Chapter 2 Edited: Yes. :)
As you all probably know, this is my first story and I'm hoping that it will be okay. If you like it or don't like it I would like to know. If you don't like something please let me know, but try and be sincere about it. In this chapter I am kind of going back in time. In here it will all be Superman's POV. This will probably be the only chapter that has anyone else's POV; every other chapter will all be in Diana's, yet it may change in the future. Enjoy!
Superman's P.O.V.
I can't shake the feeling of anger that I have toward Bruce right now. Moments before he just decided to push my buttons the wrong way, and it could not have been at a worse time.
It had not helped that I had already been on edge. The past couple of weeks had taken a turn for the worse. Emotionally. The break-up with Lois had left me feeling a bit uncertain and out of sorts. Something that I have never felt before, and that makes me feel angry. Angry, that I can't handle this… this…
Whatever it is that I am experiencing. I know that things are steadily shifting. I am used to the old structure... The old routine of social groups and identities. Their purpose and meanings. Everything had a certian description, or title. Everyone fit securely into a part of my everyday life.
Diana and Bruce... A best friend, comrade, and confidant.
Lois, the League... Superman, Clark Kent... A highschool crush, normality, the place where I belong, who I am, who I want to be.
But now, that has changed, or at least parts of it. For better or worse, I still have yet to see.
It hasn't been only Lois that has been weighing down on me though. It has also been my thoughts of concern for Diana. She's holding something back from us... From me. I can sense it. I can't be too sure if the Batman knows what's been bugging her, but it wouldn't surprise me if he did. Those two share a certain connection. A connection only understood and wired flawlessly by them. It is something that neither my super hearing, superb eyesight or x-ray vision can help me understand, or decode. I would be lying if I said that I never felt a little emotion of jealousy at that. Still, I always am able to push those nagging feelings aside, by denying them or flying off to visit Lois. I can't do that now though. I can't try and pretend to be naive no longer. Bruce and Diana are very close friends... and perhaps something more. That prospect alone has a way of irritating me, and he knows it to. But Bruce can't just stop there. Oh no, he has to push me all the way.
I grit my teeth in annoyance, as frustration for the Bat washes over me. Darn Bruce! He just had to get all Alpha on me! I can remember the conversation all too clearly.
Flashback:
I am angry, beyond furious with the Bat. He thinks that he can just come on up here and demand that things change to his own liking.
No. That is not the way it works. Rules are here for a purpose. He should know, he created more than half of them. Actually, knowing that he wrote them probably means that he has a rule somewhere, stating that he can do blah blabbedy blah... Whenever or for whatever he sees fit.
"I'm going with her and that. Is. Final." His low voice grates against my ears and I have to grit my teeth in order to quell the persistent urge to just try and shut him up.
He glares at me coolly, before turning back to study the monitor screens.
No! I will not back down any longer. I have tolerated him for years, but for some reason the idea of him ordering me around right now and replacing me as the partner for Diana just yanks my chain the wrong way.
"No Batman. That is not final." My voice is steady and sure, a slight contrast to what I am really feeling at the moment. Very rarely does anyone go against what the Bat orders, and comes out alive.
He visibly freezes and whirls his chair around to face me.
I look down at him, trying to keep a hardened look on my face.
"J'onn already assigned me to accompany Di. Just because it is your city, it doesn't mean that you can push me aside whenever you want and replace me. You know us… You know me. We are NOT going to disrupt the order in Gotham and knowing that alone should be good enough for you. Apparently after all these years you still do not trust us."
I watch him closely, crossing my arms over my chest in defiance. The white slits in his cowl coldly narrow down to pinpricks. I just glare back equally as hard, while taking a menacing step forward.
Suddenly he is out of his chair- and with fists clenched, he also takes a step forward. This isn't only a struggle of wills over who is going, but a silent battle of our determination, stubbornness and perhaps pride. Neither of us wants to back down to the other. It'd be like a sign of weakness.
His voice drops down a couple of degrees, the tone of his words practically freeze the room.
"I can and I will. Besides Clark, don't you have other important things to do? I am sure this will just only free up your schedule to be with Lois." I just keep on glaring, my mouth tightening before I respond.
"A mission is a mission." I say flatly.
His eyes narrow even further in suspicion. What he doesn't know, or perhaps he already does, is that Lois and I broke up. With that situation in hand, there is no reason to go see her. Not now. Not if she doesn't even want to talk to me. I take a deep breath through my nose, preparing to try and somehow get myself out of this situation.
Apparently my luck has a change of heart.
Both of our eyes flicker toward the monitor doors at the same time, as they silently swish open, and none other than Diana herself walks in. I can't help the relaxing feeling that washes over me at her mere presence. She alone has the ability to do so, and by the way Bruce's fists uncoil, I can tell that he is just as equally affected.
Scanning the room, her eyes land on the two of us immediately. She abruptly stops right in the middle of the area, eyes us warily, then speaks.
"Am I interrupting something here?" She asks, looking at us strangely. I then realize how I and Bruce must look, and instantly try and force myself to relax further.
I open my mouth, preparing to come up with some elaborate, logical explanation as to why me and Batman look like we are about to rip each other's throats out, when Bruce beats me to the punch.
"Yes Princess you did. Now if you wouldn't mind. Clark and I have some unfinished business to attend to." He growls out fiercely, pinning his gaze on me.
I whip my head towards him and practically growl, not only surprising them, but myself also.
"There is no unfinished business left for us to talk about Bruce. I'm the one going, not you. Now get that through your thick head before I do!"
"Are you threatening me?" He says icily. It is said as more of a demand, than as a question.
"You are the detective. What do you think? Come on Bruce, use those brains of yours and figure it out." I say, mocking him slightly.
The conversation has become more heated, and our faces are now merely inches away from each other.
Suddenly I am shoved aside, and after a couple seconds I realize that Diana has forcefully wedged herself between us.
"What are you guys talking about?" She asks, confusion and bewilderment etched across her smooth features.
"Batsy and I were just discussing how he was going to leave, so that you and I can go on our mission that J'onn assigned us."
Batman scowls deeply at my use of Joker's deeply, Bat-hated, nickname.
I can't help but smirk at him.
"What? J'onn assigned us a mission? I wasn't informed." She remarks, giving me a sharp look.
Batman smirks as I look sheepishly at the floor.
"It looks like your argument doesn't stand. I won this round kryptonian. Sorry."
I grit my teeth in anger at the very word he used. The same "word" Darkseid uses to call me. No way is he truly sorry.
"Batman. Enough." Diana barks out disapprovingly.
"Burned by the Princess." I say pitching my voice to where it is barely audible, yet high enough for his high tech equipped ears in his cowl to pick it up.
I just so happen and forget that Diana's ears would also.
"That goes for you to Kal, and Batman don't you dare smirk again or so help me I will hang you both by the toes and leave you for Wally to find." She barks out threatingly.
That gets us to shut up. Momentarily at least.
"Now what is the problem with you two, and what does it have to do with J'onn?"
I inhale deeply and start speaking. The look that she is giving me, tells me that if I do otherwise, I most likely will receive the wrath of an Amazon. Which is something that I try to avoid at all costs.
"J'onn sent me a message, saying there was an intended robbery that was going to take place tonight at the Gotham City Museum. I told J'onn that I was going to tell you, hence the reason you did not know of the mission, but then Bruce here got wind of it, and decided that in all his dark glory he was going to kick me off of the mission and go himself."
Diana looks at Bruce pointedly.
"My city Princess." Is all that he has to say on the matter.
"Oh come on Bruce!" I holler.
"Clark! Don't push it!"
"All these years we've known each other."
"Get over yourself!"
"You're more paranoid than a bat! You know that?"
"Oh really Clark. What threw you off?"
"You know you're more like a… a… a genet. Yeah, they're very suspicious of everything."
"A Genet? Really Clark?"
"Excuse me. Perhaps I can help." Diana says, hands on her hips in a very regal form.
"No!" We both growl at her. Our anger at each other, being inadvertently transferred to her. Her face flushes angrily. It is a mixture of warm red hues, and light pink blooms of color. I can't help and realize that her mad blush, brings out the color of her intensely, blue eyes all the more.
"Well then. Since you men don't seem to think that a woman can help you with your issues, I will be leaving now. Goodbye." She comments harshly, and with a clipped tone.
"Diana…" I call out, but she is already half way out of the door.
"Great now we have an angry Amazon on our hands." I mutter under my breath, before sending a glare in Bruce's direction. The way his lips are thinned, indicates that he to realizes, the gravity of this situation.
End of Flashback.
The sound of Diana's voice breaks me out of my reverie. We eventually had gotten Diana to calm down after our dispute. It took a lot of work, but we finally got here... All three of us... together.
I release an inaudible sigh and close my eyes briefly. I can sense that something is going to happen. Something dangerous and unexpected. I just don't know what it is yet.
Soon I am occupied with a certain question that the Amazon next to me asks, and everything else is momentarily forgotten.
