The Big Book Of BatCat One Shots

Day 4 - Dude In Distress (BatCat Week 2018 - Part 3)

It had been several months since Bruce had first met Catwoman. They had run into each other quite a few times since then. Each time they ran into each other, she managed to get away, as did whatever she had stolen, and he ended up with a new injury.

Tonight was going to be different. Or at least that was the hope. If they ran into each other tonight, rather than trying to arrest her, he was going to put a tracker on her instead. That way he could, hopefully, follow her back to where she called home.

He started the night by staking out the places she was most likely to rob. Bruce spent a couple of hours at each one before moving on to the next.

He was at the last one on his list and was about to go back to the first one and start over again when Catwoman did show up.

Bruce watched as she broke into the jewelry store. Once she was inside, he swung over and entered the building himself.

As he dropped down into the building, through the same vent she had used, he was just in time to see her breaking into one of the display cases. She was using the same technique she had used for the cat statue and several other places that had similar displays.

Catwoman used her claws to cut into the glass, carefully removed the circle of glass she had just cut and then scooped up and bagged whatever was behind the glass.

"It's over, Catwoman."

She laughed. "That's what you said the other night and the night before that and the night before that and you have yet to stop me!" She then quickly spun around and she wrapped her whip around his leg and pulled him off balance.

Bruce had been expecting that, of course. Letting her do that was all part of his plan. The only way out of without triggering the store's alarm was past him. Little did Catwoman know, but he had her right where he wanted her.

As she passed him and headed for the vent, he grabbed her ankle and very quickly and discreetly placed the tracker on the bottom of her boot. He then let go and dodged the kick she aimed at him. Bruce then got back onto his feet and followed Catwoman up the vent and out into the night.

So he didn't raise her suspicions, he chased her across the rooftops until he saw the perfect time to make it look like she had managed to lose him. From there, he activated the tracker and, making sure to stay out of sight, he followed her across Gotham.

Every now and then Catwoman would make a sudden turn or two. She was making sure she really had "lost" him. An hour or so passed before her pace slowed and she finally seemed to have an actual destination in mind.

A few minutes into following her and Bruce soon realised where she was headed. The Industrial District. He wasn't surprised. It was filled with old abandoned warehouses and factories, the Sionis Steel Mill included, that criminals and the homeless used as either hideouts or places to protect themselves from the elements.

Catwoman soon entered one of the warehouses and that's where the red dot he'd been following on the map, on his gauntlet's computer, stopped. Alright, time to arrest her.

He silently entered the warehouse and headed for the center of it, where the red dot was on his map. That's where he found his tracker as well as he note scratched into the floor. 'Better luck next time!'

Dammit! Somehow she had known about the tracker and had decided to lead him on a wild goose chase. He should've prepared for something like that. Now who'd know when he would see her next.

Bruce was so focused on his frustration and anger at himself for not preparing for this scenario that he didn't hear them enter the warehouse. He only became aware of the people that had just entered when it was far too late. Something connected with his head and everything went black.