Chapter 9

Selina woke to the thick scent of foliage, and beeping of machines.

"You're awake! Selina, are you okay?" It was Ivy, she knew that voice anywhere. "Say something so that I know you're okay."

"Why does my room smell like a giant bag of potpourri?" Selina opened her eyes slowly and adjusted to the light. It would seem that she was in a hospital, surrounded by plants.

Ivy laughed a gawky laugh. "Oh! You're back!" She leaned in for a hug. "Oh, I can't believe it!"

Selina raised up her hands as she tried to recall the events that had preceded her arrival at the hospital. Once again she saw Five... looking down at her from the broken window with that cold-hearted stare. Five, who had pushed her out from the fourth-floor window. Five, who had kept her trapped in her own home. A fiery wrath rose within her that threatened to consume unless she repaid what was owed. She began pulling out the bandages and needles still attached to her.

"Oh wait... what are you doing?" Ivy asked. Selina hadn't half the mind to explain what had happened. That taunting glare stayed ingrained within, beckoning her to go seek her revenge. "You just got out of a coma, you need to rest."

"This can't wait."

Ivy was miffed. "What are you talking about? Where are you going?"

"To Wayne Manor. To kill someone." Selina got up and walked out the door before Ivy could go on. Whatever she lacked in strength, made up for in anger.
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The alarms sounded at Wayne Manor, but they weren't the first time they'd been tripped by accident. Two days ago a stray had triggered them, causing Five some apprehension. He'd witnessed Selina at her moment of demise. He knew that there wasn't any way that she was coming back from that. And yet something within him felt unrested, like he was being haunted by her ghost.

The moment Alfred turned off the alarms, Five listened carefully for any sounds of intrusion into the Manor. "I'll check the kitchen, stay put," said the butler, hurrying off down the stairs.

Five heard the hooting of an owl from not too far away. He strayed into the study where he noticed an open window, and a light breeze blowing through it. Something about this scene looked mighty familiar.

As he approached the window, a dark figure pounced towards him, arms outstretched. Five backed off just in time to avoid another blow to the face by someone who looked exactly like Selina. "Selina? How?"

Her lips were as pale as when he had left her lying there in that dirty alleyway, and there was something dark and devious in her eyes that told him that she wasn't here for a social visit. She circled him like a wild animal on a prowl, her hands bundled into fists, one with a small knife, ready to strike at any given moment. "I came here to do one thing. And it ain't answering questions."

She took another swipe at him, one that he narrowly avoided. And yet another, that Five caught in two hands. She struggled to get away, but whatever Hugo Strange had provided to him, it'd given him greater strength than one would have at his age. That alone enabled him to subdue her. The truth was that he didn't want to fight her. He knew exactly why she hated him, but it was an unfortunate situation where she had threatened to jeopardize the entire mission. If only she'd just listened to him when she had the chance. "Strange as it sounds, I'm glad you're alive."

She clung on to the knife in the vain hope that she might use it against him. "That is strange. 'Cause you pushed me out a four-storey window!" The heel of her boot slammed into his stomach, throwing him backwards where he slammed into a coffee table, then slipped onto the floor.

"What choice did I have? You were going to tell Alfred about me."

"You mean how you're a freak?" she replied acrimoniously as she stepped up onto the coffee table. "How you're just the cheap knock-off who kidnapped the real Bruce Wayne?"

Her ruthless words stung. Out of pure impulse, Five grabbed a firepoker and swung it in her direction. She dodged his blow, and slammed her knife into his side. He barely felt a thing - another gift by Hugo Strange. He launched another swing at her, one that she took to the shoulder, and spun her onto the ground. He leapt down with his poker, aiming to impale her with it, but she lithy rolled away just in the nick of time. Whatever he'd ever felt for Selina, whatever he'd ever felt for anyone out of that dank cold lab, it was all gone. No one mattered to him anymore.

She came back at him like a bat out of hell, knife in hand, ready to slice open his chest when Alfred came into the scene, knocking her off him. "Selina stop!" he yelled.

"He's not Bruce! He's not Bruce!" she cried desperately, just before Five slammed her on the back of her head with the poker, causing her to lose consciousness and slip to the ground.

"Oh dear God. Selina!" Alfred bent over to check on her.

But why was he taking her side? That was the first time Five began to really worry about his cover getting blown. Why did Alfred need to come in when he did? "She - she attacked me, Alfred. She's out of her mind!"

"She needs a doctor," he replied levelly.

"You saw her, she... she was crazy."

But Alfred wasn't impressed. His eyes wandered to the poker that Five still clung to. "Put the iron down, Bruce." Five looked down. "I said put the iron down!" Alfred used a tone he hadn't heard before.

"Alfred..." he took a step back.

The butler glanced over to his side and saw the blood. "You're cut." He grabbed Five's side. "You don't feel a thing, do you?" Anger began to sprout its shoots in Alfred's wavering tone. "Do you? Now I'm gonna ask you nicely, or I swear to God you're going to feel a whole lot of pain. Where is Bruce?"

There wasn't any more reason to pretend. Alfred knew just who he was, and Five knew it was all over. "Bruce is serving a greater purpose than himself. As am I." And just as Alfred shrunk in shock, Five swung his poker at him, caught him in the leg.

Alfred grabbed the poker, jabbed him in the ribs, then slammed him in the face, over and over again. He could taste the stream of blood running down from his nose to his lips. He couldn't tell if it was due to Alfred's rough treatment of his body, or that he was breaking down again. Either way, he had nothing left to lose.

"Last time! Where is Bruce?" But the butler had lost all authority. Five could hear the anger giving way to fear. It made him grin.

Five slammed his forehead into the butler's. Alfred took a second to recover. Then returned a head slam. Five barely felt it. He slammed his head into the butler's again. This time, Alfred could not recover from the blow, and he collapsed onto the ground, dazed and bewildered. Five walked over to where he was. "You're always kind to me, Alfred. Even when you thought I wasn't Bruce." He picked up the poker.

Alfred cringed. "Please..." he begged. "Just tell me where Bruce is."

But Five wasn't bending for anyone, not even him. The poker slammed right into his head, knocking him out for the count.
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Five returned to Kathryn's, the only place that felt like home to him. But the truth was that he belonged nowhere, and he'd cut all ties to anyone he'd ever allowed himself to feel something for. There was something liberating yet completely isolating about the thought.

Kathryn met him at the door and let him in. Her expression was as stoic as he figured it would. Knowing her, she would have already have found out about all that had transpired. They stood in the dining hall as she waited till the door was shut, and the help had left the room before speaking. "It's disappointing how your irresponsible actions over the past few days have led to this. Did you really think you could save her?"

"I was wrong. I know that now," he admitted, reflecting on how things would've turned out if he'd simply kept his mouth shut.

"Unfortunately this job doesn't allow room for errors. There will be no second chances."

"I know that," Five replied, wiping the blood off the top of his lip. "But I'm sorry anyway."

Kathryn moved down the length of two seats. "Bruce isn't ready to come back yet, but he will be soon. You'll have to hope that his friends won't start a crusade against us before then."

Five struggled to find the right words to say. "If there's anything I can still do to help..."

A loud bang exploded in the empty room as Kathryn held a smoking gun to his head, the bullet-casing ringing against the floor like a bell. Five fell to his knees, then to the floor. "Oh child, you've done enough to help," said Kathryn to the fresh corpse in front of her.

"But now we need you to disappear."