"It's perfect," Adriana told Lucius. She was trying on her new mask. "It feels even more lightweight than before...if that's possible."
"It's possible," Lucius told her. "Technology is constantly improving."
"Awesome," Adriana smiled while wearing the new mask.
"I noticed this morning that the project is over 90% complete," Lucius said.
"Yes," Adriana said. "We're getting there. Can you believe it? In a few short days everything will be wiped clean."
"Most things will be wiped clean in a few days," Lucius reminded her. "There's still the ground work to get rid of tangible evidence."
"Right..." Adriana said. "That should be easy though, right?"
"It is risky," Lucius told her. "Bruce will make sure the two of you are ready though."
.
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"What did he just say?" Bruce asked as he walked into Arsenio's room.
"Crunch," Adriana said to Bruce and laughed. "I've got a mini Crunch bar."
"Ah...I thought you were in here teaching him bad words," Bruce laughed.
"Very funny," Adriana said and took another bite of her candy bar.
"Emmemm!" Arsenio said and picked up a small empty bag of M&M's.
"Impressive," Bruce said. "Is it Halloween again?"
"No, but the candy was on sale so..." Adriana said.
"So...diabetes," Bruce said and sat down on the floor next to Arsenio.
"Maybe," Adriana said. "Your father is right Arsenio. Don't eat this much candy when you grow up."
"You'll be able to eat candy in a few years," Bruce told Arsenio. "One piece a day is a good plan."
"Don't judge me...I was craving chocolate," Adriana shrugged and opened a small Reese's cup.
"Your mother loves sweets," Bruce told Arsenio.
Arsenio smiled and handed Adriana another foil wrapped Reese's cup.
"Awww, thank you baby," Adriana said and kissed Arsenio's forehead.
Bruce and Arsenio watched her unwrap the candy. As soon as she had it open Bruce reached over and took it from her fingertips before she could get a bite. He then moved the candy to his own lips and before he could eat any she lunged at him and attempted to take it back. Before long they were wrestling on the floor. Adriana pinned Bruce down but he held the candy far away and she tried to reach his hands to get it.
They didn't notice Alfred come to the doorway after hearing the commotion. They way they grappled on the floor was something Alfred was sure no one else would be able to look away from, but he was used to it. The tussle looked like something out of an action film. They both remained aware of where Arsenio was sitting to avoid bumping into him. Alfred, carrying a stack of clean towels, went on about his work and left.
Arsenio watched Adriana pin Bruce down again and finally grab his arm with enough strength to retrieve the candy. She smiled down at Bruce as she ate it with glee. They were both out of breath and Bruce watched her finish chewing and swallowing the candy. When she was done he caught her off guard and flipped her onto her back. She screamed with laughter as he held both of her wrists down.
Bruce looked into her eyes and felt her chest rise and fall quickly with each breath. She smiled up at him and he leaned down to kiss her. She received the kiss openly and squeezed his hips with her knees. In the moment, they lost sight of where they were. Bruce pressed his entire body against hers and kissed her deeply.
"Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!" Adriana heard Arsenio saying over and over again, snapping her out of it. "Mommy!"
Bruce felt Arsenio pushing against his leg, still calling out again and again for Adriana. Bruce looked over to his side and then moved to the left, freeing Adriana and she sat up immediately.
"Baby, what's wrong?" she asked, hearing Arsenio calling for her in such a frantic tone.
"Mommy!" he said again and went to her lap and squeezed her and then looked at Bruce, visibly upset. "Daddy!"
Adriana and Bruce looked at each other for a moment. It almost sounded like Arsenio was angry at Bruce and spoke to him with reprimand in his voice, which was actually adorable.
"Daddy!" Arsenio said again.
"Oh..Arsenio," Adriana said, understanding. "I'm okay, I'm perfectly fine."
"It was just a game, Arsenio," Bruce assured his son.
Arsenio turned to Adriana, looking for confirmation.
"We were just playing, " Adriana assured him.
"Daddy," Arsenio said, still sounding disappointed. "You big!"
"I'm sorry if I frightened you, son," Bruce apologized.
After assuring their son a few more times that everything was fine, he finally accepted their explanations and apologies. Arsenio did seem to accept it at the moment, but then later as they watched a movie together, Arsenio did various things to stop Bruce from kissing or wrapping his arms around Adriana.
It seemed that whenever he noticed them sitting on the couch looking at each other he moved in the middle. A few times, as Bruce moved in to kiss Adriana, Arsenio would interrupt and tell Bruce that he was sleepy. Adriana and Bruce quickly learned this was just a ploy to get Bruce to hold him and to distract him from Adriana, since Arsenio was wide awake and continued playing with the toy in his hands while Bruce held him.
"How long do you think this will go on?" Bruce asked Adriana later that evening before they got into bed. "Do you think he will forget it in a few days?"
Adriana laughed. "You're acting like it's been going on for years. It's been three hours."
"Well, I didn't realize going a few hours without being able to kiss you would feel so long," Bruce laughed. "Did you see what he kept doing? Telling me he was tired?"
"Tired but didn't want to go to bed," Adriana laughed and shook her head.
"I'm sure he knows that I wouldn't hurt you," Bruce said.
"Some kids do this," Adriana said and shrugged. "My mom told me once my sister was the same. Every time she saw my parents kiss or hug she'd interrupt them or get in between."
"How long was she doing that?" Bruce asked.
"I don't know...I guess a while," Adriana said. "Probably until she started school, then she stopped."
"School is years away," Bruce said.
"Hey, guess what?" Adriana said and walked over to him, placing a hand either side of his face.
"Hm?" he asked.
"We're alone now," she said. "Which means...we can do whatever we want."
"That..." Bruce said, thoughtfully. Adriana gasped as he grabbed her arm quickly, turning her away from him and then pulling her so that his chest was against her back. "Is a very good point."
Adriana closed her eyes as Bruce's lips met her ear. She smiled and reached back for his hair, but then there was a knock at the door.
"Master Arsenio insists," Alfred said when he opened the door with Arsenio in his arms. "On sleeping here."
Adriana and Bruce smiled at each other, knowing they couldn't say no.
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"I got your text," Adriana said to Bruce as she went into the penthouse apartment. They hadn't been there in a couple months, but Bruce had texted her from work and asked her to meet him there.
"You got here very quickly," Bruce said and sat down the sparkling water he was drinking.
"I was close by," she told him as he walked over to her. "There was an incident on..."
She stopped talking as he undid the laces on her corset t-shirt. There was a small, fitted section with lacing at the bottom.
"Spruce Street..." she said and looked down at his fingers. "I see...an afternoon quickie."
"Well, it won't need to be very quick," Bruce told her after a kiss. "I've taken the rest of the afternoon off."
"So we have from now until 3," Bruce said.
"Two hours," Adriana smiled. "But what happens at 3? You'll go back to work for the evening?"
"No," he said. "Actually , we'll need to meet up with Jack."
"Why?" Adriana asked.
"We have some training to begin for the hands-on part of our project," Bruce said. "Should be fairly simple."
"Where are we training?" Adriana asked.
"Here," Bruce answered while pulling her shirt over her head.
"So he'll be here at 3?" Adriana asked while starting on Bruce's buttons after finishing undoing his tie.
"Yes," Bruce said. "Enough time for a shower too."
"Mm," Adriana replied while pulling Bruce's lips to hers.
Seconds later they were in bed and entirely undressed, and as Bruce's lips kissed her chest, Adriana felt her mind wandering. She was thinking about the Joker. He was going to be there in a couple hours. Once she realized her thoughts had drifted she tried to pull herself back into the moment. It was surprisingly difficult. It made no sense to Adriana how this had happened out of nowhere. She couldn't focus.
Somehow, she convinced herself that if she just gave into her thoughts they would pass. Trying to avoid them was likely making it worse. She looked down and could see nothing Bruce's hair as his face was in between her legs. She closed her eyes and let her thoughts flow freely, knowing they would come and go and then she would be able to concentrate.
Scars. It was the first thing that came to mind. The Joker's scars, which were long gone. The programs they were running to alter all visual photo and video evidence of the Joker altered the scars ever so slightly. But Adriana knew them so well that the difference was obvious to her. The scars were being erased from history. All the Joker's medical records had been destroyed. All images of his original appearance were being altered, and thus destroyed, in her eyes. Everything in the past was nearly gone. The only place that his original appearance would exist was in the memories that she had. She began to wonder if, over time, she would eventually forget them. If she would forget his original appearance.
She knew she wouldn't. She could still see it all crystal clear. She could see his facial shape without the adjustments to the forehead and jaw.
Suddenly, she was taken back to a place she knew she shouldn't return to. She was thinking about their intimacy. Once her mind was there she couldn't pull it away. Instead of Bruce, she felt the Joker's lips on her. Something told her to run away, and she felt herself inching back on the mattress, but Bruce inched forward. He pushed her knees back so that her feet were no long flat on the mattress and held them back firmly so that she could not move.
For a moment, she felt like a prisoner in her own mind and body. She needed to break free of it. She didn't want to feel guilty. It almost felt like cheating even though it was just in her mind. It needed to stop.
She was sure that she would have climaxed easily if it wasn't for the mental struggle, but she didn't want to wait for it. Her own thoughts were delaying it. So, for the first time and hopefully the last with Bruce, she faked it. She did it so that he would stop.
.
.
Bruce led the Joker into the weaponry room at the penthouse. The walls were icy grey and there were cases with brightly lit white backgrounds. The cases were full of guns of all types. The room looked like a futuristic bunker. Adriana was in the room as well, watching them quietly.
"We won't be using any lethal weapons," Bruce said. "Tranquilizer only. It's a bit different to use the tranquilizing weapons so we'll practice."
Bruce lifted one of the guns and handed it to the Joker.
"How long until they're out?" the Joker asked. As far as he knew, it took a few minutes for such devices to take effect.
"Almost immediately," Bruce answered.
The Joker raised his eyebrows and looked at Bruce.
"Wasn't aware such a thing existed," the Joker said.
"We have a lot of that here," Bruce said. "Advanced weapons."
Bruce still couldn't believe that once again, he had invited the Joker into his home. Not only that, but he was with him in an armory.
"Adriana," Bruce said and handed her a weapon. She had been very quiet.
Adriana took the gun and stepped back. She couldn't even look the Joker in the eye. She felt ashamed. She tried not to think about him as he and Bruce talked about the weapons around them. Surprisingly, they had a lot to talk about. Adriana allowed herself to become invisible as their discussion carried on. Bruce showed the Joker almost every weapon that was in the room. He let him pick up each one to see how they felt. Adriana looked in their direction every few minutes but had to look away. Her eye went straight to the Joker every time and he was all that she could see and she hated it.
She waited patiently until they were done.
"Alright," Bruce said. "Target practice can commence."