to Clark so Bruce could see her.

'This is serious. We have to alert the rest of the league and find Luthor before he attempts anything else.' She said sternly. Bruce seemed to agree and moved to get up, but Diana had her hand already on his shoulder, pushing him down gently but firmly.

'I'm okay.' Bruce signed angrily. His mood had dropped a good couple degrees in a matter of seconds.

'Don't push it, Batman.' Diana was clearly not in the mood to argue.

'Stay around one of us at least.' Clark tried to come to a compromise that would suit everyone or no one. He didn't care what anyone thought, as long as everyone stayed safe.

'He needs to rest.' Diana signed turning to him.

'Luthor only seems to attack when he's alone. He needs protection.' Clark returned.

'He'll be safer in bed.' She moved her hands briskly, her face was set in an angry sneer.

'He'll be in just as much danger here as in the next room.' He told her, keeping his expression from matching hers. In their arguing, they hadn't noticed their subject had escaped. And so, the Batman had disappeared once more. As if having evaporated into thin air, gone efficaciously creating the illusion of possessing the ability to teleport. Wait. Clark ran from the room, running for the boom tubes. No one needed to be a detective to figure out the bat's objective once he was done with something or rather: someone. Someone in the plural form of two people forcing him to obey orders he had neither created nor agreed to. Clark entered the teleportation room where he was just in time to see Batman's dark figure disappear. He sighed in frustration, cursing inwardly at himself and at Bruce.

'What could we expect?" He heard Diana ask from behind him. He ignored her in favour of setting the coordinates to the batcave. The monitor always deleted them after Batman used the boom tubes, Clark was lucky to happen to know them. He had, as if by chance, memorized the coordinates of important locations in case of emergency. Data got lost easily, it was good to have at least a couple of leaguers who knew a couple of coordinates.

"At least Luthor won't be able to get into the batcave, assuming Bruce teleported there." Clark said, stepping onto the platform where he watched the world morph into the darkness. He was in the cave. He could hear the bats, their wings flapping while they squeaked in a way that made Clark wonder if they were possibly trying to warn a certain larger bat of his presence. Said larger bat was currently on hands and knees on the floor in front of him, Superman noted with a start. He crouched down and put his hands underneath Bruce' arms, steadying him before attempting to pull him up.

"Teleportation with a concussion," Bruce muttered, already knowing who was behind him. "never a good idea." He finished with a breathy laugh. Wow, he really must have a bad concussion if he admitted to a mistake. He helped him towards the main area of the cave where he pointed towards another side of the cave. Clark allowed him to guide him, trusting Bruce to know what he was doing. They ended up in another small cave-like room which was actually a hollowed out cave wall where medical equipment was neatly placed along the rounded wall with two beds in the middle. Superman assisted Bruce onto one of the beds.

'Stop being so reckless.' Superman chided with a frown. Bruce just huffed, pressing a button on the table placed next to the bed he was sitting on. It didn't take long for a new voice to accompany the soft shrieking in the cave.

"Good after-noon, master Kent and master Bruce." Alfred greeted formally. No matter how many times he had insisted Alfred should just call him Clark, the stubborn Brit had answered him with a nod and a, "Very good, master Kent." never really trying to break the habit of formality.

"Hello Alfred." Superman greeted cheerily before turning serious. "There was an accident up in the watchtower. Bruce lost his hearing, we're not sure for how long." Clark informed the butler who looked at him with an oddly pleased look.

"Than my sign language lessons won't be in vain after all." He said before turning towards his surrogate son. 'Remember how you thought it was pointless, sir?' Alfred signed, his hands moving in practiced elegancy. Bruce was scowling grumpily at the sassy butler, Clark just enjoyed the show for a little while. 'Has your opinion changed, yet?' Alfred asked with a smile.

'And I thought it was his paranoia that made him learn it.' Clark signed, surprising Alfred momentarily.

'It was my paranoia this time, master Kent.' Alfred signed. Bruce clearly wasn't following their conversation anymore, he'd started swaying in place. Clark steadied him with a hand while pushing him back at the same time. He really needed to lie down. Alfred took out a flashlight to check Bruce' pupil dilation and responses.

"Judging by the bandages and his eyes, a severe concussion." Alfred noted. "Not much we can do about that." He said sadly.

"There's also a cut on his stomach that needs clean bandages." Clark said, studying Bruce' face. He saw a speck of white dye that clung just below his hairline on his temple, it made him smile. It made everything else look so much less serious. Bruce' eyes were closed and his breathing was slowing down, causing Clark to snap back to attention while Alfred worked on getting Bruce out of his shirt.

"My word." He heard Alfred gasp as he unravelled the bandages. Clark shook Bruce' shoulder, trying to rouse him. He could sleep after Clark was sure he wouldn't slip into a coma. Resting and sleeping were two completely different things in his dictionary. Two things Bruce had banned from his. With a few more shakes, Bruce started groaning in agitation. He was muttering in protest, an incoherent "Staph" was clearly heard though. Alfred checked the stitches before rewrapping the wound, asking Clark to help him lift Bruce so he could redo the bandages efficiently.

"Luth'r." Bruce mumbled, his eyes blinking sluggishly up at him. Clark nodded, taking out the device he had put away for later. He held it out for him to take, knowing Bruce would protest if he put it away again. Bruce tried to take it, however, his coordination was off and Clark had to grasp his hand so he could place the device in it.

'Why is he after you?' Clark signed, making sure he was in Bruce' line of sight. A confused pout answered him so he repeated himself, but slower.

"Dunno." Bruce shrugged nonchalantly. Clark shared a worried glance with Alfred. The butler looked as worried as Clark felt, it made his heart ache to see his friend act so uncharacteristic. Especially Batman. He was fumbling with the device, turning it around a couple of times and holding it close to his face so he could look at the tiny buttons. That, or he was just trying to remember what it was and why he was holding it. He sure appeared dazed enough.

'No teleporting for you until you're allowed to, mister.' Clark signed although he knew Bruce' attention was focused on the device. Alfred was smiling at him, clearly amused. Superman turned towards the butler. His concern wiped the butler's smile away as Clark's blue eyes settled on his brown ones. Eyes that held too much unspoken worry and grief.

"Master Kent?" Alfred questioned, pressing for him to speak up.

"I was just thinking." Clark began, he glanced at Bruce who held an almost child-like attitude towards the device in his hand. The other hand rubbing at his left ear unconsciously. Clark took the restless hand in his, trying to calm it down. "I'm concerned about the damage the boom tubes might have caused. Up in the watchtower he was much more," Clark stopped, searching for the right word. "present." He finished, flinching away from the hand that was now trying to attack him. He was still holding on to the other one, it was tugging, trying to escape his grip. Superman let go and stepped back.

"He certainly is acting strange." Alfred agreed thoughtfully. "I'm going to run a blood test, just in case." He told him, heading towards one of the drawers.

"Why? Do you think he was poisoned somehow?" Clark asked, watching as Bruce started to rub his ear again. This time, Clark let him be. Perhaps his hearing was coming back and his confusion was making it too hard for him to understand. He could only hope that was the case.

"His eyes are too hazy and his pupils are blown." Alfred spoke softly. "The lack of response from his pupils could have been caused by the concussion, but he's starting to look like a drunk." He said, uncapping a syringe. A clatter made Clark look over to Bruce who was looking down at the ground with a pout. He certainly looked like he'd drank an entire liquor store. That, or something more serious was going on. Superman picked up the green device, careful of the purple buttons. Bruce followed his every movement, studying him with half-focused eyes. Alfred positioned himself between them, holding up the syringe for Bruce to see. Bruce held out his arm willingly, even through his confused haze did he seem to grasp the direness of the situation.

Drawing the blood didn't take long. The testing took a little longer. Alfred had to test for everything to make sure nothing went unnoticed. Superman was keeping Bruce busy, he was starting to act more and more subdued. At times he didn't even respond to Clark at all. He was starting to become lost in a world only he could see. Plainly put, it was scaring Clark. The good thing was, he was now positive that it was some kind of drug. He'd also figured out it must have been a slow-acting drug that had been on whatever had created the wound on his abdomen.

"Master Kent?" He heard Alfred's worried voice from the main area of the cave. He got up from where he'd sat down next to Bruce and made his way towards the batcomputer.

"Can we cure it?" Superman asked, already knowing Alfred had found something.

"I don't know, sir." He replied honestly. Clark's eyebrows drew together, looking at the monitors, not quite understanding any of what was displayed. "It's a strange mix of Scarecrow's toxin and Joker venom added with a numbing compound." Alfred explained.

"Is it lethal?" Clark asked, dreading the answer, but he needed to know.

"The Scarecrow's toxin is rarely lethal, I'm more concerned about the compounds extracted from the Joker venom." Was that a subtle "yes"? Clark wondered to himself. "I think we should give him the antidote to both the toxin and the venom for now." Alfred said, already moving back towards the mini cave-room. Would it really be that simple? Give him two already existing antidotes? Would Luthor really make it this simple?

"What about the numbing compound?" Superman asked. Alfred had already administered one antidote and was working on the second needle, Bruce was awfully compliant.

"My best guess is that it reduces the fear and laughing effects. I wouldn't wish to see those two toxins combined." Alfred stated. Clark nodded in agreement. He really wouldn't wish to see his friend laughing at his own suffering. Luthor either hadn't tested the poison or Batman's equipment really was good at detecting poisons. Either way, Bruce' eyes seemed to clear up not too long after the second shot was administered. Again, Bruce started rubbing at his left ear. Clark took his hand with a stern glare. Bruce looked up at him, mirroring his expression with too much familiarity. Despite the unyielding stare of Batman's piercing gaze, Clark felt himself smiling. This was good. This meant Bruce was going to be okay.

TO BE CONTINUED


A/N:

Spoiler: It's not Luthor ;)