Bruce picked up Coba from the school at the end of the day. Ed had crawled into her backpack, which Bruce had brought along for in case Coba had to change into her Batsuit on the way back to Wayne Manor, claiming to need sleep after a "long day of hard work and no play". Can't say I blame him, either, the teen thought, although neither of us really did do any work.
"How'd it go, kid?" Bruce asked after a few minutes.
Well, at least he's trying to start conversations now, even though he normally does when he has something to say. "Well, I can't really say it went bad, but I can't say it went good, either," Coba said grimly. "I was tense almost the entire time, although nothing really happened."
"What were you tense about, do you know?" the old man asked, concerned.
"I know I was tense about Wheeler, I'll grant you that. Terry and Dana are going to head over to Wheeler's ranch later and try to listen in on what's going on."
"Aren't you going with them?" Bruce inquired. His voice was not condescending, but curious.
Coba shook her head. "No. I kept getting panic attacks every time I thought of that place. If I have one while over there, I could endanger all of us."
Bruce nodded understandingly. "Coba, I know you don't want to get your brother or friend killed, but you can't let your fear get the better of you and keep you down. You'll need to face it, sooner or later."
"Which brings me to my question, which no doubt is what you're wanting to discuss: did the results come back from yesterday's blood test?"
Wayne nodded, hardly even surprised about Coba's correct guess. "Yes, they came in. But what does this have to do with your fears?"
Brooklyn became a little tense at Bruce's tone, which was more grave than ever, but decided to ignore it for the time being. "I've always been afraid, Bruce," she confessed quietly. "Afraid to know how my mother's birth family would react if they ever found out that my mother's dead. Afraid to know if they'd accept me or not." Let alone afraid to fully remember my mother's murder.
"Why would they not accept you?" Bruce asked incredulously.
"Because of my leg, my psychic abilities, my scar, and—" Coba stopped. It's my fault Mom's dead. Fixx may have killed her, but I led him and those Jokerz to her. She looked at him curiously. "You know something about my heritage, don't you?"
"Well, uh..." Bruce began awkwardly. He stopped and swallowed. Why is this so hard to say? "Your grandmother... she's a member of—"
"Bruce, look!" Coba cried out, gesturing ahead with a nod of her head.
To his surprise, there was a taxi coming to a stop just in front of the front gate to Wayne Manor. He slowed to a stop ten yards away from the gate as the taxi's back passenger seat opened up and a person stepped out. Bruce heard Coba let out a gasp of surprise. "What is it?" he asked concernedly.
"More of a who," Coba said quietly. "She's the same woman from my nightmares."
Bruce became even more concerned. He stepped out of the car. "Stay close, kid," he advised Coba. "Try not to panic: be as calm as you can."
The girl nodded tensely in acknowledgment before grabbing her backpack, copying her guardian's actions and closely following him. They both knew it would be a better choice to have her follow him than wait in the car, in case someone tried to jump in and take the car with her still inside, though they both knew that they were still taking a big risk in having her come face-to-face with the strange woman.
The woman turned and saw them as the taxi peeled away. "Bruce!" she called out in greeting.
The first Batman froze in his tracks in surprise. He heard Coba's unsteady footsteps come to a halt as well. Bruce turned his head and looked into her eyes reassuringly, knowing that she was alarmed by his reaction to the woman. He saw that she was scared, but could tell by the look in her eyes that she was fighting to hide it. It's alright, kid, he thought, hoping she was reading his thoughts right then. To his relief, Coba nodded in confirmation, noticeably relaxing a bit. She got it. He looked at the woman once more and breathed out her name:
"Selina."
Coba was surprised once more. "As in Selina Kyle?" she inquired him quietly.
Wayne nodded. "Yes."
The two warriors resumed walking towards the woman, who was now walking towards them. They stopped once they were halfway between where they had originally been standing. Selina, who was surprisingly spry for her age, looked at Bruce, still smiling warmly. "How have you been?" she asked good-naturedly.
"It's been years, Selina," Bruce said, dodging the question. "Decades, even."
"Nice to see you, too," Selina muttered bitterly. She turned to Coba, eyeing her curiously. "You must be the new Batgirl," she said, extending her right hand. "It's no use denying it, either. I'm Selina Kyle."
"Coba Brooklyn," Batgirl said with as much confidence as she could muster despite her nervousness, shaking her right hand with who she knew to be the first Catwoman.
Kyle's green eyes seemed to flash in recognition, slowly pulling her hand away from Coba's. Coba suppressed a shudder that suddenly coursed through her. My mother had that same look in her eyes when she recalled something. "What is it?" she asked concernedly.
"Are you in any way related to Natalie Brooklyn?" Selina asked, a sense of urgency in her voice.
Brooklyn was caught off guard by the question. She felt a pang of sorrow as she tried to answer. "Yes. She—" She stopped a moment, trying to find her voice. "She was my mother," she finished in a sad, quiet voice.
"Was?!" Selina asked incredulously, anger clearly becoming more and more present in her voice. "Where is she? Where is my daughter?!"
Bruce was about to request for Selina to stop badgering Coba, but the teen solemnly held up a hand, keeping him silent. Coba felt tears of shock at Selina's statement and sorrow begin to form in her eyes. Selina's my mother's mother? Wait, was that what Bruce was trying to tell me: that my grandmother is a member of the Rogue's Gallery? "She... she died three years ago, on September 15." She looked down sadly as her tears began to fall down her cheeks.
"September 15?" Catwoman said in a barely audible voice as a result of shock, her lower lip quivering with sadness. "How did this happen?"
Coba looked back up solemnly. "A gang of Jokerz were chasing me, and I was careless. They... they followed me home, trying to kill me. Mom got in front of them, and..." Her voice faltered, tears falling as it did.
Selina's eyes suddenly narrowed into a glare. Without warning, Selina raised her right hand. Coba had no time to react as it struck her across the face, causing her to let out a startled gasp. "Failure!" Selina shouted. "You let my daughter die!"
"No, it was an accident!" Coba found herself crying out desperately. "I didn't mean for it to happen!"
"Liar!" Selina proclaimed, striking her again, this time with more force.
The force of the newest slap sent Coba face-first to the ground. She looked up anxiously to see Selina prepare to tackle her, Selina's emerald green eyes searing angrily into hers of cobalt and reddish-brown. Coba tried to move, but terror had already seized her body, freezing her in place.
Bruce, who had watched the scene in horror, regained composure and intervened at that moment, placing himself between his young ward and Kyle. He grabbed Selina and pushed against her with all of his might, determined to protect Coba from being beaten any more. He was surprised by Selina's surprising strength, despite being about the same age as him, as she tried to push past him. It was not long until he felt a sharp pain in his chest, causing him to let out a small grunt of agony.
Coba sprang to her feet at that moment, her own fear replaced by concern for her guardian. "Bruce!" she exclaimed.
Wayne turned his head to Coba, still fighting against Selina. "Coba, run!" he gasped out, his voice quieted by pain. Get on the train and go to Grayson's, he thought. You'll be safe there.
Brooklyn blinked back more tears. "I can't leave you here!" she protested.
"Yes, you can. Go, now!" Bruce noticed Coba's hesitation. "Please," he pleaded, his voice quieter. You know what to do, kid.
Coba quickly and silently nodded, though now shaking with terror at having to turn and leave Bruce behind. She ran down the road, her backpack still on her back, only once casting a saddened and concerned glance back.
Selina finally managed to push past Bruce and began to give chase, but Bruce tripped her with his cane and pinned her down with it. She looked up at him angrily. "Let me up, Bruce!" she ordered.
Bruce's eyes narrowed into a Batglare. "So you can continue to hurt the daughter of your daughter and make matters worse? I don't think so."
Catwoman angrily smacked the cane away and moved to get up. However, Bruce pulled out a sedative and pinned her back down, shooting it into her neck. Selina's struggling slowed until she went limp after a brief moment.
The first Batman half dragged, half carried Selina's unconscious form to his car. He opened up the back passenger door, heaved the woman into the seat, and shut it again. Bruce leaned up against the car and, with a shaking hand, pulled out a bottle of pills from his jacket. He opened up the bottle before taking out one pill. He dry-swallowed it and closed the bottle securely as he looked down the road. For a few minutes, he stood there, waiting for his strength to return and for a sign that Coba was alright. Bruce's waiting was finally rewarded by the sound of a train heading towards Blüdhaven. Stay safe, Coba. I'll see what I can get out of Selina concerning why she's here: I doubt it's just to catch up on what all we've been up to.
Wayne got into the driver's seat of the car after pressing a button on the key chain, causing the front gate leading to the mansion to open. He drove the car up the driveway, closing the gate behind him with the same button, before coming to a stop in front of the mansion. Opening the passenger door, he once again heaved Selina over his shoulder and carried her into the living room. He placed her none-too-gently on the couch before picking up the phone that was sitting on the table. Bruce pressed a few buttons on the phone. Please let him be there, he silently prayed as the dial-tone played in his right ear.
After a moment, there was a gruff answer. "This better be important, Bruce."
"Dick, there's been some trouble," Bruce replied. "Coba's on her way to your place right now."
Author's Notes:
Yep, Selina Kyle is Coba's grandmother. What exactly brought her back to Gotham from Paris? Why did the date of Natalie's death stand out to her? Does she really hate Coba for what happened to Natalie, or did she act the way she did because of grief? What part will she play, if at all, in bringing down Wheeler's ranch? These questions and more will be answered later on, though you are welcome to leave guesses in a review if you want.
That explicit just smacked Coba around and called her a failure, but gets to stay with Bruce while Coba has to go all the way to Blüdhaven? That doesn't make any sense!
Well, if Coba hadn't run, Bruce probably would not have kept Selina around for fear that she'd hurt Coba again, and then there would be no point in continuing the story: the plot would not follow with Batgirl facing her fears, and would instead be really dull and unimaginative on my part (it would follow exactly with the episode "The Last Resort," and that's not what I want).
At least we now know why Coba's glare is so intense (cats kinda have a glare in their eyes) and why she has a love for animals!
Actually, when I first started this story series, I hadn't thought of having Coba be related to anyone well-known aside from Bruce and Terry (and Warren McGinnis, for that matter). With her glare being more intense than Bruce's, I was thinking about something Alfred had said in Mystery of the Batwoman: "Remember, there are many species in which the female is deadlier than the male." In this case, the glare, since Coba is not villainous or extremely lethal. As for her having a love for animals, well, that bit was based on me at the time because I've always loved animals (especially rats, mice, rabbits, and hamsters). All of these similarities to Selina were completely coincidental. The only thing Coba and Selina have in common that was intended from the start is their claws (Coba uses hers in "The Call," hence the opening statement for a sentence in "Chapter 5: Fight Against Steel" "As if it were second nature to her...").
But who could her grandfather be? Maybe he has something to do with her glare too?
That will be revealed in a future chapter as well. He is known to the DC Universe (primarily the Batman Universe), and has been included in a past fanfic I have written of this story series. You are welcome to leave guesses of who he is in a review, though! In fact, I encourage it! :)