Chapter 5

Once Gordon, Bollock, and I got to Mario's apartment, they hopped out and told me to stay in the car.

I waited for a few minutes, then I hopped out and ran to the side of the apartment building. Using the former Cat's muscle memory, I jumped and carried myself up the fire escape. I continued ascending until I reached the apartment with the yelling.

I stayed crouched outside the window, waiting for when Gordon and Bullock would run out.

'Crash!'

Peeking through the window, little Ivy saw me while hiding underneath the table. I motioned for her to stay quiet until her mom left. Her mom was slipping on her shoes, and about to chase after her husband and the cops.

"Stay here!" Ivy's mom yelled at her and left without another glance at her.

I opened the door and hopped into the incredibly ugly and sad apartment. "Hi Ivy, my name's Cat. I'm here because I want to help you."

She looked at me in shock and disbelief, I doubt she had ever been cared about in her life. After all, this is Gotham, not even the wealthy part. No one gives a shit about kids, except the traffickers.

"Why?" She asked.

"Because I can, and I want to. All you have to do is come with me." I smiled, knowing she would. She has nothing here, or she's about to at least.

Before she could answer, we heard two loud bangs and a loud curse.

"Quickly!" I pressured her, knowing that I didn't have much time left.

"Ok, I'll go with you." She whispered, knowing her parents were likely dead.

"Good, follow my instructions and you will be happier in no time…" I told her what to say and how to act in front of the cops and the childcare officials. She just had to be put into an orphanage and I would pick her up tomorrow morning.

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Telling her to stay there and wait for the detectives to come back, I quickly descended the fire escape and went back into the car. I made sure everything looked the same to not give away that I had left and that I had the ability to get out of it.

I didn't have to wait too long, Gordon came back after about fifteen minutes with Ivy. "Hello detective," I said with a cheshire grin. "Did you get your man?"

"Yeah. It got violent though, so Harvey is staying to wait for the other detectives." I knew he was talking about the bodies and likely the apartment as well.

"I told you! Just get me a meeting with Bruce, and we will call it even. But, who is this?" I said, pointing to Ivy.

"Fine, he'll want to meet you anyway. This is Ivy, she's coming back to the precinct with us."

"Ohhhh, how exciting! Shotgun!"

"What?" Gordon looked at me confused, not understanding.

Quickly, I went to the front seat and put Ivy on my lap. "Ohh, you poor thing. Let me help you fix your hair." It was honestly disgusting, I don't think it had been washed for weeks at least.

"Fine," Gordon grunted out, getting into the driver's seat.

While trying to brush my fingers through her hair, I whispered to Ivy, "Remember, we just met and everything is going to be alright. I have a spot that I'll take you to and we'll be safe.

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It took us about half an hour to get back to the station, I had somewhat calmed Ivy's hair by then. However, there was only so much I could do. I reminded her of what to do one more time, and Gordon took her to be taken care of.

I got a snack from the vending machine to last me until Bruce got there. Walking through the station, I looked around for anything interesting or anything that looked like there were powers involved.

I didn't find anything, which really shows how quickly things amped up throughout the years leading up to when Bruce would be Batman and even just when Gordon is a detective.

But after a few more minutes of wandering, I spied Alfred and Bruce bursting into the station. Taking a minute, I quickly found Gordon and had him bring me to them.

"Bruce, this is the girl that helped us find your parents' murderers." He said staidly.

"Thank you!" He said it with such intensity, I almost felt bad about having the cops go after the wrong guy.

"Thank you, Young Madame, from the bottom of our hearts for your help," Alfred said all Britishly, though with deep sincerity.

"You're welcome, I was happy to be able to help! Though I could use some help in return." I said, knowing I really just had to convince Alfred as Bruce was a fucking idiot.

"We of course are willing to give you the bounty, but is there something else you want?" Alfred asked before Bruce could say anything.

"I need your help getting emancipated and finding a safe place to live," I said, knowing it would be difficult to get emancipated by myself, especially considering I was still 15.

"She can live with us!" Bruce demands Alfred.

I shut that down quickly, as I did not want to live with the little fuckwit. Especially considering how dangerous that fucking manor is. "Nope! I want to live by myself, I know how to defend myself and everything."

"She's right Bruce, and we can't force her to live with us anyway. But, we can absolutely help you Young Madame Cat. Especially considering how much the bounty was."

I had almost forgotten about the bounty, $100,000 from Wayne Corp. and another $500,000 from Bruce. I was going to be fine, even though I would likely keep stealing. It was very fun after all.

Thanking them, I was about to leave when they stopped me.

"Thank you for your help!" Alfred bowed at the waist.

"Thank you Cat!" Bruce yelled in suit.

I just smiled and waved as I left.

I would come back the next day in order to get everything taken care of, but right now I was just going to grab what I had packed away and rent another hotel room, a much better one since I didn't have to worry about money.

Life was good, not for Mario or his wife, but for me and my soon-to-be minion, Ivy, as well.