No Heroes

Guest of Honor

Tabitha: After Chapter 16

After she saw Butch, everything seemed to melt away.  She had run over to him and tackled him, forgetting that the word, 'suspicion' had ever existed and showering him with kisses.  They fell unceremoniously onto the floor, but neither of them seemed to notice.

"Butch, how are you here?  How are you alive?  I thought you were dead.  Am I dead?  God, I didn't think it would feel so good to be dead," she rambled.

"Tabby.  We're not dead," Butch chuckled. 

"I guess that works, too," she laughed.  She looked at him and then frowned, punching him in the chest.

"Ow!" Butch whined, "What was that for?  Can we go back to the hugs and kisses?"

"Why am I only finding out now that you're alive?  I thought that you were dead for over six months!  You owe me an explanation, and it better be good."

"I will, but not here," he said in a hushed voice, as if someone was listening.  She felt concern in the back of her head, behind the overwhelming rush of relief, but let him lead her through the GCPD nonetheless.  They went up the stairs leading to the roof above, and Tabitha scolded herself for having a childish thought, Is the roof just THAT place for couples?

They finally made it to the edge, so Butch sat down and took her hands in his.  He looked into her eyes, and the smile he gave her was one filled with sadness.

"Tabby, I'm so sorry that I've been gone.  I wanted to come find you for so long, I swear, it's just that... I was scared that you wouldn't want me anymore."

"Butch-,"

"Just let me finish.  I'm not sure, but I thought that I might be turning into Solomon Grundy again.  I know it sounds crazy, but there were so many signs.  I kept losing time, and it's been so long since I've felt pain.  That's how it was when I was him.  I remember how you felt when I was him, and I didn't want to get your hopes up."

"Oh, Butch," she whimpered, releasing his hands to sprawl her own across his cheeks, "If only I'd known.  Losing you broke me.  These past months, the only time I've ever found some semblance of happiness has been with Selina.  I thought I would never see you again."

"Tabby, I love you, too.  But there's more.  And it's worse than Solomon Grundy."

She winced, trying to prepare himself for what would be revealed next.  Butch let go of her and stood up, pacing back and forth, making her dizzy.

"I'm being controlled by something.  By someone.  That time I've been missing, it's when they make me their puppet.  I don't know what they make me do, but it can't be good."

"By who?" Tabitha whispered.

Butch turned around again, to continue pacing, Tabitha assumed.  That wasn't the case. 

When he finished his pivot, Tabitha's eyes darted down to the gun he was suddenly holding.  Her gaze rose to meet his face, which had gone from a mosaic of worry to a blank canvas.  There was no emotion, nothing, written on his face.

"Butch," she called, knowing that the man in front of her was no longer Butch.  A puppet, he had said.

She shifted her eyes back to the gun, which he held steady. 

I didn't think it would feel so good to be dead, she had said.  That's not what she was thinking now.  This is where I die?  All alone, on a rooftop, by the hand of the man that I love?  She made a mental note to give the cosmos the finger after she died.

"Well, let's get this over with," she growled.

That's when Selina came bursting through the door.  They made eye contact, and then Selina's eyes shifted to Butch in confusion.  They widened after he turned around, and she started to plead with him, not realizing that she wasn't talking to the man who loved Tabitha.

Tabitha, though, saw his finger tighten on the trigger, and jumped left with as much speed as she could muster. 

The first bullet grazed her side, and she gritted her teeth. 

"Selina!" Tabitha shouted while trying to disarm Butch, "Get out of here!"

No answer.  Tabitha found an opening, kicked Butch on the ground, and turned to see her closest friend going head to head with the same man who had shot her all of those months ago.

Bruce

It was as if the shots from the rooftop was a call to arms.  As soon as Bruce made it back into the precinct, it had been swarmed with people looking for a fight.

"Oh, hell no," Jim snarled, "Lucius, take Strange to a cell, everyone else, you know why to do."

"Jim-," Bruce began, disregarding his companions, who were preparing to run into battle.

"Go," Jim said without a glance.

Bruce ran up the stairs, not looking what he stepped on.  Although he was running as fast as he ever had, the time seemed to be moving in an agonizingly slow manner.

Please be okay, please be alive.

He finally pushed through the doors, and part of him wanted to rewind so he didn't have to see the scene before him.

Tabitha and Butch, who he thought was dead, were fighting, and Bruce noticed within his quick glimpse that Tabitha wouldn't take any of the kill shots.  She was going for mere incapacitation.  Butch, on the other hand, was going in for the kill.

What took his breath away was the other fight, the one between Selina and Jeremiah.  A thousand thoughts ran through his head at that moment.

Jeremiah is out of his cell.  Jeremiah is a threat again.  Selina is alive and walking, just barely.  She is fighting.  She's not ready to be fighting.  She's losing.

Jeremiah had backed her into a corner, and the only out that Selina had was.. well... off.  She could jump to another building, but she didn't have enough room for a running start. 

Jeremiah seemed to sense his presence and turned towards Bruce with his disgustingly insane grin.

"Bruce!" He squealed, turning back to Selina, "I told you our guest of honor would arrive soon!"

Selina's eyes found Bruce's.  They told him that she was surviving, that she was tired, but they still managed to silently ask him, where the hell have you been?

"Jeremiah!" Bruce shouted, averting his eyes to the other fighter, "It's over!"

"Oh, Brucie," Jeremiah began to cackle, "It has only just begun!"

He turned back to Selina, with his foot flying in a way that no one- especially not Selina- would've noticed until it was too late.  Which it was.

His foot connected with Selina's stomach, and she went sprawling.  Everything seemed to go in slow motion, and Bruce watched in horror as Selina looked down, noting the fact that there was nothing to break her fall.  Not unless she counted the concrete sidewalk dozens of feet below, which he had a feeling she didn't.

He wasn't sure if the scream he heard was his own or Tabitha's.