A/N: This chapter was betaed by Nomani and Spring. As always, if you have an idea for a fic, send me an e-mail so we can discuss it.
The only thing Kory hated about coming home to the Clocktower was that she had to fly through a mile of subway to get to it. A scantily-clad superhero couldn't be seen flying into Oracle's secret headquarters, after all.
But after a few minutes of flying without sunlight, she came home, which was warmer by far. She flew up through the elevator shaft, and shot right onto Barbara's floor.
Kory loved Dick with a fervor that was only equaled by her relationship with Donna, but it was possible that what she loved best about being married to Dick was his other wives. Dinah was so glamorous and lighthearted - like her - and they got along like sisters. While Barbara was smart and calculating, a bit like Donna and a bit like Dick had once been: the perfect project for Kory to work on and cheer up and make love to.
She walked through their shared loft. Though each of them had their own little quadrants in the vast floor that held their residences, the influences of one swept through all the others. Donna's photography was particularly popular, as were her gifts of Amazonian artifacts, while the smell of Dinah's cooking and taste in take-out cuisine could be detected just about everywhere. As for Kory herself, she had enjoyed teaching the others how to care for the Tamaranian plants that now tagged virtually every room on the floor. With proper feeding, they bore very succulent fruit.
Kory went to the corner of the libraryāof course, in Barbara's building, the first room through the elevator doors was a libraryāand found her
es'crul
plant thriving in spite of Barbara's earlier warnings about how she didn't have time to care for a plant. Picking an edible petal from one of its flowers, she savored the taste of home.
Then she heard Dinah's voice from behind her. "Are those safe for humans to eat?"
Kory swirled with a smile, perhaps using just a bit of her flight ability to give her hair-toss an extra kick. "Very much soājust like everything on Tamaran."
Dinah smiled back at her, smoothing an errant lock of her own behind her ear. "Good. I've already had, like, twenty."
Kory very pointedly widened her smile as she looked Dinah over. A certain part of her that went with her green eyes judged that Dinah wasn't quite as curvy as herābut it was a near thing. And more importantly, Dinah unknowingly held to a high Tamaranian philosophy: if you're going to defeat someone in battle, you should look good doing it.
Dinah looked very good doing anything.
"And do you still have anāappetite?"
Dinah licked her lips, her own eyes tracking Kory's hand as it trailed down the cool metal of the Tamaranian's armor. What little there was of it, anyway. Tamaranians had very few vital organs to protect...
"Now that you mention it... I've been wanting to ride you all day."
"What's stopping you, wife-fellow?"
***
"Babs, come ride Kory with me! It's amazing!"
The bespectacled redhead didn't look up from her computer, but she did look at the faint reflection on the monitor. Dinah was behind her, straddling Kory as the Tamaranian floated through the air while doing a joking breaststroke.
"Busy," Barbara replied. Her terseness, as usual, signaled that this was not one of those times where she wanted Dinah to 'persuade' her to give up the keyboard.
Dinah pulled on Kory's hair, reining her to a stop. "C'mon, Babs..."
"
You
come on! Ivy just came up with her new plan to kill Bruce."
Unprompted, Kory flew to stand beside Barbara, Dinah awkwardly balancing atop Kory's six feet and four inches. "Will he be alright? What is it?"
Barbara could've
blushed
at how simultaneously scared and determined Kory sounded. Not an ounce of cynicism in her. She would love and defend anyone, especially the adopted father of her beloved Dick Grayson.
"Nothing too bad." Barbara called up the relevant surveillance footage as Dinah pushed through Kory's mane of reddish-gold hair to see it. "She's been up all night breeding a new species of plant. Near as I can place it, it's based on something that grows in
Borneo
."
She tapped on the monitor with her index finger, despite her hatred of smudges. If she couldn't show off a little for her alien sister-wife, what was the point?
"The leaves are edible, and they're the best thing to happen to penises since the blue pill. Just chew one and it doesn't matter if you've gone ten rounds with Huntress, you're instantly backā
up
."
Dinah kept hanging off Kory's strong back like she was a baby in a papoose. "We could use some of that around her. Much simpler than getting another husband."
"Yeah, unfortunately it has a hell of a kick. An overdoseāand by that I mean about
three
ācauses fatal heart failure. I've sent a sample to Dr. Holland in Louisiana."
"Swamp Thing," Dinah whispered to Kory.
"Ooh, I like him."
"
He
," Barbara stressed, calling their attention back to her. She may not have wanted to give a briefing, but as long as she was, they would listen to her. "Is working on a safe version to swap out with Ivy's."
"Not to mention make a fortune," Dinah added.
Kory nodded, which Dinah avoided by ducking her head. "Ivy would do far more good if she used her abilities for niceness instead of evil. Why invent such a thing only to use as a murder weapon? Why not patent it, sell it for profit, and use the proceeds to simply
buy
the woodlands she wants preserved?"
"Well, she's a crazy person," Barbara explained. "But we're working on that."
"Working
hard
," Dinah giggled.
Suddenly, Bruce's voice came over Barbara's speakers. "Yes, Ms. Lance. Very hard."
Barbara gestured to her headset. "Ladies, this is why you shouldn't interrupt me when I'm working. Not even to ride Kory."
"That wasn't what it sounded like!" Dinah said hurriedly.
"Well, let's not be hasty," Kory countered.