Author's Note: Please forgive my lack of updating, I've been so stressed out lately that I haven't had very much inspiration to write anything. I am going to do my very best to update at least once a week, most likely on weekends, if I can find some sort of villian or plotline in this. I can't remember what I was going to do with it T.T

Thank you to all my reviewers, people who have favourited this story and me myself because of this story.

VoidMaster - Thank you for your support, I really hope that I make this as interesting as you have found it so far.

Mitchi-chan - It really means a lot to hear that! I am doing my best to make it the least cliché as possible.

Joseph Santiago - Thank you.

This chapter might be a little shorter than the others, please forgive!

Among Explanations

When they arrived in the Batcave, Terry jumped out first and then held a hand out for Faye to take. She uncurled herself from the back and accepted it, pulling herself out in into his arms once again. As her mask came off, her uncle's frown deepened.

"I heard. You don't have to explain. I still don't understand why not Batgirl or your own self?" Bruce looked betrayed at seeing his niece bring up old memories that were painful for him. She shook her head and perched herself on a table, placing her whip on the counter next to her.

"I had to uncle. The cat law requires it."

"What are you talking about?" He thumped his cane on the ground and she winced, squeezing her eyes together before peeking over at him. As if buying time, she removed her diamond claw gloves and placed them next to her on top of her whip.

"Dad thought he had saved me in one piece. I never told him what happened while I was with Slade." Faye looked directly at her uncle, not once giving into his glares.

"Who's Slade?" Terry asked as he removed his cowl with a yawn. He leaned against the computer next to Bruce as Faye explained.

"Her dad's archenemy. So?" Bruce looked at Faye to continue and she leaned back on the table.

"It's simple. When Slade had me kidnapped, I was killed. I died that night uncle." She waited for their outraged and freaked out reactions to simmer down before she continued on with the story that she had told Maxine. "I received multiple things that night. I learned whom my birth mother was and I was brought back to life. All Catwomen are required to take up the mantle when they are revived. I was never told this, I just inherited it along with the abilities."

"What kinds of things?" Terry asked out of pure curiosity and was rewarded with a fanged grin from Faye.

"Not my teeth, paid for those. I have better hearing, sight, smell. An unnatural ability to fit myself into a space that should be too small for my form, better fighting skills and faster reflexes. I think that the running on all fours thing is a little too far, but it just feels more comfortable and I move a lot quicker." She winced as her burn/cut wound began to bleed sluggishly down her side and looked for something to stop it. A cloth was held out for her and she mumbled a thank you to her uncle before pressing it to the wound.

"When did that happen?" He questioned.

"During that bank robbery I was accused of. I didn't touch a single cred. I stopped a gang of Jokerz but I got shot in the process. I'll stitch it up again later." Instead of listening to her, her uncle motioned for Terry to get the first aid kit. He pulled a chair up to her and dabbed at the wound with the cloth she had been using.

"So how many lives left now?" He asked, not looking directly at her face. He knew at least one had to be gone already, seeing as she had been shot in the stomach. Faye hesitated; she had originally planned to tell him later and not tonight.

"Eight. Better than gran-…Bruce, Selina was my grandma."

"I know. I figured it out on my own. While your parents wanted you to be safe as a child, I looked up your birth mother and found out."

"Huh," Faye gave a slight chuckle, "So you've always known. I want you to know then that it's not just my family that gets this gift. My birth mother was the Tigress, yet she had only one life." She groaned as Bruce forced her to lie down for her stitches as Terry returned.

Bruce threaded the needle and started to work as Faye gripped Terry's hand. She gasped and bit down on bar that they had just for this sort of thing. Finally she released the bar to look up at Terry. "Do you know where my cat is? He's never far, no matter what I tell him."

Suddenly the sound of a meowing echoed and Ace, who had left without anyone noticing, entered with a furball in his mouth. He was gentle as he set down Felix on the table. With a large dog grin he received pats from Faye before she cuddled Felix up to her. "This is the cat that, I suppose, will live as long as I do." She stroked his fur and he began to purr in her lap, as the two men looked him over.

"Black with silver spots, very schway."

"Look at his eyes." Bruce said, tilting the cat's chin up for Terry to look at and he grinned. The cat playfully pawed at Bruce's wrinkled hand and he absently patted it on the head. "Reminds me of Selina's cat."

"Now that is ultra schway."

"That's just it uncle," Faye began to speak as she cuddled Felix up to her, "I'm not sure if Felix is the same cat, but every Catwoman has one just like him. Except for a few cases when it was a cat named Midnight or Pounce, still an Egyptian Mau, but a different colour."

Felix gave a soft meow and pawed at her suit as he looked up at her. She grimaced when she caught onto what he was trying to tell her and shook her head. "No Felix. I'm fine." Terry looked up from studying the ground with a raised eyebrow.

"You understand him?" Faye smiled at the teenage boy who was still in his Batman suit but without his cowl.

"A bit. He usually makes his point clear somehow."

"What does he want?" Terry scooted closer to the girl and began to pet Felix's soft fur gently. It was amazing how the cat never got dirty; she never had to give him a bath.

Faye blushed and looked at her lap before looking up at her uncle with a tiny smile. "He wants uncle to help me make a new suit, one better fitted for this era of technology." His blue eyes flashed for a moment with regret and disapproval before he shook his head slowly.

"No. I won't let you endanger yourself any further. What would your parents say?"

Bruce turned and walked back to his computer where he sat and began to type something or another. Faye rolled her eyes as she slipped off of the table to walk over to her uncle in her pleather outfit. "Dad would agree that I need all the help I can get. He doesn't want me to be a hero, but he always told me that it was my choice."

"It is out of the question. Do not argue with me Fayelin."

Faye narrowed her eyes at her uncle before sliding her gloves and cowl back on. She wrapped her whip in a coil on her side and dropped to all fours to race up the stairs with her speed. Felix was not far behind.

"Faye wait!" Terry called, reaching one black glove covered hand out to her retreating form. He folded his arms over his chest and looked at Bruce, "Why won't you let her?"

"I don't want this life for her." He stated simply before going silent as Terry slipped his cowl on and raced up the stairs after her. But not before saying one last thing.

"It's too late for that."

Faye slid one diamond-covered claw into the garage lock to pick it. She strode into the massive collection and hopped onto a black motorcycle. The door opened for her as she sped out just as Terry reached the door in time to watch her speed out of the gates.

The girl growled in frustration and threw her cowl at the closet door as she entered her apartment through the window. "I can't believe…even after I proved myself." She rubbed her temples with her gloved fingers before beginning to strip. Once her pleather suit was removed, she threw on a long button-up shirt before throwing herself at the couch. "If uncle won't help me, I'll do it myself."

She glanced at the clock and groaned before passing out with an arm over her eyes. Felix jumped up beside her from the window and curled up in a ball as he fell asleep as well.

The next morning Faye decided to play hooky from school, seeing as she needed a break from everything. It didn't even matter because her parents were traveling from San Francisco to Jump City constantly to help out the new Teen Titans and they knew that she was a 4.0 student, no matter what her nightly activities were.

She sat curled up on her couch in the outfit she had fallen asleep in with a sketchbook resting on her lap. Carefully her slender fingers danced across the paper, drawing out the basis of her outfit and adding tiny details that she wanted to include. These included a com-link in the ear of her cowl and a mic as well as some of the gear that she knew was included in the Bat suit. Her lips pursed and the telltale lines of a frown creased her forehead. There were only two people that she fully trusted to help her with this, besides those in the Justice League.

One of them had already denied her. And the other, oh he had helped to start with.