My thanks to stargaze29 for the kind words.

Batman & Benson 7

Chapter Thirteen

Lana awoke to the sound of her cell phone, which buzzed like an angry hornet on the nightstand by her bed. She picked it up and saw that she had a text message from Alex.

"Brought Francine to hospital to see hubby," the message read, "will speak to you later. A."

"What?" Lana said, as she sat up in bed in shock. "They found Dr. Kirkland?"

She reread the message, yet it offered no more specifics than when she first read it. Lana tried calling Alex, but the call went to voice mail. Then she realized that if Alex was at the hospital with Francine and Kurt Langstrom, then she would have to turn off her cell.

'I'll call her later,' she thought, getting out of bed. 'Right now, I'll check with Chloe and see if she got any more information.'

Yet no sooner did Lana open her door and place a bare foot onto the hallway floor than she had come to a dead halt.

The door to Chloe's room was wide open.

"Chloe?" Lana called, as she warily walked over to the doorway. She peered inside the room and saw the bed was still made up. It had remained unused all night. "Oh, she never even went to bed…again!"

Lana shook her head as she padded down the hallway to the stairs. Knowing Chloe, she had been geeking out on the Batcomputer all night. Not that Lana could really blame her, because that computer set up Bruce built for himself in the Batcave was truly amazing.

'But still, staying up all night like this was silly,' Lana thought, 'especially since Francine's case is basically over, now.'

Since she was dressed in pajama bottoms with a Daily Planet t-shirt, Lana felt comfortable enough to go straight down to the Batcave. Yet once she reached the main level of Wayne Manor, Lana paused when she heard voices coming from the kitchen. One of these voices sounded very familiar.

Lana strode into the kitchen…

…and stopped dead in her tracks, her mouth hanging open in shocked disbelief at the sight before her.

Chloe and Dick sat at the table by the bay windows. The first thing Lana noticed was how close they sat; their chairs were pressed so closed together, it looked like they were sharing a seat. And then there was the way they were laughing and joking around with one another.

"No, no," Chloe said, shaking her head, as Dick held up a fork-full of home fries. "We should really wait for the others."

"Fine, more for me, then," Dick said, just before he placed the home fries in his mouth.

"Oh, now, that's not fair!" Chloe said, laughing, as she made a half-hearted attempt to attack him.

But Dick easily blocked her and then made Chloe squeal with delight as he tickled her side. "Now that's really not fair!" she said.

"I play dirty," Dick admitted.

"You play very dirty," Chloe mock-scolded him.

"Sorry," Dick said, smiling.

"Already forgiven."

Lana watched in stunned amazement as they shared a brief kiss. She kept standing there, just staring at them, until she heard a cheery "Good morning, Ms. Lang!"

It was Alfred, who had brought a plate of food to the table. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yes, I did," Lana forced herself to answer. She was still so stunned at the casually lovey-dovey manner in which Chloe cavorted with Dick that Lana almost forgot where she was.

Chloe glanced up at her with a smile. "Hey there, sleepyhead!"

"Hi," Lana replied, as she took a seat at the table next to Chloe. When she looked at her friend, Lana did a double take. She remembered seeing Chloe wearing a tank top last night. But now she wore an oversized shirt that fit her like a dress. 'Gotham U' was written across the chest, and Lana wondered when did Chloe have the time to pick this shirt up, since she had been so….

'Oh. My. God!' Lana thought, when it hit her. 'She's wearing one of his shirts!'

Lana stared at her friend with renewed shock, and Chloe's response was to lean over and whisper, "Not now," out of the side of her mouth. "Please…not now, ok?"

"I thought you hated him," Lana whispered in her ear.

"We…um…cleared the air," Chloe replied. "We'll talk later. I promise."

'You have a real interesting way of clearing the air,' Lana thought, as she absently took a bite out of her toast.

"Morning, all!" Olivia called, as she, Alex and Rachel entered the kitchen. They each had the weary look of having stayed up all night. Olivia abruptly checked her watch. "Or is it afternoon, yet?"

"Still morning, Liv," Alfred cheerfully replied, "and just in time for breakfast."

"Bruce still asleep?" Rachel asked, as she took a seat at the table and removed her shoes with a sigh of relief.

"Last I checked," Alfred replied. He poured her a cup of tea. "Breakfast?"

"I was hoping to speak with him," Rachel said wearily. "But that's ok. I'll talk to him later."

Lana leaned forward and said, "Alex, I got your text message. They found Dr. Kirkland?"

"Yes, thanks to a message that Bruce had left for Harvey last night," Alex said with a nod. She glanced up and smiled her thanks at Alfred as he poured her some apple juice. "Harvey had one of the bat creatures sent directly to the hospital, because it was injured, and the DNA tests came back a positive match to it being Kirkland."

"Oh my god," Lana murmured, amazed. "You said you took Francine to see him? Is he back to normal?"

Olivia shook her head. "He's still completely batty." She paused before taking a sip of her orange juice. "Um, you know what I mean."

"But it did look like he was slowly changing back," Alex insisted.

"It was probably an optical illusion, fed by your desire to see him revert to normal, Alex," Rachel said. "The doctors told us there had been no change in the few hours they've been examining him."

"I don't know," Alex persisted. "He still looked like he was slowly becoming normal to me."

"Barbra said that one of the scientists was trying to get that Bat creature to mate with her," Chloe told Lana. "But instead of raping her, it actually freed her from her bonds."

"It later helped us by attacking the Cadmus goons." Dick added. "That's what made Bruce think it might have been Dr. Kirkland. His good nature couldn't be completely erased by the bat serum."

"I just hope they can help him," Lana said with concern. "And what about Francine? Isn't she still a fugitive?"

Rachel just shrugged. "She didn't do anything wrong here in Gotham City, so we don't have a beef with her." She glanced at Olivia. "Although you told me that Francine did break into Lana's home?"

Olivia nodded as she took a bite of bacon. "She took Lana and Chloe hostage, even tied them up. She might have problems with Metropolis PD now, as well as with the OHMR."

Lana and Chloe both exchanged a knowing look, then Lana sweetly said, "Why, we have no idea what you're talking about."

"Yeah," Chloe chimed in, "Francine contacted us about this case over the phone. She was never over our house."

Olivia stopped eating for a thoughtful moment, then she shook her head. "You know, now that you mention it, I was wrong…Francine was never there. I must have been seeing things."

"And so there goes any problems Francine might have had in Metropolis," Rachel said with a smile. "She's still just wanted by the OHMR, but they're basically railroading her, anyway."

"I'll continue to hide Francine within the Underground," Alex said. "At least until we can work this mess out."

"I think I have an idea of how to do just that," Rachel told her. "I've got to make a call, later."

"Master Bruce!" Alfred said brightly. "Good to see you, sir!"

Bruce strode in still clad in pajama bottoms and a t-shirt. The moment Rachel saw him, she got out of her chair and embraced him tightly. "I was so scared when I saw you fighting that thing on TV last night!"

"I'm fine," he replied softly. He gazed at her meaningfully. "Can we talk? In private?"

"Of course."

After they left the kitchen, Alfred turned to Olivia and said, "Did you leave Detective Stabler alone at your home? He does know that he's always welcome here, doesn't he?"

"Yes, he does, Alfred. But Elliot decided to head back to New York City this morning," Olivia replied. She glanced at Alex and gave her a thumbs up. "And, by the way, I don't know what the hell you said to him, but great speech, Al."

Alex's eyes just blinked in confusion behind her glasses. "Huh? What? Why?"

Olivia just rolled her eyes in exasperation. "And here's the silver-tongue lawyer who always thinks on her feet in court…."

"I'm eating bacon," Alex said defensively. "You can't expect me to be all rational when I'm eating bacon…especially Alfred's bacon! And you know full well that I didn't get a chance to see Elliot before he left, so please tell me what happened."

"Elliot is staying on with the NYPD," Olivia announced. "And he said it was something that you told him that snapped him out of his depression."

"Bravo, Alex!" Dick said, as he led the table in a rousing applause.

"Thank you," Alex said, as she made a mini-bow while still seated at the table. "I just wish I remembered what it was I told him!"

After gazing intently, and lovingly, into Chloe's eyes, Dick abruptly said, "You know, we have that thing…."

"Oh, yes," Chloe said, as she quickly got up from her half-eaten breakfast. "You're so right! We, um, have that thing."

"What thing?" Olivia wanted to know.

"The thing that we mentioned before," Dick muttered, as he led Chloe out of the kitchen by the hand. "See you later, guys."

"Have fun!" Lana called after them with a broad smile. When she noticed the kitchen abruptly got quiet, Lana glanced up to see Alfred, Olivia and Alex were all staring expectantly at her.

"What?" she timidly asked.

"What the hell happened between those two?" Olivia asked. "I mean, am I wrong, or was Chloe wearing one of Dick's shirts?"

"That was one of Dick's shirts she had on," Alex confirmed, in between bites of her bacon. "And nothing else!"

"What can I say?" Lana shrugged. "They got real busy last night."

"But how, and why?" Olivia asked. She leaned forward in a threatening manner. "If you're holding back anything really juicy from us, Lana, I swear I'll cuff you to your chair until you spill all the beans! I got the cuffs right here."

Alex suddenly stared greedily at Lana's plate. "Ooo, can I have her bacon?"

Olivia just sat back and shook her head with a chuckle. "Oh, Christ…way to spoil the intimidation tactic!"

"What?" Alex said, annoyed. "She won't be eating it anyway, since we'll be cuffing her to the chair!"

Alfred came over to Alex and placed more bacon on her plate. "Here you are, my dear. And we'll have no further talk of cuffing people to chairs in my kitchen, thank you very much!"

"Oh…all right," Olivia said with mock-disgust. "You really know how to kill the party mood, Alfred."

"I've had plenty of practice, Liv," Alfred pleasantly replied, as he refilled her orange juice.

"Hmm," Alex said, as she chewed on another strip of bacon. "Heaven…."

B&B

When they emerged onto the main level of the Batcave, Bruce was ready to tell Rachel just how disappointed he was that she never told him about Clayface's assault on her. He had the speech all practiced within his mind, yet when he turned to face her, Bruce's resolve melted.

She stood there, fully dressed in one of her business suits, sans shoes, and gazed at him with such love and concern in her eyes that there was only one thing that Bruce could do at that moment.

He hugged her tightly.

Her embrace was equally passionate, and when their faces brushed together, they kissed. Before he realized it, Bruce's hands were soon busy pulling off Rachel's suit jacket while they still kissed.

Rachel stood stripped down to her blouse, and her hands were busy tugging at the drawstring on his pajama bottoms when Bruce stopped her. "This probably isn't the best place for us," he said, indicating the Batcave. "You want to move this to the bedroom?"

"I don't care," she said in a whisper. "I don't need a bedroom, or a bed. I just need you."

He lifted her in his arms and brought her over to the Batcomputer, where he placed Rachel in the massive chair. She reached out and pulled off his t-shirt while he bent down and undid the buttons on her blouse.

It was when he had all of the buttons on her blouse undone that Rachel's entire body froze up in fear. Bruce saw that she stared at something in terror directly behind him.

He turned to see the Batcomputer was flashing a result of one of its red flag searches. The name was Clayface.

Bruce hit the sensor pad with his finger, clicking on the name. He quickly read through the news item…and wound up being so stunned that he read through it a second time. Rachel stood beside him and also read in disbelief about how Clayface was found dead in an alleyway by the crew of a garbage truck. The Major Case Squad was currently at the scene.

"He's dead?" Rachel finally said. She sounded like she didn't fully believe it. "Just like that, it's all over?"

"It looks that way," Bruce warily said. "But let's not celebrate just yet…."

B&B

Jordan Cavanaugh was about to call it a night in the mortuary when the call came down from Commissioner Gordon himself. He wanted to view the remains of Clayface.

When she hung up the phone, Jordan made a disgusted face. The dead husk of the shape-shifter formerly known as Matthew Hagen was presently interred in one of her special freezer units in the back. What made these freezer units so special was that they were extra large and armored, looking more like vaults than storage units for corpses. They were designed specifically for metas; more importantly, they were designed to contain a meta within its steel alloy walls should said meta not be actually dead.

'What a weird, wild world this has become,' Jordan thought, as she thought back to the long gone days of her old medical examiner job back in Boston. 'As strange as some of those Boston cases may have been, they can't hold a handle to the stuff I'm dealing with here in Gotham City.'

Still, Jordan had wanted a bigger challenge, and that was exactly what she got as the chief M.E. of Gotham City. The meta population here exploded just within the past few days, thanks to the all-out war in Metropolis between Magneto and police. Despite the fact that Magneto had been captured, recent events only spurred on the fascist, anti-meta campaign of the OHMR, who seemed to be getting more and more belligerent about hunting down all metas by the day.

'Whatever happened to being innocent until proven guilty?' Jordan wondered darkly. She was glad to be a member of the Gotham City Meta Underground. The metas living undercover within the nooks and crannies of this great city were just regular people whom she helped with medical care. Just today, she helped take care of some minor injuries suffered by the Powell family, who had made the arduous trek cross country from their home in California to sanctuary here in Gotham City. Looking at them, Jordan knew that they wouldn't hurt a fly, and yet they're fugitives because they're not considered to be 'normal'.

But then Jordan took one look at the reinforced freezer units, units that were designed to contain a meta should it miraculously be revived from death, and realized that, in the end, she really wasn't any better.

'The hatred and mistrust of metas is so bad we don't even trust their damned corpses,' she thought miserably. Jordan realized that this may be why she was so eager to join the cause by helping the Underground. Her services to Alex Cabot's noble group balanced the injustice that she had to deal with on a daily basis, right here at work.

"Hey, Robby, pull Hagen out, would you?" she asked the intern who was on duty in this area.

"Doing some overtime on the autopsy, Doc?" Robby asked, as he pressed a button on the freezer door.

As she watched the slab roll slowly out, Jordan almost braced herself for the horrific sight of Hagen popping up, like a scene from a bad monster flick. She usually wasn't this skittish around dead bodies. But then, Matthew Hagen wasn't your normal dead body.

'He's a creepy one,' Jordan thought, as she viewed the dead, lifeless husk before her. The eyes and mouth were just hollow sockets. 'Even in death, he's damned scary.'

Commissioner James Gordon entered the room just then. He turned to Robby and said, "Give us the room, would you?"

Before leaving, Robby glanced at Jordan with a questioning look.

"Go take a break, Robby," she told him. "I got this."

After Robby left, Gordon glared at the lifeless remains of Clayface on the slab. He gestured at the autopsy incision that Jordan had made earlier and asked, "You cut him open already?"

"Yes…well, cutting him open is the wrong choice of words for what happened," she replied. "I began the incision, then his chest just caved inwards on me. There's nothing inside!"

"Are you saying he's hollow?" a mysterious voice abruptly whispered from the shadows.

Jordan was so startled that she nearly jumped out of her own skin in fright. Gordon actually grabbed her in a comforting manner and said, "Easy, take it easy, Dr. Cavanaugh…he's the reason why I asked you to pull the body out one more time tonight."

The Dark Knight emerged from the blackness that surrounded the slab and peered down at the body of Clayface with cold calculation. He momentarily glanced at Jordan and said, "Apologies for the scare, Doctor."

"N-No problem," Jordan said, still feeling rattled. She took a breath and tried to compose herself as best she could. "Um…yeah, the body is completely hollow within. I found no internal organs, nor were there any muscles, nor any mass whatsoever inside."

"This is Clayface, is it not?" Batman asked. He never took his eyes off the corpse.

Jordan nodded. "The skin I removed matches samples taken after he was arrested. I mean, it was a perfect match: ninety-nine percent. This is Matthew Hagen."

"Any news on how he died?" Batman asked Gordon.

"The MCS searched every inch of the alleyway they found him in," Gordon replied. "There were no signs of a struggle, or a battle. None of the people who lived and worked nearby heard nor saw a fight. From all accounts, it looked like he just keeled over dead."

"That makes sense," Jordan added. "I've seen Hagen's interrogation, the one the MCS did after he was originally arrested, and Hagen mentioned that he got his powers by falling into a vat of unknown chemicals!" Jordan shook her head dismally. "Quite frankly, gentlemen, I'm amazed he survived this long!"

Batman said nothing. Instead he made a fist and smashed it into Hagen's face. Hagen's entire head collapsed into dozens of small pieces of rubble on the slab. In addition to being hollow, Clayface's body was now headless.

"Satisfied?" Gordon asked the Batman. "You can't get any deader than that!"

The Batman merely stared grimly at him and replied, "They once thought the Joker was dead. See how well that assumption turned out?"

"Yeah…point taken," Gordon said with a weary sigh.

"You can't be serious," Jordan said to Gordon. "You really think Hagen's going to just get up from that slab?"

"I'm saying that maybe we should just keep the body on ice and under tight security, doctor," Gordon told her. He looked over at the Batman. "Wouldn't you agree…?"

Jordan's eyes went wide with shock when she saw the Batman was gone. She instinctively glanced under the table, then looked around the room, but she could not find him anywhere. "How does he do that?"

"Believe me, I wish I knew." Gordon pointed at Clayface's body. "But, in a world where a man can vanish before our eyes, is it so hard to believe that this thing can't just get up and take a midnight stroll through Gotham City?"

"Point taken," Jordan said, as she quickly sealed-up the body within the vault-like freezer. "I'll double the guard right away. After all, the last thing we need is a monster lurking about, right?"

"You forget that this is Gotham City, Doctor," Gordon said, as he walked out of the room, "monsters, both human and otherwise, are just a part of the nightly scene, here."

"So is the Batman," Jordan called after him. "And thank God for that!"

B&B

When James Varlis arrived at his country home, he was irritated, annoyed and just plan angry. The Night Flier program was one of the biggest disasters he had ever had the misfortune of being involved with. There were basically two small things for him to be grateful for: that Braddock and the other captured men would not implicate him, and that the whole damn mess was over and done with.

'But my beef with Batman is far from over,' Varlis thought, as he strode into the foyer. 'Somehow, someway, I am going to get that son of a bitch, and then we'll see who has the last laugh!'

Varlis had given his butler the night off because he wanted the house to himself tonight. Well, it wouldn't be completely all his own. Sasha had texted him, stating that she was waiting for him in the bedroom upstairs, just as Varlis had commanded.

Normally Sasha would meet him in a special little hideaway that Varlis had rented under an assumed name. But there was the threat of an early snowstorm tonight, and he really didn't feel like making the extra trip out to the hideaway place. Besides, if Varlis didn't feel secure in his own castle, then what was the point, anyway?

He burst into the bedroom suite, removing his topcoat and scarf and tossed them on the floor. Sasha, a young woman of twenty two, waited for him in a subservient kneeling position on the floor. Completely nude, her blond hair was tied back into a simple ponytail and she wore a black leather collar around her neck.

"Pick them up!" he commanded her.

"Yes, Master," she replied, as she quickly picked up the clothing he had shorn and put them away.

She returned from the closet and began to kneel once more before him, until Varlis grabbed Sasha by her collar and held her naked body close to his own. "I've had a bad day, today," he told her in a dark whisper. "Hell, I've had a really bad week!"

"I am sorry, Master," Sasha sincerely said. Her eyes were always cast downwards, just as he wanted.

"You'd better be sorry, you little bitch," Varlis said, as he shoved her facedown on the bed. "Because I'll be taking it all out on you!"

"Yes, Master," Sasha said obediently. "Whatever you desire, Master."

Varlis took a moment to leer over her gorgeous, lean body.

Then he reached for the handcuffs.

B&B

The Question leaned forward in his seat, his eyes fixated on the horrendous sight before him on the monitor. That poor young woman could easily have been Varlis' daughter, and yet the things he did to her were downright unspeakable.

Despite the unbearable scene that passed for sex that unfolded before him on screen, The Question could not help but feel a twinge of satisfaction. The Question had located Varlis' regular meeting place with his hired sex slave Sasha, and rigged that house up with surveillence equipment in the hopes of catching Varlis in the act. But now The Question was grateful that he had went through the trouble of also wiring Varlis' regular country home as well. It appeared the good senator decided to heed the weather reports that warned of snow. After all, he may be a greedy, sadistic bastard, but he wasn't stupid.

The Question slowly shook his head at the atrocity on the screen, the atrocity that was now being recorded for all posterity.

"My dear Senator," he whispered, "you are such a naughty boy…."

The Question pulled out the keyboard from his console, switched on a second monitor, and wrote a brief note to the Batman.

'Got him,' it read, and was simply signed, 'Q'.

B&B

Several days later, Rachel quietly watched the little TV in the back seat of her limo as Senator Varlis gave his farewell speech to his now former comrades in the Senate. A few days ago, the senator's lengthy and powerful career had come to a screeching halt when a torrid and lewd video of him having rough sex with a much younger woman surfaced on the internet. It was scandalous enough, but for Varlis, who had prided himself on being a self-righteous watchdog of American morality, the video was also hysterically funny, as well.

Yet Rachel was not in any mood tonight to savor the downfall of the mentor of Amanda Waller. She had just left the live debate between her and Rodger Jerome, her last remaining challenger who wasn't killed outright. As Vince had confidently predicted all week, Rachel had made swift work of Jerome, who was completely inexperienced in the law. It had gotten so bad for Jerome during the debate that he began to stumble badly in his answers to some rather pointed questions about the law; the very same questions which Rachel had answered with confidence and ease.

When Rachel stepped off the stage, she had accomplished her mission to expose her opponent as being a man who was vastly inexperienced for the job. And when Vince giddily showed her the online approval ratings, which displayed her as having a comfortable lead over Jerome, Rachel just smiled and nodded.

But the fact of the matter was, Rachel had felt bad about verbally vivisecting Jerome in front of an audience like she just did. The rational part of her mind realized why she had to do it; she needed to preserve her job, after all. But in her heart, Rachel felt sick and disgusted.

The problem was that Rodger Jerome was an honest, sincere man who truly wanted to bring change to Gotham City. And although it was important to the overall salvation of the city, as well as to Batman's never-ending efforts to save it, for Rachel to keep her job, that didn't mean she enjoyed cutting a genuinely decent man down in front of tens of thousands of TV viewers.

'Politics suck,' she thought, and not for the first time in her career. She had taken over the job after the vicious assault on Harvey Dent, which transformed him into the mad-dog Two Face, and so this was actually Rachel's first time at running for office.

When she recalled that her original opponent, Thomas Enrick, was killed by the Joker, Rachel realized that nothing in Gotham City remained untouched by the bizarre criminal underworld that festered within this town.

'All the more reason to keep on fighting,' she grimly told herself, 'and sometimes, we have to do things that we don't want to do for the greater good….'

Olivia began giggling incessantly as she sat next to Rachel on the back seat of the limo, intently watching Varlis' speech. "You believe this frigging guy?" she asked. "He's asking his colleges to resume the fight for morality! Where was his morality when he was riding that poor girl like a slobbering beast? The sanctimonious prick!"

Rachel had to shake her head in disgust at the hypocrisy of a so-called God fearing man who advocated censorship of all forms of media because of sex and violence, only to wind up being a wild-eyed maniac who went medieval on a young girl in the bedroom. It was really an ingenious idea of Bruce's to sic The Question on this phony bastard. She shuddered at the memory of watching that video, at seeing the humiliating tortures that poor girl went through.

"What about that girl?" Alex, who sat next to Olivia, asked. "Is she all right?"

Olivia nodded. "The cops in that area tracked her down. Apparently, she's a pro who's been very well paid by Varlis."
"And she's not saying a word," Rachel guessed.

"You got it." Olivia went back to snickering at Varlis' speech.

But Alex gave Rachel a concerned look. "Are you all right? For somebody who just trounced the competition tonight, you seem awfully glum."

"I know I won a big victory," Rachel said with a sigh. "And the election, barring any real disaster, is in the bag. But I feel like I've just kicked a puppy, you know?"

Olivia nodded. "Yeah, Jerome really looked lost there tonight. But he was the one who demanded this debate, remember that."

"One shouldn't take up the call for arms if one isn't prepared to deal with the consequences," Alfred said from the driver's seat of the limo they rode in.

"I realize that." Rachel shook her head. "But he was really a babe in the woods, and I basically shoved him over a cliff…."

Alex shifted in her seat so that she stared straight at Rachel. "He had no business being in the woods in the first place. You proved that to the voters tonight. You're one of the best things that ever happened to this city, Rachel. And everyday you remain in office gives this city a fighting chance."

"I rather thought Batman was the best thing that ever happened to Gotham City."

"He is," Olivia said. "Believe me, he really is. But were it not for you, or Commissioner Gordon, or Mayor Garcia, life would be really hard for Batman. As Bruce always says, 'we're all working as a team, here.' And you're an invaluable member of that team, Rach. If you ever doubt that, just think of what life would be like if Jerome had won."

Rachel smiled. "You're speaking like the election is over."

"It is, as far as I'm concerned. Congratulations." When Olivia shifted in her seat, she made an annoyed face at the bulky weapon that was under her shoulder. "And I'll be glad when I no longer have to wear this damned thing!"
"You wearing a special gun?" Alex asked.

Olivia nodded, as she pulled open her jacket for her and Rachel to see. "It's a taser. But a much more powerful one that Bruce had me wear, just in case Clayface came after Rachel at the debate tonight. But Play-Doh Boy never showed. Guess that bastard really is dead, huh?"

"In addition to increasing the guards, Jordan actually had a surveillance camera installed inside the freezer where Clayface's body is," Alex told them. "And, so far, there's been no moment on the body at all."

"Well, what do ya know?" Olivia said with a smile at both Rachel and Alex. "It looks like things are finally going our way for a change!"

"Dare we hope?" Alex asked with a grin.

"I'm willing to give it a shot," Rachel said, smiling.

"It's about high time things went our way," Alfred said from the driver's seat. He pulled the limo into the main drive of Wayne Manor. "I think we've more than earned it."

Rachel waved at J'onn and Katie, who had followed them in their squad car, as they turned around and began their drive back to Gotham City.

"Those two are living together, now, aren't they?" Rachel casually asked Olivia.

She nodded as they walked up to the front doors. "Yeah, they're pretty tight, now. It's really sweet."

Rachel was about to open the doors when they were abruptly swung open by Barbra, who gave them a stunned look. "How long has this been going on?"

This was the very first time Babs had been back with them since her kidnapping ordeal, and Rachel was extremely pleased to see her again. Barbra had changed out of her school clothes and was now comfortably clad in just jeans and a t-shirt that read: 'Kiss me, I'm Irish!'

"How long has what been going on?" Olivia asked, as they entered the foyer.

"This creepy thing between Dick and Chloe," Barbara said in a horrified whisper.

Rachel, along with Olivia and Alex, couldn't help but burst into laughter at Barbara's reaction to the latest news.

"You think it's funny, but all day today Chloe's been talking about how Dick is her Sweetie Pie," Barbra said with a look of disgust. "It's making me wish I was back with the bat creatures!"

"Babs! Don't say that!" Rachel chided her, as Olivia and Alex laughed even harder. "I didn't know Chloe was still here."

"Lana returned to Metropolis," Barbra reported, "but Chloe stayed behind so she can make goo-goo eyes at her Boy Wonder! Are we sure their brains haven't been taken over by some kind of an alien influence, or something?"

"Yeah, Chloe, how about it?" Olivia abruptly asked. "Your brain's feeling ok?"

"I'm fine," Chloe said pleasantly, as she descended the steps. Barefoot, she was clad in a stylishly black workout outfit of exercise pants and a sports bra. She had a towel slung over one bare shoulder. "But I have this strange urge to suck out Barbra's brains, though…."

"Oh, please," Barbra said, with a roll of her eyes, as Chloe jokingly held out her hands towards her in a horror movie monster pose.

"Batman and Robin are coming back from the city," Chloe told Barbra. "Want to meet them with me in the Batcave? I was thinking of working out with my 'Boy Wonder' in the gym. You could join us, if you promise not to act too bratty."

"Yeah, I'll meet them with you, but I can't make any promises about joining you guys in the gym," Barbra said, as she started walking with Chloe to the Batcave. "Not if you're gonna start acting weird on me…."

"No weirdness," Chloe promised, smiling.

"I wonder what Dick will think of his new nickname?" Alex asked. "Boy Wonder?"

Chloe paused by the doorway to glance back at them. "Well, I can say from experience that the nickname fits. Take it from me: he really is a Boy Wonder!"

"Oh, Gawd!" Barbra moaned, amidst another laughing fit from the women, as she let a grinning Chloe pull her through the doorway. "Somebody kill me now!"

B&B

Alfred parked the limo in the garage, where it joined a large collection of other vehicles, and hurriedly closed the car door and left, shutting off the lights. He had heard a tremendous outburst of laughter coming from down the hall, and was eager to see what all the good cheer was about.

Yet once he left the garage, the front bumper of the limo that Alfred had just driven began to buckle and bend all by itself.

And then, without warning, the bumper suddenly fell off of the front grill of the limo and writhed and wiggled on the garage floor.

Then the bumper changed shape, and color, as it arose to a height of six feet. A head formed, as did arms, and two legs.

Once he was fully formed, Clayface smiled broadly as he walked out of the garage, headed for the sounds of laughter, as he turned his hands into spiked clubs.

'It's party time,' he thought, as his smile grew into a large grin.

...to be concluded in the next and final chapter.