A Grievous Beginning: BOOK TWO

PROLOGUE: In So Many Words

"Woe to her who is rebellious and defiled, the oppressing city! She listens to no voice; she accepts no correction."

--Zephaniah 3:1-2

Years had passed and the rift between Oswald and Selina remained an ever widening chasm, if not even more strained than before. However, neither of them saw anything of one another since they now led very different lives so far apart from each other. But not just by choice.

Selina's job as a secretary in a small office had paid off when she was referred to a big time business tycoon Max Shreck, a corporate CEO that owned nearly half the large chemical and hydroelectric plants not to mention hundreds of textile mills in Gotham. But even in beginning her job there, Selina knew full well she would be unhappy though she soldiered on, dutifully lugging her burden of regrets along with all the gargantuan problems that came with being unappreciated no matter how resourceful she really was.

Often times, the single thing that kept her going was pure spite in hearing her mother's incessant and nagging calls always waiting for her on her answering machine at home, telling her to stop being silly and just come back home to the rest of the family.

However, at times, Selina was certain that her mother knew what effect those calls had and just called to be downright cruel. Even in being a lowly assistant to one of Gotham's most revered businessmen, Selina felt her small store of resentment grow with every insult sent her way by her ungrateful staff of superiors.

Though she wasn't one to hold more than a grudge or two at a time, Selina was sure that she had more than that towards her ungrateful boss.

Meanwhile, Oswald had nearly as good of luck, if not better as he began his charity-type 'business' of recruiting various characters from the place his entire family had come from...the circus.

In employing the more dishonest of the circus folk, Oswald eventually was able to control a large portion of Gotham's mob underworld, using his 'Red Triangle Gang' to strike fear into any opposition.

Granted, his position as a mob leader was less than lawful, but with nothing left to live honestly for (in his opinion), Oswald saw no reason to even bother to honor the beliefs he'd held so steadfastly since his sister Carolina had taught him so dutifully of what was right and wrong.

Though he felt no better in defying the laws of God and man, Oswald seemed to think it was his duty to end his life in prison, with all too many crimes under his belt. But first, he planned to give anyone trying to get him behind bars a run for their money.

The only one that had known Oswald at some point that had made good choices that led to great success in their life was Bruce Wayne.

With the death of his parents, Bruce had inherited all that his father had owned, including the large family business of Wayne Enterprises, following in almost second place next to the companies owned by Max Shreck. Now at thirty and three years of age like Oswald and Selina both, Bruce had built a successful life for himself.

He had taken good care of his business and had prospered beyond expectations--even to the point of meeting with Max Shreck multiple times for mutual benefits relating to both of their companies.

Now with a lesser number of servants than his parents had previously, Bruce lived a solitary bachelor's existence in his extravagant home of Wayne Manor, his only company being his grandfather-like figure of a butler Alfred Penniworth and a handful of other servants he rarely even saw as they moved about the house, keeping it tidy and presentable.