CHAPTER TWELVE: GOTHAM
Catwoman was waiting for her cue from Batman. She had recently gotten a call from him that told her to meet him on top of the Gotham State Building, one of the tallest in the whole city. As soon as she'd heard this, she'd gotten out of bed as quickly as she could, having just finished taken a refreshing nap, and put on the Catwoman costume as fast as possible.
Now she was on top of the Gotham State Building, waiting for the Dark Knight himself to show up. She was unsure of how long that would take, knowing he could take a while, having been able to face such things before when she was still in the training stage. Hopefully it wouldn't be too much longer.
Five minutes later, he was still missing, and she was beginning to become impatient. Nothing she attempted to make herself more patient was helping. "Where in the name of God are you?" she finally asked out loud, though not so loud as she had meant.
"Hello, Catwoman," came his deep, gruff voice from behind her. She gasped and whirled around to find Batman there. She wondered how much he had heard. From the look on his face, all of it; however, that was also his usual face while he was out, working in the field. "Have you heard of what is happening from any of the Bat-Family yet?"
"No," she replied honestly. "Is it something wrong?"
He nodded. "The Justice League was recently threatened by an unknown force, and we sent out members of the League to investigate the locations that were given threats. So far, no one has returned. Something is wrong."
"So, let me guess, Gotham is one of the cities that was threatened, as well?" Catwoman asked, hoping she was wrong in some way. But his next answer did not help her.
"Yes," he said. "Unfortunately. I've been contacted by Green Arrow already, although what he said makes no sense. He said there was a sidekick near him, but I know he didn't bring one with him, and the one he mentioned was with Superman in Metropolis at the time." He threw her a communicator. "In case they contact us."
Catwoman caught it and looked at it. It was all silver, and there were two large letters on the front surrounded by a circle: JL. Justice League. These were the Justice League's main communicators. She felt honored to be holding one in her hand, even if she wasn't a member and wouldn't be for a long time. At least she would know friends who were, and at least she would be helping them out. To her, that was all that really mattered at the moment.
"So what do we do now?" she asked.
"Follow me," he said. She did so as he walked toward the edge of the roof, took out his grapple gun and shot it at another building. Using it, he flew off the edge of the building and glided to wherever he could land safely. Catwoman did the same.
She remembered how, back when she decided to become Catwoman, she had attempted something similar, only for the grapple gun to fail. It had been a homemade one, so she hadn't been too surprised—or, at least, she wasn't now. It had been Robin (Nightwing) who'd caught her, and she'd developed an interest him. But now, she didn't have an interest in him, only because she knew now that he and Batgirl had a love history with one another, and after joining up with them a few times, she knew it was better to leave them to themselves, and for her to find someone else. She had no hard feelings toward Batgirl, knowing it was just the way things worked out sometimes. She thought of Batgirl as her sister, and the same went for the rest of the Bat-Family.
She continued following Batman, and she noticed suddenly exactly where they were going: the Gotham City Police Station. He would likely speak with Jim Gordon.
It was strange to think of the Commissioner being such an ally of Batman without knowing that, in reality, his own daughter was Batgirl. When Selina had learned, she hadn't known what to think, other than the fact Barbara was crazy to do what she did. But then again, there were other crazy things that happened in the Bat-Family. After all, Spoiler's father was a criminal, and while he was more a third-rate criminal, he had proven to be a challenge to Spoiler and herself once before. Then again, that had been because he was taking a drug similar to Venom at the time. It was a crazy story, but it was one that she would have to think about later, as they had just arrived at the police station.
"Stay here," Batman commanded her gruffly.
"What do I do?" she asked.
"Just remain here for now," he replied. And then he was gone, leaving Catwoman to her thoughts.
So obviously he was wanting to speak to Commissioner Gordon alone, which she was fine with. She understood the two had a history, and while Batman was keeping the secret of his daughter being one of them, she was sure there was nothing else that could separate their type of friendship. That was her guess, at least.
She turned her attention to the communicator, and she opened it, revealing the keypad and the black, blank screen. She wanted to try it out, but she knew it was better that she didn't screw something up.
She looked around her, taking in the sights of Gotham City. She was amazed by it all. The sky was turning to dusk, and soon enough the night sky would be illuminated with red hues, a reason for which she did not know. All she knew was that it was a great sight. She hoped nothing ever ruined the city. If someone even tried, she would injure them. This was her home, her sanctuary. Without it, she didn't feel as if she would have anywhere else to go.
She sighed, and then suddenly heard something.
"Um, hello?" came the voice. She jumped when she heard it, and looked at the communicator. There were three men staring at her, and she found that one of them, dressed in a red costume with a red mask, and bow-and-arrows, was checking her out. She felt slightly flattered, though she also felt a pang of anger, though the latter was one she had no reason for, she realized. The second man was one she recognized as the Flash, one of her favorite heroes. The third was a man of Hispanic descent that she didn't know quite as well.
"Oh, sorry," she apologized. "I didn't know this thing was on. Batman told me to hold on to it while he searched for something. Don't ask me what, because not even I know. He doesn't tell me much when it comes to these things."
"That sounds like Batman, all right," muttered Flash. "Who are you, though? I remember Batman said he had someone in Gotham, but he never said anything about who that was."
Catwoman looked around for Batman, and saw that he was not back yet, so she continued speaking to Flash and the other two. "My name's Catwoman. I can't tell you my true name, of course. But we're here at the Gotham City Police Department. I've heard of all that's going on. To be honest, with what's happened only a little earlier, I'm not all that surprised. You see, a few days ago, I encountered one of our older villains, Otis Flannegan, also known as the Ratcatcher. He was dying, and I called Batman, Batgirl, Nightwing, and Robin down. Unfortunately, despite my best efforts, he died. And he'd just been about to tell us who had hurt him. But he died before doing so. There's something else that happened, but I'd rather not talk about it."
She heard footsteps behind her, and she turned around to find Batman and Commissioner Gordon standing there. She wasn't surprised to see them, knowing it was only a matter of time. Catwoman got up and handed the communicator to Batman.
"What's going on?" Batman asked Flash.
"We've run into problems," Flash replied. "We tried contacting Black Canary and Green Arrow, and we're both certain there's something bad happening. Black Canary was hurt when we contacted her, and when we contacted Green Arrow, he and Aqualad were attacked only a little while later. I think the villains who gave us that message planned for all this to happen. It seems we keep running into these traps without even trying to a lot of the time! We need some advice from you, Batman. What do you say?" Catwoman could tell Flash was real eager to hear what the Dark Knight had to say.
But at first, Batman did not say anything. And then he said, "You need to be on your feet. Make sure you keep an eye on Red Arrow and all those near you."
"Have you had any luck with...whatever you're doing?"
"Yes. I must return to it now," Batman said. "I've left coordinates in your communicator to find a safehouse in the case of you being overtaken in an attack. Go there if something happens."
"Will do," said Red Arrow. "Hopefully it's big enough for us."
Batman handed the communicator over to Catwoman, and she thought for a moment what she was supposed to say to them now. She finally decided on: "Well, I've gotta go! See you guys later!"
Then she hung up on them.
She turned back around to Batman and Commissioner Gordon. "What do you know, Jim?" Batman asked.
"I know that at approximately 6:48 p.m., November 20, there was a mass breakout at Arkham, and according to some other police commissioners in cities such as Central City and Metropolis, there were similar breakouts at their prisons. I know you tried to stop the breakout, but how well did you succeed?"
"Many of them were able to escape," Batman replied. "There's someone who has threatened the Justice League. The rest of the Family are in nearby cities, with the exception of Spoiler. Nightwing is in Blüdhaven, Robin is in Atlantis, and Batgirl is in Themyscira, the home of the Amazons. They're each investigating those locations to make sure the threat is neutralized there, if it ever comes about."
"I see," Gordon said. "And Catwoman is with you, of course."
"Yes."
"And Spoiler? Where is she?"
"In Europe," Batman said.
"Ah, likely on another mission, I guess. Makes sense. Anyway, do you know where this threat originated from yet?"
"No," Batman said. "But we're working on it."
"Good. I might have something for you. You called me about the body of Otis Flannegan, the Ratcatcher, and you wanted me to send it to the morgue, which I did."
"And?"
"Well, you were right, they were nanites laced with explosives," Gordon told him. "And there was something else that is very peculiar." Batman didn't say anything, so Gordon continued. "We found faint traces of a toxin in his blood."
"What kind of toxin?" Catwoman asked.
"Fear toxin," Gordon answered.
"You mean—"
"Yes, the kind Scarecrow once used, before what happened to him down in the pits of Arkham, as I like to call them," Gordon said. "But how is this possible? Scarecrow should have died after Killer Croc took him under like that."
"Joker," Batman said. "He must have taken the last of the toxin and made something new. It would make the most sense."
Gordon nodded. "Well, that's as much as I can give you right now. Although, I must know: Will there be a battle in the city soon? If so, I'll need to tell Barbara to get out of here. I don't want my daughter getting hurt. I already lost my wife, I can't afford to lose to daughter."
"I understand, Jim," Batman said.
Batman turned and began to leave. Catwoman took her cue to follow him, leaving Gordon behind. "Be safe, Jim," Batman said as he grappled to another building.
"You too," Gordon said as they left the rooftop of the GCPD headquarters.
When they had made it to the other building, far out of earshot from Gordon, Catwoman turned to Batman. "I feel bad for him, with him not knowing his daughter is—"
"I know," Batman said.
She sighed.
"Hand me the communicator," Batman told her.
Catwoman did as he said, and he opened it. He punched a few of the keys in, and waited for the transmission to begin, while Catwoman stood behind him.
She looked over and saw Superman appear on the screen along with someone who looked to be her age, with dark skin, blond hair, and pale green eyes.
"What is it?" came Superman's voice.
"Have you heard anything from any of the others?" Batman asked him gruffly.
"No," Superman answered. "Why?"
"I just received a message from Green Arrow. He seems to have sent it first to Flash in Central City. But there's something wrong about it. He didn't bring Aqualad with him."
"What's so strange about that?" Superman asked.
"He said that Aqualad was injured," Batman said. "And yet Aqualad is with you. Something is wrong. Do you know anything about this, Aqualad?"
"No, I don't," said Aqualad. "Could he be hallucinating?"
"It's possible," Batman said. "Who did Green Arrow take with him?"
"No one," Superman answered. "There weren't enough recruits or anyone of that sort left. Unless he took another hero, which I don't think he did. Something's not right..."
"Be careful," Batman warned him. "I'm going to go through the coding of the other communicators to see if there are anymore such transmissions."
And then he hung up on Superman.
"So what does this mean?" Catwoman asked. "Because Scarecrow is dead, isn't he? I mean, Killer Croc pulled him under despite Batgirl's best efforts, and we never found a trace of him. According to Batgirl, all she could see of him was a pool of swirling blood in the water. She thinks he was ripped apart by Croc, which would make the best sense."
"It does," Batman said. "Someone must be using Scarecrow's fear toxin. The Joker seems the best candidate."
Catwoman thought about it for a moment, and she realized he was right. Only Joker would use Scarecrow's fear toxin so well. That was what she thought, at least.
Batman punched in a few keys once more. He saw something, and he couldn't believe it:
Robin had a tracker on his costume, one that would allow Batman and the other members of the Bat-Family to know where he was if they had the right technology. Robin and the rest of the Family had agreed to let Batman put them in so long as he didn't eavesdrop on them during personal moments. He was wanting to know where Robin was, and the truth about his inquiry surprised him: he was in Gotham Bay.
Why was he was far from Atlantis, where he had gone with Aquaman? Something was wrong...
He punched another few keys, and soon enough, he saw Black Canary with Nightwing behind her.
"Have you found anything?" he asked her.
"No," Black Canary replied. "Not yet, at least. We've just been talking to pass the time. What about you? You and whoever is with you find anything of importance?"
"No, net yet," Catwoman said. She walked up behind Batman and smiled a little when she saw Nightwing, though her smile was a little more grim than it was happy, with all that was going on. "We've been looking around for a while, but so far, nothing. You guys hear from Batgirl or Robin?"
"No, neither," Nightwing said. "Wouldn't they have called back by now?"
"According to his ship's beacon," said Batman, "he's far from Atlantis. He's not far from Gotham Bay."
"Wait, what?" said Nightwing. "Why would he be going to Gotham Bay? Did something happen?"
"You can attempt to contact him," Batman said. "In the meantime, we'll contact Batgirl." He added under his breath, "Something's not right."
Then he hung up.
"So are you going to call Batgirl to see what's happening there?" Catwoman asked him.
"Yes," Batman said.
"Why didn't you tell Black Canary about Green Arrow? They're in a relationship, aren't they? Shouldn't she have the right to know what's happening to them?"
Batman ignored her and continued doing what he was doing on the communicator.
He punched a few keys on the communicator, and then waited for the transmission to begin after finishing. He waited for Wonder Woman to allow his transmission signal to come through.
Soon enough, she appeared on the screen, along with Batgirl and Supergirl. He saw something was bothering Wonder Woman.
"What is it?" he asked.
"Have you run into any trouble yet?" she asked.
"No, but the others have," said Batman. "I received a message from Green Arrow, who said that Aqualad was injured. The only problem with that statement is that Green Arrow didn't bring anyone with him. He was alone, and Aqualad was with Superman. I contacted Black Canary and Nightwing, and they seem to be doing well, but I don't know what's happened since. Meanwhile, Robin seems to have appeared in Gotham Bay, far from Atlantis." He began to think over everything that was happening.
"What do you mean?" asked Batgirl. "Why would he have left Atlantis? Do you think he might be in trouble, possibly? Or was in trouble?" Batman could tell she obviously concerned for Robin, the worry showing in her beautiful baby-blue eyes. He knew she counted Robin as her little brother.
"I don't know," Batman replied. "There's a lot going on. I'll try to contact others. But at the moment, stay sharp. We don't know what will possibly happen. Keep your eyes out for any signs of trouble. Do you understand?"
Batgirl nodded.
"Hey Batgirl!" said Catwoman, getting into the transmission frame. "Good to see you again. You too, Supergirl." She saw Batgirl and Supergirl both wave at her.
"We'll see you soon," said Wonder Woman to Batman.
He nodded, and then hung up.
"So what does this mean?" Catwoman asked.
"It means we have to continue," Batman told her. "We're getting nearer to the end of this, but it's during this time that it becomes that much more dangerous."
Catwoman nodded and continued to think about what he had just told her. Suddenly she heard the sound of police sirens from somewhere in Gotham, not far from them. "Come on," Batman told her, and he took out the grapple gun one last time, as did she.
They swung off to wherever the police sirens had originated from. When they finally landed on a building, they saw the police cars had stopped near an apartment complex overlooking the Gotham Bay. However, it was not where Batman had seen Robin's ship had ended up.
"Should we see what they have to say?" asked Catwoman.
But Batman did not answer, and he swung over to the building across from them. She followed, and as soon as she made it, her eyes widened in surprise.
At first, she thought there were hostages tied up on the building, but then she realized they were all dummies. They had been made to make them think people were in danger. It was obvious they had walked into a trap.
"Hello, Batman," came a cold, rich voice. "And the little Kitty Cat! How nice!"
Joker came into their line of vision. "I hope this isn't too much of a shock," he said. "You haven't seen me in a while, I know, and you're probably wondering how in the name of God I've stayed off your radar for so long. Well, let me tell you, it really was not all that easy. But...that's a story for another time. In the meantime...come on out, boys!"
And out came three more supervillains: Clayface, Black Mask, and Killer Croc.
"You see, Clayface here has already seen some action today!" Joker continued. "He was in Star City and attacked Green Arrow, even posing as Aqualad to influence the effects of the toxin I obtained. Meanwhile, other villains of yours are all around. Harley and Poison Ivy are on Themyscira with Metallo and Ares right now, as we speak! Deathstroke and Two-Face are in Blüdhaven, Firefly in Atlantis...a lot of your enemies will be winning today, Bats. Actually, Firefly lost his battle with Robin, and Deathstroke and Two-Face were unable to kill Nightwing and Black Canary, who both escaped, amazingly."
Batman was angry, Catwoman saw. She wasn't surprised, however. She was becoming angrier, as well. She wanted to beat Joker for his words so badly. Her family was in danger right now, and as he always did when this happened, though not quite like this, he was making a joke of everything!
"Well, if any of your kids happen to die today, at least you can replace them, right?" With this, Joker threw back his head and released his trademark laugh.
Batman lost it and charged at Joker. He punched the Clown Prince of Crime across the face. Catwoman decided that she was alone, as a result. She would have to face three different supervillains all at the same time.
She saw the gun in Black Mask's hand, the blades that had metamorphosed from Clayface's hands, and Killer Croc roared at her and ran at her with full force.
She dodged Croc, then jumped out of the way as she heard the click of the gun. She heard it go off, and she knew she was not hit, as she felt no pain afterward. She heard Clayface coming at her, and she dodged his blades.
Killer Croc came at her again, and as she attempted to dodge, she was caught by the arm, and she felt herself hit the side of the concrete roof of the building. She tasted blood.
"Ouch," she said. She heard the gun go off again, and she cried out in pain as the bullet pierced her leg. But she wouldn't let that take her down. She got to her feet and limped back into the fight. She looked over to Batman, who was locked in battle with Joker.
"You'll never win," Batman told Joker.
"Are you so sure about that, Batsy?" Joker asked as he laughed. Batman was punched in the face, and he felt a blade slice into his abdomen. While the padding underneath his costume stopped the blade from going any further, it didn't stop the bruising there. Joker attempted to stab him again, but he failed at this as Batman moved. The knife, however, did slice his arm.
Batman clutched the wound, feeling blood dripping. With all his might, he threw a punch at Joker, which connected with his head. But Joker continued laughing.
Batman turned to find Catwoman, with her having been knocked to the ground again, bleeding from the nose and the mouth. Black Mask had a gun raised at her, and he was about to pull the trigger. Batman realized what he was going to have to do. He would battle with Joker later. But for now, this was over.
He ran to Catwoman, and punched Black Mask, whose gun went off. He dodged a slash from Killer Croc, as well as a crushing move from Clayface. He grabbed Catwoman, and ran to the edge of the building. He heard the click of a gun, and he jumped.
However, as soon as he jumped and hit the water, Black Mask shot at him, not seeing the propane tank near the water, on a small ledge.
The building rocked as the propane tank exploded, and Joker laughed for no apparent reason.
When it was over, Joker ran to the edge of the building. He found Batman's cowl in the water, and he told Killer Croc to go and get it. Croc did as he asked, knowing the consequences that would come about if he did not follow orders. After Croc had jumped in, he swam to and grabbed the cowl.
But it was only the cowl.
Batman had escaped.
Quickly Joker called Scarecrow, who answered almost immediately.
"Was it a success?" Scarecrow asked.
"No," Joker replied angrily, his anger directed at himself. "Batman and Catwoman escaped."
He wondered if Scarecrow would be angry. While he wasn't fearful of that, he still wondered about it.
"That is of little consequence," Scarecrow said. "We've captured all the other major Justice League members. Green Lantern and Martian Manhunter were just defeated, though the sidekicks there escaped. All the sidekicks escaped. All of them." Joker heard anger in Scarecrow's voice. "Harley let Batgirl escape. Punish her when you next see her, will you? I don't think she deserves the bomb in her brain to be activated, but she does deserve a good punishment nonetheless."
"Oh, I will," Joker said. "Well, this was a failure, but from what you said, it sounds like this is only the beginning."
"It is," Scarecrow said. "Soon Gotham will fall to fear. And at the end of fear...oblivion."
Catwoman woke, and she found she and Batman were in some sort of sewer system. It seemed familiar, though she was unsure why. "What happened?" she asked groggily, her head pounding.
"You blacked out when we hit the water," Batman told her from the shadows. "We're going to the Batcave now."
"What about Joker and them?"
"I fled with you. I'll deal with him later. I had to save you first."
Catwoman nodded. "I'm sorry," she said. Batman said nothing. Then she tried getting to her feet, and gasped in pain. She remembered Black Mask had shot her in the leg. "Sorry, it's my leg." She became accustomed to it, and began limping to him. "So how far are we from the Batcave?" she asked.
"Not far," he replied.
They walked forward for a few minutes, Catwoman dealing with her pain the best she could before they came across a special door. It was open.
"Stay close," Batman said. Catwoman did so.
They walked through the doorway. Catwoman had never seen this path before, and she was very surprised at it.
Batman closed the door behind them and locked it, then continued to walk forward to a stairway. With all her effort, Catwoman limped up the stairs, up to an opening carved into the rock. They were nearly there...
And then they had made it.
"Come on," Batman told her. He entered the Batcave first, and when Catwoman entered behind him, she was surprised at what she found in front of her.
