A Wild Catwoman Appears!

Later that night, in a deserted street, a middle-aged man in a police uniform with a cheerful face was walking slowly and then turned into an alleyway.

　　 'As pleased as I would be to have such a devoted fan, you really shouldn't stalk someone for such a long time because it might come off as creepy' Mathison mused to himself "Come on out, whoever you are! I know you're following me!"

　　 After confirming that there were no cameras in the alley, Mathison turned to face his persistent shadow.

　　 A rustling sound emerged, and Mathison turned towards it with a calm expression.

　　 A tall and hot woman in black tights appeared in the alley.

　　 "Catwoman?"

　　 Mathison noticed that the woman was wearing a mask with cat ears on, and with only the lower half of her face was exposed.

He the iconic look reminded him of a comic cover he saw he in his previous world. This person must be the Catwoman, Serena Kyle. Though he knew that Catwoman existed here due to his friend's dad talking about her, he had no idea why she was tailing a cop.

　　 "Aren't you that female thief on the wanted list? What are you doing following a cop, have you finally seen the error of your ways and are trying to turn yourself in? In that case the nearest station is about 30 blocks from here. I can escort you if you want."

　　 Mathison gestured to pull out his pistol.

　　 "You said that I was a thief but aren't you the same, poor Kaito Kid?"

　　 Serena face remained expressionless.

　　 "How very interesting. How exactly did you see through my disguise? I'm rather confident at being a master of disguise... plus it's impossible for you to be that familiar with Aaron Kash to see through it at a glance in dark alleyway at night. So you must have been able the minor imperfections even under all those conditions... hmmm"

Aaron Kash's face suddenly broke into a big grin. He stretched out his hand to grab the collar of the police uniform and pulled it down. The entire police uniform was magically stripped off and immediately replaced, with a signature white cloak dancing in the wind. Now that Mathison was exposed, he had no reason to stay as Aaron and faced her openly.

　　 "You're really quick at changing your clothes. Among all the men I have seen do it, you are clearly the fastest… But still, what's the point if you steal things in such an eye-catching outfit, I really can't tell if you are brave or just stupid.", Catwoman said, sarcastically.

　　 "Also, my little Kid if you going to knock a policeman unconscious and send him to the sky with those white wings you shouldn't out in the open like that, even at night. Everyone knows that cats have excellent night vision" Catwoman purred.

　　 Mathison realized that there were probably more people than just him interested in the Adam's Star. Most likely because of his notice letter, the police to payed special attention the Star and so, it was difficult for Serena to get inside the exhibition hall.

Maybe she wanted to see how the Phantom Thief, who had disturbed her plans, would steal a gem from such a herd of police officers, or, more likely, she wanted to pick the gem from his hands. After all, Catwoman would not give up on Adam's Star just because some amateur managed to get his hands on it first. She must have been monitoring the situation in the exhibition hall from a distance until she happened to see the scene of Aaron being knocked out.

　　 Mathison was relieved… He didn't really want to face the fact that the years he spent perfecting disguises could be seen through in an instant. He made a mental note to make sure he swapped disguises in a less risky spot next time.

　　 "I don't know why you decided to steal that gem, but, unfortunately for you, my employer specified that he wanted it, so you better give it to me willingly and save me some time."

　　 "Oh, beautiful lady, if I heard you right, you want this?"

　　 Mathison took out Adam's Star that he just stole from under Gordon's nose.

　　 "I'm touched by your cooperation, but do you think I am stupid? I don't want this broken stone; I want the real thing hiding in your sleeves."

　　 "I'm sorry, Miss Kyle, though a beauty like yourself deserves so much more, Adam's Star is not among the list of things that can part with."

　　 Mathison threw away the fake Adam's Star and spread his arms out.

　　 "It seems that speech alone won't be enough for you to give me the gem. Not surprising though, since I'm the same way. No one will give up 170 million dollars just like that, right?", Serena tilted her neck.

　　 "Hehe, that's not necessarily true."

　　 Mathison and Serena stare each other down, and the atmosphere instantly became tense.

　　 "You are a gentleman aren't you? You woman wouldn't beat a woman, right…?"

　　 Halfway through her words, Serena suddenly flicked her hand to her waist without warning, quickly drew a pistol, and instantly pulled the trigger. At such a close distance in a narrow alleyway, Serena was confident that she could hit any opponent even with her eyes closed.

　　 However, just as Serena pulled the trigger, a playing card hit her wrist at a strange angle.

　　"Miss Kyle, there was no need to resort to such tactics in the middle of our lovely talk. Don't you think so?"

　　 Serena never imagined that a playing card would be so powerful, not only did her hand holding the gun deviate from its original position, but she even dropped the pistol under the pain.

　　 At the same time, Mathison approached Serena at an astonishing speed, and a hand knife slashed towards her neck.

　　 But Catwoman was called Gotham's most brilliant thief for a reason. Her flexibility and the agility of her body are really on par to that of a humanish cat. No matter how difficult the posture could be for humans, she can do it with ease.

　　 Selena relied on the weak impact of a playing card hitting her wrist and used that to lead into a side somersault. Her overall centre of gravity was then tilted to the right.

　　 When her body had rotated to 180 degrees, Serena's head was almost against the ground, and her legs were slightly raised, clamping Mathison's neck.

　　 Serena's leg hooked Mathison's shoulders for a second time. She took the next step, and Mathison tumbled down, while Catwoman just finished her somersault and squatted on the ground, with her right knee resting on Mathison's chest.

　　This whole Sequence was done in only around one second.

　　 "Wow, Miss Kyle, your elegance knows no bounds. Just now, I couldn't help but be fascinated by your fluid motions."

　　 Although Mathison was subdued by Serena, he still maintains his humorous attitude.

　　　　 "It's just a pity that you don't wear a skirt but tights."

　　 Mathison's angle of view just happened to be able to see a hidden part along Serena's thigh.

　　 Hearing this, Serena was amused Kid's light teasing even while he was restrained.

　　 "This is really a misfortune, but you will never see the bottom of my skirt."

　　 Serena put her hand into Mathison's chest and took out another Adam's Star.

　　 "Kaito Kid, your skillset is really not suited for this line of work. You're better off going to the circus, maybe there, you can make some money."

　　 After confirming that the gem was real, Serena nodded in satisfaction, stuffed the gem in her cleavage, and then advised Mathison on his life decisions.

　　 "By the way, at about eleven o'clock, the is a sniper on that building, 500 meters away, who is also under your employer… and he is not here to help you."

　　 Serena's face froze, "When did you detect him? What makes you think that he is not teaming with me?"

　　 Mathison decided that it was best to stay still for time to explain his thinking.

　　 "The location of the sniper."

　　 "Location?"

　　 "If you take this alley as the centre, the sniper will cover three-quarters of this area from the place where he is, but there are always dead ends. Doesn't this give me a chance to escape? This is obviously impossible, so I guessed that this escape route was not for me, but for you, Miss Kyle."

"You are worried that you will be killed by the sniper, so you specifically ask them to leave some dead corners for you, otherwise you will not help them steal the gem, because, you know that once you are exposed to the snipe's lens, you will lose your life. Am I right?"

　　 It was obviously a rhetorical question, but Mathison still asked anyway.

　　 Serena was taken aback that Mathison had correctly figured out her plan.

　　 "Also, you don't really think I only have skills fit for the circus, right?"

Mathison suddenly grabbed Serena's hand dexterously. Catwoman's entire body leaned forward subconsciously. She immediately tried to pull away. Only then did she realize that Mathison's strength was far greater than his figure let on. She couldn't break free in time and so she was pushed to the ground.

　　 Kaito Kid's motor nerves are abnormally strong, not at all inferior to those of Catwoman's.

　　 With one swift movement from Mathison, the two opponents swapped their positions and Mathison was now on top of Serena.

"I have always wanted to see with my own eyes what Catwoman, who's been wanted by the police for so long,actually looks like."

　　 "After all, you are my senior."

　　 Mathison suddenly took off Catwoman's mask, revealing her stunning face that looked very similar to her Hollywood actress in Mathison's previous life.

　　 "It's a shame that woman as beautiful is a thief, Miss Kyle…"

　　 Serena curled her lips. She wasn't at all worried that Kaito Kid would hurt her. After all, she didn't feel any hostility from the way he was on her.

　　 "It's getting really late, Miss Kyle, but I will ask you one last question, who is your employer?"

　　 "Sorry Kid, even in our business line, we have our own principles, one of which is never discussing information about our clients."

　　 Serena turned her face to the other side facing away from Mathison, not allowing him to break his gaze.

　　 "Well, it looks like you are a principled thief… Then, what do you know about 'Bane'?", Mathison asked suddenly.

"Who is Bane?"

Serena was puzzled by Mathison's sudden inquiry. She knew most of the wealthy people in Gotham City and was employed by them many times. This is precisely why her name is on the most wanted list, even so she has yet to be caught by the GCPD. However, she had never heard of the name "Bane" and had no idea what Mathison was asking about.

　　 'Her facial expression says… she's telling the truth? But how could this be?'

　　While Mathison's face remained with the same coy grin, deep down he pondered what this meant for the timeline.

　　 'This means it's still quite a while before Bane shows up, but it still shouldn't be too long from now…'

Eight years ago, the Joker prosecuted Harvey Dent into the abyss of revenge. He was a bloody criminal with a sense of justice. However, Gotham could not accept the decay of their justice knight, Harvey Dent, especially since he was seen as the saviour of Gotham at that time.

He strongly advocated the implementation of the "Dent Act" to effectively fight criminals. Once Harvey Dent's image will collapse, the Dent Act will completely lose its effectiveness among Gotham citizens. The GCPD would lose the only chance to clean the mess caused by Gotham's criminals and would never let that situation occur.

So the police hid the truth about Harvey Dent's death, falsely claiming that Batman had killed Harvey, and associated some crimes committed by Harvey to Batman. And thus, the Dent Act became unbreakable due to Harvey's heroic sacrifice, while Batman disappeared into the shadows.

　　 From that point on, Gotham remained in a state of peace for eight years, thanks to Dent's act. Although black markets trading couldn't have been completely stopped, it changed from being rampant in the open, to being hidden in the shadows.

　　 Gotham went from being the city with the highest crime rate in the United States to a city with a medium crime rate, an improvement beyond belief.

　　 That is, until Bane decides to descend on Gotham, revealed the truth about everything, and almost led Gotham to its downfall.

　　 This whole event happened exactly eight years after Harvey's death, this year, except that Mathison didn't remember exactly when.

　　 Mathison recalled that the prelude to Bane's coming was when he hired Catwoman to go to Wayne Manor to obtain Bruce Wayne's fingerprints and use it to transfer Bruce's shares on the stock exchange.

　　 But now Catwoman is saying that she doesn't know Bane, which proves that Bane hasn't yet expanded his operations into Gotham, but it is estimated that he will reach for Serena soon.

　　 There were also definitely a handful of rich people who wanted Adam's Star, but Mathison didn't care enough to bother with them.

　　 "It looks like I guessed wrong then. Miss Kyle, though our fated meeting was short it's time to say goodbye."

　　 Mathison grabbed the cloak with his hand, flicking it, covering his body completely, at a terrifically quick speed. By the time the cloak fell naturally, the figure of the Phantom Thief had already disappeared.

　　 "Wait, didn't he take back Adam's star?"

　　 When Serena recovered from Kid's sudden disappearance, she was extremely puzzled. Was it because the place where she had put Adam's Star was so sensitive that Kaito Kid decided to not take it back out of some kind of gentlemanly manner?

　　Although she couldn't see his face, it seemed that Phantom Kid was very young, so logically speaking, he could be a young bird who had never been with a woman.

　　 Deciding to move on, she put her hand in her cleavage and took out Adam's Star to examine it.

　　 "Shit! This is a fake! But when did he swap it? Why didn't I feel anything! Come back here you stupid thief!"

But The Phantom Thief was long gone and only the wind heard her cries.