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Part II, Chapter VIII**********************************************************
Batman groaned and rolled over. As he did so, he felt something warm and wet sticking to his face. He pressed gloved fingertips against the presumed injury, but when he pulled his hand away he noticed it wasn't blood at all, but something clear, definitely viscous. Rolling completely onto his back, he looked up into the beaming faces of Harley and Kalibak. Batman moved his head just in time to avoid another sticky glob of Kalibak's drool.
"Heya Junyah! How's da head?"
Batman swallowed his groan and responded tersely, "Fine."
He got to his feet and his companions did as well. Harley jumped, and Kalibak rolled gracelessly from his rear to his knees and after struggling a little, managed to push himself off the ground.
"Now whaddya wanna do?"
"Check for survivors."
"Suhvivuhs?" Harley giggled. "Yeh really crack me up Junyah!" She patted him roughly on the back.
"Thanks," he responded dryly before turning on a flashlight. The odd cadence of footsteps signaled that his "sidekicks" were following him but because Harley was probably right, and there were no survivors, he wasn't worried about their safety anymore.
Within minutes, he was in the charred chamber that housed three, now deceased, members of Intergang. Carefully stepping over their remains, he surveyed the room.
A door. He almost grinned. Pushing against it, his would-be grin would have faded when it didn't move. He ran his hands lightly around the seams, looking for some weakness in the steel. There was neither doorknob nor handle. No control pad was in sight either.
A shrill whistle drew his attention upwards.
"Yo Junyah! We gotta stand heh all night or what?"
Thinking of Kalibak and the door, he tossed a grappling hook to Harley.
"Ever use one of—" He stopped when she deftly shot out the hook and swung down.
A semi-toothy grin spread across the aged face. "Mistah J and I use ta play with yeh Pop's toys every chance we got!"
"How?"
"Yah don't wanna know." She patted him on the back once more and walked over to the steel door and bellowed, "PUDDIN'!"
Kalibak came running.
"Good boy!" Harley kissed his helmet. "Open da door feh momma!"
Kalibak promptly ran into the door, head first, and just as promptly fell back onto the ground.
Batman took a step closer to Harley and murmured, "Tell him to use the ring."
"How?"
"With this thoughts."
Harley chortled, "Now I love mah Puddin', but even I know we're gonna wait awhile feh that!"
Batman shrugged and said innocently, "Maybe I could use it?"
"Great idea Junyah!" She turned to the prostrate Kalibak, "Give momma yeh ring, Puddin'."
Kalibak immediately held out a hand, or was it a paw? Batman wasn't sure. Harley pulled off the ring and held it out to Batman.
"Theh ya go Junyah!"
Trying to hide his surprise that his plan worked so easily, he slipped on the ring and focused on pushing down the door.
Nothing happened.
He closed his eyes and thought about the door falling down.
Nothing.
"A Bat-bazooka be nice about now," Harley giggled.
Batman grinned ruefully in self-deprecatory humor, "More like a BAT-tering ram."
"Didja see that?" Harley jumped excitedly.
For a second, a green battering ram emerged from the ring.
He smiled briefly as he nodded. Concentrating his thoughts on an object instead of an action, the battering ram emerged again and starting pounding down the door. Finally the door gave. Batman pushed it to the ground and stepped through.
Frozen and speechless, he didn't even bother telling Harley to get out.
"Lookit aaawwww these toys!"
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Darkseid watched the mother of his child retreat to palace and sneered. Granny Goodness was watching his face carefully.
"You don't mind that she's gone through twenty-eight slaves already? That's a lot of escaped slaves."
Darkseid chuckled, a deep rolling laugh full of mirth and venom. "Not all of them escaped." He stepped from the balcony and walked slowly around his throne.
"She thinks she's outsmarted me. As though all these hobbling cripples could escape the fortress that easily."
"So you are letting them go? Why? We need the labor!"
"Enough Granny. Don't question me. Really, she's just provided me with more despair. She fuels the Anti-Life Equation."
"How?"
"I send my Hunger Dogs after her fleeing slaves." He shrugged and sighed, "They've only caught half of them, but what catches they were. Even the ones that get away, their fear . . . I can taste it."
"Brilliant my lord."
"I know."
"May I make one suggestion?"
"Quickly."
"May Artemis join in the hunt with her Cyberdogs?"
"A wager?"
"Between you and I, sir? Yes."
"I like it. This one was quite ill, so the Princess will probably send her on her way tomorrow. Have your Fury ready then."
Granny Goodness grinned wickedly and strode away to tell the huntress of the Female Furies the exciting news.
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Clark hurried after Alfred as the Englishman navigated his way through the crowds with ease. Clark, on the other hand, felt every bit of his gangly, awkward height, as he bumped into one person after another, inviting a lot of glares and sneers. Fortunately, most people were focused on entering the bar and didn't want to lose their place.
A few shoves and flustered apologies later, Clark was once again standing beside Alfred.
"To protect these people, Master Clark, you must understand their desperation. You will see the lives they lead and your moral compass may question their choices--perhaps even scorn them. You do them no favors if you cannot respect the people you serve."
"I also can't help them if I don't train, either, huh?" He was thinking of the man who just got stabbed.
Alfred lips twitched in a grin before his dry response. "Let's see if that thick head of yours can handle any more epiphanies tonight."
Clark followed Alfred's gaze and realized they were standing before a tented-off enclosure. He could hear voices inside, as well as sounds of pain.
"Alfred? People are crying in there. Are we going to help them?"
"That isn't pain you hear, sir. I was under the impression that Mr. Free had this talk with you?"
"Oh." The teenager's face turned bright red. Scott started to explain, but became flustered. Tim came to the rescue with a videotape. Scott talked through the whole thing, constantly stating that what was on screen wasn't accurate at all, whereas Tim was giggling and blushing. "Yes, he . . . explained."
Alfred pulled aside part of the tent, and gestured, "After you."
Clark ducked his head and walked slowly, his eyes darting everywhere. He saw women huddled together, but when they saw him, several jumped to their feet. Their smiles were strange. He saw men scattered around the enclosure. Near worthless coins were pressed into open palms as other women looked on. Murmured arguments reached his ears and he realized what the negotiations were for. Most of the noises he heard outside where coming from the other side of the tarp that hung where a wall should be. He couldn't resist moving towards it.
A hand slid along his coat sleeve and he startled. He looked into the large brown eyes of a girl no older than he and turned, looking for Alfred. He realized too late that Alfred was still outside. He was alone.
"Hey." Her voice was soft, unexpected to his ears given the roughness of their surroundings.
"Do you live here?" A hundred other questions pushed to the forefront of his mind, but this one reached his lips first. He concentrated on the quiet rhythm of her voice and tried to ignore the din of arguments, panting, and moans.
"We don't have to do it here. Wherever you want." Her eyes were pleading from a pale face that sunlight never kissed.
"Why?"
Her face cracked into a small smile as her brow furrowed in confusion. "Why what?"
"Why are you asking . . . me?"
"Oh," her eyes turned downward and her face soon followed, "Sorry to bother you mister."
He realized he wanted to catch her glance again and grabbed her arm.
"Lemme go," she tried shrugging her arm from his grip.
"I'm sorry. I just don't understand this."
"What's to understand," the sweetness of her voice was replaced by belligerence, "You pay me, I let you fuck me, that's it."
Clark dropped her arm in surprise.
"Have you no pride?" he couldn't resist hissing.
She glanced at his coat and shoes, and then back into his face and sneered, "You can afford pride."
"You bothering my girls?"
"No," Clark looked at the heavy set man behind him, "I . . . Just never been to one of these before."
"That all? Mary! Get over here!"
"I can't take no more tonight. I'm tired."
"Whaddya mean, you're tired? You're still working."
Clark tried to interrupt, but there was no need. The man raised his fist and Mary immediately withdrew her complaint by grabbing Clark's hand.
"Let's go pumpkin."
Stunned, he followed her wordlessly, at the same time, feeling every callous in her hand as she drug him along. They went behind the tarp and Clark was immediately confronted by several pairs engaged in intercourse. One couple was doing something else Clark had seen in Tim's video, but he didn't know what it was called. The sights disgusted him. His stomach lurched.
She glanced at him and decided aloud, "You can afford privacy" and led him into a tent.
Clark sat numbly on the bed. It was until she sat next to him and he realized he could smell her that his focus returned.
"Can't I just talk to you?"
"Why the hell do you want to do that?"
He shoved his hand in his pocket and pulled out some change. "Here."
"Ok, talk."
"Why do this?"
"Have no choice."
"Why not?"
"The economy's been in a bit of a downturn so the job market's a little sluggish."
He grinned, and clarified, "I'm sorry. I just want to understand. I think that's why I'm here."
She smiled and patted his cheek. "You remind me of a boy I knew." Pausing to collect her thoughts, she eventually continued. "That was before all this, when things were normal. I was in college when all this broke out. This wasn't the career I had in mind."
Acknowledging her humor with a small smile, he nodded and let her speak. "I lost everyone. But it seems everyone says that. That boy you remind me of? My first crush." A sad smile and faraway glance accompanied the memory. "He died, along with everyone else I knew."
She sighed and returned her gaze to his face, "So I do this, like all the women here, because we can't do anything else. We're not stupid. We're not unskilled. We just don't have any other way to get money. I need the money for my medicine. And that's limited in itself as is. Lord knows that price will go up."
Exhaling slowly, she asked, "Does that help?"
"Who was the man?"
"Our boss. He protects us while we work."
"Who protects you from him?" he asked, thinking of the raised fist.
She shrugged, "My wits usually. Sometimes I'm off my game, like tonight."
"Are you ever scared?"
"Not anymore. If I die, that'll be a nice surprise in the morning."
He was stunned into silence, so she filled the awkward lull with a chuckle and spoke. "Now unless you plan on feeding the meter again, you had best be going."
Fishing through his pocket again, he pulled out some more coins, "Here. I'm leaving, but this will buy you some time for yourself."
Her eyes wide in surprise, her dark features falling once again into an easy grin. "Thank you."
Leaving through the back of the tent, he took the long way around to avoid being seen.
Alfred stood out in the crowd. A distinguished elderly man drew plenty of stares but something about Alfred kept any would-be thieves away. Perhaps it was the carefree swing of his cane as he stood in place, or his sharp glance. Regardless, Clark knew Alfred had no problem waiting there alone. He, however, wasn't yet sure if he could.
"Ah, Master Clark. How was the lesson?"
Clark sucked on his bottom lip and nodded thoughtfully, "Not bad. Expensive though."
For the first time he could ever remember, he shocked Alfred for a change.
"Kidding Alfred. I did pay, but we just talked."
"Oh what a sensitive man you are becoming," Alfred retorted dryly, "We'll be beating the ladies away from the cave, I'm sure."
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"Would you sit down already? You shouldn't be on your feet so much."
Diana glanced at the proffered chair and grinned, "Tim, you're a gift from the goddesses."
She sat and watched him move about her chambers. Two months ago, she found Granny Goodness whipping the former Robin. It saddened her to admit that she didn't recognize him immediately, as the boy's limbs had become somewhat deformed. But his puckish grin remained, which drew her attention.
Like the other slaves she chose, she showed him the passageway that led to freedom. Startled the next morning to find him still there, she yelled at him. Her heart broke when his face crumpled. Only then she realized how much he needed her, a familiar face. After apologizing profusely and giving him a long hug, she told him who the father of her child was, in an attempt to cheer him. It worked. His wide toothy grin brightened her mood instantly and had been ever since.
And looking back over the past two months, she had to admit; she needed him as much as he needed her. Blaming the pregnancy, she felt like a mother to him and regarded Tim as a doting son. His presence was constant, always tending to her, insisting on helping her with the smallest tasks. Tim was so excited about the upcoming arrival, he started talking to the older female slaves to learn how to deliver a baby. Crucial knowledge, he explained, if they were going to escape before this baby was born.
Escape. The boy spoke of it often. Diana once had his optimism. Some in League even considered it naiveté. She had learned, by accident however, the last time she ever used her lasso on Darkseid that not all of slaves made it to freedom. With bile rising in her throat, she listened to the monster describe how he sent the Hunger Dogs after them. Hera be praised that some apparently did survive.
"Di? You're spacing out on me."
A small smile flittered across her wan features. "Sorry Tim. So what's the surprise?"
He stood for a moment with his hands behind his back, trying to act stunned. "What surprise? I don't know what you're talking about."
"I'm a lousy liar myself Tim, which means I'm all the better at spotting lies in others."
"Fine," he tried to sound casual, but that gave way to an exuberant smile. "Here," he blurted out as he thrust a small package at her.
She immediately smelled the chocolate and the cellophane was slick and cool under her fingers.
"Hostess chocolate cup cakes. Today's our two-month anniversary."
"Tim!" Diana grabbed him in as tight an embrace she could muster around her thirty-six weeks belly. Tears were already falling down her cheeks.
He looked at her and shook his head, "Hormones."
"Yes," she sobbed, "I'm a wreck. But this is truly a delight. Thank you."
She glanced at the package, and then at him. "Can we eat it now?" she asked in a conspiratorial greediness.
He nodded quickly and she tore open the package. Handing one to him, she took the other. After an indulgent bite, she asked, not even waiting to swallow, "How?"
Gulping his first bite, barely chewing, "I took Carlin's kitchen duties last month. He somehow gets loads of these."
"So that's where you were."
Silence returned as each ate the chocolate treat with more reverence. Diana decided not to think of what the expiration date on these must have been, instead putting her faith in the preservatives. The last crumb devoured, she licked the chocolate from her fingers and grinned.
"The baby liked it." The kicking had finally ceased for a moment. "You're already spoiling him—the perfect uncle from what I understand of Man's World."
"You know it's a boy?"
"He's up all hours of the night, like his father."
Tim chuckled and shook his head. "I think he would find problems with your argument."
"Of course he would. But then again," she smiled as she thought of him, "He would have taken a urine sample from me to analyze himself, as well as an amniocentesis, tested the DNA . . ."
"And dusted you for fingerprints," Tim chimed in.
"And all while frustrating me as we sparred in the training room," her smile faded a little. Sparring.
"Di? Hello?"
"Sorry."
"I know. I think about him and Alfred. A lot."
"Sorry about Alfred. I heard that Bristol was overrun by Hunger Dogs fairly early in the invasion."
Tim nodded slowly, then abruptly changed his mood with a forced smile, "Let's work on our escape again."
"Tim . . ."
"Come on, Di! Darkseid's going to be out of town, he's taking half of his Parademons with him."
"I just couldn't bear it if you were killed because I slowed you down."
"We both want out of here. I know you can't have this baby in here, because as soon as that ugly guy sees this cute baby, he'll know!"
"Oh, I wasn't planning on it. But I can't risk your freedom, your life."
"You need someone to deliver this baby and I've been learning."
"Tim."
"You need someone with you."
"I am not helpless."
"Please. I can't go back to being alone. I thought everyone I knew was dead."
"I know Tim, I understand that, trust me."
She knew the tears welling up in his big eyes would soon be no match for her hormonally enhanced sobs, so she bit back her response and finally nodded. The boy threw his arms around her. As she stroked the back of his head, she thanked Hera again for allowing her this taste of motherhood.
"I'll get you when it's time."
"Tim, he's not leaving for a couple weeks."
"I know. I'll have everything ready by then."
She nodded and then after he helped her out of the chair and into bed, he hobbled out, closing the door softly behind him.