"I'm very pleased to meet you, Ms. Nash."

Despite being rattled by current events — he was a hunted man thanks to Bane's revelations at Blackgate prison — Commissioner James Gordon couldn't hide his enthusiasm at having been introduced to one of Gotham's brightest theatrical lights.

"I've been monitoring the tv coverage. It certainly was a rousing performance you gave this morning, and you're the talk of the media. Watch your step, now, Ms. Nash. Bane will show no mercy if he ever gets his hands on you again."

"I said some terrible things to him this morning that offended his masculinity, which is why he put me out to pasture in that mob. I'll admit I was terrified at the time. The truth is, Commissioner Gordon, is that he has a love-hate relationship with me. This morning he hated me, but I can guarantee you that right now he wants me back."

"Oh, nonsense!" Gordon chuckled. "I've run up against every manner of criminal you can imagine. Bane is no different than the likes of Crane or the Clown. They're all asexual. The last thing they're thinking about is their groins, pardon the vulgarity, Ms. Nash."

"Do I have to do your detective work for you, Commissioner?" Kitty huffed. "Kidnappers usually ask for something in return, am I right? The only reason a kidnapper steals a young, beautiful woman and doesn't demand a ransom is because he wants her. Besides, when he first captured me his female boss suggested a threesome between us. He declined and said he wanted to 'fly solo'."

"You're awfully sure of yourself, young lady," Gordon observed.

"I should make a habit of impromptu performances, seeing as the media is framing me as a heroine. I turned the mob's head. I could fire them up to the point that they turn on Bane."

"You're out of your mind," Blake interjected. He was done with politely tolerating Kitty's arrogance. "This morning you were sobbing after you realized you could have been killed out there. You were devastated because you thought no one would care that you died. Since when did that all go out the window?"

"I was upset," she shrugged. "It was all very cathartic. You were a wonderful sounding board, Detective Blake, and I feel so much better now."

"Oh yea? Well, don't expect me to pull your ass out of the fire again, because I got more important things to do," Blake threatened. "As far as I'm concerned Bane can hang you from the bridge alongside all the other dead bodies."

"That's enough, son," Gordon ordered. "Cooler heads prevail!"

"Fine," Blake said tersely. "But as soon as night falls, the Commissioner and I have to leave, Kitty. I have to keep moving him until we can get him on tv. Sorry, but we can't take you with us. You're welcome to stay here as long as necessary."

He crossed the room, pulled a pistol out of the desk drawer and placed it on the surface.

"You're gonna need this."

At sunset, Kitty watched from Blake's 4th floor window as the police detective commandeered yet another vehicle from a hapless driver, piled the Commissioner inside and disappeared into the night.

She soon began to feel suffocated in the tiny condo, and very aware that she needed a bath and a change of clothing. Not long after Blake and Gordon tore off into the night, Kitty was off as well, taking the 15 minute walk to her loft. She knew she risked running into Bane's men, but she only planned to stay as long as it took to stuff a few items into a bag and return to Blake's place.

When she entered the loft she was surprised to find a group of people with whom she was very familiar.

Huddled around the fireplace were Alia Sharma, the actress who assumed Kitty's role in the show the night after Bane abducted her, along with actor Danny Sheridan, who portrayed Jenna's boss. She also recognized the young man who had encouraged her to sing after Bane cut her loose into the mob, and remembered that he was understudy Brady Castellano.

There was also a figure hovering in the shadows with a rifle trained on her. It was Mateo Garcia, who played Jenna's husband in the show. Five feet from Kitty's feet two mercenaries lay motionless on the floor.

"What — what's going on?" Kitty gasped, shocked by the sight before her. "What are you all doing here? Are those men dead?"

"We were in the street today when you sang, Miss Nash." Alia spoke first in rushed, terrified tones. "We lost sight of you, so we came here thinking we'd find you. We weren't here two minutes when those men started blasting their way through the door. Mateo shot them."

"Self-defence," Mateo asserted. He was a man with soulful black eyes and a week-old beard. He made no effort to hide the high-powered rifle now lowered at his side. "I'll do it again if I have to. This is what good people become when their city is occupied by a tyrant."

Kitty blinked in disbelief at the sight of the bodies, their blood oozing all over the loft's original hardwood floor.

"They were after me," she said with the same stark realization that had haunted her earlier. For the second time that day she'd had a close call that could have meant death had things not worked out in her favour.

"A police detective got me away this morning and warned me not to go home. He said Bane might come after me, but I didn't listen to him. I need clean clothes."

"Well, we're not safe here," Danny said with some urgency. "We gotta move, folks."

"The police detective is on the run, and told me I could stay at his place as long as I needed. I suppose we can all go there," Kitty suggested. "It's very small, but better than nothing."

"Fine," Mateo said grimly. "We got a van parked out back."

"Hey, wait a minute," Kitty protested. "Are you just going to leave these bodies here?

"Don't worry, Miss Nash. When these guys don't report back, Bane will send more men," Danny assured her.

"He...he'll think that I did this," Kitty murmured thoughtfully.

"Unfortunately he probably will, Miss Nash," Mateo replied with a tense mouth, dreading the unpredictable Kitty's response.

Kitty frowned as she took one last look at the bodies.

"Good. He'll think twice about messing with me, again."

Regret washed over her like a hot flash in the face of the group's relieved expressions. That she had caused the members of her company to cower and address her as "Miss Nash" was childish and cruel in hindsight, especially now that the playing field had levelled and all of Gotham City was in the same boat.

"Please...just call me 'Kitty'," she said with an unfamiliar sense of shame. "We're not in the theatre here, and frankly, you should have told me off about that a long time ago. I'm glad we found one another, because I could...I could really use the company."

As the utilitarian van made its way towards mid-town, Kitty proceeded to tell the others everything that had happened since the night she was abducted and woke up in a luxury townhouse hideout. She revealed the personal vanity that plunged her into dangerous waters with Bane. She told them that she planned to seduce Bane, make him fall in love her and then break his heart — all out of revenge for his having destroyed the theatre district. She told them about her feigned amnesia, and that Bane had played along unitil he turned on her. She told them of the cruel things she had said to Bane, which prompted him to expose her plan to seduce him to the mob at City Hall.

"There's a canvas bag full of rifles here," Kitty volunteered from the backseat of the van. She was afraid of guns and didn't accept the one Detective John Blake had offered her. "Did you know that?"

"You're damn right we do," Danny scoffed. "We stole them from some drunken Blackgate inmates. Honest to God, you wouldn't believe some of the losers Bane recruited into his civilian army!"

"You did a great job at City Hall this morning...Kitty," Mateo said, using her given name for the first time, while trying to overlook his dislike for her. "I think we might be able to capitalize on your actions. You gave us an idea, and now we're talking about a plan to act as theatrical anarchists to stir up the people."

"I considered that too, Mateo, but Detective Blake said it was foolish because the mob switches sides depending on the food supply. He also reminded me that I could easily be picked off by Bane's snipers."

"Then we'll work at night," Danny insisted. "We'll sing from rooftops and windows, and then we'll disappear. Not everyone will hear us, but many will. As for switching sides, I wish this city would show some real guts for a change. If I'm going to die then I'm going down swinging instead of cowering in a closet!"

"One thing's for sure," Brady agreed, "If we get caught, at least it'll be while doing something that we love."

"My parents came to America with nothing," Alia said with grit teeth. "They worked themselves to the bone to build a business and raise a family in Gotham. I'm not going to let this man without-a-country make it all for nothing."

As Kitty listened she was awestruck by the level of resolve between Mateo, Danny, Brady and Alia. In her experience, actors were selfish and entitled. Maybe she had been looking at her own reflection for too long, or maybe she should have been paying more attention to the people she worked with and learned to recognize moral fibre.

"Bane will know my singing voice if he hears it again."

"Well, that's the thing, Kitty. We really should leave you out of the equation or else you'll be in danger," Mateo suggested. "Bane doesn't know who he's looking for in us. He'll think we're just some smart alecks copycatting you. He wouldn't know if he passed one of us on the street."

A long silence prevailed as Mateo waited for her reply.

"I really, really want to do this," she implored Mateo, careful not to demand her own way as she was wont to do. "Isn't there something we can do to make it happen?"

She surprised herself with the way the words came so easily. Expressing her desire to participate and asking for their help in order to find a solution wasn't the way Kitty operated. She normally took what she wanted and demanded that everyone fall in line.

Mateo seemed stunned by her desire to collaborate. "Fair enough, Kitty. Ideas, anyone?"

Three days later, after much planning and pizza in Detective John Blake's one bedroom plus den apartment, Kitty and her four co-conspirators put their plan in motion. Without any bullying tactics on her part, Kitty had managed to convince the others to allow her to sing as well. After, she was the one who had started the whole ball rolling.

On a crisp and quiet Saturday night, Barsad joined Bane on John Daggett's large penthouse terrace.

"So... Talia's pissed," the sniper observed. "Our guys end up dead and Kitty's nowhere in sight. How did she manage to take down two of our best men in her loft, and then disappear? I tell ya, she's more talented than I could have ever imagined. We should recruit her, brother."

"She will be found," Bane rumbled. In reality he wanted nothing more to do with Kitty Nash. She had levelled some very harsh words that stung him more than he cared to admit. She had called him a 'masked monster' whom she could never fall in love with, and that he was a fool if he thought that any woman ever could.

In truth, until Bane heard those words from Kitty it had never occurred to him that a woman might not find him appealing. Whenever he looked at his reflection he saw a swaggering, charismatic man with a body forged in nature — a man oozing masculinity and mystery, keenly aware of the hush that fell upon a room whenever he entered. Inside he liked to think of himself as a sort of gentleman brute. Was that not readily apparent on the outside as well, despite the mask? It seemed as though Kitty Nash didn't think so.

"Talia says you're not looking hard enough," Barsad replied, interrupting Bane's thoughts. "She's worried that you have a thing for Kitty. She says that kidnapping her was a sign of poor judgment that is alien to your character. She says she should never have allowed you to take a spoil, and from now on she's gonna keep a tighter rein on you, because nothing can go wrong with — "

Bane raised his hand sharply to stop Barsad's incessant chatter. "Listen, brother," he rasped.

Somewhere in the night a voice rang out as clear as a bell — not too near, and not too far. It was a voice Bane remembered well.

My funny valentine
Sweet comic valentine
You make me smile with my heart

It was Kitty — singing an American jazz standard. Bane's dark chocolate eyes shone in the moonlight as his brow furrowed.

It seemed her experience in the mob at City Hall — which he had expected would terrorize or possibly kill her — had only served to empower her.

Your looks are laughable
Unphotographable
Yet you're my favorite work of art
Is your Figure less than Greek?
Is your mouth a little weak?
When you open it to speak
Are you smart?

"Take your men and find her, brother," Bane snarled. "I want her alive!"

But don't change your hair for me
Not if you care for me
Stay little valentine stay
Each day is Valentines day

Kitty's voice trailed away, and a furious Bane was left alone with his thoughts. His chest heaved as the hair stood up on his arm, just as it had done that first night at the Brett Addams theatre. But there was something different this time — his member had risen as well.

His fingers twitched in anticipation of his next meeting with her.

"You will pay dearly for having mocked me, Katrina Nash," he murmured into the now silent night.

Author's Note: "My Funny Valentine" is from the musical "Babes in Arms" by Rodgers and Hart.