It's one of those rare days that nothing goes wrong and Clark Kent can retreat back to his home in Kansas. He can hang out with his mom and dog all day and just watch t.v., and maybe drink a couple of beers. You know, that all American boy who is infused in his body, along with all the superpowers.
But of course, something always goes wrong.
Clark's phone starts to ring and reaches to grab it out of his worn back pocket. The screen reads, 'Bruce Wayne'. "Jesus Christ," he mumbles as he answers it.
"Hello," he says.
"Clark? I need help," he hears the dark muffled tone from Bruce at the other end.
"Can it wait?" He looks around at his unfinished beer and the football game on the t.v. and catches a quick whiff of the dinner his mom was cooking in the kitchen.
"I wouldn't call you if I didn't need you," Bruce says, seriously, "I'm in knee-deep now."
Clark sighs, "Where do you need me?"
"162 East Heights ave. You can't miss it."
"I'll be there in 5 minutes," Clark hangs up the phone and starts for the door.
"Where are you going?" his mom looks up from her dinner.
"Somebody called. They have a matter of business I need to take care of. It shouldn't take long. You won't even know I'm gone." His mom looks at her son like she often does, that makes Clark just know how proud of him she is, but also how worried she is.
She stands on her toes to kiss him on the cheek, "Be careful. And don't be late for dinner." Clark smiles and opens the door. He waves and then flies off into the darkening sky.
The house was a mansion. Clark was sure he had seen this mansion before in Gotham and never thought twice about it. What could be going on? There was nothing abnormal from the outside. He wonders if Bruce is already inside.
He easily opens one of the many windows and enters the house. All the lights were out.
"Bruce," he whispers loudly. He see's something move from the corner of his eye. But when he turns, he see's nothing. Clark becomes more cautious, very rarely was something quicker than the man of steel.
He hears a floorboard creak, but still, nothing. A giggle is heard from somewhere in the mansion, but Clark still can't place where it's coming from. Until it hits him.
Literally, something falls from the chandelier above him and lands on his neck, as if he was carrying around a child through a carnival. Clark quickly reaches up, but the creature is faster and uses her hands to cover his eyes. Clark lights a quick, dull spark in his eyes, just enough for her to move them.
"I never made a guy heat up so quickly," the voice reveals a woman upon Clark's head. She leaps from his neck and lands on her feet in front of Clark.
"Superman?" She says, "What brings you here? Aren't you busy saving all the world?" She teases.
"I was...sent here," Clark stumbles. She seems so, relaxed that superman was perhaps busting her.
"Let me guess, by Batman," She winks. Clark pauses before answering.
"So you know Batman," he says.
"Of course, I know Batman. Typical of him to send you," she rolled her eyes.
"You two don't get along?" Clark asks. If this was the problem, Clark couldn't understand why this would have been so hard for Bruce to handle. She seems like a low-grade criminal. Busy work, really.
"Depends on the day," she shrugged as she walked through the mansion, "He can't stand me right now, which I suppose is why he sent you," She picks up a crystal hanging off a lamp, "He wants to show me he's not joking around this time." She laughs.
Surely Bruce wouldn't call him about girl problems, right? This had to be something bigger. "Who are you? What are the you doing here?" He asks, affirmatively.
"Look at you, being all tough and serious. Ask Batman who I am, I'm sure you can have some typical man talk over me at some cheesy bar down the street."
"Who lives here?" Clark asks, not backing down with the questions and ignoring her sassy comments.
"William H. Jenson. Also known as low-key millionaire scientist. There's a lab in the basement if you want to make some chemistry," she winks.
Clark was done playing around, he hurries up to her and pushes her against the mansion walls. "Who are you?" He asks again, "And why are you here?"
She laughs again, "Sorry, your attempt as the bad cop don't scare me." She easily wingles out of his grip and is again beside him. "Now," she says, "If you would like to have a conversation without pinning me against a wall, all you had to do was ask. But if you want to pin me against the wall and not have conversation, I'd be okay with that too. Batman always is."
Why was Bruce fooling around with this girl? Was he fooling around with this girl? What the hell was going on here?
"How do you know Batman?" he asks.
"Who doesn't know Batman? You should ask how Batman knows me. But I'll spare you the words. Batman usually tracks me when I'm done with a job and tries to scold me, but gets distracted."
Clark again ignores the sexual remarks, he'd rather not think about his friend's sex life with this chick. "And what kind of jobs are those, Miss...?"
"Catwoman. You can call me Catwoman. And I steal things. It's not an honest living, but it's a living. Plus, it keeps me thin and flexible. If you could make a ton of money, just being you and having fun, wouldn't you?"
So Catwoman. She went by an alias. She could be one of the bad guys, or bad girls in this case, but why would Bruce be fooling around with an enemy? Clark couldn't decide if this is why Bruce actually called him to Gotham, so he was still frazzled on what to do with this, 'Catwoman'.
"You're confused aren't you? I can see it," She tells him after a long silence of Clark's thoughts. "As much as I'd like to think Batman would send somebody to stop me, I really doubt it." She pauses as if she heard something, "Hey hunk, somebody's home. You better get out of here." She's about to bolt, but Clark is now well aware of her quickness and grabs her before she can leap out the open window. Even if Bruce didn't send because of Catwoman, this woman was not a girl he was about to let go.
"You're not going anywhere yet," Clark told her and kept her in a firm grip, "C'mon, we're going to the basement."
"Are you dumb? I said there's somebody home. We gotta jet, whether I'm coming with you or not," Catwoman remarked. Clark ignored her, knowing full well that if he needed to bolt from the place, he would find a way out in seconds notice. He couldn't leave this place unsearched, and seeing as Catwoman had searched the top of the mansion, the basement seemed like the only place left.
Clark started to the basement, with the girl still in his arms. He was surprised she didn't try to wriggle free, but maybe she knew she couldn't. He walked down the stairs and opened the door to the basement at the bottom and just as he was told, it was a laboratory.
"Okay, big guy, now what?" Catwoman asked. Clark went straight towards the computer and pulled a USB drive from his pocket. He happened to have the one from work today in one of the many compartments in his super suit. When he was leaving the Daily Planet today, he thought he heard something on a police scanner so he didn't have time to put it down. Luckily, it came in handy in a time like this.
"If I set you down, will you run away?" Clark asked.
"Are you really asking me that?" Catwoman laughed.
"If you try to run away, it will be a lot harder for the both of us," Clark explained.
Catwoman seemed to be thinking of her options, "If you set me down, you have 5 minutes before I run away."
Clark set her down and plugged the USB into the computer and quickly started copying all the files to it. He watched Catwoman closely to make sure she wasn't going anywhere.
"What? You don't trust me?" She asked.
"Well, you were breaking into a house when I found you," Clark told her.
"I guess that is a bad impression. But I'm not a bad person, I promise. Ask Batman." There she went talking about Bruce again. The files were done copying and the person upstairs started to move around more. Clark quickly retrieved the USB and turned to Catwoman, "Am I going to have to physically escort you out of here or will you follow me?"
"I've listened to you so far, haven't I?" She said, "But where are you going to take me? Surely, not the jail?"
Clark pondered for a second. He hadn't thought about this yet. He didn't want to turn her in before he got the scoop from Bruce, but he didn't want to stay in Gotham longer than he needed to. The place didn't set right with him. Besides, he told his mom he'd be home for dinner. Taking Catwoman home with him was out of the question. He hadn't brought a girl home in years, and the first one he did, would not be a criminal. But the options seemed to be getting fewer and fewer as he thought about it. He decided to leave the mansion and then call Bruce. Clark motioned for Catwoman to follow him out the only half window in the basement, which lead them to the outside without a peep. As soon as they were outside, Clark pulled out his phone and called Bruce, only to not get an answering machine. Clark thought about it again. Letting Catwoman go was out of the question, but dropping her off with Batman would be impossible without his location. Taking her back to Kansas to have a nice family dinner with his mom just wasn't right. He always tried his hardest to keep the saving the world away from the farm.
If the two super-humans went back to Kansas, neither of them would take of their suite to show their identities, meaning both would sit at Clark's family home with suits on.
Yeah, nothing he wanted to bring back to Smallville.
. "So, now what?" Catwoman asked. Clark was truly amazed she hadn't tried to run yet. Of course, if she did, he would only catch her, but still, most people like to still try.
Clark looked at Catwoman one more time and weighed his options, which were zero to none. He sighed, "We're going back to my home until Batman gets in touch with me so I know who the hell you are. But I'm warning you now," a sudden anger and seriousness flashed before Kent's eyes, "If you do anything that would harm my family or home town, including revealing the location, I will take drastic measures, are we clear?"
"Woah!" Catwoman giggled, "No reason to get hostile. I won't tell anybody your secrets."
"And one more condition, you're going to take off your mask," Kent told her.
"No can do, Mr. Superman. You of all people should know the importance of identities."
"I'm sure Gotham police will understand the importance of identities when I turn you in," Kent threatened.
"You can't blackmail me. That doesn't sound very super."
It was true. This wasn't how Clark usually liked to operate but it seemed to be the only way with this one. "You give me no other option," he glared at her.
"Fine, Captain Justice League, only because I believe you could put me into deep shit if I don't listen to you, I'll stay. I'm sure Batman will get to you soon enough and tell you all about me. Or he'll just come escort me from your house instead. You're making a big deal out of nothing, hunk. Batman didn't send you to that mansion for me," Catwoman explained, "He sent you there for whatevers on that fancy USB drive you have, which by the way is illegal. I'm sure you know that breaking into a mansion and stealing information isn't the most legal thing you can do. Plus, at this point, you didn't even have reasonable suspicion. So it looks like I have some blackmail on you too."
Catwoman was sly. If Clark took her to the police now, she'd rat him out too. Gotham isn't a huge fan of Batman or any superbeings in fact. Damnit, was this girl tricky. "What do you want?"
Catwoman smiled, "You have to take off your suit too."
"Out of the question," Clark shook his head.
"Why? Are you too big and famous for me?" Catwoman asked.
"I don't trust you with a single bone in my body," Clark told her, "I'm not going to let my guard down."
"So you're saying your suit gives you power?" Catwoman asked.
"No, I'm saying my suit keeps me prepared."
"Well then," Catwoman said softly, "Looks like I'll be running, unless you change your mind."
"I'll only catch you and take you to the police," Clark told her.
"I'll tell them how we really met," Catwoman winked, "Trust me, Gotham doesn't like you. Not saying they like me much either, but at least we'd both be locked up."
Why had babysitting a cat turned into such a difficult job?
Clark Kent hated to be defeated. After being Superman, you would have to learn to hate it. But no matter how hard he tried to dance around this Catwoman, she always seemed to counter to block his path. Clark sighed in defeat, "Fine. But I'm warning you," Clark's voice suddenly got very deep, like he was reaching down to a place he rarely ever touched to speak to this criminal, "One wrong move, I promise you that your life will be hell. Where we're going, not a lot of people live. I can hide you so well, all your friends and family will get tired of looking for you. You do not want to cross me, Catwoman, I can guarantee you that."
Catwoman just stared at Clark for a moment, something that he had said struck her. She felt weak and not quite as badass as she felt moments before. But before Superman could see that he had weakened her, she went to her defense, "I must bring out the bad boy in Superman. Don't worry, I tend to do that to all the good ol' boys." She winked at him and without notice, Clark grabbed Catwoman as tight as he could without breaking a rib and flew off to Kansas.
