Phantom Kid in the World of American Comics

Chapter 21: Meeting Catwoman Again

”You really did find your way here.”

Before Mathison could say anything, it was the person hiding in the chamber who spoke first.

It was a sexy voice, a voice that Mathison knew very well.

Catwoman, Serena Kyle!

”I never expected you’d show up here, Catwoman.”

In the blink of an eye, Mathison washed away the surprised expression from his face and replaced it with a confident cold face, saying in Barbara’s voice.

”Hmph, you won’t have to maintain that disguise in front of me, Phantom Kid!”

Serena snorted coldly.

”Are you going to ask me again how I can see through you? There’s no use to even think about it; the only person who can unlock the secrets of this place, other than its owner, is the expert thief who can do it.”

”No matter who you disguised yourself as, as long as you are the one who opened the secret door alone, you must be Phantom Kid.”

Speaking of which, Serena stared Mathison up and down and tsked, “What I didn’t expect is to see Phantom Kid obsessed with females in such a perverted way.”

”Your skin is so nice, not gonna lie, I’m a little jealous.”

It wasn’t as if Mathison expected to be able to hide from Catwoman, he was merely trying to be sneaky. After all, it was unlikely that the GCPD would find anything unusual here, apart from Kid.

Furthermore, although it wouldn’t be a challenge for Gordon to crack the mechanism and gain entrance with his intelligence, his work ethic binds him, hence, he wouldn’t even think about trying to capture Kid in such ways.

”I don’t mind sharing my own skin-care routine if you’d like … So, beautiful Miss Kyle, did someone hire you to snap the Cat’s Eye Emerald again this time?”

Instantly shedding his disguise, Mathison changed into the costume of Phantom Kid, and Serena stared at him intently, trying to get a slight glimpse at this magical trick of swift changing.

Serena was called Catwoman, not only because her body is as flexible as a cat’s, but also because her eyes are as bright as a cat’s. She could see far more clearly in the dark, allowing her to manoeuvre more easily and comfortably at night than Mathison.

However, no matter how amazing Catwoman’s eyesight was, she still couldn’t see exactly how Kid managed to turn into another person with a pull and a flip of his clothes.

”Yes, I did get hired, the Cat’s Eye Emerald is already in Catwoman’s pocket, you wouldn’t want to snatch a cat’s eye, would you?”

Serena said, making a rude face, her voice trembling slightly, making it sound both nice and heartbreaking.

”Oh, Miss Kyle, your acting skills are just not good enough, I think the man who hired you is Daggett, he wants you to stop me from stealing the jewel, am I right?”

The moment Mathison saw Serena he knew why Daggett wasn’t here, it wasn’t that he didn’t care about his gems at all, it was that he had Catwoman as a secret weapon.

Generally speaking, there were only a few famous thieves in Gotham, the strongest ones had gone into retirement in Arkham, and none of the rest was really as good as Serena. Phantom Kid had been making a big name for himself lately, but he was still a criminal newcomer at the end of the day, the kind who avoids killing. And in a city like Gotham, he wouldn’t even rank as the new criminal star of the year.

Unfortunately, what Daggett didn’t know was that Phantom Kid had already fought Catwoman and was the winning side.

There was no way Serena would tell Daggett about this because she dreamed of getting the “Purge Program” and would do anything for it, hence, she couldn’t let Daggett doubt her abilities.

”Bang!”

It wasn’t Serena who responded to Mathison, it was the gun in her hand.

”Hey, Miss Kyle, don’t you think you are overreacting? I haven’t even snatched your eyes yet.”

Mathison had long been on guard, he expected this attack and dodged it with a smooth dash of his body.

”Heh, don’t you forget we have a beef, now to settle the score. The last time, you stole Adam’s Star, which caused me to almost get shot by my employer’s men indiscriminately. It took a while to calm their anger, not to mention my current employer wants me to kill you in addition to protecting the gem… !”

”Bang!”

Another shot was fired, and Mathison obediently retreated outside the dark door, using the corner of the corridor, and the chamber, as cover.

”Miss Kyle, the sound of gunfire will soon attract the police and by then, I’m afraid the GCPD will have captured two wanted criminals.”

Mathison said as he pulled out his poker gun and listened to Serena’s breathing to determine her stance and location.

”Do you think there’s only one secret door to get in and out of this secret room? The police will come, but you’ll be a corpse by then.”

Serena looked triumphantly, “The mechanism of the secret door is wonderfully tied together with the door to the collection room, when the secret door opens, those two doors into the corridor will automatically lock, it will still take a little time for the police to get in.”

”And that’s enough time for you to shoot me a few hundred times with your gun, right?”

Mathison said what Serena hadn’t said.

”Haha, you’re right, for some reason you seem to know me quite well, and I really don’t want to kill you.”

”Humm, is it my charm that has persuaded you?”

”Wow, even under these circumstances, you’re actually in the mood for such jokes, tsk, I started to like you a little.”

Serena’s eyes were confused, she didn’t know what Kid is up to, with numerous cops banging on the door outside, and the only exit guarded by herself. He would be shot dead as soon as he would appear, merely a small opening of the door, hardly opened, would make a blind man a sharpshooter.

The only way out was to force his way into the secret room, otherwise, there were only two outcomes: to be killed by Serena or to be taken away by the police.

At this point, the same process was going through Mathison’s mind, only that he came to a very different conclusion from Serena’s.

He took out a special playing card made of an extremely special material, which was small, heavy, hard, and resistant to heat. He had only ONE special card.

By stuffing this special playing card into the poker gun, the preparations were complete.

”I have only one chance…”

Mathison had a crazy idea, one that was unrealistic but still possible.

”Not a big deal, I’ll take a bullet!”

Taking a deep breath, Mathison’s eyes brightened and his ears flicked, listening to Serena’s breathing.

Then, there were seconds of dead silence.

Finally, with a flash of light in his eyes, Mathison stepped inside the hidden door in an instant.

”Bang!” “Bang!”

Serena had been waiting for him for a long time and naturally pulled the trigger.

And, for a split of a second, within the room, two gunshots echoed …