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#5
JAN 14 |
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“Up and Away”
“Stop looking so worried. Stick to the plan and you'll be fine. Besides, all eyes will be on me,” Selina said with confidence as she strode forward. She lead the way as her companion hustled to keep up.
Holly couldn't help it. There were parts of this city that she knew well, and even better before all of the alien technology had taken root here. But in midtown like this, it was prime time action hour for the residents who wore tights. Those Metropolitans she'd prefer to avoid at all costs. Besides, stealing something from this building in particular felt like it had to be right under Superman's nose, though Selina said such places were normally the easiest to get away with. It was impossible to not fixate on the 'normally' however.
They had waited until the saw the old man rush out, the one that Selina assured her was Perry White, the guy that they had called an hour ago. Selina had promised an exclusive if he, and only the editor-in-chief, met with her across town, which didn't seem like it would work until she let slip a hint about the current President of the United States. It had worked and, not long after White hailed a cab and was whisked away, the pair of them glided into the lobby of the Daily Planet.
Selina's appearance did indeed capture all the eyes in the room. Bald as she was, her green eyes and the power suit of purple and green she wore, most didn't need to see the LexCorp briefcase she had to assume she was with that company. The stares followed her all the way from the entrance to the elevator. All the news people were so focused on her, that they didn't seem to notice the rather scrappy Holly right at her side, or the oversized handbag Holly had with her.
They were quiet on their ride up to the newsroom floor and that silence continued with the doors opened, as word traveled faster than the elevator had. As they all watched her, Selina calmly paced forward and headed straight for the desk of Lois Lane.
“Pardon me, but where can I find Mr. White's office? I'm here to speak to him and,” she looked around to all of the staring faces, “wished to do so privately.”
“And you are?” Mrs. Lane didn't look too amused, though she stood to address the puzzling woman before her. When Selina didn't answer, Lois shook her head. “Perry's out right now.”
“Well, I'd appreciate more than just your word on that, miss. I have something important for him. Mr. Perry,” she added as if to avoid confusion.
Lois curled a lip in the face of that easy, calm reply. “Well, right this way then, so you can see his empty office for yourself.”
“Thanks,” Selina intoned, sure not to smile.
Still, everyone watched as Selina was lead towards the editor-in-chief's and that's when Holly made her move. Quick and easy, she took sure unrushed steps towards Lois' vacated desk. As she passed it, swipe, in went Lois' purse into Holly's over-sized bag. It wasn't easy to do with her hands still wrapped in mittens worth of gauze, but she managed it all the same. Holly was back at the elevator and held down the 'open door' button, which was decidedly harder with her hands in the state they were in.
“...please tell him I'll be back later today. It is most urgent that I speak to him. In private.”
“Oh, of course, miss...?” Lois' second inquiry for the mysterious lady's name was as fruitful as the first. When Selina didn't answer, Lois pressed again. “You could just wait for him.”
“That really isn't an option,” the mystery woman said as she looked around, suddenly somewhat nervous. Her eyes went to the clock.
“Do you want to leave a name, a number or maybe even a card?”
“That won't be necessary,” Selina nodded and turned, unable to see the rude face that Mrs. Lane gave her back, but Holly caught a glimpse. As soon as Selina was through the door, Holly released the button so that no one had a chance to follow.
Once back to the lobby, Selina took the same pace out that she had going in, entered the waiting cab and was gone. Holly stayed on the elevator and rode it back up to the fifth floor, found a restroom and waited there the twenty minutes she was supposed to before she too left the Daily Planet. By the time Holly made it back to the hotel room, she found Selina changed and ready to go.
“Not a moment's rest for the wicked, huh,” Holly had to ask.
Selina pulled the Star City Rocket's cap onto her head and smiled. “Not when there's this much fun to be had, nope!”
Holly rolled her eyes. “Only you would get excited about breaking into LexCorp.”
Selina tipped her hat. “Because only I am going to pull it off.” She stepped forward to link her arm with Holly's. “Let's go get something to eat, because I am starving after waiting for you to get back.” She smiled to show she meant no harm by that. “Assuming you got it, I think Lois Lane is buying us lunch.”
They opted for the sushi bistro across the street from LexCorp.
Holly didn't have much of an appetite as being back in Metropolis made her feel itchy. It could have been her hands, as with the oversized gauze mittens, she couldn't handle chopsticks anyway. Selina had offered to feed her, but that just felt silly. They had settled on a compromise that involved Holly squirming in her chair and Selina being fixated on the tower before them.
“So, why are you so eager to get in there, anyway?”
“Because,” Selina said unladylike around a mouthful of spring roll, “that's where all my stuff is.”
“Oh? Did you stash something here, like you did in all those jails all around Gotham? Because that is kinda' smart, I guess, figuring that if there was someplace other than Gotham to store things, the President of the free world would know of ways to keep things safe. In his little tower of his, anyway.”
“It's not really his anymore. He handed over the company when he took title of Most Powerful Man In The World,” Selina pointed out.
“Yeah, Talia? Head? Weird name,” Holly noted but then when she saw Selina give a look, asked, “You know her too?”
Selina didn't give an answer to that so Holly had to shrug. “It's just, well, maybe this is out of reach considering.”
Selina gave Holly a little smirk, to show she appreciated the sentiment but did she ever disagree with it. Out of reach, for her?!
“C'mon, Selina. Seriously, that place has to be locked up tighter than Fort Knox.”
“It's empty, you know,” Selina tossed out, and still she smiled. “At least it was a couple of years ago. What? I had to have a peek just to see for myself.”
Holly rolled her eyes, but still she fought herself to ask for details. “So, you snuck into LexCorp and planted some spare gear in there and expect it to still be laying around?”
Selina shook her head, swallowed, and explained. “Before Luthor got himself elected, he hired me to design some things for him – professional things,” she winked. “So I don't know exactly what he cooked up, but hey, I figure since it's my ideas and he's had his turn holding onto them, now it's mine. And I can use them right now. Besides, if he gets mad then, well, I'm just giving them some real world testing. He'll be grateful.”
“I doubt that,” Holly frumped.
“If he came up with even half of what I gave to him, it's a genuine stockpile of goodies. It maybe does help that I have an inkling of what's there, so that way I'm one of the few who could make use of it all.”
“If it's going to be so easy to just waltz in and grab it, wouldn't he have it under some greater lock and key?”
“Oh,” Selina smirked as she fiddled with another piece of roll before she popped it into her mouth. “The best thing about Lex is he thinks he's so smart and thus thinks no one would steal from him.”
“You and the President have history?”
“Not like *that*,” Selina assured her, “but there was a working relationship there, for professional reasons. Crossed paths.” When Holly gave her a bit of a stare, she went on. “Luthor is a smart man, perhaps the smartest I have ever known, even more so than an ex-pointy-eared 'friend'. He doesn't seek to rise above the human condition, but he embraces it. Fully. He's willing to do what he must to stay ahead, which happened to involve a little corporate espionage here or a bit of pilfering there.”
“Nothing you could prove, of course.”
Selina nodded. Right. She finished her lunch and then poked at Holly's.
“Couldn't you just ask him for it then?”
Selina didn't look up as she shared a grin. “Does it help to know that he shorted the last check? So, maybe I'm going to pick up my stuff out of spite.”
“Spite? You?” Holly had to smile now.
Selina removed her Rocket's cap and gave her bald head a rub and added a wink for Holly's benefit. “Sooo, while I'm in there, you'll be okay out here?”
Holly had to snort. Of course Selina would think like that, instead... “I wish you wouldn't go. This seems way too dangerous to me. Surely we can get you new stuff, st....”
“Not like the stuff in there, we won't,” Selina indicated with a nod of her chin.
“I guess.”
“Holly,” Selina said then, softer and reached across the table for one of the blonde girl's wrapped hands. “After this, it only gets harder. There's no going back to Gotham. That's...that's gone,” she swallowed and tried her best to not sound bitter. “To make all of 'this' work, we're going to need that edge, to stay one step ahead of everyone else. You're going to have to trust me on this.”
“I do,” Holly gave back instantly and silently cursed her inability to squeeze Selina's hand in return. “You know I do. It's just...”
“No more of that. And hey, if you're going to be that morose, then think about it this way: if I don't pull this off, we're both good as gone since we won't have what we need.”
“What you want, you mean.” Holly looked up and bit her lower lip.
“There's a difference?” Selina's playful smile won over her companion, as soon Holly grinned too.
Since they were holding stolen goods, the time would have to be now. The longer they held onto Lois Lane's purse, the sooner both feared that her 'guardian angel' would swoop down out of the sky, having developed some kind of 'purse-seeking sight' or something. The way Superman rather publicly came to Mrs. Lane's protection was cause enough to act quick.
Right after lunch, it was time to get to work. Besides, hitting LexCorp in broad daylight would be the last thing that anyone would expect, and thus the hardest solution became the easiest to accept.
Selina turned her cap around and slipped on her sunglasses. She tucked the signed, stamped and sealed delivery box under her arm (the one that held the purse) tightly, as a messenger girl might. As she entered through the main entrance, she added speed to her steps to suggest she was in a rush.
To the first person she met and everyone else she was directed to after, Selina thrust the PDA she lifted from an actual delivery man earlier in the day. Holly was all thumbs right now, but the girl was immensely useful with the technology stuff, even the futuristic stuff found here in Metropolis. She'd been able to talk Selina through how to alter the device to mimic what they wanted. It wasn't until she reached the reception desk that she found someone willing to sign for the package.
“Got something here for Ms. Head.” Once she was handed back the PDA, Selina had already turned to rush out the door. Yet, she called back, “Be sure she gets it, it's marked urgent!”
Talia Head, CEO of LexCorp, had a high profile development meeting across town, which a little poking around had revealed would end at four. It was just after one now. Thus, Selina figured she had just over three hours to get in and claim what was waiting for her.
In the end, it was Peepers that showed her the way in.
As soon as Holly and Selina hit the streets of Metropolis after landing, they had met the lean feline. He was orange with white stripes and had soft green eyes, while also being one of the loudest yowlers Selina had ever known. The city might be a mecca for alien technology, with automated everythings, but that hadn't stopped life from soldiering on. The streets were clean, almost clinical, but there were still rats and those that preyed them. Peepers was an old veteran of the Big Apricot, and where it may of changed around him he kept to his hard-earned survivalist ways.
On the way to find a motel, the girls crossed his path, where he had looked so convincingly miserable that Selina had used her remains of airline foods to lure him out, only to have him dart away at the last moment. Holly then saw him later that night rather nimbly and healthily sneak into a pizza delivery car while the driver was making a delivery, then again when Peepers scrambled off with his find. Selina was impressed by his effective beggar routine and made sure she found him out to tag along on his nightly forays.
Together they went about the streets of Metropolis for three nights before Peepers decided to show off. First he lead her to the LexCorp building and then just like that, he sprinted up along the walls and hopped into an open office window on the fifth floor.
Over the outer wall panels were thin metal plates – which Selina suspected were lead – that unless you looked close enough, were near impossible to spot. Yet, they created a very tiny ledge that any normal person wouldn't be able to make use of.
Well, maybe ninjas or Catwomans.
Once she was inside, it was crucial to not be in a rush. Selina removed the delivery girl clothing and stuffed it into the first wastebasket she found, and underneath that she wore the business savvy suit she'd worn to visit the Daily Planet. That had been important, to see Lois Lane, so that Selina could know what hairstyle Lois had, as that made it all the easier to select the proper wig. With how many security systems there were bound to be in this place, the building would register the unaccounted for person, her, soon. When the cameras started looking, Selina wanted them to find Lois Lane.
If she ran, she'd be spotted sooner, so she calmly but carefully made her way up to the penthouse office. There she made a slight distraction and was able to slip past the secretary and into the penthouse office of CEO Talia Head. There, waiting for her, was the package she'd dropped off earlier.
Aside from Lois' possessions, the purse also had the flash drive that Syvlia had left her with in the Ladyfinger, in Gotham. It had been wiped and with Holly's help, now only held a blank letter with a reproduced Daily Plant letterhead and some rough, made-up draft of some anti-LexCorp article that the pair had come up with. When Selina inserted it into Talia's computer, there was no blaring alarms, but she knew they were going. The game was now afoot.
Once she reached the R&D floors, it took until the second technician she encountered for someone to take notice of her. Apparently for the first, whatever he was working on was way too engrossing to allow him the opportunity to avert his eyes long enough to see the pretty lady in his midst. The second was flustered to see 'Lois Lane' and when shown 'her' wallet, he actually pointed out that her eyes were green, not violet like the license indicated.
“Oh, a little lie to be more interesting,” Selina had promised. “The weight you see there? Total fib. It's actually twenty pounds more.”
When he nodded his agreement as though he could see that, she wanted to punch him. She settled for swiping his ID badge when he wasn't looking. She ditched him when he sought to show off his particle-accelerating oscillating...thingy.
The third scientist she found was a woman, and one who instantly thought she knew who Selina was. The poor woman was so scared she willingly locked herself into a locker and gave Selina directions to what she was looking for. She had muttered something about being so sorry for what she developed and to please not tell Superman and something else about kryptonite. Selina stopped listening as the less she knew the better.
Outside of the lab she had pointed out to her, Selina found a pair of guards, both of whom raised their weapons the instant they saw her come around the corner. Before they could yell at her to freeze or to call in a report, Catwoman spoke. “Be a dear and hold this for me, will you?”
In one fluid motion she peeled off her wig and flipped it towards the guard to her left, which distracted them both a split second. That was long enough for Selina, who leapt forward, tucked into a roll and came up before the guards. “Something tells me you boys wouldn't let me by if I asked politely, which is okay since I'm not really the type to ask.” Her hands flashed forward with quick snapped strikes to their exposed throats, and as they gagged Catwoman gathered their helmeted heads together in a resounding crash. They slumped to the floor and she stepped over them, delighted to find that the ID card she had lifted earlier worked on the door before her.
Talia Head, as she was known now, was not amused. She had made up the excuse to extricate herself from the meeting she had been in where the silent alert was broadcast to her. When she discovered that her assistant had wavered over informing her the instant it came in, fearing her reaction, she had him sent to one of her father's installations in Thailand. With a sigh, she realized she'd need to look for another new assistant; the fourth so far this month.
Her father was Ra's al Ghul, the Demon Head, a name of whispers and of power. Talia had inherited his empire, but for the moment was occupying running another. Lex Luthor had asked her to run his company while he was playing at being the President of the United States, and with a world to rule Talia saw the wisdom in having the 'most powerful man in the world' owing her a favor. Besides, she had free reign over all that Luthor had claim to, which was an arsenal she would add to her inheritance one day soon.
That was all good and well to think on as she was in transit, but once her helicopter landed on the roof of LexCorp, it was down to business. Talia rushed to exit the craft and snapped at the guard that approached her, data pad held out in front of him.
“What is happening? Leave anything out or lie to me, and you will be sent to lock the front door from the outside,” Talia pointed to the edge of the building. “By going that way.”
The man swallowed and then reported to compliment what Talia was seeing. “We're not sure how she got in, but we have a time stamp of when she first accessed the system in,” he gulped. “Your office. As far as we can tell, she hasn't downloaded anything, or uploaded either. Perhaps she got some tip-off that we were alerted to her and fled. We're trying to find her now.”
“Find who?” Talia had to ask as she peered at the brief clip she saw on the pad before her. A woman snuck into her office, fiddled with a package on her desk and then was touching the computer terminal there.
“Why, Lois Lane, ma... Ma'am.”
“Hrmpt,” Talia frumped. She lifted her wrist and looked at a display on her watch. Her suspicions were correct. “That is *not* Lois Lane.”
“Then w-who is t...”
“Give me a moment. Actually, get out of my sight,” she barked further and stormed past him to get inside her building. Once she was inside she was met by another guard, and she prayed this one was more competent than the last. “Speak,” she said without slowing down.
He fell in at her side, which was already a good sign. “All personnel are accounted for, however we discovered two guards unconscious outside Lab Four.”
“Ah,” Talia flinched. She knew that laboratory well, since she had pilfered heavily from it herself and slipped a good many things to the League of Shadows from there. “So, it's a thief then.”
“Appears so, mistress.” She was quickly coming to like this one much more than the other previous ones. She nodded as they quickly made towards the central security hub. “A quick inventory revealed six missing items. I have a list of them if you want to see,” he offered and held out a data pad to her.
Talia snatched it away from him but flicked the list off the screen. “Tell me,” she commanded as instead of looking at that, she called up the recording from her office. There was something familiar...
“The all-purpose rebreather mask, the audio-reproducer device, the broadcast scanner headset, the ultra-vision goggles, and...”
“The x-ionized promethium claws,” Talia growled as she cut him off.
“Y-yes,” stammered the guard, who came to a stop when she did outside the central security office. “How did you...?”
Talia held up the data pad for him to see, which showed the woman as she plugged the flash drive into the computer. “She didn't even bother to try fake typing anything. Seal the building, and quickly,” she turned to address the room of frantic security operators and drones now before her. “Find her and find her now.” When they all stared back at her, uncertain, she explained in a fit of rage. “Our intruder! Bring me the head of Catwoman!”
It had been a long day without results. The meeting Talia was forced to abandon fell through and, despite utilizing every LexCorp resource at her disposal, Catwoman had eluded them. She had the entire building turned over and nothing. It was now past midnight and she was tired. No, exhausted. There was a soft *hiss* as the door opened to the private apartment she kept above the public office below.
There she was.
And in one of her bodysuits!
Catwoman turned and looked up from the opened jewerly box that she had littered all over herself. She had spotted Talia enter from the vanity before her, but quickly got herself orientated as she sprang to her feet. “I didn't expect to see you here.”
“I live here,” Talia hissed as she kicked off her heeled shoes. “You've been into my things.”
Catwoman backed into the vanity and prepared herself. “Who knew we were the same size?” She tried to smile sweetly, as though Talia would forgive her.
That was not the case. Talia sprang, as she leaped at Catwoman, who managed to only narrowly avoid Ms. Head's foot as it kicked out at her. There was a shattering of the mirror as Talia hit it instead, but rather than let that slow her, Talia pushed off the wall and slammed her elbows into Selina's back. Catwoman hit the bed and bounced off, but before she could roll away, Talia was on top of her and pinned her down.
“You are crazy to have come here,” Talia seethed and she grabbed Selina's wrist as the woman under her took a swipe at her face, and then backhanded Catwoman with the other.
“I didn't have anywhere else to go,” Selina managed to get out, around her rattled teeth. She wanted to rub her jaw, or at least stop the ringing in her head. Her opponent was a lot stronger than she looked, and far more skilled than Catwoman had anticipated. Maybe if she could keep Talia talking, she could find some way out. “Besi-... hrk!”
Talia grabbed her prey's throat with her free hand and squeezed, even as Catwoman grabbed at her wrist. “I do mean it, that you shouldn't have come here. To this city, this building, to my room. You will not be leaving here alive. I have had reports of what happened in Gotham and I don't care how you survived the explosion, but...” Talia stopped herself as Selina struggled, not to get free, but to respond to her! Intrigued, she slackened her hold on the prone woman's throat enough to hear the raspy words she meant to say moments ago.
“... always find... way...”
Catwoman smiled and Talia reasserted her choke, but it was too late as already Selina was moving. She rolled and held onto Talia's wrist still to make sure the LexCorp CEO went with her, and flipped under her to then push up strong. She had managed to wretch away from Talia's grasp and throw her off in one fluid motion.
“Idiot,” Talia spat as she easily landed unharmed and rushed the thief. “I have trained since before my first steps. I was born to rule, by might and blade.” Catwoman met this charge by scrambling back and then also she tossed anything he could grab at the darting Talia. It was no use, as Talia nimbly avoided everything sent her way. “I have bathed in blood and feasted on marrow. I command shadows and I will have your death.”
Selina managed to roll away from a strike Talia made towards her head, but just barely. “I think you're jealous because I wear this better than you do.” Her smirk was lost as Talia firmly drove her foot into her mid-setion, and Catwoman was sent backwards where she found the wall with her back. Talia's foot found her again at her side, and Selina felt several ribs give way much more than they should. She was only vaguely aware of her scream as she slid to her knees.
Talia smiled down at the collapsed Catwoman and paced backwards, where by the bed she fetched a sword that was displayed above the headboard. It was broad and gaelic, but Talia welded it easily with one hand. “I never understood what he saw you in,” she tsked loudly.
“I don't know when to give up,” was the only answer Catwoman could give as she looked up and then sprang forward, thankfully quick enough that she pounced into Talia and sent the woman flying with enough force that the sword was sent flying away.
Talia dislodged Catwoman as they tumbled with a knee to the chin, but Selina fought back and raked her newfound claws across Talia's stomach. When that only produced sparks, which told Catwoman how well armored Talia was, she instead headbutted her foe. That sent them both rolling away and dizzily dazed.
Catwoman was the first to get to her feet. “It's been fun, but I really can't stay,” she tossed back as she bolted for the door. Yet, behind her Talia touched her watch and the door sealed tight. Selina turned in time to see Ms. Head raise a pistol of some sort she had pulled from under the bed and she dodged as the shot tore past her ear.
“Oh, you're not going anywhere,” Talia fired again, just narrowly missing once more. And then again, though this time Catwoman avoided being shot as she ducked behind a wall.
“Unless it's in a bodybag?”
“Correct,” Talia answered.
“Ugh, how boringly predictable.”
Talia turned the corner to the hall, having expected Catwoman to have fled further down it, yet there the dark-clad thief was, waiting for her right at the entryway. Talia aimed, but didn't fire as Selina vaulted over her easily. Talia turned and took aim and fired. Yet, Catwoman zigged where she should have zagged and the blasts missed. Instead they struck the glass that made up the view out over Metropolis and there was a mighty shattering of glass as the high winds rushed in.
“Thanks for seeing me out,” Catwoman called back as she jumped out the window into the early morning air.
Talia rushed to the open window and peered down, barely able to make out the view down the LexCorp building. Already there were people below, far far below and only barely could she make out Catwoman safely, gracefully, landing among them before the thief darted away.
It struck her now that the guard had mentioned six missing items and she had cut him off with her deduction of number five. “The gravity-countering deceleration pads,” she cursed to the brisk morning air.
They cleared out of the way when she entered.
The last time Holly Robinson had been in this particular brothel was when she ran away from it, screaming, after Catwoman had shown up and demanded that she be handed over. It was funny, perhaps, but she had never questioned herself about leaving here despite the year she'd spent in the basement scared out of her mind of just that prospect. What they'd do to her if she tried...well, now they'd never touch her again. She knew that, and it showed, as they all kept back as she approached.
Lou, the overgrown 'doorman' who had no neck looked pale as a sheet as she appeared at the door. Candy, the 'elder' woman (she was thirty-three, Holly remembered) who managed the lobby ran away screaming. No dount they all worried Catwoman was about to come back here and Holly let them think whatever they wanted.
Well, until Sassy Sally came running at her in her full-on dominatrix gear, with a whip in one hand and a crop in the other. Sally had never liked Holly and she never knew why, though Holly suspected it had something to do with Sally's disturbing tendency to enjoy inflicting all kinds of pain.
“You twerp! Coming back here, after what you brought on us last time!” The whip cracked and licked towards her, but Holly waited a breath of a second as Selina had taught her, and then twisted so that she avoided the strike. She caught the lash with her heavily gauzed hand and winced at the pain, but deftly wound it around her shoulder and forearm and yanked. Sally, who was in impossibly high heels, teetered and fell and released the whip as she did.
“Coming back wasn't really my choice, but now that I'm here, I might as well make use of my time,” Holly responded evenly, even as she kicked Sally in the head. That felt better than it should have, Holly decided as she walked on past her former tormentor. “Thanks for this,” she wound up the whip. “I have a *friend* who needs a new one of these.”
A client of someone's ran past her, clutching his pants to his chest as he went. Holly just ignored him and turned the corner to the office.
“That's far 'nuff.”
Before her was the tall, lanky Pablo, who was a self-reported karate master and the main protector for this little dive. In fact, it had been Pablo that formed this brothel in an old nearly-abandoned apartment building in Suicide Slums but he had failed to have any head for business. That's why his savvy little brother Ricardo took over, but that was all before Holly had been dumped here.
“Out of my way,” she warned, but he didn't take the hint, as why should he? To him, she was just the little girl he had hit around, or complained about needing to invest so much in to get her 'ready' for what she'd be sent out to do soon enough.
“I don't take no orders from you,” Pablo grunted and struck at her. Before, Holly had thought him so fast, always with an eye in the back of his head to see everything, but right now Pablo seemed to be moving in slow motion. Like Catwoman had shown her, she stepped *towards* the blow but avoided it. In this close she stomped down with her foot on the inseam of his ankle. There was a sound like a wet slap and Pablo went down howling as he clutched at his broken foot.
“I guess I should have said 'please',” Holly smirked. She liked the way that she sounded just then.
Calmly, she opened the door to Ricardo's office, slipped in and closed it behind her.
There he sat, startled, but silent for a moment. Holly approached him and he smiled first, but spread that to a grin. “Well, looks like the little kitten thinks because she run off with Catwoman she's grown some claws of her own.”
Holly showed him her bite when she punched him in the nose. The sickening crunch and the immediate gush of blood was almost good enough to help her forget the first time he had touched her.
“I can think of only three people that know why I was ever here. One of them I can't ask, because I don't know who they are. Another is Catwoman and I'm not going to ask her.” Holly stared at Ricardo, letting her intent be known in her eyes. “The last is you. So, I'm asking you.”
“A-asking...asking what?”
“Who's my father?”
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The End...
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