A/N: Here's Chapter 23!
Unbreakable
"Why can't you just tell me where we're going?" Selina asked. She was sick of him being so secretive about this job, the first real job he'd had since she'd arrived in the city.
For three whole days, all they'd done was run across rooftops, hang at the Flea, and occasionally pick-pocket some chump who deserved it. Sure, it was fun, but that wasn't why she was there.
"All you need to know is that we're stealing something from someone," Bruce told her, suddenly turning and walking down another alleyway.
She jogged to catch up to him and stated, "Bruce, I don't know if you've noticed, but it's noon."
Bruce nodded. "Exactly. Who'd expect to get robbed midday?"
"No one because it's a dumbass idea," she retorted.
Bruce smirked, asking, "Cat, have I ever led you wrong?"
"Yes. Several times," she replied flatly.
He rolled his eyes and told her, "Well this isn't one of those times. If all goes well, we'll be in and out."
"Well I hope it all goes horribly wrong, then," she stated.
In hindsight, she should've been careful what she wished for.
Bruce eventually stopped at a staircase that led down to a basement door. He removed a key from his jacket and let the pair of them inside, locking it back behind them.
Selina's eyes went wide at the room. She'd been expecting a vacant, dirty basement like the majority of Gotham cellars, but this room was nothing like that. It looked like an underground greenhouse, rows and rows of small plants in trays lining the room, lit only by dim blue light bulbs. The smell of the plants felt like a smack in the face.
But most importantly, they weren't alone in the room. A tall girl, probably around 18, with long ginger hair swept about the greenhouse, tending to the plants.
"Hello?" Selina asked apprehensively.
The girl looked up from the plants for the first time. She was stunningly beautiful.
The young woman smiled, but not at Selina. "Hey, Bruce," she lulled in a husky voice, standing up straight and throwing her hair back over her shoulder.
Bruce nodded. "Hello," he said simply, turning to Selina.
He looked nervous.
Why did he look nervous?
He placed a hand on Selina's back and told the girl, "This is my friend, Cat." The woman looked at Selina for the first time, giving her a small, insincere smile. "Cat…" Bruce started, "this is–"
"Ivy Pepper," the young woman interrupted, stepping forward to shake Selina's hand.
An alarm went off in Selina's head. "Pepper?" she asked slowly. "Like the…"
"Guy who shot the Waynes?" Ivy finished. "Yeah, he was my father."
"Oh," Selina murmured. "I'm sorry–"
"Are you kidding?" Ivy interrupted. "Good riddance, I say."
Selina spluttered in surprise. "But, he was your father…"
Ivy rolled her eyes and sighed, saying, "He was. And he liked to beat my mother. And he liked to 'take advantage' of me. So, like I said: good riddance." She stepped into Selina's personal space, lowering her voice so only the two of them could hear. "Believe me, Cat: men are awful. Although…there are exceptions…" she lulled, throwing an obvious glance at Bruce.
Selina took a step back so her and Bruce's arms were touching. "Yeah, I know," she told the young woman, brushing up against him.
There was a beat of silence in the room, Selina and Ivy staring each other down while Bruce was awkwardly stuck in the middle. He cleared his throat and reached out to one of the boxes of plants, asking, "So, Ivy, did you get everything set?"
"Don't touch that!" she whispered harshly. Bruce raised his hands in surrender and backed up. She shook her head exasperatedly and returned to working on the plants, saying, "Yes, everything is ready."
"So, what is this place?" Selina asked.
"Ivy works for a gang that runs the magic mushroom trade," Bruce answered.
"What's a magic mushroom?" she asked.
Ivy huffed in annoyance, only fueling Selina's growing contempt for her. She dully answered, "Some give you visions; some give you energy. Some help you sleep. I've cultivated over a dozen kinds. There are some that help you grow, too, if you'd be interested," she told Selina with a fake smile.
Selina rolled her eyes and turned back to Bruce, asking, "What are we doing here?"
Bruce nodded towards the ceiling, saying, "The gang is run by Gilzean's nephew, Sonny, and his merry band of losers."
"So…these mushrooms are illegal?" Selina asked.
"Yes, very illegal," Ivy told her patronizingly.
"Which means there's always a ton of cash around," Bruce said, ignoring Ivy's snide remarks to Selina.
"You're going to rob them?" Selina asked.
"Yup."
Selina nodded slowly. "Okay, how do we do it?"
"We?" Ivy asked indignantly.
Bruce gave Ivy a weird look, like she'd sprouted a second head or something. "Um…yeah. We're partners," he told Ivy flatly, with just a hint of pride in his voice.
Ivy suddenly looked very uncomfortable, which only made Selina happier.
She raised an eyebrow and turned back to her plants wordlessly.
"Okay…" Selina started. "What's the plan?"
"Meet Psilocybe Arkrescens," Ivy started boredly, gesturing to the plants in front of her, "also known as the Blue Devil."
"She slipped a few of them in the gang's lunch today," Bruce told her, "so all we have to do now is wait."
"What will they do?" Selina asked.
"Instant death," Ivy replied in a mellow voice. "You wanna try some?"
"She's kidding," Bruce told her. "They'll be in a state of relaxed bliss, like a dream."
"How long until they're out?" Selina asked.
Almost as if on cue, something big and heavy collapsed on the floor of the room above them.
Bruce smirked. "Right about now."
Bruce tentatively pushed the upstairs door open, whispering to Selina, "Be quiet, someone might still be awake."
Slowly, he crept forwards, opening the door into the main hallway. The room stunk of rotting food and body odor, as well as some not-so-legal substances, but there was no sound coming from within.
He rounded the corner, Selina tight on his heels. Inside, six or so men were laying about unconscious, several in precarious positions.
He silently stepped over a goon lying face down on the floor, and approached an old recliner. A thug was slumped into it, firmly holding onto a light blue cookie jar, which Selina thought was odd.
As they got closer, however, she saw what was inside. Rolls and rolls of cash, all tightly bound with rubber bands.
Bruce stepped up behind the man, reaching over the back of the recliner and taking hold of the top of the can. Achingly-slowly, he began to remove it from the man's grasp.
He was halfway there when everything went wrong.
The man's eyes fluttered open and he looked up at Bruce in shock and confusion. "Who…who are you?" he started, seeming nervous and reaching for a nearby shotgun.
Selina reacted before Bruce had time to respond, saying in a smooth, calm voice, "Hey. Hey, we're no one. You're…dreaming," she lied. She decided to roll with it, smiling at him and asking, "Pretty cool, huh?"
The thug stared at her for a few moments, and Selina thought that he'd seen right through her.
Then he smiled in a hazy, drunken way, responding, "To-o-otally…"
"Yeah," she agreed. "Listen, if you give us the coffee can and close your eyes, you'll be able to fly."
"Aweso–"
Bruce hit him hard in the side of the head with a brass-knuckled punch.
Selina rolled her eyes, saying, "I had that."
"I know you did," Bruce told her while hastily stuffing his pockets with rolls of cash. "But we have a small window…"
Tires screech outside the building, and Bruce's face went even paler than normal. He looked Selina dead in the eyes and simply stated, "Run."
She didn't wait for further instructions, leaping over the unconscious man on the floor and tearing off down the dimly lit hallway, Bruce right behind her.
Light filled the hall as the front door opened, although it was quickly blocked by several human shadows, and large ones at that.
They were only a couple of feet from their exit, from escape.
Then a man yelled, "Woah! Where're you goin'!?" and a shotgun fired, the bullets hitting the staircase above their heads.
Both teens stopped dead in their tracks, hands raised in surrender.
The man lulled, "Hey, Kyle."
Bruce slowly turned around to face the newcomers, and Selina did the same. The one in the front who'd fired the shot was short and very, very stout, with a neck beard and a short, scrunchy face that only a mother could love.
Actually, on second thought…no mother could love that face.
"Hey, Sonny," Bruce responded in a flat tone. "You lose weight?"
The man, Sonny, chuckled darkly and raised his gun again, chiding, "Keep cracking wise, Kyle. You ain't gonna be smiling when my uncle gets to you." His guys snatched the money out of Bruce's hands and his coat, removing his pair of brass knuckles while they were at it. They took hold of Bruce and Selina's arms, dragging them back into the room full of unconscious men.
Selina whispered to Bruce, "How do you know this guy?"
Bruce scoffed, asking, "You remember what I said about doing a job for Brick, robbing someone?" She nodded. Bruce gestured to Sonny, and she got the picture.
Sonny whipped out his cell phone, muttering as he typed in a number, "Oh, you're gonna get it this time."
His henchmen brought the pair of them to opposite sides of the room, two holding onto Bruce, the larger threat, and one holding back Selina.
After a minute or so of waiting, and then another minute of Sonny demanding whoever was on the other side of the line to get his uncle, Butch Gilzean, on the line, he roared, "Well, tell my uncle to call me!" and abruptly hung up.
Bruce snickered and shook his head mockingly, which Selina thought was out of character for him.
Sonny apparently took notice as well.
He turned on him and started, "Look, I know you think he's got a soft spot for you, but I'm pretty sure that's gonna change when he finds out you tried to rob him."
Bruce furrowed his brow and smoothly replied, "My guess is he's not gonna be too happy with you, either, when I tell him that I just waltzed in here and grabbed the cash, especially after last time..." Sonny's jaw clenched, his two brain cells probably trying to figure out if that was a threat or not. "So, maybe you let us go, and we call it even?" he proposed in a calm, reasonable tone.
"What kind of message would that send?" Sonny asked him. "No. The Gilzeans are all about consequences," he told him, turning to Selina with a menacing smile.
"More like all about pizza," Bruce muttered, although too loudly. Sonny turned back to him, flames in his eyes.
Now, Selina knew something was off. She'd never seen him tease and torment someone like this before. It just wasn't like him.
What was he doing?
Sonny nodded to the two guys holding Bruce's arms, and they released him, shoving him towards Sonny. Sonny grabbed onto his wrist and the scruff of his neck, slamming his head down onto table covered in magic mushroom. "You ever try our product, Kyle?" he growled, grinding his face into the wood.
Bruce cringed as he ground his face into the table. But he wouldn't fight back. Not right now. He could take whatever physical reprimands the human marshmallow could dish out. He'd suffered through worse. He'd be fine.
He had a purpose, and as long as he focused on it, he could take anything.
He'd be unbreakable.
Then, Selina had to get in the way. "Stop!" she yelled, attempting to lunge forward towards them, although she was easily pulled back by Sonny's goon. She continued, "He isn't fighting back! Aren't you being rather cowardly, assaulting him?"
Bruce's heart dropped.
What was she doing?
He had this under control. "Stay out of this, Cat," he warned, trying to communicate what he was doing.
Sonny ignored him, throwing him back towards the pair of goons and turning on Selina again. "And who is this, Bruce?" he asked, reaching out and caressing her jaw with a finger. "Your girlfriend?"
"You're a fat lard, you know that, Sonny?" Bruce taunted. "A cowardly, weak pile of horse shit."
He turned away from Selina again, glaring at Bruce like a bull seeing red. "What'd you just call me, Kyle?" he asked, venom in his voice.
"You're a coward," Bruce repeated, keeping his chin held high as Sonny approached.
He moved quickly for a big guy, landing a hard punch in Bruce's stomach. Bruce's left knee buckled, but he refused to fall. "You want another one?" Sonny asked.
"You're an ignorant, brutish–"
Sonny swung again, this time taking all the wind out of Bruce's lungs and knocking him to the floor.
He groaned in pain, but he'd taken worse punches. Nothing Sonny could dish out would ever be as bad as Ted's punches. He could take this. But this wasn't sparring with his older brother. This was real. Life or death. And he had a reason to take this beating.
For now, he'd be unbreakable.
On the other hand, all Selina could see was Bruce getting his ass handed to him, encouraging Sonny to keep doing it. "Stop!" she yelled again, trying to struggle free of her guard's grasp.
What was he doing?
Needless to say, Sonny ignored her. "While you're down there, kid, like my boot," he spat.
"ENOUGH!" she screamed, causing the whole room to go dead silent. Sonny turned back to her. "He's not fighting back, you piece of–"
Bruce watched from the floor as Sonny swung at her with a closed fist.
Selina reeled, her left cheek stinging horribly, stars dancing in her eyes. She looked up at Sonny from the ground, his closed fist raised in the air. "You wanna finish that sentence?" he threatened.
Selina looked past him at Bruce.
Fear.
That was the only word to describe what she felt when she locked eyes with him.
But it wasn't fear for her safety, or his.
It was for Sonny.
She'd never seen someone look so angry in her life.
His eyes were practically exuding flames.
She offered no response, so Sonny turned back towards Bruce.
But it was too late. The first two men, the ones who'd been holding Bruce down up until then, were already on the floor, blood dripping from their noses and mouths respectively.
Sonny was able to let out a single, strangled scream before a storm of Bruce's fists descended onto him.
The guard who'd been holding Selina rushed to help his boss, pressing his gun into Bruce's head.
His fatal mistake was getting too close.
In a single motion, Bruce removed the barrel from his head, kicked the man's leg out from under him, and kneed him in the face.
Bruce took the gun, a sawed-off shotgun like the one Sonny had used, and flipped it around so the barrel was facing the ceiling.
Then, he proceeded to use the butt of the gun as a club, slamming it into Sonny's face over and over again.
She froze in surprise and shock as his level of violence.
After half a dozen clubs, Sonny went limp, his eyes rolling back in his head.
Bruce emptied the gun of its rounds and tossed it to the side.
He brushed himself off and held his hand out to Selina.
She stared at him for a moment, hesitantly. She'd just witnessed him beat a man half to death, the pure look of rage in his eyes leaving her frozen in fear.
But now, the look was completely gone, the fire still there like always, just to a lesser intensity.
In its place was Bruce Kyle, her Bruce Kyle. Whatever had taken over him was gone.
She smiled weakly and took his hand, allowing him to lift her from the ground.
He suddenly took her face in his hands and she froze again, although for very different reasons than before, her stomach clenching up in anticipation. Then, she realized he was just checking where she'd been hit, and the moment was gone. "I'm fine," she told him. "Let's just go."
Bruce nodded, wordlessly filling his pockets with rolls and rolls of cash, as well as his pair of confiscated brass knuckles.
It suddenly occurred to her that he'd taken down two full grown men with a single bare-fisted punch each.
She was very, very glad that they were on the same side.
"Okay, that's all I can carry. Let's go before Butch shows up," he told her.
She nodded and they whisked out of the building, choosing to take the rooftops back to the Factory.
Bruce held a cold steak to her cheek gently. She cringed in discomfort, but told him that it was okay.
His eyes dropped to the floor, leaning up against the back of the couch. "I'm sorry, Cat," he told her.
She sighed. "Bruce, it's fine…"
"No, it isn't," he stated. "It shouldn't have gone down like that. I knew the window of opportunity would be small, but I went through with it anyways and you got hurt…"
"Bruce," she started tenderly, placing a hand on his knee. "I'm fine. It's okay. This is what I wanted anyways, to see Gotham for what it is."
He cocked an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
"I mean," she started, removing his hand and the steak from her cheek, "that I learned a lot from Sonny. Sure, people care about money and all that, but there are other things that matter even more to them. For Sonny, it was his reputation. You used that against him…to protect me," she stated.
She'd been mulling over the events of the past day over and over, and had realized exactly what he'd been doing while taunting Sonny.
Every time he had threatened her, Bruce moved Sonny's attention back to himself.
He'd been protecting her, at the sacrifice of his own wellbeing.
He looked surprised, but before he could say anything she continued, "For you, that thing is people. You protect them."
Bruce scoffed and told her, "Selina, I hate to break it to you, but I steal from people. I'm a criminal."
She shook her head. "No. You're a sheepdog."
Bruce stared at her in silence for a beat, and then broke out into laughter. "What did you call me?" he asked incredulously.
She nodded with a stubborn look on her face. "You're a sheepdog. You're all happy and nice until someone threatens your flock."
He smirked and shook his head in amazement. "That may've been the nicest thing you've ever said to me."
She rolled her eyes and handed him back the steak. "Well don't get used to it."
He took it and threw it back into the freezer. He pulled out a pair of sodas and called over his shoulder, "Hey, Cat." She turned and he stated, "I'm glad you're here."
She smiled. "And that may've been the nicest thing you've ever said to me."
He smirked. "Ya know, there's a baseball game on tonight. You wanna stay out here and watch it?"
She nodded slowly. "Yeah, sounds fun. I'll make the popcorn."
And so they'd go off into their rooms, change into pajamas, and lay out on the couch as the Gotham Rouges played across the bay at the Metropolis Titans on the TV. They sat on the opposite ends from each other, sharing one giant blanket that Bruce had.
At some point, they'd both fall asleep, facing away from each other but comforted that the other person was there.
However, Bruce, too, had been pondering over the events of the day. He'd gone through a lot of pain, but had come out virtually unscathed. And there was a reason. True, he'd taken quite the beating, but as long as he had Selina Wayne by his side, he was unbreakable.
A/N: So, this story happens to be in an alternate universe in which major league baseball starts in December (which is when I think this arc begins). But, if we're being honest, that isn't the craziest thing that's changed in this AU. I hope you enjoyed and if you did please make sure to favorite/follow so you don't miss out on future uploads. And if you'd be so kind as to review, it would be very much appreciated! Your feedback is what I write for, after all. Thanks for reading and ciao for now!
And the first chapter of The Escapades of Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle should be coming out by this Saturday if anyone was interested.
The following paragraph is me talking/ranting about several leaks and spoilers for future episodes/events in Gotham, so don't read it if you don't want to get spoiled. You have been warned.
So, I'm a little bit miffed with Gotham at the moment. First, a picture leaks of a different actress supposedly playing Selina Kyle for the "10 Years Later" thing that they're doing towards the end of the season, who, mind you, looks ABSOLUTELY NOTHING like Camren (actress who plays Selina), and then pictures start circulating of what Jeremiah looks like after Ace Chemicals and…just…NO! NO! NO! NO! YOU DON'T HAVE TO DO THIS! WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS GOTHAM!? THIS IS WORSE THAN HIS CGI SMILE AT THE END OF SEASON 4! AND CAMREN ALREADY LOOKS OLD ENOUGH TO PLAY AN OLDER SELINA KYLE SO WHY WOULD YOU RECAST? JUST GIVE HER A SHORTER HAIRCUT AND DYE HER HAIR BLACK OR SOMETHING AND BE DONE WITH IT! IT'S JUST SO DUMB! AND ON TOP OF THAT TO MAKE CAMERON (actor who plays Jeremiah) LOOK LIKE HOT GARBAGE?! I MEAN, IT'S ACTUALLY SO BAD! IT'S TIMES LIKE THESE THAT MAKE ME MISS JEROME GODDAMMIT!
I'm gonna take a breath now.
I just absolutely LOVE Gotham and I was really excited going into its final season, and I think it's been really good so far. The Chemical Green Band trailer makes this upcoming episode look amazing, and I'm pumped to see it. But it feels like they've been just now hitting their stride and then, out of nowhere, they go and do stuff like this for basically no reason? I just don't get it. I'm not too angry about the choice to reconstruct Jeremiah's face after he eventually falls into the Ace Chemicals vat, but I'm really pissed about Camren being recasted, especially in the culminating episode of a series that she's been a major part of for over five years. It just doesn't make sense.
Now, I do trust that the writers have something up their sleeves and that everything will turn out okay in the end, but stuff like this has me worried at the moment. I don't want the show to go down as a good series with a meh, or even bad, ending. It deserves better. Like I said, I love this show. I've published over a dozen stories for it, and I've invested literally hundreds of hours into watching and writing about it. But I just don't want to be left with a sour taste in my mouth when the show ends. I trust that it won't turn out that way, but that's just how I'm feeling right now.
Your thoughts? (Also, please don't include any spoilery things in your reviews/messages. I don't want to lose any more of my ignorance to future events than I already have) (And you can probably tell how emotional I was getting by how much I used the words 'that' and 'just')
