Chapter 4: Dog of War


Diana:

"Anything?"

"Not since five minutes ago, Princess."

Diana sighed loudly, making sure that Bruce could her doing so through the com-link. She was growing restless.

After taking their leave from Audrey and her troupe, the pair had headed straight for behind enemy lines. J'onn had done some extra recon from the Watchtower for them, and had sent along several satellite images of a town that seemed to have unusually high military activity. There, they hoped to find the epicenter, or at least some kind of command post that the rebel leader might be operating from. That had proven to be far harder than either of them had anticipated.

Once they landed, they had started by stealing into the town itself, hoping to make contact with some residents for information. Initially, the town had seemed deserted save for a few men armed with rifles patrolling the empty streets. Together, they had moved through the shadows like thieves, canvassing the entire area. But besides scaring a few stray cats, they found no one.

They had almost reached the outskirts of the town and given up hope of finding anything there, when they heard a "psssssssst" coming from dark of the alley across from theirs.

A small boy stepped out from behind some boxes just enough to catch their attention. He made a waving motion, indicating for them to follow him and then took off running down the alley. Checking that no men were patrolling the street, she and Bruce had run after him. He led them through a maze of back alleys at a full sprint before stopping in front of a small door that Diana would never have even noticed. He waited for them to join him beside the door before knocking three times. And then they waited.

As they had stood in the darkness of the alley, a cool breeze picked up stirring some paper and leaves on the ground. She couldn't help but shiver. Above, the breeze cleared the clouds just enough for some of the moon's eerie silver light to shine through. It was then that she finally got a good look at the little boy who had led them here. He could not have been more than eight years old. Yet his weary, tired face seemed older than any adult she had ever met. His clothes was rather ill fitting and worn, probably hand me downs from an older brother or relative. His dark hair stuck out in odd directions like he had just gotten out of bed and there was a smudge of dirt across his nose.

Before she could stop herself, she had instinctively reached out and with her thumb, gently wiping away the streak. He seemed mildly surprised as she had did so, but did not pull away. When she lowered her hand, his own went up and rubbed the area hard, making sure it was all gone. When he looked up at her again the smudge was completely gone and replaced by little red mark from his vigorous rubbing. She smiled and gave him a thumbs up to let him know it was gone. He'd smiled back up at her and for a moment, his face had looked young again.

In that moment, the small door had swung open, and an old man ushered them inside.

Inside, they found a rather large group of men and women gathered around a fireplace, speaking in low voices. As she and Bruce entered the room, a hush fell over them as every person simultaneously turned to look at them. One of the men sitting closest to them asked them something in Kasnian.

Diana's stomach had dropped then as she realized that neither she nor Bruce spoke a lick of Kasnian. She had really only ever spoken with the Kasnian UN representatives and Audrey who had all learned English very early in life. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she tucked away a reminder to take some lessons in Kasnian when this was all over.

Thankfully, the old man who had let them in, who introduced himself as Simon, spoke English. He told them how the rebels had appeared without warning in their town square the day before, denouncing the new government and the monarchy. They called for the people to rise up and take their country back and to fight against those that would exploit them.

Simon explained how the mysterious men tried to get the townspeople to join their cause, and how the soldiers implemented marshal law when they met with resistance. They resisted, he said, because the people realized that the men were just a bunch of rag tag farmers and assumed that they were just angry because they had suffered a bad harvest. They thought that the men only wanted to intimidate the town into giving them money and then they would leave, that there was no way the men would really try to control them. That was when the guns had come out.

They shot some people to make a point. They also arrested the mayor and three town officials that they deemed as valuable hostages and had taken them to an old abandoned barn out in the hills behind the town.

"Is that where they are operating from?" Bruce asked.

"As far as I know, yes," the man had said grimly.

And that was where they found themselves at the present moment.

They had been staking out the rundown barn for hours and there had been almost no observable activity in that whole time. There were only a few old military trucks parked out front and Bruce's infrared scanner confirmed people inside. He also saw what looked like the four hostages Simone had described, tied up but alive.

She had wanted to go get them right away, but Bruce had told her to wait. The only other people inside just looked like guards. If they went in now, there was a chance that one of those guards would sound the alarm and then they would be back to square one.

He convinced her to wait and see if anyone else would come. A leader couldn't stay away from the command center forever was his logic.

And so Diana found herself laying on her stomach under the cover of some low shrubs, watching the entrance of the cabin. Dirt had worked its way down the front of her uniform and she was covered in small scrapes from the shrubs' twigs. To make matters worse, the temperature was dropping quickly, and she was beginning to lose some of the feeling in her hands and face. Any physical discomfort she felt however was completely overshadowed by her extreme boredom.

But this was Bruce's style. He liked to watch from afar and to gather as much information as he could before formulating a meticulous plan of action. He didn't like surprises, so he tried to make sure that there weren't any before proceeding.

Diana was the exact opposite. She was more the "knock, knock I'm coming in" and kicking down the door kind of gal. It wasn't really the smoothest way of doing things, but she didn't have the patience for all this observation crap. Generally, she would have protested long ago against waiting any longer. But after he had surprised her with that 100% genuine Bruce Wayne apology, she decided to ease up on him a little. Thinking of that made her hands and face not feel so cold anymore.

It was truly amazing how quickly he could change her mood from one extreme to the other. He was the only one she had ever known who could do that. Everyone else in the League knew better than to stoke her fiery temper out of fear that she'd pound them into the dust, but that didn't even seem to cross the giant Bat's mind. He told her like it was, especially if it was something she didn't want to here. It was both aggravating and invigorating all at once. He challenged her and it was exciting.

Of course she would throw it right back at him whenever the opportunity presented itself. There were very few who say they had done that and lived to tell the tale. She took pride in that fact.

It also made her think that maybe, just maybe, she occupied a special enough place in his mind (or heart) that gave her that special privilege.

"Diana," the sudden interruption almost made her heart leap from her chest, "look alive, there's a vehicle coming your way."

Sure enough, the light from two large headlights became visible at the end of the dirt road leading up to the old structure. As it drew closer, Diana picked up the small binoculars Bruce had lent her and tried to get a better look. The vehicle turned out to be a large trunk. Sitting in the bed were about ten armed men and in the cab sat two more men.

She followed the truck's movement through her binoculars until it came to a stop in front of the barn doors. The men in the back began unloading, and a man shouted orders at them in Kasnian. One of them ran around the side of the truck and opened the passenger side door.

A tall, blonde man emerged through the open door. He absolutely towered over the armed gun men that were gathering around him. He was wearing a very fancy looking suit.

"Well he sure looks important..." Diana murmured under her breath, 'and vaguely familiar…' she added mentally.

"Can you see what is happening?" Bruce's voice asked quietly through the com-link. He was positioned on the other side of the truck in a tree and couldn't make out what was going on.

"I think we've got our guy," she said with a smile.

"Good. Wait until they go inside, then we'll pay them a little visit."

"Deal." She could barely contain her excitement.

The man looked to be speaking to the group in front of him, but she couldn't make anything he said out. After a moment, the men began making their way to the barn doors. One man ran ahead slightly and unlocked one of the large double doors and allowed the blonde man in. One by one, each of the other soldiers also disappeared inside. The same man who unlocked the door began pulling it shut, but instead of closing it all the way, he left a small crack open.

"Let's move."

She saw Bruce's dark figure drop from a tree across the clearing from her and start towards the barn. Wiggling herself out from underneath the pointy shrub, she stood up and stretched her aching muscles momentarily before making a break for the door as well.

Bruce was already there, peering through the small space of open door. She knelt down beside him and leaned in so she could see inside.

The barn was poorly lit and was almost completely empty save for a few paper covered desks, old horse stalls and old, rusting equipment. Standing in the middle of the space were the handful of guards and the tall man. From the back, Diana saw the four hostages being brought to kneel in front of the group.

Then she heard the man speak.

"Gentlemen, I hope you found your accommodations suitable." he said while gesturing around to the dingy space around them. His voice was so deep she could have sworn she felt the door vibrate beneath her fingers.

"I hope you have given my proposition some thought. Your friends in neighboring towns have found my terms to be quiet agreeable. Join me in my quest to create the most powerful military force the world has ever seen, and be handsomely rewarded. Or die. The choice is simple."

"We will never join you," the man, whom Diana assumed was the mayor, spat out.

"We believe in the New Kasnia. We don't want anymore war and fighting, we want peace!" exclaimed another.

The tall man sighed, "Pity, I was so hoping it wouldn't come to this."

That was when she saw the gun. He drew it languidly from the inside of his suit jacket and made sure that the what little light there was made the silver metal glint. The hostages' eyes widened marginally, but they kept their heads up and stared directly ahead. Her whole body tensed and she turned to Bruce with desperation. Through her eyes she hoped he would see that now was the time to act. But his eyes said wait, wait for that bastard to disclose more information before stopping him. She shook her head furiously and looked quickly back at the scene inside.

The tall man was turning the gun slowly over in his hands and seemed to be considering something. The silence was unbearably heavy, and then the man spoke again.

"I've never really liked guns. They are too detached, too impersonal. I like being very close to whomever I kill so I can see that little light leave their eyes…but this is a new suit, and I would hate to see it get ruined." With that he pointed the gun at the first hostage's head.

That was enough.

"STOP!" she screamed with all the authority and rage she could muster. She pulled the barn door fully open with so much force that it pulled clean of the hinges. She tossed the ruined slab of wood like a toy, effortlessly over her shoulder.

The armed soldiers yelled in surprise and instantly reached to ready and aim their weapons. But she wasn't interested in them, she only had eyes for the asshole in the suit.

His eyes met hers. And her blood ran cold.

"Ares…"

"Hello Diana, how nice of you to finally join us."


Hey everyone, hope you enjoyed it. Please review!

-Peace,DAS