Chapter 10: His Strength
Atreus was clearly pleased to see Batman. He gave his friend a friendly smack on the back.
"Can you smell it?" Atreus asked with barely contained excitement. "Battle is coming. I've felt the charge in the air for several hours now. By this time tomorrow, you and I will be fighting side by side."
Batman looked at him. "Forgive me if I don't share your enthusiasm."
Atreus laughed. "I forget that you aren't one of us."
Batman glared at him. "I don't"
Atreus laughed again. "Well, my friend, that's fine. Let's talk strategy."
Atreus clapped his arm around Batman's shoulder and directed him towards his home.
"Should we wait for Princess Diana?" Atreus asked.
"Yes, she can discuss how the Amazons can be used much better than anyone else I know."
Atreus looked serious for a moment. "You do know that pure Amazons don't marry, don't you? I don't want you have expectations that will not be met."
Batman froze in his tracks and looked at Atreus for a moment. "You are trying to protect me in this relationship? That may be a first. And why don't they marry?"
Atreus frowned. "My understanding is that they don't believe that a man could possibly prove to be useful or interesting enough for an entire lifetime. I understand that an Amazon can petition one of the gods to give up her immortality and share a mortal life with a mate, but it hasn't happened since this island was created."
"Ah, I did not know that," Batman said honestly. He did not add that he had never thought about it enough to ask.
"I understand, of course, why you desire her but for a lifelong mate, I suggest your turn your eye elsewhere."
"I don't know, Atreus. She is the only woman I've met who hasn't tried to discover the loving, tender man she is convinced is beneath my cold insensitive exterior. She is comfortable with the fact that I am an insensitive jackass to the core."
Atreus nodded somberly. "That is important." Then he grinned. "Because you are a jackass."
Batman nodded in agreement. But then realized he had found something concrete to hate about Blóta – everyone thought people were happier married. Time to nip this in the bud and get Atreus refocused on the important things. Like the army of giants on its way.
"Atreus, I don't know that I ever want to get married. I don't know that I have a 'life mate.' I can barely get along with myself."
Atreus looked stunned and then opened his mouth to speak. Batman cut him off.
"And if you tell me I haven't found the right woman yet, Berserker or not, I will punch you in the jaw," he growled.
Atreus smiled.
"I hope we both survive tomorrow; you make me laugh," he said and the two continued their walk.
"That would be nice," Batman agreed darkly.
----------------------------------------------
"But you can't fly," Diana said tersely.
Diana, Batman, Atreus and two of Atreus' main warriors had been meeting for about an hour and had gotten nowhere in terms of planning. They were standing over a three-dimensional map of the island that had been built into what was otherwise a decorative table in the Fairhair house. They had all agreed that they could not count on being able to direct Odin's army nor any of the Greek gods that might join the fray. After that, agreement had been impossible.
Diana believed that the Themysciran Amazons should serve as the first line of defense in the air. They could, she pointed out, serve as scouts as well as fighters, alerting the lines behind them as to what was coming. The Blótans thought that the first line should be of their people and that the "pure" Amazons could not be counted on to protect the island with the ferocity of those who loved there but if they wanted to fly around and be scouts, that would be acceptable. Diana had clearly been offended by the idea that her sisters might not be reliable. The notion that they should just be scouts had nearly resulted in blows between Diana and Atreus' men. Atreus and Batman had broken it up. Diana's comment was made just as everyone was returning to the map.
"We have some planes," Nestor Jossong replied quickly.
"And how quickly to they respond consider that our enemy can disappear and rematerialize elsewhere?" Diana snapped.
"How does flying solve that?" Iason Gunnarsdotter asked.
"Diana is right," Batman said. "Unless the planes can be controlled by brainwaves, we ought to just leave them where they are. We need quick reaction times. I think we are going to violate the maximum occupant number for this island. We don't need big machinery."
Atreus nodded.
"All right, let's take this back a few steps," he said. "The Amazon delegation will be about what, 15?"
Diana nodded.
"Okay. We've got about 21 people under the age of 16 who will not fight. We've got 14 women who are more than three months pregnant and got 22 people over the age of 650 who will be charged with the defense of the ones under 16 and the women too pregnant to fight. That gives us 455 warriors, including the delegation members, Batman and Princess Diana who will be directly involved in the fight. If we treat the village as the square, we need four divisions on the ground. Put the Amazons in the air and out beyond inhabited area to serve as a front line and scouts, that means we've got more than 100 people per division."
Every one nodded.
"How many communicators can you provide?" Atreus asked the League members.
"Enough to equip all the airborne and the division leaders," Diana answered quickly.
"And me?" Atreus asked.
"Twenty? Yes. We can do that," Diana replied.
Batman looked at her but didn't comment. She was playing fast and loose with the Justice League communicators which meant he was going to have to find a place to bury the purchase of more of them in the Wayne Enterprise budget. He shrugged mentally, it was for a good cause.
"Good. Iason and Nestor will serve as two division heads. Rhea will head up the archers – she is checking supplies now," Atreus paused and then swore loudly. "Minta is in her third trimester, isn't she?" he asked after a moment.
Nestor nodded in agreement.
"Minta is a born leader. Elpis could do it, but I want her with the archers, she is more talented there. Helen needs to be with one of the divisions as a healer," Atreus looked at Batman.
"I know you prefer to work alone, but would you lead a division?" he asked.
"It would be an honor Atreus, but your warriors don't have time to learn to trust me," he said.
"No, you're right. I'll head the fourth division. You are going to run the whole battle," Atreus said firmly.
"Maybe you didn't understand what I meant by the trust issue," Batman said.
"I need someone who isn't going to be Berserk," Atreus said. "It's been a long time since I've been involved in a real battle. I can lead warriors into the fight but unless I am going to give up power, a Blótan can't run the whole thing. You'll be calm in the battle. You need to do this."
Batman nodded. Atreus was right.
With a wave of his hand, Atreus turned over the meeting over to Batman. Five minutes later, the battle plan was complete.
It actually was flawless.
----------------------------------------------
"I still need to talk to Rhea about what I can expect from your archers," Batman said to Atreus as the two of them left the Fairhair home.
Atreus nodded and gestured to the right just before turning in that direction. Batman followed.
Diana had left a few moments before to fly over the island, looking at it from a strategic viewpoint and getting the communicators from the Watchtower. She would be back later that night.
The two men were about thirty yards from the archery area, walking past a large training field filled with people when Atreus' son, Bion, raced up to them, screaming, with his eyes an unnatural color of green.
"Bion, get back to your lesson!" Atreus barked.
Batman grabbed Bion by his tunic collar and pulled him to eye level.
"Stopp krigare! Du har vinna!" he said firmly to the child.
Bion's eyes returned to their normal color and he shook his head as if trying to gather his bearings. Batman returned him to the ground, gave him a pat on the back in the direction of the training field and continued heading towards the archery area as the boy did what his father had instructed.
Atreus stood, dumbfounded for a moment. "Odin be praised," he said in awe and fell into step besides his friend.
"How did you do that?" Atreus asked when he caught up with Batman.
"How do you stop someone in Berkserk mode?" Batman replied.
"We, ah, defend ourselves until he burns through it," Atreus answered.
Batman smirked. Stopping a Berserker passively was apparently something that none of the Blótans knew.
Odin be praised, indeed.
Because tomorrow he was going to be dealing with hundreds of them.
----------------------------------------------
It took several hours, but finally, not long after sunset, Batman had spoken to everyone and explained the parts of the plan they needed to know. The village was buzzing. Some were preparing the young, elderly and pregnant to move to the largest house on the island. Those who were going to fight were dividing into their divisions and arming themselves. The weather was mild so everyone fighting was going to sleep armed and more or less in position. Batman figured that once the Amazonian delegation landed, they would have less than 10 minutes before the invasion began.
There was nothing for Batman to do. Diana had distributed the communicators and left to await the arrival of the Amazonian delegation.
So, he went searching.
He found her where he would have waited - in the foothills of the mountains where it was still warm so that she could doze but at enough of an altitude that she would be quickly alerted to their arrival. She was facing the village, however, rather than towards Themyscira.
She looked up at him when he approached and patted the rock next to her.
"Is everything ready?" she asked.
"I think so. I am not sure how the fact that the world's best warriors haven't actually fought a war for at least a millennia plays into the equation," he said. He paused for a moment. "And what are you thinking, Princess, up here in the mountains?"
She smiled but turned her head back towards the village. "I was thinking that I like this island. It appeals to me on many levels. Perhaps because it is a lot like Themyscira but it actually welcomes me. Or because it presents itself as the perfect blend of my home and Man's World. And tomorrow, I am going to help destroy it. To protect it. To protect their way of life, their gods and mine, I am going to help level this place."
She looked at him. "I'm not sure how I feel about that. It will be a glorious fight. But I will mourn Blóta."
Not having a response, he kissed her passionately. They spent several hours together before he returned to the village.
----------------------------------------------
At about an hour before sunrise, Diana intercepted the Amazonian delegation as they came over the horizon. By the time they had entered Blótan air space, Diana had explained the situation.
The Amazons clearly doubted the impended battle, but they willingly followed Diana to the center of the village where Batman and the division leaders awaited them.
"Where's Hera?" Batman barked.
"She comes momentarily," the Queen replied.
"Then the clock starts," he said coldly.
Atreus and Hippolyta formally greeted each other. Atreus introduced the division leaders while Hippolyta introduced the entire delegation. Once done, the Amazons fell back alongside their princess.
Diana turned to him. "I will get into position then," she said. She bit her lip as if there was something she wanted to say but didn't risk it.
"Whatever happens," she said finally, looking Batman in the eye. "It has been an honor serving with you."
"And you," she said, bowing her head at Atreus. He returned the gesture.
She locked eyes with Batman for another moment and then turned to fly away. Before taking off, he watched as she refocused her thoughts from him to the upcoming battle.
She doesn't expect to survive, he thought and realized that in his experience, she had never thought that before.
He quickly suppressed the chill in his heart. He didn't have time for it. He had noticed that the Amazons, in the air, were all bowing.
Hera is here, he thought and mentally started the countdown.
----------------------------------------------
AN: If my translation is right, Batman told Bion "Stop, warrior! You have won!" in Swedish. If anyone knows for sure, please correct me. I was using an online translator.
Thank you to all my reviewers! You have all been so wonderful!