Chapter 2
The combination of mask and headgear was an important part of the Flash's look. Besides hiding all but his eyes and jaw from view, thus keeping his identity a secret, it also prevented his hair from becoming windblown. Thereby saving him from having to find a mirror and adjust his hair before knocking on the door of a pretty girl.
Such as the door before him.
He did imagine himself in the mirror, though. "Flash, you red devil, you," he murmured before knocking.
The door opened after a few moments, and Flash fully expected to be greeted by eyes that, as he recalled from their first meeting, were on a level with his own. Not only was the Tamaranean princess well endowed, but she was also statuesque. So he was just able to stop from starting as the open door revealed someone fully six inches shorter, whose eyes were hidden from view. "Flash," Raven said politely. "Is there something I can do for you? Are Diana and Shayera all right?"
"Uh, yeah, they're - fine," he said, peering over her into the apartment. "I'm sorry, I thought this was your friend's place."
"Koriand'r? We're living together. We are still new here, you realize. Did you believe we would live apart?"
"Well, no, I guess that makes sense," Flash admitted, rubbing the back of his head. He'd known they were sharing the same apartment from the computer printout, but at some point he'd conveniently managed to imagine Koriand'r waiting all alone in her little lover's nest. But roommates - always a tricky obstacle to navigate, as the experienced bachelor could attest to. "Is she here?"
Raven looked at him carefully for a moment. "You can come in if you like," she finally said. "Koriand'r will be home soon." She turned and walked back into the apartment.
The Flash felt like he'd encountered Wednesday Addams. "Thanks," he said hesitantly, following her inside. "Uh, nice place."
"Thank you. Most of these things are Koriand'r's," Raven informed him. "I do not need much. But Koriand'r likes the room to be bright, like her." She permitted herself a small smile. "I cannot refuse her. Please, sit."
"Okay," he muttered, sitting on the couch awkwardly. "I don't want to keep you if you're busy with something."
"I was meditating," Raven replied. "But I think I would not mind talking with you. Sometimes company is better than being alone."
Flash couldn't agree more, but from the way she said it, he couldn't help but feel that she meant it slightly differently. "So what have you been doing since you got here?"
"Well, I have been working with one of the larger hospitals in New York," Raven said. "My powers allow people to recover from injuries much sooner than conventional healing permits. As such, my services are apparently in demand. I would have preferred not to take wages for this, but the hospital insisted. I did relent, because Koriand'r was not working at the time, but only after they understood that they could not charge a high price to my patients. My healing is not meant for only the wealthy."
"What do you do, exactly?"
"It is hard to explain. I - draw people's pain out of their body and into my own. There is a brief period where I feel their pain, even as I fix their injuries. Then I release the pain into - into nothing, I suppose."
Flash nodded. "Can you heal anything?"
"I cannot heal disease, I am afraid," Raven confessed. "My powers are much more successful with broken bones, as well as major and minor injuries. The other day I healed a police officer who had been shot. It was a minor sensation in the newspapers, but of course I could not allow this to affect me."
"Of course," Flash echoed, wondering if Wonder Woman or Hawkgirl knew something about this girl that he didn't. She certainly seemed to feel that quiet and modesty were the greatest of virtues. "What about Koriand'r? What does she do?"
Raven cocked her head. "I am an empath. You remember this, right?"
"I guess," he said.
"So I can tell you're not being completely honest with me. You know what Koriand'r does. Why are you . . . oh."
"Oh?" Flash asked, sweating. If the roommate didn't like you, you were in _big_ trouble.
Raven nodded. "You saw her new picture in the magazine, didn't you? Many men notice her now on the street. Well," she conceded, "men always noticed her before. But now they come up to her to say hello."
World's fastest man, and already there was a line in front of him! "Has she, uh, said hello back?"
"Of course," she said oddly. "Why wouldn't she?"
"Well - "
"You like her," Raven realized. "Or at least, you like how she looks."
He swallowed. When she was alone with Koriand'r, she would say the Flash was an egocentric, chauvinistic pig.
"And you're very nervous now," Raven added.
"Really? Your empathy tell you that?"
"No, your fingers are tapping on the couch very quickly. If you don't stop, you might start a fire."
Flash looked down and saw his fingers were in fact tapping so fast that his hand was blurry. "Sorry," he apologized.
Fortunately Koriand'r walked through the door at that moment. Raven smiled impulsively as the alien closed the door behind her. "Hello, Koriand'r."
"Hi, Raven - Flash? Is there something wrong?" Koriand'r asked.
"No! I mean, no," Flash said more casually. "I just - well, I saw your new advertisement, and I realized I hadn't dropped by to check on how you two were adjusting."
"Check - oh, that reminds me!" Koriand'r said, digging into her bag and extracting a checkbook. "I had to open a bank account recently, and Shayera told me that Maxima never paid you for the damage she did to your vehicle. I feel like I should pay you myself."
Flash held up a hand. "Don't bother, Koriand'r. I kind of got the impression that you two had to apologize for Maxima a lot on other planets. If you paid for her, I'd feel guilty. It wasn't your fault."
The way Raven was looking at him was positively unnerving. He imagined all the carnal thoughts he'd had about Koriand'r - heck, every woman he'd met - open for viewing to the empath's mind, and he quailed internally.
"Is something the matter, Flash?" Raven asked. "You look pale."
"Oh, no, it's nothing," he said, patting his brow. "Anyway, guess I should be leaving."
"Oh, but I just got home," Koriand'r said. "You saw my pictures? Did you like them?"
Flash nodded. He didn't say how much he liked them. "I just stopped by for a minute anyway, Koriand'r - you know me, world's fastest man, here and gone again, whoosh!"
He sounded like a complete idiot, but his mouth often did run just a bit faster than his hearing.
Koriand'r waved a hand. "Just so you know, I only go by Koriand'r when I'm alone with Raven now. I have a new name."
"New name?"
She nodded. "I thought I should have a more Earth-like name while I was here. Besides, having to explain the apostrophe in my name just became a chore. My modeling agency knows me as 'Kory Anders'." She grinned sheepishly. "Original, huh?"
"Kory Anders, got it," he said, feeling like his only hope of salvaging the encounter was to flee and come back another time when Raven was out. A female roommate who could read minds - that wasn't an obstacle, that was a raging river with the bridge out. "I'll tell the others you both said hi."
Koriand'r's smile slipped. "Please tell Green Lantern thank you once again for me, would you? He was so understanding earlier."
"Of what?"
"Well, apparently the Lantern Corps told him that they respected my situation, but they weren't prepared to get into a war with the entire Citadel over it," she said calmly. "So I guess I'm still in exile."
"You will return home some day," Raven told her softly.
"Sure you will," Flash agreed. "I'm sorry to hear about that, GL didn't tell me. Really I am."
Koriand'r smiled and nodded. "Thank you, thank you both." She shook her head. "Are you sure you won't stay longer, Flash?"
"No, thanks," he replied. He felt the last exchange had gone comparatively smoothly, allowing him to pick up a few points, but it was better to leave on a good footing, than stay and have his emotions further analyzed by Dr. Raven. "If you ever want to talk, though, you can give me a call." He hurriedly scrawled a phone number. "Usually I can be there before the phone finishes ringing," he added, grinning.
Koriand'r laughed quietly. "I'm sure you can. Thank you."
"It was a pleasure seeing you again, Flash," Raven said. "I hope you will come by again."
"Um, thanks," he said before dashing out the door. "Smooth, Valentino, real smooth," he muttered to himself as he rushed toward no destination in particular. The roommate with ESP was scaring him away. He was doomed.
"What was that all about?" Koriand'r asked Raven.
"He's nice," Raven replied. "You should call him sometime."
________________________
Diana looked at Flash curiously the following night as their ship approached the docking bay of the Watchtower. "Why are you smiling like that?" she finally asked. He appeared to have had something truly insufferable to say the entire trip, but he'd apparently been waiting for her to speak. Perfectly willing to enjoy the silence, rather than listen to the Flash's rapid-fire discussion of twenty topics interesting only to young men, Diana had not risen to the bait. Now that they were here, however, and about to begin monitor duty, she decided to bite the bullet.
"Me? No reason," he replied casually.
"What is it, Flash?"
"Did you know I'm a genius?"
She almost laughed, but it came out more like a cough. "No, I didn't," she said.
"Because you thought it was a terrible idea. But guess who was right in the end?"
Diana looked at him strangely. "What on earth are you talking about?"
"Read any magazines lately?"
"Oh," she replied, understanding. "Kory Anders?"
Flash's face fell. "You saw it?"
"No, she told me about it. She wanted to know if she should do it. Apparently strange men asking her if she was in modeling became so common that she decided to look into it."
"I'm guessing you said not to do it."
She nodded. "It's all about women offering their bodies up to be ogled by men."
"There are male models too, you know," he reminded her.
"A male model's job," Diana explained, "is to show men how good the clothes will look on them. A female model's job is to show men how good she will look without the clothes."
Flash grinned. "Well, I won't argue with the last part."
She sighed.
"So why did she do it then?"
"Financial reasons," Diana told him. "Raven is basically working for pennies - which was her choice, and I respect that. But New York City is an extremely expensive city, and Koriand'r felt that she needed to carry the load. She doesn't know how long she'll be here, after all."
"Yeah, I heard about the bad news from GL."
She nodded. "Wait a minute. How did you hear that?"
"Uh, he told me."
"When? He and Shayera have been gone for several days."
"Before they left," he said quickly, not wanting to spoil the glow of being right about Koriand'r's modeling with a discussion of his embarrassing performance with the two alien women. "When are those two coming back from their romantic getaway anyway?"
"I told you," Diana answered, "it's not for pleasure. Shayera said she believed she had a solution to our transportation problems. And they'll be back in a day or two. J'onn got the transmission last night."
Flash nodded, and Diana didn't seem inclined to pursue where he'd gotten his information from, so they disembarked from the Javelin in silence.
When they arrived at the monitor room, they found the Martian Manhunter alone. "Where's Batman?" Diana asked.
"He'll be back in a few minutes," J'onn told them as he stared at the computer screens. "He's working on something."
Diana glanced at Flash. "I'm going to make a phone call."
"Audrey's got you on that short leash, huh?" Flash asked.
She smiled, and he got goosebumps. "You can't begin to imagine."
"Believe me, I can imagine!" he called after her as she left. "I can imagine just fine," he muttered.
"When is your date?"
Flash looked sidelong at J'onn. "What's that supposed to mean?"
J'onn blinked. "It was a simple question. Last I saw you, you were going to ask Koriand'r out on a date. You seemed to think you would be successful."
"Oh," Flash said. "I thought maybe you read my mind or something."
"Of course not," J'onn replied, sounding mildly offended. "Just because I'm a telepath doesn't give me the right to pry into other people's minds. If it's necessary to help someone, like on a mission, that is one thing. Otherwise, however, I would not do such a thing without permission." He paused. "Since you haven't answered my question yet, I assume something went wrong? I would think you would have announced it to the room if the news was good."
Flash sighed. "I never really asked her. That Raven, she can't read my thoughts, but she could read my feelings, and it threw me off. Next time, when Raven's away, I'll try again. And then I'll have that date," he added confidently.
"I am certain."
"So," Flash asked, still waiting for either Batman or Wonder Woman to return, "what was that all about with Bats last night?"
"Excuse me?" J'onn asked.
"You were alone with him all night. He must have told you something."
"Do you know him to be a talkative man? Especially about his personal life?"
Flash smiled and shrugged. "I guess that's my job."
J'onn sighed. "If you promise not to mention it to anyone . . ."
"Hey, League honor," Flash said, holding his hand up.
" . . . Apparently the daughter of Ra's al-Ghul, the one who upsets him - she made a kind of unholy proposition to him. She will be waiting for him tonight, and if he goes to her, she will never darken his door again," J'onn replied.
"Wow," Flash responded. "So all he has to do is have sex with a hottie. Tough call."
"You are well aware of his current relationship with Catwoman," J'onn reminded him. "Do you think he should betray her like that?"
He swallowed. "Not if he wants to live, I guess."
J'onn looked at him.
"No, of course not," Flash said. "That's not his style. It's not something any of us would do. Although you gotta admit, wouldn't you take into consideration the fact that your current girlfriend could kick your ass?"
"It - is a factor," J'onn allowed. "But an irrelevant one for Batman, I assure you. He would not have done this, even if he wasn't involved with someone else. It is degrading to both of them."
Flash nodded. "So she waits for him, and he doesn't show, and it's back to her popping into his life again whenever he doesn't want it?"
"Until she understands," J'onn replied. He reached into his belt and took a small white paper out. "He threw this away. I kept it on the slim chance he would change his mind, but I knew he wouldn't. And not because I looked inside his head either," J'onn added sternly.
Batman arrived a minute later. "Let's go," he said.
The Martian rose from his seat and followed him out. "Good night, Flash. I hope you have more luck with her next time."
Flash nodded, a faraway look in his eye. "Yeah, right." He held the discarded note out of view.
A moment after they exited, Flash disappeared.
"Mind if we stop in Gotham first?" Batman asked as they walked down the corridor. "I have urgent matters there."
"It is of no difference to me," J'onn replied.
"Hey, J'onn! One second."
J'onn turned and saw Flash's arm on his shoulder before he even heard the speedster's voice. "Yes?"
"Bats, give us a few minutes, okay?" Flash asked.
Batman narrowed his eyes. "I have a timetable, Flash."
Flash didn't back down. "It's very important."
"I will be right there," J'onn assured Batman.
The Dark Knight glowered at Flash for a second before going on ahead.
"What is it, Flash?"
"This Talia girl wants to spend the night with Batman, right?"
"Yes."
"And Bats wants her out of his life for good, right?"
"Yes, but . . ."
"And a happy Batman - if there's such a thing - makes for a happy League?"
J'onn stared at him. "What are you suggesting, Flash?"
He smiled and held up that damnable little card. "Well, if you're not doing anything tonight, maybe you could make this into a win-win situation for everyone."
The Martian Manhunter looked at the card, then at him. This, he realized, was one of those times when he really, really didn't think reading the Flash's mind would be helpful.
_______________________
The dark figure swooped down from the sky. The cape and cowl would be familiar to most of Gotham's cops and crooks. The hotel penthouse he was moving toward had two balconies with open doors, and he landed on one of them.
The room was pitch black, but from what he could see, it appeared to be a sitting room. Which meant the bedroom was most likely through the doors to his right.
Before he moved, however, his nostrils wrinkled at a slight smell of smoke. It was coming from behind him.
"I don't believe it. You came."
Turning around, he saw Talia al-Ghul sitting in an oversized chair in the corner. She was swaddled in a heavy blanket. And she was smoking.
"You smoke?"
"Only when I'm completely relaxed, or extremely nervous," she said, taking a final puff before putting it out. "Guess which one I'm feeling."
He glared at her. "So one night together? And after that, we're done? You won't contact me ever again?"
She sucked in her breath. "Yes," Talia finally said, looking downcast as she spoke. That, if nothing else, convinced him of her sincerity. She stood up, holding the blanket around her body, and brushed past him, shoving the doors open wide so he could follow.
Following closely behind, he saw the room was dark, lit only by the second set of open glass doors, which she now closed, shutting off the frigid winter air. Dropping the blanket, he was surprised to see her clad only in a pair of men's boxers and a cotton T-shirt.
Talia caught his look and smiled wryly. "You were right before," she said.
"Before?"
"There were going to be candles, and flowers, and a really exquisite silk nightgown I purchased in Milan," she said. "But the way you predicted that would happen in the restaurant - it made it feel like a sham façade on something tawdry, like an American brothel." She frowned and shrugged. "I thought you would want this night stripped of all its gilding. I can even leave the lights off. You can . . . pretend I'm someone else, if you like." Talia looked away and tried to keep her eyes from welling up.
"Whatever," he replied brusquely. "Could you turn around?"
She scoffed. "Very well," she said. "I do know who you are, remember."
"I remember. But you said I could do this as I wished."
Talia nodded nervously. "Yes, of course. Just so you know, I've taken a drug our scientists have developed. It will make the chances of conceiving much higher," she said as she turned her back on him.
"Conceiving?"
"The baby, of course. Do you - want me to tell you if and when the baby is born?" she asked gingerly.
Since she wasn't looking, she couldn't see the look of shock on his face. Fortunately he did not let the transformation waver. Batman had not said . . .
"Oh, Flash," the Martian Manhunter thought. "Why, oh why did I ever let you talk me into doing this?"
To be continued . . .
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