"Vacation" Abroad [Batman]

A small but poignant victory had been won. Such a victory that was potent enough to help turn the tides in his favor by giving him a little more of an upper hand in this grueling fight against the intrusive FBI situation Gotham had lately found herself burdened with. A victory that should've garnered him some small semblance of happiness. But, an ideal like "happiness" was a foreign concept to a man like Bruce Wayne, and such an emotion didn't even exist when it came to a being like the Batman.

The victory?

Catwoman and he had managed to successfully infiltrate the FBI headquarters and place a very specialized, non-traceable, powerful tracking/recording chip of a bug into the Feds' mainframe hardware lines. The perilous mission had been accomplished; which now granted the Bat complete access to any digital files/forms of communication/software programs the Feds were currently using and had used with a backdate of 6 months.

With the help of the world renowned thief who's breaking and entering skills actually managed to put his own to shame, the Batman now had invisible "eyes and ears" in the FBI headquarters of Gotham. But, such a victory didn't mean celebration--it simply meant he would have to be even MORE careful on how he would conduct his next moves in this war against the Government's attack dogs.

He didn't want the Feds knowing about his voyeuristic little secret and so that meant taking even more extreme extra precautions. It had been just a few nights ago the heist of planting his Bat bug that Catwoman and he embarked on; and it was also on that same victorious night that the Bat and Cat came to a fragile truce between one another. Trust had been formed and it was this same trust that Batman now relied on for this particular evening upon his directive to meet up with Catwoman once more.

His new objective?

Track down the very recently city-escaped Edward Nigma, aka the Riddler by getting a little help from the one masked person who seemed to play for both sides - the rogues and the vigilantes. Catwoman walked a fine line of grey and it was this type of alliance that he needed in order to catch Nigma off guard through unexpected distraction.

He knew Riddler had ingeniously managed to escape the heavily guarded security the Feds had placed all around Gotham's city borders - fleeing to China, of all places. (Or so the solved riddle Nigma had placed for him indicated...)

He didn't quite know what Nigma was up to in a foreign country, but he did know that he definitely didn't like it. He was convinced Riddler wasn't just fleeing the FBI eyesore that now plagued Gotham; Riddler had other motives as a man of his genius was known to have. Catwoman would be the one to help get to the bottom of it--she was a liaison between the rogues and vigilantes and had worked with Riddler before.

The Bat wanted Riddler distracted while he put the clues together and set his own trap to ensnare the riddle-obsessed egomaniac with; the Cat was the perfect choice of distraction. Or how she might say it, "purrfect". The plans circled around in his mind over and over--obsessing over every seen and potentially unforeseen variable, working on backup plans in case something went awry. Always ready, ever prepared - forever diligent. His intuitive skills as a detective didn't cease to fail him - as he presumed, he spied Catwoman out for a nightly rooftop stroll - having figured the thief would be stir crazy by now and would be in need of the night air.

The Bat was on patrol, himself--making sure to keep a keen eye out for the feline femme fatale. In sheer silence that made the faintest wisp of a falling leaf sound like an oncoming freight train, he landed in shrouded darkness behind Catwoman. The sharp, gruff deepness of his distinctively feral growled voice broke his silence behind her lithe, curved cat-like form.

"Looking for a scratching post?"

Again, he would notice the faintest amount of tender care placed in her movements--as if subtly protecting a sprained limb or newly donned wound. But the tenderness she displayed was so incredibly subtle, he almost second guessed himself--it would only be someone of his caliber in possessing such an intensely trained gaze and intuition of people reading to catch such a miniscule nuance in her cat-like demeanor. She hadn't been harmed on their last little mission together, but she had requested the use of medical bandage wrap... And then there had been the rooftop rendezvous before that night where seemed to maintain the same slight tenderness about her gait. Not that it truly meant much, he supposed--she was a creature of the night like he, and such nocturnal creatures procured such injuries when running about the concrete jungles of Gotham.

Still, he filed the information away in the back of his ever active mind--he'd obsess later. Right now, his directive of gaining Catwoman's help (which would include a rather uncharacteristic trip to China) was his main priority. The stoic expression of his firm lips seemed to crease into a faint sneer at her sudden mention of Federal Agent Tiffany. The scowl etched into his bat-styled black mask seemed to add to his apparent extreme dis-like of Tiffany. Such a harsh scowl didn't fade either when the sensation of her muted touch against the side of his cowl occurred... keeping such an expression visible to hide the wave of molten heat that rushed through his definitively toned and muscled, well-armored body.

"Riddler's escaped Gotham. Not just Gotham, but he's fled the United States, taking refuge in China."

His quota of witty banter for the time being had been met. Now he was down to the nit and grit of business.

"Given your checkered history of consorting with a rogue like him... I suspect you know why he left Gotham and why he picked China as his destination of choice."

His words were dark, accusing, and without buffer--mirroring the way their bodies still remained so painstakingly close to one another.

"I'm here to enforce our truce--I want you to tell me everything you know about this scheme and I want you to track Riddler down with me.”

True enough, he didn’t actually know if Catwoman was involved in Riddler’s little international plot to take a trip to China—but he could bluff like he knew. Even still, if she truly knew nothing of this China business Riddler had, she did have ties to Nigma from prior temporary partnerships she had struck with him. She was valuable in her semi-affiliation with the villain as she could provide distraction to him should they find him, allowing Batman to thwart whatever psychotic scheme the Chinese Zodiac themed riddle left for him to find seemed to indicate.

Besides, Robin was needed to patrol the streets of Gotham—being far too young and inexperienced to handle a mission of this magnitude, and Nightwing was still on the mend and needed to stay and keep an eye on Robin. Hawkgirl was handling the more dire situations plaguing Gotham, and all other vigilantes or heroes were either needed just where they were or just wouldn’t work well with the Bat and his methods. Catwoman, however, was the perfect shade of grey to be his best alley for this mission, especially given her irreplaceable knowledge and rapport she kept with Gotham’s other rogues.

“Joker’s stunt at the University has been dealt with.”

He remarked stiffly, briefly reminded of the missed call Hawkgirl had placed to him only moments ago. Hawkgirl would have to wait—he had a rather urgent problem with the Riddler now on his hands. He knew she could handle herself when it came down to the nit and grit of things, she would have to. Catwoman’s dubious observations over his mission request alerted his focus right back to the scene at hand.

“You said it yourself, Catwoman. I’m Batman and all...”

No sooner had such a contrite, cocky statement been said from the Bat when suddenly right behind Batman a whirring and all-too-familiar humming sound was heard. The massive shadow of the highly stealth cloaked jet, the Batwing, hovered down from the sky seemingly out of nowhere, stopping a dozen feet or so above the Bat.

“I’ve got transportation covered.”

He meant business when he had approached her with intent to travel to China—he was ready to leave right then and there, clearly.

“If you’re insinuating about sharing a booked hotel room, don’t even worry. This isn’t a vacation. We’ll be there a day or two at most. If this mission ends up being prolonged? I have a safe house we can take refuge in. Same rules apply, my trust for yours. We’ll each have separate rooms.”

Upon assuring her of the schematics involving their potential lodging situation, he accessed the hidden computer panel on the forearm of his glove, opening the Batwing’s cockpit hatch.

“You’re going to have to make a rain check for any plans you’ve got tonight.”

Given the heatedly close proximity their bodies were against each other, it was easy for him to swiftly snatch her about her slender catsuit covered waist and pull her supple form right up against himself. His free hand, now holding his notorious grapple gun, lifted with precise aim to the Batwing and the familiar POP-CLINK! of his fired grapple was suddenly heard. Before Catwoman could even think to sink her claws into him out of annoyance or fear, they both shot straight up into the inky night sky. Within moments they managed to clamber into the jet’s cockpit with the Bat taking the helm, piloting the aircraft with trained ease. The flight to China was now en route for the two masked temporary allies.

A pre-typed email was sent to Dick, Jason, and Alfred advising them all that he would be in China with Catwoman to apprehend Riddler. During his absence Dick was advised to briefly assume the role of Bruce Wayne using the standard protocol to do so. The email ended with the Bat stating that he’d be in touch.

A sharp sting ricocheted throughout his form as the feline swipe was taken at him—a deserved swat at that. He had uprooted her, without warning, and now they were about to settle in for a 6 hour flight to China—more specifically Beijing as he was finding his computer system to narrow down. Given his private means of specialized supersonic flight, the Bat had managed to shorten the flight time down by half. Still 6 hours was a long time to sit within the cockpit of the Bat Wing and it was a very long time to sit with someone like Catwoman. Briefly, he considered drugging her so she wouldn’t take the given time to memorize the console of his jet and its configuring… But their truce ended up compelling him to hold off from such a drastic method of action. He’d just change out the jet’s interface when he got back to Gotham—not that he didn’t trust Catwoman. Yet, given the fact the woman had very successfully hacked the controls of the batcycle before… He could never been too certain, especially with her. Still the sting of the swipe made his jaw clench in a chiseled, stoically annoyed sort of way.

“I could pump you with sedatives or iTunes, your pick.”

He growled at her in retaliation. Oh yes, he was well aware of the awaiting innuendo that now hung in the air between the two of them; it was only her that brought out that “sense of humor” in him. If one could call it that. She definitely brought out quite a few of his much more hidden senses to say the least… All emails and notifications sent, all coordinates typed in – it was off to Beijing, China they now headed. Before Catwoman knew what’s what, the sound system in the Bat Wing cockpit began to play what at first sounded like classical string quartet music – but upon closer listening? It was the string quartet rendition of the Nine Inch Nails album “The Downward Spiral”. The choice in music selection was much like the Bat: unexpected and disturbingly dark.

Travelling with a “silver tongued conversationalist” like he must’ve been all kinds of wonderful for Catwoman given his vocabulary consisted of, “no”, “don’t touch that”, “no”, “stop it”, and “no”. After the hours had passed Catwoman was finally treated to a refreshingly new view of twinkling city lights upon the Pacific coast. Using the sea mist from the harbor as well as his aircraft’s cloaking device, he pulled the hover jet silently into what first appeared as some scummy docking warehouse – roped off and condemned. But much like everything else the Bat owned, hidden mechanical workings affixed to the warehouse opened up a discrete hangar for his jet to park within, remaining incognito – revealing the dual secret nature of the structure as both civilian and vigilante. A quick tour of the makeshift base of operations was given to Catwoman, clearly sectioning out her sleeping quarters from his – respecting their truce by allotting her a trusted amount of privacy to maintain her alter-ego a secret.

The location was in a rather secure and close proximity from downtown Beijing and being by the harbor made it easier for access to the Bat Wing with little to no witnesses as the sea mist provided a perfect natural cover. Once the unlikely duo freshened up and all computer hard drives and systems were online, he laid down the rules for her.

“Trust is what we’re working on here, Catwoman. Don’t give me further reason to doubt it. We’re going to have to split up to locate Riddler’s trail. Stay in communication at all times, keep me updated on when you head out and I’ll keep you updated when I head out.”

He re-stocked his utility belt as he spoke those dry instructions to her.

“95 minutes. I’m heading out now. That means we have 95 minutes before we re-group. See you then, no sooner. No later.”