Bonds of Steel

BONDS 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. Based on an idea from Nancy Brown's Drabble: Insight. This story is a sequel to Steel Sunrise.

Bonds Of Steel

Rating: (PG-13)

Synopsis: It's the small things that hold the Justice Lords together.

(Four months after the death of the Flash (eight months after the death of President Luthor))

(The Watchtower Conference Room)

"First, you imply that this is somehow Shayera's fault and now you're talking about paying tribute!" John yelled as he stood up from his seat and glared across the table at Batman.

Shayera, seated next to him, silently placed her hand on John's arm. John looked down at her for a moment and then took his seat. Placing his hand atop of hers, he removed her hand from his arm. He took a deep breath and said, "Are you telling me we should be asking for tribute?"

Diana couldn't remember seeing John angrier. She was startled by his outburst but wasn't surprised. They had all been unsettled and more on edge with each other since Wally died. There was uneasiness with the people on the planet below and now with each other. The one who seemed the most unfazed appeared to be J'onn, but then very little rattled J'onn. And it seemed little affected Bruce either, including the Green Lantern's outburst.

"I didn't say anything about paying tribute," Bruce snarled. His tone was sharp and equally hostile. "I said that others should help us with the cost of running this station."

Clark placed both of his hands on the table and turned to Bruce seated on his left. "I know running this station is expensive and..."

Bruce cut him off. "And I can't keep moving money around to finance this operation out of my pocket. I have stockholders I'm responsible to, stockholders who started asking questions after the Thanagarian invasion, after my companies took a beating. They're asking embarrassing questions. I've been able to fend them off for a couple of years but I'm running out of wiggle room. I no longer have flexibility to hide or move money around as I did before."

Diana, seated on the right side of Clark, shot a quick glance at Shayera. Shayera lowered her head and John glared angrily at Bruce. Diana noticed that Clark and J'onn were also looking at Shayera.

Bruce continued as he turned his attention back to Clark. "I can't be the primary funding source anymore for this operation. We have to get others to finance us and this station."

Diana thought for a moment and said, "But if others finance us, won't they want some say in how the money is spent? Won't we have to answer to them?"

Clark nodded in agreement. "Diana's right. I can't imagine the cost of funding this, Bruce, but at least we don't answer directly to anyone but ourselves."

Clark stood and walked around the table and stood behind John. "I'm not interested," he continued, "in giving anyone any authority over us. I don't mind the thought of nations assisting us financially but I don't want them to think we work for them or have a say in what we do."

Bruce looked up at Clark. "They're going to want some say. And we should give it to them." He paused and smirked. "That is 'some say' but we will have final say."

J'onn, who had been silent during this exchange, glanced at the other members as he said, "Yes. We must have the final say."

Diana was shocked by the resolve in his voice.

The meeting didn't adjourn. It just broke up. The members stopped talking and soon left the conference table one by one. J'onn could sense the tension remaining in the room. Shayera and John were in one corner of the room talking quietly. Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman were in the other corner having an animated discussion with each other. Fingers were being pointed. J'onn, as always, stood next to the conference table in the center of the room.

J'onn approached Diana and gently tapped her on the shoulder. "May I have a word with you?" he asked.

She looked up and smiled, "Certainly, J'onn."

They stepped away from Superman and Batman, who continued their conversation without pause. J'onn and Diana moved to an unoccupied corner of the room.

J'onn spoke in a soft tone. "I know my comment about having a final say shocked you."

Diana replied just as softly, "It didn't shock me but..." She stopped and frowned. "You read my mind, didn't you? You were reading all of our minds, weren't you?" She smiled again. "Okay, maybe I was a little shocked."

J'onn turned away for a moment, noticing John and Shayera leaving the room, then fixed a steady gaze into her eyes. "I know firsthand what it is to be held captive on this planet. I know what horrors can be inflicted." He paused and folded his arms across his chest. "I won't suffer them again - under any circumstances."

Diana placed her hand on J'onn's wrist and gently unfolded his arms. She grinned as she said, "I'm not a mind reader, J'onn, but I knew that and I promise you we will look out for each other. All of us will look out for each other."

J'onn returned her grin with a very small smile of his own. "I know that and I didn't have to read your mind to find it out."

As he stepped outside the conference room and into the corridor, J'onn was surprised to find Shayera standing on the other side of the door. John was not in sight. There was a look of... anxiousness on her face and J'onn wasn't sure what to make of it. She was the only one whose mind he could not read discreetly.

"J'onn, I must talk to you for a moment - before John returns," she said.

"Go ahead," he replied.

He watched her as she fingered her mace handle nervously. "I want you to do something for me," she said softly. "I want you to read my mind and report back what you read to Superman and Batman."

J'onn's eyes widened for a moment then he shook his head. "No! I can't do that to you. You know that I cannot gently read your mind. It would be very painful for you and there is no guarantee that you would recover."

She locked her gaze on his red eyes. "I know and that's why John must not know about this until afterwards. You heard Batman in there today," she said pointing toward the conference room. "Even though I spied against my own people and reported back here nightly, Batman still doesn't trust me and because of your inability to read my mind, he never will." She lowered her head as she added, "I don't worry about Batman's trust but I want yours and Superman's back."

J'onn folded his arms across his chest. "And what about Diana?"

She didn't look up as she answered him, "If you tell Superman you will have told Diana. But telling her won't earn me Diana's trust. For her, I'll have to..."

She stopped, sighed loudly and looked up into J'onn's eyes. "John leaves on a deep space mission tomorrow morning to attend the funeral of some leader on some moon in the Omega quadrant. It's a Green Lantern thing. He'll be gone two days. I want you to do this tomorrow at noon in our apartment. It will give me a day and a half to recover." There was pleading in her voice as she added, "Please."

J'onn shook his head again. "I do not sense mistrust from the others but I do sense ---reservation. I can tell them that you approached me about this and that should satisfy any qualms anyone may have."

"No!" she answered firmly. "It won't satisfy Batman. He'll think I came to you about this knowing you wouldn't want to do it. That will only make him distrust me more."

J'onn said softly, "There could be irreparable harm to you if I do this."

She smiled weakly. "I have to risk it. Since the invasion, no one asks me for my opinion or thinks anything I have to say is relevant. Everyone assumes I'll just go along with whatever John wants or that John speaks for me because we're life partners now. I want to be trusted on my own without being validated by somebody else. Wally was the only one who..." She broke off.

"No, J'onn," she said shaking her head. "There is more harm in not doing it. Tomorrow at noon - the apartment in Detroit. Please don't disappoint me."

As she turned and walked away, J'onn could feel a sense of profound loneliness even without reading her mind. Of all the Justice Lords she was the only one without the ability to blend in with the inhabitants on the planet below. Those in the Watchtower were her family now and he was sad she'd felt she had to prove to her 'family' that she was dependable ---that she was loyal.

(Diana's quarters on the Watchtower)

Diana sat on her bed. Clark straddled her writing desk chair, with his arms folded across the top of the chair's back.

"You know," she said, as she ran her fingers through her hair like a comb. "It's cost Bruce a lot to give us a home up here."

Clark leaned forward. "I know." He made a fist and bought it to his lips. "But I didn't appreciate him implying earlier that it was somehow Shayera's fault that he can't finance our operation any more."

Clark was silent for a moment before he added, "Still, he's right that we shouldn't expect him to completely finance us. There must be a way to get support from the world nations without letting them think money has bought our influence or our support and without making it seem like a 'tribute' payment."

He shook his head. "I suspect that if it smacks of 'tribute' as John called it, he and Shayera would leave in a heartbeat. I guess there was a problem in the past with Green Lanterns running the planets they protected."

Diana nodded her head. "Maybe the problem is," she said, "we've viewed this station as our home. We need to get world leaders to think of this as a launching point--- a dispatching point to solve any international crisis."

She could see Clark's eyes light up with interest. She continued. "And everybody regardless of contribution has the same access to our help."

Clark tilted his head to the side. "You mean the nations would be our dispatchers - telling us if we've needed?"

She pursed her lips into a pout. "No. J'onn would decide if we're needed. We would continue to encourage them to solve their own problems but assist if we determine that we're needed."

Clark smiled, stood up and removed his shirt, placing it on the chair back. He suddenly frowned. "Too many risks. We need to make sure everyone has the same level of protection but maybe we should tell them what the level of protection we expect them to provide for themselves should be."

He paused and added, "And then only help those that have achieved that level. We don't call it martial law but we only help nations that have adequate security and safety for their people."

Diana reached around with both hands to the back of her neck and started unzipping the top of her costume. She stood up and turned her back to Clark. "So, if they declare martial law, then we help them, is that what you're saying? You know how that sounds?"

Clark stood up and grasped the zipper on her costume. "It sounds like a plan for success," he said as he finished unzipping her.

(The next day. Detroit - noon)

Shayera thought she heard a knock on the door. John had left several hours ago on his space mission. She opened the door expecting J'onn but no one was there. No, that wasn't quite true. There was a cat, a gray colored tabby that walked in the open door.

"J'onn?" she asked the cat in puzzlement as the feline headed straight for the sofa and sat down.

Once seated, the cat surprised her by answering in J'onn's voice, "Yes."

She closed the door and turned around to find J'onn in his true Martian form seated on the sofa. She had dressed in her old yellow and green costume with her feathered helmet. She smiled weakly as she sat next to him and answered the unasked question. "This is for John. Just in case things go badly." It was what I was wearing when we met.

There was a long silence.

"I ask you to reconsider this," he finally said. "It is not necessary and the risk of harm to you is great."

She shook her head and frowned. "J'onn, you must do this. Since Luthor's death...since Wally's death we all have to be able to depend on each other - trust each other more than ever. The others must know that I can be trusted because I have to trust them." She lowered her head and looked into her lap. "You are my family. You five are all I have left."

J'onn nodded. "I understand."

Shayera pointed to an envelope on the coffee table. "If...if things do go badly, give John this letter. It tells him I wanted you to do this and it was not your fault." She trembled as she took a deep breath.

"I'm ready," she announced. He put his hands on the side of her helmet and fixed his eyes on hers. She closed her eyes and quickly re-opened them, setting her hands on his forearms.

"Wait," she said. "J'onn. Thank you...for everything. I have always considered you my friend."

She dropped her hands and looked into J'onn's glowing red eyes.

"And I have always considered you my friend," he replied.

For a split-second, as she gazed deeply into J'onn's red glowing eyes she thought about the things she'd done, the things she'd left unsaid, how much she loved John. That her epitaph on Thanagar would read: 'Traitorous whore'.

There was a sudden, bright flash of light and pain. She opened her mouth to scream but didn't have time before her universe went black.

(The next day in the Watchtower conference room)

"I remind you that it was done at her insistence," J'onn said as he sat across from Superman and Batman at the conference table. "She wanted us to know - all of us to know that we can depend on her."

J'onn didn't need to read Superman's mind to know that he was upset. "How is she?" he asked. There was genuine concern in his question.

"What did you learn?" Batman asked in his deepest monotone. While his voice didn't convey concern, J'onn knew Bruce was surprised that Shayera would go to such an extreme to prove her loyalty.

J'onn looked at Superman as he answered, "She was resting when I left. I asked Diana to look in on her." J'onn glared at Batman as he continued, "I learned she was willing to sacrifice herself to prove a point. And I will never subject her to that again. She is loyal to us and devoted to her mate. That is enough."

Superman nodded.

"I agree, J'onn. It is enough but I have to ask you," he said. "Why did you do it? You could have said no."

J'onn nodded. "Because she is my friend and it was important to her. And I wasn't going to say no to someone I trust and someone who trusted me with her life."

(That afternoon in Detroit)

It was common knowledge that Shayera healed quickly. But the consensus was that she would need a lot of time to heal from her encounter with J'onn. Diana knocked on the door of Shayera's apartment. The winged woman answered dressed in jeans and an open collar shirt. She was wearing her feathered helmet. She didn't say anything as she stepped aside to let Diana enter.

Diana was surprised that Shayera took off her mask after closing the door. Other than John, Diana couldn't think of anyone else who had seen Shayera without her helmet. J'onn's mind probe must have affected her a great deal for her to take off her mask in front of me.

As Shayera walked back to the sofa and sat down, Diana noticed how short Shayera's red hair was, now that it wasn't hidden under her mask. Before Wally's death, Shayera's hair extended down below her shoulders. Afterwards, she'd cut her hair so short that none of it reached below the nape of her neck. Still, Diana thought, she was a very attractive woman even if most of that beauty was hidden under a helmet.

Diana sat down next to Shayera. She leaned forward, bending slightly to look the smaller woman in the eyes. Her tone was sharp. "What you had J'onn do was the dumbest thing imaginable. You could have died to prove what? That we could trust you? If I didn't think I could trust you I would have... "

Diana paused, not sure that her chastisement was registering with Shayera. Finally after some long moments, Diana asked in her softest voice. "Are you going to be okay?"

"I'll be okay. I've had worse happen."

Diana looked away for a moment. Then she reached out and grasped Shayera's hand. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Shayera was silent. Then she answered firmly, "No."

Diana released Shayera's hand and smiled. "Well this morning we had fifteen countries say they'll provide resources in exchange for our help. Superman told them that we would accept their offer with the understanding that we are free to help any country that didn't have the resources to contribute to the operation. All fifteen agreed and he and I will schedule visits to each country this week.

"Superman suggested having J'onn run operations and be responsible for coordinating our activities --- handling the assignments. What do you think about that?"

Shayera's eyes lit up as she flashed a small grin. "I think that's an excellent idea."

(The next day at the Watchtower)

"How could you do that her?" John bellowed as he rushed up to the Martian. "I ought to kill you where you stand."

"Lantern, calm down," J'onn answered. "Shayera insisted that I do it and I was able to report back to the others that she is completely loyal to us and devoted to you."

"Calm down?" John roared. He pointed his finger in J'onn's face. "You could have destroyed her. Your reading the mind of that other Thanagarian turned him into a vegetable. How could you risk doing that to her? I trusted you, dammit!"

J'onn looked down at the finger and then slowly into John's eyes. "She trusted me and I didn't violate that trust." J'onn added with a touch of anger in his voice. "Or her."

John didn't attempt to disguise the rage in his voice. "What do you mean?"

J'onn put his hand on John's shoulder. "She was insistent that I show she could be trusted even at the risk of harm to herself. The others now know what I know. She can be trusted. Anyone who would risk all to show that they are trustworthy - is.

"John, I did not enter her mind. I touched the door of her consciousness but I did not enter. She is my friend and I do not harm my friends."

John eyed the Martian cautiously. His tone was calmer as he asked, "Does she know that? I mean that you didn't do to her what you did to that other Thanagarian?"

"No. Just you and I know," J'onn answered. "This must remain our secret. She believes she risked everything dear to prove her loyalty. And so do the others."

John arched his eyebrows as he stepped back. "So we're keeping secrets from each other now?"

J'onn nodded. "We've always kept secrets from each other. It's the secrets that keep us together." He turned and walked away.

Suddenly John had an uneasy feeling about the path the Justice Lords were now on and wondered whose interests the Martian really represented ---theirs or just his own?

Who reads the mind of the mind reader?

As he walked down the corridor toward the airlock to go back to Earth, John heard J'onn's voice in his head answer his unspoken question.

I do.

END