Chapter 22
Gravity grabbed them. When they moved, it felt like they were moving underwater, every movement taking a lifetime. A lifetime they didn't have.
As the hook released, Catwoman snapped the last of the rope binding them together. Batman grabbed her, the momentum from his earlier movements carrying them towards the cliff face. Catwoman pulled her whip from her sleeve, unfurling it with a snap. She swung hard and wrapped it around a small rock outcropping below the cliff's edge. Batman took the impact with his shoulder as they flew into the cliff, their legs only 10 feet above the green liquids of the pit.
They froze, both knowing not to speak or move. Their position blocked them from view. Catwoman's arm shook with the effort of holding both of them, the rock cracking under their combined weight.
Batman moved carefully, pulling a spare grapple from a hidden compartment in his suit. He gestured to a rock shelf across the pit, positioned higher than Ra's computer console. She nodded. He fired as the rock they hung from gave way. He pulled her closer as they ascended to the shelf. Once they had their footing, he spoke one word:
"Move."
They attacked.
Batman hit Ra's square in the chest with a glide kick, knocking him into Ubu and sending them both backwards.
"Father!" Talia cried as she ran for him. Catwoman stopped her cold with a flying kick to her chest.
Batman grabbed his utility belt and pulled out two exploding grenade pellets. He hit the door to the chamber, causing it to crumble and block reinforcements from entering. The explosion caused the chamber walls to crack and pieces of stone fell from the ceiling, some splashing loudly into the Lazarus pit below.
"Master?" Ubu asked, shaking Ra's shoulders.
"Get him!" Ra's gasped. Ubu jumped to his feet. Screaming, he ran straight for Batman. Batman was ready for him. They battled, punches and kicks landing on both sides.
Talia was back on her feet. She and Catwoman studied each other as they circled the other, both ready to pounce.
"You will pay for your insolence," Talia said. Catwoman rolled her eyes.
"Whatever you say, sweetheart," Catwoman said. Talia lunged at her. She sidestepped the attack and landed an elbow between her shoulder blades as more debris fell from the ceiling.
Ubu backhanded Batman, sending him into the computer console. He repurposed the momentum and did a handspring off it, his boot connecting with Ubu's chin. Without missing beat, he punched downward, catching Ubu's nose and sending him staggering backwards. Rocks fell between them. The cliff beneath their feet shuddered.
"We can't stay here!" Batman said, trying to make him see reason.
"I always wondered what the master saw in you. You are too afraid to face me man to man," Ubu said, kicking high. Batman blocked it and jumped out of range.
"Listen to me! The roof is caving in!"
"You should listen to him," Catwoman yelled as Talia swept her feet out from under her. She utilized her gymnastics training and bounced back to her feet, blocking the kick headed at her left knee.
The cliff shuddered again, almost knocking all of them to the ground. Rocks fell, partially burying Ra's.
"Father!" Talia cried as Ubu cried "Master!" They ran towards Ra's as the cliff cracked.
"We've got to get out of here!" Catwoman cried as she ran towards Batman. He nodded before grabbing the biotoxin from where it was lodged in the computer console. He tucked it into his belt.
Ubu had pulled Ra's from the rocks. He was barely alive.
"Get him in the pit!" Talia said.
"There's no time!" Batman said. Talia ignored him. He grabbed her by the shoulders and made her look at him. "Talia. There's no time. Save yourself."
Her face was frozen, cold. He searched her eyes and found she had reached the same conclusion he'd reached the moment he'd seen her in the hallway: It was over between them. It had been over for a long, long time.
"I have made my choice." She disengaged from him and went to help Ubu. He took one deep, measured breath and turned to Catwoman, who was trying to look as nonchalant as one could while both watching his personal drama unfold and avoid being smashed by large rocks.
"You ok?" she asked. He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled his grapple from his belt.
"Never better," he grumbled. As they ascended towards the opening at the top of the volcanic chamber, he realized he meant it.
^()^ ^()^ ^()^ ^()^ ^()^ ^()^
Selina was seated at the bar area of a restaurant in the Vladikavkaz International Airport. She sipped dark, bitter coffee and watched the activity of the security area through a mirror mounted behind the bottles of alcohol lining the wall.
After escaping the crumbling volcanic chamber, they practically sprinted to the nearest village, where Selina bought them some clothing with the local currency he had tucked away in his belt. He really was prepared for almost everything.
Dressed as normal tourists, she stole them a car and they drove the roughly 30 miles to the Russian city of Vladikavkaz.
"Do you want to talk about it?" she'd asked as she stared out the window at the heavily forested landscape.
"No," he said. That's all he'd said the entire ride.
Once they arrived at the airport, she'd gone through security first using one of the fake passports she always kept hidden in an interior pocket of her suit. Batman wasn't the only one who prepared.
Seventeen minutes after she cleared security, a tall man wearing dark wash jeans, a baseball cap, and a nondescript leather jacket entered the security line pulling a single piece of carry on luggage. As he was setting the bag on the x-ray machine's conveyor belt, Selina pressed the screen of the smartphone sitting in front of her. Dark smoke started to billow from an unmanned x-ray machine. Selina sipped her coffee, barely turning her head as everyone else in the airport was flung into a brief tizzy.
When the smoke cleared, no one noticed that the man in the baseball cap was standing on the other side of the metal detector, his bag on the other side of the machine, though it had never passed through. As the employees tried to discover what had caused the problem with the machine, he simply picked up his bag and walked into the bar.
"Excuse me, miss - is this seat taken?" the tall man asked in accented Russian, indicating the seat next to her at the counter.
"No, go right ahead," she answered.
"Perfect timing," he muttered quietly in English after he had been served a cup of coffee.
"I suppose that means thank you," she said just as quietly, her coffee cup millimeters from her lips. Bruce took a deep swallow of his coffee before looking into the mirror, locking his ice blue eyes with her emerald ones.
"It does." Time slowed as they stared at each other in the mirror, their gazes dancing. They'd been through so much together in the last few days. The partnership they'd forged was fragile but thriving. Bruce looked away first and took a sip of his coffee.
"About Talia-" he said, looking down into his cup. It was important that she knew. She placed her hand on top of his. Her skin was soft, warm. Just like he remembered her to be. He met her eyes in the mirror once more.
She'd seen their exchange on the cliff. She knew. And she understood. She squeezed his hand lightly, drained the rest of her coffee, left a few crumpled rubles on the counter, and headed to her boarding area.