I do not own, Clark Kent, Lucius Fox, Alfred Pennyworth, Fredrick, Amanda Waller, or Bruce Wayne/Batman. I did create Sam, Evie, Jude, Amos, James, Francesca, Alice, and Madge!

God bless, please read and enjoy! I make no money from this.

Sammy took them out to the kennels after Evie changed and she was relieved to see Bruce had apparently been visiting her dogs even when she had not. They were all over him, and he had treats. He knew how to rub the right places for each too. It took them a little longer to know her in fact.

"Bruce! You've been stealing the love of my dogs!"

He answered back from one knee letting a big German Shepherd lick his cheek, "They help me relax a few hours between sleep and work."

Evie didn't ask what work he did since he was still considered missing by all the subsidiaries of his company. Having kept up with getting a copy of the Gotham Post and seeing the articles about the mysterious vigilante more and more people were slowly starting to believe in, she smirked. Little Bruce, before his parents' murder, had wanted to do several things. He had wanted to be a doctor like his daddy. He'd wanted to be a teacher like his mommy. He'd wanted to be an explorer, an astronaut, and even, briefly, a musician. There were crazes after reading articles or watching television specials where he'd wanted to be a scuba diver, an Olympian, and more … Superhero had actually been on the list along with Detective and small-town sheriff. Thomas Wayne had a large collection of thirties and forties comics and recorded radio dramas he'd shared with his son. She used to tease Martie about her frustration with her husband and son's shared hobby. How would either of his parents react right now?

She watched the man roll about on the ground with "her hounds" getting dirt and slobber in his hair, on his face, and on his clothes. She smiled. He was smiling too. It wasn't the fullest smile she'd ever seen on someone. His chuckles didn't come from deep in the belly, but he did smile more than Sammy. Actually, when she glanced up, she saw a slight smile tugging at that man's lips too.

. . .

"How so?" Jude stared at the tall man sitting in front of him who shrugged.

Clark smiled at him. Even the wrinkles between the boy's eyes and hardness of his tone reminded him of Bruce. The reporter's voice drifted throughout the plane as the other three boys listened with their bemused friend.

Lucius looked like he was focused on the sky, but Clark could tell by the older man's careful lack of movement he was straining to listen too. The big Kansan smiled wider, but his voice softened as he looked back to the boy. "Worrying. Bruce was always worrying, and he was always suspicious."

Jude frowned, leaned over, rested his arms and chin on the headrest of the seat in front of him, and scowled into space. The other boys gave him glances while smirking. Clark noticed how the Jude's frown had deepened and his own smile shrank a bit. His tone got even softer. "But Bruce would also look out for his friends, teammates. Always. Nothing could make him stop coming after you if he thought you might be in trouble unless he was unconscious. Then you better watch him when he woke up."

"Why, then, did it take him so long to come for 'us'?" Jude mumbled this while glaring up at Clark again from under his furrowed brows.

Clark frowned slightly himself in silence a moment. His blue eyes caught the other boys glancing from their friend to him. Clark remained quiet a moment longer. He looked down, and then looked back up with a longer face. "Bruce told me to steer clear of Amanda Waller once. He said she's a woman who could get a lot of people hurt. And he doesn't want to see anyone get hurt. He didn't know how hard he could press her, but he was determined to get you back when he could."

The tallest and quietest boy up to that point, "Amos" pressed his mouth into a tight line. He nodded and broke in with a deep voice. "She is all those things. Mr. Wayne was indeed right to be careful. She keeps nightmares in her cabinets."

Clark and Lucuis both straightened slightly and glanced at each other. James rolled his eyes. "It's just a saying we have."

Amos gave him a look, "But it's true."

James then lowered his chin into his own crossed arms. "Yeah, it's true …"

. . .

Waller stared down at the comatose face. She smiled like a woman admiring her reflection in a large gem in her hand. "What do we have on this 'Deadshot'?"

Her assistant glanced down at her clipboard. "Financial gain seems to be his motivating factor. No-long term missions or alliances in his past we can see." She paused to flip a page. "Purchase-patterns suggest he loves variety in his cuisine and … in his other sensual pleasures of all kinds." The petite blond with glasses looked up from her sheet to smile at her superior.

Amanda Waller smiled again over the prone man's face. Her voice cooed. "Good, we should have a fine set-up to welcome him in then."

The assistant giggled. "The eight-by eight 'white room' with padded walls, and supply of wonder bread and bland butter?"

Waller nodded again. "Of course."

The blond tittered again. She looked down and reached out to wrap a lock of Deadshot's dark hair around her finger. The tittering was still in her voice as she replied. "Poor man."

. . .

Madge climbed up the stairs with a sigh. She was just going to have to go through with it and hope for the best. She hadn't done that in a long time, the "hoping" for the best part that is. As she lay in bed looking up at the ceiling in the dark, Madge contemplated everything she'd been told.

Her heroes had chinks in their armor. It had also been a long time since she'd been so disappointed and relieved at the same time. They hadn't really made it out, exactly ... She could tell the tentacles of all they'd escaped from still clung to them trying to drag them down, but they'd climbed out enough to grab onto somethin that kept them from being dragged back down again. And they'd made a circle out of people they could trust some of their secrets too, each other.

Madge sat up in bed her heart racing. She even began to sweat. "She" was part of that circle now.

At first, she'd been afraid she'd screw things up for herself "again." Now, now she feared she'd screw things up for them. The voice of the Bat as he spoken to Francesca's special costumer came back to her. How he'd said he'd save just about anyone, (which was true) but he trusted her, and now that she looked back, that was also true.

A new stubbornness came into the set of Madge's mouth. She wouldn't lose that! She'd look after Alice, Evie, and whoever else. She'd do a bang-up job at whatever they had her do too. She'd do a better job than any of them expected. She would not lose this family or hurt them! They'd welcomed her in. They trusted her ...

What did you think?

God Bless

ScribeofHeroes