Catwoman #87

Issue Details

Synopsis

CASA DE MUHER-GATO Two police officers are shooting at Catwoman as she crosses the border into Mexico on what is supposed to be a simple courier job that she took to escape her recent troubles in Gotham.   The only catch is that Catwoman must go to Casa Muñez to find out what she's supposed to delivering. To get there, she goes into a bar and convinces a spring-breaker named Winfred to buy her a drink. Once he's drunk, she steals his car. She forgets to take his wallet, but she consoles herself that she can lift it on the return trip.  The gates of Casa Muñez, a large and luxurious plantation, open as the driverless car goes barreling through, stopping only when it drives into the pool.   Catwoman is already inside the plantation's library with her employer for this job, Miguel Ruperto Muñez. Catwoman demands that he show her the package she's meant to be delivering immediately.   Muñez tells Catwoman that he's a lawyer who specializes in defending smugglers. He drives her to a small village composed of huts where armed soldiers "guard" preteen girls and a hut that holds several young children, and Catwoman figures out that this is a child trafficking operation. She attacks Muñez, but he asks her to speak to "Mother."   The children's mother asks Catwoman to please take her children to America. The ones who leave can send money back for their mother and siblings, who Muñez promises will have a brick house with a tin roof.   Muñez claims this is actually an adoption scheme where the birth parents are compensated for allowing their children to be adopted by wealthy families abroad, but Catwoman asks why he doesn't just give them the money himself. Muñez asks, "Why don't you?"   Catwoman agrees to take the job for double the price--a hundred thousand dollars.   Selina drives three little girls (Theresa, Maria, and Juanita) back to the restaurant where she robbed Winfred earlier, but he's still there. He confronts her, and she offers him a deal: If he gives her and the girls a lift, she'll take him to his dad's car.   Once inside the car, Selina asks Winfred if he has his driver's license, and he realizes he must have left his wallet inside the bar. He leaves to go get it, and one of the little girls climbs into the driver's seat and takes off.   Selina delivers the children to their adoptive parents in Southern California. She waits a week for the money to come in, but it doesn't.   Catwoman jumps the border into Mexico again, but this time, the border is more heavily guarded and there are five guards shooting at her and a helicopter.   She escapes, managing to make it to the same bar as before where she once again runs into Winfred--who recognizes her even in her Catwoman costume.   Catwoman confronts Muñez, who tells her the money is the least of her problems. She entered Mexico illegally, purloined private property, and absconded with three native children with forged immigration papers. She requires representation, and he offers his services. She attacks him and escapes as he shouts that she won't get far--he owns everyone from the police down south.   Muñez goes to speak to the three children's mother, who cries when he tells her that Catwoman absconded with the money, meaning that she and her remaining children won't get what he promised them.   Once Muñez and his guard Pablo are gone, however, it is revealed that Catwoman is hiding under a blanket. The mother demands to know how Catwoman could cheat them, but she shows her a photograph of her daughters with their adoptive parents. She reveals this is Muñez's scam: he sells rich Americans impoverished children, pockets the money, and frames the delivery person for stealing it.   The mother says Muñez is evil, but what can women like herself do to stop him? Catwoman reminds her that one of these women is her.   Catwoman lies in wait in the library of Casa Muñez. Muñez calls for his guards when he finds her there, but his guards have traded sides in favor of their families.   Pablo holds a gun on Muñez as Catwoman tells him she's the new lord of the manor. And her first act as such is leasing Casa Muñez to the impoverished families he took advantage of, indefinitely.   Muñez says they can't take his home as two guards drag him away, but they have a new home just for him--the hut village that lies empty now that its residents all in Casa Muñez.