Cheshire/Batman Pt. 01: Desert Island

The Island, January 2000

It had been a dismal winter so far. Jada's short-lived affair with Nikos had only made her feel like a creep for endangering him. She didn't want to think about Nikos or Ayano or any of it. She had made a conscious effort to bury herself in her work, to find out who she was without being insanely devoted to some dude. There was progress on all fronts. She started to donate some profits from her art gallery to organizations that funded safehouses for victims of domestic violence. In Brazil, she started a few charitable projects in partnership with her stepdad and actually stayed interested in them.

As Cheshire, she focused on "liberating" many relics from dangerous, unpleasant people who had little recourse when their priceless pieces had been stolen. Her latest project was tracking an Indonesian government official named Hasan Sinaga who had the distinction of using sex slaves and absconding from his vacation spots with valuable historic items.

At the same time that Jada was preparing to fly over to Indonesia, another masked Gotham figure was doing the same. Batman had come across an Indonesian drug lord when tracking the source of another batch of Scarecrow's fear gas. His name was Liem Catur and he seemed to have some arrangement with the parliament minister Cheshire happened to be tracking: Hasan Sinaga. Liem would bring Hasan prostitutes and Hasan would let him use government planes to smuggle various drugs in and out of Indonesia. Batman stumbled upon this information and could not ignore it. The fear gas had been catastrophic in Gotham City in the past, as was Indonesian heroin. Batman was torn about being away from Gotham for a few days, but this seemed worth it.

Batman had traveled stealthily in his batplane, stopping in predetermined top secret areas to refuel. He left his vehicle on an island a few miles from Sinaga's weekend home in Ambon City. It was well hidden and could be summoned by a device on his belt. When Batman arrived, he discovered that Sinaga was transporting heroin for Catur by boat to Timor, where the UN was temporarily governing, before a plane would take it 900 miles west and onward to Gotham City. He hoped that whoever in the UN that allowed access to the docks was being naive rather than evil. Batman stowed away on the large tanker ship headed to Timor and waited for the right moment to act.

A few miles off the coast, Batman started to wander the large ship. Soon, he heard someone speaking fiercely in English with a heavy accent. The sound was traveling through the tin vents of the large ship. He crept quietly across its length until he sensed he was close to some activity. He saw a tan Asian man in an extremely expensive suit holding a woman by her long, black hair. She looked familiar.

"You pity these women? Are you so much better than them?!" the man sneered. He threw the woman across the room. She fell hard. Batman could see that she had her hands tied behind her back. They were surrounded by Sinaga's men.

"Fuck you! You deserve to--" Cheshire said from behind her mask. He struck her across the face.

"Fucking insolent bitch," Sinaga spat, getting out a handkerchief and wiping her blood off the side of his hand. "We found out who you are. Gotham City and Tokyo... you're a cowardly little thief. You make things very hard for yourself. Don't you see what a position you put me in? I cannot let a thief get away unpunished."

Batman watched as Cheshire struggled to her knees. Her costume already had rips and bloodstains. From the way she was moving, she could have had some broken ribs. He could tell she was scanning the room, looking for anything that might aid her escape.

Sinaga gave orders to his men in some Indonesian language. Two of them came forward to hold a knife to her neck and make sure her arms were securely held behind her back. Sinaga walked closer and stood right in front of her. Batman noticed dread pooling in the pit of his stomach.

"Maybe you can win my favor..." he started, tearing off her mask. "I could decide not kill you." Sinaga started to undo his belt buckle. Her situation looked completely hopeless.

"No! Fuck you! Stop!" she screamed. Batman couldn't wait a moment longer to begin his attack.

WAKES ON AN ISLAND

Batman awoke some time later. When his mind and vision cleared, he could tell he was on a beach. It was rainy, stormy, and getting dark. He saw the unmasked Cheshire beside him putting up a makeshift shelter against the wall of a cliff. He wasn't sure if he should alert her to his consciousness. What would she do? They had fought back in Gotham twice, both times many years ago. He remembered her being a reasonably competent fighter and thief, but lately he hadn't heard much about her, aside from robbing private collectors. Most of these latest enterprises, although illegal, seemed to be only victimizing people that few could feel sorry for.

No use wondering, he thought. He shifted to a sitting position. He was soaking wet and coughed hoarsely for a few moments. She looked over at him.

"You're up." she said with a flat affect. She had to raise her voice to speak over the wind. "How's your head?"

How was his head? He felt a throbbing coming from the base of his skull. His head was not feeling great.

"It's been better. What happened?" he replied.

"After you got Sinaga and his guys, a storm hit us hard." she said as she tied some vines together tightly. "You untied me and we fought off a few more, but there was an accident. An explosion. You were out cold, but we had to get out of there, so I grabbed you and two life jackets and went overboard."

There was no way to find out if she was telling the truth. Although, there were two life jackets on the ground. He looked around a little more, not getting any more information from his surroundings.

"So, where are we?" he asked. Cheshire shrugged.

"An empty island in the Banda Sea. And unless you have a way to get out of here now, the weather is only getting worse..." she said. She was shivering slightly, as some of her costume had been damaged. Her mask had sunk with the ship.

Batman vaguely recalled some of what took place. It would come back to him later, he hoped. He reached for a device on his belt and examined it.

"If I can fix this transponder, I can send our coordinates to a tower in Ambon City when the clouds clear out. I have a plane over there, but I wasn't getting a satellite signal earlier." he told her. In those days, satellite signals were severely weakened by moisture in the atmosphere. If Cheshire had assisted him, the very least he could do was give her a ride back to civilization when he could.

The two of them continued to talk logistics out of a mutual, obvious necessity. It went unspoken that making two separate shelters would have been twice the work in the worsening weather so they continued making one shelter and one fire, with a partial cover to keep the rain out. Luckily, the wind had died down some. The rain was pouring unceremoniously from the sky.

After they were both satisfied enough with the structures, they each sat against the wall of the cliff. Cheshire was exhausted. Water had been running down her face for hours. Her hair was soaking wet, clinging to her head, shoulders, and back. Cheshire bent her knees and hugged them to her chest. She sniffled as quietly as she could. Batman noticed that she was avoiding eye contact and that her eyes seemed slightly red. He thought it best to change the subject from present moment island things to work-related stuff like regional crime lords.

"How did you come across Sinaga?" he asked.

"I have friends in the art world with ties to Kuala Lampur. He used to be based there. There had been just too many coincidences surrounding his wealth and the disappearance of some important historical pieces..." she said, explaining his connection to Catur and the women. Cheshire found it easier to "talk shop" about international espionage, crime, and travel in the moment.

Batman in turn shared his research that had led him to travel to the area. As they spoke, the stiffness of their demeanors started to ease into a light rapport, although she was fidgeting a lot.

"So, no more auction houses for you?" he commented, pressing for some information about her current exploits. He couldn't tell if she was conning him into thinking she was a decent person but, then again, he suspected that an unscrupulous Cheshire probably wouldn't have dragged him to shore. She'd have let him drown.

"Back then I was... a little younger, and a lot more selfish. Then, I was, um, involved with a man who had no moral compass... and then I came to understand that there were lots of people like Sinaga. Hurting people in ways that most people in Gotham City can't imagine." she explained. She leaned forward, resting her chin on her knees and looking into the struggling flames of the fire. The rain threatened to extinguish them even though she had set up some coverage for the fire. Batman made some adjustments and the fire got stronger.

"What happened to Sinaga? Did you kill him?" he asked matter-of-factly.

"Yes. Much more quickly than he deserved." she answered, unconsciously rubbing her wrists where she had been tied. "Thank you for attacking him when you did." she added, trying to rinse her tone of all emotion.

"People like that, sometimes you can't wait for fate to pay them back." he reasoned. He noticed Cheshire seemed especially uncomfortable, shifting her position too often and fidgeting. If they were friends or even strangers on a park bench, he would have asked what was wrong. But they weren't friends. Batman didn't sit down and talk it out with criminals, he brought them to jail or Arkham. They sat in silence for a few minutes.

"I don't usually kill people." she blurted out. "Sinaga's the third person I ever killed. Ever." She seemed a little calmer after getting that out. But what was he supposed to say?

"The third?" he repeated, looking over at her.

"I don't put on a costume to get into fights, to fucking kill people. I almost never had to. But I did watch people get killed and did nothing, which is almost as bad. It's just... I didn't think I'd have to do this kind of shit anymore." she said. Worrying she was starting to ramble, she stopped talking.

"Sinaga deserved it." he said simply. He was getting tired, but he was very wary of sleeping and letting his guard down around her. At least he knew now that her reputation as a merciless thief and assassin seemed to have been an urban legend.

Cheshire gave him a weak smile and leaned her head back against the wall of the cliff.

"Look, I'm really tired. It was really hard to swim with dead weight." she said. "I need to get some sleep. Can you, like, not arrest me or anything? Can we have a truce? Just for now?"

"I'm not going to arrest you." he said. "I'm not a cop."

"You know what I mean." she groaned. "I'm not up to anything, I'm not going to try to hurt you or whatever, I swear."

"Good." he said, and then stopped speaking. Cheshire tried to wait for him to agree to a truce, but he didn't. He wasn't going to talk anymore. She fell asleep despite her best efforts to stay awake.

The next two days went by as slowly as expected. The weather had not improved, so therefore, neither had their chances of getting off the island. Other than looking for food and fixing the transponder, all they had to do was talk to each other. They stuck to non-controversial topics and remained very cordial.

Batman kept his distance, physically. He was half-expecting a knife in the back from her in his sleep. Or while he was awake. Or some time later, after he got the both of them off the small, deserted island. He definitely didn't trust her, but he could tell that she was smart, athletic, and well-versed in both high society and low society topics. But where was she from? Who was she? His detective mind tried to narrow it down by noticing little things, like the weaving technique she used to make a mat to sleep on. He would have to look that up. The way she sat on her knees reminded him of Japanese dinners he had attended over the years. The uncomfortable posture was called seiza, or correct sitting. She could have been raised in Japan and was used to sitting like that.

And her accent, though very faint, came through on some vowel sounds. From their tone, they were most likely Portuguese. Her skin was definitely tanned enough to be latina. From her eyes, anyone could tell she had some Asian ancestry as well. Maybe she was Macanese, or Indonesian, Chinese-Peruvian or Japanese-Brazilian.

He estimated her age to be between 25-30, maybe 5-10 years younger than him. He liked watching her do yoga, but he told himself that was because it was easier to relax knowing she was occupied.

Jada was slightly anxious to be stuck somewhere so remote, so she tried to stay busy. She hated that she had very little control over how long they would remain stranded. There was some kind of disadvantage to revealing that she wasn't a big killer, a vulnerability in the admission that made them unequal. But she had a sense that Batman still didn't trust her, which kind of excited her. So, she decided to play with her position of being a semi-dangerous, semi-allied woman with all access to him. It was very difficult for him to vanish here. So, she asked questions that were a little too personal and brushed up beside him a little too closely. She knew she was playing little games with him and was aware of her attraction to his mystery, but she didn't realize that she was trying to tip the power dynamic back in her favor. And that she was starving for the affection of a man who did have a moral compass.

On their third day of waiting, Batman had announced that he was off to go collect more firewood. It was still drizzling on and off, but Jada did her best to launder her costume on the shore of the freshwater lagoon to the east of their camp. She hung it up to drip somewhat dry on some branches and swam the length of the lagoon. At the center, she floated on her back and listened to the water tumbling from the stream behind her. The sensation of weightlessness was deeply calming, warding off the looming impatience over when they would get off the island. She swam back to the grass, pausing to wring the water from her hair. As she fixed her sight in the direction of the camp, she was startled to see Batman a few feet away, still picking up firewood. She could have easily got back into the water. She could have covered herself, but wouldn't it be fun to make him uncomfortable? And if anything else were to happen, she would like that, too. How many people could say they'd fucked Batman? She stood up straight, allowing her naked body to be in full view.

Batman had no intention of imposing on his new acquaintance as she bathed. He wondered why she didn't have the good sense to give him a head's up that she would be bathing. He was startled to see her nude and so close by... he almost dropped the sticks he was carrying. He made a fast effort to compose himself, a skill he learned in his years of training in the martial arts. It didn't stop him from taking in the view. Her long black hair was swept over one shoulder but not covering either of her large, firm breasts that were wet and shiny. The water must be pretty cold, he mused, noting her erect nipples. Water was still streaming down her tan body, which looked so lithe and strong... yet soft and feminine in all the right places. His gaze fell from her smooth stomach down to her small landing strip of pubic hair along the lips of her pussy.

He had to laugh at himself because his first thought was that now he knew she had no weapons. In the costume, he wasn't in the sexual kind of mindset. However, he knew that she was definitely up to some kind of psychological game.

Their eyes met, although Jada could not see his pupils through his mask. He decided to act as if he had stumbled upon any friend bathing on a camping trip- no big deal. Not because he actually felt that it was no big deal, but because he thought it might annoy her. He was a little annoyed that she would stand there so brazenly, so invitingly. What kind of game was this? What, he was supposed to let his guard down just because she looked like that naked? He wasn't some amateur. Didn't she know that?! Batman kept walking. He stopped to pick up more firewood and continued on his way. He gave her the smallest smirk as he left the area of the lagoon.

Fucker, she thought.

IN FRONT OF THE FIRE

Cheshire returned to camp later on, when it was near total darkness. He could tell her ego was bruised. She had nothing to say to him. Her talkativeness was frankly driving him a little nuts lately, so it was fine by him. The weather was sour again, the wind picking up and the temperature dropping with the setting sun. Cheshire laid down on a mat in front of the fire, not too far from where he was lying.

After she was no longer cold, Jada felt her shoulders relax and loosened her arms that she had wrapped around herself. She suddenly felt very aware of the man lying behind her. He was being infuriating, she thought. His mask insisted on hiding his eyes. How could she read him? He smiled only occasionally and acted like he needed to ration his sentences. Didn't he think she was charming? Beautiful? Irresistible? Men were supposed to have fantasies about women like her, especially on deserted islands.

She rolled over on to her back. He was lying only a few inches away, facing her, on his side. He gave no indication that he noticed her movement. She took a deep breath in and turned her head to look at him with intention. After four days together, she knew only a little more about him. Just enough to make her more curious. She definitely wanted to know more, she decided. She told herself that it would be no big deal that he would be able to find out her identity, which would probably happen within a matter of days upon their eventual return to Gotham City. But the subconscious fear of discovery was driving her to try to shift her vulnerable feeling into the strength of sex appeal, back in her favor.

Who the fuck is this guy, she thought. A tall, muscular man with broad shoulders and a strong, imposing posture. He moved so silently, deftly. What kind of man decides to put on a mask and cape every night? Her chest rose and fell in the dim campfire light as she continued to gaze at him, inviting him to come closer. Daring him to do something, anything. He seemed determined not to let her disturb his equanimity.

Fuck it, she told herself. She was going to do it. The island was cold and boring and lonely. She slowly reached out her hand and gently rested it below his collarbone. He straightened his neck and looked down at her hand. She started to lean in, closer, when some kind of electronic sound went off. It was the transponder for his aircraft. She didn't break her gaze. She looked at him, awaiting an answer.

Beneath the mask, Bruce didn't move a muscle. He had been telling himself that he would push her hand away any minute or say something to stop this absurd flirtation she was playing at. When the transponder sounded, he remained motionless. He should have been reading the long-awaited data immediately, but he heard some thoughts telling him why he should let this woman have her way with him. She was unbelievably hot, they argued. As they had spoken on the island over the last few days, she really didn't seem that dangerous anymore, did she? Maybe she had fallen in with the wrong crowd for a while, he justified. People make mistakes. Maybe she had changed. And if things went further... if any woman was going to understand him, wouldn't it be someone like her?

Well, no need to decide now, he thought. He suddenly sprung up and started reading the information about his aircraft on the gadget. It was a few more moments before either of them spoke. The spell had been broken, their moment had passed. They had logistics and travel arrangements to discuss.