Like riding a bike...

[femme-du-chat.livejournal.com]

Crouched outside the window of Hugo Strange's office, Catwoman smiles to herself. It has been far too long. The excitment of it, the rush of it - God, she loves this stuff. Unforunately, other than the bit of a security system present on the windows, breaking in here hasn't really been too much of a challenge.

There are so few good security systems in town. It makes it hard to find a good challenge. Of course, thinking of that makes her want to break into Wayne Tower. Or The Batcave. Or... Hrm. Maybe the Clocktower. /That/ would be a challenge. She /does/ want to see Mary again. It is worth thinking about. It would be a hell of a challenge. Take all night, probably. The very thought of it makes her shiver just a little bit.

Aftera few more moments making sure that all of her i's are dotted and all of her t's are crossed, she shimmies in through the now opened window. Once she's in, she looks around for a few moments before nodding to herself. Then she makes her way across the room and opens up the door for her compatriot in crime. Or vigilanteism. Whatever you want to call it.

Assuming he'll be in any moment, she starts to look around for evidence, hoping it isn't all on the computer. Because taking the computer would definately be obvious.

Comments

[gcpd-mcu.livejournal.com]

Her compatriot this time isn't the usual skin-tight leather type.

Instead, it's a man she hasn't seen in quite some time.

Slam Bradley takes a long last drag on his cigarette, tossing the stub to the curb before heading in.

A few minutes after she unlocks the door from the inside, he's there.

"Haven't lost a step."

[femme-du-chat.livejournal.com]

"No," she says, grinning, "you haven't."

There are few things that look likely but she hasn't managed to find what she's looking for. Of course, it would help if she really knew what that was.

[gcpd-mcu.livejournal.com]

Slam takes a look around himself, deciding that concentrating on being a P.I. will be a hell of a lot easier than concentrating on this woman.

"Run the story by me again."

[femme-du-chat.livejournal.com]

Moving, she perches on a chair, near the desk. She starts rummaging through the few papers that are there. "This is the office of one Dr. Hugo Strange - sick bastard. He has an obsession with Batman. Thinks he is Batman."

There is a slight pause at that. "He isn't." There is a small moue of distaste as she continues. "He kills people and is all around a psychotic bastard. Right now, he is where he belongs, in jail, and we're looking for something that will keep him there."

[gcpd-mcu.livejournal.com]

Batman. Christ. Obsessed with the obsessed.

The slow stroll around the place. High-class pretensions, kept his manic messes carefully confined to certain areas, the rest of the place is almost spotless and perfectly organized.

"What are they holdin' him on now?"

[femme-du-chat.livejournal.com]

"I have no idea. My source wasn't really forthcoming and I didn't ask." Flip, flip, flip.

The papers aren't that interesting.

[gcpd-mcu.livejournal.com]

Eventually, he stops at Strange's computer. Hated every minute of learning how to use these things, but if he's gonna be a detective worth his salt, it was inevitable.

"Check the bookshelves for anything tucked between the pages. Any really crappy metaphors about bats, or about bein' fake or real or some bullshit he might've ranted about"

[femme-du-chat.livejournal.com]

"Aye-aye."

Catwoman moves over to the books and starts flipping through them, shaking them in order to see if anything drops out.

[gcpd-mcu.livejournal.com]

It's not glamorous work for either of them. Strange has a hell of a lot of books, and a hell of a lot of junk files to go through.

There's a long period of just clacking keys and shifting books. Bradley's a hunt-and-peck typist.

Neither one of them seem to be turning up much of anything interesting. This is why he keeps shifting his eyes to her. Been a long time since they both had that time together... using each other.

She's crazy... but the most interesting kind.

"Maybe we're looking in too easy spots," he says, glancing at the fireplace, at the kitchen, towards the john.

[femme-du-chat.livejournal.com]

The titles end up getting looked at a bit more as she goes on slipping through them. "I don't even know what half of these are about and the other half...." There is a shrug from her, putting the book back.

After a moment, she pauses and frowns. "What the hell happened to me? I've gone soft." Taking a step back, Catwoman looks at the room, looking for possible places for hidden safes or secret passages.

You know, the sort of thing she's good at.

Or at least she was good at it.

[gcpd-mcu.livejournal.com]

"I wasn't gonna be the one to say it."

Perhaps not the words of support she wanted. He doesn't have the extensive knowledge to try to retrieve deleted files or anything like that, so eventually, he's on his feet again.

[femme-du-chat.livejournal.com]

"Thanks, old man." Creeping up on the bookshelves, she runs her hands along them, looking for sliding pannels. The floor doesn't seem likely do to where the office is, though it is possible. After this, she'll need to check the desk for false pannels.

[gcpd-mcu.livejournal.com]

He starts rooting through some of his desk drawers, smart enough to wear gloves.

"You're about to marry Bruce Wayne, Selina. That pretty much defines soft."

[femme-du-chat.livejournal.com]

"About is putting it in stronger words than I would." There are a lot of things to work through.

She pulls a folder out from inbetween the layers of the bookshelves but it mostly looks like patient stuff. She has no idea why it would be there but it isn't going to keep Hugo in jail, at first glance.

[gcpd-mcu.livejournal.com]

Old letters, bills. Stuff to sift through meticulously.

"Still puttin' off anything that makes you twitch, then. Fine. You've only accepted the ring and are flaunting it around in public. I'm sure that doesn't mean anything."

[femme-du-chat.livejournal.com]

"I am not flaunting it about."

The folder gets another look through, just in case, before she heads toward the fireplace. Why the hell does he have a fireplace in his office?

[gcpd-mcu.livejournal.com]

It's more of a home office. He spent more time here than in his actual apartment. It feels more like a library or a study. A den.

"You never think you're flaunting, but you always are. Anyway, you wanted to know what happened to you to make you soft, and I think the obvious answer is your pet billionaire."

The fireplace has burned relatively recently... and there's a curious piece of printer paper, half burned in the back, with some curious text on it.

[femme-du-chat.livejournal.com]

Carefully, Catwoman pulls the paper out of the fireplace, looking at it curiously. Standing, she puts a hand on a hip and looks at Slam, expression storm, "Damn it, old man, are you going to help or are you just going to be a pain in my ass?"

She's only partially grumpy with him, because if she were truly pissed off she'd have hit him. Or left. Or something equally dramatic.

[gcpd-mcu.livejournal.com]

"Was a time when those two options were one and the same," comes the retort as Slam moves on to the next drawer.

The paper in question is curious. Charred a bit, but obviously not tended to well enough. Written on an old typewriter.


Professor -

Bronson Brothers Funeral Home. Tonight. Work to do.

The rest of the page is burned off.

[femme-du-chat.livejournal.com]

"Was a time, you weren't painful at all." Her tone is dry and the paper is held between clawed finger tips.

"This is a good start. If we can find something more, all the better."

[gcpd-mcu.livejournal.com]

His head lifts up.

"What'd ya find?"

[femme-du-chat.livejournal.com]

"Piece of paper he tried to burn. Can't prove the date but say he was going to the place where Thorne got shot." Tilting her head to the side, she places it carefully on the table.

Burnt paper is fragile stuff, after all.

[gcpd-mcu.livejournal.com]

Slam' eyes narrow as he takes a look at that paper.

"Looks more like someone was telling him to go there."

A sqinting look up to Selina.

"You ever known this guy to be someone else's toady?"

[femme-du-chat.livejournal.com]

There is a small frown as she looks at it again, "Huh."

She shakes her head, "I haven't but that doesn't mean he wouldn't take hints and suggetions if someone put something in front of him." Catwoman's hands clench for a moment.

[gcpd-mcu.livejournal.com]

He closes the last drawer on the desk and stands up.

"I already don't like this case."

[femme-du-chat.livejournal.com]

"You don't have to like it." That grin is back.

"You think there is anything else?"

[gcpd-mcu.livejournal.com]

He shrugs.

"If there is, I'll find it. Run that back to your 'source' and let him know the whole case just opened itself up again. Make sure he loosens that cowl once in a while."

[femme-du-chat.livejournal.com]

"Oh sure. I'll just tell him you said he needs to loosen up some. That'll be a conversation starter."

Shaking her head, she makes her way to the window. There are some things she needs to remove before she leaves entirely. "Don't forget to lock up."

[gcpd-mcu.livejournal.com]

"Wouldn't dream of robbing you of the chance to break in again."

The place isn't going to turn up anything else, as Strange covered his tracks pretty well. Or maybe his mysterious benefactor was the one covering his tracks.

Either way, smells like a freight train of crap coming down the line.

Hope she's ready for it.