It wasn’t that Alfred was inherently distrusting of big galas that the Wayne’s are invited to when the city has a psychotic clown on the loose, but....well, okay that’s exactly what he is. But he wasn’t about to tell them that because he was hoping that his hunch was wrong, he was just being a pessimistic old man and the gala would be fun and just the thing they needed to relax.
But regardless, he found himself sitting in front of six different screens, watching the news on every channel he could find - and also stomach, he found channel 2 to be extremely rude - and waited. As he watched, he still prayed that he was wrong. And as the night went on and broadcasts online of live interviews at the gala showed nothing more than just people trying to brag about their wealth, and some heroes Conner trying hard to be as neutral as he could. Everything was fine.
Alfred was sorting laundry into baskets when shit hit the fan. There was a laugh, a scream and then a speech made by the voice he was hoping that they’d never have to listen to again. The Joker finally made an appearance. It only took Alfred three seconds to make a decision. He was already running down to his car.
It was almost an outer body experience, the drive down to the gala location. All he could think about was that everyone was in the same room as the Joker, and something bad was about to happen in 12 hours. And as far as anyone knew he was only a butler. But he was running into a problem situation like he was still a spy. Alfred wasn’t going to lie, he’s always wondered what it would be like to work with Bruce, but...anyways.
Alfred stuck a light on the roof of his car at the last traffic light before his destination. Okay so he shouldn’t really have it. But he borrowed it from the GCPD a long time ago and they haven’t asked for it back yet - and it works for situations like this. He jumped out of his car and yelled some stupid lie about being a member of the GCPD who had come to help the FBI with the hunt on the Joker to the security guards who were scrambling around to find out where the Joker had run off to. No one paid him any attention and he ran up the stairs to the door, hand on the gun he had in his jacket pocket, waiting for someone to jump out at him.
The scene was so much worse than what he expected. Debris was everywhere, people were screaming and covering on the ground. Alfred couldn’t find anyone specific so he just exhaled and started moving around, looking for a familiar face. When he found someone, he exhaled in relief. Crouching down, Alfred shook their shoulder. “Hey, hey. You alright then? No falling asleep, no knowing how bad your injuries are, and we don’t want to make them worse.”












