The dark streets of Gotham were perfect for anyone; creature, human or otherwise; to sneak through. No sane man or woman even gave a second thought to straying in a dark alley, lest they find themselves with a gun pointed at their foreheads. The smoke that came out of the potholes made tiny, yet foreboding mists; not thick enough to not see someone completely, but still haunting nonetheless. To a meager mind, Gotham was a day by day struggle to stay alive; especially those of the homeless variety; while to the criminal mind, the city was a playground with the kids constantly fighting for control.
But not all members of Gotham's Rouges Gallery were interested in power, some were just content with money, whether it be a run-of-the-mill thug, burglar or thief.
However, one burglar in Gotham was far from run-of-the-mill, and her shadowy figure hopped across the rooftops towards her target, the local museum. Upon landing on the roof, she surveyed the area around the entrance before heading to the vent.
She pulled the vent cover off and went inside.
"Who says vents aren't a girl's best friend?" the figure stated.
As the figure made her way through the vents, she passed by an opening which showed a room where one of the guards sat down with his feet propped up, reading a comic book; Amazing Spider-Man #1; as well as listening to the radio which she could hear from inside.
"Vicky Vale- Good evening, Gotham City, this is Vicky Vale, coming to you from the residence of Metropolis' semi-favorite billionaire entrepreneur, Lex Luthor. Good evening, Mr. Luthor."
"Lex Luthor- Good evening to you, Ms. Vale. And must I say you are looking quite radiant. Though I'm sure it's not the first time."
"Vicky Vale- Why thank you. So, Mr. Luthor-"
"Lex Luthor- Please, please, call me 'Lex.'"
"Vicky Vale- Lex. I understand that you are having a press conference in a few days. What are the details?"
"Lex Luthor- Well, Ms. Vale, I don't want to go into too much detail; don't want to give too much away; but let's just say I've recently met a man who shares...'common interests.'
Continuing on, the shadowy burglar found her way to a janitor's closet. She opened the door and stealthily snuck through the museum.
Down the hall, she discovered at least four guards.
"Four of them? Oh great..." she whispered in an annoyed tone. "I was hoping for at least eight."
Starting with the first one, she grabbed him by the neck and knocked him out.
With the next one, she wrapped him up in rope and gagged him.
"Shhh, I'm just here to borrow something...permanently... and then I'll be out of your hair," the figure said.
For the third one, she distracted him with a sound dart, then took him out from behind.
Finally, she just tapped the fourth one on the shoulder, then when he turned around, she used knockout gas.
"Enjoy your catnap," the burglar said.
With the guards taken out, she now made her way into one of the exhibits. In it, there was a variety of priceless artifacts, but one in particular that the burglar was interested in was one that sat close to the far left side of the room.
The burglar purred at the sight of the artifact; a cat statue made out of ruby.
"Hello, darling. Mommy's here to take you home," the burglar purred.
She held out her right hand and using her built-in claws, she sliced a hole into the glass protecting the statue and grabbed it. She caressed the statue in her clawed hands and was ready to leave when a voice caught her attention.
"Pardon me, Hon, but I had my eyes on that little number," said the voice. "There's a nice pawn shop in Bludhaven I do recommend."
The voice leaped from the roof and onto the floor in front of the burglar and slowly stepped out of the shadows, cracking a whip. The voice in question came from none other than Catwoman.
The burglar turned, after grabbing the statue, revealing herself to Catwoman. "Thanks, but this suits me much better," she said as she turned.
Catwoman didn't recognize the burglar, so the former, not being one for bad manners, introduced herself as the Black Cat.
"Like the costume," Catwoman complimented.
"Likewise," Black Cat said back.
"But the cat motif, that's kinda my thing and exceptional fashion choices aside, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask for the little kitty," Catwoman said, holding out her hand.
"I would, but you know what they say about possession, right?" Black Cat said.
"Yes, but you know what they say about coming between a girl and her jewelry?" Catwoman asked, cracking her whip again.
"Yes, glad we understand each other," Black Cat responded.
"Indeed..." Catwoman responded back.
At that moment, the playful expressions on the two cat burglars turned serious as they locked eyes on each other. Catwoman firmly gripped her whip as Black Cat did the same with the statue.
For a few seconds, neither moved until Catwoman went on the offensive, lashing away at Black Cat with her whip.
Black Cat, with statue in hand, jumped out of the way of her shots, then threw the statue in the air, distracting Catwoman. With her distracted, Black Cat got her with a number of kicks before catching the statue and running off. However, Catwoman caught her leg with her whip and tripped her, which allowed her to grab the statue. Getting to her feet, Black Cat pursued her towards a pair of stairs, but Catwoman had some distance between them, so she used her grappling hook and hooked onto one of the railings and swung over and nailed her with a dropkick from the back.
Catwoman got to her feet, holding onto the statue and placing it behind her, and the two got into a hand to hand fight, using their claws to try and slash at each other. During the confrontation, Catwoman went for a roundhouse kick, Black Cat ducked and went for a jumping kick which Catwoman dodged. The two traded punches and kicks until Black Cat went for a kick to the face, but Catwoman dodged and turned and as she did, Black Cat grabbed the statue with her legs and threw it underneath Catwoman's legs. While she was distracted, Black Cat grabbed her by the arm and flipped her onto her back before grabbing the statue.
Catwoman followed close behind and attacked her with her whip again.
"Easy, girl! You'll damage the goods!" said Black Cat.
As she said this, Catwoman roped her whip around one of Black Cat's legs and tripped her.
"Please, like I'm that careless," Catwoman retorted.
As Catwoman said this, Black Cat tripped her with a leg sweep and took back the statue.
The fight continued with Catwoman using a variety of martial arts to disorient Black Cat into dropping the statue, but she held onto it. Catwoman went for a slash, but Black Cat ducked it and attempted to run off, but Catwoman hit her from behind with a flying kick, making her drop the statue. She made a grab for it, but Black Cat caught her with a roundhouse kick.
The two stood eye to eye with the statue in the middle. Both knew that they didn't have a good chance of getting at the moment.
"You're move," said Black Cat.
"After you," said Catwoman.
Black Cat started off by firing her grappling hook, but Catwoman dodged and charged towards her. Black Cat went for a punch, but Catwoman blocked it and elbowed her in the gut, then went for an arm drag takedown which Black Cat countered. She then went for a punch, but Catwoman dodged it then got her with a hurricanrana followed by a series of mounted punches.
Black Cat pushed Catwoman off of her and as Catwoman got to her feet, Black Cat rolled forward and grabbed her whip. Using it, she wrapped one of Catwoman's wrists and pulled her to her and hit her with a high knee.
"I should get one of these," Black Cat said, observing the whip.
Suddenly, Catwoman got her with a kip-up kick to the gut, reclaiming her whip. "It's a good accessory, that's for sure," she said.
Black Cat then kipped-up herself.
Catwoman slashed at Black Cat, but she hit her with a kick, sending her into one of the displays. Black Cat charged at her, but Catwoman got out of the way, then jumped off of one of the displays, grabbed her by the head and flipped onto another of the displays. She then grabbed the statue and ran up the stairs, towards the balcony.
Black Cat got to her feet and headed to the opposing balcony, then used her hook to swing on one of the hanging banners towards Catwoman. She went for a kick, but Catwoman dodged it. She tried to knock the statue out of her hands, but then Catwoman used her whip to swing on one of the banners. However, Black Cat followed. The two swinging cat burglars attemped to knock each other down with a kick, but neither could get the advantage over the other until Catwoman threw out a pair of bolas at Black Cat's feet. She used her claws to cut the banner Black Cat was holding onto. But as Black Cat fell, she used her hook to grab Catwoman by the legs, sending her down with her. The two fell hard to the floor and the statue rolled a few feet to the side of them.
Catwoman got to her knees while Black Cat got to her feet and went for the statue. However, Catwoman grabbed a flash bomb out of her belt and tossed in front of Black Cat's feet, blinding her as she grabbed it for herself.
"It's been fun, girl, but me and the pretty kitty gotta run," Catwoman said panting before running off.
With Black Cat seemingly out of the way, Catwoman made her way back to the janitor's closet, through the vent and onto the roof.
After putting some distance between her and the museum, Catwoman took a moment to rest. She had gone toe to toe with Batman multiple times before but this was an opponent of a different color. Aside from 'stealing' her gimmick, she was able to match her in terms of agility and combat.
"I have to admit, the girl's got some skills, but in the end, I was just a little too smart for her," Catwoman said.
"Not exactly," a voice said.
Catwoman jumped for a second, but then a smile came across her face before she turned see Black Cat behind her. "Let me guess, tracking device?" she surmised.
Black Cat pointed her finger towards Catwoman's head. There, in the back, just above the neck, was where it was.
"Clever kitty," Catwoman said before she took the tracking device off.
"I try. Now, I believe we have some unfinished business to attend to," Black Cat said.
Though growing annoyed, Catwoman couldn't help but admire Black Cat's persistence. So with that, she placed the statue next to her and the two were prepared to resume their fight when suddenly, a grappling hook grabbed the statue, much to their shock. They watched as the statue was carried into the shadows. Black Cat was confused, but Catwoman had a pretty good idea what was going on.
Low and behold, her suspicions were correct as an all too familiar silhouette stepped before her and Black Cat, with statue in hand, revealing himself.
"Evening ladies. Why don't we call it a draw?" suggested Batman.