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I walked into a loungeroom with a huge weight of champagne boxes stacked high, Bruce looking up from the TV.

'Rachel's here. Don't do anything embarrassing.'

He scowled half-heartedly at me and turned the TV off. 'Where is she?'

I turned around and started walking again. 'Front door the last time I saw her. God knows where she is now; this place is huge.'

Bruce followed me out of the room. 'And where are you going?'

'Entrance kitchen; Alfred wants an inventory.'

He eyed the boxes as we approached the stairs. 'Is that balanced?'

'Yep.'

We kept an eye on them as we went down the stairs. We made it to the ground floor and started to peel away.

'Will you need help getting them down?' Bruce asked as he headed for the front doors.

Rachel turned at the sound of his voice.

'I should be fine, but if you hear crashing, please ignore I said that.'

Bruce nodded and I veered past people setting up for the party and through a door into the tiny kitchen.

Carefully, very carefully I set the boxes down on the kitchen counter and unstacked them.

By the front door, meanwhile;

'All this, all of it… it's just pretend, Rachel, it's not who I am. I want to help you, to help Gotham.'

'Bruce, it's not who you are underneath, it's what you do that defines you. I'm sorry I can't attend your party.'

Bruce let it go and gestured into the house. 'You sure you don't want to come in?'

Rachel smiled. 'I have to get back. I just wanted to leave this.'

She passed him a small blue box.

'Thank you.'

Bruce looked up to see her studying his tired face. 'Rachel?'

'Looks like someone's been burning the candle at both ends,' she said. 'Must've been quite an occasion.'

Bruce vaguely recalled falling from the top of a building in the narrows on fire. 'Well, it is my birthday.'

She nodded slightly, glancing behind him into the manner. 'I know. I'm sorry I can't come tonight. I was just dropping off your present.'

There was a crash from the kitchen. Bruce's eyes immediately flew open in disbelief. He nodded a quick apology to Rachel and stepped back into the house, looking at the floor. 'Evelyn…?'

I was blinking at a young girl who had tried to step over a small stack of plates on the ground, carrying a bowl of jelly. 'It wasn't me, the champagne is fine!' I yelled back, not taking my eyes from the scene.

'Sorry,' she winced.

I let my shoulders drop. 'I'm sure Alfred won't kill you.' I left her to it and headed back out.

'Sorry,' said Bruce, striding the few steps back to Rachel, who was laughing quietly to herself. 'You've got better plans?'

'My boss has been missing for 2 days,' she began, making Bruce's face deepen in concern, 'which means I should probably start by looking at the bottom of the river.'

Bruce winced. 'Rachel.'

'Excuse me,' she said and answered her phone. 'Rachel Dawes. … Who authorized that? Get Crane down there now. Don't take no for an answer.'

At the mention of Crane, Bruce's face darkened as he became more serious and looked around, gesturing to me to walk over. I stopped behind him a little, off to the side.

'Call Dr. Lehmann, tell him we need our own assessment to the judge by morning.' She hung up, looking very stressed.

'What's wrong?' Bruce asked gently.

'It's Falcone. Dr. Crane moved him to Arkham Asylum on suicide watch.'

Bruce had to fight to keep his face impassive. My eyes flew wide and I lowered my head in thought.

'You're going to Arkham now?' Bruce asked. 'It's in the Narrows, Rachel.'

'You enjoy your party, Bruce,' she replied with a small smile. 'Some of us have work to do.'

He smiled back. 'You be careful.'

'Happy birthday,' she said and hurried to her car.

Bruce stood there and watched her go, and then opened his present.

I had started flicking my fingers, feeling a build up of energy.

Bruce turned and I nodded at him.

Alfred had caught the exchange.

'Sorry, Alfred,' I said as we walked toward the music room, 'Crane's just resurfaced, we can't lose him, not now.'

'But, Master Wayne, the guests will be arriving,' Alfred said in worry.

'Keep them happy until I arrive,' Bruce said, heading for the piano. He stopped and turned around as an afterthought. 'Tell them that joke you know.'

I laughed and winced in sympathy to Alfred, who sighed and looked to me. I sobered and gave him a meaningful nod. The last time Bruce had donned that cowl he'd ended up nearly dying. I promised Alfred to take care of him.

We slid down the shaft to the batcave and spurred ourselves into action. I changed first while Bruce packed the gear.

I got the tumbler ready and prepped it while Bruce changed.

'We need to hurry,' he said, 'Rachel isn't a slow driver.'

'Terrific,' I said and walked back over to the tumbler's driver side.

Batman stopped by the other door. 'How brilliant is your driving?'

I stared at him. 'Get in the damn car.'

He took that to be confirmation and sat in the passenger seat of the tumbler without any further question.

I started the engine and we shot over the waterfall.

'Did she always miss the lesson that "brave" and "just plain stupid" are often mistaken for each other?' I asked as we landed.

'That sounds about right,' Batman replied.

I groaned and put my foot down.

We arrived in record time and I pulled up right outside the asylum. 'Hurry.'

Batman leapt out and started for the rooftops. I pulled away and found a back entrance to park the tumbler by.

I made it high enough in time to see Batman slide through a window on the far side of the building. I darted after him, over the tiles of the roof and followed my instinct down.

Inside, Rachel screamed as Crane roared in her face and collapsed. 'Who knows you're here?!'

Batman answered by turning the overhead lights off.

I heard the thuds faintly and changed trajectory, finding my way. By the time I'd found him he was in the middle of a fight.

I made it into the room as he lost ground, taking a few steps back. I tagged him out and took the lead, running straight past him and smashing into two of Crane's men.

Batman left me to it and aimed to get the men higher up when I kicked one man in the chin, blocked three blows effortlessly and sent two more flying to their targets.

Batman saw Crane moving before I did and went for him. I hurried to get the last man down before he could call for help and then began to examine Rachel.

She was like Bruce had been, but so much worse. She'd had a concentrated dose, that much was obvious. But how long she had I couldn't tell.

Behind me, Batman beat Crane with a few deft blows and turned the gas dispenser on him. 'Taste of your own medicine, doctor?'

Crane recoiled in shock and Batman grabbed him, holding him upright.

'What have you been doing here? Who are you working for?'

Crane didn't respond and Batman man snarled. This terrified him to nearly beyond rational thought and the man whimpered out. 'Ra's- Ra's al Ghul.'

My hands froze for a moment in surprise.

'Ra's al Ghul is dead,' Batman replied smoothly, 'who are you working for?'

I looked up when there wasn't a sound from Crane.

'Crane,' Batman spat.

'Dr. Crane isn't here right now,' said the man, shrivelling, 'but if you'd like to make
an appointment. . .'

Batman grunted and dropped him, turning around to find me checking Rachel's pulse as sirens sounded overhead from outside.

Then came an announcement through a speaker from outside. 'Thunder and Batman, put down your weapons and surrender! You're surrounded!'

I picked up Rachel and Batman studied Crane. We began to carefully move Rachel through the building. We travelled upward a little and I stated with Rachel.

'Go find Gordon, I'll watch her.'

Batman reappeared a minute later with a panting Jim Gordon, who'd just been abducted up the stairs.

'Hey,' he said to us.

'Hey,' I replied.

Gordon saw Rachel. 'What's happened to her?'

'Crane poisoned her with a psychotropic hallucinogen, a panic-inducing toxin,' Batman replied. I stood up and looked down the stairs, waiting for the police to start moving. Sure enough they appeared on the stairs, winding their way up.

'Let me get her down to the medics,' Gordon said.

'They can't help her, but we can,' Batman replied.

The lights flickered back on, making us all look up. It was time to move.

Batman turned on the device in his boots, something beginning to irritate our ears.

I bent down and picked Rachel up, passing her to Gordon.

'Get her downstairs,' Batman instructed, 'meet me in the alley. Crane's been smuggling his toxin
hidden in Falcone's drugs and they're dumping it into the water supply.'

Gordon blinked, very unnerved. 'What was he planning?'

'We don't know.'

'Was he working for Falcone?'

'Someone else,' I said, 'he said someone much worse.'

Batman nodded at Rachel. 'We need to get her the antidote before the damage becomes permanent.'

'How long does she have?' Gordon panted, ducking his head through tarp to check for the police.

'Not long,' Batman replied.

Gordon frowned, noticing the faint noise approaching in the background. 'What is that?'

'Backup,' Batman replied simply, and Gordon nodded, beginning to descend the stairs.

We stood on the railing and waited.

The bats swarmed into sight and we heard the surprised yells of officers in various parts of the space.

We waited for the bats to rise high enough and then Bruce changed the setting of the device and we leapt from the railings, the bats circling upwards.

Our capes snapped open and we landed at the bottom of the stairs, marching easily through the asylum. Bruce made to go through the cells, but I switched us through to the way I'd come.

We made it outside and found Gordon in the alley.

'How is she?' Batman asked.

'She's fading. We gotta go.' Gordon looked around.

I took Rachel back from Gordon and reconfigured the tumbler seats to two and the lying mode, putting her in the passenger seat and climbing forwards into the lying seat.

'I'll get my car,' said Gordon.

'We brought ours,' Batman called as he moved down the alley.

'Yours?' Gordon frowned, not sure what we meant.

The lights from the tumbler lit up and its engine roared into life. Bruce drove us straight past Gordon.

'We can't avoid the police; just go,' I said, keeping my voice low and rough due to Rachel's presence.

She was panting and looking out of the window.

'Stay calm,' Batman said, which seemed to do some good. 'You've been poisoned.'

Unsurprised, I heard her cry out.

'Oh, nice one,' I grumbled back. 'Breathe slowly,' I called to her gently.

Batman said nothing and drove us onto the main road. Almost immediately we had a spotlight from a helicopter on us.

'We've got to get off the big roads; we can't be seen fighting the police so much on the news.'

'We need to get back quickly,' Batman replied to me and veered past a police blockade. He drove us through traffic gates and a shop front and over a bridge.

'What are you doing?' Rachel yelped. It brought me some comfort to know she could at least tell what was going on.

'I'd like to know that, too,' I replied angrily.

'Shortcut, over the roofs,' Batman explained.

I blinked, utterly dumbfounded. 'What?!' I reached over and pressed the button to switch driving controls. 'Just let me do it. We can't destroy half of Gotham!'

Sensing I was in the better state of mind, Batman switched control over the tumbler's steering to me and focused on Rachel.

The tumbler shot forward, accelerating. I planned to flatly outrun them. Having built the tumbler, I was at an advantage to getting it work the best.

We wove through smaller streets, heading for the country roads and I turned on night-vision and turned off the lights.

'Breathe,' Batman instructed Rachel.

Half the police cars hadn't been able to keep up so far, but the helicopter was still above us and we'd been in the spotlight too long. With a grimace I heaved the tumbler last second onto an underpass and set about looping back around the police cars, using the emergency lanes and then smashing through to the lane in the middle between the concrete.

'Emit a pulse, kill the lights in the tunnel,' I said, distracted as I focused everything on steering.

When the lights died, I snapped the handbrake on and the tumbler veered round sharply, sending us all leaning to the right. I drove over the rubble and shot back straight down the middle of the two lanes past the police cars and back out of the tunnel the way we'd entered.

'Right,' said Batman and I immediately turned into the right-hand street.

We shot onto the country roads without the police finding us again and made it onto the track toward the cave.

I heard Batman yelling, 'RACHEL!' as we made the jump through the waterfall. I slammed the brakes on, stopped us dead and opened the doors.

Batman scrambled out for the antidote and I extracted myself from the tumbler and brought Rachel after him.

I put her down on the table and Batman injected the serum.

We looked at each other and after a long moment of calming ourselves we took off our cowls.

'Thank you,' said Bruce.

I nodded blankly, not completely happy with him but able to empathise nonetheless. 'I understand.'

I walked away without another word or expression, cowl under my arm and cape flapping around my ankles.

Bruce stayed watching Rachel while I began tumbler maintenance to recover it completely from the journey and to reset it to two people.

After a while I heard Batman's voice. 'She's waking.'

I put my cowl on and kept working.

'How do you feel?' Batman asked her as she opened her eyes.

'Where are we?' Rachel asked. She sat up and looked around the cave, seeing the tumbler, the lights, the gear in the structure further way.

'Why did you bring me here?'

I looked up and walked over from the tumbler.

Rachel turned and eyed me warily, the first time she'd seen me. Batman she'd seen before, at the train station, but I'd been hiding in plain clothes behind him at the time.

For the first time, she saw Thunder close up.

I stood a few steps away from Batman.

'If we hadn't, your mind would now be lost,' he explained.

Rachel frowned, putting a hand to her head for a moment.

'You were poisoned.'

'It was Doctor Crane,' I said before Rachel could open her mouth. 'Sergeant Gordon has Crane now.'

'Is Sergeant Gordon your friend?' Rachel asked, eyeing both of us.

I let Batman answer that one. 'We don't have the luxury of friends.'

Rachel let that sink in.

Batman regained her attention. 'We're going to sedate you. You'll wake up back at home.'

I passed her two antidotes in small vials.

'When you do, get these to Gordon, and Gordon alone. Trust no one.'

'What are they?' Rachel asked, studying the small vials.

'The antidote. One for Gordon to inoculate himself, the other for mass production.'

This got Rachel's full attention. 'Mass production?'

'Crane was just a pawn.'

'All hell may be about to break loose,' I said to her and stuck a needle in her neck unceremoniously.

I walked away and Batman stood beside Rachel until she was fully unconscious.

When Batman appeared up the stairs in the structure, I pulled my cowl off and threw it into the gear box.

Off came the other cowl and Bruce blinked at me.

'Well done,' I said simply.

He seemed to relax instantly. 'I'm sorry, I got scared.'

'I understand,' I said again, this time more firmly and warmly. 'You're late to your own birthday party, come on.'

Bruce met me in an upstairs living room so we could watch the news, fixing his tie in a mirror while I was in a corner putting my hair back to how it was that afternoon, now in a dress.

Alfred appeared. 'When you told me your grand plan for saving Gotham,' he began, pointing at Bruce, 'the only thing that stopped me from calling the men in white coats was when you said
it wasn't about thrill-seeking.'

'It's not,' Bruce replied, finishing his tie.

Alfred pointed to the news. I glanced over to see the tumbler in a helicopter spotlight before disappearing into the underpass. 'What would you call that?'

'A damn good television,' Bruce replied.

It made me laugh and I snorted, alerting Alfred to my presence.

The butler relented a little. 'Evelyn told me about Rachel. I'll take her home. But what
you're doing has to be beyond that.'

'Alfred,' Bruce said, with the tone that implied he was about to nip something in the bud, 'don't bother. Evelyn took over driving and got us out of sight. I've already been yelled at, anyway, save your voice.'

'Have you really, sir?' Alfred said, not believing a word.

'Well, she didn't say a thing,' Bruce corrected.

Alfred knew exactly what he meant.

I chose this moment to stand up.

Alfred glanced between us, seeming to determine that we were able to understand the bat vigilante better than he could, and that Bruce knew already all he wanted to say anyway.

'I'm sorry, Alfred,' said Bruce sincerely, 'Rachel didn't have long. If we didn't take her, she would have died.'

Alfred nodded. 'In that case, sir, I'm glad she's safe. I'm glad you're all safe.' He nodded to us and left.

'Another rich party?' Bruce said like he was offering someone another cup of tea.

'Just point me in the direction of the champagne,' I replied, acting like I was headed to my death.

Bruce laughed.

'Wait… is Earle coming?' I asked, suddenly very wary of the presence of people in the house.

'Yes,' Bruce said with a straight face.

'Shit. Where's the whiskey?'

Bruce laughed harder and left the room.

I watched the rest of the news, hearing the choruses of "Happy Birthday!" when Bruce entered the party a moment later.