Selina's Sidekick

part twenty two

Magpie stumbled backwards away from his mom. "W-what?"

Catwoman clenched her fists, keeping with her resolve. "You are getting too reckless. But besides that, I never should've gotten you involved in this life in the first place." She gave Magpie a steely look. "Once we get back to the house, you are to hand over your Magpie gear. Understand?"

Shaking his head, the teenage thief backed away from his once mentor. "No, no, no! You can't - you can't do this to me!"

"I'm sorry, but I am." Catwoman pushed down the guilt at seeing her son near hysterics, knowing she had to stay strong. 

Magpie scoffed, reaching the edge of the roof. He glanced over the ledge then back to Catwoman. "You'll have to pry Magpie from my cold, dead hands." 

Dread filled the woman as she saw her son step towards the edge of the roof. "Jason, wa - " 

She was too late. 

Magpie flung himself off the side of the roof, pulling a scream from Catwoman's throat as she ran to the ledge, fearing the worst. They were at least two dozen stories in the air, after all. 

Peering over the edge of the roof, Catwoman felt her heart sink when she couldn't see her son anymore. "No, no, no! Jason! Don't do this to me!"

Panic filled every fiber of her being as she raced to the entrance of the building, not even caring about getting caught as she ran down the stairs to the street below, her head only concerned with making sure her worst fear wasn't coming true. 

While Catwoman was sprinting down the stairs, Magpie was clinging to the bottom edge of the ledge, waiting for his mom to go inside before making his way back up to the roof. He brushed himself off, clenching his jaw as he thought about his next move. 

He had to prove himself to Catwoman, prove that he was a worthy ally. And the only way to do that was to pull off a successful heist. 

Magpie remembered seeing a rejected offer from Gwen on the coffee table, something about a job on Wayne Tech. 

Smirking, the teen set off in the direction of the company building, a plan formulating in his head as he went. 

He reached his destination sooner than he expected, having been closer than he thought. 

The young thief made his way to the roof of Wayne Tech, crouching on the edge as he went over his plan one more time before putting it into action. 

The object of Gwen's buyer's affection was only three floors below him, in a highly secured room. There was two security guards always on duty, but if he managed to take them out quickly enough, he could - 

"What are you doing here?"  Magpie spun around to see Robin standing on the far side of the roof, hands on his hips. Not responding, the thief turned back around but stood up from his crouched position. "Hey, I asked you a question."

"Doesn't mean I'm obliged to respond."

Robin dropped his fists to his side, squeezing them slightly. "Do you have any idea how worried Catwoman is right now?! She even called Batman to look for you!" Magpie didn't respond, he just adjusted his body so he was facing Robin. "Just what the hell did you do?"

"She tried to take Magpie away from me." Came the mumbled response. 

"So you throw yourself over the edge of a roof and make your mom think you tried to kill yourself?" Robin grunted. "Real mature."

"Hey, I don't expect you to understand. After all, you have everything! Money, status, power, looks, and not one family, but you had two that loved or love you!" Magpie's voice cracked as he shouted at the boy wonder. "I had to fight for everything I have and now the one person in the world I trusted turned their back on me. How else would you expect me to respond?"