Talk about your intertextuality! More guest heroes, ethereal appearances, and the strangely compelling question: if you were ice cream, what flavour would YOU be?
Chapter 7
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Gohan stepped through the Nightlife entranceway and automatically scanned the main room for familiar faces. He soon spotted Kat lounging on a bar seat and made his way over to her. She looked up in surprise as he approached.
"Two nights in a row? That don't happen too often these days." She drawled in a teasing voice, looking at him over the top of the dark sunglasses she was wearing, before pushing them back up her nose.
"Ah, I was bored with staying in bed all night." He grinned good-naturedly. "Nice glasses."
"Thanks. I like 'em too. You can stare at people without them even knowing you're lookin' at them. I've been staring at that guy over there for like 20 minutes and he hasn't even glared at me yet."
"Twenty minutes? Wow, you must be bored." There was a pause as Kat made a mute agreement. "I didn't think you had an attention span that long." Gohan casually inserted his jibe into the conversation. Kat's jaw dropped in incredulous outrage. Verbal revenge was good.
Recovering quickly Kat exclaimed, "Well then! If it's a game you want…look at that guy and tell me his story; what he does that makes him eligible to enter Nightlife."
"You mean the guy you've been staring at?" Gohan asked, following her line of vision. "Isn't he a bit old for you?" This time he wasn't teasing, it was a statement. Instantly he copped a wack on the back of his head.
"That's not why I'm staring at him!" Kat fumed. "He's mysterious, that's all. I've already come up with my 'Mystery Guy Hypothesis'. Now it's your turn. Then we'll go see who is closest."
"And what happens if I win?" Gohan asked, checking before becoming committed to her game.
"Hn, I'll show you this really cool room I found the other day." Kat replied. Gohan laughed.
"You've already got me with that one once before. I do not want to see another janitor's closet."
"But that was years ago!" Kat protested.
"I never forget." Gohan said smugly.
"They say elephants never forget." Kat retorted. "Guess that means you're more elephant than monkey now."
"Least I never locked myself in a freezer for sixty years." Gohan replied.
"Touché. Okay, how about we leave it up in the air. Loser owes winner a favour."
"Deal. Can I borrow your glasses?" Gohan grinned.
"No way! Get your own." Kat protested, shifting away from him. He gave her a sad look but she just frowned, crossing her arms in determination. "Stop that! Stop coveting my sunnies. Bad boy."
"But I can't just stare at him!" Gohan argued, glancing at the man. The man in question was wearing a kind of casual suit, had plain brown hair and chiselled features. He was sitting in a booth, in a corner that had slightly less lighting than most of the rest of the club. There was a drink on the table in front of him, but it looked hardly touched.
"I see nothing stopping you. He's not looking in our direction." Kat looked over at Gohan, and could practically see his imagination coming to life as he gazed at her mystery guy. It was like a super computer coming online. She gave a little sweat-drop.
After a pathetically short amount of time Gohan started verbalising his ideas.
"Okay, he's a pretty ordinary looking guy. So I'm guessing he either works under cover…or has some kind of disguise. Yes, he's isolated himself from the rest of us Nightlifers. He's not inclined to social interaction if it's not necessary. Definitely a disguise wearer. He has good posture, so I'm guessing he's had martial arts training."
"Either that or ballet." Kat quipped, and Gohan snorted.
"There are not many laugh lines around his eyes, so he's a serious sort. Something happened to him, whether when he was young or whatever, that gave him a pessimistic outlook on life."
He glanced at Kat to see her reaction so far. She had a petulant look on her face and was grumbling something about 'stupid enhanced vision'. Gohan didn't see anything to grumble about. They were only sitting about 15 metres away from him, at most. Still, he sensed her mood turning sour so he finished up.
"Final conclusion. Someone close to him, lets say fiancée, was murdered and he trained in seclusion for years until returning to the world with a new persona and he now fights crime as a superhero. And that's why he's a Nightlife invitee."
"A superhero? Get real. You've been reading too many comics." Kat scoffed.
"Only when mum's not around." Gohan grinned broadly. "What was your hypothesis?"
Kat looked uncomfortable for a moment, before squaring her resolve and replying, "I think he's a secret agent, like James Bond. I bet there are heaps of little gadgets hidden in his clothes. And he's just finished saving the world from a mad scientist who was funded by an evil millionaire who wanted to control all the oil in the world and eventually monopolise the economy so that he could have a whole Olympic sized swimming pool full of $100 notes!"
"No Kat, that's just what you want." Gohan snickered, and despite herself Kat laughed too.
"Aw man, I bet I'm going to lose."
"No deal." Gohan grinned. "C'mon, lets go ask him."
With a sigh Kat hopped off the bar stool and led the way over to the mystery man's booth. They both slid into the padded bench opposite him. He looked them both over, expertly hiding the surprise any normal person would feel when two teenagers out of the blue sat down across from you.
"May I help you?" He asked pleasantly, in a light baritone.
"Yes." Kat said, leaning forward while Gohan leaned casually back to indicate he wasn't about to join in the conversation. "We were wondering who you are and why you're here." She said politely but boarding on rudeness in being so bold in the first place.
The friendly mask the man was currently wearing slipped for a second, but was soon back in place. "And may I ask why you wish to know this?" He replied, still congenial.
"No." Kat answered flatly. Gohan nudged her with his foot and she sent a fleeting glare his way. "Fine, we have a bet okay. We're not out to get you or anything. We want to know for purely selfish reasons."
The man looked at Gohan, who gave an apologetic shrug that showed he agreed with all but her chosen phrasing.
"Well in that case," the man said with a touch of irony, "my name's Bruce Wayne." He held out his hand.
Kat shook it mumbling an insincere, "Nice to meet you." Gohan came forward, shaking Bruce's hand and offering,
"I'm Gohan. My friend here is Kat."
"Pleasure to meet you Gohan." Gohan smiled in return. He didn't know why, but he seemed to be able to connect with this man, Bruce Wayne. He sensed there was a far deeper soul behind the mask that Bruce wore. But it was carefully concealed within him at this moment, so much so that even his eyes were shielded. Gohan knew that this in particular was hard to do. He had been practising for the greater part of five years.
"Great great." Kat said impatiently. "So what do you do for a living?"
"I own a large company that was handed down to me by my father. It is called Wayne Enterprises. We manufacture-"
"Uh huh. And what do you really do?" Kat interrupted.
"Excuse me?" Bruce said, with a slightly forced quality to his pleasant tone. Kat rolled her eyes.
"You do something selfless that has enough impact on your world and personal psyche that you are allowed into this club to relax away from it all. We want to know what that something is." Kat said, practically demanding.
"If you don't mind telling us that is." Gohan hastily interjected, sensing that the understanding between Bruce and Kat was going in the opposite direction to that of the connection between him and Bruce.
Bruce hesitated, considering whether or not to tell these forthright kids what was to him very personal. His identity.
"We probably come from a completely different dimension to you." Kat reasoned. "So it's not like we could use the information to blackmail you anyway."
Gohan rolled his eyes and offered Bruce a grin.
"Very well then." Bruce said, and Gohan was surprised to note that his voice had just about completely changed. It was now low and rough. "I live in a place called Gotham City." He paused to see if there was any recognition from his audience. Kat and Gohan both shook their heads. "I fight against villains and criminals under the alias Batman."
Kat groaned. "So you're not a secret agent?"
Bruce raised an eyebrow. "Not as such. I work only for myself."
"Why do you do this?" Gohan questioned. The idea of a single person fighting crime, essentially protecting humans from themselves, was new to him. Surely though it would be a never-ending cause.
Bruce's face hardened at the grim memory. "When I was young my parents where murdered by a mugger. I vowed to take vengeance on all criminals from then on."
"Ha, parents! Not fiancée." Kat smirked triumphantly.
"Still closer than you." Gohan returned smugly. "So, you're trained in martial arts?"
"Yes, many different forms."
"Do you wear a costume?" Gohan asked.
"To protect my identity yes." Bruce answered.
"If you could be any flavour ice-cream, what would you be?" Kat piped up. Bruce and Gohan just looked at her. "What? It's a valid question." She said defensively.
"I'll have to think about that one." Bruce answered evasively. Gohan grinned.
"Fine. I'm going to get Gohan and me some drinks. But you better have an answer when I return." Kat said, shaking a finger at him. Gohan turned sideways to let her pass, and then slid over into her former spot.
"She's really not too bad once you get to know her." He assured Bruce. "And what's better, she now owes me a favour." He grinned in victory. Half of Bruce's mouth lifted in a smile. "So, when you say that you fight crime…"
()-()-()… A few nights later …()-()-()
Kat zigzagged her way around the main room, trying to find someone she recognised and/or worth talking to. She turned her head as somebody called her name and saw that Gohan was sitting at a large table with just about everyone else. Fair enough they'd all be here already; she was running rather late tonight.
She wandered over, grabbing a chair for herself from a nearby table as she went, and ignoring the half-hearted protest of the person who was about to sit down before she stole their chair out from under them.
"Hey peoples!" She greeted, not even really looking at the people to whom she was addressing. Everyone murmured greetings, except for Sharon who gave a cheery,
"Hi Kat!"
Kat blinked and looked at the girl. She was grinning in that way that one does when they think they're better than you.
"Nice zit." Sharon added, a little louder than necessary, staring pointedly at Kat's chin. Both Joey and Gohan groaned and prepared themselves to break up another fight.
Contrary to all expectations Kat just grinned back. "Thanks! I like it too."
Everyone at the table blinked. Sharon uttered an astonished, "Huh?"
Kat poked at the inflamed, red, pus filled pore on her chin. "Quite a work of art in fact. It's fake." Sharon, Joey, and Ranma, who was also sitting at the table, immediately leaned in to get a better look.
Finally Joey asked the question on everyone's mind. "Why?"
Kat dismissed the question with a wave of her hand. "It's a long story."
"We've got all night." Gohan pointed out, resting one elbow on the tabletop and supporting his cheek with that hand.
Kat rolled her eyes. "Oh fine then. I've been going out with this guy Zack for like two weeks. But yesterday I heard from Annie, who was told by Beck that she heard from Cathy that she overheard Dom and Ella talking about what they'd just heard from…"
*~5 minutes later~*
"…how Zack had been braggin' about how great my body was. And not the nice kind of braggin' either. The sleazebag! Can you believe that?"
Everyone either nodded or shook their heads with stoned looks on their faces.
"So I set up this date for tonight…" She looked up at a nearby clock. "Actually, last night…and then showed up with this fantastic pimple on my chin. Ha! The look on his face was outdone only by the look of him trying to cover up he'd ever been looking. So we had dinner, went to a holo-movie, with me trying ta kiss him all night and him trying to avoid getting kissed. And at the end of the evening he dumped me. Course I made a scene just for the sake of it, so I'm expecting a box of 'lets stay friends' chocolates sometime soon." She took a breath and gave a pleased grin for her night's work.
Some people shook their heads in disbelief, and still others to shake themselves out of the trance brought on by listening to Kat chat away for so long.
Gohan gave a small laugh. "And the next question is, why are you still wearing your fabulous zit?"
Kat pulled a face. "I couldn't get it off." Gohan and Sharon burst out laughing. "Hey it was late and I was too tired to see straight! It'll come off in the morning." Her tone held the 'I hope' connotation.
"Must have been stuck on well if it followed you all the way to Nightlife." Gohan commented.
"Yeah, you'd think they'd let people get away from acne while staying here." Joey added.
"Hey if I can't get rid of my curse here I don't see why pimples should be any different." Ranma pointed out.
"Acne is the only curse resistant to counter-curses." Sharon said, a dour look on her face.
Gohan raised his eyebrows. "Is it really that bad?" Everyone looked at him. "What?"
"You've never had a pimple?" Kat asked in appalled disbelief.
"Um, no." Gohan answered, a little nervous at the looks he was receiving.
There was silence while everyone absorbed that.
"Then what the hell are you doing here?!" Kat yelled, jumping to her feet. "You aint got no major problems. Get out!" She pointed to the exit. "Go on, GET!"
"Oh come on."
"No I mean it. Your very presence sickens me."
"Kaaaat!" Gohan whined. Kat just viciously pointed to the exit again. Gohan rolled his eyes and pushed out from the table. Kat's jaw dropped as for the first time she got a good look at the guy who had been sitting next to Gohan.
She grabbed Gohan's arm before he could walk away. "Changed my mind. You can stay if you introduce me to the new guy."
"Run Van!" Gohan cried teasingly, only to receive a wack on the head from Kat. She roughly shoved him into her chair and took his spot next to the man named Van.
"So, your name's Van then?" She asked the spiky-haired teen, eyeing the way his uniform was cut to show off his perfectly formed abs.
"Yes." He gave a sweet smile and held out his hand. "And I gather your name is Kat."
As they shook hands Kat glanced back over her shoulder at Gohan, a teasing glint in her eye. He rolled his eyes at her to show he wasn't about to become fazed in the slightest.
"It is indeed. So, what do you do in your daylife?"
Gohan tuned out as Van started talking about machines called Zoids, and republican and imperialist powers, as he had heard it all before when he himself had talked with Van earlier in the night.
Instead he gazed around the main room. There were a few couples dancing on the dance floor, but it looked to be one of those special dances, with exact steps and sequences, although in Gohan's estimation there was still plenty of room for improvised flourishes.
He supposed the theme for the night was another cultural one, of a culture unknown to him. Though in the past he had recognised certain elements from these cultural nights as pertaining to a region in his dimension's Earth, such elements were usually accompanied by traditions and practises completely foreign.
For example, one night a few years back had held what Kat called a 'Hawaiian' theme. Everyone wore shirts similar to those that Master Roshi often wore when at home on his island. And there were coconut cocktails and other beach accessories. But then a line of tanned women wearing bikinis and long grass skirts had appeared and performed a strange dance in perfect unison, which Kat had told him was traditional in places in her dimension's Earth called Polynesia.
Just like tonight Gohan recognised the broad-brimmed hats that hung as decoration on the walls, but he didn't think the dances and language some of the dancers conversed with each other in would be found anywhere in his world.
It was almost, he mused, as if his world was made up of lots of bits and pieces taken from Kat's Earth, and randomly assembled together until they only vaguely mirrored the places they'd originated from. Even their ecological ages seemed to have been mixed around, as Kat rather outrageously claimed that on the Earth that her space station home orbited all dinosaurs had been extinct for millions of years.
Gohan's ruminations on life, the universe, and everything, however were interrupted as he noticed a strange looking man in a purple suit making a beeline towards their table. Although this man's waxy-white complexion, dark green hair, and long pointy nose would be enough to make any person look twice, it was his disturbing aura that really made Gohan surface from his thoughts and pay attention.
Perhaps this timely arrival is for the best. For if Gohan, being the extremely intelligent person he is, had continued his contemplations he may just have come to the correct conclusion that the answer was forty-two. And that would have been completely inappropriate, because it is not his personal destiny to discover such things.
Destiny watched her chosen distracter draw near the table of teens, a slightly aggravated look on her face. That Gohan! Needed careful watching that one did.
"I did forewarn you that allowing the boy into Nightlife would have minor repercussions for you my dear." Fate said softly, placing her hand on Destiny's shoulder in a gesture of familiarity.
Destiny looked up at her mother, which one might wonder at if one realised that the daughter was in fact taller than the mother. Fate smiled tenderly down at her.
"I know. And I should have heeded the warning and prohibited his admission." Destiny said, somewhat testily.
"Come now. See how much happier both have been?" Fate chided.
"How much happier they will be soon." Destiny answered sarcastically, stating the opposite to what she had foreseen.
"You cherish most that which you fight for." Fate replied evenly. Destiny sighed.
"I suppose you're going to ask me to trust you on this one, right?"
Fate glanced to the left, where the main entrance to the club existed, and smiled one of her secretive smiles. Destiny, curious, exerted a fraction of her power to see what her mother was smiling about. She groaned.
"And he's meant to learn how to control his powers on his own! Mother! Why do you always have to make extra work for me?"
Fate laughed contritely at this. "I'm sorry. I just wanted him off my hands for a little while."
Destiny glowered. "And I thought you wanted me to go home and visit the family."
"Yes." Fate frowned ever so slightly. "Your father has been sending me not so subtle hints to send you home for a holiday. Very well then." She clapped her hands together. "You can go home, and I'll send someone to watch over this plain for a while."
Destiny's eyes widened as Fate summoned some of her power. "But, wait! No mum, just let me-" She was cut off as Fate expertly tipped her from the plain.
Seconds later a vaguely familiar person stepped from the shadows, confusion written across his face.
"Fate?" He sighed. "Don't you ever check before you whisk a guy out of his home?"
Fate glanced back at him and smothered a smile. Evidently he had just come from having a shower, and as such was clothed solely in a towel.
"I apologise. Next time I will check." She replied, making a small gesture with her hand that provided him to be fully dressed, towel hanging over one shoulder. He made a sound in the back of his throat to show he didn't believe her.
"So, where am I?" He asked her, surveying the club from their vantage by the end of the bar.
"A plain separate from both the living and non-living worlds. This is its main feature, the club called Nightlife, from where the plain derives its name." Fate explained, although her tone showed that she was a little distracted with other things at that time.
The man glanced at her unfocused eyes and knew that she wouldn't be sticking around much longer to answer his questions.
"What am I doing here then?" He asked quickly.
"I just need you to watch over things for a while." She replied.
"And what exactly does that mean?" He asked nervously.
"Monitor the ether of preordained, locate any source of disruptive influence and remove it. This plain needs to maintain complete order otherwise its aim is void."
"So, like that guy?" He pointed to the purple-suited man who was by now just nearing the teen table. To the man Fate had called everything in the club was moving in slow motion, but he supposed that was just Fate giving him extra time to understand his assignment.
"Oh no. He's merely Dark by nature. You need to learn to differentiate between the two. You will know when you see someone who is not meant to be here, as opposed to someone who is conflicting to your own personal position in life."
"Okay." He replied, dubiously. Fate smiled encouragement.
"You'll be fine. And now I really must be leaving."
"Wait!" He called frantically at her fading form. "How long will this take?"
Fate paused, her image hanging in the air like mist. "I'll let your wife know you won't be home for dinner." And then she was gone. He swore, and then swore again as time seemed to resume its normal pace.
"Great. Just great." He grumbled.
"Can I get you a drink sir?" A barman said from his right. He looked over and sighed.
"I don't suppose you know how to make a Kn'ird Cil-o-hacla?"
"Can make it but I can't pronounce it." The barman replied cheerfully. Fate's messenger, now acting as a watchdog, looked impressed.
"In that case I'll have a triple." When the barman looked a little concerned for his health he encouraged him, "What are you waiting for? And don't forget to give it plenty of time to stew."
As the barman shuffled away Fate's messenger noticed the clock above the assortment of liquor bottles behind the bar was glaring at him.
"What? I need to be unfocussed. This is the easiest way to do it." The clock kept on glaring so he turned his back on it.
"Not as though my mother's going to find out." He grumbled to himself. He then clapped a hand over his mouth and looked around nervously. Luckily no jinx appeared.
"Wow," he laughed hesitantly, "this place is preordained. Unreal."
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AN: Yeah, I'm leaving it there. The next chapter will continue on directly from this one though. And it seems you guys actually DO want plot. -_-' What did I ever do to you?
Disclaimer: Don't own Batman, Van from Zoids: Chaotic Century, Ranma from Ranma ½, or even the man with the 'waxy-white complexion'. Though most of you can probably tell who he is I'm not spoiling the surprise for the minority who feel I need to improve on the descriptive skills. ^_^
Tell ya what, guess who he is and what flavour ice cream he would be and if you've got the right person then your ice cream guess will be incorporated into the next chappie.
Mufassa: 'Is that a challenge?'
Scar: 'Temper, temper. I wouldn't dream of challenging you.'
Zazu: 'Pity, why not?'
Nightelf: Why not indeed? (And no I don't own the Lion King characters or the lines they spoke either! _ ). So get those creative juices flowing and leave your answer in a review!
And what exactly did Fate's messenger order anyway?
~_^