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Chapter 24 - Prisons

They waited on a rooftop just off 32^nd street, crouched behind a neon diner sign flashing �Eat At -oes� in bright blue script. Selina�s face, concealed beneath the Catwoman mask and goggles, looked pale and strange in the pulsating light. Batman crouched beside her, watching a building across the street.

�Did you warn him about me?� she asked him softly. Batman didn�t respond, his cape flapping silently in the cool spring breeze. Catwoman stood, stretching her legs, nervous.

�He doesn�t like me much,� she pointed out, noting the way the lights of the city vanished at the river thirty blocks away. �He never did. Christ, he�s shot at me on sight before. What makes you think-�

�You�re part of my life now,� Batman said quietly, thinking of her softly-spoken conversation with Dick the other night after dinner. �Gordon needs to understand that.�

Catwoman looked at him, her hip cocked, arms folded across her chest. �I�m beginning to suspect that you�re a hopeless romantic.�

Batman didn�t respond, still watching the rooftop of Gotham Central just across the busy thoroughfare choked with pedestrians. Spring made Gothamites brave, even after dark.

�Promise me he won�t shoot.�

�He won�t shoot,� Batman told her, rising. �But he will be hostile. And he may accuse you of a crimes-�

�Which I�ve probably committed,� Catwoman interrupted. �Please don�t forget that I�m usually guilty of whatever people accuse me of. I can�t let your self-delusion rob me of my accomplishments.�

I wish you wouldn�t refer to them as �accomplishments�, Bruce thought, but replied in Batman�s voice, �It�s time.�

He shot a line over the street and swung onto Central�s rooftop, Selina close behind. They landed silently and, as previously agreed, Selina remained concealed in the shadows. Jim waited near the dark signal, his overcoat whipped by the wind. Batman approached him silently.

�Thanks for meeting me,� he began.

Gordon jumped a little, then turned. �No, thank you, My heart needed a jump-start.�

Batman stepped out of the shadows lining the rooftop. �Is Detective Montoya here?�

�She�s waiting downstairs,� Jim told him. �I thought you might want to talk to me privately first. She doesn�t like it when we send her away. Told me last time I should just build a treehouse up here with a �No Girls Allowed!� sign hung out front.�

�I�ve made some progress on the Bradshaw disappearance,� Batman told him, getting right to the point.

Gordon nodded, trying for dispassion as he asked, �Is she still alive?�

�There�s a strong indication that she is,� Batman told him. Gordon let out a deep sigh of relief. Jessica�s pictures reminded him so much of his Barbara, when she was younger. He had seen far too many children lost to the streets of Gotham.

�The yacht that exploded in Rogers Basin last November belonged to her father. And some blackmail photos surfaced with Peter Bradshaw caught in a compromising position,� Batman continued.

�So her father-�

Batman nodded. �He might be the reason Jessica ran away.� It was something he should have realized six years ago when Jessica�s file was first shown to him. Selina had guessed the truth right away. But he hadn�t let himself see it and had yet to figure out why that was. Something to do with that house, and the oil portrait of the Bradshaws hanging in the library� �There�s something else,� Batman continued before his mind began to dwell on that thought. �The Justice League has located two powerful telepaths operating in Gotham and Bludhaven. One made contact with Nightwing several months ago. We�re meeting the other in a few days.�

�Telepaths?� Gordon asked, incredulous. �They�re metahuman?�

�Looks that way.�

Jim removed his glasses and extracted a handkerchief from his pocket, polishing the lenses in a time-worn habit. �That�s the last thing this city needs,� he muttered. �The GCPD has their hands full dealing with the human psychopaths. Adding metas to the mix will bring this city to her knees.�

Batman nodded in agreement. He stirred uneasily, hoping Selina had remained out of earshot. Jim replaced his glasses, pushing them firmly onto the bridge of his nose.

�I�m afraid of this one, Jim,� Batman said quietly.

Gordon leaned forward to better hear Batman�s low tone. �Why?� he asked softly, not pushing it.

�The telepath who made contact claimed to possess the ability to see the future. Everything we have on the second telepath indicates that they are more powerful than the first. And he - the Prophet - knew everything about us.�

�He knows who you are under that mask,� Jim finished.

Batman�s head dipped slightly in acknowledgment. He rested his foot on the lip of the roof, watching the city below. �There was a case twelve years ago,� he said, wanting Gordon to understand there was more to his fear of the metas than just a threat to his secret identity. �Ted Kolby. Murdered his father and an apartment building full of people.�

�I remember the case,� Jim told him. �I was just a lowly lieutenant then, but-�

�Kolby claimed to be able to see the future,� Batman continued. �If he hadn�t been stopped�he was insane, Jim. But it was worse, somehow, than even-�

�Than even the Joker?� Gordon asked, his voice filled with raw hate. The Joker had murdered his wife and crippled his daughter. It would be a hard task to convince Gordon that there was anything in Gotham worse than the Clown Prince of Crime.

Batman lowered his head. �I�m sorry, Jim.�

Gordon waved his hand, dismissing the comparison. �Doesn�t matter. You took Kolby down,� he reminded his old friend. �You�ll get this new meta too.�

�Kolby used to say that he�d seen the end of time, and all that was left was him,� Batman said quietly. �Do you think about it much?�

�What?�

�The future.�

Gordon pursed his lips, wondering where Batman was going with this. Introspection wasn�t like him, and the question had caught Gordon off-guard.

�I�m an old man,� Jim said simply. �More years behind than ahead. The future�well, hopefully, Barbara will turn out a couple of grandkids and I�ll spend the rest of my days spoiling them shamelessly.�

Gordon squeezed his eyes closed, feeling his blunder as sharply as Batman had when he�d mentioned the Joker. No grandchildren would fill his friend�s final days. All the Batman had was this city and the war on crime.

�I don�t like uncertainty, Jim,� Batman was saying, speaking slowly, carefully. �And metahumans like Ted Kolby and this new threat know nothing of the uncertainty of the future. Imagine the Joker with that kind of power: that�s what we�re facing.�

�I wish I could help,� Gordon said honestly. �But metahumans, telepaths�I�m just a cop from Chicago. You know I�m useless when it comes to things like that. Most of us mortals are. But not you.�

They were silent for a moment before Gordon spoke again. �What�s the connection between all this and Jessica Bradshaw?� he asked. �You think her father might be the telepath?�

�It�s a possibility,� Batman acknowledged. �But I think Peter Bradshaw is dead. And whoever killed him also wanted me taken out of the picture.�

�How? The explosion at the yacht basin?�

Batman shook his head. �The point wasn�t to kill me. If the telepath is as powerful as we think, I should be dead by now.�

�You�ve survived worse,� Jim reminded him dryly.

�It was carefully arranged to make me vulnerable,� Batman said, ignoring Jim�s point.

�To who?�

�To Catwoman,� Batman told him. Selina emerged from the shadows at his signal, watching Gordon�s reaction carefully.

Jim glanced at Batman in shock, his hand edging towards the .45 Magnum holstered at his side. Batman didn�t react, trusting that Jim would do the right thing.

�I thought she was dead,� Gordon whispered, his eyes still fixed on the sleek, leather-clad silhouette making her way across the roof.

�I am,� she replied. �At least officially.� Catwoman came to a stop some ten feet from the two men and made no further attempt to approach them. Her eyes drifted from Gordon�s face to the gun at his side, then back.

�You�re working with her?� Jim asked, turning an angry, hurt gaze towards Batman.

Batman looked at Catwoman and held her eyes. He could feel Jim�s silent plea for denial. The hope in Gordon�s eyes died when Batman nodded.

�Why?� Jim asked again, angry. �You know what she is. Everything we�ve been through, everything we�ve fought against��

�Maybe that�s the point,� Catwoman broke in, surprising both men. �If he can save me, he can save anyone.� She swallowed hard. She�d kept her tone too light, joking. That was the way she�d always played it with Gordon before.

�Don�t you dare joke about this!� Jim roared, stepping forward. He drew his gun in one fluid motion. Batman tensed, every muscle screaming for action. He would, without hesitation, break James Gordon�s wrist before he had the chance to fire on Selina.

�I�ve put up with your disregard for the law for over a decade!� Gordon told her, the gun�s deadly eye trained on her midsection. �You belong in prison.�

�I�m already in one!� Catwoman told him, her left hand coming up. Instead of the attack on Gordon that Batman expected, she surprised them all by stripping off her mask. Gordon fell back, the gun falling forgotten to his side. Selina stood before the former Police Commissioner, thinking that the man before her was the closest thing Bruce had to a friend. That thought alone forced her to continue.

�I�m not trying to manipulate him or make some plea for amnesty,� she told Gordon in a loud, clear voice. �I belong with him,� she said, green eyes challenging Gordon to deny it.

�You�you what? You love her?� Jim asked, turning to Batman.

Selina waited for him to say it, to say something. More than anything in her life, she wanted to hear Bruce Wayne say he loved her. It was a terrible moment of realization: up to that point, she hadn�t let herself see how vulnerable to him she�d become.

She laughed then, sharp and brittle in the dark. �I told you,� she said to Gordon. �Just another prison.�

Jim stared at her in the moonlight, not sure what to do or say. He recognized her. She was Selina Kyle, socialite, political candidate and murder victim, killed by Catwoman in New York three years ago. He�d mourned her death for Bruce Wayne. Gordon knew that once, a long time ago, Bruce Wayne had been close to her, maybe loved her. At least now the obvious relationship between Catwoman and Batman made sense.

Jim sighed, the fight going out of him. Twelve years of secrets and hidden agendas and pretending not to know what was going on and now this - this! - would force his hand. He hadn�t wanted it to be this way. Gordon�s shoulders slumped a little and he took his pipe out of his pocket, clenching it between his teeth but not lighting it. The pipe was just another habit, like rotating through his sock drawer and walking every morning.

�Put the mask back on,� he told Selina. She complied, pulling Catwoman�s cowl down over her eyes and becoming another weird symbol of Gotham crime instead of a beautiful, defiant woman. She was exactly the sort of girl Jim had always thought Bruce would end up with. She even had a similar taste in fashion.

Jim took the pipe out of his mouth, facing her directly. �You aren�t welcome here. I think you�re an offense to the institutions of law and order. You�ve blown through every second chance we�ve ever been willing to give you. Now I�m going to tolerate you, at least for his sake, but as long as you�re at Wayne Manor I won�t set foot in his house.�

Selina looked at Bruce. He hadn�t reacted to Gordon�s vow. She hadn�t even known that Gordon was aware Bruce Wayne was Batman.

Catwoman crossed her arms. She knew enough about men to understand that, when forced to chose between their girlfriend and their best friend, no one came out a winner. Still, she waited for Bruce to defend her. To repeat what he�d said to her earlier, that she was part of his life and Gordon should know that. Or to tell his friend that she was only trying to make up for the past. But Batman just stood there on the rooftop of Gotham Central, watching a man he respected condemn a woman he loved.

�I�m leaving after the meeting with the Other,� Selina told them both, making the decision as Bruce�s silence continued. �I�ve clearly overstayed my welcome.�

Batman - Bruce - opened his mouth to say something, but Jim cut him off, pressing his advantage.

�What�s your stake in the meeting?� Gordon asked her.

�The Other sent files, blood tests, photographs, DNA results, to people that wanted me dead for various reasons. The Other wants me out of his life,� she said, gesturing to Batman, �and that�s as good a reason as any to stay, at least until the meeting. Something about me scares the Other.�

Batman shifted uneasily, surprised. He hadn�t told Catwoman anything about the Other.

Selina snuck a glance at Bruce, smiling cynically. �Normally I like awestruck wonder on a man, but don�t look so surprised. Slam and I put it together after I hacked into your computer.�

�I didn�t want you to know because-�

�Yeah,� she silence him, holding up her hand. �Thanks for the vote of confidence. Someone tries to kill me, someone else tries to blackmail me, and you tell me squat.�

�I was protecting you!� Batman told her harshly, angry with himself and his serious miscalculation.

�Whatever you need to believe,� she dismissed him, turning her back on both men and heading to the edge of the roof. �Thanks for the hospitality, Jimbo,� she said over her shoulder. �Enjoy your boys club.�

Batman moved to stop her, grabbing for her arm. Selina jerked out of his hold, snarling at him. �Don�t touch me!� And with that she was gone, sailing across the city using her whip and innate grace, not relying on the jumplines he needed to move half as fluidly. He could catch her if he tried but the look in her eyes had defeated him.

�Why did she take off the mask?� Gordon asked softly.

�She was giving you power over her.�

�She must have known that I�ll go after her the next time she steps over the line, her relationship with you notwithstanding.� Gordon shook his head. �I thought she hated prisons.�

�She does.� Batman replied, sadly.

**************************

Two days later, Selina dragged her weary, battered body up from the cave into the Manor, sagging against the grandfather clock in the study. She leaned heavily against the clock, listening as the locking mechanisms tumbled into place, her eyes burning with exhaustion. Two days spent working through a backlog of East End cases, doing the legwork, not sleeping, not eating. Slam had asked her a half-dozen times to catch a nap on the futon in his office and she�d finally threatened to leave Gotham altogether if he didn�t stop asking.

She made her way up the staircase and paused at the doorway to Bruce�s room, listening for movement. He was probably still out on patrol. It was just after 5am and she knew that the past two nights had been busy enough in the rest of the city to keep him out of the East End. Tonight had probably been no exception.

Marcelo, the little gray cat, greeted her at the bathroom door with a questioning �meow?�, rubbing against her leg. The calico, Smitty, charged past her and launched itself into the empty bathtub. Selina obligingly turned on the water and Smitty watched the water drip intently, pawing at the slow drizzle when it threatened to get out of hand.

�I take it you guys were bored?� she asked, peeling the mud-soaked, tattered costume off her body. �Another one bites the dust,� she muttered, leaving the Catsuit rolled up in a ball on the rose-colored floor. She turned on the shower and Smitty leapt out of the tub with an indignant yowl. Selina ignored the cat, focusing on the way the warm water worked to relax her sore, stiff muscles and trying not the think of that first night in the shower with Bruce.

She should have known that things between them would end badly. All those brave words to Slam and Dick about knowing it went as far as sex and no further were just wishful thinking. Relationships were never that simple, and now�now she cared. And he didn�t, at least not enough to admit it. Why should he? Selina thought bitterly, attacking her foot with a lufah. The people he loved and respected were all telling him the same thing: she was a thief, she couldn�t be trusted and it was only a matter of time before she betrayed him and his little Bat clique to the wrong side for profit or spite.

The lufah slipped out of her hands and floated towards the drain. She sat down at the end of the tub, letting the shower of hot water spray over her as she drew her knees up to her chest. She�d tried so hard for the last three years to redeem herself. Not for him or officials like Gordon or do-gooders like Dick but for herself. She had needed to prove that, despite her history, Selina Kyle was still worth something.

Apparently, at least according to Gotham�s resident saints and heroes, she would never be worth anything at all. Gordon was right. She�d blown every chance she�d ever had to play for the winning team. Bruce, at least, seemed willing to consider the notion that she was capable of change, but the others�

She�d been in the shower too long. The hot water was lukewarm and the puddle around her was pink with blood.

Right. The guy with the literal left hook on the shipping docks near Sheridan Park. She�d been sloppy and gotten hurt again. Selina touched her side gingerly, fingering the small gash along her ribcage. Luckily, just a flesh wound. She cut the water and stepped out of the bathtub, finding a set of clean towels and her white terrycloth robe neatly folded over the stool next to the vanity counter. Alfred.

Still tying the robe closed, she entered the master bedroom and came to a dead stop. Bruce stood before her, looking angry, his jaw clenched tightly, his arms folded across his bare chest. There was something off about his stance, some kind of wound to his kidney, she guessed, resisting the urge to ask.

Selina ignored him, padding across the room to retrieve the first-aid kit they kept in the bedside table. She selected a length of gauze, perched delicately on the edge of the bed and shrugged the robe off her shoulders. She didn�t turn her head to see if he was watching. She could feel his eyes on her.

�Where were you?� he growled. �I had Tim and Cassandra patrol for two days looking for you. Barbara tapped Bradley�s phones and Dick tailed Holly. Were you in the East End?�

Selina shrugged, focusing on keeping pressure on the dressing as she unwound the bandage. It was hard to do it one-handed but she wasn�t about to ask him for help.

�Well?� Bruce asked impatiently, crossing around the food of the bed to stand squarely before her.

�Worried I�d forget what day it is?� she asked him, looking up.

Something unreadable flickered in his eyes and Bruce managed to force it out before she could be sure it was there. So he�d worried about her. That failed to impress her. So had her cats.

�You could have been injured or-�

�I am injured,� she reminded him, nodding at the bandages encircling her torso beneath her breasts. He knelt before her, took the roll of gauze and began to redo the dressing. She hadn�t kept it tight enough.

�I didn�t think you�d come back,� he told her softly, his head lowered to focus on what he was doing. �I didn�t handle the meeting between you and Gordon well.�

�You didn�t �handle� it at all,� she informed him, watching the top of his dark head.

�I�m sorry,� he said. Selina touched his hand and he looked up.

�Do you agree with him? Or Barbara or Alfred or Dick? Or Tim and Cassie, if anyone bothered to ask them?� At the question in his eyes, she continued quietly. �Do you think I�ll betray you?�

Bruce stood, bending as he began to wind the gauze around her back. �I trust you, Selina.�

�Why?� she asked him point-blank, whispering against his ear.

�I have faith in you,� he said simply, worried that he�d hesitated too long. Selina held his eyes locked with hers, unblinking, reading him carefully. He concealed nothing, keeping his face open and honest.

Selina broke eye contact first, her hands falling to her lap. �I want a hard man, Bruce, not a cold one. And you were cold on that roof. Tell me why I should forgive you for not defending me against Gordon.�

�Because he was right,� Bruce replied softly. �And so are the rest of them. You�ve made choices in your life that make it impossible for them to trust you.�

�Then why do you-�

�I need to believe you can come back from the edge,� he said, kneeling again before her. His face was tense, fierce with conviction. �You are my only success in this city, Selina.�

Her eyes widened. Both Batman and Bruce Wayne knelt before her, a man who was confusing love with duty. And she knew he loved her in that moment, because he said it in the only way he could. Success. It was an unfamiliar word to Batman, who had watched Gotham decay and be overrun with crime. That�s what she gave him that the other women couldn�t: Catwoman�s reform was a light at the end of a very long tunnel, one which from which he�d never expected to emerge.

She wanted to be angry with him, angry that he�d reduced her to a checklist he had somewhere in the Batcave. Catwoman? Check. The Riddler? Check. Two-Face? Double check. But that wasn�t what he was saying, not really. She gave the darker part of his life meaning and hope. Selina sighed, touching his cheek. It hadn�t been what she�d wanted from him, but now she knew it was impossible for Bruce Wayne to say he loved her. She was here for Batman, not for him.

*****************************

Barbara watched as Dick pulled tight-weave Kevlar up over his waist, the full-body costume molding perfectly to his thighs and clinging tightly to his hips. He remained bare-chested, inserting an extra layer of body armor between his torso and the suit, his face schooled into benign concentration. Barbara wheeled closer to him, handing him his gloves as he closed the suit over his upper body. Dick slipped the gloves on and checked through each compartment secreted inside the fingertips and around his wrists. Two escrima sticks were hidden in his leggings, sewn into compartments with enough skill so as not to disturb the line of his costume.

�He wants us in place by 10:30?� Barbara asked, and Dick nodded. He pasted some spirit gum to the back of his mask and stood before the mirror to fix it in place around his eyes.

�Nervous?� Dick grinned, challenging her like Robin used to challenge Batgirl on the city�s rooftops so long ago.

�I�m scared to death, Dick,� Barbara replied. �All that extra body armor��

�I won�t need it,� Dick promised, turning to squat before her chair. He smiled at her, his mouth warm and reassuring beneath the dark mask and white slits concealing his eyes. Dick kissed her, squeezing her shoulder. �Besides, you�ll be right there, in the van. Anything goes wrong, you�re in place to do something about it.�

�Are you�are you worried?� she asked, hating the catch in her voice. He was so strong and beautiful and he was Dick. She loved him. If anything ever happened to him-

�Nope,� he said breezily, dropping a kiss on her forehead as he stood. �I�ve got the best team in the world backing me up. Bruce at my side, Tim and Cass on the rooftops, you in the Mystery Machine-�

�Catwoman will be there too,� she reminded him and Dick turned, his eyes narrowing. They faced each other for a moment and Dick sighed, leaning against her dresser.

�I thought, that night at dinner-�

Barbara shook her head. �I was being polite for Bruce�s sake, and for you and your misplaced sense of guilt. I�m surprised you were so easily manipulated by her.�

�You think she played me?�

�Like a piano,� Barbara replied. �That�s what she does. What she�s always done. Just because she switched teams�she�s a predator, Dick, pretending to be a house pet.�

Dick folded his arms. �I like her, Babs. I can�t help it. So does Bruce. And you can�t tell me you don�t feel sorry for her, at least a little. The kind of childhood she had, what she did to survive-�

�Dick, that doesn�t matter,� Barbara denied. �All that matters is that as an adult woman capable of making her own decisions, she turned to crime. No one held a gun to her head and told her to become Catwoman. She made her choice.�

He closed his eyes, feeling like they�d been having this argument for months. Barbara could be as unforgiving as Bruce sometimes.

�Look, I know how you feel about her. So does Bruce. And she�s still around. I just think it�ll be easier on everyone if you�d-�

�What? Pretend to accept her?� Barbara asked him. �She�s never going to be a part of this family, Dick.�

Selina�s words from that evening, echoed in Barbara�s low, sweet voice. Dick shook his head, checking the bedside clock anxiously. 10:15. They were pushing it.

�I thought the same thing about you,� he confessed softly. He looked up to see Barbara�s frank, questioning gaze. �Remember when you started hanging around in that homemade Batgirl suit? Bruce tried to ignore you, I teased you endlessly, and we both hoped you�d give up before you got yourself hurt. I felt a little threatened, I guess. We were partners, Bruce and I, and a girl didn�t fit in. But after a while, you really proved yourself. You stuck to your guns and worked hard and, eventually, even Bruce realized that you were an essential part of the team. We needed you.�

Barbara smiled sadly, remembering how it had felt when she had finally been accepted by Batman and Robin. Those had been happy years, before the Joker�s bullet had severed her spine and before Jason Todd had died. She knew it would never be that way again, for Bruce or any successive Boy Wonders or Batgirls. Unconditional acceptance was no longer possible in their strange little family. They had lost too much to take such risks again.

�I hope you aren�t comparing me with her,� Barbara cautioned him. Dick shook his head.

�I just wanted to remind you how hard it is to be with Bruce. Add to that a bunch of resentful, suspicious stepkids and Selina�s got a lot working against her. If she sticks it out, it�s because she really loves him. I don�t think we�d be worth putting up with if she didn�t.�

�Maybe I�ll invite them over for dinner again sometime,� Barbara decided, at least for Dick�s sake. He was probably the most fair-minded among them and Dick�s vocal support for Selina was enough to make her feel a little guilty at what she�d thought of the other woman for the last six months.

�Let�s roll, babe,� Dick suggested, pausing long enough for Barbara to grab her keys and wheel out into the hallway, into the elevator. �Gonna be a long night.�