Chapter 3: I Lost, You Lost, We Lost!

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Chapter 11: Naughty Cat

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"Well... Hmm, a sadist or a masochist? Or is your work being a dominatrix or something?"

"What?"

"Oh? You're not? Well, never mind then." Ian just shrugged his shoulders.

Selina let out a sigh and continued walking towards him, then started circling around him.

Ian remained as defenseless as usual, even as she softly hugged him from behind and whispered in his ears, "I'm not, but I can be if you're into that. I can be very rough..."

Ian raised his eyebrows and let out a chuckle, "That actually sounds nice. I'm into masochists and I don't mind you staying in your dominatrix outfit for that, in fact. I'd love that."

The smile on Selina's face disappeared as she started keeping a bit of distance from him, "Troublesome, you don't have it on you. I didn't think you would but I had hoped so."

She then lifted her hand with his phone in it, she opened noticing it's locked, "Yeah, who leaves their phone without a password nowadays, and I bet nothing is in it anyway."

She then threw it back to Ian who caught it and entered the password right away, he then sent a message to his pals.

"I admit I'm impressed, I didn't feel a thing. I have to wonder though, did you leave someone else to keep an eye on my friends? It doesn't really matter, I'm just curious."

"I didn't think it'd matter anyway, so I didn't bother." Selina let out a sigh and just eyed him from top to bottom, "You don't look too special, handsome, but careless. Fit but defenseless, so how did you do it? I'm curious."

"Is this why you wanted to talk to me? Well, I'm indeed careless, weak, and not even smart. I also wonder how I do the things I do, but I never got an answer."

Selina let out a chuckle, thoroughly amused, "Not smart? Right. Anyway, I have a target and I'd like your assistance. We'll of course split the harvest. What do you think?"

Ian stared at her strangely and started using his brain to the best of his ability, "I think you want to seduce me to give you the thing or steal it from me. Cats are quite naughty after all."

Selina seductively smiled and came close to him, "Well, why don't you find out if I can? Wouldn't I deserve it if I'm able to do that?"

"Hmm, you have a point. I also feel like you'd beat me up to get information from me if I refuse. I only know little boxing after all." Ian casually responded while still thinking about something else entirely.

"No way, cats are harmless. I wouldn't do that."

'Hmm, I'm so weak-minded in that regard that she might actually succeed. However, If I take the risk I can get some valuable information. According to what I know about her, she has a lot of connections, trusted connections in contrast to Frank.'

"So what do you think?" She said with her hands encircling Ian's neck in a quite intimate position... Perhaps dealy is a better word for her intentions.

"I've thought this through. Let's do your job together, then I'll give you some valuables we have to sell, you seem way more experienced than me thus you probably have more connections.

I will set the price for the things I want to sell. If you can sell them for a higher price, you can keep that extra. I will give a reasonable price, so you should make ample profit.

Of course, there is the option of you keeping everything to yourself. I don't really mind, but just know I won't be selling the diamond."

Selina retracted her hands with a strange look on her face, "That was easier than I thought, and you're certainly a strange one. I want to see how you work, so I'll tell you my target and you plan the heist."

"Oh, you think I can actually plan heists? All the ones I pulled were from books and movies. I just made them worse, and that's how my planning usually goes." Ian was even amused by how his brain works while saying that.

Selina was a bit speechless, the meeting wasn't going as expected at all. However, this was a chance she can't miss.

'Even if I can't get the diamond, I can use him to accumulate cash. There is definitely something weird about him, I can smell it. Hmm, he does smell nice though.'

Her cat senses drove her to doze off for a bit. He had to wake her up, "Tell me about the job."

"Ah, right. The job is something I can do alone quite easily, but the problem is after the job. The bat always finds me and takes back what I stole, rarely do I succeed.

My target is painting in a mansion on the south side of the city. I'll tell you all I know about it, and you formulate a plan to avoid the bat's pursuit. By the way, you three were lucky since you didn't encounter him."

Ian shook his head, "It's not luck. He was probably looking into the other robbery and just didn't have enough time to arrive before we left."

Ian then narrowed his eyes as he looked at her, "You say he almost always catch you, yet you're still here. Care to explain."

"Oops, it slipped right past my lips, but you have nothing to worry about. We have a complicated relationship, but we're certainly not allies." Selina hid her mouth while letting out a small laugh.

"Hopefully I don't end up in prison, Arkham Asylum sounds like a more interesting place, so I don't mind going there."

"Anyway, I think it's time for us to introduce ourselves, I'm Carmella, just Carmella." Selena sweetly said.

"Oh? Probably not your real name, but I will be kind and tell you mine. Zeus, nice to meet you." He said with a yawn, already getting bored and sleepy.

Ian gave her a single glance before adding, "I will send you a message then you can send me the info about the job.

I will contact you when I have a plan in mind. Also, I already hid it somewhere far away, so don't bother following me."

He then made his way to the apartment where his dear friends were excitedly waiting for him. Something he expected is the cat following him, they're quite naughty after all.

Ian hugged the three before he opened the door to them. They entered the apartment, and before He could say anything, Barney excitedly said, "C-can I see it?"

Ian shook his head, "Unfortunately it's not here. I hid it somewhere else because I was sure the cat would follow me here, so hold it in Barney and be patient, you can do it... I believe."

Barney took a deep breath before running to the side, he then started to cry like a child despite being a middle-aged man.

"Ralf, I have some new plans. You're more experienced than me in this regard, so I want you to go to the warehouse and recruit some trusted people there, doesn't matter who they are or how they look, I just want loyalty and talents."

Ian took off his coat then took a seat on the couch and continued, "We've made 4250 bucks from the bank, and we'll try the same thing on different banks every week.

We'll use part of that money to continue to rent our previous apartment, let them stay in it. If they don't have an Id, contact Frank's connection to make them one."

That's how Ian's Id was made. Frank introduced them to the one who does such a thing, and they started contacting him directly.

"Act quickly because we don't have much time. Also, hand me one..." Ian spoke calmly as Ralf handed him a cigarette, the latter lit it up for him before saying, "We don't have time for what?"

Ian took a rare smoke as he closed his eyes, "It's better if you don't know. I feel like my adventures have been too safe recently.

I need to add a little spice to my life. Anyway, don't mind my nonsense, I'm quite tired, so I'll have some sleep now."

"T-that..." Ralf was speechless for a minute before he just shook his head, "That indeed sounds like something I don't want to know."

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Chapter 12: Ok?

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"Why don't you just tell me your plan? I will feel more confident that way." Selina softly said to Ian through the phone.

"Just be patient, you have nothing to lose either way. When I send you a message, do what you do best."

Ian responded with a simple answer before hanging up. He then continued to make his way to the meeting, he had black gloves on and even plastic ones beneath them.

He had a black suit shirt and pants, looking formal. He had a small black bag in his hands, and he was unnaturally calm as he thought to himself.

'It should be easy. I will have to do it sometime in the future anyway, this world requires such a thing.'

He had almost reached his destination when a strange feeling started to surface throughout his mind and body.

'I'm nervous? Well, that's a welcomed feeling. It's been such a long time. I wonder though, how would I feel when I do it?'

His destination was a certain nightclub, to be specific the alleyway behind it. It's a backdoor to the club whose ownership belongs to Frank himself.

His steps were calculated as he only walked through alleyways and streets that don't have any cameras, if they do, he made sure to avoid them.

He found two guards standing in front of the backdoor, he walked up to them, and they directly allowed him in.

What surprised him wasn't that though since one of the guards is someone he had met before in the first meeting, so he must've recognized him.

What truly surprised him is them not searching him and taking any firearms or dangerous things he has, either Frank is that careless or he looks down on him to that degree.

'Well, that doesn't matter. I should act quickly... I wonder though, is this above what my ability can handle? Will I die here? Who am I kidding, I survived worse situations though none of them involved guns.'

Ian walked into that same hall he was in not long ago. It seemed fancier to him with plenty more decorations and artwork.

Frank himself looked more well-dressed and perhaps happier. Moreover, there were plenty of his henchmen in the hall, nearly twelve of them all with guns out.

"My nameless friend! Welcome back. Your boss said you have a business, so let's get right to it." He seemed quite excited about whatever Ian had to say.

Ian smiled and placed the briefcase on the table, "We did something recently, but well, we don't have the connection to sell it as you didn't give us one."

Frank let out a small laugh, "What are you talking about? I'm your connection. That's not a problem, is it? I will of course take a cut, and my other connection will also take a cut, but this is how things work."

Frank narrowed his eyes and added, "However, I'd very much like to know what you stole and who you stole it from. It couldn't possibly be what am thinking of, could it?"

"I heard about that, but we aren't at that level yet. Anyway, why don't you see for yourself," Ian said as he started opening the briefcase, he put the code and showed them what was within.

"Take a look at this one first, and tell me how much it's worth," Ian said as he brought one of the two black cases in the briefcase and handed it to him.

Frank eyed the other black case before he focused on the one in his hands, he opened it, and instantly, a smirk surfaced on his face.

"Quite the fancy thing. I don't really know much about things such as these, but I'm pretty sure this is extremely valuable, things such as these aren't usually found in jewelry stores, but I swear I remember seeing something similar in a museum."

Frank stood up with the necklace in his hand, it was gorgeous with an even more captivating amethyst inside, perfectly shaped.

"This is exactly what I need. I didn't think this would happen so soon, but sorry, it's what it is. Now tell me, where is the diamond?"

He didn't seem to be able to hold his emotions back as excitement was apparent on his face. A gun was in his hand which he aimed at Ian.

Ian shook his head with a chuckle, "My boss thought something like this might happen, so he sent me with this hoping you would change your mind. If not, then it doesn't matter, I am expendable anyway."

As he said that, Ian casually reached out to the other black case and opened it, within were two objects. A velvet jewelry box and a gun.

The box was quite exquisite. It was the one he took from the museum, the diamond was inside of it, comfortably sitting in it while it's open for the world to see, he, of course, didn't forget to take it.

Frank wasn't even bothered by the gun in the case though his underlings were already aiming their gun at Ian, any wrong move and he's dead.

Frank gulped as he reached out to the small box, "I-is it inside?" He didn't wait for an answer as he opened it directly after that... It was empty, "W-what's the meaning of this? Do you think I'm a joke just like the rest?"

Ian slowly took the gun into his hand and stood up, not in a hurry. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath ignoring all the extremely loud sounds around him.

He opened his eyes to the weirdest scene he had ever seen so far. Nothing even came close, and only then did his brain start to comprehend all the sounds that started occurring the moment he picked up the gun.

The moment he picked up the gun, almost everyone in the hall opened fire at him without a second thought, yet... yet not a bullet touched him.

From handguns to rifles, bullets were flying everywhere, and the stunned Frank finally started to get his wits back. Only then did he start to notice the anomaly of the situation, the elephant in the room.

Ian was right before him intact with his eyes closed, yet his men were falling one by one by the bullets of their own people.

Their bullets somehow reached everywhere in the hall but him.

"S-stop." Frank whimpered with a voice barely heard by his own ears. His hands were shaking as he aimed at Ian, ready to shoot.

Unfortunately, he wasn't able to pull the trigger as he found his brain almost entirely destroyed by the massive chandelier that fell on him.

His body fell on the ground, his fingers still moved for a second or two before life left his dead body.

Ian opened his eyes and strangely looked at his surroundings, dead bodies everywhere, blood flowing like a river.

Only one other person was alive in the hall, one of Frank's henchmen. He was shaking while looking at Ian as if looking at a monster.

Seeing Ian's brown eyes looking at him brought even more fear into him as he screamed, "Stop! D-don't come close!"

He tried to aim and shoot at Ian again, his brain didn't seem to be working correctly as he stumbled backward with his head colliding with a sharp part of the ground... He was no more.

"Ahhh? Ok?"

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Chapter 13: Whatever

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"Ahhh? Ok?" Ian was baffled. He had never faced a situation like this in the literal sense.

Even in his previous world, nothing this extreme ever happened which might be due to a situation like this never happening.

He did take gun lessons but never actually used them against a human being. He did use them when hunting, and some strange situations did occur, but this...

However, like every other time, he had the same reaction, "Well, whatever." He then picked up the necklace and the two black cases though he left the diamond's box in its place fallen next to Frank.

He picked up his briefcase and left, and only then did he send a message to Ralf, a simple one 'Start.'

He then called the cat, and before he could talk, she spoke first, "Oh, Zeus? Tell me the good news."

Ian's face couldn't help but twitch, he told her his name was Zeus as an obvious joke, but when she called him like that, it sounded a bit, "Don't call me that."

"Why not? You said it's your name, don't tell me it isn't?" He could detect from her tone just how much fun she was having messing with him.

He shook his head, knowing it's not time for messing around, "Ian, my name is Ian Rose, and as I said, start. I will be there soon."

"Hmm, what a lovely name, and don't worry, I have already started, but we can talk while I perform my dance. I'd like to know more about you, you don't mind, do you?" Her tone was full of interest and curiosity.

"Oh? You didn't investigate me?" Ian wondered.

"Of course I did, but I only had your pictures, and I found nothing about you. I guess now that I have your name, I will surely know more, right?"

She saw no point in hiding that as she was sure it's something anyone can expect. However, she wasn't sure if Ian was actually his real name.

"Ian is my real name. Also, you weren't able to get info with my pictures because I just forged a new identity just recently. I was a beggar, so I never actually had an ID." He casually explained without trying too hard to think of a better lie.

"I almost want to believe you, well, I actually don't." She then hung up.

Ian shook his head again, 'I can see a great future working with her. I know she can do some insane gymnastics shit to reach places I can't.

I can plan things and act as a meat shield that never dies. Just imagining the crazy things we can steal excites me so much, but I don't think her vision is the same as mine.'

He took a deep breath and thought about the real problem, 'I thought I'd have to kill today, but this doesn't count as killing, does it? I have no control over my power after all. Yup, it's definitely not my doing but my powers.'

He threw all the responsibilities to his non-sentient power and moved on with his life. He needed to send a message to someone with hast though, so he did that right away after changing his sim card. He then destroyed it and threw it in the garbage.

...

The police sirens were ear-blowing, sounding throughout the street and its surroundings. Many police cars were parked everywhere as the city has witnessed a not so rare massacre.

"Why? That's unnecessary as I'm already here... Well, why take the trouble? I already took the case... Listen, we'll talk about this later."

Gordon then hung up, frustration was apparent on his face. He was in the middle of a horrifying case, yet his colleague wants him to leave and let him take the rest, that made no sense to him.

He didn't have time to really think about that, he was ready to go back and examine the scene, but he noticed an anonymous message has been sent to him.

That's already strange enough to attract his attention, "Your competitor is corrupt. He works for the falcones. There is proof inside."

He found himself frozen in his place, comprehension slowly started to surface on his face. He still didn't trust the message, but there is an easy way to verify it.

He started a thorough search of the nightclub, specifically the main office, and all the rooms to the side of the hall.

He found several documents of Frank's illegal deals, but he still found nothing of significance though he still needs to take a close look at the evidence. That only leaves one thing, Frank's phone.

Gordon went to the hall and searched for Frank's body. He already had gloves on, so he just moved the chandelier from on top of his body and searched him.

He kept hesitating for a minute, but in the end, he still took the phone with as much discretion as possible and put it in his pocket.

He knows it must have a password, and he can't leave it to the PD to decrypt it because if what the message said was true, the valuable info in it will be gone.

He will let the only person he knows that's smart enough to be able to get the job done and also the person he can fully trust, his daughter Barbara Gordon.

He then made his way to one of his fellow officers, "What did you learn?"

"It... It's messy and confusing. Their leader seemed to have died due to the chandelier, and another one died due to falling down.

The rest died due to bullets, but there are bullets everywhere, so we're not really sure what happened or who the killers are of the bodies here." The officer responded.

You are reading story DC: Rose Of Death at novel35.com

Gordon frowned, "I want to say it involves some kind of gang shoutout or fighting between crime families, but I guess we won't be sure until further inspection.

Ian was of course innocent, he had done nothing wrong, and he kept convincing himself by the fact he hadn't pulled the trigger of his gun yet.

Perhaps he is insane because he had yet to feel even a sliver of guilt towards his actions.

The reason was his ability, he had experienced so many things that made his emotions numb, and his thought process bizarre.

"How did you do it? Or what did you do to get the bat off me?" Selina was curious, she did trigger the alarms the moment she took the painting, and she knew that'd happen.

She also had no way around that as that wasn't her specialty, and she would've never felt the need to avoid that if not for batman.

Ian looked fresh with different clothes and no briefcase in his hands. He had to change his clothes as they had a bit of scattered blood on them.

Their meeting place was actually the roof of his apartment complex under the darkness of the night.

Ian brought two chairs with him, he took a seat on one and signaled for her to do the same.

"It doesn't really matter, does it. May I see it?" He was talking about the painting in her hands, it had a black piece of cloth on it stopping him from seeing the value of it.

"Sure," Selina handed it to him. She was even more curious about what he had done. She reached out for her pocket, pulling out her phone after feeling it vibrate, a smile surfaced on her face afterward.

Ian took a close look at the painting. He seemed to be contemplating something for a while before he confessed, "Yeah, I absolutely have no idea what this is, but I will take a picture to search later."

And he indeed did so, he never really had much desire to collect paintings, he's more into shiny cool stuff.

"What?" Ian questioned noticing her giving him a strange look.

"Is your name really Ian, Ian Rose? I've investigated the name, but there's no one by that come that fits your description."

"It's my real name, but my identity name is different. You know how forged identities work, I can't order any name. The names come with the package. I am also not willing to go to some kind of government office to change it."

Ian stood up after that, he handed her the painting. He then brought a few stuff from his pockets, namely a necklace and a few other jewelry pieces.

"Since we've just finished our first job, I'll trust you with these. I'll send you in a message the expected value of each of them, and well, talk to your connection."

To say Selina was surprised would be an understatement, "So soon?" She took them and before he knew it, her arms were already around Ian's neck as she said that, her lips were almost touching his, "Could it be that you fell for me so soon?"

Ian didn't answer but simply closed the distance further, their lips coming in contact with each other. He stole a quick kiss, feeling her red tender lips before she jumped backward, "W-what was that?"

Ian was kind of surprised, "Oh, why the stutters? I thought seduction is your fort?"

Selina frowned. She ignored him and started jumping from building to building, like a cat escaping a dog's clutches.

Ian took a deep breath then left with a last thought, "I almost lost, she's too fucking good, but what was that? Why did she escape? Could it be because of that? Well, whatever..."

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Chapter 14: We've Finally Made It

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"What have we got here. Boys, we've made it." Ian said with a smile, excitement was apparent on his pale face.

He reciprocated the high five he got from Barney as the latter shouted, "Hell yaa we did!"

Everyone in the apartment was happy, excited even. Barney was jumping everywhere like a kid which seemed to light the fire of youth in Mike as he followed suit.

Ralf on other hand was just smiling and smoking the most expensive cigarettes he found in the store.

In the middle of the apartment was a small duffle bag that seemed to be filled with something. Ian walked to it and opened it, finding it almost completely filled with hard raw cash, "How much is it?"

Ralf took another smoke and answered, "137K and some jewelry. There are also some other things that seemed valuable."

"Not as much as I thought, but I guess he isn't that high in the Falcone family, and most of his funds should be in the mob banks." Ian thought for a bit before adding, "Give each of the recruits 1k, but let them know of what to do and what not to do."

The message sent to Ralf after Ian left the scene was to let him know of the start of the true goal of his actions, he needed a lot of funds to start going into the legal stuff.

Ralf led the five recruits into the messy hall, they scattered and scavenged everything they can before hastily leaving.

Mike and Barney kept an eye on the cops, on the Gotham police station to be specific, and warned Ralf of when to leave.

The recruit was of course from the warehouse of homeless people, Ralf picked people he already knew long and he did so carefully.

"I already told them the rules, and I think they will comply with them perfectly after witnessing what was inside... What happened in there? Did you do that?"

Ralf was a bit nervous while asking that, he wasn't sure whether that's a question he should ask, but the mess inside was beyond his imagination, so curiosity got the best of him.

"What happened? Something I should know about?" Barney jumped to them out of nowhere and questioned with curiosity.

"I'm actually not sure myself. It's kind of complicated but it's the doing of something else, I had a different plan in mind, but things worked out in the end."

Ian lit up a cigarette of his own and started smoking with them, it's after all an event worth celebrating.

"We'll lay low for a while. I made a deal with the cat and we'll be working with her for a while, she's still not trustworthy though, so be warned if she approached alone."

"Wait what? She stopped from living with my dear, it's her fault, why should we work with her?" Barney instantly got worked up at the sound of the cat.

"Your dear?" Ian wondered confused, "Wait? You wouldn't be talking about the diamond, would you?"

"The diamond? No way, he isn't that insane, righ..." Mike tried to come to a logical conclusion but seeing Barney nodding made him speechless.

"The fuck are you smoking? She's mine, you took the emerald necklace, and that's enough for you.

On a serious note, I handed the cat the amethyst necklace and the other jewelry to sell, she has trusted connections, and she's good at what she does."

Ian changed the subject, and he wasn't done just yet, "It's time for us to start legal businesses, every mob has the, and that's for a good reason, they're a good front."

"A nightclub? It seems like a lot of mobs own those." Ralf made a logical assumption.

Ian shook his head as he crossed his legs together, sitting more comfortably, "Nah, I've thought it through long ago and did some research... I want to start a coffee shop business."

Barney scratched his head in confusion, "Does that sound like a small goal only to me? I mean, we can do better, right?"

"If we wait for the cat to bring us our profit, we'll have more money to do better things. However, that may not necessarily be the correct decision.

A nightclub sounds like unnecessary trouble, the mobs will probably target us as it will be under no one's protection, this is just one of the many troubles we might face."

Ian started stroking his chin and added, "A coffee shop, a safe and simple place to manage. In Gotham, the city of crime, a peaceful place like that can have extremely high attraction if we can provide that safety."

Ian lifted his index finger with a mysterious smile, "I'm not done just yet... I already have a place in mind, a store that just shut down recently.

It's near Frank's nightclub, and with the things that happened there, its price is bound to go down. Moreover, the area there is already known for its high crime rate, so its price was already low."

"I'm sold... Wait, you're not done?"

"I am not... The place for sale is not just the store but the entire two floors buildings. If we revamp it, we can make ourselves A franchised sit-down coffee shop, and we can live on the second floor... There is plenty of room for even more peop..."

"Say less! I'm sold, I don't exactly understand everything you said but I'm 100% sold! When are we moving in?"

Ian strangely eyed Barney, he seemed to be losing it? Ian however can't say his menta stat is in a better shape, so he ignored that.

Ralf failed to hide the excitement on his beardless face as he asked, "I'm sold but how much money are we spending? Like, we can't already have the money for that, could we?"

"We don't, the last time I searched for the price, it was worth about 250K, but we can negotiate, especially with the recent incident, I'm sure the owner is also wanting to get rid of the place."

Ian stood up afterward, "Alright boys, we have a lot of honest work to do. Ralf, the property will be in your name as you have a legal Id, and you're the least sus person of us... For now however, let me get some sleep..."

The world continued to orbit around itself as usual, and the gears of time continued to move as the night was where bats move the most.

"He's back... Ra's Al Ghul. Just what is his goal this time?" A man attired in a black bat suit spoke with a raspy voice. Only his face was apparent, he seemed healthy which is strange considering what he does.

He seemed to be in some kind of cave with all kinds of complicated technological stuff, and he was standing next to a metallic desk with numerous pieces of paper on it and a large computer screen.

"And this, it's definitely something supernatural... Is it also his doing? It's a massacre that doesn't make much sense.

It also took account for my interference, the place was clean of people when I arrived, not just of the killers but also of anything of value.

The massacre must've happened in a matter of minutes for them to have time to clean the place... It's either Ra's al Ghul or someone just as dangerous."

He was looking at the info of the incident that Ian definitely wasn't responsible for.

He then looked at the info of another incident, feeling his headache, "And is this your doing Selina? Is it just timing or is it planned?"

He took a deep breath before saying, "Whatever it is, I need to hasten my plans against the crime families... For that, I might need help," He then laid his eyes upon the picture of someone attired in a cop suit, James Gordon.

It was not just the bat that stayed up all night, the cat also did. Her real name was Selina Kyle and she lives on the east side of Gotham.

When she doesn't have her suit on, she's just a beautiful woman who had grown up in the unkindness of Gotham, a hard life that led her to her current path.

She found herself unable to sleep, just lying on her bed with barely any clothes on, showing her sensual body.

Her hand was on her lips as she thought to herself, 'It felt so nice... Too nice and I've just met him. Did he do something to me? Some kind of drug? There is definitely something strange about him.'

Selina looked at her phone for a moment, nervousness was apparent on her face, 'The incident... Was it his doing? Was I on the brink of death this whole time while I was with him?'

Even he had yet to understand how his power work, he knows that It can do more than meets the eye but the extent is unknown even to him... Sometimes, his power even reacts to things around him in ways he simply can't comprehend just like how it reacted when he came in contact with her, but well, he has all the time in the world to find out how it works.

...

Chapter 15: I Lost

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"I envy you... You've come so far from when we first met, and things seem to always work out for you." Selina softly said.

She was seated on the roof of a building, a nice looking two-story building, an exquisite sign was at its front spelling 'Cat's Rest.'

That was the name of Ian and the group's coffee, and in contrast to what one might assume, the group came up with the name just to make Barney mad, Mike was especially hellbent on picking that name.

Ian was seated next to her, carefully examining a dark red ring in his hands. It seemed to be made fully of some kind of gem, "A ruby, right? There are also some nice engravings within, I guess it's worth its price."

That was their newest harvest. It has been two months since their first job, and they have pretty much been doing a job every week.

Ian was mostly responsible for planning the heists with the information provided by Selina while she was responsible for the execution. He also acts when needed or if things got out of hand.

Annoyance was apparent on what was visible on Selina's face, he always seems to ignore her in situations like this.

To be fair, he was paying full attention to the antique in his hand, "Hmm, I don't like it very much, you can sell it."

This has been an ongoing ritual for him, deciding whether to keep the harvest and pay Selina her cut or let her sell it. It all depends on if it's worth joining his collection.

"As for what said, you should envy me because I somehow have better decision-making skills than you, how do you lose all your money every time? You must be cursed." And he finally responded to what she said.

Selina's not real cat ears started to twitch in annoyance, "What? It's not my fault, I'm just unlucky! Something unfortunate always happens whenever I become even a bit well off!"

Ian stared at her strangely for a second before responding in the calmest way possible, "Right, It's surely not your fault,"

"Sarcasm?! Like can you stop and give me some advice here?! Please?" Selina was a bit desperate at this point, and she wouldn't have been if she didn't see the uninterrupted success of Ian.

She was used to everything not working out for her during her entire life, and she got used to it, but Ian seemed to have unintentionally awoken her from her terrible decision-making.

Ian moved his face closer to hers, looking into her gorgeous green eyes, "Your eyes are beautiful. Now that I think about it, I never got the see the face beneath the mask,"

Selina instantly moved her face backward, Ian could almost swear he saw what's apparent of her cheeks becoming flushed for a second, "P-please stop, I'd like to keep my identity a secret."

Ian frowned and stared at her for a while, his mind was overloading as he thought of what she was planning, "As I thought, you're acting weird. You've been acting weird for a while now, what are you planning?"

"W-weird how?" Selina asked, even she was unsure which made him look with an even stranger look.

"You've been keeping distance from me, and well, you've been quite timid, nothing like the bold and cool Catwoman I first met. Is this like your new plan to seduce me?"

Selina frowned and contemplated his words for a while, "You're... right. I haven't been myself recently?" She let out a small laugh... at herself, "I guess I'm having middle age crisis."

Ian picked up his cup of coffee, he almost forgot he brought it with him. He took a small sip before putting it back down, 'I forgot about it again until it got cold, I will definitely remember next time.'

He stood up then turned around and faced her, his face was serious, "First, tell me your real name. It's about time, right?"

She didn't hesitate much. He had put so much trust in her for the past two months that she started feeling bad for not telling him, "Selina... Selina Kyle."

A smile surfaced on Ian's handsome face, "What a lovely name, it suits you. Yout told me your name, so why is it a problem to let me see your face?" He asked with curiosity.

Selina was silent for a few seconds before she shook her head, "It's complicated, I'd rather not say."

"Ok?" Ian was a bit confused, so he went with the whatever rule and moved on, "Stand up and face me... Now I want you to seduce to give you the diamond. Do your thing, let the cat out."

Selina was also confused, "Why? I will be okay, I just have to think for a bit, and everything will be fine."

Ian let out a sigh before he approached her, stroked her forehead, seemingly scolding her as if she's still a kid, "That's called escaping the problem. I want you to be you and let the cat out right now, right here.

Only then will I tell you how to succeed and stop making terrible decisions. Also, I will encourage you further, the last time you tried to seduce me, you almost succeeded, I'm that weak, or you're that good."

Selina held her forehead and just stared at the smiling Ian who was waiting for her, she was seemingly stunned for a good ten seconds before she got her bearing back, "Then don't blame me,"

She said that, but she was still a bit nervous as she approached him. She had already realized that the nervousness isn't like her at all.

She started by stalling for a bit as she circled around him, trying to get her confidence back.

'I've never felt nervous when I was working with batman, so why am I now? Am I just afraid of getting close to him?'

She approached him from behind and hugged him while whispering in his ears, "Are you perhaps just using this as a cover but in reality, you miss my touch,"

Ian felt a hot breath tickling his ears, and felt the two gorgeous balls of softness on his back, he took a deep breath, 'Holy fuck man, you're not a virgin, calm yourself down, but damn if she isn't special...'

Selina clearly felt her effect on him as she got bolder, even more encouraged.

A mischievous smile surfaced on her face as the naughtiness in her spurted out. Her lips found themself sucking on his neck, finding enjoyment in that.

'Ok? I know I said I'm weak, but I'm actually losing... Well, whatever,' Ian just let things take their course, and just enjoyed the moment.

He's the kind of guy that if the world was gonna end tomorrow, and he has the key to save it, he'll just ignore it until the last few seconds, or he'll just forget about it.

Selina circled around him and stood before him, green eyes staring at his pale brown eyes, "Now I'm starting to wonder why I found you so difficult in the first place,"

She placed one of her arms around his neck, and she started caressing his cheek with the other hand. She spoke softly to his ears.

"Now imagine what would happen if we go further... The question is, how badly do you want that."

She gently caressed the side of his lips, and before he can say anything, she licked his cheek, too close to his lips, but she never reached them, just who can survive such temptation?

'Ok? That escalated quickly,' Ian wanted to believe that he can hold himself back, sadly he couldn't as he said, "That... was kinky, but I like it. Perhaps you forgot yourself in the process but I'm too weak to hold back."

His left arm was already around her waist and the other was on her neck as he pulled her face closer to his and went for the kiss.

However, this time it was a long sensual kiss, and Selina didn't resist not one bit, she allowed him to take control. Their tongues were in a battle not for domination but simply for pleasure and intimacy.

A good minute or two passed before they stopped as Ian said with a smile, "I guess I lost though I don't mind it... Welcome back."

Selina took a deep breath and a step back with that, she looked at him for a few seconds and softly said, "Glad to be back... Also, please don't misunderstand, I'm not interested in a relationship at all."

Ian nodded not surprised by that, "Yeah I figured out that much, my goal was just to build a friendship with but what can I say, you're too good to the point I ended up taking it one step further.

However, I believe you should have more trust in me now and I also feel like I can trust you a bit more... Now I can talk to you about a few of my plans, or our plans."

He then extended his hand waiting for her to take it which she did. A handshake of pure innocent friendship... Right.

She then started walking away leaving him with a few words, "Since I won, you'll have to tell me of your secrets, I also want to keep my hard-earned money in my pockets, but let's leave that for tomorrow."

She then started jumping from building to building like a cat, swift and silent. Her movement was almost inhuman... yet she didn't move far before she found herself lying on the roof of another building, seemingly exhausted.

Her cheeks, no, her entire face was flushed, her breathing was heavy, 'I... What are you doing to me? I am the one who... who lost...'

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