The night air was still and everything around them was silent. No one but captor and captive stirred on the rooftop of the museum. One woman circled another, forced into a folding chair by rope pinning her down.

The standing woman walked around her captive with a confident stride. She was dressed all in black, wearing a skintight suit, complete with a cowl with openings for her eyes and mouth. A pair of cat ears pointed upward from the cowl. Wearing high heel boots and matching gloves, Catwoman circled her prey, whip in hand, letting it crack against the concrete roof.

“Bet you don’t think of yourself as much competition for me now, do you?” Catwoman purred, still walking in a slow circle around the bound woman.

Catwoman’s captive wore a similar dark, skintight suit on her body, similarly heeled black boots and gloves. But she wore a garish and long red trench coat and a wide-brimmed hat, also red. She also didn’t wear a mask like her captor, baring her face, with perfect caramel skin, dark eyes and long, flowing black hair.

“Mmrrpphh...” she said, mumbling into her gag. With one cloth stuffed in her mouth, a second cloth pulled between her teeth and a third cloth pulled tight over her mouth, knotted behind her head, the woman in the chair was gagged thoroughly.

She stood no chance of removing the gag either, as her wrists were locked behind her in a pair of heavy handcuffs. Sturdy rope wound around her arms and torso, pinning her arms to her sides from elbows to shoulders. Her legs were tied together just above the knees and, above that, another rope lashed her down to the seat across her lap. Her ankles were each tied to one of the chair legs to completely immobilize her.

Though Catwoman paraded triumphantly around her, Carmen Sandiego showed no signs of distress. If Catwoman had been looking, perhaps by slipping on the red goggles resting on her forehead to cover her fierce, green eyes, she would have seen something. Carmen Sandiego, a world renowned thief, only betrayed confidence in her gaze. She was, perhaps, the greatest thief in the world, no stranger to those who thought they had captured her. Carmen kept her eyes on her supposed ‘captor’. She had to admit, this ‘Catwoman’ was indeed a skilled thief. But, compared to her, nothing but an upstart. Besides, she hadn’t even checked the pockets of the great Carmen Sandiego’s trench coat. Nor bothered to even remove it. An amateur mistake, if she ever saw one.

While the cat thief purred and paced, Carmen was already silently picking away at the handcuffs on her wrists. Though this setback was indeed unexpected, proving that Catwoman was indeed highly skilled, Carmen Sandiego was always prepared.

Catwoman continued circling her freshly caught prey, dragging a finger along Carmen’s slender jawline, tracing her face as she walked by.

“To think, some garishly dressed amateur like you could beat me to the Metropolitan Diamond. No way am I letting anyone get in the way of my deal.”

The diamond, currently housed within the Gotham Museum, had recently been stolen from the city of Metropolis by one of the many gangs inside Gotham. Catwoman didn’t bother remembering which one did the deed but there was a strong chance they had ties to the museum’s ownership. But the diamond belonged to someone with incredible wealth who wished to remain anonymous from Metropolis. Intermediaries and spokespeople had approached her and cut the deal for Catwoman to steal the diamond back and get paid a handsome sum of money for the diamond’s return.

At least, that was all the impression she got. She didn’t really care if the diamond actually belonged to this anonymous person from Metropolis or not. Stealing it for them was well worth the payday. Catwoman hadn’t been expecting another thief to show up, however, but now the situation had been dealt with.

“You have no idea what you’re even dealing with, honey,” Catwoman said.

“Grrmmpphh...” Carmen said, lowering her head, allowing the brim of her hat to cover her eyes. One shackle on her handcuffs popped open but she held her hands in the same position.

“There are some bad people who want that diamond kept here. Not the kind you want on your tail. Really, I’m doing you a favour. You should be thanking me.”

Carmen moved swiftly now. Trading the pick she opened her cuffs with for a tiny, sharp knife. The ropes on her arms were quickly being sliced through while Catwoman stopped in front of her, kneeling down and leaning in close to Carmen’s face.

“Now you just wait right here while I go and get that diamond. But don’t worry. Someone will be here to take you off to jail in my place. I envy you, a little bit. He’s a bit of the brooding type but he is tall, dark, and handsome. I’m sure you’ll get along great with him.”

“Hmmpphh!” Carmen grunted, pretending to struggle against the ropes. She felt the coil around her arms snap and fall loose, but she managed to hold it there to keep up appearances. Not long now... she thought to herself.

“Say hi to him for me. In fact,” Catwoman bent low and pressed her face even closer. “Give him this kiss from me...”

Catwoman leaned in and planted her lips onto Carmen’s gag. She held it for just long enough for Carmen to reach into another pocket and pluck out a small, needle-like object.

In one motion, she shrugged off the cut ropes and swung her arm forward, planting the small needle into Catwoman’s arm. The black-clad thief stumbled backward and immediately felt her limbs begin to turn to jelly. She felt dizzy and felt herself begin to smile.

“Well... you’re better than I... ever... thought...” Catwoman said.

Carmen pulled the gag down so it was hanging around her neck, spitting out the cloth, and bringing her hands forward. She cut her legs free and stood up while Catwoman fell to a kneeling position.

“Go to sleep now, kitty,” Carmen said. “I promise you’ll wake up soon.”

Catwoman collapsed to the ground and fell unconscious, while Carmen checked out the needle she had used. “Handy little sleep dart,” she remarked to herself. “Now let’s see. What to do about her?”

...

A light slap on her cheek brought Catwoman out of a deep sleep. She groaned as she started to wake up, slowly blinking her eyes open. Her head ached a bit and felt heavy and she tried to reach forward and grip her forehead... but her arms wouldn’t respond. Something tight, metal, clung to each of her wrists and held them together.

Handcuffs Catwoman thought to herself. Her memories flooded back to her. My handcuffs. That amateur did she... tie me up?

Catwoman pulled at her legs and flexed her arms. She felt something holding all her limbs in place.

“Rmmpphh...” she grunted, biting down on something soft. She felt something else pressed tight against her lips and wrapped around, likely knotted, at the nape of her neck.

Gagged, too. Tied up the same way I tied her... well, Selina, you know what you always say Catwoman thought to herself. Turnabout is fair play...

“The kitten’s awake,” Carmen said, noticing as Catwoman stirred. “Tip for next time. When you capture someone, search them for tools. Like I did. Had a lot on you, too. I wouldn’t bet on you picking those cuffs like me.”

“Hrrrmmpphh...” Catwoman groaned, testing her bonds. She felt around with her gloved hands, touching the edges of her bodysuit and feeling nothing but her own smooth curves, unable to get her fingers on any of the tools she once had. She’s no liar Catwoman thought.

Finally, Catwoman opened her eyes and looked up at her former captive, now captor. Carmen Sandiego wasn’t quite as tall as Catwoman had been expecting. Perhaps it was the red coat and hat that made her appear taller. In any case, she was certainly attractive. At least, to Catwoman’s eye.

Carmen stood tall, leaning back on one foot while raising the other slightly. She held a large, translucent gem in her hand and Catwoman’s eyes widened at the sight.

“Oh, this?” Carmen said. “Yes, this is what you’re looking for. The supposed ‘Metropolitan Diamond.’ But do you know what it really is?”

Catwoman furrowed her brow.

“It’s the world’s second largest cubic zirconia. A lot less valuable than any diamond. Someone played you, and these gangsters, for fools.”

“Wrrrmmmtt!?”

“That doesn’t mean it lacks cultural value, of course. It’s an African display piece. Used to offer a substitute to diamonds. They want to end a lot of the violence going on over there in their diamond mines by offering an alternative. But then someone passed it off as the real thing. And it was promptly stolen and taken to that city you were bringing this back to.”

Knew it Catwoman thought. Of course it’s stolen property.

Carmen eyed it again. “It sure is a pretty little thing. And I’m just here to take it back to it’s rightful owners.”

So you’re stealing it... back? Catwoman asked in her mind, silenced by her gag and unable to form the words to actually ask. Interesting.

“The hope is to keep it around as a symbol to end all the violence in diamond mining. And hopefully stop fooling people into thinking it’s a real diamond.”

“Mmmpphh...” Catwoman grunted.

Carmen knelt down and her sharp eyes met with Catwoman’s. “I appreciate the challenge. It was fun. But this game’s over now. That guy you told me about... that’s him watching us from the roof over there, isn’t it?”

Catwoman turned to look while Carmen kept her eyes fixed on her captive. On a tower above them, glowering down, he sat by and watched over the ledge. Ever the vigilant Dark Knight. Guess he knows I’m not in any real danger Catwoman thought.

“I guess he’ll be the one to untie you. You know he has been there the whole time, right?”

Catwoman furrowed her brow again. I never saw him. She’s good...

“So he saw you tie me up and heard pretty much everything you said. And now everything I’ve said. Something tells me he’d be interfering right now if I was in the wrong, wouldn’t you say?”

No arguing with that logic.

Carmen held her arm out and a small device popped out of her sleeve. “It’s been fun, kitten. And... thanks for the kiss.”

A cable shot out of her arm and fired into a nearby building, launching Carmen forward as she took off into the night. Catwoman battled her bonds as soon as she left but her struggles were useless.

With Carmen gone, a different presence took her place on the rooftop in typical silence. Wordlessly, he stepped in front of Catwoman, wearing his usual scowl.

He helped remove the gags in her mouth, letting them hang down around her neck. “You’re smarter than that,” he said.

“Am I?”

Batman growled and quickly cut the ropes binding her, unlocking her handcuffs and helping her stand up.

“I’m sure you wanted to keep me like that, handsome...” she said.

Batman said nothing, grunting again and turning away from her. “Well? Aren’t you going to go after her?”

“For what?”

“She practically kidnapped me. You’ve beaten others to a pulp for less.”

“She was right.”

“So?”

Batman stepped toward the edge of the roof. “You know who you took that job for.”

“Do I now?”

“You know better than to trust him.”

Catwoman smiled and sauntered to Batman’s side. “Brucey... darling... I think you’re reading too much into this.”

Batman growled again, shaking Catwoman’s hand from his shoulder. “Be smarter next time.”

He pulled out his own grappling gun and took off into the night again, leaving Catwoman alone on the museum rooftop. She sighed to herself.

“Well, at least I had fun. Not a total loss...”