Homecoming (Complete)

Chapter Two

Alex strode into the bar like she owned it, and, even though today was day three of coming in here, heads still swivelled to watch her appreciatively as she walked up to order a drink.

"Red wine," she said to the bartender, Iris, with a smile, then took her drink over to a nearby table, scanning the crowd for the face she was pretty sure wouldn't be here this early, if at all. This could take several nights, but she was hoping for sooner rather than later. She needed to get some proper rest, and this game she'd been playing at—party animal, flirt, skirt chaser—was starting to wear on her. She'd been carefully constructing this reputation for over a year now in an effort to better appeal to Wayne and the world he seemed to inhabit, but, much like finally finishing with the lists, she was tired of it and just wanted to be done—she was ready to 'leave town' for a while so she could let this persona slip and get some rest.

She wasn't fond of using women this way. The fact that they wanted her, even just for one night, did nothing to mitigate her guilt—the sex had been spectacular on many occasions, but she was weary of one-night-stands and the effort it took to always be 'on'. It was a necessary means to an end—she needed to maintain her image—but she'd be happy to let it go. Her real self was not even remotely this kind of person, and she'd regretted this choice of cover almost instantly, but had believed the fastest way of getting the job done was to play the role of a 'player.'

She sipped her wine and watched the couples on the dance floor sway to a slow song while she ran through the past few days in Gotham in her head. The derelict buildings on the property she'd bought had already been razed, and the salvageable ones had mostly been gutted—things there were progressing at a very fast pace. She'd invested a very large sum of money to ensure they had crews working around the clock.

Movement off the side of the dance floor caught her eye—Ellie, the receptionist from Wayne Tower, had just walked in to the bar. Alex had made a point of accidentally bumping into her at the coffee bar just down from the Wayne building this morning, and, after some small talk and flirting that had left Ellie flushed, casually mentioned that she'd been spending her evenings here. Alex was sure Ellie was straight, but was confident that her curiosity would prompt her to make an appearance.

Alex sighed inwardly. She wasn't proud of seducing poor Ellie, but she had been unable to find a way or reason to bump into Wayne since their initial meeting, and she needed to get her virus onto his phone. She was hoping that if she got it onto Ellie's phone that it would survive long enough for Ellie to encounter Wayne so that it could then jump to his phone. The nature of the virus was such that it could only 'live' for a short period of time—only as long as it took for it to eat its way through the available information and trickle it all out—and then it self-destructed, leaving no trace of itself behind. Alex was going to enjoy an influx of whatever social media, photos, and whatever other 'dark and sinister' (Alex gave a snort of laughter at the thought, startling the two women sitting at a table nearby) things Ellie was up to on her phone. Alex just hoped there was enough to keep the virus occupied until Ellie got close enough to Wayne. The virus was designed for two systems only and she'd had a hard time adjusting it to use Ellie's phone as a launch pad to Wayne's. If this didn't work she didn't think she'd be able to modify it again without damaging it, or even destroying it. She would have no choice but to wait until she could meet up with Wayne again.

Ellie had made her way to the bar and Alex quietly stepped up beside her, deftly reaching across in front of her to hand the bartender some money. "Another for me, please Iris, and whatever she's having," she said as she turned to face Ellie with smile. "It's nice to see you, Ellie. Would you care to join me? I was just having a quiet drink in the corner and contemplating calling it an early night. But now that you're here...," she trailed off suggestively, then continued, "I'd love some company."