The first to reach her threw a wild haymaker that she easily danced around. Gritting his teeth irritably, he followed up with a right cross that the leather-clad criminal easily telegraphed and deflected with a rising block to his wrist then a thrust front kick to his lower jaw.

Staggering him in-place, she raised her boot even further as his head jolted backwards groggily before arcing around his shoulder. Looping her calf against his extended arm, she emphatically hyperextended the elbow towards her resulting in a fractured elbow joint.

Immediately shrieking in pain as the symphonic crack sounded around his now limp forearm, Catwoman maintained the inverted armbar maneuver until another thug stalked towards her periphery wielding brass knuckles.

Instinctively kicking off of his buckling knee, she caught the charging man with a standing side kick to the mouth then planted both boots against the injured man's torso.

Catapulting him backwards into two of his colleagues with a powerful dropkick, she backflipped athletically in the air before landing on her feet.

Not deterred by her unorthodox offense, another thug came at her with both fists swinging towards her face. Contorting to avoid his sloppy barrage of strikes, she intercepted his last fist with both hands. Leaning backwards to support her raised front leg, she delivered a powerful side thrust kick to his temple.

Seeing another man rushing her from behind through her periphery, she used the same leg to propel backwards and drove her booted heel into his chest with authority to send him reeling.

Refocusing on the henchman facing her, Catwoman slithered around his forearm and planted a savage back spinning heel kick to the base of his skull.

As soon as he flopped to the ground in a dazed heap, a new knife-wielding goon stepped up to take his place.

Forcing Kyle on the defensive with a series of slashes and jabs, she ducked his third thrust before parrying with a sudden kick to the gut that instantly winded him.

Grabbing onto his knife arm, Catwoman was about to retaliate when his colleague lunged at her with a baseball bat. Holding out his outstretched knife arm to block the swinging bat aimed at her cowl, the baseball bat instead fractured the man's arm at the elbow.

"Shit!" the man cursed angrily, rearing back for another swing.

But before he could do so, Catwoman rammed her palm into his unprotected throat to send him reeling as the knife wielding goon nearly doubled over clutching his limp arm.

Raising her leg inches above her head in a vertical stand up split, she brought her booted heel down on his skull in a brutal axe kick that nearly decapitated him.

Not a moment later, she heard the familiar click-click of a gun and extended her bullwhip. Cracking the versatile weapon in all directions to momentarily ward off her assailants, she took off in the opposite direction just as the gunman was able to let off a few unfocused shots at her.

Steadying his arm just as she reached the end of the dance floor, Catwoman feinted escape to give him a clear shot at her back before cartwheeling around a still groggy henchman.

Flipping over his unsuspecting head, she snaked around his muscular frame using his beefy neck to wrap both legs around. Spinning around his torso until she had one leg still draped around his neck while the other hooked around his leg, she quickly grabbed his flailing right arm and tucked it underneath her armpit.

While all this was going on, the gunman was forced to hold his fire as Catwoman continued to slither around him. Unable to risk accidentally shooting his colleague, his moment of hesitation proved advantageous for the feline fatale.

Pausing for a brief moment to grab something from her belt, she capitalized on his indecision by hurling a pair of steel bolas towards him. The spherical projectiles coiled around his wrist and caused him to instinctively fire at the ceiling.

Wrenching backwards violently on his trapped arm, the man's body convulsed violently as she dislocated his shoulder. Just before releasing the octopus hold, she knocked him out with a hard elbow to the face.

Glaring up just to see a mountain of a man barrel towards her, she instinctively arched her back towards the floor to evade his extending forearm before jumping to her feet.

As the man whirled around, he was greeted by Catwoman launching herself backwards and maneuvering her legs towards his oblivious face. Smacking him square in the face with a dexterous bicycle kick, he collapsed to the floor while she flexed backwards into a standing position.

Given no time to breathe, she was met by two other henchmen who attacked in tandem.

Catching the first goon's punch, she leveled him with a piercing frontal kick to the jaw then after twisting the same knee in mid-air nailed the other one with an explosive side kick.

She then lashed out with a brutal low side kick to the back of his knee, causing him to grunt while falling into a crouching position.

Kicking off of his bended knee, she utilized all four limbs to entrap the two henchmen. Squeezing the first thug's head in a headlock, she scissored the other man's head in between her powerful thighs.

Bringing her elbows and knees together, she subsequently bashed both of their skulls against one another. Collapsing on top of each other unconscious, Catwoman was again pressed into action when yet another thug kicked out at her.

Grabbing his foot before it could connect, she stretched it outwards using the man's forward momentum against him. Forcing him into an uncomfortable split position on the dance floor, the final coup de grace to the humiliating counter was an unforgiving knee to the face. An explosion of crimson spewed from his now broken nose as her leg rammed into him, jolting his head backwards against the floor.

Sprinting towards the next hostile who had just produced his handgun, she was already on him a split second before he could pull back the hammer.

First digging her right heel around his waistline as a springboard, she swung her left leg upwards in a rising arc that clipped him off the side of his face. Continuing to run up his torso like a wall, she launched off his face with both feet propelling herself into a versatile back flip in mid-air. Thrown backwards against the floor, his gun skidded out of reach while she landed in an acrobatic pose.

The next henchman was easily dispatched by a jumpspin kick to the jaw, quickly falling to the wayside as she broke into a running start towards the gunman.

Pouncing on him just as before he could pull the trigger, she emphatically kicked the gun out of his grasp with a middle reverse roundhouse. Spinning on her heel to continue the flow of momentum, she rocked him with a devastating high reverse roundhouse to his jaw. Nearly spinning a complete 360 with his back now to her, she finished the tenacious trifecta with a sweeping kick to his teetering ankles that instantly downed him.

Craning her head towards the remaining few, she was caught off-guard by a powerful right hand to the mouth. Stumbling backwards in a groggy stupor, she was struck again from behind with a forearm shot to her back.

Wincing heavily as she tasted the metallic tinge of her own blood, she grunted as another thug kicked her hard in the kidneys twice.

"Pick the bitch up!" one of them ordered, prompting the other one to manhandle her to her feet using a baseball bat pressed up against her throat.

As her vision cleared, she was being forced up on her tiptoes facing an incensed henchman with blood trickling down his deformed nose. Cracking his metal-augmented knuckles, he nodded towards the man behind her who had his bat wrapped around her neck.

"I usually don't take pride in beating a woman to death, but I think I can make an exception for you Catwoman," he sneered vindictively, charging forward to do just that.

Instead, he ran into a stiff kick to his groin that had him heaving for air and groaning inwardly. Tensing up as she felt the baseball bat begin to choke her, she raised her right leg upwards into a vertical stand up split. The pointed toe of her boot caught the man in the chin, causing his grip over the bat to slacken.

Snarling his visceral frustration, the thug in front of her charged back in but was stopped by both feet this time.

Bringing both knees up to her chest before launching him towards his chest once he was within range, the sudden dropkick sent him skidding across the dance floor.

Stunning the bat-wielding henchman with a brutal headbutt against his cheekbones, she shrugged off her initial grogginess then sauntered towards her dazed adversary.

Unsheathing her signature razor-sharp claws attached to each glove, Catwoman waited until the man had clambered to his feet before pouncing on him.

Absolutely unloading on him with a barrage of lightning-quick strikes, she became a feral blur that was unrelenting in her assault. Landing at least a dozen alternating clawed attacks on his face and chest within a matter of seconds, the one-sided flurry of offense finally subsided once the man was barely able to stand.

Snapping his head sideways with a powerful crescent kick across his face, she waited until the momentum behind the kick spun him in the opposite direction before drilling into his lower back with a nasty flying knee.

Now straddling his torso from behind, she raised his drooling face above the ground then smashed it against the floor tile with a sickening thud.

Standing up above the unconscious grunt, she sighed as the last henchman charged forward aiming to blindside her from behind with the baseball bat.

Ducking his overhead swing with ease, a swift knee to the groin quickly stifled his advances. From there, Catwoman snaked underneath his armpit and tore the baseball bat out of his loosened grip. Another low kick aimed at the back of his leg brought him down into a kneeling position.

The barely cognizant thug glared upwards bleakly only to see Catwoman club him over the head with his own weapon and knock him back down in a pool of his own drool.

Letting the bat clatter to the floor next to his barely stirring body, she surveyed her surroundings for any further hostilities.

What she did see were about a dozen men either unconscious, wishing they were or clutching their broken limbs.

"Keep earning those paychecks, boys," she remarked, a stark contrast to their moaning and groaning.

Strutting off the dance floor, she wiped a line of crimson from her lower lip before a clicking sound to the right prickled her honed ears.

Throwing herself to the side, she took cover behind a fallen table as a gargantuan glob of sticky residue impacted the spot she was just standing on. Only seconds later, the apparently acidic substance began to dissolve and eat away at the floor.

"It seems that we meet again, Catwoman. Perhaps for the last time," came the voice of Killer Moth, who was readjusting his patented cocoon gun.

"I'm sorry, but your voice isn't familiar. Have I stolen from you before?" she called out from behind the table.

His response was unloading another acidic glob at the overturned table. Jolting her head sideways to avoid the initial wide spray, she quickly sprang to her feet and pounced for higher ground as the sizzling hole created by the blast only enlarged.

First grabbing onto a PA speaker, she quickly ascended up the rest of the wall using her pointed fingertips to sprightly vault over the guardrail unto the second floor.

Not even a second after she had climbed up, a masculine figure seemingly materialized out of nowhere and rammed into her with the force of a freight train.

Tackling her over the metal railing with his hands clasped around her back, they both plummeted back down to the ground level with Catwoman being primed to take the brunt of the impact.

Crashing hard through a wooden table, Selina immediately felt the effects of falling at least fifteen feet backfirst into an unwelcoming landing. Pain immediately shot up her lower spine as she writhed in searing pain.

Meanwhile, her unknown assailant merely grimaced slightly while towering above her prone form. Selina could barely make out his army fatigues before Bird grabbed her by the neck and hauled her up.

"My apologies senorita," Bird told her without remorse before wrapping his forearms around her neck and turning her over in a sleeper hold.

"I suggest you kill her now Mr. Drory, before I do," he calmly urged his flamboyant partner, who had just reloaded another acid cartridge into his gun.

Clawing desperately at his tightening forearm looped around her trachea, her starry haze had cleared only for Killer Moth to come into view with the muzzle of his weapon level with her chest.

"Hold her still, Bird. One shot oughta put the cat to bed, permanently," Killer Moth declared proudly, taking aim with his signature weapon.

Just before he could pull the trigger and do just that, Catwoman swung her foot backwards out of desperation and kicked Bird directly between the legs.

Feeling his pained breath caress her neck as he instinctively lurched over, she reared back her left forearm and caught him with a nasty elbow to the nose to create some distance.

With a deft flick of her wrist, she snapped the bullwhip in Moth's direction and just barely managed to alter the gun's trajectory. Knocking the gun slightly off-target, his intended acidic blast instead splashed onto another round table.

Rearing back her whip to coil around his neck, she suddenly found heavy resistance from behind.

Whirling back around, she was struck square in the mouth by a startling right cross courtesy of the now seething Latin mercenary who had grabbed hold over her whip.

Stumbling backwards groggily, Bird continued to press his advantage by clasping unto her forearm and driving his knee into her gut.

With his knee still wedged into her waistline, he brought his fist down in an attempt to knock her down but she instinctively whirled around his hand's downward spiral and retaliated with an clawed palm strike to the jaw.

Checking her periphery with just a split second to react, she raised her back leg and connected just barely with a hook kick that knocked Moth's specialized gun off-trajectory just as another acidic bundle exploded from the muzzle.

Aiming a resounding side kick at his midsection, she yelped in surprised as Bird snapped out of his stunned stupor and instead caught her foot in mid-air.

Twisting her ankle counterclockwise, she bit her lip to swallow the spikes of pain prickling her trapped leg before kicking off the ground with her free leg and maneuvering her body mid-air in a desperate enziguri.

Just barely grazing his face with the heel of her boot cutting across his cheekbone, it was enough for him to relinquish his grasp nonetheless.

Retreating back a few steps to regain her bearings, her eyes darted between Killer Moth and Bird as they began converging upon her menacingly.

Just when matters couldn't get any worse, the sound of slow clapping emanated from behind.

A much more confident and gleeful Don Tony mockingly clapped his hands at her efforts, his newfound swagger bolstered by five gun-toting henchmen including Turner. His right hand was bandaged from being stepped on, but that didn't deter him from wearing a wide grin from corner to corner.

"I see you've met my newest hired help, Catwoman. I propositioned these fine gentlemen while you were busy dealing with those useless sacks of shit," he spat venomously, glowering resentfully at the whimpering heap of humanity still on the dance floor before turning back to her. "Turns out you've pissed off a lot of people in this town, them included. Guess you're feeling pretty stupid for coming here all alone, huh?"

"Not as stupid as you're gonna feel in a few moments," she countered before crossing her arms confidently. "So just to get this straight, you honestly believe that Bane's illegitimate son and Insect Man over here could take me out?"

"Its...it's Killer Moth," the insect-themed supervillain interjected weakly, only for Catwoman to roll her eyes.

"Whatever!" Tony snapped almost out of exasperation before taking a deep breath and composing himself. "Point is you ain't walking out of this one, bitch. You're surrounded with no way out. These men are gonna-"

CRAAACK!

Before he could even finish his sentence, the skylight exploded into an avalanche of fallen glass shards that showered down upon them. Every person aside from Catwoman instinctively flinched and cowered away from the raining glass.

Then, a lone shadow descended upon them.

Emulating the flying form of a bat while still in descent, the figure landed directly behind the cat burglar before standing to his full height with his back touchings hers.

Surveying the circle of hostiles, the slits on Batman's cowl narrowed as he stared down Bird and Killer Moth.

"You were saying?" Catwoman smiled casually, tilting her head to the side as Tony's cocky demeanor immediately morphed into a flustered and frightened expression. His entourage had their guns drawn and aimed at the duo, but hesitation and fear was written all over their faces.

"T-t-that's….n-n-not..y-you…you're n-not supposed to be h-here," Tony stammered in a panicked state, his lips quivering nonstop at the mere presence of the Dark Knight.

"Boss, you're stuttering again," Turner whispered, keeping his gun trained on Catwoman.

"Finally, things get interesting," Bird commented eagerly, his anticipatory response clearly in stark contrast to nearly everyone else.

"I didn't need your help," Catwoman hissed angrily over her shoulder, only for Batman to reply with a stoic "You're welcome."

"Batman!" Finally breaking the stunned silence, Killer Moth fearlessly stood up to his long-time nemesis much to the detective's utter chagrin.

"This rivalry between the two of us has raged on for years now, but tonight it comes to an end. Tonight Dark Knight, I will exploit every chink in your armor and render you a defeated and humbled man who has not choice but to embrace the truth. The truth that I, Killer Moth am your obvious superior," he declared confidently, his hubris growing with every word.

"You know, we've had this conversation before Batman. Remember that, hmm? Remember the time that I almost got-"

Batman suddenly struck Killer Moth with an emphatic right cross to his mask, knocking him down to the ground before he could finish his last sentence.

The supervillain was unconscious before he even hit the ground, his mind already drifting into slumber with his body folding into a fetal position on the floor.

"Anyone else?" Batman suggested calmly, his words punctuating a startled silence between the gangsters until Bird answered his challenge.

Charging the Dark Knight head-on with his shoulders parallel to the detective's midsection, Bird tackled him full-throttle away from the other combatants.

Quickly wrapping his forearm around Bird's neck in a stiff headlock, he dug his heels into the ground as the mercenary continued to propel them both through the section of tables and chairs.

Manipulating his own forward momentum, Batman finally halted his charge and flung him sideways in one fluid hip swivel.

With the other gunmen still in a petrified state, Catwoman took advantage and uncoiled her trusty whip. Snapping it around one thug's neck, she looped her own leg around the leather to add body weight before wrenching back violently.

Dragging the surprised man stumbling forwards, she stunned him with an explosive roundhouse to the jaw that spun him around towards his comrades in a groggy daze.

Rearing back her whip, she grabbed hold of his shoulders for support before jumping into the air and catapulting him into the other thugs with a powerful dropkick to his spine.

The few thugs who weren't knocked down by their flailing comrade immediately opened fire forcing Selina to vault over a table and sprint parallel to the bar counter.

Bullet after bullet exploded the leftover alcoholic drinks and bottles while just barely missing the slender Catwoman. The guns continued to bark their lead spittle until she flipped over a bar stool with a beer bottle in one hand.

Flinging the glass container in their direction, they immediately ducked for cover as the bottle smashed up against a pillar.

The trio sprang back up as Catwoman spread her whip out, the two sides cast in an uneasy ceasefire for just a moment's respite.

Then, she jumped atop a table and built up momentum before launched herself on them.

"You may have defeated my comrade Batman, but his mission is as clear to me now as it was all those years ago." Rising to his feet slowly after landing on his shoulder, Bird reached into his jacket and produced a Bowie knife.

Narrowing his eyes at the introduction of the blade, Batman circled the now armed former disciple strategically pinpointing an opening.

"There's no honor in following a madman's death wish, Bird," he pointed out.

"Perhaps you are right. But there is honor in settling an old debt," he conceded, punctuating his last word with a warrior cry before lunging at the Dark Knight with the knife in hand.

Slashing and swiping in calculated strokes, Bird's knife failed to slice into Batman who had become a blur dodging each of his attacks.

Jerking backwards a fourth time to avoid the knife's downward slash before intercepting the next one, Batman instinctively caught his wrist just as it was about to plunge downwards again and twisted his arm out in a single clockwise motion.

Grunting as Batman continued to cinch in the wristlock, Bird refused to give in and instead began pounding away at his torso with frantic fists to his gut. Ignoring the increased pressure on his elbow joint, Bird pushed forward with all his might and drove his shoulder into Batman's already bruised ribcage.

Knocking the vigilante against a wall, he continued to wrestle for control over his knife with the brunt of his weight pressed up against Batman. Repeatedly ramming his shoulder into Batman's midsection until he could wrench his trapped arm free, he attempted to stab Batman through the wall but the Dark Knight intercepted the blade with his gauntlet spikes.

Hitting him hard with an elbow shot with the same arm, Batman shoved Bird away only for the unrelenting mercenary to spring back up and tackle him off his feet.

This time slamming Batman against a bar counter, he brought his knife down on Batman's chest insignia with both hands only for the masked man to catch his wrist just as the tip hovered dangerously above the battleworn armor.

"With your death I will find peace Batman," he whispered gleefully, as Batman gritted his teeth in intense concentration.

"Shoot her, damn it!" came the exasperated cry of Don Tony who was cowering next to an overturned table, watching helplessly as another one of Catwoman's patented roundhouses felled yet another one of his entourage.

One of the remaining thugs finally managed to reload his weapon and opened fire on the cat burglar just as she took off in the opposite direction. Running after her with his shots trailing wildly off-target, he stopped as she jumped unto the exotic dancer's platform and pounced towards the stripper pole.

Building up speed as she swung around the pole in a full rotation, Catwoman took her momentum and directed it towards the unsuspecting gunman. Letting go just as he began to climb onstage, she barreled into him with both feet crashing into his chest. Launching him over a table before collapsing backfirst on the floor, Catwoman quickly crawled atop his groaning form and knocked him unconscious with a well-placed mounted punch.

Grabbed from behind by yet another thug, she was manhandled up to her feet and lifted up to the air thanks to the man's Herculean stature. Thrashing and squirming against his bulging muscles wrapped around her neck, her vision was suddenly clouded by a thug sporting a black eye staggering towards her with a knife in hand.

"I'm gonna enjoy carving out that pretty little fa-!" Not even bothering to hear his threat, Catwoman brought her leg up and kicked him square across the jaw with a menacing roundhouse.

Now teetering back and forth with his knees threatening to buckle, Catwoman brought her clawed glove behind her and raked across the thug's face just as he was about to constrict even further around her neck.

Bringing her knees level with the reeling thug's chest, she kicked off of his torso to send him careening over a table while the rush of momentum propelled the thug from behind backwards.

He immediately let go as his back collided with the bar counter. Scurrying around his dazed and wincing body, Catwoman's arm roamed across the counter before her fingers brushed up against something.

Turning around to face his feline opponent, he was instead greeted by a wine bottle smashing over his temple.

Flopping flat on the ground with alcoholic drink plastered all over his face, Catwoman towered above his prone form still holding half of the broken bottle.

"Drinks on me," she said dryly, tossing it to the side before turning towards the still cowering Don Tony with her hip cocked out to the side confidently.

"Mr. Tony, I think it's about time we had that conversation," she said, stepping over his downed entourage on her way to him.

Half straddling Batman's waistline with his knife held at an uneasy stalemate above his heart, the deadly tug-of-war between the two for control of the weapon was finally beginning to inch ever so slightly in Bird's favor.

Already smiling victoriously as his knife shakily began to pierce Batman's armor, his overconfidence was only amplified once he saw the detective's straining expression.

Too fatigued to overpower Bird at his own game, Batman made a split second decision and shifted all his energy to his lower body before thrusting his hip upwards.

Just like he predicted, Bird was offset by this sudden maneuver and tripped over his own momentum. Capitalizing as always, Batman lifted up his cowl and smashed Bird's face in with a headbutt that connected with a satisfying smack.

Lurching backwards groggily as crimson red spewed from his now broken nose, he cursed wildly in his native tongue as Batman merely cracked his neck and beckoned him forward.

Seething through his teeth, he charged right back in swinging with his knife only to carve through thin air. Ducking underneath his knife arm, Batman halted his mad dash with a fierce knee to the gut that effectively winded him. Nearly doubling over in pain, Batman continued by grabbing the back of his head and slamming him face first into the transparent metallic surface.

Slumping over the counter with his now limp hand involuntarily dropping the knife in the process, Bird just barely managed to steady himself and grabbed onto something for support with Batman grasping his shoulder to deliver a finishing blow.

Before he could do just that, Bird suddenly reared back towards him with a bar stool in both hands. Swinging it like a baseball bat, his desperation move sailed harmlessly over Batman's shoulders as the detective ducked in place.

The bar stool instead demolished the entire wine display shelf as it escaped Bird's fingers, leaving him unarmed while providing Batman the necessary opening to retaliate.

Rocking him with a swift uppercut to the jaw, he then spun on his feet and planted a firm back heel kick to his sides that sent the mercenary flying over a table.

Crumpling to the floor, he frantically scrambled to his feet as Batman stalked around the fallen table. Now brandishing a much smaller but jagged-edged knife on one hand, he neglected to even smear away the crimson red trickling down his fractured nose and instead stared his longtime adversary down.

Eyes flaring up in pure hatred, Bird simply charged at Batman again with nothing left to lose. Just as he was preparing to sidestep and parry, he heard a lighter series of footsteps approaching him from behind and decided to improvise.

First ducking the blow as Bird instead swiped the air above his neck, Bird's follow-up attempt was stifled when Catwoman somersaulted onto Batman's back and catapulted the mercenary back with a dropkick to the sternum.

Knocking him back against a wall as the knife clanged to the floor, Catwoman landed in front of Batman wearing a smug grin.

"Oh and for the record. Cats eat birds," she smiled, flashing him a taunting wink that only goaded the already enraged mercenary into charging forward.

Arching her back towards the ground in a reverse handstand to avoid his sloppy forearm, Bird instead ran into a right cross courtesy of the Dark Knight. Stopping him dead in his tracks, his knees started to buckle as the effects of the blow began to set in.

Planting a boot on his lower back that launched him forward, he staggered directly into a thunderous roundhouse from Catwoman which snapped his head sideways back towards Batman.

Stumbling forwards blindly with his arms swaying limply by his sides, he walked straight into a momentous right hook from Batman that finally hammered him into the ground for the count.

"Well that was fun," Catwoman remarked cheerfully, stepping over the unconscious Bird before sauntering past Batman.

Wincing as she brushed past his cape, her fingers felt up around a knife cut on her shoulder that had sliced through the leather and was now skin-deep. Before she could tend to it further, one of the previously downed thugs came to and clambered to his feet. Leaning on a table for support, the man clutched his sides sorely as he dashed towards the exit. It was Turner.

Unclipping her whip with a sigh, she was about to crack it towards when Batman clasped her outstretched forearm.

"Don't," he told her simply, electing to simply watch as Turner knocked over a few chairs in his daze before fully regaining his bearings.

"He's getting away," Selina growled impatiently, tugging her arm free and reattaching the bullwhip as he stumbled out of range.

As soon as Turner disappeared around the corner, Batman reached into his utility belt and pulled out a rectangular tracking device.

"I planted a tracer under his car as soon as I got here. He's heading back to Falcone's hideout to report what's happened here," he said, giving her the tracking device. "You can track his car back to where Carmine is hiding out currently and find the answers to what you're looking for there."

Regarding the device briefly before slipping it in her cleavage, she crossed her arms. "And how exactly do you know all of this?"

"Him and I have had run-ins in the past," he revealed simply, leaving it at that.

"Figures. Mind telling me how you found me here? I didn't recall giving you permission to stalk me last time," she demanded.

Batman merely glared at her for a moment before a look of realization crossed her face.

"Oh." Cooing sensually as she sauntered up to the ever stoic detective, she cocked her head to the side as she stared up at his emotionless expression. "You planted a tracer on me back in Arkham City without me knowing, didn't you? Guess I have been rubbing off on you after all."

"I needed to keep an eye on you. Make sure you didn't get yourself in another predicament like you did with Dent," he defended, as Kyle began affectionately running her gloved hand up his chest and fingering his bat symbol.

"So you do care. Well I certainly appreciate the chivalry handsome, but I can take care of myself. Since you're already here though, maybe we can both take care of each other," she purred in a husky whisper, wrapping her arms around her neck and standing on her tiptoes with her lips seeking to explore his.

"I need your help Selina," he grunted before she could initiate physical contact.

Her seductive drawl morphed into an irritable scowl as she dropped back down on her heels.

"Of course you do," she sighed bitterly, her playful demeanor now evaporating as she stalked away with her back facing him.

"Well last time I gave up the score of a lifetime to save your ungrateful ass so I'm guessing now you want me to empty all my offshore accounts or something?" she remarked cynically, resting her elbows on a table.

"It's Ivy, Selina," he told her, the mere mention of Pamela Isley's alter ego causing Selina to stand up straight and turn back towards him.

"She made you water her stupid plants too, huh?" she smirked sarcastically, her faint attempt at levity failing to amuse Batman.

"Isley has Robin. She's keeping him somewhere in Arkham City. I don't know where exactly, but I do know that she's planning something. Something far more intricate and deadly than I ever thought she was capable of," Batman continued to explain.

Pausing after hearing the slight anguish in Batman's voice, she reluctantly dulled her trademark sarcastic edge.

"Look I'm sorry about what happened to the Boy Wonder, but you'd have better luck talking to Quinn about whatever she's planning. Pam and I just don't talk that much anymore," she said.

His expression darkened at her feigned naiveté. "I know you've had contact with Ivy back in Arkham City. The seismic activity I picked up underground next to Strange's confiscated goods vault indicated that she had a lot to do with your 'side-project.' For your own safety, I need to know what you know."

Grinding her teeth together, she threw up her hands in exasperation before begrudgingly admitting, "Okay fine. I needed help getting in Strange's vault. You were busy being a brooding stick in the mud, and Pamela was the only other person who didn't want to shoot me on sight. I tried playing nice, but she sent her zombie soldiers after me, hung me upside down for almost two hours and then threatened to have her plants eat me until I agreed to save some rare weed. I get into Strange's vault, but after being held against my will all night and lectured to about how many different toxins she can kill me with in the most excruciating ways possible maybe I'm not feeling so charitable after all. Don't tell me she's still hung up about that."

"When she was detained in a cell following Protocol 10, the officers guarding her reported that she kept going on about one thing. For days on end. She vowed revenge on all of humanity as usual, but four people specifically. Me. Gordon. Strange. But most of all, Selina Kyle," he stated, glaring at her.

"How was I supposed to know she was going to take things this far?"

"She always takes things too far," Batman grated.

Stepping on a thug flat on his back before sitting on the bar counter, she stretched out her midsection sorely before saying, "Your point?"

"You're the only other human being she trusts, or at least trusted in the past. Whatever scheme she's devised clearly involves her capturing Robin, then allowing herself to be taken into GCPD custody. What comes next could affect me, then you, and the people of Gotham by the end of the night. If you can tell me anything from your previous partnership with her, I may be able to stop all of this before it's too late."

Thinking for a moment, Selina bit back her initial response before coming clean.

"Teaming up with the bimbo brigade was the worst decision I ever made since putting on this suit," she started to reminiscence, before adding with a sardonic grin, "Besides meeting you of course."

"Harley was easy to manipulate, but Pamela saw right through me. Apparently she was the only one worthy enough to put thoughts in Quinn's empty head, so I was always the odd woman out. Didn't help when you showed up all grim and gruesome and I had to go easy to protect our arrangement. We had a couple of safe houses across the city, but I was only clued in on a couple. There's only one hideout that I know of within the confines of Arkham City. That old restaurant that the Maronis used to own in the Bowery before the massacre. Falcone paid off Mayor Sharp to condemn the place and leave it be after it was cleaned up. It was morbidly ideal, so naturally they both jumped at setting up home base there. Red always did love the smell of freshly rotted corpses, go figure. If you don't find the kid there, maybe you'll at least get an idea of what she's planning," she told him.

"Thank you Selina," he nodded in appreciation, typing a series of commands into his gauntlet.

"Hey, what are friends for? Or at least, whatever we are," came her jaded response as she pushed off of the table and sashayed past him.

"Now that we're done trudging up memory lane, I have an old friend I've been meaning to sink my claws into," she called back, stepping over a whimpering thug.

"Be careful Selina. Gotham's changed in my absence. The criminals have become more reckless, unpredictable. Carmine Falcone may be the least of your troubles," he advised.

"So why are you still wasting time in Arkham City?" she snapped back. "I get it with Ivy, but you've practically lived in that place ever since it got shut down. No offense, but your blueboy isn't exactly putting the fear back on the streets."

"I need to make sure every single inmate is successfully transferred back to Blackgate, Isley included. The city will rest a lot easier when the monsters of Arkham City are away from innocents and can get the help that they need," he conveyed adamantly.

Just hearing his resolute statement brought a smile to Selina's face, who walked up to his imposing form and ran her hand up his chiseled torso.

"Yeah, I get it. Well don't forget to breathe while carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders, okay?" she sighed, letting her hand trail down his chest.

"I'll make this up to you when it's over, Selina," he told her, before adding with a knowing grin, "For everything."

"Of course you will," she smiled in her trademark snark, echoing her earlier words before sauntering away.

Stopping herself only a moment later, she closed her eyes in thought for a split second before coming to a decision. "You know, you could start making it up to me right no-"

Turning around, she found herself talking to noone in particular. The Batman had seemingly disappeared in thin air, without so much as a sound to mark his sudden departure.

Eyes flickering briefly up to the broken skylight where the detective had first entered, she smirked to herself and turned on her heel towards the exit.

"Almost got 'im."


Authors Note: So, first off apologies for the extended wait on this chapter. Unfortunately I was blindsided by school earlier this year which threw me off a bit, but thanks again to everyone who continues to read and post feedback on this story. Now thankfully, I'm back on track and ready to go. I had a lot of fun writing this half of the chapter and hopefully it shows through in the character interactions throughout. I also hope I did Killer Moth justice because he's one of my favorite obscure Batman villains and I knew I just had to fit him in this story somehow. The story update is still a work-in-progress as I'm finalizing the overall outline, but it should be implemented either by the end of this chapter or the beginning of the next one. Speaking of, the rest of this chapter will be coming sooner than later so definitely look for an update in the next 1-2 months. Again, I am hell-bent on finishing this story up so rest assured that I will NOT be taking another years-long hiatus like I did before. As always, reviews, constructive PMs and other forms of feedback are always welcome and encouraged. Whether it's positive or negative, I truly appreciate any critique that you have on the story, characters, and my writing style in general. Continuing to read my story also helps out a lot, and only motivates me further to continue writing. Thanks again for all the support! :)