An incongruous sight greeted Talia when she finally emerged from the cockpit. Clayface, massive creature that he was, just mud in a semblance of humanoid form, was sitting in one of the passenger seats.
Reading a magazine.
"I trust you won't shed too much on the fabric," she said to him. "This plane cost my father a small fortune." Almost as much as it took to keep the craft below the Batman's radar. Ra's al-Ghul had established the second, smaller safe house to which Talia had first retreated because Batman quickly indicated that he was aware of the location of DEMON's primary base of operations.
Having Batman appear, then pummel one's men into unconsciousness, was their first clue.
At any rate, reckoning that anything within the limits of HIS city would eventually reach the Detective's finely-tuned senses, Ra's had quietly created the second house some fifty miles outside of Gotham. The bustle at his main headquarters was more than enough to keep Batman's attention.
The plane, like the safe house, was a secret. Her father felt it necessary that the best small aircraft be available within driving distance. No telling what could happen - abductions were always a popular device. They'd brought the Detective to him once before, after all.
Clayface looked at her with unfriendly eyes. "The skin you shed creates a lot more dust than I," he said coldly. "And do you really think I just leave pieces of myself lying around when I move? Christ, if I did that, there'd be nothing left of me in a year."
"Sorry," she said quickly. "Years of etiquette training rearing its ugly head." While flapper girls smoked cigarettes in the nineteen-twenties, Talia was relentlessly instructed how to be a proper wife in their culture for the day when her father's heir arrived. He eventually came - decades later. And then he left. Another part of her life wasted.
"Did they skip the part about manners?"
Talia hesitated. He'd been short with her since leaving Gotham. She hadn't greeted him appropriately, or something. These Gotham Rogues were as sensitive of their status as her father's underlings. "Have we gotten off on the wrong foot?" she asked placatingly. "I don't mean to - "
"No, no," he said, waving a hand short a finger or two. He tossed the magazine aside. "I'm just a little tense. Last time I thought I might get my condition fixed, I was working for the big ape, and you know how well THAT turned out."
She crinkled her brow. "Big ape?"
"Huh? Oh, Gorilla Grodd. Guess you missed that." He stood up. "Secret Society? A fifty-foot tall girl? Justice League prisoner?"
"Yes, of course," Talia said, stopping him from continuing. Naturally she'd been aware of the earlier attempt by the highly-evolved gorilla to destroy the League with a team of his own. She'd forgotten Clayface was one of them.
He grunted. "Woulda worked if I'd taken that fucking Martian down instead of him beating me and taking my place." Clayface looked pained. "I was the reason the League won that day. You can imagine the grief I took from some people after that. Next time," he promised her, "I cross the Martian, everyone's going to find out what color his blood is."
Talia smiled and tried to suppress the queasy feeling in her stomach. She'd debated asking J'onn, Clayface, and Quinn to temporarily set aside their differences and assist her in taking Savage back from her father, and now she'd learned that Clayface wanted J'onn destroyed to salvage his reputation!
Her head hurt too.
Putting two fingers to her temple, she looked around. "Where is Ms. Quinn?"
Clayface stuck a finger over his shoulder. "Back in the cabin with the 'green-eyed lady'." His mouth curled into a sneer. "Child of nature, friend of Man!" he added savagely.
Maybe it wasn't Talia who was making him irritable. "You don't like Poison Ivy much, I take it?" she asked.
"We don't get along," he said.
"Why, if you don't mind me asking?"
He muttered something to himself and turned to look out the window.
"If I stepped over a line . . . "
"I was quite the ladies' man in Hollywood, you know," he said calmly.
Talia stopped. "Er, no, I didn't. I don't watch many movies."
"Oh, you're one of those people. What the studio boys liked to call 'the enemy', refusing to throw your hard-earned dollars into their pockets." He shrugged. "I was a big name there. A lot of starlets, a few established actresses - I didn't put up Wilt Chamberlain numbers, God knows, but I did have a weakness for tits and ass."
She stared at him. "TA" was not an expression often heard in her father's complex.
He caught her look. "You don't know who Chamberlain is either?" he asked, misinterpreting her expression. "Guess he's before your time."
She almost told him that Neville Chamberlain wasn't even before her time.
"Anyway, let's just say I had my share of partners in the bedroom. One reason why I was so quick to take Daggett up on his offer. Despite what Knievel says, chicks do NOT dig scars when they're on your face," Clayface went on gloomily. "Harv would agree."
"Harv?"
"Two-Face. This'll go quicker if you sit back and stop asking questions, sugar."
Talia sat. She'd never been called "sugar" before. Arguing over it with someone his size struck her as unwise.
"Like I was saying," Clayface continued, "the bedroom. Besides having the body and nice little tush, I was always a sucker for redheads."
She began to understand.
"A while after I became a known commodity among the underworld circuit in Gotham," he said, "I met Poison Ivy for the first time. Iceberg Lounge, nice place if you ignore the fact that the Joker visits sometime. You really haven't gotten a GOOD look at Ivy, have you?"
Talia shook her head minutely. "It never seemed very important to me."
"Yeah, well, you see her in public. Body to die for, face like a goddess - helps feed her delusions of grandeur, I'll tell you - red hair down to here." He sighed. "God, she was hot."
"But . . ." She stopped, fearing to offend again.
He looked at her. "What?"
"But - how can you be attracted to her? You don't even have - "
"What, a penis and the plumbing to go with it?"
She flushed, then nodded. He was, no pun intended, so earthy.
"I also don't have eyes, a brain, lungs, a stomach, or a central nervous system," he pointed out. "Just to name a few. And yet I can see, I can remember my whole life, I can speak, I can get hungry - and boy, it's a real chore waiting for THAT feeling to go away, because there's nothing I can do about it," Clayface added. "How is any of THAT possible?"
"I don't know," she admitted. "How?"
"You're asking me?" he asked, surprised. "If I knew, I might actually have an idea how to change myself BACK. The docs have no idea how I function. I'm a medical marvel, one of a kind. If they ever permitted themselves to think irrationally, they might even say I'm just a phantom inhabiting a hunk of clay." He looked unusually pensive, for someone without a real face. "And don't think that hasn't occurred to me before," he muttered.
Talia suddenly felt sorry for him. What kind of life did he live when hunger was something you waited for it to leave, because you couldn't eat or drink? Where you weren't even sure if you were alive? "So - you can achieve some sort of sexual . . ."
"Ah, don't get too excited there," Clayface said ruefully. "I can get aroused, yes. Maybe it's just a memory of arousal, I don't know. But I've never taken physical enjoyment from sex since my transformation. No pleasure receptors."
She nodded. Then she frowned. "Wait, but you mean you've actually - "
"Had sex?" He chuckled. "Eight times, eight different women. Took the first four times to get it right."
"Get it right?" This was one of the strangest and most "intimate" conversations she'd ever had, but she wanted the mystery of this "man" resolved.
"Yeah," Clayface said. "I had to 'relearn' how to make love to a woman. The physical part was easy. Face it, Talia. Not only can I be as handsome as a woman wants me to be, but I can also be as long and as hard as she's willing to take." He grinned. "And I never get tired."
No one would believe her if she ever repeated this.
"The tricky part is simulating the rhythm of the organ as it pene- "
"All right!" she said quickly. "I don't need details."
He blinked (and WHY did he blink, she wondered? His eyes weren't even real eyes!). "Sorry," he replied contritely. "Guess I forgot I was in the presence of a lady. Let's just say the last few women I was with, they left happy. Comprende?"
"Si," she said.
Clayface rubbed his "jaw". "It's not an entirely sterile activity for me. I enjoy the companionship. I can't explain it, but it feels good. The first time I did it right, she was a special girl," he said. He looked down. "Course, I almost died a couple days later thanks to the Bat. Because we've all gotta be as miserable as HIS sorry ass."
Talia scowled. "You can at least respect him," she said icily, "even while you despise him."
"Heh. All right, Talia. Honor among thieves and all that." He sat back down.
"So - what about Ivy?"
"Huh? Oh, that. I maybe-sorta made a pass at her."
"Which she didn't respond well to, I suppose."
"I'm probably lucky she didn't," he said. "Didn't learn until later that she's got a personality like turpentine. She wears you down to nothing. Anyway, I was a disgusting, filthy pig for daring to presume with her, and she made sure everyone knew it - though she never did say what my crime was. Guess it was too embarrassing."
"And you've been fighting ever since?"
"Yep," he said. "She deserves it. I'm one of the only men she can't use her chemicals on, so I can be as snippy as I want. Ivy needs to accept that she can't control everyone."
"Like Quinn."
He looked up. "Well . . ."
"The girl has not left her side for months, and Ivy's not even awake," Talia pointed out.
"Yeah, but Harley's the obsessive type. She certainly latched onto the Joker, and I've never seen him treat her as anything less than dirt. Ivy - she's probably good for Quinn. Someone who doesn't use her like Kleenex," he acknowledged. "Still, I don't see what Quinn sees in her."
"You mean like what she sees in the Joker?" she asked dryly.
Clayface stared at her. Then he roared with laughter. "I like that," he said after a few moments. "You're right - at least Ivy's got the body. Joker can't even get a good tan!"
"She might hear you."
"Let her. The laughing SOB's so lucky, he's got a henchwench with THAT perky little body, and he doesn't even appreciate it! If I want to kvetch about it, she'll just have to pretend she doesn't hear me."
Talia saw that no matter what body Clayface was in, he was the type to go on "wanting" a woman's body too - "plumbing" or not.
Raven did not groan or gnash her teeth. It was a pain she'd felt many times before. She just clenched her fists and trembled as the bones in her leg felt as if they were grinding against each other. Then she exhaled as the pain melted away. "He'll be fine," she said, wiping her forehead.
"Thanks, Raven," the nurse said. "I'll tell Dr. Foreman right away. You need some water or something?"
"No, thank you," Raven said as she looked at the sleeping child. He'd come in with a broken leg, but now there would be no need for him to spend weeks with a cast and crutches. "I will rest here for a minute."
"Sure thing, kiddo."
Raven sat there and wondered how Wally was doing. She knitted her brow. Usually, when she had time to herself, she thought about Koriand'r. It was rare for thoughts of another person to intrude. Perhaps it was because Koriand'r was her first real friend. Which meant Wally was her second.
She wondered if Wally thought of her as a friend too. She could read his emotions easily, but lately she'd been - strangely reticent to do so. Raven understood that their first conversations had only been an offshoot of his romantic pursuit of Koriand'r. And the only reason he'd brought her to the Watchtower party was because Koriand'r had been forced to cancel.
Part of her was afraid that he merely saw her as a means to an end. So she preferred not knowing for sure.
Still, the Graves woman had created a slight distance between herself and Koriand'r. It wouldn't last, of course. But Wally's friendship was more important now than ever.
Perhaps she would call him tonight. They could talk. Or rather, he could talk and she could listen. They had a good arrangement.
A different nurse poked her head through the curtain. "Raven, dear?"
Raven raised her head. "Yes?"
"Here. Someone asked if I could give you this." She handed the younger woman a note. "How's the boy?"
"His leg is healed," Raven said simply.
"Good," the nurse said. "You're a lifesaver, you know that?"
Raven felt embarrassed. "There are many things the doctors and nurses can do that I cannot," she said.
"Maybe so, but the things you CAN do - they save us so much time, allow us to give more attention to the other patients," the nurse said. "You make us all better healers."
Her pale cheeks turned slightly rosier. "Thank you," she said softly.
She watched the nurse disappear. That had been one of the nicest things anyone had ever said to her.
Then she recalled the paper in her hand. She unfolded it and read what was inside.
"Come to the subbasement if you want the people in this hospital to live."
Raven gasped. Then she crumpled the paper in her hand. What was so important about HER that someone would make that kind of threat?
Luthor, she reasoned as she stood up slowly and raised her hood. She'd brushed off Koriand'r's earlier concerns about her safety. After all, the footage of Luthor confessing to the attempted murder of Koriand'r was in Mercy Graves' possession. If anything were to happen to her, Luthor would only bring pain upon himself.
Although, to be honest, she hadn't cared about the danger she placed herself in. Koriand'r had to be avenged. There was nothing more to it.
She surrounded herself with smoke, and stepped out into the lowest level of the hospital. Hundreds of patients in their beds were above her.
Using her empathic powers, she was able to determine where her summoner lay. There was an odd knot of emotions ahead - a mix of anger, dread, calm, and anxiety. Whoever this person was, they felt like an unlikely assassin.
Reaching out, Raven pushed open the closed door she'd arrived at. Light and heat immediately bathed her face, causing her to look away.
"About time you got here. You know how dirty this place is?"
Raven looked back as she stepped inside. "Red" was the first word that came to mind as she beheld the woman before her. Orange-red hair longer than even Koriand'r's trailed down the woman's back like a trail of flame. She'd shed her red jacket, revealing the tight, form-fitting maroon outfit underneath.
If Raven were concerned with things like beauty, she might feel insecure being around so many tall, attractive women with little modesty. "Who are you?" she asked quietly.
"They call me Volcana," she said. "Do you know how antiquated this is, by the way?"
Raven looked past her and saw that this was the boiler room. The large machine did in fact old. "I fail to see the meaning of your - "
"Quiet little mouse, aren't you?" Volcana asked, and Raven's lips tightened. "What I mean is, it wouldn't take much to send this whole thing sky-high."
"How do you propose to do it?"
Volcana's pale skin grew red for a moment before her body was bathed in orange flames. Only her eyes and her smile shone through the blaze, and Raven held a hand before her eyes.
"A match," Volcana murmured.
"I cannot allow you to do this. Why have you come here?" Raven demanded.
"I'm here to - kill you," Volcana replied, hesitating for a moment.
"By blowing up the hospital?"
Volcana chuckled grimly. "Heh. That'd be overkill, don't you think? No, the hospital's just a lure. All I have to do is stop using my powers, let go of these flames, and they'll incinerate anything within thirty feet. Including that way-too-old boiler."
Raven paused. "You seek to hold me here by taking the lives of our patients hostage," she realized.
"You're catching on. Your file said you could teleport. You try to disappear, or even if you attacked me AND managed to knock me out within a second or two," Volcana pointed out, "and I lose control. Bye bye General Hospital." She scowled. "Don't make me do that," she added.
"You . . . you're serious," Raven said, studying her aura.
"You're damn right I'm serious. I'll take this whole - "
"I'm sure you will. But I meant that I believe you when you say you don't want to do that," Raven replied. "You really don't want to kill anyone today."
Volcana blinked, and then she snorted. "Right, sorry. I forgot. You're supposed to read minds too."
"Hearts, not minds," Raven said. "Why are you doing this, when you don't even want to take MY life, let alone the people over our heads?"
"Because I have to," Volcana said coldly. "I don't have a choice."
Raven nodded. "You're terrified of something, and it's obviously not me."
"Just shut the fuck up and get on your knees!" Volcana hissed at her. "Or I let loose. And the fires won't hurt me, so don't think this is a suicide run for me!"
"What does Luthor have on you?"
"Who said anything about Lex Luthor?"
"No one else hates me this much."
"It's not the people who hate you that you have to watch out for," Volcana said cryptically. "It's the ones who love you that are the scariest."
"I've been taught all about the dangers of love," Raven said truthfully as she sank to her knees.
Koriand'r would be upset when she learned of Raven's death. So would Wally. But if she died, then so did her father's hope of using her as a gateway to this universe. This guaranteed that Trigon could never hurt any of the people she cared about.
She'd spent her life caring more about the welfare of others than herself. Why shouldn't her death be the same? "I'm sorry," she said as she looked down.
"For what?"
"For what this is going to do to you."
She couldn't see Volcana's reaction to that. She'd lowered her hood once more, and her hair fell about her face as her eyes stared resolutely downward. She almost expected her father to make some last-minute attempt to sway her mind, but there was only the same, familiar pull in the back of her head. He didn't even know the danger she was in. And if he had, her own safety would be the last of his worries.
She waited. And waited.
"Fuck," Volcana whispered.
Then she stormed out.
Raven looked up, startled - not only by this turn of events, but also by the sharp stab of relief she felt. Maybe she hadn't been as ready to die as she thought.
"There's got to be a better way," Volcana said to herself as she hurried toward the way she'd come in. She'd forgotten her jacket, but that didn't matter. When you were running for your life, possessions were just something that slowed you down.
And hey, she'd been running for most of her adult life, so that was something she'd learned the hard way.
Learning seemed to be a big thing for her. Today she'd learned that she could never become the person Kurt had wanted her to be when she was "Operation Firestorm". She'd refused then out of stubborn pride and a fierce individual streak, and she refused now. Everyone had wanted her to be someone else. Her parents wanted a normal girl. The government wanted an assassin. Superman had wanted a goody-two-shoes.
Fuck them all. It got harder and harder to define yourself when everybody else wanted to define you as something different.
She wasn't going to be a killer, though. She'd just have to figure something else out to get Louise off her back.
She felt the cold before the pain across her cheek as the flying projectile cut her. Volcana slapped a hand to her face and stopped in her tracks. She turned, expecting to see her would-be victim, properly grateful, using yet another power to stop her.
"Uh-uh, Claire. Over here."
Volcana froze - ha ha, no pun intended. Nothing funny about the voice she heard in nightmares either. "Louise?" she whispered.
A bone-white figure emerged from the shadows. "Hey, baby," Killer Frost said. "Sorry if my caress cut a little too close there, but you were in such a hurry." She reached out an arm, but Volcana pulled back. "I wasn't going to have a taste," she said, pouting. "Yet."
"When are you going to get it through your fucking head?" Volcana snarled. "I don't want you touching me, and I sure as hell don't want you draining my powers whenever you feel like it! Were the last three times you saw me NOT enough of a clue!"
Killer Frost smiled. "Yeah, and the cops and the caped do-gooders say I can't hurt people, and I never let that stop me either."
Louise, Volcana thought, would have had no trouble killing Raven. She was a sadist, and Volcana knew that the obsessed criminal doled out equal helpings of affection and pain because she got off on both.
She wanted to put a fireball in Louise's chest, but she knew that the ice-powered killer would just draw the energy from the flames and feed on it. It was exactly what she wanted, and Volcana had made it very clear - she did not like doing what OTHER people wanted her to do!
Fleeing seemed a better option, if it wasn't for the fact that she remained completely, helplessly terrified of Killer Frost.
"How did you know where to find me?" Volcana asked, her mouth dry. Oh God, she'd turn that Raven into a burnt corpse right now if it meant Luthor's promise to make Louise go away would magically take effect.
Frost grinned. "I got a job. A man sent me to make sure you didn't screw up. So, is she dead, or do I get a taste of her too?"
Volcana's heart sank. She knew she couldn't trust Luthor, and what happens? He sent the very person she wanted kept away after her! "Yeah, she's dead," she said hurriedly. "And I'm leaving. If Luthor hired you, then you know why I did it for him."
Frost pouted again. "He said you wanted us to be apart. Well, why shouldn't he give me what I want? I'm working for him too, aren't I?"
Volcana turned to leave, knowing this was pointless and that escape was the only option, but a stream of ice hit her from behind and wrapped around her waist, holding her from going. She cried out from the cold. She hated being cold, and Louise made her feel cold like nothing else could.
Killer Frost approached her and ran a hand along her spine. Volcana could feel her draining the energy from her body, and her legs grew weak. It was only a sampling, she knew. Thanks to more serious violations in the past, she knew this was just a "taste". "How about we check on your kill, and then we can go somewhere and be alone? You used to like being alone with me."
"I was using you," Volcana whispered, chilled by more than ice.
"That's why we're meant to be," Louise said. "We use each other."
"Excuse me."
Startled, Killer Frost turned her head to the left.
A red fist struck her squarely in the jaw, rocking her head back. Five more blows to the torso and face rained down on her impossibly fast, and she flew backwards and onto her face, her hold on Volcana broken.
"What the hell?" Volcana asked.
The ice was broken from behind, allowing her to turn around fully. An unlikely sight greeted her.
"Volcana?" Flash said. "What exactly do you think you're up to?"
"How did YOU get here?"
"I called him."
Volcana felt dizzy as she turned again. "Raven? But you . . . right, teleporting," she said, for a moment confused to see Raven approach from the opposite direction Volcana had left her.
"I - Flash, look out!" Raven cried out.
His speed was unbeatable, but he turned his head first, and that enabled the blast of icy frost to hit him, propelling him across the room and onto the floor. Killer Frost poured it on, her face twisted with rage, and he was quickly pinned down.
"I'm out of here," Volcana said as she ran for the exit.
"No!" Raven said, getting in her way. "You help us stop her NOW, or one day you'll be hers forever."
"What the fuck do you know!" Volcana hissed as she shoved past Raven.
Her footing went out from under her, and both she and Raven fell heavily to the floor. The thin coating of ice hadn't been there a moment ago.
"Leaving so soon, dear?" Killer Frost asked gaily. She grabbed Raven's ankle with a tongue of ice and pulled her backwards. "When Luthor finds out that I killed her and not you, he won't have any problems if I decide to keep you all to myself."
Volcana got onto her knees. "I don't love you! I hate you!" she screamed.
"You feed me," Killer Frost breathed rapturously. "You're gonna warm my heart for the rest of my life."
Raven raised her head and stretched her arm out toward Volcana.
Volcana slowly felt the all-encompassing terror leave her body. It left behind a more comforting emotion - rage. "I am sick and tired of people thinking they can RUN my fucking LIFE!" Volcana cried out.
She stretched out both arms and hit Killer Frost in the chest with a concentrated blast of fire. "You want me?" she asked. "Then have me!"
Killer Frost let go of Raven and put her hands to her head, moaning as she writhed. "Oh, yes," she said. "Oh, Claire, you know how to make a girl feel good."
The look of pleasure made Volcana all the more enraged, and she didn't stop. She just poured it on.
Frost didn't even try to move. She just soaked it in.
Then her hand trembled. "Baby?" she asked, opening one eye. "You can stop now. I'm - "
"Fuck you! When I start a relationship, I go all the way." The flames burned even more hotly.
Louise started shaking. "Claire, honey, I - it's too much. You're overdoing it!"
Volcana began to laugh. "Overdoing it? Overdoing it? This from the queen of stalkers!"
Grabbing her chest, Killer Frost fell to her knees. Volcana rose simultaneously, the fire in her body melting the ice below her feet. "I've been letting people do things to me my whole life," she said, stepping forward. "My mistake was letting you TAKE from me, when I should have been GIVING to you. I bet I can turn on the heat faster than you can absorb it, Louise. And if I'm right, you're the one getting burned in this relationship."
The heat she was radiating was enough that Raven felt the ice around her leg weakening. She dropped her hand, sensing that Volcana could go on without her aid. Raven had swallowed Volcana's fears, leaving only the rage and humiliation behind. Now those feelings had enough momentum that they appeared as if they weren't coming back. Then she looked across the room and saw a red blur through a frozen heap of ice. A second later, it shattered, sending chunks in every direction. Flash was standing in the rubble. "Thanks for offering to melt that," he said sarcastically, "but I didn't need it. Had those good vibrations going for me."
Volcana shot him a dirty look, and he tensed.
Perspiration was steaming off Killer Frost's body as soon as it appeared. She looked frantic, taking huge gulps of air as she worked to intake everything Volcana was giving her. And she was losing. One hand clutched at her heart, while the other reached out for Volcana. "Please, Claire . . . " she begged.
"Unless you want more of this," Volcana spat at her, "don't ever come looking for me again."
She cut the flames and kicked Killer Frost squarely in the chin. She flew backwards and landed on her back, unconscious.
Then Volcana looked back at Flash. "I hate heroes," she growled. "I suppose YOU ran for him the minute you thought I wasn't going to kill you."
"Actually," Raven said, wiping shards of ice from her boot, "I went after him when I saw what that woman was about to do to you."
Volcana looked surprised. "Yeah, well," she muttered, "I'm leaving. Maybe he can put Louise in a cell for me."
Flash was in her way before she could move. "What was that about 'the minute she thought you weren't going to kill her'?" he asked dangerously.
Volcana sighed. "Damn it. Could we fight later? I'm wiped."
He glared at her.
"Guess not."
To be continued . . .