No Heroes

Since You've Been Gone

Selina

Shake it off, Selina, she thought, you're going to see Tabitha. Bruce is none of your concern.

She was so preoccupied trying to stop thinking about how angry she was at Bruce that she almost missed No Mans Land. And it was pretty hard to miss. Lucius hadn't been kidding. She read the words "NO MEN" many times over, all with either dark, dribbling maroon or crusty, dried brown. Selina suspected that every man who attempted to enter ended up on that building.

She started running towards it, and was only a few yards away when she felt the air change. She didn't know them as well as Barbara, but she could tell when the League of Shadows was around. She hated it. And she knew what was coming. She only had time to brace herself before one of the League came up from behind her, kicking her to the ground. She winced at the pain, but figured that she had felt worse.

"Wait!" Selina shouted. "It's me! I'm here for Tabitha! It's Sel-" but she was cut off with a kick to the stomach. And to the face. She felt skin break.

I'm gonna need another one of those pain killers she thought as she yelped. She jumped up as fast as she could and started running. Before she could get far enough, the lady threw a knife. It grazed her outer thigh, but sliced her nonetheless.

Holy shit! Selina thought. She continued to run through the pain, and turned around, only to run into another one of them.

"Son of a bit-" an elbow to the face cut her off this time. It took her a minute to regain full composure, but running wasn't working. She took the stance that she had been using with Alfred for the past six months.

She blocked the next punch. And sidestepped the woman's kick. Selina got a few good hits in, and then another one of them tripped her. They had a knife to her throat faster than she could say "Ra's."

She squeezed her eyes shut, damning Jim Gordon for being right and expecting the worst, when a familiar voice sounded.

"Selina?!"

The pressure of the knife on her throat and of not having her closest friend for months on end immediately lifted. She jumped up and ran to her friend.

"Tabs!" She shrieked, wrapping her arms around her and than silently reprimanding herself for shrieking.

When she finally let go, she looked at Tabitha. Really looked. Her eyes were a bit sunken in, and weren't as bright as they were before. Her features immediately changed into a look of confusion and awe.

"I heard about your-" she began

"-I know." Selina finished.

"But you're-"

"-Yeah."

"Good." Tabitha smiled. "I still have a lot to teach you."

"Yeah," Selina nodded, "You should also teach your League of Shadows some manners. That's gonna leave a mark."

Tabitha chuckled, which made Selina smile. They turned away from the blood ridden building, and started walking down the street like old times, when Tabs and her would get pizza after a good fight.

"So what all happened while I was gone?" Selina asked, genuinely curious. She smiled at her friend. "How's Butch?"

At that, Tabitha grimaced, as if she had physically hurt her.

"Dead." And then her voice filled with rage, "Penguin emptied a clip into his stomach right after I got him back."

Selina's eyes went wide. "Tabs..." Her friend nodded, and Selina wrapped her arms around her once more. Selina wasn't good with sympathy, but she tried. To an outsider, they might appear to be two unfeeling women who only beat living hell out of people, but they cared about each other. Selina remembered late nights where Tabitha would tell her stories about Butch. Tabitha let Edward Nygma cut her hand off for Butch's life. She was heartbroken when he was that half alive, zombie-thing. After she was discharged from the hospital, she listened to Tabitha's voicemail about Hugo Strange fixing him. Selina didn't think that she ever heard Tabs so excited. Or hopeful. She loved him, alright.

Selina had tried to call her back, but almost everything was gone in Gotham. Cell phones were the first thing to shut down completely. That's why it took her and Alfred so long to find Bruce.

"Then I guess we'll just have to empty a clip into Penguin, won't we." Selina said with a justifiable amount of mischief. She took Tabitha's lack of response as a whole hearted yes.

When Tabitha finally pulled away, she brushed away the single tear from her face and smiled.

"And what about you? How are you walking?"

At that, Selina told her. About waking up and feeling the most alone she had ever felt. About how Alfred ran in and how he helped her to get better. How he sat with her while she cried and helped her up when she fell.

"I owe him...everything." She finished.

At that, Tabs grabbed her hand. "No. We do."

Selina squeezed back. The last time she felt so loved was... before her mom left.

"We have to go see him soon." Tabs suggested.

"That's not really necessary, I-"

"No, seriously. I need to apologize on your behalf." Tabs chuckled. "I've trained you, too."

Selina hit her arm, but was giggling too.

They continued holding hands like little girls, walking through the broken streets of Gotham, which were for anything but children.

"And Barbara?"

"Since you've been gone, she's obsessed with this delusion that Gotham was ripped from her hands. She spends most of her days, and nights, at the bar."

"Sounds like Barbara."

"Yeah, but the Barbara we know times ten."

"How are YOU still alive?"

They snickered once more.

Selina and Tabitha caught each other up on everything that the other had missed for the past six months. Tabitha led them away from the streets that were the most accustomed to violence, but on the occasion where they would run into some psychotic criminal, the pair took care of it quickly.

When they finally arrived back at No Mans Land, they stopped at the doors.

"You coming in?" Tabs asked her.

Selina looked around once more. And then shook her head.

"Nah, the League freaks me out. And I don't feel like dealing with drunk Babs again. That was something I definitely  didn't miss."

Tabs nodded, and Selina turned to walk away.

"Selina." Tabitha called when she was a few feet away. Selina turned her head to see Tabitha smirking.

"Say hi to Bruce for me." And with that, she disappeared into the building.