A Batman AU I would love to read/write/just bask in
I also want to write/read an AU where Selina Kyle/Catwoman is an African American woman in her late twenties. Miss Selina Kyle is a woman who is a middle school teacher at an inner-city school in Gotham.
Her childhood was one where she grew up in inner city New York. She was raised by a pair of successful small time con artists. They specialized in forgery (art and alcohol) and fencing stolen property. However, they didn’t want their children (they had three, Selina’s got an older sister and younger brother) to follow in the family business. They wanted them to be “legitimately successful,” so they stressed their education and gave them every advantage they could afford. Selina’s father died of lung cancer several years back (he was a heavy smoker with a fondness for cuban cigars), but her mother is still alive and well (imagine the character “June” from the television show “White Collar”). While she studied to become a teacher, Selina’s older sister decided to devote her life to the Catholic Church and her younger brother (who grew up to stand a full head taller than her and her sister) joined the Navy and became a Seal.
She’s a very good, very popular teacher and loves the students, but the school has problems getting enough funding to keep the place running year after year without layoffs and cutbacks to essential programs that keep kids out of gangs and off the streets. So, in her time off, especially during weekends, school holidays, and seasonal breaks, she dons the Catwoman outfit (complete with a full face mask to hide her race and identity) and steals from the extremely wealthy. Whatever she collects, she fences and donates the money anonymously to her school. She also loves the thrill of the theft, but she doesn’t keep any of the stolen property. Keeping it makes her feel guilty, because she promised her parents, especially her father, that she’d stay “legit”.
She eventually attracts Batman’s attention, and they do their “Cat and Bat” dance on the Gotham rooftops. It takes far longer for him to figure out her identity because, being raised by the parents she had, she’s extremely sensitive to being tracked and bugged.
Then one day, the night after Batman spoils another of her jewelry heists, she happens upon a young, dirty street-kid attempting to steal the tires off the Batmobile. He’s doing it as an “initiation test” to get into the Royal Flush gang (they are auditioning for a “Joker” in their next job). Catwoman is intrigued. She offers a different test to him. She’s pretty certain she can get at least one tire off the Batmobile (because she’s rather annoyed with the Bat for spoiling her last job). So she’ll steal one tire, and the kid will watch. If he can get all the other tires off before the Big Bad Bat shows up, she’ll take him under her wing. He’ll have a better chance at a decent life under her tutelage rather than as a lackey for the Royal Flush Gang.
Needless to say, Batman and Robin get back to their car to find it sitting on blocks with all four tires stacked up on the sidewalk with one missing hubcap.
And in this AU, Jason Todd ends up under the wing of Catwoman instead of Batman, eventually being adopted by Selina Kyle. He is forced to go to school and do his best, going to the same private school as Dick Grayson because Selina wants him to see which teenagers are being “excessively spoiled” by their rich parents and should be targeted by the Cat. It’s while at this school that Selina Kyle and Bruce Wayne have their first face-to-face meeting, because… well… Jason ends up getting into a fist fight with Dick over a misunderstanding. Tim Drake, who’s skipped several grades and is the youngest kid in the high school, was being bullied. Jason had stepped in first to protect Tim from the jerks, but when Dick happened upon the scene, he thought Jason was the one bullying Tim. Bruce and Selina meet without even realizing that they are the Bat and the Cat.
As a result of being adopted by Selina, Jason gets a great deal of exposure to her family. He meets her mother, who thinks the boy is charming, if a little rough around the edges. Selina’s sister worries a bit about her raising a young teenager on her own in Gotham City, while her brother bonds easily with Jason, the two of them frequently playing video games together online.
Due to the bullying incident at the school, Jason takes on a protective “older brother” role with Tim. The bullies don’t mess with the preteen boy after Jason puts several in their places. Dick and Jason still don’t get along though… and the sentiment gets even worse after Bruce and Selina start dating.
Meanwhile, the Royal Flush Gang find a willing lackey to serve as their “Joker” for a job stealing materials for a new strain of highly addictive designer drugs at a chemical company called “Axis Chemicals”. Unfortunately, the job goes well beyond south when Batman interferes. When it becomes clear that the job is a bust, the RFG escape by sacrificing the “Joker” to take the fall. However, things go badly when Batman tries to capture him. A drop into a vat of chemicals later…
