Standard Disclaimer
7/16/2004: I fixed those errors in this chapter…sorry about that.
Chapter 2: Oh, Lois!
"This is an outrage! I demand you leave here at once!"
"I don't think you understand which one of us has the gun, lady." The new head of LexCorp was flung across the room by one of her masked captors. She crashed unceremoniously into her guests for that evening.
One of said guests helped pull her up. "I have to admit, Mercy, you sure know how to throw an eventful unveiling. Lex would be proud."
Mercy glared at the reporter. "I'm glad this is so amusing to you, Ms. Lane. Not that your attitude surprises me. Now you get another front page exclusive for your newspaper. You're living in some kind of journalistic heaven."
"With all the guns pointed at us in this room, I don't think jokes about heaven are very appropriate," Lois told her dryly.
"Please. You know you're safe. Your boyfriend in blue tights always makes sure of that."
"Hey, Superman makes sure that everyone in this city stays safe." As an afterthought she added, "And he's not my boyfriend."
"At this point, I couldn't care less if you've illegitimately conceived a child with him. Why isn't he here to stop this?"
"My, don't you sing a different tune than Lex. You know, after all the times your press junkets for "new and revolutionary" technologies have been crashed, I'd have thought you'd improve your security measures."
"Lois, do me a favor and shut—"
Mercy was cut off by the sound of crashing glass. She looked over and found herself for the first time grateful at the sight of costumed superheroes. The gunmen didn't look as pleased. They pointed their guns at the room's two new occupants and opened fire.
Batman ducked and rolled, flinging two batarangs at the masked men. Each came into contact with a gun, knocking it to the ground. Doing a quick survey of the room, he noted seven men total, three of whom were still armed with extra ammo strapped to their black vests. He turned to check on his teammate, whose arms were a blur as she deflected bullets. He'd have to take some of these gunmen out to give her breathing room. Pulling his cape around his body, he charged one of the men from the side. After knocking him down, he used his momentum to back flip and take out two of the unarmed men.
Diana used his slight distraction to push forward and grab the muzzle of one of the guns, crushing it under her grip. She picked up her stunned attacker and threw him back into one of his teammates, who was aiming his Uzi at her. The collision sent both men falling backwards, but not before the gun was fired. The new angle of his hand sent bullets flying into the row of lights above the heads. The metal support rods gave way, and the lights swung down into the curtained walls. The cheap material easily sparked and ignited.
"Get the civilians out of here," Batman yelled to her, seeing the fire spread across the back curtains. He threw the man who ambushed him from the back forward over his head.
"What about you?"
"I can handle myself."
She hesitated before turning to the crowd. Batman surveyed his attackers again, all back on their feet. Seven against one. He liked those odds.
She bulleted straight through the wall, effectively creating an exit from the burning room. "Everybody, follow me," she ordered the people below her. Few acquiesced, but most stayed, furiously scribbling things down on note pads. Had they not heard her? "You must leave now! You could be hurt in here!"
"They're reporters, they don't care about their own lives. Just about their damn stories."
Diana recognized the shorter woman as the head of LexCorps. "If they won't leave willingly, then I'll just have to carry them out myself."
"Yes, yes. That's fine," Mercy told her uninterestedly, "But you need to save the new Lexosuit. Redesigning that thing has cost my company millions of dollars! It cannot be destroyed."
The reporters weren't the only ones with misguided priorities, Diana realized, but she had few options at this point. "If I get the suit, will you help me get these people out of here?"
"Yes, save the suit and I'll even buy you a whole set of those tiaras."
Diana inwardly grimaced at the materialism that seemed to plague many of the women in man's world. "Alright. Start getting them out of here." She flew towards the back of the building, which was now completely engulfed in flames. Getting lower to avoid the smoke, she squinted to locate the suit. It lay toppled not ten feet from her. One of the masked men was attempting to enter it.
"I don't think so," she said, speeding forward. She pulled him back, and smashed her elbow into his face. He fell to the ground, blood trickling from his nose. Grabbing the suit with her right hand, and the unconscious man with her left, she flew out of the fire and back towards her exit. She flew over Mercy, who'd made little progress in clearing out the reporters. "I kept my end of the bargain," she yelled down, "now keep yours. Get them out of here."
Mercy smirked, but then immediately grabbed two of the men closest to her and pushed them towards the hole in the wall. "You heard Wonder Woman! Move, move, move!"
Confidant that the situation was being taken care of, Diana flew outside to deposit the trash she carried in her arms.
Batman continued holding this ground against his remaining four--correction, now three--opponents. He'd successfully disarmed them all, but they appeared to have some proficiency in the martial arts. He blocked the punches thrown at him from all directions, and managed to grab the leg of one man as he attempted a front kick. Pushing hard, he sent him flying backwards.
And right to one of the fallen guns. "Damn." The criminal wasted no time in grabbing the weapon and aiming it directly at him.
"Say good night, Bat."
"I don't think it's his bedtime yet." The purple-clad woman swung the loose metal pipe hard, hitting the gunman across the back of the head. He slumped forward, groaning as he grabbed the back of his neck. The violet eyes of the reporter turned to Batman, and then went wide. "Batman, look out!"
He been distracted, and left his back unprotected. The two remaining attackers had seized this opportunity to tackle him, surprising him to the ground. He struggled against their grip, but they held him firmly. From his position, he could only watch as the woman who'd just saved his life was grabbed from behind and thrown down. "Lois!" He relaxed his wrists and then drove them upward, trying to break free of his assailants' grasp. He had to help her.
"You're about to regret interfering," Lois Lane was told by the bloodied man standing above her. He raised his gun and his index finger squeezed the trigger.
Lois closed her eyes, waiting for the bullets to impact her forehead. Instead, she heard the clink of metal on metal, followed by a grunt and a thud. She opened her eyes and was greeted by a pair of star-spangled shorts. "Not the superhero who usually rescues me," she told Wonder Woman, "but thanks."
"Go," Diana instructed her, pointing to the broken wall.
"But Batman—"
Diana didn't listen to the rest of the sentence, before turning and flying to aid her teammate. He'd taken out most of the masked men, but was currently being tag teamed. She'd even those odds. Swooping down, she surprised one of the men with a fist in the face. Batman took out the other one with a kick to his midsection.
He turned to Diana. "I was—"
"—handling it. I know."
"Lois?"
"She's fine. But we have to leave." The flames had engulfed most of the room now, and the structure wasn't going to stay standing much longer.
Grabbing the six remaining (unconscious) gunmen, they exited the burning LexCorps facility.
"We really appreciate your help. And don't worry, these boys will be off the streets for a long time."
"Is there anything else we can do here?" Diana asked the SCU agent—Maggie Sawyer, she believed her name was.
"The fire's out, the bad guys are booked. I think you took care of everything. Thanks again for all your—damn it, Carr, these barricades are here for a reason!" She left abruptly, stalking off to berate the news anchor and his camera crew.
Diana turned to Batman, who had surprisingly stayed out of the shadows. "I'm glad someone appreciated our help. Mercy Graves threatened to sue the Justice League for property damage five minutes ago."
"You know Mercy, always trying to get more money." They turned as Lois's voice broke into their conversation. Batman (imperceptibly) straightened his back. "Don't worry, she's full of hot air. She'd never be able to take you to court."
"Lois Lane, isn't it?" Diana asked.
"I see my reputation precedes me."
"Superman speaks very highly of you," the Amazon explained, extending her hand. "We've never officially met, though I do tend to see you a lot when there are crises in Metropolis. I am Diana, Princess of Themyscira."
"Oh, believe me, I know who you are too. It's nice to finally meet the woman I've written so much about."
"This," Diana said, indicating her companion, "is Batman." She knew he liked to limit his communication with the public as much as possible, but she'd force him to make an exception this time. Lois had saved him that night, after all.
The reaction she got surprised her.
"We've met," Lois said softly, fixing her attention on the Dark Knight. "How are you? It's been a long time since we talked."
"Things have been busy," he said neutrally, but Diana couldn't help but feel uncomfortably like a third wheel.
"I guess that's how it is when you're a superhero, huh?"
"It comes with the territory, yes." He paused. "I have to get back to Gotham. Wonder Woman?"
He was using her to beg out of this conversation. She found herself glad. "Yes, of course. Lois, it was a pleasure to meet you."
"Likewise. And Batman," she hesitated, trying to find the right words, "it was…it was really good seeing you again."
"Stay out of trouble, Ms. Lane," he said formally before nodding to Diana. She slid her arm under his cape and picked him up, lifting them into the air and away from the reporter.
Diana stole quick glances at Batman's face, before mustering enough nerve to talk to him. "You care about her. You try to hide it, but I can tell."
He didn't speak for a while, and she thought he was going to ignore her for the entire flight. But finally, his deep voice cut through the silence. "It was a long time ago," he told her with a finality that closed the matter.
For the first time, Diana felt the nauseating grip of jealousy creep into her stomach.
To Be Continued...
AN2: This chapter's title comes from Michael Daugherty's "Metropolis Symphony" orchestration. Track 4 is called "Oh, Lois!" and was playing on repeat for the writing of this chapter. If you haven't heard "Metropolis Symphony," I suggest you get you're hands on this CD. It is amazing (my favorite track is Bizzaro—it's one of the best compositions I've ever heard. Ever.)