a/n: Happy Halloween All! I get to wear my Catwoman costume tonight! Wish me luck that I can tap into my inner Selena ;)

Let's map out the week in Gotham so far just in case anyone is lost. Saturday night was when Selina found Bruce on the side of the road. Then they had their morning fun and she left him on Sunday. The Penguin and the Riddler had their first meeting, and he wrote the first riddle, sending it to Jim Gordon. Sunday night, Bruce was back in Gotham thanks to the reliable GCPD and Selina was on her way to Paris. Early Monday morning the Penguin put out a call to all of the villains to meet that night and the teams to take down Batman were formed. Bruce received the second riddle a few hours later. The events of chapter five and six (with the exception of Selina's bathtub scene-that's Thursday night and still coming) take place Monday night. Here we start; Tuesday morning.

Alfred's hands shook slightly as he carried the breakfast tray up to Bruce's room. There hadn't been any injuries to attend to last night, save for a few sore muscles but he hadn't gotten any sleep. The first riddle they had received was chilling, and while Bruce seemed to be calm about it all, Alfred was less than calm. He was a mess internally, not that he could discuss it with anyone. If Bruce knew that he was upset it would affect how he handled the next few days, and he couldn't afford any distractions. Clearing his throat, Alfred walked into the Wayne Master Bedroom and set the breakfast tray on the nightstand. The pen was still in Bruce's hand as he'd tried to figure out the riddle that had been left for him at the restaurant last night. Between that and the fun the papers were going to have with Gotham's underworld, he wondered just how much sleep Mr. Wayne would be getting.

Before he could sneak out however, Bruce woke and rolled over; bending the notepad beneath him. "Good morning Alfred."

"Good morning Master Bruce. Sleep well?"

"As well I can." He yawned and stretched, reminding Alfred very much of the young boy he'd once known. "There hasn't been a new riddle yet has there?"

"No Sir, just the morning paper." He handed the news over, along with a cup of coffee and reached for the latest riddle. It was on a large sheet of white paper, the words written in green in of a legible size, all in the shape of a large question mark. That sign alone was one that Alfred was beginning to hate.

"Seems that I've made headlines once again." Bruce said, almost bored as he showed Alfred the front page.

BATMAN IS BACK- AND WITH A VENGANCE

MAD HATTER MISSING, TWEED COUSINS & JAINA HUDSON IN CUSTODY

Alfred glanced at it, made a interested sound before turning back to the riddle. He'd already read the article while making breakfast and had no interest in revisiting the media's views of what happened last night when he'd been there to watch it all from the helicopter. Instead, he turned the riddle around and around in his hand as he read the words, a frown appearing on his face. It wasn't like they were trying to make this difficult on him, just more so that they were toying with him and that is what pissed Alfred off the most. While Bruce was never his actual son by blood or by birth, he had raised to boy for most of his life and watched him learn and grow into this man that was now the Batman. It pained him to watch all of these people with their misguided anger take it out on the only man he knew that wanted only good and purity in the world. Even he, sometimes wanted to tell Bruce to simply kill them all; to forget about right and wrong and justice and deliverance. What did it mean if all this evil just kept picking themselves back up and coming after him again and again.

It was never going to stop.

A flip of the coin and the luck of chance are all that stand between you and the fear and the trance.

For when face with the darkest of your dreams, you'll find this could be the toughest of teams.

Pray that luck will be on your side, because when the gas clears you won't have even your pride.

"This one is fairly simple Master Bruce."

"I know Alfred, but it's the underlying tone that worries me."

"And by worries you mean frightens, sir?"

"The word fear is useless to me. Of course I have fears, but it only when you let them control you is when you are weak. I won't let them get that close to me."

"You may not have a choice." Alfred put the riddle down, not wanting anything to do with it. "It seems that all of them are serious about this. More serious than you've seen them. They want you dead, and they won't stop until they get it."

"Last night was a joke. If the next fight is anything like that I will be fine."

"But it won't be like that, and you can tell from the riddle it won't be. Your fate is being set on a flip of a coin. That could only mean Two Face. He won't care that you're Bruce Wayne under that mask because he doesn't even care that he is Harvey Dent beneath those scars."

"What are you saying Alfred? You want me to just give up? I tried running away, I tried to escape and I only ended getting dragged back here on police escort. Batman can't leave Gotham and neither can Bruce Wayne."

"You would have gotten away if it hadn't been for that woman."

"Selina Kyle could be useful to us. Catwoman could be useful to us."

"Except that you can't even find her sir. Unless she comes back to Gotham willingly, you will never see her again."

Bruce ignored the jab Alfred's words made at his heart and got up from the bed. "She will come back. I saw it in her eyes, she has just as much unfinished business in this city as I do."

"Catwoman does not live by a code of ethics. She does good things only if and when it suits her. She puts herself first and foremost, and for once I wish you would do that."

"I can't do that. I won't do that. Not until this is stopped, and not until I find out who is behind it. Tonight, I will face my fears and the chance that I may not come out of this alive. I will play this game that the underworld has made for me, because that is what it is. A game. They don't want it to be over yet, and unless someone goes off the plan, I won't be killed. Anyone going to this much trouble wants me all to themselves at the end of this."

"So you're going to risk your life and hope that you won't be killed? You're betting that these freaks will be willing to keep you alive for the endgame rather than take you out for their own pleasure? Half of the villains out there are from your personal past and it's Bruce's head they want on a platter not Batman's."

"I will handle it Alfred. I'm prepared."

"You can't do this alone Master Bruce." Alfred lost the angry edge to his tone and his shoulders slumped. And I can't help you anymore than I did last night." He took the newspaper from the bed and shook it at Bruce's back. "This headline could have been a lot different if they'd send someone else for the first round."

"I won't call Dick if that's what you're saying. I sent him to that school so that he would be away from all of this. He's too young to learn the things I need to train him for. In a few years when he gets more used to life then he can complete his training. For now, he needs to live a little more of life."

"Then find Selina. Bring her back." Bruce stayed silent and Alfred sighed. "Eat your breakfast sir. I'll call Mr. Fox and have him prepare the car for tonight."

But Alfred did not go to the kitchen to make the call he said he would. Instead he went to the Batcave and straight to the computers that Bruce used to track his enemies. He hadn't used the computers much before, but he had watched Bruce search a million times and he'd always watched closely. In a matter of hours he'd found three possibly hotels in Europe that Selina Kyle could have been staying in and he sent three copies of today's newspaper to them just in case. Just as he was about to give up, he had a stroke of luck. Bruce had a list of her aliases in the database and he searched through the hotel reservations for any names that were similar. He found one in Paris under the name Serena Kent that was paid in cash beginning Monday morning.

This had to be her. One of them, had to be her.


Batman looked up at the dark sky, confusion and anger etched into his eyes. Gordon had called him twenty minutes ago, asking why he had not responded to the BatSignal. The sky had been dark then to and they'd discovered that it had once again been stolen. Batman knew that this was just the next round in whatever sick game the underworld was playing with him. Instead of going off throughout Gotham and searching blind he stood on the rooftop, stubbornly watching the sky and waiting for the familiar signal to appear in the starless black above. Fifteen minutes after Jim had gone back down stairs, there was a yellow light far away. It was obstructed by the tall buildings of the skyline, but he knew. Just knew where it was.

Experience had taught him that using the rooftops was faster than getting across Gotham on foot on in a cab- which was never a quick ride while in the suit- he took off across town toward the light; toward Old Gotham. When he reached the crumbling section of the city he loved too much he had a much better view of the BatSignal, and who had taken it. Together, with a bunch of goons Harvey 'Two Face' Dent and the Scarecrow were setting it up on the roof, but Batman could hear them arguing from below. "We should wait until we've heard from the old bird if he's sighted the Bat out and about."

The Scarecrow's voice trembled with fear and excitement. He'd long since grown an aversion to being scared, but found that the only thing that could terrify him was in fact Batman. He took great, sick pleasure in that fact. Two Face seemed to have little patience with the 'good' doctor and sighed heavily. "No, we are not waiting for anything. I flipped the coin and the choice was made. We are going through with this plan no matter what Oswald says. If he wanted this done his way then he should be getting off his fat ass and going after the Batman. It's my turn, I mean…our turn and I'm doing it my way."

Jonathan Crane nodded vigorously and stepped back from the BatSignal as it finally roared to it's full brightness. The yellow glow was no longer dim, but suddenly piercing through the night. "He will come now…won't he?"

"He will." Harvey nodded and stepped back to survey the grounds around him. He caught sight of the Dark Knight on the ground beneath him, a small smiling curing over his burnt and scarred flesh. "Come on up here Bats. Let's finish this, once and for all."

Bruce shot out the grappling hook and climbed his way up to the roof of the building, his boots hitting hard against the cement as he landed a few feet from the pair. The Devils Dynamic Duo, he thought; a sick twisted turn on what he and Robin were once called. A glance at the Scarecrow had him thinking of the last time he'd succumbed to the madman's fear gas and he repelled the shiver from the memory. At that time his fear had been Dick's death but when that came true he had nothing left to fear. Not even death. So there was nothing the fear gas could do to him now. He stepped forward, so sure of himself, so sure that he could handle these two as easily as he'd handled last night.

But the lack of sleep since he'd returned to Gotham was slowly beginning to take a toll on him and he failed to notice the two goons approaching him from behind, his eyes instead on the coin constantly flipping and bouncing in the air from Harvey's hand. Before he could react, he was pulled down and tied to the chair. He could have gotten away within a minute of work but he waited, wanting to know what they had to say. Wanting to know what they wanted. It was clear his head was on the line, that his death was even more valuable to the dark beings of Gotham than it had been last week and he hoped that if he sat here just long enough and played around that he would learn a little more information than he had last night. Already his eavesdropping had told him that the Penguin was behind this. Apparently a stop at the Iceberg Lounge was warranted, if not obviously dangerous.

"So what was your plan Harv?" Batman asked, his tone deep and dark. "Blind me with the light from my own BatSignal? Hardly your style."

"No of course not. With the help of my new friend here, I was planning on driving you absolutely mad. And then carting you off and collecting what is mine."

"And just what is it that's yours?"

Dent opened his mouth to speak, then paused and shook his head slowly. "I'm not going to tell you anything Batman, not unless you've earned it." He caught the coin in midair and slapped it against his palm. The scarred side shone up at him in the light of the BatSignal and he smirked. "Nope, not your lucky day after all. The coin has decided you don't deserve to know how much you're worth."

"But I am worth something? To you? To the Penguin?"

"Enough!" Harvey slammed his fist down on the glass of the BatSignal so that the large metal bat rattled against its holdings. "I've had enough of your talking. Doctor, go ahead."

Jonathan Crane seemed pleased with the old title that Dent used for him and almost too eagerly lifted a large metal box from behind the signal and placed it close to Bruce's feet. It was a new contraption that he had not seen before, but he could tell from the vent and the dial that it was simply a new emitter for the fear gas. He took a deep breath of fresh night air in preparation for holding his breath. He knew it wouldn't last long, but perhaps they were only planning on shooting out a little of the gas at a time. Perhaps they only wanted to torture him to begin with. Over the next hour, they managed to prove to him that he was all wrong about having no fears. And even more wrong about the slight torture. What they put him through was near maddening, and altogether excruciating.

Dent would flip the coin to decide if Crane would push the button or not, then how much gas to emit. After the first twenty minutes, Batman lost track of how many times the coin was tossed. The smoke got so thick that he couldn't see them anymore, he only saw images of death and destruction. He watched behind his minds eyes, like a sick twisted movie as he watched Alfred murdered by the Joker, Catwoman thrown from the roof a building by Ivy and relived the death of Robin again with various darker twists. The one fear dream that had his skin crawling was one where he in fact was the murder of all the people he loved. He couldn't stop himself, and he couldn't protect them. Then all at once, the smoke cleared and Harvey Dent was looking at his coin with despair.

The chance had brought up the option of no smoke enough times for Batman to get a handle back on his reality, almost too late. He could feel tears streaming down his stinging eyes and coughed out the air he'd been holding into his lungs. He looked up at the two villains that still had him tied and began working the Batarang out of his sleeve. They'd only tied him with a thick rope and a few minutes would have him out of the chair and free, but the smoke still hovered in his mind; clouding his judgment, the images still churning his stomach and making him feel sick. Bruce let his head drop down against his chest, giving the appearance that he was defeated and tired, which wasn't too difficult to play up. Two Face and Scarecrow stepped back to discuss what they should do next now that they had the Batman and the BatSignal. He listened as the sharp edge of the Batarang sawed through the rope.

"We should take him to the Penguin now." Scarecrow hissed through his mask, having put it on halfway through the assault. "He will be so pleased that we were able to bring the Bat down."

"You know nothing about that man do you? In that suit he is nearly invincible. Do you really think that he will let us take him anywhere?"

"He couldn't even stand right now if he wanted to. Look at him. He's half dead already."

Harvey snorted. "This is what half dead looks like Scarecrow. Not that." Then Bruce heard footsteps and he felt a strong fist slam into the left side of his jaw. The jolt from the hit had the Batarang slipping off the rope and cutting into the skin of his hand. He bit down on his cheek to keep from cursing and stayed leaning to the side before another punch from Harvey to the right had him sitting back up. "You're not dead yet are you Bruce?"

Scarecrow snickered somewhere a few feet away, but Batman kept his eyes closed, imagining the blade and the rope, already feeling the give in his ties. "Just finish him Harv'. Quit playing around."

Dent sighed and stepped back, flipping the coin once more. "Do I finish the Batman and take him to the Penguin dead?" Bruce heard the slap of skin and knew from the sigh he heard out of his old friend that he'd been spared once more. "Do I let him go back into the shadows and return to the Penguin empty handed?" Once more the coin was tossed, but Bruce did not give Two Face a chance to look at the outcome. He was already out of the chair and tackling him to the ground, the coin out of both their reach for now. He knew that Harvey was a good match for him at this kind of fighting, as he himself had trained the ex DA to fight. "You don't have to do this Dent. We can fix your face again, we can make everything right. You've reformed before." Batman's voice was deep as always, but it was laced with the smoke, his lungs burning as he fought through the gas.

Harvey laughed, gaining the upper hand and taking advantage of Batman's current weak state by rolling him onto his back and slamming him against the rooftop. "It always comes back. I can't escape this fate. The coin told me so."

"You don't need to run your life by it anymore! You've seen that with the work they did at Arkham."

"I'm not going back to that place!" It was more of a promise then a threat as Dent threw himself toward the coin.

Bruce reached out of him, trying to pull him away. The smoke had just begun to fade away from his brain as a fresh puff enveloped him and Harvey. The Scarecrow had decided to take matters into his own hands. A look of intense fright came over Harvey's eyes as his fingers closed around the coin and Batman collapsed on the ground, coughing the smoke out of his lungs, only to drag more back in. When it finally faded away and the effects wore off, Harvey and Batman opened their eyes to a roof with no Scarecrow and only one goon that was currently climbing back down the access to get away. Bruce sat up, the Kevlar of his suit dusty from the ground and the rubble. "Come with me Harvey. We can do this together."

"No."

"Ask the coin if you should go back."

Harvey looked down at the coin and seemed very afraid of what could come from the chance. "If it says I must go, than I have no will but to obey it."

"This life was your choice to live this way. If you aren't going to trust in your own self, then give me the coin and I'll flip it for you."

"No." Dent shook his head, clutching it close to his chest before standing with Batman. The men stood together, looking at the coin. He took a deep breath and coughed, flipping the coin.


Bruce Wayne looked out over the rooftops, perched on the gargoyle. If he hadn't been so tired, so lost he might have smiled. The BatSignal had been returned and he himself had closed Harvey Dent back into his cell at Arkham. Johnathan Crane had gotten away, and while the idea of that lunatic running around with his gas made the hair on the back of Bruce's neck stand up; he let it go for now. There was more coming, and from the feeling he got, the ex doctor was not going to be a problem, at least for a while. The mark on his head must be very high if all these criminals and sociopaths were working together to take him down.

Even knowing it was foolish he looked east to the rooftops over Crime Alley. She wasn't there, and she probably would never be there again. He could have closed his eyes and imagined her long legs stretching and moving as she raced across the rooftops and whipped herself around the city. Would he ever see her again? Either Catwoman or Selina Kyle before him would be a sight for sore eyes. He'd even let her get a few punches in first if that meant he could feel her body in his arms. He closed his lids and took a deep breath wishing he knew where she was, knowing he could find her if he really tried- but knowing that if she was going to come back to Gotham it had to be her own choice. He leapt down from the ledge and moved towards the Batmobile, images and memories coming unbidden into his mind. He remembered the first time he'd seen her.

She'd been having a good streak for about a week, her name in the papers after she stole a golden cat sculpture from the ancient Egypt exhibit, before Bruce got the chance to catch her in the act. She was almost done cracking the code on a locked glass case that held her next big hit when he finally stepped out of the shadows. It wasn't like she was getting sloppy; just that she was getting comfortable, so when he cleared his throat and stepped into the moonlight she had nearly screamed.

"So you aren't a myth after all?" she'd attempted to sound bored but fear edged in her voice. "You're a little late aren't you? I'm nearly done here."

She went back to her work as if he was just a bothersome child and from mere amusement he just watched her. She had to have deactivated the alarms on the case already because within minutes she'd slid her arm through the small opening in the glass and closed her hand around the diamond. Had it been a diamond? He couldn't picture it, all he could remember was the way the skin tight leather stretched across her breasts as she closed the case and dropped her prize into a leather bag at her feet. She didn't seem that in awe of the fact Batman was just standing there watching her, instead she just grabbed her bag and started towards the window she'd come in from.

"You know I can't let you take that Catwoman."

She froze, her leg up on the sill and slowly looked back at him over her shoulder. "So standing there watching me wasn't for your own amusement?"

Batman hesitated, refusing the smile that wanted to crack the stern line of his lips. "Let's just say I was making sure I had the right girl."

She half snorted, half laughed and climbed up the rest of the way, slinging the black bag over her shoulder. "Girl huh? Well, I'm going to assume that as the knight of good and justice you were raised not to hits girls. So you won't mind if I go."

She'd jumped from the window and landed on the lower roof before even giving him the chance to speak. By the time he'd gotten his feet to move she'd already wrapped her whip around the far gutter of the next building and was swinging far out of his reach. He could have caught her, could have hid in the shadows and followed her all the way to her apartment; taken back tonight's treasure and all the other ones she'd gained this week, but he let her go. And he'd wished he'd known why. Whether as Catwoman, or Selina Kyle he was always watching her go, and even now as he drove back to the cave, imagining her smile, her laugh and the way her skin had glistened beneath his that night at the motel he knew that he would never catch her. Not unless she let him, not unless she wanted to be caught by him.