The Cat and the Fox: City of Shadows

2. The Alley Cat

A week had passed since he had arrived in Gotham, and Stiles finally decided to go walk around to see if there was a job opening that he could take so he could get some income seeing as if he was going to stay in that motel he needed to make some money, and fast.

So here he was walking through this dreary city where everyone looked to be weary of their surroundings, and here he was feeling safer than ever (oh the irony).  What was he going to do if he couldn't get a job, what then?  He hadn't thought about that beforehand but here he was now facing that possibility.

Stiles sighed.  It'll be fine, I'll get money and I will do fine.  I can make do.

"Keep telling yourself that, Stiles."

Stiles froze in his spot as he looked around real quick... who the hell said that?

He looked around, only to find himself alone now, the streets having become suddenly empty all of a sudden.  Stiles felt a chill run down his back and with that he zipped his black jacket up and kept walking with his head down.

"Ivy, I take it your father's out of jail?" the mischievous voice of local street kid and self-taught thief Selina Kyle asked as she sat underneath a fire escape watching her friend Ivy Pepper above her near the roof.

"Yes, my mother's very pleased." she said lowly, but Selina couldn't help but notice that there was something in her voice that showed she wasn't very happy about the whole situation.

"Has he hit you again?"

"No, but he hit her..." Ivy responded, as she tended to the plants on the windowsill as she always did in the mornings.  "I'd rather not talk about it.  What's new with you Cat?"

Selina smiled as she climbed up to the window where Ivy was.  She had always been the type to go it alone, but she always had a soft spot for the kid.  Ivy was unkempt, her hair was knotted and frayed from years of living under the same house as her father, Mario Pepper.  Selina might not have been the most kempt person there was, like say... the Waynes, but she was still cleaner than a lot of the street kids.  It probably helped that she had scores to maintain her for a small place to stay that at the least had clean water, and electricity.  There wasn't much else there for her to have, because the small apartment she lived in was almost completely empty.

There was no reason to be there longer than what she needed to be, which was basically to get cleaned up and sleep.  That was the only reason she stayed there if she was being completely honest, but even then she knew that there were people looking for her every now and then that were upset with her activities.  Maybe she stole from the wrong person, fought the wrong battle.  Whatever it was, Selina knew that her home was only a target if she stayed there too often.  At least there was a small getaway for her when she had to escape fast.

"Um," she started to ponder what had been new.  "I kind of have nothing new.  Oh, I've got a new fence, some guy named Clyde, real slimy if you ask me.  I'm trying to avoid business with him as much as possible, but every time I've done business with him he's kept his word."

"Yeah, but you've got that look in your eye like you're about to pull a score..." Ivy snickered as she always found that devilish look in Selina's eyes cute.  Selina couldn't help but shrug as she didn't want to be overheard by anyone nearby.

"What I can say, I'm a creature of habit, and a girl's gotta eat."

So there they sat and talked for a few minutes, as Selina slowly felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end forcing her to look at the sidewalk down below to see a brown haired teenager wearing a black jacket and a certain weariness that only someone that had been on the move for weeks on end without stopping could have.  That was an easy score in itself, as Selina looked at the silver watch on his wrist.  She grew a small smile and a raised eyebrow at the mere thought of what that thing was worth.