"But you aren't his either..." Selina stopped here. She realized that blood relations might not be the key. For Peter Parker, his uncle is the most important person.
If Uncle Ben hadn't adopted Peter Parker back then, Peter Parker's life might be entirely different now. Uncle Ben changed his life. And for the Bruce Wayne of this universe, it was Peter Parker who changed him. He didn't become Batman; he became Spider-Man.
Uncle Ben was robbed and shot, and Peter also got targeted by the robber, nearly getting shot as well. It's hard to say this was just a coincidence, especially Peter being targeted by the robber, which is simply astonishing.
First of all, during the field trip, there was a big group of people, not just Peter alone, and Peter was surrounded by students. Most robbers tend to target those who are alone. Any rational person wouldn't rush to rob in a tourist spot during the holiday, right?
That street wasn't even a secluded place. The Old Town is precisely the most populated area, and it wasn't nighttime at the time; the sunlight was bright, visibility was high, and there were even cameras on the street. Who in their right mind would choose to rob here?
Yet the robber appeared abruptly, possessing some unknown Divine Power, broke through the students surrounding him, and grabbed Peter Parker's bag, openly firing three shots at him. It's hard to believe this was just a coincidence.
"What were the results of the investigation into the robber?" Selina asked, keeping a realistic attitude.
"A lunatic addict, the gun was stolen, no training, purely a spur-of-the-moment decision," Peter said.
Selina pressed her lips together and started pacing and thinking. She didn't know much about the matters of the neighboring world, but while preparing for the wedding, Selina had heard some things from her counterpart.
So far, the success rate of Batman and Catwoman getting married is zero. These two could potentially get married, particularly Bruce Wayne and Selina, but Batman and Catwoman cannot.
That is to say, even if Batman and Catwoman succeeded in getting married, basically after the marriage, they would retire from their roles, Batman would retire, and Catwoman wouldn't cause trouble anymore, they would become Mr. and Mrs. Wayne without any disguised identities.
Usually, the thought of retirement isn't something that appears at the moment of retirement. It's essentially that before they got married, Batman had already decided not to be Batman, and Catwoman didn't plan on being a Flying Thief anymore. That's why they can successfully get married.
And if they wanted to maintain these two identities, it wouldn't succeed at all. Although the most well-known incident is Catwoman calling off the wedding, the reason Catwoman gave for calling off the wedding is quite absurd.
Catwoman believes that Batman is the crystallization of Bruce's pain. If Bruce and Selina were to find happiness, Batman, born from pain, would disappear, and Gotham would slide into an even darker abyss. She wasn't willing for the Dark Knight to lose his fighting spirit, so she had to leave.
Though this is how it's portrayed in the comics, thinking deeper about it makes it seem a bit strange. It's as if Catwoman knows that as soon as she marries Batman, Batman will cease to exist. In other words, if Batman is to continue existing, then marriage cannot happen.
The question is, who decides whether Batman should continue to exist?
Selina also pondered this question. Although she doesn't believe in God, she could only temporarily attribute the answer to God. And this runaway version of herself seemed to know that Batman must exist, and she must leave as the person causing Batman's disappearance, hence the escape from marriage.
Otherwise, the reason about happiness erasing the crystallization of pain seems too nonsensical. Was there no happiness during the time of dating?
It would mean that 99% of the dating process was about hatred, which wouldn't lead to Batman's disappearance. The moment the wedding dress is worn and the ring is put on, it suddenly becomes true love that brings happiness, and then Batman disappears on the spot, which sounds ridiculous.
The only explanation is that Catwoman might have sensed something. She knows that only one can exist between Batman and the marriage, and Batman is far more important than the marriage. Batman must continue to exist, so the marriage can only disappear. Even if it doesn't, there won't be a good outcome. Rather than waiting for fate's unexpected torment, it's better to slip away on her own, which fits the nature of a cat.
Thinking of this, Selina somewhat accepted what Peter said. She doesn't believe Peter, but she believes in herself from other realities. It's the same old thing, Catwoman knows how smart she is, as one of the people closest to Batman, she has plenty of material for analysis, and it's not surprising she sees certain truths.
"Fate, huh?" Selina said softly.
"Perhaps. God is like a writer who writes a good plot and then uses it repeatedly in all his future stories; every hero's fate is repeated over and over," Peter responded.
"Repeated?" Selina repeated the word, feeling a flash of insight slip away, unable to grasp it, making her body tense and her scalp tingling.
Thinking of Peter's earlier suggestion, she had to suppress this uncomfortable feeling and then said, "So why me? Even if the Rebirth Alliance is short on people, you should have plenty of other friends, right?"
Selina referred to individuals like Deadpool or the Punisher. They hadn't joined the Rebirth Alliance and therefore weren't affected by the withdrawal of people, and they also possess the ability to protect Spider-Man.
"It has to be a woman. Gwen's death was one of the greatest blows in my life; the next to be in danger is likely to be Spider-Man's partner," Peter said.
"Then how do you know his partner must be a woman?" Selina's soul asked.
Peter looked at her, and she looked at Peter, a stare-off between the two. Selina spread her hands and said, "You're a heterosexual, but he might not be. What if he's a minority, wouldn't that be counterproductive?"
"I suspect he might encounter the you of this universe, just like I met Gwen." Peter ignored her speculation and said.
"But I'm not Gwen. Ah, wait, shouldn't I be quite young in this universe? Bruce shouldn't have such a fetish..." Selina said.
"You're still not getting it. If Catwoman needs to die at that moment, then Spider-Man will inevitably fall in love with her, regardless of her age. And if it's not Catwoman but some random pedestrian, Spider-Man would still fall for that pedestrian, and then that person would die from a fall." Peter said somewhat worriedly.
"Isn't that a bit too exaggerated?" Selina frowned again, "Spider-Man doesn't look like someone who'd easily fall in love with someone randomly, isn't that a bit..."
Selina wasn't sure about her words because, in this universe, Bruce Wayne is actually a bit emotional. It's hard to say if he suddenly acts impulsively.
"You mean I have to take on this position and prevent innocent people from dying because of Spider-Man's fate?"
Peter nodded and said, "There's a certain danger, but since I avoided it before, I wanted to come to you."
Selina understood and said, "I also don't want innocent people to die. Since you can dodge it through magic, maybe I can too. But how do I appear in front of him?"
"You just need to impersonate this universe's counterpart. There's no rule that Catwoman has to be younger than Batman, right?" Peter said.
"Makes sense," Selina nodded and said, "But he really can't tell the difference? I showed my face in front of him before."
"If it were other Batmen, they'd definitely see through it, but in this universe..." Peter seemed a bit troubled, "He even has a hard time distinguishing me from Peter Parker of the Central Universe."
Selina opened her mouth, feeling a bit amused. Unexpectedly, this universe's Bruce Wayne's innocence turned into an advantage; his observational and investigation abilities aren't strong, so the acting skills required to fool him aren't high. If it were other Batmen, Selina really couldn't take this job, as acting to fool Batman is too hard.
"Alright, I'll take it," Selina said. "Let's talk about the payment."
"I've heard you like gemstones, though I can't afford anything too expensive." Peter pulled out a box from somewhere. "This is a special energy crystal left behind during a Skrull invasion. The energy inside is gone, but the shell is quite pretty."
Selina took the box and opened it, her eyes instantly lit up. It was a colorful prism. Possibly because it's out of energy, it doesn't emit light, but the material itself was already bright enough.
"This thing is harmless, has a hardness lower than diamond, and can be cut. You can make it into a ring or necklace, or inject energy to use as a portable power source; it has quite a few uses." Peter said.
"Perfect," Selina snapped her fingers. "I'll take the job. You just wait."
And thus, Selina took on the task of protecting Spider-Man. However, how to make Spider-Man accept Selina's close protection was a problem. If you went directly to him and said, I want to protect you, he'd surely refuse, and Selina couldn't explain things about fate because it just sounds like nonsense.
Simply because of a shooting incident, it's too hasty to conclude that two generations of Spider-Men share the same fate. They themselves can't even be 100% sure that's the reason; even if explained clearly, Spider-Man might not believe it.
So Selina had to find a way to attract Spider-Man's attention so that he would voluntarily keep her by his side. At this point, the hostage-and-thief theory comes into play. Following him won't work, but making him follow her voluntarily wasn't a problem.
Spider-Man is a superhero, and Selina just so happens to be a super thief. She donned her long-lost Catwoman attire and showed herself during Spider-Man's patrols, quickly catching his attention.
The other party immediately regarded her as the Catwoman of this universe because, after all, other universes' counterparts wouldn't need to dress up this way and wander about. Selina led him on a chase, eventually arriving at a bridal shop.
The security of this place was indeed strict, but Selina still infiltrated it and showed great interest in a jeweled veil, even taking advantage of the absence of others trying on wedding gowns to touch it, behaving as if she was going to steal it.
As expected, Spider-Man fell for it immediately. Just as Selina came out of the tailor's shop, Spider-Man chased after her, and she pretended not to be able to shake him off, eventually being taken to the Wayne Building.