Ascension 2

Chapter Sixty-Five: The More They Stay the Same.

Last night was one that no one who lived it would ever forget. Actually the last couple of days were extremely intense. It was not every day where a person saw someone comes back to life and exactly why that happened remained a mystery.

Those were the questions that Dinah Lance wanted to find out. It seemed to be weird, even in the insane world that she lived in. It happened and she wanted to know why. She joined Harry at Grant's Gym to try and figure out what the hell was going on.

Grant's Gym was one of the more spacious areas in Gotham, which was curious considering that it's a gym. There was a good reason for that if one wanted to look into the history. It was an older building and everything in Gotham City was larger than life. So why would this be any different.

Dinah, Harry, and Ted were there later that morning. Harry decided to take his seat on an extremely comfortable armchair, and his arms wrapped around Dinah. In turn, Dinah took the extremely comfortable position that was in Harry's lap.

There was a sense of awkwardness in the air, for a couple of reasons. The most obvious one was that last night, there was no question about the fact that Ted Grant died. There was no two ways about it. Dinah could feel the life leave him when he was in her arms. Hours later he was up and about, and almost joking about what happened.

It was just another Wednesday for him, or so he said. They would get some kind of explanation regarding that and soon.

Harry was curious about this, because he was not one to believe in any kind of divine intervention or miracles. Something super natural was going on and he was determined to find out what. The only man who could give him a possible answer sat in front of him.

Grant was looking far better than he had seen him previously, in fact the man looked like he had about ten years shaved off of his life. Nothing was said, and it seemed like all parties in the room were waiting for someone else to be the one that broke the silence.

One could cut the tension in the air with a knife and Grant looked at Dinah and Harry, both of them staring back at him.

Finally, he decided to break the tension because things were getting awkward. "….I don't even know where to start to explain this."

Dinah's eyes flashed, looking towards her mentor. She carried on in an extremely confused voice "….I saw you die….."

"I know," Grant replied gruffly.

"That's it, you know," Dinah said and she felt almost exasperated. Harry tightened his grip on her. "I saw you…..I saw you die."

In response, Harry squeezed her reassuringly and she breathed heavily, leaning back against him, his arms snaking against her body. She was momentarily relaxed, but there was some tension still bubbling in her body. She didn't know what to say, she didn't want to know what to say.

"I know what you saw, kid," Grant said quietly and he could see how badly shaken up that Dinah was. "Yeah you did…and yes, I did die; only problem is that it doesn't ever seem to stick."

Harry blinked and he opened his mouth but sure enough Grant was able to explain, at least to the best of his abilities.

"The Wildcat possesses nine lives," he recited. "John altered a curse placed upon me…..some sorcerer named King Inferno put it on me, wanted to turn me into a cat. I refused to throw a boxing match to him. So he was a little bit peeved about it. Zatara altered the curse a little bit, so instead of turning me into a cat, I got nine lives."

"And just how many of those nine lives have you lost?" Harry asked, raising his eyebrow and Grant shifted with a sigh.

"More than what I care to remember," he admitted gruffly and grudgingly. "But, it was all worth it….back in the good old days of the JSA, and it's not like the first time I died."

'Well that's news to me….my father never told me that he was actively involved in the JSA, I wonder if my mother was as well,' Zatanna thought, looking rather thoughtful.

"You act like this isn't a big deal," Dinah said, intensity flashing through her eyes.

To Wildcat it really wasn't, and in response, he waved her concerns off nonchalantly. Her eyes fixed on his with a burning fury.

"It isn't like this was the first time I died, kid, it won't be the last time I die either, I got a few more in the bag after this," Grant said gruffly. "But, every time, the funny thing is, I come back in better shape than I did before I died. Starting to feel like the fucking Highlander here."

Dinah and Harry looked at each other, and they were both thinking the same thing. With this curse, Ted was going to outlive pretty much everyone that he knew and cared about. At least with them and their longevity, they had their fellow bondmates as support.

Before anything else could be said, there is a knock on the door and Grant gave a gruff grunt to invite the person in.

The door pushed open and Holly pushed her head inside.

"I'm here for my lesson," Holly said and she looked a bit surprised. "You know, you're usually there out here waiting for me….."

She stopped and looked at Harry and Dinah, surprised to see them here. Especially Harry, because the last she checked, he was with Selina just a couple of hours ago.

"Had a rough night," Grant said, as if that explained everything and to him, it explained more than enough.

"And he did, so I'll be the one covering your lesson because the old man needs a break," Harry said, lifting Dinah off of his lap.

The crime fighter dropped to the ground. Dinah smiled, she was glad that Harry took charge. Mostly because she didn't want to deal with Ted's stubbornness which was legendary.

Grant scowled at the implication that he was an old man, especially since he felt about ten years younger after what happened last night. He picked up a nearby water bottle and tossed it towards Harry. He showed great reflexes by catching it in his hand.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of it," Harry said, turning around and leading Holly out of the gym, leaving Ted and Dinah alone.

There was a lot that could not be said easily and Ted looked at her, intensity flashing through his eyes. "Look, I'm really sorry I put you through that….but it isn't something that you can exactly bring up in a daily conversation, you know."

Dinah would have to concede that it wasn't really possible for him to bring it up in an every day conversation.

"Plus, you know it's not something that I like to think about," Grant added and Dinah nodded.

"Fair enough," she said to him. "So….do you have any other powers?"

"Enhanced strength, reflexes, and stamina, but nothing on par with Harry, because I've seen that kid throw punches that can dent steal," Grant rattled off. "And I can heal just a little bit faster, although the body can still handle so much."

He walked over towards her and much to Dinah's surprise, he wrapped her up into a tight hug. That caused her to become surprised and wondered if his death caused him to be replaced by an entirely different person.

The fact that she returned it made him slightly uncomfortable a bit.

"Okay, enough of this….so are we all good?" Ted asked and Dinah punched him right in the face in response. "Just like your mother, I swear….."

Dinah once again caught him in the shoulder, which stung. It would have stung a bit more than it did if she didn't bother to pull her punch.

Faora and Harry made their way down to the Lair after Harry finished up his training session with Holly for the day. They were going to meet with Lara, to see if he recovered completely with his most recent set of injuries.

The recent set of injuries were alarming. Both siblings agreed that it would be a great day when Harry could function without the watch. Neither would deny though that the watch was useful in the sense that it allowed Harry to gain some valuable experience without his powers.

'The shotgun blast was bad enough, but the beating you took at the hands of Grundy, that's pretty awful as well,' Kara thought with a grimace and she was not the only one that was not grimacing.

'And we need to take another look at your CORE, because the sooner that the watch can be safely off, the better off that you'll be,' Faora thought, clinging tightly to her brother's arm.

She wasn't about to deny that the watch had done him some good. It was just as if she wasn't about to deny that there were some likely drawbacks from having the watch on her.

Lara did want Faora down there to assist with the check up, but Harry got this sense that she wanted to see Lara. Mostly because Faora had a bit of an attraction towards her.

Also, she had this sense of malicious satisfaction that she was able to satisfy the wife of Jor-El better than he ever could. Then again, one needed to wonder how Kal-El ever got born, because Jor-El seemed to be distracted by his work. As a consequence, he didn't pay his hot wife the attention she deserved.

That was a question for another time and Faora decided to share something with Harry.

"I've been talking to Kate Kane as of late….well on and off….." Faora told Harry and Harry turned towards her, encouraging his sister to continue, so she did continue. "She's not as deeply in the closet as everyone think she is…..but she does need to keep a lid on things."

Faora sighed and she added as an afterthought.

"The Kanes have that public image that they need to keep."

"I know," Harry said, raising an eyebrow and Faora opened her mouth and she was surprised.

"You know?" she asked and Harry nodded in response.

"Yes, I know," he concluded, and they made their way to the newly functional Medical facility that was a bit below the main part of the Lair.

It was something that Alura, Karen, and Peve have been working on recently, in secret, and they had just recently got it completely functional.

He turned around and he saw a very enthusiastic looking Lara wearing a nurse's uniform waiting for him. A bright smile on her face got even brighter when she saw Harry approach.

"Har-Zod, it's good to see you again," Lara said with a smile on her face. "We finally got Hard Light Holograms installed down here and in the Penthouse as well so…..well it would make things much easier."

"And the rest of the tower…"

"About ready to follow in a month or so," Lara said and she swept her lover into a hug.

She kicked things up another notch, giving him a blistering kiss. The two felt their tongues tangle together in sheer dominance with each other. Harry increased his kiss completely and tried to overwhelm the woman.

Not to be outdone, Faora gave Lara a brief kiss, that pretty much left the door open for even more in the future if they wanted to go down that road.

Now that they had that all out of their systems, it was time to get down to business.

"Doing the same for the tower in Metropolis, aren't you?" Faora asked and Lara nodded. "I thought so."

Between the two of them, Lara and Faora slowly stripped Harry's clothes off. They would have normally admired the merchandise. Business called before pleasure. There would be sufficient time for pleasure later.

"Okay, Har, please sit down on the examination table, and we can get started," Lara said, she could almost sense a lot of drooling from certain parties on the bond.

'You know, some of you act like you haven't seen Harry naked,' Karen said, but never the less, she was drooling in her own way from both sets of lips.

Lara was making some observations on Harry, while Faora took notes of her findings on a tablet.

"So, how are you studies going?" Lara asked Faora and Faora's face shifted into a sheepish grin.

"They've taken a bit of a backseat unfortunately…..with all the work that I've had to do, I've become a part time student at best, but I'm sure that there will be plenty of time for them to pick back up," Faora said and she smiled, looking forward. "And my studies underneath you for Kryptonian medical sciences move along at a brisk pace…."

"I'm glad that they are, you are a very adept pupil," Lara said making a few more observations base on what she found out from Harry.

"Well they are helping me with my course load at Metropolis City University," Faora said and she looked at Lara who frowned. "What, what is it?"

"Yes, what is it?" Harry asked, he hated to be left in suspense, especially when it was his own health that was at stake.

"You're healing really well, actually all of your most recent injuries have been completely healed, and I've got some encouraging news on the scan that I did with your CORE," Lara said and she smiled. "Roughly speaking, and keep in mind, you know this is an estimate, don't you?"

Both siblings of Zod nodded their head in response.

"By the time that you're twenty one, it should be fully healed, and you should have a chance to take that watch off," Lara said and she looked at him. "And I'm sure that it's time to give you some news about your extension and…"

"It's a mixed bag, isn't it?" Harry asked her.

'Very,' Morgaine chimed in through the bond link extremely grimly. The prognosis wasn't very good. 'We've got some good news after all of this, we've been able to siphon off enough of the magical energy, that we can start healing the burn damage to his hands and forearms, but it's a gradual process, and his CORE is more trashed than yours is." 

'Wonderful,' Harry thought, he understood why it was so slow.

There was a chance that it could damage both the duplicate and the prime model as well.

'I'm trying to research conducting a ritual that might bring him out of his coma, but there are so many variables,' Lily said, pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration. She knew the easy way to deal with this but she didn't want to go down that route.

Faora knew it as well.

'It's not like we can get close enough to him with all of the magic that he's giving off,' Faora thought, she really was having the same misgivings that Harry was that a duplicate of him had lived that long and grown to be so independent.

The interesting thing is that the one that they put on Paradise was not growing so far in the other direction. He was Har-Zod and did not grow any further than that, into living his own life, and state of independence. That was what should have happened with this one but Harry had a slight miscalculation and now there was a boatload of headaches.

'That was just a mistake, I put a little bit too much into that one,' Harry said and that was agreed by with all.

'I, Nimue, and Circe are helping Lily conduct the research to see if it's even in the realm of being feasible,' Morgaine said and she would have to grudgingly agree that Harry did put a little too much into this one. Otherwise, he wouldn't have done what he did, and did something that would potentially endanger the master copy, not even himself.

Of course, when the master went, boom went the slaves.

'Nyssa went over to Africa as well to see if she could find something to help him,' Daphne thought. There was no one would said that he was beyond help, especially since the duplicates weren't supposed to live a life of their own.

'I'd dunk him in the Lazarus pit, if I didn't know that the consequences would be worse than leaving him be,' Nyssa said, she had a long and heated debate with Talia, who talked her down from that, reminding her that the short term and long term consequences would be catastrophic.

'No, I wouldn't recommend that,' Lily thought, while those pits had healing properties, they were the tool of the devil.

Faora and Harry looked at each other, again, they both knew what the most humane thing to do was.

'So, how are things going over there?' Harry asked, deflecting the conversation.

'Reminding me why I got sick of this place in the first place,' Lily said, narrowly evading the question and she sighed long and hard. 'If he ever does wake up, then I think that it might not be the best for him to deal with the hell that the Wizarding World.'

'The possibility for brain damage from what happened is high, until he's out of the coma, we won't know,' Nyssa said and that was another reason why Talia told her that it was a stupid idea to hurl him into the pit.

A brain damaged super powered zombie that ruled on feral instincts would not be the best thing in the world. Especially with the fact that he would be nothing but chaotic and untamed energy that would attack anything and everyone and ask questions never.

"So, you're health is at the optimal state, which is the best thing possible," Lara said with a smile to Harry.

"I'm sure that you'll agree, but perhaps a further demonstration is in order," Harry said, not wanting to think of his duplicate, mostly because he put the blame entirely upon himself for what happened.

"Yes, a demonstration is in order," Faora said, wrapping her hands around the hard light hologram and the dark haired Kryptonian stripped herself naked in the meantime. "Perhaps a more through, physical examination is in order."

Lara leaned into the kiss that Harry gave her, and the green eyed wizard pushed her lips around hers. The kiss deepened even more, both experiencing great passion. The two of them indulged in each other and Harry's hands roamed over her body, causing the pleasure the spike through her.

"No panties," Harry said with a smile on his face and he brushed his fingers over her body, finding her dripping hot slit.

"No," Lara said and his fingers worked their way between her smoldering hot thighs and the blonde closed her eyes. "I find that they're too confining, especially when we just want to get to business."

Faora pressed against her back, her naked breasts against her and the dark haired goddess kept kissing her over and over again in the back of the neck, spiking her pleasure up to new levels. The dark haired woman moaned, feeling the pleasure increase with each kiss and she was being pushed closer to a brand new edge.

"Just relax, we have you," Harry smiled, and his cock was erect and ready to go.

"Oh, I think that everything is in working over," Lara breathed, and she draped one of her thighs over Harry's leg and then her other thigh, brushing her hot pussy over his throbbing manhood.

His hands roamed her body, her nipples growing erect and his hunger was sated when he wrapped his mouth around one of her sensitive buds. He drew her nipple into his mouth

Lara closed her eyes and allowed the pleasure to really soak in when Harry pushed into her body. Faora was pressed against her on the other end, and Lara found herself pressed between the two siblings of Zod.

Her breasts were exposed and she grinded against Harry in response to his actions. His hands were everywhere, and Faora's hands roamed down the back of her legs, and then met her ass.

"I think that she wants to be double stuffed, doesn't she?" Faora asked and she looked at Harry, who worked his cock into Lara's dripping core once again.

"Oh yes, oh please," Lara moaned, her warm grip hugging his manhood.

"First, I'll let Har-Zod play a little bit," Faora whispered sensually in her ear.

Lara was guided down onto the bed, her hot pussy tugging his tool and her wet walls grinding him once again. She pushed her hips up and met his throbbing tool when he worked himself into her body.

Lara was seeing stars and she felt his manhood push deeper into her body, so deep that it was nearly obscene what she felt. Her pleasure increased and spiked to a different level when he worked his way into her.

"Fuck me, fuck me until I'm not able to walk, I can't get enough of your cock."

"You're a nympho, aren't you?" Harry asked her and Lara nodded.

"Yours, now keep fucking me, until I can't take any more and fuck me even more," Lara pleased, stretching her thighs a bit to accommodate the new intruder in her.

Once he was sheathed inside her, her soft thighs closing around his tool. Harry wasn't about to deny someone like this, especially when her wet walls wrapped around him with such desire and he spiked himself through her hot and willing loins.

"Fuck I think we need to put that dirty mouth to more use."

Faora placed her pussy over Lara's mouth and the blonde took it into her mouth, sucking it. Her talented tongue drove Faora to an orgasm really quickly.

Harry placed his hands on Lara's hips, and she returned his fire thrust from thrust. His tool got a workout when her deliciously hot walls rubbed his manhood. The blonde breathed heavily when the other child of Zod rubbed her pussy down onto Lara's face and she took her tongue into her again.

"Damn she's so hot," Harry grunted, and she clenched him. These hard light holograms were completely accurate and he liked that, he liked that very much.

Eventually though Faora was going to make good on her promise and she smiled pulling her pussy off of her.

Faora raised her hand, summoning her trusty strap on and placing it on.

"A dirty slut like you needs to be fucked in the ass," Faora breathed and Faora strapped on a dildo.

She made some improvements to it, to increase the pleasure for all parties involved. It still didn't beat the real model attached to Har-Zod but perfection was hard to duplicate.

She pushed herself into Lara and the blonde cried out in pleasure when Faora worked herself into Lara from behind.

"How's that?" Faora asked Lara.

Lara could barely answer for a moment. All she could focus on was the pleasure that bombarded her from both sides.

"Excellent, oh really excellent," she whimpered and the pleasure continued to excite her body.

Faora smiled, she was glad that she could drive this intelligent, driven, and quite beautiful woman to such pleasure. It caused her to feel extremely good about what her potential was. She was wasted in a marriage with someone like Jor-El, granted he did provide for her and wasn't abusive, but that was only a small portion of the battle.

"Really good!" Lara squealed, perhaps she felt greedy, but she wanted even more.

"Yes, I would have to agree," Harry grunted, joining his sister in double teaming this woman, who squealed with pleasure.

"Oh god, oh fuck, you're my gods, both of you…..well goddess," Lara whined and she felt Faora's breasts pressed against her back and Harry fondled her own breasts.

"I know that you belong to us, and I'm sure that you enjoy these moments….."

"Oh, Rao, I'm going to overload," Lara whined, biting down on her lip.

She felt even more pleasure explode through her loins with Harry's hard dick continuing its journey into her. There was something that had to give sooner or later.

Their lips were all over her as well, stuffing her from either end.

Harry grunted, the recent tweaks to the system were paying off, this tight pussy hugged his probing tool and he continued to work her over. The blonde grinded back against him with lustful desire flowing within her body.

He felt her body heat up and he brushed his fingers against her nipples. They were hard and responsive to him. Harry tweaked them and her squeals increased after a few seconds.

"Harder, please," Lara closed her eyes, once again she thought that the pleasure sensors were heightened because the amount of pleasure that she felt was mind blowing.

Faora grinned, she could sense what Lara was thinking. Both siblings double teamed the blonde and gave her so much pleasure she couldn't stand what she felt.

"We might have made a few tweaks, yes," Faora whispered in Lara's ear, flickering her tongue over it.

"Oh god, it shows, it really shows," Lara whined and she could feel Faora saw into her from behind, her ass being treated.

That was nothing compared to what Har-Zod did to her and he really put her through the paces. She could feel him deep inside her, to the point where she was sure that she was gushing. There was a certainty about the fact she gushed hard.

Her hot juices spilled out of her, coating his cock, and that allowed his path to her sweet center to be of greater ease. He grabbed her breasts and played with them, her pleasure increasing when he pushed his way into her hard from above.

Her tightening walls wrapped around him, and he pushed down into her, the response to his actions increasing. In response to her response, he picked up the pace.

"Damn, oh fuck," Lara said, snaking her hand around his arm. The blonde MILF squeezed it and encouraged him to go even harder into her. She wanted to feel him all of the way in her, there was no question about it, that's what she wanted more than anything.

"Yes, indeed," Harry agreed, and she squeezed him.

It was obvious by the movements of her body, she wanted one thing and Harry was going to give it to her in a matter of moments.

"I'm getting close myself," Faora panted, biting down on her lip with immense pleasure.

"Don't hold back, just let it go," Lara begged her lover; her mind was growing heated with anticipation, her body being put through the paces.

"I think that this installation was a success, you are fully optimal," Harry said and Lara captured his lips in a heated kiss, rolling her tongue around his mouth, as he pushed his cock into her.

His balls grew heavy with their gift and something was getting close to having to give. All he had to do was push himself to the edge, a little bit further. He increased the tempo when he brought her over the edge. His thrusts grew frantic inside her body, pushing himself over and over again into her, and she closed her eyes.

"More, deeper, again," Lara breathed and suddenly the dam burst.

Harry's balls launched their fluids into her and Lara jerked his cock off, making sure that his seed spilled into her hot and waiting body. She grinded back on him, and the pleasure continued to flow through her body.

The three laid, in the afterglow of their fun, the love juices being spilled all over the bed where they laid.

Three gentlemen were sitting at a table at an upscale Italian Restaurant in the heart of Gotham City. The name on the marquee was "Sal's" and it should be obvious that it belonged to the Maroni Family. It was named after the recently incarcerated leader of the mob.

Big Lou, Tony Zucco, and Eddie Skeevers sat around the table, and they were mostly here to eat but there was a fair bit of discussion on the business moving forward.

"You know, we should help Sionis take it to Thorne," Zucco said, cutting up his steak and looking at the men right there. "Thorne's about up there with the Roman and Sal, even if the two are on the bench. Therefore, we need to make sure he doesn't muscle into too much of our territory."

Big Lou actually might have mistaken Zucco for dead if he wasn't yapping. He didn't have any activity going on between his brain most of the time. That being said a blind squirrel found an acorn every now and again.

"Got a point, for once," Big Lou grunted, helping himself to some of the spaghetti. He chowed on it.

Neither Skeevers nor Zucco were going to make commentary on Big Lou's eating habits because they weren't stupid.

"Someone took down Jansen last night," Skeevers said and the two gangsters turned to him. "Beat the shit out of him, left him hanging, and not in the way most intelligent women do either."

Skeevers laughed but when he realized that no one was playing ball, he continued.

"So, the skin trade is wide open."

Big Lou slammed his fist down on the table and turned towards Skeevers. "It's wide open? Then what the fuck are you waiting for, engraved invitation?"

The intense glare caused Skeevers to shudder and stammer. "I'll…..I'll get right on it."

"Damn right you will," Big Lou said, he wasn't dicking around with something like this. That was some big business in Gotham City.

Before things could progress further, things exploded around them. The three men managed to throw themselves down on the ground and two limos pulled up.

A bunch of machine gun toting men exited the limo and began to fire on the restaurant with reckless abandon. They took no prisoners in who they attacked, even if it looked as if they only intended to send a message.

Several people who were eating fell dead in their plates and it was pretty much a massacre and one other thing was certain, any thought of taking Sal's advice to ease up had been hurled out of the window.

These fuckers made it personal and the war was now on.

Vicki, Kara, and Harry exited the limo, with Diana in tow, making their way to a local café. It was pretty close to the tower. It was a nice place to visit and in fact, Harry and his girls frequented it very often. Even if it was extremely foreign to Vicki, she appreciated the trip there.

"So, this is your first time being here?" Harry asked and Vicki nodded in response.

"Do you come here pretty often?" Vicki asked him and Harry smiled.

"Yes, I have."

"I've had their coffee a couple of times, my Producer brought me some," Vicki said and she shook her head with a grimace. "I don't know, my Producer seems to be pretty hacked with me for some reason."

"Why?" Kara asked, curiosity getting the better of her and Vicki just shrugged in response.

"There's something about insurance rates, and paying out of the nose to get me any coverage, I didn't really get the gist of it, but that's along the lines of what he said," Vicki said with a shrug. "I wasn't really paying attention; he was kind of walking away and mumbling when he said that."

Vicki suddenly remembered something.

"Oh and Juno Jones might be relocating to Gotham City on a full time basis," Vicki said and wicked grin crossed her face. The reason why came to her and it was quite delicious "That's got Summer's panties in a knot quite nicely."

Diana frowned; she was bit out of the loop, so she didn't really know what Vicki's issues with the other woman was. She opened her mouth to ask. Before she could speak, a hand from Kara's direction clapped her on the mouth to prevent her from talking.

Kara could sense the confused thoughts swirling around in her fellow Alpha's head and the desire to ask questions. That was all well and good. There was just one problem. She really wasn't in the mood to hear another rant from Vicki about Summer Fucking Gleeson.

Suddenly, and surprisingly, Diana bit her hand in response and that caused her to give an involuntary shudder.

'Some weird fucking kinks, that one,' Donna muttered, shaking her head in amusement.

'You know, I'm her, and I didn't even know I had that one,' Karen said and Patricia, who was sitting with Karen smiled. The busty blonde turned to her friend, who threw her hands up in response. 'Don't even think about it.'

Anyway, they were here to meet Sarah, and introduce her to Vicki. Harry thought that it would be just good business to have her have a contact within the GCPD. Not to mention one that was not trying to kill her.

Vicki made all kinds of new friends in the GCPD.

Speaking of the lovely Ms. Essen, she was waiting for them, sitting at the table and casually flipping through it. There was a news story about Jansen who was found in his apartment after the police were called in.

More seriously, there was the fear that Calendar Man will strike again on Thanksgiving.

"You know, he won't do it, but it's a good thing to be vigilant," Harry said and Sarah nodded.

"Yes, best to plan for an attack that might not happen, then be unprepared for an attack that does happen," Sarah said in agreement and she turned around to greet him with a smile.

"Sarah, this is Vicki Vale, Vicki this is Sarah Essen," Harry said and the two women shook hands with each other.

"There are a lot of people in the GCPD that are real fans of your work," Sarah said, with a knowing look. Obviously they knew that it was a thinly veiled warning that there are a lot people on the Force that wanted to see her dead.

Accident or otherwise, they weren't too fussed about how.

"Yes, I'm aware," Vicki said but she saw Diana sit down, with Kara sitting down next to her, and Vicki took the seat next to Harry, who had sat down next to Sarah. "So, exactly why don't you think that this Calendar Man will strike on Thanksgiving?"

"In Psychology class this year, there is a heavy emphasis on extremely personality disorders, and this guy is a walking example for those things if I've ever seen one," Harry said and Sarah nodded. "He is one for rituals and doing his crimes coinciding with a monthly holiday is right on that ally."

"Yes, that's the consensus of the Major Crimes Unit as well," Sarah replied briskly, but that being said, she agreed that they shouldn't take any chances, in case he deviated from the past pattern.

The five of them enjoyed their coffee in silence, a few recent events had been touched on but obviously the Calendar Man killings were first and foremost on their mind.

"That being said, it looks like that it's going to be a quiet Thanksgiving," Harry said and he used that opening to shift the topic of conversation into another area. "So, I'm having Thanksgiving dinner at the Manor, and I was wondering if you would like to come."

"It might be an interesting change of pace, so I'll be there," Sarah said, she could use the downtime.

A ring on her phone brought her out of this conversation.

The downtime was not something that she would appreciate today, for she got a call.

"There's been an attack….where….at Sal's?" Sarah asked and at the same time, Vicki got the same kind of call.

There was no rest for the wicked on this day in Gotham City. An attack at a place owned by the Maronis was the furthest thing for a coincidence that one could imagine.

Barbara made her way back to their base of operations, she was getting the hang of how things worked around the tower and getting used to the systems. The systems were a lot for anyone to take in. It was a good thing that she was a fast learner.

That being said, the Clocktower seemed to be her home away from home or rather a third home of sorts if one wanted to be technical. She had spent a lot of time here and Nightwing and Talon flittered out, with the occasional guest appearance from Black Canary, when she was around. Never the less, they spent a lot of time there when they were not on any kind of patrol.

'Gotham City, where the rain happens about as much as the crime,' Barbara thought and she made her way from the elevator, dripping wet and soaked to the bone.

The most galling thing was that it decided to wait to rain until after she got out of the car and was on her way to the tower, so she was caught out in the middle of the rain, wearing nothing but a jacket.

She was soaking wet, and she entered the Tower, inside the loft area. She stopped short and what she saw caused her eyes to bulge when it caught her off guard.

She saw Nightwing pulling the shirt on that was part of the top part of his costume but she caught a nice glimpse of his body, and she grew red. He did have a body on par of Harry's.

Nightwing was turned around for a little bit and he didn't see her at first, his costume got bent out of alignment last night. Not the damage that it had in the past, but he spent some time fixing it up this morning.

He heard something behind him with his sharp hearing and turned around to see Barbara standing there, drenched to the bone. A frown was on his face. It was obvious that she was gobsmacked, so he did his duty and helped her out.

The next thing Barbara knew, she was led by the hand, towards the nearest bathroom and he helped her out of out of her clothes, and she could feel his hands brush against her body, when he slowly stripped her and the fact that she was backed up didn't help.

"Two more months, two more fucking months," she muttered underneath her breath and Nightwing turned towards her.

"What was that?"

"Nothing," she said, her cheeks reddening as she was standing here in a pair of bra and panties, which thankfully weren't that damp.

Although if she was not careful, the panties in particular would get that way. She shook the improper thoughts that she had out of her head.

"Are you sure?" he asked and she shook her head.

"Positive," she breathed, blinking when she shuddered. More shivers grew through her mind.

The mantra was becoming one that caused her to grow completely mad.

Barbara was handed a long t-shirt that was laid around. She was thankful for it because it caused things to be more decent.

"Always keep a spare change of clothes here, in case I need it, and I think that this will be pretty good to help you cover up," Nightwing said, the shirt stretched past her knees. "Your clothes will be dry by the time that you're ready to leave for now…"

"Yes, but this will do for now," Barbara confirmed, and the two of them made their way over to the mission control area, and sat down.

"So, what's on your agenda for tonight?"

"Nothing in particular anyway, unless something happens regarding the Calendar killings, but that's been quiet…..you sure that he's not going to strike on Thanksgiving?" Barbara asked and Nightwing smiled.

"He skipped over Columbus Day and went straight to Halloween this past October, and the same with Arbor Day and September after hitting Labor Day, so…..I think that he's a once in the month villain, Nightwing said and Oracle frowned. "Right now he's gearing up for December, and that could be a problem."

"Do you think that he might strike on Christmas or…..if he celebrates a different holiday that month?" Barbara asked and that was a good question.

"Well, we're going to be prepared for what happened all month, and with each crime, more information comes in," he said and someone like that might start slipping up and leaving little subconscious clues.

This criminal had some amount of vanity although he kept it under wraps at least for now.

"So, let me just check my network to see if I have any more information," Barbara said and she frowned, there was a fair amount of old news on here, but how fast information traveled, she wasn't surprised. "And this would have been useful about two months ago."

"What?" Nightwing asked.

Oracle barely kept a laugh down. She shook her head, bemusement rang threw in her.

"It says here that Deacon Blackfire might have developed powers from being exposed to the meteors that crashed into his prison bus," Barbara said with a sigh. "That's why he had that cult like thrall over people…where he could captivate them with a mere speech and stir them up into a frenzy."

It came from one of her younger contacts, who developed an interesting, some might say an obsession with the meteor infected. It was a shame that they didn't get this a couple months ago when it would have been more useful.

Barbara stopped and received information from a girl who was called herself Athena, about the most likely identities for Batman and Nightwing. She snorted in amusement.

"Well, she did a lot of research on this one."

"Yeah, she put in some research, and time and effort," Barbara confirmed, frowning and the information was detailed. "But, you know, I'd fucking know if my boyfriend was the god damn Batman."

She averted her eyes slightly at that moment, focusing on some of the more interesting conclusions, with "Athena" dismantling the theory about how Nightwing may be a female as the ramblings of crazed mobsters who got hit in the head one too many times. There was also a fascinating theory about how Nightwing was a shape shifting dragon from an alternate dimension who could take on a form of either a male or female that Barbara had to laugh at.

The things people on the Internet discussed, well they were humorous.

'Oh, how can we get so close, but yet get so far,' Dinah thought.

"Oooh, this is interesting though," Barbara said, putting that fascinating reading away for something that really sparked his interest. "Enigma has been pretty busy online lately…vague stuff right now, but something that's a cause for concern."

"How so?" Nightwing asked and she reached over, helping herself to a cup of coffee before she answered the question.

"He's been trying to gain access codes to a couple of the most restricted communication networks, and he's gotten far along enough to raise some concern," Oracle said, sipping on the cup of coffee and she could feel Nightwing's hands resting on the back of her chair. Normally she would have snapped over someone hovering, but she really didn't mind now. "The most prominent would be from Wayne Tech."

That would have piqued the interest of anyone.

"Remember, Miss Quinzell, most fears are rooted in the theater of the mind, therefore it's your thoughts that make them real and your nightmares that you will consume you," the man in the shadows whispered, with Harleen making her rounds around the Arkham Wing at Blackgate, taking notes.

"Um, that's nice, Doctor Crane, and yeah, this has been a really enlightening discussion," she said, the man caused shivers to go down her spine and not the good time.

The next statement he gave didn't help matters.

"Please, Harleen, call me Scarecrow," he commented but she was already out of the cell. "She fears what could happen if she looks deep into her mind, for deep inside her mind lingers demons that will corrupt the soul even of the most hardened of men. Or in this case, women."

Harleen didn't really mind making her way around the area of the wing, there were a couple of prisoners were chatty, but for the most part, they were oddly tranquil. She spent a few minutes talking to them all. Sometimes they talked back. Other times, she might as well have talked to the wall.

She rested to a stop to the last person in the Wing and he would have to be the person that would have the nicest room. Then again, why wouldn't he be, because he was the most prominent prisoner.

"Guess, you're still out of it, aren't you, Mr. Falcone," Harleen said and she peered down next to the man.

He looked to be in good shape, but he was much thinner than he was when he got in here and his eyes were vapid.

"Gotham's going to be pretty quiet this holiday season, and I think we can use a break," Harleen continued, her words nervously picking up a steadier pace. "I mean…..I guess we really can after everything that happened…..but anyway, I guess you should have a Happy Thanksgiving."

Harleen walked off but the moment she left, the Roman's eyes flashed a bit with recognition and he spoke in a low whisper.

"You have a Happy Fucking Thanksgiving yourself, doll face."