Selina looked at the bank account and frowned. She had an extra thirteen grand in her
account. That was the amount that Pam
reported missing from the slush fund she had stashed to set herself back up
after broke out of Arkham. Last week an AIM computer virus was on her laptop.
Word was someone transferred a crate of weapons from Lexcorp to the group of
Skrull spies operating out of the UN. Someone
was hell bent of kicking off a factional war.
She would have to get Batman involved in this to keep the world from
feeling the brunt of an underworld world war.
“Hay, world’s greatest detective!” Selina slapped Bruce
on the shoulder, “Wake up, I got a crime for you to investigate.”
“Isn’t that a conflict of interest for you?” Bruce groaned.
“Not really,” Selina said, “I have a thing about not
getting in a world war. Right Isis?”
Selina picked the gray cat off of Bruce and held her in
her hands.
“What kind of world war?” Bruce stretched and almost
punched a black cat.
“Watch out for Walter,” Selina said, “The kind were the
Joker and Lex Luthor are going at it and using everyone else as chess pieces.”
“What happened now?” Bruce rolled over and put an arm
around Selina’s belly.
“Yeah, that call I didn’t want to talk to you about last
night?” Selina bit her lip.
“Poison Ivy,” Bruce said as Mink licked his ear.
“Yeah, she wanted to know if I stole a chunk of cash and
I didn’t but it looks like someone is playing a sick sort of Socialist roulette
and framing people for theft.”
Bruce yawned and reached for the smart phone of his. He typed a message and then pet Mink. After a ping Bruce went back to the phone.
“You can blame that on Robin,” Bruce rolled his eyes, “He
was trying to impress Spoiler.”
“Are you going to yell at them?” Selina asked.
“No, Alfred is waking them up with a fire extinguisher,”
Bruce leaned in fishing for a kiss.
“Kinky,” Selina purred.
“Any chance you can convince Doctor Isley to not go back
to her crusade and take a vacation instead?” Bruce asked.
“Yeah,” Selina rolled her eyes this time, “Like that will
happen.”
A ping on Bruce’s phone got his attention. He chuckled.
“Never mind,” Bruce said, “No need to stock up on weed
eater for the time being.”
“What?” Selina asked.
“Nightwing took care of it,” Bruce said.
Selina reached into the drawer of the night stand and
pulled out a leather cat mask, a pair of gloves and a short sex shop cat of
nine tails whip.
*
Manheim sat on the chair backwards as he watched the boys
go over the rat. He raised a hand and
the men stopped.
“When we brought you in, you told me you had connections
to the Hand,” Bruno Manheim gave his best 1930’s tough gangster impression, “You
assured us you would be working for us and not the hand. Now, I find members of the hand running ‘round
with some of our best gear. How does
that look Jon? How does that look?”
“Please boss, I swear!”
“Gag him,” Manheim ordered.
He stood up and fixed his tie and top button. He gestured for the suit jacket.
“How many?” Manheim asked.
“Three, a Thumb and two bodies,” the guy at the door
said.
“Bring them in,” Manheim said as he put on the jacket, “Tony,
fix your tie. It is a sign of disrespect
to be dressed like a slob for a meeting.”
“In deed it is Mr. Bruno Manheim,” the forty something
year old Chinese woman said as she followed a twenty something Vietnamese girl
and was followed by a massive Russian man, “Thank you for inviting me into your
house. Doing some house cleaning I see.”
“You don’t recongnize him Madame Long?” Manheim asked.
“No, should I?” She asked and walked over for a closer
look, “He looks a lot like Fong Xi now that you mention it, who is he?”
“Jong Xi,” Manheim said, “Fong’s cousin.”
“Then Mister Xi will be most heart broken,” Madam Long
said coldly, “I will be sure to send condolences after the body is found. For
an old man to loose both sons and then both grandsons will surely break the
poor man’s heart.”
“If you will excuse the rudeness of the question,”
Manheim started.
“His cousin was killed along with some other trusted friends
when they were ambushed while doing business with a mutual friend from
Metropolis,” Madame Long frowned, “Someone wanted us to believe it was the bee
keepers… although it was much less sophisticated than what they use.”
“So how can we keep the peace?” Manheim projected
confidence.
“The Chinese Laundry in town, let your people know that
they have an approved insurance policy with another provider,” Madame Long’s
smile was predatory.
Manheim waited a moment for the effect.
“And?” he asked.
“We will provide you with all the information on the bad
deal,” Madame Long stood and smoothed her dress, “While the other young mister
Xi did not survive, his team was successful in acquiring the same sort of…
personal electronics, heh, as your people use from our mutual supplier. There seems to be someone trying to make our
arrangements null and void as the expression goes.”
“Done,” Manheim said.
Madame long said something and her girl pulled a copper
bag out of her suit pocket and held it out.
Manheim nodded and one of his men took the item. The three members of
the hand lined up to close the meeting.
“Do you want to take him with you?” Manheim asked.
“Mister Xi?” Madame Long asked, “Whatever his troubles
are, they have nothing to do with us. Although
should he have an accident, please do have to curtesy to inform us so that we
might be able to give a proper condolence to his grandfather.”
“Very well,” Manheim said before speaking to his men, “Tip
your hats boys, show our guests respect.”
“Thank you,” Madame Long bowed in return.
*
“What the hell are you doing now Stark?” Maria Hill
bellowed from the door way of the lab.
“Not much,” Tony said as he punched floating targets, “Just
a little rehabilitation exercises after getting a concussion form our wing
friends.”
“Yeah, yours has to be the worst Night of the Long Knives
story so far,” Maria smirked.
“I’m sorry, is Nick sick?” Tony said, “I thought it was
his day to come in and make fun of me.”
“It is,” Maria smirked, “He is going over some of the
security stuff before he comes to mock you.
I just stopped in before I have my meeting with Potts.”
“Do I make fun of you while you are trying to work out?”
Tony asked, “When did I ever do that?”
“Fifty-seven times and counting Stark,” Maria shouted, “I
got a lot to bring back at you.”