Chapter 2

Selina awoke to the sound of midday traffic outside of her window. She turned her head gingerly while still lying in bed. What had happened? Slowly she remembered the previous night's excitement. The sensory rush that had assaulted her the night before seemed to have subsided…

She casually turned her head the other way to look at the old digital clock on the "nightstand" of concrete blocks next to the bed. The red numbers read out 11:45. That was enough to get her up quickly. She rolled out and rushed to the bathroom.


"He went this way Smith"

Two men moved quickly through the jungle foliage. They were dressed from head to toe in black body armor, and each carried a tranquilizer rifle. As they came to a clearing, they slowed their pace until they came to a stop. After scanning their surroundings for a full minute, they lowered their guns. One lifted his helmet visor.

"We've lost him."

The other sighed, "Along with the subjects he released. Between you and me, I'm $#&# glad they chose to run."

Smith smiled, "You scared Ross? You're losing your touch."

"Maybe if we weren't spread so thin, and had a little more firepower than these $ #&# dart guns I'd be less pessimistic."

"You know the reasons, we're expendable. They aren't."

"We ain't paid enough," he said gruffly. And with that, Ross pulled a radio from his belt and signaled they were heading back to base.

As they disappeared from sight, a shadowy figure amidst the tree branches silently bounded into the darkness of the jungle night.


Batgirl lowered her binoculars. She'd taken over watching Catwoman earlier that morning while Bruce Wayne attended a stockholders meeting. It was a boring endeavor, and she was not entirely sure if she agreed with Batman's decision to wait and see what Selina did with the goods rather than take her down now. Sure they might get in on who she was fencing it too, but that was risky. It just gave Selina more of an opportunity to get away. Maybe that was what he was hoping, given the history between those two…

Calm down girl, she thought to herself. She was beginning to think more like a jealous girlfriend than a crime fighter. Still, they could have at least told Commissioner Gordon.

Barbara's subject of observation came out of the front entrance of the building. Even knowing it was her, she had to admit the "trailer trash" outfit she was wearing hid her true identity well. The faded knee length striped socks, old ripped Pinky and the Brain t-shirt and ragged wig made her look nothing like the woman who routinely socialized in the most luxurious (and easily pick-pocketed) groups in the world. Her whole set up had been well executed, renting a run down apartment where people don't ask questions about where you came from, faking a retreat to Hong Kong, all quite ingeniously done. But she'd underestimated just how well Batman knew her. Even if the police couldn't, Batman knew her work when he saw it, and he recognized that break-in had her signature the second they arrived on the scene. He was able to track her path that very night.

She stayed well behind for several blocks as Selina turned further into the bad area of town. Interesting that the deal was going down in broad daylight, she thought. After several blocks, she turned into a dark alley. What, was she pawning it off to some bum?

Smoothly sliding down a fire escape and darting across the street, Barbara pressed her back against a wall near the alley entrance and listened. Nothing. She crept closer, and pulling a mirror from her utility belt cautiously checked around the corner. There was no one there. Surprised, she slinked into the dark corridor and looked left and right. Catwoman had disappeared. But how? This was a dead end…

A breeze of intuition caused her to look up-just in time to react. She quickly rolled away as Catwoman's ambush from above missed. Barbra knew she was in trouble; Catwoman was always more than a match for her hand to hand. Even worse, she seemed to be fighting with almost reckless abandon. It was more Selina's style to play with her (like a cat playing with its food, she'd say) and look for a chance to escape. But here, she seemed determined to actually hurt her, or worse.

Batgirl blocked a swing to the head, and then followed it with a kick to the ribs, knocking Catwoman off her feet and onto her back. Selina bounced up, wearing an expression of pure rage. She sprung at Barbara, letting out a shriek that sounded positively inhuman. Her animal mannerism shocked Barbra briefly enough to break her defensive concentration. Suddenly, Selina had Batgirl pinned to the dank alley concrete, both hands strangling her neck. A well placed kick to the gut of Catwoman freed her however, and she rolled away, clutching her neck, gasping for air.

As she turned to see her opponent, she could hardly believe it was really Selina. She was crouched almost on all fours, her teeth born and face tensed into an absolutely demonic looking visage. She seemed ready to pounce, but something else caught her attention, and she darted away just as a spinning bola struck the concrete. She turned and leapt at a shadowy figure in the dark of the alley, only to have her swinging arms caught in mid air.

"Selina! Snap out of it!"

His voice seemed to break through the rage, and she gradually relaxed her expression, only to snap her arms out of his grasp and dash toward the alley entrance. Her escape was tripped up by the sweeping leg of Batgirl, however. She slammed her skull against the pavement, and immediately clutched both ears. She began to writhe in pain, then fell silent as the figure emerged into the light next to his partner.

"She's passed out; we need to get her to a hospital!"

"We'll take her to the cave."

"Are you su-"

"Yes"

The Batman took Selina in his arms.

"I see you broke for lunch early BTW."

His piercing glare silenced her.

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