You're My Medication

J took a step forward and smirked at Batman. He brought his hands together and popped his knuckles through his purple gloves. Batman narrowed his eyes and crouched down in a defensive position.

“Nikki, go down the ladder. I’ll take care of Batsy,” J said not taking his eyes off his opponent.

“But—“

“Go down the ladder,” he demanded and reached into his coat pocket to pull out his pocket knife. I didn’t want to just leave J here all alone, but he really wanted me to go and if I did stay I would just be in the way. Slowly I kneeled down to crawl down the ladder.

“Don’t leave, Nicole!” Batman growled. I looked back up at them.

“Go,” J said somewhat softly. It didn’t sound like J; it almost sounded like Jack talking. My heart picked up its pace and I quickly did what Jack told me to do. As soon as my feet hit the concrete in the sewer, I heard bodies tackle each other above me.

Biting my lip, I took off running along the concrete sides. After a few minutes, I slowed down to catch my breath; it stank down here. I leaned back against the brick wall and closed my eyes. Will J be able to find me down here?

Footsteps echoed from somewhere behind me. I turned to go in the opposite direction because if it wasn’t J then I would end up in a lot of trouble. Just as I was about to start running, an arm snaked around my waist and shoved me back into the wall. Before I could scream, a gloved hand covered my mouth.

“Relax, it’s just me,” J’s voice whispered in my ear. It was dark down here and I could barely make him out without light.

“What happened to Batman?” I whispered back when he released my mouth.

“I managed to knock him back into a few cops before I came down here. We need to keep moving before they find us,” he said taking my hand and leading me in another direction.

“J, are you hurt?” I asked quietly. I couldn’t tell and he wasn’t one to show if he was in pain or not.

“It’s not bad. Ruff can fix me up once we get out of here,” he said and tugged my hand harder trying to get me to keep up with his fast pace. We were border line jogging when J finally found the ladder he wanted. He climbed up first and peeked out of the manhole before sliding the lid off and climbing out. He reached down and grabbed my hand to help me out.

“Where are we?” I asked looking around. The skyscrapers were gone and it looked like we were in the suburbs somewhere.

“The outskirts of Gotham,” J said and held my hand again. He led me down a few different streets before stopping in front of a house. He rummaged through his coat pocket and pulled out a silver key.

“It’s a backup,” he answered my unasked question and unlocked the door. All the lights were off and it was quiet; none of the other guys were here yet. J turned on the lights in the living room, set his gym bag down and slumped down on the couch. He was so…out of character.

“Let me see it,” I said.

“See what?” he asked closing his eyes.

“Don’t pull that crap with me. Let me see where Batman hurt you,” I said while rolling my eyes.

“Don’t wanna,” he whined like a little kid.

“J, don’t make me force you,” I warned. J looked at me and smirked before letting out a cackle.

“God, seeing you threaten me is such a turn on,” he laughed. I bit back my blush and sat down next to him on the couch. I didn’t give him any time to stop me before I practically ripped his shirt off.

“No need to be hasty,” he grumbled before helping me undress his upper half. I looked him over and saw a nasty bruise forming where his ribs were.

“Don’t lash out at me, but I need to make sure they aren’t broken,” I said before pushing down lightly on his rib cage. He sucked in a quick breath and dug his fingers into my leg. I winced, but kept prodding him until I was sure he was going to be fine.

“Just lay down and we’ll wait for the others to get here,” I said and gently pushed his shoulder until he was laying down on the couch. I picked his legs up and rested them in my lap.

It didn’t take long until the goons showed up. Ruff was first followed by Hulk, Skid, and Dot. They glanced at J before taking their seats around the room and putting their bags down.

“Any injuries?” I asked them.

“Just a few scratches, but we’re fine. We didn’t see Batman though. Just Gordan and he seemed hell bent on finding you and Joker,” Ruff supplied.

“Yeah, Batman found us, but we got away in the sewers. J only got a bruise so I think it went well,” I said with a short nod. The goons chuckled and J finally spoke up.

“Ruff, you said there were two bad things earlier. One was Gordan; what was the other?” I’ve been wondering the same thing. We were in such a rush to get out that it slipped my mind, but now I really want to know.

“Oh yeah. Hulk was looking at traffic light cams and he uh saw somebody you two might know…”

“Who?” I asked before J could. Ruff scratched his beard slowly like he was hesitant or afraid to answer.

“Do you two know a George Napier?” I felt J’s legs tense up and so did I. Just hearing that vile man’s name was enough to make the hair on the back of my neck stand up. What was he even doing in the Americas? We left him back in England…

“You what?” J hissed pushing himself to sit up and glare at the goons. His upper lip curled back in anger and his painted scars actually looked scary.

“I didn’t believe it either boss, but Hulk saw him and began to track him wherever he went. We saw him go towards Maroni’s hideout and leave it so we assumed he’s already talked to him about you,” Skid said.

Ruff, Skid, and Hulk knew who George was, but Dot being the newest probably didn’t have a clue. I suddenly felt sick to my stomach and I just wanted to leave the room. I gently took J’s legs off of me and set them down. He stopped glaring at his men and looked at me.

“Where’s the bedroom? I—I need to go lay down for a bit,” I mumbled. A look of concern crossed J’s face before he replaced it with indifference.

“Last door on the left.” I nodded and got up to leave the room. A million things were flying through my head at once. What does he want? How did he know where to find us? Was he going to hurt J again?

I walked into the bedroom and laid down on the bed. What if George actually succeeds this time and hurts J and me? We barely got away from him back in Hampton. I don’t think we’ll be able to do it another time especially if he is teamed up with Maroni. The man is scary enough when he is by himself. I don’t want to imagine what it will be like when he has multiple mob bosses backing him up.

But I know that J will do everything he can to protect us from his father.