VI.

She can't see him, not while perched upon a branch in this forest of trees. Even as her pupils dilate, adjusting to the dark, she still can't see him.

Taking to the sky, she hovers low at the height of the tallest trees. Brisk, cool air enters deep with her breathing. Her muscles are tense and her eyes move neurotically about in search of him. She knows he is out there, waiting, or perhaps following her on foot. He is somewhere.

She feels a sharp pain in her left wing as a hook shot from below lodges deep into her feathered folds and pulls her forcefully down. Tearing into the flesh, blood seeping into the clean white of her plume, she flaps desperately to get away. She is dragged into the cold foliage, through pointed twigs, colliding with thick branches until she hits the ground hard. Somehow, she's lost grasp of her mace.

Immediately he is on her, fists approaching her masked face. She is quick, though, rolling to the side and out of his reach temporarily. She forgets that she is still hooked and an abrupt wrench pulls her back to him.

She feels his knee at her stomach, knocking the wind out of her lungs. Barely standing, she blocks several of his blows as they begin to fiercely spar. She remembers many of his techniques, but he apparently has others.

Her punch lands across his face, and he returns the favor with a noticeable crack sounding from her jaw. Her lip is split wide and blood runs into her mouth. She takes another strike to the side of her head, and her hearing begins to ring.

His attacks fast and brutal, she is taken back by his relentlessness. Faltering against the base of a tree, he has her pinned. A swift kick brings her to the ground, and while the grass and leaf litter are soft, her head slams with a thud.

They wrestle on the earth, her clothes becoming muddied and moist from the mixture of blood and dirt. An elbow to his jawline sends blood from his mouth dispersing toward her face, and she spits her own blood collecting in her mouth at him in return.

He is quiet when he fights, but when she hears a low, harsh growl escape his lips, her blood dripping from his face, she tries to scramble to her feet. A gloved hand grabs her wounded wing and a series of bone-crunching sounds are stifled only by her shrill cry as she collapses to the ground once more.

Still in his grasp, her wing twists and bends in the most unnatural ways as she writhes in the dirt. His entire body weight is above her, crushing what energy she has left in her. His hand moves from ravaging her wing to grab at her bloodied face. Palm against her mouth and nose, she suffocates under his hand.

She brings a fist to his head, but he catches it, crushing the bones in her hand as he muffles a wrenching yell from her mouth. A kick to his side knocks him off of her and she claws at the ground to break loose. His clasp had been so tight against her face, he takes with him her mask as she struggles away and escapes.

Emerging from the forest and onto a slender cliff, a gleam of moonlight strikes her swollen peripheral vision, and she blinks away the stinging of blood in her eyes. Her evasion is made short when he runs up from behind her, forcing them both off the edge.

His grappling hook lost in some heap of bloodied leaves and her wings wasted and dysfunctional, they fall in unison toward the sea. She calls to him for the first time, "Bruce!"

She lands against the water with her back, the shock of pain radiating from her wing enough to shake her consciousness. He is above her again, blocking the flickering stream of moonlight through the water. They struggle like they had on land, and air escapes their mouths rapidly, bubbling erratically to the surface. Their movements slow as they sink deeper into unlit levels, the pressure of the water above them suppressing their efforts.

Her eyes seek to find his through the lenses of his cowl, and plead with him. She believes she's made contact when he suddenly ceases his attacks. The grip that had been around her throat releases, and she takes this chance to bring her good hand to his mask, pulling it roughly from his head. Their eyes lock as they sink below the visible spectrum, and the simulation ends.