Last Kiss Goodbye Chapter II
The Russians took some convincing not to start firing missiles at the meteor. Their first instinct was to meet a threat with force. And so, Diana didn't go to the leaders first. She went to their scientists. When they understood exactly what the object was composed of, she brought the scientists, who were scared out of their wits by this time, to the leaders and let them convince the ruling class. Sometimes diplomacy was faster when dealing with what used to be the USSR. Fortunately, Flash didn't know any of the language, so he couldn't make an ass out of himself and slow the whole process down.
By the time they returned from their mission, Diana could barely make out the form of Superman flying off into space. Alone. She could still feel his lips on hers. It was an illusion, of course, a trick of the mind. But it was a comforting one. He'd better come back from this. She might wish to repeat the experience—in private. Enough of that. Back to business.
She turned to Batman, and without a word, grabbed his throat in one hand and lifted him off his feet. Pointing into the sky with her other hand at the now invisible form of Superman she demanded through gritted teeth. "Explain."
The Dark Knight wasn't ruffled. He had expected this. Well, he hadn't counted on the ferocity, but he knew she would be irritated. Of course, he couldn't answer with a hand around his throat, so he just held her eye and waited.
She dropped him after realizing he couldn't talk. Batman landed gracefully, of course, and adjusted his costume before answering.
"Wonder Woman, you know as well as the rest of us that there was no other way. He was the only one among us that could have any chance of doing it and surviving."
"But alone? This was the best plan that the damned 'Greatest Detective' could come up with?" She spat in disgust.
"This coming from the woman who betrayed the whole team so she could go off to fight alone against a dragon? A dragon that technically, killed you, by the way. If Clark hadn't resusitated--"
"I don't need you to throw that in my face, Bruce. That was different."
"So, how was that different than this? Just because it's him doing it instead of you?"
To that, she only had a hard stare for an answer.
"Diana, it doesn't do him any good for you to get overly emotional right now."
"At least some of us have emotions, Bruce."
It was his turn to stare. "He's my friend too, Diana."
Finally, he offered an olive branch. "Clark can withstand a nuclear explosion. You know that.
"Oracle, this is Diana. What's the estimated explosive force of that rock?"
"Hang on a sec. I'll run it through the computers."
Batman came as close as he could to a prayer. For once in your life, Barbara, lie. And make it convincing.
"Got it. The force would be approximately 52 kilotons of TNT."
Batman winced. If they survived this, he would have a little discussion with Barbara about the necessity of telling the occassional little white lie.
"Translate that to something we can understand, Oracle."
"Umm, well, that would be about..." She hesitated, not wanting to say, but she didn't want to lie either.
"Spit it out, please."
"About two and a half times the power of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima in WWII, and that would be just the concussive force. If you factor in the radioact--"
"That's enough Oracle."
Diana turned away from Bruce and the rest of them. She hugged herself as she silently looked up into the sky where Lantern had created a huge green shield just in case—in case that unstable rock in the heavens blew up before Clark could get it far enough away. The shield was only there to make Lantern feel better. What were the odds that the explosion would send its debris to this exact area on the earth? Clark just wanted him to feel that he was helping. Of course, one of the first objects that would hit that garish green shield would be Clark's body. She shivered.
Diana dropped to her knees and prayed to every god she knew. She knew a lot of them, so it would take some time. She didn't even get half way through her pantheon of gods before she heard the explosion far away. She looked up in time to see the light flash quickly, then disappear. It must have been the brightness that brought her eyes to tears.
