AUTHOR'S NOTES: I started this story looking for something to write about Shay's despondance in 'Wake the Dead' and wanted a confrontation with Di in the process. The story just developed from there. I've never been much of a fan of depicting Diana and Shayera as girly or feminine - they're action-oriented women and more likely to wade into a fight than have a slumber party - and I wanted the story to reflect that. This was written before 'Once And Future Thing' aired and so means the girls make up a lot earlier in the series.

Iron To Iron

As iron sharpens iron,
So one woman sharpens another.

lightning and thunder

It was felt the moment she was seen in the corridors, the arch of her wings framing her from behind, an angel come down from heaven. Superman walked beside her, Green Lantern didn't quite flank her, and Vixen walked behind them all - stalked, rather.

And the woman who was the cause and centre of this scene appeared serene as she lifted one hand to brush fiery hair from her eyes before it returned to the handle of her mace. She cradled the weapon like a child, held as tenderly and fiercely as a lover, but the sharper-eyed denizens of the Watchtower saw the white knuckles of the seemingly casual grip. For all her outward ease, Shayera Hol was terrified.

As they walked from the transporter chamber to the meeting room, nobody challenged them. Change was in the air, rustling through the ventilation system like the prescience of a storm before the first thunder struck.

During a storm, it was always wise to stay away from lightning rods.

Still, nobody was in possession of so much willpower that they were willing to miss the confrontation, for confrontation there would be. It would take a blind man - and more than just blind: deaf, dumb, lobotomised and insensate - not to realise that the pressure was building and that something would break.

They rounded a corner and came upon the two who paused in the passageway, then planted their feet as one. Dark and scarlet heels rested square against the floor, and the setting of their boots was like gentle thunder rumbling.

Once thunder has been heard, the lightning has already struck.

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