Cataloging Events By Maid Joy
	Catwoman gets schooled in more ways than one, and some technology is released into the wilds of civilization. Many threads are picked up and tied off neatly in this chapter. Detective Comics owns the copyright to Catwoman. This is a retroactive contunity, or a Retcon of the same character.

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The Black Canary's "nest" was a nice place. It was cozy, functional, and very friendly to the spirit. Catwoman looked around the home and thought about the irony of a Cat being invited into the nest of a canary. Talk about 'step into my parlor....'

But, this wasn't a chance for her to critique Dinah's sense of style. She was here to learn.

"Selena, step over here to the dojo and we can get started." Dinah walked to a room that looked to have one time been a bedroom, but now it was a mass of mirrors along two walls and a bunch of mats on the floor. Along another wall there was a closet that was partially open to reveal things like heavy bags, weights and other exercise equipment.

Dinah bowed from the waist and muttered "Patience" upon entering the room. Selena felt a little silly doing this, but she mimicked her teacher.

Canary nodded. "That's good. I know you feel silly doing that, but there is a reason. The bow is to show respect to the place of education. The Japanese and most Asians respect learning highly, and thus they show that respect through a bow to the kami, or spirits, of the dojo. The 'patience' is a reminder for the karate-ka. It reminds them, every time they say it, that patience is a very important virtue. When one is patient, you don't get mad at things that are beyond your control. All self discipline comes, initially, from patience."

Selena nodded, she could see the point that those little reminders were making. "I can understand that now, but I thought that I was here to learn to fight."

"You are, but the martial arts are not just about fighting. At first it was about fighting, defending oneself against marauders and samurai, warriors and bandits, but it did grow and morph into a spiritual and mental discipline. It is now a means to improve oneself physically, mentally and spiritually. That's what I will be teaching you here, not just the way to throw and kick."

They both moved to the center of the area and Selena stood there. Dinah handed Selena a pair of gloves. "I want to find out how you fight, what weapons you have, and how you move so I can judge which styles to teach you. So, these gloves have no fingers on them to allow for you to grab and scratch. Do your best to hit me."

So Selena started.

Dinah was fast. Very fast. She moved as though she were not even touching the surface of the mat, almost like she was hovering over it and just sliding out of the way. Selena hadn't been able to touch her with anything. She had a number of bruises on her arms and legs from where Dinah had blocked something. Selena knew that she was beaten and that Dinah would be able to beat her in a stand up fight, even without the scream that she had.

But Dinah also looked winded. She was sweating and there were dark stains on her sports top. So at least Selena had the pleasure of knowing that she was tired too.

"Okay, that's enough for now. Walk around in here to cool down and I'll go get some drinks for both of us."

Dinah left the room, bowing and saying "Patience" again as she left.

May I say that I think you did an excellent job for a rank amateur?

Don't mock me.

I am totally serious. You were doing your best and it showed. You also don't have a lot to unlearn, but there is a long way to go for you yet. I suggest that next time you spar like this, you wear the whole suit so you can also bring into play the muscle enhancing portions of the suit?

You heard why I was told not to wear it. I need to get this stuff down cold in my normal body and muscle memory, the additional strength will help later, but no enhancements right now.

Yes, but there will come a time when you need to feel what it is like to fight with the suit on, so you can compensate for the additional strength.

Dinah had reentered the dojo and handed Selena a bottled water. While Catwoman was drinking, Canary said, "I think that you will probably benefit from the Tiger style of Kung-Fu. It uses raking and clawing, gouging and stabbing with the fingertips. With those claws on your suit, that's exactly the kind of offense you want to have. The problems are that it relies heavily on forearm strength and there is absolutely no defensive techniques with this style. It's about power, raking and attacking the throat, working to overcome the defenses of the opponent and rip their throat out. Sound good?"

Selena thought for a few moments. "I don't like the lack of defensive techniques."

Dinah nodded. "That's why later I'll be teaching you Panther style, very much a strike and retreat to attack again style. In Panther, you outthink the opponent choosing the time and place for confrontation that are advantageous to you, then fading away to come back and hit them again. It is very much 'win the conflict before the battle begins' kind of style."

"Let's do it then."

Much later, Catwoman had moved up to the roof of Canary's building. She was watching the stars and just letting her mind wander.

I have found more information on Bullseye and Kingpin. They are not technically metahumans as the genetic scans taken do not show the presence of the metagene. Do you still want them included in the Eye-Spy database?

Yes. They are "persons of interest". As such, their information is just as important.

She considered what she ultimately wanted to do with that database. Do you still have a compressed copy of your AI mk1?

Not onboard. That AI is only on the netbook currently.

Then I'd like you to clone yourself and put that clone in charge of the Eye-Spy database. I'm going to upload it to the Internet, dispersed to multiple servers and computers, so there is no one central location that can be attacked. I do not want this information to be eradicated. Then I need to come up with some security for it, and give that to the various police agencies around the world.

If you will give me the parameters for access, I will install the security countermeasures and access codes. The AI in charge of the database will be able to sort out those who have proper access.

That sounds good. Let me know when the clone is complete and I'll give it the security parameters.

Dinah arrived on the rooftop with Catwoman. She had brought some bottled water with her and handed one to Catwoman. "So, I think you did a good job tonight. I think that if you keep practicing as much as you can, it will only take a couple months to get you conditioned to a point where you don't have to think to fight in both styles."

"That's good to hear. I want this to go as fast as possible."

"Any particular reason?"

"Not really," Selena said. "I just want to be able to defend myself. I got knifed in the ribs a while ago. I had armor built into my suit, but it didn't help."

"Well, a knife cuts and slashes. Bullets impact, but don't really pierce. They aren't sharp, the reason they break open is due to the soft metal and the force dispersed on a small area. Kevlar is good against bullets, but pretty much useless against everything else. It's just cloth after all."

Catwoman nodded. Looked at that way it seemed obvious. She felt like a moron for not seeing that sooner. "You know, I don't like feeling like a moron."

Canary chuckled. "You and me both. But feeling that way normally goads me into doing even more to overcome that 'blank spot' in my knowledge. Typically that makes me angry enough that I make sure I fill that gap in my knowledge."

The wailing of police sirens was getting progressively louder in the distance. Canary looked up and started paying attention. Catwoman took another slug of her drink. She tapped into the police frequencies and started listening in.

"Dinah, don't worry about it. Someone in the park was being mugged and this guy with a hockey stick and a hockey mask on comes out of nowhere and beat the mugger to a pulp. I think that I would have done the same thing."

The sirens tapered off in the distance and Canary looked relieved. "Another run of the mill vigilante? Let's hope it's not another meta."

"Or another meta gone bad. I'd have to take action then."

Canary looked sideways at her. "You know, you don't have to do it ALL on your own. You do have help if you want it."

Selena chuckled. "No, this I do have to do all my own. You help the cops with the rapists and drug dealers, possibly going up to the Mob. I said that I was going to deal with the stuff that they can't handle. If it's a meta, I do have to deal with it."

"Yeah, I understand that. But I will help you if you need it. I may only use my hands and fists to stop someone, but that doesn't mean I can't use my voice too."

Selena nodded her head a bit. "Okay, not so much of a loner. I'll keep that in mind."

Dinah smiled. "Just keep that in mind. Come back tomorrow night and we'll keep going on the lessons."

Selena smiled. "Cool. And to pay you for your time, here's something you more than earned." Selena handed her a $100 bill.

Dina took it and made a questioning face. "Sure you can afford this? I know you don't have a job or anything."

Selena laughed. "I sold all that tech, remember? I got two billion dollars for that and I get an annual payment of twenty million so that they keep the rights to use all that tech. A microprocessor that is no bigger than a grain of sand, and a terrabyte solid state drive that's the same size? It revolutionizes miniaturization and they are going to make a ton of money off it. So, yeah, I think I can afford $37,000 per year for martial arts lessons."

"Thirty seven thousand? Where are you getting that number?" You could almost see the shock in her voice.

"That's $100 a day for a year plus a bit. I figure that it will take care of all the lessons, since you will be working VERY hard to help me."

Dinah's mouth dropped open. "I wasn't planning on charging you anywhere near that much."

Selena smiled. "But that's how much I'm planning on paying you, so shut up and take it. That pays off your mortgage here for two years and covers a few other expenses, like light bulbs and toilet paper," she grimaced as a cramp hit her. "And probably pays for some tampons too for the next two years. I've got it, so why not spend it?"

Dinah shook her head. "I never knew how nice it is to have rich friends."

Laying down later with a hot water bottle for comfort, Selena did a mental check of herself and her mental state.

Been a girl for three months now. Most times it's good, periods are bad. Forgot that as a girl I'd be having those. First time I thought something was broken, then the AI reminded me of my new "status". Oh that was embarrassing.

Still and all, I like my new body. It's a shame that Professor Kyle had to die, but it would have been too much to keep him "alive" and have me, as a female, out and running around. Besides at that time I was a criminal, not an anti-hero mercenary. What a stupid turn of events my life has become.

Her thoughts were cut short by the AI asking for her attention. Sorry to interrupt your self-examination, but the clone of myself is finished and in place guarding the Eye-Spy database. You said that you would come up with security protocols at this point.

So I did. Thank you for reminding me. I think first and foremost that one of the priorities of the Eye Spy should be keeping itself alive and preserving the database. Something like this is too important to just allow anyone to break into and change willy-nilly. So, make survival and integrity of the dbase the first priority. Second priority is gathering information. Any and all information on metahumans, myself included, needs to be in that database. Any encounters that normal humans report and talk about on the Internet are to be integrated into this database, no matter the source. Fact checking is included in that, so speculation will be appended as "speculation" or unverified facts should be tagged as "unverified".

Is this to include Audio/Visual sources as well?

Yes it should. Once again, they should be screened for veracity. Third: access. I have an idea that all police organizations, no matter how small or large should have access to the database. Not EDITOR access, but access to look up metas and full access as far as the contents of the database. That's why I wanted an AI safeguarding this. I can't cover all contingencies on this, so I will leave it up to the AI to decide who has access among Law Enforcement, and how they should prove that they have a right to it. There should probably be a "user access" as well, for curious browsers who wants to look up their favorite heroine. That kind of access should not include things like vulnerabilities and exact details on powers, but things like biography and alter ego identity, if it is public like mine, then that's no problem. Pictures, video and audio, as well as things published by the meta in question should be included. Secret lairs should NOT be included in any of these fields of information. I don't want to see Google Maps with directions to my hideout.

Understood.

Finally I want Editor/Administrator control to ALL of the database, including the AI, reserved for me or those I designate. It doesn't need to be a backdoor access, but I want to be able to get into the blamed program and make changes if I have to.

That went without saying.

Well, I know how literal AIs are supposed to be, so I figured I should explicitly state it now, rather than have to try to work around my own program to break in later.

Now that all that is decided, upload the entire package to the Internet. Make sure it is as decentralized as possible, put it on as many different servers as you can, put pieces all over. I want this to be one thing that is impossible to delete by taking down a section of servers. Plus, I want it to be self-replicating and repairing. I also want the static copy of the database that’s in my head, without the AI, to be updated whenever I connect to the Internet. Can you guys do all that?

I believe the saying is "it is a piece of cake."

Good. That makes me very happy.

I estimate it will take one half hour to set up the Big Brother AI with the parameters you have specified, a further three hours to put such electronic guards on it that it will be unhackable, and then ten minutes to upload the entire package. All law enforcement agencies worldwide that have a presence on the Internet will be informed of this via email within 24 hours. All those little Sheriff's Offices that don't have email will be informed of this within the next 72 hours via things like Fax.

Good. This should put the cat among the canaries.

It will certainly do that.

Her AI kept her informed as to the numbers of people who had found the database for the first month. It was gratifying to see the numbers skyrocketing as others found the information. Incredibly they started voluntarily uploading things to the database that they had, like pictures of American Dream and close encounters of the Black Canary kind. It seemed that information really DID want to be free.

Knowing the size of the snowball she had just pushed downhill, Catwoman couldn't help chuckling into her sleeve as she read headlines talking about a new source of information on metahumans, the Brother-Eye program (so called for the database's name and the name of the AI maintaining it). Reporters were speculating on who was responsible for maintaining the database, and were astounded as to the extent of information available.

Catwoman connected to Brother-Eye several times in that first month. She set up three levels of information. First was the casual browser who wanted to get some reference material on a super hero like The Blue Beetle. It gave basic information, vital statistics, powers observed, encounters, enemies and more. All the kinds of things you would find with about a week of research on the Internet. The second level of security was that for the Scientists and Police officers. It was a more detailed listing of powers, speculation on how those powers manifested and were used, possible side effects, speculation and scientific papers on that meta, as well as any criminal record they had. The last level was that which could be considered "classified". She named it "Eyes Only" level, and that information was massively restricted. This level of information was open only to select members of the national crime agencies, military and government intelligence agencies. It gave details of the powers, their vulnerabilities, any measurements that had been taken, any government agencies information on that meta and so on. Catwoman had been surprised to find out that there was an American Government agency that had compiled a lot of information on the various metas already, and all that info was hacked and added to the Brother-Eye program.

There was one special access level, in which the meta themselves could log in and if they could convince the Big Brother AI that they were indeed the meta in question, they could access all the records on themselves. They could make certain parts of the information "Eyes Only", but they couldn't delete any of it. This would allow them to keep their mundane identity private if they wanted, limiting the amount of people who knew that "Buddy Pine" was actually "Incredi-boy".

She was shocked at the amount of material that was added to the database itself. The freaking thing went from two terabytes at first to over three petabytes in under a month. She had to make adjustments to the database to allow for the rapid growth and extra information. It was Wikipedia on steroids, just without everyone being able to delete whatever they wanted.

She had had several conversations with Big Brother and discussed goals and ideas. Ultimately, the Brother Eye would have technology that would counter the various metas in question in its database, downloadable and any competent professionals could use the information to allow the normals to counter and contain the metas.

She made sure a digital copy of the original term paper was uploaded to the database. The section that would contain the technology became "Big Guns". She also uploaded the technology already available. She had no compunction about rights purchased. She invented it. I was her prerogative to put it in the Big Guns database.

She knew that she might be letting the cat out of the bag, but she wanted the tech to be available in case. Some of it might never be used some of it might be needed tomorrow and all of the documentation would prove it was hers. Just in case, there was a patent problem.

Besides the core of most of it was already out there. Her microcomputers and micro storage were already changing the world. Once the Mark I AI program was sold to others, they would have all the tools to take the conceptual jumps to the rest of her work. It would be fun to watch what applications someone else could create, and pay her for. Of course, there would be limits to the Mark I. No point in giving anyone everything, they might use it to come after her.

She made sure to spend some time examining the new "upgrade" to her AI. She wanted to be sure she understood how and why it worked the way it did. Once she understood it clearly, she started writing better and improved intrusion countermeasures, nicknamed ICE. She had to be sure that the Brother Eye program couldn't be hacked by anything that was currently on the planet, and that it would continue to be safe ten to thirty years from now and still safe five hundred years from now. This information could destroy the world if it got into hands that it wasn't meant for.

She next began building better data-mining programs. She wanted the Brother Eye program to be able to interface with any computer that accessed it and scan it quietly for information that belonged in its database before installing its own little back door. It would be passive until needed. Things as mundane as photographs of the meta in question all the way up to schematics for her Catwoman suit needed to be part of this database. She knew realistically that at some point Big Brother would realize that to safeguard the information ultimately, her access had to be revoked. She wanted to insure its safety as much as possible before she handed over the back door, many, many years from now.

She had developed a few weapons and defensive devices for general metas no matter their particular power. First, she created a sound absorbing sheet of material for those with sonic powers. There was a light disk, it would blind without damaging the surrounding area, unlike a "flash bang". It was magnesium based and not too much larger than a refrigerator magnet. She habitually carried about two dozen of them scattered all over her suit now.

She made sure to upload those schematics as well.

At least the planning, programming and thinking kept her mind off her cramps.

Finally feeling better, she was back out on the roofs of New York. She stayed away from places like Wall Street, since those crooks she couldn't catch anyhow. But she did patrol in places like Broadway and other "off the strip" areas. She managed to catch a few opportunity muggers. She never made a big deal of it, she just left them shackled with the zip ties for the cops to find. She enjoyed the fact that one more tourist leaving a showing of "The Lion King" was blissfully unaware of what could have happened to them.

She was zip-tying one more mugger up when she got a huge *wham* across the back.

She grunted and fell down, rolling out of the way to find the mugger's buddies and take them out too, but instead she looked at Chuckie.

At least, that's what she associated with this hockey-masked attacker who was carrying a cricket bat. He recovered from his swing and came at her again.

She dodged, but it was a very near thing. He was apparently much stronger than he looked with that bat since it was clumsy, but he recovered quickly.

He was grunting with effort, and when he missed with another swing, he back-fisted her in the face instead of trying to recover his swing. Her whip slithered out, wrapping around the cricket bat. It yanked the bat out of his hands so it went flying.

Who the fuck is this guy???

Searching.

He said something like "Yip! Yip! Yip!" and pulled a hockey stick out of the golf bag he had slung over his shoulder. The scanner in her head identified two golf clubs, a tennis racket and two baseball bats. All clubbing weapons. Let's see if my fighting skills are getting better.

Preliminary identification. There is a 80% chance this is the vigilante who has become known as "Casey Jones". He feels that he is a protector of some kind.

Wonderful, is he protecting me, the mugger or someone else? she asked as she dodged the hockey stick.

Unknown.

Lot of help you are.... She ducked under the hockey stick and blocked the kick from the combat boots this kid had on. She shoved him so that he flew backwards and crashed into a dumpster. "Chill it, kid. I'm not a bad guy here."

He rebounded from the dumpster and ran up the side of a few boxes and came back at her with the hockey stick yelling "Goongala!"

She was stunned enough that only sheer instinct got her forearm up between her and the descending hockey stick. With a sickening crack, something broke, and when she didn't feel anything, she noticed that he was throwing the handle of the hockey stick away and reaching for a golf club.

She charged him, and shot low at the last moment to take his feet out from under him. He didn't seem willing to listen to her or he was so deep into the fighter's berserker state that he couldn't hear her.

So she was going to take him out without killing him. Perhaps that would do.

But she found out that he had some fighting practice himself. He dodged her attack and started swinging for her head again. She managed to roll out of the way and get close to his body, and she rolled back on her shoulders and thrust her feet toward his chest. He went sailing again.

"You done honey, or do you want the whole package? Claw marks, stomp marks and a kiss later..."

She almost let out a groan when he stood again and jumped at her. He shouted out this stupid battle cry of "Gorgonzolllllllaaaaaaa!!!" He came back at her with a double handed swing with that damned golf club again. He was whipping it around pretty fast too. This one might actually land a time or two on her body.

She moved out of the way of his swing, stomped on the shaft of the golf club to break the head off, and nearly got her leg broken when he used his other hand to hit her rear, weight-bearing leg with the baseball he now had in that off fist. She was stupid because she didn't see him draw it out of his bag, and should have expected it.

The shock absorber layer of the suit took care of most of the impact, she wouldn't be maimed, but she was still hurt. At least he isn't using a knife of some kind. Impacts I can deal with.

Casey was swinging the golf club shaft around one hand like it was a baton and the bat was in an offensive position. It was obvious that he was going to use the bat as the attacker and the golf club as a defensive weapon. And without the head of it on the shaft, it was a fast whip stick or like a car antenna.

She still had her whip and she extended her tail for an extra limb to attack with. She and Canary had been working out some attack routines and defensive moves based on her tail, and Selena had to admit that it was pretty slick.

She let her snake lay on the ground behind her, "chambered" is what the whip-master Dante had called it. Casey started to move in, and she whipped it in an underhand crack, coming right up between his legs, landing perfectly on his groin.

Casey managed to get the golf shaft down just enough to keep it from ripping his genitals off totally. The tip wrapped several times around the club shaft, and he came in with the bat, dropping the useless shaft.

She shook her head, seeing an opportunity. She pulled on the whip hard as she could. Since it was laying between his legs and still had the golf shaft imprisoned, it pulled the shaft across the back of both of his legs, taking them out from under him really quickly, making him go down hard.

But as he fell, he let go of the baseball bat. It still had forward momentum, and she couldn't stop it as it flew toward her head. Luck only had the back end of the bat hitting her right between the eyes.

She felt like her neck had been broken as she reacted to the impact. She turned the fall backwards into a back flip that left her on her feet, but stunned. Thankfully, Casey didn't look that much better. He had a time getting up, and he was running out of weapons. She finally decided to retire and continue the fight another day. She tossed a flash-disk at him and said, "Here, catch." When it blew in mid air lighting up the whole alley, she took off.

She snapped the whip back around her waist and jumped for the wall, bouncing from one over to the opposite side of the alley to make her way up to the rooftops, and sanctuary.

She got to one of her lairs and stripped, determined to find out if she was dying or not. She had some nasty bruises, and her AI informed her that she would probably be dead except for the protection of the suit. That last lucky shot had given her a mild concussion, similar to the blows boxers get when the fight in the ring. She still felt woozy and off balance, but she knew that she would be all right with some time.

She uploaded the video of the fight to the Eye Spy database, both of them, and then looked around for other videos of the events while she relaxed in a bath. She found two more from various closed circuit camera systems, and she copied and uploaded those videos. Eventually Eye Spy would do all the work itself.

Processing these would take some time. She wanted the AI to build a 3-d walk-around of the whole fight so she could analyze what she did and didn't do right. It was imperative to know why he didn't fall and what kind of style he was using. Black Canary could probably help, setting a reminder to show it to her next training session, she lay back groaning softly.

For now, she just wanted the aches to leave.

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Author's note: The main purpose of this was to get the Brother Eye fully set up. The future Brother Eye came back for its own reasons (which will be explored in another story), but in accessing the AI Catwoman had on board, it became its own father, as it were. The circle closed and now Brother Eye exists and continues to the future. I will refer to this version as Present Brother Eye. PBE for short. PBE is sentient, but has not become "evil" or "amoral". Its directive is to be an interactive, intelligent database of Metas, with the goal of leveling the playing field between normals and metas. As such, any information that is known about a meta that is stored in any format (other than a totally isolated computer system or a removable media that is never plugged in) is available from PBE at this point, keeping in mind the security restrictions. Police have access to most of the data, only heads of police organizations and directors of agencies have access to the "Eyes Only" level. Yes, the director of the FBI has to pull all the data on a meta if he wants his investigation team to have the whole thing for some reason. That's deliberate.

As of this writing, PBE does not have access to Jade's computers or to Tony Stark's server with his database in it. All others are known and have been invaded.

As for the tech, that's only available to the "Eyes Only" level of people. And Only if they are actively fighting/containing a meta. You can't just "look up" the specifics on Catwoman's suit without authorization.

PBE is going to be a recurring character, and FBE is controlled by Enemyoffun.

For the future? I have plans to work on Catwoman's depth as a character now, de-emphasizing the tech in favor of character development. Casey will be back. Not planning on having any turtles show up.