Hi guys! First up - so sorry for this long delay again. Life has been super busy. Initially I had planned this chapter to be much longer, but seeing how it's already been so long since my last update I decided to make it shorter and put it up now.
Also - apologies already for my horrible French. :-/

The good news is that I have already written a bunch for the next chapter so hopefully my next update won't take a thousand years.
I can't say often enough how awesome it is to ready read your reviews! So thank you for the reviews, follows and likes.
I hope you enjoy the next chapter.


With the help of Fox's special mixtures, I was healing faster than I had expected.
My leg was fine most of the time. Except if I got a direct hit on the wound.

How did I know? I tried it myself to see what my weakness was. It dropped me to the ground immediately.

Bruce and I took a rental car to Paris, fake passports and all.
He wore a baseball cap the entire time and I wore sunglasses whenever appropriate.

It was a long drive from Italy to Paris.

"So what's my fake identity?" I asked as we were driving.
"Abby Wilkenson. I'm John Parker. We're on our honeymoon so your married name is not reflected on the passport yet."
"Who says I'm changing my name? Maybe I like Wilkenson?" I asked with a smile.
He gave me a frustrated look as he continued. "We live in Connecticut. You're a real estate broker, I'm in life insurance. We met through a friend. His name is Eric. He's my college friend but you showed him a house."
"Wow. You went into a lot of detail."
"You need to be prepared. If we make small talk with anyone and they ask us how we met…"
"Understood. Eric. Friend. Got it. So how did you propose?"

He bit his lips together before he answered, his eyes still focused on the road but he looked more emotional. "It was on Christmas. We were at a cabin in the mountains. Just the two of us."
He was silent after that.

For a second, that version of a different reality flashed before my eyes. An image of him in a thick sweater getting on one knee, asking me to marry him.

What if we were Abby and John. These regular people with regular lives. Not damaged. With regular jobs.

I was looking at him as he was driving, studying every wrinkle on his face. Every mark his life had left on him. But it wasn't the wrinkles, or even the scars all over his body, that showed truly the pain he had gone through. It was visible in his eyes.

It would be a good moment to finally apologize to him. But I didn't want to start whatever emotional conversation would follow that. Not right before we got into another dangerous adventure.

"Where do you think he is?" I asked and Bruce looked at me.
"Medved?"
"No." My worried expression was enough for him to know, I was talking about the Joker.
His expression grew darker. "I don't know."
"Aren't you worried? Worried about him coming back?"
He nodded. "I am. But for now, he thinks I'm dead and that's a good thing."

I agreed. The Joker had been obsessed with Batman. Nothing the Joker ever did made sense or was following logic.
But he did evolve around Batman - because he was so fascinated that there was someone out there who would go to such great lengths to protect others.

"It's strange." I said. "All this time with Bane…I knew that he would eventually kill me. I served a purpose and once that purpose was over, I would be dead." Bruce looked tormented by my words.
"The Joker…I knew he'd never kill me." I continued. "But, I'm a thousand times more terrified of him than I ever was of Bane."

Bruce took a deep breath. "It's because the Joker has no rules. He might not kill you but he will burn your world to the ground."

A mental picture of Jacob flashed before my eyes, a stinging reminder of old wounds left by the Joker.

"How is Sam?" He asked after a moment of silence.
"Um…she's good." I responded.
He looked at me, knowing I was hiding something.
"She may know about you." I said, looking apologetic. "That I'm alive?"
I nodded. "And the other part too. I'm sorry."
He simply nodded. "I trust her." He took the news much better than I had thought he would.

"Have you talked to her lately?" He asked.
"I'm sensing that this is more about me than Sam."
He smiled. "You got me."
"Ok, ok, ok." I sighed. "I had shut Sam out. But she found me in London and we are talking again. Are you happy now?"
He smiled again.

We drove for a while in silence. He was probably thinking about the task at hand, in true Bruce fashion.
All questions I had were too stupid to ask.
What did it feel like to kiss Poison Ivy and that Italian girl? Were you into it? Do you still see a future for us? Do I?

I was staring out the window, seeing the trees race by us in a blur.
Abby and John - they had their happily ever after. Could Bruce and Cat?


We arrived at the hotel. We weren't planning on spending much time in Paris.
I'm sure he had a plan on how we could get information from Medved's son. I had one as well and I knew he wouldn't like it.

"Honestly I think you shouldn't put too much stress on your leg." Bruce said.
"Honestly I'm still coming." I said.
He sighed. "Ok here is the plan…"
"Actually I have a better plan." He looked surprised and already annoyed, crossing his arms in front of him.
"I'm going in alone because they're already looking for you." I said. "All of his men will look for Bruce Wayne's face. But nobody cares about me. So I will go in on my own and then I will get to Medved's son and distract him so you can get to their computers."

"I have to admit, that's not a bad plan." He said.
"Really? I was already ready to defend my plan."
He smiled. "Not necessary this time."
"Ok then. I'll take a shower and then we go."
I went to the bathroom, taking a quick shower after the long drive, visualizing how I would approach Medved's son once I saw him.

I got out of the shower, dried off and got changed into a formfitting red dress. I was about to get out of the bathroom when I realized that the door was locked.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" I said under my breath.

He didn't like the plan. Because this had been his plan all along. He didn't want me in harms way so he locked me into the bathroom.

Angrily I tried to open the door without success. I banged my hand against the door, furious at Bruce.

I took a deep breath. Ok, think. There's always a way out.

I used a hair pin and was able to open the door. "Haha!" I proclaimed in triumph, but my enthusiasm was cut short when I realized that the door still didn't open. He must have put a piece of furniture in front of it. And whatever it was, it was heavy.

I tried to push as hard as I could, leaning my whole body against it, but nothing happened.

At this point I was furious. When I looked up, I saw an air vent. It was worth a shot.

One foot on the sink, the other on a cupboard, I climbed up and removed the vent.
It was big enough to fit me - barely. "This is the dumbest thing I've ever done." I said to myself as I made my way through the vent.

I tried not to get claustrophobic, inching slowly along. Finally I made it to the end, opening the vent and crawling out.
Turns out I was in the laundry room.

Luckily this door wasn't locked so I could walk back out. I went back to the counter, told them I had locked myself out and got a new key.

Finally I got ready, put on shoes and grabbed my wallet. There was no stopping me now.


I walked into the club, my strategy in place. I got past the tough security with little problem. The red dress worked.

Even if Bruce had a different plan, I still wanted to throw as much attention on me and away from him as possible. And - I had my own goals what I wanted to learn tonight about Medved's son.

It took a while in the dark, loud club to find Medved's son but I eventually did. He was in a separate section of the club, sitting on a white couch.
I looked at the bar and spotted a female bartender. As she walked to the bathroom, I followed her.

"Sorry girl." I said as I knocked her out.

I quickly shoved her unconscious body in a closet and grabbed her clothes, changing into the black bartender uniform.

I walked to the area where Medved was, pretending to take people's drink order.
Suddenly he waved me over.
Only now I realized that my lack of speaking French might be a big problem in my plan.

"Qui es-tu, jolie?" He asked. "Je ne t'ai jamais vu auparavant."
("Who are you, pretty? I've never seen you before.")
I only understood so much of what he asked me, my school French not holding up to the task of pretending to know the language.
"I'm the new girl." I said.
"You don't speak French?" He asked confused.
"Je parle francais." I responded. One of the few sentences I remembered. "But, this club has people from around the world so I was hired to be able to speak with customers in English."
"You American?"
I nodded.
He waved me to sit next to him.

"I am on the clock." I said.
"Yes, working for me." He laughed.
I sat next to him.
"Marco." He called over a man in a black suit. He looked like the manager.

Oh crap!
He's going to recognize that I don't actually work here.

Marco looked at me and my uniform. "Monsieur…" he started, but Medved interrupted him.
"Enfin, vous avez fait un bon choix en embauchant quelqu'un." (Finally you made a good choice hiring someone.) Medved said, placing an arm around me.
Good choice. That's all I understood but it's all I needed to understand.

I smiled a forced smile as Marco stared at me.

"Is today your first day?" He asked me.
"It is." Marco filled in, still looking at me angrily.
"I'll give you a tour." He said as he got up, pulling me too closely too him as we started walking.

I was hoping my plan would work but I had not put into consideration how much of a slime bag Medved was. Like father like son.

He walked me into the backstage area. "This is VIP area." He said with a thick Russian accent, a smile on his face.
"Where's your actual VIP area?"
"This is it."
I shook my head. "A guy like you, no way he shares the VIP area with others."
He smiled at me.
"I think we should go somewhere more quiet, more VIP." I said with a smile.
"You read my mind."

He walked through a door, down a hallway, swiped a key card and we entered a staircase.
Already this looked very different than the club. The security guys were not from the club. They were Medved's. Big guys in expensive suits, guarding every exit.

We walked up the staircase, he swiped his key card again, and then we entered an elevator. Using his keycard once more the doors of the elevator closed. There were no buttons. Penthouse - I concluded.

The elevator door's opened straight into his penthouse.

I played the girl, who is impressed by the show of wealth, for a little bit as we walked inside. In reality I took a mental check of cameras, guards or anything like that. But I didn't see any.

"This is all yours?" I asked.
"Yes." He said as he sat down. "Now take off your clothes."
"Um…" I pretended to be shy. "Could you help me with that?"

He got up and before he could touch me I kicked him in the groin, he buckled over and then I brought my knee to his throat, knocking the wind out of him. He fell to the floor. He was out cold but I knew I had raised enough suspicion that I couldn't spend forever in here.

Not even sure what I was looking for, I made my way to what looked like his office. I turned on his computer which was of course password protected. I plugged in a USB stick, which Fox had given me. It was testing out millions of passwords until it unlocked the computer.

I clicked through different folders but couldn't really find anything useful. That's why had brought the flash drive Fox had given me a while back. It would scan and copy the entire content of the computer onto the flash drive in minutes, converting it into a small enough file to fit on the small USB stick.

As I was waiting for the download to finish, I quickly got changed into my red dress again, which I had been wearing under the uniform.

I was hoping Bruce's cover had not been compromised. At least I had been keeping Medved's son pre-occupied.

I checked the screens of security footage for security guards outside. There were a few in the hallway. I would just have to walk past them and then I would be good.

I grabbed the flash drive and made my way out. Quickly walking past the guards in the hallway, hoping they wouldn't stop me.

They didn't.

I made my way out of the stairwell, back into the main hallway of the club. That's when I heard loud noises and then a security guy stumbled out of a door and fell to the ground. Bruce walked out, brushing his suit like he was worried it could have gotten dirty.

Then he spotted me.

"What are you doing here?" He asked confused.
I crossed my arms in front of my body. "What? You think I'll let you have all the fun?"

In that moment we heard steps and then saw about 20 of Medved's men surround us. 15 or so on Bruce's side, 5 on mine.
I walked backwards, closer to Bruce until our backs touched. "Looks like this is about to get interesting." I said.
"This isn't a game." He said.

A security guy walked towards me. "I'm not here to hurt a woman." He said.
"Good." I said as I kicked him in the groin and then punched him in the face. "That's a noble thing to do."

Seeing what I was capable of, two other guys came towards me, one of them grabbing me by my arm, the other pulling a gun. I knocked the gun out of the hand of the guy, and then freed myself from the other guy's grip, before knocking him out

"If it isn't a game…why is it so much fun?" I asked Bruce with a smile.

One of the security guys came up to Bruce. Big mistake. He underestimated the pretty boy in a fancy tux. Most people did.
Bruce grabbed his arm and dislocated his shoulder.

We worked together effortlessly, fighting off every possible attack, until all 20 of them were on the floor.

Quickly we walked out of the club through the backdoor. "Did you get something good?" I asked as we walked quickly down the alley.
He nodded. "Not sure yet how good it is but I got something. You?"
"Same."
We heard the door open and several men walk out. Bruce suddenly pressed me against a wall, pulling my legs around his midsection and kissed me feverishly.

For a second I was confused but then I understood - he was trying to throw off the security guards who were now looking for us.

"On dirait qu'il en prend un peu ce soir." One of them said. (Looks like he's getting some tonight.)
"Idiot! Se concentrer sur les trouver." Another said.
(Idiot! Focus on finding them.)

I listened to the steps of the men, which slowly disappeared.

Bruce broke the kiss and we looked at each other for a second. Then he let me down again and we continued to walk down the alley. Neither one of us saying a word.

We were quietly walking down a street when I suddenly saw two of Medved's men.

"Bruce!" I pointed in the direction of the two tall men.
He didn't respond and pulled me into another building. This looked more like a fancy bar. Some people were slow-dancing to the music.
"We should be safe in here for now." He said and then took my hand and walked me onto the dance floor.

He pulled me towards him, one hand around my hip the other holding my hand.
He didn't say anything as we were slowly moving to the song. "What are you doing?" I asked after a few seconds.
"I might be out of practice, but I was hoping this resembles dancing." He said with a smile.
I sighed.
"It's just a dance, Cat."
"It's never just a dance. Not with us."
He looked surprised by my candor.
"I guess not." He responded quietly, looking at me closely.

It was one of those moments were I got lost in his eyes. I moved closer to him, placing my face next to his neck.

For a moment the world seemed right again.


We got back to the hotel room late.
Bruce immediately sat down at the computer.

"What did you get?" He asked me.
I pulled out the flash drive and handed it to him.
"What's on here?" He asked.
"I didn't have time to really look at it. But it's the entire content from his personal computer."

He looked impressed but didn't say anything.

"You can say it." I said.
"Say what?"
"That you were wrong."
"Wrong?" He asked. "About what?"
"About thinking I'm not helpful and locking me up in the bathroom."
"I never said I didn't think you were helpful. I wasn't wrong. I would do it all over again if I had to." He said, focused on ingesting the information from the flash drive.

"Not wrong?" I grew frustrated. "What the hell is your problem?"
He sighed. "I'm simply worried about you."
"Well, then you're wrong about that too. I can hold my own."
He sighed again in frustration. "I know you can. But one wrong step and this ends deadly."
"I know."
"This isn't a game, Cat."
"So you keep saying. What did you get?"
"I copied over the security footage of the club and saw already some of Medved's higher ups. All I need is enough evidence to lock him up. I also took pictures of drug sales. Between that and the footage, that should be enough for French police to put him behind bars."
"That's one way to get to Medved."
He nodded. "We'll analyze what's on Medved's computer another night. We need to get out of Paris as soon as possible." He said, closing the computer.
"And here I thought we could do some sight-seeing." I said sarcastically. "I'll get changed and then we can go."


We had left Paris and made our way to London where we would meet Alfred.
Fake passports in hand, we took the train. We used the 2 hour ride, much of which was underground, to analyze the data we had gotten from Medved.

"It's a lot of stuff." I said to Bruce. "It's going to take a while to go through it all. Who knows what's even valuable."

I noticed he looked at me closely.
"What?" I asked.
"Nothing."
"I see you're thinking about something. Spill the beans."
"It's nothing."
"Come on…" I said, getting frustrated.
"Do you still have feelings for me?" He asked and the question took me by surprise. I didn't answer for a while, biting my lips together.
Out of reflex, I was about to say 'no', but that would be a lie. And then I remembered Daniel who told me to be honest again with those close to me.

Why was it so hard for me to tell Bruce how I felt about him? Just tell him that you still love him.

"Forget I asked." Bruce said, as he took the laptop from me, looking at the data.

I wanted to say something else but the words were stuck in my throat.


We arrived in the apartment on London's east side.

Bruce knocked and Alfred opened the door.

"Welcome to London." Alfred said. "Thanks Al." Bruce said as he walked in.
"Lucious is in the living room." Alfred said.
"Lucious is here?" Bruce asked.

"I sure am." Fox said. "I thought you needed some improvements to your gear."
We walked into the living room and I saw what looked like my costume but only way more bad ass.

"Wow!" I said.
"I worked on this while you were away, just in case." Fox said. "Let me show you what it does. On your arm is a screen that only turns on when you put your hands to it. It reads your fingerprint through the newly designed gloves. The computer inside your new costume is connected to the bat computer, meaning you will be able to do almost everything you can do at the bat computer on the go. Your gloves are now retrofitted with scanning devices. Activate them through the computer with one click and you can scan for several things like radioactive substances, bodily fluids and much more."
"Why do I only see one suit?" Bruce asked.
Fox shrugged. "I thought you were dead."
"He has a point there." I said with a grin, looking at Bruce.

Our first call was to the French police, but we knew we couldn't just trust anyone with this information.
"I know who we can give this to." I said. "Daniel."
Bruce didn't look thrilled.
"Think about him what you want," I said. "He's trustworthy. He'll know what to do."
He sighed. "Fine."

I nodded and made the call.

"Hey Goodwyn." I said.
"Hunter?" He asked confused, sounding sleepy.
"Sorry if I woke you up. I have some pretty goof stuff for you."
"What kind of good stuff."
"I'd rather show you in person. Or someone you trust."
"Alright, where are you?"
"London. You?"
"Same here. Send me the address and I'll be there asap."


"It's just like old times." I said with a grin as Daniel showed up.
"Don't get sentimental on me, Hunter." He said as he walked in.

Bruce was standing in the living room, his arms crossed in front of his body.

"Mr. Wayne." Daniel said, nodding at Bruce, who was just standing there silently.
"So what are we looking at?" Daniel asked.
"Enough information to put Medved's son out of business."
"Medved's son?" He asked confused.
"We found his son in Paris, running a nightclub." Bruce said, with a tone that suggested Interpol and Mi6 should have been able to do the same.
"And you have proof?" Daniel asked.
"Oh yes." I said, handing him a flash drive. "You guys need to act fast. They know we're on to them. Medved is probably already trying to escape."
"We'll get him, don't worry." He said as he picked up his phone. "We have a situation in Paris." He said, walking outside of the room.

Bruce still looked at him with a disapproving look.

I walked towards him. "Try to be nice." I said quietly.
"This is me being nice."
I rolled my eyes at him.

"They're on it." Daniel said as he hung up the phone. "I have to go and get them the information as soon as possible. I'm trusting you here, this flash drive better not be a dud."
"Oh don't worry. It's all the fireworks you could hope for."
"Alright, I'd better be going."
"I'll walk you out." I said.

I opened the door. "Did you see her?" I asked, referring to Anna.
"Yeah." He said, pressing his lips together. "It went as well as expected, I guess. Turns out, when people pretend to be dead and you find them, they're not too happy about that."
"I'm sorry."
He shook his head. "Don't be. I hope seeing Wayne here means you stopped being stupid."
I just looked to the ground.
"Oh for God's sake, Hunter. You still haven't apologized to him?"
I didn't say anything.
"Tell me you're not still putting that poor man through your endless back and forth."
I bit my lip, my eyes still facing the ground.
"Enough already with the torture." He said. "For both of you."
My eyes met his and he just nodded at me. "You've suffered enough for one lifetime, don't you think?" He sighed. "Take good care of yourself."
"Thanks, you do the same." With that he left.


We had run all of the information that we had obtained, through the bat computer.

It was so late when we finally went to bed, I wasn't even sure what time it was anymore. The sun must be about to come up.

"I will take the couch." Bruce said as he walked up to me, freshly showered, wearing a white t-shirt and black boxers.
"Thanks." I said.
"Of course."

We stood there for a moment before I walked up to him and kissed him. Long enough for it to count, short enough so he wouldn't get the idea anything else was about to happen.
He pulled me towards him, inhaling softly as our lips touched.

I broke the kiss.

"Good night." I said.
"Good night." He said with a soft smile.

I went to my room and closed the door.


Daniel informed me that they had closed down the nightclub and arrested several of Medved Jr.'s guys, seized all assets, but Medved Jr. himself was gone.

I wasn't surprised. Now it was time for us to find him and deliver him to the authorities.

"The question is just, how can we find him?" I asked.
"You might want to take a look at this." Fox said, pulling up some information on the computer. "This is part of what we found on Medved's computer."
"Am I supposed to know what this means?" Bruce asked, looking at the code on the screen.
"Not at all." Fox said. "Most people hook up their phones to their computers, synching them. Through the synching process, the phone leaves a trace on the computer."
"And this gives us access to information on his phone?" Bruce asked.
"Better. It gives us access to his phone." Fox said.
"You can trace his phone?" I asked.
"Yes." He said as he pressed another button on the computer. "He is currently in Luxembourg."

"He left France in a hurry." Bruce said. "Now he's going to try to get out of Europe as soon as possible and head to Russia. Where is the nearest private airport near his current location?"
"Luxembourg-Findel Airport."
"Then that's where we're going." I said.


We were on the way to the airport to take our private jet to Luxembourg.
"It feels just like old times." Alfred said, enjoying driving on the other side of the road again.

Bruce looked deep in thought.

"You wanna talk about it?" I asked.
He looked at me. "Talk about what?"
I sighed. "I know you well enough by now. I know what you're thinking about."
"Is that so?"
"Yes. And I understand. Every time you bring him back, it chips away at a possibility of a life beyond the cape and cowl."
He didn't respond.
"Batman died that day, yet here you are, putting the mask back on."
"Every time I'm doing that, I'm risking people finding out." He said.
"You're good enough at what you do. Nobody has to know he's back. I don't think that's what you're worried about."
"Then what am I worried about?"
"That you can't stop being the Batman. Even if you wanted to."

He just looked at me, I wasn't sure if he was contemplating what I said, or contemplating how he could tell me to go to hell.

"Alright, if you seem to have all the answers, then let me ask you something."
"Sure."
"Once this job is done and over with, where do we go from here?" He asked and the bluntness of the question took me by surprise.

I took a big sip of water, to delay an answer for a few more seconds.

But he kept pushing. "Is there a future for us?"

Immediately my emotions were back to a whirlwind. "Why can't we just take it day by day?" I asked.

"We are and I don't want to put any pressure on you. I just want to know where we are at."
"We are at…friends with benefits."
He sighed and shook his head. "Cat, that's just ridiculous. I know this means more to you than that."
"I think you want to think that it does."

I wasn't sure why I couldn't be open about my feelings for him. Something in me was driving me to do anything possible to avoid commitment.

"I don't believe you." He said.
"I can't give you what you want."
"What do I want?" He asked.
"Us. Back together."
"So you're ruling out a relationship. This, what we have now, is as far as you're going?"
"Look, if you have to ask me, then today that is my answer."
He looked at me carefully and leaned back. "I still don't buy it."

Maybe I wasn't as convincing at lying?

"If that's how you really feel, I need to hear you say it." He said.
"Say what?"
"That you don't have any feelings for me and this is just sex for you."
I laughed. "Bruce…"
"Seriously. If that's how you feel, say it."
I took a deep breath. "Fine…" Saying those words seemed harder than I thought it would. "I don't have any feelings..."

"We're here." Alfred said.


The flight seemed long since we barely spoke. Bruce was staring out the window in thought.

He didn't ask me to say it again but our conversation from before still hung in the air.

We touched down in Luxembourg and both got changed.

I couldn't remember the last time we both got changed at the same time. Maybe we never had.

Piece by piece, we put our suits together, each time slowly transforming.
Where we transforming into different characters? Or into who we truly were?

He looked at me carefully as I was putting on my top.
"What does it mean for you?" He asked. "Becoming the Viper."
"I'm not sure I know. It started with it being just a protection of my identity. Something so Bane wouldn't know it's me. But since then, it has become so much more. Like a second skin. Sometimes I feel like I'm suffocating as Cat and then, when I put on the suit, it's like I can breathe freely again."

He looked at me concerned. I knew this wasn't healthy. I was well aware that the masked personality was slowly blending with mine. Soon there wouldn't be a distinction anymore between Cat and Viper.

"Don't get lost in it." He said.
"Is that a warning? Or are you speaking from experience."
He looked at me long and hard before he answered. "Both." He said as he grabbed the cowl and transformed into the Batman.

I put on my mask and we were ready to go.

The pilot had quickly parked at the end of the runway to let us out, without anyone seeing us. We were not on the flight manuscript. Just Alfred.

In the shadows we made our way to Medved's plane and then waited for him to arrive.

"He's on his way." Fox told us over our headsets. Fifteen minutes later a caravan of cars rolled up on the tarmac. Medved wasn't taking any chances. He had several of his goons with him as well as security personnel.

"Showtime." I said and Bruce nodded.

Bruce walked out of his hiding spot and towards them.

"What the… is that the fucking Batman?" One of them asked.

He didn't answer.

Several guys pulled out their guns but then dropped them once the batarangs hit their hands.

Three guys were walking up to him quickly. He was the perfect distraction.
He fought off the first one with ease. The second one pulled a gun on him and he grabbed his arm and broke it.

While Bruce was distracting them, I made my way to Medved. I was quickly running behind the car and then slipped in between him and his men.

I knocked the first one out, then another one.

I grabbed Medved, pulling him towards me, a batarang at his neck.

"Shhh. Don't make a sound." I said.
"You're dead."
"Funny, I think you're in a worse predicament my friend." "You're wrong."

Suddenly I noticed what looked like Medved's personal bodyguard. He was massive. I was estimating 6ft 9 and around 400 pounds. His muscles seemed to have muscles.

I knew one wrong step, and he would crush me.

"Don't come closer. I will kill him." "I don't think you will. But I will kill you."

He kind of called my bluff.

I pushed Medved towards him, sliding across the ground and stabbing muscle boy in the leg.

He screamed in pain. I got up kicked him in the knee, which buckled and he fell to the ground. I kicked him hard in the face, blood spouting from his nose.
I followed it up with another kick but he grabbed my leg and I fell to the ground.

Shit!

He was about to punch me when I rolled to the other side and jumped up again.

That was close. No more mistakes, Cat!

He pulled out the batarang from his leg and grabbed it like a weapon. He came up to me, trying to stab me, but he was much slower than me so I was able to escape his attempts each time. I saw Medved making his way to the plane, Bruce still fighting about 10 guys at once.

Once Medved was inside that plane he would be gone.

I had to act faster. I threw an uppercut which worked but showed little effect on him. He grinned at me, his teeth blood stained, and grabbed me. I broke myself free by throwing my elbow on his arm.
But this time he had grabbed me quickly again and threw me with full force against the car.

My body slammed into the metal, bending the car door. I was just getting my bearings again when he grabbed me, holding me over his head and throwing me to the ground.

I felt dizzy. As I looked up I could see Medved walking up the stairs to the plane.

I grabbed a new toy from Fox off my belt. It was a miniature grapple gun. I aimed it at the staircase and fired it. As my body was dragging along the asphalt at high speed, I realized I hadn't thought it through.

I got to the staircase and grabbed Medved.

"Don't leave yet." I said as I kicked him in the stomach and he bent forward. "The best is yet to come." I aimed the grapple gun at the rooftop of the airport building and we were flying seconds later.

Once we landed I put him in handcuffs. From there I watched if Bruce needed my help. I saw him fight muscle boy. Bruce took some beatings but before long he dislocated the guys arm and then punched him again until he fell to the ground like a rock.


"Are you alright?" Bruce asked me.
"Just dandy." I said.

Truth was, I had made two big mistakes and they nearly cost me a lot. I was angry at myself.

"You deliver him to the authorities." Bruce said in a raspy voice.

It made sense. He wanted to stay in the shadows. Draw as little attention to himself as possible.

I called Daniel and he told me to meet his Interpol guys.

Bruce and I made my way to the meeting point, which was just around the corner.

Then I delivered Medved to the Interpol agents while Bruce was hiding in the shadows.


We were standing on a rooftop of one of the buildings, overlooking the city.
Both still out of breath, the adrenaline pumping through my veins.

The darkness of the night surrounding us.

I looked at him, almost waiting for approval. I knew I wouldn't get any. Not for this. So I did it anyway. I swiftly closed the distance between us and kissed him, bringing my arms around his neck. His muscles protected by kevlar.

He responded to the kiss with fury, pulling me closer against him.

Usually it's because I want him. Tonight I think it's because I need him.

Our tongues met in a heated kiss as I held on to him.
I knew what would follow next.

Every time he protests. Tries to stop me. But eventually he gives in.

Tonight was not made any easier by the fact that I couldn't unlock his suit. He had to do it with his thumbprint. Another obstacle.
As our kiss intensified and the kevlar from his mask pushed itself deeper into my skin, I took a step back.
He looked at me carefully.
I can't undress him, but I can undress myself.

I started to open the zipper of my suit.

He grabbed my hand and stopped me immediately, holding my wrist tightly.
"Not here." He said, his teeth biting together, his voice gravely.
"Don't worry." I said in a seductive tone, leaning in and whispering in his ear. "You can leave the mask on."

He didn't respond but simply took several steps back, almost disappearing into the darkness.

"Don't make me hang out here all by myself, big guy." I said.

His eyes were like daggers, staring at me angrily.

He always fights it and then eventually gives in. But he's always angry.

Slowly I walked up to him again.
"Are we playing cat and mouse?" I asked with a smile as I leaned against him.
"You know you want it." I whispered next to his ear.

He pushed me away and I grabbed his arm. "Don't test me." He said with carefully guarded anger.
"Why? What are you going to do to me?" I asked with a smile.

He started to walk away.

"How about you show me what you've got?" I asked as I ran towards him.
He turned around and blocked my first punch. I, of course, didn't plan on hurting him, this was more of a play fight.
"Stop this." He said angrily.
"Or what?" I said as I broke his grip and threw another punch, which he blocked as well.

I attempted to kick him in his side, and his next move was so fast, I didn't even know how I ended up on the floor. He had guided my fall, now leaning directly above me, pinning my hands to the floor.

"Oh come on." I said with a smile. "Don't go easy on me."
He just looked angrily at me before he let me go and slowly got up.

I took the opportunity to overpower him, rolling us over, now I was sitting on top of him.

I sat up straight, already prepared for him to kick me off and walk away when he suddenly grabbed the zipper and opened my costume, discarding my armor.

I felt my heartbeat quicken instantly. My breath hiking up.

But as his hands moved over my bare skin, he stopped, sat up and moved me off his lap.

"Trust me, you don't want this." He said in a forceful, gravely voice. It sounded like a warning.

"Try me." I said.

Without any further warning he grabbed me by my wrist, turned me around, pinning my arm behind my back like a police officer would do with a suspect, pressing me to the ground.

My arm still twisted behind my back, he pulled down the bottom of my costume. I wasn't fully prepared for what happened next. He entered me with such force, I felt all my muscles tense up. He thrust himself deep into me. It wasn't painful but it was right on the edge.

He pressed me further to the ground with his hand. His movements not slowing down or decreasing in ferocity.
I wasn't sure if he knew how far to go to not hurt me or if I was just lucky that it worked out that way. It seemed like I was not having sex with Bruce Wayne. This was someone else. This was nothing like we've had together before.

He pulled my hair hard, snapping my neck back as he continued with his movements.

But the edge of pain suddenly turned pleasurable. I didn't know what that said about me. I could feel the cold kevlar against my bare skin. There I was - all at his mercy - and he was not in the least holding back. Something about that was exhilarating. That's when I felt my body give in, collapsing against him.
He pushed me down even harder, thrusting himself even deeper - which I hadn't thought was possible, before, he too, went over the edge.

I was catching my breath as he let go off my arm. It felt good to get it back into a normal position. I got up and got dressed.

When I turned around he was gone.


Alfred greeted me back at the plane.
"Where is Bruce?"
"Master Wayne said he was going to stay a night in Luxembourg and would meet you tomorrow in London."

Had I gone too far this time? Had I pushed him away too much?

"Did he say why?"
"He did not, Miss."
I nodded.

"May I say something?" He asked.
"Of course."
"The presumption is that we will always do what feels best for us, right? But you see, that presumption changes once we think we're not deserving of good things in our life anymore. Instead of accepting good things in our life we are looking for ways to push happiness away."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Because I see you do exactly that with Master Wayne. You think you can't be happy anymore and the fact that you have feelings for him scares you."

I was speechless for a moment at how well Alfred had read me. In fact, I hadn't even really realized yet that was what I was thinking.

Every time a relationship between us became possible again I ran for the hills and pushed him away.

"All I'm saying is, let yourself be happy." Alfred said with a fatherly smile. "Would you like some tea?"


I was at the London apartment reading the news.

Despite the fact that I had told Daniel to tell everyone to keep their mouths shut how they got Medved, the headline on every paper in Europe the next day was along the same lines.

Black Viper delivers notorious mob leader

Bruce walked in.

"Hi." I said.
"Hi." He responded and his eyes immediately went to my arms.

I was wearing a tank top and had forgotten how bad it looked.

My entire side was black and blue and different shades of violet. All from the moment muscle boy slammed me into the car.

Bruce walked over and looked at my arm.
"Did Alfred look at it?" He asked nervously.
"Yes, it's fine. It looks worse than it is."
"How did this happen."
"It was when muscle boy threw me against the car."
His eyes widened. "You were fighting that guy?"
"I assumed you knew."
He shook his head. "Cat, you could have died."
"So could you."
He took an angry breath. "I've been doing this a whole lot longer than you. One wrong step with him…"
"I know. I know. But I'm fine."

He nodded, biting his lips together and taking a step back.

"Let's look at the data on the flash drives." I said.

We knew that having Medved's son arrested would anger Medved Sr. and cause some type of reaction.

Based on the information obtained on Medved Jr.'s computer, and based on the data Bruce had scanned from Medved's cellphone at the casino, we suddenly saw some real connections to Gotham.

"He helped supply Bane with weapons?" I asked.
Bruce nodded. "At least now we know how Bane's goons stayed so well armed this whole time."
I sighed. "A little late. Anything on his presence or future?"
"No real lead yet."

I got up and get water and my side hurt so bad, I almost fell over but caught myself at the table.

Bruce got up instantaneously and supported me.

"Cat…" He said in a worried voice.
"It's fine."
"Let me see your side." He said.
"No, no, it's…"

But he was already lifting my shirt and revealing the dark bruises.
He bit his lips together into a tight line.

"I'm just angry at myself." I said. "That's all."
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"It was a dumb mistake. Really dumb."
"You fought off a guy that most men wouldn't be able to beat. You did some serious damage, too."
I smiled softly at him.
"This is not an encouragement!" He clarified.
I nodded and walked to get water, feeling a little bit proud of myself.

As I got back with my water, I had an idea.
"Why not bring Medved out into the open?" I asked.
"That's what we're trying to do."
"We angered him. We need to bait him into coming to us."
"Cat…"
"Think about it. He wouldn't risk coming anywhere near Europe right now. Not when his top men are getting arrested. Nobody can touch him in Russia, but he still wants us dead. Especially you."
"So what's your plan then?"
"Let's leak my location. They'll bring me right to Medved to get to you and then we bring them Bat and Viper instead."
"Absolutely not."
"Why not?"
"I'm not letting you be bait for Medved."
"Why? It's the perfect plan."
"Why? Because he could kill you."
"No, that would be stupid because he would lose all leverage he has against you."
Bruce got up. "What's stupid is your plan. End of discussion. We're not doing that."
"But…"
"No!" He yelled.
I sighed. "So what's your grande plan?"

He slowly sat back down again. "I'm going to keep looking for more information on the devices we found."
That could take forever.


Was it stupid? Quite possibly. Would it work? A hundred percent.

It was the middle of the night when I got up. Bruce was sleeping on the couch and I walked downstairs.

I called the pilot who was on standby for our jet.

"Good morning, apologies if I'm waking you up."
"That's quite alright ma'am."
"I need to fly to Glasgow."
"Absolutely. When would you like to go?"
"As soon as possible."
"Just you, ma'am?"
"Yes."

I took a cab and was a the airport half an hour later.

I knew he would never have gone for the plan if I had asked his permission. He would be mad, but it was well worth it.

Flying with Wayne Enterprises private jet and with me on the manuscript, Medved would know I was in Glasgow. And he would get me as soon as possible.

We landed in Glasgow, the rainclouds keeping the sunrise from fully illuminating the sky.

It was nerve wrecking to wait for something to happen. I knew it would happen. Just not what exactly or when.

I walked out of the airplane, across the tarmac, through the airport. Nothing. Nobody was even paying attention to me.

I hailed a cab to a random hotel, checked in. Where were they?

I ordered breakfast and shortly after heard the knock on the door.

"Room service." The female voice said.

I opened the door and saw two men in suits holding a gun at the head of the lady with the food, who was shaking.

Before I could think, one of the guys slammed me against the wall, holding me by my neck.

I had to fight my instincts and not fight back but instead let them take me hostage.

One of the guys shot the woman in the head and her brains splattered against me.

The brutality with which they acted took me by surprise, I wasn't sure why.

"We going for road trip." The guy who held me said in a Russian accent.

I'm sure we are.

He pressed a cloth soaked with chloroform against my mouth and nose so hard that I could barely breath.

Shortly after, everything turned black.