Chapter 78: An Alliance of Cats and Bats
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"If you love someone, he could make you sad. He could even make you feel lonely sometimes. But that someone can also make you happier than you'll ever be..."
- Saki Hanajima, (Fruits Basket)
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<(Bruce Wayne POV)>
"What? Of course not. What do you think of me? I was not only fully dressed with the chain all the way up but even had a leather jacket on. In fact, I arrived a little while ago and was trying to change my clothes before I discovered an extremely annoying woman snooping around in my room. Apparently, you brought her here as a guest, which made her think that she could enter MY room without MY permission to 'sightsee' the mansion." Selena said as she looked at me, her eyes filled with barely hidden suspicion.
"I wanted to beat her to a pulp because I thought she was an enemy trying to confuse me by lying but then Alfred arrived and confirmed her words. So, I came straight to see you." Selina completed.
"... Wait, so I have to kill Alfred for seeing you naked?" I muttered to myself with a mock heartbroken face.
"What are you on about? We both know that Alfred had seen almost all of us naked since we were kids. The only thing he feels from that is disappointment at not being able to make us more fat... or 'healthy' as he likes to call it." Selina snickered.
"Yeah, that's true. The man doesn't understand the greatness of having a jacked body despite having one himself." I too chuckled as I remembered how muscular the aging butler now was that I had given him the gene modifier serum to keep him in top shape and slow down his aging.
"Yeah. Anyway, I missed you. It has been too long. I almost thought that you had forgotten about us... about me." Selina muttered weakly as she rubbed her face on my chest, hugging me as tightly as possible. She was even slightly mewling like a little cat as she nudged her head deeper into my chest.
"Never silly. How could I forget about my little kitty? I was just too busy with my training and everything. Turns out the level of skill I wanted for myself wasn't exactly that easy to achieve. But I am back now and I don't plan to leave again." I smiled to reassure her while hugging her back and patting her head.
"I hope so. Just don't leave without me gain... By the way, who was that girl in my room? Don't tell me that you went ahead to do the exact opposite of what I asked and got yourself a whore." Selina looked at me accusingly with a sharp glint in her eyes as her voice suddenly changed from a weak happy voice to a doubt-filled accusatory tone.
"Why? Because I want to pursue revenge instead of letting this go and forgiving him? Because I am not a generous enough human being to forgive my and my mother's tormentor and move on with my life?" Selina sounded angry, her hatred for Falcone clearly audible in her voice.
"No, it's because you did not take Cortana's help with this. With her drones and information processing capabilities, you could have already had a bullet in Falcone's head by now. Also, I do not practice that vengeance is bad and one should always forgive others bullshit philosophy myself. So, I am in no position to preach it to you. If this had happened to me, I would have probably done much worse to Falcone." I admitted honestly as the image of Jor Chill came to my mind.
If he had not been killed in prison that day, I would have probably given him a very VERY cruel death, consequences be damned. Perhaps his death at the hands of the Court was a way for the universe to give me a chance to keep myself pure, to help the future Batman keep his hands clean of blood but then again I had wasted that opportunity a long time ago, something I wasn't at all ashamed of. I had done what I needed to do and I stand by it. No regrets.
"Oh... I just embarrassed myself, didn't I? I guess staying away from you for so many years had made me forget about how morally grey you can be at times." She chuckled half-heartedly as she relaxed.
"... Anything for family," I said with an exaggerated cool voice as I patted her head in an effort to lighten up the mood.
"I... I love you, tiger despite how cheesy you sounded just now. Even I have seen all the Fast and Furious movies especially since we get free tickets from Lucius due to it being a movie franchisee from Wayne Studios." Selina teased.
"Yeah, I know but I can't help myself and yes, I love you too... Also, I might just have a couple of things that could help you in this little revenge of yours. I had been developing some stuff for myself to... try and minimize crime in Gotham by getting rid of all the criminal organizations slowly, replacing them with something better. I think I can hook you up with some of that cool stuff as well. Tell me, if you were to get a bulletproof catsuit filled to the brim with high-tech weaponry built into it, would you want it with a matte black design or a glossy black design?"
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/God_Doom