Happily Ever After

Chapter 14

The next day, Selina was taken out into the real world. She hadn't realized that she had missed the sun so much until she was out and standing in it. However, she was thoroughly offended by the flip flops that Leo had given to her to wear until she got a proper pair of shoes.

Each time she took a step, it made that horrible clacking sound as it slapped against the bottom of her foot. She grimaced each time. And she swore, despite everyone wearing similar shoes that they turned and looked at her each time they made the slapping sound.

"Could you at least pretend to be enjoying the fresh air?" he asked as he led her out.

"No," Selina snapped. "These sandals are awful. Aw-ful," she enunciated.

She'd started feeling a little more comfortable with Leo; he wasn't nearly as menacing as his friend, Josef.

That morning, as he brought her breakfast, Leo laid out the basic plans. There was a huge expo in the coming week right there in Paris. The machine that they were interested in was called The Green Desert Project. It was a machine that uses oil to heat seawater that was piped in to 160 degrees. The steam turns turbines to make electricity. From there, most of the heated water is fed into a desalination plant and a smaller amount is used to keep the greenhouse warm during the cold desert nights. The air inside the greenhouse is kept humid and cool.

This environment, combined with the now-freshwater, would allow for growing fresh fruits and vegetables in the desert. This technology could end the world's food crisis.

But Leo also informed her that by making a couple minor adjustments to the machine in a couple key places would make it into an extremely powerful weapon. That notion did not make Selina feel better.

What they wanted was to have Selina break into the building that was housing the technology expo in order for her to make the necessary changes to the machine.

"I'm not sure I'll be able to make the changes," Selina told him. "I'm a safe-cracker, not a scientist."

"Josef isn't going to take that as an answer," Leo told her.

"One of you is going to have to go with me. I didn't do so well in science classes in school."

Leo stared at her.

"I'm serious," Selina said. "You're going to have to have someone do the actual work on the machine. That isn't what I do."

Leo ignored her statement and proceeded to tell her the rest of the plan. The back-up plan relied on Selina stealing the blueprints of the original design of the machine. From the blueprints, they could build it to their specifications and they wouldn't have to worry about taking the time to make the changes to it in a short period of time.

Selina was afraid that it sounded a lot like the green energy thing that Bruce's company had first created and then had to rescue Gotham from. This was not good. Not good at all.

She forced herself to focus on the task at hand: finding some suitable clothes without getting shot by the guy with a nervous trigger finger. This little village outside of Paris wasn't going to have someone to make her a leather cat suit, though. So she was going to have to make do with what she could find here. She would stick to finding some black clothing and a pair of sturdy shoes. Selina would come up with an escape plan later.

…

The notion of breaking in somewhere actually gave Selina an excited tingle in her body. She knew she shouldn't want to steal again, especially after the events of the masquerade ball, but hell, being back in Paris again was almost driving her crazy.

Leo had set up the computer in her room, with a link that would ensure Selina wasn't contacting anyone. She immediately started to research the green desert project.

The project itself was headed up by Doctor Jason Woodrue and his research assistant Doctor Pamela Isley. Google brought up an image of both scientists and Selina clucked in distaste. Woodrue had crazy hair and a ratty old Hawaiian shirt under a lab coat. Doctor Isley was in a lifeless brown dress and an ill-fitting cardigan. Her mousy brown hair was pulled up into a bun and had a pencil sticking out of it. Pamela's glasses were balanced on the tip of her nose. She reminded Selina of one of the nerds she made fun of in school.

She kept reading until her eyes couldn't stay open anymore and she fell asleep in the chair at the computer.

…

Later that evening, after her nap, Selina decided she needed to know what the ultimate goal that Josef and Leo were trying to accomplish with turning the Green Desert project into a weapon. She knew Josef would never tell her and he wouldn't want Leo to tell her either. However, after their little bonding shopping trip, Selina knew she could convince Leo to explain it to her.

"You should just tell me what this is all about," Selina said as Leo brought her dinner to her.

"What do you mean?" Leo asked.

Selina rolled her eyes. "Don't play dumb, Leo. You know what I'm asking. Why do you and Josef want to blow up the world? What do you gain from destroying everything? You'd blow yourselves up, too."

"It won't blow up the whole world. It's only got enough power to blow up a city; two at most," Leo said.

"And you picked Paris?" Selina cringed at not only all the people that would die, but all of the art that would be lost forever.

"Of course not, Mrs. Wayne. We're going to blow up Gotham City. Or maybe Metropolis. Josef doesn't like that Superman guy either."

Selina couldn't blame him for his dislike of Superman; he was too much of a boy scout. But back to the matter at hand…

"You have family in Gotham," Selina said.

"I don't," Leo said.

"Well, Josef does. His uncle is still there."

Leo looked at her.

"And he's crazy; off his rocker. He's been locked in Arkham Asylum for years," Selina told him. "Carmine Falcone was treated by Doctor Jonathon Crane, another nut job and…"

"Uncle Carmine is on his way here as we speak," Josef said from the doorway.

Selina and Leo both whipped their heads to look at him.

"And he isn't going to like being called a nut job," Josef told them.

"Even if he is one?" Selina asked.

"He's bringing Doctor Crane with him," Josef replied.

Selina's eyes went wide. "He's supposed to be locked up in Arkham forever. The damage he caused with the fear toxin…"

Josef smiled his evil smile.

This was all going to be so much worse than anything they'd experienced, even with Bane and Talia al Ghul.

"I learned something during my dinner date with Doctor Isley last night," Josef told her. He was looking her straight in the eye, trying to intimidate her, but Selina didn't look away.

"What's that?" she asked.

"The good doctor works for a subsidiary of Wayne Enterprises. It's basically all funded by your husband's company. Isn't that a happy accident?" he laughed.

Selina's non-committal expression changed immediately. Another piece of Wayne Enterprises equipment that could cause major destruction.

…

Bruce Wayne had imagined his next trip to Paris much differently. One, he hadn't pictured having to fly himself there. Two, he imagined Selina sitting next to him and not Alfred.

Bruce's eyes were sore and bloodshot. If he were an airline pilot, the FAA would have grounded him. Alfred knew that Bruce shouldn't be flying a plane, but he knew better than to say anything to him to try and stop him.

They had left immediately that day and were in Paris in a matter of hours. It wasn't a very long trip and that was Alfred knew it was a good thing because Bruce was about to lose it at any moment.

The plane was left at the airport and Alfred rented them a car. They needed to find a hotel room and Bruce needed to get some sleep. He wouldn't be doing anyone any good if he didn't get any sleep.

Bruce's thoughts kept racing. He'd driven himself crazy. He hadn't told Alfred this, but his worst fear was that Selina was already dead. What if she'd tried to fight back and they overpowered her? She was strong, so strong, but the what if's were out of control in his brain.

As Alfred drove them towards a hotel, Bruce was researching events in Paris.

"There's a technology expo here; it's in three days," Bruce announced after a long silence.

Alfred didn't turn to look at him, but he nodded.

"Is that something that these bozos would be interested in?" Alfred asked.

"Is that something that Sofia would have been interested it?" Bruce countered. He didn't mean it the way it came out, but it visibly stung Alfred.

Alfred didn't say anything.

"I'm sorry," Bruce offered. "I didn't mean it the way I said it. I'm grasping at straws here. I'm desperate."

"I know you are. But I thought we established that freaking out wasn't going to help anything?" Alfred asked.

Bruce rolled his eyes.

"You know I'm right."

Bruce still said nothing.

"We're going to go to the hotel first; you're going to get some sleep and then we'll figure out a game plan. And since you seem to have a hunch on this technology expo, we'll start there," Alfred said.

"How can you be so level-headed?" Bruce asked.

"One of us has to be. Is there a list of groups presenting at this expo?" Alfred asked.

Bruce clicked on a link and it took him to another page of the website. He scanned the names and mumbled something that sounded like blah blah blah. "Oh great, Stark Industries," Bruce said sarcastically.

"He does have style, if only a computer butler," Alfred said.

"He's obnoxious," Bruce said. "A pain in the ass. Running around announcing that he's Iron Man. He's had nothing but trouble since then."

"Anyone else on that list of interest?" Alfred asked, trying to get Bruce off the topic of Tony Stark. He was grateful that for the most part, Bruce Wayne and Tony Stark existed in two different worlds.

"Wayne Enterprises is listed on here," Bruce said in a shocked tone. "What the hell?"

"Maybe you should make a call to Mr. Fox."

…

Author's Note: Okay, there was the next update. I promise that it won't be angsty Bruce for much longer, although, Bruce Wayne is exceptionally good at brooding. Anyway, I hope that everyone enjoyed it. (And got my little joke there at the end.)

Please leave me a review. It'll make my Tuesday night at work that much better. Thanks everyone!