Catgirl: Young Justice BOOK 1 (COMPLETE)

CHAPTER 56

|Gotham City
|September 12 2010, 11:35

It'd really taken Catgirl this long to realise why villains rarely worked in teams;

"Careful!", Superboy warned.

"They're right above you!", Artemis panicked.

"They're shooting darts!", Kid Flash gasped, "They're just missing you and no more!"

Usually during an escape she didn't have the team shouting at her.

She found it to be really distracting- so much that she still hadn't lost the cops and it was almost noon.

"It's fine!", She hissed back at them, "they'll run out of fuel soon and have to land. I'll get away then."

"Or you'll run out of fuel.", Robin groggily spoke up.

"Robin!" Everyone else audibly let out sighs in relief. "You're up!"

"You idiot!", Catgirl yelled over the comms at him, pausing while she jumped to the next rooftop, "Do you have any idea how stupid-?!"

"Yeah, this is my fault, I know.", He monotoned.

"No-"

"Yes, it is.", He said, "If I had waited just a little longer for backup it would've been fine."

"It's not that simple!", Catgirl continued to yell, dodging yet another dart.

She imagined if she was hit by even one of them, she'd be no better than dead.

Now she knew how she got out of Belle Reve the first time she knew her chances of being able to do it again were less than slim, as she was only given one clone, and didn't have enough lives left to waste on a masterplan that just couldn't work twice.

"She was framed.", Superboy filled Robin in on what he'd missed.

Aqualad further explained, "She has a copycat in Gotham that's copying her past crimes to try and frame her for his own. We believe the robberies were to draw her in. She fell straight into his trap."

"Naturally.", Catgirl huffed, "Once again the hero thing backfiring in my face and-"

"But you saved me.", Robin spoke over her, "Saved my life."

"I kept you alive long enough for Kid to save you.", She corrected, heading into The Narrows. If she'd lose the cops anywhere it'd be in these streets, as she knew them the best.

"KF gave you his blood and did the real saving.", she mumbled, watching as the helicopter soon lost sight of her and was called off. She smiled, jumping down into the next alley.

"He did what?!", Robin panicked, "But our blood-"

"Dude shh!", KF violently hushed him.

"Right, we're lying to her. Ok then, I'll shut up.", Robin not so subtly replied.

"It was a white lie...", Miss Martian sheepishly apologised over the mic, "Sorry, Catgirl, we didn't want to worry-"

"I don't care!, she snapped, almost laughing because she couldn't believe how distracting they were. This came just as she realised she was searching for a manhole that wasn't there; she'd been so busy with the team yelling in her ear that she jumped an extra building, entering an alley with no sewer connections...

The team remained connected to her earpiece but had fallen completely silent upon her snapping.

"Shit..", She cursed under her breath, running out onto the street only to get shot at again.

Reluctantly, she looked back at the dart that'd only missed by centimeters. This one was different than that others that'd been fired at her all morning, but it was more familiar. The color of the tranquilliser inside made her heart sink.

"Why'd you stop running?", Robin broke the silence on the team's side, "Are you still there? Katherine?"

"Batman's here.", She swallowed, trying to figure out where exactly the dart was shot from, and how far he could've got from that spot in a few seconds.

"Batman?", Aqualad questioned, "But he said he was going to-"

Robin gasped in realisation, "The Belle Reve mission! Katherine, he's going to-"

Catgirl shakily put her hand to her earpiece, not taking her eyes off her surroundings. "Guys?", she whispered, near silently calling out for them, "Robin? Are you there?"

No, they weren't.

Batman had cut them off before they could successfully warn her what was coming.

Now she'd spotted him and his dart gun in the shadows, she got a rough idea of what Batman was about to do to her. She knew for certain, "You're not here to help."

"Not exactly.", he confirmed, shooting a second dart.

This time Catgirl didn't bother to dodge it. She just closed her eyes and winced as the needle punctured into her shoulder.

A few seconds later she felt him approach. She dared to open her eyes at look at him, not knowing what would come next.

"It's all part of the plan.", he assured, "Miss Martian and Superboy will join you before your arrival."

"But my mother-"

"Is in solitary, like she has been since January. You will be placed in max security, your biggest threats being Poison Ivy, Killer Frost and..."

Catgirl's hearing started to fail her as the tranquilliser began to kick in. She tried to step back, but somehow ended up collapsing and laying down on the sidewalk, looking up as The Dark Knight as he towered over her.

"I will ensure your freedom when the mission is over.", He promised, crouching down to pull the dart out of her shoulder.

She tiredly shook her head, breathing, "Please...don't make..me go...back..there."

"You'll do it.", was the last thing she heard before the darts contents won; not words of encouragement from Batman but orders to make an impossible choice:

Revenge or redemption?

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Word Count: 917