A/N: I've reached over 2,000 views!
I'd like to thank Saulo Snow and CharlotteKat for their loyal support. I hope you guys remain dedicated to my story and the planned sequel I have.
Gotham's Soul Part One
Bruce's breathing was killing him. His battered reflection stared back at him only recognizing a stranger, to say the least. Beads of water he splashed on his face dripped back down to the sink.
Weird. He imagined the droplets were retreating down the drain to escape from all the vile phenomena transpiring. If only he could join the free liquids.
He has had some astoundingly bad days before. It was not nearly as horrible as the previous ones, nevertheless, today was added to the list. It all started at Ace Chemicals.
Twenty-four hours ago
The incident at Ace Chemicals was absolute chaos.
Before entering, Bruce went to do some surveillance from the roof. Just as soon as he entered through a skylight, the workers scattered about in terror. He wasn't sure if it was him or not. It's not likely they saw him. He slipped in soundlessly through the opening into the rafters and down onto a catwalk. The sort of stealth Selina would be proud of. But everything was a mess immediately. A lot of things were destroyed and a lot of people got hurt.
It wasn't until Jim burst in where everything really got bad. There was so much screaming and yelling. The workers even tried to fire or throw things at him. They must've come to the right place. Jim drew his gun and fired a few shots. Some were hit either fatally or simply wounded.
Bruce ran across the walkway. A few men standing there jumped from his sudden arrival. A few jumped over the railing. Most landed okay, but one guy with ridiculously dyed hair got electrocuted. And one poor soul in a red cap jumped into a tank of unknown fluids as he saw Bruce approaching.
Admits the bedlam, some got away. It was hard to tell if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Good that they didn't die. Bad that they were on the loose.
He climbed down from the platform and met up with his companion.
"The hell was that?" Jim asked shaken and rapidly turning to watch out for more surprises.
"I don't know," Bruce blurted while copying his friend's shifty actions. "They were probably startled." Which made no sense since he was so quiet. Did someone see him sneak in? For the whole crowd, it must've been just an instinctive reaction from a crowd of people.
They then remembered their plan. There were vats of some kind of chemicals. But was that the chemical they were investigating? The workers did look a bit like Valeska followers. Jim and Bruce had no way to see if those chemicals were what they were looking for. And they couldn't risk touching it. The most logical means to uncover it was to check out the factory's office.
They climbed to the second floor and into what they were sure was an office. The light switch couldn't work for some reason, but they could see fine. Papers were littered all over the desk. Everything was a mess. Even the writing on the papers. They were all unclear and organized in the way the author's mind worked, as in insane. It was a lot like Jerome's journal. Except not all of these pages were of graphic drawings about killing him or his brother.
Jim took a closer look. "This has to be the place," he said. "This place just screams 'Jerome' or 'Jeremiah'."
They went through the pile of papers. Through it, Bruce eventually picked out a binding with scratches that looked like a formula list. "I think this is it," he said. He took out his phone and pulled up the text of the chemical formula Lucius sent. With a little mental deciphering, it matched up.
"Got it," he said.
"I'll call the others," Jim said whipping out his phone.
Bruce took a moment to look at the other papers. They were so unorganized and poorly written. It ought to take an anthropologist to decipher how the writer's brain worked.
"Harvey," Jim said into his phone.
"Jim," Bullock's voice echoed out of the speakerphone. "Penguin took forever to convince him to check out Daggett and then we found nothing. Please tell me you got something."
"We did," Jim replied into the microphone. "Can you meet us here at Ace?"
"I don't think we're close enough," Harvey said. "I'd think it'd be better we meet back at HQ."
"Okay." He then hung up and face back to Bruce. "Let's get going. We'll just have to—LOOK OUT!"
Something took over Bruce's motor skills as he ducked and kicked in a knee from someone hidden behind him. The stranger fell before Jim could take a shot. Bruce dragged the mystery man out of the office. Grabbing him by the collar, he slammed him against the catwalk railing outside.
"Who are you?!" Bruce growled.
The man didn't seem so flustered. Just tired. "A mere Jack. No Queen, King, or Ace. One of four out of the four noble suits. Sixteen out of fifty-two. And nothing like the great suit that holds the fifty-two together." He began to laugh. "The joke's on you. He's coming." His head fell back suddenly deadweight.
Bruce was beyond confused. Jim reached for the man's pulse point. Bruce felt almost ashamed for not making sure he was alive.
"He's alive," Gordon confirmed. "He's just unconscious. We should get out of here."
They stuffed whatever papers they could into their pockets and carried the heavy guy to the car. They handcuffed him and stuffed him in the trunk. Even restrained they didn't trust him enough to put him in the backseat.
On the way back to the Green Zone, Bruce looked at the clock on the dashboard and it read that it was after midnight. He wondered how Selina was sleeping.
Jeremiah stood over her laughing as she bled out. The pain was unbearable. She has never felt so helpless, so vulnerable, so weak. She tried to speak. To tell him to stop. To call for Bruce. But her voice was broken.
Jeremiah's grotesque white hand reached down and slipped into her wound. The pain was unbelievably worse than before. And as he pulled out, he pulled out her baby. He held him by the leg laughing hysterically. The baby cried out for his mother as he was being swung around, begging her to save him. Selina couldn't move. Couldn't make a sound. Couldn't do anything except watching her baby crying out for her.
The sick bastard held the infant up close to inspect his bloody upside-down face.
"Hmm... what a lovely resemblance." Jeremiah hummed. His gaze fell back to her and he released his grip. The crying stopped with a horrible "CRACK!"
"NOOOOOO!"
She woke with a start. Tears streaming out of her eyes as she hugged her belly.
It was just a dream. One of her worst memories with something else added. It was so horrible.
She impulsively reached over to Bruce's side but found it cold and empty. That's when it all came crashing back.
The clock said she barely had an hour of sleep. It just figures. Without Bruce there for her to hold, it took forever for her to fall asleep. Now it wasn't likely for her to return. But she lazily laid on her side too tired to do anything. She took his pillow and snuggled up into it. It still smelled like him. God, what would she give to have Bruce there to spoon her? Just thinking that made her feel a bit antsy with some pleasantly hot thoughts.
She felt the baby kick. Must've sensed her brainwaves.
"Can't sleep either, sweetheart?" She whispered. "You miss your daddy?" She felt another kick as a reply. She smiled weakly. "Me too."
She fantasized about a horrible daydream. What if, for some reason, Bruce doesn't come back? What if he dies? Then the baby would grow up without knowing their father. Well, Selina never knew hers, but she wanted her child to have one.
Whoever her father was, he was probably some worthless lowlife who met Maria Kyle and knocked her up. But was he like a boyfriend or some random creep who raped her? Who cares?
All that matters is that it wasn't like that for Selina. And Bruce promised he would—will—come back. He's too stubborn to die. Could she be able to raise a child alone? No! Bruce will return to her. He means too much to her!
Oh please. He's just a guy. Why are you make such a big deal out of it? said a younger version of herself.
She would've indeed looked down on women so heartbroken about a man leaving them. She thought of them as pathetic. But that Selina had never been in love before.
Did she love Bruce? That was always kind of a tricky subject for her. Everyone she may or may not love always walked out on her. Her own mother left her, twice. The orphanage and foster homes never made her feel safe and at home. Then Ivy, Bridgit, Barbara, and Tabitha all walked out on her. But Bruce was the only one who stuck. He made her feel safe. But did he love her? He's never said it himself.
She wasn't a person who was afraid to speak her mind. But she didn't show affection by saying it. No, she showed it in different ways.
She definitely loved him enough to allow him to do it with her. And to keep his child growing inside her.
Perhaps she should have said it when he left. What if that was the last time she'll see him? And he'll never know if she loved him or not.
"Stop that!" she whispered to herself. She shouldn't think like that.
Selina pondered on if she should call him just to hear his voice and see how he's doing. It's the middle of the night, she argued. He's probably sleeping or working and in a tough spot. Best not to disturb him.
"C'mon. Don't think like that, Cat," she said to herself. If she allows herself to think of bad things like that, she'll never go back. She should think of good things.
She grabbed her phone from the nightstand and opened up the photos. The first she stopped to look at was of her and Bruce atop a mountain in Switzerland. In the picture, she was wearing a heavy coat and pack and a mauve skullcap flattening her hair. And Bruce, with his beard and getup, he'd looked like a professional mountain climber. They were smiling at the camera phone with the background of an azure sky with puffy clouds above the rocky ground they sat on.
That was a fun week. It was cold up there and the names of the town and everything were hard to remember. Not to mention she didn't understand a word the people there said. Albeit some locals did speak some English.
The Alps were stunning, nonetheless. And surprisingly, climbing a mountain is harder than climbing a skyscraper.
"Ugh, how much farther?" Selina complained.
"Not that much," Bruce replied unfazed by her antipathy. "Come on. Don't you want to see the view from the top?"
She stopped in her tracks to stare at him intently. "Don't you want to see the view underneath this from the bedroom?" she gestured to herself.
He gave her a critical glance. "You know that threat is a lot more effective if you didn't use it so often."
"But it's always pretty damn effective." She marched ahead of him after giving him a quick pat on the derrière.
By the time they were near the summit, Selina was having trouble breathing.
"It's the high altitude," he explained passing her but still stopping to wait for her. "The atmospheric pressure is much thinner up here."
"I-I climb up drainpipes," she argued through some ragged breaths. "I jump off rooftops… all of which are very-very high…. I should be used to thin air."
"Technically the elevation of the Alps is higher than the elevation back home. So the air pressure—"
"Technically, I don't care!" Selina groaned.
When they finally reached the top, the taxing climb was worth it—though she would never admit…. Oh, she couldn't help it.
"I admit. This was worth it," she confessed. Bruce didn't say anything except wrapped his arm around her and she subconsciously leaned into him.
Straight down, they could see the chalet at the foot of the mountain. The place was unusually smaller than what Selina thought was the ideal house size for Bruce Wayne. Nonetheless, more than big enough for her. And so was the master bedroom and master-mistress bed.
When Bruce suggested they go mountain climbing, she did not hesitate. Alfred offered to go with them to look out for them, but Bruce said they'll be fine. Again Alfred asked if they were going to be okay, and Bruce said he'll be fine. He whispered to him that he had Selina with him. Apparently, it was something the stringent butler understood with deep meaning. He did not mean for her to hear it, yet she did but kept silent.
The mid-morning sun beaming on their backs as they sat on a cold boulder. The brisk wind kissing their faces as they soaked in the image of the valley. Selina had never felt so free. It was her first time leaving the States and visiting a place that was not a city. That mountain—whatever the locals called it—was the highest she has ever been. She certainly felt high. The air was so clean. The snowcapped peaks glowing gold with the sun's rays. She felt like the Queen of Everything. Along with her king.
Selina sighed from the memory. Why the hell did Gotham need him? Shouldn't it be Gordon's job alone to take care of the damn city?
She closed her phone and put it back on the side table. She snuggled back into Bruce's pillow again, trying to imagine it was his chest. The feather pillow did absolutely nothing to measure up to his stature.
The baby kicked again.
Smiling, Selina rubbed her belly again. "You're a pretty lucky kid, ya know. You possibly have the best daddy to take care of you… when he gets back…. He will if he knows what's good for him."
Little Bruce Jr. seemed to have fallen asleep himself.
God no! Not Bruce Jr., she thought.
They have discussed what to name the baby. They came up with a list of possibilities:
Thomas
Martin
James
Jack
Robert
As expected, they couldn't concur on one. So she suggested waiting until after the delivery.
The labor has been a dread of hers. Could you blame her? It was always a risky few hours for both mother and child. And for first-time moms, it could last for twelve hours.
God help her.
Twelve painful hours. But hey, if women decide to go through it knowing what would come—and choose to do it repeatedly—Selina Kyle could do it too. Plus she will have drugs to dull it.
Three more months to go, and she better not be alone during it.
Please come home, B
A/N: This turned out longer than I thought and I plan to post all new chapters by the end of every month to give you guys a predictable time to expect an update.
Next chapter, you'll see what has been bothering Bruce, and trust me, it's a doozy—for lack of a better phrase.
Please leave your thoughts in the reviews.
Check out Selina's New Family if you haven't yet.
