Summary:Catwoman and Helena pursue the lead that Batman left them - and Helena's first mission turns out to be more than anyone could bargain for. Log Info:Storyteller: Bruce Wayne |
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It's mid-evening at East Side Elementary. Most of the staff has gone home for the day, while the janitorial staff are busy cleaning up the classrooms. In the office of Meredith Youvin, the school counselor is currently working on some files. Her printer is running as she is setting up a file, young faces smiling brightly from photographs as the woman is working on preparing them.
They know what they are preparing the children for now. Batman's research had shown the numerous transactions in the bank account for the woman as she traded children for money. She fidgets, a vape pin is set nearby. She'd be smoking if she could, but that's not allowed in the school, and this is the next best thing. The window has been left partially open to allow the smell of the vape to be vented out as Meredith gets up. She needs coffee.
There's a small coffee pot set on a small fridge in the corner of her room that she heads for, pouring the last of her coffee from the day into a 'World's Best Teacher' mug, and putting it in the microwave to heat up.
The Batmobile pulled up in range of the school in absolute silence as Catwoman broke down the list for Helena for what was probably the thousandth time between the two parents. "No real names. No 'moms', no nicknames. I'm Catwoman, and you're…" Selina pouts as she opens the top of the car. She puts her two index fingers together and then pulls them apart as if the word would appear between them. "… Goooolllldiiiieeeee…" she says, stretching out the word as if testing it out, and possibly doing it just to jab her daughter, as parents do. "You have until we get inside to come up with a better one!" She says before she hops out of the car. Her smile melts away, however, as they approach the school, the playful gait becoming a steady march as she takes on an air of seriousness that Helena has rarely, if ever, seen before.
The window is open. They make this too easy sometimes. With no sound to announce her arrival, Catwoman suddenly appears behind Meredith, her goggles and face reflected in the coffee pot as she says, flatly. "Sweety, we need to talk." and then claps her hand over Meredith's mouth to stifle the nearly-inevitable scream.
"Just call me your associate or something," Helena rolls her eyes as she hops out of the car, checking the mirror one last time to make sure everything is in order. Contacts, hood, mask, earpieces. Claws extend and retract. Batons in each boot. Check, check, check. Ready.
As Catwoman slips through the window, she hops up to the sill behind her, crouching in the opening to silhouette herself against the light of the city outside…and block any attempted escapes, of course. But points for drama.
The microwave gives a 'ding!' indicating that the coffee was ready. Opening the door to briefly illuminate the office, Meredith reached for the mug when Catwoman's visage is noticeable, and the woman's eyes widen in fear. She was opening her mouth to scream when she is suddenly grabbed, and the coffee mug crashes to the ground, shattering and spilling it's contents as she struggles in the woman's grip, trying to grab at her gloved hands, anything to get away.
Outside, a pair of headlights pass by the school, and then turn to make the block. It's not moving as fast as the rest of the traffic, the older model sedan one of those former police cruisers from the NYPD that tend to end up in the hands of gang-bangers to use as their own cars.
The appearance of headlights don't prompt Catwoman's next move, but they add a sense of urgency as Catwoman wrenches Meredith to the side while sweeping her leg out from under her, sending her to the ground facing downward while Catwoman kneels on top of her, her knee digging into Meredith's back. One hand reaches out to keep Meredith's face pressed to the ground, while another grabs one of Meredith's wrists and twists it backwards; not hard enough to hurt, yet, but enough to apply pressure and keep it from moving. She has deliberately dropped Meredith so that she can see Helena, and hopefully get the idea that there's no escaping this.
"Kids are disappearing in your orbit and showing up with tattoos on their bodies, while *you*…" she practically snarls the word "get generous donations from a mystery man for the hard work of 'not even being a teacher'. I'm going to ask you nicely *once* to tell me everything you know."
Her voice is harder, deeper than usual, roughly ten times worse than any time Selina's ever had to scold or punish her daughter, possibly because Selina Kyle was never going to break Helena in half, like she might here.
It's not news to Helena that her parents can be very scary people. You don't keep order in Staten Island without having something to back it up. The headlights, though. With the sound of the car from behind her, those ear-like devices behind her ears shift enough to bring the sound to her. She hops lightly from the windowsill, sliding the window almost closed and stepping to the side. No sense in giving away that there are more people in the room than there should be. She leans there, her golden eyes a menacing light from within the shadows of her hood.
The woman is slammed into the floor hard, her face pressed into the tile. She curses in Spanish as she's held down by Catwoman, and she struggles. "I don't know what you're talking about!" she manages to shout at the woman as she tries to squirm like the pinned worm that she is in the Cat's claws. "You don't know what you're talking about! I'm trying to help those children!" Is it a lie? Is it not? It's hard to tell when she's screaming in pain and trying to push Selina off of her.
This time, the car pulls into the parking lot and it idles. There's only the small glow of a cigarette from within. Maybe it's someone here to pick up one of the janitors? It would fit. But it could be something else.
Selina hears the car come to a stop, but doesn't hear it shut off. There's every reason to think it's benign, and more than enough experience and no small amount of instinct telling her it's not. Either way, she has to hurry.
Catwoman lets out a slow sigh and brings her face down closer to Meredith, close enough that she can feel Catwoman's breath on her ear as she speaks. "Now I'm being very very calm. Do you get that? Very *very( calm. And the only reason I'm being so very very calm, is because teaching is a delicate process." Catwoman wrenches Meredith's arm with enough pressure to cause pain and spark the fear of it breaking. "Today I'm thinking about anatomy. There's three moving parts in each of your fingers and two in each thumb. That makes 28 points I can break one by one until I even have to start thinking about your arms. I can crush the metacarpals all at once, and I think I can get a good seven or eight breaks on each arm before we start counting ribs, do you want me to do that? Because I've got all night."
"Mmm. Don't forget the joints." With her mask up, Helena's voice carries that quiet purr/growl beneath the words, a subconscious suggestion of being stalked. She knows her mother well enough to see the change in her posture that says she's alert to the potential danger outside, which means she doesn't alert Meredith to the fact that she might have allies.
As she struggles, Meredith's shirt opens slightly to expose a small pendant. It's made of the same glass material that Batman showed to Selina and Helena - the same glass that was used in their weapons. Gossamer. On the glass is etched that same symbol - the moon eclipsing the sun on it. She screams again, and this time she goes limp. "They only tell me to get them the names and lead the children out to them. That's all!" she cries out finally, tears rolling down her face and ruining her massacre as she tries to prevent any of her bones being broken at all.
Down at the car, the figure within picks up a phone. It illuminates the inside of the car while he dials. A few seconds later, Meredith's phone illuminates and starts to buzz in the tell-tale sign of an incoming call. There's a picture of a Central American male on the front of it, looking grim and the tag is marked 'Miguel'.
"*Who* do you lead them to?" Catwoman snarls before the phone starts ringing.
Catwoman looks at the phone like it's asking her for money. Then daintily picks it up, pinning Meredith's formerly restrained arm with her boot while she looks at the picture on the phone with a patronizing smile. As subtly as she can she slips open the case for the battery and attaches a miniscule bug device to the back of it before she puts it to Meredith's ear. "It's for you." And then, voice barely a whisper, she purrs, "Act natural."
As she answers the call, leaving it to Meredith to handle out of fear or screw up out of misplaced loyalty, Catwoman notices the pendant and arches an eyebrow, making a note to snatch it before she leaves.
From her post at the edge of the window, Helena keeps an eye on the car outside. One of those ear-like devices tilts toward the parking lot outside, while the other stays trained on Meredith and the phone to her ear. From her hand, where Meredith can see, comes a tiny click of sound, accompanied by the gleam of the outside light on one curved steel claw.
Urged and forced to by Catwoman, Meredith rises to answer the phone as it's pressed to her ear. "«Hello.»" she offers in Spanish.
«What is taking so long?» comes Miguel's response. «You're supposed to be down here by now!»
"«My printer is out of ink…»" Meredith starts to say, and then she looks over her shoulder. No, she won't lead him into this trap. "RUN!" she suddenly screams. "The Goddamn Mujergato is here!" she yells into the phone, hopefully before Catwoman can yank it away.
Down in the parking lot, Miguel doesn't need to be told twice. The car is suddenly thrown into drive, it's tires squealing as it tears out of the parking lot to head towards the Lower East Side. Only Helena sees where he turns… and the Batmobile is near.
"You will never catch him." Meredith spits at Selina.
Selina bares her teeth with a growl, before she snaps her gaze to Helena, barking "Car! Now!" Before snarling down at Meredith. "And you'll never see daylight again." She growls, taking a second to plant a rather fierce punch down onto Meredith's temple before she leaps through the open window and makes a run for the Batmobile, too late to see where the car was going, and probably not leaving the building before Helena does.
Now or never, right? Helena hears the engines gun and hesitates only long enough for a grin in her mother's direction, the corners of her eyes crinkling slightly. She doesn't even push the window open any further, kicking her legs up and sliding through the crack on her back before she's out the window and pounding toward the car.
"I'll bring it right back, I promise," she says through the comms, sounding not the least bit apologetic. She does at least hit a few buttons - tracking for the Batmobile projected directly to Catwoman, and e remote Batcycle directed to the school. She can catch up!
The good news is, Helena knows how to drive a high-performance automobile. She knows how to drive high-performance lots of things, actually. It's about to get Fast and Furious on these streets.
|ROLL| Bruce Wayne +rolls 1d20 for: 2
|ROLL| Helena Wayne +rolls 1d20 for: 17
Miguel's car is racing down 2nd Avenue, throwing through gears as fast as he can as he tries to get away from the school and towards the Lower East Side. Helena's skill in the Batmobile - IF THIS IS HER FIRST TIME DRIVING IT - is surprisingly finding it easy to stay on Miguel's tail as they race through the streets of Manhattan. He swings a hard left turn onto Allen Street, cutting across the E-Train tracks and down an alley to try to evade the dogged pursuit.
Fortunately, it only takes two minutes for the Batcycle to roll up outside of the school to give Selina a chance to get on board to catch up to her wayward daughter.
Miguel's car swings into a salvage yard parking lot, and into the garage beyond. Will Helena follow him in?
"You'll WHAT?!" Catwoman sputters as she sprints towards the Batmobile, watching the top close before the car takes off a few seconds before Selina runs into the space it occupied. "YOU ARE GROUNDED FOR*EVER*!" She calls after the receeding vehicle.
Catwoman sucks in a deep breath through clenched teeth, then casts a look back at the building behind her. Stranded at school. This is first grade all over again.
She taps the side of her goggles and sees a layout of the Batmobile's location, and the Batcycle's route towards her and, grumbling, sets the cycle to track her position before she starts running, sprinting down the road and feeling like a damned fool for two minutes before the cycle catches up behind her. Catwoman leaps onto it cranks on the accelerator without the vehicle ever slowing down, and speeds after her daughter like a proverbial bat out of hell.
Helena sometimes makes questionable decisions, but she's usually pretty reasonable about them. Like when they're going to end with her dead, she doesn't usually make that choice. She lets the Batmobile skid and spin across the lot until it's blocking the garage entrance on the passenger side. When she steps out of the car, it's to leap lightly to the roof, then from there to the roof of the garage, her steps near silent as she searches for a weakness and marks the exits.
Inside the garage, there's yelling in Spanish, as the men inside start to make plan. The sound of several weapons being armed is heard within. Firearms are in play, at least. Otherwise, all is quiet when Catwoman arrives on the scene- to see the Batmobile pushed against the garage doors, blocking it closed. And wherever Helena is at the moment.
Catwoman is *deathly* silent during her dangerously fast trip following the bath that Miguel's reckless flight lead her daughter on before she pulls up to the garage. She kicks down the kickstand, steps off the bike, regards the helmet attached to it - vaguely recalling that that would have been a good idea - then turns to peer at the building.
A moment later Catwoman is just *there*, besides Helena in a crouch, lips a flat line, holding out a trio of smoke bombs. "We blind them. Club anyone that runs out. Tear down everyone inside with night vision. Understood?"
Oh sweet jesus, she's talking like dad.
"Roof." It's a single word in the comms as Selina pulls up in the bike, and Helena is waiting there when she arrives. She nods once at the battle plan. She knows she's in trouble, but she's not going to argue about it right now. They made it to the hide-out, they're in a place where they can find what they need. That's what's important. "Yes, ma'am."
Catwoman nods once, and deposits the smoke bombs into Helena's hand, then nudges her head towards the back side of the building, indicating which side Helena should take.
Moments later there's a crash as one of the building's windows splinters apart, disguising the meaty CRACK of a bullwhip slamming against it. Three smoke pellets of her own fly through broken window, filling the area up with smoke as Catwoman calmly walks along the roof of the building, occasionally slashing her whip to the side to break another window or two to scare and disorient them, and ideally waste a fair amount of ammunition shooting at nothing while no one's in harm's way, waiting for their sight to be as bad as possible before slipping into the building.
Helena disperses her smoke bombs as directed, but she notes the odd silence of the space beneath with a glance to Selina. Moreover, she notes that no one has come running out of the garage either. That, more than the silence, is the real warning. They're going to be able to at least breathe down there, even if they can't see through the smoke. Quietly, grimly, she reaches for the batons at her thighs, flicking them open and keeping one in each hand. If they've got guns down there, better to keep in close where they'll have more trouble using them.
There's some bad news in this. The Denim Crows had just faced a similar situation to this a few days ago - when the Batman took down the informant at the /other/ school in the kidnapping attempt there. The snap and crash of the window does indeed draw out the initial spate of gunfire. Bullets rip through the building's thin metal walls and windows as they are shattered and broken.
However, after that initial burst of return fire that rips through both sides of the building, there's a silence that falls over the garage. Only the fate calling of seagulls down on the docks. They're waiting for them within. Gas masks? Most likely. The Denim Crows apparently aren't as much of a group of pushovers as the intel originally read.
And this might be the first time the two women realize that this really is going to be a dangerous mission for Helena Wayne.
The silence gives Catwoman a great deal of pause, the mental gears in her head turning away as the puts the implications together, her eyes slowly squeezing shut. This was supposed to be an easy first run, but the plan is always the first casualty, as they say. Catwoman has facilitated Helena getting the drop on muggers and street hoodlums. No more than two at a time, usually unarmed, or laughably armed. And Catwoman was always on hand to bail her out if she needed.
And now Catwoman has to make a choice. These are armed, prepared *killers*, and Catwoman's every instinct is to pull Helena out; to tell her to wait in the car. Surely Helena can almost feel it with the tension of the silence where the order to approach should have come by now.
But this day was always coming. It's just come sooner than she'd like.
'A regular dynamic duo', Selina had told Bruce. Robin rarely waited in the car.
"They're prepared and experienced. Caution. Speed. No needless risks. Isolate, disarm, eliminate. You have all the time you need before you strike." Part of Selina hates how she sounds, but she can't be a mother right now. "Go."
And with that Selina slips into the building, sticking to the beams above as she crawls gracefully above them, before picking the most isolated on her side and dropping down on top of him, her legs falling onto his shoulders so she's briefly 'kneeling' on his head before she twists around and hurls his body to the ground in a spinning takedown that ends with her straddling his chest, pulling off his gas mask and planting a knockout punch across his face before she disappears up into the smoke again.
Helena once more nods solemnly to her mother. No, not her mother in this moment. Her commanding officer. She presses a button in her gauntlets and the hood itself begins to project a heads-up display for her, picked up solely by the frequency in those golden contacts. It's got infrared, which means the gangbangers below are bright targets as she creeps along the rafters.
At the first thump from the other side of the warehouse, she drops down with a sweep of her cape, bringing one baton each down on the nearest guns then flipping them up again to send the guns clattering across the floor. She doesn't stick around after that, leaving the two to cause more chaos as she moves to the next pair.
When the two enter the building, there's those watching for them. Selina's sudden descent catches the first gangbanger by surprise. He gives a garbled cry, trying to swing up his pistol to fire at the woman, before his mask is ripped away and he's coughing and sputtering, the Catwoman's graceful punch laying him out onto the concrete floor before she takes back to the rafters again.
One down. Five to go.
However, the attack didn't go unnoticed. As she's pulling back up from the smoke, one of the other Crows notices Selina taking back to the rafters, and opens fire in controlled bursts from his semi-automatic rifle into the rafters, trying to chase the cat from the beams and out into the open. When they talk to each other, it's in rapid fire Spanish, as they call out orders and commands to each other. Military trained.
When Helena drops down onto the floor to start to attack, the two men lose their guns quickly. The clatter and scatter in the confusion - Helena has the initiative, thanks to her mother's distraction. She makes her strike and then starts to move away, confident that the first two of them are momentarily confused by her opening move.
However. One of the men sweeps out with that gossamer weapon, attempting to catch the younger woman by the cape and yank her back towards them. The movements are calculated, fluid. Quick. Selina may recognize the fighting style as belonging to that of the Russian technique systema.
It's one of the more dangerous styles of fighting. And even with Helena's advanced armor and WayneTech gear, the slam of a baton against her side is still /felt/ through her armor as the pair start to move on attack on the girl.
Catwoman scrambles along the rafters with a cat's speed and agility, before planting her hands on the steel rafter and swinging her body around to face her attacker's direction again, and lashing out with her whip once to disarm him, and then again to wrap around the steal beam supporting her before she drops over the side and swings towards him, slamming one knee into his temple as the other leg lashes out low to kick him in the knee, ideally hard enough to break it.
Landing over him and planting a punch in the back of his head, she scans around quickly to find her daughter being swarmed, and sprints across the garage, grabbing a can of paint as she goes and chucking it off to the side to misdirect any other gangsters before her whip lashes out wrap around and pull on the skilled gangster's arm, hopefully handicapping and distracting him long enough for Helena to do what she needs to do.
Helena's cape is caught, but she knows enough to roll with it. Twist, twist, spin, and she has the cape wrapped around her attacker's arm, giving her at least some measure of control - even if she's still caught at the other end of it. "I've been wanting one of those. How'd you know?" She slams the end of her baton against the wrist holding that gossamer weapon, even though it leaves her open to the strike of the baton.
It drives the breath from her lungs for a moment, though in an ironic twist, the grunt is transformed by her voice modulation into a threatening snarl.
When Selina descends upon him, the gunner's controlled burst are all aimed towards the center of the twisting mass of woman. She's no ghost. The Batman can bleed - surely Catwoman is about to use up all of her nine lives - that is until that knee slams into him as the gun is yanked away and he kisses Selina's knee before the twist of her body draws out a sickening snap of noise as the leg breaks and she drops him.
Two down.
The Crow that strikes Helena loses his baton, but as he steps back, he draws a knife from his belt. Another gossamer weapon. "You're dead, girl." he snarls at the younger of the two heroes.
The clattering of the can draws gunfire from across the garage, but again, it's only short bursts, and not long for targeting.
Helena's crow attempts to grab the girl by the throat, and raises his arm, the flash of the gossamer weapon as he's about to drive it into Helena's skull when that tendril of leather wraps around his wrist and holds his attack. He twists to growl at Selina - which gives Helena that moment of time that she needs.
One of the other Crows starts to run for the area marked 'Office' in the garage, for who knows what may be within it.
Life or death. It's real in the field. As the man starts to lift, Helena lets her hand fall just long enough to sheath that baton at her thigh. Perhaps she's weakening, or frightened. Or at least that's how she means to appear. But instead, she flicks her wrist, steel claws extending from her fingertips, and reaches up to slash them down his eyes, across his throat, and finally down onto his wrist, severing ligaments and tendons with a forceful grasp. Batman said no killing. He didn't say anything about maiming.
Still trapping the increasingly unfortunate man with her whip, Catwoman twirls forward, stepping on her taut whip to yank him towards her, then plants her boot into his skull. Catwoman briefly looks Helena over for obvious injury, then - her voice distorted by the rebreather, says. "Two more. One each. Come on."
|ROLL| Bruce Wayne +rolls 1d20 for: 8
|ROLL| Bruce Wayne +rolls 1d20 for: 2
There's a scream as Helena's clawed hand rips through the Crow's mask, into his face, and down his arm. The gossamer weapon is dropped as he falls to the ground, clutching his face and crying as blood spills over the slits in his fingers. He's pretty maimed - Helena left a permanent mark on the Crow.
Another one down.
Two left, Selina's right on that. Stepping out of the office, he has car keys as he runs for the van at the back of the garage - Selina may note it's the same style of van that was reported to be used in the kidnapping of the children. The two men get in the van. As one runs to the rear of the van to kick open the doors, he starts spray sporadic rounds at the two women as the driver throws the van into gear and crashes through the back of the garage - intent on trying to get away from the pair and free.
Helena is not particularly sorry about it. Those claws are a precise length for a reason - not long enough to cut deeply enough to kill, but long enough to cut through clothing or armor. Long enough to make a point. The point being at this time that kidnapping children and trying to kill young women has consequences.
She sweeps low enough to scoop up the gossamer weapon, flicking it at the tire of the van as they try to escape.
|ROLL| Helena Wayne +rolls 1d20 for: 11
|ROLL| Bruce Wayne +rolls 1d20 for: 9
And as for the last man, Catwoman steps behind him, lingering for just a moment before saying, simply, "Meow." The instant the gangster turns around, Selina holds out an arm to catch his gun hand, holding it out of the way as she kicks almost straight up into his chin, pulls that same leg back, and then rams it into his chest, sending him flying backwards while she holds onto the gun, dismantling it into its component parts and leaving a trail of them scattered on the ground before she steps on the man's chest. "Bring him back here!" Catwoman calls out to Helena, adding, more softly, "Hit him first." as she looks down at the last man and sinks down to one knee, kneeling on his chest. "Hey, tiger. Which one of you idiots are in charge?"
The tire on the vehicle blows out from Helena's throw of the gossamer weapon. The van swerves and slams into a support beam. The air-bag slams into Miguel's face, stunning the driver as Catwoman leaps into the van. As the gun is taken out, he slams against the wall of the van and slumps with a yelp of pain, his yanked around by Selina. He manages to point to where Miguel is slumped in the front seat of van as he tries to pull himself out from beneath the feline's knee.
As the van crashes to a stop, Helena nods to Catwoman's command, reclaiming the baton at her thigh and sprinting off toward the drivers seat to make sure no escape is made. As instructed, her first action is to slam her fist across his features. "Hey," she greets afterwards, pulling the door open. "Nice to meet you. Time to talk." Roughly, she pulls him out of the drivers seat, twisting his arm behind him and upward to keep him from fighting back as she frog-marches him back to Selina.
"Gracias." Selina grunts, before unceremoniously punching the gangster out and handcuffing him before she steps away. She stands at the entrance to the van, one hand hooked over the lip of the roof above her as Helena brings Miguel into view. "Hey there, tough guy…" Selina greets Miguel, pulling the rebreather away and hooking it on her belt as the worst of the smoke has cleared up. Selina steps up and gently guides Helena's hands away, taking care to straighten out Miguel's attire and help him stand up straight, before promptly shoving him over and planting a heeled boot on his chest, putting all of her weight on it as she kneels down and takes hold of his wrist.
"Honey, you wouldn't believe the day I've had, and I'm in no mood to go over anatomy again, so we're just gonna cut straight to the chase, all right?"
And with that, Catwoman breaks his arm.
"Kids. Tattoos. Brainwashing. Everything. Now. Before I turn your skeleton into a jigsaw puzzle."
See, Meredith's willing complicity was unclear. Miguel's, in her eyes, is not. And, frankly, Catwoman's a bit cranky, so it's all coming out on Miguel tonight.
Miguel groans as he lays in the seat, his face a bloody mess from the mauling. His hand twitches like he's trying to reach the door of the vehicle but he's way too dazed.
The fist meets his flesh in a wet sort of sound, Helena's fist will be nicely decorated. Dragged from the car, he groans again and almost yelps as his arm is twisted painfully behind him. "Alright alright. Don'cha capes have any respect?" He almost whines.
It's a dazed and sorry gangbanger that stands before the black suited catwoman, his eyes wary as she straightens his clothing, grunting in pain as his backs hit ground.
"Lady… you won't believe the day I've h——" he screams, loud and long, as the arm snaps audibly. "You fucking bitch …" Clearly, not the brightest candle on the table.
"I only know about the kids … that's it!" The words come out in rush. "… we were told to find them and bring them back."
From where the bats are standing, they'll see a leather thong about Miguels neck. Like a necklace.
Helena reaches down, flicking her finger to extend one blood-stained claw as she reaches for that thong around Miguel's neck. "Well that's just good business, isn't it?" she asks in that growling purr that comes from the voice modulation. "But if you're a good businessman, Miguel, then I'm guessing you've done a little more research than that into the people you're working with."
Selina's eyes follow the thong for a moment, making a mental note to examine the pendant she took off Meredith as well, before glaring intently at Miguel behind her goggles. The questioning was supposed to be left to Catwoman, but all the rules have gone out the window already, and she's not going to embarrass her in front of the scumbags.
The thong has a glass disc attached. Something similar to what they've likely seen before. Inscribed on it is a moon eclipsing a sun. What are the properties of this? Can it be broken? Glass seems like a strange medium to make jewelry from.
"Lady, you got it so wrong …" Miguel sputters, eyes darting between Selina and Helena. "… I ain't no businessman. I'm just … me, you too." The pain might be making him a little delirious. "I do what I'm told and stay in the gang. All I know is that Julio was meeting with some guy with tattoos on his face. Then we were told to get the kids and bring them back…"
Back where?
Catwoman wrinkles her nose at the strange yet familiar object, then impatiently taps Miguel on the bridge of the nose. "Stay with me, tough guy; back where? And who's Julio?"
Helena curls her talon just a little more, enough to sever the thong and give herself a closer look at the pendant hanging there. Magic. Strange, but not so different from tech if you look at it the right way. Once you can figure out the rules, then things will do what you expect them to do. They did use the cell phone earlier to communicate, but that was human to human. She moves to where Miguel can't see her, holds the pendant at chest level, and taps it with one finger while mouthing to Catwoman: Communicator?
Miguel gulps and then gasps as Selina taps his nose.
"Julio… he's … he's … the chapter leader, right." The Denim Crows are enormous. That they've chapters probably makes sense. "He's the one that does the wheeling and dealing. We just do as we're told!"
A stubborn look comes over the gangbangers face "Lady, you ain't getting that out of me. Nothing you do to me could be worse than what *they* will do … " Seems a bit more persuasion might be needed.
The disc glints in the light as Helena examines it. It seems inert enough at the moment. It's in incredibly good condition given the beating the man has just taken.
Catwoman eyes Helena curiously as she tries to communicate with her, a thoughtful look coming to her face followed by a subtle shrug. It's possible, but she can't deal with that right now.
At Miguel's proclamation, though, there's a moment of silence. Then a smile slowly creeps across Catwoman's face. "… Heh!… hnnnneeheheheheehe…. hahahahahahahaha! Ooooooooohhhhh, you precious thing… you have no idea."
Selina's finger's splay over Miguel's face. "And I. Have." Suddenly curved razor sharp claws spring out of the tips of her gloves, and press against Miguel's lower eyelids, even subtly hooking under one. "ALL. *NIGHT*."
"I really wouldn't mess with her," Helena chimes in, pausing for a moment and reaching into one of the pouches on her belt. A piece of silk, wrapped around the pendant, then the pendant stuck into the pocket adjacent to the cold iron she stowed away at the beginning of this adventure. Hopefully close enough to disengage anything the pendant might do without destroying it. "She's really upset about the whole kidnapping thing. And she's right here, while your…friends…" She trails off, making a show of walking around the warehouse and looking from place to place. "I don't see them here."
Miguels eyes widen as Selina laughs and then scrunch up as her fingers splay over his face. "I …" He swallows as he hears the springs activate and probably feels the slight prick of claws. "… ain't talking, Lady. Those that have failed before, they ain't in good shape."
With his lower eyelid being slowly pulled down, Selina can see the white of his eye and the blood vessels flowing through it. "They ain' my friends, little bat… " he rasps to Helena "… but they are my employers. Don't do to go against them, you capiche?"
Catwoman just… pouts and shakes her head, her expression shifting back to a broad smile. "Oh, buddy… you've got it *all* wrong…" Still smiling stiffly, she brings her face in close, and whispers, "… I'm not a bat."
With that, Catwoman digs in her claws - not in his eyes - but into both of his cheek bones before dragging down, slowly carving a line all the way down to his jaw. "Next one goes across, Miguel, and then I'll start switching it up. I have a whole lot of canvas here."
Helena continues to inspect the warehouse and watch the entrances and exits while she works the rest of it over in her mind. "The thing is…it doesn't necessarily matter if you tell us or not. See." She walks back to Miguel, crouching where she can see him. "Your supplier's still in our custody. So if you go down, we can always just ask her. And if she doesn't talk - though she probably will, because I'm guessing she's a little less hardened than you are - we can call your employers. Tell them how you failed. We don't even have to kill you," she shrugs. "Like you said, they've probably got better methods anyhow."
Granted, it does beg the question of just how they're going to deal with Miguel when he does talk, but that's definitely Mom's problem to figure out.
"Wasn't talking to the Cat, but the little bat … " he sneers. It's all bluster both women can see that, see how close the gangbanger is to caving. And then Selina slices him.
Miguel grunts, biting back a strangled cry of pain still not quite ready to give up the information. Helena's words though, they get a reaction "Leave her out of this. Mer wanted nothing to do with. She'd thought she'd got away. So did I. But you never really get to leave the Crows, do you?"
That hit a nerve.
"I'll tell you want to know. Just don't let Mer get hurt anymore."
"We were take the kids to warehouse off the river. There'll be one of *them* meeting us when we do."
Catwoman nods once to Helena, then raises a brow at Miguel. "One of 'them'?"
People have pressure points in their minds just the same way they do in their bodies. Helena learned that bit from her father. She also learned the value of silence. (Even if she's not usually very good at practicing it.) When her mother presses, she simply watches with those golden eyes from behind her hood.
"You'll look after her, right? Mer, that is?" It seems important to him that the teachers aide gets clear of all this.
"*Them*, the Nightfall. The ones who are collecting the children. The ones with tattoos on their heads and faces, they're the ones that mark the kids and when they're pissed off, they hurt. Bad enough the other ones set their fucking creatures on you …" That might be news to the women.
There's different types.
"I'll tell you everything I know, if you get Mer clear."
Catwoman frowns as all this comes to light. She'd more or less determined that Meredith was a zealot for taking the proverbial bullet to try to help Miguel. Sorta punched her in the face, even. Now she's not so sure.
"We can promise that." Selina says flatly, not sure yet if she's lying, "Heck, we'll even keep *you* alive. Info first, though."
Helena doesn't say anything more, staying crouched on her heels where she can watch and listen.