Feral Mothers & Federal Crimes

AK: To clarify this is before the Batgirl series.

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Chapter 1:

Rylee paled at the sight in her doorway. Cops; New York City's finest were teeming from the small apartment she shared with her father and stepmother.

"What's going on?!" she demanded, praying that it was simply a robbery.

The police froze, and all heads turned towards her. Her stepmother leaped from the couch. "You!" she hissed, taking a dangerous leap toward Lee.

Lee instinctively switched to defense, but the cops caught her stepmother in midair, restraining her. "What the trag is going on?!" Lee demanded, once more.

The police chief, a man with grey-peppered brown hair cut in a tight buzz cut, stepped forward. "Rylee Addams, I'm Bryson Aims, police chief. Miss, are you familiar with the Serpents?"

"Yeah, a couple of them go to my school. They're always either 'recruiting', harassing the students and teachers, or stoned under the stairs. Why?" Lee replied.

"See?! I told Daryl to send to her. But you were his life! And now because you messed with that gang, my Daryl- my Daryl-! How could you?!"

Lee recoiled, feeling dread fill her stomach like liquid led. "No… I never spoke to those creeps! I was at the dojo all afternoon, I swear! Check with Jimmy down at the corner! Why'd they come here?"

Chief Aims gave her a sympathetic look. "I'm afraid we don't know yet. But this looks like they were caught off guard by your father. The scuffle began in your bedroom, and quickly went into the living room where one got a knife and-"

"Please, stop!" she begged. "I don't wanna know… Oh, god… Daryl- dad…" Lee nearly collapsed.

"We'll do everything we can but until then, you'll have to stay with your mother-"

"My mother? I haven't heard from her in years. Fat chance, digging her up." Lee hiccupped.

The chief raised a brow. "Then Mrs. Addams-"

"Not my mother- not even my real stepmother; she's just my dad's wife. The only family I know of is in Neo Gotham." Lee hugged herself. "I have no one here."

"You had no one here to begin with! Get out of here! You little-"

The chief fixed her with a stern glare. "Mrs. Addams, I understand that Miss Rylee is not your daughter, there is no need-"

"With Christine Dolly, there's always a need for dramatics. Don't worry; I'll stay in the orphanage." Rylee combed a hand through her ebony locks. The length of the locks varied from short in the back, to long in the front, the longest brushing her chest.

"Miss Rylee, that won't be necessary. We can court order you to-"

"Rylee?" a familiar voice called from the doorway behind her. Whirling around, Lee met the eyes of her mother- the same eyes that she saw everyday in the mirror. Cecelia Kyle was back.

"Ma'am, you have no right to be here right now. This is a crime scene." Chief Aims informed her curtly. Rylee gave him points for not ogling at her mother's luscious features. His subordinates failed miserably.

"You have no right to be here at all, Kyle," hissed Christine.

"Darling, Daryl gave me all the rights in the world to be here. You simply never understood the special bond between us."

"What special bond? That child?! Well your bond got him killed! Take her a go away you trap!"

A collective gasp rose from the door where their neighbors spied openly. This would end up on Facebook 46.0 for sure.

Cecelia did not retaliate. She simply turned her back to Christine. "Are you in charge here? I'd like Rylee to come with me; to Gotham. I was going to discuss it with Daryl, how my mother wants Rylee to come learn the Kyle way of life-"

"Seducing poor saps into affairs." Christine hissed venomously.

"And I heard Rylee had applied to Gotham Tech for the senior early enrollment plan and was accepted. Is Daryl in any trouble?"

"Mrs.-"

"Miss; I'm not married. My name is Cecelia Kyle."

"Right… Miss Kyle, Daryl is deceased. He was killed this morning at twelve-thirty-five. It was a Serpent attack."

Cecelia gasped, and took a step back unconsciously. "Oh, my dear Daryl…"

"I'm sorry, Miss Kyle, but Rylee can't leave for an undetermined amount of time-"

"Then let her stay with me is my hotel suite. It can't be good for a seventeen year old to be around such a grim atmosphere."

The chief pondered this and gave another curt nod. "Granted you don't take her out of the city, she can stay with you."

And so the Cat's Eye had another…

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Rylee dreamed of falling. Of falling freely from the top of her grandmother's tower in Gotham. But instead of panicking, she felt at peace, at one with herself. And then she started running on the side.

She felt invincible, incredible- limitless.

Lee jolted up in bed. "Cecelia?" she called, noticing the absence of her maternal figure. She'd long ago stopped calling her Mom, Mother and Mama.

She stopped by the door, watching as a woman in a black lycra suit entered. An instant familiarity struck. "Cecelia?"

The woman paused, and then slowly turned to face her. "You were bound to find out sooner or later. I was hoping later."

Lee propped herself up at the doorway. "Wanna share who you really are mother? Or should I just wiki your night escapades?"

"There's that Kyle wit and sarcasm. I'd hoped you'd skipped out. Take a seat, sweetie. Today's your introduction into the life of Catwoman."

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Four months later…

Lee let her fingers dance through the fur of her pet Calico kitten. "Sorry, Trip, but this cat's got a new litter box to explore. And she can't be late."

Grabbing her black lycra cowl mask and multi-scope cat's eye goggles, she leaped onto the railing of the balcony and peered down at the city she'd moved to only a day ago.

Pulling it on, she fixed her goggles over her eyes and smirked. "Time to play with the flashing lights and very bad kitties…"

With no more preamble than that, Lee stepped off the balcony railing and became Catgirl.

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AK: Hope you like it. Rylee's a real individual. Just keep R & R-ing and I'll keep posting.