Tonight was the night. Necklace glinting in the dull lights of Gotham City Felicia made her way to the co-ordinates on the card. She was so glad Selina was out for the night as she wouldn’t have to waste her time coming up with a lie to explain why she was out tonight. The building was derelict, empty and when she entered, the building was a mess of broken bottles and scraps of paper. Standing around a bin of fire were half a dozen kids her age all chuckling and making jokes. When she entered, they all stared at her, bodies tensed. One of the boys, the biggest one amidst the guys came walking toward her with a stony expression on his face.

“Who the hell are you?” he asked.

Felicia just flashed the card in front of his face and walked past him. Seeing the cards, the other kids went back to whatever they were doing, unfortunately, the big guy wasn’t having it. She felt a tight grip around her arm.

“I asked a question,” the big guy asked.

A girl with short hair stringy hair intervened. She grabbed the big guy’s arm.

“Tiny, relax,” the girl said. “She’s one of us.”

“I don’t like the look of her.”

The girl smiled. “You don’t like the look of anybody. Now let go.”

Felicia pulled away from Tiny’s strong grip. Tiny was momentarily taken aback before shrugging and going back to the fire.

“I’m sorry about Tiny,” the girl said. “He has a huge chip on his shoulder.”

“Well tell Tiny I don’t like being touched,” Felicia said, rubbing her wrist. “Especially if I didn’t ask to be.”

“Noted,” the girl said. She reached out a hand. “I’m Holly, by the way.”

Felicia didn’t accept the offer. “Felicity.”

“I take it you got an offer from the Syndicate too?”

Felicia raised an eyebrow. “The Syndicate? Necklace is mine, by the way.”

Holly moved her hand down from Felicia’s back, grinning. “You’re a sharp one, aren’t you?”

She turned to Tiny who had a big grin on his face as he reached inside his pockets. His expression was replaced by one of confusion as he shuffled through his pockets. He turned to Felicia who waved the watch he was trying to steal in front of him.

“What Syndicate?”

Holly looked genuinely surprised. “You don’t know about the Cat Syndicate? I mean their symbol is on that card. What other reason did you come here for?”

“The guy who gave me the card was interesting,” Felicia said. “He wasn’t like the rest of the guys I steal from.”

Holly paused. “Huh. You’re a weird one, aren’t you?”

After a brief introduction to the rest of the group, Holly asked Felicia a very peculiar question.

“You have cats, Felicity?”

Felicia turned to Holly.

“I noticed cat hairs on your shirt,” Holly said. “When I was trying to…”

“What’s it to you?” Felicia asked.

“I love cats,” Holly said. “How many of them do you have?”

“I have a lot of them at home,” Felicia said. “Though they’re not really mine, they’re my…”

Felicia shut up before she gave too much away. Holly picked up on something immediately.

“You’re one of those types, huh?” Holly asked.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I’ve been around the streets long enough to know when someone’s tight lipped about something,” Holly said. “Most of the kids I introduced you to over here are probably not even using their real names. I’m sure you aren’t either.”

Felicia chuckled. “Like you’re using yours.”

Holly smiled. “Oh, I am. I’m Holly through and through. I have nothing to hide. My mum’s a prostitute and I never knew my dad. The scar on my belly is from when some asshole tried to stab me after I stole from him when I was 13. I can even show it to you if you want.”

“And you call me the weird one,” Felicia said.

Holly shrugged. “The way I see it, the more you have to hide, the more vulnerable you are when someone finds out. Just look at Batman. I’m sure the world would explode if someone found out who was behind the mask.”

“That’s a very simple way of looking at things,” Felicia said.

“I’m a very simple person.”

The kids started getting bored. There was murmuring among them about wanting to leave.

“You think you’re going to stick around?” Holly asked.

Felicia shrugged. “I stuck around for this long. What’s a few more hours?”

There was a quite between them for a while before Felicia spoke up.

“The cats…” Felicia started. Holly turned to face her. “The cats, they’re not mine. They’re my sister’s. Well, she’s not really my sister but she’s kinda like a sister to me.”

“She sounds sweet,” Holly said. “How many do you have?”

“A bunch,” Felicia said with a grin. “So many cats that I lost track of all their names and faces. They wander around the street so much but they always come to our house for lunch and dinner.”

“Sounds nice,” Holly said. “I’d like to visit someday, Felici…”

“Felicia,” Felicia said. “The name’s Felicia.”

Holly smiled. “Felicity was kind of a mouthful anyway.”

“Don’t go around telling anyone my real name, though,” Felicia said.

“I won’t.”

“This sucks,” said one of the boys. “I’m getting outta here.”

“You can count me in,” said a girl,

4 of the kids were just about to leave when a voice echoed through the empty building.

“Sorry,” the voice muttered. “Sorry for the delay.”

Everybody looked around the building, trying to figure out where the voice was coming from. Holly was the first one to notice it was coming from upstairs and pointed up at a man wearing a black suit, descending down the stairs. Felicia noticed the man as the one who gave her the card.

“Sorry I’m late,” the man said. “I just have the flair for the dramatic.”

Questions started ringing in the air. Questions like who are you? What do you want? Where’s the Cat? Where’s the rest of the syndicate? The man just waved his white gloved hands to quell the rest of the murmuring.

“I’ll answer all of your questions later,” the man said. “Just know that I’m here to give you your mission so please, may I have some quite.”

The murmuring stopped and the man nodded. “Very well. I’m sure you’ve all heard about the Golden Egg. An expensive 12-kilogram egg made of gold studded with the finest jewellery. I’m also sure you guys heard its going to be put on display tomorrow morning.” The kids muttered in agreement. “I want you guys to steal it before it goes out for display.”

“But that’s tomorrow,” Tiny said.

“I think my instructions were pretty clear,” the man said. “I will be assessing you from a distance. I hope you don’t disappoint.” When he said those last five words, the man trained his eyes directly at Felicia.

“Why the hell should we listen to you?” said one of the girls.

“Yeah,” Tiny said. “We want orders from the Cat himself, not some bozo like you.”

There was discontent mumbling, people were shouting at the man, someone even threw a half-empty wrapper at his face. The man just chuckled.

“Why’re you laughing?” Tiny asked.

“Because,” the man said, wiping the sauce off his cheek. “If you guys want to talk to the Cat himself…”

“He’s standing right in front of you.”

…

She stepped into the office, her only trail being the unconscious groaning bodies behind her. She stepped into the dark musty office, standing in front of the dusty desk. She ran her hands through the desk, at the pencil holder stuffed with pens, at the books laying on the table. She picked up one of the framed photos and threw it at the man in the cowl who stood by the door.

Batman raised his spiked gauntlet and the photo bounced off it and cracked on the floor. “I’m not here to fight,” he said calmly but Catwoman wasn’t having it. She picked up the chair and threw it at him. Batman rolled forward. Catwoman tied escaping through the windows using his grappling hook but she felt something wrap around her waist and pull her back. The grappling hook clattered on the floor. Catwoman tried reaching for it but a shrill noise invaded her ears causing her to clutch her head. She ignored the noise and tried reaching for the grappling hook but Batman picked it up and crushed it under his knee. He tapped something on his gauntlet and the ear-piercing sound stopped which was good because Catwoman was starting to get a headache. He picked up one of those bat-shaped boomerangs of his and placed it back in his belt.

“I’m not here to fight,” Batman said. “I’m not here to turn you in either.”

As if to prove his point, he opened the window. “You can go if you want and I won’t stop you but I promise if you do, you’ll be losing out.”

Catwoman’s head still felt foggy because of that boomerang of his but she managed to catch what he was saying.

“What do you want?” she asked, getting up despite how groggy her head felt.

“Falcone,” Batman said. “For a while he was more content with smaller jobs. Now…”

Catwoman walked towards the window. “I don’t care about that.”

“We’re still looking for Falcone,” Batman said. “With my resources the search will be much easier.”

They both heard the feint shout of thugs and guns loading at the same time.

Catwoman had to admit the offer sounded tempting but maybe that was her groggy head speaking. The footsteps were getting louder.

“I’ll think about it,” Catwoman said, crouching on the edge of the building ready to jump.

“I’ll be at the top of the Gotham Railways building tomorrow night at 6 PM if you’re interested,” Batman said. “I won’t be there for long.”

“It’s a date,” Catwoman said.

Catwoman leapt out of the warehouse as the thugs burst into the office, surrounding Batman in a ring of guns. Batman just cracked his knuckles.