A/N: A rather short chapter, but an added Omake at the end as a bonus.
Chapter 2: Will Villian for Money
As it turned out, the money did help out for a bit with Mew's quest for knowledge and apples. She did get some odd looks after buying quite a number of baby books on how to read, but turns out they thought her to be a thing called a 'teen mom' and even gave her a discount!
So, that was a bonus.
On the downside, she was broke again. Not from the books, those were rather cheap to buy. She just wasn't prepared for the number of bakeries and candy stores that had apple based products and went a bit overboard on spending. From her limited understanding of the language, she spent around four thousand, six hundred and thirty seven dollars on apples alone.
She had no clue if that was a lot or not, but felt it was worth it.
So, after a week of that, she was finally able to do some research on Mr Underpants and to try and find out what exactly he was. And she wasn't really sure if the information she found was a joke or not.
He was an alien.
An alien that just so happened to look exactly like a human.
And no, the irony wasn't lost on her.
From what she found in the newspapers, what she saw was just the tip of the iceberg that was this 'Superman'. Flight, Super Strength, Laser Beams, Super Speed, and new ones kept being found out about him!
And she was now stuck trying to rob the city he was guarding for her apple fix… I mean to gain further information about this world she discovered.
'Perhaps robbing banks wasn't a good idea,' She thought to herself as floated through the city, looking for a good place for money. Until she had a better grasp on what Superman could or couldn't do, it was best to avoid a fight. 'But where could I get a lot of money, while being under the radar?'
She was just about to fly past another store before she paused as she reread what they had written on their storefront window.
"We Buy Used Items."
Or maybe she didn't need to steal money after all, just things worth a lot of money.
xXx
(Two Weeks Later)
Lois Lane groaned as she finally had a chance to sit down after being out on the field most of the day. Times like this, she had a real love-hate relationship with her job, but it was her passion, so she was gonna have to suck it up and deal with it.
"Hard day?" Lois glanced over and saw one of her fellow reporters ask her. "Heard you have been having a hard time catching any leads with these robberies" He gave her an understanding smile, causing her to roll her eyes.
"Leads, I got plenty of those Smallville," She said, calling the reporter her usual nickname. "The problem is actually finding the actual facts of what is going on." She waved her hand at her work desk. "I got people claiming all kinds of things about this criminal, ranging from them being a cat burglar to a lizard man. No one story matches the others."
"Pretty sure the tabloids got the copyright to Lizard People," Smallville tried to joke, but got a newspaper swatted against his head. "Right, sorry." He apologized, straightening his glasses back up. "Are the police finding any kind of pattern in the thieves?"
"Zilch, nada, nothing," Lois said in no small amount of aggravation. "And Perry won't give me something else till I find something, he is holding a real grudge over all this." She rubbed her brow to try and relieve some of her headache. "I'm really surprised Superman hasn't been able to stop them."
"I'm sure he's doing his best," Smallville replied, a frown tugging at his lip. "But he seems to focus more on louder criminals, thieves might be able to sneak by him in all the mess."
"They stole the Daily Planet's Globe, pretty sure that's not a matter of being sneaky," Lois snarked, causing Smallville to cringe a bit. The thief of the Globe that stood on top of the Daily Planet made national news, and yet to be located. It was a real blow to a number of reporter's pride. "Sorry Clark, didn't mean to snap at you like that." She apologized as she leaned back in her chair. "Just been stressed out."
"Don't worry, I understand," Clark said in a calming tone. "I'm sure the thief will be caught in no time."
xXx
Afterwork, Clark went back onto patrolling the city as Superman. He had been trying to find the thief as well, but it simply hadn't been that high on his priorities to search out the criminal. While he would try to stop them if he caught them, there were just many more life-or-death crimes or accidents that would draw him away.
So he had been only able to search for the thief on the side, and he never would have thought the day would come where finding a criminal would be side work, but not much could be found. Jewelry, art, metal, clothes, toys and many other random things had been stolen at locations all around Metropolis. The only reason they are believed to be connected is because the thief would vanish into thin air along with the goods.
Just like the girl in the armored truck.
And she was currently his main suspect in these crimes, but had no clue where to find her. The police had found the armored truck outside of Metropolis, so it is entirely possible that her and the stolen goods might not even be in the city.
So how exactly would he be able to find and capture someone who can teleport miles away at will. His first thought was about possibly restraining her, but with her electrical power as well, it would be unlikely to end well for him.
Perhaps it was time for him to give Dr Hamilton a visit, to see if an insulating suit was possible for other criminals like her and Livewire.
Of course, that still brought about the problem of actually finding the girl. But he knew very little about her, only what she looked like and sounded… That might be an idea.
Pausing in his flight, Superman remained still as he floated in the air and listened. In that moment, he could hear all of Metropolis below him and the people within it. Their footsteps, their breathing, their voices. He could hear them all.
They all overlapped one another, so it was hard to make out what any one person was saying, but he wasn't trying to focus on what was being said but the familiarity of a voice.
He kept listening and listening, and found… nothing. Guess even he had his own limits when it came to his power.
Giving a defeated sigh at his plan not working, he pulled back his sense so he wouldn't be overwhelmed by it all. He pulled back hearing till all he could hear was the gentle murmur of the city below and his own heartbeat.
Wait, he could pick up something else nearby. It was very gentle, and if he wasn't focusing, he would never have noticed it in the first place. He could hear it displacing the air as it slowly moved around him, it didn't sound very large, and it was just behind him and to his left.
Using his superspeed, he was over by the sound in less than an instant and grabbed ahold of whatever it was. He didn't see anything, but he could definitely feel something as his hands wrapped around something soft, almost like fur.
The thing he caught gave out an alarmed cry before he was suddenly blasted away by an unseen force that pushed him back several meters away.
In the space that he grabbed, a light appeared that blinded him for a moment before he saw the very girl he was looking for gasping for air.
"Yeah, no squeezing like that,"She panted, holding out her hand for her to have a moment. "Weren't you ever taught any manners, you don't do that to a lady." She sent him a glare as she regained her composure.
"You were spying on me,"Superman accused her of, and she simply shrugged at that, not seeing the point in denying the obvious. He was mentally adding flight and invisibility to the list of powers he knew she had, no clue what the furry feeling was though. "Have you been the one behind the chain of thieves in the city?"
"Straight to the point," The girl rolled her eyes before crossing her arms in defiance. "Nope, wasn't me. Must have been another person who can teleport and turn invisible, you can find them next to the dairy aisle in most stores."
"You need to return what you have stolen," He gave her a serious look. "This might seem to be all fun and games, but these are serious crimes that are going to put you away for a good while if you keep it up." That comment only seemed to amuse her by the grin on her face.
"That would only be if I was caught," The girl began to float towards him at a slow pace before slowly circling around him. "And from what I have seen of this city, you are the closest one to being able to catch me. And that is still far away from actually catching me." She said in a mocking tone.
Superman frowned at how casually the girl was disregarding both him and the law. This was much different then their first encounter, she seemed a lot more sure of herself and almost dismissive of him.
"It doesn't matter what kind of powers you have, I will bring you to justice if you keep this up," He warned her, hoping she would see reason and not throw her future away for a life of crime.
"Sorry Superman, but you just don't have the power to back that up," She said as she came close enough to take a hold of his cape fluttering in the wind, gently rubbing the fabric between her fingers. "I'm… Unova, the mysterious girl who is here one moment-"
And just like that, she vanished without a trace.
And so was his cape.
xXx
Mew couldn't hide the smile on her face as she appeared in a storage room she was becoming quite familiar with. Falling backwards into a pile of old clothes, she let out a whoop of joy at her most recent achievement. Her celebration was partly interrupted when a rather large man opened up the door to the storage room and gave her an odd look.
"What did you steal this time?" He asked as looked at her expectantly.
"I did something big this time, really big," Mew declared as she stretched out the cape for him to see, sadly obscuring her vision of his wide eyed stare. "And it's surprisingly soft." She added as an afterthought as the guy recovered from his shock.
"You stole Superman's cape," The guy said in a low whisper, like the hero would appear if he spoke too loud. "W-what do you plan on doing with it?" He stuttered before clearing his throat and becoming professional again. "That should be able to get you a lot of money, but might be too hot right now. Not really sure how attached he was to this cape, and what he might do to get it back." He moved a bit away from her at his own warning.
"Nope, this is mine," She declared, hugging the cape like a blanket.
"Very well," Mew could see how relieved he was that she wasn't selling this. Reaching into his back pocket, he pulled out an envelope for her. "The usual." He simply stated as she got up and snagged it from his hand.
"Thanks Devon, see ya around," She waved her hand with the cape before vanishing again.
Mew found Devon to be a rather helpful human for her current goals. After half a dozen attempts to sell her stolen merch to pawn shops, and erasing the memory of doing so from those that said no. He was the only one who would take her stuff and sell it out of the city.
No clue where he was selling it, she never asked. All she needed was the money, so the whos, wheres and whys weren't all the important to her. Of course Devon was annoyed when she sold him small stuff she liked, but stopped complaining when she brought him the Globe.
xXx
Reappearing in a room she was renting in a sketchier part of town, since they would accept cash and didn't need to know who she was, she flopped down on the couch and continued to celebrate her victory in her feline form.
"Ah, the cape feels much better like this," She said to herself as she stretched out on it. "Why make a cape like this?"
She was honestly happy that her bluff against Superman worked. Despite her research into him, she had no clue if he could catch her or not, and she now knew that he could somehow find her despite being invisible. That did limit how well she could hide from him, but wasn't impossible. So it might be best for her to lay off on the stealing for a bit.
He now knows what to look for, or more accurately, knows what to not look for.
But that was a matter for later, right now, she deserves her victory laz-about.
xXx
Superman just had to get away from Metropolis for a while after having his cape stolen, so he flew to one of the few places he could call a safe haven; his family's farm. After a quick change of clothes as he got to Smallville, he arrived at the farm in no time flat.
Knocking on the door before opening it, he was greeted by the sight of his adoptive family, the Kents.
"Oh Clark," Martha Kent, his mother, was the first to greet him as he walked into the house. "I didn't know you were gonna stop by for a visit." She had gotten up from her chair and met him half way into the room before giving him a hug.
"It was a spur of the moment kind of thing," He explained as he returned her hug before they broke apart. "Just dealing with some problems, and had to get away for a bit." Clark tried to be vague, not wanting to drag his family too much into his superhero life.
"Well, it can be a good thing to take a step back," Mrs Kent agreed, and didn't push the issue and guided him to take a seat. "Your father is outback, but should be back inside in a little bit and Kara probably knows you are already here."
"Yep," Said girl walked into the room. Kara was Clark's cousin, and despite currently having brown hair, was a blonde, just wearing a wig. She also wore a pair of wide rimmed glasses, despite not needing them. "So what brings you to the homestead?" She asked.
"Just needed some time away from the city," He explained again, his mother leaving to go take care of something in the kitchen.
"Is it about the Daily Planet's big ball being stolen?" Kara, Master of Subtlety, asked. Clark couldn't help but sigh at the topic he had been trying to get away from.
It ended up finding him anyway.
"Yes, and I know who the criminal is now," He explained to her. "She is just proving to be a bit more frustrating on both sides of my life."
"Oh, is this like Batman and Catwoman? A thief trying to steal your heart away?" Kara asked with a teasing grin, but Clark shut that down right away.
"No," He had to make this as clear as possible before she tried gossiping with Barbara. "She is a teenager who is probably letting her powers get to her head, like a certain someone can be like." His pointed stare caused her to look away.
"So…" She trailed off, wanting to change the topic from her past failure. "What did she do that brought you all the way back here?"
"She took my cape," He said with a small amount of frustration seeping into his voice.
"Your cape?" Both Kara and Mrs Kent both asked in surprise, the latter coming back from the kitchen just in time. "Oh Clark." Mrs Kent said gently as she placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Well, I'm surprised that some could snag that off of you, but is it that big of a deal?" Kara asked, not seeing the lost as being that big, she had seen the thing shredded before it was repaired later.
"My cape was made from the very blanket my parents wrapped me in when they sent me off"
"Oh...shit."
xXx
(Omake) What if Mew appeared in Gotham?
"Where we going mom?" Selina couldn't help but sigh when she heard that voice. She already knew who the owner of the voice was, but she still turned her head to look over in hopes that it was just her imagination.
Nope, standing crotched on a roof ledge was a young girl dressed like a pink cat. Selina refused to call her Cat-Girl, like the papers and news reports did. Bad enough that they were making wild speculations about her being the girl's mother, but now the little girl was actively following her around calling her 'mom'.
"I'm not your mom," Selina didn't know how many times she had told this to the girl, but she was stubborn enough to keep at it and hope it would one day sink in. Jumping from the rooftop and cracking her whip, Catwoman tried to gain some distance away from the pink annoyance but the girl was able to keep up.
Not-Cat-Girl was about to effortlessly jump from building to building, crossing several lanes of traffic in a single leap. She would climb walls, vault over debris, and anything else that was necessary to keep up with the older looking cat.
Catwoman had one day made the unfortunate choice of confronting Not-Cat-Girl when she first heard about a new cat themed thief in town. There was some banter, both trying to steal the same item, the usual stuff when dealing with another thief in her turf. Then it all went pear-shape when Batman showed up.
All it took was the girl to look between the two before asking the one question that made Catwoman's life so much harder.
"Is this one my dad, mommy?"
Catwoman was so put off by the sudden question and Batman whipping around to look at her, that she didn't even notice the little girl sneaking off with the jade cat statue that should have been hers!
So now she had to deal with Not-Cat-Girl calling her mommy, Batman demanding answers, and…
-Ring, ring-
Catwoman glanced at her phone and grimaced, seeing it was Harley's number.
What did she ever do to deserve this?