Catgirl: Young Justice BOOK 3 (EDITING)

CHAPTER 31

TW: Substance Abuse

|Gotham City
|April 8 2016, 09:00

After yet another few hours of failing to locate his sister, Felix shut down his desk computer and turned on his office's flatscreen.

Naturally, the news was the first channel to come on. All this time, he thought he'd at least hear something about Katherine from the media that supposedly wanted nothing more than her downfall, but instead all the media had been talking about were the Reach.

They were planet Earth's latest alien invaders.

G. Gordon Godfrey was surprisingly in favour of them coming to Earth. It was never a good sign when he liked anyone that didn't fit what he considered to be 'a normal citizen of Earth', whatever that was these days. Apparently not the Justice League, most of whom were born on Earth, and quite openly defended it. "How long are you going to stand for this and do nothing to check these lawless heroes?!", Godfrey barked, taking a long sigh before continuing to say, "Well, I'll just wait here to make up your minds. Meanwhile, Earth's true benefactors, the Reach-"

Felix rolled his eyes and switched the channel. He was now watching the local Gotham news, that was currently being reported right outside his building, "Self-proclaimed crime lord, Calico, remains hidden in the luxury of his building, but as does the question of his alliance. Reports from survivors of the explosion that took place on Rhode Island, March 23rd, state that Calico was in fact working alongside the Justice League. He was sighted fleeing the scene with known heroes Nightwing, Superboy-"

Felix scoffed and turned the TV off. He got up from his desk, moving to stand by his window to look down at the news crews below.

Amelia had been keeping them out ever since the Mount Justice incident. At first, she claimed he was recovering from his injuries and a proper statement would be given once he woke up, but now she too doubted his alliance, she left them out there to believe whatever they wanted.

It was bad enough the media thought actual invaders, the Reach, had good intentions with their planet, but to think he was a hero because he drew the line at child trafficking?

That only meant Bastet didn't bring him back a complete monster- that he had built up enough control of his feral side to not turn a blind eye to vulnerable children being kidnapped.

It didn't make him any less a villain.

Still, much like the media, Amelia too was convinced something in him had changed. Despite continuing to have access to all of his Catnip operations, being the one to send the money to the army of mercenaries he hired, and constantly covering up the missing and/or presumed dead people he'd piled up, she did.

But, really, if anyone's alliance was questionable it was Katherine's. Nobody seemed to have the faintest idea what she'd been doing since she dropped off the radar, but there certainly hadn't been a trail of death following her.

She really was supposed to be a monster, feral.

**********
|Blüdhaven
|April 8 2016, 14:34

Katherine slammed down her empty shot glass, drunkingly ordering, "Gimme more.", to a bartender that was much to fearful to refuse.

As she waited for who knows what round of shots to be shakingly poured she slipped off her barstool and went outside to smoke.

When she stepped out the side door of the bar she stepped straight into what looked like an active mugging. Cornered in the alley's dead end was a women, next to her stood two men armed with knives.

It was a mugging if she ever saw one.

"But there's not even guns.", Katherine commented, searching her jacket pockets for a lighter.

She pulled out that old lighter Jason gave her, unfortunately not yet drunk enough to forget it no longer worked and she just held onto it because it was one of the only things she had left of him.

"Give me your money, phone, and cigarettes."

Katherine looked up from the lighter, at one of the muggers that was stupid enough to try her just as she was reminded why she was able to relapse like this; there was no more kid at home to stay sober for- or real home left, for that matter.

"Cigarettes too?", she asked, trying to practice what Felix taught her to do to control her feral side.

Not that it had ever really worked before without him.

"Don't make me ask you twice!", the mugger snapped, now pointing his blade towards her.

Katherine diverted her eyes to his blade, then glanced over at his and his friend's other victim. She was the stereotypical young women target- the type that really should've known better than to walk into an alley alone- even if it was apparently light out.

"Wai', wha's a time?", Katherine slurred, then laughed, finally noticing how drunk she sounded. She probably laughed a little too hard at herself as the mugger took a step back.

Being a little too unstable did that.

"You...you have fangs..", the mugger managed through their fear, stating it was that which made them uneasy, not the fact that in the first time in years Katherine had went off the rails again.

Obviously, he'd not yet realised who he was trying to mug.

"Am I really that unrecognisable already?", Katherine said a little more coherently. She reached out to swipe the mugger's blade to see her reflection, but miscalculated and cut herself. "Pffft!", she snorted, laughing down at the gold bleeding from her hand.

"You're bleeding gold!", the other mugger gasped, stepping away from his victim to get a closer look, allowing her to escape.

"OH!", Katherine loudly realised, "You don' know who I am 'cause I'm s'possed to be hiding!" She securely held her cigarette between her lips and used her unharmed hand to remove the sunglasses she'd been using to shield her eyes.

By the time her eyes focused on the bright light outside, both the muggers had ran away.

Now they were the ones screaming into the city for help.

"Boo." Katherine sighed, about to go back in for her shots when she noticed that the women the muggers were originally targeting had dropped her bag on the ground while making her escape.

"Oooh.." She approached it, her legs failing her when she crouched down to search it for a working lighter.  "Needles 'n' use' condoms. Comfy...", she mumbled as she now lay on the littered ground. Having spent most her life in Gotham, she was able to ignore that, instead putting what little energy she had into trying not to black out once her body had got the opportunity to finally rest.

It wasn't clear how she got back into the bar after that, but the next thing she knew she was sat at the counter once more, ordering yet another round of shots to make it all stop.

"D,you get the blank spaces too?", she asked her new bartender, the old one nowhere to bee found, "When you're one place then a new place? How did I get back inside from...where I was? How long was I...was I out?" The bartender was just staring at her, saying nothing. "Helloooo?", Katherine reached out to poke them, her arm giving in, causing her to slump against the counter and groan.

The bartender swallowed and dared to ask, "Is there anyone I can call for you, Catgirl?"

Katherine straightened up and narrowed her eyes at the bartender. 

"I'm sorry.", the bartender's eyes immediately flashed with fear and glazed, "Please, don't hurt- PLEASE!"

Katherine continued to get back off her barstool and watched the bartender. Then she looked around at what little other people braved staying near her in the bar, all of them equally as terrified at what they thought she was going to do.

Did they really think she'd snap?

Would she have the last time she was feral?

As irritating as they all were, she didn't actually want to kill any of them right now.

They didn't deserve it.

Katherine just clenched her jaw and carefully made her way across the tables and out of the bar before she got hurt.

Word Count: 1382