I have a few start of term changes that I would like to announce.

1) The characters recognized as members of the DC universe are used in this story for entertainment purposes only. There is not intention on the author's part to sell this piece as an independent piece of fiction or with claims of receiving permission from DC Comics.

2) All original characters, character names and fictional places, whether or not they are associated or included in some way with the DC characters/within the DC universe, are still the property of this author and should not be used without express permission.

3) Please help fuel the creative process. Review! Please be honest, but remember, I'm most partial to constructive criticism.

Now, on with the story!

Chapter One - A Princess without a Country

As she stood contemplating the vast reaches of space from her vantage point in the Watchtower, Diana was awed anew at the splendor science had wrought. Venus, named after the beloved Aphrodite, was as capricious as the gods themselves. Mars was nothing like Ares, though the red hue of the planet was indeed reminiscent of the deity's devotion to war. In between those two planets stood Earth, as splendid and complicated as the relationship between a man and a woman: beautiful, intricate, at once harmonious and contentious.

Since leaving the relative calm of Themyscira, she had earned the right to call herself a citizen of the world, a protector and defender of peace on this planet and beyond. She stood shoulder to shoulder with the greatest heroes on earth in Superman, Green Lantern, J'onn J'onz, Hawkgirl, the Flash and Batman. Her growing knowledge of the world off-island fueled her appetite for knowledge, and enriched her beyond her wildest dreams. She had done more, seen more, felt more than her sisters had in the centuries since Queen Hippolyta's fateful decision to remove her people, the Amazons, from the world to protect them from ultimate destruction. She fought not for sport, but for the ultimate glory of the gods and the safety of her planet and, in so doing, kept her people safe.

But all this had come at some cost.

In her push to save the very cradle of her existence and by extension the world, Diana had forgotten one of Themyscira's most sacred and stringent commandments, that of the ban of male humans from setting foot on the shores of her treasured home. Thus, for saving the world from the machinations of the god Hades, Diana, Princess of Themyscira was banished the home that had been hers for more than a millennia.

"A princess without a country?" she murmured to herself. Superman and J'onn had their homes destroyed and were the last of their kind. Shayera, her closest friend since joining the Justice League, was wrested from her world and hurled light years away, the victim of a freak accident in the line of duty. Batman had endured some sort of tragedy, though the darkness of his past was unclear to her, and often stood as an army of one in the seething jungles of Gotham City, fighting the dark and macabre forces that threatened that strange place. The irrepressible Flash seemed to have few cares in the world, but still had some personal connections that took him to the planet's surface.

Yet she, who'd had family and a home, had squandered it all.

With a sigh, the girl-woman without roots turned away from the beautiful sight that had given her comfort in the weeks since that fateful meeting with her mother and queen, and resolved to think no more on her circumstances that day. Diana had work to do, and dwelling on the past, as much as she wished she could change it, would come to naught.

By the time Diana reached the control room, the Flash was pacing around the small, enclosed space, like a distraught hamster looking for its evening meal. He nearly collided into Diana before he saw her, but when he did, he launched into talking nearly as fast.

"Princess! Soveryhappytoseeyou!" he zipped. "Iwaswonderingwhenthatgorgeousbodofyourswouldturnuptoeasemypain!" The Flash pasted on one of his most flattering grins, one that friends said pleased the ladies.

Diana couldn't suppress the grin. If Flash spoke any faster, he would grind his tongue into bloody bits. Since she liked him too much to let him do this, she held out a hand to restrain him.

"A little slower, my friend," she said. Flash started, confused for a moment, before recognition dawned.

"I did it again, didn't I?" he asked, sheepishly. "Sorry 'bout that. You try being stuck in here, cooped up for two hours, bored out of your skull!" Flash slumped back against a console, and draped his hand against his forehead dramatically. Seeing that he had an audience, he continued wailing with gusto. "And no FOOD! Batman would have my hide if I dropped so much as a sesame seed on the floor," he lamented.

"I've heard he's having a contract dispute with McDonald's," Diana quipped. "Something about 'using his likeness in advertising without permission'." She didn't bother to tell him that she had performed the very same duty, and more often than he had the patience for. Besides, she knew his complaints were not genuine.

"Very funny, Princess," the eternal boy with the speed of Hermes drawled. "Oh! The news! Supes, GL, the winged wonder and J'onn are finally back, from wherever it is they escaped to. They plan on briefing us as soon as they clean up and get some rest."

Diana tilted her head, considering what she'd just heard. "How long will that be? Did they estimate the amount of time they required? I'm sure they will also require sustenance. Since you are going to the galley—don't you give me that look—prepare something for them. No doubt their journey was long and difficult."

Flash's "Yes ma'am!" was lost in a swirl of red and yellow as he raced out of the control room for the salvation of peanut butter sandwiches, sour cream and onion potato chips and Mountain Dew in the galley.

He'll probably never grow up,Diana thought.

She decided then and there, that it would be a shame indeed if he did.

Besides, it's kind of novel, having a little brother.

That thought made the memory of the home she lost swirl back into focus, and for a moment, she felt the loss squeeze her heart. She was saved from that humiliation and goaded into laughter by Flash's face coming into focus on the COM screen from the galley, asking her if she'd filched the last of his precious Mountain Dew.

". . .Once we realized that the real Lantern was trapped in the crystal vortex," Green Lantern stated in summation, we were able to rescue my colleague and restore him to full health. Venar has a lot of work to do, restoring order and security to that sector, but a few recent recruits to the Green Lantern Corps have been dispatched to lend him a helping hand."

Along with John Stewart, Superman, Hawkgirl and J'onn J'onz found themselves racing to the aid of a member of the elite Green Lantern Corps. Venar S'oden, a native of the desert planet S'aeron, had found himself at the mercy of a mercenary army led by a notorious warlord. Betrayed by the woman he loved, Venar found himself robbed of his ring and imprisoned in a crystalline prison while another took his place. Before he was captured, Venar managed to send a distress signal to the Lantern headquarters. John Stewart was dispatched; because of his close ties to S'oden, he was best able to determine who indeed was the real Venar.

"Curiously," added Superman from his seat at the conference table, "this warlord once worked for Darkseid. K'orosh was his name, I believe. He may have been acting on Darkseid's orders."

"You mean 'previous' orders from Darkseid, don't you?" Batman asked, a hint of exasperation in his voice.

"Previous?" returned the hero from Smallville. "Who says Darkseid no longer calls the shots? I won't believe he's out of the picture until I see his rotting corpse for myself."

Batman stared at his colleague from behind his mask. "You really think he's still out there? He's gone, Superman."

Superman's jaw clenched. "You've been wrong before, Batman, remember?"

Only J'onn heard the added reply.

Bastard.

Diana watched the interplay between Superman and Batman. From the very beginning, these two were the obvious leaders in the Justice League. Although the two had initially butted heads, there was of late an element of tension that went beyond the simple inexperience of regularly working together as a unit.

That Batman questioned Superman's reluctance to believe Darkseid was truly in need of aid had been bad enough. Apocalypse was indeed in danger, but Darkseid quickly made concessions with the more powerful Brainiac. In the end, the last of Krypton's sons was no more than a bargaining chip for two of his most despised enemies. The schemes hatched by Brainiac and Darkseid had been defeated and the two villains destroyed.

The strain created by that adventure had taken on a life of its own.

From Diana's experience with her Amazon sisters, and the stories weaved by the bards in the evenings by bonfire and temple candlelight, Diana had long understood the importance of confidence in one's allies. The tenuous trust forged between these two generals could not erode, not now.

Now was the time to bite the bullet.

"You both know where other stands on this issue." Everyone looked in Diana's direction, surprised by her interruption. "It's time for you, Superman, to get past this petty irritation over Batman's miscalculation and to stop wearing your injured pride on your sleeve as an attempt remind him of it." Diana imperiously ignored Superman's attempts to protest, and set her sights on the man in black, who'd muttered, "Miscalculation?" "Batman, you would do well to understand what precipitated Superman's bias in the first place and remember the adage you constantly quote about paranoia . . .it does sometimes turn out that 'they are out to get you'."

If a crown and scepter had appeared at that very moment, no one would have been shocked in the least.

Batman gave a slight nod. "Duly noted, princess," he grunted.

Diana smiled, and turned again to Superman, who had finally managed to control the blush at the tips of his ears.

"So, what is the next order of business?"

"That was rather, um, bold of you, missy."

"I could not help it. They were acting like a pair of feuding children."

"One thing you'll learn about men sooner or later, Diana. There will always be plenty of little boy inside each and every one of them."

Diana grinned at her colleague.

After the meeting Shayera corralled Diana for a bit of woman talk. While the two did not get along half the time, they did have their moments. Outnumbered by males nearly three to one, it was refreshing to spend time in the company of another woman, one that came from a society similar to her own in that women warriors were not a novelty, but a celebrated tradition. That Diana's island contained only women did not concern her. Both women were now in a society where women traditionally did not seek glory in the heat of battle, but were encouraged to follow a gentler path, though apparently it had been much worse before 1960. Neither Diana nor Shayera were able to tolerate the reruns from shows airing before the mid-seventies.

"Leave it to Beaver" ranked down at the bottom of the list for both women, as Superman and Green Lantern, who'd loved the show as children, knew all too well. It was that very program that now had Diana and Shayera seeking the relative solitude of a small, rarely used lounge near the sleeping quarters. The other members of the league dubbed the room "The Ladies' Lounge", since recent attempts to enter the room found Diana and Shayera deep in conversation, unwilling to be disturbed.

"It just seemed so futile, so counterproductive, the arguing. Beyond a certain level, Shayera, they just needed to move past it." Diana brushed a lock of hair out of her eyes. "Do you think I overstepped my bounds?" she asked, suddenly feeling uncertain.

Shayera shifted on the chair, fussing with her wings. "No, not at all! Even those two need a reality check now and then. It was just. . .well, no one steps between those two when they have a disagreement. None of us have ever thought of doing so, not even Green Lantern, and Stewart used to be a Marine, by Jove! And suddenly, there you are, like a beacon of truth, cutting through all of the mess. It was rather shocking, yet strangely appropriate. Besides, could you see me stepping in between them? Or perhaps the Flash? Besides you, only J'onn could possibly stand a chance. He's no lightweight." Shayera nodded sagely. "The question I have for you is, what really brought it on, Diana? And give me the real answer, not just the trimming."

"What need have I to lie?" Diana murmured, then heaved a gusty sigh. "I don't know. I just started thinking about the stories I would hear growing up, about this or that famous mortal, or about one of the gods. Superman's powers would make him a demigod in the ancient tales, and Batman? His intellect would make Apollo take notice! All of the petty squabbling between the gods caused unnecessary woe for the people that worshipped them. And of course, it made me think about home. My sisters had no choice but to eventually come to a resolution. Can you imagine, two amazons having a centuries-old grudge?" Diana shuddered. "It certainly isn't unheard of on Themyscira, but the occasional badly handled disagreement and its consequences usually makes us amazons think of better solutions for the next few hundred years." Diana stood, walked over to the porthole and gazed at the stars, twinkling in eternal night. "We couldn't afford such divisiveness. Despite the protections on our island, it can be found. If we can't trust one another and work together, we could be overcome, and it might not be as easy to remedy as Felix Faust's spell."

Shayera balanced elbows on knees. "This isn't Themyscira, Diana," she said quietly.

Diana sucked in her breath sharply and slowly exhaled. "I am fully aware of that, sister," she replied. I am not attempting to remake this team into a troupe of Amazons." She turned and faced her friend. "Surely you of all people understand that previous experiences can be used to shed light on new ones, that one can learn from the present by looking in on the past?"

"Of course, Diana. I did not mean that." Shayera's eyes glowed with genuine concern. "But it relieves me to hear you say it. Still, I know you are grieving. Your people are not dead, but it is a loss all the same." Diana shrugged. "Perhaps it is, but it is a loss that I have accepted. This fate is mine to endure, whether I like it or not."

And I don't.

"Speaking of endurance," returned Shayera, interrupting Diana's inner monologue before it even truly began, " I could use a workout to loosen up the muscles after that trip. Interested? I've been wanting to kick your ass for quite some time now." "I thought you'd never ask" her colleague answered, thankful for the opportunity to take out her frustrations in the gymnasium, as well as the change in conversation.

"Oh, and Diana?"

Diana raised an eyebrow. "Yes, Shayera?"

"About your scolding Batman and Superman earlier?"

"Yes, my feathered friend?" Hawkgirl ignored that.

"When can you do that again?"