"Hey, Ma."
Selina leans against the wall of the columbarium, her head resting on the stone surface behind her while her arms are crossed over her chest. She listens to the drip drip drip of residual rain water from the earlier storm leaking through the cracks of the glass roof onto the concrete floor. A soft breeze moves through the warm night and it lifts a curl from her forehead. Selina can swear she hears a hey, baby tickle past her ear. She smiles and bites her lower lip with a shake of her head. The hardest part of being away had been leaving her mother behind.
"I just got back a few days ago. Sorry it took so long for me to come see you, letcha know I'm alright. I had to settle in, figure out my next move. I, uh...I went to that old furniture store off 32nd and Churchill...you know, that 'antique' one you loved so damn much?"
Despite being in the middle of Gotham's biggest cemetery, Selina can't help but laugh. Her mother use to love collecting décor and clothing from thrift shops, good wills, and used furniture stores.
They're antique, Lina! Just look at all this character.
Maria Kyle would drag her young daughter around the city during the day before her night shifts at 44 Below. As she got older, Selina realized her mom's shopping adventures served a bigger purpose; it kept them moving, not sitting ducks in their little apartment on 17th and Broad. Maria's work was dangerous, and her "boss" knew where they lived. Maria never let her daughter out of her sight. So, shopping was their hobby and how they spent the majority of their time. Still, Selina cherished those memories with her mother.
"Found a few things. Got a nightstand, a coffee table...and yeah, Ma, they have a shit ton of character, before you go askin' if they do." Her shoulders move with another small laugh before a familiar and unwelcome feeling fills her chest. And then it's quiet again.
Drip drip drip...
Selina traps her bottom lip under her top teeth before releasing it with a sigh. The loneliness aches like a rotting tooth, spreading from her chest through the rest of her body until it forms a lump in her throat that she forces herself to swallow down. And it makes her sad and pisses her off at the same time. Because it still shouldn't hurt this much to be alone. To have nobody. Like a child, she feels pangs of longing for someone to protect her, comfort her. She longs for somebody to give a fuck about her. Not for her body, or for some idea of her they made up in their heads. She craves for someone to see her and care for her in that unconditional way she's only ever experienced from her mother.
Damn it. Selina wipes the tear that escapes without her permission with a quick swoop of her finger. She swallows down that lump again, and can't make herself speak aloud anymore.
I miss you, she thinks to herself instead. I miss you so fucking much.
And then a deep, quiet voice suddenly bounces around the columbarium.
"You're back."
Selina jumps up and whips around towards the voice, preparing herself for a fight. She crouches defensively and readies herself to scratch a motherfucker's eyes out until the dark figure before her morphs into someone familiar.
Vengeance.
The armored vigilante stands before her, silhouetted in the darkness. He takes another step forward, and the clouded moonlight shines through the glass above them. It illuminates his metal chest plate—shaped as a bat—broad shoulders, heavy boots, thick cape and his shadowed cowl.
"Jesus Christ," Selina hisses, but she instantly straightens from her defensive crouch and drops her hands to her side, flustered. "Seriously, do you ever just say hello?!" Her chest rises and falls rapidly and she tries to calm the rhythm of her breath as she takes him in. She expects to feel annoyed about the invasion of privacy and tries to think of a snide remark, but she finds herself stuck like a deer in headlights.
The Batman takes one last step forward until he's directly in front of Selina. He's close enough that he has to bend his neck downward to meet her gaze as she looks up at him. There's an unspoken apology in the dip in his nose, the set of his jaw. She wonders if the silent 'sorry' was for tonight or the night she left town. His voice remains soft, so soft, as he searches her face.
"Hello."
For a quick second Selina forgets how to breathe all together. She can't believe he's really here, that they're finally face to face again. Part of her had wondered if she had made him all up. And Jesus, his energy is strong. It's immediate and all consuming. The space between them is so thick it seems to mold them both into place. Her body tingles from head to toe, like a small electric shock, and she searches his blue eyes right back. She's never met anyone that ever made her feel...whatever the fuck she's feeling right now. And after six months of separation, she still feels their intense pull on each other.
Like magnets.
"Miss me?" Selina finds her voice, and to her relief, it comes out silky and playful. Her shoulders move back as she holds herself with a confidence that's second nature.
And Vengeance just continues to stare. Selena reads concern in his piercing eyes and downturned mouth, and she's suddenly hyper aware of the melancholy still etched in her features from a moment ago, when she thought she was alone.
"Are you alright?" His tone confirms his concern, and he reaches into his pocket to pulls out her mask. He holds it out to her and she takes it, but their eyes stay locked.
"I'm fine," Selina says automatically. But she feels exposed. Her emotions are always masked by her cocky demeanor, her playful, seductive attitude.
But not with Vengeance.
He always finds the truth in her eyes, and she's left vulnerable when he picks up on the remanence of her sadness, her loneliness. It makes her uncomfortable, so she drops his gaze and walks past him out of the columbarium into the open night.
The full moon is out from behind the clouds now and the lamp posts around the site glow a deep orange. The Batman follows Selena, and she stops next to the white banister that fences in the elevated area.
When she turns to face him, she looks up in surprise. He's extremely close to her once again.
Looking down at her.
Searching.
Always searching.
"How long have you been back?" He questions her. His voice has a slight edge to it, but she can't quite tell what it means. It sounds almost anxious, maybe annoyed, as if he's offended by her being in Gotham without his knowledge.
"A few days," Selina answers, her responding tone dripping with amusement. She liked the idea of him wanting to know that she's around. "You're not the easiest guy to find, you know. So, instead of hunting you down, I left you a crumb." She holds up her mask before laying it on the banister. "I knew you'd find me."
Selina had no doubt he'd take her bait. And the fact that he did so quickly was... interesting. She decides this is another thing she likes about him. It makes her heart flutter, and she tries to hide this behind another question. "How'd you know I'd be here?"
Vengeance glances towards the columbarium, and Selina follows his eye-line until she spots her mother's engraved plaque. And then she's nonplussed by his unusually personal answer.
"It's where I would be."
They look at each other then, and his gaze is tender, open. Pain touches his expression for just a fleeting moment. It's so quick, if she wasn't staring at him the way she is, she would've missed it.
"Where you would be?" Selina's brows pull together in question. Instinctively, she slowly reaches upwards until her hand cups the side of his face. She swipes her thumb gently across his stubbly cheek, and to her delight, Vengeance closes his eyes and leans into her touch.
Instead of answering her question, he asks one of his own.
"Are you staying?" His eyes stay shut, but Selina feels him tense up ever so slightly.
"Are you asking me to?" She tries for playful, but definitely laces an unintentional genuineness into the question that makes her cringe.
Vengeance opens his eyes and she's too chicken to read them, so she studies his boots and forces out a soft chuckle after a beat of silence.
"Yeah, here to stay. I know it's all the rage these days, but the nomadic shit just wasn't for me. I did end up go to Blūdhaven, but it didn't feel right staying still. I kept it moving until…I…found myself back here." Selina shrugs, only telling him a half-truth. "You can take the girl outta Gotham, but-"
His right glove catches her attention, and she abandons her bullshit spiel to lean in closer and get a better look.
"Is that blood?" She questions. There was a rustic brown substance covering his gloves, and upon further inspection, it's also splattered on his chest plate and his mask.
"Not mine," he answers steadily, studying her face.
The way he replies with no hesitation makes her scrunch up her nose to hide a smirk while she rolls her eyes. She won't admit it, but she likes his blunt honesty. She likes that he's unapologetic about the brutality of what he does because he believes in what he's doing. They have that in common.
"'Course not. Didn't think it was," Selina shakes her head with a lighthearted scoff. She stupidly waits for him to elaborate as her eyes graze over his suit. When she's met with nothing but Silence, Selina look up to read his face.
He hasn't moved an inch. He's still just staring at her.
It's like pulling teeth with this guy.
Selina lets out an irritated huff and steps closer until they're practically nose to nose. She stabs a finger into his chest plate and ignores the way it seems to beguile him.
"Listen, V. As much as I love your whole mysterious, barely-says-a-fuckin'-word thing you still have going on, it's been a long ass night. And I haven't seen you in months. Any way you can just say what you're thinking?"
Vengeance clears his throat, shocking Selina with the obvious amusement in his voice when he asks, "Mysterious?"
Selina scowls at him in response, making the Bat have to visibly fight off a smile. It catches her completely off guard because she's never seen him this playful. She almost softens—almost. But damn it, he isn't the only one who can be stubborn.
"I'm sorry," he finally relents. "I just...I'm glad to see you, Selina. It's been..." The Batman sighs in a way that gives Selina a small insight into how his past six months have been.
"You were right. About the blood bath." Vengeance tries again, gesturing with his bloodied gloves. He sounds ridiculously tired and, uncharacteristically, drops his eyes to the ground. His voice is basically a whisper now. "There aren't many people that I trust. And I realized while you were away, that...I can."
Selina has to swallow, that weird feeling she still doesn't understand flooding her chest and abdomen. "You can what?"
Vengeance lifts his eyes from the concrete to Selina's face. "Trust you. I can trust you."
For a significant amount of time, the two of them just look at each other.
Selina hugs herself and chews on her lip in thought as she drops his eyes to study his boots again.
He trusts her.
Out of everyone, he trusts her.
The sentiment makes that dumb ass lump in her throat from earlier return.
'He's Batshit,' Selina thinks wryly, 'how the fuck can he trust me? He doesn't even know me.
And then she glances up to read his face before barking out a laugh in disbelief.
Because even though she has absolutely no idea why, Selina realizes she trusts him too.
And she can't tell if it's stupid or romantic or dangerous or all of the above, but she trusts this masked stranger whose name she doesn't even know. Possibly more than anyone else in her small world…any living person, anyway.
Honoring her sudden urge to dive a little deeper with The Batman, Selina decides to follow his example and open up, too.
"I uh, I actually saw that headline on my Twitter feed. I dunno why, but it made me hop on my bike and come home. It made me wanna see you...made me wanna come watch your back." She steadily holds his gaze to expose her vulnerability. "Made me need to come have your back."
The Batman, per usual, remains as still as stone. But Selina doesn't miss the slight cock of his head before he asks, "Headline?"
Selina nods once. "About you saving those girls."
Vengeance nods in understanding, but seems a bit taken aback. "They ran that title before we actually confirmed it wasn't isolated kidnapping. But it was trafficking. That's where I was tonight, actually. Helping Gordon with interrogation-"
"Interrogation, huh?" Selina interrupts, raising both brows as she hovers a finger over the blood splattered on his suit. The thought of how that might've happened almost has her feeling bad for the stupid son-of-a-bitch dumb enough to not tell Vengeance what he needed to know.
He ignores the jab, seemingly fixated on understanding what she means by "made me wanna come watch your back."
"The trafficking case...made you come home...to watch my back?"
The small and feisty young woman smirks up at the brute force before her. "Yeah?" She tilts her head to the side in a challenge. "What about it, tough guy?"
The Batman mirrors her smirk, and decides to use one of her favorite lines against her. "I can take care of myself."
It makes Selina giggle, and Vengeance's smirk softens into a tender smile she's never seen him wear before. It's very fond, and it makes her melt a little. She knows as soon as she sees it that she wants to see it again. Soon, preferably.
"Maybe so," she allows, her eyes sparkling, "but, um." Selina pushes herself to remain open. For the third time, she inspects his heavy military-grade black boots. The rest of her words come out rushed. "It's personal to me, I guess. I've seen how nasty that shit can get, and you...you did a really good thing, saving those girls."
Vengeance's leather-covered finger gently guides Selina's chin upwards until their eyes meet again. "Personal?", he questions. His voice is reposeful but has an intensity underneath she doesn't miss.
"Yeah," she whispers. She expects him to drop her chin but he doesn't. He firmly holds her eyes hostage, stubbornly waiting for her to elaborate. Selina finds her breath, once again, out of rhythm. Get yourself together! It doesn't take long for her to relent. Asshole.
"Growing up in the system, working the club." Selina manages a shrug. "Let's just say I've been through some shit and seen a lot worse. Missing girls ain't nothing new to me, honey."
Vengeance studies her face meaningfully before glancing down at her lips. It makes her heart skip a beat, but before she can even react, he's already looking back up.
Selina is startled by the abrupt fury and protectiveness undeniable in his eyes as they bore into hers now.
She can't ever remember anyone looking at her like this before. She has no idea how she's suppose to feel about it, but it makes her feel…safe.
And she's completely spooked by that.
Because she doesn't need anybody to make her feel safe. She can take care of herself. Remember?
Before she can even process her defensive response, her body kicks into autopilot and she finds herself stepping away from The Batman and moving towards her bike.
She mounts it and swiftly puts her helmet on. "Anyways, I gotta get goin', V. Those hedge-fund types won't knock off themselves." She throws him a smile, putting all her effort into displaying that playful, sassy demeanor she's known so well for. But it feels wrong. Forced.
Vengeance watches her, his posture rigid, and she kicks her bike into life. "Selina."
Selina pauses the hand that's ready to pull down her face shield to look at him one last time for the night.
"I'm glad you're back." He sounds incredibly sincere, and also like he maybe shares her confusion as to why they both feel this way.
Before she can stop herself, she smiles at him with a great amount of warmth. Then, she slides her shield down and revs her engine. "Come find me again when you're ready to get to work."
And The Batman continues to watch Selina as she takes a page from his book and disappears into the night.
