Catwoman knew where he was. He had left her traces to find him easily. She needed to clean up this mess as soon as possible; she wanted to go back to Gotham City to be with her daughter and to explain everything to Barbara. She landed on the rooftop of an elegant building. She walked inside. Lussac was inside a night club of his own.

Catwoman roughly punched the guys guarding the elevator of the building. She took the key off the neck of one of them and walked inside the elevator. She put the key in a special hole and pressed the button that said "penthouse".

As soon as the door opened, she knocked out two thugs at the entrance of it. A third one attacked her, but she used her whip and trapped him by his throat. She pulled it and he fell to the floor where she kicked him in his face. She put him in the doorway of the elevator to prevent the door from closing.

Another thug tried to kick her, but she ducked and using her whip she trapped his foot and pulled, making him fall down. She walked toward the main office. Another big guy tried to stop her. She easily knocked him down.

Lussac heard the noise and walked outside the room. He froze when he saw the tall woman in front of him. She put her whip on her shoulder and walked slowly toward him.

"You called?" she asked.

He took out his gun, but her whip was faster and the gun was some out of his hand. She smiled and moved her index finger.

"And these guys take care of your back?" she asked walking toward him. She removed a bag from her waist and threw it to the floor. The jewels from the museum rolled out.

"Mmm... Good robbery." He smiled.

"You put them in my apartment." She glared at him. "The police found them. I stole them from the police station."

"What are you talking about?"

She sat on a coach in the living room. She put her legs over the arm of it. "I'm not stupid and I would never leave so many prints in one place. Do you think I'm a beginner?"

"Selina, I have a business, I don't steal jewels." The man smiled and sat on the couch in front of her. He was nervous. She was really annoyed and she could be dangerous.

"I know your business, drugs, counterfeit... blackmailing judges."

Lussac laughed. "Catwoman you sent me to jail a long time ago. I'm a free man now. I'm innocent. The police could never prove that I'm a criminal."

"Yes, because you blackmailed the judges." She took her whip and played with it in her hands.

"I would never do that."

She sighed. "No, you sent your men to make phone calls, telling them their family would be in danger if they didn't let you go."

"Come on, nobody could prove that. It was not me."

"You did it and you know it." Catwoman stood up and went toward him. "I'm tired of this game, Lussac."

"You are good, why don't you work for me?" Lussac asked her.

"You don't me to work for you, you just want revenge." The blond woman leaned over him. "You want to kill me. I know."

"All right, you are right. I wanted to kill you, but later I thought it would be easier to send you to jail. I stole those jewels! It was a smart move, the entire French police department is looking for you. It was the best for you." He smiled. "You are mine... Who is going to believe a burglar like you?"

"And the judges?"

"I needed to blackmail them to avoid jail. That is not my place. It was easy, just a phone call and keeping an eye on their families. Whatever, I've got you."

Catwoman grinned and raised her necklace to him. "No, I've got you. See this? It's a mic... a mic connected with tape, I recorded everything, asshole. The police will send you to jail." His face turned red with anger. "Maybe you don't know," she moved back, " but I'm still working to help them, and harder if it's to clear my own name."

He started to laugh and rubbed his neck. "We are smart, we always have a card under our sleeve."

She looked him with distrust. She didn't like his laugh.

"How's the kid, Selina?" He smirked. "It'd be a shame if anything happened to her, wouldn't it?""

She felt a chill on her back. "Or?" That man disgusted her.

"You have a daughter, right?" Lussac smiled.

Her eyes shone. She watched him with a cold gaze feeling the rage growing inside her. With a strong move, she put her hand with claws around his neck. "Don't go there if you love your life." She growled.

"I intercepted your phone calls at your apartment." He gasped.

"What?" She felt her heart beating faster.

"I know you have a friend... and that she is taking care of your daughter..."

She pressed her fingers around his throat harder, a thread of blood ran down his neck. "Don't try to fuck with me."

"Give me the tape or I'll kill her!!"

"Son of a bitch!!" Catwoman punched him hard and he fell to the floor again. "Don't threaten me!" He tried to crawl, but she raised him by his lapel and hit his back against the wall. "If you touch my daughter, you are dead."

"I win! You lose!"

She buried her hand in his crotch and he yelled. "It doesn't bother me to kill you. What are you planning?" She ckenched her teeth and pressed him harder.

"I ordered her to trap the kid!! If they don't receive a phone call from me every twelve hours, her instructions are to kill her. So, if you don't give me the tape and let me go, she is dead."

"If anyone touches my daughter, you will wish for death!! Son of bitch. Who is she?"

"Give me the tape!" he yelled desperately.

"Believe me," Catwoman moved her face a few inches from him. "I can find her easily, I don't need you. It's your choice to live or die... Her name..." She pressed harder on his crotch.

He knew she was not playing, he swallowed and thought he would easily control her later; when he had her daughter. He could gave her the name, anyway, she couldn't stop her. She was here, in Paris. "I will do it, but in the end , I'll see you on your knees asking me to save her life. Curaré..."

"If you are lying to me, the next time you see me, you are dead." She smashed her fist against his nose, knocking him out. She tied him as fast as she could and ran outside the building.


"Did you brush your teeth?" Barbara put some papers inside her briefcase.

"Yea." Helena said, putting her notebooks inside her school bag.

"Polished your shoes?"

"Yea..."

"Did you wash your hair?" Barbara took her briefcase and looked at her.

Helena leaned her head toward her. "Smell."

"Mmm... orange..." Barbara smelled her hair.

"Did you make my lunch?" Helena asked, distractedly closing her school bag.

"Yes..." the red head walked toward the kitchen.

"Ham and cheese sandwich?"

"Yes, no mustard."

"Orange juice?"

"And your apple, your salad with tomatoes and an extra sandwich for your food "trades" with your friends at school." Barbara walked out of the kitchen and gave her a lunch box.

"Good." Helena took it and walked outside the apartment.

Barbara took her keys and closed the door behind her. She locked it and the phone rang through the door. Barbara walked toward the elevator.


"Barbara, answer me..." Selina mumbled in a low voice, hearing the line, as she called from a public phone. She remembered that name. Curaré was deadly, she possessed an unending knowledge of killer tactics. She was an excellent Martial Artist, designed to kill. Curaré was as lethal as her name. Curaré was the name of a poisonous plant used by some South American Indians to tip their arrows, and by medical doctors as a muscle relaxant.

"Phone..." Helena said, following Barbara.

"I know, but it's late..." The redhead pressed the elevator button and looked for her car keys.

"Could be mom..."

"She knows not to call at this time." Barbara pressed the elevator button.

"Are you mad at her?" The child frowned.

"No, I'm not mad with her." The red head sighed.

"Sure, what did she do to you?"

Barbara glared at the child, but she must recognize she was not stupid. "Not your business"


Selina pressed the off button and immediately the "on" one. She dialed again; She was desperate; she must talk with her before she went . She looked at her watch, 12:30 am, in Gotham City, it must be 6:30 am. Curaré possessed a scimitar that was no thicker than a molecule which can cut through anything and deflect gunfire. Not much was known about her. Nobody remembered Curar's real name or her face. The only photo of her was from an airport assassination.

Batman and Batgirl had managed to capture her. She was a member of the Society of Assassins. In the society, the price of failure was death, but nobody had ever failed. Curaré managed to escape, but needed to face the consequences of failure. That was the only time she failed, and because of this, she had to destroy the entire Society of Assassins in order to remain to the best killer.

Lussac was not joking. Her daughter was in danger...


The elevator door opened.

The phone rang with insistence again in Barbara's apartment. Maybe it was her father, he hadn't called her in days and he usually called early, or maybe it really was Selina.

"All right, all right, go to the car." Barbara finally said, rolling her eyes. She gave Helena the keys to her car and went to her apartment.

Helena walked inside the elevator dragging her school bag.

"And pickup your bag!"

Helena heard Barbara's voice and put it on her back in bad mood. Her mother's friend said that to her because she wasn't carrying the heavy bag. The door closed. She put her school bag down again.

"I'm coming, I'm coming." Barbara shouted trying to open the door quickly. Her briefcase fell to the floor, as did her keys. She cursed and kneeled to pick up the things.

"What is the damn hurry? I'll kill you if you are Selina." The phone kept ringing insistently.

She put her things to the side and took the keys to open the door. She ran toward the living room.

::Barbara...::

"Selina...." Barbara sighed, annoyed, and recognizing immediately the voice of Helena's mother. Why had she called at that time if she knew it was the time when she went to work and took Helena to school. "Why are you...?"

::Where is Helena?:: Selina didn't let her finish the sentence.

"I'm taking her to school and later I'll go to..."

::Where is she?:: Selina almost yelled.

"She is down... What the...?" Barbara didn't understand her attitude.

::Go for her! She is in danger!"

"What?" Barbara was shocked. What was happening to her?

::Curaré is looking for her. I'll explain to you later!!! Please! Go for her!!::

"Dammit!!!" Barbara threw the phone to the floor and ran toward the elevator. She knew perfectly well who Curaré was, but she didn't understand why she was looking for the child. What trouble was Selina in now?

The elevator door was closed; she pressed the button several times. She hit the door with her hand. That was not going to work; she went to the window next to her and opened it. She looked down. Helena was walking outside the building dragging her school bag.

She looked around and saw a car. Three men were inside wacthing the kid walk on the other side of the sidewalk. She shouted to her but the noise of men using a jackhammer to fix the street stopped her voice from being heard.

"Dammit" she growled and ran down the stairs.

Helena walked down the stairs dragging her school bag. She looked around and looked for the redhead's car. She saw Barbara's car and walked toward it slowly, trying to open a bubblegum pack with her free hand and her mouth.

"It's her," said a man inside a car parked five cars behind Barbara's. He was with three more men.

"Are you sure?" asked other one.

"Yes."

"I'll go," said the guy that was in the back seat. The man put his hands in his pockets and began to walk toward her. The car with his partners began to follow him slowly.

Helena took the keys and opened the door. She threw her bag in first and then climbed inside the car and closed the door. She opened a comic book to read, waiting for Barbara.

The man walked faster. This was going to be a piece of cake. He was one car away from the one with the kid.