The Shadow Files 9 – Happy Father's Day
The night was quiet for Shadow, too quiet. Shadow was smart enough to know this was never a good thing, especially in Gotham. And on that weekend she was the only one defending the city. Batman was at JLA headquarters and Dark was with the Titans for the weekend. Even Oracle was gone. Batman had asked Shadow to watch over things. She didn't expect to run into many problems but she knew if things got too quiet shit was going to hit the fan.
Shadow's suspicions grew when she noticed a woman in red sneaking around the rooftops. Shadow would have gone right after her but she wasn't dressed for the occasion. So she decided to follow the woman in red. The woman in red was fast, and Shadow had underestimated her. Shadow backtracked to the original place she had seen the woman and tried to pick up the scent again; but she didn't need it because the woman was now coming after her. Shadow barely had time to turn before the woman in red was there. Shadow was surprised at how skilled she was. Shadow didn't even see the dart gun coming. Within seconds there was a huge dart in her side, pumping her body full of sedatives. Shadow tried to be quick by kicking the dart gun and then the woman away but she was getting weaker by the second. Shadow tried to run as she pulled the dart out to stop its injection but it was no use. Whoever the woman was, she had done her homework. The stuff she had used was very powerful and Shadow could go no further than the roof she was on. She couldn't even lift her arms to press the button on the gem pendent Tim had made for her. She would have fallen off the roof it it hadn't of been for the woman. She caught Shadow, pulling her back onto the roof into her arms. The woman kneeled, holding Shadow as she checked her vitals. The woman seemed convinced the trank she had given Shadow should have killed her and was surprised she was still alive. Shadow was barely conscious, unable to move and only able to listen to what the woman was doing, but she didn't get to listen for very long. The woman had picked up the dart Shadow had pulled out and she injected the rest of the sedative into her, as she was ordered. The woman then picked up Shadow's limp body and went to the location she was told to meet the man who had hired her.
The woman arrived at the abandoned hospital she was told to and found the room the man was in. he was surprised to see the woman so soon.
"Amazing, you're as good as they say. Just put her down over there and you can go." The man said.
The woman put Shadow on the table. She couldn't help but pause before leaving. The man in bandages, who had hired her, was bad it was obvious but she sensed nothing evil from Shadow and knew if she left Shadow might die and it would be her fault.
"You're going to kill her aren't you? Why? What is she?" The woman asked.
"She's very special. And the rest is none of you business. But don't worry, if her father is a good boy she wont die… I think. Why do you care? You used to kill for hire. If I'm not mistaken, at least you're not killing her. Now take your money and leave before I decide to kill you too."
The man told her harshly and she reluctantly took her money and left.
Hush had successfully captured Shadow with the help of the woman in red. His sadistic scheme was falling into play. He was free to leave the country with Shadow, or rather Catarena Drake, without anyone finding out until the weekend was over.
It wasn't until Monday morning that Cat was noticed to be truly missing. Tim was worried upon finding she had not been in their loft all weekend and he decided to talk to Bruce immediately to see if he had sent her somewhere at the last minute.
"Hey Alfred, it's Tim. Is Bruce there? I need to ask him something."
Tim said and Alfred brought the phone to Bruce immediately, sensing the urgency in Tim's voice.
"I wasn't expecting to hear from you today." Bruce said.
"Yeah well I was wondering if you sent Cat on an assignment somewhere." Tim told him and Bruce was concerned.
"No. Why?" Bruce asked.
"Because she hasn't been in the loft since I left Friday."
"Did you bring up her location? You know she likes to disappear sometimes." Bruce said.
"I would but she's not wearing her locator. She's not even wearing her full uniform. The only things she isn't wearing are her arm guards, corset and armband. She only does that when she doesn't expect to run into too much trouble. She's wearing the necklace I made her but something is blocking the signal."
Tim told him and the news did not make Bruce happy.
"Come here as fast as you can." Bruce told him and Tim was gone.
As Bruce was making his way down to the cave Alfred came running up to him.
"Sir, you should turn on the news immediately." Alfred told him and they went into the cave.
Upon turning on the news things immediately looked grim. It was Hush broadcasting live from some where and Bruce could see Catarena sitting tied to a chair behind him. She was in the undergarments she wears under her uniform, they look like regular undergarments but Bruce knew Hush wanted it to look like he'd molested her or something, so they wouldn't be suspicious of her outfit. Just then Tim arrived in the cave in time to hear Hush start talking.
"Good morning Gotham! Sorry to interrupt the news but I've got a breaking story that I'm dieing to tell you about, especially Batman. I have here behind me the lovely daughter of Bruce Wayne, Ms Catarena Davis. Oh excuse me she married recently… It's drake now isn't it sweetheart?"
He asked Cat but she couldn't respond and Hush made her nod to the camera.
"I really hope you're paying attention Batman. I'll let the girl live if you can find me in 24 hours, I mean she's already been missing for 48 but no one knew. Not even you. If you don't find me in 24 hours I'll start sending her home in pieces. I only want you Batman. Your time starts now! Oh and I hope you had a happy Father's Day." Hush said and the broadcast was brought back to normal with very stunned looking anchor people. Bruce turned the TV off and glanced at Tim, who looked shocked and outraged at the same time, but Bruce didn't get a chance to contact Oracle or anyone else because his phone started ringing off the hook.
Once Bruce fended off the Gotham police by agreeing to any means they had of finding Cat he went back to Tim who had gotten busy on locating the source of the broad cast with Oracle's help.
"Why put it on the air? Why not contact you directly? I thought he only wanted you?" Tim asked darkly.
"He does, but since his first attempts were foiled he's now trying to break me by going after those I love most. He's been planning this for months; that much is obvious. I let him stay missing for too long. I'm sorry. And he used the TV to get the media's attention. To keep our real lives busy. Reporters should be flooding the gate in moments. Have you had any luck tracking the feed?" Bruce asked.
"None. It's like he created it out of nothing. We don't eve know where to start looking. They've been gone all weekend. They could be any where in the world!" Tim exclaimed.
"There have been suspiciously convinent black outs of time at every airline out of Gotham; but it doesn't happen again anywhere in the world. It could be a trick to make us think he's left the country but with the time frame I'm thinking he is. Dick's been scouring the city for hours but there's no sign of anyone knowing anything." Barbra told them.
"They're at least out of Gotham. That room they were in, I've never seen it before. It looked like an abandoned warehouse. None like any I've seen in Gotham." Dark told them.
"Are you sure her necklace is working?" Bruce asked.
"Well, the GPS isn't up to date but I made it myself it wont break easily. As I've said something's blocking the signal. And I cant hack into it." Dark told him.
"Is she even wearing the necklace? I mean he's already got her in her underwear." Barbra said.
"She's wearing it. I saw it." Dark said.
Just then Dick came in as Nightwing.
"Anything?" Batman asked.
"Just a huge trank dart and the obvious marks of a struggle. From what I could see the attacker came up from behind, tranked Shadow with an insane amount of sedatives. Shadow tried to get away. She kicked her attacker away, pulled the dart out and tried to run but didn't make it to the end of the roof." He told them.
"Wait why are you saying attacker like you don't know who it is. Hush has her." Dark said.
"And you know Hush couldn't get close enough to Cat to do this. Here, smell this and tell me what you think." Dick said as he handed over the evidence bag with the dart inside to Dark.
Dark opened the bag and took a whiff. Immediately he knew it wasn't Hush's scent.
"This is a woman's scent. Rose oil perfume." Dark said and he took the dart out to scan it for fingerprints. But the scan didn't show Hush's finger prints. It showed an unknown woman's fingerprints.
"Guy's I've got a video call coming in, should I?" Barbra asked.
"Yes." Batman told her.
She patched it over to the cave and Hush's bandaged face appeared grinning sadistically at them.
"Hello Bruce. How was your Father's Day?" Hush asked in a joyish tone which made Dark growl low in his throat.
Dick placed a hand on Dark's shoulder, reminding him Hush would want to get him angry. Dark had a hard time controlling his temper when it came to the well being of Cat. Batman glared at Hush's remark but spoke.
"What do you want Tommy? You've made it clear we wont be able to find you. If I'm all you want then you can have me, no tricks. Do whatever you want to me just let my daughter go." Batman said, which made Hush laugh.
"I do want you Bruce, but most of all I want to destroy you. And it occurred to me that the best way to start doing that was by making you watch as I tourture the ones you love. I figured I'd start with her. She seemed the most challenging. Quite a mystery this little one is. I thought if I could get her I could get the rest of your army one by one. It's such a shame… So beautiful. She looks just like you. No wonder she was a model. Looks seem to run in your family." Hush said as he started examining her legs as she laid on a metal table.
"What are you doing?" Bruce asked, which made Hush sigh in annoyance.
"Weren't you listening? I said you're going to watch me tourture her. But first I plan to break her legs. Cant have her running away from me. I've seen how fast she can run." Hush told him as he held one of Cat's legs tightly and put pressure on it until they could hear a snap. The sound, like a sharp sound of a twig breaking in a quiet forest, made them flinch and cringe.
"Looks like she's been getting plenty of milk. Now for the other one." He said and soon another hair raising snap was heard.
"Stop! Stop it! I'll do whatever you want!" Bruce yelled and Hush glared darkly through the screen.
"No, I'm not going to stop. I'll never stop, no matter what you say. I only want you to watch. Now, she'll be asleep for a while longer. She should be dead from all the sedatives I've been giving her but that's another of the mysteries about her. So I'll call when she wakes up." Hush said and the connection was cut.
Dark looked about ready to tear someone's head off, but he managed to control his anger. He knew Cat would wake soon from the drugs.
"How long do your bones take to heal?" Batman asked Dark.
"Not a clue. I've never had a broken bone, least none that I was aware of. Neither has Cat. Could take days to properly heal. And she'll wake up sooner than he thinks. We all know if he's been druging her a lot her body will reject it fast and faster. He'll find out… if he cuts her. There's no hiding that. And then there's no limit to what he can do to her." Dark said coldly to Batman.
"I am well aware of that Tim! What would you have me do? Beg every member of the JLA for help? I know Tommy, and he wont kill her. You have my word. If I could offer my life for hers I would, but he wont answer to that. You get too emotional when it involved Cat. He'll do horrible things to her. I wish to God it was me but it's not and she'll deal with it the same way she does anything else. What we should focus on is what she can do once she's awake." Bruce told Dark sternly.
Tim could only stare at the wall behind Bruce's head as he calmed his nerves.
"At least she was unconscious for that." Tim said quietly.
Within the hour Hush had contacted them again.
"It seems my sleeping beauty wants to wake up ahead of schedual." Hush said as he went to check on Cat. She was now hung up by her wrists that were bound in an iron vice and chained down from the ceiling. Cat could hear Hush's voice as she tried to wake up. Immediately she knew she was in deep trouble.
"That's it wake up. You'll feel a little groggy, but that's normal. It's like being drunk only without the hangover." Hush told her.
Cat's eyes began to focus to her surroundings and she could see Bruce and the others watching with varing shades of concern and anger, but suddenly all she could think about was how thirsty she was. Hush came over with some water.
"Thirsty? Here ya go. I need to fully coherent for this." He told her as he helped her drink the water.
She drank it all quickly, huffing for air afterward.
"More." She said out of breath and Hush went to get more.
While he was away from her she quickly tried to free herself from her chains to test how much strength she had, which wasn't much. The metal only bent a little. She also tried transforming which was a no go except for her teeth, and pupils turning to slits. She was hoping one of her three favorite men in the world would see, and she could tell one of them had as Hush came back with more water.
In the Cave Dick brought up a blank word document and sat at the computer typing to Bruce and Tim, who glanced at the words while watching Hush.
Did you see that? Cat tried to transform, but she's still too weak. That attempt to break out was all she had. Dick told them and Bruce nodded.
"Now then, shall we get started?" Hush said as he walked up to Cat holding an operating scalpel.
Cat knew she was in for a lot of pain and she mentally prepared herself for it. But she couldn't help but be pissed at Hush. She knew he was aware that when fully functional she could take him down instantly, and she thought him a coward for capturing her like this. Hush looked at her and saw her glaring at him, he grinned.
"Don't be mad. It's nothing personal, well, at least not at you." Hush said as he looked at Bruce on the computer screen.
Cat knew he'd find out about her healing abilities, it was inevidable and she also knew she could handle the pain. An idea came to her and she decided to provoke him, to help herself dispite the risk. If he made her bleed a lot her body would make more blood rapidly, thus purifying her blood of the seditives. But there was also the risk of him getting carried away and cutting her too deeply, not to mention letting Tim watch him do this to her. She could read his face like a book and already it read a great amount of hurt for Hush if Tim ever found him. But dispite all that she had to risk it.
"Well then get on with it, I haven't got all day." Cat said horsely.
Hush faltered for a moment but then smiled.
"Well that's what I like. A cooperative hostage. So, Bruce where should I leave the first scar?" Hush said but Bruce didn't get a word in because Tim finally snapped.
Dick held Tim back from smashing the computer's screen, simply to satisfy him a little.
"If you fucking touch her I swear to God I will find you! I'll make you pay for this!" Tim seethed at hush and Hush laughed.
Cat shot Dick and Bruce a threatening glare that meant shut Tim up before he blows his cover, it also told them she had a plan. Dick struggled to drag Tim away, but he got him to move when he told Tim his other self was an ace up their sleeves if they couldn't find Hush. If Hush decided to keep Cat detained and started coming after the rest of them Tim could be bait and let Hush lead them right to Cat.
When they returned to the computer Hush was standing behind Cat with the scalpel resting on her skin just under her collar bone. Bruce had his head bowed over the computer consol as Hush threatened to cut Cat.
"I told you to watch Bruce. Watch or I'll slit her throat!" Hush said and Bruce looked at the screen.
Hush grinned and pressed the scalpel against Cat's skin, dragging it along her chest. It stunk like a paper cut for Cat. She had a high tolerance for pain. Part of her knew Hush wanted her to react to get a rise out of Bruce but no matter what he would do to her she refused to cry out. Blood dribbled down her cleavage and onto her bra momentarily before stopping at the cut when the wound healed. Hush had turned back to her in time to see part of the cut heal before his eyes. He was shocked at first but then went up to her to make sure he had seen what had just happened.
"What is this? You are full of mysteries, aren't you?" Hush asked and Cat watched him carefully as he picked up a large hunting knife.
"Things just got a lot more fun Bruce. Now I know why it takes so much sedative to bring her down. What do you do in that cave of yours? What have you done to your own daughter?" Hush said in an ashamed voice but then walked up to Cat with the knife in his hand. "If you've convinced her it would be good for her she's going to wish she were dead, or maybe that you were dead, when I'm done." Hush said as he rested the knife on her midsection. He glanced at Bruce, who was glaring sinisterly at Hush. Hush grinned as he pressed the knife into Cat's skin dragging it along her stomach.
The trickle of blood could be heard as it pooled from the open wounds but no other sound was heard except for it dripping upon the ground as hard as it was, Cat was still determined to not cry out. Each cut Hush made she clenched her mouth shut looking at the gray floor. She couldn't even bring herself to look at the monitor. Bruce was about to lose it even though he knew Cat had some sort of plan, and Tim was hunched over the desk to the right of the screen. Cat was dripping in her own blood as if it were sweat, there was hardly any telling what Hush hadn't touched with the blade as the older wounds healed. When Hush was taking a break Cat found her opertunity to get under Hush's skin.
"You know… you're the biggest coward I've ever seen. Having someone else do your dirty work. Couldn't even catch me yourself. Hoping I'd cry for daddy like a spoiled rich girl?" Cat asked with a hint of mischeviousness in her voice.
Hush glared and threatened her with the knife.
"Shut up!" He said but Cat smirked.
"FYI Hush… pain is nothing new to me. I've trained for years dealing with pain. During the earthquake I fell into a hole of utter darkness, smashing against razor sharp rocks until I came to a metal twisting stop on my own car. And during No Man's Land I had a masacistic moment with a gang of Lo boys. I let them beat me with the pole of street sign until my back was black with burses. And lets not forget the gang wars… In the beginning a bunch of mobs showed up at Tim's school to off one little girl, but things got out of hand and it was almost Columbine. I took five bullets before I even got in the school; where I had to take down some men with a shit load of automatic in a very small hallway. I was shot in the abdomen but sad for them they were all unconscious before they knew what hit them. I couldn't tend my wounds until half an hour later, in a small nurses office full of kids. As you're probably thinking my wounds were almost healed with the bullets still in me. I took a knife and cut them out myself. So if you're thinking I would scream and cry begging for death by now I'm sorry; but you'll have to do better than a butter knife." Cat said mockingly with a grin.
Hush glared and hit her in the face but Cat looked at him again, shaking her head a little.
"Didn't you listen at all?" Cat said and Hush chuckled.
"You have issues." He said.
"Do I? Look who's talking." Cat told him which made him angrier as he sliced fresh cuts into her flesh.
Cat pushed past the pain yet again.
"Give it up! I'll never scream and Bruce will never show any more emotion than he is now. Because he knows it's what I want. We all know the risks. I'm not afraid to die!" Cat screamed at him and he retrieved something quickly and then went back to Cat with a look of pure hatred as he grabbed the turf of her hair, jerking her head back.
"Hopefully the rest of your kids will be more cooperative. She brought this upon herself. But just this once… I'll let her die peacefully in her sleep as she bleeds to death, while you sit and wonder where on Earth she is!" Hush said angrily as he stuck Cat with a needle that held the seringe to the sedative he was using.
Cat knew the drug would make her drowsy but it would no longer knock her out and so she had to fake it. She let herself seem weaker as she let her features relax, as she finally passed out.
"I hope you can hide everyone you've ever loved in that cave of yours, because I'm coming for them. Every one of them!" Hush said darkly before he cut the feed.
He then walked up to Cat and she almost thought he knew she was awake but he spoke instead.
"Sleep well cause you're not going to die. Once you heal we'll let daddy stop worrying and start all over, maybe I'll even manage to bring you some company." Hush told her and he then left. Cat listened to him walk down a long hall and then disappear outside the building. A car started and it drove off. Cat knew Hush had left and she knew she could now break out of her restraints.
Back in the cave Tim let lose his rage on inadimate objects for a moment before he fell to his knees. Dick placed a hand on his shoulder.
"She almost fooled me." Tim said.
"If they gave Oscars to superheros… she'd win hands down." Dick said softly as Bruce sat down at the computer.
"She should contact us soon if she can. Oricale, contact the JLA. Anyone fast, prefearably Superman. Once she can tell us where she is he'll be there in seconds. Right now I don't even care if Hush is captured." Bruce said and Orecal left to get to work.
Back where Cat was she got to work on pulling her upper body up to her hands so that she could press the gem on her necklace. After two tries she managed to get it. Her position was being blocked, but if the gem is pressed she could call the cave.
In the Cave Tim's necklace activated as well as a radio link to the Cave. Bruce activated the Cave's receiving of the communication.
"He's gone. For now. He knows he wont kill me." Cat told them.
"Where are you?" Tim asked.
"Don't you know?" She asked a tad worried.
"If we did we'd be there already." Dick told her.
"He's jamming the signal somehow." Tim told her.
"Goodie, well give me a minute to break out of these damn chains." Cat said and Bruce glanced at Tim who stared at the blank computer screen in worry.
He knew her legs wouldn't be healed all the way, but he prayed they were well enough for her to walk. For about a minute they heard her struggling with the chains but soon they heard the chains break, her feet hit the cold cement floor, and almost instantly her agonizing scream as she collapsed to the ground writhing in pain and her own blood.
"Son of a Bitch! AHH!... He … He broke my legs!?" Cat said through huffs of air trying to push through the unexpected pain but it was paralyzing.
"Can you walk?" Bruce asked.
"I don't know… I don't want to try!" Cat moaned objectively.
"You have to. Hush could come back at any moment. You have to get out of there and tell us where you are." Tim told her and they heard her moving and grunting in pain.
Cat managed to roll over on her stomach and look around. She saw her pants on a chair and her long fighting staff. She army crawled over, trying to give her legs a little more time.
"Talk to us Cat." Dick said anxiously.
"I found my pants and staff. I'm trying to get them." She said and after much more struggling and pain she got her pants on. She layed on the floor for a moment before forcing her body to get up and move to get the staff off the table. She got to the table and was able to hold herself up. Staff in hand to use as a cane she prepared herself to walk. Slowly but surly she made it to the door that Hush had exited from. The hallway was long and seemed endless to her but she made it to the door, finding it locked.
"The door is locked." Cat told them.
"Can you break it down?" Bruce asked.
"I'll try." Cat told them and opted for ramming the door.
If she tried to kick it down she could break her legs again, and wouldn't be able to walk at all. Cat rammed once but it was weak, and so she tried again. Focusing herself she charged the door again and broke through, falling down a short flight of steps into freshly fallen snow. This confused her because the last time she checked Gotham had gotten through the worst of winder. It was starting to get warmer there, but where she was felt like it was two degrees out.
"How long was I gone?" She asked.
"Why?" Tim asked.
"Cause there's a lot of snow on the ground." Cat told them as she walked a few feet but then swore to herself.
"What is it?" Bruce asked.
"I'm leaving a trail of blood behind me." She said.
"Are you still bleeding?" Tim asked in concern.
"No, but I was drenched in my own blood, not to mention when I fell to the ground, rolling around in it. It'll be like bread crumbs." Cat said in a weak voice.
"Is there any where you can go or something to tell us where you are?" Dick asked.
"There's a forest across the road and I think I hear water." She said.
"Good, find it." Bruce said and within five minutes she had found the stream.
"Is the current swift?" Bruce asked.
"No, and I'm catching your strategy here. Lose the scent in the water." Cat said as she got into the frigged water.
Immedetly she started shivering but her blood was washing off very well as she walked. After ten minutes of walking she walked along the edge, praying to God she'd find something before she froze to death. But after a mile she came across something. A bar on the edge of a very small village and when she saw the sign to the place she swore under her breath.
"Oh fuck."
"What is it/?" Tim asked.
Cat sighed and responded.
"I'm in Germany. A small village that doesn't have a name. And a billion dollars says Hush has paid whoever is in this place off." Cat told them as she sat on the bank of the stream for a moment.
"What should I do?" She asked.
"Could you fight them?" Bruce asked.
"I think so." She said.
"Then you have to risk it. We need more info. Oracle's been trying to find Superman but no one can find him, so the sooner we know where you are the faster Dick and Tim will find you. They've just left for Germany." Bruce told her and Cat nodded to herself.
"Ok, wish me luck. I hope my German hasn't gotten rusty." Cat said as she got up.
As she entered the bar not many looked at her which told her they knew about her. She was after all half naked, soaking wet, with blood stains still all over her. She decided to get to the point and walked up to the bar tender, who pretended not to notice her attire.
"How can I help you miss?" He asked and Cat sighed as she sorted out her words in German in her head.
"Lets get this over with. I'm not stupid. He's paid you off?" Cat asked.
"Yes." He replied.
"Are you going to tell him where I am?" She asked.
"No."
"Why?" She asked, a little confused.
"Because, he's already paid us. Come this way." He said and Cat followed him to the back of the bar to the man's office.
"I don't want to burden you. He'll know I've been here." Cat explained to him but he wasn't listening.
"I'll give you the keys to my truck and a shirt." He said as he handed her a clean flannel shirt from a cabinet.
"He'll kill for the answers he seeks." Cat warned as she put the shirt on.
He handed her the keys.
"Don't worry about us. Amsterdam is 100 miles East of here. I've got a full tank you should make it." He told her.
"I don't know how to thank you." Cat said as she stood by the door.
"Thank me by getting out of here. We'll hold him off as long as we can." He said as he lead her out the door, pointing out his truck.
"Thank you." Cat said.
"Take care." He replied and Cat left.
Once Cat was on the road she contacted Bruce, who gave her the 411 on how long it would take Dick and Tim to get there. He said they could be there in two hours and Oracle was still trying to find Superman. During this time Cat found herself wanting to talk to Bruce as she sped down the road in the old truck. Every car that passed her she was fearful of, thinking it was Hush.
"I'm afraid. It's so crazy to think that but I actually am. I cant remember the last time I was this afraid. I feel so weak and helpless. If he finds me, he just might kill me." Cat said to Bruce, he could hear the distress in her voice.
"He wont kill you." Bruce told her.
"What if he kills the men at the bar? I should have stayed there."
"You cant think about that now. Just focus on getting away. Tommy is not a killer. I know him." Bruce said.
"Do you? Do you really know how… Oh Shit." Cat said midsentence.
"What?"
"A huge black hummer just appeared on my six and coming up fast." She said.
"How fast?"
"Fast enough!" Cat said and then she was unable to say much more because the Hummer rammed her from behind, trying to run her off the road.
Cat tried to drive defensively and make him mess up but the little truck just wasn't up for it. Cat could see Hush in the driver's seat as he got up next to her.
"It's Hush!" Cat was able to say before Hush ran her off the cliff.
Below was a forest for miles. Cat grabbed her staff and tried to brace for impact as she fell into a large tree. The force of the impact sent her crashing out of the windshield. She seemed to hit every branch on the way down to the ground as glass rained down around her. After she hit the snow covered ground it took her a while to get up. She could hear Hush climbing down the small cliff to get to her. Cat knew she had to move. As she moved she could tell she'd broken a few ribs from her fall. Her body was still weak from the drugs and burned with pain so intense she might as well be walking on the sun, but she had to be silent as she hid from Hush. He had reached where she fell and was looking around.
"Here kitty kitty kitty." Hush taunted and Cat thought it best to jump him quickly and get it over with.
She thought she could handle it but she was wrong. She was slower and Hush saw her coming. He managed to get a hit to her ribs causing the wind to get knocked out of her. She fell to the ground. Hush went for his opening but cat recovered quickly by jumping away but he managed to slice a scalpel across her Achilles tendon, causing her to scream as a fountain of blood poured from her foot. Hush moved quickly and then stabbed the scalpel into her leg, slicing through the femoral artery. Cat shrieked in pain and on instincked kicked Hush away. She went on the retreat and went into the tree tops. Quickly losing Hush, but her blood was leaving a trail that she was surprised Hush could follow. It was hard for her to keep from crying out this time as she tried her hardest not to move her left foot, but each little movement at the ankle undid any healing that had occurred. She managed to set a trap for Hush, by making her blood go in circles to confuse him. She could see him looking up into the trees but the failing light made the tree tops darker.
"I know you're up there. You're going to bleed to death if you don't stop running and then your death really wont be my fault." Hush said but Cat was high on adrenalin and barely heard him.
While he was talking cat got on the ground and when his back was turned she sprang, catching him off guard. Her speed seemingly returning slowly. She snatched the scalpel from his hand and all in one movement she took the scalpel and stabbed the center of his left palm to the tree behind him as her left hand had caught his throat choaking the wind from him and slamming him against the tree. Cat transformed, pleased by his shocked expression.
"Well this is what I am Hush! Surprised? Get a good look cause you'll never see it again! You're wondering how I got like this? Well, Bruce didn't do this to me that's for sure. A fucking doctor did this to me!" Cat yelled as she growled in his face, choaking him a little more.
"What's the matter? Cant breath, are you gonna pass out soon? Oh you wont, only if I squeeze harder. How do I know that? You're not the only one who's studied medician, Doctor. You sure fucked you life up for some stupid vendetta. And if you ever come after me again I'll fuck it up even worse do you hear me!?" Cat said sinisterly.
Hush could only nod, too fear stricken to speak.
"Good, now to make sure you don't escape." Cat said as she eyed his legs.
Hush went pale and Cat was able to break one of his femurs with one swift hit. Hush gave a muffled cry of agony. As he calmed down again Cat got close to his face, grinning to show her sharp teeth.
"You should think twice before hurting those I love. You have made an enemy of me. You'll never know what Shadow I'll be in. You should fear me, I'm worse than any crazy in Arkham and even Batman. I'll be watching you." Cat said and then punched him in the ribs, breaking a few, causing him to pass out.
She made sure he was out cold and removed the scalpel from his hand. She then let him fall to the ground as she walked away, the adrenalin finally wearing off. Her foot and leg was still bleeding a lot. Even after Hush's hours of tourture she never felt light headed from blood loss, but now with two major arteries cut and no time to sit for them to close she was lightheaded. Her wounds should have hurt with a pain worse than anything ever felt but her body was going numb. She slumped to the ground in a clean patch of snow by where she had dropped her staff. She quickly packed snow around her ankle and leg to slow the bleeding and help with the burning pain. The snow was quickly turning into a cherry slushy but she had stopped moving long enough for the wounds to close. Bruce had been trying to get through to her and he told her Superman was on his way and he'd be there shortly. All Cat heard was Superman. She was too tired to comprehend much. She thought she had managed to say okay in response as she laid in the snow.
After what seemed like hours Cat heard someone calling her name from a far. She though she were dreaming but her brain registered the voice as Superman's and she responded.
"Here." She said barely above a whisper.
Within seconds time a gust of wind kicked up snow as Superman arrived. He went straight to Cat, helping her sit up as he took off his cape wrapping it around her. He then noticed her leg and all the blood.
"You're leg." He said as he went to check it but Cat quickly grabbed his hand, her strength returning for a moment.
"Leave it. It's fine. How are my legs, and other broken bones? Tell me if they're healing correctly." Cat said and he used his x-ray vision on her body.
Everything seemed to be healing perfectly.
"They're healing fine. I'm sorry. If I had known I'd of been here much sooner." He said sorrowfully as he saw her blood trailed everywhere.
Cat gave him a weary smile.
"It's alright, you're here now. Besides I can take care of myself when I need to. You should see to him. He has a broken leg and ribs and his hand is bleeding. It's not serious." Cat said and Superman got up to see to Hush.