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Laying on the ground, Jonathan's eyes slowly opened. What just happened? Pushing himself up he winced. Looking at his hand and arm he narrowed his eyes at the cuts and bruises. How long had he been laying here? Hearing a low whine he looked over, "Come here boy." Hannibal shuffled slowly out from behind the desk, which had been upturned. Jonathan rubbed the dog's head, "It's fine." Frowning and awkwardly pushing himself to stand he looked around.

The place was a mess. The windows were shattered and cracked, the front door was hanging off its hinges. By his feet the computer and keyboard sat broken and shattered too. The desk and chair was upturned. Putting a hand on his head he winced. Lowering his hand he looked at the blood. What happened? Becoming annoyed with his lack of remembering he stormed off, Hannibal followed after him closely. Throughout the corridor pieces of paper was strewn about. Jonathan picked up a piece and turned it over. His eyes saddened, it was a list Willow had wrote, from all the must haves; like food, there was also little bits for the baby, and then right at the end she'd made little notes to buy him some odd little bits and pieces. One thing was: "A new notebook, because Jonathan is a chronic writer." It seemed even in note form she'd have a one way conversation with herself.

It made him feel sad. She had been gone a day and already things had gone to pot. Folding the list up he put it in his jacket pocket. It was a little piece of her which he wanted to keep close at the moment. As odd as it sounded, the creased piece of paper gave him comfort. Pushing some tangled brown locks out of his face, he commenced walking. Pushing open a door he frowned, someone had trashed the cupboard. He rolled his eyes, what would anyone hide in a cupboard?

Quickly walking upstairs he frowned again when his feet crunched on more crumpled papers. His feet lightly stepped on old books; textbooks on chemicals and notebooks belonging to him, even some history books of Willow's were on the floor too. Eyeing up the bedroom he wasn't surprised to see it in state, much like everywhere else. Walking into his study his eyes widened. Everything was broken, more so than anywhere else in the clinic. Stepping in and looking around he looked down at Hannibal as he sniffed around a cupboard. Knowing what was in there he pushed the dog away. Jonathan reached out and opened the cupboard. He let out a heavy breath, his canisters of toxins were gone.

Holding onto his head he slowly knelt down. Everything hurt. His head felt like it was in a vice, his hands and fingers hurt from the cuts and bruises, his legs were weak and buckling. "That man," he looked up at Hannibal. "Who was he?" Hannibal growled lowly, Jonathan nodded. "I remember, slightly..." Jonathan said while shutting his eyes, the light was hurting them. Hannibal whined quietly and nudged his head against Jonathan's. It was odd, Jonathan may not have been fond of Hannibal when they first met, he grew to tolerate him, but now he was more than grateful of Willow buying him. Opening his eyes slowly, he pushed Hannibal away. Perhaps there were still moments which Jonathan did not tolerate, licking was one of those moments.

Jonathan remembered the man. He remembered he had come in, was rude enough not to answer him. He had stood from the desk, pocketed the gun and walked around to stand beside the man. Jonathan rubbed his eyes, things were still a bit blurry. But he distinctly remembered the man lashing out at him. Jonathan had tried fighting back. But the man was much stronger than he looked. He had thrown him about, crashed him into walls and punched him several times. This would make Jonathan feel bad but he took solace in knowing he had shot the man twice, kicked him several times and even punched him in the jaw.

Looking to the side, Jonathan picked up a piece of material. It wasn't anything to do with him, nor was it anything of Willow's. "Here, time to put that excellent sense of smell to use." Hannibal leaned against his hand and inhaled the cloth. Snuffling several times he trotted off. He stopped at the stairs and looked back to Jonathan. Ignoring the aches and pains, he stood smiling. "Good boy." He limped after Hannibal as he led the way.

Standing still semi bleeding in an alley, Jonathan eyed up the building in front of him. Hannibal stood by his side growling. "I get it, that is the place where our mystery man went. Are you certain this time?" Jonathan glanced at the dog. Admittedly Hannibal did lead him to a liquor store, a supermarket, and a public toilet before eventually stopping here. Whether the dog knew it or not, he had clearly retraced the man's steps. Alcohol, toilet and supermarket. Jonathan wasn't wholly sure what this meant about the man who invaded his home and saw to rightly beat him up. Raising an eyebrow Jonathan smirked, he recognised a man who just appeared from the double doors, rummaging in his pocket the man produced a cigarette and took to lighting it. "Come on, let's go home." Jonathan turned away smiling lightly, he had just had a very good idea come to mind.

----

Seeing the bright light in the sky, Bruce naturally wasted no time in getting to the rooftop. Walking over he looked around. Jim was usually the only one who came up here and contacted him. There was no one. "Did you hear? Peter Bannister got bail, how I wonder? Perhaps those mob links came in use, yes?"

Turning Bruce started walking forwards, Jonathan held his hands up defensively, even when his coat collar got grabbed onto. As soon as Bruce pulled him more into the light, his eyes narrowed. "What happened?" He let Jonathan go. Smiling and straightening his suit out, Jonathan looked up coyly. "Yes, I heard. I tried to get the Commissioner to chase this up, but to no avail, so he walked free."

"Oh, are the police starting to lose their usefulness?" Jonathan smirked, Bruce took a deadly step forward which caused the skinnier man to shrink back. "I am not here for trouble, as you can see I've had enough trouble already."

"What happened?" Bruce repeated. "And where does Bannister fit into this?" Peter Bannister was a rather low level mob member, there wasn't a particular mob, he just seemed to go from one to another. Jonathan had had the displeasure of remembering him from his drug dealing moments.

"I fell down some stairs," Jonathan seemed to get pleasure out of blatantly lying, Bruce let it slide. "As a concerned citizen, I think I have the rights to report a crime."

Bruce smirked. "Crime? You want to report a crime? Need I remind you that I should technically give you to the police?"

"But you won't." Jonathan whispered.

"Go on," Bruce said lowly.

Giving a smile, Jonathan walked to the edge of the building and sat down. "I was walking my dog," Bruce looked deadpanned. "I do believe you have had the pleasure of meeting Mr Lecter?" Jonathan smirked slowly, he knew deep down Willow would be shouting at him. After all she didn't name the husky after a fictional murderer, she named him after perhaps one of the best military strategists to live. "Me and my dog were walking around the neighbour when who do we spot?"

"Peter Bannister."

"Back to his old ways, shock horror." Jonathan said sarcastically. Turning to the fire escape ladder he looked over his shoulder. "For your information. I'm semi reformed." He pushed his glasses up his nose and disappeared down the ladder.

Bruce frowned. He should go after him. Especially considering the fact that he had used his toxins on him, again, and left him in a zoo. Sure it took a few days for the toxins to wear off, but he was clear of them now. Turning and lifting his arm he pulled the trigger on the grapple gun. Drug dealers were rather low on the scale of criminals which Bruce had to contend with. But nonetheless they were a serious problem. Half the time the drugs they'd supplied weren't all they appeared to be, and more often then not they sold to children. Disappearing from the rooftop Bruce made his way down past Jonathan's clinic. He knew the old warehouse where Peter used to do his dealings in, it would be easy to find.

----

(Edited: 4/Nov/2019)

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