Sparks Fly

A DC fanfiction by Andrew Joshua Talon

DISCLAIMER: This is a non-profit fan-based work of prose. Superman, Livewire, Batman and all other characters and worlds are the property of Warner Brothers and DC Comics. Please support the official release.

Riding the Metropolis Rail to work wasn't glamorous, but there were times Leslie just wanted a feeling of normalcy. Of being a working class joe, so to speak. It brought back the memories of her start in the radio industry years ago: When she had to force her way through classes, internships, and crowds. When she had to count every penny and subsist on ramen when things were thin. It gave her a feeling of hunger.

Though maybe not for the ramen.

The sounds of people going to and fro, talking on cellphones or calming their children. A teenaged punk listening to his music too loud. A businessman flipping through his paper. Pigeons chirping and seeking out scraps, while children giggled and chased them around. The honks of traffic and growls of engines in the street below the rail platform. The smell of cheap breakfast burritos sizzling in the early morning sun. Leslie closed her eyes and smiled, letting it wash over.

The pulse of the city. The pulse of Metropolis. It electrified her.

"Now that... That's the stuff," she murmured. A stocky man in a simple coat turned at the sound of her voice. Their eyes met. She pulled down her ballcap, but it was too late: The flash of recognition lit up his eyes, and his leer was almost predatory as he advanced on her.

"Hey! It's Livewire! I'd know that voice anywhere!" The fan was large, stocky, and hairy. He was grinning with an eager, obsessed expression: One that spread to others around the platform. Leslie smiled tightly, as the fan and others moved in.

"Yeah. Look, I gotta get to work and-!"

"I listen to you every day! Can I get an autograph?" The man demanded, advancing on her. Similar requests came from others, and Leslie felt boxed in. She kept up her smile, at least until the man reached out for her hair. She slapped his hand away instinctively, and glared at him. Her patience was now suspended.

"Look pal, I'm not in the mood, so if you'll just back off-!" Leslie shot back.

The man reached for her again, and she slapped him away. He pushed forward, and she went for her mace. His hands landed on her shoulders, and she lashed out with a kick. But her timing was off-As the blow connected with his stomach, his arms spasmed and shoved her. He fell back... And so did she, into the gap above the rails.

She fell, the wind whistling loudly in her ears. She hit the tracks hard, crying out in pain. She heard the loud, piercing train horn, and looked to her right. The gray bulk was closing on her, fast, massive! She took a breath, frozen in shock even as her mind screamed to move! Like a monster, the train roared right for her, horn bellowing with deafening volume as the platform shook and she was going to die she was dead she was-

Strong hands seized her and yanked her up into a warm, firm embrace. She clung to whoever it was tightly, shuddering as the mass of the train roared by scant inches away. Her heart beat like a subwoofer, leaving her shaking as she let herself just feel safe.

Safe, long enough to pull herself back together.

Leslie opened her eyes and saw a broad chest in a well tailored white shirt, blue suit jacket, and red tie. She slowly looked up, her eyes meeting kind, deep blue ones staring back. They were covered in round, plain glasses. She felt his heartbeat, slow and strong and reassuring against her hard pounding chest. The man smiled, his lantern jaw clean of any stubble.

"Are you all right?" He asked gently, in a comforting voice. Leslie managed a nod.

"Y-Yeah... Yeah... Thanks," she managed shakily. The man set her down, but her arms didn't part. She got a good look at her hero, and felt herself biting her lower lip.

He was tall, broadshouldered, and tanned: He was clearly a man who knew how to work, and work hard. His hair was black and neatly coiffed, and his suit, while a plain blue, was well pressed. He smelled of the earth, the wind and pure man. His jaw was a broad, strong lantern and made him look like a Greek god, and his eyes...

He cleared his throat, and Leslie became aware of people chattering around them, a police whistle, and the hiss of train brakes. The man smiled at her, and she quickly pulled away. She couldn't look at him all of a sudden.

"Thanks," she managed in a harsher tone. The man nodded.

"Might want to pull your mace sooner, next time," he said. Leslie turned back to him, managing a smirk.

"Or a boot to the balls."

The man chuckled, and nodded. "Would be faster," he admitted. He turned, and Leslie found her voice almost deserting her. She felt like a teenaged girl again, all gooey and weak kneed...

She mentally banished those thoughts, and cleared her throat.

"So uh, got a name, Big Blue?" She asked. He turned to look back at her, hesitating... Then he smiled and shrugged.

"Clark Kent. Out of Smallville," he introduced himself. Leslie smiled back.

"I'll have to remember that," Leslie replied.

The radio station was abuzz with activity when Leslie entered, her manager Lenny keeping up and still chattering away. As he'd been doing since they'd left the train station.

"Amazing! Some crazed fan almost kills you! We couldn't have planned this better!" Lenny hooted. "I mean, the mania of obsession-How shit the city's police have been-How nobody is safe-It could be ratings gold! Hell, it is ratings gold!"

"I'm okay too, Lenny," Leslie snorted in mild annoyance. Lenny coughed, and rubbed his bald spot as they made their way through the hallway.

"I-I mean that! Of course I mean that!" Lenny insisted. "I'm so glad you're okay! But still! I gotta think about the business when you're fine, right?"

"Yeah, sure," Leslie said, as they got to the sound booth. Lenny gave his client a weird stare, and Leslie returned it with a glare. "Something wrong?" She demanded.

"Nothing! Just..." Lenny paused. "You... You sure you're okay? You look out of it."

Leslie shrugged. "I'm uh... I'm fine," she said. "Just fine."

She went into the sound booth, and sat down in her chair. She ran through the set up, Holly, her engineer, setting things up just the way she liked it. Finally satisfied, Leslie nodded and began the radio show start. She sucked in her breath and summoned up her anger, the caustic bile that made her who she was.

"Hello Metropolis, this is Livewire: Coming to you live from Swan Tower in the pulsing heart of the city!" She leaned back, adjusting her headphones a bit. She glanced through her script. "As you may or may not be aware, Wireheads, this morning a fan of mine came up and got way too friendly. Friendly as in shoving me onto the railway tracks. Just when the train was about to run me over! Ha, I thought my number was up for sure!"

She glanced through her notes. Lenny had put together a few key talking points to build off of, mainly concerning the poor state of police work in Metropolis, the craziness of the citizens... And kind eyes through circular glasses flashed through her mind.

"I uh... You wouldn't have been hearing from yours truly without the efforts of a newbie in town," she began. She saw Lenny glance at his script, and then up at her, in confusion. She ignored it, and pressed on. "I'm not going to reveal his name: No need to go after him. But he definitely knows who he is. Let's just call this guy... Smallville, shall we? Yeah. Anyway, while everyone else was screaming or standing around like extras in some Godzilla movie, this guy swoops down and yanks me out of trouble. Didn't even know who I was! Didn't ask for anything in return! And he just went on his way." Leslie took another deep breath, and allowed her smile to come through her words.

"Sometimes it's nice to know not everyone in this city of the future is some goddamned idiot. A little hope for the rest of us."

She paused a bit. She saw Lenny gaping in disbelief. Leslie shook her head again, and took another deep breath. She summoned up her rancor.

"Yeah, this guy Smallville-He had to do the work of the police! One man got involved and did something that wasn't his job! But a bunch of fat pigs chomping down donuts on our dime couldn't be bothered to do anything but ask me questions after I'd nearly been run over! What a joke!"

The bile came naturally, and Lenny finally looked like he was settled down. Leslie found herself back in the groove, belting out her anger and mockery with her cocky smirk, enjoying the hornet's nest she'd no doubt stirred up. It was what she did, after all. She was Livewire.

Yet the tall friendly man still stuck in her mind. And she found herself thinking about him a lot for the next week.

Even after an alien in a blue suit and red underoos showed up...

Thinking of expanding this out into an actual story, and exploring another very strange crack pairing. Hope you're interested, too.