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Road Trip	By : Kip Category: DC Verse Cartoons > Justice League Views: 4334 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own The Justice League, and I do not make any money from these writings.

Chapter List
- 3
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- 5
Please note: as things stand at the moment this is a stand-alone piece and is NOT intended to tie in with any other of my other fics, so don't expect any consistency. If you think you've found some, then consider it a bonus!
"Normal Speech"
Thoughts
EMPHASIS
For Bubblegumgeisha… many thanks for being my first reviewer for this fic, this one's for you…
'Purr
"Behind you!" Kal's voice cut across the sounds of the surf. Turning, Bruce squinted into the sun as the mesh of a huge fishing net fell heavily over the pair of them.
What the hell?!! Disorientated, Bruce sank; choking as the unexpected immersion filled his nose and eyes with seawater. A steely arm locked around his waist, dragging him back to the surface. Coughing, he fought to get a clear breath.
"It's okay, I've got you!" Kal's assistance was incredibly welcome. The heat of the other man's body pressed close, as Kal lifted the weight of the net just enough to allow Bruce to keep his face out of the water. One arm remained clamped firmly around Bruce's chest, anchoring them together.
"Relax, Bruce, I won't let anything happen to you." Came the comforting whisper.
Eyes streaming and chest heaving, all Bruce could do was nod, and cling gratefully to his friend. Despite usually being proud of his humanity, there were times when Bruce might seriously have considered exchanging his merely human frame for something with a bit more power.
Like right now… for instance…
"Don't struggle, you'll only make this harder on yourselves!" The man standing in the boat made sure that they both had clear view of the gun being pointed firmly their way.
"You two couldn't keep your nose out of other people's business. Now you are both going to enjoy a permanent vacation. Nothing personal…" The stranger continued lazily, casting a glance at his co-conspirator. "Tide's changing, and you guys are going to take a little swim along the coast…"
Bruce continued to hang onto Kal, thankful for the strong muscles that never seemed to tire. Wedging himself taut against the fibres of the net, Kal had instinctively manoeuvred himself so that his powerful shoulders diverted the worst of the flow around and away from Bruce.
Chancing a quick glance at Kal's face, Bruce could see the struggle visibly taking place inside his friend, and knew that his muscular buddy wanted nothing more than to show their abductors exactly how personally Kal was taking this. If the price of revealing their alter-ego's hadn't been so great, Bruce would have actively encouraged Kal to take the risk, and enjoyed the results.
"I say we shoot them right now!" Kerris piped up. "Look at them cuddling! It's revolting. Shirt-lifters the pair of them!"
Kal growled deep in his throat, a baritone rumble that vibrated powerfully through his broad chest.
"And that's why you're not in charge." The man at the wheel was not going to have it. "Nope. We stick to the plan, that way when they finally wash up on the beach, drowned, they'll just be two more stupid city boys who didn't know when to get out of the water. We don't need any more people turning up here asking questions."
Kerris fiddled with the rope holding the net. "We could always find out how long they can hold their breath for?" He smirked.
The other man turned and gave him a fierce look. "And then what? Are you really that stupid? We want the time of death fixed at a few hours from now, while you and I are safely tucked up back in the bar with a round of drinks and a whole room full of objective witnesses! Keep showing your ignorance, Billy boy, and I might decide that you're just too stupid to be trusted, then you'll end up over the side along with them! After all, who'd give a flying fuck if YOU went missing…?"
Grumbling, Kerris retreated to the other end of the boat.
With a quick glance at the two captives the other man checked that the ropes holding the net remained secure, before striding back to the wheel. "Storm's due to hit in an hour, and we need to be back before it does." He called curtly to Kerris. "Once I'm sure I've gotten us far enough out, I'll bank sharply. That's your cue to release the side of the net. We dump them out in the current, then hightail it to shore!"
"Let them think that we're helpless!" Kal whispered, one arm wrapped tightly around Bruce's ribs, while he continued to dig his feet into the base of the net, using his other arm to keep the leading edge tented well above their heads. "Once they're gone I'll get us both back to shore."
As the boat ground across the choppy surface and the cooling water leached away any trace of warmth, it became progressively harder for Bruce to hold on. Finally, just as his grip slipped, the net was tugged away; leaving them both spinning free in the bitterly cold sea while Kal concentrated on the tricky business of not letting either of them get snagged in the billowing netting.
Bastards! Spitting out the worst of the salt from his mouth, Bruce steadily trod water and rubbed at his eyes, clearing them. Just a little way off to his left he could hear indications of a large body being propelled effortlessly alongside him.
Must be handy being Superman. It sure sucked being Batman right about now, although Bruce managed to console himself somewhat with the thought that technically, since he wasn't in costume, he wasn't actually being Batman…
"You okay?" Kal's mellow tones sounded only slightly less easy than usual.
"Mad as hell, but fine!" Bruce nodded. With Walker's Bay off to the far right, the rightmost promontory was the one that led round to 'their' beach, while the one directly ahead of them must be Pincer Cove. "I estimate that we've been carried about a mile beyond the end of Walker's Bay." He told Kal.
"I agree. Bruce, we'd better get started. It's a long swim back." Kal reminded him. "Are you warm enough?"
"Warm? I'm so steamed up right now that you could stick a pipe in my ear and use me to make cappuccino!" Bruce told him, "Now, what say we get moving before all this lovely free adrenaline wears off?"
Bruce stretched out along the surface, and forced his aching body to make long efficient strokes. Being at the peak of physical fitness did not do anything to protect him from the bite of the water.
It's not going to be long before chilling becomes a definite problem.
Plus, there was something else bothering him: after taking several quick visual sightings onto the cliffs he realised that he was not making as much progress as he had hoped against the increasingly strong current.
In fact, it's beginning to seem like we're actually going backwards. Bruce hoped like hell it was just one of those optical illusions, but somehow he had the feeling that it wasn't.
Why didn’t I realise earlier that this was going to be one of 'those' days? I am on vacation – and without Alfred around, I could have actually stayed in that nice warm bed… He turned to his companion. "Kal?"
"Yeah?" The reassuring tones were right beside him.
"Much as I hate to ask, is there any way you could… cheat… just a little? Get us back into the bay a bit faster?"
"I would have suggested it myself, but I keep catching glimpses of someone up there, on the cliffs." Kal swam up level with him. "I'm worried that those two might have a couple of friends up there, watching us … "
Bruce nodded grimly. "Understood."
Turning that revelation over in his mind, Bruce frowned at what he found. They had already agreed that it would be far too dangerous for a vacationing Bruce Wayne to be publicly connected to any meta activity, especially an off-duty Superman. Too many questions would be asked, not to mention blowing Kal/Clark's other identity to bits.
Oh well, no choice but to do it the hard way…
"No. You were right to hold back, Kal," He confirmed. "We need to stay incognito."
"That's what I thought you'd say." Kal nodded. "That or tell me to get stuffed for even daring to suggest that you might ever need any help…" He grinned.
Bruce smiled darkly. "Better knuckle down to swimming then, Boy Scout…" An imp of mischief refused to be denied. "Last one to shore cooks dinner!"
"You're on! And make sure we have boiled potatoes this time, I'm getting sick of rice…" The Kryptonian replied merrily.
Conserving his strength for the swim, Bruce merely smiled and continued to push himself stubbornly through the surging waters.
Boiled potatoes … Right … But only if HE peels them… Amused, Bruce turned to share that thought with his friend and was surprised not to find the other man right beside him. When Kal wasn't drawing on his alien abilities the two of them were fairly evenly matched physically, and it was unlike Kal to shrink from a challenge.
There's no sign of him! A tingle of anxiety shivered up through Bruce. Something's not right! On instinct, Bruce ducked under the heaving surface and cast around for signs of his friend. As he peered down through the slightly cloudy water, a shiver went through him that had nothing to do with the temperature: even in the daylight, the water in the cove was visibly illuminated from below with an unnatural colour.
No, it can't be! But it was. A broad strip of luminous misty green lay strewn for more than fifty yards along the submarine surface. Silhouetted against the light, Bruce could just about make out a single hunched shape dropping slowly downward, nor did it escape his attention that the lethal glow was visibly increasing as the near-foetal form sank deeper.
Kryptonite! And Kal's going to end up right in the middle of it! Without hesitation, Bruce snatched a lungful of air and dived, powering down through the increasingly cold water and making unerringly for his friend.
Got to get to him, and fast! Thankfully the distance between them wasn't all that great, but even so, by the time Bruce reached the now helpless Kryptonian only a thin trail of air bubbles still trickling out from Kal's nose showed that any life at all remained in the huge body.
As the gap between them closed, Bruce could see his friend's corded muscles twitch as Kal was wracked with internal spasms, Kryptonian strength rendered useless by the effects of the deadly mineral only a few short lengths below him.
That's me put right… Being entirely human, Bruce felt nothing more than the ever-present chill of the water, and an increasingly pressing need for air.
Guess it's not always so much fun being Superman… It certainly didn’t look it at that moment: Kal's eyes were clenched shut, his expressive face contorted in agony.
I have to get him away from that stuff!
Concerned for his friend, and beginning to run low on breath, Bruce had no time for niceties. Grabbing hold of Kal, he turned and kicked hard for the surface, dragging the unresisting man with him.
Bursting out from under the water and pulling Kal up too, Bruce eagerly gulped air. There was barely even the faintest hint of movement from the body clutched in his arms. Even in the now-greying daylight, Kal's lips were strongly tinted blue.
"Kal!" Squeezing both arms around Kal's ribs and keeping the pale face clear of the shifting surface, Bruce's first thought was to force Kal to cough out any traces of seawater, but he soon realised that there was no way any effort he could muster was going to have any effect on that diaphragm, not without a great deal more leverage.
"Come on, Kal!" He urged, "Breathe for me buddy!"
A tiny movement somewhere deep in the broad chest brought a weak cough and a brief flow of water out of Kal's mouth.
"That's it, big guy! Don't bail on me now!" Bruce whispered, still treading water, while reducing the gap between them as much as possible so that he could rest Kal's head on his shoulder and listen to his breathing. Given the acoustics, Bruce couldn't be sure, but it sounded as though there might be water in the other man's lungs.
Not good. Really not good. It was time for drastic action. "I'm going to get us to shore," Bruce announced firmly, and automatically assuming the lifesaving position, pulled the larger man in tight against him, as he began to kick urgently for the still-distant rocks.
As he swam, dragging Kal along with him, Bruce began to realise just how much of a task he had taken on. While the water was counteracting Kal's weight, the huge form was still incredibly bulky, and, with strictly human muscle to rely on, Bruce was tiring rapidly.
It had been bad enough moving himself through the water, but to move Kal along with him, and against the rising current, could well prove to be beyond his abilities. He didn’t want to even consider it, but Bruce was a realist to the core: there was an all-too strong possibility of them both drowning out here.
I won't abandon him… never! But already, Bruce could feel the growing aches in his leg and back muscles. "Kal! You have to help me, buddy!"
"Hmmm …" A faint cough rumbled from somewhere under Bruce's palm, followed by a sudden retching. Rolling completely onto his back, Bruce pulled Kal closer to him, pooling their remaining body heat. "Kal?"
"Hhnn?"
"You have to wake up, Kal. Try and kick a little? Can you do that?"
"Bruce…" The voice was a mere ghost of Kal's usual strong baritone. "… can't …" The dark head lolled as the Kryptonian lost consciousness again.
"Shit!" Given the circumstances, Bruce felt justified in using the expletive. It wasn't like there was anyone out here listening… Glancing around, he noticed the small rounded rock sticking up out of the surf only a relatively short way off, and not far beyond it, the larger mass of seaweed covered boulders forming the far edge of the Cove. He also took stock of the grey clouds scudding across the sky and the flat leaden appearance to the water on the horizon.
As if things weren't bad enough already, the damn storm is about to arrive! Stubbornly determined that he was not going to let his friend down, Bruce thrust desperately for the distant rock.
If I try to work with the current rather than fighting it, and assuming that I can time it just right, I might just be able to get us there before we both drown!
It seemed like forever, but was probably less than five minutes, before Bruce's straining fingers were able to slap against stone. Miraculously a large, well-worn iron mooring-ring jutted out from near the top. By putting every ounce of his strength into the action, Bruce was just able to catch hold and close his fingers around the metal, before the current could sweep them past it and out toward the open sea. Carefully he stretched his feet down, finding to his relief that there was just enough of a foothold down there to allow him to stand. Pulling Kal with him, he leant against the stone, all-but exhausted.
Now what? He closed his eyes, gathered all of his remaining resources, and tried to think his way out of the situation. If he were to let go of the ring, then in all likelihood both he and Kal would be dragged beyond range of the rocky outcrop before Bruce could possibly swim close enough to get them to land, and even if he did manage to get them both to the other rocks, what then?
At that moment, something else occurred to Bruce: there was no way out of Pincer Bay. Even assuming he could get them both safely to the shoreline, they would still be trapped, practically naked, at sea level and on bare rock… with a storm on its way.
"Bruce!"
For a second he thought he was imagining it, or perhaps mistaking some other sound.
"BRUCE!!!"
Squinting along the line of the bay, Bruce finally noticed the small figure waving frantically at him from just above the water line.
"Melly?" Even at this distance the two large white patches made identification relatively certain. "Melly!"
She was saying something. Bruce concentrated hard, trying to pick her voice out over the increasing slap of the water and the hiss of the rising wind.
"Ro … Get …"
Watching her shifting awkwardly among the rocks, Bruce winced at the thought of Melly clambering among the seaweed slick stones with only that aluminium crutch for support. How easily the small ferrule set into the base of the plaster around her foot could slip on the slimy weed did not bear thinking about. On tenterhooks he watched as she dropped the calliper and bent stiffly to retrieve it.
No, she's not picking up the calliper. What's that she's got? Despite being more than used to having people pointing unpleasant things at him on a regular basis, Bruce was still shocked to see what Melly was awkwardly aiming in their direction.
A gun! I could have sworn that she was okay… And the size of that thing – what's it for? Whales?
Waiting for the inevitable bang, Bruce realised that it hardly mattered. His fingers were numb, almost too numb to grip the ring any longer, feeling having all but vanished from his arms, and most of his legs too come to that. The cold in the water was finally catching up with him, leaving him too exhausted to do much of anything. Even if he hadn't been pressing stubbornly against Kal, Bruce doubted that he could have done anything more energetic by now than let go and drown. Kal hung limp in his arms. The two of them were already dead; they just hadn't admitted it yet.
The sound of the explosion shocked Bruce out of his daze, however the rope that slapped into the water only a few beautiful inches away more than made up for any momentary anxiety. Grabbing it with deadened fingers, he sank back to his neck in the cold sea, still perching awkwardly on the submerged stones, while he wondered what was next.
From away on the shore came the unsubtle sound of a winch growling into action. Somehow managing to get the rope wound securely around one arm, while holding Kal equally firmly in the other, Bruce stepped off the rocks and out into the surging water. Steadily the two of them were hauled to the base of the sheer stone landing on which Melly was standing.
"Keep hold of the tow rope." The young woman yelled down, over the rising wind. "When I lower the loading platform, get yourself and Kal settled on the mesh. I'll use the winch to haul you both up. 'Kay?"
"Okay!"
Barely five minutes later, cradling Kal awkwardly in his arms, dripping and shivering, Bruce was standing shivering beside Melly on the narrow stone ledge that had been subtly carved out of the lower face of the cliff.
"How did you find us?" He asked through chattering teeth, "And how did you," He indicated the plaster casts with a nod of his head, while settling Kal into place over his shoulder, "Get down here?" Given the angle of the overhang, there didn't seem to be any way that a mountain goat could have gotten down from the cliff top in one piece; let alone a woman with two broken limbs.
"I didn't get down – I came through." Melly said simply. "Bruce, we'd better get inside, the storm's about to hit. The weather people predict that it's going to be a bad one. I only came out here to check that all of the lifting gear was properly secured. It was sheer chance that I looked out to the bay mouth and saw you two."
"And I'm damn grateful that you did." Bruce assured her through chattering teeth, his whole body shaking.
"Good – then in return you can give me your word that you won't tell anyone that you were ever here." She hesitated. "I could lose my job over it, and I really can't afford to be jobless right now."
"Neither of us would let that happen." Bruce promised.
"Okay. Now follow me, and move exactly where I do, there are false steps and booby traps everywhere."
"There are?" He tried to remember what he had read in the preliminary reports, but, while interesting, this was not one of his high priority projects, plus Bruce was not exactly at his intellectual best at that moment.
"Oh yes." Melly answered. "Loads."
"Can't they be shut off?"
"No. The best I could do would be to circumvent them temporarily, but if it goes too wrong we'll be stuck out here for at least half an hour, and with that storm front sweeping in, this is not a place that I want to be."
Carefully Bruce followed her, leaning against the wall for support as he scaled the rough-hewn steps. She was right about the nearness of the storm. The first few spatters of rain were already beginning to patter onto the squared off stones around them.
"Lift your left foot and place it on the far left end of the first step, then transfer your weight onto that leg and put your right foot in the centre of the second row up." Melly called. "Don't shift away from the wall, and move your weight onto your right foot carefully."
As they slowly ascended the stairs, moving in bursts, Bruce tried to do exactly as instructed each time, but Kal seemed to be getting heavier and harder to hold onto by the second. He couldn't see his feet, which were uncomfortably numb with cold, even so he knew the instant that his foot touched the step that he had somehow miscounted: the stone under his foot rocked, while something under it shifted audibly.
Oh…crap…
tbc…
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Road Trip