Chapter 24
Earth-36
2044
Mount Olympus
Kal knew the second Diana returned to Mount Olympus. Despite their decade long separation, he was as in tune to her today as he ever was. Reclining on her bed, Diana's scent surrounded him. Sleeping in her chamber for the last week was the next best thing to having her in the bed beside him. But her vanilla scented sheets and pillows were a poor substitute for the woman whose heart he would soon shred to pieces.
Rolling out of bed, Kal stood to meet his returning wife. He detected no footsteps coming toward the chamber, but her scent preceded her. If she were flying instead of walking, that meant Diana was in a hurry.
Probably in a rush to check on Athos. She must know he still throws temper tantrums when she's gone. He really knows how to emotionally blackmail his mother. He always has.
Diana opened the door to her bedroom and entered. Lowering herself to the granite floor, her eyes lifted to find Kal watching her. Nothing in her demeanor changed. Diana neither seemed surprised to find him in her room, instead of the suite Zeus assigned to him, nor did she appear particularly happy to see him.
Kal wanted nothing more than to kiss that cool, dispassionate look off her face. There was absolutely nothing dispassionate about his wife. Yet their relationship had taken a drastic nosedive after Hippolyta's death. Cooling the fire that once so easily burned between them.
Thanks to Athos. Thanks to me.
Kal had made his decision. Observing their son these past few days, Kal realized what a grave mistake he'd made in not telling Diana the truth. Not only did she have a right to know the actual cause of her mother's death, Diana needed to come to terms with the true nature of her son. Kal had no idea how Diana would take either truth, but he couldn't lie to her any longer. Yet the unimaginable pain of learning her son was responsible for the death of Hippolyta and thousands of Amazons was a revelation that would scar Diana to her very soul.
That thought alone had Kal keeping Athos' secret for ten, guilt-ridden years. An accomplice after the fact. That's what Kal had become. Zeus as well, but Diana held no illusions about her father's moral compass. For her husband though, she expected so much more from him, of him.
Diana closed the door behind her.
"Father said I would find you here." Her eyes fell to her rumpled bed then back to Kal. "He's angry with you for staying here while I was away instead of in the guest wing."
"Zeus is perpetually upset with me. As long as we're married, that will never change."
Kal watched as Diana moved about her bedroom. First dropping her overnight bag at the foot of her bed, then removing her shoes and blazer and placing both in her walk-in closet. Perhaps she wasn't in such a rush, after all. Or maybe, just maybe, Diana had flown down the hallway because she was in a hurry to see her husband.
That couldn't possibly be it, Kal told himself. But then she turned to him and smiled. Beautiful and genuine and breathtakingly feminine.
His wife hadn't looked at Kal like that in a very long time.
Since she stopped calling me Clark. Ten years. Dammit. I haven't been Clark to her in ten lonely years.
"I found them."
"Clark and Diana?"
She nodded. And the smile came again. Pointing to her bed, she gestured for him to sit.
He did, reclaiming his spot against the headboard. His long, jean-clad legs stretched out in front of him.
Diana crawled onto the bed, settling in the middle with her legs crossed. As if she were a five-year-old in kindergarten class.
"They returned with you?"
"They did."
"Well, don't make me pull every detail out of you. Tell me what they're like."
Diana removed an odd looking watch from her wrist and tossed it to Clark.
He caught it.
"What's this?"
"Bruce's time traveling device. Well, to be factual, it does more than transport the wearer through time."
"Right, right. You went to another universe, as well as thirty years in the past. That had to be wild."
"It's painful is what it is. It was better the second time around, but still unpleasant. I wonder how many times Bruce has time and universe leapt. It would explain his poor health."
Kal wondered if she met the Bruce Wayne where she had gone. He supposed Diana would eventually get to that part, if she had.
"Anyway, once the device got me where I needed to be, it wasn't hard to find them. It was surreal, Kal. Their time and planet was a near mirror image of what our Earth was three decades ago. The streets, buildings, people, even events. So much matched. But not everything. As close as it was, it wasn't identical."
"I assume you mean Clark and Diana?"
"Not just them, but yes. They're an interesting couple, Kal. So young, vibrant, and idealistic."
"Like we were at their age?"
"In some respects. They're in love and in lust with each other and haven't quite figured out how to handle either. They're good people, powerful heroes and have a lot of growing up to do."
Which made perfect sense to Kal. Diana of Themyscira would be only twenty-four and Clark Kent just a few years older. Not babies, for sure, but still young enough to be what Pa Kent would refer to as "wet behind the ears."
"So they agreed to help Athos?"
"They did. But I was honest with them, Kal. I may not know Bruce's true motive for wanting Superman and Wonder Woman here, but we both know he's up to something."
Without a doubt, Diana was right.
"And they were okay with that?"
"Not 'okay,' but they came anyway. As I said, they're young, vibrant, and idealistic. If they can, they want to help. I left them with Bruce at the Manor."
"You think that's a good idea?"
"I don't know, but it made the most sense at the time. They're smart. They won't be fooled by Bruce."
Diana began to unbraid her hair. Deft fingers worked mindlessly and Kal found himself watching on with growing interest. God but the woman was gorgeous. She had no idea what she did to him by doing something as bland and routine as taking down her hair. Kal wanted to reach out and grab a handful of her luscious locks, wrapping them around his fingers and tugging her in for a long, overdue kiss.
Instead, he asked, "And she's not pregnant? I mean, based on their time, she would be about two or three months pregnant?"
Diana finger combed her hair. The thick waves fell nearly to her lap.
"No, she's not pregnant. From what I gathered, most of what happened with Doomsday and Brainiac was the same as what occurred with us here. Superman was infected with the virus. The same as you. But something different must've happened that prevented him from going to Diana afterward. Or maybe he did seek her out in London and something happened there and they weren't intimate. Whatever the specifics, they didn't make a baby that night or any other."
"In other words, they didn't duplicate our mistake."
As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Kal knew he should have left them unsaid.
Diana blanched, cobalt eyes flashing with anger.
"Our son isn't a mistake. I hate that you think of him in that way."
"No, Diana, the mistake was mine. Trust me, I've lived with the guilt of that selfish decision for the last thirty years. I own every sour taste of it."
Diana turned away from him, her body shifting to the edge of the bed. Her back to Kal. All signs Diana did not want to talk about that night, the Doomsday virus, or Athos.
Too bad.
Kal followed Diana to the end of the bed. Slipping his legs on either side of her, Kal claimed the spot directly behind his wife. His chest to her back, his arms wrapped around her middle, his chin on her shoulder.
He hadn't held Diana in years. He'd craved her touch, as much as he imagined a drug addict craved their next high.
"Kal, don't."
"Don't what?" He lowered his chin so that his mouth pressed against her shoulder. Opening his mouth, he nipped the silk-covered shoulder.
Diana shivered.
Kal did it again.
Lifting his head, Kal confessed, "I love you, Diana. I've never stopped. You said 'Kal, don't' ten years ago too. Do you remember? When I asked you to choose me over Athos. To choose your husband over your son."
Kal held her tighter when he felt Diana tense and made to stand.
"I shouldn't have asked that of you. I didn't realize what I was doing to you by asking you to choose. It was unfair of me. Selfish. Ever since Athos was a child, I could see how much he wanted you to himself. But what I couldn't see was that I had the same desire. In that respect, father and son are very much alike."
"Why are you telling me this now? Why are you dredging up old pain?"
"Because the pain may be old but the cause is unresolved. I know I still hurt, still bleed for all the years we've lost. Can you tell me you feel differently? Can you look me in the eye and claim your choosing of Athos over me didn't hurt, didn't make you bleed, too?"
Diana said nothing, which was her way when deep emotions overwhelmed her. She often required time to digest and reflect and then decide what to do next. It had taken Kal years to figure that out about her. To understand that she wasn't pushing him away, but that she needed physical space to mentally process her thoughts and feelings. Once she'd settled whatever it was that was going on in her head and her heart, Diana always returned to him.
Except one time.
When she chose Athos over me.
Kal wished he could see her eyes. Diana's heart lived in her amazing blue eyes. But to see them would mean he'd have to release her. Which he staunchly refused to do. What came next would devastate Diana. For that, he needed to hold her, needed to support her, needed to keep her from murdering her son in a flash of rage and unfathomable betrayal.
"I didn't choose Athos over you. I just wanted an explanation for what you did. You helped Zeus lock our son away in a kryptonite prison. I only wanted the truth, but you refused to give it to me. What else was I supposed to do?"
"You could have trusted me, Diana. Trusted that I had a damn good reason for doing what I did."
"And you could've trusted me with the truth. We took vows, Kal. We pledged ourselves to each other, binding our hearts and our souls. With such fidelity, trust and faith were not only implied but expected. You expected me to trust you, but you weren't willing to return that same trust in me."
And that was how Diana viewed the ten-year discord between them. Oh, his sweet, disillusioned wife. Did she not know he would do anything to keep her from pain? Even sacrifice their marriage, his happiness, and his heart.
His decision to keep the truth from Diana hadn't been a matter of trust but a matter of pain, of sorrow, of anguish.
Hers.
But Kal hadn't prevented those things. He'd only changed the source of her pain. From Diana's perspective, that would be what she thought of as her husband's lack of trust and lies.
"I'm willing to tell you all, Diana." Lacing his fingers through hers, he asked, "Are you willing to hear the truth, honey?"
"It's all I've ever asked of you."
No, she had no idea what she was asking of him when she'd demanded the truth. It was like asking Superman to reach inside Wonder Woman's chest and rip out her heart. Totally within his capability yet downright bloody and cruel—a lethal wound.
"Okay. Promise me you'll listen until I'm finished. No matter what, just listen."
"Kal, I—"
He nipped her shoulder again.
"I know you think you want to know the truth. And yes, you deserve the truth. But, Diana, you won't like what I have to say. It will hurt you deeply. That's why I've kept it from you all these years. But it's time. Past time."
Again, Diana went silent in his arms. Digesting his words and reflecting on their past, he knew.
She relaxed into his embrace and sighed.
"I've only ever wanted the truth, Kal. I have no desire to experience more pain. But I can't keep living this way. You can't protect me from everything, no matter how much you may wish otherwise." Diana twisted in his arms until they were nose to nose. "When you're shielding me with your silence, who protects you from yourself? That should be my role, but it can't be if there isn't trust between us. So yes, I'll listen until you're finished. But I promise nothing more."
Kal rubbed his nose against Diana's, their eyes holding.
"Except for the lie of omission, I've never lied to you, Diana. No matter what has transpired between us since we've separated, please know that I am the same honest man you married thirty years ago. I would never lie to you. Not then, not now."
Diana shut her eyes and lowered her head. "You're frightening me."
He knew he was. But Kal was trying to prepare Diana for the truth she would never be ready to hear.
She shifted back around in his arms.
For several minutes neither spoke. Clark sat quietly and waited for Diana. When she was ready, she would let him know. Until then, he would be patient. It had been ten years, after all. Another few minutes, even an hour, wouldn't make a bit of difference.
Before the night was over, Diana would have irrefutable proof that Doomsday lived on within Athos Kal-El.
Their son.
Superman's ultimate mistake.
Twenty minutes later, Diana murmured, "I'm ready, Kal."
No she wasn't. But Kal spoke anyway.
Clark awoke to an empty bed. According to the clock on the nightstand, he hadn't been asleep more than an hour. He ran his hand over the silk sheets where Diana had been when he'd fallen off to sleep. They were still warm, which meant she hadn't been gone long.
Good.
Clark jumped from the bed and was in his Superman armor and out into the cool Gotham air in under a minute. Scanning the skyline, he searched for his missing Amazon.
He should've known. Turning south, Clark sped to the nation's capital. What was it about the Lincoln Memorial that drew Diana? Whatever it was, the woman found obvious solace in the historical monument.
Landing beside her, Clark gazed out at the Mall, museums, National Zoological Park, the White House, and surrounding community.
"It hasn't changed much in thirty years. They finally finished the African American History and Culture Museum. And added two more museums to the Smithsonian Institute."
Clark pointed to the White House. "It seems they've also gone solar. The panels on the roof look about ten years old."
"DC is so beautiful at night, especially from this height. Come, Clark, join me."
Lowering himself, Clark sat beside Diana. Their legs hanging off the side of the monument.
"I would've returned soon enough. You didn't have to come looking for me."
"I was worried."
"I'm fine, Clark. I only wanted to see some of my favorite spots before we return home."
"We could've gone together, Diana. You should've woken me."
"When you awoke and found me gone, what was your first thought?"
"I don't understand."
Diana shifted to her side so that she was facing Clark. He turned as well.
"Just tell me your first thought."
He didn't want to tell her, but he did anyway.
"I thought, just for a second, that you'd left me and returned home."
"Why would you think that? We came together. Why would I leave you here by yourself?"
"I-I don't know, Diana. I just thought … well, with losing the baby and all you might not want to be around the man who got you pregnant but wasn't there for you in your time of need."
"And that's the reason why I didn't wake you, Clark. That. Right there."
She pointed to his face.
He frowned.
"What do you mean?"
Instead of answering his question, she posed another one.
"What do you feel when you look at me? Tell me the first word that comes to your mind."
He stared at her, not having to even think of the word, of the feeling. It had been with him since he'd learned the truth of Diana's pregnancy and miscarriage. But it was another truth he didn't want to share with her.
Diana stared back, unflinching and patient.
Clark shook his head, giving in. "When I look at you, I feel guilty."
"Yes, I know."
She knew? Then why in the world did she make him say it?
Diana scooted back, then raised her legs to her chest, no longer meeting Clark's eyes.
"Until I told you about the miscarriage, you never looked at me with guilt. Respect. Love. Desire. But never guilt, Clark. That's not the way I want you to feel when we're together. When you look at me, I don't wish for you to see a woman who you think you failed to protect. But a woman you would protect in the same way you know she would protect you."
Clark heard every word Diana had just spoken, but he wasn't sure he understood what she was trying to tell him.
"As the man who loves you, it's my job to protect you. Even from myself. When I came to you after being infected by Doomsday, I wasn't thinking about your safety but my own selfish needs. Because of me, you were hurt."
Diana shook her head, then shifted her body back toward Clark.
"You say that as if the sex we had that night wasn't consensual. You didn't force me to be with you. I chose to lie with you that night. In your mind, do I not hold some level of responsibility for my pregnancy? Why must you harbor it all?"
"I don't harbor it all. But I came to you. If I hadn't, there would've been no choice for you to make."
"True. But I did make a choice. And I chose to make love to the man of my heart. To give him comfort in his hour of need. Would you deny me my empathy, love, and attraction for you just so you can carry the burden of my pregnancy on your own?"
"That's not what I'm doing."
"No, Clark, it's exactly what you're doing. And it saddens, as much as it angers me. But I have my own guilt to contend with. I know the miscarriage wasn't my fault. Intellectually, I know this to be true. But my heart, my warrior pride, tells me that I should've been stronger. That if I was, our baby would still be within me instead of dead."
Diana wasn't to blame. Why in the hell would she even think something so awful? Be so hard on herself?
Slipping her hand in his, Diana began to rub her thumb over the back of Clark's hand. Despite the chill of the autumn air, Diana's hand was soft and warm.
"You have a protective streak as large as Luthor's ego. Which, considering the size of Luthor's ego, is saying quite a lot."
At that, Clark couldn't help but smile. Diana was in a far better mood and frame of mind than Clark had given her credit for being.
"You won't always be able to keep me safe, Clark. And I don't expect it of you. As an Amazon, I shouldn't even want your protection … or your love." The hand not holding his came to rest on his cheek. "But I'm honored that you've granted me both. I may not always know how to show it, but what we have is important to me. You're important to me. Your physical, as well as your emotional, well-being."
Clark leaned into her tender yet strong touch. He understood Diana now. He'd been so busy feeling guilty over his lack of protection for her and their baby, that he hadn't taken a moment to tend to his own heart. The loss he felt over learning he'd fathered a child with Diana and that their child had died.
Diana hadn't been pushing him away out of anger or disappointment in him. But, in her own Amazon warrior way, she was encouraging Clark to deal with his grief and to find peace. To forgive himself and let go of his guilt.
Instead, he'd held on too fiercely to it and to Diana. Not giving her the time and space she needed to tend to the guilt she felt over the miscarriage.
When she'd told him that "You won't lose me. I'm right here," she'd meant it. But he had misinterpreted her words, her actions.
Diana and Clark dealt with grief differently. As they did with other things in their lives. They were still growing as individuals, as heroes, and as a man and woman in love.
As Diana said, if their love couldn't survive this then they didn't deserve to be together.
Clark covered the hand on his cheek with his own, kissing the palm.
"We'll be okay." It was a statement as much as it was a question.
"We will. It'll take time, but we'll be fine. We'll endure."
Moving the hand on his cheek to the nape of his neck, Clark leaned in to capture Diana's lips. Just as his lips grazed hers, she pulled back. An agonized look on her face.
"What's wrong?"
She covered her heart with her hand, then bolted into the night sky.
Clark followed.
"What's wrong? Where are you going?"
"To Mount Olympus."
"Why?"
Increasing his speed to keep pace with Diana, Clark shot through the air.
"Something's just cracked inside of Diana."
"What? Wait? You can feel her? Since when?"
"Since now. I don't know how or why. But she's in pain. Enraged. And about to go over the edge. If someone doesn't stop her, she's going to, going to …"
Diana removed her bracers and flew faster than he'd ever known her to fly. Which told Clark all he needed to know about what Diana feared would happen if they didn't reach Mount Olympus very, very soon.
Earth-16
2035
Almerac
"How long will it take the air fleet to reach the palace?"
Maxima backed away from the balustrade. Her gaze fixed on the woman floating dozens of feet above her. Blade dripping with crimson from Maxima's elite guards. Thirty men and women effortlessly sliced through as if their bodies were nothing more than melting butter.
What on this side of the universe is her sword made of?
No metal Maxima knew of could cut through flesh, bone, and Almeracian armor with such ease. But the weapon in Wonder Woman's hand had.
And she's not even winded. After killing my elite guards, the woman has the nerve to not even be breathing hard. Damn her and her husband.
"How long, Sazu? How long?"
"Five minutes, maybe ten. Depending on how fast they fly."
"Do we have that long? Do you think she'll strike in that time?"
Maxima could send the remaining twenty of her elite guards after Wonder Woman. They were the only guards that could fly and engage the Amazon in aerial combat. But she also had her palace guards. They were ground fighters but they had lasers that could, with the right marksman, reach the woman.
But the queen, after witnessing Wonder Woman's speed, doubted the ground-to-air lasers would score the necessary hits to bring the Amazon down.
And, for all that was unholy, she hadn't moved a single, solitary inch since demanding the return of her husband.
"She's evil," Sazu hissed. "As dark and evil as her black armor. I can't see her eyes from this distance and through that helmet she wears. And she came out of nowhere. One minute there were only guards in the sky, and then she was there—menacing and still as a viper waiting to strike."
Sazu, uncharacteristically rough with Maxima, pulled her to the open balcony doors.
"She won't stop until we're all dead, empress."
Maxima shrugged off her adviser's sweaty hands. Not at all pleased with Sazu's tremulous reaction.
"She's but one woman."
"Yes, one woman who's killed most of your elite guards. With little effort, I might add. The reports from Earth claim she's a demigod. But no one really knows the extent of her powers."
"I don't care. I won't allow Wonder Woman or anyone else to come into my realm and make demands of its queen. It's simply not done. I cow to no one. Demigod or no. Once the fleet is here, we'll see how she fares against the might of the Almeracian Air Force."
No enemy who ever battled her fleet lived to tell the tale. Wonder Woman would be no different. She would fall, like all the rest.
"I think Wonder Woman is a woman of honor. If we return Superman to her, I'm sure she'll take him and leave. Just give her what she wants. That's what she's waiting for. Why she has yet to attack you directly. But I fear if you wait much longer, she'll go on the offensive."
Go on the offensive. Sazu spoke as if Maxima should fear the barbarian. She did not. But the adviser did have a point, which gave Maxima an idea.
Rushing back into the throne room, Maxima barked out a command to a waiting servant. The man rushed off to contact the general of Alpha Fleet. His order: Get to the palace immediately and engage the enemy.
"One woman against twenty spaceships won't stand a chance. But you're right, Sazu."
The woman looked surprised at Maxima's words.
"Have Superman brought up here. We'll give the barbarian what she wants. And once she has Superman, she'll be too busy with him to fight when my fleet arrives. They'll decimate them both. Then I'll send her home to her mother, with a note of my own attached to her corpse."
"Yes, your highness. Right away, your highness."
Maxima watched as Sazu rushed from the room. She smiled. This was all too easy. Athos may have failed Maxima, but she would free them both of his troublesome parents.
Less than five minutes later, Maxima and Sazu were back on the balcony. A naked and unconscious Superman floated in front of them. Held aloft by Maxima's telekinesis. The only thing better than the power she wielded over the woman hovering closer now that her husband was in sight, was the thought that her fleet would be here in three minutes.
After Wonder Woman was dead, she would rip that helmet off her and gloat over her arrogant carcass.
"I'm sending your husband to you. Once you have him, I expect you to leave my planet and to never return."
As expected, the barbarian said nothing.
Using her power, Maxima levitated Superman upward until he was as high in the sky as his wife. For just a minute, Maxima kept him where he was, neither moving him forward nor backward.
The queen bestowed on the Amazon her most haughty smile. Though she couldn't see it, she knew Wonder Woman had to be raging under that helmet of hers. Probably even inwardly cursing her in whatever language barbaric Amazons spoke.
The added bonus was that it gave her fleet that much more time to reach the palace.
When Sazu whispered, "You toy with the devil at your own peril, empress," Maxima blinked away her enjoyment at having gutted the Amazon without benefit of a sword. For that, she was pleased.
Pushing Superman to his wife, Maxima couldn't help one more slash to the woman's vital heart organ. When Superman was but fifty feet from Wonder Woman, Maxima released her power.
Superman plummeted to the ground.
"I can't believe you—"
Off the balcony went Sazu, her words turning into a shocked gasp. As her body careened over the edge.
Down she went, a golden rope encasing her entire body. A fly in a spider's silken web.
Where in the hell did that rope come from?
Wonder Woman bolted through the air, nose diving after Superman. A bound Sazu behind her.
Head hanging over the side of the balcony, in shock and horror, Maxima watched as Wonder Woman caught Superman.
Sazu dangled from the golden rope, the binding covering her from neck to ankles.
Wonder Woman's focus turned from Superman to Sazu. Maxima was superior to her people in many ways—strength, speed, endurance—but she did not have enhanced hearing.
Although she'd unsuccessfully tried to use telepathy and telekinesis on Wonder Woman from the moment she appeared above her palace, Maxima made another vain attempt.
Like all the other times, nothing happened. How was that possible? Her powers were unmatched. Yet this barbarian had managed to shield herself from Maxima's most powerful abilities.
Maxima could now see Sazu was speaking to the Amazon. About what, she couldn't imagine. A sense of foreboding washed over Maxima, and it threatened to send her quaking knees to the hard ground.
Gripping the balustrade with white knuckles, Maxima could do nothing when Wonder Woman grabbed Sazu by the nape of her neck and twisted. Though it was impossible, Maxima could've sworn she heard the pop and crack of Sazu's neck.
Maxima thought she would be sick. Sazu was not only her trusted adviser, she was also her friend. And all she could do was watch as the Amazon claimed her life.
Then they were floating upward, a dead Sazu and a limp Superman in the Amazon's arms.
When Wonder Woman was level with the balcony, she unfurled the golden rope from around Sazu's lifeless body. With a warrior's cry that was truly terrifying, the Amazon hurled Sazu's body at Maxima.
She ducked, dropping to the ground and covering her head.
Sazu slammed into the back wall. The force from the throw causing her body to explode upon impact.
Maxima scrambled away from the edge of the balcony. Sazu had been right. Whoever this woman was who'd come to Almerac, it was not Wonder Woman. Heroes did not kill.
But demigod Amazons apparently do, her traitorous mind told her. You taunted the demon, now Sazu has paid the price for your overconfidence.
In the distance, Maxima could hear her fleet approaching. Within a minute, they would be there. She only had to last for sixty seconds. Staying where she was, Maxima dared not move and attract the attention of the Amazon.
The woman was tending to her husband. The red cape that billowed in the wind, the same color of Sazu's blood that stained the wall and balcony floor, was removed. With a tenderness that sickened Maxima, as much as the loving gesture had her cringing with jealousy, the barbarian wrapped the nude Superman in the cape. As if he were a newborn babe.
Then, right before her eyes, the two disappeared.
Diana held Clark in her arms, tears streaming down her face. She'd heard what Athos and Maxima had done to Clark when she had the woman in her lasso. She now knew the ugly, hard-to-digest truth. And it threatened to cripple her in fury. She'd never known rage like this, and it only grew the longer she took in her husband's gaunt, pale, and unconscious form.
They had stripped him of everything that made him Clark Kent, that made him Kal-El, and that made him Superman. He'd been poisoned, sun-deprived and mentally tortured.
For a year.
Taking her lasso from her waist, Diana coiled it around Clark. He had not yet awoken. For that, Diana was grateful. She didn't want him to awaken, see her and be reminded of all that he thought he'd done.
When he finally did awaken, Diana wanted his mind clear of the trauma, heart free of guilt. She couldn't erase the memories, but she could un-muddle them for him. The lasso would show Clark the truth. He would know he'd done nothing wrong. The blame, as Diana was forced to admit, rested with their son.
And the redheaded bitch who I'll personally send to Hades.
Holding an end of the lasso in her hand, Diana whispered, "Show him the truth. Heal his mind."
"Twenty crafts approach," the ship's AI warned.
She knew that. She'd heard them when they were five miles away.
Diana was tempted to engage the fleet in battle. But she didn't want to risk what she'd worked so hard to rescue. She kissed Clark on the forehead, then said an ancient Amazon prayer over him. Wishing him a safe journey.
"Do not engage," she told the ship. "Maintain cloaking." Diana stood. "Set coordinates for Paradise Island."
"Coordinates set for Paradise Island."
Gazing down at the husband she hadn't seen in seven lonely years, the deep love she felt for him had tears pouring from her blue eyes.
"I'm sorry, Clark. I should go with you. I should fly this ship away from this palace and planet and return with you to Earth."
She removed her left bracer, allowing it to fall to the ship's floor with a clank.
"But I can't. I'm an Amazon, which means I'm capable of walking away from this fight."
Clank. Off came the right bracer.
"But I also have divine blood running through my veins. My family of gods don't know the meaning of the word retreat. But they know revenge quite well. And that is what I will have this day. For you, for myself. I'm sorry. I cannot let what happened to you go unavenged. If I can, I will return to you. If I fall, know that you own my heart."
Diana swallowed the lump in her throat and ignored the tightness around her heart.
"Ship, once you're behind and clear of the Almeracian fleet, destroy them."
"And the other coordinates you've set?"
"Circle back and destroy them as well. Leave no ship capable of following."
Bruce had spent months acquiring all the information he could on Almerac, its queen and its military defenses. There was nothing Diana did not know about Queen Maxima, her elite guards, her genetically manipulated powers, and the location of her planet's military bases, including her air fleets.
"Destroy them all, then head to the outer space rendezvous location. If I don't arrive in twenty minutes, return to Paradise Island without me. Only open the ship on the voice command of Queen Hippolyta."
Her mother would know what to do once the ship arrived. She would make sure Clark received the medical attention he needed.
Until then … Diana had work to do.
Turning away from the man she loved and had killed for and the bracers that kept her birthright in check, Diana initiated the cloaking on her god-created armor and exited the spaceship.
For the first time in her life, Diana would embrace fully what it meant to be the daughter of Zeus.
Eyes glowing white with power and rage, lightning splitting the sky, and thunder heralding her return, Diana flew directly toward the woman whose blood she intended to bathe in.
TO BE CONTINUED