Chapter Eighty-Four: The Fall of Olympus Part three.

Chapter Eighty-Four: The Fall of Olympus Part three.

Enigma could scarcely believe his good fortune. He tried to keep himself calm after his moment earlier. A couple of hours had passed, so he was able to keep his cool regarding the fact that he was sitting here in the presence of two living legends of crime. The duo of Edgar Prince and Chang Tzu were with him.

The trio was sitting in Edward's living room with a couple of tea.

"So, what brings you two to Gotham City?" Edward asked.

"Finally, you ask a practical question, perhaps there is hope for you yet," Chang-Tzu said dryly. He sipped on the tea. It tasted extremely adequate and he was calm.

Edward looked like he was in the process of being about ready to cream his pants. He tried not to embarrass himself when he was in front of the vision of these virtual masters of all things crime. He could hardly hold back his excitement. Edward enjoyed being in the presence of these gentlemen and his excitement increased.

"Get a hold of yourself, young man, for both of our sakes," Edgar said dryly. "We acquired one of the biggest scores that any criminal could even dream. But the wench known as Magpie decided to steal something of great value and importance to us. And we'd like to see it be returned into our hands sooner than later."

Edward snapped his fingers and grinned. He read an article just earlier this evening and he was able to put two and two together thanks to his great intellect. "You two are responsible for the theft of the Crystal Egg of Y'ggphu-Soggoth from the museum and them Magpie stole it from you."

"Well, so that's the case," Edgar commented in amusement.

"Yes," Chang replied. He looked at the young man, still not completely impressed. "Well, done…..you were able to put that theory together based on information so obvious that a child could deduce. Well done."

Edward's excitement increased when he impressed the one and only Edgar Prince. Chang's criticism did not fly over his head and he looked like a sad puppy dog. He would show them though, he would show them how useful he could be.

"So, why did you want to visit me of all people?" Edward asked. "Many people think that you were dead, but…"

"We went deep underneath ground to avoid the heat from our final and greatest heist," Edgar commented. "And many of our old cohorts have either passed on from this world, are in prison, or are in retirement. We wish to see how this current generation stands up to the old one. One thing is constant tough, there are do-gooders in the world."

"But, there's no one that can match your intellect," Edward said. He looked like a fanboy who was excited to meet his heroes.

Edgar allowed himself a dry chuckle in response. "This much is true, my dear boy. But, while I am technologically savvy, I'm afraid that there are some areas that I lack the certain traits that you'd eggspect from a criminal mastermind. And one of them is usage of the Internet."

It was a common tactic to pump up a man's ego to get what they want. Chang played his part in ripping down Edward Nashton's ego, for Edgar to pipe in and pump it back up. He was eating out of their hands, and soon they would get what they want.

"And we heard that you are a rather savvy information broker who's able to make use of the Internet to great effect," Edgar commented. Edward's eyes went wide. "So, we were hoping to utilize your knowledge, along with your skill in an attempt to track down Magpie so we can retrieve what is rightfully ours from her."

It was obvious to Edward that they believed that the egg was there's by divine right, regardless of the fact that they were the ones that stole it first from their rightful owner. He wasn't about to dispute that fact from a pair of living legends.

Obviously, he wasn't going to argue with that. He jumped halfway off of the couch and scrambled halfway towards his computer about as fast as his legs could take him. He almost tripped over his feet in his haste to reach his computer.

The moment Edgar was at his computer, he started to type up a storm. Edgar looked up with interest and Chang-Tzu looked on with disdain.

"Obviously, tonight you've verified your own intelligence by coming to me, because I have my ear in several areas, where I am going to be able to lift a prominent amount of information," Edward said smugly. "People tend to make deals and there isn't a deal in Gotham City that I don't at least go about."

Edward looked excited, he sounded as giddy as a schoolgirl.

"And all I have to do is find out whether or not Magpie intends to sell the egg and to who," Edward replied. His interest piqued when he typed up a storm on the computer. "Well, this is interesting, well this should be expected."

Edgar raised his eyebrow and cast Chang a warning. "What do you find so interesting, young man?"

"Magpie is going to have a meeting, or maybe is in a meeting right now, or maybe she has concluded a meeting," Edward whispered. He sounded like he had the clues to the riddle of the ancient sitting in the palm of his hand, or at least that's what he thought in his deluded little mind.

"With whom?" Edgar asked. His patience might be infinite, but it was wearing thin.

"The Penguin intends to purchase the Crystal Egg from her to place within his own collection," Edward said. He looked rather pleased with himself. "And whilst I'm not certain whether or not this meeting has concluded as of yet, I am able to provide the two of you with a concrete location of where the meeting is going to happen."

After Harry and Barbara picked up Reilly and Gwen from the airport, the group decided to go out to a trendy restaurant, so Harry could get to get to know Reilly and Gwen. It was the case of it was normally regarding Harry. They were so beyond pleased to meet the Harry Potter that they were completely spellbound.

Harry was glad to be recognized based on accomplishments of things that he did do, as opposed to things that he didn't do. It was really good to appreciate it.

"And, I'm sure that you could tell that both of us have been following your work for a very long time," Reilly said. She actually managed to jump in after Gwen finally managed to stop long enough to hold her back.

"Yeah, we've really….well I've met you briefly, but that seems like ages ago," Gwen said. She turned to Reilly and smiled. "And this is the first time that Reilly has had the chance to meet you. And just how much Babs talked you up, well, you can only tell how much that I was looking forward to having this meeting."

Gwen wanted to smack herself in the face.

"Normally she's a bit more coherent," Reilly added. She smiled and Gwen gave her a look before pinching her underneath the table.

Barbara shifted her face into a grin. Sometimes these things almost became a bit too easy.

The two girls relished a chance to get to pick the brain of the one and only Harry Potter.

"I'm sure with as much questions as I get asked, I should just write a book and get it over with," Harry replied.

"Ah, that's nowhere near as fun as bombarding you with questions in person," Reilly said.

"Yeah, Harry, what were you thinking?" Barbara asked him. Her expression grew thoughtful and she crinkled up her nose. "It would sell a lot, you know, it would."

Harry didn't do anything, but cast the three girls a smile each. It was the type of smile that could break hearts. Reilly and Gwen looked excited to meet him as Tess did and Harry and his wives had had their eyes on the girls and how well they are doing.

"So, I was looking at your Chemistry thesis, it was utterly brilliant by the way," Gwen stated, swaying back and forth on her chair with a shit eating grin on her face. Her tone sounded like it was positively gushing. And her tone might not be the only thing that was positively gushing about her, but that was neither here nor there. "And I was wondering….well I was wondering if it was possible to create a serum that would bring a normal human, even a sickly one, to the peak of physical perfection without causing any side effects like brain damage."

Gwen managed to say all of that at once.

"Don't worry, Gwen, I got all of that," Harry said. He was amused.

"Well, you know that Venom is an example of one that causes damage, brain damage especially to a person," Gwen said. Her excitement brimmed when she wanted to hear Harry's question.

"It's really possible, but it's a ways off," Harry told them. The interest of both of the girls was grabbed. "Mostly because that I haven't worked out the formal and it's going to take a lot of testing before it's anywhere near perfect."

Reilly piped in with a thought of her own. "I remember my father working something similar based off of the mythical super solider serum from World War II, when I was a little girl before I died."

Harry blinked and he put the pieces together. He honestly didn't realize that Richard Parker was Reilly's father.

"I didn't realize that Richard Parker was your father," Harry replied. Reilly nodded in response. Harry gave her a brief smile. "Although it does make a lot of sense given how intelligent that you are."

"It isn't really common knowledge," Reilly admitted. "The government, along with my aunt and uncle went out of their way to keep it that way…..even from me."

Reilly said that last bit with a long and depressing sigh.

"Sorry to hear about what happened to them," Barbara said. Reilly nodded swiftly. "Did they ever catch the guy that did that, by the way?"

That caused Reilly to frown and Gwen to smack Barbara about the area of the shoulder for being insensitive.

"I'm okay now," Reilly admitted. She gave Gwen a warning look and Gwen nodded in response. "It was really hard for me to deal with this at first and without Gwen and her father, I wasn't certain that I would even do it."

Reilly responded with a swift sigh to herself.

"And no, they didn't find him," Reilly admitted. There was a sour tone to what she was saying. "He seems to have fallen off of the grid."

"Sooo, I'm curious about something," Harry said. He decided to switch topics to another area, seeing how uncomfortable Barbara was. He turned his attention to Gwen. "So, how exactly is it that you and Barbara met in the first place?"

"Our fathers went to the Chicago Police Academy together and then worked together as partners," Gwen explained. "They ended up being quite close friends, although they were separated when our fathers ended up being transferred to New York and Gotham, respectfully."

"How about you and Reilly?" Harry asked.

Gwen whistled. "Well, that's a bit of a story. Reilly was a bit of a wallflower in Junior High school when I met her. She was being picked on by a couple of girls, until I stepped in to defend her."

She shook her head.

"We've been dating ever since we started high school," Gwen added. "That's not to say that we don't like guys, but nothing so far as interested us."

"Or maybe the right offer hasn't come along," Reilly said.

Harry smiled, suggestive statement was a bit suggestive, but he managed to figure out precisely where they were coming from on that degree.

"So, what do you two do for fun?" Harry asked.

"I'm really into mechanical engineering and chemistry, so I hope to study in those two areas," Reilly explained. "And for a hobby, well I've always been into photography, whether it be photographs or video. I hope one day to capture a photo of Nightwing or Batman or both, because you know that there are a lot of papers offering good money for a shot and…..well things are a bit tight."

"Yes, that is one shot that has been eluding a lot of people," Harry commented in his calmest tone of voice.

"Academically, I'm interested in Bio-Chemistry, Genetics, and Electrical Engineering, and a focus on computers," Gwen said in a breathless voice.

Barbara turned towards Gwen and raised her eyebrow. Her tone was fairly amused. "You know, you were always an overachiever."

"Excuse me, I don't think that you're one to talk," Gwen replied. She smirked across her face and dared Barbara to refute this claim. There was no way for her to do so.

"And Gwen is really creative as well, in fact she was the drummer in a band that our friend Mary Jane was the lead singer for a while," Reilly said. There was one point that she recalled that she should have spoken of offhand. "We also both like to invent things and work on science projects for fun."

Harry learned a lot about both of the girls in this conversation. He decided to do what he had been considering since the moment that he walked into here.

"If the two of you are interested, there might be a couple of intern spots available at RAO for both of you," Harry said. He looked at the expressions on Gwen and Reilly's faces. They both seemed fairly interested to say the least. "I am looking for a research/lab assistant, although you might have to move to Gotham since this company doesn't have a presence in New York, just yet anyway."

Both of the girls looked at him and Harry added.

"We're focusing strictly on Gotham and Metropolis until we grow a little bit more," Harry explained to them. Both girls nodded, that did make a lot of sense. "But the plan is to expand into New York in five years."

'And tell them about the scholarship offer,' Rose reminded him through the bond link.

"And also, I have it on very good authority that the two of you are already on a short list to receive the same scholarship offer that Barbara has currently," Harry added.

The response to that was all three girls squealing in pleasure, and hug him. Gwen daringly leaned forward at first to kiss on the lips because she was so excited.

Spurred on by her daring move, Reilly leaned forward and gave him a nice little kiss. She was surprised and she pulled away. She was about to apologize, but Gwen shut her up with a kiss of her own that turned some heads.

Barbara leaned on in towards Harry and kissed him once more. He could tell that all of the girls were rather pleased by this development and he couldn't blame them at all.

Across the city, William Earle sat in his extremely posh looking office at the LuthorCorp building in Gotham City. The building itself was nowhere near as large as the RAO or Wayne Enterprises towers. That was more due to the fact that LuthorCorp didn't have as big of a presence on the east coast as it did in the Midwest.

Regardless of that fact, it was still a fairly nice, if old, building. It was proven by the nice and office that Earle was given.

He was just wrapping up a conversation with Roland Daggett. "Yes, Roland, I agree, the explosion of the Distribution Center has set back…."

A knock on the door has interrupted him. Earle pulled a face. "Just one second….come in."

His personal assistant stepped inside. She knew better not to disturb him unless there was something important going on. Earle peered over the edge of his glasses towards her. "What's wrong?"

"Ms. Luthor is here to speak with you," the personal assistant told him. "And she doesn't seem rather inclined to wait."

Earle looked like someone punched him in the stomach. He got on the phone to continue the conversation with Daggett. "I need to run, but we're still on for dinner a couple of nights from now."

"Yes," Roland agreed. "We can further talk business there."

It was right as he hung up the phone with a click that Alexa stepped into the room dressed in a female business suit that fit her like a glove. A smartly dressed Tess followed her in tow. Most interesting is that behind the two of them was an attractive six foot tall blonde built like an Amazon. She wore a pair of sunglasses and dressed in a black dress suit that you would expect a bodyguard to have on.

Earle was rather annoyed by the disruption, although he was savvy enough not to let it show. Especially considering the last time someone pissed Alexa off, she ripped into him so badly that he went home crying like a little bitch. She emasculated that person in front of the entire office staff and made him feel worthless.

"I wasn't expecting to see you today, Ms. Luthor," Earle said in a polite voice. "So what can I do for you?"

Alexa raised her eyebrow. She was blunt in her response. "You can start by clearing your stuff out of this office and from this point forward, I'll be taking it over so I can function properly as Director of East Coast Operation."

Earle responded to this by looking like he sucked down an extreme sour lemon. "I thought….I thought that you were going to work from your apartment."

Tess couldn't help but respond with a brief snort. Alexa crossed her arms underneath her breasts and stared forward. "Things have changed and when I first came to Gotham, I merely wanted to get a look at the lay of the land. My apartment served my purposes just fine in that regard."

Alexa allowed that to sink in. Earle didn't look too happy about not getting his way. Quite frankly, Alexa didn't care about this man not being happy. His happiness was meaningless to her as far as she was concerned.

"Now that I've done so, I'm ready to move on and in order to do my job properly, I need to work out of this building," Alexa informed Earle. "To do that, I need an office and I need a space big enough for me and my staff to work out of. After looking at the building's layout closely, I've come to the conclusion that your former office suits my purpose."

Earle couldn't do anything other than nod and act extremely sour. His lips pursed together in frustration.

"I'm taking over this entire floor and you and your staff will be moved down to the floor below," Alexa said. She finished her statement in a matter of fact matter, as if she expected this to be done and be done straight away. It was if she expected this to be a foregone conclusion, since in her mind, it was.

She didn't let him get a word in edgewise. Earle looked about ready to respond.

"And if you don't like it, feel free to bring it up with Lionel," Alexa said. Her arms remained folded underneath her breasts. "Although, I would highly advise not doing that, because it makes you look like a whiny bitch and if there's one thing he doesn't like, it's people who bitch and moan about things."

Earle nodded his head in response, practically swallowing his protest. He had no choice, but to gather up his things and move on in his life.

Outside of the Kent Farm in Smallville, Martha and Marie sat in the front seat of Martha's vehicle as she pulled up towards the drive. The environment looked very much like a winter blunderland, although things could get far worse.

There were a couple of farmhands that were puttering around the area of the far, although they were mostly doing some kind of maintenance work as they were getting prepared to the stretch.

Martha noticed that Jonathan's truck appeared to be missing and Joe Clark was there. He was showing a very large, and rather intimidating, young man in his late teens. He was most certainly a young man that would stand out in a crowd easily. She shrugged her shoulders and shook things off. She wasn't going to be one that was going to judge a person until she honestly gets to know them.

She pulled her way into her parking spot, turned off the car, and stepped out. Both of them were a bit more relaxed now that they were warm and had something to eat.

Martha left the car and a bit tentatively, Marie followed her. She was a bit wary, but the teenage girl looked around to see how nice everything looked around these parts. She couldn't really help but be impressed; no one could really when you thought about it.

Martha moved the trunk to the vehicle and went to get the groceries out. She stopped and paused and her gaze fell on a distracted Marie. "Do you think that you could give me a hand, dear, please?"

Marie shook herself out of her daze and gave her a soft smile. "I'd be happy to give you a hand."

Marie walked over and Martha handed her the groceries that had already been taken out of the car. She stopped when they almost made contact.

"Is there something wrong, dear?" Martha asked.

Marie shook her head. "No, you didn't do anything wrong, it's just….I don't like being touched."

The girl casually slipped on a pair of leather gloves onto each hand. Martha looked at her with a concerned look. "It's fine."

Martha took the rest of the bags out of the car and closed the trunk. After she locked it, she made sure to lead Marie all the way towards the house.

The two of them got inside safely, and just in time, given that there seemed to be another snow storm kicking up.

"Where are you from, Marie?" Martha asked, trying to make conversation with the girl.

"I….I grew up in a Hippie Commune in Mississippi with my parents, until my Mother disappeared," Marie replied. She frowned when she went down memory lane. Once the groceries were put away, Martha offered her a seat, which Marie graciously took. "After my mother left, we moved into my aunt's house."

Marie sighed and shook her head, before she returned to her own thoughts.

"I…didn't really get along with my Aunt and my father was never around," Marie admitted. "So, I ran away….and then there was some trouble with a boy, and I ended up running again."

Marie was happy that Martha didn't really question things too much. Rather she spoke in an extremely calm tone. She just listened to her.

"And you never stopped running, did you?" Martha asked.

Marie swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded her head. "Yes, I never stopped running."

Martha had the distinct impression that the girl was hiding something. It was one of those things that as a mother, she just had to figure that out. She wasn't about to call the girl out on that, at least not there.

"Just found my way here, I guess, drifted onto this place," Marie said. "Seems like a nice town."

"It really is," Martha said. She gave the girl a warm smile which she nervously returned.

Marie slowly slipped off her jacket and gave a long sigh. Martha frowned when she looked at the jacket and couldn't help but notice how threadbare and beat up it looks. In actuality, all over her clothes pretty much looked like the same lines. They looked like as if they were barely holding together.

Martha frowned. She knew that Claire's clothes wouldn't be big enough for her. However, she's around the same size that Martha is at this point in time and she's got some old clothes that she was going to give to good will, but hadn't gotten around to doing so just yet.

"Would you mind chopping up these vegetables, while I rush upstairs for a moment?" Martha asked.

Not wanting to be rude, Marie nodded in response. "Yeah, I'd be happy to."

She did help her mother and aunt cook in the past. Martha turned around and left the rogue girl briefly to her own devices.

It turned out that Marie was not alone for that long. An out of breath Claire stumbled her way into the kitchen, fresh after running home after school through the snow. She stopped short of the kitchen. "Mom, I'm home!"

That sound caused Marie to jump up and nearly cut her finger since she wasn't expecting it.

Claire was equally surprised by her yelp, as the girl was by her yell. The dark haired girl's eyes shifted and things slowly descended into an awkward silence between the two of them.

"Hello," Claire said with a polite smile. "My name is Claire Kent, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"My name's Marie," Marie said.

"Do you know where my mother is?" Claire asked her.

"Yeah, she had to go upstairs for something, she should come down any minute," Marie informed Claire. "She asked me to help her get some things ready for dinner."

"Do you want any help with that?" Claire asked.

Marie looked at the younger girl and shrugged nonchalantly. "Sure, that sounds find, if you want to."

The two girls set about cutting the vegetables when they waited for Martha to join them.

"So, you must be Martha's daughter," Marie said.

"Yeah, I am," Claire said. She frowned and looked at the girl's clothes. "You sure you aren't cold in that?"

"I'm fine," Marie said, but she shivered.

"Okay, if you say so," Claire stated. She helped Marie finishing chopping up the vegetables. "How did you end up meeting my Mom, anyway?"

"I was walking….I was walking across the side of the road…when your mother pulled up and asked me if I needed a ride," Marie said. Her tone was a bit nervous for some reason. Claire's sunny personality threw her off as well. She seemed like a real girl scout. "She got me something to eat and everything."

Marie didn't want to say anything, but it was way too long since she had a chance to eat a good, square meal.

"Yeah, my mom is great like that," Claire said with pride dripping from her voice.

Martha came back downstairs at this point, carrying an armful of her old clothes, along with a beat up looking jacket that used to belong to Jonathan. All things considered, it was pretty good shape. She stopped and smiled at the sight of the two girls getting along well.

"What's with the clothes, Mom?' Claire asked her.

Martha smiled. "I noticed that Marie's clothes were looking beaten up, and I had a couple of old things that I thought that would fit her sitting in the closet, so I dug them out."

Marie's eyes looked at her. "It is…"

"No trouble at all," Martha replied with a smile towards the girl.

Marie's lips curled into a smile and she made her way over to see what she could make of the clothes and try them on.

A limo just pulled up at an abandoned warehouse within the Amusement Mile area of Gotham, an area that was firmly in front of the Penguin's control. The foul bird himself stood in front of the limo, with Tracey to his right and Dudley to his left. Several of his goons were spread about around the area to provide security.

He waited for someone, and not too patiently. Cobblepot fiddled with the handle of his umbrella. Tracey was talking to someone on a headset about business, while Dudley is sending several text messages back and forth in a rapid fire fashion over the phone.

Cobblepot was getting more and more impatient with every tick of the clock. He slapped the phone out of Dudley's hand.

"What did you do that for?" Dudley asked.

"Because, I felt like it," Cobblepot snapped. He was getting extremely agitated and for good reason. Dudley had been around long enough know not to question this any further than he did. "Are you going to do something about it?"

Dudley kept his jaw set and he didn't speak at all.

"Now, that I've got your attention, what's the status of the new Iceberg Lounge?" Oswald demanded.

Dudley bent over to pick the phone. "It's moving forward, we've got a new sight, and the building supplies have been bought out of Joseph Dagget's construction company. It's all ready to go, but we're just waiting for the insurance payment to come through. Until it does, we're on a standby."

"Tracey, what's going on with that?" Cobblepot asked.

He was left waiting and waiting and waiting some more for her to finish her conversation on the headset.

"TRACEY!" Cobblepot yelled more forcefully.

"Yes, what is it, Ozzie," she commented in a business like tone.

"What is the status of the insurance…?"

He was stopped by the arrival of their guest. A little late to be honest, but she was there in the flesh and a lot of flesh at that.

Magpie stood there dressed in her usual outfit, although with the weather, she added a leather trench coat complete with a feathered.

"Well, well, such a fetching young woman here tonight," Oswald commented, with a leer over the woman. He gave her a nice visual undressing with his eyes. "Why don't you come into my limo and you can warm up a tad? After all, you don't want to catch a…chest cold."

Oswald's gaze leered to a certain part when he stated this. Tracey wrinkled her nose up in response and Dudley looked fairly amused.

"I prefer to conduct my business, you did promise me payments," Magpie said. Her attention span was not unlimited and the promise of her shiny not being delivered promptly made her very agitated.

"If you insist, darling," Cobblepot commented. "Do you have the item in question?"

"Yes, I have it," Magpie said. She held her hands on the case and seductively ran her fingers down the case.

"Then show me the goods, sweetheart," Cobblepot squawked.

Magpie walked over and placed the case containing the egg down upon the hood of the limo. She slowly snapped it open and stepped back with a flourish akin to a Vegas showgirl.

Cobblepot's eyes widened and seeing was believing as he saw the Crystal Egg of Y'ggphu Soggoth resting there in front of him.

"Now, I've shown you mine, it's time to show me yours," Magpie demanded. Her tone was breathy, but at the same time, it was dangerous.

"One moment, I need to make sure that it's not a forgery," Cobblepot said.

"How dare you assume that…?"

"Wasn't talking about you darling, if the collector put a fake on display, than this entire transaction is useless," Cobblepot said. He fished out a jeweler's eye lope to scan over the properly. He inspected in calmly. "Yes, yes, it's real, it's very real."

Cobblepot's lips curled into a smile.

"I do wonder why you would even sell it," Cobblepot replied. "I was under the impression that you were a collector of shiny things and this is very shiny."

"It is rather shiny," Magpie admitted in a wistful tone. "But considering who that I took it from, it isn't really too smart for me to hold it on any longer."

She gave the egg one last parting glance. It glinted in her eyes.

"Besides, with the amount of money that you're giving to me, I can buy a whole lot of shiny things to replace it," Magpie continued in her most excited manner. Her eyes glinted with intrigued and excitement.

Penguin laughed, he had to admit that he liked the woman's rather mercenary attitude. He turned to the Walrus. "Get the case out of the trunk, my old boy."

The Walrus obeyed his godfather's words and placed a large metal briefcase down next to the egg. Tracey moved forward to do her duty and unlock it to reveal the stacks of bills inside.

Magpie looked at the bills. While they weren't nowhere near as shiny as the egg, that was still a lot of cash. She let out a rather excited sound of approval.

The deal was not sealed, as the lights in the warehouse where they entered went completely out. There is a sound of a scuffle in the background and the sound fall silent.

The lights came back and Edgar Prince and Chang-Tzu stood across from the Penguin and the Walrus. The Penguin's men were down on the ground and that caused the foul bird to let out a surprised squawk.

"What can I do for your?" the Penguin asked, being the master of bullshit that he was. He sounded pissed off.

"You can start by returning our property to us and hand over the trollop that had the audacity to steal it," Edgar responded.

Penguin was about ready to respond. He was interrupted by Tracey tapping him on the shoulder.

"Sir, Magpie, is gone, sir," Tracey stated urgently. "And the egg and the money are both gone."

Needless to say, that piece of news sparked a shit storm when they realized what Magpie had done.

Helena Sandsmark leaned over her desk, finishing some paperwork in her office at Gotham University, fresh off of her class that afternoon. Diana was with her. Not only did she do the work in the Museum, but also, Diana served as her teaching assistant.

"The exhibit we want to put out is in question," Helena informed Diana. "The theft has caused the museum to be stalled and we're not sure if we can get it ready for the end of the month regardless."

"I'm sure that it could be fine," Diana said. She spoke to Helena in a reassuring tone of voice. She helped Helena mark her papers. This tedious process went a lot faster when two people worked on it. "Once the police complete their initial investigation, things should go smoothly. And beside the exhibit is on the separate end of the museum for the one that is stolen, and we could be quite comfortable and hopefully not get in the way."

"I'm sure that you're right, Diana," Helena said. It was a shame, a couple of greedy thieves wanted to get their hands on the exhibits that they worked so hard to get out.

The two of them sat and marked some more papers in silence. Helena decided to shift topics to her new favorite subject.

"What's Harry up to tonight?" Helena asked.

"I'm not completely certain," Diana muttered. She racked her brain and it then came to her in a flourish of inspiration. "I think that he's out with Barbara and a couple of her friends that came to visit from out of town. As far as I know anyway, but even though that I act as his bodyguard from time to time, I'm not his keeper."

"Oh, yes, right," Helena said. Her cheeks grew a bit flushed when she looked embarrassed. She shook her head and calmed down.

"But it would be easy enough to check in any event, because he never ignores a call from me," Diana added. "Or Kara or Karen or Faora for that matter…but you seem to be pretty obsessed with what he gets up to lately."

Helena was about to sputter out something indignantly, but she never quite found the means to do so.

"This isn't the first time you asked this question, and in fact you act like a love stuck teenager with a crush."

That particular statement caused Helena to grow a bit red. "I can't really help it….it's been a long time since I was romantically involved with someone and now that I'm involved with Harry….it makes me feel like I'm a teenager again."

Diana closed the distance between her and Helena. "I understand….believe me I do."

"You do?"

Helena was embraced in a hug by her and that caused her to return the hug. Taking things a step further, Diana pressed her lips lightly onto Helena's and that caused her mind to start racing.

"Yes, and I'm happy to call you sister," Diana said. Helena looked at her and smiled, trying not to look too pleased with herself, even though it was hard not to. "So, I'm finished with my paperwork. If you want me to stick around, I can….."

"Actually, I'm pretty much done myself as well," Helena said. "And now, I'm just done, so I won't be staying too much longer."

"Do you want me to escort you to your parking spot?" Diana asked her.

"Thoughtful of you, but your parking spot is on the other side of the building and besides….I wanted to call Cassie first to let her know that I'm on my way home," Helena informed her. Diana nodded in response and slipped on her leather jacket and bid her a goodnight.

Helena walked over to make a quick phone call. "Cassie…..I'm on my way home, I'll be there soon, love you, bye."

Helena gathered up her things and locked her office. She prepared to go down the hallway to her car, but her cellphone rang.

Frowning, Helena fished it out of her purse. "Hello?"

"Helena, it's me," Professor McElroy said. "Something's come up and it's rather important."

"Are you okay, William?" Helena asked. "You sound a bit off…..is everything alright?"

"It's not something that I can safely talk about over the phone," he replied after a long pause. There was a long pause when he spoke. "I swear I'll explain everything when I get there."

"Okay, I'll see you in a little bit."