Summary: This time she helps with a 'non-work' related issue.
AN: LJ community 5-fics. #07/3 Illusion & #05/3 When

~ooOoo~ ~ooO Part 4 Ooo~ ~ooOoo~

Bruce hurried up the stairs from the Cave. The League mission had taken longer than expected and he was running late for his own party. If it was anything but a charity fundraising event -that he was personally hosting in Wayne Manor- Bruce would have sent his apologies with a big cheque.

Thankfully he had already showered in the Cave and dressed in the tux and shoes Alfred had pressed and left in the small bedroom he used during long and difficult cases.

Mentally he ran through a check-list even as he reviewed the messages on his mobile planner. He frowned noting several messages marked urgent from Tim, Dick, and Alfred. But if it was something truly urgent, Bruce was certain Alfred would have left a message with the Watchtower monitor on-duty. Still, he was a little concerned by the high number of messages. He hurried to the primary kitchen looking for Alfred.

The butler was not in his usual abode. Bruce retreated and made his way to the Grande Ballroom. Alfred was most likely there, supervising the catering and decorating crews hired for the evening.

Bruce pushed the heavy doors and stepped into something completely unexpected. The heavy restrained elegance of the ballroom, the gothic carvings, dark stone, and panelled wood had been transformed into classical pillars, white statuary, and clean lines.

The Master of Wayne Manor was taken aback by the thoroughness of the decorating crew. He did not remember Alfred mentioning anything about using a Greco-Roman theme for the party. Slowly he walked down one length of the room then across the other. The decorators Alfred hired had done an impressive job. The marble columns looked almost real. Curious Bruce reached out and touched one white column.

His eyebrows rose as his fingers sank a few millimetres into white and before touching the familiar textured surface of granite. How on earth-? With a more serious focused look and greater care he re-examined the Ballroom more thoroughly concentrating on touch. The only reasonable explanation Bruce could come up with was holograms. The League did have heavy duty holo-emitters they used in their practice simulations but nothing truly large-scale And portable. The most sophisticated portable holo-emitters in Sol system were limited in range to less than ten meters.

Quickly he examined the ceilings, looking for such emitters, and failed to find any. Where the emitters themselves somehow hidden?

Concerned he turned away intent on locating Alfred and finding out exactly what had been done to the Grand Ballroom.

And he nearly walked into Luna Lovegood who was standing just two feet behind him. He cursed himself internally, for yet again failing to detect her.

"Do you like it?"

He blinked confused. "Excuse me?" His voice fell into the lower ranges of Batman's growl.

Unfortunately it did not affect her. She merely gestured around. "Do you like the décor? It's an illusion you know."

That threw Bruce for a loop. "What?"

"Uncle Alfred asked me to set it up, to cover the damage from the attack."

Bruce went cold. The messages.

"What attack?" he growled, controlling the urge to roughly press her for more details.

She frowned clearly confused. "You know, the skull demon ninjas."

Skull demon ninjas? Bruce could list off more than a dozen of Batman's enemies who could be classified as ninjas but they were not Bruce Wayne's enemies. "What ninjas?"

"Uncle Alfred said they were from the League of Shadows."

Ras al'Ghul. Demon's Head. He was one of the few who knew Batman's true civilian identity.

She looked more concerned now. "You did not know?"

He shook his head. "Alfred left a lot of messages but no details. I just got back from an extended mission."

Luna nodded firmly. "I don't know all the details but the attack practically destroyed the Ballroom and exposed some of the hidden aspects of the Manor, including passages into the Cave. There wasn't enough time to get a trusted crew in to repair and redecorate so he asked me to help. I transfigured and charmed rough repairs so no one would stumble into any holes or exposed passages. I also used an illusion to cover up the damage because I'm not strong enough to do large-scale permanent and detailed transfiguration.

If he had nerves that were any lesser than what they were, Bruce would have collapsed. While he was off planet, far from his beloved city, his home had been attacked, his private sanctuary and secret lair almost violated.

~ooOoo~ooOoo~ooOoo~

Luna was feeling slightly concerned. A normal person, Muggle or mage, would have shown some reaction. Mr Wayne's face had not changed, did not change even after hearing the extent of the damage. The passageways were not easily breached; they had been designed to be protected by layers of stone and metal, to be undetectable. The attack had been deliberate and designed to pierce those vulnerabilities.

Luna vaguely remembered Uncle Alfred mentioning the Manor had been burnt, destroyed before. She was certain Mr Wayne would have rebuilt to prevent anything like that from happening again. And it nearly had when he was not in his home.

For someone so fiercely protective, possessive, and paranoid… it would be a hard blow.

"When did this happen?" His voice was steady, too cold, too calm.

"Three nights ago," Luna murmured. "You were already off-planet and out of range. Mr Drake and Mr Grayson did a wonderful job of containing the damage. The League fled when it was clear they could not achieve their objective. Luckily the explosions were muffled and not too loud. Uncle Alfred did not call the police because the damage exposed some of the back-up hidden rooms and direct passageways into the Cave.

"He would not have called me if it wasn't for the Charity Event. There wasn't enough time to change the venue on such short notice, not without good reason. Robberies, gas leaks, fire hazard, plumbing leaks… all of them would involve investigators from the city and the insurance companies. So he asked me to help cover and fix the obvious holes. And to redecorate for the party," she added wryly.

He stared at her. Luna resisted the urge to fidget.

"How long did it take you?" he asked finally.

"Most of yesterday and today," Luna admitted. "I'm too tired to do anything but eat and sleep."

He nodded slowly. "Do you have to get back immediately?"

Luna shook her head. "I told my supervisor I had a family emergency."

"Will anyone try to find out where you went?"

Luna was not surprised by his question. He was the type to cross all his i's and dot all his t's. "As far as they know the only family I have left is from my maternal grandmother in Norway. I portkeyed to Norway before buying a portkey chain to Boston via Canada. I Apparated to Gotham from Boston."

He nodded slowly, absorbing her answer.

"Help yourself to anything in the kitchen. You can use your usual suite. Just let me know when you have recovered and are ready to leave."

She nodded wordlessly. It was what she had planned on doing.

"Just let me know how much the portkeys cost and I'll refund it." She opened her mouth to protest and was cut off. "Don't fight me on this. You know I can afford it." She closed her mouth and nodded. His expression softened a tad. "Thank you."

Luna couldn't stop the soft flush suffusing her cheeks. "It was nothing," she mumbled looking down at her toes.

"No," he corrected, "it wasn't nothing. You dropped everything to help me."

Her head shot up, eyes wide. "How could I not? You have helped and will help so many people. How could I say no when your life and work was endangered?"

He was quiet, clearly surprised by her response.

Feeling unexpectedly courageous she reached out and touched his face.

"Everyone needs a little help sometime Mr Wayne."

He raised his hand to cover hers on his face. "Bruce," he corrected.

She blinked and nodded shallowly, tugging her hand free. "Bruce," she acknowledged softly.

Luna wasn't quite sure what had just happened but she was certain nothing was going to be quite the same going forward. When she got home she had to talk to somebody. Someone good at keeping secrets… Someone who would understand… When she got home she needed to talk to Minerva.

~ooOoo~ooOoo~ooOoo~

TBC...

AN: Luna's previous visits were pre-scheduled and taken during her planned days off (like weekends, etc) with travel arrangements handled by Alfred (paid by Bruce). People are more likely to ask questions when they notice a break in someone else's routine so Bruce is a little worried.