Girl Trouble
Ivy Pepper has kidnapped Selina Kyle in the hopes of using her to end the menace to Gotham, Batman, once and for all.
Bruce is helpless to harm the only woman he has ever loved, even if it means exposing himself as Batman.
Disclaimer! I don't own Gotham or Batman franchise. But I like to play with them from time to time.
1.
~ Bruce was lost in the rosy glasses of nostalgia. In his hands, he held a faded picture strip. One of the old fashioned things that came from a photo booth on the boardwalk. It was years ago, he and Selina were still young. Her short, unruly hair fell around her face perfectly as they both made silly faces at the automatic camera in the little booth.
Bruce had never really acted like that before, but it was okay with Selina. She made him feel like a normal person again. He had forgotten that he could once smile. The young man in the picture looked so happy. Nothing at all like the sullen adult he was becoming. He missed the way it used to be with Selina and the way she always teased him.
That summer had been a good one. Gordon, still young idealistic himself, and had taken them both to the seasonal fair on the boardwalk. His date, a very pretty doctor he called Leigh was with them. She was always smiling and Bruce felt like they might even be mistaken for a real family by the other people there. Gordon wasn't old enough to be his dad, of course. Maybe a really cool older brother if pressed. Selina certainly wasn't like a sister to him either that summer day.
They had quickly ditched Gordon and Leigh, found a bunch of other kids and went swimming.
Selina had kissed him at a bonfire party that night. Gordon had found them and broke up the party just after, but with that kiss, Bruce knew he would always love her. That she would alway be this bright and shinning moment of happiness.
"How were patrols tonight, sir?" Alfred asked.
Bruce jumped slightly and hid the photo strip from Alfred. The butler didn't approve of Selina Kyle from the second he had met her. A few months ago, she had come to stay at Wayne Manor to recover from a fall. Bruce didn't know at the time he had caused that injury himself, when he chased a mysterious cat burglar off a rooftop. That cat burglar was indeed his Selina. She had been staying at his home and so very close to his secret life.
Added to that, her unwitting involvement in a global smuggling ring by one of Gotham's rising crime lords. But all of that was resolved with a clever plan involving the media and the paranoia of the common criminal. Selina was safe and free to start a new life.
It had been heartbreaking to learn that she had never really given up her old ways of stealing to survive, but in the past few months, she had turned things around.
Or so it seemed from the outside.
Bruce had bought an apartment building in the more artistic part of Gotham and given her a very nice loft to live in. He didn't want her living on the streets, stealing to survive. He never wanted that for her. At last, he was able to do something about it.
She wasn't aware of his nightly visits to the roof across her apartment loft. Of looking through her windows from across the street just to catch a glimpse of her. Of how a secret part of him wanted to renounce his life as Bruce Wayne and hide away with her forever there. He could tell no one about that fantasy he entrained. One where he and Selina were a normal couple. Where his parents were still alive, where Selina was never a cat burglar, and where Bruce didn't skulk around Gotham in the shadows.
The nightmare would be over, but he knew it couldn't be.
He hoped, she had put the life of crime behind her for good. Hoped she was happy.
"Fine, Alfred." Bruce said clearing his throat.
"How was class today?" Alfred asked.
The butler set down a tea tray and poured Bruce a cup.
"Boring." Bruce admitted. "I have better things to do than listen to lectures. Most of it I learned in high school anyway."
"Well, we must finish our education." Alfred said comfortingly. "How is Miss Vale?"
"Vicki is a little sore at me." Bruce said darkly. "Those pictures with that model."
"I can't imagine explaining that away, sir." Alfred chuckled.
"She was a little drunk and she kissed me. I was only helping her to her car." Bruce swore.
"Don't worry, master Bruce." Alfred said. "It takes a long time to meet the one."
Bruce wanted to say that he already met the one, but he kept his lips tightly sealed.
"Well, I'm in no hurry to get married." Bruce said at last. "I've got enough to worry about."
"Penguin?" Alfred asked.
"Penguin." Bruce agreed. "He runs the Red Triangle Gang and it seems GCPD is powerless to stop it.
"Even Gordon?" Alfred asked. "The man took out most of the organized crime."
"Gordon didn't do it alone." Bruce said darkly. "I have reason to believe Penguin was on the inside, shifting the dynamic and making a run for power."
"If that's true, Penguin is more dangerous than even the worst of the mob bosses." Alfred said.
"Gordon always thought so." Bruce said. "Penguin is used to playing both sides, and doing it extremely well."
"You plan to visit him soon, sir?" Alfred asked.
Bruce blew on the hot tea.
"Intelligence gathering first, Alfred." he said. "I need to know what his weaknesses are. According to Gordon's own records, Penguin was raised by an overprotective mother. She died a few years ago under mysterious circumstances. Gordon says there is no one that Oswald Cobbelpot hasn't betrayed. He managed to be the only survivor of Gordon's purge of organized crime. He won't go down easy."
"I assume you know all of this by hacking into the GCPD records and reading Gordon's official files?" Alfred asked.
Bruce shrugged carelessly.
"Not just the ones he filed with the GCPD. It seems Gordon didn't trust his fellow officers back in the day." Bruce said.
"Can't say I blame him." Alfred sighed. "Are you sure all this computer hacking won't get you into trouble, sir?"
"I'm sure. Stop calling it hacking, Alfred. No one says that anymore." Bruce complained.
"Well, what shall I call it then?" Alfred snapped.
"I don't know, information gathering for now." Bruce said.
"Fine. Be sure your information gathering." he made air quotes. "Doesn't get you locked up with the very scum you're trying to stop."
"I will." Bruce promised easily.
~ Selina woke up in a strange place. Her arms and legs bound together, her body uncomfortable in such an awkward position.
"Ivy?" she called out weakly. Her memories were swimming with the face of her old friend. Ivy had come to her home and… they had talked… what about? Selina couldn't remember.
Her throat was sore and she felt hung over.
"Ivy?" she called out again.
The room was dark and there were sounds of dripping water. She shivered from the cold and felt the creeping hand of panic take hold of her.
She slowly sat up and looked around. Her hands were bound with rope and so were her feet. She had been laid out on some kind of exam table like a medical experiment.
She quickly used the adrenaline rush to push her into action. She was alone in the room and free to escape it. With her teeth, she pulled the roped that bound her hands. She tugged at them till they loosened and then pulled free. In seconds, her feet were free and she was on the move.
Silent and cat like, she slipped onto the cold floor. Her toes the only thing touching as she searched the room. The exam room must belong to some kind of hospital. The medical deceives were antiques and with the dim lighting, the whole thing looked like a nightmare.
Selina was happy to see that she still had on her shoes. A long learned habit of hers since so much of her childhood had been spent on the run. She only took of her shoes to shower or sleep. Even in her own home.
There was a steel door that would hopefully lead her outside. Carefully, she tested it and found it was locked. She didn't try again in case someone was waiting for her on the other side.
'There is always a way out.' she had once told Bruce. 'Especially in old buildings.'
This looked like an old building. That meant there were air vents in the walls.
She crouched down and looked for a metal grate. Finally, she found one. Not in the wall like she had hoped, but on the ceiling.
'Great.' she moaned inside her head.
Ever dextrous and spry, she easily climbed the exam table with a metal stool in her hand. With effortless ease, she placed the stool on top of the table, climbed up, stood on tip toe and silently pulled off the vent to the ceiling vents above.
The stool didn't even wobble as Selina jumped and pulled herself up.
The ventilation system was large and she was able to move easily inside.
'Door was to my left when I went in.' she thought to herself. 'I just have to find where the air come in or out and I'm free.'
She liked talking to herself like this. It reminded her that she was good at this kind of thing. She could break out of anywhere and break into anything.
She would be gone before her captors even knew she had left.
She slid along the vents quietly and listened. There was no noise coming from the outside. When she passed grates, she peered into empty hospital rooms. All of them looked run down and deserted.
Was she in Gotham General? No, not even Gotham General was this run down and decrepit. Besides, where was the staff? No one was around and the rooms were all dimly lit.
Finally, Selina reached a dead end and had to abandon her ceiling route or go back the way she came.
She popped open a vent and dropped into a deserted hallway. This place smelled worse than it looked. Like bad plumbing, dampness and things left to rot.
Fear prickled her skin as she ran down the hallway in search of a way out.
Whatever this place was, a hospital a maze, it was one of the circles of hell for sure. It seemed to go on forever. Whenever Selina reached a locked gate, it was a simple matter of unhinging the weak point of the door to slip free.
The place was so old, the doors were covered in rust anyway. She rushed down stairs and avoided all the hallways that had bars on them.
'I'm in a maze.' she thought wildly as she ran past one hallway after another that all looked the same. 'I'm a rat in a maze.'
Finally, she found a window.
It was locked behind a bared gate, but there was an old hospital bed in the hallway and she pulled off a long piece of metal free from it.
Wedging the metal into the frame of the gate, it easily broke open.
'This place is a nightmare.' she thought. 'Worse than any horror movie ever made.'
Her heart was beating fast as she reached the window to find it locked with rusted pad lock.
No problem. She could use the piece of metal to break open the lock and climb down. Then she could get away.
She couldn't wait to tell Bruce about this. He would be so angry and happy that she was alright. He would take her in his arms, she would sit on his lap and he would run his hands though her hair. He would tell her over and over it was okay.
She liked this fantasy so much, she hit the pad lock with enough force to break the hasp and not the lock. The barred window swung open and Selina could smell the river outside. It was the sweetest smell to her just then.
She stepped onto the edge of the large window, and made the mistake of looking down. She gasped and moved back inside. She had to be ten stories up. The window was a strait drop into a rocky bed and the shores of the filthy Gotham River.
"Well done, Ivy." came a voice behind her.
Selina moved away from the ledge and looked in shock at the people standing there.
She was breathing hard and didn't understand what was happening.
"I told you." Ivy said.
"Ivy?" Selina panted. "What's happening? Where are we?"
"Yes, she broke out of her restraints and her cell in less than five minutes. She managed to find a way out in less than thirty. I wouldn't jump if I were you, dear. It's a long way down." a woman was saint in a cat like purr.
Selina pressed her back to the wall and watched the shadows move. Finally, they became people as Ivy and another woman stepped into the moonlight.
"Who are you?" Selina demanded from the strange woman with the jewel studded eye patch.
"Such fire." the woman said. "Your friend Ivy here is an associate of mine. She promised that you were the final word in escaping out of tight spots. That you can also break into anything. Is that true?"
Selina glanced at Ivy. Her old friend looked shockingly different. She was dressed in a tight leather pencil skit the color of moss. Her red hair was not so frizzy and shone with proper care for once. Selina was shocked to see Ivy Pepper looking hauntingly beautiful.
But nothing like the girl she knew.
"I asked who are you?" Selina spat at the woman with the eye patch.
"Where are my manners?" the woman chuckled and she and Ivy exchanged smiles as if they were at a high society party.
"My name is Fish Moony. I had you brought here to see how easy it would be for you to break out of Arkham Asylum. As it turns out, Arkham is child's play for someone like you, Selina." Fish said sweetly.
"What do you want?" Selina said hotly. She was liking Fish Moony less and less.
"Many things." Moony said happily. "For now… I think you'll do just fine."