Chapter 13: Guest

Andi was proud of herself. She was horrified, yes, and stunned. But as Gordon spoke, she didn't freeze. Perhaps the recent dramas had begun to immunize her. "The police station?" she repeated, voice high and breathy. Not as immune as she thought, then. She cleared her throat and made herself speak normally. "Do you think—do you think he targeted me?"

"You leave the hospital and less than an hour later the Joker blows up your lab? Hell yes." It was the first time Andi had ever heard Gordon swear, but she understood. How many in the force had been killed? The death toll had to be high—the Joker was involved after all. And the forensic lab. Her co-workers, friends... and everyone she'd been counting on to pass her information about the investigation. She hated to think about it that way, but it was the truth. "I'm going to round up a couple of patrol officers and find an unmarked squad car once this crisis wears down. Stay where you are until I call you and then they'll escort you—"

"I won't leave Gotham sir."

"Don't be ridiculous Taylor. This is the Joker coming after you."

"I understand that sir. But I also understand that if the Joker blew up the forensics lab—" Wayne's eyes widened at that but Andi ignored him, "—I'm probably the one of the only competent trace analysts left in Gotham; county's people never were as good as our team at MCU. I can help identify the bodies, figure out what explosives he used, and maybe even deduce where he is. You need me, sir, if we're going to have any chance against him. I want to come in and help."

"You can't come in now. What good would you do anyways? The blaze is still going on and we have no idea where the Joker's gone. He might have done this just to get you to come out looking for him or some—"

"Later then. I'll come in tonight when it's safe, go over the wreckage."

Gordon hesitated. "You said you were with… protection?"

"That's right."

"Put me on speakerphone."

Andi obediently pressed the little button and held the phone between herself and Wayne. He cleared his throat, and when he spoke it was in the guttural voice of the Batman. "Gordon?"

"You've heard what's happened?" Gordon snapped.

"The gist."

"Good. You realize he's targeted Taylor? I want her to stay safe but she's being stubborn and, dammit, we could use her skills. If she stays in Gotham can you protect her? She'll need someone to escort her to the crime scene tonight and a place to hide as long as she's in danger."

"Sir," Andi protested, "I don't think this is really nec—"

"Taylor, either you stay with him or I tie you up in a sack and send you out of here no matter what you want."

Andi snapped her mouth closed and glared at the phone as Wayne plucked it from her hands and covered the speaker. He arched an eyebrow at her and after a minute Andi sighed, stubbornness fading.

"We agreed to do whatever it takes to get them back," she muttered reluctantly. Wayne grimaced but nodded, turning back to the phone and taking his hand from the mouthpiece.

"I can do it."

"Good. How long—"

Wayne shut the phone off and handed it back to Andi.

"Well, Alfred, it looks like we're going to have a house guest."

"Quite so, sir. At least we can hope that this one won't get drunk."

Andi's mouth tightened as if she'd just swallowed a lemon. "There's no chance of you just footing my bill at a nice hotel is there?" she asked hopefully, "I've always wanted to visit the Luxe. And I promise I'll order room service instead of going out."

Both Wayne and Pennyworth looked at her as if she was mad. "The Luxe," Wayne said slowly, "Is owned by men with mob connections. As are half the hotels and apartments in this city. Even if you avoid one of those, the Joker can easily start making demands like he did last time, insisting that you get killed. With all the fear that's going around, do you really think your neighbors will protect you? Whether we like it or not—" from the look on Wayne's face, Andi strongly suspected he was in the latter category, "—the Manor is a secure area that has no connection to you as far as anyone knows. If you stay hidden here, you'll be safe from the Joker and still able to analyze any evidence I come up with. I have some lab equipment and can get you more if you need it."

Andi opened her mouth, preparing to argue with no idea what she could really say. Wayne's logic made sense, much as it hurt to admit it. But a thought occurred to her as she drew in her breath.

Pam. If the Joker had come after her, his next logical target would be… oh, God why hadn't she realized? She needed to warn her best friend, needed to warn her now. But she couldn't call with Wayne right there.

Andi allowed her face to change, to look as if she was weakening. Let Wayne think he'd won the argument—she had to put Pam first. And the quickest way to talk to her was convince Wayne there were things much more important than Andrea Taylor. "Alright then," she muttered, "I'll stick around, but just until you've got a better place to put me, you understand?"

"Fair enough. Are you—"

"Do you think I could have a minute to myself please?" Andi interrupted. She was pushing it, being rude, on edge, but MCU had just exploded and Pam was in danger and she just had to get this wannabe hero away from her.

"Of course" Wayne said smoothly "I need to figure out what's actually happening anyways. And Alfred will be setting up your room." He stood to go, then paused. "You understand that you shouldn't leave the Manor grounds? At least not without me or until we can be sure the Joker's lost interest in you." He didn't sound any more thrilled with the idea than Andi was, but Pennyworth just smiled like it was all a very good joke.

"Of course. I'm not an idiot." Andi informed him. Wayne shrugged noncommittally and left. Pennyworth only delayed to tell her that he'd come for her when he'd prepared her room before he followed his master.

Andi waited until his footsteps had faded, then opened Bailey's phone again and dialed Pam's number, having to stop and start over twice her fingers were shaking so badly. Her friend picked up on the first ring.

"Pam? Oh, thank God."

"Andi! Andi what's happening? I was in the middle of research and then the two men guarding me got a call and rushed me away. Now I'm hidden in some place that looks like it's a bunker prepared for Armageddon with no one answering my questions!" Pam was as close to sounding scared as Andi had ever heard her come. Which was to say that she sounded both confused and angry enough to chew through nails. Andi didn't envy the patrolmen shut in a room with her right then.

"The Joker attacked MCU." Andi was surprised by the calm in her voice. MCU was gone, the Joker still had Leena, and she had go into hiding, but Pam was safe. She allowed herself to breathe again. "I'm fine, wasn't anywhere near it at the time, but Gordon thinks he came after me. That's probably why your protection's been increased too—you now have two connections to people the Joker wants. I'm going to be going off the grid for awhile, but I wanted to check that you were alright and make sure you know that I'm safe. If you need to contact me, go through Gordon or, if it's an absolute emergency that can't wait, call me back on this number." She seriously doubted the Joker would have either the computer skills or the patience needed to triangulate a phone signal. And even if he tried to find her, the phone was registered to Bailey instead. There shouldn't be any reason for him to try tracing the phone.

"He was targeting you?" Pam's voice heated even more. "Andi I can't just—"

"Yes you can Pam. Whatever it is, you can. But I think you should get out of the city. Things are getting too dangerous here."

"Are you leaving?"

"I—I can't Pam." Andi shuddered. The Joker was targeting her. For a second she wished she could call Gordon and take it all back. Let him get her out of there. She'd heard the North Pole was lovely this time of year. No. She couldn't abandon her friends. "With most of the police force gone, I might be the only person with the knowledge and equipment to analyze the crime scenes. And those might be our only chance to get to Leena."

"Well I'm not leaving either then." Andi could practically feel the heat from Pam's glare coming through the phone. "I'm doing important work too."

"That poison antidote?"

"Exactly. I'm getting closer and closer to unlocking it. I can't leave while—"

Andi heard shuffling footsteps coming up the hall again and hurriedly broke in. "Pam, I have to go. The people guarding me don't know I'm calling."

"'The people guarding you?' They aren't the police? Who—"

She hung up, but hadn't put her phone back in her purse when the butler opened the door. His eyebrows raised and Andi tried not to look too guilty, but he didn't comment. "If I could take you to your room Miss Taylor?"

"Thank you Mr. Pennyworth." Andi bit back a gasp of pain as she stood up. The aspirins were kicking in, but they were no match for the heavy pain medications her body was used to. This was going to be a very sore few days. She still had her prescriptions in the car, but Andi knew she couldn't take any of the stronger drugs if she wanted to stay alert. Antibiotics and more aspirins would have to do.

"Just call me Alfred, Miss," the butler told her as he led her out of the room. Either the guest rooms were on the first floor or… Alfred… was perceptive enough to notice the trouble Andi would have climbing another staircase. He avoided it in favor of a hallway near the parlor and kept his pace slow enough that Andi kept up easily. Strangely, she felt a surge of affection for the old man. Well, if she could make a truce with a masked vigilante, was there any harm in making friends with his kidnapping butler? Besides, if she was going to be staying here she might as well try to keep things pleasant with at least one of the people in the house.

"Can I just go by Andi then?"

Alfred returned her grin with a gentle smile. "Very well, Miss Andi."

He opened a door that led, not to a bedroom as she'd expected, but into an elegant sitting room filled with light.

"Your bedroom is through that door." Alfred pointed. "And that one connects to the bathroom."

Andi nodded, trying to hide her slight discomfort at being in a room like this. She had never had much money and when she did decorate her tastes ran more towards modern and utilitarian. The polished, dark woods on the furniture, the pictures that were either originals or very expensive replicas, the antique clock ticking over an ornate mantelpiece... suddenly she felt like a kid in a museum, afraid to touch anything. "Um, thanks Alfred."

"My pleasure Miss Andi. You can call me on the intercom if you need anything."

"Thanks." Andi repeated. "I… I hope I'm not putting you out of your way or anything."

"Not at all." Alfred hesitated. "I should say that you aren't causing me any trouble Miss Andi, but I'm afraid that Master Wayne isn't used to being around others who know his secret. This is something he's agreed to do because he thinks you need protection. It's a job that he will take very seriously. I would hate to see you put yourself at risk despite all his efforts, simply because you want to contact others needlessly."

Andi shifted uncomfortably, unwilling to argue after just forming their tentative friendship. After a moment Alfred relented.

"I trust there was a good reason?"

"I needed to warn a friend about the Joker and tell her that I was safe," she explained, "Otherwise Pam might have tracked me down and tried to rescue me herself. I doubt Wayne would have made it out of that confrontation unscathed."

Alfred nodded solemnly. "If she's half as fearsome as you, Miss Andi, I think you might have the right of it. Just don't let it happen again."

The sound of the elevator coming into the cave broke Andi from a near trance, but she didn't look up from her lists of data. How long had she been working? Her concentration had been almost as engulfing as when she was performing Wayne's surgery, and once again she had lost all track of time. Still, if that gnawing feeling in her belly was any indication, it must have been hours since they'd returned from collecting the initial evidence from the parts of MCU she could enter. That had been at about six in the morning.

"Any luck on figuring out what explosives were used?" Wayne moved quietly; she hadn't heard him leave the elevator until he was suddenly over her shoulder, staring at the long lists of data in her hands. Andi jumped but didn't look up.

"It wasn't luck," she informed him, "It was science. And I had that done in less than an hour. Looks like a whole lot of C4, probably detonated through a remote, even though several witnesses place the Joker at the scene. Here, you can look at the analysis." She shoved a folder filled with technical jargon like 'immunoextraction' and 'capillary electrophoresis' at him, but Wayne didn't take the hint and leave her in peace to try deciphering it.

"It's his usual style. He always wants to see the havoc he's wreaked," he muttered, setting the unopened file on top of another stack of papers. Andi rolled her eyes and re-filed it correctly. Disorganization was half the reason MCU never got through all it's work. Well, it had been until...

"So what else have you been looking through?"

Andi shook her head. Couldn't think of the tragedy of it right now; she needed to keep her mind on business. "That stack of supplies and papers over next to the TV are notes from the security cameras. They send their footage to another location just in case anything like this happens, so the videos weren't harmed in the explosion. I've been sorting through them, trying to figure out how the Joker managed to sneak that much stuff into the department without anyone getting suspicious. Plus I'm comparing that with the card swipes recording who entered the building when to see if I can spot anomalies. Not my usual line of work, but there isn't anyone else so..."

Andi felt her head go light suddenly and grimaced. She hadn't been feeling tired until Wayne came in and suddenly reminded her of just how long she'd been at this, how much more there was left to do. Her cuts ached, especially along that one in her scalp. That one just made her entire skull feel enflamed. She swallowed and made herself speak in the same brisk tone. "I'm also working through the DNA samples we got, fingerprints, and dental records on the computers, and making much more progress on that front. I have to admit, your labs here are better equipped than the whole forensics department was, even if you have them stuck in a cave."

"Fox taught me some stuff. He offered to help too, but he's analyzing everything at Wayne Tower and working as Enterprises' CEO to keep the company from losing too much money in the economic panic. There's simply not enough time for him to do it. He's sent in what he has on Wayne Tower, though, so you can compare notes once you get through all this." Wayne pulled a chair over and picked up a list of card swipes, idly flipping through the pages. "We already have the Joker's identity established. Why bother with going through DNA and fingerprints?"

"It's not the Joker I'm trying to name, although finding out where he was and when might help. It's all the different people he killed. Some of them were too badly destroyed to have a chance for identification without a forensic anthropologist with weeks to comb through the remains, but I'm doing what I can. The families deserve to know."

Wayne's voice became much quieter. "How many?"

"I've identified eight so far, but we both know there were more corpses than that even if we avoided searching the unstable parts of the wreckage. Plus there are many more whose time cards record as being in the building but haven't been found one way or the other. Some are dead, and others may simply have escaped the explosion and not checked in afterwards with Gordon for one reason or another—the blasts went off at different times in different parts of the building, so they did manage to evacuate a good number between them. But it's also possible that the Joker took hostages. I wish I knew whether that was a good thing or a bad thing." More than half the forensic team was dead and Andi didn't have high hopes for the rest. Bailey, the sergeant assigned to protect her, had disappeared too. That almost hurt worse than anything. He shouldn't even have been there. Or she should have been with him. Or something. Foolish to think she could have done something to help him. But that didn't stop the thought.

"Is there anything I can do?"

"Yeah," Andi shook her head to try to clear her thoughts and felt more dizziness course through her instead. Too much to do, too much for any one person. "Here," She stood up to show him the security footage, but somehow her knees didn't obey her orders. Wayne seized her arm before she could hit the ground and hauled her back up, ignoring Andi's pained gasp. He had grabbed her right on one of the Joker's knife slashes.

"How long have you been up again?"

"I haven't been to sleep," Andi admitted. "But it can't have been that long since we got back. I'm good for another hour or two at least."

Wayne raised his eyebrows. "'Can't have been that long?' Taylor, it is four in the afternoon. You just got out of the hospital and you've been up for, what, twenty-four hours straight?"

"Something like that," Andi mumbled. Four PM? It was closer to thirty-six hours...

He just rolled his eyes. "Get back upstairs and sleep. I'll look through some of this."

It was a mark of how tired Andi was that she didn't argue, didn't even remind him to keep things in order. She shook Wayne's arm off of her, though, and walked herself to the elevator out of the cave. No need for him to see the way she stumbled on every little unevenness in the floor, much less the blood seeping through her sleeve from where his pull had yanked several stitches out. She wondered absently if she could sew it back up herself. She'd never really tried that sort of thing before, and it'd be awkward doing it left handed, but she thought she might manage.

When she reached her suite, though, Andi decided that she just didn't care how much blood she got on the bed. It was probably worth her life's savings to replace, but at this point Andi was well past the point of the worst exhaustion she had been through in med school. She didn't bother tossing off her tennis shoes or climbing around to the pillows, just collapsed face-first onto the mattress and let her mind shut down.

Author's Note: Hey y'all, me again (who else would it be writing these?).

I worry that this post is a little cliche, with Andi having to stay with Bruce for protection and everything, but to be perfectly honest, I couldn't think of where else Bruce would really put her. Sure, he has safehouses, but all of the ones in Gotham have people living nearby who might sell her out. Staying in the manor honestly seems to be the most in character solution he would come up with on short notice even if it has been done before.

Anyways, not much else to say about this one except that I hope you enjoyed and that after a SPECTACULAR football game, the Irish are going to a bowl game! Sadly, that only means one more possible Irish victory for my monster, so you know where to click...