Bruce left the museum so quickly he could have given the Flash a run for his money. Since he had been planning on going on patrol the second he got out anyway, his other suit was already in his car waiting for him.
A few minutes later and he was back inside the museum, but in a suit he felt much more comfortable in. The GCPD still weren't the biggest fans of him, so he made sure to stay out of sight.
The GCPD were crawling all over the museum and there was no doubt in his mind that they had probably destroyed most of the vital evidence to catching the culprit. That was going to make his job a lot harder.
When there was an opening, Bruce quickly and quietly made his way over to the display case. The wires to the display's alarm had been cut and a hole had been cut into the glass just big enough for the statue.
The theft was done by a professional and, as far as he could tell the theft had taken place just a few minutes before the display was meant to be revealed. The long drawn out speech probably helped with that.
The circle of glass that had been removed was on the floor, at the foot of the display. Examining it closer, he noticed five grooves in the glass. There was one on one side and four on another, which were evenly spaced. He was guessing that the top had been where the four grooves were.
Bruce took a dusting for each groove in hopes that whatever was used to make them left something behind. Before he was able to continuing examining the crime scene, one of the police officers spotted him.
"Oi! Stop right there! You're under arrest for tampering with a crime scene and vigilantism!" He yelled, gun out, heading straight for Bruce. His yelling had got the attention of the other officers in the museum. It was time to go. He reached into his belt, took out a smoke pellet and threw it on the floor. As he grappled up to the skylight, several guns were fired at where he was just seconds ago.
A couple hours later and Bruce was back in the batcave going over what evidence he had managed to collect, which wasn't much. From the grooves he had managed to get some small sliver from some kind of metal. Unfortunately there wasn't enough to tell him what type of metal. As a result, he had the batcomputer running a search for similar thefts.
"Back already sir?" Alfred asked, setting silver tray with a teapot, teacup and a plate of his homemade cookies on the desk. Bruce hid it, but the butler had managed to make him jump slightly. He hadn't heard him enter the cave, much less approach the batcomputer.
"There was a theft at the museum. The new display was stolen right before it was revealed. I have the computer searching for possible leads." he explained.
"Think any of the usual suspects are responsible?"
"No, they're all behind bars. Even if they weren't, I doubt any of them would have been able to pull something like this off."
"Good luck on your search Master Bruce."
"Uh Alfred, thank you for the cookies."
"Anytime sir."
As Alfred left the batcave, Bruce started eating the cookies. For as long as he could remember, no matter what, he had always loved Alfred's homemade cookies. A few minutes later and the police radio he had set up next to the batcomputer started up.
There was another robbery in place. This time, however, the culprit had been caught in the act and the GCPD had them cornered. Someone by the alias of Catwoman. Without wasting a second, he was out of his chair and in the batmobile. Hopefully he would get there in time.
Bruce was a couple of blocks away from the location when he saw a shadow pass over the street. A couple minutes later he heard sirens approaching. From the sound of it, they were headed the same direction as the shadow he just saw. That "shadow" must be Catwoman.
She was using the rooftops, like he had done many times before, to escape the GCPD. He wasn't going to catch her in the batmobile. If he was going to catch her, then he was going to have to join her up there.
He hid the batmobile and grappled up onto the rooftops. He then began to head the same way he had seen her going. Hopefully he would be able to catch up with her.
After a few minutes of running and jumping across the rooftops, Bruce was starting to think he had lost her. Just as he was about to give up, out of the corner of his eye, he saw someone. Spinning around he saw her. She was standing several rooftops away from him, staring right at him. What was her game?
Catwoman stood there for several minutes. Sizing him up or waiting for him to make the first move? Before he could decide, she rose a hand and beckoned him to follow before falling off the roof backwards. Bruce immediately went after her.
Swinging and running across rooftops, she lead him through the city. She was faster and most agile than him, but he wasn't about to let that stop him from catching and arresting her.
Growing tired of chasing her, he took out his grappling gun and fired it at her. The grapple wrapped around her leg and he pulled on the wire, causing her to fall. Bruce then pulled her toward him.
"Don't like playing fair huh? Typical." Catwoman said as she rolled her eyes.
"You're under arrest for stealing the Egyptian cat statue and whatever you stole tonight."
"Already figured that out huh? Guess it is true what they say about you."
After making sure the rope he used to tie her up was secure, he opened up the bag she had been carrying to see what else she had stolen tonight. It was filled with priceless jewels. First a priceless ancient Egyptian cat statue, now these? It would seem Catwoman had very expensive tastes.
Bruce was about to call the batmobile, so that he could drop her off to the GCPD, when he heard the unmistakable sound of helicopter blades. Looking up he saw a GCPD helicopter headed straight for them.
Before he had a chance to react, he felt what could only be a boot connect with his face. The kick sent Bruce to the ground, as well as made him drop the jewel filled bag.
Dizzy and disorientated, he watched as Catwoman picked up the bag with a smile on her face.
"I think you'll find that these belong to me now." She the turned around and walked towards the edge of the roof. She stopped and looked over her shoulder at him. "Oh and don't forget to have fun with your friends." With a laugh, she leaped off of the roof and disappeared into the night.
He shook his head to clear it and got back up onto his feet. If it wasn't for the damned helicopter, he would go after her again, but right now he needed to flee the area himself.
Bruce took off, with the helicopter following closely behind. He needed to lose them, but how? As he swung across a road that had been closed off for construction, that was when he saw it. An open manhole. It wasn't exactly ideal, but it wasn't like he had the luxury of being picky right now.
Without another thought on the matter, he changed direction mid-swing and, once he was above it, dropped down into the manhole.
After loading up a map of the Gotham sewers on the computer, that was built into his gauntlet, he began to make his way through them. He made his way as far away from where he had been spotted as quickly as possible.
Once he was back out, Bruce called the batmobile and made his way back to the batcave. He doubted he was going to find Catwoman again tonight. He was probably going to have to wait for her next burglary.
"Decided to go for walk in the sewers again sir?" Alfred asked when Bruce returned to the batcave. When he didn't reply, not that Alfred had been expecting him to reply, he decided to change the subject. "By any chance, did you manage to catch our museum thief?"
"No, thanks to a GCPD helicopter, she got away. At least we now know who we're dealing with." Bruce replied.
"Indeed. Catwoman, the cat burglar. The search you set up found quite a few newspaper articles on her. Think we'll see her again Master Bruce?"
"Without a doubt and if we don't. Well, in that case, I guess we'll have to lure her out."