**Disclaimer: Batman and all related characters belong to DC Comics; the
song "Duck and Run" belongs to 3 Doors Down. Characters and lyrics are
used without any intention of gaining profit. Quayin is pronounced: Cain.
Reference is made to characters from the TPB Son of the Demon**
Their love swirled around them, magnifying every desperate urge times infinity. Thoughts of encounters past melted into one another as they became young lovers then bitter foes then contented married folk all at once. Reconstructing the complicated dance of many nights and urgent slashes being offered. Reminders of the bruises caused by a quick strike here, and the excruciating pain of a knee or elbow there. Cries sounded with grunts as each fight became more passionate and heartfelt to even be called sexual. Until their efforts became improvident, and the morning dissolved into hours spent in each other's naked arms, bodies pressed together the evening a distant memory. Jewels returned, millions donated to charity, apologies made and accepted became a white gold diamond band left at home so as not to be made a target, and the announcement of a wedding. Wayne and Kyle on the registry, no gifts twice, eight months of planning and one fantastic starry night the scene of the blessed event. Three years of the two of them and a butler, patience a must, the intensity of the household almost suffocating and then finally giving way to the relief of their first and only child. A girl named Aidia.
--#--
Selina gently pressed her lips to a exaggeratedly long scar that ran down Bruce's back. She'd placed it there decades before with her own whip. She felt him shift in his sleep, and chose to stay still. The promise of her own dreams comforting her weren't far away when she chose to stay quiet. Her eyes roamed over his torso. Her eyes had softened to the sight after so many years, but it never ceased to amaze her how much he sacrificed his body for their city. Various raised lacerations, now healed, crisscrossed his bronze skin. She ran her fingers through his hair and found even more concealed scars, no doubt caused by a few good shots to the head with blunt objects. She grimaced; it was a wonder how he withstood it all, especially since she had made it her aim to cut him every time she saw him. The last straw had been when she shot him in the arm with a bolt from a borrowed crossbow. That had truly been an accident, and she'd even helped him remove it. From that moment on they had sworn not to cause any unnecessary harm to each other. It also didn't hurt that he never found out that the crossbow had been stolen from Helena Bertinelli's apartment that very same night, and returned just as discretely the next afternoon. Selina smiled and closed her eyes, nope it didn't hurt at all.
**
Thomas sat drumming his fingers on the arm of the chair his sat in. The sitting room was silent as he contemplated his next move. Should he go upstairs and tell his dad and Selina that he thought he found Aidia or let them sleep or whatever they were doing? He hadn't been entirely truthful earlier that night when he'd told Terry how he felt. To put it straight the thought of his dad, as old as he was, doing anything with anybody gave him the heebie jeebies. He shivered.
He himself hadn't taken that plunge yet, much to his brothers' surprise. He'd even broken it off with his high school sweetheart Valencia Kravitz- Hall because she wasn't willing to wait for marriage. He smiled, what a complete turn-around. He'd known Valencia since he was two years old, her grandfather was Lucius Fox, his father's old business partner. Her father was Jaden Hall, Paxton Powers half-brother. Her mother was Taina Kravitz, Lucius' daughter by his first marriage. Valencia had Spanish, French, English, African American, and Jewish roots, and didn't disclude herself from anything. They'd been best friends all through elementary and middle school before upgrading to exclusive couple in the ninth. Everyone had expected them to get married and all that white picket-fence crap, but it hadn't turned out that way. She'd gone to a fashion design school in California, and he to an art design school in New York. "All the better to avoid you my dear." he thought ruefully.
Most thought he was taking a cue from his father, ditching you right when things got interesting. That whole "if it gets too hot, get your ass out of the kitchen" mess. But honestly, it had felt more like a freezer. He'd wanted her to be as devoted to him as he was to her, and she felt that they weren't really exclusive until they slept together. What a bust! Soooo, until he made it "official" she was quite openly hanging out with all the other playboys of his stature. He'd been so love struck that he let her do it for a whole year before finally telling her it was over.
That had done it; he had never had so many objects chucked at him at such close range. She'd thrown everything from a blow dryer to a hello kitty figurine to a toaster. He'd managed to duck everything short of the toaster and had been knocked unconscious. When he awoke, she was sobbing over him and apologizing and the whole nine yards, but he didn't want to hear it, and left.
Now he sat, in his father's house, accused of drug possession, caught up in the most stressful yet relieving drama of his life yet, and had no idea of what to do.
Picking up the telephone, he decided that things could get neither worse nor better and dialed the number to his mother's apartment in SoHo.
**
Helena sat with her twin grandson and granddaughter Nathaniel and Marla on her lap bouncing them enthusiastically. Her oldest Shane sat across from her, his wife Eva Prisinzano-Wayne leaning against his chest. The telephone rang loudly, causing all five to jump.
"Answer that for me Shane, my hands are full." Helena said redirecting her attention to the hyper two-year-olds.
"Sure thing." Shane said reaching over and picking the crying thing up off of the receiver and pressing it do his ear. "Yeah?" he answered.
"Shane! Oh my god, I'm so glad I got you on the line." said the excited voice on the other end.
"Tommy?" Shane asked motioning for Eva to sit up and let him stand.
"Who is it?" asked Helena.
"It's Tommy." Shane said placing his hand over the mouthpiece, and walking to the opposite side of the room.
"What does he want?" she asked.
"What do you want?" Shane said irritated, it had been over a month since they'd last spoken, and he was sore about the lack of contact.
"Geez, is that anyway to speak to me? Besides, I'm in a lot of trouble."
"What'd you do?" Shane hissed, trying to make sure his mother didn't hear.
"I got suspended indefinitely for drug possession."
"You're kidding me!" Shane said, keeping his voice lowered. "You dumb ass!"
"No, someone set me up I swear!"
"Where are you?"
"Pop's house."
"How'd he take it?" Shane asked, as he began to pace. Things like this always made him nervous.
"He threatened to call mom, look you gotta cover for me until I can get this straightened out. That way, I can say I called mom, and she doesn't actually have to know."
"You're skating on thin ice pal, but fine, I'll cover for you. You just better hold up you're end of the bargain." Shane said running his other hand through his light blond hair.
"Thanks buddy, oh and guess what?!"
"What?" Shane said flatly.
"We found Aidia."
Shane almost dropped the phone in disbelief. "You better not be shitting me. Or I swear to God that I'll make you disappear!"
"That's a sin." Thomas said laughing.
"Yeah, yeah, okay altar boy, what's going on out there?"
"She just appeared in the city, she invited Batman, Dad, and her mom to come to Ra's Al Ghul's complex. She doesn't even remember who Dad is to her, let alone Selina."
"So what exactly is going on, are they going, are you going?"
"I don't know what their going to do. But I invited her over to the manor tommorow so we can break the news to her. Now I just gotta tell Dad and Selina."
Shane ground his teeth back and forth, a nervous habit, and contemplated. "Tell Dad I'm coming down. I'll leave the kids with Mom, and Eva and I'll come down there. We should all handle this together."
"What about Issac?"
Shane sighed, "I'll try him, but I doubt he comes."
"Alright! Hey, thanks bro!"
"You're welcome, bye." Shane said hanging up the phone.
"What did he want?" Helena asked for the second time, this one more pressing.
"Oh nothing really, just your basic Tommy gibberish."
"Oh." Helena said not really believing him. Shane was becoming more and more like Bruce each day. Preferring not to tell the whole story until he got his facts together. She'd let him get away with it for now, but sooner or later he was going to have to spill it.
Shane groaned. "Just when life had settled down a little."
**
"All my work and endless measures
Never seem to get me very far
Walk a mile just to move an inch
Now even though I'm trying so
Damn hard
I'm trying so hard"
**
Jean-Xavier sat placidly on the dark side of the moon, eyes roaming over craters and the like, tracing stick figures in the dust.
He recalled, when he was a child, his father used to bring him up here and play hide and seek with him. Hours of fun for free.
He frowned and lay back across the cold ground. This was getting harder and harder each second.
"I don't want to deal with this!" he said bitterly as he instead cast his gaze to the heavens.
He observed a "teardrop" star as it fell from its place into the inky black of the sky. He felt something cold stick to his cheeks and reached up to wipe them off only to find it was his frozen tears. He stared at the ice particles as they clung to his fingers.
"Why did you let her stay Father?" he asked out loud as if Clark was standing right before him.
"You knew she didn't belong with any of us! You KNEW she wasn't ours! But did you say anything?! Huh?! NO!" he screamed angrily, his voice lost amongst the cosmos.
Jean slammed his hand into the rocky crust in anger and noted the large imprint it made.
Rising from his place, he kicked a rock before leaping into the still space. Propelling himself forward with his legs as if underwater he pushed himself through the earth's atmosphere and let himself freefall towards earth, not quite caring where he landed.
** Ra's stared at the table before him, lavished with any kind of food a man could desire. To his left sat his second in command since Ubu's death at the hands of Quayin. Clark Kent, or the Superman, a man strong enough as to knock the moon out of orbit.
To his right sat his beautiful daughter, growing older and older by the days. Not too much later will she not join the rest of his children from past relationships in the world beyond. Archimedes was the last to die only thirty years before at the age of one hundred and forty.
Ahhhh, he stared at her, contemplated the look on her face. He could sense a hint of disappointment, could it possibly be that she hasn't yet gotten over the Detective?
She had his child so long ago, but the baby was lost due to stress. Soon afterward, the Detective had claimed he wanted nothing more to do with either one of them. Their, or rather his ideals were too much.
Then he had gone on and married that damn Catwoman, but who could fault him on that? The woman had eyes like an aqua flame, and a body like a goddess.
He drove his fork into the table in rage, much to the surprise of his company.
Where was his life headed now?
"Tell Jean-Xavier to get back here right now, we have business to discuss."
--#--
Clark quirked his eyebrow and switched his gaze from his lovely wife to his father in law. The man had just shoved his fork into the table's smooth exterior. He pursed his lips and shook his head.
"Tell Jean-Xavier to get back here right now, we have business to discuss." the old man said rather nastily.
Clark nodded half-impressed; the man was a shadow of his former self. He had to constantly remind himself to bide his time and be patient. But it was becoming harder and harder to watch this man go on about the impurities and sins of man. Clark had once shared his notion, even to the point of believing himself to have been completely betrayed by everyone around him.
He closed his eyes at the thought. Darkseid and Granny Goodness had completely possessed his brain. They'd used him to attack the earth in such a brutal manner that he was exiled from the United States. Ra's had found him and took advantage of his fragile state of being, molding him into his fanatical image.
For a long while it had worked, but slowly and surely his sanity had returned. Then Ra's had done something that made Clark begin to hate him.
He'd kidnapped Bruce Wayne's child, a little girl of two with brown hair and sharp blue eyes.
Clark had then retired to his quarters, separate from Talia's, and turned everything in his sight into ashes. They'd found him the next morning asleep in a corner. He'd told them he was fine, and was just letting off a little stress, and thankfully they had believed him. He'd let Ra's do his dirty work of raising the child himself. She wasn't his first concern. He had to wait until it was absolutely clear that Ra's was insane, when he had everything he needed and wanted short of his dreams at close hand. Then he would step in and kill Ra's with his bare hands.
He'd already talked with Talia about it several times, and she'd confided in him that she too had grown tired of his endless pursuits and exploits. She was ready to help her mate in everyway possible, so that her father could finally have peace. Or chaos if it was so decided by the Most High.
Clark smiled thinly and excused himself from the table. It was time to let his son in on their plans.
Their love swirled around them, magnifying every desperate urge times infinity. Thoughts of encounters past melted into one another as they became young lovers then bitter foes then contented married folk all at once. Reconstructing the complicated dance of many nights and urgent slashes being offered. Reminders of the bruises caused by a quick strike here, and the excruciating pain of a knee or elbow there. Cries sounded with grunts as each fight became more passionate and heartfelt to even be called sexual. Until their efforts became improvident, and the morning dissolved into hours spent in each other's naked arms, bodies pressed together the evening a distant memory. Jewels returned, millions donated to charity, apologies made and accepted became a white gold diamond band left at home so as not to be made a target, and the announcement of a wedding. Wayne and Kyle on the registry, no gifts twice, eight months of planning and one fantastic starry night the scene of the blessed event. Three years of the two of them and a butler, patience a must, the intensity of the household almost suffocating and then finally giving way to the relief of their first and only child. A girl named Aidia.
--#--
Selina gently pressed her lips to a exaggeratedly long scar that ran down Bruce's back. She'd placed it there decades before with her own whip. She felt him shift in his sleep, and chose to stay still. The promise of her own dreams comforting her weren't far away when she chose to stay quiet. Her eyes roamed over his torso. Her eyes had softened to the sight after so many years, but it never ceased to amaze her how much he sacrificed his body for their city. Various raised lacerations, now healed, crisscrossed his bronze skin. She ran her fingers through his hair and found even more concealed scars, no doubt caused by a few good shots to the head with blunt objects. She grimaced; it was a wonder how he withstood it all, especially since she had made it her aim to cut him every time she saw him. The last straw had been when she shot him in the arm with a bolt from a borrowed crossbow. That had truly been an accident, and she'd even helped him remove it. From that moment on they had sworn not to cause any unnecessary harm to each other. It also didn't hurt that he never found out that the crossbow had been stolen from Helena Bertinelli's apartment that very same night, and returned just as discretely the next afternoon. Selina smiled and closed her eyes, nope it didn't hurt at all.
**
Thomas sat drumming his fingers on the arm of the chair his sat in. The sitting room was silent as he contemplated his next move. Should he go upstairs and tell his dad and Selina that he thought he found Aidia or let them sleep or whatever they were doing? He hadn't been entirely truthful earlier that night when he'd told Terry how he felt. To put it straight the thought of his dad, as old as he was, doing anything with anybody gave him the heebie jeebies. He shivered.
He himself hadn't taken that plunge yet, much to his brothers' surprise. He'd even broken it off with his high school sweetheart Valencia Kravitz- Hall because she wasn't willing to wait for marriage. He smiled, what a complete turn-around. He'd known Valencia since he was two years old, her grandfather was Lucius Fox, his father's old business partner. Her father was Jaden Hall, Paxton Powers half-brother. Her mother was Taina Kravitz, Lucius' daughter by his first marriage. Valencia had Spanish, French, English, African American, and Jewish roots, and didn't disclude herself from anything. They'd been best friends all through elementary and middle school before upgrading to exclusive couple in the ninth. Everyone had expected them to get married and all that white picket-fence crap, but it hadn't turned out that way. She'd gone to a fashion design school in California, and he to an art design school in New York. "All the better to avoid you my dear." he thought ruefully.
Most thought he was taking a cue from his father, ditching you right when things got interesting. That whole "if it gets too hot, get your ass out of the kitchen" mess. But honestly, it had felt more like a freezer. He'd wanted her to be as devoted to him as he was to her, and she felt that they weren't really exclusive until they slept together. What a bust! Soooo, until he made it "official" she was quite openly hanging out with all the other playboys of his stature. He'd been so love struck that he let her do it for a whole year before finally telling her it was over.
That had done it; he had never had so many objects chucked at him at such close range. She'd thrown everything from a blow dryer to a hello kitty figurine to a toaster. He'd managed to duck everything short of the toaster and had been knocked unconscious. When he awoke, she was sobbing over him and apologizing and the whole nine yards, but he didn't want to hear it, and left.
Now he sat, in his father's house, accused of drug possession, caught up in the most stressful yet relieving drama of his life yet, and had no idea of what to do.
Picking up the telephone, he decided that things could get neither worse nor better and dialed the number to his mother's apartment in SoHo.
**
Helena sat with her twin grandson and granddaughter Nathaniel and Marla on her lap bouncing them enthusiastically. Her oldest Shane sat across from her, his wife Eva Prisinzano-Wayne leaning against his chest. The telephone rang loudly, causing all five to jump.
"Answer that for me Shane, my hands are full." Helena said redirecting her attention to the hyper two-year-olds.
"Sure thing." Shane said reaching over and picking the crying thing up off of the receiver and pressing it do his ear. "Yeah?" he answered.
"Shane! Oh my god, I'm so glad I got you on the line." said the excited voice on the other end.
"Tommy?" Shane asked motioning for Eva to sit up and let him stand.
"Who is it?" asked Helena.
"It's Tommy." Shane said placing his hand over the mouthpiece, and walking to the opposite side of the room.
"What does he want?" she asked.
"What do you want?" Shane said irritated, it had been over a month since they'd last spoken, and he was sore about the lack of contact.
"Geez, is that anyway to speak to me? Besides, I'm in a lot of trouble."
"What'd you do?" Shane hissed, trying to make sure his mother didn't hear.
"I got suspended indefinitely for drug possession."
"You're kidding me!" Shane said, keeping his voice lowered. "You dumb ass!"
"No, someone set me up I swear!"
"Where are you?"
"Pop's house."
"How'd he take it?" Shane asked, as he began to pace. Things like this always made him nervous.
"He threatened to call mom, look you gotta cover for me until I can get this straightened out. That way, I can say I called mom, and she doesn't actually have to know."
"You're skating on thin ice pal, but fine, I'll cover for you. You just better hold up you're end of the bargain." Shane said running his other hand through his light blond hair.
"Thanks buddy, oh and guess what?!"
"What?" Shane said flatly.
"We found Aidia."
Shane almost dropped the phone in disbelief. "You better not be shitting me. Or I swear to God that I'll make you disappear!"
"That's a sin." Thomas said laughing.
"Yeah, yeah, okay altar boy, what's going on out there?"
"She just appeared in the city, she invited Batman, Dad, and her mom to come to Ra's Al Ghul's complex. She doesn't even remember who Dad is to her, let alone Selina."
"So what exactly is going on, are they going, are you going?"
"I don't know what their going to do. But I invited her over to the manor tommorow so we can break the news to her. Now I just gotta tell Dad and Selina."
Shane ground his teeth back and forth, a nervous habit, and contemplated. "Tell Dad I'm coming down. I'll leave the kids with Mom, and Eva and I'll come down there. We should all handle this together."
"What about Issac?"
Shane sighed, "I'll try him, but I doubt he comes."
"Alright! Hey, thanks bro!"
"You're welcome, bye." Shane said hanging up the phone.
"What did he want?" Helena asked for the second time, this one more pressing.
"Oh nothing really, just your basic Tommy gibberish."
"Oh." Helena said not really believing him. Shane was becoming more and more like Bruce each day. Preferring not to tell the whole story until he got his facts together. She'd let him get away with it for now, but sooner or later he was going to have to spill it.
Shane groaned. "Just when life had settled down a little."
**
"All my work and endless measures
Never seem to get me very far
Walk a mile just to move an inch
Now even though I'm trying so
Damn hard
I'm trying so hard"
**
Jean-Xavier sat placidly on the dark side of the moon, eyes roaming over craters and the like, tracing stick figures in the dust.
He recalled, when he was a child, his father used to bring him up here and play hide and seek with him. Hours of fun for free.
He frowned and lay back across the cold ground. This was getting harder and harder each second.
"I don't want to deal with this!" he said bitterly as he instead cast his gaze to the heavens.
He observed a "teardrop" star as it fell from its place into the inky black of the sky. He felt something cold stick to his cheeks and reached up to wipe them off only to find it was his frozen tears. He stared at the ice particles as they clung to his fingers.
"Why did you let her stay Father?" he asked out loud as if Clark was standing right before him.
"You knew she didn't belong with any of us! You KNEW she wasn't ours! But did you say anything?! Huh?! NO!" he screamed angrily, his voice lost amongst the cosmos.
Jean slammed his hand into the rocky crust in anger and noted the large imprint it made.
Rising from his place, he kicked a rock before leaping into the still space. Propelling himself forward with his legs as if underwater he pushed himself through the earth's atmosphere and let himself freefall towards earth, not quite caring where he landed.
** Ra's stared at the table before him, lavished with any kind of food a man could desire. To his left sat his second in command since Ubu's death at the hands of Quayin. Clark Kent, or the Superman, a man strong enough as to knock the moon out of orbit.
To his right sat his beautiful daughter, growing older and older by the days. Not too much later will she not join the rest of his children from past relationships in the world beyond. Archimedes was the last to die only thirty years before at the age of one hundred and forty.
Ahhhh, he stared at her, contemplated the look on her face. He could sense a hint of disappointment, could it possibly be that she hasn't yet gotten over the Detective?
She had his child so long ago, but the baby was lost due to stress. Soon afterward, the Detective had claimed he wanted nothing more to do with either one of them. Their, or rather his ideals were too much.
Then he had gone on and married that damn Catwoman, but who could fault him on that? The woman had eyes like an aqua flame, and a body like a goddess.
He drove his fork into the table in rage, much to the surprise of his company.
Where was his life headed now?
"Tell Jean-Xavier to get back here right now, we have business to discuss."
--#--
Clark quirked his eyebrow and switched his gaze from his lovely wife to his father in law. The man had just shoved his fork into the table's smooth exterior. He pursed his lips and shook his head.
"Tell Jean-Xavier to get back here right now, we have business to discuss." the old man said rather nastily.
Clark nodded half-impressed; the man was a shadow of his former self. He had to constantly remind himself to bide his time and be patient. But it was becoming harder and harder to watch this man go on about the impurities and sins of man. Clark had once shared his notion, even to the point of believing himself to have been completely betrayed by everyone around him.
He closed his eyes at the thought. Darkseid and Granny Goodness had completely possessed his brain. They'd used him to attack the earth in such a brutal manner that he was exiled from the United States. Ra's had found him and took advantage of his fragile state of being, molding him into his fanatical image.
For a long while it had worked, but slowly and surely his sanity had returned. Then Ra's had done something that made Clark begin to hate him.
He'd kidnapped Bruce Wayne's child, a little girl of two with brown hair and sharp blue eyes.
Clark had then retired to his quarters, separate from Talia's, and turned everything in his sight into ashes. They'd found him the next morning asleep in a corner. He'd told them he was fine, and was just letting off a little stress, and thankfully they had believed him. He'd let Ra's do his dirty work of raising the child himself. She wasn't his first concern. He had to wait until it was absolutely clear that Ra's was insane, when he had everything he needed and wanted short of his dreams at close hand. Then he would step in and kill Ra's with his bare hands.
He'd already talked with Talia about it several times, and she'd confided in him that she too had grown tired of his endless pursuits and exploits. She was ready to help her mate in everyway possible, so that her father could finally have peace. Or chaos if it was so decided by the Most High.
Clark smiled thinly and excused himself from the table. It was time to let his son in on their plans.