No Heroes

Impossible Objectives

Bruce

"We do nothing.  If we allow this thing to keep happening-"

No, Bruce thought.

"Just hear me out," Selina asked him, and he realized that he had said it out loud. 

"We can use this to our advantage.  Lucius could try to hook me up to Jeremiah, and we might be able to get him to call Strange.  Best case, he calls it off, and worse case, we won't lose Bruce or Jeremiah."

"No," Barbara disagreed, "worst case is that you die trying to get this son of a bitch to talk. It's not worth it, hon."

"Selina-" Alfred began.

"Its a smart move," she argued.

"Haven't you heard?  We're not about smart here, just dumb luck," Harvey interjected, "For Christ's sake, the only reason half of us are here is because of our stupid bravery."

"Not helping our case, Harv," Jim said under his breath.

"It may be a smart move," Alfred conceded, "but is it the right one?

"Pro and con lists always work, right?  Pros: they don't get Bruce, we don't lose Jeremiah, their attempt at a wild card fails, and we might even be able to get them to stand down," Selina counted off the reasons on her fingers, "The only con is that I may or may not die.  We've all risked our lives before.  How is this any different?"

"We don't determine the fates of our friends lives with pro and con lists!" Tabitha insisted, "that's Penguin!"

"And the only con is a pretty big con, anyways!" Lucius noted with exasperation.

Selina sighed, "Guys, it's okay, we just-"

"Our objective is to get both of you kids out of this alive," Alfred insisted. 

She turned to him and said: "We need to open ourselves to the chance that the objective might not be possible."

Everyone went silent.

Selina shook her head, "Whatever they do to Bruce will be worse than death, especially because of that weird obsession Jeremiah has with him. And you all know how long it took us to find them.  That was when they wanted to be found.  If Bruce goes now, who knows if we'll ever be able to find him, and what they'll have done to him by then. Are we really willing to subject Bruce to that, because I know I'm not."

Selina was looking everywhere but Bruce, although Bruce couldn't tear his eyes away from her. There was a war in his mind, with one part that was screaming to grab her and never let go, while the other voice was trying to counter her arguments. All of him agreed on one thing, though. She can't do this. Why would she want to do this?

She doesn't, dummy. She's trying to be a hero, to save your- everyone's- ass.

"Can someone please say something?" Selina was fidgeting.

"We'll find another-" Jim began.

"What if it was you, Jim?" Selina cut him off, "would you let everyone give up the one success they've had this entire time to start a cycle of catch and release?"

Jim swallowed, and then sagged his shoulders even lower than before.

"We won't do anything," Jim decided, and Selina exhaled before he added, "for now! The minute that you say you're done, you're done."

They both jumped when everyone else yelled in a mixture of exasperation and frustration.

"Jim!" Harvey and Barbara shouted.

"Selina!" Alfred and Tabitha cried. The room had gone from completely silent to deafening in a matter of seconds.

Now, Selina's eyes met Bruce's. Although he always tried to mask his unnecessary over protective feelings toward her, he couldn't hold back the look on his face. She returned it with a look of pain, not for herself, but for him. How? How is she not completely overridden by fear? Why is she looking at me like that?

Because she knows what you're thinking. She turned away and quietly excused herself from the train wreck that had become of the adults. Barbara was restraining Tabitha from leaping over the table to murder Jim, Alfred was pacing like a crazy mother, and Lucius was searching through cabinets like a madman.

If the past few minutes didn't suck so much, Bruce would've laughed.  Jeremiah said that Selina was always second place, collateral damage.  If Jeremiah saw now, all of the people who wanted to fight for her, he would realize how wrong he was.  If only she could see how wrong he was.  Everyone was acting crazy because they wanted to keep her safe, because they cared.

We.  Because WE care.  I care, so much, he thought as he sped after Selina like a crazed driver, with no idea what he was going to say when he caught up with her, unless he crashed first.