Summary: Successful corporate CEO Selina Kyle leads a secret double life as Catwoman, the shadowy guardian of Gotham City. In the midst of a series of strange robberies and murders, Catwoman must battle not only the Batman, a skilled burglar, but Bruce Wayne, a man with whom she shares a deep, inexplicable connection.
Rating: M for suggestive themes and violence
Disclaimer: Not mine. Not even in an alternate universe.
CATWOMAN: GUARDIAN OF GOTHAM
Prologue
"She is alone," the man said, pronouncing each word with slow deliberation. "She is alone, and has no hope of heaven." The woman raised her head wearily, long tendrils of dark hair obscuring her bruised and battered face.
"Justice…" she rasped, the words catching in the dryness and pain of her throat. She'd thought her larynx was broken, and the knowledge that she was still breathing, still alive, felt like a burden. She was so tired.
"What was that?" the man asked, standing, coming closer to lean next to her ear. "You'll have to speak up, my dear. I was just finishing with your little friend."
Selina Kyle raised her head, the last of her desperate energy consumed by the simple gesture. "Justice…is my great and only hope."
He was angered by that, angered enough to finally allow some emotion to creep into his cold, dead eyes. He sniffed, stepping out of the bright circle of light that had formed the ring of torture and death. "No hope of heaven, even for an angel of vengeance? My, my. What has the world come to?"
"I don't believe in heaven," she mumbled through thick, swollen lips. Selina tasted blood at the back of her throat, and the hard feel of the floor beneath her broken body kept her focused enough to spit out that admission. "But I do believe in hell. I've seen it. You will too, and sooner than you think."
The man's face was cast in shadows, but even in the dim light she could see his sneering reception to her threat. "We all die, my dear. And few of us see heaven." He knelt at her side and pulled her head up roughly by her hair, bringing his lips in close to her ear. "I don't deny I'm responsible for you, but I do detest a mess. You've been most troublesome…but that's all. No real threat. Enjoy the afterlife. Dream of angels."
He brought her head up further, straining her neck and causing a pain in the back of her already abused skull so sharp that Selina cried out despite herself. She saw the floor rushing back and away, and squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for him to dash her brains out against the cold, hard tile. She was alone.
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