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The Birthday Present	By : Kip Category: DC Verse Comics > Batman Views: 8478 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own the Batman series, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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"Still here?" The rich tones held no spark of friendship or warmth.
"I thought I'd just stick around for a while." Kal retorted, equally coldly. "See how things turn out?"
"Do what you want. I'm not stupid enough to think that I could make Superman do anything," Came the snapped response. A gloved hand extended and eased under the blond curls. The room lights flickered and then brightened again.
"Br… Batman…" Kal started to say.
"If you won't help, then shut up."
Kal was ignored as thoroughly as if he had never existed, as if they had never been team-mates.
"Sandy…" The word was whispered like a prayer. "… Please…" As the Dark Knight waited beside the bed two of the ceiling lights blew, and there was a distinct smell of ozone.
Something's about to happen… And I bet it won't be good! Anxious for his all-too-human friend, Kal launched himself across the room, unhesitatingly placing himself as a buffer between the bed and the rising peril.
"Get back, you two!" He insisted, trusting that Wally would drag Bruce out of the danger zone in time, and tensed, waiting for the rush.
"Sandy?" Horrified, Bruce stared past Kal, "Dear Lord, no!"
Turning, Kal looked appalled at the desperately writhing body, and the furious lines of force crackling in the air over the bed. Mouth open in a silent scream, the blond arched and twisted as the strain in his already weakened muscles approached breaking point.
With a speed that even Kal might not have matched over that short a distance, the ravaging energy seared back down into Sandy's unprotected flesh in a blaze of terrible fury.

"Kal, wait!" Wally hesitated, torn between protecting Bruce and being on hand for Kal.
Is he… Bruce couldn’t even form the thought. He watched in mounting trepidation as Kal cautiously approached the bed, one hand already stretching out toward the porcelain white chest.
Was there a heartbeat? Breathing? With the ceiling lights out, and the smouldering remains of the monitoring equipment hissing and crackling to itself, it was impossible for Bruce to tell.
Kal knows, doesn’t he?
"I think…" Before the Kryptonian could complete that sentence, the resulting discharge sent Kal hurtling out through the glass door, tearing through the concrete and steel balcony rail like tissue paper as he was whipped away into the distance.
"NO!" The anguish in Wally's voice cut through Bruce. "Kal!" Darting out of the gaping doorway he was gone.
Aghast, Bruce could only stand and stare. "I've killed them both…" In his arrogance he'd destroyed his two dearest friends in one go! Grief began to overwhelm him.
"Oh God…" Trembling, Bruce tore off the cowl and threw it aside. Darkness filled the room; but it was nothing to the darkness within him. "What have I done?" He asked the night. "What have I done?"
Only the silence and the rush of the rising wind gave answer.

"That …" Kal dropped onto the floor, hard. "Hurt." Slumping down, he lay there on his back, wincing as each new ache made itself felt.
"Kal?" Stunned, Bruce stared at his friend. "Kal!" Still not quite believing what he was seeing, he grabbed an arm, and squeezed.
"Piss off, Bruce." Kal muttered mildly, shrugging the hand away from his arm. "What do you want? Blood? You can't have it."
"You sounded just like you were channelling me then." Bruce said wonderingly.
"When a person has been belted through a building and lobbed right round the globe, he ought to have the right to say what he likes." Kal told him through gritted teeth, experiencing again just how very unpleasant the healing process was when it was getting underway.
"Bad, huh?" Reaching out, Bruce wiped a smudge of concrete dust from Kal's cheek. "Yeah, it's not nice when you've taken a hard hit like that."
"If that’s how you usually feel after a fight, then I take back the bit about you being moody." With the surface cuts already gone, and the bruises starting to vanish, Kal was beginning to feel more like his normal self.
"You do?" Bruce eyed him suspiciously. "You really call me moody?"
"No. I'm lying." I only THINK it… I never say it out loud… Then again, J'Onn can read my mind… Does that count? Which means I did just lie… Or did I tell the truth? Aaagghhh!
Bruce raised an eyebrow. "Kal, you never lie."
"I never get hurt either." Kal reminded him, willingly abandoning the ethical conundrum. "This is not a normal day."
That got him a rueful nod.
"You're telling me." Bruce was in total agreement for once.

Seeing that miracles were obviously happening, Kal decided to push the envelope just that bit further. "Then, since I've actually got your attention for once," He said wearily. "I'm also telling you to get your armoured arse moving and go see how Sandy is."
"I … can't."
"Can't? Did someone nail your feet to the floor while I wasn’t looking?" Turning his head Kal half-closed his eyes, knowing that Bruce wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between normal squinting and X-Ray vision.
"I'm scared to." The other man admitted.
"Scared? The Batman?" Kal asked with as much sarcasm as he could muster. The more riled the other man was, the sooner Bruce would get back to normal, and over the sounds the two of them were making here, Kal was pretty sure he could hear something rather interesting happening elsewhere.
"No. The human." Came the subdued reply.
"Oh." Kal took a deep breath and sat up. "That's different. Here," He held out a hand.
"You'd let me help you?" Surprised dark blue eyes looked down at him. "After… that?"
"No, I'd rather sit here on the floor; which is gritty, by the way." Kal told him. "What do you think?"

Bruce smiled, although at that stage it was hard to tell it from a grimace. "I think," He said, shedding his armour. "That I'm an idiot and I don’t deserve you."
"Far be it from me to disagree with you on that one." Kal waved the hand again. "Hint… Help wanted here." He didn’t need it; but he was determined to make Bruce understand that the other man was going to have to work for forgiveness this time.
A hand extended cautiously toward him. Taking it, Kal left what he calculated to be just about as much weight as Bruce could safely be expected to manage, and subtly exerted his flight ability to actually lift himself up from the floor.
"Kal!" Wally blurred back in, breathing hard. "You’re here!"
"Sorry to worry you, Wal." Kal blushed. "By the time I was able to pull out of the spin, it was quicker to go the rest of the way round than come back…"
"I know. I just couldn’t catch up." Wally panted. "Damn waves… Last time I try to take a short cut across the Atlantic." Slinging an arm around the Kryptonian's shoulder he leant on him while he got his breath back. “Eww... I feel seasick!”

As the two costumed heroes watched Bruce pack The Batman Suit back in the attaché case, Kal was discovering that he quite liked being leaned on by Wally.
Bruce is wrong: just because Wally needs a bit of extra help at times, doesn’t make him weak, it makes him human… A quality that Bruce should have had more of and didn’t: or at least didn’t want to admit to.
Which is silly… Kal had always admired the way that Wally didn’t mind acknowledging that he had needs.
Kind of cute really… At that moment Kal realised that recent events had started him thinking of Wally rather often; it also occurred to him that he was beginning to consider the speedster as something more than just a talented ally.
Quite a lot more actually… Is that how it started between Bruce and Sandy? He would have liked to ask; but couldn’t quite see how to introduce the subject.

"Oops." While recovering from his global jaunt, Wally had apparently noticed something. Tugging at Kal's hand, he subtly drew the Kryptonian's attention to the polished linoleum.
"Oh …" Kal flushed. Now that was something he didn’t need…
"What?" Bruce had heard, if not seen.
"I left a dent in the floor." Kal confessed.
"As long as there are no dents in any of us," The billionaire gave an indifferent shrug. "Who cares?"
"Bruce?" Moira and the other currently active member of 'the cavalry' finally burst in. "We heard the alarms; but the security doors jammed. Alfred had to completely reset the system twice before it would let us go anywhere." She explained. "What's happening?"
Leaving both his staff to stand and wonder, Bruce stalked over to the medical bed, his entire body rigid with tension. "Kal."
"Yes?" Taking up position beside Bruce, Kal saw something that neither of them had really expected to see: hoped for certainly; but in no way expected.
"Hey Babe…" Bruce said softly.
Very slowly, the blonde head turned toward Bruce, and the long eyelashes flickered open. For a second the light blue eyes seemed to focus on them, and then, exhausted by the effort, Sandy's eyelids slid down again and he slept.

* * * *

"He opened his eyes again several times this morning," Bruce was saying to Diana from his post in front of the watchtower monitors, "He watches for a few seconds, and then dozes off again."
"Well, at least you've started getting some response." Diana smiled, and patted his hand. "I'll be down to sit with him this evening, while you go out on patrol."
"Thanks." Bruce looked delighted, although to anyone who didn’t know him it would have appeared that he was only being slightly less stern than usual. 'Warthog with piles' was the phrase that Wally had whimsically invented to describe the usual mood of the Batman, and though most of the heroes on the station would have agreed with that statement; they were also quietly proud of their purely-human comrade - as was evident by the number of them giving up bits of their off-duty time to assist him now.

"Sandy has practically been adopted as an unofficial mascot by the League, you know?" Diana informed her human colleague. "Word has rapidly spread throughout the station. Everyone wants to be considered as a help-mate."
Bruce winced, "Just what I always wanted… open house at the Mansion," He groaned, "My life, the soap opera."
"It's only until the next craze comes along." Diana reminded him. "Remember the fuss about Shining Knight and that girl?" She frowned. "What was her name?"
"I don’t think I ever knew." Bruce lied. "Ask Vic. It'll be in his files somewhere. He could probably remind you of what your favourite colour underwear is, if you think you're ever likely to forget?"
"You're making a joke." The amazon gave him a dubious look, "Except I don’t think that the Question is all that funny."
"I think he's hilarious…" Bruce deadpanned, deliberately goading her.
"Who is?" Wally blurred onto the empty chair, "Toffee Popcorn?"

"No. Thanks." Diana waved a hand.
Flash grinned. "Dieting?"
"No. I just don’t like the taste." The amazon made a face. "I'm not too fond of the smell either, Wally, would you mind terribly?"
"Oh, sorry," Wally left again, the rush of air taking the scent of popcorn with it.
"Bruce?"
"Diana?"
"Do you think I need to diet?"
Bruce was immediately reminded of why he had never seriously considering pursued that sort of relationship with the statuesque brunette. "I wouldn’t have the slightest idea." He told her. "I don’t look any more."
"But you're capable of finding women attractive too … you're bisexual. You said so." Diana had a mind like a steel trap for things that interested her.
"True." Bruce agreed, "But I'm strictly monogamous these days.”
“Oh yes, you’ve been single for so long I keep forgetting that you’re spoken for now." In common with most of the women on the station whenever that subject was raised, Diana giggled.
Bruce had yet to fathom exactly why that should be. Master Detective or not, he wasn’t entirely sure of why the mere mention of Sandy should have women smiling sweetly at him. It was proving to be a useful get-out clause though.

"It's the 'aaahh' factor." Wally said, as the pair of them finished the last few minutes of monitor duty.
"What is?" Bruce had forgotten the question by that point, or more accurately he had zoned out on Wally's interminable chatter.
"The reason the girls all giggle when they think about you and Sandy." The speedster said confidently. "They think that it's sweet that you've finally found true love. Real Romeo and Juliet stuff." The look on the Dark Knight's face apparently reminded him of a few of the more pertinent details. "Except that you're both guys, and there's going to be a happy ending." He babbled slightly.
"Rubbish." Bruce was wondering if he could work on persuading Wally to find an airlock and shut the outside door behind him on his way out ... Of course that would probably upset Kal: the Big Guy seemed to have gotten unusually protective of Wally lately.
Almost as if… nah… Kal couldn’t be interested in Wally, could he? I always figured Kal as straight. Then again, after that afternoon on the beach, it looks as if I might have been wrong.
"No, it's true." Wally was adamant. "Women love that mushy stuff."
"And you would know?" Bruce couldn’t believe he was hearing this: advice on the mindset of a woman, from the man whose dinners lasted significantly longer than his relationships…
Mind you, he can be a bit girly at times…

Wally gave Bruce a look that could have dried up the Pacific. "I asked Kara." He said scathingly.
"I am sincerely impressed." Bruce managed to keep the smirk to a minimum. "You actually managed to stand still and talk with Kal's cousin for long enough to ask her a question?"
Bet he hyperventilated though…
"I asked several questions." Wally was suddenly unusually defensive. His mouth actually stayed closed for more than a minute.
"And Kara hung around for long enough to listen to you?" Not that it would have taken more than about 3 seconds… Even she doesn’t get bored that fast… Bruce realised that he was actually going to have to dig if he wanted to get anything more out of Wally. That was a first.
I have to find out what it is that Wally's hiding: if I can use it against him next time, we might actually be able to work together for more than five minutes without him talking my ears off.
"Uh, yeah." The Flash was his usual eloquent self.
"And?" So was the Bat.

The rapid stream of syllables was over so fast that no matter how he digitally enhanced the recording, the best Bruce could get was something that might possibly, if you used a lot of imagination, have contained a phrase sounding very vaguely like:
'I'mnottellingyoubecausethenKalwillfindoutandkillme!Ohgodyou'rerecordingthisaren’tyou?ohshitohshit!I'mouttahere!'
The resulting breeze left Bruce in sole possession of a blissfully empty monitor room and gave him a few more interesting things to ponder over during his forthcoming bedside vigil... Heading the list was the question of who else he knew that could listen at supersonic speed, owed him a favour, and could be reliably bribed or threatened to keep silent about anything that they found out? He thought about asking Kara, since Wally had originally been talking about her.
But she'd never be able to keep her mouth shut, and she'd probably embarrass the hell out of Wally – and Kal … And I owe them both big-time. Which automatically discounted roping in the Kryptonian girl for this, didn’t it? Bruce sighed: that left him with a regrettably small list.
Kal maybe? Then again, perhaps it wasn’t Kara that Wally was getting flustered over this time?
And with Bruce knowing what he now did about Kal's sexual inclinations that opened up whole new vistas of possibilities … He sighed. All this speculation was giving him a headache.
Maybe just completely rewiring the spare computer in the Bat cave to run a customised translation algorithm would be less hassle?
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The Birthday Present