The Universe's Mixer

Backdated to Christmas day and before this thread

Dinah kept herself busy on Christmas day. She had presents to deliver after all. She'd dropped in on a few of her friends and dropped off gifts. The peace offering that she'd brought to Beauty had been particularly well-received as the young woman had invited her in for tea. They might not see eye to eye on Eric, but Dinah felt bad for how she'd left their last conversation and she believed that Beauty truly did mean well.

One by one her gifts were delivered until she finally pulled her bike up the driveway to Wayne Manor. She hadn't forgotten the butler who was so much more. Not in the slightest. Alfred had been there for her through two very tough times since her time in the City. More importantly, he had been there for Jake. Dinah could never forget him on a holiday and she just hoped that he was enjoying a quiet Christmas off. After all, she knew that Zoe didn't live in the Manor and so she assumed that it was empty. She also wondered if perhaps the butler missed having people to tend to.

Neatly wrapped box in hand, Dinah rang the doorbell. She wondered if she should have called ahead. She had been wondering that on each of her stops throughout the day but she hadn't wanted to over-schedule Christmas. She had simply prepared herself to drop presents on doorsteps if she had to. Besides, she thought that surprise visits from friends might be a nice thing for this holiday.

When she'd moved back to her townhouse, Alfred had sent her home with tupperware containers filled with meals to last about a week. Dinah had finally managed to wash all of those and put them in bags to return to him. She appreciated the butler making sure she was well fed, especially because she'd barely had the energy to order takeout lately.

She'd left a message to let him know she was coming to return the tupperware, but it might not have been received. Whatever the case, Dinah had been expecting to find Bruce, perhaps, at home or to find just Alfred. She certainly hadn't been expecting to find anyone else at the Manor.

She parked her car on the driveway looping in front of the sprawling house and walked up to the door to ring the doorbell. She was planning just a quick visit, though she wouldn't be surprised if Alfred took one look at her and lamented how thin she was as per usual lately.

It had been a while since Joker revealed himself - Zoe hated thinking about it in that way, but it was apt. Zoe had added wherever Dinah was living with Jake to the patrol route. When the man who was a less connected and possibly just as odd Mr. Universe sent out the memo about Jake's disappearance, Zoe continued to check on Dinah; grief made people do crazy things.

Thankfully Dinah moved to the Wayne Manor which made checking on her much easier. Zoe didn't feel that she always had to see the woman for herself, just trust Alfred when he reported. Plus, it was easier to explain why the Bat could be seen skulking, not that Zoe would ever say she was skulking, about the Manor.

( On one of the nights the Bat was definitely not skulking... )

The place was dark, as if no one had been there for a while. It wasn't that it was dirty, just empty. Alfred was probably here, somewhere, but then, he lived in the manor, not here in the Wayne Industries building. Then again, he could have an apartment all his own, which would have been fine.

Zoe Washburne worked in Wayne Industries Security department. She'd insisted on taking the tests and doing the paperwork. Alfred had made the suggestions, and she had insisted they follow those suggestions. She was an official employee. It gave her a reason to come in everyday. She was placed quickly in a consultant/special needs position, and was then left alone. She drew a normal check, but Zoe didn't want for anything. She had Bruce Wayne's backing, even if it was a secret backing that only his most loyal man, Alfred, knew about.

As soon as she'd gotten away from the Strange man, she'd headed to "work." ( Just a flash of the badge, and she was in. )

( Confidants were a dime a dozen, if one had the dime )

The conversation with Captain Jack had been...it'd been a conversation with Captain Jack. And, if Zoe had known what she was going home to, she might have stayed and let the captain drink her under the table. If she had known.

The Amazon stopped by one of the stores open later in the evening and picked up a few things, just a few, including some mints to cover the smell of alcohol. It probably wouldn't work to cover the taste, but she'd try. She hadn't really explained Captain Jack to Wash, not yet. Perhaps tonight was a night for it; she had a feeling she'd be explaining quite a bit tonight.

The apartment felt a little empty once she got in, and she worked against that feeling by whipping up a meal. Wash didn't get those very often on Serenity, which meant he'd probably be suspect of this one. He'd have every right to that feeling, too; Zoe wouldn't be too angry about it. Of course, it might lead to a fight, but fighting could lead to other, more enjoyable activities. The Amazon smiled slightly at that thought, her fingers working the dough for the buns.

It was a few hours later that saw the meal fixed, the kitchen cleaned, and Serenity's first mate picking out what she might wear for the night. She'd decided to go for drop dead gorgeous. At first she didn't notice that the closet seemed a little bigger. She hadn't even noticed that the drawers felt a little less cluttered. But, as she went to get her shoes, really sort of pointless seeing as they were in their own apartment, she realized that hers were the only shoes to be found.

( Zoe could have panicked, but that really wasn't what Zoe did. )

"What do you mean by 'Jack Napier is dead', Alfred?" Bruce had come home after finishing his date with Aeon to all kinds of bizarre and interesting news, not to mention news of murders happening all over the city. But this took the cake.

"I mean, sir, that he's dead. He was the first victim in this rash of new murders." Alfred stood, watching Bruce, an eyebrow lifted. Curious to see what would happen next.

"So he draws a giant penis on my building and then gets killed." Bruce couldn't help but feel like it was some natural retribution for everything The Joker had done to him over the years, including his time here. The Joker here was, quite regrettably, much more violent. He had his moments back home, yes, but something about the City had brought out the worst in him.

"Well." Bruce wasn't sure what to say.

"There's something else, sir."

"Something like what?"

"On my routine today I discovered there are things in Master Tim's room again."

"What kind of things?"

"Stuff, sir. Like things belonging to him."

Bruce stopped thinking about everything else. He looked directly at Alfred. His old friend would never joke about anything like that. Even so, the look on his face solidified it.

"Is it..."

"The same Tim? I can't tell, sir. None of the things are age restrictive."

"Is he..."

"Actually here? Not that I've seen, sir. There's been no show of him on the property at all from what I've seen on the cameras. But he's here somewhere, sir."