Chapter 5
Poison Ivy stopped and stared as she entered the room. She turned to leave again but the door closed in her face. "I thought you were my attorney," she said as she turned back.
"Why would you think that?" Diana asked as she leaned against the wall.
"Who else would visit me in this dump?" Ivy replied carelessly. She looked slyly at her. "So, I was wondering what took you so long. What's wrong? Is the Bat angry with you?"
"With me?"
Ivy nodded. "Going into his town, talking to his enemies, interfering with his justice. You did everything but urinate on the Bat-signal. He'll probably be extra intimidating when I see him again, just to remind me that I'm the one he should be afraid of, not you." She sat in a chair and lazily let one leg rest on the small table.
Diana chuckled. "Are you afraid of me?"
"Of course not," Ivy sneered. "I'm not afraid of him either."
"Really?" Diana asked. "Isn't that why you're fighting extradition so hard? Because you don't want the Batman to get a hold of you?"
Ivy looked away. "I'm not really in a rush to go back to Arkham."
"Sure, Striker's must be so much better," Diana said dryly. "Women don't even get their own facility in Metropolis. They have to share space with the boys. They don't even get half the island. We women always have to make do with less, don't we?"
"It's tolerable," Ivy sniffed.
"Why not? The baggy blue jumpsuits, the sloppy cuisine, and the courtyard!" Diana replied, smiling. "I've seen the soil out there. You can't grow anything but rocks outside. Not like the gardens at Arkham. I've seen photos of what the place looks like since your first commitment there."
"Why do you care?" Ivy asked irritably. "I'm sorry I said anything to Superman now. Are you happy?"
Diana sat across from her. "I don't care about that, Ivy. If you were trying to needle me, it didn't work. And I know why you're fighting extradition to Gotham. You were surprised Metropolis wasn't that keen on seeing you serve your sentence here, weren't you? They were willing to let the professionals have you. Professionals meaning the people who've gotten used to your daily crap."
Ivy growled at her. "Next time you need something from me, you can just call the cops, because I'm not interested."
"Oh, you prefer the company out there?" Diana asked. "You do know who your high-profile cellmates are in there, right? Livewire and Volcana? Two women who control electricity and fire, a.k.a. two women who can burn down a forest really fast. I'm sure you'll have a leg up on _them_."
"I don't have to listen to you!" Ivy shouted. "Just leave me alone."
"You're doing it for Harley," Diana replied, as quiet as Ivy was loud. "You took her away from Gotham, but you got caught, so now jail in Metropolis is preferable to Arkham and the Joker. He's still there, you probably now."
Ivy calmed down. "I don't know what you're talking about," she said impassively.
"Come on, Ivy, you even confessed to two robberies the police weren't looking at you for," Diana told her. "You're trying extra hard to make them want to keep you here instead of sending you back. You'd better not be thinking of killing a guard, Ivy, or I'll fly the two of you to Arkham myself."
"You wouldn't!" Ivy cried out impulsively. Her face flushed and she stood up so quickly that her chair fell down. "Get out," she hissed, facing the window.
"I'm guessing you didn't have enough time to do whatever it is you hope you're doing, so you figured enough time in a cell together would do the trick," Diana went on, almost gently. "Is it working?"
Ivy folded her arms and looked down. "No," she muttered.
Diana leaned forward. "I've read the files on her, Ivy. She appears to be a classic case of battered women's syndrome."
Ivy laughed.
"And that's funny to you?"
"No," she said. "It's just that you learn all the psychobabble in Arkham. Harley's not a battered woman. Well, in the most literal sense, yes. The Joker abuses her," she snarled. "Her problem is that she's delusional. She thinks it's his way of expressing the deep and true love she's convinced he feels for her." She looked away. "Sometimes I wonder if Harley thinks beatings are how people show they love each other. God knows she doesn't seem to respond to being treated right."
"Is that what you've been doing?" Diana asked. "Treating her right?"
She nodded. "I've tried to keep my temper when she makes mistakes, as she inevitably does. I've indulged her whims. I've spoken to her like an equal, not a sidekick. She just thinks I'm her best gal pal. Maybe I should insult her more often," she said bitterly. "That might work."
"Have you told her how you feel?"
"No."
"Why not? What if it's the only way? What are you afraid of?"
Ivy opened her mouth to answer, and then she blinked and shook her head. Then she faced Diana. "Why do you care?" she asked suspiciously. "What are you, the new prison shrink?"
"Obviously I'm interested in seeing another woman get out from under an abusive relationship with a man," Diana said, but with a hint of discomfort.
And Ivy picked up on it. "You seem more interested in my relationship with her. Why?"
Diana glared at her.
"Don't even try that look," Ivy told her, wagging a finger. "I've seen the Bat's, and his is much better." Then she grinned, as a light seemed to go on in her eyes. "Wait, let me guess. You're in the boat with me, aren't you?" she asked gleefully. "There's someone else, and you can't tell them, and so you're using me as some kind of fucking test case!"
"I am most certainly not," Diana said angrily, crossing her arms.
"Who could it be?" Ivy went on, ignoring her. "It certainly can't be a man, not the ultimate Amazon that you make yourself out to be." She paused. "No, it's too rich. You've got the hots for Hawkgirl, haven't you?" She began laughing mockingly.
Diana's fists clenched. "It's not someone in the League," she admitted through her teeth. "It's someone else."
"Mmm-hmm," Ivy said, smirking.
Something snapped inside of Diana and she flew out of her chair. She pinned Ivy against the wall, grabbing her by the jumpsuit. "Since you haven't said anything to the woman _you_ love, I don't think you should be laughing right now!" she hissed.
"Maybe a couple sexy dykes like you and I could hook up," Ivy responded with a leer. "Make our crushes jealous."
Diana's anger went from white-hot to ice-cold. She dropped Ivy and let her slide to the floor. "I forgot," she said icily. "I'm dealing with a self-absorbed lunatic. Quinn can't win either way. She'd be no better off in your bed."
That remark slapped the smile off Ivy's face, and she stared up at her. "Don't say that!" she said.
"I have nothing left to say. I've learned all I can from someone like you," Diana told her. "Obviously I went to the wrong person." She stared at Ivy. "I pity that poor, crazed girl you call a friend. I really do."
Then she left.
Poison Ivy brought her knees to her chest and burst into bitter, helpless tears.
_______________________________
Diana was still angry with herself when she got back to the Watchtower? She could ask herself what it was about Audrey that made her do such foolish things - whether it was throwing war machines into the church where Audrey's wedding was being held, or going to a homicidally insane woman for what was evidently an ill-concealed attempt to pump her for information!
It would be a rhetorical question, however, because she already knew the answer. Her decision to simply sit on her feelings, pretend they weren't there, and go on being best friend to Audrey wasn't working, because her feelings were getting stronger. Diana had always prided herself on her mind and her self-control, but she had an emotional connection to Audrey that seemed to override her sense of better judgment.
And if her feelings continued to build, how long before she was in _love_ with her?
If she was going to a convicted criminal for advice, that was a sign of desperation. If she could go to anyone right now, it would be her mother. Hippolyta would understand in the way that only a parent could, and even though the Amazon queen was heterosexual, most of her subjects were not. Diana wasn't really sure how her fellow Leaguers would react to that.
Still, if Themiscyra remained out of the question, she had to tell someone in the League what was going on, even though part of her wanted this to go on being hers only.
"Hawkgirl?" she asked, going to the room on the Watchtower where the Thanagarian kept some of her things. Flash had told Diana she was somewhere on the station.
"Hey, Diana," Hawkgirl replied, looking up from the book she was reading. "How are you?"
"Fine," Diana said awkwardly.
There was a moment of silence where Diana had no idea how to start.
"Actually," Hawkgirl said before she could begin, "I'm glad you stopped by. There's something I've been meaning to talk to you about. I realize we're not exactly bosom buddies, but this isn't something I can talk about with the boys."
Diana stared dumbly at her. Why couldn't she have said that? More importantly, why couldn't she have said that _first_? "What is it?" she could only ask.
Hawkgirl sighed. "It's John," she said, exasperated.
"Green Lantern?" Diana asked, surprised. "What has he done?"
"It's not what he's done, it's what he hasn't done," Hawkgirl replied. "You see . . ." She blushed a little. "I'd like he and I to be a little more than just friends."
"Really?" Diana said. "You mean like - the others?"
Hawkgirl's head snapped up. "Don't you even dare compare me to that other one!" she snapped.
"Sorry, sorry," Diana replied, holding her hands up.
As she'd told Audrey, their alternate selves were being held in custody. What she hadn't told the princess was that the Justice Lords were being held on the Watchtower. At this point, the League didn't dare keep them at any human penitentiary. Again, it was a question of secrets, not any danger of them escaping, not without their powers.
Whatever the reason, the entire League except for Batman and the Flash had their twins in cells scattered around the Watchtower. They weren't even being kept near each other, so they couldn't communicate. It was a disturbing thought, which was why Diana tried not to think about it. Her own dark heart was a few floors below.
The lone exception to the rule about separating the Lords was Green Lantern and Hawkgirl. Apparently in their world the two were lovers, practically man and wife. The League had decided to allow them to share a cell, albeit one with tighter security that was at the furthest spot in the Watchtower from the others.
Neither Hawkgirl nor John had spoken about their alternates' relationship before now.
"Although that's not helping," Hawkgirl added morosely.
"What?"
"Diana, I've done everything but draw John a road map!" Hawkgirl told her. "That time when we were fighting Despero, and there was that moment when my face was two inches from his, and I practically lasered my thoughts into his corneas! And he's so clueless, he doesn't say a thing. I thought, when we found out about the others, maybe then he would see how they were together and the light would go on. Instead, I think they scared him off! He's so determined not to be the _other_ Lantern that he won't look at me."
Diana felt like a total fraud to be saying this. "Why can't you just tell him flat out how you feel?"
Hawkgirl grimaced. "If he says no, I can't exactly slug him with my mace and make him say yes, can I? I mean, courage in the face of the enemy is one thing. Something personal like this, I'm finding that's a completely new and different experience. And frankly," she said quietly, "it's a little terrifying."
"I know what you mean," Diana replied. Hawkgirl, wrapped up in her own thoughts, failed to notice.
"What if he says no?" Hawkgirl repeated. "Will that change our relationship? Will we be able to continue being in the League together? Diana, I don't dare making the first move, but if I have to wait much longer, I think I'm going to go crazy!"
Diana sighed and put her hand on Hawkgirl's shoulder. "I wish I could answer your question. Believe me, I do," she said heavily. "But this is such a personal matter for you. What you and I would do might be completely different."
"I know," Hawkgirl said. "I just needed to talk to someone about it. I'm the only member of my race on the whole planet, and well, the League is the closest thing I have to a family right now."
It made Diana's skin tingle hearing the things the winged woman was saying. So much of it - other than the part about Green Lantern - was just like the things she would have said. In some ways, Hawkgirl's predicament was even worse. At least Diana knew where her home was. At least the person she wanted wasn't in the League with her.
"One thing you don't know, though," Diana suddenly remembered. "When we rescued you from Arkham Asylum in the other Gotham."
"I was unconscious basically the whole time," Hawkgirl said. "John told me about it. It sounded awful."
"Did he tell you he was the one who went into the room where you were being kept?" Diana asked. "And that he was the one who carried you out?"
Hawkgirl stared at her. "No," she replied softly. "He didn't."
"Maybe," Diana suggested gently, "he's not as clueless as you think? And he's as fearful as you are? Because he was the first one in that room."
"Nobody told me," Hawkgirl said to herself, looking away. Then she looked up at Diana and took her hand. "Thank you," she whispered.
"No problem," Diana told her, smiling.
Except now she couldn't tell Hawkgirl about her problems. Maybe J'onn might be able to help. He was usually the most sensitive and thoughtful of their number. Still, he wasn't even from Earth. It didn't make him any less human than the rest of them, though.
She wished she had her mother right now. Even one of the Amazons she trained with would understand.
Then Diana blinked. There was one other person, and she was on the Watchtower.
It was crazy and stupid and desperate. And it was all Audrey's fault.
_____________________________
"It's not the most spacious arrangements, is it?"
Sweating profusely, Wonder Woman sat up. "Well, if it isn't the watered-down version," she said contemptuously.
Diana folded her arms and stared calmly at her alternate self. "Sit-ups?" she asked.
"I've got to keep this body in shape until I get my powers back. Which I will," Wonder Woman replied angrily. "Besides, there's not a whole lot else to do in here, is there?"
"Don't expect me to feel guilty," Diana retorted. "You were going to let us all rot in the Batcave, remember?"
"You weren't going to be there forever," Wonder Woman said, annoyed. "We would have let you out as soon as we were convinced that you saw the virtues of our way. You weren't the enemy. You were just weak."
"You're the weak ones," Diana responded. "When Superman yielded to temptation and abandoned his principles, you should have stood up to him. And if he didn't back down, you should have taken him down. Instead you took the easy road, tossed your own principles in the same dustbin, and set up your own little world oligarchy." Her face hardened. "I look at you and I wonder how I could fall so hard and so fast."
Wonder Woman glared at her. "Principles? You chose Lex Luthor over us and you still say you have _principles_?"
"You lied to us and imprisoned us," Diana said. "Frankly, at least with Luthor we know where we stand. He's not much of a threat any longer. He'll make his useless foray into politics . . ."
"That's what we thought at first," Wonder Woman interrupted, laughing harshly. "But you have too much respect for the mob rule and bleating idiocy of man - and woman."
Diana just looked at her. "I don't know why I even bothered," she said. "You had Despero in your world, right?"
"Why?" Wonder Woman asked sulkily.
"Because that's what you became. It wasn't enough that you made liberty a dirty word in your universe. Your dedication to your perverted justice was almost religious in its fervor. How many more worlds were you planning on taking your crusade to? Two? Three? Ten? As many as you could?" Diana shook her head. "You got the Lord part right, but you forgot what justice meant."
Wonder Woman turned away and began doing push-ups.
Diana wanted to leave, but she'd come to talk about something completely different, and she'd allowed her other self to turn the conversation. "Were you banished too?" she asked quietly.
The other brunette stopped her exercises. She crouched in a kneeling position and looked at Diana. "You too?" she asked in a calmer tone. "You brought men to Themiscyra?"
"Until recently, I don't think you and I were that different," Diana said. "It's what either of us would have done."
Wonder Woman sighed. "I'll admit, I thought about going there. I thought maybe in this world - but I guess it's a good thing I never had the chance." Her eyes narrowed. "Are you just trying to hurt me now?"
"No," Diana answered, almost losing her temper again, but she managed to keep it in check. "I just - you're the only Amazon I can talk to now."
"I don't see us becoming blood sisters," Wonder Woman told her pointedly.
Diana nodded. "You know we put Hawkgirl and Green Lantern in a cell together?"
Wonder Woman shrugged. "J'onn told me. Your J'onn, that is." The Martian had taken it upon himself to bring the Lords their meals, even though Batman or the Flash wouldn't have had to see themselves locked away every day.
"How did they get together?"
"Why do you care?"
"Hawkgirl asked me, but she doesn't want to speak to her twin," Diana said in a half-truth.
"It was Flash," Wonder Woman finally told her. "He was always closest to them. When he died, they turned to each other for comfort. Apparently they'd been interested in each other for a while, but his death broke the ice between them. Why?"
"Did you leave anybody behind like that?" Diana asked.
Wonder Woman smirked. "Oh. Of course. This is about you. No, I didn't. I've never loved anyone. I stopped having time. Actually, I'd resigned myself to being alone." She had a nasty look in her eyes. "Maybe you should do the same."
"If you were alone," Diana said quietly, disheartened by her alternate's capacity for malice, "maybe it was because you killed the one meant for you."
"What?"
"Do you remember Vandal Savage?"
Wonder Woman stared at her. "You're not serious. You and _Savage_?"
"No!" Diana replied, revolted by the very idea. "Are you joking? No, I mean do you remember what he did to Kasnia?"
"More like what he did with it," Wonder Woman said. "Turned it into his own fiefdom and it wasn't enough. We put him down, though."
"Do you remember the woman he married?" Diana asked softly.
"Not really," Wonder Woman replied, shrugging. "Some silly, shallow princess."
"She's not silly, and she's not shallow," Diana said coldly. "If you'd done things a little differently, maybe stopped taking yourself so seriously for one night, things might have been different for you. Instead you just let her die with Savage. You never even knew what you lost. And now you really will be alone forever."
Wonder Woman looked back at her uneasily. "You like this girl?" she asked.
"I - I think I might love her," Diana whispered. "Although I didn't realize how much I cherish her until I spoke to you. If I'm not going to become you, I have to avoid making your wrong decisions. Including deciding you would always be alone."
The other Wonder Woman said nothing.
"Thank you," Diana told her. "I've been worrying about what could go wrong if I tell her, and now I see what could go wrong if I don't." She turned to leave.
"Wait!"
Diana looked down and saw Wonder Woman grabbing onto her wrist. She barely felt it, her alternate's strength was so little, and she could have easily broken free. "What?" she asked.
"Maybe," Wonder Woman said, albeit reluctantly enough that her face twisted, "you could come back some time. I don't know how long you've been separated from home, but it's been a long, long time for me."
She would have been perfectly willing to give up on her darker self before, but Diana was unable to resist such a naked plea. "All right," she said. "I'll come again."
Wonder Woman's hand fell away, and Diana left. She did have another dinner in Kasnia tonight, after all, and more than ever, she needed to get ready.
To be continued . . .
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