A Nobody

by Jebest4781

Living a new life in another reality, Naruto now must handle a lot of complications of him interacting with various heroes, villains and anti-heroes. How will things go with them interacting with a Nobody. NarutoXHarem Rated M for language, violence and lemons. NarutoXDC ComicsXKingdom Hearts Please leave reviews. On Hiatus.

53. Holiday Knights

Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Naruto, Disney, Square Enix or Detective Comics. They rightfully belong to their respective owners.

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

Radio/TV

"Headset/Flashback"

-Scene Shift-

Chapter 53: Holiday Knights

Ah~ mid-December... The Holiday season has come closer and closer to Gotham.

Sure, a lot of people prefer the start of the holiday season… before Thanksgiving… for some God awful reason. I mean seriously, it wasn't even December at the time and yet Christmas music started hitting the airwaves! Just start the Christmas season at the traditional time like a lot of normal people out there!

...Sorry… I have issues with this particular topic.

*COUGH* *COUGH*

Even without snow; the grey, weary city seems to sparkle in the cold. Many prefer this way as they particularly like the snow all that well. Others wish for it. Yet so far in this Winter, snow hasn't bothered touching Gotham at all.

Even during it's time for celebration…

For dreams to come true…

And for Angels of Light and Darkness alike to do their work leading up to the Holidays.

-December 17th, Mayfield's Department Store-

Standing in line through the toy section of the building, Naruto was waiting patiently alongside a bunch of other parents for a very particular item which apparently is all the rage recently.

"...This is the last store in town with the Beebo dolls, Pam." Naruto spoke over the phone.

"Are you sure, Naruto?" She said in a worried tone.

"Afraid so. I even had several clones go all around in hopes of finding the weird Elmo knockoff. Yet they were sold out at said locations." He said with a small silence barrier around him so no one would hear that detail. "Not even Wacko Toys, the city's main toy store."

The whiskered Uzumaki already got all of the Christmas presents he needed for his friends and loved ones. Even giving his employees their Holiday bonuses like every other past year, except for the first few years when he was getting it up and running.

Yet upon the birth of his three daughters last weekend, Naruto needed to buy a lot of things for their sudden arrival.

Clothes shopping was already taken care of the day after fighting Grimley. He, his lovers and young ward knew that Rose, Hazel and Thorn would quickly outgrow them -due to their possible accelerated aging- they were going to be useless. Luckily they got enough outfits that'll help take care of things until they're roughly Rachel's physical age. And as for the outgrown attires Naruto would just donate them for the needy.

Asides from this, the adults didn't know if the toys they previously got for the three sporelings would fully suffice. And with Christmas coming up soon, Naruto and his lovers wanted to get the newborns something special from each of them.

For the current situation, Naruto thought getting an electronic plush doll that looked like Elmo and the Cookie Monster had a child would've been quite easy… Apparently not, despite his luck.

"Then what if-"

"Honey, I promise. I am not leaving without one for the girls." He said before giving a quick goodbye and then hanged up.

"Every kid needs a Cuddle Me Beebo doll, right?" Said a man standing behind the whiskered publisher.

Pocketing his phone, Naruto gave out a sigh. "So it would seem."

Suddenly at the front of the line, a woman rushed out and gave out a cheer as she held up a Beebo doll. "I got one! I can't believe I got one!" She yelled out before running to the cash registers.

Looking onward, Naruto spotted one of the managers stationed in the toy section of the store was walking their way as everyone mildly chatted with each other. Picking up his voice, the Uzumaki spoke towards the store employee. "Hey, I don't suppose you can tell me how many Beebos you have back there?"

Hearing this, the manager spoke up with a plastered smile. "Oh there's plenty, folks. Don't worry about it." Suddenly a dressed up employee came up to the manager and whispered something into his ear. The manager cringed a little before speaking once more. "Actually, we just ran out of them."

This resulted with everyone waiting in line to give out complaints and groan for their wasted time.

"Uh, but you just said-"

"I'm sorry, folks."

"Then when will there be another shipment?" Naruto questioned with many customers wondering the same thing.

"We are expecting a new shipment in February."

"...February? I don't think my girls will wait until February." Muttered the former shinobi before thinking to himself. 'Though with their possible growth rate, their brain chemistry would have them no longer like the doll by that month.'

"Wait!" Called out someone from behind Naruto. "There's one more Beebo right up there!"

And in odd synch, all of the waiting customers gasped and saw one Beebo doll sitting on top of the large shelf. They suddenly charged right through the little barricade and started climbing up store property or each other in hopes of acquiring the desired toy of the Season.

As this occurred, Naruto hanged back and scratched his head. 'Wow… this must've been what people were like when the Cabbage Patch Kids dolls came out.' He then shook his head. 'Focus, Naruto, and think.'

His eyes darted all around before they soon landed on several items. With a smirk, Naruto formed a blunted version of his dagger and threw it with pinpoint accuracy at his target in sight. The moment his blunted throwing weapon impacted the latch on a hanging toy airplane, it disbursed. The flying toy slid down the connecting wire before impacting a toy sign. Said toy sign broke free from it's constraint, swung down and impacted the last remaining Beebo doll as it was shot towards the publisher's general direction.

Once the toy of the season fell into his hands, Naruto broadly smiled. "Hah ha! I've got it!" This got every other customers' attention as they whipped their heads towards him. "...Shit."

"GET HIM!"

Naruto whirled around and bolted away from the stampeding customers. He made quick turns into different toy isles before phasing himself through several to help lose his pursuers. At one point, he came across the escalators and ran right down before blending in with the compacted crowd so the pissed off customers from upstairs wouldn't find him.

'Man that was close.' He thought before walking of the motorized stairs. 'Just need to buy this and I'm home-'

Naruto was knocked out of his thoughts as he crashed into someone. They fell onto the ground with the Beebo doll and the other person's belongings joining with them.

"Watch where you're going, bub!" Spoke a young woman's voice.

"Sorry about that." Naruto said as he quickly got to his hands and knees. "Let me help get your stuff."

The woman before him grumbled as they started gathering the items she wanted to purchase.

As the two were doing this, someone could be closely heard from the bustling crowds inside of the mall. "Hey, Morgan, where are you?!"

"Right here, Babs!"

Barbara found the source and saw her friend picking up some of Morgan's desired soon-to-be purchases off the ground with- "Naruto?"

Said man looked up from the ground just as he picked up the last of Morgan's items. "Barbara? What are you doing here?"

"Shopping, obviously."

Morgan snatched her other stuff from Naruto's grasp and looked over to her friend. "You know him?"

"Yes I do, Morgan." Barbara answered. "He's a friend of mine."

The wild blonde blinked her emerald green eyes. "Oh… okay."

The commissioner's daughter walked over and stood between the two. "I should probably introduce you two." Her left hand gestured to the Uzumaki. "Morgan, this is Naruto." Her right hand gestured to the wild blonde. "And Naruto, this is Morgan."

Getting up from the ground -with the Beebo doll on hand- Naruto fully faced Barbara's friend. "Hello there." He said as he held out his hand.

Adjusting the items in her grasp, Morgan soon grasped the publisher's hand. "Nice to meet ya."

Naruto felt the firm handshake as it tightened around his hand. "That's some grip you got there."

Morgan felt a similar feeling with her own. "Thanks. And so is yours."

"Sorry if this sounds weird or anything, but I can't help but feel the calluses in your hand." He said, getting emerald and amethyst eyes blinking when hearing this. "I'm guessing you train with a weapon at times, right?"

"Why yes I do." Morgan responded as she pulled back her hand.

"I never knew that, Morgan." Barbara said with honest curiosity.

"Well you know I'm more used to hand-to-hand fighting, Babs."

"So the weapons…"

"I train with them back at my place. Besides, one doesn't know when you're in a tough situation and you'll need an impromptu weapon on hand if fists won't fully work. Even when your hands are all scraped up and broken."

The spectacled Gordon and the silver haired Uzumaki nodded in understanding and confirmation respectively.

"And what weapons do you train with?" Naruto asked with Barbara thinking the same thing.

"Quite a lot really." Morgan gave a shrug. "With my years of travel with my mom, I picked up on a variety and wanted to study them out of interest."

The two nodded once more Naruto spoke up. "Well it's nice meeting you, Morgan. Might run into you again sometime since you're Barbara's friend."

"Heading out, Naruto?" Asked the redhead.

He nodded. "Need to purchase this," holding up the Beebo doll, "for a Christmas present and all other places were out of them."

"And who's it for?"

"Rachel." He lied since he didn't want to say some other lie to start causing problems. "She wanted to gift it to someone else."

Barbara nodded as she bought the given lie. The Uzumaki soon walked away after giving the redhead a brief 'goodbye', leaving the two women by themselves.

As the two walked around some more, Morgan spoke up. "That was him, huh? The one you talked so much about?"

The spectacled redhead smiled a little. "Yes, he is."

"Heh~ He seems nice.

"That he is."

"Probably enough that you wanna fuck him."

Barbara was about to say something until pausing in her movements and forming a look of shock on her features. "I'm… I'm sorry, but what did you just say?"

"That you wanna fuck him."

An embarrassing blush started for form on Barbara's cheeks. "W-Wha-What are you talking about?!" She practically blurted out.

"With the way you spoke about the guy -whenever he was brought up- along with how close you were to him and giving off a certain look just moments ago just confirmed things." Morgan formed a smirk at Barbara's expression. "Hell, I'm probably thinking -given the opportunity- you'd take him to your home when daddy's not around and chill on your couch while watching a movie before things get interesting." Said the blonde as Barbara's face practically showed the gears were turning in her head. "Or~ discussing further stuff on your book and possibly adding a love scene for it and you need inspiration." Barbara's face was starting to get a little red. "Either way, you throw yourself onto him, straddle him and get all frisky like it's no tomorrow before-"

"MORGAN!" Barbara loudly said in a snapping manner with her skin almost matching her hair.

Morgan took on a cheshire smile as her friend was starting to fume. "Oh or better yet, you surprise him at his work office and-"

"Will you shut up?!"

"Nah~ It wouldn't be as fun!" The wild blonde laughed out as Barbara started smacking her arm like a fuming, embarrassed child. "Besides, you could've stopped me sooner; yet you didn't." Barbara went rigid when hearing that. "Were you too busy quickly fantasizing-"

Morgan was interrupted when Barbara quickly covered her mouth.

"Seriously, shut the hell up!" Whispered out the commissioner's daughter with the meanest death glare she could muster.

All Morgan did was laugh it off once pulling her friend's hand away. "I'm just playing with ya, Babs. No need to get so damn fussy about it."

"Easy for you to say, Morgan."

"I mean seriously, what's the big deal? You have a crush on the guy. Big whoop."

"But he's already with someone."

"Then what's stopping you from liking the guy? Lots of people out there have crushes on others."

"B-But it's not that simple."

"Oh? How so?" Barbara didn't say anything as she tried to think of a response as the redness of her face slightly went down. Upon further reading her expressions right now, Morgan got the idea. "He's your first crush, isn't he?"

"...Yes."

"And from what you've told me, he is a great friend of yours." Said the wild blonde. "And I get the feeling if you confessed, your afraid he might reject you and it'll hamper and effect your relationship. Practically to the point that it'll end sometime not long after." All Morgan got was a downward nod. "Seriously, this is not one of those weird high school themed movies, Babs, with the stupid-ass romances and all that shit. And if I were you; I'd just tell my feelings, be done with it and let things flow." Her emerald eyes then hardened with a far-away glance took hold over. "Because sooner or later if you don't confront and actually tell him then you're only hurting yourself. Seen it happen several times and believe me, it's hardly pretty in the end."

Barbara blinked at this and wanted to say something, yet her wild blonde friend started walking away. "Where are you going?" She asked.

"I need to find the restroom." Morgan responded. "Keep on shopping or whatever. I'll find ya when I'm done, Babs."

As the emerald eyed girl walked into the bustling crowds, the commissioner's daughter was left alone and given time to think things over.

For a while now, Barbara has been coming to terms that she does indeed have deep feelings for Naruto. It's really hard for her to explain it in her own words. From how he comforts her, his warm presence, his helpful and caring nature and much more. Barbara yearned to have more of that in her life and a big part of her wants to keep feeling that way more often than she realizes.

Yet there's this pain the redhead sometimes feels from him that makes her want to return the favor and help him as well. He plays it off at times with a cheerful or neutral mask as he focuses on other matters. But Barbara could tell he's merely burying those feelings, among secrets and a past he often avoids talking about. She wants to break through, learn more about him and experience things possibly dreamed about.

It's things like these are how men and women tend to get attracted with each other on an emotional scale. And as much as she'd want to be with him and possibly form a relationship with him, Barbara knows Naruto's already taken.

Now the daughter of Commissioner Gordon has never met Pamela Isley in order to have her own personal opinion about the botanist. But Barbara knew what she could about her from hearing about her from Naruto, Harley, her father, Rachel and even Dick Grayson of all people.

From what she knows, Pam is a great woman who enjoys nature quite well. She has had quite the troubled past that she buried behind in order to move forward. Yet said past sometimes haunts her every so often with how she lives by each and every day. Having quite a startling injury around the beginning of this year that left her not able to have children and Barbara greatly sympathises with her on that particular detail.

The spectacled redhead knows there's supposedly more to Pamela's character than from what others have told her. She'd like to know more and in order to do so would require meeting the botanist in person.

Yet she's worried -borderline afraid- that if Pam learns she's greatly attracted to Naruto, something might happen and relationships might get greatly broken.

What if Barbara ended up confessing her feelings and ended up throwing herself onto him. Would he respond in kind and accept her feelings or deny them and reject her? Could their relationship become sour and get worse later on or would it possibly work and everything turns out alright in the end.

But if this does happen, would Barbara become a homewrecker? It's truly hard to tell for her as these questions sometimes keeps her up at night and distracts her both at work and training under Vanitas.

(Yet unbeknownst to the commissioner's daughter, Barbara doesn't know of Naruto's unique relationship status -along with his well kept secrets- which might change her thought process if she did.)

'But would telling Naruto about my feelings soon help or hamper me?' Came the thought as she walked by a tie rack. 'Or would it be better to do it later?' As she inspected them and pulled out one to realize her father would like it a lot. 'Maybe later so I could fully prepare myself for my inevitable confession… but not 'too much' later.'

When Barbara made her way to the nearby cashier to purchase her gathered items, the sounds of an ear-piercing wail sliced through the air.

"What's that all about?" Barbara commented.

The cashier could only rub her head a little before responding. "I've heard of kids being afraid of Santa, but they've been crying all day."

"How so?"

The cashier pointed behind her. "See for yourself."

Barbara followed the pointed direction and came upon the realization as to why. Sitting at a Santa Claus display not far away was Detective Harvey Bullock dressed up as the (not so) jolly St. Nick. And standing by his sides were officers Renee Montoya and Sasuke Uchiha as they were dressed up as elves.

As for the sounds, they were made as a child quickly hopped off 'Santa's' lap and ran away crying for his mother.

"You big cry baby." Harvey said before letting out a burp. "NEXT!"

"Oh dear god, I don't believe it." Barbara said before stifling a laugh. Calming herself down, she wondered why they were here in the first place before realization quickly hit her.

Her father was telling her about some thief who's been picking department stores clean. It's been going on for the past several days now and Barbara figured the three currently stationed at Santa's Castle were apart of an undercover operation. Possibly with this store being the next target of the thefts.

'Maybe I'll hang around here until Morgan comes back.' She thought before shifting her backpack a little as her 'nightly' outfit was tucked inside. 'Something might come up and they'll need some Batgirl-esk assistance.'

Over at Santa's Castle, Renee leaned over and spoke into Harvey's ear. "You know, you could be more jolly, St. Nick."

"I agree with Montoya, Harv." Sasuke commented. "We're supposed to be on cover, yet you're scaring the kids. I mean your like that one Santa from 'A Christmas Story' for crying out loud."

"Oh give me a break, you two." Whined the detective. "This is the lamest stakeout I've ever been on."

"At least you get to wear a nice, warm Santa suit." Sasuke muttered as he rubbed her arms. "I'm freezing my ass off."

"You're telling me and yet I've kept spotting a lot of guys giving me the bedroom eyes." Montoya groaned out.

"Wish they didn't or else I'd punch their eyes out."

Renee looked over at her partner and rose an eyebrow. "Oh? And why's that?"

"...Nothing." Was the response as Sasuke turned his head away to hide a small blush from her.

Ignoring this part of the conversation, Harvey spoke to the rookie officers at the matter at hand. "We'd better get some lead on this invisible shoplifter soon or-" The plump detective was soon interrupted as a kid quickly jumped onto his lap. "Hello there. What's your name-"

"You're not the real Santa Claus." Said the boy presently on his lap.

Feeling fed up on this, Bullock leaned forward. "Sure I am. Wanna see my gun?"

In response to this, both officers Uchiha and Montoya slapped the back of Bullock's head.

After paying for her items, Barbara decided to wander around a little to possibly find both the thief and her wild blonde friend. Though if she were to stick around a little longer, the redhead would've seen several mischievous kids pick pocketing several people's wallets.

A new child was soon present as she sat on Bullock's lap. A sweet little girl with innocent eyes gazing upon him. "Hello. My name is Mary McSweeney, Santa." Said the child. "Can you… bring my daddy home for Christmas? It's all I ask."

Harvey looked at the kid funny as he popped a donut hole into his mouth. "Gee, kid, I don't know… Where is your pop anyways?"

"In prison."

The detective froze and soon processed the little girl's last name. "You mean your dad is Mad Dog-" He quickly coughed to correct himself. "I mean, Mike McSweeney?"

Mary gave a small nod.

Harvey leaned back and rubbed his head. 'Poor kid. I sent her old man up the river three months ago.' Was the thought before he spoke to Mary. "Listen, kiddo, it's like this. I'd like to help you out, but… er…" The detective was now sweating at this point as he didn't want to crush the kid's holiday spirit. He calmed himself down and spoke as delicately as possible. "What I mean is… sometimes even Santa can't make every wish come true."

Harvey soon reached into his pocket, pulled out a fifty dollar bill and handed it to her. "Here, kid. Buy yourself something nice."

Mary soon hugged the plump detective. "Thank you, Santa." She said in a brightened tone to her voice. The little girl leaned back and asked 'Santa' a question. "Can I buy something for my daddy too?"

"As long as it ain't a hacksaw, why not?"

Mary soon hopped off his lap before running away with a smile on her face.

"That was rather nice of you to do that, Harv." Renee said to the detective.

"I agree. Practically the most selfless thing I saw you do for a while now." Came Sasuke's response with a smile.

All Bullock could do was groan and scrunch his face as he just gave away his donut money for the week.

Over with Barbara, she was simply browsing around the jewelry department when something was caught from the corner of her eye. Turning over, the redhead saw a kid pocketing a pearl necklace before silently walking away.

Quickly catching up to the little thief, Barbara grasped his arm. "Hold it right there, young-" The child soon pulled his arm as both his limb and clothes quickly dissolved into nothing before running away from her. "...man?" She bewilderedly said.

Back with the GCPD officers, Montoya was paying close attention to the radio and Sasuke was scanning the area… while Harvey was napping at this point out of sheer boredom.

Suddenly, a call was heard over Renee's and Sasuke's earpieces. "Attention: juvenile suspects heading towards Menswear. I repeat: juvenile suspects heading towards Menswear." Said the security team. "There are four of them. All have been observed and reported shoplifting. Detectives and officers are in pursuit."

Hearing this, Montoya quickly pulled out her gun and ran off while Sasuke quickly slapped Harvey's head to get him up.

"What the hell was that for, Uchiha?!" Snapped the detective.

"We're on, Harvey!" Sasuke replied as he ran after his partner.

Realizing this, Bullock quickly got up, ripped off his Santa hat and beard before following after his fellow officers.

Over in Menswear, Renee was able to spot a suspicious looking kid. He spotted her, causing him to run away. "Stop!" She called out.

Sasuke got lost finding his partner, due to the thick crowds. Yet he caught glimpse of a kid running out of the electronics department with an expensive piece of equipment. Realizing it was one of the thieves, Sasuke ran after him.

At one point in the chase, the three GCPD officers were able to corner them and two others as a store employee and a security guard helped close the suspects in. All four started closing the gap to make it harder for the shoplifters from getting away.

The four adults soon saw something quite… off as the four children seemed quite calm in an eerie sense. And before anyone knew it, they grasped each other's hands and… quickly melded together?!

"The fuck?" Harvey blurted out.

Suddenly all four child bandits quickly melted and started to reform into a brown clay-like substance. Their limbs and clothes started to blend together as the one color became more prominent. And it wasn't long before the misshapen form took on a monstrous appearance as jagged teeth was shown from it's mouth along with yellow eyes staring right back at them.

"HO!… HO!… HO!"

"Holy shit! It's Clayface!" Yelled out the store employee.

Matt Hagen could only smile before shooting out his hand towards the GCPD officers. Renee and Sasuke quickly knocked Harvey over to avoid the ground breaking hit. And this act ensued mass panic as the surrounding customers started running for safety.

Seeing this occur, Barbara whipped her head around in order to find a place to change into her Batgirl persona. Luckily for her, she saw a changing room not far away from her position. Upon entering the changing room, she quickly looked at her watch before getting into action.

Barbara soon took off the necessities before pulling out her crime fighting outfit from her backpack. She quickly slipped on matte leather pants and jacket before getting her gloves and combat boots into their respective places. The redhead then attached the other parts of her outfit before shoving her civilian attire into the backpack.

'Forty-eight seconds.' Batgirl thought as she rushed out of the room. 'Not bad at all! Can't wait to tell Vanitas this that I broke my minute record.' And before getting any further, the female Bat quickly slid her belongings in a secure place so no one would take her stuff by mistake.

As Batgirl arrived on the scene, she saw what damage the former movie star did to the area. From the broken displays and ruined floor along with injured people trying to flee.

"Hold it, freak, or we'll drill you!" Harvey yelled out as he and his fellow GCPD partners aimed their glocks at the meta-actor.

All this did was give Hagen a good chuckle. "Oh~ You're scaring me, tubby." Clayface mocked. He then stalked forward, causing the officers to open fire yet their bullets were ineffective. "Well now you know it was me behind this Yuletide shopping spree. So what. Minor setback, that's all." Hagen reared his head back and spat out clay loogies at their sidearms, rendering useless for the time being. "And great thing about being a shapeshifter…" He said before his head morphed into different people's identities. "I can blend in with the crowd outside make my getaway and rip off some other joint." His hand soon formed a giant ax ready to cut down the people in front of him. "Once you're out of the way, ain't gonna be no one to stop me."

'Don't bet on it, gruesome.' Batgirl thought as she took on a running start

Leaping into the air, the female vigilante used the 'Dynamic Entry' kick her mentor showed her as a surprisal move to stop Clayface from harming the GCPD personnel. The attack was very effective as Hagen was knocked off balance with his head caved in. The meta-actor stumbled back and crashed through the nearby window before falling to the ice-rink outside on the ground floor. The force from the fall broke through the ice-rink with many skaters and onlookers to pause their actions.

Landing onto her feet -with a little fumble due to being on ice- Batgirl yelled out towards the civilians. "Run! Clear the area! Now!"

Everyone nearby complied with the order as they fled the scene. As this happened, Clayface rose from the icy, cold waters and growled at the female Bat. Forming razor sharp claws in his hand, the meta-actor slashed at Batgirl's back. Said protege felt the blow and was thrown forward due to the force of the offending attack.

Rising onto her feet, Batgirl saw the current state of her cape. 'Oh man~ this is gonna take at least an hour to mend back up.' She thought before glaring at Clayface. "How the hell did you get out of Arkham, Clayface? I thought you were still there ever since Vanitas brought you in."

The meta-actor merely chuckled. "Let's just say the one there is just an empty, dried up shell. And this cold water may slow me down, little Bat, but not enough to keep me from waistin' you!"

Running outside, the GCPD officers saw the current events before them. Rushing towards the ice-rink, Bullock yelled out the order. "Aim high!"

Officers Montoya and Uchiha compiled as they shot their target while not hitting Batgirl by accident. Bullets pierced through the meta-actor and was ineffective like before back inside.

Seeing this, Batgirl jumped back to further her distance from her opponent. The masked Gordon looked upwards and formed an idea. She was about to pull out a batarang and throw it at the hanging Santa electric display above the rink before Clayface knocked her away, thus ruining her throw.

Recovering back on the ice, Batgirl turned her attention to the officers and spoke out to them. "Don't waste your ammo on him! Shoot the Santa!"

The GCPD officers ceased their firing before Bullock took pause and looked at his partners. "You wouldn't dare."

Renee could only facepalm on what the detective was implying.

"Not you, dobe!" Sasuke said before pointing upwards. "That Santa."

Snapping back into action, Harvey quickly joined his partners in shooting the display Santa up above Batgirl and Clayface. As this occurred, the female vigilante had to slide, roll and jump to avoid the meta-actor's attacks. And she had to stay at a confined radius in order to keep Clayface in the icy, cold water for her distraction to work.

It didn't take much longer as the electric wires finally broke free, swung down and knocked the escaped Arkham inmate back into the water. When he tried to get back out, the wires from the display fell and touched the icy liquid before-

"AaAAAAaaAAARGHAHAhHAHGgHAaHAHAHGGHAH!"

...the moist, muddy criminal was electrocuted into unconsciousness.

The meta-actor's body fell forward and was about to crush Batgirl from his weight. Yet she was able to scoot back in time before Hagen's body collapsed onto the ice-rink with few cracks forming from his weight.

Batgirl let out a nervous breath held in her lungs. Standing up, she saw several onlookers clap their hands on the feat before them with others taking pictures.

'I better get back and get changed.' Thought the masked Gordon as she carefully walked off the ice-rink. 'Morgan must be worried… or drinking either absence peppermint schnapps or strong eggnog somewhere.'

Holstering his gun, the detective walked over to the unconscious meta and chuckled at the former actor's expense. "Well, so much for Frosty the Lawn Cigar."

Renee and Sasuke could only grown at the bad joke. And it was the Uchiha who spoke up a reply to the bad pun. "You have a way with words, Harv."

"Then this means our case is finally solved and we can wrap this up." Bullock said as he started to slowly walk away so he won't slip and fall on the ice. "Let's get a cup of Joe."

"Not so fast, Santa." Montoya said, getting the detective's attention. "We still have to recover the evidence."

"Oh, no." Harvey groaned out.

Sasuke merely smirked at the detective's expense. "Oh, yes."

"Now roll up them sleeves, Harv." Renee said as she too shared her partner's humored expression.

Harvey hung his head before he rolled up the sleeves of his Santa coat. He then made his way towards the unconscious meta-actor for the evidence retrieval. "Ho... Ho... Friggin' ho..."

-December 20th, Vreeland Estate-

A Holiday party took place inside of the home of one of the Gothamite elites. Many were there for the social event before leaving town for Christmas. It wasn't all that bad as the guests were clearly enjoying themselves in the early evening.

"You know, Bruce, I'm surprised Naruto hasn't shown up to this for this party this year." Spoke the Vreeland heiress as she sipped her champagne.

"Well, Veronica, you know how much he doesn't like attending to these events." Came the Wayne billionaire's response. "With the previous ones, I had to practically drag him here to attend."

Which was true. Ever since Naruto started up his publishing company, he became a pseudo-elite and was invited to many fundraisers and charity events. The Uzumaki was reluctant to show up in order to help boost his company's reputation, despite him already donating quite often throughout the year. But as for parties, Naruto wasn't one to simply tag along for he needed someone to convince him to do so.

"True. Yet it was quite interesting when he brought that one girl with him to this party last year." Veronica thought for a moment to remember the details. "Pretty redhead and the two of us chatted for a bit as Naruto fetched us drinks."

Bruce blinked in surprise when hearing this. "Wait, Naruto brought Pamela here?" He asked before remembering that he didn't attend Veronica's holiday party last year so he wouldn't have really known.

"Oh, you know her?"

"Yes. She's Naruto's girlfriend."

"Really~ Who would've thought. Then again I'm not that close to him than I am with you to know such details."

"Then I should let you know she might become a bit well known now." He said, getting a look in response that read 'explain'. "After the incident at the Botanical Gardens, I decided to pull some strings and had Pamela become the Head Administrator there. She'll technically be working for me since I fund the Gardens as a primary benefactor."

"Well~ Ain't that quite the promotion, Bruce."

Bruce could only chuckle at one of his socialite friends, Veronica Vreeland; a gorgeous red haired, green eyed woman in her mid-thirties. Granddaughter of Staten Vreeland -famous hunter and wildlife conservationist- and daughter of a 3-star US general, Veronica has been involved with numerous charities and fundraisers throughout her life after graduating college. Even more so in order to pursuit a proper husband to truly continue the Vreeland legacy.

Unfortunately for her, she already blew through three marriages so far. This was all due to her past spouses going through the following: first was merely after her fortune, second dealt with abuse (which Bruce helped end for her safety) and her last one past away last year when returning from a business trip abroad via plane crash.

An interesting fact between Bruce and Veronica were their brief flings with each other. First started out back in college after Bruce was dumped by his former fiance, Andrea Belmont. They dated for some time when he first became Batman in order to start out his playboy persona and adjust things accordingly so no one would suspect a thing. And it was the heiress herself who pursued him first as a potential romantic partner in his playboy lifestyle. Yet their on-and-off again relationship could only go so far as Veronica thought Bruce was just too boring for 'boyfriend material'.

Despite this, they've still remained good friends throughout the years.

"So tell me," spoke the Vreeland heiress as she swirled her glass' contents with her hand, "what does Gotham's most eligible bachelor have planned for the holidays?" Her unoccupied hand was placed underneath her chin to adopt a thinking pose. "Skiing in the Alps? Sunning in the Bahamas?" She then formed a coy smile. "And more importantly: who's he taking?"

Scratching the back of his head, Bruce gave his old friend his response. "Actually, I was planning on a quiet Christmas alone, Veronica."

"Really?" Questioned the heiress. Drinking the rest of her champeine, her eyes caught onto something behind her friend, causing her to widely smirk. "I wouldn't tell them that."

"Who's them?"

And that's when he heard it. "BRUCIE!" Turning his head around, the Wayne billionaire saw half a dozen women looking at his way with a mixture of predatory to just outright goofball.

"Brucie! You're standing under the mistletoe." One of the women spoke out.

Bruce looked above him and saw he indeed was standing underneath the festive plant. Bringing his head back down, he quickly adopted a nervous expression as they marched towards him.

"Oh, he's so handsome!"

"Come here, big boy!"

"Give me that!"

"Gang way!"

"He's mine!"

Veronica could only stand there and laugh at her friend's misfortune, who was quickly stepping away from them. "Cheers." She held up her empty glass in mischievous glee.

"N-Now, ladies…" Bruce stuttered out as he was never used to so many women ganging up on him all at once; hoping on either of them hooking up with him for his fortune or having quite the one night stand.

Stepping back at a certain point, Bruce soon felt someone tap his shoulder from behind. Turning around slightly, he felt his necktie getting tugged forward by some woman -whose image was hard to see with the one hallway lights turned off- before she brought his lips to hers. The Wayne widened his eyes on the sudden act before the woman pushed him into the hungry women behind him.

"Oh, isn't he dreamy?~" Spoke one of the women as they latched onto him.

Bruce could only look on as the mysterious woman retreated away while he shuddered in the others' grasps. And it wasn't until ten minutes later when the Wayne decided to leave the party. Wearing his coat to deal with the cold, he heard the several women before call out to him from the doorway.

"Bye~"

"Don't be a stranger!"

"See you soon."

"Call me!"

"Hope to see you on New Years~"

Bruce could only chuckle as he gave the female suitors a brief wave before making his way towards his car. Getting closer and closer to his parked vehicle, the Wayne billionaire felt a presence near him. He stopped walking and looked around as his training took over.

"You can come on out," he called out, "whoever you are."

"You're no fun, Bruce." Spoke a familiar voice to the dark haired man. "Though that kiss I took might as well make up for it." A few feet away from Bruce, a large plumb of pink smoke bursted from the ground before it was cleared away to reveal-

"Zanna?!"

The female magician merely smiled at her old friend, who stepped back in surprise. "Hello."

"What are you doing here?"

"Decided to take a small vacation in between shows." Was Zatanna Zatara's answer. She walked towards him with the smile still present on her face. "And what better way in doing so than to spend time with you."

Bruce scratched his head. "I… don't know what to say, Zanna."

"Thank you while saying your appreciation would come to mind. And since I heard you say you have nothing to do in the foreseeable future-"

"I only told Veronica that I merely wanted a quiet Christmas." He interrupted.

She rolled her eyes. "It's basically the same thing if you think about it, Bruce. Now, before you interrupt me again, how about we go out somewhere? Just the two of us and let things flow from there."

The billionaire thought for a brief moment before forming a genuine smile. "Sure, why not."

"Great. You're driving." She said as she walked away a little and felt the raised brow from him without looking. "What? You thought I merely drove or flown here?"

"...I assumed."

"That's one of the wonders of magic at times, Bruce." She then let out a frustrated sigh. "Yet it does get draining if I overdue that particular spell too many times."

Bruce then saw his old friend take on a whimsical look upon her face as she continued. "Oh how I wish I didn't have to deal with that now. Later on, I just might on my magical control. And things would be so much easier for travel on my shows." She then let out a playful sob. "But alas, I must spend so much time and money on traveling for my magic performances." The magician then looked towards the sky and glared while shaking her fist in a comedic fashion. "Why'd you have to leave so soon, Dad?! Things would be much better if you DIDN'T LEAVE ME TO DEAL WITH ALL THIS CRAP SO SUDDENLY!"

All the Wayne could do was sweatdrop on Zatanna's childish antics before the pair went to his car and drove off to whatever caught their gaze.

'Hopefully nothing bad will happen for the rest of the night.' Bruce thought as he drove off the Vreeland Estate grounds. 'I mean, what could happen?'

…..

…..

…..

Yeah~ hope you remember saying that later, Bruce, when your pleasant night with Zatanna goes sideways.

…..

…..

…..

-Later, Gotham Amphitheatre-

Bruce's first instinct was to leave the burning theatre to the fire department so he and Zatanna can continue their evening together. Buildings burn in Gotham every night, after all; whether they be from childish antics, accidents or some sort of crime.

Yet two things changed his mind: First, a report that there were still people trapped inside. And second, the name of tonight's performer: Ivar Loxias.

Reacting quickly, Bruce pulled off to the side of the road -a block away- in order to get into his Batman attire. Yet Zatanna was able to shave off a good chunk of time with a quick spell which magically got him in his 'evening' wear on in a flashy instant. The costumed Wayne quickly thanked his old friend before making his way inside of the burning amphitheatre.

The moment the Dark Knight got inside the main performance hall, he saw a pair of stage performers trying to to get what appeared to be a casket opened, yet there's no such luck.

One of them yelped by the intense heat that was on the casket. Turning over, she then saw the Bat landing on stage. "Please, you've got to help us!" She yelled.

"Katy's locked inside!" Spoke the second stage performer.

Without hesitation, the Caped Crusader punched a hole into the casket and started ripping it open. A feeling of dread quickly filled his core on what lied inside. And it was quickly confirmed as his instincts crushed any lingering hope the two stage performers had. For this Kathy was long gone even before the bat-themed hero pulled the cloth gag from her mouth.

'The smoke probably got to her before the flames did.' Thought the Bat as he heard the shocked gasps behind him. He took hold of the performer's dead body with one arm while the other pulled out his grappling gun. Aiming up high, he fired the hook before looking back to the two performers. "Grab on!"

Getting the message, they quickly latched onto the Bat's back before he propelled them away from the roaring flames to safety.

Upon reaching for safety at the streets outside, the fire trucks soon arrived as the firefighters quickly went to action. Pulling out their hoses and connecting to the nearest fire hydrant before spraying down the exterior flames to stop it from spreading to the neighboring buildings. And not long after did the ambulance arrive for any possible injured people.

The two stage assistants let go of the Batman's back so he may properly deliver the dead body to the medical workers. They can handle things from there while attending to the two performers' injuries.

As this was being done, Batman went back into the shadows and made his way back to Zatanna. She would no doubt be curious to what occurred as she was quickly interested with the fire being involved with Loxias' performance.

Something she took great interest in apparently.

Upon arriving back to his car, the costumed Wayne saw his old friend pacing back and forth with her fingers drumming against her arms. Stepping closer, the Bat made his presence known, causing her to jump in surprise.

Turning around, the female magician glared before slapping his arm. "Don't do that!" She growled. "You know how much I hated that when you traveled with us."

"I know." He responded with a ghost of a smile that was hardly scene with his hero attire on.

Part of his training away from Gotham involved the silent walk. It was great for stage hands when they didn't want to be spotted on a darkened stage during a live performance. Whether they be for live concerts, presentations or in Bruce's case the magic/illusionist variety.

The silent walk was a great asset Bruce later perfected over the years so no one could tell if he was in a room and even taking down criminals when they least expected it.

The Wayne practiced this trait quite often during his time traveling with Zatanna and her father. Though he unintentionally scared the hell out of the young magician by this act, causing Zatanna to comedically slap him silly with her father getting a good laugh upon seeing the occurrences.

Calming down her beating heart, Zatanna asked a simple question. "Did everyone make it out alright?" She got a brief 'no' in response. "Then… someone died?"

"Yes, a stage performer named Katy." He answered before seeing a shocked expression mared her face. Batman quickly deduced the particular expression across her features and spoke for confirmation. "You know her, don't you?"

Zatanna gave a saddened nod. "She... she was a former assistant of mine when I first started out. Hired her on and after a few performances, we became good friends."

"Then how'd you know she's the Katy you know?"

"Ivar Loxias." She breathed out with her head hung low. "When she wanted to work with a different illusionist troupe, I recommended her to him since I was good friends with him while my dad was still alive."

"Yet something happened."

"Indeed something happened." She said with such disdain in her voice that was probably at the same level she had towards Montague Kane; maybe more. "Things became… bad in our relationship a few years after Katy joined his troupe."

"Like what?"

"Last month, his trained leopard went nuts and attacked one of his assistants. Last week, two technicians were almost electrocuted to death during a live performance." Zatanna listed off. "Oh and not to mention an innocent volunteer from the audience lost his arm due to a buzzsaw illusion gone wrong."

The Gothamite hero grimly nodded on the details. "Yes, I seem to remember hearing about him on the news lately. But I didn't know it was that severe." Said the Bat before turning around and walking away. "We can talk about this more when we're back at my place. For now, I should head back to find more information."

"You go do that."

He gave a curt nod before quickly making his way back to the ampitheatre.

Upon arriving from an adjacent alley, the Bat peered over to the scene in front of him. He saw the police had arrived for crowd control from many pedestrians and former audience members clamoring about.

"Hey, did you see?!" Spoke out a female attendee. "One of the assistants was burned alive!"

"Heh~ Loxias rules!" Spoke a male one. "I can't wait to see what he does next."

Batman merely narrowed his eyes. 'Hope you still feel that way when you're the victim, punk.'

Slinking closer to the paramedics, the Bat saw Commissioner Gordon talking to a gothic looking man wrapped in a security blanket. Curious as to who he is, he walked closer before hearing the conversation took place.

"...That's true, Commissioner. I usually perform the cremation illusion myself." Spoke the gothic man. "But ever since my accident," he gestured to his right leg with his cane, "I've been giving my girls more time in the spotlight, alongside a bonus for their cooperation."

Getting closer, the Bat quickly deduced the gothic man was Ivar Loxias. His black hair reached towards his chin as it framed his fair caucasian skin tone. He wore a simple pair of sunglasses alongside some jewelry to finish off his darkly attire.

Loxias pulled out a deck of cards and started shuffling them, no doubt as a calming mechanism. "Take away the elaborate exterior, the illusion is simple. The victim appears to be burned alive, but is actually a safe distance away from the fire. I can't imagine what went wrong. The sliding escape panel worked perfectly during rehearsal." The illusionist said defensively as he kept playing with his cards. "All I can offer is that possibly Katy took too long to get free and panicked when the fire started. I tape all my performances to see any errors and correct them for future ones. Perhaps the playback will reveal more."

"I don't want perhaps." Said the police commissioner. "I want to know exactly what happened, Mr. Wiener."

"Call me Loxias, please. I've buried the simple magician that was Art Wiener."

"I will address you as so since it's on your birth certificate and to my knowledge, you haven't legally changed your name. You're just keeping your stage name for some time now. So would you please answer my question, Mr. Wiener?"

Before the illusionist could respond, a voice spoke up. "I'd do as he says." Both Gordon and Loxias looked up and saw Batman perched on top of the ambulance.

"Ah~ the illustrious Batman. We finally meet." Loxias said with a small smirk as he put back his deck of cards away into his jacket.

"It would probably be a matter of time after hearing what you've done recently." The Bat hoped down to the ground and faced the illusionist. "From your trained leopard mauling one of your assistants last month, accidental electrocution on a pair of technicians week, and an audience member losing an arm-"

"I get your point, Dark Knight." Interrupted Ivar. "Yet proper payments have been made to anyone allegedly injured in my performances. And rest assured, Katy's family will be generously compensated for her unfortunate death."

"That's not good enough." Gordon said getting Lexious' attention. "I'm shutting you down."

This got the gothic illusionist rather angry. "You can't do that!"

"I just did."

Ivar gritted his teeth while struggling to get back onto his feet with his cane for support. "Well, the show will go on. If not here, then I'm sure I'll fine suitable-" He suddenly toppled onto the ground, causing Gordon to come up to him.

"Are you alright?"

The illusionist merely shrugged Gordon away. "You'll have to pardon me, Commissioner. Since the accident, I'm not as agile as I'd like." A man in a driver's uniform came up to Lexios and helped him up. He had shoulder-length blond hair, a five o'clock shadow and a faint scar on his left cheek. "Thank you, Bob."

"Anytime, boss."

While escorted into the limo, Lexios continued to speak to the police commissioner. "Continuing from a moment ago, you can't imagine how maddening that is for an active person like myself."

"I honestly have no idea what that would be like."

As the limo door closed, Robert gave the Commissioner a curt nod before making way to the driver's seat and drove away from the scene. Gordon turned over and spoke to his old, costumed friend on getting him the footage from tonight's show to help out on the investigation.

Once getting the tape, Batman gave his thanks before heading back to his batmobile.

-Batcave-

The trip back to Wayne Manor was a quiet one after Bruce filled in Zatanna what occured back at the amphitheatre. Even on the brief conversation he had with Loxias. Once done, the ravenette magician kept quiet as she processed everything in her mind for what will happen back in the infamous Batcave.

"I'm so sorry for your loss, Ms. Zatanna." Alfred said in a saddened tone as he poured a cup of tea for their guest. "I know it must be truly hard for you to experience such a thing. And it will be hard to move on from such an event."

"It really is, Alfred. And thanks, I appreciate it."

"May I offer you something stronger?" He asked as he handed her the china dish.

Zatanna shook her head 'no'. "Tea is fine. I just need to relax myself at the present time."

Alfred gave a curt nod before he served the unmasked Wayne his cup of tea, who was sitting by his batcomputer.

Saying a brief 'thanks' to his oldest, most faithful friend -who soon left with the pot of tea to go back upstairs- Bruce turned his attention to the grieving magician. "Now, mind telling me what caused you and Lexios to slowly drift apart?"

Zatanna sighed before taking a sip from her cup. Once placing the dish onto it's plate, the magician spoke. "Art Weiner -or what he goes by as Ivar Loxias these days- was a good illusionist. Doing some shows every so often while slowly growing his reputation. Yet he became impatient on his slow popularity and started to take drastic measures to jump his reputation a whole lot more. And this happened sometime after Katy joined his troup."

Drinking more of her tea, Zatanna then scooped up a spoonful of sugar and poured it in. "From what I heard from Katy during some past calls, Art became quite intrigued by his exposure to the various criminal mindsets throughout the world, mostly here in Gotham."

Stirring up beverage to properly blend the sugar, Zatanna kept talking. "My former assistant stated he called his new illusionistic craft the perfect fusion of performer and sociopath. Even going so far as to integrating more of that danger into his act. And because of that, I had to cut ties with him." She took another sip and gave a brief nod that her cup of tea was at her prefered, desired ratio before drinking the rest. "And the only way I somewhat caught up with him with either through the news or via Katy."

She then lowered her head while her hand seemed to shake a little. "I... I feel like this is my fault, Bruce. I begged Katy to leave his troupe in our past phone calls. The horror show routine was fine as a gimmick, but Loxias took it too far as of late." Zatanna placed the tea cup down near the batcomputer and looked at her old friend in the face. "Putting his people in danger, then whipping the crowd into a frenzy when someone gets hurt… What professional magician/illusionist does that?!"

"I understand your frustration, Zanna. And I plan on talking to him again." Bruce said as he placed his tea cup down. The Wayne then moved his chair around to face his computer. "I'm sure you'll want to be there for that.

Zatanna merely narrowed her eyes. "Definitely. I've got some things to say."

Bruce nodded before typing on his keyboard to pull up the footage of the show from earlier. "First thing we'll need to review is the recording Gordon gave me of Loxias' show." He looked over to see his old friend hovering over him. "I believe I should warn you now that it's disturbing."

"Run it." She ordered. "I want to see everything, Bruce."

Bruce fast forwarded the footage before playing it right when the cremation act was about to start. "I've gotta ask, Zanna, but I noticed Loxias walking with a cane, yet in this he's not. Was he hurt in one of his own routines?"

"Nothing so glamorous." Zatanna soon saw the look on Bruce's face that read 'explain.' "Six months ago, he was helping his crew move some props onto a van when a loaded dolly rolled back and crushed his leg. Soon after that incident, he taught his assistants how to do the cremation act."

The footage played on with two of the stage performers tying up Katy with Loxias speaking the crowd while waving a cloth in his hand. "Katy told me Loxias discovered the audience liked the idea of a girl in peril, so he added more bondage into the works." The pair soon saw the illusionist tie the cloth over Katy's mouth. "He soon developed tastes of his victims tied up nice and tight. Claiming the impact is heightened by... Wait a second..."

"Zanna?"

"Pause the footage and rewind a bit." Bruce did just that. "Now zoom in on Katy." Typing a series of commands, the image focused more on Katy's head. There they saw Katy with a horrified expression across her features all of a sudden. "Look at the way she's struggling. That's not an act, Bruce. She's trying to shake off the gag! Something's wrong with it."

Bruce nodded while standing up from his chair. He walked over to his scanner and pulled out the same cloth from earlier from his utility belt. "I'm glad I kept this when I removed it earlier." Scrying through a series of keystrokes, the scanner activated before an analysis popped up on the computer screen. "It seems it's not poison, Zanna, but oil-"

"From walnuts." Finished the magician, earning a curious look from Bruce. "Katy's violently allergic to a large variety of nuts. She couldn't even touch a tree nut without breaking out in a rash. Hell I once saw her accidentally take a bite of cashew chicken. She had a bad reaction and I was lucky I'm licensed in several forms of first aid or else she wouldn't have made it to the hospital in time."

"The gag must've been heavily coated with walnut oil. Katy suffered an anaphylactic reaction that shut down her respiratory system." Bruce and Zatanna looked back at the screen as the rest of the footage played out before everything went downhill. "It was meant to look like she either asphyxiated from the smoke or was burned to death."

"But why Katy? She didn't have an enemy in the world."

"That's what Loxias will tell us." Said the Wayne as he wore his mask once more. "Ready to go?"

"Give me a second." Zatanna stepped back and focused her magic through her hands. "Gnikrow sehtolc raeppa! (Working clothes appear!)"

Soon a flash of light surrounded the female magician's form for several moments. The Bat had to briefly close his eyes from the light before opening them back up to see his old friend in her stage attire.

"You seem to be practicing without your wand as a conduit." The bat-themed hero got a raised look from her. "What?"

"You seem to know that detail a bit too quickly."

"You can thank Naruto and his ward for filling me in on quite a lot of information on the magical variety."

"And how would they know?"

"His ward has magic and is taught by a resident practitioner, who I haven't had the chance to meet yet."

"Really? Who?"

"Jason Blood."

She blinked on Batman's answer before giving her response. "Really? Blood's taken in a student?" Her voice took on a surprised tone. "After all these years?"

"Anything special about him?"

"Quite a lot actually." Zatanna said before shaking her head. "I'll fill you in on him once this mess with Loxias is done and over with."

The Bat nodded before they made their way to the batmobile and took off.

-Ivar Lexios' Mansion-

The gothic illusionist stood outside of the loading dock of his home where several men were placing several crates into the truck.

Gone was his attire he wore in his performance earlier this evening. For his current attire consisted of baggy jeans and black t-shirt along with his cane on hand, which helped support his weight.

"And that's the last of the load, Mr. Loxias." Said one of the workers.

The illusionist nodded as he smiled. "Good. And you boys have the location for tomorrow's show?"

"Yeah, it's right here on the form." The worker said, looking on his clipboard. "But I've gotta ask about this."

"About what?"

"Well~ we've been contracted for you for roughly five years and this stuff you're using now... I mean, this is practically hazmat stuff."

"It's none of your concern, Davy. Just bring it to the location of my next show and set it up. I'll handle the rest." Said the gothic magician. "Now, do you understand?"

"...Yes, sir."

"Good. Now finish loading and go."

"Why's that, Mr. Loxias?"

The illusionist stepped further into his home before answering. "I'm expecting company soon."

It was about fifteen minutes later after the crew left when the batmobile pulled in front of Ivar's home. The hood of Batman's vehicle pulled open before the vigilante and female magician stepped out. Upon reaching the door, Zatanna pressed the doorbell with a buzzing sound coming off from the nearby speaker not long after.

"Yes, who is it?"

""Ivar, it's Zatanna."

"Zatanna?" The Bat and magician then heard some shuffling on the other end before they heard Loxias speak again. "Wow, it really is you. It's been ages. Why'd you come?"

"I need to talk to you about Katy."

"Ah~ I thought you might. And it seems you've brought a friend, with how I'm seeing you two on the security monitor." The pair soon heard a series of locks open up from the front door before it opened up on it's own. "Come on in. You'll find me in the theatre."

Stepping inside, Zatanna and Batman made their way through the halls in order to find Loxias' whereabouts.

Passing buy a trophy/memorabilia hall, the magician spoke. "It doesn't make sense. I've known him since he was working shell games at the county fair. We've even done shows together, appeared on TV… But why would he risk all this? Why would he kill? And don't you say it's because of a mid-life crisis bullcrap."

"Maybe that accident snapped more than his leg." Came the Bat's response.

Once finding the theatre, the pair saw Loxias sitting in some goady chair in the middle of the stage with several magician props spewed about. From an Iron Maiden, a guillotine, a hacksaw with boxes and a water tank. "You're lovely as ever, my dear Zatanna. And I'm sorry our visit couldn't have come at a happier time."

"I'm not here to be sociable." Zatanna said as she and the Bat walked closer to the stage. "We watched the playback of your latest show, Loxias. Katy was already dying when you put her in the cremation illusion."

"Give us one reason to believe you didn't cause it." Spoke the Batman as they walked up the steps.

All the gothic illusionist did was give out a wiry smirk. "It took me a long time to get motivated after my accident. But once I made the commitment to perform again, I couldn't believe how much I missed it." The man leaned forward as he pulled out a pair of sunglasses from his pocket. "Awakening long dormant skills, stretching the old muscles again. And the reaction from the audiences was absolutely intoxicating."

Loxias then stood up as he wore his darkened spectacles. "But as always, there was this nagging little voice in the back of my head telling me I should do more. Bigger effects with bigger payoffs." He waved his arms upwards with a chuckle. "Not just the possibility of injury, but the certainty of it. And did the audience eat it up! Oh~ before long the kids were coming just to see the blow flow! I was on an all-time career high!" He breathed out as sigh as he twirled his cane. "Of course, some sacrifices had to be made. Katy, for example."

The mere mention of her former assistant got Zatanna to narrow her eyes on the illusionist before her.

"She had gotten unpleasantly vocal about the risks I was taking as of late. The girl had even taken to snooping around in my personal affairs." Loxias gave out a shrug with a growing, dark smirk. "Well, you know how protective we magicians are of our secrets, so the kid just had to go."

He looked back and forth between Batman and Zatanna, who gritting her teeth in anger. "While it's true the sliding panel on her coffin was working, I did rig the illusion's fire jets to explode and set the fire on stage. And just to make sure she didn't take any bows, I surprised her at the last second with that oil-soaked gag." The gothic illusionist's smirk widened as his gaze heavily landed on the true magician in the room. "I'll tell you what, there's a world of helpful information to be found in your former employee's medical files."

This got Zatanna to finally snap and growled out her anger. "I have never wanted to hurt another being as much as I want to hurt you!"

"Me first."

Without warning, Loxias quickly pulled out a gun from behind his back and fired a round into Zatanna's throat.

"NO!" Cried out the Bat.

Zatanna fell onto the floor and started choking with blood pouring out from her mouth and throat. The Caped Crusader went to her side and tried his best to help her in this unforeseen predicament.

"Hahahaha! You're so surprised. Doesn't the very nature of magic tell you to expect the unexpected?" Loxias merely watched on as he paced around a little with the chaotic scene before him. "Just when you think you've figured out all the angles-" the gothic illusionist soon kicked Batman across the head, drawing blood in the process. "Along comes a new twist!" He ducked from Batman's punch before twisting the handle for his cane as he pulled out a hidden sword inside of it. "And that which you dismissed as harmless-" Loxias then stabbed the Bat in the chest before kicking him into the goady chair where metal clamps suddenly latched onto his wrists. "Always has a hidden bite!"

Despite his bleeding side, the Bat of Gotham struggled to free himself from his confinement. "THIS ISN'T A GAME!" He roared out. "SHE'S DYING!"

"Ah~ ever the hero." The gothic illusionist pulled out a remote from his pocket and pointed it towards the goady chair. "So concerned with the welfare of others, he never considers what might lie in wait for him." Pressing the central button, the bat-themed vigilante felt sparks running through his system as he was getting electrocuted. "It's nothing pleasant, I'm afraid."

Releasing the pressure placed on the button -causing Batman to lean forward to catch his breath- Loxias grabbed ahold of Zatanna's body and lifted her up from the ground. "Forgive me, my dear. I had to make sure we wouldn't be interrupted." All he got was several pained grunts and gobbles with blood spill pouring out from her openings. "You see, there's a trick you do that's always left me mystified."

The illusionist then carried the female magician's body to the nearby water tank and climbed the steps to reach the top. "The water torture cell~ the way you perform it is without peer. Houdini himself would be proud."

"DON'T YOU DARE!"

Loxias ignored the Bat as he pulled open the tank's lid. "And yet, some of the more jealous practitioners of our art claim you use a little extra hocus-pocus to effect your escapes." Loxias slipped Zatanna's body into the cold water before quickly shutting the lid. "Chant a word or two backwards and forwards and poof! Out you come!" He quickly sealed off what means Zatanna had to escape -with the lid screwed tight with a lock snapped in for good measure- as she pounded at the glass with one hand while the other held onto her bleeding throat. "Which was the reason why I had to remove that temptation. So sorry to do it so roughly, but I used my last hanky earlier tonight."

As Loxias walked down the steps, Batman could only look on as he saw Zatanna bleed out in the water and barely hanging onto life. The Bat of Gotham was then snapped out of his concentration as Loxias pressed his remote button again to electrocute him once more.

"I say she'll be out of there in several minutes, unless her bleeding out to death beats her to it." The illusionist came up to his confined prisoner and peered into the Bat's eyes. "Wanna put money on it, Batman?"

The vigilante didn't know if it was the electrocution -once it ceased- or peering into the illusionist's eyes. Things started to click, causing the Bat to grit his teeth. "I should've known from the start..." He balled his fists and glared at the smirking man. "Your cruel dismissal of Gordon."

"Ah~ so you've finally figured it out." Loxias stepped back with a cruel grin spread across his face. "After all, it was a dead giveaway~"

"The references to your accident, the cavalier admission that you had buried Art Wiener..."

"Misdirection, Batman. The magician's and illusionist's greatest weapon. Something I should've adopted ages ago." The illusionist twirled around before his back faced the Gothamite hero. "Make the people look only where you want them to look." He brought a hand towards his throat and massaged on it. "Make them see only what you want them to see." The goth's other hand went towards his chin and ripped off a thick layer of skin as his voice seemed to change. "Reduce your mark to witless confusion and then play your final hand." The thick layer of skin traveled all over as bleached white skin was revealed underneath with matted green hair and ruby lips appeared.

"Admit it, old buddy old pal." The man said with a growing cheshire-like grin as he tossed away his realistic mask. "I gotcha~ I gotcha real good!" He then bellowed out his signature laugh -which echoed out throughout the room- while electrocuting the Batman once more. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"H-How…" Struggled out the vigilante.

"Hmm?" The Joker questioned as he turned off his device. "I'm sorry, but I didn't quite hear what you were trying to say. Speak up, would you kindly?"

Still feeling the pain coursing through his body, the Bat endured and spoke his question. "How'd… you survive-"

"That shark attack those months ago?" Finished off the crazed clown. "I can honestly say it wasn't all that great, Batsy. I mean, beaten up by you and your friend, Vanitas back at the aquarium when all I wanted was my Joker fish trademarked for crying out loud!... Along with having some revenge on Uzumaki in the process."

The Joker paused his actions and scrunched his face as if he was trying to remember something. "Oh~ where was I?" He snapped his fingers in remembrance. "Ah that's right, the shark attack." The clown pulled up his shirt a bit to reveal several shark bite marks. "Well I did get chewed up a bit by the bastard before I wrestled myself free -don't ask- and swam to safety after emptying my clip into it's noggin."

The Clown Prince of Crime pulled out a handkerchief from his back pocket and started whipping off the skin makeup he had on to fully show his bleached white skin. "For some time now, Loxias had been sending feelers through the underworld trying to arrange an audience with yours truly. Seems Ivar had recently become obsessed with the element of theatre Gotham's Criminals bring to their work and wanted to learn some tricks from the ol' master himself!

Now normally I don't do command performances, but finding myself in reduced circumstances -once he found me drifted off ashore all bloodied and beaten- I decided to help him out as repayment for nursing me back to health. Heh~ Turned out Ivar and I were kindred souls. Natural showmen who love driving our audiences past the breaking point. He hid me here and played nursemaid for some time. In return, I taught him what I knew about poisons, explosives and other playthings. It felt oddly gratifying to have so earnest a pupil while he taught me all he knew about being an illusionist in return so we can refine and better our respective crafts."

Once done cleaning himself of his makeup, the Joker formed a mock-depressed expression across his features. "Though I do feel sort of bad about killing him the first chance I got." His mock expression died as he darkly chuckled. "But as the rattlesnake said to the dying girl 'You knew what I was when you saved me.' Heh! No truer words than that, old friend."

The clown then tossed the cloth away as he continued to smile. "Anywho~, as Ivar had been so kind to me, I thought it only fair that I continue his dream of bringing a new level of horror to magic. We were close enough in appearance that I could double for him. Some prosthetic makeup, fixing my vocal cords to match his voice and no one knew the difference. The mere fact that I now controlled Ivar's mansion, his vast fortune and resources sweetened the deal."

He walked up to the Iron Maiden and traced his finger across the inner spikes. "And I must admit, I loved performing again. Before I became who I am today, I was not all that great and I struggled to make others enjoy my work. But as Loxias, I had a built-in audience primed for all manner of ghoulish delights! Those wicked little angels soaked up all the blood Ivar could deliver and cheered for more!"

The Joker then scrunched up his face and ran his hand through his matted locks to make it all wild once more. "And that was the problem. It wasn't really me getting the cheers. I mean, I'm a star in my own right, aren't I? So called up my boys and took up a small job for Killgore to get me groove back. And of course Catwoman had to screw it up!" He mockly whimpered and shed a crocodile tear. "I just wanted those gorgeous albino hyenas that would've given me comfort. But nooooo~ she had to steal WHAT WAS RIGHTFULLY MINE!"

The crazed clown coughed into his hand to recompose myself. "Now because of this, I decided to finally end this gig of mine while on top and maybe take a few high profile victims along the way before I fully transfer Ivar's funds onto my own." He then walked over to the water tank and patted the glass. "I realized that by killing Katy, I had the perfect means of luring her gal pal and former boss, Zatanna, into my clutches. And who would've thought that she brought you along! HA! That's practically a bonus right then and there!" His ruby grin stretched far and wide as he became all giddy. "It just goes to show what you can accomplish with a little planning and persistence!"

The Batman struggled in his bindings as he tried to break free. The chair may be wired, but it's still a prop. All the Bat had to do was find it's weak spot in the restraints.

"Why haven't you killed me yet, Joker?"

The clown blinked and was baffled upon hearing this. "Kill you? Why would I want to kill you?... Oh wait, I do but not right now." He moved behind the chair and hovered his head besides the Bat. "I just want to knock the fight out of you while you watch her die in front of you. Being so helpless and you couldn't do a thing to stop it."

'Not on my watch.' Growled the Bat's thoughts as he mustered all his strength into breaking free. Yet he was electrocuted once more for his actions.

"Ho-HO! You're a glutton for punishment! I like that!" The Batman fought through the pain and with the adrenaline rushing through his veins, he soon broke free and collapsed onto the stage. "Impressive as always, Batman!" Yelled out the Joker as he pressed another button on the remote. An escape hatch opened up not far ahead before the crazed clown jumped in. "I'd stay and applaud, but the show must go on elsewhere!"

If this was any other situation, the masked Wayne would've gone after the Joker. But this wasn't the time, he needed to save Zatanna!

Rushing over to the water tank, Batman started smashing his fist onto the glass. Hardly any cracks formed to show the material was rather dense. Having no choice, he pulled out a sticky bomb, set it for a few seconds and placed it at the bottom portion of the tank. Stepping back a bit to give himself some space, the bomb soon detonated as water came rushing out.

Batman then ran over and caught Zatanna before she hit the stage, which could've caused more harm to her asides from the bullet wound and almost drowning. Lying her onto the ground, he was about to quickly operate when he noticed… something amiss.

'Her bullet wound…' Thought the Bat with widened eyes. 'It's gone! But how?' He looked back at the destroyed tank and saw something scrawled on the tank hatch above -Leah em! (Heal me!)- written in blood? 'That's right. Rachel told me that a spell written in blood could possibly be considered very powerful in a dire situation.' He turned over to his old friend and performed CPR on her.

If he didn't get the water out of her lungs soon, then she'll drown like anyone else.

-December 21st, Wayne Manor-

A pair of blue eyes groggily opened up as they stared into empty space. Their owner soon moved them around to find her present surroundings. As this happened, she felt rather comfortable and soon realized the ravenette magician was in some sort of bed.

Sitting upright, Zatanna was about to begin the search of her whereabouts when the room's door opened up. Looking over, she saw an unfamiliar blonde woman step in with a tray of either food or something else.

The moment both women looked at each other, the blonde leaned back outside and yelled. "Hey, Brucey! Zanny's awake!" Leaning back in, the woman walked up to the bed and placed down the tray to reveal it to contain tea. "You want some tea? It's a fresh pot of ginger tea with added lemon and honey."

Zatanna was about to speak before she started to cough. The ravenette felt her throat was rather sore, no doubt from getting shot there and using magic to fix the major damage.

Yet not everything could be fully healed right away.

"Yes, I'd like some." The magician spoke in a whisper-like tone.

"Would you like some extra honey with that?" Came a question in a similar tone. Zatanna blinked before raising an eyebrow. "What? Too much?"

The ravenette merely nodded, causing the blonde to mockly pout. Zatanna giggled a little while rubbing her throat to ease the pain.

The moment came to an end when Bruce came walking in and saw the brief interaction. "I'm guessing Harley here was trying to be funny?" He asked.

"I'm just doing what I can for a patient in need, Bruce." Said the Arkham employee. "After all, good bedside manners help a lot in the recovery process." She then hung her head as a depressive, dark cloud appeared over her. "Yet I botched it."

In a small state of confusion, Zatanna reached out and waved her hand through the cloud to see if it was just her imagination or not. Yet she was surprised to feel some moisture there. Even seeing several raindrops falling onto Harley's pale blonde locks.

Looking over to her old friend, the magician saw him mouth out 'Don't ask'.

Suddenly, the bubbly blonde shot up with a grin across her face. "Welp~ I'm gonna get myself more of Alfey's delicious brunch with puddin." She then walked out of the room before poking her head back in. "And yes, I'll be getting you some as well Zanny."

With the psychologist's departure, Bruce looked back and served Zatanna a cup of tea. Once she drank some of the beverage, he asked her the obvious question. "How are you feeling, Zanna?"

"Alive." She hoarsely said. "That's something, I guess." The magician drank more before coughing a little with the throat's pain lessening. "But… where…?"

"My place upstairs."

She nodded with her eyes wandering about. "Can't wait to see the rest of your humble abode." The feminine blue eyes landed back at the doorway. "Who was she?"

"Harley? Oh, she's a friend of mine." He answered before quickly adding in a certain detail. "And before you ask, no, I'm not seeing her since she's dating Naruto."

Zatanna nodded while filing that detail away for later. With that question out of the way, the ones pertaining from last night surfaced. ""What happened to Loxias?" She asked. "I couldn't remember much from, you know, trying not to die."

Bruce sighed. "He's been dead for months."

"...Then how-"

"The Joker impersonated your friend after murdering him."

Zatanna widened her blue eyes while processing what was just said. After several moments, she placed the teacup down and spoke. "So all of this... Katy's death, our torture, the lives hurt... it was simply Joker's way of screwing with us?"

"That's about it."

"...I want to kill him." She then growled with her hands balling into fists. "I want to burn the skin from his bones or turn him to stone so I can smash him into bits! Or- *Cough* *Cough* Or simply vanish him from the face of the Earth!"

After several moments of anger, Zatanna slowly calmed down and leaned her head back against the bedrest. "But if I do that -using magic to avenge an act of brutality- then there will be dire consequences... which I never want to experience." She massaged her head a little before grabbing her teacup to drink more of the herbal beverage. "As... much as I'd like to see out justice in my own way, it's not really my call." She looked back at her old friend with tired eyes. "Your city, your enemy, your rules, Bruce. All I ask is that you let me help you bring him down."

Bruce gave her a firm nod. "That's all I'd ask."

"So should we go now or-"

"You still need your rest, Zanna." Said the Wayne. "Your spellcasting mainly requires your voice and without it at it's best, then you might become a liability."

"I can easily take care of myself, Bruce."

"I know, but I just want to take precautions before we face the Joker."

The magician nodded on the small logic. Finishing up her cup of tea, she asked a question. "Then what do we do until then?"

"Well… what do you have in mind?"

The magician formed a small smile as several ideas popped in her head.

-Hours Later, Lexios' Mansion-

"There's nothing here." Zatanna said in frustration as she and Batman sat in the theatre.

After waking up in Wayne Manor earlier today, Zatanna decided to enjoy the most of it while recuperating. She interacted with Naruto again -after two months- and got to know both him and his blonde girlfriend a bit more. During this time, information was exchanged from Bruce learning more as to who Jason Blood was and Zatanna wanting to meet him and the Uzumaki's ward to measure her up.

By the time Zatanna's throat was fully healed up, she and the Dark Knight decided it was time to continue their investigation. Naruto and Harley offered to help, but were told they'd be contacted later if anything were to come up.

Upon arriving back at Loxias' home, Batman and Zatanna searched the residence for any clues as to where the Joker is currently at. Unfortunately, they were unsuccessful in finding anything.

"Joker left no hard copy, written indication of his future plans." Zatanna rubbed the bridge of her nose while sighing. "And Ivar's computer has been wiped clean too."

"And yet Joker mentioned twice," said the Bat while scratching his chin, "both as Loxias and as himself, that 'the show must go on'."

"What are you getting at, Bruce?"

"Joker's going to stage one final performance tonight -as Loxias- and wipe out his devoted fanbase as his grand finale."

Zatanna groaned. "Well that's just great. But where would that nutjob of a clown have it at?"

"...I may know where he left us a clue."

Standing up from his seat, the Bat ran out of the theatre -with his old friend not far behind- and made their way upstairs.

"Mind telling me what's up?"

"Joker's good at covering his tracks." He answered while heading towards the master bedroom. "He no doubt destroyed his plans as soon as he committed them to memory." Upon entering the bedroom, the Batman made a b-line towards the spacious bathroom. "But he's got a very restless mind. Always plotting, always working out new angles and scribbling down ideas," he went into the glass shower and turned the shower knob with the hot water quickly fogging up the confined space, "no matter where he is."

After several moments, the pair saw a large amount of scribbling plastered along the shower walls. Only visible given the right conditions with finger writing scrawled all over. And it consisted of various song lyrics, stick figures put into gruesome scenarios, different illusionary act ideas, and so much more.

"...First off, wow~ obsessive compulsive, much?" Said the ravenette magician. "And second neat way of hiding notes in plain sight."

Kneeling down, Batman carefully placed his finger next to a series of words. "Saint Jenny, short for Saint Genesius."

"Patron saint of actors and clowns." Zatanna muttered in disdain. "Fitting, but Joker doesn't strike me as the Sunday school type of guy."

"He's not, but there's the abandoned Church of St. Genesius in the East End." He moved his finger over to a number ratio that read 'approx. 900 to 1100'. "It's often used for illegal, midnight gatherings."

"Perfect for Loxias' fans."

The pair then made their way out of the bathroom to make their way outside. "And based on what was written there, at least a thousand of them are about to die."

-Church of St. Genesius-

Peeking through the curtain, 'Loxias' saw the roaring crowd hastily waiting for the show to start. The disguised clown darkly chuckled as he motioned the stage workers to get the show rolling. With everyone getting into place, the laughing man checked himself over one last time as he wore a grim reaper styled outfit for the upcoming performance.

The Joker honestly wasn't quite sure how many would show up. He figured Batman tipped Gordon off to his antics with what was shown in the news and local papers. Yet despite word being spread that the Great Loxias was no more, the fanbase was still at an all time high.

With the illusionist's connections, the deranged clown sent out a massive amount of messages to the fanbase that Loxias' death had simply been an elaborate hoax in order to prepare for tonight's show. And the Joker had hoped for a few hundred, at best.

But for a literal full house was absolutely thrilling!

The curtain rose and the audience roared for 'Loxias' arrival in his current getup. And standing in front of him was a giant casket with his stage performers standing on each side of it for the opening and closing act of the night.

The Casket of Lost Souls: the final and best collaboration idea Loxias and the Joker had created with both working hard on it.

As the Joker ordered the stage performers to pry open the lid, he would spin the crowd some hokum about how the swirling mists will reveal who will live and who will die... Yet deep down, the disguised clown already had a pretty good idea. And the deranged man had to give Loxias full credit for the lighting effects and projector works. Not to mention the floating skulls were quite the inspired touch as they sprang out of the opened casket.

Yet the act's punch-line was all his.

As the normal red mists floated and spread throughout the room, it soon changed into an eerily green color. The audience and stage performers started to breath it in and started to cough in rapid succession. Before long, they started to laugh and laugh before people realized what was really happening.

They tried to escape through the exit, but bars quickly slid down from the ceiling and imbedded themselves into the ground. The moment people came into contact with the metal, they got a large jolt through their systems to show the new addition to the doors were electrofied.

As the Joker laughed as his gag unfolded right in front of him, he was about to jump on down and put his scythe to good use when a grappling hook latched onto his shoulder. He grunted in pain as he was yanked upwards. Looking towards the originator up towards the rafters, the Joker he saw Batman and Zatanna glaring right down at him.

"Look who's back to give me the hook!" Jested the Joker. "Luckily I brought my own!" Swinging his scythe towards the rope, the clown cut himself free before landing on an old, broken church pillar. Yet as soon as the clown stepped onto it, the Bat lunged and grabbed ahold of him in a neck lock. "You're quite the spoilsport, you know that?!"

"I'll take care of him, Zatanna!" Yelled the Batman before the Joker twisted around and elbowed the hero in the face. "Save the audience any way you can."

The magician nodded and focused as she jumped down to several elevated areas before coming across the panicked crowd below. "Nosiop sag nrut ot negyxo! (Poison gas turn to oxygen!)" She said before quickly aiming her wand at the barred entrance. "Eatg raeppasid! (Gate disappear!)"

Two things happened right after as the green Joker gas and the electrified gate sparkled for several moments. The poisonous gas soon evaporated into invisible vapors while the barred entrance faded away. Seeing this happen, the many show attendees and workers rushed towards safety.

Worried on what happened, the magician called out. "Stop! Listen to me! You're safe!" Yet she was ignored. "Dammit! They're too scared to listen. They'll trample each other unless-" She was cut off when broken debris fell right next to her. Looking up, Zatanna saw the fight continue on. "Okay, Smiley the Reject Clown. You want to spread terror through magic? Have I got a trick for you!" Aiming her free hand and wand at the deranged man, she casted a spell. "Ecneidua egnach ot eripmav stab! (Audience change to vampire bats!)"

Back in the fight above, the Batman dodged a swipe from Joker's weapon when both combatants heard a sound of massive screeches and flutter of wings. Wasn't long before a large swarm of bats shot out of the many holes of the abandoned church.

"Oh, cute!" The Joker struggled out as he tried killing -and failing- the bats. "What are these? Your pets, Batman?" He then dropped his scythe once the flying animals started swarming and biting his exposed flesh. "OW! HEY!" He yelled out. "GET AWAY! THIS ISN'T FUNNY!"

"Oh, I think it is." Spoke the magician from her place down below. "You made the audience thirsty for blood, so why not redirect it to drinking yours, Joker." She smirked as she saw the clown get knocked out by her old friend while he was distracted. "Quite the topper, if I do say. Would've been better if he died laughing from the irony."

Sometime later, the police arrived and hauled the unconscious Joker into the police van in order to get him sent back into Arkham. Off to the side, Batman and Zatanna looked around to the many onlooking attendees that stuck around. They were quickly changed back into humans by the resident magician as the little moment of vengeance was fulfilled.

If they ever remember tonight at all, it will only be as a dream. And a rather fond one at that as it got closer to the special holiday of the month.

-December 23rd; Bensonhurst, Brooklyn-

Currently driving down the road to her destination, Harley was talking to her cousin while she's been put on speaker. They've been at it for a while as she's heading towards her parent's home for today and most of tomorrow before heading back to Gotham. And to kill some time along the way, Harley dialed up her favorite cousin in the whole entire world -since she's her only cousin- so they can play catch up.

"...I still can't believe you're dating him of all people."

Harley still kept her smile on her face. "Well I'm a very lucky gal, cuz. Being able to snag such a great guy like him and he's made my life a whole lot more interesting."

"Lucky~ And all I still got from him was an autograph and a pleasant lunch alongside Queen Perdita of Vlatava herself!... I'm not really complaining or anything about the great, yet random moment."

"Mah~ Mah~ I understand you completely, Felicity. Chance encounters are rare and well worth it." Giggled the bubbly blonde before making a left hand turn. "So enough about me, tell me how things are on your end."

"Nothing as interesting like in your end, Harley. I mean, you're working in one of the most infamous asylums -which also functions as a prison- ever known in over a decade. For me, I'm just working at the IT department at Queen Consolidated. Day in and day out I'm doing the same, usual routines that sometimes feels repetitive."

Harley then heard Felicity let out an exasperated sigh. "Sure, there are a handful of assignments and tasks I get from my bosses to keep me occupied and changes the pace I deal with on a daily basis."

"I know the feeling quite well, cuz. Working on specific patients and inmates for so long tends to get dull and repetitive. Others get quite interesting if you know how to truly figure them out. Yet there are moments you'd regret doing so."

"Talking from very personal experience, I take it."

"You have no idea." Harley drawled out. "But there are the rewarding moments which you feel accomplished that you truly helped out the person on their treatments."

The psychologist heard Felicity give out an understanding hum over the line. "I have felt rather good helping out Walter -my boss- on several inquiries, so I don't know if that counts."

"Like what?"

"Started out on finding details to some organization called Tempest, which isn't affiliated with any company or government out there. Yet the group was involved with some warehouse purchase somewhere in Starling. And it was after that some other details came up as they were connected to his wife, Moira."

"Did you tell him about that?"

"Of course I did, yet I ended up threatened on being suspended if I dug back into his wife's affairs."

Harley pondered on this while driving through an intersection. "Maybe he did that just to protect ya."

"...You're probably right." Felicity sighed. "But just how he looked and sounded when saying that was hard to tell. And it wasn't a few days later Walter asked me to look into this odd blank book he found that I soon found out had invisible ink of some kind."

"Huh… And what ya find?"

"A list of names… and it was rather lengthy."

"That's rather strange."

"You're telling me. So I decided to looked into who's who and found out that a handful of them were either killed or befell in a really bad way by our resident vigilante, The Hood."

Harley widened her eyes. "And have you told your boss about this?"

"I actually did before you called me, Harley."

"Hope things turn out well when you did that, cuz."

"Same here."

"So asides from work, have anything else happened on your end?" Harley slowly formed a grin. "Like have you been seeing anyone lately? A cute boy, perhaps?"

Felicity merely snorted. "Like I've had any time because of work."

"And I'm guessing something else is hanging you up on not doing so."

"Somewhat… and I don't wanna talk about it."

Harley nodded. "That's fine and you know that I'm willing to help ya out. After all, I am a psychologist."

Felicity chuckled. "I'll keep that in mind."

"Though I don't come cheap, ya'know. If I ever come over to Starling or vice versa, ya owe me lunch." The Arkham employee could literally feel an eyebrow rising from her cousin. "Blame my neighbors for starting that payment."

"Heh~ I'm actually fine with that. Though if I wanna be honest, I have somewhat been seeing someone."

"Oh~ you have?!" The bubbly blonde practically hopped in her seat. "Tell me! Tell me! TELL ME EVERYTHING!"

"We haven't really gone out at all. He just shows up at the IT department every now and again for small favors to look things up."

"Like what?"

"Pulling out blueprint information for the Exchange Building -which my boss' competitor owned- from a destroyed laptop for starters." Harley rose a brow as her cousin continued. "Finding information as to where this AK Desmond Group was located to helping him out on this so called scavenger hunt his friend was doing some weeks ago."

"That's… rather strange."

"Tell me about it."

"But is the guy still cute?"

The psychologist could feel the smile form on Felicity's lips. "Why yes. Yes he is."

Slowly pulling up to the side of the road, Harley parked her car and got out. "I'm gonna hang up now. I'm by my parent's place."

"Then have a good one, Harley."

"And you have a good Christmas, Felicity."

"...You do realize we're both Jewish, right?"

"I know, cuz, but it doesn't stop us from liking Christmas. With it being so colorful and bright and stuff." Harley whined out. "I can't help but celebrate it along with my family and puddin."

The Queen Consolidated employee laughed a little. "Right you are, Harley. Then happy Holidays. And tell your parent's I said hi."

"You too, cuz, and will do."

After hanging up, Harley went towards the trunk of her car and opened it. There lied half a dozen wrapped presents, in which she awkwardly stacked in her arms before closing the trunk. The bubbly blonde then made her way up to the front door and rapped the wooden surface. Feeling impatient, she started ringing the doorbell a a good number of times before the door was thrown open.

"WHAT?!" Yelled out a pixie haired greying blonde before blinking several times. She then formed a smile across her face. "Harleen?"

"Merry Christmas, Ma!" Harley cheerfully said. "Happy Hanukkah! Blessed Kwanzaa, Happy New Year and all that Holiday stuff! For your baby girl's home at last!"

Harley's mother -named Sharon- could only stare at her only living daughter as she looked much different than from when she saw her last. Gone was her creamy skin tone as a pale, ivory white took its place. Her blue eyes seemed different to her, but Sharon didn't know how to respond to that. And most of all was her near platinum blonde hair with some yellow at every other spot.

Seeing her mother's dumbfounded look, Harley spoke out in concern. "Ma? You okay in there?" She waved a hand in front of her face before snapping her fingers. "Hello~"

"S-Sorry, Harleen, but how'd you," Sharon moved her hands to her daughter's current appearance, "become like this?"

Harley let out a nervous chuckle as she stepped inside of her parent's home. Walking past her shocked mother, the psychologist placed the presents down by the Christmas tree before explaining. "You can blame an estranged patient of mine of having me take a dip in a vat of chemicals."

Sharon became very concerned upon hearing this. "W-Why didn't you tell us about this?"

"I didn't know how to properly bring it up over the phone." Came Harley's answer. "So I decided that 'seeing was believing' in this current case."

"An-And are you alright? Nothing bad happened to you as a result?"

"Oh, I'm completely fine."

'Not really.' Came Foxy's voice from inside her purse. 'I'm the least of the problems that was made because of the Joker's actions.'

A twitch arrived on Harley's eyes. 'Be glad Ma can't hear ya or else I'd toss ya into the roaring fire.'

'Whatever you say.'

"Harleen, is something wrong?" Her mother asked in a worried tone.

"No, I'm good. Why'd ya ask?"

"You paused there for several moments and didn't say anything."

"Oh just… thinking. Yes thinking!"

"...Okay…"

Getting into the kitchen with her mother, Harley could smell dinner being cooked. She licked her lips in anticipation as her ma's cooking was to die for.

"Hey, I gotta ask but is Barry home?"

"Nope."

Harley blinked when hearing this. Her lazy, deadbeat brother is not here of all places? The bubbly blonde then asked the million dollar question that came to mind. "Then where is he?"

"Your brother is out doing a show at some venue."

"...I'm sorry, but Barry is doing what?"

Sharon groaned while stirring the pot. "Your father and I were getting tired of him staying at home all day long. Hell, at the rate he was going with borrowing money from us, we would've ran our retirement fund dry before officially retiring."

"That still doesn't explain about him doing a show."

"Oh, yeah right. So Barry got his visitation rights back with little Nicky and Jenny -your nephew and niece- and the only way he can keep it is getting a job. And the only job he could really get on hand was going with his heavy metal band-"

"HIS BAND?!" Harley blurted out. "Horror Toilette is still a thing? Y'gotta be shitting me!"

"Harley, language."

"...Sorry."

"First off, no the band's name is not Horror Toilette anymore since Barry's not with his old bandmates anymore."

"Then what's it called?"

"Barry's Angels." Sharon answered. "The rest of the band is all female. They play metal versions of James Bond themes and whatever else comes to mind."

"All female?" Harley rose a brow before something clicked, resulting in her forming a deadpan expression. "So, future ex-girlfriends in the making."

Her mother shook her head 'no'. "Two of them are married, bass player said she was gay -probably true or to save herself from Barry- and your brother decided that 'the music comes first'."

Harley snorted while leaning back in her seat. "Yeah, I'd buy that. Then where's Ezzie? I miss that little rat. Heh~ I swear he was put on this planet to cause chaos."

"He's a constant project for us, as ya know Harleen." Sharon formed a smirk and looked over her shoulder to gaze at her daughter. "Your baby brother reminds me quite a lot like you."

"Aw~ come on, I was the perfect kid." Her mother then let out a sigh, which got the psychologist to snap. "Oh no, don't you 'sigh' me, Mom! That's the noise you always make when yer about to rain on my parade with that Matronly Wisdom of yours!"

"...Gonna ignore the fact you called me Matronly." Her mother rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Listen, Harleen. As far as I'd known, you love teaching 'jerkfaces' a lesson. It's who you are and Ezzie picked up on that trait off from you so he could be just like you as he beats up school bullies quite often." She said while hearing a cute 'Aw~' from her daughter. "And if you've forgotten, but you've been doing it since you were around five years old starting with that mailman."

Harley could vividly remember the occurrence her mother was talking about. Walking home from school one day, she saw a mailman kick a helpless puppy that was in his way. The small Harley from back in the day didn't take too kindly to that. So she ripped off the nearby mailbox and whacked the postage employee across the head like a mallet.

"Hehehe~ That was quite the experience." Harley tilted her head before thinking on the additional information. "After I was done with him, he couldn't have kids."

"We did have to bribe the prosecutor, Harleen." Said her mother as she went back to cooking the evening meal.

"Well duh~ breaking a mailman in half is a federal offense… Still, doesn't explain where he's at."

"Last I heard from a call earlier, Ezzie's working late at the mall."

"Then where and how's Frankie?" Asked the psychologist. "Still the school genius? I mean the last time I saw him, he won an award for some jet propulsion thing he did for the science fair."

"Senior in highschool and an honor student with him getting a scholarship to college."

"That's great!" Harley brightly beamed. "But that still doesn't explain where he's at."

"He's with his girlfriend tonight and plans to introduce her to us tomorrow."

"Heh~ Should've brought Naruto along to meet ya."

"And who's Naruto?"

"My boyfriend." Harley absentmindedly said before widening her eyes. 'SHIT! I WAS SUPPOSED TO KEEP THAT IN MY HEAD!'

The sounds of cooking stopped as a scary silence filled the room. The warm temperature suddenly dropped and Harley swore everything darkened around her.

"Excuse me, but what?" Sharon calmly said in a particular tone that frightened Harley to her very core.

Nervously swallowing, the bubbly blonde answered. "M-M-My boyfriend…"

"And how long has this been going on?"

"...Half a year now…"

…..

…..

…..

The bubbly blonde screamed as she ran out of the kitchen in order to escape her mother's suddenly, risen wrath. She thought she could've escaped if she didn't trip and roll into the front door. Turning around, Harley frantically waved her hands over her face as she saw the cooking ladle in her mother's grasp.

"WAIT! WAIT! WAIT! WAIT! A-A-AT LEAST PUT DOWN THE WEAPON!"

"It's not a weapon. It's a cooking utensil." Sharon then smacked the ladle onto the palm of her hand, making Harley yelp. "Though I could use it to dish out something to a certain, idiot daughter of mine…"

"Th-Th-That's a terrifying thing to say!"

The front door then opened to reveal Harley's father -named Nick- as he finally returned home from a long day at the warehouse. The company wanted to wrap up and send out extra shipments for the Holidays since they were closed for the next two days. Nick was fine with it, thus he got paid time and a half for the extra time he clocked in.

"Honey, I'm ho-"

He wasn't even a step in when the out of prison con-artist was interrupted by an all too familiar voice. "DAD!"

Nick quickly saw her daughter -who looked very different than from the last time he saw her- to see the frantic look on her face. He was about to question Harley's current state of duress when he peered past her to see a certain look on his wife's face.

…..

…..

…..

*SMACK*

Harley's father then closed the door, leaving his daughter alone with the furious beast- I mean mother.

Slowly looking back, the psychologist nearly wet herself upon seeing the evil grin across her mother's face. As a result, Harley tried to exit their home through the front door. Yet said door was held shut and realized her father was keeping it there.

"Dad! DAD!" Harley yelled out as she kept banging the door. "OPEN UP THE DOOR! SHE'S GONNA KILL ME!"

On the other side, Nick could only whimper out 'I'm sorry' several times.

"DAD! DAD! DA-"

*TWACK*

"OUCHIE!" Harley whined out as she held a comical bump on her head.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME YOU HAVE A BOYFRIEND?!" Sharon yelled with the ladle still in her hand. "AND WHY DIDN'T YOU BRING HIM OVER?!" Harley's mother then grabbed the nearby photo of her deceased, adopted daughter and cried into it. "Oh Ino. What have we done to have our precious Harley be like this? She should've known better."

"Maaa! Don't be so dramatic about this!"

"And how could I?" Sharon quickly had a dark aura around her and glanced at her daughter, who now got chills down her spine. "Hearing of you having a boyfriend now after all this time without knowing BEFOREHAND REALLY PISSES ME OFF!"

As Harley sat there while nursing her wound, the bubbly blonde kept getting verbally lashed by her mother on the importance of properly introducing one's significant other for the Holidays.

'I regret not bringing puddin with me!' Harley thought with whimpers coming out of her mouth. 'He would've saved me from this!'

-Christmas Eve, Arkham Asylum-

"...Do you know how Victor got out of his cell, Dr. LeLand?"

Vanitas could only stare at the destroyed freezer cell before him with outright confusion. He didn't know what to make of it as his former landlord suddenly broke out and left the asylum.

"Near as we could tell, he ignited the gas in the cooling pipes and blew his cell open. And from what we saw in the security footage, he had a small makeshift device to cool himself down long enough to get his suit from the storage room." Joan responded as she and Vanitas stepped inside. "And here I was hoping we'd have a peaceful Christmas for once."

"Same here."

Tracing her hand at the broken pipe, Joan looked back with a sad look across her face. "It's so strange, Vanitas. Victor was always one of our quieter and respectful inmates. He never tried to escape before."

"Any reason he'd do it now?"

The asylum doctor shook her head. "Not really." She then adopted a thinking pose. "Though he did seem somewhat different this week. Always asking questions about the weather." The pair exited the destroyed freezer cell before making their way out of the building. "For some reason, he kept asking if it would snow by tonight since weather reports tend to not always be accurate. And when we told him the weather reports said no snow would come until January, Fries grew more sullen and more depressed than usual… if that were possible."

Vanitas was about to say something until the two stepped outside and saw snow was falling from the sky. It would've been fine if it was just that, but looking all around showed the scenery was that of a frozen wonderland of snow. From the several inches of snow for as far as the eye could see.

The helmeted hero looked back to see the asylum doctor look on in bewilderment. The vigilante wouldn't blame her before his windlance formed in his grasp. "Looks like he found a way to cheer himself up, Dr. LeLand." He said before taking off into the air.

-On the Streets-

The masked Uzumaki hovered through the air as he had to look for any sign of Victor or any accidents due to his former landlord's actions. Yet it was getting rather hard with the blizzard currently happening right now as it was starting to get worse.

When the call was made earlier from Arkham during his patrol, Naruto told Bruce he could handle the situation by himself since this was a very close friend of his. The Wayne billionaire respected his friend's wishes and left the Uzumaki to take care of the situation.

During his search, Vanitas got a call an hour ago from the people that owned the storage locker facility which kept Victor's and Nora's belongings was broken into. The masked Uzumaki had purchased an extra large one to keep both their personal and homely belongings along with all of Victor's cryogenic equipment and research.

Upon arriving there, Vanitas inspected the contents of the second storage locker and saw that one of the items taken was an experimental snow maker.

Yet the snow maker wasn't exactly experimental, per say. The device actually worked when Naruto saw Victor use it one time during a hot summer. Nora loved it so much and roped her husband and tenant into having fun in the snow, especially since she wanted to build a snowman rather badly.

Neither men could say no in the matter as they wanted to no longer deal with the heat.

The three had a fun snowball fight, had snow cones and even made a few snowmen with Nora calling one of them Olaf; something off from her family traditions. They would've had more time playing in the recently made snow on other hot summer days, but the formula for the snow maker was a bit costly.

Yet the experience was priceless… especially with what happened shortly… with Nora getting sick.

Flying over some intersection, Vanitas saw a car hydroplane across the road and was about to run over what appeared to be a mother/daughter pair. Diving in quickly, the hero snatched the mother and daughter just in time before the swerving car crashed into a nearby building.

Setting them down, Vanitas was soon thanked by the mother. "Thank god you saved us. I thought we would've died."

"It's no problem, ma'am." Vanitas said. He was about to check on the driver when he felt his waistcloth getting tugged. Looking down, the hero saw the little girl have a curious expression on her face. "Yes?"

"Are you an angel?"

"...Maybe."

Walking over to the crashed car, Vanitas saw the driver get out and start kicking his vehicle. "Fucking piece of shit."

Coming up to him, Vanitas grabbed his shoulder and swirled him around for a brief face-to-face chat. "I highly recommend you get chains on your tires, sir." He then pointed to the mother/daughter pair, who were waving at the hero. "You almost killed those two."

The driver could only nod before the vigilante summoned back his windlance and took off into the air once more.

As he continued his search, Vanitas racked his mind as to where Victor might've gone to. Places of significance for his former landlord. For example there was their old home, but that would've been too obvious.

It wasn't long after till a sad idea came across his mind.

-Gotham Cemetery-

Arriving outside of the grounds, the masked Uzumaki saw a police car frozen over in a thick layer of flash frozen ice indicating that Victor is indeed here.

Fearing for the police officers' lives, Vanitas phased right through the vehicle and pulled out the two cops. They were a shivering mess as the hero didn't know how long they were stuck in there.

"Are you two alright?" He asked, getting shaky nods in return. The hero soon formed a clone with a card platform underneath. "Get on and he'll get you to someplace nice and warm."

Vanitas didn't bother to look back as the officers were taken somewhere else. All he did care about was to stop Victor's actions.

Venturing past the gate and past the Wayne grave marker -which resided close to the grounds' entrance, the masked publisher was barely able to hear the reminiscent machine whirls of Victor's snow making device. Coming closer and closer, the hero saw his former landlord firing the device -now converted into an oversized version of his freeze gun- all over the place with an expression that showed he was on a personal mission.

"Victor!" He called out, gaining Mr. Freeze's attention. "Stop this, please!"

All this did was getting the frozen man to aim his device right at the hero. "BE GONE!" He roared out with his electronic voice.

Vanitas was blasted away and tumbled across the ground before coming to a stop. He shook his head as everything seemed to spin all around. Once everything was back to normal, the hero was about to go after his friend when he felt something in his grasp.

Looking at the ground, Vanitas saw the Christmas reef he and Pam placed here a few days ago for the grandmother of their precious daughters. Getting back up, the hero fixed the wire stand and put the reef back up before finding his friend within the growing snowstorm.

He was barely able to see Victor's form in the dense blizzard. Needing to stop this, Vanitas formed several daggers and threw them at the snow making device. They pierced the barrels, making his former landlord whirl around to feel a death glare aimed right at him.

"You've ruptured the device's power core, Vanitas." Mr. Freeze coldy said. "Another shot could cause it to backfire." He quickly aimed the snow maker at the hero. "But to rid myself of you, I'll take the chance."

The helmeted hero widened his eyes in shock and reached out. "VICTOR, NO!"

But it was too late as Victor pressed the firing button, causing the device to immediately explode. Both were thrown back several feet and tumbled across the snowy ground.

Groggily standing up, Vanitas marched toward the frozen man and saw the glass dome surrounding his head was severely cracked. He tightened his hands for several moments before becoming laxed.

"Why...?"

Victor looked up with a curious expression. "Why, what?"

""Why did you do this, Victor. Why today of all days?"

Nothing was immediately said. All Victor did was turn his gaze towards the grave marker of his departed wife. He crawled towards it and soon traced his hands over the lettering.

"We… We were married ten years ago on a snowy Christmas Eve." He said with outright sorrow before pulling out Nora's family heirloom from a suit compartment. "Nora loved the snow… so very much…" Victor held his head low as Vanitas widened his eyes in shock.

How… How could he have forgotten?! They always made such a big deal out of it when he lived with them and even after moving out of their home. Naruto was either invited to their home or vice versa to enjoy Christmas Eve as he thought of them as family.

"I… I thought it… would've been sad that there should be none this year." Victor weeped out as he kept tracing the lettering. "And I wouldn't want my Nora to be sad tonight."

Vanitas could only hang his head low and swallowed a bitter lump in his throat. He slowly came up to his former landlord before sitting down next him. Victor looked over with tears running through his red goggles and wondered what the hero that helped put him away will do.

All Vanitas did was say one thing and one thing only. "Take all the time you need to grieve, Victor. We'll head back when you're ready."

-Naruto and Pam's Loft-

"...All morning on the ride back here, I'd heard reports of people being attacked by a gang of knife-wielding Santas." Harley said as she munched on some candy canes. "At first I thought the news had confused Christmas with April Fools Day."

"You're not wrong on that, Harl." Selina chuckled as she sipped her eggnog. "I actually encountered those psychos terrorizing customers at an ATM."

"Really~? And how'd that go?"

"I was lucky enough to take the others by surprise," started out the thief before putting down her cup in order to pet Isis, "but this one big guy wasn't going down as easily. And to make things worse, I was running late to help Shizune with this one favor I owed her before she needed it to visit the future-in-laws."

"So whaddya do?"

"What I would do in any given situation: I improvised. Got ahold of some Christmas lights and used it as a whip to help take them down. And when I was done, I wrapped those crazed Santas up at a light pole and hightailed it outta there before the police showed up.

"Eh~ Not bad." Said the bubbly blonde. "And it may not be a Red Ryder BB gun, but you got some more nut-jobs off the street."

"True. And how was the ride back?"

"Not great, due to the sudden blizzard that hit Gotham." Blue eyes peered through the patio window to see the snow has started to settle. "Wished it was like that then instead of now."

"No kidding. It was a complete oddity."

Pam sighed softly as she sat at the nearby couch. She glanced away from her two girlfriends to her two infant daughters playing in the little playpen. Rose and Hazel were doing like what any other child they should be doing in their age… well physical age by interacting with the variety of toys in front of them.

Though the Green champion had to keep rapt attention the infant pair as they tend to use their powers quite often. Pam had to stay attention just to be sure neither of them would destroy any furniture or cause problems… like previous situations.

Lets just say that making Rose and Hazel eat their veggies -for some odd reason- was not a pleasant experience for anyone… like AT ALL. Crank up Attack of the Killer Tomatoes to eleven and actually make it scary instead of a lame excuse of a B-movie comedy to get the general idea.

Now things have been rather interesting ever since her daughters were brought into the world. One were the few previous mentions towards the younger sporeling girls -which kept the household on their toes- and the second pertained to Pam's standing at the Botanical Gardens.

The issue pertaining the murder of Dr. Luisa Cruz was solved with Victor Lee being sent to prison as a collaborator to Dr. Eric Grimley's immoral science experiments and actions. Luckily for the Uzumaki household, Victor only knew of Pam's secret as Naruto paid the former administrator a visit -while he was asleep- and erased any knowledge of the publisher being Vanitas… if there was any to begin with. The former shinobi didn't know if Grimley told his partner the particular detail or not after they fought on the buliding's rooftop with Naruto using his powers.

After the old Botanical Gardens' building toppled down, Bruce took action as he got involved with the science division collaborating with the main Gardens. Since the Head Administrator position was now vacant with Victor's incarceration, the Wayne billionaire pulled several strings to have Pam take the spot.

It was quite the odd promotion for the changed botanist to have. The new duties she'd need to perform will prove some difficulty as Pam never really had experience in that type of field. The Green champion was more used to doing things on her own, with the occasional collaboration assignment every so often. Yet overseeing everything going on at the Gardens will take some time getting used to.

Oh! And let's not forget Bruce meeting the sporelings!

The billionaire playboy was quite surprised seeing them and wondered how Naruto and Pam were able to keep the three kids a secret for so long. He stumbled upon them when Bruce dropped on by as the Batman in order to learn more on Pam's side of the story on Luisa's death and the incident at the old Botanical Gardens' location. The costumed Wayne did get pummeled quite hard -via vinewhip and whacking- as he surprised Thorn on accident. The couple did spill the beans as to how this became possible, thus Bruce soon learned about the Lazarus Waters currently residing at the old Greenhouse Pam currently uses as a second home with the chemical compound being essential to the sporelings being here today.

Pam's green eyes soon darted over to the plastic Christmas tree -which Naruto bought some days prior- where Rachel was helping Thorn hang up some ornaments.

This wasn't just Rachel's first good Christmas since leaving Azarath but this was also the first for the three sporeling children. Naruto, Selina, Harley and Pam wanted to be sure their first time experiencing the merry Holiday was a pleasantly, memorable one. So the four adults had to pull all the stops to make this great, yet were slightly afraid something might happen to screw it up.

Lying underneath the tree were a good number of gifts. Most were for Rachel and the sporeling children while a select number were for the adults. Some were from people they knew -like from the Wayne household, the Gordons and even Lois Lane, Cat Grant and Kurama- to some relatives from Harley's and Selena's respective families. There's even a package sent from Vlatava -no doubt from Queen Perdita herself- as it was addressed to everyone given by the attached letter.

In said letter, Perdita wrote the usual Holiday greetings to expressing her gratitude towards both Naruto and Rachel of being such good friends. Perdita also mentioned as a forewarning on the gift opening towards Pam and Selina that their respective presents will benefit the environment, which only left several questions in their wake. There was even a package sent to Artemis, given to what Harley mentioned the other day upon chatting with the Crocks.

Speaking of, the Crock household is coming over tomorrow night to have Christmas Dinner. It's going to take place in Selina's loft downstairs since she actually has a large enough table for everyone to sit at as opposed to the kitchen counter in Naruto and Pam's home. This was fine as said couple would have clones to watch over the sporelings so neither would be fussy while their parents were away…

Hopefully.

And everything would've been fine this day if it wasn't for one… particular… thing…

It's not dangerous or anything within that spectrum range. It was rather sudden upon its arrival as neither Naruto, his girlfriends and Rachel really expected it at all. For the object merely brought back a sour taste to the the Uzumaki's three lovers, a saddened feeling for Naruto and a worried one from the resident ward…

A 1930's Brough Superior SS100 arrived earlier today -via delivery crate- which originally belonged to the whiskered Uzumaki before Talia al Ghul took possession of it.

Neither person within the household really knew the reason why the Demon's daughter did this in the first place. It was really hard to figure out like with Selina and Pam guessing Talia possibly wanting to end things with Naruto with what she'd done to them.

The only way of really knowing was within the sealed envelope found inside of the crate.

Said letter is addressed to the resident Uzumaki and Naruto hasn't had the chance to open it up yet to read it's contents. He could read it either tomorrow -when it's Christmas Day- or later on when he feels ready. No one really knows for sure when that'll happen and either one could forget about it all together if the whiskered publisher were to lose it.

Yet seeing Naruto's first motorcycle parked in the garage would be a constant reminder of that particular detail.

Conversations and little moments inside the loft came to a halt as Naruto walked through the front entrance. His lovers and young ward were about to greet him before seeing the tired expression marrying his features.

Over by the plastic Christmas tree, Thorn saw her father's current state and was worried something must've happened. She walked away from Rachel, came up to Naruto and hugged his leg. He peered down to see his eldest daughter's expression presently shown on her features.

"Are you alright, daddy?" Thorn innocently asked. "You look sad."

She received a small rub on the top of her head as her father gave her a small smile. "Sort of, sweetie." He answered.

"What happened?" The elder sporeling voicing the others' thoughts.

"Just… a harsh reminder I should've been more aware of about today." Came the vague answer. "It's nothing you should worry about, Thorn."

Her green eyes saw her father was hiding something from her, but was slowly learning that it was a painful subject to talk about. It was just like of it being hard to talk about as to what happened to her before meeting her parents as one such example.

Thorn nodded before being picked up by her caring father. He then came towards her two younger sisters and awkwardly picked them up as well with the three girls fussing around within his grasp.

Rachel and Naruto's lovers soon saw him give each of them a look which read 'I'll tell you later'. They knew it was going to be a difficult conversation to get into at the present time with the three sporeling children currently up and about for the evening.

Christmas dinner was a nice little experience for the little household. Rose and Hazel were still fussy as before -given their current mentality- while Thorn kept quiet before talking small chat with her father on certain, innocent topics. Other than that, other conversations took place like Harley catching Naruto up as to what happened when visiting her family back in Brooklin.

The Uzumaki did feel bad on what occured over there and wished his bubbly girlfriend asked him to come with him. After all, he did wish to meet her family just like Naruto hopes on doing with Selina's sister, brother-in-law and their daughter. Harley assured him it was merely an innocent mistake… which she paid dearly with the lashing her mother gave her.

"Just fair warning, puddin, my mom literally is the head of the house as she's real scary on certain situations." Came the psychologist's warning.

After dinner ended, the household ended up in the couch and watched several Rankin/Bass Christmas movies. They could've watched 'It's a Wonderful Life' on TV, yet there were certain subject matters that could've been worrisome for Thorn to handle. So the adults decided to watch some of the stop animated films to help ease them further into the Holiday feeling.

By the time those very child friendly films were done, the three sporeling children were tuckered out for the evening and were sent straight to bed. After tucking in his three daughters, Naruto met with his three girlfriends and his ward back in the living room to discuss what occurred earlier in the evening.

Suffice to say, they felt horrible on the reason for Victor's actions.

"I should've known about this sooner." Naruto sorrowfully sighed. "I'm a horrible friend in not remembering that."

Harley gave him a side hug and gave a firm squeeze. "It's not your fault, puddin. I should've realized it as well when he started requesting for the weather reports for about a week. Even asking him beforehand, yet it didn't cross my mind."

Rachel, Pam and Selina gave their respective sympathies while everyone promised they'd visit Victor sometime tomorrow in hopes of cheering the frozen man up. Before long, the five were soon feeling tired and decided to call it a night.

Tucking his ward into bed, Naruto wished her good night and pleasant dreams. Yet before having the chance to leave her room, the ashen child spoke towards her guardian. "Naruto."

"Yeah, Raven?"

His ward looked a tad bashful underneath her covers. "It's nothing."

"Oh, it doesn't sound like it's nothing." He teased once coming up to her bed and tickled her a little.

Letting out a small squeak of laughter, Rachel fought off her guardian. "Stop~!"

"Heh~ Then tell me."

Calming down, the ashen child readjusted herself in her bed while she spoke. "Well… I was wondering… if Santa was real or not."

He tilted his head in curiosity. "How so?"

"Magic exists and there's all these oddities out there that we've come to experience. Like… me being his daughter." She said in disdain before brightening a little. "To meeting Didi as a few examples."

Naruto nodded and let out a sigh. "I can see where you're coming from, Rachel. Who knows if Santa actually exists out there. He could be a magical entity, a title passed down from one to another or some being that came from the Dreaming with how often people believe in him." She nodded as he briefly rubbed the top of her head. "So don't worry about such a thing, okay. You can believe in the holly jolly Holiday icon in any way you want to. I won't deny you such a thing."

"Then… can you at least leave out some cookies and milk for him please? Along with some carrots for his reindeer by the patio door?"

He chuckled. "I think Harley already beat me to that when I came to tuck you in." The Uzumaki then exited her bedroom after saying a brief good night to her and turning out the lights.

Closing the door to his ward's bedroom, Naruto went over to check on his sporeling daughters. Peeking inside, he saw they were sound asleep with Rose and Hazel in their shared crib while Thorn snuggled up against a pillow while drooling onto it. He chuckled at the little sight before looking at the little nursery plants, which were set up to help monitor them and to be sure they slept well with little to no problems.

'I still can't believe I'm a father.' Naruto thought with happiness. 'I'm really lucky in having them. Not to mention Rachel.'

Closing that bedroom door, Naruto made his way downstairs where the Christmas decorations helped light his way back to his bedroom. He double checked the milk, cookies and carrots set out by the patio door and smirked a little. The Uzumaki will need to get up from bed later and switch out the cold milk so it wouldn't get spoiled by the morning.

Either that or just devour them for the whole Santa spiel towards Rachel and Harley.

Walking past a sleeping Iris, Naruto opened his bedroom door and saw something… interesting. His living quarters seemed to have gone through a complete makeover as a small winter wonderland was present. His bed looked like a decked out sleigh -given the surrounding set up- with the pillow cases switched out for a gift wrap design. Many vines surrounded the walls to darken up the place with a good number of Holiday lights lit up the darkened room.

'...How the hell did they get this redecorated so fast?' Was the Uzumaki's thoughts before his ears picked up on the sounds of music starting playing. It was set to low from the music player and took him a moment to recognize the song. 'Is that… Santa Baby by-'

Naruto soon heard the faint sounds of bells from behind before he was tackle hugged from said direction. He stumbled forward from the assault while hearing his bedroom door being closed. Harley's giggles caught his ears soon after as he immediately recognized his attacker. Naruto phased out of her hold, which made her momentarily seem displeased before spinning around to snag her in a hug.

"What was that for, Harley?" He asked before taking notice of her current attire once she pulled away from the embrace.

His lovely ivory beauty was dressed in a red velvet vest top, with white fluff lining around the neck and along the bottom hem. Said vest had uplifted her generous breasts in order to make them more defined. Running down her arms were red and white horizontal striped arm covers before cutting off at the wrists with white fluffs on each end. Matching the vest is a knee-length skirt, with white fluff around the bottom, and two large golden bells attached to the right and left side of the fluff respectively. She had white and red diagonally striped stockings covering her legs, down to the red elf shoes, complete with a curly point and a bell at the end of each. Wrapping the ensemble up was a two pronged jester Santa Cap, curving backward, with bells at the end of each tip, her platinum blonde hair done up inside the prongs, with some bangs hanging out rebelliously over her face.

"So how do I look, puddin? Very lick-able or what?" Harley asked from her red glossed lips while sending the man in front of her a smoldering look with some red eye shadow over her eyes.

"If you were a candy cane, I would just eat you up, Harl." Selina purred from the side, as if answering their boyfriend's thought.

Turning his head towards the thief's direction, he widened his gaze when seeing Selina in a similar attire like the resident psychologist. Yet there were several differences between the outfits. For one, Selena only wore a standard Santa hat -with her hair spilled out from the back- and had forgone the elf shoes. Second, there was only one bell present with it attached to the black choker around her neck. And finally, everything red was replaced with black as it more fit with Selina's prefered color.

"With her current state of dress and extremely fair skin," Pam said from the bathroom, "I'd say she truly is a human candy cane."

Turning once more, Naruto saw his first girlfriend wear the same outfit she wore last Christmas. The green Christmas lingerie nightgown with the white fluff along the edges and the matching Santa hat brought fond memories with how they both made love for the first time. Yet there seemed to be new additions to the attire like the small vines rolling up her toned,'mile-long' legs and arms with red leaves sprouting from every other spot. Large maple leaves were shown on the backs of her hands and on tops of her feet. Green leaves popped out from her flowing red hair and to help finish off her appearance were the green eyeshadow and lipgloss.

Suffice to say, the appearance of his three lovers were very arousing as he swallowed a lump in his throat.

Naruto let out a small yelp as Harley placed her hand on the crotch of his pants and felt him up. "Hmm~ I can't wait taste your candy cane, Santa." She said seductively while pushing him closer to the bed.

Once forced to sit at the foot of the sleigh bed, Selina and Harley sat beside on each of Naruto's sides. "We've been rather naughty lately, Santa." The thief purred into his ear. "So what would it take for us to get back onto your nice list?"

"Would you like that, Santa?" Pam huskily said as she started unbuckling his pants. The botanist leaned forward and kissed him for a brief moment with a coy smile present on her face. "Us naughty~ girls help getting you off to become good girls again?"

All Naruto could do was chuckle while setting up a silence barrier so neither of them would accidentally wake up Rachel and the sporelings from their sleep before celebrating Christmas in their own… special way.

They've been holding off on their nightly romps ever since Hazel, Rose and Thorn came into their lives as the four adults wanted to focus getting used to them. Not that they were complaining or anything at all. They'd just need to schedule their love making a whole lot better or work around certain surprises.

When it was just Rachel -for starters- they quickly adjusted to her sudden arrival when she needed comfort from them as she'd wake up from nightmares. But now, they had to keep closer attention to the sporelings when Thorn adopted her pseudo older sister's action, due to what torture she endured while kidnapped. Not to mention Rose and Hazel waking up in the middle of the night and crying for their parents.

Hopefully the four adults will exhaust themselves out this Holiday night on their long overdue activity before sleeping until Christmas Morning; where they'll gleefully enjoy the day to the fullest.

-Lemon Start-

The Uzumaki cupped Pamela's face and brought her back into kiss. It was deep and sensual, given with how the redhead moaned into it. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and straddled his waist in order to get closer. Yet their kiss ended with Selina and Harley prying them away before capturing each others' lips so they could get on with the action.

Neither Naruto or Pamela minded as they quickly reciprocated the act by bringing their respective partner closer.

The botanist moved off of her boyfriend's lap in order to straddle Selina's while Harley took her previous spot. Once brought closer, the thief started feeling Pam's legs up and down before having her hands travel upwards to rub her sides. Her hands soon went under Pam's nightgown in order to feel more contact as their tongues caressed each other.

As this little moment went on Harley was grinding herself on her puddin's lap and heavily made out with him. He broke the kiss first before he trailed his kisses towards her jawline which soon went down her neck. She mewled when Naruto reached a sweet spot along her ivory white skin and started leaving eventual hickey marks. This only drove Harley more wild as he pushed the right buttons, like having his hands fondle her perfect rear.

Mirroring her former doctor's action, Pamela started grinding against her Red counterpart as their bodies were pressed up against each other. Both moaned into each other's mouths as they kept feeling each other up. Pam slid her one hand down Selina's toned stomach -while the other kept fondling the thief's breast- and went underneath her skirt to find her bare. The redhead didn't care -just one less obstacle to deal with- as she inserted a pair of fingers inside of Selena's moist hole.

'Oh~ Two can play this game~' Selina purred in thought as her hand ventured down Pam's back until it rested on the center of her ass. Selena's fingers slowly moved up and down in place -like playing an instrument- which sent shivers down down the botanist's spine. A devious smirk formed on her lips once they separated for a brief moment to catch their breaths. 'But I can kick it up a little.'

The Green champion soon felt the thief's hand slapped her toned butt, which got a small moan from it. Yet Pam yelped a little as she felt Selina start fingering her puckered hole. The botanist wiggled her lower half in response on the feeling before having some revenge of her own by speeding up her menstrations on Selina's lower lips. As the thief moaned from the assault, her botanist girlfriend latched her lips onto hers as they resumed their kisses.

Wanting more contact with her boyfriend -after he roamed, kissed, pinched and kneaded what flesh he could easily touch- Harley separated from their embrace and started stripping Naruto of his clothes. A great warmth grew inside of her loins as she wanted to get right into the good stuff. Yet the ivory woman didn't get far into fully undressing him -leaving him in just his pants- as he flipped her onto the 'sleigh' and held her arms behind her back with one hand.

"Oooh~ nice start puddin." She lowly purred with a craze glint growing in gaze. "Mind giving me a scratch for a bad itch I have?"

He chuckled and leaned forward to whisper into her ear. "I'll do more than scratching, Harley."

The bubbly blonde formed a savage grin as she got more hot and bothered now. "I'll say~"

"But first… I believe you need some punishment, naughty Harl."

Harley blinked in slight confusion as he pulled back, yet she smirked with anticipation.

Still having her arms bound with his one hand, Naruto used the other to flip over her skirt to reveal her pale white butt cheeks to show she didn't wear any panties with her Holiday attire. Sitting back down on the bed, he lifted up her legs and had her mostly laid down across his lap while the rest of her was still on the bed.

"And like most naughty girls," he raised his hand above his head, "they need a good spanking."

Harley then felt the pain -the good kind- as her puddin brought his hand down and slapped her ass. She yelped on the first strike before Naruto started striking her lower cheeks over and over and over again, which got her to loudly moan. The psychologist bit her lower lip as she at bliss from the overwhelming pleasure, yet felt frustrated as she couldn't play with herself to partially quench the growing heat inside of her.

Turning her head to the side, the bubbly blonde bit her lower lip on the quickly grew envious. Reason why was the current position her two girlfriends were in as they truly getting into it. For both champions of Red and Green were currently scissoring each other with Pam holding Selena's leg up in order for their nether lips to kiss and grind against each other while their higher lips already preoccupied each other.

Harley started to fight herself free from her puddin's grasp so she could at least do something with his cock. Yet Naruto was too strong for her so her wrestling her way out was unsuccessful. Not to mention he kept slapping her ass for who knows how many times as she quickly lost count as the blonde focused more on the scissoring couple beside them.

Both Naruto and Harley then heard an all too familiar sound coming from said women as they gave off a distinctive moan as they soon climaxed. The pair separated and heavily breathed in some air with large blushes marred across their cheeks. They broke their gazes at each other and looked over at Naruto with Harley still partially lying across his lap.

Pam and Selina got off the bed and crawled over to Naruto as if in a trance. No doubt since they were really hot and bothered, despite them recently orgasiming. Quickly lifting and tossing Harley out of the way -which earned a surprised yelp from her- the two champions of nature grabbed ahold of the hem of his ripped them off.

"Oi!" Naruto said in annoyance. "Those were a good pair!"

"We don't care." Pam and Selina synchly said as they soon did the same with his boxers to finally leave him in the nude.

"You could've just asked me to phase thEM-!"

He soon felt their mouths on both his cock and balls as the redhead and ravenette beauties serviced him. The botanist currently had his testicles in her mouth with her tongue fondling them while the thief lick, sucked and lathered every inch of his dick as if like a candy cane. Not only that, but the pair switched off every other moment while leaving lip gloss marks over his privates. And every now and then, they came into contact with each other and made out with his cock head between their lips.

"Oh~ It seems they really want your milky seed, puddin~" Harley huskily said as she wrapped her arms around him from behind. She kept gazing at the scene below and grew rather hungry as she wanted that piece of meat down inside either one of her mouths.

"Well~ despite them ruining my pants and boxers, their good girls and they deserve a treat." He said before a gruntal moan escaped his lips. He patted Selena's and Pam's heads and gave them a loving gaze. "Am I right, girls?"

The pair broke contact with his privates and gave him a sultry grin before getting back to work.

"But ain't I a good girl?" Whined the blonde with a pout. "I got my well deserved punishment."

Naruto adopted a mockly though posture before looking back at his bubbly girlfriend. "Come sit on my lap, Harley." She let out a gleeful squeal as was about to finally get some. But he held out his hand just when she attempted to steal his dick from Pam and Harley. "Not there, but on my leg."

The crazed psychologist reluctantly complied as she awkwardly sat on his left leg once he spread his legs further out. Harley didn't know what Naruto had planned, but she soon felt him grab ahold of her velvet vest and phased it off of her chest. With her pale white breasts free, the Uzumaki latched his mouth onto one of them and started playing with the fleshy orb.

Harley mewled on the feeling and hugged his head closer to her bosom. Yet she yelped when she felt her puddin slide a finger along the the space between her butt cheeks. The bubbly blonde then felt him play with her puckered hole before inserting a digit inside. And if that wasn't enough, Harley soon felt her milky white legs forcefully part before feeling lips kissing up her thigh.

Looking down, she saw Selina momentarily taking a break from servicing Naruto -while Pam fully took over the candy cane detail with feverous glee- and decided to service the asylum doctor. The kisses trailed upwards, go above her womanhood and went down the other leg. Harley moaned as her teeth clenched as Naruto inserted a second finger in her backdoor while Selina was attending the front.

"That feels great~" Harley purred, placing a hand on the thief's head and pushed her deeper. "I… I love this! Keep going!"

The ravenette kissed up her thigh again, but this time -instead of arching over her womanhood- she kissed it directly. Harley's thighs twisted inward as if to meet the Red Champion. The blonde then felt her teeth press onto her lower lip, biting down as Naruto pulled her nipples forward and kissed the other side of her neck while his fingers pistoned themselves in a rapid succession.

A quiver shook Harley, and for a moment she was like the string of a harp, plucked, making a sweet tune. The blonde then felt Selina slide her tongue in between her lower lips. She leaned forward and into it as the thief kept up the pace by lapping at her gushing pussy.

Over with Pam, she was enjoying her Christmas treat very much. The botanist slurped and lathered his manhood with great care while fondling his balls with one hand while the other pumped him to get his seed much sooner. Her mouth kept working on him, bobbing up and down and took a great deal of it into her mouth. Yet -to her frustration- Naruto hasn't even shown signs of coming.

And just when Harley was about to climax, Selina and Naruto ceased their actions.

Harley was brought out of her haze and looked at her shared lovers with utmost confusion. "Hey! What gives?!"

Selina pushed Harley off Naruto's leg -which had her fall onto the 'sleigh'. "It's time for you to earn for what's to come." Came the thief's response.

This left the bubbly blonde in a curious state before the ravenette crawled on top of her and brought their lips together. Both moaned as they embraced each other. Harley soon started to grind herself into Selina's leg in order to reach her climax, yet it wasn't enough. As if pleading for it, the Red Champion decided to move their legs around so their nether lips would meet. Selina then took the lead as she rotated and thrusted back and forth against Harley, causing her to mewl in their aggressive liplock.

As this went on, Naruto brought Pam onto the bed as they briefly made out. Ending the kiss, the publisher lifted one of her legs into the air and planted multiple kisses down the sweaty, yet firm flesh. He soon took hold of his tool, guided it to her damp entrance and plunged all the way through.

Groans of pleasure emanated from Pam's mouth as he delved deeper inside of her. Naruto rolls a hand over the redhead's fit body and makes her shiver and shake over him. His cock goes in deep and pulls out after several minutes of long, angled thrusts which brought Pam closer to climax as she kept tensing around him.

And before she knew it, Pam let out a primal moan once feeling Naruto unleash his load inside of her.

"You make me… feel… so... good!" Pam breathed out as he pulled himself out.

"I am to please, my earthly queen." He said as he kissed her lips, which she hungered more of in order to keep this high of hers from falling.

Breaking contact, Naruto had let his red haired beauty rest on the bed before making his way to Selina. Said woman was hovering over Harley, who recently climaxed given the panted out expression across her face.

The Red Champion soon felt his hot, slick member poke her from behind, causing her to smirk. Looking over, she gave her boyfriend a sultry grin. "Ooohh~ I've been a naughty pussy. I think I might've broken Harley."

"Then I guess you'll have to be punished."

She nodded before feeling his hands grasp her ass and dragged her towards him. Selina then felt him push her head towards Harley's pussy. Getting the idea, the ravenette started eating her up once more just as Naruto teased her folds.

Breaking contact for a brief moment, the thief spoke in a pleading, teasing tone. "This naughty pussy cat needs some cock badly. It's the only way for me to be good AGAIN!" Selina moaned as she inserted him inside of her. His girth and length helped spread her open as he slowly pistoned in and out of her.

"I'm gonna ride you like a reindeer on this sleigh, Selina." He said before speeding up his menstrations.

Selena nodded as she was getting rocked hard from behind. The thief then felt her hair getting pulled back by her lover. Not too hard that would actually hurt her, but just enough to not cause problems as he kept thrusting in her.

After several minutes of powered thrusts, they flipped over with Naruto lying on the bed with her on top. She then started gyrating her hips with his member inside -reverse cowgirl style- before he held her up with her ass. Selina was going to question him before -without warning- Naruto slammed her down which made her quickly tighten around him as he started thrusting upwards.

The thief moaned on the act and started meeting the publisher on his thrusts. Even leaning back to get more feeling as he stretched her out. With her back meeting his chest, she kissed him on the lips before he increased the speed of his thrusts. After several more moments, he released a load inside of her wanting womb.

Just when she thought it was good to pull him out in order to rest, Selina felt her body twist around -which caused her to moan with his member churning inside of her- before their chests were in contact with each other. The thief then felt something probe her puckered hole.

Looking at the source, Selina saw Pam wear a strap-on. Yet it wasn't any typical one, for it was an organic vine reshaped as one. Said object is normally used for some more intimate romps between the girls. Pam's designed plant would be inserted inside and connects with the nerve endings. Once settled, it would make its wearer feel the attached member like it's really apart of their body. And instead of male fluids, it merely gave out green sap that tasted great and was good for the body…

…..

...Pam was really bored one day at her Greenhouse and designed the plant for fun. Enough said.

"This is payback for earlier, Selina." Was all Pam said before she fully inserted the plant-like member into the thief's rectum, which got the ravenette to roll her eyes back a little. "So, how does it feel to have his cock in your tight pussy while I'm in your tight ass?"

"Its... It's… purrfect!" She groaned out as Naruto and Pam started thrusting in and out of her. Selina felt both cocks rubbing against each other with only a certain layer inside separating the two. The pair even went at certain angles that seemed to bring her closer to the edge of her climax. "Oh god, yes!"

Off to the side, Harley was vigorously playing with herself as she wanted to be in Selina's place right now. Panting heavily, she crawled across the bed, came over and took hold of each side of Selina's face before bringing her into an aggressive kiss. She even brought herself over Naruto's face and sat on top of him in order to get off from the current activity.

The group was going at this for several minutes with Pam and Naruto thrusting hard as they could with Selina loudly moaning in Harley's mouth. The bubbly blonde was felt rather good as her puddin was licking her in just the right ways on both her folds and her puckered ass. And after some time has past, the redhead and silver haired man sped up their menstruations before unloading a blast of seed/sap into Selina's respective holes.

Upon their release, both Selina and Harley came hard. Their juices sprayed at the groins of the others in their shared relationship. And Naruto could only lap up the essence off of Harley- who fell onto the matress while coming down from her high- as there was so much on his face.

Slowly pulling themselves out of Selina, Pam and Naruto gently laid her on the bed as they noticed she was now unconscious from exhausted bliss. The redhead noticed Harley's juices on his face, causing her to lap off some of it before kissing Naruto on the lips. Turning over to Harley, the pair saw she was looking at them with very hungry, lustful eyes.

With a smirk, Pam stood by Naruto as their respective members stood at attention with both their essence and Selina's coated them. "Thanks for being patient, Harley." Said the botanist. "Hope you love your present."

Without saying a word, Harley dived towards the two, bent down and inserted one of the cocks into her mouth. She didn't care which one it was at this point as she was extremely hungry for one. Harley wanted to clean them off in order to get a good taste on what she was mostly missing.

Coming onto Pam's plant-like member, she blinked a few times before diving in on said member for a few moments for confirmation. Pulling it out of her mouth, she gave out a pleasant hum. "Mmm~ Tastes like peppermint!"

Pam merely rolled her eyes before the three moved to the one end of the bed. The botanist laid down with the psychologist mushing her chest against her former patient. The blonde took hold of the plant-like cock and slid it inside of her folds. She moaned a little to feel it's length and texture before adjusting herself. Looking back, she saw Naruto kneeling behind her with junior standing at attention. Giving her puddin a nod, she then felt him slowly insert himself into her rectum with her grunting out.

After several more moments of adjustment and waiting -due to how big both of her loved ones are- Harley was soon felt a wave of pleasure as her first two lovers started moving.

"Shit!" Harley let out. "It feels better and better every time we do this."

"Mostly because you like getting your stockings stuffed this way." Joked the Uzumaki.

"Does it feel good? Having us diving so deep inside of you?" Pam grunted out as she kept thrusting inside of Harley. "Cause I know we are."

"God yes!" Screamed out the blonde as the two members were pistoning in and out of her. Her body felt like it was on fire. Like every time they thrusted into her, electricity coursed through her system. Even them holding her in their embrace -in a sandwich position- was stimulating.

Their thrusts were escalating as Pam and Naruto soon moved to a standing position with Harley hanging in the middle. Both of them held onto the ivory woman's legs and spread them open to get a more tighter feel out of her before they started thrusting. Harley screamed in pleasure as her tongue hanged open and her eyes rolling backwards.

'Mmm~ I love them fucking me hard.' Harley thought as she couldn't say it from her fucked stupid expression she currently wore.

After some time going in and out of the Arkham doctor, the botanist and publisher soon felt their end coming. They tried to hold it off as long as possible, but it was becoming too much for them.

"Oh shit! I-I can't hold it!" Pam rasped out with Naruto nodding in agreement.

"Puu yur pesants in me stokins! Put yor peasants in me! (Put your presents in my stockings! Put your presents in me!)" Came Harley's drunken like voice.

Her demand was given as she felt them shoot their loads inside of her. She screamed in pleasure as she too came not long after. The ivory woman's body shook and shivered after the final orgasim she could ever handle for the rest of the evening.

"Oooh~ Yo've sleied mi, Sunta and Ms. Sinta. (Oh~ You've sleighed me, Santa and Ms. Santa.)" Harley moaned out before exhaustion took over and fell asleep in their embrace.

With tired expressions, Pam and Naruto smirked before leaning and chastly kissing Harley's lips. The pair soon pulled themselves out of Harley as their essence slowly came out of the used holes. Once laying the energetic blonde down on the bed, Pam took hold of her plant-like member and pulled it out of her. The experimented plant soon shriveled up and died with it served its purpose.

Pam and Naruto soon gave each other a small kiss before climbing into the bed. They then brought the unconscious thief and psychologist into their arms, who slowly snuggled to feel the heat coming from the still conscious individuals. And not long afterwards, Pam and Naruto soon fell into a deep slumber and wouldn't wake until the morning.

-Christmas Day, Peregrinator Club-

To the famous and fortunate of Gotham City, no Holiday season would be complete without a trip to the Peregrinator Club.

Originally established as a gathering place for gentlemen adventurers, the Peregrinator is clearly a throwback to another era, an antique not too different from the collection of relics it houses. And yet, the old place comes alive on that special night when fathers from Gotham's best families are allowed to play host to their sons.

First, there's the tour of the trophy halls donated by it's vast members throughout the world during years pass as one example. Yet towards the end of the event would always be followed by a traditional Holiday dinner and show hosted by the Master of Yuletide Merriment: Santa Claus.

"Ho, ho, ho!" Santa laughed out loud as he patted his plump belly on stage with several men and women holding present sacks along their shoulders. "Who's been bad? Who's been good? And who's been naughty or nice?" He questioned to all of those watching in the dining hall. "That's what I love about Christmas! So many wonderful, maddening questions!"

Without warning; 'Santa' twirled around, ripped off his fake white beard and threw off his hat to show off his identity underneath. Many onlookers questioned on what this was about as the paid actors act for the evening. Yet more of his reveal was shone once the actor ripped open his Santa jacket to show off parts of a green three piece suit with a green tie and a question mark pin.

Slipping on a green domino mask over his face, the actor formed a devious smile. "So I guess that would make old St. Nick the Greatest Riddler of them all!"

"Who the hell are you?!" Asked someone from the audience.

"Oh that's right~ I haven't been properly introduced to you all." The domino masked man said as he was handed what appeared to be an curved hook cane. "After all, I was responsible on that massive citywide power fluctuation some month's back, yet hardly no one knew it was me behind it."

The man twirled his cane before slamming it onto the stage. "My name is Edward Nygma, the Riddler, and I'll be the one asking the questions here." He looked off to the other men and women on stage and gave them a nod. "Would you lot be so kind and give us crowd control, please?"

The men and women on stage nodded as they pulled out semi-automatics from their present sacks and started firing in the air, causing panic and chaos to stir amongst the guests. The security tried to stop the armed men on stage, yet they were soon gunned down and rendered dead.

"Now then, I've got a question for you all." Nygma said to the large amount of hostages currently in his grasp. "Would anyone like to call the police or would you like me to do so?"

-One Hour Later-

"This is Summer Gleeson live downtime where less than an hour ago, one Edward Nygma -who's calling himself the Riddler, laid siege to the Peregrinator Club and took it's members hostage." The news reporter and anchor walked over to the police commissioner, who was chatting with one of SWAT team members. "Commissioner Gordon, has the Riddler given any clue to his motives?"

James turned to her and only shook his head 'no'. "Nothing was actually given for his demands, which is rather strange in this type of situation. All that he told us was what he was going to-"

The sound of glass breaking could be heard by all nearby. They looked at the surrounded building and soon saw several canisters being thrown out with question marks plastered on their surface.

Fearing as to what they are, Gordon yelled out a warning. "Everybody move!"

The moment the cannisters hit the ground, they exploded and released a thick cloud of gas. Everyone started to wheeze and cough as they realized it was a strong form of tear gas. Many onlookers vacated the area while the police were struggling in their spots.

And as for Summer and her camera man, they collapsed onto the ground before they felt someone grabbed their arms and started pulling them inside. Next thing they knew, the news studio employees saw themselves dragged by the Riddler's men as they got closer and closer to the dining hall.

"Ah~ the media!" Nygma spoke out with a smile. "Splendid and right on cue!" The cane wielder motioned his men to get Summer and her cameraman onto their feet. "Now would you please aim your camera over here? I'd like to speak to the people of Gotham in order to proceed with the evening's real entertainment."

The cameraman soon had no choice as several guns were aimed at him and Summer.

Once aimed at the Riddler, the hostage holder spoke into the camera. "Season's greetings, Gotham City! This is the Riddler coming to you live from the Peregrinator Club, where I shall expose the greatest mystery that has come across this fair city for quite some time now: the true identities of the illustrious Dynamic Duo: Batman and Robin!"

Summer and many others -both in the club and throughout the city- blinked when hearing this. And it was the news reporter who voiced their thoughts on the matter. "That's insane! Practically ludicrous! And what makes you think they are?"

The Riddler merely scoffed in annoyance. "They must've hired you for your looks." He then quickly swung his cane at Summer's cheek. The reporter soon felt something warm slide down her cheek and once bringing her hand to it, she realized it was her blood. She stepped back with wide eyes, especially when Nygma brought his bladed cane up to her neck. "After all, many think there's nothing up in your head." He tisked at her several times before pulling back his weapon, which caused her to rub it tenderly. "Now thing, tv monkey! Examine, as I did, the few known facts about them."

Coughing into order to clear his throat, Nygma began. "One: he's relatively young, somewhere between the ages of oh~ let's say twenty-eight and forty. Two: he's got money, or at the very least, is bankrolled by someone who does. Let's face it, the Batman's equipment doesn't come cheap like maintaining his batmobile, for instance. Three: if he's rich, it follows he's also one of the well-to-do of Gotham City and more than likely a member of this club. And lastly four: there's Robin. Is he our mystery man's son? Brother? Third cousin twice removed? Whatever it may be, I'm sure he has some familial link to our dear Dark Knight." The Riddler then waved his bladed cane towards the hostage crowd before him. "Just as I'm sure they're in this room right now!"

Without warning, the Riddler jumped off the stage and stalked towards the closest table. "Graham Knowland! Your multimillion dollar computer firm has donated a fortune to victims of violent crimes. Plus, you and your son are world-class gymnasts. One might say you two could very well be Batman and Robin."

Graham moved closer to his son in a protective fashion. "Please, I don't know what you are talking about." He said. "Just leave my son alone."

Nygma merely rolled his eyes. "Oh~ stop your sniveling. I'm just warming up." The former software designer whipped his cane towards another table where a wheelchair bound man with two large men and a smaller one sitting near him. "For instance, right over there we have the venerable McIvor Clan! Proud patriarch Ian, his twin grandsons Alex and Jake, along with their baby brother, Michael."

Alex and Jake got up from their seats and went to protect their grandfather and younger brother respectively as the Riddler got closer to them. "How about it, Ian? As founder of McIvor Technologies, you could have easily whipped up the batmobile and all the other nasty gadgets Batman and Robin uses."

Ian coughed into his hand before glaring at the domino masked, cane wielder. "If I could get out of this chair," he said with a thick Scottish accent, "I'd shove that cane right up yer smug-"

"Granddad! Don't!" Michael warned.

"Ah~ but you can't get out of your chair, can you Ian?" Nygma said smugly. "Not since that terrible day fifteen years ago when a robber at your factory put a bullet through your spine, killed your son and his wife," he then waved his free hand towards the grandsons; "and left these fine chaps orphans."

The Riddler turned his attention towards the cameraman and tapped his head. "Think about it. The McIvors had the motivation and money to start a whole Batman Dynasty! Ian masterminding the whole operation while his twin grandsons switch off as Batman and the youngster learns the ropes as Robin. Hell, even it could possibly fit around the time when the Bat first started his operations roughly thirteen years ago."

One of the Riddler's men -who now wore a ski mask with a sown in green question mark- aimed his semi-automatic at the McIvor's. "You want me to waste 'em now, boss?"

The McIvor twins quickly stood in front of their grandfather and younger brother to protect them from the possible gunfire in response.

Yet Nygma held off the order. "Not yet, Query. Let's give the folks at home a chance to play along." He turned his attention back to the camera man and spoke once more. "What do you think? Who am I really after? A father and son? Two brothers? A whole family perhaps? You've got all the clues, but only the Riddler knows the answer to this question."

As this all occurred, Batman and Robin were perched at a neighboring building as they watched the video feed from their upgraded mini-computers attached to their gauntlets.

"Nygma doesn't know." Batman said, ending the feed alongside his protege.

"Yet he's made a few lucky guesses." Robin muttered as he stood up.

"But if he were really convinced we were in that room, he'd have already shot two people."

"That must be why he yanked in the TV crew. If we weren't in the crowd, Nygma wanted to be sure he had our undivided attention."

"Though question is, why'd he show up again after the whole debacle with Mockridge months ago?" The masked Grayson scratched his head in thought. "I could guess he'd show up to get back at us for stopping him from murdering his former boss. But other than that, I'm at a loss."

"Same here." Batman then pulled out his grappling hook -alongside Robin- and fired towards the Peregrinator Club's rooftop. "Perhaps we'll find one when we get inside."

Once making it onto the Club's snow covered rooftop, the pair opened up the skylight before jumping inside. Rising from a crouched position, the Dynamic Duo walked through it's darkened halls as they kept their attention towards their surroundings. Both passed many portraits, statues, memorabilia and artifacts the Club's many members collected over the years.

It was when passing one particular portrait did the Batman stop and face it. Robin noticed this and was about to question his mentor's action when he paused the act. The masked acrobat quickly understood what the portrait was for exactly: in memory of the late Thomas Wayne.

From what Dick was told by both Bruce and Alfred, Thomas -who was a Club member of this establishment- couldn't wait to bring his son here for his first Club Christmas. Yet after Bruce's parents died, the Wayne found himself reexamining the priorities in his life. And as years passed, Bruce eventually realized he wasn't exactly the club-joining type... despite him being a member of several other clubs in order to keep up with his playboy cover.

Yet the club the pair were currently in meant a lot to Bruce's father and even though he's no longer around, Bruce still thought there's a little part of him here.

The quiet moment within the small area came to an end as the two vigilantes heard a loud, metallic crash was made. The Duo headed towards the source in a quickened pace. Once there, they heard a hushed conversation take place.

"Could you have taken any longer with that door?" Asked one of Riddler's men as he and one other were in front of a now opened safe room.

"You know as much as I do that these rich bastards wanted to keep their really precious shit tight and secured in this room so of course it would've taken a while to crack."

"Whatever. Let's just get the shit and head on back."

Whatever they had planned to do came to an abrupt end as they heard someone speak behind them. "Ho-ho-ho! The man in red is here to pass out the presents!" Quickly spinning around, they saw Robin rush them with Batman not far behind. "Would you both rather have a concussion or a loose filling?"

The two thugs pulled out their guns and opened fired, yet they missed their target as he leapt into the air. Coming on down, Robin performed a double take down with Batman quickly assisting him. Riddler's two men were no match for the vigilantes as they were quickly down for the count.

As they lied unconscious, Robin did a brief look over them to see if there were any concealed weapons -of any kind- on them. This was so that neither thug could wake up suddenly and attack the heroic duo when they least suspected it.

While Robin did his small task, Batman surveyed the vault while wondering why Nygma's hired men were getting into it. He understood the implications the former software designer would've wanted something else while at the Club, asides from possibly revealing their identities. After all, a place where many artifacts have been stored and kept here for years could make any lowlife want to rob it.

But what specific item was Riddler after? There's too many to count for.

In his search, the Batman's eyes soon landed on a pair of half-foot long, gold Mayan statues. He would've pass by them if he didn't look at the name card for the statues.

"Everything's good so far, Batman." Robin said, walking into the vault. "Any luck in whatever you were doing?"

"Yes," said the Bat. "I found who Nygma's really after."

Back in the dining hall, the Riddler was speaking to his captive audience as he paced along the stage. "...Of course, there is one sure way to get the Dynamic Duo to reveal themselves!" As he talked, one of the golden Mayan statues was placed at the far end of the stage. "If Quiz, Query and my other associates were to start firing into the crowd, I know the heroic Batman and Robin would surely leap forth to save…"

Nygma's eyes soon landed on the statue, causing him to lose his concentration. Walking over, he picked it up and moved it around for a brief examination. 'I told those two there were two of these statues since they were a pair.' He thought before something was off. "Wait," he muttered, "if this is here… where's the other? More importantly, where are the-"

Nygma was interrupted when the Batman leapt at him from behind the curtain. "Locked away, just like you're going to be!"

"Shit! It's the Bat!" Yelled one of the thugs.

One of them quickly aimed his semi-automatic upon the crowd, with others following suit. "Put him down, Bats, or else the captives get it."

The hostages grew quite worried and were about to panic once more until Robin dropped on top of the hired thug from the ceiling. His presence startled the other thugs and were about to fight when the 'Boy' Wonder spoke to them. "You know folks, Santa doesn't come to see naughty boys and girls who shoot people!"

And like that, the thugs went into action as both Batman and Robin fought against the hostage takers.

All of the captives were relieved upon seeing the Dynamic Duo here to save them. Summer Gleeson's cameraman kept on target of the action back on stage for all those both at home and for the authorities outside to keep up with the current moments. And at its end, the captive audience cheered the moment the Riddler's men were laid beaten right up on stage and partially off of it.

"Your men should've been more careful, Nygma." Said the Bat while hoisting Nygma up and up close from his Santa jacket. "When we saw them about to loot the vault, I soon realized the 'Two Brothers' you hinted earlier had to be Dos Hermanos: one of the Club's most famous treasure, an identical pair of gold Mayan statues. And you concocted the whole guessing game about our identities with the TV crew to throw attention off the robbery."

All the Riddler did in response was letting out a mirthful chuckle.

"What's so funny, Nygma?"

"The statues were merely a consolation prize for myself." Was the response. "As for the TV crew, they're here to record your death."

"What do you mean?" Robin asked.

With a darkened smirk, Nygma moved his cane a little. "Riddle me this: when is a tree not a tree? No answer? Why it's when it's a flame!"

The Questionable Man soon pressed a button on his walking stick, causing the Christmas tree behind them to erupt into a blazing inferno. The sudden explosion caused the Bat to drop the former software designer as the three were knocked onto the ground. The flames quickly spread all over the stage and traveled through the dining hall. Panic ensued with everyone scrambling for safety.

"Not the most inspired of riddles, I admit that." Yelled out the Riddler while getting back onto his feet. "But it's the best I can do under the circumstances!" With that said, he bolted off stage with the golden Mayan statue on hand.

Robin was about to go after him, but Batman stopped him. "Let him go! We have to help save both Riddler's men and the hostages!"

Robin nodded as he lifted up one of the downed men. Running on ahead; Batman pulled out a mini-bomb from his utility belt, armed it and threw the device -with a brief yell of 'MOVE!'- at the far off wall. The nearby hostages scrambled away before the bomb went off.

From the outside, Gordon and many officers saw the explosion and feared for the worse. To their relief, the explosion merely gave way for the captives to escape.

"Move in, people!" Gordon ordered. "Get them out of there, stat!" The SWAT, officers and anyone else around compiled and rushed over to help out.

As this all occurred, one officer strayed off on the order and made his way towards a police cruiser. Hopping in, the man drove away from the scene with a smile on his face.

"I can't believe that worked," said the officer. Pulling off his officer hat, Nygma kept on his devious smile while pulling out the statue from within his jacket. "I truly outwitted them! Gordon! The police! The Batman and his insipid brat!" He then clicked his tongue. "Would've been better if I fooled Vanitas as well, but one can't have everything." His eyes then landed on the gold statue now laying on his lap. "Well, one can't win them all. So Merry Christmas to me."

Yet his moment of jollies came to a swift end when hearing a rapping on the car's window. Redirecting his attention up front, Nygma reared back in shock when seeing Robin waving at him. "Hey, Eddie, can we hitch a ride home for the holidays?"

It wasn't long before Batman punched through the passenger window, causing Edward Nygma to start swerving on the road. "Game's over, Riddler."

"NO! NO! NO!" Roared out the man of Questions. "Not when I'm so close!"

With all of the action occuring, the car started to lose friction on the road. Due to the ice the tires came into contact with, the vehicle ran off the side of the road and plunged into the nearby river. Robin quickly jumped off and performed a recovery roll on the street, yet his mentor was caught along for the ride into the icy waters alongside their target.

"Batman!" Robin cried out in fright.

The masked Grayson was about to jump into the frozen water to rescue him when the water exploded upwards. And from that, the 'Boy' Wonder saw Batman gasping for air with the now unconscious Riddler in his right arm while in the other held the stolen gold statue.

'What a relief.' Robin thought, making his way over in order to help pull them ashore. 'And boy, this Christmas sure turned out to be better than from last year with what the Joker pulled.'

-New Years Eve, GCPD-

"...The ball is snapped." Spoke the game announcer as the New Year's football game was currently taking place. "Altaire fades back, looking for an opening-"

Static soon replaced the game footage for several moments before it was replaced with the Joker blowing a whistle in a locker room.

"Hi-ho, couch potatoes." Said the Clown Prince of Crime while wearing a football referee's uniform. "I'm interrupting the Toilet Bowl to bring you my very special New Year's resolution." He coughed into his hand before standing at attention in a serious manner. The Joker placed his right hand over his heart with his left hand held up in a mockly Scout's Honor salute. "Starting tonight at midnight I, your loving Uncle Joker, do solemnly vow not to kill anyone for a whole year."

The demented clown broke out of his serious demeanor to get right back into his usual, maniacal one. "Which means I'm going to have to work extra hard and fast to bump off a few more of you today!" The Joker then let out his signature laugh as he pulled out his normal attire from the nearby locker. "As to who, how and when, let's make that a game. A countdown of victims that will end at midnight unless our dear Dark Knight stops me first!" The Clown of Gotham then came up close and personal to the screen. "In other words Batman: What are you two doing for New Year's Eve?!"

The footage ended when Commissioner Gordon came up to the TV set and ejected the tape. "Joker broadcast that message at noon. In ten hours we've had two shootings and a stabbing, but nothing that smacks of a Joker murder."

"He doesn't make idle threats, Commissioner." Said the Bat. "He's got something big planned and he wants us to know about it."

"Right you are and we've only found one victim so far." Gordon then handed over a file to the Dark Knight. Opening the cover, Batman saw a grizzly photo of a man that no doubt was heavily exposed to the Joker Gas. "Dr. John Erickson, a pioneer in sonic research at GothCorp."

Briefly scanning through the file, the Dark Knight spoke. "Says here he was working overtime on some special weapon for the military."

"A sort of sonic bomb." Gordon then explained the details. "Once activated, the device releases waves of hypersound. Strong enough to kill anyone within earshot." He then walked over to the filing cabinet, picked up a small box and opened it to the vigilante. "Unless they're wearing these special mufflers."

"Joker's got the bomb and he's gonna use it tonight. He promised a countdown of victims. And there's no bigger countdown on New Year's Eve than at Gotham Square."

-Gotham Square, 11:40 PM-

The public area was packed for the New Year's countdown. Music was playing, people were dancing while some were drinking booze they slipped into the grounds and all were having a good time.

Except for a few… unfortunate people.

Walking past a few dead security guards -via Joker Gas- the Joker walked up on stage as he adjusted his New Year's suit. "Oh how I love New Year's Eve! So many happy faces!" The deranged clown gazed at the roaring crowd before him. "And I'm so glad I escaped Arkham again to attend this joyous event."

The crazed clown had escaped the asylum two days ago in the dead of night. The security had changed up their game and routes again, due to his readmittance ten days ago. This caused the Joker to take some time to plan his escape for the big night. And after his escape, the clown and his crew went out to find the perfect way to cause a big scare to make up for the failed slaughter at St. Genesius.

Luckily for them, they came across this sweet, weaponized sound bomb earlier today.

Oh, speaking of…

"How's it coming, boys?"

"All set, boss." Spoke his most faithful, number one goon. "We hooked up the sound bomb just like ya told us." He motioned to the bell which Punch and Judy were finishing adjustments. "Once the bell reaches the clock, everyone's gettin' a real bad headache."

The Joker formed his cheshire grin as he peered at the other work being done around the stage. "I really have to congratulate myself on this one, Bob." The clown then checked his watch. "It's almost magic time, and Batman still hasn't figured out my clue."

His smile died as a displeased look took over. "Of course, he does have that annoying habit of spoiling my fun at the last minute." He then walked over to a nearby table and pulled off the sheet. "Luckily, I thought ahead and I stocked up on party favors." Joker then looked over to Bob and gave out an order. "Pass 'em out."

"And what are ya gonna do, boss?"

The deranged clown walked over to an ice bucket and pulled out a bottle of champagne from his coat. "I'll chill the bubbly while you warm up the crowd."

Minutes have passed as time drew closer and closer to the New Year. Overlooking the roaring crowds from above, Batman surveyed the area.

'He's gotta be here.' Thought the Bat as he soon made his way towards the crowded street below. 'With murder on this scale Joker will be close by to enjoy his handiwork. And even in this crowd, he'll stick out like a sore thumb.'

Coming at the end of an alleyway, the Bat of Gotham widened his eyes at the sight before him. For many attendees within his gaze -if not all- were currently wearing Joker masks in a large variety of styles. 'Wonderful… Not only has Joker found the perfect hiding place, he's fixed it so all his victims will die with a smile.'

Rushing into the crowd, the Dark Knight soon found it difficult to move with how jammed pack it is. 'I need to move out of this mob." Batman thought before finding a parked bus in the middle of one part of the square. 'Would be better if found a better vantage point.'

Climbing on top of the large transport, Batman then pulled out a pair of binoculars and whirled all over to find his target. His gaze soon landed on the stage and saw something that stood out from among the rest of the Joker masked people. Each of the people on stage were wearing the same sonic mufflers Commissioner Gordon showed him back at the GCPD!

Switching out his binoculars for his batarangs, Batman took aim and threw his weapons at the men on stage. The throw held true as they impacted the muffler men with several falling to the ground. Even one of them knocked the Joker off his concentration as he played the piano.

Whirling around in anger, the deranged clown saw the Dark Knight gliding right towards them. "GET HIM!"

Joker's goons went into action as they dived towards the bat-themed hero. The vigilante punched one of them in the chest, sending him tumbling back into another goon. Punch came up from behind and grasped the Bat in a tight bear hug. Lifting himself up, Batman headbutted the goon from behind before throwing himself forward to toss the large man into Judy.

Bob came running towards Batman, causing the hero to duck down and sweep kicked him to the ground. Just when the vigilante high kicked another thug away, Batman was smacked across the head with a metal object which caused him to fall head first onto the stage. Turning around, the costumed Wayne saw Joker hover over him with an ice bucket on hand with what appeared to be a bottle of champagne inside.

"HA, HA! Poor Bats! That champagne went right to your head!" Taunted the clown. "Now you'll miss the big countdown!" He then kicked the Bat across the head to knock him back down as he tried to get back up.

"Ten!" Roared out the crowd as the giant bell started to rise from the stage. "Nine! Eight!"

The Joker started fiddling around with the bottle's cork to get it open. This got opening Batman needed to knock the bottle back, which sent the cork flying straight into his eye.

"Seven!"

"GOD DAMMIT!" Cursed the clown with the champagne soon spraying all over his face.

"Six!"

The Bat kicked the Joker away and snatched the bottle before rushing towards the controls.

"Five!"

The Dark Knight then poured the rest of the champagne's contents onto the machine, which started to short circuit it.

"Four!"

Wanting payback, the demented clown pulled out his gun and fired a round at his longtime foe.

"Three!"

The bullet soon lodged itself into the Bat's arm, causing him to fall onto the ground.

"Two!"

*KABOOM*

"One!"

The Joker laughed while aiming his gun at the downed Bat. Yet everything seemed to darken around him before looking up to see the bell coming closer and closer to him. And there was only one thing the pale clown could only mutter… before it crashed on top of him.

"Oh, no."

The Bat cringed on the sight as he knew that has really gotta hurt.

"Happy New Year!" Roared out the crowd as they tossed their masks into the air in celebration.

From underneath the broken bell, the Joker could only let out a moan with the pain he was experiencing. "Oooooowwwww!"

-New Years Day, 1:55 AM; Porky's Tavern-

The owner of the establishment could only sigh as many drunks were singing inside of his bar. He was a bald man with his nose appearing squashed upwards to make him look like a pig's snout. The owner was often nicknamed Porky Pig -like the Looney Tunes character- and he was fine with it as long as no one made fun of his appearance or his stuttering.

Porky was currently finishing things for the night and waited for a certain pair of individuals to arrive to make one last order before closing up for the day. Yet with these drunks still hanging around, the tavern owner was getting rather impatient. And of course said men weren't doing that much of a great job on the singing.

"...Should old acquaintance be forgot~ And never brought to mind~ Should old acquaintance be forgot~ And days of auld lang syne~"

The tavern door soon opened before Commissioner Gordon came walking in. Smiling at the man, Porky made his way over to the drunks and started pushing them out. "So-So-So-Sorry, fellas. It's cl-closing time."

"Aw~ But we wanna shing!"

"So s-s-start practicing for St. Pa-Pa-Paddy's Day, Selvester!" Yelled out the tavern owner as the drunkards voiced their complaints. "And seriously, Foghorn! Sam! G-G-Ge-Get Out!" Once they were out, Porky turned over and saw Gordon sitting in one of the booths.

Going towards the counter, he picked up a pair of mugs and a fresh pot of coffee. "Happy New Year, commish." Porky said with a smile. "I he-heard your b-b-bu-buddy had a rough night." He placed the mugs down and started pouring the caffeinated drinks. "I wouldn't be s-s-surprised if he di-di-didn't show this time."

The police commissioner rose a brow. "What? And break our tradition?"

The tradition Gordon was talking about was that every New Years, the two would meet up in this tavern around closing time to have a celebratory toast on a successful year before entering the new one. They've been doing this for over a dozen years ever since they became good friends all so long ago.

The tavern owner and commissioner then heard a sound coming from the kitchen. "In fact, unless I miss my guess that's him now." Gordon said.

In fact it was, for the Batman pushed his way through the swinging doorway and made his way towards the booth. Coming closer, Porky and Gordon saw his arm was bandaged up, no doubt from the Joker's bullet. The Bat soon gave a nod towards Porky before sitting down.

"How's the arm?" Gordon asked while Porky went towards the counter to finish things up.

"Better than the Joker's."

Indeed it was. From what they heard in the medical reports, the Joker got several broken bones because of the large bell falling on top of him. And in recovery time, he'll be out of commission for quite some time while locked up in Arkham.

"Close one this time."

"They're all close ones."

The Commissioner nodded and raised his mug. "Well, here's to survival." The two cups met in the middle in a soft 'clang' before the pair drank their caffeinated drinks. Putting down his mug, Gordon smiled. "Hopefully we'll be doing this again next New Year's Eve."

"Hopefully." Said the Bat with a matching grin.

The commissioner nodded before turning his head towards the tavern owner. "And now, Porky, if I could get one of your famous cheesesteaks to go I'll be ready to call it a night."

"Ri-Righty oh, C-C-Commish!" Porky yelled out before the sounds of cooking were heard.

Turning over, Gordon was about to ask his longtime friend what he'd like to have… only to find him gone. Looking down on the table, he saw the empty mug with money placed on the table. And by his guess, it was for both the cups of coffee and Gordon's recent order.

James could only groan a little as a result. "One of these years, I'm going to beat him to the check."

From the outside of Porky's Tavern, Batman could only chuckle. 'Highly unlikely, old friend.' He thought before he made his way towards his batmobile.

For the Bat of Gotham had one more stop before he too called it a night.

-Gotham Cemetery-

Walking across the snowy ground, Batman made his way towards his parents' grave markers. Leaning against it lied the Christmas Wreath he placed there last week. Bringing his hand up, he brushed the snow off the lettering.

"Mom… Dad… Another year as Batman in the books with so many experiences and instances along the way. And new year has just begun with so many unknowns… How many years, months and days has it been now," said the Bat in a sorrowed tone, "to the exact day?... How long ever since I lost you both?" He sighed. "I... sometimes don't know anymore as time seems blurry to me." Looking up, he swallowed a lump with his fists tightening. "I've tried to make up for it, I have... all my work throughout the years." The costumed Wayne then hung his head as a stinging sensation filled his gaze. "But still, it doesn't fill this emptiness inside me... Doesn't even get rid of your dying screams out of my head."

Batman then started to circle around the grave marker as he kept talking. "I just wonder what we could have had... or if you'd be proud of what I've made of my life without you."

"Perhaps I could help you answer that question, Batman." Spoke a sudden, calm voice. "Or should I say, Bruce Wayne?"

Whirling around, the Dark Knight saw a man standing not far away from him.

The new arrival wore a navy blue attire with his business suit and the cloak hanging around his shoulders. His fedora hat casted a shadow over his face and the only thing the Bat saw underneath were the pure white eyes which were devoid of irises and pupils. As the man came closer, the bat-themed hero saw the light coming from them reveal his sunken eyes in a gaunt, sad visage that perpetuated the shadowy look around him. The last piece of detail about him -which stood out the most- was the connecting silver coin necklace surrounding his neck as it replaced the traditional tie.

"Who the devil are-?"

"Not a devil at all, Bruce Wayne. But merely a Stranger, drawn here by your buried sorrow." Came the man's calm even voice, yet it made the Bat weary. "Though if it makes you feel any better, I go by the name the Phantom Stranger or sometimes the Grey Walker with one of my alias'. Surely you've heard about me, in some way shape or form."

Batman could only blink behind his cowl. "Can't say I have."

"Understandable. For every encounter I've made, no record of me has ever really stood the test of time as my true name faded away." The Stranger laminated. "Yet I have become a legend throughout the cosmos," he turned his saddened gaze towards the Bat, "just the same as yours, which has been growing over the years." The Phantom then placed his hand on the Wayne grave marker. "But I assure you, I am as real as the names carved into these tombstones... even the ones lost throughout the ages of all shapes and sizes."

"Is there a point into you being here?"

"...I do have the power to grant your wish," revealed the Grey Walker, "if that is what you truly want."

"My wish? What do you mean?" Things slowly clicked when he remembered what he said before the Phantom Stranger's arrival. "You can bring them back? But-"

The fedora wearing man narrowed his glance at the hero before him. "You misunderstand, Bruce Wayne. I cannot undo the past, but I can show you what would have been," he revealed. "Is that enough to satisfy you?"

Batman paused and didn't know what to say. Hell, he didn't know if he could accept this offer. The costumed Wayne opened his mouth and paused for several moments. "I... don't know." He looked back at his parents' grave marker. "Maybe it would be enough. If I could just see them again, alive, I think I'd like that."

The Phantom Stranger opened up his cloak as a whirl of colors appeared from the darkness. Once things settled, the Bat saw a different change of scenery from the flap of the man's worn cloth. "Then come with me, Bruce Wayne, and we will attempt to set your mind at ease."

The vigilante sighed. "I really wish you'd stop calling me that, at least when I'm in costume."

"...I will try, Bruce Wayne."

Batman could only rub the bridge of his nose. "Forget it. You obviously don't get the concept."

The Grey Walker tilted his head slightly. "Forgive me. I admit, I do not understand secret identities you human mortals use all that well."

The Dark Knight took several deep breaths before stepping forward. He then felt a sensation cover his very being before his eyes adjusted to the new environment. The Bat lost his footing for a brief moment as he realized he was now on a rooftop.

"Where are we?" Questioned the Bat. "This looks like Gotham, but-"

"It's a Gotham of long ago... from the very night that changed our life."

Batman widened his eyes upon hearing this with realization quickly hitting him like a truck. "What?!" He was about to run into action when the Stranger held him back. "Let go! We've gotta-"

"Fear not. This is not your Gotham, Bruce Wayne. The events of your timeline do not go the same way here." The calm spoken man then pointed towards the street below.

The Bat gazed at the scene below and saw a police car was parked at the mouth of the alley where several people were gathered around.

"...I told ya on the phone, there was a guy lurkin' in there." Said one pedestrian. "If you'd taken any longer to get here, these nice folks would've gotten mugged or god forbid worse."

The officer nodded as the mugger was hauled into the police car. "Of course ma'am and I'm sure you have their thanks."

Off to the side, a woman that was all too familiar to the Bat held her child in her arms. She had short brown hair with it curling outwards at the ends. Her green eyes held much worry as she gazed towards her loved ones with a pearl necklace around her neck. "Good lord, Thomas, and to think we almost went that way."

"Of course, Martha. And I'm sure that'll teach me to take short cuts. I mean, what if something happened to Bruce, I'd never be able to forgive myself."

Back on the rooftop, Batman could only look on with widened eyes. "Mom... Dad... they didn't die?"

"No, not in this place." Revealed the Stranger as he too looked down below. "An alert pedestrian saved them without even realizing it."

Batman looked over in confusion. "But how can that be? What is this place?"

The Phantom broke his gaze to glance over towards the man beside him. "I told you, Bruce Wayne, this is the world of what would have been." The costumed Wayne took more focus with the utmost interested wonder. "More importantly, a world without you being Batman."

-End Chapter-

AN:

First off… longest chapter written thus far.

Second… work has been kicking my ass.

Well not really since the job is quite easy, to some degree. The only problem is that we've been short on staff lately and I've been needing to stay in late to help wrapped things up for the day. Sure I do get paid time and a half on overtime, but there's a limit I can handle before I get really exhausted -which gets worse while taking public transit to get back home- and it hampers my writing motivation.

On some bad news… seriously… why did the Titans show have to turn out bad from just one trailer.

The problem is like most of WB/DC properties -save for like the CW shows for the most part in recent years- it's WB/DC going "hey you know those characters that you like, some of which have been popular for almost a century now? Yeah, they sucked so we fixed them… you're welcome."

Three Examples:

Dove: A pacifist that uses logic and charm to help solve problems alongside some minimalistic fighting and meta-powers in order to properly defend herself? Bah that's fucking boring, let's have her brutally beat the shit out of bad guys.

Dick Grayson/Robin/Nightwing: A well adjusted person whose basically Batman if he got over his shit? NAH~ that's boring, let's dip him into the Snyder pool to make him fucky edgy as hell by allowing him to shoot guns and breaks peoples necks because HE DOESN'T GIVE A FUCK!

Now with these past two changes, it makes Hawk and Jason Todd/Red Hood redundant as hell because if the super-pacifist is using the "I'mma punchem" strategy and the 'The Good Son' is being Angsty McEdgelord… THEN WHAT THE FUCK IS LEFT FOR THEM TO DO? Is Hawk going to throw nukes around? Is Jason gonna start reading the totally deep poetry he wrote while shooting more guns and giving less fucks?

...And yes, both Hawk and Jason are in the series since they have been members in the comics and supposed to be in the TV show.

Not to mention how cheap and lazy a lot of the costumes look like with Starfire/Koriand'r for instance. Nothing about her show's look says 'alien' as she's literally in a dress, thigh high boots and a fur coat. And no I wouldn't have expected the show runners and designers to painstakingly recreate her purple straps like in most comic book outfits. I would've expected them to take inspiration from Starfire's recent comic line with the more modest approach. It's practical and easy or better yet, use inspiration from the good Teen Titans cartoon on the outfit.

It wasn't just that, but they ruined Starfire's character.

It's not because of the actress since I'm fine with the show's cast since as long as they do good performances, I don't give a fuck. But seeing the first trailer showed that instead of using her classic energy blasts… they have Starfire be a pyromancer… THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU DC! YOU GUYS HAVE YEARS WORTH OF MATERIAL TO REFERENCE FOR KORI AND YOU FUCKED IT UP!

I hope WB/DC learn from this mistake since this is just the first trailer and go back to reedit the shit out of their show on most details before releasing it on their streaming site: DC Universe.

Said site will have each and every DC movie, TV show and comic property in time since it will take a while to upload every bit of content, but it will all be there. For one example that I'm a bit glad about the service is the mention the Teen Titans show revival for the highly sought after season 6. This is due to the mid-credit scene on the recent Teen Titans Go film that people are speculating it'll make a true return on the DC Universe streaming service since it's the same with Young Justice season 3.

At least for some other good news came out with the Batwoman tease in the next CW crossover event in December. Not to mention the trailers for M. Night Shyamalan's Glass, Ducktails, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Venture Bros, Netflix's Disenchantment and Castlevania Season 2, Venom, Aquaman and even Shazam; which the last two I hope turns out well just like the Wonder Woman film.

Oh and one more thing…

…..

…..

…..

STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS IS COMING BACK BITCHES!

They are finally using the episode arcs they had pulled because of time constraint! From the attack on Mandalore so Ahsoka and the Clones can fight Maul, the Bad Batch clones… some episode arc pertaining to a giant Kybar Crystal on some planet I can't remember what it's called (it was the world Obi-Wan was on when Order 66 was given).

And most of all, Darth Revan is supposed to make his appearance… God I hope that happens so they'll finally make him canon.

Not to mention the return of a Nickelodeon cartoon cult classic as a movie! Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus!

Anyways, be sure to review this story guys! Would like the criticisms. Please and thanks you!

R&R