Grand Theft

[Avalikia]

Autumn had always been one of Selina's favorite seasons. Not only for the changing colors and the cool winds that were a definite welcome rather than the blistering heat of summer, but because of the shortening day. Sunlight and daytime was wonderful in it's own right, but she had always been a night person. Most of her life, she'd been a night person against her will; having to go out at night because it provided far greater cover than the giant shadows that cascaded over the East End of Gotham, and even the rest of it. As she aged, and in one of the darker parts of her life, it was because the clients knew where to find her at night. Now that she finally got everything straightened out and things were looking up for her however, she could finally enjoy the night on her own terms, even if she never did quite break that nasty habit of grand theft.

The sun had set and rolled across to the other side of the world hours ago, but the night was still young. Most of the 'important' deputies from the GCPD were busy with a party at Wayne Manor; she knew, she had left it in a huff not too long ago. This was the perfect time to commit a robbery.

Her chosen place had been closed up for the night, but there were enough people still out and committing their own atrocities through the city that if she was caught; and that was one big if, the Gotham City Police may be significantly stalled in their response to the break-in. Doubtful, though. It was never really the police that were the source of her problem. They were easy to outrun, easy to lose. It was Batman who was the problem. The source of many a headache for the poor Catwoman, but also the source of challenges, and she did enjoy a good challenge. If he did show up, she'd greet him with a smile and give chase like always. Before that though, she'd get what she came for.

The object of her desire this night was something completely expectant of one so fond of jewels as her. Not something heavily guarded at the Gotham Museum, though she'd stolen a few things from there. Nothing so boring as hundreds in cash from one of the banks. Rather, a handsome collection of diamonds and pearls arranged in a choker-necklace fashion.

Cutting through the glass of a side window was an option, but not her chosen method of entry tonight. Instead, the sleek, catsuit-clad woman had simply climbed up the side of the brick building with the help of her metal claws and the porous texture of the brick, and eventually hurled herself over the top side of the building. With her red-tinted goggles covering her eyes and providing a helpful sort of 'night-vision', she looked around for a simple way in, finding one almost immediately. The ventilation system. A grate on the outside, which was hastily removed by unscrewing the four corner screws with her claws, and then a strong yank of the metal grate. All of this was done quietly, and then the woman crawled inside of the vents, just large enough for her to fit into. The thought did cross her mind to turn around and put the grate at least half-way back in place, leaning up against the wall.. but it was hard for her to turn herself completely around, and she was certain she'd be quick.

A quick tour around the warm vents that curved around the building landed her in the main exhibit area of the store, the diamonds glimmering in what little light they saw from the outside. Again, she got to work on the vent that seperated her from the glistening black tiles below, but this time she pulled the grate inward, and leaned it against the inside of the vent to prevent a loud crash.

Peeking her head out of the vent, she pushed herself out and gracefully landed in a crouched position; but on her feet as always. Grinning to herself, she walked forward slowly and carefully toward the case that held the necklace she was after, her claws extended.

"Come to kitty.." She murmured to herself, chuckling a bit under her breath as she stuck a clawed glove to the glass, beginning to cut away a circle for herself.

[harlequin]

Skipping along through the shadows of the evening, paying careful mind to stick to alleyways and other poorly-lit paths (for the most part, at least), Harley Quinn is humming cheerfully to herself as she ponders what fun is to be had this evening. Normally, she and the Joker would have had a blast crashing the big party going down at Wayne Manor tonight, but with all the cops no doubt on the guest list, it would have been suicide to waltz in there expecting not to get caught. Not to mention she had recently gotten on Mister J's bad side, and had decided a night out on her own was in order (though it's questionable whether or not that had been a matter entirely up to her choice in the end).

Strolling down the business district and window-shopping for something that would keep her mind off the clown prince long enough for him to cool down again, she stops short as she spots a sillhouetted form scaling up the side of an upper class jewelry store. Peering up after the black-clad figure as it slinks to the rooftop, the light from the moon illuminates the form enough to reveal its identity as none other than Catwoman, before she disappears once again. Well, if she's already gone and done all the hard work for her, might as well help reap the benefits!

The climb is no difficult feat for the highly-trained gymnast, the harlequin-dressed woman vaulting up onto a fire escape ladder and climbing to the top of the adjacent apartment building before taking a running leap onto the jewelry store roof, smoothly rolling into a nimble somersault as she lands. Her slender frame slides down the open hatch as easily as Catwoman's own descent, and she too lands gracefully on the showroom floor, aiming her trusty pop-gun at the cat burglar's back as she rises to her feet. Whether or not it's actually loaded or just for show is anyone's guess.

"Hold it right there, pussycat!" Apparently, with most of the police force otherwise occupied, it's up to other criminals to make life difficult for one another. Or maybe Harley's just confused. She never was good with the whole subtlety thing. "I've had a bad day, and I need a pick-me-up. They say diamonds are a girl's best friend, and I don't think they get any friendlier than that," she continues, gesturing towards the glittering gem-encrusted necklace with the barrel of her gun. "So just hand 'em over, and nobody gets hurt."

[Avalikia]

The razor sharp claws projecting from her gloves had hardly even touched the glass case before Catwoman could hear the tumblings of someone in the vent above her head. It caught her attention, seeing as Batman was even more stealthy than she was on occasion. Though the sounds weren't entirely clumsy, they were.. clunky. Not like him. This of course made her wonder who exactly had found her entrance, and what she would do depending on who it was. Could've been Bratgirl. Or the Toy Wonder, she figured. Interestingly enough, it was neither of them. The culprit was actually one of the last that she'd expected.

Rising up from her crouch, Catwoman glares at the jester-woman for a moment before she smirks and raises a brow, though in the light and behind her goggles, it'd surely be hard to see her questioning look. "So, the Joker send you here to give me a hard time or something? Or did the Bat take someone else in under his wing?" Smirking, she shook her head and tapped on the glass. Without the Joker, it was .. hard for Catwoman to take Harley seriously. The girl was just too bubbly to be a real threat, she felt. Easy to outwit, easier to outrun. Hence why she didn't give in to the demands of the harlequin quite so readily.

"I'll tell you what. You go ahead and help yourself to any number of the rest of the room that you want. But I've got what I came here for." Well. Not yet she didn't. She still had to cut a hole in the glass and retrieve it. Thanks to Harley, she'd been too distracted.

Turning back around but keeping a sideways glance on the Joker's moll, she set back to work at carefully cutting away the showcase glass. The screech of the metal on glass making a significant amount of noise, but not nearly enough to be heard outside of the building.

[harlequin]

"Noo," Harley denies outright, lifting her chin defiantly as though either of those options is just ridiculous to even consider. "I came out here on my own." Well, sort of. For the most part. The details of her being here are on a strictly need-to-know basis, and Catwoman doesn't need to know.

"But I want that one!" she protests at the cat-suited woman's suggestion, her lower lip pouting childishly, and her pistol lowers briefly before she remembers to pull it back up again. "None of the others in here are in that special kind of case thingy." Which apparently makes all the difference to Harley. She's not even that big of a jewelry-wearing kinda person anyway...but the bigger the jewels, the more they're worth!

As Catwoman's claws begin to slice through the glass, Harley's masked and made-up face twists into a grimace of auditory pain. And here she thought there was no sound worse than nails on a chalkboard. Her free hand lifts to shield one of her cap-covered ears, the other continuing to hold the gun trained on the other woman. "Geesh! Aintcha got a less annoying way of doin' that?" Like Harley's preferred method of using a giant mallet to smash any obstacles in her way. No; subtle, she's not.

[Avalikia]

"Oh, really?" Catwoman mused at the thought of Harley being capable of doing anything on her own, but she otherwise remained focused on creating a perfect circular cut in the glass that was easy to remove once she was done. It wasn't that complicated, and she did actually have an 'easier' way of busting to the jewel. The butt end of the whip was heavy enough to smash through the glass, but that was louder, and frankly, not nearly as neat as she would prefer her crimes to be. She was going slower than usual probably just to annoy the other woman, who she didn't particularly like. Catwoman had a thing against her for being so dependent on the Joker and her weakness in general. Used to be, she felt sorry for her. But a few run-ins with the crazed clown woman got her over that feeling quickly.

Her brows lower in a once again hidden display of irritation at the childish manner of the harlequin, her work stopping as soon as the familiar 'clink' of glass on glass is heard, and she pulls back a small disk of glass, setting it quietly on the black-tiled floor. "There are plenty in here worth just as much, if you add them up together. This one's new, that's all." The manner in which she talked to Harley was very monotonous and matter-of-factly. It was clear she wasn't threatened, and now it seemed like she wasn't even annoyed. But rather like someone ready to head out, not eager for much in the way of conversation.

Grinning widely at the self-made opening to the necklace, Catwoman reached in and grabbed the diamond and pearl studded thing, holding it in one hand and admiring it once it was out of it's glass enclosure. It was very beautiful, and would certainly sell for a high price. That is.. if she didn't keep it for herself. Holding it, she fell under the temptation that she did with some other artifacts that she'd stolen. Taking some for herself after all the good she did elsewhere wasn't entirely criminal, she didn't think.

Reaching to her side, she pulled out a medium-sized brown bag, typical of any burglar for any sort of crime, and placed the necklace inside. Afterward, she looked to Harley and then back up to the vent that she came in through, though her eyes lingered on Harley; in her way. Resting her hand on her hip and holding the other protectively behind her, she kept her grin and took a step forward. "The rest are all yours."

[Dick Grayson - Nightwing]

It hadn't been all that busy of a night for the criminal community. Dick looked at his watch as he stayed perched on a roof ledge. Great, he was going to be late trying to get to the social 'save the rain forest' fling Bruce was holding at Wayne manor. He hadn't planned on taking this long on a quick patrol of the streets of Gotham, but thanks to some lame attempt from some misled teen trying to break into an electronic store, his patrol had taken a bit longer than he had hoped. Dick's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of someone's humming down below on the streets. Well, time to get back to getting this patrol done, he thought.

Robin backed off from the edge of the roof and glanced around trying to find out who was walking around on Gotham's dark streets, humming some tune. He shifted his view from the building to be able to see some of the alley ways. Locating the source of the humming coming from some shadowy areas of the alleys, Robin could just make out the figure of a woman walking down the alley way. As the woman continued on the move, Robin got a better look at who this shadowy woman was...And to his luck it was none other than Harley Quinn. He should have figured from the irritating humming. But what was she doing walking around without the Joker?

Robin decided to follow her and keep an eye on what she was up to. He kept his distance as he noticed that Harley's attention seemed to be drawn to something new. She had stopped her humming and now seemed to have something else on her mind than just wandering around in the alleys. He followed suit of Harley, but stayed hidden from her. He stopped when he saw her start to climb a building with ease, using her gymnastic abilities to help. Continuing to watch her, once she reach the roof top, she carried onto another roof and slid into a sky light window. This was going to be interesting, it hadn't taken her any time at all to break in.

Robin pulled out his line gun and aimed it at the building Harley had entered. It was a local jewelry store he realized. He fired the gun and allowed himself to be pulled by it once it had hooked onto the building. He landed in the alley beside the store. Collecting his line gun quickly, he moved back to a side door. He looked at the lock and figure right on the inside was an alarm. This was going to be easy. He managed to unlock the door with ease using some special picks he had designed. As soon as he entered, there was alarm system right by the door way. Robin looked at it and smirked. This was too easy of a system to disconnect to just allow himself into the building. He punched in a few numbers and codes to stop the system using a small hand handle computer system he had made to help for situations like this. The codes worked and the alarm was disabled before it could go off on him for getting in.

He made his way through the dark halls to the main lobby, staying out of sit of any cameras he saw in his path. Up a head he could hear a conversion going on between Harley and someone else. He listened for a moment and then it hit him. He recognized that voice to be that of Catwoman. Robin had had enough run ins with these criminals to recognize them by voice. This night was getting even better, Dick will just have to have a very late arrival to the Wayne social.

Robin stayed to the shadows and moved into the room silently. He listened for a bit longer to the two before he decided he would intervene. "I knew cats wandered around at night, but the clown without her boss...that's different," Robin interjected into the conversation between the two as he stepped out of the shadows a bit.

[harlequin]

"But...but...!" That's all Harley can manage to stammer out in further protest, even as her eyes scan the myriad of other fine jewels on display in the shop before returning to Catwoman's lingering gaze. Her mouth opens and she's about to say more (possibly even a more coherent sentence) before the two are interrupted by yet another uninvited party.

"Eeep!" Harley squeals in startlement as a voice suddenly emerges from the shadows, whirling around with both her gloved hands wrapped tightly around the handle of her pistol as she aims it at their unexpected guest. Certain it's none other than the Batman, she's surprised to find it's just his sidekick. Peeking over his shoulder to make sure the Caped Crusader isn't just looming in the darkness (as he is wont to do), the red-and-black costumed female glances back and forth between Catwoman and the newly arrived Robin, pondering her options, her pop-gun swinging uncertainly from target to target as she does so.

"She did it!" she suddenly exclaims, dropping the weapon temporarily to point an accusing finger at Catwoman. It would seem Harley has opted for the age-old method of tattling. "It was all her!" She's the one who's guilty of breaking and entering and stealing the jewels, and she's the one holding the incriminating evidence. Just because she followed Catwoman inside after she had already done the crime doesn't mean anything, right? Yep, as far as Harley's concerned, she's 100 percent innocent! Now, hopefully the Boy Wonder will see it her way and let her off with just a warning...

[Avalikia]

If it's not one thing, it's another. And then another, apparently. The events of the night prior to her robbery and beyond have irked Catwoman to the point of resorting to violence now that she was sure it would become necessary. Not only was Harley in the way of her escape route, but now the little bird had come to join in the offensive against her. Nothing was easy anymore! Oh, how she missed the good old days where Batman didn't have so many strings.

Gritting her teeth at the sight of Robin, Catwoman still held the bag with the diamond necklace in it firmly behind her, but with her other hand she unwound the whip from her waist, and cracked it toward not Robin, but Harley. Whether either of them liked it or not, Harley was her ticket out of here. Taking hostages wasn't really her style most of the time seeing as she didn't like to harm people more than to get away.. and she wouldn't hurt her if she stood still enough, but. Well. Desperation to get out now, all of that.

The whip was meant to wind itself around the jester-clad woman, and with a flick of the wrist, it did. Completely wound around the girl's waist after she'd already disarmed herself in her panic. Pulling on the whip, Catwoman held onto the bag and the end of the whip with one hand, the other held closely to Harley's neck, her claws stretched and ready to at least threaten to pierce through should Robin, or Harley for that matter, make the wrong move.

"Little clowns and little birdies shouldn't go places without their bosses." She said lowly, chuckling as she shoved Harley forward, taking a step toward Robin and what had previously been the easiest exit. "Either you let me out and deal with her, or I'll let you explain to her 'Mister J' just what happened to her."

[Dick Grayson - Nightwing]

Robin rolled his eyes at the sight of Harley's pathetic attempt to keep out of this scene. Before he could make any effort to stop the two, the crack of a whip broke the scene into a whole new direction of control. It happened so fast, Robin hardly had the chance to react. Catwoman's skilled whip ability gave her the upper hand of this situation as Harley was pulled closer to Catwoman, rapped in the whip and Catwoman's claws on her throat.

Robin stopped himself from reacting at this point. This robber had just stepped into a hostage situation. Robin listened to Catwoman and grimaced in annoyance of the tables being turned. Even if Harley was the hostage, he couldn't let her get hurt. Robin narrowed his eyes looked at Catwoman.

He didn't want to give in, but he really had no choice. Her comment on their "bosses" being there stung him a bit. Like he couldn't handle this situation without Batman's help. "Alright," he said flatly. There was nothing he could do while she had Harley in her claws.

[cat]

The goings-on in the jewelry store attract even more attention, this time from someone who is probably as unexpected as his is easy to overlook. The large tomcat has been prowling the streets for much of the night, eyeing every person he's come across carefully before moving on, though it's quite likely that few who endured his scrutiny even noticed him. He knows that he has to find just the right sort of person, but he hasn't the slightest idea how to go about sorting through all these people to find someone suitable. This is exceedingly frustrating and he doesn't handle frustration very well.

It's the screech of glass being cut that first alerts him to the fact that something is up, but at his lazy pace by the time he's reached it the situation has progressed a bit. Curious, he peeks in through one of the larger windows at the humans inside. The scene makes no sense to him, for though he understands the concept of wanting to possess nice things, he doesn't understand the human obsession with shiny rocks. And even beyond that, he neither understands the monetary system, which makes the concept of theft rather vague; nor does he understand why anyone would care about someone else, so the whole idea of a hostage would be beyond him.

Then again, humans often do things that are beyond him, so it's certainly not that which keeps his attention when he could just as easily move along. No, it's that these humans - well, two of them at least - move in such a way that indicates that they put a lot of thought into what they do, not unlike the people in the lab. Perhaps this was what he's been looking for? Puzzling that one over, he decides to wait and see how this will play out, trusting that these humans will ignore him every bit as much as the others.

[harlequin]

Harley is so occupied with making sure that Robin knows she's just an innocent bystander in this whole event that she doesn't notice Catwoman's actions behind her until it's too late, and the whip has wrapped itself snugly around her slender waist.

"Whoa!" Harley exclaims as she suddenly feels herself being yanked backwards, too taken off guard to do anything but keep from falling right on her rump, arms flailing about as she lands with an 'oof' against Catwoman's front. "Hey!"

"Lemme go, you crazy cat lady!" she hollers in protest, struggling against Catwoman's grip and the strong cord holding her in place, her free hand coming up to tug at the arm wrapped around her chest -- though she's careful not to fight too much with the needle-sharp claws pointed directly at her throat.

At Robin's defeated acquiescence, however, Harley settles down a bit -- after all, if he's letting Catwoman go, then that means he's letting her go as well...even if its not the most suave escape she's ever made (she's usually the one taking hostages, not the other way around), it'll do. Presuming Catwoman lets her go as well once they're out...but she can't imagine she's exactly thrilled at the idea of keeping Harley around for any longer than is absolutely necessary.

[Avalikia]

Grinning widely behind Harley, Catwoman kept her eyes focused on Robin. Just like Batman and herself, he could be tricky in his own ways as well. Only, his ways were more annoying, and not so much entertaining as Batman's. "That's a good boy wonder." She says mockingly, again pushing Harley forward so that she could get closer to the vent, making sure to keep the jester acting as a shield between her and the far younger 'hero.'

Manuevering around the showroom a bit, she finally began to back up to the vent where she had come in through, and looked up at it, making sure it was still possible to escape before she let the harlequin go. Seeing that it was still open, yes, it was still possible. Keeping her claws trained on the clown's neck still, she narrowed her eyes at the masked boy, more concerned about him than she ever would be about Harley Quinn.

"Don't chase me, either. You'd only annoy me." Harsh words, considering she almost preferred it when Batman did chase her after a theft. Keeping her eyes trained on Robin while she says this, she does happen to notice a rather large catlike figure outside of the shop, but there's not much she can do about it at the moment. Perhaps once she's out of the building and safe from Batman's apprentice, she could pay it a visit, if it was still around.

Finally, she pushes Harley away and turns herself around for just a moment, long enough to hoist herself in the vent and take shelter on the inside of it, not bothering to waste time setting the grate back against the opening. Right now, she was more focused on navigating the vent system; which admittedly wasn't that hard this time.

[Dick Grayson - Nightwing]

Through narrowed eyes, Robin watched as Catwoman carefully made her way back to the vent. He didn't expect Harley to attempt anything while being held hostage. There was no way he could perform any actions to try and help Harley and try to stop Catwoman. He figured she was going to shield herself behind the clown. All he could do was wait for a chance to strike at this point. Even with her words advising him not to pursue her, Robin knew there was only one way to stop her.

As soon as she pushed Harley away from her and was going up into the vent the next second, Robin took off. He wasn't going to follow her through the vents, that would slow his chances of even gotten on her tail. He ran through the halls to the door he had entered from. He was just going to have to chase her down as soon as she came out of the building.

There was no other place to go for her than to get out of the building and onto the streets. Robin wasn't going to listen to some meaningless threat of any kind from any criminal. He thought for a minute that maybe he should have captured Harley while he had the chance, but then again she had seemed to just stumble into this situation. Even if she did take anything, he could always start to tail her after he chased down Catwoman. Besides, Catwoman doesn't strike often and when she does, usually it's only for the most valuable item at the moment.

He figured Catwoman knew he wouldn't listen, so it wasn't going to be much of a surprise that he would be where ever she would try and flee. He made his way out of the building and was now in the back alley. He was just going to have to sit tight for a second. Robin saw the fire escape and figure that might be the best way to have at least an extra chance to keep on Catwoman if she was going to get way on the streets or by the rooftops. He ran and jumped up, grabbing hold of the stairs to the escape. Then he swung himself a bit to be able to flip up onto the escape.

[harlequin]

Harley grumbles to herself as she's used as nothing more than a pawn in this little game of cat and mouse bird...and Mister J isn't even here! Humph. Actually, on second thought, maybe that's a good thing...she doubts he'd be impressed by her current situation in the slightest. She moves with Catwoman as she begins to step towards an escape route (not like she has any other choice), before she's uddenly pushed away as Catwoman lunges back up into the open vent. Wait...she's just going to leave her here? With Robin? All by herself? Not fair! This was supposed to be her ticket out!

She opens her mouth to start yammering off some excuse or another about why she's here and how she's not guilty of anything, but before she can even get out a word Robin's dashed off just as quickly as he arrived, hot on Catwoman's tracks, and leaving her completely alone in the abandoned shop. Well. As insulting as it may be to her pride, it's still very convenient. And with neither of the other two still around to do anything about it, she takes out her aggression on a nearby display, slamming through the glass with the butt of her gun and randomly grabbing a fistful of jewelry before stalking out the front door with a irritable pout on her face, muttering grouchily under her breath all the while. With Robin distracted, she hopes to make it back to their secret hideout before he catches up with Catwoman (or gives up on the chase). Maybe by now Mister J's forgiven her...

[cat]

And suddenly the humans are all running off every which-way. Or at least the ones he cares about - the one in the black, white, and red didn't seem very useful. And having them running around is a problem because it makes keeping track of both of them at once rather difficult, though his sensitive hearing is enough for the task at the moment. Still, at this rate he's going to have pick one to keep track of if he doesn't want to risk losing them both.

Trouble is, the brief glimpse he got through the store's window wasn't enough for him to guess which one is more likely to be useful. Perhaps he'd be more inclined to favor the female if he recognized her costume as feline, but it's too stylized for a cat with his limited experience to recognize. And the young male seems to be the aggressor so maybe that makes him better? Or does that mean that he's more dangerous? Backing away from the building just a little to make sure he's out of the way and to help him better monitor the situation, he's still undecided - perhaps he'll end up waiting to make up his mind until he has to.