I don't own this, DC does. Since this is a story about Las Vegas, the easily offended may wish to go elsewhere. This tale may contain: mentions of an inadvisable hookup or two, underage drinking, gambling, and general mayhem. The author does not endorse any of these behaviors- well mostly. Gamble and drink responsibly, people, if you're into that.
"It just doesn't feel like Christmas," Ro muttered, looking around the city. She'd really enjoyed last Christmas, when they'd stayed at a cabin in Minnesota, far, far north and undisturbed. (Except for the 'dress Ro up as the Christmas tree' incident, and the subsequent epic pillow fight.) But this..who spent Christmas in Vegas? She was kind of looking forward to trying out the new ID, though Zee had told her to be cautious about alcohol. But the rest..it seemed so tawdry. Especially the day after Christmas.
"Subtracting one element doesn't tarnish the rest,"Zee said. "It's still Christmas, with or without snow."
"I suppose you're right. I think I like the blue gown the best, what do you think?"
"It is nice," Zee agreed. Ro rolled her eyes and headed to the bathroom. Zee faced the mirror and began to tinker. A double-breasted suit, black, but very slightly veering toward purple, a lilac dress shirt, no tie. He eyed his face critically and added more lines, aging the face to an apparent early thirties. He frowned and added a hint of muscle to his frame, thickening the neck and jaw a little.
"I hope you're not planning to go to the dance like that," Ro teased. "You look like Batman must look under that cowl. If he spent a month on protein shakes."
"Batman's only a year older than you," Zee said mildly, adjusting the holo.
Ro giggled. "You're serious?"
"Yes. He and Max are in the same class. And the first Batman's a lot older than this."
Ro frowned. "You told me that if we had to separate, I should contact Bruce Wayne."
Zee sighed. "I'd rather not talk about this in an unsecured location. Later, I promise."
"Ok, but how did you even find out?"
"I saw Batman's face for a second when we were in Gotham. It was confirmation of what I already knew, though."
"Huh. So, if you aren't dancing, what are you doing?"
"Playing find the scientist. Dr Katzman should be here. And if she's not, I'm hoping Dinah Lance-Queen will be. She's honorable and trustworthy, she'll be a great mentor for you."
"Not this again."
"Yes, this again. You're already almost seventeen; I can't take you with me once you turn eighteen. You'll be an adult, and as such, you can legally be held responsible for all the help you've given me. Believe me, I'm grateful. But I know what they'll do, I've seen it before and I won't let that happen to you."
At best, she'd spend decades in jail. At worst, they'd just kill her or make her disappear. They'd done that to some of the people Zee had captured. Ro was small and pretty-jail for her would be something like hell, even with the self-defense training she'd had. So, the only option was to get her to somebody who could protect her. Somebody who was both trustworthy, rich, and had enough experience playing both sides of the law that they wouldn't mind hiding a fugitive. The number of people on that list was very, very, small.
Wade Pennington was an option, but he was too young to be able to help much. He didn't know the right strings to pull, and neither did his parents. Terry and Max were also too young. They could keep an eye on her, but they couldn't be surrogate parents. And they didn't have assets of their own.
Of the five on the short list, Zee had settled on Bruce Wayne, Dinah Lance-Queen, and Richard Foley as his three main choices. He wasn't very sure about Wayne: he trusted Terry and Max, but one of the few things Wayne wasn't good at was parenting. Luckily Ro didn't need parenting so much as she needed a shield. Terry could probably minimize the damage done by Wayne.
Lance-Queen he knew only by reputation. Black Canary was feared by her foes and loved by her friends. She had a fierce sense of duty and an even fiercer temper. Ro would be in good hands. It did slightly worry him that Lance-Queen was still friends with Barbara Gordon.
If Commissioner Gordon had a fault, it was that she took things personally. Like say, having two women kidnapped under her nose, and the NSA getting underfoot. (He had enjoyed the email exchange after the Mad Stan incident. Gordon had a way with words, and the emails had been so caustic he half expected the computer to catch fire.) He half suspected she'd been thinking about grooming Max for the Batgirl suit.
Richard Foley had been involved in the Zeta Project. Zee hoped that the connection there to Selig, Foley's mentor, would be strong enough to convince him to take Ro in. Dakota was a little unsafe, still, but there were worse places. If Ro did end up with powers, she'd have no shortage of mentors. Including Gear's daughter, Rocket.
00
"Hit me," Dinah Lance-Queen said, sparing her card a brief glance. Honestly, she didn't come for the gambling. She liked people watching, and right now she was watching the newest occupant of the blackjack table. He looked like a straight up thug, but his body language said something different.
He was coiled, ready to strike.
If this guy is another one of Talia's pet ninjas, I swear I'm going to break at least five bones and send him back in a box, she thought darkly. With airholes, she wasn't a monster. She'd run into military before; this guy might be a merc, but she didn't think so.
The man nodded to her, toasting her with a glass, before turning back to the dealer and getting another card. He'd made his own assessment, clearly. Dinah was an old hand at knowing the difference between someone checking her out and someone evaluating how hard she might be to beat. She might have gone gray with age, but she still had her cry and her skills. Old age had been kind to her, anyway.
"Wán dé kāixīn, piàoliang de xiǎo niǎo?" he asked. Dinah nearly dropped her drink. One, most people didn't know Mandarin, and two, there was no way he should have known that name.
"Wǒ zhídào, nǐ chūxiànle," she snapped. He smiled, tapped out, and scooped up his winnings. "Shall we? I think we have some things to talk about." "I swear to god, if you are with the League of Shadows, I'll kick you halfway to Hong Kong." Zee's expression turned serious. "I'm not. Like your husband, I worked for the government. Though at a considerably less glamorous job." "If this is one of Waller's things.." He actually had to dig to remember that. Oh, that Waller. "Amanda Waller, hardly. She was all about the personal, human touch. Wrong agency, in any case.I worked for the National Security Agency. She worked for the FBI." "You're Zeta." He nodded. Of course she knew. If she hadn't heard his name from Barbara, she'd probably heard of him from one of the other heroes. Batman hadn't quite gotten the hang of networking yet, but Zee would be very surprised if a few heroes weren't tracking him very carefully. He already knew Static was aware of him. The man covered his tracks fairly well, but he'd clearly wanted to put Zee on notice.
"I'm afraid I can't help you," Dinah said.
"If you know about me, then you must know about my traveling companion. I'm asking for help for her, not me."
She hadn't seen that coming. Interesting.
"What could I possibly do for her that you can't?"
"Keep her safe. Until now, the NSA has been willing to overlook Ro's actions, but she'll be eighteen soon. At best, she'd spend decades in jail, just for helping me."
"Is this your decision or hers?"
"Mine. She's willing to take the risk, but I'm not willing to let her."
"Hmm," Dinah's lips thinned.
On one hand, she could see his point. On the other hand, she was inclined to support Rowan; she should have a choice too.
"Why does she stay with you?" Dinah asked.
"I have no idea," Zee admitted. "Ro says..a lot of different things. That it's better than being alone, mostly. I have to agree. I used to like being alone but now it feels wrong. Like I'm missing a limb I didn't even know I had."
He hated admitting it, but he'd spent a lot of late nights mulling over that problem, and still didn't have an adequate answer.
"It sounds to me like you're in love with her," Dinah teased."And it might be mutual."
"Don't be silly," Zee scoffed. "I just..like her, that's all. I don't have a heart."
Or genitals, or hormones or anything that made pair-bonding such a thing among humans. Most of the time, he didn't mind not having those distractions. Sometimes the drives of humans got on his nerves. Given a choice between attending a high-school study session again or being thrown into a pit of weasels in heat, he'd prefer the weasels. But sometimes, when he caught Ro sneaking looks at some handsome man, or a boy or girl admiring her, or someone admiring him, he wondered.
"Neither did Red Tornado or Platinum-well not in the biological sense. Reddy was actually married, and Platinum was absolutely devoted to Will Magnus. I wonder what happened to him?"
Zee noticed that Dinah had been subtly herding him toward the bar. Of course Green Arrow was here. He didn't worry about Zatanna. She was preparing for the big show, and was, in any case, not a threat.
"Got bored with blackjack?" Oliver Queen asked. "Hardly. Ollie, this is Zeta."
"Nice to meet you," Oliver said, sticking his hand out. Zee shook it, glad that Oliver was too smart to try the old 'squeeze-til-it-hurts' trick. "What in the world are you doing in Vegas?"
"Looking for a couple of people. One of them was her"- he indicated Dinah- "And the other's a Dr. Emily Katzmann."
"She works in AI, right?"
"That's right. Specifically, improving processor speed and insulating computer cores from electrical damages."
Oliver snapped his fingers. "Right, right. She works in St. Roch. Why aren't you asking Lightning? She'd know."
Queen Industries had tried to hire Katzmann at least twelve times, Zee recalled.
"I'd rather avoid Ms. Pierce. Don't get up, please. Yes, I have access to League records. No, I'm not interested in using those for my own gain, nor do I have any intention of blackmailing anyone."
"What are you interested in then?" Oliver asked.
"Avoiding the League entirely. Static, Lightning, Superman and Power Woman specifically. One of the few things I'm vulnerable to is EMPs, and both Static and Lightning can generate those."
"What about Zatanna? Or me?" Dinah asked.
"Zatanna and her son are unknowns. I'm not sure if I can be affected by magic. Ro might be affected. As for you..do you want an honest opinion?"
"Please," Dinah said. "I know I'm old, but I'm still in good shape."
"That's true, but I've been engineered to be faster, stronger, and sturdier than a human. Even at your peak, you couldn't beat me. That said, if we have time, I would really enjoy sparring with you."
"Careful, I might take you up on that," Dinah said, chuckling.
"Who's Ro?" Ollie asked.
"I have a..friend who travels with me. She's down at the dance. Actually, that's why I was looking for Ms. Lance-Queen in the first place."
"He wants us- well, me- to look after her," Dinah explained.
"If she's here, she's old enough to look after herself, isn't she?" Ollie asked.
"I'm guessing she's got a faked ID, right Zeta?" Dinah said, grinning.
"Not exactly. It's actually a real driver's license, with some things.. suitably edited."
Dinah rolled her eyes. "Natch. Well, it's a step up from kidnapping."
"That's a cheap shot," Zee snapped. "I was a different person back then."
He stalked off, looking for his next quarry. He was half tempted to go down to the dance, but stopped himself. Ro deserved some fun, and he shouldn't get in the way.
Ollie let out a low whistle. "Don't scare me like that, Pretty Bird."
"Oh, I knew he wouldn't try anything."
"Some killer robot. Think that was Gear's idea? That's a really cute way to screw with the NSA."
She blinked at Ollie. She hadn't considered Zee's conversion might be sabotage.
"I dunno. It's not Gear's style, though he does follow the first rule of engineers almost religiously. Zeta's nothing like Barbara said. I wonder if that girl he travels with might be a metahuman after all."
The rumor among the hero community was that Ro could affect tech and bend it to her will. Dinah suspected Dr. Caitlin Fairchild had started that rumor among the capes. She'd done that sort of thing before; last time it'd resulted in the Penguin's death, as Cheshire took immediate and lethal offense to the rumor that Penguin had mistreated her daughter. Not that Oswald Cobblepot was any great loss, but Dinah found it offensive that Fairchild would play fast and loose with someone's life like that.
"You know, I've been thinking about redecorating our house. Free up a bedroom or two, just in case."
"What, you think we'll get a teenager express-mailed to us?" Dinah teased.
Zee might do just that. She couldn't get a reliable read on him and that worried her.
Oliver shrugged. "Weirder things have happened. I mean seriously, I got possessed once, you got haunted by a revenge-seeking ghost, and a time traveler broke into our house. And I'm not even going to bring up that one time with dimension hopping Nazis. Or the time I died."
"Gold didn't break in, he just had his robot buddy shoot out the locks."
That had been shortly after Sue Dibney's death. She'd felt sorry for Booster afterward, but the man had the worst timing. The whole League had been on alert back then, and as it was, Booster was lucky that Ollie and Connor had missed anything vital. (And that the tinnitus had worn off in a week or so..)
"Still counts."
00
"More champagne?" the waiter asked.
Ro considered the idea carefully. She was kinda giddy already, after one small flute and half of Vanni's. Giovani Zatara, that was. She had an idea she'd heard his last name somewhere. She'd been dancing and flirting with him for the last hour, and was thinking that he was very, very cute. He had black hair, blue eyes, and a slim build.
"I think I'd rather have some sparkling water," she said finally.
"Same for me," Vanni said cheerfully. "That stuff hits hard, doesn't it, Rosemary?"
"I like Ro better, honestly."
He nodded, grinning. "Sorry. I get it. It's the same for me. You know, in a while, most of these people are going to get stupid drunk. Wanna do something else?"
Ro had a pretty good idea what the something else was. She rolled that around in her head for a minute while taking another sip of her mineral water. She hadn't had any opportunities recently to just fool around with someone. It didn't help matters that Zee didn't have any interest in that sort of game. Oh, they'd messed around a bit, since Zee liked it when Ro was happy, but Ro could tell when he was simply humoring her.
"Your room or..oops, forgot," she said, quickly thumbing the cellphone open and sending a text. Out late, don't wait up, see you tomorrow.
There. That would keep Zee from doing anything stupid. Like, say, tearing the hotel apart in a search for non-existent kidnappers, or yelling for Batman.
"Problem," Vanni asked.
"My older brother," she said, rolling her eyes. "He's a bit overprotective."
"Tell me about it. See the blond guy with the biceps by the door and the black-haired girl on the other side of the room? Those are my overprotective siblings. We aren't even blood relations and yet I guarantee you that Sin will be breaking into your room tomorrow."
"Adopted?"
"Naw, just raised together. Connor and Sin's mom and my mom are like sisters. Been through thick and thin and weirdness together."
"So, your room or the supply closet?" she teased.
"My room. Gotta make the gossip shows work for their money," he joked.
00
Zee's search for Katzmann had turned up nothing. A quick check on the net confirmed that she was staying at another hotel until New Year's Eve. He would rather not stay that long, though he knew the agents would be delayed.
Bennett wasn't an unreasonable man. He liked to spend Christmas at home, so if Zee didn't appear in the weeks leading up to the 25th, he'd simply send the team home. It was one of the few aspects Zee liked about his former handler.
And that left Zee with one burning question: where was Ro? He'd gotten the text message, but nothing after that. Ro had probably found someone she liked at the dance, and Zee wasn't sure how he felt about that. Whoever it was had better treat her nicely. Zee tried to be nice, he really did, but some people just didn't learn until their bones were healing up.
He sighed. Clearly he needed to update his anti-virals, as something had to be in his system and wreaking havoc on his processors. He was jealous. Not of the person, but of all the things they could do for Ro that he simply couldn't. He'd never really kissed anyone, except as a way to further a mission, and he always wondered what it would be like to do that and mean it. What would it be like to have a family, children for real and not for pretend?