"Who is the stiff?" asks Bullock.
Detective Renee Montoya hesitates to answer given recognition on her part.
"Name is…."
Bullock fails to get why she is so slow identify him so he snatches the wallet out of her hand.
"Ted Grant… the boxer?"
The heavyset detective scratches his forehead and looks oddly at the scene.
"Who bothers whacking a retired boxer? What could motivate that?"
The damage throughout the apartment reads like a robbery gone wrong, but something tells Montoya otherwise except this is above her area of expertise. Grant had fallen several stories down before landing face up on street level. Montoya did not look forward to alerting Dinah Lance to this death, but somehow Lance did deserve to know before the papers got wind of it. She also knew that Grant is Justice League so it made for an even more bizarre turn especially if his murder is League related though maybe it was not, but she cannot ignore the possibility.
"Any next of kin to notify?" continues Bullock.
"I'll take care of it, you brief Gordon, and get Allen here with the CSU," answers Montoya.
"Sure thing, strange I'd expect Bats at the least to be here for something like this…"
Bullock heads downstairs and Montoya turns at the sound of footsteps coming from the direction of the balcony. She whips out her sidearm and aims as if wondering whether the killer had come back except when she aims her flashlight it reveals the drop in is actually Question. She lowers the flashlight and returns her sidearm to its holster. He closes the distance and simply nods as if going for reassuring at least.
"I almost thought it was either the intruder or Batman dropping in on me like that."
"If it were Batman, I doubt you would have been aiming the weapon, if it were the killer you wouldn't even gotten the gun out of the holster."
"What brings you to this part of town tonight Question?"
"Heard there was a break-in, possible homicide, and the address was a bit of bait. We put ourselves on the line all the time, whether we disguise ourselves like this or dress like those in your profession, either way something comes for us…"
He picks up a picture of Ted Grant with Dinah Lance, Selina Kyle, Helena Bertinelli, and Barbara Gordon. It is curious to see Catwoman in this lineup, but the word on the streets is she playing straight these days. Nobody could ever tell for sure in the past especially with the business with both Enrique El Gancho and Thomas Blake even as both incidents happen prior to Batman's part as a League Founder.
El Gancho went from enforcer to smuggler and in doing so caught the attention of Nightwing. Nightwing's interest brought with it the involvement of Batman and Batgirl. Nightwing at that stage is a new costume persona for Grayson who broke away from Batman and Wayne. There is not really a word to describe how that partnership fell apart, but there had been ongoing modus operandi disagreements over the years between them though the presence of Batgirl brought a lasting variable to the situation.
Grayson had been romantically involved with Barbara during their college years. The two apparently were oblivious to the other being Robin and Batgirl respectively. Batman had definitely found her out early on yet said nothing to either of them about the other's out-of-costume identity. Perhaps a mistake on his part unless he thought the responsibility for that reveal should be in their hands except neither did verbally though suspicions were likely.
Batman and Robin were trailing Joker at the time except Joker got away with a truckload of devices including a portable radar scrambler. Batman was pinned down during Joker's getaway prompting Robin to go after him alone except the clown got away leaving only some incidental small time crook, Connor, to take the fall. Robin pursues him only to find himself chasing the man to his own residence, to his family, a wife, and a kid, which is not something he thought, would happen yet then Batman bursts in through the window. Batman interrogates Connor in front of his family.
This as Question could tell was the limit for Grayson as Robin.
Barbara likely sensing that the rift between the two had grown in recent months goes to confront Bruce with this problem only to discover that she had been in the company of Batman and Robin for years. Joker however makes his move by setting up the radar scrambler atop the tallest skyscraper in Gotham for the scrambler requires significant altitude to be deadly effective. Batgirl and Batman head out only Grayson arrives to find at least three red herrings.
The first Barbara's car outside the manor, second Alfred in the Batcave alone, and third the Batmobile is not in its turntable parking spot. Pennyworth undoubtedly did not have to say anything for Grayson to make the connections so he takes off for what would be his last night as Robin.
His arrival at the base of the skyscraper is timely as Joker had somehow sent Batgirl flying off the side of the skyscraper. She is unconscious as Grayson later relates to Question though Question suspects he is not the first to hear Grayson's side of that night. The Batcycle's rocket seat is what enables Robin to close the distance and in doing so bring Batgirl away from the fatal. The pair return to the roof not long before two airliners are verging on midair collision so Batgirl somehow dupes Joker into firing machine gun rounds into the scrambler then Batman narrowly gets her out the way of the blast.
After the three have it out. Grayson concedes in retrospect that he had been rather angry with Batman's behavior. It could be perhaps that age had made Grayson see things differently or maybe Wayne also no longer saw the need to consider Grayson's perspective now the once young ward is an adult. Batman had been operating for some time before the Graysons homicide yet in taking in the orphan Dick Grayson he had to think less like a crime fighter and more like a father-mentor. At least this is what some could consider being the case.
Grayson also relates to Vic an earlier experience while he was still in college when Wayne had become reclusive after Gordon got fatally shot during a bust. Wayne at that stage had almost given up Batman because he had misgivings about continuing to fatally fail those that matter to him. If not for Grayson sticking it to him then Gordon's shooter would have gotten away with the second attempt. One could say that Grayson had to wonder what happen to that Batman as he stood arguing with another Batman on a roof after Joker was taken back to Arkham. However within every hero there are facets that none of want to acknowledge or welcome because there is disbelief that a hero could behave in such ways.
One could also go back further to another tale in Grayson's past where the man responsible for his parents' murder had gotten away Just as the Waynes' killer had done except until the Graysons' killer resurfaces under one of his many aliases.
Batman attempts to pursue him alone because the murderer had already taken so much from Grayson starting with his parents. Batman had chosen in the past to save Grayson instead of nabbing Zucco. This time around Zucco would not be so 'fortunate' except Robin once learning that the criminal Batman is pursuing is Tony Zucco elects to join the chase. Batman repeatedly tries to keep Robin away from Zucco for reasons that only are understood in retrospect. Zucco however does not go quietly, which is how Batman sustains a leg injury leaving Robin to handle Zucco almost alone. Robin faces the kill or not kill moment with Zucco in his gloved grip. Robin turns Zucco over to the GCPD and together with Batman they are made to remember why they are out here instead of all the reminders of what they lost along the way.
Costumes are a disguise, but nothing can truly conceal or heal the scars or motives of a costume's genesis. In the end, all those that don them are still only human and persist all the while with the memories.
Arrivals and departures are more than just signs in terminals. In Grayson's departure, Batman is made to reconsider his modus operandi as is Batgirl yet Tim Drake's arrival forces both to confront what having another Robin would be like. Likewise it comes just ahead of Grayson's return as Nightwing even though the parting of ways had broken much for all those who had a stake in it. Grayson thought he had to leave, Gordon thought she could bridge the gap, and Wayne thought he could salvage the situation, but emotions hit a climax when Robin slugs Batman as Batgirl watches close at hand. Nobody had forgotten, but maybe they could forgive for sake of what they mean to each other despite the intensities of costume heroics.
The situation with El Gancho's smuggling is that a particular shipment was used by Selina Kyle to secretly bring the Cat's Eye Emerald from South America to Gotham. Nightwing continues to pose as if things were still sour between him and Batman in order to get closer to Catwoman. She behaves as if she is romantically interested in Nightwing while not knowing he did a double blind on her. Batgirl had by that time also taken his old spot as Batman's partner. It likely felt strange to him except he had gone solo yet again he too is human. It turns out more or less as Batman thought it might even as Catwoman tries to flee with the emerald after El Gancho's capture.
Batman's next run in with Catwoman is when she is fleeing a cult yet again she is duplicitous in order to briefly currying favor with the cult leader Thomas Blake. Catwoman's influence on felines saves Batman's life on that occasion except afterward Kyle vanishes out of the country until she turns up again during the Thanagarian Occupation. She separately aids both Helena and Dinah during that time. Kyle continues a rather erratic streak of altruism since then if her appearance in the photograph means anything.
The glass in the picture frame is cracked, but many things in the apartment have taken cosmetic damage either on purpose as a diversion. The bedroom reveals more of the same as the sitting room and no trace of who got into Grant's apartment in order to kill him. He can hear Montoya talking to someone else who is entering through the front door. It is Dinah Lance and she did not make this trip here alone. She had come in the company of Selina Kyle and Helena. He had been anticipating Dinah though not Helena and certainly not Selina, but the three of them had been in the cracked picture frame he had seen in the other room. Grant often found himself in the company of attractive women yet so did Wayne, it is not something to be jealous of because he had already had the company of the only woman that is exceptionally attractive on many levels to him.
"Renee, what happen here? Where is Ted?" asks Dinah.
"He is dead Dinah, we found his body on sidewalk earlier and as you can see..." responds Renee.
Question crosses back into the room to see the faces of the four women.
"His apartment's been ransacked… no sign who broke in or who killed him either," finishes Question.
"What is he doing here?" hisses Selina.
Question ignores Selina for the moment.
"I heard the scanner chatter about a murder and a break-in at this complex's address. I remembered that Wildcat kept a space here so I thought to check on him though of course I was too late to do anything about this," continues Question.
"All we know at this point is that he was injured badly before smacking into the sidewalk after the fall. As for who or why, it is under investigation," comments Renee.
Question figures he is lingering too long so makes his exit out the door then towards the elevator yet Helena follows him out instead of staying here with Dinah and Selina. Dinah at first almost sounds like she would want Helena to stick around, but realizes that there is not much else to do here so she speaks to Renee briefly before going after the pair as they still waiting for the elevator. The delay is that Detective Allen is arriving with the CSU. Allen walks pass them without a word knowing that Dinah was quite close to the victim. He had a long night ahead of him and Montoya could handle the statements if any had to be made.
Question steps into the elevator car, Helena goes next and Dinah scoots in the last. The doors close making a familiar groan at least to Dinah and Helena. Question had taken a different way up other than the elevator.
"If you find anything at all, I want to know," murmurs Dinah.
"I'd expect nothing less from you besides I would have done so anyway," responds Question.
"We'll find who did this, you count on that Dinah," reassures Helena.
The doors part to reveal the lobby vacant of any signs of activity.
"Take my car, get her home or to Queen, and I'll bring your bike back to your place later."
Dinah smiles weakly and Question briefly gives the somber looking blond a quick hug. He passes the keys to Helena and the two depart in the Pontiac. He mounts Helena's motorcycle and speeds off to check on some of the others who might also be targets for whoever went after Wildcat. If the notion that someone is targeting costumes in a way different from Cadmus is true then he had to warn some directly instead of just passing a message along.
Whoever had set this in motion is one fewer with Luthor's disappearance following the fourth Apokolipitian incursion led by the resurrected Darkseid. Luthor's obsession with reconstituting Brainiac had been the only thing that kept him with Grodd's organization. The organization as Question understood it split into two distinct factions one that went with Luthor and the other that sought to restore Grodd to leadership, but Grodd lost except who is in charge from that point onward becomes moot with Darkseid's return.
Luthor and his followers had come back to Earth to warn the League and just barely in time to boot too. Multiple boom tube vortexes open world wide and so in less than a year the expanded League rolls into action to face another Omega Level Alert. This time however they are without J'onn J'onzz on station since he took a leave of absence, which left Mr. Terrific to direct team deployments in his place. Superman had not been keen for Leaguers to work along side Luthor's followers except Batman elects to call a truce of sorts because it is not the time to be bickering with Darkseid attempting to conquer Earth again.
The Daily Planet nearly got run into the ground as Darkseid almost predictably makes personal planet fall atop the Planet. Superman, Batman, and Luthor are part of the team that met him on the rooftop. Superman later relates how Batman had somehow been able to dodge the Omega Beams by agility and by pushing a Parademon in the way. Whatever really happened, it probably did confuse the dictator yet Darkseid's center focus remains Superman. The latter as seen on the news cut loose on the former yet Darkseid had another ace to pull on the Man of Steel until Luthor reappears with the Anti-Life Equation though as for how he found it when Darkseid had been unable to do for ages is a mystery.
However whatever the act itself appears to remove both Darkseid and Luthor from the fight. Darkseid's disappearance leads to a mass retreat by the Apokolipitian forces worldwide. Question recalls a bit of confusion at the suddenness of their retreat yet it fit with their sudden appearance earlier that same day. He got some laughs out of running down Parademons with his Pontiac, but tonight he did not feel like laughing in the least, not with Wildcat's demise. It would be a bit of guess work to track down Captain Atom, but if someone went after Wildcat, they might go after Atom. As for what exactly made Question consider that, it had more to do with the fact that Atom had chosen to remain firmly loyal to League after the hearings that all, but shut down Cadmus.
Rockefeller Air Base and its attached R&D facilities are vacant now. The reworking of the military budget as well as the findings of the new global agency had shut down countless outposts kept by Cadmus including Rockefeller yet tonight Captain Atom is revisiting old stomping grounds. Question cuts the engines of the motorcycle and continues in Atom's direction on foot except something else is likewise going on here. Atom is met by Betty near the ruins of the compound that housed the chambers remade him from Captain Adams to Captain Atom.
"It appears she did survive the recovery efforts," murmurs Question to himself.
Several years ago Rockefeller Air Base was one of the top level aviation and astrophysics facilities in America. The Soviets 'lost' the Cold War, but fear of the unknown never wanes nor does the hindsight excuse that one needs to be ready should there ever be another war. Chatter about deterrents, about weapons more powerful than atomic bombs and nuclear warheads. This is the mandate of the program that made the experimental process of harnessing all forms radiation, but the process still requires refinement according to even the lead scientists on the program. However many are impatient for results including a certain Colonel Wade Eiling so as leverage he investigates several candidates to test the procedure on except few have the kind of damning leverage he is seeking until files about Captain Nathaniel Adams and his fiancée Betty Sans Souci come across the Colonel's desk.
He found his man so he goes to Adams directly to 'appeal 'to the recently promoted Captain Adams. Adams told the insistent Colonel that he had to think it over especially with his impending marriage to Betty yet Eiling also reminds him that he knows of Betty's political leanings among other things. Adams did not cave at first because it felt like a personal threat, there was no other way to read it, and even then Eiling had a reputation for ruthlessness. He usually got what he is after so sooner or later Adams would have to go along.
The reveal of the extent of Souci's allegiances and affiliations puts him in dire straits. He did not believe she ever go as far as Eiling's allegations suggest, but of course certain elements of both political and military arm of the government do not share the sentiment. Eiling got his man and Souci lost hers. The procedure was meant to appear to be a failure as she and Eiling both saw him 'disintegrate' after he went into the chamber wearing the alleged anti-radiation suit. In truth the suit was made to absorb the energy then harness it, not just harness it as both were told by Eiling beforehand in order to clarify the design specs.
The further assertion is the design would allow workers to speed up another protocol set to help reclamation of lands deadened by nuclear fallout such as Chernobyl. A further deception to be sure, but she had thought it a practical application given her stance against highly destructive weaponry yet too late did she realize that Eiling had been deceiving her as well as Adams. However she thought at the time that the procedure first had somehow hit a snag, a catastrophic fail that took Adams' life, and she could probably to this day remember her anguished cries as he appears to die inside the chamber.
After his phony funeral, she left for Canada as her dispensation status is taken away with his 'passing' though less than a year after she heard rumors about some living government weapon code named Atom after the atomic bomb most likely.
Adams becomes Atom.
Atom learns of her proactive involvement in purported terrorist organizations, which is decidedly disheartening yet his romantic involvement with her is a secret that Eiling and his confederates keep to themselves as leverage for him to remain loyal to their policies.
Her terrorist affiliations eventually dissolve, some reorganize, some become more fanatical, and the rest recede from the scene knowing that they possess neither time nor resources to combat organizations that can make living weapons. She understood their skepticism, she did share it, but still she never had given up speaking out against it. Her vocal opposition at times led to some more violent incidents, which is how she ends up doing time for riots, for the occasional hostage situations, and scarce usage of low grade bombs as scare tactics.
Wars are no longer just between nations because of the era of nations is fading yet as always there is still someone left to fight. The dynamics are what, when, where, and who, which only leaves the question of how the wars will be fought once all the dynamics are in place like aspects of a clock.
Atom kept a pocket watch that Souci had given Adams as an anniversary present.
Plastique wears a jewel encrusted timepiece given to Souci by Adams as an engagement gift.
The two would not directly cross paths until Plastique is part of Task Force X and Atom is part of the Justice League.
Adams and Souci would not meet again face to face until tonight near the ruins of the test chamber where Adams began his journey to Atom and eventually Souci started her way to Plastique.
Question closes the distance just as somebody fires on them.
"Adams, get her out of here now!"
Both look up to see him waving at them though they barely hear his shouts. They disappear in columns of blue tinted lights, likely Metro Tower or Watchtower teleport beams hopefully.
Deadshot emerges furious that his aim is made useless by the disappearing act.
"You'll have to do better than Lawton."
"They should have let us finish you off before your girlfriend and that alien had come for you."
"You are amoral gun for hire… sure Flagg got you out of a death sentence, but now you are still a wanted killer. Souci made her call and it is not you so get over it."
"Sure it was wise letting Bertinelli roam in your car with Lance?"
Deadshot looks around uncertain as to where Question went to after that last declaration. He is not left to wonder long as he feels his arm bent twisted behind his back a split second later.
"What are you referring to? Those associates of yours are attempting to spring Mandragora or that you thought you could have someone plant a transducer trigger in my car?"
"How did you know about either of those possibilities?"
"I'm an information handler… how else do you think I found out what happen to the four including you that had become part of Task Force X under Flagg or how I had found out where Mandragora would be going when his son arrived stateside?"
"Well you can either keep twisting my arm or save your Italian w…"
Deadshot howls in pain as Question cracks the assassin's wrist.
"It'll hurt, you'll need a splint, but you won't be shooting anyone for awhile unless you want to learn to shoot the wrist launcher with your other arm… oh wait… check that…"
Deadshot buckles when hearing his other wrist get badly twisted and he refrains from howling a second time.
Question makes a fast exit then comlink calls Dinah to be sure she and Helena are not still in the car. It turns out she is not, she is with Queen at her place in Bludhaven, but Helena is not.
"Where is Helena?"
"She is on her way back to your car now…"
"One of you stop her… someone might have put a thermal transducer in it."
"You are serious aren't you?"
"I just ran afoul of Deadshot… I trust that's convincing enough!"
"Ollie…we got to get down to Helena and fast…"
Question pushes the bike to the max to get it onto the highway, but he is still over an hour away on the bike. Too impatient he pulls off to the shoulder and calls for a teleport to Dinah's location in Bludhaven except she left her earpiece comlink in Queen's penthouse so that is where he materializes after pulling Helena's bike to a dead stop. He would find someway to reimburse Queen later for the stains, but Queen could afford to have the cleaning done anyway. As he reappears, he hears a boom from outside the penthouse. He dashes outside to the patio and stares down to the street where the flaming wreck of the Pontiac sits smoldering on asphalt.
"No, no, no!"
He hears the hum another teleport beam behind him and Queen reappears with an unconscious Helena in his arms with Dinah directly next to them. He exhales sharply and flops down on the patio deck.
"Easy there, take a breather, we got to her in time," sighs Dinah.
"Guess I owe you one now Dinah," exhales Question.
"We're all alive… so I'd call it even for now," remarks Dinah.
"Sorry about the bike on the carpet," continues Question.
Oliver spots Helena's motorcycle inside.
"I can afford it… besides in your position I wouldn't have waited for someone else to save Dinah."
Oliver gently lies Helena down in one of the penthouse bedrooms then gives her some light covers given that it is warmer in here than it is outside. The local firefighters handle the blaze from the blown apart Pontiac. Oliver offers to purchase him a replacement for the Pontiac, but for now it appears even to Oliver that Question seems more mindful of what happen to people, not vehicles tonight.
None of the four sleep all too well so occasionally one or two are up then notice the rest are haphazardly attempting to sleep. However Helena tends to be the one sleeping the most of the four if only because she caught the car blowup from behind as Oliver had barely gotten her away just before it went up. It left him with a bump on the head, but she took it slightly worse than he did so Question kept trying to be watchful except Dinah kept insisting to him to get some sleep.
Whenever Dinah woke, which did happen on and off throughout the night, she would check on both of them.
Helena finally wakes to find Question sleeping in a recliner near the bed she is in so she quietly heads out of the bedroom to notice Dinah coming back from the kitchen.
"Welcome back Sleeping Beauty…" chuckles Dinah.
"At least I got you back before midnight Cinderella…" snorts Helena.
"How ya feeling?" asks Dinah.
"Like somebody set off a bomb next to my skull."
"Pretty close to that if not for Ollie pulling you away… it might done you in."
"Vic looks like a wreck…"
"He almost thought you were dead… another few seconds and you might have been…"
"Guess I owe you both one now."
"Funny he said the same earlier."
"What did you tell him?"
"Said we are all alive… call it even."
"Works for me… what are you drinking?"
"Warm milk… you want some?"
"Sure… anything warm sounds nice even when it is already kind of cozy in here."
Two women drink plenty of warm milk for the next hour or so before somehow falling asleep in the parlor room, which looks like a sitting room. Question finds them there after having a slight panic attack when not seeing Helena sleeping in bed.
He gets out of costume and then gently covers both women over with thin blankets. He uses furniture cushions as pillows then goes back to sleep after checking the security system over.
He had known long ago that he is not a morning person and that seems unlikely to change ever. All the same, he finds that perhaps he too made some friends tonight despite the dreary circumstances that led him to this point.
It is a gray morning that he wakes to again and to smell of cooking too.
"Morning Sleepyhead," murmurs Helena.
He puts his arms around her waist and kisses her on the neck with Dinah watching from inside the open kitchen.
Oliver pulls a gesture of his own on Dinah and she affectionately brushes her fingers against his beard.
"So what's cooking?" asks Oliver.
"You'll see soon… Helena still need some help back here."
Helena gives Vic some abrupt kisses before going back to the kitchen and Oliver walks over with a pair of mugs with hot chocolate in them.
"Figures you have any kind of beverage imaginable," chuckles Vic.
"Just drink it, enjoy life a bit, sure last night was close, but we are alive," remarks Oliver.
"Yeah, Deadshot's appearance still bugs me just a bit. I thought Task Force X was shut down."
"He could be back to freelance."
"Shows up at Rockefeller at the same time as Atom and Plastique are there?"
"I'll concede it's a coincidence and you don't trust them, them being coincidences is all."
"Right, any word from Atom?"
"Terrific told me that he and Souci are staying in the Metro Tower for the time being."
"That's a relief… thought maybe someone else got them."
"Who else uses the same model teleporters as the League?"
"I don't know yet if any, it just seems convenient that somebody knocks off Wildcat and then possibly the same party sends Deadshot after Atom and Plastique."
"You can't be serious thinking someone new or old is putting hit contracts out on us."
"Take away the impossibilities and one is left with the improbabilities that could ring true."
Oliver sips his hot chocolate and so does Vic gulp some of his too.
"Switch off from your Question mode for breakfast at least."
"I'll do my best… some habits are resilient no matter how one tries to…"
"I grasp where you are going with this… so let's see what the ladies have cooked up for us."
The four settle down to eat like friends and couples getting together for the holiday season.
Of course neither man sees the mistletoe hanging from the tip of the chandelier in the dining room.
The snow starts to stream down the gray sky blotching out the dreary atmosphere outside.
There are card invitations to the Solstice Ball at Wayne Manor in Dinah's mail stack. She reads through it with Helena and the pair decides to go dress shopping for the occasion. Vic and Oliver both caution them against going out in this weather and with what happen last night except both give them looks. Both back down yet the ladies present a compromise that they come so all can shop together.
It means that even Vic Sage cannot get out of having a suit for the Ball as Dinah had got a personal invite with the option to bring two guests plus Oliver. Both then note they had somehow gotten themselves under the mistletoe. Neither objects to a holiday kiss, why should they with such loving women in their lives despite the perils of their shared profession.
Vic puts his qualms aside as the ladies lead the way to a limo to take them to Bergduffs in Gotham.
The four encounter Barbara, Diana, and Shayera in the Woman's Department.
Helena and Dinah go off with Barbara. Shayera pulls Oliver along as she apparently is seeking some advice about something though Vic figures maybe she thinks Vic needs to talk to Diana.
"Bruce told me about what happen last night or at least what he heard from Commissioner Gordon on the subject," comments Diana.
"An unfortunate turn for Grant. I trust somebody found Lawton where I left him even with a few twists in him," remarks Vic.
"He did try to harm others including Helena last night so in a way he had it coming."
"I usually pride myself on just scaring people with what I know, to even twist wrists is a new."
"When somebody you care about is in danger, you can't always play it close to the vest."
"I know… but I did wonder if it had anything to do with what happen last year."
"You mean when you were…"
"Yes…"
"It could be… but those were intense times too."
He looks down briefly at the carpeting noticing that they kept the same pattern after all these years. His mother bought a dress here once.
"So what brings us all to Bergduffs?" teases Diana.
"Ladies thought of dress shopping for the Solstice Ball," answers Vic.
"Anything else… what could get Oliver or even you to come along?"
"Dinah said that Helena and I could join her and Oliver when they go."
"So you are here to do suit shopping?"
"That's the idea…"
Barbara returns arm in arm with Dinah and Helena as does Shayera with Oliver.
Barbara spots someone on the far side of the floor, which is where the escalator to the Men's Department. She heads off in that direction though Vic already can tell who is up here to meet with her. Dick Grayson is also caught up in holiday shopping too.
At least there is someone to look after her thankfully.
Diana and Shayera head off towards the evening gowns and cocktail dresses.
Dinah pulls Oliver in the direction of satin and silk dresses.
Helena goes arm in arm with Vic to browse through racks of strapless dresses.
"Guess I'll be seeing you dance before this year is out."
"Looks like it… so which colors do you… the lilac, the plum or the violet?"
"I'd say lilac."
Both carry some dresses towards the dressing rooms. She comes in and out of the changing room in each of the dresses. She appears to be gauging her pick against his eyes or so he thought. The dress is eye 'candy', all that matters is her safety, but every so often there is need of a sign that life is still fun, still living.
After she goes back into the dressing room, he plops down on a wrap around couch nearby and Oliver takes a seat next to him after Dinah heads into the dressing room too.
Diana and Shayera enter together. Both might be of the mind to at least get a holiday twirl with the men that deny their feelings counting above things like mortality, not good enough, and destiny.
There is no 'the' future no matter what Bruce and John saw during their time travel jaunt. How Vic knows of this well he had overhead Batman and Lantern talking about something in the commissary last year and there is a disparity that Lantern had not come into the commissary with a head cut. Other things did not fit right, which only got further verification after the appearance of Carter Hall aka Hawkman. Shayera went almost becomes involved with Hall who actually turns out to be the almost disgraced archaeologist Joseph Gardner.
Vic watches the ladies sort of display some of the dresses in front of him and Oliver. Helena plops down onto his lap and Dinah pulls Oliver to his feet.
Shayera had been through much in her time on Earth and had done enough to go from hero to pariah then back again. If not for Fate and Inza, then she would have become truly lost after wandering aimlessly after leaving the League and Stewart. He understood why she left League because she had done things she found unforgivable except she had become unwilling to let them die just so her people might have a shot at defeating the Gordanians. Thanagar as he understood it lost the war at some point after their attempt to occupy Earth in order to make it part of the Hyperspace Bypass Chain.
Two planets, two organizations, and more so two men, a truly unenviable position yet when it had come down to it, she made her stand, for better or worse, thus had to endure the consequences for that decision. He could grasp her tiredness with having to weather a hostile world alone because no matter what planet one calls home, there remains a yearning to matter and make connections, even if Vic himself did not see that until he met Helena.
As for Diana, she had come to admire the qualities of Batman and by her own means found out the man behind the mask then somehow fell in love with him for better or worse. She had chosen him even when there was still rampant chatter that she would be better off with Superman, but of course Superman or rather Clark Kent had chosen Lois Lane. Something clearly happen between Bruce and Diana except he had went away from it after briefly embracing it.
The costume is only a half-life... the rest looks like this... no great revelation... no cerebral monologue... the struggle for our humanity in a world of chaos.
Vic feels the reassuring warmth of her arms and inhales smell of her perfume.
There is life, there is love, and there is death. She has long since become my inamorata.
A/N 1: This is post-Destroyer. Mentions of Starcrossed, Once and Future Thing, I Am Legion, Shadow of the Hawk, Ancient History, and Alive!.
A/N 2: Flashbacks TNBA episodes You Scratch My Back, Cult of the Cat, and Old Wounds. Mention for BtAS Robin's Reckoning too. Bergduffs was featured in TNBA vignette episode Holiday Knights. This chapter is likewise set during December.
A/N 3: Grant's death takes the story back to a dark atmosphere as does the car explosion that slightly injures both Helena and Oliver if not Question suspecting that Deadshot or one of his new associations is responsible for that attempt. Deadshot's insinuation tipped him off and it was also part of why Question gave him a parting reminder of why he should watch where he aims from now on.
A/N 4: Grant's death scene is patterned after one from Watchmen. Likewise the whole holiday atmosphere stands as a contrast to it.
A/N 5: Inamorata is Italian for female lover. Inamorato likewise is male lover.
