Chapter 19
Diana beamed as the skyline of Metropolis was finally sighted in the distance. She almost fancied she could make out her destination, the globe that crowned the Daily Planet.
She was bursting with the best kind of news, the kind that made her ruined plans for Audrey on this day of Eros seem like the most negligible, unimportant kind of disappointment. She needed to tell someone about it right now, and the closest alternative was a certain "Boy Scout", truly the best of his gender.
If she really had Athena's wisdom, Diana would never have left Washington. She would still be there, further establishing her new identity as "Diana Castle". Mentally she chastised herself for acting with the impulsiveness of Shayera.
But it was such good news.
As she buzzed the warehouses on the south side of Metropolis, however, Diana spotted an apartment building that was nearly consumed by flames. It was a derelict part of town, but she reasoned that there might be people inside, certainly some of the more unfortunate people forced to take refuge in such places.
Besides, Superman might appear, and that would be easier than trying to locate Clark Kent at the Planet.
Diana smashed her way through a second-story window and held up one arm. She coughed a little because of the smoke. She flew quickly through the upper floors without hearing or seeing anything before descending to the bottom level.
There her persistence was rewarded as she heard hacking sounds coming from one common area. There were only a few flames licking at the walls, but the air was thick with dense black smoke, and Diana could barely make out the silhouette of a woman at the center. Drawing a deep breath, Wonder Woman flew into the smoke, swept the woman over her shoulder, and hurried outside.
"You're going to be all right," Diana said, giving the woman the barest of cursory glances before turning back toward the building. "Are there others inside?"
Then Diana cried out as the brunt of something large and quite cold struck her powerfully from behind. She was knocked to her hands and knees, and when she shook her head to clear her senses, she discovered she was rapidly becoming immobilized. By, ironically, ice.
"That should do for now," the other woman said between raw coughs as she lowered her hands, having pinned Wonder Woman in a kneeling position with thick layers of ice. "Thanks for the save, Wondy."
"Killer Frost," Diana growled. A small part of her mind recalled that one of Killer Frost's abilities was the power to absorb heat energy. Detachedly she noted that was why the room Frost had been in was filled with smoke but not fire. "New look, I see."
Frost grinned. "Ice Goth wasn't really doing it for me. Decided to go traditional for a while." She gestured downward. "Like it?"
"Very ice queen. It suits you," Diana retorted. Now she looked like she was practically made of ice, which was fitting for a heartless woman whose history suggested she enjoyed killing. I'll be free in ten seconds, you realize."
"Good thing it'll only take me two to slit your throat," Frost replied, making a sharp icicle appear between her hands. She pointed it at Diana's forehead before she cast an uneasy glance over her shoulder. "Two seconds I don't have, though. Not in Metropolis."
Without another word Killer Frost turned and used her powers to create a sheet of ice under her feet. Extending the sheet at an angle, she used it to quickly gain altitude and disappear from sight.
A moment later, Diana screamed as she smashed out of her ice prison. She rubbed her arms and prepared to take off in the direction Killer Frost had fled.
Before she could, however, a familiar whooshing sound halted her. "About time you showed up," Diana said.
"Just got the call," Superman replied as he stared at the burning building, then the chunks of ice. "I'm guessing you had a strange encounter."
"I saved a woman from that fire, and she turned out to be Killer Frost," Diana informed him.
He nodded. "It's never easy saving them. They're usually a handful, and almost never grateful." He glanced at the building. "Was anyone else inside?"
"No," she said. "Nobody that I saw, anyway."
"So what happened to Frost?"
"She ran." Diana frowned. "She could have killed me, but she didn't. I'd like to think it was a show of gratitude, but that's a little out of character for her."
"Maybe she knew I was coming," he said absently.
"How would she know that?" Diana asked, mystified.
"Hm? Oh, this is Metropolis, after all. She - probably knew I would arrive sooner or later."
"Mm-hm," Diana said noncommittally. Clark was obviously distracted, and she couldn't understand why. Plus her fingers twitched toward the lariat she wore - an instinctive response when she sensed people weren't being completely honest. But why would he keep something from her?
He finally seemed to realize who he was talking to. "What are you doing in Metropolis?" Superman asked, curious. "Shouldn't you be with Audrey for the holiday?"
Her smile returned at last. "Let's go someplace more private," she said. "I've got a scoop for an enterprising reporter. Know any?"
Superman chuckled. "Several, in fact." He rose into the air, and she followed him. They landed atop a building a short distance away as fire engines finally arrived. "What's so important you had to leave Audrey?"
"I have it on good authority that Kasnia's current ambassador to the United States is being promoted to the position of prime minister."
"I - see," Superman said, clearly bewildered as to why this was important.
"And," she added idly, "Princess Audrey is being named as his replacement."
It took a moment for him to smile again as he realized what this meant for them. "Diana, that's great. Why aren't you celebrating with her?"
She sighed. "She'll be busy for a few days while she learns her duties, so my day is suddenly open. I thought I'd just, you know, share the news with someone. You seemed like the best candidate."
"Thanks," Superman said, appreciating the compliment. "What are you going to do now?"
"Probably spend the day as Diana Castle," she said. "It's time she stops being a recluse and starts being a hard-working member of the community."
"It doesn't bother you that this community is a part of Man's World?"
"Audrey is a part of Man's World," she said. "Which means so am I."
"I'd better go," he told her. "I'll take a quick look around, see if I can find Frost. You get your new life running."
"I will," she promised. "Thanks, Superman."
As she flew away, she looked over her shoulder and saw Superman just standing there, looking at nothing in particular. He opened one hand and looked at something he'd kept in his fist, then rolled it into a ball and dropped it over the side. Diana hurriedly looked forward again so he wouldn't think she noticed. She flew straight ahead until she passed behind a building, then stopped.
When she was satisfied that he had gone, Diana returned to where he'd discarded the object and searched the ground below. She quickly discovered a small note. All it said was an address, and the letter "C" written with a feminine hand, obviously intended as a signature.
Intuitively she went back to the scene of the fire. When she investigated without drawing anyone's attention, she found that the address on the paper was the address of the burning building.
Superman hadn't come because of the fire. He'd come because he was meeting someone there, a woman with the initial "C". Obviously it wasn't Killer Frost, whose initials Diana remembered were "L.L.".
Which, of course, made her think of Lois.
Why was Superman meeting a woman alone in this part of town, and keeping it a secret from a fellow League member?
And what did Frost have to do with it?
Troubled, Diana left Metropolis as quickly as she'd found it. She knew she'd rue her impulsiveness.
Behind her, a lithe figure in the shadows glared in Diana's direction before disappearing.
During their intergalactic travels together, as well as their time on Earth, Koriand'r had heard many people suggest that she and Raven were near-total opposites. While Koriand'r felt these people focused on superficial differences, there was some truth to the remark.
One way in which they were quite different - Koriand'r was gregarious, and Raven definitely was not.
So Koriand'r sat in Mercy's kitchen drinking her coffee (another difference - Raven vastly preferred tea, while coffee reminded Koriand'r of her home), bursting to tell Raven about what happened the night before with Mercy, but refusing to until Raven told her how her evening with Flash went.
Raven, of course, just sat quietly and sipped at her herbal tea.
"Well?" Koriand'r finally asked.
"What?"
"You know what," Koriand'r grumbled. "I'm sure you can sense how I'm feeling too."
Raven sighed. "He was a gentleman," she finally said.
"And?"
"And what? They were all very polite. Especially compared to the way they treated the Martian Manhunter's guest. Batman and Wonder Woman became quite upset. And Audrey - she was there too, you know - she becomes upset when Diana is upset. So things became very tense and it gave me a headache. Fortunately it went away."
Koriand'r waited for her to continue, but the only thing more Raven said was, "You wanted to tell me something?"
The Tamaranean sighed. "Mercy told me something last night."
"Oh?"
"She - said that she hired Luminus to fake an attempt on her life. So that I would agree to work with her."
Raven set the mug down loudly. Koriand'r jumped in her seat - that was as loud as Raven got.
"The incident in the car," Raven said icily. "That was staged."
Koriand'r nodded.
"What about the second time? Was she - responsible for that as well?"
She realized that Raven was on the verge of being extremely angry with Mercy. "Extremely angry" was usually not in her vocabulary. "No," Koriand'r said, thankful she didn't have to attempt to hide a lie from the empath. "That was Luthor."
"Still, this friend lied to you. Put you in harm's way."
"You don't seem very surprised. Angry, but not surprised."
"I knew she was hiding something," Raven said. "I just wasn't sure what. What did you do to her?"
"Nothing," Koriand'r said. "Well, not exactly. I almost . . . slept with her."
Raven stared. "What?"
"Well, we became drunk, and it seems we became somewhat aroused." Koriand'r adjusted her robe, revealing the hickey on her shoulder.
The normally pale Raven flushed. "Oh," she said. Her growing anger suddenly vanished, leaving her more subdued than usual. "Then you have forgiven her. You have taken her for a lover."
"No! Well, yes and no. Yes, I forgave her. No, we're not lovers. Neither of us are exactly sure about the latter part."
"You cannot ask me to like this woman," Raven muttered. "Not after what she did to you."
"I'd be willing to settle for you not frightening her half to death," Koriand'r said. "She's evidently afraid of you. What did you do to her?"
"Nothing," Raven said, omitting to tell Koriand'r what Mercy Graves had seen her do.
Koriand'r looked doubtful, but Raven was a poor liar and she didn't appear to be lying now. "Well, the least you can do is help me think of a way to take care of Luthor."
Raven nodded. Her dislike for Mercy aside, it was Luthor whose hired killer nearly ended Koriand'r's life. "He must pay for what he did to you."
"That's not even what I was thinking of, truthfully," Koriand'r admitted. "I was thinking more of a way to break the hold he has on Mercy. She can't expose his attempt on her life because of her role in the staged murder attempt. And even with Luminus in a coma, she's afraid to refuse his demands now . . . because of what happened to me."
"You believe she's afraid for your safety, not hers?" Raven asked dubiously.
"I'm sure she's afraid for her safety too!" Koriand'r said. "But thanks to her guilt, she's not ready to let me get in the line of fire again."
"She seems to care about you," Raven said, pointedly looking away from the mark on her neck.
Koriand'r nodded.
Raven frowned. "So if Mercy can't expose Luthor because of what he knows about her, then we must put HIM in the same position."
"But how?"
"There are ways," Raven said darkly.
Selina walked past the salon advertising fifty percent off a professional dye job and chuckled. Within a few weeks of dyeing her hair blonde years ago, she was arrested, taken into custody, and convicted. It never should have gotten that far, and she was inclined to blame it all on a hairstyle that hadn't really worked for her anyway. Why had she waited so long to change back, anyway?
She sighed. She'd never said her personal life was as successful as her professional one.
But then, she'd never said she was normal either. What normal person celebrated St. Valentine's Day by slipping into a tight purple leather catsuit and swinging around Gotham with a man dressed as a bat.
. . . Okay, there were probably some very kinky people out there who would something like that on this special day. But Selina Kyle didn't roleplay. She was Catwoman.
Right now, though, she was still Selina, and there were hours yet before sunset. Hence the shopping bag in her hand with new shoes. She would have preferred it if Bruce had joined her, but she understood that he was still distracted by last night.
"You'd think the Watchtower was the one place Bruce would be safe from the bimbos who still flirted with him at parties, but no, the Martian Manhunter brings the biggest airhead of them all," she thought, annoyed.
Before she could think anything else, the crowd parted before her, almost as if by magic. And Bruce was standing there, waiting for her.
Selina stopped in her tracks and stared at him, shocked. What the - ?
A greater surprise was what Bruce did next. He turned and walked away.
"Okay," she said slowly. "What Hollywood script have I suddenly started living?"
Confused, she pushed past pedestrians and followed after him. Every time she thought she'd lost him, she caught a glimpse of him and pursued. If he thought this chase was supposed to be romantic, then obviously he was still learning about social interaction. Besides, she was used to him chasing her. While she was wearing something other than pumps.
The pursuit eventually led her to the closest thing upscale Gotham had to a "dark alley". Selina stalked down the alley carefully, imagining herself in purple. She was growing increasingly doubtful that she had followed the real Bruce Wayne here. In Gotham the most likely candidate for impersonating others was Clayface, with whom she'd had little contact. But there were certainly others. "Just so you know, whoever you are" she called out, "whatever plans you have, you might as well forget about them. Because after I finish you off, I'm getting myself a foot massage. And I swear, if it's you, Hagen, trust me. I can figure out how to hurt you."
"It's not a trap."
She tried never to show surprise, but she wasn't ready for someone rising from the earth in front of her. "It's definitely an ambush, J'onn," she said, recovering quickly. "There are more polite ways to get a girl's attention, you realize."
"Would you have believed a strange man coming up to you in the middle of the street and saying he was the Martian Manhunter?" J'onn asked.
"It's called a telephone," she replied.
"I was not sure if you would be willing to talk with me," J'onn said. "After last night."
"I don't know you very well," Selina said, perplexed, "but you seem like a decent enough guy, and I'm not going to shun you just because you got involved with the wrong woman."
J'onn frowned. "How well do you know her?"
"Well enough to know she drives Bruce insane," she said.
"I know. That was one reason I wanted to speak to you. I wish to - apologize for last night."
"Easy for you," she groused. "You didn't have to go home with him."
"Talia was not exactly herself either," J'onn said.
"Did she spend two hours trying to get inside Bruce's head last night?"
She surprised him by chuckling humorlessly. "No, but then, she's gotten into his head enough for a lifetime."
Selina shook her head. "Look, J'onn, thanks for the apology, but I don't know what you were hoping to accomplish by coming to me. I'm not going to be some kind of go-between or anything, and I certainly agree with him on the basic premise - Talia al-Ghul is not someone you want getting under your skin."
"It's my personal life," J'onn said. "He has no right to prevent me from making my own decisions about our relationship."
"You're both in the Justice League, and you're dating the daughter of the Demon's Head. Evidently he feels the circumstances are special."
"So is he trying to save the League, or me?"
Selina nodded. "So, it's information you want?" She shrugged. "If it's any consolation, I think he's acting this way because he's worried about you, and he doesn't want to see you hurt. Unfortunately, the people he worries about are usually the ones he goes especially - God, I almost said batty. You know what I mean. Just look at his relationship with Nightwing."
"He thinks I should just look into Talia's mind and save everyone a lot of trouble," J'onn complained.
"Why don't you, if you don't mind me asking?" Selina asked. "Considering her track record, I'd think a little certainty would be a good thing."
"I promised her," he said quietly. "Besides, I won't look into her mind for the same reason I won't look into yours."
Selina blinked. She realized that the League was probably less than thrilled about her being involved with Bruce - and boy, when you looked at it like that, Bruce was being the tiniest bit unfair. But J'onn was the first person to raise the subject in front of her. Well, except for Wonder Woman, but that had been a bit of a surprise. "Okay, cats and curiosity and all. Why haven't you read my mind, verified my intentions?"
"Because I trust his judgment," J'onn replied. "I wish he could trust mine."
"Sometimes faith isn't enough. Sometimes you've got to back it up with actions," she said.
"True," he admitted. "Which, by the way, is why I'm glad I chose not to invade your thoughts. Events have shown it wouldn't have been necessary."
"Do the others feel that way?" she couldn't help asking. There was that pesky curiosity again, but it hadn't killed her yet.
"I believe so."
She grinned. "You know how to butter someone up, J'onn."
"I didn't mean to suggest - "
Selina waved him down. "Easy, tiger, just a joke. Look - if you can promise me you'll be extra careful with the Demon's Disciple, then I'll try to calm the man down a little." She scowled and held up a finger. "But if I find out this really is an insane scheme to turn Bruce into a headcase - "
"It's not," J'onn said instantly.
"Then she'll wish she had nine lives," Selina finished coldly.
J'onn nodded. "Thank you for listening."
"You should thank me." She grinned. "A man should never come between a woman and her shoes."
To be continued . . .
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