Rogues Gallery #1 - CATWOMAN

Selina Kyle stretched out in her tub with a luxurious sigh, allowing the bubbles to froth and float around her. Lazily, she sipped her glass of merlot and finished the front page article of the Gotham Gazette. A black cat walked delicately on the porcelain rim of the tub.

“He!” She sniffed. “Him!” She let the paper fall to the sparkling tile floor and set down her wine glass, causing the cat to leap away. Rising reluctantly from the steaming water, she wrapped a silken robe around her still-dripping body and padded gracefully across her top-floor penthouse apartment to her walk-in closet, searching for just the right outfit for the night’s event.

“It never even occurs to them that ‘he’ might be a ‘she’…”

On the polished wood nightstand, sat a gilded invitation, which read: You are cordially invited to attend the Gotham debut of Prince Vikram of Bahdnesia, presenting the Bahdnesian Crown Jewels for a limited engagement, at the Randolph Hotel…

Next to the invitation, curled up on the nightstand, sat a cat-of-nine-tails…


Later that night...

The Randolph was one of Gotham’s oldest and ritziest hotels, founded in the heyday of the city and still the establishment of choice for elegant events. Tonight, its ballroom was host to a visiting dignitary from the tiny South Seas nation of Bahdnesia, Crown Prince Vikram, on the latest stop of his world tour to bring the culture of his home to other lands.

All the glitterati had turned out for the event. They were dressed in their finest, most magnificent clothes, sipping champagne and admiring the wonders of Bahdnesia. Vicki Vale wandered through the crowd, there on a press pass for the Gazette; Commissioner Loeb escorted the lovely Silver St Cloud on his arm; billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne entertained three young ladies, their laughter tinkling musically. But undeniably, the star of the evening was Prince Vikram himself, a dashing young man, dark complected with a thin moustache and goatee; he had a loud booming voice and an ebullient personality to match. He cut a striking figure in his red turban and the uniform of the Bahdnesian Royal Army, complete with epaulettes and a decorative saber. With accomplished ease, he moved through his guests, chatting amiably and telling stories of his homeland, a place much misunderstood in the Western world.

“It’s true, Bahdnesia has a healthy respect for the ways of our past. My own father, the King, keeps a Council of Mystics and Astronomers to advise him, but at the same time, we have embraced modern science and medicine. I think the west has much to learn from our culture, and I am very glad to be apart of this new era of intellectual exchange…”

“Is it true that Bahdnesians revere cats?” Came a throaty, but feminine voice from behind the prince. He turned and smiled appreciatively at the exquisite sight that greeted him. Selina Kyle had chosen a slinky black dress that clung to her in all the right places, and shimmered when she moved. She held a glass of champagne up to her scarlet lips, but her eyes spoke for her.

The prince inclined his head and reached for her hand to kiss it, lightly brushing his lips across the tops of her fingertips.

“It is indeed true, Ms…?”

“Kyle. Selina, please.”

“Ah. A fitting name for one whose beauty would outshine the moon…” He stared boldly back at her. “It is said that cats are the agents of the gods come to earth to test the patience and wisdom of man. In Bahdnesia, it is illegal to own a cat. They must be allowed to come and go from any household, as they please.”

“Quaint.” Selina pronounced, like a challenge.

But the prince only laughed heartily, unoffended. Selina allowed herself a wicked smile, and suddenly, for the prince, only she existed in the world. He excused himself from the bemused crowd around him, and gently guided her by the elbow, taking her aside.

“If you favor cats, I simply must show you this.” He led her a little ways over to a glass case, in which a cat was carved of a single piece of jade, wearing a necklace of glittering diamonds.

“It is magnificent.” Selina remarked, her eyes devouring the idol.

“She is called Rahasia, Goddess of Erotic Delight.” He whispered in her ear, carefully monitoring her expression. “This idol has adorned the harem of my fathers for centuries. It is said that a true heir of Bahdnesia may not be conceived out of her gaze…”

A lump gathered in Selina’s throat, the only indication that she was listening at all to the prince.

“I carry it with me on my journeys,” The Prince told her, and smiled showing bright square teeth. “Just in case.”

Selina eyed it thoughtfully, noting the spring-weighted stand it sat upon and the motion-detection laser inside the case.

“It must be worth a fortune.” She mused.

With a shrug and a glint in his eyes, the Prince replied. “It is invaluable. But it is not the prize of the Crown Jewels… That is something else entirely, and not on display for all to see. But I would show it to you if you like…?”

Selina had to admit, that had to be one of the most original pickup lines she’d ever heard…

She returned to the penthouse much later that night, but not as Selina Kyle. She landed with feline grace atop the balcony, dropping from the ledge above. No light reflected off her black vinyl, form-fitting suit. The lock on the balcony door proved only a moment’s hindrance to Catwoman--- she padded quietly inside.

The suite was dark, but her yellow night-vision goggles allowed her to see in perfect detail. Everything was as she had carefully noted earlier. On the rumpled, four-poster bed lay a quietly snoring figure--- two figures, it seemed, actually. Apparently the Prince’s luck had improved after she had left him.

She went immediately to the faux Van Gogh in the sitting room, behind which, if she had done her research well, would be the standard Randolph Hotel safe. She tested the edge of the frame, rewarded when the picture pivoted on the side, swinging away from the wall to reveal the safe.

Was it really going to be this easy?

She had studied safecracking techniques from the infamous Swiss thief, Le Reynard, so this would be child’s play to her. She began to turn the dial, her ear pressed to the cool metal, listening for the tumblers. In a moment there was a click, and the safe opened noiselessly. Her eyes alight, she reached inside…

The two figures from the bed sprang up, and she started, and stared at them in shock.

“Looks like you were right, Batman!” Robin pounded his fist into a palm, lightly bouncing on the balls of his feet. “The mysterious cat burglar just couldn’t resist the lure of the Bahdnesian jewels!”

“Especially not a necklace of chrysoberyl…” The Caped Crusader himself stepped forward, rounding the bed. “Otherwise known as ‘cat’s-eye’… And while Prince Vikram enjoys the hospitality of his sponsor, Bruce Wayne, we’ll drop off this Catwoman to Lt. Gordon!”

Selina rolled her eyes. “Oh, just please don’t say curiosity killed the cat.” She groaned.

Robin abruptly clamped his mouth shut.

The Dynamic Duo leaped into action. Catwoman pushed away from the safe and somersaulted backward to give herself some space. She came up in a fighting stance, snatching the whip off her waist. It cracked viciously, causing Robin to flinch away at the last moment, but Batman came on, his cape expanding to fill her vision with darkness! In a blind panic, she lashed out with her taloned glove, getting lucky and catching Batman across the face. He hesitated only a moment, his cheek bearing three red trails, but it was long enough for Selina to make her break for the balcony. Without a second glance, she hurled herself off the balcony, kicking off the railing and sailing into mid-air!

She angled her body as if she were diving, aiming for the flagpole on the building across what seemed to be a vast gulf of space. But gravity and her momentum did their work, and she caught the metal pole, swinging up and around, launching herself at the closest ledge.

A quick glance up and behind her showed her pursuers, grappling lines out and in hot pursuit. Selina sighed. This was going to be a long night.

____________________________________________________


She led them on a merry chase across the rooftops of Gotham, and they seemed to be as intimately familiar with the roof-scape as she! But Catwoman was lithe, fast and daring; she managed to keep one step ahead of them, taking leaps and drops that they were hard pressed to emulate. She knew that the fast-acting toxin on her claws would be slowing down the Bat, making him dizzy and weak. She had only to evade capture for a little while longer…

After a frenzied scurry from the top of the Gotham Opera, she dropped to the roof of the First State Bank, dashed across its surface, then took a breathtaking leap to the steel framework of the new construction site on Fifth Avenue. Her arms pin wheeled as she struggled a moment to regain her balance on the metal girder, then she skipped away, to the next girder and hid her slim frame behind the service lift.

She risked a peek behind.

The night was dark and quiet behind her. Had she lost them…?

No! Here came Robin, swinging around the Opera, his bright yellow cape fluttering in the wind, a broad smile on his face. The kid actually looked like he was having fun!

But there was no sign of the Bat. For now.

Selina pressed her back against the wall of the lift, and held her breath. She had no intention or desire to tangle with a kid, but surely he wouldn’t risk searching the construction site…! To navigate the naked framework of steel girders one practically had to be an acrobat …

Cursing under her breath, she listened as Robin landed with a clang nearby, balancing expertly on the beam. He hummed what she recognized as a circus tune, skipping from girder to girder, craning his neck, looking for some sign of her.

In a moment, he would reach the lift and find her.

Taking a gamble, she sprang out from her hiding place, cracking her cat o’ nine tails!

Robin had been in mid-leap from one girder to the next, but her unexpected appearance caused him to start--- and miss his footing. His eyes wide, the Boy Wonder slipped backward, and slammed the back of his head on a metal strut. He fell, senseless and head first, plummeting downward.

Selina took one look at the hundred foot drop and acted without thinking. She threw her body forward and flung out her whip. With one hand she grabbed at an iron chain used to hold up a girder, even as the length of her whip wrapped itself around Robin’s ankle. She slid down the chain, the dead weight of Robin dragging them both down and almost tearing her shoulder from its socket. But she had arrested his fall, and could only cry out in relief when he had crumpled, not hard, to a temporary wooden platform.

She dropped to the platform at his side, checking the knot on the back of his head. No blood. Not a serious injury, but he’d probably have a concussion. A sigh escaped her.

Then, a shadow deeper than the night fell over her.

“What have you done to him?”

She rolled away just as Batman landed heavily, sluggishly, on the platform only feet from where she had just been. He was a bit unsteady, the mild toxin still coursing through him, but he was still Batman, and for a moment, she froze.

They faced each other over Robin’s unconscious body, both crouched in fighting stances. There was the subtlest flick of his wrist, and suddenly a batarang was hurtling towards her.

She arched herself backward, the batarang sailing past her, but the angle made it impossible for her to maintain her balance, and she tumbled off the platform, free-falling. But like every cat, she twisted in mid-fall and landed on her feet. Her hands caught a steel girder on the way down, which she used to swing herself safely to the level below--- which was close enough now to the ground for her to hang for a moment, and then drop, feet first.

With a last look up at Batman, glaring down at her, but bearing Robin in his arms, she melted into the shadows of Gotham’s backstreets.

Months later…

Catwoman sat atop the gargoyle of St. Thomas, her goggles up, catching her breath after her last job. The Falcone Family was having a very lucrative month with their extortion rackets; they would hardly miss one delivery from their midtown shakedown boys, who were probably only now coming to their senses in the back alley she had left them in.

The view from that height was spectacular, and she could be assured of a moments’ peace and quiet as she counted her haul.

In most cities, that would be true. But Gotham was not like most cities.

“Nice payday.” Came the raspy whisper.

She whirled, stuffing the cash into one of her belt pouches, and replaced her goggles to face the man on the roof behind her. The wind stirred his cape, and he stood in the shadow of the belfry, but he had not yet made a threatening move.

She poised herself to jump, to leap to the ledge below and swing in through the stained glass window panel of the Virgin Mary.

“Not bad. I’ve had better.” Her hand inching towards the whip on her waist belied her casual tone.

“Don’t.” Was all Batman said, still unmoving. But something about his stance said that he was tensed to act.

The look they exchanged was long and measuring. It was Selina who broke the silence.

“How’s the kid?”

It was a moment before Batman responded.

“Robin’s fine. He told me what happened. How you saved his life.”

Catwoman shrugged. “I’m a thief, not a murderer.” She glanced below, seeing the rush of cars and glow of lights. But the sounds of the city did not reach to the dizzying height of her position.

“I also know what you did with the stolen Bahdnesian idol.” Batman continued. “My sources tell me it was sold to a private collector here in Gotham named Cobblepot, for a cool million. That same day there was anonymous million dollar donation to the Leslie Thompkins Clinic. But banks keep a very scrupulous paper rail. The cashier’s check was purchased by one Donna Delgado. Lady of the Cat.”

Selina was impressed. He had almost got it right. Actually, Oswald had paid significantly more for the idol. But she wasn’t about to tell him that…!

“I owed a debt. I now consider it discharged.” She bit off, as if to say: And the rest is none of your business.

His only response was a noncommittal grunt.

Loosing her patience, Selina said, with some exasperation: “So, are we going to do this or what? I don’t have all night….”

“You’re in a precarious situation out on that gargoyle, Catwoman.” Batman pointed out with something that sounded like amusement. “I wouldn’t want to see you fall. Come on in.”

“Not a chance, Batman.” She sneered. “I have no intentions of being taken in tonight, or any other night.”

“I am going to catch you eventually.” He stated, mater of factly.

A smile spread across Selina’s face, as she readied herself for the jump.

“In your wildest dreams...” She said, and dove off the gargoyle