Chapter Five

Slade walked out of the room and pulled up the recording of Diana's vitals on his computer tablet. Sudden spikes marred the otherwise calm trends displayed on his graph, and he frowned and ran his free hand through his hair. They now had a problem. Even if he couldn't read her facial expressions and body language, Diana's very pulse gave her away. So. It had come to this. Perhaps he'd become too relaxed around her over time. But what could he have done differently? He'd beaten her black and blue during training, never showing the slightest hint of approval unless she perfectly executed a maneuver. He never ate with her or left the compound with her unless it was for business reasons, and even then they never did anything overly "familiar" with one another. They left, completed their objective, and returned. He typically left his trademark mask on. The girl had seen him without it only a handful of times. It helped distance them, helped Slade maintain his position as her faceless employer and nothing more. And yet…somewhere he had slipped up. Perhaps she'd taken his approval at her successes to be a sign of romantic affection. Perhaps all of the nights they'd spent outside over the past three years, looking up at the stars, had set off little bubbles of oxytocin in her brain.

Whatever the case, it was obvious that she was feeling rather attracted to him, and Slade couldn't have that. Diana's employer had attempted to elicit a reaction from her during her recovery in order to confirm what he suspected was already true. She'd never given any indication of it, of course, but the way she'd looked at him when he walked in the infirmary…well. He knew that look. Perhaps he should start hooking her up to monitor leads more often. The only thing more troubling than her budding attraction toward him was her initial concern for her sister. As impartial as she claimed to be, Diana was obviously struggling with maintaining a neutral distance from Terra. They were already bickering but despite this she seemed to be growing rather fond of the girl even though they had only spent a week together.

Slade walked into his bedroom and pressed a button on the wall to lock the sliding door. Within a few minutes he was completely changed into his typical uniform, mask and all, and had closed out of the window on his tablet that displayed Diana's vitals in order to talk to Wintergreen.

"Do you know where Terra is?"

"I believe she's still in her room."

"Have her meet me in front of the infirmary."

"Right away."

He'd let Wintergreen fetch the girl instead of doing it himself. It wouldn't do to scare Terra completely out of her wits. He needed her to be coherent in order to examine Diana's interaction with her. Slade waited a few moments and leisurely walked back to the double doors of their small medical wing to find Terra biting her fingernails. A disgusting habit. She looked pale and strung out; even though Slade was almost a hundred percent sure that Wintergreen had tried to calm her down.

"Diana is going to be fine. I want you to apologize to her for her injuries."

"Okay," Terra stammered, "Okay, I can do that."

The girl was still disheveled, still dirty. Her clothes were ripped and there was dust in her stringy blond hair. She was obviously a mess, obviously still completely out of control. Slade put that thought out of his mind and pressed the button to open the door, walking in ahead of Terra. He found Diana staring into her lap, tracing the sides of the water glass on her tray with her slim fingers, obviously quite a bit bored at being confined to a bed. Her eyebrows rose at the sight of Terra but she didn't otherwise react. Slade crossed his arms over his chest and Terra walked forward, toying with a stray strand of her hair—so like her sister. Tentatively leaning forward, she placed both hands on the stark white sheets of the hospital gurney.

"I'm…really sorry," Terra said quietly, looking down at her hands, "Are you feeling at all—I mean, you're obviously not good but I mean"—

"Terra, stop," Diana interrupted, raising a hand to the nearly-hysterical girl, "I accept your apology."

"You do?" Terra said eagerly.

"Yes, I do," Diana responded, her green eyes flickering to Slade, "Just try to be more careful. And do you promise that you'll listen to me and Slade from now on?"

"Your sister could have been killed today Terra," Slade cut in flatly "Let this be a lesson to you. You can go now."

The fact that Diana was willing to forgive Terra's error so quickly didn't sit well with the criminal mastermind. He silently watched as the teenager ducked her head and scurried out of the room. When he turned back to Diana her countenance was neutral and cryptic, as it always was. Even though he had the mask on, she could tell what he was thinking. She dropped her gaze from his.

"Terra's young," Diana said quietly, "She'll learn. In time."

Slade didn't say anything. He took the tray out of her lap and placed it on the table beside the bed, tossing the crumpled napkin in the trash can behind the table. He wasn't pleased. At all. Of course Slade would never want his valuable asset to get injured, but he'd hoped that it would cement Diana's dislike of Terra for good. Instead, something was growing in Diana that was making her weak: pity.

"She'd better," Slade replied crisply.

He sat on Diana's bed and adjusted the sheet around her before he leaned in to tuck a wisp of hair behind her ear. She watched him the entire time, her solemn green eyes taking in every movement with no reaction. When his gloved fingers brushed past her ear she inhaled sharply. He touched his fingertips against her jaw for a brief moment before standing up, watching with sick satisfaction as a pink blush stained Diana's cheeks.

"I'll be back soon."

"Alright," Diana murmured.

He turned and slowly walked out of the room. He had gathered all of the information he needed, even without consulting the heart monitor. From their brief conversation and her body language, Slade had gleaned that the kinship Diana felt with Terra was growing stronger every day. Of course he wanted the pair of them to communicate, but Terra was particularly expendable. He coveted her power but only if it could be managed and controlled. If the girl died in the process then he wouldn't lose sleep over it. Diana, however, might not ever forgive him. An unforeseen consequence of his own incorrect assumptions. On the surface she might have appeared completely emotionless, but obviously Diana still had some sort of familial tie with Terra. It seemed as if the kinship his employee felt with Terra could only be outdone by Diana's fondness for him. If he had to use that against her, then so be it. Slade was prepared for what he had to do.