(AN: Much like the other stories being written for Earth Pi this is a retailing of Catwoman's origins. At any rate I hope that it is enjoyable, and please review)
Catwoman Origins (Earth Pi)
Prologue
A shadowy figure stood on top of Maxwell Shrek's department store. She held a golden statue: a cat with emerald eyes. The small idol had been commissioned by Maxwell Shrek to kick off the tenth anniversary of Shrek Enterprises. Softly she rolled the cat in her palm, admiring her newest treasure before she placed it into a small satchel. While a pair of dark goggles hid her eyes they didn't stop her from searching the rooftops for potential threats before she smirked and ran toward the edge of the building, jumping into the air.
She moved as gracefully as a cat, as quick as a shadow, and as silently as the grave. Her feet landed on the building that that stood near the department store, and she made her way to the fire escape. Again she moved silently as she descended the fire escape and soon touched the ground. She walked toward the edge of the alley and studied the scene before her. Deserted road, but still part of the higher end and more valuable Gotham, which mean that the street wasn't really deserted. There would be police, security cameras, and numerous other things waiting to catch a glimpse of her. Instead of going down there, she looked at the building beside her.
The building was one of the old brownstones left over from the 1930s. Instead of being demolished the building had been renovated, changed, and turned into a stylish office building. But the beauty the building held for her was the fact that the old brick was easier to climb on. She looked at her fingers and smiled as she pulled a set of what appeared to be claws from her satchel. The claws were able to move independently, and each one fit around her fingers perfectly.
You really came through with this one, Kylie, she thought as she stuck the claw into the old brick.
The hardened steel claws moved easily into and through the brick as she climbed. Finally she made it to the top and felt her phone begin to buzz. Annoyed slightly she answered it.
"Yeah?" she said in a huff.
"Did'ya get it?" came another female voice from the other end.
"Of course I got it. Did you really have any doubts?" she purred.
"Good, this is a secure line, but we both know that they can trace it and listen in within thirty seconds. Meet me at the usual place, and … change out of work clothes," the voice said before the line went dead.
Kylie, you've got to stop trying to live a life of adventure through me, she thought with a smirk. She moved silently over the rooftops until she covered three blocks, ending up at an old black Dodge Charger.
She slid into the driver's seat and then began to remove her hood, goggles, and suit. Afterward she reached for a form-fitting red dress, daring shoes which matched and a white wig. The moment she was dressed and ready, she started the car and headed toward the usual meeting place with Kylie.
(Fox Fire Apartment building – ten minutes later)
She moved up the stairs on the side of the apartment carrying the satchel and a gym bag. She climbed the stairs to the third floor and then looked at the Apartment door. Her key slid into the lock and she turned it, moving inside. The entire time, her eyes kept a constant watch for any would-be attackers. Seeing that it was safe – or reasonably safe – she smirked and closed the door behind her. Moments later, a blonde girl no older than seventeen rolled out from the kitchen in a wheelchair.
She smiled up at her friend and held her hands out. "Let me see it, Felicia!" Kylie insisted.
Grinning at her friend's attitude, Felicia opened the satchel and pulled out the golden statue.
"Oh ... It's beautiful ... It'll get us eight grand easy," Kylie said as she studied the cat.
"It's a start, although I want to invest a good part of it in my training." Felicia said as she sat down on the couch and watched her friend.
"Why are you still doing that? I mean Ryan is dead ... I understand that you were just going to fuck him up, y'know ... kind of like, well ... Do a me on him, but with him gone you don't need to keep doing all of that martial arts training," Kylie said.
"Yes I do. It helps keep me focused. And besides, it lets me work through my anger issues," Felicia said softly.
"Oh ... I'm sorry, Felicia ... I didn't mean to belittle what you went through," Kylie said as she looked at the ground.
"It's alright, I know that you would never intentionally attempt to belittle something like that. But let's just leave it, okay? I have my reasons," Felicia said.
"Felicia ... What happened exactly? I mean ... what really happened?" Kylie asked.
Felicia's mind began to reach back to the memory that burned as brightly today as it did when it happened ...
(Gotham University - one year ago)
Felicia felt uncomfortable in her cheerleader uniform as she stood near her boyfriend Robert and his friend Ryan. For some reason beyond her Robert had agreed to meet with Ryan well after the classes closed. She watched as Ryan walked toward them. Ryan stopped and looked at his friend.
"There he is," Ryan said.
Within seconds, six men came out from the darkness holding pistols.
"Move, and we'll kill ya," one of them said to him.
"What the hell, Ryan, what the fuck is going on?" Robert exclaimed.
"I'm making my bones, Robert. See I figured it out that since you come from a good, wealthy family and everything that a ransom would be held for you, but your girl ... Well, her old man died in prison didn't he sweetheart? Guess that means you're worthless," Ryan said as he lifted his gun and pulled the trigger.
The pain of the bullet ripping through Felicia's side was beyond painful. She fell to her knees and then fell over.
"No!" Robert shouted and ran toward Ryan. A shot ran out and Robert fell to the ground, stone dead.
"What the fuck? How are we going to collect on a dead man?" one of the guys shouted.
"No one knows his ass is dead. Help load him up. I've got a few ideas," Ryan said as he helped grab Robert and make off with him.
Felicia heard them leave. She forced herself up to her knees and watched as the tail lights disappeared. Robert was gone. Her Robert, the man who believed in her, pushed her, and forced her to be more than she dreamed was gone. She groaned as she headed toward the direction of the closest building and luckily was found by one of the Pre-med students.
(Felicia's Apartment - two months later)
"What you're thinking about is stupid," Charles, the pre-med student that found her, said
"He deserves to die for what he did! What he took from me! All of that only proves that he deserves to die!" she exclaimed.
"If you want him to pay, then let his 'friends' do it. You said that he told Robert he was 'Making his bones' right? That means he's in with some underhanded people. Steal their shit. Do it when he's around. They'll blame him. If it's bad enough, they'll kill him," Charles said before he turned and started to walk out.
"What about you? What are you going to do?" Felicia asked.
"I'm going to become a doctor, Felicia. I can't be associated with this kind of thing," he said as he walked out of the door and out of her life.
It won't happen anymore, and Ryan … I'm going to get yo u… I'll make sure that you don't do this to anyone else, Felicia thought as she grabbed a picture of Ryan Hagen and ripped it apart.
(Present – Felicia's and Kylie's apartment)
"I ... I don't feel like talking about it," Felicia said as she looked away from Kylie.
The seventeen year old rolled toward her and touched her hand.
"I'm sorry, 'licia. I didn't mean to make you upset ..." she said as she pulled her friend down into a hug.
Felicia nodded and then took a moment to compose herself. "So, what's the plan then?" she asked.
"Well ... I'm going to contact Skips and get the ball rolling to change this golden statue into a gold bar. Then I don't know about you, but I've got a date," Kylie said with a grin.
"A date? Not a jock right? I've warned you about them," Felicia said as her eyes narrowed.
"No, he's a nice guy, Alberto Falcone is his name I think, and from what I heard he's already got a scholarship to Harvard University. He seems like a really nice kid," she said as she smiled at her friend.
"Falcone ... Look, Kylie, I'm not telling you not to go on the date, but be careful, alright? I think that he has family that might be connected, or at least what I've seen on the news says that he has family that might be connected," she said.
"I know who his father is, Felicia, but Alberto doesn't seem to be anything like him. He's ... sweet," Kylie said as she turned her wheelchair around and headed toward her room.
Felicia stood up and yawned as she checked the door and then went to her bedroom. She looked at the a picture of her father on the nightstand.
"You would have been proud, Dad ... In fact, let me tell you how I did it," she said as her cat, Isis, crawled up on the bed and into her lap.
(Two weeks ago, Maxwell Shreck's Department Store – Customer Service)
"I want to know why my CD player isn't working, and I want to know right now." She practically growled the question to a customer service representative who was working behind the customer service counter. The representative looked confused and caught unawares.
"Look, I have a short lunch break, why don't you get a manager so that they can sort this out?" she asked.
The representative nodded and took off from behind the counter leaving Felicia there by herself. Smirking at what she had done she took out her iPhone and quickly uploaded the app she had gotten off Kylie. The app was basically a digital security scanner that Kylie was developing for when she went to clothing stores. It would automatically hack into the store's system and pull up passwords, accounts, and of course give Kylie the ability to set her clothes at any price she wanted. Felicia took this chance to get a good look at the security system itself and decided to do a test to see if she could make it go down for a second. She pressed the button and when she did she noticed the red light on the camera go off.
One step closer girl, one step closer, she thought.
Over the next two weeks, she studied the store – the times the office personnel left, and in the time the guards took their breaks. Finally she decided that it was time to go for it.
That night, Felicia carefully moved across the roof of the department store until she came to find herself behind the large cartoon cat that was the company mascot. She could see the roof access door near where she was, but directly behind the cat was a small window used for solar light. She touched the glass with the claws Kylie had made for her and moved them along the glass carefully until she was certain that enough of it was cut that it would break easily. She pushed against it and the glass gave way under her pressure.
She let herself down using the whip she had began practicing with in her Jeet Kune Do classes. The whip itself had become like an extension of her own arm, and the instructor, Renee Jackson, had been a circus performer before settling down and teaching in Gotham. Felicia had smiled when the woman had told her that what she did was perform with the whip. Flicking cigarettes out of people's mouths, knocking the caps off of bottles, and finally killing flies out of the air.
Naturally, Felicia had wanted to learn how to work the whip like Renee could, and after classes ended she stuck around while Renee showed her the ins and outs of how to use the trick whip.
Her mind came back to where she was as she studied the floor plans and she began to move down the hall until she came to the first corner and waited for five minutes. A few moments later she heard the footsteps of guards moving down the hall and heading toward the desk. The hall would be empty for another six minutes – and in that six minutes, she found her way to her prize.
The entire event worked just as it had in her head. It was different from when her father had trained her with the gold dollar, since she didn't get to practice day after day, but the principle was the same. After she made it down to the small golden statue she smirked and pressed the iPhone once more cutting off the security system. She removed the cat and then she placed a small piece of paper in its place. On the paper the word "Meow" was written.
(Present – Felicia's bedroom)
"I know that you would be proud of me, Daddy ... Just like you were then ..." she said as she thought about how her father had trained her.
(Gotham – ten years ago – Kyle home)
Stephen Kyle looked at his daughter and smiled as he held up a single gold coin.
"You know what this is, Felicia?" he asked.
"It's a gold dollar! One of those Sacc… Saca… Sacagawea dollars," the nine year old said as she watched her father.
"That's right, it's a Sacagawea dollar, and it's special. This is going to be the first dollar that you learn our trade with," he said as he dropped it into a small yellow child's safe.
She watched as he carried the small safe to his room and tied bits of red string up in intricate patterns around it.
"Now, Felicia, if you disturb any of those strings I'll know, and if you don't study me and see when I watch that safe, then if you try to get to the dollar I'll more than likely catch you," he said.
"How am I supposed to get the dollar then, Daddy?" she asked.
"Well, sweet kitten, you're going to have to watch daddy, study him, learn what patterns he uses, and then you can start trying to get into that safe," he said.
For the next month, Felicia watched her father with the eyes of a hawk. She studied him and noticed that every hour or so he would go into the laundry room for a good ten minutes. Once she learned the times he did this she went to his room and began to time herself. Little by little over the next few months she got to the point that she could get through the string without disturbing a bit of it. She then went to work on the safe and over the course of a week she learned the combination by feel.
The following day her father went into his room after going to the laundry, and he found the safe open with a small note inside with the word "Meow" which had been written in black crayon. He smiled brightly and walked to Felicia's room where she was admiring the gold dollar.
"That felt good to get that dollar didn't it, kitten?" he asked.
"It sure did, Daddy," she said sweetly as she held the gold dollar.
"I'm glad, kitten. Now, I want you to remember that you can get anything you want if you put your mind to it," he said before he kissed her forehead.
"I love you, Daddy," she said as she hugged him.
"I love you too, kitten. Don't ever settle, alright? Whatever you want go for it and never settle."
(Present – Felicia's bedroom)
Sighing, Felicia touched the picture of her father and hoped that wherever he was that he was happy and at peace. She truly hoped that he was with Mom, since she knew that part of him had died the day that she had, in that car wreck. She slid out of her dress and removed the wig and the shoes and then slid nude under the quilts on her bed until she was completely comfortable.
At least there was one good man in the world, she thought before sleep found her.