17557/The Cat and the Dragons

The Cat and the Dragons
Date of Scene:	01 April 2024
Location:	Chinatown - Founder's Island
Synopsis:	Catwoman run into 'Huntress' during a fight and both end up doing a double-take. More questions are left than answers.
Cast of Characters:	Selina Kyle, Helena Wayne

---

Selina Kyle has posed:
After tonight, Selina Kyle will order take-out Chinese for a while instead of pick-up. Okay, that's really not true, and it's also not the reason she found herself in this situation.

It all started with a picture of a jade cat figurine she saw on the internet. One thing led to another, and Selina Kyle made arrangements to pick up the piece. With every intention of paying. Honest.

Being the careful woman that she is, Selina showed up to the meeting in Catwoman garb, and quickly found herself surrounded by a dozen members of the West Side Dragons. The dragons are a primarily Chinese gang who favor martial arts in addition to weapons with nasty edges and sharp points.

The Dragons are not only NOT fond of Westerners, but they have a particular dislike of Gotham's costumed set.

As the group spreads out ot encircle Catwoman, she uncoils the whip from around her waist to let it spill onto the pavement like a snake looking to strike.

Helena Wayne has posed:
Sometimes the stars align even when you don't want them to; celestial bodies don't stop moving just because you ask them politely not to.

The same is also true of chance encounters one might have been trying to put off until they were comfortable with them (never), as Helena Wayne is swiftly learning today.

Gotham is Helena's home. Was her home. It's complicated. But it's why, even a universe apart, she can't help but return to it. She spent months abroad, learning what she could about the new Earth she found herself in under a host of assumed identities, but eventually, inevitably -- she found herself back here. Gotham. A different Gotham than the one she was used to, in so many ways, and yet... still so achingly familiar.

Things fell into place relatively quickly after that. It's rote for her, at this point. The first step, after finding a suitable safehouse, was acquainting herself with the geography of this unfamiliar Gotham... and that meant regular patrols throughout the city, until she found a place to call her own. It's like her mother always told her: 'find a place to mark your territory, and protect it like hell.'

It's a thought that's particularly on Helena's mind as she lands on a dirt-soaked rooftop during one of those regular patrols just in time to find a group of gang members encircling a woman. She blinks, she braces -- and then she pauses. The whip. The leather. The style. Blue eyes widen. It's--

Discomfort initially compels Helena to turn the other way. But she's clearly outnumbered. And what would her parents think of her turning tail just in the name of feeling awkward? It's that ironic thought that makes Helena grit her teeth and bring one hand to her crossbow holster.

"Dammit."

It's only a few seconds later that a soft 'psssh!' sound heralds a crossbow bolt slinging overhead, ricocheting off of the alley walls to aim for one of the Dragons' knees with pinpoint accuracy. Seconds later, a figure drops down from above, aiming to land at precisely the perfect spot to cover Catwoman's back. Long black hair. Purple costume.

"You just get into all sorts of trouble, don't you?"

Looks like... the Huntress? But... the voice certainly isn't hers.

Selina Kyle has posed:
The Dragons are poised, Catwoman is poised, no one wanting to make the first move but ready to react once the fight starts. The crossbow bolt hits the mark. One of the Dragons goes down with a scream of pain.

Annnnd that's all the distraction Catwoman needs. The whip whirls high over head. <CRACK!> She aims for the face. 'Every creature will protect its eyes.' Another Dragon steps back with a whip scar high on his cheek that he'll have for years.

Then there's a flash of black and purple, and Catwoman's back is now covered. The voice is a surprise to her, but she rolls with it. For now.

"Honey, you know how easily bored cats can get. That's why we have nine lives."

Pause. The whip whirls and cracks again randomly, keeping the boys at a distance. "Nice shot, by the way."

Helena Wayne has posed:
"Oh, believe me, I know."

Stay coy, Helena thinks to herself. Keep those cards close to the vest; don't give away too much. Help her, and then get out. Simple.

Simple. Right.

A booted heel drags across pavement in a slow, preparatory pivot. They have the advantage of range right now, but the Dragons have numbers. Eventually -someone- is going to get through. Purple cape rippling behind her, she lowers her center of gravity with the widening of her stance as she hears the familiar sound of a whip crack against her eardrums. Despite herself, dark purple lips tug towards a smirk. She can't remember the last time she was in a situation like this, with -her-. She's not the same person.

"You're not so shabby with that whip, yourself. Think you can keep up?"

But all the same, Helena can't help but tease=in all those familiar ways as she fires off one more crossbow bolt with a blunted tip to concuss the first Dragon that starts to advance, preparing for what feels like the inevitability of closer combat.

Selina Kyle has posed:
The circle of Dragons ebbs and flows, getting closer in areas before fading back. The boys have done this before, and in spite of the distractions they are starting to work the pair now.

"Watch me!" Catwoman calls out, suddenly pressing the attack. A quick cartwheel closes the distance, whip lashing out to wrap and ankle before she pulls with her momentum. Head hits pavement. One more out for the count.

She rights herself just in time to turn and dodge a cleaver, slashing the Dragon's face with her steel claws. Two more step in, one catching an elbow to the jaw before she tumbles away again.

"Just let me know if you need any help over there."

Helena Wayne has posed:
It's easier to keep from saying the wrong thing when you have men wielding cleavers springing on you.

On the other hand, there's more tells in the world than just verbal.

With a dragon lunging at her, Helena uses that lowered center of gravity to control the flow of the man's momentum; she grips his cleaver-bearing wrist and -twists- in just the right way to pinch nerves and forcibly disarm him just as she uses his own lunge to fluidly guide him face-first into the nearby building wall with a CRUNCH of bone and cartilage.

It might be familiar, the way she fights. An idiosyncratic blending of martials arts that focuses on pressure points and non-lethal but brutally efficient take downs. But the style, the fluidity, the acrobatic and ferocious grace of it all--

It might be familiar too, in a very different way.

Same as she blends brutal efficiency and playfulness, she calls out, "Well, if you insist -- here's a gift, on your six!"

Before she suddenly -backflips- over a swinging Dragon, lands on the ground behind him bracing her palms against the street -- and then -springs- forward in a vaulting kick to the man's back to -launch- him towards Selina, to set Catwoman up perfectly to knock out the stumbling man herself. Efficient. Graceful. Familiar.

Selina Kyle has posed:
Catwoman isn't so occupied that she -isn't- watching her new fight partner's moves. Yes, there's an inherent commraderie as well as the accompanying trust. But the more they fight the more she realizes that her initial suspicions are confirmed.

This isn't the Huntress she knows.

Catwoman moves quickly around the fight, striking with claws or kicks and lashing out with the whip to keep the Dragons off-guard.

The smooth, fluid, non-lethal strikes... the pressure points... the blending of multiple styles... yes, they are all too familiar. And quite reminiscent of a larger man wearing black and gray.

Then comes the backflip, the kick to launch the Dragon perfectly. Catwoman leans into the haymaker.. thank you, Ted Grant... and the Dragon drops like he hit a wall.

The backflip is one of HER signature fight moves, dammit! "Alright, honey, you've got this Cat's curiosity piqued. You don't fight like the Huntress I know."

Helena Wayne has posed:
'Spritely' is the best way to describe how Huntress lands back on her feet in the aftermath of that kick. There's a steadying bounce on the balls of her feet, another; for a moment, the blue-eyed vigilante looks prepared to follow up just in case her gambit doesn't work.

It proves unnecessary; with an impressively powerful haymaker, down the Dragon drops. She knows Selina can handle herself. Better than most.

Helena just can't help but want to be prepared for any scenario.

The curious question comes around the time Helena is kicking a downed Dragon in the skull just as he attempts to drag himself back onto his feet. She has to navigate this carefully, she knows. But she can't help but to fall back on her mother's playbook:

"Maybe I'm just a secret admirer of hers," Huntress deflects as she sweeps around to turn her back to the Cat, trying to see if they have any more incoming hostiles.

"But maybe you can satisfy my curiosity first: just what did you do to piss -these- guys off?" Deflect, and turn the spotlight back off her.

Selina Kyle has posed:
A flash of claws, another scream, and the herd is thinned further. "If I tell you it involved a jade cat figurine, you'd just roll your eyes at me." she quips back. "I was going to pay for it."

She dispatches yet another attacker with a martial arts maneuver that Huntress hasn't seen before. The Dragon goes down and she yells. "Hear That! I Was Going to Pay for It!"

This woman isn't as old as Helena's alt-universe mom, and she is somehow a more seasoned fighter in spite of it.

Helena Wayne has posed:
Catwoman's hasn't even finished the word figurine by the time icy blue eyes perform the most exquisite eye roll ever beheld.

Like someone who has had plenty of experience to really -master- the craft.

"Tt."

Not that Helena particularly -likes- that Selina calls her out on it with perfect timing, too, but that, well -- that's also painfully familiar.

This is not her mom. It's Helena's internal mantra as she bends back -just- below the swing of a Dragon, his cleaver gushing just above her chin. A flip-kick to -his- chin sends the man up about half a foot into the air before he collapses in a groaning, groping pile, and Helena's mantra just resolidifies as she sees the be-clawed woman beside her take down a man with a move she hasn't -ever- seen Selina use before.

More seasoned. More experienced. -More-. Things are different here. This is not her mom. But every time Helena looks at her--

"Shit--!" An elbow buries into her midsection as she bends around the blow with a grimace. Distracted. Stupid.

Before the man can redouble his attack, Helena's crossbow swings up just underneath his chin, exactly one bolt's length beneath it.

The blunted arrow strikes, perfectly positioned to hit the man's jaw with maximum, bone-breaking impact. She -buries- her elbow into his shoulder plexus immediately after, dropping him as she sucks in a focusing, steadying breath.

"Something tells me," she says, and to her credit, it's barely a croak; she manages her pain just like her dad taught her, "they don't believe you. For -some- reason."

Selina Kyle has posed:
Yeah, the elbow to the solar plexus would've dropped a lesser combatant, alright. The grunting... the focus...

Yes, this girl fights like Bruce. And yet not completely like Bruce.

"Y'think?" the Cat quips back, finding herself toe-to-toe with two of the Dragons now. They separate, trying to flank her. Fighting one with her clawed hands, she pivots for a moment to give the other a fly-away kick to the head. Then she sweep-kicks the other opponent. "I just think they don't like Westerners."

Helena Wayne has posed:
"Maybe next time--"

Selina sends one opponent flying with a solid kick to the head. And, as if to add insult to injury, Helena adds in the alleyoop of a snatching the man in mid-air by the shoulders and guiding his momentum to slingshot him -directly- into the nearby dumpster.

The lid slaps down over his prone, twitching leg a second later.

"-- /don't/ take black market deals from disreputable sources."

The qualifier 'disreputable' is doing a lot of heavy lifting, there.

"Bet you they didn't even bring your little statue," she bandies back, because Helena just can't help herself. It's not -her- Catwoman.

But... some things just come naturally, regardless.

Selina Kyle has posed:
"You know, that's kind of secondary right now." Catwoman quips back. Claws slash out to the left, the whip cracking to the right. She tumbles around the Dragon she just slashed. Using his torso as a fulcrum she tugs on the whip to pull another one off his feet.

"And I think I know what I'm doing when it comes to moving goods of questionable origin." Catwoman adds, taking down 2 more with a flying kick maneuver that looks like it should ve done on ice skates.

"You're not my mother, you know."

There are just a few left now, and they look from one to the other as if only just now reconsidering the whole evening.

Helena Wayne has posed:
'You're not my mother, you know.'

Helena Wayne should be given a medal for how she just barely manages to suppress a sputter at that remark.

Just. -Barely-.

Still. There's only a few stragglers left; one of them, Helena is busy dealing with when those words come, an open-palm strike to the throat followed by a drop-down sweep of his legs out from under him sending the gangster to ground in a heap.

Soon enough, the others are fleeing as Helena rises back to her feet, steadying her heavy, exerted breaths as she pushes back long longs of black hair over one shoulder.

"... You know what... you're absolutely right."

It's the last thing Helena says. There is a soft, familiar -=pffssshh=- of a grapple line firing just behind Selina shortly thereafter. And if she looks--

The would-be Huntress is already gone, barely a glimmer of a cape on the rooftops before she disappears entirely, leaving Selina alone with the fallen members of the Dragons just like that as the sirens of the GCPD howl in the distance.

Great at pulling a vanishing act just before she has to explain herself, who she is, or what she's doing there?

That might be fairly familiar, too.