You are formally invited to the
Gene Curmudgeon Museum of History's
First annual pre-exhibit ball.
Time: 7:30 pm
Place: the Central Plaza, 56th floor
Special guest entertainment Anann O'Rourke
Please RSVP at your earliest convenience.
"You look gorgeous," whispered Bruce, pecking her on the cheek as he spoke. Saoirse giggled and swatted him away. It was very true however.
It was a luxurious taffeta A-line ball gown with a sweetheart neckline and fully ruched bodice adorned with beaded appliqué that flowed into the skirt that pulled up to the hip revealing a beautiful arrangement of iridescent pleated layered fabric. The jade green color matched her eyes and her hair was done in an elegant twist that left a few pieces floating around her face.
It had been two weeks since they'd met and they'd been apart. Despite his duties as Batman Bruce had made sure he spent at least two hours every day with Saoirse. The buzz around Gotham was the infamous Bruce Wayne was finally in love. While Bruce himself balked at the idea of love he had to admit he was becoming more attached and attracted to Saoirse the more time he spent with her.
They'd spent most of their time talking. She talked about her home in Ireland, her travels, and briefly about her mysterious cousin. He talked, actually conversed, about his travels, about Gotham, and yes even a little about his parents. He'd actually found out that Saoirse's own parents had died when she was very young and that's why she lived with her cousin.
Alfred and Tim both had taken a liking to the Irish woman but Dick and Barbra had yet to meet her.
"I mean it," he said giving her a mega-watt smile, "No one will look as good as you tonight."
Saoirse rolled her eyes and said, "Yes well that probably means they'll be twice as harsh in the gossip columns."
"Aww do you want me to protect you from the mean gossip mongers?" asked Bruce teasingly going in for a kiss.
"Umm excuse me Sir, Miss…we're here," said Alfred interrupting the pair. Bruce sighed and mock glared at his oldest friend/butler.
"Your timing is impeccable Alfred."
"Don't worry about it," said Saoirse laying her hand across his arm, "We'll have more than enough make up time later yeah?"
Bruce grinned wolfishly and opened the car door. Instantly millions of light bulb flashes filled their vision as did the screams of a hundred or so paparazzi.
"Mr. Wayne! Mr. Wayne!"
"Over here Brucie boy!"
"Mr. Wayne! Is there any truth to the rumor that you and Miss Mac Muiris are planning to elope?"
"Bruce are you the luckiest bastard in all of Gotham?"
Fifteen minutes later they finally made it to elevator.
"Don't you ever get tired of that?" asked Saoirse shuddering slightly.
Bruce chuckled. "It really doesn't bother me. Besides didn't you have to deal with that in Ireland? From what you and about a hundred other people have told me you and your cousin are about 100 times richer than I am. And I must say you're better looking too."
Saoirse laughed airily but Bruce could tell by the way her shoulder tensed that she was suddenly very uncomfortable. "The shire I grew up in was very…isolated. We didn't even get satellite for what seemed like centuries."
Before Bruce could reply the elevator dinged signaling they'd reached their floor. The doors opened and soon Bruce and Saoirse were in the midst of one of the most opulent parties wither one of them had ever been to.
"Bruce? Bruce Wayne?"
The dark haired billionaire turned around to see none other than Lois Lane standing behind him looking beautiful as usual. The Dark Knight vaguely wondered how Clark had been able to keep up his working relationship with her since her recent marriage.
"Hello Lois," he said smiling and placing a protective arm around Saoirse, he didn't want to feed her to the sharks quite yet. "I don't believe you've met my date. Saoirse Mac Muiris meet the fearless reporter Lois Lane…ah! And her friend Clark Kent."
Lois turned to see Clark standing behind her. "It's Lane-Onassis Bruce. I'm married remember?"
Bruce saw Clark flinch so he decided to quickly to change the subject. "So why are you two here?"
"We're covering the ball and subsequent exhibit opening," replied Clark quickly, happy for a different topic of discussion, "We also have to interview the entertainment for this evening. Apparently this O'Rourke woman is becoming an international sensation and you know how Perry is…he wants the Planet to have the exclusive."
Just then a voice came on over the din of the crowd, "Ladies and Gentlemen introducing our special guest tonight…the enchanting Miss Anann O'Rourke."
The audience cheered but as soon as Anann stepped out onto the stage the fell dead silent and Clark couldn't blame them.
As it turned out Anann O'Rourke was the same Ana who'd given Clark the whiskey the day of Lois's wedding. If she'd looked stunning then it was nothing compared to how she looked now.
She was wearing a majestic evening dress that cowled at the back and had deep-cut in the front, hanging from a beaded armour neckline with a broach at a little above the navel that lead to the walking slit in the trained skirt. Her hair was done up in an elegant knot at the back of her head. She stepped up to the microphone and began singing.
It's
been a long time
Since fighting to stay up
Since facing the
same way
At least for the day
Its been a long while
Feeling
at ease
You're rolling on your knees
A Holiday
Yeah
You
And
Me
Play
Her singing voice was much like her speaking voice, smoky and low yet perfect in its own way.
We
come and we go We've
stayed so long We've
stayed so long We're
on our own Ahh
And dealing advice
And stealing slow
And
kissing the dice
I'm looking forward to singing alone
Move
your new found feet
It's your pirate disco
Wow
You
Me
Wow
Because because
What a sorry lie it was
Because because
What a sorry lie it was
In our house
Now our home is flying south
You
Me
Now
Now
Now
Now
The crowd burst into cheers as Anann took a bow and scanned the crowd. Saoirse flinched because within a second her green eyes were locked with the other woman's silver and blue ones. Anann quirked an eyebrow and made her way over to the group.
"Damn," whispered Saoirse under her breath.
"What's wrong?" asked Bruce giving her a concerned look.
The redhead smiled and waved airily, "Oh nothing. I just think I need to go out and get-"
"Mé machnamh tú bheith í Dubai." (I thought you were in Dubai)
Everyone turned to see Anann standing beside Saoirse with an unreadable look on her face.
The pale woman blushed fiercely and muttered, "Mo obair leid mé anseo." (My work led me here)
Anann lifted a single brow and replied disbelievingly and said, "Angus tú sín ní glaoigh?" (And you couldn't call?)
"I've been busy," Saoirse snapped in English, her accent slightly thicker now that she was getting pissed off.
The blue eyed woman let her gaze linger over Bruce for a moment before smirking and saying, "Yes I can see that." Then turning to Lois and Clark she stuck out her hand and smiled.
"Mr. Kent, Mrs. Lane-Onassis I'm Anann O'Rourke. I believe we spoke on the telephone yesterday."
"I remember you," said Lois shaking the taller woman's hand, "You performed at my wedding. It was very nice…until you sang that song…"Kryptonite"."
Clark, Bruce, and Saoirse all quickly turned snorts of laughter into either sneezes or coughs. Anann merely shrugged. "It was requested. Besides Odious will get over it, you two are going to have to have a sense of humor about the whole thing."
"I'm Clark Kent," said Clark quickly sticking out his hand. He could see Lois was mildly pissed off and he wanted to diffuse the situation as quickly as possible.
Like she had with Lois and Bruce Anann let her gaze trail over Clark's form. But unlike the other times Clark felt a small shiver of desire run up and down his spine. She quirked her mouth into a small, knowing half-smile and murmured, "Pleasure."
Turning back to Saoirse she gave the other woman a small smirk and said, "And this is my prodigal cousin I was telling you about…the one that's suppose to be in Dubai."
"This is your cousin "Annie"?" asked Bruce in shock looking at Saoirse incredulously.
Anann made a hacking noise in the back of her throat. "You know I hate that name Lile."
"And you know I hate to be called "Lile," snapped Saoirse, "I'm not a child any more Annie. I haven't been for quite some time."
Anann sighed and stretched her neck. She gave Saoirse an once-over but Clark noticed her eyes were softer than they had been before.
"I know. And I'm sorry. I guess I just keep forgetting you are more than capable of taking care of yourself. Here, why don't we move towards the window. It's a truly lovely view of the city and you can tell me about Mr. Wayne here."
So the five of them made their way over to the far side of the room that had floor to ceiling windows giving the perfect view of Gotham.
They chatted pleasantly for a while, Saoirse telling Anann about Bruce and all of the city she'd seen and Anann told them more about her and Saoirse.
Anann was the heiress to a gargantuan fortune along with a small amount of land, about two towns, and some kind of claim to not only the Irish throne but the Scottish and British ones as well. Saoirse was her cousin, but she was twice removed or something like that. Nevertheless she was still entitled to all of Anann's inheritance. The two of them spent most of their time globetrotting. The whole singing thing was just for kicks apparently.
"What about these two superheroes I've been hearing so much about? Superman and Batman? Have you seen either of them?" asked Anann curiously leaning against the glass.
Clark and Bruce exchanged looks while Lois said, "You're not likely going to see Superman here. He normally operates in Metropolis. And Batman? Good luck finding him. The man is more akin to a puff of smoke than he is a superhero."
Suddenly gunshots could be heard. People began screaming and running for cover.
Before either Clark or Bruce could do anything however a masked gunman burst out from behind a curtain and grabbed Anann.
"Nobody move or the broad gets a .22 right through the head!" he snarled pulling the young woman close to him and sticking a gun to her head.
Every stopped and stared. Nobody dared to even breathe.
"What do you want?" asked Clark tensely, eyeing the man with a considerable amount of anger.
"I want that damned pot of gold that's coming here!" he growled pressing the gun harder to Anann's temple. "It's mine and I want it back! Damned dirty high society thieves!"
"The pieces of the exhibit don't start coming in until tomorrow night," said Lois, "and even then there's no way of telling which piece comes when."
"Well then," growled the man pressing Anann's back against the windows and cocking the gun, "I guess you're just gonna have to find all of her pieces as well when she flies out the window!"
During the whole ordeal both Anann and Saoirse, who were both calm and collected, had been communicating with each other using small facial expressions. Anann gave Saoirse a quick wink so the other girl would know what the plan was.
"I have a better idea," said Anann grabbing the man's arm, "Why don't you and I both go for a ride?" Before anyone could do anything she flung herself and the man backwards out the window and tumbling down to earth.
Quick as a flash Clark was Superman and speeding down to catch them. Unfortunately the gunman had hit the ground before Superman could get to him. Anann had managed to grab a flagpole and hold on.
Gently Superman eased the woman into his arms and began floating downwards.
The fall had loosened her hair so now instead of neat knot her hair flowed over her shoulders and down to her waist like molten red-gold lava. The Man of Steel was immensely glad that he had caught her in time.
"I suppose this is a thank you for the drink eh?" she asked smiling at him.
"Are you ok?"
She nodded. "Yeah I'm fine but Yvette is going to kill me. It took her two hours to get my hair like that." They both laughed then Superman sobered.
"That was a very brave thing you did," he said seriously.
Anann for her part merely shrugged, "I'm sorry you couldn't get to that man in time…I wonder who he was."
"That could've been you as well," responded the Last Son of Krypton giving her a severe look.
"Maybe I wasn't scared," the redhead said flirtatiously, "Maybe I have wings…maybe I can fly too. Maybe I just wanted to feel the rush of falling."
They were almost to the ground by this time and Clark was distinctly aware of a blush starting o consume his face and neck.
"Besides,' she whispered into his ear, "I knew you'd catch me." And before he could say or do anything she kissed his face right where his lips and cheek met.
Without another word she hopped out of his arms and was immediately bombarded by Saoirse who swooped her up into a bone crushing hug.
She began babbling in Gaelic so quickly only Anann could keep up. After a few minutes Anann managed to pry her cousin off of her.
Clark gave a quick meaningful look over to Bruce who nodded in understanding. They were going to have a talk about this later. But at the moment Superman wasn't needed so he decided to leave, there was nothing more he could do here anyways.
What no one, not even Saoirse or Anann, noticed was that the corpse of the gunman had starting glowing black and then before anyone knew it had disappeared entirely.
