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Part II, Chapter X**********************************************************
The satchel of grenades, the same ones the Intergang leader detonated, hit his hip with each step. It was becoming annoying.
Or perhaps Batman's annoyance was from the dark detours his thoughts were traveling, all the more unpleasant if he stopped to reflect on where he was.
The tunnels. He was born here, although he wasn't exactly sure where. He never asked, Tim never offered.
And now, as he crept through the darkness, he tried to banish such reflections from his mind. He couldn't return to Darkseid's fortress and successfully complete his mission with thoughts of her.
Scott's interdemensional device hung from another sack, both satchels concealed under his cape. He was wary of the two bags clanging together, should any Hunger Dogs still wander these tunnels.
This is where you were born.
"Shut up," he whispered harshly to the darkness. He couldn't think about that whore now.
Yes, this is the place. Look.
"No." Yet even as he negated his own subconscious, he found himself flicking on a small light from his belt and examining the walls. He nearly laughed at himself. What was he expecting? A place marker? Perhaps a commemorative statue?
His mood sobered quickly as his flashlight traced a series of claw marks. They marred the floor and the walls. Gloved fingers traced the grooves to their origin. The wall here was rust-colored, against the grayish brown. The light moved to the floor and he stepped after it, following the discoloration.
He looked around his feet and realized he stood in the middle of a particularly large stain. Ragged cris-crossing grooves cut through the surface. He followed one set of claws to the opposite wall and his hand dragged the light up as his eyes followed.
A handprint.
Batman crossed over to it and raised a gauntleted hand. It was smaller than his, the fingers long and slender. His hand hovered over the stain, closer to the wall.
He withdrew his hand and dropped a clenched fist to his side. His mission. He had to reach the palace before daybreak. Jumping into the air, he flew the rest of the distance.
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Diana supported her weight by pressing one palm firmly against the wall. She couldn't stand much longer and soon her legs collapsed under her. She had stood for as long as possible, watching Tim and her son get smaller with distance. Now on the ground, she watched them until the boy disappeared. At last she could close her eyes.
She wondered what his name would be.
Her super hearing detected growling, closer than before. She sighed and wrapped weary arms around her torso and hugged herself tightly. Her skin was getting colder. Tim was right about the afterbirth. She was still bleeding.
Were his eyes closer to her blue, or Bruce's?
Darkseid probably already received word that she was gone. She regretted not using her lasso on him one final time to tell him a story about how she should take a trip to explain away her disappearance. With that thought, she managed to chuckle. "A trip where, Diana?" she asked herself, her voice echoing off the walls of her tomb. "I've heard the Bahamas are quite nice this time of year," she continued to kid herself.
He was so serious already, just like his father.
Rubbing her arms briskly to fend off the chill, she then rolled to her side to push herself off the ground. Her arms caved from under her. The barking was getting closer. Groaning, she lay back down and rested one hand on her still enlarged abdomen. She felt empty now. He was with her through this entire ordeal and now he was gone. Well, at least she could reassure herself that she hadn't gotten too close—she was wise not to touch him. No sense bonding a child to a mother who could not love him. That would be cruel.
He was so small, so vulnerable.
The hand on her belly slid to her pocket. She muttered a curse under her breath. The whole point of bringing her lasso was so her child would have it. She had no need for it anymore. Her fingers closed around the loop, as her inner voice chided her for the mistruths that lay in her soul. To prove her conscience wrong, she wrapped a short length around her wrist and sought out these falsehoods.
Her answer found, she lay back and squeezed her eyes shut against the tears. Why did she have to check? Why confront her lie and shatter her wall?
Her head was heavy now--sleep was so close. She kept her eyes shut and remembered her promise to Bruce all those nights ago, on a similar hard surface. But would he be there when she awoke?
The pants and growls were closer. Claws clicked on the floor near her legs. Hot malodorous breaths burned into her flesh. Her last thought, before the pain of the first bite registered in her brain, was of her discovered truth.
She loved her son.
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Clark kept his feet off the ground and opted to float through the palace to keep his approach as silent as possible. He had only been wearing the costume for about a week now, but he was admittedly much more comfortable in it. Also, a week ago, Harley informed him of Darkseid's return. From the jump in the Parademon population of Gotham, he realized she was right. Against Tim's advice and without explicitly telling Tim or Scott, he had taken a small detour in his patrol and was checking the abandoned palace now.
Most of the halls were empty. When the occasional demon guard was spotted, he easily slipped out of sight. He rounded corner after corner and lurked through many darkened hallways in this cautious manner, occasionally peaking into rooms. Finally, he heard sounds of life. Soft cries were coming from behind an unguarded door. Clark was at the door in seconds and carefully pushed it open.
Switching to nightvision in his mask, he spotted a young, frail woman on a bed. The raven hair, the eyes. He knew her. His father's gravelly baritone surfaced in his mind, words he heard often and carried with him still.
Diana. Amazon warrior. Strength class comparable to Superman's. I have been observing her movements since her arrival from Themyscira two weeks ago . . .
Without realizing it, he was now only a few feet from the bed. Her eyes stared back vacantly, her lips slightly agape.
"I'm taking you with me. I'll explain later." He reached down to grab her, but she started shoving him away, one arm twisted in a golden rope, eyes fixed in a vacant stare.
"Bruce, he's taking me . . . Don't let him take me . . . I want to stay here with you," she murmured. He dropped her back to the bed in shock. In all the movement, the sheets shifted and he realized her legs were gone. He stared, dumbfounded. First the surprise of finding his mother here, alive, after these eighteen years. His whole life spent believing he was an orphan and she was alive. Why didn't he save her? Why didn't he check sooner? How did she lose her legs?
And the shock that she won't come with him. His heart shuddered at that thought. Why was she scared?
The creak of the door made him jerk back into an adjacent room. He pulled the curtain with him and watched through a narrow opening. Darkseid entered, with Granny. His senses heightened, his muscles tensed. But his mother lay there, complacent and waiting.
"What of her miscarriages, My Lord?"
"One of these times she will produce an heir. In the meantime. . ." The tyrant's lips tugged into a gruesome sneer as he stared down at Diana.
Granny nodded knowingly and left Darkseid with his wife, all unaware the woman's only living son stood only yards away. What Clark saw next made him vomit. Fortunately the sounds from the bed covered his retching.
Darkseid was finished with her soon enough and after cleaning himself off, he left. Clark could hear the Parademons trotting behind him down the hall. He slipped out from behind the curtain and looked at her once again. Her eyes were vacant, but her lips were tugged into a blissful grin.
His stomach emptied, bile rose in his throat. He ran out of the room before he got sick again. Flying through the halls, he was nearly caught, but he managed to calm himself enough to return to the cave without being followed.
"Hey Clark. How was patrol?"
He whirled around and glared at Tim, his fists clenched tightly under his cape.
"I'm not Clark."
Clark was her son.
"I'm Batman."
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These halls were just as dim the last time he was here. But this time, there were more Parademons. He fought through them, eventually reaching that door.
Her door.
Their door.
He may be there with her now.
This time, however, he didn't retch at the thought. Instead, Batman drew on his anger, fed on his betrayal and threw guard after guard from his path. Within minutes, he was forcing open the door.
His guess was correct. The monster was with his mistress.
Batman hadn't even needed any of the grenades he brought, or Orion's holographic helmet. He threw himself at the still sluggish giant, relishing that first punch, then quickly retreating to a corner by the ceiling. He needed to infuriate Darkseid, become such a nuisance to draw the Omega Beams.
Reaching into his belt, Batman drew one batarang after another; quick strikes, constantly moving around the room.
"How dare you!" The alien tyrant roared. "Come here and fight me!"
So intent was he on his target, he never saw her rise and hover behind Darkseid.
At last, Darkseid's eyes glowed. He braced himself for the strike and clutched his cargo tightly. He noticed too late that a golden loop wrapped around the monster's chest. She stood behind Darkseid, her lips moving slowly, eyes still vacant. His head tilted instinctively towards her to catch her words.
The blast struck him before he could make sense of her chant.
Everything went black.
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I finally did it Bruce . . . I sent him back. I sent the Bat back. Now, at last, it's you and me. No more disguises. No masks.
He tried to take me away from you once before. But that was years ago and I refused to let him take me.
Darkseid tried to separate us too. Don't worry--I didn't let him win. He thought I was helpless when his beasts dragged me back, my body broken. He thought he broke my spirit by bringing back J'onn and Kal, but returning them dead.
Ah, but I have my lasso. This is the truth. . . here with you. Forever in your arms. I can feel you press against me, even now.
"You fool. What did you make me do? What did I do to Batman?"
Diana was startled by this new voice, and returned her gaze to the ceiling. Grasping her lasso a little tighter, she looked deep within herself and asked her only question.
What is my happiest memory?
Sighing, her eyes fluttered close.
She was back in the Watch Tower. Two blue eyes blazing with passion stared back. A small grin tugged upon her lips.
"I didn't have this kind of sparring in mind . . . "**********************************************
End Part II