Story: Dragons, Demons, and Other Wonders of the Heart (chapter 17)

Authors: Allaine

Back to chapter list

Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Before stepping back into the room where J'onn and . . .

Talia. He still couldn't comprehend it. It was obvious why she was here. He just couldn't believe her actual presence. Of all the surprises this night could have held in store for him, seeing Ra's al-Ghul's daughter walk into the room on the Martian Manhunter's arm ranked near the top.

For that reason, he needed an extra moment to calm himself in the corridor into which he'd withdrawn before contacting Flash. He also spent that moment marshaling his arguments. While he had no intention of thanking J'onn for the Martian's gross interference in his personal life, Batman felt a reluctant gratitude to J'onn. He'd done it because he knew how much Talia's presence bothered him. How could he not know? Batman had unburdened himself more than once on the subject.

Oddly, he owed J'onn. J'onn had tried to "liberate" Bruce Wayne from Talia's affections. He owed it to the gentle superhero to free him now from her schemes.

Batman was prepared to look into her eyes when he re-entered. What he wasn't prepared for was not seeing her at all. He stood in the doorway for a moment. "Where is she?"

"She left," J'onn said. "I will find her when we're finished here. You don't know how your presence upsets her."

Batman headed for the only possible doorway Talia could have exited through without him seeing her, but J'onn moved to intercept him.

"Move, J'onn. She's too dangerous to be allowed to walk about the Watchtower freely."

"She won't take anything."

"You can't be serious."

"If anybody has allowed DEMON to compromise the Justice League's security, Batman, it is you."

"Excuse me?!"

"Talia informed me some time ago that she entered the Batcave and discovered your communicator lying around. Her father used what she had learned to gain access to our frequency."

Batman scowled. "Despite what she may have told you, J'onn, I wouldn't leave my communicator 'lying around' the Batcave, as you put it. So if she found it during one of her sneak visits, it was because she was searching for it. Or something equally hidden."

"Be that as it may," J'onn persisted, "I altered our transmission frequency because of what she told me. She willingly deprived her father of his window into our communications. I highly doubt she'd do anything now."

"Unless Ra's expects her to make up for her earlier 'generosity'," Batman replied. "She should NOT be left alone."

"Neither should a convicted thief, but that didn't stop you from allowing Catwoman to stroll out of here unaccompanied."

The Dark Knight glared at J'onn. "That's different."

"How?"

"I trust Selina."

"And I trust Talia. So no, I don't see a difference."

"Even IF Selina stole something - which she doesn't intend do," Batman said stubbornly, "I don't think she'd use it to try to conquer the world, J'onn." The admission from the Martian that he "trusted" Talia dismayed him.

"Why are we debating this matter?" J'onn asked. "We both know this isn't about JL security. It's about you and Talia. You think her being here has something to do with you."

"I know it does. J'onn, she's been trying to seduce me for years. What her plans lack in inventiveness, they make up for in desperation. This is merely her fulfillment of a promise you attempted to keep for me - I did not visit her hotel room, so therefore I must deal with her continued attempts to win me. This plan to make me jealous is like something a high school freshman would come up with."

J'onn sighed. "There's more about that night in Gotham you do not know about, Batman. If you did, you would know how impossible that is."

Batman paused. "I thought you said you didn't sleep together."

"That's not what I'm referring to." J'onn hesitated. "Before I left her rooms, I 'showed' her how you think of her."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"That night I telepathically 'borrowed' memories from your mind regarding the evolution of your feelings for Talia," he said awkwardly. "Then I mentally sent them into her brain. Now when she thinks of you, she sees how her actions, her mistakes, killed whatever feelings you once had for her."

" . . . You went rooting around in my head and photocopied my memories?" Batman asked, his anger rising.

J'onn looked embarrassed. "There are many things I did that night which I am not proud of, Batman. I can only say that I thought I was acting in your best interests."

"Well, I'm acting in yours, J'onn," Batman replied coldly. "Take her home, and never speak to her again. She doesn't want you."

"Because she wants you, of course," J'onn said, irritated.

"I've dealt with her for years, J'onn. It's always been about wanting me. The al-Ghuls aren't big on change. The worst thing you could do is fall for her, J'onn. I made the mistake of doing so, and she betrayed me. But you, she's just using you. That betrayal is even worse than mine."

"Is the idea that she's interested in me for me so unthinkable?"

Batman bit back a response. J'onn was making this about him when in reality . . .

It's about you? J'onn hasn't called you a hypocrite yet, but he might as well have.

He didn't know why he'd chosen that moment to hear the internal voice of Selina, but he ignored her. She didn't even like Talia.

Then how about this, stud? You told Diana she was driving them closer together by being overbearing, and now you think you'll have more success in the role of the domineering father? At the rate you're going, in five minutes he'll be proposing to her just to spite you.

"Shush," he thought. Even when she wasn't in the room, the woman was infuriating!

Batman straightened and pulled his cape about so that it covered his whole body below the neck. "What does her mind tell you?"

"If you're asking whether I've read her mind, I haven't."

"You've invaded her mind's privacy once before."

"I think the word 'invasion' is a very good reason why I haven't done it again, wouldn't you say?"

Batman shook his head. "You're walking into this blind, J'onn. I'm trying to make you see what you obviously refuse to."

"I appreciate that you're doing this for my sake, Batman. I would only ask that you remember - what I did in Gotham, I did for your sake. Perhaps you, as I did, are acting with pure motives, with poor judgment," J'onn answered.

"Considering the pain she's caused me, I can't stand by idly and watch you pursue this course of action."

"And what will you do about it?"

As infuriating as it was, the Catwoman voice in his head was right. He was only making J'onn defend Talia harder.

"Nothing," Batman said, turning away. He looked over his shoulder. "But I'll be watching."

Then he stormed out.

Insightful as her "voice" had been once already, Batman suspected the real thing would be of greater help.
"Are you sad because the party is ending?"

Audrey looked up, surprised. "Raven," she said, smiling at the woman who had teleported her to safety after Audrey was kidnapped by Aresia. "What ever are you talking about? The night is still young. Why would I be sad?"

"Since the arrival of this Talia person," Raven replied solemnly, "the tension has not left the room. I do not think the guests will be remaining for long. And you are sitting here by yourself, while Diana talks on the other side of the room with Superman."

"Is that where she went?" Audrey murmured.

Raven sat next to her. "I don't know if you remember this, but I can sense other's emotions. I can feel you are troubled. What I can't tell is why. I can only guess."

Audrey nodded. "It's not the party," she said. "Oh granted, I'm sorry the mood changed. I had hoped the remaining hours would be like the first one. Diana looks so beautiful tonight," she added wistfully. "It was so nice to have her on my arm, everyone looking at us."

"Then what is it?"

"It's Diana," Audrey said, sighing. "I don't want to make an issue of it tonight, though. Not when I'm returning to Kasnia tomorrow night."

Raven looked across the room at Wonder Woman, who was engaged in an animated discussion with Superman. It didn't appear to be idle conversation, either. "You looked so happy with her before."

"I was," Audrey said. "It's just - I hate seeing her so angry. It scared me. It scared me to see who she becomes when she feels we're threatened."

"I would think it is a good thing that she defends your relationship so," Raven replied.

"Not if she's threatening to decapitate some woman who might reveal our secret," Audrey answered. "I worry what she might do because of me. And she's so warlike, I doubt I can do anything about it. Her membership in the League just sharpens her aggressive tendencies . . ." Her voice trailed off, and she looked down into her lap.

Raven pushed her sari back farther from her forehead and lowered her eyes so she could see Audrey's face. "What?"

Audrey chuckled. "I always liked to imagine that if only I wasn't a princess, Diana and I could have something like a normal relationship. Now I wonder if this is so. Perhaps Diana will never be able to stop fighting. I wonder - how many years will I be able to take being in love with a member of the Justice League?"

"You should not speak like that," Raven said quietly. "At the very least, not when you're surrounded by other women involved with League members."

The princess' eyes widened, and then she laughed. "I wasn't aware you had such a sense of humor."

Raven blinked. "Was that funny?"

"Yes, it was."

"I see. I didn't mean to be."

Audrey shrugged. "It made me smile, at least. I shouldn't be so gloomy. After all, tomorrow is Valentine's Day. I should enjoy our last hours together."

The guests parted briefly and Diana emerged. "I was wondering where you'd gone off to," she said to Audrey.

"We were talking," Raven replied.

"Raven. Sorry about the drama earlier."

"Yes, we all are," Audrey said, rising. "I trust there will be no repeat of that?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

Diana smiled and bowed her head. "As you wish, your highness."

Audrey took her hand, then glanced back at Raven. "We should talk again sometime."

Raven nodded. The love was there now, but the sadness was only buried, not eliminated. "I agree," she said.
"There are three possibilities," Batman growled as he sat at the Watchtower computers.

Selina sighed. She'd waited long enough during the party for the antisocial, loner Batman to crumble, allowing the real Bruce to come out. And then the Demon's Darling arrived, triggering the emergence of the paranoid, obsessive, anal-retentive Batman. Who would probably be in control for the rest of the night. "Three possibilities," she prompted.

"One," Batman said, "and most likely - Talia is trying to make me jealous."

"Which of course, you're not," Selina replied dryly. "I can see that by how calm you are."

"This isn't jealousy. This is tightly controlled anger, provoked by the idea that a fellow Leaguer, especially one such as J'onn, is being used as a pawn in Talia's twisted fantasy," he said.

In her limited experience, J'onn was a good man, and Selina acknowledged that he didn't need to be mixed up with Talia's plotting.

"Also the best-case scenario," Batman added. "When she sees it's not working - "

"Considering her history of denial, that could take a while."

"She'll end the relationship, and J'onn will learn not to trust someone like her," Batman continued as if she hadn't spoken.

Selina tapped her claws on a panel. "What's the worst-case scenario then?"

"The second possibility," Batman went on.

She sighed again. He was going to list these in order, no matter what. Control freak.

"Is that Ra's has decided Talia has betrayed him one too many times, and she's been told to redirect her efforts toward another member of the Justice League," Batman said. "Removing her emotional attachment to the League while still keeping an eye on its activities."

"Talia doesn't strike me as the kind of person who'll stop 'loving' you because her father says so," Selina pointed out. "And I thought Ra's wanted an heir. I doubt he'll accept a green baby."

"It's unlikely," Batman agreed, "but better than the alternative."

"Which is?"

He frowned. "Talia has real feelings for J'onn."

Selina paused. "Talia's in love with him instead of you, and this is bad?"

"If there's one thing I know," Batman said quietly, "being the object of Talia's affections is not the easiest role to play. Especially if he feels the same way. Every time she betrays him to serve her father, it will hurt a little more."

"I thought you never loved her," Selina said.

"I didn't," he confirmed. "But I did have feelings for her, and a series of betrayals ruthlessly stamped them out." He didn't look at Selina. "I assumed I'd never trust a woman again, until you surprised me last year."

Selina was startled. When he was in this Bat-mode, honest emotional expression wasn't indulged in. This was an unexpected evolution. "What are you going to do about it?" she finally thought to ask.

"J'onn is obviously a dead end," Batman said. "I need to find out what Talia is planning, and I have to do something about it. Which means I'll have to do what Talia wanted me to do all along," he grunted. "Meet with her one-on-one."

"I can help," Selina suggested.

"What?" he asked, looking at her.

She pantomimed scratching someone in the air.

"Thanks, kitten, but that won't be necessary." He smiled grimly. "I can scratch pretty well myself."

"We can find out on Valentine's Day," she purred.
"So this is the world my father wishes to purge," Talia murmured as she looked into space at the blue sphere beneath them.

"I'm sorry about all this," J'onn said behind her.

"Don't be," she replied. "I'm the one who managed to kill the party, after all."

"I'm sure everyone is still below."

"So you're saying I should go back?"

J'onn hesitated.

"No, I didn't think so," she said bitterly.

"This doesn't change anything between us," he told her.

"I'm glad," Talia admitted, "but this did, as you suspected, complicate things, didn't it?"

"Yes," he said. "It did."

She nodded. "I apologize for leaving the room. Seeing Bruce so angered, it dredged up all the memories you planted in my brain. The forcible reminder of how much he despises me - it seems to make me nauseous just to be in the room with him." Talia chuckled humorlessly. "I'm sure he would feel better if I told him that."

"I never anticipated such a result," he said. "Sometimes I wish I never came to your room that first night."

"Oh, so do I," she agreed. "Being shown that your life is an illusion can be very painful. But," she added, "in the long run it's better than continuing to live an illusion."

"We can go back," J'onn insisted. "They have no reason to - "

Talia put a hand to his lips. "Let's just go back, all right? I'm not welcome here, and if I go back, it will only reinforce their impression of me. I think there are some truths which I prefer not to face, even if they are true."

J'onn reached up and took her hand from his face. He didn't let go, however, as he turned away and led her with him.

As they reached the teleportation pod, a rush of air alerted them to a sudden new arrival. "Flash?" J'onn asked.

"Hey," Flash said breathlessly. "Did you have to tell him?"

"Tell - oh, that. Sorry."

"He just came back in," Flash explained. "Nearly scared me out of my uniform. I thought I'd take a stroll."

"I thought strolling was too slow for you," Talia murmured.

He looked at her with slightly hostile eyes. "Thanks for crashing the party," he muttered.

Talia looked away while J'onn put a hand on Flash's shoulder. "If you had never come to me that night with your insane plan, she would not be here tonight," J'onn reminded him. "I have come to terms with it. So should you."

Flash's shoulders sagged. "Guess I'd better face the music," he sighed. "Wait, are you leaving?"

"I think it's best," Talia told him.

"Probably," he said bluntly. "Look, you two are a couple?"

J'onn paused for a moment before nodding. "I believe so."

"Well, don't hurt him, okay?" Flash asked Talia.

She reddened. "I won't," she said.

"Good. I'm going to go have another drink. The last couple are starting to wear off," he complained. Then he vanished.

"High metabolism," J'onn said.

"Oh. Pity for him."

To be continued . . .

Back to chapter list