Author Note: I hope that my readers have enjoyed it so far~. I know that I'm really liking just writing it ;D
Review please! Flames are used for warming my room.

The Truth

Blue-grey eyes gazed over the city from behind a black leather mask and a small meow was heard beside the figure. She absently reached out to stroke the black furball who then began to purr in contentment. Her diamond nails scratched beneath the cat's chin gently before her eyes caught movement of some sort of shadow thing.

"Hell-o. What's that?" Catwoman looked over at Felix who was sitting in content. He looked up at her before back down at the scene and she sighed. "Yeah, yeah I know. Time to save Gotham since Batman can't handle the fricken truth."

She hadn't told her uncle that she'd take his place, but she hadn't said that she wouldn't help in her own suit. With another growl she hoisted herself over the ledge of the building and did a flip down to land on the ground easily. The shadow then disappeared into the bank and she sighed, "This is not going to turn out well."

Catwoman walked as silent as a cat with her whip gripped in her hand. Upon seeing who the shadow was, she rubbed the back of her neck. "Jokerz." She muttered before a fake smile became pasted on her red lips. "Ah, ah, ah. You should always let the lady go first." She purred out from just behind the gang that was made up of two girls and three guys.

"Hey! What are you doing here?" One of the Jokerz raised a gun in her direction and she faked a yawn before grinning and cracking her whip loudly.

"I'd suggest leaving before you get hurt." Catwoman purred. She cracked her whip and latched onto the Joker's wrist that had been pointing a gun at her. With a flick of her wrist he dropped the weapon and fell to the ground. "Any more takers?"

"Get the money!" The leader yelled to the girls as the men charged at her. She sighed and leaped up, spin kicking two of the at once before doing a handstand. The woman pushed her legs out towards the last standing Joker and knocked him over. She then did a handspring away from his form and charged at the girls on all fours. With a loud hissing noise she swiped at them away from the open safe, scratching one on the face with her very sharp diamond claws.

"Owie!" She cried out before landing on her butt. "You'll pay for that kitty cat!" A laser gun fired at Catwoman and she barely had time to dodge it. She leaped to the side with her arms down and rolled before standing up with her hand on her side. The laser scrapped against her side and she titled her head back.

"Bitch." Catwoman hissed out as she snapped her whip in the female Joker's direction. She twirled and caught four of them at once before she stopped. Each member of the gang was on the ground groaning and she smiled, a job well done.

"Freeze!" A very police like voice barked out. She turned around and tied her whip around her waist like her tail once more. Slowly she raised her diamond-clawed fingers in the air with a smile upon her face.

"Are you sure?"

"Huh?" The policeman appeared confused for a moment and she strolled towards him slowly, swaying her slender hips.

"Are you sure you want me to freeze?"

"Stop right there! I said freeze!" He fired off a shot in her direction and the girl merely tilted her body to the side to avoid it. Suddenly she grinned and threw down a small ball that set off freezing cold smoke.

"If that's what you want baby." Catwoman purred within the smoke before she leapt on all fours to climb the building and escape.

The next afternoon Faye laid down on her couch and turned on the TV just as Max walked in. "Hey girl, what's up?" The pink-haired Max plopped herself down on the couch and Faye placed her legs on Max's lap.

"Terry called me a liar and all that fun stuff. Notice how Batman wasn't out last night?" She yawned and scratched beneath her ear as she flipped to the news channel.

"Last night a mysterious woman in what appeared to be a cat suit robbed the Gotham Bank. An eyewitness called her the Catwoman. She eluded the police, but where was our own mysterious vigilante? Batman was nowhere in sight when the crime took place. We can only hope that the police capture this woman before she robs anymore."

Faye scowled at the television and tossed the remote to Max. "That's so not what happ..ened" She trailed off and looked at her friend who raised her eyebrow in question. In return she raised her hands with a sigh. "Okay, okay, fine. You got me."

"Why am I not surprised? You're always tired like Terry; even though at least you get your homework done. Does Terr know yet?" Max patted her legs and the girl stood up to show her friend her sparkly collection.

She reached under her bed and punched in the code for the suitcase holding her jewels. "Nah. He's Batman. He'd turn me in." Faye opened the case and held it out for Max to look over them. She whistled before running her fingers over the necklaces.

"Busy girl. They are all so pretty." She looked up at Faye who shrugged and folded her arms over her chest. "What are you going to do with them?"

"No idea. I'm a klepto. I steal for fun and I don't plan ahead. I'll probably drop them off at the police station one day." The girl picked up her cat and held him in one arm to stroke his head with her free hand. "This is Felix by the way. He saved my life when I was little."

"So what did happen last night then?" Max said as she tried on one of the emerald necklaces. She got up and modeled in the full body mirror along Faye's wall. The other girl made a face and set Felix on her shoulder where he sat and purred.

"I was doing Terry's job, seeing as he was being too emotional. It was a gang of Jokerz trying to rob the bank. I stopped them but the police showed up and assumed I was the one doing the robbing. As fun as robbing is, I know that I need to use my eight last lives to do good." Felix purred louder on Faye's shoulder when she admitted to wanting to do the right thing before flopping on the couch.

Max returned the necklace to the case but Faye waved it off. "Keep it, if you like. Pretend I'm your sugar momma. Last chance to get free jewels." Max hesitated and held the sparkling emeralds up to the light before sighing and putting them back.

"Terry would kill me if he found out."

"Don't let him. Do something bad for once chika." Faye laughed as she reclined her couch seat back and closed her eyes. "Trust me. They won't miss it. I'm keeping at least one for myself…If it makes you feel better I'll place some creds in the case to make up for it. Uncle gives me lots of allowance." She reached for her purse, which was too far out of her reach and groaned, too sore to stand up. Felix leapt off of Faye and pulled her purse down to open on the ground where he wiggled in and grabbed her wallet out of it in his teeth. "Come here pretty kitty." Faye cooed as Felix jumped onto the couch and dropped it for her. She opened it and pulled forty thousand creds out to drop in the case. "That should cover the emerald one and the ruby one." Not hearing anything come from Max she raised her tired eyes to look at her friend, "Something wrong?"

Max pointed at Felix, "He fetched your creds for you…that's a smart cat. And forty ithousand/i? Man your uncle is generous." She reattached the necklace around her neck and Faye relaxed back on the couch.

"I know. Do you think you can grab the first aid kit for me? It's beside my bed in the back."

"Sure."

When Maxine returned, she lifted her shirt and winced at the nasty cut. Because it was from a laser it had both cut her and burned the skin around the cut, creating a large bruising area. "That looks painful." Max knelled down to begin cleaning the wound before fetching a needle and sterile thread. Faye hissed as the liquid cleaned her wound out, showing her cat-like fangs in the process.

"Oh yeah." Max slapped her forehead before standing up and becoming as serious as she could get. "I was going to ask you, did you splice? It's wrong to mess with your genes like that!"

"Hey, calm down." Faye hissed out from between clenched teeth. "I haven't ever spliced. Never needed to. No, it's some magic crap that Felix and his friends did to me. You can't tell a soul. Only the Catwomen are supposed to know." Her pain cleared enough to talk but when she opened her eyes they were slits again.

"Oh, alright then." Max knelled back down with the needle in hand and a worried look on her face. "Explain it to me then. When I'm done stitching anyway."

Faye squeezed her eyes shut tight and gripped her couch tightly with both hands as her best friend stitched up her side before throwing a gauze pad on it. Finally she breathed out a deep breath and wiped the sweat from her forehead. "Where did you learn to stitch?" She murmured as Max packed her first aid kit back up.

"Med class. I took it as an elective to fill my schedule one year." She brushed off her pants before she sat next to Faye on the couch. "So?"

"When I was a little girl, I was kidnapped from my bed by Slade, my dad's archenemy. I was so little at the time that I didn't know what was going on, I was about eight years old and my ideals of the world were that the bad guys always got caught. My parents were superheroes and so were the rest of my family. Slade told me that he had rescued me from them, that they were the ones who had kidnapped me from one of his friends. I didn't believe him until he showed me a picture of a woman that looked like me.

It was my birth mother. She was a villain and I had never been told that. Apparently she was the daughter of Selina Kyle, the former Catwoman. However, she took on a different identity, the Tigress or something like that. Slade told me that my parents were bad and that he wanted to help me find who I really was. Of course I didn't believe that part, I had seen my parents help people many, many times. It was only a little while later that I tried to escape. By accident, not knowing his own strength on an eight-year-old girl, Slade ended up killing me at some point in time. He was so upset that he didn't know what to do and left me in the alley."

Faye yawned and stretched out, wincing as her new stitches pulled in her burned skin. She looked over at Max who was entranced by her story and smiled slightly. She got up and walked to her mini-fridge to grab a bottle of water before sitting back down and finishing her story.

"So anyway, here I was all dead in the alley when a bunch of cats come up and do some weird magic and I woke up crying. When I looked around, about 20 shadows of cats were disappearing and there was one small black and silver furball sitting next to my head. I immediately picked him up and adopted him right then and there as my own. For some reason, I went back to Slade who was terrified of me. He believed me to be a ghost.

Not long after, the Teen Titans, led by my adoptive dad, came and saved me. I've lived with that information for my entire life and never told my parents once. I lost another life about a week ago, so now I have eight."

Max had grabbed a bottle of fizz from the fridge during Faye's story and was now shaking it back and forth slowly as she thought. "That's some story." She finally said with a smile as she scooted towards Faye and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Faye leaned her head on her pink-haired friend's shoulder with a smile on her lips.

"Thanks Hun. Wanna go grab a bite to eat? On me."

"-and then Kid Flash ended up running straight into a wall." Faye giggled at the memory and Maxine joined in her laughter. Then as if a cold wave had washed over her a deep voice spoke from beside their table.

"Can I talk to Faye alone? Please Max." Terry had his hands shoved in his pockets and his eyes had slight bags beneath them, otherwise he looked just fine.

"Uh, sure. Call me, Faye." Max waved as she walked away and her friend waved back before Terry sat down across from her. Faye placed her chin on her closed fist, supported by her elbow on the table.

"Gonna yell at me again?" She asked in a bored tone, stirring the straw in her coffee. Terry shook his head and ordered a coffee from the waitress before placing his hands on the table and reaching for hers. Reflexively she flinched and pulled away, but upon seeing the pleading look in his face she tentatively placed her hand in his bigger one. He closed his hand around hers gently and looked in her face before looking out of the window.

"I broke up with Dana. She admitted to the cheating and suggested that we split. I couldn't understand why she would do such a thing. Dana had been a sweet girl who was always trying to be understanding and help me out." Terry looked at Faye and ran a hand through his dark hair. "I guess all my excuses and missed dates made her snap. I can't help who I am though."

Faye squeezed Terry's hand as he drank from his coffee and relaxed a little bit. "So what now?" She questioned as she paid for Max's bill, her own and Terry's with a credit card in the table. "Are you going to work tonight?"

Terry nodded in response before sliding out of the booth he was in. He offered his hand out for Faye to take and she did so with a smile. "Let's head to the old man's place. I walked here."

"I drove," Faye retorted, "I'm lazy. Sue me."

The pair of teens showed up at the manor not too long after exiting the café and entered the house. "I'll let you get your yelling before I come down," Faye promised as Terry pulled the lever on the grandfather clock.

"Thanks for the support."

Faye whistled for Ace and let him run outside to do his business. While she leaned in the open doorway, two strong arms wrapped around her form in a comforting way and she relaxed into them. "Is this for you or for me?" She asked as Terry leaned down to rest his head on her shoulder.

"Can it be a little of both?" He asked in a tired voice, closing his eyes in the process.

"It can be what ever you want it to be. I won't be your rebound though." Faye turned and wrapped her arms around Terry, understanding that he just needed to hug someone. She then released him to play tug-o-war with Ace who had brought his favourite rope toy.

"I gotta suit up." He watched her play with the dog a little longer before she released the rope and straightened up, tucking a piece of black hair out of the way. Going against her better judgement she walked towards him and wrapped her arms around his neck. Slowly she pressed her lips to his before pulling just her head back as his arms encircled her waist.

"Go. But here's a piece of advice; don't take anything for face value. The book is not like the cover." With that said, she left his grasp and walked to the garage to head home. Terry stood in the door for a moment longer, thinking, before he turned to go down to the Batcave.

Faye, on the other hand, was zipping on her suit the moment she got home. It was time to make amends and give back what she stole and the payment for what she kept. She grabbed the suitcase and scribbled a quick note to paste on top of it with the code and a sorry. She tied her whip around her waist and applied her lipstick before grabbing Felix and helping him outside.

"Let's go sweetie." She purred out in her Catwoman voice, a mixture of her own and something a little sexier and darker. Much like how Terry made his voice deeper and more frightening as Batman. Traveling how she usually did, only on two legs instead of all four, she made it to the police tower and began her climb to Barbara Gordon's office. There was no point in hiding anything from that old woman; she would always catch on.

Catwoman placed one diamond nail against the window and then paused. She supposed that the commissioner wouldn't be too pleased if she had to replace a window and instead climbed a little higher to a vent. She slipped through it and crawled to where her office was located.

"I'll see you later." Barbara dismissed one of the policemen and then Catwoman dropped down and out of it. Immediately the woman stood up with her gun out, "Who are you?"

The girl sighed and threw the suitcase down on the table. The only thing showing was the number pad and the key to open it. "That's for you. Don't make me regret bringing it in. And I never stole from the bank, I stopped the Jokerz from robbing it blind." She rolled her eyes and walked back to the vent to jump back up when she was stopped.

"Wait. Where did you ever hear about Catwoman? Why are you playing her?" Barbara had a thing against Selina Kyle, Faye could tell. She sighed and walked back to the desk of the commissioner before looking straight into the hardened woman's eyes.

"Because Batgirl, I like old things."

"Who told you that?" She raised her gun again in a threatening gesture before the Catwoman used her whip to yank it out of her hands.

"I have a thing against guns, don't mind me," she discarded it against the wall and looked for cameras before pulling off her mask, holding it in her hand. "I imagine dad told you who I am."

"You're Dick's daughter." Barbara sat down in her chair heavily with a sigh, "It's bad enough that the kid goes and becomes Batman, but now you've become Catwoman."

"She was my grandma. No one else but you and a friend know this now. I trust you to keep my secret. I will swear to not steal even a single candy bar if you swear to leave me be." Faye placed her hands on Barbara's desk with a determined look on her face. "You need all the help you can get. I can do this. I don't mind if the police chase me or whatever, but I can't get arrested and I can't have my identity revealed. It would destroy every superhero in the world."

Barbara looked up at the young woman with a glare set on her face, "You're blackmailing me. You knew that you could get away with things here because of my secrets and everyone else's." Faye smiled at this and spread her hands in a "who knows" gesture before bowing and placing her mask back on.

"I'll follow the rules. You're still my one of my favourite aunts. No matter how long you try to arrest me." Having said her part, Catwoman jumped back up with an unhuman ease and grace into the vent.

Catwoman found herself, and Felix, standing on a roof overlooking an on-going Jokerz attack. As her hips swayed back and forth, her whip-tail did as well. It wasn't that she didn't want to help, but that she already had one obvious wound and didn't need more stitches just yet. It also didn't help that the gang was a very large one, at least 8 members.

"Are you just going to watch?" The oh-so familiar voice of one Batman asked right beside her. She looked up at him with regret in her eyes and then down at the fight.

"I would, but I'm injured from that bank robbery that I stopped. My suit is old fashioned, nothing like your high-tech. What ever I do, I do it with my own skills and cunning," She sighed and picked up Felix from the ground to hug him gently, "Head home kitten, I should be fine. Your friends will find me if I turn out bad." Felix looked up at his mistress with his all-knowing eyes before leaping out of her grip to run in the direction of where ever he usually went.

"Why do you do it like that?" Batman inquired as he looked down at the wounded Catwoman. She smiled up at him with genuine glee in her eyes.

"I like the old ways." Catwoman then leapt off of the building and used a somersault and her whip to land safely on the ground before immediately launching an attack at the closest Joker.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Batman asked Bruce through their com-link. However, the old man didn't answer him and merely stayed silent. "Okay, I'll go help." He opened his wings and leapt down to glide safely on the ground before doing a spin kick into the nearest Joker.

Back in the Batcave, Bruce was having a difficult time trying to understand why his niece would have chosen to become Catwoman. He sighed and looked down at his faithful dog, Ace, who lifting his head to give a bark.

"You always accepted her, even though she was more feline than canine."

But back on the streets, Catwoman was saving Batman's life multiple times for him. She laughed as her whip cracked and snapped, throwing Jokerz all over the place. A well-placed kick to one's throat had him out cold instead of taking swings behind her back. However, even as she saved his life, he saved her own.

"Ahh!" She screamed as one Joker electrocuted her with a taser. As soon as the pain had started, it was over as Batman kicked him out of the way. Soon enough all of the Jokerz were on the ground groaning or passed out.

"Here." Batman tossed the Cat some cords and she nodded before starting to tie each and every Joker up. When they were individually tied, she borrowed one of their own chains and hooked them all up to it and then tied them to a pole.

"Batman saved me! He tied all of the Jokerz up and they are waiting for you between 6th and 7th, by the museum!" Catwoman placed her cell phone by her ear and faked a higher voice that seemed entirely grateful before she hung up. When she slipped it down her shirt, Batman's eyebrow rose high on his mask. Her face lightened up and a giggle escaped her, "I love how even with that cowl on, your eyes widen or narrow and show expression."

She tied her whip to her waist in a loop instead of her tail and approached the Batman seductively. "I've got a secret and you do too. Wanna swap?" She purred out as she backed him into a building. He let out a soft "oof" noise and she hooked some of her nails under his cowl before lifting it up slowly. Batman began to struggle as she used all of her inhuman strength to hold him still. "Don't struggle, I won't show your entire face." Catwoman murmured before slipping her red lips against his revealed ones. He relaxed entirely and placed his hands on her waist as she wrapped her own around his neck.

Catwoman deepened the kiss, tilting her head slightly to give him better access and he took it. His tongue roughly pushed past her lips to roam the cavern of her mouth before she took control and pushed him out with her own. Even with her boots on she was still almost 3 and a half inches shorter and so she raised herself up on her tippytoes to press harder against his mouth. Thankfully her lipstick tasted like raspberry and he eventually caught on. Batman pushed her away a step and her lip jutted out in a pout even though he didn't bother to fix his mask.

"Why?" His arms folded over his chest and a smile spread across her swollen lips. Her arms stretched to the sky as she let her shoulders pop but the winced as her stitches slipped.

"It was fun. What use is extra capabilities when you don't get out and use them?" She pulled off her cat-like cowl and shook out her long hair that had been pinned up. "You don't understand. I'm sure uncle does. Whither you like it or not, I'm out here for good. It'll be the Cat and the Bat again." Faye walked to meet Terry in the shadows and placed her hands on his chest gently. "Please try to understand."

"I do, I mean I'm trying to. Why did you steal all that stuff? Why couldn't you get the old man to let you be Batgirl instead of this? Or come up with a new superhero?" Terry wrapped his arms around her waist against his better judgement, seeing as she seemed so vulnerable without her mask. "Why didn't you tell ime/i?"

"I tried! Things either came up or you didn't pay attention. Anyway, I've always been a bit of a kleptomaniac and Batgirl was so lame. I'm not a Bat; I'm a Cat. Even have the nine lives and everything to go with it. Catwoman seemed reasonable because she was…" Faye hesitated, not willing to go on with her story. Instead she looked up into Terry's eyes and pulled off his cowl fully so that Bruce wouldn't hear her. "She was my grandma. Now that's me, you, Max and Barbara who know. I'm not sure when I'll tell uncle." She handed him back his cowl and he slipped it on fully before helping her with her own.

"You really think you have nine lives?" He asked now in his Batman voice and she smiled and began using her Catwoman tones.

"Oh love, you have no idea. That night I got shot, do you remember? I died. And now there's eight." Catwoman sprung up the wall beside him and began to climb with her diamond nails and natural climbing capabilities whereas he just flew up.

"Do you want a ride back?" Batman asked as he pressed a button on the tool belt around his waist. She hesitated for a moment before nodding and waiting for the 'Batmobile' to show up. With a smile she allowed him to grab onto her as his wings spread and he flew up into the hole that was created in the center. It closed when they entered and she made herself as little as possible in the back of him. His eyebrow rose when he saw that she had somehow made herself quite comfortable. "How do you do that?"

"There are a lot of things that I can do." She purred before he shook his head and sped home.