2012-07-27 It Isn't Goodbye

It is bordering on forty-eight hours since the Cat ran afoul of the Hood, a meeting that swiftly dissolved into violence. Violence that resulted in an injured Selina and a trip to Leslie's clinic. There are still signs of the altercation - two days truly isn't enough for bruising and swelling to subside - and her face still hurts, but it isn't enough to keep her at home tonight. Neither is the threat of death that Hood has hung over her head.
The black-clad figure stands on a rooftop, alone, cowl drawn up over her head and goggles in hand. Whatever she has planned for this evening it looks like she just might be about to make good on them as she is poised right at the edge of the roof.
Batman is utterly silent in his perch, the black drape of his cape hanging down either side of him like the length of a shadow. His head is bent forward just a little, keeping the white of his eyes hidden in the darkness created by his cowl and he only lifts it as the woman approaches the edge of the roof.
"Selina." Quiet, almost commanding, but he doesn't say anything else. It's like he demands her attention simply by speaking her name. If he can see her injuries, and it's fair to say he probably can, he doesn't ask.. maybe the question is part of the single spoken name?
Attention he seeks and attention he receives. Selina turns around slowly, her eyes narrowed. A few seconds are spent in silence before, without much warning given, she steps in to give the Caped Crusader a hug. Care is taken to make sure she turns her head to the side, keeping what's sore along the one side of her jaw from being pressed against.
The silence is shattered when she finally does speak, her voice raised only enough so that he can hear her. "Looks like Gotham City might be down a cat burglar," comes a very matter-of-fact statement but that's all Selina says for now, the statement left vague.
Batman isn't in the hugging business, but he doesn't move out of the way of her wrapping her arms around the outside of his cape and arms, or patting her side lightly when she speaks.
"Why?"
It's not in the usual growl that accompanies the dark knights voice. It's true that he's been ridiculously busy over the last few weeks, kept almost constantly on the move by the various criminals and the world events... but the Bat never shows signs of exhaustion.
Even if he is.
Batman's personal space is invaded for only several seconds before she steps back. Her eyes hold to his cowl's eyes as she speaks, her expression grave. "The Red Hood gave me an ultimatum. Either I leave Gotham in twenty-four hours or I die."
A slight shrug is given but it isn't one given in indifference, it instead given as a sign of her helplessness, something she rarely ever feels. "I have a friend who said he'll go and look for him and speak to him on my behalf but I have a feeling it'll do little good, if any." She pauses, thinks, and adds, "The Hood is late on making good with his threat. Has me thrown. I don't know if he was serious or not."
Red Hood.
Jason.
Batman narrows his eyes behind the white lenses of his cowl, but that point is hidden from view. The fact that he's staring at Selina is not, it's like his eyes can be felt.. or she just knows him. Either way, he's considering something.
"I've been looking for a reason to find him. Now I have one."
Quietly, "Keep your head down, Selina. I don't know if he'll make good on his threat or not, but the fact that you've mentioned it indicates you think he /could/ if he wanted to. I'll stop him."
Normally Selina would try to argue or flirt her way into being allowed to help Bruce with tasks like that but right now she's scared, the way Red Hood attacked her reminding her of all the violence she witnessed in her life. First the abuse her father used to visit upon her mother while he was drunk and then what of it she witnessed at the juvenile facility and out on the streets after his drinking finally killed him and she wound up separated from her sister. It's been haunting her and making it impossible to sleep.
And, honestly, truly unwilling to put herself in that position again despite her desire to make the Hood pay for what he did to her.
"He hates you," she whispers softly. "I don't know what happened, Bruce, but I mentioned you and it set him off on the attack." An attack that makes her tremble just by remembering it.
Beneath the cowl, Bruce understands why the man beneath the hood hates him. He doesn't agree, but he understands. On the surface, however, Batman is an immovable object and the unstoppable force. Batman is calculating how to use that to his advantage, how to turn the Red Hood's hatred into a weapon to either reason with him... or put him down.
That thought... is painful. Nobody would ever know it, not by looking at him, but it's painful to think he might have to go up against his former protege. It's a thought he washes away from his mind. Something he cannot let stand in the way of what needs to be done.
"It's a long story." He finally says, dismissing it with those quiet words. No room for inquiry in his tone. "I'll handle it."
There's a sigh of relief, a slow, steady exhale of air that helps her to relax as much as she can under the circumstances. "I think I probably should spend some time out of the city." It further angers Selina to say that but right now it is the only thing she can think to do since she won't be getting into the fray herself. "I'll give you a call when I'm settled."
There's no mention of where she might wind up but with her love of luxury and the finer things in life Bruce can probably figure out that it will be somewhere nice, perhaps a fancy hotel in one of the larger cities somewhere in the world or one of those spas in the middle of nowhere that many of the social elite love to steal away to when they need some down time.
"You know how to get in touch with me." Batman reaffirms with a curt nod, turning his white eyes to overlook the coming thunder clouds off on the dark horizon. It has not yet blanketed the sky in it's oppressive gray, but already there's flashes of white light illuminating the darkness and the subtle crack of thunder looming.
Gotham has been a boiling pot for the last few weeks. A powder keg ready to explode. This is just one more thing on a very long list of others that have demanded the Dark Knight's attention..
Yet this one is closer to home.
With another shallow nod, "Take care of yourself, Selina." It's something like a goodbye.
This is a man who knows the way those sound. "Wherever you go. I'll be watching." Or maybe not a goodbye.
Just an 'until then'.
Batman steps off the ledge and opens his arms, sending a current through the memory foam to spread the tail ends out like wings, carrying him on a low current towards the roof of the building across the alley and a few stories shorter. In pursuit.
Always in pursuit.
Of something.
It isn't a 'goodbye', no. Selina will be back as will Catwoman. Just wait. But a cat knows when it's time to seek new territory, even if just temporarily, an instinct Selina possesses.
When Bruce leaves she turns around herself but instead of carrying out what she had in her mind to do she makes her way back home. There are bags to pack and arrangements to be made, after all as well as wounds to lick.
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