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vocab_drabblesTitle: A Change
Fandom: DCU - Batman and Superman particularly
Author: Apache Firecat
Rating: PG/K+
Word Count: 600
Characters/Pairings: Bruce/Selina, Barbara, Clark
Warnings: None
Summary: In which Bruce realizes there must be a change on the rise.
"It has come to my attention, Batman, that your presence here may in fact be pernicious to your beloved city."
It was not easy to shock Batman, not with everything he had endured and witnessed over the ages, but these words coming from the young woman wearing her father's jacket and badge before him made his jaw fall open. "Barbara -- "
"That's Commissioner Gordon to you, sir, which is exactly what made me have to face this conundrum. Yes, you have always done Gotham City a wonderful job as its protector -- or have you?" He could practically feel the cameras and the eyes of the civilians all zeroing closer in on him as Barbara leered at him. "You stop the villains. You arrest them. You try to redeem them. But does it ever work?"
He tried to answer, but he seemed frozen in that moment. His jaw moved slowly up and down with great effort, but he could produce no words.
She leaned closer, her eyes meeting his. "No. Every time you have tried to redeem a villain, they have escaped and caused more harm. They have stolen again. They have killed again. It was villains who escaped under your so-called watch that killed my Father, the first Commissioner Gordon, and your own beloved Alfred Pennyworth."
"Barbara!" he finally managed to hiss, but she was turning away.
"Take him, boys." Dick, Jason, and even Tim walked around the new Commissioner, their new leader in facing the harshest crime wave his beloved city had seen in a long time, and headed for him. He could outfight them, but what good would do that? All it would succeed was showing his people that he was willing to fight his own over... Over what? he thought, gulping. Pride? Was it pride that kept him even now so determined to be Gotham's protector?
He clearly had not done a good job of protecting her or her people! He let the pack of Robins back him against the wall and peered over its edge. Blood ran over his beloved city. Civilians screamed as they were gunned down in the streets. Joker, Two Face, the Riddler, Scarecrow, Mister Freeze... They were all free again, all always free again!
Panting hard, a scream he would not voice rising deep in his throat, Bruce sat bolt upright in his bed. Selina, his new wife, who, he knew, would most likely soon be with child, was curled beside him, smiling and purring. Her cats made his legs feel heavy, but they, too, were purring. He touched her bare shoulder and checked her breathing to assure himself even though he could still hear her purrs.
He was going to have a child soon. And the villains would come after Thomas Wayne II just as they had gunned down the first. His child would be instant prey, not just by any money-hungry thug who wanted the Wayne fortune but also by all the villains he was continuously putting behind bars only to have them escape again.
Shaking, he reached for his cell phone. Maybe Clark was right after all. Maybe some things did have to change, especially if they were ever going to be able to raise the next generation of heroes, the next generation of Waynes and Kents regardless. "Clark, it's me."
It was, for the first time in their cooperative work together, Clark's voice that sounded dark and mysterious to Bruce. "Are you ready to listen?"
Bruce's tear-filled blue eyes went back to Selina. She was holding cats against her now, but one night, she would hold a child. "Yes."
The End
Fandom: DCU - Batman and Superman particularly
Author: Apache Firecat
Rating: PG/K+
Word Count: 600
Characters/Pairings: Bruce/Selina, Barbara, Clark
Warnings: None
Summary: In which Bruce realizes there must be a change on the rise.
"It has come to my attention, Batman, that your presence here may in fact be pernicious to your beloved city."
It was not easy to shock Batman, not with everything he had endured and witnessed over the ages, but these words coming from the young woman wearing her father's jacket and badge before him made his jaw fall open. "Barbara -- "
"That's Commissioner Gordon to you, sir, which is exactly what made me have to face this conundrum. Yes, you have always done Gotham City a wonderful job as its protector -- or have you?" He could practically feel the cameras and the eyes of the civilians all zeroing closer in on him as Barbara leered at him. "You stop the villains. You arrest them. You try to redeem them. But does it ever work?"
He tried to answer, but he seemed frozen in that moment. His jaw moved slowly up and down with great effort, but he could produce no words.
She leaned closer, her eyes meeting his. "No. Every time you have tried to redeem a villain, they have escaped and caused more harm. They have stolen again. They have killed again. It was villains who escaped under your so-called watch that killed my Father, the first Commissioner Gordon, and your own beloved Alfred Pennyworth."
"Barbara!" he finally managed to hiss, but she was turning away.
"Take him, boys." Dick, Jason, and even Tim walked around the new Commissioner, their new leader in facing the harshest crime wave his beloved city had seen in a long time, and headed for him. He could outfight them, but what good would do that? All it would succeed was showing his people that he was willing to fight his own over... Over what? he thought, gulping. Pride? Was it pride that kept him even now so determined to be Gotham's protector?
He clearly had not done a good job of protecting her or her people! He let the pack of Robins back him against the wall and peered over its edge. Blood ran over his beloved city. Civilians screamed as they were gunned down in the streets. Joker, Two Face, the Riddler, Scarecrow, Mister Freeze... They were all free again, all always free again!
Panting hard, a scream he would not voice rising deep in his throat, Bruce sat bolt upright in his bed. Selina, his new wife, who, he knew, would most likely soon be with child, was curled beside him, smiling and purring. Her cats made his legs feel heavy, but they, too, were purring. He touched her bare shoulder and checked her breathing to assure himself even though he could still hear her purrs.
He was going to have a child soon. And the villains would come after Thomas Wayne II just as they had gunned down the first. His child would be instant prey, not just by any money-hungry thug who wanted the Wayne fortune but also by all the villains he was continuously putting behind bars only to have them escape again.
Shaking, he reached for his cell phone. Maybe Clark was right after all. Maybe some things did have to change, especially if they were ever going to be able to raise the next generation of heroes, the next generation of Waynes and Kents regardless. "Clark, it's me."
It was, for the first time in their cooperative work together, Clark's voice that sounded dark and mysterious to Bruce. "Are you ready to listen?"
Bruce's tear-filled blue eyes went back to Selina. She was holding cats against her now, but one night, she would hold a child. "Yes."
The End
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Date: 2022-08-20 09:57 am (UTC)