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((MajorCRAZYGONUTS Update of AWESOME!!!))

Batman ignored the clown, nodded curtly at Gordon, and stalked over to the orderlies and security guards. All but one of them (one Aaron Cash) too a small, involuntary step backward, and one man actually swallowed audibly. "I want him," he began in a low, dangerous voice, indicating the Joker with a slight inclination of his head, "To stay unconscious. Keep him drugged until either the Commissioner or I say otherwise. Got it?"

Most of the orderlies stuttered something to the affirmative, while the guards just nodded. Cash threw in a satisfied little wink. With that, they wheeled the Joker into his 'home', and Batman jumped back into the batmobile. The top of the car hummed back into place, and shot down the drive like a rocket as the Dark Knight tried not to make pessimistic estimates as to how long they would actually be able to hold the Clown Prince of Crime THIS time around; four hours? Five?

Not helpful. At all. If--no, when-- the clown got out, Batman would be ready for him. Until then... he was going to look up an old friend... and maybe a few carpet instillation logs.

And WHAT was taking Oracle so long?

--

Detectives Montoya and Bullock pulled into their parking space in front of Gotham Police Headquarters, Montoya still occasionally taking small bites out of a half-eaten red chile burrito. Turning her head so that she could see their passenger, she smiled. "Didn't I tell you? Best burritos in town. Oh, don't try to get out," she added quickly, "The back doors don't open from the inside. I'll come around and get it. Thanks for the food, partner," she added, shooting Bullock a thoroughly mischievous smile as she got out.

"Yeah, yeah," he grumbled, his beady eyes narrowed meanly as he crumpled the wrapper from his own meal into a tiny ball and then pitched it onto the floor of his car.

As he got up and out of the driver's seat, Montoya walked around to open the passenger door for... what was his name again?

--

Catwoman slipped in the window of her penthouse apartment, and peeled off her mask, feeling beyond irritable. Isis, small, dark gray cat, wound around her ankles soothingly and gave an inquiring 'meow'. "I hate that clown, Isis," Selena growled. But that wasn't really the problem. Batman had sent her home, and she hadn't even gotten a consolation prize. Damn it all.

Without even bothering to change out of her costume, she flopped down on the couch and patted her stomach. Isis obligingly jumped up onto it, purring, and after a moment she settled down into a little ball of soothing warmth. "Bat, Bat, little bird, slightly bigger bird..." She sighed and scratched Isis behind the ears. "I need some sane friends, don't I?"

--

John had been wandering around for a half an hour, and was no closer to figuring anything out. This-- NOTHING about this made sense! For one thing, if the date on various publications he'd seen was right, he had lost a lot more than a few hours. And the skyline... He'd climbed to the top of a fairly tall building, just to get his bearings, and the skyline was completely wrong! And one of the publications he'd seen the date in? It had been called the GOTHAM GAZETTE. Gotham. As in... BATMAN! He was tempted to think that this whole thing was some kind of really sick joke, but even his most financially formidable opponents didn't have the resources--or TIME-- to make an entire fake city... did they?

Nonononono. He was going to drive himself crazy if he started thinking like that. Far more likely, someone was making him see and feel things that weren't there, which meant... what? Was he just supposed to wait for someone to show up and... pull him out of the Matrix? He rubbed his temples tiredly and pulled out his cellphone. He'd try... Valerie? He hesitated for a second, then mentally told himself to stop being stupid and pressed send. It rang once, and then a cool woman's voice informed him that the number he was trying to reach was no longer in service.

Blinking, he tried another number from his contacts list, and then another, and then another. The only one he left out was Misty, because... well, there wasn't much point in trying that one, now was there? Every one he tried was out of service. As a last ditch effort, he tried Blackstone's office number... and was connected to an answering machine for a New York Stockbroker's office.

He stared at it for a long second, eyes wide under his mask, then let out a slow breath and pressed 'end'. "Well... s**t," he mumbled.

--

Zira appeared in a swirl of bright smoke, right on the roof of Arkham Asylum, and watched with brightly interested black eyes as the unconscious clown was wheeled into the building. "Want to play?" she murmured, almost to herself, and then giggled. She wanted to just watch for a while. And then... maybe she'd help him. Maybe she wouldn't. Maybe she'd make all the knives in the kitchen come to life and start singing musical numbers from Beauty and the Beast! "Oooooh!" That was right! Singing cutlery! She'd said that she was going to do it; she couldn't disappoint her sadly limited fandom, now could she?

“I like that word “accident,” although it is…absolutely destitute of meaning. I like it because it is short and handy and because it answers so well and so conveniently, and so briefly, in designating happenings which we should otherwise have to describe as odd, curious, interesting, and so on.”



“Affection and devotion are qualities that are able to adorn and render beautiful a character that is otherwise unattractive, and even repulsive.”



“Yin and Yang - the two basic principals of the universe in Chinese philosophy. Yin is the passive and yielding, whereas Yang is active and assertive.”



“Now, let it work; mischief, thou art afoot. Take what course thou wilt!”

.

“Jeeze! Is it just me or is there nothing on?” Alex growled as she tossed the remote in her hand onto the table and flopped back into the overstuffed sofa.

”Well, maybe if you actually left it on a channel long enough to really watch it, you’d find interest in at least one of them.” Misty called out to her from the kitchen in the next room, still finishing up everyone’s dinner for the day.

”Oh, I have. On a few channels.” she called back. “On average, people fear spiders more than they do death. Rafflesia Arnoldi. Known as the Corpse Flower, and the largest flower on the planet. It is called so because the flower’s bloom gives off the smell of rotting meat. If you sneeze too hard, you can fracture a rib. If you try to suppress a sneeze, you can rupture a blood vessel in your head or neck and die. If you keep your eyes open by force, they can pop out. The best place to take a bullet is in the arm since there are no vital veins or organs in the arm. Hara Kiri is a ritual suicide. It’s basically ripping open the abdomen using a knife…the list goes on and on.”

”Spike?”

”….maybe.” Alex said with a small sigh. It didn’t really matter much, did it? She watched it too when that thousand ways to die and deadliest warriors thing came on.



Why don't you pat my head, read me picture books, or spend time with me?! Why?! I didn't do anything wrong! It's your fault! Your fault!!

Maria…

You didn't play with me, but-

”Not into cartoons…”


”Here’s a free lesson kiddies. Whenever your basic survival’s on the line…lose the idiots as soon as possible. Immediately divest yourselves of all losers, dreamers, wishful thinkers, and happy huggers! They’ll only drag you down. They simply aren’t practical. And survival is, in it’s essence, a most practical business.”

”No idea…”


Why won’t you say what you’re thinking?
Why will you not stop saying what you’re thinking? Why do you lead when I want to lead? When I want to talk, I’ll open my mouth and talk. What good would it be to tell you that you’re all I think about? That sometimes I can’t think clearly because of you?

”The Village…seen it.”


Just then the remote was swept out of her hands. ”If there’s nothing on, then put in a movie before Eric comes in and wants to watch his favorite cartoon again.” Misty said with a small smile, looking down at Alex from behind the couch.

Alex groaned pointedly and quickly sat up to move towards the shelf full of movies. ”NO. THANK YOU. If I have to watch the Little Mermaid…ONE more time…I’m going to jump out our window. Seriously.”

”He loves that movie. The second he thought the prince looked like him he fell in love with it. I don’t think you’re going to get away with not seeing or hearing it again. It could be worse though. I mean I can still find Barney or-”

”For the love…no. Just no. Here, Edward Scissor Hands?” She asked, pulling out a tape and looking back at Misty.

”Scares Ally.” She replied, shaking her head as she leaned down over the sofa.

”Four rooms?”

”Are you serious?” She replied, arching a brow at her.

”Skeleton Key”

”You know they’ll pick up on it, and then we’ll have little children putting sand around every door of the house.”

”Grah…I am not watching another cartoon…” she said, tossing the movie back onto the shelf. Couldn’t watch anything even if the were too young to really understand what was happening. Because thanks to Warp apparently, they were sharp as a blade and very quick learners.

KATHUNK

Both girls paused what they were doing and turned completely towards the small room that the sound had come from. The room that had been turned into a play room for the kids.

”I’ll go see. You pick something out that Eric and Ally aren’t going to freak out about, try to imitate, or ask uncomfortable questions about.”

”Ah, that leaves staring at the clock or shadow puppets. Thrilling.”

Sapphire rolled her eyes and started for the room. ”Where is Roxy and Warp anyway?”

”They went to have some quiet time after babysitting most of the day. They should be back here soon..”

/// Ack! No telling you! ///

After nearly three hours of lying across the couch, watching whatever was worth watching on T.V., Rosie finally heard Gossamer walking down the hallway towards the room. She sat up and peered over the side of the couch to look at the door.
The door opened, and Gossamer stepped into the doorway and glanced around the room. She found Rosie on the couch, and gave her a small smile. A weak one, but a smile nonetheless. She looked as though she were absolutely exhausted again. ”Hey. I’m almost done. I need a little bit of help though. Would you mind coming down with me and giving me hand with the spell?” she asked.

Rosie looked at her a moment, concern etched on her face, then nodded and slipped off the couch with her little doll tucked in one arm. ”Are you alright, Mom? Are you sure you don’t need a break?”[/b] she asked as she approached the door.

Gossamer shook her head. ”The spell did take quite a bit out of me, and I will need a break.” she said, raising a hand towards her small spell room. A small vile floated out towards her waiting hand. ”But, I’ll get to that after this. I just need your opinion on something, then we’ll do something together. Alright?”

”We don’t have to do anything if you’re that tired.” Rosie replied, following her down the hallway. ”If you need to rest, that’s alright.”

”I’m fine.” Gossamer replied, looking down at her with a smile.

Gossamer watched as she drank the little bit of aqua colored liquid in the vile, then looked back at the hallway. She was a little surprised when they stopped only a door or two away from their home, and looked up at the door. They were a good couple levels up…so a room with the number ‘13’ on it was rather out of place. Actually, the sign looked odd itself. It was hanging by only one end, and the one was broken, making the 13 look like a heart. She looked back up at Gossamer, who was smiling down at her. She still looked tired, but not nearly as much as she had been.

”Alright, all I need is your opinion on if you like the spell or not. And…perhaps give a few of it’s features a test run. Can you do that for me?”

Rosie looked at her a moment, then nodded.

”Good. Ready?” Gossamer replied. She opened the door, and let it swing open, keeping her full attention on Rosie’s reaction.

Rosie winced a bit at the light that flooded out of the room and into the dark hallway. Then, her eyes widened as much as they possibly could, and she let out a long, whispered gasp as she gazed inside the room. The doll in her hands nearly fell out of them.

Gossamer’s smile grew. ”I take it you like it then?” she asked.

Rosie stared a moment longer, then looked up at Gossamer with the same shocked expression. ”Is…is it REAL?” she asked.

Gossamer smiled and bent down to give her a peck on the forehead. ”Yes sweetie. And it’s all yours.”

Rosie stared at her a moment longer, then practically lept onto her, throwing her arms around Gossamer’s neck and hugging her tightly.

Gossamer laughed a bit and hugged her back. ”So, you ready to go test everything out? Make sure your little playground works right?.”

Rosie pulled back, her eyes twinkling and her smile as wide as it could be. "Are you coming to play with me too?"

"Yes, Rosie. Since I'm still not ready for you to be outside, we'll just play in here. This world will only appear if you or I open the door." she replied.

Rosie beamed, then grabbed her mothers hand and pulled her inside the room.
The door slowly closed behind them, leaving them all to themselves in a room that seemed to be far more like an entire world. A bright, beautiful green world filled with creatures an everything a little girl could possibly dream about.

After playing in Rosie’s new room for a few hours, the elixir Gossamer had taken wore off completely and the two retreated back to their part of the apartment complex that had been cleaned up to be their home. Rosie had gone back into her own room to take a ten minute nap, and Gossamer had retreated to her cramped little study to do the same. Just for a bit.

A rather loud THUNK awoke Gossamer from a rather deep sleep, that seemed like it only lasted fifteen minutes or so. She glanced back at the doorway, then got out of the seat and made her way towards the living room. ”Rosie?” she called out. No answer, and no one in the living room. She glanced towards the empty kitchen area, then ventured down the hallway towards the bedrooms. Perhaps Rosie was just getting out of her bed. Still…she didn‘t like that sound that had woke her up. ”Rosie!” she called out a bit louder. She’d made sure all of the security was working before she went into the small room, but that was little comfort to her. She’d be in a state of paranoia until she was certain that things would all be safe for Rosie.

”I’m in here.” Rosie’s voice called from her room.

Gossamer relaxed considerably and continued towards the room. She found Rosie standing in front of a large bookshelf, with a pile of fallen books in front of her feet. The small girl in a flowery cotton dress looked up at her an gave a bit of an uneasy smile. ”I was trying to get a book to look at before I went to bed, but I knocked one over and they all fell.”

”Bed?“ Gossamer asked, realizing that Rosie hadn’t been in her nightgown when she took her nap earlier. “It’s not anywhere close to…”

”It’s after ten.” Rosie replied.

Gossamer looked at her a moment, a bit surprised, then gave her a rather apologetic look. ”Oh, Rosie. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to fall asleep in there that long again.”

”You just made me an entire world to play in. I understand that you’re tired.” Rosie replied with a smile.

”But I was supposed to make you dinner. Did you have anything to eat?”

”I had some cereal an hour ago. Then I brushed my teeth. We’re about out of milk.” she replied.

”I’ll get some tomorrow.” she mumbled, running a hand through her hair. She visibly looked a little upset with herself. Other than playing with Rosie for an hour or two, she had completely wasted the day. Again. ”Is there anything you want me to do before you go to bed?” She wanted to spend more time with Rosie, she really did. But she also had more reason than ever to better her magic as quickly as she could. And that didn’t leave time for much of anything else. She was a terrible mother, wasn’t she? Leaving her child alone most of the day to watch cartoons and eat what she could make.

Rosie glanced down at the books in front of her, nervously twisted a socked foot into her pink floor, then looked up at Gossamer. ”Will you…read me a story?” she asked.

Gossamer smiled down at her. ”Of course.” she replied, glad she could at least something else to make Rosie happy. And she wanted her to be happy. She knew what it was like to not have a mother or father around to spend time with. She didn‘t want Rosie to feel like that. ”Pick out the one you want and hop up onto the bed.”

Rosie practically beamed and started fumbling through her pile of books. A moment or two later, Rosie ran over to the bed holding a large but fairly thin book. The background of the cover was a sickly brown color, and across the bottom was an even sicker looking cartoon drawn man. He was covered with discolored skin, boils, rashes, and a few even labeled with arrows pointing towards him. Typhoid, small pox, plague boils…
Gossamer didn’t have to see the full cover to know what book it was. It was one of the books Rosie had been through herself about a dozen times.

“Bloody Moments.” she announced happily. “Highlights from the astonishing history of medicine.” she said as she held it up for Gossamer to see.

Gossamer smiled down at her, then slid onto the bed. “Alright. So, where did we leave off last?”

Rosie hopped onto the bed with her and made herself comfortable beside her. A smile plastered on her face. “Riiiiight…” she said, flipping through the pages. ”Here! On page twenty-five. 1542, Andreas Vesalius burning all of his books and papers because the churches turn on him.” she said as she pointed at the page. At the bottom of the page was a rather depressed looking man tossing papers into a pile of nicely burning papers in front of him.

Gossamer smiled. ”That’s right. We’d just finished that page, so…”
She flipped the page, and found it full of words except for the small picture in the center of it. A man, assumable Vesalius since there were no new names in bold on the page, rather graphically peeling a man apart on a table in front of him. Blood shooting out of the man’s stomach he was pulling out, the skin pulled away from one of the man’s arms and legs, a bucket under them collecting organs that for whatever reason had a fish in it as well, eyeballs and socked feet chasing after a pair of teeth that were chasing after a slug. The man on the table was shouting ouch, and the other man cheerfully replied sorry. Gross, but still a surprisingly cartoonish drawing.
Gossamer took a quick glance down at Rosie, who’s smile had turned a shade of both excited and amused.
Perhaps that’s why Rosie loved the book so much. It was satisfied both her childish needs, as well as her more deviant interests. What was she going to be like when she finally grew out of being a child? Just plain deviant? No, Rosie was too genuinely sweet for that.

”One day he’s up to his arms in blood, dissecting a supposedly dead Spanish nobleman, when the guy moves!” Gossamer began, emphasizing the words that were emphasized themselves in the book.

Rosie’s grin grew and she giggled a bit. ”Was he just sick then? Went into a coma?” she asked.

”Hard to say, sweetie. Suppose if I get some more practice in with my magic, we could always find out.” she replied with a grin.

Rosie looked up at her with a smile. ”You’d be able to talk to the dead or something?”

”I’ll be able to do whatever I like with more practice.” she replied, then leaned down to give her a kiss on the forehead. ”And whatever you’d like.”

Rosie’s smile turned warm as she looked up at her for a moment, then snuggled up closer to Gossamer. ”You just made my own little world for me to play with. I’m fine with just getting to spend time with you.” she replied.

Gossamer‘s smile turned warm as she looked down at her daughter a moment longer, then turned back to her book. ”Vesalius is sentenced to death by the Spanish Inquisition for grave-robbing. Fed up, he sets off for the Holy Land, and is shipwrecked on an island. He dies, alone and starving, at forty-nine.” she continued.

Gossamer continued reading, but Rosie suddenly stopped paying attention to the story as something she had just said lingered in her mind a moment.

”His seven great books of intricate drawings of the human body…the blood vessels, guts, muscles, nerves, and bones…published in 1543 when Vesalius was just twenty-nine, are confirmed and extended by the Brit, William Harvey, in 1628.”

”Mom…” Rosie asked uneasily.

”Yes honey?”

”Nothing like that could happen to you, right?” she asked, looking up at her.

”Nothing like what?” she asked, looking a bit confused.

”You starving to death. Nothing like that could happen to you right? You’d be able to make food or something. It would have to be something really big, right?”

Gossamer looked at her a moment, a bit surprised at her question. Then she smiled and wrapped an arm around Rosie, hugging her against her. ”No, Rosie. Nothing like that could happen to me. I know enough spells that I could take care of myself.”

”What about someone killing you?” she asked, still concerned. ”You’re worried about something, that’s why you’re afraid to let me outside.”

Gossamer looked at her a moment. ”Yes, I’m worried. But I’m more worried about something happening to you because of something I did. I’m worried I won’t be able to protect you.” she replied, then sat the book down on her lap. ”I’m worried about…going through what happened to me before again. I’m afraid if I walk out of here, I’ll come back and find you dead. I’m not worried about myself at all.”

”But you should be…if something does happen to you…we’ll never get to do things like this again. I’ll be all by myself. I’ll never get to see you again.”

Gossamer paused and looked at her a moment again. ”You don’t have to worry about that.” she replied gently, then let her glance fall down onto the book in front of her. ”After I lost Julie, and found out about the curse, I was fully prepared to be alone for the rest of my life. That I was going to die alone. After all of the failed relationships, and being used by everyone, the feeling only got worse.” she said, then looked back at Rosie with a small smile. ”But even then when I had nothing really to live for, I always came back. I’d died countless times, but never truly died. Now…I’m not alone. I have you. If something does happen to me, I have more reason to want to live than I ever had before. I’m not going to die, because I’m not going to want to. And I’m learning more spells to help me. Curse or no curse, I’m not going to leave you. I promise.”

Rosie stared up at her for a long moment, then curled herself even closer to Gossamer. Gossamer smiled and hugged her tightly as she gave her another kiss on the head. ”And if you’re still worried about something happening to me, I’ll start teaching you a little bit of magic if you like. Perhaps talking to the dead once I get the hang of it. Then, if something does happen, you can always talk to me when you need me.”

Rosie finally smiled and looked down at the book on Gossamer’s lap, still hugging her.

”Feel better?”

”Mm-hm…” the little girl replied, nodding her head.

”Good.” she said, giving her another kiss. ”Do you want to read any more of the story now, or do you want me to just tuck you in?”

Rosie thought for a moment, then flipped through a few more pages. Finally she stopped and pointed to a page that had a man standing with a shotgun, and a rather large hole in his stomach. A few gentlemen were peeking curiously into the wound.
”Alexis St. Martin. The guy that went hunting in 1822 and was accidentally shot in the stomach. The wound healed into a perfect six inch hole straight into his stomach. The doctors use him to find out how the stomach works.” she replied.

Gossamer moved her head and gave the page a bit of an odd look. That was different…odd…she’d never really heard of anything like it before.

Rosie noticed the look Gossamer was giving and giggled a bit. ”It’s the one right before Lazzaro Spallanzani, the man who ate his own vomit to see how it changed.”

Gossamer shook her head. ”Remind me why I got this book for you again.”

Crystal was answered with a very slow moving, gleaming smile that made it's way well into C.C.'s cheeks. There was even a mischivious twinkle in his eyes. "Now, if we do have a plot conserning you...what fun would it be to tell you?"
Honestly...they probably had nothing at the moment. After all, the two other players in this story weren't really here at the moment. But....playing with people's heads was SO much fun. What fun could he have with her for a bit.

C.C. appeared on Crystal's shoulders in a puff of black smoke. "I mean...there IS a dashing young man out there who needs to find someone new in his life. Weather he likes you or not is of no matter. Cupid over there could make someone fall in love with a rock. We just need the previous love of his life to have quite a time getting him back." he purred. "I can't guarantee YOU'LL like the outcome...but I promice it will be interesting."
Suddenly he flipped himself around so that his head was on the other side of her face. "Of course, Vice needs something to do as well. I doubt he's going to find his girl just yet either. Who knows what he'd do with YOU."
He flipped again, and was on the other side of her. "Reaper's a little aggrivated. I'm sure he could cut loose with you for a moment. No Sorcerer to tie him down now, you see."
Another flip. "OR....we might have something even BETTER happen later on. This IS an 'anything goes' RP after all. What tragic and surprising twists....such delicious little plots could we unfold here." he purred. "Who knows what's going to happen...to anyone."

Without waiting for Crystal to reply or react, C.C.'s occasionally fickle attention jumped to something that was happening miles away. "Ooh!" he exclaimed as his head shot up and his ears stood as high as they could go. "Hang on, something's happening!"
Rather than 'poofing' away, he lept up and bound off Crystal's head to get more bounce and further distance. Within seconds he was on the edge of the rooftop staring off into the distance.

He stood there a moment, then sat himself down and placed a paw up to his chin and rubbed it a moment. The wheels in his head visibly turning.
"A dream sequence...eh?" he purred to himself.

Slowly...eerily slowly...his gleaming Cheshire smile curled around his face. "A dream sequence, eh?" he said about louder in a honey dipped tone. "My, my. Now THERE'S a fun little idea. Oh, but that would send the boy realing into a complete sence of confusion if I did that..." he said with a small chuckle. "I'd have to 'help' him then."

He paused a moment, then looked over at Crystal. He looked her over a moment, then grinned. "You do look a bit like Salem though...dark hair, cat ears and a tail. Hers were simply part of her costume of course, but he could get a kick out of the real thing." He thought for a moment longer, then waved the idea off. "I don't think he'd fall for alternate versions though. Even if we did put it in his head." he said, then turned his attention back to the red clad hero miles away.
"But still...a dream sequence. Yes, I think I could play with that." he said to himself with his pearly shark grin.





Terragon followed Montoya up the stairs and into the Station, finishing the last bit of his meal on the way. He followed her in, and almost instantly felt eyes on him. He felt his cheeks heat up and kept his eyes off of everyone else. He kept his focus on either the direction he was going, or on Montoya. He wanted to keep....whatever dignity he had to hold onto.





Rather than head back to the appartment, Roxanne and Warp had decided to explore a bit and see just how much had changed. Everytime they'd find something that was out of place or new, they'd venture further. What should've still been New York had turned into Gotham. Something, the last time they checked, shouldn've been miles away still.

"So, what do you think?" Warp asked, crossing his arms.

Roxanne looked annoyed. "Some universal crap again. Has to be." she grumbled.

Warp looked down at his watch and winced a bit. "Do you have any idea how long we've been gone?"

"Hours...?" Shadow replied.

Warp glanced around the area they were in again. Surprisingly, there were a few builings that he recognised as New York buildings. Tattoo Parlor, Pharmacy, Hotel....
He grinned a bit and turned his attention back to Shadow.
"We don't have to go back right away."

"We should. Alex and Misty will want to know about this." she replied.

"Pit stop first?"

Roxanne blinked, then glanced back at him. "Bathroom?"

Warp chuckled and motioned towards the buildings he had been looking at.

Roxanne looked, then quickly looked away with pink cheeks. But she didn't say anything.

Warp looked at her a moment. "....is that a yes or no?"

".....if it'll get you to stop bugging me about it like a puppy, then yes. Let's get this over with." She replied with a sigh, then headed across the street.

Warp smiled and followed after her.





Meanwhile...in another part of Gotham City that was well in view of anyone on a higher altitude....a rooftop burst into flames.

After a minute or two, the flames died down, leaving a still fuming cloaked skeleton form Reaper in the center of it. Vice stood a few feet away from him, completely unharmed, but a bit bored looking. He coughed and waved a hand in front of his face to clear some of the smoke.
"You know...you keep doing that and you're going to catch someone's attention again. I don't know about you, but I can both phase, and do this..." Vice said, then vaded into nothing.

Reaper scowled at the spot Vice had been, then jumped when Vice reappered practically on his back. "So, I really don't care if someone comes. But you might have a bit more trouble."

"For the LAST TIME!!" Reaper spat. "LEAVE. ME. ALONE!"

Vice looked at him a moment, then replied by sticking his tounge out at him. "No can do, Mr. Sunshine." he said brghtly.

Reaper yanked his hood over his face in frustration and let out a long, loud aggrivated growl. He stormed towards the edge of the rooftop, and Vice followed.

Misty flipped to a few pages back again. Then she stopped…looked at the photo…blinked…blushed….then laughed at it. She’d almost forgotten she had this one.
She and a man with messy brown hair were standing in the middle of a doorway. A mistletoe hung innocently above them, and a group of people that could be seen around them seemed to be suggesting they oblige a holiday tradition. The man was blushing, smiling nervously, and looked as though he wanted to strangle someone that wasn’t in the shot. Misty was looking at the ground, smiling, and her face about as red as could be. Obviously they couldn’t get out of the situation.
”That’s Mommy’s very, very close friend.” She replied with a nostalgic smile. ”John.”
They had managed to avoid the situation. Kind of. Valerie had left nearly fifteen minutes prior to this, and Misty was just walking out herself. John was talking to her as she walked out, and they paused under the doorway to finish talking. The person John looked as though he wanted to strangle in the picture…was his younger cousin who was the first to let them know what was above the two. And he made sure that everyone else at the Christmas Dinner seen them as well. The boy’s father wasn’t much better, and tried to nudge them on. He’d gotten half of the house to go along with it, assuming that they were unaware that she wasn’t John’s girlfriend who had walked out moments ago. They weren’t letting her leave until they’d seen a kiss.
So….John gave her a peck on the cheek and sent her out before anyone could say anything else.
That….was an absolutely horrendous Christmas. It wasn’t the worst one she’d ever had, but she had been tortured and killed that night, so that said something for her worst Christmas.
Though…she did get a better kiss from John the next day when there weren’t so many jeering witnesses.

Ally looked hard at the picture, then looked up at her Mother. ”What’s all the pretty things for? Was it a birthday party? And what’s that on the door?”

Misty blinked a moment. Oh, right. They’d only been about for about a month or so. They hadn’t had a Christmas yet, and there weren’t even advertisements for Christmas or anything yet.
”It’s…its’ a very, very good holiday. Remind Mommy to tell you all about Christmas tomorrow. Okay? It’s time for bed, and it’ll take me a while to explain it.”
And it would. As smart as they were, they’d be convinced it was just like a Birthday party…and they got a lot of gifts from someone new. She really didn’t want them to think that. She didn’t want them to only think about the presents, even if they were young.

”Ok. But more pictures now.” Ally replied, patting the page again. She didn’t care to inquire about something new if Mommy told her that she’d talk about it tomorrow. She wanted to see more pictures right now.

Misty sighed, then turned the page.
The next page she came to was a group of people standing outside the doorway of a restaurant. Above the door, was about the oddest name a restaurant could have. But, it was Heather’s new restaurant, and she liked the ‘Cat O’ 9 Tails.’ A sign in the window listed something that couldn’t quite be seen, but she remembered there being at least nine different types of foods listed on the sign. Chinese, Mexican, Italian, Indian, American…just about any kind of cultural dish Heather could find. Nine main ones, but she couldn’t remember exactly what all they were. Her attention was always on the…outfit’s the people had to wear that worked there. Namely herself when they needed help there. Ugh.
In front of the restaurant, were three girls, and three boys.
Misty simply stared at the photo for a moment with that nostalgic smile again.

Ally grew impatient at her mother’s silence again and pointed at the picture, having little interest in the words or doodles on the page beside it. ”Who they?”

This was going to be a bit hard again…considering who all was in the picture. ”They’re some of Mommy’s very good friends.” she replied. And fellow teammates.
She looked at the three women in the picture first. Other than herself, there was one with blonde hair pulled back into a tail, and the other with long black hair that was visibly layered. ”That’s Mommy….Scarlet…and Heather.” she replied, pointing towards each one.

Eric looked at the girls, then popped his head up and looked up at Misty with a smile. ”That’s John! Mommy’s good friend”. He said, pointing to one of the three men in the photo.

”That’s right…” Misty replied quietly. ”Mommy’s very, very good friend.” she continued after a small pause. Then she stared at the last two faces on the page.

Ally wouldn’t let her dwell on the faces too long. Her finger was quickly pointed straight at them and she looked up at Misty with an expectant smile.

Misty sighed. ”That’s…Alan.” Misty replied quietly, hoping Ally would simply point to the next person so she could turn to another page.

No luck. ”He your friend too, right?” she asked.

”Yes. He was…he was Mommy’s friend too.” she replied. He was more than just a friend…but she didn’t really want to explain that one. ”And so was he.” she continued, pointing towards the next face to try and get through all of this as quickly as she could. ”Jove.”

With that, she flipped the book to a few pages back before either one of the two could ask anything else.
Her heart sank when she seen the picture she had flipped to. A group sitting at a café table…one man pointing at Misty with a rather snarkey grin on his face. All faces the two had already seen, so she thought she could just flip to another page and they wouldn’t mind.

Eric seen the picture though, and sat up with a wide smile as he placed both hands on the page before Misty could even turn it. ”I know them!” he said happily.

”Me too!” Ally exclaimed with the same excitement.

Misty stared down at the photo as the two began pointing and naming each face off. Her nostalgic smile had faded into something more…remorseful.

”That’s Mommy! That’s big brother Andrew! That’s Mommy’s good friend…John. That’s Mommy’s good friend Jove. And that’s Mommy’s good friend…Alan?”

”Yes…” Misty replied quietly, still staring at the photo. ”That’s right.”

”Why do you look mad at Jove, Mommy?”

Misty paused a moment in thought, then smirked. “I wasn’t mad at him. We were all talking about something and he made a silly joke about something I had said.” she said with a smile. ”He did it a lot, and I would make jokes about things he did. I wasn’t angry at him. I never could be. He was just doing what he always did. He was just running his….” she said, then took a sudden and very noticeable pause. The smile on her face completely disappeared from her face and she stared at the photo.
She could feel tears begin to push their way through, so she closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the wall. ”He was just running his mouth. Like he always had. No matter how much trouble it got him into…” she said quietly to herself.