First meeting

Disclaimer: no one of the characters is mine, but all belong to their respective owners.

Lago de Nicaragua, the great lake of Nicaragua, was huge. The waters was clear and cold, the waves – going up and down from the wind, the islands – small dark dots in the lake, the mountains on the horizon – equally small dark dots on the aforementioned horizon; really, you could pretend that this was no body of fresh water, but rather the sea coast of South America – say, the Pacific; or perhaps, that this was the coast of Themyscira…

Diana Prince, a princess of the Amazons, and a super-hero named Wonder Woman, would certainly have preferred it to be the latter – even if just in her imagination, (even superheroes got homesick every once in a while), but there was a problem for that – and it wasn't the sharks, for they have lived off Themyscira's coast as well; Diana didn't know as to what sort of shark they'd been back then, but right now they were bull sharks, probably the biggest species of shark that was able to live in fresh water, but she could handle them. An overgrown thug named Bane, (apparently one of Batman's archenemies), was another story.

"And who are you supposed to be?" the man in question asked archly as he sat on a rock off the lake shore, apparently waiting for something or someone to come to him – but not a member of the JL, to be sure. "You're not from Gotham – the locals there just don't wear this sort of thing."

"I," Diana said with a dignity worthy of her mother, (she was sure), "am Wonder Woman."

Bane raised an eyebrow; (though he was currently wearing his trademark mask, so it was hard to tell).

"So, you're a cousin to Superman, then?" he asked in the same tone of voice. "Another alien?"

"No," Diana/Wonder Woman could not quite keep the exasperation out of her voice this time – various civilians (and other people – Flash, cough), had conflated her with Superman because of the superficial similarities in their names, and by now, it was getting old. "I am an Amazon!"

"So, do you want the Amazon river, then?" Oddly, Bane sounded genuinely curious here. "You're off by quite a bit of distance, here. The river is in the South America, and this is the Central America instead-"

"No, I'm here to help Batman stop you from whatever it is that you're doing," Diana said flatly.

"Oh," Bane nodded in mock sympathy and understanding. "So he is the one fighting the monster of the Pitch Tar Lake up in the north? I can live with that."

"You can?" Diana blinked, even as she pulled out her shield and sword, for even as he was talking, Bane had onto his feet and jumped onto the lakeshore proper, landing a short distance away from her, clearly looking for a fight.

"Yes!" Bane replied brightly. "I fought Batman once and broke him – just ask him; I fought Superman once and was defeated – not my proudest moment; but now I get to fight someone new – you. It'll be interesting to see as to how this will go…"

Diana largely stopped caring by now; as always, this was yet another man who was just interested in fighting and brawling and probably nothing else, (even Batman felt that this was so, BTW), and so she did pull out her sword and shield and lunged at Bane, slamming into him shield-first, and pushing him back – but not as far as she expected to, for Bane dug in his feet, and managed to draw them to a stop in the loose sand of the lakeshore. He also was able to get a good grip on her wrists, especially on her sword hand, and this was even worse.

So, Diana began to do her best to punch him in the face – with her shield. Up close, Bane was even bigger than how Diana initially thought that he would be, or perhaps it was just Venom; Batman explained that Bane used some sort of a drug to give himself an edge in fighting, but so far Diana wasn't impressed – she was winning here, Venom or no Venom…until Bane got a grip on her other arm – her shield arm, and began to force her arms apart, exposing her face and torso – and struggle as she could, Diana couldn't break from his grasp. That would not do.

So, she reached out and kicked into Bane' stomach, intent to use her superior strength (as an Amazon) to break free from his grasp and regain the initiative – or at least this was the theoretical plan. In reality, although air did escape from Bane with an oomph, he did not let go off his opponent, but rather flung Diana away into the lake.

Diana was an Amazon and a superhero, and Bane was winded, so Diana landed only in the shallows and crouched into a defensive position – let Bane charge this time, she was ready.

"Behind you!" Bane shouted instead, (and in Spanish), as he pointed to someone or something behind Diana. Instinctively, she looked and saw a giant shark coming at her at high speed, jaws snapping in hunger. Having fought alongside Aquaman, (among others) to halt the alien invasion, Diana was no stranger to giant sharks anymore, but this shark didn't look like the giant cousins of the already substantial great white that Aquaman used as allies (certainly not minions, cough). Rather, it looked like a much bigger version of the local bull sharks…but that issue was largely academic, as Diana was more focused on its jaws, which was snapping closer and closer to her at a very fast speed…until Bane reached the giant fish's tail and grasped it, slowing the giant fish in question a lot – it was no longer moving forwards at a speed, but more like thrashing in the shallows…and still snapping those great jaws of it.

So, Diana had an idea, albeit not a very good one. When the shark snapped its jaws again, she jammed her shield between them. The result was bone jarring – (and Diana decided that when Superman returns again, he can do such stunts from now on), but the shark stopped. Just stopped, as it was probably confused in regards to latest events – it probably was not used to biting Amazon-grade shields and such.

"Bravo!" Someone else called out. Diana turned around in the direction of the voice…and saw a mermaid, lounging on another rock. She was very beautiful, but neither that nor the singsong quality of her voice could fully hide the coldness of the watery depths in her eyes. "This was most amusing! Mr. Bane, you and your partner can have your reward!" She threw a can of ointment of some sort towards Bane, who deftly caught it, released the shark, and beckoned, to Diana, towards the shore. The latter, not quite wanting to fight a mermaid – she had dealt with such creatures in the past and it was not fun – followed him.

"Now what?" Diana asked her 'partner'.

"Excuse me?" Bane did not seem to be too happy to be dealing with her anymore. "I take this and figure out how to add it to my Venom so that I can deal with Brother Blood and his so-called Brotherhood of Evil. The end."

"The what now?" Diana blinked.

"Brotherhood of Evil. It sounds ridiculous, but there you are, working alongside a man who dressed like a bat, for example."

Diana sighed. She had hoped that their impromptu truce regarding the giant shark, (which by now has vanished without a trace), would carry on some time further. Apparently not. "It doesn't have to end this way," she still made a try.

Bane gave her an once-over – an obvious one, and a very first one since she confronted him at the lake. "What do you suggest?" he practically leered. "We arm-wrestle for it?"

Diana opened her mouth. Her brain caught up with it, fortunately, and she closed it. Then she opened her mouth again. "Do you have to be such a muscle-bound moron?" she said flatly.

"Are you offering something else, woman?" Bane asked in Spanish.

"No!" Diana glared, as she rolled up her metaphorical sleeves. "Let's do this!"

"That's enough!" Batman snapped, as he had finally appeared on the scene, looking worse for wear…in a very tarred sense of the word. "Bane, this ends now!"

"Gladly!" Bane snapped, his own good humor vanishing as soon as he saw the other man. He grabbed Batman and tossed him into the lake. Since Batman was actually lighter than Diana was, (sort of), he landed further in the water, not so much in the shallows.

Immediately, the mermaid re-appeared, (or maybe it was a new one, Diana could not tell), grabbed the caped crusader and pulled him under.

"So, now what?"

Bane shrugged. "She'll eat him, I believe."

"Literally?" Diana frowned – she knew something about the water-dwellers, and-

"Eventually," Bane shrugged. "First, it's going to be metaphorical," he leered again, suggestively.

"You're a moron," Diana snapped at the big man. "A very male moron, the kind that the older Amazons had told me and the other girls in the past." She felt a flash of sadness, mixed with irritation, when she thought about the past, too, but it was not important right now. "I'm going to get Aquaman to see if he can resolve this." She turned around and walked to her jet.

"Hey, what did I do to you?" Bane protested, as he followed her for some reason.

Diana just rolled her eyes and said nothing.

The end?