Summary:Zatanna comes over to check on the Waynes and get caught up on the latest gossip. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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Bruce is currently sitting at the dining room table with Helena, the two of them going over the information from the latest incident. "They focused on just those three." comes the thoughtful words from Bruce as he glances at the files on Electro, Vulture, and Doctor Octopus. "There has to be a connection there somewhere. And why Calendar Man was used for the breakout. So far, he's not given up his reasons - or who hired him."
There's a sigh as he reaches up to rub the bridge of his nose. "And other than the connection between them and prior run ins with Spider-Man, there's no clear link between them either."
"Uh, yeah. There's no way he wasn't paid to target them and get them free," Helena agrees as if it's obvious. "They flew in and literally dropped their gear. I'd bet Calendar Man was just a patsy," she adds, shrugging. "No one cared if he got caught, but he wasn't planning on it. But if Electro's back on the streets, I'll upgrade the suits for the insulation. Was really glad for that one."
At the mention of Spider-Man, she catches the inside of her cheek between her teeth, pensive. "Is OsCorp still running the bounty on him?" she asks. "Could be someone broke them out for the promise of freedom and a cut of the reward if they took him out."
"That's basically how your father told me he liked me." Selina Kyle arrives baring gifts! Well, a tray with three glasses on it with the general favored drinks of the three family members. "Little relief for the detective crew so you don't dry yourselves out." She says merrily. Detective work is one talent Helena didn't get from her - even if she has a way of being a bit of a 'detective' muse' from time to time. She sets it down the table between them and takes a seat across from Helena, crossing one leg and propping her head up on one hand, looking down the bridge of her nose at the assembled materials. "Nnn. Look at these guys. It's like no one appreciates how much trouble it is to put them away in the first place."
The soft but distinct noise of Alfred Pennyworth clearing his throat has its own power of cutting through the chatter. The butler's presence heralds an arrival. "Ms. Zatara," he says, by way of introduction to the room, to let them know that a guest turned up.
And indeed, Alfred has brought with him one Zatanna Zatara. She didn't just teleport in this time. The showbiz witch is wearing matched black trousers and jacket, with a black blouse underneath, and black heels — plus a black choker, black stones in her jewelry, all the rest. She looks more like an upscale vacationer than a business tycoon, especially since the material looks like black linen more than anything else, and the blouse is undone a bit too much for the boardroom. She gives Alfred a grin and a pat on the arm, and moves into the room proper.
"Sorry if I'm interrupting family crime-solving time," Zatanna grins. "Don't worry, I don't judge. My dad and I bonded by trying to escape from being chained up in tanks of water. I get it."
"You were tied up and upside down at the time I made the offer, Selina." Bruce responds. And he doesn't say more than that, because sometimes it's fun to let Helena's fertile little mind wander. Though he does add succiently. "Norman Osborn is an idiot." there's a grunt at that. Accepting the drink with a kiss to Selina's cheek, there's a glance to the ring she now wears before his attention returns to the present. "The bounty is still there, but it would be an obvious angle, especially with the use of a helicopter by Hammer. Which of course, has proof it was stolen a week ago."
Zatanna's arrival brings a lift of Bruce's head. "Welcome back from your tour. How'd it go?" he asks, before adding to Alfred. "I told Julia she did really well with the mission overwatch the other day, Alfred. But she may still be knackering about it. But.. your daughter's doing well." Alfred looks at unease for just a moment, the man only recently found out he /had/ a daughter. "I'll talk to her, sir."
"And a massive ass," Helena snorts softly at her father's comment, rolling her eyes with a smirk at her parents' romantic adventures. "His son Harry's a good friend of Peter's, though. Not sure what Peter sees in him, but." She shrugs, only to jump up with a flash of a smile as Zatanna arrives.
"Zee!" she exclaims, stepping forward to try to catch the other woman in a swift hug. Because Helena does affection. She certainly didn't get that from her father. "I feel like it's been forever. How are you? Did you handle the…statue thing?"
Selina sighs wistfully at Bruce's response and says "God, those were the days~" as if it's a romantic reverie. Which it might be. Sure it's embarrassing, but oneupsmanship was basically their entire relationship for awhile. It was fun! Or at least she found ways to make it fun.
Her green eyes wander to the entryway at the first glimpse of motion, and she straightens up with surprise, pleasantly greeting: "Zatanna! Welcome back~" as she slides out of her chair and gives Zatanna's arm a quick squeeze with a smile, because Helena DID get affection from her mother, presumably; as guarded as she can be. But Zatanna's a long time friend of the family. Also there's no room for a hug around Helena right now. There's a bit of a look of curious concern at Helena's question, but she lets Zatanna answer uninterrupted.
"The tour was good! Europe remains fun. Hey, kiddo." Zatanna circles her arms around Helena. The magician isn't a prodigious hugger herself, but she also doesn't turn them down from folks who are basically family. At the same time, Zatanna uses her masterful skills of prestidigitation to squeeze Selina's arm back. When the hug releases, Zatanna runs her hands back along her hair. "The statue th— Oh. Right, THAT statue thing. Well… it's a work in progress."
Zatanna's blue eyes cast across the three people in the room for a moment. The three worst people in the world to be coy around, or to leave details out when speaking to. It's like throwing raw meat to the hounds. "I consulted with some mages when I was over across the Atlantic, it's a thing, it's being worked on." She waves a hand and then blatantly attempts to turn the conversation away from herself. She does it so shamelessly that she's lucky she has that polished charm of someone born on stage. "So, Julia. Alfred's daughter?" She looks back at the door Alfred just left through, then back at Bruce. "/Alfred's/ /daughter/?"
"I haven't had a chance to do much research on the mark myself, considering you left before you could give me any details." Bruce's scolding is brief, and done, as he takes a drink from his glass, and chuckles at Zatanna's reaction. "We have had a few additions in your abscence. Yes, Alfred discovered he has a daughter - from his days in the service, with a woman in the Directorate of Intelligence and Security of Defense. Her name is Julia, and she is former SRR and SHIELD. She is.. adjusting." There's something there that Bruce isn't willing to address or approach yet."
Of course, there's others, like Helena's bodyguard/sister, but that can wait until it comes up. "We were just going over the recent escape from Ravencroft."
Helena quirks a brow at Zee's brush off, but she doesn't push the matter. Magic, after all, isn't exactly her strong point. There's only so much she can do to help. "I'm glad you're back though. And that it hasn't…you know. Exploded you or trapped you in an alternate dimension or something. And Jason's back, in a good way," she adds, filling Zee in.
"This time. So far. And Dad's picked up another ward." Like he does. "Her name's Cassandra. She's not much of a talker, but she's good in a fight." Helena moves back to her seat, picking up a glass of water to take a drink. "She helped with the Ravencroft thing."
Selina gives Bruce a bit of a look for the scolding, but says nothing, crossing her arms and nodding her head as Bruce goes over the additions. "Honestly, it's not even the craziest thing that happened while you were gone." She says of Julia, sighing softly referring to Jason's return. "Poor Alfred. I can barely tease him about it." She says, not without sympathy. Heck, if she was allowed an extra hour or two of panic back in the day, Bruce may have wound up with a secret daughter too. But luckily things didn't turn out like that.
As Helena elaborates on the recent goings on Selina grins faintly, "Just when I thought we'd get some wiggle room in the nest, it filled back up again." She says, sliding back into her seat, though she can't suppress a bit of a fond look. "… They're good kids, though."
Zatanna quirks a brow, herself. Pennyworth children?! Prison breaks?! New wards?! Jason?!
The sorceress adjusts her jacket cuffs — old stage move turned into bad habit — and gives the trio a wryly amused look. "You got so bored without me around — for only a MONTH — that you had to go to all this trouble just to try and fill the gap? Well, I'm touched and a little worried, but it's okay, I'm back now."
"Oh, and Selina's pregnant, so we're getting ready to officially be married." Bruce drops that little bombshell, and gives a subtle wink to Selina. He's totally teasing on that front, at least partially, as his attention returns to the others. Sometimes it's just fun to mess with Helena's status of 'only Wayne child'.
"So now, we have a much fuller house. And they all wear costumes." Wayne Manor may be the most protected house on the East Coast, outside Avenger's Mansion.
Helena snorts into her water at Bruce's joke. "Please. Mom would be freaking out if she was pregnant, and there's no way the wedding would still be on." A lifetime of teasing added to her own perceptiveness make trolling Helena a complex sport.
"On the up side, we're a little heavier on the girls now, so there is way less chance of walking in on something awkward in the shower," she asides to Zee, making a face.
Selina is in mid sip when Bruce drops that, and she visibly nearly sprays water across the room, her entire face sort of… pinching as she tries to suppress pure horror long enough to swallow, finally relaxing slightly while patting her chest and coughing softly. "God, *please*." She sputters finally, hanging her head low for a moment and shaking it back and forth. "Nooooo. No offense, Kitten? Totally worth it? But never again."
Deeeeep breath. Okay. "Ahem. The wedding part's true, though." She says. Matter of fact. Bit of a shrewd look towards Bruce, and then a smile to Zatanna. "Yeah, we may have overcomphensated. You know how we get without our stage magic fix."
Zatanna watches Bruce throw out that golden apple and his child immediately slap it out of mid-air. She can't help but chuckle, and rests her hands on her hips, watching the family banter. It's something she likes being around. Sue her.
"Well, okay, congratulations on the wedding, then, if not the bundle of joy. Besides. Even with the age difference, Helena's probably too competitive to be anything but an only child. Trust me, it's a whole 'takes one to know one' kind of deal." Zatanna winks at the baby bat. "Besides, yeah. A whole bunch of new wards and cousins and nieces and nephews and whatever else in costumes. The poor kid would come out wearing a domino mask."
"Despite rumors to the contrary, Helena did not have a utility swaddling cloth." Bruce smirks slightly at that. She may as well had a domino mask though, as secretive as Selina and Bruce were with the first years of Helena's life. "When you have the time, Zatanna, I would like you to fortify the wards in the cave. And the house. With the recent rise in magical activity.." a mild gesture towards Zatanna's chest at that.
"And I believe it would be prudent to do so. There is one other project.. a scrying I would have liked to you have tried, but I returned it to the Wakandian Embassy before I could run further tests on it." He'll take the blame on that one.
"Oh man, Zee, I have to show you the dress I wore to the Wakandan Embassy. It was a McCabe original." Sidetracked that far, Helena reaches for her phone to flip through some photos until she finds one of her and Kate Bishop from the event itself. (https://lnk2.biz/2wXY9Tq) "Amazing, right?"
Ahem. Back to business. "Sorry. Yeah, speaking of Wakanda, do we have anything new on that whole…fake vibranium situation?"
Selina smirks slightly at Bruce's utility cloth line, and says "You say that like I didn't have to talk you out of it."
She lets the detectives talk Wakanda for now; she was, after all, just a messanger in the matter so far.
Zatanna looks down at her chest when Bruce motions at it. "In front of your wife and daughter, no less," she mock-scolds, though it's probably a feint to try and not talk about it. "But, sure. I mean, I can do that tonight, even, unless you're planning on… whatever… plans you do down there." Zatanna has not spent a LOT of time in the cave, and certainly not enough to know much about its typical goings-on beyond 'crimes being solved.'
"Lemme see," Zatanna interrupts herself mid-thought, to look at Helena's phone. "Oh, that's nice. You look good, kiddo. See, that's a McCabe I like. Usually she's way too colorful for me. I mean, not half as bad as Van Dyne. That stuff is WAY too Pantone-heavy. …anyway, yes, Wakanda, you… need me to break into their embassy? What are you asking for, Bruce?"
"Actually, Selina had a visit with the Wakandian ambassador." Bruce responds. Sorry, sweetkitty, you get that spotlight right back on you. "No, no breaking into the embassy, Zatanna." Though there's a glance to Selina -because the idea of Zee and Selina on a robbery heist together may just jostle him. A little.
"There is a version of vibranium that is being artifically made. Instead of absorbing sound, it expands it." he explains. "I was going to work with the Wakandians on it, but they went with their official denial of everything." He shrugs his shoulders.
"Right? I seriously need more excuses to wear it," Helena sighs as she puts her phone down again. "Preferably with Peter. You should've seen his face." Her lips twitch, for a moment looking far more like her mother than her father.
"You know, maybe we should try Uncle Steve. Someone trusted him enough to give him a whole shield worth of it," she muses, back on the subject of vibranium.
Selina's smile during that moment Bruce looks at her is Cheshire-like. *God* she'd love a heist. But alas. Selina takes a sip of her drink and shakes her head. "A short visit. I don't think she liked me very much, but… I do tend to rub people the wrong way~" She smiles mischeviously, then frowns. "… She had a cat costume, though. It's hard not to feel disrespected at the rate they're popping up.
Selina slowly averts her eyes when Van Dynes are mentioned - she likes purple, sue her! - though she's clearly proud of the way her daughter's grown up. Regarding Steve, she says, "That's not the worst idea. Should catch him if he's not busy with…" Selina gestures vaguely, "Patriotism. Though… hrm." She considers, "No, it'll be fine. I… *think* he's forgiven me for trying to steal it that one time."
That's not the sort of thing you're supposed to tell people about, Selina! Though she remains oddly proud of her past escapades. She's not *that* reformed.
Zatanna gives Selina a smirk, probably because she can imagine in Bruce's mind the thought of a New Zatanna-Catwoman Team and knows how much it's probably taking from Bruce's willpower not to shudder at the thought.
"Expands sound," Zatanna nods. "Well, that sounds like a disaster all around once it falls into the wrong hands, which it most certainly will. I mean, it's not being cynical when we've all lived through that a couple dozen times each, right? Well, maybe just one dozen for Helena. Okay. Well. Whatever cards up my sleeve you need me to pull for whatever you have planned, just give the word."
Zatanna then pauses, and says, "Peter?" She lifts one dark eyebrow, and then gives Helena a biiig grin.
Helena Wayne grins back at Zee. "Parker. He's…amazing. Seriously. He lives in Queens, takes care of his elderly aunt. He's a genius," she adds, and the way she says it almost puts a capital letter on it. "He actually got an internship with Kate's company, but he also takes pictures for the Bugle, and he's got a scholarship for ESU in the fall. And he's also just about the sweetest guy in the world." He's also Spider-Man, but that's a level of complication Helena's not willing to share yet.
"We should totally talk later," she adds in a lower tone to Zatanna. Because there are questions she wants to ask, and they're not answers she wants from Mom or Dad.
Selina just purrs softly, taking a drink with her eyes closed, covering a wistful smile, pleased to hear her daughter so excited about someone. Logically she should probably be more worried than she is, but her daughter's a dangerous ninja and her boyfriend's a tech geek, so it'll be okay. More to the point, she sighs, "Hmmmm, poor Peter doesn't have the cardio for… 'traditional' courtship around here, so I can see her needing outside advice~" In fairness, Selina's romantic advice is probably bonkers.
Zatanna sips her drink, too. At some point in the conversation, no eyes were on her. And then, the next time someone looked over, Zee had a glass of wine. Not even the same kind of glass that Selina had served the others, or even recognizable Wayne family heirloom crystal. Magicians, man…
"We SHOULD talk," Zatanna nods to Helena. "First, about how this kid needs to have earned it if he's going to see you walking around in that dress with half your boobs out. Second, about how if you wear a haute couture gown more than like, once per calendar year, photographers and extremely online weirdos WILL notice." Zatanna winks. "And the rest, too, I'm sure."
Zatanna looks over to Selina. "Apologies in advance for whatever damage I do to your kid."
"Hey, you have to dress nice for big occasions!" Helena protests. "Also, all of my boobs were all the way in. And totally not coming out, because wardrobe tape. I'm just saying. No one was going to get any further than looking without some really weird stuff going on."
She clears her throat then, taking a sip of her water. "And Peter was actually there working, taking pictures for the paper, so it wasn't planned. But that was kind of the most awesome part," she admits with another of those sly smiles. "Anyhow. What about you? Have any fun in Europe? Or was it all showbiz work?"
Selina heaves a dramatic sigh as Zatanna speaks and shakes her head with a smile. Of all the things they see eye to eye on, fashion may not be up there. But still. "Ehhhh, that's all right, we grow 'em pretty tough around here." She says confidently. Then grimaces, "As long as she doesn't come home in fishnets."