A lot of Bat-angst/Bruce monologue here. As for reviews- thanks a million, guys. You remind me that j haven't updated in awhile, encourage me when I'm stuck on a concept, and just... wow. Hugs!

She was shaking as he held her, clinging to him. That was the first thing that crossed his mind, The second was the intense guilt, the anger. HE'D done this to her. No one else. He was to blame.

She whimpered, shivering violently. Batman drove with one hand, using the other to put pressure on the wound in her back, trying to slow the bleeding. Alfred was waiting for them at the Batcave, stretcher ready, and Dr. Leslie stood beside him, looking grim, in trepidation of what she was going to see.

Her eyes widened and her jaw clenched when she saw Scarlet.

"Get her out of the costume." she ordered. Batman peeling the sopping wet costume away from her. His heart broke when she whimpered, and once her top came off, revealing her white sports bra, stained red with blood, and the chunk of flesh adjacent to her shoulder bone missing.

She shuddered, there was blood trickling down her back. Leslie took it into stride, though,starting an IV and slipping a syringe into his daughter's arm until she drifted off, sedative taking effect.

"I'll see what I can do." she said calmly, before turning, wheeling her away.

Dick sat, looking anxious. Batman turned to the boy. He really didn't want to, but he needed to know...

"What happened?"

"I... I don't know." Dick said, swallowing. "I came at the end of the fight. You had her by the hair, head pulled back... You were ready for a kill strike to the throat."

Batman nodded, doing his best ti keep his expression neutral. Of Dick saw the anger on his face, he'd misread it, think he was angry with HIM, and might refuse to say anymore. And he NEEDED to know.

"Gordon raised his gun to shoot. He was shaky, Scarlet was begging for him not to shoot. He was getting ready to when she knocked you into the water, tried to save you. I pulled her out of the harbor, the drugs wore off when you hit the water."

Batman nodded. He didn't bother asking how badly he'd hurt her- he'd seen the damage first hand.

Dick made a choked sobbing noise, and Batman looked over, surprised to see tears rolling down the boy's face.

"I should've been there!" he said, choking back another sob. "She radioed for help! I should've come! I should've just LEFT Cobra..."

"You did what you thought was best." Batman said firmly, placing a gloved hand on the boy's shoulder. "You didn't know what was happening. She never radioed you while she was injured. You took Cobra DOWN, so this will never happen again."

"But... Scarlet..."

"Even if you were there, you wouldn't have been able to stop her. Do me a favor- bring me that syringe." Bruce ordered.

Dick obeyed, wiping his eyes on his sleeve and obeying. Bruce found a vein, jabbing the needle in and pulling back the plunger, and blood flowed in due to the force created by the vacuum. He'd test if, figure out the drug's components, later.

Until then, he stood, pacing, worried. This was the worst Scarlet had ever been hurt before, and he was, understandably, very worried. He blamed himself.

Leslie emerged a half an hour later, pulling off her bloody latex gloves as she went.

"I stitched up the wound in her back. She has a broken rib, and another cracked one, and she's going to have some bad bruises. She'll feel really sore for he next few days, but she'll heal. What happened?" Leslie asked, looking at Bruce, eyes hard.

Batman sighed. "I was drugged. Whatever it was, it caused extreme aggression. She led me away while Dick took down the perpetrator, tried to hold me off, an lost." he hated to admit it, but he was the reason his baby girl was in so much pain...

Leslie motioned for Bruce to follow her away from Dick before speaking.

"She's been whimpering. Crying in her sleep. Whatever happened... she's scared, Bruce. She needs her father."

"The last thing she needs is me. Not after what I've done to her." he turned to walk away.

"Bruce. Where are you going?" Leslie demanded.

"To interrogate the man who made the drug- and make sure this NEVER happens again."

Bruce walked past the med bay, surprised to hear crying.

"Daddy... daddy no..."

He stopped, peering into the medbay. She was in the bed, crying her eyes out as she slept.

He stepped inside the room, hesitating. He didn't want to scare her, didn't want to hurt her anymore...

"No! Stop, it's me, Dad, it's me, just stop!" the screaming escalated, and he couldn't take it. He turned and ran from the room. What had he done? He'd terrified her, now, there was nothing he could do.

He punched the wall, cracks spiderwebbing out inti the stone around his fist. Her cries had quieted now, but still, there were tears in his eyes. She'd need time, time away from him, to heal and relax. Meanwhile, though, he'd be sure Cobra never did this again.

Alfred looked down sadly at the little girl in the bed before him. He'd increased her sedation, she'd stopped screaming, now, calmed and still, no longer thrashing. Her wound had re-opened, started bleeding again, and he carefully re-bandaged it.

He'd seen Batman run out of the room. The man needed time- he was blaming himself. But still- more than he needed time, Scarlet needed her father.