The doctor had switched on the radio to see if it was still making the obnoxious hissing sound. It wasn’t, instead, it was dead. There was a slight hum like there had been before or even background noise. There was nothing.

“Hello?” Wexler said into it. “Can you hear me?”

There was no response. That likely meant that Atom had turned off his radio due to having the same problem. That, or his radio had broken.

She didn’t like to think that The Atom was in there alone without any help at all, and she was starting to regret sending him in. Given time she could have found another way, but the truth was she didn’t know if she even had that time. For all she knew, if they didn’t expel or destroy the creature then it might do irreparable damage or worse.

Wexler was hopeful that wouldn’t be the case. The amazon was as tough as she was beautiful. Her body was like a temple and incredibly resistant and strong. The doctor honestly found it awe-inspiring.

Wexler also felt nervous around her and not because of fear. There was a strong attraction there, one she would never openly admit. Another thing she would never admit was how she’d had sex dreams about her, or how she had written erotic fiction about Wonder Woman falling in love with her doctor which was essentially a self-insert story.

It was nice to have fantasies especially when there was absolutely no chance that it would happen in reality.

She could dream, though. She could dream.

*

Wonder Woman was starting to feel hungry. She hadn’t eaten anything since yesterday, all part of the doctor’s plan to make Atom’s journey through her intestines all the more manageable.

There was a knock at the door, and the doctor promptly turned the radio back off before she opened it, finding Superman on the other side.

“Hello,” he said. “I was wondering how Diana was doing?”

“I am fine,” Wonder Woman answered. “There’s no need to worry about me.”

“Any updates?” he asked.

“No updates,” Wonder Woman said. “The good doctor here is trying something out which shows promise.”

“What’s that?” Superman asked.

The doctor looked at Wonder Woman nervously. The amazon withheld the urge to roll her eyes as she quickly thought up an answer.

“It involved me taking a pill,” the amazon answered.

It wasn’t a lie, not really. The Atom just so happened to be inside the pill. As to why she didn’t just tell him the truth, it was because of her own sense of pride and also because it felt private. A man had shrunken down and entered inside her, something that she had once believed would never happen. A man was inside her the princess of the amazons. Her sisters on the island would find even the very concept disgusting.

There was also something else, something she was even more reticent to share, even with the doctor. It was how it had made her feel. As she had raised the pill to her mouth with Atom inside, she had felt strangely aroused by it. The sensation had caught her so off-guard that it had made her hesitate.

Even so, she had gone through with it and the aroused sensation had only grown with intensity as she had popped the pill into her mouth and swallowed.

From there, it had subsided and was now non-existent. She almost wanted Atom to fail so she got to swallow him a second time. She knew it was a stupid thought as failure likely meant they would try something else.

“What was in the pill?” Superman asked, bringing Diana out of her thoughts.

The doctor answered. “Something that could help her.”

“Not very descriptive,” Superman said.

Diana frowned. “There is a thing known as ‘doctor-patient confidentiality’.”

The doctor nodded. “Due to the nature of the issue involving her bowels, the patient wants a little privacy in the matter.”

“Ah,” Superman said looking embarrassed. “Sorry if I was prying too much.”

“It’s fine,” Diana said. “It’s just that I’m not used to being sick.”

“Same,” Superman said. “I suppose I should leave you to recover.”

“Thank you,” Diana said. “It is all I ask.”

“Get well soon.”

With that, Superman thankfully left, though it did little to ease the rising concern Diana was feeling. The lack of communication from Atom certainly didn’t bode well and she had to wonder what might have happened to him. Unfortunately, she would have to wait to find out. With Superman’s hearing, she had to be absolutely sure that he was gone before they turned the radio back on. Thankfully the walls of the medical area were completely sound-proof, or at least as close as it could get.

“Any discomfort or anything?” the doctor asked after a couple of minutes of silence.

“No,” Diana said. “Actually, the discomfort has lessened.”

“Do you think he’s making any headway?”

“One can only hope.”

“I suppose we’ll only find out if he’s successful. That, or if we can get in contact through the radio again.”

“If something does happen to him, do you have a plan of getting him out of me?”

The doctor stared at her and then slowly shook her head. “No, not really.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means that I don’t have a plan if something happens. I would use an endoscope to locate him and then try and extract him. Surgery would be difficult due to your resilient skin and unlike Superman or Supergirl we can’t stick you in a dark room until your powers start to lessen.”

“That does not ease my concerns.”

“Ease your concerns regarding what?”

Both of them looked around towards the door to see Batman standing there. He had a slight scowl on his mostly covered face. For him, though, that was a perpetual state of being.

As to how much he might have overheard she didn’t know. Diana only hoped that it wasn’t much.

The doctor quickly thought up a response. “Just talking about the prognosis.”

“Which is?” Batman asked.

Diana answered. “It is private between me and my doctor. It is none of your concern.”

“When it comes to the health of one of my teammates it is my concern.”

“Just a teammate?” Diana asked.

His glare seemed to grow more intense for a moment before he addressed the doctor. “I came because I want to know how she is doing.”

Diana answered. “Superman was just here and the answer that I told him is still the same. I am fine and the good doctor here is seeing to it that I recover. In fact, I am feeling much better.”

“What treatments have been proposed?” he asked.

The amazon and the doctor exchanged a glance. The doctor then cleared her throat before answering. “I’m afraid that again, that is between the doctor and her patient.” She began to nervously fiddle with her fingers. “Suffice to say that we discussed it at length and a potentially viable treatment was devised.”

“I see,” he said.

Diana had a feeling that he was growing suspicious. Then again, he was always suspicious of everything and everyone. She just hoped that he didn’t pressure the good doctor too much. She doubted she would be able to endure any kind of interrogation and would quickly spill the beans.

Much to Diana’s annoyance, Batman pulled up a chair and sat down. She had hoped that the visit would be fleeting just as Superman’s had been and that he would be in and out quickly. Unfortunately, it appeared that wouldn’t be the case.

“Don’t you have Gotham to take care of?” Diana asked after a minute or so.

“It will be fine for one evening,” he answered. “Unless you want to be rid of me?”

It wasn’t an actual question, Diana had known him long enough to know that. She had to be careful not to appear like she was trying to get rid of him, though she feared it might already be too late for that. At the end of the day, he would leave when he wanted to and there was little she could do to dissuade him. Unless of course, she pretended she was tired and wanted to sleep.

She decided it was probably best to endure his visit for the time being. There was little else she could do.

There was a small but sharp twinge in her gut, and she had to wonder how Atom was doing. She hoped he was doing okay.

* * *

Ray dodged the creature as it swung one of its many limbs at him, then fired a blast from his energy cutters. The creature managed to dodge and he winced as the beam lanced against the fleshy wall of the intestine.

“Sorry, Diana,” he muttered to himself before he found himself getting slammed in the chest by a quick-moving limb.

He was flung against the wall and then fell on his face, accidentally getting some of the intestinal mucus in his mouth.

“Blech,” he gagged as he pushed himself to his feet only to see the creature skittering away into the darkness.

It was strong, there was no doubt about that. Even at the size he was, especially at the size he was, he should have been able to crush the creature like the bug it was. He had the comparative strength of a full-sized human which made him wonder if the creature was naturally that strong, or whether it was able to borrow some of its strength from its host.

It was food for thought, but something he would have to dwell on later. At that moment, he had to catch up to it again and hope that he could defeat it.

He doubted it. At this point, he felt that his only hope was to chase it out of Diana’s body and hope for the best.