Chapter 48: Feline Troubles Part 2

"Good, tell me what you know about her. You agreed previously to tell me what you could about any criminals."

Arias gestured Barbara to have a seat while getting straight to the point. He didn't know how much information she had, per se, but he figured it was definitely more than him.

However, when Barbara was asked this, she hesitated, causing Arias to raise a brow in both curiosity and suspicion.

"Something wrong with that?"

As Barbara took a seat, Arias remained standing and crossed his arms while looking at her. She seemed nervous and avoided making direct eye contact with him.

"Well, you see… she's not like a criminal, anymore at least," Barbara revealed with some uncertainty in her voice.

"My vault begs to differ. Is there a reason you're avoiding the answer? Maybe you're scared of her? Is she an acquaintance of yours? Or perhaps Batman?"

Arias was just throwing out guesses to see if he could trigger a reaction from her or at least a subtle shift in character. From what he knew, people would normally withhold information about someone if they were close to them or if they were scared. If it was neither of these two, then Arias couldn't guess what it was.

Luckily, he hit the mark on his last question as Barbara's eyelashes fluttered quicker than normal while her eyes darted away from Arias.

Seeing this, Arias didn't let up and kept pressing; he needed at least some sort of clue.

"So, there are some criminals that even Batman favors, huh? Well, I can't be surprised. At the end of the day, we're all hypocrites. Can I get you something to drink?"

Arias feigned indifference, shrugging his shoulders as if he had lost all interest, even taking the initiative to change the topic. Barbara, though, felt uncomfortable and thought she should clear up the misunderstanding.

"No, it's not like that. Catwoman has helped and even saved Batman's life in the past. Plus, I was told she doesn't do crime anymore. She actually helps keep criminals in check in East End. The police must've made a mistake."

"Video evidence makes that hard to believe, but since she has Batman's protection, I guess I'm just unlucky. Let me get that drink."

Arias saw he would get nowhere digging for more information plainly, but at the very least, he attained a clue. He didn't really care too much about her stealing from him; it was the fact she had some connection to Batman that now had him curious about her.

To an outside observer like Barbara, it seemed like Arias was annoyed at the situation—and understandably so. Despite this, she still couldn't bring herself to reveal more. At the end of the day, she still trusted Batman and his judgment.

Arias soon returned with a glass of water and placed it on the table in front of her before taking a seat on another sofa with his laptop. He said no words to Barbara and returned to doing research on LexCorp and its head.

This quiet atmosphere was awkward for Barbara, who felt Arias was purposefully ignoring her.

"Sorry, I'll look into it, okay? If I learn anything, I'll get back to you immediately."

"That's fine. I have my own means," Arias replied coldly without turning away from his screen, his tone sending a chill down the already nervous girl's spine.

No matter how she looked at it, there were far too many unknowns surrounding Arias, so she couldn't help but worry about what he meant when he said that.

"Do you have a job for me to do or something?" As the awkward silence continued, Barbara once again spoke up.

"If I did, I would have contacted you first and asked you to come here. Since I didn't, the answer should be obvious. I'll be busy for the majority of the day, so it's best you leave soon."

Barbara frowned at the cold treatment she was receiving and exaggerated her departure as she left.

After she was gone, Arias sighed and took out his phone before making a call.

"Claus, I'd like to buy some information…"

…

Later that evening, a groggy Harley finally woke up from her long nap and proceeded to find Arias in the living room, still on his laptop.

"Whatcha doing, boss?"

Harley appeared wearing nothing but a tight thong in front of Arias and began peeking at the laptop screen to see what he was up to.

Arias soon closed the laptop and placed it on the table before standing up. "Waiting on you, actually. We have something to do."

Hearing this, Harley drifted into thought for a moment before showing a cheeky grin and moving in closer to Arias, placing her arms around his neck.

"Oh, I get it. You wanna pick up where we left off, huh, boss?"

Arias shook his head and unwrapped her hands from around his neck. "Not this time. We have actual work to do. Now go to your room and get dressed—wear something inconspicuous and dark."

He quickly advised before giving a quick smack on her ass cheek, causing an even wider grin to appear on Harley's face.

"Aww, where are we going, boss? Somewhere fun?"

"Cat hunting."

"Cat hunting?"

…

Later that night in East End…

"Help!!"

A cry for help resounded throughout the alleyway as a lone woman could be seen running away from multiple, rough-looking men.

"Get back here, you little bitch!"

The leading pursuer looked especially angry and constantly cursed at the woman as she ran.

Eventually, the woman found herself cornered with nowhere to go. She ducked down in fright and began to plead.

"Please let me go…"

"No way, you bitch. You're gonna pay for—" Pa!

Just as the leading man approached the girl, a sharp and loud smack resounded on the ground in front of him, causing him to halt his movements.

"What the…"

The man was confused and looked around the dark alley to try and find the source, only to see a feminine figure wearing a dark, tight bodysuit with a mask that resembled a cat.

The figure was crouching on a window railing with a long whip in hand—the source of the strange sound the men heard before.

"I-It's Catwoman," one of the men behind him muttered in a frightened tone while taking some steps back in fear, his friends soon doing the same.

Catwoman showed a seductive smile and launched herself acrobatically to the ground, landing between the woman and the leading man.

"My, my, boys. You must be really pent up to chase down this poor little thing all the way here. You won't mind if I join in on the fun, right? The more, the merrier."

She spoke seductively, but none of the men were the least bit aroused seeing her. Even as she spoke, her whip looked ready to be used at any moment.

"Tch, let's get outta here," the leading man decided, clicking his tongue before running away. Catwoman didn't pursue them and only placed the whip on her hip before approaching the woman.

"Your rowdy pursuers are gone. You might want to call the police or someone to come pick you up. It's not safe for a damsel to prance around this late. Do you hear me, blondie?"

Catwoman placed her hand on her hip and tapped her heel lightly on the ground while speaking. However, the trembling woman muttered something inaudible.

"Speak up, sweetie. What was that?"

Catwoman came closer and asked a little more softly in case the woman was traumatized.

"I said, here's Harley!"

*Foosh!*

The woman sprung up and sprayed an unknown substance right in Catwoman's face.

Catwoman couldn't see and immediately began to feel dizzy. Harley took this chance to attack and landed a heavy kick into her gut before disarming her of her whip.

"Harley! What did you… do…what..."

Catwoman tried to stand but felt weak all over, eventually falling to the ground, quickly losing consciousness as another set of footsteps arrived on the scene. She could only hear Harley's giddy voice as everything went black.

"Here ya go, boss—one helpless kinky cat right for the taking."