Names

Damian woke up in a room with the woman he had attempted to rescue watching him. Outside of danger, he recognised her as Elizabeth Burke, wife to that FBI agent who was hanging around his older brother. They were both on chairs while a man in black with a dark blue striped shirt watched them from the door.

"Ah, so the hero finally joins us." The man at the door had a smooth but slightly nasally voice.

Damian glared but decided to keep his mouth shut. See what this man would reveal without prompting.

Next to him, he noticed that Elizabeth was looking at the ground or the walls. Whatever it took to keep her gaze from the man. He was confused. Was she that scared?

"It's a shame Mr. Wayne Jr but, taking you wasn't a part of the plan."

"I'm no 'junior'," Damian informed him in a calm voice.

The man grinned and picked a piece of lint off his jacket.

"Don't hurt us," Elizabeth said meekly.

"It's not in the plan for you, Mrs. Burke. And don't bother hiding your face, your husband already knows who I am."

At that, Elizabeth looked up, staring right at the man with a determined look. Damian realised that she hadn't been looking at him in order to increase her chances of survival. Kidnappers are likely to kill their victims so that they couldn't be identified. It was smart of her.

But he also felt a chill down his back at that thought. Who was this guy?

"That's true. And he and Neal are going to get you," Elizabeth informed him.

"Wouldn't count on it, Sweetcheeks." The man walked around the room as he explained. "There's one door in and out." He rapped his knuckles against the window. "And this is shatter-proof glass."

A knock on the door and another man walked in.

"This is Grant." Grant gave the man a scolding look which Damian understood. He didn't know this guy's name but he now had Grant's. "His job is to watch you both."

"What a boss you have," Damian said to Grant. Grant sneered at him.

Surveillance

Peter squinted at the screen, where the security of the last spot El was seen started running. They had started tracking her movements from half an hour before the phone call, having spotted her moving through the crowd to check that there was a plentiful supply of food spread out.

"She leaves and walks into that room," Peter noted, pointing at the screen displaying the hallway outside the back of the entertainment room. It was a hall used primarily by staff.

"There's no camera for that room," Neal realised with a sinking feeling.

Peter turned back to the security guard who had let them into the security office to review the tapes. "Which room is that?"

"It's a small kitchen. There are a number of cold storage areas for food and it's mostly used for those as well as a few counters and ovens for prep."

Neal looked back to the hall. It was a long shot but, maybe El had been trapped in there somehow and Keller was just playing them.

A tall figure walked into the hallway, red shoes flashing in the light. The figure startled, looking over at the room where El had entered.

"No. No, no, no, no, no," Neal muttered, dread curling in his gut. "Don't do it," he added, knowing that Damian couldn't hear him. This had already taken place but, Neal wanted to hope that his brother hadn't gotten caught up in this.

Peter's hand rested on his shoulder as Neal watched Damian walk into the room. Moments later, he had collapsed, the only visible part of him being the red shoes that were pulled into the room.

Neal thought he was going to be sick.

"Okay," Peter breathed in shock and horror. "We need to let Wayne know what happened."

Neal steeled himself. "Peter. I don't think we should let Bruce know. He's going to try and... involve himself. We should get Diana and Jones here."

"And Mozzie," Peter said to him. They might need Mozzie's connections or information. "But, Wayne needs to know, Neal. After I call Diana and Jones, we're going to tell him."

Taking Advice

Peter walked into the party. Neal had advised against warning Bruce however, Peter felt it would be best to play along with whatever Keller was planning for now. At least until they had enough information to make a plan.

Neal's reluctance was one reason he was following Peter and not helping with this search at all. Neal pulled out his phone to call Mozzie and let him know what was going on. Peter was pushing his way through the crowd with no idea how to orient himself enough to find Bruce. Everywhere he looked there were flashes of jewellery, glasses and cuff-links. People moved and swayed, blocking off his view the moment he was able to focus.

Peter hated parties. He had no idea where Bruce would be.

He managed to find the food table with no problems though. Neal has said something about it earlier?

Peter bumped into a solid figure.

"Ohmygosh! I'm sorry." It was a man with neat hair and glasses. His suit was too big in some places and too tight in others.

Peter wondered what he was doing here, since he wasn't high class like most of the roster.

"It's fine," he said.

The bulky stranger gave him a relieved grin.

"I'm Clark Kent. You are?"

"Peter Burke." Peter shook his hand. The moment their handshake ended, Clark pulled his hand back a little too fast, knocking it into the table and causing some of the tableware on it to clink together.

Clumsy with glasses.

"Are you able to take me to Bruce Wayne?" Peter asked. He held up the burner phone. "Something has come up."

"Oh!" Clark gasped. "Are you part of the staff? I'm really sorry about distracting you from your job. I'll take you to Bruce, come on."

Clark moved through the crowd easily and found Bruce with very little effort. The host was standing with a number of other couples, Selina grinning from where they were attached at the elbow. Neal followed along, surprised that Peter had remembered his advice to one of the guests earlier. He was surprised that he was surprised too. He should have expected it since Peter had proved time and time again that he was more than just a 'bumbling FBI agent'.

Party's Over

Bruce was standing at the edge of a crowd, laughing along with something someone said. Selina had curled her arm through his and was looking around with the sharp eyes of someone scoping out the room. At least, until she spotted Clark, Peter and Neal heading towards them.

She pulled Bruce away with a laugh and a joke about taking him for some 'fun' in another room. But, she was really pulling him closer to Clark, where they could talk without being heard.

She grinned at Neal and he gave her a grateful nod back. They didn't need rich civilians panicking.

"Bruce!" Clark greeted with a grin.

"Clark," Bruce returned the greeting in a flat, displeased tone. Which was just how Bruce usually sounded whenever he wasn't playing nice as 'Brucie'.

"Mr. Wayne," Peter greeted him.

"Agent Burke, you can call me Bruce," Bruce said. "Why aren't you outside?" Neal flinched when Bruce turned to him, knowing that his expression would give away trouble. "What's happened?"

"We received a call from the person we suspect forged the false invitations," Peter said, telling Bruce about the phone call and the hint that El might have been taken.

"The planner is his wife," Neal explained to Clark.

"Okay, and how do you fit into this?" Clark asked him.

"I'm a criminal working the remainder of my sentence off with the FBI, specifically Peter's team," Neal responded honestly. There was no point in lying to Superman plus, it wasn't the time to be creating stories.

"Why would a criminal take my party planner?" Bruce asked.

"Probably to get me to pull whatever strings I have to get Batman to appear, like he thinks I did during the Adler arrest," Peter said.

"This is about Batman?" Clark questioned in shock.

"Boys, boys, did you confirm whether the woman-"

"Elizabeth," Neal supplied.

"My wife," Peter reminded them.

Selina just managed to not roll her eyes. "Whether she's really been taken?"

"Yeah," Neal sighed. "There's another thing."