I neither own nor created Gotham, Bruce Wayne/Batman, Alfred Pennyworth, or Dr. Leslie Thomkins. I did create the other characters in this chapter and The Red Light District.

This story is for entertainment purposes only, so please read and be entertained.

Batman led Madge to his car. He reached up to his belt. The engine roared. The doors and trunk opened. Batman threw the bag into the trunk, slammed it shut, and sat in the driver's seat. Madge slipped into the passenger side. This time there was an armrest between her and the man she was taking a ride with.

Instead of seat belts, two parts of a harness were attached to either side of the chair. They looked like those you saw a pilot use to strap themselves into their planes on television. Madge glanced around at the rest of the inside decor.

"Nice replacement for the one that exploded."

"Buckle up."

When she'd snapped both pieces the halves of the buckles of the harness together, he started the car. The vehicle shot down what should have been a dead end. Madge dug her fingernails into the seat of her chair as her eyes widened.

With a spin of the steering wheel the car turned off into an unused sewer drain. Batman flicked two switches on the dashboard. The headlights turned off.

A screen on the dashboard lit up. A display of some kind of complicated grid or map appeared on the screen. Madge decided to not even attempt to figure it out.

"Where we going, Bat?"

"Someplace safe."

"Ah. Your place?"

"No."

"Oh. Where?"

"A friend's."

"Who?"

"Someone I trust."

Madge sighed. Madge couldn't really know how long they drove in the dark. Even if she's had a watch, she wouldn't have been able to read it in the dim green glow of the screen's display. A dot flashed on the screen while "boop" sounds filled the car interior. Then the car stopped.

Both the driver and passenger doors popped open. A few lights in the car's interior turned on illuminating a concrete floor. Other than their soft luminance, the room was as dark as the inside of a box without air holes.

Batman stepped out of the car. Madge waited for him to appear outside her door before she got out herself. He turned and waved his hand in the air before him. Madge thought he was going to say some secret password with the gesture, but instead his hand seemed to close around something and pull.

Batman let his hand drop to his side. He stood like a statue. Madge jumped when the wall in front of them slid aside. A figure stood silhouetted against a backdrop of warm, yellow light that overwhelmed her eyes.

Batman stepped past the figure into the room beyond. After a few seconds, Madge did to. She continued to blink until her surroundings were no longer blindingly bright. Then she turned to the person who's let them in. She blinked again.

"You?"

"Me. You're one of the girls who visited Jeannette Peterson."

"And you're a doctor."

"Yes, I am. What happened to you tonight?"

Madge turned her widened eyes away and shrugged.

"Some mobsters roughed me up. It happens."

"I'm sure it does. Where do you feel pain?"

"Now I see where Bat gets his bedside manners."

"This will go faster if you answer my questions."

Madge gave the older woman a mild glare and blew out a long breath before replying. "They tied my hands and legs real tight. Then they hit me in the face for awhile. So, yes, all that hurts."

The older woman nodded as she took hold of Madge's forearms and examined her wrists.

"You have swelling, bruising, and raw places where the ropes cut into your skin. Did they tie your ankles as tightly as your wrists?"

"Nope."

"They usually don't. I'll go break out the iodine." Leslie looked up and met Batman's gaze. "You'll accompany me while I do so."

"I'll stay with her."

"No, you won't."

Madge's eyes widened. Her attention turned from the Doctor to the Dark Knight. The Batman's jaw briefly clenched before he followed the older woman. Madge's jaw dropped as he went through the door ahead of the doctor who closed it behind them both.

Someone was the boss of Batman?

. . .

"Take it off."

"The victim needs . . ."

"I've done my initial examination of her. Now I need to examine you. Those are bullet indentations in your vest. Take. It. Off."

He did. He even pulled off the undershirt beneath without her asking. The pale skin he revealed was almost covered in deep black and purple bruises. Leslie's eyes narrowed at the sight. Her jaw clenched, and the word she spoke came out as a hiss.

"Bruce."

"Never call me that in mask."

She bowed her head, shook it, and pointed at something in a corner of the storage space.

"Lay down on that cot and stay there until I get back."

. . .

Madge looked up as the doctor reappeared in the doorway with a tray, kicking the door shut behind her.

"Where's the Bat?"

"I made him lie down."

Madge's eyes widened again. "What have you got on him?"

Leslie answered while holding a cotton swab to the mouth of an upside down iodine bottle.

"That's privileged."

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