Disclaimer: I do not own any right to Buffy the Vampire Slayer tv series or Catwoman the comic book. I make no profit out of this fanfic.
Chapter 1.
A small hand runs up one leg, leather shoe zipped up, clinging tightly. Then the other shoe. She's almost ready. The top of her cat suit is still unzipped and she carefully places a set of lock picks under her bra in between her breasts. She zippers up and stretches like a well rested cat. She's nimble and every muscle is well trained. Eagerly she slips her hair under its protective cowl. Only the goggles left and she'll be ready. The whip is already attached to her waist. She surveys the room, brushes past Kitty the cat patting her lightly on the head. The disgruntled cat flickers her ears and her tail swishes as if saying 'go already and stop bugging me'.
The woman lets a little snort out and picks up a spreadsheet from the desk. The route's been memorized , her notes as well. Excitement flows through her and she finally puts the goggles on.
The balcony is opened and the night awaits. She jumps. For a moment it feels like she's jumping to her doom, into a portal of lightening and power so vast it's hard to comprehend, but soon a different feeling overwhelms her and she's free. Her whip cracks and she lands smoothly on the next roof.
A couple of quick steps and she jumps again. Less of a fright now. It's joy that flows through her; she's free. Again she lands, only to eject herself in the air, and again. Every night it's the same, old hurts being shed away and finally she is just herself. Without pressure, expectations, remorse. She smiles. This is the roof.
She crouches down, observes her target. Her route is just as she planned, no complications, no changes. She observes as the guards talk, exchange pleasantries. She smiles a little as the new one settles down in his little cubicle, the old one is leaving the building. The new, younger one takes out a book and doesn't look twice at the monitors before him. He's studying for tomorrow's exam.
She laughs a little at how badly the building is designed, letting her observe it all though the windows. She mentally shrugs; it's her gain. She jumps on a fire escape one floor down. From there across and onto a roof. Quietly now, in the shadows, onto a drain pipe and to the ledge. She's small and light and her steps very sure.
She inches forward, glances into the window. No one there. She moves forward, to the next window. No one there either. Her whip flies up, catches on a pipe and she flings herself up one floor. This is it. Only one wall separates her from the guard and she barely suppresses an excited giggle.
The window is partially opened. It leads to a bathroom. She carefully pushes her hand into the crack between the opened window and the frame. She's lucky she's so thin but it would be even better if her arms were longer. She's prepared for this so she takes a piece of a wire from inside her shoe and gives it the needed shape. It catches the blockade and carefully she pulls, it gives. There. She enters silently, takes a look around, catches herself in the mirror and straightens out her suit. Purrfect.
There are no cameras in the bathroom. Just beyond this door things are different. She wonders if she wants to bother with the cameras. The guard is reading, likely won't notice and if he does it would hardly be a feat to get past him. But does she want to be caught on film? She pulls open a pocket and takes out a small disk. Attached to the lenses of the camera it should blur the video.
Satisfied she zippers up and slowly, so very slowly, opens the door. She checked the hinges the other day and it shouldn't squeak but the motion might get noticed. Observing she waits for the right moment, slips out, hugging the wall. She moves to the corner, under the camera. She's too short to reach it while standing. She jumps up and her feet find purchase on the walls, her back hugging the ceiling. She breathes out in relief. There. The little circle attaches itself to the camera with a click. She feels even freer now.
Down and towards the next room, this area is only separated by a partial wall. She moves forward. She doesn't hear anyone else near. Sometimes she feels like she's cheating with her enhanced senses.
She crouches before the final door. Unzipping the suit she takes out the lock picks. Carefully she inserts one and listens in, a click and another. She turns the handle. She pauses; there is a camera there. She takes note of her trembling hands and slips in a small mirror on a wire. She moves it around. The camera is right on the opposite wall. Nothing to do about that now. Exhale, push the door, move in.
Two steps in there is a glass case. She opens another pocket. Takes out a glass cutter. She cuts a circle and gently pulls it out. There are pressure plates inside and her heart is beating like crazy now and she can't help but smile.
Carefully she places a stone on her hand and moves it in the opening. Slowly with her thumb and forefinger she grabs a hold of the little statuette inside meanwhile lowering the stone right next to it on the plate. Keeping the balance she times it just right and when she finally picks up the little cat no alarm blares. She grins and slowly takes her hand out of the case.
The cat goes into her pocket. There is no time now. She moves back to the previous room, closing the door behind her. She backtracks to the camera and takes off the blurring device. Back to the bathroom and out the window. It's not done yet. On the ledge, she risks a look to the room next door. The guard almost finished his coffee. She swings one floor down, on the ledge and moves by the window, pulls herself up and there's a small window. She needs to get into this storage room and pronto, before the guard goes to the bathroom.
The window is stuck and she has to push hard. Slayer strength hard. It gives. There's barely enough room to slip through but she's thin and manages alright. Her feet land gently on the ground. There is not much space to move here as she sits close to the door and waits. Listening is boring but she calms herself down patting the pocket with the little cat. Hers now.
Sometimes the stealing makes her think of Dawn, but not this time. She doesn't want to be noticed, it's not the same.
She watched the guard for days and knows it won't be long now. Indeed, barely minutes later she hears the tell tale sounds of a guy stretching on a chair, putting a book down, cursing at the boredom of his job and moving towards the bathroom.
She counts to ten and opens the door. No guard in sight. Quickly she runs lightly to the guards cubicle and starts typing. The recording program opens up and she locates the files of the second camera. She finds 11:23, that's it, up to 11:32. She can't help herself and takes a peak at it in fast forward. It strucks her that a slip of her hair escaped her cowl while she was scooping out the cat statuette. The blond lock seems out of place against her black suit and dark goggles. She erases the part with her in the starring role. Closes the program and slips out and back into the storage room. She doesn't close the door, there is no time as the guard passes by. A click of the closing door would be too loud.
For a moment she looks at the handle and wonders if closing it slowly would be possible. Beyond this door there are no walls separating the guard from here, only the thin cubicle separators.
Heart racing she turns toward the small window. She almost gets stuck because of the statuette but carefully she pushes through.
No need to close the window. She doesn't mind if they know how she got there.
Follow the ledge and down on the next building's roof. Now she's smiling wildly but reminding herself not to count her chickens yet. Across the roof and jump. The wind is colder now but it only makes her feel more awake.
She jumps and jumps, it's almost like flying. The distance seems quite enough to rest. It's done now. She stretches out satisfied, almost purring. Relaxed she takes a winding route back to her own balcony.
The next day Miss Selina Kyle buys a hair dye. She's a brunette now. It suits her and most importantly doesn't stand out so much against the dark. Her green eyes already search for a new target.