"I've heard that you're from Lucky Mama's pack, so who knows if you've kidnapped this little girl?"
"Kidnap her??" Catwoman raised her voice, "Do you know how much I've sacrificed for her? Do you know I'm nearly dead from exhaustion? Enough with the chatter, give her back to me now!"
Jason had no desire to get into a conflict with this legendary lady thief, but somehow he couldn't back off. The guy in the red truck pulled out a handgun and aimed at Catwoman. Jason looked back at his action and said, "Hey dude! Don't use a gun, you can't hit a black cat!"
"Impossible, my gun skills are very accurate."
With that said, the guy in the red truck pulled the trigger. A gunshot sound, "bang", echoed and Catwoman's figure disappeared in an instant. Then a black whip wrapped around the wrist of the red truck guy. With a strong pull, he was knocked to the ground, the gun dropping from his hand.
Quick in response, Jason dove to pick up the fallen gun and continued to point at Catwoman jumping onto the second floor, "Although I'm not Mr Nice Guy myself, the Tail Gang is supporting a dozen children. I know how bad their lives are, but you are planning to sell a rich family's child to a slum, you're simply..."
Catwoman sighed, realizing there was no reasoning with these children.
She had a strange feeling in her heart, although she was currently opposing Jason, but seeing someone protecting Aisha made her weirdly happy.
Catwoman, in a good mood, knocked a few people down with a few cracks of her whip, then tied them up. On seeing Catwoman, Aisha wasn't scared; instead, she stretched out her arms for Catwoman to pick her up. Jason widened his eyes and Little Sly, pushing his glasses up, said: "According to my observation, it seems like she truly is her mother."
Jason, somewhat excitedly, glanced around before leaning in to whisper to Little Sly, "This is big gossip! Catwoman may have hooked up with some rich man from the South Rich Area and even had a child with him!"
Catwoman paid no attention to the whispering kids and left with Aisha. After she left, the guys untied the ropes. The red truck guy stretched his wrist and shoulder stating: "That woman is too powerful. How does she handle that whip? I couldn't even see it."
"Of course, she's notoriously famous in the East District. This all goes back to the infamous jewelry store theft on Elizabeth Street. It was the debut operation of a female flying thief called Black Cat..."
The sun began to set below the horizon; they walked and talked through the alleyway. The rays of the setting sun cast long shadows against their side, and the shadows jauntily walked along the dividing line between the shadow of the wall and the sunlight. It looked as if they were standing on top of a wall.
They came out of the alley onto the main street and, after a few turns, arrived on another main road. At that moment, a lonely skinny boy walked towards them carrying a bunch of stuff. Rocket shouted "Hey! Cobblepot! You finally arrived!"
Cobblepot, carrying a load of essentials, stopped in his tracks to see everyone running towards him. The tallest, the red truck guy, patted his shoulder, "Long time no see, have you finished your homework? Could you help me with mine?"
Cobblepot pursed his lips and turned away, clearly not interested in dealing with them. However, it was clear that he missed the best time to pretend not to know them. He kept his head down and walked forward.
At this moment, Tire and Rocket came over to take the items from his hands, "We'll help you carry them! They're so heavy; you must not be able to handle it. As long as you help us with our homework..."
"What on earth are you guys up to?"
Little Sly, who spent the most time with Cobblepot, said, "I and Jason...this guy, he is the King of Children of Curled Tail Street. We acquired a cool tire together, but we can't sell it."
"We want to disassemble it, but we don't have the tools. So, we are planning to get some, but it needs a meticulous plan which is why we want your help."
"I'm very busy recently, I don't have time, wait..." Cobblepot turned his head towards Jason. He glanced at the young boy with the eyes under his brow. His gloomy gaze made Jason shiver a little on his back. Cobblepot asked, "You said you are the King of Children from Curled Tail Street? The leader of the Tail Gang?"
Jason nodded his head. He straightened the collar of his coat and coughed, trying to sound profound, "Yes, even though it's only a small gang, one day, it will definitely be as glorious as the four big mafia of Elizabeth Street!"
Cobblepot didn't continue, he let the guys take the stuff from his hand and followed them to their base.
The next morning, the guys who had spent the night in the base were awakened by a dull noise. Jason got up from his bed, somewhat groggy, and looked towards the ceiling. The others also yawned and walked out. Little Sly asked, "Where's Cobblepot? Has he left?"
"His mother needs care, he left early in the morning. Didn't you hear the sound of the door latch?"
"Alright, but who made this noise then?" Little Sly wrinkled his brows while looking up. Jason yawned, stretched and said, "It's probably the big pile of garbage behind the wall. When people with a lack of caution throw rubbish, they usually knock over the mountain of trash and end up making a commotion."
"Let's go and take a look. Although we have not been destitute enough to survive by picking up garbage, the kids who come to pick up the garbage will come soon. They will make a big commotion, and we obviously can't sleep anymore."
Having said that, he climbed up the ladder, pushed open the basement door, and went upstairs with the others following behind. But what appeared before them was not just scattered rubbish. There was a boy almost their age and a very familiar little girl.
"Oh ..." The boy clutched his waist, standing up in some pain, while the little girl was clapping and screaming in excitement.
The other few people got into defensive positions, and the boy who had fallen from the mountain of trash, noticing people approaching, also adopted a defensive stance. Both sides glared at each other, and in the end, their eyes all congregated on the little girl beside them.
"Isn't that the little girl who was taken away by the black cat yesterday? How did she end up here again?"
"And who are you? How did you fall from the garbage heap?"
"…My name is Dick." The boy across them took a deep breath and then, looking at the people opposite him, said: "Dick Grayson, who are you?"
"Of course we are the inhabitants here. You know this little girl? What is your relationship with her, exactly what is going on?"
"Of course I know her, I'm her ... brother."
Dick rubbed his waist, he had apparently been hit by a hard object when he fell from the heap of trash.
When he saw that the people opposite him didn't seem to bear any ill will, he turned around, picked up Aisha, then walked over to them and said:" I came to look for something, my little sister seems to have lost a necklace here yesterday. Did you see it?"
Jason's expression suddenly became a bit unnatural. Just as he was about to speak, Dick said, "The necklace seems to be made of gemstones, but it actually contains some kind of tracking chip... whatever. Anyway, it's some high-tech stuff which is better if found back…"
As soon as they heard that there might be something for tracking in the necklace, Jason hastily took the necklace out of his pocket and threw it over. He threw it without paying attention, and its direction was off. However, Dick rolled over, caught the necklace in a beautiful posture, put it in his pocket and said, "Thank you."
"Wow! That's so cool! Are you an acrobat?"
"Yes, you could actually tell! Haven't you heard of the Grayson family? We are the best aerial acrobat performance family."
Rocket scratched his head and said: "I think I've heard of it. Are you from that circus in the western suburbs?"
"I used to be, but not anymore."
However, Jason was sizing up Dick and said, "As for this little girl... she could likely be the child of the Black cat, but you definitely can't be, Black cat isn't over 20 years old, how could you be her son? But you said you are her brother, what exactly is going on?"
Little Sly pushed his glasses up and said: "Have you eaten yet? We haven't eaten yet, let's go find a place to eat and chat."
Dick was holding Aisha, and he originally wanted to refuse, but after thinking about it, there was nothing much to do back at the Wayne Manor. All he would do was perform acrobatics for Aisha, or eat the exquisite English afternoon tea prepared by Alfred.
For Dick, who grew up in a circus, English afternoon tea isn't as good as barbecues and fried bread.
As a result, he walked ahead with Aisha and a few others, talking about some of their stories while walking. Jason asked curiously: "So you mean... you were actually adopted? No wonder, so that black cat is your stepmother?"
"It seems like she doesn't have a very good temper, does she abuse you?"
"Of course not, we get along pretty well. She has also been trained in acrobatics, but our career paths are different. She tends to lean more towards dance and gymnastics..."
Dick didn't mention who Aisha's father was, and the others didn't ask either. Maybe it's the pride of being a kid from the East District. They only talk about stuff from the East District and don't care about those swaggering gentlemen from the South District.
They found a small breakfast stall to sit down. It had grilled clams, vegetable soup and cheese on toast. They ordered food and sat around a small table. Jason looked at the sinister smile showed by Aisha and hesitated to ask: "So ... I have wanted to ask this for a long time, what happened to her teeth?"
"Oh, it seems to be some kind of congenital dental deformity. She is too young to have it corrected yet."
"Well, what about her eyes?"
"They told me it's called... heterochromia iridium? It's hereditary from her mother."
"Uh ... she should be over 3 years old, right? Why doesn't she speak yet?"
"It's seemingly some kind of childhood autism, she has to see a psychiatrist in a few days…"