Having opened the face of the grandfather clock in the study with a precise application of pressure to begin with, Bruce set the hands of the clock to the minute before his parents' death. He held the hands there against the motion of the machine, and after being locked in place a motion, the grandfather clock obligingly unclenched from its position. When he let go of the hands, they spun back to the correct time. He shut the glass protector on the clock face, and stepped through the cracked door to the staircase.
***
Paige whimpered as she shoved her hand between her legs, barely able to breathe to moan in relief as she sank two fingers into her wet cunt. Feverishly, she worked herself, humping her ass off the floor and into her thrusting fingers.
"Fuck me," she whispered shamefully. "Ivy, please, fuck me, fuck me, with that sweet tongue of yours. Fuck me, Ivy. Fuck my juicy cunt!
With a deep breath, Ivy pushed Paige away from herself. She spoke hypnotically, her pheromones working quickly on Paige's oversexed mind. "You don't want to fuck me," she mewled. "You want to fuck Harley. Go fuck Harley, Paige. She wants to soooo much."
Whimpering, Paige rushed to obey, her well-pleasured brain completely focused on Harley now. Still, Ivy felt just a little misgiven, leaving them alone. She cast a last, longing look at the two before she hurried on. Paige was letting Harley out of her cage. Ivy wondered if she'd regret that. There were times when she would've liked very much to know Harley didn't mind a kennel.
She followed after Bruce.
***
Everything felt strange to Harley—how she'd been in pain but it didn't hurt and it was warm and she felt in control but totally out of control too, not in control of herself but Bruce was in control of her so she was controlled.
Strangest of all was the sensation in her sex, where a sense of heaviness seemed to press down on everywhere she was sensitive, dammed up frustration physically touching her. It was no painful so much as numbing, but through that numbness something tingled.
"Poor girl," Paige fussed. "Let's get you bathed. You'll feel better after. Then we can have some fun."
Naked but for her collar, Harley followed after the other woman, following the sparkling engagement ring on her hand. She allowed herself to be led to the master bathroom, where Paige drew a bath for her, just hot enough to steam. It was big enough for both of them, and they slid into the water together, floating into a fit with the water and each other.
Harley felt herself reviving quickly after she'd ducked into, and surfaced from, the bath's warmth. The world stopped being so fuzzy and she noticed things with the usual clarity no one credited her for. She could see the well-polished mirrors of the bathroom, the monogrammed towels, all the luxurious appointments set out for, well, her, she guessed. She was the one who could benefit from all those expensive shampoos and conditioners. Her and Ivy and Paige and Mistah Bruce, too, in a roundabout way. If she felt good, and looked good, he would like that. He would like it a lot.
Harley liked it when Bruce liked things.
Then she winced, feeling Paige's fingers follow the livid red welts upon her pale skin. She closed her eyes and shuddered at the memory of how her splendid body had produced such splendid feelings in such an unusual way...
"Doesn't it hurt?" Paige asked, her voice muted to a near whisper.
"Yes and no," Harley answered. "It hurts, but it don't hurt. Or it hurts, but it also hurts. Like when you're doing a guy that's really big, and he stretches you out, and you don't think you can take it, but you do..."
"But Harley, those welts on your body! A collar! How can you endure it?"
"Guess it's just an acquired taste," Harley said cheerily. "Ya know, you seem awful curious about it. Wanna acquire my taste, supa-model?"
***
Ivy hissed through her teeth as she whirled around the study, feeling like a flower that'd gotten too much sun. He'd gone in here, she knew it, knew it! Where was he? She'd been just a half minute behind him, yet she couldn't scent him anywhere—none of her houseplants reported seeing him. It was like he'd vanished into thin air!
She heard a rapping on the window. Odd—the curtains were drawn. Ivy went to the thin sliver that was left open and pulled it wide. On the other side of the glass, Vicki Vale was trying to get her attention. Ivy rolled her eyes and pulled the sash up the window frame. Was the reporter trying to get a scoop with her eavesdropping or just being a voyeur? Was there a difference?
"He went in there!" Vicki said, so eager to please she was practically whimpering. She jabbed her forefinger at the grandfather clock in the corner. "In there!"
"Thank you," Ivy said politely. She felt her pheromones taking Vicki's will. "Why don't you go take a bath? I'm sure Harley's gotten the water nice and warm."
Vicki grinned at her as she climbed into the room. This was why Ivy worked alone, mostly. Operational security was so hard to maintain once you had some floozies around. Vines were much better. As a last resort, Harley. She was mouthy, but sometimes mouthiness could be useful...
Repressing a shudder, Ivy went to the grandfather clock. It didn't look like a secret passage—it wouldn't, of course. She opened up its belly, reached past the pendulum, but the wall there seemed solid. After yanking her hand back out of the way of the pendulum, she tried banging on the clock's back.
It sounded hollow, almost.
***
"Talia and Nyssa? Since when do they work the same side of the street?" Dick asked, exercising his leg with lifts, a weight strapped to the cast. He was nearly a hundred percent, possibly because he was still milking the injury to avoid the Clocktower.
Inside the costume vault, Bruce armored up, selecting his most potent arsenal. With the League of Assassins in play, this would be less crowd control and more ironclad combat, complete with broadsides. "Talia's reasons are personal. If nothing else, she'd rather kill me herself than let one of her father's assassins do it. I'm sure Ra's would prefer I die in agony."
"Ain't love grand," Dick mused. "And Nyssa?"