Catching the cat

"Good night."

A reply came in the form of a murmur. Chuckling, he closed the door to Chloe's room. With the arrival of midnight, she dozed off while watching TV and fell on his lap. He carefully carried her to her room.

'Her room. Ha. Before it was just a guest room for no actual guests.'

Chloe was a heavy sleeper. From the second her eyelids closed, she would remain in a comatose state for twelve straight hours–from midnight to noon.

He locked the doors. 'Twelve hours.' He double-checked that everything was locked as he got dressed. A thick trench coat hovering down his ankles and the same Colombina half-mask he used to infiltrate the Iceberg Lounge. He successfully managed to make himself look like a vigilante.

'I prefer not to go out as a pretend-vigilante but unfortunately I have ****. Plus, it's Catwoman. I kinda want to see her skintight leather outfit.' He warmed up with a few leg stretches. 'God, I can already feel myself getting tired.' Psychologically, not physically. 'Oh well.'

Jaina and White Rabbit had successfully trailed Selina to her apartment and then discovered her leaving for an excursion. Jaina was updating him with every passing minute. Because Jaina and White Rabbit could send telepathic messages to one another, her messages were fresh and accurate. The Indian woman sat at a nearby coffee shop as her superpowered thief counterpart chased Catwoman from a distance.

Where was she heading? Jaina suspected one location.

< Jaina: S.T.A.R Labs.

< Jaina: Gotham's STAR Labs specializes in weaponry.

< Jaina: It's run by a friend of mine, Harrison Wells. The security isn't very good. I was able to go in, steal, and sell the weapons for millions without a speck of suspicion.

Aaron stared at the screen blankly. Of course Jaina had already stolen stuff from there.

< Jaina: Catwoman is opening a window at the back. The security below don't notice.

< Jaina: She's in. Should we follow?

< Aaron: no. im almost there. Just keep watch over what happens.

< Jaina: Understood.

He was already on his way there. He had a taxi drive him a little over two-thirds of the distance before taking to the streets.

He didn't want to leave Chloe by herself. He really didn't. But he had to confront Catwoman. His plans would run smoother if he could manipulate her.

S.T.A.R Labs was like every building in Gotham: dark, moody, and surrounded with carbon smoke. Since it was located in the district of Otisburg, the primary corporate engine of Gotham, the number of homeless and shady people was noticeably less. If anything, Aaron was the single most suspicious person traversing the sidewalks, forcing him to take to the alleyways.

However, he reached a limit. Security. As expected of a global company, there must have been at least a dozen security guards in and out the research facility. The barrier gate was protected by three guards besides the one in the box. He walked past them casually, without alerting them.

He spotted cameras at the front of the building. It was like Wayne Tech, essentially. Unless you had supreme firepower like Poison Ivy or were a stealth expert like Cassandra, then there was no way to sneak inside.

'Catwoman is already inside and Jaina mentioned a window at the back that she opened. Knowing Catwoman, she probably chose a place with no cameras. A relatively safe place.'

The corporate building sitting next to S.T.A.R Labs was separated enough so that neither could connect or interfere with each other's properties. Climbing up the pipes and windows and getting on to the roof, the frustrating fact made him reconsider his position again. Forty feet of space, Aaron estimated, too far a distance to leap to. Not to mention this neighbouring building was only four floors high. Three-fourths the height of S.T.A.R Labs.

'How did Catwoman get inside then?'

Right, left, and behind. All the buildings in those places in relation to S.T.A.R Labs couldn't reach the facility. In fact, Aaron couldn't see the open window Jaina had mentioned at all. He leaped from rooftop to rooftop until he was at the store behind S.T.A.R Labs. There was a massive electrical fence dividing the two locations.

As for the window, he finally found it. All the way up, up, up, on the sixth floor. An missing pane of glass amongst the hundreds. From his perspective, it was an impossible distance. There was already forty feet and a fence between them. Now there was altitude!?

'The store is barely three storeys high. How the hell did she make it…?' Five seconds passed. Aaron nearly face-palmed. 'A grappling hook. That's probably what she used. Duh. Of course.'

Was that it? Was the operation a bust simply because he didn't have a grappling hook? He preferred stealth over fighting. Not only was there less attention involved but there would be no record of him either. No chance for someone like Amanda Waller to discover him.

Below, past the fence, he saw security guards. Talking and complaining like the guards at his workplace. Typical. They definitely wouldn't notice a shadow leaping over them or grappling across.

'Forty feet. Forty feet…is there something to grab at least?'

Upon a third look, he found it. A ledge hidden by the darkness of the night. His heart rate accelerated. The edge was halfway to his goal but that was okay. It was progress regardless.

'Forty feet, forty feet…'

Okay, repeating it in his head didn't make it sound better. Still, it was an estimate, the distance could be a little less (or a little more). Nevertheless, he had to try. He had come too far to back down.

He was already warmed up. His blood was rushing through his veins. The adrenaline pumped his muscles.

He had done long jumping once in high school. His record was twenty feet. His gym instructor at the time told him to get into track and field. He declined at the time, but now he was starting to regret not taking up the offer.

Technique. That was what mattered most. Physically, he was fine. Every woman he had met, superhero or otherwise, stated he was a perfect specimen of a man. Gifted by God with his lean body and his big cock.

The run and final two strides. He recalled in a video on Tiktok that those were the two most important steps. So that was what he did. He went to one end of the rooftop and sprinted to the other. The wind must have been on his side because he could feel it carry him and his legs further. Faster.

At the last strides he made an effort to lower his centre of gravity. Then, at the absolute final step, he swung it back up so that when he finally launched off his feet, he did so with the added weight of his own momentum as well as the wind.

The takeoff was truly unbelievable. He could feel the wind around him whipping his hood back. He flung his legs forward to become airborne. He threw his hands forward.

Aaron Reigner flew.

And he made it.

There was no need to grab the ledge because his feet had already landed on it. It was a miracle. He panted, breathing in and out, thrilled and exhilarated from the long jump. He felt superhuman.

'Let's not get ahead of ourselves,' Aaron told himself. He couldn't help the smile behind his mask, however. 'I still need to climb to the sixth floor.'

The glass surface he was pressed to was flat and unclimbable. The edges, however, were different, having slabs of stone at leapable intervals. It wasn't easy. There wasn't much space to wiggle around but with patience and concentrated leg-strength he made his way up.

'I feel like I'm in Assassin's Creed.' Aaron snickered silently in the night. They were fun games, in spite of the flaws of the recent instalments. He should introduce Chloe to the series soon.

Eventually, he climbed through the open window and hopped inside the building. It was pitch black. No lights above, no lamps, nothing. Aaron turned on his phone and used the light to reveal his surroundings.

It was a massive garden. As if Poison Ivy herself had visited, there were long overgrown plants, vines, and flowers. There were a few glass contaminants holding piranhas and strange dangerous-looking plants.

At the back, there was an elevator. He briefly checked the floor. According to the buttons, there were four additional containment levels below ground.

'This is S.T.A.R Labs. They probably have experimental technology there. Jaina did say it was largely a weapons facility.'

However, there was the question in his mind: where was Catwoman? She wasn't in the garden. It was large but not enough to hide from his senses.

'She must have gone underground. But where? Which floor?'

He could go one-by-one but there was a chance he could miss her. His only option, therefore, was to wait. Her exit was on this floor. It made no sense for her to leave any other way.

He checked the corners of the room. There were cameras but they were all deactivated. It was Catwoman's doing, no doubt. There weren't any guards in the area either. Catwoman had chosen this point of entry for a reason, it seemed.

Aaron waited. Given her skills, it wouldn't be a long wait.

And he was correct.

Thirty seconds later and a silky woman in a black-skin outfit walked out the elevator. She had a hell of a sway in her hips as well as a cheeky smile.

From the shadows, Aaron directed his phone's light at her. Like a deer caught in a car's light, she froze.

Aaron let out a smooth breath of air.