Heavy Disco Funk

New York

"… Mistake."

That last word hung in the air and seemed to suck all the oxygen from the alley. Like everything else that had happened it was a surprise to both of them. Karen could see she'd hurt him again even though that wasn't what she intended. She wasn't even sure if the words were meant for him or for her. Looking, she still felt the desire and the heat to be with him again. It was as if she had realized doing it once, she would want to do it again, with him. That frightened her.

Karen had been so careful not to form any attachments in this world. Getting home was always foremost in her mind. As much as she'd liked Michael Holt, she never allowed herself to loose focus on the ultimate goal. Tonight she'd forgotten everything except how good it felt in the moment. She'd let her emotions towards Clark lead her and in the process had been overwhelmed by them.

In every way tonight had been the single most unique experience of her life. It wasn't her first sexual experience, but it was different from all the rest. He was a Kryptonian, which meant there had been no need to worry about hurting him physically. She could give into the moment and embrace it. She could just be a woman for once and relish in what that meant. Looking over at him just standing there, she knew there were other ways to hurt someone besides physically. Words can cut deeper and sharper than any knife.

"I'm sorry." She offered, but already knew it was too late for that.

His head dipped and he just sort of gestured with his hand to dismiss her words. Clark turned and started walking away from her towards the street. She started to call to him, but her voice didn't come. The damage was done and she feared she would only make it worse. She wasn't even sure if he knew she was sorry for saying it was a mistake or for that the whole thing happening. Karen just stood there, leaning against the wall as he disappeared around the corner. With her vision she followed him for another two blocks until he tossed his shirt and coat away and took the sky. She let him disappear into the night.

Her knees seemed to give out and she slowly slipped down the pavement. She couldn't stop the tears from coming.

"Fuck."

She had made a mess of everything.

The Trade Show

Bruce Wayne was a precise man. He had to be. He was the head of a billion dollar corporation and he was the Batman. While he was brilliant, he never fooled himself into believing he was the smartest or strongest. That would be folly and dangerous to someone in his position. The way he made up for this was paying attention to details. Yes, for the last several minutes Selina Kyle had been his main focus, but she wasn't his entire focus. Details, no matter how small can pay dividends later. He'd noticed who was drinking more than they should. He noticed who was taking an interest in his companies prototypes.

Details.

Bruce notice Clark Kent slipping out the back door. He noticed Karen Starr seemed angry as she followed out the same door moments later. He'd also noticed the two had been trying to ignore each other all night. When she didn't return right away he thought of several assumptions, but would wait for more details to confirm which one was correct. Something was going on between those two and he certainly was going to make an effort to find out what. While he was friendly with Clark, Bruce never forgot he was Superman. Every detail about him could later prove valuable. Where Karen Starr figured into all of it was another detail worth looking into.

There was also Miss Starr's friend, Miss Bertinelli. She had conveniently disappeared, but Bruce had a hunch she was still around somewhere. A very interesting young woman, he thought, very interesting. He still couldn't place who she reminded him of, but that was just another detail he would figure out.

The most pressing detail of course was Selina Kyle. As she made her way around the room closer to Bruce, he took in every detail. This wasn't the sort of crowd she was used to, but she was adapting on the fly. He almost smiled as he watched her figure out the same skills she had in abundance worked just as well here as they did in an East Gotham nightclub. She let others do most of the talking and pretended she was interested in what they were saying. If she played it right, each person she spoke to was made to feel they were the most important person in the world to her at that moment.

Everyone likes to talk about him or herself. The secret to winning them over was pretending you found them just as interesting. By the time she was in range of Bruce, Selina had mastered this ability. The fact that she was a beautiful woman in a very revealing dress didn't hurt either.

There was another detail about her that Bruce found most intriguing. She was still holding her invitation and all access passes to the entire trade show in her hand. There was a logo on it that identified whose party she was with. Apparently Wayne Enterprises had invited her. This was interesting, because Bruce knew for a 100% certainty he hadn't. So someone was playing another game with him, most likely the thief that liked anagrams. They seemed to know a lot about him whoever they were, which was another detail Bruce planned on correcting.

"Hello, Mr. Wayne.'

"Miss Kyle. I'm surprised to see you here."

"Your company invited me, Mr. Wayne,' she replied, flashing the invitation. "I know you don't get involved in the day to day activities, but I would think you'd know who you invite and who you don't."

She gave him a teasing, challenging smile and he returned it.

"Yes, I do,' he said. "I just didn't think you'd be interested in this sort of thing."

"I'm expanding my horizons,' she offered. "Sometimes we forget there's a big world outside of Gotham. Lots of interesting things to see."

"Have you seen anything interesting so far?"

"Maybe, but the night's still young,' she replied. "Things usually get more interesting after midnight."

"Isn't there an old saying that nothing good happens after midnight?"

Selina leaned closer to him.

"Who said anything about being good, Mr. Wayne?"

Rather than reply, Bruce smiled and took a sip of his champagne. Selina's smile grew just a bit as she watched him.

Standing on the balcony in the shadows, Helena watched with great interest. She was enjoying this immensely. The only thing that diminished her enjoyment was wondering what Karen was up to. Her father had drilled into her head countless times to pay attention to the details; it had become second nature to Helena. She saw Clark leave and then watched as Karen stormed out after him. Since the building wasn't collapsing it was safe to assume they weren't fighting. She thought she felt a small tremor, but this only peaked her interest as to what exactly they were doing out there. She would definitely have a few questions for Karen later.

Right now though, she wanted to concentrate on Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle. It had taken a lot of planning to get them both in the same room. They may not be her parents, but there was electricity between them. She watched them mingle and circle ever closer to each other. To anyone else it would appear they weren't even aware the other was in the room. Helena could tell they were never unaware of where the other was at any time.

She watched ever detail of both of them, every facial move, every body signal, all the details that that told the unspoken story. By now Bruce had seen the invitation and probably had several questions. It had been a risk that he might make the connection between the theft of his money, the invitation and Helena, but she took it anyway. Tomorrow, Helena Bertinelli would be gone for good as she already had another identity ready. He could search all he wanted, but that name was a dead end. Her connection with Karen was his only clue, but her business interests kept her out of the country most of the time. Thanks to Clark, he would find nothing wrong with their back-story.

Karen still hadn't returned and this Helena realized might complicate things. If this world's Bruce Wayne knew Clark Kent was Superman, which she assumed he would, than Karen going off after him would be a detail Bruce would want to know more about. Would he figure out she was a Kryptonian? What would he do with that knowledge? Helena never intended for Karen to get drawn into her fun with Batman. She believed she'd thought of every angle and scenario, but when Karen followed Clark it had been a surprise. What the hell were they doing out there all this time, she wondered?

Bruce and Selina had been having a little running verbal duel and he had to admit he was enjoying it. She could be so playful when she wanted to be. It was a very alluring quality. It suddenly reminded him for someone else, Helena Bertinelli. That's who the young woman reminded him for, Selina, he realized. Yet it wasn't just Selina she reminded him of. Yes, now he could see some certain similarities, but there was something else about Miss Bertinelli that seemed so familiar. Another associate of his perhaps, Bruce wondered? She seemed so damn familiar it bothered him to no end he couldn't place whom else she reminded him of.

''Am I boring you, Mr. Wayne?" Selina asked.

"Not at all, and it's Bruce, Miss Kyle."

"In that case, it's Selina, Bruce."

"I'll remember that."

"I'm sure you will."

Metropolis

Clark hung a thousand feet over the bay looking at the city. The clouds covered the moon so he was invisible to the naked eye. He was hurt and angry, but mostly confused. A mistake, the words seemed to echo in his mind. It stung worse than her slap and still lingered. Everything had happened so fast; he was still processing it when she cut through it all with her words. Once she said it, there seemed nothing else to say.

What the hell was she doing to him? She avoided him, told him to leave her alone, ignored him and then had hot, passionately sex with him, only to say it was a mistake. In the span of a few minutes she had taken him to new highs and then plunged him to new lows. He didn't understand any of it. He absently wondered if all women were like this or was this a special trait only Kryptonian women had?

A mistake.

The hell with her, he thought. He wasn't going to play whatever game she was playing. She told him she wanted nothing to do with him. He was going to grant her wish from now on. If he didn't hear the name Karen Starr again, that was fine too. Fuck her! She was more trouble than it was worth and it was probably better just to forget her and go on with his life.

Only he knew he wasn't going to forget her. He wasn't going to forget being with her in the alley. He wasn't going to forget how good it had been. He tried to tell himself there would be other women, but sadly he knew it wouldn't be better. For that oh so brief time, he hadn't had to worry or think beyond the moment. He hadn't had to pull back from it, to rein his emotions in. He'd been able to embrace all of it, feel everything, be completely who he was.

Just thinking about it, Clark could feel the heat and desire returning. As painful as her words had been, part of him still wanted her again. It was a taste of what everyone else feels and he wanted more. He wanted her. It was crazy; he didn't even like her, yet those thoughts couldn't be pushed away.

God, what was she doing to me, he wondered?

New York – Late

Helena rode up in the elevator by herself, contemplating the evening that had just ended. She had enjoyed it very much. In some ways it was like watching an old home movie come to life. Once Bruce and Selina came together, they never seemed to be very far from each other the rest of the night. Karen would probably remind her again this wasn't her world and they weren't her parents. Helena knew that, she did, but another old saying kept repeating in her mind.

"If you don't like the world around you, change it."

Yes, she was from another universe, but she was stuck here now. For the time being this was her world. If certainly small things about this world weren't what she liked, than why not try and change them? Bruce had a child by Talia in this world. If she was anything like the Talia from back home, Helena didn't care for that one bit. Bruce could do far better than to get mixed up with Talia al Ghul and her father on any world.

If tonight was any indication, Selina Kyle seemed much better suited to Bruce. He smiled more when he was around her. If he was like her father, that would be important as the years went by. It had been her mother that had kept him from fully embracing the darkness that spawned Batman. Talia most certainly would never do that for him.

As the elevator arrived at her floor, Helena stepped out and fished her key card out of her purse. Walking down the hall she reminded herself not to underestimate this Bruce Wayne. So far she had managed to stay a few steps ahead of him, but if she got careless, that could all change. Yes, it was a game, but she knew how seriously Bruce Wayne took games. She still had an advantage, she knew just about everything about him, while he was only starting to know about her. She had taken a risk tonight and now it was time to pull back. It was time to disappear for a while and figure out what his next move would be and what hers would be too.

Opening the hotel room door, Helena saw all the lights were out. Karen had sent her a text earlier saying she was heading back to the hotel. She had replied was everything okay, but Karen never responded. Helena closed the door and slowly moved into the room. She felt a slight breeze and turned towards the balcony. Karen was silhouetted in the doorway.

"Karen?"

She didn't respond and this troubled Helena. She moved quickly over to her friend. As she got closer she could see Karen was shaking.

"Karen?"

Moving around her, Helena saw Karen was crying.

"Karen, what happened?"

Karen slowly turned, her cheeks wet with tears.

"I made a mistake."