Claws
Authors Note: This is my very first FanFiction so please don't judge too hard. My reasons for making this are personal mainly my sister gave me an idea, and I love my cat. This is the remastered version. So, read on and enjoy :)
It was dark, in the city of Gotham. The only lights, coming from the city and the grin of the Cheshire cat's smile shining up in the sky. Cat Woman was at it again. She had got out of prison only a month ago and was now in the process of stealing a diamond necklace from the Gotham Museum. Batman was off fighting the Joker and the 'boy wonder' had accompanied him, so she wasn't particularly worried about getting caught.
As she kneeled on a ledge, she drew a circle in the glass of a tall window with her gold claws. Carefully she pulled the delicate circle away from its whole and caught it. "Now Isis," she said to her charcoal colored cat. Isis jumped through the opening into the dark museum exhibit. Her eyes and whiskers twitched sensing the laser sensors around her. Gracefully she danced her way through the invisible defenses looking at each exhibit she passed searching for her prize. She weaved past a pedestal with a golden bracelet and a display case with several ornate rings, a glowing purple stone with strange markings behind a glass barrier. Then a set of katanas adorned with ancient kanji, a pair of Egyptian earrings next to an Egyptian vase, and a jewel encrusted dagger before her eyes landed on the object of her mission. She jumped onto the display shelf that held her prize - a necklace with a golden setting to outline the diamonds accenting the colorful cat eyes that adorned the center. Carefully Isis picked up the necklace in her mouth, and she jumped down weave her way back to Cat Woman. As she jumped back through the hole, she dropped the necklace into Cat Woman's black gloved hand. The black feline yawned and gave loud "Meow." "Yes Isis, we'll go home now." Cat Woman placed the necklace in a secret compartment on her belt as she motioned for Isis to jump on her shoulders. Together they took off.
Just a few blocks away, adolescent girl and her black cat were walking down a darkly lit street on the south side of Gotham. Her brown eyebrows furrowed staring at the small piece of paper in her hand she threw up her arm in frustration, letting gravity take it down to her side creating an audible thump as the thick grey winter jacket she wore collided with her side.
"Well Taz..." The girl began "...we are officially lost." Taz turned towards her master and meowed.
"Yea I know! But it's not my fault they just assumed I knew where 5th Street was!" the girl sighed "We might as well keep walking. There's really no point in sticking around here, and we'll never find that orphanage just standing here hoping a magical map will fall out of the sky."
Her shoulders tensed underneath the stupidly think grey winter coat her mother made her wear as she continued down the street with her black cat at her heals. Understandably she was nervous. Gotham city was a long way from home and very different, but she did have Taz. Despite no longer being in the warm sunny rural home setting, her companion would alert the girl the instant she sensed danger. But this fact also worried the teen. She knew that if there was any danger she would fight till her last breath to defend her cat. The only problem was that Taz would do the same, and probably get hurt in the process. The girl glanced at the small, seemingly delicate creature, wishing that she could just take the cat and wait inside the nearest abandoned building till morning. But alas, they walked on in silence trying to find someone who would give them directions. After all, abandoned buildings are the setting for a lot of horror films, and neither were too keen on the idea of waking up to find a psychopath with a knife. She looked down at the crumpled piece of paper still in her hand, yep useless. The girl was interrupted from her thought by almost tripping over her furry companion when she suddenly stopped.
"Ah, hey! God dang it Taz! I almost ran into you!" she shouted at her cat. The girls face dropped when she looked back at her companion. The black cat crouched low to the ground and hissed. Her fur stood on end and her claws shown in the dark. The girl knew what that stance means to a cat and glanced around. Her muscles tensed even more as she strained her senses to find the source of the threat. To her left out of the darkness came a pack of wild dogs. They were all horrid looking with long muscular legs baring K-9s and ferocious eyes. The two dogs on the left and right seemed to be siblings, resembling giant Black Labs and were staring at the girl ready to strike if she moved. The dog in the middle was bigger and looked to be a German Shepard Rottweiler mix. His left eye was scared and glossed over, giving the impression that he had been in a lot of fights. With his one good eye, he looked hungrily at Taz growling and licking its chops.
Taking in the situation, the girl noticed that the dog's side its ribs showed. Not good! For one they're being neglected. For two, that means they're desperate. After a few moments of starring the middle dog charged at Taz. Before Taz could react, the girl swooped in and kicked the dog aside with a karate style sidekick. The girl quickly picked Taz off the ground shielding her with her arms. Then she went with her first instinct, and ran. She didn't get far however when the lead dog manages to grab her pants leg knocking her to the ground. The girl kicked the dog in the face and stood up. The other dogs attacked one by one and all fell victim to the teenager's sidekicks and occasional side steps. Taz, clearly frustrated with her person's actions tried her best to 'help' by meowing what the girl understood as a string of very nasty words in cat. Unfortunately, the dogs had finally learned from there mistake and regrouped deciding not to attack one on one. Running forward all three of them lunged forward! The girl didn't have time react much less formulate a plan. As all three dogs collided with her she fell backwards landing harshly on her spine. Th dogs immediately recovered and began biting for Taz. Dazed and panicked the girl did the only thing she could think of and rolled over covering Taz's entire body with her own. The girl tried to fight back, stand up and kick them away, but to no avail. All she could do was protect Taz and hope that someone, anyone! Would hear her screams and help her long enough to stand up.
The city whirled past as Cat woman and Isis bounded along ruff tops when they heard the sound of dogs barking, pausing for a moment her vibrant green eyes widened when she heard a distant scream. Dashing off in the direction of the sounds the pair prepared for combat. When they finally reached the source of the screams they found three obviously injured wild dogs attacking a girl who was still fighting on the ground. She could easily tell that it had to be the girl who had injured the dogs buy now it appeared as though the girl was losing, no she wasn't losing, she refused to move her arms. She was protecting something. Wasting no time, the dark grey clade woman jumped down from the roof cracking her whip.
At the loud sound of a whip the dogs looked up. Catwoman placed Isis securely on her shoulders. The dogs, recognizing a new threat barked and growled at her. She just smirked and flicked her whip. Two of the dogs lunged at her but she snapped her whip at them and they flew back in pain. She glanced at the girl who was still on the ground, breathing hard. She still held whatever she had clutched to her chest while kicking the third dog with a disciplined foot. Cat woman pounced on the dog and scratched with her claws. The dog then let out a scream and retreated to join its comrades. Cat woman gave an amused smile as the dogs turned and cowered with their tails between their hind legs. She flipped her whip once "CRACK!" The dogs ran away. Once sure they were gone Cat woman turned to the girl. She was breathing hard and her large oversized winter jacket was shredded. Isis was sniffing her. "Hey, are you okay?" She asked softly.
The girl nodded. "Thank you" she breathed.
"You're welcome."
The girl finally looked at her alleged rescuer, noticing the… odd clothes. "Who are you?" The girl asked, "You can call me Cat woman, what happened back there? why did those dogs attack you?"
"Well..." The girl spoke as she revealed a pitch-black cat with intense golden eyes. "I think, they thought Taz would make a delicious appetizer." Taz glared at her owner giving off a loud meow in annoyance. The girl only smiled playfully at the cat before returning her attention to this, this 'Catwoman'.
"It's really late you know, where you are going with that suitcase anyway?"
"We were on our way to the Gotham Orphanage, but we got lost and wound up here."
"Alright" Cat woman replied, "I can show you the way if you want." The girl looked skeptical at first, but in the end, she reasoned that this was her best, and so far, ONLY chance at finding the orphanage. "That would be great!" Cat woman smiled "Okay, let's go."
Cat woman was intrigued, as she led the girl through the back streets of Gotham. While they looked Catwoman observed her out of the corner of her eye. She was young, no older than 16 from the looks of it. Her dark brown hair was pulled back in a pony-tail but her bangs where disheveled. Her eyes shone a soft shade of green hazel as she took off her ruined jacket and checked herself for wounds. Luckily the jacket had apparently taken the brunt of the attacks from the wild dogs and the girls tanned skin only showed a few scratches and a lot of bruises.
"Could have been worse, I'll definitely be feeling this in the morning…" The girl commented before examining up her jacket "…This is ruined though, oh well, didn't much like it anyway."
The girl then proceeded to place the ruined jacket in a nearby dumpster and rejoined Catwoman. When she returned Catwoman once again faced forward. Unaware to her was that the girl had also been inspecting her rather strangely dressed rescuer. Though she liked cats she still couldn't understand why she dressed like that. The Woman's dark grey suit combined with her black gloves, boots, and whip all accented her curves perfectly. And her vibrant green eyes seemed intense and focused while harboring a soft warmth within their gaze.
"So, what's your name?" Catwoman asked while discreetly glancing around for the Batman. This action was not lost on the girl, hesitating for a moment the girl replied, "My name is Samantha Stebbins, and this is Taz." Samantha gestured with her hand toward the cat on her shoulder.
Catwoman nodded "So you're an orphan?" she asked as they rounded a corner.
"No..."
Cat woman stared blankly at her "…Then why are you going to the orphanage?"
"Because I got a scholarship from the Wayne Foundation to a program here at Gotham Academy. Unfortunately, though I'm still a teenager and so the school board and my family arranged for a host family. But when I got here said family I was supposed to stay with moved expectantly so I was told I could stay at the Gotham City Orphanage until I find a place to stay. So, I got directions from a guy at the airport I landed at, got lost, and you know the rest."
Cat woman turned to look ahead before saying "Alright, well there it is."
With her index finger, she pointed across the busy street to a large almost depressed looking building with a sign that read 'Gotham City Orphanage' Samantha smiled.
"Thank you so much! I hope we see each other again, goodbye!" She ran forward across the street and disappeared into the building. Although the prospect of a warm bed and a good night's rest was too tempting to wait for Samantha still reasoned out that she should at least wave good bye. As she turned to wave to the spot where she had left Catwoman and Isis all she saw was an empty alley way. Frowning slightly, but shrugging it off she knocked on the door of the orphanage and went in.
From the top of the orphanage looking down onto the doorstep as the girl went inside sat a certain feline dressed woman smiling down at the scene. "Well then Isis" Cat woman began as they disappeared into the shadows "I think we just made a new friend." "Meow".
Two days later Samantha had settled into the orphanage. Currently she was lying on a windowsill while one of the orphanages managers was getting her registered for her new school. As she gazed out into the city she stroked Taz, who was sitting neatly in her lap. The orphanage had told Sam the night she came that they didn't allow pets but after She managed to sneak Taz into her room five times they simply just made arrangements that the other kids sharing a room with her weren't allergic to cats. The only other rule was for Taz to stay in that room alone, that rule also received the same treatment as the previous one. The other kids didn't really bother her much they would say hello from time to time but they still didn't know what to think of her. A random girl shows up in the middle of the night with scratches and a cat claiming to be a high school scholarship student just flown in from another state, yeah, Sam could see why they would be skeptical. She was fine with that though, I mean as long as she had a roof over her head, she was just happy sitting at the window lost in her thought with Taz in her lap. But alas, the serenity of the moment was not to last. A volunteer at the orphanage, Betty, came into the room interrupting Sam's 'solitude'.
"The rest of your bags arrived in the mail today and your paper work is done. You'll have to start school in a week, which means that you'll have missed the first week of school, but that was all we could do." She said in a kind matter of fact manor.
Samantha turned her head listening to the woman. Betty was a stout woman, with warm chocolate blue eyes and blonde hair that was tied in an almost impossibly tight bun at the top of her head. She was, okay, in Samantha's opinion. Alright as a person, but years of helping orphans hadn't really prepared her for helping someone like Samantha who already had parent figures. She just didn't know how to act around Samantha.
"That's fine." Samantha said getting up and stretching "I've been needing something to do."
Betty started to leave but stopped at the door "Oh and the orphanage is hosting a party to try and get donations and we would like all the kids to be there."
Sam thought for a moment "Can I bring Taz?"
Betty sighed, the main contributing factor for Samantha's alright opinion of her, was that Betty didn't agree with letting Taz stay. "No. Oh and please dress nice."
"Will do." Samantha said, knowing full well that last comment was related to the state she was in when she first arrived. It wasn't her fault she got lost and attacked by some dogs! But none the less, that was her first impression on these people, she'd have to live with it. Betty eyed her suspiciously for a moment before finally leaving.
That night Samantha dressed up in a dress one of the other orphanage girls had loaned her. She inspected herself in the mirror and frowned. It was the only dress that fit her, unfortunately. The plain yellow frilly dress came accustomed with white trim and shoes that matched, her shoulder length natural curly brown hair had a white pine in it that drew attention to her subtle natural gold highlights.
"Well this doesn't really look right…it's just not me" she said.
Taz shook her head in agreement. Sam then walked over to the small night stand beside her bed and rummaged around until she found a black ribbon. Tying it around her neck like a choker she looked back in the mirror. Her hazel eyes gazed at the ribbon which brought out her finely tanned skin. and her hazel eyes brought out her finely tanned skin. "Better, not quite me, but better." She took a deep breath looked at Taz and left.
Samantha stood apart from the party watching all the rich grownups with their rich kids at the party with formal suits and expensive looking dresses. She was nervous, she was supposed to 'promote' the orphanage but how the heck is she supposed to do that? The other kids had obviously done this before as they were talking and being friendly with both the kids and the adults were as Samantha was confused on what to do. Oh, who is she kidding, she knew what to do, she just didn't feel comfortable in such a frilly dress. It just felt…. weird. Feeling something soft on her leg she glanced down at the small black clump of fur at her feet. Yes, she had snuck Taz in, she always does. Gazing at her little cat she voiced her opinion on the situation "I don't like this dress."
Taz only gazed back at her and so Sam just decided to sit and walk around until she heard one of the heads of the orphanage, Ms. Cranberry, call her over "Samantha would you come here please." Samantha got up not bothering to straighten her dress and walked over with Taz still hiding under the chair in which she previously sat.
When she reached her, she looked Ms. Cranberry in the eye. Samantha had only a few dealings with the staff here at the orphanage, but Ms. Cranberry was the exception. The thin red-haired woman had a kind face, albeit a bit aged, no doubt from the countless days she spent taking care of children. And her voice was comparable to warm milk. She had been the one to take care of Samantha's registration and had been the one to arrange Samantha's sleeping arrangement after she had snuck Taz in the fifth time. All in all, Ms. Cranberry was probably the most agreeable person Samantha had met in Gotham besides Catwoman.
"Samantha, I would like you to meet Mr. Wayne and his wad Dick Grayson."
The young girl looked over at the two people who stood next to Ms. Cranberry. One was a tall well-built man with dark hair, dark eyes, and the most defined chin she had ever seen. The other was a young man who looked to be about her age. His hair was also dark but his eyes where a startling baby blue. 'Mr. Wayne huh? That sounds familiar... where have I-'
Ms. Cranberry continued interrupting Sam's thought process "Mr. Wayne this is Samantha, she is the student you gave the scholarship to. She is staying here until she finds someone to live with." Ms. Cranberry said cheerfully.
'OH! That's where I know his name from!' "Hello Mr. Wayne, hello Dick" Samantha said as she held out her hand.
"Hello" Mr. Wayne and Dick said as she shook their hands. "Samantha, it's nice to finally meet you in person. I've heard a lot about you. Ms. Cranberry here told me how you arrived, I'm sorry you're first night in Gotham was so rough, I hope you're not too hurt." Mr. Wayne said with a hopeful smile.
"Well, Mr. Wayne-"
"Please call me Bruce."
"Okay… Bruce" she said, it seemed a bit weird to call him by his first name "I didn't know that my situation would interest many people."
"Nonsense, it interested me."
Ms. Cranberry suddenly but in "Mr. Wayne, I believe someone want to speak to you." Ms. Cranberry said whilst pointing at a tall skinny man in a baby blue suit calling his name.
"Oh" he said "if you'll excuse me, Dick would you mind talking to Samantha for me she looks kind of board"
Samantha suddenly jerked back into reality as she realized that she had been staring off into space. "Sure thing" Dick said Mr. Wayne smiled and walked off.
"So…" Dick started "…how's life in the orphanage" her turned to face her but she was sitting at the nearest window 3ft away "Okay then…"
He walked over to her and sat down. "The kids here don't bother me much it's usually just me and Taz." She continued.
"Hmm? Taz?" He asked. At that moment Taz jumped up onto his lap and sniffed him.
"My cat" Samantha replied "Sorry she's just deciding if she can trust you."
"Trust me?" Taz purred and rubbed her face against he's arm before going back to Samantha.
"Looks like your clean, that's good enough for me." Taz purred as Samantha scratched her head lovingly.
"Does she do that to everyone?" Dick asked.
"Usually, though sometimes she doesn't if I ask her not to."
"What about if I ask her?"
"She really only listens to me, drives my family nuts."
"What if I ask nicely and say please?"
Samantha laughed "Then she'd probably ignore you."
Dick chuckled at her words "So what do you do for fun?" He asked her to want to get a better conversation going.
"Well I usually -" BOOM! The building across the street exploded! cracking the windows of the orphanage. Samantha, who had ducked at the sound of the explosion, whipped her head around towards the window attempting to see through the cracks in the glass.
"What was that?!" She shouted as she turned to face Dick but he was gone. "Um..." Samantha said slowly scanning the room before turning to Taz "…where'd he go?"
Taz had only turned her head in response to Samantha's question before the guests had started a ruckus. The children of the orphanage had been sent back to their rooms once the police had arrived, leaving Samantha no chance to find out exactly what had happened. After the commotion had calmed down a day later, Bruce Wayne walked up to the Gotham City Orphanage. He took a glance at the cracked windows at the front of the church narrowing his eyes before he entered through the wood doors.
"Good afternoon Ms. Cranberry." He said as put a smile on his face.
Ms. Cranberry looked up from her computer at the front desk. When she saw that it was Mr. Wayne that had spoken to her she smiled brightly "Oh good afternoon Mr. Wayne and thank you for your generous donation." She Thanked in her warm voice.
"No problem."
"Can we help you with anything today?" Ms. Cranberry asked politely setting her delicate hands in her lap.
"I'm actually here because I have a vacant room in my Manor and I was wondering if Samantha would like a place to stay."
The smile on Ms. Cranberry's face faltered slightly "Oh I'm sorry Mr. Wayne, but Samantha has already found someone to live with."
Bruce Wayne's face turned from a smile to surprise "Really, who?"
"Welcome home Samantha." Selina Kyle spoke joyfully and she opened the door for her new ward. "Thank you, Ms. Kyle." Samantha said still a little confused as to exactly who this woman is and why she offered to be her host family.
When she entered the thresh hold she scanned the room, her eyes widened remarking on one aspect in particular "I take it she likes cats." Samantha thought gazing at the 20 some cats scattered around the room.
"You seem to like them yourself." Selina said smirking at Samantha. 'Shoot! I said that out loud! Dang it!'. Blushing Samantha returned her gaze to scanning all the varying sizes, shapes, and colors of Selina's cats 'Holy crap, how many litterboxes does she have?!' Samantha thought to herself, making sure to keep it in this time. In her arms Taz gazed at Selina before eyeing the clowder of cats and let out a low sound from deep in her throat, making sure the other cats knew what belonged to her. Selina noticed this and smiled lightly at the small Black Cat.
"Maven, would you show Samantha to her room."
"Of course, right this way." Samantha's head whipped around at the sound of a new voice. Turning her eyes landed upon a young woman with brown hair tied back showing her large black glasses. Her clothes were simple sporting a business jacket and skirt. Maven smiled at the girl before she walked down a hallway to a white door.
"Uh...thank you." Samantha said.
She wasn't used to all this stuff, she came from a middle-class family and this was completely new for her. Before following Maven, Samantha glanced back at Selina, hoping for some sign of why the heck she was here. But Selina's vibrant green eyes only smiled showing the beauty that adorned her lovely face framed by her golden hair. Samantha turned around and followed Maven. 'Where have I seen those eyes before?'
Dismissing the question from her mind she followed Maven through the large pent house, taking in her rather luxurious surroundings. 'Dang, rich people have all this space to themselves?' She thought to herself then looked at Taz 'What do they do with all of it?' Taz just cocked her head sideways then continued walking. Eventually they did stop walking when they came to the end of the hall.
"This is your room." Maven said as she opened the pure white door. "I'll give you a tour of the house later, for now just unpack your things and make yourself at home" Maven smiled. Samantha thanked the assumed female butler and entered through the doorway before closing the door behind her.
Sam's once inside Samantha's jaw dropped "Wow" the room had velvet carpeting and wood furniture. The windows had no screens on them and red drapery hung over at their sides a balcony rested on the far side of the wall. A twin sized oak wood bed with dark emerald green sheets and draping's rested near a night stand and on the other side of the wall a big oak dresser.
"What is in these people's wallets?!" Samantha spoke out loud intentionally this time to Taz as she set her suitcase down on the bed and pulled out a picture of her family and put it on her night stand. Staring at the picture she sighed. Taz padded over to her and rubbed her face to Samantha's hand in a comforting fashion. Samantha looked down at her companion and smiled, returning the jester by petting her.
That night Samantha woke up to the feeling of something small and cold sniffing her face. "Mmmm" Samantha opened her half-asleep eyes, it was storming outside and she could hear the rain and thunder. Confused and just wanting to go back to sleep she started to close her eyelids but jerked them open once she recognized Taz standing in front of her face.
"Taz! What's wrong?!" Samantha's graceful cat jumped off the bed and onto the windowsill in one glorious leap of faith.
Immediately awake Samantha followed and frantically looked out the window. Squinting through the rain She saw nothing. She continued to stare until she saw a shift in the shadows. Narrowing her eyes further she could just barely make out two dark shadows that appeared in the dim light of a street lamp. One had a small build like that of a young boy but the other was large like a man's. They seemed to be searching for something in the dark, but they were perched on roof tops? Why? Just then Taz's ear twitched in the direction of Samantha's door. Samantha caught this action and quietly ran towards it. Silently grasping the handle she looked back at Taz and held her finger up to her lips. Then, slowly, she opened the door.
The hallway that connected her room to the rest of the house was dark compared to Samantha's sleeping chamber. The only light was the light same from the storm outside yet Samantha could still see most of the obstacles in the hall. A few times there would be a creaky floor board or a cat sleeping in Samantha's path, when these obstacles presented themselves Taz guided her around them. Together they moved out into the living room which because of its bigger glass balcony, provided more light than before. As she gazed outside the window a flash of lightning illuminated a figure entering the penthouse. Samantha felt her heart start to beat faster.
"Taz go back to the room and wait for me, if you hear a scream or I don't come back in 5 minutes get help."
Taz stared at Samantha blankly. Samantha then began to walk away. She only made it 3 steps before she turned around and whisper yelled "Taaaaz!"
Taz, who had continued to follow her master glared at her pet and begrudgingly trotted back to the hall of their room. Once their Taz sat down and stared unblinkingly at Samantha, her eyes daring Samantha to object. The girl frustrated made an exasperated gesture and gave in.
"Fine, stay there."
Sam then moved carefully towards Selina's room, or at least this was where she thought Selina's room was, and listened for any sounds. She heard none. Grabbing a nearby table ornament and held it tightly in her hand. Only then did he ever so slowly turn the handle.
The door opened and Samantha saw nothing but black. Stepping into the room she examined her surroundings. The decor was simple and there were no signs of an intruder. Everything looked in its place, except. Samantha had to consciously make the effort not to show reaction when she noticed that the bed in which Selina should be asleep was empty. Slowly she started to walk backwards towards the door when her back collided with a soaking wet body. Startled Samantha started to turn around and gasp but the intruder put their hand to her mouth silencing her.
"Shhhh, Samantha its me!"
She froze. 'That voice.' Tuning around she broke free of the persons grasp and turned to see Selina dressed as Cat woman with her mask off. "What the Selina-?!"
"Shhh!"
Selina cut her off pressing her hand to Samantha's house again. Selina motioned towards her closet and pushed Sam in "Wha-"
"Don't move." she closed the closet door. Samantha was now alone, in the dark confined space of a closet, shocked and confused. 'Selina is Catwoman? I guess that makes a lot of sense, but what is going on?! Is this why she took me in? why am I in a closet? What is now that I know her secret she has to get rid of me?!' Not satisfied with just sitting in a closet unaware of anything that's going on and awaiting a possible bad fate, she looked through the small crack in the door. Selina was in her dressing robe that covered her Cat woman gear entirely and she was laying on her bed as if she had been asleep the entire night 'What is she doing?'.
At that moment, something, appeared at her window. At first it the silhouette looked like a giant bat, Samantha's breath caught in her throat. The figure stepped inside and Samantha released a silent breath upon realizing that the creature was actually a man dressed as a bat. Trailing in behind him was a boy in a red colorful costume. She could have sworn these two seemed familiar. This bat-man told the boy to wait outside before he turned toward the supposedly sleeping figure of Selina.
"Cat woman." he said. Selina, aka Cat woman as Sam now understood it, sat up slowly and rubbed her eyes.
"Batman…" 'so that was his name, come on Sam that was obvious! You can do better!' Samantha rolled her eyes at herself" …what a present surprise. What brings you here?" Selina asked innocently.
"Did you go near the Gotham museums diamond exhibit?" he asked.
"Really, that's why you're here?"
"Did you?"
Selina sighed "All work and no paly Batman."
"Answer the question." He replied in a cold tone.
Selina now clearly annoyed took on a harsher tone to combat his "Don't act all high and mighty Batman! I could arrest you for breaking and entering!"
The Batman didn't move and was silent. Selina sighed again, her anger disappearing.
"No, I didn't, why would I do that I just got out what feels like four days ago."
The Dark night narrowed his eyes.
"Oh, come on Batman, even cat's need their beauty sleep."
Batman looked unamused "I'll be keeping an eye on you."
He moved to the place where he entered but hesitated. "One last thing, do you know anything about the explosions last night?"
Selina now looked shocked and sat up slightly in bed "No. Why do you know something?" Selina's tone now took on a flirtatious aspect at the end of the question. Turning away from her gaze Batman simply replied, "Just a hunch." And with that, the lion like man left.
In the dark closet Samantha decided to wait to be sure it was safe. After a few hour long minutes Samantha opened the closet doors ever so slightly.
"Is he gone?" She asked.
"Yes."
Samantha's expression now changed from cautious to determination and she pushed the closet doors open all the way. She was going to get answers.
"What the heck is going on?!" she yelled.
Selina, looking pleased said nothing and went to her dresser smiling.
"Your Cat woman?! Why didn't you tell me?! You saved my life just a few days ago! You stole a diamond necklace?! Who the heck is Batman?! Why does he know where you live?! Why does he even know who you are?! You're not in jail!? You went to jail?! Why did you go to jail?!"
Selina smiled and pulled out a black folded piece of clothing from the bottom of her drawers, then spoke "You're smarter than I thought. Or at the very least more adventurous." She said winking at Samantha as she walked towards Samantha's room. Sam hurried after her still demanding answers and asking questions.
"What's that supposed to mean? Adventurous?! Is this why you offered to be my host family?! Cause you saved my life?! Does Maven know about any of this?! Why was Batman here?! Who was that boy with him?! What happens to me know?! Are you going to threaten me for discovering your secret?! Where you ever going to tell me of any of this?! Was I ever supposed to know any of this?!".
Selina smiled as Samantha finally took a breath. They had made it to Samantha's room and Taz had joined her pets side and was staring blankly at Selina.
Selina sighed as she closed the door "I had intened to do this much later, but since you decided to find out now…"
Sam's eyebrows furrowed as Selina made her way across the room.
"Tell me something if I gave you the chance to be like me would you take it."
Selina said as she sat down on the bed in Samantha's room. Samantha was taken aback, what kind of question is that? 'Well I better answer carefully; a wrong move could mean something bad' taking notice of Taz she looked at her cat questioningly. But when she saw Taz's calm expression something clicked.
"You knew?!" Samantha now directed her shouting at Taz.
The feline only blinked in response, as if to say "Yeah, it was obvious."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
Taz simply blinked again before answering. "Meow"
"Agh!" Samantha a hand to her temple. Taking a moment, she spoke. "Minus steeling from museums, and going to jail, yeah, I-I guess I would. But why would that even matter at a time like this?"
Cat woman's response to Samantha's question was to hold up a black and dark gray outfit with silver claws, belt, a mask, and a tail. Selina's smile widened.
The next night Cat woman was once again out hopping roof tops, only this time her purpose was not to do any breaking and entering. Catwoman smiled as she ran through to crisp night air. Seeing the edge of the building fast approaching Cat woman leaped off the side of the building. The wind whipped against her face. Her eyes half lidded she landed on the side of another building sinking her golden claws into the bricks. Hesitating only for a moment she climbed strait up the wall with cat like agility, Isis on her shoulders. Once she reached the top of the building she turned back to face a young girl dressed like a cat.
"You coming?"
"She's kidding right." The teenage cat-girl said, her face begging for confirmation from the cat on her shoulders. Looking back at Catwoman's impatient face, made it apparent that she was in fact not kidding. Sighing the girl took a few steps back. She twisted her foot, testing the traction beneath her feet.
"Well here goes nothing, hold on tight Taz."
She ran forward and jumped to her probable death. Trying with all her might not to close her eyes as she fell, proved to be quite the challenge to her untrained eyes. The initial pride she felt upon landing on the building faded quickly when the girl felt herself sliding down the side. Digging her silver claws deeper into the stone she shut her eyes tight. Steadily she came to a halt. Taking a moment to take a few shaky breaths she hesitantly opened her eyes. Then made her decent up the wall, all the while thinking to herself 'don't look down, don't look down, don't look down, don't look down, don't look down…'
Finally, she reached the top. Curling her fingers around the roof top, she pulled herself over the edge and onto the horizontal plane. Once their she flipped on her back and breathed heavily.
"Tha...that wasn't so bad." She breathed.
Cat woman smiled "Need a minute?".
Kitty took a moment and moved her body to a standing position, leaning the palms of her hands on her knees. "Only a minute."
Catwoman shifted her weight to get comfortable before noticing Taz at her new proteges feet.
"Hmm, I think Taz is trying to tell you something."
The Girl looked down at Taz who was frantically pawing at her foot and looking at a door on the roof of the building they were standing on. The girl stood up straight lifting her cat and staring at the door. Isis's eyes lit up and she let out a loud meow
"Kitty run!"
Cat woman said not one moment before Batman burst through the door followed by Robin. Kitty had only to glimpse the signature black bat sears on the man's head to know that she should leave now! Turning and jumping off of the building she didn't need to be told twice to keep running. Unfortunately for Kitty Batman also seen her, and worse still had watched her not so graceful leap onto the fire escape.
"Robin!"
"On it Batman!"
Robin leapt into action and following Kitty's path and jumping off the roof disappearing from sight.
"Now…" Bat man directed his attention to Catwoman "… maybe I can get some answers out of you."
Kitty was parkouring from roof to roof for dear life. Not stopping to take breaks, not even bothering to look back. She wasn't terrible at leaping across buildings, but she sure as heck wasn't an Olympic gymnast either. At least not yet. Unbeknownst to her though, Robin was practically and Olympic gymnast and was following only slightly behind. Kitty had been running for a good 10 minutes and breathing deeply stopped on the roof of an abandoned building.
"I… I think we've ran far enough. We should be okay at least for a little bit."
"Probably should ran farther." Kitty turned around her hopes and dreams of leaveing and heading back home shattered. The boy in red, Robin, and she now knew him now from Catwoman's talk, appeared from behind an old crumbling chimney right in front of her. 'Crap!'
"Who are you?" He asked her.
"Well where I come from we usually start our conversation with hello but I guess this works."
The boy's eyes narrowed but he couldn't help the slight upturn of his lips at her humorous comment.
"The name that goes along with this costume is Kitty." She finally answered.
Kitty's brain was moving a mile a minute to think of a plan. 'This kid is Batman's sidekick. He's probably a lot more experienced than me and definably stronger. I think my best course of action would be to not to fight him. But I can't flee, already tried that. I should probably just play dumb until hopefully either he got bored or I can figure a way out of this mess'.
"So, are you supposed to be 'Robin' or something?" She asked.
Robin nodded "So, why are you with Cat woman? Is this what girl's usually do for fun now a days or do you just really like crazy cat ladies?"
Kitty cocked an eyebrow at him, he's clearly trying to not so subtly interrogate her. He did recuperate her sass though, she decided to play along.
"Well that's more of my business." she smirked.
"Okay then."
He frowned, clearly this wasn't going to be easy, at least not with her being so difficult. 'I'll have to try a new approach' he thought to himself. He had started to just open his mouth to say something else when they heard a high pitched maniacal laughter from below. Recognizing this as something bad, they rushed to the edge of the roof and looked down to see a pale man dressed as a clown with dark green hair and a purple suit leaning out a brown cars window. Kitty could see the smile on his face even from the roof of her building. This… oddly dressed man was laughing and throwing smoking baby dolls.
"Who is that?!" Kitty said.
"The Joker!" Robin yelled with contempt.
As they watched the scene another car, long and black, chasing the brown car with the clown sped past.
"Who is that?!"
"Batman!"
"What?!"
Suddenly a rouge baby doll landed in front of them. Staring at the small toy with a fuse in it Kitty started to shout,
"What is that?"
"Get down!"
Robin ran forward and tackled her to the ground just in time to avoid the blast. Getting up the boy looked at the spot where the baby doll had once been.
"That…was a baby doll."
"Okay, good. Now can you get off me?"
Robin rolled off her and now free Kitty rolled over onto her side.
"That psycho is going to pay for that!" she said through gritted teeth. Looking where Robbin used to be she saw the teenager in red running after the two cars. Quickly Kitty jumped to her feet and sped after him. Out of the corner of his eye Robin noticed a girl clad in black with cat ears and a tail.
"Why are you following me?" he asked.
"I'm not following you. I'm following the clown!" Robbin just rolled his eyes and kept running.
The pair followed the cars to what appeared to be an abandoned factory. And through some master judgment on Kitty's part decided to follow Robin into the building. Said boy had decided to enter the factory through an old ventilation shaft. Throwing away the cover for the rather large air duct they both crawled inside.
"So is there anything I need to know about this… Joker." Kitty asked.
"Just don't pick a card."
Authors Note: And that what I have so far. I hope you liked it. I defiantly will be adding more chapters the next one as soon as possible. But until then, what do you want to see in the next part? Do you have any advice? Am I asking too many questions? Probably, but oh well. I really hope you enjoyed bye :)
