Barbara Gordon waited in her apartment for her guest to arrive, to keep herself occupied she was updating the files on the bat computer at stately Wayne mansion via her bat terminal. Alfred the butler a little alarmed by the continuing absence of the dynamic duo had made a telephone call to the St Atrapi hotel in France where Batman and Robin had been investigating some villainy. The owner; a certain mademoiselle de Baise had informed him that the dynamic duo had decided to extend their stay and take a few weeks holiday. Alfred had replied that they could use the rest and he hoped they would enjoy themselves. Mademoiselle de Baise assured him that they were being given the full attention of every member of staff. Thus reassured he'd then called Batgirl and told her that for the next month or so she would have to look after Gotham city by herself. It had all gone pretty swimmingly until the daredoll had taken a break of her own, specifically her left leg in two places. Although the riddler had also lost the use of his limbs in the collapsing building and been apprehended after Batgirl had called in; she now had her leg in plaster for the next six weeks or so. This of course meant that horror of horrors there were no costumed crusaders available to deal with the next crisis to hit Gotham's fair city. However the resourceful Barbara had contacted the IADC and had arranged for one of their top agents to help out, a certain Diana Prince a.k.a. Wonder Woman.
Diana Prince pulled into a space grabbed her luggage from the trunk and went to meet her fellow crime fighter. She hadn't been back in mans world for very long and had only recently joined the JLA. The introductions to her new friends and allies in the war on crime had been informative but brief and when Barbara Gordon a.k.a. Batgirls call had come in Diana had jumped at the chance to have a change of scene. As her own case load was cleared and things were pretty quiet she could afford to fill in for the terrific trio for a while and as agent Prince had informed Colonel Trevor that she would be assisting the Gotham City Police Department in their time of need. Diana walked brusquely up the stairs, she was looking forward to meeting the dominoed daredoll of Gotham city to swap stories and have a little girl talk. More importantly, although Batgirl had been temporarily disabled she would be able to provide valuable back up and support via the bat computer and she knew the turf. Diana found the apartment and knocked on the door.
Meanwhile: Across town in a disused plastics factory the felonious feline known
as Catwoman addressed her three associates. "Purrrfect with the dynamic dimwits
out of the way and the brainless bat bimbo laid up we shall be able to execute
operation Felidae with no interference and then we can bring Gotham City to it's
knees and no one will stand in our way Nyaahaahahahaaa!"
Or perhaps not!
Back in Barbara Gordons apartment Diana and Barbara were going over the procedures that they would adopt. Diana Prince would assist chief O'Hara and Commissioner Gordon directly which would save a lot of time, as Wonder Woman would be pretty much right there "subject to discreet locales to do the twirl in". If anything did come in on the Bat phone Alfred would reroute to Barbara who would call agent Prince on her mobile; also if Wonder Woman needed the services of the Bat computer she would be able to contact Batgirl either by using her alter ego and mobile or Wonder Woman could use a call box. The invisible plane was still at Washington DC but they would work out an arrangement with Alfred to hanger it at stately Wayne mansion. Thus prepared for anything and everything the talk turned to more pleasant matters as the two brightest jewels of the Justice League got ready for bed.
However: While Gotham city's finest and the police are slumbering in their beds
four figures are stealthily penetrating the maximum security wing of the Gotham
state psychiatric drugs research facility.
That is to say both the guards were ko'd and had their keys removed.
Once inside the four foes of justice moved quickly and efficiently to secure
their prizes and made a speedy but equally stealthy exit.
But obviously not before leaving a clue.
What's this four shady figures purloining proscribed substances - could it be
the first stage of operation Felidae?
Oh go on take a wild guess!
The following morning agent Diana Prince reported to commissioner Gordon for her first day as a special liaison officer between the Gotham City Police Department and other agencies. She got to commissioner Gordon's office and found chief O'Hara and commissioner Gordon in a state of total panic. "It's a poor day you've chosen to start sure and begorrah, Catwoman has stolen a massive quantity of new drugs and all the research papers that went with them" said the perspiring chief. "So we've no idea what she can do with these dangerous substances" added commissioner Gordon. Diana was beginning to think she knew why women's rights had advanced so far since world war two. She reassured her senior officers as best she could and asked how they knew it was Catwoman who had done this. "The queen of crime left a cat whisker at the scene; presumably to taunt us because she knows there is nothing we can do about it" replied commissioner Gordon. "If only the dynamic duo were here: Oh and Batgirl of course they could solve the case for us" said Gotham's chief of police. Diana decided that she had better get over to the crime scene before the two men had matching cardiacs. "If you'll excuse me gentlemen I'll see what I can do to track this feline felon down then try and contact Wonder Woman." With that Diana exited the room, as she went down the stairs she thought about what she had said. "Feline felon; does Gotham city have some kind of weird effect on people?"
Later at the crime scene Diana Prince having finished interviewing the security guards was asking the manager why nobody had asked the research scientist in charge of the project what the drug was. "Well agent Prince Dr Manxman cannot be located at this time, she's a bit odd at times and seems to have taken an impromptu holiday." Said the head of the facility. Diana shook hands and decided to check out this doctor's home.
As Diana drove she considered what she knew so far; the criminals had known exactly what to take and where to find it. This pointed to an inside as well as outside job and she didn't think she'd find Dr Manxman but she might find a few clues. Catwoman was known to her but only as a case file actually dealing with a costume wearing criminal would be a little different from her normal activities to date.
The two story house had been left rather hurriedly Diana thought, as she searched she found plenty of evidence to indicate a life that had been lived flitting from decent respectability to the shadier aspects of society. It was with some frustration that she found that hurried did not mean careless, there was no record of the doctor's work to be seen and the computer had been wiped clean. It was time to bring in the resident expert and her almost magical computer, a sort of latter day oracle.
Meanwhile: At the disused plastics factory Catwoman and her cohorts planned the
next phase of operation felidae.
"Well my kittens we are now ready for the next phase of our plan. We shall
distribute the pylene fifty into the city's water supply and the entire
population of Gotham will be subjected to an ultra powerful anti depressant.
"With every bank guard, cop and citizen hanging loose and having a really nice
day we shall steal everything worth stealing Nyahahahaa!" Said the queen of
crime.
Thank you that was most informative!
Diana and Barbara were putting their heads together and gradually a coherent picture began to emerge. Dr Manxman had probably been working for Catwoman for some time and this suggested that whatever scheme she had come up with this time was almost ready to go ahead, tonight most likely. It remained unknown exactly what the criminals had stolen but judging by the empty space around the containers there was a large quantity of it. This in turn suggested that their foes planned to do something really big, something that would affect the entire population of Gotham. Barbara checked the local airfields via the batcomputer looking for recent bookings of crop spraying aircraft but there were none. That meant..... "The Gotham city central reservoir, it's the only other way to distribute a drug throughout the entire city. It's six o'clock now Diana!" Even as Barbara spoke Diana was hurtling through the door, she then skidded to a halt and redfacedly asked Barbara for a map and directions.
Later that evening a skillfully hidden Wonder woman watched four figures get out of a nondescript black van bearing a number plate which read "TOP CAT". One of the figures was dressed in a black lurex catsuit including tail, two others obviously henchmen had leopard skin print jerseys and black pants, the final figure had a white coat and was probably Dr Manxman. All were concealing their true identies by wearing masks. The amazing amazon had guessed right in concealing herself around the sluice gates of the reservoir, it was the best spot to funnel a drug directly into peoples drinking water
Catwoman watched her henchmen carry one of the heavy fifty gallon drums out of the van and roll the thing toward the door of building housing the sluice gate controls (No fool her!). When seemingly out of nowhere a superheroine she'd heard about but never seen came streaking toward her men. Catwoman groaned aloud as the raven haired crime fighter kicked the fifty gallon drum right back into the van rupturing it and the other five drums, she fumed for a moment as the contents of the containers drained away. Wonder Woman struck her hands on hips pose and announced herself, Catwoman just said "Get that interfering idiot." Then battle commenced with the amazon quite impervious to anything the henchmen could do, evading their clumsy fists with consummate ease, and shrugging off any lucky blows that did land Wonder Woman threw the befuddled felons all over the place. However while she did this the cunning Catwoman loosed one of her anti bat catnip bombs into the melee. The two henchmen were long since immunised against this weapon and suffered no ill effects (Other than the normal pains you'd expect from getting thrown ten feet through the air and landing on tarmac.) Wonder Woman on the other hand was caught totally unaware by this underhand assault and quickly succumbed to the fumes losing consciousness.
Two hours later the amazing amazon awoke to find herself bound to a pole her arms secured to her sides and her magic belt and lasso gone. Wonder Woman looked about herself, she appeared to be in some weird chemistry lab she was situated directly in the middle of two halves of a clear plastic tube, it looked like a mould of some kind she thought. On a catwalk above and in front of her was the Catwoman who was running her finger over a console. "Greetings Wonder Woman, as I'm sure you are aware I am Catwoman and let me be the first and last supercriminal to welcome you to Gotham city. I looked up your weaknesses on the internet and relieved you of your amazon belt and lasso." Purred the lurex clad queen of crime as Wonder Woman struggled futilely to free herself. "You may have me Catwoman but your fiendish scheme has been foiled." Catwoman gestured to Dr Manxman who was standing by a large vat. "You have been only a temporary delay to operation felidae Wonder Woman. The good Doctor has already begun to mix up a new batch of pylene fifty, you'll even be able to watch it happen although not for long." "What do you mean by that?" Said the helpless heroine. "As you can see Wonder Woman you are attached to the centre of a large mould and when I press this button the mould halves will close and although we have no plastic the good Doctor has managed to come up with a large quantity of wax to encase you in. I'm afraid we won't be able to watch your demise you see we've contacted a gentleman who works for your old friends the cartel and he wishes to purchase your lovely belt and rope. When we get back we'll be able to pop you out and light you up, a true torch of liberty bwahahahaaa!" Catwoman gestured to the doctor and she went to the door, the queen of crime leant over the catwalk and pressed the button on the console grinning all the while. With a last purrrfect she also left the room and Wonder Woman saw the mould halves come together and felt the wax pumping up through the bottom of the now tube.
What's this? Wax coated Wonder Woman, is the amazing amazon about to become a crime fighting candle for the Catwoman? Will operation felidae get back on track after all? Go to chapter 2 for answers to these and other questions you haven't thought of.