Selina had taken the limo home and Alfred dropped Bruce back at the office when Lucius had called. Bruce Wayne was, evidently, the CEO of the biggest company in the city, thus his days were busily scheduled with meetings and calls and paperwork to be done.
His desk was scattered with papers and folders and the hold lights were flashing on every other phone when he got to the office. His secretary Jessica was pacing after him, telling him what was urgent and which people were waiting on what phones.
He was scrambling through the stack of papers and files when the latest one caught his attention. Apparently in the while he was out having brunch, the company had lost a centrifuge. It wouldn't have been a problem, if it weren't the industrial sized one and required special authority to be accessed. His detective senses immediately kicked in as he tried to connect the dots. And he was stuck with it in his office till late in the evening, when Jessica walked in with a message.
"Mr. Wayne, there's a John Blake here to see you."
"Thank you, Jess. Send him in. And Jessica, I don't think I'll be taking any more calls tonight."
"Of course, Mr. Wayne." She left the room with the door open behind her.
"He'll see you now." She addressed the visitor and lead him in, this time, closing the door after she left.
"Should we use code words? I feel I could use a code word." John Blake said as he walked around the room.
"You can think of some and then let me know."
"Sure!" John said sarcastically, "I'll get right on it, riight after I get off this Mr. Miyagi kung fu training."
"Fighting is more through the mind than the body."
"You should tell that to the Batman."
Bruce glared at John over his computer screen, slightly irritated.
"You came here for something, John? Seriously, I am busy you know."
"Right. Okay, so, our C.I. got to know that there's a deal between Milo's men and some other people interested in his new products."
"I thought the Batman managed to keep them from getting the stones?"
"He did. But they worked a way around it. Hear they're involving animals as the guns to their bullets."
"Interesting," Bruce said, ironically in a drag voice as he signed papers.
"And..." Blake wheezed as he scratched the back of his head.
"And?" Bruce asked, cocking an eyebrow over the folder in his hands, pressing for John to continue.
"How many criminals do you know who are the presidents of the local PETA?"
Bruce sighed and reclined in his chair, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Catwoman."
"Yeah. There were many reports of her activity tonight, most of them tagging with the sighting of Milo's men and that general direction."
"They stole her cat." Bruce told John as he stood up and filed the papers away.
"And you would know that why?" John teased as he stood up as well, ready to go.
Bruce only replied with a sarcastic nod of his head.
"You knoow, there are hushed rumors out there saying that the Batman-"
"How would you like to paint a fence around Wayne Manor?" Bruce cut him off, putting on his coat.
"I got nothing." John pleaded as he threw up his hands.
"Exactly."
"So where do we go?"
"First, we get a change of outfits, then we go pay a visit to Mr. Daggett."
o0o0o0o0o0o0o
Selina paced back and forth in her room, angered and frustrated. Her floor rugs were on her bed and chairs, and her table lamps and pillows were on the floor. Her friend opened the door a second after she threw a vase, and the new girl had to quickly duck to avoid getting hit. Jen tiptoed across the floor, avoiding the sharp debris and picking up the pillows and other things still in one piece.
"They took Isis*! They took her! First, they try to steal my jewels, then they steal my cat! Hey! I'm the best thief in this town okay! They took my cat!" Selina huffed as she spun, her fingers tangled in her hair.
"I'm sorry I don't have better news for you, but there's been reported kidnappings of strays and pets all over the city. I think the animals are involved in some ways."
"We have to get her back! We have to get them back!"
"Well, unlike your friend Bruce Wayne," Jen scowled saying his name, as if she were being held at gun point to say it, "who up and went and had a business meeting with Daggett, I'm going to actually help you do something about this. I'm going to help you get Isis back."
Selina, in her anger and worry, was oblivious to her present friend's attitude about the absent, so she thanked her for her support.
"Thanks, Jen. But, I don't want you caught up with these people. I'm gonna go out tonight by myself and get to the bottom of things."
"Why wait? Hey! Nobody's ever seen the Batman in broad daylight."
"Jen?"
"Selina, at the end of the day, you're just another criminal. And he thwarts their plans and arrests them, and I'm sure that's what he's going to do with you. It's not like The Batman had returned your affections."
Selina pulled out her bottom lip and tilted her head in agreeing thought.
"So, you should go now, at least get a head start before the Batman comes and intervenes."
"Okay, I'm in. But where do we start?"
"Well, start at the pound, or follow their dispatched trucks. If Milo needs puppies for his mills, he's sure to have people working in places he can easily access the animals."
"Jen, you, are a genius!"
"I know! I've been called that before."
"A genius?"
"No, Jen!"
Both of them laughed for a minute before separating. Selina went to the balcony window, staring outside as plans formed in her mind. The sky was grey outside, just exactly how she was feeling inside. The morning's breeze had turned into a wind shower, the little planted trees bent in its direction while the trash flew down the streets below like tumble weed. Jen had gone to the closet to get Selina her night outfit, and her trusty accessory.
She brought it over to Selina and she ran a hand over the leather cloth, her pointy nail railing down the hidden zipper in the middle. She peeled off her clothes and stepped in to the leather outfit, it cuffed down to her wrists and her ankles, and her boots came up to just below her shins. The boots had soles with ridges, that helped with solid landings, especially if you were off the roof ledge by a hair, which didn't happen a lot to Selina. The long heels, yes, very, long heels had blades on them, which she could kick in to any opponent however high she chose to kick, and her range, was very high. The blades could also come off if she needed to hold them and throw them. You'd think that a girl in a leather jumpsuit couldn't do much, but by the time you'd reel in from the concussion, she'd have proved you wrong.
The black mask, was something borrowed. Fine, stolen, yeesh! When Selina was little, she once snuck into a ball, where she enjoyed the food, the gossip, the sight of the pretty twirling dresses, and the pretty, stolen things she had in her pocket. She was eating cheese on crackers when a lady spotted her. She didn't ask how Selina had gotten in, or called her out on being a thief. The lady had, though, noticed how out of place the little girl looked, even in her short black dress. So, she'd given Selina her black eye mask. It was soft, kind of velvety, and had an intricate design pressed into it. The mask had been big on Selina, but the lady had made it work. The lady had made Selina's day work. It had been the first day, and the only proper day, she felt like being a girl, and enjoying girl things. It was while Selina was dancing with the mask on that the lady got a call that her son was sick and she and her husband had left in haste, not even bothering to come back for the mask. And Selina kept the mask, slightly guilty that it was maybe theft, but she moved on from it.
Selina sighed in the mirror as she put on the black eye mask, which sat perfectly on her nose and surrounded her eyes. She set her hair behind her, patting her head down before she put on her goggles, which stuck out like pointy ears, completing her cat themed outfit. Selina strapped on her whip and opened the balcony doors in favor of the wind, which blew the salon doors bursting inward. Selina jumped onto the railing, and looking back at her friend one last time, swung out into the wind.
o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
I'm sorry, I know ISIS is a terrorist group, but it is also an Egyptian name for girls, and also the name of Selina's cat in Batman: The Animated Series.