Justice League of Amazons: Mass Effect

Chapter 4

…

After the trip to Brazil, Adam was once more busy, running some repairs on one of the new Javelins which had some of the upgrades he had installed into it to make it a more durable vehicle. It had been some time since he had finished his little romp in Brazil and at least even though it had been taxing with Fire around he was able to enjoy himself and soon got her Hardsuit ready. Even with her powers, Fire did not have a high level of endurance in terms of injury so the armour would certainly be an aid.

The other Javelins were getting ready for an overhaul, but this one had taken a serious beating on one of the ops that took the League out of Earth's system and was now here under his...tender mercies.

Sad thing was...he was a soldier, definitely not an engineer, and most certainly not a mechanic so it took him a while to get the repairs done, and along the way, new faces were joining the League so far. he placed those thoughts out of his brain for now though and tapped on his Omni-Tool and ran through the diagnostics once more and he swore to himself.

"This is why I wish I had an engineering course in my brain."

He reached for the nearby bottle of water for a drink when he accidentally knocked it down.

"Aw, damn it!"

He swore in annoyance and was about to go and get it when.

"Em, ot revo toalf."

The bottle was covered in a glowing nimbus of energy and soon flew into the hands of none other than Zatanna Zatara who took the bottle from the air as it floated over to her and soon hand it back to Adam. She smiled as she did so, and he could not help but smile back as well in thanks as he pulled the cap off and drank the cool liquid.

"Busy day, huh?" the magician enquired conversationally.

"You could say that. I have no idea what Shayera was doing on the controls of this Javelin, but I could have sworn she tried to pull the moves Joker used to do. The wiring on one side was corroded, three circuit boards fried, and I swear I saw viscosity in the lubricants...I might not be a full blown engineer or mechanic, but this is not normal," Adam said.

"Yeah well, she is a fighter and a Thanagarian... anyway, most of the League are busy wrapping things up right now, and I heard that Batgirl, Huntress, and Black Canary are dealing with the Sirens again," replied Zatanna.

"The who?"

"Catwoman, the eco terrorist Poison Ivy, and Harley Quinn."

"Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't she the Joker's widow?"

"Yeah, thankfully she's not AS crazy as Joker was, though she has been in mourning for the past months after the virus did it's work," said Zatanna. "Honestly I have no idea just what was it in that crazed maniac that she saw, as she used to be a well-respected psychologist for crying out loud," she added.

Adam nodded and then recalled his Yeoman Kelly who he happened to be good friends with, not romantically involved friends, just friends. All he could hope for was that she got off the station before the Reapers got into it and took control of the damned thing.

"People can be surprising beings, Zatanna, what about you? Are you going on a mission today?" Adam asked.

"Nope, nothing really, but I did have to work...being an actual magic user is not going to pay the bills, so I'm off on another stage gig in Vegas. Say... why don't you..." Zatanna trailed away.

"Come with you and see you perform, right?" Adam finished for her.

Zatanna smiled at that though she also pouted at being caught off guard so easily. Still, she was not going to give up on taking Adam out with her to Vegas, though she might as well get the patented Sad Puppy Dog Eyes ready on the off chance that he was going to say no.

Adam sighed and rubbed his forehead at this; sure a trip to Vegas sounded nice, but being there with Zatanna and being in a now all female Vegas was something that screamed danger to him. But he also saw that Zatanna was very much eager to go and do this with him in tow and certainly had nothing else waiting for him apart from fixing the next Javelin. However, looking at Zatanna in her very eye-catching getup was playing merry hell on his hormones again and yet another reason for him to try and say no. But first he had to be diplomatic about it since Zatanna was a good person.

"Look Zatanna...it's not that the idea of going to Vegas with you to me is bad, but seriously...you want me to go to Sin City as it's known which by now is inhabited solely by women? I might as well be wearing briefs made from meat and jump into a pit with tigers and lions."

"That's an interesting picture, but I insist, besides I can use my magic to help you blend in and get out. You already went out with the others, Adam, may I at least be able to have my time with you too?" Zatanna pleaded.

"Zatanna..." Adam tried to say when suddenly…

Out came the Sad Puppy Dog Eyes.

Adam sighed and tried to resist the look Zatanna was giving him, but as soon as she placed her hands underneath her more than ample bust and gave him a sad pout, he felt his resolve going down faster than an ice wall before a blow torch. He tried in vain to resist the pout and the eyes but finally...

"Sigh... you are an evil woman, you know that? Fine...I'll go along." Adam relented.

Zatanna smiled and without any fanfare hugged Adam who stiffened slightly at the contact.

...

In Caesar's Palace...

Adam sighed greatly at the fact that he was now in a tuxedo of all things and was currently the guest of honour in a sense and had the front row seat to face the stage as Zatanna performed. As he predicted, the place was packed with ONLY women, this time the bouncers were not men anymore but women as well. And the fact that he was the ONLY male there was rather disconcerting, but at the very least he was not being mobbed as the women were a bit calmer than that. That did not mean though they did not give him ogling looks and lustful stares. Soon he saw Zatanna in action and had to admit that she was a true natural on stage and certainly had the beauty to go with the figure in the getup.

How no one figured she was a member of the league he would never know.

It was not long before she did the whole Rabbit out of the Hat routine but he knew that this was true magic and got a bit of a surprise when he was taken by a massive hand that was the same one that Zatanna used to reach into the top hat. A feeling of being lifted was felt, then blackness and now he found himself on Zatanna's palm where she and the rest were the giants and he was smaller...much smaller and where Zatanna smiled at him, unmindful of the fact that was able to get a VERY good eyeful of her like this.

She smirked and spoke.

"Well, not exactly a rabbit but still a heck of a lot better huh ladies?"

The women whooped and cheered as Zatanna did the trick in reverse, only this time he was now on stage as she spoke.

"So, thanks to our illustrious guest Adam Shepard for being such a good sport...so tell me, what reward should we give him?"

(Oh man, this is a bad idea...)

Soon some of the women began giving Zatanna very lewd suggestions, some of which really made Adam blush bright red which was something that made all the women give him a smile of enjoyment. That is until Zatanna settled on one.

"Oh? So, give him a deep kiss while giving him a bit of a lap dance? Interesting! let's do it shall we?"

Zatanna immediately conjured a comfortable chair and pushed Adam into it and perched herself on his lap straddling his waist, looked him deep in the eye before giving him a soft gentle kiss. Adam tensed up as he felt Zatanna's soft full lips press themselves to his own and his hands gripped the armrests tightly almost breaking them. After a few seconds, Adam began to relax as Zatanna kept on kissing him and she soon began to grind her buttocks into Adam's lap which had sprung to life at the feeling of her ass grinding into.

Zatanna pulled away from kissing him to remark loudly to the crowd "Is that a gun in your pocket? Or are you just happy to see me?" she asked loudly which made all the women wolf-whistle and make lewd catcalls much to Adam's embarrassment and he gaped at Zatanna like a stunned mullet as his expression accurately portrayed such feelings of shock, arousal and embarrassment.

"What say we get a little more comfortable, shall we?" Zatanna suggested and she snapped her finger and she was soon wearing a more revealing version of her stage outfit in truth it was just a thong, her fishnet stockings, her gloves and her dress shirt with her bow tie while Adam was in nothing but some black silk boxers which caused pleasant friction on his arousal.

"I think we can all agree that Adam looks much better now?" Zatanna asked the audience who cheered and whooped. Adam suddenly stood up knocking Zatanna off his lap and he strode stiffly away into the guts of the theatre leaving behind a very confused Zatanna who honestly was only having a bit of fun.

A few of the women in the audience looked at each other in confusion, most of them thought that the Spectre would have liked this which only showed that they didn't know Adam all that well.

Zatanna quickly followed after Adam and said "Adam? What's wrong?" she asked in concern.

Adam rounded on her and she took a step back when she saw the burning anger in his eyes as he replied "You think that I liked that?! You think I enjoy all this?!" he gritted out through clenched teeth. "Being some object?!" he yelled.

Zatanna flinched at the harsh tone in the Spectre's voice and she said "I was just having some fun with you," she said weakly.

"Oh yeah? Removing most of my clothes and yours till we're just in our underwear so you can give me a lap-dance in front of an audience?" Adam asked. "I was raised better than that, Ms Zatara! God, sometimes I honestly wish I hadn't made the decision to sacrifice myself to end the Reaper cycle and end up in this universe where I'm treated like some piece of meat!" he yelled and again Zatanna flinched at the anger in his voice and was almost tearing up as she realised that what she just did with Adam shouldn't have been done without his consent.

"I was just..." Zatanna began.

"Take me back to the Tower!" Adam muttered angrily not looking at her and Zatanna just waved her hand and Adam was back in his room aboard the Watchtower.

...

Hours later in the Watch Tower...

(Okay...so maybe blowing my top at Zatanna was a bit much...)

Adam was still in his room and unlike much earlier when he had been in a VERY irate mood, as soon as he got back, he refused to come out of his room and quickly turned on the cold showers and did not care if he placed the water temp at nearly to below zero. That damned lap dance and kiss plus being nearly naked had done a number on his nerves and his libido.

Sure, he could get that Zatanna was trying to have a little fun, but that little bit of fun as she called it was actually going into VERY dangerous territory as his hormones had literally exploded and had he not regained control of himself and letting his anger get the better of him, lust would have taken over instead and who knew that that led to.

And so here he was, fresh out of the shower and now drinking down at least three glasses of ice water to cool his damn hormones, as well as cool his temper. Now with that out of the way he figured it would be best that he figure out how to apologize to Zatanna, she was still a good person at heart and his explosive reaction and the talking down to. While his reaction was understandable it was still a bit much indeed now that he thought about it. He had no doubt that she might decide to come and see him though there was no doubt that word of what happened was already working its way up on the Tower...yep this was going to be an interesting conversation, he just knew it.

...

"You know...I really think that you went a bit too far this time Zatanna, no wonder Adam was so furious when he got back to the Tower."

Zatanna groaned at that as she was currently being accompanied by Wonder Woman herself...after that...less than welcome situation, it was a miracle that the events that happened in the back of the Theatre did not leak to the press. But it was not long before the league learned of it and, they were not that sure how to react. Adam did blow up at Zatanna, one of their own, but at the same time, Adam had reason to finally explode at the magic user. After all she pretty much stripped him down to his boxers in public and he was already stressed out by the fact he was on YouTube.

"I know...I really did it for a bit of fun but...I guess I deserved that one, I did it without his consent and in public too...I should have just kissed him and be done with it. Has he...?"

"Left the room? No, he has not and he is not in the best of moods, it's been a while though, so I cannot say if he has calmed down."

"Yeah...I guess I will have to find out huh?"

Diana nodded and was a bit worried for Zatanna on the fact that Adam would still be mad at her if she arrived.

'True...but are you sure that you wish t face him right now Zatanna, I can help smooth things over if you wish?"

"No Di... I appreciate the gesture, but this is my mess and I owe an apology to Adam."

"Very well, I wish you luck then Zatanna."

...

It was not long before she arrived at the door of Adam's room and steeled herself and tapped on the intercomm into the room to show that someone was at the door.

Soon Adam's tired voice came out.

"Who is it?"

Zatanna gulped and spoke...

"Uh...it's me Adam...Zatanna."

Even though it came through the intercom, Zatanna could tell that Adam was not very happy yet to hear her voice.

"So...you're here...what is it?"

"I...wanted to apologize for what happened before, I deserved that tongue lashing you gave me since I did all that without your consent. I made a mistake in not considering how you felt about all of this and for that I'm sorry. I know that you might still be angry so I will leave for now until you feel ready and willing to talk to me, okay?"

Adam did not answer for a minute or two and Zatanna mentally sighed and was about to leave when the door opened, and Adam was now looking at her intently and she looked back...hoping that he was not going to explode again. Nothing happened at first until Adam sighed and spoke to her.

"Come inside, let's talk."

Zatanna nodded and did not argue, not wanting this chance to damaged even more. he knew she was on extremely thin ice with Adam, so she decided to play it safe. He gestured for her to sit down and she did so, and he soon sat in front of her and looked her right in the eyes. Nothing happened for a moment and then he spoke.

"Zatanna...what you did was not only against my consent, but it was also uncalled for," Adam began.

"I know...I'm sorry for that."

"I can tell, you're being sincere and I do accept your apology...and I too have to apologize for blowing up at you like I did."

Zatanna was about to respond and Adam cut her words off.

"Let me finish, okay? Yes, I was angry at you ,and yes, there was a part of me that was angry at being treated like this ever since I woke up. But I went too far in saying that. Losing my life...my very sense of self back where I came from was in a way the right choice in my mind, and I have no plans to take it back. I remember dying for the first time very well Zatanna, and so to live again was shocking...and even more so now. But that does not mean I lost my appreciation for life, and to be alive again is not something one can just ignore or throw aside. Whatever reason I...am alive again, I'm not going to throw it away just like that."

Adam sighed and he looked seriously at Zatanna again.

'And to be perfectly honest...another reason was i was angry at you was that you had NO idea just how much trouble you were going to be in had you carried on with what you did."

He could see Zatanna was confused by this and he explained.

"When you did that, I had to rein in my hormones like crazy to keep my more primal self from getting hold of me. I was THIS close to going to hell with it all and taking more direct action. Had I not gotten away I would have either taken you on the stage or even when you were following me back in the theatre's rear area. The only reason I didn't do neither was because I let my anger control me, it was either that or let my lust take over. And I can bet it would have looked REALLY bad had I done that on stage in front of the audience huh?"

Zatanna quickly got the message and blushed like mad...she apparently had no idea that it was that bad for Adam and how close he was to losing his control. And realizing that he would have finally snapped and did it with her on national television was naturally a PR disaster waiting to happen.

"I'm so sorry, I had no idea," she said in shocked realisation.

Adam sighed and replied.

"Now you do...and I hope that it shows just how hard it is for me to be in a situation like this...and being around all of you ladies in the League is only making it worse at times. It's only because of my being raised right and the fact I want to know the woman first before I go to bed with them. Call me old fashioned, but that's who I am and I won't change. But let me be clear...this one incident does not mean that we are done, if you are willing to mend fences then so am I. Deal?" he offered.

Zatanna nodded, relieved at least to know that despite what happened and her violation of his consent, he was still willing to forgive her and that was a good thing.

"Deal," she said.

Adam shook her hand when she offered it and escorted her out of his room but then did something, she did not expect...he gently kissed her back on the lips, and it made her blush a bit more before they broke apart and he spoke.

"And the next time I ever wind up in that like before...at least ask me for my consent next time."

Zatanna nodded and asked, "Well how about I make it up to you?" she asked.

Adam looked at her and said, "What did you have in mind?"

"Say... dinner at my place tonight?" Zatanna suggested "And I promise I won't try anything like what I did in Vegas," she was quick to say. "Unless I have your consent," she added.

"Okay, fine, let's have dinner at your place," Adam replied and Zatanna waved her hands and suddenly she and Adam were inside an opulent looking mansion and Adam asked "Where are we?" he asked as he looked around.

"We're at my place, Shadowcrest," Zatanna replied "My family's owned this place for centuries," she said as she lead the Spectre down the hallway to the dining room.

"Where is it exactly?" Adam asked as he sat at the dining table.

"It's everywhere and nowhere all at once, as my dad would say," Zatanna replied mysteriously "But right now we're outside of Gotham City where I usually base it in case... Bruce ever needed my help," she said with a twinge of sadness.

"You still miss him, don't you?" Adam asked and Zatanna nodded before wiping her eyes and replied "Yeah, I miss Bruce a lot," she said "he was my first love," she added.

"Tell me about him," Adam said and Zatanna then began telling the Spectre of the time she knew Bruce Wayne when he was training under her father Giovanni Zatara to be an escape artist and her big crush on the man who would become the Dark Knight of Gotham.

…

It had been a few days ever since he and Zatanna made peace with one another and it was a good thing as it had been a bit tense in the Tower after the incident in Vegas. The better news if one could call it that was no one had spoken about the incident and even the usually hungry media were not chasing the whole event. That helped ease Adam's mind as he busied himself in crafting some new armour modules for the hardsuits and also checking his own gear to see if it was up to speed. For now, the rest of the League were busy doing their own thing while those who were in the rest and recovery list were either resting in the Tower or were off to their home towns, or cities to unwind. Unlike them though his only base of operations and home was the Tower...not that it bothered him, he was born on a military ship and spent most of his traveling as a tyke was a star ship and hanging out with his parents usually meant either on a military base or on a space station.

As he worked on the modules, he turned to look at the latest models for some more of the League when he spotted a white-haired beauty in a leotard in deep ice blue complete with white trim about. he recalled that this one was Ice, Fire's friend, and she was also a meta-human with powers over ice. Tora as she was called was the exact opposite of Fire though it was more along the lines of her being less of a flirt than Fire than being emotionless like ice itself as one could call it.

She was actually fairly nice and had a gentle demeanour, which was a far cry from her more crazed killer counter-part, the aptly named Killer Frost...and for that he was thankful since fighting an ice themed villain reminded him WAY too much of the time had to move away from the damaged Mako back on Noveria once to take out one pesky Geth Rocket Trooper who was apparently trying to blow their own means of making it to Peak 15 alive. Normally that would not have been a problem if he had winter combat gear on but to his annoyance and self-loathing he forgot to switch into the gear so naturally after he dealt with the pest he spent half the time in the Mako thawing himself much to the amusement of the others in his team.

Having to deal with someone being able to do the same thing was not on his things to do list...yet.

"Hello there Adam, how are you?"

Adam looked at Ice and smiled at her, making her smile right back as he replied to her question.

"Just making some new module packages plus some new Hardsuit designs for anyone else in the League who does not have one...and now that I think about it...you don't have one."

"I know...so, you planning to outfit me at some point?"

"Yeah, though how to make a suit that does not inhibit your powers is a bit of challenge for me...anyhow, no new missions on your side of the deck?"

Ice shook her head and replied while rubbing he side of her ribs.

"Not right now, I did get into a fight with some new robot soldier units that went berserk a while back, I took them down but got injured so right now I plan to go back to Iceland and take a bit of time off to recuperate and reconnect to my homeland. What of you, Adam?"

"Not much really, I was born into a military family Ice..."

"Please, you are a trusted ally of the League, so you can call me Tora."

"Very well...Tora, so as I said before, I was born into a military family and considering...I was born in another world I pretty much have nowhere to call home, except here."

Tora gave him a sad and understanding look, she like all the others knew of Adam's life and the choices he mad as well so she could understand why he would say that this was the only place he could call home. She then had an idea and hoped that perhaps Adam would agree, it would give her time to be with the man and also get to know him more. She too found him a very desirable man, but she respected his rights and unlike Fire had not flirted so openly before him.

"If you wish, you can come with me to my homeland for a time, Iceland is a good a place to rest...but only if you want to of course..."

Adam saw the blush on Tora's face and admitted that her asking his permission was a rather new thing and he liked that, plus he knew Iceland was not as crime ridden as some places and a cool place to relax, no pun intended sounded VERY promising.

"Sure, why not?"

...

Later...

Tora was utterly pleased that she was back home, and Adam seemed to enjoy the place as well, she had decided to take the time to prepare a traditional Nordic Meal for lunch with smoked lamb, mashed potatoes, cured herring, a hot drink of tea, and some skyr. Adam liked the food and Tora was pleased to see that he enjoyed her cooking as it had been a while since she had done something like this before. She too had her own lunch which included wind dried haddock, cooked Icelandic beef, rye bread, and tea as well. Once the meal was done between them Tora decided to take Adam to touring the countryside near her home and it was something she enjoyed doing.

The Spectre himself enjoyed the looks of Iceland and did not mind the fact that he had to wear winter clothing, after all the missions he did on ice worlds , the cold here on Earth as mild compared to those places. Tora herself enjoyed looking over the land and when they returned to her home, she decided to get a fire going and just enjoy the atmosphere here, and with her powers she did not mind the cold as much. She also decided to prepare a guest room bed for Adam but then some of the pain from her recent injuries flared up and she groaned a bit. Adam sensed that and spoke gently.

"Injuries acting up again?"

"Yeah, I have some healing salve in my room, I'll go and get it..."

"No, I can do it, just tell me where to find it."

Tora did so and soon Adam came back with the salve and Tora moved to use the salve on her injuries, but Adam asked her permission to place it where it hurt, Tora blushed at that but a slightly naughty side of her decided to play the game a bit and go along with it. So, she nodded and moved her clothing to the side to allow Adam access to her injured side and she moaned as the healing salve did its work...aware of the fact that she had to lose her upper clothing to do so though she had her back turned from Adam.

Adam was steeling himself as he began applying the healing salve to Tora's injuries which were on her back, sides, hips and left thigh. He was struggling to remain a gentleman as she took off her top and bra so her upper body was bared but she thankfully kept her back to turned to him as he applied the salve.

Tora gave an appreciative moan as she felt Adam's firm hands apply the salve to her injuries and she asked "Have you ever thought about being a doctor?"

"I never gave it much thought," Adam admitted. "Why?" he asked curiously.

"Well, you've certainly got a gentle touch," Tora remarked "One trait of a good doctor," she said with some amusement.

"That would be one trait needed," Adam agreed as he finished applying the salve to Tora's back and hesitantly asked her to take her pants off so he could apply the salve to the rest of her injuries. Tora complied easily but in the interest of being polite, she kept her chest covered for Adam's sake and took off her shoes and pants to reveal her legs to Adam who began to apply the salve to her leg injuries.

Feeling Adam's hands on her legs made Tora moan loudly in pleasure and she quickly put a hand to her mouth in embarrassment as the moan of pleasure came out and she saw the blush on Adam's face, and he remarked "Well... that was unexpected," he managed to say as he stopped applying the salve to her legs.

"Yeah... sorry about that," Tora replied.

"It's fine," Adam said waving away her apology "I just don't want you to get the wrong idea of me trying to get into your pants like this," he added.

"I know you wouldn't do anything like that," Tora said to him "I read your interview with Lois Lane and how you would rather get to know a woman instead of just sleeping with her and throwing her away," she added.

"Some guys like Joker would tell me that I'm wasting such a golden opportunity being in this universe," Adam replied.

"The fact you don't abuse such a thing like this speaks volumes of what a good person you are," Tora said with conviction "And I highly doubt that men who would be in a position like yours would act the same as you," she added.

Adam shrugged and finished applying the healing salve to Tora's injuries and she quickly put her pants back on and the rest of the evening was spent enjoying each other's company.

…

After spending the day in Iceland with Tora, Adam was back on the Watchtower. He was busy running some new tests on Barbara's Armor and fixing any bugs that it had. She put it through its paces, that much was clear, and it was a good sign in his books since it showed that it was doing its job. The barriers needed to be calibrated again and some new armour parts needed to be checked for cracks. He ran it through his mind which was improved thanks to his being transformed so he was not going nuts already. Barbara was busy handling the business aspect of now inheriting Bruce's businesses and more, so he had no doubt that she needed a break. No matter how good she was, being the new heiress to her now deceased mentor's fortune and businesses and the main protector of Gotham was a major test of her being a young woman.

And no doubt the loss of so many good people, including her father, her mentor, and those who were family to her was a serious shock still, and he felt sorry for her in many ways. It reminded him of both himself and Liara in a way, the former was due to the duty of being a her to his people and the first Human Spectre and soon feeling the weight of the galaxy on his shoulders when he learned of the Reapers, and the latter...well, Liara had been a shy and introverted but talented and compassionate young Asari archaeologist who's only experience in combat was fighting the occasional slaver or pirate snooping on dig sites. But afterwards she lost her mother to Saren and the Reapers and had to grow up fast and soon took to becoming the Shadow Broker.

War changes people...for better or worse...

Adam knew of the old saying and he was sure that at times Barbara had to slow down and rest before she suffered a burnout, he knew that and always did something not to stress himself out. The hardest part at the time was when he was on Thessia...when the Reapers invaded, it took a lot for him to find the time to unburden himself after witnessing the fall of Thessia...even more so for Liara...it was her home after all.

Those thoughts were laced aside however when lo and behold Barbara came in, and she wasi n her older uniform, since her hardsuit was with him. She smiled a bit and he smiled back.

"Hello, Barbara, busy day?" Adam asked her

"Not really, most of the crime in Gotham has gone down at least...the new armor you gave me helped keeping me alive...and...I have some good news at least," replied Barbara.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, I have some new prospective recruits to help me in keeping Gotham safe...still need time to be sure if they have what it takes and all. I'm not really sure that I'm cut out for being a leader and all that."

Adam nodded.

"I can understand that, being a leader's a tough life, making decisions every day that can make or break people. You at times do what you can to save lives, but at times you know that you have to give orders that could put them in harm's way for the sake of the mission. believe me, I've been there more than I care to like."

Barbara nodded, very much aware of Adam's past actions and then had an idea, she had been alone most of the time in Wayne Manor and while some of her family lived with her, they had their own lives and so she was on her own. She had no Alfred to be there...he died from Aresia's virus long ago and thus she had to hire only those she knew could be trusted...having looked over all their files in the same meticulous manner that Bruce did in the past. She was lonely and she was still very young, heck she was going to have her coming of age at 18 soon so some company would be nice. And right now the only one she could think of was Adam, of course she decided to ask politely.

"Adam...I guess I should tell you, I will be turning eighteen tomorrow."

Adam quickly got the message and smiled.

"So, it's your birthday tomorrow and turning eighteen huh? Yeah, I think I know what you mean by that. Congratulations on that front, Barbara."

"Thanks...I...want to invite you for dinner as well if you want to, I mean, i would have asked the girls in the League and all, but I guess I wanted it to be a normal dinner meal in a way, I can always have a real birthday celebration at a later date anyhow, I just want some normalcy for a change before a party."

"Oh? Not to sound like I am saying no or anything Barbara, but why just me?" Adam enquired

"I actually wanted to ask Dick to come with me for my birthday and all that..but...well..." Barbara took in a shaky breath trying to delay the emotions threatening to overwhelm as memories of her old boyfriend ran through her head and his final moments as he succumbed to the virus.

Adam nodded and sighed.

"Say no more...when do you want me at the manor?"

"Five thirty sound okay?"

...

True to his word Adam showed up at five thirty in the afternoon, fully dressed and ready, the staff were there to hep but apparently for the most part Barbara did the cooking, and when he arrived, he had to admit she knew how to cook, and he was dressed well. He was soon greeted to the sight of Barbara cooking in the kitchen and while she was having a hard time, he admired her drive and she smiled at him.

"Almost finishing up. I'm no Alfred, but I do my best, had to since Dad...God Bless him, did not have a lot of time to cook and so did my mom then...so I had to cook on occasion. Care to try?"

Adam did so and found the beef stew actually pretty good, a bit light on the herbs but still worth the effort.

"Pretty good, let's dig in."

Soon enough the two had a good meal, true to her word, Barbara was not that good a cook and usually had staff on hand to help her out to use the kitchen and all the items in it as well as the kitchen appliances. But she did well enough to be a capable chef, and he made his point perfectly clear, and that seemed to buoy the redhead's spirits, Lord knows she needed that since she had so many responsibilities to handle and she was not yet out of college for crying out loud! Adam knew that and he did his best to help her out, plus chatting with her was something he liked, she was passionate about her work, on both fronts and dedicated, but still a young woman and he could see how hard it was for her to lose so many good people in her life.

They enjoyed the time they had there and soon as dinner wound down, she had the cake that she had brought in. It was simple thing, for all her new found wealth and resources, Barbara Gordon was at heart a simple girl and practical, she was not going to squander so much money on too flashy a party. Only time she would was when the League was with her and they needed a good send off, for now though she was with Adam and she was going to milk it for she could get.

The candles were soon blown out and Barbara was happy, but then she suddenly broke down into tears and Adam moved to hold her, and she apologized.

"Sorry...I just wished that my...Dad was here..."

"I understand..."

They stayed that way for a while until Barbara moved away to activate the nearby sound system and soon soft music began to play and soon, she began to dance, thankfully it was a waltz and Adam was actually familiar with that dance style. His mother Hannah insisted he learn it in order to at least know how to dance if with a lady. And she would have approved of Barbara, not too sure how his mom would see his situation though. As they began to dance together, he could tell that Barbara was enjoying this greatly and he had to resist the urge to be a bit more...amorous since Barbara Gordon's choice of a sheer red and black dress that showed her beauty and form without being too showy once she was done cooking earlier was impressive.

The fact she pressed into his form even more made it obvious.

Slowly turning on the spot, Barbara relaxed into Adam's arms and sighed dreamily (I could get used to this) she thought as she danced with Adam. The redhead then looked up at Adam and smiled at him which he returned, and she laid her head on his chest again, listening to his heartbeat which was a soothing rhythm to her ears.

But then Barbara stumbled a bit and she fell over. Adam quickly tried to prevent her from falling but got pulled down with her. There was a slight ripping sound and Adam then saw that part of Barbara's dress was torn revealing her breasts clad in a black lacy bra.

Adam quickly looked away from Barbara not wanting her to think that he was pervert and said a hasty apology "Sorry!" he quickly said as he looked away from the redhead.

"It's okay," Barbara replied as she looked at her torn dress and said "I can easily get this stitched up at the dressmaker's," she said "And besides, most guys would love this kind of view in person," she added with some humour to lighten the mood.

"I'm not most guys," Adam stated even though Barbara could hear the want and need in his voice.

"It's okay, I mean I got to see you naked when you were at the sperm bank donating your stuff, so this is more like fair play" she said as she gently turned Adam's head to face her and she looked at him then looked down at her breasts which Adam followed and gave a slight smile before he said "I suppose it would be fair to see you like this," he reasoned "But I would want to get to know you, instead of getting into bed with you then leaving you the next morning," he said.

Barbara nodded before standing up and said "I'd better get out of this dress and it something that won't tear as easily," she said and Adam nodded in agreement.

…

TO BE CONTINUED…

A/N: Hello, everyone, and welcome back to this little story. I know it's been close to three or four year since this was updated, but due to some nasty reviews from people who called this story 'boring' or 'repetitious' and criticised Adam's character and even said that it was bad form to post a dead man's work, that I left this story in the ice box for a long time. But a couple of you have asked me to continue this so I thought I might give you a little bit more of what Freedom Guard and I wrote together as I do kind of owe to you guys, as well as to Freedom to continue this.

And to those who left such criticisms, if you don't like the story then don't read it, it's that simple and the way (M)Shepard is portrayed in this is entirely my doing as I've never played any of the Mass Effect games in my life, so I don't have a good idea of Shepard's character or the plotline of Mass Effect other than through what Freedom Guard shared with me. Again, if you don't like the story then don't bother reading it, the exit's over there.

In other news, I've got a new story in the works, a crossover between Game of Thrones and Smallville where Aegon VI/Young Griff ends up in the Smallville universe after season 10 and in the season 11 comic series and I've set up a voting poll on my profile so feel free to vote and leave your two cents on whom you want Aegon VI to be paired with.

And on a different note, I've come up with a potential story arc for my Dragonborn Justice story that pays homage to the Red Dead Redemption game, or rather, it's DLC, Undead Nightmare and just to give you an idea of it, here's a quick little teaser for it, enjoy!

…

In the Tower of Fate, Doctor Fate/Nabu/Zatara floated in the air, legs crossed and in deep intense meditation. Nabu felt a vibration in the mystic ether and he was focussing on it, trying to discern what the problem. Flashes of the dead rising from their graves and attacking the living and the final image was a mask made of jade being removed from an altar.

Zatara's eyes snapped open. "Klarion... you fool!" the mixed voices of Zatara and Nabu breathed. With a wave of his hands, Doctor Fate disappeared from the Tower and reappeared a moment later in the Watchtower conference room where the trinity of the Justice League and some but not all the other League members were seated.

"Justice League, I bring grave tidings," Doctor Fate announced.

"What seems to be the problem, Doctor?" Superman asked getting right to the matter.

"There has been a great upheaval in the mystic ether, the line between the living and the dead has been broken," Doctor Fate said with dread.

"I felt it too," Captain Marvel spoke up and he cringed slightly as everyone turned their heads to look at him. "The Wizard said something was amiss today, I thought it was nothing at first, but if Doctor Fate says something is wrong..." he said timidly.

"I felt a disturbance too," Wonder Woman stated.

"So, what seems to be the problem?" Black Canary asked Doctor Fate.

"The line between the living and the dead has been broken," Doctor Fate replied.

"We're gonna need more to go on here, Doc," Hal Jordan said bluntly.

Nabu sighed before raising his hands and conjured an image of what looked like the border between Mexico and America. "Millennia ago, when the Conquistadors had yet to set sail into the New World, the Aztecs held a vast empire and worshipped the sun as their god," Nabu said.

"But there were sects of Aztecs who worshipped the Moon, which upset the balance," Nabu then said.

"So, what happened?" Hawkman asked.

"The line between the living and the dead was broken," Nabu said gravely and the image showed the dead rising from their graves and attacking the living. Worse, the living who fell prey to the Dead came back as one of them, ravenous for the flesh of the Living.

"My God!" Superman breathed in horror.

"Wait, hold up there a minute! Are you saying this was a zombie apocalypse?" Hal asked in disbelief. "Like, actual, get-bitten-by-one-become-one zombie apocalypse?" Hal almost cracked a smile as he said this.

"This is no joking matter or work of fiction, Hal Jordan," Nabu rebutted. "The line between the Living and the Dead is a fragile thing and is nothing to make light of!"

"So, if this really happened, how was it stopped?" Batman asked calmly.

"A Brave Man went searching for food for his family, only to see the Dead rise and attack the Living," Nabus recounted. "When the Brave Man's family was attacked, he went in search for a cure and had to kill everyone," he said sombrely.

"Eventually, the Brave Man found the source of the chaos, a mask made of purest jade," Nabu said as the image of a jade mask was shown to the League. "Once the Brave Man put the mask back in its resting place, the line between the Living and the Dead was remade and there it has rested within its sanctum," he added.

"It has happened before, in the early 1900s," Nabu aslo said as the image of a cowboy with three scars on his cheek fought the Dead with his guns or a flaming brand, even using dynamite to kill them. "A former outlaw turned bounty hunter saw his wife and son infected by the Plague of Undeath and he set out to find a cure and restored balance," Nabu explained.

"So, what's caused it to happen again this time?" Wonder Woman asked.

"The personification of Chaos," Doctor Fate said bitterly.

"Klarion!" Aquaman spat in disgust.

"Figures he would be behind this," Superman muttered. "The chaos from a literal zombie virus would be right up his alley," he pointed out.

"That is not all," Nabu said. "There is one whom is also responsible for this chaos," he added.

"Who?" Batman asked.

"Demongo, the Soul Stealer," replied Nabu and the image of a vaguely humanoid being that looked shadows and blue flames mixed together with a fanged smile and flaming blue eyes that spoke of nothing but cruel intent and insanity in them.

"So, what do we do?" Hal asked finally, if reluctantly, believing what Doctor Fate had told them. "If this is a zombie apocalypse, what do we do about it?" he thought out loud.

"Notify the National Guard and the UN and close off the region," Superman declared.

"Yeah, but how do we stop the zombies?" Captain Marvel asked. "I mean, I know we have a no killing rule and all, but shouldn't we bend it a little to put those infected or already dead out of their misery?" he said.

"We'll figure it out as we go," Superman said calmly as he stood from his chair.

"There is already one who is going to restore the balance," Doctor Fate suddenly said.

"Who?" Black Canary asked curiously.

"He is known to us. One who has challenged our beliefs and methods many times with his own reasoning, and follows his own ideals," Nabu replied.

"Oh no, please no, anyone but him!" Hal Jordan whined knowing who it was Nabu was talking about.

"Martin the Dragonborn," Nabu declared calmly and there was a mixed response from every Leaguer in the room, ranging from annoyance and shock to relief and curiosity.

...

There, hopefully that was a good little teaser for you and it's not definite yet, but it's possible that it might happen. And the Demongo bit is from Samurai Jack as well as from free man writer's Halo/Young Justice story; I mean, free man writer blended the Samurai Jack mythology so well with his story that I just had to emulate it, so big shout-out to free man writer for the inspiration on the Demongo bit and hopefully I can make mine different from yours.

So, that's about it from me, I just thought I'd try continuing this again and see what you all think of it.

Regards,

Angry lil' elf.