Did it have to be her?

The Painting

BEEP BEEP BEEP. Noelle groaned at the sound of her alarm, it had taken her hours to get to sleep and she had to wake up early for a meeting with Oswald Cobblepot, who was paying her for some job. Unlike her other jobs, where she was paid maybe 1000-5000 dollars he was paying her 100,000 dollars to steal some random painting, she didn't question why he wanted the painting, she never questioned any job she was given she just got it done which is why she had a lot of connections to plenty villains AND heros of Gotham, it was the best way for her to never go back to her old, poor, life. she shuddered at the thought of it. 

as she got dressed in her suit and headed to the meeting point, she saw him waiting there for him "she's late!" he sounded frustrated she jumped down from above him landing in front of him "sorry missed my alarms!" she was lying of course, she was late because she decided to get herself some coffee on the way, Oswald rolled his eyes "whatever as long as you're here" he said before continuing "the painting has been moved to a high security bank in West Gotham, I would send some of my men there but... you know how they are.." the guards looked at each other, they were offended, Noelle laughed amused, "so you need to do it?" he nodded in response "I will pay you half the money now and the rest will be wired to your account tomorrow after the mission is successful" he said, his face stoic, Noelle nodded she hadn't had so much money in her reach before and that was even before the rest would be wired to her. Oswald gave her a map of the bank along with a map where each of the camera were and also a piece of paper with a code on that would shut down the vault stopping any guards from coming in for a few minutes while she got the painting, not that it mattered if the cameras saw her, she always got in and out of places with no trouble at all. 

She spent her day gathering supplies and then when night came she got into her hero suit, it was similar to her late mothers, Selina Kyles, it was all black and made of leather she also wore a small face mask with cat ears too, that is what gave her the name Catgirl, she always let her long wavy black hair flow, she didn't like having it tied up, she also had leather gloves which had built in claws which let her climb the side of building and also had knuckle dusters inside making it a million times easier to knock people out. she made her way across Gotham and finally arrived at the bank she jumped onto the roof and set up a laser which would cut a hole into a wall and would let her in.

She's lasering the hole for about half an hour when a piece of scrap metal comes flying towards her hitting her and making her stumble then behind her she hears a familiar voice "stop right there Catgirl! I have you cornered." Noelle spun around and saw Freefall with her arms out threateningly, she was a new hero in Gotham only been around maybe 2 or 3 months but she always seemed to be the one to find Noelle, odd, "well, well, well look what the cat dragged in!" Noelle said with confidence, Freefall rolled her eyes, she knew the joke was bad but she found herself quite amusing. She set up the laser to continue making  ahole in the wall while she prepared herself for a fight, it wouldn't be long before the hole was ready, before speaking Freefall knocked the laser over stopping her, 'how dangerous' Noelle thought and then Freefall began to speak "come willingly. I won't hurt you unless i have to. And trust me if you decide to fight me I WILL win" in response... Noelle rolled her eyes "as if. you sound like my ex girlfriend" she smirked to herself and let out a little giggle before continuing "well since you don't want to play fair I guess I have no other choice but to hand myself in!" she said sarcastically and then casually she jumped off the building, she clinged to the side sliding down, she knew this would distract Freefall making her think she had just killed herself, Freefall looks down to her "come back here! don't make me ask twice!" her voice hard, Noelle ignored her and continued sliding down and when she saw Freefall run away, obviously she was going to run down into the street, she climbed up the side of the building and finished off the hole. 

She was so quiet you could hear a pin drop, she managed to make it past some guards without them even glimpsing in her direction and then made it to the vault where she saw too guards standing outside of it. She walked across a support beam on the ceiling above them and used her grapple to pull on up and tie them onto it she then jumped down knocking the other guard unconscious. She made little noise but not enough to cause alarm and put in the code from the paper Oswald had given her. 

She enters the vault and it is FULL of money and paintings and gold it took her a while to find the right one and by the time she had the doors which locked the other guards out had opened, she was about to leave when she heard a panting Freefall running into the vault after her "jeez- you- fuck you're quick" she had her arms on her knees catching her breath as she said this but she quickly stood up puffing her chest out trying to make it seem like she wasn't "give it up Catgirl, you are surrounded and the cops are on their way." Noelle burst out laughing at how pathetic Freefall looked "you- I can't believe this-..." she could barely form a sentence because she was laughing so hard "jesus christ you really need to work on your cardio sweetheart" she began to laugh again but quickly pulled herself together and began looking around for an escape route when Freefall launches the painting out of her arms cracking the frame Freefall gasps, her eyes widening "oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck" she began pacing back and forth panicked, Noelle stood just watching her, she wanted to see how this would play out. Freefall turns facing her pointing "this is your fault. If-if I let you go this time you take the blame for that. but only this once. do we have a deal?" Noelle rolled her eyes "yeah sure whatever, but I'm taking the painting out of the frame, i have money to make." she said as she looked at Freefall up and down, judging her. She nodded and began pacing again looking to the door constantly, Noelle assumed she was looking for staff "letting you do this is causing me physical pain" she said to Noelle, facing her again, "you have to knock me out." she said abruptly giving no context, Noelle put two and two together and figured it was so she looked innocent, she smirked "wow I'm usually not really into that but if it makes you feel better ill do whatever you like sweetheart" she said and then she punched Freefall full force in the face instantly knocking her unconscious she then took the painting out of the frame and ;eft the bank through her planned escape route. a job well done.