Justice League: The New Wave (IC)

[Wyldfire]

"Thanks but no thanks, Daisy Duke," he waved dismissively. "I'm not gonna be 21 for a long, long time. At least chronologically. And I've been off Waffle House cuisine since I understood that Bloodhound Gang lyric."

He pointed a thumb back over his shoulder. "You know, you totally just assaulted Federal property back there. And that Chase lady-- there are lesbians who don't love their wives as much as Chase loves that car. I should probably be rearranging your surprisingly nice teeth right now just to make sure I stay on her good side. But you could, ah-- make nicey-nice-- save me the trouble of trashing Tara O'Hara, here."

That was it! Little boy prick wants ta be rude, he can get rude. Jo had been playing nice. She'd shown him hospitality. He chose to be rude. Fine. His loss and his teeth he was going to be picking up. "Ya know fer someone who's supposed ta represent a symbol as respected as what yer wearin on yer chest ya got a mouth on ya." The look in Jo's eyes had changed. Not hospitality anymore. Not even cold. The look in her eyes were a storm coming. The tone in her voice was tight.

"You Fed type's are all the same. Egotistical. Superiority complex in the making," she stalked in SuperBOY's direction. "Get th hell outta MY house and offa MY family's property. Don't worry StooperBOY I'll be right behind ya. Once we're clear a my home we'll see who's teeth is gonna be in th dirt."

Jo's eye's began to glow. "GET. MOVING. NOW. BOY!"

 

[ChasNicollette]

General Lee Problematic.

"Ya know fer someone who's supposed ta represent a symbol as respected as what yer wearin on yer chest ya got a mouth on ya." The look in Jo's eyes had changed. Not hospitality anymore. Not even cold. The look in her eyes were a storm coming. The tone in her voice was tight.

"Yeah, I get that a lot," Kon-El, cocky little ass, didn't even miss a beat.

"See, for me, that was as polite as I get. But I guess surrender is still a sore topic with 'you people?'"

"You Fed type's are all the same. Egotistical. Superiority complex in the making," she stalked in SuperBOY's direction. "Get th hell outta MY house and offa MY family's property. Don't worry StooperBOY I'll be right behind ya. Once we're clear a my home we'll see who's teeth is gonna be in th dirt."

"Oh, now, hey," Kon didn't quite back up just yet. "I only came in because you invited me in! Don't I get, like, squatter's rights or something?"

Jo's eye's began to glow. "GET. MOVING. NOW. BOY!"

His fingerless gloves curled into fists.

The heat vision thing wasn't awesome.

His tactile-telekinetic field wasn't as good against gas-based weapons... and even worse against energy weapons because they didn't have a material component to be repulsed by a mind that was so over matter.

But he was still tough as balls and could heal like a mother, so he didn't back his "S" down.

His fists came up. "Don't Tread on Me."

 

[Wyldfire]

"Yeah, I get that a lot," Kon-El, cocky little ass, didn't even miss a beat.

"See, for me, that was as polite as I get. But I guess surrender is still a sore topic with 'you people?'"



"Oh, now, hey," Kon didn't quite back up just yet. "I only came in because you invited me in! Don't I get, like, squatter's rights or something?"



His fingerless gloves curled into fists.

The heat vision thing wasn't awesome.

His tactile-telekinetic field wasn't as good against gas-based weapons... and even worse against energy weapons because they didn't have a material component to be repulsed by a mind that was so over matter.

But he was still tough as balls and could heal like a mother, so he didn't back his "S" down.

His fists came up. "Don't Tread on Me."

No words. He couldn't even respect her home. The sound that came with the concentrated flash vision was reminiscent of a phaser. Blue beams struck out at light speed right at the "S" of the boy. Let's see how fer he flies. Right on the heels of the flash vision came the ultra breathe.

 

[ChasNicollette]

'Bout Den Dat Superboy Showed Up.

No words. He couldn't even respect her home. The sound that came with the concentrated flash vision was reminiscent of a phaser. Blue beams struck out at light speed right at the "S" of the boy. Let's see how fer he flies. Right on the heels of the flash vision came the ultra breathe.

The flash vision hit him center mass and blew him right off of his feet and out the still-open door directly behind him. His shoulder clipped the doorframe on the way out, kicking up a shower of plaster dust and splintered wood, and then he skipped across the lawn.

That hurt like hell and he could smell the searing eye marks in his chest and it reminded him vaguely of bacon.

"Okay, ow. *snufffff* ...wait, is she right? Am I a piggie now?"

But as the blast-front of the ultra breath washed towards him he reacted with superspeed and damn fine instincts--

--lashing out with a hand he slapped the ground hard, unleashing a burst of his tactile-telekinesis, causing a slab of rock to burst up from the earth and form a shelter against the absolute-zero gale-force winds.

"Whatever, like I gotta take this crap from a lady who knows more banjo players than Steve Martin and Kermit."

Using like one, two, three split-seconds to recover himself, to heal a few scorched layers of skin, he then launched up into the air, over the improvised rock bulwark and arcing down towards Jo in-- appropriately enough-- a Superboy-powered Superman punch.

"HEY, HARDCORE HOLLY! I GOT YOUR ALABAMA SLAMMA RIGHT HERE!"

 

[Aussie_Wolf]

Dr Serling was as good as her word and Carin spent the next few days pouring over vast amounts of data the Flash had left behind. It seemed Barry had planned ahead and knowing that Speedsters would be wanting access to his knowledge he had actually written most of it down instead of putting it on computer. Serling had been perplexed when she had first found out, but when Carin showed her just how fast she could read one of the large volumes, (about a second) and then showed her the limitations of the state of the art computer system, (She tried scrolling to read but it kept hanging up. She had the same problem when she typed.)

She learned vast amounts and put into practice various techniques in the safety of the buildings labs. She learned how to control her vibrating powers to deliver stunning blows, and even just vibrate one finger to cut metals clean through. She also started very slowly to vibrate her body through objects. At first it was a finger, then her hand as she got used to the feeling, then finally she did her whole body. Although it only lasted a fraction of a second, the feeling was so foreign she was sure she was never going to get used to it.

However there were other speed tricks that could just not be done in the lab. To get faster she needed to put into practice the things he had suggested about the different ways of breathing and running, and to do some of the speed tricks with wind she needed wide open spaces. To that end she left to go to the one place that was used to high speed things. Bonneville.

Over several days her speed improved by leaps and bounds and she started to gain control over other speed tricks. She was able to create small whirlwinds from moving her arms rapidly, and larger ones by running in a tight circle.

She tried to create lightning as he described, but at the last moment she always lost it. However she was able to adapt it and could use the static energy she could create while running (if she tried) to create a sort of tazer like punch.

He had also described the ability to create solid state duplicates of himself, but she had a feeling she was not running fast enough yet to be able to do that. Indeed every time she tried it it felt like she was tearing herself apart. She decided to leave practising that particular skill until she got a lot faster. Still she thought her new skills would serve her well in the coming battles and she would only get better.

 

[Wyldfire]

The flash vision hit him center mass and blew him right off of his feet and out the still-open door directly behind him. His shoulder clipped the doorframe on the way out, kicking up a shower of plaster dust and splintered wood, and then he skipped across the lawn.

That hurt like hell and he could smell the searing eye marks in his chest and it reminded him vaguely of bacon.

"Okay, ow. *snufffff* ...wait, is she right? Am I a piggie now?"

But as the blast-front of the ultra breath washed towards him he reacted with superspeed and damn fine instincts--

--lashing out with a hand he slapped the ground hard, unleashing a burst of his tactile-telekinesis, causing a slab of rock to burst up from the earth and form a shelter against the absolute-zero gale-force winds.

"Whatever, like I gotta take this crap from a lady who knows more banjo players than Steve Martin and Kermit."

Using like one, two, three split-seconds to recover himself, to heal a few scorched layers of skin, he then launched up into the air, over the improvised rock bulwark and arcing down towards Jo in-- appropriately enough-- a Superboy-powered Superman punch.

"HEY, HARDCORE HOLLY! I GOT YOUR ALABAMA SLAMMA RIGHT HERE!"

Still no words. Jo had fought Kryptonians and Daxamites before. She might not remember it but she had fought a good bit of the Legion to a stand still before. Superpunk wasn't worth words. She saw him coming. Widen out her base and go tough. The blow landed, driving her almost knee deep into the ground. She looked up at him, a trace of blood trickling down her lip. That had been a really good shot. Bet he'd taken more than one opponent down. Her response was strength. A straight punch. Low punch. With her full ultra strength. Then to speed. Full speed to put distance between them.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Staightenin' the curves. Flattenin' the hills.

Still no words. Jo had fought Kryptonians and Daxamites before. She might not remember it but she had fought a good bit of the Legion to a stand still before. Superpunk wasn't worth words. She saw him coming. Widen out her base and go tough. The blow landed, driving her almost knee deep into the ground. She looked up at him, a trace of blood trickling down her lip. That had been a really good shot. Bet he'd taken more than one opponent down. Her response was strength. A straight punch. Low punch. With her full ultra strength. Then to speed. Full speed to put distance between them.

The difference between Jo and Kon was that while Jo outclassed Kon considerably in overall power, Kon could multitask-- he was more versatile. She swung with that full-on ultra strength, but she couldn't make her punches super-fast because she didn't have her ultra-speed with all her energies dumped into the one stat.

Kon's reaction times weren't as fast as Superman's would have been, but he was still Hella fast, and he was able to get both his hands up to block that punch, one palm catching the straight-on knuckles, the other snagging her forearm--

--and, having made contact, Superboy used his tactile-telekinetic field not just as a wall against brute force, but as a crash-pad membrane to redirect and slough off the excess amplitude of the punch.

But that was one Hell of a punch and it had a Hell of a lot of amplitude and all that energy had to go somewhere all at one Hell of a once.

The ground beneath his feet shattered in a crater that reverberated to the very bedrock. For yards and yards behind him that energy expended like a wave, blowing the earlier rock wall to bitty shards and even taking out a few of the nearer trees. But not all of the force could be directed down and behind and a sheer shockwave airburst also took out almost every window in the two buildings of La Casa del Nash.

And Superboy felt like he had basically been popped like a soap bubble, staggering and clutching his sides, all his ribs had been bruised at once and his head was ringing like that bell from that Johnny B. Goode song.

He blinked and she was gone. Her numbers had shifted columns hard into the speed stat and he brandished his fist after her as he struggled to keep his game face on.

"That's right, you better run!"

He rotated his arms in their sockets, turning to face Jo again, shaking his head--

--"My forcefield. My impregnable forcefield! I feel so... pregnable."

But his feet were still touching the ground.

He flexed his toes and massive chunks of the ground that had shattered around him sprang in Jo's direction like they had been sneezed out by a Rock-Biter. Atlee would have been impressed by the force and velocity of the stones. Maybe even Tara. But we don't talk about Tara.

 

[Wyldfire]

The difference between Jo and Kon was that while Jo outclassed Kon considerably in overall power, Kon could multitask-- he was more versatile. She swung with that full-on ultra strength, but she couldn't make her punches super-fast because she didn't have her ultra-speed with all her energies dumped into the one stat.

Kon's reaction times weren't as fast as Superman's would have been, but he was still Hella fast, and he was able to get both his hands up to block that punch, one palm catching the straight-on knuckles, the other snagging her forearm--

--and, having made contact, Superboy used his tactile-telekinetic field not just as a wall against brute force, but as a crash-pad membrane to redirect and slough off the excess amplitude of the punch.

But that was one Hell of a punch and it had a Hell of a lot of amplitude and all that energy had to go somewhere all at one Hell of a once.

The ground beneath his feet shattered in a crater that reverberated to the very bedrock. For yards and yards behind him that energy expended like a wave, blowing the earlier rock wall to bitty shards and even taking out a few of the nearer trees. But not all of the force could be directed down and behind and a sheer shockwave airburst also took out almost every window in the two buildings of La Casa del Nash.

And Superboy felt like he had basically been popped like a soap bubble, staggering and clutching his sides, all his ribs had been bruised at once and his head was ringing like that bell from that Johnny B. Goode song.

He blinked and she was gone. Her numbers had shifted columns hard into the speed stat and he brandished his fist after her as he struggled to keep his game face on.

"That's right, you better run!"

He rotated his arms in their sockets, turning to face Jo again, shaking his head--

--"My forcefield. My impregnable forcefield! I feel so... pregnable."

But his feet were still touching the ground.

He flexed his toes and massive chunks of the ground that had shattered around him sprang in Jo's direction like they had been sneezed out by a Rock-Biter. Atlee would have been impressed by the force and velocity of the stones. Maybe even Tara. But we don't talk about Tara.

Still not a word out of her mouth. Tough again she took the barrage and just covered her face. After the rocks stopped coming she looked at him again. Squinting her eyes again she let fly with concentrated flash vision. This time she did not let it up though. She was going to fry this idiot. Make him beg for her to stop. Make him shut the hell up. She had tried to be nice. All she had wanted was information about these FARM laws from another meta. What had she gotten? A smart ass with a superiority complex. A BOY who didn't understand civility and manners. Let his ass burn for awhile and see if he learns some damned manners.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Just'a Superboy. Never meanin' no harm.

Still not a word out of her mouth. Tough again she took the barrage and just covered her face. After the rocks stopped coming she looked at him again. Squinting her eyes again she let fly with concentrated flash vision. This time she did not let it up though. She was going to fry this idiot. Make him beg for her to stop. Make him shut the hell up. She had tried to be nice. All she had wanted was information about these FARM laws from another meta. What had she gotten? A smart ass with a superiority complex. A BOY who didn't understand civility and manners. Let his ass burn for awhile and see if he learns some damned manners.

Superboy threw up a hand, then the other hand to brace that hand, catching the flash vision on his palm...

...he immediately felt it start to blister, and he scrunched his brow in pain and irritation. "Ow! Jesus! Block button! Block button!"

His next tactic was to drop low and barrel at her at superspeed, flying an inch above the ground to tackle her legs, maybe do some kind of super-suplex--

--but all of a sudden Rebel's flash vision stuttered and hung up.

--and so did Superboy's force-aura, in the same instant.

Fwttt.

A tranq dart hit Superboy in the neck.

He blinked. "Da fuq?"

...and keeled over, his eyes rolling back, thudding to the ground. "--but gohjiss ya don' hafta drug me to get me to put out--"

Chase and Helligan stepped out of the shattered rim of the woods, Chase holding a hand up and a fancy, high-tech gun down low.

Helligan had a tranq gun, and she didn't hold hers quite as low.

"Well," Helligan reflected, "that de-escalated quickly."

"Jo Nash," Chase looked squarely at The Rebel.

"I have the metahuman power to momentarily interrupt other metahuman powers. Magical, alien, metagenetic, tech-based. Just for a second at a time. But that's more than long enough, as we've just demonstrated, to put you under if we wanted to. We don't want to. What we want is for you to take a breath. And listen to us."

"Superboy is young, and brash, and foolhardy, but he's one of the bravest people you'll ever meet. Last week he literally helped save the world, all three of us did, and it's not the first time any of us have done that either."

"What did you do last week besides peddle cirrhosis to the local yokels? There is more to life than this, Jo. You are meant for more than this. And I think you know you are."

 

[Wyldfire]

Superboy threw up a hand, then the other hand to brace that hand, catching the flash vision on his palm...

...he immediately felt it start to blister, and he scrunched his brow in pain and irritation. "Ow! Jesus! Block button! Block button!"

His next tactic was to drop low and barrel at her at superspeed, flying an inch above the ground to tackle her legs, maybe do some kind of super-suplex--

--but all of a sudden Rebel's flash vision stuttered and hung up.

--and so did Superboy's force-aura, in the same instant.

Fwttt.

A tranq dart hit Superboy in the neck.

He blinked. "Da fuq?"

...and keeled over, his eyes rolling back, thudding to the ground. "--but gohjiss ya don' hafta drug me to get me to put out--"

Chase and Helligan stepped out of the shattered rim of the woods, Chase holding a hand up and a fancy, high-tech gun down low.

Helligan had a tranq gun, and she didn't hold hers quite as low.

"Well," Helligan reflected, "that de-escalated quickly."

"Jo Nash," Chase looked squarely at The Rebel.

"I have the metahuman power to momentarily interrupt other metahuman powers. Magical, alien, metagenetic, tech-based. Just for a second at a time. But that's more than long enough, as we've just demonstrated, to put you under if we wanted to. We don't want to. What we want is for you to take a breath. And listen to us."

"Superboy is young, and brash, and foolhardy, but he's one of the bravest people you'll ever meet. Last week he literally helped save the world, all three of us did, and it's not the first time any of us have done that either."

"What did you do last week besides peddle cirrhosis to the local yokels? There is more to life than this, Jo. You are meant for more than this. And I think you know you are."

"What ah did was ta live my life under mah own control. Y'all just proved ta me what these FARM laws are. Just another way a tellin us ta be good lil slaves." She walked to Superboy and bent down and pulled the tranq out of his skin. "Ya just showed me that you'll treat us Metas like dogs if ya wanna."

Jo paced a bit. "Y'all want control. Y'all want ta keep us under yer thumbs "fer the good a th people". So, ya threaten our families and loved ones fer shelterin us if we use our powers. Tell me agents, if I refuse ta sign an I use my powers ta get people out of a burnin buildin, ya gonna lock me up?"

"An what makes you think I am meant fer more? Isn't that th citizen's right? Th right ta pursue happiness?"

 

[ChasNicollette]

Been in trouble with the law since the day he was cloned.

"What ah did was ta live my life under mah own control. Y'all just proved ta me what these FARM laws are. Just another way a tellin us ta be good lil slaves." She walked to Superboy and bent down and pulled the tranq out of his skin. "Ya just showed me that you'll treat us Metas like dogs if ya wanna."

Pulling the dart out of Superboy's skin was easier even than Jo would have expected... his healing factor had already begun rejecting it, pushing it out-- the burn on his palm was already fading... his powers were already back.

"Continued metahuman engagement would have already resulted in further injury and property damage," Helligan pointed out. "We just wanted to prevent things from getting worse. Because that's not why we're here. That's the opposite of why we're here."

Jo paced a bit. "Y'all want control. Y'all want ta keep us under yer thumbs "fer the good a th people". So, ya threaten our families and loved ones fer shelterin us if we use our powers. Tell me agents, if I refuse ta sign an I use my powers ta get people out of a burnin buildin, ya gonna lock me up?"

"This is a country," Chase reminded Jo, "that believes in rule of law. And unregulated superhuman abilities do represent a potential clear and present danger to domestic tranquility. But no. We're not going to drag you off to The Slab or Stryker's Island or Iron Heights if you don't pencil yourself in. Not all registered metahumans are operatives with The DEO. Not all registered metahumans are costumed heroes. Just like not everyone who signs up for Selective Service ends up joining the military or are even pro-military, but our current governing laws require you to do that, too."

"But no," Helligan reiterated, "we're not going to make you sign up or drag you off in cuffs. We recently had an experience where we were... less flexible than we should have been, and people wound up wrongfully jailed. An innocent woman and a Faerie Queen-- we freed them right away, but we also learned our lesson. We want to give you a chance. To really think about it."

"ATF won't be particularly pleased that we played this card," Chase reflected. "But in this instance our jurisdiction supersedes theirs."

"An what makes you think I am meant fer more? Isn't that th citizen's right? Th right ta pursue happiness?"

"My partner is very, very smart," Chase pointed out. "And I know what life is like from the other side of the cape and cowl."

"It is absolutely your right to choose what kind of happiness you'd like to pursue," Helligan noted, approaching Superboy as he sat up groaning and offering him a hand up, "so long as it doesn't endanger anyone else or otherwise break the laws of this great nation."

"We're just saying, Ms. Nash," Chase said with a faint smile, "that there are other happinesses worth pursuing. Greater, higher happinesses. And who knows? You might just find you like yourself a little better if you go after one of those happinesses instead."

 

[Wyldfire]

Pulling the dart out of Superboy's skin was easier even than Jo would have expected... his healing factor had already begun rejecting it, pushing it out-- the burn on his palm was already fading... his powers were already back.

"Continued metahuman engagement would have already resulted in further injury and property damage," Helligan pointed out. "We just wanted to prevent things from getting worse. Because that's not why we're here. That's the opposite of why we're here."



"This is a country," Chase reminded Jo, "that believes in rule of law. And unregulated superhuman abilities do represent a potential clear and present danger to domestic tranquility. But no. We're not going to drag you off to The Slab or Stryker's Island or Iron Heights if you don't pencil yourself in. Not all registered metahumans are operatives with The DEO. Not all registered metahumans are costumed heroes. Just like not everyone who signs up for Selective Service ends up joining the military or are even pro-military, but our current governing laws require you to do that, too."

"But no," Helligan reiterated, "we're not going to make you sign up or drag you off in cuffs. We recently had an experience where we were... less flexible than we should have been, and people wound up wrongfully jailed. An innocent woman and a Faerie Queen-- we freed them right away, but we also learned our lesson. We want to give you a chance. To really think about it."

"ATF won't be particularly pleased that we played this card," Chase reflected. "But in this instance our jurisdiction supersedes theirs."



"My partner is very, very smart," Chase pointed out. "And I know what life is like from the other side of the cape and cowl."

"It is absolutely your right to choose what kind of happiness you'd like to pursue," Helligan noted, approaching Superboy as he sat up groaning and offering him a hand up, "so long as it doesn't endanger anyone else or otherwise break the laws of this great nation."

"We're just saying, Ms. Nash," Chase said with a faint smile, "that there are other happinesses worth pursuing. Greater, higher happinesses. And who knows? You might just find you like yourself a little better if you go after one of those happinesses instead."

Jo really wanted ta argue alla this more but there had been a nagging feeling in her heart and head. It felt wrong being on the other side. Like she was betrayin a trust or somethin. Her right ring finger kept tinglin too. She wanted to do right by her family. They had done so very much for her. Her brothers felt like crew. Whatever th hell "crew" was. But it also felt like old history being in the criminal element. Damn her memory problems. It was like when she looked at Tina. Girl turned her guts inside out with that good feeling she got when she looked at her and at the same time it was like looking at a ghost. Like looking at something you had lost.

Jo glared at Superboy as he rose back up, but didn't say anything. That damned symbol on his chest bugged Jo too. What was it? Why should she feel she could trust it or anyone wearing it?

Before the agents could start yammering again or Supertwit could start back up she said "Okay. I'll sign up," she shook her head, "damned if I know why I should but I will."

She said right after the last "Long as I don't have ta work with Stooperboy over there."

 

[ChasNicollette]

They keep a showin' my hands and not my face on TV.

Jo glared at Superboy as he rose back up, but didn't say anything. That damned symbol on his chest bugged Jo too. What was it? Why should she feel she could trust it or anyone wearing it?

Kon rubbed the back of his head, looking disgruntled. Not at being darted-- he realized he'd fucked up even as he opened his eyes staring at the sky. But at getting baited so easy. Guardian wouldn't've put up with that crap if Jim were still training him. Neither would Tim.

And Clark... oh, man.

He missed Clark.

But then he noticed Jo staring at him and he covered the burn marks on his chest with one hand and frowned at her-- about ready to let fly with some quip about her undressing him with her eyes-- literally!

Before the agents could start yammering again or Supertwit could start back up she said "Okay. I'll sign up," she shook her head, "damned if I know why I should but I will."

She said right after the last "Long as I don't have ta work with Stooperboy over there."

Superboy scoffed. "Yeah, eff you too, screwbelle. I'm taking my carpet bag and I'm going home, done enough Northern Aggression for one day."

Chase rolled her eyes at The Metropolis Kid and tugged an envelope out of her black suit-jacket, handing this to Rebel. "Look this over before you sign it. If you have a lawyer, have them look at it too. I want you to be perfectly comfortable with this. If you have any questions, we have offices in Montgomery, Manchester, and Birmingham, any of whom can route your call to myself or Agent Helligan."

"And while we don't prioritize interpersonal disputes as assignment criteria," Helligan smiled faintly, "it'll definitely be a nonzero factor."

Chase held out her hand to The Rebel. "Whatever you decide. Good luck."

 

[Wyldfire]

Kon rubbed the back of his head, looking disgruntled. Not at being darted-- he realized he'd fucked up even as he opened his eyes staring at the sky. But at getting baited so easy. Guardian wouldn't've put up with that crap if Jim were still training him. Neither would Tim.

And Clark... oh, man.

He missed Clark.

But then he noticed Jo staring at him and he covered the burn marks on his chest with one hand and frowned at her-- about ready to let fly with some quip about her undressing him with her eyes-- literally!



Superboy scoffed. "Yeah, eff you too, screwbelle. I'm taking my carpet bag and I'm going home, done enough Northern Aggression for one day."

Chase rolled her eyes at The Metropolis Kid and tugged an envelope out of her black suit-jacket, handing this to Rebel. "Look this over before you sign it. If you have a lawyer, have them look at it too. I want you to be perfectly comfortable with this. If you have any questions, we have offices in Montgomery, Manchester, and Birmingham, any of whom can route your call to myself or Agent Helligan."

"And while we don't prioritize interpersonal disputes as assignment criteria," Helligan smiled faintly, "it'll definitely be a nonzero factor."

Chase held out her hand to The Rebel. "Whatever you decide. Good luck."

Jo took the envelop. "Yeah, got a lawyer. He'll make sure it's good." She started back ta th house. Dad was gonna be so mad. And she had work ta do. Windows ta fix. Stoopidboy oughta be helpin... His Damned fault.

She got back ta the house in time ta see Papa Nash and her brothers cleaning up glass. Jo Felt like shit. "Dad, let me get that. I made the mess, Let me clean it up."

The Patriarch of the Nash clan looked at his adoptive daughter and a rage came into him. She looked whipped. And she had blood on her lip down to her chin. "Little one, do the boys and I need to go kill someone?"

Her brothers paled then went red in anger. They knew she'd last been dealing with Feds. Mickey started to say something and Randy stopped him. That caught Papa Nash's eye. "What?" he not so much asked. "Who did this to you and why are your brothers looking like they wanna crawl under a log and die?"

"Cause they followed orders Dad. I had them get Tina and the girls out of the bar when the Feds and their pet Meta showed up. I thought I could handle the Meta. He was an ass. If the Feds hadn't jumped in I'd a kicked his ass." Jo said, a bit of pride in her eyes.

"Did they get a name down here?" the older man asked.

"Sorta, I guess," Jo said, "Punk ass by the name of Superboy."

Papa Nash got a look in his eye. "They sent a kinda big name. I might just have to ask my friend up North to look into this." The old man shook his head. "I will look into this little bit. Now what's that in your hand?" He gestured for her to give it over. Jo did as she was told and handed the envelope to him.

"The Feds want me to sign up in the FARM law thingy. They want me ta be some sorta superhero or somethin..."

Both of her brothers did their best not to bust a gut laughin. Good on them. Jo didn't wanna beat them up. It wasn't fair. They needed at least five friends ta stand half a chance.

Papa looked at her hard. "I am going to make that call. This is worth me making the deal and giving him a hand in the business down here."

He looked at the boys and said, "Y'all go get your places in shape. Jo, I am going to ask you to use your gifts to get the windows replaced. Got some of those new Lexcorp security windows. Now get. You got an hour to change all the windows out after you broke them playing with Superboy. Now get to it."

As Papa Nash walked away he pulled out his cell phone and hit a saved number. The phone was answered on the third ring. "Yes, this is Robert Nash. I would like to set up an appointment."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Interlude: The Beginning of The End Run.

And when he woke up, The Speed Force humming beneath him more like floor than wall.

He was not alone.

A being of blue light stood before him, on the city limits of a citadel that seemed to rise from The Speed Force Wall--

--he looked like he was made of light, and so was his city--

--like a Sonic the Hedgehog made from the crackling energies of Frequency X.

"You made it! All the really great ones make it here eventually, to The Radioland of KWYZZ. G-Force, Max Mercury, Lumina, Hot Pursuit, The Glimmer-- here to find the beginning of the four-dimensional track that will let them run throughout The Orrery of Worlds--"

"I'm... I'm sorry..." Barry mumbled, shakily struggling to his feet, he could feel the ache in every tendon, but still he stood... "...you're talking like we've met. Do I know you?"

The shimmery entity smiled softly. "It's been a long time since you've tuned in, Bar-Ree."

Barry's eyes widened. "Oh my God. Krakkl?"

********​

"We don't have any longer to talk, Bar-Ree. You're looking for a way to run world to world to find heroes like you to fight the good fight! But the only way to run is to race. And the race has already begun."

"I just need another minute to-- to get my breath back--" Barry protested, waving Krakkl off.

Krakkl shook his head. "Your minutes are too minute, Bar-Ree. But I can help you-- I'm giving you the combined speed energy of all of KWYZZ, entrusted to me by the people of The Radioland. 3X2(9YZ)4A!"

He reached out and put his sparking, fizzing hand on Barry's chest. And blue lightning stormed into Barry Allen, surging into him, infusing him with power--

--fatigue vanished--

--injuries fell away like they'd never been--

--he felt decades younger and centuries stronger--

"--oh my God. Krakkl, I--"

"No, Bar-Ree, your opponent is here-- the one who'll race you on the track that runs through the worlds-- you need to go!"

Krakkl pointed, and Barry whipped his head around to find--

--a twisted, monstrous version of a Flash, reeking of death and dripping with darkness, screaming towards him across The Speed Force Wall with clawed hands outstretched.

"HrrrrrAAAAHAHHHHAHAHAHA!"

Barry's heart leaped into his throat, the horror, the sick horror of it, this funhouse mirror of his soul--

Krakkl screamed in his ear: "THE DARK FLASH! DON'T LET HIM CATCH YOU, BAR-REE! DON'T LOSE THIS RACE! RUN BAR-REE, RUN!"

--Barry turned and ran in a single desperate direction, perpendicular to time, ana and kata--

--cutting across The Bleed, his body humming through the vibrations like improvising jazz on The Music of The Spheres--

--all the while with psychotic grisly murder's hot breath on the back of his neck.

He ran.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Clashing with Titans. (joint post with Wyldfire's Wildcat)

Titans Tower.
East River, NYC.
Mid-Morning.
After This.
********​

Ruby... actually felt okay today. Halfway human.

The last few days since Kobra's attack, she had been fighting the urge to crawl into a bottle and never come out again. She'd turned into something of a partier in her adulthood, but she'd never abused alcohol or anything else recreational. These days she had been feeling herself teetering on an edge that she might not be able to come back from. An edge she had seen more than one friend tumble off of.

But Dr. Simon LaGrieve, psychologist with a specialty in metahumans and PTSD, had arranged a support group with a number of other heroes. A lady named Bulleteer, and Martian Manhuntress, and Teen Lantern, and Zatanna, a handful of others...

They'd really gotten to share some hurt.

And Ruby hadn't felt quite so alone.

Now, wandering through Titans Tower, gently humming this melancholy but bad-ass song to herself, she heard talking and yelling from the training room. Thus intrigued, she turned from her wanderings to investigate.

In the training room she found four younger Titans-- members of The Titans' mentor program-- squabbling about what to do.

"Way I hear tell it," Grunge insisted-- Percival Edmund Chang-- capable of absorbing energy, matter, even meta-abilities at a touch, "teach doesn't show for the first twenty minutes of class, you get to bail free without having to count the absence."

Adjusting the visor of her helmet, The Knight-- Beryl Hutchinson, former Squire who had taken on the persona of her mentor when he'd disappeared with The Justice League, rather like Tim Drake was now Batman-- seemed dubious. "Oi, don't be daft, Grungy-- if a Titan misses 'is duty-shift, it must mean somefhing's wrong, we've gotta go lookin' for 'im!"

"I agree with The Knight," Terra agreed, slapping her fist into her palm-- Atlee, geokinetic from a long-lost subterranean civilization-- "such a predicament may require decisive action!"

"I don't know," Solstice frowned nervously-- Kiran Singh-- photokinetic daughter of Indian archeologists and the newest hero in the quartet-- "if he's on some sort of mission in Rheelasia or something, wouldn't we jeopardize his cover? How are we to know what to do?"

Leaning on the railing overlooking the training floor, Ruby frowned and called down to the four Titan teens.

"G'day, you lot. Who's AWOL, now?"

********​

Thea Grant had hit the door to the tower running. Before the security system could go off she yelled out the security code that the Big bad had given her for just such an emergency. Harper was an ass for calling in this favor, especially when it was asked just in time for Thea to look stupid in front of the kids.

********​

They glanced up at Ruby as one.

"Beggin' yehr pardon, ma'am," The Knight replied, though it sounded like mum when she said it, "but Red Arrow was supposed to train us this week, an' 'e 'asn't shown up for any uv our regular sessions."

Ruby sighed dismally, shook her head. "Ugh. Roy. This 'lone wolf' crap is getting fucking old, hey? Please tell me you're working the program out there."

She straightened and addressed the four of them directly. "Right, then. If he's not here to train you, then I guess I'll do it."

"Ah, damn," Grunge muttered, rubbing the back of his head with one hand. "I knew we shoulda bailed when we had the chance..."

"Too right, mate," Ruby grinned, and vaulted off of the railing towards the floor below even as she Dialed...

4. 3. 7. 6.

H-E-R-O.

SssshhCLICK!

...and landed in a crouch as the crackling energy dissipated, black cape billowing around him.

His voice was a growl like torrential rain upon shattered gravestones, a deep, dark, private contempt. "I'm BATMAN!"

All four mentee Titans took a collective step back, and Grunge's eyes snapped way, way wide. "Oh. SHIT."

And Thea came into the room. Damned dial thingy. Damned Ruby's good intent. But hell, this could be fun. In her black sports bra, spandex mid thigh biking shorts, and MMA hand and foot wraps, Thea back flipped over the rails and landed in a combat crouch she said "Three way dance? Do we play with kitten paws or full claws?"

This was Batman. This was the original Batman. Not the cooler, younger Batman who had disappeared with The Justice League. Not the red-on-black cyberpunk crusader that Red Robin had just rebranded himself as.

This was The Dark Knight.

Facing this unexpected ghost of the past, combined with Thea's new... look... definitely had the mentee Titans on their collective back foot. She looked good... damn she looked good... but it was still so different to see their very human combat coach as this predatory creature!

He swung his head around and nodded brusquely to Thea. "Grant."

"Good to know Harper hasn't been completely derelict in his duties."

Which was about as close as Batman got to a friendly greeting.

He raked the mentees with another look, then decided: "Divide and conquer. Solstice and Terra, you're on me for powers combat. Grunge and Knight, you're on Wildcat for baseline combat."

"Wait, what?" Grunge blinked. "But she's the one with powers now, how are you gonna fight two ladies with powers?"

Batman... almost smiled... but that nonsmile somehow chilled the room. "Let me worry about that."

Thea started to circle her charges. "Look you two, this is basic combat so I won't use claws or hard strikes ta joints with ya, but understand this is gonna sting."

"Yeah, yeah," Grunge shook his head, put up his fists in a manner obviously referencing the cocky, confident posture of one Bruce Lee. "I been stung before. But I came up in Hong Kong, lady..."

With her pep talk over she lashed out with a low leg sweep at Grunge.......

.......and he was not prepared for how much faster she was now, and he was on his ass before most people could blink.

"And yeh've gone down in New York, mate," The Knight observed dryly.

"Har har," Grunge grunted and kipped up to his feet with the ease of a professional stuntman.

While Grunge was self-taught and really, really quite good when he wasn't letting his testosterone clog his neurons, The Knight had received training from Cyril Sheldrake, her mentor, predecessor-- and by all accounts the closest thing Britain had had to its own Batman. On top of that, Beryl Hutchinson herself had grown up scrapping in a mean London neighborhood even while omnivorously devouring any book she could get a hold of.

So when she put her fists up, a finely-honed pugilistic stance, and moved in on Wildcat with a left jab, right jab, left cross-- it was definitely more classically executed with a ruffian's edge. But it was more-- hesitant-- than Grunge's easy confidence, perhaps overly cautious?

Thea took the jabs, just to get the feel for the new Knight. The kid was well taught and the jabs stung. but when that left cross came in Thea stepped in and hooked the elbow and pivoted her hips turning the cross into a hip toss launching Knight right at Grunge. "Y'all talk too much. Catch kid."

"BLOODY STREWTH!" Beryl cried out in surprise, tumbling headlong towards Grunge.

Grunge's eyes widened and his bare arms came up in a "x" block-- and when The Knight slammed into him he immediately "absorbed" the matter of her armor, becoming a solid block of living metal, and the impact rang like a bell as Beryl knocked him once more onto his back.

Grunge grunted and shoved her off, head ringing. "...okay, ow."

"Oi!" Beryl snapped. "No powers! That's cheatin', that is!"

"Yeah, yeah," Grunge grunted. "Cry me the Thames River. Like I ever followed the rules before." But in a concession to his respect for Hutchinson, Chang immediately dismissed the molecule-shift and returned to flesh and blood. "Right, together?"

Beryl flexed her hands, and a shield popped open on her left hand with The Knight's Crest upon it, and a blade folded out into her grip on the right side. "Titans Together!"

And they both barrelled at Wildcat, Knight dropping to her knees to slide across the floor and try and slash Wildcat's legs out from under her with the flat of the blade...

...Grunge bounding up in the air, using Knight's shield as a springboard so he could come at Wildcat's face with both boots...

Thea grinned as she noted their attack. She also moved. Forward. Throwing herself between the two, catching high guy's ankles, and yanking down putting one one top of the other yet again. Thea didn't get away scot free and landed hard on her belly but springing back up taking on her fighting stance. "There ya go Titans. Ya get ta be together again."

This was so unexpected that Grunge couldn't even cheat again, and his hitting armored Beryl was almost as bad as armored Beryl hitting him.

"Aagghh fuck! ...came in like a wrecking ball..."

The Knight's sword went spinning off across the floor and she scowled visibly, but she shoved Grunge off of her with her shield and she popped up to her feet while Grunge recovered, holding his side.

She flashed out her hand and a retractable truncheon popped into it. "So bluddy be it, then. Divided we stand."

And she swung like a champ for Wildcat's face.

Thea stepped into the swing, using both hands, one catching the club as the other caught the wrist. She stepped through with the left foot planting it behind Knights leg and threw all he weight into Knight, putting her back on her back.

Knight's armor once more clanged hard against the deck, and she let out a long loud dismayed groan.

"Ugh, look at me, I'm a bluddy tortoise."

********​

Meanwhile, Batman approached Solstice and Terra.

He pressed a keypad on a control surface, and a hatchway opened in the floor... elevating several stacks of breakable clay discs into view-- circular, maybe two feet across, with a square cut out of the middle.

"That is new," Atlee blinked, and then grinned softly. "So I am to be not unarmed, then. Such curious symbology, however."

"Wouldn't be power training if you were unarmed," Batman harrumphed. "The insignia is a trifle concocted by Palmer. He said it would be funny. A reference to some... 'Earth Kingdom.'"

Atlee grinned wider. "Yes. That is funny."

And then with a wave of her hand, she launched a flurry of three discs at Batman.

Batman grunted, whirled--

--batarangs sailed through the air, sliced through two of the projectiles, cleaving them in half, but Batman dodged the third, and as it sailed past him he fired a grapple line, hooked the disc...

...and flung it at Solstice.

Kiran flared her powers to life with a yelp, barely managing to ignite her aura in time to blast the "coin" to dust around her-- momentarily blinding her.

Without even stopping to look at Solstice, Batman rushed Terra... gritting her teeth she fired salvo after salvo at him, he dodged dipped ducked dove dodged... occasionally leaping to kick off of the rock discs like mid-air parkour stepping stones...

...closing on her with fists knuckled...

...just as Batman came down towards Terra's face with a crushing downward punch, Terra snapped up an earth-coin as a shield.

Batman smashed through that as easily as Bruce Lee through a cinderblock, but it slowed him down just enough that Atlee was able to get an earth-coin under her feet and ride it up out of his reach, swooping up near the high ceiling of the room.

"Hh," Batman grunted.

At that instant, Solstice flash-flared, burning off the dust that had blinded her, and unleashed a searing bolt of photonic power...

"HAH!"

...striking the floor just inches behind Batman as he rolled away...

...but as he came up, his hands came from his belt and he hurled four grenades at Kiran in a single double-handed toss...

...Kiran fired to take them out in mid-air like clay-pigeons...

...not just grenades, they were based on designs Batman had found in the records of a Charles McNider, M.D....

...blackout bombs.

Shattering under Kiran's counter-offensive, the bombs burst open, spilling clouds of pitch-dark smog that instantly swallowed all light in their embrace...

...and they embraced Kiran, rolling over her, muffling her powers again...

"...oh, come on!"

An earth-coin whipped at the side of Batman's skull but without even looking he snapped out an Escrima stick into his hand and backhanded the coin aside, his other hand coming up with a grapnel. And fired.

The hook of the grapnel buried in the coin at Atlee's feet, the cable snapped taut, and Batman left the ground in a rush of black cape... a dark knight rising like the wind to bring Terra back to ground...

Atlee's eyes widened. "By the Mantle!"

Even as Batman ascended, his hand snapped out to one side, deploying another batarang... and as he rushed up to meet the earth coin that Terra geokinetically levitated, he slashed that batarang like a blade, tearing the coin in half, throwing Atlee off-balance...

...she toppled with a cry of defiance, fury, and dismay...

...he grabbed her by the collar of her shirt, flared his cape to brake his fall, slow his descent, hurled the batarang hard out to his left, and even as he did he kicked one half of the earth coin as it fell past him...

...straight into the path of the retaliatory sun-blast as Solstice launched into the air, roaring furiously as she cleared the billow of the blackout bomb.

...the coin-half vaporized as it blocked the beam, Solstice scowled and made to fire again, but then the batarang looped back around, sliced right through her photonic aura, and cracked her across the back of the head... and knocked her momentarily senseless.

Batman clacked a power-dampening cuff around Atlee's wrist, then fired his grapnel again into the ceiling, catching them just before they would have slammed into the floor.

Atlee groaned in dismay at the cuff, rolling her eyes, just before Batman dropped her unceremoniously the rest of the way to the floor.

Then he landed in a crouch as he retracted his grapnel and replaced it on his belt.

"Good session. Grant, you ready to switch partners?"

Thea almost grinned. "Sure am. Same statement girls. No powers no permanent hurt."

********​

By the time the four Trainee Titans had picked themselves up, dusted themselves off, cleared their heads, Ruby's Dial had timed out again.

Fortunately, it didn't take long to come back online.

And thus she Dialed again, holding her breath as always to see just how it turned out...

4. 3. 7. 6.

H-E-R-O.

SssshhCLICK!

"I'm STARMAN!"

As golden photonic light flared to life around Starman's fists, Grunge immediately broke out into a grin.

"Oh, cool, energy powers? Now this is something I can play off of!"

Beryl frowned, flexing her hand around the hilt of her sword. "Speak for yourself, mate."

Atlee, meanwhile, eagerly bounced from foot to foot, squaring off against Thea and flexing her hands. "I warn you, 'Coach Grant,' in my kingdom not everyone has my chthonic resonance, and we are well-versed in defending ourselves from magma beasts with cudgel and fist!"

Kiran looked nervous, standing a wee bit behind Atlee. "I'll just... follow your lead, then."

********​

After all was said and done and they'd hit the showers, Ruby sat in the lockers on a bench with a towel draped around her shoulders and a cold bottle of water on one cheek-- The Knight had gotten a really solid hit in just as Grunge had managed to absorb all of Starman's reserves. Such a solid hit that Ruby still felt it, if only psychosomatically, after her Dial had timed out again.

Not bad.

She half-glanced over her shoulder, and called back to the showers where Thea was still rinsing off, keeping her back to the now-felinoid superheroine.

(Sure, Ruby was gay as all Hell-- well-- she identified as a lesbian even though her actual gender identity at any given moment varied wildly and widely-- she was always attracted only to women whether she presently identified as male/female/neither/both/everything, "lesbian" was just the simplest way she could articulate that --but she was professional enough to not sneak uninvited peeks, especially at teammates.)

"Hey, Wildcat? I don't know if now's a good time, but can I bounce a thought off of you?"

Thea turned off the shower and gave herself a good hard shake, throwing most of the water out of her fur. She grabbed a towel and began toweling off. "What'cha got on yer mind Ruby?"

Ruby grinned faintly to herself. "It could be right up your alley. Ah-hah, alley... cat... I'll be quiet now."

Thea always got a giggle out of how good Ruby was in these situations. But it also made her an easy mark. Thea slipped forward not a sound made and she slipped up next to Ruby's ear and whispered "Wonderin what my fur might feel like against skin?"

Ruby sat up a lot straighter (hah) and stiffer and her eyes went wide and her grip went a little white-knuckled on the edge of the bench. "Jesus, Thea! Well... I am now!"

She shook her head and pivoted to face Thea better. Yes, she was looking at her face. Ruby was blushing, and not a lot of people could do that, but she was keeping it cool. "You always were unexpectedly sneaky, but those little cat feet put you on a whole 'nother level."

Ruby smirked faintly, teasingly. "Of course, I can countermand those silky-fur thoughts by thinking about how just how much of that fur is gunking up the drain now, and that is just... ewww."

Thea couldn't help herself. She really couldn't. Ruby was teasing and Thea was in a mood. She let out the faintest of purrs. "Can you Ruby, can you?"

Ruby's eye twitched. "Yes. No. Mostly."

She cleared her throat and laughed faintly, rubbing one cheek with her palm. "Full disclosure: I had a crush on Lt. M'Ress when I was little. Shut up."

"No, it's about The New League. Lex Luthor is hoping for-- PR reasons probably-- to have all the heroes who helped us stop Kobra in under The New Justice League banner with us. And I know you prefer to do your own thing, freelance stuff. But it would be really good to have as many people as we can that we... trust... in on this thing with us. Just in case."

Then it hit her what Ruby had finished with. Thea? In the League? Then the trust comment hit. "You do play dirty little gem. Where an when ya need me around?"

Ruby grinned softly-- she wasn't above hitting below the belt if it got the job done, she figured the former Hellcat would appreciate that. "Whenever you can is fine, just come by the precinct house on Bessolo & Sullivan in Metropolis. They'll have you sign some paperwork, waivers, NDAs, background checks, that sort of corporate mumbo-jumbo, and Natasha Irons'll hook you up with a smartwatch-- The New League's answer to T-Comms, apparently. There's even a paycheck, but you can waive that if you feel scuzzy taking money from Luthorcorp."

 

[ChasNicollette]

A Day in The Life, Part 1. (joint post with Varshanka's Raven, NSFW for explicit sex)

Berkeley, California.
Raven's Strip Club.
A Few Minutes After Midnight.
Days After Kobra.
********​

The security guard squinted at the little plastic ID in his hand.

"...you're sure you're 18? Miss..."

"Domina," she replied cheerfully. "Domina Morse. And yeah, it was very important to The Universe this time that I be 18 years old, though of course it's only in the most tenuous and retroactive sense."

The guard frowned a bit. He wasn't sure if sounding a little bit off her nut qualified this little pale lady for bouncing, but she really did seem... just so nice. And oddly familiar.

She was dark-haired with golden-brown eyes-- she wore black, with a silver ankh necklace, a black top hat, a gothy studded belt, and a yellow Boss Smiley pin on her jacket's lapel.

"I'm afraid I haven't been to a place like this in awhile," she confided, "not since I took Ishtar, and I don't have the money for a cover charge--"

She held up a palm with a pair of copper coins in it. Two pennies.

She grinned sheepishly. "I'm just here to visit a friend. Is Raven dancing tonight?"

The guard hesitated. Nobody knew Raven's name. Nobody.

She used an alias onstage. The guard only knew it because they were friendly, and even that was in strictest confidence.

"Okay, yeah, she is, she's over on the main stage," he nodded, stamping her hand with the "X" that said she couldn't buy drinks, she wasn't 21. "For a friend of Raven, we'll waive the cover charge. Just be on your best behavior, okay?"

"Oh, thank you!" Domina exulted, grinning brightly. "Oh, you're a good person, these girls are lucky to have you watching out for them!"

"Heh, thanks," the guard nodded gratefully, and unclipped the velvet rope to let her in, cordoning it off again before the college frat boys behind her in line got any ideas. "Have fun in there!"

"It'll certainly be an experience!" Domina agreed, waving cheerily to him as she wandered in, casting her gaze about for the main stage to find...

The club had full nudity, in the back room, or for Dancers willing to go that far. Raven didn’t need to go full nude out front. At most she went down to a rather skimpy piece of material that covered the essential bits.

She made enough money off the local ‘gentlemen’ that patronized the club. Didn’t hurt that she could cloud their minds and let them perceive her as they desired. And they forked over fistfuls of money to her.

So she danced, even though it was more of a long slow seductive gyration of her hips and body to the right music. So many girls liked the heavy hard beats that they bounced and writhed to. But Raven liked the slow beats that let her sway and move in languorous motions. The fact it helped hide her spells of warding and defense didn’t hurt. The werewolf incidence had only encouraged the spells. So she cast her spells, and made money.

With her back to the room, and her hips swaying in ways that made even the straight girls want her she slowly undid her black transparent and lace top with a simple tug of the string that tied it together. She still wasn’t sure why she’d grabbed the black one, the purple had been right next to it, and had been the one she’d planned on wearing. But after she’d gotten dressed and looked in the mirror she realized she was wearing the black piece.

Tossing it over her shoulder she didn’t look, she only heard the announcer say “And a lucky lady gets a free lap dance from Raven, in private, after she’s off the stage of course.”

As Domina had entered the club, the security guard had touched his ear and murmured something.

As she wandered towards the stage, an usher had approached her, and politely indicated a seat for her right at the front. "Oh, that's all right, I'm just--"

But then the crowd had parted a bit, dubious but respectful of the fact that if they argued with security they could get blackballed from the come and disallowed from returning. And that part had given Domina a straight shot to the stage. So, hey, might as well.

And then that announcement had come over the speaker, and it had startled her, but then she'd grinned softly. Well. When in Rome, right?

(Having been in Rome, Domina didn't especially see the appeal in doing most of the things The Romans had done, but this place seemed fun? Especially since such efforts were made to keep the dancers safe and happy.)

Lady? Apparently the night was improving, not that she minded guys. Nightwing was even kind of cute. She just didn’t find them to be.. right, for her. Turning around her arm covering her breasts, she smiled for the ground, a smile than none of them never noticed, it never reached her eyes. Not that any of them ever looked at her eyes.

Reaching out for the pole she finally bared her rather small breasts, and lifted her legs from the floor, and she moved in a way that made boys turn to men, men turn to boys, and straight girls changed their minds.

And then Domina, sitting, taking her hat off so as to not obstruct the people behind her, realized that it was-- in fact-- Raven in front of her. Up there. In clothes that were-- barely there-- what clothes there were.

And all of a sudden her heart was in her throat and she felt this rushing in her blood...

...oh, it was always a new experience, having blood. Having cells. Having-- biological components. (That day she had spent on Krypton a few centuries ago had been fascinating, feeling the dance of Rao's light in her skin as she'd metabolized solar energy as easily as breathing.) It was so strange being a discrete organism, a solitary being, as opposed to being omnipresent.

(She was still out there, in The Universe, everywhere a death occurred, Death was there. But for 24 hours this particular facet of Death was human, with human senses, human urges, human frailties, she had no awareness of her higher self still carrying out her realm's duties.)

And this particular body, this particular human incarnation of herself-- was very, very much... attuned... to the undulations and gyrations of Raven's body. To the curves, however slight and slender, of Raven's flesh, and to the way that body furled and unfurled about the shining silver pole.

Domina was no stranger to the sensation of cessation and yet all of a sudden, her heart pounding in her chest, moisture changing direction from her mouth to points south-- she wondered if she might be dying-- and yet she felt decidedly, electrically alive.

Some of her days-alive she had had brief romantic interludes with others-- it was all part of the mortal experience, after all-- but in all the days-alive she'd had once a century for a long, long, long, long time, she had never felt anything quite this intense quite this immediately in her day.

Domina Morse squirmed and held onto the brim of her hat for dear life and tried not to blink... tried not to miss a second of this...

...she bit her lip and tried not to gasp out loud.

(If this was what Desire could do to people, no wonder they held such sway over silly human affairs... oh, but goodness it felt good, felt like dangling over the very best precipice.)

Slowing her undulating body Raven settled her feet on the stage floor. Or at least one of them. The other she rested on the pole and slid it upwards. All the way… until she was essentially doing the splits, and using the pole as her floor. Easing over she stood on her hands and lowered herself into a kneeling position.

This did several things; it allowed her to get the lights out of her eyes and actually see the viewing area; it gave muscles a chance to relax, or stretch, as needed; and it gave her a chance to find the girl that had her top. A soft sheen of perspiration covered her skin – not really it was a cold water mist that sprayed on the dancers as they performed. Very cold. Made her nipples hard as diamonds and increased tips. But everyone assumed it was sexual perspiration.

Between the dark room, the dark clothing the lady was wearing, and the fact her top was also dark made it very hard to find and see. But while she looked, she eased her hand down between her legs and gyrated her body and pelvis. And every guy out there assumed she was fingering herself. She could and they wouldn’t mind. Hell management encouraged it.

Finally she say something glittering in a shadow, a piece of jewelry? A necklace perhaps? Either way it was in a very dark place that had the shape of a person, and using her rather useful finger she pointed at the shadow, twirled a finger around her nipple, and then pointed at the private dance rooms.

A backwards handstand had the men going wild, and her swaying hips as she left the stage got some curses as well. The janitor hated the girls, men made messes in the bathroom when they got frustrated.

Honestly, while it was nowhere near the literal religious experience that Ishtar would have kicked up... the kind of dance that would literally cause whole buildings to spontaneously combust because they couldn't contain the magnitude of an actual goddess unleashing a true display of her power...

...Ishtar would have been impressed nevertheless.

Raven's agility, showwomanship, sensuality... she was a goddess in her own right, and this was her temple, and Domina's grip on her hat-brim left her knuckles whiter than usual-- or, well, as white as usual, if we're being technical.

But all of a sudden she got a bunch of lace in her face and she made a panicked noise of surprise-- it really had been a long time since she'd been to one of these places-- and almost missed the pointed indication that she should retire to the more self-contained, intimate experience of the back rooms.

Bewilderedly, she glanced around for confirmation-- and found that usher looking back at her with surprise, seriously? what are you waiting on? and another hand-signal in the direction of the back.

Grinning at him sheepishly, Domina grabbed her hat and the lacy-- something-- certainly Rae would want it back-- and hurried towards the rooms. She had some concept of what it would be like back there, but her memories of her Endless self were incomplete... she didn't think anyone had died here except spermatozoa cooling on the tile of the men's room floor and then drowned in bleach, and they didn't count as complete humans anyway, just sort of "potential" lives, might-have-beens and never-weres.

...she entered one of the back rooms tentatively, peering around, trying to get her bearings...

With one hand on the pole in the room, Raven slowly rotated around it, getting a feel for the room as it were. It wasn’t often she did privates. Maybe ten a month. IF she was in the mood. She made more than enough on the front stages for her meager expenses.

As the bouncer let the girl into the room, she caught a flash of light off the necklace again. She was a goth for sure as dark as her clothes were and as pale as the skin was. She certainly wasn’t undead. Spells and wardings she planted months ago kept them out. She didn’t need or want to deal with any coworkers ending up.. retired from blood loss and or ‘conversion’. Plus she’d ‘convinced’ the maintenance guy to just paint over the ‘gang’ signs on the outside walls.

Oh, no, she wouldn't ping wards today. She wasn't anyone special today. Any other day, she walked through a barrier like that in physical form she'd set off alarm bells like the world was burning down. But today she was just... Domina.

And Domina had a seat, putting her hat down on the arm of the sofa, trying to remember to breathe-- she didn't usually have to remember to do that, or even to pretend.

But looking over the girl she wondered for a moment if she was even old enough, but brushed that thought aside. The front guys were very stern about their job. And going to jail for underage guests in a strip club was never pleasant.

Strolling over, the room wasn’t huge, but it did have a couch for several guests at once, Raven rolled her hips with her stride. A panther on the prowl. A hand gesture told the Bouncer everything was chill as she stepped up to her ‘guest’. “A couple rules, just for clarification.” She said, reaching up and caressing the Girls face. “You can’t touch me. Unless I put your hands someplace. Then you can touch me there and only there. Cameras are in each corner of the room and record everything except sound. So you can ask me anything you like.”

"Oh, okay," she smiled a hesitant, but delighted smile, trying not to shiver too much at that touch, human senses were so fascinating-- half-blind creatures compared to half the sapient species in this spiral arm of this galaxy and yet so deliciously attuned to their particular flavor of sensuality. "Thank you for the rundown. This isn't my usual sort of haunt. Special occasion."

Trailing her hand down, she used her index finger to trace the girls jaw line. She was cute, very cute. Lower the finger went to stroke the chain and eventually she fingers the necklace.

Goosebumps followed Raven's fingertip and Domina was very aware of her hands as she hung onto the lip of the couch for dear, heh, life.

An Ankh. Just like.. the other girl. Twice.. and she got an extra. For a second her heart skipped a little faster. Her lips and tongue moved but she made no sound as her pupils changed to take in more light in the dark room, and she could see the girls face better.

Domina saw the recognition cross Raven's face. And her heart skipped.

With her heart pounding in her chest, her nipples hardened by excitement - not by the cold spray anymore - she reached back up and touched the girls face. So beautiful. So attractive.

"Hey, Raven," she gazed, transfixed, into the demidemoness' eyes. "Long time no see."

If she was whom she looked like she'd understand the words about to come out of her mouth. If not then Raven would be considered a nutter and hatter. "Last visit? Or another bonus?"

"Another bonus," Domina grinned brightly. "Well. This one's my bonus. And I'm not supposed to play favorites... but, ah, I guess this time The Universe was taking requests."

Cheerfully, she held up the lacy racy top.

"I brought your clothes back."

Lifting an eyebrow, Raven's lip turned upwards as she looked at the transparent material. "Give it back, after." she whispered. She couldn't talk at the moment. She didn't have enough moisture - in her mouth - to speak. So she spoke in a different way. Lifting her hand she held up three fingers. Forefinger, Ring finger, and her pinkie. And music began to play. Slow love making music.

Reaching back she grabbed the pole and used it more as a prop than anything else as she flowed. The motion of hands and feet, fingers and arms speaking the depth of loneliness, the depth of pain that only a few people in the multiverse could feel or understand.

And as she moved she uttered not a word, not even her feet on the floor scratched or scuffled. But ever so slowly she left the pole, her support, behind her and crossed the distance to Death. Knees bumped into the couch and she straddled Domina's legs, her breath cold and chilling as she lightly licked the earlobe of the pale Goddess.

Music continued, flowing from song to song as she moved, the fingers of one of her hands entwined with Domina's as she rotated, her bare back pressing against a dark shirt, and she guided the hand she held to her breasts and the oh so hard nipples that ached to be touched.

Rolling her head to the side, she bared her own pale skin for Death. "Do it," she whispered, feeling a soft breath hungry with want on her own skin was beginning to drive her mad.

And somehow, somewhere, she collected Domina's free hand and pressed it between Raven's thighs into a place that was more akin to a hot muggy swamp than anything on a girl. And some when Raven had also lost her bottoms. Which meant Domina - Death - had nothing to interfere with her fingers - and Raven's clit.

It has been said, and quite rightly: "There is a madness required to touch the gods."

The Endless are nigh omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent when it came to their realms-- their areas of expertise.

But even they were bound by certain rules of existence.

They could not spill family blood, for instance.

Dream was not permitted to kill mortals unless they directly threatened the barrier between Reality and The Dreaming-- such as with a Dream Vortex.

...and none of The Endless could love mortals.

Devastating consequences could result. Whole civilizations had been wiped out, forgotten, just shards of glass in a desert.

Death, in particular, was not supposed to play favorites.

She loved everyone, in her way, but had not been known to love individuals.

Except.

Except Raven had... struck a chord with her, there in the realm of Despair.

And right now... Death wasn't endless. She wasn't Endless. She was just a girl, living her life. A girl who liked girls.

A girl who liked this girl.

For good or ill, this was who she was right now, this was where The Universe had put her.

Domina sat, breathtaken-- the fact that she had breath that could be taken was still incredible to her-- as Raven danced to the stirring sounds of Simon and Garfunkel covered by a modern hard rock band. The Despair and Desire intertwined in Raven's dance-- like she had somehow become an incarnation of both Twins.

And then things got... tactile. Fast.

The lick of an ear, breath cold as the grave. The press of a body against her chest, squashing her breasts against shoulder blades, the compression thrilling--

Raven put Domina's hand on her breasts and requested... required... contact... tilted her neck for kisses, bites...

...Domina trembled behind Raven and swarmed that hand over those breasts, pressing her fingertips into the flesh, gently stroking one of the nipples, getting a feel for what Raven wanted and-- luxuriating-- in the rush of sensations, emotions, longings and endorphins billowing up in the organic life form that contained her.

She leaned in and down and traced the swanlike curve of Raven's neck with-- alternating-- kisses... nibbles... kisses... nibbles... working her way upward.

Then. With trust and plea and demand, Domina's hand found itself drawn decidedly downward.

Placed in a place that thrummed with warmth, with need, with heat and heart...

...Domina's heart flourished, trembled in her chest, she could feel it...

...her mind was spinning her equilibrium all over the map...

...it just felt so good to feel good, to make this beautiful incredible person feel good...

And thus, with lips nimbly kissing Raven's ear, with fingers roving over the point of an eagerly yearning nipple...

...the fingers of the other hand...

...delved inward, rolling in circles, trying widdershins, trying clockwise, finding what Raven liked...

...and breathing wordless breathless in her ear as Raven's reactions drove her insane.

It had been so long since Raven had had the time, or allowed herself the time, to partake of physical pleasure. Especially sexual release. It was almost like being a virgin again. Whimpering moans of pleasure escaped her lips as she tried to simultaneously grind up against those fingers that were doing things to her pussy she’d forgotten about, and grind down against Domina’s pelvis.

The friction of Raven's grinding back hard against her hips was... surprisingly effective... but it was also tantalizing... the promise of real touches sure to be soon to come...

“La petite mort,” Raven sighed breathlessly, thoroughly enraptured with what Domina was doing to with her hands. “Hicky. Please.. Bite me. Give me..”


It just seemed so-- predatory-- so-- inhuman-- and yet it was one of the most human things in the world to just want to feel... everything...

...her mouth clamped down onto the skin of Raven's neck, clamped down hard...

...hard enough to bruise...

...and all the while her hands just got all the more intent...

...all the more frantic...

She was going to turn into pudding if Domina continued, she couldn’t help it. She couldn’t stop what was happening – not that she wanted to.

A quivering jerking spasm of icefire and liquid lightening ripped through her. Muscles locking up as hyperstimulated nerves misfired. Her jaw locked open as a silent scream of pleasure tore through her soul.

...what was it about humans that made them blaspheme when overwhelmed with pleasure?

...at the sight the sound the shuddering billowing soaring yawing rolling pitching sensations of Raven's wild joyride...

...Domina found herself frantically, wide-eyed, taking the names of some very old long-forgotten gods in vain, there just seemed to be no other vocabulary for the roaring heights of this.

Her hands kept going, like they were on a primordial autopilot, kept eking the pleasure out of Raven until she finally collapsed or Raven called out enough...

With the extended self imposed relationship drought Raven had been suffering, it wasn’t long before she just couldn’t go on. Finally, long long minutes after her first orgasm had begun ripping through her she’d lost count, if she’d tried counting. The roller coaster ride of pleasure and peace slowly turned to pain as nerves refused to be stimulated anymore and rebelled.

Pulling away, she shook violently as nerves and muscles tried to reset and relax. But she didn’t pull away far. Turning over she looked down at Domina. As hard as it was for a blush to show on her features, it happened. “Thank you. Not sure if you will continue talking to me after what just happened. I did just.. umm..kinda force you.”

Reaching up she touched the very warm and obvious mark on her neck. “Fuck me..” she moaned as she leaned in for a kiss. A kiss she stopped just centimeters from completing. She really needed to know if Domina wanted this as well.

And she hoped Death wanted it as much as she did.

Without hesitating, Domina leaned in and kissed Raven for a long, long moment, and smiled into the kiss, shivering delightedly, still awash in the shared bliss of the woman's crashing cummings and goings.

As she drew back scant centimeters herself, she murmured: "Rae. Gorgeous. You didn't force me. I'm Death. I don't touch anyone unless I mean it."

“I.. I want to do things with you. Everything. But we.. can’t. Can we? The time we have together is shorter. Just a day you said the last time we spoke. One day a century.” Leaning in she gave Domina a kiss, soft and gentle. With a little tease of the tip of her tongue.

Domina kissed back, her tongue flickering at Raven's, trying to chase it, another shiver racing down her spine on little cat feet.

"23 hours, little less," Domina murmured. "But that can be all the time in the world, if we do it right."

She shrugged, and quoted: "'If we only live once, I wanna live with you.'"

Reaching with one hand, Raven lightly caressed Domina’s body from hip breast. “What would you like to do? When we leave here, if we leave here, I’m gonna need a shower. You’re more than welcome to join me in the back."

Still riding the body high from having elicited so much joy and delight out of Raven, Domina groaned softly as Raven's hand slid up her side.

"A shower sounds... lovely. I haven't had a shower in centuries. And, ah--"

--white teeth framed against black lipstick as she bit her lower lip, rising to stand and giving Raven's hand a squeeze, anticipation and trepidation and excitement dancing through her--

"--no time like the present?"

"No time.." Raven agreed, giving Domina another quick kiss before pulling her upwards. A flick of her fingers and her free hand held discarded clothing. Her co-workers had learned long ago to ignore anything 'weird' that happened with Raven around. It saved the sanity.

Naked as the day she was born. she Lead Domina out of the room and through the back halls, until she opened a door to a rather brightly lit room. One wall was nothing but mirrors and lights with chairs.

The other was racks of clothes, and lockers. But at the far end was a row of showers. And that's where Raven lead Domina. Past the naked/near naked dancers. Past the bouncers that were back here chatting. Usually they were making sure no new stalkers were hanging around, or they were trying to get laid by the dancers. But not her, not since they realized her hair actually was purple, even the little bit she let grow down below. Not since they realized the gem in her head wasn't costume jewelry glued in place, but was actually growing from her forehead. Not since one of the bouncers slapped her ass, and she broke his arm in six places.

Throwing her 'outfit' onto one of the chairs Raven walked past them, her firm ass swaying with each step, her small 32B chest jiggling slightly. No one ever realized she was only half human. The other half cursed her with three times more nerve endings than a human. So she felt things, intimately. Only years of experience had stopped her from being crippled by those sensations. But sometimes, like now, she could feel every difference in temperature on her skin.

Raven could count the number of men and women in the room with her eyes closed just by listening to heartbeats. She could tell who was interested in the other by smell. Pheromones were a bitch sometimes, even though she used them to find big tippers. She could also feel the droplets of water landing on her tits from occupied showers.

Leading Domina to an empty shower Raven stepped inside and turned to face her Death as the water turned on with a gesture. But even though it was hot water running down her pale pale skin, her nipples were so hard and wanting, it hurt. “Join me…” she asked, giving Domina a chance to disrobe, make her clothes vanish, or join her clothed.

Domina didn't bat an eye at walking past the other ladies, naked or otherwise, she'd been watching the human race for millions of years (the fossil record had some interesting gaps in it) and was, perhaps, the ultimate example of nothing I haven't seen before. She was a little apologetic at wandering, bold as brass, through their private space in their place of work, but other than that...

...but then all thoughts of politeness flew from her head when stark naked and starkly beautiful Raven invited her into the sensual spray.

Domina had no powers today, and even her awareness of her Endless history was... transitory. But she undressed as quickly as she could, trembling, hauling her coat off, her shirt...

...all of it fell atop Raven's clothes on that chair, with her hat dropped on top of it almost decoratively.

And, with a shiver flickering through her body at sensation and anticipation, Domina smiled a wobbly smile at Raven, standing there wearing nothing but her ankh necklace on its black leather string.

"Noplace else I'd rather be," she promised, and stepped in to meet Raven under the spray, reaching up to cup Rae's shoulders with her hands as she kissed the stunning hybrid long and deep and sweet.

Looking at her, seeing her, feeling her displace the air around her naked form, oh my what a naked form it was. If Raven hadn't just had a wonderfully wild roller coaster of orgasmic ecstasy she'd have attacked Domina.

Every curve, every line. Every hair on Domina's body was perfect. And when perfection joined her in the shower and kissed her, Raven moaned. Melting into a kiss that made her breathe stop, and her heart skip.

Without conscious thought her hands moved, pulling Domina closer to her, fingernails caressing bare skin, teasing nerve endings and pressure points like a master masseuse. <We are going to do some very naughty things.> She thought. <And I will beat the shit out of anyone that complains.>

Domina didn't have even a glimmer of Death's omniscience. Back in The Despairing, Death had exhibited possible knowledge of Raven's very thoughts... but here, again, Domina was only human.

But it turned out she didn't need to read Raven's mind to know exactly what she was thinking. Because Domina, eager to live... eager to live her life if only for a day... was thinking more or less along those lines.

She pushed Raven back slightly so that Raven's back pressed against the cold tiles of the shower wall, a fantastic counter-sensation to the warm rush of the descending spray... kept kissing her, kissing her, catching Raven's lower lip in her teeth and lovingly mauling it not unlike the hickey-bite she'd given Rae's neck...

...her hands sliding up and down Raven's sides, her hips, her abdomen, her breasts...

...exploring every inch of Raven that she could reach...

...and all the while the steaming streaming water plastered her black black hair to her pale pale skin and she shivered giddily, greedily...

Shivering at the warm/cold sensations - and the feel of Domina's touch on her body. Raven moaned. A whimpering sigh that escaped her, speaking volumes of the need she craved. The need to be touched. The need to touch. The need to feel. The need to want, and to be wanted.

"Please.." Raven whimpered between kisses, her own fingers seeking, touching, caressing. She'd never been drawn to anyone like she was drawn to Domina, to Death. But she didn't see Domina as Death, she saw her as.. amazing. Beautiful. Wise beyond eternity. Alone, just as Raven was alone.

Domina's breath quickened in her chest, puffs of shower-spray raindrops scattering from her gasping, giddy, eager breathing...

...she kissed the opposite side of Raven's neck from the hickey, pressed her in harder against the wall, a-cup breasts squashing against Raven's as she gave her a matching bruise on the other side, sucking and biting...

Her lips quavered against Raven's skin as she murmured, trembling, "Please? Please what? Tell me what you want and I'll do it to you. Do it for you, do it with you..."

‘Please what?’ a simple question with a very complicated answer. Please eat my pussy until I scream in pleasure. Please don’t ever let me be alone. Please don’t ever stop kissing me. Please mark me as yours. Please drive your fingers into my core and touch my in ways no one else wants to. Please help me. Please let me help you. Please let me try and make you happy. Please let me taste you until your screaming in pleasure that flows into the hints of pain. Please stay with me forever.

“Touch me. Bite me. Want me.” Raven moaned. Even though what she wanted most was to lay this beauty on her back and dive between her legs, feasting until Domina screamed and quivered. She hadn’t felt anything like this, ever.

All Domina had to go on was the words she could hear. No cosmic awareness. Not even demonic empathic powers like her first lover in hundreds of years.

But words were enough for mortals. Words were all they ever had, save a fistful with mental powers beyond the boundaries of their own skulls.

And so she heard those words and she pressed even tighter to Raven and she let out a keening pleading sound and she clamped her teeth onto one of Raven's shoulders and marked her with yet another bruise...

...even as she rammed fingers, two of them, up into Raven, deep as she could, friction and pressure and push and pull and further up and further in...

"Yes."

"Yes please."

Moaning in pleasure, Raven felt weak in the knees. To be touched inside, to be bitten, to feel pain and pleasure at the same time was incredible beyond description. But the funny part was that the bite felt.. good. So intensely fantasamagorically good that it overloaded pleasure nerves and made her quake within.

And the fingers driving deep inside her already slick pussy weren't helping with emotional control. Especially when she - Domina - touched her just like...

"Gods, above.." Raven screamed as her knees gave way and she sagged against the wall. If it wasn't for Domina and that wall she'd be a puddle on the floor.

Fingers and arms trembled as she brought Domina's face to her own, reluctantly pulling those lips from her bruised and warm shoulder and kissed her love. She tried conveying every emotion she was feeling into that kiss, but knew that with a million years and a million computers she'd never manage to tell her.

So she kissed her.

It was one of the very most confounding and enchanting miracles of human existence that a touch could confer more meaning than reams and reams of text and hours and hours of speech. The sheer... connection of it.

And that kiss. That kiss conveyed everything Raven meant it to and more, making Domina's head spin like a planet in orbit-- and Domina kissed back as excitedly still, full of need and full of promise and full of every love and affection in her brimming-over human heart.

When Raven sagged against the wall, Domina didn't see anything wrong with that, and actually helped lower her so that she was sitting on the floor on the tile under the spray.

Domina knelt over her, straggling Raven's legs, taking Raven's face in her hands and kissing her, kissing her over and over again, the two slender pale Gothic creatures entwined in the warm warm rain.

Kisses full of need, and full of... longing. Of intense intent. Of... Desire.

She couldn’t help it. So much pleasure was ever whelming. And Raven began to cry even as she matched Domina’s lips. Lavender salt joining the falling water as it cascaded down her face. Domina could understood the pain she felt, and would feel when the day was done.

Eventually, reluctantly, they had to break the kiss. Not that Raven wanted to. But she wanted Domina to experience more than giving Raven several of the most exquisitely fantastic orgasms in creation. Murmuring softly, a whisper really. “Chocolate. Shopping. Candle lite dinner. Me tasting you.” And with another soft soft kiss Raven added. “That’s what I want to do with you. But I’ll do anything you want, as long as we can.”

"That sounds like," Domina murmured, kissing back, "a wonderful place to begin."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Netflix & Snuggle. (joint post with Varshanka's Karan, NSFW for explicit sex.)

New York City.
Just Outside Rose and Alix' Apartment.
Mid-Morning.
After This.
********​

Rose hurried down the hall, lugging a canvas bag of groceries on one shoulder.

"I'm sorry," she begged forgiveness nervously. "I'm sorry I'm late! I had-- I had a thing I had to go to. Support group. It was-- it was good-- I just--"

She took a steadying breath, and smiled sheepishly. "I should-- I should let us in, huh?"

And with a wave of her hand and telekinesis-- she'd been practicing-- the door unlocked and swung open.

"--welcome to my home, be it ever so humble."

Smiling, Karan followed Rose into the Apartment. “Is your friend here as well?” She asked. Yeah she could scan the apartment, and did for anyone and everything that could attack Rose or her, but asking was polite. And she liked listening to Rose’s voice.

"No, no, she was-- she was at the support group too," Rose shook her head, trying not to let her pulse go too crazy under skin as she felt Karan's presence on a cellular level, the blonde goddess was so close... "I was Martian Manhuntress, she didn't know it was me-- secret identities are so bizarre. She might be back later, but, uh, I had a quicker way home."

She couldn’t help being a little tense and reactionary after the Kobra incident. She also couldn’t help admiring Rose and the way she walked, and looked.

“I’m going to touch you..” She whispered as she reached out and rested her right hand on Rose’s back, stepping closer she eased the canvas bag free with her left hand and set it on the counter top.

"Oh."

Rose's eyes fluttered, she felt flushed with such... intensity... such desire... such a simple contact, such a simple caress, it had been such a long damn while and Karan was just... everything...

...she leaned into the touch and let out a stammery breath...

"Kay."

Turning she faced Rose more directly, her hand sliding up Rose’s back to her shoulder and then to lightly caress that soft cheek. Shifting ever so slowly until the were inches apart she whispered in Roses ear. “I’m going to kiss you now.”

Rose's heart was a kick-drum in overdrive, she trembled like a leaf, the whisper wafted into her ear and by the time it reached her bloodstream it was electricity...

"Oh. Kay."

And then she did just that. Her lips brushing softly across Rose’s lips, her tongue giving those ever so kissable lips a quick cress, before she moved to Rose’s cheek, then down to her jaw. Soft quick lip nibbles along her jaw line, down to her neck.

And the neck got the most attention. Kissing, teasing tip of the tongue caresses. And then the upper teeth, just dragging them across her skin. A gentle bite that was more of a hint of things to come. And then she kissed Rose on the lips again, and gave that sweet butt a gentle squeeze.

Rose gasped, kissed back when she could, not quite quick enough to catch Karan's tongue with her own-- and then the kisses moved elsewhere, jaw, neck-- Rose clutched at Karan's shoulder, at the back of Karan's golden-blonde head-- sweet Jesus, was this even real? --even that butt-grab made her flutter inside and out.

“So, what are we having for dinner?” she asked softly. She didn’t step back or move away, instead she kept her hand on Rose’s butt. Letting the other girl decide how long they were going to be chest to chest and kissably close. She already knew what she wanted for dessert.

Enraptured, wetting her lips, Rose made absolutely no attempt to withdraw. And for a long long moment she didn't realize that Karan had spoken.

And then her eyes widened. "Oh! Um. I didn't... I didn't actually get anything dinnery. I just... I got chocolate. I got cocoa and marshmallows and different kinds of candy bar and--" her smile wobbled lopsidedly "--a pack of Oreos for me. I've been craving them lately, I dunno, I never used to like them that much before."

Giggling Karan smiled. "Chocolate, Chocolate, and more Chocolate. Sounds like a dream date to me." She didn't want to move either as she leaned in, her hand still resting on Rose's perfect posterior and kissed that sweet neck again. Softly scraping. Not biting and giving her a hickey was difficult to not do. Cause she wanted to.. very badly. Problem was she could accidentally rip out her throat. "Living room?" she inquired breathlessly, softly moaning against that perfect throat.

"Ah!" Rose clutched harder... and maybe she was starting to discover just how strong a Martian could be, because maybe her grip was hard enough for Karan to feel how intense it was...

...not to mention, Rose was one of the only beings on the planet that Karan didn't have to worry about hurting if she got carried away. The only thing that would really hurt her was Karan's heat vision, and Rose could rebuild herself from almost any injury.

Not that this was anything Rose was thinking about right now.

All she could feel was the sweet heat of those kisses, the contrast in texture with those nibbling teeth, she could feel it almost at a molecular level, whole sensory vistas opening up.

"...oh God."

She caught Karan's face in both her hands and lifted their Karan's mouth to meet hers, kissing ferociously... gasping intently into that kiss...

...this time her tongue managed to find Karan's, tangle with it, Rose's tongue was surrealistically agile, the dexterity of a woman with complete control over her molecules, the tongue of a shapeshifter...

She managed to draw back, gasp for breath, she could feel her pulse in her cheeks--

"Oh... oh. Um. Living room."

The couch was only a few feet away from the little kitchen area. Bookshelves filled with DVDs and VHSes an BluRays of old TV shows... and bookshelves filled with books... The TV was some mid-line HDTV, not a smart TV yet...

...but it was the couch that was foremost on Rose's mind as she unentwined from Karan's grasp, grabbed her hand, and pulled her towards the cushiony sofa and the fleece throw draped over it.

"Definitely living room."

Pulling her back, Karan bent and scooped her up, carrying Rose to the couch, as she bent her head and blew through her pursed lips, a cool breeze across Rose's neck and upper chest.

A shiver raced through Rose's entire body and she arched involuntarily. "Ohh... oh shit."

Settling the most gorgeous female in the world on that couch, Karan knelt over her and gave her a tender sweet kiss.

Shivering in a way entirely unrelated to temperature, Rose kissed back, her hands-- she didn't know what to do with her hands-- she hadn't been this fumbly and frantic since her first time-- slid up and down Karan's sides.

"Is it getting hot in here?" she asked, with a smile as she looked upon Rose.

"Yuh-yes," Rose nodded, licking her lips, tasting that kiss' linger.

"But not bad heat. I know bad heat. This is-- this is good heat."

"So.. movie, chocolate, or other.." Karan asked. She herself was having difficulties focusing on anything except 'other'. Blessed Goddess Aphrodite she wanted to do very naughty things right now.

And not only was Rose's head filled with her own naughty thoughts right now... she kept hearing Karan's racing through her brain, so many operations per second... Rose was very, very tuned into that frequency...

Leaning back down she began kissing Rose's neck again, softly suckling and nibbling while she awaited an answer. In the back of her mind she wondered if Rose had one of those 'adult' movies she'd heard of. Probably not, and the thought was gone as her teeth lightly pressed against her girls throat.

"Ahhh!" Rose had let out a small series of tiny, pleading gasps as Karan kissed her neck, and that last nibbling bite really caught her someplace nice... she wasn't even that into pain... she just wanted to feel everything with this girl, this goddess.

...no, Rose didn't have porn. She didn't object to porn, as such, so long as it wasn't used unhealthily and it wasn't created by exploiting the actors and actresses involved...

...but Alix' husband had very recently melted down and died over a pretty horrible pornographic obsession and it wouldn't be right to keep that sort of thing around where it could hurt her feelings...

...but that was okay, that was okay, this was the best show in town right here.

"Oh fuck," she mumbled.

Having Rose's wandering hands touching her wasn't helping her train of thought either. With low riding jeans, and a high riding cropped off shirt - and nothing else. She twitched every time fingernails touched her skin. A very good twitch that elicited a soft moan from her.

Oh, Jesus, that moan was like angel song.

"I know I said," Rose stammered, "I know I said-- baby steps-- but right now I'm-- I'm gonna take a flying leap forward and say-- other."

And with a rush and a flush of telekinesis, Karan's top flew up off of her and hurtled... somewhere else in the room, Rose didn't care where...

...and in the next instant, swift as the next thought, Karan's jeans unzipped and peeled down...

"Oh my God," Rose quivered, her fingers helplessly trembling as they traced the muscles of Karan's abs, the sight of her framed in the light of the room, the sheer perfection of her, "oh my God, I can't even-- how can you even be real?"

And with that... Rose... rippled... shifted...

...and her own clothes were just... gone.

Her outfit had just been an extension of her shapeshifting, after all, and all it took was another quick shift...

...and the two women were naked together, as bare in body as their hearts and souls were ready to be.

"'Other.' Please, Jesus God, Karan, 'other.'"

“Oh.. myy..” Karan whispered as she beheld the glory that was Rose naked and beneath her. She didn’t know who Jesus god was but she understood the rest. And with that she kissed Rose’s neck once more, and began working her way from neck.. to shoulder.. collar bone and further south with soft kisses that were as soft as a butterflies breath, and as hungry as a starving lioness.

Rose felt so tiny beneath the powerhouse that was Karan Prince... but every kiss and touch and exploration felt like a blooming booming swelling from inside, like she was trying to burst out of her skin, like she couldn't contain this much feeling...

Lower she kissed, taking a nipple between her lips and kissing a kiss that was both kiss, suckle, lick, and even part love making. And as she kissed, she moved her hands and body lower, fingernails caressing Rose’ perfect skin in long slow strokes, resulting in one hand moving to that lonely breasts and teasing it’s nipple as lips and hunger took pleasure with the other.

The warm wet of Karan's mouth closing around Rose's nipple became the whole center of Rose's universe, her multiverse, it all converged on that point and was reborn, she shook like crazy, like apoplexy, as her hands wrapped around Karan's head and buried in the Rapunzel gold of her hair. "AH! ohhhahhhh fuck!"

...and then the rest of the touching caught up with her and all of a sudden, Rose found herself wondering in a brain that was spinning out of orbit-- how could a universe, a multiverse, have two centers?

"Ahhhh! ...oh, Jesus..."

And that other hand of Karan’s? She had two after all. Oh that one performed it’s own slow languorous dance as it stroked Rose’s stomach, hips, and inner thighs. Ever closer, than incredibly distant from that which she wanted to taste more than anything in the world.

Fingers danced across the edge of Rose’s most private of places, Looking up she waited for Rose’s eyes, and asked. “Are you sure?”

It took Rose an understandable few seconds to get traction on the moment, to realize the magnitude of what Karan was asking, requesting, offering...

...their roller-coaster relationship had started with Karan kissing her without consent and now here they were on the cusp of something both of them wanted desperately and Karan was still checking for consent.

Rose had never loved her more than in that moment, never wanted her more, and biting her lip she nodded before stammering: "Yuh-yuh-yes. Please, please..."

And then she touched that oh so special place, her finger sliding down and in. Slowly at first, making sure everything was all nice and comfortably slippery. Just one finger slowly sliding in and out, up and down. Back and forth. Seeking Rose’s rhythm.

Rose felt that rhythm the way one feels the rocking of the seas or the turning of planets, that tenuous tenderness rolling in and rolling back, pushing in amongst wet, welcoming walls, her body clung to that finger for dear life and every time it moved Rose rocked her head back and let out little explosive illegible weeps of joy.

"Hnnh... gah-- ah! Mmmmmnnnohhhhh..."

When she let go of that perfectly perfect nipple to ask her question, she didn’t go back to it. Instead she resumed her kissing downwards. She even kissed her belly button as she slid ever lower, until her knees were on the floor and Rose’s moist heat was before her.

Mind swimming in infinity, riding an electric current of warm bright amplitude, Rose distantly registered that Karan was shifting, that positions were changing, but didn't immediately process her intent...

Caressing Rose’s thighs with her fingers, fingers that could rip a truck in half, she leaned in and gave her a softly sweet kiss. Her tongue sliding between nether lips upwards to stroke and tease The Mistress of Mars’ clit.

And Rose... lost her mind.

"Ohhhhhhhhfuck!"

Her hands clamped around Karan's head again and held on for dear life and she couldn't help but roll her hips, desperate to match the rise and fall of that tongue, wanting to feel that, all of that, all of that forever...

"Yuhyuhyuhyespleasedon'tstop!"

Oh, Karan had no plans on stopping her darting, tasting, flickering tongue. Or her slippery probing teasing fingers. She had plans. Oh the plans.

As her tongue continued it’s probing slithering dance across and around Rose’ bundle of nerves it began to speed up. Flick….Flick….Flick…Flick…Flick..Flick..Flick.Flick.FlickFlickflickflickflickflickflickflckflckflckflckfckfckfckfkfkfkfkfkfkfffffffffff. A blurring of the tip of her tongue against the tip of Rose most beautifully sweet center.

A single finger sliding in and out, slowly. So slowly it almost wasn’t even moving. But it was. And as that finger stroked in and out, it rotated back and forth, the knuckles pressing upwards. Until that single finger rolled over and was joined by a second slender finger, and both fingers curled upwards, softly stroking that sweet sweet spot on the inside. Not directly, that would spoil the.. anticipation. Instead they stroked just on either side, as the tip of Karan’s tongue virtually buzzed Rose’s clitoris.

Whether Karan's intent was to draw out the anti--

--say it!--

--pation or not, Rose had never in her life experienced anything like the feeling of a superspeed tongue going down on her...

...especially not when contrasted with those excruciating, agonizingly, deliciously slow fingers...

...the first orgasm hit her like a flash flood, zero forethought, she couldn't even cry out a warning to Karan...

...her fingers curled like fists in Karan's hair and her thighs wrapped around Karan's head, clamping on with near-Kryptonian strength, her whole slender tiny body spasming and bucking and writhing and roiling, b-cup breasts heaving like smith's bellows...

"AHHH! AHHHH! OHHHHHH FUUUUUUCK! ...ohhhh... fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck!"

...and before she could crash back down from the crescendo, she just flared across to the next one, cumming again and again, jumping from peak to peak, weeping for joy and lust and incredulity...

"ohgodohgodohgodOH!GOD!"

Smiling happily inside Karan finally gave Rose what she truly needed, and closed her fingers together, brushing across her g-spot. Stimulating her insides just as much as she was the outside. Rose was like the sweetest perfume and the nectar of the Goddess.

This was madness, this was insanity, this was delirium.

Couldn't think, almost couldn't breathe except to cry out again, couldn't worry, couldn't fear...

...this was the most felt thing she'd ever felt, the most skyrocketing emotional sensation...

Rose was resilient and highly regenerative-- she'd barely scratched the surface of how resilient she could be, barely touched the tip of the iceberg of the implications of her regenerativity. A normal human woman would have been exhausted in moments, but for Rose the waves just kept washing in and she was so very happily drowning in them.

Kissing her way back up Rose’s body, she replaced her tongue with thumb, still stroking and pleasuring her girl. As her lips locked onto one of those perfectly perfect nipples and teased it with tongue and lips.

Continuing onwards and upwards, she kissed and suckled at Rose's neck, her own bare breasts brushing against Rose.

More sensations, all the sensations, Rose tried to focus enough to kiss back, but now whole new vistas of chakras and katras were flaring as Karan's mouth did things to her breast and to her neck even as that miracle-worker hand worked miracles inside and out of her...

...her fingers traced Karan's shoulders lovingly, her fingernails raced down Karan's back frantically...

...one hand managed to slide up and grab a breast, trying to massage it in time with the plunging rolling efforts of Karan's impossible thumb...

"...ohhhohhhuhhhaaahhh, ohhhhh--! Karan-- love this, love you--"

<Hey. Um. Rose? I've been... I've been giving you your privacy, you know? But there's something you need to know-->

But then a fresh wave of orgasm washed in like a flood and Rose buried her face in Karan's hair to muffle the next shuddering cries.

<ROSE!>

The doorknob started turning. Key in the lock.

"Oh! Oh-- Karan-- wait-- you have to stop for--"

Frantically, Rose shoved Karan away with her telekinesis, dropping her onto the floor, and even as Rose dropped to sit on the floor beside her, her telekinesis reached out and snagged the blanket from the back of the couch, wrapping it around them like a cocoon with only their faces and heads showing--

--an instant before Alix Harrower stepped her silver-bullet body through the door, frowning as she was lost in thought.

But it only took a moment to look across to the living room area and see the two beautiful young women conspicuously bundled up in a blanket on the floor--

--and oh, yeah, Karan's low-riders were draped haphazardly over the front of the TV--

--for her to realize what she'd walked in on.

She winced, an extremely complicated array of emotions tumbling through her. "Ah. Hey, ladies. Maybe you should start putting a sock on the doorknob or something."

"Uh, hey, Alix," Rose smiled shakily, apologetically, her heart rate still pounding in her chest from the things that Karan had been doing to her. "I'm really, really sorry. How-- how was, uh-- group?"

Of course, Rose had been there, but Alix didn't know that.

Blink at what had just happened, yeah she’d heard the footsteps, and the keys, but hadn’t cared. It wouldn’t have been the first time she’d been caught with a girl. But being pushed by invisible force onto a floor was new.

Reaching up with one hand, Karan waved, even though she did have the decency to blush. Mostly cause their actions had caused embarrassment to Rose. She wasn’t embarrassed herself, hell she was kinda proud that she’d given Rose so many happy moments.

Alix waved back, sort of hesitantly, as she and Rose talked. It was... very perplexing to her that Rose would suddenly have a girlfriend of superheroic hotness right after that harrowing mess with the late Lance Harrower, but Alix' baggage wasn't Rose's fault, and she didn't want to deny Rose her happiness. She wanted to be welcoming. This was a little much, but she was trying.

Karan also had the politeness to not.. kiss or otherwise distract Rose while the two girls talked. So she cuddled her girl from behind, lightly running fingernails across Rose’s thighs and back. Fingernails that soon enough would be back doing wonderful things to Rose, and showing this oh so beautiful daughter of Aphrodite and Helia just what could be done.

"Group was okay. Nice bunch of girls. The pale alien chick seemed a little familiar, something about the way she talked... I dunno. I'll go next week, see how things unfold. Look, I'll-- I'll get out of your hair. That Craftsman guy called, says my uniform is patched and ready, and I'm meeting with a DEO Agent about a favor I can do her after I defended Zenith City Hero Con. I'll text you if I'm out too late."

"That's all good! That's all great!" Rose grinned woozily. "I'm sorry-- we don't-- I didn't mean to scare you off--"

Alix smiled faintly, and plucked The Craftsman's business card where it was pinned on the bulletin board by the door. "It's fine. I'm not gonna knock your honeymoon phase. Just-- you know-- sock on the door. Think about it, okay?"

"Okay," Rose laughed, turning an even brighter red and half-covering her face with one hand. "Sock on the door. Good luck out there."

"You too," Alix nodded easily, and then nodded again to Rose's girlfriend. "Karan."

And then she was gone, the door clicking locked behind her.

"Oh my gosh," Rose laughed brokenly for a moment, "oh my fucking God, I'm so sorry... I'm so embarrassed."

She squeezed Karan's thigh under the blanket.

"Some psychic I turned out to be. Also, uh, sorry for teekaying you on your ass."

"Hmm.. yes your ass is bare," Kara observed as she pulled the blanket away from their skin, and lowering it to the floor. "As for TKing me onto my ass... I'm sure you'll find a way to make it up to me."

With the two of them sitting naked on the floor she leaned in and kissed Rose, her fingers starting to wander again. "But for the moment..." she added as fingers found what she was looking for and started teasing again.

Rose shivered and giggled almost involuntarily, she was so captivated, so enthralled, her nerve-endings alive with live-wire sensations...

...but then she covered Karan's hand with her hand, catching her breath.

"Wuh-wait. Just-- just hold on."

"You've made me feel so good. Like I've never-- ever-- ever felt. Will you-- will you let me do the same for you? Or-- or at least try? I've never-- on a woman-- before-- I'd like to try. Please?"

"Rose, you make me breathe funny, and sweat, and I can't think around you. So you already do to me, what I was doing to you. But if you want to do what I was doing physically to you.. then yes.. please." Karan whispered, her free hand caressing Rose's cheek as she spoke. "Do what you want, when you want. Stop when you want."

"I want that," Rose insisted, nodding rapidly, her eyes never wavering from Karan's. "I want that more than-- I've ever wanted-- anything-- ever. I want all of that, all of you, I--"

--she turned her head and kissed Karan's palm, quick kiss--

--her heartrate felt like a hum in her chest--

"I need you to lay back."

Nodding, her nerves vibrating. Karan lay back, parting her legs for Rose. Golden curls nestled between her legs, glistening with a hint of how much she wanted Rose. She'd been with a number of girls in the past. Not the entire Island, but at least a handful of girls had warmed her bed on occasion. So she wasn't exactly a blushing bride. But for some reason she felt.. 'new' with Rose.

Her heart pounded behind her breasts making her nipples throb with desire and nervous tension. Her hand felt numb where Rose had kissed it, and warm.

Rose crawled over Karan, kneeling between her legs but her hands planted on either side of Karan's chest, leaning down to kiss her, sweetly, hungrily, ravenously, ravishingly... she wondered if she should be grossed out by the taste of herself on Karan's mouth, but she wasn't... she wasn't... she was thrilled, she was maddened... the idea that someone would worship her like that.

She kissed her way down Karan's body, lightly kissing each nipple on the way by, sliding her palms down Karan's abdomen as she drew closer, closer, down and down.

Rose gently kissed the insides of both of Karan's thighs, sliding her hands up and down the outsides of those thighs...

...and then she regarded the centerpiece, the place where her legs met, those blonde curls.

A momentary panic clutched her.

She'd never gone down on a woman before. What if she was terrible? What if-- what if she'd been all wrong about this and her daydreams of heteroflexibility were just idle fancies and passing phases, what if she wasn't really bi or pan or--

--but then she licked her lips, and she felt her heartbeat going, felt it spiking at the mere idea of this, at the idea of making love to this woman the way that she loved her--

--and she knew she was in for keeps.

But what do I do? she wondered, half expecting that "M'gann" voice in her head to give her advice like she did with telepathy... but M'gann was quiet.

Instead, Rose heard something else in her head. Something silkier, more sinuous, more than a little bit insidious but no less enthralling...

You know what you like done to yourself, don't you? Those boys who have fumbled their way around down there, you knew what you liked. You liked what she did to you just now... do what you like to her, it'll be a start, she'll love that, and-- just watch her for the changes and try to keep up.

Open her up like a flower. She'll let you know what she wants. Besides, you have telepathic advantages!

You'll be a natural. Trust me on this, my dear.

As perplexed as Rose was by the tawny sultry seductive lilt in her mind's ear, she saw that they were right--

--and she leaned in, and she eased Karan's lips apart with her fingers, and she kissed, gingerly and exploratory at first, she kissed Karan all over, moving up and down and all around and seeing what Karan liked best, listening to her gasps and feeling her shudders, learning, warming up...

...and, going by what Rose knew she herself liked, she used a finger and thumb to tease Karan's clit, and she pressed the tip of her tongue inside of her, roving in slow circles...

...watching her, listening to her mind, seeing if this was good...

...either way, she tasted incredible, like nothing Rose could have imagined...

"Mmmmmmmm..."

Every touch was a wonder. Every caress a delight. It felt.. it felt like she was a virgin all over again. Everything was so new. The feeling of lips on her nipples was maddening in it’s briefness. The feeling of fingers caressing her abdomen made her quiver and whimper.

Butterfly kisses moving lower and lower. Teasing hints of potential pleasure.

And then Rose touched her. Opened her.

Karan’s body arched and she gasped, her thighs parting even more, giving Rose as much access as she wanted.

She sighed in pleasure.

She whimpered.

She moaned.

And Rose’s tongue did something inside her soul.

Ice screamed through her body, connecting the tip of Rose’s tongue to the center of Karan’s primal brain. And she screamed. “Η θεά Αφροδίτη!!!” Fire raced through ever nerve she had, locking her fingers into the rug on the floor. And she clenched, digging grooves deep into the concrete below.

“Don’t stop..” She whimpered as nerves fired again and again.

She writhed under that combined attack of finger and tongue, her hips kept lifting, trying desperately to get more pleasure. Even though what was already happening was more than Karan had ever experienced. Not even the triplets had come close.

The heat within was building and building, even as waves of cold washed over her in ever increasing pulse waves.

The fire needed out!

Her lips parted, a scream ripping from her throat, passing through human hearing in a microsecond, transcending what a canine could heart an ants heartbeat after. Glass vaporized, turning to dust and silicate particles as Karan's thighs clenched over Rose's ears. “Rose..” Karan moaned in ultimate pleasure as her core rippled and flexed. “Rose. My Rose..”

Rose would definitely freak out later about the damage to her apartment and the security deposit and all of that-- the car alarms going off outside--

--but for now the powdered glass washed down over the two invulnerable extraterrestrial powerhouses like a fine mist and Rose was wholly solely undistractably focused on the woman beneath and before her--

--she could hear that cry, she had no idea how powerful Martian senses were--

--and it only inspired her to keep on, to press harder, to go deeper--

<"Your Rose,"> she promised, her mind to Karan's mind, her mouth was very, very busy but she could still speak telepathically. <"Allll your Rose.">

And she paused, and a shiver rippled her spine as she enunciated the thought: <"My Karan.">

And she pressed harder, deeper, delved her tongue as deep as she could, on sheer instinct, demanding more of Karan's taste, demanding more of Karan's pleasure, wanting to give Karan every good feeling she could possibly elicit-- wanting to feel every erg of her joy--

--and in pressing her tongue deeper into Karan, deep as she could, without even realizing it she unconsciously instinctively shapeshifted her tongue so that--

--so that it reached deeper--

--swelled to fill those hot tight wet walls and slithered about in those walls like a serpent, prehensile and hungry, finding secret places and bucking and flicking against them inside of Karan, hoping to drive her wilder still, madden her with sensations she'd never ever sensed before--

<"Oh my fucking gods and goddesses, Karan, I'm so yours and you are so mine.">

Nails that had dug furrows of carpet and concrete flexed as Karan screamed in pleasure again and again. So many times she’d felt the gaze of Helia and Aphrodite wash over her. She couldn’t count. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t think.

Fingers that could pulverize stone separated from the floor and slide into Rose’s gorgeous red hair, as Kara’s screams finally dropped in pitch enough to pass into human hearing. And a great many animals in the city were immensely thankful for that.

“Oh Rose..” A gasping quivering moan.

“Goddess..” A twitching cry of pleasure.

"I'm your's.." a trembling moan escaped a quivering jaw.

“..Forever..” she screamed, muscles and tendons creaking as her body arched. A pulsing wave rippling through internal muscles that only females had or used.

<"Forever,"> Rose moaned softly inside Karan's head-- without ever stopping the throes and thrashings of her tongue inside Karan-- she reached out with her telekinesis, tenderly at first, then eagerly--

--and soon it would seem like even as Rose's impossible tongue wreaked havoc inside Karan, dozens of loving hands would be sliding all over her skin, massaging breasts and hindcheeks, shoulders and stomach and thighs and backs of knees--

--touching all of Karan everywhere all at once would be almost enough for Rose.

<"Forever and a day.">

*****

Karan vaguely remembered moving from the floor to Rose's bedroom, and carrying Rose. But other than that it was all one long orgasmic bliss haze. And right now she was snuggling with the beat of her heart. And that was a good thing. She didn't want to move, it was so nice and comfortable and peaceful and fuck it felt so good to be here with Rose in her arms.

But she had to pee and she was thirsty.

Rose mumbled disappointedly as Karan drew away from her, reaching for her back, as though she were hoping to snag a waistband or something--

--but her fingers curled at nothing but air. Thus stirred, she woke up, sat up, went to put her hand through her hair--

--she should have some serious sex-hair-slash-bedhead right now, but that had never been a problem since she'd become a shapeshifter.

She smiled a woozy little smile to herself-- shivering delightedly at the aftershocks of the memories, her whole body was singing with joy, every muscle was springing to life like she had been carrying an invisible weight the size of a small planet that she didn't even know was on her shoulders-- but now it was gone. She felt so alive.

But other details started to swim back into her brain, back into focus. She remembered--

Oh my God. The broken glass!

If Alix comes home again-- finds the mess--

<It's okay, Rose. Breathe. It'll be okay. You have people now.>

Oh! Um. Right.

After taking care of the primary need she wandered into the kitchen to deal with the secondary need. Her throat was kind of soar and so very dry. But that was Rose's fault. Not that Karan would ever complain about the why. It had been very.. enjoyable. Rose was gonna be a moaning puddle tonight.

<"Natasha? Can-- can you hear me?">

<"--uh-- wha? --Martian Manhuntress, is that you, or am I imagining things after being alone in the lab with multidroids too many hours in a row?">

<"It's me. Um. Can-- can I get your help with something? Karan and I-- we-- oh, this is so TMI-- we--">

She could feel Natasha's smirk. <"--got waylaid? As in-- way laid?">

<"Oh my God,"> Rose mumbled, covering her face with both hands.

<"I'm just teasing, Double-M,"> Natasha shushed her. <"Wait-- wait-- you weren't a virgin, were you? Is that why you picked the lily-white look, with your shapeshifting--">

<"You're-- you're--"> Rose mumbled, laughing, shaking her head-- <"--no, it was-- I may have just popped my lesbian cherry, don't--">

<"I'm sorry, I swear, I promise. I mean, the shipper fanboys and fangirls on the message boards would lose their minds, but-- no, strictest confidence, professionalism-- wait, you were going to ask for my help!">

<"It turns out-- oh, for fuck's sake-- Karan is a screamer. And she has-- she has super-lungs. There's a lot of broken glass. And I don't want my roommate to get home and find the place a mess. Do you-- could you send one of those multidroids to repair the windows or something?">

<"All the way to New York? No, I'm sorry, the fleet's hive won't extend that far. I don't think they'd even stay coherent as far away as Hell's Gate.">

Rose rolled her eyes and sighed. <"Ah, shit.">

Natasha paused. Not for nothing was she one of the smartest people in the country, and her Uncle John had taught her well with regard to lateral problem-solving.

<"Don't freak out, okay? Let me make a call."> There was a little bit of static on the line as Nat's thoughts revolved around dialing a phone and talking aloud-- but she spared enough brainpower to think at Rose still while they waited. <"So, ah, where is Wondergirl now?">

Rose paused-- Karan had been in the bathroom, but now-- the Kryptonian Amazon's mind was in the kitchen.

<"She's getting a glass of water.">

<"Girrrrrrl. Did you fuck a Kryptonian so hard she got thirsty? That is... that is impressive. Remind me to fistbump you later. Is it just the glass or was there other damage, too?">

Rose covered her face again, blushing red as her hair, red as Mars. <"...oh my God. Um. Um. There were some clawmarks on the floor, through the rug. We-- we spent most of the time after that levitating in the bedroom, so-- so I think that's it. Oh my God.">

<"Shhhh. Don't you worry none. Auntie Nat's got you covered.">

A little more static. Then a little more, then Natasha came back. <"Okay, good news! Turns out President Obama is in New York stumping for Democratic candidates, and the DEO-trained metahuman assigned to his Secret Service detail is Firehawk, an old friend of mine from some stuff with Steelworks. She's agreed to come by and fix your windows and stuff using her transmutation powers, totally confidential, just telepath me your address. You just might not want to be there when it happens, okay? She looks kind of... fiery.">

<"Oh. Oh wow. Oh, wow, okay, thank you! Thank you, Dr. Irons.">

<"'Dr. Irons' is my uncle,"> Natasha chided. <"And it's all good. Seriously, you saved the world last week, one of the perks of that is saving your lease agreement. Just... next time maybe go to her place? Does she have a secret Fortress somewhere solitary?">

Rose hesitated. She actually didn't know. <"Maybe? I'll ask. I-- thank you, Natasha. Seriously.">

<"Ain't no thing,"> Nat reassured her. <"I'm happy for you two! This world can royally suck sometimes, it's good that you've found each other.">

<"Yeah,"> Rose smiled, that warm feeling in her stomach bubbling up all over again. <"Yeah, it really really is.">

They parted ways, and Rose stood and moved through to the kitchen, leaning in the archway and smiling softly at Karan-- who had managed to find a glass that hadn't gone with the windows-- drinking in the sight of her beauty.

"Hey, you. You feel like getting dressed and going out? I--"

But then her watch started ringing, interrupting her, and she glanced at it with surprise.

It was Lex Luthor.

She put him on speaker.

"Martian Manhuntress. Is Wondergirl with you? I wonder if I might cash in on a favor with you both."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Let's Do The Mind-Warp Again. (joint post with Varshanka's Karan.)

Stryker's Island Penitentiary, Metropolis.
Val-Zod's Containment Cell.
Evening.
After This.
********​

"I apologize for any discomfort the setting may cause you, figuratively and physically," Lex Luthor frowned, walking beside them into the viewing area for Val-Zod's unit.

"I would hardly invite two beautiful young women into a prison and under the watchful wanton gaze of so many inmates," Lex pointed out, "unless I had utmost confidence in the security measures-- and unless I had no other choice. Both things are true."

He glanced again at the place where Val-Zod sat in his cell below, murmuring worriedly, sadly in clipped phrases of Kryptonese.

Martian Manhuntress stepped forward and placed her palm against the glass, gazing achingly down at the Vathlo-Kryptonian. "Oh. He just sounds so... alone."

"Indubitably," Luthor agreed, and then glanced at Karan.

"It may cause you a prickling, weakening sensation, especially, Wondergirl," he continued, "to enter the cell itself. The red sun lamps are essential to keep the Kryptonian-- we think his name is 'Val-Zod' based on my best, sadly limited attempts to develop a translation algorithm-- depowered in case of another outburst. You understand, I hope."

“Val-Zod is correct,” Wondergirl replied, tilting her head slightly, almost like she was remembering, or listening, or both. “Fire. Pain. Bad. Stop. Burning girl. Pain. Stop.” Looking at Luthor she offered up a suggestion. “Perhaps he’s referencing The Rider?”

Lex was inscrutable for a moment-- well, more inscrutable than usual. Karan had, in three seconds, ascertained more about Val-Zod's feeble yammering than Lex had been able to decode in weeks. How refreshing it was to have a useful Kryptonian for once.

Of course, Rose couldn't read any of these thoughts given Lex' own precautions against telepathic industrial espionage-- but nevertheless he nodded agreement.

"Perhaps."

“Although it may be something that happened before The Rider, did whatever they did to him.” Looking at the red light emitters she frowned. “I’m not going in there, just yet.”

"That's fair," Luthor admitted. "Brave as you are, it's more advisable to glean as many facts as you can first before diving into a potentially untenable scenario. My primary telepathic consultant, Dubbilex, said that the subject-- Val-Zod-- has extensive neural scarring but he's not sure how much of that was extant prior to The Rider's mystical assault."

"Most of my telepathic ability seems instinctive so far," Manhuntress confessed, "guided by subconscious cues, I don't know how much help I'm going to be on a brain-dive like this."

"Dubbilex assures me, Miss, ah, Martian," Luthor considered, "that your sheer psychic amplitude eclipses even his own, and that is no mean feat. That said, I-- grok-- that there is considerable risk to both minds when a telepath engages with a subject suffering from emotional distress and/or traumatic brain injury, and regret that asking you to undertake such a task is so necessary. But this man may know secrets that could reveal the fate of Superman and his Justice League-- and of the threat that could endanger us all that disposed of them seemingly so handily. Not to mention, having a Kryptonian languishing ignobly in these dank dungeons is such a waste-- much better to rehabilitate him in hopes of his being a productive member of our society."

"I get it," Rose murmured, but she shivered. "I do."

She glanced at Karan. "I'll do it. But only if she's sure."

Leaning against the clear wall, Kara rested her forhead on it. Listening. “The words.. it’s hard to understand. You said you don’t understand him? But he’s speaking English. Just really badly. A dialect I don’t quite understand.”

"You hear it as... broken English?" Luthor arched his eyebrows, surprised-- oh, he didn't like surprises, but they did occasionally make things interesting. "I assure you, Miss Zor-El, that is like no language native to this planet, the mnemonics alone require an understanding of quadratics that transcends-- hm. Fascinating."

Looking at the room, it’s lights, the prisoner, and finally at Rose she asked, “Do you need to get close to him? I’ll be.. lessened within those walls.” Stepping back she let go of the window, the red light made her skin tingle, and not the way that Rose made her tingle.

Awkwardly, Martian Manhuntress rubbed her upper arm and glanced at her feet. "I'm sorry, yeah. This is gonna be so far out of my depth it's not even funny. Even with my--" she gestured vaguely in the direction of her own head "--'sub-conscience' being my guide, I'm gonna need physical contact to do something this intricate. And I'm gonna need physical contact with you to loop you in for the translation. But I won't make you do anything you're not comfortable with doing."

"As much respect I have for the maintaining the agency of women," Luthor cleared his throat. "I'm sure I don't need to reiterate the stakes."

"I wasn't comfortable with anything in the last mission, except the kissing. This will be a cake walk, with more kissing later." Wondergirl replied.

Rose couldn't help but smile softly-- reassured by Karan's one-track mind, tantalized by the thought of further kissing.

Luthor, meanwhile, kept his expression neutral. Whatever bizarre dysfunctional relationship these two heroines enjoyed did not concern him in the slightest-- so long as HR didn't have to deal with an acrimonious break-up later.

"When I tell you, and only when I tell you.. increase the yellow/diminish the red whatever you want to call it.. by ten percent. Enough that I don't.. pass out or vomit. Neither is lady like or useful."

"I'll consult my technicians," Luthor allowed, dubiously. "It is imperative that 'Val-Zod' not regain his power unless he is capable of self-restraint. Restraining him the last time, if you'll recall, took a certain quantity of doing."

Running her fingers along the pleated leather and across the golden lasso at her hip she sighed. "Lets do this."

Rose slipped her hand into Karan's. "Yes. Let's do our best."

Luthor rapidly tapped in a keycode, cycling open the first of a sequence of airlocks leading down to the cell itself-- another way of making sure that no extraneous solar radiation filtered into the main chamber.

Once the doors had all gone through their paces, they would find Val-Zod sitting in the middle of the cell floor, waiting for them, still near-catatonic in his fear and misery.

"Heh-- hello?" Martian Manhuntress stammered gently.

Straining against the bonds as the girls approached and moved behind him, Val-Zod began screaming, the pitch growing higher and higher until Wondergirl's Golden Lasso settled around his shoulders, pining his arms tighter than the bindings that held him down.

But even then he jerk and twisted, much like a rabbit caught with one foot in a trap, desperate to be free. “Calm,” Karan whispered in his ear. But as much as he was screaming and thrashing he couldn’t hear. Plus she was using English. A human tongue.

Looking over at Rose, Wondergirl was silently pleading with the Mistress of Mars to hurry. “Lights, I’m gonna be sick.”

Up top, Luthor nodded and gestured sharply to a technician, who hurriedly and worriedly dialed the solar-lamp spectrum to "yellow" rather than "red," juuuust a smidge. The Kryptonians in the room would immediately feel a change in the air... a different frequency in their flesh... but it would take time and prolonged exposure of this spectrum, especially at this ratio, for them to experience a marked uptick in their physical amplitudes.

Martian Manhuntress stepped forward, hesitantly. Trusting in the power of Karan, of Karan's lasso...

...she reached out and touched Val-Zod's face, trying to line up her fingers with the same points that Raven had used when she had built Rose's "firewall" before, but it proved difficult with his thrashing... <"Easy, easy... let me help.">

The world was burning. The ground shook. Giants everywhere ran. Twice as tall as he. Yelling screaming. Shouting commands in a language not of Earth. He was small and some did not see him as they ran. Pushed aside, he slammed into a wall. A yelling face full of anger and hate filled his vision. Pointing. Shoving.

The giants locked him in a room. So small. Tight. he couldn't move.

****

The ground cracked beneath his feat, the sky roared under the red sun. Everything was shaking. The Crystal towers of Nightwing and Flamebird exploded and fell in a shower of dust.

****

Standing under the Red sun he looked up into the sky watching as the ball came rushing down towards him. Laughing. Giggling as the blonde girl tackled him and tickled him. The giant walked across the grass and stood laughing as he watched.

*****

He lay in bed, the giant woman brush his hair from his face as she kissed his forehead. "Mama Lara,"he whispered as he fell asleep.

*****

It was beautiful, it was terrible.

Like tip-toeing through shattered stained glass and looking down and seeing a different reflection in every shard. Everything was broken and all at once.

There was so much The Martian Manhuntress didn't understand, as she stood there blinking back tears-- no context for the imagery-- the beautiful shining architecture-- all gone to dust--

Hurriedly she reached a hand for Karan, beckoned for her, she could take her hand or touch it to her face like the mind-meld but either way, Rose needed Karan in a whole new way.

Moving to Rose, Karan kept one hand on the Lasso, the other taking's Rose's hand and holding to her face. "I'm here." she managed to whisper before the inside of her mind exploded like a planet gone mad.

Krypton was dying. Again. She could see it. Feel it. Everything was coming apart again. Just like.. The Last Day of Krypton. When a world died.

But this was.. wrong.. She wasn't on Krypton. She was.. ON EARTH WITH ROSE! She could still feel that hand on her face. Vague like gossamer or a cobweb, but it was there. This was just.. a dream. no.. a Nightmare.

She watched as people ran past, Yelling. Giving orders, pleading for their lives. She watched the crystal Pillars of Nightwing and Flamebird explode in a shower of glass. Forever together, eternally apart.

The Tower of Rao glowed from within, as if he was a very very angry God. How did she know these things? And someone ran into her at full speed. A small someone.

Turning she looked upon the face of a dark skinned boy, a child. Panic and fear on his face as a Blonde woman ran forward and scooped him up, men surrounding them and yelling. Demanding she leave.

And the world shifted sideways and turned over.

"Rose. Where are you Rose." she called out.

<"I'm here! I'm-- I'm here!">

<Rose. It can't hurt you. Okay? It can't hurt you. It's a memory. It's happening to him, and so long ago. It can't hurt you unless you think it can-- have faith and you'll survive this. You have to tell Karan, tell Karan it's just a memory--! You have to find her!>

There in the chaos and shuddering shattering of Kryptonopolis, Rose staggered under the quaking of the ground, but when a tower toppled...

...it toppled through her, as though she were a ghost and it a spectre.

And there, through a gap in the madding crowds, she saw the woman she loved, and her heart leaped...

<"Karan! It can't hurt you! It's his memory! Remember that it can't hurt you and you'll be okay! --I-- I think he's the boy! Find the boy!">

His memory? Her memory? It all felt so.. familiar, like déjà vu. She knew this place. Turning a corner she knew the Tower of Rao was right .. it wasn’t there.

Boy. Find the boy.

Jumping up she tried flying, but that didn’t work. Would have been easier to find him from up above the screaming scattered people. A crystal wall exploded from the tectonic pressure below it, a shower of shards as deadly as flying razors killing a dozen people. Instinct alone saved her as she ducked and turned. Pain speared the back of her hand as micro explosions sounded next to her ear.

Turning her head slightly she realized she was holding her shield, bracers of battle girding her arms, even as her boots and skirt formed around her shins and hips. Standing up she knew she hadn’t had them a second ago. Dreams. Nightmares. They were in the BOYS MIND! Memories could not HURT!

And she launched herself upwards, her eyes focused downwards as she looked. There! “Rose.. there! He’s being dragged into that building!” She yelled, pointing. Dropping down she changed her angle and flew towards the boy.

Right. Flying!

Rose shoved up from the ground, swooped high, searching for the building that her love had described...

...but as she swept higher, something caught her eye, distracted her.

A red and gold streak.

Knifing through the rubble as the destruction spread on a planetary scale...

<"...what?">

<"...wait, was that who I thought it--">

<Rose. Focus!>

The boy!

Pushing aside tricks of the mind, hallucinations, whatever that had been, Rose dove for the building... and found herself on an intercept course with Karan.

Reaching out, she took hold of Karan's hand, and nodded bravely to her. <"Together!">

And they dove through the wall of the building, as immaterial as ghosts.

Holding Rose’s hand made her giddy, especially when they dropped down through walls and ceilings. But what they found was not what Karan had expected.

A little blonde girl was throwing a triad ball with a dark skinned boy in an open field.

****

A group of men grabbed the boy and dragged him kicking and screaming away as the girl chased after. Her age constantly changing with each step. Five. Eight. Seven. Nine. Six. Eight. Five. Nine. Six. Five. It was like his memories were blurring and blending.

****

Grass meadow and crystal hallway blended together. Guards flickered back and forth. A blonde lady and a dark haired man swapping places with them. Guards dragged a kicking screaming boy, as the couple carried him, a blonde girl running with them.

“What in the name of the Goddesses?" Karan murmured.

<"His whole psyche is fractured,"> Rose gasped in realization. <"Fractured like-- like Krypton! It's all a metaphor--!">

She squeezed Karan's hand. <"If we can get close to him, talk to him directly, we can try and convince him to let us help him-- piece his world together, and his memory?">

“Ok, it’s worth a try,” Karan agreed, and holding Rose’s hand she flew towards the boy, ignoring everything else in the way. And taking a guess as to when the big burly black garbed men would be holding the boy she struck.

One boot snapping out in a flying kick as she grabbed the boy with her free hand. “Val. Val. You have to listen to us..” She tried wondering if the boy could even hear her over the sounds of a world breaking apart.

And with Karan steadying the boy, anchoring him in their relative present, Rose was able to swoop in from the other side and cup his face with her hand.

Contact.

Her telepathy couldn't be drowned out by the sound of a global armageddon.

<"Val-Zod! We're here to help you!">

<"But you have to help us help you! ...Together!">

Locking eyes on her Val-Zod couldn't help it. His eyes grew even wider. He recognized her. "BURNING LADY!!" he screamed, trying to pull away as Krypton - a world long dead and gone - began to burn. Rivers of Lava roiled and flowed down streets and into buildings, vaporizing people even as they ran to escape a dying world.

But it wasn't just Krypton that was burning and flowing with Lava it was Ma'aleca'andra. The screams of the dead and dying was in Martian as well as Kryptonian.

These were just memories.

They were in no physical danger.

But even the memory of fire was psychic agony to The Martian Manhuntress. Fire did not have to be real to hurt her.

And even as she threw her hands in front of her face, even as she stumbled back in the dream world...

********​

...she and Karan snapped back into their bodies, there in the containment cell in Stryker's.

"Oh-- oh-- God, oh-- ow." Rose mumbled, staggering back physically as well as psychically, a hand over her heart. "Did he-- did he access my memories as well as his? How did-- oh, ouch, I hurt all over."

"Um, ladies?" a tech's voice crackled down from somewhere above. "Mister Luthor sends his regrets. He had to go. ...you guys have been just standing there not moving for like 6 hours, are you okay?"

Turning to the side Karan looked like she was going to be sick, her face pale. "That was.. brutal.. violent. Like something the Rider would like to do. Are you going to be ok?"

"Yeah, it's passing, I'm already healing," Rose shook her head, but she was still shaken, still shaking it off. "I'm okay, thank you. Are you?"

Looking at the door she asked, "Can we get out of here? I'm not feeling well."

"Yes, yes, absolutely, the red sun-- ah-- hold on--" the red lamps flickered and the airlock cycled, providing the two Leaguers their egress.

"Sorry we couldn't help you this time," Rose promised Val-Zod, stalwart even in her rattled state. "We'll try again soon. I promise we'll help you. I promise."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Interlude: You Ain't Seen No Vignettes.

He ran.

His molecules hummed and he scorched his way along The Cosmic Racetrack as The Dark Flash gnashed and burned behind him.

He ran for days. Weeks.

It all blurred together-- a catastrophic cacophony of images--

--smash cut smash cut smash cut--

--superluminal subliminal montage--

--but with every stride on another besieged Earth, he sacrificed his lead, bit by bit, inch by inch, to make a difference, to turn the tide.

Earth-32.
Santa Maltese.
Now.
********​

It seemed like the whole island nation was burning.

And the Justice Titans burned with it.

"Wonderhawk is down!" Black Arrow bellowed at the top of her considerable lungs, standing over the winged warrioress as she fired arrow after arrow, desperately trying to fend off encroaching hordes of parademons. "I just saw them tear open the sky and abduct Super-Martian and Captain Thorvel!"

"Bat-Lantern is in the upper atmosphere single-handedly fighting off Red Amazo, Doomzarro, and Loki Adam!"

"Back-up! Justice Titans! I need back-up! Do we have anyone else in the sound of my voice? Captain Atomstorm! Aquaflash? Steel Cyborg! Tomorrow Aztek?"

She reached back to her quiver and came back empty-handed.

And unleashed her sonic cry with every ounce of fury and courage and indomitable will she had, a more powerful cry than she'd ever attempted--

"ANYONE?!"

The scuttling armored snarling shock-troopers for hundreds of yards around fell clutching their helmeted heads, their brains bleeding out through their noses, but more parademons were behind them in waves-- there were always more--

--clutching her throat, she'd almost ripped it out, Black Arrow fell to one fishnetted knee, still refusing to give up, still refusing to abandon the fallen Wonderhawk--

"--anyone?"

But then red and gold blurred around her, living liquid lightning, and she glanced up with her heart in her voicebox, her lungs heaving, and her masked eyes wide.

The fires were all out. The parademons were-- shredded-- torn to ribbons--

"wait, what?"

She managed to cough, clear her throat, and with a voice like gravel she demanded into the comms-- "Aquaflash, was that you?"

"Negative! Forgive me, o fetching fletcher, Ocean Manta and Terramancer are attempting to bury CentrAtlantis miles beneath the sea floor! It's taking every ounce of my speed vibrations and hydrokinesis to counter their efforts! Outrageous!"

"But... then... who?" Black Arrow wondered.

Beneath and behind Black Arrow, Wonderhawk stirred, her wings shifting, her voice a groan... her hand flexing its bloodied knuckles before grasping anew the handle of her Nth-Amazonium mace. She got her feet under her, and she rose.

"An answer to prayer, in our darkest hour, Arrow," she grimaced. "A miracle. Just as long ago, the goddesses of my people filled us with strength to throw off the chains of Ixthulcules and his forces, so too have they given us hope and a fighting chance against The Great Darkness!"

"Get you fresh quivers, Black Arrow, and a lozenge for your cry!" Her wings flared wide and she shot up high into the sky to help Bat-Lantern against his enemies. "Fight on! JUSTICE TITANS GO TOGETHER!"

Black Arrow smiled faintly, and then sprinted for her nearest weapons cache.

Their battle wasn't over by a long shot.

But for just that moment-- she believed in miracles again.

Earth-4.
Antarctica.
December 2005.
********​

"INSOLENT GNATS!" Kalibak roared, stamping in the snow, brandishing his Beta Club, blasting Fenris center-mass with a concussive bolt, sending the genetic werewolf skidding back through the icy wastes, slamming into Feral.

Undaunted, Rorschach dropped to one knee, took all of an instant to aim, and unloaded an entire canister of sleep-inducing Dodds-Hawkins gas into the hulking powerhouse's face.

Kalibak howled with laughter and swung his Beta Club once more-- triggering a nerve cascade that pumped Rorschach with all the agony of her entire nervous system cascading at once...

"SCARCELY WORTH THE EFFORT TO SWAT YOU! AMONG YOU, ONLY MANHATTAN HAD THE POWER TO CHALLENGE ME, AND HE HAS BEEN DISPATCHED TO THE INESCAPABLE OMEGA SANCTION! WITHOUT HIM, YOU ARE OF INSUFFICIENT MERIT TO BATTLE A GOD!"

"Not a god. No gods." Rorschach grimaced beneath her swirling inkblot mask, her teeth gritted, spasming and stuttering from the pain but still somehow standing... "Just us. Justice."

Nightwatch scowled as the Beta Club's scrambling effects prevented him from getting a weapons lock-- "MERLIN! How are we doing on that orbital relay strike?"

"SaintSAT-8 still retasking from equatorial orbit, Mister Saint. 10 seconds to optimum target window."

Nightwatch seethed. "I don't know if we have 10 seconds!"

"KNOW THAT YOU DON'T," Kalibak loomed over Nightwatch, one meaty hand reaching out to crush Steven Saint's armor-clad skull as though it were a mere hazelnut--

--but then a red blur stormed out of nowhere, snatched The Beta Club from Kalibak's hand, and lashed back around to bring it across Kalibak's jaw with supersonic force.

With a cry of startlement and agony, Kalibak hurtled backwards, sprawling...

...the Club dropped to the snow, but Kalibak was off-balance...

...Fenris and Feral bayed in unison as the genetically-enhanced bestial humans bounded out of the snow drifts and slashed at him with claws and teeth, gouging nigh-invulnerable flesh...

...freed from crushing agony, Rorschach dropped the sword she'd won earlier defeating Ozymandias in a straight fight, reached into her pocket and retrieved a handful of the baubles Qualia had made for her, hurling the whole fistful into Kalibak's roaring mouth...

...fire, ice, sonics all went off in Kalibak's mouth at once, and he clawed at his teeth in fury...

...it was all futile, all in vain, he could shrug off all of this if he got his breath back, but if they could just hold him long enough...

"Mister Saint," MERLIN spoke in Nightwatch's ear. "SaintSAT-8 is in position."

"GO!" Nightwatch roared.

"Interface relay with Hauser M24 Colossus established. Triangulation complete. Orbital energy strike override disengaged. Going loud!"

And a blue-white beam of energy based on Adrian Veidt's own teleport technology-- itself derived from Dr. Manhattan-- speared down from the skies like the thunderbolt of a god, striking Kalibak atop his head and slamming him into the ice-shelf, his whole molecular structure horribly disrupted--

"GRRRRAAAAAAAHHHH!"

--he was down, he was down but not out, still somehow the brute was standing up again--

--golden and red lightning crackled in the space before him, the very air seemed to vibrate and hum and--

--Dr. Manhattan stood there, looking quite surprised and bemused.

Ah. Is this happening now?

Forgive me. Quite disoriented. I believe I spent several eternities in that infernal Life-Trap before having a brief but enlightening conversation with a man empowered with The Fundamental Force of Freedom.

He held out his hand and blew Kalibak to bloody bits.

Yes. I remember when this was the future.

I always seem to be killing men in the snow.

Earth-1.
January 11, 2016.
Somewhere in California.
********​

“What’s a matter Flash? Too fast for ya?” the blonde-headed speedster shouted over his shoulder.

Barry Allen’s determined scowl never changed. He was trying to figure the villain out. He called himself Fast Forward. His speed was unusual. From what he could tell, he wasn’t using the Speed Force. How was he going so fast? He wasn’t use to people being able to outrun him. He was used to catching the guy by now, but this guy had a trick. No matter how fast or how slow he ran, Fast Forward could stay ahead of him.

Fast looked back at The Flash, flaunting his teeth in a jubilant grin.

“How does it feel to be second Flash? You will always be staring at my back. You will never be able to catch me!”

Laughing snidely, Fast returned his eyes to the path before him, and was shocked to see a man charging toward him. It was as though the world had slowed down before his eyes and yet when he saw the other speedster extend his arm before his neck, he did nothing but watch. What…the…fu-

The speedster’s arm met his throat and Fast’s tongue shot out of his mouth on a hoarse gasp. His feet flew out from under him as he flipped in mid-air. Hiro had retracted his arm as next to pass him was a stunned Flash. His mouth dropped at the sight of the unknown speedster. Hiro flashed him a cheesy grin and was gone as they both sped off in opposite directions.

Barry quickly slowed down, spreading his arms to halt his immense speed. Fast had crashed and rolled a few yards behind him. Lying curled and crumbled in the middle of the road, Fast’s eyes were wide and mouth agape with his pants. The Flash walked over to him, eyes narrowing as he gazed down upon the villain.

“Who-who…was that?” Fast asked.

“…I don’t know,” Barry replied, “But I’m glad he…helped out I guess. Someone had to stop you. Tell me…how do you do it? You’re fast, but you derive your speed from something else.”

Fast grunted painfully and chuckled. “I can shorten time. The time it would take you to finish a race, I can finish it in less time. That is why I will always be ahead of you.” He laughed. “I will always be faster than you—than anyone!”

The Flash frowned. “Apparently not faster than the law.”

One last supersonic punch across the face and Fast Forward was out cold, left there for Gateway City's Special Crimes Unit--

--and The Flash was already gone.

"Also apparently, this is my day to get an eyeful of strange, naked superheroes," he muttered to himself as he streaked off into hypertime once more.

Krypton.
The Universe of Earth-2.
Decades Ago.
********

https://i.imgur.com/i6PG38x.png​

The Tower of Rao glowed.

The crystal towers of Nightwing and Flamebird toppled and shattered.

The Kryptonian supercontinent heaved beneath his feet. Kryptonopolis was dying.

But still he ran. Still he knifed through the rubble as destruction spread on a planetary scale.

How many Supermen across The Multiverse had had to watch their paradise die? Or leave it before they could ever remember it?

This cold, scientific utopia, but still it was breathtaking.

Like a beautiful woman trapped in a time loop-- you would always fall in love with Krypton, and she would always die.

He couldn't stop to help this time.

He'd burned up too much of his lead, he had to keep ahead of The Dark Flash, he couldn't lose this race-- too much was at stake--

--maybe he could loop back around again and save someone, anyone, but for now--

--he ran--

--and kept running.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Interlude: Hauntological Hypnagogia Overdrive.

Brentwood, Gotham City, New Jersey.
Night.
Thirteen Days After Kobra.
********​

Timothy Drake twisted and tangled in his bedsheets, cold sweat beaded on his brow.

Stephanie had left hours ago.

He should be out there with her right now, on patrol, helping to stem the tide of violence that had gripped Gotham with both Bruce and Dick... out of action.

Orpheus up on The Hill. Ragman. Spoiler. Batgirl. Oracle. Misfit. Huntress. Batwoman. That new Batwing.

Azrael, when he was on the sanity wagon.

Even Jason when he was in town, whatever helmet he was wearing this week.

All of them together still couldn't match the chilling peacemakers that were the first and greatest two Batmen.

He needed to be out there. Needed to hunt. Needed to fight.

But he hadn't been able to sleep right for nearly two weeks, and even trained by Bruce Wayne, Lady Shiva, and some of the greatest living martial artists on Earth, Tim's stamina was on fumes. Even meditation was just a band-aid on a GSW.

He kept having these dreams.

The Obeah Man loomed over him, taunting him, performing a mockery of true voodoo--

--the Haitian supervillain had killed Tim's mother, put his father in a wheelchair, and tortured Tim--

--if Batman hadn't saved him--

--he was back, he was back in The States, beating Tim within an inch of his helpless, powerless life, reenacting those black-magic mind games--

"Hnnnh--" Tim grunted, rolling, clutching uselessly at the air--

"Tha's right, mate," Captain Boomerang snarled, waggling his eyebrows, "watch that toerag twist, hey?"

--years later, Digger Harkness had killed his father, Jack Drake, finished the job The Obeah Man had started, plunging Tim to new depths of tragic loneliness.

--and now they were here.

--together.

--both of them.

--beating the hell out of him.

The dream was always the same.

It had been night after night, now.

Burning in his brain and beading upon his skin.

White-knuckling through the nightmare.

He knew what was going to happen next.

"Nnnoooo," he groaned, both aloud and in the dream.

"No."

And with fury, vengeance bordering on the supernatural, he tore free of his bonds, surged to his feet, fired a brutal sidekick into The Obeah Man's midsection, staggering him--

--sneering, Captain Boomerang drew two of his bladed throwing weapons, one in each hand--

--without even blinking, Tim grabbed Boomerang's wrist, twisted it, shoved one boomerang's sharp end up through Digger's chin and into the depths of his skull--

--Harkness died, twitching, but Tim didn't even slow down, grabbing the other boomerang as it fell from Boomerang's other hand and whirling in a single fluid twist of predatory grace--

--throwing--

--perfect spin, end-over-end--

--it stabbed clean into The Obeah Man's heart, and he staggered with a surprised look on his face before falling back, lifeless before he hit the floor.

The scene instantly changed, as it does in dreams.

Tim stood in a graveyard, dressed in his Batman uniform, over two fresh graves-- their headstones engraved with the name of each villain.

And then Bruce was standing there, pale and haggard and leaning on his cane, looking stunned--

"Tim. Tim-- what have you done?"

"Heroes don't kill. Batman doesn't kill. No. Exceptions. Take off that mask, take off that cape, you're not fit to wear it!"

To hear these words from a man who had been more of a father figure to him over the years than his own late father--

--had basically been Tim's father since Jack Drake had died--

--he felt like his soul was getting carved out with a corkscrew.

"Bruce, I-- I did what needed to be done."

"Obviously not," Bruce snarled. "And I'm not asking. The blood on your hands cries out, demanding that you surrender The Mantle of The Bat. If you're not worthy, I'll find someone who is."

Fear and dread and aching regret spiked through Tim, right through his core. "Bruce, please!"

"Batman doesn't kill. HEROES. DON'T. KILL."

Tim awoke with a start, clutching at his chest, his heart pounding, gulping for air--

--he grabbed a bottled water from his bedstand and chugged it hurriedly, flinging the empty bottle aside.

Bruce's voice echoed in his brain, echoed in his head, echoed in his branes, bulk, bleed.

He opened his bedstand drawer, and took out his T-Comm.

Saw again the list of messages from Damian from the past week and a half, and again he hit ignore.

Touching the controls, he carefully selected a list of recipients.

Titans both East and West.

But none of the ones who were also in The New Justice League.

Heroes don't kill.

Taking a breath, finding his Batman voice, he toggled the T-Comm: "Titans. We need to talk."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Northwest. Not so Pacific. (tags to current Justice League and prospective members)

In-Game Event - Justice League versus Teen Titans / Extreme Justice​

http://i328.photobucket.com/albums/l325/chasnicollette/AsteroidM_zpsvesjtr5y.jpg

http://icdn5.digitaltrends.com/image/rexvelvet2-625x283.jpg

The game has progressed approximately two weeks to the date of February 14, 2016.​

It first appeared in the dawning hours of the day, emerging from the shadow of the moon and pinging short-range detection systems.

The size of an aircraft carrier, moving under its own power, massive energy readings burying the needle.

NASA and The DEO immediately began exchanging phone calls with The White House and The Pentagon, The UN demanded to be looped in on the conversation--

--discussions were frantically launched about orbital interdiction defense, but everything was still theoretical, before this The Justice League would have been first response to exoplanetary invasion--

--but before they could get anywhere, before a consensus could be reached--

--the object vanished.

And reappeared, an instant later, teleported, into the skies above Seattle, a looming shadow cast across the skyline, drifting into position directly above The Space Needle before coming to a stop. The sudden displacement of that volume of atmosphere wreaked havoc with the weather systems-- even on a rare, clear-skied day in Seattle, the sudden gusts of wind that whipped down through the streets were gale force.

Any attempts to communicate with the object-- the space station? --met with utter silence. Sensor sweeps were obfuscated, illegible.

Even civilian news cameras filming from the ground and rooftops below struggled to get a clear image of it as they broadcast to news stations across the country and around the world.

When the military mobilized and sent up armed fighter jets to warn off the encroaching unidentified flying object--

--only then did they get a response.

The fighter jets, pilots and all, would suddenly find their navigation completely scrambled-- instants before being crushed to the size of a M.R.E. tin, weapons exploding uselessly in the air, shrapnel raining down on The Emerald City below.

Only then did conventional forces realize they were truly out of their depth.

The call went out to The New Justice League on their LexIcon watches.

"JUSTICE LEAGUE ALERT! JUSTICE LEAGUE ALERT!"

If any Leaguers hadn't deigned to grab a watch after all, one would only hope they would be alerted to the disaster by other means.

"JUSTICE LEAGUE ALERT! REPORT TO HEADQUARTERS IMMEDIATELY FOR BRIEFING AND DISPATCH!"

"PRIORITY ALPHA!"

 

[Wyldfire]

The bed was a mess, furrows torn through the mattress and sheets. the bed looked like it had been used as a tiger's scratching post. There were sweat stains as well. Steam poured out of the bathroom as did the giggles of two women.

"JUSTICE LEAGUE ALERT! JUSTICE LEAGUE ALERT!"

"JUSTICE LEAGUE ALERT! REPORT TO HEADQUARTERS IMMEDIATELY FOR BRIEFING AND DISPATCH!"

"PRIORITY ALPHA!"

The giggling came to an immediate stop. Thea came out of the shower, wrapping a towel around herself. "Sorry......." the woman's name had escaped her. Damn these new urges and instincts. Fun. But so not Thea's usual way. "You're gonna have ta bounce babe," she said, "Mommy's gotta take this call."

The other woman hurried into her clothes and headed out, looking a little embarrassed. That had been happening a lot lately as well. The new look was attracting people left and right, but then after the fact several of her playmates made the walk of shame out of the cat lady's loft.

Thea shrugged and shook her head, picking up the phone. She keyed the phone on and said "Wildcat here. What's the issue?"

 

[Wyldfire]

New kid in the house.

Papa Nash had given her the green light to sign the papers and a name that she was told to do whatever this man asked in regards to information. Now the fact that she had been assigned to the new League had come as a surprise. Suck on that Stooperboy. Papa had also suggested that the Rebel needed to be a little more Politically correct so she had gotten Tina to help her with her new costume. Knee high black lace up boots, black leather pants, and, instead of her usual confederate flag halter top, Tina had made her a green halter top instead. Tina's face when Jo had suggested orange and green had been one of horror.

Jo had arrived on time for Orientation, meeting a fellow newcomer, Aquagirl. This team idea felt familiar, felt almost good. And the fact that she was getting paid to be here was good too.

"JUSTICE LEAGUE ALERT! JUSTICE LEAGUE ALERT!"


"JUSTICE LEAGUE ALERT! REPORT TO HEADQUARTERS IMMEDIATELY FOR BRIEFING AND DISPATCH!"

"PRIORITY ALPHA!"

Jo headed to the main meeting room to see what was going on.

 

[TertiusHuman]

. . . .