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"We can only judge the future from what we have suffered in the past."
- Themistocles, (300: Rise of an empire)
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<{Wayne Vista Grand Hotel, Athens}>
<(Omniscient POV)>
"Did you find out anything regarding the whereabouts of Bruce?" Selina asked with a worried face the moment she saw Talia enter the room with a thoughtful look on her face. The cat-lover was dead worried about the love of her life suddenly going missing out of nowhere and was almost overwhelmed with desperation after Cortana whom they and Bruce trusted blindly refused to help them with any information regarding Bruce's abrupt disappearance.
Of course, that hadn't discouraged them at all. Instead, that had just made them more determined to find him on their own, and to do this, all of the girls were helping in this search in their own ways.
While Selina tried to enquire about Bruce's whereabouts in the Gotham criminal underworld through some contacts she had developed on her own, Talia and Nyssa were using the League's vast resources to do the same with the help of their identity as members of the High-table. Vicki, on the other hand, was using her connections in the media industry to do the same.
Even Helena, who had accompanied them on the trip, was doing her best to investigate the local mafia families for any information on Bruce Wayne. Without a doubt, her expert martial arts and gymnastics skills, honed over the last few years, as well as the Bat-tool that Bruce had gifted her years before, were proving to be invaluable in this endeavor.
"No, unfortunately, it was another dead end. None of the members of the League had seen or heard anything about a plane going missing. There were certain reports of a storm on the Aegean Sea a few days ago but it was only for a short time, and nobody saw any plane or ship disappearing in it." Talia answered with a frustrated sigh as she struggled to meet Selina's gaze. After all, it was a matter of great shame that she and her sister could not even find one single plane despite having one of the largest hidden organizations under their control.
Truthfully, they had even considered that Cortana was the one responsible for Bruce's disappearance. Maybe she had rebelled for some reason and tried to kill Bruce since he was her creator and knew every technological detail about her including how to stop her. That would have made sense as to why she wasn't contacting them, but they discarded that logic as soon as they had thought of it since they couldn't find any actual motive behind this.
Bruce allowed Cortana as much freedom as she wanted. He didn't just treat her as a real person but as family. Furthermore, Cortana herself loved Bruce and was so loyal that she would rather short-circuit her processors than betray him. In her own words, Bruce was her purpose and the reason she existed. Without him, she was nothing. So, her trying to kill Bruce sounded too hard to believe especially since there were tons of other ways where she could have tried to get rid of him much more subtly without even them knowing.
"I see." Selina instantly deflated in disappointment after hearing her answer. "I couldn't find out about anything from my end too. It was definitely not done by any mercenary or wannabe supervillain, otherwise, I would have already gotten some clue at least." Selina added while shaking her hand at her own failure.
"It wasn't corporate sabotage as well. Some fuckers from some reputed pharma giants did try to have Bruce killed by paying a few mercenaries but most of them were either caught and taken care of by Bruce's new security team or they simply just gave up after learning that Slade Wilson is on his payroll.
Plus considering all the additional security systems Bruce has installed on his jet, this couldn't have been done by someone with a mere rocket launcher or something. Either this was done by the official military of some country with access to missiles and everything or this was some sort of metahuman." Vicki who was also silently sitting in the room informed in a distraught voice, her eyes getting watery with every word.
"Don't cry, Vicki. I am sure Bruce is all right. Have you seen his regenerative capabilities? Even scratches from that Catgirl's diamond-hard nails here hardly bother him during their lovemaking before they heal on their own in a second. I don't see him getting injured because of a measly explosion especially when he has access to all of his fancy toys and weapons in the plane's arsenal. No, when he returns which, he undoubtedly will, he will probably do so with a shit-eating grin on his face, maybe even with a new hot girl that he would have managed to charm" Talia tried to joke to lighten the mood.
She was doing her very best to stay calm and levelheaded in this situation for the sake of everyone else since she was supposed to be the oldest girl here. That's why she had even begun to resort to jokes like this so that she could at least fool herself into thinking that she wasn't nervous, and everything was all right although that trick was slowly failing with every hour Bruce remained missing. However, she had no idea just how close to the truth her joke truly was in reality. If she did, then there was a high chance that she would have been looking for ways to effectively torture Bruce, rather than searching for him.
"That's why I have been suppressing the news of his disappearance in the media. I don't want any of his enemies taking this as an opportunity to attack his company or reputation." Vicki agreed while wiping away the tears that had gathered in her eyes.
"It is what I have been secretly hoping for too... minus the girl part. There are already too many of us ready to share him like a bunch of pathetic simping cucks." Selina replied while giving Talia a glance from the side of her eyes.
"Won't work on me. If I had been that easy to manipulate, I would have fought Bruce on behalf of my father, not help him kill my own dad." Talia snorted with an eye roll. "Also, with how easy it was to convince my little sister to share her boyfriend with me, my little sis is most likely the one with the cuck fetish, not me." Talia brutally dissed her own sister with a mischievous smirk on her face.
"Tch, well never blame a girl for trying." Selina shrugged. She had been trying to reduce competition in her love life for the last few days after she "accidentally" listened in on Talia and Nyssa discussing how they should start sleeping with Bruce soon and try a threesome once all three of them were comfortable enough so that they could keep him all to themselves. It didn't have to be said that Selina didn't like this at all. She never truly liked Talia but the sisters trying to monopolize her childhood love by using their slutty bodies and the concept of a forbidden threesome just seemed like cheating to her.
'I will also need an ally, especially if Bruce finds their idea of a threesome interesting. I cannot let those two control him with the allure of their bodies. Even though I am his first, I need to up my game to keep up with the trend.' Selina thought to herself while taking a look at Vicki. 'Maybe, she could... Nah, she is already in league with Helena. After all, they have been best friends. Maybe I should wait for Zatanna. If she still has the same feelings for him, then there is a chance that she might agree to form a bed alliance with me... Wow, this is the first time where I am actually wishing that Bruce had more harem members.' Selina mentally snickered at stupid thoughts.
The absence of Bruce from her life was taking a toll on her.
Ring Ring Ring Ring
Vicki's phone suddenly began to ring, breaking the awkward silence that was slowly forming in the room. Taking a glance at the name of the caller, she quickly picked it up. "Hey Helena, any updates?" she said after lightly clearing her throat.
For some time, there was silence as Vicki quietly listened but in just a few seconds, her facial expressions made a complete 180-degree turn. Instead of disappointment and melancholy, there was visible excitement on her face. "That's great news. Thanks for informing us, H. Yeah sure, you should come back to the hotel now. We will be waiting. Don't worry, I'll spread the news to the others." Vicki enthusiastically said with a nod of her head before finally ending the call and putting her phone down.
"What happened? Did Helena find him?" Selina was the first one to speak up, looking at Vicki with some newfound hope.
Talia also looked at Vicki with an impatient look on her face as she waited for the reporter to speak up.
"Yep. Helena was questioning the local port mafia and apparently, a man matching the exact description of Bruce reached one of their ports on a boat this morning. Apparently, he "borrowed" a car from a local gangster and should be on his way here." Vicki answered with a pleased smile.
"Oh, thank god. I was getting worried there for a second." Talia lightly mumbled before looking up at the other two girls. "I'll go and inform my sister about this. She is still probably grilling our assassins for not being useful enough to get any intel on Bruce. She needs to be stopped before she starts castrating them as punishment." She added as she quickly walked out the door without any more words.
A few seconds after Talia had left, Vicki spoke up with a small smile on her face, "She has her own way of caring about her little sister, doesn't she? I guess they are just like any other normal siblings... except for the fact that they come from an evil assassin family, and they are crazy enough to share the same lover between them... Do you think their family might have their origins in Alabama?" Vicki sarcastically asked Selina as her reporter mind began to ponder useless stuff that she considered spicy and dramatic enough to discuss, now that she no longer had to worry about Bruce.
"... I don't know and truthfully, I don't care. As long as they don't betray Bruce or break his trust, I have no reason to care." Selina answered with a casual shrug as she got up as well. "Anyway, I should inform Alfred and Leslie that Bruce is all right. The old man has been the most worried of all for the last few days." Selina sadly recalled.
"Yeah sure, go ahead. I guess I'll look for Ace and Miss Whiskers. They have been disappearing a lot after Bruce's plane went missing. Who knows, maybe they are striving to assist us in their own way by sniffing" around, trying to find Bruce with the help of other animals." Vicki joked with a hearty chuckle.
"That dog and cat can literally talk in human language with the help of the two collars Bruce had made for them, Vicki. There is a chance that they are doing exactly what you said for real." Selina said with as much a straight face as she could muster.
"... Fuck, you are probably right."
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