Just a warning that Jamie gets a nasty cut on her arm and there is blood in this chapter. Nothing too graphic, but just in case something like that bothers you, I've made descriptions with any blood underlined so you can avoid it if you'd like.
Chapter 12: Spellbinder is a Jerk
"For a dog, Ace sure knows how to take a girl out." I complained, holding my head.
"I can say the same for Bruce." Terry groaned. Spellbinder had gotten to him too. Bruce had to smack Terry to snap him out of it. I'd take Ace over Bruce any day.
"All of Spellbinder's victims had one thing in common." We were in the cave as Bruce explained what he had found out. He pulled up pictures of Chelsea, the auction manager from the museum, and Jared. "Dr. Ira Billings." Lines connected the three pictures to a picture of Billings.
"Chelsea, Jared, and you were seeing him." Terry turned to me.
"Lot of help he was." I quipped.
"And so was Kerry Deakins, the auction manager's son." Bruce ignored me. I was fine with that.
"So Billings found out which families had access to valuables by speaking with the kids at school." Terry deduced. "But that means he'd be..."
"Out there now." Bruce switched to the surveillance outside the gates. "Waiting for you two."
"Well, you know how I hate to disappoint." Terry said, pulling out the Batsuit from his bag.
"What about me?" I asked. Bruce turned to me.
"What do you plan on doing that Terry wouldn't do?" Bruce questioned.
"Unless Terry has an EMP on him, taking on Billings is going to be difficult." I countered. Bruce gave me his calculating look, but for once I stared back, determined to win.
"And do you have an EMP?" Bruce asked. I smirked.
"It's one of the few things I've built for the bots." I headed to the desk I had claimed in the cave, picking up the device. I handed it to Bruce and he examined it.
"Fine. But you can't go out there without a mask." Bruce finally agreed, handing the EMP back to me. I frowned.
"I am not dressing up just to stop some crazy." I protested.
"I didn't say suit. You need a mask so I can have a vid-link to you." Bruce explained. Now I felt stupid.
He pulled a mask out of nowhere along with a com-link. I put them on and left.
I walked out of the manor just in time to see Terry chasing Spellbinder into the woods. I caught up to him.
"Where is he?" I asked.
Terry...er Batman shook his head.
"I don't know." He took a look at me. I was in a t-shirt, hoodie and jeans with a domino mask. I looked like a kid playing dress up. "Who are you supposed to be?" He asked. I frowned.
"I'm me. The old man wouldn't let me out without a mask. I have an EMP that can stop him." I showed Terry the device. "If you distract him long enough, I can get a clear shot that will make his hypnosis useless." I explained.
"Its our best shot." Batman agreed. "It's over Billings!" He shouted into the trees. "I know who you are."
"I'm glad that makes you feel superior, but you haven't caught me yet." Spellbinder's voice echoed through the trees, making it impossible to tell where he was. "And who's your little shadow Batman? I thought you worked alone?" Spellbinder taunted. I frowned at the taunt.
"I don't get you doctor. You're supposed to be helping kids. How could you take advantage of them?" Batman asked.
"Ah! You want to be my therapist! Is that it?" Billings taunted.
"Over there!" I pointed as Billings ran by.
"He's moving too fast." Terry complained.
"Then here, get to know me!" We turned just as Spellbinder flashed his hypnosis.
"Whats happening?" Bruce asked over the coms.
"Nothing. He got us again I think, but we're fine." Terry reported. "How about you Shadow?" Terry turned to me.
"Don't call me that!" I snapped. I looked around and everything seemed normal. "Seems fine," I reported.
"Put on your vid-links so I can see." Bruce ordered. We did as instructed.
"We're okay. Everything looks normal." Terry told Bruce. A scream rang out and an arm shot up from the ground. Batman and I jumped.
"That's not normal!" I exclaimed. More zombies came up from the ground surrounding us. Terry grabbed my wrist and we started running away only to have Terry trip, taking me with him. I looked back to see that a zombie had grabbed Terry's leg. We started fighting them, seeing that as our only choice.
"Terry! Jamie! Whats going on?" Bruce sounded frantic through the com. Wait. Bruce. These weren't real zombies, it was a hallucination. I snapped out of it and the zombies disappeared. I tried calling out to Terry but it was no use. He was too focused on fighting his imagination.
"For years I've fought the demons inside the heads of those ungrateful little snots." Spellbinder's voice rang out. I started to climb a tree. If I could get high enough and find Spellbinder, I could get a clear shot and hit him with the EMP. Once I got high enough I looked around for Billings. He was in the tree across from me. He spotted me before I could react and sent another flash my way. Dammit! How did I keep falling for that?
When I could see again, I was atop a trapeze platform in a circus tent. My Grandma Grayson was standing next to me, smiling and waving, just as she looked in pictures Dad showed me. I looked across to the other platform to see Grandpa Grayson and Dad waving as well.
"Ladies and Gentlemen! Haly Circus presents to you the Flying Graysons!" The Ring Master announced from below. The crowd cheered.
"Good luck Little Bird." Grandma hugged me before she jumped off the platform and into the routine. Grandpa did same from the other side. I watched as she let go of the bar, did a backward somersault mid air and linked arms with Grandpa. I caught the bar as it swung back. My Grandparents landed on the other platform with Dad.
My turn. I slid off the platform and hooked my legs onto the bar while Dad sent the other bar towards me. I grabbed that one and swung myself up so I was standing on top of it. I jumped up and did a forward somersault and caught the first bar as it swung back. I then landed on my original platform. The crowd cheered. Dad was next. He jumped off and did an aerial cartwheel, caught the second bar and landed beside me.
Now for the fun part. Dad and Grandpa swung out to meet each other in the middle, Dad flipping so Grandpa caught his ankles. As they swung back, Dad held out his hands to Grandma who hung on. I sent out the bar Dad had been on and went into a handstand on the platform. Dad flung Grandma towards the bar, she caught it, hooked her legs around the bar and reached out to me. I felt her grip around my ankles. We swung back towards the guys. Grandma let go of me and I did a front flip. While in mid air I heard two loud snaps and something hit my arm. When I reached out for Dad, he wasn't there. I looked in horror to see my family falling with me. I couldn't stop the scream that ripped through my throat. They seemed to be falling faster than I was. I watched in horror as each of their bodies hit the ground with a sickening crack. The ground was approaching fast when something hit me in mid air.
I stopped screaming and opened my eyes to see Batman had caught me and we were in the forest outside of Wayne Manor, not the scene of my family's death.
"Got her." Terry said.
"Are you alright Jamie?" Bruce asked through the com.
"A bit shaken, but in one piece." I said. I could be truly disturbed when I was alone. "Did you catch Spellbinder?" I asked Terry.
"Yup. Gotham PD is on their way to get him." Terry told me. We landed at the back of the Manor and went to change before the police arrived. Inside I took off the mask and com. It was then I noticed a pain in my left arm. I looked to see a tear in my hoodie's sleeve and blood starting to stain it a little. How did I get that? It didn't look too bad, so I figured it could wait until after the police took my statement
"Then Batman tied Dr. Billings up and disappeared." Terry explained to the Commissioner. She looked at Terry suspiciously.
"And you're Mr. Wayne's new assistant?" She asked, pointing to Bruce. Terry nodded. I was standing next to Bruce, letting Terry tell his side of the story. I was just trying to stay up right and hide the cut on my arm. The pain in my arm was growing worse.
"Your father was Warren McGinnis?" She questioned. Terry gave a more somber nod. She gave Bruce a suspicious look this time. "Stay out of trouble kid. Both of you." She glanced at me, and headed back to her cruiser.
"Whoa." I leaned against the stone wall that surrounded the Manor, feeling light-headed and slid down to the ground. I removed my hand from holding the cut to see it covered in red. The guys looked at me.
"Jamie! You're bleeding!" Terry pointed out.
"I hadn't noticed." I replied sarcastically. I could feel the blood slowly soaking my hoodie's sleeve.
"McGinnis, take her to the cave." Bruce ordered, already on his way to the house.
Terry bent down to pick me up.
"I'm fine." I swatted him away, trying to stand up. I managed to for about two seconds before falling over again. Terry caught me and took me inside, against my instance that I was fine. He placed me on a med table where Bruce had already started readying medical supplies. I spotted a syringe and grew concerned.
"What's the needle for?" I asked nervously. I wouldn't say I was afraid of needles, but I didn't exactly welcome the thought of being poked with them.
"We don't know how deep the cut is. It's just a precaution. Take off your sweatshirt." Bruce ordered me. He turned to Terry. "You should go home. I can handle this." He told Terry.
Terry glanced at me as I shrugged off my hoodie. His eyes widened as he saw my cut. I looked down to see the cut for first time. Well cut was an understatement. It was more like a six inch gash down my arm. Taking off my hoodie had disturbed it, causing a new wave of bleeding. It would probably need stitches. I groaned at the thought and laid down on my good side.
"Are you sure? That looks pretty nasty." Terry hesitated.
"I've seen worse. She'll be fine." Bruce insisted. Terry looked unsure, but left anyway.
"This is going to sting." Bruce informed me. A second later a I felt searing pain in the gash.
"OW!" I shouted. Tears welled in my eyes from the pain. Now that the cut was clean, Bruce examined it for a moment.
"You're going to need stitches," He confirmed my earlier thought. I groaned again. Then I suddenly felt a pinch in my arm. Bruce had probably given me a shot of anesthetic without warning. He must have given me some strong drugs because in a few minutes I couldn't feel my arm.
"Sit up." He instructed. I did slowly. I looked down at my arm. Now that it was clean I could see just how deep it was. It looked like a tree had tried to take a chunk out of my arm. I looked away instantly. I could handle seeing blood and injuries, just not my own injuries. And considering the most serious injury I had gotten before this was a scrapped knee, this was very distressing to see. I instead focused on watching Bruce prepare the needle for my stitches.
"Do I want to know how many time you've done this?" I asked, trying to distract myself from thought of needles.
"Too many. Mostly on myself." Bruce answered. I cringed at the thought.
"I thought you said Alfred took care of the injuries?" I grimaced, reminded of the bitter conversation that information had led to.
"He did. Can you feel that?" He poked my arm with the needle.
"No thankfully." I sighed in relief. Bruce started and I looked away. No way was I watching that needle go into my arm, even if I couldn't feel anything. I focused on the computer, which looked like it had our vid-link recordings up.
"Did you see what I saw?" I asked Bruce. Now that I didn't have a task to focus on, my mind wandered back to my vision. I involuntarily started shaking as it replayed in my mind.
"No. The computer took longer to analyze that flash since you were farther away from it. Sit still." Bruce ordered.
"Sorry." My voice cracked. Unwelcomed tears filled my eyes. I had watched Dad die. My father, the most important person in the world to me had died and I was helpless to save him. I sat there and cried silently as Bruce finished the stitches. He bandaged my arm and faced me, uncertain of what to do. Crying teenaged girls was something he wasn't used to. It would have been funny if I hadn't just been traumatized by Spellbinder. I motioned for him to leave me alone. Thankfully he complied.
I curled up into a ball on the med table and continued to cry. I couldn't stop replaying the fall my head. The sickening cracks echoed through my mind repeatedly.
I eventually stopped crying, reminding myself that Dad was fine and the only injury was my arm. I don't know how long I laid there, ignoring everything around me, but it was long enough for my arm to regain feeling. Bruce eventually came back with some water and painkillers. I followed him with my eyes as he set the glass and pills on the tray next to the table. He stood and watched me. I watched back, annoyed he wouldn't let me pull myself together in peace.
"I was there that night," He broke the silence. I scowled, trying to figure out what he was talking about. "It was a charity performance for Wayne Charities and Mr. Haly insisted I be there as his guest of honor. " Now I understood. I had forgotten he was there the night my grandparents died. Which was stupid to forget considering that was the reason he met Dad.
"You watched my vid?" I asked him. He nodded. I sat up and took the painkillers before the dull ache in my arm could get worse.
"Was it as horrible as that night?" I wasn't sure if I actually wanted that answer.
"Worse. Watching Dick fall and hearing your scream made it worse." He sat on the med table next to me. I leaned my head against his shoulder. He stiffened for a second and then relaxed. I knew Bruce wasn't a touchy person, but I didn't care at the moment. Dad had instilled in me a need for physical contact as a source of comfort, and Bruce was my only choice. I guess you could say I was hugged too much as a child.
"I'm sorry." I said.
"For?"
"For getting angry at you." It was a broad statement, but I had been angry about several things.
"Anything in particular?" I could hear the amusement in his voice.
"Mostly for accusing you of not considering me as family. Its obvious that you do." I sat up and looked at him. "Or at least you care more than I thought you did. You didn't have to take me in at all and yet you did."
"I see myself in you. You have a hard time standing by and letting others suffer an injustice. I've read statements on your suspensions and expulsion. Every time you were standing up for someone else. I couldn't be prouder to call you my granddaughter." He told me. I wasn't sure what brought on this outpouring of feelings. Maybe he was getting soft in his old age or maybe he took pity on me for what happened to me tonight. Whatever it was, I would take it.
"Thank you." I gave him a small smile. He nodded and got up to do who knows what.
I left the cave and went up to my room. I decided to call Dad, because I just needed something familiar right then.
"Hey Little Bird!" He greeted. Relief washed over me at the sound of his voice. Tears welled up in my eyes again.
"Hi Daddy," I didn't even try to hide the emotion in my voice.
"Whats wrong Jamie?" worry was clear in his tone.
"I had a bad day and I just needed to talk to you."
"Of course sweetheart." He encouraged.
"Well it started when I went I got home, but it wasn't the Manor..."
Bruce/Jamie fluff is so hard to write, but so rewarding when its finished.
I have a friend who really sensitive to the mention of blood, so I thought it would be considerate to put the warning at the beginning.
So Jamie got utterly traumatized this chapter. And failed miserably at being a superhero. And somehow managed to get Bruce to show emotions. She isn't ever sure how that happened.
Fun Fact: Spellbinder had a greater emotional effect on Jamie than his other victims. Bruce reveals why next chapter.