Chapter 46: That Was the End Of....

Wayne Manor had an interior designer that stressed the excessive and the extravagant. One could go no further than the bedroom to get this point. The master Bedroom in Wayne Manor was extremely large, with far more room than anyone would need. But one could argue that would give off the allure of something extravagant and old fashioned. The antique furniture that was all over the room would lend credence to that fact.

Bruce Wayne had seen better days. His body was sore, battered, and broken, with the man feeling like he went through a major battle. Which wasn't that far away from the truth to really be honest. His memories were a patchwork of what happened and there was still a ringing sensation in his head. The taunting words of Deacon Blackfire that attacked his mind and brainwashed him faded for the most part.

There would still be echoing for some time that much was for sure. He stretched, feeling the soreness in his body. He could not really hold his head up for long. A little effort and his head slumped back onto the pillows.

Through his scrambled thought process, he mused that it almost felt like someone took a jackhammer to his skull.

The playboy millionaire briefly checked out his surroundings, but at the same time feigned sleep. He was not ready to face anyone, especially this anyone quite yet.

Of course, as Bruce well knew, the feigning sleep trick might not work with this individual very well. He was not easily gullible as some.

The person sitting there just hummed casually, but lowly enough not to be obnoxious. Bruce sneaked a look out of the corner of his eye, and he could see him raise an eyebrow.

Casually, Harry picked up the book that he had on the bedside table and began to read, just waiting for Bruce to meet him on his own accord. He had a couple of hours to kill, so he could sit back and read, while waiting for him to come to on his own terms.

Given the ordeal that he went through, it was just as well.

Time ticked by, and sands passed through the hour glass. More of the sunlight flowed from the outside, but once again time kept ticking on by.

Finally, it seemed like a sufficient amount of time had passed, which seemed like an eternity, even though it was fifteen minutes, Bruce acted like he was going to stir to life, even though he had been back up. Granted, his jaw still hurt, no matter if it was healed.

"So, are you finally awake?"

Bruce gave a grumbling and prominent. "Yes."

"Excellent," Harry said with a smile as he waited for the occupant of the bedroom to stir himself completely back to life.

The man managed to adjust to the light, taking a look at his fellow crimefighter, and there was an obvious question that burned on the tip of his tongue.

"What happened to you?" Bruce asked as he could see a lot of bruising on Harry's face and his right arm. And he doubted that it was the end to the injuries that he suffered. A rather pained grimace filled the emerald-eyed man's face.

"Well, an eight foot tall swamp zombie that was born on a Monday happened," he replied, as he winced. Grundy really pounded him. Bruce raised his eyebrow and Harry could tell that this was news to him. "The official story though is that I was in a motorcycle accident, some jackass trucker had too much to drink apparently."

Bruce looked stoic and nodded at him. "I never came face to face with Grundy, but I should have known that he had heavy muscle to do his bidding and to stir up Zucco and Skeevers."

There was this long moment of silence between the two of them and Harry decided to bring up the eight hundred pound elephant in the room.

"So how much do you remember?" he asked and this was a question that caused Bruce to give him a certain glare of death. Not really phased by this glare as some might be, Harry pressed on. "It must be difficult…"

"I remember enough to know that I was sloppy," Bruce said and there was a grumbling tone to his voice as he recalled what happened or flashes of what happened rather.

Bruce made his way to his feet, he was sore, but able to move. He shook his head.

"You've been sleeping for a long time," Harry informed him. "Last couple of days….."

"That long?" Bruce asked, as he quickened the pace, and he could see that Harry wasn't up to picking up the load due to the injuries that he had.

"Dinah's doing a wonderful job in keeping on an eye on Gotham City, and let's be fair, she has considerable help," Harry said and there was no more than needed to be said other than that. Bruce got the message loud and clear. "Let's just say that Nightwing's not completely out of commission."

Whether or not Bruce got the implied meaning of this statement, he didn't say, Harry didn't ask, and there was really no chance to verify anything that may or may not have been said.

"Did Black Canary see his body?" he asked sharply.

"No," Harry replied curtly.

"Well, I don't need to tell you what that may mean," Bruce replied stiffly and Harry smiled.

"No, I don't need a flashing cue card, I know perfectly what it means," Harry said, he wished that it didn't mean that, but since it did, he would have to just go with it. "You should take a shower and get dressed, we have a meeting at Wayne Enterprises in an hour, and they're going to want some answers about where the hell you've been."

"I'd figured as much."

"Looks like you woke up just in time, sir," Alfred said, joining the conversation about halfway through, even though there was a hint that he been lingering in the hallway for some time.

"Yes," Bruce said, slipping off to take a shower, which would hopefully bring him back to life, at least that was his intention.

It would be a long time before he recovered from this ordeal.

"The body heals sooner than the mind," Harry muttered to Alfred and he nodded in response.

"Master Bruce's mind had been already not in the fit state due to his childhood traumas," Alfred said with a long sigh. As much as he loathed to admit it, there were some wounds that were too mortally deep to even contemplate healing. "Best keep an eye on him."

The smoldering wreckage of the church filled the Gotham City air and James Gordon, Sarah Essen, and Harvey Bullock were beneficiaries to the aftermath. The smoldered and burned bodies of five children were the first visual that they could see. By all indications they were dead even before the fire.

All of them were likely runaways or maybe kicked out by their parents, unwanted, abandoned, any number of things. They would be identified, maybe in the coming days. But given the state that they were in, it was unlikely.

If they had family out there, they would get closure, even though their closure would be the haunting knowledge that this madman used their children as tools.

"And there's the piece of shit right there," Bullock grumbled, pointing at the charred remains of Deacon Blackfire. "Always thought that he was a kook."

"Yes, well he was responsible for a lot of lives lost," Gordon said, remaining objective, but the deaths of children were always a bitter pill to swallow. He just hoped for their sake that they didn't suffer, but there was a sense of something foreboding there. So he was thinking about the worst, and the worst could be pretty bad.

"More than that, a lot of people believed his words, and even after death, I'm sure his message stuck with a lot of people," Essen remarked.

"People…. some people really need to open their eyes," Bullock grumbled, as he could see people going in to remove the body of Deacon Blackfire. The burned rubble buried Blackfire's body which they had sifted through for the past couple of days it seems like.

His body was being placed in a body bag, and Jim Corrigan and his forensic team made his way inside, allowing Bullock, Essen, and Gordon to back off and allow the man some room to do his work.

"Not much other than the charred remains of these children to go off on," Corrigan said as he surveyed the scene through narrowed eyes. "Best, I could tell, he was trying a complex ritual but it didn't work out as well as he thought that it would.

"That's for sure," Bullock said, the man was safely in the body bag but he still shivered. Even though he tried not to show it, he shivered.

"Some of his followers might still be in the Church, but their bodies were consumed," Corrigan continued.

"I want to know what he was trying to accomplish….. I mean….. obviously he wasn't all there mentally….."

"You mean he was fucking nuts, Essen," Bullock said to her, being blunt, but at the same time, rather accurate.

"Yes, very much," Sarah replied, but she waved off Bullock's crisp language. She was used to what the man said, and his own blunt way of saying things. It was oddly refreshing, but it could take some time to grow on him. "He tried to stir up a gang war, between the mob and the homeless and…. there was eye-witness accounts that described what was seen around the area at the time.

"Yes, Batman, do you think…"

"The Bat could have bit the dust if he was in here," Bullock said, he wasn't the biggest fan of that pointed ear rodent and his ninja friend to be honest. They made the GCPD look bad due to taking care of problems that they couldn't really address. Sure, they might have done some good, he'd admit that if they put a gun to his head, but someone really had to have some issues if they played dress up to fight crime.

"Maybe," Sarah said, but she was doubtful as the three made their way outside, past the Church and into Ghost Town.

The fire engines pulled into town and they were still putting out fires, which it looked like they would be doing for some time.

"Homeless are saying that Blackfire was the one that was responsible, he promised them shelter and a purpose," Gordon reported.

"Yeah, aren't there a bunch of ex-cons around this part of town?" the hard-boiled detective asked.

"Not all of them, but enough of them to be a concern, without going through the records, we don't know who is likely a suspect and who was just being misled," Gordon said to both Sarah and Bullock. "And as for the mob….."

"They don't have the slightest clue why they were here," Sarah replied grimly. "Or if they do, they're not saying a word to anyone."

"Not that they'd talk anyway and a lot of them are going to walk anyway," Bullock said, this wasn't said as a theory, just a matter of a fact.

Especially when they could claim the brainwashing just as easily as the homeless, and they would have an awful time proving it. No money or favors would even have to change hands this time, they would just really have to claim the brainwashing, and they would be good to good.

The smoke damage in the surrounding areas was obvious and there was debris that littered the streets. The downed bodies of more homeless, mobsters, and citizens were being packed up and hauled away. Some of them breathed their last breath a long time ago.

James Gordon looked around, as bad as the damage was around Ghost Town, things could have gotten much, much worse. At least the fires didn't spread into Gotham City, which would have been an even bigger problem.

"So, there's really not that much more we can do here," Sarah replied and Gordon nodded wistfully.

"Yeah, even Branden took a hell of a shot from the rioting, could you believe it?" Bullock told them. "He's going to be okay…. got a mild concussion, will get about a week vacation out of it. Paid, so he came off lucky."

Sarah frowned, she doubted very much that it was an accidental shot on him. Nothing that she could prove, but it was a curiosity to say the very least. There was something really interesting going on here and she was beginning to fit the pieces together, fragmented as they might have been.

The more questions they had, the more answers they didn't.

"I want to know why he did this," Gordon said gruffly.

Those were questions that were going to remain obviously unanswered, even though they would have their theories about it.

Nevertheless, it was a good thing that the fires didn't spread further than the area, outside of this particular area of Gotham City. A damn good thing actually, because had it done so, there would have been problems.

Not that the damage could be understated, and it did make the riots of this past Summer look like a cakewalk. It would be a long time before anyone forgot about this particular incident, that was for certain.

Titania knew that this conversation was coming and she hoped that they would hear her out before making any judgments with what happened. She led Harrison and Morgaine over to the gardens. Naturally, someone of her stature deserved the utmost respect.

Harrison noted that they had this out of this world type of quality to it and there was a spell that prevented him from seeing what was truly going on around him. He frowned, he didn't like to be lied to and he felt like he was being lied to.

Morgaine had not visited this area for quite some time but it had a majesty that grew on her. Garden related pun intended of course, as the exotic looking plants, made of bright purples, blues, and greens danced before their eyes.

Harrison noticed something else, he would have to say quite peculiar, but that might not have been the right word for it. But at the same time, that might have been the perfect word for it, at least what he was seeing.

"Why is it happening?"

"That's a question that I've expected you to ask."

"And it's a question that I expect you to answer rather soon."

"It's complicated."

"Then make it simpler."

There was a haze going on around Harrison as Morgaine and Titania went back and forth with each other. That was one thing that kind of gave Harrison a headache quite frankly, but not as much as trying to figure out what exactly was going on around here and what extent this illusion went towards.

Faerie World always gave off a weird aura; anyone who visited it would be able to tell you that. But the aura had been punched up from about an eight to a fifteen.

"Well, it's like this….. actually it's far more complicated than I thought…."

Harrison could feel something, the pull and he saw the illusion grow stronger the more he tried to force it. There was no question about it now. It was hiding something and he blocked out the bickering of Morgaine and Titania

"Why is it bleeding into the Mundane World? You were locked off, it shouldn't be….."

Once again, Harrison locked onto the barrier, gathering up his magic. It was much harder than he thought it would be or perhaps it was much harder than it really should be. He thought that this could potentially leave him sore and winded by the time it was all said and done.

The illusion shattered line a pane of glass and this got Morgaine's attention, followed by Titania's, and also any nearby servants.

The Faeries, they were withering away and angrily, Titania replied the illusion, but the damage had already been done.

"You shouldn't have done that," Titania said, wiping the mind of her servants to prevent the truth from being retained in their minds. "You dare do that…. you dare…"

"Oh, I dare prevent you from hiding the truth to us," Harrison said, standing up to face her and stare her right in the eye. He went up against a Basilisk, and other things, he wasn't about ready to back down from the likes of her. He respected her power, but he would be damned if he feared her.

Titania looked fit to tie and she practically snarled with anger.

"I back down from no one, not even the God of War, not dragons, not a Basilisk, not anyone," Harrison said and one could feel his power filling the air. It was an alarming and quite scary scene.

"Now see…."

"The truth," Morgaine said, placing a hand on Harrison's shoulder, but she looked at her aunt.

"You want the truth, do you?" Titania asked them and Harrison's next statement was just about as caustic as the last.

It would be a long time before he forgot what he saw, the majesty of Faerie World eliminated, them dying, decaying, suffering.

"They're slowing dying," she admitted, there was really no use beating around the bush now. Harrison and Morgaine looked upon her. "Sealing Faerie World off from the mundane world had serious ramifications even if they were more long term than anything else."

"I can see that," Harrison said to her stiffly.

"Something is expediting the process," she admitted to both of them. "I can't be certain what, no one who has been sent through has made it back, alive at least."

"Give us one moment," Morgaine told Titania and the Faerie Queen nodded, wondering what they were going to say. Her niece was being very secretive, but that was her nature.

'So what do you suspect that we should do?' Harrison asked, deciding that Morgaine knew best.

'Well, this situation is affecting the Mortal World, so it's a problem that we have to deal with,' Morgaine thought to him. 'If we don't do so now, then it would have problems for later.'

'So, then you expect we help her?' Harrison thought and Morgaine looked thoughtful. She was mulling something over in her mind.

'It might be an adequate idea to help her, yes,' Morgaine agreed, deciding to cut to the chase and she saw Titania's eyes on her. 'If nothing else, that means she owes us a favor and that will be beneficial.' 

Titania watched, she couldn't hear the conversation, but it did not take someone of high intelligence to figure out what they were having a conference about.

"We've decided to offer our help."

It was time for the meeting of Wayne Industries. Bruce Wayne was standing there, business as usual. Then there was Harry, he was still rather battered from the injuries that he sustained at the hands of Grundy, that he was passing off as a motorcycle accident. They would have to heal naturally for a little bit before his natural healing properties kicked in.

As long as he had to wear the watch, to prevent the overload of his CORE, injuries were going to be far worse than they would be normally. To be fair, someone like Grundy would not have been a picnic to have to deal with in any event.

Diana joined the two men, acting as Harry's role as bodyguard. She was keeping close to him, not allowing Harry at of her sight for a second.

'Most people would take it easy, send a proxy their way,' Karen thought, shaking her head. She admired Harry's passion in keeping his head up, but there were times where she questioned what he was doing.

'You should know that I'm not most people,' Harry told her firmly and that was obvious. The normal chatter in the bond link could be heard, but Harry decided to put his role in it on passive for now, because there was business to attend to.

When the Board of Directors at Wayne called an emergency meeting about such a serious subject, Harry knew that he would have to show up. He knew that since Kane was still on the board, he would stir up a lot of things. It was best to keep your potential foes as close as possible and that's what Harry did.

His knee buckled a tiny bit underneath him, the injuries were more prolific than he thought that they were. But he was dealing them.

The doors opened up and Harry put on his game face, walking next to them. Bruce followed him and Diana stuck closely to Harry's side. She knew that under most circumstances, Harry could handle himself, but the beating that he suffered at the hands of everyone's favorite eight foot tall swamp zombie was not most things.

Tamara stood waiting at the end of the hallway, giving Bruce the most courtesy of courtesy nod, then she looked at Harry, her mouth hanging open agape.

"What happened?" she asked, looking at him, a bit mortified by how he looked.

"I don't look that bad, do I?" Harry asked, trying to lighten the mood. "Did you hear what happened?"

"I've heard some things, but I'd better let you tell me," Tamara said, walking over so he can tell her in confidence if he wanted to.

"Motorcycle accident, it was quite nasty, I was lucky that I had quick reflexes, don't know what happened to the driver that knocked me off of the road," Harry said, flexing his fingers, which were still bruised from the battering they got.

"How did you walk away under your own power?" Tamara asked, astonished and awe struck.

Harry closed his eyes, he almost didn't to be honest. He was pretty sure that he came closer to being stomped into oblivion than even he would care to admit.

"Well, if I landed a bit differently, we wouldn't be having this conversation," Harry said, walking into the board room, and the sight that greeted him was fairly fascinating. "So why exactly are we having this meeting?"

"Well, it was because Mr. Wayne was missing," Tamara said to her and Harry smiled as he pointed at him. "Which the point is moot by but they still want to have a meeting about it. Both of you understand the protocols, don't you?"

"Yes, all too well," Harry said, he figured that this was going to be one of those days, but he didn't know why.

"Well, we better not keep them waiting," Bruce said, despite his voice being cheery, he looked to be a tiny bit annoyed by the process.

Of course they were set up just for a situation like this, but when he was found, perhaps the meeting should have been called.

"The story of your itinerary, it checks out," Tamara told Bruce in a businesslike voice. "But that being said, the Board is concerned."

"Of course, we should alleviate their concerns," Bruce said, but he took his strides and slipped inside the board room.

Bruce made his way inside and looked towards the Board. They were your usual collection of stuffed suits, all of them fixing their steely gaze upon him.

"Mr. Wayne, it's good to see you back," Lucius said in his usual inviting tone.

"I do apologize for being a no-show, an out of town trip caused me to be delayed," Bruce said and he looked at them. "A miscue with the flights caused me to get sent to Central City instead of Gotham on the return trip home."

Proof that he was where he said he was in front of them. They already knew this, but hearing him verify it put them at ease, well for the most part at least.

"It's good to verify this, Mr. Wayne," Phillip Kane said, but he was not done. "We were concerned that we would have to vote about how that we would run the company going forward if something had happened to you."

'I bet you were just hoping that Wayne would be out of the picture,' Faora thought.

'His own nephew, you think?' Zatanna asked.

'Business trumps personal for some people,' Lily chimed in wisely.

"However, the fact that your disappearance could have meant that you met with foul play gives us a real concern," Phillip said, and there were a few nods. They agreed with this. "Therefore, I'd highly recommend that a bodyguard join you at all times to ensure no more difficulties happen."

Bruce couldn't say anything without revealing a lot. All he could do was nod.

'Sounds to me like they're looking for a minder for him,' Karen thought.

'Well, obviously, I'm sure that they wanted to do this for a long time,' Jaime thought chiming in. 'It's just the perfect excuse now to do it.'

It was put to a vote, and Harry had a pretty good idea the winds were blowing this way.

It was best to allow them to earn this small victory so they could use it to fight even grander battles later. Harry knew it, and Bruce knew it as well. There would be other battles in the future where they could win as well.

"That being settled, I think that I have a perfect man in mind for the job," Phillip said and Bruce smiled, even though it appeared forced and extremely fake.

"I'm sure you know best."

"Still think that you're pretty lucky."

Penny said this as she looked over him. There were some injuries that could not be helped, could not be healed with magic. Plus the Inhibitor watch that he wore that would help heal his CORE, caused any healing magic not to jive well with his body. And taking it off was completely out of the question.

"Really lucky, really?" Harry asked, Penny dressed his wounds carefully. Pamela hung by himself, hanging onto him. Just enough where she was obviously not letting go any time soon, but also not too much where Penny can still tend to his wounds. She did give her enough room to do that.

"Well, none of that should scar," Penny said, shaking her head. That was a dangerous fight. "And…. you almost healed from the last one."

"Yes, I know, it set me back, although I was expecting a bunch of gun toting mobsters and insane homeless people," Harry replied to her.

'Well, you might have expected Grundy if someone remembered her duty and told you,' Faora thought.

'Yeah, well, I'll remember that next time,' Hermione said, her voice very flat and she was in hot water with the rest of the Alphas with her little faux pus, so she was toeing the line.

Harry didn't say anything one way or another, which really made her worried.

"Cleaning these very carefully, Grundy is a zombie, raised from the swamp….Morgana only knows what's down there," Penny whispered, but there didn't seem to be any infection. Thank god for some favors at least.

"Yeah, thanks, noted," Harry whispered with a smile.

"So, are you going to be okay?" Pamela asked him.

"I've had much worse….. although I've also had full access to my powers when I've had the worse," Harry said with a smile, trying to keep everything on the bright side of life.

"Magic will help expedite the process, but… it takes time, especially in your condition," Penny said but so far she was pleased.

He would have been dead had Grundy laid on him too much longer. Well, maybe not dead, but his sufferings would have been far worse than they were right now.

Just as Penny wrapped things up to a level that she considered to be acceptable, they were joined by two more guests. Kara slunk into the room and Vicki followed closely behind her, in conversation with the blonde.

"Just wrapped up the story and filed it….. of course, I don't even know what happened," Vicki said giving Kara a bright and warm smile. "You did great out there."

"Thanks, I try," Kara said, bouncing up and down in excitement. To be honest, she was pretty hyped up. There was that small problem with Branden trying to blow Vicki's head cleanly off of her shoulders but she dealt with that. She wondered if he learned his lesson, but there was something that told her that he doubted it. That being said, she brought herself out of her excitement, seeing Vicki's amused gaze locked onto her. "So, what do you think that people will make of that story?"

"I don't know, but hopefully it will warn them that there's a real problem with trying to discount the homeless as human trash," Vicki said and the rumors that she heard this morning were immense. "And how people like Blackfire are going to take advantage of that and manipulate them for their own gains."

Kara smiled and offered Vicki a cup of coffee, which she took happily.

"See, we did the right thing going out there, even after what happened."

Kara grinned, shaking her head, barely hiding what she thinks, but she would have to concede to it.

"Fine, but…. that was dangerous," Kara said. Granted, she could handle anything but still….. well the fact that Vicki was so fearless.

"Can't worry about that word when there's a news story breaking," Vicki said and she was so wrapped up in her conversation with Kara that she didn't really register that Harry was there.

Her mouth hung open, practically gasping.

"That bad, isn't it?" Harry asked her, smiling in spite of himself and Vicki opened her mouth halfway and the nodded, looking at him.

Vicki's coffee cup slipped out of her hand and it clattered to the ground. She looked at Harry, mouth still open.

"What….."

"It's worse than I thought," Kara said, frowning, even after Penny worked her magic, he still had some residual bruising on him. The woman took half of a step towards him, frowning.

"What…. what happened?"

"Motorcycle accident," Harry said, looking at her. "That's why they recommend that you wear your helmet…. you know for reasons like this."

Vicki let out a whistle and nod. "I see."

"Sideswiped, lucky it wasn't far worse than it was," Harry said and he turned to the two girls because a formal introduction should be in order. "I don't believe you've met Penelope Clearwater and Pamela Isley, girls, this is Vicki Vale."

"A pleasure to meet you," Vicki said, shaking hands with Pamela and Penny. There were smiles and handshakes all around.

Girls came and girls went in the Penthouse. Kara told Vicki enough about that, not that she didn't pick it up on her own well enough. So she wasn't surprised.

After things settled down a little bit, Harry took his cell phone and answered it.

"Harry, it's Selina…. did you hear about the fire's in Old Gotham last night and Ghost Town?" she asked him and Harry tried to disguise the thinly veiled sigh that he let out of his mouth on this statement.

"Yes…. I heard something about it, although they're not quite sure what caused it, something about a fight between crazed homeless men and mobsters…"

"Yeah, that about covers it, anyway, my apartment's completely inhabitable because of smoke damage. Would you mind if I crash at your place for a little while?"

"No problem, Kara could you make sure….."

"Yes, I will," Kara said, preparing to make her way downstairs.

"Good, that would have been embarrassing….. the homeless shelters are overcrowded today… and….. well the mobsters might want to finish the job that they started last night if they get half of a chance, not caring who they hit in the process."

The Elevator Door dinged before Kara could quite reach it and Selina exited the elevator. She was dressed with her dark hair tied back, along with a white top that was buttoned up. A pair of white shorts completed the outfit.

"Well, good thing Harry was willing to let you stay," Kara said and Selina smiled.

"Well, there wasn't a doubt in my mind, honey," Selina told the blonde with a grin, after letting herself in.

The scene was the Penguin's office upon the Final Offer. Mr. Carpenter held a heavy bag up for Mr. Walrus, who punched away on it.

His punches were getting rougher and more violent the more that he bopped away on the bag.

"Easy now, you'd tear that one up like you did the last one," Mr. Carpenter warned him.

"Ah, with all of the scratch, we're making, we can just buy a new bloody bag," Mr. Walrus said, pummeling the bag and it managed to hold up underneath his attacks.

Tracy Buxton sat on the side of the Penguins' desk, not really interested in the conversation but half listening to it nevertheless. She shuffled through a set of reports, with an ear piece in her ear, as the two gentlemen bopped on the bag that they were working on.

"We've got a lot of territory, got a lot of gold, but I don't have what I really want," Walrus grunted, and Mr. Carpenter steadied the bag so he could pummel at the bag.

"Yes, he's in pretty good shape, the fat has turned into muscle quite nicely," she muttered and she nodded. "Yes, yes, yes, I agree."

Of course, he looked like an old time strongman with that stupid mustache, but she supposed that beggars couldn't be choosy. He managed to coordinate his end of the bargain all too nicely and really that was all that they could ask for.

The doors open and here walked the Penguin. He was in a completely jovial mood today and they were going to find out why soon enough. He puffed on a cigar, stepping forward, into the office, motioning for his inner circle to gather around.

Then again, he should be in a bloody good mood given the headway that he had over the last couple of days.

"We've done a bloody good job so far, we have," the Penguin said with a wide grin on his face. "Sure, we've had some setbacks, lost a few skirmishes, but in the bigger picture, we're well on our way of achieving our goals."

The Penguin motioned for Mr. Walrus and Mr. Carpenter to come closer to him. Reaching into the cabinet, he removed a bottle of scotch from it, and poured them all glasses.

"Gentlemen, a toast…. and lady," Penguin added with a smile as Tracy maneuvered her way into the fray with the rest of the group.

"So, we're about ready to open up the Iceberg Lounge, aren't we?"

"Yes, it will increase the scope of my business ventures, and make all kinds of new friends, and get in good with the cops," Penguin said, puffing his cigar with a smile on his face. "We're going to own this city."

"Yeah, and Maroni just got a bunch of his territory burned to the ground," Tracy reminded him and the Penguin laughed at the misfortune of one of his chief rivals.

"Never thought I'd be a huge fan of Gotham City trash, but I might have to comp them a fruit basket, too bad old Deacon Blackfire gone up in smoke," Penguin said and there was a wicked grin that crossed his face. "I guess time wasn't on his side."

There was loud snorting laughter from the Walrus, sounding more like a pig, but at a pointed look by his comrades, he stopped.

"So, when are we going to go after the Freak?" The Walrus asked and the Penguin stopped and stared at him.

"Soon my lad, really soon," the Penguin told him with a wide smile on his face. "You just got to calm down, but we'll get to them, we'll get the Waynes and the Evans, we'll get our revenge on them. I promised you as your Godfather that we'd get them back for good old Vernon."

The Walrus's smile was one that was kind of terrifying to be honest.

It was a full moon in Gotham City, the type of night that was typecast with eeriness. There was something stirring if one wanted to look closer.

The fires had been put out on the areas of the Docks some time ago. There was a lighthouse that shined out brightly, the only spot of light on the murky depths in addition to the moonlight that shined brightly.

The ocean was calm, there was a gentle breeze that blew and it appeared to be a beautiful night out for all.

Suddenly, as if on cue, a large white arm stuck its way out of the water, before sinking to the depths beneath.

To Be Continued on August 25th 2014.