Chapter 8
Shayera sat up in bed. She didn't scream as she awoke, but she looked around the darkened room, eyes wide and wild as the bird she was named for, trying to understand where she was.
When she looked down at her hands clutching the blanket tightly as it clung to her sweaty body and realized she had been dreaming, she let out a long, shuddering sigh.
Then Hawkgirl looked to her left. John lay there, looking peaceful. He had no idea what she'd just been through.
"Thank you," she whispered to no one in particular. Certainly not any gods. The Thanagarians no longer had need of gods.
The Thanagarians - what had her subconscious been thinking? What twisted world had her sleeping mind created?
She suddenly needed to tell John, irrationally feeling that if she said it out loud, it wouldn't come true. How could it come true anyway? None of it was true!
"John," she hissed, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Wake up."
"Hmnng," he grunted in his sleep.
"John," Hawkgirl repeated.
The Green Lantern opened one eye. "Problem?" he muttered sleepily.
"Just to be sure, has Earth been invaded by any Thanagarians lately?" she asked anxiously.
"I know one who invaded my heart," he mumbled.
She flushed. "John, come on, I'm serious."
He sat up and yawned. "You're serious? About what? Your people attacking Earth? Where would you get an idea like that?"
Hawkgirl exhaled. "From my dreams, evidently," she said.
"Nightmare?"
"This was the opera of nightmares," she said. "I dreamt that my people took control of Earth so they could use the planet as part of a complicated hyperspace flanking maneuver against my people's lifelong enemy, the Gordanians."
"That doesn't sound good," John agreed.
"John, there are no Gordanians. They don't even exist."
"Anything else strange?"
Shayera ran a hand through her hair. "Yeah. I was a spy sent to analyze Earth's defenses - and the Justice League's weaknesses."
"What?"
"And the man who sent me was my fiancée."
"WHAT?!"
"It's not true!" she said instantly. "No husband-to-be, no spying, no evil schemes. I'm just a lost bird who fell out of her nest and accidentally got sent across the universe."
He looked less than convinced. "Maybe your subconscious is trying to tell you something. Like you wish you had a lover from your own planet."
"Damn it, John, don't get all insecure on me now," she groaned. "Just once, I'm being insecure, so you've got to be the stable one, okay? And I don't want another man."
"Uh . . . then how did it end?"
She bit her lip. Saying "I left you and the League behind" seemed impossible. "I told you I loved you," she admitted instead. "And you said you loved me too."
"Oh," John said, finally mollified. "Then it wasn't a complete disaster."
"Could you just hold me?" she asked. "I think if you could hold me the rest of the night, I can be my old self in the morning and not worry about silly dreams."
He looked at her and, reaching up, caressed her cheek with his thumb. "Was it silly when you said you loved me?" he asked.
Hawkgirl shook her head. "No, John."
John nodded and pulled her down so that she was pressed tightly against him. "It wasn't silly when I said it either, then."
She closed her eyes and held him tightly.
This time Flash didn't bother to knock on their door. He called first. And when someone picked up, he didn't hang up the phone.
Not even when, once again, he was greeted by Raven, not Koriand'r. "Hello?"
He kept from sighing. At least she couldn't read his emotions through the telephone. "Raven? It's Flash."
"Oh, hello, Flash. I am sorry, but Koriand'r is not home right now."
Flash grunted. This was rapidly becoming not worth the effort. "Do you know when she'll be back?"
"Not for a while, I am afraid. Perhaps if you tried again on Saturday?"
"What, Saturday? Where is she, on a modeling shoot?"
"No, she is in Metropolis. I take it you have not heard?"
"Heard what?"
"Koriand'r has stopped modeling. She found she did not enjoy having strange men looking at her all the time."
Flash almost pointed out that strange men would be checking Koriand'r out for decades whether she modeled or not, but didn't. "So why is she in Metropolis?"
"She has taken a bodyguard position with a woman there. She owns the biggest company in the city, according to Koriand'r."
He almost choked. "You mean Lexcorp?" he asked, surprised.
"Yes, I believe that was the name."
"She's Mercy Graves' bodyguard?"
"You know her?"
"Are you kidding? She used to work for Lex Luthor, and he's one of the most dangerous men on the planet."
"I'm sure you're right. It seems this Luthor person is trying to kill her."
"And Koriand'r believes her?" Flash asked dubiously.
"She was there when it happened."
"Oh . . . wait, if she's in Metropolis, what about you?"
There was a pause. "Koriand'r is still helping to pay for the rent," Raven finally said. "And she is trying to visit as much as she can."
He resisted the urge to ask for Koriand'r's new phone number. Now was the time to be Sensitive Guy. "Couldn't you have just moved with her?"
"I could not leave my job," Raven replied. "The doctors and nurses at my hospital - they need me. I did not wish to start over at a new clinic."
"Then what do you do when you're not at work?"
" . . . I meditate. I watch the television sometimes. I like ER. And Judging Amy."
"Don't you ever go out? Just to be out, I mean?"
"There are too many people outside," Raven said calmly. "When I am alone, I can't help but feel what everyone else is feeling. It's better if I have something to distract me."
Like the rest of his body, Flash's mind moved faster than anyone else's. Which was why the things he did weren't always well thought out. Like right now, as he became convinced that he had a way to make Koriand'r swoon for him.
"Could you hold on for a second?" he asked her.
"Certainly."
He hung the phone up.
A few moments later, there was a knock at Raven's door. She put the phone down carefully and glided toward the door. "Yes?" she asked the stranger when she opened it.
"It's me, Raven."
She stared at him. "Flash? Where is your costume?"
"I changed. I doubt you like attention drawn to yourself."
"What do you mean?"
"Come on, let's go for a walk, get some air. I can distract you, easy. I can distract anybody when I start talking," Flash told her.
Raven was even more startled than before. "I'm sorry, I don't understand."
"What's not to understand? You and I go outside and take a walk. You focus on my scintillating conversation. No emotional overload. It'll be fun. You do have fun, right?" he asked.
A little color crept into her cheeks. "I'm more of a serenity person," she said. "Koriand'r is the fun one."
And Koriand'r would be mightily impressed by his kindness toward her lonely roommate. Yea, and the dates would be bountiful.
He tried very hard not to think about that, though, and he believed he'd succeeded.
"But if you came all the way here," Raven added, "then I cannot refuse. Let me get my sari first."
"Raven?"
"Yes?"
"While I'm out of my costume, you should probably call me Wally," he told her.
"Oh, yes, all right. Wally. One moment."
Flash grinned as he waited. If nothing else, Raven struck him as a good listener. And hey, she was cute too.
Clark adjusted his glasses as he took cursory notes during her speech. A few days ago it had been Lois' assignment to listen to Princess Audrey. Today it was his turn. Except in his case, he was part of a larger audience as Audrey stood in the place normally filled by Kasnia's envoy to the United Nations.
As he listened to Audrey detailing Vandal Savage's crimes against the world - some of which were news to almost everyone but the Justice League - he felt someone approach him from behind. "She's doing rather well," a woman said.
"I wouldn't say she's going to replace the Kasnian senior diplomat any time soon, Diana," Clark replied quietly, not turning around at first, "but yes, she is doing well." He turned his head, expecting to see the Themiscyran princess and ambassador. He wasn't surprised in the least by her approach. Wonder Woman had confessed some time ago that after deducing Bruce Wayne was Batman, figuring out Clark Kent was Superman didn't take a lot of effort.
Instead he found someone that, for the briefest of moments, he took for a stranger. "Diana?" he asked, startled.
Diana smiled. "It's the glasses, right?" she said. "I'm told a pair of glasses will fool almost anyone."
Clark returned the smile in spite of himself. He rarely saw her out of her costume. Today Diana was dressed much more casually. She wore a light blue blouse with a wide collar that barely clung to her shoulders and sleeves that flared at the wrists, and tight jeans in a darker shade of blue. The aforementioned glasses were perched on her nose, and her hair was pulled back into a bun from which a few loose strands had stubbornly escaped. "I'm guessing she bought those for you," he said, leading her away from the crowd for a moment.
Diana's cheeks reddened. "I can dress myself," she replied defensively. "Just not very fashionably, according to her."
"Not in your official capacity today?"
"I don't know what you mean, Clark." She offered a hand. "Diana Castle, small business owner."
He took her hand and shook it, albeit with a raised eyebrow. "Excuse me?"
"Oh, come on, Clark. Did you think I'd never see the value of an alternate identity? Especially after meeting Audrey?"
Clark nodded, suddenly understanding. "You're protecting her," he said. "In case the relationship gets out."
"Partly," she acknowledged. "Some day we'll come out voluntarily, I think. After I've had some time to create a paper trail for myself. But besides, I'm never going home. Now that I have Audrey, it's time to finally make myself a life in Man's World." Diana sighed. "Apparently with Audrey as my clothes coordinator."
"So what's with the 'small business owner' part?"
Diana smiled. "I'm settling down in Washington, D.C. They don't really have a heroic presence there, and since I unwittingly allowed myself to become associated with the American flag, it's appropriate. Anyway, I'm opening a facility where I'll be teaching women self-defense classes."
"Equally appropriate," he said. "I trust you won't injure your students too much."
"I think we're equally adept at knowing our own strength, Clark," she answered dryly. Then her expression became curious. "What did Lois say to her, anyway?"
"Excuse me?"
"During the interview. Since then Audrey hasn't been skirting the edge of recklessness with our secret," she said. "Which has the added bonus of keeping the focus on us," Diana added, her eyes sparkling.
Clark shook his head, bemused. "The effect that girl has on you," he said. "If only Selina Kyle could get Bruce to loosen up as much."
Diana chuckled and then frowned. "What's that supposed to mean? You're saying I was uptight before?"
"Anyway," he said quickly, "Lois didn't tell me anything." Although that night, her comment about not being ready to have children had come out of left field. So had an unusually active sex drive. He coughed into his fist, remembering how that night had lasted for hours . . .
"Hm. We're missing her speech. They appear to be reacting to something she said."
"Don't worry, I've been listening. You know, special hearing," he reminded her.
"How could I forget?"
"She just exposed the fraud Savage perpetrated to make people think he was his own grandson," Clark explained. "That makes him a Nazi war criminal along with all his other misdeeds, and she's offered the Israeli delegation the chance to visit her country on a later date if they want proof. Not a bad gesture, by the way. Israel and America are allies, so better relations with the one could translate into better relations with the other."
Diana scowled. "Vandal Savage," she muttered. "He will never threaten my Audrey again."
Clark nodded. If he could escape from U.S. custody, then he could escape from the Kasnians. But no matter what Savage did, it didn't change what Superman had told Diana once. Audrey was family, and no harm would befall their family.
Talia checked herself out in the mirror, and then immediately wondered why. Naturally she wanted to look good, but it wasn't like she was going out on a date. This wasn't an evening with Bruce - a name she found increasingly easy to say. The endearment "beloved" tasted like curdled milk in her mouth now.
No, it was merely an evening in the company of . . . J'onn.
Why was she looking forward to spending time with the very man who had caused the shift in her feelings for Batman? Had he not caused her pain?
But if he only showed her the truth, then could she punish him for her own willful denial?
Talia shook her head. These hours she spent in conversation with the Martian were supposed to take her mind off such unpleasantry, not dredge them up.
As she left her quarters, she was brought up short as she almost bumped into her father. "Daughter," he said warmly.
"Father," she replied with a genuine smile. Could she punish her father either? For was her indecision not her own fault? Surely Ra's al-Ghul had always supported her relationship with Bruce, if for strategic reasons. "What brings you here?"
"Obviously nothing," he said, "for there is no one here to see. You're rushing off?"
She didn't even pause. Talia had not mentioned her new friendship with J'onn to her father, but she'd known her absence would be remarked upon sooner or later. So she'd already prepared - not a lie. Just a few words he'd want to hear. "I'm meeting someone, father," she told him. "A man."
He looked surprised. "Oh?"
"Yes, father. You may know him. He's one of Earth's most famous heroes, a member of the Justice League in fact."
Ra's al-Ghul's surprise grew, even as a smile tugged at his features. "Why didn't you tell me your affairs with the Detective had taken a turn, daughter?"
"We've had a breakthrough in our relationship, father," Talia told him. "Suddenly Bruce and I find each other in agreement about many things, including our feelings for each other."
"Talia, daughter, you have no idea how proud this makes me," Ra's replied. "I knew that one day, the Detective would have to face facts and become a part of my family. How long, do you think, before you are wedded?"
"Not - right away, Father," she said. Talia suppressed a flash of anger. How like her father to focus on Batman becoming his heir, rather than on Talia uniting with her "beloved". "If he were to marry me, I think the rest of the League might look upon him with doubt. Better to move slowly."
He nodded. "Of course, you are right, Talia. The news created a momentary weakness in me. I have enough time left. With the Detective entering the fold, I have more time than I hoped. Please, go to him, and offer him my thanks."
She nodded respectfully and turned to go. She looked back, however. "What was it you wished to see me about, father?"
Ra's smiled slyly. "It can wait, daughter. Just something in the news media that had been brought to my attention. Perhaps your new bond with the Detective will be of service." He waved her off. "Enjoy yourself."
Talia didn't think J'onn would possibly help Ra's al-Ghul with anything, but of course she didn't correct him.
As she left, Ra's perused once more the article he'd seen. "So, Mr. Savage," he said. "You hoped to hide your secret from the Demon's Head, but you have failed. Perhaps I shall not need an heir after all."
To be continued . . .
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