Authors Note: Hi! Good to see you again, figuratively that is. Well another chapter out. For those of you who were waiting, its over you can breathe now. Oh and a thanks to guest201 for reviewing. And xSapphirexRosesxFanxfor reviewing a second time. I love it when I get reviews, can you tell? Anyway I hope you like this chapter and EnjoyJ
"Burrrrrring!" Maven briskly walked over to the brown coffee table and picked up a pale blue telephone and held it softly to the right side of her face. "Hello?" she asked. There was a pause during which Selina could hear a faint husky voice with a jersey accent. Maven pressed the phone to her left chest to muffle any sound "Selina, it's the police."
Selina Kyle softly got up from her comfortable solid blue couch and tore her eyes away from an orange haired Summer Gleeson reporting about an incident at the docks where a girl allegedly knocked out Killer Croc. Maven handed her the phone and headed in the direction of Samantha's room "Hello?" Selina asked nicely.
At the police station Detective Bullock was holding a phone an inch from the side of his cubby face and speaking into it quite loudly "Yeah Hello, this is detective Bullock of the Gotham police…" He held up a piece of paper up to his face "...I need to question a girl by the name of Samantha Tambrini about the events that took place at the docks tonight."
"Bullock, if you insult her she might not answer our questions…" Gordon shouted at him "…Selina Kyle may be a criminal but she is still wealthy and can cause us trouble."
Bullock growled and continued speaking "I'd like to ask her as soon as possible so now if you don't mind."
Selina stared at the ceiling and thought about this for a moment then decided that she should probably give Samantha some time to prepare. It was her first cover up story after all. "I'm sorry, Samantha can't talk right now but if you come by tomorrow you can ask her all the questions you want."
"Naahh, that'll do. And you make sure to tell her that I'm coming, I'll be there first thing in the morning!" And with that he hung up.
Maven's usual black formal jacket and dark peach dress appeared from the hallway to Samantha's room. Selina put the phone down "A detective is coming by tomorrow to question Samantha, we should tell her."
Maven frowned "Can't, I just checked her room…" looking through her glasses, strait into Selina's eyes "…she's not there, and her windows open."
Selina smirked "Her outfits gone too isn't..." she said looking towards the balcony "…she's out there alright."
Maven gave a warm smile "She's becoming more like you every day."
Selina let loose a broad smile "Indeed she is."
Samantha's eyes looked towards the sky. As she saw the moon slip behind the grey clouds. Her body became weightless. The black tail on the back of her outfit suddenly whipped up to her face. Out of instinct she shot her hand up towards the sky desperately trying to grab something as she fell but the only thing her hand touched was air. She saw images of her life pass before her. She was at her 6th birthday party opening her new toy surrounded by her friends. No, she was in the woods behind her house walking with her sister to the fort they had made out of sticks. Wait, she was seeing Taz for the first time when her dad brought her home. Hold on! Now she was at her old school receiving the letter that notified her that she was chosen for the program! Now she was saying good bye to her family at the airport gate… in the orphanage were she and Taz were picked up by Selina… in the abandoned toy factory fighting the Joker with Robin and Batman as Kitty! But the image that affected her the most was the one of her going away party her friends had for her. They had all shown up. There was cake and ice cream. They told her to stay strong and if anyone messes with her in the big city to show no fear and kick their butt. With the beginnings of a small lump forming in her throat she narrowed her eyes and looked down determined to face her death head on. She saw the hard solid concrete ground fall towards her.
Suddenly, she stopped falling. Her tale returned to its usual place near her legs. Her hand, which had been searching for something to grab onto but found only air, are now being grasped by something warm and soft. Something or someone had grabbed her out stretched hand. Confused she looked up shaking slightly and saw a boy in a bright red, green, and black outfit holding her outstretched hand with both of his. Robin, who was leaning halfway over the side of the building, had his chest pressed against the roof of the building with look of relief and pain on his face. Behind him holding down his left foot was Batman.
Kitty stared at them in disbelief. 'How did they-?' Together they pulled her up and she sat down on her hands and knees, her breathing was shaky. She stared at the dirt covered roof top and lifted her shaking hands. Realizing her situation she regained her composure and looked back at were the beam had decided to kill her. 'That was a dumb mistake, I'm such an idiot.' She scolded herself. Kitty looked back at her saviors 'They saved my life, I owe them.' She thought to herself. "Thanks" she said aloud.
Robin looked up "Your welcome."
Kitty stood up her legs still shaking slightly from her closest and most recent near death experience. "What do you want to know? I'll answer what I can."
Batman looked at her "Why?"
"You saved my life, I want to repay my debt, so ask your questions and I will answer what I can." She informed him.
Batman, slightly taken aback, nodded and asked the first question "Who are you and why are you working with Catwoman?"
Kitty almost rolled her eyes, 'Saw that coming.' She thought. Of course she couldn't tell him who she was, but she had promised answers so she replied "I'm just a little kitty cat, and as for my reasons they are personal."
Batman's eyes narrowed, she's sounding more like Catwoman "What is Catwoman planning? What's her business here?"
Kitty shrugged her shoulders "To be honest I don't know if she's planning anything. She's just doing what she thinks is best."
They were getting nowhere "Do you know if Catwoman stole Dorian's research?"
Kitty was baffled "Who?"
"Dr. Emile Dorian was a geneticist who went mad and started creating new creatures buy combining human DNA with the DNA of an animal. Catwoman was experimented on by him but was cured. A while ago all of his research was stolen by two thugs who later attacked Dr. Kirk Langstorm who had unknowingly tampered in that field of research." Batman said.
Kitty's brain was hard at work trying to put the pieces together "No she hasn't that I'm sure of." She told them. A moment of silence passed between them and she noticed Felix standing on the other building and remembered how she had gotten into this and that she should probably go. She would finish repaying her debt later. She took a quick glance around her, she only had two escape options, jump across the alley to get to the building she had just almost died trying to get to or use the old fire escape. It wasn't a hard choice… fire escape. The only problem was she needed to get past the Dynamic Duo to get to it. If only she had some sort of distraction that would get their attention long enough to let her pass like a car crash.
It was as if an angle came down and decided to grant her wish because just a few blocks away a small gas leak at an old rundown gas station caused an explosion forcing them to avert their attention towards the blast. 'That'll work' Kitty thought to herself. She looked up and quickly said a small "Thank you!" then she took that moment to pounce and ran passed them onto the fire escape. "The station was abandoned and they'll take care of it". She jumped down fire escape and landed on the ground. Once there she dove behind some trash.
Batman quickly ran off towards the explosion while Robin followed Kitty in her escape attempt but when he got to the alley she was gone. Holding a small grey sphere in his hand he looked around for a place that she could hind and saw a pile of trash bags that were stacked up. He walked towards the pile and reached out his hand to move the bag of trash, behind which Kitty was hiding. She was trying to control her breathing, which was not made easy by the rancid smell of rotting food and heaven knows what else. Trying not make a sound but it seemed that her heartbeat grew louder and louder the closer his hand got to the bag. When Robin's hand was only five inches away from the bag, Kitty was silently planning another daring escape. Suddenly a dark cat leaped onto the bags stopping his hand. Then leaping forward like a gazelle grabbing the grey ball in Robin's hand.
"Hey!?" Robin shouted. But the cat ran away with its treasure.
Kitty who was watching the whole thing through a whole watched Robin run after the cat. She couldn't help but laugh. Robin, The Boy Wonder was outwitted by a cat and now he's going to try to catch it. And cats can run up to 30MPH. Doing her best to quiet herself she revealed herself from behind the pile of trash. She smelled her clothes. She was lucky, the smell of garbage didn't stick to her. She sighed in silent relief and began the tedious task of getting back to Selina's.
After what seemed like an eternity she found herself in the familiar trash filled alley way of the building next to where she lived. She had to ride on top of two trucks to get here but she got here, now all she needed to do was get on top of this building and then jump across to the balcony below her window. She released her claws in order to climb up the wall but before she could start her decent she heard an annoyed "Meow" She froze. She'd know that meow anywhere and looked at the Golden eyed black cat that was sitting a yard away from her left foot. "Taz?!" Kitty asked crouching low so as to pet her. "What are you doing here I thought you were asleep, I'd…wait… the cat that distracted Robin, and lead him away from where I was hiding,…..that was you?!"
Taz meowed and turned her head to look away from Kitty. She slapped her palm to her face. How could she have not realized that it was Taz, it was so obvious. How many other black cats with gold eyes would have known exactly what she needed at that moment? Kitty looked at Taz, who still refusing to look at her, realizing the true reason of why Taz was angry with her.
Kitty spoke up "Hey, I know I didn't bring you along this time but I thought that you would want to sleep."
"Meow." Taz said in protest.
"I didn't wake you up because you looked so cute and peaceful at the time and I couldn't disturb you." Taz didn't move "Look I'm sorry I won't do it again alright." Kitty scratched Taz behind her ears and Taz started purring. "Few thank goodness, I hate it when you're mad at me."
Taz softly meowed and Kitty smiled. She stood up, relived.
"Hey Sid, you got the keys to the truck right?" a gruffly man's voice said from the street. Kitty's face instantly changed from one of happiness to deadly serious. That was the voice of one of the security officers at the zoo. She leaped towards the direction the sound came from and silently flattened herself against the grime covered wall and hoped to god that they wouldn't see her. Two big guys with blue guard uniforms passed right in front of the alley
"Of course I did what are you my mom? I hid the truck over in the next alley by the used car lot." They walked passed the alley and Taz jumped onto Kitty's shoulders. She peaked out of the alley to see where they were headed and saw them turn left.
Kitty quickly crossed the alley and climbed up the other wall. Having the advantage of speed and a better route the two reached the car lot before Sid and his buddy and dropped into the alley. Sure enough there was a delivery truck there. Kitty climbed under the truck with ease and Taz followed. Sid and his partner walked into the alley "So do you think the Batman will follow us?" one of the men said.
"Not a chance Joe, now get in the truck." As they opened their doors Kitty got out her tracking device and put a small flat disc on the underside of the truck. Then the truck started. Kitty turned her head to the side and laid as flat as she could. She closed her eyes and the truck moved forward out of the alley. The truck rolled right over her and Taz. The closest it got was an inch from her face, but she wasn't going to open her eyes and watch. After the Truck pulled out of the alley onto the open road she rolled over and got up. Holding the screen to her face she watched the small blinking dot on the screen as it moved away from her, and gave a cocky smile.
Waiting no time, she lifted Taz onto her shoulders feeling her claws sink into her thin shoulder pad. She climbed up the alley wall and followed the dot on the screen leaping across the roof tops until she looked at the screen and noticed how far she was behind the two thugs. "Ugh at this rate we'll never catch up to them." Kitty said.
Frustrated she looked around for a mode of transportation. Suddenly she heard a car horn. She looked over the side of the building and saw the cabs. "Taz I have an idea." She jumped down from her perch atop the building and landed gracefully on the fire escape. Climbing down she walked out into the street and climbed inside a cab.
"Where to" the greasy driver asked. He looked up in the rearview mirror and got nervous "h-hey I don't know who you work for but whatever it is I didn't do it."
Kitty was surprised, apparently the people of Gotham have learned that if someone's wearing a costume and mask and it's not Halloween there not good people. And yet two people who fight crime do those things, huh. She reached into her pocked and pulled out five dollars, searching the floor of the car for any loose change she found an old dollar bill and six pennies. Kitty picked those up and handed the money to the cab driver. Looking surprised he turned around in his seat and asked her "W-what's this for?"
Samantha pulled out her tracking device and showed him "I would like you to follow this dot." She told him pointing to the moving blinking one.
"Look I-I don't want any trouble with you or with the police s-so please get out of-" He was cut off by Kitty before he could finish.
"I'm not going to commit a crime." Kitty said. He was not convinced
"I-I didn't mean that… I-I won't tell anyone just please."
She could tell this was going nowhere she looked at Taz for answers. The look Taz gave her sent a slight shiver down Kitty's spine. It told her to do something she had promised never to do unless in an emergence. She let some of her dark side out. Unsheathing her razor sharp claws with wicked speed she grabbed his face covering his mouth with her left hand. With her right she had her claws in a talon like position poised at his neck. Talking in a cheery low voice she said "Now I need to be somewhere and you need your neck, so what I want you to do is follow the dot on this screen and in return I won't exercise my fingers. Okay!"
The cab driver stifled a muffled "Hmmm."
Kitty let go quickly and let her back slam against the seat. Feeling as if she had just killed her best friend's hamster. The driver looked at the screen and stepped on it. Shaking her head and getting a reassuring look from Taz she leaned over the seat and noticed that the dot had stopped moving, great. For most of the ride Kitty's eyes remained fixed on the driver, he was nervously sweating and couldn't seem to decide if he wanted to go the speed limit or just flat out bail on it. Sometime later she checked the screen again and noticed that she was a block away from where the truck had stopped.
"Stop here." She told the driver. He stopped quickly and turned in his seat. He handed her the tracking device and the money she had given him. She took her tracker but stared confused at the money. "What's this for…" she started to get out of the cab "…that's your money I paid you to take me here."
He looked confused "B-but you were going to kill me."
"Oh that, sorry, I was never going to hurt you. I just needed you to listen to me. I'm truly sorry by the way, really I am." Closing the door she waved bye and ran off disappearing into an alley. The driver, bewildered, stared at the alley where she had disappeared with wide dusty orange eyes. A moment passed and he decided that he should go and drove off into the night.
Kitty jumped behind a particularly large garbage can and peeked around the corner to see if he was gone. After a moment the cab rolled away and she breathed a sigh of relief. Looking at the screen she concluded that the truck was in the building just beyond the one she was at. Getting out her razor claws she went to work climbing up the alley wall. Once at the top she checked the screen. Staring at the dot she looked at the building. Kitty's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates, it was the zoo! She stood mouth a gaped for a moment and then crawled down the building. Crossing the darkly light street she jumped onto a low window ledge and found the ventilation shaft she and Catwoman had used to escape last time. Crawling side by side, Kitty and Taz wove their way through the maze of tunnels. Guided by Taz's ears as they twisted and turned to find where the people were.
As they made their way through the labyrinth Kitty's mind was elsewhere. 'Why are they at the zoo? And for that matter why am I at the zoo? But personal turmoil aside what motive could they possibly have to come back here? And more important…what was with that truck?' She was so deep in her thoughts that she didn't notice the voices getting louder, until she was right above them.
Pausing she looked around for something to look through like a small hole. She found an air filter about 3 yards in front of her. Silently crawling forward she removed the black filter so that she could see through the vent. Placing the dust covered filter to the side she peered through the vent and strained to hear what the voice were saying and to see what was going on. She was above the storage room. The truck she had seen Sid and Joe drive was at a loading dock at the far back wall being loaded with large crates by Mr. Kane, Jim, Sid and Joe. But crates full of what? She couldn't tell. She looked around some more and saw a short figure in the shadows, his entire figure was covered in darkness. To far up to understand there mumbling she watched in silence as they finished loading the truck and the figure handed each of them a wad of money.
"Was there any trouble." The figure asked Mr. Kane.
Kitty made her best attempt to erase her breath in order to hear them better. "No, just some rich woman who was angry at the treatment of the animals, but the situations under control." Mr. Kane said counting his money and walking to the truck.
"Good, let's get moving." The figure said. The figure followed Mr. Kane as he briskly walked to the truck and with a turn of a key the truck roared to life.
Kitty let out a slight gasp she did not want to lose that truck, she was at least going to find out what was in those crates. The ventilation shaft let out a small foreboding groan, without thinking she moved forward. But had she underestimated the structural integrity of the shaft and with a loud bang the vent broke away and she fell onto the wooden boxes.
Badly bruised, splintered and surrounded by broken pieces of wood, adrenaline shot through her body as she jumped up wide eyes thinking 'Oh, Crap!'
Joe looked at the 13 year old girl in a cat suit with tiny pieces of wood sticking out here and there and said "What the… who are you?!"
The dirty filter fell and landed behind Kitty. From the passenger seat of the car a voice yelled "Stop her!"
Kitty leaned down grabbed Taz and ran as fast as she could.
Authors Note: Hello again! I hope you've enjoyed this chapter, Kitty seems to be falling a lot lately hmmm. And she's gotten herself into quite a few pickles and close calls. Well then again our troubled heroine seems to be having some bad luck and is having to make a lot of quick escapes. I wonder if she can get herself out of this one. Well we'll just have to wait and see. Bye J