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#2
DEC 12 |
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“The Cat's Meow” Part Two
For the hundredth time in the last several seconds, he eyed the clock as he paced outside the sealed vault of the First National Bank of Gotham. Inside was the woman who had given him the nasty cut on his cheek, covered by the almost comical bandage that masked over half of his worried face. Crispin Rothgard was not amused, nor was the bank's manager, Terrence Stamps, who wrung his hands together as he too eyed the clock by the tellers' window.
“Be ready,” Rothgard barked to the meager assortment of guards that bustled to their feet as he snapped. It had been three hours since their evening turned out to be anything but routine. Catwoman had shown up, along with Crispin and a couple of the Rothgard Immunity men, which ended with the would-be thief locking herself inside the vault. “As soon as that door opens, grab her, you hear me?!”
The six bank guards nodded their understanding, a quiet dislike for the two men that had come with Crispin who gave sharp 'yessir!'s. Rothgard, uncertain still, started to pace once again. “One minute...”
Manager Stamps cleared his throat. “Please, be...good about this,” he swallowed as he addressed the men himself. “This has already gone far more astray than it should have. You assured me, Crispin...”
“Yes, yes. Well, if this had all gone according to plan, you'd be thanking me on top of that massive check you'd be writing me, now wouldn't you? The bank that caught the famous Catwoman, and me, the one that did it...well, you'd be pushing the people of Gotham out the doors to control their clamor to keep their money here. It'd go a long way to suggest about the safety of keeping money here.”
“And helping to launch your business as well,” Terence reminded his cohort.
Crispin sought to stay on task. “That,” he pointed to the vault, “opens precisely at six am?”
“Yes,” sighed Stamps, as he explained once more as he had every few moments for the last two hours. “Every day, which is why I have to be here. We then have fifteen minutes until the change of guards, and then this could really get out of cont–...”
“Positions,” Crispin cut the worrisome Terrence off and faced the vault door. He waved frantically and his two men flanked either side of it and the guards stepped up before him.
Fifteen minutes to wrap this up was more than enough time, he thought. He looked to his watch, “Five fifty nine and...six to go. Five, four, three...”
Two and one.
The instant the door hissed and spun open, barely a crack, she was out. Nimbly, Catwoman slid out of the vault and already moved even as the prepared guards sought to trap her. She struck the Rothgard man on the left so hard with her palm that his teeth clicked and she spun to kick his temple. The time was 6:00:01 AM and one man fell to the floor unconscious.
The bank guards looked stunned and remained in a line before the vault, and behind them Stamps made a sharp startled sound. “GET HER!” Crispin yelled and his remaining man obeyed. He drew a baton and rushed Catwoman.
Catwoman sprinted toward him, only she darted aside just as they would have crashed. He swung for her but went wide, giving her the opening to strike out with her clawed fingers. She raked him across the nose and he came away spitting curses and blood, which she silenced with a boot to his foul mouth. He staggered, dropped his baton and rushed her again, arms wide. Catwoman ducked under this and used her back to slam up into the large man sending him flying. As he landed on his back she gave a swift kick across his temple to make sure he stayed down as well.
“I guess I had a lot of pent up energy to get out,” she smiled at the row of guards between her and the exit. They had their pistols drawn so Catwoman lazily struck her whip away from her waist and lashed it back and forth.
Terence Stamps looked beside himself with worry, but Crispin was red in the face with anger as he shouted, “JUST SHOOT HER!”
The command was all they needed as they opened fire, but Catwoman had already moved. First she went left, then right and finally leaped. As she vaulted over the guards her whip lashed out and *CRACK!*, she smiled.
Crispin howled in pain as his other cheek was now cut with a deep gash, but he was quickly silenced as Catwoman landed before him. The next flick of her wrist sent her whip around Rothgard's neck. He gasped and clutched at the leather that now choked him. Catwoman darted around behind him and flipped something to Stamps, which the manager fumbled to grab. “Thanks, but I won't be needing that anymore,” she smiled as he got his electronic key in hand and just stared at it.
The guards closed in but Catwoman made them stay as she brandished the claws of her free hand and sunk them into Crispin's shoulder. She used this leverage to pull him back towards the front door. “Sorry boys, but I'm going to have to leave you with your toys. It's time for this kitty to say goodbye. It's well past all of our bedtimes, don't you think?”
“Y-you can't...we can't let you leave!” Terence looked up, shocked to think that she would get out of here, that all of this would end poorly.
“Aw, that's cute,” Catwoman grinned wickedly as Crispin turned blue, “that you think you have a choice.” With that she spun and flung a staggering, sputtering and choking Crispin Rothgard at the front door. He crashed through it and Catwoman leaped after him, and she snapped her wrist back sharply. This caused the whip to unwind from Cripsin and she *SNAP*ped it back behind her before those guards. Dazed for a moment, by the time they opened fire again she was gone, and the gunfire was drowned out by the blaring alarm that now went off.
The fact that Issac wasn't waiting for her troubled her. He was pure white, whiter than snow, and thus deaf, but also mute. However, ever since she first found him – no, when he had first found her – he had always been there. Before the things she had to do to survive, before the foster homes, before the other wicked things, he'd been there. It was after a storm, Selina's mother was drunk and didn't hear it, the dying mother cat in the back yard. It must have been some dog, the ten year old Selina had decided, and Issac was the only one who survived. She couldn’t have kept him, not with how mad it would have made her father, and yet throughout her life, no matter where she was in Gotham, he found her.
Panic flooded her senses and Catwoman scrambled to get the window open. It had taken hours to make it home and it was midday, so she had to be quick anyway during such brightness, but the fact that Issac wasn't there in the wi–!
As soon as she got it open, he came padding out from the kitchen toward her.
“Don't *do* that to me,” she scolded him, even if he couldn't hear her. Still he stopped mid-step to watch her slip inside. Catwoman closed the window and considered berating him more, but she sank to her knees, so weary from the evening and held out her hands. “Oh, come here you.” He bounded to her and curled up to her as she picked him up.
“Where are the others,” she wondered aloud.
Issac looked towards the kitchen and Catwoman’s gaze followed. There was some movement, a cabinet opening. Out of the corner of her eye, Catwoman noticed Holly sound asleep on the sofa, with some anime something playing on mute, likely on a loop. She lifted Issac to her shoulder and he settled there with practiced ease as once more Catwoman unfurled her whip.
She rounded the corner and...there was someone she hadn't seen in a very long time, making a mess of her kitchen. All around her feet were the other cats (save Karen) munching on bits of things that the blonde woman littered about her as she 'worked'.
“Syvlia, what are you doing here?”
Catwoman laid her whip on the counter and peeled back her mask. Her former friend turned to greet her, a bit startled. The cats too, so absorbed in the bits of bacon, egg and toast, now took notice that Selina was back and all rushed to her (save Appletart, who more aptly rolled along behind the others).
“Oh, you're home. Of course you are. Here, I thought I'd make breakfast, though I suppose now it's more like lunch,” Syvlia answered as she held out the skillet she had been making a mess in.
“No thanks. Again, what are you doing *here*?” And now, thought Selina.
Syvlia was someone she had grown up with on the streets, trained with, both as a thief and then...later. When Selina ran away from the orphanage to be taken in by Mama Fortuna and her gang of children thieves, Syvlia had been the only one to welcome her as a friend.
Syvlia was always a step behind, slower, looking for the quickest and greatest score rather than the smartest one. When Selina ran away from Fortuna, when it turned ugly, Syvlia ran with her.
And when the pair of them took up the things they needed to do to survive, it had been Syvlia's turn to save Selina. She did all of the things that Selina couldn't bring herself to do, kept them alive and, in truth, saved Selina when she was at her lowest.
Syvlia had always found trouble, with boys and men, and especially with money, and even more so after the two parted ways. At times she'd show up, begging Selina to help her, and this seemed like one of those times. If she wasn't more a sister than her *actual* sister, well, Selina would have tossed her out already.
“What is it this time, or rather, who? Who are you in trouble with? If it's money you're after, the answer will be the same as last time,” Selina continued. She peeled off her gloves, letting Pookie have them. Wisp curled around her legs while Appletart went back to his food dish.
“It's nothing like that, I promise.” Syvlia put the skillet down and turned off the stove. She pulled off her oven mitt and held out her hand for Selina to inspect. There on the left ring finger was a gaudy diamond. “I'm engaged,” Syvlia smiled.
Selina looked at her and then sighed.
Syvlia snapped her hand back, like it had been spanked for having reached into the cookie jar. “Fine,” she bit out, rightfully bitter.
Selina sighed. “Look, I'm sorry. It's been a long and disappointing night.” She reached up to nuzzle Issac under his chin. “I'm just tired, but I'm happy for you. Who is it?”
“Someone wonderful,” Syvlia warmed, a little, and lowered her hand for Selina to inspect the ring again. It actually was a real diamond. “But that's not why I'm here.”
“Oh?” Here it comes, Selina thought.
“Yes, well, I'm working too, I'll have you know, though not like *that*. Rather, I've been on Crispin Rothgard too,” and before Selina could get beyond raising her eyebrows, Syvlia went on. “Did you ever wonder how his security firm got so big so fast? Well, he's in bed with many of the local mobs and gangs. In exchange for them laying off the jobs he arranges, they get to hold onto his money. He's from a pretty wealthy family too, not a Wayne or an Ellison, but still. They get a cut of his Rothgard Immunity money and even get some of their goons on his payroll, but all that family wealth they get to hold onto too.”
“Interesting,” Selina had to admit. Issac shifted on her shoulders.
“Considering you're home empty-handed,” to which Selina did have to pout, Syvlia offered, “perhaps...like old times...you get some revenge, I get my assignment done, and we spit the Rothgard money fifty-fifty?”
Syvlia looked to Selina, anxious and desperate, Catwoman thought. Still, she did want to do more than just scar Crispin. Matilda made a rare appearance as she leaped up on the counter and sat looking expectantly at Syvlia mewing until the skillet was offered to her.
Selina stood. “Be back here, tonight. I...I need a nap and to think.” She was imagining the look on Crispin's bloody-cheeked face. She turned to head to bed. “But first,” she cut Syvlia off before her 'sister' could chirp her likely 'thank you', “be sure to clean up your mess.”
Holly was out and Syvlia hadn't shown up yet, so Selina took some time to think things over.
Karen made a pitiful noise however, and Selina rolled over to check out of the wounded cat who took up the other side of her bed. Wisp was there too, sleeping on the pillow above her. There wasn't anything else to be done for the old cat, as she was just fitful in her sleep. Then there was a crash from the living room and angry mewing. One little kitten never seemed to sleep, so Selina forced herself out of bed to see what Pookie had gotten into now.
She fed Appletart and scanned the paper that Holly had left on the kitchen counter. Her whip was no longer there, so the younger girl must have put it away. Selina found nothing of interest in the paper, and not even a passing mention of any trouble at the First National. She went to look for Issac and found him in the bathroom sitting on the edge of the tub. She had to agree, that the idea of a bath sounded great.
By the time she was in her robe and rubbing her hair with a towel, Selina found Holly and Syvlia in the living room. All of the cats but Issac (who was on her shoulder and Karen, of course) milled about them as they ate from boxes of takeout. Holly spotted Selina first and mid-mouthful of her buttered spaghetti, scooted down on the sofa to make room for her. Holly was still chewing her mouthful, so Syvlia explained as she reached for and then offered Selina a styrofoam container of pasta.
“It's seafood alfredo from Manny's. It's still your favorite, right?”
Selina accepted. “So, Holly, how much has Syl here told you about me?” The girl's guilty look was enough to let Selina know that something had been shared, and Holly swallowed before she rushed to answer.
“Not much, just that you guys ran the streets together when you were girls, that you were like sisters, and that you were the best anyone had ever seen.”
“It's true,” Sylvia nodded as she set her own pasta down to look at Selina. “She stunned everyone. No one could catch up to her, only keep to the shadows she cast. We tried but...but that's all we could do, was to try.”
Selina kept silent and took a mouthful of her takeout before she held it up for Issac to get some. “Did she ever get caught?” Holly asked and sounded a little too excited, Selina thought.
“Oh yes, a couple of times, especially in the beginning, but that always made her stronger; it makes all of us stronger, Holly,” Sylvia went on. “You learn from making mistakes, so the more you make...sometimes it's even more dangerous to be out in front of everyone else, with never a need to look back, which I think was a lesson Selina faced right from the get-go. Most of us, well, we just had to learn that she'd never hook back.”
“It's your job to keep up,” Selina smiled, almost dangerously as Issac helped himself to her meal.
“That it is,” Syvlia had to agree. “Even when there was easier, better money to be found, Selina always excelled there too.” Selina shot Holly a glance there, to warn the girl to not ask what that meant, and the tension in the room mounted. Syvlia apologized in the next breath. “Sorry.” There was silence for a long moment and then that was cut as Pookie leaped up onto the table to bury his nose in Sylvia's half-finished box.
“So...,” Holly cut the silence. “Growing up in the streets, well, I have that merit badge too.”
“Is that where she found you, or you found her, like all these little darlings here?” Sylvia indicated to the kitten that was in her food, who she poked and pushed, but he only edged along and kept his nose buried in her marinara as he chased after a particularly chunky hunk of sausage.
“Something like that,” Selina cut in.
“Right before we moved to this place,” Holly added. “Right, Selina?” When that got a nod, she went on. “I was doing everything to survive, if you know what I mean, when she just showed up, and got me out of there.” Holly looked to Selina, smiling. “But I was scared, I mean, in came Catwoman and she just tore into the guy...so I bolted and it wasn't until a week or so later that she found me.”
“Really? She chased you down, did she?” Syvlia sat up in her seat opposite the sofa, clearly interested.
Before Holly could speak, Selina calmly asked, “So, how is it exactly that you know about all of this Rothgard money business?”
“Oh, because he told it all to me,” Syvlia smiled sweetly.
Holly leaned forward in her chair, clearly amazed while Selina shook her head. The younger girl had to ask, “Oh, where did he spill all of that? That seems like really damaging stuff to just let slip.”
“There's some places,” Selina cut in, “that men tend to reveal much more than they should, where their defenses are the lowest.” Syvlia gave an almost giddy smirk to reveal that her oldest friend was right on the money.
It took Holly just a split second, but she 'oh!'ed so sharply that Pookie skittered off the table, sausage in jaw as he did. “But, you're engaged! What would he do if he knew?”
“Oh, honey...well, he's the one that suggested it,” Syvlia grinned her most charming grin.
Holly shook her head and was about to ask more when Selina turned to her. “I think Roadrash wants out,” and she nodded her head toward the window. At the suggestion, the shaggy cat bolted for said window and pawed at it incessantly. Holly frumped but shifted to her feet and went to fidget with the heavy window, and gave several loud disgruntled noises as she did. Selina took the crafted opportunity to lean forward and whisper to her friend, “So, who is it, who put the ring around your finger?”
Syvlia smiled and took in Selina's unknowing desperation before she whispered her answer. “Roman Sionis.”
“The Black Mask?!” Holly looked up from the window as she managed to get it open just enough for Roadrash to dash out. Selina found herself once more cursing the young girl's exceptional hearing.
“The one and the same,” Syvlia explained freely. “Oh, I know you've both heard the stories and, well, most of them are bound to be true. But he adores me, he really does, and has offered me so much. It was love at first sight, for him, and well, his generosity has won me over, what can I say!” She once more brandished her ring. “He hired me to steal from some of his competition. I'm no Catwoman as we know, and in going after that I discovered, well, so much more. What with the Rothgard fortune and all, so I thought, why not call in the last of my favors with the wonderful Selina Kyle. You can think of it as a wedding gift, if you like.”
Holly sank into her seat and Selina tried her best to not look amused. “So, little Syvlia Sinclair is going to rise to be the Lady Black Mask?” Somehow, saying it seemed to make it make a lot more sense, Selina thought.
“Its Syvlia Saint now,” she explained. “What, you're not the only one to have a new identity, Catwoman? After you left me behind, it took years but I cleaned myself up and got myself going again. So, shame on me for wanting something stronger, still me but something new. To make my own.”
“I like it,” Selina said after a moment. “It suits you.”
Syvlia continued, as she took that at face value. “You're starting over now as a 'security consultant' right? Well, I am too, and Roman has a lot of faith in me. I don't want to disappoint him.”
Holly looked to Selina.
Selina took a breath and brought Issac down to her lap. “Okay. Okay,” she sighed, “where do we begin?”
“Well, you can start by letting me raid your closet...”
Holly hated to be left behind, Catwoman knew, but this was no situation for her to be in, and really it wasn't one that either she or Syvlia should be as well. But, together, there was a good chance for success. In her gray-and-black costume, Syvlia was in her older purple-and-black Catwoman costume, and the idea of having to contend with two Catwomen was something Selina found surprising joy in. The plan was simple enough: they'd both hit the place at the same time and, in the confusion of trying to figure out where Catwoman was, they'd make off with the money.
But there was more. Not only was it Rothgard's money they'd be stealing, but a majority of the mobs in Gotham City had funneled a portion of their cash flow into this 'bank' as well, so hitting it meant dealing a blow to all of them at once. This was something that Catwoman could sleep with easily and, as Syvlia suggested, they'd be very willing to hire someone skilled enough to try and track it down and steal it back, thus guaranteeing work for a long time.
But there was even more. This was a Falcone-owned casino, and if there was one mob family that Selina had some history with, it was Carmine Falcone. Once she had suspected she might have been his daughter, but that turned out to be a false lead when she realized that she was too old for all the stories to add up. Still, in the confusion of that, the man had made her life much more difficult than it had needed to be and for that alone she was willing to make a blow against him and his operation. It was all another reason to make sure Holly stayed far away from this.
The Ladyfinger was a good cover, a great one, with all of the money that flowed in and out on a daily basis. Syvlia's story was that all of the families had bought into an exchange program, laundering portions of their daily takes, with a float of the Rothgard fortune, which all resulted in the private 'bank'. Taking it wouldn't cripple the Gotham mobs, but it would sting and, with anywhere between thirty and fifty million involved, it was a pretty tempting purse to nab. In the vault, there would be a flash drive with all of the foreign accounts as well as the access codes for it all, and that was the target of the Catwomen.
It turned out that Selina knew someone who worked at the Ladyfinger, and though Clyde only worked in the kitchen, it turned out that he knew quite a bit of the comings and goings, as he was rather observant. Trips to the vault happened at four in the afternoon and four in the morning, with the heavier guard during the night. Who would be brave enough to rob the Ladyfinger in the midday? Clyde had asked her.
The only way to make it work, Selina reasoned, was messy. There wouldn't be any way to stay in communication, so once it was go-time, there wouldn't be any opportunity to be shy.
It was 3:58pm when the cab pulled up outside the Ladyfinger.
Catwoman was out the door before the car even came to a stop. There was a shriek, but Catwoman ignored that as she sprinted towards the front doors. A pair of security guards, Rothgard Immunity men she noted, stepped forward as if to block her way. Selina leaped to meet one with a boot to his face, landed and spun her legs around with a low kick to sweep the other man off his feet.
“I like it when men fall all over themselves for me,” she purred and brandished a wickedly playful smirk. She spared a quick glance to the side to see Syvlia shed her trench coat and pull the Catwoman mask down in place as she bolted inside. Selina stood and kicked the first man as he attempted to rise. “I like it better when they stay down.”
She dashed inside and was immediately swarmed by four more men and Catwoman calmly unfurled her whip with a sharp *snap!* which caused only one of them to take a step back. Catwoman lunged at that opening and pounced on him, to land atop him as he crashed to the ground. “It's nice to find a gentleman,” she casually smiled as she grabbed his head and slammed it to the floor leaving him unconscious, “willing to lay down his coat, even if he's still wearing it.”
Another man grabbed her arm but she spun and rose in one fluid motion and drove her palm into his chin which jarred him into letting her go. Around came her foot as she kicked high, which took him square in the temple, to cause him to slump away and groan. “And then there are others that are so rude,” she sighed. “A lady likes to be asked first.”
“You're no lady,” growled the Rothgard Immunity guy that rushed her from the side. “For trying to hit this place, you're a stupid bi–!” Catwoman silenced him with a deafening *crack!* of her whip as it choked him to silence. Selina wound the whip around her forearm and yanked, which caused the sputtering guard to stumble, and her next tug sent him to the path of the last guard and they collided.
“I'm a lady enough to know my 'please' and 'thank yous’,” she chided him as she kicked again, this time a foot caught that second man in the gut, hard enough to wind him despite the kevlar vest he wore. “So, thank you for seeing me in, and now, please shut up,” she soothed as she snapped her hand back and which drew the whip back to her side and left both men to gasp for breath on the floor.
Since it was midday, the patronage was sparse in the lobby of the Ladyfinger. That made it terribly easy for Catwoman to spot, at the far end of the room, the two armed Rothgard men who were busy trying to shuffle the casino manager to the elevator bank, the one with the briefcase handcuffed to his wrist. By now, Syvlia-Catwoman should be in place, down below, waiting for that elevator door to open.
“I'll take that,” Catwoman sang out as she bolted towards the manager and his guards. They leveled their weapons and fired, but always wide, as Catwoman flipped and cartwheeled out of the way of their aim but closer. As she was close enough she came to a sudden halt and crouched, and her whip flashed toward the manager. “Please,” she almost giggled.
One of the Rothgard men threw himself in the way of that whip and it closed around his neck with a choke. Even better, Catwoman thought and tugged hard as she yanked that guard free from the elevator just before it closed. Surely Syvlia would be able to handle *one* guard all by herself.
Catwoman tugged to keep drawing the gasping guard forward. “This is somewhat disappointing, I'll have to admit. You boys hardly know how to show a girl a good time.”
“Then maybe we can entertain by making you dance!”
From the side two more men rushed at her, each with a shouldered a semi-automatic weapon, and opened fire. Catwoman released the whip, as she could always get another of those and she doubted in her ability to get some new skin, and twisted as she jumped. She easily spun over the spray of gunfire and landed on all fours. “Now, that was just *bad*!” she scolded them. Before she could respond further, the guard she had choked with her whip grabbed her from behind in an unrelenting bear hug.
Catwoman slammed her head back for a reverse headbutt which got her free as that guy collapsed with a groan. The two armed men facing her didn't fire, likely out of fear of hitting one of their own, and Selina hissed as she charged them. “Someone's going to get get hurt here, and it's not going to be me,” she added with a growl.
One of them lowered his gun and drew a baton, but that's as far as he got before Catwoman was on him. She grabbed that stick and slammed it back into the man's face and he went down in a spray of blood from a busted nose. The other attempted to slam the butt of his weapon into her back, but she was ready for him and spun in close. A well placed elbow to his face sent him back unconscious, and she kicked back to make sure he fell away from her.
There was a mixture of groans and screams around her, which Catwoman knew was her queue to get moving. She dashed to the elevators just as the one she was to get to dinged and slid open. Inside was Syvlia-Catwoman. Selina-Catwoman slid in and hit the close door button and then pressed the one for the top floor. Syvlia was wearing the backpack that held the dresses they'd be changing into, as both had the experience as working girls to pull that off to slip away in the pending confusion.
“Get it?”
The purple-and-black Catwoman smiled and flipped Selina something, which was a flash drive that was easily caught. “Of course. And if the screen wasn't lying as I made the copy, we're looking at forty-four million, most of it Crispin's. Well, ours, now.”
“Good,” Catwoman took a heavy breath.
“It wasn't too rough out there, was it? So far it's all going according to plan, just like you said it would. They'll be confused and scramble to look for you, so as long as we stay together then they're sure to not find you.”
“That's the idea,” Catwoman turned, giving Syvlia her back. “Get the zipper, will you?” There was a tug and then the *ziiiiiiiip*. “Then I can get yo...hrnk!”
Selina fell to the floor as pain exploded from her exposed back and she was aware of the metallic tint of blood in the air even as warm streaks of it ran from her sweaty back.
Above her, Syvlia-Catwoman examined the bloody claws of her glove for a moment, which was all she spared as she had to act quickly. She shrugged off the now-useless backpack and grabbed from it her own flash drive, and then she was up, going through the grate in the elevator's ceiling. “Like I said, all is going according to plan,” she said and then was gone.
She *hated* being left behind, but then what could Holly do. The most she could do right now was wait, which wasn't so bad, as she had things to do. Just none of them were fun, especially not as fun as pulling such a dangerous job. Holly was quite wide-eyed as Selina laid out the details to her and Syvlia both, but then she thought maybe Selina was trying to show off to Syvlia. Whatever their history was, Holly didn't really like or trust it, especially for the ways that Syvlia had looked at Selina.
Not that she didn't get where Syvlia was probably coming from. Who *wouldn't* be jealous of Selina?
She poked her head into the fridge for the eighteenth time, which only upset Appletart, as once again he didn't get anything. He hovered around the food dishes, just in case.
Holly checked on Karen, who seemed more restful than she had been in weeks since the attack. She was almost peaceful and sleeping well. Wisp stayed with her still, and was curled up next to her.
Matilda was in the bathroom, just staring into the mirror. Holly grinned and stroked her back, which the lady enjoyed for a moment or two before she returned to her studies. Holly left her to it.
Pookie was under the sofa and then the chair, where he had chased one of Holly's pens. It was her fault for leaving her drawing stuff out, she knew, or at least unattended so she didn't scold the kitten...even as he persisted to chase another under the sofa as she fetched the red from under the chair. And then again with another under the chair as she got the green from under the sofa.
A little bit later Roadrash was making a noise at the window as he desired to be let out. “Not before I find your brother,” Holly warned him. He growled at the sound of that, not liking it one bit and pawed at the glass. Holly wasn't having it, however, as she didn't like letting one of them out without knowing where all the others were.
It took some searching, but eventually she found him. There wasn't any point to calling out to him since he was deaf and mute, but he was easy enough to spot once she looked in the right place. He was at the front door, sitting there and he stared at it. In all her time with Selina, Holly couldn't ever remember the white cat being anywhere near the door.
That's precisely when the shotgun shot blasted the door knob inward.
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To Be Continued...
Next: In Catwoman #3: Oh. No.
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