It's All Relative
Chapter 13: The Hall of Penance
By Teala373
It hadn't taken Terry long to understand the security of the embassy and move undetected through it. It was, however, more difficult to compromise the security of the main terminal in the strange network room near the Princess' office. He began digging through the desk drawers and filing cabinets, trying to find anything that might help him.
He wasn't surprised to find a false bottom in the top left drawer, but he was surprised to find pictures of his mother underneath it.
Several of the pictures were of his mother with Wonder Woman. He had never seen any pictures of his mother from before he was born. He was surprised to see what she had looked like as a younger woman with longer hair. A newspaper article detailed her kidnapping by Mr. Freeze that Bruce had described to him. There were several solo pictures, all of which looked like they had been secretly taken: pictures of her reading at café's, walking down the street or hanging around the Gotham police headquarters. Then, there was a second newspaper article that shocked Terry to the core. It was a society pages article with a picture showing several high profile Gothamites at the Mayor's charity ball. According to the caption, the picture was depicting the Mayor, Commissioner Gordon, Barbara Gordon, Ted Kord and Bruce Wayne.
Terry didn't fail to miss the striking similarity of Ted Kord and Warren McGuiness.
Typing 'Barbara' into the password prompt of the main terminal, Terry soon gained access to the truth of his mother's disappearance.
Not to mention, some very interesting information on her royal highness of Themescyra.
Terry began to realize that he still didn't have the entire story of his mother's cold case. There were too many secrets and no one was putting all their cards out on the table. He paused to crack his knuckles before he began a very aggressive hack job.
It was difficult to describe how he felt about the information he had discovered.
When he finished gaining all the pieces he could, he ventured out into the slumbering embassy. A slight flicker of the shadows caught his attention. He investigated further and smiled when he realized that he wasn't the only one awake in the dark of the embassy.
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Wonder Woman was startled to discover herself being shaken awake from a nightmare by one of her attendants.
"You highness, there is someone here for you."
It took her a few moments to compose herself and clear her head. She normally did not fall into such deep sleeps. "What do you mean someone is here for me?"
The attendant seemed slightly frazzled. "He only said to tell you that it was time."
It was a slight struggle to get up on her feet. "Did he give his name?" It was obviously of an important nature or she would not have been disturbed.
The attendant bit her lip and seemed to cower. "He didn't have to."
Raising her eyebrow slightly, the Amazon Princess quickly dressed in her Wonder Woman garb before entering the large ceremonial chamber that was often called the Hall of Penance. The large banquet room was filled with Themescyran art depicting the rise and fall and rise again of the Amazons. Most of the artwork depicted the penance enforced by Hercules in which they were forced to wear the heavy bracelets on their wrists for all eternity.
As she entered, Wonder Woman noted a dark figure standing in the room's center, amerced in shadow. Her eyes narrowed as realization set in.
"The Dark Knight," she hissed, "do what do I owe the honor?"
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Barbara, utterly fatigued from the day's stressful events, had fallen into a deep sleep. She dreamed that she was flying across the Gotham skyline with Dick by her side. They weren't wearing masks and there was no one to save. It was just the two of them swinging side by side without a care in the world.
Suddenly, the skyline and Dick disappeared, leaving her all alone, floating in nothingness. A rhythm began steadily pulsing through inky darkness. She shifted, trying to move, but it was to no avail. The rhythm became louder and she thought she heard the beginning of a voice within it. With each pulse, it became more and more audible, until she finally recognized the urgent voice of her son.
Eyes snapping open, Barbara tried to focus her eyes as her brain reeled from being torn awake.
"Mom! Hurry!" Terry pleaded as he gently shook her left shoulder.
She sat up slowly, eyes still dilating. She felt the twin trail of tears that had wound down her face from her thoughts of Dick Grayson: a man she still desperately loved, but would forever be lost to her.
Or so she thought.
"Mom, please!" Terry's voice cut through her jumbling thoughts as she struggled to get up.
"What is it, Terry?" She placed a hand to her head in a feeble attempt to stop a dull throb that was surfacing.
He threw a handful of clothes her way. "Hurry," he pleaded again, "there isn't much time."
She was still disoriented from waking so suddenly from such a deep sleep, but she managed to make her way into the small adjoining bathroom and make herself presentable.
Though she was only gone for a maximum of two minutes, it felt like an eternity for the current Batman, who was eager to piece his fractured life back together. Before she could even begin a line of questioning, he grabbed her hand and dragged her down a maze of hallways.
"Where are we going?" she asked breathlessly as they headed up a flight of stairs, her mind still a whirlwind. Black crossed her eyes several times, causing her to stumble slightly as she blindly followed a boy who she was finally seeing as a man.
Reaching the top of the stairs, Terry led her to the edge of a balcony, marked by a large, ornate railing with rather thick, intricately cut spindles. He motioned for her to crouch behind them before he himself hopped up on top of the railing.
Barbara looked up at her son, the last of the sleep falling from her eyes. She noticed then that he was wearing his Batman suit.
He gave her a long meaningful look before he pulled his mask over his head. "Enjoy the show," he whispered before leaping out into the Hall of Penance.