Showcase: Catwoman
Cat Fight
by Libbylawrence
CAT FIGHT: Part 1
Maty Lopez spun to the beat of the music. She wore a daring hot pink mini dress with heels. All eyes were upon her as what seemed to be the entire staff of Rock Music magazine celebrated their tenth anniversary issue with a grand party.
She tossed her reddish brown hair and enjoyed the sensation.
Cries rose as cheers began to fill the room!
“All right! I’ve got them! I bet Rick Devon’s sure to ask me out after this performance!” she thought with a smile.
She turned to see the other staff members cheering… the dancing form of Yolanda Montez!
Yolanda was not on the dance floor! Instead the beautiful writer was dancing on the club bar! Her strapless gold lame mini dress shimmered as she shimmied!
One of the most appreciative males was indeed the editor Rick Devon!
“What a woman! All that and she writes like Lois Kent crossed with Hunter Thompson!” he laughed.
A jealous Maty stalked out of the club.
“She always steals the limelight! That hussy! No doubt Rick will give her the Duran Duran premiere party story too! It’s not fair! I’ll make her sorry she ever crossed my path!” vowed a tearful Maty Lopez.
CAT FIGHT: Part 2
In a fashionable manor, an elderly yet elegant woman listened with interest.
“Our success is assured. By combining your unique talents with my science, we have created a truly superior …product, shall we say?” bragged a graying old man in a white coat.
The regal woman wore all black with a spider emblem blazed across her gown.
“But we need the perfect subject to maximize our results. Perhaps, the Huntress?” she said.
“No! Too dangerous. Too clinical. We need passion. Someone full of animalistic energy. The Huntress is from all reports totally in control at all times. I suggest the obvious choice: Catwoman!” he said.
The Black Widow smiled, “She is dead. You need to leave the lab more often.”
The scientist shook his head. “No! No! I refer to the newest woman to wear that costume. There is an heir to the title of Catwoman.”
The woman smiled coldly. “Then, by all means, bring her to me!”
He said, “I took the liberty of sending for some special agents to do just that!”
CAT FIGHT: Part 3
Lew Ruby was a busy man. With three boy bands and the next Debbie Gibson all on his label, the record exec. had little time for a quality meal. Thus, he ate fast food at his desk. The burger was greasy, the fries cold. All in all it made for a poor final meal.
He grunted as the office door swung open.
“Doris! Hold my calls. I gotta line up a tabloid story to promote Stacy’s new single. How about an affair with the leader of the Romantics?” he said.
“Ruby, you have hurt me. While other musicians claim to suffer for their art, Death knell, lets others do the suffering for her!” said a silky voice black haired beauty.
She pursed her lips and a beautiful sound filled the room.
Tears poured from Ruby’s eyes as he was moved by the passion and drama her heard and felt within her song.
Then, she reached a crescendo and he sat there… dead to the world around him. In fact, just dead!
Death knell smiled and walked out with all the air of triumph of a true diva.
CAT FIGHT: Part 4
In a seedy gym, a heavyweight wanna be worked out.
He slammed the bag with amazing force.
He was dedicated. He was talented. He wanted to be the next Mike Tyson!
The old man who encouraged him was tough too. Tough, bitter, and dangerous to be exact.
“Not bad, Rocko. Not bad at all.” he said.
“Yeah! I know. That’s why I’m leavin’ ya, King. I got my hopes set on signing with a better trainer who can get me to the top.” said Rocko as he toweled off.
The old man frowned. “Disloyalty! I don’t like that. If ya can’t depend on your pupils then what’s left in the Noble Art for a broken down pug like me?”
Rocko said, “We ain’t got no contract. I was under age when I signed. Big Sal says you can’t hold me.”
Diamond said, “No. Legally I can do nothing. However, it is fortunate that I abandoned any pretense to legality before you were born. Delilah, take care of our errant pupil!”
A pretty woman with short blonde hair entered the ring. She looked fragile, almost frail but that was where appearance proved deceiving.
She smiled eagerly. “I’m going to enjoy this. Haven’t killed a man with my fists in… what?… days!”
She caught Rocko with a left hook and began battering him. She moved with the grace of a dancer and the savagery of a butcher. In a matter of minutes, the blonde had beaten an outclassed Rocko Minelli to death. He had never even connected once.
She rolled him aside with one foot and smiled at her father.
“Good, Daddy?” she asked.
“Very good, darling. Very good indeed!” smirked Dan “The Diamond” King.
“I got news for you. I should like you to visit a gentlemen for me. His name is Skinner.” said the evil old man.
“Is he the one I think he is? I’ve trained so long for this! Is it finally time?” said Nina Diamond.
“It is time. The men who put the Diamond away all those years ago are gonna regret it.” he said.
Diamondback smiled eagerly. “I do love a fight!”
CAT FIGHT: Part 5
Yolanda yawned, hopped out of bed, and dressed quickly. She entered her family kitchen and smiled at the sight of her mother Maria Montez.
“Mama! You don’t have to keep breakfast waiting for me! I got in late last night!” she said as she kissed her mother.
“Yolanda! You still move as quietly as a cat! I suppose that is appropriate, right? I wanted to talk to you so sit, eat! Is that what you are wearing to work? The fishnets are tacky and torn!” she chided.
“It is the style. In fact the truth is, to really fit in at some of the concerts I cover, I would need to pierce my…!” she began with a smile.
“Enough with your teasing! I must speak seriously to you for once. It says something does it not about our family, that our rooftop prowling crime fighting daughter is the one we do NOT worry about!” said Maria.
“Is something wrong with Jose? Or Poppa?” asked Yolanda as she spread jelly across toast.
“Si! They both worry me. The men of the Montez line think they must carry the world’s weight alone. Carlos is worried about something. He won’t say what it is. I found this in his bag.”
She held out a note with pasted on letters. It was an obscenity filled death threat.
Yolanda curled it up in her hand. Brightly painted nails gleamed in the morning light.
“Poor Papa. As the boxing ring’s Mauler, he made his name and apparently a few enemies. I shall follow him just to be safe. Also let me take this note to a friend.” she said as she held her mother’s hand.
“Such a good girl! As for your little brother, ah no! Your brother, he forgot his lunch! Plus, his grades are down. He is in trouble at school!” scolded Maria.
Yolanda smoothed down her leather skirt and grabbed the brown paper sack.
“Worse still! He didn’t just leave his lunch bag. He accidentally took a bag in which I had tossed my Catwoman costume! I needed you to sew it after my fight with Lionmane.” she said.
“I better catch him. By oversleeping I’m already too late to stop him before he got to school but if I take my scenic route, I can just get them before his lunch period!” said Yolanda as she raced out the door.
“What a good girl but those clothes!” said a concerned Maria.
CAT FIGHT: Part 6
Having kicked off her heels, and taken a shortcut of truly vertigo inducing nature across several high-rises and a highway, Yolanda had made record time to the school and back out!
“Jose skipped today! He must be at the skateboard lot. He never leaves home without that board!” she mused as she climbed across the rooftops and slid effortlessly down a drainpipe to land above a paved lot.
Kids were yelling and skating in rare abandon.
“I skipped school often enough but I don’t want Jose to risk his future that way! If I had not been spotted dancing at that club, I’d never have been put in the Kryptonite Kiss video. That led to my first person account being bought by Vibe. That in turn helped launch my journalism career. Not that a couple years of night classes didn’t pay off too. My framed degree is like a shrine in our home!”
She spotted Jose and whistled.
“Over here, now!” she said.
“What a babe!” said a redheaded kid.
“It’s that honey from MTV!” said another.
“Naw! It’s just my boss big sister. She thinks she’s so hot!” said Jose as he hurried over.
“Here’s your lunch. Now grab your board. I’m taking you back to school. This skipping is serious. Think how Papa would react. You’d get the belt for sure!” she said as he pushed him forward.
“OK, OK. I don’t see why you had to stalk me!” he muttered.
“It’s for your own good. Come on, you know I would not steer you wrong.” she said.
“Yeah! If a guy can’t trust Catwoman!” sneered Jose.
Yolanda whirled about. “Tell me, you didn’t show that suit to anyone else!”
He grinned, “No way. I can keep a secret if…!”
She laughed, “No deal. You keep still about my hobby and I’ll keep mum this time about the playing hooky.”
“Deal!” he said.
CAT FIGHT: Part 7
Later back at a pay phone, Yolanda had called to say she was running late and would be at the magazine later.
Then, she hurried to her father’s little gym.
“Good! No sign of trouble! How do I help Papa when he’s too stubborn to admit that he needs help! That threat looked serious. Meg says no prints were on it and I guess that’s typical but you can’t blame a gal for trying.” she mused.
“Hey Good Lookin! Come to take me away from all this!” smiled an old man.
“Come to add Pep to Pep Morgan himself!” she winked.
“Your old man is in his office.” said Pep Morgan.
Yolanda walked by the ring where a couple of kids were practicing.
“Wolf whistles! I should get cat calls!” she joked to herself as the men greeted her arrival.
“Papa! How about lunch?” she said.
Carlos grinned, “I’d like that but I have bad news. Sammy Skinner was attacked today. Beaten to an inch of his life before cops arrived. He’s in bad shape.”
Yolanda frowned, “He’s Uncle Ted’s old buddy.”
“No. His buddy’s son. Stretch’s boy. The private eye. Ted taught the kid.” said Carlos.
Yolanda wondered if Sam Skinner had also received a threatening note. The Feline Femme Fatale would not rest until she could be sure her father was safe.
CAT FIGHT: Part 8
Lindsay Skye was a VJ! She made the distinction between VJ and DJ fiercely with pride. She considered herself a pioneer in the transition from print media to broadcast media coverage of music. She was right. She was also about to die.
The woman with her spikey blonde do bobbed along until she was stopped by a woman in long green robes over a jumpsuit.
“Do you want an autograph? You!” she gasped.
The raven haired beauty sang.
Lindsay fell forward in a swoon and died.
Death knell kicked her aside.
“You mocked my video on your insipid countdown show. I guess I cancelled you!” she said.
CAT FIGHT: Part 9
Yolanda felt safe in leaving her father at the hospital where he was joined by Ted Grant – the Wildcat!
“If Uncle Ted isn’t protection enough then no one is! I can use this time while they visit Sammy to finish some last minute tasks at Rock Star.” she mused.
She reached the office and quickly thumbed through some messages on her cluttered desk.
“Prince again! That guy won’t take no for an answer. Hate to Purple Rain on his parade but enough is enough! all right! My interview with Billy Idol made front page!” she thought.
Then she spotted the busy photo editor Parker! She called his name and rushed out to catch him.
As she exited her office door, another staffer entered from the other door.
“Yolanda! Rick wants to see you if you can make time with , I mean make time for him!” said Maty in a catty tone.
“Cheap perfume. Just missed her. Hmm, what’s this? Maybe, a lead on a story that won’t fall in Miss Hot Leg’s lap!” said Maty Lopez.
She pulled out the Catwoman costume and smiled.
“If this isn’t some kinky nightwear then Yolanda might BE the story of the day! I could expose her for all the world to see!” smiled Maty.
She slipped the costume back in the bag and rushed out with it under one arm.
This action would change her life.
CAT FIGHT: Part 10
No sooner had Maty slipped into her own office than an agile figure climbed to the window and watched her as she held the purple costume up to her chest.
“Montez is the new Catwoman! Perhaps, I could blackmail her into resigning from the magazine. It all depends upon how much she values her privacy.” thought Maty.
At that moment an agile figure crashed into the office. He sniffed as he entered.
He landed on both feet. He wore a brown costume with a hood. His eyes glanced right and left and he said, “Catwoman! I have found you!”
Maty gasped and jumped over the desk for the door.
As fast as the former gymnast was, the man was quicker. He grabbed her by her long red brown hair and slammed her into the desk.
She passed out and he carried her out the window.
“Mission accomplished!” he said.
The costume and bag lay on the carpeted floor of Maty Lopez’s office.
CAT FIGHT: Part 11
Yolanda had gotten the signature she had needed and returned to find her bag missing. She rushed out into the hall in time to hear the sound of a struggle from the Lopez office.
She shoved the door open and saw a shattered window, an empty office, and her precious costume!
“Of all the people to find my costume, it would have to be Maty! She’d love to choke me with my own fishnets! She also seems to have been abducted!” mused a frantic Yolanda.
She locked the door, slipped into her Catwoman costume and jumped out the window. She flipped through the air nimbly to land perfectly on a flagpole below. Her weight bent it down and propelled her next leap so she continued across the street.
“No sign of her. No body. No fighting forms. I know I saw blood on the desk. Someone or something took her out that window but why did they leave the costume behind? Is this connected with the attack on Sam Skinner?” mused the leggy heroine as she crossed the city.
“Here, kitty, kitty, kitty.” called a harsh voice.
She turned to see two costumed figures.
“Very funny, Bludg.” giggled the woman.
“Catwoman! Our boss wants you bad. Come quietly or better yet let’s play!” said the gray and blue costumed man.
“You two nut cases are just what this little kitty needs… to sink her claws into!” she snarled.
She dodged as the hulking man slammed down his fists and shattered the rooftop. His hands were covered by hammer like gauntlets.
She reeled from the sheer impact and felt a blade spin across one hip.
The woman hurled another circular blade toward her.
She spun aside and kicked the man in the chin. Three swift kicks followed and she grunted as the woman’s own kick caught her hip.
“Nobody hurts my husband except me!” said Razorette.
Catwoman grinned, “Sounds like a song.”
She jumped up and over the woman’s charge and slapped her across the face.
Bludgeon roared and swung at Yolanda.
She felt the sheer wind of impact and flung herself to safety. Three acrobatic flips enabled the Curvy Kitty to land at a safe distance from the deadly pair.
“This Bonnie and Clyde from a hardware store need to be taken down fast so I can find Maty and protect Papa!” she thought.
Her hip was bleeding from the cut but she kicked the woman called Razorette in the chin and flipped her over her back.
She landed directly on top of her angry spouse.
Her blade cut through his armored suit and his heavy fists glanced off her head.
“Ya made me hit Razorette!” he roared as he bled.
“That was the idea, Edison!” smiled Catwoman as she tripped him and sent him crashing to the next level balcony.
“Great! That armored suit cushioned his fall just enough. Now, to call in the police and track down Maty!” she said with a sigh.
“And the day started out so well!” she said with a shrug.
CAT FIGHT: Part 12
At the hospital Ted Grant tried to get a laugh out of the battered Sammy Skinner. The former hero called Bearcat was in bad shape. He had long ago lost his youthful athleticism.
Carlos turned to Ted and said, “Ted, I got a note. A threatening one. I wondered if Sammy did too. He and I once testified against a boxing racketeer named Diamond. Sammy got the evidence on him and I was a witness. He went to jail for 25 years and he could be after revenge.”
Ted nodded, “Diamond King! I had forgotten that loser. I’ll just check on him and maybe bust his rock hard head!”
Sammy moaned, “Ted! It was woman. A blonde woman. Never saw her fists, she was so fast!”
Ted said, “Rest easy, bud. I’ll prowl around and see what I can find. No mook hurts Ted Grant’s pals and gets by with it!”
CAT FIGHT: Part 13
The Black Widow snapped at her ally.
“If I had not sent Bludgeon and Razorette after your precious Mastiff, we’d never have known that this woman he brought in is not the Catwoman!” she yelled.
He said, “Yes, it was good that Bludgeon spotted the true Catwoman and radioed in to us. Now, I hope he and his lovely wife can bring in the real Catwoman for us to experiment on. Still, Mastiff is wonderful. A hybrid of animal and man. He insists that the woman had both the costume and the scent of the real Catwoman.”
Black Widow touched one hand to her frosted hair and said, “The scent was on the dress not on the woman holding it. That means she is a confidante of the true Catwoman. She had access to her clothes. Your Mastiff has the brains of a dog as well as the tracking skills of one!”
He chuckled and said, “Now, now! Don’t be so hard on him. He was just a start. We’ll get better results as time goes by.”
Black Widow smiled. She did not look nearly as old when she smiled but her smile held no warmth only malice.
“In any event, we can practice our technique on the woman he brought in, can’t we?” she cooed.
“Practice makes perfect!” he answered.
CAT FIGHT: Part 14
Wildcat (Ted Grant) never got to check on Diamond King. He had every intention of doing so and even planned to rough up the old felon if necessary; however, before Grant could take action he stumbled into a bank robbery and could not turn away when he was needed.
While he cheerfully “busted heads”, his protégé Yolanda was on her way to King’s gym. She had spoken to Grant by phone and had been warned to be careful in case King was looking for revenge on all of the Montez family. She had demurely agreed to his terms then raced off over the rooftops for the gym.
“If that old goon tries to hurt Papa, I’ll scratch his eyes out. I have no way to track Maty yet so I better deal with the threats first. As hard as it is to concentrate on anything with the threat of exposure as Catwoman looming large, I know family always comes first!” she thought.
She decided to scout around first so she pried off a heating vent with her claws and slithered through a long shaft deeper into the gym. She smothered a sneeze as she crawled toward the office of Diamond King.
“Sheesh! Has anyone done any type of cleaning work on this system since 1940! I will be gray instead of purple when I get done!” she mused.
She listened as the rough voiced King praised a shapely blonde woman.
“You did good. Sammy Skinner is in the hospital. I’d rather have you safe than have him dead. The cops were coming so you did good to run.” He said.
“I could have finished him off but it would have meant beating the cops too. That would bring even more heat down on us, huh?” she said.
The old man laughed with pride. “That’s my girl! You sound like one of the old gang!”
Yolanda curled up in a ball and kicked out suddenly. She dropped down the now open shaft to confront the pair.
“I hate to interrupt this family moment but the Hallmark folks want to do a Gangland Christmas and you two would be just perfect!” she joked.
“Get her! She’s with Wildcat!” gasped King.
Diamondback grinned, “I want to get my hands on her! She’ll be one sorry cat!”
Catwoman dodged and kicked out to trip the girl. She succeeded and pounced upon her back.
She pinned her arms and cradled her in a wrestling move.
“You sent a note to Carlos Montez. You won’t touch him or his family. You won’t hurt anyone anymore. You’re both going to jail.” She hissed.
The old man fell forward from his chair. “My heart!” he gasped.
Yolanda whirled to see what was happening to the aged gangster and she received a right cross from Diamondback that knocked her cold.
“Works all the time!” grinned the man called Diamond King.
CAT FIGHT: Part 15
Yolanda awoke to find herself laying in the middle of a boxing ring. A metal cage hung suspended from the roof above the ring. She groaned and gazed steadily upward. Her keen sight soon revealed a shocking sight.
“Papa!” she thought.
“I got the man who ratted on me years ago in that cage up there. An egghead pal of mine fixed it so’s your gloves send a shock through the old sneak every time they connect with anything. See?” said King.
He kicked Yolanda’s hands and her father screamed above them.
“Boxing gloves? ” she gasped as she raised her hands.
“Yeah! I put them on ya while ya was out like a light. Now, you are gonna box my daughter Diamondback. She don’t know who ya are. I took a peak under that mask while you were out. Got yer old man too. I’ll keep your secret. Let the girl think you’re just too slow to hit her. Remember, every blow you land sends current through the Mauler!” whispered King.
She knew he was right. She saw Mauler Montez helpless above the ring in the wired cage.
Diamondback, with her short blonde do, and pink and black costume smirked as she jumped into the ring.
“I can’t wait to beat you into Kitty Litter!” she grunted.
Yolanda frowned. Her work was cut out for her.
“Don’t worry about me, Catwoman! Get that little tramp!” yelled Montez as the bell sounded.
CAT FIGHT: Part 16
Yolanda’s mind reeled as she took in the garish spectacle. The seedy gym, the eager expressions on the faces of those loyal to King, the leering old man himself, her captive father in his cage, and above all the smashing fists and ready malice of Diamondback passed through her mind. Even as she saw and felt it all, she was also moving.
She used her agility to keep just out of range of the manic blonde. She could not strike back without sending a remote electric current through her father high above. She danced back and forth and always remained inches beyond her foe’s lightning fast blows.
She also formed a plan even as she desperately raced aside.
“Stand still! I want to feel the impact when I connect!” said Diamondback.
“I’d rather not!” said Yolanda.
She began to claw at the interior of the gloves with all her might. As she tore through the fabric and reached wiring she took a calculated risk.
“Got to tear up the connection that he’s using to sent the current to Papa. That means staying away from those lethal fists of hers and taking the current myself!” she mused.
She staggered as Diamondback connected with a glancing blow.
“Even if I could put Uncle Ted’s lessons to work for me, I can’t risk hurting Papa!” she thought.
Blood flowed from her lip as a second blow struck home.
She kicked out suddenly and sent Diamondback across the ring.
“No cheating!” cried KIng from the sidelines.
She ignored him and felt one claw reach the wiring.
“Here goes nothing!” she mused.
She sliced through and felt a surge of power rock her frame.
She saw the world dim before her eyes then felt… nothing!
“Did it! One glove is useless to King now!” she realized.
She waited and connected with all her power.
Diamondback fell flat.
“Good blow! Now, this could get interesting.” she said.
CAT FIGHT: Part 17
Yolanda frowned. “Great! This psycho likes it! I think she enjoys the pain!”
She danced back and swung out to keep her blonde foe back.
Diamond King grimaced. His daughter was not supposed to fight a foe who could hit back!
Yolanda did just that.
She connected again and again.
She clawed within the second glove and smiled as the wiring slipping free.
She delicately pried the wire loop out of the glove and left it intact.
She allowed her foe to close in and suddenly rammed the wire toward her body as she sliced through it.
Current shocked both women.
Yolanda gritted her teeth and spun to kick the shocked Diamondback down. She cast off the gloves and leaped up toward the cage.
A swift flip and arch of her back enabled her to reach the door and manipulate the door open.
As Diamondback staggered back to her feet, Yolanda dived back down from directly above the ring.
She landed with both feet on Diamondback’s head and her blonde foe lay still.
Diamond King roared as the door swung freely high above.
“You’ll regret this!” he said. He held a remote.
“I can still turn the cage to an inferno!” he cackled.
“Ah, shut up, you old loser!” said a stern voice as Wildcat burst in and knocked the gadget out of King’s hand.
“Sorry, I took so long. Had to rough up a few of this geezer’s goons!” he said with a smirk.
Yolanda helped Carlos down and greeted Wildcat warmly.
“You got here just in time!” she smiled.
“You got quite a hook, young lady. Bet your old man is proud of you.” said Wildcat as they led King out and police rushed in to gather the goons and the angry Diamondback.
“He is!” said Carlos “the Mauler” Montez.
CAT FIGHT: Part 18
Even as Catwoman II and Wildcat exchanged congratulations, the slinky and deadly Death knell struck again.
“My song of death removed Johnny Bravo who dared drop me from his tour. He had his nerve thinking I was not opening act material! The vain creep!” she said as she stepped over a body wearing an orange fringed jumpsuit.
She held an issue of Rock Star and crumpled it to a ball.
“Next, Miss Yolanda Montez will pay for giving my concert a scathing review in her little column.” vowed the woman in the robe and jumpsuit.
She shook her raven trussed head and stalked out toward her final victim.
CAT FIGHT: Part 19
That night in the Montez home, Yolanda stretched and tried to ease her sore muscles. She frowned as her brother gave a token knock before rushing inside her bedroom.
“Yolanda! Could you get me a ride in the Star-Rocket Racer? Could you introduce me to Jade? She is so rad!” he said.
Yolanda smiled. They had been through several talks about her career as Catwoman II already.
She ruffled his hair and said, “Jade is too old for you. Besides, you’re too green for her!”
He said, “Very funny!”
She watched him leave and she yelled, “The Racer is something I’ll work on. OK?”
“Cool!” he said.
She reclined and thought about how to find Maty.
Her options were few.
CAT FIGHT: Part 20
Yolanda knew that the police had had no luck in tracing the missing Maty Lopez either. She considered calling in Wildcat but hated to seem dependent upon him. Thus, she searched Maty’s office in hopes of finding some clue that might explain why she had been kidnapped.
She sat on the top of Maty’s desk and flipped through files. Nothing came to mind except typical work related material. Nothing in it suggested a dangerous involvement with anything that could have motivated an abduction.
She idly tugged on her feathered earrings and frowned.
“Maty disliked me. She had a thing for Rick. I mean she dislikes me and has a thing for Rick. I can’t go around declaring her dead. I want to think that I can find her and solve this whole puzzle. Got to preserve my identity too. Of course, I could go back to wearing the female Wildcat costume I used during Crisis. Uncle Ted would not mind.” she mused.
Then, a tall woman entered unannounced. She wore a green robe over a green and gold jumpsuit. Yolanda knew her from a story she had done a while back.
“Bridget O’Maura! If you’re here for an interview..” she began.
“I’m here about an obituary, you witch! Yours!” said the dark haired beauty.
“I wrote my opinion. Nothing more or less. Nothing personal!” explained Yolanda as she uncrossed her red tight covered legs and stood up.
“Die!” screamed O’Maura (Death knell!).
She opened her mouth and Yolanda belted her across the room.
“Those music industry deaths I’ve been hearing about from Meg must be her doing!” she mused as she tackled the Irish woman and choked her.
“She acted like her voice could hurt me… more than her bad singing, I mean!” she thought.
She pressed hard on the woman’s throat and yelped as she herself was knocked off.
She rolled backward and crouched on her hands and knees.
Death knell gasped for breath and sang!
Yolanda lost all sense of place and time and fell forward in a swoon!
CAT FIGHT: Part 21
Carlos and Maria and Jose Montez were relieved three days later when Yolanda came out of her coma.
“Baby! You don’t know what a scare you gave us!” cried Maria.
Yolanda said, “What happened? I fought a woman… Bridget O’Maura in fact in my office. She had some type of sonic spell.”
Jose said, “She left you for dead in a coma. You been out for days!”
Yolanda groaned, “Is my secret out? Is the cat out of the bag so to speak?”
Maria said, “No! She wanted to kill everyone who had given her bad reviews or damaged her singing career. You are just another victim.”
Carlos said, “You had a famous visitor. Dr. McNider! He said your whole nervous system had been attacked. Trauma, he called it.”
Yolanda sat up. “I hit her in the throat before she sang. I guess that weakened her death song. I’m lucky to be alive.”
Carlos said, “The Wildcat says he tracked this O’Maura or Death knell, as she calls herself on stage, to Ireland. She fled the country thinking she had killed all her enemies. He says he lost her trail after that.”
Yolanda said, “Sheesh! I would be the first critic to attract a super villain/ singer by a bad review!”
Jose said, “You could take her! Her old man fought Dr. Mid-Nite. He’s the Baleful Banshee!”
Yolanda said, “You just love this mystery-man stuff, don’t you?”
Maria said, “I don’t! That girl from your magazine is still missing too. Her mother has been on the news asking for help from any witnesses!”
“I’m getting out of here. I may be Maty’s last hope. Plus, tonight is my premiere!” said Yolanda.
A laugh from Jose left her blushing as Yolanda stood up and hastily closed the back of her hospital gown.
“Even a Catwoman’s dignity can be hurt!” she shrugged.
CAT FIGHT: Part 22
The Black Widow watched with pleasure as Dr. Eric Barrok completed his final series of tests on a captive Maty Lopez. The girl had been subjected to injections, potions, and genetic mutation for days now.
Dr. Barrok was a genius in a bizarre science popularized in fiction by H. G. Wells in The Island of Dr. Moreau. He also could turn men into beasts and vice versa.
Princess Helene of Crete could transform people into animals via a potion she claimed came down to her from Circe of myth.
Now, the two had combined their talents to create the savage Mastiff among other Animal Men.
They sought Catwoman because of a desire to see how their process could affect her feline skills.
They settled for Maty Lopez and enjoyed every moment as the woman and a panther merged through the weird science.
When they finished, Maty Lopez was still a beautiful woman with reddish brown hair and a stunning figure; however, she now had the perfect balance, night vision, claws, agility, and stamina of a predatory feline. She also had a hatred for Yolanda Montez because she blamed all of her troubles on the successful co-worker.
“She is magnificent! Better perhaps, than the true Catwoman. She still refuses to reveal just which friend of hers is the Feline Femme Fatale.” said Barrok.
The Black Widow said, “We no longer need a cat woman. We just made our own. I suggest we contact Dr. Pym the Insect Master to see if his own experiment was a success. I did pay for it as well.”
Barrok seemed jealous. “Bah! That madman and his bugs! I can do with animals more than he could do with his ants and bees!”
Maty purred softly as she was released.
“Go! We have your genetic progression charted so we have no need of you!” said the Widow.
Maty snarled and raced out the window. She arched her back and landed perfectly below.
Soon, she was back home and wearing a sultry yellow cat costume!
“Tonight you get yours, Montez! Tonight, you face La Garra!” she hissed as light reflected from her eyes and nails.
CAT FIGHT: Part 23
Yolanda Montez wore a sheer green dress to the premiere and enjoyed the attention of photographers and stars alike.
“Got to love this job!” she thought. “If this piece goes well, Rick is sure to OK my proposed plan to learn what happened to Jim Rock of the Electrics. That Eddie and the Cruisers film makes such a story a natural!” mused Yolanda.
She heard a low growl and looked up.
Perched high above the street on a flashing neon sign crouched the yellow clad Maty Lopez.
“La Garra wants you Montez! You robbed me of everything. My career, my man, my safety!”
she cried.
Yolanda’s keen eyes detected the woman and she recognized Maty’s voice.
“Oh no! What is she doing? That skin tight feline suit and those moves make her as much of a cat woman as me!” thought Yolanda.
She had completed her work and so she was able to slip off toward the shadows.
She was tackled from above the second she entered the alley behind the stadium.
She fell hard and gasped as La Garra clawed her dress into shreds.
“That was a loaner!” she cried as as struggled to get free.
She elbowed Maty and said, “How did you get these powers?”
Maty laughed, “Hatred gave birth to them. Hatred of you!”
She tore at Yolanda’s long hair and received a swift left hook.
They crouched and circled each other warily,
Yolanda rolled under a parked car and kept spinning until she had separated herself from her mad foe.
She reached her own car and threw on her own costume.
Just as she slipped on the hood, La Garra charged her on a loudly purring Catcycle.
“Like it? My old bike altered by a special friend!” she hissed.
Yolanda barely managed to leap out of the way as it tore toward her.
She kicked out and missed her foe.
“I’m tired of fighting every cat themed maniac around! From Queen of the Cats to Lionmane to this loco broad!” she thought.
CAT FIGHT: Part 24
Catwoman spun around and delivered a kick that tripped La Garra who slashed out at her with her claws.
“Missed! Now that I know your powers, I’m ready for you! Why don’t you just calm down! Maty, I never meant to make you an enemy!” she pleaded.
Maty Lopez sneered at her. “You lie! You played up to Rick when I wanted him. You flirt with every man in the office!”
Yolanda jumped high to avoid her charge.
“That’s your perception. I’m just fun to be around!” she said.
She rolled into a ball and landed nearby.
She dodged another clawing and caught La Garra’s arm.
She twisted and sent the woman down to the ground in a wrestling hold taught her by Grant.
“Maty! I could break your arm. Don’t make me do it!” she said.
Maty screamed and twisted to bring her leg around in an amazing kick.
Yolanda gasped and released her only to tackler her again.
“This has to end! I can get you help. You have not committed any crime yet. I can forget this attack if you get help!” she said.
La Garra laughed, “You are the one in need of help!”
She raked her claws across Yolanda’s hood and gasped as she received a shock.
She screamed and fell flat.
“I’m sorry, Maty. I rigged my costume’s interior. If it is torn then the micro wiring inside delivers a stunning shock. I got the idea after fighting Diamondback but why am I telling you? You’re out cold!” she laughed.
She said, “As for flirting, I owe this little trick to a male admirer of mine who is good with his hands.”
She frowned, “If this was a comic book, that shock would have robbed Maty of all memory of who I am. Bad enough the old Diamond King still knows my secret.”
CAT FIGHT: Part 25
While that was not the case, Maty Lopez did choose to keep Yolanda’s secret for her own reasons.
“When I get out of this psycho observation ward, I’ll kill Montez. Then, I’ll be the head writer, I’ll get Rick Devon, I’ll be in music videos!” ranted Maty Lopez as she sat in her room.
Elsewhere, the Black Widow and Dr. Barrok watched a woman fly through rings and generate deadly accurate energy blasts from her hands. She did all this with a casual ease.
“Well done, Pamela! You’ve made your mother and I very proud!” said Dr. Pym the Insect Master.
His wife the Queen Bee smiled warmly.
“See, Dr. Barrok, Black Widow, by funding our work, you enabled us to turn our own daughter into a human insect hybrid.” said Janet Pym.
“Excellent! A bee, a woman, amazing!” said Princess Helene.
“I prefer to just be called Wasp!” said the blonde woman as she landed.
“Took her nom du crime from an old foe of Wildcat’s!” explained Insect Master.
“Indeed! I may have her kill a cat for me if either Lopez or Catwoman cross our path!” said Black Widow.
