Goodbye Sanity, Hello Headlines

Chapter 20

Alfred's POV: (Brand new looky here)

Katerina was quite a fickle girl, walking the fine line between selfless and reckless with little care of what would come of her sacrifices. She was quick to defend and protect those she held dear and I would never be able to repay her for the events that had taken place at the charity ball, she had thoughtlessly placed Bruce's life before her own and helped me keep my promise to his parents. Although with her heroism came her dangerous attraction for playing with fire and it seemed as if she had been burned.

She had been taken hostage by the man who had brought her here or so we'd been told, she'd fallen victim once again to the urge of protection. Selina had explained that she had sacrificed her life for her and that left Selina with a murderous Jerome and a frantic Gotham underground. We'd been the last to know it seemed, a fact that had hit Bruce quite hard, him not having any knowledge of her disappearance for two weeks seeming to have frustrate and upset him to the point that I would see the light on in his father's office as he frantically searched for any evidence or clues to lead us to her whereabouts.

He blamed himself, he would mumble to himself in a low, almost incoherent voice that this in some way had all lead back to him. He'd done the same after his parents had passed and if I had learned anything it was that there was no way of convincing him otherwise so I was left to help to the best of my ability despite his unwillingness to ask for assistance.

"Master Bruce it would seem that there is no way of finding her until this Edward fellow wants her to be found." I tried to explain to him for what felt like the hundredth time.

"You don't understand Alfred, if it were the other way she wouldn't rest until I was safe so I can't just stop looking, leaving her out there with some psychopath that could be doing god knows with her! He could kill her!" He glanced up at me, finally breaking eye contact with the very little evidence he had spread out across the lavish desk his father once lost sleep working on. The bags under his eyes had darkened considerably and it made me reluctantly wish that he hadn't found out of her disappearance at all, the effects seeming to really be taking its toll on the young boy.

"Keeping yourself up will not help either sir, to be fair she has spent a considerable amount of time with characters similar to this one and survived just fine, in fact it wouldn't surprise me if she had made friends with him already. If she were here she wouldn't want you to hurt yourself trying to look for her." It had pained me to say such things as I loved her as if she were my own but considering the past she held with criminals it would seem as if it is highly unlikely for her to be in any serious danger.

"How dare you?" Another voice cut through the room and I looked over to find Selina, the child who had brought this mess to our doorstep in the first place as she perched herself defensively against the window sill I had just wiped free of her boot marks.

"Excuse me?" She hopped down from the window and stalked over to me, fury dancing in her eyes as her combat boots thumped loudly on the polished floor.

"How dare you speak like that about the person who saved Bruce's life, saved your life? You sit here in this fancy mansion and tell Bruce that she's 'probably' fine when I know for a fact that Edward is a much bigger threat to her than Jerome ever was. You talk about her situation like she chose it in the first place when she is the victim here, she is the victim not your precious rich boy!" She exploded her arms flying from her sides as she spoke, tears welling in her eyes. "It was obviously wrong of me to ask for either of your help because she clearly means nothing to you. Oh and I just came here to show you how much 'fun' she's having." She threw an envelope of pictures on the table and climbed through the window as Bruce desperately tried to call for her to come back which seemed to be futile.