The silence was cut short by a foreboding whistling tune as he drew closer. Like a lure the haunting song found a memory within Rozanda and she started to softly hum along with him, she knew that song, it was once somewhere her favorite song. Squeezing her ribs under his forearms Rogers tried to quiet her. "Shhhhhh..." was all he could whisper as Tora Tora entered the room. Face shielded by a scarf, the wide brim of his hat creating even more shadows to pierce through, the black and white color blocking of a horrifying harlequin. Small flecks of red haphazardly dotted along the lighter side of the fabric, fading as it hit the felt brim that shielded his face.

Rozanda gasped as he entered.

"Told you you'd like him." Roller Girl's voice was so low it could only be heard between the two of them. Too afraid to speak any louder or else he would know she was insubordinate.

He surveyed the small office and what was left of it. Carelessly twirling a clear cane in his hand, the tip curving into a golden glyph. The sharp edges of the metal glinted underneath the incandescent lighting above. As he stepped into the room, he made sure to grind the fragmented pieces of her life beneath his boot. Turning to dust the already small pieces that lay shattered on the floor. If they had started the devastation, he would come behind to finish it, leaving no room for repair. Giving a slight nod to the rest of his crew they once again began tearing down her little piece of community.

"Hold it." Tora Tora's cane flew up instantly, interrupting the blow from one of his members, saving the small portrait close to Rozanda's desk from certain destruction. "I kinda like this one B, leave it." An original of Gemini she had painted years before as the idea of the character came to her, two sides to a whole. Both sides wanted anarchy but the way they reached for it differed, much like Batman and the Joker locked in a forever duel but within himself. Rozanda winced at the thought of losing yet another piece of herself. It was as if they were clearing her slate, wiping away all the pieces that had come before this moment. He leaned in closer to admire the details in her work. "Good angle, don't you think?" His tone, vague and nonchalant as if spending a carefree afternoon at an art museum, not wreaking havoc in a newsroom.

"Yes sir." Agreeing outright whether he believed it or not. As one of the largest members of the Bump Squad he towered over his leader, he could have easily pounded Tora Tora into a gray mass on the carpet yet cowered at the tone of his voice.

Taking his hand, he patted his henchman's full cheek. "Ours." Instantly understanding the direction, he took the painting off the wall and tucked it beneath the dark fabric of his jacket for safe keeping.

"That's mine." Slipped out of Rozanda's mouth before she had a chance to stop it. Rogers pulled her back, but it was too late the words had been loud enough to catch Tora Tora's ears and his featureless face turned to them.

"Was..." He spoke that one word with so much force and vitriol the thin fabric obscuring his face lifted from his lips.

Rogers could feel her breath catch as she shuddered against his frame. He could do nothing but watch as their sinister theatrics played out, she had wanted protection and he could barely keep himself steady as they held each other. Inside the four small walls of her office, danger buzzed so loudly you could feel the energy rising slightly boiling at the surface, waiting just waiting to tip the sides. Outside lay the quiet aftermath of ruin, she had been right Batman would never come to save them. The only way out now was through him, or death.

"You see, that's the difference between you and I." As all villains do Tora Tora began his soliloquy, his cane's tapping muffled by the carpet with every step he took, closer and closer to Rozanda. The crashing stopped in her office as his crew turned with bated breath to watch their confrontation. You didn't dare speak against him... yet she just did. "If I want it, I take it. Everything should belong to everyone."

"But..." She stuttered trying to find the strength to speak to him. Trying hard to find his gaze, his humanity beneath the cloth... she couldn't find it. "But... I created it."

"Now you care? Yet you let the Gazette own your creativity. They own your work; did you know that?" His words left him so slickly she knew he was smiling underneath, knowing he had bested her.

"Wait... what?" Rozanda thought back to everything she had ever created for the paper, years of work. How could they own all of her printed creations? Concepts, ideas, storylines she drew and inked for their paper. Volume after volume, comic after comic of her work owned by someone else... 'Was he telling the truth... could Tora Tora even be trusted?'

Taking the edge of his cane he pressed it against her face. The metallic point cool on the roundness of her chin. He surveyed her closely as she analyzed all he had said. "Ahhh so you didn't read the fine print did you, pity?" She didn't know, she had been caught in the web of capitalism like all the others. He had thought this one would have been smarter.

Tearing her skin away from his cane she tried to look to Rogers for answers. He had been her editor for four years. He hadn't mentioned anything about her art, about her ownership. His grip loosed around her waist, as his glasses lazily began to slide down the bridge of his nose. He refused to look up to meet her gaze. At that moment she knew Tora Tora was telling the truth.

"Oh, but there's more, so much more." The deep pitch of his voice changed as the excitement drove him to speak more quickly. He took so much delight in delivering the bad news, smiling maliciously beneath his covering. She had begun to question everything she had ever known, and that's exactly where he wanted her. "They own everything... even if they don't use it... it's theirs. You have to ask them for permission to use your own work, to print anything you've ever drawn while you've been in here." His arms reached out to span the room as if it was her cage.

"What?" Rozanda's voice bounced off the walls and the Bump Squad began to chuckle at her aggression, at her final understanding of betrayal. They had come in as the offenders, now it seemed they had added another to their mix... Rogers.

"Awwwww he didn't have the balls to tell you, did he?" The brim of his hat knocked angrily against Rogers as he spoke. He tightened his eyes closed as if bracing for the impact of Tora Tora's cynical words, or possibly against the truth that those words brought with them.

Rozanda thought back to Rogers' comment as he walked in her office what seemed like hours before, "He'll never let you print these." She had thought it was a passing phrase for the paper. The sex, the violence of the comic too much for the Sunday coupon clipper crowd, Mayne would never print. Now though it had taken on a new meaning... she didn't know she wasn't the master of her own creations. Her characters, Gemini, Cherry, and all the others, her hard work, her life, belonged to one Bruce Wayne. He had never touched her work, seen her work... and yet he was the one who on a whim could destroy her... destroy him, her Gemini. Finally finding the strength within her anger her hands fell from the man she had thought would be her savior. "You knew?"

"It was a standard contract." His voice was cold as he tried to find the reasoning within his own actions. He had never said a word to her, but he knew... he knew everything.

"But you knew?" She couldn't believe he had kept this information from her, kept this understanding from her. What would a billionaire like Bruce Wayne want with anything of hers anyway.

"You signed it, Rozanda."

"I was barely 20 when I started here. I was excited to finally have a real job inking comics, create, it's all I've ever wanted to do. Of course, I signed... they own all my work... everything?" She could no longer decide who she trusted. The man she had known that suddenly had been filled with lies or the danger who had just strolled through the door, finally giving her the truth.

"Well, they did." A slight chuckle caught Tora Tora's throat and he had to work to stifle it down before it erupted into unbridled laughter. Finding some composure, he cleared his throat. "Now I do."

"You can't?" Words flew from Rozanda's lips so easily questioning him at every turn. She was surprised she wasn't dead yet, but he seemed to find amusement in her quick defiance.

"Yes, I can, your accountant was very helpful..." He tried to wipe away the blood spatter on his sleeve, instead he only brought attention to the gore as the small dots now created streaks beneath his covered palm. "Besides, who's going to stop me? You?... Him?" Tora Tora growled his voice dipping lowly reverberating against the thin fabric before making its way to their ears. "The Batman?" He taunted with the same skepticism that Rozanda once had earlier. Turning to Rogers, he dared him to make the smallest of moves the slightest sound of objection. He couldn't and Tora Tora knew it, his meek demeanor even more of an affront than the lies he kept covering for his own capitalist greed.

"Take him." Just like her work and her life around her he wasn't finished taking her belongings, destroying her things. Rogers was the last in a long line that he had plans for.

"No." Grabbing for his body again she refused to let any of Tora Tora's goons take him. Lies or not it had seemed he was all she had left and was going to hold onto him with everything she had, they couldn't have him. The familiarity of his form was the only comfort she found within the small room they occupied, and she was terrified to step just outside its door.

"Really? You wanna keep him? After everything he's done?" Rogers tried to protest the harsh words against him, his breath stuttering as it left his lips. But as Tora Tora's blank features turned to him any objection was swallowed and he leaned further into Rozanda.

"So, he's lied... we've all lied. I'm sure you have."

"I'm sorry." Rozanda felt those silent words fall on the back of her neck as Rogers mouthed them against her skin. His full lips lingering still, leaving small trails, finally he had found the strength to kiss her in the middle of all the madness.

"Maybe there's more Rozzy... more to those lies... think, you sure you still want him?"

"I'll take him." The young dark-haired girl on wheels zoomed from the other side of the room squealing manically as her hands reached for him.

"No." Rozanda barked, again swatting away her prying hands.

"Owwww." She shook the sting from her wrist and turned to Tora Tora for answers paying no mind to Rozanda's objection. "Can I keep him please? Last one was a waste and you said we could find another." The pitch in her voice driven higher and higher as she pleaded with him. Her lip began to pout begging as if she wanted a new pet to play with.

As the thought hit Rozanda her stomach bunched, and she held onto Rogers as tightly as she could behind her. She couldn't have him; they couldn't have him.

"Go!" Those single syllable words he used to communicate held so much power within them, and Roller Girl knew exactly what he wanted. Rozanda though had refused to follow his command and wouldn't let go of Rogers, scared for what might happen if she lost sight of him... scared for both of them.

"You heard him. He's mine now." She began to tug on Rogers' arm, but their grip on each other was unrelenting. Her lip upturned she looked at Rozanda, eyes narrowing with animosity she leaned in and whispered into Rogers' ear her red lips leaving faint marks on him as she spoke so closely. No matter how hard she tried, Rozanda couldn't hear their conversation behind her. Suddenly his limbs fell from her, his hands softly trailing her curves as if needing to remember them.

"Let me go." His words were cryptic in meaning asking her to do something physically and mentally she wasn't prepared for.

"But..." Leaning down she shook her head 'no' against his, trying to find the answers to the small quiet conversation that had changed everything, she searched. Lacing her fingers together tightly she still refused to let her arms fall from his thin waist.

"You asked me to protect you. Let me, okay? Let me." He spoke softly into the tiny space between their lips. Pressing 'yes' against her forehead, he met her gaze. He loved her and wanted her to see it without it ever being said, afraid it would be used against her in the end... whatever that would be. The girl on wheels said they were going to take her, and this was his chance to be taken too. No matter what the Bump Squad had planned at least they could face it together.

Closing her eyes against the final truth she saw in his, she loosened her grasp on her editor. A day before they were laughing together at a terrible joke from the meeting they had just left. They both reached for the elevator button at the same time, their hands then becoming lost within the feeling of each other and the struggle to push the down button was completely forgotten. She had thought of all those moments, all the wasted time between them, all those small instances, those fleeting touches, were him repeating over and over how he felt about her, but at the time she didn't see. Finally, she saw it now, but it was too late, everything seemed too late. Feeling the softness of a lip on hers, Rozanda's eyes fluttered open only to see Rogers body being pulled briskly through the door frame. With a start she immediately began to follow.

"Tommy, Morris!"

Suddenly a wall of a human almost knocked her to the ground stopping her exit instantly. Her face bombarded with dark wavy hair as she struggled against another form. Her arms pinned behind her; she was sat forcefully in her chair. Arms wriggling against the final two squad members trying to free herself from them. The more she flailed the tighter they grasped until she was afraid a bone would eventually break.

"Are you going to be a good girl? Or do they have to stay with you?" Through the tussling bodies she watched as Tora Tora leaned casually against her desk watching them. No matter what went on around him, his composure was so cool, so collected, as if waiting for her to decide on something he had already made the decision for. She stopped her struggle and so did they, but didn't leave the sides of the chair, a warning.

"I don't understand any of this. What do you want with me... my work?" She asked exasperated. The violence, the mind games, it was all getting too much for her to take. She seemed helpless like prey caught in a continuous loop as a predator played with its food not quite yet ready to consume. If he was going to kill her, why wouldn't he just get it over with.

"Didn't you get my letter?" His face turned to the crumpled paper on the floor. "I was a little disappointed you didn't print this one. It was the first after all."

"It was the first?" She questioned. Not quite understanding how long Rogers had her letter. He had kept it for days, afraid to show her or anyone. It had come addressed to Rozzy, somehow it had made it onto his desk. He thought if no one knew it wouldn't happen.

"Bet your boss didn't tell you that either. Always wanting to stay on top, corporate shill." Tora Tora spat.

"He's not..."

"He's not a lot of things, Rozzy."

"Why do you care? There are so many other artists out there."

" Ohhh but not like you."

"I just paint comics for a 3rd rate newspaper."

"Painted comics... for a 5th rate newspaper." He corrected her. "But we've got plans for you."

"We?" Rozanda questioned turning to look at the two men who towered above her as she sat.

"Oh yes. Clearly since you struggle to read, let me spell it out for you." In a split-second Tora Tora had jumped on her desk. The heels of his boots made slight scuffs on the wood beneath them. With a slight 'tink' of his cane the metal end hurled one of the glass inkwells against the wall behind her. "B!" He screamed watching the paint slide down the surface into the carpet just below. With the first crash Rozanda yelped her shoulders trying to shield her ears from the noise. The two sentries at her side barely shifted their gate as they watched him continue his abstract wall art. "I...G!" Letter after letter aggressively screamed at her as his cane hit each inkwell. She was certain he was trying to hit her but each one whizzed by her face so closely she could feel the air upon her cheek. "FU..." More bottles flew across the room, she was too scared to move knowing a slight breath in the wrong direction would surely knock her unconscious and the idea of her being asleep during this madness scared her more than being awake for it. She had read his message and there was one letter left. Tightly closing her eyes, she waited for the last letter and the barrage of sound as the rest of the colors made their way crashing against her wall, much like the finale at a firework display, but it never came.

"N." With the shuffling of fabric and a gentle thud Rozanda knew he was off her desk. Feeling the warmth of his body standing in front of her. He was too close, and she refused to open her eyes to be witness.

"We can have Big Fun." His deep voice caught her off guard as it softened, and her eyes opened to look at him.

"Who are you?" Something was familiar about the shape that was hidden behind the cloth covering. The dark arch of his eyebrow, the exaggerated pink of his lip as it showed through the white. It was as if she had known them before, somewhere before.

"Hmmm... thought you would have figured that out by now." Again, that soft deep voice echoed within her memory as it had seemed she played over it a thousand times. Did she know him? Had they met before?

Grabbing her face roughly beneath him he led her to stand. Her body for the first time obeyed him without challenge. His hand so close to her face she finally saw the glimpse of a violet fabric peeking from beneath the exaggerated sleeves that had been hiding the color. She knew that color by heart, had used it countless times as an ink base for her comic, for her character... 7448C, she had only ever used that shade for... no... it couldn't be. His grip softened on her chin as his gloved thumb reached out to wipe the taupe from the side of her lip. With every swipe of the purple fabric her heartbeat quickened.

"Tell me." His voice seductive and low as his finger still traced the edge of her mouth longingly. "Do you know where fantasy comes from?" Grabbing the thin scarf from his face he pulled it away to reveal the half face of a familiar clown.

Gemini... seeing him in the flesh for the first time, being plucked from her imagination into reality. She had always longed to look into his eyes, the splash of tawny amber against the brown. The green that would hide, bursting forth as he laughed which was often. Now all she could do was turn away from them. She had created him, and now he was here to torment her. Was she dreaming, going insane... possibly both. Shaking her head in disbelief nothing had made sense. He was a character, just fiction and now he stood in front of her, in corporeal form.

He let out a small chuckle as her eyes grew wide not understanding anything as it was playing out before her. The smile painted on his left side deepening as he leaned further into her watching her eyes reel through her thoughts. Trying in vain to place this instance, but she couldn't, and he couldn't either.

"How?" She whined breathlessly, unsure of her own reality anymore.

"That's what we're going to find out." Knocking off his white hat, the tendrils that had once been smoothed down sprung free. The green curls bounced against Rozanda's cheek as he reached for her. "I've missed you. Cherry."

His whisper sent a shiver down her spine as those familiar words danced delicately across her lips. Cherry, he called her Cherry. As his lips touched hers, she fell limp in his arms. Her head bobbed against his shoulder; her mouth reflected the slight scarlet curve of his lips. Twirling her unconscious frame with his as he had once done, he remembered that moment, remembered those pages. She had never looked more beautiful, she had belonged to him, and she would again.

"Grab her... and grab ALL the pages." As if waking from a dream Gemini came to and threw her body over Tommy as if discarding her. He shifted, the small thoughtful moment over as quickly as it began. There was one last disturbance in the office as the Bump Squad got what they came for, shuffling out with Rozanda and her art. Leaving Gemini to finish the job Tora Tora had begun.

Finally shedding himself of his coverings he revealed the purple suit underneath the stark trappings of basic black and white, the monotony. Straightening the bright orange of his collar underneath, his fingers smoothed out any wrinkles within the citrus that lined the fabric. Finding the thin leaf from the book of Exodus from the floor, he set it alight and watched as the sheet evaporated with the heat of the flame. As a spark remained slowly it drifted toward the ink that pooled from the mess he had created previously. Musing the word Big Fun as the one tiny piece of molten ash hit the flammable liquid, almost instantly the small room was engulfed in flames. His own maniacal laughter echoing through the plumes of smoke, before being drowned out by the screams of those around him.

A/N: Thank you so so much for reading. Gemini has always been such a big part of my Prince Experience... my Prince History. Since I was a little baby wreka_stow, Batman 89 was everything, and of course with that comes Prince. I had always wanted to write a Gemini story, but nothing ever developed, so when this idea came to me over the summer my ass was determined to finish it. Taking a nod from CoolWorld and Exodus, also let's be honest the Bump Squad sounds like the baddest villain crew. I also thought it would be interesting to compare Tora Tora and Gemini, both similar in their menacing behavior. I wonder if Prince saw those similar threads or just leaned into a piece of himself that was already there. George Clinton said Prince was a positive nuisance, and I love that so much!!

I'm still working on feeling comfortable with writing again, so if this story is a wreck, please know I'm working on it and trying to find a spot. I know our community is so small at the moment, but I still hope there is space for those of us who find our way back to writing. Hope you always find the G 2 your GO, Peace & Be Wild.