She was a woman that the expression 'smoldering looks' was invented for. Blood red glossy lips, long, silken black hair with soft bangs that fell over her forehead, above jade colored eyes capable of breaking a man's heart with one withering glance. He had silver streaks along his temples, wearing wire rim glasses and watching the financial news on television as he sat upright in his canopied bed, wearing his favorite quilted red satin robe while she nuzzled and nibbled his ear and neck. Her hand was inside the waistband of his pajama bottoms, stroking his erection lazily. He ignored her until the last of his stock reports had ticked across the bottom of the screen. Another million or so was made. It was a good day. Finally, he turned his attention to her.
"Have you lined up the third candidate?" He asked as he stroked her soft cheek with the back of his manicured nails.
"Yes. We have a meeting tomorrow." She answered.
"Excellent." He said and then stared into her anxious eyes. "You may begin."
Her eyes lit up and she promptly leaned down over his waist and began to perform oral pleasures on the man as he closes his eyes and smiled thinly, stroking her silken hair as her head rose and fell in his lap. After several long minutes of delirious pleasure, the silver and black haired gentleman gasped and let out a long sigh as he erupted in her sensuous mouth, her lips wet with moisture as they slid up and down his shaft. When she had consumed the last drop, she leaned up and gazed at him with a wicked smile.
"Good night, Daddy." She said and gave him a kiss on the cheek before she arose from the bed and walked away with feline smoothness to her own bedroom.
Part 2 - Babs
It was business as usual at the Gotham City Public Library. Barbara Gordon was at the main desk checking out the patrons with their armloads of books. As one of her regulars, the gentle but talkative and elderly Mrs. Harriet Cooper stepped up with her cache of Romance novels. She spent the next few minutes trying to tell Barbara that she had a single and available nephew named Dick that she wanted her to meet. Barbara smiled politely and Mrs. Cooper was soon on her way out the door, escorted by the gentleman's gentleman, Alfred Pennyworth, who gave Barbara a knowing wink. The next patron approached, and when Barbara saw her she knew she had seen her before, but something was slightly different.
"Babs!" Came the voice from the young brunette with the stunning face and figure to match as she approached the large wooden checkout counter.
And then it hit Barbara like a ton of bricks. It was Cordelia Crane. And she knew why she didn't recognize her right away. The last time she had seen her was her senior year in high school. Cordelia was one of the "in crowd." A 'social' was what they called them. One of a select few members of the student body who came from wealthy homes. Cordelia was too refined to be a cheerleader, but she was president of the student body, as well as a myriad of other positions within their high school. She had hardly changed at all, except for her chic hairstyle and clothes, which certainly came from Gotham's finer stores.
"Cordelia!" Barbara replied in surprise. "What a...
"Surprise!" Cordelia finished Barbara's sentence. "Yes I know. Wow! How have you been? It's been such a long time."
"Yes, it has."
"So, you're working for the library." Cordelia said with a slight tone of condescending attitude. "I guess that shouldn't surprise me. You were always the little bookworm"
Barbara seethed inside and suddenly remembered why she couldn't stand Cordelia. She just gave Cordelia a stiff smile in reply.
"How's your father by the way?" Cordelia asked, referring to Barbara's father, Commissioner of the Gotham City Police Department, James Gordon.
"Oh, he's fine." Barbara answered, relieved that the subject had moved on. She was now eager to get this over with and nodded at Cordelia's book. "What have you got there?"
"Oh this?" Cordelia said. "It's a book I'm borrowing for some costume and decorating ideas. I belong to a club of young women and one of our projects every year is to provide decorations for the annual Fall Ball. Our theme this year is Carnaval. Like down in Rio."
"Fall Ball?" Asked Barbara as she took the book and stamped the checkout card.
"Oh, you've never heard of it? I'm surprised your father hasn't mentioned it. Well, I guess I shouldn't be. It's for the Aldermen. You know, one of those secret men's clubs."
"Hmmm. Oh, yes." Barbara said. She did remember overhearing her father on the phone a few weeks ago talking about being mentioned as a candidate to this club of supposedly powerful men in Gotham City. Of course, being the Commissioner of Police would make him a promising candidate. She never heard mention of it again after that. As far as she could tell, he either never joined or never told her that he had. No one really knew who was a member of this secret society or even how many members there actually were.
Barbara handed the book back to Cordelia and noticed that she was staring at her with a slightly arched eyebrow. It made her slightly uncomfortable, and she said, "Is that all?"
"Hey, Babs, listen. How'd you like to get together with some friends of mine tomorrow night? It's just a small informal get together at my apartment. I'd love to catch up on old times, you know."
Her first instinct was to turn Cordelia down flat, to make up some excuse, but her earlier mention of The Alderman intrigued her. Maybe she could find out more about them. Cordelia had made it sound like her father was a member, and wondered why her father had never mentioned it to her.
"Well, sure, I guess." Barbara said as she pretended to think about it. "Why not?"
"Fantastic!" Cordelia said with a big smile. "Eight thirty. Why don't you write down your number for me? I'll call you with directions."
"Sure. Just a second." Barbara said as she wrote it down on a slip of paper. "Here it is."
"Great!" Cordelia said as she took the slip of paper, tucked it into her Gucci purse and walked out of the library, her high heel pumps clicking across the marble floor. Barbara couldn't help but notice she still had a nice figure. Of course, not as nice as her own.
Part 3 - Invitation
Barbara Gordon arrived at the home of Cordelia Crane promptly at eight thirty. She rang the bell at the front door of Crane Towers, which was located in an upscale high rise apartment district in downtown Gotham. The building was owned by Cordelia's father, Cornelius Crane. A somber doorman opened the huge oak door panel and allowed Barbara to enter. From within the immaculately decorated lobby, she was escorted up to the penthouse to what was Cordelia's apartment, which took up the entire top floor of the building. It was the first evidence that Barbara had ever been given of her father's actual wealth. All she knew was that Mr. Crane was a philanthropist who came from old money.
When Cordelia spotted Barbara at the door, she smiled widely and exclaimed "Babs!" which called unwanted attention to Barbara and embarrassed her greatly as she felt all eyes on her now from the roomful of women. A "few friends" indeed. It looked like a convention of models and actresses, all of them wearing dresses, pearls and heels. It made Barbara feel a little self conscious about her own simple linen dress and purse. Oh well, at least she knew she could compete in the looks department.
"Barb, let me introduce you around." Cordelia said as she took Barbara by the arm and led her around the apartment to greet all her friends. This took nearly an hour, until finally to Barbara's relief, Cordelia stood in the middle of the room to call everyone's attention.
As a hush came over the room, Cordelia spoke, "Thank you all for coming, ladies. This is just an informal meeting, but I'd just like to take a moment to welcome our new candidates. As you all know, Career Women of Gotham Charity Club is an organization that celebrates the working woman as well as raising money and awareness for many different charities who need our help. More and more of us are going to work, and it's up to us to help and support each other. Now, when we search for potential candidates to join our organization, we look for the best and brightest. So, without further ado, I'd first like to introduce Vicki Vale."
There was a polite round of applause as the beautiful blonde woman in a black dress stood and nodded, blushing at the attention.
"Vicki is a photographer, and I know those of you who actually have the time to read the newspaper have seen her work. Thanks for coming Vicki."
Vicki smiled warmly and Cordelia continued. "Next, we have a rare find; an independent woman who not only works, but is actually a doctor."
There were "ooh's" and "aah's" from the impressed crowd of women.
"No, not the kind of doctor you're thinking about, but an important kind just the same. She's more of a head doctor. A psychiatrist to be exact. Here she is, Dr. Chase Meridian," Cordelia said, gesturing to the petite redhead in a dark green silk pantsuit, who returned everyone's smile with one of her own. She seemed confident, Barbara noticed.
"Last but not least, our final candidate. She's an old friend of mine, and her father is a very important figure in our great city. Barbara Gordon."
At first, Barbara couldn't believe that she had just heard her name spoken. She was so stunned that she could barely return the smiles of those around her. How could Cordelia do this to her? She had no idea what was coming. All she could do was sit silently with her hands clasped in her lap until the applause died down.
"Okay, girls. Please make our new candidates feel welcome."
It then dawned on Barbara that Cordelia hadn't even mentioned that she was merely a librarian. She was far from ashamed of that, but she could only imagine what these other women with their glamorous careers really thought of her. As the evening wound to a close, Cordelia took Barbara, Vicki and Dr. Meridian aside and asked them to follow her.
As she led them down the hallway, she told them, "The Fall Ball is coming soon and I'm counting on you three to help with the entertainment. Think of this as your initiation."
Cordelia led them to a room lined with wardrobes and mirrors. Everything was decorated with 16th century furniture, rugs, tapestries, and even the paintings. Their host opened a huge wardrobe and then looked first at Vicki Vale with a critical eye.
"I think you'd be perfect for this." Cordelia said as she pulled a dark costume from the rack and handed it to Vicki. "Go ahead and try it on."
Vicki smiled with mild surprise at the costume as Barbara looked on with interest. Cordelia then looked Dr. Meridian over and grinned with envy at her petite figure. She pulled out another costume, this one in different hues of green "You'll be great in this."
Dr. Meridian took the costume with trepidation as Cordelia urged her on, "Go ahead."
"Okay, last but not least, Babs." Cordelia said, as Barbara winced at her insistent use of that nickname, knowing it was Cordelia's subtle way of keeping a superior attitude over her. She made her feel like she was still in high school, but Barbara brushed it off.
"How about... this one?" Cordelia said as she suddenly spied just the costume she was looking for. When she held it up, Barbara nearly gasped and her heart froze.
It was a Batgirl costume.
Was this Cordelia's idea of a joke? For a moment, Barbara thought the worst and considered the fact that Cordelia knew her secret identity and was toying with her.
"In the spirit of the theme, you ladies will dress in these costumes and take part in a fundraising auction by the members of the Aldermen at the Fall Ball. Everyone will be in masks and it will be tons of fun. Remember that this is for charity, so don't be shy. I want you three to come up with a little skit or dance or something. Use your imagination. This will show me how resourceful you are, and if you are serious candidates for the club.
"Of course, you will be the superheroine, Babs," Cordelia paused and then pointed at Vicki Vale and Dr. Chase Meridian, who had already donned their respective costumes, "And they will be the villains."
This time Batgirl did emit a shocked gasp. Vicki was in a tight shiny black Catwoman costume, complete with short kinky boots and sequined eye mask and ears. Dr. Meridian was in a one piece, cleavage bearing Poison Ivy costume with sheer glistening green hose with sequined lines down the back, all the way from her curvy rear down to her green high heel pumps, and her own eye mask was accented with colorful ivy leaves. Barbara noticed that they both seemed to take great pleasure in wearing the slinky costumes.
"So Babs, are you up for this?" Cordelia asked. "Think you can come up with something completely outrageous? I know you have the figure for it."
Barbara knew by this time that she didn't have much of a choice. She felt overwhelmed by all of this. Everything had happened so quickly that her mind was almost spinning. If she didn't know better, she could have sworn that someone spiked her Ginger Ale.
"Well," Barbara said. "I took some dance and ballet lessons when I was younger. I think we can come up with something."
"Great! I knew I could count on you..." Cordelia smiled, and then added. "...Babs."