Post Cataclysm & NML
Title: That Moment
Characters: Catwoman/Batman
Rating: PG
Word Count: 420
Disclaimer: DC owns.
AN: Post No Man’s Land.
Weeks after the reconstruction of Gotham commenced, Batman had managed to gather all the surveillance tapes that had survived and not been ruined by the earthquake. They contained images of what occurred during the quake and after. Batman saw individuals, who under other circumstances would be ordinary law-abiding people, steal from each other, hurt one another, and commit all sorts of atrocities against their fellow citizens. Sometimes for survival. Sometimes simply to be cruel.
There were a few tapes that captured members of his team working. That had been the main reason he recovered all the tapes. They could be a learning tool. Catch any mistakes his team made and correct it instantly because they could be costly. Plus, he didn’t want the footage of Nightwing, Robin, Batgirl, or Huntress falling into the wrong hands.
Then, he stumbled onto an interesting tape. The feed was scrambled, but after running it through the computer, he was able to clean up the footage. It was Catwoman, her purple suit ripped and dirty, helping people escape the mall? She made it to the surface many times and went back into the rubble only to come back out with another survivor, using her whip to swing them to safety. He was stunned. He always knew she wasn’t like Joker or Scarecrow. This only served to add to the complex and confusing emotions he experienced when thinking about her.
There must have been an aftershock completely disconnecting the feed because the footage ended there. Bruce searched for other surveillance tapes of the surrounding area and nearby vicinity. He found another.
He saw Catwoman climb high onto a ledge. The building was only half standing and debris of the devastation was scattered all around. He watched her head fall into her hands and weep silently.
She was crying for his fallen city.
He thought he had been the only one to feel so devastated and lost, letting the tears fall when no one else was around to see. Some of the frozen ice protecting his heart broke off and fell at the sight of Catwoman so…vulnerable. His hand reached towards the screen and he wanted to comfort her.
That’s when it happened. The idle thoughts that had been skimming around the edge of his mind made their way to the forefront. Gotham was her city, too. She was more than the sly and sensual thief; there was a person beneath the mask. And never before had he wanted to know more about her than in that moment.