Catwoman: Soulstealer (DC Icons #3)(59)

With a flick of her wrist, the bullwhip sprang free.

Falcone was shuddering and groaning.

Selina only said to him, “Be grateful that wasn’t your tongue.”

Then she strode for the door, Harley and Ivy backing out with little smirks, weapons still trained on Falcone and his men.

“Tell them good night, Ivy,” Selina said, strutting out the bar door, the Joker’s three henchmen following her like well-trained dogs.

Ivy chuckled, soft and sweet. “Good night.”

A petal-soft thump on the floor, a hissing noise beginning, and then—

Shouts and roars.

By the time Harley and Ivy were swaggering out into the night to meet Selina, the bar had fallen silent. They’d all have one hell of a headache when they woke up. And realize that she hadn’t called GCPD on them while they were knocked unconscious.

She only wished she could see Falcone’s face when he regained consciousness. When he understood his reign was at an end, especially after that humiliation.

Harley half skipped down the cracked sidewalk ahead; Ivy linked arms with Selina. “What happens next?”

Selina gazed toward the northern horizon. “They kneel.”



* * *



—

Gordon held his officers at bay long enough for Luke to study the site of the prison break at Blackgate for an hour, his suit’s tech analyzing everything from the gas Poison Ivy had used to bring down the guards to the explosives Harley had set in the concrete walls. All orchestrated by Catwoman.

Out of hand. Completely out of hand.

Within the prison, the inmates were rattling the bars, taunting him as he passed by on his way out, Gordon in tow. Some spat on Gordon, but the man ignored it.

“They’ve gotten away with everything so far,” Gordon said tightly. “Now they’re just trying to see what the limit is.”

Luke knew it. But Catwoman had warned him that worse was coming to Gotham City. Her words still lingered. “If she’s bold enough to do this, then it might be an indication she’ll go after Arkham itself.”

“No one is that dumb.”

“She’s working with Harley. She freed three of the Joker’s cronies tonight. She might very well be preparing to free the Joker, either as a gift to Harley or to curry favor from the man himself.” Luke’s blood chilled at the thought.

Gordon shook his head and opened the sealed door to let them out into the prison’s main waiting area. Cops filled the space, all sizing up Luke as he passed. As Batwing passed—his armor like blue lightning in the fluorescents overhead.

“We can’t let that happen,” Gordon said, pausing at the doors to the prison.

Far beyond, out by the border fences, cameras flashed and reporters jockeyed for the best angle to catch his exit. Luke pushed a button on his suit, prepping his wings for flight. Soaring up and out was his best way to escape the reporters—and their questions.

“I’ve got it handled,” Luke said, shouldering his way through the heavy front doors. “Trust me.”

Gordon didn’t look convinced, but he nodded.

Luke took three running steps into the night before flaring his wings and launching skyward.

He’d handle it, all right.



* * *



—

“I need you to host a gala,” Luke said to his dad the next morning, bracing his hands on his father’s desk. “Please.”

Lucius Fox raised an eyebrow as he set aside the document he’d been reading. “Do I even want to know?”

Luke ran his hands over his head. “It’s a huge favor, I know. I promise you—promise you—that no one will get hurt. But I need you to hold a gala in three nights. To raise money for the circus, the zoo, the jail—the public targets that have suffered from Catwoman and her criminal friends.”

“I assume we will also be displaying an expensive object to be auctioned off for charity?”

“Exactly.” Luke slid a pile of papers toward his father. “Ask Mom to invite all the people on this list.” It was a mirror of the guest lists of every gala he’d attended where Catwoman had appeared.

His father idly scanned it. “Your mother worries enough about your readjustment to civilian life that she’ll be thrilled—regardless of the inconvenient time frame.”

“If anyone can put together a party in three days, it’s Mom.”

“She is indeed a wonder.”

For not the first time, Luke wished she knew—about Batwing, about Bruce. About all of it.

Luke crossed his arms, pacing through his father’s plush office.

“She’s really gotten under your skin, hasn’t she?”

Luke knew his father didn’t mean his mother. He gave his father a long look. “She’s taken it too far.”

Way too far.

“Be careful, Luke. Making yourself the bait…” His dad sighed. “Just be careful.”

Luke had no intention of doing so, but he nodded nonetheless.





The Fox estate had been transformed into a twinkling garden, the halls and ballroom bedecked in bursting white flowers and candles, slender birch trees filling the corners, and cream silk streamers draping across the domed ceiling.

It was the prettiest place Selina had ever seen. The Venetian palaces hadn’t compared to this. Not even Talia’s luxurious personal quarters held a flame.