Catwoman #18

Issue Details

Synopsis

HE SAID, SHE SAID Batman regularly visits the Gotham Museum to look at the paintings because their iconic images of Gotham City gave him peace. Unfortunately, these paintings have recently been stolen, leaving only the pale outlines where they were once hung. He is sure that they were stolen by Catwoman as a ploy to draw him out, and endeavors to find her and make her put them back.   Catwoman, meanwhile, could not get a hold of her fence Gwen after the job, nor could she find Trip Winter. So, she was forced to lug the paintings to the client on her own. That client, she found, had no intention of selling them. He merely wanted to keep them for himself. She knew Batman loved those paintings, and as expected, he is now chasing her tail.   He catches up to her speeding motorcycle, and kicks her off of the vehicle, demanding that she return the paintings. She responds that she already spent the money- for example, the bike and helmet. In order to convince her to give up the paintings, he demonstrates his seriousness by hammering his fist into that helmet, until it is a crumpled mess. His violence is fueled by a pain that seems to go beyond just the loss of the paintings, and Catwoman leaps onto his back, trying to restrain him and force him to face his feelings. She admits that the Joker got to her too, and that she hadn't told the Joker about the relationship the two of them have - ostensibly.   Calming, Batman thanks her, and punches the helmet back into shape. When she puts it back on, though, he is upset by the tiger's grin emblazoned on it, and remarks that she looks like the Joker in it. Disgusted by how he looks at her, Catwoman tosses the helmet over the edge of a bridge, and collapses into his arms, as his knuckles bleed. Nearby, Trip Winter watches from his car, realizing that much of Catwoman's emotional confusion and turmoil is his fault, after giving her two bad jobs in a row. She will never want to work with him - or sleep with him - again. Especially not since she has Batman to comfort her.   Suddenly, Catwoman feels Batman pushing her away, and she warns him not to do that; to let her into his life. He responds that in their positions, they can't let their guards down and open up. He tells her to go away, and reluctantly, she rides off, warning that even a lone wolf like him needs a pack, sometimes.   After returning home, Selina returns to her search for Gwen, eventually concluding that if Detective Carlos Alvarez suspected her in a robbery, he likely has Gwen in custody, and is grilling her for Catwoman's identity. So, she will have to sneak into Gotham City Police Headquarters and plant a camera.   Gwen, meanwhile, is being questioned by Detective Alvarez, but her lawyer, Rolando Gimrack, prevents her from speaking. Eventually, Alvarez discovers that the evidence of Gwen's prints has gone missing, and he is forced to let her go. As Gwen is leaving, Selina arrives, but they fail to spot each other. Feigning a mugging (using her very real bruises as convincing proof), she sneaks into Alvarez' office and plants her micro-camera. While at the station, she encounters Rat-Tail, one of the drug dealers who has been using children to do his dirty work. Playing up her mugging, she convinces him to give her his card, so that he can protect her when she's in his neighborhood.   That night, Catwoman returns to the client and steals the paintings back from him, despite the fortune he paid for them. Some time later, Batman sees on the news that she replaced the paintings, but worries that he might have sullied their relationship all the same.   Elsewhere, something strange happens to Joe Pazzo, a man involved with the powerful people who were behind Gwen's release.