Mood Swings

The personal quarters of the Atlantean royal couple were sparse; the lights dimmed to near darkness to help drain the phantom zone radiation now permeating the kryptonian cells, saturating their bodies. Arthur, the Aquaman, sat on the bedside watching a news feed displayed on the crystalline wall of his shared quarters while Mera, his wife, lounged nearby, tending to their four children and gently tracing a finger over the hair of her daughter with a serene smile on her lips.

They’re beautiful, aren't they?”

Turning to his wife and four children, Arthur moved to join her, looking down at the quadruplets as they slept. Their two boys and two girls slept after being fed by their mother. Unlike their parents, the effects of the phantom zone energies were far more apparent in the newborns. Each of their children had traits of fur or scales running down their backs, with vestigial tails that curled behind them when they squirmed in their sleep. Small, underdeveloped wings shifted behind them, and stubby horns poked out of their scalps.

Breathing in sharply, Arthur exhaled slowly, gently holding his queen’s shoulder as he **** himself to smile. “They are Mera. When they are cured of all this, they’ll be even more so. Once this affliction leaves us, we can…”

“It is a GIFT!” Mera spoke up, turning around to face her husband with a grin. “To have so many in so short a time.”

“Mera, we were not ourselves.”

“Oh, I disagree, husband.” Mera purred as she playfully pressed him down on the bed and crawled over top of him. “You were VERY much yourself when you were recovering in the royal palace and consummated our marriage most enthusiastically in our bed chambers.”

Looking away sheepishly, Arthur remembered that, understanding now that it was a side effect of the bite he suffered from Supergirl when she had transformed into a Kryptodrake. His self-reflection, though, was quickly interrupted by his wife grinding against him.

“I want more Arthur.” Mera swooned, tossing her long red hair out behind her. “Imagine the dynasty we would sire, built on the foundation of this magnanimous gift.”

Gripping at his wife’s waist out of impulse, Arthur tried to sit up but was playfully pushed back down by the woman as she collapsed on top of him and kissed him deeply. The two were making out passionately, leading to Aquaman rolling the two over until he was on top of her… But amidst their growing passion, Arthur pulled away with a **** gasp of air and stumbled off the bed.

“NO Mera! We… We cannot do this.”

Confused, Mera got off the bed to stand on her own feet and approached the man with her arms crossed. Her pulse was beating like an engine in her eardrums. “You would deny this chance? You would deny ME?!”

Lowering his gaze and resting his hands on her shoulders, Arthur tried to look into her eyes. “My love, until we can rid ourselves of this poison running through us, we cannot trust anything we do. No matter how good it may appear on the surface.”

Swatting his hands off of her, Mera pursed her lips into a frown and marched her way over to the door of their shared room.

“Where are you going, my love?”

Opening the door, Mera didn’t even look over her shoulder when she paused at the door frame to answer.

“What do the surface dwellers say, husband? I need to get some fresh air.” With that, she stepped out into the hallway, leaving Arthur alone with their children as the door closed behind her automatically. Standing in the dark, Arthur looked down and exhaled, shaking his head in disappointment.

***

The soft, crystalline hum of the Fortress of Solitude's makeshift nursery chamber filled the air, a gentle counterpoint to the newborns' quiet coos and tiny gurgles. The room had been hastily adapted—Fortress robots had extruded low, warm cradles from the walls, soft blankets draped over them, and the lighting was intentionally dim to prevent any further yellow sun saturation. To aid in the weaning process to flush out the phantom zone radiation from their system.

For now, Faora-Ui was being guarded by Batman, who kept a sliver of green kryptonite with him at all times, just to be sure, giving the others a light reprieve and a chance to lower their guard.

Diana sat cross-legged on a wide crystal bench, her three daughters nestled against her chest in a loose blanket bundle. Their tiny features—stubby horn nubs, faint scales along tiny shoulders, feathered wing buds that twitched in sleep—were still startling. Yet she cradled them with a fierce tenderness she found strangely familiar, almost like muscle memory or the memory of how her own mother had tended her. One daughter suckled quietly at her breast, the rhythm steady and grounding. The act soothed something raw inside her, even as it reminded her how irrevocably changed everything had become.

Across from her, Karen reclined against a pile of cushions, her triplets finally sated and dozing in the crook of her arms. She stretched languidly, arching her back with a soft sigh of relief, her powerful frame relaxed in a way Diana rarely saw. The motion pulled her top taut for a moment, accentuating the swell of her breasts, the curve of her hips, the golden strength of her body still flushed from nursing. Karen caught her eye and offered a small, tired smile—sisterly, exhausted, affectionate. Something inside Diana shifted. Heat bloomed low in her belly, sudden and insistent, like a fire igniting. Her gaze lingered on the line of Karen's throat, the way a bead of sweat traced down to disappear between her breasts, the soft rise and fall of her breathing. The urge wasn't gentle; it was primal, possessive, hungry. Diana's pulse thundered in her ears. Without thinking, she eased her daughters into the waiting robotic cradle beside her, the motion automatic, protective. Then she rose. Karen noticed the change immediately—the sudden intensity in Diana's eyes, the way her steps closed the distance with predatory grace.

"Diana…?"

Diana didn't answer. She knelt before Karen, one hand sliding to the back of her neck, fingers threading into blonde hair. She leaned in and kissed her—slow at first, testing, then deeper, hungrier. Karen stiffened in surprise, then softened for a heartbeat, lips parting under the pressure. Diana's other hand cupped Karen's breast through the fabric, thumb brushing over a still-sensitive nipple, drawing a muffled gasp. For a few seconds, the kiss deepened, tongues meeting, bodies pressing closer. Karen's hand rose instinctively to Diana's shoulder—not pushing away, but not quite pulling her in. Then Karen's eyes snapped open. She planted both hands on Diana's chest and pushed—firm, unyielding.

"Diana. Stop."

The word cut through the haze like a blade. Diana froze, lips still inches from Karen's, breath ragged. Fury surged up immediately, hot and unreasoning.

"You turn me away?" Her voice was low, dangerous, edged with a growl that wasn't entirely human. "After everything—after what we've shared, what we've become—you reject me?"

Karen didn't flinch. She met Diana's glare steadily. "Yes. Because this isn't you asking, this is the thing inside you demanding."

Kara, who had been quietly rocking one of her twins nearby, set the child down and stepped between them in an instant. Her hand found Diana's wrist—gentle but immovable.

"Diana, look at me." Diana's eyes—flashing with red-tinged heat—darted to Kara. The younger woman's expression was calm, resolute, and almost painfully understanding. "We know," Kara said quietly. "We've felt it too. Ever since the crystal, since the first change… the urges don't go away when the fur and wings do. They simmer. Sometimes they roar back without warning. Karen and I—we've had to stop each other more than once. Pull back. Remind ourselves who we are when the animal wants to take over."

Karen reached up, cupping Diana's face with both hands now, forcing eye contact.

"You're not a monster, Diana. You're fighting the same infection we all are. But you don't get to let it win just because it feels good in the moment. We don't let it win."

The words landed like cold water on embers. Diana's shoulders sagged. The red glow faded from her eyes. She exhaled shakily, one hand rising to cover Karen's. "I… I felt it rise like a storm," she whispered. "My mind used to be still. A clear pond. Peaceful. Focused. Without my bracelets, without… this curse… It's become a whirlpool. Everything raw. Everything demanding. I don't know how to be still anymore."

Kara squeezed her wrist gently.

"Then we help each other stay anchored. That's what family does." Karen pulled Diana into a careful embrace—not passionate, but solid. Sisterly. Diana rested her forehead against Karen's shoulder, breathing in the familiar scent of sun-warmed skin, milk, and strength.

"I'm sorry," Diana murmured. "I didn't mean to—"

"I know," Karen said softly. "I forgive you. We all forgive each other. We have to."

After a long moment, Karen eased back, brushing a strand of dark hair from Diana's face.

"I'm going to find Clark. " He needs to know we're… managing. And he needs to see that the children aren't the only ones struggling."

She stood, adjusting her top, and glanced back at the cradles where all the tiny hybrids slept—innocent, unmarked by the war their parents were fighting inside their own skins.

"Keep an eye on each other," Karen added with a small, wry smile. "And if things get out of hand again… call me back."

She left the chamber with quiet footsteps, the crystal doors hissing shut behind her. Diana remained kneeling for a moment longer, then rose to check on her daughters. Kara joined her, shoulder to shoulder, helping each other remain in control of themselves in the dark.

***

Meanwhile, somewhere in Washington, D.C…

The streets were quiet in the middle of the night; it was close to 4 AM, and the only thing moving was likely the occasional stray cat sneaking into an alleyway or a cab driver parked, listening to the radio. And then out of nowhere, a red blur ran past, zipping down the street and turning the corner faster than the human eye could blink.

The Flash had been running for several minutes, leaving a red streak that lingered for a second where he ran, with a static charge crackling the ground where his feet made steps. From overhead, it would have looked like a thin red line being drawn down the streets in an almost zig-zag pattern as he checked every nook and cranny available in the city, looking for his quarry.

To the city of Washington, the fastest man alive had been looking for several minutes. But to Barry Allen, he had been running around the city searching for days—upturning boxes, trash bins, looking under cars, doors and benches all across the city and only stopping to either catch his breath or gather his bearings before zipping off at light speed across the city again.

Several minutes later, he finally stopped at the front of a hotdog stand, smiling to himself after finally finding Diana’s bracelets of submission and giving the cook a start when he found the red-clad hero standing in front of him with a smile, a pair of manacles in one hand and several dollar bills in the other.

“Hey there, mind if I get a few to go?” The Flash grinned as the street cook nodded, took his money, and offered him a plate of three hot dogs. “Thanks, spent all but an hour looking for something for my friend. Could you believe someone tossed these in a downtown recycling bin?! I had to scrounge through a pile of scrap metal to find these.”

“You… Don’t say…” The cook answered back, watching the red-clad man eat three hot dogs faster than he’d ever seen.

When he was done, he playfully flipped the one bracelet in his hand and caught it with a smile. “Well, I have to head off, got a friend who needs these back. Thanks for the lunch, oh, and keep the change.”

“Thanks a…” With a gust of wind and a spark of static electricity, the Flash was gone. “…Lot.”

***

Stepping into his own personal quarters in his Fortress of Solitude, Clark closed the door behind him and exhaled a sigh he had been holding for some time. Looking around, his quarters were sparse but serviceable, with a bed, a side counter, and some memorabilia he had kept from his time growing up in Kansas. Even with the lights lowered to near-dark, his vision made everything as clear to him as a bright midday afternoon.

“So… Just a few days of waiting, that’s all we need to worry about. Now to worry about the other… Unforeseen consequence.”

To that, he meant all the children he had sired when he and the others had lost themselves to the change for the first time, leaving them pregnant and him a father of ten. Moving to the side table by the bed, Clark picked up a framed photograph of his adopted parents, grinning.

“Well, you two wanted grandkids. I guess you got a lot more than you bargained for.”

For now, the children slept and were tended to by Kara and Karen, while the two with Diana watched over Faora. Standing there, Clark lowered the photo and mulled over what to do with the woman. Obviously, her parole didn’t go as planned, but circumstances had become more complicated now. They were all afflicted with this… Lycanthropy. And she was the mother of his children.

He couldn’t put her back in the phantom zone, but at the same time, she was far too dangerous to keep here on Earth, regardless of whether she could be kept under watch. And he lamented any idea of handing her over to any of the metahuman prisons like Belle Rev. It was something he was going to have to work on once they were cured of their current predicament.

Placing the picture back on the table, he stood up and turned when he heard the door hiss open, then closed.

There, leaning against the door with one hand behind her and her other idly scratching at her collarbone, Mera smiled, biting her lower lip.

“Mera? What are you doing here?”

“Mmm… Hello… CLARK…”

She seemed… off. Her face was flushed, and her eyes seemed glazed as she pushed off from the door and approached the man of steel. She gave an accentuated swivel to her hip as she walked up to Superman until she was pressed up against Clark, and shocked him when she discarded her robes to pool at her feet, leaving her naked, and tried to pull him in for a kiss. His eyes going wide, Superman frantically tried to pull the woman off of him, but her strength was almost as great as his. When she pulled away, the queen giggled at his reaction, pressing up closer as she rubbed her nose against his.

“MERA! What is wrong with---.”

“Arthur isn’t giving me any attention…” She breathed with unfocused eyes, drawing circles around his chest with her outstretched finger. “I was going to give him MORE heirs to the kingdom, but he rebuked me… YOU wouldn’t turn me away now, would you?”

Realizing what was wrong with the woman, Superman tried to pull her further away, but she barely moved an inch. Her Atlantean strength is now enhanced with Kryptonian power after being infected with the Phantom Zone's infected cells.

“Mera, you are not thinking straight. I was like this too after the first change. You have to regain control of yourself.” He tried to reason with the Atlantean queen as she moved forward, pressing the two of them back against the wall, where she snaked her arms around his shoulders and kissed him again, more fiercely. “You… You have to---.”

“I have to have more!” She husked, pressing up against him more intimately. “I ache, Superman, and yet my husband refuses to give me more… But our alpha would not refuse me. Would you?”

“Mera…”

“Do you not find me desirable?” Her eyes narrowed dangerously, slowly emitting a red glow as she clutched at his shoulders possessively. “Or are you lusting after that Amazonian cow!”

She never gave the man a chance to answer as she claimed his lips again, forcing her tongue into his mouth to deepen the kiss more hungrily. Out of impulse, Clark reached for her back, where his hands slowly reached down her waist to grip her hips, much to her delight as she tried to pry off his clothes.

Their kissing nearly led to the two of them falling to the nearby bed when there was a knock at the door, and the entrance opened with an electric hiss. Karen stepped inside, scratching the back of her head as she looked up to her cousin.

“Clark, we need to talk about… WHAT THE HELL?!”

Seeing Superman being straddled on top of the bed with a naked Mera struggling to undress her cousin, a single look from Clark was all Karen needed for her to storm up to the red-haired Atlantean, pry her off him, and toss her across the room. When she collided with the crystalline wall, Mera snarled, her eyes blood red and glowing hot like lanterns as she glared up at Power Girl venomously.

“So… It's NOT the Amazon you desire, but your own blood? Typical men of power.” Getting to her feet and slowly levitating a foot off the ground, Mera looked ready to fight. “You are not worthy of bearing more of his—”

The slap came like a thunderbolt, one that stunned the Atlantean queen as she slumped down to the floor, shaking her head and guarding her right jaw and cheek after the strike. When she looked back up, her eyes seemed more focused and alert. And what she saw looking up at the worried Man of Steel and the angry Kryptonian woman standing between him and her made the Atlantean gasp in horror as the memories of the last few minutes came crashing back to her like a tidal wave.

“By Poseidon! What did I… I almost…” Scrambling for the clothes on the floor and clutching them to her chest to cover herself, hot tears streaked down her cheeks as she hastily redressed herself. “I… I was not myself, I was just with Arthur and… By the depths Arthur…”

Openly, she began to weep as she pressed up against the wall behind her and slumped down to the floor.

***

Sitting with her back against the wall with her arms crossed, Faora-Ui frowned. Ignoring the sounds of her two infants beside her as they stirred in their sleep, the woman frowned and glowered at her predicament. She hated this. She hated being a mother, hated knowing that it was because of that damned rock she brought with her. But most of all, even more so than the son of El who had humbled her and left her as some caged broodmare… Was this damned human staring down at her like a hawk.

The dark-dressed human had stepped in to give the others a moment of reprieve, keeping an eye on her as if this mongrel had what it took to overpower her in any way. All he did was stand there like a statue, narrowing his eyes at her.

“Do you honestly believe you can keep me here? The two of my kind and MAYBE the Amazon might stand a chance of standing up to me, but you? You are an ant… Guarding a god.”

“You realize you’re claiming omnipotence while in a jail cell, right?” The Dark Knight retorted, his expression never changing. “I’m starting to understand why you were tossed into another dimension for everyone else’s well-being.”

“You think a sliver of rock makes you my equal, detective?”

“I do.”

Batman raised a gloved hand, brandishing a sliver of green kryptonite the size of a quarter. The moment the green light touched her, sweat beaded on her brow and down her neck. The woman stumbled back and guarded herself with her hands outstretched while her son and daughter began crying.

At that, Batman pocketed the kryptonite behind his cloak, where the green light was no longer harming his charge.

“Look what you’ve reduced me to—crying mongrels!”

Tilting his head, Batman brought a finger to his ear, a rare smile formed under the Bat’s cowl as he returned his gaze to Faora, and gestured for her to stand up.

“What?” Faora-Ui snarled back.

“Get up, there’s been a development, and I want you where we have more eyes to keep watch on you.”

***

Stepping into the amphitheatre of the fortress of solitude, the lights were still dim to the point of near darkness, save for the emergency lighting to help keep everything visible. There, Faora was casually pushed forward by the Dark Knight to enter the large space with her twins in tow in floating cribs to join the rest of the League standing together, along with their own various children. There, it seemed they had missed out on a moment where the king and queen of Atlantis were reconciling.

Mera was hugging Arthur close while she wept into his shoulder, her husband’s head leaning down to calm her while he shared in her embrace.

“I… I was NOT myself, my husband. I could not control what… I… By Poseidon, I am so sorry…”

Aquaman shushed her, keeping her close as he looked down and pressed his forehead to hers, her eyes still streaked with tears, which he wiped away with a finger. “I do not blame you for the transgression, my love. As you said, you were not yourself; right now, none of us are.”

Looking at the many cribs hovering around them and at the current state of Superman and his two cousins, the man steeled himself when he noticed Faora being brought into the large space with Batman behind her. He then regained his full height and smiled down at his wife.

“I forgive you, Mera, but remember, we are dealing with a foe from within, not just from without. Once these raging tides have ebbed, we can look to a larger dynasty. On OUR terms.”

Closing her eyes and smiling despite renewing her weeping, Mera nodded and held her husband’s hand fiercely. The others looked to the reconciling couple with relief and understanding. Turning to see the others, Diana's face lit up when she spotted Barry, her bracelets in hand, standing nearby with a grin and a wave of his free hand. Before he could even speak, she swept forward, cupping his cheeks in both hands and planting quick, joyful kisses across his lips, nose, forehead, and lips again in a breathless cascade of unrestrained gratitude.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you," she murmured between each one, eyes shining with unrestrained delight. The rest of her friends were holding back smiles as the red-clad man staggered on his feet. Cheeks flaming under the cowl as he offered her bracelets back.

"Uh… Heh… You’re welcome, Diana… Happy to help! Really!"

She finally stepped back just enough to slip the Bracelets of Submission onto her wrists one at a time. The metal clicked softly into place when the second bracelet was fitted over her wrist. When they were both firmly adorned over her arms, Diana drew a long, steadying breath. Her shoulders relaxed; she wrapped her arms around herself for a long moment, hugging herself tight as if gathering all the scattered pieces of herself in her heart and mind. When she exhaled, a serene smile curved her lips. Looking to Barry, who stood nearby, hesitant, cheeks still hot from earlier, Diana leaned in once more. She pressed a single, gentle kiss to his forehead—chaste, warm, and full of quiet gratitude.

"Thank you, Barry. Truly."

The Flash rubbed the back of his neck, ears burning red. "Heh, right." He laughed softly. "I forgot you're like that all the time anyway."

Diana's smile widened, soft and knowing. "Not quite… but I am still grateful."

“And not a moment too— AAARGH!” Barry screamed as Faora grabbed him from behind, fangs piercing his neck in a flash of pain and blood.

She held fast, eyes locked on the group’s frozen shock. Batman’s hand darted for the kryptonite—too slow. Faora swatted it away, hissing at the burn, then lunged, sinking her teeth into his exposed neck. Bruce grunted, the batarang tumbling from his fingers as her vice-like grip crushed his arm.

"Release them!" Diana shouted, bracelets gleaming as she charged—but the kryptonite's glow **** her back, nausea rising.

Faora-Ui glared back at the others with her teeth still in Bruce’s neck, their shocked expressions frozen in the split second it took her to find the right moment and strike. Turning her icy gaze back to the Flash she injured earlier, she grabbed him by the throat and held both heroes in her hands while their friends watched, unable to move past the green crystal between them.

“Let them both go!” Shouted Supergirl, squinting and backing away from the caustic green light.

“If you dare harm them further, so help me I will…” Aquaman threatened, but nearly lost his footing from the kryptonite poisoning before he was caught by his wife, Mera. The woman looked just as sick and weakened as he did as they backed away.

“Sentimental drivel… I knew at some point you all would let your guard down, sooner or later. I will never be sent back to the Phantom Zone, not by you, not by anyone!”

Seeing them all held back by the green light, Faora kept her two prisoners close, then turned back to the rest of the heroes in front of her, held back by the kryptonite. Faora-Ui looked behind her to the corridor that led outside and grinned.

“You two look pale… I think you both need a little sun.”

“No!” Gasped Superman as the woman left with a blur of motion, Clark lunged forward, heat vision flaring—only for the kryptonite's glow to slam into him like a wall, forcing him to stagger back, eyes streaming.

Making her way down the corridor to the fortress entrance, she broke out into the open air, where she tossed her two victims into the snow all around her.

The moment broad daylight struck the two heroes, pain wracked through them, their bodies betraying them as they began to change and grow. Costumes tore open, revealing fur and scales. At the same time, the boots and gloves ripped open, revealing clawed fingers and toes. Barry screamed out loud as his face pushed out into a snout, his mask falling off to make room for long, gnarled horns and a mane of fiery red hair and ruby scales creeping down his lengthening neck. A static charge of electricity surged down his back and arced at the tip of his growing tail as his groans of pain became less human and more monstrous.

Bruce was trapped in the same agony as jet black feathered wings erupted from his back, and a long, black-scaled, serpentine tail shot out behind him. Lashing out like a bullwhip and striking the snow with enough **** to crack the ice. Gripping the frost underneath him, his fingers became razor-sharp talons that put his razor-sharp batarangs to shame, carving through solid ice with the same ease as a knife through paper. His cowl falling apart to a pair of smooth, long horns that matched the bat-like visage his mask once held.

Faora-Ui was going through the same changes, surging larger and more monstrous by the second as her smile grew fanged, and her body doubled in size and mass. Laughing as she grew more and more into a winged monster, and still retaining her mind in the process. By the time she was well over 15 feet tall, she fell to all fours as her body became quadrupedal, her robes torn to shreds by her growing size.

By the time her changes were complete, Faora opened her reptilian eyes and looked down at her changed form with smug triumph, brandishing her talon like a weapon and clenching her claw into a fist with dark glee. Looking back to the entrance to the fortress of solitude, Faora’s grin grew more sadistic when she spotted the rest of the league there, standing just at the threshold of sunlight, seeing Superman’s horror written on his face.

BRUCE! BARRY!” Called out Kara in horror, her hands at her mouth, but unable to act without stepping into the light and losing herself to the change.

“Faora…” Superman called out. “What have you done?!”

Raising her snout imperiously back at the man, Faora spread her black wings just as the now fully transformed Flash and Batman got to their feet and looked around, alert, but primal, savage. Shaking off the last remnants of their costumes as they sniffed the air and spread their own wings.

“TAKE ONE LAST LOOK, LAST SON OF EL, THIS IS THE LAST TIME YOU EVER CLAIM TO CONTAIN ME!”

With that, Faora-Ui took to the air and flew off, breaking the sound barrier in a thunderclap of displaced air. The jolt caused Batman and Flash to roar out and take to the air themselves, flying off in different directions, and leaving Superman and his friends to stand in both shock and horror at the sight of their friends changed and flying off to parts unknown.

As the kryptodrakes vanished into the horizon, Clark fell to his knees, the open doors mocking their fragile sanctuary.