Catwoman #65

Issue Details

Synopsis

HINTS AND ALLEGATIONS PART 3 - MENAGE A TROIS Catwoman tries to warn the fans in the Gotham Dome to get away from her, but her laughter from the Joker Venom doesn't convince them. They think she is a cheerleader celebrating the first game since the Quake.   The men grab her when she tries to run away, and the camera men think that it's part of a bit, especially when one of the Joker's henchmen, dressed like a cat, starts reading lines. Catwoman kicks him, and he fires his gun at her. The people run.  Suddenly, the lights go out, and Batman tells the camera men that they stay off. The two men bicker over who should disobey him and turn the lights back on as Batman leaps into the fray. He grabs the gun from the henchman and tells a laughing Catwoman there are still two more.   She snatches a batarang from his belt and throws it at one of them, hitting him in the head and causing him to drop his gun. She dives at the last, and together she and Batman finish him off as she breaks down into laughter again.   Batman gives Catwoman the antidote and tells her that she confuses him. He doesn't understand how she can so consistently disregard societal law and yet so casually risk her life to save others. She wants to know which part he objects to.   Batman says the police are on their way, and if she's lucky, they'll lock her up somewhere where the Joker can't find her. She asks what they'd lock her away for since she obviously isn't on the same side as the men she fought.   She won't go to Blackgate Penitentiary just to hide from the Joker, but she'll submit to Batman's protection. If he's guarding her, the Joker can't hurt any more bystanders, and together they can figure out a way to stop him.   Batman doesn't get the chance to answer before the Joker appears to gloat over his "success" in getting the two together. Batman leaps up to the balcony to fight him, but he soon jumps back down and holds his hand out for Catwoman. She's right. There are too many civilians around, and her strategy gives them time to find safe terrain.   Catwoman is thrilled she had a better idea than Batman (and that he's admitting it), and he tells it will make a good story... if she leaves out the part where he let her steal and destroy only one of his trackers. He still has another he can use to find her.   Catwoman and Batman camp out in an abandoned building that was destroyed by the Quake. Catwoman thinks Batman could have picked somewhere more romantic, or at least warmer, but she's going to wait this out until the end.   She makes friends with a stray cat and asks "Lost your home in the Quake, handsome?" Batman isn't looking at her and overhears. He thinks she means him and asks "How did you--?" Batman cuts himself off and falls silent. Catwoman says she didn't know and apologizes. It must be hard for him to see Gotham like this.   Another missile comes flying towards them, and the building blows up. The Joker laughs, but he is discontented when he thinks Catwoman and Batman "evaporated." They jump out, in perfect health, and capture the Joker, who is upset Catwoman didn't make a quip. He asks "Doesn't she know how to go out on a laugh?" and reveals a bomb vest. Batman yells for Catwoman to get away, but she dives at the Joker instead.   The bomb is revealed to be a smoke bomb as Catwoman grabs the Joker by the lapels. She demands an explanation for the past forty-eight hours of her life. Batman doesn't think the Joker needs a reason to murder people, and the Joker says he didn't murder anyone--his girlfriend did.   Catwoman and Batman are shocked the Joker thinks they're dating. The Joker insists they're made for each other. He lists off his supposed evidence and claims he, who knows exactly how to get under Batman's skin, knew that nothing would upset him more than turning Catwoman into a killer. Catwoman punches the Joker unconscious.   Batman asks if that made her feel better, and she says it wasn't enough. They hear a ticking sound and realize the Joker's bomb vest had two bombs. One was the smoke bomb, and the other will only go off if he fell unconscious. Catwoman tells Batman to let him blow up, but he doesn't work that way. He throws the bomb vest into the sky.   The Joker wakes up with his arms bound and Batman's cape across him. Catwoman tells him they're escaping, and she couldn't let Batman hurt him. She carries the Joker up into a cell and tells him he was right. They both spend too much time thinking about Batman. That's why she decided to kill him, she declares, and she kisses the Joker on the mouth. The Joker is horrified that she killed his Batman, and he screams out as Catwoman climbs back down.   Batman, meanwhile, waits for her (capeless) outside.