"Best bed I have slept on in days," sighs Helena.

"Maybe we should get one for your apartment too," suggests Vic.

"Maybe you should think about moving in with me," offers Helena.

"I'm not sure if…" starts Vic.

"Not sure if you are ready for that?" says Helena.

"Something along those lines," murmurs Vic.

"Maybe I could find a place in Hub City then," comments Helena.

"No need to get into all that yet," assures Vic.

"If you say so, just thought I might broach the topic," finishes Helena.

"It is something we will have to talk about sooner rather than later," concludes Vic.

He loves me. He is just afraid at times of everything and everyone else maybe.

She runs her fingertips along his bare chest yet not quite going near where the bullet hit his torso over a month ago. He had other scars, ones on the inside, ones from what Moon did to his mind, and those would take longer. She had some of her own as a result of Scarecrow's fear gas making her believe the worse had happen to him and to the others close to her. Dinah had told her about how Question broke some of Scarecrow's fingers after he got her away from him. She didn't mind much because if she had the strength she would have found out if the fear user had any stuffing left in him by kicking it out of him. She figures its time to hit the stores or other parts of the hotel.

"I'll be out for awhile with Dinah. See you when I get back," says Helena.

"Not much for me to do, maybe ask questions," chuckles Vic.

"Asking is fine, but doing, you don't do alone," reminds Helena.

"I wouldn't dream of it," answers Vic.

"Part of me wouldn't mind staying here or going with you," continues Helena.

"I know, but the point is we are on vacation too," remarks Vic.

Helena eventually heads out with Dinah and Oliver gets a phone message from Bruce about lunch.


The sublevel pool of the hotel has two separate areas for the men and the women to use like in ways more elaborate than standard locker rooms.

"So this is Oliver Queen's eventual wife?" asks Vesper.

"I'd think the rock and other things should prove that one," answers Dinah.

"Few ever thought he'd marry, but apparently you did change his mind," comments Sasha.

"It would be more common to spark hesitation talk about Bruce Wayne," interjects Helena.

A fifth woman that none of the four had seen previously enters the lasciviously decorated ladies section which is just off the sublevel pool. Vesper and Sasha exit in their bathing suits. Dinah is still in the midst of stretching and Helena is still changing into hers. Dinah wraps up after a few minutes then heads out to join the others after gesturing to Helena.

"So you here on vacation too?" queries Helena.

"In a manner of speaking," answers the woman.

"Never met a cryptic woman before," jests Helena.

"Unless you weren't counting Tautin," remarks the woman.

"You know her?" probes Helena.

"Heard of her, but to the point," responds the woman.

"Yes, the point, and your name," demands Helena.

"He knows you and your boyfriend are here," answers the woman.

"That's only half an answer," hisses Helena.

"I am not allowed to divulge my identity," retorts the woman.

Helena feels slightly dizzy for a moment then the strange woman is gone. She blinks and wonders if the whole encounter even happened, but decides to go swimming instead of worrying about that presently. Helena puts away her change of clothes for later and walks out in her dark purple bathing suit. She spots Mercy Graves doing laps and Maxwell Lord is nowhere to be seen at least for now.

Bruce is having lunch on an upper patio with Oliver, Ted, and speak of the devil Maxwell Lord is joining them. It almost could read like a divide and conquer strategy, but this summit is meant to be a joint cooperative experience except something about the whole thing left her feeling a nagging suspicion.

After less than two hours, Mercy gets out and walks over to where the men are sharing drinks after a rather filling lunch. Nobody pays much mind to Mercy despite the fact that she is wearing only a black bikini. She did appear to be trying to elicit some attention from Lord, but it appears he is not 'in mood' for whatever she is trying to do to him. One could wonder did her submissive attraction switch from Luthor to Lord or did Lord actually give a damn about her where Luthor had taken her on as just another person he could use even though she did develop feelings for him.

Feelings he never did really appear to reciprocate except when he needed her to do things for him that he wouldn't do himself or 'couldn't' do himself. Many could tell she was in her own strange way in love with Luthor couldn't grasp why she would stay with him as he kept treating her like a doormat especially after she was left in charge of the company during his 'absences'. It is well known that his absences getting a chalk up to his criminal activities that happen outside his corporate ventures. It is evident that Luthor had broken her more than once, but had Lord done the same or she is the dominant one in their so-called partnership.

Helena goes back to swimming after briefly watching the scene on the upper patio and how Mercy eventually just leaves the area, probably back to her room, and one could tell today she is not the one with power over Lord.

Vesper however manages to elicit Bruce to join her in the pool.

Be glad Diana can't see how you are behaving Bruce, but you are own man, you decide who you do these things with even though you know you are in love with one woman when you do all these things with other women.


Helena climbs out of the pool after she starts feeling rather sore so she returns to the ladies section. She takes a quick shower since she is more of the mind to take a longer one with Vic once back upstairs. She leaves the ladies section in her robe and takes the elevator back to her floor, but someone summons it to a particular floor. The doors part and there is Zatanna. Zatanna gets into the elevator.

"I have news Helena," says Zatanna.

"How did you get here so fast?" asks Helena.

"I was planet side so I had Fate drop me off after we finished examining the cell."

"What did you find if anything?"

"A Homo Magi got him out of his rather well kept 'cell'. As for the identity of the jail breaker, we are still working on it, but there are a few we can eliminate such as Shade since we found out he was killed during the in-fighting between the villains around the time of Darkseid's resurrection."

"How many are there in the League?"

"There's myself, Fate, Jason, Hawk and Dove, and B'wana Beast to name a few."

"Whatever telltale signs were left obviously doesn't match any of theirs or yours."

"When examining a scene with magic one needs the same if not greater caution to avoid contaminating or falling victim to magic traps left behind."

"Right, so you said Jason, not Etrigan… curious."

"I'll admit I am dating Jason Blood."

"Whatever happened to your crush on you-know-who?"

"You have any idea how many women have tripped themselves up over both personalities."

"Plenty… two of them I have recently met face to face. Vesper Fairchild and Sasha Bordeaux are the two."

"He probably had Sasha come as backup for Ted even though Ted is quite capable of looking after himself, but with all the attempts made to kill certain individuals in the last few months, it makes him not like anyone being too 'exposed'."

There is a bit of an awkward silence before Zatanna changes the subject.

"So how are things with you and Vic these days?"

"I feel we are at our happiest together, but of course we still have recent experiences to bear in mind."

"Right, nobody exactly saw you two hitting it off yet it is always magic when couples come together."

"That's almost corny coming from you… not that I mind the notion of things being magical."

"Well this is your floor right?"

"Right… you want tell Vic what you found?"

"Guess it might sound clearer coming from me… not that you can't explain Homo Magi."

Together they enter the room Helena is sharing with Vic.

"Hello Vic," says Zatanna.

"Hello Zatanna," replies Vic.

"I was telling Helena about what was found at the scene," remarks Zatanna.

"I had suspicions that it was magical in origins," interjects Vic.

"Well your hunch is right, but we don't have an exact fix on the identity," responds Zatanna.

"I know at least two that can be taken off the list. Shade was killed last year prior to the fourth Apokolipitian incursion," continues Vic.

"Right, he's listed among the presumed KIA from the fight between Grodd and Luthor."

"We naturally eliminated virtually all the known Homo Magi from the League too."

"So how many are we left to deal with from anywhere else, villain or otherwise?" asks Helena.

"Quite a few," concedes Zatanna.

"There anyway to get Fate here or maybe you could examine something for me?" probes Helena.

"Why?" queries Zatanna.

"I think I had a Homo Magi encounter before I went swimming."

"Better get Fate on the horn then."

A portal appears on the wall awhile later and Dr. Fate floats through before lowering himself to the floor.

"So I am told you had a possible Homo Magi encounter," says Fate.

"I think it might have been because she had come into the room spoke me to, then I felt dizzy and when I tried to figure out where she went, there was no sign she had even been there."

"I would have thought if she intended her presence to go unremembered she might have mind wiped you."

"That doesn't sound very pleasant at all."

"It is not, one would hope we never have to do such a thing."

Fate applies his fingertips to left and right side of Helena's head.

"Try to focus on the memories of the encounter," instructs Fate.

"Do my best."

Fate twitches then steps back.

"What did you see?" asks Zatanna.

"The woman she met had some similar powers to Shade and Karkull, but Shade is dead and Karkull was returned to his ethereal prison years ago after a thief accidentally released him and nearly destroyed Metropolis in the process until Superman convinced me to come out of seclusion to subdue Karkull."

"You sure about that?" queries Zatanna.

"No doubt, the ability to manipulate shadows and teleportation often has a stronger effect on those unfamiliar with its uses. Essentially the woman appears to Helena, says her bit, and vanishes without a physical trace."

"I would ask you to examine the scene, but it is a woman's locker room," reminds Zatanna.

"Inza will take care of it. Not that I don't think you can do it, but both of us have more experience with chaos magic then you do."

"Right… besides I am late for dinner with Jason… mind dropping me off in London."

Fate and Zatanna enter a new portal then Inza arrives a few minutes after speaking with Fate.

"Pardon, but I need Helena to guide me through this hotel, I can sense the chaos magic yet I rarely travel outside the domain of the Tower," concedes Inza.

"Do whatever your work requires, I can wait Inza," acknowledges Vic.

"I see that your Zen training remains almost as sharp as ever."

"Just don't go mentioning that to Lady Shiva," murmurs Vic.

"He knows her?" asks Helena.

"Years ago when I first took up the guise of the Question, we fought almost to the death, she had the upper hand because I never fought anyone of her caliber. She then took me to Richard Dragon and after a time we fought again only for it to cease at a stalemate."

"I met Richard during my own pursuit of marital arts training, but he never did mention you."

"It is unspoken agreement between teacher and student that what happens between them does not go beyond them. Dragon also understood that it was in both our interests to not acknowledge our association."

"Nelson adheres to this type of principle as we had given refuge to Shayera Hol after the Thanagarian Occupation. He had also given refuge in the past to Solomon Grundy before his second death, but of course none could predict how Shayera would bond with him before that turn. It was his accidental resurrection that brought her back into the world and it was only her mace that could end his torment."

Inza exits the room and waits for Helena to join her.

"Well we'll be back soon."


Vic scans through several layers of encrypted files as he tries to track down something that had given an insight into who Helena had seen and who had broken Mandragora out of where the Justice Department sent him after the trials to indict his former associates. The fact that he had a run in with Lawton towards the end of last year had given a frame of reference plus Harkness was back in jail after that attempt to kill Flash at the opening of the Flash Museum. Separately two known members of Task Force X had come out of the woodwork, but so far no signs of Flagg or Fugate. Souci is listed as MIA, presumed deceased, at least officially, but there a deep buried file about an operative brought in after the Brainthor incident.

A woman named Eve Eden aka Nightshade. Her father is Senator Mitchell Black and her mother is listed as deceased, but the anomalies in her records don't end there.

There is an after thought note that she is not an only child except evidence of a sibling is nonexistent. Nightshade if the file reads right was meant to replace Plastique on Task Force X, but since the Brainthor incident, Cadmus has been under tight scrutiny. The League had a similar level scrutiny, but it had become lesser though there of course remain elements that continue to distrust the League as well as the existence of costumed 'vigilantes'.


"The residual aura is consistent with the one found in Mandragora's cell," comments Inza

"This means she was the one who got him out of prison, but why?" remarks Helena.

"Somebody sent her, possibly the same individual who sent the criminal assassins."

"Who could possibly want us dead and for what purpose?"

"Maybe a mental probing of an assassin would give some insight, but so far nothing has gotten through to them."

"Deadshot told nothing because he had nothing to tell except he was paid in advance to attempt to kill me, Vic, Atom, and Atom's old girlfriend."

"KGBeast as I heard was poisoned either by himself or by the employer. He was nearly successful, but quick thinking on your part and the part of Nightwing saved them."

"I however ended up gassed by Scarecrow and of course my worst nightmare is not only them dying, but having almost everyone turn us because of those deaths."

"He revealed nothing either, but he was not down there alone."

"Not all of his partners were caught later either. Someone got away, but I don't know who exactly."

"I won't bother saying the obvious to you, but be careful."

"I know, just no way of knowing who will show up next or where they'll make an appearance."

Helena and Inza return to find him at work. Helena smiles as if finding some comfort in him keeping up with his usual patterns. Inza summons a portal and parts company from them.

"You find anything Vic?" asks Helena.

"See for yourself," responds Vic.

"The woman I met several hours ago didn't have dark hair," comments Helena.

"Her natural hair color is blond, but her costume guise lends a different look to her."

"Anything else?" continues Helena.

"Her name is Eve Eden aka Nightshade. She was recruited to replace Plastique on Task Force X, but it never panned out given the events that followed the Brainthor incident."

He relates the rest of Eve's purported biography.

"Her dad is a senator?"

"I doubt that's his real name and that he is her real father."

"So where does that leave us aside from knowing her actual name?"

"Very little except she does know Captain Atom."

"How is that possible?"

"They met during the intervening years between Adams' transformation and Atom joining the League."

"How did you find that out?"

The answer is on his laptop screen, he found a thorough photographic record from Rockefeller that had been hidden away for whatever reasons that Eiling had chosen to classify them. She had not immediately become Nightshade, but when she did well the government was not quite willing to left her leave them either. She would remain on retainer because Atom had grown close to her and they even were suspected to be romantically involved though this is never fully proven. Both eventually find ways to leave Rockefeller behind and from there they went their separate ways. Nightshade had for the most part dropped out of sight after that while Atom eventually found his ways into the sights of Superman and Wonder Woman during the recruiting for the expanding roster.

"The woman I saw was not blonde though, she had jet black hair and almost totally white eyes."

"Her costume guise is in many ways a photo negative of her actual physical appearance, but of course why else use the alias Nightshade?"

"Right, so do we share this with Captain Atom?"

"There is no way of knowing if she'll reappear, but I'll contact him."


"Hello Bruce," says Helena.

"What do you want?" demands Bruce.

"Can't I just chat with you?" remarks Helena.

"It is enough that you are here and that Vic is here, but it would be best for all of us to not appear so familiar especially as you and he are here under assumed identities."

"Right… well I am sure if Diana or Selina were here next to you instead of me… you wouldn't be so hostile."

"Leave them out of this. What I am doing here with a woman that's not either of them is none of your concern!"

"Whoever said it was?"

"Go bother someone else… this summit is still on for another few days… sooner I can get back to Gotham the better."

"You could have sent Fox in your place you know that don't you?"

"I have a cover to maintain… keep attention away from suspicions about my real night life."

"Sure, who needs convincing about that?"

"I don't have to put up with this… it is bad enough having to pretend like I don't care."

"You are drunk you know that?"

"What makes you an expert on that?"

"I used to get drunk pretty badly myself just so I could forget about all the stuff that made me miserable and you do the same. You wouldn't have to drink for misery if you just went along with how you feel about her, but I can't be the one to kick you in the rear to do that… you are going to have to do that."

"What works for you won't work for me."

"So stubborn… you let her in then you shut her out… its no wonder women get so royally frustrated with you… what are you afraid of? Hurting her? That you could screw up a chance at happiness? Or are you just confused about the one woman who is looking to find the real you… the one that's always hiding except when she's around."

Bruce downs the rest of his drink and exits the bar.

"So much for that… why am I even lecturing him about romance?"

"When hasn't someone given him a shove about that?" comments Sasha.

"So was he down here alone or were you with him?" asks Helena.

"What exactly are you implying?" snorts Sasha.

"It is no secret that more than one woman is in love with Bruce Wayne."

"He's here with Vesper and I am supposed to be masquerading as Ted Kord's assistant."

"So where is Ted?"

"He is dining with Max Lord, Mercy Graves, Oliver Queen, Dinah Lance, and Bruce."

"Are you supposed to be with him?"

"I am heading that way now if you don't mind."

Sasha gulps down the last of her drink then joins Bruce by the elevator before the two take it to the floor where the others are expecting them.


There is a prickling sensation in her neck before the room starts to appear darker until she blacks out.

"Take her to the car… be sure he sees you taking her out," says a male voice.

"Understood… shall I tell the others to commence phase two?" asks a female voice.

"I'll take care of it, you handle her," answers the man.

"Yes, I'll get on that now," replies the woman.

"We can't have them interfering in the plan," murmurs the man.


Vic in a variant of the Question guise takes off after the four removing Helena from hotel in an unmarked car. He palms the keys for one of Bruce's cars and takes in pursuit of the unmarked car. The pursuit leads him out of the city and into the countryside. The roads are almost too dark even for his well attuned night vision. Vic would never admit it fully, but he did prefer night to day.

"No amount of darkness or shadows can hide your passage from me," whispers Question.

There's a prone form bound up and gagged up on the pavement ahead of him.

"Oh sh…," curses Question.

He swerves to dodge though of course this particular model is not as apt to tipping onto two wheels as a Pontiac GTO. The vehicle rolls several times before landing in the right side up position.

"Put him in back with her," orders a female voice.


"Hello Miss Bertinelli," says Mandragora.

"I heard you were broken out," responds Helena.

"No witty retort, no guffaw comeback," snorts Mandragora.

"I'm no wasting anymore of my life on you," continues Helena.

"Sure you are not, but you and your boyfriend are snooping where you shouldn't be."

"What is it to you?" asks Helena.

"Let's just say my new associates don't appreciate your kind or his interfering in their plans."

"Certainly if you are holding me, he'll be coming for me."

Mandragora flicks on a flat screen viewer behind him.

"We already had him following the car that you were taken in. Then we left you tied up in the road and he had to swerve avoid crushing his woman, and that led to the car flipping over several times before he was knocked out by the repeated tumbles," says Mandragora.

"What did you do to him?" demands Helena.

"He and you are my 'guests' for the evening, maybe longer," chuckles Mandragora.

Mandragora gets up from the reinforced chair, which was remade to hold his weight, not that he is a very heavy man though he is not often joked about beyond his back as being the fat man for nothing.

"You don't have to hold us here… you could let us go," suggests Helena.

"I could have killed you along with your parents that night and I could have killed you on the docks along with your boyfriend, the Cage Bird, and the wannabe Robin Hood… but I didn't so don't tempt me."

"They aren't going to let you walk away from this alive… your new associates that is."

"I have made a history of knowing when to walk away and when to seize the power for myself. They can't expect to control me because I am not to be fiddled with ever again."

"Don't be so sure of yourself."

"Why is that?"

"I already grew up without my parents because my father made the error of believing in your loyalty because virtually anyone else of note was afraid of you and your association to the Bertinelli Family. Don't make Edgar grow up without a father because they could care about as much as you did when you killed my parents."

"Their deaths weren't personal. I saw an opportunity and they were in the way."

"No, you just killed him and her because you wished to stop being his shadow."

"I knew you were in the closet, but you were not a threat to me then nor are you now. I knew you might try to kill me someday, but then your boyfriend confirmed that what I believed about you. You are still that little girl in the closet who hasn't grown the nerve to kill anyone."

"Killing never helped anyone."

"Sounds like something Question would say to you in particular."

"He is right and whatever your part in this … will end with your death."

"Don't be so sure… because I'm not required to let either of you live to see the dawn."

"Who is to say they won't off you either?"

Mandragora leaves her to languish in her 'cell'.

"Let this be a reminder of what you and he condemned me to."

"You are a criminal, what did you expect Question to do?"

"You could have let us flee and vanish into night."

"You could have left my parents alive and struck out on your own."

"Nothing plays out the way you expect it."

"Not that we would expect it to do so… besides anyone who knows about all the deaths that you have caused wouldn't let you walk… whether it was me or another 'criminal'."

"Quite so… but at least it could have been one less without you and him interfering."

"We could talk this out until one of us got tired of bickering back and forth."

Two familiar looking lackeys enter from the door behind Mandragora.

"I bet you remember Cecil and Tony… boys show Miss Bertinelli how much you remember her."

"You mean that's the dame that?"

"You're killing me Cecil. Of course it is her… tall, leggy, jet black hair, and brown eyes."

"Very perceptive Tony… now batter her as much you like then take her with you."

"Where are we going to take her?"

"Tony knows… you Cecil… will be told after she's unconscious again."

Helena looks on in almost horror as Tony punches her straight across the face.

"That's for the gun!"

Cecil is not a violent man by nature, he is just a driver, but of course Tony was always the harder of the two of them. Tony punches her again except in the stomach region.

"For the gut kick!"

Helena winces in pain. Tony kicks back the chair she is bound and landing against the floor is a skull screaming pain in of itself. She is untied from the chair then bound up again before being taken out to the car.


"Hello Mr. Sage… oh I do know how you prefer Question. I however don't give a damn about Shiva's respect for you or Dragon's unspoken pride for your stoicism. I'm aware that Moon was never able to break you, you had the mental will, but if he had you longer than he did… I am willing to bet he could have done it."

"I was wondering if Intergang had any stake in this and your appearance confirms that Whisper."

"I would expect you to be able to identify any of us. You are famous for being such a meticulous stickler for names, faces, and the like."

"Flattery doesn't work on me A'Daire."

"Who said I was and besides as long as you are no one can stop us or save her."

"What have you done with Helena?"

"Struck something I have… usually when you are looking like that you never call anyone by their real name if they are a costume… so the rumors are true… the conspiracy theorist does have a heart."

"Tell me what's Ra's Al-Ghul's Intergang infiltrator doing mixed up with the Illuminati?"

"Who says I really work for Intergang or the Society?"

"So you are Illuminati then?"

"We don't go around telling who is and isn't one of us besides someone has to keep an eye on Lord. The man is a menace, but public and political opinion is against me on that count."

"So what is he doing anyway?"

"Let's just say Eiling wasn't the only one dissatisfied with what happen to Cadmus."

"So he's looking to continue what Cadmus almost did?"

"Much worse than that so now you are wondering why I am holding you here or what is happening to Bertinelli."

"The question has been in mind for awhile."

"Further Lord learned quite a few psychological tricks from the absent Lex Luthor. How to use people, organizations, and companies to do the 'dirty' work is the only starter."

"He's 'randomly' having criminals target us in the hopes that he can whittle our numbers so that we'll strike against him even he'll appear to be innocent of any wrong doing… we won't be able to find proof because his chosen assassins will have never met him face to face."

"Quite so… he realizes he failed to eliminate Queen and Lance earlier this year. He doesn't know that you were present on the occasion as he believed Question to be dead since the destruction of your original Pontiac however he knows Helena to be alive as she was seen driving your Pontiac's replacement after the shootings."

A man enters with something to tell Whisper.

"What? He didn't have authorization to do that!"

"Something not going according to plan I take it," queries Question.

"Indeed, Mandragora's goons have taken her away."

"Where?" demands Question.

"Luckily we put hidden tracking devices in all our cars, the only problem would be if they took it through an area with magnetic interference… there is a place nearby… one of the shipyards."

"Untie me now!" yells Question.

"Let him go Kyle… this wasn't part of the plan."

"As you command… what should I do about Mandragora?"

"He violated the agreement… we need to eliminate him."

"I didn't think anybody would venture killing him."

"I understood your compulsion to make her hesitate to kill… it wouldn't help her… only giving her cause to live again… to love you did that for her."

"Then you'll understand why I have to save her."

He whips out the aerosol and sprays himself to loosen the mask.

"You are taking a risk letting me see your face."

"You already know my face Whisper if you have seen the files."


Vic races away from the warehouse where Intergang had been taken him and Helena. He didn't like leaving Mandragora's fate in the hands of Intergang or the Illuminati, but he had to save her. Mandragora likely thought Intergang had broken him out yet he did appear to question why they had done it or the Illuminati's connection to the breakout. The distance to the shipyards is shrinking as he tries to push the car harder, but again nothing is quite the right fit for him. He prefers to be doing this in a Pontiac, but he would work with what he had because there is nothing else on hand. As he nears the wharf, he can see them dropping her bound and gagged into the water.

It'll take too long to get out and run… can't believe I'm doing this. The things we do for love. The things for which we would glad lay down our lives to save another life more precious to us than our own.

He floors it across the wharf towards Cecil and Tony who both dive out of the way after seeing him speeding towards them. He slams the brakes bringing the car to a stop before reaching the last part of the wharf. He slaps the seat belt clip then pushes out the door and jumps into the water himself. It is the clearest water he had ever been in unlike the time Shiva sent him through Hub City's once overly polluted sewers. As he dives, he is aware that each downward kick means another going back up once he finds her. He had to find her, she felt like she failed last time he got hurt, he felt like that was his fault that she blamed herself, but he had done it out of fear of losing her, he did it because some part of him always felt like she was the stronger of the two of them.

Not letting you die, no way in hell, because that's what life would turn into being haunted by memory ghosts of everything we have had together, didn't try to do all I did all the time we have been together just for your childhood tormentor to off you like this.

Helena's prone form is unmoving and sinking like a stone. He finally manages to close the distance. He rips away the gag, and locks his mouth of hers. He puts his arms under hers and starts kicking back towards the surface even though it is a slower rate than he could hope as he is pulling the drenched weight of both of them. It is getting harder to stay conscious as the amount of oxygen between them is decreasing. He feels two hands gripping his wrists and then everything goes black.


He wakes up coughing up water from the inlet and sees Helena nearby all bundled up. She weakly smiles at him and so he tries to move even though his legs aren't quite responsive due to him still regaining oxygen intake. He sees an unexpected pair had come to aid them.

"You saved our hides a couple of times already, thought we would return the favor," says Betty.

"Thanks, I didn't expect to see you two outside the Tower after Deadshot had come after you," replies Helena

"I might have thought him attractive once, but the man has two types of conquest in mind. One involves precise kills and the other doesn't require a fully drawn out explanation."

"Indeed, I gave him broken wrists as a parting reminder."

"When we heard about Mandragora getting broken out of custody again, we thought it might be best to shadow you, but of course traveling around with Captain Atom makes it tricky to maintain cover."

Atom steps into the light.

"My solution was to have her wear an earpiece comlink at all times so that way I could immediately beam to her location after arranging for her to have a room at the same hotel the eight of you were staying at for the summit," explains Atom.

"Clever, I wouldn't expect Batman to know about it."

"Actually it was a combination idea from Superman and Wonder Woman. She was especially worried about everyone's safety. Plus Superman was mighty suspicious of Miss Graves and Mr. Lord."

"Rightfully so as Maxwell Lord is perhaps the mastermind behind a conspiracy to systematically eliminate us for some unknown purpose."

"Didn't Luthor already try and fail to do that?" comments Betty.

"Not exactly, he wanted to engineer a war between the Earth governments and the Justice League. Lord appears to be gaming to just eliminate us, if he is indeed the architect of this active attempt to kill us."

"You sound sure, but not totally sure."

A government car pulls up near the wharf and Tautin steps out.

"We have got a new problem people," says Tautin.

"What has happen now?" hisses Helena.

"Bruce Wayne and Sasha Bordeaux are wanted murder."

"When did this happen?" quips Vic.

"Ted Kord and Vesper Fairchild were last seen alive just prior to an informal dinner that Wayne and Bordeaux were attending along with Maxwell Lord, Mercy Graves, Oliver Queen, and Dinah Lance."

"Of the six, only four were accounted for since our initial search of the hotel. We found the bodies of Kord and Fairchild. Lord and Graves were together in their suite. In bed I might add, but that's just one of those recoil surprise turns for some of us."

Betty, Atom, Vic and Helena get into Tautin's car.

"Has the COD of their deaths been determined?" asks Vic.

"Kord was strangled with his own tie and Fairchild was fatally stabbed," responds Tautin.

"Why are you certain about the killers' identities?" quips Helena.

"There aren't cameras in the suites, but they are in every corridor so there's no way they could slip around without being seen unless they used balconies, but those are rare."

"You have Wayne and Bordeaux seen leaving the room where you found the bodies."

"Yes, I'll show you the footage once we are there. Plus I already have an expert attempting to determine if the footage has been altered."

Atom remains in the car with Souci and then they call for a beam up to the Watchtower since they will have to brief the Founders on this development even though it appears that Bruce and Sasha may have been framed for the crime. The camera footage however could prove visually that they might be responsible for the crime.


Ted Kord exits the elevator with a slightly drunk Vesper Fairchild leaning against him. Bruce Wayne and Sasha Bordeaux exit behind them. The four enter a suite down the corridor.

"The register indicates that is Wayne's suite," says Detective Reynard.

The technician switches to another camera's video footage.

Kord helps Fairchild into the room. There are no sounds from the room and the walls are not nearly thick enough to hide a gunshot except there are none to be heard at all.

"Skip ahead to when they left the room," says Reynard.

Wayne and Bordeaux exit then board the elevator before getting off again except now they are heading for the suite Kord is sharing with Bordeaux.

"Has anyone been searching Kord's room yet?" suggests Vic.

"We did, they weren't in there nor were they seen leaving it."

"Something is very wrong here, switch to the reverse angle as they get towards Wayne's suite."

The camera angle switch is done.

"Give me a close-up on Wayne's face if you can."

The technician does as told, but even then its not quite close enough.

"This maybe one of the more exclusive hotels here, but our security measures aren't quite as up to date as you may think," says the technician.

Reynard and Tautin exit the security room.

Vic sits down and asks if he can comb through the security records for the entire day.

"You think you might find anomalies somewhere in all this?" whispers Helena.

"I have to otherwise Wayne and Bordeaux will be in more trouble than even they know."

"Why did you ask for a close up on Bruce's face?"

"Because the haircut is wrong and the eyebrows don't look straight enough."

"You think somebody is impersonating him."

"I think somebody has been impersonating him for awhile."

"You think Vesper wouldn't have noticed?"

"She doesn't see him often enough to notice subtleties and the same goes for Kord as he has never dealt with Bordeaux."

Helena looks at Vic's attempt to enlarge and enhance the face.

"This impostor tries to hide it, but his face was surgically altered less than six months ago."

"The same goes for her I would guess too."

"Quite right… the real Bruce Wayne and Sasha Bordeaux never came on this trip though we have no way to prove it aside from my surgical scar theory… should have been more obvious… but we saw so little of him since the holidays."

Oliver and Dinah enter in a hurry.

"Where the heck have you two been?" asks Dinah.

Helena turns to face them and then Dinah steps back covering her mouth.

"Who did that to you?" whispers Dinah.

"Mandragora's old standbys Cecil and Tony," mumbles Helena.

"He'll be on the run with Intergang, Interpol, and quite a few other high profile or discrete organizations pursuing him… we have a further wrinkle aside from our latest run in with Mandragora.'

"Before or after Wayne and Bordeaux apparently committed murder as that Detective Reynard is implying presently."

"I think somebody replaced Wayne and Bordeaux."

"You know how meticulous Wayne is about maintaining a photogenic image for the press well this haircut is inconsistent with that, but it is a reasonable facsimile. Somebody rather good at plastic surgery altered someone around Wayne's height and build to look like Wayne. The same goes for Bordeaux yet they have been trying to disguise the alterations with creams of some kind."

"Where did this flash of insight come from if you hadn't noticed it before?"

"We saw so little of him during transit and we all might have passed any faint scars off as marks of the trade, but these are too precise to be the result of street fighting in Gotham."

"You really think Reynard will buy that?"

Reynard enters again with Tautin.

"We haven't found them yet except the ticket office at the train station cameras show them boarding a train bound for Italy," says Tautin.

"We sent notices ahead to the locals to search for them and detain if they are found."

"I think we are going about this all wrong," says Vic.

"What makes you say… according to the guest list you two are assistants for Mr. Queen and Ms. Lance here," replies Reynard.

"That's not quite the whole story, but I would ask your camera experts to examine the faces in the footage… search for signs of surgical scars."

"It is clear from the faces we have seen that Wayne and Bordeaux are the culprits. I'll have the camera people check the tapes, but we are still detaining the visually proven suspects."

Reynard leaves alone.


"He sounds reluctant to believe that someone was impersonating them," remarks Helena.

"I have to play along even though my role here is a ruse," says Tautin.

"Get word to King about Mandragora about these developments."

"Already on it, however I doubt the four of you can go looking for Wayne until the local police are done questioning you as well as Mr. Lord and Ms. Graves."

"I'd keep a sharper on eye on them too."

Tautin exits while making an international call to her American counterpart Faraday.

"Once the inquiries are done… we have to get to Italy before the trail on these imposters goes cold."

"If Lord sent surgically altered infiltrators just to kill Kord, then why eliminate Fairchild?"

"She's collateral against Wayne… see if Wayne gets imprisoned for her death then eventually Batman would be exposed… then he moves onto the next… provided he's the mastermind behind these killings and attempted killings."

"What if Wayne and Bordeaux really did this?"

"Does Bruce Wayne strike you as a man who would kill?"

"We can all kill, the questions are why and what… something of an answer is in these tapes."

"So who could analyze them without contacting the Batclan on this one?"

"Send to them to the Metro Tower or the Watchtower."

"You want Terrific to analyze the tapes?"

"He's capable… unless you have someone else in mind."

"I'll contact him… we need to square this away in order to prove Wayne and Bordeaux are innocent because this just doesn't ring right with any of us I am sure."

The only questions left are where are the real Bruce Wayne and Sasha Bordeaux as well as how long do we have to find them plus still capture the pair masquerading as them?

There's a dark ripple in the room before another joins them.

"Hello my name is Nightshade..."


A/N 1: Enter Eve Eden aka Nightshade, primary suspect for Mandragora's breakout, but is it really her and why would she do it? I couldn't find her presumed father's name. Here he is Lawrence Schneider, a nod to Laurence Schexnayder, Sally Jupiter's manager & husband in Watchmen. Similar to what happens to Laurel 'Laurie' Juspeczyk aka Silk Spectre II as her personal history is modeled somewhat after Nightshade.

A/N 2: Its implied that there's sexual tension between Max Lord and Mercy Graves of course the idea here is that she's kind of habitual with men, not that I view her as weak, she just seems to allow men to dominate her too easily at times, but I could be wrong.

A/N 3: Mandragora's reappearance is somewhat abrupt and well what they do to Helena was affected by reading parts of Cry For Blood, a comics miniseries that features Huntress and Question. Naturally Vic is there to pull her out of the water. As for what happens to Mandragora, well he is on the run again, but from more than just the law.

A/N 4: Essentially the Illuminati are everywhere even in Intergang as its implied that Whisper A'Daire is one of theirs at least in this story. It also appears that there's a toss up about who really killed Ted and Vesper, but Vic is convinced someone was impersonating who Reynard is convinced killed them.

A/N 5: As for Vic suspects to be the impostors well that's a bit of "devil in the details".