A few months passed and Selina grew attached to the boy she picked up off the street. He was positive most of the time, sassy at other times but always made her sure that she did the right thing taking him in. He was helpful to have on hand too. She'd give him a few tasks to do during the day, nothing major and nothing that would keep him out of her sight for too long, and he did a good job most of the time. He got very confused with the oven for some reason so he ended up burning chicken nuggets in less than five minutes. There were a few downsides though namely leaving him alone specifically at night. He'd grown quite close to her and in the time they'd been together, he got used to going to her for comfort. She encouraged that he did so since she didn't fancy turning him into an emotionally stunted mess like a certain bat she knew. He'd been timid in the beginning about coming to her with his nightmares but after a few times of her assuring it was okay, he'd gotten more comfortable. For a while that worked out until she had to go back to work. Although she cut down the time she was Catwoman, she still had to go out five nights out of the week and she'd come back to find he'd stayed up late waiting for her to come back because he'd been woken up by a nightmare. He was usually in a bad way too and practically jumped into her arms. It was a problem she didn't quite know how to deal with. Parenting books really needed to get up to date on these types of issues. She tried her best with what she had.

One night, the pair were watching TV together, Dick letting her pet his unruly curls as he usually did when her phone buzzed. "Who's that?" he asked softly and already dreading the answer. Selina picked it up and glanced over the message. By her frown, he knew it was work and he knew she'd have to go out soon. It wasn't even bedtime yet. Who would tell him stories? Who would tuck him in? He'd do anything to keep the few things that reminded him of things before that horrible night. Things that remained normal despite the change of scenery. "My buyer. They want the diamonds a day earlier."

"B-but you were gonna spend tonight with me," he protested. She kept stroking his hair in hopes of calming him down with a sympathetic look but he knew that she'd still go no matter how bad she felt. Still leave him alone to remember things he didn't want to remember. He needed as much distraction as he could get. 

"I know kitten, I know but if I don't get him this then the deal is off and we don't want that do we?"

"I just miss you." He indulged in some self-pity before an idea came to mind. "What if I come with you? I can help you and then the extra hands mean you can get more but with less work. I can be super-duper quiet and I can fit through all the vents. I can even go through laser grids really quick!" She rubbed the back of her neck apprehensively as he stared up at her with those big pleading eyes that could make a heart of stone go soft. Clearly, she wasn't too into the idea of letting him in on the business. She was giving him the respect of thinking through his proposal though. A little sidekick of her own. Then she could more shiny things and keep him happy. This was a win-win situation all she had to do was take a leap of faith. "Dick, you have to understand, my job is dangerous. Especially for children. You're doing illegal things at the end of the day no matter how deserved they are," she told him. It was an earnest attempt at dissuading him but his mind was made up. He knew exactly what he wanted. 

"Please let me try at least." She looked away from him for a moment. Crime wasn't exactly his first thought for a hobby but as long as he wasn't snapping necks then there couldn't be anything that bad about taking a few things here and there. Selina always assured him she stole from the people already on the top. Those who had so much money wouldn't miss a few trinkets. Sure she sold some of them off but that was just distributing the wealth. Whatever that meant. She returned her gaze back to him with a serious expression. "I suppose I started around your age taking a few trinkets here and there. You'd also have the benefit of a mentor which is more than I had." She smiled to herself. "We'll start training tomorrow. I'll make you a suit and I'll plan an easy mission for you in a few weeks. If things go wrong or you change your mind, you don't bring this up until you're older. Got that?" He nodded eagerly and quickly hugged her with a delighted cackle. 

"Thank you!"

"I wouldn't thank me so soon. Either way, we're not starting tonight so go get ready for bed."

The next day, Selina dragged Dick out of bed at four in the morning and giggled to herself when she saw him nearly faceplant his cheerios from drifting back to sleep before managing to wake himself up just in time. She felt a little bad for starting so early but she'd planned their mission on the arrival of a precious jewel being moved from Central City Museum to Gotham Museum where it would be on display for a few days. It was always easier to steal on day two of the jewel being presented before the public for some reason or other. This day though was in two weeks and although she wouldn't have gone for this when she first started out, she thought with her presence Dick would do just fine. It helped that he was already flexible and had near impeccable balance. All he needed now was some fighting practice, a little bit of technical knowledge and learn how to be sneaky. She didn't expect perfection right away but she wanted him to at least be decent by the time they went out. Once he was done eating, she put on her jacket and helped Dick zip his up seeing that he clearly needed a few more minutes to wake up fully. She had a feeling he would wake up once he saw their mode of transport. "C'mon kitten, the sooner we start the more we can get done," she told him.

"I didn't even wake up this early at the circus and I was performing!" he complained. Selina handed him a sleek black helmet with a chuckle, causing him to look up at her in confusion. "A motorcycle helmet?" She grabbed her own helmet and a ring of keys before holding out her hand for the boy to take. He did as prompted whilst she locked up and brought him to the alley beside the apartment building. She told him to wait and she walked over to the bike shed where, upon unlocking and opening it, she rolled out a black motorcycle with massive wheels. It was as tall as Dick was. He stared at it in awe and moved to get a better look. "This is yours?" he asked.

"It is indeed. Get your helmet on, I may support crime but I also support safety...to an extent." He giggled and put his helmet on then she helped him up onto the bike. She didn't trust him to hold on so she had him sit a bit in front of her and since he was so small, he wasn't obstructing her view very much. "Ready?"

"Hell yeah!" he exclaimed. Yep, this definitely woke him up.

They rode across town to one of Joker's abandoned projects, something like Jokes Town Selina couldn't remember the name. It was a weird time in Gotham when the building began and people wrote it off as a new theme park. Safe to say it was shut down not long after it was built since it served whatever purpose the crazed clown thought up but now it was going to have a new purpose. It was the perfect place to begin training with places only accessible through climbing and scaling walls, labyrinths to help sharpen the mind and if you didn't the context of which it was built you'd think it was a fair. She'd spotted it the night before and remembered briefly practising some moves there so she thought Dick's journey would be good to begin in the ruins of a failed scheme. She drove up to the gates, hopping off briefly to push them open, then continued driving up to the main building of the park. It was a funhouse of sorts with a hall of mirrors. She didn't want to start with something too difficult like scaling a wall. She got off and helped the younger down before taking his hand. She didn't fancy losing him in the mess that was this failed plot. "What is this place?" Dick asked. 

"One of Joker's schemes," she answered.

"Who's Joker?" Selina paused and looked at him to see if he was joking. He wasn't. He genuinely didn't know. In a way, she hadn't expected him to know since he'd never stayed in Gotham before but to hear someone so unaware of the man was off-putting. His reach usually stretched further than Gotham maybe even further than their state. 

"He's a very mean man who does a lot of really bad things."

"You can say he kills people," Dick deadpanned. "How come he's letting us train here?"

"He didn't. He left this place to rot but enough of it is safe for us to use as an obstacle course," she explained. He nodded and let his eyes wander over the abandoned buildings. 

The colours of the rides as well as the buildings looked washed out and muted. Nests had been built in the higher up places as animals worked to reclaim their space. Spiders infested the place, their webs full of flies and other flying insects. He shivered uncomfortably. Spiders moved way too fast and looked way too creepy for him. In fact, this whole place was way too creepy for him. A desolate version of a place he adored. Fairs and carnivals, amusement parks and theme parks. All of them were so familiar and held such great memories. Those memories were rotting now after losing his parents. Whoever Joker was, he'd, unfortunately, captured the feelings Dick now had for his once-beloved places. "Dick? Are you alright?" Selina asked, noticing his solemn expression. 

"Nothing," he answered. He moved closer to them as they entered one of the buildings, trying to usher away the dark thoughts. She didn't question this, instead deciding to wait until he was prepared to come to her about how he was feeling. She pulled on a lever that started up the generator. After a loud hum, bulbs flickered on and the room was washed in bright white light. "Alright, ready for the work out of a lifetime?" Selina announced. In the room, there was an obstacle course of hanging wires, loose platforms and all sorts of health and safety breaches that would cause paperwork that would take years to complete. There were rafters and poles that had fallen over time now rusty from the rainwater that infiltrated the roof. Despite its rather pitiful appearance, Dick could easily connect them to the equipment he'd seen before and trained with in the circus. A smile played on his lips and although it didn't reach his eyes, he was happy to make the connection. He was confident in what he did and this was right up his alley.  "Ready as ever!" Selina petted his head with a light laugh and let go of his hand. 

"Good, now we're going to warm up and then I want to see how you handle getting from that platform to the other."

After a few stretches, Selina decided it was time to see what Dick could do without her help. She wondered if that circus background would help him out. "You promise I won't get hurt right?" he asked apprehensively. 

"I promise. I'll catch you before you even get close to the ground," she assured him. She gave him a kiss on the forehead for good luck then stepped back to give him space. He studied the way up, trying to find the best route. He didn't fancy touching any of the wires. Though his life experiences were limited, he did remember that he should stay away from electrical stuff and not put forks in toasters. The wires may not be toasters and he may not be metal but he had a feeling he should air on the side of caution. So wires were out which meant he couldn't swing up onto any of the platforms. He'd have to climb. He took a few steps back then ran forward to jump onto the lowest hanging rafter. He gripped onto the rusting metal tightly and pulled himself up, waiting for it to stop swinging before climbing onto its highest points. From there, he climbed up onto another rafter and used it like monkey bars to get onto the first platform. He heard a round of applause when he got to it and grinned at the praise. The next platform was a good few feet in front of him and it was also higher than the one he was currently standing on. Dick looked around and found two fluorescent lights hanging down from the ceiling. They swung ever so slightly which gave him an idea. Trapeze bars. Now that was something he could do with his eyes closed. With a wave of confidence, he hyped himself off and ran to the edge of the platform before jumping up where he gripped onto the lights. He used his legs to swing himself back and forth, the swing getting more extreme until he felt like he could jump to the next light. He successfully made the jump onto the next one and repeated what he'd done before only adding a flip for style when he jumped to the next platform. Another round of applause rang through the abandoned building. "Great job kitten!"

"What do I do now?" he asked, panting a little. He was a bit out of practice but he was happy to know his training stuck despite his circumstances. 

"You're going to find a way down but you have to go a different way. When committing a crime, your route out might not always be the same one you entered with." If he'd known that then he would've left his route for getting down. Dick tapped his chin as he thought about his options. A jingling sound caught his attention where he found it was coming from a chain. He smiled confidently and grabbed it, using it to lower himself before jumping off and landing on his feet. "Nice work. Did the circus give you those moves?" Selina asked.

"I guess so. What's next?"

"How do we feel about a run?"

"Badly!" the boy cheered. 

The training was gruelling but oddly enough it proved beneficial not only for their practice mission. Dick got to sleep easier after burning all his energy off during the day, the kid had tonnes so that was a feat all in itself. Selina had put him to bed with ease and tucked him in. She brushed his hair out of his eyes and thought to herself for a brief moment. Unlike her, Dick didn't need to become a criminal for the sake of security and making sure he ate. He could have a fairly normal life. Then again, this was Gotham. She wouldn't be around forever and she couldn't guarantee that he would be old enough for that not to put him on the streets. If she taught him now, he'd be an expert by the time he was older. Would he come to hate her for it when he grew up though? She kissed his forehead sweetly before leaving him to sleep. She could only do what she thought was best and for now, she'd let him in on the criminal business to an extent. She'd keep an eye on him and train him as much she could. He could step out at any moment. She'd let him be whoever he wants and she could hope that this all worked out. Somehow, deep down, she knew this kid had something that could change the world. She just didn't know how.