Chapter 39: Batmans Peach-Colored Crisis
"...It's like this. Ever since that night, she keeps going to that neighborhood. It's incredibly dangerous, and I don't know how to persuade her. She doesn't even like Bruce, and she even canceled our date, but I'm sure..."
Schiller poured himself some champagne and said, "She's been going to the Gotham slums for several nights in a row, and nothing dangerous has happened. Are you sure she's just an ordinary person?"
Bruce wiped his face and said, "That's exactly what worries me the most. If she were just an ordinary girl, it wouldn't be a big deal. But if she's not ordinary and keeps following me every day, what can I do?"
To understand this situation, we have to go back to the previous case.
After dealing with Jonathan's case, Bruce didn't completely remove himself, or rather, Batman encountered other troubles.
Last time, Batman rescued Christine from the thugs who had kidnapped her. He thought she was unconscious, but as it turns out, she was conscious. Since that day, this beautiful girl fell in love with Batman.
Correct, it was Batman, not Bruce.
She even directly canceled her date with Bruce that was scheduled for a few days later. Every night, she went to the same neighborhood where she had been kidnapped to see if Batman would show up again.
"In a way, you should be happy because of Batman's charm. She even dumped the world's richest person for him."
Bruce opened his mouth, his expression complicated.Being liked by a beautiful girl is definitely something to be happy about. However, this situation is so strange and bizarre that if it were written in a romance novel, it would take at least 100,000 words to fully explain.
"In terms of your personal feelings, I don't have any advice for you, except to protect your kidneys," Schiller said in conclusion.
Bruce didn't expect Schiller's prediction to come true so quickly.
That evening, Batman was still patrolling Gotham. He had become quite famous in Gotham recently because he had cleaned up the slums around the Morrison District.
This time, he wasn't patrolling the dirty and rundown slums but the luxury neighborhoods where robberies often occurred.
In fact, the probability of serious crimes happening here was no smaller than in the slums. While the slums were usually filled with drunk brawls, gang extortion, or group fights, in the luxury neighborhoods, once a gunshot rang out, there would be at least two or three people lying in a pool of blood, and the store employees were also likely to be killed. The severity of these cases was no less than the gang fights in the slums.
Moreover, those who dared to commit these crimes were often experienced professionals who cooperated well, planned carefully, and left as soon as the job was done. They were not easy to deal with.
Batman had already taken down two robbery gangs, partly due to their bad luck. When Batman had just upgraded and moved from the slums to this area, he stumbled upon a robbery-murder case. They had killed two female store employees and stolen jewelry from the store, and by coincidence, a string of pearl necklaces was scattered on the ground.
So, this gang was now in a big prison.
The other gang wasn't much smarter. They were a group of inexperienced thieves who had the misfortune of running into Batman and were now also behind bars.
On this day, Batman was standing on the rooftop of a building opposite a jewelry store. He watched as a shadow slipped through the window at the back of the jewelry store. The figure was petite but agile. The female store clerk on the other side hadn't even reacted before she was subdued.
It seemed that she was a female thief, correct, a thief, not a robber. She didn't break the glass of the jewelry counter but found the keys on one of the employees and opened the glass door of the jewelry counter.
Just as she was admiring the luster of a gemstone, a shadow appeared behind her. He said, "Miss, no matter how you look at it, this gem doesn't belong to you."
She turned around, but before she could react, she was knocked unconscious.
The female thief seemed to have better luck. Just as Batman was about to drag her to hand her over to the police, a group of robbers rushed into the nearby antique store. These were the real robbers, wearing masks, carrying submachine guns, and holding bags, they forced the store employees into a corner at gunpoint.
Batman had to put down the female thief and deal with them. By the time he returned, she had disappeared.
However, the story didn't end there. Over the next few days, Batman felt someone following him, but the person seemed agile, and several times Batman failed to capture them.
Until one day, Batman set a small trap. He pretended to throw a bag of gemstones he had just confiscated from a robber into a trash can on the street corner. Sure enough, the petite figure sneaked into the trash can to pick up the items. Batman reached out to capture her, but she unexpectedly retaliated with a claw, nearly scratching him.
Seeing that it was Batman, the female thief suddenly breathed a sigh of relief. Batman held his arm and asked, "The gemstones, where are they?"
"Don't you think our ears match well?" Her voice was sweet, and after speaking, she flicked her ear on her mask with her finger. Correct, there were two ears on her mask as well, although not as pointed as Batman's, they were in a similar overhead position.
In a moment of confusion, Batman said, "Are you another bat?"
"Bats?" The female thief exclaimed in disbelief, "Who's Bats? I'm Catwoman, don't only cats have ears like these? Do you really think you're a bat? What kind of weirdo would identify as that animal?"
"Catwoman..." Batman pondered the name for a moment. Then, he retrieved a bag of jewels from the trash can and tossed it to her, saying, "No cat would fancy jewels. Stop troubling the jewelry store employees. Since you haven't taken a life, I'll let you off the hook."
With that, he turned to leave but was halted as Catwoman caught his cape. She chuckled, shaking the bag in her hand, and said, "Rich person, you must have some of these, right?"
Batman furrowed his brow, wondering why everyone seemed to see through his wealth.
He had intentionally toned down his Batman attire, avoided using any high-end gadgets, and even slightly misaligned his beard.
Without turning around, Batman replied, "I don't have any. You can't expect a bat to possess such things."
Before he could leave, a whip coiled around his waist. Batman felt no force pulling him, but a soft figure pressed against his back. He heard Catwoman's voice close to his ear, "If you were a bat, you'd be the most interesting bat I've ever encountered. We'll meet again..."
With that, she leaped onto a wall in a nearby alley and swiftly disappeared. Batman touched his ear, thinking, a cat that likes jewels? Truly an eccentric.
Just like himself.
Unexpectedly, on his way back to the city, Batman encountered Christine, the beautiful leader of a cheerleading squad, dressed in a thick down jacket and a hat that concealed her sexy figure and gorgeous face. Batman considered avoiding her, but he thought better of it. It was too dangerous for a girl to appear on the streets of Gotham at this hour.
Christine spotted Batman and happily ran toward him. But as she reached his side, she frowned and asked, "Do you have a girlfriend? Are you on a date with her?"
Batman was perplexed. He simply said, "You shouldn't be out here. It's dangerous."
"But I just wanted to be your girlfriend," Christine shrugged. It was clear that she didn't often say this, as usually, others confessed their feelings to her.
"I don't need a girlfriend. Please, go back," Batman replied.
"Then what's with the Louis Vuitton perfume on you? Don't tell me you like women's scents."
Batman had a headache.
After spending years in the shadows, how could he possibly understand such things? He knew he had been embraced by Catwoman, but he hadn't expected this female thief, who sneaked out at night to steal, to be wearing such strong perfume.
Batman said nothing and left, cloaking himself in his cape.
Although Batman had no interest in Christine, someone else was very interested in her: the new school principal, Seldon.
Don't forget, it was Christine who accused the former principal of kidnapping her, providing the most significant evidence for his conviction.
Seldon knew that the Jonathan case, which implicated the former principal and led to Victor's downfall, had a mastermind behind it connecting all the dots. There were too many mysteries left unsolved. Who had subdued Jonathan? Who had rescued Christine? Gordon alone couldn't solve it.
Seldon believed that even if Christine didn't know the mastermind personally, she had information about them. He wanted to get to the bottom of it, understand the relationships connected to the Jonathan case, and secure his position. Gotham's web of relationships was incredibly complex, and he needed a good entry point. Seldon believed that the Jonathan case was the best investigative lead.
On the other hand, Batman and Catwoman's relationship progressed rapidly. Perhaps destiny had a hand in it. Catwoman's liveliness and romance were a stark contrast to Batman's seriousness and suspicion, yet she had him captivated.
They often roamed Gotham together at night. While Catwoman couldn't assist Batman in combat, her skills in infiltration and reconnaissance were unmatched. Catwoman had a fondness for various gemstone jewelry, and Batman had the means to acquire them.
However, the topic of theft was a constant source of disagreement between them. Batman believed Catwoman had a stealing habit, while Catwoman saw it as mere appreciation for the jewelry that sat untouched in display cases. She argued that if nobody was buying them, why not take them and enjoy them for a few days?
Finally, one day, Batman tracked Catwoman once more and intervened in her theft. Catwoman, enraged, slapped him, and then, using a short dagger, stabbed him in the side.
And so, what began as a romantic escapade involving Batman turned into a genuine crisis of life and kidney.