Batman/Bruce Wayne, Batwoman/Kathy Kane, Catwoman/Selina Kyle, and Nightwing/Dick Grayson belong to DC Comics/Time Warner.
I am using them without permission, however I have not and don't expect to make money from this.

Rated PG : language; violence, some mature concepts.

Reviews are appreciated, please take a moment to leave one.

A Woman Scorned

Cat Scratch

Somehow I found time to mentally curse Bruce out while finding the front door unlocked - confirming my knowledge that something was wrong, as if it needed confirmation. When I ran out of nasty words I started over on Batman, as I stepped cautiously inside and stopped to look and listen. It was quiet. Too quiet. Such a cliché; I should be ashamed of myself. The stupid things you think about when you're scared stiff. I padded as silently as I could across the foyer, and paused, wondering where to go.

Then my question was answered as sounds came from above. The thump of heavy feet, a crash. An angry cry, in a woman's voice. Selina. Catwoman. I dashed for the stairs. And reacted barely in time as a dark form sprang out at me from a doorway.

I had an impression of a man dressed in dark clothing, grabbing at me. Reacting on pure instinct, I ducked under his arms and shot a punch into his stomach. With a grunt he doubled up and I skipped back, trying to get a better look. One of Catwoman's men, dressed in the same dark turtleneck and slacks as her gang from the warehouse robbery.

Should have known that where there was one, there would be more. An arm wrapped around my neck from behind, pulling me back against a man's body as a third one came after me, raising a fist. I kicked up and out, knocking the guy in front of me back, and clutched at the arm choking me, clawing as it cut off my breathing. Once again the martial arts training proved itself worth all the money I'd spent on it as I swung an elbow down and back, hearing a yelp as it connected with the ribs of the man holding me. When he didn't let go, I located one of his feet with my heel, brought up my boot, and mercilessly stamped down. This time he screamed, and I was free. A hard side kick slammed him against the wall, taking care of whatever fight he had left.

"Batwoman...?"

I spun around, expecting to find my other opponents attacking again, and snapped a fist at the face attached to the dark body confronting me. He dodged with surprising speed, but I was ready with a kick aimed at his knee. Again he slid away, ducking when I jumped and sent a sweeping kick at his head.

"Hey, hold on! I thought we were on the same side!"

The voice brought me out of attack mode long enough to realize Catwoman's other men were lying on the floor unconscious, and I was doing my best to knock Nightwing's head off. "Sorry," I gasped. "Thought you were one of them."

"Just got here, and found them ganging up on you... Where's Batman?"

"I was about to ask you the same thing." I glanced up, remembering where I had been headed, and why. "Catwoman's upstairs. Come on!"

We reached the top of the stairs and hesitated in the hallway. There were several bedrooms on this floor, and a couple of bathrooms. Bruce's room was at the end of the hall, where we could see dim light coming from the half-opened door. With only a glance at each other, we started for it. Nightwing held out an arm to keep me back, dropped to one knee, and leaned over far enough to see inside. When he didn't say anything, I jumped across the doorway to the other side, and cautiously peered in.

They were so still and silent, for an insane moment I was reminded of a wax museum or a tableau of statues. Alfred was bound and gagged in a chair, arms held behind his back by rope or handcuffs. Catwoman stood beside him, holding a gun pressed to his head. Batman was in front of them, perhaps ten or twelve feet away. The only illumination came from a flashlight lying on a dresser next to her, picking out the outlines of all three in glare and shadow.

"You might as well come on in," Catwoman said, her head turning a fraction towards us. "You're just in time for the entertainment."

"No." Batman's voice was as calm as if he was discussing the weather. "Stay out of here."

"The more the merrier, don't you think?" she said, her voice mocking. "But stay out there if you want. It doesn't make any difference to me."

"What are you doing?" Nightwing asked.

"Don't tell me you haven't figured that out," Catwoman said, an edge of anger in her tone now. "Batman has, haven't you? You know what I want."

"Let Mr. Pennyworth go," Batman said. I was puzzled for a moment until I realized he must mean Alfred, whose last name I had never heard before. "It's me you want to hurt, isn't it? Let him go."

She smiled, an expression that send a chill through me. "What I want..." Her hand moved, lowering the gun and stroking the barrel across Alfred's cheek. "It's Bruce I want... since he's not here, I'll settle for someone he cares about. Like poor Alfred." The pistol lifted to point at his head again.

"It wasn't Alfred's fault. Don't hurt him."

"I know it wouldn't be fair. But life isn't fair. Bruce wasn't fair to me, was he?"

"Maybe not. But this won't make things better."

"Nothing will, I suppose." She raised the gun again, looking at it. I tensed as she suddenly turned it to point at her own head. "I thought it might be better to kill myself - but that wouldn't be a very good revenge, would it? I very much want to destroy something Bruce cares about, and make him live with that loss... but he doesn't care about me, does he?"

"That's not true."

"Or maybe... maybe, if I want to play fair..." With a quick movement, her arm was outstretched, the gun aimed at Batman. "You were behind this. Bruce was just doing you a favor, that's what he said. I should kill you."

"If that's what you want."

I couldn't believe how calm he sounded. My own heart was pounding, and I could see the muscles in Nightwing's arm tighten. I was scared, really terrified. That's why I have no idea why I did what I did next.

"No. That's not what you want." I heard my own voice speaking, and without thinking, almost without realizing it, I was stepping through the doorway, slowly, hands held up. Catwoman's eyes flickered in my direction but she gave no other sign.

"Are you crazy?" Nightwing hissed behind me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him stand and take a step forward into the open, I guess proving himself as stupid as I was being. He grabbed my arm, holding me back when I tried to move forward again.

"Both of you, get back under cover," Batman said evenly, but with an undertone of anger.

I ignored him. "Look, Selina, none of this is what you want," I said.

"How the hell do you know?"

"If you really wanted to kill anyone, you would have done it already. I know you want revenge. You've been hurt, and you're angry. Maybe I don't blame you. But this isn't the way."

"There isn't any other way. Not for me." I could hear the bitterness in her words.

"That's not true. You talked about starting a new life. Doing things the right way this time. That can still happen."

"How? I'm a criminal. I'll always be a criminal. People like Bruce will never forget that. Never forgive."

"Some of them can. Some will. Some won't. The ones who won't - well, the hell with them. You don't need them."

She was looking at me now, but the gun was still aimed straight and steady at Batman's heart. "How do you know what I need?" she asked.

"I don't. But I can guess. You need the same things we all do. A decent life. A chance to be happy." I lowered my voice. "Love. I know Bruce hurt you. But in his way I guess he was trying to help. If he didn't care something about you, he wouldn't have done it."

As the gun wavered, just a bit, Nightwing said from beside me, "She's right. You don't want to make things worse by doing this. You'd only be hurting yourself."

And Batman spoke up again, his voice surprisingly gentle. "Selina, please. Give yourself the chance for a future, for all the things you talked about. It can still happen. Put the gun down."

Her voice was very quiet, and touchingly wistful. "And then what? Give myself up? Pay for my crimes and start over? I would have done it for Bruce." Her eyes focused on Batman. "There was a time when I would have done it for you."

"Then do it. But not for me, and not for Bruce. For yourself."

We all waited. The Catwoman stared at him, still as a statue again, the only movement the slight rise and fall of her chest as she breathed. I held my own breath, wondering whether any of what we had said had gotten through, wishing I could see the thoughts behind that masked face.

"For myself. Not for you." Slowly, she lowered the gun, turned, and put it down next to the flashlight. As I let out a sigh of relief, she raised her hands and pulled off her mask. Selina tossed it aside and held out her wrists. "Go on," she said. "Arrest me."

Batman moved forward as the sound of a police siren drifted to my ears. "I wish it didn't have to be this way," he said softly.

"It doesn't." She smiled, her head tilted, her voice holding an odd hint of seductive teasing. "You could let me go. You could even come with me."

"You know I can't do that. I'd be giving up what I am. Everything that gives my life meaning."

"So I go back to jail, and you go back to your high moral standards," Selina murmured. "Who's to say which of us is really in prison?" They gazed into each other's eyes, obviously no longer aware of us, as Batman snapped the cuffs on her wrists in a gesture that managed to look almost tender.

"Jesus. What's that all about?" I muttered to Nightwing.

He shrugged. "They have a thing for each other."

"But..."

"I know. I don't understand it either. Probably neither do they."

All I wanted when I drove back into the secret rooms under my house was a shower, a quick something to eat, and to crawl into bed as soon as possible. But the night, and the Bat, weren't finished with me yet.

"Hello, Kathy."

I was so startled I almost fell off the motorcycle. Damn that man, he had the most annoying way of sneaking up... "What the hell are you doing here?" I demanded of the masked and cloaked figure that stepped from the shadows.

"We have to talk."

"Shit. You found out who I am, obviously. Is that what you want to talk about?"

"That's part of it." He waited while I got off the 'cycle and then took a few steps closer to face me. "What I said before still goes. Give this up. You're taking too many risks, and not just of getting hurt in a fight. If I found out your identity, so could others. If criminals knew who you are, you'd be in mortal danger."

"Man." I yanked off my now-useless mask and threw it down. "I am so not in the mood for your crap right now. You found out who I am. Big deal. You're the world's greatest detective, supposedly. How did you know, anyway?"

"I know lots of things."

"So I've heard." I glared at him. "The mysterious act won't work. I think you had inside information. Bruce must have told you I knew Selina is the Catwoman. You figured the only way that was possible was if I'm Batwoman."

"Maybe." As he stared at me, I saw the corner of his mouth lift just slightly.

"Mmm." I crossed my arms. "Speaking of Batwoman, I did okay tonight, didn't I? Admit it."

"You did okay, yes. But you need to be better than okay to stay in this game."

"You don't have much room to criticize, considering it was your plan that started this whole thing. If not for you, Bruce and Alfred would never have been in danger in the first place."

"I realized she was robbing places where she and Bruce had gone. I was expecting her to show up at his house. We were prepared."

"Yeah? Tell that to Alfred. He could have been killed."

"He... he wasn't supposed to be there. Both he and Bruce were supposed to be in hiding, but he went back into the house to get something. It was bad timing."

"The best-laid plans, right?"

"Something like that. Look, I admit things went wrong tonight. I'm not perfect. But whatever mistakes I made have nothing to do with why I'm here. I don't think you know what you're getting yourself into." His voice softened. "I'm saying all of this for your sake. I know you think I'm an arrogant jerk. I guess I acted like one, that first time. But I'm concerned about you. You don't have experience. You probably don't have the right kind of training."

"I can learn."

"I spent years preparing for this."

"What makes you think I didn't?"

"I have a good reason to do it, and so does Nightwing. Something... that won't let us not do it."

"My reasons may be different. But I need to do this, too. I need to do something important... to have a reason to be in this world, I guess..." I shrugged. "Maybe we're more alike than you think."

"I doubt that." But his lips curved upwards more noticeably this time.

I held his eyes for a moment, my hostility fading a little - well, a lot. He wasn't so bad when he was acting like a human being. Maybe he really was concerned about me... Maybe my hero-worship over the years hadn't been so misplaced after all. It was a nice feeling. I smiled, suddenly finding myself wondering what he looked like under that mask.

"Why were you there tonight?" he asked. "How did you know Catwoman would show up now?"

"Just like you, I realized she was robbing all the same places she had gone with Bruce, one per night. Last night was the Wallingford Theatre. She only saw him one more time, at his house, the next night."

"Right." Only a word, but I imagined I heard a trace of respect in it.

I moved a few steps away and began to take my gloves off. "Why did you do it, anyway?"

"Do what?"

"Come up with this crazy plan to reform Selina."

"Seemed like a good idea at the time."

"That's hard to imagine."

"Like I said, I'm not perfect." His voice was surprisingly soft, and something had crept into it - a tone that seemed almost familiar. I frowned, puzzled, as he went on. "It was a bad decision, I admit. It was... a weakness..." He seemed to shake himself out of his mood. "But it's over now. And maybe in a way, it worked. Selina gave herself up. She really seems to want to start over."

"It was cruel. You know that."

"Yes, I know. I'm only human. Not immune to making mistakes."

I smiled. "Then maybe you've made one about me. Give me a chance. That's all I ask."

He watched as I dropped the gloves onto a chair. Then suddenly he was close, only a step away as I turned back, looming over me... but this time there was something in his eyes, something warm, that made my heart flutter in a disgustingly feminine way as he raised a gloved hand to lightly graze my cheek with the tips of his fingers. "It's your decision, Kathy," he murmured. "But think about it. Think hard. At the very least, don't take foolish chances like you did tonight. I don't want you to get hurt."

He was gone only seconds later, seeming to leave some faint echo of his presence behind. I shook my head and smiled ruefully at my own reactions. Little girl... But it was true in a sense; that hero-worshipping little girl was still here inside me, thrilled at having come face to face with the great Batman... and oddly pleased at having found him to be only a man, after all.

TBC...