"That was quite invigorating," Alfred said with a small smile, pleased with how things had worked out. "Do you have any other plans? Because frankly Mr. Joker was the worst of the lot with Mr. Dent in a distant second place. I'm afraid I can't think of any others that require quite this level of correction."
"Yeah, the others are a bit more sensible," Xander admitted. "Scarecrow?"
"In Arkham," Alfred replied, "else a visit may have been warranted."
"The mercs aren't insane for the most part since they are mostly in it for the money," Xander said. "Penguin?"
"Has gone straight, for a given value of course," the older gentleman replied.
"Riddler?" Xander offered.
"In no way deserves that kind of treatment," Alfred chided him.
"Yeah," Xander conceded. "Sorry, I know better, but the urge to use my power to do good is clouding my judgment a bit. Is there anyone you would suggest?"
"Not at present, I believe you have done as much good here as conscience will allow," Alfred said.
"Is there a hero you know who might appreciate a twin to lighten the load?" Xander asked.
"I'm afraid the ones I am close to are much too individualistic to accept such assistance," Alfred said.
Xander nodded. "Then I suppose I've done all I can here, time to hit the road. Any idea where I can get a nondescript RV cheapish?"
"I believe master Bruce may have an older vehicle he has no more use for," Alfred allowed. "It would save me having to go through the trouble of disposing of it."
"Thank you, Alfred, we really appreciate it," Julie said.
"Think nothing of it," Alfred said.
0o0o0o0o0o0o
Bruce raised an eyebrow as he saw Alfred get out of a car along with Seline… No, she was a bit too young to be Seline, it must be the alternate Catwoman, Nightwing had run into, and the young man who was with her.
Alfred looked at ease, probably a bit more relaxed and content than usual according to his body language, though he also appeared to be armed.
A quick check of the cameras showed the younger Alfred was busy in the kitchen.
Bruce secreted a couple of small weapons about his person before going up to meet them. He wasn't sure what was going on, so it was best to be prepared.
Turning away from the monitors he went to greet his 'guests'.
0o0o0o0o0o
"I really appreciate it," Xander told Alfred as he looked over the RV, an older vehicle that seemed out of place in a garage filled with expensive cars.
"The help you've given us more than makes up for it, I assure you," Alfred said. "It's a bit of a gas guzzler but quite comfortable."
"Alfred," Bruce said cheerfully as he entered the garage, "I didn't know we had company."
"Ah, Master Bruce," Alfred said, nodding to his employer, "may I introduce you to Alexander and Miss Julie."
"Charmed I'm sure," Bruce said, leaning over Julie's hand and kissing her knuckles.
"You should be," she teased him, realizing how much she'd miss him since she wasn't his Selene. "And why haven't you bought me flowers or something shiny recently, the other me I mean. Does she have to commit a felony to get your attention?"
"I… um," Bruce was momentarily on the backfoot.
"Why don't you show me the interior of the RV while she reams him out?" Xander suggested.
"Indeed," Alfred said, unable to fully hide his amusement.
Once the two had disappeared inside the RV Bruce asked, "What is going on here?"
"I am giving you some advice, that's what's going on here," Julie said firmly.
"Are you really a younger Seline?" Bruce asked.
"No," Julie replied, knowing he knew her too well to successfully deceive him for long and not wanting the last words she said to him to be a lie. "Xander has the ability to make clones. He's of the opinion that there are far too many villains and far too few heroes for some disaster he says is coming. Of course his source of information is supposed to be Loki, so I'd take it with a grain of salt."
"The extra great cats at the zoo," Bruce said realizing what, or rather who, the source was. He found it really doubtful there would be two people in Gotham who could produce duplicates of full-grown organisms.
"The price of my assistance," Julie confirmed.
"So, you're going straight?" Bruce asked doubtfully.
"As straight as any hero ever is. Since, much like you, Alexander considers laws secondary to helping people," Julie said. "We both know I have issues, or rather Selene does, but knowing they are her's and not truly mine helps me resist falling into her bad habits quite a bit."
"I can see where that would help." Bruce agreed as he considered the matter. "So you decided to help a man of questionable sanity with the nebulous goal of saving the world in exchange for ensuring the survival of the great cat population?" he asked her to confirm, trying to get a feel for her mindset and if there was any external influences he could detect.
"As opposed to what?" she asked coyly. "Letting him blunder about on his own? Far better to be on hand to steer him in the right direction and I don't want to horn in on my original's life, which is what would happen if I stuck around."
Bruce nodded, satisfied that her mind was her own though she seemed to be more sensible than Catwoman was, not that he had any room to throw stones.
"Stop trying to distract me, I need to know that you're going to treat my older sister right," Julie said firmly.
"I thought I was," Bruce admitted, "though I haven't been actively seeking her out, due to our busy schedules."
"Unless you want to run into her at 'work' I would suggest you do so," Julie said.
"Her work is part of our problem," Bruce said, shaking his head.
"Then invite her to share your's so she won't have time to do so," Julie said. "It's only her pride that has prevented her from asking."
"Really?" he asked, a sliver of hope in his tone.
"Who would know better than I?" she asked with a smirk he knew all too well.
Bruce nodded, already making plans in his mind. He doubted she would adopt his bat theme, but adapting a number of his tools to a cat theme for her use wouldn't be that difficult.
The door to the RV opened and Alfred and Xander stepped out.
"I can see why it gets such poor gas mileage, it has features my own house doesn't," Xander said.
"Is everything well, Master Bruce?" Alfred inquired.
"I believe so," Bruce said, feeling quite hopeful about the future for once.
Xander smiled, seeing that Batman seemed to be in a good mood, though admitting to himself that it could be a mask and he'd never really know. "Alfred told me you'd be too individualistic to want another you, but would you like a younger sister?" He offered a hand.
"A sister?" Bruce asked, freezing in place, his mind flashed back to the coroner's report on his parents where it read '...nine weeks pregnant.'
"I don't make exact clones, though they are mainly the same," Xander replied, knowing Batman would have figured out who he was and what he was doing by now just from the doubles of Alfred and Seline if neither had spilled the beans already, "so a sister is easily doable."
Xander found his hand being grasped in an almost painfully tight grip.
"Please," Bruce Wayne almost begged, knowing she wouldn't be the younger sister he'd lost with the death of his parents, but wanting her all the same.
"Sure," Xander said reaching out with his power and focusing on making a female copy of the man in front of him.
"Decorum," Alfred gently chided as he whipped off his jacket and covered Miss Wayne the moment she appeared.
Bruce released Xander's hand and turned to his sister his eyes searching her face and finding her features held a lot more of his mother than his own did. "What do I call you?"
"You know as well as I do that it's a tossup between Leslie and Barbara," his new sister said, "and since we already have a Barbara in the family, I think I'll go with Leslie."
"Leslie Wayne," Bruce said, smiling broadly, knowing he no longer had to fear his family line ending with him.
"Might I suggest some proper clothes before we continue?" Alfred offered.
"And speaking of Barbara," Xander said, "why is she still in a wheelchair?"
"She refuses to use any technology to heal herself that isn't available to the general public," Leslie said, "which you should know. So, the question is, what are you about to suggest to heal her?"
"The obvious choice is to push forward some tech that would do the job so it's in general use," Xander offered, "failing that Martian Manhunter could guilt her into letting him phase the bullet out and then when she's not looking, you can inject her with some of Creeper's blood."
"I've already pushed forward three methods of treatment," Bruce said, "they are currently undergoing clinical testing before they can be released to the public. I may ask Martian Manhunter to assist in removing the bullet, but I'm unsure if Creeper's blood would be enough to reverse the damage and I respect her too much to force it upon her."
"Good answer," Xander said, wondering why none of that had been in the comics as it made perfect sense.
"You are unusually well informed," Bruce noted.
"The story about Loki may be truthful," Leslie said, "just brushing against his mind during creation I saw he had knowledge of multiple timelines, a plethora of them."
"Would you mind if I had Martian Manhunter visit you?" Bruce asked politely, but with an edge to his tone that suggested the answer had better be no.
"I'm trying to keep this on the down low," Xander said, "so can you at least ask him to visit in person and not spread any of this around?"
Bruce considered that for a moment and nodded. "That's acceptable."
"Cool," Xander said. "Just have him track us down when he has some free time."
"I'll do that," Bruce agreed. "Now if you'll excuse me, we have to develop a cover story for my sister."
"Have fun with that," Xander said, knowing from his brief brush with Leslie's mind that they actually did enjoy coming up with airtight convoluted backstories.
"There is a gas card in the glove box, you are welcome to use it," Alfred said, "and thank you."
"It was our pleasure," Julie said, before they both entered the mobile home. "Ever driven one of these?" she asked as Xander took the driver's seat.
"I'm still in driver's ed," Xander admitted.
"Switch seats with me," she ordered.
0o0o0o0o0o0o
"You bought an RV?" Jo asked curiously as she and Pat came out of the motel room.
"Must be at least thirty feet," Pat said impressed.
"Alfred gave it to us and it's thirty-two feet," Xander said.
"It's also more comfortable than the motel room," Julie said.
"So, you figured out where we're going next?" Jo asked. "I figured we'd be splitting after the deal was done to avoid the heat. No plan involving the clown goes smoothly."
"No, the plan worked fine," Xander said, "probably because we weren't trying to eliminate the Joker, just make one that was less of a mass murdering psycho."
"I'm surprised," Jo said. "So, where we headed?"
"Out of town," Xander said. "I've got an idea, but it relies on getting my hands-on kryptonite, a gem cutter if possible, and some gold foil."
"I used my originals connections to get a chunk," Jo said. "Cost ten gees, but I remember you wanting some, so I did a little legwork. Don't see how it'll help Pat heal though."
"I could kiss you," Xander said with a smile.
"I expect a little more than just a kiss," Jo said smugly.
"Heal me and I'll help," Pat offered.
"Deal," Jo said shaking Pat's good hand.
Xander laughed. "It's a date. Now I just need to find a gem cutter."
"I'm a fair hand and I won't even charge you," Julie said, "though I will need to borrow some equipment, but that will cost very little."
"Excellent," Xander said, "now we only need some chocolate oranges and gold foil and we'll be in business!"
"Dare I ask what the plan is?" Julie said curiously.
"You may ask, but I can't answer," Xander said. "I have to pull it off under the nose of someone who can monitor heartbeats from a distance, so the less you guys know, the less you can give away."
Julie tapped her chin. "Are there any other strange items you're going to need?"
"A wheelchair and a glove with a built in taser," Xander said, "but we can pick those up in metropolis."
"Sounds like a dangerous plan," Julie said, already putting together a rough idea of what he was planning, but unable to figure out where some of the pieces fit and what the end goal was.
"I'm planning to break a prophecy, those are always dangerous," Xander said with a wolfish grin.
"It's a good thing you're cute, because you're crazy," Julie said with a chuckle.
"Hey Jo," Pat said.
"Yeah?"
"Isn't one of the big rules 'Don't stick your dick in crazy?" Pat asked.
"I never paid any attention to it, but it is, why?" Jo replied.
"Well… we're still allowed to let crazy stick his dick in us, right?" she asked.
"Only if it's an impressive dick," Jo said. "It's like the dynamite ass exception."
"Oh, that works then," Pat said relieved.
Julie weathered all of this with a grin and tried not to laugh.
"Wait, there's an exception?" Xander asked. "Why didn't I know about this?"
Julie bust out laughing. "Get in the RV you lunatics, we have a job to work on."
Typing by: fyrewolf5
TN: So many old stories getting continued, nice to see all of these getting expanded, so many wonderful and interesting worlds that will be great to see more of.