A/N: Thank you for the reviews! And I'm sorry to disappoint again, but no lemons in this chapter either. I hope you enjoy anyway.

I don't feel rejected but I feel neglected,

You know me too well,

But you keep twisting my arm

There was a time when we had everything

You know my weakness,

To push me around,

We need to talk, nothing too serious,

I just can't keep this inside me no more.

Much Too Long—The Sounds

Chapter Twenty

"How dare you go where I can't interrogate you!" was the first thing Barda said.

Alexa laughed. "Not my choice, Barda."

They were speaking through the Javelin's ultra-long range communications system, which Bruce had designed. He was still manufacturing equipment for the League, even if he no longer took part in the activities.

Barda eyed her with a wide smile. "Your expression is telling me everything anyway. You're practically glowng."

Alexa knew the smile on her face was silly and a little bit besotted, but she did not try to muster up the grimness needed to wipe it off again. "Am I?"

"Yeah. Decidedly the look of new love."

The grin got a little bit wider. "It's a new relationship, Barda, it doesn't necessarily mean either of us is in love."

It was Barda's turn to laugh. "You might want to practice that poker face before you tell your family that, Lexie."

"Noted. Now do you want to hear my report or not?"

"I do. Make it, Batwoman."

They both sobered, and Alexa began the official reason she had contacted Earth. After this one she would send another to the Lantern Corps. "Superman and I arrived three days ago, and embarked on our mission immedaitley. I was shown to the Department of Munitions, to the research and development sector. The Rengar's bio-bomb is halfway to completion but is malfunctioning for unknown reasons; at my first opportunity I intend to exaggerate the existing problems if I can, or destroy it completely if that proves impossible. As for Shae's power source, it is also proving difficult to pinpoint the exact error stopping it from functioning correctly. I am running extensive diagnostics to resolve the problem. I estimate it will take at least another week, however."

"Very well. How is Superman's mission progressing?"

"Much the same. Neither side is willing to admit any culpability in starting the conflict while at the same time demanding the others accept full responsibility. The problem seems to come to division of resources, which Superman is focusing on, as it seems to be the best chance they have for a lasting peace deal. Again, it will take significant time to be resolved."

"Time I hope you're not wasting," Barda said slyly, back to teasing.

Alexa chose to ignore the implications of that tone, and answer the question literally. "Of course not. Once the energy generator is complete I will destroy the bio-bomb, and then I must return to Gotham. I suggest another League member be assigned to assist Superman."

She didn't want to leave, but she was certain Kal would understand Gotham being her priority. Some things never varied from generation to generation, after all. Barda rolled her eyes, but Alexa could see her fingers moving. "Noted and pending."

Batwoman nodded.

"Is there anything else you wish to add to your report, Batwoman?"

"Nothing for the moment."

"Then thank you for your report. There will be another due in 48 hours."

"Understood. Batwoman out."

That done, Alexa sent a text report to the Lantern Corps and then left the Javelin. It sat in Shae's underground hangar—which she still wasn't happy about—which was within easy walking distance of living quarters and their various governmental departments. There were a network of these tunnels, honeycombing under the planet's surface. Millions lived down here, farmed down here, lived down here. There was an entire generation who had never seen the sun. While Batwoman operated in shadows and nighttime, she could hardly imagine anything more soul destroying. It was already draining, they had only been there three days.

Her escort was waiting for her at the entrance to the hangar, standing rigidly. She didn't like him; he was very difficult to read, and he was good at stonewalling, and he followed her everywhere. She knew that if she got him alone and threatened him he would start singing like a canary, but so far the opportunity had not presented itself. She also knew he didn't like the fact (none of them did) that she had placed signal jammers in both her quarters and Kal's. Which they couldn't complain about without admitting the rooms were bugged in the first place.

"Are you finished with your communication?" the escort asked.

"Yes."

The Pineans had rigid necks but flexible spines, which as a result meant that they never developed the habit of nodding or shaking their heads. It had not occurred to Alexa how much she relied on non-verbal communication. It helped with the whole persona to be taciturn. Talking so much while in the suit felt very odd, and if they were here for much longer she was going to need a stretch of short meditation every day, just to be silent for a bit.

"I shall return you to the delegation chamber, where your colleague is."

"After you."

They marched to a subway station, where silver trains waited, alongside the dark blue military vehicles that brooded quietly in the background. People avoided looking at them, something she she'd noticed that she didn't like. It had the look of a culture that was afraid of the people who ruled it. But as Kal had said, men and women—unless bonded couples—didn't mix, and she imagined that any kind of revolution might be hard to plan. She hadn't had time to share her concerns with him though. Hadn't had time to share anything with him really. Another source of depression. Thankfully, the Pineans had different facial expressions too (tended to happen when you had four eyes, two noses and three different mouths depending on what you were eating), so she could still send subtly flirty expressions and gestures to him, even across a crowded room. One the plus side, they were now reciprocated. On the down side, it wasn't what either of them wanted to be doing. A pretty pathetic precursor to that, in fact. It seemed plainly unfair that, after so long, she theoretically could act and do what she desired, but practically she was being prevented from doing so. And if they were denied for much longer, then she had sneaking suspicion that Kal might get thoughts of 'taking things a little slower' running through his head, which was she was all for. After the life-altering, earth-shattering, screamingly-pleasurable sex. Once that had happened they could go as slow as superhumanly possible, if he wanted to.

The neutral zone where Kal's diplomatic talks were being conducted were about a twenty minute train ride away, and she spent it staring down all the men in her carriage. It was fairly amusing, she felt, because they were all affronted at first, then defiant, and then eventually looked away first anyway. She could almost hear the collective sigh of relief when it arrived back at the neutral zone. During the day this was where she was, with her partner, so as not to arouse suspicion—and at night, she was repairing Shae's machine. Luckily she'd had years to adapt to the lack of sleep, so it did not bother her too much. There was still a little deep-seated exhaustion, sleep-debt that she owed from the ten days when Kal had been missing. But she wasn't planning on sleeping on the journey back to Gotham, either.

When they entered the diplomatic negotiating chamber, the arguing fell silent when they saw Alexa. "Forgive my absence, delegates."

"Please, join us, Batwoman. We were just debating access for the last reserves of tourquine ore."

"You mean the denial of access," one of the Rengar spat.

"We were perfectly willing to grant access on our terms."

"Your terms were unreasonable!"

"Delegates, please. We need to move past the terms then and try to find a negotiable settlement for now," Kal said calmly. "Now, from the amount of tourquine ore left, it's obvious that it has to be rationed between everyone on Pinea."

"How can we know Shae is not holding ore back?" one of the Rengars objected.

"You now control the vast majority of the ore fields!"

"And most are completely depleted!"

"Whose fault is that?"

"We are not here to apportion blame," Kal said. "Now, there are two options before us. The first is that the remaining ore is removed to the neutral zone and monitored and distributed by representatives of both governments."

"The personnel would have to be civilians, of course," Alexa added.

"How are we to protect them if no military guards are available to protect them?"

"You would have to extend a certain amount of turst."

"Trust them? Impo-"

Before the delegate could continue with any of his three mouths, Kal interrupted. "Which leads us to the second possibility."

"Which is?" grunted a reluctant Shae member.

"Hand the tourquine ore over to an independent peacekeeping authority, such as the Green Lanterns."

This produced a response, but it was muttered instead of angry. There seemed to be agreements and disagreements about the Lantern Corps in each faction. They had heard good things about the Lanterns. After all, it had been they who set up these negotiations. And they had chosen a trusted figure to lead them, and they did exist to keep peace throughout the galaxy. But they were still outsiders, they did not know the subtleties of Pinean culture, and how could they ever really be trusted forever? What if they damaged or erased some vital element of themselves because of their involvement with the Lanterns?

"Delegates, the Green Lantern Corps can be trusted absolutely. Their mission is to safeguard freedom and peace throughout the galaxy."

"Superman, what can you tell us of these Lanterns? Have you met them?"

"Yes. The Justice League works closely with Mira McGuiness, the Green Lantern assigned to Earth."

"She could be an isolated case," someone muttered.

Both Alexa and Kal heard him. "There has been a Green Lantern attached to Earth for decades," Batwoman said. "Hundreds of years, even. And none of them have ever given any cause for concern."

They all agreed they needed time to take that under advisement, so shortly after the negotiations broke up for the day, and everyone went home for the day. The two sides went to their bunkers and Kal and Alexa boarded their military train to go to their quarters.

"Did you have to say hundreds of years?" Kal asked, under his breath when they sat next to each other. "Made me feel ancient."

She grinned. "I'd be more than happy to help you establish what you're capable of, old man," she murmured back, "if you're having doubts."

He coloured, but looked away, and Alexa gave an inward sigh. Looked like it was seduction of the Amazonian kind after all. Never mind. There were benefits to that too.

They almost shared quarters, though not nearly as almost as she would have liked, their doors only being across a hallway from one another. It was slightly isolating, since it meant that each of them was alone all evening, even eating by themselves. Not that Alexa had eaten much since they'd been here. She had no problems killing her food, hunting, but she did prefer it to be dead once it was actually presented to her on the plate. All in all, she was definitely looking forward to getting her feet back on Terra Firma.

After she had eaten what she could of her meal, she pushed her plate away and cleared her throat. "Kal," she called softly, knowing he'd hear her through the walls, "I want you to come with me tonight. There's something off about this whole project that I can't put my finger on, and two pairs of eyes are better than one. Especially x-ray eyes. Feign interest in the project and they should let you come."

She headed to the door when the knock of her escort sounded, calm and unconcerned expression on her face. "Are you ready, Batwoman?"

"Yes. Are the materials I requested in the lab? The project can't continue until I have them."

"They are ready and assembled-"

Kal's door opened, and he stepped out with a smile of both of them. "Glad I caught you."

"What can I do for you, Superman?" the escort asked immediately, subtly putting his body in between them.

Just as subtly, Kal moved to Alexa's side. "I'd like to tag along," he said innocently. "I'm curious about this power generator."

"There's really nothing interesting about it, Superman. And it does not impact your mission here."

"I disagree," Kal said politely. "After all, my mission here is to ensure a peaceful and secure future for Pinea, and a major new technology such as this one would help to guarantee that."

"The project is classified. It could not be discussed in your negotiations."

"No, but hints of it may be necessary. Just enough to convey the general gift of it."

"The science is very complex-"

"Which you are more than capable of fully understanding, Kal," Alexa said firmly.

If nothing else, the amount of stonewalling that was going on here was further indication that something was out of joint, and she was determined to find out what. Finally the escort could see he was outnumbered, and could not make further objection without insulting Kal. He gave an assent that had not been requested.

"Of course you may accompany us, Superman."

"Thank you."

Alexa's working place was nothing like Kal's. There were no chairs, no daylight-simulated lighting, nothing but steel, fluorescent lighting and tubes everywhere, hissing gases and humming machinery, chemical siphons all leading to an enormous apparatus. It was in the centre of the room, twenty feet high and seven feet in diameter, a shiny black metal cylinder.

"What does it run on?"

"Refiblium. It's a synthesised element, and it should act a lot like plutonium in a nuclear reactor."

"So what's the problem?"

"The input/yield threshold is far too low. I'm not sure why. According to the information I have, refiblium is capable of producing the amount of power it needs to. But it isn't behaving as expected."

A scientist in purple overalls came over, having heard their conversation. "Batwoman, have you thought any more about my suggestion of running a stronger current through the machine? It may coax results."

Alexa shook her head. "I've told you, it wouldn't do any good. The Refiblium-"

She had to stop as a blinding pain ripped across her head, along with fear, a feeling of powerlessness and an unmistakable plea for help. After ten seconds, it faded, and she was able to straighten. She saw Kal doing the same thing.

"Hera," she breathed. "What was that?"

"I know exactly what that was," he said gravely. "I've felt it before."

"When?"

"When I first met J'onn. When he was a prisoner and calling desperately for help."

"So that must mean …"

Kal nodded, and finished her sentence. "Somewhere here, there's a telepath in great distress."

"A telepath?" the scientist asked, looking startled, and then shooting a panicked glance at the escort.

He came over immediately. "What's the problem?"

"There's a telepath somewhere," Alexa said. "Where?"

"I'm afraid I don't know what you mean."

Alexa probably would have done it, but Kal got there first. Looking angrier than she had ever seen him, he grabbed the escort's collar and pulled him that that their faces were only a few inches apart. "Bull," he growled. "I know what a telepath in distress feels like. Now where are they and why are you keeping them locked up?"

It would take either a very brave man or a very stupid one not to break down and confess the truth then and there, and the escort was one of the two. He clenched his jaws. "Release me."

"Not until you tell me what I want to know."

It clicked in Alexa's mind. "There is no Refiblium, is there? At least none that works as a power source."

She and Kal looked at one another, then at the centre of the room. "The machine…"

After a moment, Kal nodded. "There's a female in there. She's wired in like a battery." He picked up a spare metal pole and wrapped it effortlessly around the escort, stopping his arms from moving at all. "Don't go anywhere."

Alexa had approached the machine, and rent open the metal easily, enlarging the hole with her bare hands. Inside there was the figure of an emaciated girl, needles sunk deep into her skin, electrodes pressed to her scalp and the soles of her feet. Her four eyes were wide as she wordlessly pleaded for help.

A/N: The next chapter could be a little late, maybe Wednesday or Thurday next week - I have a lemon to write after all and they're always difficult for me. Review please!