The Ties That Bind Us

CHAPTER 1: Safe

Jim Gordon walked home from the precinct. He lived only seven blocks away and his police car had been wrecked due to the general chaos the city was in a few hours earlier. Two little girls played in the snow that accumulated on the trafficless streets, as if indifferent or unaware of the danger they were in not long ago.

He opened the door to his small walk-in apartment and put away his coat along with his badge and unloaded gun. Everything was quiet. He was so used to the constant stress and noise in his head that the silence bothered him. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been home—not that he had anyone else to notice that.

He put a frozen lasagna on the microwave to cook while he entered the shower. The strangest feeling hovered his body, as if nothing he was seeing or living was real. These simple tasks seemed unnatural, like there was no way there wasn't something else he should have been doing, no lives in imminent danger depending on him. He ate, did the dishes and sat down on the couch, unsure of what to do next. He turned on the TV and made sure his cellphone was next to him, waiting for the text that he hoped would make things clearer.

He fell asleep watching the news reporters covering the long expected end of the so-called "Gotham occupation". The beep on his cellphone that indicated a new message woke him up and he was startled for a second, turning off the TV as the images showed the Bat aircraft exploding over the horizon.

A two-line text from the officer on call was all he needed: 241 37th Street, Old Town, East End. There's no phone number under her name. There was no way he could get there at this point without a car and all public transportation was suspended until further notice. He put on his coat and took his gun and badge as a precaution, walking two blocks down to Detective Blake's apartment. It was around midnight, but he wasn't sure he would be home. He rang the doorbell a few times until he decided it'd be useless. Using a credit card and a pin to open the door, Gordon stepped into his apartment and got the keys on the side table by the door. He wrote a note in the notepad by the phone letting him know he had taken his motorcycle. Blake was a good guy, he wouldn't mind.

As soon as he parked in front of Selina Kyle's apartment, he questioned his actions. He didn't know why he was there, in this dangerous neighborhood, ready to ring the door on a fugitive and criminal. He couldn't imagine why would Batman, or, as he had just recently learned, Bruce Wayne, be involved with her in any way. He had witnessed the two kissing moments before he flew into the sky, but he was so caught up in the whole "a bomb is about to go off 5 feet away from me" thing only then he had actually started to wonder what was that about.

Gordon pressed the button on the intercom that was next to the name tag that instead of a name, had only a small drawing of a black cat's head. He wondered how could she be so upfront about it, but then guessed she probably didn't get many visitors and even if she did, no one in their right mind would get involved with her willingly, specially around this district where they likely knew who she was and what she did. No one except maybe—and apparently—the Batman. Her silvery taut voice turned up:

"What?", she answered, and he cleared his throat.

"Good evening Miss Kyle, this is Commissioner Gordon. I was wondering if I could come up so we can talk." He felt she would need further explanation, "I have a message for you."

At least ten seconds went by in silence until she opened the door to let him in. He walked up the stairs until the third floor and to the apartment on the left with the red half-opened door.

"Miss Kyle?", he called as he pushed the door in slowly, instantly freezing and slowly putting his hands up when he saw her. "Calm down, Selina. I'm just here to talk."

"What do you want?", she rasped, pointing her gun at him with an ice cold look on her face, "I've done enough for this damned hell of a city. I'm not going back to Blackgate or wherever it is you wanna take me."