I do not own Superman, or any other D.C. character mentioned. The rest, I made up for my own story. This is a fanfic, and not for profit, so just enjoy.

SUPER

By LJ

Part 6:

"We have decided to stay here permanently, if you will allow it," Dr. Chang told him as he and his wife met with Clark and Diana that afternoon once they returned from whatever had occupied the heroes on the American mainland that particular day.

"Of course," Diana told him when Clark only nodded. "In fact, Clark and I were discussing a means of reaching more people earlier with the core of a message we wished to share. How would you feel about being….well, de facto instructors for those we might try to reach?"

"We would be honored," the other Dr. Li told her quietly. "Only we are hardly qualified for such an august position. We are more….."

"We need someone with intelligence, and the willingness to teach on an ethical basis," Clark told Alicia. "In that, I think you are both more than qualified."

"What I intend," Diana, now clad in a diaphanous ivory gown, told them as she played hostess, pouring tea for them as she relaxed in a private room in the veritable palace that had grown up from their smaller sanctuary on the island by then. "Is to bring select young men and women to this island to be educated not only in the usual arts and sciences, but in the ethical and moral lessons that seem to be lacking in this world of late."

The pair absorbed this as Diana went on.

"Afterward, they will be sent back into the world to spread that message, and hopefully encourage more to think, and believe as you, and we…..that the betterment of all people is the concern of this world, and its respective governments. Not just the purview of a few religious leaders."

"It is a bold idea, and an ambitious one," Laura Hastings told them quietly as she sat up, having been listening to them without comment until then. "And, I think, an admirable one. I knew there was more to you than just colorful costumes, and the obvious brawn."

Clark smiled at the older woman, and nodded as he sat there still in costume, still overly conscious of his cape when around her for some reason. Of course, she had been the one to make his first costume in this world. Maybe that was part of it. He tended to look upon her almost as a mother figure, as in some ways she did remind him of his own mother.

Not that Martha Kent would have raised such ungrateful, grasping children as Laura had back in the States.

They were still trying to have their mother declared incompetent in court to gain control of the substantial wealth she still controlled, and had turned over to him and Diana to aid their island's development after giving them shares that obviously did not satisfy them. It seemed the Hastings' children didn't have their mother's vision.

"Thank you, Mrs. Hastings," Diana told her serenely. "I just wish more of the world felt the same way."

"Oh, dear. The U.N. turned you down?"

"They do not feel we are a unifying influence," Clark drawled. "And as the Saudis control the assembly this year, they are especially offended that Diana wants to present herself as a representative to their body."

"Men," Laura huffed. Then she looked at Clark and Chang, and added, "Most men, anyway. Even my Henry was a bit of a misguided misogynist at times. God rest his soul."

"Lois used to say the same thing about me," Clark murmured. "Usually right before she got herself into trouble," he sighed, looking wistful.

All of them were used to Clark's occasional bouts of melancholy, but no one spoke.

"So, can we count on you to help us start our school," Diana asked the scientists who had become fixtures on the island after the Chinese government discredited them as traitors, and defectors in the wake of the aborted dimensional invasion that had almost cost them the planet. The rumor was that there were now actually bounties on their head, and did they try to leave the island, someone would likely try to collect.

Rumors such as that were a part of their decision to stay. More importantly, they felt they had much more to learn here, and with Clark and Diana protecting them, they could continue their research without fearing every idea they had would be turned into a weapon.

"I still have some media connections from my earlier contact with your area networks," Clark mulled as he nodded at Laura before looking back to Diana. "I could arrange to have you unveil our plans to the people there, and I'm sure they would broadcast the appeal globally when they realize the cause is a good one," he added.

"It would be worth a try," Diana sighed, having grown a little frustrated, and very indignant, at being cut off from so many of the venues that had been opened to her back on their Earth. "But you both should stand with me. It would look better that way," Diana replied.

"That's a very good idea," Laura agreed. "I'd have gone back home already, but since those ungrateful brats of mine have that injunction they keep trying to serve every time I return to the States, I don't dare show up where they can find me. I swear, if Henry were alive…. Well, you can't help how they turn out, can you," she sighed wearily with a bit of indignation of her own.

"Maybe they will relent when they realize the good you are helping us do," Diana told her quietly, liking the woman just as much as Clark. Even she was astonished her own children were trying to have her declared incompetent, and wanted to somehow claim control of the monies she still held by using that claim to stop her 'funding' the other-dimensional heroes.

"All right," Clark agreed as he glanced around. "We'll consider just what to say before we show up, and in the meantime, Chang. Alicia. We'll leave you to set up a viable classroom environment for any potential guests, and consider what you might need to begin. We don't know how many might first accept our offer, but we're hoping to start with at least twenty, or thirty."

Alicia laughed.

"What is it," Diana asked.

"You're more likely to hear from forty or fifty…..thousand. Or even more. You've not been reading the web-blogs lately. Have you?"

Diana's expression was eloquent. "After the last few thousand requests I 'bare' myself completely for their perverse appetites, I quit reading any of them."

"Well, there are more than a few that care about more than your body, dear. There are thousands of young people out there asking genuinely sincere questions, and seeking answers they hope you can offer them in preparing them for life. I would say your real problem is going to be how to weed out those first few from the clamor you're likely to create with your offer," the Chinese-British scientist smiled.

"We should also speak to Ms. Graves, then," Diana decided. "She will be our liason with those seeking a legitimate place here. That way we don't have to open ourselves to the unscrupulous, or the potential frauds sure to try to exploit this opportunity."

"I agree. I'll contact her before I contact the networks to get her input as well," Clark suggested. "We both already know there will more than enough people looking to manipulate your offer," he reminded her, thinking of some of the schemers he had met himself back home. All out for a fast buck, notoriety, or just some means of leverage over him.

Diana simply nodded, understanding perfectly.

S

"Well," he asked as Thomas' specter hung over his head as the new geologist imported for this part of his research eyed the clay samples.

"Definitely Mid-Atlantic in origin, with a few of the usual trace elements," the man told him, squinting through his spectacles. "However, I can see nothing…..nothing whatsoever to indicate that this is not just….ordinary clay.

"I'm not sure what our alleged benefactor is after here, but all he has is clay. Nothing more."

Jacob McKinley wanted to cry.

Hours of research, and even his protest he was not a geologist did not help since the gaunt scientist was delivered to them almost instant, but still he had nothing.

Nothing but an apparent timetable.

If this were part of that Amazon as he theorized, then it had taken roughly between two to three months for whatever energies that had empowered it to fade. That ruled out any known radioactive elements. It ruled out virtually any known energies, electrical or otherwise. Unfortunately, they were dealing with too many unknowns for him to draw any real conclusions.

"Bad news, I am taking from it? Your expression, I mean?"

"Yes," he told the reed-thin Frenchman. "The last man to disappoint our….host," he drawled cautiously, knowing they were being monitored after the way Allen were singled out last week. "Was executed for giving him bad news."

Jean gaped at him. "You must be kidding?"

"I wish I were," Jacob told him, remembering how Allen's brains had spattered half the lab when Billings had coldly and calmly forced him to face them while he shot him from behind, forcing them to stop and clean up before they could even continue their work.

The disgraced general, they were all sure, was quite mad.

Which did not help them in the slightest.

S

She woke bathed in sweat, and wishing she were anyone but who she was just then.

She had not had a dream like that in years. Decades, really. Okay, over a century. Frankly, she had not missed them, either.

Still, even she couldn't ignore it.

Even Circe, an immortal witch as old as the world itself, could not defy the gods when they spoke.

She sighed, rose from her bed, and padded naked toward her bath.

Anthropomorphic felines moved from the shadows to aid her, bringing her favorite perfumed soaps as she lowered herself into the hot spring that fed her marble bath. She let the heat soap into her bones as one of the attendants began to carefully scrub her long, dark locks, and the other soaped, and washed her limbs.

When her hair was fully washed, rinsed, and her attendant began drying it, she rose from the water, letting the other feline finish washing and rinsing her body.

"My dears, I'm afraid I have to leave. It may be a while before I return, so….I ask you this now. Do you wish to remain here as you are, or return to the city?"

"Here," both felines purred, bowing at her feet.

"We shall keep your home clean, and readied for your return, mistress," the one on her left assured her. "Do not send us away. We desire only your service."

She sighed again.

Well, of course they would say that. They were enchanted.

"We shall see," Circe murmured, and walked back to her room where a third attendant, also a feline, helped her dress in a white, silk robe with gold edging. Padded sandals, and a delicate tiara of polished sandalwood that looked almost metallic due to its sheen crowned her now braided hair, and she looked quite stylish for most any affair.

Except the one now laying before her.

Internal, interfering gods. It had been half a millennia. Couldn't they give it a rest?

She grumbled as she left her room, stepped out onto the tiled portico formed by huge, marble pillars, and stared out at her island paradise. She grumbled as she thought of another island, and its inhabitants. Or rather, one in particular.

It wasn't so much the gods had yet again conscripted her to carry out their will on the mortal plane. It was just that they were drawing her into a confrontation she had no wish to continue. Just over five years ago, the bane of her existence had vanished from the world. Supposedly slain. She had celebrated for weeks. Months, actually.

Now the gods came to her with the most bizarre errand she had ever heard. One that would ordinarily have been impossible even for her. Until they had given her the details that suggested it was not only possible, it was mandated.

Damn gods.

Still, she wouldn't mind seeing him again. Their last meeting had been so…amusing.

Turning to consider her reflection, she added jeweled bracelets, and a necklace of iridescent shells from the deepest part of Poseidon's realm. If she was going to be acting as the god's envoy, she was darn well going to look the part. It wasn't often she had a real excuse for dressing up.

Considering her attendants again, she eyed them, then shrugged. "Take care of the place, and yourselves," she told them. "I shall return….. When I return."

A wave of her hand, and she vanished.

The three humanoid felines actually whimpered at her going.

S

"I believe I have something," Jacob told the crazed general as he looked up from his computer where he feverishly working on perfecting what was, in essence, a completely theoretical device that he hoped would save his life. And the lives of his fellow prisoners.

"What is that," Thomas Billings demanded, staring at the strange machine on the computer screen.

"A modified beryllium sphere," Jacob told him. "But altered for the purpose you….requested."

The general's frown made Jacob more than a little nervous.

"It's a superconductor that both insulates, and conducts heat or energy in special applications. While the raw element in beryllium oxide can be….toxic, by creating a levelized magnetic envelope by means of….."

Thomas glared.

"It'll suck the energy out of anything, or anyone standing inside the conducting rods," the scientist told him quickly.

"And you will be able to inject it into another," Thomas asked, eyes glittering in anticipation.

"It's…..theoretically possible," he stated, not sure himself, but knowing he didn't want anyone else to die. Especially not himself.

"What do you need to build it?"

"Well, most of the components can be found at Geo-Tech, and can be assembled on-site wherever you want to lay your…..snare. The thing is…."

"How to lure her in," Thomas murmured. "Or even the alien," he remarked, thinking of all the power the Kryptonian was alleged to possess.

"Uhm, actually, General Billings," he said, knowing you didn't address him as anything but an officer despite his less than honorable discharge. "I meant that we still need a coded operating system. And the only one I know that might be anywhere near powerful enough to run the program we would require is…."

"Well, in Berlin."

"Berlin?"

"The ESP has a new near complete AI that has enough raw calculating ability to run almost any program we could conjure, and still adapt to any….surprises that might come up along the way."

"You can't build….?"

"None of here have that expertise. We can integrate a hard drive, or build the component sphere I've designed, but…..it still comes down to the control systems. Well, that, and getting the, ah, specimen, into the containment field."

"That part will be easy enough, I think. With the right bait," the older man smirked knowingly. "Just tell me if there is an American counterpart that might do the job of this…..foreign computer."

"To be honest. I'm not aware of one," he admitted.

"Hmmph," he grumbled. "Well, I'll see about that. Meanwhile, order anything you need, and have it sent here. You'll assemble it above the complex. You will, however, not try to run, doctor. My men still have orders to shoot-to-kill if you or your lab-rats get the wrong ideas."

"You don't have to worry, sir," Jacob told him quietly. "We are committed to seeing this through to the end. The science, after all, is what interests us."

The older man just huffed, eyeing him suspiciously, but then turned to go. "Just see you remember that it's American science we're using here. Tell the duty sergeant how to order whatever you need. He'll see it's delivered. Now get back to work on finding a means of managing that caped alien. I still want them both neutralized, whatever happens next."

"Yes, sir," Jacob nodded, and gave a healthy sigh of relief when the man stalked off to the lift to return to the surface.

"You really think this containment sphere will do what you say," Dr. Abigail Waters, a new 'recruit' from the xenon-biology field asked.

One moment she had been lecturing at Cambridge on the possibility of extraterrestrial life forms, and then she was waking in an underground bunker with a death sentence hanging over her head if she didn't cooperate. She could care less about the lunatic, or his plans. She just wanted to get back to her family, and that meant playing along, too.

"I haven't the slightest idea, Abby," he admitted quietly, careful not to be overheard. "Frankly, it's all based on a science-fiction show I once watched as a teenager. But it's all I could think of to buy us more time." "So, that's why you stressed the European Space Agency's new computer AI was necessary."

"Yes. By the time he tries to figure a way around acquiring it, or a comparable device, hopefully we will have figured out a way out of this mess."

"And dare I hope you have a ploy for that, mon ami," Jean asked quietly, a bruise still darkening the left side of his cheek where he had dared the unstable man's temper earlier that week.

"Maybe," he said firmly, and said no more. He couldn't be sure they were not being monitored. Considering the madman's paranoia and lunacy, he wouldn't say anything more that might be considered 'treacherous' for that man's way of thinking.

Still, while he couldn't be sure if that sphere would work the way the general hoped, he did know he could use its structural design to send a high-frequency impulse that just might interest the one man on the planet with super hearing. Said impulse, hopefully, enough to bring him out to investigate.

Just then, it was all he had.

S

"Circe," the caped detective murmured as he leaned over a computer he was studying. "What brings you here?"

The woman couldn't help but feel impressed.

She had materialized silently behind the Batman in his dark cavernous lair, and he had not even glanced back. Yet still he had known she was there. He had known who she was, too. That truly impressed her.

"You continue to astonish, I see, Batman," she murmured, smiling as she stepped forward into the soft glow of the computer monitors. "As to why I'm here. You could say we are following the trail of a certain missing Amazon of mutual acquaintance."

He turned to face her, staring hard through the opaque slits of his cowl.

"You know about Diana."

"Naturally. We have had our….differences, she and I, but even I was astonished at how easily that common mortal allegedly slew her."

"Allegedly," Batman echoed grimly.

"I think we both know she is alive. And, apparently well considering my…..charge."

Batman eyed the ageless witch, assessing her appearance, and her manner. Considering that even Oa claimed they knew nothing of the missing heroes, and all other leads had gone cold, he had been left only with his own assertions, and no way to proceed. Even he knew that Circe was a conduit that was beyond his experience, though. Still, she was one that could not be dismissed, either.

"What do you know," he asked baldly.

"Well, my dear friend. She is alive."

"And Superman?"

"Oh, yes. Him, too."

His eyes narrowed, and he murmured, "And did you have anything to do with…..?"

"Me? Perish the thought, my darling," she cooed, raising a hand to his masked face, and smiling at him. "No. I do not have all the answers myself. But I am acting for those who do." Batman's mind took all of three-tenths of a second to assess the statement, and consider potential meanings.

"The Olympians?"

"Naturally. They just cannot help butting into the mortal worlds at times. Why, I've little idea. Frankly, I was quite enjoying myself when….."

"Where are they?"

"Far beyond your reach," Circe smiled.

"And yours?"

"I've been told I can reach them," she stated cryptically. "But I'll need your help. Which, of course, is why I'm here."

"You honestly expect me to believe you are trying to find, or even help Diana?"

"Well, when you put it that way," she sighed as his somber tone actually made even her shiver just a bit. But then he was such a formidable, and entertaining mortal. "Frankly, I wouldn't care if she rotted in that drab little world where she's been tossed. But, yes, I am charged with finding her, and taking a certain…..totem to her. i think even you know that one does not simply ignore the will of the gods. Whatever it might be."

"Can you bring them back," Batman demanded.

Circe looked somber herself now, and admitted, "To be honest, Batman. I'm not even sure I'm coming back. They didn't say how to manage that, you see. Only how to get there."

"And where is there?"

"Another Earth," she smiled again. "Or wasn't that part obvious?"

"My colleagues said there was no way to trace….."

"Do you know how many multiple upon multiple dimensions actually exist, Batman?"

He said nothing to that.

"I'm sure you have heard of what your scientists call quantum super-position. Your people focus on space and time as a means of assessing the various dimensions beyond your own. That's all quite well and good. But sometimes, you simply need a different perspective. And….a bit of magic."

"Then perhaps I should call…."

"Your magical friends cannot do what the gods have charged me with doing, Batman," she smiled. "If you will aid me, though, I can at least reach them, and fulfill the god's commission. Whatever else it brings, I can do that much."

Batman continued to study her, assessing her intent and sincerity. In the end, even he had to accept a degree of….faith. "All right, Circe. What do we do?"

"To reach my objective, I need three things from you," she told him.

"Name them."

"We need the spear of Longinus."

He frowned at that.

"Captain Atom."

That was even more puzzling.

"And…..a night on the town. Just you and I….. Bruce."

Batman's jaw clenched.

"You'd better explain yourself," he growled.

"Oh, fine, fine. You're so touchy. I sometimes forget how gloomy you are. Which is surprising after that touching ballad you once sang for me. You showed such…..feeling."

Circe sighed, and rolled her eyes.

"The spear is not what you think. Well, it is, and it isn't. Frankly, it's older than you know, and has been around for centuries. The so-called spear, also know through time as Poseidon's trident, Excalibur, and a few other mystic weapons stolen or passed down through the ages, is in fact a sliver of one Zeus' own thunderbolt. The thunderbolt."

"That explains a few things," he murmured. "Not why you need it."

"Because, with it, and the power of your energetic friend to fuel it, I can use it to travel safely to the realm where Diana and your caped friend have been transported."

"I'm assuming that means only you."

"The gods charged me with this quest, Batman," she sighed. "I could not vouch for any other that tried to follow. As I said, I am not even certain I shall be returning. I have only their assurance that I will reaching them."

Batman relaxed only slightly as he remarked, "And the night out….."

"Is a celebration of sorts before departure. Just in case I never get another chance with you, my handsome, young hero," she smiled. "You must know I have weakness for your sort."

"My sort," Batman growled.

"The strong, brooding hero type. Archetype, one might say. You're much like Odysseus, you know."

"I'll take your word on it."

"So, will you aid me?"

"It would seem I have little choice. For now."

"There is always a choice," she smiled, tracing his bat sigil on his broad chest. "But tonight, I wish to indulge. Tomorrow is soon enough for gods, and their quests."

Batman said nothing to that as he studied her.

"I'll go up and change. If you'll follow…me," he said, looking around as he realized he was abutply standing in the receiving hall of his manor, dressed in his best. Circe was at his side now wearing a very costly white silk gown that looked painted on her voluptuous frame.

"Why waste time," she cooed, and he opened the door with a bleak scowl to find Alfred just pulling the car around.

"Just so you understand that if something comes up….."

"Don't worry. Tonight, there will be no interruptions. You have my word," she smiled at him, taking his arm. "Tonight, is mine."

Bruce Wayne didn't smile at that one. It only made him more grim.

"Oh, come now. Even Hades smiles now and then. Surely you can…..?"

"I can smile, Circe," he told her, doing just that, almost literally transforming his grim visage with the altered expression. "After all, I'm sure we both know all about wearing…..masks to suit the occasion."

"Touché, my modest hero," she smiled. "Come, take me someplace…..fun."

Alfred said nothing as he watched them climb into the car, still wondering how he had ended up in the limo at all, and in his best uniform. The last think he remembered was preparing for bed, knowing Batman would be out all night again.

"The Swann Club, Alfred," he told his friend and employee, keeping his smile in place, and looking more like the carefree playboy most took him to be. "Miss Circe and I have a certain discovery to celebrate."

"Indeed, sir," Alfred, ever conscious of the proprieties murmured, and put the car in gear.

To Be Continued…..