11 The Cat and The Dragon

Today, Bruce was out for a round of shopping. It had been two days since Bruce trained with Barbara. During those two days, he had her focused solely on stamina, technique, combinations and form.

Later on, he would plan to spar her - see how the results were. But for now, she needed to start with the basics again. He learned that she mostly fought common thugs - none had posed a challenge to her besides a select few.

However, he needed to start slow first, let her get comfortable with the training regiment. After that, he would increase the tempo from there.

If he went too hard on her from the start, she might lose confidence or motivation. And it was working. Bruce could see the results, albeit only a little.

The martial artist continued to ride down the street on his moped, looking for an electronics shop of some kind. Barbara had been pestering him to get a smartphone - those little devices everyone had these days.

She had no way to contact him if something happened between the two. Better safe than sorry, he suppose. Technology had really come along way.

"Now, where is that damn electronic store?" He muttered to himself.

It was somewhere around this area. Then, he noticed a small bakery shop just up ahead. Perhaps, he could grab a sweet for Barbara. Usually, she would come to his apartment with takeouts, and he felt a little guilty for not giving back.

So, he stopped by the bakery shop and set his helmet aside, ready to go in. That was when he had notice her again. The one from the hotel. The dangerous vixen that he thought he would never see again.

"Is that you, Bruce?" Selina was surprised to see him here. She had worn casual today. Long skinny jeans and a black jacket.

The last time she saw him, he had been beaten by Two-Face during an interrogation. Seeing him now, Bruce looked rather fine. She was glad he didn't sustain any permanent injury.

"Selina, right?" He had to joggle around his memory a bit to remember her name. After all, it had been more than a week since he met her.

"So you remembered me," she smiled rather seductively. "Are you getting something from the bakery too?"

"I am. Thinking of getting some sweets for someone," he answered.

"Oh~ a girlfriend, perhaps?"

"No, she's a friend," he shook his head.

"I see. Why don't we talk more inside - I've been wanting to meet you again," she said.

"I don't mind," Bruce walked up to door and open it, gesturing her to go in first. She took his kind offer and walked inside.

They had bought a couple of things over the counter and walked over to a table with small bags in hand.

"So, what have you been up to lately?" Selina initiated the conversation, pulling out a chocolate croissant from her bag.

"Work. I got a job recently at a Chinese restaurant as a deliveryman," he answered.

"A Chinese restaurant... Ah- is it the one with the cute, little old lady?"

"Yep, that's the one."

"Perhaps, I should order some takeout from there more often and have you come over to my place," she winked at him.

"Don't even think about it," he said jokingly. He leaned back against the chair to get more comfortable. "The owner offered me a job after I helped save her from a crazy maniac. Goes by the name Two-Face or something."

"Were you okay?" She asked, pretending to be ignorant. Selina felt guilty for bringing him into her mess. She wanted to apologize, but she can't have her identity being leaked.

"No worries. I could take way more punishment," he gave her a smile.

"What are you? Some sort of superhero?" She playfully asked.

"Just an ordinary man living an ordinary life."

"That's what they all say."

Suddenly, a faint sound of an explosion muffled through the bakery shop. The employees and patrons gasped in shock as they looked out the window. Bruce Lee and Selina stood up and quickly made their way outside to assess the situation.

Across the street, thick cloud of smoke poured out of a local bank while alarm bells rang. A couple of armed masked men quickly entered the building. Soon, a couple of shots rang out from the bank.

Bruce Lee frowned. He never expected someone brazen enough to rob a bank. They seemed prepared too. Seeing all the panicked people around him, he had to do something.

"I have to stop them," he said.

"Are you nuts?" She hastily said. "Wait for the cops to get here; they'll take care of it!"

"No, they won't make it on time," he refuted, moving towards the bank.

Selina quickly grabbed his hand, stopping him from going any further, "Stop trying to play hero, Bruce. I don't want to see you get yourself killed."

"I'll risk it if it meant stopping them and saving others," he quickly swiped his hand away and ran off towards the bank.

"Ugh, and you even said you're just an ordinary man," Selina groaned out.

Selina didn't want to follow after him, but she owed him one. After all, he had helped her before, so it was only right to pay him back. She soon followed after him.

As Bruce Lee made his way to the bank, he pulled out a weapon hidden underneath his shirt. Steel Nunchakus. He had bought them days earlier for self-defense. Looks like he would be using them now.

He quickly made it to the entrance. It was shrouded in a thick coat of smoke - he could barely see what was on the other side. Bruce took off his shirt and wrapped it over his nose. It was the best he could do.

Shrouded by the cloud of smoke, Bruce made his way through the building quietly, crouching just to stay safe. He noticed some people on the ground. Some were bleeding out while others were crouched down in fear.

"Go, get out of here!" Bruce whispered loudly at them, pointing at the entrance.

They nodded obediently, dragging the injured out of the building to safety. They would wait for the ambulances to arrive to treat the injured.

Bruce suddenly heard loud shouts just up ahead, so he moved towards the source of the noise. There. In a room. Bruce hid behind a table as his eyes peeked over it.

An armed robber stood by the doorway, guarding it. It seemed like the rest of the robbers were inside to steal the cash. He had to do something quick to distract them.

Bruce grabbed a blue plastic cup that held several pens and threw it over the robber.

The robber was instantly alerted and made his way to the source of the noise, gun pointed. He stared down at the plastic cup with several pens sprawled out on the floor.

It was just enough for Bruce Lee to come up behind him. With a powerful swing, Bruce knocked the man out cold like a silent killer. He looked behind him, the guards in the room were still preoccupied with the money, shoving stacks of them in their bags.

Perfect.

Bruce wouldn't let this opportunity to go to waste. Grabbing a box of files nearby, he tossed it into the tiny safe room. Hundreds of documents flew up into the air, hindering the robbers' vision.

"What the hell!" One of them yelled.

He went after the men, swatting out the guns from their hands and tossed them across the room. One of the robbers closest to him tried to go for a tackle.

Bruce simply snorted. He had seen through his shabby attempt, smacking the man's head with his nunchakus.

It was over for him.

"I don't know who you fuckin' are, but you're dead," the other robber and his buddy pulled out their knives. Without their guns, this was their only weapons.

"Show me then," Bruce said, twirling his nunchakus around in rapid motion.

The robbers were hesitant to approach him at first, but eventually, one of them charged at Bruce, aiming to cut his throat. Yet, he couldn't even touch a single hair on him.

"Stay still, you bastard!" The robber yelled out, swinging his knife in wild abandon.

"Wah!" Bruce swung his nunchakus, smacking the knife out of the robbers hand.

"Argh!" The robber roared in pain. He was soon silence by Bruce, falling head first to the floor.

Bruce glanced at the last robber who stood cornered near a wall. He was a cornered mouse with no where to run. With no other choice left, he charged at Bruce.

"Hmph," Bruce made quick work out of the desperate robber, putting him to sleep. Catching the nunchakus underneath his arm, he looked down at the unconscious men to see if they were still awake.

Suddenly, a gunshot.

It whizzed by Bruce Lee's head and penetrated into a wall. Shit! Bruce Lee quickly moved to cover as the crackling echoes of bullets barely missed him by mere inches. Bruce was pinned down. He couldn't go anywhere.

It was a mistake to assume that there were no other men. As a result, he might have to pay the price with his life. Damn, he need to figure out a way to deal with this.

"Argh!" The gunfire had suddenly stopped before a body had dropped to the floor.

Bruce, who hid behind cover, slowly peeked his head out to assess the situation.

"See, what did I tell you, Bruce?" Selina kicked the robber's body to make sure that he was unconscious.

"Selina? When did you get here?" Bruce asked, walking towards her. He was shocked to see her here. And even more so when she had knocked the guy out.

"I followed you - in case something like this happened," she answered. "Oh, and you're welcome."

"Wow..." Bruce Lee rubbed his neck. "Honestly, I don't know how I could thank you enough."

"If you wanna thank me, how about a date then?" She purred out.

"Um-"

"Shh," She raised a finger up to his mouth. "Let's talk later and get out of this place."