Marble Statuette | T. Drake

[00]

The suburbs of Gotham were much quieter than the bustling city life in Central Gotham and Robinson Square. Not many people lived in the suburbs as most of the land belonged to the Wayne family, their grand manor erected in the midst proving their mark on the place.

In the remaining developed land of the suburbs, there were only a few apartments and hostels for residents who couldn't afford to live in the city but had to commute there for job or other reasons. The property including the apartment buildings also fell in the Wayne Enterprises' jurisdiction.

Under one such building, Timothy Drake's black Porsche was parked as he awaited his girlfriend who was somehow taking forever to get ready.

"Olivia, it will be an hour in like ten minutes," he spoke up as he was on the phone with her, "what's taking you so long?"

"Well, in case you forgot, I have a whole event organized in my honor and I still can't seem to get these little things right... Where the hell is my purse now? I can't just go with a pepper spray in hand, can I? And my taser is out of charge, I will borrow yours."

"Alright, I kept a spare in the car just in case but you do know that we are not allowed to pepper spray or tase the paparazzi, right?"

"No lectures, please. I have enough problems at hand to think about the annoying paps."

He sighed, knowing she was getting frustrated, "if you want, I can come up and help you look for your purse and whatever else you're searching."

"And these goddamn heels... I swear I'm killing someone if I trip." A short curse was followed by an exasperated sigh as she added, "come up. Vanya will let you in."

Tim and Olivia had been dating for a year now. In that one year, they had been through a lot but everything that had happened made them get closer to each other.

They were both rather unconventional people with Tim being a detective vigilante and deputy CEO of Wayne Tech and Olivia being a genius tech architect with occasional tendencies to blow things up.

From the outside, they had lived very different lives before meeting each other as Olivia lived in a biodome in the forest whereas Tim was brought up in Wayne Manor under the protective shadow of Batman.

But coincidentally, the two had turned out to be very alike in nature such that only they could fully understand each other. Together, they had not only faced the hardships caused due to a part of their shared past but also learned to value each other and battle their obstacles together.

They were quite the perfect team as the press often described them. The young couple were now known for their advancement and innovations in the tech department of W.E and that night, they were launching a new software at the much awaited Fall Gala.

As the Fall Gala was coinciding with Halloween, Olivia had suggested keeping the theme of a costume party and as a result, the hype of the Fall Gala had increased even more.

Tim, dressed in a striped black suit, a bowtie, and with his hair parted in the center, left his car to go up to Olivia's apartment. There weren't many people around to take a look at his costume, a fact he felt very grateful for as he was dreading the reception at the venue of the Gala altogether.

Reaching the door, he rang the bell and the camera on top scanned him then the door opened with a familiar voice greeting him.

"Welcome, Tim. You will find Olivia in her room. Have a nice day."

"Thanks, Vanya," Tim replied, stepping in and then the door closed by itself behind him.

Vanya was an automated software that was a remake of the original Vanya that Olivia had in her biodome. In fact it was the first prototype of the new software they were launching at the event which was set to leave the world of Siris and Alexas far behind with its state of the art and high tech features.

Tim cautiously opened the bedroom door, expecting a landmine to blow up in his face even though he knew Olivia's apartment no longer had the extreme security protocols that her biodome had. But in his defense, an angry and frustrated Olivia McArthur was no different from an explosive landmine either.

"I found the purse, thank God, but I can't fit the spray in it and I can't take a tote because have you seen this dress?" She was standing in front of the mirror, overthinking her life decisions when she turned to see him enter.

Tim had paused at the threshold, stunned by the sight in front of him.

Olivia's jet black dress hugged her figure perfectly and the pale white makeup made her features stand out even more. Paired with a red lip, smoky eyes, heels and long straightened black hair, it wasn't hard to see that she was pulling off the Morticia Addams look effortlessly.

Seeing his expression, all the frustration that Olivia had felt earlier evaporated and her lips twitched as if trying to hold back a laugh.

"Mon Cherie, you seem to have perfected the Gomez look," she remarked, making him snap out of the trance, "such passion and desire that you seem to have trouble keeping your jaw from hitting the floor? Adorable."

His face flushed at the remark, "please tell me you're not intending to actually talk like an Addams for the entire event."

"Lol, you bet," she teased but seeing his reaction, she let it go and shook her head, "okay, I won't. Pinky promise."

She hooked their pinkies together for the briefest of seconds, watching him relax at the prospect that she had agreed to his indirect request. Olivia could fluster him far worse than anyone else held the capacity to and the thought of him being publicly flustered was a bit worrisome for him.

"You look fantastic," he replied, offering her a smile, "for a second, I was scared you would explode a landmine at me."

"No, why would I?" She shook her head, keeping aside the purse and the pepper spray she was trying to squeeze inside, "although you do need a mustache to finish your look."

The look of admiration on his face turned into that of horror, "but Olivia, we talked about it. I am not wearing a mustache!"

"Gomez without a mustache just looks incomplete," she waved off his concerns, uncapping her black eyeliner, "stand still, I'll paint a teeny tiny one on you. Or else people will mistake you for that Victor Stone from the Corpse Bride."

"Don't you think you're taking this whole Halloween thing too seriously?" He asked, after she had painted a small mustache and finally stopped laughing at the way he looked with it.

"It was my idea now I can't back off from it," she remarked, "I guess I will leave the purse. If someone tries to get me, I'll just stomp on them with my heels. That would work too."

Even after all that time, Olivia got paranoid of public gatherings and kept her self defense options at the ready.

"Nothing will happen to you," Tim reassured her, "I'm going to be right beside you all the time."

Despite the fact that his offer made her heart flutter, she held her head up high, "still, I trust myself to be my own protector. And these heels would hurt the hell out of anyone who dares to annoy me."

"As you wish, Cara Mia," he joked to relieve her mood and no doubt, it succeeded in making her laugh.

"Come now, we're getting late," she left her room at last, securing her apartment and activating the security software as they stepped out.

It was a big night for both of them and deep down, they were quite excited and nervous at the same time of how their first launch of Project VANYA would go.

***