[Batcave, Under Wayne Manor, Gotham]

 

 

Batman turned off the recording and looked at Nightwing, "Is that everything?"

 

Nightwing was in the bat cave with Batman going over the recording he had managed to make of Jake and his two new allies, "Yeah, I did just like you suggested. The bug recorded for an hour and then transmitted its location. That's everything."

 

Batman swiveled in his chair to face another terminal. He rewound the recording and started isolating background noises, "You've been following up on this case. Do you believe his assessment that this is an occult matter to be correct?"

 

Nightwing leaned against a support pillar and replied with a single-shoulder shrug, "At this point? Sure, it's a better theory than anything else I've got. I hate resorting to blaming magic, but it's the only thing that makes sense, given what I've dug up so far. I still wish Ivy and Catwoman had waited until we could locate the buyers."

 

Batman didn't look up from the bat computer as he typed away, "Uh-huh. And why weren't you in the warehouse as they entered?"

 

Nightwing rubbed the back of his neck, "Because they managed to fool me into thinking they were breaking into the warehouse down the block."

 

Batman ignored Nightwing. He directed his concentration to a specific section of the recording, where a familiar voice caught his interest. "Hiya, Red!" came out of the speaker. As he analyzed the audio further, the voice cleared up, "Harley was there as well, but this doesn't seem to be one of the Joker's schemes." Batman leaned back in his chair, interlocking his fingers and contemplating the implications, "I wonder if there is some truth to the rumor about The Joker." He scratched his chin, "I thought he was faking, but now I'm not so sure. He doesn't often let Harley off her leash."

 

Nightwing pushed off the pillar with his shoulder and rolled his eyes, "Fine! Fine. I get the point. Keep your eyes on the prize. I thought I had." He leaned on the panel next to Batman, "Pity the recording didn't catch a confession." He let out a little snort, "I thought girls liked to gossip."

 

Batman turned sharply towards Nightwing, his gaze best described as disappointed, "You are developing a pattern of underestimating female criminals. I suggest you correct that immediately if you are to continue operating as part of this team." The words he spoke conveyed a sense of finality, leaving no room for argument, "If this persists, you can stay in Hell's Kitchen." With that said Batman rose from his seat and made his way toward his equipment, signaling his intent to take matters into his own hands.

 

"Touchy." Nightwing followed along, not seeming that concerned, "So what's the plan?"

 

Batman opened a display case, "You are going to go talk to Giovanni and find out if anything is going on in his neck of the woods. If nothing is going on, tell him we're worried and to see if he can turn up anything." As Bat0man continued to prepare, he selected a specialized hood designed to protect against mental powers, Unfortunately, it wasn't ideal for day-to-day use, as it couldn't be combined with anti-ballistic weave, "I will be contacting one of my sources for additional information, then confront our hotrod lantern."

 

Nightwing let out a short laugh, "That name is terrible." He smirked as he started walking away, "I'm going to tell it to Oracle and see if she can get it to stick as payback for that rubber ducky stunt."

 

Batman gave Nightwing a flat look, "Worry about talking with Giovanni first." He looked down at the hood in his hands, rubbing the material lightly between two fingers as he contemplated a new way to weaponize it.

 

 

 

 

 

"I have a bad feeling everything that's been going on is connected somehow."

 

---

 

Selina Kyle, aka Catwoman, anti-villain, and burglar extraordinaire emerged from her bathroom and into her lavish penthouse apartment. She paused to dig her toes into the soft, shag carpeting for a minute. A peculiar, yet relaxing habit she picked up over the years. She was clad in a slightly snug white Egyptian cotton robe, her damp hair secured in a matching towel. A monitoring unit adorned her ankle as required by her house arrest. Casually holding a glass of red wine, she sauntered towards the kitchen where her feline companion, Isis, was restlessly pacing. Selina made a point of putting a little extra sway in her step, exuding a confident allure as she bent down to give her cat a gentle scratch. "Is something troubling you, Isis?" she inquired with a touch of concern in her voice.

 

An exasperated sigh came from the shadows behind Selina, "Miss Kyle, We need to talk."

 

Selina's eyes widened in feigned surprise, her playful demeanor taking center stage. With a mischievous smile, she abruptly straightened up, causing a deliberate splash of wine to grace her chest. "Oh my! An intruder!" she exclaimed theatrically, pretending to be caught off guard by her, so-called, 'unexpected' guest.

 

Batman stepped out into the light, "Laying it on fairly thick tonight, aren't we?"

 

Selina fluttered her yellow eyes at Batman and spoke with a bit of a purr, "I have no idea WHAT you are talking about, Mister Batman, sir." She leaned back against the kitchen island counter and rubbed at the wine on her exposed chest with one hand while looking rather unconvincingly scared, "Why is it that you seem to always show up in my apartment when I'm practically naked..." She turned her head down and to the side so she could look up at him through her eyelashes, "And so... defenseless."

 

Batman walked up to her, then past her into her kitchen to grab a hand towel hanging off a rack next to the stove, "Because whenever you have done something that would get my attention, you take a shower and wait for me to arrive."

 

Selina gracefully positioned herself on the barstool next to the kitchen island, placing her foot with the monitoring anklet upon it. With a calculated tilt of her body, she ensured that while it was evident she wasn't wearing any underwear, nothing explicit was visible. "But mister Batman, sir." she purred, her voice dripping with feigned innocence, "You must understand that my probation strictly confines me to my apartment from dusk till dawn. It's utterly impossible for me to engage in any..." She swallowed, deliberately emphasizing her attempt to look as innocent as possible, "Illegal activities."

 

Batman silently offered the towel while blatantly looking right past her.

 

Selina pouted, letting out a dissatisfied "humph," as she swiftly snatched the towel from Batman's hand. "And they call Mister Freeze cold." She muttered under her breath, clearly displeased. Without sparing him another glance, she turned and sauntered away, making her way toward the bedroom area. The penthouse's open design offered minimal privacy, but Selina seemed unfazed by it. Ascending a small flight of steps to reach her closet, she glanced over her shoulder, a cold glint in her eyes. "I trust you won't look." She said with a disappointed tone. She allowed her bathrobe to gracefully slide off her body, revealing her bare form as she proceeded to wipe away the remnants of the wine.

 

Batman didn't look.

 

Instead, Batman wandered about her apartment, poking here and there as he investigated her abode, "You have taken to hanging around a rather dangerous individual."

 

Selina looked up as she pulled a pair of stockings up her long legs, "I have no idea what you are talking about."

 

At the lone bookshelf in the apartment, Batman stopped, his gaze fixated on a particular book titled, Old Possum's Book Of Practical Cats. Using a single finger, he tilted the book outward until there was an audible click. A large painting of a tiger on the adjoining wall pulled inward before sliding off to the side, revealing where Selina kept her gear. Deliberately and pointedly, Batman reached in to pull out the sleeve of her costume. A sleeve that had been completely replaced by a strange maroon material. Without uttering a word, he held it up to the light as he blatantly rolled the material between his fingers.

 

Selina let out a sigh of exasperation, her voice tinged with mild annoyance, "Do you have any idea how much it costs to hire a contractor to build a secret compartment? Every time you do that, I have to go through the trouble of finding a new hiding spot." She slipped into an oversized grey baggy shirt adorned with a print of a large black cat holding a long, white bone. Under it was the caption, 'I Found This Humerus.' Taking a seat at her vanity, she picked up a brush and began to gently comb through her long, sleek black hair. With a hint of defiance, she continued, "FINE. We met. He's an excellent tailor. Your point?"

 

"Selina..."

 

She stopped brushing, not upon hearing Batman say her name, but the tone of his voice. She held the brush in her lap as she looked at his reflection in the mirror, "It's bad?"

 

Batman approached Selina, his imposing presence looming behind her as he spoke in a serious tone, "Could be. At first glance, he may appear like any other reckless individual seeking nothing more than his own amusement, but the more I investigate, the more troubling it becomes."

 

Selina resumed brushing her hair, "I happen to like him. He's got problems, sure, but who doesn't in this cursed city?"

 

"I like him as well."

 

Selina turned her body fully to face Batman, her expression shifting to credulousness. Batman continued to share his thoughts, "He saved my best friend's life. While that earns you some goodwill, that doesn't give you a free pass. He's an enigma with access to two of the most powerful weapons in the universe walking around my city. Initially, it seemed like he simply wanted to relax and have fun, but then tonight happened." He paused to let that sink in, "The Green Lantern Corps has been keeping a close eye on him, and his recent actions may provide them with the excuse they've been waiting for to haul him off-planet."

 

She turned back to the mirror and resumed brushing, "And what is it he might have done?"

 

Batman paced a few steps away from Selina, "That warehouse was gone over with a microscope and there is no forensic evidence anywhere to be found. ANY. EVIDENCE. Not a single fingerprint. Not a single hair. Not a flake of skin." He turned back to her, "The meticulous eradication of all evidence suggests that something bad happened. You don't do that unless there is something you need to hide."

 

Batman held out a small square that displayed a holographic image, revealing the face of an elderly Romanian man with signs of aging and a lack of physical fitness, "The Ibanescu crime family are the owners of that warehouse, and they are currently in a state of panic. They are desperately trying to uncover what happened to their men, and more importantly, locate the missing merchandise. It won't take long for them to put it all together. Dragos is on the back foot over this. He's likely to do something desperate." Batman put the projector away, "He'll figure out you three were involved in no time, and out of all of you, you're the one he's most likely to come after first."

 

"I'm so scared." Selina's voice was flat and devoid of emotion as she spoke. She instead expressed her frustration by tossing her brush onto the vanity. She glared at Batman's reflection in the mirror, her tone filled with anger, "You should have taken action against him earlier. I know your methods. You wanted to use those girls as bait to uncover the masterminds behind all of this." Her gaze narrowed, "But they hurt someone close to me to get one of those girls. I wasn't willing to wait. And you know how corrupt that police precinct is."

 

Batman sighed, "That wasn't the plan, but... it doesn't matter now."

 

Selina turned to face Batman, "It wasn't his fault. Ivy tried to mind control him. He had... an allergic reaction to her pollen. While he was helpless, they tried to kill him. He took a bullet to the eye and out the back of his skull."

 

Catwoman's lips twitched briefly as she suppressed a smile, "He seemed to take that personal."

 

"It was self-defense. End of story." She lowered her voice as she continued softly, "Honest, Bats."

 

Batman turned to face her in return, "He is wielding weapons powered by pure hate and fear. That doesn't concern you?"

 

Selina acknowledged Batman's statement with a non-committal shrug. She then turned her attention back to the mirror, focusing on fixing her hair as she talked, "I assume it's like the green lanterns. If he dies they will seek out a replacement, right? I'll take the devil I know, thanks." She paused briefly before continuing, "When I used to turn tricks, I met a lot of men. Over time, you start to notice patterns. Each person is unique in their own way, but you meet enough people, you realize how much people have in common. How much we rhyme."

Selina stopped brushing as she continued, getting a far-off look, "Now veterans, they stand out. I'm not talking about any old kid who signs up to join the military, but men who have seen combat. They carry themselves differently. They have a way about them. What they want isn't sex, but a connection. They want to feel normal again." Her gaze shifted to Batman's reflection, her voice softening, "When you take an ordinary man, send him to war, turn him into a killer, he changes. It affects how he walks, how he talks..." She paused, briefly lost in her thoughts, before looking down at her hands, "What he desires."

 

"How long do you think he was at war?"

 

Selina kept her eyes lowered, "My guess? Five, maybe ten years. He looks young. So I suspect he's been fighting since he was a kid. He wasn't upset people died, he was upset it happened in a way beyond his control. The way he fought, it was on instinct. His body moved on its own. It wasn't the first time he fought six on one, or the first time it was kill or be killed." She touched her lip as she looked at herself in the mirror, thoughtful.

 

"What got him to stop?"

 

Selina smirked, "Same way you get any raging animal to stop." She tilted her head to the side and pointedly exposed her throat, "You submit and let him dominate you." Selina noticed Batman's fist as he suddenly clenched it tight in a brief surge of rage, before forcing himself to relax.

 

Batman's eyes glanced briefly over the light bruising on her neck, "Did he hurt you?"

 

"Once he calmed down he was quite the gentleman... and more than a little embarrassed." She looked up over her shoulder at her guest with a wink, "You know, he reminds me of you. The difference being while both you looked into the Abyss..." She let out a sigh as she turned back to the mirror, "He blinked." She stared at her reflection as she continued, "Wherever he's from, he's been killing for a long time."

 

Batman scratched his chin as he considered Selina's words, "And how do you know that?"

 

Selina chuckled briefly, "When he dropped his disguise I saw the real Jake. He was adorned in armor, like a knight of old. Complete with shield, sword, and the whole shebang. He didn't lift his visor, because he didn't need to. The way he moved, that armor was a second set of skin to him. It wasn't new, either. Oh, sure, It was well-maintained, but it had seen a lot of use. The armor had nicks, dents, scratches.... whole sections replaced or reforged." She squinted slightly as she recalled the encounter, "What caught my attention most was the buckles and straps. Everything was handmade. No synthetics or machined parts."

 

Selina stood up and made her way towards the kitchen, as she continued to voice her thoughts about Jake and his armor, "That kind of damage can't be faked," she mused aloud. "It's the result of genuine use and age, not something you can simply buy off the internet." As she opened her refrigerator and glanced inside, she continued, "And when he mentioned his holy sword, I don't think it was just a figure of speech. I believe he was a frontline soldier in a war... and he did whatever it took to survive." Straightening up, she peered over the refrigerator door and asked, "Did you want-?"

 

 

 

 

She was alone.

 

 

 

 

 

Selina Kyle rolled her eyes as she slammed the refrigerator shut.

 

 

 

 

 

"One of these days you'll say goodbye before you leave and the shock will likely kill me."