Ascension 2

Chapter Sixty-Six: Family Business. 

Nightwing bounced back to his feet and saw his enemy circle him. He had no idea really what prompted this attack. All he could tell was she was ready to go in for the kill. The crime fighter wasn't going to make it that easy. He dodged the attack, as his enemy swung a large sword, a katana, much like the name sake of the person that was attacking him.

He started to rack his mind for reasons why he was attacked but he could figure out nothing. He was attacked out of nowhere when he patrolled one of the nicer areas of Gotham City. The reasons why he was attacked, they were really lost on Nightwing at the moment, right now, he had to avoid the attacks from Katana.

The sharp cold embrace of the steal very nearly came close to impaling right through him.

'Okay, I get attacked out of nowhere, and I'm really at a loss to exactly why,' he thought to himself and he jumped into the air.

The second katana swipe nearly cut his arm but the third one, showed that Nightwing was not playing around. He shifted back slightly, gripped her around the wrist. He twisted her arm, enough to give her a firm warning and disarm her. And then with one more fluid motion, he whipped her off to the side.

She went flying several feet away from him and the wind was knocked out of her when she connected to the ground. That gave Nightwing ample enough to pull out one of the throwing knives, snatching it into his hand. He held it in a reverse grip, ready for the attack.

But just as Nightwing armed himself back up, Katana did the same thing. She stood there in a sleek black body suit, with a dark mask covering her eyes, which shifted in determination. She clutched the sword in her hand and didn't even speak. She didn't seem to be among the chatty type which suited Harry fine.

The only thing that was missing was a flash of lightning behind them but both warriors stood, squaring off with each other and they charged forward.

The clang of solid steal bounced both of them off a little bit. A second attack caused neither blade to meet resistance. They exchanged numerous rapid fire slashes.

Thanks to his training, Harry was quite adept with a blade. That was something that was showcased when he blocked all of the attacks of the skilled warrior, over and over again.

That being said, he wasn't denying her abilities either, she was rather skilled. She gave about as well as she received. He had to keep on his toes. He blocked what could have been a game ending swing with her sword, and then twisted her arm back, and kicked her hard once again.

With one fluid motion, she did a forward roll, landing on her back, and then nipped up, and swung at him once again.

Both blades clashed together and it was more of a clash of wills than a clash of blades that drove both of these warriors to push each other forward in battle. Katana felt sweat roll down her face, but her determination grew greater when she stared at him with a burning gaze.

"Not one for conversation are we, well that's fine, you started this, and I'm not going to go away until this is finished," Nightwing said, and he did wonder what Katana's angle in this entire mess was.

She swung her namesake at him, the two swords clanging together in a loud movement and sweat rolled down both of their faces.

"Are you going to yield?"

He decided that answer was a big and obvious no, but he couldn't do anything else. The fight continued. The harder he fought, the more determined she looked to take him down.

Suddenly, Katana backed off and ceased her attacks. Harry didn't really understand why she did this.

'She may have learned what she wanted to,' Jaime suggested, soundly extremely wary.

She was right to be wary. Suddenly several shuriken flew in Harry's direction.

He deflected them all but their inclusion into the battle was just a diversion for what would happen next, and she jumped back, sending a second volley of shuriken at him. He deflected them one more time.

A smoke bomb was dropped to the ground and clouded the area. Nightwing moved forward but she was good at mastering her surroundings and disappeared into the night as suddenly and mysteriously as she appeared.

She didn't say one word when she arrived, one word as they fight, or one word when she left. So needless to say, there was a lot of confusion as to why she attacked him in the first place.

'Okay, things have gotten rather strange tonight,' Nightwing thought and he was about ready to rush forward to see if he could find out what exactly was up.

That would have to wait. Suddenly, he was stopped cold by the phone ringing.

It was Sarah, speaking at the contact number that he gave her. Harry frowned, he knew that she wouldn't call him, unless it was important. So with one fluid motion, he took the phone into his hand.

"So, what's up?" Harry asked her and Sarah was surprised to hear that he was a bit out of breath.

"What…"

"Ran into someone but they got away," Harry said, answering the unasked question and he decided to cut to the chase. "So what do you need?"

"I need to speak to you, in person as soon as possible, information is too sensitive to be talked to over the phone," Sarah replied to him.

"Exactly where?"

She was prompt to answer right away. "On top of the Gotham Central Building."

"I'll be there," Nightwing said and he prepared to move off. He had questions and he was going to have them answered in a matter of seconds.

Sarah waited patiently on the top of the GCPD Gotham Central building, in the early hours of the morning. It wasn't quite night, but the sun had not risen up either. Peak hours of crime had been over for a long time. Things were oddly calm. So calm that she expected something would happen.

Of course, oddly calm in Gotham City meant that there was something dangerous on the horizon. She called him a while ago and waited. It wasn't too long ago, so she reminded herself to stay patient.

'Wants to make sure the coast is clear, that's understandable,' she said and she shivered slightly, the late autumn weather was dipping into the winter weather. She should be used to the worst weather weather, but living on the East Coast proved to lead to some pretty bad winters.

She reached into the pocket of her coat, fumbling with the pack of cigarettes. She was nearly out of them, so she reminded herself to get a fresh one. It wasn't like she inhaled entire packs like some members of the force did.

That being said, the only light that was visible was the lighter, when she managed to get a spark. A nasty habit, but one she could not quite kick and one that kept her from strangling certain people in her day to day life.

She was so glad she didn't have to deal with Nashton directly for example. The brief times she encountered him had been sufficient. Branden tested every bit of her patience for example, but she supposed that was the case for a lot of people. That being said, the young female cop took a drag of her cigarette.

She barely heard the sound of footsteps next to her. The sudden voice that cut through the air caused Sarah to jump into the air just a little bit.

"You know, if you keep this up, it's likely going to kill you before you hit fifty."

She turned around and saw him standing there. "Maybe that's the point…..but then again, working as a cop in Gotham City is also likely to kill me before I'm fifty."

That was a point that Nightwing had to concede.

"And it isn't like half of the force has their vices, I mean, I smoke, so does Gordon, John has an addiction to a man name Christie who makes the best cookies in all of the East Coast, and Bullock is single handily keeping donut manufactures in Gotham City in business with his eating habits, that make a pig look civilized," Sarah rattled off. She only was catching her stride. "And Montoya has a lot of rough sex with anonymous women….and…that's not getting into the members of the force who take a little off the top from what we confiscate with the drug busts…..so I guess some of us have ways of coping and it's…..well some are less than ideal than others."

"Okay fair enough," Harry conceded and he went a bit into the shadows, leaning back against the wall. "What do you need to talk to me about?"

"I don't mean to ruin your night, but the Roman came out of his coma last night, and his lawyer pulled some legal bullshit," Sarah said and there was really no response for that one. Harry crisply nodded and she took that as the opportunity to press forward. "He's been held for too long, without going to trial, so he's going to walk first thing in the morning, no questions asked."

Harry whistled suddenly at that statement.

"A problem, but not surprising," Nightwing said after a few seconds thought.

'Well to be fair, I think that we could kiss the calm before the storm good bye, because there's a storm coming, with the Roman back in town' Dinah thought and there was really no question about that one.

Harry figured out that much, the Roman was going to make up for lost time. Given what happened regarding the Carmine Hotel, the man lost a lot of time.

"You don't seem surprised that he got away without any trouble," Sarah said, bringing his attention back around to her.

"Not really," Harry replied in an honest and candid voice. He arched an eyebrow. "Are you?"

"Given what I've seen go on in Gotham City, I don't think that anyone could be too surprised," Sarah said.

From the shadows, Nightwing gave an extremely brief smile. "Very true, I'll keep in touch."

'The entire game plan might have changed,' Harry thought, and it was not as if he had enough problems to deal with.

'With the Roman back in town, it's only a matter of time before he returns to the territory that he lost,' Jaime thought, and she wondered how much of his condition was a put on to get some time off and how much of it was real.

It started real but she was sure that someone like that needed a break from the hustle and bustle of the Gotham City underworld.

'We'll deal with this, just like we deal with anything else,' Nightwing thought.

He wondered if the Roman understood how much Gotham City changed since had been put out in a cationic state.

'He might be in for a rude awakening,' Faora thought but they were all going to sit back and see how this show played out.

'So do you have any idea why Katana attacked you?' Kara asked and Harry frowned.

'A couple of theories, but nothing concrete, she wasn't parting too much for any information, but one problem at a time,' Harry thought tensely.

It went without saying that the Roman was a huge problem that they needed to deal with and soon before he spilled all over Gotham City.

Carmine Falcone exited Blackgate Prison, smooth and sophisticated, despite the fact that he was a bit thinner than he was before he went in. But nothing but a few good meals could fix.

He saw Alberto and Mario waiting for him, respectful as always, and his nephew Johnny Vitti, who tried to look sophisticated, but he was pulling off nothing more than a dopey look. Carmine didn't bother himself for it, he allowed himself a nice spring in his step.

"It's good to see you boys are all in healthy spirits," Carmine said in a jovial tone and he took half of a step forward. Despite the fact that there were differences in the family, just like there would be differences in any family, there was nothing that could ruin his good mood. He greeted both of his boys and then turned. "Johnny, it's been too long, hasn't it?"

Johnny nodded, focusing his eyes on his Uncle.

"How is your mother doing in Chicago?" Carmine asked and his bodyguard made his way over to his side. Carmine leaned over a very stylish looking cane, not quite gaudy enough to be classified as a pimp cane, but it was certainly something special.

"Good, I think," Johnny said in his usual dopey voice.

"Well that's decisive statement if there ever was one," Alberto said, keeping his voice high enough so he could take a careful jab on Johnny, but not high enough where his father could hear it.

"It's been a long time, and I want to know, what's going on with the business in Gotham City."

Mario and Alberto exchanged a tense look at each other, they knew this was coming but it didn't mean that they were going to like it.

"Well boys," Carmine said and he looked at both of his sons, with Johnny sitting down on the limo far away from the situation. Alberto and Mario took seats on either side of their father.

"There have been some problems…" Mario said and he drew a deep breath, talking about the situation. "There's some big shot that names Sionis….."

"Roman Sionis, one of Gotham's elite," Carmine said in recognition and Mario nodded in confirmation. He didn't see him to be the type that would have mob aspirations but that just went to show you.

His sons began to give him a full status report of what was happening, each piece of news more damning than the last.

"Don't forget to tell him about that chick Nightwing," Johnny said and Alberto gave him a look that indicated that he better just shut the fuck up while he was ahead. Never one to be quick witted, Johnny opened his mouth. "And then there was Zucco and his boys at the hotel and….."

"You lost the Carmine Hotel," Falcone whispered, managing to put two and two together.

"We were just getting to that," Mario said, shooting his cousin one of those looks before returning his gaze to his father. "It was Zucco, he ambushed us, we lost a lot of men on that day."

"That hotel was in our family for generations and you go and lose it," Carmine said and the man snapped his fingers. "Just where is your sister and Bobby Gazzo in all of this?"

"Gazzo's dealing with a turf war in Metropolis, Ugly Mannheim and the rest of Intergang is causing all kinds of shit," Mario commented and Falcone raised an eyebrow. "And Sofia is back in Sicily with her dying husband."

This was more news to Falcone and he looked at his son. "What is he dying of?"

It was Johnny who chimed in. "Stomach cancer or something."

All Carmine did was grunt in response and he turned to Mario. "Call Sofia and tell her that her father wants her ass to get back here, yesterday."

"Right right, I'll do it," Mario said, it wasn't as if he would be able to deny a request like that.

"So, what's up with Selina?" Carmine asked and he noticed that Mario grew rather uncomfortable at her name.

"Well, we had a falling out," he said delicately, choosing his words.

Carmine grunted in response. "That's too fucking bad, but that's not what I fucking asked…..what's her condition."

"She's alive," Alberto said, speaking up for the first time. "And she ended up getting into bed with Harry Fucking Potter of all people, they went into a partnership to buy out the Cat's Cradle from the previous owners."

Carmine didn't really have much to say about it, Harry Potter was an interesting player on the chess board in Gotham City. He would have to find out where this young man's angle was in due time.

The limo pulled up in front of the Gotham Royal Hotel. Carmine wasn't pleased about losing his grandfather's hotel to Maroni's faction.

That being said, the Roman, despite being on the shelf for some time, still had a great deal of pull in the city, and his hands in a lot of pies. He contacted the General Manager of the Royal, and had him clear out the Penthouse for his own personal use. Sure enough, there were a lot of members of the Press arriving.

Which the Roman was glad of, his return should have been documented for the world to see and he exited the limo, followed by Alberto, Mario, Johnny, and his bodyguards.

As it turned out, the Press weren't the only ones there. Alberto surveyed the scene and saw some of the Gotham's elite out in force. He saw Bruce Wayne and he smiled, the Falcones and the Waynes had history going way back. He was pretty sure that he got a glimpse of Harry Potter, and there was Vicki Vale. No doubt she would make a lot of it.

The Roman had been in this business a long time to know that any press was good press. There was another reason why he called this press conference. It would let his enemies and allies alike know that he was back in town and he wasn't taking any shit at all. He frowned, when he saw some potential rivals in Roman Sionis and Oswald Cobblepot.

He took note to see that Cobblepot was pissed off. Given how the opening of his club did not go as planned, the Roman summarized that he had a lot to be pissed off about in this day and age.

It was some time before the Roman fought his way through the various members of the Press and by that time, Harry Potter was standing on the roof of a building across the street, with Diana standing beside him. He peered down on the impromptu Press Conference below. He watched it, deep in thought.

'I can't really help but compare this to a King holding Court after a long winter,' Harry thought, shaking his head in amusement.

He was giving a speech and doing the respectable businessman thing. A few people might buy it. For others it was some bullshit that sounded really good. As a result he came out smelling like roses, despite being completely and totally full of shit.

"On par with the Waynes, Cobblepots, and Potters, really," Diana muttered and Harry smiled.

"For what it's worth, the Falcones are resources wise, personality wise on the other hand, the Cobblepots more or less."

Harry caught a glimpse of Selina, who was standing in the midst of the crowd, keeping her eyes fixed on Carmine and Mario. He saw her eyes shift in malice. Her head turned around to fix on Harry, who was standing on the roof.

Their eyes met for a brief moment, before Selina turned her attention back to the scene of the Roman making his return to the public eye in Gotham City after being away for their health.

It angered her to see how some hailed him as a conquering hero.

While the Roman was holding court, this seemed to be the perfect opportunity to strike and strike hard. An individual with a Bozo the Clown mask, with a red hood pulled over his head, along with a hooded sweatshirt to match, sauntered onto the scene. He was outside of the bank.

"Okay, boys, get ready, because we're going to blow this one sky high," the man in the Bozo the Clown mask said and he scoped the entrance of the bank.

The Ex-President Gang had gained new life as the Red Hood Gang; well most of the original members were in prison. It was obvious that the lone member of the gang that had escaped custody after the incident that Vicki Vale got kidnapped was the one that was wearing the Bozo the Clown mask.

"Okay, Happy, Dopey, Chuckles, Grumpy, you boys know what to do," "Bozo" said and the four clowns exited the car, wearing masks with black suits, and they toted machine guns as well. There was a fifth clown that was driving the truck. "Krusty…"

"Krusty the Clown" turned towards him. "Yeah, boss?"

"Make sure you keep a nice eye on the truck, make sure no one else takes it for a ride," "Bozo" said and he led his men into the bank.

There were very few people inside. "Bozo" smiled, he would make these people remember what happened for the rest of his life.

"Krusty, I got a better idea, they say the Roman is back in town, well…..time for us to pay our proper respects," Bozo said and the other clowns turned around. "Okay, you goons, stand back….and let's break down the door of this bank."

The clowns backed off, the Red Hood Gang kept returning in new and more dangerous forms, like a really bad STD that would not go away.

Krusty moved over, seeing a garbage truck that belonged to Falcone's Garbage Sanitation service. He entered the truck.

"Gun that motherfucker," Bozo cheered and said motherfucker was gunned and it was gunned hard, smashing through the front entrance.

There were screams from the people who were piled up in the bank, and the tellers screamed in terror.

The clowns made their way into the bank, all of them laughing like mad people. The security guard fired his shotgun and blasted Chuckles away.

The Red Hood Gang responded by unloading their guns into the security guard. "Dopey" held a large chain in his hand and the other clowns put their guns on the bank employees.

"Alright, Krusty, gun that mother fucker!" "Bozo" yelled and the vault was ripped completely open.

Happy and Dopey moved into the vault, carrying four duffle bags between the two of them.

"Fill her up, Krusty get rid of that fucking truck, and bring the car back around," Bozo ordered and Krusty nodded, backing the garbage truck back over, not carrying who he hit.

Happy and Dopey filled the bags up with money, while Bozo and Grumpy ordered the door. Chuckles laid on the ground, dead.

"A moment of silence for Chuckles, a dumb bastard who got himself shot," Bozo muttered in a somber voice before he did a complete about face. "You got the loot, let's get out of there!"

The quartet of clowns made their way out of the building, where Krusty was waiting for them at the entrance with the getaway car.

"Did you get rid of that truck?" Bozo asked him and Krusty pointed one gnarled finger to the building across the street, where he had gotten rid of the truck. "Good, about time you fuckheads did something right, let's get the fuck out of here."

The Red Hood Gang escaped before the police had any idea what happened. They would be long gone, well most of them would be, before they would approach the scene of the crime.

Harry sit himself in the passenger seat of his car, with Diana doing the driving, and they were on their way to the Manor, where there would be an extremely large get together for Thanksgiving and it was going to be a family affair.

"There's going to be a lot of people coming by, aren't there?" Diana asked and Harry nodded.

"It's going to be a bit of a madhouse, yes," Harry agreed, reclining back in the seat of the limo. "Everyone is going to bring a Plus One but…..that's not the point, we kind of had a damper put on the holiday a little bit."

'No kidding, with the Roman out and about,' Dinah thought and she sighed. 'Thought that he might never wake up, but you don't want to count someone like that out.'

'And we have another problem coming up with Christmas around the corner,' Jaime reminded them all.

'Our nutcase Calendar Killer is just bound to strike again,' Kara added and she shook her head. 'What does he have up his sleeve this time?'

'I suspect for maximum impact, it might be Christmas themed,' Harry thought, in deep contemplation of that. 'And there is a possibility that he might have celebrated another holiday, but I'm not sure about that.'

'So some sick as hell rendition of the Twelve Days of Christmas maybe?' Karen suggested and Lily and Rose turned to each other.

'It looks to be that way, and that could have maximum casualties if the killer goes down that road,' Lily thought and she sighed. 'But with the Roman back in town, things are going to get heated.'

'We could get some extra eyes and ears in there, you know in the various different camps,' Faora suggested and she smiled in response.

'Oh, do you think that something like that would work?' Pamela asked, chiming in response.

'It's bound to work I think,' Hippolyta suggested. 'That way, we can collect information into different camps, if it's of particular importance.'

'It's a pretty good idea,' Diana said and Harry frowned.

'Maybe, but it does seem like it's a good idea in theory, but really not so much in practice,' Harry thought and he brushed the strand of hair away from his face.

'And after what happened last time, we should increase the security around the girls at GPA,' Kara thought and they all knew that she was referring to the Cobblepot incident.

The principals involved handled that situation well. It could have gone much worse.

'Yeah, we got out of things nicely…..but you know now what's to stop the Penguin from trying something like that again?' Rose asked. She really wished she could ring the neck of that foul fowl, and if given half of a chance, she certainly would have.

'We'll do it, a public bodyguard, in addition to the private one that we have, and as an added layer of security, we'll assign Penny as their full time driver,' Harry thought, which caused Penny to chime in.

'What about…'

'Don't worry about me, I much prefer to drive myself around anyway,' Harry thought.

'Granted, it's going to be odd, someone of your net worth driving yourself around,' Karen suggested and that was agreed by all.

Before they could get any further along this line of conversation, Harry's cell phone rings. He looked over, seeing the computer which told him who was calling. He was taken aback by who called. It was Sam Lane of all people.

'Hmm, that's very interesting,' Harry thought, picking up the phone and then answering it.

"What can I do for you, General?" Harry asked in a respectful voice, and that caused the man on the other end of the phone to be put completely off guard.

Harry could tell that wasn't the response that he expected.

The General seemed to be rather put off, and it was obvious that he might not have expected Harry to answer the phone in such a way. "I have….a favor to ask you regarding Lois."

"What is it?" Harry asked him and the General proceeded to explain the situation to him.

"I'm being temporarily reassigned to Germany for several months, and I'd rather not uproot her," Lane said and Harry listened in closely. "I was hoping that you would look after her."

"Sure, I'd take her in," Harry said, without even thinking about it. "For about how long?"

"Anywhere, from about three to six months, it depends on a couple of factors," Lane responded gruffly. "And I can't go into those factors, unless you sign a confidentiality agreement."

Harry figured that it was big time. Something like that needed a confidential agreement would be serious.

"I'll sign whatever you need," Harry replied. "And I'll be happy to take her in regardless of the circumstances."

"Right, thank you for your help…..and….could you….."

"It's on my way there," Harry said with a smile, even though it could not be seen on the other end of the phone.

Sometime later, Harry and Diana pulled up to the Apartment complex, where Lois lives with her father. The moment arrived they found Lois waiting with her father's aide.

'So what's Lane's aide's name again?' Lily asked.

'Coulson, I think, Phil Coulson or something like that,' Diana commented.

'Figures, I swear every single male aide in the government is named Coulson, they must mass produce them in a factory or something,' Rose thought shaking her head.

Diana and Harry got out of the car and saw Lois there. The twelve year old girl was packed and ready to go. She alternated with pacing back and forth, and then she bounced on one foot, to the other, looking rather hyperactive. There were several large bags that were packed up next to her.

"HARRY!" Lois yelled, seeing that he showed up and she nearly bombarded him with a hug in excitement. Diana arched an eyebrow and Lois continued as an afterthought. "And Diana, too!"

Diana could not help but be amused. Then again she had little sisters.

She greeted them both with a hug. "Oh this is going to be so awesome, I can't believe it, I mean, the General…normally he takes me off but I guess that he must really like you or something, to allow me to say with you, he doesn't like that many people."

"So, you're pretty excited to go there, aren't you, Lois?" Harry asked her and Lois nodded. She began to chatter away, much to the amusement of Diana, who cleared her throat. "Why don't you help Lois get her bags to the car?"

Diana did so, left alone with the overexcited twelve year old girl. Thankfully the fact that she had younger sisters caused Diana to be able to handle anything that Lois bombarded her way.

"So, do you have anything for me to sign?" Harry asked quietly and Coulson nodded in response.

"Just some papers to make you Lois's legal guardian in the General's absence," Coulson said and Harry nodded, that made sense, although that did raise an eyebrow.

That being said, he prepared to sign the legal documents. He noticed that if anything happened, Lois would have the choice with staying with Harry permanently, or going to live with her Uncle.

"Thank you," Coulson replied and Harry looked at him.

"Would that be all?" Harry asked and he nodded in affirmation.

"Yes, that would be all, I got to get going…I have to meet General Lane at the airport, we've got an early flight out," Coulson said and he moved in to a car that was waiting.

Lois was still eagerly chattering away, as Harry got into the car, with amusement dancing through his eyes.

An hour later, Harry and Diana made their way to the Mansion, with Lois bouncing in behind them, as happy as can be.

Trying to keep himself from being amused, Harry reached into his pocket, fishing his key out and opened the door, to push it open.

He looked forward and smiled, there was a sight that he didn't see every day, Bruce Wayne was in the living room, making animated conversation with Amanda and Emily.

'Should I be concerned, or should I be intrigued,' Diana thought.

More people would be flittering in sooner rather than later.

"Perhaps we should thank Miss Vreeland for the idea to merge the Wayne and Potter thanksgiving festivities together," Alfred said turning up; he had been chatting with Penny in the corner, catching up on old times.

"Well thank you Alfred, I figured that would be a lot less stress on all sides, and besides, I think that the extended family of the Gotham City Elite should get together," Veronica said, turning up with Bunny in tow, who smiled. "Daddy couldn't make it…..you know how that is."

She went forward, and greeted Harry with a lengthy hug, and then she stole a quick kiss from him. Bunny looked at her, and tapped her foot impatiently.

Amanda looked up in amusement and gave the younger Vreeland sister a sympathetic look.

"So, the Kanes should be arriving momentarily, shouldn't they?" Amanda asked Bruce. "Bette mentioned something about it…"

"They should be swinging by…..unless there is….."

Kathy turned up just as if on cue, with Veronica finally detaching herself away from Harry to greet her, and Bette followed. Kate followed on in moments later.

Bunny was cut off at the pass, when there was a group of girls that had moved in front of her. Donna rushed over to greet Harry, after meeting her mother and Lyta at the front door. Lyta decided to greet her sister and Harry quite excitedly. The Sandsmarks joined the group sometime later.

Harry looked over the crowd, things were filing in pretty fast, so he decided to get Lois settled into an empty room that was right across from where the twins slept.

Obviously these kinds of get togethers could get extremely hectic and Harry was expecting a lot of people there.

He made his way back down after getting things situated, and showing Lois up to her room.

"You have a lot of people here, don't you?" Lois asked, the young girl was completely awestruck at the group of people, and she made her way over through the chaos into the corner, where Bette, Bunny, and Cassie were all hanging out.

"So, I didn't think that there would be these many people here," Kate said as she bumped into Harry when he made his way into the room.

"I guess you throw out an invitation and say that the Potters and the Waynes are hosting a get together, and there are a lot of people who come crawling out of the woodwork," Harry said and Kate looked him over with a smile on her face.

"Bette seems to want to get you cornered for some reason, but she keeps getting cock blocked," Kate said and she could see that there were too many people around. "So, Alex and I were talking over…..I have to say, the Red Sun is really hitting big."

"It's just the beginning."

Kate looked at him once again and it was obvious that she was trying to figure out something in her mind. Her sexual orientation was for the most part geared towards other women but yet she was attracted to him. It really confused her to some level.

"So, there are a lot of women who find themselves around you," Kate said, trying to look him over and sighing when she gazed into his eyes.

'Guess she's trying to figure out where she really stands with you,' Faora thought, watching the show in amusement.

"Yes, they do," Harry said and he tried not to look too entirely smug about the situation, because really it was just business as usual for him anyway. "So, I hear that you're currently attending West Point?"

"Yes," she said, and she was caught off guard by how good in shape he was. "Sorry….it's just that…..well I'm kind of surprised that you're in good shape….no offense…..and Kathy told me about the Motorcycle accident you were in a while back."

"I've made a full recovery," Harry said and once again Kate smiled at him.

"Trust me, you're better off because of it it," Kate said and she looked over him.

"I work out fairly often, you got to keep on top of things if you want any kind of longevity," Harry said and Kate smiled despite herself. It was hard for her to keep any level of focus. "So, you're back from the holidays at West Point? How are you doing?"

Kate began to get into things but she couldn't get too far, when Faora made her way forward and pulled Kate off to continue a conversation that they were having earlier.

Helena and Hippolyta were talking with each other off in the corner, both women had been maintaining a correspondence with each other, given that they have a fair bit that they could talk about.

"So, you would like to do that?" Helena asked, surprised.

"It would be an onshore to fund your next field survey, I know that Harry has already offered to do so, but I figured that I would give him a little bit of a relief," Hippolyta said and she could see Lyta, Lois, and Cassie all in conversation about something or other. "Ah, they can be rather spirited at any age…"

"I'm sure that she gets it from me, but I can't recall, hopefully it doesn't come from her father's side of the family, the poor girl will be doomed," Helena said and Hippolyta raised an eyebrow in response.

"If you don't mind me asking, what happened to her….."

"Her father…..well it amounted to about a month or two of sub-par sex, really I found paint drying to be more interesting and maybe even more arousing," Helena said and Hippolyta nodded in a sympathetic matter. "And the moment that Cassie was born, he vanished into the night."

"Sounds like the relationship I had with Diana and Donna's father, all of the action, not good action, and none of the responsibility," Hippolyta and she smiled. "Lyta's father has been a lot better amount things, though he was rather young when it happened, and he turned out to be a good father despite that. Guess third time is the charm, isn't it?"

"I guess so," Helena said but her relationships had been such a disaster area that she didn't even want to think about.

Harry could see Lyta, Lois, and Cassie talk and incoming dread was about ready to hit him, when he realized that there would come a day where they would be about the same age as the twins would be.

'Well, that won't be good,' Harry thought to himself with a grimace.

"Harry, you haven't met the rest of my family, have you?" Lucius asked, guiding him over, and pointed them all out. "There's Tanya, my wife….."

"A pleasure to meet you Doctor Potter, Lucius has told me so much about you," Tanya said and she shook hands away.

"And Lucas….."

"Luke, I've heard a great bit about you from Tamara," Harry said and he shook hands with the young boy.

"And I've heard a great deal likewise with you as well," Lucas said with a shake of his hand.

"And this little bundle of trouble is Tiffany," Lucius said, pointing out the six year old girl who was presently behind her mother's leg. "And my teenage son, Tim couldn't make it, and he had better things to do tonight."

Rebellious teenager phase, say no more, say no more. Harry made his way over from the hustle and bustle from of the party, making his way to the kitchen.

"Harry, you haven't met Tatsu, have you?" Penny asked and Harry smiled.

"I would have recalled if I would have met someone like that," Harry said with a smile and he walked over to greet the woman. "A pleasure to meet you, Tatsu."

"Likewise, Doctor Potter, you have an extraordinarily loud set of house guests," she commented and Harry smiled knowingly.

"We were just talking, getting caught up, and we haven't seen Julia in a while either," Penny said and suddenly there was a second where Harry turned towards her, a questioning glance on her face. "Uncle Alfred's daughter."

Kara, who had just shown up to cuddle with her Harry for a little bit stopped, surprised by the news that Alfred had a daughter. "Huh, I honestly thought that he was gay."

Harry and Bruce were settled down, about ready to have a nice conversation that didn't revolve around business for once, both the day job and the night job.

They were near the front door and Harry heard a knock on the door and he excused himself walking over to the door and pulling it open.

Selina was on the other side of the door, with Holly; she was fairly conspicuous by her absence so far today.

"I hope that I'm not too late," Selina said and she moved towards Harry, kissing him the cheek and they she slipped passed him, with Holly making her way to join the extended family.