Rendezvous at Sakura's Room

Kenji screamed and leapt backwards when a slender man with long hair vaulted lithely into the room.

Right afterwards, a woman flew in. She scrunched up her body as she did, like a surfer balling up on his board as the wave spiraled into tube around him. She hopped off a pair of silver discs and landed with a ground-shaking thump. The discs shrank, flew into her hands and she tucked it into her belt at her back. She advanced on Kenji with startling speed.

Kenji tripped over his own feet. Fell on his butt. He scooted backwards against the closed door.

The young man who'd entered first raised a finger in protest. Made some kind of a noise. "Uh…" But he seemed to notice, much like Kenji, that it was no use arguing with her. She was like a damn freight train.

Kenji reached up behind him to open the door. He got it cracked an inch when the huge-ass woman slammed it shut.

Suddenly he was off the floor. And she had him pinned against the door by the throat. "Where is he?"

He'd never seen such a huge woman. She was about seven feet tall, but what worried him wasn't her height or even that she was cutting off enough oxygen from his brain that he was getting light-headed. It was the rod she was holding, which began glowing red, vanished for a moment and changed shape into a battle axe. She spun it and brought it to rest under Kenji's jaw, as gently as a lover's touch. The cold metal stung.

"Who?" He gasped.

"Where's Scott?" She demanded, coming in close to his face. "Don't lie."

"I don't know…Scott," Kenji said hoarsely and tried to pull her hand away.

"I told you not to lie." She pressed the blade into his neck.

"I'm not lying!" Kenji literally squealed. He never thought his voice was capable of hitting those soprano notes.

"He's telling you the truth," said a disembodied voice from the corner, low and gravelly.

All three of them turned to look when they saw a dark shape pull itself away from the darkened doorway of the bathroom.

The woman let Kenji drop—thankfully after taking the battle axe away from his neck.

Kenji inhaled loudly and began coughing. Checked his neck for blood. He looked up at her, feeling like a child. Then he turned to look at the living shadow.

The woman scowled irritably at Batman. "What are you doing here?"

Batman came away from the dark wall and stepped closer. He bent down and picked up a small black object. His tracking device. He also picked up the smart phone, which was lying beside it. He showed it to her. "Same as you." He handed the cell phone to her and she snatched it from him. "This has nothing to do with you. Why don't you stop sticking your nose in other people's business before I stick my foot up your—"

"Whoa, whoa there, Barda. Let's just cool it." The long-haired guy reached down and helped Kenji up. "First of all, I'm very sorry for her behavior."

"Don't—" Kenji's voice came out raspy. He cleared his throat. "Don't mention it. That's the most excitement I've had in years."

Barda made a sound of contempt.

Batman stepped around the room. "What happened to the girl that was in here?"

"I think I should ask the questions around here," Barda challenged, "since I'm the one looking for my missing husband."

Batman looked at her, then gave a go-ahead gesture.

She scowled at him and looked at Kenji.

Kenji stared back.

"Well?" Barda demanded. "Where is she?"

"Oh. Uh, she disappeared."

Barda shook her head. "I'm regretting this already."

"But I know where she's going." Kenji added almost immediately. "LexCorp."

Barda frowned. "Why?"

"She told me it's the only way to stop Superman. He's going to attack."

"Let's go," she said to the long-haired guy. Then she turned to look at Batman. "Are you coming with us?"

But he was already gone.


Author's Note: I'm sorry for the very short chapter. I'm running out of enthusiasm for the story, but mostly because I've had only one review for almost ten chapters. It's difficult to know if people are enjoying it, so if you could just take a minute to tell me your thoughts, that would be much appreciated. Thanks for reading and keeping up with this story so far!