Author's Note: Well, I've pretty much taken forever to get this update out. Blame RL, writers block, and, unfortunately, an epic case of laziness. I apologize. Forgiveness? Here's chapter two. Thanks go to everyone that's read, Favorited, Author Alerted, and everything else so far. Big thanks to those that have reviewed. Your feedback has been great. Please keep it coming. Once again, thank Ron for the quick beta and Arcadia for her continued, good-natured reminders (and you too, Imfanci).
Be forewarned, mature-er content ahead.
"Diana, I'm telling you I'm fine! Let me go."
"Not without being sure. I'm sorry Kal."
"He's fine," J'onn Jones stated. Watching the imprisoned Kryptonian struggling against Wonder Woman's golden lasso. It held true. Unbreakable thread not even yielding for his great strength. It looked uncomfortable, and not for the first time the Last Martian wondered what it would be like to be a being that didn't have control of every single cell of his body. "You may let him go." he assured her.
"Are you sure? He could still be infected."
"Doubtful." The green skinned alien dismissed the notion easily. Still, she seemed unconvinced, not letting The Man of Steel free.
"Really, Diana. I'm fine." Superman was saying...
"We need to be sure."
The Martian simply stared at her. "What do you suggest?"
"Can you sense anything?"
"Yes, I scanned him. It is him."
"Oh," Wonder Woman loosened her grip on the lasso a little, surprised at the revelation. "You mean all this time restraining him was unnecessary? Why didn't you tell me?"
"He did."
"What?"
Batman walked down the Javelin ramp, joining the three other heroes, Flash trailing behind. Tiny tears peppered the Dark Knight's costume, legacy of a battle hard fought and barely won. Even Wally, the fastest man alive looked tired, and for someone that could run to Africa and back in under a second without breaking a sweat, that was saying something.
He repeated, a cloud of grumpiness following him, "He did tell you."
Clark, still entangled, cleared his throat to gain their attention, growing more and more frustrated by the minute, but Diana ignored him. Bruce rolled his eyes. If he didn't know better, he would've thought something was going on between the two of them. Good thing he did know better. He generally operated under the principle that Clark had a terminal problem with seeing what was right in front of his face. This being a prime example.
"When?" Diana asked.
"Twenty minutes ago on the Javelin."
Diana reddened, and Bruce's eyes narrowed, his expression invisible beneath his mask. "Excuse me. I need to go file a report."
"If you've finished proving my identity, can you please let me go now?" Clark demanded.
"Of course. I'm sorry Superman. I was just trying to be careful."
The Kryptonian tried to reign in his exasperation. It wasn't hard, he couldn't usually stay mad her. Still, he was incredulous. He'd been trying to tell her the exact same thing J'onn and Bruce had just now throughout the entire trip! "You kneed me in the back." He pointed out.
"I thought you were trying to break free."
"Five times?"
"Yes."
The Kryptonian shook his head. Exasperated.
"Why?"
"You were acting oddly. I thought you might be an impostor. I had to restrain you for your own good." As she said this, she still had the lengths of her lasso looped through her fingers and around her hands, shifting them back and forth slowly as she watched him closely. Superman frowned, feeling a sudden shiver come over him. Suddenly feeling like they were in fact talking about something else. He felt like... prey.
And the feeling disturbed him.
––
Clark scanned the bank of monitors in front of him.
They, like the the station itself, were a combination of human tech, with repurposed Kryptonian and even left over Thanagarian incorporated. Efficiency was key – the best equipment in order to keep up with the best the League had to offer. Superman had the data load set to full. It actually helped him focus. That, and it was the perfect distraction all at the same time. Remembering the incident outside of the Javelin made him grimace.
A sudden blur of movement behind his chair announced the Flash's entrance, smoothie in tow. "Hey, Supes. Shifts up."
Superman nodded a sober greeting having heard him from far off, but didn't otherwise signal any move to get up.
Looking at his teammate, the picture presented a minor dilemma for the speedster. His first impression was that the Man of Steel looked troubled, which for the firm but otherwise easy going Kryptonian was unusual. He considered Superman a friend and his conscience told him friends helped.
On the other hand, he had a feeling if he were to leave Superman wouldn't even notice. He could probably skip out on the whole monitor duty thing altogether. A bag of microwavable popcorn waited for him at home, along with his couch, and a marathon of Mystery Science Theater he might not have to miss after all. The good life. He was still debating the merits of being a friend or Mystery Science Theater when Superman spoke.
"Have you ever regretted something?"
Wally was caught off guard by the question, so much so he stopped stirring the contents of his rapidly diminishing drink. Thinking about it, Clark was equally surprised he'd asked.
"Well, yeah..." the younger man responded, "I guess. What kind of regret though? You mean 'regret' like forgetting to put on a clean pair of underwear regret, or regret regret, like failing to save the world?"
Superman shook his head. He wasn't phased by the younger man. Wally was well intentioned most of the time and good at heart. "The second, Wally" he expounded, somewhat tiredly, "with a little bit of the first."
"You mean a medium level regret. Why didn't you just say so? Yeah, all the time, dude. But, you know me," he cocked his thumbs at himself, and made a slight 'swoosh' sound, "Fastest Man alive here. Nothing too major to correct." He took another sip. "Why do you ask?"
Clark told himself to shut up, but somehow found himself talking anyway. He wouldn't be too specific. "No reason, it's just I... have this friend, coworker really – more of an acquaintance – who's, uh, having some woman problems. I would give him advice, but it's nothing I have a single bit of experience with. The problem, not women, I mean."
Smooth.
But Flash hadn't noticed. Instead, he looked at him with wide eyes.
"Forget I asked––" Clark backpedaled.
"Yeah," Wally sputtered in interruption, seeming to come out of his split second daze. "Yeah, it's fine. It's just... I never thought I'd see the day. Big Blue asking me, the Speedster, for relationship advice. You came to the right guy though. I can read women like an open book, or, y'know, a very expensive magazine. I won't let you down."
Superman scratched the back of his head. "Uh, right. I'm not asking for myself though. It's for my friend."
"Got that part. K, go ahead. Shoot."
"Anyway, apparently, my friend told... a lie, you could call it. To test out whether his girlfriend would be alright with trying something different. And–"
"First mistake." Flash had interrupted, seeming to inhale his smoothie – loudly – the next moment, "Yeah, sorry. Go on."
Clark did. "But he told the wrong lie. I'm assuming. Not that there's such a thing as a good lie. Anyway, my friends a good guy, honest actually. Really upstanding in a sort of understated way. But he got this one wrong."
Flash interrupted again, this time with a snort, "You can say that again. No offense to your friend, but he sounds like a real grade-A moron." The statement was accompanied by air quotes.
Clark pursed his lips. "Believe me, it wasn't one of my better moments-" Flash perked an eyebrow, and Clark quickly amended the sentence. He had to clean that one up, and fast. "I mean, I'm sure it's not one of my friend's better moments. Anyway, now that he told her the lie she's operating under it and it's kind of backfiring. I'm not sure what to advise him."
"Is she hot?"
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"Only, like, everything. Listen well: in a critical mass situation you always have to evaluate the hotness factor. If she's say... a Buick, he might want to consider a return and refund. Now if she's a Corvette... " he whistled sweetly.
The Kryptonian tried not to grind his teeth. "He's not going to leave her, alright." He declared with finality. Then muttered: "She's not... a Buick. Whatever that means. I guess she's a Corvette."
"At least you're giving me something to work with. Honestly, it sounds like your friend should just tell the truth."
Clark sat back, surprised to hear that advice coming from Wally of all people. He reminded himself to give Wally credit for being more mature than he'd thought.
"You really think so?" He'd pretty much come to the same conclusion. It didn't hurt to hear affirmation, though.
Flash laughed, "Are you kidding? No!" He pushed off from the table, "The truth is a horrible idea. I've been in this same situation myself. Well, a similar one, anyway. If she finds out your friend tried to trick her, she'll destroy him." He motioned with his hands something being crushed. Wally missed the grimace that flashed across Superman's face. "Absolutely wreck him. I've seen it before. His only option is to lie, lie, and lie some more."
Clark smiled tightly. "Right. Thanks." He muttered.
"Hey, don't look so down. It's not like we're talking about you, right?" the self proclaimed Fastest Man alive laughed. Superman didn't join him. In fact, now that Flash thought about it, he looked the opposite of amused. He trailed off... "Because that would... be bad... oh god. We're not, it's not...? I mean... we're not talking about you, right?"
Superman didn't say anything.
Wally's jaw dropped. "Really? Wow. I mean, I didn't... it's... I didn't think you had it in you. Not that it's necessarily a bad thing, you're just always so...
Clark sighed. This had been a disaster. "Perfect? I'm actually not."
"Yeah. You have no idea how much I admire you right now. I take back every joke I made about you to Batman."
"Wally, this isn't really helping-"
But the younger man kept going. "Who is it? Is she someone here? You can tell me. In the League? Oh. my. god. Is it Zatanna? I thought you didn't like magic– although that kind of magic I can't blame you for-
"Wally-"
"No, no– sorry."
"It's alright-"
He was interrupted.
"Dinah? It's her, isn't it? Puts a new meaning to the term 'screamer'–"
"She's with Ollie-"
"Duh! Of course not. She's with Green Arrow."
"Wally, I'm not-"
"Shayera? I mean, it couldn't be Wondy..."
"Wally!" Clark was starting to get a little angry. Not forgetting to put on clean underwear angry, either. He stopped suddenly. "Wait, what?"
"What what?" Flash asked.
The Kryptonian resisted the urge to force his fingers into his temple. "Why couldn't it be Diana?"
"Oh. Well, no offense, Supes, but she's batting for the opposing team. I'm, like, seventy-six percent sure."
"Excuse me?"
"You know, hungry for the soft flesh? Petting the friendly weasel? Lesbian. I've tried coming onto her, like, fifty times. No go. Definitely a lesbian."
Getting up from the chair, Superman took a deep breath. "Wally," he began; the younger man nodded, "Don't take this the wrong way, but your advice sucks."
Flash just shrugged. "No offense taken, Big Blue," he paused to put down his empty drink, "But, you knew who you were asking. If we're being serious, you're the guy coming to me for advice, I mean, what does that say? Just a thought."
Silently, Clark conceded the point.
"You, uh, you want to take my shift? I mean, you looked troubled. Why don't you just, you know, sit back down and sort it out. I'll look the other way this time. No prob."
"I'm not taking your shift, Wally." He moved to leave, "By the way, you wouldn't have happened to see Wonder Woman on your way here?"
"Yeah, I think she just beamed up with John. Why?"
"No reason. Thanks Flash.
Plopping into the just vacated seat, Wally reached for his drink, only to remember it was empty. Still, as he stared into the oval depths of the straw a revelation hit him. One just as profound and mind blowing as the swirling stripes adorning said straw. He replayed Clark's last question, about Wonder Woman. What if... could it be?
"Nah."
He snapped out of it. That sort of thing couldn't happen. Like, ever. There had to be some sort of law that said a man couldn't be that lucky.
––
Purple and red.
It repeated itself in intermittent, timed cycles. A rainbow brush bathing bathing two figures. Hence, purple and red. They were near the reactor core. Besides powering the entire Watchtower, it routed directly to the binary fusion cannon that had been taken control of and discharged by Lex Luthor.
A tool meant for good used for the wrong reasons was never a good thing.
Leaving the monitor room ten minutes before, he'd gone in search of Diana and found her.
"How did we end up here?" the question was hers, asked in the time it took to disengage from kissing him and catch her breath.
It was a good question.
The answer was a short one, immersed in the logic that had had him asking to speak to her privately to begin with. Him walking to her quarters would raise suspicions. Her doing the same to his would be unacceptably indiscrete. Someplace private emerged in the form of a service corridor. She'd craned her neck and kissed him, one small peck, and well, things had gotten a bit out of hand.
And so there they were. An Amazon and a Kryptonian. Purple and lilac dripping over them. Superman and Wonder Woman. Three quarters of a trinity in one confined place, two halves of a bad, unsound idea put together. In superhero terms, a reactor core was sort of unspectacular. The fantastical equivalent of a supply closet, so to speak.
He pulled back, "Wait... there's something I need to... to tell you."
"It can wait." she attested.
He almost gave in. Clark wasn't fighting this anymore, but he still needed to tell her the truth he'd decided. His conversation with Wally had sparked something. If he were honest, he'd admit that Diana had had something to do with it. He didn't mind continuing, even with the fatigue, slaps, and everything else. The last few weeks had been trying.
In the cold outside the Fortress had been new.
Two-hundred feet below sea level next to a coral reef had been... different – him inside her, hands bruising hard on her hips, seeing how long she could really hold her breath.
But just the last time, no sooner had he finished demolishing an escaped, insane Solomon Grundy, she had claimed emergency, sequestered him and truth be told, no good had come of it.
"We should... stop. This is crazy." It was true. Superman had her cornered, back pressed up against the metal wall, the reactor humming somewhere undisturbed behind them. "We're going to get caught. Or worse."
"Would it be such a bad idea if the others were to find out?" Wonder Woman asked.
"No." He paused, "But– Jesus!" She had just reached her hand down his pants. Well, tights.
"Diana." she corrected huskily.
Useful tools put to good use in mindful hands were never, ever, a bad thing.
With force, she felt him pin her against the bulkhead. He lost a little more control as he kissed her harder and she gripped him harder.
"You've been acting crazy lately, Diana," he breathed into the gentle swell of her neck, "Today. Other times." Her back arched when he kissed her throat. The armored bustier that kept her chest protected in battle was useless with him. She felt uncontrollably warm,sweaty. Her uniform too constricting when all the Themysciran wanted was to feel every inch of him pressed against every inch of her.
"Why do you think that is, Kal?"
It was practically a giveaway.
Yes, she knew – had figured out his little game. Almost from the start.
"Is there a way I'm supposed to behave?" she challenged. "Tell me."
The realization had given her every reason to be angry. It was funny, the ways anger had of expressing itself. What about being with her left him dissatisfied that he had to tell her with a book, rather than directly.
Honestly.
He appeared startled, she thought. And in the strobing warning-light of the reactor core, his grimace wasn't just her imagination. Deep, sea blue eyes shone through to hers. Lavender and magenta bringing the strong, masculine lines of his profile into a harshly handsome perfection. A long silence followed. But right when she thought he was about to answer her, he swooped in and captured her lips in rapturous distraction instead. Dragging her into a knee-weakeningly good kiss. It was almost good enough to make her forget some of her anger.
Almost.
Heat burned in her gut and even with the way the fabric of her suit rode uncomfortably low against the skin of her back, she ignored the wall behind her, stumbling back slightly. By instinct, she held onto him. One hand on his muscled shoulder, the other... well, elsewhere. Diana, aware she hadn't let go, felt no shame.
His hand on her wrist surprised her when she moved to disengage. Kal was gentle – he always was, not that her body required it – but firm. Insistently holding her wrist, keeping her slender fingers against him. The shudder that coursed through her was preceded only by the one that she felt run through him.
"Keep going."
Hera, the man was going to be the end of her.
Even as he spoke the words into her hair, he moved to kiss her, lips waging a solicitous campaign against her own. Tongue executing a winning war against her mouth. There was something dirty about it. She felt out of sync. Slightly ahead of herself and indefinably behind. Every time he pulled back to give her air, she came up out of breath. Lost.
He bit her bottom lip, pulling it slightly, ministrations leaving her mouth to fixate affection on her throat, hoist her further up against the wall and her bustier closer to his face, finding her breasts. Hera help her, her kiss-swollen lips parted and she keened softly. Not too far gone to notice the obvious, it didn't escape her that every time she made a sound – gasped, whimpered; made a move, fidgeted – he seemed to swell. Giving an overeager jerk, she started on him, began to stroke him. Heated, fog-filled brain taking a distinctly feminine pride in the pinched grunts, the deep, baritone pants he gave and she took.
She had him in the palm of her hand– literally. He groaned. Ground his hips into her hands.
It made her careless. It made her hot and it made her burn. She had a desire to undo him, to unravel him so he could come back together for her to watch. So it was no surprise that when his breathing became irregular, she slowed her strokes, when he started to pant, hips thrusting her into the wall, Diana shifted one hand lower, the thumb of the other thumbing – no pun intended – his head.
Her reward was a rush of endorphins flooding her, making her lightheaded. A thousand-million chemical bodies with little capes rushing through her veins. Creating this effect in her. She was about to...
"Hera..." she breathed. She felt him grow slightly, and knew that he was close as well.
"Oh god..."
They said it together.
Superman tensed, alarm showing on his features, "No... really! The core!"
"What?"
"The core! If... if I go off and something... hits the core...!" Her hand stilled, but even that, even the simple warm, caressing existence of the Amazon's hands was enough. Kal, being Kryptonian and powered by a yellow sun, well, it wasn't just that some of his functions were super, it was that they all were. If he went off...
... Near the core.
After a split second of passion clouded stupefaction, her eyes widened in comprehension. Diana gasped.
Kal jerked.
There was only one option. Whether it was selflessness, heroism, or the base part of her that sought release, Diana reacted in a heartbeat, hand pushing aside the line of star spangled fabric, guiding his length into her. Athletic legs instinctively wrapped around his waist.
He gave a strangled cry, halfway between a gasp and a growl, and thrust deep before going still, his warm seed filling her. His release was a trigger to Diana's own. From somewhere far off, a crash sounded and the room seemed to shake. The Amazon was only dimly aware of her head having made contact with the wall. There was pain, yes, but mixed with the pleasure he was giving her, the recklessness of the moment and, yes, even the risk of discovery. There was his scent and the crushingly hard, almost suffocating weight of all of him pressed against all over her. She came – hard. Stars formed behind her eyes, her heels dug into the muscles of his rear. She blinked, body subject to an excruciatingly potent orgasm.
For his part he seemed no less effected. He was a gasping, sweaty mess, blue eyes dilated and sweeping over her face like a searchlight in troubled tight, her core was silken and wet and constrictingly tight. Superman dropped to his knees, a limp Wonder Woman in his lap.
It was true, saving lives had never felt so good.
But besides that, there was a more pressing concern.
"How long?"
She caught her breath. "Almost the beginning."
"And you didn't tell me? Was that what this was all–"
"I could say the same of you, Kal." Diana interrupted, hand brushing damp hair out of her face. He was still inside her, it was... distracting. "Next time tell me."
"I'm still sorry about the first time."
"As you should be." He would find no forgiveness from her.
He moved to rise, gently disentangling. But before he could respond, he was forestalled.
*Superman* A voice broadcasted into his mind. It was instantly recognizable as J'onn Jonzz, the Martian Manhunter. *Is everything all right? I detected severe shocks against the hull originating at your location up until a moment ago.*
Superman grimaced.
"Right, J'onn. I just, yeah, I just fixed the problem."
*What was the problem? My equipment isn't registering any failure.*
"There was... something misaligned, I had to... cool the... core... with my hands."
There was a pause, followed by a gentle shifting that felt like Martian surprise on the other end of the telepathic connection. Not wanting him in his head then, of all times, Clark quickly activated his communicator.
"Wonder Woman is with you?" the Manhunter's voice came through.
"I... err–"
"Yes I am, J'onn," the Amazon spoke up for the first time, "I was... assisting Superman."
"I see. Do the two of you require my assistance?"
"No!" the answer had come almost a little too quickly, a little too harshly. She pointedly ignored the warning look Clark sent her. "Thank you. We'll write a report."
It seemed to satisfy or at least mollify the Martian, because after a moment and following a "I very much look forward reading it." he ended the communication.
Alone again, both heroes took the moment to recompose themselves. He pulled up his pants and she adjusted her uniform. In the midst of their... rendezvous, her lasso had slipped from her waist. Without a word, Superman bent and handed it to her. She accepted it in much the same manner, only reaching up to brush his characteristic curl back into existence at the last possible second as he moved to pass her. Together, the two heroes moved back the way they had come. Albeit with a little less dignity than when they had arrived.
Diana was the first to break the silence, and she asked seriously. "Do you think he suspects?"
"That depends: that we were fooling around or that we almost blew up the station while we were fooling around?"
The Amazon for the first time showed regret. "Hera, don't remind me."
He wouldn't. But he would remember. Her against the wall, him pressed against her, purple and red streaming over them both – honestly, Clark didn't think he was likely to forget that anytime soon. Outwardly, he only nodded, sobering. They stepped out of the reactor room, and soon were in a service elevator.
"Seriously," Clark muttered incredulously, almost to himself. "All this time?"
"Yes. All this time."
"I'm sorry," he said after a while, "I should've been direct. I suppose this makes us even."
She didn't respond.
"Diana?"
The doors opened to the transporter room, the presence of others about to intrude. She turned her head to look up at him at the last second, and he couldn't quite identify her expression.
"No, Kal." she said simply, "Not yet."
––
Author's Note: It's looking right about now like Clark has everyone reason to hate me. I'm not being very kind, am I? *laughs evilly* Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed. Let me know what you think. Chapter three is coming soon and will be the last.
