Clueless Part 2

A Fallen Mate (or, What In The World Is That Smell?) by Ronnie K.

The Medi-Lab was silent, except for the low hum of various machines scattered around the large room. All of them were medical units of one kind or another, except for the small emergency generator in the corner. Most of them were gifts from either earthly or alien sources that were donated with gratitude to the Justice League for services rendered. `Services rendered' generally meant having saved the donor's culture or planet from destruction or invasion. Small lights blinked or pulsed on some of the equipment, dancing to some tune that the other machines were humming. The overhead lights were dim, since the human technicians that worked there had already finished their workday. Diana noticed none of this as she swept through the large double doors. The only thing that registered in her conscious mind was the brightly lit glass-enclosed chamber in the middle of the room and the figure lying on a table within it. There was nothing else in the universe as far as she was concerned. Nothing else that mattered, anyway. The chamber was a solar radiation room. The large metal apparatus hanging from the ceiling looked very much like a large funnel, which was designed to take sunlight, concentrate and purify the rays, then direct them onto the table beneath it. On that table was the Man of Steel, stripped down to his shorts to have as much flesh exposed to the light as possible. Since he was for all intents and purposes a solar-powered being, this process was the equivalent of trying to charge a very large battery and that charging would take time. That is what the senior doctor of the station's medical team had told them. Diana recalled the look of concern on his face while he gave his prognosis. His report came in while Wonder Woman gave an incident report to the rest of the League about what had happened down there in the desert. The doctor's video report had come in just as the meeting was wrapping up and just as an agitated Diana was getting ready to rush out to the lab to sit with her friend. Since no one really understood kryptonian physiology that well, the prognosis was uncertain. Diana, still bedraggled from the afternoon's battle, was sure that Kal would recover soon. He had to. This was her fault. He was here because she had acted impatiently and rashly. She pulled a chair from the corner and placed it next to his still form. The table was fairly low to the ground, so she could look at his face while she sat. She leaned forward in the chair so that her face was only inches from his. From time to time, she would turn her head to watch the rise and fall of his chest to reassure herself that he was still breathing. Mostly, though, she kept her attention on his face as if she was trying through force of will to make his eyes open. "What have I done to you, Kal? I'm sorry I acted the way I did. I know better, but I let my guard down because my mind was on something else. That never should have happened. I—" She abruptly straightened herself in her chair as she heard the doors to the lab open. Into the room strode the Green Lantern, Flash, Power Girl and the Martian Manhunter. Everyone on the station had wanted to come and at least see Superman, but it was decided that only the senior members would be allowed into the lab until he was conscious. The senior members on-station would give everyone status reports on his condition from time to time. As they looked upon their fallen comrade, their expressions became grim. J'Onn stared intently at Superman for a few moments and then nodded. "His thought patterns indicate a normal sleep. Not his usual strong patterns, but they aren't fading." J'Onn's telepathic abilities came in handy for things other than combat. At this pronouncement, the others in the room seemed to relax a little, except for Diana. Power Girl didn't relax either, but she was staring at Diana and not at Superman. Flash, for his part, managed to keep his tongue still, while Lantern merely said "I'll be more than happy to pass along that status report." With that, he turned and left the room followed by Flash and J'Onn. Flash turned to ask whether Power Girl was coming, she told him that she would be along soon. After the doors had closed, she turned back to face a still seated Diana. A Diana with a fierce gleam in her eye as she met the gaze of her fiery teammate. Wonder Woman and Power Girl had worked together many times over the years, but rarely in harmony. Wonder Woman had lectured Power Girl on her habit of just charging into situations without thought, letting her yearning for battle override her brains. The blond beauty had strength not far below Diana's and a battle spirit that nearly matched her too. What she lacked was the patience to plan ahead so that the whole team could work smoothly and efficiently. Diana tried to teach her, but the lessons always descended into arguments. For her part, Power Girl resented the lectures, even though they were never given when others were present. She felt while some planning was necessary, sometimes it was just time to go in and break heads. Now it was Diana who had acted precipitously and she fully expected to hear about it, but she really wasn't in the mood for it. However, Power Girl was shaking her head. "No, you don't know what I'm thinking or what I'm going to say. And, no, I didn't stay back to lecture you. I know you, and you'll be beating yourself up over this for a long time without my help." She leaned forward, reaching out to put her hands on Diana's shoulders. "First, of all, I wanted to say that Superman will be fine. You know that he will be. Second, I wanted to tell you—well, I don't know how to put it nicely, so here goes. You need a shower. You smell like a garbage dump and you look even worse." Diana looked across the room to the mirror on the far wall. What she saw was Medusa…on a really bad day. She had taken Kal to the lab straight from the transporter. From there, she went to give the report and from there she came directly here. She had completely forgotten about her shower. She was prepared to forgo the shower anyway until he woke, but Power Girl continued "Do you really want him to see you like this when he wakes up?" Diana intended to protest that she didn't care and of course it didn't matter at all, but what came out of her mouth was "Great Gods, no, I don't want him to see me like this." Power Girl smiled and Diane chuckled. "So, I'll stay here with him while you clean yourself up and relax for an hour or two. If he happens to wake up, I will call you immediately. Okay?" "Okay." Diana stood up to go, but before she did she turned to face the blond bombshell. "Thank you, PG. I appreciate this more than you know." "Oh, I know." And to Diana's confusion, PG glanced and Superman, looked at her, and winked. With that, PG sat in the vacated chair, took off her gloves and began to work on her fingernails with the file she plucked from her belt. With one more look at Kal, Diana went quickly to her quarters. The blond powerhouse smiled as she watched the amazon go. PG's cell phone chirped, startling her for a moment. The caller ID told her it was Super Girl. She picked it up on the third chirp. "Hi, Kara." PG put down her nail file to concentrate on the call. "Yes, we think he'll be fine. He's out like a light, but J'Onn says he seems okay." "No, he's here in the lab under the whatever-ya-call this thing with the bright light." "Uh-huhn, oh yeah, that's what they call it." "Of course Diana's been here. She was mooning over him the whole time, until I came in, that is. I just shooshed her out to take a shower and freshen up." "How did I get her to go? Get this. I said `do you really want him to see you like this when he wakes up?'. Well, she finally looked at herself in the mirror, coated in oil and gunk, and hightailed it to her room to take a shower as if her butt was on fire." With a chuckle, PG said "No, she's still hanging onto that `we're best friends' b.s. She really believes it. "He's oblivious too? Really, Kara, you'd expect that a man with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men blah-blah-blah could put two and two together. Well, he's a man, I guess, so what can you expect?" "Yeah, okay. There'll be more news by the time you can get here, I'm sure." "Alright. I'll see you then. Bye" She put the phone back into its' pocket on her belt and picked up the nail file again. It's been a quiet universe lately, but at least it wasn't boring.