Spark of Genius

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy verse, Girl Genius verse, DC comics or any of the other smatterings of pop culture and literary ideas that I refer to in my story, I just tread through a few other sandboxes. Oh, and several names are made up, some are real, but the facts have been changed to protect the corrupt and innocent equally.

AN: It's been awhile since I put out a chapter. First it was the PlayStation three accident (yeah, laugh it up, but video gaming is a dangerous sport I tell you!) then I was traveling for work for 7 weeks, then part of that time was the Thanksgiving holiday and family, so sorry but real life comes first before story time. Then to add insult to injury, I had a cold that went to my ears and I ended up with a burst ear drum, so yeah, didn't feel like writing. Oh well, c'est la vie. I have the week after Christmas off from work so if I can connect with my beta readers then there should, hypothetically speaking, be a couple updated chapters coming out in a row (I'm hoping to make it a Christmas and New Year's Eve gift to you all.) That said, on with the show and time for some fun in Gotham City!

AN-Update: Sorry for the multiple update notifications, but Fanfiction is taking all of the spaces out of anything written in italics, which makes it a pain in the arse to fix. Here is the new chapter. Cheers!

'Thought'

"Speech"

/foreign language/

Chapter 40: Plants, Animals and People

"I'm not a vegetarian because I love animals. I'm a vegetarian because I hate plants."

~A. Whitney Brown

The waves of the crystal blue waters washed up on the shores of the white sand beaches of Themyscira But it was not the scenic view that the throngs of Amazons upon the shore were there for. They waited on the dawn of a new day, a day that came with the promise of spilled blood.

Finally the sun's corona peaked above the horizon, and the normally peaceful and beautiful setting was disturbed by one word.

"Begin." The high priestess of Athena stated, only to be drowned out by the sound of immediate sword clashes.

Gold embossed shields clanged together as Hippolyta and her daughter Diana met in a joint bashing of shields, only for Diana's sword to slice underneath the joined shields to be met by Hippolyta's sword and guided away from the current Queen's stomach.

Diana allowed the momentum of her mother's parry to part the two combatants, and then Diana and her mother circled each other gracefully and powerfully like two predatory cats. Both of the dark haired combatants showed their perfect combination of muscle and feminine curves, the match of grace and softness, absolute beauty coupled with warrior training and killer intent. Muscles flexed and rippled underneath their curves as both combatants were poised to capitalize on any weakness or perceived action by the other.

Their leather sandaled feet padded softly in the moisture hardened sand of the beach as both matching leather armored combatants stared at each other while circling.

"So it's come to this, do you truly want to kill me daughter?" Hippolyta questioned harshly to her daughter, noticing the brief flinch in Diana's eyes before seeing a look of determination steel across Wonder Woman's face.

"No mother, I don't want to kill you, but I have to do the right thing and the wisdom that you once held in our quest for peace has been lost as you aged." Diana answered.

"Aged?" Hippolyta growled and her eyes flashed as she charged her daughter. "I'll show you age's advantage." Hippolyta yelled as she closed with her daughter with a flurry of blows; apparently speaking of a woman's age was a bad idea, even with immortal women.

Hippolyta led off with a high blow that Diana met with her own sword. A side thrust slid off of Diana's shield before Hippolyta skillfully changed the angle of the thrust to slide along the bottom of Diana's sword to send a gash across the top of Diana's planted thigh.

"Gah." Diana grunted as her mother's sword bit into the top of her thigh and sent a splatter of blood across the inside of Diana's shield. Wonder Woman thrust forward with her shield as her leg gave a little at the pain, and fortunately the pressure of the shield blow pushed Hippolyta back to where the Queen couldn't capitalize on Diana's injury.

Hippolyta smirked over the top of her shield as she circled her wounded daughter, "You mention age, but my age has taught me a few tricks. I might have taught you everything that you know, but I haven't taught you everything that I know." The Queen said with a smirk as she finished circling around the hobbled Diana and dashed forward to engage Wonder Woman.

A flurry of blades clashed again as both combatants spun and clashed, shields and swords spinning and clanging together. Hippolyta noticed Diana seemed to plant her weight on her injured leg, and so the Queen ducked under a blow and lashed out at the apparently weakened leg.

Hippolyta had only a moment of realization that she had been tricked as Diana raised her foot just high enough to clear her mother's blade before Wonder Woman stomped down on the flat of Hippolyta's blade. Hippolyta pushed backwards with both of her legs, freeing her sword and diving backwards, but not fast enough to dodge the pommel of Diana's sword that bashed into the side of the Queen's eyebrow and right cheekbone.

Hippolyta reeled back from the power of the blow and turned her backwards dive into a roll that left the Queen hopping to her feet with sand sticking to the sheen of sweat that covered her body. Hippolyta gained her feet and shook her head before feeling a hot trickle of moisture seep into her right eye and down her cheek. Hippolyta looked up to see that Diana was simply standing there watching resolutely, and Hippolyta took the moment to wipe her face with the back of her sword arm, only for said arm to come back colored red from the Queen's spilled blood.

"You may have taught me everything I knew when I left Themyscira for my mission in Man's World, but I have learned much from the warriors of that world." Diana stated before giving her sword hand a flick that had droplets of the Queen's blood falling to stain the white sand beach at Diana's feet.

Hippolyta glared, "Lies and trickery are all that you could have learned from Men, have you so quickly forgotten the lessons of our past?" The Queen spat and crouched to begin circling again with Diana.

Diana growled in return, "Your pride and hatred are talking again mother, or have you so quickly forgotten the sacrifice of the Grey Knight for our people? The man, whom from all accounts, fought with nothing but honor and answered all of your scorn with noble words and deeds. The man who fed your hungry, healed your sick, and slayed your enemies at the sake of his own life?" Diana attacked with her words and followed up with sword blows.

Parry, thrust, thrust and parry, both warriors swung and swung again, and every time steel met steel with neither gaining ground while both circled on the shore.

"One example! One example among millions!" Hippolyta yelled back at her daughter as the strength of the blows increased with the Queen's anger as she tried to cover for the guilt that she felt at her daughter's words, for in the Queen's own heart the voice of guilt weakened the Queen's resolve.

A look of absolute righteous anger came across Diana's face.

"You are wrong!" Diana clashed forward with her shield repeatedly bashing back her mother and forcing the Queen to give ground.

"Every day the heroes of the Justice League go out to help those who cannot help themselves, and rulers such as The Leviathan keep their word to protect the innocent even when it means personally tracking down the perpetrators or stopping the conflicts that have raged for years. The Leviathan sent aid to our people when they were dying, and you basically spat in his helmeted face!" Diana stated as she literally beat her mother backwards into the surf and the sea with both her words and her actions.

Every one of Diana's words beat at Hippolyta's heart, matching the ferocity of Diana's physical attacks. Hippolyta desperately tried to keep back the rage of her daughter, but the words of her daughter seemed to sap the Queen's strength as the truth in them rang clear. After all, Hippolyta may have hated men but she still knew the ringing of truth when it came from the voice of a woman such as her daughter.

"You were the one who taught me honor!" Diana shouted as she slammed her shield hard enough that Hippolyta's own shield knocked into the queen's forehead and made the queen falter.

"You were the one that taught me to love peace above all else!" Diana's yanked her shield to the side, catching Hippolyta's shield and flinging the queen's shield off of Hippolyta's arm.

"You were the one that taught me to do what was right over what was easy!" Diana shouted as she hammered blows down on the defending queen's sword, driving Hippolyta back until the sea was up to the queen's thighs. By this time, blood was freely seeping from Hippolyta's face and blinding the Queen in one eye, the other eye had lost the look of anger and now frantically watched as Princess Diana attacked ferociously.

"But you have forgotten everything that you taught me!" Diana finished, and with a flourish and a spin of the blade, Diana's blade forced Hippolyta's blade up and around before flinging it to the side where it slipped out of Hippolyta's grasp and disappeared into the waves.

Diana's blade ended the flourish with the tip rested right at the base of her mother's throat. A look of resolution and defiance was painted across Wonder Woman's face as she faced her defeated mother.

"Mother, you have become blinded by your hatred and allowed it to fester in your heart for hundreds of years." Diana stated commandingly, looking deep into her mother's eyes, "And with that hatred you have lost your way and the way of our people."

Hippolyta, not fully fathoming her daughter's words answered steadily, stealing herself for the blow but closing her eyes so that she wouldn't have to see it, "Then so be it, follow our way and strike down your mother and assume the role of queen."

"No!" Diana cried out angrily, the response surprising Hippolyta enough that she opened her eyes.

Hippolyta looked upon her daughter with confusion.

"Ways change, and traditions should not be used as excuses for doing what is wrong." Diana spat before the look on her face changed even while she continued to keep her mother at sword point. "Don't you understand? Can't you see it?" Diana said loudly, and waved with her shield arm at the standing tribe of Themyscirian Amazons standing silently on the shore.

"Our nation was saved by the honor of Men, but you treated those very same men with disrespect due to the actions of others in the past. It was a woman who cast our people into hell, yet still you struck out at The Leviathan and shamed our people." Diana implored her mother to understand. "You drove away the Bana-Mighdall Amazons after they fought at our tribe's side, and you were the one who endangers our entire nation by your actions to The Leviathan because of our traditions, our laws. Even the Gods have shown that they are unhappy with your actions and decisions, can't you see that even now?"

Hippolyta was stunned by her daughter's words, and was forced at the point of a sword to finally look over her actions, her decisions, her interactions. What Hippolyta found when she truly looked back at her past actions and words, well it shamed her.

Slowly Hippolyta closed her eyes and bowed her head at the pain of her daughter's words, a pain that was fully brought home due to the truth that Hippolyta finally realized. It was as if a blindfold was ripped away as Hippolyta was forced to look past her own stubborn pride and realize the fruit of her past actions.

Finally after several moments of silence, Hippolyta spoke, "You are right, and I have dishonored myself and our Nation. I do not deserve to be Queen." Hippolyta raised her head and stared her daughter in the eyes, "I love you Diana, and you have always done the right thing no matter what it cost. Now strike me down and assume the mantle of Queen." Hippolyta finished softly, the mix of sadness and love shining from her eyes towards her daughter Diana even as blood trickled down the Queen's face.

"Oh mother, I would never kill you." Diana stated as she dropped her sword and stepped forward into the deeper waters to embrace her now startled mother. Mother and daughter clung to each other as sand, blood, sweat and strings of hair stuck to each other.

"I never wanted to be Queen; I just wanted my mother back." Diana stated as she held her mother close, both tall women embracing tightly. "I wanted to remind my mother, my Queen, of the ruler that she used to be, of the woman who prayed to the Gods and was rewarded with a daughter and who raised that daughter to always do what was right versus what was easy." Diana finished and pushed her mother back to arms length so that they could see each other face to face.

Hippolyta looked back into the eyes of her daughter, and what Hippolyta showed was a look of love, of pride in Diana, a look that practically glowed despite the aftereffects of the battle. Hippolyta reached up a hand and gently cupped her daughter's jaw, and then Hippolyta stroked Diana's cheek lovingly with her thumb.

"I am so proud of you my daughter." Hippolyta said caringly, "I can always trust you to do what your heart tells you is right. I am truly sorry for my mistakes and lapses in judgment as well as not seeking your counsel when I was so wrapped up in my pride."

"I love you too mother." Wonder Woman stated, and pulled her mother back into a brief hug before pushing out to face her mother again.

Hippolyta looked quizzically at Diana and asked, "So what now? You have won."

Diana smiled back at her mother and answered, "No, I forfeit my challenge; I think you will once again make a good Queen."

With that, Diana turned to the side and held her mother's hand up above their heads at the wrist while shouting to the crowd, "I forfeit my challenge for the crown! Long live Queen Hippolyta!"

Hippolyta smiled at the surprising actions of her daughter, while around them the Amazons of Themyscira burst into cheers. Above the sound of the cheers came the sound of the breeze as the blessings of the Olympian Gods returned to Themyscira, and the sound of the fronds in the palm trees brushing together in the wind sounded the message from the Gods that the Amazons had regained the proper path.

Many hours later as evening fell over the island of Themyscira in the Caribbean Sea and the Amazons celebrated the "return" of their Queen and the renewed favor of the Gods. Many miles away to the north of the island and in the city of Gotham, a dark figure sat atop of a gargoyle looking out over the sky line of "his" city.

The smog covered and cloud filled city sky created myriad dark shadows that enclosed even the highest skyscrapers in a blanket of darkness. Though the sun had yet to fully set below the horizon yet Gotham City and its slums had already succumbed to the darkness of night as the pollution of the city shut out the light. With that loss of light came the criminals, thieves, murderers, drug dealers and low life scum who scurried out of their hidey holes like so many cockroaches rushing to feed when the kitchen light goes out.

This was Batman's playground, a seeming never ending supply of villains that needed a good beating before they were once again thrown in prison. The villains ruled the city through fear, and in turn Batman ruled the hearts of the criminals through fear. This was the cycle of life that had been present in Gotham city for many many years. However that cycle had all changed the day before. A new player had entered Gotham, one who did not fear Batman, one who did not play the game as it was supposed to be played.

Thus it was that Batman looked down from his perch on the griffon-like gargoyle that jutted from the compass point of the Wayne Enterprises building. Below Batman in the distances was the target of his ire, the bastion of the new player that had invaded HIS city without so much as a by your leave.

The large zeppelin like airship, the Embassy for the Empire of the Leviathan, floated peacefully above the streets of the city while workers on the ground scurried about constructing a giant glass and black steel elevator system that would bring people and items to and from the newly arrived hovering fortress. The mere sight of it was like nails on a chalk board to Bruce Wayne, it irritated him beyond measure that this villain, The Leviathan, could waltz into Batman's city and receive an open armed greeting from its citizens.

Bruce watched with a frown pasted across his face as the mix of black and silver clad guards, some in bulky black armor and others in sleek feminine grey winged armor, guarded the workers that scurried about the elevator structure. Suddenly Bruce's eyes saw his opening, a brief pause when the flying grey armored guards converged on a spot on the ground where a semi-truck had just accidentally backed into a series of scaffolding.

The time to do something about the invasion was now.

Leaping off of the Wayne Enterprises building, Batman went into a freefall into the shadows of the building before raising his arms, and suddenly his cape transformed into a glider that sent Bruce sailing quietly towards a large stain glass window that covered a large top portion of the airship.

Closer and closer Batman sailed until he pulled up at the last minute and gently clashed with the upper window of Castle Wulfenbach, silently enough that no human could have heard him, yet with enough force that the sticky bonding agents on Batman's feet and gloved hands connected him to the castle's large window. With that, Batman became just another shadow on the side of the castle.

"Alfred, I've arrived at the Leviathan's Embassy and am about to enter. I'll be going radio silent when I breach the building." Batman sub-vocalized over his radio system back to Alfred who was manning the Batcomputer that night.

"Very well Sir, but do be careful and I will see you when you arrive home." The voice of Alfred replied in the radio bud situated inside the ear of Batman's cowl.

"No worries Alfred, I should be in and out after I set up the microphones and surveillance equipment." Batman replied and clicked off the radio system with a touch of his thumb to the inside of his pinky finger.

Batman dangled off the glass window with one hand while he reached for his laser powered glass cutter on his belt; assorted lights and shadows hidden behind the colored glass beneath him showed that people were moving about the Embassy's many levels.

Flipping the glass cuter out of his utility belt, Batman prepared to create his entry point when an eerie and slightly deranged female voice interrupted him.

"Naughty naughty child, somebody needs a spanking… Ve have ways of dealing with interlopers like you, and zey muse of protection vill not allow you to invade this sanctum uninvited." A feminine Eastern European accented voice cackled, seemingly from all around Batman.

Bruce was startled, and he had only the time to utter, "What the?" Before the metal lattice work that weaved through the stained-glass window was covered in dancing bolts of electricity.

The castle's anti-intruder system lit Batman up like a Christmas tree with a resounding "Ker-ZAP!" Causing Batman to flail about and spasm as the electricity coursed through his body.

As the slightly smoking figure of Batman slowly fell away from his grasp on the window and plummeted towards the ground, the last thing he heard before darkness claimed him was maniacal laughter.

"WA HA HA HA HA HA! Oh this is going to be so much fun!" The insane voice cackled, and then darkness closed over Batman.

Batman's fun with the guardian A.I. of Castle Wulfenbach wasn't the only action taking place in Gotham that night. In fact, the city was insanely busy that night with several of Batman's normal rogue's gallery being on the loose and up to no good. However not every criminal was having fun and causing mayhem on the streets of Gotham, no, some of them were still securely housed in the depths of the Elizabeth Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane.

In the deepest dark sub-basement of the towering gothic monstrosity that housed Gotham City's most dangerous criminally "insane" was a glass walled cell that was surprisingly quiet and peaceful. Green plants and flowers of every shape and variety filled the room, and the hard stone floors were even carpeted in a nice layer of thick lush green grass. From an observers' point of view, that of the guards who passed up and down the hallway before the glass walled cells of sub-basement H, it almost appeared as if a breeze blew inside the cell. The plants in the cell seemed to move and sway in the shadowy light that trickled through the vines that lined the ceiling. Only the reality of the situation was something else as svelte feminine green colored legs appeared from the vine hammock that hung from the ceiling. The fact that the vines moved to actually lower the prison cell's gardener let any observer know that there was no breeze in the cell, rather it was the plants that were alive and moving on their own.

The gorgeous red headed woman, her smooth green tinged skin swathed in bands of ivy and leaves, petted the vines that carefully curled around her before she was released to daintily touch down on the grassy floor. One thorny vine from a back wall danced forward to plant one of its freshly grown roses in the red hair of its "mother" before darting back to its place on the wall.

"Thank you my children." Pamela Isley, the eco-terrorist known as Poison Ivy, said as she caressed the vines for her living bed. Said vines shivered slightly at the joy of their "mother's" praise before they disappeared back towards the ceiling of the large cell.

A double knock of knuckles on glass issued from the cell door behind Poison Ivy, causing her to turn and look out through the entrance to her abode.

"Knock knock, dinner time Isley." The masculine voice of the guard stated, and Pamela noted that the brim of the guard's ball cap shadowed the man's face to the point that she couldn't see his eyes or facial features.

"But of course, we couldn't miss dinner time. After all, it would be a shame to insult the chef at this wonderful establishment." She replied with a little quirk of her bright green lips and with a sparkle in her green eyes, as if she had a choice on the matter.

Much to her surprise, rather than slide the tray of food through the cat that ran through a tray system on the side of the door, the guard instead took a key from his side key chain and inserted it into a lock in the wall next to the glass door and with a click the glass rolled up into the ceiling allowing the guard to enter the cell.

A sardonic smile, a mix of pure seduction and mischief spread across Poison Ivy's face.

"Well well," She purred and started to sway towards the guard that had entered her domain so foolishly, "you must be new handsome." She seductively waltzed up to the guard with all the sway she could put into her hips, and her lithe figure twisted with her walk to show off all of her incredibly gorgeous curves.

The cap of the guard continued to shadow the guard's eyes, blocking her view, but she was able to see a smirk grow across the man's lips.

"You could say that." He replied with a bit of humor in his voice, "I thought I would bring you your dinner personally, since you're such an interesting woman and all that. I thought I could get to know you a bit better." He posited at the end.

Poison Ivy's smile grew almost predatory before slipping back into its most seductive smirk, a quirk at the edge of her mouth adding to her sexy look as she licked her lips, drawing the man's attention to them as she moved into his personal space and leaned forward.

Poison Ivy draped herself around the new guard, twined one leg around the back of the man's leg, her arms around his neck and she leaned in for a kiss with just the slightest hint of tongue.

Usually it only took a peck, a slight touch of Poison Ivy's poisoned kiss, and any human man would have succumbed to her power and be enslaved to her will; too bad the toxins and poisons on her lips eventually led to the man's death.

However in this case Poison Ivy found the man returning her kiss, a tingle in her own lips and a passionate reply as the man's fingers trailed up into her hair and he kissed her back, his breath tasting of a strange mixture of pure peppermint and wintergreen as if he had breathed in their pure minty essence.

Pamela's eyes closed, and she was startled when she heard a moan and realized that she was the one that had made the sound.

Poison Ivy's eyes shot wide open as her brain kicked back into reality, and she quickly threw herself back out of the man's arms and out of his reach, breaking the kiss that had lasted for more than a minute.

Pamela tumbled backwards to roll and land in a crouch, arms poised and ready for a fight and the vines around her swinging out from the walls and ceiling to attack the man, only for them to quiver and stop in the air a good foot from the man.

The man licked his own lips, the bill of his cap continuing to shield the man's eyes from view as a smirk painted itself across the face of the man dressed as a guard.

"Hmmm, a nice bit of belladonna, but pretty heavy on the nightshade and passion fruit. I think I could come to enjoy that." The man hummed out as his tongue lightly licked his own lips before they quirked up in a large smile. He then reached up and stroked one of the thorny vines that had a moment ago tried to attack him. The vines shivered and vibrated in pleasure, twining and gently playing with the man's fingers before receding back to the walls.

Pamela Isley had never felt so vulnerable in her life. She held no powers besides her immunity to poisons and disease and her ability to communicate with plants. Already her brief interaction with this stranger had shown her the he was immune to all of the weapons in her arsenal, including her seductive abilities.

"Wha, what are you?" Pamela questioned with a hint of wide eyed fear in her voice.

"Why Pamela," The man stated as he reached for his ball cap, "I'm what you could be if you were even more in tuned with the Earth and the plants around you."

With that, Alec Holland exposed his handsome and green tinged face, his green eyes sparkling with mischief as he smiled at her with a pair of bright green lips that matched the exact color of Pamela's, though whereas her hair was bright red, his was as green as his eyes.

Alec waved his hand at the ground next to him, and the grass on the cell floor grew at a prodigious rate, so fast that almost before Pamela could blink two comfy chairs of woven grass had been formed, each facing the other.

Pamela looked from the man, to the chairs, and blinked as the man casually handed the tray of food to one of the vines on the wall, and then he sat down in his chair and waved towards the other in invitation for her to sit. The man had taken complete control of her plants away from her, and there was no way she could dart past him and out of the prison without him or the guards stopping her.

Both were silent for a few moments as Pamela furiously thought of what to do. She had never met another person who had the same level of control over plants as she did, let alone a stronger one. Frankly it scared her. However she wasn't considered a super-villain for nothing, and the ability to control herself in tough situations was something she had fostered and grown while she lived and fought on the streets of Gotham. Pamela didn't show her inner turmoil on her face as she carefully moved towards the offered chair.

Walking forward daintily, she sat down in a controlled manner that would have left any outside observer believing that she had complete control of the situation. Little did she know however that Alec Holland, aka the former Swamp Thing, could read her feelings just as well as he could any plant.

"You seem to have me at a disadvantage, you obviously know who I am, but here you have gone and kissed me and I don't know who you are or what you want?" Pamela said, a bit of unexpected heat coming out of her words as she slightly glared at the man. After all, it was one thing to kiss a man and seduce him to be a slave under her control, but it was entirely different when the man enjoyed the kiss and turned it back around on her; something that she still wasn't willing to admit about the kiss.

Alec chuckled and smiled and gave a slight mock bow of his head from his position in his chair, "My apologies, but you were the one who chose the form of greeting." He joked, then noticed her getting a bit huffy about his answer so he continued quickly, "As for who I am, my name is Dr. Alec Holland. I believe, Dr. Pamela Isley, that you and I traded intellectual papers at that Harvard Botany Symposium back in 1985." He finished with a smirk.

Pamela's jaw dropped open in surprise, before she caught herself and stuttered, "Dr. Holland? I remember you and your paper on your belief that plants receive some sort of undefined resource from their connection with the planet, that it wasn't the soil that was the most important nutrient but some essence you were working on… but, but I heard you died in a lab fire in the Louisiana swamps?" She looked incredulously at the man sitting across from her.

"Yes, I did die in that fire in the swamps right as I'd finished my research on finding the source, the essence of plant life on Earth… But then again, I've come to find out that Dr. Pamela Isley, the foremost specialist on plant toxicology, suffered a similar accident and death at her laboratory facility at Slaughter Swamp just outside of Gotham. Imagine that, and now two presumably dead people with botany backgrounds are having an uninterrupted chat in the middle of Gotham City's most notorious prison." Alec finished with a smile.

Poison Ivy looked back at him and blinked, then looked at the plants and their reactions and that's when she realized that the weird tingle she had felt when she had kissed Alec was still there, and that she could feel him and his amusement just like she could feel the emotions of the plants around her.

"I can feel you!" Pamela stated abruptly.

Alec's eyes twinkled and his smirk grew larger, "Why yes you can my dear, though I figured we would wait till at least the second date before we did any feeling."

Pamela blinked at Alec's quip, and then blushed as she realized the accidental double entendre in her words.

Her blush quickly passed, and Poison Ivy glared at Dr. Holland, "That's not what I meant and you know it." She huffed and crossed her arms across her chest.

Alec enjoyed the view as her crossed arms crushed Pamela's vine covered breasts together, but he realized that he may be coming across a bit too forward. A small part of him realized that he had been hanging around Xander Harris too much, and that playful flirty style of Xander was starting to wear off on the former Swamp Thing.

Alec's smirk settled into a warm smile, "My apologies if I've been too forward, but to answer your actual question, yes you can "feel" me as you so stated. What you are feeling is our connection through The Green, the essence of the power of the Earth and all that grows on it. And it's why I've come to visit you, though my friend RedTree will only be able to keep the other guards and surveillance away for a short while longer, I needed to talk to you and ask you a question." He finished with a pause so that Pamela could absorb the information he was relaying to her, they were after all on a time limit.

Pamela nodded in understanding, but then quirked her head slightly as she questioned, "That's interesting to know, and I can't say that I don't appreciate learning more about this Green, but perhaps you could tell me exactly why it is you broke into Arkham Asylum just to visit me. In short, what is this question you wanted to ask me?"

Alec smiled and replied, "The question is simple, do you want to save the world? I'm talking about the whole world, the plants animals and all of it. Yes, or no?"

Pamela looked startled. It was no secret that she believed that the human civilization of corporations and big businesses were destroying and polluting the earth. It was what she had always strived to stop, to protect the Earth and its plants. She had always felt like she was protecting something more though, some nameless force that was always present in the background of her and her plant's; her connection to the earth. "It," that which she had always tried to protect but had been nameless to her, "The Green" ,the force of nature that she had always felt calling out to her. Yes, she wanted to protect it from the pollution and garbage around her.

"Alec, you have less than a minute before the guards turn the corner from the elevators and go past Ivy's cell. Apparently the orderlies have an appointment with the Scarecrow down the hall from here and are on their way. I can only delay the elevator for so long." The voice of the artificial intelligence RedTree broadcast from the speaker in Poison Ivy's cell. The statement from the prison's speaker system interrupted Pamela's thinking.

"I got it Red, thank you." Alec stated, looking up towards the speaker hidden among the vines before turning back to Pamela. "Well my dear, I do hate to rush you, but I need a yes or a no to my question." He stated patiently, no hint as to what the outcome of the answer would bring.

Pamela looked at the man who's skin matched her own tone, whose eyes sparkled just as green as hers, and she reached out for that ability that she normally used with plants and tried to quest towards the man seated just a few feet in front of her. She connected, and in that instant that the connection was formed she felt no deceit, but rather a patient hope that was mirrored in her own heart. A hope that she would find someone that she could connect with, to find someone who was just like her.

A true honest smile spread across Pamela's lips as she sat up straight in her chair, all sense of false predatory seduction lost from her actions. "Yes Alec, I'd like to save the world."

Alec's eyes seemed to sparkle and his smile grew larger. "Excellent my dear. I look forward to continuing this conversation more when we have the time, but for now, let's get you out of here."

Pamela's eyes grew large at those words, and before she could blink a rumbling sound shook the room till it felt like a large earthquake just as a giant green fanged maw of a Venus flytrap burst through the ground beneath their feet; swallowing the contents of the cell in one large gulp.

Alarms sounded and men yelled as the giant Venus flytrap disappeared into the ground beneath Arkham Asylum, leaving a giant hole in the ground and a prison in turmoil.

At the same time that Alec Holland was having fun stirring up the guards at Arkham Asylum, Xander and his adopted sister Cassandra Kalderash were standing at the front of the VIP line at the Iceberg Lounge; the swankiest nightclub, restaurant and casino in all of Gotham city.

"First name and ID?" The suit-wearing large nightclub bouncer stated while looking over the list on his clipboard and ignoring the couple that had just pulled up in an expensive black and yellow Lotus sports car. The bouncer saw lots of expensive cars pull up to the club every night, but that didn't automatically give the driver entrance to the club.

"Money and you don't need to see our ID's." Xander answered with a patented Xander Harris smirk painted on his face.

"Wait, what?" The large bouncer looked up, startled by the answer, only to see a man just as muscularly hulking as the bouncer and the rest of the guards. The brown haired male was wearing a tailored black three piece suit, a white shirt and a black and crimson striped silk tie. The crimson red stripes in the male visitor's tie matched the trim and the crisscrossing red pattern on the black dress that hugged the curves of the lithe female that stood smiling next to him. Whereas the man looked like he might just be twenty one years of age and eligible to enter the club, there was no way that the athletically trim and gorgeous young Asian girl was even close to being of age to enter the Iceberg Lounge.

"Like I said," Xander stated as he dug in his pocket and pulled out several bundles of hundred dollar bills, "Money, and you don't need to see our ID's." Xander finished, handing over the bundles of cash and waving his other hand as if he was doing a Jedi mind trick.

The bouncer stared at the several thousand dollars he had just been handed and responded, "Never mind, I don't have to see your IDs." The bouncer replied with a smile; not that the imitation Jedi mind trick worked at all as Xander still hadn't fixed the quirk with the telepathy he acquired from Aquaman.

"Right this way folks." The bouncer added with a smile as he unhooked the velvet rope and ushered Xander and Cassy through into the club while ignoring the yells and complaints of the crowd that had been patiently waiting in the main line.

Cassy looked questioningly to Xander as he casually ignored the sounds of the shouting crowd and escorted her into the elegantly decorated white and silver bedecked restaurant and nightclub.

"Wait till we get to our table." Xander said out of the corner of his mouth as he noticed a dark haired receptionist in a short tight-fitting black dress approaching them out of the corner of his eye. The attractive woman approaching them was talking into a wrist microphone while an ear bud was squawking in the receptionist's ear. Unknown to the women and the voice on the other end of the microphone, Xander's super hearing was picking up ever word in the conversation.

"The boss wants to know who this new bird in town is; he's throwing around money like he's made of it. See if you can get some information or at least a name from him and put him in the VIP booth with the bugs. We don't know if he's a crook, a fed or some playboy on vacation." The voice on the other end of the radio system commanded.

"Yes sir, I'll see what I can do." The young receptionist whispered into her microphone before turning a blazing smile towards Xander.

"Good evening Sir and welcome to the Iceberg Lounge. The management would like to offer you the service of one of our VIP booths, if you would follow me this way." The receptionist offered to Xander while ignoring Cassy as if Xander's sister was merely some sort of arm-candy.

Cassandra was an expert in reading body language long before she even learned to speak verbally. In fact, Cassandra read the body language and disposition of people's thoughts and feelings as easily as most people read a book. Every single smile line painted a picture, every twitch of an ear or slightest move of an arm was a novel that told Cassandra not only the next move of the person being watched, but their inner thoughts and feelings. Cassandra was a master of reading humans, and what she saw made her frown at the back of the receptionist. Cassy's consternation continued to increase as she caught passing views of the other inhabitants of the club. Cassy's heels and Xander's shiny black dress shoes were a whisper on the thick lush white carpet the led up the stairs to the VIP level, and the silence of their walk enabled them to pick up snippets of conversations on their way to their table. Several of the bits and pieces of the conversations picked up in passing only made Cassy's frown deepen. Finally Cassandra saw that they were approaching an empty booth that appeared to be their destination so she quickly pasted a smile on her face so as not to give away her thoughts. Cassandra couldn't help but sum up the glitzy over-plush decor of the Iceberg Lounge and its guests as an artifice facade, and she hated it.

"Patience." Xander whispered out of the side of his mouth to Cassy as he caught the brief frown that flashed across her face, and then Xander gave the receptionist a blinding smile as the women finished leading them to their booth. Xander ushered Cassandra into the booth before him and then entered it himself.

"Your server will be with you shortly, but the management has asked that I offer you anything you might like Mr…?" The attractive receptionist struck a pose, insinuating that 'anything' really was being offered, including the receptionist herself, and then left the question hanging in the hopes to get a name from her guests.

Xander just smirked, his grin lighting up his face as he understood the game the receptionist was trying to play but he wasn't willing to take the bait. "No thank you, we'll wait to order drinks with our server." He simply replied.

The receptionist continued to try to smile at Xander and his reply, but both Cassy and Xander saw that the frustration in the woman's eyes did not match the smile on the woman's lips.

"Very well then, but please feel free to flag me down if you need anything else." The receptionist said with a flirty wink to Xander, a wink that caused Cassy to openly frown as the woman walked away with an exaggerated sway in her hips.

"That skanky little harlot." Cassy growled after the woman, and if looks could kill, well…

"Now now, give me just one more second." Xander stated as he patted his sister's arm gently to get her to calm down. He then turned his attention inward and closed his eyes momentarily.

'Nano-clanks, I need an EMP pulse for a radius of five feet around me.' Xander commanded his internal micro-clanks.

"Fuummmm" an addible hum issued from Xander's nano-clank suit of clothes, and the lights around Xander dimmed briefly as the electromagnetic pulse that issued from him fried the circuits of all electronics in a five foot radius in all directions. Xander smirked as he heard a slight "bzzz" sound, and his super hearing picked up the sound of a loud screech of a microphone giving off a feedback loop somewhere deep within the walls of the club, followed by cursing; most likely at the listening end of the bugs planted in the booth around him.

Xander turned to Cassandra with his patented goofy smile, "There, now we can speak privately." He stated.

"I don't like this place." Cassandra stated with a pout and crossed her arms across her chest. "You told me that you were going to take me out on the town and I was hoping for pizza and a movie or something, but this place is filled with a bunch of phonies and people who would backstab their mother for a quarter." She finished, looking around at the other couples and groups of people scattered about the large central room. Xander and Cassy's booth was set up on a second floor VIP level and it gave them an excellent view of the restaurant floor down below as well a dance section that had a big band orchestra set up for dancing.

"Well, welcome to Gotham, the dark city of sin and corruption on the United States' East Coast." Xander said with a jaunty little wave at the people around him. "I wanted to show you the town as it really is, and this is the nicest club in town but it just happens to be owned and run by a criminal." He finished, carefully pointing out that the bouncers that were spread throughout the facility were all packing guns based on the slight bulges that shown every now and then from the insides of the bouncer's black suit coats.

"So tell me again why then you wanted to take me here, and why you want me to be your ambassador here to the United States?" Cassy questioned as she turned her pretty face towards Xander and raised a well manicured eyebrow.

Xander sighed and leaned on the table as he watched the people interacting at the booths around them. After a few moments of silence he finally answered her. "It's because you're family Cassy, and because you are family I trust you. Tell you what, read the people around here and tell me what you think of them and I'll explain it better." Xander finished, waving for her to examine the patrons in the other sections of the VIP level and the restaurant below.

"Well," Cassy said, only to pause as their server came up to their table. Xander and Cassy quickly ordered their drinks and then she continued to talk after the server had left. "Take that older man with the paunchy stomach and the receding hairline at the booth across from us." She stated, pointing to an elderly man in an expensive blue pinstriped suit who was pretty fat but was still surrounded by two attractive blonde girls that could have been the man's daughters, or perhaps granddaughters.

"He is definitely somebody of wealth, I'd say by the way that he likes to hear himself talk to those girls that he is probably a lawyer or some judge, especially based on the way that he looks at the people around him, his body language says he feels he is above the rules of the common person. Oh, and the girls are obviously high priced hookers." Cassy replied, reading the body language and lips of the man and his guests on the opposite side of the VIP level.

Xander smirked as he replied, "Yes and good job there. That's Judge Jefferson, he's the federal district judge for Gotham City and it's well known that he has a penchant for young girls and expensive living. However he is best known for labeling The Joker as criminally insane and not eligible for the death penalty due to reasons of insanity… though most criminals on the street would tell you that the bribe of five million dollars didn't hurt The Joker's sentencing."

Cassy growled and then moved her attention to the next table where several men were meeting, "The table next to the judge," She pointed out with a nudge of her chin in the direction of the specified booth. "With the five men in expensive suits sitting hunched over their drinks sweating but still looking like a bunch of accountants. They don't want to be overheard but their lips tell that they are planning on embezzling money from City Hall to increase their salaries."

"Yep, and congratulations, you've just pointed out the assemblymen for the Gotham neighborhoods of Bloodhaven and several of the largely industrial parts of town. Nice little racket they have given that their families are the only families allowed to have residents in those industrial neighborhoods." Xander explained as he settled back into his seat, his internal nano-clanks feeding him information as he mentally queried his computer systems and the databases of information RedTree had acquired. "I believe the assemblyman on the left is the brother of the one on the right, and the other two are cousins. The one from Bloodhaven is reported to have contacts with the Italian mob."

Cassy turned her attention away from the booth in question and focused her attention on Xander, "Then why the heck would you bring me to a place like this, and even more why would you want to have your Embassy here and your little sister living with these scum buckets?" She questioned petulantly, for after all she was a sixteen year old.

"Because this is the center of activity on this planet." Xander explained simply as he leaned closer to Cassy so as not to be overheard. "This might be the most corrupt pigsty in the United States, but its right south of New York City and Metropolis, just north of Washington DC, and the United States is truly the location with the most superhero and super-villain interaction in this dimension." Xander explained.

Cassy just looked at Xander, waiting for the full explanation.

"So you know I don't come from this dimension." Xander continued, and Cassandra nodded that she understood.

"So then you know that I've got ideas of what is going to happen in this world." Xander explained and Cassandra nodded again. "Well, every alien invasion, every enemy from the deep, every new supervillain or wannabe overlord of Earth always targets this area of the world, and frankly this is where we can do the most good." Xander finished with a big smile, trying to convince Cassy of his reasons.

"But with the portals you can be anywhere in the world in an instant, so why put Castle Wulfenbach in the one city in the United States where it will also be a major target for the villains and other bad guys?" Cassy asked, still not believing she was receiving the whole story.

An evil smirk spread across Xander's face as he leaned forward even more to answer her, "Because it's not an invasion of U.S. territory if our embassy was the target of the attack, and second, I'm beginning to love screwing with Batman."

Xander finished with an evil chuckle, and Cassy's smile turned evil also as she giggled along with him for a few moments.

Xander reached around Cassy's shoulders and pulled her into a one armed hug as they relaxed in their seats. "Besides Sis, it's not like you can't come home for dinner with the clan every night if you want. Igor and Magda are just a portal away if you need help, you've already completed your integration of your Doctorates of political science, government service, espionage, and Evil-Overlord-ology. Castle Wulfenbach's new artificial intelligence, Von Pinn, will also always be there to help you out when you need it. Think of this as spreading your wings a bit and joining in the family biz of world domination." Xander finished with a wink and gave his adopted sister a gentle squeeze to show her that he cared about her.

"Think of Gotham City as your new toy, to play with however you want." Xander finished with a goofy smirk.

Cassandra smiled at her big brother, the man who had so improved her life and brought her a family, and she put her arm around him and gave him a one armed hug in return. "Thanks Xander, not many girls can say that their big brother gave them a whole city as a toy to play with, you're the greatest." She finished with a beaming smile.

Xander smiled back at his younger sister, she had come a long way from the scared girl who was willing to end her own life rather than be forced to be an assassin. "No problem sis, but it will make it hard to find an even better gift for Christmas. Perhaps your own country?" Xander jokingly asked with a silly grin.

Both Cassy and Xander just laughed at that, and then returned to quietly watching the people in the club as their drinks finally arrived along with a bread basket. Xander waved off the server to give them more time to order their food.

Xander looked down at his menu admitted to himself that the villain who owned the Iceberg Lounge had a good choice in food. Not so surprisingly missing from the menu was any type of poultry, though the menu seemed to be heavy on fish and other seafood.

"Do you see anybody else that looks interesting?" Xander asked negligently as he focused his attention on his large menu, the menu blocking Xander's view of the rest of the Iceberg Lounge.

Cassy set down her menu from where she was perusing it and looked around the room, "Hmmm, well the older guy in the other corner is obviously married to a woman even though he is holding hands with that young man." She started describing as she looked around the room while Xander still tried to decide what to eat from the menu.

"Table of gangsters, table of lawyers, table of gangsters, table of accountants and gangsters, oh, there's an interesting one." Cassy stated panning her head around the room until she noticed a new person walking through the lower levels of the club and restaurant.

"Hmmm, how so?" Xander asked without looking up, not sure if he wanted the lobster or the seared Ahi that was listed on the menu. The inclusion of his Heterodyne persona had really expanded Xander's tastes in food beyond the Harris family specialties of burnt meat and cheese covered vegetables, always with a side of alcohol, so he was seriously considering some of the dishes he wasn't originally familiar with back in old Sunnydale.

"Well, she's really pretty even though her hair is cut in a dark pixie cut, and though she could be mistaken for a hooker with the way she swings those hips, the way she moves in that purple dress makes her look more like a panther or some sort of predatory cat." Cassandra stated as she focused on the woman just being seated at a table near the dance floor on the lower level.

"mm-hmmm, that's nice…" Xander nodded as he wasn't paying attention, only to have the last part of Cassandra's statement filter through his mind.

"Wait a second? Did you say Cat? Where is she?" Xander stated, quickly dropping his menu and looking around the floor level below them.

"There, right next to the dance floor. Sleeveless open backed, low plunging and tight purple dress with a slit up to her thigh and the black CFM heels. You can't miss her." Cassy stated with a smirk and pointed, finding it a bit funny that she was pointing out hot women to her own brother, especially given his bevy of beauties back home.

Xander followed the angle of Cassy's pointing finger, and sure enough, sitting on the ground floor and all by herself was Selena Kyle, aka Catwoman, but without the leather cat suit.

"Selena." Xander said quietly to himself with a small smile spreading across his face, his memories going back to the short time he had shared with the vivacious and sexy thief.

Of course, the fact that Xander was experiencing happy thoughts was reason enough for Mr. Murphy to decide to crash the evening's outing in Gotham City.

Xander shook his head to pull himself out of his thoughts just as he noticed several of the large bouncers move in from the corners of the lower floor level and converge on Selena's table. One of the big bouncer's reached down and took Selena's elbow in his hand and forcefully, but not violently, led her up out of her chair while the bouncer's other hand was reaching into the other side of his coat where Xander could see the butt of a gun. The other bouncers quickly shielded the ground floor patrons from seeing what was happening, but Xander's view from above gave him a vantage point that couldn't be blocked. Add to that Xander's freshly acquired super hearing and super sight and it let him watch the whole situation in detail.

"The boss thinks it's pretty gutsy of a cat to waltz into the bird's nest and think there won't be any repercussions, especially when said pussy cat matches the description of the thief that has a twenty million bounty on her head." Xander clearly heard the bouncer state as the bouncer led Selena away from the table and across the dance floor towards a door at the back of the restaurant. In true Gotham City style all of the patrons, besides Xander and Cassandra, blatantly ignored the pretty woman being accosted.

Xander growled and Cassandra noticed that Xander's eyes flashed yellowish green for an instant.

"Crap." Cassandra cursed as she saw what was going on and her brother's reaction.

Pushing himself out of his seat, the primal part of Xander was calling for him to protect his pack, his mate. And even though Selena and Xander had only spent one crazy night together, Xander was more than inclined to agree.

"I guess it's time to introduce ourselves to Gotham City." Xander growled, his voice going deep as he pushed the heavy table out of the way so that he could get out of the booth easier.

"Xander, don't do anything rash, you said we wanted to keep a lower profile at first. Xander! Xander don't kill anybody! Oh phewy." Cassandra cautioned worriedly as she quickly looked between the bouncers pulling Selena through the door to the inner offices of the club and then back to Xander who moved away from the table and was heading towards the stairs down to the first floor.

Xander couldn't keep the glare off his face as he moved towards the exit and continued to watch where the bouncers were taking Selena, even going so far as to send a server loaded with food flying out of Xander's way so that he could get to the stairs down to the first level. A bouncer saw Xander's casual shoulder check to the server and moved forward to intercept Xander before Xander could reach the stairs.

"Hey! Stop right ther- GURK!" The bouncer started to challenge Xander only for Xander's hand to lash out and grab the bouncer by the neck. Then the bouncer was up in the air and over the balcony, as Xander casually one armed threw the man out of his way.

"Ahhhhhh!" The bouncer screamed as his arms and legs wind-milled as if the man was trying to swim through the air. An almighty crash was the result of the bouncer's uncontrolled descent, ending with the bouncer crashing face first into a server below with a flambé dessert cart, both server, bouncer and cart then crashed into a table holding eight people.

Chaos erupted as the flambé cart crashed into the table catching the tablecloth and the bouncer on fire from the flaming liquids, and then men were bellowing and women were screaming as the guests of the restaurants and nightclub all started running around like chickens with their heads cut off as they fled the club.

Cassandra face palmed her forehead with a smack and then shook her head at Xander's actions.

"So much for keeping a low profile." Cassy groused as she looked up and saw Xander's three piece dark suit bubble and then flow into a solid body covering black armor as Xander exited the stairway onto the ground floor and pushed his way through the crowd while casually sending patrons flying out of his way with casual shoulder checks and one armed throws.

Cassandra noticed several guards below her pull out machine pistols and took aim at her brother. Not that it would do anything to stop Xander, but Cassy really didn't want any more bloodshed than was strictly necessary and the guards were about to shoot through the crowd in order to hit Xander.

"Oh well, when in Rome." Cassandra groused as her black and red dress rippled, and suddenly she was covered from head to toe in a feminine form of Xander's featureless black body armor.

A quick dive out of her booth and then a flip over the second floor banister sent Cassy cannon-balling through the air un-tucking a moment before she tackled the armed guards below that were just about to open fire. A quick elbow strike to a temple was followed by a backwards flip heel-strike to the throat of another guard, and faster than most people could blink the three guards were down and out of the fight. Then Cassy was jumping off of tables and kicking off of support columns, going parkour through the room to intercept other guards that looked like they wanted to get in Xander's way. Cassandra had been trained from an infant to be the best assassin ever, especially at hand to hand combat. In another time and dimension, if Xander hadn't come into Cassandra's life then she would have gone on to take over the leadership of the League of Shadows and its assassins by proving without a doubt that she was deadliest human in the world. Here and now though, Cassandra Kalderash didn't like to kill, but that didn't stop her from absolutely kicking the living shit out of the guards who dared to point a gun at her brother. Sure the bullets wouldn't have hurt Xander's armored form. It was the principal of the thing, and if there was one thing Cassy had learned from Xander and the Kalderash, it was nobody messed with her family and walked away from it unscathed.

While Cassandra was going Kung-Fu on the Iceberg Lounge's guards, Xander was fully focused on rescuing Catwoman. Xander didn't really pay attention to any of Cassy's actions as he only had eyes for the guards blocking his path to the door that Selena had been forced through. The panicking crowd fleeing the restaurant blocked the guards' view of Xander right up to the point where Xander's hulking black armored shape seemed to just appear out of the crowd in front of them. And by then, it was already far too late.

Though Xander had learned a great deal of his fighting skills from his absorption of Cassandra's skills, this didn't mean they fought in the same way. No, Xander and Cassandra's fighting methods were very different and Xander proved this once again as his clawed armored hands brutally tore through the throats of the two guards blocking the doorway. Xander kicked down the door and continued to proceed past the now dying guards. Xander had a Cat to rescue, and he had a feeling that when he found her he would probably have a Penguin to kill.

Selena Kyle had thought Gotham would be safe. Well, safe in the general Gotham City sense in that she was part of the den of thieves that survived and thrived on the city's corruption. No, all that mattered was that Gotham City was supposed to be safe from Ra's Al Ghul in that the man and his assassins were kept out of the city by Batman.

Ever since Ra's Al Ghul's assassin had interrupted her fun time with Xander, Selena had been robbing the terrorist blind. It was amazing the kind of shiny bits and bobbles that Ra's Al Ghul had hidden in his safe houses and secret palaces throughout the world, and she had to admit that she enjoyed stealing all of the pretty jewels and gems; though torching his safe houses was fun also. The man had wealth practically just lying about his properties, and she felt it was her civic duty as a thief to relieve him of his obviously overabundant and unwanted wealth and remind him to be thankful for what he had.

"After all, nobody would leave that stuff just lying around unless they wanted it stolen. That's me, Catwoman the public servant cleaning up unwanted wealth just strewn around." Selena muttered to herself with a smirk and a chuckle as the chauffeur lent his hand to help her out of the limousine in front of the VIP line into the Iceberg Lounge. Her long form fitting purple dress showed a large expanse of leg as the thigh high slit slid to the side as she stepped out of the limo and onto the red carpet before she sashayed her way up to the door and the bouncer.

Said bouncer looked up briefly from his clipboard before looking down again, only to do a double check and look up to watch Selena's cat like sway as she approached him with a seductive smile on her lips.

"Hello handsome." She purred silkily and looked up at the man through hooded eyelashes, "My name is Selena Kyle, and I believe that I'm on the guest list as a club member." She said in a low pitched breathy voice.

"Right, absolutely Ms. Kyle." The bouncer stated, talking directly to Selena's chest rather than her face while he looked over the list in his hands before quickly unclipping the velvet rope and letting her enter the club.

Selena smirked, as she could see a little bit of drool leak from the corner of the man's mouth before he blushed and wiped his face and looked away at being caught.

Selena chuckled deeply, as she saw several of the large male bouncers puff up their chests as she walked by, each of the guards subconsciously trying to make themselves look more impressive as she strutted by.

Selena walked through the entrance hall and into the club and looked around to see if she recognized anybody. She had come to the Iceberg Lounge for information, as this was the place to see, be seen and to gather information on what goods were ripe for the plucking in Gotham City.

'Just because I have to lay low for a bit doesn't mean I can't keep busy with a few jobs.' Selena thought to herself as she saw the receptionist move towards her to lead Selena to a table. 'Besides, a girl has to keep herself busy, and The Penguin always has the information on the latest schemes and loot in the city.' Selena finished thinking as she followed the receptionist to a table, noting with a smirk as three fourths of the men in the room seemed to follow Selena's progress with their heads; the other quarter of the men were probably either gay or eunuchs.

Sitting down with a nod of thanks to the receptionist, Selena waited. This was how the game was played at Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot's Iceberg Lounge. Oswald was a criminal mastermind that harkened from old money but had been all but abandoned by his family due to the man's short stature, balding head, round figure and beak like nose. Those features coupled with the criminal's propensity to love all things birds, and that he dressed in tuxedos, had led to the man being coupled with the moniker of "The Penguin." The Iceberg Lounge was Penguin's primary front company and though the front of the nightclub looked like a respectable facility the truth was something else. The back corridor's of the Iceberg Lounge and attached warehouse were used for Penguin's weapon and drug smuggling operations while money and information were laundered through the casino and restaurant parts of the Lounge. Information was why Selena had come to the Iceberg Lounge that night, and if things went like they had in the past then the waiter would come bearing a menu. When the waiter was asked about the club's "member's only specials for the evening," a different type of menu would be procured for Catwoman's perusal and the prices and types of information for sale would be listed for her dining delight.

That's how things were supposed to run.

However that isn't how things proceeded.

Selena felt a man move up from behind her, but she assumed that it was the waiter right up until she noticed the large bouncer move into her peripheral vision and grasp her left elbow; his other hand clearly already grasping the handle of his machine-pistol hidden by the breast of the man's suit coat.

"The boss thinks it's pretty gutsy of a cat to waltz into the bird's nest and think there won't be any repercussions, especially when said pussy cat matches the description of the thief that has a twenty million bounty on her head." The bouncer stated in a low pitched growl that only Selena could hear.

Selena's eyes quickly darted from side to side, realizing that there were at least seven large guards surrounding her, including the bouncer that already had a firm grasp on her arm. Each of the men had a hand in their suit jackets clearly ready to shoot her if she didn't comply as the bouncer pulled her out of the chair and away from the table.

Selena was worried. She understood that there was no honor among thieves, but the Penguin was playing a dangerous game by backstabbing a well known villain right in the middle of his own club. Sure, not many people knew that Selena Kyle and Catwoman were one and the same, but the big name criminals in Gotham sure knew. Still, the current number of guards around Selena was too many for her to fight in the open expanse of the club and the chances of her or the other patrons getting shot was pretty high if she were to immediately resist.

Selena glared at the guard as she allowed him to pull her across the dance floor and towards a door to the rear of the restaurant's ground floor.

"Your boss has a lot of nerve stabbing a Member in the back like this. The others are going to hear about this." Selena hissed in anger under her breath while stressing the word member; referring to how the other major criminals of Gotham City would react to the news of the Penguin's actions.

The bouncer replied by gripping her arm painfully tight in his meaty fist, "Shut up cat, the other members of the club would do the same thing for the type of money on your head."

Selena hissed in pain at the man's grip on her arm as the bouncer pulled her through the doorway guarded by two men and then into the back corridors of the club.

Selena's eyes darted left and right, and she realized that the tighter confines of the hallway were her best chance for making her escape. There were two ways she could play this: the gorgeous damsel in distress who faints and drags the guard to the ground routine, or she could show her claws and let these thugs know why she was one of the major players in Gotham's crime.

Selena faked a pull to her right, and when the guard resisted her effort and pulled her back, she moved with the motion and planted her elbow in the bouncer's sternum.

Selena ignored the guard's "uuumph!" as the air was driven out of his lungs and he started coughing, rather she focused on the other guards around her as she tilted back and planted her long stiletto heel into the crotch of the bouncer directly behind her. Selena showed off the agility and grace of a cat, as she arched herself backwards and hooked the neck of the guard behind her in a hug and twisted around so that as the man ducked from the blow to the crotch, she redirected his force so that he went flying over her shoulder into one of the guards that was leading the way into the depths of the club.

The men around her yelled as she dropped out of her throw into a set of splits and then popped up to rake another guard's eyes with her finger nails… only to catch the butt of a gun to the side of her cheek.

Selena's head bounced off the wall, and she saw stars for a second before several meaty fists grabbed her arms and legs and started bodily carrying her down the hall while leaving the one guard unconscious on the floor where she had thrown him.

"Let me down! I'll claw your eyes out!" Selena hissed and spat as she struggled while the remaining guards carried her spread-eagle deeper into the building.

"The boss warned us that you wouldn't come easy and that you were as cagey as a cat." The lead bouncer replied, before open palm slapping Selena across the face, the large gold ring on his hand busting her lip and causing blood to leak down her jaw.

"Now shut up and stop struggling." The lead thug finished with a growl.

Selena glared silently at the man, and licked her lip where the asshole had split it. She knew it was petulant, but she stopped struggling and instead hung like deadweight; making the job of carrying her that much more difficult.

The men around her grunted as Catwoman relaxed in their grip, and her muscular body did in fact make it harder to physically carry her down the hallway. However their progression towards Catwoman's meeting with Penguin would not be delayed.

They took a left turn down a "T" intersection of halls, and then several more left and right turns as they moved deeper into the building. The halls became smaller as they proceeded, and subsequently darker as these back hallways were no well lit.

Finally the half score of guards rounded a corner and the lead thug kicked open a doorway, after which the guards carried Catwoman into what was shown to be a large multi-leveled warehouse that was only sparsely lit here and there. Large sections of cargo shipping containers were interspersed with wooden crates with markings from South American countries, metal boxes with military delineations, and metal and plastic drums of unknown contents. Above the crate strewn floor were catwalks where the occasional armed guard patrolled and looked down into the dark shadows that covered the warehouse floor.

In the middle of this warehouse filled with shelves and creates was squared off open area, it was about twenty feet on each side with a couple paths disappearing between large crates. However it was the middle of the area that drew Selena's attention, as a large metal chair had been bolted to the floor with one large light on the roof of the warehouse illuminating the chair and the area around it; even illuminating the red stains on the concrete floor under the chair and the shackles attached to the arms and legs of said metal chair.

"Waa, Put her in the chair boys, and make sure to lock her down tight, especially those legs of hers. Can't let the cat get her claws into this bird. Waaa" A seedy male voice stated, and the short balding figure of the Penguin waddled into the light from one of the dark alleys that split between the large shipping crates making up the area around the chair.

"Penguin! Damn you! Why when I get my hands on you then you'll learn why birds are a cat's choice prey!" Selena cursed as she started to struggle again, only for the men to force her into the chair and latch handcuffs to her wrists and ankles, effectively pinning her down in the metal interrogation chair.

In typical Penguin fashion, Cobblepot was sporting a black tuxedo coat and trousers with a velvet cummerbund and gold cufflinks. It was almost as if the man had fully embraced the image of a penguin, as the man waddled back and forth on his stunted legs like an actual penguin, a sharp pointed umbrella in his right hand clicking on the concrete and a long filter-stemmed cigarette dangling from his smirking lips under his beak like nose. To top of the ensemble, Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot even had an almost humorously tall top-hat sitting on his balding brow and the remainder of the man's greased back hair.

The caricature that Penguin portrayed could have been humorous on the pages of a comic book, but in real life with the shadows of the top hat covering his face and only showing the gleam of his eyes and sharp white teeth, well it was frightening.

Selena gulped subconsciously before again stilling her features and then glaring at Penguin.

"I'm going to gut you when I get out of," Catwoman started to threaten again only to get cut off as Penguin bashed her upside the head with the weighted handle of his umbrella.

Selena's head shot to the side and she again saw stars. Blinking furiously to try and clear the double vision, she started to realize that she was in serious trouble as The Penguin and the guards standing around her were all a blur.

"Waa, you're not going to be hurting anybody ever again Catwoman. You're not getting out of here alive, and even if you're not the thief with the twenty million dollar bounty on your head, I'll still enjoy gutting you like a fish." Penguin said through a snarl of his teeth as he turned his umbrella around so that the point dug into the bare skin that was showing between Selena's breasts. Then with a snarl and a gleam in his eyes, he started to push the point forward.

"No!" Selena cried, shaking her head vigorously and straining helplessly against her restraints as the point of Penguin's umbrella broke skin and she started to bleed.

"Waa ha ha ha ha, nobody is going to save you Catwoman!" Cobblepot tipped his head back and laughed deeply, only to look up and see a body plummeting right for him.

"WAAA!" Penguin yelled, right before the dead guard from the catwalk above crushed The Penguin to the ground.

"There is a shortage of perfect breasts in the world, it would be a shame for you to ruin hers. WA HA HA HA HA HA, I always wanted to say that." A voice stated from the darkness before laughing darkly, sounding a bit like a laughing hyena.

The guards blinked, but then suddenly what sounded like giant bees hummed out of the darkness of the warehouse only for blades to appear in the chests and throats of guards throughout the warehouse.

"Bzzzzz Thunk!" "AAAAAAAH" Another guard screamed and stumbled off the catwalk above to go plummeting to the ground, a black dagger buried in his eye and into his brain.

"Where is he-URK!" A guard standing on top of a shipping crate received a blade to the throat.

"BZZZZZZ Thunk! Bzzzzzz Thwack!" Two more guards standing around the lit clearing in the warehouse died while a third one yelled "LOOK OUT!" and pointed at a particularly dark shadow only to have a dagger fly straight through the air and bury itself between his eyes before any of the other guards could see what the man had been point towards.

The Penguin had probably started out with over fifty guards and bouncers in his warehouse, but they were quickly dying as the blades flew so fast that they seemed to buzz and hum as they split the air.

Guards turned frantically trying find what was killing them, and the stress of the situation had them opening fire on the shadows around them with their machine guns and assault rifles.

But they had little luck, after all, you can't shoot what you can't see and The Penguin's guards and hired thugs continued to drop from the catwalks like some sort of macabre rain.

Penguin struggled to pull himself out from under the dead weight of the guard that had fallen on him while he frantically looked around. Cobblepot was used to being attacked from out of the shadows by Batman, but Batman didn't kill. This was somebody else, and his keen villainous mind figured that they had to be trying to steal away Catwoman; the little hint about not wasting Catwoman's breasts had been a good clue.

"Kill the Cat!" Penguin shouted to his remaining guards as he finished pulling himself out from under the dead body.

"BZZZzz ZAP!" A blade buzzed through the air end over end to destroy the light over the square in the middle of the warehouse, plunging Penguin and his remaining four thugs into darkness. Still, the thugs wheeled around and pointed their guns towards the chair securing Catwoman to the floor and opened fire.

The muzzle blasts of their high powered assault rifles filled the dark square with flashes of light like some sort of weird orangish-red strobe light as the four thugs pulled their triggers and held them down until the guns clicked empty from their extended clips.

"Did we get her boss?" A thug questioned and he squinted into the darkness as the warehouse went quiet.

"Waa, one second." Penguin stated before he twisted the handle of his umbrella and said umbrella opened before suddenly Penguin was bathed in light as the electronics imbedded in the umbrella pole lit up like a lantern to bathe his surroundings in white light.

Penguin and his thugs blinked as the light blinded them for a second, but when their eyes cleared they noticed they had a problem.

The formerly bolted down interrogation chair was gone, and with it Catwoman.

One second Selena was seeing all of her proverbial nine lives flashing before her eyes, and the next moment Penguin was being crushed by a falling dead body and the thugs around her were dropping like flies.

Through her blurred vision, Selena saw black blurs zing through the air and the guards frantically looking every which way as the black blurs buried themselves into the heads and chests of her captor. Everything was confusing, the repeated blows to her head had no doubt given her a concision, caused by having her head first smacked with the butt of a gun and then the handle of Penguin's umbrella.

Through Catwoman's muffled thoughts she first thought that Batman had come to rescue her, but then the glassy eyed dead stare of a guard on the ground caught her attention and a chill went down her spine; Batman never killed and he definitely didn't make jokes about her breasts.

'The League of Assassins! They've found me!' Selena thought to herself, and frantically struggled to free herself from the handcuffs that kept her chained to the metal chair. She looked down at her hands and fruitlessly yanked on the handcuffs holding her in the chair, but all she got was cuts and bruises on her wrists as the handcuffs refused to budge.

Catwoman heard Cobblepot yell "Kill the Cat," and she looked up hear a shattering sound above her as the light above her was destroyed and she was plunged into darkness; only the shadowy outlines of figures around her could be seen due to the remaining lights still glowing in the other parts of the warehouse.

Just as suddenly a large black figure materialized in front of her, and Selena closed her eyes as she knew this was the end.

However rather a blade in the heart or a bullet in the head, Catwoman's eyes sprang open as she suddenly felt her chair being wrenched from the floor, then suddenly she felt that she flying through the air up and out of the center of the warehouse and then back into the shadows of the warehouse floor as the sound of assault rifles firing on automatic drowned out the sounds of escape.

Catwoman blinked and then looked up at the featureless dark figure that had rescued her from certain death, only for a human face to appear before her as the shadows seemed to bubble and flow down the man's head. Selena blinked again, she knew this man!

"Hey Pretty Kitty, I see that the puddy tat is getting into trouble once again." Xander said with a smirk and a twinkle in his eyes as he carefully set Catwoman and her chair down on the ground, the sound of automatic machinegun fire in the near distance protecting them from being heard.

"Xander…" Selena whispered, not believing her eyes as Xander bent down and commanded a bit of his armor's nano-clanks to seemingly drain off of his finger and into the locks on the handcuffs on her ankles; said handcuffs quickly popped open.

"The one and only, and I'm just glad I got to you in time." Xander stated as he finished removing the handcuffs from her wrists, only to find himself in a passionate lip lock as Catwoman jumped out of the chair and wrapped herself around him.

"Murrrrph! Mmmmmm…" Xander's startled reply was cut off by Selena's lips and questing tongue, causing his brain to hiccup for a second before he closed his eyes and enjoyed the kiss for a few moments.

A feminine "Cough, Cough, ahem," sounded behind Xander, causing both Xander and Selena's eyes to shoot open from where they had instinctively closed due to the passion of the kiss. Both Xander and Catwoman sprang apart and swung around, only to see the solid black armored form of Cassandra appear out of chameleon mode. Cassy's helmet bubbled and flowed until it shifted to show her smiling face.

"Do you really think this is the right place to be sucking face Xander?" Cassy questioned with a smirk and an amused twinkle in her eyes.

Xander blushed and rubbed the back of his neck, "Uh, well, it just um, kind of happened." He explained lamely.

Catwoman took a look at Xander, and then at the intruder that had stopped her reunion with Xander. Selena thought, not only did this girl interrupt Xander's thank you for saving Selena's life, but the girl was wearing armor that matched Xander's.

Turning to Xander with a glare and hands on her hips, Selena questioned, "Who is she Xander? And if you tell me that she's your girlfriend or something similar I will not be amused." Selena threatened, and Xander paled for a moment.

Xander cleared his throat and gestured towards Cassy, "Uh, Selena, this is my adopted sister Cassandra Kalderash. Cassy, this is Selena Kyle, aka Catwoman." By the time he'd finished his introduction he was again smiling, though both girls looked each other over in a not quiet friendly manner.

Selena looked Cassy up and down, and licked her lips, a little part of her was surprised that somehow her lip had stopped bleeding. Still Selena focused back to Xander and with a raised eyebrow and asked, "Kalderash? I thought your name was Harris?"

Xander looked at Cassy, then back to Selena and was about to answer, but the sudden silence as the machineguns stopped firing interrupted his statement before he could being a long drawn out explanation.

"Might I suggest we get out of here before they come hunting for us or before you have to kill anybody else Xander? You know Rama Kushna wouldn't be happy with you today." Cassy said with a frown on her face and her hands on her hips as she was disappointed in her brother's rampant blood shedding.

Xander looked at Cassy, and entered into a bit of an internal debate, 'Ok guys, this is our first supervillain we are having to deal with face to face. Let him live, or kill him and be done with it? My initial vote is to kill him and be done with it.' Xander queried his internal psyche and the voices that lived within his mind.

'Give him the Jam! Only one man is brave enough to give the Penguin the Raspberry!' Xander's inner voice of insanity stated, walking into the conference room in Xander's mind wearing a Darth Vader costume, only the helmet was about twenty times too large for the rest of the costume.

The voice of reason just shook his head, 'Anybody besides insanity have any thoughts? I see reason for both keeping The Penguin alive, and for killing him. Rama Kushna warned us about rampantly killing all that oppose us, but he still messed with one of our girls. Then again The Penguin is a minor criminal in some ways, and though he does provide a lot of guns and drugs to the streets of Gotham he is by no means the sociopathic killer that The Joker is. I abstain from voting in this case.' Reason finished explaining in Xander's mind before sitting down and opening a book on how to make friends and influence people.

'Better then the Joker? That's not saying much. My vote is that we slice him up and let somebody else pick up the pieces. The only good enemy is a dead one, and nobody messes with the pack.' The Primal stated before taking a puff on his ever present cigar and then kicking his feet up on the conference table in Xander's mind.

Xander's newest voice of world domination, looking like a dark lord of the sith, looked around at the other gathered voices and stated, 'Must you ask? I find your lack of decision, disturbing.'

'Thud!' The conference table in Xander's mind shuddered as the voice of Xander's libido pounded his fists on the table and immediately drew all of the attention towards him. Xander's mental approximation of his libido was read in the face, and panting in anger. Never had the other voices, or Xander, seen libido so angry before.

'He… Tried…To…Kill…My… Pussy!' The little voice of Xander's libido yelled in anger, only to blink and go pale when the little voice realized what he had said out loud.

All of the other voices stared at the voice of libido, stunned.

'Um, I meant to say he tried to kill our pussycat, Catwoman, Selena, whatever. My vote is death and I'm going to shut up now.' The little voice of Xander's libido finished with a nod and then quickly and quietly sat down and hid his face behind a nudey magazine.

The other voices blinked and looked at each other, and then finally the only voice that was still sitting at the table but hadn't said anything, the voice of Xander's Heterodyne presence spoke.

Xander's Heterodyne voice merely shrugged, 'I'm with libido, better dead or used for unspeakable scientific experiments. I really don't like anybody who tries to kill women, and I think they should always be killed if we can get away with it. I definitely say we ignore the whole Rama Kushna thing on this one, nobody messes with our girls and lives.' The Heterodyne Xander stated with a feral smile that would have been familiar to the enemies of the Heterodynes in the Girl Genius Universe.

And with that, the internal debate was over.

Xander blinked and realized that not even a second had passed since Cassy asked the question. The decision to kill The Penguin was made, and that plus the Heterodyne's mention about scientific purposes gave Xander the idea of performing a trial run with one of his previously failed science experiments.

An evil grin slowly spread across Xander's face, and a gleam came from his eyes.

Selena had never seen this side of Xander before, so she took a step away from him a bit frightened at the insane and blatantly evil look on Xander's face.

Meanwhile Cassy merely face palmed herself and stated, "Oh dear, this isn't going to be good."

"Jarvis, open a portal and send me the Turkey Cooker 2.0!" Xander cackled quietly to himself but loud enough that the girls next to him overheard his statement. Just like that a black portal opened up and a four foot tall by two foot wide silver structure with a long flat face plate and weighted base was deposited in front of Xander where it rocked back and forth until it settled in an upright and straight position.

The "Turkey Cooker 2.0" looked like some weird type of metal sign post, where two legs held up a thick flat sign or billboard, and the base of the sign post was rounded and obviously weighted to keep the sign post standing upright no matter how the science experiment initially landed.

Xander turned to Selena and put out her hand for him to take, his manic smile still painted on his face, "Do you trust me?" He questioned.

"Uh… Yes?" Selena said, her answer sounding more like a question then a steady answer, but she took Xander's offered hand in her own even though he was really scaring her at the moment.

"Excellent!" Xander cackled, then with one hand he reached down and pressed a red button on the back of the Turkey Cooker 2.0 before giving it a single handed toss into the air and back towards The Penguin and his men.

At the same time that Xander threw the Turkey Cooker 2.0 into the air, He pulled Selena closer to him and then Xander and Selena disappeared in a black portal.

"Oh dear, he's done it again." Cassy griped and shook her head at her brother's antics before she too disappeared in a black portal.

"Waa, Where did she go?" Penguin shouted as he spun around in a circle, ignoring the dead bodies of his former thugs while frantically looking for the person who attacked them and killed his men.

"Um, I don't know boss." One of the thugs next to The Penguin stated.

The Penguin wheeled on his guard and then kicked the man in the kneecap, "Shut up you idiot! That was a rhetorical question!" Cobblepot cursed at his minion, only to be distracted as a loud metallic "CLANG!" sounded behind him.

The Penguin and his remaining thugs spun around to see a metal object wobble back and forth like some sort of weird punching bag, but slowly but surely the device centered and then locked itself to the floor so that The Penguin could read the words embossed on the front of the objects flat sign plate.

The glow from The Penguin's umbrella illuminated the words, and Penguin's eyes went large as he read out loud.

"Front Towards Bird." The Penguin read, and then the Turkey Cooker 2.0, Xander's second attempt at cooking poultry with high explosives, blew up in The Penguin's face; right in the middle of a warehouse filled with smuggled military hardware.

Xander, Cassy and Selena appeared to step out of dark portals in the air and into the mouth of the dark alley across the street from The Penguin's Iceberg Lounge. The street in front of the Iceberg Lounge was full of screaming patrons of the club as they exited as quickly as they could while firefighters and police officers helped the last remaining people clear the street and the immediate area around the burning club. From the second story windows thick clouds of smoke billowed out of the building and flames could be seen licking at the glass before the windows shattered from the heat and released the smoke into the street.

Selena Kyle blinked at the sudden change of scenery, and she noticed that in the hustle and bustle nobody had noticed the three people appear on the other side of the street as everybody was focusing on the situation at the club. Then she turned to look at Xander and saw Xander's smile falter as she looked up at him with more than a bit of fear in her eyes.

Xander frowned and looked down and then back up at Selena as his armor bubbled and again melted upwards to cover his face. "I'm sorry Selena; I didn't mean to scare you. I only meant to help and make sure you were safe." Xander stated, realizing that his manic laughter and grin had scared his pretty kitty.

Selena blinked as Xander let go of her hand and stepped away from her. Her thoughts were understandably scrambled, what with a near death experience, a passionate "reunion" and then seeing the man she lusted after and had shared a passionate night with appear to be manic psychotic killer. The action and adventure of the night had happened so quickly that she didn't know what to think at the moment, and as often happens in circumstances like this, miscommunications are bound to happen.

Selena frowned, "Well yes but, No, but Xander, that's not-" She started to say, only to flinch and duck along with everybody on the street as a large explosive "KABOOOOM!" lifted the roof off of the building across the street from her. The roof immediately crashed back down on the former Iceberg Lounge followed by the walls of the club and the attached warehouse collapsing in on themselves in a burning inferno. It appeared that all of the club's patrons had gotten out safely, but still the sheer power of the explosion sent the people on the streets running for cover as bits of debris pelted down on the people standing outside the former Iceberg Lounge.

Selena faced the burning inferno that was the former headquarters of The Penguin and blinked again. She stared stunned in awe at the destruction that had happened, a part of her realizing that Xander was the cause of this and had only done so to protect her. The other part of her was still a bit startled at the rampant bloodshed, as the Gotham norm was that the heroes saved the day but didn't kill anybody. She just wasn't sure what was going on.

"Maybe that one night was all it was supposed to be," Xander said mournfully. "But if do you want to see me again, then follow the directions on this invitation and perhaps we can talk again some other time." The disappointment and melancholy was clear in Xander's voice as it echoed out of his armor and Selena swung her head around to see Cassy disappear in a black portal just as Xander set an envelope down on the lid of a trashcan before stepping back as a portal appeared behind him also.

"No! Wait Xander." Selena stated quickly and raised a hand to stop him, her eyes were wide open in shock as she realized her reaction had hurt him, the man that had just saved her life.

Unfortunately it was too late as the black portal snapped closed around him, leaving Selena alone in the mouth of the alley.

Selena's hand slowly dropped and a truly sad look spread across her face as she realized that she had just flubbed the situation. Slowly she walked towards the envelope and picked it up before heading down the street to where she could hail a cab ride home. She realized she had a lot to think about.

Behind Selena the street was a tumultuous chaos of people running around, a chaos that matched Selena's emotions at that moment.

Meanwhile at Wayne Manor, in the master suite of one Bruce Wayne, Batman startled awake and leapt to his feet only to realize that he was back in his home.

Glaring around him at the empty room, Batman realized that he was alive, unharmed and still in his bat-gear.

Scowling, Batman and triggered his radio system, "Alfred, I'm home."

"Really Sir? I didn't hear your car sir… oh wait, it's just been returned to us via a red portal of some sort." Alfred announced back in the control system.

Batman startled and broke into a run out of his room, heading towards the Batcave beneath the manor as quickly as he could.

"Don't touch anything Alfred, it might be a trap." Batman commanded as he jumped over the second story balcony of his main atrium and then rolled as he landed, coming up in a sprint that would take him towards the library and the secret entrance to the Batcave.

"Is there anybody in the vehicle?" Batman spoke into his communicator as the clock that protected the entrance slid aside and Batman bolted down the stairs towards the cave.

"No master Bruce, but it appears that there is an envelope attached to the window with a bit of tape, It appears to be safe Sir." Alfred announced into the radio just as Batman entered the cave.

"No! Don't touch it…" Batman stated as he leapt off of the upper landing and triggered his cape so that he rapidly glided towards where he saw Alfred standing next to the Batmobile with an envelope in hand.

Alfred heard the rustling of the wind on Batman's cape as Bruce arrived and turned to address the master of the house.

"As I said Sir, it appears to be safe." Alfred announced, showing that the envelope had script written on the outside of it that said, "No Worries, the Envelope is Safe."

Bruce growled and cursed, "That bastard Leviathan is playing with me again."

With that Batman ripped the envelope out of Alfred's hands and opened it to read a letter that was attached to a single invitation ticket.

"Dear Batman or Bruce Wayne (whichever you is the real you),

This letter is to invite you to attend the opening Gala for the Empire of the Leviathan's new Embassy to the United States, which as you already know is located in Gotham city. We hope that you enjoy your next visit more than your first one and invite you to bring a date as well as any Justice League members you would like. Please note that this will probably be the only time that the Justice League is allowed into the inner portions of the Embassy, so we know you won't be able to pass up the possibility of gathering information. We welcome your attempts as they will no doubt be amusing. Please note that we are not your enemy, however we refuse to be intimidated by a billionaire playboy who has a bat fetish. We expect you to be on your best behavior if you choose to attend, and we also wanted to officially notify you that the Leviathan is looking for domestic companies within the United States to help in the proliferation of our medical and philanthropic technology to the people of your country. Wayne Enterprises is but one of several large companies who will be invited to the Gala, and we expect the head of each company to appear if they wish to compete for this contract.

Please RSVP with Miss Von Pinn at Castle Wulfenbach, I believe you have already met and had an electrifying conversation.

Sincerely,

The Crimson Lady,

Ambassador to the United States of America from the Empire of the Leviathan"

Batman stared down at the letter he had read, and then growled as he reviewed the attached invitation ticket.

With a swirl and billow of his cape, Batman spun on his heel while thrusting the letter and invitation into Alfred's hands. Batman marched towards the teleporter system that would send him back to the Watchtower.

"Alfred, lay out my tuxedo. I have a party to attend." Batman growled, before cursing the Leviathan under his breath.

Unflappable as always and with a steady blank expression on his face, Alfred nodded towards Bruce's back, "Very well Sir." Alfred replied, only to be drowned out as the "ZAP!" of the teleporter whisked Batman way to the Justice League's Watchtower.

A shifty thin man with nondescript brown hair, brown eyes and a face that wouldn't draw attention moved steadily through the crowd of panicking patrons in the street in front of the former Iceberg Lounge. The man casually stepped around a stretcher rushing to help patients overcome by the smoke from the club, and the man continued his seemingly casual walk down the street. His plain grey suit assured that no one paid him any special attention, and in fact the only thing to possibly draw attention to the man would be that he was the only person on that street that was moving as if he was out for a casual stroll in the park.

Ducking under the police tape and pushing his way into the crowd of gawkers and reporters watching the demise of the Iceberg Lounge, the man made his way to the back of the crowd and out into the empty street where he pulled out a cell phone.

Pressing a speed dial number he heard an answering machine click on at the other end of the call, "Thank you for calling Asian Imports International, we are currently closed, our normal business hours are-" The answering machine stated.

"Alexander Harris has been spotted in Gotham City." The man spoke into his cell phone, speaking over the sound of the recording. "Mr. Harris just destroyed the front company of the criminal known as The Penguin, I believe it most likely that The Penguin is dead. Please forward as a priority to the Demon Head." The man announced.

A feminine voice interrupted the message on the other end, "Acknowledged, may the shadows guide you brother."

"All hail the Demon's Head." The man replied, now speaking in Arabic.

"All hail Ra's Al Ghul." The woman's voice replied.

The man pressed the end call button, flipped the cell phone over, tore the back off and threw the back of the phone to the side before pulling out the battery and the sim card which he crushed in his hand. Dropping the phone and destroyed battery and sim card in a trashcan on the side of the street, the man didn't break stride until he reached the corner and flagged a taxi cab.

Stepping into the yellow taxi cab, the indistinct man disappeared amongst the other thousands of yellow taxi cabs that drove Gotham City at night.

Meanwhile in a palace situated above the Nile River in Egypt, an ageless man received the message and laughed in success. Not only had he finally located Alexander Harris, but the current situation would present the perfect opportunity to test both unknowing suitors for his daughter's hand.

Ra's al Ghul stopped laughing and leaned across his large desk to hit the pager button on his communications system.

"Talia." Ra's stated into the phone and waited a brief moment for a reply.

"Yes my Father?" Came the dutiful reply of Talia over the speaker on Ra's desk.

"Have the servants pack your things daughter, you are going to Gotham City. It appears Mr. Harris has arrived in The Detective's city. You will be key in testing them." Ra's al Ghul commanded.

"Yes father, it will be as you command." Talia answered immediately, for all would serve the Demon Head's purposes, even his daughter.

AN: There you go, an even 40 chapters published for this story; though it took me a while to get this one out. Hope it was worth the wait as this chapter was packed with lots of different plot streams slowly twining back together after having been weaved separately for so long. Eventually, all will serve the purposes of The Leviathan. Bwa HA HA HA HA HA HA! Um, sorry about that, but it's good to be able to let those out again; I missed writing.

So thoughts? Anybody want to take a guess on what happens next? Ready for the party of the century? Please let me know your thoughts, as I've received some great ideas from the previous reviews and messages. I really appreciate it, and they always help to keep the muse flowing. Cheers!