December 9th
Greenup Kentucky
0945 EST
Seven months after the quake
"Kris, are you doing okay?" Aasha asked, poking her head into the spare bedroom. She'd appointed herself his unofficial nurse while he recovered from his reassignment surgery, which largely consisted of checking on him and being told he was perfectly fine.
"I'm perfectly fine Aasha, but thank you." Kris replied, not bothering to dismiss the holographics that were filling the room. "You don't have to keep interrupting your day to see to me, I promise."
"But I'm worried about your health." She argued, slipping fully into the room. "With Babs and Deke in Gotham, I want to be certain you're doing well. I can at least be sure you're keeping occupied. What is all this?" she asked, leaning her head around to look at one of the holographs. It appeared to be a wireframe mesh of something, what it was, she wasn't exactly clear on.
"A pet project of mine. Believe it or not, it came to me when they were giving me anesthesia. I feel kind of foolish it took that to spark the idea." Kris said, absently gesturing to rearrange the myriad images into something that made more sense.
"Oh wow, when I had my boob job, I don't even remember being given anything. Just getting wheeled towards a room, and then waking up with the girls hurting." Aasha said, pulling up a chair. "So, what is this exactly?"
"Well, right now it's a series of designs, but once I can get it all fit together, it'll be a suit of armor. I found I kept making slapdash sets when I felt it necessary, but it seems like that necessity is becoming more and more common. Currently, I'm trying to determine how to power it and keep the sleek design I want." Kris said, reaching over and taking a sip of water.
"So, vanity then. What's your plan if it all goes your way?" Aasha asked while flipping through her tablet to see what the Gallery had on its acquisition list once the full reopening occurred. Ambitious, but doable, was her opinion on it.
"This." Kris said, pulling one of the holographs to the forefront and giving his computer a mental command to expand it. What stood there was a smooth silver suit of powered armor, though the hands and feet were slightly disproportionate to the rest of the body, and the shoulders were much broader than would be expected from the rest of the frame. The helmet had a straight visor instead of eyes, and lacked a nose or mouth, instead having a short protrusion that resembled a dust mask.
"Intimidating to say the least. A bit drab though, don't you think?" Aasha said thoughtfully.
"Oh, let me run the animation." Kris replied devilishly, and mentally commanded it to play. Just like his previous costume, the same randomized color shifting began working over the body. "I wouldn't want to be drab."
"Oh good. I loved the color shifting on your previous costume, I'm glad you kept it." Aasha said, taking a minute to get a good look at her 'patient'. He'd let his hair grow out some, just enough to get it trimmed to a more even length, and had gone with a spiker look instead of the smooth combed part he'd kept for years. A faint trace of stubble also decorated his cheeks. He'd been so particular about remaining clean shaven for so long, Aasha had almost forgot it was possible for him to grow facial hair at all.
"I always considered it my trademark. I couldn't not do it. Fortunately, that particular feature consumes almost no power, unlike the signal booster I've built in." Kris complained, racking his brain for the solution. "The Atom gave me some schematics to play with, but nothing produced the right level of output, and without access to more advanced materials, I'm stuck."
"What kind of materials?" Aasha asked, hoping he didn't get deeper into the tech talk. She was having no trouble following him at the moment, but that could change in a heartbeat.
"Superconductive materials, like Dwarf Star alloy, or rare earth metals like iridium, plus several more esoteric things. Aasha, feel fortunate that you're self-sustaining." Kris said while glaring daggers into the holographic screen.
"Deke says I'm a feedback loop. Is that what you're trying to do here?" Aasha asked, glancing around the room to make sure she didn't have any other chores in there that needed tending to.
"Yes and no. A feedback loop is optimal, since it's capable of recharging at rest, and only discharging while in use. To meet my requirements here though, I run the risk of a very unpleasant explosion. I need to catch lightning in a bottle in order to ensure that doesn't happen." He said, gingerly readjusting himself into a more comfortable position.
"Oh, that's no big deal. I know a spell for that." Aasha said in a chipper tone, finally feeling helpful. She grabbed a glass off the nightstand, flash evaporated the remaining water within it, and then whispered over the brim before discharging a small shock into the cup, where it simply sat there, arcing and swirling like a tiny storm.
What was a child's parlor trick for Aasha, was a dramatic and profound thing for Kris, who simply sat there in surprise, not sure what to do about it. "That's amazing. How long will that last?" he asked, baffled by the ability of a magician to scoff in the face of possibility.
"Not sure, I've only done it a couple of times, and I dispelled the effect when I was finished with it. It's reflecting off the glass so potentially forever if left undisturbed. I can attest two and a half hours for certain though." Aasha said, pointedly not mentioning how she knew that.
"Does it require glass?" He asked next, his mind already firing off in a thousand directions.
"Not sure, finish your water and we'll find out." She said, pointing to his nearly empty water bottle. "I am curious though, why don't you use the same source that powers Cyborg?"
Kris paused, not sure how to explain that to her without going over her head or sounding condescending. "There's not much real person left in him. He can use a much bigger source. Also, Doctor Stone is a brilliant xenotechnologist. He used components left over from Darkseid's invasion."
"Oh dear," Aasha said, drawing the last bit of water out of the bottle and repeating her trick. The moment she discharged electricity into it though, the bottle suddenly blackened and began smoking, forcing her to immediately dispel her work before it melted all over her lap.
"Bloody hell!" she shrieked, tossing the extremely hot and extremely limp bottle into the small trash can. "I guess that answers that."
Kris nodded, leaning over further to give her a better look. He couldn't do much in his current condition, but having had his penis for all of three days had already taught him he hated feeling limp-dicked in a situation. "You're okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine." Aasha replied sheepishly, the tip of her tongue coming out of her mouth in thought. "Glass is too fragile for what you want. Diamonds are too. What about ceramic? They use that in electrical things don't they?"
"They do, as a matter of fact. I appreciate your assistance, but if you have better things to do, then please, do them instead." Kris said, one of his screens already running some calculations. "You're not the only one that hates being a bother."
"Oh, it's no bother Kris. I have quite literally nothing I need to do. Breakfast dishes are finished, the kitchen is cleaned, and Babs made the bed before they left for Gotham." Aasha said, running through the list of chores in her head to make sure she hadn't missed anything.
"Speaking of her, I don't mean to pry, but were you two arguing this morning?" Kris asked, not sure if he'd dreamt it or if it had actually happened. It had woken him up, but with his door shut, and the very sturdy construction of the home, sound hadn't traveled that well.
"Yes, that was us." Aasha said with a peculiar smile. "I get bratty with her now and again. I doubt you want to hear this, but I'm hoping she'll get frustrated enough to properly spank me for it."
That gave Kris a moment's pause. "You, you want her to spank you?" he asked, learning more about her in that statement than he had over the past four years.
"Goodness yes. It's really the only complaint I have about my living arrangement actually. They're both too afraid to swat me a good one. I get it, and I respect it, but bugger all if I'm not going to keep trying." She said mischievously. "I'm convinced it's just not within Deke to do it at all. I thought he was going to have a breakdown when I convinced him to choke me."
"Ash, the things I'm leaning about you." Kris said with a shake of his head. "Is this what sexually active people do all day?"
"I mean, probably. I know it's what we do. I get bratty with Babs, and I play the damsel with Deke. Sometimes I piss her off just to go running off crying to him." Aasha said, wondering if this was how Maddie felt when she started off on one of her stories.
"That seems a bit manipulative, don't you think?" Kris asked. Perfectly asexual but also intelligent, he understood the hows of things, though fathoming the whys was a whole other beast that he never really devoted time to wrangling.
"I suppose, if it were something important or legitimate. I picked a fight with her about her shirt. I told her it was navy and she argued that it was black, we just got loud about it. It's play, Kris, nothing more. It's sweet of you to worry though." Aasha said, reaching for a brush before his bedhead got too unruly and he went from spiky to bald from the tangles.
"For the next week or two, worrying is about all I'm good for. Well, that, and a surprise, if you're willing to keep the secret." He said with a wink. He'd not been idle, and if he was being honest, learning about Aasha's sex life was edging towards uncomfortable.
"Of course, let's hear it." Aasha said, gently brushing Kris' hair for him, something she was quite certain nobody had done for him since he was little.
"So, I brought a briefcase full of my advanced nanites. When I got here, I wrote a script and sent them off. For the past three days, they've been spreading and multiplying, using the available resources in the ground to do so. Once there's enough, they'll return, bore a hole deep enough for my purposes, and allow me to set the house up for geothermal power as well as heating and cooling. They've already finished constructing the water reclamation system we use at the Hacienda, and it's tied into the water lines. Once the power is set up, that will feed into a perpetual water heater. Eliminating all of the bills here is the least I can do, especially since it costs me effectively nothing to do it."
"That's so thoughtful of you." Aasha said, still running the brush through his hair. "I think he'd be delighted when he finds out. I know having more hot water will be a big plus for all of us."
"I agree," Kris said with a yawn. "I'm working with several civil engineers in Gotham, and those water reclamation systems are going in under every city block, once we can secure the funding. I can't just nanocraft them unfortunately."
"Are you getting sleepy again?" Aasha asked, setting the brush aside and just using her fingers to stroke his hair.
"Yeah, and I think I need a pill too. Thank you Aasha, this means a lot to me." Kris said, popping one of his painkillers since the ache in his brand new junk was getting too much to ignore. "Hopefully I'll be through with these tomorrow or the next day."
"That's a good goal but don't let yourself suffer. Enjoy your nap." She said, placing a chaste kiss on his forehead. "Lunch will be ready about the time you wake up. Shall I bring it up to you?"
"No, the doctors told me I shouldn't just lay about. I'll try and come down the stairs, but I promise to call for help if I need it." Kris said, fighting the blush in his cheeks down. He had some of the best people on Earth for family.
After a punishing yoga routine that Barbara had the nerve to describe as light, Aasha caught herself a quick shower and pulled up some couch to watch some television. As she flipped through the channels, she paused at the news, her heart already jumping into her throat.
"This is Cat Grant with GBS, here on the scene in Gotham City, where only minutes ago three members of what we're told are the Sinestro corps, have shown up to what can only be described as undoing the rebuilding and cleanup work." She said, showing nerves of steel in announcing the news while in the middle of the maelstrom of yellow energy.
"Wait, it looks like members of the Justice League are joining the Bat Family in handling this menace. Phil, are you getting this?" She said, already off screen as her cameraman panned up to show the situation.
The Batwing was in the air, maneuvering through the steel and concrete canyons of Gotham, while Batman swung near it on a line. Three yellow ring wielding villains were in the process of trying to handle them, when one seemed to just go into massive jitters before being slammed into one of the remaining abandoned buildings.
Aasha smiled, knowing who was piloting the Batwing, and who had shaken and slammed the Sinestro corps member. When two of the Green Lanterns arrived, their rings adding verdant energy to the mass of yellow, she knew she was in for a wonderful show. A huge part of her wanted to grab her bolero jacket, toss it on, and take the Zeta into Gotham to join the fight, but she had no desire to leave Kris alone while he healed. Some time in the field would have to wait a while.
