Summary:Flashback: An early clash between Batman and Catwoman Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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(This scene takes place in 1997, done for the fun of filling in the past a little)
—-
It was a humid evening in New York. Having gotten on his patrol route early in the evening, Batman's car is on patrol in the streets when the police scanner alerts him of a break in at the museum - where among the displays that were going on was the recent acquisition of cat's eye jewelry had gone on display. There's a frown that comes across his face - he knows who he may expect there. He's only run into her a few times so far. Young, he knew that. She was fast and agile, and quick with a whip.
He had thwarted her a couple of times, but had gotten away each time.
It had frustrated and dogged him. Because unlike most of his other rogue's, she only made minimal effort to hide her identity from him - though he had not completely figured it out - she had the most staggering green eyes he'd ever seen.
The Batmobile pulls up behind the Museum, and the twenty-five year old hero makes his way out of the car to head into the museum, bypassing the museum as he heads in through the door. Making his way in through the skylight hasn't exactly been mastered yet.
—-
Catwoman is a prodigy, no one can take that away from her; her talent is staggering for one so young, paling only in comparison to the skill she'll mature into with practice. But she's not a MASTER cat burglar yet. A master wouldn't have set off an alarm.
Perhaps it's her youth, or just her eccentricity, but it'll be a little while before she learns to stop stealing with a *theme* - perhaps taking contracts is what will wean that out of her system - but her choice in targets telegraphs her presence before you ever arrive. She'd be embarrassed by the losing the element of surprise if she even knew you were coming.
Catwoman hums a cheerful little tune as she twists the dial on a heavy safe, holding a stethoscope over the concealed tumblers as she puzzles out the combination. She's slowing her progress a little with her own voice, but she's beyond caring at this point, immersed in the satisfaction of taking what she pleases, a feeling that spikes when a heavy clack preceeds the vault door opening. Catwoman reaches one hand in, and retrieves a handful of jeweled necklaces and pearls, regarding them with a smirk. "Annnnd purrfectly done~" She muses smugly to herself. This stuff is just a bonus, however. The Cat's Eye jewelery is already in the satchel slung over her shoulder, and the new stuff goes right in with it.
When Batman appears in the doorway, Catwoman is already halfway to the skylight, climbing her whip like a rope when she freezes at the sound of the door opening. She has her back to you when she cranes her neck to look at the doorway with one green eye. "… Oh." She says stiffly. She bats her eyes in pure amusement at this turn of events, grinning broadly. "… This is awkward~." It's terrible, actually! But the more tense her situation gets, the more this strange woman seems to like it.
She draws her legs up, entwining them with the whip to keep her balanced as she leans back… back… back until she's looking at you straight on, her face upside down to your eyes, back arched as she sweeps her arms out to either side theatrically in a pretty phenominal show of balance all things considered, as she grins, "*Well* then! Catch me if you can~" The challenge laid down, she straightens back up and climbs out through a hole in the skylight with shocking speed; retrieving her whip with a sharp yank, and breaking into a sprint across the rooftop.
—-
His biggest flaw was that when he came across the first downed security guard, he took the time to make sure that the man was going to be safe - he hadn't caught on that she won't kill unless she has to. She doesn't want to be a murderer. Probably just to avoid the much longer jail sentence. At least, that was his reasoning. The flashlight is taken as he heads towards the exhibit hall, and hears the small noise of the clacking of an opening vault.
"Dammit." he hisses to himself, racing forward towards the hall, just in time to find her already haning there, attempting to make her mistake. She starts to purr at him, and it draws only a moments hesitation, before she makes her dare towards him. "Catwoman, wait!" he starts to call out - before she disappears through the skylight.
Fine. She wants to play that way? The grapple gun is brought out of his belt and fired upward, catching on the support strut and pulling Batman skywards. He launches through the open skylight as he uses the extra momentum to propel himself through the air.
The shadow of him is above you for a moment, before he's landing in a tumble, perfectly executed as he twists and turns to face you. "Drop the jewels and surrender peacefully, Catwoman and I'll ask the DA to go easy on you." he grunts, his eyes narrowing - the lenses not yet reacting to his facial expressions as much. They're both in their youth, it's obvious.
"Whatever you're doing this for, you don't have to, there's plenty of other ways to have an honest living." It's offered naievely. Clearly she's not doing this /just/ because you enjoy it, right? Every criminal has a reason, and he's taking a guess at yours.
—-
The guard in question seems to have been chloroformed; that will later turn out to be the case for two of the three that were on duty at the time; the last must have seen her because he appears to have - scientifically speaking - had the shit kicked out of him.
Presently, Catwoman draws in a sharp hiss of breath and skids to a halt as Batman appears in front of her. *God* he's fast. Of course, it's easy when you have gadgets like his, isn't it? She blinks once as he speaks to her, bemused incredulity forming an odd smile on her face before she brings one hand to her cheek, feigning a blush. "Oh my gosh, *is* there? This is so embarrassing." She lifts her shoulders and squirms a little in faux girlish embarrassment, before her gaze sharpens, her smile going from sweet to wicked as her hand goes to the coiled whip on the hip of her purple costume, her old mask exposing her expressive eyes as she says, "You're sweet, Handsome, but I have places to be, so you're either gonna have to move aside, or start hitting girls." She says, a wicked edge coming to her voice as she uncoils the whip with a flick of her wrist, the business end hitting the ground in front of you with a ringing SNAP.
—-
"You don't think I'd hit you?" There's surprise in Batman's voice as she makes that callous claim. After all, he had plenty of female teachers. As the whip cracks at him, the Bat leaps backwards, sliding along the rooftop. "But I don't need to hit you to defeat you." And that may be his downfall. He's trying to /outsmart/ the woman with those hauntingly beautiful green eyes.
As she's pulling back to strike again, he sends a batarang not towards her shoulder, but towards the bag that she has over her shoulder, looking to cut the strap of it and force her to have to abandon it because she'd have to lose use of one of her arms in order to do so.
Of course, is his aim so great that he can strike that small target without marring the woman that is carrying the bag as well? He's pretty confident that yes, he can do that as he lets the batarang fly. "Give it up, Catwoman, this isn't your night!"
—-
Catwoman grins with slightly naive satisfaction, daring to thing for a moment that she had intimidated the caped crusader, though his response draws a bit of a pout. She starts to say something, but whatever it is turns into a sharp grunt as she moves to dodge the batarang, the sharp edge only knicking the strap with enough force that it still rips in half.
Catwoman is still in mid pivot when the strap breaks, and it's a testament to her instincts and her reflexes that she turns that momentum of her spin into a sharp swing, whipping the satchel at your head while keeping tight hold of the strap so as not to lose it. Although it puts her at a disadvantage - occupying one of her hands - she still follows up ferociously, one heeled boot swinging towards your head, planting on the ground, and then swinging back again the other way. "Oh, *darling*…" she half-growls in response as her feet hit the ground again and she quick-steps away from you in mid spin before coming to a stop in an arrogant and seductive little pose, the satchel hanging over the back of her shoulder as she smirks, "… I *own* the night."
—-
The boot comes swinging towards his head - attached to that shapely leg that nearly distracts Batman as he is able to bring up his arm to defend the strike, though it's far from effective, as the collision causes the man to slide back just a little, and gives Catwoman the egress she needs to try to get away. And she's well on her way to making her way to freedom when she stops to pose at him. That little mockery costs her a few seconds.
And it gives him a chance to grab his grapple gun. He fires it at the bag of jewels, getting a solid snag on the canvas with the tongs as he starts to pull it back towards him, and hopefully knock Catwoman on her rump. "You are far from owning the night, Catwoman." he responds to her, staring an impromptu game of tug of war with the woman as he starts to try to reel the satchel in to him.
His boots dig into the ground, planting him there as he's having to use his stength to pull both woman and satchel towards him, intent on bringing the jewels back to be returned. And if he can capture the elusive Catwoman in the process, all the better!
—-
Catwoman grunts sharply as the satchel is yanked back, wrenching her shoulder as her entire body turns with the effort to keep hold of that bag with one hand. "Gnnn…! Damn… you…! she grunts and growls. Catwoman is strong, but Batman eclipses her in height and musculature, so she soon loses the tug-of war, finding herself yanked forward and stumbling towards him before she suddenly pitches forward, planting one hand on the ground as she flips forward.
She lands on one boot directly in front of him as the other leg raises up, planting itself harmlessly against his torso - not an attack so much as a simple bracing point between them to keep her from crashing into him fully. "Oh!" She gasps as she looks up at him, and smiles sheepishly. "*So* strong." She purrs, bringing a hand to his cheek before, in the same instant, sharp claws spring from the tips of her gloes and swipe at Batman's cheek, while her free hand snatches the grapple gun from his belt.
Leaving the satchhel in Batman's hand to occupy him, and hoping the scratch distracts him for long enough, she steps back, sweeping his leg out from under him with one leg to throw him off balance, and shoving him with all her might to pitch him over. As he falls, she attaches the grapple gun to his belt, firing it into an overhanging ledge so has to reel him in and, ideally, leave him dangling upside down inches above the ground. Quick as a flash, her whip lashes out and wraps around his wrists, and the feline Felon plants her boot onto the whip, pinning it to the ground and, ideally, restricting his ability to move his arms as she kneels down onto the whip, putting her face close to his. "You were saying?" She purrs with unbearable self satisfaction.
—-
Grabbing the satchel from midair, it seemed like for a moment that Batman was going to have the upper-hand in this battle, matching strength against agility. Nothing could be further from the truth. As she nearly crashes into him and purrs, he reaches out to grab at her, just to come back with an empty hand as the Cat's scratch is effective - causing a few trickles of blood - three perfect lines on the side of his face where she drew first blood in what will become years of moments like this.
The satchel, the very thing that was inconviencing her is now his problem to deal with, and he feels that shapely calve as it hooks that back of his leg. Before he can react, he feels himself falling for you. Literally, in this case, as he feels himself divested of the grapple gun in return for the satchel, and the grapple line is expended into a nearby ledge. Yanked off his feet and pulled upside down, he's suddenly helpless as Catwoman continues her attack, and he finds himself neatly tied up and helpless to her. Oh, how many villians would /love/ to have this moment of Batman completely unable to do anything for the moment.
There's no response that is coming to her taunts, just a narrowing of his lenses as he starts to work his body. She may not have much time to get away, but there are a few seconds where she knows she's won this round. There's a grunt of frustration from Batman as he suddenly finds his face so close to yours - and the scent that you put off on your skin - that brief tendril of your perfume on his nostrils, the warmth of your breath against his lips.
—-
Catwoman's heart is pounding with adrenaline, her eyes blazing with the rush of victory as she watches you hang there, wetting her lips briefly before her hand suddenly lashes out, putting her clawed fingers close to your throat, but not touching them. Her other hand goes to your cheek, her thumb digging threateningly under the mask. She's in a positon any of your enemies would and will kill to try and be in. It could well have been the end of your career so early in. But that's not what Catwoman wants, and it will be a long time before Catwoman ever deigns to do something she doesn't *want* to do. And she doesn't want to kill you. Hell, she doesn't even want to know who you are. Instead she draws in near, making a little show of admiring Batman's powerful form before her green eyes lock on yours. "You know something, Bat?" She purrs softly, her thumb briefly strumming over the side of your lips. Drawing in close she whispers, "You just might be my favorite."
Selina Kyle is a civilian with all the restrictions of society on her. Catwoman, however - if not by design than certainly in function - is almost pure id. It's the freedom to be and do whatever she wants, even if it's just on impulse. And, with no shame or self-awareness, she takes this opportunity to kiss the dark knight, aggressively embracing him as her hand pulls him forward into her, purely for her own gratification; a rush of power as well as, well, the simple pleasure of kissing a handsome man.
She gasps heavily when she breaks the kiss, and for a split second, she nearly forgets what she's doing before she snatches the satchel, slinging it over her shoulder again as she winks at you, purring, "Better luck next time~" before she wheels around and takes off into the night, taking her whip and lashing it out to propel herself from one building to another.
It's arrogant of her, no doubt - Batman wasn't long to stay in that trap, and now he has his arms free - but of all the things that may change about her over time, she'll never lack in confidence.
—-
He's already freed himself from the first restraint. It won't be long now. But that's a lifetime in the hands of the wrong villain. Numerous others will try to get him as Catwoman has him at the moment. He wants to say something. To intimidate her somehow - but right now, his whole being is on the idea of escape. That is until that moment.
Pulled against her lips, Batman has no words for what happens. But her lips are soft, and warm, her kiss is enticing. It's one of excitement, thrill, adrenaline..
…and you may very well notice that he was /returning/ it as she pulled away. She's not the only one trying to find their breath.
And of course, there's that view of you as you flee, just as he works from the last of the restraints, and falls to the ground, shoulder first with a thud of pain as he rolls over onto his back and tries to process what just happened. Pulling back to his feet, he reaches for his grapple gun - and realizes that there is nothing for him to fire a line after to chase. She's gotten away.
"Dammit." he hisses, moving to retrieve his gear. He's lost this round.
But he's hoping to meet her again.