A/N: I usually post a BatCat Night-of-Episode-Oneshot every Thursday night after the episode airs, but I couldn't think of anything, especially since there were no Bruce/Selina interactions. So instead of that, here's Chapter 24! Hope you enjoy!

Night Life

Ever since the incident with Sonny, Bruce had seemed different.

It wasn't necessarily a bad different, but he was different nonetheless.

He seemed more tired in the mornings. At first, she'd theorized that he was feeling regret for what he'd done to Sonny and his goons. But it became apparent to her that that wasn't the cause after he nearly did the same thing to another group of gangbangers who'd cornered them.

His tactics were less brutal with them than what he'd done to Sonny, but he still left the majority of them unconscious or rolling on the floor with a broken appendage.

No, he either didn't feel guilt about what he'd done, or, more likely, he was repressing whatever he was feeling. And she knew how good he was at repressing stuff like that, so it didn't seem likely that that was the cause of his fatigue.

There was something else, too.

She'd see him before she went to bed, and the next morning he'd be sporting a new cut or bruise that hadn't been there the night prior. She tried to mention it to him, but every time he'd shut her down quickly and change the topic of conversation.

She had a couple of ideas of what he was doing at nights, none of them good, but she had to know for herself.

She told him goodnight before gingerly shutting her bedroom door. She quickly changed back into street clothes, and then sat on the bed and listened. The Rogues/Titans baseball game was playing on the television, so that made it difficult to hear what else was happening in the room, but she caught the slightest sound of his footsteps.

He apparently crept into his bedroom, leaving the television on to mask the sound of his door closing.

Selina slipped out of her own window and made her way to the rooftop, walking across to the other side and then descending down the opposite fire escape to pear into his window.

Was she being a creep? Yes. Had she done this before? Possibly. Did she feel bad about it? Hell no.

At least he had a shirt on, this time.

Although, it was a different shirt than she'd ever seen him wear. In fact, she'd never seen him wear any of that outfit, before.

He looked like he was about to go paintballing, wearing a long, black shirt, black motocross pads and cargo pants, a leather jacket, and a pair of black combat boots, complete with a black paintball mask strapped to his belt, the visor of which was tinted heavily.

He wrapped his hands in black tape and then slid his pair of brass knuckles into the pockets of his jacket.

Maybe it was hardcore paintball?

Selina crept back up to the roof, watching as he slipped out of his window and descended the fire escape to the streets.

She couldn't believe him, going off on adventures without her.

Did he think she couldn't hang, anymore? That she couldn't keep up with him?

She'd just have to show him otherwise.


Bruce felt like he was being watched as he walked through the city. He kept glancing around, trying to find the source of his discomfort, but saw nothing out of the ordinary.

Maybe it was just his nerves. He was going into battle, after all. At least he was going in with someone he trusted, someone who knew exactly what they were doing.

Now, that wasn't to say that Cat didn't know how to handle herself, especially in a fight, but not having to worry about her wellbeing made his job much easier.

All he had to worry about was not dying.

That may've sounded simple, but not tonight. Tonight, they were hitting a big one, a decisive blow.

And who were they hitting?

Ever since Gilzean had taken over the mob, he'd allowed the criminals of the city to conduct themselves as they saw fit, as long as they paid their tariffs on time. Human trafficking had always been a problem in Gotham, but Falcone, Maroni, and Penguin had all looked down upon it.

But now? It was fair game.

So when Bruce had robbed an auction house with Garfield and saw how horrible it was becoming, he'd set out to destroy the trade in Gotham, one warehouse at a time.

It didn't take much to convince his partner, either. All he had to say was 'fight' and 'injustice' and he was on board.

They'd been doing this for over a month now, freeing over two hundred young women, but the traffickers were still getting their money out. And their accolades hadn't gone unnoticed, either. The GCPD took most of the credit for the raids, since Bruce or his partner would call them and report the incident after it was all over, but that was fine by them. Neither Bruce, nor his partner wanted the attention.

Speaking of whom, his partner was late to their meeting point.

This night wasn't starting off as well as he'd planned.


Selina followed him from the rooftops for several blocks, making their way deeper and deeper into the heart of the city.

Small gangs roamed the streets as they always did, but none of them gave Bruce any trouble. After about five minutes or so of walking, he suddenly stopped, looked over his shoulder, and, seeing no one, removed the paintball mask from his belt and slipped it over his head, pulling his hood up to completely hide his identity.

What was he up to?

He stood at the corner for almost a full minute, waiting for something.

That something came in the form of a black van, which screeched up next to him as the side door flew open. He climbed in and the van went tearing off into the night.

Yeah, that wasn't good for Selina.

She sprinted across the rooftops, trying to keep up with the van. She lost sight of it a couple of times, but got lucky as it always seemed to pass back underneath her.

It was heading towards the Midtown Bridge, but veered off the main road at the last moment.

It finally stopped in front of a small, abandoned warehouse on the riverside. Selina perched on the rooftop of an adjacent apartment building, watching safely from above.

Bruce stepped out of the van, as did the driver. The driver was just taller than Bruce, but at least twice as thick. And that wasn't to say he was fat. Even from a few dozen feet away, she could see the guy's muscles ripping through the sleeves of his shirt. Comparatively to Bruce, he had no protection on whatsoever, wearing sneakers, dark jeans, a navy jumper, and a mask similar to Bruce's.

The guy pointed towards the left side of the building, and Bruce nodded, jogging off. He proceeded to scale the wall to the third story window, slipping inside.

The other guy went straight in through the front door, carelessly throwing the door open and letting it slam.

Clearly, he wasn't going for a stealthy approach, unlike Bruce.

On impulse, Selina descended from her perch and crept across the street to the warehouse, taking the same path Bruce had used to get inside. She was halfway up the wall when she heard the first gunshots erupt. There were several surprised screams as bodies dropped hard to the floor.

She quickened her pace, reaching the windowsill just as another gunshot fired, hitting and shattering a pane right over her head.

There was one last defeated grunt as another man collapsed to the floor, and Selina slowly peaked into the room.

Bruce was standing over the last guy, his back to Selina's window.

She saw movement out of the corner of her eye and everything went slow. The guy Bruce was standing over wasn't the last one. There was another one, with a gun aimed at Bruce's back.

Without thinking, Selina launched herself through the window, doing a somersault and coming up half a dozen feet in front of Bruce's would-be attacker. She closed the gap quickly, kicking him in the front of his leg, dropping him to his knees. She mimicked a move she'd seen Bruce use a thousand times, taking the man by the back of the head and then slamming her knee into his nose.

His eyes went hazy and she released him. He slumped to the ground, unconscious.

Bruce had whipped around, watching her fly through the window, and then quickly and efficiently knock his attacker's brains out with a brutal knee to the face.

He couldn't have been more proud.

Then the implications of her being there dawned on him, and he was suddenly less proud. "What are you doing here?" he asked exasperatedly and a little louder than he'd meant it.

Her brow shot up her forehead in challenge. "Oh, you know, just saving your life," she replied with a sarcastic malice.

"I had that handled," he told her.

Selina nodded mockingly. "Of course you did, you were just gonna let yourself get shot in the back, right?" she challenged.

"Not exactly," a new, deeper voice interjected.

Selina whipped around to see another person emerge from the shadows, but this one she recognized.

It was the short, bulky guy who'd entered the building at the bottom floor.

He removed his mask and smirked, telling her, "That one was mine, but you beat me to the punch." He glanced over at the unconscious man and nodded approvingly, saying, "Nice work, though."

She sent eye daggers at Bruce, saying to Ted, "Thank you. At least someone can appreciate–"

"What are you doing here?" Bruce interrupted.

"I could ask you the same question!" she retorted.

"I'm working," he told her flatly.

"And I thought we were partners," she started, the anger in her voice being replaced by real hurt, "but I guess I was wrong, huh?"

"Selina, this is different. These people don't play around," Bruce told her. "You could've gotten really hurt." He eyes dropped to the ground and he stared holes in the floor, the room falling into a tense silence.

"So…" the other guy started, "you wanna introduce me, Bruce?"

Bruce nodded, quietly saying, "Cat, Wild. Wild, Cat."

"Wild?" Selina asked.

He shrugged, saying, "My nickname." He stuck out his hand and told her, "Ted Grant."

Selina looked over at Bruce, who was still staring at the ground. "Your–"

"My older brother," Bruce finished, finally looking up at her. "Yes, that one."

Selina shook Ted's hand and he started, "So you're the famous Cat I'm always hearing about."

Selina glanced at Bruce again, suggestively asking, "Always?"

"Oh, yeah. Kid never shuts up about you," Ted told her with fake exasperation.

"Ha-ha, Ted, you're hilarious, but we need to go," Bruce interrupted, suddenly seeming flustered. "Cops will be here any minute."

Ted sighed. "He's right. Well, it was really nice to meet you, Cat," he told her, shaking her hand again. "Watch out for him, will ya? He's a real idiot, sometimes."

Selina scoffed and nodded. "Yeah, no kidding."

"I am standing right here," Bruce interjected.

Ted rolled his eyes. He pointed to Selina and told him, "And you, keep her safe, got it?"

"I'll keep her as safe as she'll let me," Bruce replied.

"Which is not at all," Selina added.

Ted shook his head, saying to Selina, "Well then, let him. And trust him. He's the one person in this godforsaken city that won't let you down, ya here me?" Selina nodded. "Good. Now get outta here, both of you."


They walked back to the Factory in silence.

Bruce held the window-door open for her and she muttered a small, "Thank you," before rushing off into her room and slamming the door behind her.

She sighed, throwing herself onto the mattress. She still had many, many questions for him, but she didn't know where to start. So, instead of addressing the matter and moving past it, she let it sit there the entire walk home, the tension between them festering and growing more and more as the seconds passed.

A knock on her door brought her out of her thoughts.

"What?" she called, sounding more agitated than she actually was.

"Selina, can I come in?" Bruce asked apprehensively.

"Do whatever you want," she replied flatly.

Slowly, the door creaked open. He'd changed out of his armor, into a pair of sweatpants and a big hoodie. He was holding a small paper bag.

"What do you want?" she asked after he simply stood in the doorway for a solid ten seconds.

His eyes dropped to the floor, but he chuckled, saying, "I'm really not sure."

She curiously eyed the bag in his hands. "What do you got there?"

He looked at the bag and sighed. "Cat, I trust you," he told her.

She scoffed. "Funny way of showing it." He cringed and she continued, "How long have you been lying to me?"

He shook his head. "I didn't mean to–"

"Well you did," Selina told him coldly. "You said we were partners, that you trust me, and then you go off without me."

"I do trust you," he repeated. "But I don't…" he stopped mid-sentence. He took a deep breath and told her, "Selina, that place, was a storehouse for human-traffickers. There were half a dozen girls there, all around your age, chained up and getting ready to be sold."

She was stunned into silence.

He continued, "And when I see them, all I can see is you. So what would happen if I got killed and you were there? If I couldn't protect you? The same thing almost happened with Clyde last year. I wasn't willing to take you with me because I couldn't live with myself if I sentenced you to that. That's why I went with Ted, why I left you behind. Because…" he trailed off.

"Because?" she pushed, anxious to hear his point.

"Because you weren't ready yet," he finished. "Because I haven't prepared you enough, yet."

"So?" she asked.

"So, I'm going to do just that," he told her, handing her the package.

She opened the bag and found a switchblade. But it wasn't just a switchblade. It was his. "You're giving me this?" she asked apprehensively.

Bruce nodded. "I won't be needing it anymore. Besides, I can handle myself just fine with these," he told her, pulling his brass knuckles out from his hoodie pocket.

She scoffed. "Do you shower with those, too?" she teased playfully.

Bruce smirked, telling her, "I never leave home without 'em. And that goes for you, too, now. You take that thing everywhere, always."

She nodded. "Okay. Thank you, Bruce."

He shrugged. "So, are you still mad at me?" he asked apprehensively.

In response, she simply cocked an eyebrow and flicked the blade open.

Bruce nodded meekly. "Got it. Well, goodnight, Selina."

She chuckled. "Goodnight, B."

She sat up in bed for a while, opening and shutting the blade over and over until flicking it open felt natural.

After half an hour, she crawled out of bed and silently cracked her door open. She crept across the hall, quiet as a mouse, and peaked into his bedroom.

He was sound asleep, snoring away.

She smiled to herself and shut the door, content that he was safe.

At least, for now. She was still pissed that he'd lied to her, and he'd get what was coming to him.

But only she got to hurt him. He was her partner, after all.

A/N: So this episode was pretty decent. I missed Selina, especially after the not-so-satisfying ending between them last episode, but the stuff with Bruce was really, really good this week nonetheless. I do wish Penn and Scarface would've been around longer, though, since I really enjoyed that character. But more importantly, the trailer for next week! HOLY MOTHER OF JEREMIAH IT LOOKS GOOD! Let me know in the Review section who you're rooting for: Bruce or Selina?

I hope you enjoyed and if you did or have any comment/questions/critiques about this story or any of my other projects, please Review! And if you haven't already, make sure to Favorite/Follow so you don't miss out on my next update. Thanks for reading and ciao for now!