CHAPTER ELEVEN: STEEL THY HEART

A/N: Thanks to those who dropped me a word that they like Wally and Lucy together. Some words of caution, though: nothing is etched in stone.

In this chapter, the Atom does a Tuck Pendleton (the character Dennis Quaid played in the movie "Innerspace" which I don't own), and Selina has words with Lex.

Continue to let me know what you want to see in this story.

"You have to operate from inside of him?" Selina asked the Atom.

"Yes," he said. "It's the only hope he has."

"Is there anything I can do to help?" the Catwoman wanted to know.

The Atom faced Superman. He was unconscious. The monitors were peaceful for the moment. They registered a slight heart beat.

"No, we've got it covered," the Atom answered curtly.

Hang on, the atomic scientist urged to the Man of Steel. I won't let you die, and I won't let anyone hurt you, my friend.

He didn't trust Catwoman any farther than he could throw her. When he'd first heard about her, she had blonde hair. Since J'onn, the Flash, and he didn't know the name of the assailant, Selina could easily have been that woman; or, if Wally's story corroborated that she had been at Luthor's party, the other woman could have been her partner in the demise of Superman.

Selina was hurt and angry at the same time. It was obvious that this man in the red and blue costume, the one Batman had referred to as Atom, held her responsible for a crime that she didn't commit. Like a cat defending itself, Selina spun him around.

"Hey!" the superhero snapped.

"Hey, yourself!" Selina cried. "This won't take long." The Atom crossed his arms and frowned, waiting for the woman in the dress to make her speech.

"Now, look!" she said. "I know what you all think of me, and I don't blame you on a certain level. I am a criminal, and I've done some pretty questionible things. But if you know anything about me, then you also know that I don't kill my victims. I steal from them and I may put them in the hospital, but I don't attack them to this extreme."

Her eyes lingered on the Man of Steel's face. There was no movement, except for his closed eyes twitching.

"The Batman will tell you that I am extremely loyal to those who help me, and he is helping me on a case," Catwoman said. "So, maybe we should call a truce here until we find out more facts, okay?" The scientist considered whether he should believe her. He wasn't still certain of her veracity, but he thought of a way that he could be sure.

"All right," the Atom said, catching J'onn in his sights behind Selina. He nodded to the Martian, mentally asking him to see if Selina was lying about not being the one who poisoned Superman.

I shall find out, J'onn promised.

He gave the Atom the test results, then J'onn's mind slowly entered Selina's. The telepath saw no signs of lies or deception. He also saw no indication of a connection with the blonde from Superman's mind or anything else.

"You may be incorrect," the Martian Manhunter told the Atom. Before the smaller superhero said anything, J'onn looked at him.

I see nothing to indicate she is lying, the green skinned alien thought back to the scientist.

"In fact," J'onn said aloud, "if she had not been there with Superman after this happened, he might not have lived through it. She was the one who got the Flash to the location and therefore, they were able to come here in record time."

The Atom looked at Selina, and he finally said a little more gently, "There isn't much you can do, except pray to any gods you believe in. If we need you, we'll call you." The Catwoman opened her mouth to protest, but seeing the conciliatory look in the scientist's brown eyes, she nodded and went outside.

Once Selina had gone, the Flash teleported back with a huge grey box. "Hey, guys!" he said. "Where do I drop this?"

"Nowhere," Ray responded. "You carry it over to the table and wheel it beside the bed."

The youngest superhero readily complied. The Atom attached dials to Superman's chest, head, and arms. He then placed a tube down the Man of Steel's throat.

"Let's go into the lab and scrub up for surgery," the Atom commanded. When the Flash and the Martian Manhunter filed out, the atomic scientist walked outside to where Selina sat.

"I still don't know if you're that trustworthy," he said, "however, one is supposed to be innocent before he or she is proven guilty, right?"

"That's about the size of it," Selina responded. The Atom's red and blue clad arm shot out as he pointed down the hallway.

"There is a lounging area, complete with a comfortable couch," he said. "You can go there and take a catnap. If he survives the operation, Superman should be up and about in a few hours."

"Thank you," Selina said. She waited until the Atom and the other two heroes were in the room next door to where Superman lay. Coming back into the medical area, she rubbed his hand with her long, slender fingers. Tugging it to her cheek, the Catwoman felt the excessive heat coming from it.

"I'm sorry that you got mixed up in this," she said. "All you tried to do was help and look where that's got you. They always tell boy scouts to be prepared, even big blue ones."

Superman softly moaned. Selina looked by his bed for a tissue to dab his sweating brow with. When she didn't find one, she spied his cape on the chair by the table. She started reaching in his pockets.

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In the next room, the Flash was rinsing his hands very quickly. "I sure hope he makes it," he said. J'onn placed a companionable hand on the younger man's shoulder.

"He will," the Martian said with conviction. "Of that, I have no doubt."

"That's great!" the Flash exclaimed. "Cause the way he danced with the Catwoman and the way she held him when he was sick in the ladies' room, I would hate to see the S. S. Love blimp go down in flames!"

Both of the other heroes just stared at the Scarlet Speedster. He shrugged.

"What?" he asked innocently. "I know I was concerned for Supes when he decided to help her, and I still am, but Big Blue can take care of himself, and anyway, you didn't see them together. There's definitely something there. Maybe it's just animal attraction, but we owe it to them both to pull him through so that they can find out, hmm?"

The Atom shook his head and laughed a little, saying, "You are amazing! Leave it to you to turn a life-or-death situation into a chance at romance."

The Flash moved to defend himself. "I'm just sayin'," he muttered. By the time they reached the other room and wheeled the Man of Steel to the operating table, Selina was back in the hall.

"Don't worry," she said softly, "I promise that she'll pay for what she's done to you." Selina took out the teleportation device she had nicked from Superman's cape and after a moment of adjusting it to what she hoped was the proper setting, the cat burglar disappeared.

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Inside the operating room, having caught the exchange with his super hearing, the Man of Tomorrow groaned a soft, "No…". He lifted his arm as the Atom placed a mask over him and turned on some gas. Superman's arm dropped listlessly to his side.

No, stop…his mind said. J'onn caught the plea before Superman passed out.

"Don't worry," the scientist said, thinking Superman had been protesting the surgery or was simply delirious. "You're going to be okay," he told the Kryptonian while he prepared a hypo.

"What's in there?" the Flash asked as he beheld the green liquid inside the needle.

"Hair of the dog," the Atom replied. The younger superhero looked slightly confused before he got what the scientist was telling him.

"You mean, you're gonna use more Kryptonite on him?" he asked. "That'll kill him, for sure!"

"And how do you think I'll be able to pierce his skin in order to be injected inside?" the scientist asked. "Any other material wouldn't work."

"The Atom is correct," J'onn's harmonious voice agreed. "There is no other option." He faced the sometimes miniature superhero.

"I assume that you want to be injected into his arm?" the Martian asked.

"Yes," the Atom responded. He lowered his mask and placed a tiny grey device resembling a Bluetooth into his ear.

"I'll be in touch from the moment of entry," he promised. "You'll be able to see and hear everything I do." He placed a knapsack onto his back.

"This sack contains all the dust I'll need," he said, going on to explain, "the Man of Steel has about 25,000 particles inside of him already of the deadly substance. I've got to go through his arm, then fly over to his lungs and scatter the dust into him. Once it takes hold, his natural recuperative abilities will be able to expel the Kryptonite dust naturally."

"But, how're you going to get to his lungs?" the Flash asked. "You've got some kind of capsule or something, like in that movie Innerspace?"

The Atom smiled, saying, "Why, yes, actually. How did you guess?" J'onn was wheeling another table with a large capsule resembling a long cigar. It was silver and contained a single seat inside. There were hundreds of dials and graphs in it, including a small transmitter."

"You should have sufficient oxygen for four hours," J'onn told the atomic scientist. "After that, you shall need to return."

The Flash gave the Atom a thumbs up gesture as he said, "Good luck, buddy!"

The Atom climbed into the capsule and thought, I'm gonna need it! Aloud, he said, "Okay. I'll shut the door from all outside noise and test the communications band on my device." The Martian Manhunter walked over to a device resembling a radio and switched it on. Both superheroes waited a moment, then, they heard his voice.

The Flash went over to another part of the machine and spoke into its microphone. "All right!" he exclaimed. "You're coming through loud and clear!"

"So are you," the Atom chided, "so, try to keep the noise down, okay? It's not like I'm deaf."

"Sorry," the Flash apologized. J'onn took the hypo as the Flash took over the communications device. Both watched as the Atom's capsule got tinier and tinier. J'onn took a cylindrical barrel shaped device and placed it on the table next to where he hoped the Atom was. The Flash grabbed some glasses off of another table and handed one to J'onn and kept one for himself.

"You still with us?" the Scarlet Speedster was asking the diminutive scientist. A tense second had passed.

"Still here," the Atom's voice reported. "I'm inside of the black barrel. Attach it to the side of the needle and press the plunger in. I should be inside of the Kryptonite."

"What about the radioactive liquid?" J'onn asked.

"The capsule is shielded with enough lead so that I'll be okay," the Atom transmitted, "although that will start to lose its shielding, too, after the four hours. Hazards of being inside a body with different corrosives and such." J'onn attached the barrel and pressed the plunger. After a moment, they heard the Atom saying that he was inside the liquid and they breathed a sigh of relief.

"Now," the Atom's voice instructed, "inject me inside." J'onn used an alcohol pad and sterilized Superman's left arm. A moment later, he pressed the hypo to the skin and pushed all of the contents of it into Superman's body.

"Atom?" the Flash wondered. When he didn't hear anything, the Flash tried again.

"Atom?" he asked, worried.

"All clear! I've made it!" the tiny scientist's voice exclaimed. The Flash cheered and the Martian Manhunter muttered, "thank the moons of Esteria," a planet he had been fond of visiting on some trips from Mars.

"I must say, his body is amazing!" the Atom's broadcast commented. "I never get tired of seeing inside sub atomic particles!" A few minutes passed before the Atom announced that he was making his way past the corpuscles in Superman's arm and that it would take about ninety minutes before he reached an air duct.

Both heroes waited with baited breath for their colleague to report again.

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Selina checked her notepad which listed where Lex Luthor was staying. When she read the name Luthor Towers over the awning she knew she had found the right place. The Catwoman extended her metallic claws and smiled. She used her cat o' nine tails to grab onto the horizontal flag pole and swing up. Climbing up onto a balcony, Selina used the whip again to wrap it around the terrace on the seventh floor and swing onto its cement flooring.

She repeated the process three more times until she found herself on the floor where the Penthouse was.

She knew that, if she had wanted, she could have taken an elevator; however, she was on the prowl tonight and she wanted the element of surprise on her side. She peered inside the window and though the light was off, she could see the silhouette of Lex Luthor as he turned buried under his luxurious sheets.

Lex turned once more, and then his dark eyes snapped open when he felt a cold fingernail pressed against his trachea. He started to jerk himself up when he heard a low growl like that of a cat.

"What…?" he whispered.

The Catwoman's knees were on either side of the ruthless billionaire. "Move one inch farther and that will be the last sound you'll ever make!" she said softly.

"What is it you want?" Luthor asked, not moving.

The Catwoman smiled as she answered, "Information. You were at the party earlier with a blonde…a very pretty blonde."

"So?" Luthor said defiantly. His hand moved ever-so-slightly under the sheet to grab a device. Once he gripped it tightly, he pressed a button on it.

"I thought we should get together for a saucer of milk, so I want to know her name," Selina said sarcastically.

"How should I know?" Luthor asked. "I don't keep track of all of my lady friends. I have a better use for my time."

Selina traced her nail along the column of his neck. "Too bad," she said with mock concern. "It would be worth your while if you could remember this one."

Luthor's face gave nothing away. He just had to stall long enough for security to burst in to deal with this pest! "I believe her name is…" he started saying.

They both reacted to two security guards coming into the suite. Selina somersaulted off of the bed and slammed her leg into one guard, knocking him out. Before the second one could open fire or engage in a fist fight, the Mistress of Cats used her whip and disarmed him with a stinging blow. The man jerked back his injured hand, but was knocked out a second later.

Selina resumed her position with both knees beside Luthor's body. She clenched him with them so that Luthor grunted with some pain.

"I won't ask again," the Catwoman said. She jerked the sheets off of the evil billionaire and, spying the device, took it and threw it toward a wall so that it shattered. Luthor looked into her covered face with fear.

"Who is she, and where is her stomping ground?" she asked, her voice meaning business.

Lex rattled off her name and location, then when she was gone he reached over to his private extension by the bed. "Mercy!" he barked into the phone. "Get in here! I have a job for you!"