Selina stood before the room with her eyes widened. The only sound she could here was the tapping of each drop of blood falling from the ceiling to the puddles in the carpetting. Her unblinking eyes could barely see how this was once her bedroom. She slowly moved away from the red abyss and towards the shattered window.
"Ki. . .kitty." Selina spoke in a terrified voice. The black cat jumped into Selina's arms. She held her cat defensively and continued to move near the window. She turned to find the knight covered in shadow staring from outside the shattered glass. He climbed in through the window and spoke.
"I have reason to believe that he's been here in the past few nights."
Startled at first, she spoke.
"Yea, no kidding. . .I. . .I think I found the victim's blood. . ." Feeling a bit more at ease, Selina released Miss Kitty from her grasp.
"Did you, now?" The shattered glass cracked beneath his feet.
"I don't know how recent it was, but he. . ." Selina paused and sniffed the air. She took a step away from the figure and tried pushed her cat away gently with her foot. The man stepped into the moonlight. Her eyes instantly widened when she saw three deep red lines on the side of his face.
"Do you think he was here a week ago? Last night? Right now?" The man snickered at Selina and took a step near her.
"Personally, I don't think he was here at all. I think you're simply a twisted little girl who is losing herself in a world of madness." He grinned down upon her horrified face. Selina gathered herself and remembered what fear led to the last time she had encountered the imposter. She was sore, and weak from the amount of time she spent recovering, but the anger she carried with her was enough to push her to reveal her whip. She hissed at him as he continued to move near her. She wouldn't let him back her into a corner, she knew that was the first mistake she had made last time. She vigorously cracked her whip near his head, causing him to take a step back. She thrust her body through the air and landed directly in front of his face. She dug her claws through his suit and into his neck. She curled each finger, feeling his flesh tear. She smiled at him as he squinted his eyes in pain. He grabbed her shoulders and threw her body to the cold ground. She rose up instantly, ignoring the intense pain in her back. Selina spoke while trying to catch her breath.
"I'm starting to suspect you don't have much of a social life." She flipped through the air and kicked the heel of her boot to the side of his head. He grunted in pain, but managed to speak.
"And I suspect you're addicted to the pain I always seem to cause you." He threw his fist directly to her forehead. Her vision blurred as she fell to her knees. The man took a step closer towards her.
"Well, doesn't this seem familiar?" The man crushed her right hand with his foot as she groaned in pain and responded.
"Not at all." Selina twisted her body around and thrust her boot into his abdomen. She drew her hand back to her body and held it to her chest, knowing that a bone or two had broken. The man was beginning to seem frustrated. He lunged his body towards hers and pinned her to the ground. He took her limp, broken hand into his and spoke.
"It seems Miss Kitty has lost her claws. . ." He smiled deliriously at her. Selina briefly remembered the nightmare she had experienced so many nights ago as she shook her head and dismissed any fear she may have felt before.
"I have another hand, jack ass." She smiled as she freed her left hand from beneath him and dug her claws through his mask.
"Child's play. . ." The man grasped her neck with his large hand and pushed her against the ground. He threw her arm down to her side and continued clutching her neck. Seeing few options, Selina ravenously dug her teeth into the arm which bound her to the ground. The man instantly released his grasp on her neck. She quickly took the oppurtunity to retract her body into a ball, and release her feet into a powerful kick into his chest. The man fell to the ground and broke into laughter.
"You truly don't understand how to fight with honor, dear Selina. What if I used such cheap tactics on you? Like this. . ." The man took a step to the right and grasped Miss Kitty by her neck.
"You see, this, I don't think is very fair." He tossed the shrieking cat outside the broken window.
"NO!" Selina ran to the window and looked down into the darkness of Gotham. In horror her eyes studied every possible place that the cat could have landed She saw nothing but the faded street lights beneath the fog.
"You bastard. . .I'LL KILL YOU!!!" Selina threw her body onto the laughing man and dug her claws into every piece of untouched flesh on his body. The man began struggling beneath her, but then noticed the whip loosely tied around her waist. He grabbed both ends, and pulled. Selina groaned in pain as the whip tightened around her waist. She tried desperately to free herself from the whip's fury.
Selina was lost in rage and pain, and almost didn't notice the soft purr of Miss Kitty coming from behind her. She quickly turned her head to see Batman holding Miss Kitty in his arms.
"Get away from her." The knight released Miss Kitty and pulled a Batarang from his belt. He held it up in the air and looked down upon the pathetic imposter. There was complete silence. Selina smiled briefly at the sight of Miss Kitty, but then tried to curl her body away from the imposter. She groaned in pain, the amount of abuse her already broken body was taking was beginning to take its toll on her. The man held his grasp on the whip around her waist. Bruce knew there was only one way out of this situation, and talking was definetly not an option anymore. He furiously threw the batarang. It cut through the air and through the tip of the whip. Selina instantly broke free from the whip's hold. She tried to stand, but her attempt had failed. She knew she had lost too much blood to keep this up for much longer. She could see the blood seeping through her costume. The imposter sat up and spoke without fear.
"You're interruption will not change the fact that your lover here is probably bleeding to death as we speak." Selina then felt her work was no where near being finished. She stood up in disgust at the man.
"Bleeding to death? Sorry, Mr. Identity Crisis, but I have no intention of going out like that." The imposter stood up and approached her.
"No? Then what do you call this?" He pressed his hand to her side for a moment, and continued to raise it, revealing blood dripping from his glove. Catwoman looked at him with rage in her eyes.
"I call it a scatch, which doesn't compare to what I'm going to do to you." Catwoman attempted to kick the man in his jaw, but felt the pain that was once only in her abdomen now run through her entire body. She tried to resist backing down, but knew now that she had to give the fight to Bruce. Batman stood in front of Catwoman defensively and spoke.
"I seem to recall bashing your face into a brick wall, are we going to do that again? Or will you come quietly with me to the police?" Batman remained calm. He depended on the treament that Alfred had given Selina to mend her wound far enough to endure this abuse. The two men stood before each other.
"The police? I think not, Gotham needs me. . .and so does she." Batman scoffed at the man, as if he was only as a waste of time. The imposter grew frightened, but refused to show any weakness in front of Catwoman. He knew he was no match for the man standing before him. The man threw his fist into Batman's skull and attempted to push him closer to the window. Batman quickly moved through the air past the man. The imposter grinned and spoke.
"You're quick, old man, but. . ." Batman jabbed the man in his jaw, causing him fall to his knees.
"You talk to much." Bruce turned to Selina finding her in the corner, clutching her old wound. He knew she would heal, but getting her out of this mess and away from the imposter was vital. The imposter stood up. He knew that given the situation, he had very little to lose. He gave the dark knight his best fight.
The imposter used every technique he knew to bring the Batman down. He fought the knight for everything he was feeling for Catwoman, no matter how sick and perverse it may be, he needed her. The imposter was bruised and tired, but felt that the man before him was his natural enemy. He fought through every painful blow he felt shoot through his body. He finally was able to push Batman closer to the broken window. He quickly grabbed a shard of the broken glass and dug it into the knight's jaw. In this brief moment of freedom from Batman's grasp, the imposter approached Catwoman. She stood up defensively and hissed at the imposter while looking over towards Bruce. She suddenly became disgusted with herself thinking that she needed someone to protect her. Batman stood up and wiped the blood gushing from his face. Catwoman prepared herself for another fight with the imposter. She raised her claw in the air but the imposter quickly grasped her hand and pushed her against the wall.
"So fearless. . ." The imposter smiled sweetly at Selina. Her eyes widened as he pressed his lips against her own. The imposter heard a loud crack on the back of his head as his eyes rolled back in pain. He fell to the floor as Batman stood behind him with a large plank of wood in his hand. Batman dropped the piece of wood to the floor and spoke.
"That guy really bothers me. . ." The two of them stood before the pathetic man on the ground in silence. Catwoman smiled at Batman and spoke.
". . .Clearly."