FIC: 36 Views of Mt. Fuij: Summer (8/9)
Title: 36 Views of Mt. Fuji: Summer (8/9)
Pairing: Clark/Bruce
Disclaimer: The boys belong to DC and to each other, but not to me.
Series Notes: 36 Views of Mt. Fuji is a series set early in Batman and Superman's careers, shortly after the S/B annual #1. The full series can be found here.
Rating: PG
Summary: A long and uncomfortable day ends in fire, blood, resolutions and revelations.
Word Count: 2700
I have always known
That at last I would
Take this road, but yesterday
I did not know that it would be today.
--Narihira
Superman hovered over the skyline of Hiroshima, watching as the sun set over the city. It had been a long day. Bruce had been asleep by the time he had gotten back from the superhero cafe, and was gone by the time he woke up in the morning. Clark had decided today might be a good time to go back to Metropolis for a few hours and make an appearance.
He took a brief detour to leave a brown paper bag filled with red and blue cloth at the Fortress of Solitude.
He had patrolled the Metropolis night in a foggy drizzle, stopping robberies and muggings in a daze, his mind still trying to process the feel of Bruce's hand on him, the wetness of his lips against Clark's bare shoulder, mouthing words Clark hadn't been able to decipher. He had wanted it so much, so much--enough to throw away your working relationship with Batman? a voice in him asked.
Maybe. Maybe even that. But he wouldn't have to worry about ruining their working relationship, thank goodness. Bruce hadn't been thinking, Clark hadn't been thinking, but the League was too important to jeopardize.
It would never happen again.
Clark intercepted bullets from a tommygun and tried not to look at how completely empty that reassurance made him feel.
As the sky began to lighten over Metropolis, Clark decided he'd better head back. Sunrise gave way to sunset in an instant, and the glass of Metropolis became the concrete of Hiroshima. Half-reluctantly, half-eagerly, Superman went looking for either Bruce Wayne or Batman.
: : :
At the dojo, Tatsu Yamashiro received an odd text message. Please pick me up at the city library. Bruce. Puzzled, she wandered into the kitchen where Maseo was chopping carrots for curry. < Dear, our guest needs a ride back. I should only be a few minutes. >
Maseo paused long enough to give her a kiss. < Don't be too late for dinner. >
< And miss your curry? Never, > she countered, smiling. She checked to make sure the twins were asleep in their crib and headed to her car.
She looked back one more time, unsure why. The dojo was quiet and solid, the last rays of the setting sun glancing scarlet off the roof.
Tatsu got in her car and drove off to meet her guest.
: : :
Batman was proving even more elusive than usual, Superman thought. Or maybe he was the one being elusive. He would catch a glimpse of black cape reflected in a window and make his way toward it, only to veer off at the last second, unsure what he would say to the vigilante when he encountered him.
Superman sailed through the concrete canyons of Hiroshima, absent-mindedly putting on more and more speed, becoming a red-and-blue blur...until the moment Jade Warrior appeared in front of him out of nowhere and neatly clotheslined him.
Superman found himself flying head-over-heels, coming to a stop a few blocks away, more embarrassed than hurt. < What the hell are you doing? > he fumed at the impassive figure floating in midair.
The figure cocked its glittering head at him. "You need to think less," it said in perfect English, a slight foreign cadence to its deep resonance.
Superman felt a surge of irritation--the being had finally broken its silence to lecture him, and he wasn't in the mood to be lectured. "I'm not generally accused of being a deep thinker," he countered harshly, his posture ready for a fight.
"Kal." Batman landed on a building near them, his eyes on the emerald figure floating in the sky. "He speaks English, I see."
"I have been watching the two of you seek and avoid each other in turn for over an hour," noted the warrior, and Clark struggled not to look at Batman, to keep his face impassive. "I have found your circumlocutions frustrating, if rather amusing."
"That's beside the point," Batman said brusquely.
"We're tired of playing games with you," Superman said. "We've invited you to the League. Yes or no? Give us a straight answer and we'll leave you alone."
Jade Warrior seemed about to answer when suddenly he put a hand to his head as if in pain. "Evil." His voice was distant and ominous. "I sense great evil somewhere, wakening." Then he pointed to the north, where a column of smoke was rising into the sky, obscuring the first stars.
Superman focused: a red blaze in the distance. "My God, it's the dojo," he blurted.
"Get us there fast," said Batman, and Superman grabbed him and flew.
: : :
Maseo Yamashiro heard the crash of glass and bolted from the kitchen, cleaver in hand, to find his brother in the hallway, a katana in each hand. < You made a mistake, little brother, > Takeo said with a ghastly smile. < The wards on the dojo prevented anyone uninvited from ever leaving with the swords. But you invited me in. > He tossed the holy sword across the polished wood floor to Maseo, unsheathing the cursed Muramasa blade. < Once you're dead I'll have Tatsu, like I should have. >
Maseo picked up the sword slowly. Flame was starting to lick along the walls, smoke starting to fill the hall. The children... < You're crazy, > he said flatly.
Takeo laughed like it was an answer and lunged at him.
: : :
Superman and Batman arrived to find flames leaping across the roof of the dojo and a gang of yakuza circled outside the building. Superman dropped Batman into the crowd and turned to the building--to find his way barred by a bare-chested yakuza, a tiger tattoo coiled across his flesh. "I think not, gaijin," barked the gangster...and the tiger leaped from his chest at Superman, snarling.
Magic, Superman thought like a curse as the tiger pinned him to the ground, vermilion fangs snapping at his throat, viridian claws seeking his heart. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Batman in a dark whirl of motion, vastly outnumbered, keeping his attackers at bay in a stalemate. He strained to keep the magical jaws from closing on his throat, struggled to move.
A wail pierced the night, carrying over the vicious crackle of flame, as Tatsu's car skidded to a stop in front of the dojo and the woman bolted from it. As she ran toward the door, a figure emerged from the crackling fire: Takeo, carrying two swords, one bloody. He was laughing wildly as he tossed the holy sword down as if it burned him. His wild cackle was louder than the flames. < It's true! The legends of the sword are true! I can feel them now! > Tatsu tried to lunge past him to the house, but he blocked the door; she snatched up the holy katana and dropped into an attack stance. < Dear one, he was never worthy of you. And now I've removed all your distractions. Put down your sword-- > He parried a vicious attack in place of an answer. < Very well, > he said calmly. < I shall have you one way or the other, Tatsu. Forever. >
Batman, Superman, and Tatsu were all locked in combat as the blaze mounted higher. The ringing of steel was nearly the only sound; everyone fought in deadly silence, the burning house limning everyone's faces in eerie crimson. Suddenly Clark became aware of a figure next to him: Jade Warrior, struggling to dislodge the summoned tiger.
"Don't help me! The house! Get into the house!" Superman shoved the tiger's jaws another inch away. "There are still people there!"
Jade Warrior turned to look at the inferno, turned back to Superman. "I...cannot," he said, his voice hollow.
"The hell you can't! Are you a hero or not?" Clark raged. "Her husband and her children are in there! You have to save them!"
Jade Warrior paused a long moment, then turned and ran through Takeo and Tatsu, his body phasing out for an instant, and into the burning house.
The tiger's fangs closed on Clark's hand and he felt blood dripping into his face as he tried to push it further away. Under the roar of fire, he could hear Tatsu's hoarse breathing and the maniacal chuckle pouring from Takeo like water.
Takeo's sword was stronger, but Tatsu was a better fighter and her blows were fueled by a desperate desire to get to her family. A moment's weakness, a gap in the yakuza's defense, and the cursed sword went flying in the air to embed itself in the ground next to Tatsu, quivering. The woman pulled it from the ground, her hand closing on the hilt--and her mouth suddenly stretched in a silent scream as she sagged to her knees. Takeo leaped toward her, but her sword arm moved in a quick, almost involuntary motion, slicing at him. It aimed for his throat, but with a struggle Tatsu turned the blade so the hilt struck his head, sending him tumbling to the ground. < I will not further sully this sword with your soul, > she gasped, before breaking into sobs, bent over the blade as if over a corpse.
The yakuza, seeing their leader defeated, backed away and melted into the shadows abruptly, although batarangs managed to fell a few as they fled. The tiger vanished and Superman surged up with a curse just as a figure emerged from the burning house.
It was Jade Warrior, carrying the body of Maseo Yamashiro. The emerald-armored figure was staggering, his form dissolving and blurring into something else...several other things. It was making small keening sounds of agony as its flesh melted, raising long fingers to its face. For a moment, the eyes of Yuchiro Takata stared out at them, and then the figure was laying down the body, morphing and shifting as he did into something not at all human. A long, sloping skull, red eyes, eerily long fingers--the being limped painfully to Tatsu's side. < My apologies, > it rasped, its voice aching and and agonized. < I could not find...the children... >
Tatsu looked up at him; as she did, the dojo behind her collapsed with a hollow roar and the being flinched, then staggered into the brush and disappeared, leaving absolutely no sound in its wake.
Police sirens wailed in the distance. Tatsu Yamashiro looked up at the two superheroes, her eyes dry and red as the flames. "I can hear them, trapped in the sword. The souls of my husband and children." She cradled the blade against her body and rocked back and forth, staring up at the sky. "He had already killed them. My children. I can hear them weeping."
Clark didn't know what to say to her.
Batman walked up to the huddled woman and reached out to take the sword from her, but she clutched it tighter, her eyes blazing. "Mine now," she said hoarsely. Batman's face was impassive, and the woman surged to her feet, her voice as tight as a bowstring and as ready to snap. "What?"
< The sword is evil, > said Batman.
< No, > she responded. < The sword is cursed. But it contains good within it. I will use it for good. > She leveled the sword between them. < I will not abandon the souls of my family. I tell you this is the only way I can have peace. Do you understand? Can you understand? >
Clark knew that by now, he shouldn't be surprised at the gentle way the black hands rested on the woman's shoulders. < Tatsu. You will need to seek further training. When you are done... > He paused. < I know a CEO in Kyoto who might need a bodyguard. >
The woman squared her shoulders, the fire turning her into a red silhouette. < I shall consider your offer. Thank you. > She raised her head.
< Tatsu Yamashiro is also bound to this sword forever. From this day, I shall be called Katana. >
: : :
As the firefighters, police and press closed in on the dojo, Superman and Batman slipped away. They didn't need to debate where to go; in a moment Hiroshima Peace Park lay silent in the moonlight before them.
Near the melted dome they found Yuchiro Takata, composed and calm in his business suit. "Who are you?" said Batman.
Takata spread his hands; in a moment the hunched inhuman form with the glowing red eyes stood before them.
Batman put out an arm to push Clark behind him...which collided with Superman's hand as Clark tried to shield Batman behind him. There was an awkward moment of jostling and the being raised its hands in a gesture of surrender laced with definite amusement. "Heh," it said dryly. "Forgive me the deception."
"Why not tell us the truth from the start?" said Superman.
A slender hand gestured at the ruined dome. "Trusting humans--or those raised as humans--does not come easily to me. They are a fascinating race that I have come to love. But not to trust."
"Where are you from? Who are you really?" Batman's voice was implacable, and the alien sighed, its hunched shoulders drooping.
"I am from Mars."
"There's no life on Mars."
"Indeed." The dry voice was very tired. "Not anymore. I am the last Martian." Scarlet eyes gleamed ironically at Clark. "We have some things in common."
Superman stepped forward, seeing in his mind the way the Martian had apologized to Tatsu, the way it had steeled itself to plunge into the fire that had nearly destroyed it. "What should we call you when you join the League?" he asked firmly, ignoring Batman's huffing noise beside him.
For a long moment the long jade head stayed tilted at him, then narrow lips stretched in a smile. "My true name is J'onn J'onzz," he said, the sibilants whistling and alien, "But on Mars I held the title of Manhunter."
Batman made a harsh noise in his throat. "The Martian Manhunter, huh? Does he look at the same as Jade Warrior?" and J'onn's smile widened further.
"I was thinking more along these lines." The figure shifted like smoke on the wind and reformed.
: : :
The sun was starting to rise over the smoldering ruins of the dojo when the police finished questioning Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent, who had arrived from a late night out to find their lodgings destroyed.
Bruce flipped his cell phone closed and turned to Clark. "I've made us tickets for two flights back today. You've got a direct flight to Metropolis leaving in about six hours. Mine leaves in just a couple. I've called you a taxi, too."
"Well," said Clark wearily. "At least I have no luggage to check through." He brushed a hand through sooty hair and Bruce reached out to catch it, frowning at the blood streaks on it.
"That tiger bit you," he said flatly, turning Clark's hand over and examining it very carefully.
"Magic," Clark said. "I'll be fine."
"You should wash it," Bruce noted, studying the lines in its palms.
There was a long moment while they stood there, Bruce holding Clark's hand with nearly infinite gentleness. "I'm sorry," Bruce said.
Clark resisted the urge to pull his hand away. He didn't want it to look like he could barely stand the light touch without pulling the other man to him... "Nothing to apologize for." Bruce let go of his hand first and Clark stood, proud of his restraint, his hand aching.
"Would you like to come for dinner after we land?" Bruce spoke as if the words were dragged from him, agonizingly, deliberately casual.
Clark shook his head and smiled slightly. "Maybe not this time. Give Dick my regrets."
Bruce shrugged. "Just as well. Lots of catching up to do."
"Me too."
Bruce nodded absently. "Well. Thanks for all your help."
"It was my pleasure."
Bruce's eyes flickered at something in Clark's voice, but he didn't follow up. "I'll see you at the League's first meeting." He paused. "The League is a good thing, Clark."
Clark blinked. "Thank you."
A twitch at the corner of Bruce's mouth. "We can do this," he said, and turned and left, walking toward a taxi that appeared like magic.
Clark wasn't sure what "this" was, if Bruce had meant bringing the League together or something else.
Feeling the imprint of Bruce's fingers on his hand, five points of indelible heat and light, he remained unsure the other man was right.
Pairing: Clark/Bruce
Disclaimer: The boys belong to DC and to each other, but not to me.
Series Notes: 36 Views of Mt. Fuji is a series set early in Batman and Superman's careers, shortly after the S/B annual #1. The full series can be found here.
Rating: PG
Summary: A long and uncomfortable day ends in fire, blood, resolutions and revelations.
Word Count: 2700
I have always known
That at last I would
Take this road, but yesterday
I did not know that it would be today.
--Narihira
Superman hovered over the skyline of Hiroshima, watching as the sun set over the city. It had been a long day. Bruce had been asleep by the time he had gotten back from the superhero cafe, and was gone by the time he woke up in the morning. Clark had decided today might be a good time to go back to Metropolis for a few hours and make an appearance.
He took a brief detour to leave a brown paper bag filled with red and blue cloth at the Fortress of Solitude.
He had patrolled the Metropolis night in a foggy drizzle, stopping robberies and muggings in a daze, his mind still trying to process the feel of Bruce's hand on him, the wetness of his lips against Clark's bare shoulder, mouthing words Clark hadn't been able to decipher. He had wanted it so much, so much--enough to throw away your working relationship with Batman? a voice in him asked.
Maybe. Maybe even that. But he wouldn't have to worry about ruining their working relationship, thank goodness. Bruce hadn't been thinking, Clark hadn't been thinking, but the League was too important to jeopardize.
It would never happen again.
Clark intercepted bullets from a tommygun and tried not to look at how completely empty that reassurance made him feel.
As the sky began to lighten over Metropolis, Clark decided he'd better head back. Sunrise gave way to sunset in an instant, and the glass of Metropolis became the concrete of Hiroshima. Half-reluctantly, half-eagerly, Superman went looking for either Bruce Wayne or Batman.
: : :
At the dojo, Tatsu Yamashiro received an odd text message. Please pick me up at the city library. Bruce. Puzzled, she wandered into the kitchen where Maseo was chopping carrots for curry. < Dear, our guest needs a ride back. I should only be a few minutes. >
Maseo paused long enough to give her a kiss. < Don't be too late for dinner. >
< And miss your curry? Never, > she countered, smiling. She checked to make sure the twins were asleep in their crib and headed to her car.
She looked back one more time, unsure why. The dojo was quiet and solid, the last rays of the setting sun glancing scarlet off the roof.
Tatsu got in her car and drove off to meet her guest.
: : :
Batman was proving even more elusive than usual, Superman thought. Or maybe he was the one being elusive. He would catch a glimpse of black cape reflected in a window and make his way toward it, only to veer off at the last second, unsure what he would say to the vigilante when he encountered him.
Superman sailed through the concrete canyons of Hiroshima, absent-mindedly putting on more and more speed, becoming a red-and-blue blur...until the moment Jade Warrior appeared in front of him out of nowhere and neatly clotheslined him.
Superman found himself flying head-over-heels, coming to a stop a few blocks away, more embarrassed than hurt. < What the hell are you doing? > he fumed at the impassive figure floating in midair.
The figure cocked its glittering head at him. "You need to think less," it said in perfect English, a slight foreign cadence to its deep resonance.
Superman felt a surge of irritation--the being had finally broken its silence to lecture him, and he wasn't in the mood to be lectured. "I'm not generally accused of being a deep thinker," he countered harshly, his posture ready for a fight.
"Kal." Batman landed on a building near them, his eyes on the emerald figure floating in the sky. "He speaks English, I see."
"I have been watching the two of you seek and avoid each other in turn for over an hour," noted the warrior, and Clark struggled not to look at Batman, to keep his face impassive. "I have found your circumlocutions frustrating, if rather amusing."
"That's beside the point," Batman said brusquely.
"We're tired of playing games with you," Superman said. "We've invited you to the League. Yes or no? Give us a straight answer and we'll leave you alone."
Jade Warrior seemed about to answer when suddenly he put a hand to his head as if in pain. "Evil." His voice was distant and ominous. "I sense great evil somewhere, wakening." Then he pointed to the north, where a column of smoke was rising into the sky, obscuring the first stars.
Superman focused: a red blaze in the distance. "My God, it's the dojo," he blurted.
"Get us there fast," said Batman, and Superman grabbed him and flew.
: : :
Maseo Yamashiro heard the crash of glass and bolted from the kitchen, cleaver in hand, to find his brother in the hallway, a katana in each hand. < You made a mistake, little brother, > Takeo said with a ghastly smile. < The wards on the dojo prevented anyone uninvited from ever leaving with the swords. But you invited me in. > He tossed the holy sword across the polished wood floor to Maseo, unsheathing the cursed Muramasa blade. < Once you're dead I'll have Tatsu, like I should have. >
Maseo picked up the sword slowly. Flame was starting to lick along the walls, smoke starting to fill the hall. The children... < You're crazy, > he said flatly.
Takeo laughed like it was an answer and lunged at him.
: : :
Superman and Batman arrived to find flames leaping across the roof of the dojo and a gang of yakuza circled outside the building. Superman dropped Batman into the crowd and turned to the building--to find his way barred by a bare-chested yakuza, a tiger tattoo coiled across his flesh. "I think not, gaijin," barked the gangster...and the tiger leaped from his chest at Superman, snarling.
Magic, Superman thought like a curse as the tiger pinned him to the ground, vermilion fangs snapping at his throat, viridian claws seeking his heart. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Batman in a dark whirl of motion, vastly outnumbered, keeping his attackers at bay in a stalemate. He strained to keep the magical jaws from closing on his throat, struggled to move.
A wail pierced the night, carrying over the vicious crackle of flame, as Tatsu's car skidded to a stop in front of the dojo and the woman bolted from it. As she ran toward the door, a figure emerged from the crackling fire: Takeo, carrying two swords, one bloody. He was laughing wildly as he tossed the holy sword down as if it burned him. His wild cackle was louder than the flames. < It's true! The legends of the sword are true! I can feel them now! > Tatsu tried to lunge past him to the house, but he blocked the door; she snatched up the holy katana and dropped into an attack stance. < Dear one, he was never worthy of you. And now I've removed all your distractions. Put down your sword-- > He parried a vicious attack in place of an answer. < Very well, > he said calmly. < I shall have you one way or the other, Tatsu. Forever. >
Batman, Superman, and Tatsu were all locked in combat as the blaze mounted higher. The ringing of steel was nearly the only sound; everyone fought in deadly silence, the burning house limning everyone's faces in eerie crimson. Suddenly Clark became aware of a figure next to him: Jade Warrior, struggling to dislodge the summoned tiger.
"Don't help me! The house! Get into the house!" Superman shoved the tiger's jaws another inch away. "There are still people there!"
Jade Warrior turned to look at the inferno, turned back to Superman. "I...cannot," he said, his voice hollow.
"The hell you can't! Are you a hero or not?" Clark raged. "Her husband and her children are in there! You have to save them!"
Jade Warrior paused a long moment, then turned and ran through Takeo and Tatsu, his body phasing out for an instant, and into the burning house.
The tiger's fangs closed on Clark's hand and he felt blood dripping into his face as he tried to push it further away. Under the roar of fire, he could hear Tatsu's hoarse breathing and the maniacal chuckle pouring from Takeo like water.
Takeo's sword was stronger, but Tatsu was a better fighter and her blows were fueled by a desperate desire to get to her family. A moment's weakness, a gap in the yakuza's defense, and the cursed sword went flying in the air to embed itself in the ground next to Tatsu, quivering. The woman pulled it from the ground, her hand closing on the hilt--and her mouth suddenly stretched in a silent scream as she sagged to her knees. Takeo leaped toward her, but her sword arm moved in a quick, almost involuntary motion, slicing at him. It aimed for his throat, but with a struggle Tatsu turned the blade so the hilt struck his head, sending him tumbling to the ground. < I will not further sully this sword with your soul, > she gasped, before breaking into sobs, bent over the blade as if over a corpse.
The yakuza, seeing their leader defeated, backed away and melted into the shadows abruptly, although batarangs managed to fell a few as they fled. The tiger vanished and Superman surged up with a curse just as a figure emerged from the burning house.
It was Jade Warrior, carrying the body of Maseo Yamashiro. The emerald-armored figure was staggering, his form dissolving and blurring into something else...several other things. It was making small keening sounds of agony as its flesh melted, raising long fingers to its face. For a moment, the eyes of Yuchiro Takata stared out at them, and then the figure was laying down the body, morphing and shifting as he did into something not at all human. A long, sloping skull, red eyes, eerily long fingers--the being limped painfully to Tatsu's side. < My apologies, > it rasped, its voice aching and and agonized. < I could not find...the children... >
Tatsu looked up at him; as she did, the dojo behind her collapsed with a hollow roar and the being flinched, then staggered into the brush and disappeared, leaving absolutely no sound in its wake.
Police sirens wailed in the distance. Tatsu Yamashiro looked up at the two superheroes, her eyes dry and red as the flames. "I can hear them, trapped in the sword. The souls of my husband and children." She cradled the blade against her body and rocked back and forth, staring up at the sky. "He had already killed them. My children. I can hear them weeping."
Clark didn't know what to say to her.
Batman walked up to the huddled woman and reached out to take the sword from her, but she clutched it tighter, her eyes blazing. "Mine now," she said hoarsely. Batman's face was impassive, and the woman surged to her feet, her voice as tight as a bowstring and as ready to snap. "What?"
< The sword is evil, > said Batman.
< No, > she responded. < The sword is cursed. But it contains good within it. I will use it for good. > She leveled the sword between them. < I will not abandon the souls of my family. I tell you this is the only way I can have peace. Do you understand? Can you understand? >
Clark knew that by now, he shouldn't be surprised at the gentle way the black hands rested on the woman's shoulders. < Tatsu. You will need to seek further training. When you are done... > He paused. < I know a CEO in Kyoto who might need a bodyguard. >
The woman squared her shoulders, the fire turning her into a red silhouette. < I shall consider your offer. Thank you. > She raised her head.
< Tatsu Yamashiro is also bound to this sword forever. From this day, I shall be called Katana. >
: : :
As the firefighters, police and press closed in on the dojo, Superman and Batman slipped away. They didn't need to debate where to go; in a moment Hiroshima Peace Park lay silent in the moonlight before them.
Near the melted dome they found Yuchiro Takata, composed and calm in his business suit. "Who are you?" said Batman.
Takata spread his hands; in a moment the hunched inhuman form with the glowing red eyes stood before them.
Batman put out an arm to push Clark behind him...which collided with Superman's hand as Clark tried to shield Batman behind him. There was an awkward moment of jostling and the being raised its hands in a gesture of surrender laced with definite amusement. "Heh," it said dryly. "Forgive me the deception."
"Why not tell us the truth from the start?" said Superman.
A slender hand gestured at the ruined dome. "Trusting humans--or those raised as humans--does not come easily to me. They are a fascinating race that I have come to love. But not to trust."
"Where are you from? Who are you really?" Batman's voice was implacable, and the alien sighed, its hunched shoulders drooping.
"I am from Mars."
"There's no life on Mars."
"Indeed." The dry voice was very tired. "Not anymore. I am the last Martian." Scarlet eyes gleamed ironically at Clark. "We have some things in common."
Superman stepped forward, seeing in his mind the way the Martian had apologized to Tatsu, the way it had steeled itself to plunge into the fire that had nearly destroyed it. "What should we call you when you join the League?" he asked firmly, ignoring Batman's huffing noise beside him.
For a long moment the long jade head stayed tilted at him, then narrow lips stretched in a smile. "My true name is J'onn J'onzz," he said, the sibilants whistling and alien, "But on Mars I held the title of Manhunter."
Batman made a harsh noise in his throat. "The Martian Manhunter, huh? Does he look at the same as Jade Warrior?" and J'onn's smile widened further.
"I was thinking more along these lines." The figure shifted like smoke on the wind and reformed.
: : :
The sun was starting to rise over the smoldering ruins of the dojo when the police finished questioning Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent, who had arrived from a late night out to find their lodgings destroyed.
Bruce flipped his cell phone closed and turned to Clark. "I've made us tickets for two flights back today. You've got a direct flight to Metropolis leaving in about six hours. Mine leaves in just a couple. I've called you a taxi, too."
"Well," said Clark wearily. "At least I have no luggage to check through." He brushed a hand through sooty hair and Bruce reached out to catch it, frowning at the blood streaks on it.
"That tiger bit you," he said flatly, turning Clark's hand over and examining it very carefully.
"Magic," Clark said. "I'll be fine."
"You should wash it," Bruce noted, studying the lines in its palms.
There was a long moment while they stood there, Bruce holding Clark's hand with nearly infinite gentleness. "I'm sorry," Bruce said.
Clark resisted the urge to pull his hand away. He didn't want it to look like he could barely stand the light touch without pulling the other man to him... "Nothing to apologize for." Bruce let go of his hand first and Clark stood, proud of his restraint, his hand aching.
"Would you like to come for dinner after we land?" Bruce spoke as if the words were dragged from him, agonizingly, deliberately casual.
Clark shook his head and smiled slightly. "Maybe not this time. Give Dick my regrets."
Bruce shrugged. "Just as well. Lots of catching up to do."
"Me too."
Bruce nodded absently. "Well. Thanks for all your help."
"It was my pleasure."
Bruce's eyes flickered at something in Clark's voice, but he didn't follow up. "I'll see you at the League's first meeting." He paused. "The League is a good thing, Clark."
Clark blinked. "Thank you."
A twitch at the corner of Bruce's mouth. "We can do this," he said, and turned and left, walking toward a taxi that appeared like magic.
Clark wasn't sure what "this" was, if Bruce had meant bringing the League together or something else.
Feeling the imprint of Bruce's fingers on his hand, five points of indelible heat and light, he remained unsure the other man was right.