A/N: Chapter 2 a bit more into the actual plot, you guys are going to
hate me for this chapter, but trust I have a plan! Think dream sequence
and enjoy in some trippy way.
HeyBats - Critique #1: I was going with the Comic book version of Diana and Batman, in which [hard to believe] Diana is slightly taller [or at least carries herself taller . . . I think Bats slouches... oh well... I can change it if you want. Critique #2: Did you read the last one shot of my Odi, Amo et Excrucior trilogy? This is a sequel and Supes is still angry about what Bats did to the Joker in Odi Amo et Excrucior:The Divine and Conclusive. I can put a bit of a re-vamp in this chapter, though. Actually, I think I did. . . I'll double check.
Jerzee Gurl: HAH! I got you! I had already done three chapters of this! Here. . . is the next!
Mrs. Jean Grey-Summers: thanks.
ccabello: Thanks, and here is the second chapter.
"Welcome back, Master Bruce. May I offer you some protein or gauze as the case may be?"
"Med supplies out?"
"But of course"
"Diana's coming"
"Well, in that case I had better whip up a propper meal"
"Thanks Alfred"
"Thank You, Master Bruce. About time I get to do some proper cooking for a change. . ." the elderly British butler mumbled to himself and the few bats that were listening as he trotted up the cave steps and into the secret compartments that would lead to Wayne Manor and the kitchen. Hearing the soft padded footsteps of Diana's boots, Batman turned to face the raven haired Princess and swept her with a kiss.
After disconnecting, Batman tore off his tunic, gloves, cape and cowl, turning to where Alfred had laid a damp medical sponge with anti-bacterial cleanserhe took off Diana's tiara and wiped away the blood from a deep cut on her face. Working silently, Diana and Bruce cleaned each other's wounds, ending with Bruce wrapping Diana's foot for a change.
"Diagnosis?"
"Broken"
"I'll fly"
"When did you hurt it?"
"Must have been when that building caved in on me"
"I was worried"
"You?"
Bruce looked down like a small boy caught with his daddy's suit in the mud as his eyes lept to the side and he switched from Bruce Wayne to Batman.
"Only for a moment"
"I couldn't see"
"Debris"
"I was completely disoriented"
"Happens to anyone"
"Even you?"
"I'm not anyone"
"I got sloppy"
"More training"
"With who? Superman? Face it, Bruce I'm losing my edge"
"Alfred's probably finished making dinner by now"
"Is that all. . . what am I g..."
Batman put two fingers on Diana's lips as he finished taping her ankle, subtly reaching up to kiss the already healing scar on her forehead from a deep cut she suffered from her tiara. Ever the gentleman, he stood, offering her his hand as she scowled a frown and took it, then flew up to the entrance of the cave and Wayne Manor. Staying behind for a precious minute, Batman studied and cleaned a deep wound in the muscle of his upper leg: one he didn't let Diana know about, before walking up the stairs and turning to survey the Batcave, and making a mental note to the stuff he would have to do while Diana slept upstairs.
An odd mixture of grey and guarish purples and oranges fed into Bruce's vision as clouds of silver and green floated by with the shrieks of the long since dead. A wave of blue-orange panic took Bruce's composure and sent it scattering into the holes in the yellow ground and dingey sky. In the middle of the colourful maelestrome, Bruce heard the wind screaming. . . he ran. And ran. Running as his body melted back to where he had run from, barely snapping back into its gelatinous form in the purple-orange sun and moon melting together. Through the screaming and whimpers he could identify a black and red form, running faster, he realized the screams and cries were coming from the black and red. It was Diana, and she was in great pain.
"Diana!!"
"Why!!?" she screamed, her black and red dream self floating and festering in a pool, no, a waterfall of her own blood. Bending down, Bruce grabbed the golden knife from the origin of the waterfall and pulled, stopping the blood flow and holding the melting golden object in his cupped hands.
"Who did this!?" he shouted, as the clouds began circling and dancing morbidly to the wails and shrieking of a choir of women corpses alight in the clouds faces. Approaching in a closer knit circle, the cloud corpses wailed an answer to Bruce's ears as he looked into the mirrored pool of Diana's blood to see Batman.
"You!" He couldn't speak, couldn't move or answer as the yellow earth swallowed his arms and legs, leaving room for only his eyes to see and his ears to hear as Diana's voice began to change and the timbre loose its lustre as a cloud spewed from her mouth and nostril, encircling her as her body was hung alongside the clouded corpses of his parents and other amazonian dead.
"We are the dead! Cursed! Cursed!" the voices wailed, as whatever breath Batman could muster creaked and poisoned his bellowed lungs. The space where Diana had been swirled and transformed, the black and red shifting to a glorious white as the wailing and dancing of the corpse clouds spun and quickened and the white rose to the sun and moon, banishing them to the deep dark of the abyss beyond before taking shape as a young girl, wrapped in white whose voice penetrated even the earth Batman was engulfed in.
"Father"
A small whisper was heard as one lone voice screamed,
"Morpheus!"
and went silent as the earth swallowed him whole, and a sweltering heat of dark reds and purples sunk and bit into his skin before it was gone.
Bruce awoke screaming, sitting up in bed as he wrenched his hands over his ears. Immediately, Diana woke up,
"Bruce! What's wrong!?"
His breathing heavy and laboured, Bruce searched his surroundings, his baritone voice shrieking as Diana reached to touch him. He tumbled out of bed and flung himself out the door of his bedroom and down the vast halls,
"NO!!!!" his shouts could be heard reverberating throughout Wayne Manor, waking Alfred, Dick, & Tim, as the master of the house fled into the only solace he had ever known. With one final grunt, he closed and locked shut the entrance to the Batcave. Falling with his back against the door, Bruce Wayne, Batman, the hero of nightmares shook as he held himself and cried to sleep with the sound of bat wings to carry him home.
"As soon as Batman graces us with his presence, we can start the meeting" Superman said, taking his seat at the great table in the Watchtower.
"Batman's not coming" Wonder Woman spoke up, the first words she had spoken since coming to the Watchtower for shift three days ago. Diana looked dischevilled, dark circles betraying sleepless nights and knotted hair about her face, a royal blue cape draped over her shoulders to disguise the look of hunger and the goosebumps along her skin.
". . . Alright then. . . Here's the situation, people: the President of Kazakstan has called an emergency meeting with us as one of his nukes was stolen"
"Do we know by whom?" J'onn Jones, the Martian Manhunter asked, keeping his consciousness firmly on Diana's troubled mind.
"Ra's Al Ghul" Superman said, eliciting a sharp look from Wonder Woman.
"What!?"
"At least that got your attention"
"Hey, isn't he one of Batman's old buddies?" the Flash said, putting his hands around his neck and sticking his tongue out quickly.
"Shouldn't he be here for this?"
"I'd think Batman would have been on this already" Green Lantern said, rubbing his chin.
"Batman doesn't answer to us!" Wonder Woman said, her exterior catching up to the shaken estate of her mind.
"Woa! Calm down Princess. I'm sure Bats is already taking care of the situation, right Supes?" Flash said, palms forward.
"One would think, Flash. They called because Batman hasn't shown up. And reports from Gotham are coming in: Batman's no where to be found."
"Well that's a surprise"
"Yeah, one I'd like to understand" Superman said, "At least until I get some questions answered. Dismissed, stay on call." he said, directing his glare straight to his friend Diana. Superman rose like an arthritic, walking slowly to a great window looking down on Earth below. As everyone left the meeting room, Diana stayed behind.
"He's not insane, you know that"
"Isn't he?"
"Clark. . ."
"Think about it, Diana. How else would he be able to don a big black cape and go around with the solitary goal of scaring crime away?"
"How can we don what we wear and fight crime away? He's human, Clark. Not alien or Amazonian or super-powered. . . he's just a man"
"You say that so protectively. Diana?"
Diana looked out the window holding her arms to her stomac beneath her cape. Somewhere down there was a man naked in a whirlwind refusing protection. She would give it to him if he would come. All he had to do was come, whether he came out of pain or appology or crisis didn't matter, she would forgive him his sins, and give him as much happiness as she could, but somewhere, Clark was right. Somewhere.
"First the Joker now this?"
"It's not like that now"
"Isn't it?"
"I wish I knew what to do"
"Me too"
Slowly Clark Kent and Diana of the Amazons leaned into each other, friends giving comfort where they could before the call.
"Nightwing!"
"Diana! What are you.. "
"Where's Bruce?"
"Woa, not so loud."
"Where is he?"
"I... don't know. ."
"Ra's Al Ghul has stolen a nuclear missle from Kazakstan, Two Face is loose on Gotham and reports are coming in that Batman's dead. What happened?"
"I was going to ask you that. Bruce hasn't left the cave since that night a week ago. I went down there two days ago, but he wouldn't budge from his computer. Almost slugged me good too"
"Why hasn't he taken off after Al Ghul?"
"All I know is he keeps searching for some record of Amazonian Dead or something. I thought you might know. Diana, I've never seen him like this."
"The Justice League is going after Al Ghul. Tell him we need his help"
"Will do"
"Do you need help on patrol?"
"Thanks for the offer, but I've got Robin on the north side and Batgirl along the east. We'll handle things. . . "
"What?"
"There is another option" Nightwing said, pulling the hair away from his face and looking the Amazon in the eyes guiltily.
"What is it?" Wonder Woman asked skeptically.
"I'll become Batman,"
"That's the plan if Bruce died, isn't it?"
". . . Yes. If it gets much worse. . . I can always risk it and call on an old aquaintance to step in."
"Who?"
"Jean Paul Valley. Azrael"
Nodding grimly, Wonder Woman took flight to what she knew to be Kazakstan as Nightwing swung down from a morose gargoyle and surveyed yet another night. This was bad. Really bad.
"Athena give me wisdom, Hera give me strength"
HeyBats - Critique #1: I was going with the Comic book version of Diana and Batman, in which [hard to believe] Diana is slightly taller [or at least carries herself taller . . . I think Bats slouches... oh well... I can change it if you want. Critique #2: Did you read the last one shot of my Odi, Amo et Excrucior trilogy? This is a sequel and Supes is still angry about what Bats did to the Joker in Odi Amo et Excrucior:The Divine and Conclusive. I can put a bit of a re-vamp in this chapter, though. Actually, I think I did. . . I'll double check.
Jerzee Gurl: HAH! I got you! I had already done three chapters of this! Here. . . is the next!
Mrs. Jean Grey-Summers: thanks.
ccabello: Thanks, and here is the second chapter.
"Welcome back, Master Bruce. May I offer you some protein or gauze as the case may be?"
"Med supplies out?"
"But of course"
"Diana's coming"
"Well, in that case I had better whip up a propper meal"
"Thanks Alfred"
"Thank You, Master Bruce. About time I get to do some proper cooking for a change. . ." the elderly British butler mumbled to himself and the few bats that were listening as he trotted up the cave steps and into the secret compartments that would lead to Wayne Manor and the kitchen. Hearing the soft padded footsteps of Diana's boots, Batman turned to face the raven haired Princess and swept her with a kiss.
After disconnecting, Batman tore off his tunic, gloves, cape and cowl, turning to where Alfred had laid a damp medical sponge with anti-bacterial cleanserhe took off Diana's tiara and wiped away the blood from a deep cut on her face. Working silently, Diana and Bruce cleaned each other's wounds, ending with Bruce wrapping Diana's foot for a change.
"Diagnosis?"
"Broken"
"I'll fly"
"When did you hurt it?"
"Must have been when that building caved in on me"
"I was worried"
"You?"
Bruce looked down like a small boy caught with his daddy's suit in the mud as his eyes lept to the side and he switched from Bruce Wayne to Batman.
"Only for a moment"
"I couldn't see"
"Debris"
"I was completely disoriented"
"Happens to anyone"
"Even you?"
"I'm not anyone"
"I got sloppy"
"More training"
"With who? Superman? Face it, Bruce I'm losing my edge"
"Alfred's probably finished making dinner by now"
"Is that all. . . what am I g..."
Batman put two fingers on Diana's lips as he finished taping her ankle, subtly reaching up to kiss the already healing scar on her forehead from a deep cut she suffered from her tiara. Ever the gentleman, he stood, offering her his hand as she scowled a frown and took it, then flew up to the entrance of the cave and Wayne Manor. Staying behind for a precious minute, Batman studied and cleaned a deep wound in the muscle of his upper leg: one he didn't let Diana know about, before walking up the stairs and turning to survey the Batcave, and making a mental note to the stuff he would have to do while Diana slept upstairs.
An odd mixture of grey and guarish purples and oranges fed into Bruce's vision as clouds of silver and green floated by with the shrieks of the long since dead. A wave of blue-orange panic took Bruce's composure and sent it scattering into the holes in the yellow ground and dingey sky. In the middle of the colourful maelestrome, Bruce heard the wind screaming. . . he ran. And ran. Running as his body melted back to where he had run from, barely snapping back into its gelatinous form in the purple-orange sun and moon melting together. Through the screaming and whimpers he could identify a black and red form, running faster, he realized the screams and cries were coming from the black and red. It was Diana, and she was in great pain.
"Diana!!"
"Why!!?" she screamed, her black and red dream self floating and festering in a pool, no, a waterfall of her own blood. Bending down, Bruce grabbed the golden knife from the origin of the waterfall and pulled, stopping the blood flow and holding the melting golden object in his cupped hands.
"Who did this!?" he shouted, as the clouds began circling and dancing morbidly to the wails and shrieking of a choir of women corpses alight in the clouds faces. Approaching in a closer knit circle, the cloud corpses wailed an answer to Bruce's ears as he looked into the mirrored pool of Diana's blood to see Batman.
"You!" He couldn't speak, couldn't move or answer as the yellow earth swallowed his arms and legs, leaving room for only his eyes to see and his ears to hear as Diana's voice began to change and the timbre loose its lustre as a cloud spewed from her mouth and nostril, encircling her as her body was hung alongside the clouded corpses of his parents and other amazonian dead.
"We are the dead! Cursed! Cursed!" the voices wailed, as whatever breath Batman could muster creaked and poisoned his bellowed lungs. The space where Diana had been swirled and transformed, the black and red shifting to a glorious white as the wailing and dancing of the corpse clouds spun and quickened and the white rose to the sun and moon, banishing them to the deep dark of the abyss beyond before taking shape as a young girl, wrapped in white whose voice penetrated even the earth Batman was engulfed in.
"Father"
A small whisper was heard as one lone voice screamed,
"Morpheus!"
and went silent as the earth swallowed him whole, and a sweltering heat of dark reds and purples sunk and bit into his skin before it was gone.
Bruce awoke screaming, sitting up in bed as he wrenched his hands over his ears. Immediately, Diana woke up,
"Bruce! What's wrong!?"
His breathing heavy and laboured, Bruce searched his surroundings, his baritone voice shrieking as Diana reached to touch him. He tumbled out of bed and flung himself out the door of his bedroom and down the vast halls,
"NO!!!!" his shouts could be heard reverberating throughout Wayne Manor, waking Alfred, Dick, & Tim, as the master of the house fled into the only solace he had ever known. With one final grunt, he closed and locked shut the entrance to the Batcave. Falling with his back against the door, Bruce Wayne, Batman, the hero of nightmares shook as he held himself and cried to sleep with the sound of bat wings to carry him home.
"As soon as Batman graces us with his presence, we can start the meeting" Superman said, taking his seat at the great table in the Watchtower.
"Batman's not coming" Wonder Woman spoke up, the first words she had spoken since coming to the Watchtower for shift three days ago. Diana looked dischevilled, dark circles betraying sleepless nights and knotted hair about her face, a royal blue cape draped over her shoulders to disguise the look of hunger and the goosebumps along her skin.
". . . Alright then. . . Here's the situation, people: the President of Kazakstan has called an emergency meeting with us as one of his nukes was stolen"
"Do we know by whom?" J'onn Jones, the Martian Manhunter asked, keeping his consciousness firmly on Diana's troubled mind.
"Ra's Al Ghul" Superman said, eliciting a sharp look from Wonder Woman.
"What!?"
"At least that got your attention"
"Hey, isn't he one of Batman's old buddies?" the Flash said, putting his hands around his neck and sticking his tongue out quickly.
"Shouldn't he be here for this?"
"I'd think Batman would have been on this already" Green Lantern said, rubbing his chin.
"Batman doesn't answer to us!" Wonder Woman said, her exterior catching up to the shaken estate of her mind.
"Woa! Calm down Princess. I'm sure Bats is already taking care of the situation, right Supes?" Flash said, palms forward.
"One would think, Flash. They called because Batman hasn't shown up. And reports from Gotham are coming in: Batman's no where to be found."
"Well that's a surprise"
"Yeah, one I'd like to understand" Superman said, "At least until I get some questions answered. Dismissed, stay on call." he said, directing his glare straight to his friend Diana. Superman rose like an arthritic, walking slowly to a great window looking down on Earth below. As everyone left the meeting room, Diana stayed behind.
"He's not insane, you know that"
"Isn't he?"
"Clark. . ."
"Think about it, Diana. How else would he be able to don a big black cape and go around with the solitary goal of scaring crime away?"
"How can we don what we wear and fight crime away? He's human, Clark. Not alien or Amazonian or super-powered. . . he's just a man"
"You say that so protectively. Diana?"
Diana looked out the window holding her arms to her stomac beneath her cape. Somewhere down there was a man naked in a whirlwind refusing protection. She would give it to him if he would come. All he had to do was come, whether he came out of pain or appology or crisis didn't matter, she would forgive him his sins, and give him as much happiness as she could, but somewhere, Clark was right. Somewhere.
"First the Joker now this?"
"It's not like that now"
"Isn't it?"
"I wish I knew what to do"
"Me too"
Slowly Clark Kent and Diana of the Amazons leaned into each other, friends giving comfort where they could before the call.
"Nightwing!"
"Diana! What are you.. "
"Where's Bruce?"
"Woa, not so loud."
"Where is he?"
"I... don't know. ."
"Ra's Al Ghul has stolen a nuclear missle from Kazakstan, Two Face is loose on Gotham and reports are coming in that Batman's dead. What happened?"
"I was going to ask you that. Bruce hasn't left the cave since that night a week ago. I went down there two days ago, but he wouldn't budge from his computer. Almost slugged me good too"
"Why hasn't he taken off after Al Ghul?"
"All I know is he keeps searching for some record of Amazonian Dead or something. I thought you might know. Diana, I've never seen him like this."
"The Justice League is going after Al Ghul. Tell him we need his help"
"Will do"
"Do you need help on patrol?"
"Thanks for the offer, but I've got Robin on the north side and Batgirl along the east. We'll handle things. . . "
"What?"
"There is another option" Nightwing said, pulling the hair away from his face and looking the Amazon in the eyes guiltily.
"What is it?" Wonder Woman asked skeptically.
"I'll become Batman,"
"That's the plan if Bruce died, isn't it?"
". . . Yes. If it gets much worse. . . I can always risk it and call on an old aquaintance to step in."
"Who?"
"Jean Paul Valley. Azrael"
Nodding grimly, Wonder Woman took flight to what she knew to be Kazakstan as Nightwing swung down from a morose gargoyle and surveyed yet another night. This was bad. Really bad.
"Athena give me wisdom, Hera give me strength"