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The Batcave computer gave Carmilla five seconds of warning that someone from the Justice League Headquarters was teleporting down to the cave before the teleporter pod at the far end of the large room flashed blue and a figure stepped out. The computer told her exactly who had entered her cave and Carmilla took half a second to remind herself of the rule - ' no dating for batwoman'. She didn't have the time and it was too risky.
“Wow! And to think the others didn’t think that would actually work.”
Her silence interrupted, Carmilla pulled her cowl back over her head and let her dark curls tumble over her shoulder before facing her new visitor. Scowl firmly in place, “That code was for emergencies only and somehow it doesn’t seem like the Watchtower is under attack.”
The figure paused, “I could leave?”
Carmilla’s scowl only grew as her heart did a flip in her chest and her gruff words slipped out, “You’re here now. Might as well tell me what was so important.”
The effect of her frown was entirely lost when Laura wasn’t even looking at her. With her sword on one hip and her lasso on the other, Wonder Woman was gazing around the Batcave with a critical look in her eye, “You don’t have any natural light down here at all. No wonder you’re so broody.”
Carmilla sighed and turned back to her computer, “I’m Batwoman, Princess. Secret hide-outs aren’t exactly conducive to windows.”
Laura frowned and despite Carmilla’s best efforts, a small smile slipped out at Laura’s nose crinkle, “I understand that most of the League, including you and Danny, have secret identities but I don’t entirely understand them. Why don’t you want the world to know who you are?”
“Because Superwoman is a literal illegal alien and sticks out enough with the height of her ginger head. She wants to blend in.” Carmilla typed a few words on the Joker into her computer.
“And you?” Laura’s boots clicked on the metal ramp leading to the computer. She never flew when talking to Carmilla unless it was relevant to battle. Not once. Always staying grounded even when the others took to the air for a casual float. “Why do you have a secret identity when you’re a human?”
“I have to keep my air of mystery somehow, now don’t I?” Carmilla said. She turned, subtly adjusting to put Laura in her line of sight, “Keeps the mystery alive.”
Exactly as expected, Laura’s lit up at the underlying challenge, “I bet I can figure it out.”
“In your dreams, Princess.”
“Just you wait!”
Carmilla pointedly ignored the way Laura dropped into a chair beside her. Laura stared at her, fingers playing with the loops of her lasso and Carmilla had to wonder what it meant to wear truth so casually on your hip. A constant light source that left a dim glow over the console keyboard, drawing Carmilla’s eye like a moth to a flame. She glanced at the screen instead, the gruesome details of the Joker’s latest plan and the length’s Batwoman had gone to in order to stop them laid bare for Laura to see.
She hovered over the exit button. Some people were light. Others were dark. The lasso glowed on them both.
Carmilla left the window open. Laura’s gaze was open as she glanced over what Carmilla was working on. Waiting, Carmilla busied herself cleaning the edges of her batarangs. Head ducked so she could eye the metal better. It was best not to look an immortal Amazon Princesses in the eye. It was best not to get involved with that type of business.
She wondered if Laura could hear her heartbeat and made a mental note to reinforce her chestplate against super-hearing.
When she looked up, she was surprised to find Laura looking at her instead of the screen, “You don’t trust the team, do you?”
“I don’t trust anyone,” Carmilla said, “It exposes vulnerabilities.”
She couldn’t get away from Laura’s eyes, “You gave me a code to the cave. I didn’t even realize that meant anything until the others were so surprised when I volunteered to go after you and, well, I know you didn’t do it for me. I get that it’s a just in case type of thing. But. I just. I don’t understand why you gave it to me instead of one of the others. You’ve known them all longer. I am, the ‘newbie’, as Laf says.”
The memory of Laura’s sad and confused eyes filled her mind, freshly cast off her island and never allowed to return for her crime of leaving to help mankind. Laura’s home had been taken from her just because she’d been too kind. Too curious. Too eager to help. All Laura had been left with was a room in the Watcher, the League’s floating space station. A far cry from an island paradise. Carmilla hadn’t known what to do, knowing Laura wouldn’t take her money or one of her other houses, so she’d pressed a code into the Princess's hand before she could stop her herself. A ‘just in case’ gruffly falling from her lips before Carmilla whirled in her cape and retreated.
After all, Batwoman wasn’t allowed to have feelings.
So Carmilla just scoffed, “Well I’m certainly not going to give it to Superwoman. She falls over with a sliver of a rock. Not exactly confidence inspiring.”
Laura frowned, “I meant to ask, how much Kryptonite do you have down here actually?”
She let her tone slip into something wry, “Enough that you can borrow some if that’s what you’re asking. Get the right quantity and the giant ginger gets all pale but can’t quite figure out why. Great to get out of long meetings.”
“Batwoman!” Laura said.
“Just saying,” Carmilla shrugged, “But I suppose you and the ginger giant prefer to keep it close.” She fought to keep her voice neutral.
It was suddenly possible for an Amazon warrior princess who could cleave off 3 men’s heads with a single swing to look sheepish, “Actually. Danny and I. We kinda broke up? Not that we were really dating but I realized that we weren’t good for each other and I wanted- we wanted other things so we’re not dating. Never were dating. Who’s dating? Not me. I’m so single. Make a note.” Her cheeks went the most vibrant shade of red and Carmilla actually considered scanning her for an alien parasite.
Laura buried her face in her hands, “Forget I said that.”
Carmilla just waited for the computer ding - “Now making a note that 'Wonder Woman' is “so single”. She grinned as Laura groaned into her hands.
The most powerful woman in the world was an adorable puddle in her bat-chair.
She really needed to get a jump on that heartbeat proof armour. Not that it mattered. No dating for the Batwoman. No time. Besides, she’d just drag Laura down in her darkness.
Topic change, “Were you here for a reason, Princess?” Carmilla turned back to her computer and started placing an order for sound insulating materials, “Or did you just swing by to update me on your relationship status?”
“Right.” Laura straightened and got a look in her eye that made Carmilla want to slump into her chair, “We need to talk about that last League meeting. You can’t just storm out because you don’t like what other people are saying! That’s not fair.”
Carmilla sighed. It was going to be a long night.
#
Laura cornered her after the next meeting and if Carmilla had expected praise for both sitting through the meeting and not once laying a trip wire to watch Kirsch fall when he used his superspeed to grab a sandwich during the discussion, she didn’t get it.
Instead, Laura grabbed her arm and said, “I bet you’re someone famous! Aren’t you? That’s why you don’t want anyone to know! Because the team would recognize you!”
With her soundproof armour in place, Carmilla felt safe letting Laura loop their arms together. Her heart could be as loud as it wanted and no-one would know.
“That’s an interesting theory,” she said.
It was worth the look on Danny’s face when, 25 minutes later, Carmilla still hadn’t left the Watchtower as Laura chatted about Carmilla’s identity and the merits of the latest baked good that she’d found in the kitchen commissary. Arms linked the whole time.
#
She snuck a box of creampuffs into the Watchtower, keeping to the shadows and turning off cameras so there would be no evidence of Batwoman with a bright pink box of baked goods in her arms.
It was just to test the flaws of the system.
It had nothing to do with the fact that Laura had mentioned she’d never tried creampuffs before.
#
“Carmilla!” Mattie threw her tuxedo jacket at her face, “I am not your butler or your babysitter and so help me if you do not get in that limo right now and get to the charity ball then I will be on the next flight to Morocco and you can stitch up your own wounds the next time you get sliced by one of Catwoman’s claws.”
Extracting herself from the jacket, Carmilla found Mattie glaring down at her and remembered where she’d learned the batglare from, “If you’re not my butler or your babysitter,” Carmilla said, “then why are you telling me what to do?”
Mattie rolled her eyes, “I’m your older sister. That’s my right.”
“I hate this kind of thing.” Carmilla slipped the jacket over her crisp shirt as Mattie went into her accessory closet to retrieve Carmilla a tie, “I don’t want to go.”
“You have to, darling,” Mattie returned to loop the tie around her neck, “Infamous billionaire player Carmilla Karnstein hasn’t been out on the town for weeks and people are starting to talk. We wouldn’t them prying into any of your secrets now would we?”
Grumbling, Carmilla let Mattie tie the tie neatly around her neck.
“Besides,” Mattie started on her cufflinks, “I had a little peek at the guest list and I think this one will be interesting.”
Carmilla had the entire limo ride to wonder what Mattie had meant before pasting on her laziest smile and sauntering down a red carpet. She made a quick round of the party, grabbing champagne and throwing winks to pretty girls with every pass, but couldn’t find a thing to hold her interest. The parties were always the same. Drunk debutantes and ego-filled CEOs.
Until, the reporters on the carpet outside nearly exploded with noise, “That’s Wonder Woman!”
Laura was smiling graciously at the reporters, her uniform replaced with a dark blue dress that hugged her body and a small clutch. Only her bracelets remained, silver weapons that still passed as high fashion.
Eventually though, her face became strained as the reporters crowded closer and closer - too polite to extricate herself.
Carmilla was moving before she could remember to put a lecherous grin on her face so, when she held her hand out to Laura, all she was wearing was her tux and a pleasant smile, “May I have this dance?”
The crowd was loud but Laura still turned at her voice, surprise on her face that quickly turned to something else as she took Carmilla in. A hundred expressions flashing through her face at once. When they settled, her eyes sparkled
“Yes!”
Hands locking, Laura let Carmilla pull her from the crowd.
Without the gloves between them, Carmilla found that Laura’s skin was soft and that her hand fit perfectly in Carmilla’s own. She quickly swung Laura into the waltz, blending into the crowd on the dance floor. When Laura instantly matched her stance, she had to grin. Of course the Amazon Princess had already picked up the intricacies of dancing.
“I’d like to thank you for the rescue,” Laura said, “but I don’t believe we’ve met before Miss- ?”
“Karnstein,” Carmilla broke the dance just long enough to kiss the back of Laura’s hand, “Carmilla Karnstein and it’s my pleasure. The reporters can be a bit of a nuisance.”
“Like Karnstein Enterprises!” Laura said.
Carmilla nodded, “That’s the one. My parent’s business. I’m really more of a figurehead these days, too much fun to be had to spend it in a stuffy boardroom.”
She expected Laura to step away at the first hint of her alter ego but instead they fell back into step as easily as they fell into formation fighting.
“I’m afraid I don’t know much about either of those,” Laura said, “This is my attempt at stepping out more, having some fun. A charity seemed like a good cause but I hadn’t considered the reporters.”
Carmilla gave Laura a small spin, “Well, I hope your night improves.”
“Oh, it already has.” The smile Laura gave her had something sexy tinged at the edges and Carmilla suddenly wished for her armour as her heartbeat went at a million miles a second.
But where Batwoman walked away, player Carmilla Karnstein wasn’t allowed to leave a beautiful woman on the dance floor. Especially not Wonder woman. That would be a headline for sure.
So Carmilla moved their dance pattern a hairsbreadth closer, fingers drawing patterns on Laura’s waist, “I’m glad you’re having fun, Princess. Because this is already my best night of the decade and trust me, I’ve had some very very good nights. There’s nowhere to go but up.” The smile Carmilla gave Laura back wasn’t subtle. It was perfectly calculated to be sexy and seductive, just a touch of Batwoman husk oozing out.
Laura’s breath caught and Carmilla found herself caught in the small sound.
“You never know how they evening might turn out,” Despite the blush in her cheeks, Laura’s words were confident as she leaned in, “Keeps the mystery alive.”
She couldn’t do it.
Couldn’t tarnish Wonder Woman’s reputation like this.
She stepped back, keeping the dance at a respectable distance, “I’m surprised you agreed to dance with me. My reputation isn’t a particularly good one. In fact, I relish that it’s quite a bad one. All drunk parties and beautiful women.”
Laura raised her eyebrows, “Are you warning me off yourself? That doesn’t seem very in line with this supposed bad girl reputation you’re telling me about.”
Carmilla gave her a final spin, “I’m still gentlewoman enough to know which women, beautiful though they may be, are not toys. You’d best to keep your distance.”
Watching her for a moment, Laura did the exact opposite. She leaned in and pressed a gentle kiss to Carmilla’s cheek, “I’ve never been very good at staying away from things other people label as bad because they don’t know better.” Her perfume lingered, “Enjoy your night, Carmilla. We’ll try to finish this dance later.”
As if on cue, the ceiling crashed open and a dozen black clad military figures dropped into the party with guns. Laura and Carmilla dashed off in different directions, Carmilla ran to grab her stashed gear but then stopped at the sound of a second large crash. When she looked over, Wonder Woman was steadily working her way through the armed men.
No help needed.
So Carmilla grinned, grabbed a glass of champagne, and sat back to watch the show.
#
There was always something. The street on fire around them as civilians ran from the sudden onslaught of villains. Carmilla threw a batarang at one of Lex Luthor’s henchmen and dropped into a squat as Gorilla Grod’s punch whizzed past her head. Carmilla dove around the him, throwing a small sparking object that sent a massive amount of electricity through the gorilla on impact. She barely had time to catch her feet before she was trading blows with Mr Freeze, grabbing his ice gun and breaking it over her knee.
It was always annoying when the villains decided to team up.
She jumped and rolled, cape flowing behind her as an explosion ran out overhead. Carmilla put a hand to her earpiece, “Superwoman. Hawkgirl. Where are we on that missile silo?”
Mel’s grating voice cut through, “Still working on it bat for brains. Supes over here decided that busting through the door was better than sneaking our way in.”
“Well hurry up,” Carmilla snapped, “Not much we can do here if any of those missiles actually fires.” Flash ran past her and Kirsch paused long enough to give her a dopey grin before streaking away in a red blur to plow over Cobra and his giant snake costume.
“Roger that.”
Carmilla broke the glass on the window of a nearby car and pulled a kid from the backseat. Thrusting him into his mother’s arms, she accessed the other channel, “Miss Martian. Cyborg. Where are we on the other silo?”
“Laf’s hacking into the system now,” Perry’s voice cut through, “but they’re saying it’s actively resisting their circuits.”
Carmilla huffed, vaulting onto the top of the car and shooting her batclaw at the nearest apartment building. She took off through the air to land on a balcony, “Keep me updated.” She eyed the scene below. Kirsch was still a red blur between the bodies, mostly focused on getting people to safety while the yellow light glowing to her left told her exactly where Theo was. Doublechecking the tracker she’d put on the yellow lantern always made her feel better. There was something slimey about him.
To her right was the real show. Wonder Woman was practically tearing through the villains they encountered, as Carmilla watched, she was sparing with Cheetah. The martial arts that Laura had spent decades learning flowed easily, allowing her to pin the other woman and knock her unconscious. Then Laura reached behind her and grabbed her shield, bashing an oncoming sword from the air and whirling on her new attacker with a literal smile on her face.
Carmilla couldn’t help but smile.
It vanished when she noticed the red light on Wonder Woman’s shoulder. It only took a quick calculation and Carmilla was dropped onto the balcony two floors down. She smashed into Deadshot with her feet first, knocking him clear across the balcony and the gun from his hand. He got to his feet quickly and Carmilla nearly doubled over at the one two shot to her ribs even as she got him with an elbow to the head. He leapt for his gun but she was on him, tackling them both straight off the balcony.
28 stories up.
Without her batplane on standby. She was in the middle of contemplating how to best turn her cape into a parachute when a pair of warm arms wrapped around her chest and under her armpits, “going my way?” She could literally hear Laura’s smile in her ear as Wonder Woman practically hugged her from behind.
At least she hadn’t caught her bridle style. Carmilla would have never lived it down.
“Since most of us are subject to gravity,” Carmilla said, “The only way I was going was down.”
“That’s exactly where I was going to!” Laura said, “We should go together. Unless you’d prefer to try it on your own.”
Carmilla rolled her eyes, “Just get me down, Princess.”
“I saw you save me you know. I mean, I could have stopped the bullet with my bracelets but thank you.” Laura put her down gently.
All Carmilla said was “Duck.”
Laura didn’t even hesitate. Three batarangs went spinning over her head to whack the three henchmen closing in on them in the chest. The next thing Carmilla knew, Laura’s lasso was whipping out past her and pulling the three stunned men towards them. Laura punched two of them. Carmilla got the third. When another set of bullets rang out, Laura literally plucked them from the air at the same time Carmilla returned a batarang.
Then there was a crackle in their ears, “Come i~ one missile ~g~t~ headed~ ~city.”
There was a moment where the world seemed to pause and the henchmen faded away. Her gaze met Laura’s both of them with wide eyes and a hand halfway to their ears. A moment and an instant and a look that would be forever written on the back of Carmilla’s eyelids.
In the next moment, Wonder Woman was already in the air and flying to intercept the missile. Carmilla sprinted towards the Batmobile, yelling at Kirsch to keep the henchmen rounded up. She threw herself into the seat of the car and punched the ignition, calculating the exact location the missile was set to land.
“Wonder Woman!” She shouted, “Laura come in!”
At first she heard nothing but wind. Then, “I found it! You’re going to have to talk me through dissembling this ignition!”
Her hands were tight on the steering wheel as Carmilla streaked down the streets while trying to keep her voice calm as she talked Laura through it.
“I got it!” a tired triumphant Laura proclaimed.
Carmilla closed her eyes. Hoping.
“Why is it still flying?”
Hope dashed. She fought to keep her voice steady, “That cut out the ignition sequence but it’s still flying, if that thing hits the ground with too much force it’s still going to explode and we don’t have any way to change the coordinates from here.”
“Okay.” She could hear that trademark Wonder Woman confidence, “Okay, then I’ll just stop it manually. Just push it real hard.”
“I’ll be waiting for you, Princess.” Carmilla promised.
She didn’t mention what they both knew to be true. The missiles were massive and extremely dense, packed full with experimental particles that Lex had conjured up in one of his labs. Carmilla had tested Laura’s limits personally when they’d first started the League. This would be at the very edge of Laura’s strength.
Not even looking at where she parked the car, Carmilla jumped from the seat just in time to see the missile appear on the horizon and pointed straight at her. A smallest speck in front of it and pushing with all her might against it. It was slowing.
But not stopping.
Laura was straining, a scream of effort ripping from her throat as she pushed back against the missile. Her feet touched the ground, the momentum ripping massive troughs in the dirt as she held the missile in the air while it pushed her back along the ground. Carmilla sprinted after her, cape flowing behind and her heart in her chest. And it wasn’t because the missile was about to crash into a skyscraper.
All she could see was the missile tilt on a 45 degree angle, then stop. Then fall.
Laura never appeared.
Carmilla ran faster, cursing her human legs as she sprinted past the metal and around the nose cone. It hadn’t gone off, the city had been saved.
But.
Laura was nowhere to be seen. It took Carmilla five seconds to figure out what had happened. The angle of the missile and the awkward way it had stopped both fresh in her mind. It had buried Laura and fallen on top of her. Even Wonder woman needed air.
Carmilla slammed to her knees and started digging, frantically clawing at the dirt with her hands and trying to pull it aside. “Wonder Woman!” she shouted, “Laura! Laura! Come in.”
Only static spoke back to her.
She clawed through the dirt, growling as it fell back into the hole and uncaring of the fact that there was no way she could move an entire missile anyway. Carmilla just knew she had to dig. Had to try. Her brain a frazzled mess that refused to come up with one tool or item she could use to pry the missile off. She just needed to dig Laura out so that she wasn’t crushed under pounds of dirt and metal.
“Bat-bro,” there was a hand on her shoulder, “She’s gone.”
Carmilla ripped from Kirsch’s grasp but her hands fell still. Her head bowed as her chest heaved.
Then the earth screamed and the missile moved, falling to the side to reveal Laura shoving it aside. Exhaustion was written on her face as she lay back in the mud and huffed for air but she was smiling. The knot in Carmilla’s chest loosened. When four figures appeared in the air around them, Batwoman stood. Face impassive.
“Laura!” Superwoman was the first to land with Mel right behind her, “Are you okay?”
Laura waved her off and slowly got to her feet, “I’m fine. Gotta work out more apparently.” She crawled from the hole and Carmilla’s knot loosened entirely to see her fine. Dirty. But okay. Laura glanced at Carmilla, eyes dropping to her hands and Carmilla smoothly moved the dirt covered gloves beneath her cape.
Laf leapt from Perry’s arms, their robot eye already sweeping Laura for injuries with a red beam of light, “Way to go frosh, saved the day!”
“Yeah,” Mel added, “Not bad.”
Carmilla couldn’t hold it in. “She wouldn’t of had to if you’d all just done your jobs,” she snapped, “This never should of even happened.”
With everything bubbling in her chest, Carmilla didn’t wait to hear the apologies and explanations. She just climbed into the Batmobile and peeled away, hitting Danny in the fast with the exhaust.
#
The Batcave elevator swished open as Carmilla danced around her sparring ring, dodging her robotic opponent. “I’m not in the mood, Mattie.” Carmilla cut off what was sure to be a lecture, “So just don’t, okay? Not today.”
“Um. Actually it’s me?”
Carmilla was so surprised to hear Laura’s voice that she froze just long enough for the robotic opponent to punch her in the gut, air whooshing from her throat.
“Holy crap!” There were warm hands on her bare shoulders and the robot was somehow moved across the ring, “I should have called first. I’m sorry?”
Carmilla growled and waved her off. She forced words through the pain of her empty lungs, “It’s fine, Princess. What do you need?”
There was no reply but the hands on her shoulders twitched slightly, thumb brushing softly before it froze like it knew it shouldn’t have done that. It was enough to make Carmilla realize exactly what she was wearing. Her costume was draped over the edges of the sparring ring, cape and armour gone to leave her only in a sports bra, short shorts, and a domino mask that was half the size of her usual cowl.
The mask under the mask. You could never be too safe.
Laura’s thumb had found one of the hundred scars riddling her body and was tracing it up and down her shoulder muscle. She was kneeling right in front of Carmilla, dressed in civilian clothes. They were face to face with their knees barely touching. Laura wouldn’t quite look her in the eye, focusing instead on her shoulder as her long brown hair tumbled over her shoulder.
“I saw your gloves,” Laura said softly, “they were all dirty and I was going to say something but then you left in and I was going to go after you but Danny was being all hovery and I couldn’t get away. But,” she paused, “I saw your gloves. They were all dirty.”
Carmilla said nothing. She couldn’t. Not as Laura’s gaze finally swept up to meet her own.
“Thank you for trying to save me.” Laura said. Then, somehow too fast for Carmilla to see coming but so slow that she could savour every moment, Laura leaned in and quickly kissed her cheek.
Then she sprang up, hands windmilling, “Besides, it would have been a travesty if something had happened to me before I got the rest of that dance out of you.” The smile Laura gave her was tentative but firm.
Wait a minute.
Carmilla’s brain, which had ground to a halt, slowly kicked back into gear as she stood, “You came down the elevator.”
“Your sister let me in. I really didn’t want to teleport up and then back down just to get here.” Laura winced when Carmilla said nothing, “You’re not mad are you?”
Oddly, she wasn’t.
Slowly crossing the ring, Carmilla grabbed her water bottle and took a sip, “How’d you figure it out?”
She wasn’t expecting the sheer sexiness that crossed Laura’s face, “Why Batwoman, you can’t hold a girl that close when you dance with her and not expect her to figure it out.”
Carmilla blinked.
“Besides,” Laura added cheerfully, “I memorized your mouth.” Then she turned bright red as Carmilla smirked. “Because it’s the only part of you that I can see in your costume!” Laura added hastily, “That’s it. That’s totally it!”
“Sure, Princess.” Carmilla deadpanned, “You’ve just been staring at my lips. That’s a totally normal thing to do.”
“Carmilla!” Laura objected.
She forcibly held back the smile when Laura said her name. Laura didn’t even bother, just grinning at her. She said it again, “Carmilla. Carmilla. Car. Mil. La.”
“You just about done?”
Laura shrugged, “it suits you. Except one thing,” she crossed the ring and tentatively reached out. Hands paused, waiting for permission.
Carmilla nodded.
Soft fingers found the edges of her mask and slowly peeled it from her face. Laura’s gaze roamed her features. A soft prayer, “Carmilla.”
“That’s me,” Carmilla said weakly.
Laura took a deep breath and stepped back but her eyes never left Carmilla’s face, “You were training right? Before I interrupted?” Her face shone, “You wanna spar? Danny’s always afraid she’ll hurt me. I haven’t had a good match in months.”
How could she refuse?
“No powers.”
“No powers,” Laura agreed.
The rule was supposed to be no dating for the Batwoman but when Laura whipped off her own shirt, letting it fall to the floor so she matched Carmilla in just a sports bra so that she was all abs and grinning Princess, Carmilla knew the truth. She was so screwed.