𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟐 -

I woke up in Bruce's arms and felt my face burn up when I realised, he held me so close to him and I didn't want to move or leave as I didn't want to wake him and it made me feel safe.

Bruce soon woke up and sat up and looked at me with a smile on my face, he saw how red I was despite the fact I was the one who asked him to stay causing him to laugh at me.

We were both in the clothes that we wore last night so we were both fully clothed so when Alfred walked in he just smiled, I picked up a pillow and threw it at Bruce which he laughed at and ducked then threw a pillow at me as Alfred stood there unimpressed but happy to see Bruce smile.

Alfred left us to our antics as I jumped at Bruce and hugged him when I ran out out pillows, I overshot my jump though causing me to jump off the bed and drag Bruce with me which caused a loud thud but for both of us to burst with laughter.

"The mayor is doing a speech today if you want to show up and surprise everyone," I smiled.

Bruce shrugged and agreed so he walked to his room as I showered and changed into one of my favourite dresses and then styled my hair, I skipped make-up as I personally hated it which is why I didn't smother my eyes in eyeshadow unlike Batman.

I walked downstairs once I was ready and Bruce soon walked down wearing only black which didn't surprise me as I wore pale colours, it meant that we would stand out more and we waited for the driver to pick us up to show up uninvited and barely on time.

The mayor wanted Bruce to get involved in helping her re-build Gotham anyways so you could we were there for support, the driver arrived and we got into the car with smiles on our faces.

Bruce and I talked whilst we were in the car and laughed a few times, the driver opened the door and Bruce stepped out and offered his hand like usual and I took it and he kissed my hand.

I smile and roll my eyes at him and kiss him on the lips, I forgot that the media was there for a second as Bruce just smiled and held my hand as we walked up towards the meeting hall where the speech was going to be until we were stopped by the media on the stairs meaning they got a permit to be here and they had badges on.

I realised they were live streaming and they gave Bruce and I a microphone as the news reporter stood next to me, Bruce and I were still holding hands and smiling like little kids.

"I'm assuming you two are official considering the photo of you two leaked and your behaviour before walking up here?" The reported smiled.

Bruce nodded his head and laughed.

"Yeah, we've been together for awhile," He shrugged.

The reporter asked us a few more questions like how we met and we told them our mothers knew each other and they got us to go on playdates, which the reporter called cute as it meant we were childhood friends making me giggle.

"So how did you mother react to the death of Martha?" The reporter asked.

It caught me off guard and I felt my heart drop when he asked, Bruce also had his smile wiped clean off his face when he asked the question and looked at him to make sure he heard the question correctly.

"My mother committed a suicide a week after the murder of Martha Wayne," I choked out with a fake smile.

The reporter apologized then took the microphones away and we walked away holding hands but I knew Bruce was going to hold that grudge now, we walked in and sat down together and the place was filled once everyone had arrived.

We listened to the speech the Mayor had and we all stood up and applauded her when she finished, I notice a few police officers with eyes on me which concerned me as Riddler was back in Arkham for what I knew and Bruce seemed to notice too.

We tried to shrug it off as we thought they were probably trying to be cautious or something, we waited for the place to empty and stood and talked whilst we waited for the place to empty so that the news hopefully would of calmed but apparently not.

We walked outside of the hall for the barriers to still be in place but news reporters stuck their microphones out in hopes of talking to Bruce and I, we tried to ignore them until I thought I saw Riddler in his waterproof but soon lost him due to how the reporters tried to trample each other to talk to us.

Whilst I was trying to spot Riddler in the crowd I noticed a little girl being crushed against the barrier because of the news reporters trying to push out of the way, I walked over and picked the girl up and lifted to my side of the barrier and security walked over and I told her to go with them until someone grabbed my arm.

I turn to see a news reporter was holding my arm and shoved a microphone in my face but saw Riddler behind her, I gently pushed the lady off me and apologised as I took a step back but Bruce seemed to spot Riddler in the crowd top and stood by my side and grabbed my hand and pretended we had something important to do and apologised to the news reporters as we quickly walked away.

Bruce let me step into the car first and then stepped in after me and closed the door, the driver started driving off and he turned to look at me and he was clearly as confused as me.

"I thought Riddler was arrested with Joker last night?" I ask, running my hands through my hair.

"I thought so too, they must of managed to escape out of the transport vehicle they were put it," Bruce sighed.

We both knew this was bad news as I knew from last night Riddler hadn't given up on trying to win me and I sighed thinking about how doomed we were, I knew how Riddler tried to exploit me at my most vulnerable when I was crying in the orphanage before Bruce and I started dating so I knew that we were in for hell.

We return to the tower and thank the driver and walk into the tower, we both walk into the kitchen and I make a hot chocolate as Bruce made a coffee.

"What do we do?" I sigh.

The lights suddenly switch off and I hear the muffled, deep breaths from Riddler as Bruce put his mug down and I place my hot chocolate down too but I couldn't see very well.

Someone grabs me by the waist but I couldn't tell if it was Bruce or not.

"Bruce?" I call out.

"Yeah?" He answered.

Bruce's voice did not come back from who grabbed me meaning that Riddler was the one who grabbed me and that's when I heard the heavy breathing and I froze, I managed to fight against my body and screamed which caught Bruce's attention. 

Riddler put a hand over my mouth as I go to shout for Bruce again but Riddler started walking towards the door trying to not make any noise, I could hear Riddler's heart beating and I kicked the door frame which caused Bruce to walk over.

Bruce swings at Riddler which caused him to let go of me so he could duck and I could see in the dark a little better now, some light spilled into the room from the windows by the door but not a lot of it and I saw Bruce punch Riddler and him fall to the floor.

Bruce rushed over to me and grabbed my hand and ran up the stairs and I run with him, Riddler soon followed after us but Bruce and I hid in the study and he quickly dialled 911 and said that the Riddler broke into Wayne Tower and they told him to stay on the line but we both knew that would make too much noise so we ended the call.

As if on que, Riddler walked into the room as Bruce and I hid under the table where the windows luckily didn't leak any light under meaning that he most likely wouldn't see but I was soon proven wrong.

Riddler grabbed my leg and dragged me from under the table to him and picked me up from the collar of my shirt and walked out of the room, he closed the study door so that Bruce hit his head on it then locked it and I felt my heart drop knowing that Bruce now couldn't help me.

"Bruce!" I screamed.

I tried to push Riddler off me but he just grabbed my arms and covered my mouth as tears started to spill down my face, I could hear Bruce shouting my name back and hitting the door desperately which only seemed to amuse the Riddler. 

"Y/N, you should of known it wouldn't of been easy to get rid of me," Riddler hummed.

He suddenly slams me against the wall and pulled out a roll of duct tape and cut it short enough to only cover my mouth, Riddler lowered himself to my level as I watched in more horror as my widen and tears streamed down my face.

Without thinking twice I throw a punch at Riddler causing him to stumble back so I unlock the study room door, Bruce swings the door open as Riddler grabs me by the hair and I elbow him in the stomach and run back to Bruce.

Bruce grabs my hand and we run down the stairs and open the doors to leave, we run outside for sirens to start blaring and grew louder in sound as they were approaching the tower.

Half of the police force ran into the tower and the other stayed with us, Gordon walked over to Bruce and I straight away and had the file with my name in and that's when I realised I returned the file without taking the photos of me working on my suit out.

Gordon flipped open the file and showed me the photos of me working on Ghost and Bruce pretended to be confused, Gordon knowing my identity was okay but the thing leaking to the public is what scared me the most.

"I didn't put the photos in the system, don't worry about that part," Gordon said.

I thanked Gordon and officers soon brought Riddler out with his hands on his head, he spots me and makes a run towards me which causes the officers to follow him.

Riddler goes to grab me but I grabbed his and and threw him over my shoulder causing him to fall to the floor on his back, the officers seemed surprised and cuffed him whilst he was down and took him away.

I talked to Gordon and we agreed to meet him at the police station tomorrow for the interrogation as it was getting late, Bruce and I wish him a good night and  walked back into the house and we shared my bed again and went to sleep.

I wake up in the morning and shake Bruce awake and he left to change and I changed into a black hoodie and dark grey joggers then walked downstairs to see Bruce dressed in a similar way, we drove on his motorbike for the news to once again swarm the entrance of the building we needed to enter so I grabbed Bruce's hand.

Officers saw us and started to push the news stations so that we could past and I thanked them as we walked, they were trying to push the officers off them so they could run up to us and talk to us but we soon walked into the station.

It wasn't long until Gordon came and interrogated us and they had accessed the cameras in the Tower to see that I wasn't lying, Gordon was impressed with how quick I reacted once I realised I was stuck and no longer had Bruce.

I could be strong when independent but it has to be my fight or flight that triggers it meaning it was rare, Gordon asked us a few more questions then thanked us and let us go and we return to the tower and Alfred was sat in the study reading letters.

𝐖𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧: 30.03.22

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