Bruce was on his way to the office. Normally he only had to show a few times a month, just to check in and sign any paperwork waiting for him. Sometime the night before, there had been a low level security breach and he had to be there to go over any possible detrimental issues. He was almost to his office building when Bruce pulled his cell from his pocket as the ringer went off. He usually screened all of his phone calls, but with this work issue and Tessa being so close to her due date, he was quick to answer a call from her office.
"Hello?"
"Hey Bruce, it's Carl. I was just wondering if everything was alright with Tessa."
Bruce felt a sick feeling in his stomach. His first thought was Joker had her. "Not sure, why do you ask?"
Carl sighed into the phone. "She left work early yesterday. I assumed she got a ride, her car was here when I left last night. When I pulled into the parking lot this morning her car was still in her spot, but when I got inside she was not here. I was worried. She usually calls if there is a problem."
Bruce felt a jolt of panic move through him. "I haven't talked to her. I'll try to check in with her, I will let you know."
"Sure, I hate to bother you but I know you are good friends."
"It's not a problem. I'm glad you called."
Bruce ended the call. Where the hell was Tessa? He called her cell, it went straight to voicemail. He left a message for her to call him immediately and hung up. He hadn't been to her house before, but he was sure if she was there, her car wouldn't still be at the office. His brain went straight back to Joker. Had that lunatic grabbed her? Had he hurt her? Bruce rushed back to his place. He willed the elevator to move faster.
First he looked up the number for the hospitals in the city. He called each one asking if they had any hurt pregnant women admitted within the last 24 hours. He had had to play the worried fiancé card. For patient privacy they couldn't tell him yes or no on the name, but were able to tell him no one pregnant had been checked in at all. That was not necessarily a good thing. He moved to the secure line he had and dialed the number he now had memorized.
"Well, to what do I owe the pleasure of a morning chit chat with my favorite bat?"
Bruce had no time for small talk. "Is Tessa with you?"
The line was silent for a moment. "No." Bruce could have swore he heard growling. "Is she missing?"
"Yes, you don't know where she is?"
"Is she at home?"
Bruce frowned. "I don't know where she lives, but her car is at her office. They said she left early yesterday and didn't show this morning."
Joker hummed into the phone. "I will go check on her there."
"Fine, just find her if you can."
Joker had already hung up the phone. Bruce didn't like how strange of a call that was for the Joker. Once Bruce had asked about Tessa, Joker had become very serious, no innuendos, no jokes, just right to business. This was bad.
Bruce tried to use her GPS on her phone, to see if he could find her that way. There was no active signal, he frowned. Her phone was either off, dead, or destroyed. He left, driving as fast as he dared, up to her office to get a look at her car. He pulled into the parking area and moved to her car. The doors were closed, but not locked. He opened the door and looked around inside. Her bag was in the floorboard. Shit. Bruce grabbed the bag, inside were her keys. a small stun gun and the usual mess she carried around, but no phone. He held onto the bag and shut the car up again.
He looked at the ground around her car and about 4 feet from the back bumper, was her smashed phone. This was not good. Someone had grabbed her. He moved back to his car and left. He had to figure out who would take her and why. He was at a loss. Who the hell was Tessa? Was she really the innocent he thought she was? She'd been shacked up with Joker, but Bruce had chalked that up to Joker's skill at manipulation.
She had hidden being pregnant from him. She refused therapy, or any help really. Who was she to have someone want to kidnap her. Did the photo of her with him put a target on her back. That thought caused Bruce to hate himself. Should he be waiting for a ransom call? Had some criminal assumed that her child was his and he would pay whatever they wanted to get them back? He hurried and made his way back to his place. He pulled up all the recent news. See if any one criminal seemed to pop up.
He spent hours scouring every bit of news he could find, but the only one mentioned or eluded to at all was Joker. He'd already marked him off the list of suspects. With left Bruce with exactly zero suspects. He called Joker's number again. several times, it just rang. He wasn't sure if that was a good sign or a bad one.
Bruce felt helpless.
His phone rang and he jumped to answer it.
"Hello?"
"Mr. Wayne, the security meeting started half hour ago."
"I won't be able to make it, I had an emergency come up. Get everything sorted, I will come by later to go over the findings."
"I hope everything is okay."
"Me too."