A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed – I can't believe this is still interesting! Happy reading for this chapter.
Chapter Thirteen – Avalanche
"Shayera!"
Still coughing slightly, the redhead pushed herself up. "I'm ok," she said reassuringly to her very worried looking fiancé. "She didn't get me."
He helped her to her feet, giving her a quick once-over. "What was that?" he asked, turning to Flash. "You ok?"
The shaken hero nodded. "Yeah. Um, did those…goddesses say that was Skatha? As in the same one who cursed Diana?"
"Must have been," Shayera said. "Those were Diana's goddesses."
"Really? I though one of them was hot," Flash grinned.
Used to Flash and how quickly after almost being killed he could go back to his normal self, no one passed comment.
"You sure you're ok?" John said, turning to Shayera again.
"My feathers are a little crispy, but I'm ok."
Superman arrived on the scene along with J'onn. "Anyone hurt?"
"That mechanic is," Flash answered sadly, pointing to where the pile of ashes lay. Considering it had once been a human, it was surprisingly small. "That woman….Skatha…killed him."
GL stretched out his hand and carefully gathered up the ashes in a green bubble. "I'll take care of him," he said sombrely.
"Come to the conference room afterward," Superman told him. Then he spoke to the still-shocked and silent people all around, addressing the normal human employees of the League. "Take the rest of the day off. Go home to your families. Green Arrow, can you pilot the Javelin down to Earth?"
The archer left toward the hanger, and all the mechanics nodded but one. "Superman, what about…"
"We'll inform his family."
The man bobbed his head to the Man of Steel and left with the others. Clark turned to Shayera and Wally. "Come on, you two."
They entered the conference room and sat around the table. J'onn arrived a few moments later, with GL being the last. He was carrying a small, intricate box with the letters JL engraved on it. He placed it gently on the table, and they all focused on it.
After a few seconds, Flash spoke quietly. "Matthew Porter, his name was."
Clark's fists clenched so hard his knuckles turned white. "We'll need to inform the Liaison Officer. I'll inform his family."
"I'll come too," Shayera said, her tone angrier than they'd ever heard. The bitch had messed with Diana, she'd tried to kill Shayera, and an innocent man was dead for no other reason than amusement. Goddess or not, immortal or not, if Shayera ever got her hands on her, Skatha was a dead deity. John placed a hand between her wings, and she took a deep, calming breath. "If the goddesses have taken her away, it'll be back to Themyscira. Hippolyta's going to be contacting me soon, but with the comms. down…"
"It means we can't get in touch with Bats or Wondy either," Flash said. "Hope they're ok down there."
"If they weren't Hell or high water wouldn't have stopped Batman from getting Diana to help," John pointed out.
"They still have one of the Javelins," J'onn said. "If they needed assistance, it would not be difficult for them to reach us."
"We can assume that Diana will soon be cured," Superman said. "And that means we'll be back up to full-strength." He looked at Shayera. "Do you still want to come to Matthew Porter's family with me?"
"Yes," she said immediately. "They deserve to know that his killer will be brought to justice."
"I'm coming too," Flash said. "Matt was a friend."
John put a hand on his shoulder in comfort.
"I will stay and begin attempting to repair the communications system," J'onn said. "It is also my suspicion that the problem with the teleports will also be easily resolved."
John checked the time. "I have monitor duty."
Superman nodded and stood up. "Alright then." He picked up the box of Porter's ashes. "Let's go."
---
For once in her aeons-long life, Eris was spoilt for choice. There was so much discord already in this world – less, she sensed, than there had been before this 'Justice League' was formed – but there was still plenty to choose from. Conflict was everywhere, in every direction she looked. She looked for weak points first – the first being an area that radiated conflict in the Middle East. It called to her even more since the two governments involved were in the process of brokering a peace deal. It made it so delicious.
The peace summit was being held at a secret location in Europe – the leaders from both sides, as well as a negotiation team from the UN. Secret location to the world, and to the press, but not to Eris. She used her twelve hours wisely – within the course of one afternoon, negotiations that had been going well, that could have saved hundreds if not thousands of lives – fell to pieces. Arguments of religion, of old grudges, of current conflict and past atrocities all suddenly bubbled up. When the negotiations degenerated into the two leaders throwing glasses of water at each other, the UN team called a recess. The leaders called an end to the ceasefire.
Finally, she found a nice spot lying on top of a burned-out shell of a mosque to watch the glorious chaos begin. She'd only been there thirty minutes or so when she felt a warm shiver up her spine, followed by a swift breeze. "I wondered who they would send," she mused.
"Time to go, Eris." Hermes sounded annoyed.
"Oh but the fun is only just beginning!" she smiled. A missile flew past the two gods to impact a couple of hundred yards away, impacting into a school. Eris pouted. It was night; the school was empty.
"Eris!" he almost yelled. "Hera gave you your twelve hours. Obviously you've caused more trouble than even I thought you were capable of – and without the Justice League at full strength too. You really are despicable aren't you?"
"I try," she replied. "Come then, Hermes. I believe we should return to Olympus."
By the time they got back to the mountain of the gods, it was to land in front of Hera – who was looking very pissed. "Eris," she hissed in rage. "How dare you-"
"How dare I what?" she asked. "Spread discord? I'm not sure if you've noticed, Hera, but spreading discord is what I do. You gave me twelve hours."
"Well you certainly have used them," Athena said. She was not sure if she was happy or not with Eris – war was her realm, after all, but so was wisdom. Wisdom told her that the mortals would benefit from peace. "It will be many years before what you have done can be fixed."
"Not my concern," Eris said. "Now, if you will excuse me, I have an eternity of boredom and luxury to return to."
"Your sister pushes a hard bargain," Athena said as Eris brushed past her. "But she will be confined once more once her condition is fulfilled."
"She is on Themyscira now?" Eris asked.
Athena nodded.
Eris knew what her twin would have asked – exactly what she would have asked. She wondered if Skatha had the timing right, though. Eris had watched the mortal from afar for many years now, and annoyingly he was always utterly aware of the words he used, knew exactly what the consequences would be. A creator of order. And unless the connection to the Amazon had gotten considerably stronger, Skatha would find herself disappointed.
---
"Watchtower to Superman."
Superman nodded sadly to Matthew Porter's mother. Her grief seemed beyond words, but her face was stricken. "Excuse me a moment."
He left through the front door, leaving Shayera and Wally with the family. "Superman here."
"There is a problem in the Middle East," J'onn's voice said. "The peace negotiations have broken down, and missiles are being fired at-"
"Damn," Superman cursed. "This is not what we need. Ok, I'll grab Hawkgirl and Flash. Any other members that are free get them there too. We need to stop those missiles until the leaders re-commence the ceasefire."
"Yes, Superman. Green Lantern and I are on our way too."
"Good, meet you there. Superman out."
Clark went back inside, his expression apologetic. "I'm sorry, guys. But we're needed in the Middle East." He looked at Porter's mother. "Once again – I'm so very sorry."
She nodded waveringly. "T-thank you. F-for bringing me…" She broke down into sobs, and Flash embraced her quickly. Each League member carried two communicators with them at all times, and Flash pulled out his spare one, and pressed it into her hand.
"You need me, you call alright?"
She nodded and gave a watery smile. "Thank you, Flash."
The three heroes left. Superman took off immediately, Flash running after him at top speed as well. "I'll take the Javelin then, shall I?" Hawkgirl asked no one in particular. Grinding her teeth, she got into the jet and left for the Middle East.
When she got there – admittedly less than ten minutes later – it was a total warzone. Not anything she wasn't used to, but it was still saddening. Just a few days ago this area had been so close to peace. Dodging the missiles, she set the Javelin down and ran out. Above her, Superman, J'onn and GL were busy catching missiles. Clark grabbed one with a slight grunt as it impacted against his body, then set it gently on the ground. Shayera flew over, opening the panel on the side in order to disarm it. Since the Joker's attack on Las Vegas, Batman had insisted that all League members went on an explosive-disposal course, just in case. It was the simple work of a minute to render this one harmless, and then a second about a hundred yards past that.
However, she couldn't stop, since John was guiding another one down just feet away. There was a scarlet blur, and Flash was disarming it. "Sure could use Bats down here, huh?"
"Yeah," Clark's voice groaned from above them. "Could use Diana up here too."
---
"Dance with me?" she asked hopefully, hoping that he wouldn't detect the tremble in her voice.
Bruce surprised both of them and nodded. Still holding his hand, she moved into the middle of the room as the song changed to What A Wonderful World. He put one hand on Diana's waist, the other taking her hand. She slid one hand up his arm to settle on his shoulder. He brought her closer, until their bodies were pressed lightly together, Diana's cheek warm and smooth against his face. It wasn't really dancing according to a complicated pattern of steps, only turning slowly on the spot.
It's just a dance, Diana thought. We've danced before. Why does this feel so…intimate?
Telling her inner voice to shut up, Diana closed her eyes and moved her hand to the back of his neck. If she hadn't already been in his arms, she would definitely have collapsed into them when he started to sing along to the words. Ever so quietly, and so low she almost couldn't hear it, and so sexily that every nerve ending in her body began tingling in response to it. She wondered if he even knew he was doing it.
"I see skies of blue…and clouds of white…the bright blessed day…the dark sacred night…and I think to myself…"
She shifted slightly, leaning back a little bit but not leaving his arms, transfixed by how close his lips were. She wasn't aware of singing herself. "What a wonderful world…" Diana finished.
Without either of them deciding to, they stopped, neither of them breathing. It took all Diana's strength to look up from his mouth, and when she spoke, her voice trembled. "Bruce?"
He meant to let go of her. He meant to switch the music off. He meant to step away.
But when she breathed his name, millimetres away from his mouth, those things were not what he found himself doing. The arm around her waist tightened a little more. The hand still holding hers loosely let go of it to slide up her bare arm, and then, God help him, into her hair. "Diana…"
A shiver raced through her, and her lips, agonisingly slowly, opened. The hand holding her jaw tilted her head up ever-so-slightly. He leaned forward, and their mouths met, the merest brushing of lips. A lightning strike. Quick, electric and dazzling. As soon as he did it, he pulled back, pressing his forehead against hers and suddenly feeling dizzy. It wasn't a feeling he was used to, balancing on the brink of a knife-edge, feeling as if the whole universe was waiting to see what he'd do next. A pendant in time that could swing either way. But, in the end, it wasn't Bruce who made the decision. Diana wound her arms around his neck a little more tightly, and kissed him. It felt like a white-hot brand pressed against his lips; suddenly they were fused at the mouth. Everything about the embrace was…perfect. Diana deepened the kiss, then revelled in the groan that was her reward as it escaped Bruce when she coaxed his tongue into a gentle dance.
Unbidden, a memory floated to the fore of his mind. He'd been six years old, his father was reading to him. The family holiday that year had been a skiing trip to Aspen, and the book full of glossy, idyllic pictures of the mountains. One had been of an avalanche.
The young Bruce looked up with a worried frown. "There aren't going to be any of them while we're there, right, Dad?"
His father had smiled. "No, there aren't. We're going in the wrong season for that."
The boy nodded thoughtfully. "What causes avalanches?"
"Loud sounds, heavy snowfall. It could be a little thing, like a rock falling in the wrong place."
"And an avalanche is just snow, right?"
"That's right, Bruce."
Turned out, his father was wrong. Avalanches weren't just snow. But they were caused by little things. And he was experiencing his own personal avalanche, caused by one thing.
Bruce was totally, and completely, and irrevocably in love with this woman.
With that glorious revelation, every part of him, from playboy to Bat, from philanthropist to child, became, for one blinding second, entire.
And every single wall, every single barrier, every single obstacle…all came tumbling down.
---
A/N: Ok, so what did you think? Not Bruce-enough? Let me know!