Action and Re-Action 9/9: Aftermath
Title: Aftermath
Pairing/Characters: Clark Kent/Bruce Wayne, Green Lantern
Continuity: Comics
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: None
Summary: The Justice League begins to make plans for a satellite. Superman and Batman already have one, of course.
Word Count: 1300
Notes: Action and Re-Action is a series retelling the new versions of Action Comics and Justice League with a Superman/Batman angle. All chapters and notes on the series available here.
"This'll be so cool," said Green Lantern, coming up behind Flash and Batman and slinging his arms around both their shoulders. "Like a treehouse in space." They both turned their heads to glare at him; after a moment Green Lantern gingerly removed his arm from Batman's shoulder. "Course, Superman's already got his own super-special-secret-Fortress." He grinned at Superman over the table full of blueprints. "How's about we all crash there until the Watchtower is built? You can fly in some kegs and pizza, rent some DVDs--"
"I don't think so," said Superman mildly, looking down at the plans. "Fortress of Solitude, remember?"
"Ah yes." Green Lantern cast his eyes toward the ceiling. "The endless solitude of The Superman, alone in space, with none to understand his titanic isolation. Such sorrow!" He clutched at his heart until Flash kicked him. "Come on, Supes, you can't just sit there moping all the time."
Superman was still looking down at the table, a very slight smile on his face. "Oh, I have no intention of it," he murmured.
: : :
The airlock swung silently open and Superman steered the metal capsule into the hatch. As air entered the lock and the artificial gravity came on, it settled to the floor like a drifting leaf. "I still can't believe you had a space capsule sitting around," Superman said as the door hissed open and Batman stepped out.
"Doesn't everyone?" Batman said, looking around the airlock with intense interest. "I mean, you never know when there might be a chance at space flight, and you have to be ready." He tugged off his cowl, revealing Bruce Wayne's tousled hair and shining eyes. "And see, it turned out it was a good thing, too."
Clark shook his head as he opened the inner door. "Welcome to my home away from home," he said, ushering Bruce in with a flourish of scarlet cape.
Bruce stopped dead as they entered the observatory, staring out at the glowing blue Earth below them, the endless stars beyond. He took a long, shaking breath. "My God," he murmured. He reached out and put his hand on Clark's shoulder; Clark could feel the faint tremor in it. "I wasn't sure I'd ever live to see the Earth from space, and now here I am with my alien boyfriend--my alien boyfriend from Kansas," he corrected himself at Clark's look, "--in his spaceship. In space." He shook his head. "I'm really glad I got to see it here first, not on the League satellite with all of the team, but alone with you..." A hint of a mischievous smile glinted through his earnest look. "It will make it easier to act cool and blase when we go to the Watchtower for the first time."
Clark couldn't help laughing. "I didn't know you were an astronomy buff."
"Clark, I was an everything buff. But astronomy--well. I studied karate and psychology and chemistry and engineering because they would help me make Gotham a better place. I studied astronomy because...I loved the stars. The hope and the wonder of them."
He wasn't looking at the Earth anymore, he was looking at Clark. Clark kissed him--a light, lingering kiss that was a promise of more--and said, "Let me show you the cities."
The bottles glowed with life, row on row. Bruce looked at the delicate fluted spires, the soft adobe-colored walls, the steel monoliths. "All of their planets are gone?"
"All of the ones I've been able to track. I still can't communicate well with about half of them."
"Any luck finding new homes?"
"I have a lead on a planet that could hold Vell'ut," said Clark. "But for most of them...the right atmosphere, gravity, natural resources, the right combination is hard to come by." He shot a glance at Bruce. "Once I figure out how to use the individual miniaturizer, it might be possible to visit some of them." Bruce's eyes widened. "I'm hoping to enter Kandor when I get the chance. I was hoping...well, that is...it would be an honor if you'd come with me."
"The honor would be entirely mine," Bruce murmured. His expression shifted from awed to appalled as a thought struck him. "I'd better be picking up my Kryptonian studies!"
Clark laughed. "I'm still working on a way to code the psionicloth to human genetics, by the way. Once I get that working you can have a suit made from it, if you like."
"Matching suits, I like it," Bruce said, prowling around the ship. He stopped in front of the banks of glowing screens, each showing a different scene from around the world. "Any luck finding Luthor?"
Clark shook his head as he adjusted one of the screens. "He's gone to ground, and I'm pretty sure he won't be showing his face for a while, now that the Justice League is active. Maybe he won't bother us again."
Bruce's snort showed his opinion about that possibility.
"Ah, there we go," said Clark, as the screen he was working on cleared to show a team of brightly-dressed teens in helmets and wing-like capes. "I knew that must be playing somewhere."
"I'm never going to live down my confession that I loved that show, am I?"
Clark murmured something in Kryptonian and the monitor seat shifted and elongated into a slightly larger form. "I was more of a Gundam kid myself. No accounting for tastes." He patted the seat next to him.
Bruce settled down next to him with an elaborate smirk. "There's no need to apologize, Clark. They were a team of scientist ninjas. Of course they were the best."
"Scientist ninjas who dressed up as birds, no less."
"Bats aren't birds," Bruce pointed out.
"Close enough," Clark retorted, nuzzling his neck, and Bruce decided to concede the point.
After a moment, his nose wrinkled. "Clark, do I smell...pizza?"
"Oh!" Clark sprang up from the alien sofa and flew out of the room, returning with a slightly scorched pizza. "Sorry, Brainiac apparently didn't know how to cook it right."
Bruce cocked an eyebrow at the woeful pizza. "What, no keg?"
"I can go get one," Clark said, straightening quickly. "Would you--"
"--I was joking. Joking."
"It's just that I'd like everything to be perfect because this is--well, it's sort of, in a way--"
"--Our first date?"
"Well, assuming me kidnapping you and dangling you off a bridge doesn't count. Nor does you coming to Apokolips to rescue me from brainwashing and torture, I don't think. So this is kind of it." Clark looked around the satellite, rubbing the back of his head with chagrin. "Now that I think about it, watching anime and eating pizza is a pretty mundane first date, isn't it? I'm sorry."
Bruce couldn't help but laugh. "Clark, any date set on a spaceship looking down at Earth is by definition not mundane. He took Clark's arm and drew him down onto the silvery couch once more. "And you could never be," he murmured.
A small robot scurried around to the front of the couch, holding aloft the burned pizza like the Olympic flame. Bruce picked up a slice and settled into the weird shifting fabric, hooking one leg around Clark's. The field of glittering screens pulsed and glowed around the anime, showing a world free of crises for the moment.
Superman and Batman ate pizza, watched television, and kept an eye on the Earth, and for a few hours the Fortress of Solitude was anything but.
Pairing/Characters: Clark Kent/Bruce Wayne, Green Lantern
Continuity: Comics
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: None
Summary: The Justice League begins to make plans for a satellite. Superman and Batman already have one, of course.
Word Count: 1300
Notes: Action and Re-Action is a series retelling the new versions of Action Comics and Justice League with a Superman/Batman angle. All chapters and notes on the series available here.
"This'll be so cool," said Green Lantern, coming up behind Flash and Batman and slinging his arms around both their shoulders. "Like a treehouse in space." They both turned their heads to glare at him; after a moment Green Lantern gingerly removed his arm from Batman's shoulder. "Course, Superman's already got his own super-special-secret-Fortress." He grinned at Superman over the table full of blueprints. "How's about we all crash there until the Watchtower is built? You can fly in some kegs and pizza, rent some DVDs--"
"I don't think so," said Superman mildly, looking down at the plans. "Fortress of Solitude, remember?"
"Ah yes." Green Lantern cast his eyes toward the ceiling. "The endless solitude of The Superman, alone in space, with none to understand his titanic isolation. Such sorrow!" He clutched at his heart until Flash kicked him. "Come on, Supes, you can't just sit there moping all the time."
Superman was still looking down at the table, a very slight smile on his face. "Oh, I have no intention of it," he murmured.
: : :
The airlock swung silently open and Superman steered the metal capsule into the hatch. As air entered the lock and the artificial gravity came on, it settled to the floor like a drifting leaf. "I still can't believe you had a space capsule sitting around," Superman said as the door hissed open and Batman stepped out.
"Doesn't everyone?" Batman said, looking around the airlock with intense interest. "I mean, you never know when there might be a chance at space flight, and you have to be ready." He tugged off his cowl, revealing Bruce Wayne's tousled hair and shining eyes. "And see, it turned out it was a good thing, too."
Clark shook his head as he opened the inner door. "Welcome to my home away from home," he said, ushering Bruce in with a flourish of scarlet cape.
Bruce stopped dead as they entered the observatory, staring out at the glowing blue Earth below them, the endless stars beyond. He took a long, shaking breath. "My God," he murmured. He reached out and put his hand on Clark's shoulder; Clark could feel the faint tremor in it. "I wasn't sure I'd ever live to see the Earth from space, and now here I am with my alien boyfriend--my alien boyfriend from Kansas," he corrected himself at Clark's look, "--in his spaceship. In space." He shook his head. "I'm really glad I got to see it here first, not on the League satellite with all of the team, but alone with you..." A hint of a mischievous smile glinted through his earnest look. "It will make it easier to act cool and blase when we go to the Watchtower for the first time."
Clark couldn't help laughing. "I didn't know you were an astronomy buff."
"Clark, I was an everything buff. But astronomy--well. I studied karate and psychology and chemistry and engineering because they would help me make Gotham a better place. I studied astronomy because...I loved the stars. The hope and the wonder of them."
He wasn't looking at the Earth anymore, he was looking at Clark. Clark kissed him--a light, lingering kiss that was a promise of more--and said, "Let me show you the cities."
The bottles glowed with life, row on row. Bruce looked at the delicate fluted spires, the soft adobe-colored walls, the steel monoliths. "All of their planets are gone?"
"All of the ones I've been able to track. I still can't communicate well with about half of them."
"Any luck finding new homes?"
"I have a lead on a planet that could hold Vell'ut," said Clark. "But for most of them...the right atmosphere, gravity, natural resources, the right combination is hard to come by." He shot a glance at Bruce. "Once I figure out how to use the individual miniaturizer, it might be possible to visit some of them." Bruce's eyes widened. "I'm hoping to enter Kandor when I get the chance. I was hoping...well, that is...it would be an honor if you'd come with me."
"The honor would be entirely mine," Bruce murmured. His expression shifted from awed to appalled as a thought struck him. "I'd better be picking up my Kryptonian studies!"
Clark laughed. "I'm still working on a way to code the psionicloth to human genetics, by the way. Once I get that working you can have a suit made from it, if you like."
"Matching suits, I like it," Bruce said, prowling around the ship. He stopped in front of the banks of glowing screens, each showing a different scene from around the world. "Any luck finding Luthor?"
Clark shook his head as he adjusted one of the screens. "He's gone to ground, and I'm pretty sure he won't be showing his face for a while, now that the Justice League is active. Maybe he won't bother us again."
Bruce's snort showed his opinion about that possibility.
"Ah, there we go," said Clark, as the screen he was working on cleared to show a team of brightly-dressed teens in helmets and wing-like capes. "I knew that must be playing somewhere."
"I'm never going to live down my confession that I loved that show, am I?"
Clark murmured something in Kryptonian and the monitor seat shifted and elongated into a slightly larger form. "I was more of a Gundam kid myself. No accounting for tastes." He patted the seat next to him.
Bruce settled down next to him with an elaborate smirk. "There's no need to apologize, Clark. They were a team of scientist ninjas. Of course they were the best."
"Scientist ninjas who dressed up as birds, no less."
"Bats aren't birds," Bruce pointed out.
"Close enough," Clark retorted, nuzzling his neck, and Bruce decided to concede the point.
After a moment, his nose wrinkled. "Clark, do I smell...pizza?"
"Oh!" Clark sprang up from the alien sofa and flew out of the room, returning with a slightly scorched pizza. "Sorry, Brainiac apparently didn't know how to cook it right."
Bruce cocked an eyebrow at the woeful pizza. "What, no keg?"
"I can go get one," Clark said, straightening quickly. "Would you--"
"--I was joking. Joking."
"It's just that I'd like everything to be perfect because this is--well, it's sort of, in a way--"
"--Our first date?"
"Well, assuming me kidnapping you and dangling you off a bridge doesn't count. Nor does you coming to Apokolips to rescue me from brainwashing and torture, I don't think. So this is kind of it." Clark looked around the satellite, rubbing the back of his head with chagrin. "Now that I think about it, watching anime and eating pizza is a pretty mundane first date, isn't it? I'm sorry."
Bruce couldn't help but laugh. "Clark, any date set on a spaceship looking down at Earth is by definition not mundane. He took Clark's arm and drew him down onto the silvery couch once more. "And you could never be," he murmured.
A small robot scurried around to the front of the couch, holding aloft the burned pizza like the Olympic flame. Bruce picked up a slice and settled into the weird shifting fabric, hooking one leg around Clark's. The field of glittering screens pulsed and glowed around the anime, showing a world free of crises for the moment.
Superman and Batman ate pizza, watched television, and kept an eye on the Earth, and for a few hours the Fortress of Solitude was anything but.