House keeping...

The remainder of the day was uneventful for Damien, much to his frustration. To keep up with appearances, Damien returned to Wayne Enterprises to begin his shift as janitor. For 8 grueling hours, Damien had to swallow his pride as he swept and mopped floors, cleaned restrooms and emptied garbage bins through the building. Breathing in sharply, Damien gathered his supplies when the radio at his belt squawked and requested, he go to the second floor to water the plants.

“The indignity of it all…”

Stepping out of the supply room with a spray bottle in hand, Damien rolled his shoulder and tugged at the collar of his work shirt, looking around as he could see the meetings being held in the offices and lounges. He was not able to hear what was going on, and it frustrated him to no end. Moving over to the creeping flowered vines that decorate the interior of the building, Damien sprayed the plants with water to feed them and continued to keep his eyes around him.

“Ah good, taking to your new job position quite well I see.” Piped in Chelsea, walking past the young man as he continued to garden the display. “When you’re finished watering the plants, there’s a washroom that requires cleaning.” Leaning in close, Chelsea whispered with a smirk into Damien’s ear. “One of our staff’s children had an accident, you may need the mop for it.”

Breathing in sharply and closing his eyes, Damien exhaled. “Yes Chelsea…”

“Nuh uh.” She interrupted, waging her finger.

“Yes… Miss Bolt.”

Getting a smile from the woman, Chelsea left Damien to continue his work and entered one of the meeting rooms further down the hallway. By the time his shift had ended, Damien gladly returned to his hotel suite, closing the door behind him and dropping his work boots by the door with a heavy thump before moving to the couch and collapsing back into it. Seeing the silver washer still resting on the middle of the coffee table, Damien plucked it off the wooden surface and looked it over in his hand. He still had no idea who was bringing in silver to New Gotham or why, but for whatever reason it was not in the favour of the lycanthropes that made the city home. Clutching the item in his hand and leaning back against the edge of the cushion, Damien allowed himself to sleep the rest of the day away. Losing track of time, he was only awoken when he heard a knock at the door to his hotel. Opening his eyes wide, Damien sat up and turned to look at the door, looking out the window, he could see night had already fallen.

“Who is it?”

“Room service, I’m here to do house keeping.”

Still clutching the washer in his hand, Damien stood up and put it in his pocket. “Come in then.”

Opening the door, a tall curvaceous woman stepped inside with trepidation, clutching a duster and cloth in her hands before closing the door behind her. Whoever she was, she was absolutely stunning. Mahogany tanned skin, luxurious flowing brunette hair and pouting lips that begged to be kissed, her almond brown eyes drew him to her angelic face and the beauty mark just under her left eye. Her maid’s suit left nothing to the imagination as it form fitted to her model perfect figure and showed off her long legs, smooth skin from her miniskirt and impressive bust from the top hem of her blouse and jacket, the top three buttons left undone to give such an ample view.

Squirming her feet where she stood, the woman pursed her lips. “May I…?”

Exhaling, Damien nodded and sat back down on the couch, allowing the woman to do her choirs dusting and wiping away the dust and grime left behind where Alfred had served tea and prepared breakfast. Keeping an eye on her, Damien continued to think to himself on just who would be shipping in silver into Gotham. There were not that many rogues left after the war, many of them had either been killed or were conscripted into either side of the conflict. The only ones left he could recall were D-listers at best and even in today’s environment would be no threat to anyone. Kite-man, the Ventriloquist, Calendar Man, no one had seen them in years.

His thoughts were interrupted when the woman had begun dusting the coffee table and had bent at the waist to do so, giving the young man a clear view of her heart-shaped rear outlined in her short skirt. “Yes, thank you, I think that’ll be enough. My butler can do the rest.”

“Oh! I’m sorry, I didn’t… Oops!” Standing up and spinning around to cover her mouth in surprise, the woman lost her footing and found herself fall and drape herself on top of Damien, almost intentionally burying his face in her cleavage when she landed on him. “Sorry, sorry, sorry, I’m so clumsy, I didn’t mean that, honest.” She replied with a blush, getting up to free him and stare deep into his eyes with hers. The moment he locked eyes with her, he noticed a shimmer of colours flow from her eyes, almost like a kaleidoscope. “That’s… Alright… You… Didn’t…” He slurred, mesmerized by her eyes as her face turned from shy embarrassment to a smoldering look of allure.

“That’s right Mr. Wayne, look deeply into my eyes, let me look inside of your soul, let me know your secrets…” She purred in a honey sweet voice that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand with a shiver. Feeling her hands gently caress at his neckline and jaw, a powerful feeling of comfort washed over him, relaxing all his muscles as he stared into her hypnotic eyes. And although he could not see it, he felt… A mass coil around him, surrounding and enveloping his lap and legs, her skin retained its tanned complexion, but now it glistened like polished metal in the moonlight outside the window. Her hair began to coil and flow like each strand had a mind of its own… Like millions of tiny snakes.

“Now tell me Mr. Wayne, how has your company been fairing, hmm?”

Almost mechanically, Damien answered her. “The company has changed direction to humanitarian projects and community programs…”

“Sigh… Yes, my mistress knows THAT, but what of YOUR position in it? What plans do you have against my Mistress?”

“I have no plans… I sent my butler to question Lamia and the others to get information on the four tribes. I chose him because of his strong ties to my father, none of the ruling members would dare harm him.”

Shrugging, the serpent woman leaned in closer. “Then tell me, now that you are back in Gotham, what do you plan to do with the company? Do you plan to drive us out?”

“I have no plans in the company anymore; the CEOs of Wayne Enterprises had given me a position of janitor until I can earn my way up the company ladder.”

Almost blinking and scrunching her stunning features in a laugh, the maid shook her head but retained eye contact with him. “You mean they have you scrubbing toilets?! By the WORLD Tree! Sigh… And to think I was going to fuck you tonight too.” Gently tracing a clawed finger down his chest and to his belt line, the woman made to reach into his pocket. “Oh well, maybe this won’t be a total loss, I wonder if you have any pocket… OUCH!” Recoiling her hand and closing her eyes in shock, she looked down to find her finger burned.

Snapping out of his hypnotism, Damien looked up and found himself in the coils of a weresnake kissing her burnt finger with a worried look. Realising what had happened, he pulled the washer out of his pocket and showed it to the surprised snake woman. The moment she caught sight of the shimmering silver washer in his fingers, she screamed with a fanged hiss and recoiled off the couch to slither away and back up against the wall. Having her cornered, Damien stood and prevented her from making an escape.

“Now… MY turn to ask questions.” Damien glared down at the weresnake trembling at the sight of the silver in his fingers. “Why did Lamia send you to interrogate me? Were you sent to kill me?”

“NO! No, no, no, no! The son of the wolf king? Never, I was sent to gather information. Lycanthropes died last week and suddenly you arrive, putting the fear of the bat into the tribes. My mistress wanted to be sure.”

“I’m not the one who killed them, nor am I here to kill you, or ANY of you, someone or something is shipping in and hoarding silver for an attack, I’m trying to find out who before its too late.”

Hearing the door open behind him, Damien darted his attention to the door to find Alfred stepping inside with the assistance of a cane and a paper bag in his other hand. Walking inside and placing the bag on the kitchen counter and pulling out items, the elderly butler spoke but did not turn his head to see what was going on. “Greetings Master Damien, I just left to pick up some more tea and condiments for… Dinner” Looking up to see the situation, Alfred looked surprised before the weresnake darted from the corner of the living room to quickly slither and crouch behind the elderly man like a shield. “Entertaining guests Master Damien?” Looking down, he patted the hand that clutched at his pant leg like a child while she continued to coil behind him, eyeing the silver in Damien’s hand like it was death itself.

“No Alfred, she was just leaving, weren’t you?”

Nodding her head frantically, the weresnake Stood up to her coils and gathered her things, pausing only to kiss Alfred on the cheek and whisper into his ear, then slithered out of the door. Seeing the elderly butler smile, Damien turned to him. “What did she say?”

“My hero… Hmm.”

*

Somewhere in the Gotham narrows…

In the middle of the night in a warehouse in the heart of the small island district, crews of men were hard at work smelting the silver washers into a furnace, the metal had been gathered for months now and the crew were hard at work putting it to use. Pouring the liquid hot metal into molds to create bullets. Nearby other crews shelled the cooled pointed nubs of silver into caliber shells and loaded them into ammunition clips, dozens in rows on a table ready to be loaded in weapons they had in storage.

“Come ON, keep things moving boys, we got a deadline to finish!” Barked out one of the men, clapping his hands together to get their attention. “If we don’t get this stuff ready by the end of the month…”

“ThEn YoU’Re AlL DeAd!”

Stopping cold in his tracks and slowly turning around, the rest of the warehouse went silent when they heard the heavy footfalls of their leader come into view and loomed over the shivering man. Looking up, the man blinked and wiped his mouth to hide his lip quiver as he turned to look back at the crews paused in their work to see their leader arrive to see the results of their work. “W-We’re right on s-schedule boss, we should have enough to carry out your plan by the end of October.”

“ThErE aRe A fEw BoXeS mIsSiNg FrOm ThE sHiPmEnT…” He growled, the sizzle of drool dripping onto the concrete floor and causing the stonework to burn as if by some powerful acid. “SoMeOnE KNEW WhAt We WeRe DoInG!”

“Now, now, let’s not get carried away” Spoke another voice in the shadows with their leader, sounding just as meek and afraid as the others. “No one knows what we’re plan…”

“SHUT UP! YoU ThInK I’m StUpId EnOuGh NoT tO SeE TwO Of My BoYs MiSsInG WhEn ThEy GoT BaCk?!” Growled their leader, raising his head high enough in rage he knocked aside one of the ceiling lights 20 feet high up. “RiGhT NoW ThE CoPs ArE PrObAbLy MaKiNg ThEm SpIlL ThEiR GuTs!”

“We can set this straight boss; just give us a chance and we can fix this.” Offered the trembling man with his hands up, just before a massive talon big enough to wrap around his torso grabbed hold of him and hoisted the man off his feet, hauling him up to eye level with the creature that snorted back at the terrified goon.

“Come on brother, give him a chance, he can make up for it.”

“YeS… YeS hE CaN…”

Cringing and looking away, the crew covered their ears to the man’s screams as he was eaten alive by the monster they worked for. By the time the screams stopped, a pair of severed legs fell to the ground in a pool of blood and burning drool.

“ThErE… ThAt MaDe Up FoR iT… NOW GET BACK TO WORK!!!”

Hastily returning to their tasks, the crew did not dare look back behind them to watch the towering monster turn to leave, its long serpentine tail slithering behind it before it disappeared completely.