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"I think so... Other than this Lady Deathstrike going around turning people into cubes of goo..." She said almost absentmindedly as she placed the box in her jacket and walked back out the door as she took the phone into her hand.

She stopped and looked at a couple of kids lurking around her bike and made a shooing motion with her free hand. "Shoo. Shoo." The two ran off seeing a cape and she got on her bike and turned the key. "I'll call you back, sugar."

Crystal responded with a 'I love you too', weather or not he had ended the call on his side yet or not. She then hung up her side and placed her phone in her pocket.

Crystal drove off for the Wayne Manor.

(Exit Crystal to Wayne Manor)

"Heh, Mother would appreciate it if we didn't. She has enough on her plate let alone settling a group of bouncing children." Rebecca replied with a light laugh.

It wasn't long before they came upon the tall, red brick appartment building Rebecca had spoken of. As the car pulled to a stop in front of the building, Rebecca undid her seat belt and moved to get out of the car.

Rebecca giggled and opened the door to slide out of the car. "Oh, you can count on it." she said, then walked around to the other side of the car. There she waited for Julianne, then moved up to the doorway to let the both of them inside. "We're all the way to the top floor. It's a hassle walking up the stairs, but we never had to hear anything... disturbing from the ceiling." she said with a smile. "If we did, we just assumed it was Batman."

Rebecca led Julianne up the stairs. The appartment was... alright. Probably nothing like what Julianne would be used to with the money she probably made from Vandal and her regular job. But... it was clean enough. A few pictures and plants placed in odd locations... not un-similar to some of the cover ups the hotel had to do when Vandal was angry. Paint and wallpaper was peeling, the floor was scuffed and stained, graffiti peeked out from behind quick attempts to clean up the wall. An Asian woman was singing not far from behind the door leading to the second floor. Kids footsteps were clattering back and forth near the door to the third floor. Another foreigner was arguing something to another on the fourth floor... “foot-ball” was the only recognizable word that was said.

And finally, upon reaching the fifth floor, Rebecca grabbed the scratched metal handle and forced the door open. ”Here we are.” she said, waiting for Julianne to go in first before following her inside. ”Last door on the left.” she said, then began to lead Julianne down the hallway.

On their way down the hall, a door they had passed opened. ”He-heeeeyy~ Rebecca!” a man called out. Rebecca stopped, grimacing a bit as she did so. Straightening herself up, she turned around to greet the man. Her expression as polite as she could manage. Sure enough... he looked like he always did.... stained jeans hanging around his waist, red and white stripped boxers pulled well up to his stomach, a stained white tank top hanging over them, hair that hadn't been brushed all day, and a half-empty bottle of beer in one hand.

”Carlos.” she nodded, then quickly tried to continue to the door that was only a few feet away from them.

”Didn't expect to see you down here this early.” Carlos said with a smile, then noticed the blonde that was with Rebecca. ”Heeeey~ Who's your friend? Is she one of the girls from the Lounge too? You guys should have come down wearing your tight little-”

”We're here to take the kids to the Circus, Carlos. And again... we don't wear the uniforms out in public. It's for paying customers only.” Rebecca replied, then moved to knock on the door.

”Just because I can't afford to go up there, doesn't mean you can't bring it down here.” the man laughed.

”Go back to your baseball game, Carlos....” Rebecca sighed, then began knocking on the door.

The man whistled. "Ooh, a little testy too." he said, then turned around in the doorway and took a swig from his beer. He grunted, then wiped his mouth with the side of his hand. "Alright, alright. Commercials should be over anyway." he said. Curiously though, he didn't make a move to leave.

It didn't matter though... a moment later there was a rattling behind the door, and it promptly opened. A man wearing a black and red baseball cap moved back as he opened the door, and Rebecca grunted and took a few steps back as she was nearly tackled away from the door by a girl half her size.

"Becca!!" the girl squealed, dark brown pig tails flopping back.

"Oof! Hehe... hello to you too Stacey." Rebecca smiled, trying to regain her balance.

"I thought you said you wouldn't be here for a few hours!"

"Well," she began, then gave Julianne a smile. "I found a ride over. There will be no smelly taxi cars today." she said. Thankful about that, and thankful that the door had opened when it did. Carlos was a friend of the family... neighbor for years now. But..... he was a pig when he had a beer or two. And if the game was on... he'd have well had three cans by now.

The little girl looked up at Julianne and blinked.

Stacey smiled widely at the other woman. A gap between her front two teeth. "Are you one of Becca's friends?" she asked excitedly. "Do you want to come in? I can show you my drawings! And we're having cookies when they're done!"

Stacey beamed, then grabbed Julianne's arm and practically dragged her past Rebecca, the young man standing in the doorway, and into the living room.

Rebecca laughed a little as she watched. The younger man shook his head, then looked up at Carlos. He was chuckling a little, then waved and went back to minding his own. Closing the door behind him.

The boy shook his head. "He wasn't bugging you, was he?"

"No more than usual." Rebecca replied.

"Thought you wouldn't be here till later."

Rebecca smiled. "I have had.... quite a few surprises lately. I'll tell you about them later." she said, then moved to walk inside.

While her brother closed the door, she looked around for where Stacey had yanked Julianne to. She found her father sitting in his sofa in front of the tv... as always. Hopefully the good news would get him out of the sad state he had been in for years now. The mother was in the kitchen, pulling the fresh cookies out of the oven as a younger boy sat backwards at the table, looking through the bars of the chair at the cookies. The youngest child was sitting on the floor of the kitchen, out of the way, playing with playdough on the floor. Stacey had pulled Julianne inside the children's room, and was in the process of pulling out her make-shift artbook to show off to her new friend.