Chapter Text
“But Father, I-” Damian starts, being cut off by Bruce’s glare.
“After that stunt you pulled in Metropolis with Jon, you’re being grounded. And that includes social functions.” Comes Bruce’s reply, as he steadies the tie on his tux. “Alfred, are the contact lenses still operational?”
“I do wish you’d consider not bringing your ‘nightlife’ to this function Master Bruce.” Alfred sighs. “I’m sure Miss Kyle isn’t bringing an extra change of clothes or the whip. One night without being Batman won’t kill you, sir.” Bruce turns to look at him, a thought on his mind, then sinks his head in defeat.
“You’re probably right Alfred. But Gotham still needs to be watched. Get in contact with Dick. We might need Kate too since there are still unaccounted escapees from the Arkham incident.” Bruce says, giving Alfred a slight smile. “Better?”
“It’s a start, Master Bruce.”
“These functions are a drag, Bruce,” Selina says to Bruce, holding onto a glass of wine.
“What would you prefer?” Bruce earnestly asks, noting the look of boredom on her face.
“I’d prefer making a lame excuse, dropping by my place, and taking to the rooftops. The Bat and The Cat at it again.” She says in a low tone, so other guests couldn’t hear the latter part of the sentence.
“I’d love that Selina, but I’d also have to stop by the Manor for my night suit too,” Bruce says, sheepishly smiling.
“Is that a smile?” Selina ribs, also smiling. Before Bruce can answer, Commissioner Jim Gordon walks up to the couple and extends a greeting.
“Good Evening Bruce, Selina.” Jim greets, shaking Bruce’s hand. “How are things?”
“Oh, you know me, Jim, doing my best to serve Gotham,” Bruce replies, noting the slight smirk on Selina’s face that’s quickly buried by the glass of wine.
As the party goes on, Bruce and Selina are bombarded by a series of “Congratulations” on their upcoming marriage, followed by Selina being repeatedly asked about if she’s ok with the 3 children that Bruce had adopted (Dick Grayson, Tim Drake, and Cassandra Cain), and the one that he fathered illegitimately (Damian Wayne). Selina continuously responds with “I’ve always wanted a big family,” which always gets laughs.
“I’d like to make a speech for everyone here!” Bruce declares as he starts addressing everyone there. “I’d like to thank all of you for donating to the Gotham Children’s Hospital. As several of you noted, I do have quite a bit of children that I have adopted over the years.” Bruce pauses as the audience laughs. He clears his throat and continues. “I adopted them because I believe the children are our future. My parents taught me that before their passing and I see their efforts to support the children all throughout Gotham City. I love each and every one of them, and soon I could step down and settle with my soon to be wife, so maybe one of them will be up here giving a speech as CEO of Wayne Enterprises.” The audience all starts clapping as Bruce and Selina depart.
“Lovely speech, I really enjoyed the part about settling with your wife.” Selina teases, holding on to Bruce’s arm. As they walk, a figure emerges from the shadows, holding a gun.
“We’ll start with the pretty pearls around the lady’s neck. Now.” The man says, readying the gun. Upon hearing that, Bruce freezes, remembering that voice, those words. “What’s the matter Brucie? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” The voice distorts back, to another familiar voice. The figure steps out of the shadows, speaking into a microphone. Standing at around 6 feet tall and wearing a trench coat, he looks rather unremarkable. As he steps further into the poorly lit street, Bruce’s eyes widen upon seeing the bandaged face.
“Tommy,” Bruce growls out, instinctively getting in front of Selina. “How did you survive?”
“Does it matter?” Comes Hush’s almost gleefully taunting response. A slight shift in the shadows near Bruce draws his attention away for a split second, as he starts to wonder, a dagger comes flying at him from behind where Hush was just standing. Selina pulls Bruce down, and the two of them get ready to fight.
“That dagger…” Bruce starts, as another one flies from a different angle, forcing the engaged crime fighters to step away from each other.
“Keep focusing on it and you’ll get to see it up close and personal,” Selina says, slightly amused, as she kicks off her heels. “I didn’t know Hush had this kind of reinforcements.” A few more daggers fly towards the two, giving Bruce a chance to start surveying the area.
“There’s at least 10 of them, very well trained. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say Ra’s was at it again, but these daggers are not ones that the League uses.” Bruce says, disregarding the conclusion he was originally coming to. He slips a disk out of his pocket and presses it to his belt buckle, causing his utility belt to form from the disk. The shadows around Bruce and Selina start to shift and move, and suddenly they are surrounded by figures cloaked in all black, with owl-shaped masks. “The Court of Owls’ Talons.” Bruce has a tone of bewilderment, anger, and fear all in his voice. Bruce and Selina stand back to back, and as the Talons get closer, they spring into action.
Selina jumps in the air, and Bruce grabs Selina’s arm, and swings her forward, using the momentum from her jump to catapult her to three of the Talons. She spins as she approaches them, kicking two of them in the head before landing on the ground to fight the third one. Bruce opens his mouth to speak, but several Talons descend upon him. Grabbing the closest one to him, he pivots in a circle, throwing the Talon at the group of Talons to throw them off guard. Hidden in the shadow of the thrown Talon came 2 razor-sharp batarangs, embedding themselves in the arms of two Talons. 3 seconds later the batarangs explode, blowing up the bodies of the Talons.
“You’re playing kinda rough,” Selina states, curious to her fiance’s sudden penchant for brutally injuring the Talons.
“They aren’t alive, we don’t have to hold back. They are too dangerous to treat lightly.” Bruce responds in between grunts of pain. Selina nods in understanding and pulls her whip out of her coat pocket. She lashes forward with it, catching a Talon around the neck. She jerks the Talon forward, and launches herself towards it, sending her knee into its jaw. She hears the sound of the neck breaking, and then she attacks the next Talon in her line of sight. Bruce runs towards a Talon and jumps over it, grabbing its head on his way down. He snaps the Talon’s neck over his shoulder, and using its head, slings the Talon to the Talon that Selina was fighting. Selina launches a Talon in the air, and Bruce uses a jump kick to knock it into a wall, where he launches another explosive Batarang. A Talon aims to throw a dagger at Bruce, and Selina jumps over Bruce, using her whip to disarm the Talon. Landing at Bruce’s back, she reaches behind her to grab a Batarang from Bruce’s utility belt, and tosses it at the Talon, blowing it up soon.
After a while, all the Talons are defeated, and Bruce and Selina are covered in gashes. Bruce’s 3-piece suit is torn up, and Selina’s dress and coat are ripped. They both are breathing heavily.
“You ok?” Bruce asks, noticing the blood on Selina’s face.
“Peachy.” Comes Selina’s response, as she limps towards him. “Where’s Hush?”
“Gone, probably escaped in the chaos,” Bruce states, obviously annoyed.
“You’re a worthy prey.” Another voice from the shadows drops in front of Bruce and Selina. “Under normal circumstances, I’d feel dishonorable taking down a weakened enemy, but from what I hear, the Batman is resourceful.” Brandishing a spear, he lunges at the injured couple. Bruce kicks to intercept, and the man jumps over Bruce’s leg, kicking him square in the chest.
“Who’s this guy?” Selina asks, helping Bruce recover from the kick.
“Didn’t get his name. Care to introduce yourself?” Bruce snarkily asks. Selina looks at him and smiles, extending her arm towards the mystery man. Her whip flies out, latching onto his spear. “What, are you some kind of hunter?”
“You can call me The Stalker.” Stalker says, pressing a button on his spear. An electrical current runs up Selina’s whip, shocking her and knocking her back. She gets back up and she and Bruce give each other a look and a nod. Together they run towards Stalker, who holds his spear up for defense. Bruce pivots around, and holding his hands together, catches Selina’s foot and springs her in the air. He then fires a series of quick punches, most of them bouncing off the spear, but one solid one connecting to Stalker’s jaw, causing him to stagger. Selina, who landed behind him, sends a knee into his back, further knocking him off balance, and into Bruce’s waiting fist. They repeatedly keep him off balance, strike him and move positions so he cannot counter them. Bruce uppercuts him, knocking him into the air, which Selina finishes up with a powerful jump kick, knocking him down a few feet away.
“That was… easy, wasn’t it?” Selina asks, not letting her guard down. Bruce nods his agreement and then they both cautiously approach him.
“I give you points for not turning your backs and walking away.” Stalker says, getting up, no worse for wear. “I have gone toe to toe with that advanced suit you built, your punches were akin to throwing a pebble at an elephant. You will pay with your life for what you did to my village.” With a sudden speed that neither Bruce or Selina thought he was capable of, he lunges forward. Selina, who is still battle-ready, is able to avoid the lethal blow but gets stabbed in the leg. Stalker swings the end of his spear, catching Bruce in the chest. Bruce staggers a bit, but both right themselves instantly. Even with Stalker’s advantage in strength and speed, Bruce and Selina together were able to hold their own for a time.
Stalker feints with the spear, having Bruce jump back and in the blink of an eye, uses the other end to sweep Selina’s legs out from underneath her. She lands headfirst on the ground, looking dazed, and Stalker follows that up by attempting to plunge his spear in her chest. Selina is able to move, but not enough as the tip of his spear sinks into her shoulder. As he attempts to stab her again, Bruce tackles him to the ground. He starts punching Stalker in the face repeatedly, putting his anger into each punch. Stalker quickly jabs Bruce in the stomach, giving him the opening to push Bruce off of him. He gets two quick punches in and then grabs Bruce by the collar, tossing him several feet away into a pile of garbage. He walks towards Selina, picking up his spear, and slams the blunt end of it into her skull, knocking her unconscious. Bruce staggers to his feet and seeing the pool of blood flowing from Selina, lets his anger take over him. He tosses several batarangs, each one aiming at Stalker’s head. Stalker dodges or deflects each one effortlessly. Bruce’s punches are coming slower and slower, as fatigue starts taking over. Reaching into his utility belt, he pulls out a watch, but before he can do anything with it, it’s knocked out of his hand by Stalker.
“Lois, can you get Jon ready? I have some League business to attend-” Clark Kent starts, as he towels his hair dry. He cocks his head to the side as his super-hearing kicks in and notices something that’s missing. He can hear Lois’ and Jon’s heartbeats, but as he expands his sphere of listening, he comes to the shocking realization that Bruce’s is missing.