Made to Be Broken
Aug. 7th, 2011 09:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
trista_zevkiaTitle: Made to be Broken
Author: Trista_zevkia
Chapter: 1/5
Fandom: Batman/Superman
Characters/Pairing: Clark/Bruce
Rating: PG-17
Warnings: SLASH
Summary: When Batman says to stay out of his city, you really should listen!
Disclaimer: All monies made will be sent to the Wayne Enterprise approved Charities
Author's Notes:
Once upon a time, there was a flood in New Zealand. Many have moved on, but my lazy butt and broken wrist are just now getting around to fulfilling my part. For Darke_wulf kindness about the time, I’m tossing in a few extra words. It has nothing to do with my inability to follow guidelines
; )
The JL was formed for the greater good, spreading peace to, and beyond, their tiny planet. A member had to be more than gifted to be invited to join. Lex Luther was gifted, but couldn’t be counted on to give his life for a stranger. Even amongst these selfless heroes, rules were needed to keep things running smoothly.
Several rules established monitor duty rotation scheduling, and there was a rule about acceptable reasons to miss meetings. A rule about making more coffee if you finished off the pot. Lots of rules in the JL, but two very important rules wouldn’t be found in any rulebook. Not written anywhere, except the hearts of the members. Flash would joke about not stepping on Superman’s cape, and Superman would laugh with the rest of them. These two unspoken, unwritten rules didn’t cover cape pulling, but after one look from Batman it was obvious that wasn’t a good idea either. The number one rule was from Batman and compliance with those four little words was strictly enforced.
Stay out of Gotham.
Neither civilian nor costumed identity was allowed in Gotham, let alone allowed to fight crime in that city, without direct approval and supervision by Batman. Whatever an individual thought of that rule, it was easy to follow. If you weren’t brave enough to ask the Batman if he needed help, you weren’t ready to work in his dark city. Simple to understand and follow, even if JL members thought Batman was simply a control freak.
The second rule wasn’t as clearly defined or as obvious, perhaps because Batman had never said it. People had to discover it by trial and error, or trial and glare as Flash called it outside of Batman’s hearing range.
Do not socially interact with Batman; it’s a waste of time and he punishes time wasters.
Batman walking away in the middle of a conversation was often the first clue that a relevant discussion had devolved into personal chitchat. Superman was the most flagrant violator of rule two, but still respected rule one. Batman would try and walk away from Superman, but Superman would walk with him at whatever pace Batman set. Superman learned to ask questions, and Batman seemed interested in providing the answers.
Other JL members began to copy Superman, asking Batman questions instead of talking about their lives. Batman snarked and snarled, but allowed it. He wanted to share his knowledge, believing it could save all their lives someday. Rule two was eroding slowly, so the destruction of rule one couldn’t be far behind. After all, if the situation was right, most rules could bend, and some were made to be broken.
sBSbBs
Batman snarled a greeting at the assembled team members as he stalked into the meeting room.
“Bats, you’re late!” Flash said, trying to distract the other members from the fact he’d only just arrived before Batman. It worked, as the whole table winced at the way Batman stopped walking to turn, slowly, to face Flash.
“Really? All this equipment at my disposal, you’d think I’d know the time.” Flash shrunk in on himself a little, honestly scared by the sarcastic, angry tone of his teammate. Moving again and heading for his seat, Batman spoke again. “You know, if you thought.”
“Batman, Flash, let’s settle down and start this meeting.” Superman tried to be the voice of reason, but even as he started on the agenda he checked under Batman’s mask. Bruce had bags under his eyes, and his heart rate was accelerated. Bruce was stressed, and Superman frowned as he moved on.
A short time later, Superman asked if anybody had seen any mistakes in the last fight the whole team had been involved in. Everyone turned to Batman, who was usually full of observations about such things, to find Batman’s head almost touching his chest. Flash dashed out of the room so he could laugh loudly out in the hall. Superman was more concerned than Flash and whispered to the astonished leaguers.
“Perhaps we should quietly move this meeting to another room?” In the quiet of nodding heads, Superman heard the voice speaking over Batman’s earpiece.
“Sir, I regret that I must alert you to a situation.” That was all it took to end Batman’s nap. He was up and moving toward the door without an explanation.
“Details?” He growled as he walked. Superman held up a hand to the JL in a wait motion, and followed Batman. Superman wasn’t fast enough, the door opening to show him a Flash who was pointing and laughing at Batman. A motion of Batman’s hand and the laughter stopped. “Not her usual M.O. I’ll on my way.”
“Batman?” Superman called down the hall, waiting by the immobile Flash as Batman started walking away.
“It’s a new paralytic, it’ll wear off on its own. Be sure and tell me how long it works on him.” Batman’s voice showed he was mostly concerned with Gotham, so Superman let him go. Picking up Flash, Superman carried him into the meeting. During the laughter and confusion, Superman set Flash behind his chair. Settling into his own chair, Superman addressed the meeting at large.
“I trust Batman not to intentionally cause lasting harm, so if he says it’ll wear off we just have to let it do that. Just to be considerate though, I don’t think we should have Monday meetings anymore. Can we try Tuesday next month?”
sBSbBs
Someone was holding the corporate offices of Wayne Enterprises hostage, so it was something of a typical Tuesday in Gotham. Brucie Wayne hadn’t shown up for work today, so only 32 employees had become bargaining chips. The hostage taker requested the crown jewels in exchange, but wasn’t specific as to which kingdom he wanted the jewels from. Wonder Woman leaned back in the monitor station’s chair and considered. This individual was probably what Flash referred to as a ‘nutjob’ and needed to be stopped. It was daylight, so GCPD didn’t expect Batman. Which was just as well, as he was off planet at the moment.
A distress signal had reached the Watchtower, a passing spacecraft needed help and replacement parts for their life support systems. Earth was unlikely to have replacement parts for the advanced vehicle, but they could still assist in some way. Many of the JL members were creative, clever with machines or able to improvise well. Batman had turned all three attributes into an art form, and was a natural for this kind of thing. Batman had just returned to his cave for the night when J’onn called him, so he was working with no sleep. It would take longer then, and Gotham was endangered by a nutjob.
Diana could clear the building before the nutjob knew she was there and activate his bombs. Flash could search the building for the bombs the nutjob claimed to have, and Hawkgirl could take out the nutjob. They would be out of Gotham before Batman even knew they went, and all he’d be able to do about it was growl. Bats didn’t growl, that Diana knew of anyway, so Batman was more like a bear than a bat. Diana grinned at the idea of Bear-man, knowing it wouldn’t have been nearly as scary and decided to call Hawkgirl and Flash. Except the comm. beeped at her before she could activate it.
“Watchtower? This is Superman. We’re all okay and ready to land, if you’d open the door?” Before Diana could respond, the growl she’d been thinking of moments ago started.
“That’s not proper recognition code, you’ll get us all killed by aliens.” Rolling her eyes, Diana worked the controls to open the docking bay doors. The growl now focused on the comm., instead of Superman. “Javelin 2 to Watchtower. Request docking procedure alpha.”
“Watchtower to Javelin 2, docking permission granted, bay one opening.” Diana’s calm, professional voice hopefully soothed the bat a tiny bit, but she didn’t want to offend Superman either. “Superman, glad you are well, and welcome home.”
Once the smaller, quicker Javelin was inside, Diana shut the doors and went down to greet them. Greet most of them, that is, and tell Batman what was happening in his city. She’d also risk his wraith by offering to assist. Despite his reluctance to accept such things, Diana considered Bruce her friend and occasionally entertained notions of something more.
Green Lantern was the first off, as was expected whenever he was confined with Batman. J’onn was next, tiny signs of stress on his normally stoic face. Stopping beside Diana, he turned to face the shuttle and sent her a mental image.
The green aliens were about five feet tall, but were panicking as the air got thinner. Tossing his cape aside, Batman had squirmed into a tube made for their engineers. In the tight quarters, he fitted two incompatible machines together, using what looked like a toaster. A four slice toaster, Diana thought. On the bridge, the computer registered life support as functional, and a scared alien started the machine before Batman was clear.
Catching Diana’s concern, J’onn sent back the warm feelings that showed Batman was fully functional. As Superman had said, they were all okay. Batman emerged from the craft, and Diana let herself get an eyeful. Only the reinforced areas of Batman’s armor had survived contact with the alien atmosphere, and even that had a ragged caveman look to it. Batman was basically wearing his black briefs, boots, gauntlets and cowl, with scraps of expensive armor draped around. Without the armor, the utility belt hung off his hips, adding to the idea that all that kept the remaining material on him was his formidable willpower.
As he moved, light reflected off of his skin. When he got close enough, Diana could see he was covered with tiny crystals and had to clamp down on a mad laugh. It had been a sexy look, emphasizing lean muscles and a powerful body, until she realized he’d been covered in glitter. Even Batman was hard to take seriously when wearing body glitter! Fighting back the laugh, Diana still turned to watch him walk out of the landing bay. Willpower was defiantly the only thing holding up those briefs!
Only after the door closed behind her, did Diana look for Superman. He was standing beside her, a strange look on his face as he stared at where Batman had disappeared. Superman held Batman’s cape reverently in his hands, and blushed when he realized Diana was looking at him.
“The crystals on him have to be neutralized with water, or else they eat through things. So he wouldn’t wear the cape and couldn’t sit down the whole flight back. And he wants a sample for study, so he couldn’t wash up there.”
Diana considered what her face would look like if she had to look at that and not touch for three hours. Might just explain why Clark looked so dazed, but only if he could be moved by male beauty. Or was that a crazy idea? Insanity reminded her, and Diana spoke.
“I need to speak to Batman, something has come up in Gotham.”
“No!” Shocked, ice blue eyes were staring at her from Superman’s kind face. Diana tensed her body, ready to respond to a physical attack. Instead, Superman blushed and looked away. “Sorry, it’s just that now might not be a good time. He’s tired, and not about to admit it. He passed bat-cranky and moved straight to bat-angry-enough-to-make-the-Joker-reconsider-what-he’s-about-to-do. Maybe someone else should go, someone who doesn’t present a solid target.”
Here, Superman turned hopeful eyes to J’onn, who considered him steadily for a moment. “I will, but only if you give more thoughts to your motivation for having me do so, Superman. Princess, will you tell me of the situation?”
Diana sent J’onn a mental image of what she knew. When J’onn floated upward, Superman was gone, taking the cape and his secret motivations with him. Diana went back to the monitor womb, she had another hour on her shift to consider this.
sBSbBs
Flash slowly shook his head at the madness on his screen. Wednesday morning monitor duty was always as dull as watching paint dry. On one screen, Wally’s favorite shows played, while another had a game of spider solitaire, four suites. Just to keep himself from getting bored, he also had a laptop playing viral videos, and a box of snacks. The viral video in front of him he had to replay, simply because he couldn’t believe it.
Yesterday, the nutjob de jour of Gotham (nutjob central) had taken hostages and asked for the crown jewels. It was daylight when he walked out of Wayne Enterprises, into the waiting arms of the cops. Unarmed, he was helped into the back of a truck, caressing the cardboard crown in his hands. Another was perched jauntily on his head, the logo of the fast food restaurant it had come from blurred out. Nutjob waived regally at the crowd of cops and reporters before the truck doors slammed closed.
The comments mostly asked what brand of crazy this guy used. Some claimed Batman had entered the building and traded the hostages for the thin cardboard crown and were laughed at for believing Batman was more than an urban legend. Flash had another question, and spent several minutes trying to imagine where and how Batman had gotten the fast food items. He could almost picture Batman going in to stop a robbery, but at the image of him waiting in line, Flash’s brain stalled. Deciding Batman had a specially designed grappling hook for getting fast food products, Wally switched over to see what new nutjobs were making the news in Gotham.
“Killer Crock has been recaptured, after escaping Arkham asylum Monday afternoon. The escape is believed to have been orchestrated by Poison Ivy, who escaped from Arkham several months ago. Though she doesn’t normally concern herself with her fellow inmates, Poison Ivy’s plants broke down the walls and allowed five inmates to escape. Three have been recaptured, leaving Scarecrow and Harley Quinn at large. So be extra careful, Gotham! Janet?”
“Thank you Brad. If you are one of the lucky few, you’re going to the Gotham Children’s Hospital fundraiser tonight. Billionaire playboy Brucie Wayne is on the auction block, the grand prize in tonight’s bachelor action. Event organizers expect an evening with Brucie to fetch $100,000, to be used for life saving research into children’s cancers. Those of us not invited, will have to sit at home and wish the bidders good luck. I only hope Harley Quinn doesn’t put in a bid!” Brad and Janet shared a moment of amusement at each other, and Flash made a face at the dumb things that passed for humor on news shows. “And now to Ryan, with the weather. Ryan?”
Bored, Flash switched back over to the viral videos, and put Gotham out of his mind. It wasn’t like Batman would ever accept help there anyway!
sBSbBs
Hawkgirl let her mace tap threateningly on the floor, wishing she could beat something up. Normally monitor duty wasn’t so bad, a calm space in the storm of her life, but she wasn’t used to being treated like this either! Thursday afternoon wasn’t her turn on duty, so what was she even doing here? Reviewing last night’s events wouldn’t calm her, but it gave her something to do.
She’d been out for a flight, watching the sunset as she rode the thermals. The JL comm. in her ear was soothing in its own way as she listened for places she might be of assistance. Green Lantern’s voice always got her attention, just in case he was talking to her, considering her as a potential mate. So when he laughed into the comm. she listened.
“Where’s Batman when Gotham needs him? At home, waiting for the sun to set!”
“Lantern, what’s going on in Gotham?”
“Hey Hawkgirl. Just turned on the news, and Harley Quinn has held up a bachelor auction in Gotham. She’s demanding the Joker be let out of prison so she can bid on him!”
“You can buy unmarried men in this country?” Shiera was surprised at this, even as she wondered if she could afford John.
“No, it’s a charity event. You donate money to get a date with them.”
“Understood.” Hawkgirl said, though she was still fuzzy on the details. “I’m on my way to Gotham now, and Batman can take over after it gets dark.”
“No.” The scary voice came over the comm. and Hawkgirl knew she would have stumbled had she been in walking. “I’m taking care of this now. Stay out of Gotham.”
“Don’t be that way, Batman. We’re only trying to help.” Hawkgirl hadn’t expect her comment to get his attention, but it had.
“There are hostages Hawkgirl. Fragile civilians, who can’t handle your type of help.” Batman’s comments still hurt, even though Hawkgirl was used to them by now. But she wasn’t used to Green Lantern rushing to her defense, and she liked that idea.
“Knock it off Batman, you’ve got no reason to go after Shi, I mean Hawkgirl. You don’t have to be so damn nasty to offers of assistance, you territorial jackass!”
“Fine, Hawkgirl wants to help, she can have my turn at monitor duty tomorrow morning. Green Lantern, you know where you can stick that ring.”
Batman hadn’t responded to any of the colorful things John had filled the comm. with, until Superman had to step in and ask John to stop transmitting. Looking back on it, Hawkgirl wondered just how much of that conversation had been planned. Had that all been Batman’s way of asking for someone to take his shift, but in such a way as to keep up his masculine pride?
“Hey.”
Shiera looked up to see John walking toward her. “Hello, Green Lantern.”
“Came to keep you company, since it’s my fault you’ve got monitor duty.”
“It is unnecessary, but appreciated.” As John conjured up a chair with his ring, Shiera looked for something to say. “Did you hear if they found Bruce Wayne yet?”
“Yeah, about four hours after Batman gave Quinn to the cops, they found Wayne in a closet down the hall. The moron had run away from the dressing room when he heard the screams, and fallen asleep in the closet!”
“Seriously?” John laughed as he nodded, and Shiera laughed with him. “What kind of idiot falls asleep during a hostage negotiation?”
“He’d be dead, but leave a well rested corpse.” More shared laughter before they moved on to other topics of conversation. When the news playing in the background mentioned Gotham, Shiera wondered if Batman could have planned this as well, but dismissed the question as easily as she dismissed the financial news.
“A new player in Gotham is causing speculative day trading, but investors are encouraged to watch the start up, PI & S, before investing. A bio-chemical tech firm PI & S is poised to take on WayneTech with their organic bug spray, but first they have to pass EPA testing. The company is showcasing their products this afternoon outside of Gotham.” “
sBSbBs
Lois Lane really hated Gotham! Even the park was dark and gloomy during the day. Old trees, old buildings, and quite a lot of old people. Not that Lois minded old people, but for such a thriving party scene as Gotham was supposed to have, there sure were a lot of old people at this event. Coming in to see if investing in PS & S was a wise thing to do, the old people apparently still held Gotham’s purse strings. The startup company was holding a picnic in the park to attract investors and press. Though it was more of a carnival than a picnic, in Lois’s humble opinion. Lois had received an invitation in her name, and came without Clark or Jimmy. She regretted it now, as either one would have been a nice distraction from gloom and doom that permeated Gotham even when it tried to be cheerful!
“Come on guys,” whined a familiar voice.
Lois turned to see Brucie Wayne trying to bribe his way past security at a small tent. With all the gaudy things going on today, it was strange that Brucie would want in the plain tent before him. Her reporter’s instincts flared up and Lois moved closer. Brucie looked tired, which probably meant he’d partied all night and was still hung over. He was trying to bribe his way in with a gold watch and a desperate look. The guard was uninterested and had dazed look about him. With a deep breath, Lois went to rescue Brucie.
“Bruce, what have you to say about your new competitor?”
Brucie slowly turned to face Lois, his drunken state more noticeable with every movement. With some difficulty Brucie manage to focus on Lois. “I need to pee, but I can’t afford the pay toilet.”
Lois rolled her eyes but wanted to be on Brucie’s good side, so she spoke to the guard. “Is this the bathroom?”
“No. This tent is restricted.” The guard’s voice was too dull to be natural, and Lois felt her instincts flare.
“Come on Brucie, I’ll help you find the bathroom.” Even as she led Brucie away, Lois planned how she would get into that tent and find out what was really going on.
sBSbBs
Clark Kent returned from his lunch break on Friday, not looking as though he had saved a bus from crashing into a house when the brakes failed. He did wonder where Lois was, but heard his name called before he could do more than wonder. Stumbling to his feet, he went to see what Perry wanted.
“Kent, get in touch with the Gotham Gazette, find out what they know about the takeover!”
“What takeover, Chief?”
“PI&S is taking over Wayne Enterprises. You should listen to the news instead of pining after Lois, now go!”
Retreating to his desk, Clark pretended to look up the number for the people he knew on the Gotham paper, but used his cell phone to call Bruce Wayne directly. One and a half rings, and the voice mail kicked in. Bruce had seen who was calling and hung up on him! Annoyed by this, as Clark wanted to help more than report on this just yet, Clark called another number. Two rings and the phone was picked up. This number had caller id also, but was the domain of one too polite to ignore Clark.
“Master Kent, what may I do for you?”
“Hey Alfred. What’s going on? I’ve heard about some sort of takeover attempt.”
“News has always traveled fast, but this story is incomplete. Master Bruce has assured me that W.E. is secure, very complicatedly run by several trusts. This takeover is more of a publicity stunt on the behalf of PI & S, a new company. Inquiries into the organization over the past few weeks only found more questions, and some think the takeover is retribution for asking those questions.”
“So it’s nothing to worry about?”
“Most people would not worry.” Alfred clearly meant that despite his logical reasons not to, Bruce was still worrying.
“How was his evening?”
“I believe it tired him more than he would like to admit. He did manage to turn an ankle, straining the ligaments. The papers tell of him jumping from the high dive in a stage of extreme inebriation.” Brucie’s cover story, which hadn’t been witnessed because it never happened, but crowds of Gothamites would swear they saw it. After all, the ‘in’ crowd of popular people had seen it, so who would admit they weren’t in that crowd?
“He wasn’t in the best of spirits when I last saw him.”
“I suspect it is the effort of hiding his exhaustion, as he so wants to earn your respect.”
“Really?” Clark couldn’t help the disbelief in his voice. If anything, he would have thought Bruce had no interest in being respectable.
“I believe he is requesting my attention on the other line, if you will excuse me Master Kent?”
“Right, thanks Alfred. Goodbye.”
“Goodbye, Sir.”
Hanging up the phone, Clark turned to his desk phone. Now he could begin reporting on the issue, having done his duty to his friend. Making phone calls and digging into court records was not the glamorous part of being a reporter, but it was necessary.
sBSbBs
Chapter 2
Author: Trista_zevkia
Chapter: 1/5
Fandom: Batman/Superman
Characters/Pairing: Clark/Bruce
Rating: PG-17
Warnings: SLASH
Summary: When Batman says to stay out of his city, you really should listen!
Disclaimer: All monies made will be sent to the Wayne Enterprise approved Charities
Author's Notes:
Once upon a time, there was a flood in New Zealand. Many have moved on, but my lazy butt and broken wrist are just now getting around to fulfilling my part. For Darke_wulf kindness about the time, I’m tossing in a few extra words. It has nothing to do with my inability to follow guidelines
; )
The JL was formed for the greater good, spreading peace to, and beyond, their tiny planet. A member had to be more than gifted to be invited to join. Lex Luther was gifted, but couldn’t be counted on to give his life for a stranger. Even amongst these selfless heroes, rules were needed to keep things running smoothly.
Several rules established monitor duty rotation scheduling, and there was a rule about acceptable reasons to miss meetings. A rule about making more coffee if you finished off the pot. Lots of rules in the JL, but two very important rules wouldn’t be found in any rulebook. Not written anywhere, except the hearts of the members. Flash would joke about not stepping on Superman’s cape, and Superman would laugh with the rest of them. These two unspoken, unwritten rules didn’t cover cape pulling, but after one look from Batman it was obvious that wasn’t a good idea either. The number one rule was from Batman and compliance with those four little words was strictly enforced.
Stay out of Gotham.
Neither civilian nor costumed identity was allowed in Gotham, let alone allowed to fight crime in that city, without direct approval and supervision by Batman. Whatever an individual thought of that rule, it was easy to follow. If you weren’t brave enough to ask the Batman if he needed help, you weren’t ready to work in his dark city. Simple to understand and follow, even if JL members thought Batman was simply a control freak.
The second rule wasn’t as clearly defined or as obvious, perhaps because Batman had never said it. People had to discover it by trial and error, or trial and glare as Flash called it outside of Batman’s hearing range.
Do not socially interact with Batman; it’s a waste of time and he punishes time wasters.
Batman walking away in the middle of a conversation was often the first clue that a relevant discussion had devolved into personal chitchat. Superman was the most flagrant violator of rule two, but still respected rule one. Batman would try and walk away from Superman, but Superman would walk with him at whatever pace Batman set. Superman learned to ask questions, and Batman seemed interested in providing the answers.
Other JL members began to copy Superman, asking Batman questions instead of talking about their lives. Batman snarked and snarled, but allowed it. He wanted to share his knowledge, believing it could save all their lives someday. Rule two was eroding slowly, so the destruction of rule one couldn’t be far behind. After all, if the situation was right, most rules could bend, and some were made to be broken.
sBSbBs
Batman snarled a greeting at the assembled team members as he stalked into the meeting room.
“Bats, you’re late!” Flash said, trying to distract the other members from the fact he’d only just arrived before Batman. It worked, as the whole table winced at the way Batman stopped walking to turn, slowly, to face Flash.
“Really? All this equipment at my disposal, you’d think I’d know the time.” Flash shrunk in on himself a little, honestly scared by the sarcastic, angry tone of his teammate. Moving again and heading for his seat, Batman spoke again. “You know, if you thought.”
“Batman, Flash, let’s settle down and start this meeting.” Superman tried to be the voice of reason, but even as he started on the agenda he checked under Batman’s mask. Bruce had bags under his eyes, and his heart rate was accelerated. Bruce was stressed, and Superman frowned as he moved on.
A short time later, Superman asked if anybody had seen any mistakes in the last fight the whole team had been involved in. Everyone turned to Batman, who was usually full of observations about such things, to find Batman’s head almost touching his chest. Flash dashed out of the room so he could laugh loudly out in the hall. Superman was more concerned than Flash and whispered to the astonished leaguers.
“Perhaps we should quietly move this meeting to another room?” In the quiet of nodding heads, Superman heard the voice speaking over Batman’s earpiece.
“Sir, I regret that I must alert you to a situation.” That was all it took to end Batman’s nap. He was up and moving toward the door without an explanation.
“Details?” He growled as he walked. Superman held up a hand to the JL in a wait motion, and followed Batman. Superman wasn’t fast enough, the door opening to show him a Flash who was pointing and laughing at Batman. A motion of Batman’s hand and the laughter stopped. “Not her usual M.O. I’ll on my way.”
“Batman?” Superman called down the hall, waiting by the immobile Flash as Batman started walking away.
“It’s a new paralytic, it’ll wear off on its own. Be sure and tell me how long it works on him.” Batman’s voice showed he was mostly concerned with Gotham, so Superman let him go. Picking up Flash, Superman carried him into the meeting. During the laughter and confusion, Superman set Flash behind his chair. Settling into his own chair, Superman addressed the meeting at large.
“I trust Batman not to intentionally cause lasting harm, so if he says it’ll wear off we just have to let it do that. Just to be considerate though, I don’t think we should have Monday meetings anymore. Can we try Tuesday next month?”
sBSbBs
Someone was holding the corporate offices of Wayne Enterprises hostage, so it was something of a typical Tuesday in Gotham. Brucie Wayne hadn’t shown up for work today, so only 32 employees had become bargaining chips. The hostage taker requested the crown jewels in exchange, but wasn’t specific as to which kingdom he wanted the jewels from. Wonder Woman leaned back in the monitor station’s chair and considered. This individual was probably what Flash referred to as a ‘nutjob’ and needed to be stopped. It was daylight, so GCPD didn’t expect Batman. Which was just as well, as he was off planet at the moment.
A distress signal had reached the Watchtower, a passing spacecraft needed help and replacement parts for their life support systems. Earth was unlikely to have replacement parts for the advanced vehicle, but they could still assist in some way. Many of the JL members were creative, clever with machines or able to improvise well. Batman had turned all three attributes into an art form, and was a natural for this kind of thing. Batman had just returned to his cave for the night when J’onn called him, so he was working with no sleep. It would take longer then, and Gotham was endangered by a nutjob.
Diana could clear the building before the nutjob knew she was there and activate his bombs. Flash could search the building for the bombs the nutjob claimed to have, and Hawkgirl could take out the nutjob. They would be out of Gotham before Batman even knew they went, and all he’d be able to do about it was growl. Bats didn’t growl, that Diana knew of anyway, so Batman was more like a bear than a bat. Diana grinned at the idea of Bear-man, knowing it wouldn’t have been nearly as scary and decided to call Hawkgirl and Flash. Except the comm. beeped at her before she could activate it.
“Watchtower? This is Superman. We’re all okay and ready to land, if you’d open the door?” Before Diana could respond, the growl she’d been thinking of moments ago started.
“That’s not proper recognition code, you’ll get us all killed by aliens.” Rolling her eyes, Diana worked the controls to open the docking bay doors. The growl now focused on the comm., instead of Superman. “Javelin 2 to Watchtower. Request docking procedure alpha.”
“Watchtower to Javelin 2, docking permission granted, bay one opening.” Diana’s calm, professional voice hopefully soothed the bat a tiny bit, but she didn’t want to offend Superman either. “Superman, glad you are well, and welcome home.”
Once the smaller, quicker Javelin was inside, Diana shut the doors and went down to greet them. Greet most of them, that is, and tell Batman what was happening in his city. She’d also risk his wraith by offering to assist. Despite his reluctance to accept such things, Diana considered Bruce her friend and occasionally entertained notions of something more.
Green Lantern was the first off, as was expected whenever he was confined with Batman. J’onn was next, tiny signs of stress on his normally stoic face. Stopping beside Diana, he turned to face the shuttle and sent her a mental image.
The green aliens were about five feet tall, but were panicking as the air got thinner. Tossing his cape aside, Batman had squirmed into a tube made for their engineers. In the tight quarters, he fitted two incompatible machines together, using what looked like a toaster. A four slice toaster, Diana thought. On the bridge, the computer registered life support as functional, and a scared alien started the machine before Batman was clear.
Catching Diana’s concern, J’onn sent back the warm feelings that showed Batman was fully functional. As Superman had said, they were all okay. Batman emerged from the craft, and Diana let herself get an eyeful. Only the reinforced areas of Batman’s armor had survived contact with the alien atmosphere, and even that had a ragged caveman look to it. Batman was basically wearing his black briefs, boots, gauntlets and cowl, with scraps of expensive armor draped around. Without the armor, the utility belt hung off his hips, adding to the idea that all that kept the remaining material on him was his formidable willpower.
As he moved, light reflected off of his skin. When he got close enough, Diana could see he was covered with tiny crystals and had to clamp down on a mad laugh. It had been a sexy look, emphasizing lean muscles and a powerful body, until she realized he’d been covered in glitter. Even Batman was hard to take seriously when wearing body glitter! Fighting back the laugh, Diana still turned to watch him walk out of the landing bay. Willpower was defiantly the only thing holding up those briefs!
Only after the door closed behind her, did Diana look for Superman. He was standing beside her, a strange look on his face as he stared at where Batman had disappeared. Superman held Batman’s cape reverently in his hands, and blushed when he realized Diana was looking at him.
“The crystals on him have to be neutralized with water, or else they eat through things. So he wouldn’t wear the cape and couldn’t sit down the whole flight back. And he wants a sample for study, so he couldn’t wash up there.”
Diana considered what her face would look like if she had to look at that and not touch for three hours. Might just explain why Clark looked so dazed, but only if he could be moved by male beauty. Or was that a crazy idea? Insanity reminded her, and Diana spoke.
“I need to speak to Batman, something has come up in Gotham.”
“No!” Shocked, ice blue eyes were staring at her from Superman’s kind face. Diana tensed her body, ready to respond to a physical attack. Instead, Superman blushed and looked away. “Sorry, it’s just that now might not be a good time. He’s tired, and not about to admit it. He passed bat-cranky and moved straight to bat-angry-enough-to-make-the-Joker-reconsider-what-he’s-about-to-do. Maybe someone else should go, someone who doesn’t present a solid target.”
Here, Superman turned hopeful eyes to J’onn, who considered him steadily for a moment. “I will, but only if you give more thoughts to your motivation for having me do so, Superman. Princess, will you tell me of the situation?”
Diana sent J’onn a mental image of what she knew. When J’onn floated upward, Superman was gone, taking the cape and his secret motivations with him. Diana went back to the monitor womb, she had another hour on her shift to consider this.
sBSbBs
Flash slowly shook his head at the madness on his screen. Wednesday morning monitor duty was always as dull as watching paint dry. On one screen, Wally’s favorite shows played, while another had a game of spider solitaire, four suites. Just to keep himself from getting bored, he also had a laptop playing viral videos, and a box of snacks. The viral video in front of him he had to replay, simply because he couldn’t believe it.
Yesterday, the nutjob de jour of Gotham (nutjob central) had taken hostages and asked for the crown jewels. It was daylight when he walked out of Wayne Enterprises, into the waiting arms of the cops. Unarmed, he was helped into the back of a truck, caressing the cardboard crown in his hands. Another was perched jauntily on his head, the logo of the fast food restaurant it had come from blurred out. Nutjob waived regally at the crowd of cops and reporters before the truck doors slammed closed.
The comments mostly asked what brand of crazy this guy used. Some claimed Batman had entered the building and traded the hostages for the thin cardboard crown and were laughed at for believing Batman was more than an urban legend. Flash had another question, and spent several minutes trying to imagine where and how Batman had gotten the fast food items. He could almost picture Batman going in to stop a robbery, but at the image of him waiting in line, Flash’s brain stalled. Deciding Batman had a specially designed grappling hook for getting fast food products, Wally switched over to see what new nutjobs were making the news in Gotham.
“Killer Crock has been recaptured, after escaping Arkham asylum Monday afternoon. The escape is believed to have been orchestrated by Poison Ivy, who escaped from Arkham several months ago. Though she doesn’t normally concern herself with her fellow inmates, Poison Ivy’s plants broke down the walls and allowed five inmates to escape. Three have been recaptured, leaving Scarecrow and Harley Quinn at large. So be extra careful, Gotham! Janet?”
“Thank you Brad. If you are one of the lucky few, you’re going to the Gotham Children’s Hospital fundraiser tonight. Billionaire playboy Brucie Wayne is on the auction block, the grand prize in tonight’s bachelor action. Event organizers expect an evening with Brucie to fetch $100,000, to be used for life saving research into children’s cancers. Those of us not invited, will have to sit at home and wish the bidders good luck. I only hope Harley Quinn doesn’t put in a bid!” Brad and Janet shared a moment of amusement at each other, and Flash made a face at the dumb things that passed for humor on news shows. “And now to Ryan, with the weather. Ryan?”
Bored, Flash switched back over to the viral videos, and put Gotham out of his mind. It wasn’t like Batman would ever accept help there anyway!
sBSbBs
Hawkgirl let her mace tap threateningly on the floor, wishing she could beat something up. Normally monitor duty wasn’t so bad, a calm space in the storm of her life, but she wasn’t used to being treated like this either! Thursday afternoon wasn’t her turn on duty, so what was she even doing here? Reviewing last night’s events wouldn’t calm her, but it gave her something to do.
She’d been out for a flight, watching the sunset as she rode the thermals. The JL comm. in her ear was soothing in its own way as she listened for places she might be of assistance. Green Lantern’s voice always got her attention, just in case he was talking to her, considering her as a potential mate. So when he laughed into the comm. she listened.
“Where’s Batman when Gotham needs him? At home, waiting for the sun to set!”
“Lantern, what’s going on in Gotham?”
“Hey Hawkgirl. Just turned on the news, and Harley Quinn has held up a bachelor auction in Gotham. She’s demanding the Joker be let out of prison so she can bid on him!”
“You can buy unmarried men in this country?” Shiera was surprised at this, even as she wondered if she could afford John.
“No, it’s a charity event. You donate money to get a date with them.”
“Understood.” Hawkgirl said, though she was still fuzzy on the details. “I’m on my way to Gotham now, and Batman can take over after it gets dark.”
“No.” The scary voice came over the comm. and Hawkgirl knew she would have stumbled had she been in walking. “I’m taking care of this now. Stay out of Gotham.”
“Don’t be that way, Batman. We’re only trying to help.” Hawkgirl hadn’t expect her comment to get his attention, but it had.
“There are hostages Hawkgirl. Fragile civilians, who can’t handle your type of help.” Batman’s comments still hurt, even though Hawkgirl was used to them by now. But she wasn’t used to Green Lantern rushing to her defense, and she liked that idea.
“Knock it off Batman, you’ve got no reason to go after Shi, I mean Hawkgirl. You don’t have to be so damn nasty to offers of assistance, you territorial jackass!”
“Fine, Hawkgirl wants to help, she can have my turn at monitor duty tomorrow morning. Green Lantern, you know where you can stick that ring.”
Batman hadn’t responded to any of the colorful things John had filled the comm. with, until Superman had to step in and ask John to stop transmitting. Looking back on it, Hawkgirl wondered just how much of that conversation had been planned. Had that all been Batman’s way of asking for someone to take his shift, but in such a way as to keep up his masculine pride?
“Hey.”
Shiera looked up to see John walking toward her. “Hello, Green Lantern.”
“Came to keep you company, since it’s my fault you’ve got monitor duty.”
“It is unnecessary, but appreciated.” As John conjured up a chair with his ring, Shiera looked for something to say. “Did you hear if they found Bruce Wayne yet?”
“Yeah, about four hours after Batman gave Quinn to the cops, they found Wayne in a closet down the hall. The moron had run away from the dressing room when he heard the screams, and fallen asleep in the closet!”
“Seriously?” John laughed as he nodded, and Shiera laughed with him. “What kind of idiot falls asleep during a hostage negotiation?”
“He’d be dead, but leave a well rested corpse.” More shared laughter before they moved on to other topics of conversation. When the news playing in the background mentioned Gotham, Shiera wondered if Batman could have planned this as well, but dismissed the question as easily as she dismissed the financial news.
“A new player in Gotham is causing speculative day trading, but investors are encouraged to watch the start up, PI & S, before investing. A bio-chemical tech firm PI & S is poised to take on WayneTech with their organic bug spray, but first they have to pass EPA testing. The company is showcasing their products this afternoon outside of Gotham.” “
sBSbBs
Lois Lane really hated Gotham! Even the park was dark and gloomy during the day. Old trees, old buildings, and quite a lot of old people. Not that Lois minded old people, but for such a thriving party scene as Gotham was supposed to have, there sure were a lot of old people at this event. Coming in to see if investing in PS & S was a wise thing to do, the old people apparently still held Gotham’s purse strings. The startup company was holding a picnic in the park to attract investors and press. Though it was more of a carnival than a picnic, in Lois’s humble opinion. Lois had received an invitation in her name, and came without Clark or Jimmy. She regretted it now, as either one would have been a nice distraction from gloom and doom that permeated Gotham even when it tried to be cheerful!
“Come on guys,” whined a familiar voice.
Lois turned to see Brucie Wayne trying to bribe his way past security at a small tent. With all the gaudy things going on today, it was strange that Brucie would want in the plain tent before him. Her reporter’s instincts flared up and Lois moved closer. Brucie looked tired, which probably meant he’d partied all night and was still hung over. He was trying to bribe his way in with a gold watch and a desperate look. The guard was uninterested and had dazed look about him. With a deep breath, Lois went to rescue Brucie.
“Bruce, what have you to say about your new competitor?”
Brucie slowly turned to face Lois, his drunken state more noticeable with every movement. With some difficulty Brucie manage to focus on Lois. “I need to pee, but I can’t afford the pay toilet.”
Lois rolled her eyes but wanted to be on Brucie’s good side, so she spoke to the guard. “Is this the bathroom?”
“No. This tent is restricted.” The guard’s voice was too dull to be natural, and Lois felt her instincts flare.
“Come on Brucie, I’ll help you find the bathroom.” Even as she led Brucie away, Lois planned how she would get into that tent and find out what was really going on.
sBSbBs
Clark Kent returned from his lunch break on Friday, not looking as though he had saved a bus from crashing into a house when the brakes failed. He did wonder where Lois was, but heard his name called before he could do more than wonder. Stumbling to his feet, he went to see what Perry wanted.
“Kent, get in touch with the Gotham Gazette, find out what they know about the takeover!”
“What takeover, Chief?”
“PI&S is taking over Wayne Enterprises. You should listen to the news instead of pining after Lois, now go!”
Retreating to his desk, Clark pretended to look up the number for the people he knew on the Gotham paper, but used his cell phone to call Bruce Wayne directly. One and a half rings, and the voice mail kicked in. Bruce had seen who was calling and hung up on him! Annoyed by this, as Clark wanted to help more than report on this just yet, Clark called another number. Two rings and the phone was picked up. This number had caller id also, but was the domain of one too polite to ignore Clark.
“Master Kent, what may I do for you?”
“Hey Alfred. What’s going on? I’ve heard about some sort of takeover attempt.”
“News has always traveled fast, but this story is incomplete. Master Bruce has assured me that W.E. is secure, very complicatedly run by several trusts. This takeover is more of a publicity stunt on the behalf of PI & S, a new company. Inquiries into the organization over the past few weeks only found more questions, and some think the takeover is retribution for asking those questions.”
“So it’s nothing to worry about?”
“Most people would not worry.” Alfred clearly meant that despite his logical reasons not to, Bruce was still worrying.
“How was his evening?”
“I believe it tired him more than he would like to admit. He did manage to turn an ankle, straining the ligaments. The papers tell of him jumping from the high dive in a stage of extreme inebriation.” Brucie’s cover story, which hadn’t been witnessed because it never happened, but crowds of Gothamites would swear they saw it. After all, the ‘in’ crowd of popular people had seen it, so who would admit they weren’t in that crowd?
“He wasn’t in the best of spirits when I last saw him.”
“I suspect it is the effort of hiding his exhaustion, as he so wants to earn your respect.”
“Really?” Clark couldn’t help the disbelief in his voice. If anything, he would have thought Bruce had no interest in being respectable.
“I believe he is requesting my attention on the other line, if you will excuse me Master Kent?”
“Right, thanks Alfred. Goodbye.”
“Goodbye, Sir.”
Hanging up the phone, Clark turned to his desk phone. Now he could begin reporting on the issue, having done his duty to his friend. Making phone calls and digging into court records was not the glamorous part of being a reporter, but it was necessary.
sBSbBs
Chapter 2
