FudoTwin17: Hey, guys. It's been a while. A seriously long while.

Cat: A ridiculously long while.

FudoTwin17: Exactly. I'm extremely sorry about that. I lost my original outline of this story, and that messed me up a bit, but that's not a good excuse because I went way off of the outline. Seriously, it wasn't a castle or anything like that. It was a military camp, and the story focused a lot more on the world take-over, but Josh decided to just steal the show, and this happened. The ending is still the same, though, so it was annoying losing that. But anyway, I'm going to spend the next few weeks trying to focus on this. It wasn't fair to leave you guys hanging so long.

Cat: Nope.

FudoTwin17: Thus, I shall work on this. Honestly, I feel like you guys will have a better time with the sequel. I haven't lost anything on that. Do you guys still want one or is my updating too sucky?

Cat: Get on with it.

FudoTwin17: Right. I don't own DC. Enjoy!

Chapter 37

That night, Kaldur didn't come to her bedroom. Rux sat on the bed the whole night, biting her fingernails and waiting. He'd only slept there a couple nights, but she felt lonely without him there (and a little afraid, but she wouldn't think about it because that wasn't productive to the girl wonder, and it was ridiculous that a bat was so afraid to spend the night alone in the dark, and she didn't want to be afraid anymore).

Racing thoughts seemed to burden her so that it was a shock when around midnight she whispered into the darkness. "Do you think he's going to come?"

In only a moment, Orin had seemingly solidified before her. She could barely see him in the darkness, but she could see that he hadn't signed one thing. His face, though mostly hidden, looked sympathetic.

Rux sighed. "Yeah. Me neither."

The girl queen pulled her legs up and curled herself around them. A single soft hand patted the bed at her side, big, blue eyes staring up at the forgotten hero before her. He slowly lowered himself down beside her.

Though both were silent in the dead night, there was something comforting about having someone else there. Faintly, Rux's mind flashed to the other man's deeds. He nearly killed Wally, probably would have if given the order. He'd probably killed many, hurt many under orders. Rux was no fool. The man at her side was not soft and good. Maybe at his core, yes, but he'd been twisted and torn over the years. From torture and murder and horror, true, but Rux knew that there was only one way to hold that desperate, remorseful look in one's eye.

He spent just as much or more time holding a blade as one was pressed to his skin.

He was a literal monster, yet Rux felt oddly at peace and safe with the murderer keeping her company in the dark.

She imagined it was a testament to how odd her life was that she felt more comfortable with a murderer than her own husband alone in the dark (out of screaming distance of the guards patrolling). It was such an odd thought that she laughed aloud. She didn't think it mattered that her laughs sounded like sobs. Lately, they always did.

. . .

Kaldur was nervous, more nervous than he could believe because it was the first night of the celebration, and he had forgotten about his song. Completely and totally. The realization had sent him hurrying to Artemis the night before for help. Knowing she had the technical know-how to get it, she'd helped him find an instrumental and learn it on the phone of the captain of the king's guard (which was amusing as it was the same man that they had tricked during the failed rescue mission, and he was not happy about that-their very presence seemed to create a tip in the balance of power in the guard).

That done, they spent the whole night in her room trying to help him learn it. In any other situation, Kaldur learning such a song would have been comical, but both he and Artemis were tight-lipped and serious. Neither forgot why he had to sing it.

When they both left the room, it was warm and clearly part-way through the day, and Kaldur's throat ached. He ignored it, though, faintly wishing for just a moment to return to Atlantis. He hadn't swum in over a week, making his gills begin to look irritated and a little swollen (among the burns and abuses that Josh had inflicted, but he wasn't going to focus on that). He wished he could just spend one moment in the water, one moment of clarity-

"Morning!" Wally exclaimed, nearly bumping into Kaldur. Though his voice was upbeat (odd for the time in the morning), Kal couldn't help but notice dark bags beneath his eyes and how pale he looked.

"Good morning." Kaldur acknowledged lightly, noting that Artemis just gave a slight nod from her place by the door to her quarters. "Are you well?"

Wally yawned. "Yeah. Just took a walk. I'm going back to bed. I'll see you guys eventually." With another yawn, he made his way to his room. Both Artemis and Kaldur watched, neither reacting to the quiet noise of the door shutting behind him.

"He wasn't in his room last night." Artemis whispered softly.

Kaldur paused, turning his gaze to her. Her eyes were distant and sad, a little heartbroken in actuality (and a look that Kaldur was too familiar with even at his young age). Her distant, gray eyes stared past Wally's door somewhere, and Kaldur's heart clenched.

Kaldur took the path to Ruxandra's room too often to not notice that the speedster had returned from the fastest route. Faintly, he wished it didn't hurt his heart to realize such a thing.

But that's what he was learning about wishes. They just didn't seem to come true.

. . .

Despite the festive mood in the air and the beautiful decorations, all those bathed in black seemed to hold the same stern expression and straight back. After passing the fifth grim hero and hopeless eyes, Ruxandra gave up trying. She turned on her heel (a dark red stiletto that she had no trouble figuring out why knives were named after them) and barged into the first room she saw.

It was small-looking and less than clean, looking as if no one had entered in a while, but to be honest, that suited Rux perfectly. A small window seemed to shed just a glimmer of light on the room, leaving it dark and musty. There was an older computer sitting on a desk, thick and chunky. A slight smile lit her face and Rux plopped down on the cardboard box before it, fingers automatically moving to turn on the dinosaur.

"Ruxandra, my queen?" Called a faint voice outside the room. Ruxandra jumped away from the computer, looking around for a hiding place. "Where are you?"

Nowhere you're going to find me. Rux thought before folding herself into a corner, quietly cursing the light of the computer and the tight corset of her dress. She had no doubt that the computer would give her away the moment the monster materialized in the room, but she didn't go to turn it off nor prepared to fight. She was there for one purpose, and if she couldn't complete it, there was no reason to fight, to possibly have a hero hurt.

But Josh didn't enter.

Rux listened to his voice echo down the hall as he searched and breathed a sigh of relief. She jumped when an unfortunate screeching noise echoed through sad, old speakers before smiling. The dinosaur had come back from the dead.

With internet access.

"Come on. Come on." Rux muttered as she logged onto the website of Gotham Weekly. She was desperate for outside information. She knew so little of what was happening outside that it felt surreal. But suddenly faced with three videos uploaded to the site-just three-she didn't move the mouse.

There was something terrifying about clicking on them. It felt like she would be moving into new territory. Had she seen atrocities? Whippings? Blood? Yes. She had.

But she was in a position of power, of protection. The people outside weren't. Didn't Josh talk about a world take-over? What would that mean?

Rux grimaced at the feeling of dust, thick and disgusting, on her fingertips as she tapped the desk before her. She imagined that Alfred would be absolutely appalled.

Alfred.

How was Alfred? Guilt settled into her stomach like a heavy weight as she considered. Not that she hadn't thought about him, but she hadn't really wondered if he was well, if he was okay. The man was practically her grandfather (though she would never say it), and the thought of him hurt, injured-

She clicked the first video.

A woman appeared on the screen. Young with dark hair and panicked eyes, Rux couldn't help but recognize Vicky Vale, dressed in a ruined black suit. However, Rux found her immediate attention locked behind her. It was Gotham, obviously Gotham, but . . . it wasn't. Skyscrapers were half-collapsed, fires blazed, and what looked to be monsters-Josh's monsters. Rux thought angrily-flew in the sooty sky.

"It's been-it's been over a week since the world-wide kidnapping of superheroes has occurred, longer since the League disappeared. Gotham is in ruins." Vicky swallowed, hands shaking. From meeting the woman behind the mic, Rux felt a little shaken herself. Vicky Vale was not one to be easily shaken. "They are taking over. We don't know who or-or what they are, but we urge you to stay inside. Please, don't go outside. And if there are any heroes left, we beg you for help. We-"

"Look out!" Someone shouted, dropping the sound equipment in panic and pushing Vicky out of the way. Rux jumped back, startled as a large talon snatched the man from where Vicky once stood and dragged him into the air like a rag doll.

"Mike! MIKE!" Vicky screamed, reaching desperately toward the man as she pulled herself off the ground.

The camera view changed as Rux assumed whoever held the camera reached out to Vicky. "He's gone."

"No, no!" She sobbed, sounding horrified. "He can't-"

"Run! Vicky, come on! They're coming back!" Sobbing and gasps and running footsteps could be heard from the fallen sound equipment before the camera began to swing with the running crew. Rux felt sick as she noticed the creature in a blurry picture as it seemed to chew on the sound man's arm.

He was silent.

Rux felt sick.

Her hands shook as she stopped the video. She looked away from it, scrolling up to the next one. Unsure about what she would find, she clicked the play button.

It was obviously a different camera, something cheaper than the normal equipment of the news anchors. Vicky Vale was leaning against what looked to be pipes. Rux thought she recognized the sewers underneath Gotham National Bank, but she couldn't be sure. The right side of Vicky's face was caked with blood, but her eyes were focused, and her face was hard. "This is Vicky Vale. I am currently in a location not to be shared. We've found a group of survivors and are currently with them. For anyone out there watching or listening, I am about to read off a list of known dead. Then I will give a list of known living." She cleared her throat, eyes moving down.

Rux closed her eyes, leaning back in the hard chair as she listened with all her might and a prayer each time of not Alfred, you can't take Alfred.

He wasn't on the list.

But fifty-two were.

Vicky Vale cleared her throat. "And Eris Vale."

Rux closed her eyes.

Fifty-three.

"The list I will now read from is a list of the survivors at the current moment." She cleared her throat again, looking like her professional mask was beginning to crack. Rux waited in suspense, her hands gripping the table so hard that pain radiated from her fingers to her shoulders.

"Timothy Golden."

"Eric Vandyke."

"Michael Wheeler."

Please. Please! Rux begged silently.

"Janet and Timothy Drake."

"Edmund Riley."

"Commissioner Jim Gordon and daughter Barbara Gordon."

Rux couldn't force herself to relax, shaking a pale-faced as she waited for one more name.

"Jean Loring."

"Gregory Bals."

Rux closed her eyes in desperation. Please, please, please-

"I'm sorry." Vicky said softly, her throat sounding parched. "That's-"

Rux didn't hear the rest. So angry was she that she reacted before she could reign herself in. Not even feeling the pull from her bloody dress, she kicked the box she'd used as a seat across the cramped room, hitting the wall. She took several minutes to calm down again, but by time she had, her fingers had little choice in choosing the next video.

She didn't sit back down.

It was a kid in front of the camera this time. He had a tough-looking mask that had settled into his expression, but all Rux could see was a survivor, a kid too old and too young. He wiped a cut bleeding into his eye before starting. "This is Vale's group. Got ambushed an hour ago. Thought we were meeting another group, but no." He spit out a bit of blood. "A couple more survivors. Dunno who they are. Greg Bals and Eric Vandyke are dead. Five more injured-"

Screaming cut through whatever he was going to say next, and the camera jerked that way, seemingly startled.

Vicky Vale was screaming and seemingly restrained by two meaty women. An elderly man knelt by her, strapping her arm to a splint. The video turned away quickly, but Rux didn't see the rest.

Alfred was alive.

. . .

FudoTwin17: I was going to give you more, but I really feel that's a good place to stop. Plus I'm really tired and have a brand stinking new neck injury. As such, I'm probably not supposed to be on the computer. Anyway, enjoy and tell me what you want. I'll be updating as soon as I can.