The Gotham Enquirer - Online Edition
Who Wants to Date a Billionaire?
The hottest ticket in town isn't in Gotham exactly, but in New York. The charity gala being held at The Surrey next week is shaping up to be a bigger to-do than the annual Wayne Foundation Masquerade Ball! The event is being held to honor breast cancer survivors and raise money for cancer research.
The usual deal, right? Wrong!
The big draw here is the charity auction! And not just any ol' auction mind you, but one that has some of the country's most eligible (and wealthiest) bachelors up for sale!
If you were lucky enough to grab (*cough*afford*cough*) a ticket to the party, hopefully you still have enough in your bank account to treat yourself to a date-night with the man of your choosing! Not only will you be snagging yourself some sexy arm-candy, but your winning bid would also secure a date for one of the amazing survivors that will be in attendance. Win-win!
While the guest list is being kept under wraps, I've been given the heads up that the list of potential suitors are just about confirmed. Our very own Prince of Gotham, Bruce Wayne, will not be in attendance (dry your eyes, readers!), despite comments made by slightly less sexy bachelor (not that I'm biased or anything), Oliver Queen, that there would be a friendly rivalry the evening of. Can you imagine?! Ugh, he's such a tease.
So yes, Oliver Queen, business mogul and playboy extraordinaire, is for sale that evening, as well as Ted Kord, Rex Tyler, and Michael Holt! I suggest you do a quick internet search if you're not sure what they look like. Trust me, you won't be disappointed. Go ahead, I'll wait...
And there are definitely going to be plenty more!
Richard 'Dick' Grayson-Wayne was also hinted at being in attendance, the eldest of the Wayne sons and a police officer with the Blüdhaven police department.
Why he chose to do that when he's got his adopted father's money at his disposal is beyond me. No matter though, he's a rather yummy dish himself when we happen to catch photos of him with Daddy Brucie!
Normally he's not one to bask in the limelight, keeping a much lower profile and only popping up here and there for Wayne Foundation events. The fact that his name is even being mentioned as possibly being on the auction block is a big deal! I'm not getting my hopes up but...what the hell, I totally am!
Did I mention that yours truly has actually scored a ticket? Had to pull some strings and promise some favors (not those type of favors...get your mind out of the gutter)!
I swear I'll report back on all the juicy details!
"So why did I have to waste my time reading this trash?" Jason asked, flicking his cigarette and watching the ash fall to the ground.
He was sitting outside in the yard, enjoying the weather that certainly was nowhere near as gloomy (or as polluted) as Gotham's.
Roy was on the phone, having sent him a link to another one of those awful tabloid articles. Whoever wrote them made Jack Ryder seem like a Pulitzer Prize winner.
"Because I'm pretty sure Mr. Escala, the new CEO of BR Industries, is looking to put in an appearance."
"For fuck's sake, it's like deja-vu." Jason sighed, rubbing his eyes.
It was only a few weeks ago that he'd attended one of these big fancy-ass parties just to gain intel on BR Industries and that had ended up having numerous consequences.
"I'm just saying."
Jason could practically hear Roy grinning through the phone.
"If Ollie is already set to go, give him the heads up. Unless you want to be his plus one. I doubt he'd say no, considering you somehow managed to get us an entire building filled with all sorts of gadgets!"
Jason had eventually caved one day, making it about another week before he took a few photos, and sent them over. No subject line or any sort of comment.
Roy had blown up his phone, until Jason finally answered to an ear-splitting screech and unintelligible strings of words. At one point he'd thought Roy had passed out on the other end of the line.
The man had recovered quickly enough though, wanting an entire itemized list of everything in the space so he could call dibs. Jason wasn't about to get in his friend's way.
"I'll think about it, alright?" Jason replied. "It's not exactly a place for any shady business dealings since Escala has nothing to do with setting up the event. At least Bruce isn't showing up. No idea why they thought Dickie boy was going to be there."
He couldn't see it, but he was sure Roy had shrugged.
"Whoever writes this trash isn't exactly a hundred percent credible."
They spoke about the case for another half an hour, mostly to determine what they wanted to do with the files they currently had on those who had been invited to the Gotham Palace Hotel. It was so much information, all consolidated in one place and that had so much fucking potential.
They could blow things up (figuratively in this case) and release all the files...either to someone like Vicki Vale so it received a shit-ton of press or they could 'anonymously' drop it with Commissioner Gordon. Or, they could hold onto it and simply pick and choose...they weren't above some blackmailing here and there. The jury was still out.
"I'm stilling keeping an eye out here with all the construction they're doing. So far everything has been legit."
After almost spending days at a time in at Grell Ave. working on his new suit, Jason had enough of it done to deem it 'operational'.
No name yet, but he didn't particularly mind; probably scarier for those that saw him to not have a name.
If he could stay nameless, then that was fine by him. Still, he had spent the last week taking the suit out for test runs alongside the Green Arrow, making tweaks after each night's patrol, usually with Queen offering to help.
Jason appreciated the offers but eventually started declining. It had been a mistake on his part to forget that Queen actually had a day job and the bags under the man's eyes were not doing him any favors. Still, his suit wasn't too shabby.
He'd adjusted the upper-leg armor to something less bulky; worked on the newest grapple gun prototype and merged it with his arm piece; wired his helmet to hack into SCPD comms; piggy-backed off the Q-Core aerial drone that circled the city ; and ultimately decided on a logo which was the first thing that came to mind.
Well, not exactly consciously, but more of a 'waking up from the repeating nightmare where he'd been locked up in Arkham with the Joker'. He wasn't about to let it conquer him, so what better way that to place the logo smack dab on his chest. Or at least, the top half of it.
Perhaps it was his way of holding onto Gotham somehow, but he didn't question the ear-like protrusions on his helmet (which in his defense, were only there as a necessity due to the dual-helmet configuration) that amplified the relay feed, or the triangle shaped logo (it was symmetrical and worked…so sue him).
The one thing that he had actually had the hardest time wrapping his head around was the switch to blue.
His entire suit was a gray/blue combo, a great color match for the city versus the stark red he was so used to. Still, it was just so...blue.
Queen had said he'd looked intimidating enough, and that with an additional layer added to the voice modifier, he sounded even more so. Jason thought it just looked badass and scary as fuck, color be damned.
He hadn't gotten rid of his firearms, and Queen hadn't said anything about them, but Jason did add an additional two that used rubber bullets instead.
Admittedly, he hadn't been all that convinced about the effectiveness of rubber bullets, but the ones he'd stumbled upon during an inventory check at Grell Ave. were something else.
"Imagine getting hit full force by an angry gorilla." Queen had offered up as a helpful analogy.
Jason had cracked up laughing, finding that assessment to be accurate a couple of days later when they'd broken up a turf war in the Triangle.
The sound of the bullets hitting flesh had sounded excruciating, and he'd seen several of the thugs pass out from the pain or groaning on the floor. It had actually been kind of funny. Probably not a healthy way to feel but at least no one was at risk of bleeding out.
On top of adjusting to the new suit and new weapons, there was also dealing with law enforcement which was something Jason had completely forgotten about.
The Green Arrow wasn't chummy with the force, but they didn't actively go after him, which meant that every so often, the Green Arrow did drop off criminals at the station.
Jason had stayed behind on that rare occasion, not wanting to be seen, and hoping that Queen wouldn't expect the same from him because that wasn't going to happen. Like...ever.
All in all though, Jason's life was on the up and up, and he felt pretty good about it all, except for the part about other people's lives continuing on without him.
"How's school going for them?" Jason couldn't stop himself from asking.
At this point, Evelyn and Edgar had been at Robinson Academy for a few weeks, and from the little information Jason had asked for, the kids were adjusting well, and had a huge group of friends already (no surprise to Jason there).
Edgar was already pegged as a genius by his computer science teacher and was being given some grad school level work for fun. For fun.
Evelyn's arm was no longer in a sling, and in another week or two, she'd be back at the clinic for another round of x-rays and the possibility of a walking boot shortly after that depending on how quickly she healed. The young girl was naturally quiet, and not overly participative in class, but she didn't mind being called upon, and was already considered extremely insightful. She was not a girl of many words, but when she did speak, you listened.
Jason tried not to think about how that reminded him of someone else he cared for a great deal.
Of course, there was still the third and youngest member of the group, Terry, who spent a lot of time babbling away at anyone who would listen.
Jason couldn't really blame the kid. After feeling the need to stay quiet for so long, he'd be talking away too if he knew that he had a willing audience.
"Good. Same as before. They just get more excited each day. You've got a bunch of photos coming your way very soon."
Jason smiled, ignoring the hollow feeling in his gut. It really fucking sucked that he was missing it, and it really fucking sucked that his friends were only further entrenched in the kids' lives. On top of it all, Artemis still refused to speak to him.
"I mentioned the Turners to them."
Jason straightened up in his chair, holding his breath. It was too soon to bring them up. He had only just left. It was too soon.
"They asked questions about them, and were very curious about what they looked like and where they lived." Roy explained a little too casually, which was the only indication he gave that this topic was not one he wanted to even talk about.
"I told them nothing's for sure, but this was just a 'maybe' right now. But they're willing to meet with them. They asked if you'd be there though."
Jason swallowed the lump in his throat, thankful that Bud had chosen that moment to come and sit beside him, resting her head on his lap.
"Keep me posted." Jason said. It wasn't a no and it wasn't a yes, but it was all he could offer up right now.
"Well, on to less maudlin topics. How's the new suit?" Roy replied, abruptly rerouting the conversation.
"It's good. Still not where I want it to be and it's blue, but you know...making it work and all. That reminds me...Ollie said to tell you to quit trying to hack the Q-Core mainframe. He says you only needed to ask for the password and he would have given it to you."
Jason heard Roy scoff.
"Um, that takes away at least...eighty percent of the fun, Blueman!"
"You take that back!" Jason demanded, hearing Roy cackling madly on the other end of the line.
"Never!"