Catwoman (Volume 2) #93 is an issue of the series Catwoman (Volume 2) with a cover date of June, 2001.
Synopsis for "Fear is Here to Stay"
Catwoman intercepts a prison van returning Scarecrow to Arkham Asylum. She pulls Scarecrow out of the Arkham transport and tells him they're going to have a long conversation--and she swears he'll regret ever crossing her path when she's done.
Scarecrow is unafraid. Their last encounter[1] went differently than she remembers. He not only drugged her but he also planted post-hypnotic suggestions in case they met again. The tone of his voice triggers all the childhood fears that kept her awake at night--her father's drunken voice, the squeal of the rats gnawing on her sister's crib, the way the super stared at her and her sister, her mother dead in the bathtub.
Scarecrow holds Catwoman's gun to her head and asks her if she's afraid. She is. Scarecrow marvels at the dilemma. To be Catwoman, she must be fearless, but if she is admitting that she's afraid, she can't be Catwoman anymore, can she? In fact, there's not much point in going on at all, is there? That's the conclusion her mother made.
Scarecrow flees at the sound of police sirens. Catwoman is left crouched over on the ground, holding her gun, contemplating... She throws the gun aside and curses Scarecrow.
Mayor Dickerson and his wife Amanda are posing for a Gotham Living photo shoot. Amanda is sick of pretending to care for her husband, and he brings up the pictures of her and Jamal Meeks that have caused so much trouble. She storms off as Detective Marchak and Detective Belivell enter the room. Marchak and Belivell tell Dickerson they have been unsuccessful tracking down Catwoman, and they bet she's left the country.
Selina is at the airport where she books a flight to Hong Kong under the name "Cassandra Winters." She needs to get as far away from Gotham as she can... but then she realizes that if she leaves, Scarecrow wins.
Scarecrow, meanwhile, is mixing more fear toxin in the Tyler Chemicals Laboratory. He mourns the toxin he lost to Batman, the police, and the Quake, but he's going to produce more than ever before.
Selina goes to her old neighborhood, Little Cuba, and goes to a gym where she announces that anyone who beats her in the ring will win her black Lexus. A boxer named Reyes takes her up on the offer, and they spar bloodily until the gym owner stops them. Selina gives Reyes the keys anyway. She doesn't warn him that the Lexus is stolen.
In the Iceberg Lounge, the Penguin asks Catwoman to understand his reservations about working with her considering her recent erratic behavior. Catwoman asks him if they have a deal or not. She gives him a rare bird she stole from another passenger at the airport and the photos of Amanda Dickerson taking drugs with a man not her husband. The Penguin agrees to arrange everything as she asked, and after she leaps off the building, he calls someone named "Goodis" and tells them to make contact with Professor Jonathan Crane.
Scarecrow attacks Dickerson and his officials in his office, telling him he was sent by his enemies. Dickerson offers to outbid whoever sent him, but Scarecrow says all he wants is to rain fear gas upon every corner of Gotham.
Catwoman arrives wearing a gas mask. Scarecrow taunts her about her fears and the many ways he can infect her with his fear gas or post-hypnotic triggers, and as they grapple, Scarecrow rips off her gas mask.
Catwoman sees her sister as a child, herself in her old Catwoman suit, and her mother as a reanimated corpse, all of them telling her that she will always be empty, she will never get what she wants, and in the end there's only pain and disappointment. The vision of her mother begins to strangle her, and she realizes that it's Scarecrow. She claws at his face and says, "I am nobody's psychology experiment."
Catwoman chases Scarecrow through the mayor's house, landing hits when she can, until he reaches the end of the line and jumps out the window. He is tangled in a tree, and Catwoman says that move works better in the movies.
She hears police sirens and makes herself scarce. It's been a good night. His attack on Dickerson will add decades to Scarecrow's sentence, and neither Scarecrow nor Dickerson realizes that she arranged for their encounter... so why does she find this victory unsettling?
Selina returns to the gym in Little Cuba and asks the owner, who used to box professionally, about when he knew it was time to retire. "If you're smart, you walk away when you're young and in your prime. Stay in the ring too long, and you'll end up punch-drunk, broke, and dead inside."
"What if it's the only thing you know how to do?" Selina asks.
"Then you're in trouble," he answers.
Selina bites her lip.
Appearing in "Fear is Here to Stay"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
- Jamal "Fluffy" Meeks (Mentioned only)
- Amanda Dickerson
- Detective Rudy Marchak
- Detective Belivell
- Monroe
- Maggie Kyle (In a vision)
- Maria Kyle (In a vision)
Locations:
- Gotham City
- Rony's Dance Studio
- Iceberg Lounge
Items:
Vehicles:
- Arkham Transport Seven Two One
Notes
- In this issue, Selina gives the Penguin the photographs and negatives of Amanda Dickerson, the mayor's wife, originally in the possession of Jamal "Fluffy" Meeks.