White Rabbit brings Batman back to the present.

“Now wake up.”

He remembered trying to remember being there. He felt like he should be there in that moment, but he had to make some conscious effort to be there. He remembered…

Batman opened his eyes finally, breath hitching in his throat. This wasn’t a memory. He was with her, now. He hadn’t wanted to before, before he had been… not . But he was now.

“Ohhhhh…” he gasped, starting in her embrace. It was a visceral reaction, one from realizing that his body had been taken from him and only now just given back. He didn’t know why, but it wasn’t just disgust he felt, but something else that was more akin to surprise. Was his mind only now catching up to the experience of looking at her tail across the street?

“Shhhhh…” White Rabbit gave him another quick kiss as he came down from his haze. Giggling, she pulled back. “I guess I’m glad that works.”

In his ear, Batman heard another shuddering reaction. “Oh, good God.” It was Alfred, sounding very much disgusted himself and very much not robotic. Batman felt some sense of relief, knowing that Alfred and Batgirl had been freed from the tail’s influence, though that came with the shame of knowing that they had witnessed his full demise.

Batman imagined Alfred hunched over the Batcomputer, trying to **** the images of his own memory haze staring at the screen out of his mind. Batgirl was probably right beside him, similarly afflicted, but making an extra effort to get away from the Batcomputer toward the Batwing to try to come rescue him. He wished he had the ability to tell her not to come, not to put herself in danger.

Not to think that he needed to be saved.

“Just relax,” White Rabbit said, caressing his cheek with a gloved hand. “You don’t have to fight anymore.”

He sagged, too drained to even pretend that he could do otherwise. He just let her hold him.

“Oh, sir…” Alfred grunted, definitely still trying to suppress his own nausea at what he had witnessed. “Please… please just… hold on.”

“You don’t have to hide anymore,” White Rabbit continued. Her hand on his cheek moved to her own cheek, hooking her thumb under her own domino mask. “We can be our true selves.” She lifted the mask up, yanking it up over her head, letting him see the face that looked identical to Jaina’s.

“Miss Gordon- oh my God.” The earpiece went silent for a moment, the line getting switched off from the Batcomputer.

The woman then removed the wig and rabbit ears from her hair, letting it bounce freely. Once again, if he hadn’t known better, he would have thought that she was Jaina. It was no wonder she’d been able to pretend to be her in public when she was identical to her in appearance in almost every way.

“Miss Gordon is on her way,” Alfred managed to get out. “She should be there in ten minutes.”

“We can be whatever we want,” the now de-wigged White Rabbit decided. “Together.”

“Just try to hold out, sir…” Alfred’s voice sounded so far away. It sounded… so far behind him.

Her hand returned to his cheek. This time, her thumb hooked under the edge of his mask, tugging upward. “Now let me see your true self.”

“Sir, please, wake up!”