On The Edge//Bruce//

[brucewayne]

The Dark Knight listened to her. Did he think she was crazy? Of course not. Bruce Wayne may not be the most emotional of men, but he wasn't going to judge people, especially not Hailey. He gave a wry twist of the rights side of his lips, doing his best to curve the other side up into what he hoped was a reassuring smile. Doing his best to show some sort of emotion, he gently placed a black gloved hand on her shoulder, "Miss Heart, I'm not going to throw you in the looney bin, the Joker deserves to be in the looney bin, you, ma'am, do not." He let his words sink in while his softened eyes watched her, making sure she understood that he didn't think she was crazy. He thought the Joker was crazy. He thought Scarecrow was crazy. He thought Harvey Dent was crazy, but not Hailey Heart. Not Mistress Liberty. "It's late, do you have anywhere to go?" He asked her, voice softened slightly, but still a bit hard, but that was normal for Bruce Wayne. His hand was off her shoulder, he had removed it after his first set of words...not wanting it to turn awkward...but then, he realized, it had always been awkward. From the moment he grabbed her and forced her from the edge. But now they had both opened up a bit. Now Miss Hailey Heart knew something about Wayne that only two other people knew, Alfred and Lucius. Pain flickered over his dark eyes. There was one other person who had known, Rachel Dawes...and she was dead because he had chosen Harvey Dent over her. Even though he thought Gordon would get to her in time. But then not even Bruce Wayne's friend, Jim Gordon, knew that Thomas Wayne's son was the Batman; the Dark Knight.

[Hailey Heart]

She returned his smile, it was very faint though. She was puzzled as to who the Joker was, but she wasn't going to ask. She winced as he placed his hand on her bandaged shoulder, but didn't move away. She sighed when he asked if she had any where to go. She did, but then again she didn't. She was running from Steve and Sam, and therefore SHIELD, but all of her things, and her room, and everything were in SHIELD; but she didn't want to go back. So she sat there, in thought, trying to figure out if she had somewhere to go. Face Steve and Sam, or go home with a man she barely knew. At the moment, going with Bruce seemed the better choice. So she shrugged. "I don't have any where to go." She muttered, it was odd for an Avenger to say it, but it was sadly true. She relaxed slightly, but she was still tense, and she started rubbing her hands up and down on her arms, trying to warm up.

[brucewayne]

He slipped off the cloak and gently put it around her shoulders as he stood with a sigh that fogged faintly in the chilled air. He held his hand out to her. "You can stay at my place...it's not much...just a hotel...but it's better then out here in the dark." Another sigh slipped from his worn body. He still had to look at the wound at his side...he just hoped he'd remembered to bring a needle and thread. He bit his lip running over the items he'd brought with him through his head. He decided, eventually, that he had it with him...somewhere. His dark eyes sighed at her, "You have my word that no harm will befall on you whilst your in my presence.

[/i]" He vowed, voice deep, strong, and oozing with defiance. He wasn't going to let her get hurt, he'd take another bullet if it meant she wouldn't be more hurt then she was, his dark penetrating eyes flickering once more to the wraps on her body. Then he found his eyes on her pretty hair, golden blonde and perfectly accenting her stormy eyes, that had flickered with pain when she spoke of her time with the captain, a person Batman had heard a few things about since he came here to Manhattan. A hiss passed through his clenched teeth as the armor like vest jabbed into his side, causing the bullet to shift and send pain shooting through his lean, muscular body, sending a tremble through him. For a moment his heavy eyelids lowered to cut off the pain in his eyes that had temporarily passed through him. He reopened his eyes and once more touched Hailey with it's intensity. A short sentence of three words exited, "Are you coming?"[/blockquote][/color]

[Hailey Heart]

She was surprised as he draped his cloak around her shoulders. She reached up, and tentivily took his hand, holding onto the cloak with the other hand. She pulled herself up, wincing slightly at her shoulder. When he vowed to keep her safe, she let some puzzlement slip into her eyes. A place to stay and a vow of protection...am I dreaming..did I hit my head to hard? She heard the hiss and was ripped from her thoughts as she looked at him. "Are you alright?" She noticed the scratch along his armor, and resisted the urge to get a better look and see if she could help. She would have done it in a moment for Steve, but she didn't know if, Bruce, would let her. "Yeah, I'm coming." She had a light lower tone, as she was still distracted by the gash in his armor.

[/color]

[brucewayne]

He looked at her and saw her eyes flicker to the gash in the side of his armor. He gave a faint smile. "Don't worry about me," He told her, his deep voice gentle, but a slight edge of pain trickled out of his mouth after his words and he realized it too. He sighed and muttered, "Robbers that had guns," His sentence was short, but to the point. He shrugged, "Nothing to worry about," But he knew that the wound could easily get infected. He glanced at her and gently led her towards the stairs. He walked down them, gently holding her hand, not too roughly, but not too softly either. It was a firm hold, but not too firm, not enough to hurt. He didn't understand why he had been drown to her, but he had. As soon as he'd seen her on the building he'd known he needed to get her away from the edge. He glanced quickly back at her to make sure she was still alright. A door burst open and a man dressed all in black with a ski mask burst out. BANG. Went his gun, the bullet slamming into the wall inches from Bruce's head. He swore and let go of Hailey's hand, grabbing his gun and rushing at the man, slamming his fist into the man's stomach. He doubled over and BANG, another shot echoed through out the staircase. Bruce grabbed the man and threw him into the wall, his own gun clattering to the ground and sliding away. The robber went for Bruce's gun when Batman kicked the robber's own gun away. Bruce Wayne pushed him away and slammed his elbow into the back of the man's head, letting him slump to the ground, unconscious. Bruce drew in a few labored breaths, trying to calm his beating heart. He looked at Hailey, "You okay?" He asked, not realizing that there was blood spilling from a hole in his armor up my his shoulder blade, close to his neck. He raised a gloved hand and then touched the hole and pulled his hand back, shooting out a curse when he saw the blood.

[Hailey Heart]

She nodded, knowing what some of that was like, but she didn't tell him how she got her injuries. She never told him how she was bitten by a raptor. She kept a grip on his hand, her leg not liking the stairs. When he opened the door and a masked man shot the gun, landing by Bruce's head, she jumped. As he lunged at him, the man had fired again, the bullet slamming into Hailey's unbandaged shoulder. She winced, but she was slightly used to being shot, not a good thing. She watched as he knocked the man out, and turned back to her. She had her hand wrapped around her shoulder, some blood dripping from between her fingers. When he asked if she was okay, she had seen the blood dripping down his armor. "I'm fine, but you're not." She walked towards him, still clutching her right shoulder.

[brucewayne]

He could see the blood dripping through her fingers. "You are not fine, you're bleeding..." He took her hand from the injury and tore a piece from his cloak and wrapped it around the injury, his eyes never leaving his gloved hands as they tied the knot. "Don't worry about me, I'm fine." He replied, shaking his head and taking a step back. He gave a faint smile, why did she care? He guessed it was the same reason he cared that she was going to commit suicide. He swore, he'd broken his vow. He'd promised her she wouldn't get hurt, and what do you know, she was shot because he hadn't stepped in front of the bullet to take it for her. He sighed, and his voice, deep and filled with exhaustion, "I promised you that you wouldn't get hurt...and you just did..." His eyes narrowed and sparkled with regret as he watched her. "I'm sorry." came that deep, rasping, yet somehow powerful voice that seemed to echo around the staircase. His deep soul penetrating black eyes hazed over with slight regret and exhaustion. His expressionless line of a mouth turned down into a deep set frown, causing his forehead to furrow. His glove had blood on it, so he slipped it off and then the other one, "Come on, let's go." He once more held out his hand, but this time it was the cracked, dry skinned, palm of Bruce Wayne not the black gloved hand of Batman.

[Hailey Heart]

She winced slightly as he wrapped the piece of his cloak around it. She winced, now both shoulders bandaged. One in a white gauze tinted red, the other in the black cloak of Batman. She sighed. "Don't worry about it. I'm fine." She sighed, Steve worried about her, or used to, and so did Bruce apparently.
He slid the bloodied gloved from his hand and held his bare hand out to her. She looked at her hands, both slightly covered in blood. She wiped them on her white shirt and reached out to his hand, her fingers closing over his. "Lead the way, Mr. Wayne."

[brucewayne]

"Please, just Bruce is fine." He really didn't like being called Mr. anything and the sentence he'd just spoken slipped out before he could stop it. However he gave a faint smile as his fingers closed around hers and he let her further down the stairs. When he reached the correct floor, he opened the door the the hall and gently nudged Hailey in first and then shut the door. His feet were silent as he led her to a door were he ran the room key through the slot and the door clicked open. He opened the door, reached in and flicked on the light. He waved his hand inside, "Ladies first." came his strong voice, holding a soft chuckle as he glanced at her. The hotel was nothing special, painted a basic tan with a door leading to the bedroom, and another to the bathroom. There was a small kitchen-like area and then the living room where there was a tv and the balcony where the full moon could be seen, shining in and glistening slightly in Bruce's eyes. He gave her a smile, urging her to go forward. The wound was starting to bleed more and Bruce frowned at it. He propped the door open with his booted foot and pressed his gloved hand against the wound, blood spilling between his fingers. He swore, it was worse then he'd thought.

[Hailey Heart]

She smiled faintly at him. Getting a little bit of a tight grip as she descended the stairs, her leg threatening to give at any moment. She winced a little as he nudged her through the door, but didn't say anything. She noticed how his feet were silent, and she frowned at her weird gait of silent and then a slight drag of her injured left leg. She smiled as she opened the door, and waved her in with a simple two word phrase. She slipped in and smiled at the moon. She had turned to him, catching the dark brown color in his eyes again. When more blood started to spill she bit her lip. "Come here, let me help you." She stepped aside leaving room for him to walk into the hotel room.

[brucewayne]

His mouth twitched and he entered, closing the door behind him, locking it so no one could get out. He brought her over to the chair in the kitchen. He told her to sit and went to his room and dug through a drawer until he found what he was looking for. The needle and thread. He walked back out after slipping off the armor, revealing a deep navy tee shirt. He stripped off all the armor and when he came out he was wearing a baggy pair of shorts. He went over to her and gently eased the cloth off and turned his dark eyes to her, the light of the room showing their real dark brown color. He let a murmur of, "This might hurt a bit...and I'm sorry." slip from his mouth as he easily threaded the surgical thread into the needle. He mentally put thank Alfred for the needle and surgical thread in his to do list. He glanced at her, sighed and apologized quickly before beginning to sew her back together. When he was finished, He cut the extra thread with a pair of small of scissors. He sighed and leaned back against the counter, feeling the blood oozing into his shirt again. He cursed and pushed his hand against it.

[Hailey Heart]

She sighed and let him lead her to the couch, smirking slightly as she dripped blood on it. He came back with a needle and thread. She shifted her shoulder over so he had a clear view of it. She winced slightly as he slid the fabric off, letting it bleed freely again. She nodded, saying nothing as he said it may hurt. She had never liked needles. She bit her lip as he looped the needle and thread through her skin repeatedly. She looked back tom him when he was done. She reached over to his hand, and slipped the needle and surgical thread away from him. "Your turn." She set her hand gently on his shoulder as she scooted closer to stitch it up.

[/color]

[brucewayne]

Bruce sighed and sat his aching body down on the couch beside her. He knew there was no use fighting her so he gently slid his shirt down a bit so she could see the wound clearer. The red liquid stained his skin and his shirt, causing him to mutter that, that was one of his better shirts, then he shrugged and a groan passed through his clenched teeth at the sudden jolting pain. He bit his lip, tasting blood after a minute, the iron, metalically substance making his nose crinkle in disgust when he swallowed it. "Just do it." He told her, voice tinged with slight pain, moving a bit so she'd have a better angle.

((UGH short.))

[Hailey Heart]

[[Ugh colors wont work...]]

She nodded, holding the needle with her teeth. She moved his hand, holding down the shirt with her own hand. "Sorry." She said with her teeth latched around the needle. She slipped the needle from her mouth, wiping her spit and blood off on her pants. She slid the needle in carefully and started. To loop it around skillfully until it was sewed shut. She slid the needle from the surgical string and placed it between her teeth again, noting the iron rich blood on ot that was now in her mouth. She slid the scissors from his other hand and cut away the access string. "There. Want me to look at your side?" She slid the needle from her mouth, wiping some of Bruce's blood frm her lip where she had held it.

[brucewayne]

Bruce had been watching her the entire time, watching her face as she slid the needle in and out of his skin to sew the wound shut. When she was done he looked her in the eyes and gave a faint, yet true, smile, "Thank you." His voice was it's normal strength, but as he went to shake his head and say that his side was fine, a sudden attack of lightheartedness drove him to press his pinkie finger and thumb against his forehead. He felt sick. He didn't quite understand why, and then he realized why. His side was most likely infected. He hadn't been honest with her. He'd been stabbed in the side, and now he was suspecting the blade had been tinged with poison he sighed and leaned his head back. "No, it's fine. It stopped bleeding a while ago."