Bruce glanced around the ballroom seemingly bored on the outside; but on the inside gears worked in tandem inside his head as he tried to piece together the puzzle he had lately received from the commissioner last night at the Batsignal.
All about him the buzz of conversations lingered on the edge of his conscience. The faint smell of ladies' perfume and the odor of a mans, apparently illegal, cuban cigar wafted into his awareness making it increasingly more difficult to think. He was just about to put two small pieces of the puzzle together when a voice entered his mind completely shattering what little concentration he had left. And to his dismay the two almost conjoined pieces were scattered and one hit a gear in his mind and jammed it. "Bruce!" and incredibly sultry voice called out to him.
The playboy by day and vigilante at night looked to his right to see a cuban supermodel prowling towards him in a very flattering little black dress. She looked so familiar! What was her name?! Bruce quickly searched through the gears in his mind that would hold this information; apparently the gears needed to be oiled.
"So how is the Prince of Gotham tonight?" she purred as she ran her hand over his lapel, "It's been to long since Las Vegas, don't you think?" she winked playfully with him, "What has it been now? Three months?"
The gears started turning in his mind again, "It has been too long, Anita!" he replied playfully in that voice that was all to familiar to the socialite world of Gotham.
He glanced quickly around looking for an escape as Anita ran her hand through the inside of his jacket as her other hand playfully ruffled his brown hair. To the left was nothing but closed conversations were everyone he knew had his back to him. To the right, at first, he saw nothing do to the excessive interference of Anita's poofy hair. But, as he craned his neck just a little further he managed to catch Lucius Fox' eye.
Lucius stopped dead in his tracks when he saw his boss, Bruce Wayne, backed up against a pillar by a south american model. Immediately he felt a stab of pity as he watched Bruce look around desperately for an escape. There eyes met, and Lucius quickly made his way over to his friend.
"Ah! Bruce, I've been meaning to talk to you about something going on at the testing facility in Metropolis." Lucius looked his friend up and down evidently amused by his friends situation.
"Really?" Bruce' voice squeaked like a sixth grade boy as the model pinched him somewhere inside his jacket. He looked quite comical with his hair all disheveled and his tie allot looser than when he got there. "What's goin' on?" He asked as he tried, and failed, to wriggle his way out of the death grip Anita held him in.
"Could we discuss it somewhere more private?" Lucius asked with a gleam of laughter in his eyes.
Bruce gave his friend a thankful glance before he turned to Anita, "Anita, darling, would you mind if I delayed the fun for just a few minutes?" he asked with an irresistible puppy dog look in his chocolate brown eyes.
At first it looked like she would say no. But there was none yet who could say no to that playboy's signature puppy eyes. "I suppose you can go and talk to your friend about all your important little things," she purred, "but I'll be waiting here for you. And, if you're late I might just have to punish you!" Bruce nodded quickly before he pried himself out of her arms and walked away with Fox.
"Fox, you don't know just how grateful I am that you are here!" Bruce sighed with relief as he made his way over to the bar with Lucius in tow. They took a seat in front of the bartender.
"No, I think I have a pretty good idea!" Lucius replied with a small laugh as he clapped Bruce on the back, "Now, how about a strong drink to calm your nerves!" He quickly ordered two bourbon on the rocks.
Bruce pleasantly smiled at his colleague but suddenly changed expression when he felt something in his coat pocket vibrating. He reached into his inner pocket and pulled out his Black-Jack. Quickly glancing at the screen he saw the Batwave flashing on it and immediately shoved it back into his coat.
"You know Lucius, I ah...some unexpected problems just popped up at home and I'm afraid I'm going to have to take a rain check on the drinks," Bruce apologized quickly.
"Ah," Lucius gave him a knowing wink, "I hope everything is all right at home!" he quickly canceled the orders and turned to walk Bruce out, "Just make sure you don't get yourself into something that is over your head!" he warned in a fatherly tone.
"You know I will!" Bruce laughed.
-------
The rain was pelting down as Batman walked into the jewelry store. To the untrained eye it would have looked like the jewelry store was undisturbed and empty. But, to the trained eye one could see a nicely cut circular hole in the glass of one of the display cases. And, in the display case a necklace was missing from its resting place. Apparently the thief didn't have enough time to snatch more jewelry before the alarm went off.
Something moved in the corner of his eye and Batman whirled around to see a black leather clad, masked woman facing him with a flashy diamond necklace resting on her collar. Upon closer inspection he found the leather mask to cover her face and neck and on her crown two triangular ears giving her a very feline look.
"You're not the cops, hon!" She purred as she stalked towards the counter and playfully took a seat on it, "Why, you're the big, bad, scary Batman!" Her laugh sounded deep and musical.
"And, just who are you?" his deep raspy voice sounded even more rough as he looked her up and down in her tight, form fitting, leather apparel.
"Oh, me? Well, I'm sort of new to this part of town," she got down from her perch and prowled right up to him and began to play with the cowls ears, "Maybe you can show me around some time?" He reached up and grabbed her hand.
"Sorry, but the only place I can show you right now is downtown!" he moved to hand cuff her, but she playfully eluded him.
And then it started. They began to fight, but to onlookers it looked more like an overly aggressive tango. Back and forth, side to side; their legs entwined and their feet stepped in sync. Each punch was easily blocked, but each jab got harder and harder to land on flesh. She jabbed, he dodged; he kicked, she blocked. It was a deranged dance of passion; her right foot moved backward, his left quickly filled the empty space.
But, then she mixed things up. What he thought at first to be the tail of the costume was now revealed to be a whip the was wrapped around her waist. Her wrist flicked as swift as lighting and the whip quickly wrapped itself around his gauntlet as a python wrapped around his prey. She pulled back but then realized that her adversary was a heavier anchor than she thought.
Batman's look of surprise transformed into a mischievous grin as he swiftly wrapped his hand around the whip and yanked with surprising speed and strength. Now the tango turned into a jive as she came hurtling towards him through the air.
Batman's look of triumph faded into shock as he saw Catwoman take advantage of her flight and aimed her clawed gloves toward his face. 'Not the face!!!' he thought in despair right when she landed on him knocking him into the ground, immediately set on scratching his eyes out. His hands, however, got in the way of her target. So, she settled with splitting his lip open before she leaped off of him making for the exit.
In a last desperate attempt he reached out to grab her ankle and succeeded in making her face meet the wooden floor of the jewelry store. In return he got her boots heel slammed into his face. This time, much to his great disappointment, she escaped.
Batman pulled himself up from the ground and gazed out the door she had just exited from. One part of him was screaming for him to run after her. The other, to his slight surprise, was what was holding him there, keeping him from going after her and repaying his split lip.
At the thought of that he gingerly fingered his mouth as he pondered how he would hide it, let alone explain it. The answer came as soon as he sought it: polo. A smirk revealed itself on his face as he thought back to when Alfred had proposed that excuse not so long ago.
As Batman made his way back to the mansion he realized what a good mood he was in. And, no matter what he did, he couldn't stop thinking about the strange cat burglar. Her dainty, but surprisingly strong body, her stunning green eyes, the way her body moved as she fought(or rather danced),...wait, did he have a crush? Bruce pondered in disbelief as he removed his cowl and stared at it for a few moments before putting it away.
He made his way to his room and laid, or rather flopped, down on his bed. He turned over and gazed at the ceiling as he listened to the rain patter against his window. The rain always brought back memories of his parents. Most of the time the memories were of that fatal night in the alley. But, tonight was a memory of his parents standing in the sunny kitchen as his mother laughed at his fathers joke. Her smile was so beautiful, his father's voice so rich. They were the perfect couple until it all changed in two deadly gunshots.
Bruce got up out of bed and walked into the bathroom to wash up for bed. He took off his shirt, but stopped short as he caught his reflection in the mirror. All over him were nasty black and blue bruises. His bottom lip was perfectly swollen and ugly, no way of hiding that one. He just hoped that Catwoman would see through his excuse of polo if he ever showed up in the media with that lip.
He finished getting dressed for bed and then made his way down to the kitchen to get some ice. Thankfully Alfred was already in bed and Bruce could delay the inevitable lecture until the following morning, or rather afternoon. He grimaced at the thought of waking up to hear Alfred talking down to him like Bruce was a small child.
As he walked down the stairs he tried to clear his thoughts but failed miserably failed. Each step he took on the marble steps reminded him of the intense fight he just had. Each flash of lightening made him somehow think of her brilliant green eyes. He tried so hard not to think of her as he walked into the kitchen, but nothing worked. That is, until he stubbed his toe on something he couldn't see.
With a curse he limped to the light switch and turned it on only to be found face to face with Alfred standing in the doorway fully dressed. "HOLY CRAP!" he screamed as he jumped back in fright only to end up crashing into the counter and knocking a few pots and dishes off their perch.
"Evening, Master Bruce." Alfred calmly replied as he moved to help Bruce pick up the pots and fragments of dinner ware.
"What are you doing up, Alfred?" Bruce questioned as he opened the fridge to get some ice. He slammed the door shut with a little more force than he needed.
"What I'm always doing at this time of night," Alfred replied as he put the broken plates in the trash, "Waiting to see if you come back alive." He turned from the sink to face Bruce and his eyes widened in slight surprise when he took in Bruce's swollen lip. "Care to explain how that happened?"
Bruce grimaced as he set the ice pack on the counter, "Well, there's a new cat burglar in town," he glanced around the room trying to find the correct way to inform Alfred that he got beat up by a girl, "and she just so happens to dress like a cat."
" 'She'?" Alfred inquired with a smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth.
"Yes, 'she'."
"So are you trying to tell me that you got beat up by a cat burglar who was infact a woman?" Alfred questioned as he tried to hold back his laughter.
"Yes," Bruce groaned as he put the ice back on his lip.
"Well, that's interesting to say the least!" Alfred finally let out the laughter that he tried so long to hold in.
"I'm going to bed Alfred." he rolled his eyes as he left the kitchen with Alfred still laughing hysterically.
---------
The following weeks Bruce came to expect an encounter with Catwoman quite often. Each night they fought it seemed that either were making progress in that insane dance they had mastered. Each time Bruce walked away he found himself longing to fight again with her soon. It even got to the point where the end of their fights would sound something like this-
"You know Godwin's right?" she purred.
"That diamond store on the corner of Fifth and Woodrow?" He inquired.
"Yeah, that one."
"What about it?"
"I have a sneaking suspicion that it might be robbed on Saturday night."
"Would it be around two o'clock?"
"Yeah, that sounds pretty good hon."
"Alright, thanks for lettin' me know."
"No problem, angel face."
"Should I be expecting the usual?"
"Always, unless told otherwise."
And on the front cover of the Sunday Times one could find the Headline, "Godwin's Robbed, But The Bat Lost The Cat Again."
--------
A/N- Hi ya'll! I was wondering, do you guys think I should keep this a one shot or do you think I should continue it? Please let me know in your reviews! Oh, and mark your calendars for July 18 2008 which is the scheduled opening day for The Dark Knight! It will have Bale, of course, and Heath Ledger playing the Joker! YUMMY!
Oh Yeah! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!!