chapter 10

Barbara hadn't seen Bruce in days. Three to be exact. It was killing her. Ever since he disappeared that night on the roof, he'd been avoiding her. Dick was still working the Crane case with him and convinced Barbara that the only reason Bruce wasn't calling her in was because he knew she was busy with school. Barbara knew differently. She tried to act like she didn't mind but she knew her mask was slipping. As she walked down the school hallway, her bag over her shoulder and a binder tucked under one arm, her fingers flexed into a fist. Tense, release, tense, release… Her skin was crawling, itching. This whole affair was really going to her head. "Hello, beautiful," A voice said from behind her, making Barbara jump and gasp, her binder falling from her hands. It clattered to the ground loudly and she turned to see an amused Dick standing behind her. "A bit jumpy, are we?"

She chuckled. "You could say that. What's up?"

"Curious as to what your plans are for the day."

"Go home," She said simply, tucking hair behind her ear. "Sleep. Write my English paper. Why do you ask?"

Dick laced his hand with hers and pulled her along with him casually, their arms swinging gently between them as they walked. "This case is killing me," He said, exasperated. "And nothing is more relaxing than spending time with my girl. Can you come over?"

"To the Manor?" She asked, her heart beating a little faster now.

Dick's eyebrow raised. "Yes?" He chuckled.

Barbara swallowed, her cheeks burning from the sudden rush of blood to her face. "Yeah, sure," She said with a smile up at him. "How have things been there, what with Selina, and all?"

He shrugged one shoulder. "Not terrible. I think living with Bruce is keeping her in check, kind of. Haven't noticed her sneaking around, although I doubt I would even if she had."

"I wonder how long it'll take her to go get her greedy little fingers on something," Barbara said, unamused. She'd never been particularly fond of Catwoman but she felt full on territorial now. She was tired of being treated like a lower class. She wasn't the omega, Catwoman was. She ran by herself and Barbara had a pack. She was the outcast. Barbara didn't want to be stepped on anymore.

"Maybe she'll flip it around this time," Dick said with a sigh. "It'd sure be a help to us. One less rogue to battle."

Barbara smiled. "Any luck about Crane? Did Bruce get the autopsy records from my dad?"

He nodded somewhat enthusiastically. "Yeah, actually. Our theory was right. It isn't Crane, or at least not all of the murders. The first body was killed first, then the third body, then the second and then the fourth."

"New bodies found?"

"One," He said with a nod. They'd reached the parking lot by now and they stopped beside his motorcycle. "Fox is cooking up some weird new fear antidote for Bruce. Might give us the upper hand."

Barbara nodded thoughtfully, turning off the emotional, crazy part of her mind and focusing simply on the Batgirl side of her as she analyzed the facts. She remembered with a shudder the last run in she'd had with Crane. A huge cloud of gas had consumed her and the nightmares she saw were awful. Her death, Batman and Robin and even Alfred being arrested, chased by the cops. Her father hating Batman. The entire thing was scarring and she wasn't looking forward to it ever happening again. Before that day, she'd always underestimated Crane as a criminal. Fear toxin? Come on, she thought. Now she knew that he was not someone to trifle with. He was a mastermind in his own right. "I'm sure he won't stay in hiding for long. He never does. Just long enough to get himself set up."

Dick nodded. "That's what I'm hoping for. Oh, well. Are you ready to go?" He handed her a black helmet and she smiled, pulling it on and flipping her hair over her shoulder. She adjusted her bag on her shoulder and waited for Dick to climb onto the bike before swinging herself up onto the seat. As she adjusted herself on the beautiful red Ducati, she wrapped her arms around his waist and waited patiently for them to take off.

When they'd gotten back to the house, they walked in to find Bruce angrily storming towards the Cave. Dick blinked as he shut the door behind them and Barbara's eyebrows lowered. "Bruce?" Dick asked. "What's wrong, man?"

"Jewel heist at the Gotham Museum. When's the last time that happened?" He added dryly. Barbara and Dick exchanged a glance.

"Selina," They both said in unision. They immediately followed him towards the Cave, dropping their things inside the door. Selina immediately grabbed her outfit from her backpack and headed around the corner to change as she listened to Dick and Bruce. "You don't know for a fact that it's her," Dick said after a minute, quietly.

"Who else would it be?"

"Are you angry?"

"No. I'm not even surprised. It just doesn't sit well on my conscious that the Batman is harboring a fugitive," Bruce said. She heard the sound of glass sliding back as he opened the case to his armor. Barbara eavesdropped with a frown as she listened to them talk. So Catwoman had messed up again, eh? A twinge of smugness filled Barbara up. He's Batman… He's everything good in the world. Why her and not me? In response to that thought, her subconscious said, Yeah, cause you're the picture of being morally upright. As she looked over at them as she stepped out from behind the counter, pulling on her cowl, she felt a surge of arousal through her veins as she watched her illicit lover and the boy she was dating talk like partners, like friends. The fact that she didn't feel bad made her feel like shit, but there was something so pleasing about the mental struggle.

As soon as Robin and Batman were dressed they made their way to the Batmobile. "Where do you think she is?"

"I'm just guessing her apartment. But who knows." The rest of the drive was in silence. When they finally arrived, they made their way inside to a quiet, empty room. Bruce frowned as he surveyed it. Completely empty. She hadn't been here. Barbara walked around the room, her fingers trailing on the furniture. "Where the hell could she be?"

"She'll show up eventually." Robin frowned at his mentor as he spoke.

Bruce nodded. "This is ridiculous," He muttered under his breath. Barbara sat on the edge of the bed, rubbing her temple as she watched Batman pace. "Lets go. We still need to stop by the museum." Barbara followed them to the window and the minute her feet hit the ground, she heard Bruce speak. "Selina?" He demanded to no one in particular. She must have called him. Batgirl and Robin watched from a few yards away as he listened, his expression changing as she spoke. There was a loud rumbling and she looked up to the sky, her brow furrowing. Dark clouds were stretching over the sky and she knew rain was coming. "Please just… Selina… Shut up! Selina, where are you?" He demanded, looking up at the sky, his voice raising. "Jesus christ." It took a moment for him to turn back around towards them. "It's Scarecrow."

"What?" Barbara asked, her eyes narrowing. She can't be working with Crane. But if she is… Does that mean Bruce won't…?

"She gave me the address. Let's go."

The Scarecrow was hiding out in the most obvious, yet hardest to guess spot. Before Arkham Asylum, Amadeus Arkham had set up shop across the city. The small psychiatric hospital had been closed down for decades and now, apparently, it was being used by Arkham Asylum's very own prodigee; Dr. Jonathan Crane. Batman wasted no time when he showed up, immediately rushing inside. Black spray paint covered the windows, blocking out the lights from the inside. The entire building was very disturbing looking, broken glass, test tubes, brown drying blood covering the floor. Crane had been busy. "Crane! Where are you?" He growled.

It was quiet for a minute before they heard a scream. "Batman!"

"Shit. Selina!" The three of them quickly started running. As Batman and Robin frantically searched for the point of her voice, Barbara froze. Just up ahead and to the right, she saw the beginnings of a staircase around the corner, concealed by a curtain. The urge to not tell Bruce, to run away and not assist them was strong. She knew she couldn't do that, though.

"Batman," She said finally. "Over there." She pointed one gloved finger towards the stairs. Bruce and her shared a look before he made his way to the stares, shoving the dark curtain away. The lighting in the basement was terribly dim but he wasted no time heading down the steps, flipping on his sonar vision. Barbara and Dick followed close behind, watching his back. When they got to the bottom of the stairs, they all looked desperately around the room. Selina was handcuffed to the metal grate of a radiator, her hair soaked from rain and sweat. Her wrist was bleeding and Batgirl was sure she saw the beginnings of a wound, blood creeping out over the exposed cleavage between her breasts. "Batman," She breathed.

"What happened?" Bruce growled, approaching her quickly. "Where's Crane?"

"Not here," She said. "He left me here." She gestured with her cuffed hand as Batman worked at unlocking it.

"Why the hell are you even here?" Everyone in the room was painfully aware of the anger in Bruce's voice. He really had hoped Selina would turn herself around this time, stop stealing.

Selina closed her eyes, leaned her head back against the wall and then glanced over at Barbara and Dick. "Can we talk about this later?"

"No," He snapped. The cuff fell to the ground and she rubbed her wrist, pushing herself up off the ground and flinching as she moved her right arm.

Selina sighed. "I didn't come back to Gotham just for you," She said after a minute, her hand reaching out to touch his chest as she frowned at him. he didn't acknowledge the motion but didn't push her hand away either, and the longer that he let her touch him, the more Barbara's chest tightened painfully. Her fingers clenched tightly but she bit her tongue. "I owed Crane. He helped me get out of town a few months ago. I left because I had to, not because I wanted to. Scarface was after me because I cheated him out of a deal and Crane was there, and willing." She took a breath to sigh, not looking in Bruce's eyes as she explained. "Anyway. He told me that I owed him, and I agreed. He called me last week and that's why I'm here."

"You helped Scarecrow escape?" Batman asked, outraged.

"No!" She shouted defensively, putting her hands up. Barbara breathed out through her teeth. Took her long enough. Catwoman reached down to grab her cowl and started to pace the room. "He did that all on his own. I just had to steal the jewels from the museum."

"Jewels?"

She hesitated, her red lips pursing and then she said, "I screwed up on the heist. The diamond I got is hardly enough to fund his projects… Whatever it is that he's planning this time. When I brought it to him, he blew up. Stabbed me in the shoulder, slammed my head into the wall, cuffed me to the radiator and told me I had three days to get the rest of the money to him."

"How did you call Bruce?" Robin asked, narrowing his eyes.

She motioned to the cell phone on the ground. "He left it here for me to call you. The bastard had it laying just out of reach. Took me almost an hour to get it."

Barbara narrowed her eyes and then looked with concern at Bruce. He couldn't possibly still be fine with Catwoman living with him. Would he sleep with her again? She was working with the enemy! Batgirl wasn't even totally convinced that she didn't help Crane escape. She shifted on the balls of her feet. "That's a wonderful story, but we need to get out of here. We still have to find Crane."

With a grit of his teeth, Bruce said, "Selina needs medical attention. We'll come back in the morning and start tracking him down."

The two sidekicks looked at him with wide eyes. "Seriously?"

"Seriously," Bruce said in a voice that meant don't argue with me. Dick and Barbara both stepped down from their offensive positions. Bruce grabbed Selina by the arm tightly and pulled her along with him, growling into her face. "When we get back to the Batcave, we'll stitch you up. And you're telling me the entire story."

DUN DUN DUN DUN... Oh no, Selina! Why?! Hey guys! Chokes here, providing chapter 10...

To my lovely reviewers:

deadpool: Darling! You really flatter me way too much. Seriously, you make me smile. :D I'm glad you liked it!

Guest (1): I love when you guys point out specific things you like. It gives me ideas for what else to put in! Thank you so much, and I'm so thrilled that you loved it! Goosebumps are always encouraging.

Guest (2): THANK YOU. I loved that comment. I'm going to a rock concert next week and I'll be thinking of that the whole time. ;)

Guest (3): After I read this comment I went through and read the entire thing, looking for all the instances that Bruce talked to her while fucking her from behind and I have to say, I really do enjoy that, too... Mm. Bruce. Burton everything was corny, but that's the beauty of it, in my professional opinion.

ebony: I'd never heard of that before now, actually! I'll definitely check it out though. :) I hope this doesn't end soon either! I'm having so much fun writing it.

FANCYFANCY: MY LOVE. I had to throw that in there! I debated on saying "I'm Batgirl" for like an hour before I finally gave up and wrote it... This story is so intense, it needs a little bit of cheesiness. And dude, I totally would of done the same. Actually, I saw some hentai stuff the other day that was basically exactly that. He was tied up and Barbara was having her wonderful way with him. Loved it.

Guest (4): If you DID get caught, at least it was for a good cause! :D I love you to death! Thank you for that. :)

EmilyK: You make a great point. Catwoman is kind of every man's dream... And every woman's girl-crush! I can testify to that. She's perfection, but hey, I always route for the under dog. And hey, I'm glad you got such a great experience out of it!

winchester: Mistress Barbara Gordon... Mistress Chokes. I like that, too. But its like that quote. Always be yourself unless you can be Batman. Then always be Batman. Or Batgirl, depending on your personal preference. ;) And ha to pornhub! We don't need you anymore!

Guest (5): Today I had a five year old bow down to me. it was a wonderful moment in the life of Chokes. Thank you so much!

RED: It was my pleasure to respond! I love talking to you guys so much, especially the return reviewers. I feel like we're kind of friends, even though we don't know each other and are only bonded by sexual depravity... Oh well! And hey, I understand man. Being single and writing smut constantly is... A definite challenge...

GODDAMNBATMAN: I read that in his voice every time I look at it! Thank you for your comment!

Guest (6): Thank youuuuu! I wish there was more Bats on Bats erotica but sadly... We don't live in a world where good things happen to me...

Guest (7): Thank you thank you thank you thank you. Is sex without dirty talk even sex?

stonedMira: Mira, darling, I am just as excited as you to write that! Ideas are churning in my mind so much! (Too much.) I can't focus on anything else!

Guest (8): DUDE I've tried so hard to draw some, but I suck at that. I hate it. Look up Barbara/Batman hentai. You'll find some hot stuff man.

Chokesfan: I'm so sorry to hear that! I'm glad you're getting back on your feet again, though. You deserve to feel good man. I'm glad you liked the chapter! 3

WonderBabe: TEAM BABS ALL THE TIME. All day everyday. I've written up to chapter 13 and I've got some awesome stuff to publish. Get excited, love!

Guest (9): There's a bit more Selina/Bruce coming up so I hope I help you figure it out. :) I can't wait to see what you decide. I'm still totally team Babs, though. :) Hope you liked this chapter!

WizardBDSM: THANK YOU. 3

Guest (10): Oh gosh, no this is not the last chapter. I have so many things in mind for this story!

Guest (11): Like I said up there, NOOOO. Don't you worry. I sometimes publish oneshots, but that doesn't mean I'm quitting on this one!

Until next time, guys!

- Chokes