Doomsday Chapter 2
It was late and although Metropolis was a bustling major city not many good eateries were open at this time of night. Clark knew of one place that served decent food and a good cup of coffee that was open 24 hours a day. Many times he and Lois had eaten here after a late night at the office or even just sat there in each other company with a hot cup of coffee. The place was quiet tonight and offered a decent amount of privacy from their tall backed booths. They slid into the table in the far corner next to the large window facing the city. It felt intimate, just the two of them facing each other in the corner booth of an empty diner.
Clark could feel Diana's gaze hot on him. He studied the menu intently despite knowing it front to back. "The uh breakfast platter is good," he said, not taking his eyes off the menu. "It's the best option if you're really hungry."
"Ok," she said, glancing at the laminate paper that seemed so interesting to Clark. Hesitatingly she said, "I um don't have any money Kal."
Clark looked up surprised to see her looking sheepishly at him, "Oh that's ok. I'll take care of it." An instantaneous smile broke out on her face, which made Clark blush slightly.
The waitress came over and with as much enthusiasm as she could muster asked them what they would like to order. "What do you want?" She had seen the kid before with another woman, quite often together. It was a thought that briefly flitted through her head before she remembered she didn't care.
"I'll have the breakfast platter," the woman said almost proudly. The waitress grunted in response.
"And you? The usual?"
Clark wasn't hungry, all he wanted was to know who the woman across from him was and why she had been looking for him. But out of habit he agreed with the waitress, the usual at this time of night was chocolate pancakes with strawberries on top and a coffee. It was his go to with Lois. He never ate more than a few bites of the pancakes but he always ordered it for Lois. Calories didn't count if you didn't order it yourself, she would say always eating at least half of his pancakes.
The waitress came back relatively quickly with their food and two hot mugs of freshly brewed coffee. She left the vacuum carafe of coffee on their table. It was less work for her to come back and refill.
"So..." Clark started when the waitress was out of ear shot. "Who exactly are you? And what do you want with me?"
"My name is Diana. I have been sent here to help you Kal-El."
xxx
Themyscira
"Diana I forbid you to go. You are not ready for Man's World. It is too soon."
"Mother please you cannot keep me here forever," Diana protested as her mother led her to her room.
"You do not yet know who you are. You have much to learn about yourself, your abilities and the world. You are a child still."
"And who's fault is that?" She snapped back unable to contain herself. "And I am not a child. I am a woman of many earth cycles since."
Hippolyta, Diana's mother laughed. "Dear child. You will live millennias, and you have only just started this life. You may look like a woman, grown, and shall stay this way for the rest of your life, but you have not the knowledge or maturity to call yourself one. There is still so much you do not know about the world and especially yourself."
"And how do you think I will gain all this knowledge if you do not let me leave this island?" she said disdainfully. "The fates have warned us of ultimate destruction. How am I to live a millennia if the world as we know it is gone?"
"You know as well as I do Diana that the Moirai do not see futures set in stone. You control your own destiny."
"You did not see what I saw. I cannot stand idly by knowing what will happen! What is the purpose of my training if not for this?"
"They should not have shown you anything. Just by doing so can change everything! They should not be trusted."
Diana rolled her eyes at her, it seemed a contradiction if you controlled your own fate then it shouldn't matter if she saw into the future, or maybe it was all fated from the beginning. All of the fates' nonsense confused her. Her culture and their belief system was not rooted in logic but magic and faith.
—-
An avid reader and learner Diana had read a great deal of books in the island's vast library. She had shown reverence to the gods that she worshipped, trained with the best amazon warriors, and sometimes the gods themselves, grown up with a loving mother and wealth of loving sisters around her, but all this was not enough. She craved more, it was a humming in her blood, the outside world reached out to her, calling out and making her listless in her normal life.
She was different from her sisters—this had been instilled in her from the beginning. Daughter of Hippolyta, queen of Themyscira. The only child ever born on the island. Because of this she was a child of all beloved like a daughter those close to her. Her childhood had been a happy and long one and far from normal. Aging slower than a normal child due to the magics of the island and the uncertain nature of her birth. This made her more knowledgeable, and stronger than her years would indicate, but at heart she was young, playful, carefree, and ignorant of the world outside her bubble. All the other amazons had been from the outside world. All women with warrior spirits, slain by men and brought back to paradise by the gods. They all cherished her innocence wanting to protect her akin to protecting a newborn pup.
They, each amazon, had her own stories about the world outside. Diana had always asked to hear their tales. Each woman would oblige, however often censoring themselves so as to keep Diana's innocence, only speaking in platitudes and opaque details about the dangers and horrors of the world outside. As Diana grew she knew that there were more to their stories wanting to know more but never getting straight answers. If they would not tell her she would seek out the truth herself.
Only one woman had been true with her from the beginning, Antiope. Sister of the queen, Diana's best friend, mentor and trainer. She had never held back the complete truth from her and much of what she learned of man's world came from her. And when the time came Antiope was the only one of her sisters that she had told.
In the days leading up to her departure Antiope had told her that once she left she could not come back. Not by any normal means, and Diana knew this, their island was protected by the gods, untouched by mortals for a century or more. Her mentor had condensed all her knowledge of the outside world and training to Diana in a short time frame. There were late nights sneaking into the training grounds and hushed conversations in Diana's quarters. There was only one thing Antiope was holding back. It was something that she felt she did not have the right to talk about. Antiope had almost pleaded with Diana to talk to her mother, there were things that she needed to know about herself that only a mother had the right to divulge. She respected her queen too much to betray that. Everything else that she did was out of her love for Diana, she could not let her leave without helping her in whatever way she could. But Diana had refused, there was no way to breach this topic with her mother, which she had no notion of, without revealing to her her departure plan.
The day had come and it killed Diana inside to lie to her mother and act normal. It was all planned, Antiope would help her leave the island with supplies and equipment. She savored every moment of this day, for she could not come back, at least for now. She had no doubt that she would find her way back home no matter what it took, but that was not a thought to dwell on, not when so much more was at stake.
xxx
Clark took in all she had told him with rapt attention. He had not touched his food, but Diana's plate had been cleaned. She had told him her story and background in between mouthfuls of food and was now eyeing Clark's stack of pancakes. Noticing, he pushed his food over towards her so she could reach with her fork. "Wow. That's not what I was expecting."
Diana shrugged. "That's pretty much it. It's my destiny to be out here in Man's World making my mark upon the world. And right now my mission is to help you, Kal."
So many thoughts were racing through Clark's mind but he had a hard time articulating anything. She was looking at him now waiting for some kind of response. So Clark blurted out the first thing he could think of saying, "An island full of women, all like you?"
Diana laughed she couldn't help it, "No, there's nobody quite like me." She didn't mean it in a boastful manner. All her sisters were special but she couldn't stop herself, for some reason she just wanted the man across from her to like her. There was something about him that made her feel at ease and safe.
A light blush overcame Clark's face and then he remembered himself, "How long did it take you to find me?"
Now it was Diana's turn to fumble, "Oh well you know the fates weren't exactly clear with their instructions, in fact they didn't really give me any, just the visions. And well I've never been outside of my home before so it took me a little while to figure out the right area... I mean I found the right country."
"Third time's a charm," She whispered under her breath. Clark heard.
"This country is very large and I may have wandered around Gotham for a while but quickly figured out that wasn't the right place. And well I ran out of food a few days ago, I packed a little over a week's worth of food. " she continued on rambling.
"Whoa it's ok you're in the right place now. I can't believe you've been out here for two weeks. Where have you been sleeping? It's dangerous here, and especially if you came from Gotham first. It's worse than Metropolis."
"Oh I can take care of myself."
"Diana you don't even have money. Not to mention you can just go around wielding a giant sword and wearing that. It draws too much attention, like attention from those men earlier."
Diana raised one of her eyebrows, "What's wrong with what I am wearing? It is my armor, forged by the gods. Only the most worthy of amazons may wear it."
"There's nothing wrong with it... it's just not what normal people wear on a daily basis."
"I am not a normal person Kal-El. I am Diana Princess of..."
Clark cut her off. "Right I know but you have to blend in at least just for now until I can figure out what to do." It was late, and despite all the excitement and craziness that had landed in his midst Clark was exhausted. "You should come stay at my farm tonight. I need a night to think."
Diana nodded empathizing with the weight of Clark's exhaustion. She had felt it too, not having slept well in two weeks. "Ok, we can talk about it tomorrow."