THE next few weeks, Jessica awoke differently than she usually did and there was one word to describe it.
Disturbed.
She went to work as quiet as a mouse, not bothering to make a snarky remark to Doug. She even walked past and paid Chris ten dollars for a bet she lost without a complaint.
Perry, who has never seen Jessica act the way she is now, has clearly had enough. "J.G. Wentworth, my office, now!" Everyone in the office watched Jessica get up while brushing off lint from her black vest. Clark was even starting to become worried about his quick-witted sister. When she entered Perry's office, he stared at her in surprise. "No comeback?" He asked, closing his office door.
"No?"
Meanwhile, Lois, Clark, and the rest of the office rushed over to the door to listen in. "What do you think is happening?" Sheilah asked Lois who pressed her ear against the door.
"I don't know."
Perry took off his glasses, pointing them at her. "These last two weeks you've been nothing but quiet, obedient, and cooperative."
Jess looked at him confused. "Is that bad?"
"I don't know, you tell me. This isn't like you." He waved his glasses around to emphasize her behavior. "Anything else you want to spring out on me?"
Puffing out her cheeks in preparation for what she was about to say, she let stood up straighter. "I'm dropping the Batman story."
Perry stared at her, flabbergasted. "The Batman story?!"
The office gasped outside the door. "The Batman story!" Perry walked over to the door, opening it as Sheilah, Clark, and Lois fell on top of each other. The rest of the office scattered. Lois rolled off Clark's back and rushed off with the rest of the office.
Sheilah, on the other hand, was begging for mercy. "Clark..." She wheezed. "Clark you're warping my spinal cord!" He got to his feet, pulling Sheilah up with a string of apologies before he led her out of Perry's office.
He closed the door with a raise of his blood pressure. "Listen, Jess, over the years I've known you, you've never dropped a story unless I've made you. What's going on?"
"There's nothing wrong."
Perry stared at Jess with narrow eyes. "You're not dropping the story, I didn't hire a quitter."
"Perry!"
"Fine!" He huffed. "For whatever reason, you're dropping the story, I'll support it."
"Thank you." She nodded.
She walked over to the door, opening it to see half the office fall on top of each other once again "Ow! Chris, your elbow is digging into my ribcage!" Sasha gasped.
"Doug, if you don't get your fake Italian leather shoes and knock off cologne out my face!" Lois hissed.
"My question is, did she get fired?" Doug asked.
"You're all about to get fired if you keep snooping around private conversations!" Perry growled.
"But isn't that... our job?" Sheilah mumbled. One look from Perry's face and she was out.
Jess walked back over to her desk, stepping over the jumble of people still trying to get up. Lois, after Clark pulled her out of the dogpile, Clark, and Sheilah came over to talk. "I can't believe you dropped the Batman story." Lois mumbled. Sheilah sipped on her coffee in agreement with what she said.
"Whatever happened, I'm glad you aren't doing it anymore." Clark smiled gently. "He's dangerous and I don't want you getting hurt." He waved at the girls before leaving to do what he did best, dig up snakes that were Batman.
Lois waited until Clark was gone before turning to look at her best friend. "What happened?"
"You can't tell anyone this, especially Clark." The girls nodded their heads. "He came to my apartment and asked me for some help. I used Lex's card he gave me, got what I needed off his computer... secretly, and dealt with integration from Lex about his father."
"Lionel?" Lois asked.
"Yeah." Jess mumbled. "He then gave me Lionel's final letter before I left. His message was coded which said, 'Lex is dangerous'. I tried to tell him I need to keep investigating Lionel's death, give him justice, but he said I couldn't and threatened to lock me up in Arkham if I continued."
Sheilah and Lois made eye contact with each other. "He can't do that, can he?" She asked.
"If he can make up some excuse, I wouldn't put it past him." Lois grumbled with her arms crossed. "Past is the past, you need to bury that Lionel case Jess. I'm being serious. If Gotham's nocturnal man is saying it's dangerous, don't dig up snakes..." She stopped herself. "Ew, I'm starting to sound like Clark."
Jess rolled her eyes. "I'm not fragile Lois."
"Yeah, you may not be, but if you keep falling further down the rabbit hole, you'll end up exposing your secret." Lois was right and Jess knew it. There was a part of her that hated being told no. Her gut was telling her to go for it as well.
Jess ran a hand through her hair. "This isn't about Lionel anymore. This is about if Lex Luthor is a threat or not. I trusted Lionel, if he says his own son is capable of harming people, then I have to take that leap of faith."
"But that isn't the entire reason why you've been so weird." Lois stated with her eyes narrowed. "It's him."
Jess leaned further into her chair. "He hasn't come to see me since that night."
Sheilah shook her head. "Well, just be glad you haven't grown feelings." When Jess didn't answer and just looked away, Lois's mouth fell agape. "Oh God, you did... no me diga..." Sheilah mumbled.
"Jessica... what..." Lois grabbed at her red hair. "You hardly know him!"
"Don't play that card with me." Jess hissed. "You knew Clark for three weeks, he became the 'it', and you kissed him."
"That's different, I researched him beforehand." Lois wanted to take back that last sentence from how bad it sounded. "We almost died."
"And that makes it any better?" Jess asked with a raised brow. "Listen, I don't put into the life you built with Clark, don't tell me who I can and can't have feelings for." She stood to her feet, grabbed her bag, and left the girls still standing by her cubical.
______________________________
LATER that evening, Jessica opted for just staying at home.
She looked over to her balcony right beside her. Life was moving too quickly for her. Between Lionel's letter, Batman's visits, the upcoming D.C. hearing, and her scrambled brain, she didn't know what to do anymore. Jess rubbed her eye on her glasses as she looked over to Lionel's envelope on her nightstand.
She reached over, emptying the envelope into her hand. Her heart almost stopped at the sight of her silver house of El key. She ran her finger over the S while running her other hand over her forehead. "Why the hell didn't you give this to me?" She whispered to herself. She placed the key into her jewelry box on her nightstand.
The light from outside caught sight of the gold foil that was still in her apartment. "It's like I can't get rid of you." She hissed, grabbing it off the stand and getting ready to throw it in the trash before a heavy thump was heard. She paused, placing it back on the nightstand.
Jess looked around to see the same giant black mass standing in the middle of her balcony. She glared at him, not bothering to say anything. The look was the coldest she had ever given anyone and Batman could feel it.
Bruce watched her from where he stood, freezing from her harshness. "It's been a while," He said with a clear of his throat. "I wanted to see if things were alright." He answered gruffly, his voice modifier acting up again.
Jess got up, striding over to him before slamming her balcony doors in his face. Bruce closed his eyes with a sigh. "Great." He grumbled. His anger and compulsive need to protect her led to her giving him the cold shoulder and he hated it. He decided to open the doors anyway. Instead of apologizing, like he wanted, a different sentence flew from his mouth. "I noticed you haven't written an article in two weeks."
"What do you want?"
Bruce watched her curled up form, on her bed, for a moment. "I..." He clenched his fist. "I wanted to apologize. I shouldn't have said what I said, but I know how dangerous this line of work is." He took a few steps closer inside her room. "You'll get hurt."
"I've handled myself before." Batman's response was a roll of his eyes. If there was one thing that he could not stand, it was how stubborn she could be. It drove him so far up the walls. The strap of her nightgown fell down her shoulder, exposing her cream-colored shoulder. "Listen, I get that you want to get information, I really do, but don't pretend you care about me." She asserted, looking back at him with her hair framing her face.
Bruce stayed unmoved from the balcony, he couldn't and wouldn't go in. His mind was making himself stay put, no matter how badly he wanted to be close to her again, to comfort her, but Batman doesn't comfort people. He punishes people who deserve to be punished.
Instead of listening to his intuition, he forced himself to move. She heard him clear his throat. "Jess..." He walked over to her, pushing her strap up her shoulder. He held his hand out to her as Jess looked at it. "Come with me." She grabbed his hand skeptically.
"I'm not dressed to go anywhere."
"It's just to the balcony." Bruce stood Jess right in front of him with his hands on her shoulders once they reached the middle of Jess's balcony. "Now, close your eyes and listen to your city."
Jess released a soft sigh before closing her eyes. She heard the rustling of trees, cars zipping by, friends laughing, music playing, and everything that made her love humanity. "What's this for?"
"To show that you can't be in such a small world." He turned her around to face him. "Your light is too bright for that."
"If this is supposed to be a hero to a damsel in distress moment, you found the wrong woman." Jess mumbled, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Who wants a damsel in distress?" He asked with a smirk. "A woman who can take care of herself is much more attractive."
Jess snorted in amusement. "I would bet." She looked down at her toes to see her outfit once again. "Jesus!" She gasped. "You really need to stop catching me in this gown." Bruce grabbed her upper arms in his gloved hands and pulled her flush against him. Her face turned red like it usually did whenever she's around him.
They looked at each other longingly for a while, trying to read each person's thoughts in the process. With their lips met each other in a slow kiss. It was different from the kiss on the rooftop in Gotham. It was sensual, more emotionally connective. Jessica brought her arms around his covered neck as his tongue darted past her lips. The minute he pulled her legs up and around his waist, holding her up against the wall right next to her balcony doors, is when it became surreal.
Bruce pulled away, holding the gold foil packet between his fingers with a smirk. "Want to put this to good use?" He asked.
Jess laughed under her breath. "These ears... Can they be used as handles?"
"Let's test out that theory." She leaned her head against the wall as she felt his tongue drag up her jugular with his hands sliding up her nightgown
But while in their heated sexual haze, Clark was flying to his sister's apartment. He replayed the speech he rehearsed to himself about how he was sorry about how things were between them now. Until he saw it, from a distance. He quickly darted behind another apartment building.
He tried to rub his eyes, to get rid of his sister in such a state. Thankfully, it was so fast, he didn't see much. It was a quick glimpse, but it still made him want to claw his eyes out.
Clark clenched his fists at the sight of a dark mass, with two pointy ears on the top of his head. He knew his sister had a professional attachment to the Bat, but Clark never knew the man knew where she lived. He clenched his jaw before quietly flying off in any other direction that was not her apartment.
_______________________________
AROUND twelve in the morning, Bruce looked out the balcony with a deep sigh.
Jessica's head was resting on his scarred chest. "Enjoyed yourself?" He asked, turning his gaze down to her.
"Yes..." She kissed his chest and his hand softly before she nestled it tenderly. She was glowing. "You?"
He released a satisfied grunt. "Of course." The grey blanket enveloped her protectively. Bruce kissed the top of her head.
"You know, out of everything going on in my life, this makes more sense to me."
"Why do you say that?" Bruce asked, moving his fingers through her long tresses and down her bareback.
"I don't know, I guess it's all about perspective."
"I didn't hurt you too badly, did I?" Jessica shifted her body just a little so she could have more access to his jaw. Although she had a blindfold on, Bruce helped guide her to lay a soothing kiss on his lips, feeling at peace for the first time in a very long time.
"No, you were perfect."
Bruce chuckled at her response and gave a deep sigh. "I could lie like this forever." He grumbled against her lips when she kissed him again.
Jessica smiled, the cold metal of her chain pressing against one of Bruce's scars. The man quivered slightly at the feeling. "Did I do that?" She asked.
"No, your chain was cold that's all." He mumbled. Jessica ran her fingers over all of his scars. She felt her heart become heavier the more she examined. "What's wrong?"
"I just... didn't realize how many scars you had." She spoke, caressing the marks softly.
Bruce gave a calm hum in satisfaction. "Each of them... well, they carry a memory."
"Most people opt for a photo book." She joked slightly.
Bruce guided his lips up to meet hers in a tempestuous kiss once again. Their two bodies trapped together as Bruce's large body relaxed upon hers. Jessica liked the weight of his body; it made her feel safe.
Bruce's calloused hand ran up her exposed leg. The sheets were tangled and stretched in different directions but that did nothing to keep Bruce away from touching any unexposed skin. He pulled her back on top of his chest, running his hands through her hair.
Jess drifted off into a deep sleep while listening to his heartbeat. She felt so safe in his arms, she couldn't help but fall asleep. She was still wearing their makeshift blindfold as he gently slid it off her face, tossing it onto the floor. He brushed his finger over a stray strand of hair that fell over her face. He looked over to her side table to grab her watch.
Carefully reaching to grab it, he tried not to shuffle too much. His mask was off, so he did not want her to see his face. Too much explaining for one night.
1:30 a.m.
He groaned lightly; he didn't want to leave. He was not even supposed to have stayed so long anyway. He was just frustrated with Alfred's words of advice and could not help but go see her. Bruce huffed at his predicament before freezing when he felt her snuggle further into his chest.
He placed a gentle kiss on her forehead, watching her pink lips twitch into a small smile. Bruce made sure to carefully remove and re-dress himself as quietly as he could. Something in Bruce was jealous, even though she was seeing the same person, he only got to see Jessica, as his true self, a few times.
Before he put his mask back on, he stared at it for a few seconds. He knew he should have stopped while he was ahead of himself, but there was a part of him that could not stop while visiting her as Batman.
He told himself it was because she was safer in Metropolis and didn't have to continuously worry about her safety. He has been leading her on the entire time he's been visiting her, he supposed she was finally tired of him not making the first move.
No wonder why he's so attracted to her, her independence is so attractive. He needed to make up his mind about who he wanted to show her. He cannot keep stringing her along as Alfred said. She was only going to get her heartbroken, in the end, by both Bruce and Batman.
With a final note, a gentle caress to her cheek, and a tender kiss on her lips, he left the same way he came in. To his surprise, he still had time to make a special delivery by the doc. Taking the Bat jet back to Gotham, he made perfect time when he traded his jet for the Batmobile.
2:30 a.m.
Right on time.
Bruce waited in the Batmobile for them to load the Kryptonite into the large transport truck. To pass the time, he zoned out to just a couple of hours ago.
He usually did not think of one-nighters the day after, but he couldn't help himself. He could not even say one-nighter with Jessica, it just felt wrong. It did not feel right rolling off his tongue.
He briefly remembered the way she caressed the scars he has gotten over the years, how she lovingly kissed them. "Master Wayne?" Alfred's voice rang through his earpiece, knocking Bruce out of his wet thoughts.
"Yes, Alfred?" He asked, clearing his throat for what seems the millionth time that night.
Alfred caught onto it, smirking knowingly behind the computer but acted like he did not know. He was just a silly old butler.
He fought against teasing him until Bruce got home later that night. "The men appear on the move, this seems like the best time to make your move, sire." Alfred commented, beginning to look at the map to see where they were heading thanks to the Bat-tracker.
Aboard the White Portuguese, Anatoli Knyazev and his men take a crate out of the ship. Atop a nearby crane, Batman is standing on top of it with a rifle. The crate is loaded onto a LexCorp truck, as Bruce watched from the rifle scope. "Move out!" Anatoli barked.
After he closed the back door, Bruce fired a homing beacon onto it. It was a little green device surrounded by clear glue. The thugs who had just closed the door ran towards their vehicles to escort the truck.
Just as they leave the port, one of the thugs on the backseat of a car noticed the Batmobile is waiting outside. "Go, go, go, go!"
The thugs grab weapons, one grabbing a machine gun, they fire it into the Batmobile's direction once his car starts moving. Bruce crashed into a car, hurling it into a portable trailer.
He then fires his harpoon launcher at the car, dragging it behind him and slamming it into walls and barriers.
After chasing down the enemy vehicle who keeps on firing, he detached the harpoon and let the crushed car crash onto the other. While the Batmobile is catching up to the convoy, another car fires at the Batmobile with a Gatling gun.
Unfazed, Bruce fired his own guns back, destroying the car. The truck itself opens, revealing Anatoli with a rocket launcher. The Batmobile continues to chase after the convoy until it takes a turn after seeing an incoming tanker truck - which the car in front of him does not- crashing and causing a massive explosion.
The Batmobile maneuvers its way around warehouses and lands on top of the convoy, crashing through the roof, nearly missing Anatoli. Nevertheless, Bruce continues his chase after the convoy, deploying flares to ward off homing missiles.
Suddenly, as Bruce turned a sharp corner, he crossed paths with Superman. They both glare at one another, disdain in each of their eyes. Bruce didn't have enough time to turn the car, so, he opted on just ramming into the alien instead.
Proving that the 'running the man of steel over' strategy didn't work out so well, the car merely bounced off Superman like a bumper car. The Batmobile collided with Superman and crashed into a nearby gas container. It exploded, causing a chain reaction among the other containers to burst into flames as well.
Clark remained steady, and tore the roof off the vehicle, with his impeccable strength, and tossed them to the side effortlessly. He was ready to confront the vigilante directly as Bruce stood up in defiance. He kept his hands clenched to his side.
They both stared intensely at each other. As though they thought, if they tried hard enough, one of them would die where they stood. Clark tightened his jaw, this was the man that was visiting his city every night, his sister, and did the unthinkable with her. If he could snap his neck, he would.
"Next time they shine your light in the sky, don't go to it. The Bat is dead, bury it. Consider this mercy." Clark warned while his sharp jawline clenched and released in anger. He was doing the people a favor, a favor to rid their city of a corrupt man.
"Stay out of Metropolis, stay away from the people of Gotham, and especially stay away from Ms. Kent. She doesn't need your... influence." Clark growled, turning around to fly away. "If she is some infatuation you have, consider it done.''
This, Batman, vigilante was nothing more than an idiotic method of scaring people into getting what he wanted. He was no better than the people he claimed to stop.
He was not going to continue to let him scare those innocent people, and he will be damned if he would do it to his dear sister. He would kill him if she were to ever get hurt.
Bruce was taken back by the demand the alien made. Who was he to dictate who Jessica was to see and not see? It made him livid. She was her own woman. This alien wasn't allowed to decide what a human can do.
The deep voice of Batman stopped him. "Tell me..." Clark turned his head to look at him. "Do you bleed?" Bruce asked with a deadly calm look on his features. Clark kept his gaze over his shoulder and gave a hard stare. He needed to leave before things got too heated for him. He flew off back home, breaking the sound barrier as he did.
Bruce watched him leave with his jaw practically glued shut, if it were quiet enough, you could almost hear the cracking of his teeth. "You will."