Batman: The Helmet of Anubis - Part 1

Hello, Comic Fans!

This is my second attempt at a multi parter, the first being Green Lantern: Hand of Darkness. Now far be it from me to try to take on so great a character as the Batman, but I got this idea into my head while I was at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan a couple of weeks ago. It blends some of the Egyptian mythology with comic history, but God help me, I never read Batman: Legacy, and information on the Web is sketchy at best about this particular story line. What I could extrapolate from various sources, (without actually reading the damn comic) I tried to keep most of the details in place. If I skewed slightly, consider this an Elseworld tale where most of the stuff I talk about did in fact happen….in my DC universe, anyway.

Ras Al Ghul is pretty cool villain, but sadly under used compared to some of Batman’s other villains. Of course, every time he makes an appearance, it’s usually a landmark event.

This story explores some of the different relationships within the character mythos of the Batman books, but most primarily the whole Batman/Catwoman/Talia love triangle. And you know that Batman only has eyes for Selina Kyle….God knows I do when Jim Balent draws her…..(shiver, shiver, shiver)

And some cool action for Nightwing, including a little relationship I’ve wanted to experiment with for years…..and comic fans have been begging for to rekindle. I’ll leave it at that.

Batman, Nightwing, Ras Al Ghul, Gotham City, and all other characters are trademarks of DC Comics and Time Warner, and are used without permission.

This story contains scenes of graphic sexual content. It is unlawful for anyone under the age of eighteen to view it, so no lookum! You’re ignoring me, aren’t you? I knew it…. I’m not big on rape or nonconsensual sex, but there is a little mind control here so…..

“Tiger tiger burning bright

In the forests of the night

What immortal hand or eye

Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?”

-William Blake, The Tiger. Who would dare, indeed?

        Batman: The Helmet of Anubis

By Tirian

Bludhaven.

“That was quite possibly the worst piece of crap I’ve ever seen, Grayson. An’ Bludhaven is a home ta a lotta crap,” Clancy grinned as they exited the movie theater, staring up at her date.

Dick had no choice but to nod his head. “The last few movies Robbins has done were great….I thought a foray into the world of science fiction would be another stunning achievement for him.”

“Foray? My, didn’t we whip out our pocket dictionary fast!” she chided, her eyes wide with mock amazement. Grayson merely responded by grabbing her around the waist and lifting her into the air. Screaming wildly, she twirled around in his arms as he swung her around, much to either the amusement or the chagrin of the passerbys.

“Grayson, put me down, or I’ll call a cop!” she laughed, enjoying every single second of it.

“Too late,” he smiled, and brought her down from the air to face her. Her laughter died away as his lips touched hers, in a soft and simple kiss. She responded feverishly to his touch, her mouth moving to a more fitting position with his, as their tongues intertwined hungrily between them. Dick could feel the need to be with her starting to burn within him, and slowly but firmly detached himself from her.

Clancy stared up at him, her eyes full of hurt. He began to walk again, but she jumped in front of his path, her facing flashing.

“Why…..why do you keep doin’ that?”

“Clancy….I can’t…”

He looked at her, and something inside him ached for her, ached to be with her, but he couldn’t do it. He just couldn’t do it, for so many reasons. The first that he was a cop, and being with a cop was risky business enough, especially with an honest cop in Bludhaven. The second, far more private reason was his other….activities. Activities that he was sure Clancy would not be able to understand. And then there was the third reason.

“Is there someone else, Dick?”

Clancy asked him, jolting him out of a momentary daze. His mind immediately filled with the image of another woman, a woman with a simple but stunning beauty, with a pure heart, and a gentle soul…..a woman in a wheelchair….

“Noooo….no, there isn’t’ someone else.”

Dick stammered, even as thoughts of Barbara danced in his head almost mockingly, refusing to leave him alone. Barbara had professed that they couldn’t be together time and time again….and he was incredibly attracted to Clancy, a nice normal citizen. But there was still something keeping him back, something unsaid, something unfinished….

“Well, if there isn’t someone else, then I don’t see what the problem is. “ she deliberately had stopped him on the sidewalk now, and barred any further movement with her hands placed on her hips. Dick couldn’t help but grin. Her Irish temper was legendary in the building, and he had been on the receiving end of that temper more than a couple of times. It made for some interesting times in the mornings after he had arrived home from the usual bullets and batarang nights. And God, weren’t there things he wanted to do with her, wanted to experience with her and that overwhelmingly voracious appetite of hers…..

“I’m still waitin’, Grayson.”

Dick looked at her for a long time, and then let some of those feelings whirling in his head out, for once. His lips came back to hers, curling over the tautly drawn steel she had pulled back into a determined frown. The frown melted almost immediately, and in the back of her brain Clancy also mentally kicked herself for letting her achingly hot tenant get away with murder again. Then she could feel his hand reach behind her and slide down her back and cup her buttocks through the tight fabric of her jeans, and all other thoughts were chased away by a burning need to experience this man. Her own hands reached down and in an incredibly impulsive gesture, cupped the warm divide of his pants. He gasped in her mouth as she began to rub him, and he yelped with her tongue still in his mouth.

“Clancy…”

She grinned at him. “If you want me to stop, all you have to do is come home with me.”

Her grin was soft, inviting, but her eyes were openly pleading with him. And in those full black irises Dick saw something that made him fill with resolve.

“Race you.”

Gotham City.

“Twelve thirty, and all's well.”

Barbara’s voice echoed in his earpiece, and the shadow figure turned his head ever so slightly, trying to meld with the shadows he stood in, indistinguishable.

“You don’t have to do that every half hour, Barbara. I can tell the exact time by the position of the moon.”

“Ah, but it’s cloudy tonight, Mr. Master Detective,” came the quipped reply back in his ear.

“Since when does that stop me?”

The Batman let one side of his lip curl slightly. Any criminal who had the misfortune of running into him at this point would be chilled to the bone by that slight smile. Babs knew it was as warm as he usually got, and would have been surprised to have seen even that much.

“Didn’t you promise Alfred that you’d be in at a reasonable hour tonight, Bruce?”

“I also promised him that I’d stop ripping my cape every week. We all know how likely that is.”

Babs smiled softly in her little alcove, the brightly lit screens in front of her illuminating her face with a blue glow, and tapped her headpiece.

“Tim called in about an hour ago. He seems to be taking boarding school rather hard.”

The Batman’s eyes narrowed to slits. “He’s not having trouble there is he?”

The Batman’s fierce protection of his partner was legendary, and Babs could actually hear his fist tightening to the hard rock that had broken continents over the line. She shivered despite her resolve not to. After his experiences with the last Robin, he would sooner die than let any harm come to Tim. Jason hung in his mind constantly, reminding him of his one true failure.

A failure he vowed nightly would never happen again.

“I think he just misses swinging through the night with you, is all.” Babs tried tentatively.

The Batman relaxed for just the tiniest bit, and then his eyes caught movement below him. He became the statue again, one with the shadows. Below him on the street, a lone man strode down the concrete, eyes constantly darting back and forth. Obviously doesn’t care for the neighborhood, Bruce thought grimly. It was a feeling he could relate whole heartedly. Crime Alley provided more than enough reasons for the average citizen to steer clear of it…..but it held an especial place in the Batman’s distaste. Not three blocks from the building Bruce stood atop, his parents had fallen to pavement, screaming, clutching their wounds, while a nightmare shape with a gun stood over them, ripping away young Bruce’s innocence, faith, and so much more in that one terrible second.

“Hello? Earth to obsessive compulsive vigilante?”

With the barest whisper through gritted granite teeth, Bruce responded.

“Not now.”

The Batman’s quarry completed his stroll down the corner and turned to the next block, his pace quickening. The Batman watched his retreat with keen interest until he was almost out of sight, and then raised one arm out of the shadows. A slight popping noise exploded in the air, and his cable shot across the divide of the buildings, attaching itself to a roof edge at the far side of the block. He lifted his heels slightly, and suddenly the terrifying monster shape exploded from the darkness. It was no wonder that any criminal that saw him thought of him as inhuman…with his wing fluttering behind him, his speed pushing him through the air, and his face constantly swathed in shadow, he was like a dark god of old, returned to wreck vengeance on any and all that fell in his path.

His body landed on the edge of the far rooftop, and suddenly was one with the darkness again. And here was his target, coming down the street, completely unaware of the follower in the sky he had unwittingly brought along.

The walker stepped briefly into the dim light of a street light, and his face was momentarily lit in the gloom as he paused to light a cigarette, rat like eyes still darting back and forth nervously.

The Batman knew the face very well. The stoolie known only as the Ferret was called so for his long nose and his tendency of knowing everyone’s business before even they knew it. The Batman had shaken the Ferret down for information before, and in all those times the Ferret had never been able to get used to his presence.

Suddenly the night exploded in front of him, and his cigarette fell to the ground. The shadows melted away to reveal the cowled figure of the Batman.

“Ferret. You’re late.”

The stoolie picked himself up off the ground, trying not to let his knees knock back and forth.

“Geezus, Batman, you’re libel to give me a heart attack, or one o’ those annanisms…”

“Aneurysm, Ferret. And I wouldn’t worry. A man as slippery as you can probably ooze his way out of even cancer. “ The Batman took a step forward to the still cowering figure.

“But you won’t be able to ooze away from me.”

A dark hand shot out of the Batman’s dark frame, almost from nowhere, and grasped the stoolie’s jacket. The Ferret suddenly found himself eye to eye with blank slits of pure white. And God, did those eyes complete his terror so fully.

“Tell me about the docks, Ferret.’

“Uh…I don’t know what you’re….” His last word disappeared as he stared back into the Batman’s eyes. They were threat enough.

“Which docks are we talking about? There’s lots of docks, and lots of stuff going on on them.”

“Pier 47, late last night, in particular. A ship with foreign marks arrived from deep sea travel at two o’clock, docked there for all of thirty minutes, and then departed out to deep sea. Now I would like to know why a ship would stop for only thirty minutes at Gotham Harbor, and then make for international waters as if the devil himself were on his back?”

“I don’t know nothing for sure….” The Ferret began, and one shake of the Batmans’ hand was enough to stop his protests.

“A shipment of automatic weapons from Lexcorp in the downtown area was hijacked last week. I think the ship was there to pick up the weapons.”

“Ferret, that’s not enough to warrant a ship traveling halfway across the globe and back. You can buy automatic weapons, probably more cheaply in the Saudis, which is where the ship came from. What did they pick up?”

“I heard….a passenger. A woman. I heard the Saudis were taking a woman back with them. And I don’t think the lady wanted to make the trip.”

“Her name.”

“Aw, Batman, I don’t…..yiahhhh..!” The Ferret squealed as the huge hands shook him again.

“I heard only the first name….Serena, or Sabrina…”

“Selina.”

The Batman’s face was mute, but inside a rage of emotions battled throughout his soul. Selina Kyle, better known far and wide as the Catwoman, had finally been jailed in the Gotham Penitentiary two months ago. A week ago she had apparently busted out….or been busted out, as it appeared to the Dark Knight now. He turned back to the Ferret and threw the little weasel down to the pavement.

“Any thing else, Ferret?”

“ I heard that the guy who picked her up was this major player in the East, some guy they called the Death’s Head, or the Death’s fist….”

Batman still remained unreadable, but he knew what that meant. The Demon’s Head, known far and wide for over five hundred years as Ras’ Al Ghul. The most intelligent and yet power insane man the Batman had ever known, and the father to only one he had ever called wife, even for a night.

After their last fight in the Desert, with Bane operating as a potential paramour of Talia, The Demon’s Head had disappeared, although the Dark Knight knew it wasn’t for forever. If there was nothing else he knew about Al Ghul, he would and could always return.

And now he had Selina….

The Batman turned back to the darkness. As his retreating form was swallowed into the darkness, the Ferret wiped his sweat stained brow and slowly stood up.

“One things for sure,’ he muttered, relief sinking into his body as he realized he was alone, “ He’s right. Whoever pulled that stuff down at the dock does have the devil at his back…now.” He glanced around fearfully and then made his way down the darkened street, mindful of his own words.

Bludhaven

Dick Grayson moaned softly as Clancy worked his pants down from his thighs, letting the jeans slide down his long slender legs roughly as she stripped him, a look of rage mixed with lust dancing in her cheeks.

Throwing his jeans to the other side of his apartment, she next tackled his briefs, sliding them down and letting them dangle from the end of his foot, before grinning up at him as she took his now naked cock into her palm.

“So this is what you’ve been hidin’ from me, Mr. Grayson? I must say, it was well worth the search.”

Then she spoke no further, but deftly lowered her head down onto his pelvis, and took his length between her lips. Dick shifted on the sofa, and leaned back to grip the sides of the couch for full support as Clancy began to lick up and down his cock with her tongue, teasing the hardened ridge with tip lightly, a slight dance of shivers running through his body at that sugary touch. Her red lips took his crown between them and puckered slightly, forcing a sharp pressure on his tip.

“Oh….god….Clancy…oh my god….” Dick groaned, and ran his fingers through her short black hair and down over her neck. Clancy began to bob her mouth up and down harder and harder, getting into the rhythm of the blowjob, rimming his cock against the back of her throat, taking in as much of his meat as possible. Dick began to softly pump his hips against her mouth’s warm refuge, and soon could feel the tensions of the day lifting from him as his cock began to pulse with it’s load. Clancy could sense the sudden jerk of his body as he prepared to come, and suddenly lifted her mouth from his cock, taking the wettened pike in her fist and forming a tight seal at the base. She grinned up at him.

“Not yet, Grayson.”

He bellowed loudly with the maddening frustration he could feel pulsing in his cock, but Clancy was not having any of it. Dimly Dick remembered some of the self-control techniques Bruce had taught him from the East, and closed his eyes tightly. Mind over body, mind over body, mind over body…..

The urgent need to let himself go began to die down, but not completely.

Finally he opened his eyes, to see Clancy grinning down at him.

“Now that was some good control, Grayson. Definitely worth rewardin’.”

The beautiful Irish woman stood up, and reached down to the buttons on her blouse. Soon the white silk joined his pants on the floor, followed by her jeans as well. He looked up at her admiringly. Clancy wasn’t a super hero, she wasn’t a body builder, but the form before him was absolutely delicious. Her darker skin glinted slightly in the lamplight, shimmering like some moon goddess. Her legs were long and supple, racing up to where a slight black thong covered her slim thighs and rounded hips. His eyes traveled up to her copious breasts, which strained and swayed slightly against the black lace bra she wore. Her breasts were not as big as Barbara’s had been, but they were more than generous. Dick could see her nipples hardened to twin darts against the fabric surrounding them, and pressed forward urgently. For a second as she stood there, she let him appraise her, and even as he watched her she wore an almost expectant look on her face.

“Do I…..do you…..” she stammered, suddenly unsure.

He nodded. “You’re perfect.”

Clancy blushed and then was straddling him, her legs parting down to cup his hips between them. His cock lay against the warm fabric of her panties, and she grinned evilly as she ground her hips against him, churning up his erection with a maddeningly incredible friction.

“Tease…” he managed to stammer out as his hands lifted up to cup her breasts in his palms. With that touch she sighed lightly and reached behind her back to unhook the metal clasp. Clancy pulled her bra down from her beautiful canyon slowly, with the full effect of a strip artist. Dick laughed at the sultry expression on her face.

“So how much for a lap dance?”

She hit him on the shoulder, making her now naked mountains sway with the sudden movement. He found himself almost hypnotized by the bouncing flesh. Clancy followed his gaze and grinned.

“I finally know how to keep your attention, Dick. “ Her voice grew softer.

“ An’ I want to keep your attention for a long, long time….”

She suddenly pressed her breasts forward to his mouth, urging him with soft sighs to kiss them. He gingerly took one dark cherry nipple between his lips and suckled lightly, forming a slight pressure on her breast as he swept more of the loose mound into his mouth. She groaned and rubbed her body against his more urgently, sending even stronger shocks through his pelvis and up and down his spine.

Dick alternated from one breast to the other, suckling with more and more enthusiasm, letting his tongue dance across the tops of her globes, soon drenching her chest in his desire. For each harsh kiss to her chest Clancy ground her hips against his more and more urgently, until finally neither of them could stand it any more.

Clancy reached down between them and skirted the line of her thong to one side, suddenly revealing the dark haired warmth of her pussy to him. She reached down and grasped his now blue steeled cock between her fingers, and looked into his eyes, waiting.

“Dick, I know things are…unclear between us, but I need to know that you want this as much as I do.”

She whispered to him, her lips quivering between anticipation and the need to know.

Dick stared into her eyes, and knew that he couldn’t hurt her….but she was just so beautiful, just so much alive……

His answer came in a simple movement as he shifted his pelvis up to meet hers. Clancy cried out lightly as she felt his cock sink deep up into her loins, and shut her eyes tight, pressing his face into her busts once more. His hands slid down her back to her rounded buttocks, and he began to churn each lobe within his fingers around his invasion.

“Thank….thank you….” She moaned and began to bounce up and down on his lap lightly, moving her thighs together in a tightened vice around his length. He continued to pump into her, feeling his cock thrust deep into her very center, filling her, threshing her, completing her needs as well as his.

“Harder, Dick…harder….” The Irish beauty insisted, making him thrust his body against hers in an almost maddening dance of copulation, until both of them were writhing as one body against each other. Her hands slid down around his back and she fell forward, driving mindlessly into the rhythm they shared, her lips gnawing at his, never staying in one place for more than a second. Panting heavily she kissed all areas of his face, her tongue dancing on his cheeks, his mouth, his chin. Until finally he could feel her cry out in pleasure, and her grip on his cock became almost unbearable. Then he could feel her explode around him, her body shivering with the force of her orgasm. She leaned her head back and let out a yell that was almost primal, scaring him slightly. But he had no time to dwell on it as he suddenly felt himself let loose within her. He tightened his grip on her butt cheeks and thrust once, and then his cock fired deep into her body, filling her with his warmth. She groaned and bounced once more, jerking his length slightly and firing another round of his cream into her. Then she collapsed completely on to him, covering his body with the slight sheen of her skin, glowing slightly.

He kissed her deeply, fully, his mouth letting her know how much he had enjoyed this, how much he had enjoyed being with her. She responded to his embraces gladly, not knowing fully whether this would continue, but satisfied in his presence now.

Yet even as she settled against him in a slight cuddle, his length still buried within her, he could not erase the image that still arose in his mind….a hauntingly beautiful face, surrounded by red golden hair….

And then his beeper went off.

Clancy sighed, and slowly lifted herself from him, his cock slipping from between her legs, still slightly erect.

“I suppose you have an excuse for always runnin’ away now. That’s at least somethin’,” she petted his head, and walked to the bathroom. “Answer it. We both know you will anyway.”

Dick nodded, and then pulled himself up off the couch. He reached for his pants, and glanced down at the beeper that was still madly jangling on his belt.

Dick’s fist tightened around the beeper as he saw the simple design in the slight yellow glowing strip below him. No number, no name….just a simple digital drawing. Of a bat.

“It’s always something. “

The Batcave.

Batman sat in his chair at the center of the BatCave CPU, his fingers dancing on the keys while he waited for Dick to call back. The information that flooded in front of him on the screen told him very little, and he doubted that Oracle would be able to tell him much more. Information on Ghul after their last encounter was sketchy at best. Bruce had had a brief encounter with Talia the night before he had returned to Gotham, when she had basically beaten some sense into him to return to the city he loved, despite the destruction. She had not spoken of her father, nor did she inclined to mention him. Bruce had judged she was still upset with him for trying to make her become one with Bane during the last fiasco. Al Ghul was not one to use his daughter lightly in these matters, either.

The best he could work out was that once Al Ghul had escaped the Cave of the Wheel, he had disappeared into the Saudi wilderness, beaten but never defeated. Bruce had known the man would return….a rogue like Al Ghul had a thousand lives, literally, thanks to the Lazarus Pit.

The phone in front of him beeped once, and the Batman caught the receiver up in one hand.

“I don’t suppose this can wait?” Dick’s voice sounded rather tense, and Bruce let a smile slip between his lips despite the situation. The Batman cradled the phone to his ear and peeled one of his gauntlets from his hand.

“I need you in Gotham. We have a situation that I’m going to need everyone for.”

“Another earthquake?” Dick asked sarcastically.

“Potential for one, if not something much worse. Al Ghul’s back, and he’s got the Saudis working for him.”

The voice on the other end was silent. Bruce waited patiently.

“Any clues what he’s up to?”

Bruce shook his head. “Overall plans, I don’t know. The Ferret did provide me with another piece of information that does disturb me. Al Ghul, or at least his men, picked up a shipment of artillery at the Gotham shipyards late last night….and one passenger. The Ferret says he heard the name Selina.”

“ Selina…..Kyle? As in Catwoman? I thought Gordon caught her.”

Bruce allowed another grin to form on his face, and if Dick could have seen his former partner, he would know that grin was rare on the Batman’s face indeed….a look of fondness.

“You and I both know that no jail could hold Catwoman, no matter how many times we try to catch her.”

“Aw, you’re just saying that cause you’re sweet on her.” Dick teased, then his voice grew hard.

“What does Al Ghul want with Catwoman?”

“I wish I knew. But the way the Ferret was talking, she wasn’t along for the ride willingly. Dick, I know you have Bludhaven, but with Tim off at boarding school, and the fact that Al Ghul has any plans at all makes this top priority. I need your help on this one.”

Dick voice was dry now. “I suppose it would kill you to call in the JLA?”

“Yes. It would.”

“I figured as much. I can be up there in two hours. I’m guessing we’re going to be taking a trip?”

Batman keyed the screen in front of him and a map appeared, one single red line running across the center.

“The ship’s manifest is not listed, but I can extrapolate global position from JLA satellites. At least they’re good for something.” He grimaced, as the final destination appeared on the screen in front of him.

“Egypt, it looks like. Somewhere along the Nile…..pyramid country.”

“Oh great…..another bout of sand filled corpses. I’m still getting sand out of my boots from the last time around. Who are you leaving in charge back at Gotham, Huntress or Azrael?”

“I thought I’d leave Azrael up front this time around. Besides, I don’t think the Huntress is to inclined to listen to me after I dismissed her from the League last month.”

“Helena’s pissed off at you? That’s something new.”

“I’ll see you in two hours. Gotham Cathedral, I’ll swing by in the plane.”

Batman’s last sentence was followed sharply by a simple click.

Dick sighed once more, and then placed the phone back in its cradle. He scratched his back, and then turned back to the bathroom, where he could hear Clancy running a shower. A very large part of him wanted to just say screw it, and join her. But the other part….the darker part, always prevailed. He squared his shoulders as he walked down the hall, and formed his alibi at the door.

“Clancy, you’ll never believe this….”

Bruce looked back at the screen. From the slight exhaustion in Dick’s voice, coupled with slight tension and maybe a hint of satisfaction, Bruce gleaned that Dick had probably just had sex, and was not happy to be interrupted. Bruce tapped another button, dialing up Oracle. He couldn’t remember what that feeling was like…it had been so long since he had allowed himself any chance for close contact, and even as rigid as he kept himself in his tasks, he knew the other parts of him needed what he missed. Needed them desperately, sometimes. His mind filled with an image of Catwoman…his personal favorite image, of her in that slinky purple costume, her raven black hair flowing down her shoulders, before she had cut it. Selina and he had shared many encounters, and throughout all of them he had kept her at arms distance, even as much as she had implied, and even pressed the issue of their attraction forward. There was something about her, something feral, something deeply primal that made even his granite heart move slightly. Then there had been that last time in the Cathedral, when he had met with her to ask her help in retrieving the disks to reignite Gotham. The only thing he could offer her he did…..an embrace, a taste of his lips. He knew how much she wanted him….she just didn’t realize how much he had to fight to squash his need for her. Even Talia had not ignited the burning need he felt whenever he had been around Selina.

And Talia had been his wife…..

“I have the updates on the situation with Al Ghul, Bruce.” Barbara’s voice whistled over the intercom.

“He’s in Egypt, along the Nile…probably based in one of the pyramids.”

Barbara grinned. “The Master Detective as always. Care to tell me which one?”

“Give, Barbara.” Bruce tapped the table in front of him impatiently.

“Well, Ras was never one to do things half assed. From global and orbital satellite readouts, I’d have to say the Sphinx is where he’s holed up. And apparently amassing himself quite a little arsenal. Several different corporations throughout both America and the Middle East have reported weapons missing. No nuclear warhead so far, but we can only wait. The Saudi government admits no knowledge of any man known as Ras Al Ghul, both in their official resources…and the ones less official.”

Babs grinned a hacker’s smile. “If the Saudis were able to broker a deal with Al Ghul, I’ll be damned if I know how or why they did it. They are not renowned for dealing with megalomaniacs, both legal and otherwise.

One other thing. Apparently Catwoman's not the only person he’s taken. An archeologist by the name of Victoria Hartheson has been reported as missing from the Metropolis Museum of Rare Antiquities. “

A picture of Dr. Hartheson appeared in front of Bruce. The woman in the photo had done her best to hide her good looks behind a tight severe blonde bun and thick glasses, but there was no denying that she was still quite attractive. Bruce tapped his chin.

“Hartheson….she specializes in Egyptian folklore.”

“Yes. She was the one who discovered the so-called “Tomb of Set” two years ago. The archeological society celebrated her as one of the first women to make a major discovery. Time did a feature on her. She claims to have had to work against her looks. As you can see, she hasn’t tried to improve them.”

“What does Ras want with her? Any clues in her latest research?”

Barbara shrugged. “The museum reported she was working on something to do with the Isis/Osiris/Set legend when she was taken. She was being very secretive about the whole thing. That’s all I can give you for now, I’ll update you when I’ve got further knowledge.”

Bruce nodded. “Dick will be here in about an hour, then we’re heading across the Atlantic. Anything you want me to tell him?”

“That he still doesn’t look good in spandex.”

“I’ll be sure to remind him of that. Thanks, Oracle. Batman out.”

Bruce shook his head as he switched off the phone. It was a shame that the two of them had broken up. Even as much as he hid it from everyone else, he had actually hoped to see his adopted son and the former Batgirl get back together. But fate, plus the debacle with the Joker, had ended that. And now he had to deal with another madmen bent on world domination or global destruction or mass chaos.

There was no such thing as a normal day in the Batman’s world.

Egypt, Location Unknown

Selina blinked, her eyes opening at last to faint light around her. She looked around, and began to sit up, only to be pulled back down by the ropes tied to her wrists and feet. She struggled slightly, but whoever had tied her up knew their work. She looked around the dimly lit room, searching for any signs of her location.

She was obviously in some sort of cell, judging from the bars on the door’s window, and had been there for some time. Selina’s mind jumped as she replayed her last memories in her head. She had been in her bunk, asleep, right after lights out at Gotham Penitentiary. The cops thought they had the Catwoman…well, she was more than happy to let them think that way. Besides she needed a slight rest before she busted out of jail, and three square meals a day weren’t hurting her at all. Any other inmate that had thought to take on the Catwoman had found themselves in a body cast within two days of her arrival, so she wasn’t worried about finding an old rival with a shiv in the bathroom. It amused the greatest thief in the world to be incarcerated, even though she had already spotted seven different methods of escape just entering the prison. But Gordon thought he had captured the Catwoman for good, and after the hell he had just been put through both professionally and personally, she was willing to give him that one small victory. It was that damned conscience of hers…sometimes she wondered how thieves completely without morals fared in the market. Ah well.

Selina paused in her reverie. A man in the shadow….not a guard, standing over her cell with a can… knockout gas…..her cellmate crying out once, and then…..here she was.

And obviously she was not here to do a job…..or she wouldn’t be in these bonds. The guy who had tied her up had used some of the most intricate knots known, and if they were testing her, they would have made the cell even more difficult to escape, but with some potential for freeing herself. No, they wanted her simply as a prisoner….though for what she hadn’t’ a clue.

Her hands slipped around one of the knots in a futile attempt to pull one strand through, then she lay back down. The pain in her wrists was inhibiting her from doing any real work on her bonds, and there was no use in excess struggle.

“Hey! What the hell’s going on here?” she managed to yell, even though her throat was parched to the feeling of dry paper.

A face appeared in the window. It was of a man that she had never seen. He was of Indian descent, darkened skin that glinted slightly in the light outside, his completely bald head shining like a lighthouse in the middle of a black storm. The scar that curled down one side of his face did not improve his appearance, nor did the bulging shoulders or the vicious sneer he wore. He stared in at her with the same leer for minutes, not saying a thing.

Selina gave up talking to him after the fifth time. He wasn’t going to provide her with information…obviously a lackey.

At least my lackeys are required to have mastered the gift of speech, unlike this twit, she sighed to herself, and lay back down on the rude bed. Something about all of this seemed weirdly familiar, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. Another cell, another time in this type of infernal heat….

She shot up as she realized the last time this had happened. She had been under the employ of a twisted millionaire, searching out the Cave of the Wheel, and she had fallen under the hands of….

“Al Ghul!” she yelled, sliding back to a sitting position.

The guard reacted with surprise, and suddenly disappeared from the window. For a long time no sounds came from the hallway outside. And then Selina’s ears picked up the click of patent leather shoes on stone, and the faint swish of a man in a cape. The window filled with the face of her old enemy, and she grimaced as she recognized the dark face of the Demon’s Head.

“Al Ghul. I thought you were dead. Stupid me.”

Ras Al Ghul merely regarded her silently, rubbing his slightly bearded chin with a carefully manicured finger, and then finally he nodded.

“You’ll do.”

He whispered, and walked away. Selina lay back down on the bunk again. Two simple words, but even then, she didn’t like the sound of them.

“Master? Have you decided?” Draco watched the silent figure emerge from the hallway. Down at the end, the beautiful American was still imprisoned, and Draco could feel himself stir at the thought of her. It had been against the best temptation of his body not to take the woman for himself right there at the Gotham jail when he had kidnapped her a week ago. And seeing her tight form lying on the bunk every night only served to stir his passion. If Al Ghul decided that she was not the one for the ceremony, then she would be all Draco’s. It was an event the huge Saudi was especially looking forward to, after constantly being around the constantly shapely Talia, and the other one’s servant. To feel that woman’s body against his….

“Yes. She’s the one.” Al Ghul stared at the walls of the far end of the chamber, taking in the ancient scripture on the yellowed stones silently.

“You are not to touch her. You, nor no one else. She must be ready for the ceremony when he arrives. This is my warning, Draco.”

“But master,” he began to whine, and then Al Ghul turned. The eyes that had seen a hundred civilizations born and destroyed over the course of time flashed upon him, and even with his considerable bulk they seemed to dissolve Draco into a quivering pile of fear.

Al Ghul considered to study his companion silently, and finally came to a decision.

“But if needs be…you can experience the other one.”

Draco’s heart leaped. The other kidnapped woman, the one they had brought from the Gotham Museum, who even now transcribed the ancient texts of the machine they had come for….the one who would unlock it’s secrets for his master, secrets that could shatter the very earth.

The one who possessed corn blonde hair and the roundest, ripest….

‘Draco.” Al Ghul’s cold voice snapped his servant out of his dark thoughts.

He bowed his head silently, waiting for his orders.

“Before you…..relieve yourself, see that our partner is comfortable…..or at least as comfortable as that madman gets.”

Draco nodded and hurried down the hall. Al Ghul turned back to the ancient glyphs on the walls, and contemplated their meanings. Power. Life. Death. They were all almost in his grasp.

And only one man stood in the way. Al Ghul smiled, a cold smile that did not touch his fire brimmed eyes.

He would be here, soon enough. And then the all the pieces would fall into place.

Gotham City.

“So you understand what I’m asking of you?” Batman gritted to his companion. The white clad vigilante nodded thoughtfully. At last, after years of practice, he was able to look the Dark Knight in the eyes and not flinch. It was something that Azrael considered a matter of pride.

“What of the Huntress?” he asked the Batman, as the dark man began to turn towards his hovering plane.

Batman stopped, but did not turn back.

“Make sure she behaves. She won’t for me…maybe you can persuade her differently.”

Then the Dark Knight was gone from the rooftop, and Azrael watched the plane rise into the air and shot off silently into the darkness of the Gotham night. He began to murmur to himself.

“Where does he get those….”

“So, did Batboy give you a whole shopping list of things to do, or did he just loosen your collar one notch?”

A mocking voice sounded from below him. Azrael turned and looked down, to see the shape of a woman climbing up the side of the building. One of her hips rounded over the edge, and then she was standing with him, overlooking the city, her dark purple cape flapping in the slight breeze.

Azrael grinned at her. The Huntress might have had huge issues with the Batman, but he still shared a kinship with her that neither of them would ever have with the Dark Knight Detective.

“No, he just told me to wash his car, feed his dog, and stop random muggings. I think I’m moving up in the world.”

“He’s right, you know.” The Huntress glared, and waved a long strand of her dark locks away from her face.

“I don’t behave for him. Not anymore.”

Huntress walked over to Azrael and placed one gloved hand on his white clad chest. She grinned a rather wicked grin at him.

“And if you’re good, maybe I’ll misbehave with you later.”

Azrael smiled his own smile. The one thing the Dark Knight detective had not discovered about the former assassin was his recent blossoming relationship with the fiery Italian vigilante. Over the past few months, they had teamed up in a number of cases, and throughout those team ups a mutual attraction had blossomed. Jean Paul found something irresistibly attractive in Helena’s temperament, her dedication to fighting crime even to the extreme, and her overwhelming passion. A passion that had flared up between them more than once in these past few weeks, always finding one of them sneaking away from the other’s bed in the early morning, wondering how far they would be able to maintain these trysts.

Azrael’s lips curled around Helena’s suddenly, fiercely, embracing the dark heroine to his body. Helena accepted the kiss eagerly. Whatever she had had with Nightwing, it had been only something akin to teenage lust….what she felt when she was with Azrael was nothing short of romantic fury.

His tongue slid against hers, as he began to caress the inside of her mouth roughly, moving his lips with hers in a rate that was both frenzied and yet strangely controlled.

Far above the embracing vigilantes, hovering unseen in the Batwing, Batman shook his head as the monitor in front of him filled with the glowing picture of his two protégés. Youth.

Egypt, Location Unknown.

Victoria Hartheson sighed, and twisted a stray strand of golden hair from her face in consternation. Before her lay several piles of ancient texts, littering the desk like the remains of some tremendous windstorm. Just one of these texts would be invaluable to the museum, she thought. Instead she had hundreds of them in front of her, and instead of just research, she was meant to use them to unlock the worst secrets of the ancient gods. The cartuche that hung on the latest scrap of paper was so faded, she had to press the document close to her bespectacled eyes, cursing the dim light that Al Ghul had provided her.

She would have to protest these conditions, prisoner or not. When Al Ghuls’ huge lackey had grabbed her at the museum a week ago, she had actually been wondering what she was doing with her life, spending all this time with dusty texts when she should be living it in the present. And here she was, searching for a tool of ancient glory, a tool of unstoppable power….a tool that would be better left to the ruins of time…

At least Al Ghul had been courteous to her. Not like that Draco. The huge man had hung over her from time to time, leering like some dirty minded bar lurker. The attention she had received from him was exactly the kind of attention that she had tried to avoid all these years in her profession. No matter how hard she had studied, no matter how much she could fill her head with, whenever she had encountered the male colleagues of her profession, their eyes and thoughts had not been drawn to her knowledge but her body. Not for the first time did she secretly curse her bust line, or her shapely hips, that no ill forming clothes had ever been able to hide completely. And even though she wore her hair in the most severe bun she could wrap around her hair, she knew that many men secretly pictured her naked. The constant leers, the smirks on their face…..and now this Draco, who was by far the least subtle of her “admirers.”

And yet, in the darker areas of her conscience, beyond the propriety and need to blend in, her body yearned for his touch…..looking at those massive muscles, those bulging arms….that lump where he…

“I am sent to look after your progress, Dr. Hartheson.”

The rough voice startled her out of the forbidden reverie, and she nearly jumped up, scattering hours of research.

Her eyes drew back angrily. “Damn it, Draco! I was in the middle of something! If your master is so bloody keen on me making this discovery, he needs to understand I cannot work under these conditions!”

Draco smiled from where he stood at the edge of the passageway. It was not at all a pleasant smile.

Victoria grimaced, revulsion sweeping over her….(and secretly desire within her darker places)… and petted down her shirt across her ample front.

“I will thank you not to stare at me like that!” she said, clipped.

Draco merely continued to grin, watching her silently. Victoria reluctantly turned her back on the huge henchman, and began to pick up the papers that now lay strewn on the floor.

Down on her knees, she did not realize Draco’s proximity until she knelt up, and felt her back collide with his chest. She gasped, as his hands came around her body roughly, wrapping around her waist and chest protectively. She could feel his breath against the back of her neck, and down there, she could feel a…hardness against her bottom….and it wasn’t completely unpleasant…

“I work hard for the Master….and in return, the master rewards me…” he whispered against her neck, one powerful palm coming up to caress one of her breasts through the white collared shirt she wore. She breathed out once, a sharp sigh that was filled with both fear and something even more primal.

“You….my lady, are to be my reward….and I shall greatly enjoy my reward.”

He grunted as his hands found the buttons of her shirt, and began to slip the hard disks through their companion circles, loosening the white fabric from her chest. She hitched in a breath, and even as his hands reached inside her shirt and caressed the naked flesh of the tops of her breasts, her hands reached around to grasp the back of his neck. She could feel his lips caress the back of her neck, her head, and against all better judgment, against all that she would confess as sacred, she allowed him to touch her, to maul her between his rough fingertips.

“Fuck me….” She whispered pantingly.

She did not know why she desired this man in the roughest, crudest way possible, but suddenly she could feel her loins grow itchingly hot, and wet between her legs, and she knew there would be no denying her needs anymore. His fingers unclasped the white bra across the front of her chest, and then her large swaying breasts fell out, naked to his caress. His tongue slid out of his mouth and against her shoulder, digging into the opening between her collar and her neck, insistently. She felt one of her hands snake back behind her bottom, to grasp the huge bulge between his legs that was even now rubbing against the small of her back. Victoria’s fingers fumbled with the zipper on his pants, and then shoved past it, to grasp the large cock that stiffened out of his fly into her tender fingers. Draco grunted as he felt her encircle his cock with her fingers, rubbing at the rock hard flesh up and down, teasing him to greater rigidity.

“No time for that,” he growled into the back of her shirt, his tongue now caressing the line of her neck viciously. Then his hands slid down from where they held her breasts to her hips, and suddenly he pushed her forward. She cried out sharply and held out her hands to keep from bashing herself into the ground.

Then his hands were on her skirt, and he eagerly worked the tan material up from around her legs, exposing her buttocks and the thin line of panties that clung between them. The warm white material was soaked in the elixir of her arousal, and Draco tensed a finger against the pocket of her thighs, tracing along the line of her pussy. Victoria cried out in a mixture of arousal and agony, and then Draco ripped her panties away from her, exposing her loins to the air. Taking his cock in hand, he knelt above her. Victoria looked over her shoulder of him, half in fear and in anticipation, and licked her lips.

“Hunnngh!” she screamed as Draco lanced his pelvis down sharply, and his cock sank four inches deep between her thighs. The size of the meat inside suddenly inside of her body sent shock waves of pleasure throughout her body, and Victoria trembled and fought to remain on her hands. Draco gripped her thighs tightly, and began to slam the rest of his cock in and out of her, with no regard at all for her pleasure or discretion. But God, wasn’t the mere size of him driving her insane!

Draco reached forward and grasped her breasts where the wobbled beneath her, and clawed the two large pendulums between his fingers, her hardened nipples squeezed between his steel fingers. He tugged and pinched the ripe darts at the end of each of her breasts, drawing soft whimpers from between her lips as she concentrated on his length pounding into her body from behind. She had never had sex like this before, and even though every single fiber in her body was crying out how wrong this was, how much she shouldn’t be enjoying this, only her primal instincts were control. Victoria began to buck her hips back against his body, her ass cheeks slamming into his pelvis and drilling his cock all the way into her. The slight sac of his balls slammed into the line between her pussy and her anus, making wet slapping sounds. Draco paused momentarily within her, and swiveled his hips in a circle, moving his cock all around within her. That extra rhythm within her body proved too much for Victoria. As he began to lean over her and jackhammer himself against her, she could feel her insides turning to a quivering orgasm, her pussy clenching around his rock for support.

Victoria shut her eyes as tears flowed freely down each side of her face, as she felt the first onsets of her climax approach her. Her loins were on fire, a dark vibrating fire that slammed throughout her body and sent the nastiest shocks of pleasure to her brain, but somehow, she didn’t care….

Then she could feel Draco tense within her, his jaw set determinedly, and suddenly he slammed into her three more time, hard, sharp slaps to her buttocks. Draco stood back on his haunches, his eyes shut tight, and with a grunt fired deep within her body the sweet release he had been searching for. Victoria gasped as she felt his come filling her to the brim, sloshing around inside of her. And then, whatever gods she had been studying for Al Ghul, whatever they truly wanted from her, became merciful, and Victoria screamed as she felt her own climax rip through her. Her loins tensed once around his cock like a tight vice, and the extra clamp on his cock forced the dark man to pinch her nipples between his fingers to mind gasping pain.

Then the professor came sharply, her pussy going numb and loose as it sprayed forth its contents around his still burgeoning shaft, and Victoria quivered all over, moaning like a cat, her body tensing and untensing. Draco gasped as the last strands of his cream fired deep into her, and then pulled out of her, his cock at last flaccid.

Victoria, no longer held in his grip, fell forward against the pile of papers, her body shivering madly as her fingers reached down and danced across her still quaking pussy, driving the waves of pleasure throughout her. Draco blinked, and then looked down at his conquest, smiling. He reached up to his breast pocket, unseen by the still climaxing professor, and petted the small packet that he felt there. Whatever else this skin oil that Ras had developed could do for mind control, it had loosened the good doctor up. He pulled the packet from his pocket and smeared the rest of the contents across his palms. Throwing the small paper into a corner, he reached for the doctor, and felt her body tense underneath his grip. He realized with a grin that she was working herself back into arousal merely by his touch.

He wasn’t done with her, not by a long shot.

Somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean.

“So any clues as to why Al Ghul grabbed this professor along with the Catwoman?” Nightwing asked from his seat behind Batman. Below them, the waves of the Atlantic tossed and shook roughly against the dark night, and Dick could make out no more than the dark water on the horizon as the plane shot forward through the air.

Batman tapped a console in front of him, and instantly a console in front of Dick lit up with information. The same picture of the good professor that Batman had seen filled the screen, and Nightwing smiled.

“Well, she’s not bad on the eyes, even though she’s obviously tried to be.”

Dick joked. The Batman did not reply. Killjoy, Dick thought rather grimly, and turned back to the console, reading further. All of the usual awards, the usual schools. Interests primarily in Egyptian mythology and the rituals of the gods. Her passion, it seemed from the amount of research and digging she had done, remained with the chief gods…..Osiris, Isis and Horus.

“She discovered the Tomb of Set two years ago. Remind me, Set?” He glanced up from the computer, waiting for the explanation.

The dark voice hidden in the seat in front of him was like iron. “Set was the rival god of Osiris. He was also his brother. They both fought for the charms of Osiris’ sister/wife Isis, rumored to be the most beautiful goddess in all of Egypt. Set murdered Osiris and attempted to take over his throne and his queen. Isis killed herself than rather be forced to couple with Set, and joined Osiris in the underworld. They were able to impart their remaining power to their son, Horus, who slew his uncle and became the first great king of Egypt. Of course, this is all myth, but the facts remain that the last pinpointed location Oracle was able to get for me was in the desert area, around the tombs of Osiris and Isis. At least, that’s where they are legended to be.”

“ I still don’t see what this has to do with Catwoman.” Dick tapped his forehead, still working through the data.

“Neither do I, Dick. And that’s what concerns me. There are no legends that I know of that pertain to world power around the Osiris and Isis tombs. That’s what Ras Al Ghul is obsessed with, what’s he’s always been obsessed with from the beginnings of his life. I can’t figure out his plan, and that makes him all the more dangerous. I don’t know what he’s using Catwoman for either. If he wanted her to steal something, I doubt he would bring her all the way out into the wastes of the Forgotten Deserts unless it was exceedingly ancient, and exceedingly difficult to get his hands on.”

“And the fact that you’re sweet on her has nothing to do with it?” Dick teased from the backseat, still trying to needle the Dark Knight.

No response came from the front of the cockpit. Nightwing leaned back in his seat and smiled, his arms folded in almost satisfaction across his chest.

Only he could make the Dark Knight Detective at a loss for words.

Egypt, Location Unknown.

“Father?”

Al Ghul looked up from where he had been studying Dr. Hartheson’s latest research, to see the lithe figure of his daughter glide into the room. Talia was almost the exact replica of her mother, and Ras actually felt his heart ache to look at her. She wore a bemused look.

“I’ve just seen to our other guests. Apparently all he really wanted was a television set and reception for Jack Benny re runs. Father,” the dark skinned beauty stood beside him, and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Why do you align yourself with this madman?”

“Because I must, my dear. Time grows short for me, and when time grows short for the Demon’s Head, he must take whatever assistance he can receive, even from the most insane sources.”

“If only the pit…” she began, her voice suddenly filled with rage.

Ras petted his daughters hand absently, a stroke of tenderness from a megalomaniac. And as he did, Talia let her dark eyes creep down to gaze upon his hand. What she saw there filled her with even more concern……wrinkles.

“If only the pit hadn’t disappeared to us, if only we had defeated your beloved when we had the chance, if only many things, my daughter. This,” he pointed down to the scraps of paper that lined the desk, “ this is my last chance. And if bartering the least paltry concessions to a gibbering fool is what it takes for me to claim my birthright, then so be it. We all make sacrifices, my daughter. You more than anyone know that.”

Talia nodded, a slight tear forming in her eye. It hurt her to see her father like this….aging fast without any possibility of slowing the process. And yet, even in the duty and honor she bore her father, the back of her mind was filled only with one image….that of man clad in black, tall, handsome, masked…the man she knew was even now racing to rescue her hated rival from capture.

Another image arose within her mind….that of a bed, wrapped in the sheerest of silks, and her beloved upon it, his wounds treated, the scars of battle lining his back, and her approaching him, wanting him, and him not turning away as he had done so many times in the past…. He was coming back to her, and this time she would make sure he stayed. For the right reasons.

“Where is Draco?” her father’s voice interrupted her thoughts.

Talia’s lips curled in scorn. “That oaf you employ as your bodyguard is with the good doctor, making full use of that experimental pheromones you gave him. Why you let him rut like that constantly is beyond me.”

Ras smiled. “We all must give in to desire once in a while, my daughter. I would rather have a man who is rested and ready to battle at any moment than one who is filled with tension, angst and need. Those things make him weak. Weak men do not serve Ras Al Ghul. If the dullard must satisfy himself with the good doctor, then so be it. Once her research is complete and she has discovered the artifacts' location, she is of no further use to me.

“But make sure he does not go near the prisoner,’ he warned her sharply.

“The legends say she must enter the ritual untouched. She must be for him, and him alone.”

“ And once the ritual is completed, my daughter,” he petted her hand, “ he will no longer wish to leave you ever again. You will be his queen, he your king. And I….” Ras stopped speaking as his voice began to rasp and die into a fit of coughing. Talia held her father as his body was wracked with spasms, her teeth gritted.

And you will at last have all you desire, father, she thought. As will I.

“Gaaaaah!!!” Victoria screamed as Draco came within her a final time, his face mashed against her naked breasts as he suckled them and pounded her body with his own. The marathon of rutting they had engaged in had left her weak and sore, but it had still been worth it. No longer any doubts of rage or fight lay within her mind. She was this man’s now, and she would do anything for him, even serve his dark master’s twisted needs. She reached up and ran her hand over the sweat sheened surface of his bald head, moaning slightly as he writhed his hips back and forth between hers, his teeth nibbling at her nipples almost like a little child. And as she lay there and turned her head, something caught her eye. One of the many scattered parchments that had spilled onto the floor lay against the wall slightly, one edge curved between the wall and the floor. And at the corner of that parchment…..the head of a dog, the body of a man, and glyphs that she had not seen before….that she had missed somehow.

Suddenly Draco felt his conquest thrusting him aside, and grunted. He tried to grab her, but his body was too exhausted, so he just lay there, watching her scamper over to the corner. No matter, he had gotten more than what he had wanted from her, and he was completely spent. He had never done that with an American woman before, and her appetite, once whetted, had proved to be voracious. She now had picked up the piece of paper from the floor and brought it to the lamplight, her body glinting in the dim flame’s cast, covered in sweat. Her lips moved as she read the glyphs, and then stared up at Draco her eyes suddenly flashing.

“I…I found it! I think I’ve found it,” she amended, looking down at the parchment again.

“It’s incredibly vague, and there isn’t an exact location….but this is it. The Helmet is here!”

Draco smiled. Excellent. Once she had led his master to the helmet’s location, she would be completely his. His smile widened as he thought of all the things he would do with her, to her.

Sometimes, only sometimes, it paid to be a henchmen.

“The professor has just found what she was looking for.” Draco bowed his head before Al Ghul, and wiped a last trace of sweat from his brow. The Demon’s Head nodded, and thumbed over the parchment that Draco had brought to him, reading the transcriptions. His Egyptian was good, but even he had to have help in translation. Dr. Hartheson, her hair replaced in a rapidly prepared bun, pointed to the center of the parchment, where the single image of a pyramid with lines shooting out of it from all sides lay.

“I’ve analyzed the data against my database at the museum…..under a coded name of course,” she added quickly. If Al Ghul even suspected her of sending information about her location out, she would not live to see this through. And even if the work was towards these insane means…..the yearning to find this incredible piece of mythology filled her with anticipation.

“Every data piece I’ve analyzed points to this being the temple of Anubis….and within….”

Ras grinned. “The helmet of Anubis. The greatest archaeological and mythological treasure the world has ever known….or will ever know, once it’s within my grasp.”

“Father.” Talia’s voice sobered the Demons Head, and he turned to where she stood at the doorway, arms folded.

“If we’ve found the location of the Helmet, do we still need the madman?”

Ras tapped his finger to his chin. Finally he nodded.

“His contacts in the Middle East are still good, and while he keeps both the Saudi and Egyptian governments at bay, we can continue our search. His company displeases you, daughter, I am well aware. But it is a minor annoyance, at best. Draco,” he turned to the still bowed body guard.

“Go and see what our guest is up to, and make sure he hasn’t blown anything up in his quarters.”

Draco bowed deeply and departed down the stone hallway, his torchlight fading into the darkness.

Ras turned back to Hartheson. “How long until you can pinpoint the exact location of the temple?”

Hartheson looked down at the papers, her face losing some of its eagerness to be replaced with a dubious look.

“I’ll have to analyze the glyphs further. Legend has it that the pharaohs hid the location of the temple within the parchments, as some sort of code. It will take time….”

“Time is a luxury you are without, my dear doctor,” Talia spoke suddenly. “By now the Batman has learned what has happened in Gotham. I know my beloved,” she looked at her father, her gaze measured.

“He will arrive here soon. He has wits beyond a mortal man.”

Ras nodded. “My adversary will have left by now, doctor. All must be ready when he arrives. The ceremony depends on his presence, and I do not want him kicking down our door to find us ill prepared.

Understand me, Doctor. This may be a dig to you, but to the Demon’s Head….. it is my life.”

And even in the shadows, the firelight pouring into the dim room, Ras Al Ghul stood to his tallest, the blackness around them almost lit up with his countenance of dark majesty. Hartheson nodded, and left silently.

“He’s coming, you know. Coming here for you.”

Selina blinked at the sudden light that filled the room, and quickly hid the one leg that she managed to squirm out of the first of her bonds. She lay there, looking up into the sudden light. Behind the single torch, Talia glared down at her.

“Why are you doing this? What possible use can I be to you like this?” Selina glared at her captor, struggling to sit up, trying to hide her leg’s freedom.

Talia did not reply, merely moved into the room, her eyes looking past the Catwoman, seemingly at nothing. For what seemed like an eternity she said nothing, and then in a flash the daughter of Ras Al Ghul was across the room, and had Selina by the throat.

“What is it about you? What do you possess that I do not? What makes you so special to him?”

Selina gagged around the enraged woman’s hand, struggling to breathe.

“I…have no…..idea…what you are….talking about….”

Talia stared at her, her eyes measuring the response. At last she released her grip on the gasping Catwoman, letting her slump back onto the bunk, turning from a bright shade of red back to white in her cheeks.

“You really don’t know what I’m talking about, do you?” Talia whispered, her words a measure in steel.

Selina shook her head.

“More’s the pity for him, I suppose…and you. I speak of my beloved, the one man I would give my heart to, and would yet own…..if it were not for you.”

Catwomans' eyes narrowed as she contemplated her captor’s words. Then realization dawned upon her.

“The…Batman?” she gritted, still sore in her throat.

Talia’s lips curled from their rage into the sneer. “You don’t even know his real name, do you? I know him, I’ve been with him, I’ve…..experienced him. I’ve offered him everything time and time again….power, glory, the world at his beck. And of course, myself. And he spurns me yet. For what love? For that of his city? I think not. Even his dedication goes only so far. For the memory of his parents? They were in the ground long ago, and despite his beliefs, he no longer can yearn for their love realistically. No, he desires something. Or someone. And for a reason known only to the gods, you are that someone.”

“The Batman…..has something for me?” Selina’s eyes widened, and an almost completely uncontrolled smile filled her face. She had to admit, there was an obvious attraction between them. There always had been, even from the beginning. The first time they had teamed up, she had swung down and given him a kiss, a stolen embrace that even the stolid Dark Knight had not broken away from all too willingly. And even in the catacombs of the ruined Gotham Cathedral, he had sealed their bargain to save Gotham with a kiss. A kiss that he had given freely, and could she be mistaken….almost eagerly?

Her own lips curled into a sneer. “If the Caped Crusader or whatever the hell the media calls him has some sort of…..thing for me, what the hell do you care? He’s never shown any real interest, and it’s not like we’ve ever…..”

“It doesn’t matter if you’ve never experienced him. Even the time we were alone…even as we were one….I could feel something within him holding him back. I thought at the time it was his precious justice, his ever-dark need for something intangible. I was wrong. It was something very tangible. And even if he doesn’t fully know it, I do. I will not compete for my love’s affections with some petty thief.”

“Watch who you call petty, honey. Don’t think I can’t just break out of this cell at any time.”

Talia’s fury actually faded into contemptuous laughter. “If that were so, my dear, what are you still doing here? Enjoying the stay? This isn’t a spa, Catwoman. No, darling, this is no different than the prison we found you in. The difference is the only freedom you’ll experience from this place is the freedom of oblivion.”

“What the hell do you mean? What the hell is going on here?”

Talia petted her chin. “A king, a queen, and a rival. Slay the rival, and the king and queen shall prosper together. But this isn’t just about my beloved and I. This is for my father. One final act that will grant all he desires, and more. And you, my dear,” Talia smirked as she strode forward and cupped the Catwomans' face with her hand, clenching her chin up to her eyes.

“Are the key to that final act.”

Talia tore her hand away, and Selina fell back onto the bed, her eyes glittering. Talia turned to go, and then Selina pounced. Her free leg shot out along the back of her captor’s knee pits, and Talia fell forward, dropping her torch. Instantly Selina lifted herself back into the sitting position, at the battle ready despite her bonds.

“Just remember, bitch, a caged cat is not necessarily a captured cat. Do well to remember I’m not dead yet.”

Talia stood up, rubbing her chest where she had struck the floor, her eyes blazing.

“You are lucky we need you pure for this ceremony. Otherwise I would send Draco in here at a moment’s notice. And there are so many things my sick bodyguard would love to do that body my beloved craves so much. One word from me, and he’ll perform every single one of his little pleasures on you save the grand finale….and since when has that been paramount to a man’s pleasure? He’ll be in here to make sure those bonds you’ve labored so hard are tight again. Be warned my dear. Be ready.”

With that Talia swept out of the room, tearing the light from the cell and leaving Selina in darkness.

To contemplate all of her words……and to begin to form a plan of her own.

Somewhere over Egypt.

“We’re coming up on the Nile, Bruce. Fifteen minutes. “ Dick called from the back side of the cockpit. The Batman stirred awake. Halfway into the flight, Nightwing had insisted that his compatriot give him the controls and force a little sleep. Rather than argue the point….the Batman had once gone almost over a week and a half without sleep, with only slight side effects…. The Batman obeyed the needs of his body. In his dreams, the ones that weren’t filled with the smoky hazed gunman of his childhood nightmares, he saw another figure. A lithe figure, clad in violet, her limbs forever taut and supple. She beckoned to him, to a part of him he rarely touched, and even in those darkest areas of his mind, he realized his needs for her. And in those dreams, those needs were never completely played out….maybe because of his conscience, maybe for other reasons….he did not know….

“Sleep well?”

“Have I ever?” was the short clipped reply.

Dick smiled and turned the wheel in front of him. The Batwing dipped low out of the clouds, and suddenly the rushing sands of the desert were below them, surrounding a wide stretch of water. Along the surface of this river, tiny dots no bigger than flies represented the last of the fishing boats traveling down the Niles’ body on their way back to their villages. A random fisherman looked up towards the moon, and for a split second he thought he had seen a bat shaped object fly over head. The man bowed his head and pulled upon his oars that much faster. If the demons of the night were indeed out, then it would not do for him to attempt to incur their wrath even with his presence.

Dick coasted the plane along the edge of the desert, until in the distance the first mountain like shapes of the pyramids rose in front of them. And beyond them, another shape, the ancient mixture of both a man and a lion, worn with age and time, knelt across the desert’s surface, contemplating the night. Dick buzzed the silent sphinx once, and then began to look down at his sensors. Batman had already made his calculations.

“Twenty men in front of the Sphinx, each armed with standard weaponry. The same as was stolen from Lexcorp. The Sphinx itself has been netted….heat and infrared sensors can’t penetrate the tombs. From the tents set up along the rim I’d say at least twenty more, all armed the same. Not to mention whoever else Al Ghul has with him.”

Dick nodded. “I think I’ve found a place to land, in those croppings twelve miles to the north. You up for a hike?”

Batman shook his head. “Too obvious. Ras will have already thought of that. We need to go further. Whatever he’s done with Selina, or Hartheson, he’s not acted yet. Otherwise those men still wouldn’t be here.”

“You have a hunch what he’s up to?” Dick asked as he swung the plane back up into the clouds.

“Theory at best, mixed with legends. Until I have anything concrete, I won’t entertain it though. The key part now is getting into the camp and then down into the tombs. We can worry about his motives later. First thing is to get Selina….and the professor.”

Dick smiled softly, not mistaking the order the Batman had placed their rescue plan in. Whatever else the Dark Knight was feeling, he wasn’t doing his best to hide everything from his former ward.

Silently he began to whistle as the plane pulled ahead to the Batman’s new projected landing site, some thirty miles away. Batman’s ears pricked up as the sounds of “Rescue Me” filled the plane’s interior.

“Stop that.”

Gotham City.

“So…..this is your place, huh?” Azrael grinned as the Huntress led him through the back alleys of the Italian slums of Gotham. No matter whatever restructuring that Gotham had undergone from both Lexcorp and WayneCorp, there still remained the slums. They were like a permanent staple to Gotham, the constant reminder that the light would shine only in the higher spaces of the city. The two vigilantes wrapped their way around an abandoned alley, and suddenly the Huntress dived onto a broken down fire escape, to stand in front of a boarded up building. She reached one gloved hand forward to the wood, and smiled at Azrael.

“Open sesame,” she whispered mockingly, and then the wood slid away. He followed her into the darkness, soon lit by florescent lamps. He stood in a long room filled with targets at one end, and a living quarters at the other. The Huntress had already moved toward the bedroom half of her secret lair, removing her cape.

“Something to drink, Az?” she called from the kitchenette. Azrael shook his head as he glanced down at the shooting range. A variety of crossbows hung on the wall, and he reached for one of them. The quiver felt strangely light, and he lifted the crossbow without thinking in front of him, pointing it down range. His fingers slipped around the trigger, and suddenly an arrow flew down the length of the room, to land in a battered cut out of the Riddler, right in an area no man would appreciate being shot at.

“Nice shooting, big guy.” The Huntress whispered in his ear, and he turned, a sheepish grin on his face.

“Was that on purpose, or do you have some desire to see the Riddler become the lean green queen machine?”

He gasped as he looked down at her. She still wore her mask, but little else. A slight black nightie clung to her frame. He stared at her, and could feel himself growing hard merely at the sight of her. She still smelled of sweat and fighting, and the fierce look of intensity blazing within her eyes aroused him further.

Her hand reached up to his face and pulled the white mask from above his eyes. She grinned and laughed lightly as the chin hole caught on his nose, forcing his neck to jerk up with the mask’s loosening. He groaned and helped her pull the mask the rest of the way off of his face, and then looked down at her and reached for her own mask. She batted his hand away, smiling.

“Mine stays on.”

He grinned. “Kinky.”

Her smile faded as one hand slid down from his face across his frame. She unclasped his red and black cape from his shoulders, and then her hands were moving further down his body, across his chest, and down to his stomach. She breathed in a heavy sigh as she felt the ripple of his waist against her palm.

“Not bad at all. I bet I could do my laundry against you.”

His whisper was slightly tortured, tense. “You can do anything you want to me, Huntress.”

She smiled and then her hand slid between his legs, to cup the warm hard flesh she found there.

Her palm rubbed up and down insistently on his length, even as their lips came together. His mouth slid open, and her tongue crashed against his, as she kissed him with a need that quickly became frenzied. Her other hand that was not kneading the bulge in his pants ran down his back along the zipper of his costume. She slid it down to his buttocks, and then reached her hand in between the tight white fabric, cupping a naked cheek between her fingers. Azrael’s hands hand had in the meantime reached up to cup one of her large breasts between his fingers through the fabric of her nightie, massaging the large barely trapped flesh over and over. His other hand clasped around her back and he pulled her to him, sealing her hand between their legs.

Their tongues slid against each other, batting at their slick surfaces in a fierce game of tug of war as Helena led him over to the bed, still thrashing her hand wildly against his pants, jerking his cock even harder. Then she was kneeling on the bed, still kissing him, and pulling the fabric down from his body. Helena sighed as he helped her do it, and broke away from him when at last his cock bounced back from it’s prison, no longer trapped. Her grin widened.

“Mmmmm….I think we might call you the Dark Knight…or maybe Sir Lancelot….”

Jean Paul groaned with the obvious bad pun.

Helena leaned down in front of him, sliding her knees back up the bedframe until she was on her elbows, her mouth dangling precariously close to his cock. She looked up at him as she took his length between her fingers, and brought the large crown up to her lips. He gasped and thrust his hands into her hair as he felt her mouth slip over his length and down to the very base, the back of her throat constricting slightly around his head and creating a wonderful tension that melted throughout his thighs. Her lips began to pump up and down his length languidly, taking a slow and aching time to return to his tip. Her tongue swirled around the small hole at top within her mouth, and then around the length as she passed back into her throat, lavishing him with waves of soft pleasure.

“Huntressssss…..’ he moaned, and leaned forward slightly to where her buttocks pressed against the nightie as she knelt before him. He passed his hand against her backside, feeling for the edge of her lingerie, and reaching in past it to caress her bare bottom. His fingers slipped between the soft supple line of her cheeks, to caress the slightly naked haired pocket that lay there. She moaned as she felt the pads of his fingers brush along the rim of her pussy, and writhed her lower hips slightly at his touch, nibbling on his length with each feathery pass of his hand.

Jean Paul’s fingers dug deeper, parting the twin lips at the center of her thighs, and slowly burrowing their way into her hot depths. Helena squealed around her mouthful of cock and laced her ass back that much sharper against his hand, her pussy suddenly tightening around his finger’s intrusion. Her tongue licked up his length and then down to caress his balls between her lips. Jean Paul grunted and both of them began to sway in a rhythm against each other. He began to thrust his hips back and forth in front of her face, essentially humping her mouth’s warm recesses, and she began to push her bottom back and forth against the fingers within, threshing their hardened digits within her now heavily pulsing pussy.

As they neared their first climaxes, they moved against each other faster and faster, until finally Jean Paul could feel the first stirrings within his body of climax. Helena screamed out sharply, her mouth still full of him, and he could feel the walls of her insides clench tightly around his fingers once, and then loosen. His fingers were being submerged in a red hot liquid as she came, her mouth moaning frantically around his cock, her body quivering in ecstasy. She bit down sharply on his pike, and Jean Paul could hold out no longer.

“Coming….I’m….coming….” he moaned, and felt his cock fire deep within her mouth’s sweet sanctum. Her jaw and throat worked extraneously around his crown, acting like a pump to his warm cream that slid from within his burgeoning cock down into her mouth. Jean Paul had never received more skilled head, and he gasped as the most intense orgasm he had ever experienced shot through his body, nearly knocking his knees together. Helena finally let go of his cock and looked up at him, smiling serenely as a cheshire cat.

“You liked that?”

He nodded, still gasping, sweat running down his forehead.

She lay down on her side and grabbed his length, pulling him down on top of her.

“I know something you’ll like even more.” She grinned. Then Helena knelt up, and took the clasps of her nightie between her fingers, and slid them down her shoulders. Jean Paul almost gasped in admiration as the loose black silk fell away, revealing her breasts capped with dark red nipples, a slim and smooth stomach, and at last her navel. Jean Paul had never thought he could be entranced by a woman’s navel, but Helena’s was like the perfect jewel of her body, the crowning achievement. He knelt on the bed next to her and began to kiss her again, passionately as she worked his cock back into erection between her fingers. His hands grasped and jiggled the large mounds of chest, kneading the warm loose skin over and over again, pinching her nipples between the tips of his fingers. She groaned with each tug in his mouth, and frenched him deeply, sliding her tongue all the way to the back of his tonsils.

Helena’s legs parted on either side, still kneeling, and Jean Paul slid between them, his hands going to embrace her back and gently lower her to lie on the bed.

Then he pulled the silk nightie from her waist, and grinned as the last vestige of cloth save her mask fell away from her legs. She pulled him down on top of her, moaning insistently.

“Come on, no more playing around….come on….” She whispered frantically. He nodded and positioned his cock right along the edge of her pussy. He hovered there for a second, waiting.

“What….are you…waiting for?” she growled, her desire overwhelming her in a fury.

“Take off the mask.” He whispered. “ I want to see your face.”

Helena’s eyes widened. This was a great deal of trust she was imparting to this man, and only one other man had earned this trust recently. But there was something in his eyes, something in his face, that told her what she needed to know. She nodded slightly, and placed two fingers behind the black and purple covering. He smiled as the mask fell away.

“Your eyes….they are so beautiful….” He whispered.

“Please….” She whispered back, and then felt her answer slide deep into her recesses. Jean Paul grimaced as he felt his cock slide into her tightened seal all the way up to the hilt. He began to move his hips back and forth, and as they achieved a rhythm, her body writhed with his. His lips kissed her chin, her neck, and then she was cupping his face down to her breasts. They rose and fell slightly with each thrust inside of her, jiggling gently like twin globes. Jean Paul lathered each creamy white breast with his tongue, licking each inch tenderly. He pressed his lips together to suckle one rock hard nipple between his lips, and tugged at the circle with his teeth. Helena growled and pressed his face harder into her cleavage, her pelvis grinding against his harder. Jean Paul alternated between each juddering breast, until both of them were covered in the fluids of his mouth, and then he turned back to her face. Her dark locks lay around them both, spread out like a blanket. Her forehead dripped with the sweat of battle and sex, and he gently licked the sweat away from her face, much to her delight. Reclaiming her lips tightly, he began to thrust harder and harder, his body becoming mindless in its’ need for satisfaction. Together they moved towards climax, riding each other as they joined into one organism. Helena’s eyes were clenched shut tight, her mouth pulled back into a yell of joy, as she felt her pussy tighten harshly around his cock, gripping him in place for a second, and then loosened completely, her second orgasm driving her into a state of absolute euphoria. Jean Paul looked down upon her as she screamed her delight, and smiled, glad to know she was enjoying him. Then he could feel his own body tighten and his buttocks clench together, as he felt his cock jump within her hot womb. He thrust forwards sharply, and suddenly his cock spurted deep within her, filling her body with him and his gift. Every muscle in his body flexed and tensed at once, and then he fell forward on top of her, still rocking within her body, forcing renewed wave after wave of orgasm through both of their bodies. Finally they both collapsed, Helena’s body covered with his, his organ still nestled deep within her. Helena kissed his neck softly, as they both fell into a drowse, the exhaustion mixed with sexual euphoria washing over both of their bodies, cleansing them.

The beeping of Helena’s modem startled them from the slight drowse they had fallen into. Helena giggled slightly, pushed him away from her, and lifted herself up from the bed. She quickly sought out her mask where it lay on the floor. She placed it over her face and then grabbed her robe, sealing her naked and gloriously spent body in a wrap of bright red satin. Behind her, Jean Paul stirred, and stared at her.

“Work?” he whispered to her, stretching an arm and yawning lightly.

She nodded. “It’s Oracle’s private line. It may not do for her to see….you here.”

He nodded, and pointed to the bathroom, making an obvious gesture. She grinned and nodded, then turned back to the computer as he sprinted to other side of the room, grabbing his tights along the way. Even as he ran, she couldn’t help but watch his equipment bobbing with his movements, and felt another stirring in her lower depths. Later, she promised herself distractedly, and then tapped a key.

The screen filled with the robotic face she had become familiar with, and she made no attempt to hide her distaste. The little worm could see her, even if she couldn’t see Oracle.

“Huntress. I’m sorry to call so late, but we have a situation.”

“Give, Oracle.” Helena snapped, trying not to sound to tense.

“Arkham Asylum just called. They have a problem….and it’s a big one.”

Helena rolled her eyes. Great. Just when the sex was getting good.

Egypt, the Great Sphinx.

Draco moved his way down the hall towards the quarters of the other guest. They had picked this man up personally only two days ago, and he had not been one of the men to do the retrieval from the States. Which he secretly gave thanks for. The man gave him the absolute chills. And even as nice looking as his compatriot was, she was no less unnerving. He halted in front of the door. From behind the heavy wood, he could hear the sounds of a television blaring loudly. He knocked on the door, taking in a deep breath and squaring his shoulders, attempting to muster up all of his courage.

“Door’s open.” Called a voice, thankfully the womans. As crazy as she was, she was a cakewalk compared to her companion.

Draco nodded and opened the door.

The woman lay on a couch that the Saudis had gone at great lengths to find for them, her legs draped across one arm. It looked almost strangely abstract, a couch, a nightstand and a large old-fashioned television set in the middle of an Egyptian crypt. The man had taken one look at the room and requested it personally for his quarters. He said he found the atmosphere ‘charming.”

“If you’re looking for my sweetie, he went for a walk.” The woman grinned up at him, and then sat up and petted the seat of the couch. Draco started into the room cautiously.

“Come on in, I won’t bite….well, unless I get really hungry. Did those guys come back with our Malomars yet?”

Draco shook his head, and then woman crossed arms, pouting almost like a child. It looked so absurd, seeing a woman dressed completely in black and red spandex pouting like a little girl.

“Your master….is out….alone?”

She nodded. “Something about needing some night air, maybe going for a stroll along one of the other crypts. My sweetie wants to get as much sight seeing in as possible on this little vacation. He gets to see so little of the world nowadays. Come on, Drackie, “ she grinned and petted the couch seat again.

“I’m watching one of his favorites. Rodney Dangerfield in Back to School. He just loves Rodney.”

Draco glanced down at the screen. Through a slight bleary black and white, Rodney Dangerfield was in the process of diving into the air above a large swimming pool, that eternal leer plastered on his face.

“Do you like Rodney Dangerfield?” she asked as he cautiously sat down next to her.

He shrugged. “I’ve never heard of him.”

The woman looked as if he were out of his gourd. “Never….never heard of Rodney? Oh my god, you better not let my sweetie hear you talking like that. He can’t stand a non-Rodney fan. He hates them right up there with Dan Akroyd fans. Claims they don’t know what real humor is.”

Draco shrugged and the woman reached over the couch for a second, her back momentarily to him. Even as dangerous as she was, Draco could not conceal his obvious arousal at the sight of her firm rounded backside pressed against her tights. She had an incredible figure to be sure. In his pants he could feel a little stirring taking place. The woman turned back to him, with a popcorn bowl in her hand.

“Buttered, just the way he likes it. Care for a handful?” she waved the bowl under his nose. Draco nodded slowly and reached his hand into the bowl. Then suddenly he was leaping up as if a thousand volts were shooting through his fingers. He screamed sharply and waved his hand frantically. Attached to the end of his fingers was a little plastic mousetrap. The edge that bit even now into his fingers was serrated.

The woman on the couch exploded into laughter.

“Oh my god, that was classic, so incredibly classic! He said you’d fall for it, but I’d never have believed it!” She hugged her arms around her frame and rocked back and forth, peals of hysterical laughter ringing from between her lips. Draco pulled the trap from his fingers wincing, the steel sunk deep into his flesh, and then turned towards the woman, a look of rage shuddering over his face. Her laughter died as she looked up at the huge man towering above her, his fists clenched in balls of fury.

“Can’t….can’t you take a joke?”

He growled and reached for her, grasping her neck in one hand and raising a fist in the other.

“Ah, ah, ah. Not while I’m around.”

The mocking voice came from the doorway. Draco turned, the woman still in his grasp, and his eyes widened in terror.

The man in the doorway was tall, incredibly tall and thin. His body was dressed in a suit of pure purple, which was offset only by the pure white of his skin. His lips were ruby red, and curled into an eternal smile that sent shivers up and down Draco’s spine even as he looked at him. The man’s eyes emerald eyes danced with an insane jocular insanity that was boundless, eyes that were almost as green as his hair. In his hand he held a gun.

“A non-Rodney fan and a woman beater, to boot. Something tells me I’d be doing the world a favor.”

The Joker grinned at him, leveling the gun at the now fiercely sweating bodyguard.

Harleyquinn grinned up at her boss. “Puddin! You’re back! You saved me from the big bad man!”

She fell out of Draco’s grip, which was easy enough considering most of the strength had suddenly sunk out of his body, quivering like a jellyfish. The red and black clad woman danced over to her beau, and wrapped one arm around his shoulder. The Joker absently wrapped a hand around her waist, but his eyes remained on the shivering bodyguard.

“My master…..sent me…to see how you were doing, and if there was anything more that we could do for you. He also wanted to know when you will next be contacting the Saudi government again.” He managed to stammer out, looking positively terrified.

The Joker paused, seeming to consider his words and then grinned wider.

“In answer to your second question, my jolly companions across the desert will call me when their favorite sitcom “Knock Me down with a feather, Abdul” is over tonight and not before. They’re very picky about their sitcom times, those Saudis. And in to answer the first question, I enjoyed a little night air, saw a few thousand-year-old corpses and had a tea party with them, and came back here to see you with my little woman. Now, what do you think I should do to you?”

Draco fell on his knees, the Joker’s gun still trained on him.

“Please…” he managed to stammer out.

“Oh, pathetic. I’ll tell you what. I’ll give you a sporting chance to make amends. Pop quiz hotshot. Your favorite Rodney movie…now.”

Draco’s eyes moved fiercely, his mind concentrating. Nothing was coming, so he blurted out the only movie he had ever seen.

“Star…Star Wars?”

The Joker’s eyes widened. “Really? He was in that? What was it? The Special Edition or did he double for Jabba the Hutt?”

Draco’s head nodded feverishly. “Yes, yes, he was in it…..He played a stormtrooper.”

The gunshot rang out, and Draco slumped down to the ground, a knockout dart piercing his chest. At the end of the Joker’s pistol a small sign hung with the simple word “Bang!” printed on the side.

“How come you didn’t kill him, puddin?” Harley whined against his side.

The Joker threw the gun behind his shoulder and started into the room, Harley still at wrapped around him.

“Because anyone who comes up with an original answer like that has either got to be desperate or have on hell of a sense of humor.”

“ And that,” the Joker’s eyes glinted evilly, “ is something the world just needs more of. And if Ras Al Ghul helps me get my way, the worlds gonna get one healthy dose of humor…my kind.”

He kicked Draco’s unconscious form away from the couch and then settled down into his seat comfortably, Harley draped around him happily and stared at the screen. For a moment his eyes widened, and then narrowed down to slits.

“Damn it, he made me miss the gratuitous nudity!…..oh wait, there’s some….”

Gotham City.

“So we don’t have any clue where he is?” Huntress asked the modem in front of her, her voice tightened.

Oracle sighed. “There’s been no sign of him since he busted out of Arkham two days ago. But the orderlies said that he had had some visitors the day before he escaped…who claimed to be with the FBI. They were both Indian.”

“Saudi?”

“I wouldn’t be surprised. It looks like our Clown Prince of Crime might be working with Al Ghul. And that’s a dangerous combination.”

Huntress nodded. “Is there any way to get in contact with Batman?”

The robotic head shook from side to side. “Wherever he is, he’s under a satellite cloak. There’s no contacting him. It looks like he might be walking straight into a trap.”

Azrael approached behind the Huntress, the need for secrecy completely dissolved.

“Then we’re going to have to go after him. Can we call in Robin to watch the city?”

Oracle didn’t even skip a beat at his voice. “I’ll also call in some of the JLA…no offense, Huntress.”

“None taken. When’s the next flight out to Egypt?”

“I’m booking you both on the early morning flight now. Under the names Mr. and Mrs. Malone. Although I could just list you as Mr. and Mrs. ‘Indiscretion’ “ the voice on the other line sounded amused.

“Funny. Very funny.”

“I try to be. Be careful you two. Neither of those two is to be taken lightly.”

Huntress nodded, and the computer winked out. She stared up at Jean Paul, her usual sarcasm replaced with a growing look of concern.

“If Ras and the Joker are together, how the hell are we going to stop them? How the hell’s Batman going to stop them?”

Jean shrugged, his face dark. He had no answers either.

To Be Continued……..