EAST END
Dedicated to CATgrl because she's THE cat girl---Cat...Girl...need I say more?
....
Probably
A/N: I f y'all want a character you have to ask the same to archive my stories. But who'd want one of my lame characters? In case you're wondering Batman doesn't get a big play up here. This story has bigger parts for Max, Commissioner Gordon, the villains of the new and old series and...JASON BLOOD (yeah the ugly demon guy) makes quite a few appearances. In addition I'll be tossing in special guest appearances but this story won't get big attention until I finish my Fatale Fury fic fittingly... oh look! Try repeating that with fifty-five fish fingers at the end...
Okay I need to come down off the ceiling...pass the spatula.
-----Chapter 1: Dead Doornails-----
Jamie Carter pushed her long brown-blonde hair off her face and breathed out as much stress pent up beneath her skin as possible. And still, if stress were electricity, she could have powered Central City, Gotham, Metropolis and the larger side of Opal too.
The phone beside her began to ring. She swivelled away from the drawing desk and picked it up. "Parisian Cosmetics East End Offices, Art Department, Jamie Carter speaking".
"Hey girl!" the voice on the other end said with an audible grin.
"Max!" Jamie exclaimed. "I don't believe it! How are you?"
"Great, I just heard you moved here from Northburgshire" Max said. "Why didn't you call me?"
"I had just graduated Oxbridge" chuckled Jamie. "I was concerned with self- preservation...how's the hunt for college going?"
"Smooth" Jamie grinned. "I'm going for psychology in UCG. You? Let me guess... you've been offered a scholarship in Cromwell University in England...watch out Muffins in that area suck".
"You'd know ya limey," laughed Max. "Nah I'm going to UCG too. A few friends and me are leaving Hamilton Hill for good old UCG!"
"Well, I'll see you there then" grinned Jamie. "Say, you don't want to meet up for coffee at the weekend? You, me and a few of your friends---I'd bring mine but they don't exist."
Max laughed. "You just don't let people near"
"Last time I did that I lost someone close too me" Jamie said sadly.
"Serge?" Max said solemnly. "I visited his grave last week...I can't believe what happened."
"Armed robberies, things happen" nodded Jamie. "Men get shot in the head and fall into their girlfriends' arms. How does Saturday at 6:00 sound?"
"Great, See you at Java Galaxy" Max said. Jamie put the phone down and turned back to her sketches for the new lipstick brand. "My life defies the limitations of the physical. It both sucks and blows."
St. Nicholas St. Peter looked out the window of the penthouse. He held the glass of water in his hand. "St. David...please stop that". The sound of the ball bouncing off the wall ceased.
"And so...it begins" sighed the younger boy. Nick had black hair, pale skin and green eyes, taking after his smother while David took after their mother. David had blue eyes, blonde hair and sallow skin. Two sides of the same coin.
"What?" Nick exclaimed as if offended.
"The tension. You need a girlfriend...boyfriend...inflatable friend...psychic friend or all of the above" David said, listing them off on his fingers. "And pleas say that you don't SERIOUSLY think you can do this alone?"
"You're not coming David" Nick said.
"Could you stop me?"
Nick turned and hurled the dagger into the wall. "Yes".
David shook his head. "Come back alive, you're (regrettably) the only living relative I have left...unless you count Granddame and Crazy Cousin Ernest."
"Which half-the-time I don't," Nick said. "But the East End is the best place to start, Batman can have the rest of the city, he's a lightweight."
"Yeah, you could beat him" David grinned.
Jamie hurried down the street. Her car pool had quite happily given her seat to the gorgeous blonde Vivienne from Accounts and left her to walk home.
"Well at least it's not raining" she sighed tugging on her long PVC jacket. The water came thundering down. She gave a groan and pulled on her black stocking cap. She sprinted down the road her satchel bouncing on her hips. "You keep your mouth shut Bianca-Jamelia Carter" she harped, mimicking her mother. "Men don't like a girl—WITH A GODDAMN JINX ON HER HEAD!"
She sloshed through a puddle of cold water. "Ugh I should never have left Northburgshire" she grumbled. She reached her apartment thoroughly drenched and exceptionally unhappy.
Her three-room apartment "greeted" her, much like Norman Bates greeted a guest. Happy to see her but slightly psychotically so. The instant she shut the door there was a banging. She sighed and opened it. "Hello Lenny" she groaned as the landlord (stereotype #23: Bald on top, stained vest, major beer belly, zilch on bodily hygiene and absolutely no sense of decency) filled her doorframe.
"Yer late with the rent again" he growled.
"Well you did up it by 40 creds" muttered Jamie. She walked over to her kitchen and opened the cookie jar. Lenny spied it.
I have a suspicion he's the one making my underwear and 20 cash creds disappearthought Jamie. "Here you go Lenny," she said aloud in her sharp English drawl.
"Next months up by another 10" he stated as he took the cash and vanished down the hall. Jamie shut the door with a sigh. And there was more banging at the door.
Jamie sighed louder and opened the door. "Hello Mr Crivitz" she groaned as the old geezer in a robe with wild hair brandished his trumpet at her.
"Your cat..."
"My what?"
"Your CAT" repeated the man. "Was sleeping in my flower pots!"
"WHAT CAT?" the exasperated Jamie shouted.
"That one!" Mr Crivitz pointed. Jamie looked slowly over her shoulder, her jaw dropped and her eyes widened. "A cat? It must be a stray". The white short hair turned its glowing blue gaze on her.
"Don't let me catch it near my house again!"
"Yes Mr Crivitz" sighed Jamie as if she were a pupil being berated by a teacher. She shut the door and walked over to the cat. It purred...Jamie sneezed. "I'm sort of allergic to cats." She sneezed again. "Sorry, I'll get you s-some milkachooo!"
She grabbed a carton of milk and a saucer from the fridge and cupboard respectively. A sigh escaped her again. "You know, I amn't sure where you- " she looked at the white and blue basket in the corner. "-Or your basket, came from but its kind of comforting to have another gal to talk to. I assume you're a girl of course unless the female symbol by your name on the basket is just a clever decoy."
She stroked its hair. "Well it's a pleasure to meet you Mist".
She rubbed her new cats neck and stifled a sneeze as she pulled off her heavy Doc Martins. She examined Mists odd Egyptian collar of gold with turquoise stones as she spoke. "How does someone become so walked on and so invisible?" she smiled at the cat. "Well Ms. Mist it takes years of hard work and dedication to the cause and of course a pathetic social life."
She picked up the picture of herself and Max Gibson sitting on the beach with Serge. Her boyfriend. She'd left Northburgshire, England to start a life in Gotham after he'd been killed. She'd finished school in Gallant High and...survived. Because this was where Serge was buried and she couldn't leave him. Not yet.
Serge had been like the old movie star in his prime, Antonio Banderas, long black hair, Hispanic, deep brown eyes and a super cute smile.
He'd died in her arms after an armed robbery they'd walked in on turned ugly. She had seen the faces of the killers. They'd gotten away scot-free because she'd been too afraid to speak up.
The guilt ravaged her body and mind endlessly. She'd never get another chance; those two would never be caught. She'd survived because she'd hidden under the shelving units. She'd always been good at hiding.
"I miss you Serge," she whispered. She picked up her sketchpad and began to sketch a symbol. Just something in her head...
And then it hit her. "I forgot to get Max's number!" she groaned. "I give up, I can but pray she doesn't need to reschedule!" With a sigh she looked at her drawings. The fact was she'd never get far in the art project because she was reserved and afraid to branch out or do things differently.
She walked into her room and pulled her bed out of the wall with a groan. "Well cat, any chance you can check my messages?"
A blip answered Jamie as the messaging machine came on. She walked out and looked at the kit looking down at the machine, it turned its gaze to her and they stared at one another followed by another blip.
"Hello Jamie, it's Maureen Hill from the Winter Gardens Apartment Block. Look Mrs Franz was rushed into hospital. She just had a bad turn and says that you usually drop by to her. She wants you to water her plants."
"Poor Mrs Franz" Jamie sighed as she thought about the sweet old woman she visited regularly. A small little woman with a dry wit and keen senses who was kind to Jamie so frequently it was incredible. She was tough and strict but kind and gentle. And above all she had some sort of respect for Jamie.
"Hello Janey Cartman" a voice said. "My name is Joe...I am calling to ask if you have ever wondered what is happening Why are we---what? Jamie Carter? Okay--- have you JAMIE ever considered the big questions about life? Our religion the New-"
Jamie hit the machine and skipped to the messages. "This is great," she said.
"Hi, Jamie? It's Adrian, look I just wanted to give you a heads up. Madison Evers is loading your coffee order with laxative tomorrow."
"At least I know how popular I am" Jamie sighed.
"Hi, Jamie. It's Adrian again. Madison's put worms in your desk drawer tomorrow."
"The party never stops on my answering machine Mist, if you're lucky you'll not be as popular". She groaned and stared at her ceiling. "Well let's see what microwave meals I have."
She opened her fridge and found it totally bare. "Insult to injury Lenny, underwear, creds and my food?"
She grabbed her coat and looked at Mist. She gave a sneeze. "I'll get you some fish."
"Oh Lenny thanks for eating me out of house and home, and upping my rent so I actually have neither. Yes you're benevolent and kind, oh and so handsome and I wouldn't guess you don't bathe unless a new health inspector you haven't bribed appears. Which hasn't happened for – as far as I know – ten years." Jamie groaned and slapped her forehead with her palm as she stopped at the corner. "Why can you never say this stuff to a persons face?"
She turned and scampered across the road at an angle. "Right...now...fish, microwave meals, bread, milk, eggs, butter, lettuce, tomatoes, turkey, mayo and pretty much the makings for a sandwich...carbonated sugar drinks that rot teeth, a tub or three of ice cream because the Meg Ryan-Tom Hanks marathon is on later...all 28 movies...and that means Kleenex too".
Jamie paused as she reached the bridge in the park. She squinted and through the mists she could see a group of people. Four of them were just clowns. The other was a ringmaster in a clown costume holding a machine gun.
The four others stood near a large Rolls Royce the colour of gold. The first was a woman in a short, navy, double-breasted coat that was actually her skirt and a chauffeur's cap. Her bobbed black hair was tinted blue and she gazed coldly around searching for people. Jamie held her breath...this woman had a submachine gun in her gloved hands.
The next was a huge man in a trench coat; his long matted and curled black hair pouring down from under his hat. He was about 7 foot! He stood rigidly and there was something unnatural about him.
The other two held Martini glasses. The woman had slightly pointed features and blonde hair that was as straight as straw. Her ice blue eyes surveyed the men with disgust and contempt. She wore a tight black business suit that accented her every curve and was actually pretty skimpy considering the cold January weather.
The man had brown hair, expertly kept, and tied back in a ponytail. The moustache and beard was confined to around his mouth only and he wore a black turtleneck and jacket.
"Now, now, now Mr Skuller" the man sighed. "Threats can prove quite deadly- to you. You'll see the odds are against you in this situation. We want the merger of crime syndicates."
"And what we want, we get" the blonde woman said. "Now Mr Skuller are you really willing to risk castration for your Circus Gang?"
"Look-" started Skuller.
"Gentlemen" the blonde woman said as she addressed the clowns behind him. "The Red Triangle Circus gang has been completely abandoned for years now. A few small time acts of vandalism in the East End. We offer you a chance to become a part of something much bigger!"
"Hey ya talk to me!" the ringleader called Skuller exclaimed. With a sigh the woman handed her Martini to the tall man and pulled two gold plated magnums from the back of her trousers before she shot Skuller dead.
"There, happy?" she snorted.
"Darling you're so ruthless" the man gasped and wrapped an arm around her waist. She took her martini and the pair knocked them back before glancing at the shocked clowns.
Survival had always played high on Jamie's list. She swallowed the urge to scream and turned to escape across the bridge. A rat scampered under her feet. She gave squeak of fear like an idiot...her heart stopped. All eyes were on the bridge.
"Kill please" the man instructed.
The machine guns opened fire...Jamie shrieked in unsuppressed fear and tried to run. A bullet hit her in the leg and she fell against the railings, trying to hobble away. And then something clinked into the bridge and started to hiss. A grenade!
Great I stumble on one of the few East End gangs that decide to throw grenades around like freaking party favours! She scrambled onto the bridge wall and jumped. She shrieked as a stone grazed her in the back of the head at an angle, she slammed through the ice with the back of her head and shoulders...the current trapped her, snaring her in its grip and dragging her along beneath the ice...she croaked, a cloud of precious bubbles flooding from her lips as she was pulled along.
Back at the park the man looked to his wife. "I do hope we got whoever that was darling" he sniffed as he turned to the Rolls Royce.
"Ah yes, as do I cherub" the woman cooed.
Jamie punched the ice; over and over...her fists were bloodied and torn. She saw the ice crack, but her limbs couldn't...just, couldn't---move---at---all-- - A final surge of energy and she smashed up through the ice. Her lands scrabbled at the ice, digging her nails into the ice trying to pull herself out before...she slid back into the water...her hand trailed until several large cats pounced on it as others gripped her sleeve with their claws and hauled her out, the cats surround the cracks in the hole and used their claws to drag her up. Mist scampered forwards, the cats parted and let her through she scampered to Jamie's face, a blue smoke drifted from Mist and her collar glowed. The winged pattern shimmered and the large turquoise stone it had as the body of its wingspan glowed.
Mist pounced on Jamie's stomach and the cold water burst from the woman's mouth she opened her eyes, the narrowed into feline slits. She sat up slightly and coughed. "W-what? Mist?" she murmured sitting up, shivering.
Jamie staggered in her door and Mist scampered ahead. Jamie slammed the door with her foot and entered her bathroom. She limped on her wounded leg. She'd been lucky, the bullet had passed right through her calf...odd definition of lucky...she stared into her mirror and looked deep into her reflections eyes.
"Well, this is an interesting turn of events" she said slowly in a more confident and sultry voice. She examined her leg and stared. The bullet hole was gone...a pale scar left in its wake. "Hmmm" she said as if considering a philosophical question.
She turned the shower taps, they juddered and spat minimal water out...she hissed and with a snarl kicked the alcove wall. The burst of water exploded out. 20 minutes later, dressed in one of Serge's old white shirts and her underwear she walked over to her window and looked at the rusted old lock. She gripped it and forced it up. The cats poured in.
"Yes Ms Mist there's a new cat in town" Jamie sighed and looked around her white apartment. "And she needs to remodel..."
She sauntered over to her arts kit and pulled out the spray cans of paint and blasted the walls slowly. She drew a twisting spiral of colour here; a cloud of texture there and then turned her attention on the wardrobe. She grabbed her pathetic pink clothes and tossed them into a basin. "And a new wardrobe" she sighed.
Jamie walked over to the fridge and pulled out the milk. She knocked it back and let it trickle down her front. "Well Mist," she whispered. "I feel so...Me"
She poured the milk into a pristine little saucer and hopped onto her bed. "And it's Good to be Me!" she smiled as she stretched.
The Art offices were set into two areas. On one side were the art desks where the artists drew and the cubicles where the employees scanned the pictures in or used the computers to send e-mails. It was set on the second floor of the building, well lit and white. The back of the room had another huge set of stone stairs leading up to the executive offices.
Madison Evers was tall, blonde and beautiful...dressed in a skimpy blouse and skirt of rose pink material. She spotted the plain black wool hat and long black jacket with the satchel on one side that was synonymous with a neon sign declaring Jamie Carter's presence.
"Here's comes Shame-y Jamie!" she whispered. All eyes turned as they waited. It was normal for Jamie to immediately run into her cubicle and wait until a group of the others had decided to go to their art tables so she could sneak along behind them.
They were stunned when she unbuttoned her coat and pulled off her hat shaking out her copper-blonde locks and let everyone get a good look at the fact she was wearing a dark green blouse closed only on her upper chest and revealing her naval, she was wearing a pair of tight blue jeans that had apparently been slashed open at various (relatively discreet) places.
Just breathed...the world is your –aheh- Catwalk
She strode down the white linoleum tiles, the slightly heeled black boots hidden under her trousers. She winked at Adrian Wantanabe one of her few friends. He was Asian, black haired and wore a pair of glasses that were just right for him. He stared at her with a smile on his face and then mimed drinking a cup of coffee with a warning look.
Tossing her hair over her one shoulder (It was rather short but usually tied up by a clumsy clip) she marched up to Madison and the cabal of insulting bullies. "Hello Maddy! Kiss-kiss!" she kissed the air in front of each of Madison's cheeks without moving anywhere near the woman. "I love that outfit, skimpy yet business like, no wonder you're so popular with Mr Harris in the exec offices."
Madison opened her mouth but Jamie poked her in the ribs. "I'm just buzzin' ya Maddy, you don't mind if I call you Maddy right? Okay" Jamie smiled. "Coffee?" she handed Madison a cup. "A little toast to new beginnings."
Madison didn't protest she took the cup and took a long draught.
"Wait a second" Jamie said. "This isn't my cup...why, by coincidences of coincidences it's yours Maddy!"
Madison's eyes widened. "Oh" she managed and made a break for the toilets. Jamie emptied her cup out and put it in the sink. "Guess it disagreed with her."
Jamie relaxed back in the chair with a sigh. "Call Max, Call. I need to tell someone," she muttered. She paused as Madison gave a disgusted shriek at finding earthworms in her drawer...it was followed by a shriek of surprise and rage when she found herself glued to her chair.
"That felt good" Jamie exhaled with satisfaction. She looked down at the cat in her desk drawer. "Yes I know its unethical but I'm not letting a person walk over me."
"Meeting with Bruce Wayne at 4" reported David. Nick put the over laden weights up on the benches frame and nodded. "Then you don the costume and kick butt."
"Goodie, what about the Von Stone's?" yawned Nick. He examined the rack of weapons on the gym wall
"They rescheduled for Monday afternoon," David said. "So you can get out and cruise for a few women..."
The sword Nick had been examining blurred from his hands and struck the wall by his brother's ear. David didn't flinch; he opted instead to be offended. "Don't get into a snit about it Nick" he muttered.
"David" Nick snapped. "We've been through this over and over. And we both know that I can never...I'll never..." his voice lowered to a whisper. "What woman could love something like me? I'm not smart, funny or attractive...I can never find love".
"Says you" David cut in. "People Magazines top 100 Most Gorgeous Billionaires disagrees considering that you're number 3 and...what's the word? They used "hunk-a-liscious" and of course "yummy" a lot..."
"It's not that simple! How can anyone love a man who has two faces? Who...who is barely human, clinging to that piece of humanity tooth and nail? I have women but I can't stay with them...look at me"
"You look like a man," David said.
"I'm not!!!!" roared Nick and put his fist through the mirror. David shook his head. "I'm not," whispered Nick, staring at the red blood tined with black seeping from his knuckles.
David shook his head. "There's a deal for a Triad gang going through tonight, I'll prep the bike and stuff for you now if you want."
Nick just leaned against the unbroken mirror. And slid down to sit on the ground with a shuddering sigh. David left his brother...he needed to have time...
Jamie pushed in the door and kicked off her boots.
"Hey cats!" she called. She paused and walked over to Mist who was sitting on a strange costume.
A leather catsuit with a corset and black straps across the chest and a small silver belt of locked together diamonds that followed the downwards curve of her hips. She looked at the choker with a cat's-eye emerald in it and then picked up the strange small black and green fan. Jamie snapped it open curiously and found its tips were razor sharp. She picked up the small cowl and then the costume. There was lace on the breast of the corset, like a pirate woman's and a flowing sash of it down the back though it was tattered there.
"But what kind of shoes do you wear with this?" she muttered.
The cats meowed and attracted her attention to the knee-high boots with four-inch high heels that were thankfully flat and thick. She glanced at them and sighed. "You want me to put this on don't you?"
The cats meowed. She groaned and looked at the boots. "They have no support I can tell you," she muttered. Jamie looked at the thigh holsters and pulled out the large clubs. "What are these for?" She waved them, there was a metallic hiss and they burst out into fans of slender blades shaped like peacock feathers but with cats eye patterns on them. "This really is impressive," Jamie said. "I can kick butt and cool at the same time."
She emerged from the room in full costume. "Actually, good support and a nifty looseness to it...for a skin tight ensemble that's impressive!" The cats mewled in support. Then Mist lifted the blue blanket in her basket and revealed a long silver handled cat-o-nine-Tails whip.
Kneeling as she pulled on her gloves and clipped on the gauntlets, Jamie looked into the basket at the whip. "Wow...hang on now...cat's... whip...East End? This sounds familiar..."
She picked out the black card on the whip and read the white scribbling.
"Every cat needs a nine-Tails and her nine lives...cross someone's path and bring law to the East end...signed, Catwoman."
Jamie rose and took the picture of Serge up to glance at her departed darling's face. "Maybe I can make amends now Serge, I will, I will do this! I'll find them!" the Alley Cat swore to the picture with all her heart.
TBC
NEXT TIME:
Alley Cat makes her appearance; Bruce and Co meet the St. Peter's who really can't count on meeting St. Peter himself. Jamie gets a date with a fella called Skip (bound to end badly). The people gathering the gangs are revealed as villains and Dusk and Alley Cat have a fight that just complicates things!
Dedicated to CATgrl because she's THE cat girl---Cat...Girl...need I say more?
....
Probably
A/N: I f y'all want a character you have to ask the same to archive my stories. But who'd want one of my lame characters? In case you're wondering Batman doesn't get a big play up here. This story has bigger parts for Max, Commissioner Gordon, the villains of the new and old series and...JASON BLOOD (yeah the ugly demon guy) makes quite a few appearances. In addition I'll be tossing in special guest appearances but this story won't get big attention until I finish my Fatale Fury fic fittingly... oh look! Try repeating that with fifty-five fish fingers at the end...
Okay I need to come down off the ceiling...pass the spatula.
-----Chapter 1: Dead Doornails-----
Jamie Carter pushed her long brown-blonde hair off her face and breathed out as much stress pent up beneath her skin as possible. And still, if stress were electricity, she could have powered Central City, Gotham, Metropolis and the larger side of Opal too.
The phone beside her began to ring. She swivelled away from the drawing desk and picked it up. "Parisian Cosmetics East End Offices, Art Department, Jamie Carter speaking".
"Hey girl!" the voice on the other end said with an audible grin.
"Max!" Jamie exclaimed. "I don't believe it! How are you?"
"Great, I just heard you moved here from Northburgshire" Max said. "Why didn't you call me?"
"I had just graduated Oxbridge" chuckled Jamie. "I was concerned with self- preservation...how's the hunt for college going?"
"Smooth" Jamie grinned. "I'm going for psychology in UCG. You? Let me guess... you've been offered a scholarship in Cromwell University in England...watch out Muffins in that area suck".
"You'd know ya limey," laughed Max. "Nah I'm going to UCG too. A few friends and me are leaving Hamilton Hill for good old UCG!"
"Well, I'll see you there then" grinned Jamie. "Say, you don't want to meet up for coffee at the weekend? You, me and a few of your friends---I'd bring mine but they don't exist."
Max laughed. "You just don't let people near"
"Last time I did that I lost someone close too me" Jamie said sadly.
"Serge?" Max said solemnly. "I visited his grave last week...I can't believe what happened."
"Armed robberies, things happen" nodded Jamie. "Men get shot in the head and fall into their girlfriends' arms. How does Saturday at 6:00 sound?"
"Great, See you at Java Galaxy" Max said. Jamie put the phone down and turned back to her sketches for the new lipstick brand. "My life defies the limitations of the physical. It both sucks and blows."
St. Nicholas St. Peter looked out the window of the penthouse. He held the glass of water in his hand. "St. David...please stop that". The sound of the ball bouncing off the wall ceased.
"And so...it begins" sighed the younger boy. Nick had black hair, pale skin and green eyes, taking after his smother while David took after their mother. David had blue eyes, blonde hair and sallow skin. Two sides of the same coin.
"What?" Nick exclaimed as if offended.
"The tension. You need a girlfriend...boyfriend...inflatable friend...psychic friend or all of the above" David said, listing them off on his fingers. "And pleas say that you don't SERIOUSLY think you can do this alone?"
"You're not coming David" Nick said.
"Could you stop me?"
Nick turned and hurled the dagger into the wall. "Yes".
David shook his head. "Come back alive, you're (regrettably) the only living relative I have left...unless you count Granddame and Crazy Cousin Ernest."
"Which half-the-time I don't," Nick said. "But the East End is the best place to start, Batman can have the rest of the city, he's a lightweight."
"Yeah, you could beat him" David grinned.
Jamie hurried down the street. Her car pool had quite happily given her seat to the gorgeous blonde Vivienne from Accounts and left her to walk home.
"Well at least it's not raining" she sighed tugging on her long PVC jacket. The water came thundering down. She gave a groan and pulled on her black stocking cap. She sprinted down the road her satchel bouncing on her hips. "You keep your mouth shut Bianca-Jamelia Carter" she harped, mimicking her mother. "Men don't like a girl—WITH A GODDAMN JINX ON HER HEAD!"
She sloshed through a puddle of cold water. "Ugh I should never have left Northburgshire" she grumbled. She reached her apartment thoroughly drenched and exceptionally unhappy.
Her three-room apartment "greeted" her, much like Norman Bates greeted a guest. Happy to see her but slightly psychotically so. The instant she shut the door there was a banging. She sighed and opened it. "Hello Lenny" she groaned as the landlord (stereotype #23: Bald on top, stained vest, major beer belly, zilch on bodily hygiene and absolutely no sense of decency) filled her doorframe.
"Yer late with the rent again" he growled.
"Well you did up it by 40 creds" muttered Jamie. She walked over to her kitchen and opened the cookie jar. Lenny spied it.
I have a suspicion he's the one making my underwear and 20 cash creds disappearthought Jamie. "Here you go Lenny," she said aloud in her sharp English drawl.
"Next months up by another 10" he stated as he took the cash and vanished down the hall. Jamie shut the door with a sigh. And there was more banging at the door.
Jamie sighed louder and opened the door. "Hello Mr Crivitz" she groaned as the old geezer in a robe with wild hair brandished his trumpet at her.
"Your cat..."
"My what?"
"Your CAT" repeated the man. "Was sleeping in my flower pots!"
"WHAT CAT?" the exasperated Jamie shouted.
"That one!" Mr Crivitz pointed. Jamie looked slowly over her shoulder, her jaw dropped and her eyes widened. "A cat? It must be a stray". The white short hair turned its glowing blue gaze on her.
"Don't let me catch it near my house again!"
"Yes Mr Crivitz" sighed Jamie as if she were a pupil being berated by a teacher. She shut the door and walked over to the cat. It purred...Jamie sneezed. "I'm sort of allergic to cats." She sneezed again. "Sorry, I'll get you s-some milkachooo!"
She grabbed a carton of milk and a saucer from the fridge and cupboard respectively. A sigh escaped her again. "You know, I amn't sure where you- " she looked at the white and blue basket in the corner. "-Or your basket, came from but its kind of comforting to have another gal to talk to. I assume you're a girl of course unless the female symbol by your name on the basket is just a clever decoy."
She stroked its hair. "Well it's a pleasure to meet you Mist".
She rubbed her new cats neck and stifled a sneeze as she pulled off her heavy Doc Martins. She examined Mists odd Egyptian collar of gold with turquoise stones as she spoke. "How does someone become so walked on and so invisible?" she smiled at the cat. "Well Ms. Mist it takes years of hard work and dedication to the cause and of course a pathetic social life."
She picked up the picture of herself and Max Gibson sitting on the beach with Serge. Her boyfriend. She'd left Northburgshire, England to start a life in Gotham after he'd been killed. She'd finished school in Gallant High and...survived. Because this was where Serge was buried and she couldn't leave him. Not yet.
Serge had been like the old movie star in his prime, Antonio Banderas, long black hair, Hispanic, deep brown eyes and a super cute smile.
He'd died in her arms after an armed robbery they'd walked in on turned ugly. She had seen the faces of the killers. They'd gotten away scot-free because she'd been too afraid to speak up.
The guilt ravaged her body and mind endlessly. She'd never get another chance; those two would never be caught. She'd survived because she'd hidden under the shelving units. She'd always been good at hiding.
"I miss you Serge," she whispered. She picked up her sketchpad and began to sketch a symbol. Just something in her head...
And then it hit her. "I forgot to get Max's number!" she groaned. "I give up, I can but pray she doesn't need to reschedule!" With a sigh she looked at her drawings. The fact was she'd never get far in the art project because she was reserved and afraid to branch out or do things differently.
She walked into her room and pulled her bed out of the wall with a groan. "Well cat, any chance you can check my messages?"
A blip answered Jamie as the messaging machine came on. She walked out and looked at the kit looking down at the machine, it turned its gaze to her and they stared at one another followed by another blip.
"Hello Jamie, it's Maureen Hill from the Winter Gardens Apartment Block. Look Mrs Franz was rushed into hospital. She just had a bad turn and says that you usually drop by to her. She wants you to water her plants."
"Poor Mrs Franz" Jamie sighed as she thought about the sweet old woman she visited regularly. A small little woman with a dry wit and keen senses who was kind to Jamie so frequently it was incredible. She was tough and strict but kind and gentle. And above all she had some sort of respect for Jamie.
"Hello Janey Cartman" a voice said. "My name is Joe...I am calling to ask if you have ever wondered what is happening Why are we---what? Jamie Carter? Okay--- have you JAMIE ever considered the big questions about life? Our religion the New-"
Jamie hit the machine and skipped to the messages. "This is great," she said.
"Hi, Jamie? It's Adrian, look I just wanted to give you a heads up. Madison Evers is loading your coffee order with laxative tomorrow."
"At least I know how popular I am" Jamie sighed.
"Hi, Jamie. It's Adrian again. Madison's put worms in your desk drawer tomorrow."
"The party never stops on my answering machine Mist, if you're lucky you'll not be as popular". She groaned and stared at her ceiling. "Well let's see what microwave meals I have."
She opened her fridge and found it totally bare. "Insult to injury Lenny, underwear, creds and my food?"
She grabbed her coat and looked at Mist. She gave a sneeze. "I'll get you some fish."
"Oh Lenny thanks for eating me out of house and home, and upping my rent so I actually have neither. Yes you're benevolent and kind, oh and so handsome and I wouldn't guess you don't bathe unless a new health inspector you haven't bribed appears. Which hasn't happened for – as far as I know – ten years." Jamie groaned and slapped her forehead with her palm as she stopped at the corner. "Why can you never say this stuff to a persons face?"
She turned and scampered across the road at an angle. "Right...now...fish, microwave meals, bread, milk, eggs, butter, lettuce, tomatoes, turkey, mayo and pretty much the makings for a sandwich...carbonated sugar drinks that rot teeth, a tub or three of ice cream because the Meg Ryan-Tom Hanks marathon is on later...all 28 movies...and that means Kleenex too".
Jamie paused as she reached the bridge in the park. She squinted and through the mists she could see a group of people. Four of them were just clowns. The other was a ringmaster in a clown costume holding a machine gun.
The four others stood near a large Rolls Royce the colour of gold. The first was a woman in a short, navy, double-breasted coat that was actually her skirt and a chauffeur's cap. Her bobbed black hair was tinted blue and she gazed coldly around searching for people. Jamie held her breath...this woman had a submachine gun in her gloved hands.
The next was a huge man in a trench coat; his long matted and curled black hair pouring down from under his hat. He was about 7 foot! He stood rigidly and there was something unnatural about him.
The other two held Martini glasses. The woman had slightly pointed features and blonde hair that was as straight as straw. Her ice blue eyes surveyed the men with disgust and contempt. She wore a tight black business suit that accented her every curve and was actually pretty skimpy considering the cold January weather.
The man had brown hair, expertly kept, and tied back in a ponytail. The moustache and beard was confined to around his mouth only and he wore a black turtleneck and jacket.
"Now, now, now Mr Skuller" the man sighed. "Threats can prove quite deadly- to you. You'll see the odds are against you in this situation. We want the merger of crime syndicates."
"And what we want, we get" the blonde woman said. "Now Mr Skuller are you really willing to risk castration for your Circus Gang?"
"Look-" started Skuller.
"Gentlemen" the blonde woman said as she addressed the clowns behind him. "The Red Triangle Circus gang has been completely abandoned for years now. A few small time acts of vandalism in the East End. We offer you a chance to become a part of something much bigger!"
"Hey ya talk to me!" the ringleader called Skuller exclaimed. With a sigh the woman handed her Martini to the tall man and pulled two gold plated magnums from the back of her trousers before she shot Skuller dead.
"There, happy?" she snorted.
"Darling you're so ruthless" the man gasped and wrapped an arm around her waist. She took her martini and the pair knocked them back before glancing at the shocked clowns.
Survival had always played high on Jamie's list. She swallowed the urge to scream and turned to escape across the bridge. A rat scampered under her feet. She gave squeak of fear like an idiot...her heart stopped. All eyes were on the bridge.
"Kill please" the man instructed.
The machine guns opened fire...Jamie shrieked in unsuppressed fear and tried to run. A bullet hit her in the leg and she fell against the railings, trying to hobble away. And then something clinked into the bridge and started to hiss. A grenade!
Great I stumble on one of the few East End gangs that decide to throw grenades around like freaking party favours! She scrambled onto the bridge wall and jumped. She shrieked as a stone grazed her in the back of the head at an angle, she slammed through the ice with the back of her head and shoulders...the current trapped her, snaring her in its grip and dragging her along beneath the ice...she croaked, a cloud of precious bubbles flooding from her lips as she was pulled along.
Back at the park the man looked to his wife. "I do hope we got whoever that was darling" he sniffed as he turned to the Rolls Royce.
"Ah yes, as do I cherub" the woman cooed.
Jamie punched the ice; over and over...her fists were bloodied and torn. She saw the ice crack, but her limbs couldn't...just, couldn't---move---at---all-- - A final surge of energy and she smashed up through the ice. Her lands scrabbled at the ice, digging her nails into the ice trying to pull herself out before...she slid back into the water...her hand trailed until several large cats pounced on it as others gripped her sleeve with their claws and hauled her out, the cats surround the cracks in the hole and used their claws to drag her up. Mist scampered forwards, the cats parted and let her through she scampered to Jamie's face, a blue smoke drifted from Mist and her collar glowed. The winged pattern shimmered and the large turquoise stone it had as the body of its wingspan glowed.
Mist pounced on Jamie's stomach and the cold water burst from the woman's mouth she opened her eyes, the narrowed into feline slits. She sat up slightly and coughed. "W-what? Mist?" she murmured sitting up, shivering.
Jamie staggered in her door and Mist scampered ahead. Jamie slammed the door with her foot and entered her bathroom. She limped on her wounded leg. She'd been lucky, the bullet had passed right through her calf...odd definition of lucky...she stared into her mirror and looked deep into her reflections eyes.
"Well, this is an interesting turn of events" she said slowly in a more confident and sultry voice. She examined her leg and stared. The bullet hole was gone...a pale scar left in its wake. "Hmmm" she said as if considering a philosophical question.
She turned the shower taps, they juddered and spat minimal water out...she hissed and with a snarl kicked the alcove wall. The burst of water exploded out. 20 minutes later, dressed in one of Serge's old white shirts and her underwear she walked over to her window and looked at the rusted old lock. She gripped it and forced it up. The cats poured in.
"Yes Ms Mist there's a new cat in town" Jamie sighed and looked around her white apartment. "And she needs to remodel..."
She sauntered over to her arts kit and pulled out the spray cans of paint and blasted the walls slowly. She drew a twisting spiral of colour here; a cloud of texture there and then turned her attention on the wardrobe. She grabbed her pathetic pink clothes and tossed them into a basin. "And a new wardrobe" she sighed.
Jamie walked over to the fridge and pulled out the milk. She knocked it back and let it trickle down her front. "Well Mist," she whispered. "I feel so...Me"
She poured the milk into a pristine little saucer and hopped onto her bed. "And it's Good to be Me!" she smiled as she stretched.
The Art offices were set into two areas. On one side were the art desks where the artists drew and the cubicles where the employees scanned the pictures in or used the computers to send e-mails. It was set on the second floor of the building, well lit and white. The back of the room had another huge set of stone stairs leading up to the executive offices.
Madison Evers was tall, blonde and beautiful...dressed in a skimpy blouse and skirt of rose pink material. She spotted the plain black wool hat and long black jacket with the satchel on one side that was synonymous with a neon sign declaring Jamie Carter's presence.
"Here's comes Shame-y Jamie!" she whispered. All eyes turned as they waited. It was normal for Jamie to immediately run into her cubicle and wait until a group of the others had decided to go to their art tables so she could sneak along behind them.
They were stunned when she unbuttoned her coat and pulled off her hat shaking out her copper-blonde locks and let everyone get a good look at the fact she was wearing a dark green blouse closed only on her upper chest and revealing her naval, she was wearing a pair of tight blue jeans that had apparently been slashed open at various (relatively discreet) places.
Just breathed...the world is your –aheh- Catwalk
She strode down the white linoleum tiles, the slightly heeled black boots hidden under her trousers. She winked at Adrian Wantanabe one of her few friends. He was Asian, black haired and wore a pair of glasses that were just right for him. He stared at her with a smile on his face and then mimed drinking a cup of coffee with a warning look.
Tossing her hair over her one shoulder (It was rather short but usually tied up by a clumsy clip) she marched up to Madison and the cabal of insulting bullies. "Hello Maddy! Kiss-kiss!" she kissed the air in front of each of Madison's cheeks without moving anywhere near the woman. "I love that outfit, skimpy yet business like, no wonder you're so popular with Mr Harris in the exec offices."
Madison opened her mouth but Jamie poked her in the ribs. "I'm just buzzin' ya Maddy, you don't mind if I call you Maddy right? Okay" Jamie smiled. "Coffee?" she handed Madison a cup. "A little toast to new beginnings."
Madison didn't protest she took the cup and took a long draught.
"Wait a second" Jamie said. "This isn't my cup...why, by coincidences of coincidences it's yours Maddy!"
Madison's eyes widened. "Oh" she managed and made a break for the toilets. Jamie emptied her cup out and put it in the sink. "Guess it disagreed with her."
Jamie relaxed back in the chair with a sigh. "Call Max, Call. I need to tell someone," she muttered. She paused as Madison gave a disgusted shriek at finding earthworms in her drawer...it was followed by a shriek of surprise and rage when she found herself glued to her chair.
"That felt good" Jamie exhaled with satisfaction. She looked down at the cat in her desk drawer. "Yes I know its unethical but I'm not letting a person walk over me."
"Meeting with Bruce Wayne at 4" reported David. Nick put the over laden weights up on the benches frame and nodded. "Then you don the costume and kick butt."
"Goodie, what about the Von Stone's?" yawned Nick. He examined the rack of weapons on the gym wall
"They rescheduled for Monday afternoon," David said. "So you can get out and cruise for a few women..."
The sword Nick had been examining blurred from his hands and struck the wall by his brother's ear. David didn't flinch; he opted instead to be offended. "Don't get into a snit about it Nick" he muttered.
"David" Nick snapped. "We've been through this over and over. And we both know that I can never...I'll never..." his voice lowered to a whisper. "What woman could love something like me? I'm not smart, funny or attractive...I can never find love".
"Says you" David cut in. "People Magazines top 100 Most Gorgeous Billionaires disagrees considering that you're number 3 and...what's the word? They used "hunk-a-liscious" and of course "yummy" a lot..."
"It's not that simple! How can anyone love a man who has two faces? Who...who is barely human, clinging to that piece of humanity tooth and nail? I have women but I can't stay with them...look at me"
"You look like a man," David said.
"I'm not!!!!" roared Nick and put his fist through the mirror. David shook his head. "I'm not," whispered Nick, staring at the red blood tined with black seeping from his knuckles.
David shook his head. "There's a deal for a Triad gang going through tonight, I'll prep the bike and stuff for you now if you want."
Nick just leaned against the unbroken mirror. And slid down to sit on the ground with a shuddering sigh. David left his brother...he needed to have time...
Jamie pushed in the door and kicked off her boots.
"Hey cats!" she called. She paused and walked over to Mist who was sitting on a strange costume.
A leather catsuit with a corset and black straps across the chest and a small silver belt of locked together diamonds that followed the downwards curve of her hips. She looked at the choker with a cat's-eye emerald in it and then picked up the strange small black and green fan. Jamie snapped it open curiously and found its tips were razor sharp. She picked up the small cowl and then the costume. There was lace on the breast of the corset, like a pirate woman's and a flowing sash of it down the back though it was tattered there.
"But what kind of shoes do you wear with this?" she muttered.
The cats meowed and attracted her attention to the knee-high boots with four-inch high heels that were thankfully flat and thick. She glanced at them and sighed. "You want me to put this on don't you?"
The cats meowed. She groaned and looked at the boots. "They have no support I can tell you," she muttered. Jamie looked at the thigh holsters and pulled out the large clubs. "What are these for?" She waved them, there was a metallic hiss and they burst out into fans of slender blades shaped like peacock feathers but with cats eye patterns on them. "This really is impressive," Jamie said. "I can kick butt and cool at the same time."
She emerged from the room in full costume. "Actually, good support and a nifty looseness to it...for a skin tight ensemble that's impressive!" The cats mewled in support. Then Mist lifted the blue blanket in her basket and revealed a long silver handled cat-o-nine-Tails whip.
Kneeling as she pulled on her gloves and clipped on the gauntlets, Jamie looked into the basket at the whip. "Wow...hang on now...cat's... whip...East End? This sounds familiar..."
She picked out the black card on the whip and read the white scribbling.
"Every cat needs a nine-Tails and her nine lives...cross someone's path and bring law to the East end...signed, Catwoman."
Jamie rose and took the picture of Serge up to glance at her departed darling's face. "Maybe I can make amends now Serge, I will, I will do this! I'll find them!" the Alley Cat swore to the picture with all her heart.
TBC
NEXT TIME:
Alley Cat makes her appearance; Bruce and Co meet the St. Peter's who really can't count on meeting St. Peter himself. Jamie gets a date with a fella called Skip (bound to end badly). The people gathering the gangs are revealed as villains and Dusk and Alley Cat have a fight that just complicates things!