Chapter Ninety: Olympus Has Fallen Part Two.

Chapter Ninety: Olympus Has Fallen Part Two.

A rather grizzled dark haired homeless man with a beard stepped from the shadows. He was dressed in rags that he cobbled together from various sources. They weren't exactly too bad, and given the quality that had been out here before, not that bad at all. He called himself Joe to those on the street and given the fact he had nothing to lose, people never thought of him as any type of liar.

He was standing behind a restaurant that belonged to Salvatore Maroni, shifting through the trash. It wasn't really the best location for him to be. The mob really had it out for the homeless after Deacon Blackfire's cultists attacked them.

It was hard to worry about such concerns when you were hungry and this place threw out fairly decent leftover portions. It had the type of fat cats who had their eyes that were far bigger than her stomach. Joe banked on the fact that despite the danger factor, he was able to locate something that wasn't too rotten or too old.

The man was living dangerous. Some people could admire the set of balls that he had, but this was Gotham City. Having balls might get you a long way, but having connections got you even further. The people who owned this restaurant had some good connections, and being a faction of the mob that didn't care for the homeless all that much, they had some rather dangerous connection.

The other problem was they were paying the Gotham City Police Department to protect their interests, which actually covered a lot of things. That was up to and included the harassment of people that they don't like.

Joe looked up, having managed to find a portion of food. He turned around and nearly ran smack dab into the middle of two of Gotham Cities finest.

The two patrol men walked in. One of them smacked the food out of Joe's hand, causing it to fly down onto the pavement. The patrol man turned to his partner. "Just as they reported, trash digging through the trash."

"Hey, I've got to…"

The homeless man's protest was cut off when he was grabbed by the back of the jacket violently and shoved into the closest wall. He winced when he connected hard into the wall. His body really hit when he slammed hard into the wall.

Joe winced when the air had been knocked out of him fairly violently. The manager of the restaurant walked out. The cop that hadn't been holding onto Joe walked up towards the manager.

"So, is this the guy?" the cop asked.

The manager looked over Joe with a critical eye and he nodded in response. "Yeah, that's the guy. I warned him what would happen if he would come around him."

"So remind me again," the cop holding Joe stated. "What do you want me to do to him again?"

"Teach him a lesson, maybe he'll get the hint," the manager said. He wrinkled his nose and added, almost as an afterthought. "Considering how badly he smells, the harbor might be a good idea. He's in need of a bath."

The cop nearest to the manager turned towards his partner, who was still holding the homeless man. "You heard the man."

The cop roughly yanked Joe off of the wall, dragging him away by his jacket. He hauled the man further into the alleyway.

"It's people like you who make it really rougher for civilized people," the cop said, burying his fist into the gut of the homeless man.

"I just needed something to eat…."

"You have the right to remain silent," the second cop said. He nailed Joe hard in the gut and doubled him over. Blood poured from his mouth, and he got punched in the ribs hard. "Because you flapping your yap has gotten you in trouble before. If people like you just disappeared off the street, Gotham City would be a much better place."

One of the men stood back and allowed his partner to get to work. Joe was slammed and thrown around.

"No, please, no," Joe begged. He was kicked in the ribs hard by the cop. "What did I do to deserve this?"

"Scurrying through the dumpster like some filthy rat might have something to do with it," the cop said, with a shit eating grin. He inclined his head back, turning towards his partner. "So, do you think that a broken rib is enough, or should we go break one of his arms as well?"

The second cop, the one who hung back and enjoyed the show, pondered it. "I say you should first break the forearm in order to make sure our little lesson has really sunk in."

His partner shrugged and turned to the homeless man, preparing to do just that.

He was interrupted by a loud whoomp, followed by his partner careening into the brick wall next to him. This caused the cop to stand bolt upright in surprise. His partner was no small man, in fact he was a pretty big man.

One of this bum's friends must have done the deed. The man reached into his sidearm, and turned to make the person responsible pay for this.

Only for the individual in question that sent his partner flying into the wall to punch him in the face so hard that he ended up smacking into it with a crack.

That caused Joe to give a raspy chuckle. He was on the ground, watching the same cop that took it out on him now in misery. He got a fair amount of amusement in seeing the cops in misery.

Joe struggled to his feet. A racking sensation filled his body, and the pain of a broken rib caused it very hard to hand.

Suddenly the man who had assaulted the cops offered him a big pale hand in order to help him stand up.

Juno gave Harry a really blinding smile at that response and then clapped her hands excitedly at him.

'And somehow, do we get the impression that might be a mocking slow clap?' Kara asked.

'Maybe a little bit,' Harry offered with a shrug.

The blinding smile on her face was still attached to it and she grabbed him by the hand, leading him towards the love seat. With another movement, Juno pushed him onto it and shifted to sit rather closely next to him.

The moment that they were comfortable, Juno finally responded to his question. "Well done, Harry. You finally figured it out. I have to admit that I expected you to figured it out much sooner, considering the fact we met during the summer, and that was almost nearly six months ago."

Harry had an inkling about something, but it wasn't until today he put the pieces together. It was funny how a death experience could give you a certain amount of clarity. Harry would say it was near death, but he wondered exactly about the near part of that. That would be something to deduce at another time.

"And to answer your question," she continued. "I go by both Juno and Hera. As you know, both names are mine, depending on who was worshipping me at the time. Hera for the Greeks and Juno for the Romans. But you are well aware of that."

"Very much well aware of it, thanks," Harry said.

"Lovely," she added. "I prefer to go by Juno in this form and then I go by Hera in my other form."

"And it all is much clearer to me now," Harry said with a smile. "And I think that I likely would have figured it out sooner, but I was a bit busy and didn't give it the proper amount of attention that I should. And there really should have been a red flag when Aphrodite, Artemis, and Athena giggled whenever you popped up over the bond."

'Subtle, those three aren't,' Diana thought. She wondered why she hadn't figured it out either and was slightly embarrassed that she didn't.

"Subtle, those three are not," Hera agreed.

Harry smiled at the irony of that statement. "I didn't really think that anything would be off and you didn't give me any indication that you weren't anyone, but who you said you were. At least until last night."

"Yeah, I did give that away, didn't I?" she asked.

Harry nodded. "Your reaction to Helena being called Hera by Maxie Zeus was rather telling. And there was a fair bit of other weirdness last night that didn't add up. The vast majority of the people present have a hazy memory of what happened beyond the fact that something did happen, you know."

Juno laughed in amusement, smiling. "You know, I may have had something to do about that. And I know your desire to remain secret, at least for now. It wouldn't do well for the girls to make their debut until they were ready for the world at large to know who they are. Or rather, until the world at large was ready for them."

She pondered another point and smiled. "And as for you not being able to figure out my true identity until now due to being too busy, it does make sense. Given how active you are during the day, I wonder sometimes how you even find the time to sleep."

Harry grinned at her. Juno shook her head at that smile that went through her face.

"Off the top of my head, an average day for you involves your schooling, helping run a multi-million dollar business empire, a variety of special projects, the time you spend with your girls, and those nocturnal activities," Juno rattled off. "It's more than what most would be capable, and there are some people in similar situations who aren't capable of dealing with how much half as much. Which in turn causes them to intake in some of the more pleasurable aspects of life, and in all of the wrong ways as well."

Harry had a pretty good idea of what Juno was referring to. "It might be a bit too much for some people, but I make it work. And it keeps me from getting bored."

Juno had to concede that point to him. Harry wasn't really done talking to her.

"And you don't really have that much room to talk, given that your day is essentially as busy as my own," he told her.

She shrugged. "You have a point. But, you know, I like to keep busy as well. And the projects that I get up to allow me to oversee my domains in a hands on manner. You know, rather than watching things unfold as a distance."

"That answers my question about you being a talk show host," Harry answered her lightly.

Juno looked a bit insulted. "I do more than being a mere talk show host."

She took a deep breath, because she was going to need it in describing all that she was up to.

"I'm a producer, director, head of a budding media empire which includes television shows, movies, magazines, and variety of charities," Juno said. She spit it out in one breath which was impressive in its own right.

"Well, that's impressive," Harry said, letting out his breath in a whistle. "But, I'm rather curious to how you do it all in the first place."

That declaration caused Juno to blink in surprise. "The others didn't let you know?"

Harry was caught off guard with this response. Juno shook her head, he honestly had no idea what she was talking about.

"Huh, that's a surprise," Juno murmured. She was half talking to herself and half talking to Harry when she said this. "I thought that Athena at the very least would have explained things to you."

Harry waited for her to explain what was happening.

"Well, it was decided a long time ago, that each of the gods took on a human form to better relate to their subjects," Juno said. "You already know what I do as well. Aphrodite is a rather famous actress, and by that I mean an actual actress, and not a porn star. Not that she couldn't do well at it, if she chose to."

Harry didn't say anything, but he had no doubt in his mind that Hera spoke the truth.

"Apollo is a famous actor," Juno said. "Athena alternates between working as a university Professor and also a Librarian. It depends on her mood really. And she did work for the Library of Congress for a number of years, but she switched jobs and is currently a Professor at West Point."

"What about Artemis?" Harry asked her.

"I'm getting there, honey," Juno responded with a smile. "She runs a couple of woman and children shelters, alongside a couple of Orphanages. As you might have guessed, the job in question relates to the gods domain. So Dionysus currently works as a wine maker out of the Napa Valley and Poseidon is a crab fisherman out in Alaska. You get the idea, don't you?"

"Absolutely," Harry informed her.

"Lovely," Juno said. "But not all of them take roles pertaining to my domain. My ex-husband is a good example, because he poses as a slacker in the San Fernando valley who spends most of his time bowling and when he isn't bowling, he's picking up soccer moms."

Harry allowed this extremely important information to soak in. This wasn't the first time that he heard about the current status of Hera and Zeus's relationship.

"So what precisely happened between the two of you?" Harry asked.

"It wasn't the case for an extremely long time, but time has changed, divorce is an aspect of marriage, as well as infidelity," she informed him. There was a tone of bitterness in her voice. "Of course, in my case, my ex-husband got a jump start on that trend, and while I was loyal to my husband from the start, he was never truthfully loyal to me. And his many, many, bastard children were an obvious reminder of each time he cheated on me."

Juno closed her eyes and shook her head.

"After putting up for it for a very long time, it had to give, and I got sick of it," Juno ranted. She was practically fuming. "And since it became an aspect of my domain, I divorced him in the late seventies. That left us free to pursue whoever we wanted to, but that really just meant it was business as usual for Zeus. In my case on the other hand, well it makes all the difference."

Her hands had placed into his at some point and the two of them had gotten rather cuddly in the chair. Harry instinctively held her in close.

"And it should be rather obvious who I wish to pursue," she added, closing her eyes. She now calmed down, but Harry had a calming presence on women as well.

Harry looked honestly flattered. The Queen of the Gods took an interest in him, and really that was a boost to his already extravagant ego. He squeezed her hand.

"The real question is where do you want to go from here?" he asked her.

She didn't really need to ponder this matter. "I want you to court me properly. Which, as you know, means taking me out and spending time together. No matter how tempting it is, I'm not going to jump straight into bed with you at the top of the hat. I want you to earn it, but….I don't think that's going to be too much of a problem."

"No, it won't," Harry said. "Do you want to go out to dinner sometime in the future?"

The Queen of the Gods beamed. "I'd really like that….but just because we aren't going to jump straight into bed doesn't mean that that we can't fool around just a little bit.

With that, Hera turned around and pressed her lips onto Harry's with a rather heated kiss. She wrapped her arms and legs around him and the two of them made out for a long and heated time, with her nibbling on his lips.

The two of them broke apart.

"Just merely a teaser for the future," she replied with a wink.

"Well, I for one am looking forward to seeing what happens next," he told her. Hera's mouth curled into a smile. "And do you know what happened to the Spear of Zeus?"

Hera raised an eyebrow at the sound of that odd question.

"It did go missing in the chaos."

Hera piped up rather nonchalantly. "Oh….it's sitting on my kitchen table."

Gotham City's notorious weather really was causing all kind of havoc in the worst way. A thunderstorm started to rage on outside. It gave one person an ominous sense.

In the Park Row District of Old Gotham, there was a psychiatric practice appropriately titled Strange Minds. It was in honor of its owner, one Professor Hugo Strange. One could see the professor, and they could see that he kept himself in pretty good shape physically. He was slightly intimidating to some people. The Abraham Lincoln beard, bald head, and Scary Shiny Glasses he wore was not helping at all lessen the intimidation factor in any way whatsoever.

At this present moment, the good Professor seated himself in a comfortable and classical looking armchair as he spoke with his patient.

The patient in question was Kathy Kane, who after the events of last night contacted him early this morning to see if he would be willing to see her. Given how another patient canceled, she was able to get booked in. Presently, they were in the tail end of their situation.

They had just finished talking about the events of last night, in great detail, and they shifted to another topic.

"I didn't have a particular good relationship with my parents," Kathy admitted. "I think that it was because I was born later in their lives."

"And that is why there is such a huge age difference between yourself and your two brothers, yes?" Hugo asked, looking at the notes.

"Yes, Jacob and Phillip are much older than me, in fact, I'm not that much older than Kate, and the two of us grew up together," Kathy said, shaking her head. "As a result, I've never felt like I've been good enough for my parents. Especially who compared me to my golden older sister Martha. After she was killed so tragically, it raised her to saint like status in our parents eyes."

"Ah, yes, Martha Kane, married Thomas Wayne," Hugo added, curiosity brimming in his eyes. The Wayne Murders had been a source of interest to many, himself included. Especially the potential traumatic effect it had on their young son who witnessed it.

"Yes, and then they ended up dying less than a year after she was killed," Kathy continued in a woeful and slightly better tone of voice. "I grew up feeling neglected by my parents, not good enough compared to my siblings, and raised primary by the staff. My brothers were around, but one was in the army at the time and other was running Wayne Enterprises."

"So, that caused you to feel an inferiority complex and think that you were not good enough to match up with their standards," Hugo commented. He was extremely interested in studying this young woman and seeing what made her trick. "Well, our time is up for today. I'd like for us to make an appointment in two weeks' time."

The Professor paused and spoke in a lower tone in voice when he started up. "I would like if you could reconsider the suggestion of hypnosis that I made earlier, as I feel like it could really help you."

She frowned for a second. Kathy honestly thought that she was making a breakthrough. Reluctantly, the socialite nodded in response. "I'll think about it."

"Then, I will see you in two week's time," the Professor said.

Strange escorted Kathy out of the office and with that done, the man returned to his desk where he set about working on some paper work. It wasn't at it very long when a flash of lightning from the storm outside illuminated the room. The crack of thunder added to the atmosphere.

The Professor looked up and realized that he was no longer in his office. Strange came face to face with the infamous Doctor Jonathan Crane. He took a moment to take in Crane's fairly ragged looking appearance. A ragged looking leather long coat over the top of a zipped up hoody, with the hoody pulled up was part of the outfit. Crane wore a pair of faded jeans, and some work boots.

"You have fallen from grace, haven't you, Doctor Crane?" Hugo asked with a chuckle. He reached towards a cabinet by his desk. "You look like a homeless person."

Crane didn't say anything straight away.

"Would you like a drink?"

Crane corked his eyebrow and nodded in response. Strange poured a drink for Crane, but he elected not to do so himself. The Professor greatly disliked the lack of discipline that drinking implied. Other people did have that discipline and some of his patients were very distressed, so he kept a collection of good spirits in a cabinet.

It was much easier to work with people who had a few drinks. It allowed his studies of them to go far more smoothly. He allowed Crane to pour himself a drink.

"You know, Doctor Crane, I expected to see you much sooner than this," Strange informed him.

"I needed to lay low for a while since I'm supposed to be a fugitive on the run," Crane answered. "But the exciting events of last night have allowed me the ability to come here."

"Yes, but how was your extended stay at Blackgate?" Strange asked.

"It was dreadfully boring," Crane said. He had the sense that Strange was trying to study him like he was one of his patients, rather than an equal. He would play the game for now. "The delightful young intern who was attending to me was about the only thing worthwhile. And it will be a treasure when she finally does break."

"I'm sure you are looking forward to seeing the day that occurs," Strange said. He switched to business. "I have met with several victims who were exposed to your Fear Toxin over the past several months and it has proven to be rather effective."

Crane looked like a kid on Christmas morning after receiving this news.

"I have several pages worth of notes about the subject if you're curious about looking them over," Strange continued.

"Yes, I most certainly am," Crane agreed. "If only to use them as a way to make the next attempt even more effective."

Crane was very much disturbed by the fact that some people were proven to be immune and the fact that a cure was able to be synthesized easily. That couldn't do at all.

"I am in need of a workspace," Crane informed him. "And I was hoping that you would be able to help me in that regard, Hugo."

"Of course," Strange said. The Professor reached into his desk drawer with great reflexes. It was almost like he was expecting this request. He removed a pair of keys from the drawer and tossed them over to Crane. He snatched them out of the air. "They are the keys to a cabin in the countryside that I inherited from my grandfather when he died. It might not be the most ideal location, but it's well out of the way of public eye. It should prove to be sufficient for you to continue your work."

Strange paused for a long moment and moved over towards a filing cabinet. He looked through it for something.

"Aha," he added, and he found what he was looking forward. "I received reports from a colleague at Ravencroft about a young girl that you might find interesting."

The Professor handed the reports to the devious Doctor Crane. Crane found himself motivated by the curiosity of what was in the file. He flipped through it quickly and then started to chuckle fairly eerily.

There was a flash of lightning that highlighted the grin on Crane's face. It unsettled even one Hugo Strange.

Dinah joined Harry in the role of bodyguard today. Diana would normally be with him, but she was staying with Cassie and Helena until things blew over. So, Dinah was going to be with him for the time being. And she did want to spend some time with Harry before she went up to Seattle to spend some time with her sister and her father, since her father's birthday was coming up.

'You know, I almost forgot that you had a sister,' Harry thought. 'You don't really bring her up that often.'

'Well, Sara and I, we've had some problems,' Dinah thought with a frown. 'There are a lot of problems with us, and Sara blames me for our parents getting divorced, since I was the one that introduced Ollie to our mother. And that lead to the two of them having an affair. And then things got rougher when Mom died. And Sara has had a bit of a soft spot for that idiot as well, go figure.'

'No accounting for taste then,' Karen thought, shaking her head.

'Well, I was the one not accounting for taste at one point,' Dinah thought. She still couldn't believe how blissfully stupid she was at one point.

Okay, that was a bit hard on herself, but her point still stood.

'You were younger, more naïve,' Faora interjected calmly.

'Well, that's one way of putting it, not exactly how I would put it,' Dinah thought. She could feel Harry's hand. 'Still, she's still my younger sister, so I should try and start mending some fences and I do miss seeing her. And it's been a while since I've seen my father, you know.'

It was at this point of their mental conversation where Harry and Dinah made their way to the destination they were. They were going to meet with Sarah Essen in order to have lunch. That was actually planned before the events of last night, but in this particular instance, they can combine business and pleasure at the same time.

Harry smiled, the two of them arrived before the two that they were supposed to be meeting. That didn't stay that way long for long, for Sarah and Ellen arrived.

"Oh, we're not late, are we?" Ellen asked, turning to her partner.

"No, Harry just has this tendency of being early for everything that he goes to," Sarah said with a smile.

"Ellen Yin and Sarah Essen," Harry told Dinah and she smiled and shook hands. "This is Dinah Lance."

"A pleasure to meet you," Sarah said with a smile on her face.

"Yes, a pleasure to meet you, or re-meet you as the case might be," Ellen answered with as mile on her face.

With introductions out of the way, the four of them were led over towards a table.

"Oh, you're Harry Potter," the waitress said, when she looked at him.

"Yes, yes, I am," Harry answered. He had amusement where this was going.

"Oh, well, I have a Red Sun, and it's such an honor to meet the person behind it, and my life would be so boring, it would be so boring without it, you know what I mean," she said, practically babbling. "Could you sign my phone?"

Dinah ducked her head and looked rather amused.

Now that they dealt with the babbling waitress, they ordered their food and sat down to have a conversation.

"It's really surprising that you aren't in bed currently," Ellen said.

"Well, sky diving is one of my hobbies," Harry told her. "It was an instinct of me breaking that fall and I was wearing a vest. I'm a bit bruised, but nowhere as badly as hurt as a lot of people think that I am."

He smiled and added, almost as an afterthought. "The flowers people keep sending are lovely through."

That caused Ellen to chuckle despite the situation, and Sarah and Dinah to lock eyes and shake their heads.

"Well, it should be interesting to find out that Maximilian Zeus is confined to a bed within the Arkham Ward of Blackgate," Sarah said.

"Not surprising at all," Harry said. "Will this ever go to trial?"

"Not sure, but….." Sarah said and she paused. "Lorelei Circe also escaped, so the GCPD are hunting for her. She seems to have disappeared. The police officer that helped her escape on the other hand was found on the side of the road halfway to DC when her vehicle ran out of gas."

'And those brain surgeons didn't think to gag her or knock her out further,' Dinah thought. She resisted the urge to face palm.

"So, what about your background?" Harry asked Ellen. She raised her eyebrow when she looked at him. "It isn't that common to meet an Asian Woman with an English accent in America."

"It's a true conversation starter," she agreed. "But, I was born in Hong Kong, having been born and raised there. I went to boarding school and then university in England, where I studied criminology. And then I moved to the United States, San Francisco to be exact. I ended up following in my father's footsteps and joined the police when I turned twenty-one. I worked for a number of years undercover, until some things went down. It caused me to want a transfer and I ended up turning up in Gotham as a result."

"You live an interesting life," Harry replied.

"You have no idea," Ellen muttered underneath her breath.

They were fed and watered, but in Gotham City, business called at the worst possible time.

"Well, at least they waited until after the meal," Sarah said. She took out her phone and accepted the call. "Yes?"

There was a pause. Sarah sighed.

"A pair of cops have been found in a back alley, and he wants us to check it out," Sarah said.

"So, I guess that we need to go," Ellen said.

"It's fine," Harry informed them. Dinah looked towards him. "I need to get going anyway. I'm planning to go to New York for a couple of days, and I still haven't had a chance to pack just yet."

"Ah, New York, I used to be stationed there," Sarah said. "And I'm still in touch with my former partner, Jean DeWolff."

"Well, maybe I'll get a chance to meet your friend someday," Harry said.

"Maybe," Sarah agreed, with a smile. "But, we really should get going and I know you should be as well."

Sarah gave him a brief kiss on the cheek. With that done, she and Ellen were off pretty fast. The meeting might have been short, but it was very interesting, as usual.

Harry returned to the tower sometime later. He was in the presence of Reilly, Barbara, and Gwen. They were heading off to New York, although in the case of Gwen and Reilly, it's more like they were going to return home.

Barbara and Harry on the other hand, combined business with pleasure since while they're going to New York in order to celebrate her birthday and Harry had a couple of business meetings. He also had an interview or two that he needed to attend while he was there.

As for Gwen and Reilly, both of them looked really happy to visit some of their friends, pick up their belongings, and visit Gwen's dad.

"So, I think that we've got a pretty productive trip," Gwen was saying. The girls were in various states of undress with each other. None of them were shy at all about their bodies and they were all attempting to tempt Harry.

Gwen in particular wore little more than a lacy pair of black panties, a matching bra, along with stockings, and a head band. Reilly wore a pair of tight blue jeans and a bra. Barbara on the other hand was wearing the most clothes.

"Yes, this is a trip that I've been looking forward to for a long time," Barbara answered, shucking off her shirt and pants quite shamelessly.

"I know that you were," Harry said. He watched Barbara strut in a rather confident manner, wearing little more than a lacy red bra and a nice thong that fit nice and firmly around her ass.

"So, what business do you have to do?" Gwen asked. She looked rather tantalizing in the pose that she struck with him, her hand clasping down against her lips.

"Don't you have to meet with Lavender?" Barbara asked. "She was another girl that Harry met at Boarding School."

"One of many," Harry confirmed to the group. "And Mari McCabe as well, and many a couple of other girls about a clothing line they want to launch later in the screen. All of the girls want my opinion on them."

"And I'm sure that they want to give you a detailed show," Gwen said with a smile.

"You know, we mentioned our friend, Mary Jane, you do remember us mentioning MJ, right?' Reilly asked. Harry smiled when he looked into her eyes. "She's looking to become a model…..actually, she's looking to become an actress and a model really."

"And she's the leader singer of a band that I was a part of," Gwen responded. "But we ended up breaking up because everyone graduated high school."

"She is a really fun girl," Reilly added. She added a suggestive smile and finally managed to slowly pull on a tight shirt as well. "You'd really like her."

Harry chuckled in response. Gwen shook her head and playfully smacked her girlfriend on the arm.

"Was, I rambling a little bit?" Reilly asked.

"Yeah, just a little bit," Gwen said, shaking her head. "But, we'll all end up meeting up in New York, since she's one of the friends that we want to visit."

"Looking forward to it," Harry answered.

"What else do you have planned?" Gwen asked suddenly. Harry raised his eyebrow at this question she asked. "It's just that I was curious, you said that you had a couple of interviews, along with a couple of meetings."

"Yes, I'm supposed to do a print interview with a reporter from the Daily Bugle, and then a one on one with the man in charge himself," Harry said. "J. Jonah Jameson."

Reilly groaned in response and that caused Gwen to snicker. Gwen adjusted her head band and smiled at him. "So, Harry, do you mind if I ask you a question?"

"Go ahead," Harry replied to her.

"Did you by any chance ever watch J.J.'s show?" Gwen asked him.

Harry shook his head in the negative. That caused Reilly to both groan and face palm at the same time.

"Well, I did hear that he was not the type to really mince words," Harry answered her.

"That's putting it one way," Gwen said. She moved over towards the bed, looking for the remote on Barbara's television. She found it on a bedside table.

Gwen pretty much dove onto the bed when she found it, which gave Harry an extremely nice view of her backside in the process. Without another word, Gwen flipped on the Daily Bugle Communication Network.

The man himself, John Jonah Jameson, the second, popped up on screen. Barbara looked at him. "Nice mustache."

"Yeah, right out of the Reich," Reilly answered shaking her head.

"And once again, Gotham City is in the news for all of the reason. If you ask me, and you did if you're watching this, there's something in the water there. Another man went completely nuts and held the rich and famous hostage. You would think that some people would remember not to go into Gotham City or not go to any parties in Gotham City!"

They allowed the man to rant.

"You know, it's almost like he's lacking that one thing that defines him and his rants," Gwen responded.

"Oh, give him a greater purpose, that's what we need," Reilly answered.

Harry watched the spectacle. He allowed a soft chuckle in response. "It should be fine."

"You are a brave, brave, man," Reilly said to him, with relevance flashing through her eyes.

"So, what do you girls have planned anyway?" Harry asked her, switching the subject.

"Well, we're going to visit my father, and then meet up with a couple of friends and go clubbing," Gwen said.

"Obviously, the two of you are invited along," Reilly piped in an extremely excited voice.

"And then there's Barbara's birthday," Gwen said. She switched topics around suddenly. "What do you have planned for her birthday?"

"It's a secret," Harry said, fully aware that Babs was listening intently. "But, I think that she'll like it."

"I will be happy if it's the two of us alone, for a short time," Barbara added. "It doesn't happen often enough with everything that happens, but since it's my birthday, I'd really like it to end up that way."

"Well, it just turns out that I have the entire day pretty much mapped out for you, except for a couple of meetings in the morning," Harry informed her. "Including with the meeting with the head of Hardy Consolidated."

"Oh, why would you be meeting with Felicia's mother?" Gwen asked.

'Felicia Hardy, the daughter of Anastasia Hardy, and the heir to the company,' Patricia thought. 'But she really hasn't had any interest in doing so and is more of a party girl. You might have seen her a few times as a result of that.'

"Felicia is a friend of ours," Reilly explained. She thought how awkward that statement might be when driven out of context. "From high school, but she was a bit older than the two of us through."

"She was the head cheerleader and Queen Bitch, for lack of a better word at Midtown," Gwen said. She smiled. "Despite that, she took us underneath her wing for a while."

"She's responsible for Gwen's charming attitude since the last time you two met," Reilly said. Gwen playfully bopped her with a pillow in response.

"But, it's very likely that we're going to run into her, and if you want, we can introduce the two of you," Gwen answered.

"Yes, that would be nice," Harry said. Barbara nodded feverishly off to the side in agreement.

"Yeah, I'm looking forward to meeting your other friends even more now," Barbara added. She looked gleeful at the thought.

In one of the older and rougher districts in Old Gotham, there was a rough looking homeless man who walked around, actually looking in far better spirits. He got a nice meal at one of the homeless shelters that the combined Potter-Vreeland charities are sponsoring, beginning in the early part of December.

He stepped out, but there was a fairly healthy looking young woman.

"Would you want some extra food?" she asked, holding out a bag.

"Thank you," the homeless man said, taking the food.

"Are you sure you don't want to spend the night?" the woman asked. "The storm is getting very bad."

The man frowned, thinking about it. If he stayed, he might not be able to get drunk tonight. He shook his head.

"No thank you, I'll be fine, but thank you," the homeless man said. Not all of the people in Gotham City were all that bad.

The woman smiled and shook her head. There was really no use in arguing with someone like this because it was always the stubborn type. "Be careful out there."

The homeless man brushed off the warning, making his way off into the bitter streets of Gotham. He heard rumors, whispers, about homeless people going missing, but the man disregarded it.

The man pulled a brown paper bag out of his inside jacket pocket. Without another word, he took a long hard swig of the contents in the model.

A noise could be heard from a nearby alleyway. The homeless man ignored at first, if you jumped at every noise in Gotham, you'd be forever jumping.

Another sound could be heard, and curiosity got the better of him. He stopped walking around and turned around. Taking another swig out of his bottle, he stepped into the alleyway in order to look around.

The homeless man stepped several feet further into it.

There was nothing. The man turned around and that proved to be his undoing. A pair of large arms reached out of the shadows, grabbed him into a chokehold, and yanked him further into the alleyway.