Kiss Me, Take My Breath Away (A Superbat AU)

We're gonna let it burn

Clark didn't think leaving would hurt so much, but after the time he'd spent with Bruce- the time he'd depended on Bruce for everything- he felt like he wasn't at all sure how he was supposed to manage on his own now.

The siren had swam and carried him as close to Metropolis as he could without being spotted, and then left without a word. Clark could tell the environment made his mate tense, so he let him go and stared as he sped away at unnaturally fast speeds to avoid any possible human interaction.

When he was a good few miles out, Bruce stopped and looked back to make sure Clark had made it safely to the docks. Then, with a neat flourish, he dived up and out of the water, curling his tail and making a dolphin noise. He wasn't worried about being seen now because it was four in the morning and not a soul was on the docks yet.

He didn't have to look back. He could feel Clark's splitting smile from the distance.

-

Clark made his way into town on foot, and stopped at the nearest pawn shop, and to say the place is huge is an understatement. They weren't open yet, but he could see a frazzled, pot-bellied man behind the desk, watching reruns of a western on an old television. He knocked on the glass, but was ignored.

He rolled his eyes, and fished in his pouch to pull out the gold coins and held one up to the glass before knocking again. The man looked up in annoyance before freezing. The maneuver to get to the door was quicker than the sailor expected. The lock is opened in seconds.

"Is that real?" The old man is wide eyed and practically nosing the doubloon in Clark's hand.

"I don't know, what do you think?"

"It has all the makers for original Spaniard gold. Say...how about I take that off you for some cash?" He's practically salivating, and Clark doesn't understand what's so special about it really.

"I don't know- could you take the whole bag?"

"You want me to take a whole bag? How many do you have in there, son?" The man's jaw should not be able to drop that low.

"Thirty six originals and they're all in mint condition."

"I'll give you a hundred and fifty large for them now."

"Make it two hundred or I call the museum and get triple."

"You have yourself a deal."

The bag of money is heavier than Clark expected.

-

Bruce knows something is wrong by the time he's twenty miles out from Gotham Bay. He uses his sonar and senses a ship in his territory. Not a one man sail either. He swims carefully to avoid being seen and smiles devilishly in anticipation. He knows how to play men, and they won't know what's coming.

The men on the ship walk back and forth restlessly, and Bruce thinks he'll toy with them a bit first. He circles the ship, hovering barely under the water until one of them notices him, fluttering his tail prettily and looking for the entire world like a dumb half fish, curious about the new visitors.

"Sir, I spotted the specimen on the port bow!"

There is a flurry of footsteps and a curly haired young man comes to the port bow and looks at Bruce.

"Don't engage it. It's dangerous- savage even."

"That's not true!" he says, putting a petulant lilt to his voice. He can't come off as a perfect predator or they might attack him prematurely and that will just throw off his plan. "I'm perfectly civil, especially to handsome visitors such as you men." The siren smiles charmingly while the men stare -flabbergasted that he can speak.