RPSC: DC Special #11 - The Wedding

[Lightshear]

This story ties in tightly to the Heroclix Role-Playing Strategy Campaign (RPSC) and is intended for the players of that game. It’s not the regular DC Universe, but one molded and shaped by events in that RPG, and features characters and situations that may feel different than you expect. If the story piques your interest, you can take a look at the games or the main RPSC 4.0 page in the Play-by-Post forum for more.

RPSC: DC Special #11
“The Wedding”

By Lightshear


Diana sat at her desk, reading through more briefings as the evening turned steadily to night. It had been a long day at the Themysciran embassy, but the work would be done soon enough. It wasn't pressing business, but it had to be done. Diplomatic work involved much more paperwork than people probably thought, and there was nothing "brief" about the briefs she had to wade through.

Normally this work wouldn't have taken as long as it had today, but she'd been having trouble staying focused. If she were being honest with herself, it was because she couldn't stop her mind from worrying over Orin. Aquaman had been gone for months now, and there hadn't been a word from him. On the one hand, it wasn't entirely unlike him to withdraw into himself and his affairs as King of Atlantis for long periods of time, but on the other, it was unusual for him not to respond to her letters.

Her heart was heavy for him. She understood so well his struggle, maintaining his life as a hero in the Justice League and his role as leader of his people. It was the same difficult balance she carried herself. It had brought them together as friends in the beginning; she could relate to and talk with Orin about so many things none of her other comrades could understand. Not even Superman, who had become her best friend. But it was always different with Orin, even from the very beginning. It took her years to realize why that was, and when she did she was actually embarrassed at herself for not realizing it.

The truth was that she was deeply attracted to him. Growing up on the island of Themyscira, she had never understood the attraction between men and women. It was as alien to her as anything else in the outside world - more, even. So of course she hadn't recognized it in herself when she had started to desire more than friendship from the tempestuous Atlantean.

It was an element that had never been there between herself and Kal. They both knew it, and were able to joke and laugh long and hard over the rest of the world's obsession with the two of them having some kind of torrid love affair. They would even send each other clippings of particularly scandalous tabloid articles about their supposed relationship, along with notes saying things like "looks like we had fun last night!" She still had them collected in a box in her room. It made her laugh just to think of it, and then the pain of Kal's death came immediately back to her heart and her smile became bittersweet.

It was the same pain she felt at Orin's distance. What had started as an embarrassingly girlish infatuation had, over time, grown into genuine love. But he was a married man and they were teammates on the Justice League - it was an impossible situation and she knew it. So she ignored what she felt and even managed to convince herself that the feelings weren't real. Until she couldn't pretend anymore. He had lost his wife tragically and they had suffered a string of difficulties together as friends which brought them closer and closer together.

And then she tried to reach out to him with her truth, and found out that he felt the same way for her as she did for him. But his position as King wouldn't allow him to act on what they both felt. It was an impossible situation yet again. Perhaps even worse now, because knowing what they felt drove him to distance himself from her even more.

Now he'd been gone for so long and wouldn't even send her a simple message to let her know he was doing alright. She just hoped she wasn't being foolish, letting her mind dwell on the things that could have gone wrong so many miles beneath the ocean's surface, in that realm that may as well have been outer space for as distant as it was to air-breathers and surface-dwellers.

"Uh, Diana?" a small, perky voice asked. "You okay in there?"

She blinked and realized she had been staring off at the wall again. Shaking her head slightly, she looked across the table at her junior assistant, Cassie Sandsmark. The young teen girl had interned at the Embassy last winter and spring and had been such a joy to have around that Diana offered her an after-school job working for her personally. Tonight, she'd been helping with the briefs and some light paperwork. Diana didn't think there were many high school freshmen that would give up a Friday night to work late filling out forms for their boss.

"I'm sorry, Cassie," she smiled, rubbing her forehead and smiling. "I suppose I've been pretty distracted tonight, haven't I?"

"Shyeah. Little bit," Cassie smiled. She had a humongous smile that was impossible not to share in, so Diana didn't try to resist. "You doing okay, Diana? I know this stuff isn't the most exciting in the world, but you're usually more… present, y'know? Is everything alright?"

"I'm worried about a friend of mine," she sighed. "He's been gone for a long time and I haven't heard from him. He isn't usually so… well, he is, but it just feels different this time."

"Anybody I know?" Cassie asked, taking a swig of her Mountain Dew. Diana didn't know how her stomach could handle that stuff. "Or would that be considered gossip?"

"It's alright to ask," she smiled, sipping her wine as she considered. "It's Orin of Atlantis."

"Aquaman? Wowz. Well, y'know, I've had friends pull the whole David Blaine act and be gone for a while - usually during school break or whatever, right? But if anything was ever wrong, they usually wouldn't say. I'd just have to, like, figure it out on my own, y'know? Frustrated much. It's like, if somebody's mad at you, why can't they just come out and be all like, 'hey, dude, wt-frggin-f?' right?"

Diana laughed lightly, trying to parse out those sentences. "So you're saying that if something was wrong, he probably wouldn't tell me?"

"That's just how guys are, Diana. They aren't all out front with their feelings and stuff. They're hard to read, because when they do talk, it's usually all straight forward and to the point, but then there's all this stuff they just don't say at all."

"You're a wise girl, Cassie Sandsmark."

"Yeppers," she said, toasting herself with her can. "Anyways, my mom's gonna be here to get me in a couple minutes, so I should probably get my stuff and head down to the lobby. You gonna be able to get the rest of this yourself?"

"I will, thank you. It's nearly finished, and you've done more than your share to help already. Thank you so much."

"No probs, boss-lady," she smiled her hundred-kilowatt smile again. The two hugged quickly and she bounced out of the study, leaving Diana to herself.

Standing, the woman walked and stretched. She thought some fresh air might help clear her head, so opened the window to the cold January air. With her eyes closed, she stepped out onto the veranda, breathing in the sharp winter and feeling her body relax. When she opened her eyes, she was surprised to find she wasn't alone.

"Hello, Diana," Superman's voice said from the shadows. She turned and saw him standing there, her heightened eyesight able to discern his shape even in the utter darkness of the archway he stood beneath. One red eye glowed out from his alcove, and she knew just which 'Superman' this was.

"I had wondered when we would meet again," she said. "You didn't stay long enough to answer any questions, before."

"There wasn't exactly time, then," he said, not moving from where he hid himself. "And there have been things I've needed to take care of since. But now… I'm ready to talk. I'm sorry it took so long."

"You're sorry," she repeated, unsure. She eyed his silhouette warily. "I must confess, I'm not entirely sure what to say to you. You say that you're Superman, but I was there when my best friend died. I saw his body. I carried him to his final resting place. The gods have told stories of men who returned from the other side. I have been to Hades and back. But that is different from true death. In recorded history, nobody has ever returned from true death."

"You saw me before, Diana," he said, sadness evident in his voice. "You know that I didn't-- I haven't really come back. I’m not the man I was. I don’t even know if…"

He stepped out slightly and the moonlight struck the metal parts of his cybernetic body. His one true eye looked ready to shed tears.

“…Diana, I don’t even know if I’m a man, anymore.”

She stepped up to him, close enough that they could look in each other’s eyes. There was no mistaking who his one real eye belonged to. The shape of his brow, the flip of the patch of hair over the right side of his head; it was like Kal was there, but a patchwork puzzle of his old self. And the spaces where he was missing were filled with an organic steel nightmare.

She reached up a hand and he flinched just slightly. She paused and took a breath, then let herself touch the metal of his cybernetic skull jawline. It was cool, but there was an inner warmth beneath it. She ran her fingers softly up its curvature to his cheekbone and down to the exposed teeth.

“How did this happen to you?” she asked in a whispered hush.

“I don’t remember,” he said. “Not yet. But the pieces of my memory are falling into place a little at a time. I hope that soon… maybe… but I don’t know how long it will take. And I don’t know if it will ever—if I can ever be whole again. I don’t know if remembering how this happened will help fix me.”

She pressed her palm over his heart. The left half of his upper torso and arm were flesh, or appeared to be. It felt like it should, and she could feel his heart beating when she closed her eyes.

“I don’t know if any part of you is real,” she said, pulling her hand slowly away. “It seems too terrible to be true, but even that could be a carefully constructed part of the façade. It would elicit great sympathy from those of us who loved you to see you this way – trapped, lost, confused. How can we be expected to believe anything you have to tell us?”

“You can’t,” he said with a heavy sigh. “I wouldn’t ask it. But… there are things I’m going to need to do. As my memories return, I’m going to be trying to set this right and stop the people who did this to me. I can’t say why I know this, but I am certain that it was done with evil intent. The places I’ll need to go, the things I’ll need to do… I can’t do them alone. I’m not—I’m not strong enough. Not in this body. Not anymore. It can replicate so many of the things I could do, but… it’s imperfect. And it doesn’t—fit. It’s like trying to run in shoes two sizes too small. The mental reflexes try to make my body do what I’m used to being able to, but it can’t respond fast enough or push hard enough.”

“Are you here to ask for help?” she asked. “Did you come to see me or did you come to ask my help on behalf of the League?”

“Both. Diana, you’ve been one of my closest friends for so long. Probably my best friend, next to Lois. And I can’t go to her like—this. I can’t see her as I am. It would be too horrible. So you’re all I have left. And if I can’t get one of my best friends to give me the chance to prove myself, then who ever will?”

She watched him for any signs of emotion. She wanted to read his face, his body language, but it was difficult when so much of him was stoic steel. He was going through something with which she had no experience – none of them did. But it would be so easy for this to all be a lie.

“I need you to be able to tell me something,” she said. “Something only you would know. I know this is a typical line of questioning, and even if you weren’t you, you’d probably have prepared for it. But still, I need something from you before I can start to consider believing your story.”

He thought for a minute before responding. “I remember the first time you brought me to see your home. Themyscira. No men had been allowed on that island in thousands of years, and with very few exceptions that rule had been strictly enforced. But you brought me. You introduced me to your mother, and she thought I was pretty… simple-headed. I remember getting the strangest looks the whole time, and you just kept telling me not to worry; they were just staring because they’d never seen a man before. It didn’t help at all. I swear, I felt like somebody had stuck a sign on my back or something.”

“Was it easier the second time?” she asked.

“That time the whole League was there,” he said. “Well, most of us. Barry, Hal, J’Onn—Bruce hadn’t come and Arthur was worried about starting a diplomatic incident. He wasn’t that sure about how to balance the politics of Atlantis and the surface yet. But with all of them there it was easier, yeah. I wasn’t the only guy around. It’s easier being part of a group that gets that reaction rather than being on your own.”

“That was part of why we joined the Justice League in the first place,” she nodded. “It had started without us, but we both felt like outsiders on some level. It gave us somewhere to belong.”

“And Barry was just so earnest,” he said, and she detected something of a smile in his tone, though his skull-faced visage could no more smile than frown. “His enthusiasm was contagious. And yeah, being part of a group of people like us, not having to pretend all the time – it was such a relief having people to talk to about these lives we lead.”

“The League was a family,” she smiled. “And it still is. There’s something else I’d like you to do for me, though it may be more difficult.”

“Anything you ask, Diana. I’ll do anything.”

“Come with me to the Satellite this weekend. Green Lantern is getting married there, and I think it would be good for us all if you were part of it.”

“Kyle and Alex?” he asked. “They’re getting married on the Satellite?”

“They wanted to do it somewhere that all of us could be together and not have to hide. It’s going to be special, and you should be there.”

“I don’t know, Diana,” he said, backing up nervously. “Would people even—I’d stand out so terribly. I wouldn’t want—it would just make everyone uncomfortable.”

“Perhaps, perhaps not. But if you want to show us that you are yourself, and if you want us to have a chance to come to know you as you are, this is an ideal opportunity. We can all learn to be comfortable together again.”

“Is this even okay with them? I would feel like I was intruding. Everybody still thinks that I’m not…”

“I spoke with Kyle and Alex about this not long after we first saw you in our fight with Metallo. I gave them my reasons and they agreed. They told me that if I felt comfortable asking you, then they would be willing to have you.”

“Saying they’re ‘willing’ is different than saying they actually want me there.”

“Of course it is. I’m not making more of this than there is – none of us are ready to believe your claims yet. But we’re willing to listen. And besides, even if you turned out to be a danger to us, the whole Satellite will be filled with superheroes. I think we’ll be safe enough.”

“I’ll… consider it,” he said noncommittally. “Thank you for the offer, regardless. It means… well, it means more than I can tell you.”

“As I said, don’t make more of this than there is,” she said, walking to the glass door to the study. “I’m inviting you in part to be able to watch you interacting with those who knew you best. I hope you can enjoy yourself, but this is still part of a larger test of your credibility. And when the night is done, we’ll be subjecting you to a battery of scans and tests to determine the likelihood of your identity. Provided you’re willing, of course, but there is the danger of guilt by refusal.”

“You’ve always been honest, Diana,” he nodded. “And I always appreciated it, even when I didn’t necessarily want to hear it. I’m willing to go through any test you ask of me.”

“Goodnight,” she said, starting to say his name but stopping when she reminded herself that she didn’t know what his name actually was. Not for certain. And she was not going to let herself believe what her heart wanted until her mind was ready to believe as well.

“Goodnight, Diana,” he said, flying away. She walked inside and warmed herself. The rest of her night’s work was still there waiting, so she sat down with a quick prayer that she could focus well enough to finish before tonight became tomorrow.
_______________________________________

“You think you got that thing tight enough?” Oliver Queen asked with a laugh as Kara adjusted the top of her tuxedo around her protruding bosom.

“Hey, if I’m gonna go out there and be the Best Man, I’m sure as hell not doing it like a boy,” she laughed.

“I’m just saying—it’s a jacket, not a corset,” he shook his head with a laugh. “Not that I mind the view, I’m just thinking there might be children out there.”

“In this crowd? Maybe, but they’ve seen enough that a couple boobs aren’t gonna break their brains. Even a pair this magnificent. Am I right, Kyle?”

“I don’t know, Kare,” he said, running a hand anxiously through his tousled black hair. “You could’ve worn a shirt under the jacket, maybe…”

“Hey, there’s a shirt under here.”

“Yeah, I can just about make out the edges by your lapels,” Kyle laughed, shaking his head.

“Whatever, sissies – I look good.”

“You’re a scurvy wench you are,” he said, turning back to the mirror to make sure he hadn’t messed up his hair too badly. It was a nervous tick more than anything – his hair was supposed to look a little messy. That was the brilliance of the style. He checked his tie, pulled his lapels tight to his neck, and rubbed his hand over his face and neck to feel if he’d gotten a good enough shave.

“Relax,” Kara said, rubbing his shoulders. “You look good, too. Not as good as me, but hey-- who, does right?”

“I’m fine, just a little nervous. Kind of a big deal, here.”

“Yeah, kind of a forever deal. But you did kind of already do the whole signing papers deal with a J-oh-P you know.”

“I know, but that was different. It was just a legal thing for the marriage benefits. I mean, I didn’t even think we’d have to go through a service there. I thought it was just pop in, sign our names, get a certificate and go. When the guy started doing the whole ‘do you take this woman’ deal I blanked for a second.”

“Yes, you did,” Karen smirked. “And it was adorable. And Alex thought so, too. You’re worrying over nothing.”

“I’m not worrying, jeeze,” he said, turning and sitting on the edge of the table. “I just want this to go well.”

“They’re gonna go fine, kid,” Ollie said, patting his shoulder. “You’re the marrying kind. I can see it in you. And you and Alex, it’s a good match.”

“Would you two knock it off?” Kyle said, throwing his hands up. “I’m not having second thoughts! I just want the ceremony to go smoothly. I’m afraid I’m going to get up there and my mind will blank and I’ll look like an idiot during the most important moment of my life.”

“Then you can stop worrying,” Kara said, pinching his cheek. “You always look like an idiot.”

“Thanks so much…”

“Hey, you guys,” Alex said, popping her head in the door. “Wowza—nice quote-unquote tux, Kara. Can I borrow Kyle a minute?”

“Isn’t this horribly bad luck,” Ollie smirked as Kyle went to the door.

“Psh, that stuff is dumb. He’s seen me before, he’ll see me again, and avoiding each other all day would be stupid.”

“Back in a minute, guys,” Kyle said as they went out into the hallway and a few rooms over. Alex looked around to make sure nobody was around before closing the door and pulling him to the far wall by the windows.

“What’s going on?” he asked. “Everything okay with the bridesmaids? Diana seemed cool, but I noticed Dinah was acting a little diva-ish earlier…”

“No, that’s all fine. I mean-- yeah she kinda was, but this isn’t about that.”

She took a deep breath and let it out before looking him in the eyes.

“Kyle… is what we’re doing the smartest thing in the world to do?”

“You’re seriously asking me this question an hour before we’re supposed to walk down the aisle?”

“I am. We never asked it before, we’ve always been too busy. But it needs to be asked. I mean, it does. It needs to, and I need you to stop making that face because I know what it means and this is not about me not wanting to marry you.”

“Then what is this about?”

“It’s… this is—it’s me not wanting to lose you.”

“Isn’t marriage actually supposed to—“

“I don’t mean losing your affection or your love or whatever. Not that kind of losing you. I mean I don’t want one of us to die and leave the other alone. I mean… You’re the Green Lantern. A Green Lantern, whatever. You’re a superhero. Every day you wake up, you could end up repelling an alien invasion or fighting killer robots or evil warlords or wizards or—or gods for the love of…”
“Lexie, I—“

“You’re a superhero, Kyle, and every day I get with you might be the last one I get. And vice versa. Major Force wanted to kill me because it would get to you. If I’d been home when he’d come looking… if Alan hadn’t been there… I could be—could be a mutilated body in a refrigerator or something right now. And I saw what happened to you when you thought I was dead. I saw what you—what you turned into. How it affected you. And I understand it completely because I would have been the same way. If Major Force had killed you, I would have spontaneously developed powers just so I could butcher that lunatic. I’d have killed myself to get him.”

“I would never want you to do that, Alex,” he said, holding her shoulders and looking into her eyes. She looked back with determination and tears in equal measure.

“I wouldn’t want you to do it either, but I know that’s what you’d be willing to do if anything happened to me. So I’m asking now – is it smart for us to take this next step, to be together forever, knowing that we have to live with that? Can we live with knowing the other could die?”

“Nothing is going to happen to me, Alex. I’m getting better with the ring all the time. Alan has been saying my training is about finished. I’m better than I’ve ever been – so much better than I was back then. Nothing like that with Major Force could happen now…”

“But it could! You can’t say it couldn’t. Lois Lane had to bury Superman. I’m sure when she said yes to marrying him she’d imagined a lot of possible turns it could take, but I doubt she ever thought she would have to bury the man she loved. And it happened. Superman died. After that, absolutely everything is possible.”

“Okay, let me rephrase; Alexandra DeWitt, there is nothing I could ever do with my life that would have any meaning if you weren’t there. If the question is between giving you up now or risking one of us dying later, then it isn’t a question. I’ve been unsure of a lot of stuff in my life. Seriously… a lot. You know this—I am not the world’s most decisive man. I almost didn’t ask you out, even though it was even obvious to me (also not the world’s most perceptive man) that you were into me.”

“I was,” she sniffled. “And you almost missed it.”

“I did. But I asked you out, and it was a disaster. But at the end of it, eating cr#ppy take-out in my cr#ppy apartment, you smiled at me. And I knew. I knew that I didn’t want to ever spend a day without having that smile. I knew that if I kept dating you, I’d never want to stop. And I don’t. We live in a world where it doesn’t matter if you have powers or not – every day you wake up could be your last. Any normal person walking the street could get hit by a truck or be in the wrong place when an alien ship crashes or something. Horrible things happen every day. You can’t live your life based on the bad that could happen, or you’ll miss the good that could happen.”

“I know,” she said as they hugged. “I know, and it’s dumb, but I just… I was pulling my dress out and looking at it and I looked up in the mirror and I felt so happy, but then I just got this thought in my head – you could die. It could be any time, and I don’t think I’ll ever be prepared for that. It just—it freaked me out so much, Kyle.”

“I know, baby. I get the same way, sometimes. But that isn’t what today’s about. Today is about us being together forever.”

“Yeah,” she said, snuffling a little. “Man… I’m gonna have to re-do my makeup.”

“And you still have to get dressed,” he smiled. “Your hair looks beautiful, though.”

“I know,” she smiled, wiping at her eyes and laughing. “It’s almost a shame I never ever do anything with it, huh?”

“Kinda, yeah, but you said it first.”

“See you in a little while, then?”

“Yeah. See you in a bit. I’ve got this little thing I’ve gotta do, but after that maybe we can do some dancing?”

“I think I’d like that,” she laughed again as they parted at the doorway and went their separate ways to finish getting ready.
_______________________________________

"Family and friends, I present to you Kyle and Alexandra Rayner!" the priest smiled as the couple turned and the crowd rose to their feet with applause. The procession filed out, as the people smiled and clapped, congratulating them. The service had been light but heartfelt, with a very personal feel. There had been humor and tears, like any emotional event. Alan Scott had been the officiant, and though he had resisted greatly at first, he had warmed to it when he saw what it would mean to them. He had been such an important person in both of their lives over the last couple years, and he had a way of speaking that had leant itself to performing the service. He wasn't an ordained priest, but this was just a private service for friends and the people closest to them, and they weren’t the type to be hung up on tradition.

The important thing was that it allowed them to open the doors of the Satellite to all their friends. And by saying ‘friends,’ that meant a significant chunk of the superhero community. There were people that had been with the Justice Society, the Titans, and even the International Justice League. Kyle had invited Wally West as a way of having a piece of Barry Allen’s spirit there. Barry had been an early mentor to Kyle, and he was sad that the guy who brought him into the League in the first place hadn’t lived to be a part of this. Besides, Wally was always there when the League had a big get-together, along with Roy Harper and Dick Grayson – all former partners of League members.

The whole Justice League was there, obviously – even Batman, which was bizarre. Kyle was sure it was just to keep tabs on the one Superman that had come, but it was still a surprise. He’d even brought people with him; Batgirl, Robin, and Spoiler sat with him, all nicely dressed and without a hint of costume. It was really something. It was kind of perfect, in its way. And though they were happy for themselves of course, the newlyweds squeezed each others’ hand as they saw all their friends together, smiling and happy. It was a nice change.

The reception followed immediately after. The guests made their way up one deck and, after lining up to greet the new married couple and give hugs or hearty handshakes, filed into one of the Satellite’s large observation bio-domes. With the transparisteel dome above them there was almost a feeling of being outside. Decorative rock paths wound through patches of trees and flower gardens to a large open area where tables had been set with room for dancing. Twinkling lights had been strung through the trees and over poles, their dancing lights competing with the amazing view just beyond of the curvature of Earth and the galaxy beyond.

They all sat at their tables, shaking hands and catching up with each other until loud coughing drew their attention.

“Okay, everybody, time for quiet,” Power Girl said, standing from her seat at the head table and clinking her champagne glass. “The lady in the tux has something to say.”

Clearing her throat, she waited until satisfied that everybody was listening. “Okay, well—it’s customary for the Best Man to give a speech, even if that man is a chick.” She smirked, tugging at her lapel to draw more attention to her obvious femininity, then paused for laughter before continuing. “So here we are, at the end of what seems like the longest engagement ever, ready to toast Kyle and Alex for their good fortune in finding and holding onto each other. And I’m here to tell you, finding that somebody in this business is about as hard as it gets. And believe me, I’ve been trying – one night at a time if you believe the tabloids!

“But they did it. And you can believe it, Kyle, because she loved you before you got your ring and became such a hot item. If she could stand you when you were just a scrawny schmo and not yet a scrawny schmo with a power ring, then she’ll be able to stand being with you through anything.

“So, yeah, I’m pretty cr#ppy at public speaking, so I’ll cut to the chase. Kyle… Alex… you are two of the luckiest people I know. I envy you, sincerely. Cherish what you have for the rest of your lives; if you’ve got somebody to love, the rest is just small stuff. So here is a toast to you, to your future, and to our jealousy!”

“Here, here!” Dinah shouted as she raised her own glass over the applause of everyone at their tables.

The meal was served, providing a dizzying array of options. There were enough vegetarians among the guests to warrant a deep selection of meatless choices. Then there were the aliens, the robots, and those with specific dietary needs. But everybody ate well and happily, and by the time it was done everyone was full and happy. The music turned up and people gathered at the dance floor to watch Kyle and Alex’s first dance.

“Well, J’Onn, what do you think?” Diana asked, looking up to him with a smile. “Are we feeling more like a family again?”

“I am glad we did this,” he nodded with a smile of his own. She was glad to see it again. “It feels like we’re looking to the future again, rather than living in the sadness of the past. It feels okay to be optimistic again. Is that strange?”

“Not at all,” she sighed, feeling relaxed and relieved. “Let us pray that the feeling lasts.”

“This is bittersweet for you,” he tilted his head in concern. “You wish Orin had come.”

“I only wish he would talk to me,” she said, watching the wedded couple dancing and seeing the look in their eyes as they watched each other. She wanted that feeling. “I don’t know what’s happening with him, what he’s feeling, but I just—I hope that he’s alright, wherever he is. I hope he can find a way to be happy.”
_______________________________________

It was a struggle for Orin to lift his head when he heard the footsteps approaching. More than just the ache in his muscles and bones from being bound in the same position for… he didn’t know how long – with no way to measure time, he had no concept of night or day. It could have been weeks or months. It felt like years. But it was more than just the physical pain of trying to lift his head; it was difficult for him to even want to look up.

It was likely just another meager feeding. At first he had been gracious in his captivity, waiting and plotting a means to escape the prison. His plans all revolved around the guards that came to provide food at intervals through the day. But enough foiled and failed attempts led to his being left permanently shackled in a kneeling position, chained and barred and manacled to the wall at the rear of the cell. Now the feedings were done by hand, spooning gruel into his mouth like he was an infant. It was beyond demeaning, but he was almost beyond caring. His pride had left him, and the agony of his immobility made his imprisonment torture even though no physical harm was ever done to him. But there was one thing that was worse than the feedings – Orm.

His brother would visit him periodically to let him know how things were progressing and try to compel him to confess to his crimes against Atlantis. Orin had stopped talking long ago, but that didn’t stop his brother from continuing to try. Here, too, Orin had proceeded through a series of emotions over the course of his imprisonment. At first he was furious at his brother for what he’d done. Over time, though, he grew to pity him. On some level, Orm genuinely believed that what he was doing was what was best for Atlantis. It broke Orin’s heart to know that his own brother truly did think that he had betrayed his own people. But that, too, faded over time to be replaced by resentment, spite, depression, and finally antipathy.

Orin no longer cared. Anything he had felt for his brother, as with all his other emotions and desires, had been boxed up and locked away deep in his own mind. He realized he would never survive this ordeal with his sanity intact unless he was able to partition his mind. Let his body endure the suffering, let his mind bend under the weight of the torture, but preserve his spirit, his soul, his true self. Thus he could silently allow Orm to rant on about the greater good, the needs of the many, the crimes – intentional or not – that Orin had brought to Atlantis as king. He could endure it all, and the part of himself that truly mattered was leagues away.

But that didn’t mean he enjoyed their little chats.

“M-my liege?” a timid, crackling old voice spoke cautiously. “Orin, my boy—what have they done to you?”

He looked up, his neck cracking like the sound of heavy feet on dry timber. His watery, red eyes stared blearily out from hooded lids, not able to believe what they were telling him about what he saw. It wasn’t possible. He’d struggled so hard to preserve himself, but he’d lost his mind regardless. He was seeing ghosts. He was mad, at long last.

“Please—p-please say something, lad,” the thing that couldn’t be Vulko said. “Say—a-anything at all. Just please say you’re still in there.”

“Y-ou… a-ar’n… r-real…” his voice caught ragged in his throat. Speech was like trying to push a heavy rock over a gravel road. He hadn’t used it in so long he had almost forgotten how. It was only instinct that allowed him to turn thought to words.

Vulko looked him over, taking in his sagging muscles, his ragged clothes, his limp, shaggy hair and beard. He didn’t look like himself. All of his majesty, all of his poise and confidence, all gone. In its place was a ghost that lived.

“Yes, child,” Vulko said, kneeling before him and putting his soft, weathered hands on the man’s cheeks to hold his face up. Had it been so long since this haunted man was just a boy? He pulled out a flask of water and fed it to him, wanting to splash some on his dehydrated skin but not wanting to risk anyone being able to tell he’d been here.

“I’m real. I’m very much real. Oh… oh, Orin… what they’ve done to you…”

Orin watched the tears welling in the old man’s face. He felt his own cheeks cracking and peeling and realized he was crying too. The moisture of his tears the first water to touch his skin since he’d been locked away in this dungeon.

“H-howw?” he tried to ask, the water having cooled his throat and tongue, but the flare of sensation brought new kinds of pain.

“I still have some connections,” Vulko nodded. “Still some friends in this place. Not many, but enough. Enough that I could deliver this message in person – you’ll be tried soon, Orin. Listen to me, because this is important. I pray you can still reason and think in your state, because it is your mind we need now. The people, Orin – they’re being lied to. They don’t know you’ve been imprisoned. Orm is taking his time destroying your name, your reputation… he’s turning Atlantis against you! Driving them into a fury! And when he’s ready, he’ll announce that you’ve been imprisoned for what he’s made them believe you’ve done.

“Do you understand what I’m telling you? You’re going to be tried and found guilty of multiple counts of high treason. Can—can you understand what that means? The trial is going to be as much a farce as the charges trumped up against you. You’ll receive no defense. They will kill you!”

“Alr’dy… dead… V’lko…”

“No! You must fight! You must live! If Orm takes the throne… it will be catastrophic! He has been beating the drums of war ever since you were imprisoned. The people are foaming at the mouth to attack the surface. The oceans will run red, child! Only you can end this.”

The look on Orin’s face told him just how little he believed he could actually do about the situation.

“You have the power of your bloodline. You have the strength of your name and your history. You have to take back your crown and throw down your brother. The prophecies of our people speak of a time of great crisis where brother will battle brother for the crown – they say the winner will find peace! All Orm brings is bloodshed and war. If you fight him, you will win. It is written!”

“N… N-no… V’lko,” Orin rasped, wanting to look away but lacking the strength to turn his head from where Vulko held it. “Ah’ready loss’. Can’ figh… too… t’too weak.”

Vulko looked at him and knew it was true. Somewhere in his foolish old head he had hoped that he would sneak his way into the dungeon and find Orin furious and full of fire, ready to be unleashed on his treacherous brother and to end the madness that ruled their kingdom. But he was far too late, and Orm’s imprisonment had left Orin far, far too broken. If he sought salvation, Vulko would have to look elsewhere.

“Do not fear, my boy,” Vulko said, feeding him the last of the water and making his way cautiously to the door. “You may be too weak to save yourself… but you still have powerful friends. I only pray I can reach them in time.”

He vanished down the hallway, and Orin was left to wonder if he had dreamed the whole encounter.
_______________________________________

The music was rolling and the dance floor was full. Tim Drake and Stephanie Brown were spinning around each other with the enthusiasm only a pair of teenagers could match, while Dick tried to teach his alien girlfriend Koriand’r how to dance the way humans do. She wasn’t quite getting it, but they were laughing so much that it was obvious that being good dancers had nothing to do with having a good time together. The Dibneys were showing off what a couple years of on-again/off-again swing dance lessons could do, and Barbara Gordon, Dinah and Kara were showing what no training at all could do, if you knew how to work it – or fake it.

“Oh, kids,” Ray Palmer smiled from where he sat at a table with his wife and the curious android Red Tornado. “The joy of youth. Hey, Jean – remember when we were that young?”

“You never danced,” she smirked from her champagne glass. “My feet are still bruised enough to be admissible as evidence.”

“But I tried, and that’s what counts.”

“Maybe in grade school, honey,” she rolled her eyes.

“Hey, I might not’ve been Gene Kelley, but you were certainly no Ginger Rogers, lady,” he chuckled in self-defense.

“I’ll have you know, I was a fantastic dancer,” she huffed with a cocky tilt of her head. “I was once told I could have been a professional.”

“Sure, and I could’ve been a pro football player,” he laughed. “Sweety, the only people who thought you could dance never saw you dance.”

“You never told me you could play football,” Red Tornado said, sitting up straight with surprised interest. “Let alone at a professional level.”

“He was being sarcastic, Red,” Jean smirked, rolling her eyes. “Honestly, Ray – if you wanted to raise a child that badly we could have had another conversation about having one of our own. You didn’t have to adopt a robot.”

“Red isn’t some machine I adopted,” Ray said, patting the android’s shoulder. “He’s my friend. How you enjoying yourself, friend?”

“I…” he paused, looking out at the people dancing. His eyes scanned over the crowd, watching the laughing faces at the tables. He saw people who had been friends for generations, while others had barely begun to know each other, yet all were together here and smiling at being together. There was no animosity, no resentment, no underlying hostility – even Batman seemed relaxed in a simple suit, talking and perhaps almost smiling with Diana.

“I am enjoying myself very much,” the android said.

“Yeah? How’s it feel?” Ray asked, intrigued. His friend had been showing a more improved capacity for comprehending human emotion day by day, week by week. It was uncanny how far along he’d come from the confused being he had been when he’d first arrived.

“It feels… allow me a moment,” Tornado asked. He looked out again, then down at himself. He had foregone his cape and costume accoutrements in favor of a plain black suit and slender tie. He held up his red hands and smoothed down the front of his jacket.

When he looked up at Ray, he had a smile on his face. It was genuine – not a facsimile generated by a computer matrix digitizing facial features and manipulating a mechanical face. It was a real smile. Or as close to it as an android could come.

“It feels… good,” he said, seeming to sigh in relief. “It feels like a lightness of being. There is a sense of lift in me, not unlike the moment before I propel myself upward in flight. This is happiness?”

“Sounds like it, my friend,” Ray laughed, clapping his hand on Tornado’s shoulder. “This is absolutely happiness. A beautiful wedding, good people, my best friends, my best girl…”

“Ugh, please,” Jean rolled her eyes again, pushing away his hand from her knee. She tried to play it off, but couldn’t help smiling anyway. It was all part of their game together, and they both knew how it would end when they got home tonight.

“Go ahead and be that way, queen of the harpies,” he chuckled. “Shall I fetch your crown, your majesty?”

“We’ve been married for years and I am still amazed at what a geek you are,” she sighed, then started laughing as he tried to place an imaginary crown on her head. Slapping away at his hands, they both giggled together while Red Tornado simply watched and smiled. Turning back to the party, the android felt something in his sensational receptors around his cheeks. Pain detection? Perhaps he was smiling too hard.

Could a person do that?
_______________________________________

“This reception is great!” Kara said as she dropped herself into her seat at the head table next to Dinah and Ollie.

“It ain’t bad,” Ollie smiled and nodded. “I see you’ve been able to keep ‘the girls’ in check.”

“Yep,” she smirked, plumping up her ‘girls’ under her jacket. “I’ve heard people complain they get in the way of stuff like dancing, but I haven’t noticed any problems. Though I’ll say this – my superhuman ability to get free drinks all night is somewhat blunted when there’s an open bar.”

“Not that you’ve had trouble anyway,” Dinah snorted, hiding her slight sneer behind her champagne glass. “Why’d you stop dancing anyway - aren’t there a few happy couples out there you haven’t broken up yet?”

“Yowch. That hurt,” Kara laughed sarcastically. She drained her glass and slammed it down on the table. “And yet I’m having trouble finding an adequate comeback. That means either I need to stop drinking for the night… or I need to drink more. I’m gonna go with numero dos, on account of I’m havin’ a blast and don’t have time for your prima-donna crapolla tonight. Laters!”

Kara hopped up and strutted away, smiling and clapping when Roy appeared beside her with a fresh drink. Dinah just stared daggers.

“She thinks she’s such hot stuff—if I had a rack like that, I’d be a way bigger deal than her.”

Turning to Ollie, she elbowed him hard in the ribs. “And what’s the deal with the staring?!”

“I wasn’t staring,” he said, recoiling from her elbow. “It was a visual gag to help the joke connect.”

“Maybe I should get implants,” she mumbled to herself, looking down at the cleavage in her bridesmaid’s dress. “That’d put that Power-Hussy in her place…”

“What? Don’t even—what is with you tonight?” he stammered, flabbergasted and completely at a loss. Dinah had been strange since she’d woken from her coma, but it had been come and go strangeness that he could easily blame on himself. Lately, though, it had been getting increasingly worse. And it started getting really bad as the wedding stuff had moved into high gear.

“Is it the wedding?” he asked very cautiously, almost bracing himself for a punch. The big ‘W’ was not easily brought up in any relationship as curiously defined as theirs.

“No!” she shot back, then turned and sulked a little. “Maybe. I mean—look at them! Look at how happy they are. I want that. Why can’t I have that? I deserve that kind of happiness, don’t I? Is there something—I don’t know, something wrong with me that I can’t have the things I want when what I want is just… that kind of happiness?”

“There’s nothing wrong with you, Pretty Bird,” he sighed, putting his arm around her and feeling knives stabbing into his heart. This was his fault. Of course it is, idiot, he thought to himself. You cheated on her with her nurse while she was in a coma! If she doesn’t feel like this relationship is going anywhere, who else but you could be the problem?

“I think… Ollie, I’ve been thinking,” she said, turning and getting serious. “I think we should let our relationship become public. I don’t think we should hide anymore.”

“What?” he sat back in surprise. “Wh-what about people not taking you seriously? What about you wanting to project a strong, confident aura of independence and—and confidence?”

“Forget all that stuff!” she said dismissively. “If somebody out there wants to say I’m not a strong woman because I’m dating Green Arrow, what do I care? Look – we’re both superheroes, we’re both on the Justice League—we should be the power couple, not ‘Green Lantern plus his powerless wife’ or whoever! It could be us, baby…”

“Dinah that—this…” he didn’t know what to say, but the thought of their relationship going public… it suddenly terrified him. He was a cheater; he’d done it before, he’d do it again. Odds were that this relationship was as doomed as every other he’d ever had before. He was the same man he ever was, and that wasn’t going to change. It couldn’t. If Dinah being in a coma hadn’t been able to guilt him into staying true, what could? And if they went public, then the inevitable break-up would be just as public. And when that happened…

“This is a bad idea,” he said. “You had—the reasons you didn’t want to go public were good reasons. Us being a more popular couple than Kyle and Alex, that’s… just… not a good enough excuse to give up your moral stand. It’s about principles.”

“Ugh!” she drew away from him, eyes wide in shock and anger. “About principles? Oliver Queen is going to lecture me about principles? How dare you?!”

“I’m not—” he tried to find something else to say that could deflect her sudden, inexplicable anger. “I just thought—I mean, I only want…”

“Oh, I know exactly what you ‘just want!’” she snapped, standing up and storming off. “You just want to be able to bed down with whatever cheap trash you can get to put out for you, and if people knew about us then you wouldn’t be able to run free! You want to have this cake and eat it too!”

“Dinah, wait…” he called out, shaking his head and getting up to run after her as she fled the observation deck. He had no idea how he was going to smooth this one over, but he knew that now was his only chance to prevent this from completely exploding in his face later.

This is what you get, Queen, he thought to himself. You ruin everything you touch. She’ll leave you now, and you’ll have nobody to blame but yourself.

He frowned and grit his teeth at the thought, moving faster and trying to ignore all the eyes watching them rushing out the doors.
_______________________________________

Diana walked casually away from the dancing and merriment to where Superman stood in the shadows. She checked herself at that – she was already thinking of him as ‘Superman’ without hesitation. She had to remain objective and remember that this man, this cybernetic organism, may not mean them harm, but that didn’t mean he was who he claimed to be.

“You know,” she said with a smile as he watched her approach. “Part of the goal of having you here tonight was to watch how you interacted with others. Having you hiding in the shadows under the trees rather defeats the purpose, wouldn’t you agree?”

“Come on, Diana,” he said, his human eye raised its brow and looked lost. No – not a human eye. If it really was Kal, then any organic parts of his body would be Kryptonian, not human at all.

“Nobody wants to have me out there,” he continued, gesturing to the cybernetic skull that made up three-quarters of his face. “I’m not… I’m not pleasant to look at. I’m off-putting at best – I don’t even have lips, for Pete’s sake. I talk through some kind of digital vocorder at the back of my throat.”

“People will understand,” she said sympathetically. “They’re your friends. Superman would have nothing to be afraid of.”

“Wouldn’t he?” he asked. “I’ve never had to go through something like this before. I—died. Then something brought me back, but didn’t finish the job. Maybe that’s a good thing; I don’t know who was doing it or why or what their plan was for when I was ‘finished,’ but I have this strong feeling that it wasn’t good. So now I’m only… no, I’m less than half the man I was, and the rest of me is—“

“We’ve been through all that,” she interrupted with a hand on his shoulder. “And I’m telling you, it shouldn’t matter. You shouldn’t let it matter.”

“Bruce is out there,” he said, looking past her shoulder to the reception beyond.

“Yes. And he’s watching you like a hawk, as you well know. And as you also know, he’s watching you standing here just the same as he would be if you were out there.”

“I just feel like, if I go out there and try to be part of tonight, it’ll… put him in a worse mood. He’ll be upset at the pretender intruding on League family business and wearing Superman’s face. Well—part of Superman’s face.”

“There is no such thing as Bruce Wayne in a ‘worse’ mood. His emotional range runs from stoically detached and pessimistic to… stoically detached and pessimistic. And don’t think I didn’t notice you making a joke right there. If you’re confident enough to joke about your condition, then you’re confident enough to step outside of these trees and at least try to convince us of who you are by having a good time tonight. Be with us, relax with us, let us see the you inside that shell and we’ll remember the friend we know – the friend we miss, and that we want to believe is inside of you.”

He looked at her, then back to the reception. After a moment he sighed and let his head hang slightly.

“…Alright, Diana. I’ll follow you out there. But—just don’t leave me alone, alright? I’m not sure I’m up to being surrounded by accusing stares and probing questions.”

“I won’t,” she nodded, taking his hand and leading him back to the party.

They were two steps into the open when Kara came storming up to them. She pushed her way through the crowd, growing more visibly upset with every step she took.

“No!” she fumed. “Uh-uh, no f###ing way! I had enough problems with this—this thing being here, wearing my cousin’s face, but it absolutely does not get to come out and—a-and pal around like it belongs here!”

“Kara, please,” Diana said, raising her hands. “Calm yourself. He deserves the benefit of—“

“Nuh-uh! He doesn’t deserve dick, Diana!” she pushed past the princess to face the cybernetic Superman and stare him down. “How dare you, you—you… how dare you!”

“Kara…” he started to say, but seemed lost for how to finish. He closed his eye and turned his head away.

“Yeah! Yeah, you turn away from me—don’t you turn away from me when I’m talking to you! Superman was the greatest hero that ever lived, do you hear me? Ever! And for you to—t-to wear his suit… his skin… like you could put him on like a set of clothes? You disgust me. Disgust.”

He looked back up at her, and she stopped her rant as she watched the tear roll down his cheek. It stopped for just a second at the juncture where his skin met the metal of the rest of his face. He closed his eye again and the tear crossed over and gleamed as it slid down the steel surface.

“I’m sorry, Kara,” he said. “I never meant to hurt you.”

“Well… w-well,” she stammered, her eyes tearing up as she watched him. “Well, you did. Okay? You did. Looking at you and seeing him – it’s killing me. He was the only real family I had, and he isn’t coming back, a-and you don’t—you don’t get to use his face to make y-yours-self…”

“What about Ma and Pa?” he asked. “I know they’d be there for you. You have a home with them whenever you want it. You… don’t have to be alone. You do have family, if you want them.”

“And I can just, what? Crash on their couch?” she said, her voice wavering as she started to cry. “Watch them pretending they don’t hate me for not—f-for not saving you? I’m not a niece to them, I’m the girl th-that let their son get killed…”

“They would never think that, Kara,” he said. “You did everything you could. Everybody knows that. I know that. You never pushed yourself harder than you did that day.”

“And what good did it do?!” she wailed. “I’m still—you still died. I’m still the only one left… all… all alone…”

Her eyes were squeezed shut as she tried to force back the tears. She was doing her best to refuse herself the ability to give in to this weakness. Then she felt arms wrapping around her and she was pulled into his chest; Clark’s chest. It smelled like him.

“I’m all alone,” she cried, breaking down as he held her. Her tears ran freely and her body shook. It was like a dam had burst inside her and everything she’d been holding in since he’d been lost was finally coming out.

“I’m the only one. I’m all alone, and you were the only other one and even when I found out I wasn’t really Kryptonian and I felt even more alone you still held me and loved me and we were still, like, the last two. But now I’m the last one. I’m just—I don’t want to be the only one left. It’s too hard to be the only one left…”

“It’s okay, Kara,” he whispered, leaning his head down to rest his nose in her hair. He turned his face so that the flesh and blood part of him was pressed against her. “It’s okay. I know. I understand. I was alone for a long, long time before I found you. I remember what it was like… the feeling like you could be surrounded by people and still feel completely alone. But you don’t have to let yourself feel that way. You have so many people who love you so much. You’re such a wonderful, special woman, Kara. I’m so very proud that you’re my… that you were in my life.”

“I miss you so much,” she sobbed, wrapping her arms around him and letting him hold her more closely. “I miss you so much. It never goes away. Even just when I think it’s getting better, I see something or I hear something and—and it’s like I just lost you all over again.”

“I’m so sorry I put you through that, Kara,” he said. “I’m sorry I wasn’t strong enough to make it back for you. For everybody. I’m sorry I let you down. I never wanted to hurt you.”

She pulled back and looked up at him, her eyes focusing on his one shining blue eye as it blinked at her. She could see heartbreak in that eye. She sniffed back hard a couple times, then turned her head and pressed herself harder against him, hugging him more tightly.

“But you came back,” she said. “You came back.”

Diana had to wipe at her own eyes as she watched them, and was surprised when a hand closed on her wrist. Turning, she saw the cold, hardened eyes of Bruce Wayne staring back at her. In a room full of emotion, he was as controlled as ever. Even without the mask, there was no mistaking who she was looking at; Batman was ready to make his move.

“We were going to wait until later,” he said coldly. “But we need to do this now. There’s too much risk if we wait any longer.”

As he said the word risk, his eyes moved to indicate Kara, still embracing the man she had accepted as her cousin returned from death.

“I think you’re right,” Diana agreed. “We need to do this right now.”

She walked over to them and put a hand on Superman’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry to do this, but we need to go to the lab deck,” she said. “It’s time for those tests I told you about.”

“But… the reception…?”

“Is over for us, I’m afraid,” she said. “I’m sorry, but we just can’t wait any longer. It’s better if we all know now.”

“I’m coming too,” Kara said, wiping her eyes and composing herself. “I want to be there to see this.”

Diana looked to Bruce and he eyed the blonde warily. He looked back to her and nodded just slightly.

“Alright, Kara. Let’s all go together.”

After excusing themselves, the four said their goodbyes and entered the turbolift to the Satellite lab and tech facility and the battery of tests they had ready and waiting.
_______________________________________

“Hey, everybody,” Ray Palmer said as he walked into the lab. Diana was helping Superman down from an examination platform while Bruce worked away behind a set of computers. “How is the examination going?”

“We’re finished,” she said. “You didn’t have to come, Doctor… The reception—“

“It’s fine, Diana, and will you ever just call me Ray? No, I wanted to be here for this. I foisted Jean onto Red for a while – had my fill of her for just this moment. Besides, they had to turn the music up to drown out Ollie and Dinah having what sounded like open warfare outside the observatory, so it seemed a good time to step away.”
“Well you’re welcome to stay,” she said.

“Honestly, I’d have rather been here the whole time,” he shrugged, moving to the computers where Bruce was working. “I wanted a chance to get a good look at this guy’s hardware under a microscope. So to speak…”

“You’ll have your chance,” Bruce said coolly. “I want a thorough analysis performed that will lay out for us everything he’s got and everything he can do down to the last detail. If there’s a corkscrew and tweezers in there, I want to know about it.”

“So this was just preliminary, then,” Ray nodded, leaning over Bruce’s shoulder while his eyes scanned the readouts. “Answering the big questions.”

“And the answers are?” Diana asked. Superman stood near her, looking calm but nervous. Was it the nervousness of a liar about to be caught or that of a man who was simply uncomfortable under a magnifying glass? Or maybe he just wasn’t comfortable with being talked about like he wasn’t there.

“The metals in his construction are a Kryptonian steel alloy, top to bottom,” Bruce said.

“His specs look genuine, too,” Ray said. “Engineering wise, I mean. Wow – I have never seen anything with that much pure Krypto-engineering outside of the Fortress of Solitude.”

“And the organic tissue?”

Bruce looked up and his eyes met Superman’s in a cold glare.

“It’s a match,” he said, seeming upset about it. “Genetically, that tissue is Kal-El’s.”

“So according to these tests…” Ray rubbed his chin.

“He’s telling the truth,” Diana finished. She turned to Superman and nodded, his face showing profound relief.

“I was worried they had changed me, somehow,” he started to say, but Bruce cut him off.

“Not so fast. Despite what these readings might suggest, I still have no reason to believe the validity of your Swiss-cheese story. Too many holes, too little data. And no matter how convincing these test results may seem, this material could be faked.”

“Bruce,” Ray started tentatively, not wanting to jump in but feeling like he had to. “It, uh it’s awfully difficult to fake genetic material like this…”

“Somebody with the right resources could make it happen. Somebody with the kind of resources necessary to get that amount of Kryptonian steel, with the time and ingenuity necessary to build a perfect replicant, and with the desire to do so burning hot enough to make them go through with the time and expense.

“In short – anybody willing to go to this length to fake Superman’s return and to do so this convincingly would, by definition, have the necessary skills and equipment to make it happen.”

“So you’re saying that the more likely it is that he’s telling the truth, the more likely it is that he’s lying?”

“Exactly,” he said, standing and taking his suit-coat from the desk beside him. “I’m taking these samples back to my cave for further study. Do not let this thing out of your sights. Understood? He is to be followed at all times and watched closely. We can’t know what he’s planning or what he wants, but we can assume it’s not good.”

The other three watched him storm out of the lab and disappear down the hall. Slowly, they looked at each other, each waiting for the other to say something first. It was into this silence that Kara came walking into the room.

“Yeesh,” she sighed, smiling. “Every time I let myself get crazy at an open bar, I wind up spending half the night in the bathroom.” She stopped short when she saw everyone’s expressions. “Wait… what? What happened? Do we have results in?”

Diana smiled and nodded. Kara looked at her expectantly, and Diana’s smile grew wider. It was all the confirmation the girl needed. She ran forward and embraced her lost cousin, the two of them laughing and crying together in their reunion. Diana, despite all her mind’s demands of her objectivity, couldn’t help allowing herself to feel some of their jubilation. She wanted to share in it, to have that sense of exultation.

After all, what if? What if he was telling the truth? What if one of her best friends had returned from the dead? Didn’t that warrant happiness? Shouldn’t she be able to smile without guilt or fear?

But she had been Wonder Woman for a decade. She had seen too much of cruelty and wickedness to trust anything that seemed too good to be true. And for every part of her that demanded she let go her fears and embrace him the way she’d dreamed of since he’d died… there was another part of her that only grew more suspicious. She felt torn; divided all the way to the heart of her. Everything would hinge on what happened next and how he reacted, how he continued to act. She would have to stay open to Bruce’s objections even while remaining willing to believe that he truly was Superman resurrected.

She desperately wished Orin was with her so she could talk to someone about all this. She needed her other best friend back in a terrible way.
_______________________________________

“What will you do now?” Diana asked Superman as he prepared to return to Earth. The reception was winding down, but they suspected some of the revelers would be partying for hours yet. That left the teleportation deck quiet and suitably solemn for the occasion.

“I don’t know,” he said. “Knowing that I’m really myself – that this skin is my own – it’s a relief. But Bruce is right; it doesn’t change anything. My memories could be implants. Diana, I know that I don’t have a living brain in this head. Everything I think I know about myself… it could all be a lie.”

“We’ll deal with that the only way we can,” she said. “One day at a time. But it can’t change how you live your life.”

He stepped up on the teleporter bay and turned to her. They shared a smile together.

“It’s good to have you on my side, Diana,” he said. “For me, not as much time has passed since I… Since Doomsday. But still, it feels like it’s been so long. I’ve missed you.”

“I don’t think I’m the one you’re missing the most,” she said in return, knowing from the look on his face that she had read him right. “When do you plan to say something to Lois?”

“I don’t… I’m not sure if I can. I’m not sure I should.”

“You loved her, Kal. You still do. And she loves you. You were engaged to be married. You were each other’s world, and then you lost each other. Now you’re back – do you really think that there is anything that could have happened in that time in-between to change how you feel about each other?”

“That’s what I’m most afraid of,” he said, gesturing at his robotic body. “No matter what she feels, I can’t go back to my own life. I can never be Clark Kent again, Diana. I might be able to earn your trust back as Superman, but I’ll never have a private life; a personal life. What could I possibly offer Lois now?”

“Yourself,” Diana said with an understanding smile. “You are the thing she wanted, not the trappings of your life. If she can see that you are still the same man inside that new form, then she will love you as much as ever.”

“I can’t be sure of that.”

“Perhaps, perhaps not. But you should leave the choice in Lois’ hands, not your own.”

“Are you coming with me?” he asked as she went to the control board and he took his position on one of the pads. “Bruce said I had to be watched.”

“And who says you won’t be watched?” she smiled. “I happen to think that the most effective surveillance is performed when the target doesn’t realize they are under scrutiny. This way you’ll have to be on your best behavior at all times – you never know when we’re watching. We do have a Satellite headquarters, after all.”

He thought over what she’d said as she punched in the coordinates for Metropolis and the teleportational process began. As the lights grew brighter and swirled around his body, he nodded to her.

“Thank you, Diana,” he said, and then was gone. She was left alone in the silence as the thrum of the teleporter died down.

“Goddess,” she asked the darkness of space beyond the windows around her. “Give me wisdom to find the truth. Give me the strength to accept it, for good or ill. Just… please – help me. I don’t know what to do.”
_______________________________________

“But I should be out patrolling!” Cir-El pouted, stomping her pajama-clad foot while Lois just shook her head with authority.

“You should be getting a good night’s sleep,” she arched her eyebrows in her best ‘I’m not budging on this’ expression. “You have school in the morning and you’ve been up late the last three nights. I don’t want any more calls about you falling asleep in class.”

“Awwww—but there could be injustice out there for me to thwart! What about the greater good?”

“You’ll just have to trust that somebody else can handle the greater good for a night. Now get going! I want those teeth brushed and the lights out in ten minutes.”

“Al-riiiight,” she said, slumping her shoulders in defeat and trudging into the bathroom to brush up. Lois shook her head; how had it become so easy to slip into ‘Mom Mode?’ She should have been worried about it, but she was at least as tired as Cir should have been. She hadn’t been getting any more sleep than the teen girl, though it hadn’t been the daring-do keeping her up.

No, it had been splitting her time between following the trail of her Intergang leads while simultaneously compiling everything she could get on these ‘Supermen.’ She’d met two of the four – the boy and the cold one – and it hadn’t put her any more at ease. If anything, meeting the cold one only made her more determined to get to the bottom of what was going on.

But more than just wondering how to deal with them and wanting to find out where they were coming from, she was also grappling with what to do about Cir finding out about them all. The young girl had met the Super-boy and that had gone as well as could be expected. The only real issue there was the volume of teenaged hormones in the room. But the others…

The first thing she had decided as she walked downstairs from her meeting with the cold pretender to the name (she had to figure out something better to call them all, she thought) was that she absolutely did not want Cir to meet that man. The girl believed Superman was her father, and that she was here to somehow solve the ‘mystery’ of his death. If she found out all these Supermen were running around, her impossibly optimistic little brain would assume one of them was her daddy. Coming face to face with the cold wall of emotionless vacancy in that man… it would be too much.

Which left the one in the armor and the robot. Both were question marks. The armored one seemed to be running with a street-level vigilante kind of thing, but the robot had actually pulled a pretty high-profile engagement with the Justice League against Metallo. She’d have to reach out to them and ring their bells over why she hadn’t been in their loop on this.

Movement by the window drew her attention. She went to investigate in time to catch a flash of red and blue passing by toward the roof.

“The roof,” she whispered to herself. Grabbing her coat from the couch she made for the door, calling out for the girl dancing in the bathroom while brushing her teeth as she ran past.

“Heading up to get some air – I expect you to be snoring by the time I get back down.”

“Yesh moh-mah,” she slurred through a mouthful of toothpaste, shaking her butt back and forth as she made faces in the mirror and danced to a tune only she could really hear. Kids.

She pushed through the door to the roof after hoofing up the stairs as fast as her stocking-clad feet would allow. Immediately, the cold outside made her wish she hadn’t changed into her sweatpants and t-shirt for the night yet. Her breath came out in cold puffs, and her eyes scanned quickly about for where he might be.

“I know you’re here,” she called out. “And if you aren’t, I know you’re close enough to hear me. So show yourself! What do you want?”

There was no response.

“Why are you haunting my apartment?” she shouted. “Why are you doing this to me? You think this is easy for me? To see you out there and have to keep reminding myself that it isn’t really you? Show yourself, goddammit!”

“I’m here,” his voice spoke into the night. It was different than before, though. Softer and with actual feeling. “I came to… to talk.”

She saw where the voice was coming from. He stood mostly in the shadow of a tall roof vent, but she could see one of his eyes watching her. His hair blew lightly in the breeze.

“You aren’t,” she started, but realized she didn’t know what to call all of them. Instead she went with – “You aren’t the one who talked to me before. Which means you’re the robot. Alright, then—fine. You want to talk? Talk. Tell me who the hell you are and why you’re wearing Superman’s face.”

“I know this is hard for you, Lois,” he said, sounding just slightly unsure of himself. It sounded like… d#mn her heart, it sounded like Clark. “I’m sorry for that. I would never—if it were my choice, this isn’t how I’d have wanted this to be. Believe me, this was not something I asked for.”

“Then why? Who? If you didn’t ask for it, then how did it happen?”

“I’m working on figuring that out. I just came here to say… I wanted to tell you that I don’t expect to get to be part of your life again. And I fully expect you to doubt who I am for a long time to come. But—I am thinking about you. I do think about you. I remember what we had, but as much as I miss it I want you to know that I understand that it isn’t coming back.”

“You came here to tell me that?” she asked, confused. “You came all the way here to tell me that you’d understand if I didn’t want to jump right back into a relationship with you again? Well thank you for giving me permission…”

“That isn’t what I—I didn’t mean it like that. I only meant…” he sighed, lowering his head as he thought. His eye seemed to be searching the ground for the words. “I’m just going to be honest; I’m just going to come out and say this – I have no idea what to say to you. I know you too well, Lois. If I avoided you, you’d assume I had to be a fake. If I ran to you, you’d assume I had to be a fake. I know that there isn’t anything I can say to change the way I look, and the way I look… it means I’ll always be suspect.

“On the one hand, ever since I woke up and got free from the place I was being held, all I’ve wanted to do was fly here, take you into my arms and never let go. All I’ve wanted was to kiss you again. But I can’t – I literally, physically cannot do the one thing I want more than anything. And so, on the other hand, I’ve dreaded seeing you. Once I saw what I looked like now, I’ve been afraid of this moment more than anything else in my life.”

“Why?” she asked. “What could you have to be afraid of?”

“That the love of my life – my best friend – could look at me with revulsion in her eyes. Because once you’ve seen me up close, in person, you’d know as much as I do that my life as Clark Kent is over forever. What I’ve been afraid of is that that means my life with you is over forever, too.

“I know you’d want to hear something only I would know. I could talk about last Christmas when I proposed to you in my apartment in front of a painting of a fire, and how I finally told you who I was but you already knew. I could talk about the three times I tried to ask you out on a date and how you didn’t realize I was doing it any of those times, but the fourth time you finally did – and you turned me down cold. I could talk about what a disaster our first date was, but how we spent most of the night laughing anyway…

“I could talk about all of that. I could talk about more. Good times, bad times, I remember almost all of them. And I’m remembering more of them every day. In time, I’ll have all of my memories back… but I still won’t have you. And that’s why I’ve taken so long to come and see you; until this moment, I could still imagine the possibility that you could tell me it didn’t matter what happened to me or what I look like and that you’d love me forever anyway. I could imagine holding you again and you telling me everything was going to be okay. But it isn’t going to be. And now that I’m here and the talk has been had, all I have left is the truth.”

“And you know what the truth is,” she challenged him, walking forward. “You already know everything I’m going to say before I say it? Because you were never any good at that before.”

“Lois, don’t,” he said, putting his hands up to stop her from coming any closer. He seemed to notice his cybernetic hand was out in the light and he pulled it back quickly like the light had burned it.

“Don’t you ‘don’t’ me,” she said. “This is a nice poor me act you’ve put together, but if you were really Superman then you’d know that I never let anybody else make up my mind for me. So if you don’t mind too much, I’d like to be able to come to my own conclusions, thanks.”

She was standing inches from his face, now, and even though the shadows still covered most of him she could see him now. Every piece of reflective steel was there in perfect detail. She surprised herself by not having to try as hard as she expected to avoid revulsion at the way pieces of skin were conjoined with a cybernetic skeleton. Somehow, it was easy to just look into his eye and forget the rest of him.

“And my conclusion is… that I reserve the right to make my conclusion at a later date. I don’t know who you are. Not for sure. I’ll need to watch what you do and listen to what you say and… and take time. I am not saying that I’m inclined to believe you’re telling me the truth. But I’m not assuming you’re lying to me, either. I’m not going to commit to an answer until I have more facts and more data and more… just more. I need evidence to support your claims, because they’re frankly just too unbelievable to take at face value.”

“It’s… more than I expected,” he said. She could see heartache in his eye. In the other, there was only a cold digital orb that glowed red and tracked her every movement. Could she ever feel comfortable around this man? Was this a man?

“Alright, then,” she said. “You can wait here and I’ll get my recorder and a notepad and we can do a formal interview right now, or you can take the coward’s way out and fly away while my back’s turned. I leave that choice to you.”

She turned and walked back to the stairwell, retreating to her apartment. Though she knew what she would find when she returned she still went through the motions of gathering her things so she could at least show him that she was willing to follow through on her word. After all, even though he was gone when she got back, leaving nothing but the cold air and more questions for her, she suspected he was still watching from wherever he had flown to.

Going back downstairs yet again, she dumped her recorder and notepad on her desk and sloughed off her coat on the couch. Walking quietly down the hall, she peered through a crack in the doorway to Cir’s room to check on her. The girl was fast asleep, hair still damp from her shower and splayed out on the pillow as she slept with her mouth wide open and her little hands curled up under her chin.

Lois smiled despite herself. The world was going mad, but this girl – this sweet, innocent little girl, was as good as her word. There was nothing left that was so honest and reliable as this figment from who knew where that was sure she was lost in time. Even her stories, so hard to believe, seemed to hold more truth than the real world around her.

Lois slumped down into the couch, staring at her desk in the corner. She knew she should be working—that her mind wouldn’t wind down for hours at least, and she ought to put that energy toward getting things done. But she didn’t have the strength to sift through notes. Not tonight. Not after…

“Clark,” she whispered to herself.

She didn’t know which she wanted more desperately – for the cyborg’s story to be a lie… or for it to be true. Either way, her heart barely held itself together under the strain. There was no good answer, and it was going to be a long time before she finally got the hard truth, whatever it was.

Sleep would not come soon enough.

The End.