Chap 7
The Underworld
Hades sat on his throne and stared intently into a large chalice of his own. He had watched the couple over the last several days, just as his sisters had. He watched as this evening the mortal quickly told Diana his feelings. He saw the love on Diana's face and listened as she told the mortal that she too loved him. The mortal pulled her into a warm passionate embrace. Hades' dark eyes narrowed. He would have never known about this relationship had Persephone's interactions with the souls of Thomas and Martha Wayne not had piqued his curiousity.
He too had spoken the long dead parents of Bruce Wayne. His questions were more direct and harsher that his sister's, but they were of the same nature. He was more than a little surprised at the strength and fire he heard in their voices, and the love they felt for their son. There was defiance in Martha's eyes when he asked about Bruce's intentions with his daughter. She did not cower or back down when he leaned close to her as she answered: "he loves her more than life itself and he would cross heaven and earth for her, but he would never dishonor her." He could see where the mortal got his nerves of steel from.
Hades leaned back comfortably in his throne. Perhaps it was time to take a more active role in his daughter's life, he thought to himself. The corners of his mouth turned upward in a wicked smile.
Gotham- early evening
Bruce had just closed the door to Dick's room. He was glad things between them were getting better. In truth he had missed Dick, and was proud of the man he had became. Telling him that was far harder than he thought, but recent events made him want to try to make amends.
The younger man had several visitors waiting to see him, Alfred was adament that visitors were limited to one at a time, and he did not want to be in the way. He smiled warmly at Barbara who was wheeling her way down the hall. In her lap, she carried a bag of goodies including what looked like a stuffed toy bird. He chuckled and touched her shoulder as she wheeled next to him.
"Nice bird," Bruce said pulling the stuffed toy robin from her bag.
"You know how hard it was to find this?"
"That shouldn't have been too difficult, for the Oracle." He said chuckling. She beamed a dazzling smile at him, as he returned the toy to her bag and kissed her on the top of her head. He began walking down the hall when she entered the room. He heard part of her greeting, and chuckled when she called him short pants.
Bruce made his way to the kitchen, and entered silently as Alfred was finishing up with the dinner dishes and chatting with Diana and her sister Donna. Alfred was regaling them with an amusing story from Dick's past that had both women giggling in fits.
"It took Alfred days to get the mud out from under the seats of the Ferrai." He said from directly behind Diana. Both women jumped as if their tousers had caught on fire. Alfred merely raised a disapproving eyebrow.
"Alfred, why is it that we are not hearing any of these stories about Bruce?" Diana asked innocently.
"Alfred knows who signs the paychecks," Bruce said, but was interupted by Alfred.
"When Master Bruce was ten, he discovered matches." Alfred started with a smile as he began making coffee. Bruce opened his mouth to say something, only a lucious pair of Amazon lips pressed sensuously to his own cut him off. Alfred uninterested in the couple making out continued his story of how Bruce would light a match to see it burn and throw it under the couch to light another one. Alfred chuckled as he told the women that the first match had failed to go out, and he caught the couch and rug on fire. He continued the tale of how when the fire department arrived, the small boy, who had valiantly fought the fire, and was now covered in soot, denied any involvement and that it must have been a poltergiest.
Bruce found it hard to kiss Diana when they both were laughing so hard. He noticed that Donna had to hold herself up by the counter top to keep from falling on the floor she was laughing so hard. When Donna recovered sufficiantly, she looked at Alfred with an evil eye.
"Why didn't you jump when he snuck in the room?" Alfred merely smirked and began pouring coffee.
"Who do you think I learned it from?" Bruce said. Both Diana and Donna burst out into uncontrolable laughter.
Gotham-early morning
Batman's fist had just connected with the glass jaw of a would-be rapist. As the unconcious man slumped to the ground, Batman knelt beside the woman disengaging his cape and wrapping it around the shivering woman. She was clutching the remnants of her blouse and jacket to keep from exposing her breasts.
He spoke softly to her, reassuring her that she was safe and that the man would not be hurting her. Within seconds, the woman wrapped her arms around his neck and began sobbing uncontrolably. After a few minutes, the woman began to pull herself together. She reassured him that she was okay. He just nodded and activated the communicator.
"Oracle, I need a unit and an ambulance," Batman said giving the address. He secured the man in a pair of plastic flexible cuffs. He accidentally pulled the cuffs to tight, and the man groaned.
"Acknowledged B, two units and an ambulance are en route." Diana said from the main console in the Cave, with Barbara sitting next to her, monitoring everything. Since she was going to be there for a week, Diana decided that she was going to earn her keep, and saw it as a working vacation. She had insisted on learning everything. He had resisted, and they had argued. In the end, she won. When he returned she would be there to patch him up, or console him depending on what was needed. In addition, since Barbara staying was at the Manor visiting Dick, she volunteered to assist Diana.
As the wail of the sirens drew closer, he knelt next to the woman and handed her a business card with the name of a rape counselor on it. She rewarded him with a faint smile as he disappered into the night.
