Simon woke up to the sound of his alarm at 9:45. He shut it off quickly to prevent the others from waking up. He stepped outside and was surprised to find that Robin was still asleep. He was typically awake before the sun came up.
He grabbed two cups of coffee, poured plenty of sugar in, and unlocked Catwoman's door with his keycard. He set them down, closed the door, and shook her lightly to wake her. She jumped, but he calmed her down quickly and gave her the coffee.
"Lots of sugar?"
"I figured that's how you'd take it. I've got a knack for it."
"The kids awake?"
"They aren't kids, they're just a little younger than me. No, they aren't. Not yet, that is."
"I'll wake Kitrina up. She probably doesn't trust you much right now."
"We talked last night. She seems confused."
"I'll take care of it." She sipped at her coffee, brightening up with each drink.
"Leave the part about the White Death out. That's gonna spark some interest that I don't think we want."
"Agreed. Bruce would probably be pretty pissed about it himself."
"You know, I think we make a pretty good pair. We should team up more often."
"I'll consider it," she joked, smiling. "How are we going to handle all of this, other than what we already covered?"
"The others will probably understand that you just crashed here, I was just worrying about Kitrina's reaction to it. We've got to come up with a game plan, is all."
"Let's do it, then." She got out from under the covers and got dressed; Weaver waited politely, and the two walked out into the main room. Robin was awake now, stretching for the day to come.
"You sure you're alright without putting your mask on?" Simon asked before continuing.
"Yeah. Not really much of a mask, anyways. Hell, refer to me by name if you'd like. Not like I have much of a personal life to defend anymore." He slapped Beast Boy, who was drooling all over the couch. He sputtered back to life, looking around in a daze.
"Wake up. Where's Cy?"
"Uhh... Something about getting waffles downstairs."
"Shit. I'll be back. Selina, get Kitrina like we talked about." He rushed out of the door and hit the elevator. As soon as it hit the ground floor, he walked towards the continental breakfast. Cyborg was sitting at a table eating a worrisome amount of food.
"Hey rust bucket, c'mon. The others are waking up." He looked at him, stuffed a waffle into his mouth, and dumped his plate into the trash.
"About time." They got into the elevator, and Cyborg finally spoke his mind. "Look, man. We're all worried about you. Catgirl's been a mess since that whole incident. We want to know how you're doing."
"I saw a shrink the other day, it helped a bit. And then... Well, you'll see her in a minute."
"Her?"
"Nothing's happening, just got to talk some stuff out. Raven didn't tell you I was seeing a shrink?"
"Didn't say a word."
"Odd." The elevator doors opened and they went back into the suite. Beast Boy was still passed out, but everybody except for the two Cats had gathered around the table.
"There you are," Robin said, relieved to see him. "So, game plan?" Simon briefly went over their plan, explaining how they would take out the means of offense and defense, then take out Black Mask's monetary gains from Gotham in an effort to draw him out.
"So we're trying to piss off the guy that killed all three of you without hesitating to fuck you up in the head?" BB asked, debating the logic behind the plan.
"We're more prepared to take him off the map this time." Selina emerged from her room, Kitrina following close behind.
"Who's that?" Cyborg asked.
"That is the current holder of pretty much all the intel we've got on Black Mask."
"That doesn't give me a name." Simon gave her a look, silently asking her to introduce herself.
"Selina Kyle. Catwoman, for those of you who don't know." A moment of silence came over the group for a moment before BB spoke up again.
"So we're working with villains now?"
"She's not really a villain anymore. Never was, in my eyes. I'm siding with anybody that wants Sionis gone. You're not going to meet all of them, hopefully."
"Great," BB groaned.
"Point is, we hit his supply warehouses, he's got nowhere to collect his stuff, and then things get difficult. He'll lose millions."
"Sounds like a good reason for him to want you dead," Robin commented.
"I think we all know he doesn't need a good reason."
Nightweaver and Catwoman had both separated from the group and gone off on their own. They needed to scout out certain areas, and the entire group had split off into groups of two, save for Raven, who stayed to herself. They'd reached the tip of a crane overlooking a cluster of Black Mask's warehouses. Nightweaver used his armor's optics to zoom in on each one, taking pictures of them.
"Top of the ship in the port over there would be a good spot to take pictures next," Catwoman suggested. He nodded, took a few more pictures, then nodded his head in the direction of the ship and the two took off towards it, swinging from building to building until they reached their target. He started taking pictures, but felt bad for ignoring Selina.
"You mind answering a question for me?"
"Depends on the question."
"Alright, stop me if you don't want to answer, but how in the hell are you not a taken woman?"
"What do you mean?"
"I don't see how you don't even have a real boyfriend. I mean, does Batman count?"
"We're nowhere close to together. We've had our flings, but I wouldn't even suggest that we're a couple. And I think that's just a matter of not having correct opportunity. You don't meet a lot of guys trying to stay hidden, you know?"
"I get that, just surprising. If I didn't know who you were and just saw you on the street, I'd probably hit on you. Just saying."
"Thanks. Nice to know that being a professional thief is natural guy-repellant."
"You know I didn't mean it like that. To be honest, I kinda feel like if I hit on you, you'd slit my throat in my sleep or something." She laughed at him, and his face flushed.
"So you're saying I intimidate you?"
"You are a master at twisting my words!" He reduced the zoom on his visor, searching the skyline for more good viewpoints.
"I'm just saying, there's no shame in being intimidated by a woman."
"Never said there was. Just that it's not really like that. Less intimidating and more just eerily suspicious. I almost feel like you're too nice. Like it's all an act and you're going to fuck me over somehow." He looked over at her, and she was staring at him like he was a moron.
"Look, I've got problems with Sionis, you've got problems with Sionis, it only makes sense to work together. Anything else, I could understand the distrust."
"Sorry. I didn't mean that I didn't trust you. Just paranoid. You always hear all these stories about guys getting tricked into doing stupid shit by pretty girls, you know?"
"You're not very good at explaining yourself."
"Do you at least get some of the point?"
"You don't trust me because of my physical appearance?" she asked sarcastically.
"Never mind. Forget I said anything."
"Pity. You're cute when you're scrambling. And to be entirely honest, it might just be that I've not really been looking for a guy to be with. I kinda just figured it would happen when it would happen. Alright, my turn."
"Hm?"
"Why'd you ask?" He paused for a moment, trying to calculate his response.
"Just curious."
"You sure that's all you're curious about?"
"I already told you, I don't know my situation with those two."
"Doesn't mean you can't have an interest in somebody else. No shame in it."
"Fine, yes. Happy?"
"Yes what?" She was practically smiling ear to ear, torturing him as she was.
"I have entertained the idea that being with you could be fun. Satisfied yet?"
"Nope. I'll be satisfied when you go through with it."
"Oh, so I'm not just alone in this?"
"We're not playing this little game."
"Yes we are, and you know it."
"I have entertained the idea that being with you could be fun. Satisfied yet?"
"Yeah, I can deal with that."
"Easy to please, good to know."
"Better than high maintenance. Let's head out to another viewpoint, we've gotten all we c-" His communicator buzzed, and he saw that Robin had sent him a message.
Meet back at hotel. Catgirl and Cyborg found something we all need to worry about.
Be there in a few. Left the door unlocked.
"What was that?"
"Need to head back to the hotel."
"Why?"
"Somebody found something. No idea what." Catwoman grabbed his head and pulled his helmet off, unlocking the armor joints as she pulled it off. She gave him a quick kiss, then handed him the helmet back.
"That never happened."
"Just saying, I have a button to take the facemask part off." He pressed the button on his forearm and the metal withdrew deeper inside of the helmet.
"That would've been nice to know." He slipped the helmet back on, locked it into place, and cracked his neck.
"Ready to go?"
"I guess."
They arrived at the hotel, and Nightweaver walked into the suite, Catwoman following closely behind him. Robin and the others were already inside, all looking worried.
"What is it?" Weaver asked, hoping it wasn't as bad as he imagined.
"Catgirl and Cyborg were exploring in the south side warehouses when... Well, they can explain better," Robin said, shifting attention to the other two. Kitrina stepped forward, Cyborg right behind her. She looked more composed than last time, oddly enough.
"We found a passageway into an underground substructure beneath the warehouse. Cyborg started scanning, and he found something that made us a little worried."
"Black Mask's got two fallback plans. One, he's been exposing already dangerous animals to different experiments. I couldn't tell exactly, but it seems like he's got a mutant army ready to launch. I doubt he could control them, but he could let them run wild."
"Number two?" Catwoman asked.
"Well, I figured that the radiation levels were normal for something like that, but as we continued exploring the substructure, they kept getting higher. I can't confirm for sure, but I can say with eighty percent certainty that he's got some kind of nuclear weapon." Weaver hung his head down, the stakes now much higher.
"Shit. We need to call in Batman on this." They all nodded their heads in agreement.
"Weaver and I can go and get Batma-" Catwoman tried to say, but was interrupted.
"No, I'll go alone. You help them with planning and scouting. I don't know when I'll be back, but we need to act fast."
Nightweaver jumped across the ditch separating the Batcave and the area outside. Nobody was inside, but he noticed that the walkway into Wayne Manor was open. Alfred must have been cleaning. He climbed up, knocking on the wall in an effort to announce himself. Bruce poked his head around a corner, book in hand.
"What are you doing here?"
"We've got problems."