Catwoman #73

Issue Details

Synopsis

CRIME PAYS PART 2 Selina watches as her apartment building goes up in flames. She runs away through an alley, thinking that it's probably a good thing Helena is far, far away.   She breaks into a Goth M store where she steals new shoes, clothes, and a mask. She is about to steal the day's receipts when a rent-a-cop interrupts her, shocked that the thief is a woman. She smirks, and in the next scene, the rent-a-cop is telling the police that his attacker was a man, six-foot-five and two hundred and fifty pounds. There might have even been two of them.  Selina heads to the Gotham Terminal where she has a locker. The locker is empty, however, and the thief left behind a note that reads "Missing something?" with a smiley face. Selina is enraged, and she punches the locker closed as passersby stare. She jumps the turnstile to catch a train, and she spends the ride considering who could have done this... the Riddler? the Joker? It doesn't matter. All she needs to do now is figure out who to beat up.   She slams Calculator into his computers and demands that he tell her who's doing this. He doesn't know. Whoever did this is very good. They left behind no evidence whatsoever, and they robbed a locker that no one but Selina knew about. Selina complains that not even Calculator knows where her mask is, and he says he knows where one exactly like it is.   Conrad Krupp is a wealthy man who lives in a house not unlike Wayne Manor, only bigger, darker, and stranger. Selina is glad it isn't Wayne Manor after asking Bruce for help so much recently. She breaks in to find Krupp has a massive collection of supervillain paraphernalia.   She walks through the aisles, past Captain Cold's glasses and the Riddler's suit, an exploding Joker hand, the Penguin's umbrella, and her own mask on a manikin head that has been given a mouth in red lipstick. It's creepy, but she can't complain right now.   Selina is then knocked over the head from behind by Krupp's guards. Krupp tells them not to call the police and to deal with it themselves, but Selina handles the two guards ably. One begins to fire a gun, but Krupp stops him in the name of his artifacts. Selina drops the Joker hand on the other guard, causing an explosion. Krupp yells at Selina for destroying his artifacts, and she intimidates him, telling him the next thing that will happen is that she's going to take one of his artifacts and he's not going to do anything about it. On second thought, make that two pieces.   Selina leaves with her Catwoman mask and the old Calculator suit. Krupp asks if she's really Catwoman, and Selina says, "You're damn right I am." She jumps out the window, leaving Krupp to stare at her in shock.   Back at his hideout, Calculator tells Catwoman he has another present for her. The police found a matchbook insider her old place for the Tradewinds. Catwoman leaves to investigate, so Calculator waits five minutes before making a call to tell someone that she's on her way.   Catwoman stands in the Tradewinds and tells everyone there that if they tell her what she wants to know about the fire, no one needs to make a stop at Gotham Memorial. She knows this is a trap, and she realizes that Calculator drugged her coffee when she was at his place earlier as the patrons of the bar surround and attack her.   The Thief puts a stop to the beat-down and says, "Baby. Belongings. Home. I guess there's just one more thing left for you to lose, right, Catwoman? Sorry..." He points a gun at her head. "But it's time for me to take that too."