Chapter Text
Alright, my turn now. Let's set the scene.
London, seven years ago. Through a mix of gadgets, stealth and -- let's not forget -- incredible skills, I had made my way to the Tower of London unnoticed.
I got past security using a handy device that could replicate ID cards from a quick scan, and managed to take the vents all the way to right above the jewels themselves.
It was when I descended into the room itself that I saw her. A snow leopard with a lollipop in her mouth hanging on the other side of the glass case the jewels were in.
As we were cutting the case open, I broke the silence first.
'Hello, snow leopard,' I said cheekily.
'I have a name, you know,' she interrupted before I could introduce myself. 'Kitty Kat.'
'How nice to meet you,' I said wryly. 'I'm the Crimson Paw.'
'Then I'm the Bad Guys!' she shot back sarcastically. 'Yeah right, the Crimson Paw.'
'Fine, then I'm Dana the Purple Flamingo.' I retorted.
I finished cutting a hole in the glass and reached into the case to grab as much as I could while she did the same, ending with us both holding the crown itself.
'I grabbed it first!' Kitty blatantly lied. 'It's mine!'
'Ha! As if!' I responded as I prepared one of my gadgets with my other hand. 'Kitty Kat, meet my Polariser!'
The crown was wrenched from her grip, but she seemed more impressed than angry.
'I'm impressed,' she said -- I could tell, of course, but sometimes it pays to be underestimated. 'Where'd you find it?'
'That'd be telling,' I told her as I pulled myself back up to the vents.
When I left the vents, however, she was stood there waiting for me.
'Mine, I think,' she said as she tried to snatch my bag of loot.
'Nope!' I said as I kicked at her, but she dodged and went for the bag again. She'd almost latched onto it when I swung it away from her and, seeing her own bag across the room, dashed for it. When I was almost within reach, she caught up to me and grabbed the bottom of my bag, so I turned and kicked her in the jaw, causing her to lose her grip and sending the lollipop flying. I lurched for her bag again and grabbed it, but she was blocking the exit.
I ran up and kicked at her again, but she dodged again and tried to punch me. I punched for her face but she blocked, and she headbutted me, causing me to stumble backwards and drop both bags -- in my defence, I'd never been headbutted before. I shook it off, but she was already leaving with the bags. I dashed for the exit, but I forgot the security system and triggered the alarms.
Within seconds, the two of us were surrounded. We stood back to back, waiting to see who would make the first move.
I think it was me, but I'm not really sure.
I started by kicking, probably. In my experience, kicks always make a good starting move. The guard fought back, of course, but he didn't stand a chance against me. Once he was dealt with, I turned around and went for the loot, but Kitty managed to turn around and push me into another guard, who I grabbed by the arm and flung at her, causing her to drop the bags but also making them both spill open.
'No, no, no!' I cried while disarming several guards in quick succession.
'No!' Kitty wailed while shrugging off the guard I had thrown at her.
We both grabbed a bag and scrambled to put as much of the loot as we could back into it.
'You ruined it!' she screamed at me. 'This was supposed to be a simple operation!'
'I know!' I replied. 'And it was, until you came along!'
'Maybe you should call it quits this time,' she suggested unhelpfully.
'Well, maybe if you dropped my loot,' I countered, before adding 'without spilling it, this time.'
'No can do,' she said. 'This loot's mine, and I'm keeping it!'
We were so busy arguing that we were soon surrounded by guards.
'You might want to give that bag to me,' I advised her. 'Easier to escape without it.'
'And I suppose you'll escape with them both just fine,' she muttered sarcastically.
'Well, I am the greatest bad guy the world has ever seen!' I reminded her.
'Then you shouldn't need this stuff anyway,' she countered.
'But I did earn it,' I said.
'So did I,' she returned, 'and I've got it, so I'm keeping it!'
'Why don't we fight them first and each other later?' I suggested.
'Good idea,' she admitted. 'Just know I wont forget the "later".'
'Neither will I,' I assured her, and we started kicking.
One guard was dropped with a kick, one guard was dropped with a punch, one went down to a shove, one was hit by a flying helmet. One by one, they all fell down, and soon, there were only two of them left.
'You go left, I go right.' Kitty Kat instructed.
'You know, I was only one second away from saying that,' I replied.
'Shut up and fight!' she growled, before rushing at the guard on the right and tackling him while I took on the other remaining guard with more finesse.
'Nice work,' I lied. 'I'll take that loot, now.'
'Not so fast,' she said. 'I'm planning a big heist that could use your skills.'
'You're asking for my help!?' I asked, incredulous.
'I'm offering you a job.' she corrected.
'What do I get out of it?'
'Half of whatever this lot's worth, plus half the price of the Ironite Flamingo.'
'Couldn't I just steal both of those myself and get full price for everything?'
'Well, I've got at least half of these jewels already,' she reminded me as if I'd forgotten, 'and you're welcome to try, but I don't think the Ironite flamingo can be stolen alone, even by one of your talents.'
I could have refused, of course, but there was always the possibility that she was right about the flamingo, and I could always ditch her and steal the other half.
'Deal.' I said, and we shook on it .
~-~
'If you both already knew each other,' Mr. Wolf asked, 'how come neither of you mentioned it during the whole rocket incident?'
'I imagine she finally decided to take my advice and stop making things personal,' Diane Foxington explained, 'and my memory of that heist's still a little fuzzy.'
'Wait, you actually did steal the Ironite Flamingo?' Wolf asked. 'I thought only we did that.'
'You did,' Diane responded wryly, 'in the middle of our heist.'
He gasped. 'That was you!?'
'I'd tell you the story,' she told him, 'but I'd like to hear your side first.'
'Very well,' he said. 'Get over here...'