The Dark Knight Initiative

by Self Proclaimed KoC

As the Dark Knight returns to the world that has long condemned him, Fury and the Avengers also seek to recruit him. Set six months after the Avengers and during TDKR, mostly told through the Avenger's perspective.

11. Chapter 11

The Dark Knight Initiative

Hey guys! Sorry this update came much later than I planned, but then again, this chapter is longest chapter I've ever written, ever. Lol. And I wanted to put this out before I watch Shazam! and before Endgame comes out.

So yeah, this chapter was originally planned to be two chapters last year but the job I had last year had me working everyday with an average of one day off a month. That was crazy, so I recently quit that job, that's that.

One more thing, a couple of movies this past year garnered some disputes about them, you may know which they are, and to be honest, I try not to be involved with politics like that. I judge movies by their entertainment, rewatchability, memorable scenes, and the impression they leave on me. Now off to the movie reviews!

Black Panther was awesome, loved the story and characters, favorite parts of it are the philosophical battles between T'Challa's and Killmonger's ideology, it was like comparing MLK and Malcolm X. Though the fight at the end almost made me cringe with the painfully obvious CGI, lol! Otherwise, awesome movie.

Infinity War, what else can I say, the hype was real and did not disappoint at all! I LOVED IT! The Russo Brothers can't seem to do no wrong! Favorite scene? "I don't feel so good…" had me tearing up, man! And I have a feeling Endgame will leave me in the same state. T_T

Deadpool 2, same as Infinity War, I LOVED IT! The only way to enjoy Deadpool the way it's meant to be is rated R. Sorry Disney, but those are facts, no offense. Favorite scenes are the ending scenes with Deadpool killing 'Deadpool', thank you Ryan Reynolds!

Ant-Man and the Wasp, the humor is on point for me, especially when Luis in on the scene. Other than that, it was great.

Spider-verse was awesome, and oh man! I teared up a bit for this film, I will always remember this movie for that one scene where Stan Lee says "I'm gonna miss him." A few weeks after his death? I got hit with an unexpected tearjerker!

Aquaman, was unexpectedly awesome, I bow down to the director and scriptwriter of this movie. The story and characters were awesome, the colors and the spectacle just kept increasing, even when you think they can't possibly go any higher than this, James Wan pulls it off! Respect for the man. Several great scenes, the Kraken, the one-shot scene, but my favorite is the part where Aquaman and Mera dive into the ocean surrounded by The Trench, the lighting, the amount of trench chasing them, the absence of music, the Lovecraftian vibe to that scene gave was a kind of fear and rush I rarely feel in a movie.

Captain Marvel, I thought the movie was great, I like how sassy and badass she is. Though the thing I was waiting for is what makes me connect to her as a character, unfortunately the directors didn't do a good job of that. Yeah, I blame the director's or the screenwriters, not the actors or actresses. The beginning was entertaining, but it just did not give a satisfying ending. Why did they need two directors again? And the CGI on some of the scenes, like when Captain Marvel was flying in space didn't seem right at times. The thing with how Fury lost his eye, dude, I laughed at it at first, but then I realized that that's what they plan to be the story behind Fury's eye, I'm just like, WHAT?! The more I think about that scene from the movie the more I start feeling like I've been letdown, lol. Favorite part is when Carol crash-lands on Blockbuster and the nostalgia feeling seeing some of the old-school stuff gives me.

As for the TV shows, the only ones I've watched last year and this year are Jessica Jones, Daredevil, and Punisher, and Young Justice.

I casually watched Jessica Jones season 2, though still entertaining, not as good as the first season.

Daredevil season 3 is as close to perfection as I've ever seen in any TV show, almost every episode is a nail biter episode. The struggle and revelations Matt had to go thru, everything Fisk did behind the scenes, the downfall of Rey, the arrival of Poindexter, the 11-minute one shot fight scene in the prison! The final fight which is a triple threat match, Matt's primal scream when he couldn't kill Fisk, his scream of "I BEAT YOU!" sends chills up my spine every time. And even though the show is unfortunately cancelled, the show topped out on a high note and will continue to be LEGENDARY.

Punisher season 2 is great as well, though not on the level as DD season 3, the fight choreography is till on point, the gore always gets me, when characters are pulling bullets out their body every other episode. Entertaining to watch, binged this season as I did Daredevil.

Young Justice season 3, the season I've been waiting for years has finally arrived, and it's living up to my expectations so far. Let's see what the final 13 episodes have to show.

As for the amazing reviewers:

Nihalrockzz: Thanks, and lol! Yeah, I know, sorry this story is taking years to finish.

actionliker: Thank you. I know you said no rush, but I think is too long to post an update, lol.

C.E.W: Yeah, it will.

RHatch89: Thanks.

tf330129: Trying to, lol.

Lawrence HBain: I'm considering it.

JumpingToaster: Wow! Thanks!

Dracomancer1: Thanks. Yeah, sorry about the tenses. I always have a bit of a trial with them, considering I edit it myself I always re-read and re-read the chapters my eyes start blurring, lol. Thank you for the critique though, they help point out what I need to keep an eye on.

Shockeye7665: Thanks! Yeah, I did try to put Natasha's moves into words, and a lot of research went into that, I went thru her fighting scenes in Iron Man 2 and Captain America: Winter Soldier several times before I managed to put it on paper as close as I could.

Love Hawkeye, but to me I think it's because Jeremy Renner helps give him such character. And the scene where he shoots miles away, I was inspired by the first episode of the first season of Punisher, but if Punisher can shoot that far, I figure Hawkeye can do at least three times the Punisher can. Hah!

Jason Mamoa DID make Aquaman his own, he's awesome! And speaking of Stan Lee, he will be missed greatly.

BelieverofManyThings: Thanks.

Friedrickson2: Thank you. And a Director's Cut is all anyone is asking for, how hard is that?

PleiadesWolfe: I guess Natasha and Selina could be vitriolic friends?

janahjean: Thanks.

Jackalope89: Lol, you know whenever I read your reviews, I always hear the voiceover of the guy who talks every episode end of Batman from the 60's. I know that's the point, but it's just the words you use are perfect.

clockgirl191: Thank you very much, I try really hard.

Guest 247: That part was pretty awesome.

GrandmasterVenom: That scene with Superman in Justice League was the best part in the movie for me, literally shows how OP Supes is when he's not holding back.

NightCourtRuby: I already have an idea on how the final fight is going to go, hope when I do get to it that it won't disappoint.

Kain129: Thanks, I'm trying, lol.

Omega Prime: Liked it? I LOVED INFINITY WAR!

Genesis09: Thank you very much. I am planning to finish this story, even if I can't get to the rest of the crossovers, I am planning to finish this arc.

Oceana Anngow: Bruce and Selina will be meeting up sooner than you think.

HeartOfChaos13: Thank you for your patience for waiting for this chapter.

Wolf Mike: Thank you for your patience for waiting for this chapter.

TobiGB: Lol, I read back through the reviews and your reviews weren't that harsh. Thanks for your critique though, that's important to me.

DrizcaSalyor: Thanks. Cheers mate!

Jameshedrick19: Trying, lol.

Tyrannosaur King 'Crusher: Thank you.

TheWriter946: Thank you very much! Yeah, I'm planning for Batman to be involved in the MCU in the future, but not in the immediate future.

As for Scarecrow, Zsasz and Poison Ivy, well I have plans for them as well, especially one of them.

Knottreel: Sorry about that, here's the latest chapter for you.

fenixrojo36: Thanks man. Gracias.

TheWriter946: Thanks man! Well, we'll have to wait and see.

And with that, let's get on with the story. Thank you everyone!

Disclaimer: I don't own either of these movies or franchises, if I did, or rather if anyone did, they wouldn't be putting it on the internet but rather make the crossover happen in reality right now. Lol

Ch11: Fifth Month

Oldtown…

A woman's intuition and on a whim. That's what it was, it was all Selina had to go on when she decided to help the person walking beside her from some of Bane's men those weeks ago.

'It's been what, three weeks since I helped her ass?' she thinks to herself as the two of them walk down the streets in search of supplies for the week. Making a side glance at the woman walking next to her, the person in question no longer wearing the raven-haired bob cut she had when they first met, which Selina found out was a wig, now sporting a straight light-blond dye job parted in the center all the way to her shoulders, courtesy of yours truly. They're both garbed in fine clothed black trench coats, pants and boots. She's donning a brown scarf while Natasha is fashioning a striped blue and white bonnet.

It was funny how it all happened really, Selina remembers a month back when she and her friend Jenny had split up over an argument because she realized this wasn't what she wanted, not this hell Bane is putting the city through. While Jenny may have thought that this was what Selina wanted; what the brunette truly desired was to get out of the city, to be as free as a stray cat, not being stuck here trying to survive once again while the city's population slowly dwindles down. And before she knew it, she somehow ended up helping out and picking up what she thought was another stray, boy was she wrong…

Three weeks earlier…

Arriving at her residence after escaping Bane's goons, Selina opens the door and signals her companion inside, "Don't be shy," she purrs before Nancy finally walks in and she casually closes the front door behind them. As soon as she entered, Nancy could be seen examining the place, possibly casing her flat out for exits and such before sitting down on the couch. "Welcome to my sanctuary, not as gaudy as some of the places I've paid a visit to, but hey, home's home. Coffee?" the thief offered.

"Oh, definitely," Nancy responds tiredly, after a moment she was thinking that her getaway from Bane's men was almost too uncomplicated, wondering as she stares intently at Selina, "I'm sorry, who did you say you were again?"

Selina normally would have used an alias, but what was the point of it at this moment? All her other aliases are blown, the ground where she can walk freely is shrinking and she has no way out. She's been cornered to a degree that she feels like an animal scrounging around the trash just to find something to eat. After a moment of thought, she finally speaks, "It's Selina."

"Only Selina?"

"I'll give you the rest of my name if you tell me yours," the brunette egged her on as she hands a cup of coffee.

If the disguised agent was startled in the least it didn't show on her face, "Nancy Rushman," came the reply as she handily takes the cup.

Raising an eyebrow at the straight forwardness of the answer, the brunette let out a short sigh, 'Nancy', Selina already had a hunch it was a fake name; the woman just didn't look like a Nancy. She may not have any evidence to back up her claim, but she didn't survive this long without trusting her instincts. Sure, she didn't have the best education growing up, considering where she spent her youth; it wasn't exactly the most decent area in Gotham, or how she was even able to get through her pit stain of a childhood. But her natural instincts and experience served her well enough through the years.

Natasha on the other hand, notices the brunette's sudden shift in mood, that air of confidence and witty banter gone, now there was a brooding sensation tainting the brunette. Thinking of a way out of this, the agent in disguise says, "Well, thanks Selina you really helped back there."

Glancing up from the compliment, the left side of Selina's lips go up in an uneven smile, "Yeah, you definitely looked like you needed my help."

"Hey, at least you didn't have any of those convicts running after you for several blocks."

"You must have pissed off the wrong people then," Selina struck back.

"I seriously hope not, though I guess I was lucky enough you found me," Nancy closed her eyes and merely brought the cup of coffee up to her lips and slowly sipped from it, savoring the taste and flavor. It looked like she was being smug, but inside she was a bit perturbed at the brunette's lack of concern of the situation. What she wanted to know is why she went from being hunted by Bane's men to just relaxing at an unknown location with this mysterious individual, "May I ask why you seem so calm with everything?"

"Hmph. Don't push your luck," says Selina unpleasantly, "Anyway, I used to have a roommate, but since she isn't living here anymore you can take her room. I'm gonna hit the hay," she walks to her room, "Oh, you can help yourself to what's in the fridge, just try not to make a mess," concluding with that, the Cat goes and closes her bedroom door, leaving Natasha in the living room to finish her beverage.

Instead helping herself to some food, Natasha instead waits a couple hours before she gets off the couch to snoop around the flat, searching for anything that she could use to send messages back to SHIELD. She finds most of what she needs; tape, insulated wires, ear phone, etc. the only thing she needed now was a battery, to no avail. The agent in disguise cursed in Russian, debating whether to sneak out to get a battery or not, she spots what looks to be a handbag by the kitchen. Peeking inside, she finds half a dozen cell phones, figuring she would have to improvise and jerry-rig the phone batteries as a power source for a makeshift telegraph key. Ruffling deeper through the bag, she finds it also includes several ID cards and a passport.

Her curiosity piqued, she reviews the ID's, each with a photo of Selina but not all of them have the same name. Irena Dubrovna, Holly Robinson, Antonia Calabrese, Kitty Smith, Cathy Whippes, several names for the same woman and none of them even contain the name Selina. Feeling like she was staring at a mirror, Natasha was starting to think if Selina was a student of The Red Room. Becoming more vigilant, she takes out the batteries from the phones and proceeds to build her telegraph key. After completing her tools, she begins tapping, sending her report; informing SHIELD she's all right, what's happened so far and if anyone can investigate someone named Selina as she also describes her features.

Unbeknownst to her, Selina has been listening in from behind her bedroom door, though the thief couldn't decipher Morse Code, her suspicions have been aroused.

Helicarrier…

Meanwhile, back on the SHIELD Helicarrier, while several agents are working the monitors, control room and engines, Maria Hill is busy waiting patiently for Agent Romanov's report. Ever since Natasha's cover has been nearly blown, the Avengers were prepared to infiltrate right that second, even Fury and Hill had a difficult time calming them down especially when they caught video footage of the three Special Forces' dead bodies being hung up on the bridge. Luckily, Agent Barton showed up at that moment from his station and explained that he was sure Natasha managed to escape and that she should be sending them a report soon.

With Doctor Banner still monitoring the trucks, one of which is carrying the nuclear bomb, Captain Rogers and Agent Barton sparring, Stark looking over schematics of the city and tinkering on upgrading some of his suits at the same time, not to mention Director Fury is in his office doing personal research, she finds herself talking and trying to entertain the Prince of Asgard.

"I can't understand how you mortals can keep calm when a comrade is clearly in danger," Thor gripes.

"Agent Romanov has been trained to operate in situations like this since she was young, this is nothing new to her," Hill reminds him.

At that moment, a random agent calls out to her, "Deputy Director, we have word coming through, it's Agent Romanov."

Grabbing a headphone, Hill listens intently to the message, writing down everything that's being sent via Morse Code. When finished, she promptly responds that the message has been heard loud and clear, after which she calls the team and Director Fury for a quick meet-up.

Once everyone arrived, Hill fills them in on the situation in as short and precise manner as possible, knowing that it may be some time before Romanov reports back.

"Told you guys she'd report back," Clint reassures everyone.

Suddenly, Captain Rogers asks, "Who's this Selina that Natasha messaged about?" questioning about the one information that doesn't involve the bomb.

Hill pulls up the monitor to show everyone, "We pulled records off SHIELD archives, given the description Agent Romanov gave us, the culprit she's illustrating is a wanted cat burglar known as Selina Kyle," the screens show profiles of the infamous thief.

Tony raises an eyebrow as he whistles, "She's quite a looker," he compliments.

"Also known as 'The Cat', a world-class cat burglar and swindler," Maria Hill lists off everything SHIELD has on the brunette, "cunning, devious and cynical. Her lists of previous known targets are several of Gotham's wealthiest, even some rich patrons who visit the city aren't safe from having their valuables taken," she continues, skimming thru the little details, "the agent in charge who caught our cat burglar describes her as being surprisingly strong and agile, and to approach with caution."

The rest of the group keeps silent, not knowing why Romanov would go a bit off tangent about the mission and ask about a thief. It wasn't until Thor himself speaks, "Friends. Perhaps this… 'catwoman' is the one Heimdall warned me about?" he butchers Selina's alias, causing everyone to roll their eyes at the Prince of Asgard.

Fury himself is rubbing his eyes in annoyance, first the Batman and now a 'Catwoman', all these codenames are starting to spiral out of control.

"Are you talking about the seductress you mentioned a while back?" Rogers questions.

Thor nods his head, "Indeed, I have been told that a grifter betrays the Batman when he least expects it, and I fear it has already come to pass before I have even informed the Dark Knight," that tidbit of info made the room feel grim.

Until Tony spoke up, "Well if she's the one who stabbed Batman in the back like you said, wouldn't that explain why Romanov describes her escape from Bane's men as almost too easy?"

Everyone starts thinking. "If she is the one who helped Bane bring down the Bat, then she should know his operations," Fury speculates.

"So, if we get her to talk, we just might have a chance," Hill follows up on Fury's idea.

"How sure are we?" Banner interjects, "what if she's just some petty thief who was at the right moment at the wrong time?"

"It can't hurt to ask," Steve suggests, "Whether she's the culprit or not, she has to know something," he turns to face Maria, "Contact Natasha and tell her to question Ms. Kyle if she knows anything, at this point anything could help us; use force if she has to."

Clint interjects, "Don't wanna be the bearer of bad news but we've only got about three weeks left on that timer," he reminds them of the neutron bomb, "If she has nothing what're we gonna do about the bomb?"

Deep in thought, Rogers lets out a sigh, "As a last resort? We attack," his answer leaves the rest befuddled, "I know it's not the smartest move, and we've been holding Tony and Thor back long enough. But the main thing would be to distract Bane just enough that we can bring him down or take the detonator before he realizes it," he goes on, "With Natasha down already there, this plan hinges on her coming up with a strategy for the diversion," Rogers turns to the archer, "think she'll be up for it?"

"Nat can do it," Clint promises.

"Then contact her," Steve tells Hill, "Let her know the mission parameters and that we'll follow her call on when to strike."

Rapidly tapping on a modern telegraph, Lieutenant Hill proceeds to give Natasha the rundown on the current stratagem.

Selina's Residence…

Though the assassin doesn't quite agree with the plan, Romanov's also become interested with the additional info on Selina Kyle and Thor's warning that she may be the seductress they were warned about months back. Satisfied that her new acquaintance was never a part of The Red Room, Natasha still decides to approach with caution.

While Natasha continues to listen to the coded response, she doesn't notice Selina walking in on her.

"Had a hunch you're involved in some shifty stuff," the brunette calls out from the kitchen entrance, "I may not know what you were messaging, but I know Morse Code when I hear one."

Not bothering to turn around, Romanov instead eyes a kitchen drawer in front of her, silently opening it to reveal a kitchen knife.

"What, cat got your tongue?" Selina says pompously.

Still not giving an answer, Natasha soundlessly grabs the knife from the drawer.

"Tell me, who the hell are you!?" Selina demands.

"That should be my line," Romanov suddenly turns around and throws the knife at the thief.

Selina instinctively reaches for the closest book next to her and uses it to halt the lobbed knife inches from her torso. Anticipating that block, Romanov leaps towards the brunette to deliver a push kick. Which gets parried by Selina utilizing the book's spine to push her off balance while delivering a takedown, knocking the agent flat on her back. Natasha quickly rolls to the left to evade the axe kick coming down.

Pulling the embedded knife from the book, Selina charges at her quarry, attempting to cleave at her foe's face.

The SHIELD agent quickly scans the kitchen for anything before she grabs a cast iron skillet from the stove. The two engage; with Selina on the offensive, trying to stab or slash the other woman. Natasha, who is on the defensive, exploits the skillet to parry every knife strike as best she could.

The exchange keeps going until Selina finally catches Romanov by surprise and clips her by the hand, dropping the pan she's holding. The thief follows it up with a push kick, knocking the assassin atop the kitchen counter. Selina lunges in an attempt to stab the knife thru the SHIELD agent's head, but Natasha manages to stop the knife, impeding Selina to drive the blade any further.

Putting her entire bodyweight behind her, Selina comes close to puncturing Natasha's face; the assassin holds on long enough that when she lets go of the knife, she dodges her head to the right, letting the knife pierce thru the wooden counter. Winding up, Natasha delivers a headbutt against Selina, knocking her back some.

With a primal scream, the brunette launches herself at her opponent for a brutal takedown, but the agent evades the assault, and uses the momentum to throw the brunette out of the kitchen into the living room. Getting back up, Selina sees Natasha jumping over the kitchen counter in pursuit.

Now each deprived of a weapon, both combatants take up a fighting stance. Natasha uses something more of a Muay Thai stance, her hands up, elbows tucked in, and squared hips to deliver kicks and knee strikes. Selina in the meanwhile takes on a more brawler style pose, her arms lowered at the sides, the knees slightly bent to lower her center of gravity. This is a slight opportunity for the former assassin, though the thief's lowered gravity gives her more power in her blows, the lack of a guard leaves her torso open for a counter.

Gauging the opposition, the Widow and the Cat slowly inch towards the other. Selina starts off with a roundhouse kick, followed by a swift sidekick. Nat quickly dodges the first kick but barely blocks the second. Selina then throws a straight punch. Natasha blocks it to the side, grabs the elbow joint to bend it and brings the forearm in to a hammerlock. But due to her natural flexibility and agility, Selina reverses the scenario with a spinning back elbow right to the side of Natasha's head, breaking the hold.

Selina tries to perform her own grappling move, but Romanov shifts to the inside with a knee strike straight to the thief's midsection, combining it with a clock throw to hurl Selina down to the floor. From the floor, Selina delivers two quick kicks to push her foe backwards and promptly gets back up to gain range.

The thief charges with a high kick, which gets parried; she follows it up with a haymaker. Natasha blocks it with both arms but leaves her ribcage open for Selina to deliver a huge body shot. Anticipating a block, Selina does another high kick, putting her hips behind it to wipe the obstruction away before delivering another body shot, she follows it through with a spinning back fist that Natasha manages to block this time.

The assassin wraps her arm around to capture it and wrench the thief's shoulder with her other arm. Selina counters again with a reverse elbow, the first hit connects to the side of Natasha's head, but the second attempt is blocked. Romanov retaliates with an elbow strike to the back of the thief's head.

Finishing it up with several combos, starting with high and low kicks to the torso and legs, ending with a back kick to the midsection, Natasha tries to finish it with a flying roundhouse kick. But this time, Selina catches the SHIELD agent in mid-air and slams both of them simultaneously thru a glass table.

Having taken grueling punishment, the fight is beginning to take a toll on them, the two fighters strain themselves to stand up, starting to draw more breaths. Both at once perform a spinning heel hook kick, but it's Romanov who takes the initiative and tucks her knee in to force Selina down, following the movement with a rear naked chokehold.

Losing both air and blood to the brain, Selina struggles to break free, but with her leg pinned down she can't perform any acrobatic maneuvers. She attempts to reach for anything to use, but to no avail. With her consciousness slowly starting to fade, Selina utilizes her fingernails as a last resort, reaches behind and rakes them across the Romanov's eyes, causing the assassin to holler, temporarily blinding her. Scrambling to catch her breath, Selina strains to get up. Unfortunately, the SHIELD agent quickly recovers and promptly continues her assault.

Putting up her guard as Natasha throws several punches, Selina takes multiple hits to the arms and shoulders and torso. The thief suddenly clinches to stop the assassin's onslaught, delivering a couple knee strikes to Romanov's abdomen in the process, followed by an elbow right into the agent's nose. She's about to throw a haymaker when Natasha counters with a spinning wheel kick right to her head.

Knocked back against the counter, Selina nearly falls unconscious when she sees Natasha about to jump for a flying knee kick, Selina counters this time with a push kick right to the plexus, knocking the air out of the disguised SHIELD agent.

Seeing an opening, Selina mounts on top of Romanov's gut and begins to brutally rain down on her opponent with a barrage of blows, from hammer fists to hooks.

Lying down with her back to the floor, Natasha pulls up her arms to cover her head. Though she is able to block most hits, some of the punches slip thru her guard and lands right in the face. Clenching her jaw, Natasha begins to roll with the punches to lessen the impact.

Selina pries one of the agent's arm wide open for a clear shot, not noticing that Natasha has shifted position for a better stance, kicking her knee upward to knock the thief off her.

Grabbing hold of the brunette's right wrist mid-roll, Romanov twists her body around to transition from a lying position to an arm lock. Bending her knees and placing her legs on top of Selina's neck and waist, the SHIELD agent starts pulling the arm towards her, attempting to subdue, or even break a joint if she has to.

Struggling from the grappling move, Selina uses her free left hand to try pushing the leg holding her neck down upwards, only to make it move a couple inches, but it was enough to move her head and bite down hard at Romanov's lower limb.

Fighting her instinct to scream in pain; Natasha shifts her bodyweight to the left in an awkward looking armbar, locking Selina's head back down on the pavement, pulling even harder until she hears the resounding pop of a shoulder joint dislocating. Selina's cries of agony are muffled by her bitten leg.

Letting go of the arm lock, Natasha pulls herself up and begins to drag herself toward a glass shard on the floor while Selina continues to shout out profanities. Taking the shard, the SHIELD agent holds the pointed tip to Selina's throat.

Panting heavily, Selina says, "Kuhh. What're you waiting for? Just do it," she glares in defiance, "I deserve this," ending with a look of remorse before closing her eyes.

Hearing that statement, Romanov tosses the object away and assists in popping the thief's shoulder back in.

"AAUGHH!" Selina screams in pain.

Natasha then backs up a few steps and slumps on the floor, clutching her ribs, a few feet away of her opponent. Breathing heavily, the SHIELD agent admits to herself that the fight was much closer than she would have liked. Granted Selina was only a thief, and not a trained assassin. But she was glad that this was just a straight up brawl, with neither side having the proper equipment or strategy.

"Why'd you do that?" Selina questions, cradling her right shoulder.

"Because you didn't even try to bargain or beg for mercy, you just accepted your fate with such a gloomy face, that gave me enough reason that you have some sort of guilt over something," Natasha reasons her out.

"Maybe I was just joking," Selina spits back.

"People who believe they're about to die have less incentive to lie," Natasha counters with a justifiable analysis.

"Tch. What do you want from me?" the brunette demands.

"What I want is information," Romanov answers, "I've been stuck here for a little over three months and I'm no closer to finding out anything that I need that will help stop Bane."

"And what makes you think I have what you need?"

"I know who you are, Selina Kyle."

Hearing her own name makes Selina glare at her opponent.

"Born in Gotham, arrested at the age of sixteen for theft before breaking out of a women's correctional facility. Developed a long record of criminality for stealing from the upper class and breaking into places that were said to be uncrackable, you're a regular modern day robin hood," Natasha taunts, "now though, you've caught the attention of the authorities and you find yourself with your back against the wall."

Pondering her situation, Selina finally submits, "Tch."

Surrounded by broken glass and scattered appliances, with both women sitting down on the floor; battered, bruised and bleeding, Selina begins explaining events between herself, the Batman and Bane.

"'Bout a year ago for I was hired for a job, it was simple enough, steal the fingerprints of the illustrious Bruce Wayne," Selina declares boastfully.

"The Gotham billionaire?" Natasha knows the name, the Prince of Gotham, the man's reputation as a billionaire playboy rivals Stark's, though Wayne may be a humanitarian donating his money to the needy and for research, the man's record always seems to bring his company to the brink of bankruptcy. Unlike Tony, the man's a billionaire, playboy, philanthropist without the genius.

"The one and only," Selina's swagger comes back.

"Was it Bane who hired you?"

Selina shakes her head, "No, it was a rich snob named John Daggett."

.

Natasha's eyes narrow, Daggett's name again, could he behind all this? "So, what happened then?" she pushes for more info.

"I sold Wayne's prints to Daggett," Selina explains.

"Do you know for what?"

"Don't know, don't care, but I do know that when Daggett got his hands on those prints, the next day Wayne was declared bankrupt."

In her head, Natasha quickly shoots down the theory that Daggett is behind all this, the man was obviously only after money, not a great discord of this magnitude. Bane is a mercenary, so he couldn't be doing this alone, could he? All these hypotheses and no facts, she looks up again, "Where's Daggett now?"

"I heard that Daggett's body was found in a dumpster some months back, some said he probably got mugged and murdered on his way home, though I highly doubt that," Selina explains, "which means that whatever plan Bane had for him must've been over with and had no more use for him."

Cursing silently to herself, Romanov leans back, taking deep breaths as she stares at a ceiling fan slowly spinning in circles.

"Things went further downhill after that, Bane blew up Gotham City Stadium, from there you know the rest…" Suddenly, Selina gives a short chortle, "You know, before everything went to hell, I had a run in with the Batman a couple times."

"The Batman?" Natasha looks back at the thief.

"Yeah," Selina contemplates on what to say, "Well, I'd say the first time is when I stole Wayne's prints at his mansion during Harvey Dent Day, tried to snag his mother's pearled necklace as compensation and make him think I was there for the accessory instead of his prints. That's when I first met him, tall, dark and brooding, he was the first person to ever see past my act so easily; he tried to stop me of course, but he couldn't resist my charms." she begins to reminisce, "Another time is when Daggett double crossed me, so I tried to steal from him what he owed me, but Daggett was working with Bane at the time, and I was surrounded. Batman showed up then too, saved my life. Heh, he even tried to change my mind about leaving this place, he was gonna give me what I wanted most, a way to start fresh," Selina's smug smile starts to contort to a resentful looking one, "and I betrayed him."

"What do you mean?" Natasha asks, now curious.

"Bats showed up at my apartment out of nowhere, offered me what Daggett owed me, at the cost of nothing, no deals no catches, all he wanted me to do was just lead him to Bane," the Cat elucidates, "But as soon as he left, Bane's men showed up. They were gonna kill me if I didn't help them capture the Bat, so I led him to their trap," she chuckles bitterly, "I witnessed the two fight… and for a second, I actually thought Bats was gonna win, cuz you know… he's the damn Batman! But I was wrong… Bane's a monster," she starts to go into specifics of the brutality of the fight, how Batman used every arsenal he had, how he fought hard til he bled, and how Bane just took all of it like they were nothing and hands Batman the beating of a lifetime.

Sitting in silence listening to every detail, Natasha realizes that Batman's beatdown against Bane occurred right after his fight with the Avengers. 'Damn, that fool,' she curses the Bat. She also notes that Selina is probably the one person available to her who knows about the back alleys of the city more than most people, that's when an idea popped into her head. The assassin in disguise asks, "I can tell that you just want out of this hellhole. You help me, I can ask my superiors to help you anyway they can. All I'm looking for is to get more info on this city, anything I can get my hands on."

Not to straightforwardly trust a person, Selina thinks over the spoken words, "If you're looking for your way around the city, I'm your girl," she states as if it is the most obvious thing in the world, "But, I don't know you nor owe you any favors, and there are currently only two people who I trust. One of them's me, the other ain't you," she starts to glare at the other woman, "so, are you going to tell exactly who you are, or do you want to go for round 2?" she gives her stipulations.

Weighing out her options, Natasha makes her decision, what does she have to lose? She reluctantly removes her black wig that she's been wearing for months, unveiling her wavy, fiery red hair that's grown a bit since last time, "My real name's Natasha Romanov."

Selina almost lost her voice, she recognizes that face, who wouldn't? She and the other five were all over the media last year, the team known globally as the Avengers.

The SHIELD agent sees that Selina identifies her, "I work for Strategic Homeland Intervention Espionage Logistics Directorate."

"Ugh, homeland security, as if I need more of those, and the name sounds too long and boring," Selina replies with her usual sass, "Why don't you just say the other word everyone else in the world calls you and your band of merry men?"

"We call it SHIELD for short," Nat chuckles a bit, "and we actually specify in global security, not just national. And I can't really say the other word since I'm technically not supposed to be here."

"Same difference."

"Not really," Natasha answers, tenderly holding her ribs, "So, are you going to help me or not?"

Standing up, Selina limps around the redhead, critiquing the woman whom she just had an outrageous brawl with earlier. "Hmm… Too bad..." she starts, "red hair definitely suits you better, but the color stands out too much, it needs to be more low-key," Selina suggests, "Black or brunette wouldn't look good on you either, which leaves—" she searches in her bathroom cabinet to reveal a bottle of blond hair dye, scissors and a comb as she flashes a playful grin.

Catching the drift, Natasha got up off the floor before tilting her head to the side, "Let's do this," she says, organizing in her head all the things she'll have to report back to SHIELD and the others later.

Present…

Since then, both women would head out at night to scout the city, with Selina showing Natasha the whereabouts of some neighborhoods and which sections of the city is sectioned off to whom. She also explained this was also part of the deal she made with Bane if she helped bring the Bat to him. That she would have her own territory in Gotham with none of his men causing her trouble. Sometimes, the two would scavenge for food and supplies during the day if Natasha didn't have anything to report to her superiors. Today was one of those days, but Selina did notice her roommate seems a bit more on edge than usual.

As for Romanov herself, she was busy contemplating how she will create a diversion for the raid tomorrow. They have roughly twelve hours before that bomb explodes, whether anyone wants to it or not.

Suddenly, the sound of footsteps was heard close by them, both women looked to see a boy being chased by two gangbangers. When the child was caught, the thugs grabbed an apple from the boy's hand as they continued to threaten him. "Think you can steal from us?" one of the attackers said, ready to strike the kid.

Coming up behind them, Selina clutches the thug's wrist that has the apple, twists the arm so that the thug bends over, strikes down his shoulder blade with her palm making him double over causing the apple to launch mid-air as she playfully catches the fruit.

The other thug attempts to stab Selina with a pocket knife when Natasha comes up the man's blindside, grasps him by the wrist, and places her boot in a way to trip the thug forward to his knees, stealing the knife out of his hand. Instead of retaliating, both men simply got up and ran. Walking up to the boy, Selina gives the boy a life lesson, "Never steal from anyone you can't outrun kid," she tells him before taking a bite from the apple and tossing it back.

Both women watch as the kid runs away with his partially eaten apple, when someone calls out, "You're pretty generous, for a thief."

That voice, Selina recognizes that voice, slowly turning around, she sees a shadowy figure underneath the freeway calmly walking their way. Releasing a breath that she didn't realize she was holding, the long-haired brunette starts to walk as well, meeting him halfway.

"I thought they killed you," she wonders aloud.

"Not yet," the voice replies.

"If you're expecting an apology—"

"It wouldn't suit you," the figure finally comes out from the shadows to reveal Bruce Wayne. Smiling at Selina, he says, "I need your help," he then looks next to her.

Selina's eyes widened slightly, almost forgetting she wasn't alone. She gives a side glance to her recent roommate, who was watching the banter between the Prince of Gotham and the cat burglar with perplexed yet inquisitive eyes.

Deciding to not pay her any mind, Selina kept going with the conversation, "And why would I help you?"

"For this," Bruce pulls out a USB drive from his jacket pocket, "The Clean Slate."

"Hold on," This time Natasha decides to butt in, looking intently in Bruce's eyes, "The Clean Slate? Where you type in a name, date of birth, and you can erase their information from every database on earth?"

"The only one of its kind," the Wayne progeny confirms to her.

"But I heard the project was just a gangland myth," Romanov stares at the drive as if she found something worth more than gold.

"Rykin Data actually took it to prototype stage," Selina intrudes, "but when Daggett Industries bought out the company to try and obtain it, well—" she eyes Wayne.

"I acquired it to keep it out of the wrong hands," the Wayne scion clarifies.

"Acquired it? W—" that's when the revelation hit like a lightning bolt, her mind processing the information as fast as she could. The way Bruce Wayne and Selina spoke to each other in a friendly, yet almost teasing manner may have indicated that they're nothing more than acquaintances, but the next second the scion of the Wayne dynasty starts talking about subject matters that someone like Stark, Banner or SHIELD would understand. Putting the dots together after a few seconds she could only gawk at Bruce who only nodded his head as if to answer a question she didn't ask. She couldn't help but chuckle a bit, 'Why should I be surprised?' she thought. The fact that no one managed to put together that Bruce Wayne and Batman were the same person? That was almost ludicrous. She has become kinda convinced that every billionaire playboy philanthropist could be a super-hero or probably even a villain if possible. She remembers reading files on the Bat, which states that he has a high-level intellect according to the methodology he employs when catching criminals, solving a case or when in combat, she can attest to the latter part after his battle with the team roughly half a year ago. She guesses she can add one hell of an actor to the list as well if he can keep such a secret for such a long time, better than Tony in that regard anyway. Then she realized what the man in front of her just said.

"Wait, if you got it before you came back to stop Bane the first time, that means…" Romanov narrows her eyes at the man.

Giving a tiny grin and tilting his head in amusement, Bruce just tells them, "Old habits die hard, I wasn't completely retired as Batman during these past eight years."

"So why are you just going to give it away?" Romanov asks.

"The Clean Slate can't exactly work for me, pretty much everyone within a thousand miles of this continent knows my name and face," that explanation made sense to both women, "I was planning to use this as a bargaining chip against Fury, but I have something else to do that with. So now I'm here offering it to you, both of you. Once this is all over, you can have it," Bruce tells them.

Disbelieving looks on both women's face. Selina's in slight shock, "You'd trust me with that… after what I did to you?"

"I'll admit I was a little let down, but I still think there's more to you. In fact, I think that for you, this isn't just a tool. It's an escape route, you want to disappear, start fresh."

Rolling her eyes, Selina looks back at him, "I can't even get off this island—"

"I can get you a way off, once you get me to Lucius Fox, I need you to find out where they're holding him then take me in."

Hesitantly taking the drive from the billionaire's hand, Selina stuffs it in her pocket then asks, "Why do you need Fox?"

"To save this city."

"Who says it needs saving? Maybe I like it this way?"

Not amused anymore, Bruce replies, "Maybe you do… but tomorrow that bomb is going off," there's a finality in his voice that shook her core.

Realization of the situation kicking in, Selina looks him in the eye, "Got your powerful friend on the case?"

"I'm trying, but I need Fox."

Letting out a heavy sigh, Selina finally agreed, "Fine, just remember your end of the bargain," the brunette leads them back to her residence a few blocks away.

While on their way back, Selina was interested to know about something, "Where were you all this time?"

"Bane had me… detained in the same prison he grew up in," came the reply, "I only just escaped about a week or two ago."

"How did you even make it back here in time?" the thief asks curiously.

Bruce smiles and answers in a playful manner, "Well, when you've traveled the world for many years, you get to know people," was the ambiguous response, inferring of his time abroad before he became Batman.

"Doesn't explain how you got into the city," Natasha casually mentions from behind.

Glancing behind him, Bruce merely answers with a shrug, "I walked in."

Scrunching up her eyes at the billionaire, Natasha rephrases her question, "Every entrance is barricaded, the only way you could have entered is through the frozen river, which people have died trying to get passed."

Bruce just gives a knowing look.

"You actually made it through," Natasha says in slight awe.

"One thing an old mentor once told me," Bruce starts, "is that one should always be mindful of their surroundings."

Once they've arrived, Selina struts into the living room, followed by Natasha and Bruce, "Stay here playboy while I slip into something more comfortable," she instructs Wayne as she enters her bedroom, Romanov following in tow, closing the door. Inside, the assassin leans back against a corner of the room, watching as Selina knocks off some clothes from her bed.

"What was all that?" Natasha asks the Cat in an entertained voice.

"What do you mean?" Selina replies as she opens her closet door.

"The way you and Wayne were bantering with each other, sounded like the two of you are an old married couple."

Staring back, playfully acting offended, Selina responds, "Don't you ever call me old again," she reaches inside the wardrobe.

Shaking her head in bemusement, Natasha asks another question, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"About what?" Selina answers with another question, moving some clothes to reveal a crease on the wall.

"That you knew the Batman's identity?"

"A girl's gotta keep her secrets," the brunette teases as she opens a secret compartment, grabbing her equipment, Selina turns to her roommate, "Do you mind?"

Rolling her eyes as the closet door closes, Natasha sighs at the brunette's coyishness. Selina would make a good SHIELD agent, but her personality is much too cheeky, she can imagine the thief constantly getting into fights with her superiors and comrades. When the brunette finishes changing, Romanov gets a good look at the burglar's suit. Like her own SHIELD outfit but with functional differences, Selina's catsuit is doubtlessly designed for stealth with theft operations in mind, what with minimal to no ballistic protection, a utility belt no doubt for her paraphernalia. Though form-fitting it looks to be breathable to help manage internal temperature, and very lightweight for maximum maneuverability. There are two things that catches her eyes, first are the serrated heels Selina wears instead of regular combat boots, though she's seen her fight in them, those things still look ridiculous and painful for Romanov. The second is the domino mask to cover the eyes attached to what look to be like 'cat ears'?

Sensing that her roommate is curious about the headwear, Selina reveals the 'ears' to be goggles that you can flip up or down. "Like 'em? They're a neat toy I borrowed a while back. It can switch from night-vision, thermal, it can even magnify."

"Borrowing means you have intention of giving it back," Natasha coolly responds.

"Tomato, Tomahto."

"Hmph. A perfect tool for a master thief," Natasha deadpans, "Are you ready for your date?"

"One last thing," Selina goes to her makeup drawer and plucks a red-shaded lipstick, applying it to her lush lips, puckering them before saying, "Now I'm ready."

Exiting the bedroom, both women find Bruce Wayne sitting on the couch, deep in thought.

"You ready?" Selina asks smugly.

Glancing up to see the thief in her catsuit, Bruce Wayne smiles, "You look wonderful."

"Careful, Mr. Wayne. You're making me blush," Selina responds smugly.

Trying not to roll her eyes again, Natasha couldn't help hiding her mirth, these two really need to get a room. Giving a deep sigh, she announces, "You'll need to suit up as well Mr. Wayne."

"Right," Bruce says, getting up from the couch.

"If you're looking for Lucius Fox, last I saw him he was caught by Bane's men," Natasha informs the Gotham billionaire.

"He's too valuable for Bane to eliminate," Bruce deducts, "they'll be keeping him in an area that's guarded at all times."

"You could try City Hall," Romanov informs him, "It's the only place I see around here that's constantly surrounded with Bane's men. I can follow you there, but that's as far as I can go. Can't risk blowing it cuz I had a run in with Bane and his men weeks ago."

Shrugging, Selina merely looks at them both, "Fine by me, are you guys coming or not?" she casually says as she opens the front doors. Followed by her companions, the thief, vigilante and assassin make their way to City Hall.

As they head over, noiselessly shifting from one architecture to another, Natasha explains the current situation to the Gotham Prince.

"What are SHIELD's plans concerning the bomb?" Bruce asks.

"We stage an all-out attack on Bane," Romanov answers, causing Bruce's eyebrows to wrinkle a bit, "it's not as naive or senseless as you may think," she elaborates, "it's just that we don't have much of a choice, time is running out and we still have no leverage. So, I have to provide a distraction for the team to give a surprise attack before Bane even realizes what happened."

"There's too much risk involved in it," Bruce interjects, "Leave the distraction to me, and as for the bomb, I'll handle that as well. The Avengers need to focus on rounding up the thousands of escaped convicts."

Not bothering to argue, considering she wasn't all that into the initial plan either, Natasha kept moving.

"We're here," Selina shushes them as the trio stop behind a construction a couple blocks away with a clear view of their target building. Spotting a group of armed thugs nearby, Bruce could tell by their outfits they're not Bane's elite but some of Blackgate's escaped prisoners; that's a good sign, considering Bane's men have also seen his face.

"Stay here," he instructs his two accomplices, "I'll let them bring me in. Once I find Fox, Selina you find a way to get both of us out of there, then meet back up here with Romanov."

Romanov nods to affirm she heard.

Tilting her head in a mock nod, Selina replies, "You're the boss," she slinks off to another side of the building to make her way to City Hall.

Making his way in towards the armed thugs, Bruce begins walking in a drunken manner, "Hey you! Any of you got any booze to drink?" his speech pattern with a bit of a slur to it, just convincing enough to sound inebriated.

"Well, well! Lookie who we have here?" one of the hoodlums yells out loud, "If it isn't Bruce freakin' Wayne! Heard you got yourself broke before all hell broke loose!" he pushes the man down, "now look at you! Still a drunk without all your money! Hahahaha!" he and the other men continue to laugh and make fun of the Wayne heir.

Another thug pulls Bruce up, binding his hands together, "Get this boozer outta here! Bring him to Crane for judgement!"

The others do as they're told, putting a bag over Bruce's head and drags him to City Hall.

Natasha finds herself impressed, the man has some degree of acting skills, she compliments as she stays on the lookout...

Brief Moments later…

Aboard the SHIELD Helicarrier, walking towards his office with renewed vigor, Director Nicholas J. Fury has been waiting for this day; the day when they could finally strike at Bane and take back the city of Gotham from its current occupation. They were sure at this point that there was no way Bane could hand the trigger to a regular citizen, and there would be no one Bane would trust with it aside from himself. Their current strategy of striking at the last minute is the only move they can take. If they strike fast and hard, Bane shouldn't be able to react quick enough to set the bomb off, the only thing they need is a distraction to keep Bane occupied for a moment, that's where Natasha comes in.

That's why for the past three weeks, ever since the misjudgment with Selina Kyle, Agent Romanov has been able to better converse with them about the ins and outs of the city. Who knew that the thief who helped Bane take out Batman would be the one informant they need to plan out a strategy?

About to head inside, he notices that for some reason the lights are off, as he recalls he left the lights on. Experience and training kicking in, he pulls out his sidearm, approaching the light switch. Flipping it on, he sees there's someone else in the room, immediately pointing his gun at the stranger. The intruder turns around; suited-up in armor-plated costume, the cape, and even the cowl are all colored black, most distinguishable are the ears protruding upwards from the top of his head, all of these giving him the features of a bat.

"Director Fury," Batman addresses the other man, "I thought it was time we met face to face."

His only eye giving a look of surprise, he lowers his gun, turning on the safety before holstering it, "I should be asking how are you still alive? Bane kind of made it clear he killed you. But I'll start with how the hell did you get onboard a SHIELD Helicarrier this high up without being detected?"

"I flew," was the quick response.

"Huh. Well I hope you don't mind, but might I suggest using a voice modifier? It'll take an easier toll on your vocal chords," the Director of SHIELD casually tells the Bat, nonchalantly walking to his desk, pulling out a SHIELD certified drive, plugging it to the computer system, showing holograms of files on the Bat, "It took a very long time to put the pieces together, I may have to thank Stark for giving me the final clue," Fury starts, "then again, I was more of a spy than a detective, gathering information is my forte, piecing them all together though, takes a bit of time, especially at my age," he continues, walking towards his uninvited guest, "all those years ago, before you became a wanted man, during your tenure, working and solving cold cases that the GCPD, Homeland Security and even the FBI gave up on, connecting pretty much almost half of them to the mob. You had your doubters, your haters; some of them even called you a terror. But there were those who called you the 'World's Greatest Detective' at one point," still glaring the man down, "But all you are is a man who is still haunted by the death of his parents, aren't you, Mr. Wayne?"

Fury doesn't move an inch, even as Batman glares back at him, "Bruce Wayne, born to Thomas and Martha Wayne," the Director continues, "seventh generation progeny of the illustrious Wayne family who founded the city of Gotham itself, lost his parents at the young age of eight, grew up to study at Princeton only to drop out and disappear for seven years doing who knows what only to come back and claim ownership of his family's company. You had all the motives, conviction and resources," he now finds himself standing in front of the Bat, "Should've realized it was you, you were one of my top suspects of being the Batman."

Amused at the fact that Fury actually figured out his identity, Batman counters with his own information about the Director, "For a man in your sixties, you have seen a lot, probably much more than I have, Nicholas Fury. Born in Huntsville, Alabama at the start of the Cold War, you enlisted to the US Army right out of high school, where you were promoted to Colonel before becoming involved with the CIA, operating in tactical espionage missions, garnering reputation as the 'World's Greatest Spy'," he took a jab at Fury's earlier comment about him, "you were also involved in the uncanny incidents of both '73 and '83. Sometime after then you met with Howard Stark and Peggy Carter, in which you served as a SHIELD agent before becoming appointed as its Director."

Flabbergasted that the man found out that much information on him, even Stark couldn't get that much, "That's a lot of information about a man whose profile is supposed to be redacted."

Shaking his head, Batman replies, "Most of your profile is completely blacked out, but with what little information it could give me, I only had to put in some effort as long as I knew where to look."

Nodding his head in approval, Fury gave a small grin, impressed that the man's skills haven't completely rusted. He follows up by telling him, "I apologize for the team being a bit rough with you a few months ago, you were being stubborn. And even though it may be long overdue, I hope you accept my condolences, your parents did a lot of good work during their time," he holds up a hand to shake.

Staring at the hand for a few moments, then back at Fury, Batman nods but doesn't take it, "I'm sorry, but trusting people isn't something I have much experience in, and those who I do trust are few and far in between. But thank you."

"I can respect that," Fury replies, bringing his hand back.

"So, what took you so long to figure it out?" the Bat asks in mild curiosity.

Fury looks the Caped Crusader with slight annoyance, "Do you realize how many citizens in Gotham have a similar tragedy happen to them every other day? It was like finding a needle in a damn haystack! Not only were there thousands of people who may have similar motives as you, hundreds of them have the conviction as well, down to the dozens who would have had the resources, either acquiring them through legitimate means or by theft. You know how many of your damn copycats kept popping up everywhere back in the day that we had a hard time pinpointing where and who you were?"

Even though he knew that imitating him led to the Joker kidnapping, torturing and murdering one of them, Batman wordlessly thanked his copycats for the minor distraction.

"We even interrogated Coleman Reese after he broadcasted that he knew your identity. But when we got to him, he started spouting that he was going to place the blame on anyone as the Batman as long as it would have stopped the multiple murders caused by a goddamn clown!"

Batman remembers Coleman Reese, after he saved the now former Wayne Enterprises employee, the man moved out of Gotham and promised to never speak of what he knows ever again. He still decided to keep tabs on the man, but it seems he kept true to his word. Reese seems to have relocated to New York and found a job as a lawyer working for a Jeri Hogarth.

"SHIELD also investigated others by the name of Lincoln March, Thomas Elliott, and not to mention Harvey Dent."

Hearing that name, Bruce replies, "…his records reveal that his father was a drinker and a wife beater."

Nodding his head again, Fury affirms that statement, "Dent's father would usually show up to his house wasted just to beat up his wife, until one night he goes off and kills her. What made it worse was that the father was also a corrupted cop working for the mob. Which would explain why Dent hated corrupt cops so much, but you already knew all that, didn't you?"

Silently acknowledging it, Bruce reflects back to when both Dent and Rachel were still alive and dating, he profiled Dent because he wanted to make sure Rachel was safe. In the end, he realized he only did it because he wanted there to be something wrong with Dent, because he was jealous. The man had a solid moral core, though a bit twisted, it was still solid enough for Rachel, and maybe that's what it was, lowering his head in honor of her. Even though he knows that Rachel wouldn't want him to keep sulking like this, Bruce would never forget that he let her down, that he let the Joker kill her. But perhaps it was time to at least try to let it go, it wouldn't hurt anyone, right?

"Well now that the pleasantries are over, is there a reason why you're here?" The voice of Fury knocks him out of his stupor.

"I'll need help," Batman tells the SHIELD Director.

"I would help you, but what's in it for me? You know that we've been searching for you, and you seem to understand our proposition. Join SHIELD."

"I told you, I'm not interested."

"And you don't seem to comprehend that I'm not allowed to give free assistance to masked vigilantes. Don't get me wrong, I have much respect for you and what you've sacrificed, but we're not running a charity here."

Not perturbed at all, Batman pulls out a device from his utility belt and presses the button. In a second, the lights in the room and the adjacent rooms suddenly turn off before coming back on just as fast. Then taking two drives from his belt, the Bat inserts them to the computer system, typing in some codes before grabbing another drive with SHIELD's emblem on it. A couple minutes later, he retrieves both of his drives and hands Fury the third one.

"I apologize for that."

"What just happened?" Fury asks.

"I made sure your system wasn't compromised so I gave it a soft reboot with a small EMP before transferring some files from my drive to yours. I also hacked into your system and erased every information you and the entire SHIELD database has on me."

"What?! Why did you do that! And how!?"

"A year ago, I piggybacked into your security system thanks to someone already doing it for me," the Bat replies smugly.

'A year ago,' Fury reflected, that would be around the time of the incident at New York, the Avengers have just assembled… that's when it hit him, his eye widening in recollection, it was right when Stark hacked into SHIELD database trying to find out the SHIELD Director's secrets. Which means that Batman managed to get his hands on classified SHIELD intel without Stark knowing or alerting anyone. "Damn Stark," Nick whispers the man's name in irritation.

"I guess I should also be thanking Stark as well for this," Batman retorts, he may not be smiling, but the look in his eyes say everything.

"Give me one very good reason I shouldn't have you detained here and now," Fury threatens.

"Because, that drive you have in your hand," he gestures to the one he gave Fury, "the files in it might offer you a little… insight," he says, putting emphasis on the word.

Alarmed at the choice of words, Nick glares at the Bat once again, no longer amused at what he is being told. He barely knew the Bat, though he could tell that the both of them have similar mindsets, he wasn't sure if the man could be trusted with such sensitive information.

"You don't have to trust me," Batman starts, "but when this is all over, look at the files, that's what I have to bargain with."

Before Fury could continue to ask any more questions, Stark walks into the office complaining, "Hey Fury, your equipment's got a bit of a glit—" he couldn't finish as he sees the Batman in the flesh talking to Fury. The Bat in turn glares at him in mild annoyance.

A few brief minutes after Tony walked in and saw him, Batman soon finds himself encompassed by the Avengers, including Fury and Hill, none of which were giving him friendly looks right now. He explained his side of the situation, going into detail about Bane being the new leader of the League of Shadows, which earned some incredulous looks from both Fury and Hill. The moment he fought Bane after fighting the team. Being sent to the very same prison Bane came from and had to endure living there for five months while recovering, how he escaped and made his way back to Gotham. All the while leaving out his identity as Bruce Wayne, leaving Fury and Natasha, who's still in Gotham, as the only ones who know.

"Impossible," Hill argues, "the League of Shadows are supposed to be a fairy tale, a fable."

"You've witnessed an army of aliens coming out of a hole in the sky and yet you don't believe that an underground ancient organization exists?" Tony looks at the Deputy Director in disbelief.

"At this point I'm willing to believe anything," Steve admits.

"I'm with you," Clint concurs.

"I'm sorry, but what exactly is the League of Shadows' in pursuit of?" Thor goes over the subject matter again.

"SHIELD has heard of rumors of the League of Shadows, but there has never been any concrete evidence towards their existence," Fury begins, "they are said to be a clandestine society whose aim is to 'purge' civilizations across history that abuse their authority and resource at the height of their prominence, so that everything returns to a harmonious balance," he elucidates.

"That's just genocide," Banner disputes.

"No matter what their intentions are, the methods the League of Shadows use just makes them a bunch of psychopathic mass murderers, nothing more, nothing less," Batman states his conviction.

"So, you're saying Bane is the new leader of something called the League of Shadows and wants to destroy both you and the city of Gotham cuz it was your fault his dad is dead, and he says it's his duty to finish what his father started?" Tony asks just to make sure they all understand Bane's reason for wanting to destroy Gotham.

The Bat just nods in response, "He was a part of the League, but was excommunicated."

"Doesn't explain why you're here though," Steve asks to return to the matter back at hand.

"I need your assistance."

"Why should we help you?" Tony argues.

"Because it's my city," Batman growls back.

"Yeah? Well, while you were busy spending prison time on the other side of the world, we've been busting our butts and pulling hairs trying to save your city. We've got this handled, we already have a plan in place," Tony tells him.

"That plan involves you infiltrating the city minutes before the timer reaches zero, but you have no guarantee that any move you make on Bane or the bomb that the triggerman won't set it off," the Bat's answer momentarily silences everyone in the room.

"There's no way that Bane would trust the trigger to a citizen," Tony continues to contend.

"No, but he may have entrusted it to one of his men, we can't risk that chance."

As the banter between Tony and the Bat kept going, Steve takes a good look at the situation and where the vigilante could have got the information from, he asks, "You met up with Natasha before coming here, didn't you?"

Turning to the leader of the Avengers, the Bat nods, "She should currently be with an associate of mine, Agent Romanov also told me that the plan hinges on her distracting Bane long enough that you can get to him without the bomb going off. I agree with your methods."

"I sense a 'but' coming," Banner points out.

"I only intend to add a couple adjustments."

"Such as?" Steve asks.

"I'll be the distraction," Batman tells them, "Bane still thinks I'm in his prison, once he knows I'm not, his plans will be shuffled around."

Considering their options, this plan works better than what they outlined. "Anything else?" Hill grills for more answers.

Walking up to a monitor, Batman asks, "May I?"

"Go ahead, you've obviously already helped yourself," Fury retorts.

Looking at Fury in shock, the Stark progeny criticizes the SHIELD Director, "How come he automatically gets the go ahead to access SHIELD info, but I get admonished for even thinking about doing it?"

"Because he asked nicely," Fury quips, knowing it wouldn't matter if Batman asked or not, he just wanted to spite the man whose carelessness let an outsider gain info on SHIELD. Stark, in turn just rolls his eyes.

Accessing the mainframe, the black-clad vigilante pulls up a screen containing a detailed map of the entirety of Gotham, well… as far as he could tell anyway, "Hm, this map isn't complete, but it'll do," he tells his audience, "Before I came here Natasha told me she did a perimeter of the city," he highlights a corner of the map, "Right here in this corner of Gotham is where all the GCPD officers are being held, the only exit is being tightly guarded by some of Bane's elite. I need one of you to reach this location and release the trapped policemen."

"Why release them?" Hill asks.

"Because we're going to give them the opportunity to perform their duty to protect the city. I'm sure the World Security Council would rather approve of that than let SHIELD interpose. We're about to go to war, we'll need their help as well," Batman answers.

"Very well," Fury accepts the offer, not surprised that the Bat knows about the WSC, "SHIELD may not be instructed to lend assistance, but the Avengers aren't bound by those limits."

The map then refocuses to another section of the city, "Over here is where Commissioner Gordon is being sentenced to death, he and a group of his men are being delivered to the nearby shore where they send people to their deaths by attempting to walk through the thinly frozen lake. I'll need someone there to rescue him as well."

"I'll save Gordon," the Captain states aloud, "We've met before. What about you?"

"I need to meet up with my associate, I have a task for her to accomplish as well. I'll also inform Agent Romanov where to rendezvous with you," pulling out something from the back of his belt, the Dark Knight hands Rogers a miniature metallic device, "When you save Gordon, I need you to give this to him."

"What is it?" Rogers asks.

"It's a device that will block the signal from the trigger to the bomb, giving us enough time to disarm it and take down Bane. Tell Gordon that all he has to do is turn it on and make sure it's well within three feet from the bomb. After that you can meet up with the rest when we go launch an attack on Bane."

"How do you know he would trust me?"

"Tell him I gave it to you."

"I guess I'll be taking on freeing the police then," Clint says as he starts heading out to get ready.

"Good, I can bring both of you within the city," Batman informs them, grateful that the two Avengers he needs volunteered themselves, "Once we land, we'll head over to our designated points, and make sure to maintain radio silence."

"Sure thing. It'll be a pleasure working with you Batman," the Hawk says before leaving.

"I'm guessing you don't need 'The Other Guy' right?" Banner wonders aloud.

"I'll need The Hulk as well doctor," that answer stuns the group.

"You need The Hulk?! For what!? I can't exactly just turn into the Hulk and kill people, even if they are escaped convicts," Banner starts going down a list in his head on why that would be a bad idea.

"Not for that, but I do need him to clear out all the blocked tunnels leading out the city, we need a way to evacuate the citizens in case things go wrong," Batman gives his contingency plan.

Looking incredulously at the vigilante, Bruce Banner shakes his head, "I'm not sure I can do that, The Hulk has only even been used to attack, not to act as a car compactor."

"You can do it Dr. Banner, you've lived with The Hulk inside you for years now. You know how he thinks and acts, and you've been able to make progress interacting with him, I know you can do it," Steve gives the man a pep talk.

Still not believing, Banner merely heaves a sigh, "Fine, I'll give it a shot," he reluctantly agrees as he also heads for the door.

"Mind if I tag along?" Tony calls out.

"No!" Fury says adamantly, "and neither will Thor, the two of you can go at it as much as you can once that bomb is secured, and only then."

Looking at his two teammates, Rogers gives them an apologetic smile, "We'll try to finish our end of the mission as fast as we can so you guys can join in as well," the super soldier gives the men's shoulders a pat before heading out to suit up.

Also having to announce to the rest of the crew about the slight change in strategy, Nick gives a quick nod at the Bat, clutching the drive in his pocket before he and Hill exit the room, leaving the Caped Crusader, Thor and Stark in the room.

"Tch, I can be stealthy if I wanna be," Tony crosses his arms as he takes a seat before leaning his head back.

"The reason they don't quite trust you for covert operations is because for all your intelligence, you can be such a fool," Batman lectures Stark.

"Says the guy dressing up as a bat."

Walking up to the slumping Stark, Batman tells him, "Better than telling the world your identity. When you announced on live TV that you're Iron Man a couple years back, that was the worst mistake anyone could ever make. All your enemies who knows who you are, they'll come after not just you, but the people you care about as well. And the fact you did just that means you probably don't care about them at all."

"Shut up!" abruptly standing up, Tony attempts to throw a right straight, only for Batman to parry the punch with his left while simultaneously delivering a palm strike with his right hand to the chest, sending the Stark progeny back down.

On his seat, Tony, remembers the fact that Bane threatened Pepper and Rhodey a few months ago. He didn't want to admit it, but with the alien invasion of New York, the current occupation of Gotham. He thought he could protect everyone, now everything just seems to be getting harder and harder.

Letting Stark mull over it, Batman turns to see Thor facing him, "I want to give you an apology," Thor confesses, "I did not realize that perhaps it was our fault you've gotten injured as you did against Bane. If you had not fought us before your match with him then perha—"

"It wasn't anyone's fault," the Dark Knight assures the Thunder God, "No one could have predicted everything would happen the way it did. I don't blame you for what happened."

Nodding his head, Thor acknowledges Batman's words, "you have my gratitude, Dark Knight," he smiles brightly as he gives the Bat a side hug, who in turn just awkwardly accepts it without hugging back, "Well then, when this is all over, we should have a celebration! I have this friend back in Asgard named Heimdall. Before I arrived in Midgard, he told me tales about you, saving such a corrupt city all by yourself, I'm sure you have plenty of stories to tell."

"I'll think about it," Batman breaks free from the Asgardian's grip.

"Well that was a touching pep talk," Tony comments, still sitting down in his chair.

An idea crossing his mind, Batman walk to the Armored Avenger with an offer, "Actually, there is something I need you to do Stark."

"Pass," was the quick response, "I work with the Avengers, not for you."

"It'll give you a good view on the look of panic on Bane's face," Batman knew Stark might act like this, but he knew the man needed someone to tell him the consequences of letting your identity out in the open. He was also counting that the genius was petty enough to do anything if it meant that he would get a front row seat of seeing his enemy's frustration.

Looking at the man in front of him, Tony gives a curious look, "What does it entail?"

"It involves a lot of gas," came the mysterious answer, "and on you not getting caught."

Piquing his interest, Stark leans forward from his chair with a one-sided smile, "Count me in, gimme the details."

Streets of Gotham…

Making her getaway after having helped Bruce Wayne and Lucius Fox escape, Selina arrives at the location where they left the SHIELD agent a few moments later.

"Come on Red, let's go," she calls out, only to find the SHIELD agent nowhere to be found. "Natasha?" she calls out again, still no response. Scouring the area, she finally stops from exasperation. "Where the hell is she?" Selina asks in an irritated manner as she leans on a traffic pole.

Peering down, the Cat notices a paper-thin object tucked underneath the traffic pole, normally she wouldn't pay it any mind since trash flies around the streets of Gotham nowadays, but this one caught her eye for two reasons. One, its splotches of vermilion contrasts with the white backdrop of the snow. Two, she recognizes what blood looks like when she sees it. Bending down to pick it up, Selina turns it face up, she sharply draws breath, "Oh shit…"

Helicarrier…

After telling Tony what he must do, Batman sees Agent Barton just exiting what looks to be his quarters. Dressed in a long-sleeved dark coat that has faded maroon colors lining around it, black militaristic pants, boots and a fingerguard on his left hand, equipped with a collapsible recurve bow and a fully stocked quiver. Batman comments to the archer, "That quiver on your back can make you an easy target."

Clint just smirks, "Only if they can see me long before I see them."

"Hm. I've read your files, Agent Barton," Batman says, "Despite your professionalism and approach to missions, you're able to not take things too seriously. I can see why Fury trusts you as much as he does."

"Thanks?" Clint raises an eyebrow, not sure where this is going.

"And that confidence Fury has with you earned you a fulfilling life, despite the dangerous missions. Tell me," Batman lowers his voice, "what's it like to have a family?"

Worried by what he heard, Clint's posture tensed, his hand ready to reach for his bow, but when he looked into the Bat's eyes, it took him a second to see that the man was actually being earnest. Relaxing a bit, Clint took a quick glance around them, making sure no one is around to hear, "How did you know? Fury made sure not to record anything about them in SHIELD's files."

"I didn't," came Batman's reply, "But compared to the rest of your teammates, you seem to be the only one with a level head on his shoulders and both his feet on solid ground. Signs of a good man with everything to lose, that's why I just want you to know, I envy you for it."

Surprised that he is complimented by The Batman himself, Clint's form visibly relaxed and he couldn't help but snort a bit, "It's not easy for starters, sure being married was fun and all, but when kids come to the picture, your entire life is turned upside down. But I'm lucky to have one hell of a wife who understands me and what I do, and still loves me no matter what, she's my anchor," the archer smiles, reminiscing, "And hey, you might be lucky to find yourself somebody like that one day."

Now the one who gives a quick grunt, Batman only nods his head and continues on his way, leaving the SHIELD agent wondering to himself what brought all of that on. When an epiphany hit him, he merely gave a whistle before following the Bat.

From there, the Dark Knight sees Captain Rogers already geared up in a utilitarian designed navy-blue suit, the textures indicate a Kevlar-based ballistic component similar to his own. Another detail to the uniform is a silver star on his chest and what looks to be a small magnetic alloy located at the back, most likely for the shield to be attached to. Adjusting his gloves, Steve spots his allies for this mission.

"Nice suit," Batman compliments.

"It's a new uniform SHIELD designed, they call it the SHIELD Strike Stealth Suit," Rogers explains as he puts on his helmet and places his shield on his back.

The three of them walk to mission control, where Fury, Hill, Banner and Thor are waiting. "We're ready when you are," Fury informs the trio, "And give this to Agent Romanov while you're at it," he hands over a duffel bag with the SHIELD logo.

Accepting the bag, Batman, with Banner walking behind, followed by Clint then Steve, they continue to the flight deck. The night wind blowing briskly, the four approach the custom aircraft they saw a year ago when the Bat returned after his hiatus.

"How did you even manage to park this thing without alerting anyone?" Clint wonders.

"It's coated in state-of-the-art radiation-absorbent materials for radars, including the capability to scatter microscopic fiberglass chaff particles to jam cameras," the Dark Knight reveals as he opens the canopy, "It's not as advanced as the stealth technology of the Helicarrier, but it does the job."

Impressed, Clint tilts his head, "Nice, though I do notice it's only a two seater," he looks back to Batman who doesn't comment at all, "Well it's a good thing I stretched," he says as he cracks his neck, "Banner can take the back seat, Cap and I can just latch on the side cannons," he casually speaks, helping Dr. Banner up.

Watching the two settle themselves on the aircraft, Batman calls out Rogers' name, causing him to turn, "Captain Rogers, thank you."

"For what?" Steve wonders.

"You'll know when this is all over," was the only response.

Raising an eyebrow, Steve didn't question it further and proceeds to hop on the other side cannon of the aircraft.

Feeling assured himself, Batman gets on board the custom aircraft with half the Avengers in tow. Bruce Banner seated at the back, Barton and Rogers holding onto both sides of the vehicle, the Caped Crusader starts up the engines and silently lifts off, departing towards Gotham.

While watching them leave, Fury notes that there is someone missing within his company, "Where's Stark?" he looks around before eyeing Thor, who in turn stares back at the one-eyed director as he shrugs.

"He may have mentioned going to the bathroom," The Asgardian answers before innocently smiling.

Gotham…

With the sun setting and the shadows enveloping the city, Batman lands the aircraft in a dark alley between the buildings. "Keep radio silence unless absolutely necessary," Batman reminds the soldier and the archer.

Jumping off the vehicle, Agent Barton heads off one direction while Captain America sneaks away towards another. Before withdrawing from his vehicle, Batman turns to his passenger, "Stay here until one of your teammates comes back Dr. Banner," he tells the doctor, who nods back.

Batman grabs his grappling gun and aims upwards, zipping up to the roof of a building to meet with Selina. Promptly finding her in a few minutes, he notices she seems to be frantically searching for something… or rather someone. Quickly realizing that the other member of the duo isn't around to be seen, he quietly glides down, "Where is she?" he asks The Cat.

The brunette swiftly took a fighting stance and was about to throw a punch when she turned around, "Well look who's finally back, did your little meeting go as well as you'd hoped?" Selina's posture lightened somewhat, putting a hand on her hip, but there was still tenseness in her face.

"Where is Romanov?" Batman asks again.

"I don't know, I've been searching for her for over an hour!" came the reply, "All I found was this… but you're not gonna like it…" she adds ominously as she slowly pulls out what looks to be a bloodied playing card from her belt.

His eyes widening, his teeth grinding, his fists clenching and unclenching as he stares at the card for a few seconds before taking the card from her. 'No… not him… not now!' raging thoughts flooding through his head as he scowls at the playing card's face before crumpling it under his grip.

Earlier…

Natasha still couldn't believe it, shaking her head as she watches Bruce Wayne being dragged into City Hall toward the Kangaroo Court, and spotting Selina in her burglar attire entering through another side of the building. What was in her thoughts is not the whole deal that Bruce Wayne is Batman, but it was that the man was willing to give her The Clean Slate just like that, the tool that she has heard of before will help her clear her ledger, she never imagined that she could be so close to achieving it.

Deep in thought, Natasha takes a deep breath as she closes her eyes, letting the cold winter air hit her as she organizes the thoughts in her head, preparing to make a detailed report once this is all over. 'Tomorrow, it all ends tomorrow,' she thought. Suddenly, a woman's scream is heard not too far away from her, about a couple blocks away if she guessed right.

"NOOO! PLEASE! DON'T! AAAAAHHHHHHH!" The screams came louder. Looking back at City Hall, she anticipated she had a few minutes before Selina returns with the good news, plenty of time to quickly end this and come back before they wonder where she went.

Running to where the incursion is occurring, Natasha turns a corner towards an alleyway to find a trenchcoated woman holding a bloody knife slowly approaching another woman who seems to have stumbled onto the pavement. The attacker's back facing her, Natasha rapidly comes up behind, grabs the armed hand, twists it in a wristlock and pushes her face first to the ground.

"You really don't want to do this right now," Natasha threatens the would-be aggressor. When no response came, the agent checks to see blood oozing to the snowy pavement; thinking the assailant accidentally stabbed herself with her own knife when she knocked her down, Romanov turns to the victim and asks, "Are you okay?'

The victim, a blond woman with a fair complexion, dressed in a blue long-sleeve buttoned-down shirt and black jeans, was still looking up at her from the ground, nods her head, "Yeah, I'm okay. Thanks for the help," the blond replies with a slight Brooklyn tinge in her accent.

Before she could reply in kind, a realization hit Natasha in the pit of her stomach… the scream she heard a while ago had no such inflection. Turning back to the female assailant, Natasha uses her foot to turn the body over. What she saw appalled her more than anything she's seen in recent memory, the trenchcoated woman's face has been viciously carved in a Glasgow Grin, blood exuding from her mutilated cheeks as tears leak down her eyes, undoubtedly from the tremendous agony she must have experienced. Horrified, Natasha immediately jumped back from the convulsing body, facing the 'victim' only a second too late as a wooden plank smacks her hard right across the temple, knocking her down.

Her vision blurring, undeniably a concussion, Natasha looks up to see the blond woman was the one who attacked her with a two by four of all things. Struggling to get back up, she feels someone's foot stomp her back down. The pulsating sensation of her head tempting her to submit to unconsciousness, she catches a glimpse of who stepped on her. From the back she can see it's a male wearing purple pants and overcoat, along with his stringy, unkempt hair that's dyed green.

The male casually walks to the body of the disfigured woman, gingerly picking up the knife and says, "I'll be taking that back," he expresses in a lackadaisical manner before grabbing a cloth from his overcoat to wipe the blood off the knife.

"How did I do?" the blond accomplice asks enthusiastically.

"Hmm? Oh, you did well, sweetheart," the man pats the blond on the head, "Now get rid of the body while I talk to our new guest, okay?"

Making a mock salute, the blond smiles and lifts the body up fireman style, tossing it inside a nearby car then starting the engine.

Before her consciousness completely fades, Natasha watches the male stride towards and squats next to her. What she could see most notably is his face that's covered in a cracked and runny layer of white clown makeup, his sunken eyes thickly rimmed in black with a sloppy red grin painted from the mouth to the cheeks.

"Well helllloooooo~ beautiful," he grins as his face comes closer, moving her hair away from her face so he could get a better look, "To be honest, I didn't think anyone still wants to play hero around here," he slaps her in the cheek in a playful manner, "But then again, uh, people like you does put a smile on my face, heh."

Those were the last words Natasha hears before she finally blacks out.

To Be Continued…

Welp… The Joker finally makes his reappearance in the story. What will happen to Natasha?

Also, this story arc is before Winter Soldier, so the public doesn't know about SHIELD yet. I think.

And let me know if there's anything I can improve on. I do use some of your ideas on chapters.

Plus, there is an idea I've been thinking of, but first I need to finish this story! Lol!

I apologize again that this chapter took so long to post.