The Cat Burglar was hanging upside down from a gantry crane, her flawless face tinged with crimson. Shadows bound her tightly, leaving her powerless to break free.
She tried to scream, but her mouth was sealed shut with white, sticky spider silk, allowing only muffled whimpers to escape.
The Cat Burglar still didn't know whose hands, or what kind of monster's hands, she had fallen into, and a wave of sadness welled up within her.
"Today was my first mission since joining Kingpin's Gang, and I've messed it up..."
Her sorrow wasn't about failing the mission, but that her plan for revenge had been cruelly cut short just as it began.
"Who is Kingpin? Why are you seeking revenge?" The deep voice, sounding without warning right next to her ear, startled The Cat Burglar.
She composed herself, her eyes darting around, hoping to spot the speaker within her limited field of vision, but she failed. All she could see was the pitch-black Abandoned Shipyard; she couldn't tell who was speaking.
"Mmm-hmm."
The Cat Burglar whimpered twice. Her mouth was still sealed, so she couldn't speak.
The next moment, The Cat Burglar felt her body lighten. After a disorienting spin, she was placed steadily on the ground by Batman.
Then, the spider silk on her mouth and body was torn away, and she regained her freedom.
Feigning ease, The Cat Burglar stretched her limbs while discreetly surveying her surroundings. Unfortunately, she still couldn't see who had rescued her from Squid Man, so she addressed the empty air in front of her:
"You're just untying me like this? Aren't you afraid I'll run away?"
"Answer my questions: Who is Kingpin? Why are you seeking revenge?" The deep voice whispered like a devil in a nightmare.
"You don't know who Kingpin is, which means you're not from New York, or at least not involved in the underworld." The Cat Burglar was unsure of this mysterious person's intentions. She could only pretend to be calm and say, "But you got involved in Gang activities tonight. What exactly do you want?"
Boom!
The Cat Burglar's repeated failure to directly answer the questions seemed to displease this mysterious person. She watched wide-eyed as an I-beam, weighing at least five tons, was erected and plunged deeply into the earth.
The Cat Burglar was dumbfounded.
Everything that happened tonight was beyond her imagination. She realized then that she seemed to be conversing with a non-human, extremely powerful being.
A suitable expression of fear appeared on her face, but her mind was quietly becoming active.
"I can't deal with Kingpin on my own; I need help. My previous plan was to offend as many Gangs in New York as possible, but now it seems I have a better helper..."
"This is a warning. Answer my questions!"
Batman's voice interrupted The Cat Burglar's thoughts. He still hadn't appeared in The Cat Burglar's line of sight, maintaining his mystery.
"Kingpin is the leader of my Gang. He started expanding his influence extensively in New York a year ago. He said he wanted to be the emperor of the entire World's underworld, so he calls himself 'Kingpin'..."
The Cat Burglar seemed frightened; she quickly spilled all the information she knew:
"Unfortunately, there are over fifty major Gangs just in New York, and even many long-standing families, like, like the Corleone family of the Mafia..."
"Just like Gotham's Falcone family..." Batman silently added in his mind.
"...So Kingpin's expansion of power hasn't been smooth." The Cat Burglar finished explaining everything she knew about Kingpin.
"Why revenge?" Batman asked.
Upon hearing the word "revenge," The Cat Burglar's half-feigned fright vanished, replaced by an almost unconcealable hatred, or rather, she wasn't going to hide anything from Batman:
"Kingpin killed my father."
"My father was the famous 'The Cat Burglar.' Half a year ago, Kingpin approached him, demanding that my father help him steal something. My father refused him then."
"The next day, my father was tragically killed in an alley. It took me a full month of investigation to figure out that Kingpin sent people to kill him."
The Cat Burglar finished speaking and waited for a long time without getting a response from Batman. Just as she thought he had left, the deep voice spoke again:
"You're not lying. Kingpin is also on my list. Interested in cooperating?"
As Batman, it would be a disgrace if, after three days of continuous intelligence gathering, he didn't know who Kingpin was.
In the temporary operations center at the deepest part of the Abandoned Shipyard, Kingpin's portrait had already been pinned in the most prominent position.
To return to Gotham, Batman had to build his business empire from Zero, and he would eventually have to confront these criminal forces.
Similarly, Kingpin, to establish his underground kingdom, would inevitably use legitimate businesses to cover his crimes. Even if Batman didn't seek him out, he would eventually come for Batman.
Asking The Cat Burglar about Kingpin's information was just a ruse. Batman had already planned everything when The Cat Burglar murmured about "revenge."
— Her whispers might have eluded the nearby subordinates, but they couldn't escape Batman's superhuman hearing.
The Cat Burglar's lips already curved upward when she heard this mysterious person say that Kingpin was also his target. This was the result she wanted from saying so much. As for why this mysterious person wanted to deal with Kingpin... what did that have to do with her, The Cat Burglar?
"Cooperation? Of course, no problem. What do you want me to do?" The Cat Burglar crossed her arms over her chest, creating an alluring cleavage.
"Go on a vacation. Our cooperation can only officially begin after your vacation ends."
The Cat Burglar was astonished: "Where should I go for vacation?"
"New York Police Department."
The Cat Burglar couldn't understand why she had to be sent to the Police Station to cooperate against Kingpin. She quickly exclaimed:
"No, wait... At least tell me if you're a human or what?"
The deep voice suddenly sounded in The Cat Burglar's ear:
"I am Batman."
Then she fainted.
When The Cat Burglar slowly woke up, she found herself and her subordinates tied up and thrown into one of the New York Police Department's sub-stations in Manhattan. It was just dawning.
This time, she was bound by ropes and chains, but neither could hold The Cat Burglar, who had trained with her father, "The Cat Burglar," since childhood. She easily freed herself and disappeared around the street corner before sunrise.
As for those subordinates... The Cat Burglar wasn't going to help her enemy, Kingpin, by adding to his ranks. She wished all of Kingpin's subordinates were tied up like that in front of the Police Station.
"Batman..." She silently repeated the name.
"Batman?" A few hours later, Kingpin, whose neck was even thicker than his head, tapped the polished floor with his cane. Standing up, he was like a wall. "He ruined my plan?"
In an office within a building in Hell's Kitchen, The Cat Burglar nodded, her face filled with lingering fear:
"Yes, according to the plan, we sold Joseph a batch of faulty guns. He would then resell them to some small Gangs in Manhattan, and we would swallow them up tonight."
"But after Joseph was shot in the head by me, Squid Man escaped. He didn't seem to intend to continue serving his deceased employer."
The Cat Burglar knew Kingpin's cunning. If she lied, Kingpin's intelligence would surely detect it, so she told the complete truth, only hiding her cooperation with Batman.
Even if she didn't say anything, Kingpin would find a way to get the information he wanted from others, such as Joseph's group.
"First Spider-Man, then Squid Man, and now another Batman. When did New York become a zoo?" Kingpin said with a smile.
Ignoring his appearance, just hearing his voice might even make one think he was a kindly uncle.
Kingpin casually picked up today's Daily Bugle from the table, pointed at Squid Man's photo on the front page, and said:
"This is the Squid Man you mentioned, right? Tell him I'm offering five million U.S. dollars for Batman's head."
At the same time, in the deepest part of the Abandoned Shipyard, Batman was also holding this morning's Daily Bugle, lost in thought.