Chapter 10
Bruce has traded his damaged bat suit for civilian clothes as Alfred drives him to the GUH campus to track down Dr. Henner. He hasn't slept yet since his battle in the early morning hours in The Narrows as he tries to close in on the identity of this bird-man that scours the dead to harvest for his own purposes. Bruce is lost in his thoughts of the past two weeks events when Alfred breaks the silence.
"It would stand to reason, sir, that the Scavenger is employed by Gotham University Hospital."
"The Scavenger?"
"I figured your arch nemesis couldn't go unnamed, and since he isn't clamoring to claim one for himself, I took the liberty."
Bruce shrugs off the achy stiffness setting into his joints and muscles from the grueling battle a few hours before. It doesn't go unnoticed by the dutiful butler.
"Are you quite sure, Master Bruce, that this can't wait until after you've rested?"
"I'm sure Alfred. I need Catherine's help if I'm going to find the carrier source and take down this murderer."
The Rolls Royce town car pulls into the deserted GUH campus as the Thanksgiving morning crispness gives way to a bright sunny sky. Bruce can only hope his hunch about Catherine manically working through the night on her daughter's case is right and she will be found in the lab. Oddly, he realized once in the car with Alfred that he has never seen Catherine entering or leaving her apartment building.
Gotham University Hospital has only a skeleton crew in the main units. Walking through the maze of hallways that lead to the Infectious Disease Research wing, Bruce revels in the silence of the building as it reminds him of the solace he finds in the silent nights upon Gotham rooftops.
Bruce enters the decimated remains of the avian flu research lab, looking for signs of life from anyone looking to escape the early morning holiday experience.
He makes his way through the rear door to a hallway lined with offices, all darkened while their respective owners are away for the day. But he knows Catherine won't be found in an office anyway. She will be in the lab, her natural environment, pushing the limits of the technology at her disposal with analyses and tests.
The makeshift lab is far less sophisticated than its predecessor. The aesthetic streamlining of the set up has been traded for a utilitarian sterility of function. Connector cables sprout in various directions from antiquated machinery, long past their prime. Adapters and couplers bond incompatible components to create a roughhewn network with which to continue the work.
Slumped at a desk is the blonde doctor, wearing a snug exercise suit.
"Catherine?"
She awakes startled by Bruce's voice.
"Oh Bruce, sorry for jumping but I was dreaming. I guess my morning kickboxing class was a little rougher than I thought."
"Kickboxing?" Bruce wonders how she manages to find the time or energy to fit in yet another activity.
"I find a morning class helps channel my energy and concentration to be more productive during the day. Did I oversleep? Is it time for Thanksgiving dinner already?"
"No. I came early. I have something I need you to analyze….if you're not too busy with your own…?
She cuts him off, "No, I would be glad to. What is it?"
Bruce produces the vial of blood from the turkey in the apartment building. He hands it to Dr. Henner.
"I need to know if this blood is infected with the avian flu strain."
Catherine pulls latex gloves from a box nearby and proceeds to test droplets to see if the markers appear. Bruce's cell phone rings; looking at the caller I.D., he recognizes it as Lucius.
"I have to take this call, do you mind?"
"No not at all." Catherine uses this opportunity to tidy her disheveled look into something less embarrassing.
Bruce answers the call and nonchalantly steps out of earshot of Catherine to speak with Lucius. Even so, the pair knows they must choose their words carefully on an unsecured line.
"Lucius, did you get my message from earlier?"
"Yes I did. We'll put the tailors to work right away. I think they have some new ideas they'd like to try. I was surprised when Alfred told me you were available on your cell at this time of day."
"One of my meetings ran late."
"I also have information on the item from the stockroom that you inquired about. There was a second set of them produced."
"What happened to them?"
"They were donated to Gotham University."
"I'm going to need employee records for the morgue staff at GUH."
"I'll have them on your desk in an hour."
Catherine is finishing the tests as Bruce makes his request to Lucius. As the centrifuge spinner ends its cycle, the digital analyzer beeps its answer to the doctor. The results on the screen drain the color instantly from Catherine's face.
"Catherine, I have to drop by my office for some paperwork, but I'll be back…"
Bruce doesn't get the chance to finish his sentence as he turns around to face Catherine. His face meets her foot, sending him tumbling backward to the floor. The effort is all Henner can spare and she collapses as well. The doctor pulls herself up from the floor and limps over to the disoriented billionaire.
"Cath…." She clamps her foot into his throat to keep him down and in that instant, Bruce no longer needs to read the files at his office.
"Isn't the irony driving you crazy? We spent our days helping each other, only to cause quite a bit of trouble for one another at night."
The only option left to Bruce without his utility belt is to press his thumb into her right leg where The Scavenger was bleeding the night before. Henner shrieks in pain and loses her footing, her exhausted body giving out once again.
Bruce staggers to his feet, tensing his muscles to fight past the pain and bruises, to spar once again with this deadly adversary. They have fought each other enough over the past two weeks to know that neither is at full strength, and the playing field is evened without the gadgetry of their suits.
Catherine is wild with rage, partly due to being discovered for who she really is, but also because the vigilante hero of Gotham that has plagued her efforts over the last few weeks has turned out to be a man she genuinely had begun to care about. The betrayal has driven her over the edge and she can only vent the frustration and grief by channeling her focus into defeating Bruce Wayne in this fight and reclaiming her dignity as his arch nemesis and spurned lover.
Her graceful, well-executed kickboxing style has given way to an unbridled, dissociated conglomeration of kicks, punches, scratching and screaming. The onslaught proves effective at first, gouging Bruce's neck and ripping his shirt.
His instinct takes over and he begins to block her flailing arms, allowing him to land an offensive blow to her nose, reeling her back as blood flows from her nostrils. Henner runs into the hallway that leads back to the ruined lab. Bruce follows to catch the murderess before she can encounter other hospital staff.
In doing so, he lands squarely into the trap she has set for him. The clean room protocols given to her by Dr. Snood were disengaged to allow for more chaos and destruction after the explosion. Overriding her own programming, Henner sets the safety measures in effect now, locking down the destroyed lab in quarantine as she escapes through the quickly closing doorway. Bruce is trapped, with Dr. Henner on her way to freedom.