Slotski Derivation

Themyscira

It was another in an endless series of beautiful days on the island. It was so easy to imagine the name of this place being Paradise. Even the political turmoil couldn't diminish the natural beauty that met the eye at every turn. Phillipus and Artemis walked slowly across the main street heading towards the home of the leader of the opposition, Valeria. It was still morning and Artemis wasn't in a good mood.

"Why is the sun so bright?" Artemis groaned.

"Perhaps it's the fact you were drinking till the wee hours of the night that is the problem,' Phillipus replied. "Not the sun."

"Aren't you funny at this God awful hour," Artemis snidely offered. "For you information if I have to be involved in this constant political haggling, the drinking is the only thing keeping me from killing everyone."

"You didn't have to be stay involved in the process if you hate it so much,' Phillipus observed as they made their way across the central square.

"Oh, no, you got me involved in this, General," Artemis replied. "I'm stuck now. If they screw this up I'm responsible. That's not going to happen."

"I admire your commitment, Artemis,' Phillipus said with a sly smile.

Artemis just grumbled and tried to shade her eyes.

"Why are we seeing Valeria anyway?"

"I want to discuss the Princess,' Phillipus replied.

"I knew it,' Artemis complained. "Are you sure you don't want to be Prime Minister? You have an annoying habit of not being able to let things go. Now I remember why I hated training with you."

"You were one of my most promising students, Artemis,' Phillipus replied. "You were also one of my most difficult students."

"I don't like being ordered around,' Artemis complained. "Plus you always made us get up so early. A habit I see you haven't rethought."

"You managed to survive," Phillipus said with a laugh. "You know I bet on you in the championship tournament, Artemis, even with the Princess in the field."

Artemis stopped and looked at the General, wincing a bit in the sunlight.

"You did?"

The General momentarily stopped to reply.

"Yes."

The two of them continued walking.

"I would have won if it hadn't been schedule so early,' Artemis grumbled. "And the Princess hadn't surprised me. Again, I put that down to it being early. If the tournament had been at a more reasonable hour in the late afternoon or evening, you would have won your bet for you, Phillipus, I'm sure of it."

"The Princess won fair and square, Artemis."

"I know, I'm not disputing that,' Artemis replied. "I'm just saying if there were a rematch the results would be different. Of course it has to be at night."

"Perhaps they would have,' Phillipus replied. "Now let's see if we can make some progress with Valeria."

"Let's just hope she has something to drink,' Artemis said under her breath.

Phillipus just shook her head and knocked on the door. A moment passed and then the door opened. Valeria, the leader of the opposition greeted them.

"General, Artemis,' she said. "This must be important if you got her out of bed this early, Phillipus."

Artemis gave her a snide look, but Phillipus spoke before she could reply.

"Valeria, good morning,' Phillipus said. "We were hoping we could discuss a matter of some importance."

Valeria nodded and then stepped back to allow them to enter. The relative darkness was a welcome relief for Artemis' eyes. Valeria gestured for them to sit down as she closed the door. She moved over and sat across from them.

"So how can I help you this morning?" Valeria said.

"A drink wouldn't be turned down,' Artemis replied.

"There is water in the pitcher next to you."

The look on Artemis' face clearly indicated that wasn't what she meant. Both Phillipus and Valeria smiled.

"And you General?" Valeria asked.

"Water's fine, but I came to talk to you about the Princess,' Phillipus replied. "Diana."

The smile slipped from Valeria's lips at the mention of the name.

"Nothing has changed General,' Valeria stated. "It took too much debate just to get Hippolyta's return agreed to. I doubt anyone will budge further and change their mind about the Princess. The Gods and specifically Hera are not to be trifled with. She may overlook Hippolyta's affair with her husband, but most doubt she would feel the same way about having the offspring of that union paraded around in front of her. Most fear that would bring her wraith upon us."

"I understand,' Phillipus replied. "I appreciate how far you have put yourself out already. I know that Diana can never return permanently to the island even if she wanted to."

"Then what is there to discuss?" Valeria asked.

"She is still an Amazon," Phillipus pointed out. "She has committed no crime except perhaps being born. To banish her permanently seems too harsh a penalty. Diana is still our sister, whatever her origins might be. There is also the fact that she is Hippolyta's daughter. I have no children of my own, but I can imagine the bond there must be between a mother and a child. What mother would agree to never allow her daughter to return home?"

Artemis looked at the General but didn't speak. She saw what Phillipus was doing, even if she was hung over. Valeria had daughters of her own, so she understood the bond Phillipus was speaking of.

Valeria took in Phillipus' words and seemed to consider them. Just as Phillipus had intended, she thought of her own daughters.

"No mother would agree to that,' Valeria quietly replied. "But what alternative is there? The votes aren't there for Diana's return and I doubt they ever will be."

"I understand,' Phillipus said with a nod. "Perhaps we can find a compromise."

"I have a feeling you already have one in mind,' Valeria replied.

The General smiled.

"Yes."

"Shocker,' Artemis said under her breath.

Phillipus paid her no attention as she leaned forward towards Valeria.

"Visitation rights,' Phillips explained. "Whatever can be agreed to by the majority, but at least it would hold out the hope for a mother, in this case, Hippolyta of her daughter one day being able to return."

Valeria seemed to think about it for a moment.

"What sort of visitation rights are we talking about?" She asked.


Gotham

Bruce Wayne sat in his study deep in thought. He'd been going over and over his meeting with the Princess since that night. He wasn't happy with the results. His performance had been sub-par if he was generous in grading it. He couldn't allow that to happen again. Too much was at stake to let something like that trip him up again. The pieces of the puzzle that made up Bruce Wayne and Batman had to fit perfectly. He was a man that believed in attention to detail, yet he'd been caught flat-footed and ill prepared.

He barely knew the Princess yet she had been able to flummox him. He could only imagine if the same situation happened with someone he knew better. Two names came to mind, Talia and Selina. Yes, Talia already knew his secret identity, but if they met in a public place he needed to be able to keep up the façade for everyone else. Bruce knew she wasn't going to expose him that was her leverage against him. She wasn't the type to just throw something like that away. She would instead try and play with him, get him off balance so he would slip up. That was the sort of game she enjoyed. It was all about control.

Selina was a different matter. Catwoman was a thief and Bruce knew he should put her in jail, but she fascinated him. He was still only 25 and she was 22. As single minded as he wanted to be, she was such an alluring combination of sexy and mischievous, a femme fatale, yet not the harden criminal so many believed she was.

He'd already crossed the line by having sex with her. He'd turned a blind eye to her antics and even helped her out of trouble on more than one occasion. He knew he shouldn't have let her get as close as she already had. It was too risky. So far he'd been lucky not to meet her as Bruce Wayne. If his performance the other night with the Princess was any indication, he had a lot of work to do so Selina wouldn't make the connection.

Bruce sighed as he turned and looked out the large picture window. He thought he was finally figuring this whole Batman thing out, but it was going to be much more complicated than he'd realized. Bruce should have been thankful that meeting Diana had exposed a flaw in his plans. It was better to know a mistake now when he was just starting out then find out later when it could cost him so much more. Yes, he should have been thankful, he knew, but he couldn't help being a little annoyed at her. No one likes admitting mistakes and Bruce certainly fell into this category. What made it doubly worse as that Alfred had been pointing the very thing out to him the whole time. Bruce hated admitting the old man was right.

Groaning, he knew what he had to do. Bruce pressed the intercom and asked Alfred to come into the study. A few moments passed and the older gentleman stepped into the room.

"Yes, Master Bruce?"

Bruce tried to play it off and didn't look at Alfred.

"Those, um, social invitations that have been piling up,' Bruce said. "Pick a few of them and RSVP that I will be attending after all. Would you?

"Certainly."

"It never hurts to work on my secret identity,' Bruce offered.

"I see." Alfred stoically said.

"The press coverage will be good too." Bruce added. "Help solidify Bruce Wayne as a playboy and all that. If-If you could take care of that, I'd appreciate it."

"Of course, sir, is there anything else?" Alfred asked.

"No, no, just that, thank you."

Alfred turned to leave and Bruce slyly glanced at him out of the corner of his eye.

"Told you so." Alfred said as he closed the door behind him.

"Damn it,' Bruce grumbled.


Smallville

Clark had brought his ship back to the farm. While he was renting it out, he still kept a small hiding place well away from the house. It seemed like the safest spot of the ship until he figured out what to do with it.

When he'd been held captive, the ship had spoken to him mentally. A series of images of Krypton and his parents had flashed through his mind. Jor-El and Lara had only been names up to that point for him. Now he had faces to go with the names. The world of his birth Krypton now became an actual place. A world of people just like him, lost to time were now alive for him. More than anything he wanted to explore everything the ship had to tell him, but it would have to wait. He still had a job and a life as Clark Kent. He'd made a commitment to a career that was just starting. The satisfaction he found in it was something he wanted more of. To tell a good story that connects with people didn't require any special powers, just the willingness to commit yourself to the craft.

Diana was also on his mind. It had been over a week since he'd seen her. The phrase 'absence makes the heart grow fonder' was beginning to have much more meaning to Clark. Once he admitted to himself he was in love with her, she was in his thoughts constantly. He realized that while she had been completely open about whom she was, he hadn't. Yes, she knew his secret identity and things no one else knew, but there were basic things he'd never shared with her. He'd never brought her to Smallville and hadn't really spoken about Ma and Pa Kent. He wanted her to know everything about him, just as he wanted to know everything about her.

That was the other reason the ship was so important. It was the rest of the story of who he was. He imagined finding out with Diana at his side, helping him explore his past and that of his people. He had to smile at how quickly she'd become a central part of his life. It hadn't been that long ago he'd described her as a haughty and spoiled Princess, something he was pretty sure she hadn't forgotten. She hadn't mentioned it in a while, but he knew it was still in her memory. Now he was thinking of a future for them together. They were both so young, he knew, but they had what seemed like all the time in the world. Words he'd never thought about before suddenly seemed to pop into his mind, marriage, kids and a home.

Clark pushed those thoughts away as it was too soon and they were both too young to think about that. While they had made love and were in love, the process of getting to know each other would take time. Maybe someday in the future it would be the right time to revisit those other thoughts.


Washington

Diana was feeling wonderful. Her trip to Gotham had gone better than she'd hoped. She couldn't wait to tell Clark about her success in recruiting Batman. In fact she'd already worked out a plan to go to Metropolis and surprise him. She was just going to stop by the Embassy first and then fly over. As she made her way in through the terrace, her mother was standing at the door to her study waiting.

"Hello mother,' Diana cheerfully said.

"Hello, Diana,' Hippolyta replied, but she wasn't smiling. "There is someone to see you."

"Oh?"

"Yes, he insisted on waiting till you returned,' Hippolyta stated.

"All right,' Diana said and then moved towards the study door. Steve Trevor was standing inside.

"Hello, Diana,' he said with a smile.

"Steve."

"I was hoping we could talk,' he offered.

Hippolyta looked at her daughter and could see the strain on her face.

"If you don't wish to speak with him, Diana, I will have the guards escort him out,' she said.

"Please, just give me a moment, Diana,' Steve asked.

Diana seemed to consider it for a moment. While their last meeting had been painful, she still felt she owed him this much.

"All right, Steve,' she said and then turned to her mother. "Thank you, but I'll speak with him."

"As you wish,' Hippolyta replied. She turned and looked at Steve. "Mind your manners while you are under my roof or you will understand first hand why Amazons are to be feared."

She gave him a hard look and then walked away. Diana closed the door and moved into the room. She gestured for Steve to sit and then took a chair opposite him.

"What did you want, Steve?" Diana asked.

"First, I came to apologize,' he began. "I'm not proud of the way I acted the last time we saw each other. You didn't deserve the things I said and I'm sorry I said them."

Diana didn't reply and waited for him to continue.

"You were just being honest with me and I didn't handle it well,' Steve continued. "I let my emotions get away from me. I'm sorry, Diana. If nothing else I hope you believe that."

"I accept your apology, Steve," Diana replied. She still remembered the painful words he'd said, but believed he was speaking truthfully now. He had always been a good friend before and Diana still wanted to regard him as one.

"So friends?' He asked with a small smile.

"All right, yes, Steve, we can be friends,' Diana replied.

"Thank you, Diana."

"Was there anything else?"

While Diana was willing to forgive him, she wasn't willing to forget.

"Yes, yes there was,' Steve replied. "I know you're still getting settled into your role as Wonder Woman and I think you've made great progress so far. I was hoping you might be willing to consider using your gifts in something important."

"Of course,' Diana replied. "What are you referring to?"

"I've been put in charge of a project that is vital not only to this country but I believe the world,' Steve explained. "As unstable as the world is today, there is a real risk of ancient artifacts being lost. Some of these artifacts are magical in origin and others are of alien. In the wrong hands they could cause untold damage to innocent people everywhere. There is also the historical value they represent. My job is to find them and keep them safe. As someone that understands history and can see the value of these items I was hoping you'd be willing to work with my team on recovering them. It would also help the Amazons a great deal with the rest of the world, not to mention the government if you did."

As Diana listened to him, she immediately understood the value such items would have. She had grown up hearing stories about the Golden Fleece, Pandora's Box and many others. The idea of seeing them and actually recovering them from the lost pages of time was tempting. It was like an adventure story come to life. The thought that she could also help her sisters back home appealed to her as well. Whether she was on the island or not, she was the Champion of the Amazons and that meant working for their benefit.

"I could really use you on the team. So what do you say, Diana?"