Chapter 21 – An Unpleasant Shock

Gotham City

In the dead of night, a lithe black figure darted above the rooftops, agilely avoiding the pools of light from the windows of neighboring towering buildings. No one spotted the mysterious figure as she rapidly descended from the towering heights to the dank city streets below - even if they were sharp of sight her body skin suit helped camouflage her. Even then, the shape did not slow its pace, only continued on, stopping only briefly to unlock a door positioned adjacent to a long-closed Chinese restaurant. The shadow disappeared, and the graffiiti'd streets were as empty as before.

Selina Kyle followed a series of badly-lit hallways, then down several stairs in the total dark. She had made this journey many times before, and the lack of light did not bother her at all - special contact lenses enabled her night vision. She went through other series of doors, and then she was in a better-lit although small, and rather cozy room. It was a little like a college dorm room, although what this little space had originally been used she didn't really know and doubted anyone in decades had ever been here. The room was equipped with a bunk, a table; with a microwave and stove, and a store of nonperishable food. In addition to such mundane supplies there was more sophisticated technology present than any freshman student could afford - and perhaps more than Fortune 500 companies could - and everything ran on electricity snatched ingeniously from the main grid.

Selina had many such boltholes throughout Gotham City, and in a few neighboring cities too. One never knew when they might come in handy in hiding from the cops and others. They were more than just places to hide from the long arm of the law – she used these hidden places to stash her gear, her swag, and other things. She used them when she wanted 'alone' time, or needed a quiet place to stitch up her wounds, both physical and emotional. She made sure each hideout had adequate medical supplies (and her medications, including mood stabilizers and anti-depressants), along with creature comforts. She could read, or meditate or do yoga, or simply sleep, something that didn't always come easy to her, given her particular lifestyle and profession.

Selina especially liked this place as it contained some rather valuable and hard-to-obtain electronic eavesdropping equipment, stuff she had snagged from the feds and even lesser reputable outfits. Real black ops stuff. Even better, some of it she had taken it right from under the Batman's nose, in some long-forgotten sleight-of-hand. She wondered if he even missed it, not like he couldn't buy something he lost or misplaced.

Selina took off her skintight suit and utility harness, until she was standing in her skimpy undies. She stretched her muscles and gave herself a little once-over with a washcloth from a small basin in the corner. She grabbed a soda from the mini-fridge, and stretched out on the bunk. She pulled the table closer, and from under it she placed a small box on its surface. It resembled an old-fashioned transistor radio – the retro quality of it appealed to Selina. But it was in fact a clever disguise. In fact, it was a listening device. She planned to do some intense eavesdropping indeed.

Months ago, and with no little trouble, she had placed a bug within the very Hall of Justice itself, and in one of the best possible places for intel: the men's locker room. Selina had gambled it would not be detected, it was the best available, and so far, as she could determine, it had not been detected. Who would suspect it there, rather than the Watchtower, or the Monitor Room? However, Selina knew sometimes the most important topics weren't always discussed where you expected them. She thought it was worth listening to their burps, farts, and god knew what else, in order to get some useful snippet of information, and there was always plenty of gossip. Gossip could be useful in its own right. Also, now, she knew who was sleeping with whom and all sorts of stuff that would scandalize the clueless public who thought the League were just a bunch of goody-two-shoes. She knew better!

Selina snuggled in, with a magazine, and turned on her eavesdropping device. Actually, though disguised as an ordinary AM/FM radio, she could get some local stations on it, so she listened to that at first. It was the usual bullshit news: sporadic violence in various third-world countries, unemployment issues, wildfires on the west coast.

She fiddled with the stations and paused for a minute when she heard a recognizable voice, although a somewhat disagreeable one. The Lex Luthor Letter was on tonight, although she thought it was a rerun. He was on his usual spiel: not so subtly trying to discredit the Justice League.

"And next on our show, we have Rev. Kevin Marx, the president of the Council for Family Values. Nice to have you back on the show, Reverend."

"Thank you, Lex, and let me just say it's an honor to be on your show, you're a great American!

Now, our listeners may know that you're the author of "The End Times Revealed" and "Our Fallen Society." I understand you've written a new book, can you tell us what this one's about?

Yes, Lex, I can, my next book is The Great Lie, and what it's about is something you know a lot about Lex, this so-called Justice League. In this book, which you can order directly from my Web site, is about the false premise that these fake gods are trying to shove down our throats. Lex, these metahumans are straight from the devil. Let me give you one example, this Wonder Woman, a woman who openly - openly! - admits to worshipping false gods! She is setting a terrible example for little girls all over the world, teaching them to behave in ways contrary to what is set down for them in the Good Book - to serve and obey their fathers, husbands, and Lex, you know just as well how she is such a violent person..."

"Don't I know it!"

"Lex, I call upon the good American people to reject these false heroes and idols, and if you read my book - again, available for $15.99 on my Web site..."

Selina turned down the volume, frowning. She didn't believe a word of it, and wondered how on earth Luthor could even tolerate such an moron, even if he did serve some kind of purpose for him. She knew from personal experience what a user looked like. Or perhaps Luthor and this religious nut were more alike than they seemed. Yet she thought with some unease that his show was getting popular every day. Some people were listening to his message, and the more that Superman stayed out of the picture, for whatever reason (she had heard he got injured somehow, but she'd heard mixed stories about that) the more Luthor seemed to spout off. You'd think he'd be happy with Superman gone, but somehow it just seemed to galvanize more of his and others' crazy conspiracy theories. Anyway, as far as she was concerned, it was none of her business what Superman chose to do, as long as he stayed out of her business.

She turned off the radio half of the device, then fiddled with it as best as she remembered the complicated instructions. It really wasn't that difficult, some minutes of static and then she got what she wanted. It was audio only, charmingly lo-fi in this era of satellite spyware and micro-drones that could scan through your brainstem. Selina knew that Bruce and the others would be on their guard for those things, maybe not so much something like an old-fashioned listening voice from the Roger Moore-James Bond-era. It might be discovered eventually, but hopefully she would get some good stuff before it did. She didn't really care if Bruce knew it was her, or not. It would serve him right for the way he'd treated her, and after all the years that they'd known each other, ever since childhood! What, she'd been twelve and him ten, when they first met, hadn't it been? He'd been so naive, so helpless, and she'd done her best to show him the ways of the street, and how had he paid her back? Trying to lock her up! So much for her help. She'd had a thing for him once, and she'd thought he'd felt the same, but he was too messed-up, inwardly, she thought, to really have any real emotions. She was certain of that.

There! The noise cleared and then she heard background noise. Chatter, and what sounded like some doors opening and closing, equipment being dropped. Perfect, maybe'd they'd just come in. Then she heard voices. She could recognize all their voices: the Flash, Oliver Queen aka The Arrow, even the Cyborg (why he would be in a locker room she wasn't quite sure). She expected the usual banter, maybe they might mention some bit of operational info that could prove useful later on. As she listened, it sounded just like boring chit-chat, who was doing what after work and what were they watching on TV, maybe.

"Can you believe it?" That sounded like Barry Alien, Selina was certain.

Oliver: "Hardly. You think it could be some sort of, I don't know, a setup?"

Barry: "Like what?"

Oliver:"Well…I don't know. Like a charade, I mean. They're acting this out in order to throw people off."

Barry: "Throw who off?"

Oliver: "Well, I don't know!"

Barry: "It's so sudden. The way he said it, just announced it at the end, like an afterthought. I think he was a little miffed that everyone just sat there for a second and didn't say anything."

Cyborg: "Well, it was a bombshell, wasn't it? What did he expect?"

Barry: "Could you imagine if everyone had started laughing like it was a joke? Ohmygod, he would have been so pissed, you know it!"

Selina was starting to get bored: she had no idea which TV show they were talking about and did not care. She had a few fashion magazines lying aboutand was about to fetch them when Barry said something that made her freeze stock still.

Barry: "Well, I heard that he's redecorating the whole Manor, just for the event, and he's invited all the Gotham bigshots, and all these other people, even that Facebook guy."

Cyborg: "I hope Alfred isn't doing all the work!"

Selina forgot about the magazines, and sat up, listening intently. What big event? What was he doing?

Oliver: "So, when's the big event? I must have missed that part"

Barry: "I think he said month. He's really wasting no time, is he?"

Oliver: "Well at least there'll be a party! When Supes married he and Diana didn't do anything special did they?"

Selina's blood froze. Someone watching her would have noticed her face starting to pale.

Cyborg: "No that was more a private thing. Diana's not big into ceremonies and all that jazz."

Oliver: "That's what I'm sayin'. You'd think Bruce would want something private too but he's going to make a big thing out of this. I just get the feeling he's planning something else."

Cyborg: "Um, like what?"

Oliver: "Like I said, I don't know but maybe-"

Barry: "Or it could be just what she wants. Maybe it's all her idea, to have a big shindig."

Selina's mind was struggling to process what she was hearing, even her emotions were starting to do a salsa. Manor? Ceremony? And who that FUCK was 'she' and what was a 'shindig'?

Barry: "Well, I'll be waiting for my invite!"

Oliver (snorting sound): "You'll be waiting for a long time! We know Batman we're not supposed to know Bruce Wayne. I'm sure that will raise a lotta questions when a bunch of nobodies shoes up at his VIP wedding."

Selina had to grab something to avoid falling off her bunk. She felt faint. Her mind starting racing with wild thoughts, even before the words sank in. Talia? But she was dead, she was positive. Someone else in the League? She couldn't think of anyone. Hawkgirl wasn't even the same damn species. Her mind thought of Helena, the Huntress, but she had thought she was a lesbian.

Barry (sounding wounded): "But that doesn't mean we won't get invited, does it?"

Cyborg: "I imagine we'll be doing security. Offsite, I suppose, or incognito. Dinah's heard that we'll be 'undercover.'"

Oliver: "Well, as long as we get fed I don't mind..."

Selina stared at the radio equipment as if had just sprouted tentacles armed with nasty little suckers. She thought the phrase, 'make your blood run cold,' was just a colorful descriptive, but now she found that it could be very, very literal. That's exactly what she was feeling. She could hardly believe what she was hearing. She was torn between picking up her eavesdropping device and smashing to a billion pieces, and listening to more. She had to found it more. Who, for instance.

She didn't have to wait for long.

Barry: "Well, no matter if we get invited or not, I'm happy for Zatanna. She's always been cool, and I think they make a cute couple."

Several choice epithets escaped from Selina's mouth, although she wasn't even conscious of them. This time, she really had to grip something.

Oliver (smugly): "I knew they were banging from day one! Dinah tells me everything. You know what she calls...it, don't you?"

Cyborg and Barry, simultaneously: "What"

Selina stopped breathing.

"No, what?"

"Her other magic wand!"

The channel was then filled with raucous dude-bro laughter, as Selina involuntarily leapt up from her bunk, unfortunately hitting her head on the corner of the overhanging shelf above. She collapsed back onto the bunk, writhing in that exquisite pain that is unique to banging-your-head-unexpectedly-on-something-hard. Tears filled her eyes as she squeezed them shut in agony. Once the pain receded somewhat and she wiped her eyes, the assholes were talking about sports. But Selina had heard enough.

She couldn't believe it. She wouldn't have guessed. She hadn't talked to Zatanna in months, not like they were pals or anything, but...really why wouldn't she...why? How did this happen? Why did Bruce let it happen? There was no way, no way in HELL.

Zatanna, you…you…WITCH!

Selina clenched her fists, and her teeth, and she had to resist an overwhelming urge to immediately charge straight to the Hall of Justice – or the Manor – and kick Bruce's trillion-dollar ass. Absent from her mind was the reality that she and Bruce had not been together for years, or that, if given the opportunity, she would even want to be with him again. It didn't matter, there was a part of her brain that didn't exactly fall into the 'healthy emotion lobe' category. Foremost in her thoughts was the sensation that something had been stolen from her. Some part of her knew it was irrational, but it was subsumed by the overwhelming feelings of pure rage. A twisted smile curled her lip.

Just you wait, you cunt, Selina thought. Don't think your fancy magic is going to protect you once I have my claws out!

To be continued…

[A/N: Happy New Year everyone! I'm glad you're reading this and hope you get some enjoyment out of it. I get enjoyment out of the reviews ;) I'm happy to know you got some reading enjoyment from the fic, and also I get enjoyment if you didn't and I wasted minutes of your life that you'll never ever get back haha! Just don't take anything seriously, it's not like this is the Star Wars movie ;) I hope to have a chapter up once a month, and maybe this will be finished by end of next year. What will Selina do to Zatanna? I don't know but she better have some magickal safeguards up, lol. Have safe holidays!]