Dick took a bite out of his sandwich as Oswald spoke.

"After you sneak through security, you'll lower yourself down and use this to blow up the safe." Oswald informed
As he held on to the a miniature bomb. "It's not big enough to make too much noise. Just make sure you back away before you activate it to avoid hurting yourself."

"mm o go' eh." Dick said with his mouth full of food.

Penguin and a few technical experts had already gone over everything he needed to know, Dick knew this, but he patiently listened again.

"After, you'll need to be quick. The facility will realize something's not right and they'll check on the money. Be sure to  stuff as much as you can in the bag."

Dick nodded enthusiastically.

"Then you'll escape the same way you came in. Someone will be waiting for you in a car to escape."

Dick gave a thumbs up.

"The whole time you'll have a walkie-talkie to communicate with me if you need to. Any questions?" He finished.

Dick swallowed his food. "Nope. When do we start?"

"In an hour. That's when the bank closes." Oswald said.

"Oh, ok." Dick approved. "Can I go outside?"

"Why do you want to go outside?" Penguin asked suspiciously.

Dick scratched the back of his head, "well, there's this cat I found earlier, and I wanna see if she's alright."

Penguin sighed. Children, he thought.

"Go ahead. Just make sure you come back within an hour." He warned.

"Okie dokie." dick sang. He ran out of club and onto the sidewalk that he was jumping into puddles on. It felt so long ago, but it was just earlier that day.

"Ninja! Ninja, ninja!" Dick called out. He took a piece of bread out of his pocket. "I saved some just for you!"

He looked around to see if Ninja had come back yet. She didn't.

"Come on, you're missing on some great stuff! Really, rich people food is really good!"

Still nothing.

Dick puckered his lips sadly and plopped himself on the floor, getting his new clothes dirty.

While he waited for Ninja to possibly show up, he got lost in his thoughts.

Making that deal with penguin wasn't a bad idea. At first he was hesitant because one: the idea of revenge and two: breaking into a bank. The whole thing seemed like one big mistake, but Dick didn't really have anything else going for him, so he said yes.

Besides, he said the bank steals, too. So they're just making it even, right?

Anyways, now he has clothes and gets food. That's already way better than his situation before.

But once Penguin gets the money, will he throw Dick away? Will he be on the streets again?

"You have a lot of potential..." he said. Did he mean it? Or was that just to lure him into accepting the deal?

Well, it doesn't matter anymore. He already accepted and in an hour, he'd be breaking into a bank. The thing that scared Dick was that if he got caught, he'd go back to the place he worked so hard to escape.

Sigh. What was I doing again? Oh yeah.

Ninjaaaaaaaa...." he moaned.

"So that's what you named her?" A female voice asked.

Dick jumped and hastily turned around for the second time that day.

He widened his eyes upon looking at her. She was a tall woman in a tight, black body suit. She had black gloves and boots along with a mask that had cat ears.

"Uhhh..." he stammered.

The lady raised an eyebrow, amused.

Dick didn't know what to say so he inspected her features. He quickly noticed that she had the same eyes as Ninja!

"You have the same eyes as her." Dick said in awe.

"As the cat?" She chuckled.

Dick nodded.

"Hmm, you're right. We even have the same hair color." The woman described. She was looking far off into an ally. "Come here, girl."

Immediately after, the one and only Ninja came running to her.

Dick gasped, "Ninja!"

The cat noticed the food in his hand and meowed.

"Here." He said as he gave it to her.

"I saw you earlier with her, you know. I left to give her food because she's so skinny, but when I came back she was gone. Turns out she was feasting on noodles." The woman explained.

Dick titled his head slightly. "Oh, she's yours?"

"Nope. She belongs to nobody." She said. "Anyways, what's a kid your age doing in a club?"

"It's a long story." Dick said.

"I bet it is." The lady agreed. "The name's Catwoman. And yours is-?"

"Richard Grayson, but you can call me Dick." He replied.

"Sure thing, Dick." She said while putting her hands on her hips.

He smiled. It's been a while since anyone has called him that.

"So, why are you dressed like a cat?" Dick wondered.

She shrugged. "I like cats. Heh, I least I don't dress like a bat" Catwoman muttered.

Dick had no idea what she meant by that but ignored it.

"Well, I think you look super cool!" Dick complimented happily.

Catwoman smirked. "Thanks, kid. It's dark so I can blend in at night and tight so I can move around easily. The mask is to protect my identity. The boots and ears are for show." She admitted with a lazy shrug.

"Wow.. what do you do at night that involves all that?" He inquired.

Catwoman had a mischievous glint in her eye. "The usual, sneaking in places and fighting people."

"Sneaking...Fighting?" Dick gaped.

"Yeah, kid. Look- come here." She said as she walked into and further down the alley.

Dick debated on whether it was a good idea to follow a stranger into a dark alley, but he felt like he could trust this person. So he followed her.

Catwoman got in a fighting stance and raised her fists defensively. "Copy me."

"O-okay." Dick said nervously.

"Now squeeze your fist and try punching me. Don't worry about hurting me." Catwoman assured.

He did as told and attempted to punch her, but she blocked it with her arms. "See, if you put your arms like this, you can defend yourself at least a little." She explained.

Dick grinned and nodded excitedly. "Cool!"

Catwoman smiled at the look on the boy's face.

"Alright, now this time I'll punch you and you defend yourself. I won't do it roughly." She proposed.

"Got it." Dick announced.

She aimed toward his face. Of course, she went slower than she normally would in a real fight. Dick managed to sorta defend his face, but now he was out of fighting stance. It was good for a beginner, though, especially for someone so young as him.

Catwoman clapped. "Nice. It was a good first try."

Dick giggled shyly. "Thanks."

Dick was enjoying himself so much that he forgot about the time. His eyes widened. "Oh my god, the time! How long have I been with you?" He shrieked.

Catwoman looked up and thought for a moment. "I'd say about an hour. Why?"

"Eek! I gotta go!" He yelled. "See you!" He said as he started running towards the club.

"Wait!" Catwoman called out. This caused Dick to stop and turn his head back to her.

"Will you be back?" She asked, concerned.

"I should be, yeah." He anxiously replied,

Catwoman let out a breathe she didn't know she had been holding. "Good. Let's meet again, okay? Maybe tomorrow. I can teach you more stuff."

Dick beamed. "Yes, totally!"

"Awesome. Now go to where you have to be. I don't want to keep you here any longer." Catwoman expressed. "Bye, Dick."

"Bye, Catwoman!" He shouted. He dashed back to The Iceberg Lounge.

Penguin was totally going to be mad at him.

This chapter was so much fun to write! I really enjoyed writing the Dick and Catwoman scene. So you can expect more of that!