Chapter 36: A Bad Day (Patreon)

Sebastian left the hospital immediately after his talk with Barbara.

The doctors objected the moment they realized he was walking out on the same day he had a surgery to remove a bullet. But Sebastian simply waved their concerns off. 

He stepped out into Gotham’s night, his expression darker than usual.

He was genuinely pissed.

Nearly every encounter with Barbara ended in trouble. On its own, it was annoying but tolerable. Gotham was full of chaotic people, and she was just another piece of that mess.

Her hostility toward him? Also fine.

He wasn’t exactly innocent, and he had beaten her up that night in the alley. If anything, her attitude was okay.

But today, she went too far. Attacking him because she thought he was molesting children? That was no longer some hostility, she was actively assigning him deranged labels.

He had been playing with a kitten. And because of her, he ended up getting shot.

The bullets hadn’t been life-threatening, not really. A bit of cocaine and his body was back to full health. But that didn’t change the fact that they hurt. That they happened because of her vile assumptions.

And the worst part, she still looked at him like he was the most deranged person in Gotham.

In a way, the way she acted and carried herself reminded him of that petty bastard and that liar bitch.

“Bitch,” he muttered under his breath.

He walked aimlessly for a while, street after street, neon lights, distant sirens, the usual noise of Gotham at night. Eventually, his steps slowed when he spotted a tucked-away bar in one of the quieter corners of the city.

It was already midnight.

Sebastian stepped inside.

The place was rundown, worn down by time, but it was full. People filled the space, talking loudly, drinking, ignoring everything outside those walls. He glanced around briefly before heading straight for the bar.

He sat down.

“Give me a beer,” he said.

A voice came from his side as the bartender turned around for his order.

“You’re the guy from the bank. Sebastian, right?”

Sebastian turned his head.

A masked man sat beside him.

He blinked once, then nodded. 

“Yup.” He looked him up and down. “You’re the bear-like guy. How have you been? Didn’t know you escaped prison already.”

Bane’s head tilted slightly.

“Bear-like?” he repeated. “That’s what you call me?”

Sebastian shrugged. “It fits. Look at yourself, you do have the muscle mass of a bear”

Bane stared at him for a moment, then said, “Interesting… you still have the same attitude even now.”

There was a pause.

“You know,” Bane continued, “I wanted to see you again. And pay you back for last time.”

The bartender placed the beer in front of Sebastian.

Sebastian picked it up.

“Is that so?” he said before taking a sip. “What do you suggest? Gunfight or fistfight?”

Bane went silent for a moment.

“You are willing to have a fistfight with me?” he asked. “Where did the courage come from?”

Sebastian took another drink, then lowered the glass.

“I’m pissed,” he said simply. “Got shot earlier today because of an annoying bitch. You’re giving me a healthy outlet for my anger.”

Bane watched him closely.

“Having a bad day won’t stop me from breaking you,” he said.

Sebastian chuckled lightly. “I know it won’t. I am just letting you know, nothing I do to you today is personal. Also, I take it you want a fistfight”

Without hesitation, he pulled out his gun, and tossed it to the bartender.

“Keep it,” he said. “I’ll come back for it soon.”

He stood up, turning fully toward the masked man.

“Let’s take it outside,” Sebastian added. “We don’t want to ruin this nice place, do we?”

Bane stood up as well.

“I like you more this time,” he said.

Sebastian smirked faintly.

“Oh please,” he replied. “You don’t know me.”

He paused for a moment, then added “By the way, are we going just fists… or are we using drugs?”

A slight tilt of his head.

“I’m okay with either, it is up to you.”

———

Kara left the Iceberg Lounge much later than usual tonight.

It had been a busy day, far busier than she expected, and the absence of Uncle Alfred had made that painfully clear.

As she rose into the sky, she found herself thinking about it.

On normal days, Alfred moved through the chaos of Gotham like it was nothing. Reports came in from everywhere, business operations, security updates, rumors, financial flows and somehow he filtered everything, discarded the useless parts, handled problems before they escalated, and delivered a clean, organized picture to Mr. Cobblepot.

Kara had super speed.

And she still struggled.

The volume alone was overwhelming. Sorting it required judgment, not just speed. Prioritizing it required experience. And dealing with the people behind those reports… that was something else entirely.

She exhaled quietly as she flew.

“He really does too much,” she murmured.

Then her thoughts shifted.

Barbara.

Kara had learned about it earlier through one of Penguin’s contacts in the Gotham PD. The story had spread quickly, Barbara Gordon had apparently gone insane in the middle of the day and attempted to murder someone out of nowhere.

The official version didn’t sit right with her.

The victim’s and the officers’ account painted Barbara as unstable. And apparently, the first things Barbara said after waking up only made it worse.

Kara didn’t hesitate.

She went to the hospital.

Barbara had told her everything.

And Kara believed her.

After everything she had seen in Gotham and hearing about the cocaine falling from the sky, white fire healing someone didn’t sound strange at all. If anything, the idea that the police and doctors chose this moment to question someone’s sanity felt absurd.

Gotham had accepted much worse as normal.

At the end of it, Kara left the hospital reassured that Barbara was physically fine. The situation, at least on the surface, seemed like it would end there. Sebastian wasn’t pushing further.

Still, something about it bothered her.

Barbara started it.

Sebastian’s retaliation was harsh, but expected. Hitting her back and cutting ties would have been enough. But twisting the situation to make her seem unstable, that didn’t sit well.

Kara frowned slightly as she flew over the city.

Then she heard a familiar voice speaking.

“I feel so much better, thanks bear guy and sorry if I hit you too hard…”

Kara stopped mid-flight.

“You know what, if your brain still works after all this beating, I’ll buy you a beer.”

A weaker voice answered, strained and filled with venom.

“One day… I will kill you for this.”

Kara turned her head, locking onto the source. It came from an alley tucked behind a bar.

She descended slightly, hovering just high enough to remain unseen.

What she saw made her blink.

Bane, one of the fiercest villains in Gotham, was reduced to a miserable state. He laid on the ground, his clothes were shredded, barely holding together, bruises covered his body and cuts ran across exposed skin. He looked like he had been dragged through hell and back.

And in front of him, Sebastian. Completely fine.

“You can’t say I didn’t warn you I was in a bad mood,” Sebastian said. “Do you know how painful it is to have your skull cracked open by a crazy bitch who thinks you’re bad enough to molest children? While all you did was play with a kitten!!”

He shook his head slightly.

“Seriously, what did I do to deserve that kind of bad faith?”

Kara’s eyes widened faintly.

“And worst of all,” Sebastian continued, “I got shot by the guys following her, officers of law they said, they were some real pieces of shit. And let me tell you, bullets hurt a lot more than whatever you’re feeling right now.”

Bane’s response came out low and bitter.

“I hate you.”

“Exactly my thoughts,” Sebastian replied immediately. “She’s a walking curse. Every time I see her, something goes wrong. And every time, the curse grows worse.”

He pointed toward Bane.

“Your beating? That’s because of her. If not for her, we wouldn’t have met, and I definitely wouldn’t have taken my anger out on you like this.”

A pause.

“We are both victims here,” he added. “Unfortunate souls who crossed that evil redhead’s path.”

Bane exhaled slowly, then said flatly, “Just kill me and get it over with. Why are you complaining about someone now?”

Sebastian tilted his head slightly.

“You volunteered to help me vent up,” he said. “The physical part is done. Now comes the conversational part.”

Bane stared at him.

“You are insane,” he said.

“No,” Sebastian replied. “I am totally sane.”

Kara hovered above them, completely still.

She didn’t know what was more confusing, the fact that Sebastian had just beaten Bane into that state, or the fact that he was now venting about Barbara like this to Bane in the first place.

It felt weird watching him doing that.

Sebastian sighed lightly.

“Never mind,” he said. “I think I’m putting too much on your plate.”

He took a step back.

“Anyway, I owe you a beer,” he added. “Also, do you need me to take you to the hospital? I will pay.”

Bane didn’t even hesitate.

“Leave me alone already”

Sebastian nodded once. “Alright. See you around.”

And just like that, he turned and walked away, leaving Bane lying there.

Kara remained in the air, watching silently for a little longer before deciding to descend toward Sebastian.

When Sebastian stepped out of the alley, he came to an abrupt stop as Kara descended right in front of him.

For a brief second, the two simply looked at each other. Then Sebastian smiled.

“Hello, Kara,” he said casually. “Fancy seeing you here.”

Kara raised an eyebrow. “You don’t look surprised I came down from above.”

“I know you’re Supergirl,” Sebastian replied. “Nothing to be surprised about.”

Kara raised an eyebrow. “How do you know that? This is our second time meeting, was it Barbara?”

“No,” Sebastian said, “But you work for the Penguin. It’s not exactly a secret who you are. I’ve heard of you.”

Kara nodded slowly, accepting that.

“So… about you,” she said, “And what you did to Barbara.”

Sebastian tilted his head. “Are you here to beat the shit out of me on her behalf?” he asked. “Did she send you?”

Kara blinked, caught off guard. “No!! She would not do such a thing.”

Sebastian hummed. “No, I can totally see her doing that, I was expecting it if I am honest. Anyway, give me a moment. I’ll go pick my things.”

Before she could respond, he turned and walked back into the bar.

Kara remained outside, frowning slightly. After a moment, she focused her gaze and looked through the wall. She tracked him inside, watched him walk up to the counter, retrieve a gun from the bartender, pay him, and turn back.

A few seconds later, Sebastian stepped out again.

“You gave your gun to the bartender?” Kara asked immediately as he walked past her.

Sebastian continued forward along the street, hands in his pockets.

“Yeah,” he said. “Bear guy wanted a fistfight. My gun was a distraction. He has a bad memory with it, so I gave it away to make things fair.”

Kara stared at him. “Fair? Against Bane?”

Sebastian glanced at her. “I don’t know what rumors that redhead has been spreading about me, but I’m quite fair in how I treat people.”

“She’s not spreading rumors about you,” Kara said.

Sebastian snorted lightly. “At minimum, I expect her to say I’m a lunatic and a supervillain. That I speak nonsense and shouldn’t be trusted.”

Kara went silent.

Because Barbara had said something close to that.

Sebastian didn’t miss her reaction.

“Your reaction is enough,” he said. “She did say something similar.” He looked ahead. “So why are you here?”

Kara hesitated. “I didn’t think much of it when I came down,” she admitted. “I guess… I wanted to hear your side.”

“I believe she already told you most of it,” he said. “She doesn’t see herself in the wrong. Or at least she thinks she doesn’t deserve being labeled unstable because of me.”

Kara nodded. “Yes… You went too far, even if she was wrong. It was an honest misunderstanding.”

Sebastian stopped walking for a moment and looked at her.

“So you’re suggesting I treat her in kind?” he asked. “Break her skull. Put a few bullets through her body? That won’t be going too far, right?” 

A faint tilt of his head. “I can go back and do it. But I have enough reasons to believe the number of people you know will drop by one.”

Kara stiffened. 

“That’s not what I meant,” she said quickly. “You’re fine now. The injuries didn’t sound that bad, so I thought, maybe you could cut her some slack.”

Sebastian stared at her.

“Are you for real?” he asked. “My skull was cracked open. I was shot multiple times.” His voice lowered slightly. “You do realize I’m human, right? There’s a limit to how much damage I can take. Anything beyond that is just death.”

Kara went quiet.

“I’m sorry,” she said after a moment. “I didn’t think about it like that.”

They walked in silence for a few steps.

Then Kara spoke again. “Why do you keep calling Barbara cursed?”

Sebastian began explaining. He went through each encounter.

Kara listened.

Sebastian concluded simply, “But the most important reason why I committed to calling her cursed, is because she is heading to a very dark end.”

Kara frowned. “What does that mean? Why are you so sure?”

Sebastian answered “Divine revelation.”

Kara blinked. “You’re joking.”

“Nah, divine revelation is real,” he said. “There’s a possible future where she gets pregnant by Batman, gets shot by the Joker, loses the child, her spine is severed and ends up paralyzed, she falls into severe depression and lives a lonely miserable life. All while her father gets tortured naked into madness by the Joker.”

Kara stopped walking.

“That’s messed up for a joke,” she said.

Sebastian shrugged slightly. “I am not joking, you asked.”

“Is that future connected to your… drug god?” she asked.

“You could say that,” Sebastian replied.

Kara looked at him. “Is it set on a stone?”

He shook his head. “No. It can be changed and something already changed because I told you. But by how much? who knows?”

Kara went quiet for a moment, processing that.

Then she asked, “What about me? Do you know my future?”

Sebastian glanced at her briefly.

“Yeah,” he said. “I am not confident about it anymore.”

Kara frowned. “What does that mean?”

“At some point,” he explained, “You get sent to the future. You meet a guy you like and decide to stay there with him.” He shrugged. “Though in that version, you weren’t working for the Penguin and you never met me, so things are different now and the future line might not happen.”

Kara stared at him for a few seconds.

“No wonder they think you’re insane,” she said.

“It is vexing to be called insane at every turn when I am telling the truth. Remember my words, I don’t forget or forgive. When shit hits the fan and dear karma arrives, I will mock you all damn day.”