TDK fic
Title: It Happened One Night
Character: Batman, Catwoman, Commissioner Gordon
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1681
Disclaimer: DC and Warner Bros own.
AN: Post TDK. Prequel to Making a Mess.
Batman kept on fighting the evils of his city. Monsters and common criminals alike. No one was exempt; everyone who broke the law paid the price. At around the same time, the police increased the manpower assigned to arrest him. Speaking to Gordon instantly became more difficult. The nights were tough, but he had to keep up his daytime façade as well. Alfred and Lucius stood by his side, but he’d never felt more alone than in those days. When he grew too tired to even stand, so exhausted of what his life had become, he thought of Rachel’s last moments. He thought of his father’s last words. He thought of what could have been had fate not intervened.
But he realized fate and destiny had never been on his side. Together, they laughed and mocked him, always taking that which he loved most. All that was left now was his city. But even that, fate and destiny tried to pry away by throwing so many colorful, deadly threats his way. The loyalty, the determination to save at least one thing he loved grew and turned into his utter devotion to Gotham City and her alone. It was all that remained of the life he had once desired. It was all he could still have.
But this world he chose to lock himself in was rattled one dark and cold night by someone who tried to steal him out of it.
...
About to call it a night and head back to the cave so Alfred could administer his field training to the latest injuries he received, Batman caught the subtle movements of a figure scurrying across Wayne Enterprise’s Tech Division’s rooftop. He swooped down for a closer look.
Upon further inspection he discovered he had a front row view of someone attempting to break into one of the several buildings he owned. To keep from warning the thief of his presence he continued the rest of the way cautiously in silence.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Batman growled, but the menace his voice once carried was lacking and it sounded tired even to his own ears.
That’s when the burglar turned around and Batman almost stepped back realizing the thief looked nothing like he had expected. First, it was most definitely a she. Second, she wore a mask hiding the upper half of her face and had what looked like ears at the top of her head. Third, she was giving him the most disarming smile, one he wasn’t sure even Bruce Wayne might have been able to counteract or resist.
“It’s not safe for you to be out,” she warned, though there was a hint of teasing he caught. Her voice was alluring and rich, like the most decadent of chocolates. She smiled at him, “There are cops all over the place, you know.”
When he didn’t say anything she shrugged and turned back to the door she had been working on. That’s when he noticed the tail…
“Stop,” he ordered, when he’d manage to get control of his voice again.
She sighed in irritation and spun ever so slowly to face him, “What?”
What? he thought, did she not see the cape and cowl? Did she not understand he was there to stop her?
“Look, Batman,” her tone was mocking, “I don’t go interrupting your killing sprees, now do I?” She took the few wary steps necessary to close the distance between them, “Why are you bothering me when I’m working?”
When he didn’t reply, she narrowed her eyes. Maybe this wasn’t the real Batman. Just some fake. Wasn’t Batman supposed to be ruthless? A killer? He’d murdered all those cops, hadn’t he? She stared up into his eyes, along his jaw, and finally settled on his lips. He could have been the ugliest thing under the mask, but she had to admit, the mask itself gave him an air of mystery…danger… She licked her bottom lip wondering if maybe something other than words was required to get a reaction out of him.
...
Batman was stunned. Stupefied for the first time in a long time. He thought he was aware of the repercussions of Gordon agreeing to go along with his idea of placing the blame entirely on himself instead of Dent. He knew the police would redouble their efforts to ensure his capture, but he had failed to consider what the other side would think. He had not expected one belonging to the criminal element would actually see him as one of their own!
This...thief, she assumed he would simply let her continue stealing? It was almost too much.
No one had spoken to him like she had either. Without fear or awe. Without any...respect. And now she was simply staring at him. Her deep, green eyes up to something, he was sure.
He didn’t see any weapons at her immediate disposal, but most of his were hidden away from view, too. She bit her lip and he became enthralled by the reddest of lips.
...
“Are you the real thing?” she asked and looked up at him with a curious expression.
She reminded him of a cat when she tilted her face to his. And before he could reply, she reached up and her mouth clamped possessively onto his.
He was too surprised to respond by shoving her away like the furious voice in his head insisted, but when the heat of her mouth and the warmth of her body against his became too much, he turned reckless and pulled her in closer as he lost himself in the kiss.
It had been too long. It had been far too long…
...
She heard the helicopter before she saw it. He seemed to have heard it as well. They pulled away and looked around. The street below was too quiet. No sirens, nothing could be heard beside the propelling rotors.
She stared up at the man who only a few minutes ago she had decided was worth kissing, “You. You did this, didn’t you?”
She stepped back, slipping further away from his grasp.
The door she had been trying to unlock suddenly burst open. The Commissioner himself stood there, his eyes wide as he looked from Batman to her, and back.
She turned to Batman, finally understanding. Her voice was barely above a whisper, “You’re still one of them, aren’t you?”
Gordon caught Batman’s eye and the vigilante instantly understood its significance. The police were on their way and Gordon was warning him the only way he could, with his presence free of the rest of the department. Batman looked from Gordon to the thief. If anyone else from the GCPD saw him there, they would be forced to pursue him and there wouldn’t be anything the Commissioner could do. Suspicion about why the Commissioner was at the scene would also arise.
Batman looked at the thief still struggling with what to say. He couldn’t warn her because that would mean betraying Gordon’s trust. Though he didn’t owe the thief a thing - she was a thief, after all - he felt responsible for her predicament, which was foolish because he had initially showed up to stop her. The kiss they shared shouldn’t have happened and shouldn’t matter. Yet somehow, it did.
He looked back at Gordon, the worry evident on the older man’s face. Warn the thief or listen to Gordon.
Warn the thief.
Listen to Gordon.
The thief.
Gordon.
Seconds before the lights flashed on the rooftop, Batman jumped off.
“Don’t move,” the booming voice from the helicopter loudspeaker assured her, “You are surrounded!”
She didn’t shield her eyes from the immensely bright lights like she wanted to; instead, she turned to Commissioner Gordon and smiled like she didn’t have a care in the world, like she wasn’t about to be arrested and put away for an endless amount of years for being a costumed criminal, like she hadn’t just been betrayed by a man she knew nothing about and decided to trust for some strange and obviously stupid reason.
“Put your hands up!” the loudspeaker instructed, but she ignored it and took a step towards the edge.
“Wait!” Gordon held his free hand up. The other, clutching his gun, was pointing down and away.
“Next time you see the Bat…” she grinned, but it held a rather bloodthirsty twist to it, “Tell him I always get even.”
“Who are you?” Gordon asked, unable to understand why she would dress up like a cat. Or why it bothered him so.
She laughed at him and unfurled a whip wrapped around her waist he had failed to detect, or, rather, mistook for a tail. Her expression changed as she spoke.
“Now, why would I want to make it easy on the two of you?”
Gordon looked over his shoulder behind him to make sure no one had come up and heard what she said. When he turned back to the thief, she was gone.
…
Gordon walked into his office and though he should have been used to it by now was more than a little surprised to find Batman waiting.
“Did she get away?”
“This time,” Batman replied.
Gordon sighed. “Yes, well, I think we underestimated her. Who knew there was more than one of you who liked to jump off buildings?” He removed his glasses and massaged the bridge of his nose. “Oh,” his voice was casual, controlled, “She said she always gets even.” He waited for a reaction. He knew he wasn’t likely to get one. Still, he couldn’t shake the lingering feeling that something else beside Batman attempting to stop the thief had happened on that rooftop. Gordon tried again, knowing it was of little use, “Anything more to the threat than the obvious?”
“I’ll look into it,” Batman replied and was half-way out the window when he turned back, “Thank you for the warning, Jim.”
Before Gordon had a chance to reply, Batman had slipped into the night once again.