Chapter V – Doctor Hunting

"Time to suit up I guess." Bruce says gloomily, glancing at the quickly setting sun.

"Aww." I sigh, pushing myself off of the leather couch. I like spying on people as much as the next hero, but I was thoroughly enjoying spending the whole day with Bruce more.

Bruce pulls me onto my feet, "Come on, it'll be fun." He winks, slapping my shoulder lightly. "And, if we get out of there okay, maybe I'll take us out for a ride in the Batwing."

Bruce and I pull on our suits and pack in as many weapons as we can, reviewing what each one does as we go.

"EMP gun, what does it do?" Bruce asks quickly, handing it to me.

"Disables any and all electrical equipment." I answer, putting it back into my belt.

Bruce picks up a hand full of stun pellets, "What are these and what do they do?"

I take them from the palm of his hand, "Stun pellets, and they emit bright light and deafening sound to completely blind and deafen enemies."

"Good job! Now," Bruce picks up a new tool he hadn't given me before, "This is a Rebreather, it will allow you to breath underwater or survive in areas with low oxygen."

I put it into my belt, "Anything else?"

"Well, I have other tools and weapons than that, but you won't be needing them."

"Alright then, are we ready to go?"

"Actually, I have one more thing to give you." Bruce picks up a container full of what appear to be metal tags, "Here, these are trackers for your clan. They clip onto the insides of their ears painlessly, and are very discreet. I designed them just for your cats."

"When, and how did you have time to make these?"

"I actually designed them while you were getting changed this morning. The Bat computer has been working on them all day." Bruce says casually, as if that wasn't a huge favor.

"You really did that for me?" I ask, stunned that a guy I barely know would go through all that trouble just for a clan of cats and a girl that he had only really known for a couple of days.

"Yeah, I really did." Bruce smirks, "They are already to go whenever you are. You can program them to each individual cat by using your goggles. Which can be voice activated by the way."

"Thanks Bruce. You are really sweet."

Bruce's smile fades into a frown, "Thanks. But enough of the sappy stuff, we need to get serious and get going."

My smile fades too, "Yeah, let's go."

I make sure my gear is secure, then hop on my new bike. Bruce does the same.

"Ready?" He asks, revving his bike. A separate rock panel opens up behind the vehicles, and Bruce spins his bike around to face it.

I start up my bike and face the exit too. "Ready." I nod reassuringly.

Bruce and I speed down the streets of Downtown Gotham, weaving in and out of the few cars that are on the road. Surprisingly, there's not a police officer in site about to pull us over. Which as concerning as that is for the safety of the rest of the city, at the moment it's helping us greatly.

"You okay Selina?" Bruce radios into the headset of my helmet, looking over at me.

I press a button on my helmet near my jaw, "Doing just fine Bruce."

"Alright, just checking. Get ready to take this next exit."

Bruce mergers into my lane and we both move onto the exit ramp.

"In two hundred yards, turn right." My GPS commands through my headset. So, Bruce and I take a left.

"Your destination is ahead on the right." The GPS says. A flag on the map indicates to a large, abandoned laboratory. The faded letters of Luther Corp are on an outdated sign in front of it.

Bruce turns suddenly down a different road instead of going straight towards the lab, and I follow.

We hide the bikes in a pitch black alley and creep towards the abandoned building.

When reach the side of the building, Bruce pulls out his grappling gun and nods at me to do the same. I shake my head, "I prefer to climb." I whisper, releasing my claws and triggering the spring-actioned climbing pistons in my boots. Bruce shrugs and aims his gun.

I jump up the wall almost like a cheetah would run across the plains, something I could never get close to accomplishing with my old suit. I even mange to make it onto the roof faster than Bruce and he wasn't taking his time at all.

"Okay, I didn't know the pistons worked that well!" Bruce exclaims with wide eyes when he reaches the top.

I look down at my boots, where small climbing spokes stuck out of the tips like claws, "I didn't even know I could do that!" I whisper back.

Bruce shrugs, amazed even by his own creation, "Come on." He beckons, creeping towards the glass skylights.

I carefully peek through the glass, and I see what nearly makes me jump through the glass. Dorian has a furiously struggling Bartus tethered to a table and hooked up to a huge machine. I use my cat-like hearing to eavesdrop on what he's saying.

"Sooo. You're Selina's favorite cat? Well, let's just see how she reacts when I start testing on you!" Dorian sneers up at us; he already knew we were here!

Even under his mask, I can tell Bruce is freaked out, "How did Dorian know we were going to be up here?!" he asks, bewildered.

I shake my head, confused, and turn back to what is going on down below. Dorian picks up a container filled with a strange, green substance and faces Bartus, "This is a mixture of meteor rock that was discovered in Smallville Kansas. It causes strange things to happen to living organisms when mixed with something powerful."

"Meteor rock…" Bruce ponders, then he looks afraid as realization hits him, "That's Kryptonite!"

I look back and forth between what's happening below and Bruce's face, "Krypto-what?" I ask worriedly.

"Something very dangerous, I'll explain later. We have to get down there!"

Dorian sneers up at us again, then turns to fill a needle with the Krypto—thing. While his back is still turned, Bruce pulls out a can of explosive gel and sprays it onto the plexiglass, "Step back." He says, pushing me behind him as he backs up.

Bruce ignites the gel and the plexiglass rains down upon Dorian. "Gaaaaarr!" he shouts when I land on top of him.

"Destroy the Kryptonite mixture!" Bruce shouts, releasing some of the cats from cages.

I give Dorian a good stomp in the face and he's out cold. I throw the canisters of the Krypto-stuff to the nearly empty area of the lab, along with a couple pellet grenades. It causes a huge explosion in the far side of the lab, destroying some of the other substances Dorian had created and left on shelves.

A couple more explosions start erupting from the damage, "SELINA, WHAT DID YOU DO?!" Bruce shouts over the noise.

"I'M NOT REALLY SURE!" I scream back, heading to the other cages to release some other captured cats.

Another huge explosion blows up a section of the wall, "WE SHOULD PROBABLY GET OUT OF HERE!" Bruce says loudly, the rest of the cats jumping down from the cages.

"WHAT ABOUT DORIAN?" I shout.

"LEAVE HIM! JUST GET THE CATS'S AND GO!"

I pick up Bartus and run, "WE HAVE TO GO!" I shout to all the cats, and they follow quickly behind me.

Bruce, the cats and I get out just in time. We watch in horror as the abandoned building goes up in flames, explosions blowing out the walls.

We stand there for a moment, frozen with realization at what had happened, but then Bruce does something I wasn't expecting; he starts chuckling.

I look over him curiously, "What are you laughing at?! I just blew up a building and killed a guy in the process!"

Bruce continues laughing, "Well, killing him is what you wanted wasn't it?"

I look at Bruce like he's crazy "Yeah, I wanted to, but you said not to!"

Bruce still laughs, as if he hadn't heard me, "You know, for your first rescue mission, that wasn't bad!"

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" I shout at him.

Bruce is now giggling like a madman—not hearing a word I'm saying—and collapses to the ground in fits of laughter.

"Bartus, go take all of these cats and meet up with Lotus and Boots, they are hiding near the lair. There's something really wrong with Bruce!" I shout at Bartus, getting down onto my knees beside Bruce.

Bartus runs off with all of the cats without hesitation and I stare into Bruce's eyes, "Bruce! Are you still there Bruce?! Stay with me!" Bruce's pupils dilate in and out, "H-h-h-e-elp!" He laughs insanely.

I am afraid I'm losing him, "BRUCE! Bruce come back!" I watch, with tears forming in my eyes. Bruce's eyes go dead. He's laughing, but it's as if there's no real person behind those beautiful, blue eyes anymore.

"Bruce…" I say quietly.

The motorcycles stop in the center of the Batcave. Tears in my eyes, I pick a madly twitching Bruce and carry him into the elevator. It dings and the door opens into the library. Alfred jumps when it pings, and turns around, "Lady Selina?" he says, confused by my tears, then he sees Bruce in my arms, flinching at every sound. "What happened to Master Bruce?"

"I d-d-don't kn-know." I shake with quiet sobs, setting Bruce down on the couch, "He was fine one second, and then he just started laughing like a maniac… Alfred… I watched the life disappear from his eyes."

Alfred clutches heart, "Joker Venom!" he murmurs. "…We may not be too late Lady Selina… You stay here and watch over Master Bruce, there's someone who may be able to save him."

Alfred rushes out of the room. "Wait! Alfred. What's wrong with Bruce?" I call after him. But Alfred doesn't reply.

"Don't worry Bruce," I rest a hand on his chest, "You're going to be okay." I say uncertainly, looking down upon his still twitching body.

April 12th 2012

I awake with my head resting on Bruce's chest, his body seeming normal again. Somehow the both of us are back in regular clothes. Me in my blue blouse and skirt I bought at The Pampered Ones, and Bruce in a grey suit.

I look around and Alfred is across the room talking to someone in a brown suit with a white lab coat on top. I turn back to Bruce, slowly lift one of his eyelids and am thrilled to find they too are back to normal. I clutch Bruce around his waist and hug him tightly. "I thought I lost you!" I whisper furiously.

"We almost did." A voice says. I open my eyes again and see the mysterious man standing over the couch. I examine his face further, he seems familiar, but I just can't place his face.

"Doctor Kirk Langstrom." He says, sticking out his hand. "Couple minutes later, and there would've been no way of saving him."

I slowly take his hand and shake it, "Selina… What was wrong with Bruce, Doctor? And how did you know how to cure him?"

Langstrom sits down on a chair across from me, "Ah, well, have you ever heard of the Joker?"

My eyebrows stitch together, "No. Who or what is the Joker? And what does he have to do with this?"

"Well there is this crazy super villain called the Joker. He is a big enemy of that vigilante called Batman. Anyways, about four months ago, the Joker invented this gas he called Joker Venom, and he was going to release it on the city. I was the one who discovered how to cure people who had been infected.

"Joker Venom is very dangerous stuff. It starts out like laughing gas, but when the chemicals start reaching your brain, it starts killing off your sense of reality, eventually you lose complete control and it's like you're not even in your own body anymore. And not to long after, you begin to die.

"Alfred tells me that you two were doing some chemistry tests and Mr. Wayne got exposed to a variety of it during a lab accident? Apparently someone mixed a variation of the recipe for Joker Venom and Bruce was the only one who was affected. Is that correct?"

I realize that Alfred made up that story to protect our secret identities, he was the one who put us in our clothes. I have to stick to that story, otherwise we could get in some serious trouble.

I nod quickly, "Yes. That's correct. We were trying to make a formula to uh— to uh— er…" I bite my lip, then I come up with something, "We were trying to create a solution to reduce the CO2 waste in our atmosphere!" 'Yeah, that's it. Sound like some seventeen year old that's actually concerned about the environment in Gotham' I think to myself.

Langstrom raises an eyebrow.

"Yes." I continue, glancing at Alfred for a split second, "Then this idiot in our lab mixed one too many substances, and it blew up, causing a fire. Everyone got out of there okay, but Bruce went back in to save our formula, and I guess when the other chemicals mixed with ours, it must have made that uh—what is it called?"

"Joker Venom." Langstrom provides.

"Yes, the Joker Venom. Bruce looked fine on the outside, so I didn't know what was happening to him until we were on our way back here."

Langstrom's eyebrow scrunch together slightly, "And you didn't think to go to the hospital?"

I chew on my lip, Langstrom is onto me. Luckily, Alfred cuts in, "I was with them sir. I knew what was wrong and that only you, sir, knew how to cure him."

For a moment, Langstrom doesn't look like he's buying it, but a smile washes over his face. "I'm quite flattered that you thought of me, I'm just surprised and a little concerned that you didn't get him to proper medical first, before contacting me."

The weight in my chest lifts. Good, he finally bought it.

Bruce starts to stir, "Well, thank you Doctor." I stand up, "We will know what to do next time." A strange urge pushes me, and suddenly I am hugging Langstrom and crying into his lab coat, "Th-thank you so m-much!" I choke.

Langstrom pats my back awkwardly, and Alfred places his hand on my shoulder.

I back away from Langstrom and give him a small smile.

"Well, I must be going." he says, pointing to the door awkwardly, "Just to let you both know though, it may take a while for Bruce to fully heal. His ribs were pretty badly bruised and pushed just a hair out of alignment when he collapsed. Also, the effects of the spastic laughing will cause his abdomen and his lower chest to be very sore for a while, depending on how he heals."

Alfred and I both nod.

As soon as Langstrom closes the door behind him, Bruce's eyes snap open. He sees Alfred and me standing over him, "Selina, Alfred, what happened?"

"What do you remember?" I help him sit up.

Bruce closes his eyes and rubs his temples like he has a headache, "The last thing I remember is me shouting at you, asking what you did after some explosions started happening."

I suck my lips for a second, "Well, the chemicals on Dorian's shelved mixed together during the explosions I caused, and apparently they mixed and created a version of Joker Venom. The cats and I weren't affected by it somehow, but you were."

"Joker Venom?!" Bruce shouts, standing up rapidly, but he groans in pain and sits back down. "Ow. My head." he sighs.

"Careful Master Bruce, you've been through quite an ordeal." Alfred says.

"How am I still alive then? And how'd we get back here?"

Alfred speaks up, "Lady Selina brought you back here last night. As for how you're still alive, I informed Dr. Kirk Langstrom about the situation and he cured you."

Something crosses my mind, "Wait, Alfred. How did you get my clothes?"

Alfred smiles, "Actually, you can thank your cats for that. Just after you arrived, three of your clan and one other cat brought that outfit here. So, after I called Dr. Langstrom, I took your suits off and put you into clothes so the doctor wouldn't find out about your secrets."

Bruce pats Alfred's arm, "Thank you Alfred. You saved both of our butts."

Alfred gives a small bow and smile, "I would do anything for you Master Bruce." He winks and walks into the kitchen.

I sit down next to Bruce and he lays a hand on my knee, "Thank you too Selina." He says gratefully, "Without you, I would have died."

I smile, but then frown, looking down at my lap "Well, it was my fault. I caused you to get infected, so it was the least I could do."

Bruce rubs my back, "We all make mistakes. And actually, the least you could have done was leave me behind… Any other person who had only known me a couple of days would not have gone to the same lengths as you to save my ass. Even if it was their fault."

I smirk and look back at Bruce, thinking of something funny to say to cheer us both up, "I guess you're right. Even when I totally screw up, I am fabulous!"

Bruce laughs, but stops, clutching his chest.

"You alright?" I ask, concerned.

"I'm fine. Just the effects of the Joker Venom still wearing off I guess."

I stay silent for a moment, "You know Bruce, you're the first human I've really cared about in a long time."

"I care about you too Selina… Do I really mean that much to you?"

I nod, "It wasn't until last night that I truly realized it… I really thought I'd lost you."

Bruce holds my hand with both of his and looks deeply into my eyes, "I'm not going anywhere anytime soon."

"Good." I say quietly, slowly leaning in towards to Bruce. Bruce leans in closer to me too, and before I know it, our lips are touching. I move my hands around Bruce's waist and pull him closer. We are kissing slowly and passionately and Bruce's hands just graze my waist under the very bottom of my shirt, but not going any higher. I put my hands behind his head and we continue kissing, his hands gently rubbing the small of my back. Bruce picks up the speed of the kiss ever so slightly and moves his hands back on top of my shirt, slowly moving up my spine.

"Master Bruce—oh my." Alfred comes into the room and sees the two of us.

Bruce and I break apart quickly at the sound of Alfred's voice.

"Yes Alfred?" Bruce asks, moving away from me by an inch.

"Er— your breakfast is ready sir." Alfred says awkwardly.

"Oh… We'll be in in a moment." Bruce says, standing up, and flinching slightly.

Alfred nods curtly and walks out.

"I'm so sorry Bruce. I don't know what came over me." I say quickly, avoiding his gaze.

Bruce raises an eyebrow, "You did nothing wrong Selina. And if you did, I'm as much to blame as you. If not more."

I look into Bruce's eyes for a moment, with a glimmer of a smile, then look down at the floor, walking into the Kitchen. Bruce follows close behind me.

Alfred has spread a small arraignment foods in the kitchen varying from your normal breakfast items like pancakes and eggs, to your more posh items such as smoked salmon and caviar.

"This is a rather large breakfast Alfred, why so much?" Bruce asks, scanning the room.

"Well Master Bruce, you're still under the weather and just narrowly escaped a possible death, so I thought, why not celebrate the fact that you're still with us?"

Bruce grins, "You didn't have to do all of this for me Alfred. I would have been fine with the usual waffles and eggs benedict."

Alfred smiles, but doesn't say anything else.

Having more of a taste for seafood, I go straight for the smoked salmon and caviar, then I grab a pancake.

I sit down at the round kitchen table and wait for Bruce as he gets his blueberry waffles.

When Bruce starts to sit down at the table, he winces, so I help him slowly down into his seat and scoot a little closer to him.

"I've haven't had a pancake in a million years." I say, cutting off a piece with my fork.

"Well you'll like these. Alfred makes some killer pancakes!" he winks.

I take a bite and it's like heaven in my mouth. The pancake is the smoothest buttermilk pancake I have ever tasted and has tiny dark chocolate chips mixed into it.

"Hoh mygob." I say with my mouth full. I swallow, "Oh, my god those are good!"

"I told you." Bruce chuckles, but stops and closes his eyes, "I gotta stop doing that." He groans, but still smirks.

I rub Bruce's upper back lightly, "We're going to get through this." I say, "Langstrom said it might be a while before you are fully healed, but we'll get there."

Bruce nods, "Thanks Selina. I'm glad I have you and Alfred to help me through it. I haven't been this incapacitated since I was four, when I had the measles."

We share a small, gentle laugh.

"More pancakes for you Lady Selina?" Alfred asks, bringing a pan full of them to the table.

I grin and nod, "Oh yes please!"

Alfred lays two fresh pancakes on my now empty plate and I can feel the heat rising up from here.

"Thank you Alfred."

"Sooo… No Emile Dorian to worry about anymore, right?" Bruce says.

"I guess." I say, "I just wish it didn't have to be death that stopped him from doing those horrible thing. I mean he was bad, but I don't think he deserved to die… it's not like he was a murderer. He was just an insane scientist."

"You're right." Bruce nods, "In fact I made I promise myself that I wouldn't fight crime with killing when I can. The only time I kill is when it is absolutely necessary. With Dorian, it wasn't at all."

I exhale heavily and stare at my pancakes, letting the heat warm my face.

The house stays completely silent for a while, and Bruce and I finish eating our breakfast. Just as I'm standing up though, I see a dark figure out of the corner of my eye. I turn my head quickly to see, but who or whatever it was has disappeared.

"Did you see that?" I ask Bruce, helping him out of his chair.

"See what?" he asks, still wincing as he stands.

"…Never mind…" I decide it was probably nothing and should just forget about it.