A good thief knows how to be a ghost. To enter and exit completely unseen and unheard. If this isn't possible, she must he a good pretender, and gain entrance by gaining confidence, by tricking those whose riches she plans to steal into thinking she was too weak to cause any harm. Both strategies are equally effective. Selina Kyle used the former on middle class homes, petty drug dealers and small jewellery stores. The latter was for palatial homes owned by the wealthy. The kind that had state of the art security systems, which at the age of fifteen years, she had neither the skills nor the tools to dismantle.
Selina would enter these homes pretending to be a sex worker. She would successful seduce the man or the lady of the house. Then just as they expected a night of pleasure to begin, they would be bashed over the head or slipped a sedative. When they'd come to, their jewellery, antiques etc would be gone.
One such home was the Isley manor. Selina had been casing the place for a while. It was obvious that the Isleys loaded. Something else Selina had noticed was the way they treated everyone who wasn't from their income bracket like absolute dog shit. Whether it was their chauffeur, their maids or some delivery person, they were all subjected to their abuse. They were just the kind of rich scumbags that Selina despised.
So, one fine day in the late afternoon, Selina was taking a stroll near the Isley home. At a time when she knew the wife would not be there and the husband would be returning home. As expected, a yellow Lamborghini soon drove up the street and stopped beside her.
"Hey sweetheart!" Said Mr Isley, eyeing Selina's beautiful figure and long legs.
"Hello sir" Selina gave him seductive smile as she placed her forearms at the car's window and leaning forward, letting him have a good look at what she had to offer.
"Need a ride, gorgeous?" He removed his sunglasses and as Selina finally saw his face up close, she realized she had seen him before. At the mansion where Peter Lawler would take them to serve as entertainment for wealthy pedophiles. She distinctly remembered this excuse for a man dragging a screaming Sunita into a bedroom with him.
With an almost superhuman effort, Selina disguised her rage and disgust with a sultry smile.
"I was thinking maybe I could give you a ride" Selina threw him the bait. Which he took immediately.
"Well then get in!"
As he drove them to his home, Selina thought of how she would go about the job. This wouldn't be a simple robbery. No. She needed to hurt this man. She needed to do more than simply render him unconscious. Her plans for him had formed by the time they were in his bedroom.
She got on her knees and took off his belt, before unzipping his pants. Isley was practically salivating. Selina was about to punch him right in his balls when the bedroom door suddenly opened and a little girl entered. She had red hair and looked about eight. Selina guessed she must be this man's daughter and immediately felt guilty that she had to see her own father in this position.
Her guilt turned into shock when her enraged father cursed at her.
"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, YOU LITTLE BITCH? How many times do you have to be told to knock before you come in?"
The poor child looked terrified and ran back into her room. Selina felt her rage returning when the man went after her with clear intentions of hurting her.
She could hear the little girl's screams as her father beat her brutally. Selina tried to open her bedroom door but it appeared to be bolted from the inside. She went back to the Master bedroom and grabbed an antique clock from the bedside table.
When Isley was finally done, he came back to finish his special activity. He was just about to tell Selina to take her clothes off when she brought down the clock on his head. Isley didn't know what hit him and collapsed to the floor. Selina didn't give him time to gather his bearings. She attacked his savagely and punched him in the face till he lost consciousness. Finally when her knuckles were bruised and Isley's face was swollen and got to work.
She entered the walk in closet and filled one of the fifty or so designer purses with jewellery. She looked for a safe and found one in the office just down the hall. It took only a few minutes for her crack it and place several stacks of cash in her bag.
Then she jumped out of the window, but didn't leave. There was something she needed to do. She climbed onto the window sill of the little girl's bedroom and knocked.
The kid was surprised to see her but still opened the window. Selina wiped her tears off and asked if she was ok. After giving the kid the cash she stole from her abusive father, and a few words of wisdom, "No one. And I mean no one has the right to treat you this way. This world is full of monsters and to stop them from getting you, you need to scare them right back. Be fierce."
Having eased her heart at least a little, Selina finally headed home.
Her home was now the basement of an abandoned house just outside Park Row. This place was supposed to be a corporate township. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately for Selina, the company went belly up and the township dilapidated into a tiny ghost town. Rows and rows of empty houses. Not exactly empty though, they were inhabited by drug addicts, thieves like Selina and the like. Living in the middle of the East End just wasn't safe anymore, Fortuna's network was closing in on her from all sides. Selina kept to herself as she preferred to not draw any attention. The only ones she spoke to were the stray cats she fed.
Life had gotten harder for her ever since she challenged Mama Fortuna head on about three months ago. She pretty much had a target on her forehead and needed to be extra careful now. The thought of leaving Gotham did cross her mind but she wasn't about to let Fortuna win. However, she did realize the very real danger she was in. She consulted the philosophers in her book and her take away from their teachings was that in order to bring down an empire, one must start dismantling it from it's peripheries. Selina was trying to do just that. Anytime stolen merchandise was being moved through the sewers to the Nest, a bulk of it would be "missing". The handy work of a young thief who knew how to be a ghost.
She had also managed to get some of the kids under Fortuna, who wanted to leave, out of there. All of this hurt Fortuna's credibility and her reputation.
But all this required money and Selina now worked extra hard. She robbed the rich and used the money to help those kids get out of Gotham, or to pay those who agreed to be her eyes and ears. But she was well aware that this would not be enough to bring about Fortuna's downfall. And until that happened, her life would be in grave danger.
On the outskirts of Gotham, was an enormous property. A huge garden around a magnificent mansion, once owned by the Rosschild family. It has been vacant for decades. So it was rather unusual when the gardens were cleared of overgrowth and the house recieved a paint job. The unusual development caught Selina Kyle's attention and she determined these people had to be ridiculously wealthy to be able to afford that place. This house would be a major score.
The only person she saw in this place was a middle aged man, probably over fifty who sometimes came out to enjoy he garden. He had a face that seemed to have been cut out of stone, devoid of all emotion. She realized that the seduction techniques wouldn't work on him. After careful planning, considering and rejecting several ways of entering, Selina decided to enter through the sewers. She had stolen a sewage network map from the municipal office and found that one of the tunnels led to a manhole in the backyard. From there, Selina would have to rely on her own skills and tools. She memorized the way through the maze of tunnels as it would be both her entry and exit to and from the property.
At one in the morning, a manhole in the garden of the erstwhile Rosschild estate was lifted from underneath. A figure clad in black crawled out of it. Not a sound was made even as she put the cover back in place.
Selina approached one of the windows and used a glass cutter to create an opening for herself. She didn't want to risk setting off any alarms so didn't bother with the locks. She pushed her slim body through the hole she created. Putting on the night vision goggles that she had stolen especially for this heist, she saw that she was in a sun room. She didn't bother with this room, knowing that the real treasures were further into the house. In the living room, she saw a collection of jade statues. Five jade lions to be specific. The jade looked like it might be Burmese. If so, the statues could fetch tens, even hundreds of thousands. She was about to leave with them in her bag the way she came when suddenly the lights turned on.
Her horror rose when she saw that she was surrounded by men. They looked strong. And angry. But she wasn't going to give up so quickly. She chucked some of her smoke bombs on the floor and tried to make a quick exit. But these men somehow seemed to have the ability to see through smoke. Or maybe they could fight with their eyes closed. Either way, they grabbed a struggling Selina and took her backpack off of her. They spoke in a foreign language. Sounded like Japanese, but Selina wasn't sure.
They opened her bag and found the precious statues. Selina once again tried to exploit another opening by kicking one of the men in his kneecap. She unfurled her whip and cracked it at the two men blocking her way to the sun room. Unfortunately, in the time it took her to do this, they had already drawn their katanas. One of them swung at her whip and sliced it in two. Realizing that she was hilariously outgunned, she decided to surrender.
"Ummmm.... ok guys, I obviously made a huge mistake coming here. I swear if I knew you guys live here, I never would have. Now that you have your pretty statues back, why don't you let me go? I promise I'll never come back here."
"SHUT UP!" boomed one of them, "Insolent witch! Our Oyabun will decide your fate."
Oyabun. Selina didn't know what the word meant but knew that it couldn't be good news for her.
The men dragged her to another room. It looked like a study and seated on an armchair was the same man she had seen in the gardens.
The men, the security obviously, talked to him in a polite tone in the foreign language, while pointing fingers at Selina.
The man replied to them and when he was done they all bowed to him and left the room.
"Are you hurt?" the man asked
"No. I'm fine", Selina answered tentatively.
"How did you get in?"
Selina told him how. And he listened silently, before commenting "you are quite a skilled burglar, aren't you?"
"Uhhh....thanks. I guess I am. So, can I go now?" Selina asked hopefully.
"Our conversation is not over yet. I'm Tatsuo Hasigawa. Leader of the Hasigawa Clan of Tokyo."
"Of course! You're Yakuza!"
"Indeed. What is your name, young lady?" He asked her
"Selina. Selina Kyle."
"Well Selina Kyle, do you wish to make a thousand American dollars with just one job?"
"I'm listening" Selina was suddenly not in such a hurry to leave.
"Our shipments arrived at Gotham docks yesterday evening. It was of great value. However it disappeared. My men tell me it was as if the ground swallowed them. I want you to find out who has been stealing from us."
Selina could hardly believe the serendipity. Not only was she going to make a thousand bucks, she would also get rid of her long term enemy. Mama Fortuna's Alley Town strays were the only ones in Gotham who could have done what Hasigawa just told her.
"I don't have to find out. I know who it is."
"Do you?"
"Yes. And I can take you straight to them."
The next evening, Selina led the Hasigawa members to the sewage manholes which opened around the docks. She was able to spot booby traps that the Strays had laid all over the place, which they used to blindside the men loading the cargo. She also showed them which exits they needed to block. Finally, Selina led the men straight to the Nest.
Mama Fortuna had gotten word about her operation being torn apart by people way more powerful than her. She wasn't going to let them get her so she began to make a quick getaway through secret passageway that few knew of. Those few included Selina Kyle.
It was Selina who had spread word among the Alley Town kids, warning them of the imminent danger. She hated Fortuna but didn't want any of the kids to get hurt. She caught up with them in the underground tunnel and blocked Fortuna's way. But to the kids she said, "get out of here. Quick as you can and never come back."
The old woman knew she was beaten.
"Selina! My dear Selina!! You must help me...." Fortuna said in a pitiful voice that made Selina's skin crawl.
Fortuna thought of invoking their past connection. But as it turned out, she wouldn't even get a chance to work her manipulation. Selina dislocated her shoulder before she could say another word. Then she dislocated the other one.
She looked down at the woman screaming in pain and told her "I've paid you back Fortuna".
Then she simply walked away. Leaving her enemy to her fate.
She went back into the nest and showed the Hasigawa men all of the hiding places where their merchandise could have been kept. It was all found and taken back to Tatsuo Hasigawa.
As the men were busy doing that, Selina helped herself to Fortuna's personal safe. She took out all the jewellery and cash, put it in a bag and hid it just outside the nest. Underneath a non functional fire hydrant.
Later that night, she was paid her thousand dollars, as was promised by the Yakuza boss.
She was just leaving when he said to her, "Do you wish to spend your life breaking into homes and stealing trinkets, or do you harbour greater ambitions Selina Kyle?"
Selina stopped in her tracks.
The Boss continued, "I'm in need of a skilled thief. One who can penetrate the fortresses of my enemies without arising suspicion. And you fit the bill. You're a young girl, you are quick and clever. From what I have seen, you are brave as well. So what I'm suggesting is that you work for us. Come with us to Tokyo and start a new life. Your eyes tell me that this city has taken quite a lot from you. I'm offering you a chance to get out."
Selina did not like how easily Tatsuo Hasigawa could read her. Truth be told, she was intimidated. He projected a quiet authority.
"You want to take me with you? To Japan?"
"Yes, to Tokyo. As I said, I have much use for someone of your talents. However, I won't force you. You may refuse. But if you accept my offer you will have everything you have ever wanted. You will live in luxury and never want for anything. We take very good care of our own. Especially someone with your skills."
Selina considered the proposition for a second. She'd be leaving behind everything she knew. Everything she grew up with to go to a foreign country. But then again, what had Gotham ever given her, besides suffering and sorrow? Could Japan possibly be any worse? From what she knew about the country, it was probably better than the hell hole she was currently in.
"Ok. I'll go with you" she said to the Boss, "but I need to take care of a few things first."
"Good. You have until tomorrow evening to do whatever you need to. We leave at exactly 7 PM."
Before leaving Gotham, Selina needed to take care of some personal business. She visited Gwen and gave her some of Mama Fortuna's jewellery that she had swipped. This was her way if saying "thank you".
She took the stray cats she fed to a shelter and gave them a donation of a few thousand dollars. Finally, she visited Maggie's home and left a few presents on her window sill.
Selina had never travelled by air before. Doing so for the first time, that too in a luxurious private jet was rather thrilling.
Oyabun Hasigawa told her she could address him as "Boss Hasigawa" or just "Boss" just like many of the clan's non Japanese members did.
He also showed her a picture of his daughter, Eiko.
"She turned fourteen yesterday." he told her
"She's pretty", Selina remarked, "so you didn't spend her birthday with her?"
"I would have loved to do that, but business is business. I should tell you that the reason I'm taking you to Japan is not just for your skills as a thief. I also need a companion for my daughter. I cannot allow her to mingle with people outside of our clan. It's too much of a risk. So she has no friends of her own age."
Selina carefully looked at the picture of the teenage girl in a Kimono. She was smiling politely, but the smile didn't seem to come from her heart. She didn't look genuinely happy.
Hasigawa continued, "when I saw you courageously take on a dozen armed men, I felt you would be just right."
And the fact they she didn't know anyone in Japan and wouldn't be spying for a rival clan. This was what Boss Hasigawa didn't say, but Selina was able to infer.
"Now get some sleep. You must be weary."
Selina had settled into her cubicle when the Boss added "loyalty is valued in our business above everything else. I hope I will never have to test yours, Selina."
Selina felt a bit nervous due to the strangely calm tone and the unreadable expression on his face.
"Sure Boss. Goodnight" she said, smiling at him.
The butterflies in Selina's stomach wouldn't stay still. She was finally going to move on to something big, something better. She was on her way to work for a powerful criminal organisation, in a beautiful country. A future full of possibilities lay before her.
