Maria Carbonell and Martha Kane Part 4
Finishing breakfast, a single toast and two cups of coffee much to Bruce (Banner)’s disapproval, not to mentioning Alfred’s, Toni hopped off the stool.
“I will need to see what your teachers gave you for homework” she glanced at Royce, Peter and Harley.
Peter barely managed to lift his head from his plate, “Ms. Potts talked to the principal and my grades are good enough that I can just deliver the last few papers any day during summer for me to graduate, even if my final grade in Spanish will suffer a little because of the classes I will miss”
Harley went next, “Had some problems with the lit teacher, I will miss final exams and I also have a final essay for history, teacher said that if I go for a couple of weeks during summer vacation, I will keep my grades up”
Toni looked at Royce that groaned, “I have been slipping in math but Ms. Potts convinced the teacher that if I did a list of exercises and showed it to him, I could retake last week’s test, and in English I have to read some poems and write a text of what I understood”
The billionaire nodded and without another word went back upstairs.
~*~
It was almost noon when Bruce Wayne woke up with a start and promptly threw his sheets aside; he had a lot to do today.
After being almost forced-fed by Alfred, the Batman made an appearance in the League’s Watchtower, as he expected the only ones there were Hal and Barry, the ones most likely to put their foot on their mouth.
“My cousin and her family will stay here for a couple of months and she will use the east wing, do not bother her” with that he went back to the Zeta Beam and to Gotham, time to gather up the small family.
Barry turned to Hal “Uh…what was that?” the Airman was equally baffled but quickly turning to tired resignation.
“Just do as he says, sometimes the headache is not worthy it”. If it was something mission-related Hal might have argued but since he had no objections…it was so not worthy it.
A few seconds later both frowned and this time it was Hal that voiced it, “He has a cousin?”
Two hours later they had theirs answer, Flash could feel his eyes widening and he knew that Hal had a similar reaction to his left. The first one to get out of the Zeta Bean was a brown haired man of medium height, glasses and curly hair, a face that would easily blend with the crowd if he so desired, closely followed by two children, a boy and a girl clearly related and then a teenager, finally a tall and lean woman, very dark brown hair in a ponytail and dressed casually in a light blouse and pencil skirt with flat shoes. The material of the blouse was light enough for a triangular light shine through and that gave her identity away even if it was partially hidden because of the toddler she was holding to her chest. Finally Batman stepped out too and finished the line.
The family very probably noticed them, it was impossible not to with Green Lantern shining like that and not even twelve foot away but they were paid no mind. With a last warning glare, Batman purposely closed the automatic doors to the east wing.
Lantern was still gawking but for a speedster it was normal for their mouth to be faster, “Toni Stark?”
~*~
“Did you know about it?” Hal rounded on Clark the second the Kryptonian stepped into the Watchtower.
Well used to Hal’s shenanigans Clark only sighed, “Knew about what?”
“Bats’ cousin is Toni Stark, Iron Woman!” Barry’s arms were swinging widely, half excited, half incredulous.
Clark’s shoulders sagged and he sighed again, “It’s not like either of them ever hid it” but yeah, he could see why that would cause gossip, while neither hid it, not many knew about it. Clark himself found out by accident…and by being nosy.
He was in the Manor when a picture caught his attention. Aside from the huge family portrait in the main living room of the three ‘original’ Waynes and a couple of recent pictures of Jason and Dick with either Bruce or Alfred, his friend didn’t exactly had many reminders of his parents lying around so Clark was surprised to see a pretty big frame by the fireplace of two women, he recognized Bruce, probably 7 or 8 years old, meaning right before his parents died with a younger girl in the other woman’s arms.
The two women didn’t have many similarities physically, both were of the same height, blonde and very elegantly dressed but that was it, “Who are them?” before he could stop himself the question was out and Clark immediately had to hold back a wince, in his place the Kryptonian wouldn’t want to talk about his parents either.
But this time Bruce didn’t glower at him and left him there to marinate in his own guilt, he just sighed, “That’s my mother’s cousin, Maria Carbonell and my second cousin, Toni”
Clark frowned a little in concentration, “Carbonell…I heard that name before” the billionaire rolled his eyes.
“She used to be a socialite, married Howard Stark” and that made Clark’s brain snap.
“Oh my God! Your cousin is Toni Stark!” he didn’t even care about the very big grin on his face while he analyzed the picture better.
She was one cute kid, he smiled, not very unlike the 8 year old Bruce that was dressed in a white dress shirt, social black shorts, brown shoes and too long white socks, Toni was wearing a frilly pink and beige dress with white thighs and pink ribbons in her hair. Matching grimaces on their smalls faces. He couldn’t help himself, Clark cooed and gave a very silly grin, it was worth it even when Bruce completely ignored him for almost two weeks.
Back to the present, Clark was confronted by an incredulous Barry, “So you mean that anybody can just look it up in the internet?”
He could only shrug, “Anybody that cares to look I guess”. Considering how wealthy the Kanes and Carbonell were, it wouldn't be too difficult to connect the two women, however, regardless of how much money the respective families had, Howard Stark would outshine anyone with his spotlight tendencies and, Clark winced, Bruce already gave a short version that the Kanes were not happy when Martha married Thomas Wayne.
Maria Carbonell was a lot more discreet than her husband and the Waynes were discreet by nature, after both couples were dead, time and space apart made even the vultures of the gossip columns think about Toni Stark and Bruce Wayne as having just a couple of superficial things in common: billionaires, sluts, philanthropists.
~*~
“It is very impressive” Banner complimented looking out of the widow where he could only see stars and a tip of Earth.
The room was spacious and had another door leading to a corridor where three more rooms were occupied by Peter, Royce and Harley. Donnie's crib was in the couple's room.
“The launch was a little complicate, but once the main part was in orbit it was only a question of expanding the structure”
He nodded and turned to the masked and caped man, “Thanks again for doing this for Toni, Mr. Wayne”
Batman paused typing the security codes so the family could have some control over who comes and goes, “…when no one is around, Bruce is fine” and he had to hold back his own reaction at Dr. Banner’s sheepish grin.
“Yeah…I don’t think that’s a good idea” half amusing, half awkward indeed, “‘Batman’ ok around here? And in more social settings, I think Mr. Wayne will do”
Nodding, Batman gave him the codes and showed how to change the password, “May I talk to Toni?”
Dr. Banner 'ahed' before offering, “She went straight to bed but I can see if she is still awake”
He paused again, “No, it can wait” with a sweep of his cape, he left.
~*~