The Universe's Mixer

( A girl can never have too many friends )

The ceremony was small. Private. Perfect.

Wayne Manor was picturesque, just the venue anyone with purpose could ever dream of with its rolling, manicured landscape. It would have been ideal to host any party or function where many were expected to attend. And, at first, that had been the idea. But after mulling it over, and after some good advice, Selina decided against a public ceremony. What she did in her private time was hers alone to know, and Bruce was always in the spotlight for something. He deserved some measure of privacy as well.

So with Alfred as thier witness, Selina stated her vows, said her 'I do's' and bound herself fully to the only man that could ever satisfy her in all of the ways she needed.

They didn't need large crowds, they didn't need cameras or fancy things to declare their love to each other. The simplicity was what made it so wonderful. It was a refreshing start towards forever, or at least until one of them was gunned down in the street. Whichever came first. Each had a slew of enemies, here and back in Gotham, but both understood that in spite of anything against them they would always have each other. With that, Selina could finally say she was happy.

After the exchange and the bonding, the couple returned to their home for a quiet "stay-cation" style honeymoon. The house itself provided ample things to keep them occupied, and because of the inability to truly travel to a destination they made the best of what they had, which simply was each other.

Eric had not revealed everything about his plans for the night that they'd reconnected, but Macklyn didn't need to know all the details. He knew enough. He knew the emotion behind it, and he knew that it hadn't just been an idle thought. Eric had given away their cat.

He wasn't angry. Not just because they'd already worked past it, but because it actually showed a lot of love for Eric to do what he'd done. He'd made sure that the kitten had a safe place to be, with somebody that would love it a lot. He was sad, though. Because he hadn't meant for that kind of finality to come about.

Macklyn wanted the cat back, though. They were together again, and they were in their home again. It needed every part of them in order to be a family. So he'd made it a goal to track down Selina and retrieve the feline from her.

She wasn't difficult to find. Browsing the shifting shopping area, peeking through windows. The fairy could only imagine the thoughts going through her head.

"....I know he will be safe with you. You'll take good care of him." Eric said softly, knowing Selina would never allow any feline to come to harm if she could help it. The white Persian was better off in her care. It wasn't that Eric didn't want the cat, he adored it deeply, but where he was going the cat couldn't come. It was safer, better off with someone like her that could dote on its every whim and protect it. There were too many memories that shrouded the feline, too many to sort through and to work on.

"Why are you doing this?" Selina inquired. Her eyes narrowed in question, but her tone was different than usual. She considered them rivals, enemies fighting for the same ground, and this seemed too much like an olive branch. A peace offering. She hadn't wanted it to take this twist, she had wanted to be the one to decide when she was done fighting. But the whim for peace had yet to come and there they were together, standing at an inevitable crossroads.

"Because it's time," Eric replied.

Wayne Manor was elegant. It was very large and despite its depth there was a measure of welcome to it. He could tell that it was well work, lived in like it should be. It was far too big for someone like himself, there were too many things that echoed from the tapestry decorated walls for his liking. But if it suited Selina then that was what mattered. Their rivalry bored him, it was trivial and stupid and he was done with it.

"When are you coming back to get him?" A small measure of hope in her voice escaped despite her trying to fight it off. She hoped he wasn't coming back. There weren't many places to go, but there was a part of her that would always loathe him and was glad to see him give up the last bit of Ben to her. It was as if he had given up, like she knew he eventually would.

"Just make sure he's happy," Eric replied. It was then the Avenger turned and walked toward the door left open. The warm sun greeted him like a shadow and he didn't look back at the woman standing there, holding the purring white cat. It was over, that part was over now and Saucer would be safe there in Selina's care. He wouldn't have left the cat there if there was any measure of harm that might come to it.

Waiting for him on the roof was Bran, and with a caw coupled with the flap of his wings, the bird joined the shadow of a man as Eric crossed over the manicured lawn. There was still so much to do. So many more preparations to make before he left. Everything needed to be just right because there wasn't any coming back.

Meeting the street, Eric faded in to the darkness of an overpass and continued to make his way back to the City, all the while working over his mental checklist. The cat was done.

Now it was on to the next. He was running low on time.

Contrary to what she might have thought, Bruce Wayne hadn't gone to work that day. Instead, he'd spent the entire day quietly organizing for the evening. There was much to do, and it had to be done in secrecy -- a feat not easily accomplished with an accomplished mistress of stealth in the manor.

But by 6 p.m., the northwest corner of the roof was set up to his specifications. He'd already moved an intimate dining table up, along with a bedroom suite, some days ago when Selina had been out. The final touches - the important things - were complete. Rose petals. He toed at the thick carpet of them, then glanced to the high walls around the roof. The wind would take some of them, but Alfred knew to replace them just before he and Selina brought up dinner.

He checked his pocket a third time for his grandmother's ring, then headed downstairs. He was supposed to be driving back in from the City at this time, and his decoy driver had just made it to the garage. With a nod, he snatched the keys from the air as they were tossed, pulled on the suit jacket he'd left to change into, and headed back in to find Selina.

Selina knew about the library and what it held. She had been there many times in hopes of finding something that would catch her interest. She had expected a book, something tantalizing and something she wouldn't want to give up. What she found was much different.

There was a row of displays almost as if the Library was some sort of museum. Behind glass hung things from an assortment of lives. Every life held an item or items meaningful to their existence. Even she had one of her own. Selina pressed her hands against the display gingerly and peered in at what the City had claimed of her life.

She noted the rest of what was there, a typical inventory of what was there and then she left.

That was long ago, it seemed. Before she had given up the mask and the suit. Before she had been sure of the direction that her life was going.

The one thing that had held her interest more than anything in that library was the wedding dress that was hanging there on display. Someone might as well have put a sign up that proclaimed the thing was free to the public because to her it was. To her it was better used in other ways.

Selina stood in the dark before the lit display. In her hand she held the wedding invitation dated so long ago. Her lips pulled in to a smirk. She didn't know who Shelly Webster was, but she felt pity for the girl. Who would marry a man like Eric Draven? Selina didn't know. Maybe he was a good con artist, maybe he was convincing. She didn't see it.

The invitation fell from her fingertips and fluttered to the floor.

Her eyes tilted upward and then the dress was hers. She took it from the display and left nothing to note whom had come to claim it. There were better uses for a dress like that than hanging here all by itself. Selina wondered when it was last visited. That didn't matter. It was hers now and she would stake claim to it. She wanted it, and he didn't deserve it. He had no use for it. She would find a purpose for it.

Whisking the garment away, Selina laughed. Nobody would ever know. Nobody. She was great at what she did and she was not afraid anymore of retribution. Eric wouldn't dare touch her. It was almost too easy.

Almost.

Selina wasn't usually one for childish things, she had long since given up girly and kiddie things for more adult adventures. Even before her family burst apart at the seams her life hadn't been all sunshine and rainbows. An orphan for most of her life, Selina had learned quickly how to get what she needed to survive by any means necessary. She didn't kill, she would not tolerate blood like that on her hands. If someone died in the process, it wasn't by her purposeful doing. That wasn't to say that people didn't meet their demises, they did, but she liked to think that she was not the cause of that. It was just a part of life.

Today she had left Wayne Manor with the prospect of shopping for something. Anything that caught her eye, and anything her heart settled on. She was trying to be good for Bruce, but being good all the time was so boring! She hadn't been called the Robin Hood of Gotham for nothing in her younger years.

Stepping over a small pile of chalk, Selina made her way gracefully across the sweeping expanse of the City Park. Today she was dressed down from her usual glamorous attire, clad in denim shorts and a tank, with flats on her feet. Clothes easy to get around in, clothes that blended in to the natural fashion of the modern age. Her dark hair was pulled back into a ponytail and her eyes sparkled with mischief.

Finding herself standing on the cusp of where the grass met the sand of a playground, Selina breached the barrier and found herself sitting down on one of the swings. The park was vacant. She was curious to know if the park was always so empty, or if the children just happened to all be at home or at school. Why have a park if there weren't children?

The chalk doodles on the sidewalk, the clouds and flowers and hop-scotch etchings suggested that there were children. Perhaps they had all gone in for lunch. Well, that was alright with her. She had never been one for brats anyway. Selina figured she was much too selfish for that. Cats were much more tolerable.

Swinging herself, Selina hummed and she watched the park carefully.

Thanks to Alfred, breakfast at Wayne manor was usually served hot, on a tray, with a glass of juice. But sometimes Bruce Wayne didn't want anything for breakfast but cereal and milk. There was only one breakfast cereal that he would eat: Cheerios. There was only one type of milk that should be used with Cheerios: pasture-fed, organic whole milk. It reminded Bruce of his mother. He didn't remember why, but there was some connection between that simple breakfast staple and his mother. And lately, Bruce Wayne had been thinking a lot about family.

As he chewed whole grain oats pressed into O-shapes, he looked sidelong at the woman sitting next to him. "You know," he said, a little sheepishly. "You don't have to have Cheerios if you don't want it. I'm sure Alfred could make you an egg white omelet or pancakes, if you wanted it."

She really deserved better than who she was with, but he was glad she settled for him. He didn't think she needed to settle on breakfast, however.

Selina had finally made up her mind to release herself from the bondage that was the catsuit and the mask. If Bruce could do it and be successful with it then there was no reason she couldn't be too. It was no easy feat to give up the prowl, for days and nights she continued to make any excuse to herself in effort to keep the mask and hide behind it. The invisible shackles of a life once lived, the unhappy past, that was what the suit represented. And finally she realized that all along she had been carrying the key with her.

From somewhere in the room her cat mewled. Selina smiled at it though her attention didn't wain from the leather mask she was holding in her hands. Trying not to cling to the familiarity, Selina took a hard breath and began to fold it horizontally in half. On the bed before her sat a hatbox that contained the rest of her outfit.

The boots had gone first, a favorite pair of hers. Atop that she had folded delicately the suit itself. Then came the gloves with the claws. And finally she set the mask down on top of the pile. The bullwhip was the last piece, her signature symbol of violence, and she wound it gently. It was placed atop the mask and then came the lid.

Her hands shook a bit, but placing her palms flat against the lid gave her a measure of stability. She took another breath, this one full of relief and a touch of fear, and her hands moved down the sides of the box to the bottom. This was her past she had locked away, everything she had struggled with and fought for. But she knew she didn't need it anymore. She had managed to rise above it. With Bruce she didn't have to conceal herself and with her circle of friends dwindling significantly in the past weeks she knew the temptation would wain without a source. Effie was dead. Jonathan was gone and Eddie wasn't bothering her anymore. She no longer needed them to consider herself free. This house was her freedom, being with the man she loved was freedom. It had been cloudy before but it was much clearer now.

She was free.

Finally free.

Selina carried the box to the closet and set it up high on a shelf. She pushed it all the way to the back, and placed things around it to conceal it away. She would not forget it, she couldn't forget who she was but now it was time to focus on who she was becoming. There was potential there and anyone be damned that stood in her way of taking advantage of all of the new riches that had presented themselves before her. Happiness was the best source of wealth that there was. How had she overlooked it before?

"....and he deserves so much better than you. I can't even begin to guess what exactly he sees in you! You're a monster!" Selina shouted. She stood confidently before the hybrid, hands on her hips and her eyes narrowed. She used to fear him, back when things had been much simpler and they were all forced to exist together. Oh but now...now the rules had changed and Selina was done playing all of the games that entailed being nice to the Dark Avenger. She didn't care who or what he was anymore because in her eyes he was nothing. And she didn't mind telling him that, either.

Though she knew that he didn't need her approval, but she hoped the words stung anyway. Because to her they were true.

Eric had come to the warehouse looking for Effie. He was unaware that the girl had passed; there had been nothing to name her directly as the victims in the dinosaur attack on Main Street, and the red-head assumed too much about himself. Eric had not divulged a breath of information to the girl and yet she seemed to have ideas of her own that needed to be stopped. Protecting Macklyn was priority number one, and Eric couldnt let Effie spread the word, even if it was a rumor. His journey to the warehouse was with the intent to kill the girl and silence her forever. She was not the friend he had once known and thus that made her expendable when it came to the hierarchy of importance.

But instead of the red-head, Eric happened upon the brunette instead. She had asked him what he was doing there, and after a brief explanation that alluded to being curious as to Effie's whereabouts, Selina asked about Ben. Eric explained that they weren't living together anymore, that they had been through what most in a relationship came across.

And it was then Selina decided she couldn't hold back anymore.

Apparently she had been packing things into boxes, Effie's things left in the warehouse that would go back to Arkham to be with her father. But that could wait. A more interesting thing had happened into the scene and Selina was going to take full advantage of it.

"I'm glad Ben came to his senses and kicked you out. Maybe you should try not to be so hateful and intimidating. You know that nobody likes you, right? Nobody on that island gave two pieces of crap about you and this proves it!"

Eric really wanted to kill the woman just to get her to shut her mouth. He was tired of her and had been for a long time, but he wouldn't to anything to hurt any more of Macklyn's friends. So he just stood there and waited until she was finished before he left without a word for his own defense. Maybe she was right, maybe Macklyn did deserve better. Maybe Macklyn should have just let him die there in the jungle, but Macklyn hadn't. And they were soulmates. That had to count for something, right?

His next stop was the hospital. Eric didn't know how to hunt, he hadn't needed to considering Macklyn had always been there to help with the bloodlust. And now, without his mate, Eric was stuck fending for himself. He wouldn't let himself starve and wither away as much as he wanted to, it wouldn't benefit anyone and least of all Macklyn. He didnt want to cause Macklyn any more pain. So he intended to go to the local hospital next and help himself to their store of blood packets. He could only hope they could stave off the hunger until he and Macklyn worked things out.

Eternity was quite a long time to be mad at each other, but Eric was taking it one day at a time for now.

The risk involved in the task at hand was great. Selina didn't know Timothy Drake from the next guy and though Effie had given her ample enough of a description, co-mingled in with a good amount of curses and mumbling about dumb blondes, Selina figured this guy was nobody to mess with. She had no idea that this young man was, in some alternate universe, the adopted son of her current beau. Had she known perhaps it would have changed the tide some. Or perhaps not. Selina had never been one to be truly heartless and yet the thrill of the find was what drove her to overstep boundaries and blur the pre-set lines.

Familiar with underground lairs, this one didn't prove as difficult to find. The location was so obvious and she was curious to know if Bruce was aware the place was here. Not so much the Nest, but the place above it. The Majestic theater. It was there that the beginnings of the Bat had formed, in that dark alleyway beyond the shadows, and just the sight of the place had her shivering. It was a place of ghosts, of a past long since and yet not forgotten. Much like her own days since. It almost physically hurt to look at it and so she hadn't lingered to do so.

No. What she wanted was beneath.

It took little effort for her to bypass the mechanism designed to keep intruders out and when she was beneath the ground in the basement level, Selina flipped the light on. Nobody was home, it had been empty for possibly an hour. Maybe less. It was a fully functioning place. Motorcycles, an area to sleep, a kitchen (which was a strange addition considering it was clear across the levels and a complete inconvenience) but it wasn't her place to dictate as to what went where.

The lower parts of the levels had what she needed to get. The baton promised to her business partner. The suit, she was told, was in a stand alone glass case and that was her target. It was easy enough to locate the display and with almost no effort on her part Selina had a slit cut in the glass big enough to work the baton out without upsetting anything else. "This is almost too easy," she breathed to herself.

Once the baton was in hand, Selina turned and left the lair the way she had come. Back on the street level, Selina made her way to the warehouse, baton in hand, to deliver her part of the agreement.

Selina placed the baton where Effie could see it and would find it, laying the thing long ways across her bed. A smirk and Selina was then gone, back into the night. She would head back to Wayne Manor to be with Bruce now that her work was done.

"Is there something that you're waiting on, Master Bruce?"

Bruce turned from the plastic covered armoire and the jewelry box within it. His butler - his surrogate father, and his dear friend - stood in the doorway of the master bedroom that so often remained sealed up, a polite smile on his face. Bruce looked back to the jewelry box, then to the smaller velvet box in his hand, and realized he'd been standing here for at least a quarter of an hour.

"I don't know," Bruce said, obviously at a loss.

The butler walked into the room as if it weren't sacred, as if it were only just a room. "The world is full of things that don't matter," Alfred said, coming to a stop beside Bruce and looking into the armoire as if he were checking for what suits needed pressing. "And it's easy to get caught up in them. But there's one thing that I've found, in all my years, that is always worthwhile." The old butler stopped, and stared blandly at the hinge of the armoire.

"What's that, Alfred?" Bruce prompted.

"Why, love, of course. I suspect it might be the only thing that matters at all, when all is said and done." The rheumy old eyes turned toward the velvet box and Alfred nodded toward it. The ring inside that box was well known by both men in the room. "Your grandmother was a very lovely woman. She had a fire in her. I think she would have liked Ms. Kyle very much."

Bruce tucked the box into his pocket. "Thanks, Alfred."

"I'll lock up here, sir."

Bruce let him, and stepped out into the hallway, leaving the door half-ajar as he did. Pulling on a suit jacket, he grabbed the keys to the Porche and headed for the lunch date he was only slightly late for. He made the time up on the drive there, tossed his keys to the valet, and hurried in to the table where Selina was waiting.

"Sorry I'm late," Bruce said, pausing briefly to kiss her cheek before taking a seat across from her.

Family parties were always quite the event when they happened. It was almost expected to be loud, to have someone go to jail or get maimed, for there to be alcohol flowing like water and for a fight to break out. The dramatics were always quite the spectacle to behold and a birthday was as good of an excuse as any to get the antics ready. But t wasn't just any birthday party, it was a belated celebration for Effie and the chance to meet whatever sucker his daughter had picked up for the occassion. His daughter had mentioned something alluding to the fact that she had found someone to keep her occupied and Eddie was curious to see what Effie had dredged up and from where. Anything had to be better than Bruce.

Honestly, Eddie was glad Bruce was out of the picture. He wasn't their type nor had he been good enough for Effie. And it was with that glee that Eddie finished decorating for the party.

The warehouse had been the venue of obvious choice since it was large enough to hold them, and also any of their crazy theatrics. It was also appropriately boobytrapped in case the Police did happen to drop by unexpectedly.

Though the four of the invited guests would not likely make enough noise to warrant a visit from The City's finest. Or the Bat. There was one person that was not attending on account of being locked up and currently unconscious from a good torturing. A certain Clown Princess. Eddie squealed with glee when he thought of Harley down in the basement of Arkham, passed out from the pain, chained to the floor with a broken hand...amongst other things.

He sighed with contentment and hung up the last of the streamers.

"Jonathan, are you ready? Is everything all set?" Working with one hand was a feat in itself but Eddie managed. He climbed down from the ladder he had been standing on, tucked it away behind a door, and made sure the cake was fresh. The warehouse was decorated in a sea of green, gold and purple. The symbols appropriate to their lineage also decorated the walls and floors, the question mark.

"Oh this will be perfect!" There was alcohol to be had, and fun times ahead. Eddie did love a good party.

Selina crawled quietly across the roof of the warehouse. Edward had given her the location information, details on what his daughter looked like, and about nothing else. It was dark, and her cat suit provided just the right amount of cover in the shadow. Reaching the edge, Selina peered over and glanced down at the ground. There was a winding staircase of iron, connected to other platforms and stairs that worked around the building. The perfect way to get into a place like that. This was not her first time breaking into a facility like that, but she would still be cautious. This was Edward's daughter, and Selina's experience with the man told her to be cautious. Very cautious.

Selina slipped over the edge of the roof, guided herself down on to the wrought iron platform, and worked her way softlt down the stairs. A ledge was her next destination and she approached it, reaching a large window. With an easy bit of maneuvering, Selina had the window unlocked and opened. It was large enough to accommodate her, and so she slipped through without a minute to spare.

This was a mission designed to gather intel, she needed to see what she was getting herself in to. Selina had promised Eddie she would befriend his daughter Effie, at gun point of course, but she never went back on her word. Tonight she was sort of wishing she had broken her promise. Ben would have protected her if Bruce couldn't. But Selina was curious. It was a trait she hated.

Once she was on a stable platform, Selina slinked down another platform and series of ladders. The warehouse was dark, silent and still. She liked it that way. It didn't seem as if anyone was home. A cautious step and Selina was on the ground. Despite her heeled boots, she was a master of silence and so she approached the middle part of the warehouse without the faintest of a sound.

A breath, and a smirk. This was so easy, it seemed impossible. Too easy, and --

Her foot for caught in something and before she knew it, Selina found herself being pulled upward in a large, massively wound net. Her eyes widened in surprise, and her legs dangled through the large woven structure. Down below, part of the floor opened up and as she looked down at the trap she noticed plush alligators. It was comical, and childish. Perfect.

"You couldn't even get real alligators?" Selina called out, not hiding the amusement in her voice. Her arms folded over her shoulders and she dangled, kicking her legs gently. She had underestimated Effie. It wouldn't happen again.

Selina needed a break. She had been spending her nights in her suit, taking the streets one after another until all of the things she wanted were hers. And yet she some how didn't feel satisfied. She had Bruce, she had her cat suit and the night, she had any gems in the City she wanted....and yet....and yet there was something missing. Something lacking. She wasn't quite sure what it was. Perhaps it was the excitement from the jungle? Maybe it was the challenge of finding things to do that were beyond her skills. She had felt useful on the island. Here it felt too easy.

She found herself outside of a pet shop, peering in through the glass at the menagerie of creatures inside. Specifically her attention was on the small felines, kittens of all colors frolicking about before the glass. Selina couldn't help but smile. She tapped at the glass with her fingernails, and instantly the kittens all rushed towards her in a clump of tails and fur.

As ease swam over her at the crowd of fur balls, and Selina took an easy breath. It wasn't difficult to attract cats, she had always been able to do it. Felines of all caliber, large and small, wild and tame. Of course none ever could satisfy her heart. Cats could be fickle, coming and going as they saw fit. Her beauty back home was that way. The black cat stole away where ever the night took her and came back to the apartment when she pleased.

Selina missed her cat dearly. And she wasn't sure if Bruce would appreciate her bringing home kittens. She figured that she was cat enough for Wayne Manor. Could she be at her apartment often enough to tend to a feline? A small one that would need her? Or should she find something bigger? More dangerous? It would be no danger to her, the feline would not harm her, but still. She craved one anyway, wether she could care for it properly or not.

Finally she made herself stand and pull away from the window. The mewling of the litter met her warmly but she couldn't. She wanted to, but she couldn't. Not yet. If she could take every single one of them, oh she would. Without a minute of hesitation. But they were better off here where they could be tended to. For now. She would come back for them later. Not too much later, but later still.

"Here Kitty Kitty," Eddie purred, releasing a soft giggle after he spoke.

Selina wrinkled her nose at the tall ginger-haired man. "Gross. Keep walking, Eddie," she replied, shaking her head.

Edward pouted at her, opening his arms as if he planned to embrace her. "How long have we known each other, kitten, and that's how it's going to be?"

"Keep your hands off of the merchandise, Edward . Nothing I have is yours to touch for any circumstance." The irritation in her voice was growing larger by the minute. And with each fragment of emotion she gained, Edward's smile seemed only to grow.

"Come now, kitten. No need to play so rough! I simply need a favor, that's all," Eddie replied as he lowered his arms to his sides.

"And why would I even want to help you? Besides the fact that we know each other outside of this place? Hm?" Selina asked, folding her arms over her chest expectantly.

"Because, sweetie, if you don't do as I ask I won't play nice anymore. I might have to kill you."

Selina laughed finally. "You? Kill me? You've got to be kidding. I'd love to see you try."

Eddie shrugged his shoulders and then offered Selina a smirk as he withdrew one of his revolvers from beneath a flap of his jacket. "Not kidding this time, doll. Either help me or bleed to death, your choice."

Selina blinked. Then she frowned and glared at Eddie. "What do you want then?"

"Oh just for you to find my baby girl and be best friends. That's all."

"You have a daughter?" Selina blinked again. That was....well, it was scary to think there were two Nashtons frolicking about in this city. She was going to have to remember to see what Bruce thought about that.

"Certainly! My pride and joy! Jonathan is here too, you know," Eddie said, proudly.

Selina's eyes widened. Jonathan? Jonathan Crane? She could have run screaming just then but she wasn't one to show her weaknesses.

Swallowing hard, Selina nodded but she didn't make any sudden movements. "Fine. You and Jonathan had better keep your distance though. I'm not very nice when I get all worked up."

Eddie just laughed, nodding. He put away his gun, slipped his hands into his pockets and grinned, "Atta girl! I knew you'd come around. Ta-ta Miss Kitty."

And with that Eddie wandered away merrily, leaving Selina standing there confused and frazzled. She regretted leaving the bed that morning. Really regretted it.

The weather in the City was pretty much always perfect. There were days with rain, but they were still mostly warm. But there were still seasons. In fall the leaves fell (the trees were never bare, though), in winter there might be some snowflakes (never anything like the one great storm where the City had gotten carried away), and summers were warm and sunny and nobody had school.

Still, this year, the City felt like celebrating spring. Not any particular holiday. Just spring in general. There were new people around, there were couples in love, and it wanted to have a great big party for everyone.

Overnight, it set up the great festival. Streets all around the park were closed off so that people could walk around without issue. The park itself was expanded to over twice the normal size. A great clearing was made in the center, stretching from one side to the other. There needed to be lots of room.

Through this clearing the City placed tents, stands, and tables. These were filled with food and wares of all types. There were representatives for all the popular shops, as well as some that nobody had ever seen there before. There were stands for balloons for the kids, too, free of charge. And flowers absolutely everywhere. Woven into the stands themselves, laying on tables, set up in vases, growing in every patch that the City was sure nobody would accidentally step on them. Colorful ribbons, some as large as crepe streamers, also decorated everything. The City wanted as much color as it could possibly get.

At one end of the clearing the City placed a small carnival. Rides, games, everything it could think of. Even a petting zoo, though some of the animals within weren't typical farm animals that usually went in petting zoos. At the other it placed a few stages for performances. Concerts, plays, musicians. The stages were all contained within their own invisible sound barriers, as to not disturb one another, but the noise from all could be heard on the main promenade.

It put signs up all over, put notices in mailboxes, ads on the radio, commercials on television, and even made Candy and Frank talk about it on the morning news.

The celebration would go from sunrise to midnight. At sunset, the City would have a bonfire, complete with a pig roast and s'mores. At that time, it would move the park closer to the water, creating a beach between for the bonfire to settle on.

The hallways were dark. The place itself was cold and lifeless, as if it had sat abandoned for centuries though not an item nor a piece of furniture bore a speck of dust. It was almost as if the place itself idled in the very grasp of a moment, waiting for someone, anyone familiar, to retrace their steps and find it again. To free it.

To live in it.

Everything she saw was familiar to her. She knew if she continued down the dark hallway, the first door on the left was the dining room. The vast expanse of polished cherry wood greeted her from its spot in the shadows. The next room, the first door on the right across the hallway from the unused dining room, was a room full of art work and sculptures.

A theif's dream.

Selina had packed only necessities. A single bag full of clothes, shoes, toiletries. She wasn't sure how long it would take for her to wear out her welcome and her fear of becoming too settled seemed trivial. This place needed settling.

Finally she escaped the long, dark hallway and made her way upstairs. The master bedroom was the next destination and it greeted her as if she never left it. A draw back of the large velvet curtains and the sunshine poured into the room, illuminating everything it touched.

This was Heaven. This was home.

And here she was. She had made it, finally. Finally made it back home where she truly belonged.

Enigma may have been correct: Bruce Wayne might need a hobby.

There was The City Industries - the amalgamation of Wayne Technologies, Lex Corp, and others - but the place didn't have the same draw to it as it would have, had the City left Wayne Enterprises alone. There was something to be said about protecting the family's investment, but without Gotham... All of it just seemed like vanity.

It hadn't been too difficult to leave Wayne Manor behind (though it was very difficult to leave Alfred), to change clothes, change hangouts, change everything and fade into the City's background. He'd lived like this for years, now, watching everything from a distance. Batman was doing well. The City, with a few hiccups, was relatively safe. No one needed him.

That was all right. In fact, that was better than all right; it was good. That'd been the trouble with Gotham. The city had needed Batman. And it'd broken him. He'd lost so much, and he kept on going back for more -- because he knew he was strong enough. He knew he could continue to take it. And he knew that there was no one else who could.

The burden wasn't on his shoulders any longer, now. And it left him feeling... empty.

Bruce lounged in a rumpled heather t-shirt and a pair of faded black jeans, booted feet stretched out under the patio table in front of him. Every so often, he picked up the gently sweating whiskey glass from the tabletop and held it for a while. Sometimes he drank. The sun was out, the sky was bright blue, and it was a day just like any other in the City.

And he was just another citizen. Empty, like the rest of the blank faces here.

Purgatory was awful. Although it was much better than what she'd previously experienced. Purgatory came with a few benefits, or more this place called the City did. She was no longer forced to live with some ridiculous rationing, not enough humans to sustain a vampiric population of any number. She understood the need, but it didn't make it any better. Here, she could feed as she wished.

Truth was Pam didn't lack in feeding. She'd had a steady source in a certain dark mutant, and if Pam was being honest, she'd admit that she missed Melody. The woman could be replaced on some level, but Pam had cared for her. There was a definite connection. The Pam of the City, the one who'd had all the nice things and the regular dinners, had not had that, and while they weren't playing a game of whose life was better, each Pam might have felt they'd had it slightly better than the other.

Having served her duty in Purgatory, a phrase both women found amusing if somewhat annoying, Pam slipped into the night to find something different for dinner. She'd been following a hunter, as she was warned, and thought of having a snack. It was risky, yet not so risky she would need fear reprimand or recrimination.

The man had little clue he was being stalked for he made his way to some other, possibly busier bar. It looked packed, and from the sounds of things they were killing cats inside.

"Wonderful, drunken karaoke." She stood for a moment staring at the bar's sign advertising the night's event. Perhaps she'd gone from Purgatory to Hell.