This year's story is based upon what was seen in three comic books back in the 1960s, World's Finest 169 from Sep67, Batman 197 from Dec67 and Superman's Girlfriend Lois Lane 70 from Nov66.  I've modified the story from World's Finest just a bit, then used the stories from the pages of the other two books to inspire what I've written.  I'd originally intended to used rewritten scans of the pages from Batman 197 for the story, but decided to do like my Lois Lane as Catwoman story which is now a part of this one and copy the wording from the comic almost exactly while adding details and my own extra words.  The second half of the story covers events following April Fool's Day.

April Fool's Joke Gone Bad - 2009
by Steve Zink


Prologue

It had been on the third Friday of March that Supergirl and Batgirl were both sent to a different dimension by Mr. Mxyzptlk and Batmite respectively.  Supergirl had been in action with her cousin Superman for a long time by now and was considered to be an experienced heroine, while Batgirl had been in action for a bit less than two years after her introduction during what should have been a costume party involving both her father the police commissioner and wealthy Bruce Wayne.

  The girls had been trapped for their transfer by having a strange, smoke-like hand appear and avoid anything Supergirl did to avoid or confront it, and clench her in its grip.  By chance, Batgirl had been on patrol riding her Bat Bike and came across the trapped blonde heroine; she tried to dispel the gaseous hand by tossing a chemical bomb from her weapons bag at it.  This had no effect, and moments later, the Dominoed Dare Doll was trapped along with the Girl of Steel.

In effect, the hand holding the two young heroines pushed them to points unknown, while at the same moment another pair of girls just like them appeared and the hand seemed to disintegrate.  From it, Mr. Mxyzptlk in the form of Supergirl and Batmite in the form of Batgirl appeared.  The two imps were setting up a contrived set of jokes that would lead to traps for Superman and Batman, with Batmite arguing that his hero would never fall for Mxy's idea of a trap.

In the form of Supergirl, Mxy proceeded to make life hell for the Man of Steel Friday evening through Sunday morning.  'She' eventually confronted Superman in the Asteroid Belt, where to the Last Son of Krypton's surprise, he knocked her out with a zap to the head by a good sized asteroid.  An even bigger surprise came when, after grabbing her, it looked to him like the impact had loosened a mask and wig covering her face and head.  When this was pulled off, he saw that Supergirl was really Black Flame, a super villainess from the Bottle City of Kandor.

At the same time, Batmite had taken Batgirl's place to bedevil Batman, eventually opposing the Dark Knight by using gimmicks not normally used by the young female part of the Batman Family.  When the Master Detective trapped 'her' by having a batarang wrap batline around her body, arms tight to her side, he decided to pull off her mask and cowl to see just who this girl was.  To his shock, what was revealed was the face and hair of Selina Kyle, otherwise known as Catwoman, the feline foe he hadn't seen for quite some time.  "Meowwwrrr, darling," she said for effect.

After Black Flame and Catwoman explained how they'd messed with Batman's and Superman's minds early Sunday afternoon, the World's Finest went off with the apparent villainesses to locate the real Supergirl and Batgirl.  They were led to a deep cavern where what looked like the two girls were found tied to chairs side by side, Green Kryptonite chains holding Supergirl.  Superman stayed back to avoid the Green K, but before Batman could approach the girls, a burst of heat vision destroyed them.  "You destroyed them!" the Dark Knight exclaimed to the just as surprised villainesses.

In flew the real thing, Batgirl being held in Supergirl's arms.  "No, that was me," Supergirl announced.

"We got here just in time!  Watch what would have happened if either or both of you had touched those fakes," Batgirl told the guys.  Supergirl tossed a pebble toward where their doubles had been and with a *poof* the stone disappeared to yet another dimension trap.

Batgirl then said, "We were battling a weird cloud-thing when we felt ourselves slipping through into a different world, while those impostors replaced us."

"I finally broke through the barrier to this world with my super powers..." Supergirl continued, "...just in time to save YOU from being blasted into another dimension, Batman."

At that point both Mxy and Batmite popped into their true forms, with Batmite claiming he'd won the bet that his idol, Batman, wouldn't fall into the trap.  But Mxy argued that no, the reappearance of the female version of the World's Finest was what prevented him from falling into the trap.  "Wait," Superman said, "does this mean that you two-"

The imps altered themselves again as Mr. Mxyzptlk cut off the Man of Steel's question by saying in a very sexy voice, "Yes, I was Supergirl and then Black Flame."

"And I was Batgirl, then Catwoman," Batmite said in Selina Kyle's voice, clad again in the dark purple dress with a leg revealing side slit costume the Feline Felon had worn when last seen a number of years before.

"Since I won the bet," Mxy as Black Flame gloated, "you owe me 100 magical units.  Your hero and his partner LOST!"

'Catwoman' handed 'Black Flame' a check after quickly writing it, saying, "Okay, here.  I signed it with my real name, the one I use in my own dimensional world."

Still in the form of a gorgeous and wickedly costumed villainess, Mxy looked at the check's signature and said, "Your name is Kltp Z Yxm?"  Fooled better than Superman could have expected, the image of Black Flame disappeared with an audible *blink* back to the imp's own dimension after saying 'his' name backwards.  The Man of Steel was left wondering when he'd next get pestered by the mischievous imp.

After Batman finished his usual scolding of the good natured imp who adored him but whose magic ALWAYS brought trouble, Batgirl motioned for Batmite to come over to her before going 'home'.  "Batmite," she said as 'Catwoman' came close, "you look great pretending to be Catwoman, but that wasn't very nice, what you and Mxy did to Supergirl and me.  I want you to make it up to us, or at least me.  Do you know what an April Fool's Joke is?"

A puzzled look came to the faux face of Selina Kyle.  "April Fool's Joke?  No, what is that?"

Batgirl grinned, then turned toward the Girl of Steel.  "Supergirl, c'mere a sec."  When the cute young blonde joined them, the Dark Knight Damsel said, "Batmite doesn't know what an April Fool's Joke is yet, but after I tell him, would you help me with an April Fool's Joke I want to pull on Batman?"

The girl in blue and red smiled.  She'd been exposed to a number of April Fool's Jokes during her school days as Linda Danvers, so doing one with her friend...but....  "Sorry, Batgirl.  I know you wouldn't do anything really mean to Batman, and I know this should be fun, but I don't want to take any chances with more magic."

"Okay, I understand," Batgirl answered.  After Supergirl left to go back to Superman, the costumed redhead said, "Batmite, can you come to the office where I work at the library at eight o'clock tonight?"

"Yes, I can do that," Selina Kyle's voice answered.

"Good!  I'll tell you all about April Fool's Jokes then."

"Okay, bye for now!" Batmite said as he reverted to normal and blinked out of sight.

When she neared him, Batman asked Batgirl, "What were you saying to Batmite?"

She grinned.  "I was scolding him for not being very nice to me and Supergirl.  He apologized before leaving."

"Oh, okay," he replied.  "That imp is dangerous.  You might want to hitch another ride with Supergirl, I'm leaving with Superman."

"Right.  Maybe we'll find out what Batmite did with my Bat Bike."

Batman nodded.  "It'll probably be right where you usually keep it.  Batmite always 'fixes' everything before he goes home."

"Oh, good!"  Then Batgirl turned toward Supergirl and raised her voice, as if the Maid of Steel's super hearing couldn't have heard if she'd whispered.  "Hey, Supergirl!  Can I get a lift with you?"

"Sure, are you ready to go?" her friend answered while coming in Batgirl's direction.

The costumed Barbara Gordon nodded, then Kara lifted the heroine into her arms just as when they'd arrived.  "Bye, guys!" the girls said in unison as they left.

"Think they'll ever take our place?" the Man of Steel asked with a grin.

"Maybe, but I doubt it," the Dark Knight replied.  "C'mon, let's see if Batmite brought back Robin and returned the Bat Cave to normal."

* * * * *

Supergirl and Batgirl did find her Bat Bike parked in its hidden spot next to her apartment.  "Thanks, Supergirl.  Until next time...."

Superman and Batman found the Bat Cave to be perfectly normal, with Robin waiting inside; the Boy Wonder had no recollection of anything out of the norm.  A quick check with his super vision told the Man of Steel that his Fortress of Solitude was also back to normal, as expected for whenever Mr. Mxyzptlk went back by being coerced into saying his name backwards.  "Okay," he told his good friend, "it looks like everything's back to normal after those two imps went home."

"Yes, and good riddance," Batman replied grimly.  "Unless anything else comes up before the next Justice League meeting, I'll see you then."

"Right.  Bye, Bruce."  Superman took off, and the Dark Knight went over to Dick to go upstairs into the mansion.

* * * * *

On to the basic story

Barbara Gordon killed some time during the rest of that afternoon by doing some house work while dressed casually.  All the while she worked on plotting her April Fool's Joke, keeping in the back of her mind the warning Batman had given her about Batmite's help.  She didn't see any way he could mess up what she was planning, so that advice went unheeded.

Shortly before five, she called the library and asked for her good friend, Jennifer Goodbody.  Babs had been amazed when the young blonde interviewed for the part time job nearly a year ago, for there couldn't have been a more apt last name for her.  In fact, apart from her good part time work at the library, Jen's primary income came from her full time job as an exotic dancer.  Jen took Babs to see her dance a couple of times at first just to get her used to the atmosphere of the club, but after they became good friends the redhead came to see her pretty often.  Babs started to become very impressed with her blonde friend.  No more will be said about what the two girls did together, other than to say that Batgirl had Sparrow helping her on two nights recently along with Robin without Batman's knowledge.

Jen was on her own with no nearby family, so if she'd agree to help, the joke would work easily.  When the blonde with the good body hidden under conservative library wear came to the phone, she said, "Hi, Babs.  What's up?"

"Hi, Jen.  I know you were planning on dancing at Rachel's tonight and next week, but I've got a special favor to ask.  Any chance you could call and get out of tonight's gig?"

"Only for you," her friend replied.  "You have to know how much money I'd be losing.  You need Sparrow again tonight?"

"I'll see if I can try to make up for your loss of income.  No hints until I get there.  Meet me in my office at 7:30, 'kay?"

"7:30, gotcha.  Instead of staying and slaving in the books here any longer than my shift, I think I'll go over to Perkins and get some dinner.  I haven't even started on today's crossword puzzle yet."

Babs grinned.  "Great!  In that case, how about if I meet you there at about 7, then we can go over to my office together."

"Hmmm...Not much time to be together, but that is a good idea.  Can I order anything for you?"

"Tempting, but I'll eat here before leaving," the redhead told her.  "See you at 7!"

"Bye, Babs."

"Goodbye."

Before starting her light meal, Barbara got some paper and sketched her ideas for a costume.  'Better to show Batmite a drawing or two than to rely on the imp's imagination.  I'm not much of an artist, but I guess the sketches should help the imp.  Too bad I don't have any colored pencils or inks.'  She put the artwork into a file folder after eating, then Babs watched the TV news for a bit before leaving for the library and then Perkins.

When she got there, Babs told the greeter that she was there to meet somebody already eating.  The young man led her into the dining area, and the redhead spotted her blonde girlfriend in a booth toward the back right.  Jennifer's attention was glued to the crossword puzzle, so Barbara said, "Are you stuck?  Maybe I can help."

Almost startled, Jen looked up and replied, "No, getting help from a person with a photographic memory and a better vocabulary than Roget's Thesaurus and Oxford's English Dictionary is cheating.  Hee, hee!  Hi, Babs.  Sit for a bit."

"Thanks.  Let me see where you're at, I won't tell."

Jen gave her friend a doubtful look, then smiled as she pushed the puzzle to the other side where the new arrival was sitting.  After a brief look, a big grin formed on the redhead's lips.  "You'll get it, just think about it harder."

"Easy for you to say.  You were gifted with both a beautiful body and a super mind, all I got was the body."

"HAH!" Babs answered.  "No argument about your body, Miss GOODbody, but you've got a lot more upstairs than you give yourself credit for.  Thanks for the compliment!"

Jennifer smiled, "Since we're our own little mutual admiration society, wanna share a dessert with me?"

"Depends," Barbara considered, "what were you thinking of?"

"Fruit salad."

"Oh yeah, for sure!"

The few minutes spent waiting for Jen's waiter to come by were filled with slightly more intelligent than usual girl talk.  Then, once they were both spooning from the fruit salad, Babs said, "I'll tell you more up in my office, but if you'll go along with my plan which will take the next week and a half, we'll be sharing a lot more than dessert."

"Gonna keep me in suspense, huh?" the much more than just cute blonde replied after swallowing.  "If this concerns what I'm guessing, I know why I'll have to wait.  Go along with your plan, even if it's that long?  How could I not?"

Now it was Barbara's turn to swallow, then she said, "It's for an April Fool's Joke, but you'll have to wait for more.  Oh, and to get started on covering for your lost income, let me get this bill for you."

"Okay, thanks for the treat," Jen replied.  "Hey, if we leave as soon as we finish this fruit salad, we can be in your office by 7:35 or so.  That gonna be too late?"

"No," her friend answered, "and I think I know how to kill the time before 8, presuming you say yes.  And since your timing depends on walking, you must have guessed correctly that I parked at the library and walked over here to join you.  See if you can get your waiter's attention so we can get the bill."

It was only about a ten minute walk from Perkins to the library, so the two young ladies were in the front door at 7:35 as predicted.  "Okay, we've got about twenty-five minutes before the key to my April Fool's Joke gets here," Barbara told Jen softly.  "You've already seen how I'm set up for doing the changes at home, so let me show you the way I handle them here at work."

"Hmmm..." Jennifer mused just as quietly, "I guess I never figured on you going into action from here."

"Oh, really?" the redhead answered in a surprised manner.  "Believe me, I've changed here quite a few times, but admittedly, mostly in the evening.  Let's get up to my office, and I can tell you about the joke while showing you everything."  They made their way past the few remaining customers to the elevator behind the check out desk.  "Hi, Gil," Babs said to the librarian working the position.  "Jen and I are going up to my office.  We may be a while checking on something, so go ahead and lock up if you haven't seen us.  I'll lock up behind myself."

"Okay, Miss Gordon," he replied just as a man walked up with three books in his hands, "I'll lock up."  He turned to face the gentleman, saying, "Good evening, sir..." and he got busy with the check out and a further book request.

The girls went up two floors and thence over to Barbara's office.  "Now you get to see something you never saw when you were in here before," Babs said while pressing a button under the right edge of her desk.  "The door just locked, and the 'out' sign flipped open.  Now, let's say I just did that because Batgirl is needed.  Follow me."  She walked over to what Jennifer knew was a doorway leading to the third floor hallway.

Barbara stopped when they were facing the elevator going down.  "You've gone down to what you thought were all our floors before, but there's one you didn't know about."  They went in after the door opened.  "Press 2, 1 and then 2 again in quick succession."

Her friend did as instructed, and felt the floor drop after the door closed.  They obviously didn't stop at the second floor, and when they seemed to keep going past the first floor, Babs grinned at her.  Then they came to a stop, and the door opened.  The single overhead fluorescent lamp came on automatically, tripped by the opening of the elevator door; it wasn't enough to light the room brightly, but it sufficed to make everything visible.

Jennifer gazed out to see a large room with a dressing table and a Batgirl costume body suit hanging on a rack next to it.  The accompanying boots were below it on the floor, and the gloves, utility belt, cowl and mask combination and cape were on a small table next to the rack.  "Hey, with this costume here and the other at your home, we could both go out as Batgirl and blow somebody's mind!" Jen said.

"Heh, a fun idea for the future, maybe.  But not for now," Barbara replied as they stepped out.  "By the way, you may not have noticed, but there have been many times I've been here at work while wearing one of my costumes under my blouse and skirt.  The skirt reversed into my cape, my beret rolled down into my mask and cowl, and what had looked like plain old yellow boots had their tops rolled up to form the bat design.  But on times like this, it would just be a matter of stripping out of whatever I'm wearing and getting into this costume.  I have all its parts set up so that even if the light failed, I'd be able to change in the dark and get out."

"Gee, I never noticed that reversed costume parts bit before," Jen said.  "I can see how your familiarity with the costume parts layout would allow dressing even in the dark."  Then she broadened her gaze and spotted the Bat Bike parked next to a roll up door.  "Wow, you weren't kidding.  This setup looks even better than what you have at home.  I presume that roll up door exits to a way for you to sneak out so nobody would know Batgirl just came from the library?"

"Yep, as you'll probably see as soon as a bit later tonight.  Now that you've seen the set up I have here, let's get back up to the office," Barbara said.  "I'll tell you all about my plan for the joke while we wait for Batmite."

"Batmite?"

"You'll see.  C'mon, let's go."  Jen followed Babs back into the elevator, where she then saw the up code used, 1, 2, 1.

When they were seated, the redhead at her desk and her blonde friend on the chair next to it, Babs started.  "As you might know, it's been almost ten years since Catwoman was seen here in Gotham City."  Jen nodded.  "The joke I'm planning is going to be a surprise for Batman - Catwoman is going to appear tonight, seeming to have turned into a crime fighter instead of the most wicked and totally evil cat inspired villainess.  And because I'm going to be Catwoman and live as Selina Kyle for a week and a day, your part in this is to be Batgirl and live as me, Barbara Gordon, until I turn back after telling Batman how I've fooled him on April 1st.  Still feel like you want to help me with this joke?"

Jennifer smiled, "You bet!  This sounds like a lot of fun.  If Catwoman's going to be a good girl, will I be working with you as Batgirl, or will I have to confront you for some reason?"

"Maybe a bit of confrontation, for the reason you'll hear when I'm talking to Batman.  Wait and see, and just act as you know Batgirl would for any of the situations that develop," Barbara said with a grin.

"Okay," Jen replied.  "This is a great idea you've come up with!  But how are you and me gonna change?"

Babs grinned.  "Batmite should be here in another minute or two."

Before she could add any more or Jen could reply, the rotund little imp in a Batman style costume popped into view, with a for real *POP*.  "Hi, Batgirl!" he said with enthusiasm, then saw the blonde sitting next to her and added more seriously, "Uh, oh...  But if she's here with you, she must be a friend who knows you're Batgirl."

"Yeah, maybe I should have been in my costume for you," Barbara replied, "and mentioned a friend being here.  Oh, and speaking of costumes...."  She pulled the file folder out of her purse, and then the drawings she'd made from it.  "Batmite, April Fool's Jokes are things we do on April 1st, usually in a playful way, to kid around with our friends, those with whom we work, other students in school, and like that.  Well, I want to play an April Fool's Joke on Batman.  Other than him seeing you pretending to be her, he hasn't seen or had to contend with Catwoman for almost ten years-"

"Right!" the imp exclaimed, cutting her off.  "I guess you didn't know that she got hit on the head again by another brick, this time while she wasn't wearing her costume.  She went off to live a very gentle life as a pet store owner, her only lasting connection to cats."

"So that's what happened to her!" Jennifer said.

"Yeah, that's news to me, too," Babs added.  "That also means it's for sure that while I'm Catwoman for this joke, I'll be the only Catwoman."  Then she got back to her reason to ask for Batmite's help.  She told him what she'd just told Jen, then went on, "So as of right now, I need to be the original conniving cat burglar, wily and wicked witch and sinfully evil Feline Felon named Selina Kyle in both body and mind, with my original identity as a safeguard observing and controlling what my new identity does as Selina.  I'll need to have all her knowledge, memories and even personality, along with all her agility and skills to use all the cat weapons and gimmicks which with this costume won't have to be in a bag attached to my belt, but can be magically found by reaching under my belt.  I'll still know I'm really Barbara Gordon, but I need most of all to think and act as Selina Kyle, the original Catwoman, until the joke ends on Monday, a week from tomorrow, on April 1st.  Besides all the cat weapons and stuff, I'll need you to set me up with a place to live in downtown Gotham City and a Cat's Lair, of course.  Oh, and also a really modern and fun Kitty Car, either black or going with older Catwoman colors, dark purple.  Half a dozen or so gang men who'll be at my beck and call and do whatever I tell them would be perfect.  Give me a special word or phrase I can use to change everything back and cancel your magic for us when the joke is pulled on April 1st.  Phew, I'm done now, but here are some rough sketches of what I want for my costume."  She handed her drawings to the imp.

Batmite studied the sketches for a few moments, then said, "Green?  Hmm...Well, I guess if you're going to be a good Catwoman, looking different would be better.  For changing back, you'll have the magical power by saying the phrase, 'Cat to Bat'."  The imp folded up the drawings and made them disappear to destroy the evidence, then said, "Instead of relying on my remembering all your mind and personality details and using your drawings, just think of how you want yourself to be and picture in your mind the way you want to look."

Barbara started to contemplate all the ways she wanted to consider herself living, thinking and acting as Selina, making it more complicated now as being her original totally wicked, evil and criminal minded self totally infatuated with a love for Batman fighting her alternate personality of a more heroic Selina powered by her own personality.  She also pictured in her mind just how she wanted to look, putting that photographic memory to a much more purposeful use.

While she was doing so, Batmite was doing some major mojo without either of the girls having any way of noticing.  Then he grinned at Babs and said, "Okay, your penthouse suite downtown is all set, and right now your henchmen are waiting for you in your Cat's Lair called the Catacombs, where your special Kitty Kar is parked.  Hey, wait!  Why am I telling you?  Oh, that's right, you're not really Barbara Gordon who is also Batgirl, you are Selina Kyle...you are Catwoman!"

Instantly, where the cute redhead had been standing now appeared the even more beautiful, if in a way of being an almost evil looking gorgeous vixen, and long wavy black haired feline femme fatale.  She was wearing a bright, medium green body suit, or as she knew it, a catsuit.  Lighter green gloves covered her hands and forearms, with wicked looking long and sharp claws at her fingertips.  Matching knee high light green boots were zipped tightly to her calves, and their high stiletto heels gave the Feline Felon both a sexy and menacing look.  A wide belt in that same lighter green was around her narrow waist, with a cat's head green buckle in front.  Coming up out of her hair on each side of her head were a pair of light green cat ears, and completing her costume was a widely sweeping light green mask in a domino style shape but much more open, as if not to hide anything, really.  Oh, and clenched in her right hand was her trademark cat-o'-nine-tails whip!

Catwoman held out her arms to look down upon her new...no, wasn't this the way she'd always looked...her conflicting personalities were already beginning to come into play...body with larger, more full and shapely breasts and her costume, then said, "Purrrrrfect, Batmite!"  She caught both her new voice and the way in which she'd said perfect, then started to say, "Now-

"Now you need to be in your Cat's Lair, Catwoman!" Batmite exclaimed, and the vision in green disappeared.  Then he looked at Jennifer and said, "I bet she was going to say, 'Now, if I'm Catwoman, then Jennifer needs to be-"

"Batgirl!" she said, cutting off Batmite.  "But first, hold on a sec.  There's a phone call I need to make while I still have this voice."  Jen picked up the phone on what she figured in moments would actually be her own desk, at least temporarily.  "Hi, Kelly, it's Jennifer Goodbody.  I've been called out of town and I won't be able to get back to dancing until sometime during the first week of April.  Yeah, I know this is sudden, it was a surprise to me, too.  Okay, thanks.  Just hold on to my next paycheck until I get back in.  Right, I'll see you in about a week and a half if things work out.  Bye."

Jen hung up, then smiled at Batmite.  "Okay, I'm ready now."  She heard a change in her voice as 'ready now' was said, then noticed the same clothes Babs had been wearing were on her body.  Barbara's body!  In the back of her head was still the identity of Jennifer, but to go along with the change in her body, Barbara now knew that she had the intelligence and photographic memory for which she was noted in the primary part of her mind.

"You're both all set now to play your joke on Batman," Batmite told her.  "But I made it even better for Catwoman than I did for you.  You know the way I had her think of how she'd look, then that's how she became?"  The new Babs nodded.  "Well, that's sort of another magic power I gave her.  Now, all she has to do is think of a costume she wants, and it will appear in her closet or in her hands if she's not near her closet.  I guess I can go back home now.  I'll try to be with you both on April 1st, I want to see how this April Fool's Joke works.  Bye!"  He blinked out of sight.

* * * * *

In another dimension, yet another imp had been following what the imp that tricked him was doing.  Mxy was still in the form of Black Flame, contemplating revenge, and she thought that yes indeed, some changes would take place on April 1st, then she giggled.

* * * * *

The night was young, so the new Barbara Gordon decided it would be good to go out on patrol and watch for any Saturday night misdeeds.  If she happened to cross paths with Catwoman, so much the better.  She went back to the elevator and pressed 212, then after walking into her own mini Bat Cave she did a quick job of getting out of her sneakers, slacks and blouse.  She already knew from before, but now it was her primary mind that knew her costume had a liner in its crotch and good support for her breasts, so off came the panties and bra.

They were replaced by the shiny black body stocking with a big, bright, golden yellow bat centered on its chest.  She zipped on her golden yellow boots, and at this point thought about the much higher heels Catwoman had on her green boots.  'Hmmm...I wonder if some quick trips to shoe and boot stores before April 1st might fool my friend for when she turns back.  Yeah, if I can find some yellow boots with really high heels, that would be my own April Fool's Joke on Babs.  But that Bat design on their tops?  Well, maybe.'  She quickly pulled on her elbow length golden yellow gloves, and made sure the bat wing shapes were straight; the gloves had hardened fingertip areas to form nails, which the new Babs hadn't noticed any time the old Babs had been wearing them.  At least they weren't the long and sharp talons the original now had on the fingertips of her Catwoman gloves.  Then the golden yellow utility belt was clasped around her waist, with the weapons bag she knew all about hooked to it.  The blue cape was clipped to her shoulders, then she pulled the cowl and mask down over her head, finishing by straightening her red hair behind it.

Batgirl raised the doorway, then wheeled her Bat Bike through the opening.  She noticed the passageway had another door activated light, then shut the door again before cranking the engine.  She turned on the Bat Bike's multicolor light-tracer beam, then she was off.

* * * * *

Meanwhile, over inside the Catacombs, which Batmite had set up inside a cave in the rocky hills west of Gotham for Babs, she arrived via his magic in her bedroom there and now thought of herself as being Selina Kyle.  As with Jen who was now Babs, Selina did have Barbara as her alternate if not true self in the back of her mind due to the way she had been wishing for her new personna to be set up at the time Batmite did his magic.  For the purpose of the joke, she was making an effort to think and therefore act as if she really was Catwoman.  Interestingly to her, Batmite had provided her with all the memories of the original Selina's escapades.

Selina had full knowledge of all the crimes and evil doing in her past, and interestingly, felt a good bit of pride in her sinful accomplishments.  This got her to thinking of the irony that now, instead of being the pure of heart Dominoed Dare Doll and a heroine, she was the black hearted Countess of Crime, the Feline Felon who was a wicked villainess.  But for a change, she'd be having Catwoman as a heroine.  In addition, she was looking forward to getting up close and personal with Batman.  In addition to the way she'd thought of her new personality, the original Selina's love interest in the Dark Knight seemed to have been intensified in the new Selina.  It was mostly her own doing, but she wondered if Batmite had done that to make the joke even better.

Before looking around her lair for her Kittens, which in the back of her mind brought a snicker since she'd told Batmite gang men, Selina decided to take a quick look around her bedroom.  That had been a good place for Batmite to put her.  She laid her cat-o'-nine-tails on her bed, then began looking around as if all this was new to her.  The more dominant part of her mind was saying why bother, this was the same bedroom she'd slept in and how could any of it be new, but humoring that other inner voice couldn't hurt.  The first thing she spotted was the huge walk in closet, and the vertical mirror mounted on it.  To get an even better look at her new self than the quick look she'd gotten right after the change, Selina posed in front of the mirror.  Incredible!  A detail Babs hadn't thought of but apparently Batmite had covered was the distinctive green eyes she now had.  She winked at herself, much more than just satisfied with how she looked.

While opening the closet, Catwoman pictured herself in her current outfit, then some of her older costumes, and wondered if maybe any of them could be on hand for if she needed spares or changed her mind.  The first things seen upon opening the door were a good selection of dresses, skirts, slacks and blouses, presumably for living outside the Catacombs if doing so from her penthouse suite downtown wasn't possible.  Then past the street clothes she spotted what Batmite must have provided as additional costumes.  There was an additional green catsuit and its accessories, and a couple of the dark purple dress style costumes with different lengths and slit styles.  There were a number of pairs of boots on the floor to go along with them.  She figured Batmite must have wanted to give her everything the real Catwoman would have...and why not, since she was indeed the real Catwoman now.

It wouldn't be until a bit later that Catwoman would stumble upon the fact that it was her magical costume generating power that had supplied what she found in her closet.

The connected bathroom looked too good to be true.  If the setup in the lair was this good, how opulent was her place downtown?  Selina shook her head, wondering why that voice in the back of her mind didn't know just how special her penthouse suite was, also substituting as a miniature downtown lair as the situation required.  She was looking forward to a long hot soak in that sunken tub right here, or in her more normal sized one downtown.

Now more a matter of doing a check and inventory of her cat weapons than a hunt for them, Selina left her room after picking up her whip again and went down the hall.  She stopped at a spot just inside from the specially disguised cat's teeth entrance on the high side of the rocky hill.  While closed, no one looking at the escarpment could see that an entrance was there, but once opened, it looked like a gaping cat's mouth with sharp fangs.

In the large space, she walked up to her big cabinet with drawers full of cat weapons.  She opened the drawer holding all her whips and placed the cat-o'-nine-tails in it.  Then came a quick check.  Good, all of her feline weapons were in place - catarangs, whips of various types, cat whisker guns, catnip, cataphrenic, her cataleptic hypnosis Cat's Eye ring, and even her special catoptric disorienting necklace.  This she slipped over her head, then pulled her long and wavy black hair up and over it in back.  Then to check if the weapons magic worked, she reached under her belt to grab a catarang, and there it was in her hand!  'Great!  Batmite really did this good for me!'

She walked over to her dark purple Kitty Car, and checked its instrument panel full of futuristic gauges and devices.  With the entrance to the Catacombs being so high up the hill, it was a necessity that the Kitty Car could actually fly through the air.  It would come into use in just a few more minutes, after she'd given her Kittens their instructions.

Satisfied with what she'd found in her new reality for the joke, Catwoman went back down the hallways of the lair to the central recreation area.  All eight of her Kittens were watching the television, but when the distinctive sound of the Feline Felon's over six-inch heels clicking on the stone floor was heard, Manx quickly reached to turn it off and all looked toward her.  "Meowwwrrr!  Time to get to work, boys," she told them.  "I need to make Batman think I'm going to be fighting crime instead of doing crimes, so when I go out to patrol the streets of downtown Gotham in my Kitty Car, I want to find Calico, Manx and Bobcat dressed as suit coated safe crackers at Gotham Winery.  You three have a half hour to get that safe open after I drop you off, then act surprised and pissed that I'm apprehending you.  I'll let you go again right after I've shown you as my haul to Batman."

"Oh boy, we're going to start playing some games with Batman's mind, eh?" Bobcat asked.

"Indeed we are!" Selina told him.  "I'd recommend that you get going, and stop yacking!"  He got up lickety split and headed for his room, following Manx and Calico to get changed.  "The rest of you get to go into action tomorrow night at Silk Factory, Ltd.  Cougar, Lynx and Lion, you three do the suit coat bit, and Puma, you can let Calico, Bobcat and Manx know that you four will be there looking like generic thugs.  Be prepared to fight Batman, since I'm betting he'll get there in addition to me.  Purrrrrr.  Panther, you're going to play the role of the police paddy wagon driver who is going to come and pick up all the other kittens after the fighting ends.  Okay, you guys can go back to the TV watching if you want, I'm going to get the Kitty Car ready, then head downtown with Bobcat, Calico and Manx.  Tell them to get over to the Kitty Car as soon as they're dressed, I'll be waiting."

"Can't wait for tomorrow night, Catwoman!" Lynx said.

"Yeah, I can't wait to see how the Bat reacts to you being a good kitty!" Lion told her.  "Go ahead, we'll let the other guys know.  Lynx, go put Addams Family back on."

Catwoman grinned like a Cheshire Cat as she headed back toward her weapons cabinet.  Part of her was aghast at the idea of acting like a good kitty, but the original ID in the back of her mind was keeping control and having a lot of fun imagining what was shortly to come.

The three Kittens were squeezed in tight behind Catwoman on the small back seat of the Kitty Car for the trip downtown.  She turned on the car's Cat's Whiskers to alert her if the Batmobile was nearby, and the sensor's panel remained blank.  So she proceeded directly to the Gotham Winery.  Just in case any security systems were recording the scene later, her Kittens had been instructed to react to Selina as if seeing her was a shock, which would also hold for when Batman showed up.  The Feline Felon promised not to hurt them TOO much while apprehending them.  Her Kittens had no problem forcing their way in, and Selina drove off to give them some time to get the safe open.  After a few circuits around the downtown business district with her Cat's Whiskers showing no sign of any other criminal activity nor the Batmobile, she headed back toward the winery.

Along the way the sensor panel lit up, but Selina was too far from the winery for her kittens at work to have activated it.  Then it became purrfectly obvious - her Cat's Whiskers had picked up a weak signal from the similar sensor system she'd installed on the Bat Bike a few months earlier.  Well, Catwoman felt it wasn't yet time for Batgirl to meet her, so she made a point of evading the Dominoed Dare Doll's Bat Bike and gave her Kittens a bit more time by detouring onto a longer route to the winery.  She was pretty sure the Bike's system hadn't caught her Kitty Car, and knew for sure when, by the time she parked outside the winery, there was no sign of Batgirl.

The crime fighter in green got into a heroic frame of mind, making the main part of her mind go into convulsions.  'Ah, villainy afoot - in the winery!'  She grinned.  'They're after the payroll - but they're going to catch onto my claws!  Batman - this is the beginning of your joke!'  As Selina leapt out of her Kitty Car, the main part of her mind took sway.  Thinking about Batman and her love for the Dark Knight, a competitor for his heart came to mind.  'As for Batgirl, she's had it!  There's a new top cat in town!'

While heading toward the forced entry point her Kittens had made a bit earlier, Catwoman considered the conflict she'd just thought of.  'HEH!  Part of me really is Batgirl, and the rest of me is now thinking of Batgirl as being a rival for the heart of my lover.  Hmmm...If I go along with this line of reasoning, the upcoming encounters with my replacement as Batgirl could be a lot more interesting than I'd imagined when planning the joke.  Yeah, in fact, doing that and making it look like I'm competing with Batgirl would make my interactions with Batman all that more interesting.'

So already the part of Selina's mind that really was Batgirl was giving in to what her more villainous part wanted to do.

Catwoman snuck through the winery until she got to the room holding its safe, making a point of keeping her heels from clicking.  'Something to add to my weapons and Kat Kit in the future, small rubber covers to slip over my heel tips.'  Then she sprang into the office with her cat-o'-nine-tails flailing, making it look and sound good for the possible security systems by saying, "Get your grubby hands off that cash!"

"Who's that?" Bobcat yelled from his crouched position over a money bag in the open vault.

"Catwoman?!" Manx said in shock.  "But you're a crook - like us!"

"No longer!" Catwoman answered.  "I've reformed!  The 'now look' Catwoman has joined the other side."

"In that case," Calico said while reaching for the pistol inside his jacket, "we're gonna bring your new career to a sudden stop!"

"Yeah," Manx added as he pulled his own pistol from his belted pants top, "with a couple of bullet holes in your cat's hide!"

Selina held up her cat-o'-nine-tails, than said, "Bah!  You're not men - you're mice!"  The whip snaked toward the chandelier over their heads.  As its thongs stretched to curl about the ring of lights, the Feline Felon tugged.  "And I use traps to catch mice!"  The lights came down, trapping Manx and Calico.

As Bobcat took to his heels, Catwoman's whip pulled his legs out from under him, sending the Kitten sprawling into a table top.  "There'll be no chickening out while I'm around!" Selina said while running toward him as if she was wearing sneakers, not ultra high heeled boots.  Another facet of her cat agility, gained from the magic spell.

Then her whip's thongs gathered up all three of the kittens pretending to be thugs and slammed them against the wall.  "This'll put you in a catabatic trance!" Catwoman snarled, then she gathered them up and started to drag them out back toward her Kitty Car.  'Now to cross paths with Batman - show him my night's catch - and at the same time show up Batgirl!'

With her three semiconscious Kittens stretched out across the back of the Kitty Car, Selina drove off until her Cat's Whiskers told her the Batmobile was finally reacting to the robbery at the winery.  She pulled up next to the Dynamic Duo and said, "Greetings, Caped Crusaders!  Bagged anything yet?"

Robin looked over toward her in his seat and said, "It's Catwoman - and she's captured the three robbers!"  Then he turned toward the Dark Knight and gasped in surprise, "She hasn't been around for years!  What's she up to, Batman - masquerading in that new costume?"

"Might be a good idea to ask her, Robin," his partner replied stoically.

Selina rested her left elbow on the Kitty Car's side and placed her left hand under her chin.  "You're looking at the 'now look Catwoman' - my criminal past is behind me - my future is to jail all the thieves I can lay my cat-o'-nine-tails on!"

"You're reformed before, Catwoman," Robin answered, "but it never lasted long!"

"You shall see for yourself, you doubting Robin - beginning with this haul at a winery where I went cat-wild!" Selina told him.  "It's a purrrrrfect demonstration that anything Batgirl can do, I can do - better!"  She waved at the guys, then said, "Ta-ta!  I'll be seeing you in the morning papers!  This night's work will catapult me into the headlines!"

"What sneaky game is she playing?" Robin wondered as they watched the Kitty Kar drive off.

Later, when they were back in the Bat Cave, Robin brought up Catwoman again.  "I can't figure out whether she's trying to show us up - or Batgirl-"

"Or both!" Batman replied.

"At least she's 'reformed' in one way!  In the past, her criminal activities used to involve a 'cat' in some way or another!  But there's no 'cat' in Gotham Winery!"

"Not so, Robin!  I happen to know the Gotham Winery uses Catawba grapes to make its wines," Batman countered.  "So maybe she does have a cat-trick hidden behind her sexy domino cat-mask!  Also, this is a bit hard to believe, with Catwoman coming back after being gone for so long.  We'll just have to possess the patience of a cat - to learn what she's up to!"

The Dynamic Duo would have had much more to question and wonder about if they'd seen the Kitty Car head back toward the Catacombs and not Police Headquarters.  After a short distance, the three aching Kittens moved to the back seat again.  "Ouch!  I'd sure hate to be at the receiving end of a for real attack by you, Catwoman," Bobcat said, rubbing his head.  "Not hurt very much, you said?  Next time try to not hurt a lot more, kay?"

"Sorry, Bobcat," Selina answered.  "It's part of the mind game for Batman, remember.  So both you guys and me have to act right, or it won't work."

"I sure hope it hurts Batman's mind as much as mine, Catwoman," Calico mentioned.  "Let's just get back to the lair quick, so I can get some aspirin!"

The rest of that night was spent in agony for some of the Kittens while the others started to wonder about what they'd encounter on their turns.  Catwoman, though, was thinking her joke on Batman was off to a great start.

The following day, Selina spent a lot of time with her Kittens who were going to play the role of her targets that night.  She wanted to get them more used to what would come than the three the night before did.  A surprise came when she went to get into her costume after they all ate.

Selina had seen all the costumes that were in her closet the night before when checking it after her arrival.  'Arrival, what do you mean by arrival...'  She grinned at the conflict of personalities in her mind, then on a whim started to imagine herself in a full blown cat costume like the one worn during the first few encounters with Batman.  A black body suit covered her shapely form, a furry tail hung behind her, and a full head covering cat mask and head hid her face and hair.  When she opened the closet to get her green catsuit out, hanging next to it was a black catsuit.  Above it sitting on the shelf was a full head covering cat mask and head!  'What the - all I have to do is think of a costume, and it shows up for me?  Whoa!'

She got dressed in green, but Selina decided to do some more checking out of this costume bit later on or the next day.

A bit later, the Batmobile's own version of Catwoman's Cat's Whiskers and Batgirl's multicolor light-tracer beam, which preceded by a long time either of its imitators, located a robbery taking place at a silk handkerchief factory.  "No sign of our rival - or Batgirl!" Batman said as he and Robin leapt toward the doors.

"That suits me fine!" Robin replied.  "Nabbing crooks is man's work!"

As if to redeem themselves in their own eyes (after all, Catwoman caught the thieves at the winery), the Caped Crusader and Boy Wonder hurled themselves into the three suit coated hoods rifling the stacks of silk.  "A neck-lock hip-throw for this one-" Batman yelled.

As he laid into the other two crooks, Robin answered, "-And an old fashioned belt in the stomach for my two customers!"

After a seemingly short fight, Batman said, "That wraps up this threesome!"

"Too bad there aren't more!" Robin added.  "I've just begun to fight!"

As if to answer Robin's wish, the door to the next room swung open and four heavily muscled thugs sped in, raining blows upon the unsuspecting Batman.  "The boss held us in reserve - just for an opportunity like this!" Puma said while laying a roundhouse on the hero's cowled noggin.  Calico, Bobcat and Manx piled on, adding to Puma's blows.

From the floor now, Batman complained, "They're too heavy to flip off..."

From his side, Robin exploded into renewed action, heaving a roll of silk toward to of the thugs.  "Here I come like a bolt from the blue - a bolt of blue silk, that is!"

Just the opening the Caped Crusader needed.  "Good boy, Robin!  Now I can throw these crooks off - get to my feet - now that I've got my feet on solid ground," he said while clobbering Bobcat and Calico, "I can set myself for a solid right hook," which nailed Manx, "and a right uppercut!"  Puma went down.

Meanwhile, the Boy Wonder started to find that the original three crooks were a bit more than he could handle....  'Ganging up on me - need some maneuvering room-!'  But in ducking away from a roundhouse punch, he got slammed into the wall behind himself.

Suddenly, from off to his side whipped the Batrope....  Robin's three accosters were wrapped in the rope and pulled away from him.  "That was a good noose, Batman...soon as I clear my head...I'll pitch in...."

But as the Masked Manhunter started to haul in his catch, they turned!  'They - rushed me-!'

The next moment, seven guns lifted as seven fingers curled about seven triggers....

From behind them then came a distinctive female voice, "Obviously, Batman and Robin can use a helping hand!"

Inches from the ears of the seven gunmen, tiny bombs attached to the cords of the cat-o'-nine-tails detonated with deafening fury....  All seven of Catwoman's Kittens put their hands over their ears in agony, dropping their weapons.  "EEEEEY!  It's like my head was bustin' open!" Bobcat yelled amidst the tiny booms.

The Dynamic Duo took advantage of the assist and let fly with their fists.  "Quick, Robin - before they recover from that noise bombardment!"

As he was clobbering Cougar, Robin said, "For once in my life - I'm glad to see you, Catwoman!"

"Bless you for those kind words, Robin!" Selina replied.  "Just for that, I'll fetch my cat-compact and..." the three Kittens closest to Robin saw their mistress pull the compact from under her belt, then open her cosmetics and blow,  "...dust off these crooks for you!"  A cloud of powder enveloped their heads.  Lynx, Lion and Cougar dropped to the floor.

"ULP!  How come they were affected by that powder and I wasn't, Catwoman?"

"Why, Robin!  You don't think I'd harm either you or Batman?  My cat-powder works only against thieves - not crime crusaders!" Selina answered.  "And speaking of Batman - pardon me, Robin!"  She reached under her belt and pulled out a curved green weapon with a cat head.  "My catarang will lighten your burden, Batman sweetie!"

As he watched Catwoman cock her hand while he was being restrained by two of her Kittens, Batman wondered, 'Do I detect a note of affection in Catwoman's voice?'

As her catarang took out the last Kittens still standing, Catwoman proudly proclaimed, "Could Batgirl do that, Batman?"

'There's that concern over Batgirl again!' Batman noted.

When the smoke of battle cleared, Selina was standing amongst her fallen Kittens with her cat-o'-nine-tails in her left hand, which like the right was resting on her hips with her legs spread in a sexy and commanding pose.  "Batgirl has had her day - and night, Batman!  Could she have helped you - as I did?"

Catwoman walked over in a very sexy manner and got face to face with the Dark Knight.  "If you want a feline friend to help you play cat-and-mouse with any more robbers - just remember Catwoman!  You definitely are in need of - a woman's touch!"

Robin watched, thinking, 'Why is she making those catty remarks about Batgirl?'

As the feline fury drove off waving, Robin scratched his head.  "One thing's for sure - we couldn't have done as well without her!"

"There's nothing about a 'cat' in a silk handkerchief factory!" Batman replied.  "Perhaps she's reformed permanently!"

He wouldn't have had that thought if the Caped Crusader knew how the seven Kittens they'd been fighting were picked up by the eighth who the Dynamic Duo thought was the cop who'd come to pick them all up.  The rest of that night was spent with muscle relaxers and copious amounts of aspirin.  Selina assured them that the next few robberies they'd fake to fool Batman would be a lot less painful.

She left her aching Kittens to themselves and headed back to her room.  Catwoman wanted to check out this costume bit she'd discovered earlier in the evening.  But first, to try on that full head and body covering cat costume!  A few minutes later, two green costumes were hanging side by side, and with her body from the neck down covered in shiny black, Selina zipped on one of her pairs of knee high black high heel costume boots.  Eagerly she placed the back of the cat head over her hair and head.  Then she put the front of it over her face.  The two eye holes, her nose and mouth got lined up, then she snapped the connections to make the mask whole.  The Feline Felon stepped in front of her mirror, and a vision not seen since the very beginning of her career greeted her.  "Meowwwwrrrr!" she uttered, now a for real Cat Woman!

Selina stayed in that costume for a few minutes, strutting and posing in her erotically sexy stiletto heels which added six and a half inches to her height in front of her mirror.  Then curiosity got to the cat.  If she'd had some kind of power to conjure up the costume she was now wearing, what other costumes might she be able to make appear?  The Cat Woman started to imagine a costume looking like a tigress, with full long sleeves and a high neck to completely cover her torso, and high French cut openings for her legs.  A black version of her green costume mask, gloves with claws to match the tiger stripes of the leotard, a wide black belt with a black loot bag hooked to it, and finally, knee high tiger striped boots with super sexy heels like her green boots had finished this costume idea.  Now, would it appear?

She opened her closet, and low and behold, there hanging next to her two green catsuits was a tiger striped leotard, and its accessories were above and below it.  "Meowwwrr!  What a fantastic magic power to have!" she said aloud, confident that none of her kittens would hear.  With a lot of anticipation, Selina got back out of her Cat Woman outfit and proceeded to put on her new Tigress Catwoman costume.  Then on a whim, she started to think about the yellow boots of her...no, Barbara's Batgirl costume with heels to match the boots she was wearing.  When she looked at the closet floor, a pair of yellow boots with bat scalloping at the top and exciting six-and-a-half-inch stiletto heels was amongst all her other shoes and boots.  'Well, if that worked....'

Selina started to picture herself as Batgirl, which was very easy since until recently that's exactly who she'd been.  Then she checked the closet.  The black batsuit was now hanging with her cat costumes, and in addition, a long red wig was on the shelf with the cowl and mask combo.  Right then and there she decided a trip to the library carrying a box would be in order for the next day.

Selina Kyle planned her visit to the library for the period around lunch time when she knew Babs would in all likelihood be out of her office.  Out of costume, she appeared to be just a good looking and well dressed brunette carrying a shopping bag, and sure enough, when she took the elevator up to the third floor the 'out' sign was displayed.  She walked around to another hallway which connected with the one having the elevator down to the Batgirl room.  When she got there, the original two-inch heeled yellow boots were pulled away from their usual spot.  She pulled her box from the bag and opened it, then pulled out the much higher heeled yellow boots.

Then a thought occurred to her....  'As Catwoman, do I still have the same size feet I had as Batgirl?'  She went over to the seat next to the table and pulled off her pink high heeled shoes.  Then Selina tried to slip her feet into the original short heeled Batgirl boots.  'Ungh, not quite.  I seem to be a size bigger now.  That means the yellow boots I brought will be a size too big when Babs puts them on.'  She started to picture in her mind Batgirl sized yellow boots just like the ones set under the costume now, and to her surprise, they appeared in her hands!  'Another facet of my costume power, it seems!'  She replaced the larger sized pair with the newer correct sized ones, and placed both the ones in her size and the original Batgirl boots in the box.

That took care of the boots that went with the costume at the library, but Selina wondered if her costume magic power could also alter costume items both near at hand and also at a distance, as long as she knew precisely where they were.  She took the original boots out again, and set them in front of herself.  Then, both looking at them and also picturing in her mind the boots in the changing room at the residence, she imagined them as having the sexy ultra high stiletto heels.  'Bingo!  At least for the ones in front of me, which means there were now two correct sized pairs of the yellow boots here.'  But only one should be on hand, so back into the box they went.

Then Selina pulled the long red wig out of the box and set it with the mask and cowl combination.  Batgirl would look a lot better with the longer hair, she thought.  She looked forward to using the wig herself after she returned to being Batgirl; along of course with wearing the higher heeled boots.  Then in her mind she imagined an identical wig being with the mask and cowl in the home changing room.

Mission accomplished, at least for the items on hand, Selina went back into the elevator and selected the second floor.  There she busied herself doing some magazine reading, keeping her eyes open for any sign of Babs returning from lunch.  Eventually, a bit after one the redhead came through, and Selina got up to follow her.  A moment later Babs heard a knock at her door, and upon opening it saw her predecessor.  "What brings you here, Selina?" she asked.  "Oh, come on in, first."

Selina stepped in, saying, "I just wanted to see how you were making out.  It's going just fine from my end for the joke.  I've already helped Batman twice, and can't wait to get into more crook catching with him."

"With the way I have your original mind in addition to my own, I must say this has been going much easier than I'd imagined," Babs replied.  While she was talking, Selina was reaching into her purse and slipping a big ring onto her finger that had a red stone in it.  "The work here at the library is fascinating, and actually being Batgirl instead of working along with her is outstanding!"  Babs saw her guest starting to raise her hand, and added, "What's that you've got there, some kind of special ruby?"

"No, not a ruby," Selina answered.  "Here, take a close look at it."  She held her hand up in front of Barbara's eyes.  Her interest piqued, Babs concentrated on the red stone, without any reason to wonder about any problems.  Her mind went blank a moment later.

Selina wanted the new boots to be a complete surprise, so it was just one thing she needed to change Barbara's mind about.  "Your mind is mine to control, Barbara.  You know now that whenever you appear as Batgirl, your own hair is too short and you recently decided to put on a long red wig before your mask and cowl.  Do you understand?"

"Yes, I wear a long red wig as Batgirl to cover my short red hair," Babs said methodically.

Satisfied, Selina lowered her hand and placed it into her lap with her other over it.  Barbara came out of her trance a moment later, and wondered where the gem Selina was showing her had gone.  "Uh, weren't you showing me that big ruby or whatever you were wearing?" she asked.

"Yes, and you liked seeing it a lot," Selina replied.  "What did you do, lose track of what you were doing?"

"I guess so.  I can't recall you or I saying anything about it, or you sitting back down."

"Well, I'm about finished here," Selina mentioned.  "I guess I'll head on out now, and let you get back to work.  There's an inventory of reference books due tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah, and that's one thing a lot more difficult than my old job," Babs replied, "but at least with your incredible mind I seem to have no real difficulty."

"Okay then, I'll see you later," Selina said as she got up.

"Probably at night," Babs said with a grin.

"Maybe even tonight!  If so, be prepared," Selina warned.  "I've been working on trying to get Batman interested in me as a lover by making him think I'm competing with Batgirl.  Bye."  Selina waved, then left.

Barbara was very tempted to chase after Selina and ask for more details, but decided to just wait and see.  As it was, she had plenty of work to keep her busy right there in the office.  A side benefit she was getting out of the identity swap was that the library was much closer to Barbara's home than it was to Jennifer's.  Going out as Batgirl at night seemed to involve less time than her dancing, at least so far, so she was getting more sleep thanks to the shorter drive.

Late in the afternoon, Babs turned on her radio to catch up on any news while she was busy.  Another big advantage of the ID swap, the mind she now had found it simple to do what would years later become known as multitasking.  Reading at the same time as listening to the news was almost too easy for her now.  When mention was made of the assist Catwoman had made for Batman the night before, her interest shot higher, along with her concentration.  During the interview with the Dark Knight, he mentioned the supposition about there being nothing 'cat' related in what Catwoman had done, but this sparked a note of recognition in her mind.

Babs pulled out a thesaurus to verify her inkling, all the while listening to more of the interview and related news.  She mused, "If Robin could see me now, he'd say that since I have a photographic memory, I ought to wear a filmy dress while using it...."

While from the radio came, "Our reporter on the spot informs us that last night when Batman made his report to the police, he told them that Catwoman again remarked, 'Anything Batgirl can do, I can do better!'"

At the very same moment she heard that, Babs found her word.  'Ah, here's that word - pulicat!  A pulicat is a silk bandana or handkerchief!  It derives its name from Lake Pulicat in Madras, India, where it is manufactured - what's that?  Catwoman mentioning Batgirl?  Selina had told me a bit about that....'

"The inference was that Catwoman was mocking Batgirl...."

'Was she now?  Maybe I'd just better see for myself, the next time Selina goes prowling in that Kitty Car of hers!  She's aroused my feminine curiosity - as well as my feminine intuition!'  Babs at this point put down her book and went over to the seat next to the desk and started to reread the newspaper.  'And that same intuition tell me Catwoman will strike at the Gotham Wax Museum - where a bier of a far eastern maharajah is on loan from his native country!  Especially since a bier is also known as a - catafalque!'

She put the paper down and stood, then Babs started walking toward the hallway.  'There are treasure chests of real emeralds, real diamonds, real pearls at that catafalque, to lend the wax figures an air of reality as it lies in state!  If crooks make a try for those jewels - Catwoman is bound to make a try for the crooks!' she finished thinking as the door of the elevator opened and the light turned on in her changing room.  In a matter of seconds she was out of the orange skirt and jacket over a black sleeveless leotard top, then off came her black work shoes.  As she placed her long red wig over her own shorter red hair, Babs thought, 'Neither of them is going to get what they want...' she pulled on her black body suit, then added her cape, '...because I'm going to show up...' on went her golden gloves and utility belt, '...for a showdown with Catwoman...' she clipped her red weapons bag to the belt, '...as Batgirl!'

But Batgirl wasn't yet complete.  She reached over for her golden bat boots and sat to put them on, then noticed the incredibly high stiletto heels they had.  "What the-!" she exclaimed.  "I was just playing with the idea of getting boots with heels like on Selina's boots, how the hell are the boots already here like that?"  As she slid her feet into the boots and pulled up the stretch tops until their bat forms were evident, a thought came to her.  'Maybe Batmite found out about my musing and changed the boots for me....'

Batgirl now stood so much more powerfully with her good sized breasts seeming to project even more erotically and with her legs looking much more shapely in her new heels, and walked with a sure and steady stride over to the Bat Bike.  Moments later, the room was dark and Batgirl was on the hunt for Catwoman.

Nearing the Wax Museum, Batgirl started to get into the right frame of mind.  'Let's see what Catwoman can do - that Batgirl supposedly can't do - better!'

She snuck into the building, then made her way toward the catafalque.  There in front of the open chests were a trio of crooks.  She started to pounce on them, when from the other side of the room appeared the shapely form in skin tight green.  "Well, well!  If it isn't Batman's unprecious little helpmate!"

"I'm here to prevent a crime, Catwoman - what's your excuse?"

Finally Catwoman and Batgirl had met - and female tempers started to flare!  Never mind what was going on between the girls themselves, what effect would the potential catfight have on Batman himself?

Catwoman stood aside while grasping her necklace and shifting it in the light and said, "You can have first crack at those crooks, Batgirl!  I've already convinced Batman I'm a better fighter than you - so after you fail miserably at capturing those crooks, I'll convince you, too!"

"Talk is cheap..." Batgirl answered while launching into the first of Catwoman's disguised kittens, "...what counts is action - OOPS!"  Batgirl was stunned!  'My chop missed his neck - and landed on his shoulder instead!'

"My turn now, Batgirl!" one of the other two thugs said while vaulting toward the Dominoed Dare Doll.

'Better switch to a judo defense against that billy club-armed thug...' Batgirl thought while setting him up.  But her hand missed him completely!  'Wha-?!  Instead of getting my leverage grip under his arm, my hand went over it!'

The Dark Knight Damsel slipped away from that thug, then started a flying leap toward the third one.  At the same time, Catwoman was adjusting her necklace again while saying, "Just as soon as you admit how inept you are, Batgirl - I'll take over!  It's a mystery to me why you haven't gotten yourself killed before this, if you can't do any better than that!"

Again, Batgirl found she was off target.  Instead of going hands first into the thug, she ended up going head first into a vertical metal post.  'Hurled myself at his legs - and ended up against this catafalque post?!'

Suddenly the cat-o'-nine-tails looped across the room.  "Mustn't hit a lady, boys - especially when she's down!"  Catwoman got the Kittens away from the downed heroine, then started to rub it in.  "Really!  What did Batman ever see in you in the first place, Batgirl?  You've made a mishmash of this!"

Batgirl held her head with her right hand.  'She's right!  I couldn't do anything right-'

"Let me show you how it's done, girlie!" Catwoman said while attacking and quickly subduing the three kittens who remembered Selina telling them the next time wouldn't hurt quite as much...HAH!  "The idea is to hit the crooks - like so!- and knock them out!  Then all you have to do is turn them over to the police!"

Batman and Robin pulled up as the two women were escorting the three kittens acting as thugs out of the building.  "Batman - I'm glad you're here!" Catwoman said in greeting.  "I've been asking all along if Batgirl could do what I could - and now I have the proof positive!  Go on, Batgirl!  Tell Batman what happened!"

Disappointment and chagrin showed in every inch of Batgirl's drooping head and shoulders as she did as challenged.  "Catwoman's right - she succeeded where I failed!  If I had been alone - those crooks would have gotten away with the loot-"

There was a moment of silence as the glum Batgirl turned and slowly walked away from Batman standing next to a smiling Catwoman.  'Nobody will ever know - what it cost me to say that in front of that other woman!  Just exactly what is Selina trying to pull - this is seeming to go way beyond what I thought was going to happen with her April Fool's Joke!'

Over the next few days, Selina (Catwoman) Kyle found herself the most celebrated woman in Gotham City...

Using her original talents for reading and writing, Selina used her daytimes to write a book about love and war in the crime fighting field.  The quick print job she had done resulted in an even more clamorous celebrity for her.  Saturday night she found herself at a book signing in the Golden Cat restaurant.  Standing outside and looking in, Dick (Robin) Grayson remarked, "Gosh, Bruce - look at the people wanting her to autograph copies of her book they bought!"

"She's the lion - lioness! - of the hour, Dick!" Bruce (Batman) Wayne answered.

The restaurant itself had never before been so crowded.  Not a single space could be seen inside.  Just then the head of the Gotham City Library walked up.  "Barbara Gordon!" Bruce exclaimed in surprise.  "What's Gotham City's head librarian doing here?"

"Hello, Bruce!" Babs replied.  "I was going to ask Miss Kyle to donate the original manuscript of her bestseller to the library - but I can't get close enough to her-"

"Well, I'm going to get near her!  Our Wayne Foundation Charity Dinner to raise research funds is bogging down...."

When he got inside and right up close to Selina a short while later, Bruce repeated what he'd said to Babs, continuing, "...So I thought, Miss Kyle, that if you would attend the affair, it'd be a sellout!"

Selina thought how ironic it was that she was being asked to go, but in only two more days she wouldn't exist anymore.  She thought quickly, then replied, "Sorry, Mr. Wayne.  In my new role of crook-catcher - I have no time for such things!"

Later that night, Catwoman was indeed involved in battles with small time crooks almost until the sun started to brighten the eastern horizon.  As she retired to her Catacombs for a quick cat nap Sunday morning, a thought came to her.  'Well, I've managed to get Batgirl out of the picture...and still Batman hasn't told me he loves me!  What's the matter with him, anyhow?'

Later on Sunday afternoon, Selina met Batman alone since Robin was at home studying, and finally got a chance to corner him.  She ranted about his lack of affection, and how she could give him so much in both help and love.  "Made up your mind yet, Batman?  When are you going to ask me to join you in crook-catching - and in wedlock?"

"I'm quite satisfied with the way things are right now, Catwoman!" Batman said smugly.

'How do you like that!  He's aloof - and I'm in love!' Catwoman raged with a snarl on her face and her hands on her hips, looking both totally pissed and very imposing.  'Here I go and eliminate Batgirl - and all he can say is - he's satisfied!  Well, he may be satisfied - but I'm not!'  Selina started stalking back to her Kitty Car.  'Oooh!  That man makes me feel so mad - if I wasn't controlling myself to get to the end of the joke tomorrow, I'm sure the wicked side of my personality would take over and make me go back to being a totally evil villainess committing cat-crimes!  Go back?  No, start.  NO - GO BACK!'  The good side of Selina's mind was getting close to losing her control, with but only one day left to go.

When she got home to the Catacombs early in the evening, Selina went straight to the phone in the rec room.  She had to wait for the TV's volume to get turned down.  Then finally, she was able to punch the numbers for what had been her own phone at home.  She was hoping Babs wouldn't be out as Batgirl.  After three rings she started to fear Batgirl was on duty, but then the phone got picked up just as the fourth ring started.  "Hello?"

"Hi, Barbara, it's me, Selina."

"I was wondering if you were going to have the guts to call me, Catwoman," she replied, stressing the use of Selina's costumed name.  "What the hell have you been doing?  I still get a headache every time I think of that pole you made me dive into."

"Oh, so you figured out how I did that, eh?  I'm really sorry about that.  In the process of trying to make it look good for Batman, a combination of the desire I have for him which I got in the magic spell and the darker side of my personality made me want to make you look bad."

"Hmmm...Well, see if you can control yourself better until you end the joke tomorrow."

"Yeah, I'll try," Selina replied.  "Just be aware that Batman is so far refusing to accept me, so the last bit I'm going to pull tomorrow will involve trapping Batman and Robin and pulling off their masks and cowls.  Since he knows I'm trying to woo him, I'd bet he'll assume I want to see the face of my lover and might do something to hide his identity, like blacking it out in the shape of his mask.  You might want to do that, too.  If you're at the same scene, I'd pull off your mask also, to make it look good for the guys."

"Thanks for the tip," Babs said, intrigued.  "I'll watch for some indication of where Batman and Robin head tomorrow.  You're doing that at night, I presume?"

"Right, see you later."  Selina hung up before listening for any more from the young woman pretending to be her old self.

"Goodb-"  Barbara was starting to say goodbye when she heard the click signaling the close of their connection.  'Damn, I'm starting to wonder just how much Selina is being influenced by the evil side of her personality.  Seems like her phone manners have disappeared.'  She let it go, seeing as how tomorrow was April 1st and after the joke was pulled, both of them would be back to normal.

* * * * *

Granted, Earth calendar days meant nothing to the interdimensional imps other than how the dates affected the targets of their shenanigans.  But because it was the day before everything had been set up to be changed back to normal, Mr. Mxyzptlk went to Batmite's dimension and world on March 31.  His magical powers were just as potent there as they were in the dimension and world where he so enjoyed playing with the Super Oaf.  The time limit wasn't up yet for getting back to playing with the Man of Steel directly, but going elsewhere on Earth would be no problem.  So to use an expression he knew Superman and others used regularly, Mxy decided he could kill two birds with one stone.  He'd get back at Batmite for the way he'd tricked him after their bet, and also mess with Superman indirectly and Batman directly by fooling around with the new Catwoman.

So that he wouldn't alarm his first victim, Mxy took the form of one of Batmite's friends, another rotund little imp who liked to look like Robin.  He knocked on the strange looking door to Batmite's equally strange looking home.  "Hey, Fremklig," Batmite greeted his supposed friend.  "I wasn't expecting you, but come on in."  (Translated into English, of course.)

Fremklig-Mxy walked through the opening shaped to fit their roundish bodies, then said, "I just wanted to talk, have you got a few reftas (Batmite dimension minutes, if you will) you can spend with me?"

"Sure, what did you want?"

Mxy worked his mind warping spell as Batmite was replying.  Then he said, "I've been wondering if I could go with you the next time you go to see Batman and Robin."

"There won't be any next time, Fremklig.  Last week when I was with Mr. Mxyzptlk visiting Batman and Superman, my hero told me to never again come to his dimension.  He said he was sick and tired of the magic stuff I do.  I don't ever want to have him mad at me, so from now on I'll just watch him from here.  Hey, by the way, did you notice that Catwoman is back now?  It's hard to tell if she's acting like a good kitty or the same wicked tigress she used to be."

"Yeah, I saw that green costume and wondered if it was really her.  Oh, well.  I guess I can still watch what Robin does with Batman along with you."

"Sure, any time.  Just not today or the next couple of days.  I'm going to be watching Captain America instead of Batman."

"Okay, thanks.  I've got to go now, so I'll see you again soon."

"Bye, Fremklig," Batmite said while closing the door after his friend left.

As soon as he was out of range, Mxy blipped back to his own more normal looking (to himself) though tiny form, and then back to his own dimension.  Now that the only other magical imp who knew about the 'temporary' change for the April Fool's Joke was out of the picture, it would be easy for him to change the enchantment.  When he got to his home, Mxy watched for what Catwoman was doing.  He altered himself again into a rotund form, this time as a duplicate of Batmite, and zapped himself down to the Catacombs as soon as the temporary Catwoman got off the phone and went into her bedroom, away from all her Kittens.

Selina was taking off her mask at her closet when she heard a popping sound behind her.  She spun to see Batmite standing there with a big grin on his round Bat masked face.  "Hi, Catwoman!" the mite said in greeting.

"Hello, Batmite!" she replied.  "Hey, aren't you a day early?  I thought you'd said you were just going to come tomorrow to see the end of the joke."

Mxy was astounded at what he'd found while examining Selina's mind during her answer.  He knew his spell was going to be oh so much easier than he'd imagined with the way her mind was already so conflicted.  "That's what I'd wanted to do, but I won't be able to get here tomorrow."  He did a shrugging type motion while saying that, and when finished waved his upturned hands.  A normal enough looking motion, but this was Mxy's spell being activated.

She tried to make a reply expressing her regrets and to thank the imp again, but Selina found her mouth wouldn't move.  Nor could she move any other part of her body at all.  But the intense feeling of wonder and alarm she perceived was amplified as the imp took control of her motions.  She found herself stepping over to and facing her mirror.  Under Mxy's influence, Catwoman's mind started telling her that she was facing another woman costumed identically to herself.  It was her task to hypnotize this usurper, so she reached under her belt with her left hand for her Cat's Eye ring.  It wasn't really her own will controlling her hands, but with the way her mind was being controlled, it seemed like the feline femme fatale was doing precisely what she wanted to do.  The ring got placed over her still gloved right ring finger.

In order to place the ring in front of her twin's eyes, Selina found herself bringing her right hand directly in front of her very own eyes.  She drank in the gem's incredible hypnotic power, and immediately fell under its spell.  Her mind became unthinking, open to whatever it would be told.  Mxy made Catwoman see her twin's lips stay sealed as he started to place words in her mouth.

"You have two identities right now," Catwoman told the subject of her hypnosis, "fighting for control.  The good side of you called Barbara Gordon must know that the magic phrase to say tomorrow is not 'Cat to Bat,' it is 'Cat to Cat, Bat to Bat.'  She must also forget everything that has happened since Batmite answered her greeting, and also go to sleep and become unaware of what her evil side called Selina Kyle is doing until I snap my fingers to awaken her."  Suddenly, there was only one identity with awareness in Catwoman's mind, what Barbara herself had put there as the original and very evil minded Selina.  Now in the vixen's mind were total recall of her own history and also Batgirl's.  She lowered her right hand, still under Mxy's control, then took off her ring and replaced it under her belt.

Mxy altered the magic spell Batmite had given for the original change back incantation, and made sure not to alter the costume generating magic.  Then before releasing Catwoman from his power, he changed back to his usual form.

When one of if not the most evil villainesses on Earth was able to move again on her own, she found herself primping in front of her mirror.  When she turned away, Selina saw Mr. Mxyzptlk in her bedroom.  She purred, then said, "Hey, why are you here visiting me, Mxy?  I thought you only messed with Superman, his bitch girl friend Lois Lane, and others close to the super bastard."

Pleased with what he'd just heard, Mxy answered, "Usually, yes.  But right now, Catwoman, the time limit that keeps me away from him hasn't run out.  I also play around with Superman's friends occasionally, especially when I can't mess with Super Oaf himself.  I was just working with you to get at Batman.  You'll find a new underground lair below your downtown home that you call your Cat Cave, but something you just said changed my mind.  I can get to both Super Oaf and his girlfriend with help from you!"

"Meowwwrrrrrrr...Really?  How so, Mxy?"

"There's a bird collection that's being set to open soon in a castle converted to a museum outside of Metropolis, Catwoman.  It's pretty likely that Penguin will try to rob them.  It would be your job to beat him to the birds, and replacing all the birds with cats of all ilk would show the world that you were responsible.  It's also quite likely that Lois Lane will make a visit to the collection before opening, and I'll leave it to you just what you could do to her.  Then if both Batman and Superman show up to try and nail Penguin, watch for an opportunity to get at Super Oaf himself."

After he finished, Mxy did a waving motion with his left hand over his right.  What looked like a magician's magic wand appeared in his right hand.  "Here's a new weapon you can add to your arsenal, Catwoman.  This is the wand of Circe, which you can use like she did by saying a rhyming spell."

As she reached for the wand, Catwoman's questions about it were erased as Mxy put everything about it into her mind, along with everything she'd need to know about her Cat Cave.  She now knew that the wand had only one spell capability, unless and until Mxy came to recharge it.  She purred again, then said, "Thank you, I'll put this with my cat whisker guns in the armory with my other cat weapons until I know when to use it."

"Good, I'm sure you'll know when it becomes time," Mxy told her.  "Another suggestion, which I think you'll enjoy doing as much yourself as my observing, would be for you to devise a trap for Batgirl a couple of days after you finish your joke on Batman."  He nodded while telling her, "I know you'll have fun with the wand.  I know you'll have fun playing with Batgirl, too.  Well, it's time for me to go now, so you're on your own.  Oh, just one tip.  Sometime soon start building that huge collection of cats you'll need for the museum, and when you have them, one of the tigers will be a perfect pet to have collared and on a leash."

When he finished briefing Catwoman about the upcoming possibilities, Mxy altered himself to look like Batmite again.  "Why did you do that?" Selina asked.

"Because in a moment, Barbara will be waking up, and she cannot know I was here as Mxy, she can only know that Batmite visited."  He paused a moment, then added, "Go ahead and snap your fingers now so Barbara can be with you in your mind again and start controlling you until tomorrow night."

The feline femme fatale snapped her fingers, the sound muted a bit by her green gloves, and once again the good side of Catwoman became aware.  "Gee, I'm sorry you can't get here for the springing of the April Fool's Joke tomorrow night, Batmite.  Thanks again for turning me into Catwoman temporarily to fool Batman."

"You're welcome!" the rotund imp answered.  "Well, I'd better be getting back home now.  Bye!"  He blinked out of sight.  Back into his own form for the transit, Mxy returned to his own dimension and home a happy imp, completely on his own and voluntarily.  The magic he'd just done would be permanent.

Selina stood there in her room for a couple of seconds after Batmite blinked out, then headed out to the rec room to give her Kittens their last night before briefing of the following night's activities.

"Suit coat time again for Manx, Bobcat and Calico, and you too this time, Lynx.  Going after the high valued coins in the Rare Coin Emporium, with me to show up and stop you, hopefully with Batman and Robin there, too.  Should be lots of fun, and hopefully not too much need for aspirin after you get back," she told them.  As if they'd actually be getting back, since they'd vanish as soon as the spell was broken by her magic phrase after the joke was pulled on Batman.  "I don't plan to do anything tomorrow until the evening, so you can stay up late and then sleep in tomorrow if you'd like."

"I presume the rest of us can just sit it out here in the Catacombs?" Lion asked.

"Right," she replied while nodding.  "Good night, guys."

"Good night, Catwoman," a crescendo of voices answered.

* * * * *

The next night in the Bat Cave, the Dynamic Duo was preparing to go out on patrol, with the first stop being the rare coin exhibit which the Bat Computer had predicted would be a prime target.  As they started to change into their costumes, Bruce said to Dick, "I don't want to sound egotistical, Robin - but I've come to the conclusion that Catwoman is in love with me!"

Robin smirked.  He was old enough now to know a good thing when he saw it.  "Of course she is!  Everybody knows that - all but you!  The question is - what're you going to do about it?"

"Make a certain precautionary move before going out tonight - and so are you!"

"Me?  But she's not in love with me!"

"Perhaps not!" Bruce told him.  "Nevertheless, we'll both take that certain precaution!"

A bit later, the Batmobile was pulling up alongside the suburban house serving as a rare coin emporium.  In addition, the Bat Bike was making its own approach from the other side after tracking the Batmobile with the bike's sensors.  On a third side, the Kitty Car was sliding in, to park next to her own Kittens' LTD which had left the Catacombs thirty minutes before her.

All four were approaching the front door after getting out of or off of their vehicles.  Catwoman knew the time was right to change herself and Batgirl back into Babs and Jennifer by saying the magic words Batmite had told her, so she raised her voice, "Batman and Robin, a moment before we go in.  I presume you know that today is the first of April.  For the past week and a day, I've been acting as a good and heroic crime fighting Catwoman to help you.  Well, April Fools!  Cat to Cat, Bat to Bat."

Batgirl had expected upon hearing Catwoman start mentioning her April Fool's Joke that in a moment she'd see Catwoman turning back into Babs and she herself would be back to being Jen, but was surprised to hear different words from what Batmite had said.  An instant later, she had no knowledge of anyone named Jennifer Goodbody, only that she was Barbara Gordon, the chief librarian who acted as the heroine called Batgirl.  The Dark Knight Damsel was now looking at Batman and Robin and wondering why they were all just standing around in a discussion with the most evil and wicked villainess known, Catwoman.

The spell also removed knowledge of Jennifer and her heroine alter ego from the mind of Robin.  In fact, the spell went even further.  Rachel's had no records of a dancer named Jennifer Goodbody, nor were there any pay records or pay checks pertaining to her there at the club or at the library.

For Catwoman herself, it was Barbara who'd started the conversation and expected to revert to being herself a moment later.  Instead, she and her good thinking portion disappeared from the mind of Selina Kyle, the incredibly evil Feline Felon who now knew she was on her own without that do gooder other part of her mind bothering her.  The spell done by Mxy went further than what he'd intended, though.  For while Selina still had basic memories of Barbara Gordon's past life, current events related to the happenings of the joke got erased.  "A good and heroic crime fighting Catwoman?  That's the joke!  Hah, hah!"

Both Batman and Robin were more than a bit confused at what they'd just heard, but if things inside were going on as detected, there was no time to figure it out.  "We had all better get inside before all the coins disappear!" Robin offered.  All four charged for the door, with only three of the four thinking of stopping the larceny.

Four startled faces lifted from ogling the pile of ultra valuable coins.  "Batman and Robin!" yelled Lynx.

"With Catwoman-" Bobcat added.

"An' Batgirl, too!" exclaimed Calico.

As Batgirl plowed into Manx, Catwoman said, "What are you doing here, Batgirl?" while nudging Bobcat with the base of her whip to get him out of the way, "I thought you'd learned your lesson!"

"I thought I had, too - until my photographic memory recalled a certain word - catoptrics - that branch of optics which deals with the reflection of light!"  The Dominoed Dare Doll threw Calico with a judo twist.  "That bauble you have as a necklace draped over your big boobs and kept swinging distorted the light - and my vision - just enough - to throw my timing off!"

Batgirl recovered her stance, then continued, "Since I knew you'd caused me to look bad, I decided to come out tonight!  While I was following the Batmobile, I got a fix on your Kitty Car and - BATMAN!!  Look out!"

To her intense surprise, the masked maiden discovered that Catwoman was not even listening.  She'd moved over and was nearing where Batman was slugging Lynx.  She lifted her whip handle and bashed him on the back of his head where it would hurt the most.  The Dark Knight fell.  At the same time, Batgirl was running toward them.  'Now that cat's really showing her claws!  But she isn't going to get away with it!'

Catwoman smirked as Batman fell, "I'm taking you to my Cat Cave, Batman!"

"You'll take Batman to your Cat Cave over my dead body, Catwoman!" Batgirl declared, facing the Feline Felon over the downed Dark Knight's body.

"Have it your own way, Batgirl!" Catwoman answered, her clawed finger pointing at the young heroine.

In the next instant, while her attention was on their mistress, Batgirl found her arms being pulled behind her back by Calico and Manx.  ">OHHH< I'm beginning to catch wise!  All those 'criminals' you caught - were your own men!  No wonder they only robbed places with a 'cat' tie-in!" Batgirl declared while Robin found himself falling into Bobtail's clutches.  All three of the heroes were knocked out by the Kittens, then taken to Catwoman's Cat Cave, her special underground lair deep below the building holding her downtown suite.

After Catwoman sent her Kittens into another of her Cat Cave's rooms, she stooped over the man she tried to love.  'I can't resist seeing what Batman really looks like!  I don't want my Kittens around - for none but I must see Batman's unmasked face!  When he marries me, he'll have no secrets from me - so I'll just jump the marriage ceremony a little!'

But she was in for a surprise, for as Batman's cowl and mask were peeled back and off his head...  "EH?!" Catwoman exclaimed in surprise.  Then she mused, 'What a man!  He outsmarted me - by painting his face black in the shape of his own mask!  Well, at least I can have the satisfaction of seeing what Robin really looks like!'  She already knew exactly who Batgirl was and what she looked like, but since Mxy's spell had erased the memory of the phone conversation of the night before, it was an unaware Selina who decided to go three for three and unmask all of her captives.

Once more, the Princess of Plunder stared in angry dismay...  'They're both paint-masked, too!  I'd try to remove that paint - but if they were all so foresighted to take such precautions, I'm sure some kind of special chemical is needed to get rid of it!'  Chagrined, Selina put each of their masks and cowls back on.

Then Catwoman summoned her Kittens again, and in a foul mood snapped her orders.  "Pick them up!  Put them in the trap I've arranged for them!  And don't forget to remove their utility belts - and weapons bag!"

Shortly, Catwoman walked into the small room holding the three bat heroes, all laying on a metallic circle.  Batman was stirring groggily, rubbing his head with his left hand.  "Good!  I see you came to first, Batman!  We have matters to talk over, you and I!  You see, while I was pulling the joke on you and pretending to reform, I fell in love with you and have been trying to get you to love me in return.  But you haven't rewarded me by proposing to me!"  Selina grinned.  "So I've brought you here to force you to decide - do I go back to my career as Catwoman - or are you going to say the magic words, 'Marry Me!' - and make me the happiest girl in the world?"

She pointed a raised claw toward Robin and Batgirl, then added, "Neither Robin nor Batgirl can help you now, so do I go on ruthlessly robbing - or are you going to make me your bride?  I've had enough of your dilly-dallying!  Make up your mind!"

With a grim smile the Caped Crime-Fighter hurled himself forward.  "Really, now, Catwoman!  You don't expect me to stand here and let you threaten me like this?"  By now, both Batgirl and Robin had also risen to their feet.

"Careful, Batman - I warn you!" Catwoman smirked, her arms crossed over her ample chest.

Suddenly, mysteriously, the air was rent by a loud and angry cat snarl as the masked manhunter stiffened in agony.  "Ohhh!  That sound - stabbing into my body - my brain - like sharp hot knives!"

"You can't stand it, Batman - get back on the metal disc!"

Panting and sweating with the strain of tortured nerves, Batman dropped back into the safety zone of the sound-trap.  "You can't escape my catatonic trap!" Catwoman sneered.  "Those cat snarls form an invisible Cat's Cradle of sound waves - bounding back and forth like strings children put through their fingers - which go right through your body to the brain's control center."  She raised her right hand and extended her forefinger's claw.  "Now - give me your answer!  What am I to be - bride or burglar?"

Batman gathered his resolve.  "The answer is - NO!"

"On your head be it!" Selina answered.  She took a challenging pose, pointing at the Caped Crusader.  "I'll leave you here - tortured by the knowledge I'm going out to rob the world's most fabulous poker game!  Starting out with the game's 'kitty', of course!"

Shortly, at a plush, private clubroom not far away in Gotham City, Catwoman used her cat-o'-nine-tails with mind numbing skill just as she had with her Kittens.  'The richest men in the world - and the wealthiest woman!  I'll take not only the kitty but the pot of cash and jewels!  Since each of them comes to these high stakes poker games with a million dollars - I've made a real killing!  I'm the only winner!"

Very soon, back deep in her Cat Cave hideaway, Catwoman gloated, "Lynx, Calico, put my five million haul before Batman - and let him eat his heart out!"  To rub it in, she added, "You are the one responsible for that robbery, Batman - you forced me into it!"

After her kittens left, Selina paced her hands on her hips in a sexy look, then said, "All you have to do is change your mind - and I'll send back the loot!"

"You'll never change your spots, Catwoman!" Batgirl challenged.  "Once a crook - always a crook where you're concerned!"  The Dominoed Dare Doll was unaware now of the fact that until a bit more than a week before, the Feline Felon she was cursing was her friend and not a crook but a golden hearted heroine.  The change Mxy made to the magic spell had it so that the current situation took the place of recent history.  Then with a sudden surge, the Dark Knight Damsel leapt off the metallic disc.

"Batgirl coming through my sound-trap?!" Catwoman snarled.  "However you managed it, I'll quickly cut you down!"  She grabbed her necklace and started to sway it.

Batgirl shut her eyes as she dove out of Catwoman's angle for the sight gimmick.  'Going to try and use that catoptric bauble again to distort my vision...'  She came to her feet behind the Feline Felon.  "My karate hand is quicker than your cat bauble!"  The precision chop sent Selina sprawling and cut the necklace so it fell from her neck.

"AIEEE!" Catwoman screamed as she started to fall into her pile of plunder.  "You Kittens in the next room - HELP!  HELP!"

But as her Kittens arrived, Batman and Robin also leapt out of the trap, too.  "Do you have a feeling that signal should have been - a Cat-Call?" the younger of the two joked as he plastered one of the Kittens.

"That was our signal for action, Robin!" Batman replied as a pair of Kittens fell to his fists.

When the battle was over, Batgirl assisted Catwoman in getting up, with the villainess asking, "How did you ever get out of my escape-proof sound-trap, Batman?"

"With the help of Batgirl!" the Dark Knight answered.  "She simply talked me out of it!"  Then he explained.  "When we were alone, I asked her to remove one of her gloves and swing it back and forth while I concentrated my attention on it.  But I had to tell her, 'It isn't working!  I'm not being hypnotized!'"

Batgirl took over the explanation as she herself broke in and picked up her continuation of the escape, "I told him, 'I have an idea, Batman.  I've read a great deal about hypnotism, though I've never practiced it!  By swinging my glove gently against the trap's sound-barrier - a soft and soothing meeooowwwwmeeeooowww sound started - I'll make it emit low sounds - soothing noises like a soft purr...hypnotists induce sleep by soft words - or sounds."

"Sure enough," Batman came back in, "I fell under her spell - and just as hypnotized people feel no sensation of pain from a pinprick or a match flame held under their fingers - neither did I as Batgirl started to say...."

The redhead heroine took up the explanation again.  "Walk forward, Batman!  You will experience no pain - now step over to the controls and turn off the sound-trap!  At which point, Robin gave me his praise by saying, 'Atta girl - you're doing it!'"

Catwoman shook her head.  "One last question - how come you painted your faces with masks?  Surely you couldn't have anticipated I'd try to unmask you?"

"But I did, Catwoman!" Batman said smugly.  "I realized that you loved me - and what woman doesn't want to look upon the face of her beloved?"

"And I always follow Batman's example!" Robin added.

"What about you?" the feline felon asked, looking at Batgirl with spite in her eyes.  "I suppose you thought I'd be 'catty' enough to want to see what my rival looked like?"

"I don't consider myself a rival of yours, Catwoman!" the Dominoed Dare Doll answered in typical girl to girl scorn.  "At least in matters of love, anyway.  I'll always be a rival of yours in a matter of being a nemesis to your cat crimes.  I have absolutely no romantic interest in Batman!  But I did realize you weren't to be trusted...I seem to think I got a hint to do that from a little kitten speaking to me."

"No romantic interest in Batman?" Catwoman exclaimed as she took a challenging pose.  "Hah!  That's a likely story!"

As Batgirl started to walk away, finding her own way up and out of the Cat Cave, Batman told the feline in green, "It happens to be true, Catwoman!  If you'd known that from the beginning - you wouldn't be about to catwalk to the nearest jail!"

The Dynamic Duo led Catwoman and her four Kittens up to the street, going more easily than Batgirl since the vixen told them the way.  In the clear now, Batman called for a pick up of the felons by the GCPD.  But that call wasn't answered by the desk inside Police HQ like Batman thought.  Batman and Robin may have thought they were turning over Catwoman to the Police paddy wagon that arrived after the call, but again, all was not as it seemed.

Batmite may not have been watching Batman and Catwoman, but another imp definitely was.  Mr. Mxyzptlk wanted to see how well Batgirl turned into Catwoman was making out as truly being Catwoman only after his spell, and made sure she would be free to act and help perform his wishes.  He himself provided the voice acknowledging Batman's call, then his magic altered the Kitty Car into a paddy wagon with Panther as a cop again driving it.  He also did a spell to remove the Cat Cave's location from the minds of Batman and Robin and Batgirl, who were all working on a way to get back out to where their transportation was located.

Panther told Catwoman what was going on as they started to drive away.  After they got a good distance from the Dynamic Duo along the route toward the Catacombs, Catwoman and her Kittens stepped out.  The Kitty Car and Panther both altered to their true forms, and Selina slid in behind the wheel with all five Kittens crammed into and onto its back.  The rest of the night was uneventful, as Catwoman decided to take her time and think about her upcoming crimes and her Kittens relaxed with hardly any aches and pains this time.

* * * * *

The next day, Selina started to make her plans for acquiring a huge collection of cats.  She read about the projected Metropolis Bird Sanctuary done by millionaire Harvey Hawks at Phoenix Castle, planned for an opening on August 25th.  That gave her a few months, but the Feline Felon still had to get her cat collection ready before Penguin could sink his own talons into the birds.

The day after that, Catwoman knew it was time to spring her trap on Batgirl.  She knew the librarian would be working the evening shift until closing at 8, so she told Panther and Lion to go spend the day at the Cat Cave.  The villainess was thankful that Mxy had made it so her downtown lair could still be used, at least for the time being.  The two were told to make trouble of some kind a few blocks from the Gotham Library just before closing.

Once again, the villainess timed her visit to the library to coincide with Barbara going out to lunch, which this time would be around 4.  She drove to her suite using the LTD, parked much closer to the ground in the Catacomb's garage with a similarly well disguised entrance so it could be driven away instead of flying like the Kitty Car.  Then she caught a cab to go to the library.  First Selina verified that the 'out' sign was displayed on the chief librarian's door, then she worked her way around to the back hallway.

The floor code still worked in the elevator just as Catwoman imagined, and moments later she was standing next to the Batgirl costume.  She picked up the golden yellow boots off the floor and placed them into the bottom of the shopping bag she'd brought along.  On top of them she placed the utility belt and its Bat weapons bag, then the cape and gloves.  She took the Batsuit off its hanger and folded it, then placed it in the bag.  Then finally she took the red wig and the mask and cowl combo and placed them on top.

She placed the bag on the floor, then Selina tried something different.  The last time she'd thought about Batgirl's high heeled boots and they appeared in her hands.  But for an entire costume?  She stood next to the table in hopes that the costume would show up on the table top.

The Feline Felon's power seemed to build upon her ability to imagine a costume in her mind, so she began to think of Batgirl with a long black wig the same length as her red one.  Over this was all black cowl and mask with cat ears instead of bat ears and sexier shaped, more catlike eye holes.  A shiny, all black catsuit with no bat or anything else on it and similar material elbow length black gloves that would almost blend right into the arms of the catsuit and had short black claws instead of the mere fingernails built into the yellow gloves would cover her body.  Instead of bat shapes on the gloves, there were cat ear shapes, and she imagined even higher, seven-inch heeled black boots with tops close to the originals' bat shapes, but catty instead.  She was betting that the heroine wouldn't notice right away the additional height, and would soon be wearing, walking and doing oh so much more in the stunningly high heels without even thinking about it.  A black utility belt with the same type clasp held cat gear instead of bat gear, and a black weapons bag clipped to it held other cat weapons.  Clipped to her shoulders was a same length but black cape.  Dressed this way, she'd obviously be Catgirl instead of Batgirl.

Her experiment worked.  All the black equivalents to the Batgirl costume appeared on the table in front of Selina.  She took each piece and placed it where its equivalent had been, then hung the catsuit on the hanger.  Now, to complete the setup, Catwoman went to the light activating switch at the elevator and disabled it.  When Barbara next came down, she'd have to put on her costume in the dark without knowing it was different.

She didn't dare stay down in the changing room for too much longer, so Selina left the Catgirl costume behind and went back up into the rows of books in the library.  It was while she was trying to think of a way to get close later on to Barbara as Catgirl that something else occurred to the Feline Felon.  She really liked the way the new costume looked; when she got back to the Catacombs, she'd have to make something similar for her own newest costume.  More contemplation about seeing Babs came up with no surefire methods, so like a sneaky cat she decided to broaden the possibilities.

She left the library and caught another taxi to go to Barbara's brownstone home.  Selina knew about the emergency door key a couple of inches deep next to the right front corner, and hoped no nosey neighbors were watching as she used her own key to dig for it.  Looking around she couldn't see anybody else, so unless someone was looking out their window instead of watching game shows or Merv Griffin, the intruder's digging was not to be worried about.  After she unlocked the door, the key was placed back in its little grave and covered up again.

Selina went back inside and locked the door to provide a bit of time if she heard it being unlocked, then went straight to Barbara's bedroom.  She pushed the hidden button which opened the at home changing room.  Both the primary and spare Batgirl costumes got added to her bag after the more fragile parts from the library were removed to be placed back on top afterwards.  She was pleased to note that her costume ploy to alter the boots at home had worked, along with the long red wig.  The gaping holes left were not filled with alternate costumes.  Instead, a note was left on Batgirl's table.

        Batgirl,

        I hope you like your Catgirl costume.  
        If you want to get your Batgirl costumes
        back, meet me at 11:00 tonight in the
        dark area behind the library.  Don't
        plan on ditching the Catgirl costume and
        coming in regular clothes.  If you're
        not in your costume, forget about seeing
        me.

                                        Catwoman

With a hope that Babs would in all likelihood head to her home to change after seeing what she was wearing, then go to the dark spot where the Cat's Eye could catch her unawares, Selina closed up the costume room.  She went to the phone in the living room and called another cab.  Then she left, again making sure to lock the door behind her.  The taxi took her back to the downtown penthouse suite, only a few blocks from Barbara's place.  There she got back into her LTD and drove back out to her Catacombs.

When she finally arrived back at her mountainside lair in the early evening, Selina went straight to her bedroom.  Standing next to her closet to do it the easy way, she started to imagine how'd she wanted to look in the costume inspired by Catgirl's.  Instead of black, her costume would be a very dark purple much like the dresses from her earlier costumes.  It would have a deep, cleavage exposing V with a green collar turned down from its top over her shoulders and back.  For ease, instead of being a full body catsuit, it would be like a leotard on top over tights.  A matching cowl and mask covered her head from her nose up, with the same sexy eye holes and big cat ears, with a black frontal area over her face.  A long green cape going down well past her knees came from under the green collar, and short wrist length gloves to match the dark purple of her arms and blend in to them had long black claws.  A white belt was around her waist and lighter purple boots with folded over tops and six-and-a-half-inch stiletto heels like those of all her other costumes' boots finished her outfit.

There was really no need for surprise, but when Selina opened her closet and spotted the parts of her new costume in place, she gasped.  The boots in particular looked awesome on the floor below.  But as much as she wanted to debut her new costume when going to meet Catgirl at 11, Catwoman figured showing up in her known green costume would be better.  She pulled out all the parts needed for her green outfit, along with her own personal Batgirl costume.  After these were out of the closet, she imagined Batgirl in a black wig matching her own hair and wearing the green costume, with boots to fit her smaller feet.  This was collected, then added to the Batgirl costume she kept separate from the purloined Batgirl costumes which would all be taken along for the meeting.

While she was putting on her green costume, Selina got an idea for how what she hoped was to come could work even better.  'Is it possible that my costume power could generate a mask that would cover my whole head and give me a face that looked just like Barbara's?'  She tried to imagine what this would look like, then opened up her closet.  There on the upper shelf with the cowls was a wig form covered by what looked like a flesh colored rubber head, looking so much like Barbara Gordon but bald.  The villainess gasped upon seeing this, then started to imagine her own face the way she'd done for Babs, and a moment later another wig form holding her own face joined the first one.  Both got added to what she'd take downtown a bit later, now with even more wicked ideas forming in Catwoman's mind.

* * * * *

Because the young woman who'd once been Jennifer Goodbody was now only the real Barbara Gordon and no one else, everything about her work days and life became what was day to day for the original.  As was usual for when she worked the evening hours, Babs had the radio on her desk turned on with the police band set to override the music or talk show or whatever was usually heard.  Just moments before she was about to shut off the radio and start locking up, the redhead heard the police band come on with word about a break in at Hedgeward's Book Store.  That was only a block and a half from where her Bat Bike exited to the street.  The crime was even more significant because not only was it a matter of books, but the store was known up and down the East Coast for the rare, old and otherwise valuable volumes kept for collectors.

She turned off the radio, then Babs punched the button for the check out desk.  "Marcy, it's Barbara."

"What's up?"

"Have everybody lock up as usual.  I've got some research I'm working on that may take another hour or so."

"Ah, another night spent with the books.  Okay, we'll get it.  Good night."

"Good night, and thanks."  Babs thought about how close Marcy had come; with the books, yes, but not the ones here in the library as she'd assumed.

With that, Barbara did an around the desk shut down and set her door sign for 'out'.  Marcy and the others knew she did that whenever she wanted to be alone and not be bothered.  Then she took off at a trot to head for the elevator.  When the door opened and the light did not turn on, the redhead noted, 'I wonder if the fluorescent light tube has failed earlier than expected somehow?  Oh, well.  I've got my costume set up for ease of donning, even in the dark.'  So the librarian who was also a crime fighting heroine started to strip out of her work clothes.  They were left as they fell to the floor, since a pick up could wait.

She walked a few paces to where the desk should be, and didn't miss.  Babs reached up and to the left and grasped her batsuit's hanger.  She unzipped it and set the hanger on the table, then quickly got into her body hugging suit.  The zipper coming up in back sealed her in, then she reached for her utility belt and put it on.  Next the young heroine sat on the chair at the desk and reached for her boots to zip them on.  She made sure to pull up and straighten by feel the bat shaped tops of her boots, then the costume donner stood again.  For just a moment there was the sensation of standing in even higher heels, but it was ignored as just being different from the low heels of her work shoes that had just come off.

The cape was clipped to her shoulders, then her wig got pulled on.  This was followed by her mask and cowl, then finally after everything requiring dexterity was on, Babs pulled on her gloves and made sure the bat wings were straight by feel.  The fingernails of her gloves seemed to grab the wings a bit more than usual, but she passed it off as being a matter of relying strictly on touch and having no sight.

Dressed now, Batgirl took the precise steps leading to her bike; as predicted by Selina, she felt no real difference from her by now usual six-and-a-half-inch heeled golden yellow costume boots.  She raised the door and, as expected, no light came on since the tunnel lights and the changing room light were in series.  If either one was out, the whole setup would be.  But at least she'd be able to see with the lamp on her Bat Bike.  She wheeled it out, then shut the door behind her.  The engine was started, and the ready to go heroine figured she'd lost a half minute or less with her dark dressing.  It was no more than four minutes since she'd heard about the break in, and with any luck she'd get there before any of the valuable books were stolen or damaged.

The light bouncing back from the tunnel walls gave Batgirl the first foreboding indication that something was different.  Instead of seeing her golden yellow gloved hands gripping the handlebar, see saw, 'My hands are in black gloves...that have long claws?!  What the...how could my costume have been switched with some other one which seemed to be so similar while I was putting it on?  Something strange is going on, but no matter what I'm wearing, the books are too important to let them go.'

Then, when she came through the portal out onto the street, the lights overhead showed not a bit of yellow to be seen on the costume covering Batgirl's body.  Even the weapons bag attached to her belt was black instead of red.  'What the hell...' she wondered, then zipped toward Hedgeward's.  Lady Luck was looking out for Batgirl...or whoever she was in whatever costume she seemed to be wearing, because when she got there, two police cruisers were already in the parking lot.  'The officers must have been within a block or two when the APB went out,' the alternatively costumed Batgirl thought.  'Good, they'll be able to handle it.'

If she'd been in her own usual costume, Batgirl would have parked and joined them to assist, but with some strange costume on, discretion said to avoid questions and get home as soon as possible so she could change into something more familiar.

She turned her Bat Bike toward home, and six minutes later Babs was entering the portal leading into the bike's hiding place at the brownstone.  As always, she'd done a quick check both with her scanner and her eyes to make sure nobody was in the immediate vicinity to see her entry.  Only twice in the past had she ever had to stall due to late night strollers (the original Barbara's memories that were now hers).  The motorcycle got parked right next to her home based one, making it a lot more crowded than usual.

In the well lit Bat Bike parking area, Batgirl finally got a chance to look down upon herself to at least get a partial impression of the strange costume she'd put on back at the library.  If nothing else, she was definitely dressed for night time stealth.  Solid black was all she saw, and the alternatively clad heroine noted that the extensions on her gloves looked more catty than batty, along with the tops of her very glossy and not too stealthy black boots.  In additon, the fingertips of her gloves sported the kind of claws usually seen on the gloves of a certain feline femme fatale she and the Dynamic Duo had just contended with a couple of nights earlier.  She couldn't wait to get inside and see herself in the vertical mirror.

Batgirl pressed the button and her door slid open, after which she stepped in and walked straight to her mirror.  It was usually checked before going out, not on the way in.  But finding that she looked more like a cat than a bat with the totally different cowl and mask covering her head made the way in check very important.  It wasn't until now that she saw them in the reflection from a better angle that the higher heels on the black boots were noticed.  'Damn!  Have I really been wearing these since back at the library?  WOW!  So much more sexy and erotic looking, and I've been wearing them so easily.'  Then her curiosity made Babs reach down and open the flap of her black weapons bag.  'Catarangs, cat's whiskers, and lord knows what other cat related weapons...and odds are my utility belt is filled with more of the same.  I can think of only one person who could be responsible for substituting a cat type costume for my Batgirl costume, but how the hell could Catwoman have gotten into my library changing room?'

She turned to start taking off the cat costume and put on another one of her Batgirl costumes, but a strange sight greeted Barbara's eyes.  No batsuits were hanging where they should be, nor were any of the accessories to be seen.  The was a gaping hole in her dressing room!  Then she looked down at her table and noticed a piece of paper sitting on it.  Babs read it, then cursed softly...  'Not only has Catwoman been in my library sanctuary, but she's somehow managed to invade my home setup also!'

Barbara looked at the clock on the wall, and found it to be 8:25.  'Two hours and thirty-five minutes before I have to go face Catwoman in person, and in this damned Catgirl costume as the bitch has called it.  I've got a nasty suspicion that the purpose of going there isn't to get my Batgirl costumes back, but to find myself hypnotized or some other way of being mind controlled into thinking I'm really Catgirl and not Batgirl.'  Babs thought about that for a minute, then got inspired.  'Hey, this might work!'  A good friend of hers was about her same height, and with a bit of body shaping might be able to take her place and not be as readily hypnotized.

She went out to her bedroom and picked up the phone on her bed stand, then dialed the number Dick Grayson had given her if she ever needed to reach him without going through Batman.  Dick lived with Bruce Wayne in Wayne Manor, and usually calls there went through the Bat Phone or the main line answered by the man of the house, Alfred.  But he'd asked for a special phone a year before, and Bruce was happy to provide one.  He and Barbara had become good if not close friends.  "Hello?"

"Good evening, Dick, it's Babs.  Time is real short, so I'm going to try and make this quick.  Catwoman seems to have set me up to have my mind twisted into thinking I'm Catgirl, presumably to work with her as an evil Kitten assisting in her crimes.  She somehow knew about where I lived, found a way to get into my home and knew how to get into my special costume room and also my room at the library, took away all my Batgirl costumes, and hung up what she calls a Catgirl costume at the library.  That's what I'm wearing right now, because the light didn't work and I had to dress in the dark.  More of her work, I'll bet.  Anyway, what I'm wondering is, if Selina was planning on hypnotizing me by saying something like 'forget your past as Barbara Gordon', would you be willing to let me dress you up in this Catgirl costume to take my place and then if she said that to you, you'd be immune to it since that's not who you are?"

At his bedroom table where the night's homework was still being worked on, Dick wondered how Barbara had come up with such an outlandish idea.  Outlandish, but by no means as difficult as even she might have thought.  He knew something it was almost impossible for Batgirl to have known about which could make what she wanted to do even better.  "Babs, you still know how to get into the Bat Cave on your bike, right?"

"Yes, of course.  But how could going there be of any use?"

"Like you said, time is short.  Meet me in the motor pool after you come in.  I guess you'll be able to get here by what, about 8:50 or 55?"

Babs grinned to herself.  "At this time of night, and with the urgency I feel, the speed limits aren't going to hold me back, Mr. Grayson.  You'd better be waiting for me at quarter til."

"I'll be down there.  Get moving!"

"Bye, I'm outta here!"

Dick had about fifteen minutes to get things set up down in the Cave.  'It sure is good that Bruce is out,' he thought.  'He might not have been so easily persuaded to go along with this ploy, but it sounds quite plausible to me.'  He called Alfred, "I know it's late, but I've got a visitor coming in and I'll be busy in the Cave for a while."  Alfred chalked it up to the young man's shenanigans, and just told Dick to be careful.  A quick trip down in the elevator, and Dick was in the center of the Bat Cave a moment later.

He went over to the bat computer and set the process for function after being unused for quite a while.  Then Dick ambled over to the motor pool, with a number of minutes to spare.  When Batgirl...or who he presumed had to be her...came roaring in from the tunnel in what definitely looked like some kind of ultra sexy, all shiny black Catgirl costume, he waited for her to park next to where he stood.

Babs pulled up her bike to where she saw Dick waiting and, as she came off the Bat Bike, he got a really good look at what seemed similar to the Batgirl costume but definitely looked more like one pertaining to Catwoman.  'Just how high are those heels on her boots?  With the black wig and her face masked, I could even see her as BEING Catwoman!'

"See what I mean about this costume, Dick?" she asked, standing before him now in her very sexy and imposingly high heeled boots.

"Indeed I do, CATGIRL!" he joked.  "I think you're right about that hypnosis guess, that's the way Catwoman has used her ring in the past.  Now, get ready because I'm going to show you something we've had here in the Bat Cave for a while that you were never told about.  You were thinking of using foundation garments and the like, and putting makeup on my face to wear your costume and fool Selina?  Just wait until you see how much better I can do that for you.  Follow me."  He turned and headed for the surprise for his guest.

Barbara couldn't quite understand her friend's eagerness to go along with her definitely out of the norm plan, but the curiosity of the heroine who looked more like an evil cat, for whom it would be quite appropriate, kept her from saying any more.  She fell in behind Dick, her heels clicking enticingly on the Bat Cave floor.  They walked through and past a big selection of alternative costumes kept in the cave, mostly used by Batman in his undercover work, then past a big computer console.  A moment later, they were standing in front of what looked like a part of the cave's walls.

"You've known about all the disguise work Bruce has done, which we just walked through," Dick told her.  "Now you're in for a treat.  Welcome to our inner sanctum."

Barbara looked at the rocky face of the cave wall in front of her.  "This is it?" she asked doubtfully.

Dick didn't answer her, but instead reached out with his right hand and pushed a particular spot on the rocks.  Nothing happened, but a moment later he took both arms and plunged them INTO the rock.  The young man's shoulders swiveled, and from somewhere the sound of hissing gas started to fill their ears.  Dick seemed to move back then, as if opening something.  'But what's there to open?' Babs wondered.

"C'mon, follow me," Dick said, before walking right into the wall.

Her mind in a quandary, Barbara stuck her own black gloved hands toward the rock, and they passed through what seemed like a thin wall of light.  Then a realization hit her.  She stepped forward as if nothing was there, to face Dick in a long, metallic tube forming a tunnel.  "It's a hologram!" the woman in black exclaimed.  "It looks so realistic, I'd never know if I hadn't watched you go right into it."

"That first rock I pushed?" he replied, "That was a fingerprint scanner."

"All this security on top of the already nearly impenetrable Bat Cave?" the babe in black asked.  "You guys must have some really incredible stuff back here."

Dick didn't say anything, but just led her on through the short tunnel.  When she stepped into the room past the tunnel's end, Babs was feeling disappointed.  Instead of seeing all kinds of ultra advanced technical equipment or anything else warranting the extreme security, the room was relatively small and featureless.  It seemed almost like an outside the lab clean room with efficient air conditioning and recessed lighting even softer than the single tube in her library changing room lighting.  Other than some control panels Dick was standing next to, the room seemed to have nothing at all else to be seen.  "This is it?" she asked, sounding dejected.

"You were assuming you'd see a lot more, I presume," Dick said nonchalantly.

"After all that cover with the holograms, yes, of course," Barbara answered.  "Why all that security for..." she waved her still black gloved and clawed hands in a sweeping motion, "...just this?"

Dick grinned.  "This room in which we're standing is shielded so well that nobody else on the planet could know we're here.  In addition to being as deep underground as the rest of the Bat Cave, the room is thickly coated with lead; not even Supergirl or Superman could see us.  As with the rest of the cave surrounding us, this complex doesn't exist on any maps or geophysical surveys.  Thanks to Zatanna, who is one of the few we've taken into our confidence, the room actually has a number of magical wards cast upon it for even deeper security and protection."

"Phew!  We're really that secure here?"

"Indeed!  There's quite literally not a chance anyone could find this room...unless they're led to it by us."

"Hmmm..." Barbara mused, "So who else has been in this room, apart from Bruce, you - and I presume Alfred?"

Dick nodded, confirming Batgirl's guess.  "You're the first," he told her.

Babs hesitated, taking in the significance of her visit.  "I'm the...I'm really the first?" she asked, awed.

"Yes, and even though Bruce will know soon enough after reviewing the Cave security tapes," Robin said to assure her, "this is just between you and me right now.  For what comes next, you have to keep an open mind and promise you won't be offended when you see what appears."

She nodded.  "Go on!  I'm in over my head already, so I doubt anything you show me could offend me."

The young hero reached toward the lowest of the controls on the panel he was standing next to, then Dick pressed a couple of the buttons.  To the great surprise of Barbara, one of the small room's walls slid out of the way to expose a large enclosure, effectively making it a much larger room that had been divided.  In that area, she saw a very much more extensive costume collection than what had been previously seen in the Bat Cave, including a number of heroine and villainess costumes familiar to her, especially the one just like what she herself SHOULD have been wearing instead of the Catgirl costume.  There were many more costumes for male characters, which is really all she would have expected to see there.  More surprising still was a collection of what looked like body suits made of a flesh-like material, both male and female.  Below each suit rested a full, head covering mask to complete the suit, along with appropriate wigs, or at least what looked like wigs to her.  There were also various other male and female masks, presumably to just use an alternate face with an on hand body suit.

Babs noticed that one of the masks below a body suit was a replica of her own face, which went a good ways toward explaining the Batgirl costume she saw.  There were also masks looking like Dick and Bruce.  "To cover any possible lack of us being on hand if any of us were needed but for whatever reason unavailable, we made masks and body suits for you, Bruce and myself," Dick told her.  "The other faces and body suits along with the clothes and costumes you see have been used by Bruce and myself to fill in for some of the Justice League members, and also play the roles of many of the criminals to get information, among other things....  The body suit, mask and costume for you has never been used before, but tonight's a good example of making these suits to be prepared."

"And you were worried about me being offended seeing my replica here?" Babs replied.  "I fully understand.  I hope at some other point you'll tell me more about the role playing you and Bruce have done.  There's no time now."

"Right," Dick said, nodding.  "Now for the other possibility for being offended.  I'm going to get naked, and you need to take off that Catgirl costume."

"That's something I'd already planned on seeing, Mr. Grayson," Babs answered assuredly while pulling off her gloves.  By the time she was nude herself, Dick had lifted the body suit above the replica of her head from its special hanger and sat to start putting his feet and legs into hers.  "Hey," Barbara said softly, "with the ease you're having in putting on a body suit that will make you a double of me, I presume mine isn't the first female body you've worn?"

He never slowed down in donning the rest of the suit as Dick stood to work his own into its arms and torso while telling her, "Quick answer for right now.  One of the Justice League substitutions we've done?  I filled in for Wonder Woman for a presentation she needed to give at the United Nations last year."

She smiled.  Babs knew well of the standing ovation given to the Amazon Princess after she related the need for equal rights to be given to females in many of the world's societies.  "My God!  That was YOU?  You were incredible.  I'd have never guessed."

"Thanks a lot!  It was a real thrill for me to play Diana's role.  I looked just as stunningly gorgeous as her, but didn't have any of her Amazon powers and strength.  Now, let's see if I can give as good a performance for Catwoman," he said just before pulling the mask with her face over his head.  With it on, he stooped to pick up the voice modifier that had been under the mask.  Then with a very familiar female voice Dick said, "Now watch as I use the way beyond accepted state of the art technical magic which accompanies these body suits we got from the research William Semple did while still at Wayne Industries before he left and became False Face."  He...she grinned.  "More about that later, too.  See how flax the suit and mask are on me right now, especially the way the boobs...err, breasts have no volume, with an obviously male body shape under them?"  Barbara nodded while grinning after hearing boobs.  "Then remember how well I looked as Wonder Woman, one of the most perfect examples of female shape, I think you'll agree.  Here goes!"

There was an open space along one of the much longer walls in the complex, with a slightly raised base or platform in front of it.  Dick walked over and stepped onto the platform, then turned to put his back toward the wall.  His left hand reached back and pushed an actuator button not noticed by Babs.  A wide, flat beam of light emanated from the wall above his head, then slowly progressed down until it reached Dick's heels.  Actually, by the time the beam got to the bottom, it could be said that it reached Barbara's heels.

Starting at the mask over Dick's head, the beam had a fascinating effect on the artificial skin.  The mask shrank down tight over his head, altering the shape underneath it to replicate the facial structure of Babs herself.  Likewise, it made his body mold into the exact same form as Barbara as the suit shrank into place and became what in effect was new skin.  One of the most striking changes adding to another nearly perfect female figure was the way the sagging breasts on the suit's chest ballooned into the solid but oh so squeezably soft breasts Babs herself had.  The activated suit was so good that there was an honest to God, fully functional vagina where it should be, with his male equipment folded and locked up behind it; in addition, the eyelids and mouth of his new face worked like normal and looked identical to the woman watching, and the suit's feet had altered Dick's to be the same as Barbara's.  The only difference between the twins was that the actual Barbara had red hair on her scalp, while her duplicate only had red hair so far in the bush surrounding the opening in her crotch; her head was bald.

Babs was holding the black Catgirl wig in her left hand, but her twin said, "Just in case Catwoman does something requiring removal of the black wig, I'm going to become your full redheaded twin first before putting on the black wig over red hair, just like you did.  Hey, I just remembered something concerning hair.  Did you think I had Wonder Woman's body, but with just a black wig to represent her glorious hair?"

"Well...."

"Did you know about the bit I went through as Diana at the reception following the speech?"

"No," Barbara replied, "what happened?"

"A young daughter of one of the ambassadors, I think the one from Finland, reached up and grabbed the hair hanging down my back.  She nearly pulled me over, but obviously she didn't pull off what you probably thought was a wig.  Would you pass me your red hair, please?"

Babs walked over to where her body suit and mask had been, then stooped to use her other hand to pick up the so far red wig.  "Here you go," she said while handing it to her bald twin.  "I presume you know this wouldn't be enough if you were going to costume yourself as Batgirl.  I recently decided to wear a longer and more full appearing red wig similar to this black one when I'm Batgirl."

"Hey, that's right.  I meant to ask you about the longer hair when we were at the rare coin place," Dick as Babs said while placing the red hair over 'her' bald head.

"I wear the wig in my Batgirl costume because I wanted to have sexier looking hair.  But you won't need it tonight, since I had that black wig over my usual hair.  The longer red wig would be needed just if you or anyone else decides to fill in as Batgirl in the future," Babs said while watching another beam start over her twin's head and stop at her neck.

"The red hair is now attached to my scalp as assuredly as your own," Babs number two said to Babs number one.  "Now all I need to do is to get into that Catgirl costume.  When I go to meet Catwoman, it would be good to have you nearby but unseen as backup.  However, to avoid the risk of Selina accidentally seeing two of you, how would you like to spend a couple of hours as a male by going there as Robin?"

It didn't take any time at all for Barbara to decide.  "If it can be done as quickly as you just became me, I'd look forward to doing that, Di- ...Babs."

Her twin grinned at hearing the name switch.  "Take the body suit double of me...er, Dick Grayson, off its hanger.  Be careful, and just get into it the same way you saw me.  Don't worry, while the suit will compress your bulbous female chest to match my flat male one, you won't experience any discomfort, just as my penis doesn't hurt tucked up behind your vagina.  Oh, and while I do have a working vagina, you won't have a penis capable of getting a hard on, but if you need to take a leak, you can do so standing up because it'll route through your after activation penis."

So while this time the Catgirl costume was put on in good lighting, Babs the original savored the sensations Dick and Bruce had become used to while pulling the Dick Grayson body suit over her form.  She finished with the face mask which included Dick's short black hair before her twin completed the costume.

But a moment later the black cowl and mask combination was pulled on over the long black wig in front of the vertical mirror which the almost completely transformed into a female Dick had stood before to position the black wig.  By reflex she had closed her eyes as the mask and cowl was pulled over her face.  She opened them and quickly adjusted the eye holes for a correct postioning, then tucked the cowl's neck into the top of the black catsuit.  She turned to face the saggy body suited woman becoming a male, struck a pose with her sexy, ultra high stiletto heeled feet spread apart and her clawed hands on her hips, then for effect purred and said the phrase Babs herself had dreaded hearing come her own lips, "Meowwwwwwwwrrrrrrr!  I am Catgirl!"

"Let's hope you don't end up saying that for real after meeting Catwoman later on," Dick's voice said since the voice modifier had been popped in.

"Pretty sure I won't," the apparent Catgirl replied, "after we do what I have planned."

"And hey, are you for real easy in those seven-inch heels?" their original wearer asked.

"These heels ARE high," the babe in black said, "but that's one of the joys of these body suits.  I feel just fine in them, just as I'm sure you did since you seemed to be walking in them as if they were your usually worn boots.  Okay, you're ready, so step onto the platform with your back to the wall."

Saggy Dick did just as saggy Babs had done moments before, then Catgirl poked the start button with her right index finger's claw and quickly stepped back out of range.

A few seconds later there was once again a nude Dick Grayson in the room with a Catgirl costumed Barbara Gordon.  "Go ahead and use the Robin costume that's in here, DICK.  I called you that for the same reason you called me Babs.  Until we get back in here and out of these body suits, you're Dick Grayson and Robin, while I'm Barbara Gordon and Ba- Catgirl, whatever, until we get it straight with Catwoman."

"That's exactly what I was thinking," Dick said while starting to pull on Robin's green shorts.

While the rest of Robin's costume was being added, Catgirl said, "We're going to use a Bat Hypno Wheel to hypnotize me here beforehand as a sort of immunization against the Cat's Eye ring.  Okay, you're ready now, right?"

"Yup!" Robin replied, nodding eagerly.

"Good, let's back track out of here and go into the main Bat Cave."  In a reversal of before, Robin watched while Catgirl did the button pushing as the exit procedure was followed.

As they stood facing the hologram rock wall once again, Catgirl turned to Robin and said, "I presume from your past visits, your fantastic photographic memory can tell you exactly where to go to get the hypno wheel."

"You bet!" Robin replied eagerly.  He turned and raced toward the huge cabinet close to the Bat Computer, leaving Catgirl behind as she didn't think running in her boot's heels would be wise.  With practice, maybe, but not just yet.  She got to where Robin was standing and holding the small device a casual few seconds later.

"Now, the whole point of this bit with me taking your place," Catgirl told Robin, "is that if Catwoman tried to hypnotize me and said to forget my past as Batgirl or as Barbara Gordon, it shouldn't work because I'm not either, though that's how I now look.  So whatever you say after putting me under your spell, don't say anything that would make me think I really am you."

"Of course not," Robin replied.  "Now, I had a bit of success in hypnotizing Batman, but what in general did you want me to say for you?"

"I was thinking something like, 'You are under MY spell, and no other hypnotizing can put you under another spell until this one is broken.  But you will have the ability to act exactly as you would if falling under another spell so the other person will think it was successful.  No matter what, you will always know that you are really Dick Grayson, and not some other person.'  That's what I've been thinking, anyway."

"Sounds good," the false Dick answered.  "So are you ready to fall under my spell now?"

Catgirl faced Robin and said, "Yes."

The switch on the Bat Hypno wheel was clicked, and the psychotically patterned disc on its front started to spin.  Robin held it up in front of the black masked eyes and, while she began to fall into a trance, he started to add to it by remembering the use of soft sounds, "You are getting sleepy, you are unable to resist, you want to rest your eyes, rest your mind, you want to hear and heed my words..."  He stopped when the blank look formed in Catgirl's eyes.  'That was fast,' he thought.

"You are under my spell.  My spell, and no others.  No other hypnotizing can put you into a spell until my spell is broken.  You know that your true name is Dick Grayson, and no other name can be given to you.  You know that you really are in the form of Barbara Gordon, and can act and perform just as you should.  But even in this female form, you know that your true identity is Dick Grayson.  If anyone else tries to hypnotize you, you will act just as if the spell worked, while knowing who you really are all along.  This spell will be broken by my saying, 'Never more.'  If my spell has worked, tell me what you have heard."

In a soft voice, Catgirl said, "I am under your spell, and no other spell can affect me until your spell is broken.  My real name is Dick Grayson, and I can be called no other names.  I really am in the form of Barbara Gordon, and will be acting as I should.  I am in this female form, knowing that my true identity is Dick Grayson.  If someone else tries to hypnotize me, I will act exactly like the new spell wanted me to, knowing who I really am.  You will break this spell by saying, 'Never more.'"

It sounded good to Robin, so he turned off the wheel and said, "You will stay under this spell, but show no sign of it.  Wake up now."

Recognition came to Catgirl's eyes then.  "Hey, when are you going to get started on hypnotizing me?" she asked, sounding puzzled.

Robin wondered if his ability had been that good.  "I already did.  Doesn't your awake mind have any knowledge of the spell I just put you under?"

Her brow wrinkled for a moment, then Catgirl said, "I can't find anything in my mind to show you did anything, but maybe that's good.  That might mean the inoculation worked even better than I'd hoped."

"In that case, do you want to leave a little early and get used to the situation behind the library before meeting Catwoman at 11?" Robin asked.

"Yes, let's do that," Catgirl answered.  "I'll take the Bat Bike, and you ride Redbird.  In theory, the sensors on either bike will let us know if the Kitty Car is also early before you get a chance to hide yourself.  Whatever happens, make sure you stay ready to undo the spell if necessary."

"Right, so let's go."  The two made their way back to the motor pool quickly, with Catgirl feeling much more sure of her footing in the ultra high heels since she had the body of Barbara Gordon and didn't even need to think about what came naturally.  With the speed of the body suit machine, it was still only twenty-five past nine, so as the two mounted what were actually each other's motorcycles, the guess was that they'd get to the back of the library by about ten til ten unless some traffic or other problems slowed them down.

It felt very different for the new Dick Grayson as the female body inside the male skin felt all the sensations of riding the bike.  The real Dick had done a lot of activities while wearing both male and female skins, so for his male body inside a female shell the trip became just another thing.  No traffic jams got encountered on the trip from below Wayne Manor to the library downtown, nor were any robberies or other felonious activities detected by either of the bikes' sensors.  No sign of the Kitty Car was detected, either.  Both knew there was a chance Catwoman would arrive in some other vehicle less obvious than her Kitty Car, but since it was in the dark of night they assumed she'd be using her favorite car.

Since the area around the library was much more familiar to Robin than Catgirl, she let him scout for the best place to wait and have him hide for the meeting.  The two bikes parked in a spot where a large dumpster abutted the back of a building three stories taller than the library which held a law firm.  There was a bright street light nearby, but the dumpster threw the spot where the bikes were parked into even deeper shadow than the back of the library which could be easily seen.  Robin waited as his eyes became used to the dark, and then started to make out details in the area where his partner would meet Catwoman.  Catgirl wasn't as concerned, since she'd have to go out into the lit areas before getting into the shade behind the library.

"Well, there's no sign of Catwoman yet," Robin told the potential victim of whatever the Feline Felon had planned.  "If we do see her arrive in whatever she's driving and more importantly, whether she's in costume or not to hide herself, it would be best to wait until a moment before 11 before you go over there."

"Gotcha on that," Catgirl replied.  "I'd rather drive up to and greet Catwoman than have her sneak up on and surprise me if I went over and waited there."

The two kept up a light chatter while keeping their eyes locked on the dark area behind the library.  At about 10:30, they saw a large delivery truck bearing the logo of Merita Bread pull into the large lot, then proceed to park in the dark area.  By this time both of their eyes were fully night adapted, and each saw the shapely green form of Catwoman step out of the driver's door and go to the back to open the big roll up door.  She only opened it enough to climb in, then closed it again.  Both of her observers assumed she must have turned on some lighting in the truck's interior, so her own night vision would be history for a while.  "Think I should go over now and knock?" Catgirl asked with a grin.

Robin smiled, but said, "No, let her wait and just go over a minute or two early.  She did say 11, and while it might have been assumed either you or her would get there earlier, being promptly on time would give you the best option to watch for anything she tries to set up as a trap."

Nothing more was observed as happening over in or around the truck, so at three minutes til 11 Catgirl wheeled her Bat Bike a short distance away from Robin's hiding place and then started the engine.  It was muffled well enough that she doubted Catwoman would be able to tell the bike hadn't come from some farther distance.  She drove across and parked next to the only vehicle seen where Catwoman had said to meet her, which would be what she would say if asked.

For procedure, she walked up to the cab first and looked inside.  Nobody home, so Catgirl went to the back door and knocked.  "Catwoman, are you in there?  It's me, and for your benefit, I'll say it's me, Catgirl."

"Ah, I'm glad you're in your costume and being punctual," she heard from inside.  "Hang on a sec while I raise the door."

As the door started coming up, the assumption about the interior being lit proved false.  At least for the moment, it was just as dark inside as outside.  As she started to climb the ladder to get up to the level of the truck's cargo space, Catgirl saw a hand come out to steady and grab her left wrist.  'Is that hand gloved in yellow?  No, it has to be a trick of the poor lighting which makes Catwoman's green glove look yellow.'  Then a thought hit her like a sledgehammer.  'Catwoman's gloves don't have scalloping shaped like bat wings on them!'  But it was too late.

As her face came level with the floor of the truck, Catgirl found the Cat's Eye ring right before her eyes.  Immune from further hypnotizing she may have been, but even still the power of the gem took away her willpower and control of her mind.  Her other wrist was grabbed, and then Catgirl found herself being hoisted up into the back of the truck.  As soon as she was in, the door was slammed shut again.  The lights came on, and the unknowing eyes of Catgirl saw Batgirl standing in front of her.

"Catgirl, you are in a cataleptic trance.  You must do exactly as I tell you," Batgirl told her.  "Stay absolutely still while I take off that costume you're wearing."  The earlier spell was protecting Dick's identity, but couldn't stop the instructions being given to her.  She stood rigidly still as the false Batgirl started by removing the black boots one at time to ensure balance was maintained as first one leg and then the other became seven inches shorter.  In quick succession followed the gloves, cape, mask and cowl, belt and then finally the catsuit.  Then the now naked form of Barbara Gordon had the long black wig removed from her head so that she'd be just herself.

The gem was placed in front of her eyes again to reinforce its control, then Batgirl said, "I know you can see my face and know that I look exactly like you as Batgirl, even if you can't acknowledge that.  But I won't look like you for much longer.  Be sure to stay perfectly still again."

The soft and fleshy mannequin stood there as a wig cap was pulled over her head and all the red hair stuffed up inside it.  Then a light and flexible female face mask was pulled down over her head, much like the ones in the special part of the Bat Cave but without the need for activation by the machine.  It snuggled down over her nose, eyes, lips and chin to become a second, no make that third skin.  It was a possibly even better looking mask than what the machine provided!  Mask, what mask?  It looked like an absolutely stunning face...but belonged to a bald Selina Kyle.

A long black wig slightly different from the one she'd entered the truck wearing was pulled over the bald dome, and now she looked perfect as the nude Feline Felon.  She stayed standing still as green contacts were put into place over her eyes, then a green catsuit was pulled onto her body, followed by a green belt, gloves and boots.  Again the procedure was followed to add height with stiletto heels one leg at a time, then the green mask was placed over her eyes and the two cat ears put into her hair above her ears.  The costume was completed as the mind distorting necklace was drawn over her head, tucked under the hair in back and hung loosely over her chest.

The woman in green found the gem placed before her eyes again.  "You may loosen up.  Stay flexible, but do not even think to say anything or try and fight what I'm going to do next."

The shapely green form flexed from her rigid stance, then Batgirl picked her up in a fireman's carry.  She walked with her load over to a spot on the floor with many leather straps strung out on it.  The form of Catwoman was set on the floor, then her arms got tied behind her, her thighs together in front of her and her feet tied folded underneath her thighs.  After she was secured, the gem was placed before her eyes again.  "Forget your past as Batgirl.  From now on, you know that you are Catwoman!  You are free to move now, for as little as you can."

At this point, the preparation made earlier in the Bat Cave came into play.  While she found her body could now move freely, albeit not much within her bondage, the now much changed Dick Grayson's mind rejected the order to think of herself as being Catwoman.  But to see if she could get the proper reaction from Catwoman as Batgirl, Babs shuffled in her bondage, looked around for a bit, then said, "Yes, I am Catwoman, and when I get free, you're going to regret tying me up, Batgirl!"

"You're not going to get any chance to get me, Catwoman.  I'm going to make sure you get locked up hard and fast to do time for the crimes you've committed."  Of course, if the police came to pick up Catwoman, it would not look right at all if the Cat's Eye ring was on her yellow gloved finger.  So to complete the picture, Batgirl removed the ring from her hand and placed it over the ring finger of the tied up right hand.

Suddenly she heard a loud knocking on the back door of the truck.  "Batgirl, it's me, Robin.  I got your message and just got here.  Are you all right in there?"  He'd gotten more than a bit worried waiting while both women were in the closed truck, and decided that even if Catwoman was in control in there, he had to do something.

Light stabbed his eyes as the door was raised for the young hero.  Batgirl stooped to greet him, "I'm glad you finally got here, Robin.  What took you so long?  After I got my Batgirl costume back from Catwoman, she tried to use her ring on me.  But I took the precaution of wearing anti-hypnosis contacts.  Come on up and give me a hand taking Catwoman in."

Right away Robin noticed the wrong voice coming from Batgirl's mouth and, added to the info she'd just told him, only one conclusion could come to mind.  One look at Catwoman after he was up inside confirmed it.  'Some way, somehow, Catwoman has used excellent appearing masks on herself to look like Batgirl and Babs to look like Catwoman.'

Further back in the truck, Catwoman hissed, then said, "Just try and get close to me, either of you!  I'll scratch your eyes out with my claws, then use my Cat's Eye ring to make you forget everything about me."

Robin looked toward the tied up cat, and saw her trying to angle her right hand so the ring could be seen.  Obviously, it was Babs in that Catwoman costume even if she looked exactly like the feline felon because it was a voice known very well, and it wasn't Catwoman's.  His friend was obviously in charge in that tied up feline femme fatale with the way she'd mentioned forgetting everything, so the trick was to see if he could secure Batgirl somehow.

He got lucky when the figure in black and yellow started to go over toward Catwoman before he did.  Quickly and silently, Robin reached down into his utility belt and extracted a pair of Bat Cuffs, along with a length of Bat Line.  He grabbed first one and then the other of Batgirl's wrists and pulled them forcibly behind her before she could even think to react.  The cuffs were slapped over her wrists, then he pushed her down to the floor when she turned toward him in surprise.

Before she could even move, Bat Line had been wrapped around Batgirl's legs to secure her.  Then to make sure she couldn't even slide, he used some line to connect her wrists to her legs.  Batgirl became immobile, and just glared at Robin without saying a thing.  'Somehow,' she thought, 'the bastard has found out about the ID switch.'

Instead, the words came from Catwoman's mouth.  "I'm glad you got here so fast, Robin.  I may look like Catwoman, but it's thanks to a mask she put over my head.  Don't worry about removing that mask right away, just get me out of this bondage she put me into."

Robin walked over and looked closely at Catwoman.  'If that's a mask, it sure is a good one.  She even has green eyes!  Of course, Batgirl had looked exactly right also with blue eyes, so it's a good thing Catwoman hadn't thought to use voice modifiers when she came up with these masks.'  He stooped and untied the ropes around her legs, then the ones holding her arms.

The woman in green flexed her arms and legs briefly, then stood in front of Robin.  "I am Catwoman, so now it's time to put my Cat's Eye ring to good use."

She walked over to the tied up Batgirl, who tried to keep her eyes shut.  But as Catwoman sat down next to her, Robin bent and pulled off the mask and cowl, followed by the red wig and then the mask making her look like Babs.  That mask looked so much like his original face that he had to save it; he stuck it under his belt.  Then Robin reached to use his fingers to lift her eyelids.  As soon as the powerful glow from the gem hit her eyes, no more trying to keep them closed could be done.  Her eyes were drinking in the mind controlling power with uncontrolled eagerness.  Her mind went blank and her body went lax.  The opportunity was taken to remove the blue contacts.

"Selina, you are in a cataleptic trance.  You must do exactly as I tell you," Catwoman told her.  "You have knowledge of Batgirl in your head.  Erase that knowledge so that you are only aware that Batgirl is a heroine who will forever be your foe.  You must forget whatever it is you know about using head covering face masks, never again will you be able to use them."  The ring was lowered, and she asked Robin, "Do you think I should erase the knowledge of being Catwoman, or at least being a criminal, from her mind?"

He shook his head.  "I don't think that would be wise.  Leave it where we are as of now, then let's make sure we get her into custody."

"Okay, but why waste the opportunity completely."  She placed the gem back in front of the real Catwoman's eyes, then said, "You know that you are an utterly honorless, extremely evil and supremely sinful villainess who finds great thrill and satisfaction committing heinous crimes connected to cats in any way.  But you have to also know that a more law abiding part of you exists that someday will make you more of a help than a vice, Catwoman.  Wake up now."

As the ring was pulled away, the woman in the Batgirl costume from the neck down who had just been hypnotized into becoming infinitely more evil and sinister than her own pre-joke mind and Mxy's machinations had made her sneered, "You'll never keep me behind bars, and you know it."

"So you think, Catwoman," Robin replied.  "We'll try, though."

A quick look around the truck showed a box holding the three purrloined Batgirl costumes, luckily with a bit of extra space still available.  So with anticipation Babs started removing the green costume from her body.  Then off came the black wig, followed by her green contacts and the Selina Kyle face mask.  This she handed to Robin after placing the green contacts into what she knew was an open container on his utility belt, saying softly so Catwoman couldn't hear, "We might as well add this to the other masks in the collection.  Those contacts will go with it.  Of course, adding the two green Catwoman costumes and the Catgirl costume to the collection would be good."

"I agree," he whispered.  "Like this mask looking just like me, it looks too good to not hang on to, and adding all the costumes is a good idea."  He tucked the mask under his belt next to the other one.

Babs quickly got into one of the three Batgirl costumes, including the long red wig the original had mentioned to her earlier in the evening.  Then while looking down at her nearly perfect twin she said quietly, "Robin, go out to the Redbird and call the GCPD for a pickup.  Let them know that we would have liked to stay and help, but it's getting really late.  Let them know that we, that's Batgirl and Robin, caught Catwoman trying to impersonate me with the costume she's wearing and that we took her real costume home with us.  Ask them to save this Batgirl costume she's wearing and I, that means you, really, will come in to pick it up later on."

"Got it!  You gonna be able to strap the box holding those two Catwoman costumes, Catgirl and your other two Batgirl costumes to the Bat Bike?"

"Yep, that's what I'll be doing while you make the call."

Catwoman was not deaf, and made note of the way Batgirl had corrected who was who.  'If they've got some fantastic way of wearing not only face masks, but also full body suits that completely turn them into each other, I need to find out what's going on.'

While the Boy Wonder left to go make the radio call, Batgirl looked down at her tied up and so far silent lookalike.  "You sure came back with a bang after being gone so long, Catwoman.  I just know we're going to be seeing a lot more of you in the future."  She shook her head, then worked on securing the remaining two Batgirl costumes and the Catwoman costumes she and the original had been wearing.  She then left the tied up woman behind and went down to join Robin at the bikes.  The box was secured with ease.

"Sgt. Casey at the desk said to not worry about staying until the police get here to take in Catwoman," Robin said.  "When I told him she was tied up in the back of a Merita truck, he said that should hold her."

"Good, let's get going, then," Babs answered.  "I wasn't kidding when I said it was getting late.  I'm not going to get much sleep tonight before going to school tomorrow."

"Hey, Babs," Robin said just before they started, "never more."

The two bikes got back on the road heading for the Bat Cave and a change back into their original bodies.  If they'd stayed five minutes later, the pair might have seen the Merita truck back out and then drive away long before the police car got there.  Selina had put her skills to good use; she pictured her new dark purple catsuit costume in her mind and a moment later another copy of the new version was laying on the truck floor right in front of her.  With the gloves from her Catwoman costume being so close to her head, she inched over to them and clasped a claw in her teeth.  The claw went through the Bat Line like a hot knife through butter.  Catwoman was free, but at least the detailed knowledge of Batgirl and her identity were removed from her mind.

Also, as of just then, Catwoman was in possession of a perfectly good Batgirl costume, while not only a pair of her green costumes but also a perfect mask of her head and face with a wig to go with them...and the Cat's Eye ring...were in Robin's possession.

* * * * *

The real Babs found out that the removal of the body suits was even faster than putting them on.  First the current Babs became Dick once again, then Dick turned back into Babs.  When they finished, Dick made a check in with Alfred, who mentioned that Master Bruce was back now.  The young man knew that lack of sleep for school would only be the first of his problems tomorrow.

Barbara wasn't set for another night shift which would have been nice, but at least a couple of cups of coffee would help her to come alive after such a short night.

The next evening, Dick found that Bruce wasn't about to ground him or anything.  Even though it turned out that Catwoman escaped again, he laid that blame on the GCPD who'd told the pair to leave her behind.  Bruce had Babs come out to the Manor also after dinner, and all three had a long discussion about the history and future use of the body suit capability.

* * * * *

Soon after she got back to her Catacombs, the Feline Felon saw Mr. Mxyzptlk pop into view.  "Your cat weapons collection is missing one of its most important parts now that it's still with your green costume.  But that's easy to fix.  Reach under your belt to find your even more powerful replacement."  Selina found another ring when she went to check and eagerly placed it on her finger.  "Now you're all set for meeting Lois Lane!  There's also a big hole in your memories which I watched those two youngsters take out."  He snaped his fingers, and with that, Selina once again knew everything there was to know about Batgirl.  "Now you're whole again!"  With that, the imp disappeared.

It was a good thing he didn't also replace Selina's loss of magical mask knowledge and useage.  Otherwise, she may have experimented and found body suits able to completely change a person could be made as easily as the masks and wigs to go with them.  Much more than just a duplicate costume might then have been given to Lois Lane to put on.

Catwoman did manage to put together a huge collection of cats, and she beat Penguin to the punch by just getting to Phoenix Castle earlier in the day when word came he was making a try.

So begins how Catwoman was seen in all the DC stories after 1966.


From the Lois Lane comic: "The Catwoman's Black Magic!"
 
Catwoman makes a surprise appearance, capturing Lois Lane and forcing her to put on a Catwoman costume.  Then, using the Cat's-Eye jewel in her ring, she hypnotizes Lois into believing she is Selina Kyle, the Feline Felon known as Catwoman.

* * * * *

Lois Lane was in the process of looking through so many glass and wire cages containing seemingly every type of bird in the new Phoenix Castle display.  She was wearing the same outfit she'd put on for work that day since she felt she didn't have time to get home and change first.  She was wearing a red skirt with a red jack shirt that had white trim as the collar, sleeve ends and stripe down the front where the buttons were.  She had a matching red pill box hat on her head, and moderately heeled white pumps on her feet.  Just after watching the Emperor Penguins for a moment, she spotted a shadow on the wall, and thought for sure it was a sign of the criminal the star reporter had feared would make a showing at the new exhibit - Penguin.  Seconds later, a bird flew overhead and dropped an egg.  'I'm being dive bombed!  Now I'm sure Penguin is nearby!  Who else would train a bird to do a stunt like this?'  When this avian bomb hit the floor, a cloud of gas spewed out.  'Gas!  I'm blacking out!'

When Lois started to slump to the floor, another woman who was there checking out the exhibit for more nefarious reasons turned to her closest Kitten and said, "Well, it looks like what Mr. Mxyzptlk told me about both this bird collection and that Lois Lane would probably be making a visit at the same time was as right as could be."

"Oh, you mean you knew about her being here in advance?" Bobcat replied, sounding very surprised.

"Yes, I was given some purrrrfectly good advice a few weeks ago.  Go ahead and get with the other guys in starting to collect the birds and putting the cats in their place.  I have something special to do before Lois wakes up."  He nodded, then went to work with the other Kittens.  'Now, where's a good place for me to do this?' the Feline Felon who was an evil as can possibly be villainess and now knew for certain who she was, but until shortly before had been the heroine known as Batgirl, wondered.  She looked around, and spotted a table with nothing on one end.  Catwoman walked over to it, then started to imagine Lois Lane wearing an exact copy of the costume she herself had on.  A moment later, a small stack of folded garments appeared in that open spot, with a pair of boots on the floor next to it.  'Good, this should do it.  Now when Superman presumably comes here as Mxy thought, it won't be me he finds as the responsible villainess after all the birds have disappeared!'

She waited until the birds had been removed from one of the glass cases, then Catwoman told Manx, "Instead of putting one of the cats in that case, put Miss Lane in it.  Then as soon as you guys have all the cats in place, get out to the truck and wait for me, I have something special to do here.  Tell Leo to bring Rajah over to me now."

"Okay.  One pet tiger, coming right up!" Manx replied.  "I'll make sure the other guys know to leave you alone for the time being."

When she came to, long afterward, Lois rubbed her head as she found herself inside one of the glass cages.  Her red hat and white purse were on the floor of the cage at her side.  She pulled off her white, wrist length gloves and put them into her purse, then thought, 'What happened?  What am I doing in this glass cage?  ...And where are all the birds?  They're gone...vanished into thin air!'

Then she looked around.  'Am I going out of my mind?  Jaguars, panthers, ocelots!  The birds have been replaced with every species of savage cat in the world!  What's going on here?'

Then, at that moment Lois noticed an open hatch in the glass with a plate just outside it holding a sandwich, soup and a glass of milk.  'Well, I'll be...someone left some food for me...just as if I were a prisoner in a cell...  I am hungry, so I might as well eat it!'

But in the next frightening instant, a huge, orange colored paw swept the tray aside.  "YIII!"

Lois screamed, "EEEEE!  A TIGER!"  She backed away in shock.  'Another second and I would have been his blue-plate special!  Thank heavens this cage is made of unbreakable glass!  But where did all these felines come from?'

A good question, Lois!  And the answer is....

The Feline Felon walked up to her cage with her tiger on a leash at her side.  'Catwoman!  She's one of Batman's arch foes who only just recently reapeared after being out of the picture for a number of years...Selina has always used cats as the inspiration for her crimes!'

"Hello, Miss Lane!  Rajah and I were playing a little cat and mouse game with you!"  By now Catwoman was standing next to the cage holding her tiger's collar.

"But I was expecting Penguin!" Lois replied.  "He sent one of his birds to attack me!"

"That was a catbird, my dear," was Selina's answer.  "The only bird I can tolerate!  Its 'egg' bomb caused your little catnap!"

"Stop pussy-footing!  I saw the shadow of an umbrella on the wall!" Lois argued.  "You know that's a sure sign of Penguin!"

Catwoman held up her right hand, throwing a clawed shadow on the wall.  "You must have seen the shadow of my cat-claws!"

Just then, one of Catwoman's Kittens who hadn't seen Manx approached, holding a cage with a knocked out bird inside.  "Okay, we put the last of the birds to sleep with the dream-fog!  We're loading them into the trucks right now!  What next, Catwoman?"

'Damn, he must not have gotten the word to leave me alone with Lois,' Catwoman thought.  She scowled, then said, "Take that bird outside with the others while I set up the cat-trap I've been planning!"

After Lois got released from her cage, she found Catwoman standing there with a folded stack of very dark and lighter purple articles in her left hand and her tiger held in the right.  "My plans include YOU, Miss Lane.  Put on this costume!  Do as I say, or I'll have Rajah here convince you!"

"Give me the outfit!  He's ALREADY convinced me!"

After she took the pile of multiple hued purple from Selina's hand, Lois noticed a swath of green in the middle.  This was not paid any attention, because at the same moment she noticed a sign next to the stairwell to her right.  It said restrooms, with an arrow pointing up.  "I'll go change in the ladies' room," Lois said as she turned for the stairs.

What the good looking brunette reporter couldn't see was Catwoman whispering to the Kitten who had stayed behind in hiding after bringing in the pet tiger while Lois was released from the cage.  "As soon as she leaves that ladies room, go in and grab the clothes she's wearing at this time.  Put them into a bag and leave nothing behind."

"Gotcha," Leo replied.  "Take the bag to the truck?"  Selina nodded, and he proceeded to the stairwell.

As soon as the cute brunette entered the ladies room, she set the pile of costume parts on the counter top.  A deep curiosity took hold of the naturally inquisitive report, and before taking off any of her clothes she unstacked the pile.  'It seems to be a really slick, stretch dark purple material like tights, along with a green cape and lighter purple boots.  It looks like a duplicate of the same costume Catwoman is wearing!  What the hell does she want me to look just like her for?  Oh well, I did get told to put on the costume or else.'  So with one fear overriding another, Lois slipped off her white high heels, then unbuttoned her blouse and pulled it off.  Out of habit she neatly folded the blouse and set it on the counter.  Next she unzipped her skirt and stepped out of it, placing it under the blouse after folding it up.  The puzzled and leery news woman had noticed no telltale signs of a bra under the costume Selina was wearing, so she unhooked her own and pulled it off.  She figured it would make sense to leave her panties on, but not her pantyhose.  Off they came, leaving her nude save for the panties covering her crotch.

The reporter had noted that the costume consisted of what looked like a leotard top that went over tights, so she picked up the tights first.  It was then that she noticed a cotton panel in the crotch of the tights.  'Hmm, no panty lines either, I guess,' Lois thought as she pulled off the last bit of her own clothes and added her panties to the basically red and white pile.  'Now it's time to put on what's in the dark and light purple pile...the duplicate of someone else's...a wicked and evil criminal's costume.'

Lois couldn't believe the sensations being felt by her legs after the tights were on.  It was nothing like any tights she had worn before, and made her wonder just what the costume was made from.  She saw no zipper on the leotard, and so grabbed the green collar and stepped into the top of it.  As soon as she had it pulled up over her torso and her arms into its sleeves, the pretty brunette felt the same stimulation over her entire body.  It was when she turned and spotted her reflection in the mirror that she noticed how much of her cleavage was exposed by the wide and deep Vee of the leotard's top.

Then she grabbed the white belt and pulled it tight around her waist.  The transforming reporter grabbed the chair and brought it over, then sat down to put on the lighter purple boots.  The bottom parts seemed like more stretch material to cling to her feet and ankles, while the tops seemed much stiffer.  The inscription on the bottom showed them to be in exactly her size, and Lois wondered if Selina happened to wear the same size or if the Feline Felon had planned this in advance and somehow found exactly the same costume boots in just her size.  She pulled on the right boot, noticing as she did so that the arch was much higher than the white shoes she had been wearing.  She looked at the heel of the left boot as she turned down the stiff cuff of the right boot.  'Damn, that's a high heel!'  That heel was soon under her left foot and its own cuff folded over.  Lois stood, and felt just a bit of unbalance as she wobbled at first in the six-inch or more heels, but a few steps gave her a good feel for them and she started to feel right at home in the ultra high heels.

Next she clipped the green cape to her shoulders, making it look like an extension of her collar, followed by the gloves which matched the leotard exactly and blended right in.  Lois felt her fingertips fill the claws on each finger, then carefully picked up the cowl and started to pull it down over her head while watching in the mirror, but abruptly stopped.  She put the cowl back down and then reached with her now clawed fingertips to unhook the large, pearl-like white earrings from her ear lobes.  As soon as these had been placed on the pile of her clothing, the reporter once again grabbed the cowl and this time pulled it down over her head and into place.  She used the mirror to position its mask over her eyes, then used her claws as a makeshift brush to straighten out her hair behind the cowl.

What she saw in the mirror stunned Lois.  With the exception of her much shorter hair and blue eyes instead of green, she was an exact duplicate of Catwoman.  'What the hell is Selina up to?' she wondered.  Not even thinking about her pile of original clothes left on the counter top, she turned and headed back out of the ladies' room, to go back downstairs and confront the catty villainess of whom she'd become a near twin.

As soon as she was on the stairs, Leo slipped into the ladies' room with a sack containing just a hat and purse.  He came back out only seconds later with a much more full sack.

Lois came down the stairs without even thinking about the heels she was wearing, and walked back over to face Selina.  "It's another Catwoman costume!  I'm a carbon copy of you!  What's the pitch?"

Catwoman looked at Lois and thought, 'My God, she fills out the costume so well that she looks almost exactly like me.  If only her hair was a bit longer.  Maybe I should have pictured her with a wig of my hair's length along with those boots in her size my power made for her.'  Then she answered her duplicate, "Purrplexed, my dear?"  She walked over to a large wooden door and swung it open.  "Step through this door and you'll find the answer."

Then, after Lois stepped in front of Selina and went into the room, she noticed that it was unlit and very dark.  She heard the door close, followed by the click of Selina's boot heels as she came close.  She could just barely see her near twin.

Catwoman held up her right hand in front of her duplicate's now masked face.  "Here...look into my Cat's-Eye ring, and you'll learn what this is all about!"

'That jewel...its hypnotic force...taking control of my brain!' Lois thought with wide eyes as they were bathed in the eerie glow.

As Lois is gripped by a weird transformation....

"Yesss!  I've used a cataleptic hypnosis!" Selina told her.  "Forget your past as Lois Lane.  From now on, you are Catwoman!"

"Meowwwwrrrrrrrr!" said the new evil villainess.  "I understand."

Selina picked up a white belt with an attached pack, then pulled out and unfolded a white clawed device.  Lois wouldn't have the same magic power she had to just pull whatever weapons she needed from under her belt.  "As the Countess of Crime, you'll use this Cat-Kit, which contains your feline weapons...including a Catarang, which is even more dangerous than Batman's Batarang!"

"Thanksssss!" the new Catwoman said as she reached for the belt and put it on over the original costume belt.  She folded up the Catarang and placed it in her weapons bag.

"Remember, you're the world's greatest female feline!  You'll use all the predatory skills of a cat!  Understand?"

The woman who had been Lois but now knew her name was Selina lifted her clawed fingers in a scratching cat pose.  "Purrrrfectly!  But what are all those eyes staring at me?"

The original Catwoman walked over to a switch on the wall and turned on the lights.  "You really want to know?  Then meet some feline friends I invited to your opening purrformance as Catwoman!"

Facing more than a half dozen savage cats, the new Catwoman stood in a menacing pose.  "Snarrrrllll!  I'm not afraid of them!"  Brainwashed, the woman who had been Lois Lane but now knew she was Selina Kyle and one of the most sinfully evil villainesses in the world faced the most ferocious beasts of the jungle.  Would the false Catwoman be cat-nipped?

Not a chance.

"Don't be afraid of them, Catwoman.  Those beasts are your subjects.  The catnip purrrfume from your kit will make them obey your every command!"

After reaching down and clicking a control in her Catkit, Catwoman held up her arms over a lion and said, "I'll test my control over them!"

In her Catwoman identity, Lois gave orders to the king of beasts.  Its jaws opening wide, she placed her cowled head into its maw.  "That's it!  Keep your jaws wide apart!  Don't you dare let your fangs touch me!"

And soon...with a panther rubbing her right leg and an ocelot cuddled in her arms, the replacement Catwoman said, "Ah!  They're acting as gentle as kittens!"

"But you can turn them into savage beasts whenever you need them in your Cat Crimes!  One warning before I go.  Your rival in crime, Penguin, will probably be here soon!  Use all your cat-cunning to destroy him!"

The short haired Catwoman sneered, with a wicked look in her eyes.  She had just been given instructions that overrode a history she knew in which Catwoman never committed any crimes involving killing.  Her long haired twin had overstated her idea for her replacement to stop the portly Penguin, and in so doing had made the new Catwoman potentially even more evil with no qualms about causing death.  "Penguin!  Here's one cat who's going to catch a bird!"

As the original Catwoman hurried away with her gang, Leo asked, "But why did you brainwash her into trying to kill Penguin?"

"Once she knocks off that bird, we can raid his hideout, Penguin's Roost, and collect his loot.  I'd never kill anyone, but knocking off another criminal should be no great loss.  Then, after selling these valuable birds we just stole, I'll be able to retire...and when they catch Lois Lane committing crimes as me, no one will ever suspect the real Countess of Crime has turned respectable!  And, since I now have what Lois was wearing earlier, maybe I can make a scene where Lois Lane and Catwoman are seen together...."

"Catwoman, you're a genius!"

"Ahem!  Leo, I am a genius, but Catwoman is back at that castle!"

"Oooo...."

* * * * *

As soon as they got back to the Catacombs, Selina had her Kittens move all the purrrrloined birds into a section of the cave which had been prepared for them earlier.  While they were busy, she decided to see if her earlier idea could work.  She grabbed the bag containing all the clothes and purse belonging to Lois Lane and headed for her room.  With practiced ease, she reversed the costume donning process Lois had performed in quick order.

The villainess who had once been a heroine reached into the sack and pulled out the pile of clothes her victim had made.  She noted the large white earrings and thought, 'I figured Lois must have taken these off when I didn't see any bulges under her cowl.'  She inserted the pins of each one into the piercings of her own ear lobes, then picked up the panties.  Just out of curiosity she brought them close to her nose, and savored the smell of their owner's sex.  A moment later this distinctive odor was added to her own.  Selina picked up the bra and noted that its size was an inch bigger than her own and with a cup size identical to hers.  'No wonder Lois looked so much like me in that costume,' she thought as the bra was hooked around her chest.  Then she sat down and pulled the pantyhose onto her legs.

Next came the red skirt, which Selina stood to zip on.  It was just a bit loose around her hips, and fit quite nicely at her waist.  Then came the jack shirt, which fit her just a bit more loosely than it had the reporter.  Then Selina set aside the white pumps Lois had been wearing, since she knew they'd be a size too small for her.  She went over to her closet and selected one of her own pairs of white high heels, which just happened to have heels much closer to those of her costume boots than the originals from the bag.  One look into her vertical mirror told the changed Feline Felon she really could do this!

To make it even better, she went to her dressing table and pinned her hair into a shorter looking style much like the reporter's.  With the small red hat atop her head, Selina started to look even more like the woman she had captured and changed.  She knew that with a bit of makeup she could look even more like Lois, but for the time being that could wait.  It was time to give her Kittens a thrill!

Selina pulled on her victim's short white gloves and grabbed the white purse, then headed back into the main part of the lair.  None of her Kittens were yet present, so she headed for the temporary aviary.  When she appeared in the doorway seeming to be Lois Lane, Tiger dropped the cage he was holding in shock.  Leo saw this and grinned widely, knowing that his partner hadn't been included in the earlier conversation.  "Oh my, what are you doing here in the Catacombs, Miss Lane?" he asked smartly.

Selina struck a pose, then using some voice inflections to try and sound more like Lois replied, "I do make a pretty convincing Lois Lane, don't I!"  Reverting to her own voice, she continued, "This could lead to some interesting situations down the road a bit, but this was just a test.  Leo, get the Kitty-Kar ready while I go get back into my costume.  I want to go back to the castle and see how well the new Catwoman is doing with Penguin."

"Gotcha," Leo said excitedly.  "We'll finish up with the birds here and watch for your return.  I sure hope the new Catwoman is doing okay so we can have some more fun later on!"

"You and me both!  Now, back to work, you guys."

* * * * *

Batman and Robin were high on a rooftop searching the crowds with binoculars trying to spot Penguin.  Not even Superman had been able to see the escaped felon with his vision powers.  None of the heroes found the obese villain because he was hiding in a place nobody would even think to look - inside the parade float holding the First Lady and her two daughters.  He waited patiently for the float to get to the end of the parade route, then slipped out and made his way to Phoenix Castle.

"Ah, the castle that contains the world's most valuable collection of feathered creatures...how can I invade this Fort Knox of bird-dom?  Why, with this umbrella I picked up at my Roost!"

Penguin held the umbrella over his head and flipped a button.  It unfolded into a set of what looked like helicopter blades.  Sure enough, they started spinning and the portly felon took off!  "The touch of a hidden button turns my umbrella into a tiny helicopter!  Penguin, you're a genius, you're a human whirlybird!"

He zoomed up toward one of the upper windows which was open.  "And now to collect the rare fowl who will aid me in my future crimes!"

But there was a reason that window was open.  A brainwashed Lois was waiting within....

"Ah!  Penguin, my rival!" announced Catwoman.  'He doesn't dream I'm about to pluck his pinfeathers!'

"Catwoman!  You beat me to it and cleaned out those valuable birds!" Penguin answered.  'It's a disaster!  But if I play my cards right....'  He doffed his hat and bowed toward the Feline Felon.  "Catwoman, I've always admired your sleek beauty and your cat-cunning!  We must end our rivalry, my little kitten!"

Catwoman crossed her arms.  "I didn't know you cared!"

Penguin placed his hat over his heart.  "Let's get married!  We'll combine your feline felonies with my bird banditry!  We'll become the king and queen of crime!"

Catwoman reached with one hand into her Catkit while her arms were still crossed.  She flipped that hand, out of sight of Penguin.  "It's a deal, love-bird...and here's a little engagement present I have for you..." her arms unfurled, and one reached back to sling what it was holding, "...my Catarang!"

'That clawed gadget could make a Penguin-Burger out of me!'  "Yiii!  I'm falling!"

By a fluke of fate, Penguin fell directly into a deep fountain.

KERSPLASH!

As he stood in the water and replaced the monocle over his eye, the portly felon said, "Penguin, old boy, you have a charmed life!  Once again, your bird-destiny saved you from death...by means of a Bird-Bath!"

At that very moment, he spotted the Batmobile and Superman coming in through the front gate.  'Oh-oh!  Superman and Batman!  They must have figured I'd come here!  I'll hide behind the water in the fountain!'

But Superman's eagle eye spotted the Bird Bandit...  "There's Penguin now, Batman!  I figured he'd turn up at the rare bird exhibit!"

"Grab him before he gets away, Superman!" Batman yelled as he and Robin were getting out of the Batmobile.

With a puff of super-breath, the Man of Steel turned the cascading water into ice.  Batman and Robin got a good laugh from the sight.  "Ha, ha!  Those frozen bars should make any penguin feel at home!"

"Grrrr, I'll get even with you for this, Superman!" shouted Penguin from behind his icy bars.

Not much later, after securing the Bird Bandit in the Batmobile, the Dynamic Duo started off to head back to Gotham City.  In parting, the Man of Steel said, "Batman, I still have something to do here at the Castle.  You take this fowl-tempered bird back to prison!"

"Right, Superman!  They have his cage ready for him!"

As he quickly put on his reporter disguise clothes over his costume, Superman thought, 'I'll need to account to Perry White for my time, so I'll switch to Clark Kent and take some notes.  I'll say that Superman brought me here to witness Penguin's capture!'

But just then, Lois Lane as Catwoman knelt to pick up her Catarang with a lion, tiger and panther at her side.  "Ah!  Here's my Catarang!  Penguin must be somewhere around here.  Search for him, my feline friends!"

From around a corner, Superman as Clark Kent was watching.  'She looks like Catwoman!  But that voice...something doesn't add up!'

He boldly stepped out into the open, where a flash of X-ray vision revealed...  'Great Galaxies!  It's Lois Lane!'

"Why, you're Clark Kent...a friend of Superman!" Catwoman sneered.

"Lois!  What are you doing in that Catwoman costume?"

"Lois?  My name is Selina Kyle!" the wicked villainess who held no qualms about causing death answered as she approached Clark with her cats.  "I am Catwoman, a sworn foe of Batman...and Superman, too!  I'll prove it!"

She pointed to the cistern behind Clark.  "Any friend of Superman is an enemy of mine!  Head for that cistern!  I have special plans for you!"

As he stooped at the edge of the cistern, Clark thought, 'The real Catwoman must've hypnotized Lois.  I'll put on the 'fraidy-cat Clark Kent act!'

With her clawed hands balled on her hips, Catwoman observed, "So you're too scared to put up a fight, you weakling?  Climb down into that pit!"

Clark grabbed the rope and started his way down.  "Wh-what are you going to do with me?" he asked.  'From that evil glint in her eye, she might try anything!'

As he got to the bottom, Catwoman stooped to look down at him.  "You're just a timid mouse...and my cats love mice!  Kill him, my pets!"

As he saw the cats plunging toward him, Clark thought, 'Catwoman was never known to kill anyone!  I wonder what has changed to make Lois as Catwoman so eager to kill?'  Then, in a savage attack of fang and claw....  'These pussycats are finding out an invulnerable "mouse" is too tough to chew!  But they're ripping my Clark Kent clothes to ribbons!'

Kneeling at the cistern's lip, Catwoman was watching.  "Clark Kent...  You're really Superman!"

'Oh-oh!  The fat's in the fire!  She uncovered my secret identity!' the Man of Steel thought as he started to collect what was left of his disguise clothes.  'But since Lois is in an hypnotic state, she'll probably forget all this when she snaps out of it!  I'll hide the remnants of my "civvies" in the pouch of my cape!'

"You fiend!  My cats are ruining their teeth on your invulnerable body!"

At that moment, the real Catwoman's Kitty Car came cat-apulting over the wall!  'Like all cats, I'm curious!  I must see if Lois Lane is using my Cat-tricks properly!  If she fails, it would be a cat-astrophe for my reputation!'  She parked and then looked over the wall.  'Holy Hecate!  As Catwoman, Lois even beats me!  I asked her to trap Penguin...and she tops me by nabbing Superman!'

But at that same moment...  "Stop punching my sweet, little pussycats!" her replacement screamed.

"These are mere love-taps, Lois.  I just want to put your futile felines to sleep, temporarily!"

Then, as Superman flew out of the cistern with three big cat tails clenched in his hands, Catwoman raised her fists over her head.  "You demon!  Where are you taking my pets?"

"To the Metropolis Zoo!  Where they can't harm anyone!  Wait here!  I'll return and try to bring you out of Catwoman's hypnotic influence, Lois!"

But the Man of Steel was not aware that the genuine Catwoman had been eavesdropping....  'So Superman knows that Lois Lane has been hypnotized into thinking she's me, eh?  Hmmm...this could fit into my plans purrrrfectly!  Too bad I didn't leave my hair looking more like that shorter do Lois has.'  She watched as her replacement headed back into the castle, then Selina made her own way inside to hustle to a spot she knew her duplicate would pass.

Soon, as the incredibly evil villainess who had been Lois Lane prowled the premises in her Catwoman costume, scratching and mewling noises could be heard from behind a door.  'I thought Superman had captured all my cats, but it looks like I still have one left!  I'll check!'

As the faux Catwoman stepped through the door, the real one stuck out her own six-and-a-half-inch heel booted left leg to trip her, at the same time grabbing the Cat-Kit and yanking it off.  "I knew you couldn't resist my Cat-call!  Take off that Cat-Kit!  You won't need it anymore!"

Instants later, as she found herself back in a glass cage and was holding the mask and cowl in her hand, Lois Lane said, "C-Catwoman!  How did I get back in this cage?  I can't remember."

"I'll fill you in later.  Meanwhile, you'll stay in your unbreakable glass prison!"  Catwoman crossed her arms and grinned.  'Now that I broke the hypnotic spell, she doesn't remember impersonating me!'

Still garbed completely the same as her tormentor except for the head covering mask and cowl, Lois banged her clawed fists against the glass wall.  "You can't get away with this!  Superman will find me!  And when he does...."

"That's where you're wrong, my little kitten," Catwoman said as she waved while going back out of the room.  "He won't even bother looking for you!"

Then, outside she saw the Man of Steel zooming back into the courtyard.  '...Yesss...here comes Superman to help 'poor deluded Lois'!  He'll never guess the girl who's waiting for him is the real Catwoman, impurrsonating his friend!  What a joke, back at the Catacombs I was Lois Lane in her own clothes, and now I'm pretending to be Lois Lane in my own costume!  Ha, ha, ha!'

As Superman returned to the castle, he came up to his friend who thought she was Catwoman.  "I came back for you, Lois.  Don't you recognize me?  I'm your friend...Superman.  Catwoman must've hypnotized you into assuming her identity."

Selina watched him approach.  'Ha, ha!  Mr. Muscles doesn't dream he's talking to Catwoman in person!  Good thing he hasn't noticed my longer hair and green eyes.  I'd better make my voice sound at least a bit like his girlfriend's, like I did back in the lair.'  Then she draped her clawed hands over his shoulders.  "You could be right, Superman.  Give me a super kiss.  It might help restore my memory."  She closed her eyes while thinking her voice had been just about right, and puckered her lips.  'Since he thinks I'm Lois, I may as well get a dividend out of this situation!'

Superman looked into what he thought were Lois Lane's eyes, concentrating so much on thinking of the way she'd been hypnotized that he didn't even observe that they were green instead his friend's blue, nor the much longer hair streaming out and down from her cowl over the green cape.  'It's worth a try!  A super-kiss might shock her back to normal!'

Superman and Catwoman kissed as if ardent lovers.  'Mmmm!  Dee-lish!  This is the Cat's Meeow!  But I must keep my head!  I have other plans for Miss Lane's favorite carrier pigeon!'

The cunning Catwoman continued her act.  "Lois, didn't that kiss ring any bells?  Didn't it stir old memories?"

"Hmmm...Maybe I am Lois, after all.  But I must be sure.  Fly me to my secret lair, the Catacombs!"

"Good idea!  If you can guide me there, it'll prove you're the real Catwoman!  If not, you'll have to admit you're actually Lois suffering from a delusion!"

"Superman, how clever of you!"  She smirked.  'Ha, ha!  I'm playing him for a cat's paw!'

Meanwhile, the real Lois was getting ideas for escape plans.  The first thing she did was to put the cowl and mask back on.  If she did get out, the reporter didn't want anybody to recognize her face while appearing to be Catwoman.  Then she stood up again, and felt once more the thrill of wearing boots with such incredibly high heels.  She looked down at her body encased in shiny dark purple and the way her impressive cleavage was displayed, then ran her clawed fingers over her bulging breasts and her narrow, white belted waist.  'Oh wow, my costume makes me look and feel so sinfully evil.  I think I could really enjoy being Catwoman!'  She shook her head.  'Where did that thought come from?'

Then the only partially faux Catwoman looked up.  'This cage is made of unbreakable glass!  But if my guess is right, that screen overhead is some kind of thin plastic!  Hmmm!  Think hard, Lois baby!'

Then she stooped to gather some feathers.  'Catwoman's cunning must be cat-ching!  I've got an escape plan that's the Cat's Pajamas...first, I'll need some of these plumes dropped by the birds who used to live in this cage.'

After wrapping the plumes around her wickedly clawed, dark purple gloved hands, Lois mounted a nearby bird-swing and...  'I hope I can swing this!  Four...three...two...one, ZERO!'

Like a human missile, the reporter who still appeared to be Catwoman rocketed upward, and...  "BLAST OFF!  All systems are go!  I'm right on target!  And these feather 'gloves' protected my hands from wire cuts!"

And, by a lucky twist of fate...she arced up and out to an ideal landing on a balcony.  Catwoman landed on her booted feet as if there were no ultra high heels on them at all, with all the grace of a cat.  'This balcony makes a purrrfect landing field!  Wow!  Would Superman believe I did this...would Perry...would Clark...would Jimmy?'  She shook her head.  'Hey, wait a minute...purrrfect?  Not again?!'

She made a quick turn to see if anyone was around, and seeing no one the faux Feline Felon started to head for the ladies' room.  'I've got to get back into Lois Lane's clothes.  What?  No, MY clothes!  Why did I think of them as Lois Lane's clothes?'

Lois was stunned when she got to the ladies' room, though.  'There's no sign of the clothes I'd been wearing before putting on my Catwoman costume.'  She happened to look up into the mirror at that moment, and saw herself as Catwoman.  'Yessss, MY Catwoman costume.  That's all I have to wear now, so for the time being I'll have to be Selina instead.'  Then she blinked.  'What was I thinking?'

Then Lois slipped back out into the courtyard.  'I thought I'd find Catwoman prowling around, but she's nowhere in sight!'  Then the Feline Felon grinned.  "Of course she's nowhere in sight, you don't have any mirrors in which to see yourself!" she said aloud.  'Again?!'  Now Lois was really getting worried, 'Where have these thoughts been coming from?'  Then she spotted the Kitty Car.  "There's my Kitty Car!"  She gasped.  'HER Kitty Car, not MY Kitty Car!'

As she approached the car, Lois heard the radio on the dash, "Cat-gang paging Catwoman on the Catcall network!  Where are you?  We're waiting for your orders, in the Catacombs!"

'Oh-oh!  They can't seem to locate the real Catwoman.  That gives me an idea!'  Lois hopped into the cockpit of the Kitty Car just as easily as Selina would without even thinking of it, and strapped into the seat.  'In this costume, I'm a dead ringer for that Feline Felon.  If I could get to her hideout, I might be able to infiltrate the gang and capture them.  But how to I find the secret hide...?  Wait!  There's the answer!'

As if she knew exactly what she was doing, Lois stuck a claw into the spot on the autopilot for the Catacombs.  'I guess this autopilot controls the Kitty Car...how did I know to push for the Catacombs?'

Seconds later, Catwoman's vehicle was cat-apulted out of the castle.  'Wow!  What a takeoff!  If those automatic controls work, I'll be at my Catacombs in secs!'  She blinked her eyes.  "MY Catacombs!?" she gasped in wonder.  If the reporter who looked so much like and was more and more starting to think like the Feline Felon could have seen the sight, it would have been obvious that Catwoman was in her Kitty Car, zooming away.

Meanwhile, the sinfully wicked villainess who until a short while ago had been the young heroine called Batgirl who'd enlisted Batmite's spell to do a brief April Fool's joke but got changed by Mxy's spell to permantly be the real Catwoman was approaching the same destination in the arms of the Man of Steel.  'To keep this brain-and-brawn boy believing that I'm Lois Lane, I'll continue to act confused.'  "Superman, I--I think my lair is near that cliff, below."

"If you were really Catwoman, you'd be sure, Lois!"

But in the next moment, Catwoman said, "Err...This spot looks familiar.  Head toward those needle shaped rocks."

"Great Krypton!  That formation looks exactly like the fangs of a giant cat!"

Through the rocky fangs' yawning gap, the pair flew in.  High along the wall were what looked like Cat Computers, and below them cabinets labeled with titles such as Cat-astrophe Bombs, Catarangs, Cat-aclysm Rockets and Cat-alogue of Crime.  ">Gasp!<"  Superman was shocked.  "Some automatic mechanism opened the cliff like the mouth of a giant cat!  It's the Catacombs, Catwoman's lair.  Lois, how'd you know about this place?"

"I-I must have been here before.  I'm not sure!"  Selina grinned to herself.  'I'll lull his suspicions by acting confused.'

Meanwhile, the Countess of Crime's gang was watching from a monitor in a nearby tunnel.  "Has Catwoman gone nuts?" asked Leo.  "Why'd she bring Superman here?"

"Relax!" replied Tiger.  "She must have some scheme up her sleeve.  We'll lie low and see what happens."

Out in the main cavern, Selina had opened a drawer labeled Cat-whisker Guns and was holding one.  "All these wonderful Cat-weapons!  But I-I don't know how to use them.  Why, Superman?"

"Because you're really Lois Lane, not Catwoman," he said with a grin.  "You're not villainous at all!"

Then Selina picked up what looked like a magician's wand.  "I wonder what this stick is for?"  She grinned wickedly.  'Superman doesn't dream that this is the same wand the sorceress, Circe, once used to turn Ulysses's men into swine.  I've been waiting to use this since Mxy gave it to me!  There should be enough magic left in it for at least one more transformation!'

Selina straightened up.  'Superman is vulnerable to magic, so this should work!'  She held the wand out over the stunned super hero.  "Wand of Circe, change this dunce into a super-cat...at once!"

"Lois!  What are you doing?  ...My body...feels so strange!"

Then, a grotesque metamorphosis took place.  "What's happening?  Some uncanny power is forcing me to drop to all fours!  I'm being turned into a...Meowww!"

"Yes, I really am Catwoman!  This magic wand changed you into a super-cat, which must obey my every command!"

Catwoman picked up her new pet.  'According to Circe's spell, you must follow all orders I give you in rhyme.'  She stroked its neck.  "Forget your anger, do no harm.  Rest there gently on my arm."

"Wow!  We saw that on the monitor," said Leo as he and Tiger came upon Catwoman.  "We're purr-oud of you, Catwoman!"

"I've always dreamed of owning a super-cat," Selina said as she started to lead her Kittens up the stairs.  "Now, with this powerful feline at my beck and call, I'll once again be the Queen of Crime.  Come, my cat-cronies.  We have plans to make!"

But soon afterward, Lois Lane arrived at the cave in her Catwoman disguise.  'Good heavens!  The Kitty Car must have triggered some electronic mechanism that opened that closed fangs door to the cave!  Brrr!  It's like being swallowed alive!'

Again without thinking anything of it, Lois hopped out of the Kitty Car with all the grace of the Feline Felon she seemed to be.  'The Catacombs!  This is my feline fortress...'  She shook her head, 'No, Catwoman's feline fortress!'  The woman in the evil villainess costume who had a more than slightly confused mind started to go through the weapons drawers, and in one she found something which was recognized right away.

Unfortunately, recognizing it was one thing.  Turning away from it before anything could happen was another matter.

The Cats-Eye ring had caught her attention, and the brief moment she was in its thrall caused its victim to lose almost all of the willpower she had that was keeping the thoughts of her actually being Catwoman in check.  Without realizing it, in the back of her mind Lois now knew that she actually was the evil Feline Felon and that what she was wearing was her true identity.  She then put the ring back in the drawer and picked up a sonic blaster.  'That other she-devil would have a cat fit if she knew I was here in MY Catacombs!'  No restraining thoughts followed this.  The brunette who'd started the day as a reporter was starting to accept what her mind was telling her.

As soon as she finished her initial inspection of what were now considered to be her own cat weapons, Lois decided to look around a bit.  One hallway she checked contained what looked like a female's bedroom, and a quick look at its closets showed them to contain a number of different Catwoman costumes in addition to a Batgirl costume of all things, and lots of more regular clothes.  She also noted the piled up batch of clothes she herself had been wearing earlier in the day.  'So, the other Catwoman has been seeing if she could look like Lois Lane, has she?  Hmmm...That may come in handy later on.'  With that thought, she left to go back into the main part of her Catacombs again.

As it was, the other Catwoman did know Lois was there.  She had watched her twin arrive on a monitor, and was already planning a reception for her while her duplicate was exploring.  "It's Lois Lane!  I don't know how she got in here, but I'll show what curiosity can do to the cat!  Ha, ha!"

Selina turned from the monitor to look at Super-Cat.  "I'll release that cageful of weird giant cats, which I bred experimentally.  Each one is as savage as a dozen tigers.  Let's see your girlfriend get out of this one, Superman...I mean Super-Cat!"

An instant later, Lois became the star of a frightful drama...with "wide scream" effects.  'Those horrible beasts...where'd they come from?  They'll devour me alive!'  "EEEEEEEEE!"

But in the next hair-raising second, she saw a black cat with a red cape fly into the cavern.  'And a Super-Cat is after me, too!  It's feeding time at this nightmare menagerie...and I'm the main course!'  The Feline Felon named Lois watched the Super-Cat drop down in front of the horrific menagerie and face them instead of her.  She noticed as the cat stood on its hind legs to face them that it was a female cat.  'What a switch!  She's charging those fiendish felines!  But does she have a chance against their giant fangs and claws?'

Does she?  Wait...she?  Yes, Selina wasn't concentrating at the time of the magic spell.  She was just assuming a cat of the same gender to join her.  The Super-Cat struck with furred fury.  'What unbelievable strength!' Lois as Catwoman noted.  'A mere tap of its paws is enough to knock out one of those weirdo beasts!  Where did that Super-Cat come from?'

After the battle, the cat jumped up into the apparent Catwoman's arms and started to lick her left cheek.  As a super cat, her super hearing told the changed Man of Steel that this feline felon had Lois Lane's heartbeat and wasn't the same villainess who'd changed her.  "Thanks, my friend!  For a minute, I thought you might be Supergirl's super-pet, Streaky!  But he has golden fur...and lightning-streak marks on his sides!  And of course, he's a he, and you're a she."

"Purrrr!"

Suddenly, the cat leapt to a table top and started to lick its own chest.  "Wait!  I get it!  By licking the 'S' symbol, you're trying to tell me that you're Superman...and that, somehow, you've been turned into a female cat.  Meow twice if I'm right."

"Meow!  Meow!"

"Clever-r-r-r!  My cat-cunning must have rubbed off on you, Lois!"

"Catwoman!  Only she could've cast this spell on you!  Nab her, Superman...I mean Super-Cat!"

"Yowrrr!" the cat 'said' as it flew up toward Selina.

"Ha, ha!  You must obey me, it is written.  Be mild and gentle as a kitten."

The stunned short haired Catwoman watched as the cat calmly settled into the longer haired Catwoman's arms.  'Good grief!  That simple rhyme brainwashed Super-Cat into a cuddly house pet.'  Then a sneer formed on the new, still short haired Catwoman's lips.  'Just what I needed to know.  With Super-Cat in my control, nothing can stop me.'  She looked up defiantly at Selina.

"All right, boys!  I've got him under control again!  Bring out the cage!"

"Yowwrrr!" Super-Cat screamed as the Green Kryptonite of the cage affected her.

"I originally meant this cage for Supergirl's cat, Streaky!  Then I learned he's not from Krypton, so the Green K can't affect him!  But it's a different story with my new pet!  She'll be helpless here until I need her!"

The short haired Catwoman started to run up the stairs toward the long haired one.  "That deadly stuff is killing the poor creature!  Stop torturing her, Selina, or I'll...."

"Fight me?  Come on!  My claws can use a workout on that pretty face of yours!"

Then, without noticing their proximity to a case full of Cat-aclysm grenades, one Catwoman locked into a catfight with the other.  "You'll need a cat's nine lives before I'm through with you!" said the short haired one.

"Turning Superman into a cat was my most purrrrfect crime, Lois!" replied the long haired one as she broke away and grabbed the wand of Circe.

The short haired Catwoman looked back to the Green K cage and its occupant.  "The pain...it's killing the poor creature!  Get her out of there, Selina, or I'll...."

"You'll squeak, that's what!  I turned Superman into a cat!  And now I'm going to change you to a mouse!"

Lois backed away from Selina.  "It's a purrrrfectly simple process!  Just hold still!  Don't tell me you're afraid of mice!"

"Get back!  Stay away from me with that wand!" the short haired Catwoman said as she backed into a stack of cat-aclysm grenades.  Suddenly, she was engulfed by a weird, awesome force.  'The wand's magic power...it's whirling me about like a leaf in a hurricane...I'm blacking out!'

* * * * *

Lois Lane was having a nightmare.  She was seeing herself as the mouse that other Catwoman threatened to turn her into, being picked up by the Feline Felon and fed to Super-Cat.  Just as Super-Cat was about to gulp her down in one bite, she was jostled awake by Officer Daley of the Gotham City Police.  With her head still spinning, the reporter who now had a much more evil career suddenly realized that it was all a dream, and saw the officer grinning at her with his right hand grasping her dark purple clad left shoulder.  "I'm glad to see you awake, Miss Lane," he said.  "You were unconscious for quite some time, and until we took off your cowl, we thought you were the real Catwoman.  That's when we went further into this lair and found Catwoman and all of her kittens."

As Lois raised her right hand to her forehead, she saw the claws on her wickedly gloved fingers, then looked down at the rest of her body, seeing the Catwoman costume she was in.  Now she knew who she was, but still seemed a bit confused.  "Where am I?  What happened here?" the brunette said as she looked up to the officer.

"You're in Catwoman's lair which she calls her Catacombs.  Batman and Robin came when the cataclysm grenades you accidentally set off started an earthquake.  They took Catwoman and her gang off our hands," he answered, "and are now leading them off to jail."  He helped her up, then walked Lois to the edge of the rock outcropping they were on, to show her the group being walked off in handcuffs.  "Will you be coming along with us, Miss Lane?"

"Thank you, Officer, but no.  I think I'll stick around here in the Catacombs for a little while to see if I can find anything of interest," she answered.

"Okay, Miss Lane.  Give us a call if you need a pick up later on."

As he turned away to join up with those escorting the criminals from the Catacombs, Lois thought to herself, 'So you thought I was the real Catwoman?  You were correct!  Couldn't be better for me that you're taking away to prison the other bitch who could claim to be me.  Hmmm...No one mentioned any word about finding Super-Cat.  I wonder...'  She looked back to where the officer had revived her along the cavern wall, and saw the cowl he must have removed from her head earlier.  The Feline Felon casually strode back to the wall, savoring once again the feeling she had first felt when her predecessor forced her to don the costume and walk around in the boots with their over six-inch heels.

She put on a Cheshire Cat grin, then reached out with her clawed right hand to grab the cowl.  As she pulled it down over her short black hair, Lois said out loud this time, since no one was there to hear her, "I hope you don't hold your breath waiting for that phone call, Officer Daley.  You say the real Catwoman is being led off to jail?"  She placed her clawed hands on her hips, spread her legs in a powerful pose, and continued, "Your Catwoman may be going off to jail, but I am now the one and only real Catwoman, and I'm oh so ready and looking forward to continuing my career as the evil Feline Felon!  I had so much fun while she had me hypnotized into thinking I was her, so I'm going to take her place now!"

Catwoman began her search for Super-Cat in the rubble at the far end of her Catacombs.  After sifting through quite a bit of fallen rock and piled up boxes of her weapons for about fifteen minutes, she saw a green glow behind another pile of refuse.  Sure enough, after freeing it from the surrounding debris, the Feline Felon found this to be the Green Kryptonite cage into which Super-Cat had been put for safekeeping.  No longer feeling any pity at all for the black cat inside who had originally been Superman, she held up the cage to eye level and said, "Well, it's taken all these years, but I finally have you in the palm of my hand, just where I want you.  Selina put you into her power by rhyming her orders, so let's see....  Go to Gotham City, a town so big, and get for me a long black haired wig."  Lois opened Super-Cat's cage, and after she staggered out and finally started to feel fully powered, immediately took off on her mission.

While Super-Cat was on her mission, the Feline Felon set about finding as many usable cat weapons which she could locate that were still on hand in her ruined Catacombs.  She found a number of whips of varying lengths in a fallen cabinet, discovered a cache of catarangs near the pile where the Green K cage was found, then came across something she had originally figured there was no hope of finding.  Near the base of the drawers that Lois had checked upon her entry to the lair, she found the Cat's Eye ring that Selina had used to hypnotize her, and which had reinforced the thoughts in her mind that her true identity was that of the incredibly evil villainess called Catwoman.  As she placed it on the ring finger of her right hand, its owner had the thought that the ring would come in very handy later on.  With the very much more evil mind she had compared to her predecessor, the new Catwoman would still consider cat themed crimes, but would in no way limit herself and her new Kitten to only that genre.  As she turned to leave that area, the Countess of Crime also caught sight of the tip of Circe's wand, sticking out of a pile of rocks.  "Ah," she said.  "With this, I'm now all set!"

Super-Cat had whizzed through a wig shop in downtown Gotham so fast that she was no more than a small black and red blur going in.  Then she became a slightly larger black and red blur as she exited, with a long black wig streaming back from where she had it clenched in her teeth.  As she came zooming back into the Catacombs a short time later, Lois looked up and said, "My, you work fast!  Super-Cat, with wig in teeth, come to my side, and lay beneath."  The super kitty did as she was told, and curled up in a docile manner in front of the toes of Catwoman's sexy, ultra high heeled boots.

"Now, Super-Cat, watch as I show you something," Catwoman said as she pulled off her cowl.  "Do you recognize me now?  That's why I had you get this wig," which she said while reaching down to pick up the black hairpiece which turned out to be even longer than she'd hoped.  After she brushed it out using her claws, Lois pulled the wig on over her own short black hair.  She then replaced the cowl over her head, threading the long black wig through the slot at its rear.  The thoroughly evil villainess shook her new mane back and forth over the cape hanging over her back all the way down to the top of her ass, gave a hearty laugh, then purred softly.  "With this wig on, nobody could possibly recognize me as Lois Lane in this costume.  So now my name is Selina Kyle, and I am Catwoman!"

As she reached for the wand which had been placed on a shelf before Super-Cat returned, Catwoman said, "I've been contemplating whether I should keep you in the form of a super kitty who would be a great help in plundering both Gotham City and Metropolis, but I don't like the idea of having to come up with so many rhyming orders.  While you were out, I made my final decision.  You're still going to be super, and you're going to aid and abet me in my criminal activities; you're even going to still form a black and red blur as you fly about. My predecessor turned you into a girl cat; now I'm going to turn you a cat girl, my very own Kitten who is so sexy and evil!"

Catwoman held Circe's wand over the still docile black feline, and said, "Super-Cat sitting at my feet in a curl, become for me an evil Catgirl."  The cat who until an hour or so earlier had been the Man of Steel found herself rising on her two rear feet, then growing and morphing rapidly.  She remembered the way this process had turned her from Superman to Super-Cat in the first place, but in the process of becoming human again, she felt all kinds of differences from what she'd recalled.  Her upper chest was expanding, her waist shrinking, hips broadening, and the inner area of her lower body felt like it was being scrambled.

By this point, the transformation was far enough along that it was an absolutely gorgeous looking super human female feeling the changes.  She observed her hair billowing out to form a black gossamer shell around her face, and cascading down her back even further than the hair of her mistress, all the way to her knees.  Then a costume started to appear on her perfectly formed, big breasted and wasp waisted body with fashion model quality legs.  She found herself encased in black leather from head to toe.  Her catsuit started at the throat with a high collar and choker over that.  Her huge breasts were encased individually in the chest plate of her catsuit, large and round with plenty of volume, not the pointy affairs some women had with this type of catsuit.

An external corset showed over her waist and upper hips, bringing her already tiny waist in to an exquisitely formed hour glass shape.  There were black leather gloves on her hands going to just past her elbows, and being Catgirl, had sharp claws at the fingertips.  The tiny feet at the ends of her long, lithe and exquisitely shaped legs were enclosed in thigh high boots with stiletto heels even more imposing than those on her mistress' boots.  The seven-inch heels had her practically standing on her toes, and the boots were laced tightly from her insteps to halfway up her thighs from the knees.  A red cape came to be on her back, clipped to her shoulders.  Lastly, a black domino mask appeared on her face, framing her beautiful green eyes so that only they could be seen, and not details around them.  Just as had happened when the wand was used to alter the Man of Steel into a girl cat by the intentions of its wielder, so had Catgirl been given the body and costume she found herself in by the intentions of its new wielder.

As Catgirl's changes stopped, Catwoman stepped in front of her to admire her handiwork.  "My, don't you look stunning!  How do you like your new form, Superman?"

"I...I feel so different...and this voice?  I still feel all my powers, but I don't recognize the feelings my body is experiencing.  What have you done to me, Lois?" Catgirl responded with a puzzled look on her face.

"First off, get this straight.  My name is no longer Lois Lane.  I am Selina Kyle, the ultra evil Feline Felon who is the Countess of Crime and the villainess called Catwoman.  And you are now Catgirl, my super powered Kitten and partner who is my Princess of Crime."  Catwoman then lifted her right hand to hold it in front of Catgirl's face.  "Here, look into my ring.  All will become known to you."

Catgirl looked into the ring, and with an expression similar to that which appeared on Lois' face not long ago, she fell into a trance.  "Yes, you're now completely in my power.  You are no longer Superman.  Your other identity as Clark Kent is also gone.  Did you forget that earlier I uncovered your identity when my cats shredded your clothes?  Those names are no longer yours, but keep in your memory all the things you used to do before your new life as my Kitten started.  Your new name is Pussy Willow, and your costumed identity is Catgirl.  Your home is with me, Selina Kyle as Catwoman, in all of my Cat's Lairs.  You have super powers which you will now use to commit crimes.  Do you understand?"

The new super villainess in black purred softly, meowwed, then said, "Purrrrfectly, Catwoman.  I am Pussy Willow, and I'm thrilled to be your bad girl Kitten called Catgirl.  How can I please you?"

At that very moment, Mr. Mxyzptlk popped into view, hovering in front of the pair of evil cats and facing Selina.  "I thought I had outdone myself by turning Batgirl into the new Catwoman, but in replacing her, you've done even more to Big Blue than I could have hoped!  That wig you're wearing right now is no longer fake hair," he snapped his fingers, "it's your own long, silky black hair.  You even look exactly right," he snapped his fingers again, "with green eyes and Selina's face and body, along with all her knowledge and memories to make you not only look perfect but be absolutely and completely perfect.  I know you want to still get things settled back in Metropolis, so whenever you wish to appear as Lois Lane instead of Selina Kyle, just utter her name.  Say your own name to become yourself again.  And that wand of Circe?  It's fully recharged now so you can take care of that bitch who used to be Batgirl and alter anybody else as you wish.  Until next time, bye bye!"  Just as suddenly, the imp blinked out of sight.

"Well, I feel even better about being Selina Kyle now," Catwoman said.  "I do wish Mxy would have stuck around long enough for me to ask him to change my boot heels to match yours, and make my own breasts as large as yours.  I feel just a bit less potent in heels a half inch shorter than yours and a not as impressive chest."  To her surprise, the Feline Felon sensed, observed and felt the way her breasts suddenly expanded considerably while she also felt her arches increase dramatically as her boot heels became a half inch higher than Catgirl's instead of merely the same.  She also both sensed and knew that she'd be able to handle her new heels and even ones as high as ballet toe heels with ease and grinned wickedly, then said, "Thanks for everything, Mxy!"

A big animated grin formed in the air in front of her!

Catwoman hugged her new protege, then suggested that they fly out of the Catacombs to head for Metropolis.  Catgirl helped Catwoman gather up the weapons she had accumulated earlier, putting them in a duffel bag.  The super Kitten then scooped up her mistress in her arms, and flew off toward Metropolis.

While enroute, Catwoman suggested that Catgirl use her super vision to check out a few buildings on the outskirts of the city to see if any were abandoned or disused, so that they could adopt another Cat's Lair.  The Feline Felon saw her assistant gazing intently in various directions as they proceeded, then eventually heard her say, "Catwoman, how does that blue and grey building on the edge of that forest low on our left look to you?"

"Let's go down and check it out," she responded.  The two alit near the boarded up front entrance to the building.  After prying a few boards loose with ease, confirming that her super powers still put an aura around her body making everything she wore invulnerable, Catgirl opened the door, and showed Catwoman in.

They found that the building must have been the target of a bankruptcy filing or some similar legal action, because it was in excellent condition inside.  There were offices of various sizes, and even some rooms already set up as living quarters.  "Catgirl, your taste is outstanding.  Let's move in!"

The two super villainesses set about making the interior match their mental picture of a Cat's Lair, first moving around things in the building already, then having Catgirl scouting outside and acquiring whatever they needed that wasn't at hand.  The team of Catwoman and Catgirl was now in place to wreak havoc in Metropolis as well as Gotham, until Lois Lane was no longer needed at the Daily Planet, and ready to start the ransacking of what had been their home.

* * * * *

While Lois had abandoned her name and adopted the name Selina Kyle in her role as Catwoman, thanks to Mxy it became very easy for her to continue going in to the Daily Planet to cover her activities.  For this, she continued to use the name of Lois Lane, which she now considered to be a secret identity.  So while a person known as Lois Lane continued to write stories in the daytime, Selina Kyle's nights were filled with her plundering, purloining, pillaging, stealing, thievery and other vile and evil criminal activities as Catwoman.  A number of her coworkers at the Planet, and her boss, Editor Perry White, had made numerous inquiries as to the whereabouts of Clark Kent, who had not been seen since the beginning of the adventure with Catwoman a bit more than a week earlier.  Lois gave no clue that Clark was now Pussy, her enslaved super female assistant, Catgirl.

A pleasant surprise came one evening as Mr. Mxyzptlk popped in again to tell Catwoman how pleased he was with the way she'd progressed in being Lois while still enjoying her new role as an incredibly evil villainess in both Metropolis and Gotham City.  He did her the favor of passing on the magical ability to pull whichever cat weapon she needed from under her belt, along with the magical costume generating ability.  Everything concerning these powers became known to her, including the ability to make over the head face masks even better than what her predecessor could do.  In giving her that ability, Mxy borrowed something from what Duela Dent could do, but limited Selina to doing masks for herself only and not change others.  Added to the knowledge she had from her predecessor's mind, Selina did start to experiment with magical body suits.

"Gee, thanks a lot for helping me out, Mxy!" Selina told him.  "These magical powers are going to be really something to work with!  I sure hope we can continue to work with each other."

"I'm sure we will, Catwoman!  Bye!"  The imp blinked out of sight again.

The next day, Selina decided to have Catgirl visit the Planet in her Pussy Willow identity.  While her Kitten did still have memories of the times spent there in her past identities, it would be good to show off the incredible body she had while giving her a totally new perspective of the workplace.  Some of Pussy's newfound abilities became evident when she walked in with her mistress that morning.  She was dressed in a white lace blouse with a red bow at her neck, and a red leather miniskirt with spike heeled pumps to match.  Selina as Lois got busy showing Pussy her work station and the nearby facilities.  Pussy gathered more than her share of leers, and had to physically push aside the enamored Jimmy Olsen.  More questions came up as they neared the vacant desk of the missing Clark Kent.

At that moment, something clicked in Selina's mind.  She pulled Pussy aside, and whispered into her ear the idea she had just come up with.  Her Kitten nodded, then, as she put her lips next to her mistress' ear, whispered, "That sounds good, and should work without any problem."  'Lois' and Pussy continued their tour of the Planet, then at lunchtime, Lois told Perry that she would be busy after lunch, and not able to get back in before closing.

* * * * *

In Gotham City, Batman wondered how Catwoman had managed to get to Metropolis, in addition to still vexing him in Gotham City.  It never even dawned on him to check with the state prison on the status of their prisoner, Selina Kyle.  He just assumed that she was out of prison, and back to operating in her home turf and also Metropolis somehow.

The prisoner named Selina, however, was keeping up with the news.  She was seething after hearing that an impostor, whom she presumed was Lois Lane, had usurped her identity.  Selina spent her idle time in the prison thinking of ways in which to get revenge on this image stealer.

Selina's time in prison was about to come to an abrupt end.  The day that Lois and Pussy were visiting the Planet was her tenth day in prison, and she had been set up in a physical fitness program in the prison yard each afternoon.

When Lois left the Planet that afternoon, she proceeded to her new Cat's Lair to change into her nocturnal identity by uttering her true name, the first time she had done so in the daytime since coming back to Metropolis with Catgirl.

Pussy separated from her disguised partner as soon as they were away from the Planet, and ducked into a deserted alleyway to do a super quick change into Catgirl.  The now glossy black clad super villainess took to the air and proceeded to the Gotham State Prison.

Selina was with a group of female inmates engaged in a set of exercises in the prison courtyard.  Catgirl did a super vision scan of the prison to make sure her target was there while she was still a good distance from the prison.  When she caught sight of her prey, the super Kitten worked up a batch of clouds over the prison by super-cooling the moisture in the air around her.  She then flew around in a circle within the cloud to get things moving.

Those on the ground in and around the prison were then astonished to see what appeared to be a funnel cloud forming, in skies which no more than ten minutes earlier had been clear.  Catgirl maneuvered the funnel cloud into the vicinity of the prison courtyard to kick up dust and reduce visibility.  Most of the prisoners scattered on their own, and those that didn't were herded back toward the building by guards.  Before they could get to Selina, however, she was whisked up and out of the courtyard faster than anyone could see.  Her disappearance would later be attributed to a providential gust of wind lifting her up and out of the prison.  Some wondered if Selina was related to Dorothy.

In actuality, Selina was held tightly in the arms of Catgirl.  When Selina caught her breath, she said, "That was a purrrfect way to get me out of the prison!  Thanks a lot!  But who are you?"

Catgirl took her eyes from the path they were flying briefly and grinned maliciously at Selina before saying, "I am someone you played games with just a couple of weeks ago."

Selina puzzled over this cryptic answer for a few moments, then noticed they were already nearing Metropolis.  The speed of their travel gave her a clue as to with whom she was talking.  "Superman?" she inquired.

"As you can easily see, I am most definitely not SuperMAN.  But I was your super cat, before I was given my present form.  I hope you like it!  I'm now called Catgirl."

Selina did a double take at hearing this, and wondered just what her impostor had been up to.

"Now it's time for you to take a little catnap, Selina," added Catgirl.  The two zoom climbed to twenty-thousand feet, and as the oxygen level fell way below that needed for human consumption, Selina passed out.

As Catgirl approached the Cat's Lair with her sleeping armful, she saw Catwoman step out of the door to meet them.  Selina had forced herself to stay at hand inside, knowing full well that her Kitten was going to make quick work of nabbing their prey.  As Catgirl alit in the grass near where Catwoman stood waiting, she turned to her mistress and said, "You should have seen it!  My tornado scared away almost everybody, and when I whisked Selina up into it, the few who saw her must have thought she'd been lifted by the storm.  It was a piece of cake!"

Catwoman purred in her delight, then said, "Thanks for such lightning quick action, Catgirl!  That should reduce suspicions of our prisoner's whereabouts to an insignificant degree.  Now, bring your sleeping prisoner into the Lair."

Inside, the earlier Selina was placed in a seat in a small room that had no windows, just a desk with a lamp, two seats and a file cabinet.  Catgirl went about stripping the clothes off their captive, while Catwoman went to get her Cat's Eye ring and Circe's wand.  Selina was still asleep when Catwoman came back to the room.  "Shall we give my predecessor a bit of a thrill before we play with her?" she asked Catgirl.

"How so?"

"Just watch, and be sure to grab hold of our friend after the change, to make sure my ring will have a stable target to hit."

With the solitary lamp in the office providing a soft glow in the room, Selina's eyes blinked open finally.  She saw what she could have sworn was herself standing in front of her...but in much higher heels than she'd ever worn and impressively larger breasts!  "Do you approve of what you see, Selina?" asked Catwoman.  "I hope so, for you are the one who made me what I am.  Thanks to Mxy, I'm even more than what you made me.  And I am so enjoying my new evil career as a villainess!"

With that, Catwoman pulled off her cowl, shaking her long black hair from side to side to loosen it up after doing so.  Selina still looked on in a combined look of rage and puzzlement.  The Feline Felon then said, "Lois Lane."

As her appearance altered, the captive said, "So Mxy made it so that you can be both your old self and me?"

"Selina Kyle."  The villainess in her preferred form grinned.  "Yes, and then he let me have breasts as big or bigger than Catgirl's while putting these incredible fuck me heels on my boots.  Mxy even made it so I can wear all the way up to ballet toe heels without any problems.  The way things are going, it won't be long before I'll no longer have to say that other name."

"So, you are indeed Lois Lane," blurted out the first Selina.

"No, that's where you're wrong," replied Catwoman.  "I am no longer Lois Lane, except while out of costume in the day world at the Planet.  I am Selina Kyle, the one true Catwoman, thanks to the introduction you gave me to this identity when you hypnotized me, and then Mxy."

"You're not Selina Kyle, I am!" shouted the nude figure on the seat.

"I think not," Catwoman said.  "You gave up the right to that name when you turned me into you.  I am Catwoman, and my name is Selina Kyle.  Since we can't have two of us in the world at the same time, I've found a way to solve that problem.  I discovered my original clothes while I was looking around in your...ahem...MY room back at the Catacombs, along with my other costumes and even a Batgirl costume.  I wonder what kind of trouble I can make for Batman and Robin if their trusted partner suddenly seems to have gone rogue on them?  Now then, I know you must have tried on those clothes I had worn to the castle in order to look like Lois Lane.  As tempting as it would be to have you take my own place while I take yours, I have an even better, more fiendish idea.  We have a bit of a situation developing at the Planet, with a key figure there on the missing list.  He won't be missing for much longer!"

Catwoman raised Circe's wand up over the head of her past mentor.  She then invoked the transformation rhyme she'd worked on since Catgirl had suggested it earlier in the day.

"To your life as a gal say goodbye, for from now on you'll be a guy.  You who were Selina Kyle, have been imprisoned for a while.  Now thanks to the time you've spent, your new name will be Clark Kent!"  At that, the raven haired beauty sitting on the couch who had until a couple of months before been a redhead named Barbara started to shift in form, and a glow developed around her body.  So first Barbara Gordon had become Selina Kyle and now she became Clark Kent.  As the aura dispelled, a well built male with short black hair and black framed glasses was seen sitting on the couch, with a stunned look on his face.  At that moment, Catgirl reached with one hand to douse the lamp.  The room fell into darkness as the super Kitten took hold of the upper arms of the newly formed male.

Catwoman placed her right hand in front of his face.  "Watch my hand closely," Catwoman ordered.  "Take in the ring's glow, let it relieve you of your questions."  His eyes widened, and he fell into a trance.  "Yes, I've used the same ring with which you changed me.  Forget your past as Selina Kyle.  Now and forever more, you are Clark Kent, a reporter with the Daily Planet.  When you go back to work tomorrow, you will answer all who ask by telling them that you were in an accident that gave you a brief case of amnesia.  You may tell them that you have recovered some of your memories, but will need a lot of help in getting back into the swing of things.  After you get dropped you off in your apartment this evening, you will forget any memories of being in this building.  Do you understand?"

Nodding, he said, "Yes, I see.  My name is Clark Kent.  I will have to relearn the way to do things at work.  I will have no memories of being here."

"Very good," replied Catwoman, as she withdrew her hand and pulled the ring off her finger.  She placed the powerful mind controlling weapon under her belt and put her cowl back on.  She was out of the room before Catgirl turned the lamp back on.

Clark was handed a pair of shorts that were obtained earlier in the day, and he pulled them on.  Pussy then blindfolded him, and took him by the hand to the door leading out of the Cat's Lair.  It was still late in the day, and the sun had a ways to go before it would set.  Catgirl picked up the person she had once been herself, and thanked the stars that her mistress had changed her into who she now was.  She then took off for a circuitous trip up and down the east coast to disorient her passenger.

By the time dusk was starting to dim the skies, the new Clark Kent had been given a trip which would have thrilled any viewer allowed to see, but he'd spent the entire time with his sight blocked.  Once again scanning ahead with her super vision, Catgirl made sure no one was in the immediate area of Clark Kent's apartment, then descended rapidly to the bedroom window, which faced an alleyway.

Deftly raising the window with one hand while the other clenched her passenger, Catgirl hovered near the ledge.  She then carried the new Clark into what had been HER old apartment, and shot back out the window before he had a chance to pull the blindfold away from his eyes.  As he 're'aquainted himself with his domicile, the super Kitten watched with X-ray vision.  Satisfied that Mr. Kent was settling in nicely, she made her way back to the Cat's Lair.

The next morning, Lois was busy at her desk with Perry White pacing nearby when a shout was heard throughout the day room.  "Clark's back!" was heard from a number of voices simultaneously as he was spotted coming out of the elevator.  Almost as one, the entire staff got up and thronged around their newly recovered lost lamb.  Clark turned to Perry and explained that he barely knew to come to the Planet, with the lack of memory he had.  Perry led Clark to his desk, and had Lois work with him on bringing him back up to speed on his reporting skills.  This was precisely what she had planned on the night before.  Clark was now trained in a way that would give Lois a freer hand in her own affairs.

* * * * *

As the days and weeks wore on, Clark became more and more the good natured, diligent reporter he had been before his 'accident.'  Lois gave more and more of her older responsibilities to him, allowing her to change her work schedule.  Eventually, the villainess who was only pretending to still be a reporter was able to reduce her workload to a part-time status, then a bit later, to freelance.  No one seemed to notice that the entire time she was training Clark and getting her workload reduced, Lois was letting her hair grow out.  By the time she'd left the regular employment of the Planet to go freelance, the brunette who used to have such a short hairdo had nearly waist length hair so that Selina Kyle's alter ego could look much more sexy.

Selina Kyle had very little need for the Lois Lane name anymore.  Her freelance status at work gave her many more opportunities to join with Catgirl in looting and pillaging the lucrative targets of Metropolis and Gotham City.  Even her freelance status was dropped after a time.  The only use now for for her original name was to change from her usual identity as Selina Kyle to her secret identity, Felicity Adams.  Pussy couldn't alter her own face as easily as her mistress, but she did join her as Tabby Larson.  While the original Selina Kyle had started as a prostitute before taking on her role as Catwoman, the new Selina got a thrill from being a prostitute who had a good friend working alongside her.  The pair of whores split their time on the streets of Metropolis and  Gotham depending on which city their alter egos were busy in at the time.

The Bat team in Gotham did assume that the Feline Felon who was plaguing them was the same one who'd only reappeared back in the last week of March and felt only a bit of relief that their city wasn't the only one she was plundering.  They did have to contend with a brief period in which Catgirl restrained Barbara Gordon, taunting her by reminding the redhead that she almost became Catgirl herself earlier in the year.  Because the super Kitten was Catgirl now, her captive would have to become someone else.  She produced a face mask, wig and body suit provided by her mistress which the young woman was forced to put on, followed by a never before seen costume.  Meanwhile, Selina had put on her own Barbara Gordon face mask, body suit and wig, then the Batgirl costume from her closet.  She went to work with the new super villainess named Mesmera who made it look like she had captured the Dark Knight Damsel and turned her evil.  Not an easy situation to get out of!

Eventually, Catwoman tired of her dark purple costume, and replaced it with the bright green catsuit version found in her costume closet in the Catacombs.  Its front was sculpted to proudly display her ample chest assets, and she loved the sexy little green domino mask to cover her eyes instead of a cowl covering her whole head.  Of course, she still enjoyed drawing stares, and made sure she had light green boots with stiletto heels just as high as what Mxy had given her to match her light green clawed gloves.  Her Cat's Eye gem was relocated from her ring to a necklace which draped across her chest.  This, of course, was only the first of many sexy costume variations which included royal purple with black accessories!

Catgirl, on the other hand, thrilled herself with the black she wore, and eventually experimented with more and more risque items to wear, from laced up crotch high boots to boots with heels so high that her toes were pointed like a ballerina's.  This was, of course, no problem for her, since her super powers overcame any tendencies to become unbalanced.  She also dabbled with costumes showing more and more skin, and also with some showing almost no skin at all.  The fetish industries of Gotham City and Metropolis were having a field day, with pictures of Catgirl becoming the hottest traded items on the porno magazine market, and eventually the most heavily downloaded images off the world wide web.

Lois Lane was eventually no longer heard from at the Planet.  Her loss was not taken as Clark Kent's had been, for she had weaned herself away from the Planet gradually.  Selina Kyle was now active as Catwoman at all times of day, with her mercurial companion Catgirl almost always at her side.  Eventually, her activities put her at odds with another person working at plundering Metropolis, Lex Luther.  For a short time, they were at each other's throats, but after a while, it became obvious to them both that they'd get farther together that they would apart, and a new team of super villains was formed to work over Metropolis and more.

Of course, Metropolis' savior was nowhere to be seen.  Superman had disappeared completely...well, in one form, anyway.  God knows, she was certainly well seen and photographed as a super villainess.

                                   
                                    THE END
                        (of this part of Lois' career)

I hope you've enjoyed reading this.

• < Batgirl: The New Origin
• April Fools Joke Gone Bad 2007 Part 1 >