Blair and Kate ran against the crowd, trying to make their way to the service stairs to change into their suits. Blair had lost sight of Jason and Bruce during the uproar caused by the pink poppy dust Ivy had spread over the crowd while Harley jumped from vine to vine before wreaking havoc on the ground.
They were halfway to their exit, when Jules grabbed Blair's free arm, tugging her closer, "Blair! Where are you going, we need to leave!"
Blair looked over her shoulder at Kate before taking her arm out of Jules' grip, "I'm helping get everyone out, just go! Don't worry about me, I've got Kate."
"But-"
"Go find Matty and Ben and get out of here." She insisted. Before Jules could open her mouth, Kate was pulling Blair into the crowd. She looked around, trying to find some sign that showed that Jason and Bruce had made it out, only seeing a sea of panicked partygoers. She shouted over the roar to Kate, "Bruce and Jason got out didn't they? I didn't see them leave."
Kate pulled her into the kitchen, just as the last person ran out, "I don't know, but we don't have time to check. Change."
Blair wanted to argue, but thought the better of it as she opened the freezer to find her suit. If Bruce and Jason were caught in the wave of people trying to leave and were stuck with Harley and Ivy, then it was down to her and Kate to put a stop to it all. Shaking the worries from her mind, she flipped the latch on the case.
********
Blair walked silently with Kate through the eerily silent ballroom. Neither Jason nor Bruce had shown up yet, a sinking feeling festering in her gut. She stepped over an unconscious man that looked a lot like Matty and Ben's dad. A closer look told her that the man didn't just look like Anthony Truman, but he was Anthony Truman. She knelt down, taking his pulse to make sure he was still alive. Not everyone had made it out of the event, when she looked up, she saw more bodies scattered around the floor.
Mr. Truman shuddered when Blair's fingers touched his skin. He opened his eyes for a moment, calling out for his father, before he passed out again. Blair looked over at Kate in surprise. Neither one of them had seen Ivy's poppy dust do something like that before, "Batwoman, there's something else happening here."
"Maybe it's not her usual mix?" Kate shrugged, helping Blair to her feet.
They continued to walk, seeing Ivy's back towards them, Harley nowhere to be seen. Blair was about to cough when she saw Jason sprawled out on the ground. She couldn't stop herself as she rushed to his side, completely forgetting the reason she was there and who she was. She didn't even notice Bruce and Selina nearby— she only cared about him.
She ignored Kate calling for her to stop as she knelt down next to him, shaking him awake, or so she thought. His eyes opened, though when they landed on her it was like he was seeing right through her as he called out, "Uncle Ray?"
"Jay, it's me!" She hissed, trying in vain to get him to see her. Instead, he scrambled to get away from her, kicking up some of the dust still on the ground. She watched as Jason hit his head on the nearby table as he tried to get up, then fall back to the floor unconscious. If they weren't in a fighting situation, Blair would've laughed.
Suddenly, the world slipped out from under her feet. A familiar tune cut through the silence, the sound of a song she hadn't heard in years. She looked around to see if anyone else was hearing it, when she saw a couple twirling around to the beat. She felt a pang in her gut, telling her that what she was seeing wasn't real, but when the man looked up that feeling disappeared, "Mom? Dad?"
"You didn't think we were going to leave you out of the dance did you?" Her father turned to look at her, smiling and reaching out his hand for her to take.
Blair reached for his hand, inches away from taking it and joining the dance she had danced hundreds of times before, when a force knocked her hard in the jaw, causing her to fall to the floor. When she looked back up, her parents were gone and Harley was jumping off of her, flashing her a small smirk before joining Ivy in fighting off Kate, a fight Blair was still trying to process with what just happened.
She shook her head as she rose off the ground, taking a deep breath before launching herself across the room at Ivy. Her body collided with the redhead's, knocking her off of Kate, "What was in the dust?"
"A drug Mad Hatter was working on." Ivy shrugged, getting off the ground while Kate coughed behind Blair. She turned around, seeing her trying to blink the dust out of her eyes. Great. Now she really was going to have to do this on her own. "I offered to test it out for him if he could distract the guards so Harley and I could slip out unnoticed."
Blair could see Tetch's handiwork, could understand him creating the drug and wanting to test it out, but what she couldn't understand is why Ivy agreed to test it out for him. She wasn't the type to cut deals like that for no reason. "Why?"
"Why?" Ivy let out a laugh. "A night out on the town, a night correcting the disasters created by upper elite just trying to get a tax cut by destroying everything they touch."
"There are better ways to do that than eco-terrorism." Blair dodged a vine headed towards her neck, cutting into it with her knife, noticing how Ivy winced at the impact.
Regaining her composure, Ivy shook her head. "None that gets anyone's attention."
Blair heard Kate fall to the ground behind her as Harley bounced from person to person, looking through their purses and pockets. "She reminds me of someone I used to know." Blair froze as Harley studied Selina's sleeping body. "Ah, who cares. Those earrings are gorgeous."
"Why the dust?" Blair turned back to Ivy. "Why the drugged dust? He had to have told you what it does."
"It brings the memories of lost loved ones to life, it is supposed to play on your emotions, make you see things you've lost and cared for." Ivy cocked her head to the side, her eyes lighting up in realization. "You saw something didn't you?"
"I did. But why are you showing them? If you wanted to punish them..." She trailed off, realizing exactly what Ivy was doing. "Because you know that they'll wake up and remember what they lost just like they lost it all over again."
"Just like I lost my freedom." Ivy growled, her eyes darting to Harley who was making one last sweep of the ballroom. "Just like we both lost everything, while these liars are able to destroy the world without a care. And I'm the bad guy?"
"Look, you're angry, I get that." Blair held her hands out in what she hoped was a placating gesture. After all, she understood anger in ways that could've made her the very villains in front of her. "Both of you have every right to be angry for a multitude of reasons, I understand that."
Ivy glared at her, refusing to believe her words. "How could you possibly understand that?"
"I'm angry all the time. I'm a woman, a woman vigilante on top of it. I'm not only fighting my voice to be heard, but for others that can't do it for themselves. It's basically in my blood to be angry with the way the world is. But this?" She gestured around at the sleeping bodies on the floor. "This won't help anything. There are people here, innocent people, people that deserve a chance to fix this world."
Blair's eyes landed on Matty next to Ben, remembering the millions of conversations she had with him over the years about fixing the world, making it better. "That boy over there, Matthew Truman? He's going to take over his father's company, find a better way to use energy. He's working on that now." Then there was Jules, using her platform and money to fund research for mental health, particularly that of women. It wasn't something most people knew, after all, she was known for being a model, just a pretty face. "His girlfriend Jules Myers is a model right now, but a model that's also advocating for the mental health and care of young women all over the country. You may be mad at the generation that came before them, but you can't punish the generation that will be the one to fix all the wrongs created."
Ivy studied her for a minute, thinking about her words. Blair felt her heart thundering in her chest; it was the longest she had talked to someone trying to burn the world down and start anew. "You actually have a point there and I want to believe you, I do. And I see that drive to want to better the world in you... but you expect me to believe that trust fund golden boy and his model girlfriend are a part of a revolution? Right."
"Ivy, please. Just stand down and let me and these people fix it the right way."
Ivy pretended to think about it for a moment, before her lips turned up into a sneer, "Tempting, but no."
Blair had just enough time to duck her head and shove her knives high in the air as a vine rushed at her. The knives pierced the vine, causing Ivy to scream in anger. Blair grinned as she sliced through another, "FIGHT ME YOURSELF, WOMAN TO WOMAN."
"Harley!" Ivy yelled, calling her girlfriend into battle by her side.
Blair held up her hand, jumping over a vine, "Harley, it's me."
Harley tilted her head to the side, studying her for a moment before throwing all caution to the wind as she launched herself at Blair. Blair's head hit the ground as Harley held her down, cutting off her oxygen, "Don't worry BW, you'll be out in a second and this will be over."
Vines curled around her legs, holding her down. Another snaked behind Harley, hovering dangerously close to the blonde's neck. Shoving Harley's hands off her throat, she grabbed her arms and used what was left of her strength to throw the woman out of the way as the vine wrapped around her neck.
Blair struggled to breathe against the vines with no luck. The tighter they got, the more she tried to fight, even when her body was starting to give out. Months ago, she would've let the vines kill her and be done with it. Now it was like she had something to fight for again, and there was no way she was going down without a fight.
Harley rolled over on the ground, seeing Blair struggling against the vines, a gleam of fight in her eyes that hadn't been there the last time they had gone head-to-head, "WAIT! IVY WAIT!" Ivy looked over at Harley in shock, though she didn't let go of her control on the vines. "Don't, don't kill her. She's saved my life more than once, I owe her. And technically since I'm alive, you owe her too."
Blair felt the vine on her neck tighten again, cutting off all of her oxygen. Harley crossed her arms, fixing the redhead with a stern look, "Ivy..."
"Fine! Fine." The vines loosened around her body, slowly creeping away, back to their mistress, though not without cutting her face.
Blair took a breath of fresh air, coughing when it burned against the fresh new marks of strangulation. Then, much to their surprise, she slowly stood up, wiping blood from her cheek. "How long will they be like this?"
"Excuse me?" Ivy blinked, still in shock of how quickly Blair jumped back to her feet.
"How long will everyone be asleep?" She rephrased.
"I-"
"You don't know, do you?" Blair exclaimed, trying her hardest to keep her eyes off of the boy asleep in the corner as her anger and fear grew. "You don't even know what it'll do to their minds!"
"A small price to pay for everything they've caused!" Ivy snapped, though her earlier ferocity wavered at the glare Blair threw her way.
"If you don't figure out a way to wake them up and ensure that they will think it was all just a dream, no vine, no giant flytrap, no force on earth will be able to stop me from making sure that you don't walk out of this fight alive. I don't care who you are to Harley. If they don't come out of this just fine, I will kill you. So FIGURE IT OUT NOW!" She demanded, her angry voice filling the entire ballroom, shocking even herself. Both Ivy and Harley flinched at her harsh tone, Harley accidentally knocking a glass of water on the ground next to Bruce.
The puddle spreads slowly, reaching Bruce's hand. The three women watched as his hand twitched a little, before realization hit them. Ivy breathed out what sounded like a sigh of relief, "Water. Water will wake them up."
Blair rolled her shoulders back, fixing her gaze on the two women in front of her. "You said you wanted a night out? You had it. Both of you better be back in Arkham by the time I'm done here or I will make you wish you had never been born." Ivy stared at her in defiance. Taking an annoyed breath, Blair threw her knife at her leg, watching as she fell to the ground. "I said, Arkham. Now."
One of Ivy's vines wrapped around her leg as a bandage as she ripped the knife out. Within seconds, she was fleeing to the door as Blair knelt over Jason's sleeping body. He looked so peaceful that she almost considered letting him wake up naturally, though she wasn't sure how long it would take.
She felt someone looking over her shoulder, not even having to turn around to know that Harley had stayed behind. "That's him ain't it. That's the boy. That's the one you—"
"Harley, please." Blair looked up at the blonde, shaking her head. After their fight earlier, she knew that Harley knew who she was, so she knew where the conversation was heading. She just couldn't hear the four letter word that would all but damn her to hell, especially a four letter word she wasn't sure she could feel anymore. "Don't. Don't say whatever it is you're about to say. Just... don't."
"I don't understand why you're so scared of it BW." Blair flashed her a warning look, causing her to throw up her hands in surrender. "I won't tell. No one would believe me if I did, but I won't tell. Just like I won't tell you what you already know."
Blair turned her attention back to Jason, running her hand through his hair. To her surprise, he started to stir in his sleep at her touch. She looked at Harley over her shoulder, seeing her grab a glass of water off the table nearby. When she handed her the glass, Blair gave her one last warning, "You need to get out of here before he wakes up. Before I set off the sprinklers and the cops show up. Go."
Harley nodded, taking off in the same direction Ivy had disappeared down just minutes before. When she was sure that Harley had completely left, she poured the glass of water on Jason's head.
The minute the water hit his head, Jason jolted awake, almost hitting her head with his. Blair blinked in shock as his eyes darted between hers, his breathing heavy. When he finally got a grasp of where he was, his eyes landed on the purple bruise forming on her jawline where Harley had punched her awake. He traced the bruise lightly with his fingers, "Blair, I-"
"Go wake up Kate. Bruce seems to be waking up just fine on his own." She pulled away from his touch, taking a lighter out of her belt and standing up. "I'm going to set off the sprinkler system."
Jason grabbed her hand before she got too far, an electric shock going through her arm as his fingers touched hers, even through the gloves, "Wait, where are they?"
"They're gone. Back to Arkham." She said, her eyes on their hands. Four letter word. A feeling she never felt before. No. This wasn't happening, not now, not after she just managed to scare the life out of two of Gotham's finest villains.
Jason's jaw dropped at her words, "What? You put the fear of god into them?"
Blair pushed her feelings to the side as she flicked the lighter in her hands, "No, I put the fear of me into them."
********
Blair was sitting on the couch, facing the fire in the fireplace, her hair and dress still wet from the sprinkler system at the gala. When they had gotten home, Bruce immediately took to the Batcave, checking to see if Harley and Ivy ended back in Arkham. Blair had told him that she sent them back, but for whatever reason, he didn't believe her.
She felt the couch sink in next to her as Jason sat down, throwing his arm behind her head, "So... are all charity events this... eventful?"
"No, it's a 50/50. Every other event. The villains draw straws on the schedule." She joked, leaning her head back on his arm. Jason opened his mouth to question it further when her lips curled up in an amused smirk, "I'm kidding."
Jason rolled his eyes, tugging on her hair in retaliation. They sat quietly for a minute before Blair turned to face him again, "I heard you call out for your uncle tonight. It was a part of the drug, I know, but I was just wanting to make sure you were okay. I know how that can mess with someone's head."
"I'm fine. I mean, I miss him a little bit more today than I did yesterday, but overall I'm fine." He shrugged. "Are you?"
"Why wouldn't I be?"
"Because I know you saw your parents."
Blair sat up straight, looking him in the eye. She was sure she didn't mention being under the influence of the drug while he was nearby. "How did you-"
"It doesn't take a mind reader to figure that out. Plus, when the cops asked about it, you knew everything about it, every little detail, even though I didn't tell you what exactly the drug did." He recalled. It was true. When Maria asked about the drug that "rendered Blair Wilde unconscious through her attack", Blair told the story of reliving old memories, though she never specified which. "But I have no idea how you broke through the drug."
"Harley hit me before it took full effect in my mind." She pointed to the bruise on her jaw. "That's where this came from."
Jason traced the ugly blood red marks on her neck, "And these?"
"Ivy tried to strangle me."
Jason narrowed his eyes at the word "tried." It looked to him like she all but succeeded, "But?"
"Harley made her stop."
"What is the deal with you and Harley Quinn? Is there some deal you have with her that she can't kill you?" Blair chewed on her lip as she shifted her gaze back to the fire burning in front of them. Jason's eyes widened, "Holy shit. There is, isn't there."
Blair nodded, "It's a very long story, but in laymen's terms, yes, there kinda is."
"Kinda? What do you mean, kinda?"
"It means that there is a history there, one that not even Dick understood and he was there when it happened." Jason nodded, turning to face the fire. Blair coughed lightly, dragging his attention back to her. "There's something else though, something that if I tell you, you have to keep to yourself. No one can know, not even Bruce."
"Umm..."
Blair laced her fingers through his, her eyes never once leaving his, "Promise me. I'm serious."
"Okay, okay. I promise."
"She knows who I am."
Jason's eyes widened, "What?!? Blair! That's-"
"Keep your voice down!" She hissed, her eyes wide. "I didn't tell her okay? Besides, she won't tell anyone because they won't believe her. Jason, you can't tell Bruce that she knows."
"Why not?"
"He'll kick me out!" That was the one thing she feared most out of the entire situation. It wasn't the fact that Harley Quinn, one of the most unstable criminals in Gotham, knew who she was. It was that Bruce kick her to the curb, regardless of the fact that he told Selina who he was. Who they all were. "He'll take my suit then kick me out. You can't tell him, promise me."
Jason studied the fear in her eyes for a minute, then without any doubt or hesitation said, "I promise. This is between us."
"What is between you?" Bruce's voice came from behind them, causing them both to jump.
Blair looked at Jason, allowing him to prove he would keep their promise. And that's exactly what he did, "Nothing, nothing. Just what Blair saw when she inhaled the dust for that minute."
Bruce turned to face Blair curiously, "What did you see?"
"I don't want to talk about it." She answered honestly. If she started talking about dancing with her parents, she probably wouldn't be able to stop. It was what she saw every night in her best dreams. Sighing, she stood up, looking down at her still wet clothes. "I'm going to change out of this dress. I take it Ivy and Harley are back in Arkham like I said they were?"
"I don't know how you did it, but yes they are." Bruce admitted, bewildered.
Blair shifted her gaze from her bare feet to Jason staring at her curiously, "I just spoke the truth."
********
Jason stayed on the couch for a minute as Blair disappeared up the stairs. What a night. He could hardly believe that only a few hours ago he was tripping over his own feet when he saw Blair practically float down the stairs. It all seemed like a lifetime ago.
Behind him, Bruce turned to make himself a glass of whiskey. Blair's pleas rang in his ear, begging him to keep her secret. She trusted him, he wasn't going to let that go to waste.
"I'm going to go take a shower." He announced. "I'll see you in the morning." Then he took the stairs two at a time to catch up to Blair who was halfway down the hallway.
"Hey, Blair." Blair whirled around, her damp hair whipping her face. Jason put his hands in his pockets, giving her a small smile. "You okay?"
"Yeah, thanks for covering for me." She smiled softly. Damn it, that smile was going to kill him. Damn it, everything about her was killing him. The way her hair curled up because it was wet, the glitter that trailed down her face from her makeup. It didn't matter that there were bruises on her face and ugly red marks on her neck. She was definitely the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. "What?"
Jason shook his head, unaware that he was staring at her, "Nothing, just— Nothing."
Blair tilted her head to the side, her eyes falling on his loose tie that hung low on his neck. It was amusing that it somehow fit him better, that he managed to look ready to go clubbing even though he had just been through the ringer. His hair still stuck up from when she had run her fingers through it when he was asleep.
Jason cleared his throat, "So, I guess I look like shit right?"
"No. Actually, you look really good like that." The minute the words left her mouth, she felt her face get hot as she blushed.
Jason smirked, before shrugging, "You don't look too bad yourself." Blair started laughing, causing his smirk to turn into a full blown smile. "So what? You going to hog my shower?"
"Nah. I think I'm going to take one in mine. Let you chill for the night." For once she didn't feel like she needed someone to be there when she slept, though she couldn't deny she slept better when he was by her side. She turned around, ready to walk in her room when she noticed Jason following her. "Are you following me?"
"Uh, yeah. Wanted to play with Popchik before I went to sleep." The truth was, he slept better with her by his side too.
Blair leaned against her door, crossing her arms, "Bullshit."
"It is not!" He protested, though his eyes told another story.
Blair smiled, shaking her head as she opened her door, "Whatever, just take your shoes off before you plop yourself on my bed."
A/N: I want to let you all know that I ended up chapter jumping when planning and jumped to the chapter with her reunion with Dick which means that that chapter is coming sooner than you think!