Title : Under Your Skin

Author : Madd13

Rating : M for later chapters

Disclaimer : All credit to DC Comics to the creation of all characters involved.

Summery : They've been at it for years, getting under each other's skin. They've finally had enough.

Selina pouted a little as she sat atop a gargoyle, looking down at the city below. For as much crime and terror happened in the streets of Gotham, there was absolutely nothing going on. How could that be? She had even considered calling Harley and Ivy. For her to willingly agree to hang out with the two of them out of the blue was nearly unheard of. She had to be truly bored for her to seriously think that a good idea.

With a sigh, she glanced off toward the rooftops. Yeah, like those were going to be more interesting. Oddly, they were. A familiar shape was running across them, obviously chasing after something. Well, maybe her Friday night wasn't going to be a complete waste. With a grin and a snap of her whip, Catwoman was off her perch. It was always a good idea to mess with the Bat and it certainly brightened her day.

It didn't take her too long to catch up. Batman wasn't running full out which was weird. As he came to a stop, she quietly wandered up behind him, wrapping her arms around his waist. He flinched a little, the only sign that he was surprised by her presence. He had been so focused on something below that he hadn't paid close enough attention behind him. Why would he since his criminals were usually in front of him? He pushed her hands off and turned around with a scowl. "Well, hello to you, too," She said with a roll of her eyes.

"What do you want?" He asked, quickly looking back down to the street. Sadly, his prey was on the move again. Well, damn. In a sea of black cars, he had been tailing one and now the light was green and it was lost. He had been hoping to get a little closer to wherever the true "home" of these men was, but now that was a failure. He scowled harder at Selina. She simply blinked at him, unfazed by the look. It was a good, hard stare too. Most would cower and crumble under that look. Except all his main villains. They just laughed at him more often than not and tried to move on with their scheme.

This once he let it go. It would do him no good to continue glaring. "What's with the puss?" The Cat asked, looking down at the cars herself. "I was tailing the Volinos, but now they're lost," He answered, clearly unhappy. The look on Selina's face was all the prompting he needed. He knew the questions would come so rather than be annoyed into telling her, he opted to just go right ahead with it. After all, she did occasionally actually help him.

"The Volinos are a family from Italy. They came here looking for something small. That's about all I've managed to find out. They've been very careful since coming here." He turned his back on her, looking in the direction they had been heading. He missed the look of surprised that flitted across her face. Italy and small items brought forth a very specific memory for her. She was almost certain that they were looking for a very particular ring. One that she had in her possession. Damn.

Her Friday night wasn't quite as boring any more. However, it still sucked. Now rather than dying from boredom, she had to worry about dying from a bullet. The thief had really been hoping to avoid Edward for a while longer but it seemed she wouldn't be allowed to keep her distance. Double damn.

/

Saturday night did not find Selina in better spirits. She was zig zagging on her bike, hurrying through the crowded streets of Gotham. She had to go to Edward since he had been the one to make a fake ring to trick her. That seemed to be the best option to getting the Volinos out of Gotham. Bruce would be getting help whether he liked it or not. It wasn't really her intent to help him, but she had to if she wanted to save her own skin.

She came to the less busy streets surrounding Edward's place. The intended turn to get to his "abandoned" building was stopped most unexpectedly. The man she was looking for was leaving. What the hell? Eager for puzzles as he might be, she didn't think him the type to be called out at any time for random crimes. Okay, so as equally sucky as tonight was going to be, it did just get a little more intriguing. She certainly wasn't above following people. In this case, she wouldn't mind a little dirt to use against him if she could.

So, follow she did. Edward stopped near the Iceberg Lounge. This was not all that strange, but the fact that he actually picked a man up was. Okay. The night was getting more interesting by the minute. They were off again and she just had to scowl at their destination upon arrival. Really? He went to Pandora's Box with another man? She didn't know his typical routine when it came to this place so she couldn't say if this was out of the ordinary or not. However, the fact that she had followed him here was just distasteful.

Now she had a few options. One, she could go home and leave this for another night. This was not a desirable option as she wanted to get this plan rolling so the Volinos would get out of town sooner. Two, she could wait out here. Also undesirable since she didn't want to be sitting out here for what could be hours. Three, she could go inside. While still a terrible option it was the only one that could hurry things up and get her on her way the soonest. She could go in, tell Eddie to work on the ring, then be on her merry way.

The only terrible thing about this was she would have to sneak in since Catwoman probably wouldn't really be welcome. She looked down at her suit. A "fake" Catwoman might. She was just lucky that she had worn an older suit. This one she could mangle to an inch of its life so she could get inside with little suspicion. Very well. She rode around to the back and ducked into the shadows. It almost hurt to be cutting the leather to pieces. At least it was just the main suit that was dying a bitter death. The gloves, boots, cowl, and goggles were staying in tact and on her person. She might be half naked but she would still have some protection.

With a heavy sigh, Selina pushed her way through the employees entrance, drawing the attention of the other girls helping each other into their outfits. Some of them looked fucking complicated. If she had been a weaker person when she was young, this could have been her only way to make money. This could be her life right now. While she was certain there were plenty of things worse than this, she couldn't say that she wasn't glad that she had become the thief she was. After all, she was world renowned as Catwoman. What girl wouldn't want that?

Pushing such thoughts aside, she was stopped by the man at the door. "You sure that's wise, sugar?" He asked, poking at the ears on her head. "It'll just be the once," Selina replied. She knew she meant she would be dancing just the once. The man took it as she would only be using this outfit once. "You better hope the real deal doesn't hear about this. We'll all be in trouble then." He pulled aside the curtain to let her through. It seemed that Catwoman knock offs were pretty much off limits. She had to assume that Harley and Ivy were just as forbidden. They were the three deadliest women in the city and the most likely to hurt anyone turning their image into something so distasteful.

/

Edward stepped in with a tip of his hat to the doorman. He was allowed in without paying as he had always been a valued client. The man behind him, however, had to cough up the cover. Bruce frowned but handed the money over. He had never been here before, not that anyone would notice him anyway. A few well placed prosthetics and fake facial hair were enough to throw off anyone's eye when they looked at him. After all, the media's favorite billionaire playboy couldn't be seen here.

"The VIP section is just over here. If these Volinos are really making this place their hot spot, that's where they'll be," Edward said over his shoulder, gesturing to the doorway that led deeper into the establishment. Bruce remained silent and pushed passed. The auburn haired man took that as a dismissal if ever he saw one. Well, his usefulness for the night was over and he was sure as hell going to enjoy himself now that he was here.

He glanced at the passing waitresses, hurrying to serve the men seated at the small tables and around the tiny stages. The dancers were the next to draw his attention. They were all pretty uniform, dull, considering he had seen most of these get ups before. There was only one that interested him now. A Catwoman had taken one of the center stages, slowly getting into the groove that the heavy bass set. No, he was wrong. THE Catwoman had taken the stage. He had never thought to catch her in an establishment even vaguely like this, no less as the entertainment. Yet, there she was in all her curvy beauty. He should damn well better know those curves since he had been tormented with the memory of holding them.

He headed over to one of the bouncers, ready to make their night just that much more interesting.

/

Ten minutes later Selina walked into one of the private rooms. Yes, she had seen Edward notice her. She also knew what he was doing the moment he walked up to the bouncer. This was going to be a terrible life decision but she really wanted him to make that ring so she could get on with her life. There would be tonight, one other meeting to get the small object from him, and she wouldn't have to think of him or the Volinos again. She could do nothing but hope that she could get this over with as quickly as possible. The thief stood there, hands on her hips and a small scowl on her lips. "This place is awful," She groused, disliking that she was surrounding herself with what her like could have been.

The music started to play and Edward glanced up at the camera. "You have to play the part, Selina. They're watching." The thief cursed quietly, looking to the camera as well. It was there for her security as "their girl" but that also meant he was right; she was stuck having to give him what he paid for. Yeah, Selina was so glad that she had chosen to rise to the challenge of being a thief. This once she would get a taste of a different path and began swaying her hips to the music, moving closer. She was going to need a scalding hot shower to wash this off. "You know about the new family in Gotham, the Volinos, right?" She asked, straddling his lap. She hated that she had put herself in this position. While she was blaming Edward, she wouldn't be here if she had been patient.

He gave a small nod, letting his eyes wander where they liked. This was the only time he could do so without her immediate retaliation. "What of them?" He asked. This was the second time he was hearing of these guys. Why would Selina be concerned though? "They want the ring." Ah, that's good reason for her to get involved. It didn't take long for him to realize why she had lowered herself to become the woman wiggling in his lap. "You want me to make another ring to send them on their way," He said with a knowing look.

"Oh good, everyone kicking your ass really hasn't affected your mind. If you could get on that, that would be great." Selina moved to get up and head home. Almost in the same moment Edward wrapped an arm around her waist and hit a button on his cane. He had purposely chosen this cane that could short out the building's electrical. It had taken some serious work to get something so small to carry the power for that kind of electromagnetic pulse. He didn't want Bruce to cause trouble without an escape route for himself. The complete darkness would allow him for the perfect silent getaway.

Or allow him to bury his face in Selina's neck and lower. She had had to pull the zipper down low enough to actually be accepted as a dancer. Now he was going to take full advantage of the power outage he had caused and the shocked Selina fully seated in his lap. She didn't know if she was more surprised by the sudden darkness or Edward's issue that she could feel getting worse. Either way, she really should be tearing his face off for this. He wasn't allowed to touch her.

Those lips were really soft though. They felt really good. His hands roaming over her back weren't half bad either. She was just going to chalk this up to her needing a little male attention. It had been quite some time and this was going to be a very singular encounter with Edward. She couldn't suppress the small moan that escaped her, shocking the woman that Edward could illicit such a response from her. The genius was having almost similar thoughts and took the moan as encouragement. He used one hand to urge her into rocking her hips. He wanted her to feel what she had done to him and he knew the friction would make them both feel so good. He was going to enjoy every second of the few minutes the complete darkness gave him.

The now-detective lifted his head from her chest and glanced at her face. She was gorgeous like this. Her lips parted as soft sighs escaped them. Her expression relaxed, lost in a haze of desire that he had created. The hand that was ascertaining that she remained seat moved up to tip her face forward so she would look at him. What she saw was a look of want and longing. Yes, she saw the lust but he was being so honest right now. The Cat saw the admiration, how beautiful he thought she was, more meaningful things than she thought him capable of.

She leaned down to kiss him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. It took them both a minute for things to fall into place. They saw each other. How could that be? They broke slowly, glancing up at the ceiling. Shit, the lights were back on. The computers would be booting up and that meant cameras. Selina tore herself out of his arms, backpedaling until she hit the wall. She stared down at the floor since she didn't know what would be on her face - anger, or something she never wanted Edward to see from her.

The feline fatale reached out for the door handle, more than ready to get the hell out of there. "Wait," Edward called, having to adjust himself before walking toward her. As he moved closer, he took off his jacket, holding it out to the thief since she obviously didn't want him touching her anymore. "It's cold." She stared at the offered article of clothing for a moment before finally taking it. He was right and while it had been her impatience that left her half naked, it was somehow entirely his fault she was like this.

Edward took another step forward. "I can take you-" The door slammed in his face. "Home." He purposely finished. That was where he had to head now. He was going to go home and replay everything that happened in this room. Starting on the ring could wait and was only a minor thought when he had so much confusion to sift through from just this short time with the thief. An errant thought passed through his mind that she really was the best burglar in the world if she could steal his heart without his knowing. That was ridiculous; he didn't have a heart.