Hearts of Steel

HEARTS OF STEEL by BILLA1

Disclaimer: The characters Batman, Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, Superman & Flash their respective secret identities are all owned by DC Comics. This story is intended for my own pleasure and is not for profit. It has been posted to this site for others to read. Places and characters not own by DC Comics are my own creation. This story is based on characters from The Justice League story "A Better World" written by Stan Berkowitz. Thanks to Merlin Missy for her beta on this story. For VLA.

Hearts of Steel

Rating: (PG-13)

Synopsis: The Justice Lords continue to establish their authority after the death of President Luthor. This story is a follow-up to A Forging of Steel.

(Three months after the death of Luthor - three days after the death of Flash at the hands of Amanda Waller's Suicide Squad)

= = DREAMS - Three A.M Wednesday morning = =

(Detroit - John and Shayera's apartment)

He woke up screaming. At least he thought he was screaming. He had to make himself settle down, stop shaking before he was sure he had not been screaming for real - screaming out loud. He looked over at the winged woman sleeping next him. She had not moved, her back still toward him, her bandaged thigh, forearm and wrist under the covers. They normally slept facing each other so that her wings were not in his face but since the shooting three days ago she had to sleep on the other side to keep from re-injuring her wounded arm and thigh.

Her breathing was steady and he took some comfort in that. It meant he had not screamed out loud for she surely would have awakened if he had, wouldn't she? He wasn't sure anymore of anything, but she was there. She was still there. She was next to him and he gently touched one of her feathers for reassurance and thought to himself, This is all that matters.

His nightmare was same as it had been for the last four years. It didn't happen often but when it did it would be sudden and without warning. He wasn't sure if she knew about his nightmares. It is hard enough to be a man today without having the woman you love see you with tears in your eyes - tears from fear. If she knew, she didn't say anything and he was thankful for that. The nightmare was hard enough on him alone. There was no need for her to share in his angst as well.

He entered the chamber and looked high at the far wall. Shayera and Hro Talak, the invasion commander, were engaged in a pitched airborne battle with energy hand weapons. He watched her drop her mace as she was slammed hard against the wall. He watched Talak curse her name as he killed her with a single blow from his energy axe and then threw her lifeless body to the floor. John screamed her name in anguish as he killed Talak in the most agonizing and brutal way he could imagine - disemboweling the commander with green energy from his power ring. John's screams of grief were louder than Talak cries of pain as John slowly gutted the struggling winged alien like a fish. John wanted his screams of loss to be the last thing Talak would hear and her lifeless body the last thing Talak would see. John wanted her name to follow Talak to the grave.

When he awoke, he would always tell himself it was just a dream. It wasn't real. He would remind himself that Shayera came to Earth as a spy but had been their spy on the Thanagarians after she quickly realized that they were lying about their intentions. He would remember that he did get to her in time during her fight with Talak as she attempted to shut down the bypass generator force field. And when she lost her mace during the battle and Talak was about to deliver the deathblow, John killed Talak quickly, decisively and without reservation. And both of them successfully shut down the force field enabling J'onn and the Flash to destroy the bypass generator from within.

He gently touched her feathers again and then turned over on his side and tried to go back to sleep. She was still alive. She had survived the assassination attempt that killed the Flash.

Hotshot. The kid was gone. He was a smart mouth but he knew his mind and he was always there. God, I'll miss him but thank you for not taking Shayera. Thank you.

(Watchtower - Diana's quarters)

She had been awake for an hour and decided that if she could not get back to sleep, she would get up. When you're thousands of years old, it is amazing how little an extra hour or two of sleep matters in the grand scheme of things.

She sat up in bed and reflected on her conversation from the previous night with Bruce. He was the unanswerable riddle. When she first arrived in "man's world" she enjoyed the challenge but now tired of trying to solve his puzzle. She recalled their most telling conversation.

She liked his company but his silence and brooding, while good for his image, no longer fascinated her. He would go for hours without speaking, ignoring her presence.

"Yes, I had a good day. Thanks for asking, How was yours?" she said after ten minutes of silence from him.

He wouldn't acknowledge her obvious lame attempt at conversation. Not a smirk and certainly not a grin. Nothing.

"You don't have to remain so distant all the time, do you?" she asked clearly frustrated.

He didn't look up. "We've had this discussion before. What you see is all there is - all there can be." He paused and added. "You know that."

She sighed. "Yes, we've had this talk before and it always ends the same - with me walking out of here wondering what is wrong with you or what's wrong with me." She paused looking for any reaction from him and was saddened when she got none. "You know how I feel and I think I know how you feel."

"That should be enough," he answered in his "I am Batman" voice. It was a voice she had begun to hate. It was a defensive voice. It was a voice that was incapable of acknowledging that the speaker might be wrong and the listener might be right. It was a voice that said this conversation is done. And maybe, just maybe, he was right this time.

"I guess for you it is enough." She paused and then headed for the door.

There had been no response from Bruce as she walked out. No "Diana come back" - not that she expected those words to come out of his lips but still she was disappointed that he didn't want her to stay.

In hindsight, maybe she fell in love with him when they first teamed up together as they battled the Imperium. Maybe she fell in love with him yesterday. She didn't know when it was. And she didn't care. She knew that he couldn't return the love she needed...the love she wanted.

She got up and went to her mirrored dresser and took a pair of scissors from the drawer.

"Do you know the story of Echo and Narcissus?" she called back from the doorway.

"I do and your point is?" he responded without looking away from his computer console.

"I won't be Echo any longer. Call me when you're ready. But don't wait for an answer."

No. She had lived thousands of years without a man's love...without a man's touch. She knew what Bruce's problem was. He was mortal. She was not. He didn't think himself worthy...that the relationship would always be "unequal." She smiled. Bruce was right. It was unequal and would always remain so but only because that was what Bruce wanted...what Bruce needed.

Echo died because Narcissus wouldn't return her love so she went to live in caves and among the mountain cliffs. Her form faded with grief; her flesh shrank away, her bones changed to rocks, and there was nothing left of her but her voice.

Diana determined at that moment, as she started cutting her long black hair, that she wasn't going to suffer the same fate as Echo. I am a Princess of Themyscira. I will not cry. No caves for me.

(Watchtower - the quarters of J'onn J'onzz)

J'onn napped whenever he could but generally didn't sleep for long periods at a time. Sometimes he would allow himself to dream but the dreams were painful for him.

He always dreamed of home but it was a home that didn't exist anymore. It was a dream of a loving family now dead for more than five hundred years.

The Imperium. It was the Imperium's fault that his life was now in shambles. They killed his family. They were the reason he came to Earth. They were the reason he was captured and tortured. Oh, the humans didn't mean to torture him. They were just conducting experiments - just seeing what he was...what he could take. Of the three aliens in the Justice Lords, only he had been captured and held against his will by the humans. Only he had been subjected to torturous experiments. Only he knew what the humans were capable of doing to aliens in the "name of science." And he promised that he would never allow himself to be subject to human capture again.

Never again.

That's why the sharp cracking sound of her neck breaking in his hands had given him such pleasure an hour earlier.

= = REALITY CHECK - Ten A.M Wednesday morning = =

(The Watchtower)

The six Justice Lords gathered in the dim, sparsely decorated conference room. On the center of the large, yellow circular conference table laid the bloodstained costume of the Flash. The members stood behind their chairs, their gazes fixed at the scarlet and gold cloth on the table.

Shayera, leaning on crutches, slowly reached out with her bandaged arm and touched the cloth. She sobbed gently as she withdrew her hand. John wrapped his arm around her shoulder and hugged her. Tears filled his eyes.

Diana tucked a portion of her now shoulder length hair behind her ear and folded her arms across her chest trying to stifle the sadness in her throat. Tears formed in her eyes but did not roll down her face as she recalled her conversation with the Flash on that day.

They had gone to Keystone City to try to convince him to come back. She knew he wouldn't talk to any of the men but she figured that he would at least listen to the two women. After all, the Flash would never turn down chance to talk to a woman.

Since Luthor's death, the Justice Lords always traveled in pairs...strength in numbers as Superman liked to say. In hindsight, they should have met in a less conspicuous place than the city zoo but he had insisted on a public meeting place. And she was sad to realize that he felt he couldn't trust her or Shayera anymore.

"Are you sure you won't come back?" Diana asked. She was facing the Flash but she was also watching the zoo patrons passing by, watching them as they watched her.

"Thanks for the invite but no, Princess," he said as he leaned against a railing in front of the monkey house.

Shayera rapidly scanned the people passing by as she spoke, "We really need you. Won't you come back at least part time?"

He hung his head down. "Nah, Supes went too far this time. You have no idea how hard it is to convince people here I had nothing to do with Luthor's killing." He paused. "Princess, they run from me faster than I can run to them. It may be years before they trust me again." He stopped and sadly looked back at Diana. He added softly, "Guys, it may be decades before they ever trust Supes again. In fact...ohh."

Diana heard a bee buzz by her ear and swatted at the insect that wasn't there. It was then that she heard it. A rattle. She'd heard that sound before. It was a sound that walked hand in hand with death and this time it came from the Flash. Diana looked into his eyes and saw a pained blank expression on his face...an expression she had never seen on him before. It was Shayera who looked at his lightening bolt insignia on his chest and saw the white circle quickly becoming a dark red stain...a spreading dark red stain. She screamed his name as he dropped to his knees.

She heard someone yell out, "Those two just killed the Flash!" Diana's heart started racing. "Get him inside and stay with him!" she hollered at Shayera. Diana leaped in the air and headed in the direction she thought the shot came from...the direction the Flash had been facing. How could anyone think the Justice Lords could hurt Wally? She'd straighten that out later. She had to find where that shot came from. She had to find the shooter. "Hera give me strength."

She heard Shayera shout in the commlink that the Flash had been shot and heard Superman say he was on his way. Just then, Shayera shrieked in the commlink that she had been hit.

"Great Hera! No! They're trying to kill us all!" Diana turned around and headed back to Shayera's position to provide protection for her friends until Superman arrived. The Flash's shooter would have to wait but they would find him. And he would pay.

"Did we get all the known squad members?" Batman asked breaking the silence.

Diana looked at Clark as he gently touched the bloodstained costume on the table. His tone was matter of fact. "I killed Deadshot last night. He was the trigger man. He was assigned to kill the Flash but Shayera was a target of opportunity."

Diana could tell the man on the video screen was clearly nervous. His speech was halting...the stuttering pronounced. "Superman, the local authorities will investigate and find the culprit. You may rest assured I will provide federal help as needed."

Clark glared back at the man, visibly trying to control his anger. "Mr. President, you misunderstood me. YOU will find whoever did this and give me a name. I don't want just one person. I want ALL who were involved." He paused.

Diana had been around him long enough to know that he was measuring the fear in the President's face. "I will punish them - severely," he continued. "You have 24 hours to give me names or I will punish you."

"Superman, I had nothing to do with..."

Clark cut him off. His tone was pointed and sharp. "Since Hawkgirl was shot in Keystone City, my solution is simple. I will destroy that city. And I will destroy a city every day until you give me names."

The man on the video screen stood up. The anguish was clearly marked on his face. "Superman, please. You know how our government works; we don't get involved in every state and local issue. I will put all the resources of the federal government on this but please think about the loss of lives if you destroy Keystone City because of one criminal."

Clark pointed at the man and thundered, "No! You think about the loss of life and you find the culprit!! Call me in 24 hours or accept the consequences! Superman out!"

He looked at Shayera and then at John. "Deadshot's death was not quick and I made sure he died in tremendous pain. His head is at my Fortress." He paused and smiled at the couple. "Shayera, he won't hurt anyone again...none of them will. Are you okay?"

John looked at Shayera who nodded at Clark. "I'm okay. Is that the last of the squad?"

J'onn sighed. "He was the last. I killed Amanda Waller this morning. The squad shouldn't be an organized threat to us anymore."

Organized threat. Somehow those words seemed to bother Diana more than anything else that had happened since the death of Luthor. Was there an organized opposition out there that was prepared to kill them one at a time? She glanced at Clark and then at the Flash's costume on the table.

She watched as Clark terminated the conversation with the President by cutting off the transmission. Clark was troubled and it bothered her. He hung his head down as he stood in front of the darkened screen.

She placed her hand on his shoulder and he raised his head, turned and smiled at her.

"Would you really destroy a city every day?" she asked.

"Yes. Yes I would."

The firmness and swiftness of his answer surprised her. But in hindsight, nothing he did now surprised her. The old Clark died with Luthor. This Clark was more focused and had a new weapon in his arsenal - he would kill if necessary.

He paused, bowed his head and rubbed his hands together. There was marked sadness in his face. "Diana," he sighed. "You are either the hunter or the prey. I won't allow us to be hunted and picked off one by one. If that idiot out there had killed Hawkgirl, John might have destroyed this planet by himself in his grief. I want these people to police themselves but I also want no doubt in their minds that if punishment comes from me --- from us --- it will be swift and merciless. They will find someone and even if it's not the right one, the message will have been sent. We are not prey."

Batman shook his head as he looked at J'onn. "The threat is still there. We were lucky that we only lost the Flash this time. We have to make sure this doesn't happen again. We need a reminder...they need a reminder, a visual cue to them that the rules have changed." He stopped and turned toward Superman. "And we need to make sure the rules are enforced. Severely enforced."

Diana found herself nodding in agreement with the others. I am not the hunted. I am the hunter. "We should change our costumes to show the rules have changed. Maybe make them more like the Flash's."

John nodded his head. Diana pointed to the costume on the table. "He had lightening bolt bands on his suit...on his arms and waist. We could put bands on ours...make our suits one piece like his...you know without the trunks."

"I like it," Shayera said. "Me, too," John added. "When?"

Shayera smirked. "Yes, when does Mister 'I can form a new costume in four seconds' have to make a new suit?"

John rolled his eyes and cleared his throat. "I meant for you," he growled.

Diana was amused and smiled slightly as she asked, "Could everyone be ready by Sunday? That would make it a week since his death."

She looked around as everyone nodded their head in agreement. "Okay. Sunday it is. We'll be the new costumed Justice Lords on Sunday."

She sat at the table looking at the costume that once fitted the fastest man alive. The others had left but for Clark. Bruce said nothing as he left. No, that wasn't true. He did ask if she wanted to ride with him. She knew she surprised him when she said no. He didn't say anything else before he left.

Clark sat down next to her and gingerly touched the stained costume again. "Believe it or not I miss him."

She didn't look at him but added, "I know. So do I."

Clark stood up and started to fold the stained suit. "I plan to take this to my Fortress and give it a place of special honor among my heroes."

Diana looked into his blue eyes and quietly smiled. "That's nice. I think he would like that. I know it would surprise him but I think he would like it."

He returned the smile. "Thanks." He paused and rubbed the back of his neck with his right hand and then added, "I like...your new haircut."

She blushed. "My turn to say thanks. Shayera said she might cut her hair as well." Diana sighed. "Bruce was the only one who didn't say anything about it."

Clark shook his head but said nothing.

She looked at the spot on the table where the suit had been moments before. She quickly inhaled almost making a sniffing sound and cleared her throat. "When are you going to your Fortress? I'd like to go with you."

"I'll leave in about fifteen minutes," he answered. She stood up as he turned to leave.

She put her hand on his shoulder and pointing to the folded cloth said, "Clark, would you leave it here for a moment, please? And would you excuse me?"

He nodded at her and mouthed the word, "Sure." He set the folded cloth on the table, walked away from her, opened the door and set the lock so it could only be opened from the inside. As he closed the door behind him, he whispered, "Take your time...Princess."

She looked at the closed door for some long moments. She then picked up the folded cloth and, clutching it to her chest, murmured a prayer as the tears started to fall.

END