Catwoman #80

Issue Details

Synopsis

KITTEN IN A CAGE Two guards wrestle Catwoman into Director Norsing's office where she declares there's been a mistake and she's not supposed to be in prison. Norsing tells her this isn't a prison but part of the Cinque Foundation's experimental rehabilitation program.   Norsing explains the program in more detail before asking "Jane Doe" what her name is, so she can process her properly. Catwoman refuses to tell her, so Norsing decides that if she'd rather be "Catwoman," then she can wear the Catoman costume (minus the claws and the mask) until she decides to cooperate with the program.  Sergeant Perez takes Catwoman to the room she'll be sharing with Uniqua Roche.   Uniqua tells Catwoman she's lucky she already has a name on the outside because she'll have no trouble joining a gang, but Catwoman isn't interested in joining a gang. Uniqua warns her that the first thing she has to learn in here is that she doesn't get a choice--she'll do whatever it takes to get by until she gets out.   Uniqua blows up when Catwoman asks her what she did to get put in here. Their conversation is then interrupted by a nurse who brings them their medication. Catwoman says she isn't sick, but the nurse insists. Catwoman takes the pills, but she throws them up once the nurse is gone.   Uniqua says they use the pills to keep them quiet and complacent, and Catwoman wants to know who she can complain to. Uniqua says there's no one. This is a private treatment program that they all volunteered for. There's no way to contact the outside, and by the time they get out, they'll be too zombified to tell anyone.   At dinner the women yell out taunts to Catwoman because she is wearing her costume, and Uniqua defends her by saying it is only temporary until she joins a gang. Anna Chang attempts to recruit Catwoman for her gang, but when she insults Uniqua's gang, it turns to violence.   Uniqua and Catwoman run as the guards arrive and taser Chang. Perez pulls out a knife and stabs the downed Chang in the back.   Catwoman tries to talk to Uniqua about Chang's death, but Uniqua claims she didn't see anything and neither did Catwoman.   The next morning, Uniqua asks Catwoman to get through breakfast without a fight, and when they sit down, all the members of Uniqua's gang stand up to find other seats. Instead of morning announcements, Norsing joins them for breakfast and says Chang has left the program. Security tapes of the fight will be reviewed to find out who was involved.   The women are dismissed to take their showers. Catwoman gets into another fight in the showers, and afterwards, Norsing tells her she knows she was involved in the fight last night too. She asks Catwoman for her real name, but she refuses to speak. Norsing orders a sergeant to escort Catwoman, clad only in a towel, to "the timeout room."   Catwoman is thrown into solitary, naked, and as the door closes, she says to no one: "You don't understand. I'm not supposed to be here."