~ Ashes to Ashes, Funk to Funky ~

Evelyn stood on the edge of the flat roof looking down. The streets of Gotham were still save for the odd late night driver or stumbling drunk woman. She enjoyed the chill of the night on her bare arms and legs. She wore a fitting black tank top and shorts, combat boots on her feet and steadfast where she stood, arms crossed, mask over her eyes. Often, she would look down at the world below her, and wonder how it would feel to hold out her arms and fall forward. It would feel like flying for a little while, wouldn't it? And then at the end she would be free from everything, free from Gotham, free from herself, free from the ache in her gut that made her do the things that she did. She smiled slightly to herself. Evelyn Mason was far too self-important to die in that way. She stepped back from the roof edge.

The sound of light feet in heels behind her made her turn, grinning.

"Why hello there."

The leather clad woman with blood-red lips walked toward Evelyn, a slight smirk in place, and Evelyn walked toward her.

"I hear someone's been a baaaad kitty-cat." Evelyn said, and the two pale women clad in black started to circle one another. The sleek, brunette black-cat and the wild, blonde, snow-wolf.

"Oh yeah? Who you been talking to?" The Cat smoothly replied. Evelyn laughed.

"As if I would tell you that, silly girl." She crossed her arms loosely. "Besides, the leather jumpsuit is a little bit of a giveaway."

"Seems like I'm not the only one either, a jewelry store, wasn't it? 'The Masked Lady strikes again.'"

"'The Masked Lady', huh? Has kind of a ring to it."

"So," The Cat stopped circling, and as did Evelyn, "what did you want to see me for?"

"I hear that you've been getting in good with the big bad men around the Narrows. I'm saying you need to watch your back." Evelyn said seriously, her eyebrow quirking slightly.

The Cat laughed, "A friendly warning? The last time we met you broke my nose."

"You tried to steal from me," Evelyn shrugged, "don't steal from someone you can't outrun, right?" She pursed her lips slightly, "but you know I like you, and I'm telling you right now that something big's gonna happen, I don't know what but it will, and you do well to be ready when it does."

"I can handle myself." The Cat-woman replied, although her eyes betrayed ever so slight worry. Evelyn smiled slightly, eyes dark.

"No you can't." She said softly, and their eyes met meaningfully for a moment, before Evelyn turned away, jogging over to the fire-escape ladder that she slid down.


Evelyn poised the blade in her head, holding it directly before her closed eyes, before letting out a long breath. In a swift movement, the blade was cutting through the air, and came to a halt with it became embedded in the wall beside the others.

Oh, she was bored, so very, very bored. She would not be throwing knives at the wall were she not mind-numbingly bored. With a long sigh, she slid over to the embedded blades and removed them one by one. She didn't like this house, it was so clean and white, and bare. The floor was perfect shining wood, and the walls were covered in art deco. She loathed that. Arbitrary pieces of artwork that were thoroughly displeasing on the eye and took no skill to create. They came with the environment. She was surrounded by the well-to-do and the rich... she loathed them the most. 'Oh, daddy bought me this house, and my BMW.' She threw one of the knives in annoyance. What a bunch of insufferable bitches, she'd gladly live in one of the cheaper sides of Gotham would it not be that that would look odd for a woman of such 'inherited' wealth to live anywhere but the best.

She'd been having strange feelings she felt in her stomach and chest on jobs of late that completely confused her, and she found it best not to dwell on them. But dwelling sometimes could not be avoided, and she found herself wondering if she was getting weak, wondering if she was getting scared as she got older. For the past months she'd heard whispers in the darker corners of the city about something big on the horizon- something that Scarecrow and Joker could never have done, a large looming shadow stalking the underground- part of her was excited, but part of her wasn't, and she wasn't sure why.

'Music.' She thought; that was what she needed. She walked over to the iPod dock and speakers, and placed the music-filled contraption on it. She scrolled her finger down the extremely long list, and found the song she wanted.

"Do you remember a guy that's been,

In such an early song,

I've heard a rumour from Ground Control

Oh no, don't say it's true..."

She believed that she could love nothing, but if she could, she was sure she would love music, and she would love David Bowie.

"They got a message from the Action Man,

"'I'm happy, hope you're happy too

I've love, all I've needed to love

Sordid details following...'"

She breathed in and smelled the music, felt it run through her every nerve, and delightfully ease her mind.

"The shrieking of nothing is killing,

Just pictures of Jap girls

in synthesis and I

Ain't got no money and I ain't got no hair,

But I'm hoping to kick but the planet it's glowing..."

She turned on the spot smoothly, eyes closed, smiling.

"Ashes to ashes,

funk to funky,

We know Major Tom's a junkie,

Strung out in heaven's high,

Hitting an all, time, low..."

Her fingers danced through the air at the high notes as she sang softly along. She heard though through the music, the sound of car tires on the road outside her home. Immediately, she crossed to the window and peered down to the street below, where a shining silver Aston Marten pulled up. She frowned slightly, wondering whom her visitor would be- and then he stepped out.

James Langdon was a horrible, rat-faced man – he and his partner Daggett both - and in any other situation Evelyn would have him under her boot, but she knew he was involved in the oncoming storm, and thought it was best to keep him alive. They'd met before while she was masked, he'd been close to Salvatore Maroni way back when the criminal world was truly thriving.

However, his arrival at her home meant something had gone severely wrong. He was not here to see the 'Masked Lady' or 'Miss M', he was here to see Doctor Evelyn Mason, and no one who wasn't behind bars knew that they were one of the same...

Apart from him, apparently. This was not good.

Evelyn acted fast, rushing to her bedroom where she stripped off her clothes entirely, replacing them with a powder blue dressing gown, which she pulled together and tied around her, she tied up the long tresses of blonde girls haphazardly. She opened the bottom drawer of her dresser: and moved aside the piles of clothes, instead taking from underneath a stiletto blade, a gun with silencer and two thigh straps, putting her right leg on the bed to attach it firmly, she did the same with the left and the gun, and pulled her dressing gown back over, concealing the weapons.

The doorbell rang through the house, and Evelyn pulled her gown to her, arranging her face into mild confusion and tiredness, before stepping through the living room to the door. She looked through the peephole, and sure enough, there stood Langdon some burly suit obviously there for protection. She breathed in through her nose and out through her mouth, collecting herself, before opening the door.

"Oh, hello," she said brightly, "can I help you?"

Langdon smirked the kind of smirk that made Evelyn want to stab him in the face.

"Enough with the theatrics, Doc," he walked swiftly by her into the house, and the lackey followed followed. "Or would you prefer Ms M? The Masked Lady?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." She had one last feeble go at ignorance, as he stood himself a few feet in front of her. He laughed wryly and shook his head.

"Nice try, Mason, but I'm not buying it."

She sighed, and let her hands drop to her sides, admitting defeat it seemed.

"Pretty good cover I gotta say, rich psychiatric doctor living in the fancier part of Gotham by day, but by night a masked menace, terrorizing the city and never getting caught." He spoke with mocking, and Evelyn tried to figure out what his game was. She crossed her arms.

"What are you here for then? Must have had to go to a lot of trouble to find out who I am. What for?" Her voice was even, but her fury blazed inside.

"No doubt you've heard whispers about something big happening in Gotham pretty soon, and you know I'm involved. You're not dumb, that's why you're not behind bars right now like Crane and the Clown."

"They weren't dumb." She sharply replied.

"'Course not, 'course not." He held out his hands in a placating way. "All I'm saying is that I think you could be useful, and so does my boss."

"And your boss is?" She said, like she didn't know it was Daggett.

He smirked again, "let's just say that he's close to the shadow over the city. A shadow much bigger than the Bat's."

"And you took the trouble to find out who I am because..."

"Leverage, somewhat. It would be quite the scandal if the leading analyst of criminal minds at Arkham Asylum turned out to be one of the most ruthless killers and thieves the city has ever seen. Everyone would hunt you down, you wouldn't last a week."

Evelyn laughed loudly now.

"You're bribing me?" Eyebrows high and grin wide. "YOU are bribing ME?" The arch of her foot struck his shin hard, and he instinctively reached out to grab it as he cried out in pain. Moving fluidly, she ripped the knife from her thigh, and grabbed him round the shoulders, knife at his throat. "What's to stop me from slitting your fuckin' throat right now?" She hissed in his ear. His lackey looked shocked, scrabbling to take a gun from his belt, which was promptly pointed at her head.

"I don't report back to my bosses, your name is spread around the city." He breathed heavily, betraying his fear, but he spoke with confidence that let her know he was telling the truth.

"They're waiting for you?"

He hesitated before replying. "Yes." He sounded uncertain.

Before either man knew what was happening, Evelyn's gun was from it's holster, and the high-pitched sound of a silence bullet rang through the room, as his henchman fell to the ground, a hole in his forehead, blood on the floor.

"What the fuck?" Langdon yelled, thrashing against her arm. "Why? Why you bitch?" He spat, and she did not break her hold on him, merely tightened her grip and pressed the blade harder against his skin.

"Run from me and I'll cut off your balls." She kicked the back of his legs sharply so that he fell to his knees on the polished wood floor, grunting.

She placed the point of her blade under his chin, and lifted his head so he could look her in the eye. She was in control now, she was the woman he had heard so much about and she was terrifying.

"You come into my home and threaten me?" She seethed. "No, no, no," she shook her head with mock disapproval, and pursed her lips, "you do not get to do that and leave with everyone you came in with and every bone intact." She knelt down on the floor in front of him, and it was amazing how a pretty woman in a blue robe could look so very threatening. "I have a few questions, I may not be able to kill you, but fail to answer my questions and I will hurt you and I will hurt you badly."

He didn't reply, he just looked at her. He clearly had not expected to see his friend get shot in the head, and lose control of the situation so quickly.

"Firstly, who was it that found out who I was?" She ran the point of the blade down his thigh now, looking him square in the eye. He was fearful but did not reply. She started to press in the knife so that a slit was cut in his trouser leg. "Who was it?" She repeated, voice like venom. His breathing picked up, and he shook his head slightly. Evelyn sighed and rolled her eyes animatedly, and picked up an 'A' shaped stress-ball from the end table beside her. She shoved the squishy material into his mouth, before plunging the knife into his leg to the hilt; the sound of squelching flesh, bone and muscle was unmistakable, but muffled by the man's pained scream as he bit down on the stress ball hard. Once his screams subsided, she took the saliva covered stress-ball from between his teeth, and placed it beside her. She calmly put her hand on the handle of the knife, and pressed ever so slightly, enough to make him sweat even more and groan in pain.

"Who. Was. It?" She twisted the blade sharply.

"AGH! FUCK! CATWOMAN!" He cried desperately. Evelyn paused, and the flames behind her eyes were almost visible. She always knew that the Cat could betray her, but she did not think that she would.

"Thank you." She ripped the blade from his leg, and his hands went to clutch it. She could see tears on his cheeks. "Ah ta ta ta ta," she rubbed the tears away with the back of her hand, "one last question," she cut another slit down his other trouser leg, "what will you tell your bosses when you go back?"

He breathed deeply in and out, "that you agree not to go against us when Gotham falls. If you say you will not help when needed," he grunted, adjusting his position slightly, "they will make life very difficult for you."

"And who are 'they'?"

"I don't know." Instead of stabbing in the blade, she nicked his skin enough for it to sting and bleed. He hissed. "I really don't know." His brow was furrowed and beads of sweat dripped. "All I know is about the huge masked man. That's it, I swear." She looked at his face a long moment, and decided eventually that he was telling the truth.

Evelyn nodded, and took the knife away from his leg.

"Now, get the fuck out of my house."

The man scrambled to his feet, clutching his wounded leg and limping as quickly as he could to the door.

Evelyn let out a long breath and stood, she had a lot of work to do, she certainly couldn't stay in the house if people knew who she was, it only took one upset ex-client for her to lose her head in her sleep. First, she picked up the phone and dialed the number of an old colleague.

"Donny, I've got a mess that needs cleaning up at 28 Hill Street." She pressed the phone between her shoulder and her ear, and proceeded to wash flecks of blood off her hands in the kitchen sink. "Be there in one hour, not a minute before. I'll leave your usual payment on the coffee table and a key under the doormat. Lock the door behind you and throw the key in the river." She worked the red off her cuticles thoroughly, and watched the rusty water slip down the drain.

"Got it, M." The gravelly voice replied.

She hung up and let out a long breath. She needed to pack. She was going back to the Narrows, and then she had a cat to find.


Evelyn didn't have to wait long before the Cat made herself apparent, and she managed to keep an eye on the sleek black figure making it's way over the roofs and fire-escapes of the streets while she stayed on her bike on the road. Catwoman wasn't the only one who could follow someone to effect.

She looked up at the window at which the Cat had come to a halt, and watched the woman slip inside. Evelyn wasn't too sure what she had expected, but a run down apartment in the Narrows was not it.

Her boots clunked on the chipped wooden stairs on the way up to the apartment, and Evelyn softly knocked on the door when she arrived. No peephole. Brilliant.

"Who is it?" She unmistakable smooth voice called. Evelyn didn't reply, just knocked again. The Cat huffed and opened the door sharply, and once she set eyes on the masked woman the colour drained from her face. Evelyn smiled broadly, and took her double-action pistol from the inside of the long black coat she wore, pointing it square between her eyes.

"Don't try anything, I know all the moves." Evelyn's voice was even, and smooth, and full of malice. "Follow me." She grabbed hold of Selina Kyle's arm and pushed the barrel of the gun into her lower back, guiding her up a few flights of stairs to the roof. Neither woman spoke on the way, but Selina felt fear she rarely felt.

"Look, I didn't-"

The butt of Evelyn's gun collided hard with the back of Selina's head and she stumbled forward. Evelyn did not relent in her movement, and ploughed the heel of her boot into the back of Selina's knees, and pushing her forward, boot in her back and gun at her head.

"Explain yourself." Evelyn's voice was like ice.

"I- I- They just said they could offer me a clean slate..."

Evelyn laughed loudly, and shook her head.

"No, no, no," she dropped the gun behind her and slammed her elbow down on the middle of Selina's back so that she fell onto her stomach. "NO!" She yelled, and slammed Selina's face onto the floor. "People like you and I don't get a clean slate in this life. IDIOT!" She crouched over Selina's body, and rested a knee between her shoulder blades, pulling back her head. "Especially when the slate we're on is as filthy as yours." She hissed.

Evelyn's fist was tight at the back of her head, her fingers pulling taught the dark strands of hair, as she ploughed her head into the ground once more. Selina Kyle spat blood and gravel and one tooth onto the floor.

"Betray me again and I will burn you alive." Evelyn swore, and Selina believed her. "Last chance."


Evelyn liked the Narrows, she thought, as she sat at the grimy window of her new dwelling, feet on the small kitchen table and back against the glass. It had character, a darkness to it that she enjoyed. She'd been born in the Narrows, and as she stepped further into her thirties she thought more and more that it would be where she died.

She bit into an apple as she looked up at the other inhabitant of the room and talked on her phone.

"Yes, I'm afraid a short vacation is just what I need. Mother and I were very close and..." she squeaked and sniffled slightly, "sorry, I just- we were very close and she passed away so quickly."

"I'm so sorry for your loss Doctor Mason." The sympathetic secretary replied.

"Yes thank you," Evelyn sniffed, a grin on her lips, "so just let the Asylum know I'll be back when I feel fit, thank you." She looked up again at her guest, and sent him a week. "Bye now." She hung up and set the phone on the table.

"Now, where were we?" She uncrossed her ankles from the table and stood.

Sean Benson swung upside down by his ankles, face pink where the blood had rushed to his head and arms tied firmly behind his back.

"Oh yes, right." The 'thwack!' of her hand across his cheek rang through the apartment, and he whimpered slightly. "Where can I find the masked man?" She demanded.

"I don't know anything! I'm just a cement truck driver!" He pleaded. Evelyn sighed and shook her head. She crossed over the living room where she picked up a packet of cigarettes and lighter. She walked back over to the man and knelt in front of him so they were face to face, before she slid the cigarette between his lips and lit it.

"Take a drag." She softly commanded, and he did so. She took it from his lips again, and turned it so the lit end was inches from his face. "Don't lie to me again. Tell me what you know about the masked man. Where can I find him?"

His lips stayed closed tight and she rolled her eyes, before pressing it against the middle of his forehead, 'causing him to scream and thrash. She did not relent. Instead she held his head still and pressed the cigarette harder.

"UNDERGROUND!" He shouted, and she let go, triumph on her face.

"Yes. But WHERE?"

"If you climb into the sewers in the alley off Dog Lane and turn left and follow the cistern you'll find him." He blabbed, shaking.

Evelyn smiled broadly, and tapped his face none too gently.

"Good boy." She took her knife from her boot and he cried out desperately, but she merely cut the bindings on his legs, and allowed him to fall painfully onto his head. "Now, what are you going to do?"

She crouched down, knife still in hand. He pulled himself up slightly, hands still bound.

"Nothing. I won't say anything." He desperately assured.

"Wrong." She said firmly. "You go and you tell them everything, you tell them that I am coming to see them and you tell them that I do not like to be blackmailed."

He nodded vigorously at her.

"What are you waiting for?" She asked playfully. "RUN." He got to his feet as best he could and ran from the apartment.

Evelyn eyed the half a rope hanging from the ceiling, and stubbed out the cigarette under her boot.

Her life in treacherous danger, living amongst the scum in one of the roughest cities in the world, searching for a villain the likes of which the world had ever seen...

This was more like it.


Evelyn is not the kind of person I would want to piss off. Please review, follow and favourite if you liked it, which I hope you did.

- L.S

(This story has undergone some remodelling, this is my old A.N from when the first two chapters were one):

Hello! This is my first story on my new account and I just had to get it out after finally seeing the Dark Knight Rises the other day (what a terrific film). As someone who has been hopelessly in love with the beautiful and talented Tom Hardy for a long time, it was pretty brilliant to find out he was involved in not only my favourite comic book universe of all time, but also in a series of some of the best action cinema ever, and I think he did an excellent job of portraying Bane.

I hope this chapter did not seem too long-winded, I worried that the opening with Crane and suck would seem a little redundant but I just wanted to give a clear picture of Evelyn and her character. Obviously, as this is only the beginning there is much more to be discovered about her than shown here, and I really hope she grows to become a much more sympathetic character than expected.

Please do review if you enjoyed this and would like to see it continue, because I would really love to carry on writing it and my head is full of ideas. Reviews are the best incentive to write.

Thank you very much.