Superman Fucks Gotham Ch. 16

I got kind of sidetracked on this one and it takes a while to get to the payoff. I didn't change this during edits, because I think there's value in doing it this way, but just FYI. If you're not as serious with comics, you may want to look up Stephanie Brown's costumes as the Spoiler, Robin, and Batgirl. Also, the chapter kind of assumes that you know that DC really jerked around her character regarding her death.

As always, both comic book logic and crazy sex fantasy rules are in effect.

*****

The first time Stephanie Brown walked up to the new city hall, she did so in her civilian clothes. Not even fun ones, just a shapeless blouse and sweat pants. It got her absolutely nowhere. Though the new building that had seemed to spring up from nowhere was the seat of a new provisional government, backed by Superman's power, it contained most of the same community leaders Stephanie already knew.

When she managed to talk to them, they said that they had more resources to do their work and the promise that Superman would enforce order, but otherwise things hadn't changed. Since people were trying to rebuild their lives, it felt awkward to be getting in the way with her snooping. As Stephanie Brown, there was nothing else she could learn from the place.

The second time, she went as the Spoiler. It had been too long since she'd donned the purple outfit, but it still felt great. Maybe her name no longer applied, or maybe she'd find out there was something nefarious going on under the surface and she could spoil that. Plus, the costume made her feel sexy as hell.

She slipped inside that evening, easily evading the simple security. There were several computers running on a generator and cabinets filled with files when those weren't working. Stephanie avoided them all, since they were just doing their best to make Gotham a better place. Everything she saw suggested that the new city hall was exactly what it appeared to be...

At least on the first floor.

After a complete circuit, she realized that there simply were no stairs to the second level. That made the mystery of what exactly went on in the upper floors all the stranger. Rumors suggested that there were women working in city hall who seemed entirely too well-armed and well-trained to be simple civilians. Somewhere above, there was the mystery of Superman's control of all this.

Eventually Stephanie found a panel that looked like it could open into the second floor. She used her grappling hook to get nearby and began to experiment with the panel, only to find that it opened immediately at her touch. Not like a trap, more like an automatic door. Well, maybe that made sense for Superman.

Regardless, she used the opportunity to flip herself up to the second floor. She didn't retract her grappling hook in time and it got caught, but the panel opened again when she touched it. Then she was inside.

The second level was much nicer than the first, lushly furnished with carpets and furniture that could have been taken from a mob boss's headquarters. Probably had been, she realized. If Superman had really conquered so much of the city, then he'd captured quite a bit of stuff. But was he really living amid it all like a boss? That didn't sound anything like the hero she'd known, but then again, neither did most of the rumors.

Just when Stephanie was starting to think the floor was empty, a shadow detached itself from the others and came to stand in her way. It was a woman wearing all black, rather similar to the League of Assassins garb. "That's far enough. You shouldn't be here."

"Just taking a look around." Stephanie stepped back and put her hands behind her back in a disarming posture that put her fingers close to her utility belt. "Does Superman really live here?"

"He's working at the moment. If you have ordinary business, please raise it downstairs during business hours. If you want to discuss superhero business, there are better channels for that than breaking and entering. If you remain here, I will be forced to restrain you."

While the other woman spoke, Stephanie got a better look at her. She definitely had the ninja vibe going, and she carried herself dangerously, but Stephanie no longer thought she was a League member. Her outfit was cut to reveal cleavage and thigh, and while the League sometimes dressed like that, in this case it seemed like something that had been chosen. Though the cowl made it harder to see, the ninja was definitely wearing some makeup.

Overall, she looked like a woman who had her eye on a boy or girl she liked and was dressing for their sake. That wasn't much like the League at all. It didn't look like she was going to give much in the way of answers, though, so Stephanie crawled her fingers toward the side of her belt where her staff lay retracted.

"So, if I wanted to make an appointment with Superman..."

"It doesn't work like that. Leave, now."

"Fine, let's do it this way!" Stephanie grinned as she whipped her staff from her belt and it snapped out to its full length. Maybe there was a better way to resolve the problem, but she was itching for a fight.

The other woman reacted immediately, knives cutting at her with deadly intent. Stephanie was able to keep her at bay with her staff, but it was a closer thing than she'd expected. Her opponent was League material, at least, forcing Stephanie to brush off all her old skills.

They exchanged several more blows, neither able to get the upper hand. Yet while Stephanie was still grinning, the other woman seemed worried. Abruptly her eyes shifted, the slightest of reactions not quite suppressed by training, to something behind her.

Stephanie whirled, her staff stabbing directly toward her attacker. It was a good move, she thought, one of her best, yet the staff didn't connect. Her opponent was a black blur, disarming her effortlessly and tossing the staff aside. Though Stephanie raised her fists, she paused in shock as she realized she was facing someone familiar to her.

"Cass?" Stephanie knew she should be more suspicious, but her heart swelled at the idea of seeing her old friend again and she couldn't bring herself to doubt. Cassandra was wearing a variant of her Black Bat costume, as stark and ominous as always.

Her head tilted to the side slightly. "If it's really you, show your face."

"Cass, it's me, Stephanie!" She pulled the cloth from the lower half of her face and lowered her hood. "What's going on?"

For a moment she was afraid, but then Cassandra's posture relaxed. She raised one finger to Stephanie and then turned toward the ninja woman. "This is an old friend. Thank you for intercepting her, but I will deal with this from here."

"Of course, Mistress." The ninja bowed and vanished into the shadows, leaving them alone.

After a long pause, Stephanie made a noise of disgust in the back of her throat. "Cass, I know you're probably going for this, but that mask is creepy as fuck. Can you..."

"Hello, Stephanie." Cassandra removed her mask and smiled at her, and Stephanie felt a rush of relief and warm friendship.

She'd been worried that something had happened to her friend after she had to flee from the League of Assassins. But now Cassandra looked healthy, her skin vibrant and her hair glistening. More than that, she looked happy. Something seemed to have filled the spaces that had once been empty pain. And based on how fast she'd disarmed her...

"Am I just really rusty?" Stephanie sighed and walked to her fallen staff. She rolled it up onto one boot and then kicked it up to her hand. "You've always been better than me, but I thought I could put up more of a fight than that."

"I don't think you've deteriorated. But I've become significantly better."

Stephanie's eyebrows rose. "You don't seem to have any trouble speaking, either! I'm really happy for you."

"Thank you, Stephanie." Cassandra gave her another one of her quiet smiles. "If I'd known you were active as Spoiler again, I would have contacted you. What are you doing here?"

"I should ask you that." Stephanie retracted her staff and flopped down onto one of the plush couches. It felt as nice as it looked and she sank into it. "But I guess it's on me to answer first, since I broke in here. I'm not sure I really believe that Superman is rebuilding Gotham. Is something suspicious happening?"

"I wouldn't put it that way." Cassandra gracefully sat in a chair opposite her. "The first floor is exactly what it looks like. We conduct more clandestine business from the second and house many of our team members in these rooms."

"And the third? What's up there?"

"Nothing."

Stephanie cocked an eyebrow. "Right, that's not suspicious."

"I spoke the truth. It is there to give the impression this is Superman's headquarters, while our actual base of operations is elsewhere."

"So Superman is behind this."

Cassandra gave her a thoughtful look. "I've answered many of your questions, Stephanie, but I have many of my own. How have you been, since..." She trailed off instead of bluntly stating that Stephanie had been fired from her position as Robin by Batman. Her social skills really had improved, then.

Since she'd wanted someone to talk to anyway, Stephanie gladly told her about everything that had happened to her. Her attempts at another kind of life that never seemed to go her way, her depression as the world seemed to darken, and finally her new drive to prove herself again.

"I figure what I need to do is get a big win on my side." Stephanie brushed back her blond hair, wishing it didn't get so tangled under her hood. "I thought maybe this whole Superman government would be a scam I could unveil, but apparently not. That's okay, though, I have a backup plan. Part of the city that's still lawless is controlled by a criminal called Black Mask. I have files from the computer on him, so I think I should be able to take him out, no problem."

Though Cassandra had been a perfect listener, utterly without judgment, now she frowned slightly. "Do you think that's wise?"

"Sure. Come on, Cass, what's the worst that could happen?"

Another slight frown, then Cassandra removed a small black box from her belt. "Would you mind if I scanned with you with this? There is... residual radiation in Gotham and you may have been exposed."

"Okay, sure. Do I need to get up, or - okay, I'll lie here. I didn't think you were the sciencey type."

"This is for Barbara."

Stephanie sat up, smiling again. "You're working with Babs? That's great! Can I meet her?"

"I'm certain you will, but there are several key decision that need to be made." Cassandra frowned at the box's readout. "And she will want to see these results."

"What? Am I sick?" Stephanie hopped over to look over her shoulder and saw a dizzying array of numbers and symbols. "Wow, how can you underst... wait a minute! Can you read now?"

"I can."

"That's wonderful!" Stephanie embraced her warmly. Though Cassandra slipped her arms around her back, she spoke in a fairly cool tone.

"It is truly absurd that I wasn't taught the skill early on. It is a rather crucial skill to lack, yet I went without it for years. That... does not actually make any sense. I see."

"What on Earth are you talking about?" Stephanie pulled back, her hands on her friend's shoulders. No response. "Okay, fine, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"It's not that, Stephanie. I need time to think and consider several things. Please, don't do anything foolish like entering Black Mask's territory. I'll find you soon and perhaps then we can discuss everything."

They exchanged contact information and hugged again before Cassandra led Stephanie out through an exit that was a perfect choice for grappling away. As Stephanie sailed through the air, her heart as light as air, a bit of doubt began to creep in.

Though she'd been glad to see her, Cassandra had avoided the key questions. She was withholding information - Stephanie still wasn't a real member of the Bat Family. Not in any cruel way, more like a concerned older sister. The idea of having an older sister sounded great, but Stephanie wanted to be closer to equals.

Well, she could show them. She'd execute the entire plan on her own and then they'd have to acknowledge her. Stephanie grappled toward Black Mask's domain.

X X X

When Cassandra returned to the Batcave, she found it pleasantly quiet. Their group was more spread out now, which suited her just fine. It seemed fitting that the growing harem shouldn't be confined to a small area, plus it made small and intimate encounters easier.

Those thoughts faded almost immediately as she reached the central computer. Barbara was there, typing an email to one of her contacts, but she looked up immediately when Cassandra approached. Instead of greeting her, Cassandra raised the scanning device.

"This data needs to be analyzed and cross-referenced with yours. It may be important."

"Sure." Barbara set it near the receiver and swiped the data into the main computer. "Hmm, these are pretty high m-waves, even for a superhero or villain, but you came back alone. What exactly happened?"

"I met Stephanie." Cassandra pulled one of the chairs closer and sat down, watching the computer process the scan.

"Oh!" Barbara smiled as soon as she heard the name. "Did she seem alright? I worried about her, given that Bruce seemed... unusually harsh with her."

That thought had been working in the back of Cassandra's mind, but hearing Barbara state it that way made things much clearer. "In my opinion, Stephanie has always been competent, and no more impetuous than many of Batman's other wards. Does her treatment strike you as unfair?"

"Possibly, but I didn't blame Bruce because there was so much going..." Barbara's eyes widened just slightly. "Ah, I see. You think the Writers were responsible. Well, when the computer finishes crunching the data we'll at least have suggestive evidence."

They sat in silence for a time, watching the progress bar inch along. As troubling as it was to think that extra-dimensional beings could manipulate everything about them, Cassandra had begun making the assumption that it was true. It would explain her life up to that point... except that she didn't see what benefit the changes could possibly produce.

Perhaps she was viewing the problem from the wrong angle. These Writers clearly cared nothing for human lives, so they must have other goals. Barbara thought they fed off of the c-waves for unknowable reasons, but Cassandra wasn't so sure. Saying that these beings were beyond their understanding stopped all future questions. She preferred to keep wondering, hoping that another way of thinking could provide an answer. Harley might be helpful, but-

"What's going to happen to Stephanie?" Barbara wheeled to face her with a serious expression. "If there is otherworldly manipulation, then Superman could probably neutralize it. But you didn't bring her back here."

"I didn't." Cassandra closed her eyes.

"You don't want her to join us?"

The problem was that Cassandra did, desperately, to the point where she'd nearly tied up her friend and delivered her straight to Superman. But Stephanie was no threat who needed to be removed, she was just a young woman. "Is Stephanie still dating Tim?"

"I'm not sure, but it's hard to believe they would have continued that relationship." Barbara sat back and watched her carefully. "I thought you were comfortable with all this."

"I am. But I'm uncomfortable with how easily Superman's power would be to misuse. Reforming villains and making people happy is one thing, but I'm certain he could just as easily take every woman. The moment we start severing relationships..."

"I can understand that, though I personally feel like I set aside moral qualms when I joined a harem of supervillains."

"Be serious, Barbara."

"I'm just taking a moment to think." She rolled back to get in range of her coffee mug and took a slow drink. "This isn't really very different from any other power. There's just as much potential to create relationships as to destroy them. And if someone has to have that much power, I'm glad it's Superman. Maybe... maybe that's why Bruce called him first, though-"

Barbara cut off as the computer beeped to signal the completion of its work. As the numbers came on screen, Cassandra half-rose from her seat without knowing why. Her instincts were screaming something, but...

"I've seen numbers like these before," Barbara said. "It definitely supports your theory of outside manipulation. But that's odd, these are more e-waves than w-waves. I'm not sure what to make of that..."

"Death." Cassandra stiffened as it all came together for her. Though it defied logic, her combat instinct that detected fatal blows was clearly telling her that Stephanie was heading directly toward one. "They've marked Stephanie to die."

"Are you sure?"

"No, I don't have concrete proof, but I'm not willing to leave it to chance. Let's not take any risks, call Superman and-"

Barbara winced. "He's off planet. Talia has been using League resources to track down more Kryptonite and he just took another batch."

They stared at each other for a split second, then came to the same decision without speaking. Cassandra sprinted toward the hanger at top speed. Her mind offered her images of Stephanie dying, but she forcibly quieted her imagination.

Normally they avoided using the vehicles, partially because Superman was a faster method of transportation and partially because they were avoiding the Bat brand. But now that time was of the essence, Cassandra leapt into the sleek Batplane and fired up all systems. It was made to fly almost immediately but the engines still took a moment to warm up, so she attempted to call Stephanie. Nothing, her communicator was off.

Soon the plane shot out of a hidden hanger entrance and arced over the city. Cassandra tapped her comm-link. "Stephanie has disabled communication. Can you track her?"

"I'm trying, but if she removed the batteries there won't be a signal." A map popped up on screen. "I've marked Black Mask's territory and suspected locations of his headquarters. Give me a moment and I'll indicate which ones Stephanie might know about."

Time to think had only reinforced Cassandra's impression of impending threat. The feeling dissolved when she tried to examine it directly, but she felt increasingly confident that she was right. Perhaps this was how Harley saw the world, grasping at larger truths she wasn't meant to comprehend.

What could anyone gain by sending an innocent girl to her death? Asking the question that way didn't bring her any answers and there was no time for deeper reflection. Whatever the case, one thing had become crystal clear for Cassandra: she'd do whatever it took to prevent Stephanie's death.

As she swept over Gotham outskirts, she worked together with Barbara to rule out some of the locations. Eventually she had to hover between two likely candidates. Her instincts did her no good with such precise issues, so she kept them quiet and reasoned through the problem. When Barbara finally detected activity from one of her long distance microphones, Cassandra leapt into action.

She slid down the rope from the plane so quickly that she could feel the burn through her glove. Cassandra stopped her momentum just before she hit the skylight, crashing through at a less suicidal speed and coming down into the building in the middle of a hail of glass.

While still in the air, she scanned the room. Black Mask at one end, near a firmly tied Stephanie. Eleven of his subordinates lurked around the room, most carrying guns. They were only just now starting to look up toward the breaking glass, however, so they weren't a threat. What mattered was convincing Black Mask that running was a better tactic than using Stephanie as a hostage.