Againts all Odds || Dick Grayson [1]

20| Selina Kyle

***

"So you're Bruce's new little project." She said as she seemed to study me. I couldn't be sure what she was excepting or what she was looking for but it made me feel uneasy.  "Bruce sure loves to pick up strays."

"Truthfully I've always had the feeling that Bruce doesn't like me very much." I admitted and realized how shaky my voice was, almost like I had just gone for a run. For some unexplainable reason I felt the need to impress her, causing me to straighten myself and look directly at her eyes.

"Bruce is a difficult man to understand."

"You're her aren't you?" I stated as recognizing not only her voice but the way that she moves her body. "You're Catwoman."

"Meow." She mocked as she walked around me as if deciding whether or not I was someone that she wanted to interact with at all. "Though I do prefer for you to call me Selina. I have to say you are beautiful. I can see why Dick is so smitten."

"What do you want?" I asked finding that my voice was a lot more firm and emotionless then I expected it to be. Hearing my own voice almost made me want to flinch afraid that I could have angered her. 

Oddly enough my cold tone seemed to piqued her interest instead of angering her. Selina smiled, he eyes gleaming with mischief as she took a seat on the couch and gestured for me to do the same across from her. Without a second thought I took a seat, only when I was seated that I realized that I blindly followed to her orders. I wondered if she naturally just had that power over people, and if she did, I could now see why she was able to be Bruce's equal.

Only now did I realize how just as she had been studying me, I had been studying her. Mesmerized by the way she moved and carried herself in such a powerful way. A part of me wanting to have that sort of power. It was now that I noted the large diamond necklace that was around her throat, one that wasn't there when I saw her dancing with Bruce. In fact there were multiple new rings on her fingers.

"The real question is what do you want?" Selina asked as she leaned back comfortably on the velvet couch. In a way that she almost looked like a painting. 

"What do you mean?"

"I saw what you did back there with Black Mask. Maybe it was a little stupid and reckless. But brave." She stated a slight smirk on her lips that quickly disappeared as she continued. "They're holding you back here. You're their pet, they clearly couldn't even trust you with their little plan tonight."

Her words were like a slap in the face. They stung in a way that I couldn't explain, because there was a truth in them that I had just realized. Or had forced myself to ignore. 

"It's not like that" I muttered trying to find some strength in me to show her that I wasn't as weak as she was suggesting that I was. To convince myself that her words held no truth. "I'm no one's pet."

Selina rolled her eyes as she stood up and took a seat beside me. "Come on darling. You can't leave this big old mansion without his permission. You wear the clothes he's bought for you. You go by his schedule. Maybe he doesn't mean it in a malicious way, but he controls you none the less."

I felt lump build up in my throat as her words planted themselves deep in my chest, and I immediately buried them away, knowing that they could grow into something ugly. Selina was a woman that I didn't know well, but from these few moments with her I knew that manipulation was something that she knew how to do very well.

"So what?" I questioned as I turned to face her a new confidence settling in. "You want me to become a criminal? To...rebel against Dick and Bruce?"

Selina shook her head as she placed her hand on my knee, in an almost motherly and protective gesture. "Not rebel. Show them what you're really made of."

"And what is that?"

"That spark in you...the one I saw tonight don't let them extinguish it."  She stated confidently it almost seemed like she expected me to accept. That she thought she knew everything about me, and it almost felt like she did. But there was a hardness in her eyes behind the mischief. Something that spoke that she must have experienced some kind of pain. "The girls and I, we fiercely take care of our own."

I thought for a moment thinking of myself doing what she seemed to be asking of me. The idea itself seemed impossible, I could never be Selina. She was a criminal, and I was living under the roof of Gotham's Dark Knight. I felt ridiculous for even attempting to place myself in Selina's shoes. "You mean Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn?"

"I mean the girls that can make you a force to be reckoned with." She replied replied and I decided it was best to remain silent. If I spoke another word I would be allowing her to get deeper inside of my head. "If you're interested come to the old Gotham City animal shelter."

"How are you not sure I'll tell Bruce about your little hideout?" I questioned as she stood a slight smirk grappling her lips at my words. She clear didn't see my words as a threat or didn't believe that I would go through with what I was saying.

"Consider it."  She replied her voice almost a whisper as she slipped past me. Even as she walked away I couldn't keep my eyes off of her even as she disappeared into the shadows. Almost like she was never there. 

***

I sat at the edge of my bed Selina's words relentlessly running through my mind. It was pointless to deny the fact that she had gotten to my head. Her words had gripped me in a way that was surprising and I desperately needed to forget them. I knew that Dick and Bruce are simply trying to help me, but I had to admit to myself that my stay here had begun to feel like a prison at some point. 

Suddenly my bedroom door swung upon as Dick entered the room closing the door behind him. Frustration was written all over his face as he began to pace in front of me. "He got away. Bruce is not happy."

"I can imagine." I replied not able to move from my spot from the bed. Selina's words about Dick continued their hold on me. It was unimaginable to believe how much her words made me question everything.

Dick must have noticed my inner turmoil as he kneeled in front of me taking both of my hands in his. "What's wrong?"

"Why didn't you tell me that Bruce had a plan?" I questioned, and I immediately knew that I had failed to hide the hurt in my voice. But I couldn't keep this doubt in my mind, or I was sure to go mad. "Do you all still not trust me?"

"I trust you. I would follow you blindly if you asked me too." He replied firmly and the intensity in his eyes told me it was the truth. "Bruce he's complicated."

"Even after you and Bruce have trained me he didn't think I should have known about tonight?" I argued stubbornly a part of me wanting to push this argument. Which felt odd considering that Dick and I had never argued before. 

"I think that Black Mask is an incredibly dangerous man. And you shouldn't have taken the risk you took tonight." Dick replied his early frustrations beginning to return, and I wondered if he was angry at me too. Angry at my recklessness. "Maybe that's why Bruce didn't want to tell you."

I looked away and sighed feeling disappointed at his words. At his lack of faith in me. A faith that Selina seemed to have, which made the hurt run deeper because I had all the faith in the world in me and he didn't seem to feel the same. Even if he trusted me that didn't change the fact that he still saw me as the helpless girl that he first met. "Right."

"Look I don't want us to fight. Not tonight."

The exhaustion on his face was clear, and it wasn't until now that I realized that I also felt exhausted. Even if that exhaustion wasn't physical. "You're tired."

"I wouldn't say that." Dick replied a small smile playing on his lips as he placed his hands on my hips. "I would rather like to finish what we started in the library. I mean if you want to?"

I leaned down and pressed my lips against his determined not to be the one to spoil tonight with my insecurities. I was sure that my time would come to prove myself not t be the lonely and defenseless girl that I was before. But Selina's way was not the right way. It couldn't be. 

***