DISCLAIMER: Birds of Prey is the property of DC Comics. No infringement intended.
SPOILERS: #64, Sensei and Student Part 3 - Mercy and Murder.
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.
When Birds Fly a Mile High
By Rysler
Dinah, two hours into a flight across the Pacific, Hong Kong to Gotham direct, rested her sweaty forehead on the chrome rim of an airplane toilet. She kept her body still, fighting against a shift, a smell, a change in body temperature catapult her into another fit. She willed the poison still in her system to dissolve. Only her lips moved, offering a prayer to the porcelain gods that when she left the bathroom, no weakness would show.
The door opened and closed behind her. Curious, because she was sure she'd locked it. Curiouser, because she heard no accompanying footsteps.
"Are you okay?" Shiva said, breath touching her ear. It was an impossibility that they could both fit into such a tiny stall, but Shiva had bent herself around Dinah, filling empty space. Dinah guessed assassins were bendy.
Dinah lifted her head. "You shouldn't have left Cheshire alone," she said, wiping her mouth.
"Don't worry." Shiva grinned. "She's incapacitated." She flexed her hand and showed Dinah her bruised knuckles.
"God, Shiva." Dinah reached for her hand. "Any excuse?" She gently probed the roughened skin.
"No. It was necessary." Shiva frowned. "Are you all right?"
Dinah let go of her hand. "I'm feeling better," she said, as she turned to retch again into the toilet. She pushed the flusher button and blue disinfectant whisked away what little saliva she had left.
Shiva knelt next to her and placed a hand on the back of her neck.
"Wha--?" Dinah started.
"Be still."
Shiva worked her fingers into the taut muscles, and then squeezed. Dinah yelped. She arched against Shiva's hand, and then slumped.
"Wow." She said, and licked her lips. "Thanks." Dinah picked up a half-empty bottle of water and took a swig, swishing it in her mouth before spitting it into the sink.
Shiva stood. "The mission will be easier if you are well."
Pulling herself up with her forearms on the counter, Dinah stood. She faced Shiva. Their bodies touched at hip and breast, a necessity in the tiny stall. Dinah's lips curled. "Of course."
Shiva studied her. "Well. If you're all right..." She reached behind her and fiddled with the latch of the door.
"Wait." Dinah put her hand on Shiva's arm. "I--We never get a chance to talk..."
Shiva glanced around the bathroom and looked at Dinah incredulously. "The time for mourning our sensei has passed."
"I know." Dinah rubbed Shiva's arm. "I just want to thank you. For honoring this pact. I'm sure it hasn't been easy."
"It is necessary. Like I said." Shiva leaned back against the door. Dinah's thigh was between hers and Shiva could feel the heat of the other woman, and the muscles that shifted underneath denim.
Dinah stilled her hand. "Is that all it is? Just a detente?"
"I watched you fight..." Shiva moistened her lips. "It is such a waste."
Dinah tightened her jaw. "That I fight for good?"
"That you restrict yourself. Limit yourself. You have a gift, Dinah. I could help you become so much more."
Dinah slid her hand higher, cupping Shiva's neck. Shiva quivered under her touch. "Funny," Dinah said softly. "I say the same thing about you."
Shiva closed her eyes. "Where did it diverge, Dinah?"
"I don't remember."
Shiva turned the handle.
"Wait!" Dinah's hand slipped from Shiva's skin and pounded the door behind her head. She leaned in, until their noses nearly touched, and glared at Shiva.
"You want more?"
"Yes." Dinah inhaled. "I want more. When this plane lands we'll be adversaries again. You and I both know we'll end up fighting each other sooner or later. Maybe killing each other. Can't we at least have some memory that's not haunted by bloodshed? Or death? Wouldn't he have wanted that?"
Shiva let go of the door, and rested her hands on Dinah's hips. "You miss him."
Tears formed on dark lashes as Dinah lowered her head. "Yes."
"I am not him."
"I--" Dinah leaned against Shiva, pressing her nose against black hair. "No."
Shiva wrapped her arms around Dinah's waist. She settled one palm against the small of her back, touching bare skin as Dinah's tee shirt slid up. She sighed when she felt damp, soft lips brush her jaw.
"This is our only chance," Dinah said against Shiva's cheek. "To change things. To become partners. To change. To stop balancing each other and--"
"You talk too much." Shiva turned, forcing Dinah against the back of the stall. She studied Dinah's face, flushed pink with arousal, or maybe poison. Dinah pursed her lips and smiled. She wouldn't speak again. Shiva leaned forward and kissed her.
Dinah parted her lips against the pressure of Shiva's touch, and moaned when she felt Shiva's tongue slip into her mouth, and then retreat. "What?"
Shiva drew back. "Poison?"
"Ingested. I'm sure there's none... on my lips..." Dinah buried her fingers in long, dark hair and pulled Shiva back to her. Their lips met again. Dinah gasped into the kiss. Shiva pushed Dinah's against the door and shoved her thigh between her parted legs.
They were almost like sisters, almost symbiotic. This is how it could have been, if one of them could budge, just a little, from the events that had molded and broken and made them. Dinah closed her eyes and savored the moment. They had to hurry. She broke the kiss and ran her hands over Shiva's ass, massaging. "Harder," she said, and moaned against Shiva's ear.
Shiva cupped her crotch and squeezed. Damp heat greeted her fingers. Dinah arched back against the door, pushing herself at Shiva. She slid her hands down the back of Shiva's pants, straining lower, sliding along the curves, to where they parted...
"No." Shiva whispered the word and then bit into Dinah's neck. Dinah moaned. Fine, she thought, grabbing Shiva's hips again and holding on, I'll just make do. She closed her eyes.
Shiva worked open Dinah's belt buckle. Dinah made it more difficult by grinding against Shiva's thigh. She knew the mirror was fogged. The sound of their panting reverberated in the stall. No one, mercifully, was pounding on the door. Dinah could only feel the humming vibration of the plane against her back. The current from Shiva's body was much stronger.
Dinah felt her zipper being lowered. A rush of cool air greeted her exposed skin before Shiva's warm palm covered her. "God," she breathed. Then Shiva's hand slipped beneath her panties, and Dinah couldn't breathe anymore.
"This is what I--" Shiva started to say, and then stopped, as her finger dipped between swollen lips. Dinah was wet and wanting and Shiva stroked her with reverence, almost forgetting her goal until nails dug into her thighs.
Dinah growled and banged her head against the stall door. "You're amazing."
"I only use my skills for torture," Shiva said, and smiled, letting Dinah think for a moment that she meant to watch her suffer with prolonged pleasure, before brushing her finger across Dinah's clitoris.
"God!" Dinah rolled her hips against Shiva's hand, moving so that Shiva was touching her in all the right places, until the wet friction and the pressure of Shiva's body and the intimacy became too much and she came.
Shiva relished Dinah's bellow, thinking the whole plane could probably hear it, and then realizing that included Cheshire. Jealous, she seized Dinah's lips in a kiss even as she released her hand from Dinah's pants. Dinah's hands slid from her thighs to her back, wrapping her in an embrace. Shiva relished the hug until Dinah dipped her head, resting it against Shiva's shoulder, and whispered, "Let me..."
"No." Shiva drew back. "We should get back. Cheshire may have awoken and killed the passengers."
Dinah exhaled.
Shiva turned to the sink.
Dinah opened the door. "That blue soap...really amazing stuff," she said over her shoulder, sadly, and then left Shiva washing her scent off her hands. Dinah wandered back to her seat.
Cheshire was still unconscious. Dinah sat nervously, pressing herself against the armrest, as close to the aisle as possible. She knew Cheshire wouldn't harm her...probably... but had felt better when Shiva sat between them.
Shiva appeared at her side and pushed past her knees to sit in the middle seat before glancing at Cheshire, and then out the window at the night. Dawn was coming from the other direction, and would meet them when they passed over California.
Dinah looked away. She watched the other passengers, and wondered, as Shiva's bare arm brushed hers, how many of them knew the two women were sworn enemies.
The End