Okay, I don't want to give too much away, but I'm telling you this much: I'm re-writing the continuity to fit with Gotham's universe, so Ra's al Ghul is a different person. I'll tell you this much though. He's in the first two chapters of the story. Once you finish this chapter, you would have met Ra's al Ghul; you just don't know who he is yet...

Selina always thought of Gotham city as a castle, and she was locked inside. She looked out over the edge of Gotham city as the waves rolled over the bay of the coastline and crashed onto the walls of the city, almost like invaders trying to get in. But they couldn't. Gotham city was a fortress, and the more it kept people out with a wall of corruption and crime, the more it kept people in as well. It was like the more you wanted to escape from the chaos and the mayhem of the black streets and cement, you couldn't. It trapped you in like a castle wall and made it so you couldn't escape no matter how much you wanted to. If you did, it would always find a way to bring you back.

She had attempted to leave many, many times. Selina undid the button on her leather jacket so it hung off her body and she could breathe. She took the cloth hood off her head to free her short, scruffy hair and put her goggles in her pocket, and thought about all the times she had tried to leave. She had been to heaven, hell, and everywhere in between and something had brought her back to Gotham city. First, it was a mission, and then it was family, and opportunity, and now Bruce. She wondered if it was like that for everyone. There were ten million people in Gotham city, from crime bosses to policemen to people that would burn in hell when they died to innocent housewives whose families were gunned down in front of them, and perhaps all of them had been roped into Gotham city, and now invisible shackles were binding them to the worst city on earth.

She liked to think the shackles could be broken and the walls could be demolished, so she could take her business and leave. It was the only wishful thinking Selina had ever done.

Bruce's voice surprised her. There was no one there, so a voice made her jump. Bruce always did move quiet, maybe even quieter than her.

"Selina? Are you here?" he called out, walking down the empty street, the snow on the ground making his ears turn red and his breath visible. "Selina?"

Selina found a notch in the building she was standing on that she could jump from. She leapt off the top, grabbing onto a bar halfway down, and easing herself onto the ground. She surprised Bruce by showing up behind him. Her expression was blank. She didn't know why he was here.

"You know how many times I could've smashed your head with a brick just now?" she asked, walking closer to him. "You have to look up, kid."

Bruce turned around and took a deep breath. "The man that confessed- he didn't kill my parents. It wasn't him."

Selina nodded. "So why did he confess?"

"He said that he wanted access to me and Detective Gordon. But everyone thinks he did kill my parents. I had to talk to someone."

"Did he say why he wanted access to you and Gordon?"

Bruce hadn't thought about that question. If he told her, she would want to help. She couldn't. Every time Selina got involved in one of Bruce's problems, she had gotten hurt. If Ra's al Ghul was who Slade said he was, then he could kill everyone in the city if Bruce didn't pull the right strings. "He didn't say."

Selina sighed. "God, kiddo, how many times is this going to happen until you finally realize you're a terrible liar?"

Bruce took a deep breath. "It's a long story."

"I love stories."

"The man who confessed in the precinct, Slade Wilson, he told me that there was a man named Ra's al Ghul. He's in Gotham because he needs something relating to me and Detective Gordon. He didn't say what, but if Ra's gets it, he might destroy the city. There are a bunch of other people that want it too, but only Ra's al Ghul will destroy the city with it."

Selina nodded. "So what do you and Gordon both own?"

"I don't know. Maybe he dropped something at Wayne manor one time he was here, or maybe he gave my parents something?"

"It would help if we knew what Ra's al Ghul was looking for."

"Maybe I can research him a little bit."

"Let's go."

Bruce turned around, looking back at Selina. "No. I don't want to get anyone else involved in this."

Selina crossed her arms. "Oh, really? Well, you got me involved the second you met me, and you're not leaving me out of this one."

"Selina, I-"

"What are you going to do? Fight me?"

Bruce didn't say anything.

"That's what I thought. Now where do you want to go?"

Bruce stuttered, "Gotham Public Library."

Selina nodded, and the two started off for the walk across town. Alfred would assume that Bruce was in his room, and Talia would wait. It reminded Bruce to ask Selina.

"Selina, did you know Talia was staying at Wayne manor?"

Selina thought for a bit. Then, she remembered the name of the girl that Jim was talking about, the Ogre's daughter. "Detective Gordon told me and Alfred, but I haven't met her."

"Yeah, you have." Bruce said. "She's the girl we met on the street earlier."

Nodding, Selina pulled her hood back up and tied the goggles back over her forehead. The library was across town, and the two had to catch a cab. Selina found a taxi, and the two were driven for a few minutes until they reached the middle of the city. The library was one of the big buildings next to city hall and the Wellzyn building, so people could walk straight in. Like every other building in Gotham City, the library was old and cracked, with two statues flanking the door. It was a long ways in too, through a long hallway with a lot of paintings. The library itself was huge, with two levels and rows upon rows of shelves, all filled with books.

Bruce and Selina looked at each other.

"Shall we start under R for Ra's?" Selina asked.

"You do that. I'll find anything concerning the Waynes and Gordons."

The two must have spent the entire day looking for something on Ra's al Ghul. They tried looking at every part of his name, and every part of the Wayne and Gordon family. They tried finding something about Slade Wilson, but there was nothing. Bruce asked the librarian for something on Ra's al Ghul, but she didn't know what he was talking about.

"There's nothing here, B." Selina sighed, putting her fiftieth book back in the shelf. "Let's go home. We'd be better off asking Gordon himself."

Bruce ignored her, still looking on a computer, clicking every site he could find. Ra's al Ghul's name didn't even exist online. He was like a ghost. The thought crossed his mind that there was no Ra's al Ghul, and Slade had just told him to distract the police while he broke out. But if so, why not tell the police himself? And why make the job harder for himself?

Selina sighed, tired of Bruce's persistence. She crept down to the computer level and sat down next to him.

"My great-grandparents came to Gotham city when they started Wayne Enterprises seventy years ago." Bruce said, scrolling down the screen. "They didn't bring anything from England, except money. It says that Detective Gordon's father was the district attorney, and his father before that was a politician."

"Well, men that high in the government must have some deals with people. Maybe Slade and Ra's want something they passed down to Gordon?"

"No." Bruce turned to Selina, throwing up his arms. "I found a news article from the death of his dad in a car crash. Everything went to the government."

Selina put her arms on the table, rubbing her forehead and thinking. "How long ago was it?"

Bruce pulled up the news article. "1970. Gordon was only a kid."

Selina pulled the computer keyboard away from Bruce and typed some things into the web bar.

"What are you doing?" Bruce asked.

"Seeing who ran Gotham's government in 1970." She went through a few pages of city hall websites before coming upon an old document from 1970, signed by Don Carmine Falcone. She smiled, "So Falcone took everything Gordon's father had? There are a lot of deaths every day, and he just leaves them alone. They must have been friends."

"See if Falcone left Gordon anything before he left Gotham city."

Selina entered some things into the search bar and hit enter, showing an array of city hall records. Selina clicked on a few, and finally found a contract showing which mafia bosses owned which properties. Falcone was on it, along with Maroni and the few other lesser mob bosses, who only owned a street or two. Jim Gordon was listed among the minor mob bosses.

"It says that after Falcone left, he gave Jim Indian Hill." she read off the screen, squinting. "It's in the Arkham district. It's a toxic waste dump that's related to Ace Chemicals."

"What did he do with it?"

"It doesn't say. We could ask him."

Bruce nodded. "I'll ask him tomorrow."

The two hailed a taxi back to Wayne manor. A few minute drive after, Bruce unlocked the gate and the two of them entered the manor to find Alfred sleeping on the couch. He usually would've woken up, but Bruce and Selina were the two quietest kids in Gotham city. They crept up to their bedroom without a sound, and collapsed on the bed, tired.

Bruce, as usual, fell asleep first. A few times, Selina would stroke his soft hair and listen to his breathing as he fell asleep, his breaths calming her like a metronome. A while ago, one day while she was living on the streets, Selina learned that she didn't need to sleep more than once every week. She liked it better that way.

Selina waited until the boy was fast asleep, then slipped out from under the covers and started for the window. As quietly as she could, she slipped the window open and jumped outside, landing without a sound on her feet on the ledge below, just like a cat. She needed the air.

"Hello, Selina Kyle."

A voice made her jump, darting her head around to find a woman standing in the middle of the street, staring at her. Selina jumped from the ledge onto the snowy ground to stand across the street from the woman. It was night time, and the black hood the woman was wearing didn't help either. She looked tall, in her early thirties, maybe, and carried what looked like a sword on her belt.

"Who are you?" asked Selina, ready to break into a run at a second's notice.

The woman bowed. "My name is Shiva. I arrived in Gotham city a while ago."

"And let me guess." Selina yelled. "You want something to do with Jim Gordon and Bruce Wayne?"

Shiva laughed. "To be fair, I'm not the only one. Tell me this, Selina Kyle, have you ever heard of the mystical lazarus pit?"

Selina shook her head, and then realized the woman probably couldn't see her. "No."

"Then tell me, what could be so valuable, and so important, that so many people would come to Gotham city just to get it for themselves?"

Selina shrugged. "Money?"

Shiva laughed uproariously, taking off her hood. Selina still couldn't see much in the night, but Shiva's long black hair went down to her shoulders. "You can get money anywhere. But what could pull people to Gotham city, of all places. What could make people risk their lives for a hole in the ground?"

Selina didn't respond.

"In the bible, Lazarus was the brother of Mary. He died, but Jesus, he was kind. He gave Brother Lazarus a priceless gift beyond the powers of any other mortal and raised him from the dead. Lazarus now had another life."

"You're saying a Lazarus pit can raise people from the dead?"

"Among other things. Most importantly, though, if it is used on an old human, they will become young again. They will be given a second chance at life. Isn't that worth risking your life and coming to Gotham city for?"

Selina sighed. "Why are you telling me this?"

"I'm playing a game. I'm playing it with every other person who knows of the lazarus pit and wants its rejuvenating powers. The object of the game? Who can sabotage the others without foiling their own plan? I figured that people knowing what lies in the possession of Jim Gordon will likely be a boulder in the path of some of my competitors."

"But it won't foil your plan?"

"I'm done in Gotham the minute I find the pit. I have no concern for the people of the city."

Shiva bowed, and then turned away and walked back up the street, disappearing into the darkness, leaving Selina in the yard outside Wayne manor. She looked back up at the window in Bruce's bedroom, watching the curtain wave through the glass. With that, she ran for the street, feeling the cold air brush against her face, and grabbed on to the side of a building. The rest was a quiet, peaceful, tranquil blur.

Bruce woke up the next morning, still tired and sore. He reached for Selina in the dark, but noticed she was gone again. He got up, hanging his legs over the side of the bed, and swung the curtains open to reveal a burning white sun that threatened to melt the snow on the ground, the sun rays shining through the clouds like water through a silo.

Talia came through the door with a grin. "Alfred put me sleeping in the guest room. Where have you been?"

Bruce turned around, stuttering. "I was with Selina."

Talia nodded, pretending to believe him. "Ah. So I'm guessing you went to Indian Hill with her, since that's what you've been murmuring in your sleep?"

"How did you hear?"

"I came in every once in a while. You're not a particularly quiet murmurer."

Bruce sighed. "I was going to go to the precinct today and meet Detective Gordon."

"I'm coming with you. The fact that you're asking an authority figure about your case must mean you don't know much more than me."

"What make you think-"

"The case files on your mommy and daddy? You know way more than the police, just so you know."

Bruce looked to the case files on his desk and bulletin board, and then crossed his arms defensively. "Those are private. I don't want you looking at them."

Talia laughed. "Relax, Rich Boy. Who would I tell? Besides, I wouldn't. My parents are dead too, though I'll admit I'm slightly less depressed about it than you."

Bruce didn't say anything.

"My mother was killed by my father the second I was born. Word is he stabbed her in the hospital bed I was born in, and then made off with me before the doctors could even get back. I lived with my aunt for most of my life. I only saw my father once that I could remember, when he visited when I was six. He was like a stranger. Like a person I had never met before coming to me, and I was supposed to love him. Then he died, and here I am."

"Jim Gordon shot your father through the skull." Bruce said. "You shouldn't see him."

Talia shot Bruce a sarcastic smirk. "Funny how life works, isn't it? Your parents got shot by a criminal; mine get shot by a policeman. You're here in this mansion wearing satin pyjamas with a butler and a hot-ass girlfriend, and I don't have a home anymore. But my parents were rich. We both started in the same place, so why are we so different, just because of who shot our parents?"

Bruce shook his head. "I'm sorry. I have to go."

He walked past Talia, not even brushing across her shoulder, and she turned around. She put both her hands on his collarbone and pulled him in, touching his lips to hers. She felt his warm, soft lips touch hers, and sucked on his bottom lip before he could even react. Bruce pulled away, looking at Talia in shock. She grinned, and skipped out the door down the stairs, calling to him. "Didn't you say we were going to see Detective Gordon?"

Sorry this chapter was so short, but it felt like an appropriate place to end a chapter. I've been really busy lately, and I promise chapter three will be out sooner than this one was. Also, I've started on a new story centered on a conversation between Bruce and Jerome that I really like, so hopefully you'll read that one. Thanks for reading!