Will the real Selina Kyle please stand up? Chapter 1 : Barbara Gordon [A Catwoman fanfiction]

[This is a multi chapter series about Catwoman's interactions with various characters in the DC universe, and how they perceive her.]

The memory of her very first encounter with the Catwoman is still fresh in Barbara's mind. A sliver of black shooting across the rooftops, moving with near superhuman speed and agility. The Batman was hot on her heels, but didn't quite catch up to her. Until she wanted him to. Barbara, or Batgirl, on the other hand was just struggling to keep up. She had mixed emotions of awe, anger and confusion as she watched her mentor and The World's Greatest Thief battle on top of a building. To Barbara, it looked less like a fight and more like a mating dance. Batman displaying his combination of brute strength, speed and precision, while Catwoman showed off her insane flexibility, agility and grace. Countering each other's attacks with grace that held Batgirl spellbound. Two forces of nature coming together for a terrifying and beautiful display of skills and determination.

And yet, it was obvious that neither of them wanted to harm the other, in this this bizarre non verbal flirtation. As Batgirl herself reached the rooftop, she was almost sure that she saw a smirk on the Batman's lips. Before she could even process this, she saw that Catwoman had scissored her legs around Batman's neck and used her body to launch him into a wall. Batgirl had just about enough time to reach into her utility belt for a Batarang when Catwoman was already on the edge of the roof, ready to get away with the Pink Star, the priceless 50 carat pink diamond she had stolen. Batgirl threw the Batarang at the thief, confident it would connect with her. Connect, the Batarang did, but only with the tip of Catwoman's shoe. Somehow she had anticipated the attack and with a spinning kick sent the weapon flying right back towards Batgirl. The young vigilante ducked as it whizzed past over her head and was stabbed into the wall behind her. When she looked up again, Catwoman was gone.

The Batman now stood next to her. In his monotone growl he said "don’t worry. We'll get her next time. Come on." He shot his grapple gun towards a distant building and flew off. Batgirl retrieved her Batarang and followed her mentor. Later that night, as they headed back to the cave in the Bat Mobile, Barbara asked Batman, "how did she even do that?"

"Do what?" He asked, obviously pretending to not know what she meant.

"You know, Catwoman. How did she kick the Batarang back at me? I've never seen anything like that." She stated, unable to conceal her admiration.

"She's highly skilled" came the curt reply from the Dark Knight. Then he asked her if she had taken pictures of the shady business they had witnessed at the Iceberg Lounge. Of course she had she told him, a bit annoyed. Though she didn't say anything, Batgirl had a feeling that Batman had purposely changed the subject and just didn't want to talk about Catwoman. Maybe she was losing her mind, but she felt like he was attracted to her. Maybe, he even liked her.

The next day, Dick was back from his assignment with the Titans. As he and Barbara trained together, she told him all about the events of the previous evening. She also shared with him her apprehension that Batman had the hots for a criminal. Dick Grayson burst out laughing. Barbara thought he might fall on the floor due the sheer force of his cackles. By the time he finally calmed down, she had grown pretty annoyed. What could possibly be so funny?

"I guess I might as well tell you" Dick said, as his breathing normalized, "those two are definitely sleeping together. And that fight you saw, I'm pretty sure it's part of some weird foreplay."

Barbara stared at him open mouthed for a few second.

"WHAT?" she finally asked . "Did - did he tell you that?"

"No of course not! But I figured it out. There were those tell tale signs, you know? He and I would chase her, he'd catch her, then he'd send me off on some task or another, while he has he pinned underneath him. It was always something that would take at least an hour. I'd come back to find that Catwoman was gone. I'd ask Batman what happened, but he never gave me a straight answer. And she always looks REALLY happy to be caught by him."

"Wow!" Was all Barbara could say. She didn't know how to feel about this.
"But, this is Batman. You're telling me he lets this criminal evade justice in exchange for sex?"

Dick thought for a second and said "No, there's more to it than that. I think they genuinely care about each other a lot. In fact on several occasions she has come to his aid. Even risking her own life for him. I think if she wasn't a criminal, he'd probably ask her to marry him or something."

Barbara Gordon was dumbfounded. Batman, the man with unshakable morals, a man who was unforgiving of all criminals, was secretly having an affair with Catwoman! From what she heard from Dick, it could be that she wasn't all that bad. He certainly seemed to approve of her. But she was still a criminal. One of the most dangerous and infamous criminals in the world. And she had caused her father so much trouble. Barbara didn't care if Batman was sleeping with her, or if Dick approved of it, Catwoman needed to be brought to justice. If these guys weren't going to bring her in, she would do it herself. From that day onwards she began training even harder. The goal of finally arresting Catwoman spurred her on.

Batgirl's next encounter with Catwoman happened less than a year later. On this fateful night, Batman was in Metropolis, teaming up with the Kryptonian. And Dick was with the Teen Titans. As she was out patrolling, she heard an alarm go off. It was at the Iceberg Lounge nearby. She rushed over to find about a dozen guards lying on the ground. Some had broken limbs, others had deep claw marks on their faces and torsos. It was Her!

Batgirl followed the trail of mangled bodies to arrive at the alley right behind the building. She got there just in time to see two large, well built men drop on their backsides. She then heard the crack of a whip and saw a silhouette of a woman jumping onto the building's roof. Now was Batgirl's chance. She shot off her grapple gun and ran after the feline. Even as she cleared one rooftop after another, it was clear to Batgirl that no matter how hard she trained, she would never move the way Catwoman did. Her skills were on a different level.

The feline fatale came to an abrupt halt. She stood leaning against a wall, waiting for Batgirl to catch up. Barbara finally did reach her, embarrassingly out of breath.
“Your parkour skills need work darling”, Catwoman said in her deep, sultry voice.

Batgirl shot back angrily. “Give it back. Now!” she demanded.

“Give what back?” Catwoman asked looking rather bemused.
“Whatever it is that you stole from Penguin’s lounge.”

“Oh! You mean this little thing?” Catwoman asked holding a disk between her fingers. “No, I think I’ll hold on to it.”

Batgirl decided to channel her inner Batman and said in a stern voice “We don’t have to make this difficult. Hand over that disk and come with me to the police station. If you’re cooperative, and return everything you’ve stolen so far, the courts might take it easy on you.”
This only drew a chuckle from Catwoman. “Aww!” She said in a mocking tone, “that’s adorable. See ya!” and turned to leave. But this time Batgirl could not let her escape. She lunged at the master thief and had just grabbed hold of her shoulder when, suddenly, before she even knew what was happening, Batgirl found herself turned around and on the ground on her belly. She got up again and attacked Catwoman with kicks and punches. Catwoman blocked every one of her hits with near comical ease. Growing more agitated, Batgirl threw a punch at Catwoman’s face, only for her wrist to be caught and her arm wrapped around her neck. Her other arm was twisted behind her painfully. As Barbara struggled against Catwoman’s iron grip, the feline kicked her feet from underneath her. This caused Batgirl to collapse to her knees, while still locked in Catwoman’s hold. Within seconds, Catwoman had her completely under her control. As she continued to struggle, she heard that same sultry voice speak in her ear “Bats are just mice with wings, little girl”, sending a chill down her spine. Barbara would not give in however and continue to struggle “DON’T CALL ME THAT” she yelled, clearly frustrated.
“Be quiet!” Catwoman said sternly “and listen carefully. You don’t want that disk. You want what’s on it. You want the information about the drug deal Cobblepot made with Boss Tanaka. You want to know where the drugs are hidden and get those men caught. Is that correct ?”
“Y..yes” Batgirl stammered.
“Good. Now then, you stop being an annoyance and let me track down the drugs. I’ll contact you in a few days and you and I will seize the drugs together. Against the two of us, these men won’t stand a chance.”
“I’m not falling for your tricks” Batgirl said “ you just want to take the drugs for yourself don’t you? And use me to get to them.”
“Don’t insult me. Dealing in drugs is not my style. There’s no finesse in selling death and misery. I’ll let you go if you agree to work with me.”
“How do I know I can trust you?” Batgirl asked, starting to realise that she would need Catwoman’s help in taking down the drug mafia. Suddenly, Catwoman released her hold and said “there were at least a dozen ways I could have seriously hurt you. But I didn’t. That’s your assurance.” She was about to leap off the edge when Batgirl stopped her. “wait! How will I find you?”
“You wont have to. I’ll find you.” And with that Catwoman disappeared into the night.

Barbara spent the next few days wondering if she had been had. Just when she was convinced that she was fooled, she found an origami on her window sill. It was a cat made of purple paper. She knew who had left it. After spending a few minutes trying to figure out what it could mean, she unfolded it. On the inner side was a message, “the Docks, at midnight.”

Batgirl reached the location on time. She could hear the cargo being unloaded and men talking and wondered if she should go in by herself. That’s when she heard Catwoman say “I was wondering if you’d chicken out. Good to see that the mouse has guts.” Batgirl didn’t have time to ponder how she had gotten so close without even being heard. Suddenly, she heard a commotion. The Penguin’s men and Boss Tanaka's men appeared to be arguing, blows were exchanged and soon enough they had their guns drawn. “What’s going on?” Barbara wondered out loud. Catwoman opened a small compartment on her boots and took out some gas capsules. She handed a few to Barbara and said “they’re too preoccupied with fighting each other. Now is our chance. I’m sure you know what to do.” The plan didn’t have to be explained to Batgirl.

As the quarrel among the men escalated, the thief and the vigilante hid behind one of the large containers and bombarded the area with their gas capsules, causing visibility to drop to near zero. Boss Tanaka's men assumed that Penguin’s men had organized this ambush and opened fire. Penguin’s men responded in kind. All the while the area was filled with smoke. Some of the bullets hit their target, some missed. Catwoman took advantage of the confusion and used her whip to knock the guns out of their hands. Batgirl quickly kicked all of the guns into the water. The two ladies then made quick work of the men who were still standing. Catwoman made sure to break their legs so they wouldn’t have to worry about them getting away, while Batgirl called the GCPD.

Batgirl later took pictures from a distance as the men were taken away and loads of cocaine and crystal meth were seized. However, something still didn’t make sense. Catwoman seemed to know that the men would be fighting amongst themselves. But how? And why did they even fight? She was startled by Catwoman’s voice right next to her. “Here” she said, putting the disc she had taken in Batgirl’s hands, “it has information about future transactions that Penguin was going to make with Tanaka. I didn’t want the GCPD getting its hands on it because some cops are involved in this too. I’m sure Batman will find it useful.”

Batgirl was blown away. “But” she asked “how did you know it was going to happen like this? How did you know they’d all start fighting?”

“You see, Little Mouse” Catwoman replied with a smirk, “When a deal of this size is being done, both sides like to make sure that they’re not being ripped off. So, the Penguin’s men checked the drugs, and Tanaka’s men checked the cash to make sure it was legit. Unfortunately, the currency notes they were given were obviously fake. Not worth the paper they were printed on. And they jumped to the conclusion that Penguin was trying to trick them. Hence the mindless violence.”

Batgirl was still confused. “But why did Penguin give them false money. He obviously wanted to continue doing business with them.”

A mysterious smile spread across Catwoman’s lips “What can I say? Kitty likes her cream.” And with that she cracked her whip and in the next instant was on top of the overhead bridge. Batgirl finally did the math. Catwoman had switched the real money, probably tens of millions, with the fake one. And had kept it for herself. She thought about going after her, but knew it would be to no avail. She was a criminal, but on this night she not only stopped tons of drugs from flooding Gotham’s streets, she also provided valuable leads for bringing down the cartel. There was absolutely no selfish reason for Catwoman to have done all of this. Maybe Dick was right. Maybe she wasn’t all bad.

As the years went by, Catwoman’s altruistic tendencies made themselves known more frequently. Batgirl witnessed her courage, her kindness, her selflessness and strength of character on many occasions. While Barbara never completely became comfortable with Selina’s criminal activities, the two women slowly built a friendship based on mutual respect and the common goal of protecting the vulnerable. The fact that Selina made Bruce so happy didn’t hurt either.

Today, about two decades after their first meeting, Barbara and Selina sat in the Wayne Manor discussing the new youth club in the city, and the kind of programmes they wanted to introduce to it. Barbara could not help but wonder just how much of Selina Kyle still remained a mystery to her. But of one thing she was certain. The parts of Selina she did know she liked quite a lot.

[The image is from the comic book, Batgirl and the Birds of Prey]