Chapter 14: Understanding

Something brushed Andi's arm right at the cut, pulling her out from a fogged sleep. She tried to twitch it off, but whatever it was followed, now accompanied by a British voice. "Miss Andi? Miss Andi! You have blood all over the place!"

That got her attention. Andi's eyes flew open and found that Alfred was right. The pulled stitches in her arm had leaked into a small circle of red soaked up by the eiderdown comforter she'd fallen onto.

"Oh! Oh Alfred, I'm so sorry, I just sort of crashed here and… oh gosh, what a mess." Andi pulled herself up into a sitting position and grimaced at the blanket. Ruined. And, although she didn't feel nearly caught up on sleep yet, the pain in her arm was now keeping her very much awake.

"Don't apologize Miss," Alfred sat down next to her on the bed. "Just let me see what happened."

"It's—it's nothing."

"I see. As is your limp and the fact that you were hospitalized for five days before you came here. Master Bruce may believe others heal as fast as he pretends to, but I know an injured person when I see one."

Andi sighed but didn't resist when Alfred pulled up the sleeve on her blouse. He gently fingered the cut across her arm, then left for her bathroom, muttering something about 'foolish people trying to be heroes' and 'too much like Master Bruce.' Andi didn't think she was supposed to have heard the last one.

"Hold your sleeve up for me," he ordered when he reappeared, a needle and thread held in one hand. Andi thought about trying to refuse but she wouldn't put it past Alfred to knock her out again to make her stay still. Besides, she did need the stitches.

"Are you going to tell me what happened?" Alfred asked as he started to work. He hadn't been lying when he'd said he could fix most injuries; his stitches were neat, firm, and very deft for being made by such an elderly man. That hardly made it pleasant, but Andi set her teeth and refused to twitch. Bad enough that he'd already figured out her injuries. She did not intend to make a baby out of herself over a few stitches. Besides, flinching would just make his job harder.

"The Joker got me," she admitted, purposely keeping her voice nonchalant. "Several times."

"Ah. Does anything else need seeing to?"

"No!" No way was she letting Alfred see her back. He might tie her down to keep her from exerting herself.

"Hmm." Alfred eyed her skeptically before returning to tying a knot and carefully taping gauze over. "Well, that should hold your arm together for now."

"Thanks." Andi made herself stretch her arm out, twist it around. The cut ached, but Alfred's stitches were holding better than some of the sets the doctors had done. He probably had lots of experience considering who his employer was. "Where is Wayne? Still in the cave sorting through information from the police department?"

"No, Miss, I don't believe so."

"Where then?"

"I don't think he would want me to—"

"Alfred. Please. Don't play games with me. Where's he gone?"

The butler hesitated. "I'm afraid there was another attack by the Joker." He muttered the words, as if he didn't want Andi to pick them out.

"Why didn't you wake me up?" Andi demanded. Alfred avoided her eyes. That, more than anything, was what sent the chills of intuition down her spine. "Alfred? Tell me. Was it somewhere with Pam?"

Still no answer. Andi stood up to face him, panic now seeping like ice through her veins, freezing her heart.

"So help me Alfred, I like you well enough, but if my friend's in danger… where did he strike?"

"Doctor Isley's laboratory."

Andi's eyes bulged, and for a fraction of a second she forgot how to breathe. Not Pam too!

"How long ago was this?" she whispered.

"About… six in the evening."

Andi glanced at the clock. 9 PM.

Before she quite knew what was happening, she was sprinting down the hallway. Alfred tried to follow and somehow kept close enough behind that she could still hear him shout after her. "What exactly do you plan to do Miss Andi? What can you do for her if she's there? And if she's not you'll just be another target."

"I don't care!" Andi screamed. Pam. "I don't care, I don't care, I just need to—" she skidded to a halt at two joining hallways. Right or left? Left. She turned down that way, and almost ran straight into a tall, caped figure coming from the other direction. It took her a split second to realize that it was Wayne in his ridiculous costume.

And then all of her vaunted self control shattered.

"You promised me!" she shrieked. Wayne took a step back and Andi followed, shaking with rage. "You promised me! You promised me her safety! WHERE IS SHE?"

He grabbed both her shoulders, whether to make her shut up or stop her from backing him into a wall Andi couldn't say. "Calm down. Your friend is fine."

Andi glared, a hair short of physically attacking him. "Where? Where is she?"

"Safe. I promise."

"You're avoiding the question! What happened to her? Where is she now? And why the hell didn't you wake me up the moment you knew she was in danger?"

"Miss Taylor." His voice was the guttural 'Batman growl.' For the barest moment, Andi felt a sliver of terror that was for herself, not Pam. The feeling only enraged her more. "I understand that you are upset. But I had to put Dr. Isley's safety first. And you would have made things more dangerous for both her and yourself if you'd come."

"Where—is—Pam?"

Wayne paused. "I don't know."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T—"

Wayne released one of her shoulders and covered her mouth with his hand. "Listen to me," he growled. "I know that she's safe. Gordon insisted on moving her last night once things at the police department calmed down. When I arrived at the lab I found out she hadn't even been there since noon yesterday. All there was for me to do was help the others caught in the blaze and collect forensic evidence for you. Pam's gone underground, and Gordon won't tell even me where he's stowed her. She's safe."

The details didn't get through pound for pound, but the gist somehow made it past her fury. Andi's muscles loosened and she sighed heavily around Wayne's hand. Safe.

Wayne rolled his eyes and released her so that he could take off his mask. His voice automatically became smoother and calmer, as if he had shed part of his aggression with his persona. "Now. I left the forensics I gathered in the cave. And my notes from the security tapes from the precinct are there too. Are you up to working on them?"

"Don't try to pretend you did nothing wrong." Andi said flatly. Her terror had drained out, but the fury was still there, irrational though she knew it might be. "Or patronize me by acting like this never happened. You promised me no secrets. The next time anything like this happens, I should be the first to know."

Wayne frowned but nodded. Andi turned on her heel and, completely ignoring Alfred, stalked to the caves. She had work to do.

"What are you doing?"

Andi spun to find Wayne staring at her in her apron as if he had never seen anyone cook before. She purposely made her voice casual.

"Alfred won't mind if I use his kitchen will he? I'll clean up after myself and pay him for the groceries."

"That wasn't what I meant. What are you doing making—what are you making?"

"Migas. It's a Mexican dish. Can you pass me the cutting board with the jalapeños?"

Wayne made a face at the peppers as Andi added them to the pan with the frying tortillas and onions. "So why are you eating this 'migas' at three in the morning? I thought you'd either be asleep or in your lab."

"I'm hungry. I hadn't eaten in way too long and I just couldn't concentrate after six hours down there. Thought I'd grab an early breakfast." Andi started cracking eggs as she spoke, purposely keeping her eyes down and her hands busy. Cooking had always calmed her, another reason she had chosen to hunt out the kitchen. You added eggs and tortillas and other ingredients, you stirred and mixed the right ways, and as long as your pan wasn't messed up, you got the right thing. No errors. With everything else going on, she needed a little reliability right now.

"Listen, Wayne," She hated doing this. It was worse than thanking him had been. The words had to force themselves past her throat. "I'm sorry about earlier. Me losing my temper… I know you were just trying to help."

"Don't worry about it." Wayne leaned against the counter and sighed. "Believe me, I've seen the Joker at work. I don't blame you for wanting to protect the people you love. I know what it's like."

Something in his tone made Andi look up. "That's right. He took someone for you too didn't he? I thought it was just the tabloids making a big deal out of Bruce Wayne losing someone until I realized that the only reason the Joker would go after her was because of the Batman. If she knew both of you identities… she really was your friend wasn't she?"

Wayne nodded, his face tight.

"What happened?"

"She died. Obviously."

Andi flinched, as much from Wayne's tone as the images that that conjured up. She had tried to keep the thoughts from her mind, but this time of night, or really any time when she wasn't focused on her work, it was all too easy to envision what the Joker might be doing to Leena, or Pam if he ever caught her. But at least, right now, there was still hope. She didn't know that Leena would die. The whole point of being here, in fact, was to make sure that she wouldn't.

The silence stretched awkwardly between them until Andi finished adding cheese and turned off the stove. If he was the host and it was his food in the first place, she supposed she should do the polite thing. She hunted around until she found a pair of plates, then turned to him. "Ummm… do you want to try some of this?"

Wayne looked startled, as if pulled out of his own thoughts, and gave the food a wary look. "Why did you put jalapeños in your breakfast? And if it comes to that, why are you even eating a taco for breakfast?"

Andi grinned wickedly, glad to move onto a lighter topic. "You Northerners. Even Pam can't take the good hot salsa, and she claims to have eaten a spider before."

"Didn't you grow up in Gotham too?"

"Yes but Abuelita made sure I was properly educated. You should have tried some of her recipes; she must have had a tongue like leather to eat all those spices."

Wayne laughed, then surprised her by lifting one of the tacos off of a plate and tentatively biting into it. She waited for several seconds.

"Well?"

"Not bad." Wayne looked surprised to admit it, then took another, larger, mouthful. "You know, I would have had you pegged for an Asian rather than Hispanic," he said through the food.

"That's on my mom's side," Andi shrugged, "But it was my paternal grandmother who raised me, and she was Hispanic through and through. Taught me to cook and such. Among other things."

"She did a good job. You know your stuff Taylor."

Andi gave him a mock-angry look and swallowed quickly so she could answer. "I always know my stuff. And my name's Andi. You sound too much like my boss when you call me Taylor, and I don't want to fool myself into thinking I have to listen to you."

He arched an eyebrow. "Fine. But hearing 'Wayne' all the time gets annoying too."

They ate in silence for a couple of minutes, until Wayne—no, Bruce—cleared his throat. "Have you found anything from the lab or the police station yet?"

"I've IDed more of the bodies we looked at from the police department, and some of the initial findings are starting to come back from the forensic anthropologists. Good thinking with sending so many to the Jeffersonian. That team gets the job done fast." Andi sighed. Half of her wished the team hadn't moved so fast actually; they'd been the ones to send her the news that the rest of the forensic team was all dead. Still no sign of Bailey or about a dozen others, but with everyone else's bodies turning up, their odds of survival weren't exactly high. "And it seems like he used an old mob connection to get his explosives into Major Crimes. One of the cops Gordon's had his eye on for awhile apparently managed to rent out about twenty precinct lockers and paid other cops to use theirs too. That must have been where he stored the C4. As a cop, he wasn't exactly going to be searched when he came in, so it was probably pretty easy to smuggle."

"Where is he now?"

"A freezer shelf. His body was discovered badly burned and crushed in the explosion, but Gordon moved him to the front of the autopsy line as soon as I e-mailed him what I'd found. They pulled out a bullet from his skull; he was already dead when the building blew. The Joker must have shot him to prevent him from telling what had happened. Or where he'd strike next. Gordon's sent me his accounts and personal information so I can try to find any of his other associates, but I'm not too hopeful. The mobs know how to disguise their tracks from official detectives, and when it comes to finding people with this sort of evidence, I'm strictly an amateur. And all the Gotham professionals are in the hospital or trying to keep the streets from rioting right now. With the Joker loose and half the force out of commission… people are either panicking or seizing on the chance to cash in without getting caught. The Joker might be the catalyst behind it, but Gotham's doing most of the damage to itself right now. Which is probably the whole idea."

"I know. I've been out all night trying to stop the worst of it." Wayne grimaced. "The mayor's already asking for the National Guard, but with all the red tape and so many bureaucrats outside Gotham stalling because they think the city's a basket case, it looks like it'll be too little too late. Katrina all over again, only completely man-made this time."

Andi sighed. Too much. How long before the city collapsed under all this? No doubt that was another part of the Joker's eventual plan. "As for the lab," she continued, "The building was old and so many organic chemicals are flammable that it's hard to tell what actually detonated in there. It was probably something small, but it set off a huge chain reaction that just made an entire wing go up in a fireball. I'll still find whatever he used, but it might take me awhile. The whole side of the building is gone, worse even than MCU; that was just badly damaged. Still, things were luckier with the labs."

"How so?"

"Well, the Joker struck at 6 in the evening instead of the middle of the day, and in a side wing rather than the main part of the building. There was a staff meeting and a couple of workaholics sticking around, but the majority of the employees were gone. And the labs don't have as many people working there in the first place. Most of the workers have been found safe and sound, and I've been able to match all the bodies you got forensics on to the missing person's list Gordon sent me around midnight. It's funny though. We're a body short. A man named Alan Holdgrove is still missing."

"Any connection between him and Dr. Quinzel? Or you and Dr. Isley?"

"Not except for the obvious fact that he was Pam's co-worker. She's never mentioned him, though, so I doubt he's too important to her."

"Is it possible there's some sort of mistake and he's just not been found? I mean, you said the blast was worse than MCU's."

"That's a possibility. The thing is, though, that he already swiped out of work, so he shouldn't be missing at all. Maybe he forgot something and went back, then got caught in the blast, even though his office was on the other side of the lab from the explosion. Maybe. But it could also be that the Joker has him. And look at the big picture: he definitely has one person—Leena—from Wayne Tower, possibly more people from MCU, and now there's a good chance he's kidnapped someone from the labs. It might be nothing, but then it might also add up to a pattern."

He nodded slowly. "Anything else worth noting?"

"Yes. The Joker was apparently on-site for this one too. At least, a witness placed him on top of the roof of a neighboring building, although everyone was so panicked... well, people see what they expect to see in those situations. Most bank robberies, people will be so traumatized you'll get five different descriptions of the getaway car from three people, and this was even bigger than that. There wasn't a sign of Leena, though, so if he was there he must be keeping her somewhere else. That implies a center of operations, some sort of home base he can go back to, work from, and keep her hidden."

"Or he may have already killed her and not have anything like that."

Andi shook her head stubbornly. She wouldn't allow herself to consider the possibility of Way—Bruce's words being true. "I'd know if she was dead. I would. Besides, he probably still has some sort of place he works from, at least to store explosives. I want to go to the roof and see if he left any sign of where that is."

"Can't hurt at least, although I'll have to take you, you understand. We can go sometime tonight while it's still dark. Any other ideas?"

"One more." Andi took a deep breath. She'd been planning to come to Bruce with this in the morning, but maybe it was better like this. It was the first time they were both actually having something like a civil conversation, and maybe that would make him more willing to listen. "Right now, fighting the Joker, we're playing defense. All we can come up with are ways to pick up the pieces after he does something. I think we need to make him react to us instead. Play offense."

"That's possible for most criminals," Wayne frowned, "But have you ever tried to figure out what could be used to manipulate the Joker?"

Andi made her voice stay strong and confident. "We know he's going after Leena's friends. I think we could manipulate him with that."

Bruce stared at her for several seconds. "You're not suggesting what I think you're suggesting are you?"

"Well, why not? I expose myself, the Joker captures me. He might suspect it's a ploy, but you're known for attacking the minute someone's threatened. If you hold off instead… I mean, he doesn't even know we're working together does he? So there'd be no special reason for him to think it's a trap as long as you don't come rushing in to save me like you did for Dent. And if he really wants me so badly, he'll have to bring me back to his home base at some point. You can wait until then and use that to track the both of us to wherever he's working from."

Bruce stared at her with his mouth hanging open and Andi folded her arms stubbornly. "It's a better plan than just waiting for him to attack again and seeing what we can learn from it," she insisted.

"Only if it works," Bruce pointed out, "If it doesn't, we're not even sent back to square one, we go farther back because your skills as a forensic scientist are lost too. You're too valuable. If anyone was going to be sent on that sort of suicide mission, Dr. Isley would be the better choice because she knows something on how to fight and she's less valuable. But I've promised to protect her, and besides I've tried setting up bait for the Joker before. That—that was the biggest mistake I've ever made."

"Your friend that the Joker got?" Andi hesitated, "Rachel Dawes?"

Bruce's face closed off the same way it had when Andi had mentioned her before, his emotions as completely hidden as if he was wearing the mask again. "Yes. Her. Her death only happened because the Joker let himself get caught. We thought we could bring him down, and instead he was one step ahead of us, turned all our great plans into a way to kill her and make Dent go mad. I refuse to let that happen again. Even to a volunteer."

"Forensics can only take me so far. They'll tell me what has happened, not what will or how to stop it. Some things might turn up, but I really doubt it will be enough to help; contrary to what the movies and crime shows say, the villain rarely just happens to leave convenient clues to where he's been, not when he's an expert like the Joker. My own suggestion on the other hand…" Bruce opened his mouth to protest and Andi hardened her voice, leaping in before he could speak.

"Alright, fine then. Say the worst happened and things went wrong with my plan." Andi tried not to think of exactly what that would mean for her. "Say they did. Even so, I'd still probably get close the Joker right? You know firsthand how much I can find out about a person once they've come within twenty feet of me. Even if it went south, there's enough opportunity there that I might still be able to actually get information that would help catch him. Catch him and save Leena—and remember we agreed that it's her not me who's your first priority."

"Information which you'd never be able to share if you died."

"So put a hidden camera and mike on me. You and Fox know enough to spot anything I find. And you should be able to recover any evidence I manage to snatch as long as you get my body."

He considered it. Andi could tell that he honestly considered it. She didn't know whether to be exhilarated or scared stupid by the idea of placing her life in the Joker's hands, much less Bruce Wayne's. She was no hero, she was simply desperate and scared, so scared that she thought it might be easier just to do this and get it over with instead of hiding. But when Wayne looked back at her, she could tell what his answer was going to be.

"Sorry Andi. You're right that it has a slim chance of working, but then again your forensics does too and it's much less dangerous. At the very least, give it another few days to see if any useful patterns emerge. If not… well, if not, then come to me again. If you're still crazy enough to want to try it, I'll see about setting something up."

Let it rest, half of Andi's mind insisted. He's right. The Joker won't fall for this. Have to protect yourself. But no. That was wrong. She had to protect Leena, not herself. And she was so sick of being hunted. She made her back straighten, put a bit of a glare in her eyes.

"So that's it?" she demanded, "You're just going to let the Joker strike again? You know he's going to and you're already planning on how we can use those deaths to our advantage rather than how to stop them? I never put you down as a coward Wayne."

Bruce looked at her as if she'd slapped him, and Andi ruthlessly pressed her advantage. "You're not afraid of risking me. You're afraid of facing the Joker and falling short again. You're so scared that you'll even sacrifice others rather than confront your fears. Well I'm not going to let that happen. I'll do whatever it takes to bring him down. And I'm doing this with or without your help."

She could see him judging the risks in what she suggested, trying to be rational. But she'd found the right buttons. She could see how the scales were tipping. Leena. This would work. Just think of Leena. No need to be afraid. This was what she wanted. "Fine," he snapped. "Fine. It will take a day or two to set up properly. In the meantime do all the tracking you can because I doubt you'll be around to work on it later."

Andi wished she could feel a sense of victory.

Author's Note: Yes! That's right! I, Irish Luck, have not only survived and passed my final semester of Organic Chemistry, I have also managed to type up and send out this chapter two full days early. I might well fail my Calculus final on Friday but, hey, you can't have everything in life. Plus, if I'm really lucky, I may get word back soon on whether I've been accepted to do service work in India this summer, so it's been a bit of a hectic week for me!

Migas, for any of y'all who are wondering, is a fantastic breakfast taco that varies quite a bit by region. Actually I've heard that in Spain it's a type of soup, but the Spanish can be a little strange... Point is, I wanted to flavor things a little bit with a piece of Andi's heritage and give a small shout out to Tex Mex at the same time. For any and all of you who haven't tried it before—or actual authentic Mexican food in general—I highly recommend it. Any Mexican food served north of the Red River is just wannabe and Taco Bell isn't even worth mentioning. Besides, it's hilarious to watch the non-natives try to eat real salsa! (Hint: chips are better than water for cooling the burn. Water won't get the chemical that latches to your tongue to release, but chips soak it up).

Well, now that I've owned up to how much of a Mexican food snob I can be, I'm also going to admit that there was a tiny cameo given to one of my favorite TV shows in this post. I only started watching it a couple of months ago, but it's really grown on me and I've been galloping through several seasons of it. Did anyone manage to spot it?

And, lastly, let me say that the ending of this chapter kinda took me by surprise. Andi was supposed to agree with Bruce and say that they'd try later if they absolutely had to. Now that she's persuaded him to do what she wants instead... well, let's just say my outline may as well go through a paper shredder for all the good it's going to do me in the next chapter or so. So if anyone has a brilliant ideas on how you would track/bug a murderous raging lunatic without him knowing it, I'm all ears.

I guess I could go on about how the Irish BEAT USC and ARE GOING TO A BOWL GAME WHEN THOSE CHEATERS AREN'T, but I promised the last paragraph was the last one, so I won't say anything else on that topic. Everyone have a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, or whatever other holiday you're celebrating!