The raging tongues of fire withdrew into the building. The tower was restored. Selina jumped back into the window, and Spider-Man disappeared. One pane of glass after another stuck back in place, ultimately restoring the floor-to-ceiling window to its original state, without a single crack.
When everyone came to their senses, they found themselves standing safely in the office again. But the memory of that disaster lingered. They collectively let out exclamations, some frantically trying to find cover. But the world was silent, without tremors or firelight. Everything was so calm that it left them standing there, bewildered, unsure whether to stay or go.
Selina stumbled a bit, collapsing into the sofa. She rubbed her forehead, looking up to see the figure wrapped in the power of Scarlet, floating into the window, gazing at her with concern.
"Are you alright, Selina?" Wanda came over and helped Selina up. Selina was still a bit dizzy, as the time reversal felt like riding a roller coaster in reverse; even though she had wings, she couldn't shake off that dizzy feeling.
"I'm fine." Selina shook her head, wiped her face vigorously, got up and walked a few steps, but couldn't walk in a straight line. She tottered a few steps like a catwalk model, and Wanda hurriedly came over to support her.
"We had just stepped out and heard the explosion. What's going on? Who attacked Wayne Tower?"
Selina opened her mouth but didn't know either. The people who came to assassinate her should be assassins from the Assassin's Union, but who blew up the building?
Logically, they should be in on it together. But the problem is, they came to Bruce's office to assassinate Bruce Wayne, to prevent the three major groups from uniting. Assassination, though not very clever, could be somewhat effective. Especially if they blame someone after the killing, the alliance could break in an instant.
But doing this kind of building bombing terrorist attack—not like they're forcing the three major groups together? You blow up everyone in the joint office at once, these three major groups will be even more scared. Once afraid, they are bound to unite.
In simple terms, killing Bruce Wayne might be beneficial to the other two parties, but bombing the joint office is equivalent to attacking all three parties at once, thus completely removing any suspicion from them, letting them know it's done by an external enemy, thereby uniting more closely. They can't split the alliance like that.
Conversely, could it be that someone wanted to promote the unity of the three alliances, so they bombed the building? That would make sense, but Selina felt there was no need. If things proceeded as they were, joint operation was already a certainty, doing this only stalls progress.
Another reason is, Selena just heard screams, someone should have been injured during the explosion. If it's a setup by people like Greed, they'd avoid such a crude method. There are many ways to take down a building, not necessarily risking hurting ordinary people with such a big explosion.
"I don't know yet." Selina replied, "The Rebirth Alliance should be arriving soon, and there will be answers soon enough."
She looked somewhat listless, like a dispirited cat. Wanda wanted to say something but didn't, just watching Selina walk to the floor-to-ceiling window, hand pressing against the glass.
"Destiny..." she murmured. Selina looked down, the city below her feet seemed like a painting melted by rain, all those vivid colors washed away, leaving only the stark contrast of black and white. The asphalt roads became darker, highlighting the starkly white traffic signs on them. The originally gray-white walls turned dark gray, like a twisting labyrinth extending into the distance.
With a "click," the light in the Rebirth Alliance's interrogation room came on. Natasha entered and immediately apologized: "I'm sorry, we absolutely didn't mean to treat you as a suspect, it's just that there are fixed procedures for focused questioning..."
"You don't need to apologize, I know how suspicious my actions appear." Selina said, "Impersonating this universe's Catwoman, and entering Wayne Enterprises. A terrorist attack on Wayne Tower, I'm the prime suspect."
Natasha sat across from her, not rushing to ask questions, but instead tidying her hair, flipping through her notebook, adjusting her posture, then said: "I'm indeed curious why you do this. I can't see your motive."
Selina remained silent. She wasn't avoiding answering, but had too many questions and thoughts filling her brain. She desperately wanted to seize that fleeting flash of insight, but it was like finding a needle in the ocean. The tides of thought surged in her mind, leaving no room for speech.
Natasha observed the woman before her. At first sight, she found Selina very beautiful. That blend of upper-class demeanor and wild beauty was perfect, even knowing Selena Kyle's roots in Gotham's underworld, once a thief, superheroes had to admit she was full of charm.
But sitting here, frowning in thought, even that beautiful exterior became less striking. Instead, she became more like Gotham's scholars, cold, gloomy, filled with gothic philosophy.
Natasha also didn't know what about the question was worth such contemplation. The whole situation was full of mysteries, even Nick Fury couldn't discern their motives.
Why did Selina impersonate this universe's Catwoman? Why did Bruce take her to Wayne Tower? Why did the building explode? Why did they go along without resistance, but sat here silently with no answers?
To the outside world, it was only a few seconds, but in Selina's psychic world, she had weathered several storms. When the storm subsided, she floated alone upon the sea, watching fragments of Roman columns suspended mid-air and heard voices surfacing from the sea floor.
"Destiny... it's destiny."
She awoke suddenly, looked into Natasha's eyes, and said: "It's destiny."
During the subsequent nearly hour-long interrogation, Natasha couldn't get any other words out. This female agent, who always trusted her judgment and refused to be easily swayed, began to doubt whether there was deeper meaning in what Selina said.
"Destiny?" Nick seemed to have heard an absurd joke, he said, "Do these Gothamites believe in this?"
"No matter what, he only said this." Natasha seemed a bit helpless, "I wanted him to explain, but he wouldn't say anything, and I couldn't ask anything out."
"Can you tell anything?" Nick asked again, "From her actions, demeanor, stuff like that..."
"She pondered for a long time, then seemed a bit... sad?" Natasha couldn't be sure either.
"The plan failed, it's normal to be frustrated." Nick was never afraid to think the worst of people, "What about her fiancé?"
"He's already here, taken to the reception room. Do you want to let them meet? Or just expel them directly?"
Nick began to muse. Direct expulsion was certainly the safest way, after all, no matter what, Selena's behavior was indeed very suspicious, and due to Wanda's time rewind, the evidence was all gone. There was no one else to suspect, and yet Selena didn't even defend herself, so they could only expel them.
"Let's let them meet first." Nick was still unwilling to give up, worried that some conspiracy was hiding behind this, letting the two meet might uncover more things.
The door to the interrogation room opened. Bruce rushed in. Selena stood there somewhat dazed, Bruce pulled her into an embrace.
"Are you alright?" Bruce looked at the person in his arms with some confusion, feeling that Selena's condition was off.
Suddenly, Selena hugged Bruce tightly. Bruce felt her trembling, anxiously asking, "What's wrong, Selena? What's really wrong?"
Before long, the trembling stopped, but Selena still held Bruce tightly, her fingers even scratched blood marks on Bruce's waist. But she slowly straightened up, placed her chin on Bruce's shoulder, then turned her head, softly whispering in Bruce's ear, "Did we win?"
"What?" Bruce also turned his head, but all he saw was the shadow cast by Selena's thick eyelashes.
"No, Bruce, not yet." Selena suddenly straightened up to break free from Bruce's embrace, taking Bruce's face in her hands, or rather grabbing his jaw, staring at him steadfastly, "I thought you not being Batman, finding Martha, saving Gotham, everything was over. But—no, this is just the beginning."
Bruce wanted to say something, Selena's grip got stronger, clamping his face, preventing him from speaking. Selena's eyes seemed to ignite fire, almost burning Bruce's eyes. "We must continue to resist, resist this damned destiny. Not just for us, but for our descendants, and other heroes..."
Bruce seemed to understand, but then Selena kissed him. Bruce instinctively returned the kiss, yet tasted a bloody flavor spreading in his mouth. It was a somewhat violent kiss, like he was really kissing a ferocious Beast, with significant marking implications.
Once the kiss ended, Selena pushed him away forcefully, looked down and removed the ring on her middle finger. Bruce was stunned.
Selena held the ring up to Bruce's face: "Thanks for the proposal, Bruce. But we can't rely on this. We need something better... remember?"
"Remember what?" Bruce grabbed her wrist, feeling angry, not understanding what made Selena take off her engagement ring.
They had argued before, but they were no longer the type of kids to bring up breaking up over a fight. Even without a ceremony, they were already a family, cherishing each other. The words "separation" carried too much weight, not to be spoken lightly.
"The one hundred dollars Joker gave you." Selena still held up the ring, the ring's back facing Bruce's eye, somewhat blurry but so blue it seemed to glow.
Suddenly, her tone softened: "I'm giving you this too."
She placed the ring in Bruce's palm, looked up and said, "Then we'll find something better together."
Bruce looked down at the ring in his palm, many memories flashed in his mind. Every memory fragment invariably stayed on that one hundred dollars on the dark, cold alley steps.
Bruce suddenly seemed to understand something, slowly curled his fingers, looked up at the non-existent window, gaze piercing through the walls to the sky, where the clouds still gathered, the rainy season just begun.
"What do you mean by destiny?" Bruce turned back, speaking slowly.
"Repetition." Selena extended One Hand on Bruce's shoulder, "Disaster, accident, failure, start all over again—like a snake biting its tail, an endless swirling Whirlpool. Do you know why Starfire wants a traditional Catholic wedding?"
"Why?" Bruce looked into her eyes.
"Because a true Fighter always dares to face the strongest enemy."