Entry tags:

batman, crossover, series: betty and the bat, ugly betty

Title: Betty and the Bat (Ficlet #15)
Fandom: Batman Begins/Ugly Betty
Characters/Pairing: Betty Suarez, Bruce Wayne, and Selina Kyle
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1,499
Summary: Party crashers.
Notes: This is the 15th part in a rather unusual crossover which takes place after Season one of Ugly Betty and the end of Batman Begins; it's AU from there.

We're almost there, folks.

• Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, and Part14

"Th-That's him?"

"That's him."

Bruce considered the few times he'd seen Betty scared during the course of their relationship. There'd been her first week at WayneTech when she'd looked as if one wrong glance from any of them would have sent her running and crashing through the window. He'd realized just how intimidating he could be and for her, only her, he'd attempted to make himself genuinely amicable. It came naturally now.

The next was the mugging. Though he'd been looking at her through the cowl, he'd still seen the same lines of fear and worry trace their way across her face. He knew he'd only scared her more, jumping from the shadows as he had and throwing the would-be muggers into the wall of the train station. By the time she'd gathered her wits and her purse and had turned around to speak her thanks, he'd been gone and the muggers trussed up in a grappling hook and cord hanging from the rafters of the tiny station shelter. It had been a more palpable fear then. The almost visible sort, brought about by the fact that you knew that maybe, just maybe, you weren't going to walk out of that situation alive.

And then, ironically now, her fear of coming to this ball. The absolutely terrified look in her eyes each time he'd casually asked whether or not she'd managed to find a dress yet. The scratching she did (though she thought he didn't notice) when he'd mention socializing and dancing. The scared and shocked look on her face when he'd summoned Daniel Meade over to say hello to his former assistant. The good sort of scared look she'd pulled when Daniel had then asked her to dance.

He would make light of the latter one of these days, but the first fear was quickly proving itself warranted. Though not for of the evils of dresses, dancing, and talking as Betty had worried about.

"I-I thought you hadn't h-heard from him for the past week." Bruce could practically see Betty attempting to swallow past the lump forming in her throat.

"And now we know why."

"I also thought the normal freak-of-the-weeks didn't do high society."

Obviously she'd not met the Penguin. "Assuming that Jack Napier is 'normal' in any respect is a mistake."

"Sorry."

"It's alright. You made a mistake. This time you'll live."

"Remember that discussion we had about you not talking like an insane person?"

Bruce spared Betty a glance, watching a brand new sort of fear form in her eyes. It wasn't one he wished on anyone, certainly not someone he'd come to care for. It was the sort of fear that came with the knowledge that you were looking into the eyes of a psychopathic murderer. He'd been too far to stop any eye contact between the two and something changed when you looked into the eyes of Jack Napier. It wasn't something he, or anyone else, could control and because he'd looked into those eyes and seen what was there, it wasn't something he would wish on anybody.

"And this is Metropolis," he heard Betty hiss. "What is he doing in Metropolis?"

"He knows."

"He knows what?"

He could only look at her from the corner of his eye, refusing to take his glance off of Napier as he picked his way through the crowds followed by his goons. There were screams and crashes enveloping the room in noise and making it hard to concentrate on the people themselves and Betty as she spoke next to him. One shrill voice was piercingly clear.

"Won't the Bat come out and play?"

This was Metropolis. Metropolis, home of Superman. Bruce could see him, just to his right. Clark Kent looking awkward and lanky as he stood next to Lois Lane, and obviously unable to leave the woman's side. There were far too many people, even with the advantage of super-speed. Though he wouldn't admit it, Bruce was always slightly smug that he'd mastered the art of a silent and unseen exit without the use of powers while Clark was rendered helpless in a situation like this.

But whether or not Superman could put in an appearance was besides the point here. The point was, it was Superman who any villain coming to Metropolis should have been expecting to tangle with. Not a Bat.

"He knows," Bruce repeated.

"What does he –"

He turned towards her, finally, eyes narrowed in a way which almost mirrored the mask he would soon don. "Get Christina, Amanda, your nephew, and your sister. Get out of the building. Now." Later he would regret scaring her like this. He'd done his best to keep Betty separate from this world so far. She knew his secrets and she knew the information he deemed necessary she know to stay safe. She knew never to trust a Luthor and which alleys in Gotham never to walk down. She'd not known the sound of his voice coupled with this particular look in his eyes.

It was only Alfred who didn't respond to this particular combination of expression and tone, but then, Alfred had known him for far too long and Bruce simply knew better. Betty had the same reaction as all the others. There was no argument, no fight, no protest. Her hand briefly reached up to touch the bare skin where her small gold cross had rested, but she said nothing. She was scuttling away soon enough, pushing through the crowd until the bright purple of her dress was lost from sight.

The dingy purple of the Joker's jacket was visibly, plainly so. It was a beacon in the middle of the room, flitting around him as he danced around calling out for the Bat.

He knew.

Jack Napier was many things, but Bruce had never counted him as stupid. You didn't come to Metropolis in search of a Bat unless you had a reason.

Had he seen Betty stand so steadfastly beside him? Perhaps? It would be something to worry about later. After all of this. After they'd gotten past the explosions and screams. Glass rained down on their heads as another window exploded, seemingly by itself. They were carefully times explosives of course, but the crowds of people on the ballroom floor didn't know that. It only took Bruce a moment to locate the others, placed just underneath molding surrounding the remaining high windows. Emotion was a distraction at a time like this, but Bruce found himself vaguely entertaining the notion of being annoyed at Clark. The one person n the room who could eat bombs, and he was stuck in place.

Women were a distraction.

"Bruce."

He looked at the pale, slender hand on his shoulder. "Go."

"No." The slits of Selina's blue eyes matched his own, nearly a mirror image of his own glare. Somewhere along the way she'd learned well, though he'd not been aware he'd been teaching. Her eyes left his, just for a moment, as she turned her gaze towards the clown.

The noise of M60s rang out through the room, quick repetitive pops of noise followed by more screams and the dangerous tinkle of crystal falling from the ceiling to the floor. Bruce grabbed Selina against his chest, knocking them both to the floor and pulling her behind the closest shield, an over turned buffet table.

"I know you're here, Bats-for-brains."

There was a single gunshot. Browning. Nine millimeter. One body. She would be dead before help could arrive.

"And until you prove me right…"

Another window blasted through, the glass crashing down on the crowds. The holes were a perfect size for a S.W.A.T team to swing through, but some how Bruce didn't see that happening before portions of the ceiling simply collapsed in on them all from lack of support.

"Until you prove me right, Batsy, we're just going to keep havin' fun."

There went that M60 again, spraying bullets into the crowd.

Selina pushed him away. She was another one… too smart for his own good. He could see the plain recognition in her eyes. "He knows," she said, meeting his eyes. Her former glare softened slightly, but her words were still pointedly frank. "You messed up, Bruce."

Hours would be spent in the Cave after this, picking over his every move from the past weeks. Trying to figure out where he'd dropped that vital clue. Had he even dropped a clue, or was this just Jack Napier being Jack Napier? He didn't have the time to figure that out now. "Do you want to help?"

"Yes."

"Then find a way over to Lois Lane. Keep her safe."

The look she gave him spoke volumes, but when the machine gun let off another round she chose not to argue and Bruce was thankful as he watched her slowly crawl away. The bombs, at least, would be taken care of.

"I don't know about you, but I'm having fun."

Bruce was not having fun.