Batman: Symbol of Intuition
Title: Symbol of Intuition
Author: KLCtheBookWorm klcthebookworm
Characters/Pairings: Bruce Wayne/Selina Kyle
Rating: G
Summary: Bruce is still stuck in the Pit.
Disclaimer: Own nothing, but I would take really good care of it if it needs a new home. Missing scene for The Dark Knight Rises and spoilers for the movie.Note: After the story.
Words: 563
Bruce lay back on the prison cot with the drug addict doctor's words echoing in his mind. He had to fear death again. What did that even mean?
He heard the heels on the stone floor before he saw Selina step out of the shadows. She was wearing her burglary costume, but her pale face was bare and the cat ears on the headband from Miranda's party perched on her head. She looked up at the broken TV and then continued to sashay to his cot. "Your temper hasn't busted you out of here yet."
"I'm working on that," he growled. "Why are you here, Selina?"
She sat on the edge of the cot and draped herself over him. "Aren't you a little glad to see me?" Her fingers tangled into his hair. "What if I told you I need you more than Gotham does? Would that get me a kiss?"
"I'll kiss you if you help me get out of here."
"And here I thought you didn't bargain." Her smile didn't reach her eyes. "You trust me after I betrayed you?"
"I didn't give you a reason to trust me." He cupped her cheek. "If I had, you would have told me Bane threatened you."
"I almost told Bruce-you." She smoothed his hair away from his face. "But I didn't think he had any resources to help with, so I didn't. Time enough to fix that once you save Gotham. Now what's the problem with climbing up the wide-open front door?"
His left hand curled into a fist. "I've tried that twice! You reach the same spot halfway up and you cannot leap to the next ledge. Bane must have grown wings."
Selina's hand not wrapped in his hair went under his shirt and rubbed the bruises around his waist from the last climb. "I hope Bane didn't break that big, beautiful, Bat brain of yours. The rope isn't there to save you when you fall; it's there to keep you from making that jump." He turned his head to look at the hole to the sky, but both her hands turned him to face her. "Remember to shave before you get to Gotham, Scruffy." Her mouth dropped onto his.
He wrapped his arms around her and nearly rolled off the cot. He blinked at his empty cell, turned to face the rope dangling down the tunnel up, and measured it best he could in the dim light. Without the rope, he could fall and die from the injuries.
But without the rope he would make the leap.
The End
Author's Note: Overall, I liked the re-imagining the Lazarus Pit into a pit that housed plague victims then turned into a prison. What drove me crazy was how long it took Bruce to realize that the rope wouldn't let anyone jump to that ledge. Okay, he was still injured when the first guy failed. But after his first jump? Come on, this is a guy who was hang-gliding between buildings in Hong Kong and Gotham City! He suddenly forgot how to calculate distances during his retirement? The second jump I expected him to untie the rope and leap. And he didn't.
In "Partners," Bruce told Selina he dreamed about her while in the pit. Then I found out that cats symbolize mystery and intuition in dreams. Thus born this drabble.
Additional Author's Note 04/21/2013: This series finally has a name! Signs and Portents includes: Batman: Symbol of Intuition, Batman: Partners, Batman: Entwined Fates, Batman: Forgiveness is for the Living, and Batman: Meanwhile in Gotham City.