Is it better left unsaid?
Chapter 3 'Beginning and Ending'
Closing time
Time for you to go out to the places you will be from
Closing time
This room won't be open till your brothers or your sisters come
So gather up your jackets, move it to the exits
I hope you have found a friend
Closing time
Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end
I know who I want to take me home
I know who I want to take me home
I know who I want to take me home
Take me home - Closing Time by Semisonic
(Wayne Manor - Library - six hours after the 'meeting' with Talia)
Bruce paced back and forth as he tried to put the events happening together in his mind. It wasn't like Ra's to come and see him so soon before one of his plans was to be unleashed. The man was many things, but sloppy wasn't one of them. Obviously there was a situation which made him deviate from his plan. The only situation, based on the information at hand, was that Talia had not been told, or specifically allowed to come and visit. Talia was a grown woman, but in Ra's eyes she was still far less than a suitable heir. She was faulted because of gender, which was complete bullshit, and thus it was the reason Ra's wanted a competent successor. Talia wanted it to be him, and Ra's had given his blessing over their union if she could ever draw him in.
Instead today Ra's arrived to find both he and Talia in an awkward position. With Talia's shirt open, her panties off, and her skirt moved up almost around her waist there was no doubt the two of them had come as close to intercourse without going through with as anyone, to his knowledge, had ever come. Bruce stopped his pacing and looked at the books he had selected from the library and groaned. Each of them was basic mythology, beliefs and rituals on spectral magic, but none of them specifically had anything about a spectral explosion. Ra's being here and the spectral explosion couldn't be simple coincidence. He was certain that the two were tied, and more than likely it was Ra's wanting to use the spectral explosion for something.
His earlier attempt to contact Dr. Fate had revealed that the mystic was half way across the world aiding Jason Blood with a vampire outbreak which had been brought on by a cursed object. The two of them was attempting to stem the problem, repair the damage, and then return. In short there was no way for Dr. Fate to come back and take care of the spectral explosion. That left Zatanna, Xanadu, John and Epiphany Constantine, and Shade the changing man. He knew they hadn't left, but instead they had went to Zatanna's home and was attempting to get any kind of information they could on the spectral explosion. He knew that talking to Zatanna would be the easiest way, but at the same time he needed someone closer for this.
The only other person in the league who had dealt with magic was Diana. He trusted her, and he knew that she wouldn't betray that trust. He really needed someone to help him look at his objectively and see what angles he hadn't covered. Diana was that person. After a few minutes of debating he decided to go ahead and contact her.
"Batman to Wonder Woman," he said as he tapped the communication device.
"Hello Batman, how may I help you?" a soft soothing voice said.
"Are you busy?" he asked.
"No, why?" she asked.
"I would like to have you go over something with me. I could use a second set of eyes, and preferably someone who has had dealings with magic. Are you on the Watchtower?" he asked.
"No, I'm over Gotham at the moment, Tell me where you want to meet and I'll meet you there," she said.
"Meet me where we went over the rules," he said cryptically.
(Twelve minutes later - Rooftop across from Ice burg Lounge)
Diana looked down at the people she had seen two years ago. Granted they weren't the same exact people. She was fairly sure those people still frequented the Ice Burg lounge, but these people seemed the same. They all had the same happy expression, oblivious to the horrors the night could possibly throw on them. In a way perhaps the saying she had learned here, or rather in her time here, was correct. Perhaps Ignorance was bliss. These people seemed to live happily without knowing the worries of the world. She sighed and heard the faintest of footsteps behind her.
"I was wondering when you would show. I'm not used to having to wait very long," she said.
"There was something I had to take care of on the way here. A punk with a gun that knows fear a little better," Bruce answered.
He walked near her and handed her a leaflet of paper. She took it, not sure what it was, and examined it for a moment. The writing was a logical process attempting to explain a supernatural occurrence. It was similar to hearing a machine, like Red Tornado, explain a miracle. She realized that it was Bruce's thoughts on the paper, and he was attempting to understand something that was happening or going to happen. A small sigh escaped her when she realized this was him basically saying it was far too big for him to handle alone.
"Do you know anything about this?" he asked.
"A spectral explosion? What I know of it is limited to some ancient tales. Places where tremendous energy escaped from the ground and killed hundreds of people. I've never seen it, and like I said I've only heard some old tales," she said.
"Who told them?" he asked.
She looked at him confused, but at the same time wanting to help. She thought back and remembered how her mother had told her the stories of these strange explosions.
"Mother, she told me when I was a child. It was stories she would tell me when I was preparing to go to bed. She would come in and softly tell me the story of how an entire army was defeated without anyone lifting a single sword. A scout had seen the army at least a weeks ride away, and she reported it back. Mother prepared the other sisters for a battle that would never happen. A week came and went, yet the army never arrived. Finally the scout was sent back out, and they reported that the entire army was dead. They appeared to have died a few days before. Mother explained that when those men died there was a large light which erupted from the ground and shot straight up into the heavens. She told me that some of the sisters could swear they heard screaming, crying out, and pain filled moans from that light," Diana said.
"The scout that examined the bodies, is she still alive?" Bruce asked.
"Yes, of course she is. She's on Themyscira along with all of the others. Why?" Diana asked.
"Diana, that scout is the only person who I can talk to that has any kind of information that may be relevant to something I've been informed is going to happen. At the same time I believe that someone is attempting to direct where it is going to happen. Maybe there is something that scout saw, noticed, smelled, anything that could help me determine where this could be happening at," Bruce said.
"I'll contact mother and ask for Aello to retell everything that happened when the light appeared," Diana replied.
"I would like to interview her," Bruce said.
"Bruce, you know how my sisters feel, and what the gods feel about men on the island," Diana warned.
"I don't have to touch the Island princess," he said.
(Near Arkham Island - the bridge connecting it to Gotham)
Epiphany, Xanadu, Zatanna, John, and Shade stood looking at the bridge. Shade held himself and shook his head.
"The madness is there. I can feel it even from here I can feel it. It wants inside of me again. It's cold fingers are digging into my brain. I... I can't stay here," Shade said before he blinked out of existence and simply disappeared.
"I said that he wouldn't do it," Epiphany stated.
"It was a long shot, but one we needed to take anyway," Zatanna said.
"We need inside of the Asylum. There is no greater place of sorrow, misery, and madness in all of Gotham. I doubt that there is in the entire world. If we can get inside of Arkham we can find out when the spectral explosion is going to take place and maybe we can even direct it away from Gotham. I wouldn't doubt that we could cause it to happen in the middle of an uninhabited island," Xanadu said.
"How are we going to do it then? I don't think that Bats is going to listen, and he's a might to fast to cast any kind of spell on him," John said.
"Couldn't we try weaving your suggestion magic through a tantric sex ritual? You've said how powerful it is before," Epiphany suggested.
"Yeah, it's powerful, and the problem is that if we tried to amplify the suggestion spell through that ritual it wouldn't be just the Batman we would affect. It would be the entire city. Think about it luv, how would those looneys in the asylum work to get us in there? They would do everything possible they could to make Batman beg us to come with him. We can't do that," John said.
"Is there another way? Perhaps someone else we can ask?" Xanadu asked.
"We could try Wormwood. It's another long shot, but I know Nergil and Rosacarnis are mixed up in this. Wormwood has no great love for Nergil, and actually he would prosper by Nergil failing. It would give him a chance to claim those souls instead. I don't like messing with a demon, but Wormwood is a business man first and foremost," John said.
"What would he want?" Xanadu asked.
"Our word that we wouldn't interfere with him attempting to claim the souls that would have been affected here," John answered.
Xanadu closed her eyes and tried to reach into the future. It was hard without the crystal to focus on, but she still attempted to do it. Slowly the visions began to set in. She could see the city tearing itself apart. People raping, killing, stealing, and doing it all to each other. Laughing at it was a huge obese demon. He stood in a pinstripe suit looking at the city below him chuckling at those who had been swayed by his presence.
"No, we can't use him. I know what he would do," Xanadu said.
"Yeah, I know too, but he might be our only option," John said.
"I refuse to believe that. There has to be someone else, anyone else we can talk to," she said.
"There is Death and Destiny. Death might be swayed to give us the where we need," John said.
"How do we get in touch with her?" Zatanna asked.
"We go where someone is dying luv. We have to go where someone is dying," he answered.
(Valestra's shipping Warehouse)
Ra's looked at Talia and paced back and forth. His daughter was to go and see Wayne, and throw him off. It shouldn't have bothered him that she was doing it with her body. The problem was what he had seen in her eyes. She was in love with Wayne. She loved him, and wanted to be with him. The last thing he needed was for even the slightest possibility for her betrayal.
"Explain to me how you planned on bringing Wayne into our plan," he said.
"I was going to give myself to him," she said.
"A plan that has failed," he said.
"No, father it is not. It is a plan I have never tried. I've given him my body before, but I've never given him myself. More to the point I've never completely submitted to him before. If I do so I know that I can reach him in a way I can't now," she said.
"How can you reach him?" he asked.
"I will be a part of him. I will have his ear and his heart. He will listen to me, understand that our goals are not so different. We want to protect the world in much the same fashion he wants to protect Gotham. In essence by following us, by understanding that for the common good some must die, and by having me there to help him with it he would come to us. To cement things between us I would give him a child. A boy to carry on the legacy of his father and grandfather," she said.
"Or, he may reach you. By giving yourself completely to him he would have your ear, your heart, and in time your mind. His desire to save the city, and the world would reach you. When that happened I would not only have the detective to worry about, but I would also have the problem of someone who knew our secrets, our plans, and our world against us. You would become a dangerous thorn in my side, and one I would be forced to remove. Do not cause me to strike out Talia," Ra's said.