Catwoman #59

Issue Details

Synopsis

ONLY HAPPY WHEN IT RAINS - FIGHT OR FLIGHT Catwoman is crawling through the Gotham City sewer system. She can't go out into the open because she's afraid Scarecrow will get her, but ever since the Quake, she's struggled with claustrophobia. It reminds her of she was afraid of everything before she put on the mask. She exits the sewer tunnel into a rainy night, and she asks, "How did I get to be so brave?"   Scarecrow, meanwhile, has continued his experiments with "FemFear". All the test subjects have died except Catwoman. He tells his henchman to dump the bodies, then gather together a gang to find Catwoman and bring her back here. He doesn't believe his henchman's claim that Catwoman is invulnerable to FemFear. He'll find a hidden handicap.  Catwoman stands on a rooftop looking down at the bank she robbed the other night. She's too afraid to go in to confront the security guard who insulted her, however, and when she sees a figure on the rooftop, she panics. She thinks it could be Scarecrow, the cops, or Batman.   She kicks the figure in the face and orders him to explain himself. He says his name is Dane, and he's a fan of hers who says she knows how messed-up it is on the streets and knows she has to take what she wants because no one will ever give it to her. She identifies him as the admirer who left the necklace above Felker Avenue. He says he left other gifts, but she only found the one.   When Catwoman goes to leave, he grabs her arm and says he believes in her cause. She doesn't have a cause, but he insists she stands for something because she took what life dealt her and turned herself into something different. The longer she stands there listening to him, the angrier she gets, and the angrier she is, the less afraid she feels.   She storms off, but she doesn't get far before Dane is surrounded by Scarecrow's men and attacked. She turns back to save him. The henchmen are surprised she's able to fight back. She gets Dane to safety and tells him to stay away from her--or she'll pulverize him herself--and she takes off running with Scarecrow's men behind her.   The henchmen fire FemFear syringes at her as she runs, but none manage to hit her. One does hit the roof she was running on, which collapses due to the force and the damage from the Quake, and she falls into the building below. The fear toxin in her veins makes her think that it's hopeless and she should just give in, but something in her fights back, and she catches herself with her whip before she can hit the ground.   The henchmen soon find her. Catwoman knows they have more FemFear and that another dose might kill her, so she fights back, throwing a brick at them before running.   The henchmen chase after her. She knows they're herding her somewhere, but she doesn't know where. She runs inside Gotham State University. The men chase her through the halls until she climbs up through a ventilation shaft.   She is horrified when they try to follow her in there. There's not enough room, and all they'll all suffocate if they do. She won't have enough room to maneuver to fight either. She screams as something snaps back into place.   She turns to better kick at her pursuers' heads as they try to grab her, and she scampers further into the ventilation shaft. A smarter henchman sneaks ahead of her and tries to shoot her with a syringe again, but she dodges and it hits a man behind her. The next time he tries to shoot, she redirects his arm so that syringe hits another pursuer.   She makes her way to the chemistry lab where Scarecrow has holed himself up, and she jumps down. Scarecrow tells her he's always had an affinity for the school and describes them both as deviants as he readies a syringe full of FemFear. He doesn't get the chance to inject it, however, because Catwoman scratches her claws against the chalkboard.   Scarecrow wants to know if she's going to make this difficult. Catwoman grabs the syringe from him and asks if it's true that if someone is exposed to a chemical enough they become immune. She says she's been exposed to fear so much in her life that she's learned to use it to her advantage.   She injects herself with the FemFear.