The Princess of Themyscira

In her weakened state, the heat of re-entry actually hurt, and her bare, battered breasts took the full burning assault of atmospheric friction. In less than sixty seconds, Gaea replaced the powers Diana had voluntarily trimmed, and the Princess of Themyscira turned, fully healed, to speed back toward the satellite. As well-meaning as she knew her friends were, she was furious, and she wasted no time holding back.

Just as they had caught Kal off guard, Wonder Woman came up beneath both women of steel and wrapped her fingers into their capes. They were registering on American radars as hypersonic incoming bogies before they knew what had happened. By then, Wonder Woman had turned, twisting into a standing hover between the recovering Man of Steel and several Justice Leaguers, all of whom seemed stunned at her reaction -- and her appearance. Diana started to fold her arms across her chest in righteous indignation, but chose instead to pose with her legs spread and her fists clenched beside her, every inch the image of the naked fury she felt.

As seasoned as they were, the only one of the five who wasn't having a hard time not gawking was Bruce, sheathed in one of Lantern's safe green shells. He'd seen enough beautiful naked women in his day; another one wasn't going to distract him.

It was he that had the presence of mind to tap his communication bud with the tip of a finger. After the short static crackle that let them all know the frequency had changed, his voice echoed in all their ears. His tone was as dry as the Mojave and tinged with an irritated sarcasm. It was apparent what he thought of their timing. "Sorry, are we interrupting?"

The look that transformed the faces of Captain Marvel and Green Lantern blunted her irritation at the Batman's dry reprimand. It was evident they hadn't beaten the detective to the realization that she hadn't wanted rescuing.

Kal-El hesitated for only a moment and then started floating protectively forward. Despite his reputation, she saw the chivalrous gesture for what it was. Superman was blue and red and impervious. Her lover was fighting one of the more embarrassing moments of his existence. She glanced at him and clasped his hand, holding him back, then looked at the other heroes and raised a haughty brow. "As a matter of fact, yes, you are."

By that time, Power Woman and Supergirl had floated to a stop. The younger of the two was as pink as Captain Marvel. Power Woman simply looked amused. Once Batman had accessed their communications link, everyone became privy to the conversation.

Before their de facto leader could continue, Captain Marvel found his baritone voice. "Ah... We've been ordered to bring you back, Superman. By the President."

With a glare, Batman reasserted his control before either Superman or Wonder Woman could react. "And what, exactly, gives us jurisdiction to do that out here, Captain?"

Marvel turned a self-possessed eye toward The Batman, the Solomon in him finally taking over. "We're directly over U.S. Territory, Bruce. You know that. And he did attack the President of the United States. We can't just..."

"And you know that our satellite was declared sovereign territory almost twenty years ago." Batman glanced over at the two naked super-beings. "Besides, do you really want to go there, Billy?"

On seeing several sets of distracted eyes fall on Wonder Woman's space chilled breasts, Batman sighed at their lack of control. "Diana, if you can give us some coordinates, we'll get a radiation trace on the red kryptonite while you two...tie up loose ends. Clark should be pardoned before supper."

Wonder Woman had respected Bruce's cognitive skills for decades, so his deduction that the problem had been caused by red kryptonite came as no surprise. However, his sense of humor, as seldom as it showed, always surprised her. Tired of being leered at, she crossed her arms over her breasts. "I would look about 150 kilometers due west of Nevado del Ruiz."

Batman nodded and gestured toward Supergirl and Captain Marvel, "You two, on it."

They left. After a few moments of pregnant silence, so did the others. Green Lantern still floated discreetly several hundred yards distance, examining his fingernails while he held Batman's protective shell in place.

Once he was certain everyone else had found a way to become scarce, the black-garbed human adjusted a small dial on a radio box, overriding all but three tuners. Floating closer to the two, he spoke. "Give me four hours to clean this up before you go down."

Feeling suddenly awkward, both Superman and Wonder Woman nodded, stepping on each other's transmission with a simultaneous "Thank you."

"No need to thank me."

The Batman started to turn, then paused and took a familiar barbed flogger with several bent tines from the back of his belt. He held the make-shift whip out to the wide-eyed Kryptonian. "You might need this." Leaving the Man of Steel gaping and the whip floating, Bruce Wayne turned and drifted off.

The Princess of Themyscira was just thinking she'd gotten off light when he called back over his shoulder. "Oh, and Diana...nice tits."