Thanks for the reviews. I appreciate them immensely. This one is from 'Apocalypse'. Next one won't be. No beta so the boo-boos are all on me.
They had lost.
They had lost Kara to Darkseid; they had lost dozens of warriors- Diana's sisters, including Lyla- to Darkseid and his Doomsday clones; and now they were losing precious time.
And that simply irritated Batman. After bringing Lyla's lifeless body into the palace, he'd stood by quietly for nearly twenty minutes in an antechamber just off the throne room while Superman and Wonder Woman devised and discarded plan after plan to retrieve Kara Zor-El from Darkseid, many of which involved simply attacking Darkseid and taking the girl back. After five minutes he'd simply tuned them out and went to work formulating a plan that had a reasonable probability of success.
The two of them finally fell silent after apparently running out of ideas, and into the suddenly quiet room Batman announced, "There is someone who can help us."
Two sets of brilliant blue eyes turned towards him, each pair boring into the white eyes of his cowl with an intensity that might have been able to melt solid gold if their owners had been inclined to try, Superman's heat vision notwithstanding, of course.
"Who?" asked Superman after a moment, his voice holding a desperateness to it that Bruce had seldom heard from the Man of Steel.
Batman looked at Superman for a moment before simply turning to Diana and saying, "She did say drop by any time."
Diana's eyes widened as she quietly exclaimed, "Hera!" She flashed Batman a 'You're a genius' smile before turning to Superman and explaining. "Barda. She'd have all the information we'd need to help Kara."
Superman turned towards Batman, and his voice was thick with irritation when he said, "Why didn't you just say so?"
Again Batman turned to Diana instead of answering Superman. "Get whatever you need to take to Apokolips. We leave as soon as you're ready."
Diana moved over to a wall upon which resided an assortment of swords, shields, battleaxes and other weapons and immediately reached towards one of her more favorite swords.
"What about you?" asked Superman.
It was a testament to Clark's concern for Kara that he would ask such a ridiculous question. Ordinarily Clark would know that he would always be prepared, and Bruce was certain that once Clark had some time to reign in his raw emotions he would be the determined and level headed Superman that they needed. As it was, someone besides him still had their wits about them, and the right side of his mouth edged upward a millimeter as Diana replied for him.
"Bruce has whatever he needs in the Batwing." She came to a stop between them and gave her sword a twirl between them. She looked first to Superman and then to Batman, whose gaze she held as she said, "I'm ready."
Bruce nodded and turned towards the door, feeling more than a little pride in Diana and her relative calm. Yes, she was pissed as hell and in mourning at Lyla's murder at the hands of Darkseid, yet she was still in control and thinking clearly. Diana fell into step beside him and matched him stride for stride as they walked along the path that would take them to the clearing that served as the Batwing's landing pad.
"Any ideas on how to convince Barda to help, Clark?" asked Diana as the clearing came into sight. After a few seconds Diana's brow crunched together and she said as she glanced behind her, "Clark?"
"He took flight as soon as he left the palace," said Bruce without breaking his stride. He heard Diana's sigh and shared the sentiment behind it. He could understand and appreciate Clark's attitude- his fear and rage and impatience- but they wouldn't help get Kara back. In fact, a fearful, angry and impatient Superman might get them all killed.
"So what's the plan?" Diana asked as they walked into the clearing.
"Clark will want to take on Darkseid head on," replied Bruce without a hint of reproach in his voice. "We won't be able to stop him, so we'll just have to deal with it. You'll take a less direct approach but with the same goal as Clark: get to Kara."
When Bruce didn't continue on with his part in the plan, Diana reached out and put her left hand on his shoulder to stop him. He did stop, but he didn't turn to face her. "What about you?" she asked warily.
Bruce contemplated not telling her the whole truth about what he intended to do. He could tell her that he would be doing the same as her and Clark- trying to find and rescue Kara which was in essence the truth- but she deserved to know. Besides, a plan like this for a rescue like this from a place like that needed to be fully known and understood by all the participants.
He slowly turned towards Diana and nearly smiled at the concern mixed with annoyance shining in her eyes. "I'm going to find the Hell Spore armory," he said with a serenity that belied the gravity of the situation, "break their arming code and arm them with the intention of forcing Darkseid to release the girl and swear to leave her alone."
Diana's mouth fell open and her arms fell to hang so loosely by her sides that she nearly lost her grip on her sword. "Are you insane?"
Bruce's mouth formed a demonic smirk as he said with a hint of macabre humor in his voice, "I'm a non-powered human being going to Apokolips to face one of the most evil and powerful beings in the universe." He stepped closer to Diana, who had recovered from her shock if the redness in her cheeks was any indication, and added, "What does that say about my sanity?"
"Bruce…"
"Diana," Bruce interrupted softly, "it's the only way. We both know that a brute force attack on Darkseid won't work. There has to be something else. We need leverage."
Bruce waited and watched Diana carefully. He could see her mind working through his reasoning by the minute movements of her eyes and facial muscles. It wasn't until her eyes focused on his and her mouth turned down into a small yet unattractive (if anything about Diana could be unattractive) frown that she spoke.
"It's a good plan." She nodded with all the regality and confidence of a Princess born to lead a nation of warriors. "A very good plan and it will succeed."
Batman nodded his thanks, then waited as Diana turned her sword in her hand so that the tip was pointed towards the ground. A moment later she drove the sword a few inches in the sand and faced him. When she started to reach for his cowl, his right hand surreptitiously moved to his belt to deactivate the cowl's security features.
There was no hesitation in her touch; no fear at all of what might happen even though she knew the cowl was protected from outside tampering. There was only trust in her eyes as her fingers slid under the cowl and lifted it from his face; and there was only happiness shining in her bright blue orbs as she pushed the cowl back to reveal his face to her.
Diana's hands moved onto his cheeks and her fingers glided downward along his skin in a tender caress before falling gently onto his shoulders.
The white eyes of his cowl with its visual enhancements- infrared and night vision capabilities for example- were better than his own eyes on so many levels. With the cowl he could see so much more and in so many different ways, allowing him to see clues and threats that he wouldn't have otherwise been able to find. Yet with all the cowl's superiority over his natural eyesight, there was absolutely nothing as enchanting and soul warming as looking upon Diana with his own eyes. Yes, with the cowl's infrared vision he could 'see' the temperature increase in her cheeks when she blushed, but it simply wasn't the same.
Now with the cowl removed he could see the slight tinge of rose in her cheeks and the passion in her dazzling blue eyes. He could see the moistness of her perfect lips. He could drink up the sight of her, and he did so just as surely as he would have if he thought there was a chance that this could be one of the last times he would ever see her.
His hands moved over onto Diana's hips, and without a second of pause he drew her to him until their lips met. Diana's hands slid back along Bruce's shoulders until her arms encircled his neck, holding him close to her as their mouths moved against each other with delicious deliberateness. The kiss was charged with passion, and when they mutually ended it a minute later they were both slightly winded and affected so much that they simply rested their foreheads against each other's until their hearts and bodies calmed down.
It was Bruce who moved away first, and he wasn't surprised at all when Diana's eyes showed complete understanding. Her hands moved and found the edges of the cowl and with an expertise matched only by Bruce himself and Alfred, she moved it upward so that it protected him once again.
As one they stepped away from each other, their shared mission having taken a backseat to their own needs for too long already. Without a word Diana lifted up into the air while Bruce turned and headed towards the Batwing. He was just about to climb into the craft when Diana's voice, floating from up high like that of an angel, stopped him. He looked up to her floating there in the clear Themyscirian sky and waited.
"If you let them kill you," Diana said with a tone that left no doubt about her sincerity, "I will bring you back from the underworld so I can kill you myself."
Bruce was tempted to remind her that he didn't believe in the fairy tales of her gods, but in the end he decided it was the sentiment more than the substance that was important. Instead he responded with, "I wouldn't expect anything less." He paused for a moment and said in the voice that was just for her- his real voice- "Be careful."
Diana smiled as she responded with a soft, "You too."
Before he knew it she was flying off in the direction that Clark had gone, and twenty seconds later he was following her.
A/N: To Blah- I was trying to convey just how hard of a workout Artemis had given her. I was unsuccessful, apparently. Sorry.