09. Invitations and Suspicions
Summary: The title says it all. Got both sides in this one…..and some Bat-time too.
"Good Evening your Highness, Master Kent," the cultured voice of Alfred Pennyworth welcomed the two visitors. He already knew of their impending arrival from the communicate from his employer. To Hippolyta, who did not know him personally, the butler seemed unaffected by the recent loss. However, Clark was able to catch the tired look in the older man's eyes and the slight red tinge in them. He had been crying….in the privacy of his room, away from both Bruce Wayne and Batman, the man who had been a surrogate father to the last Wayne, had shed tears for his son's loss.
"Good Evening Alfred," Clark Kent followed the regal Hippolyta through the door. He had given the visiting Amazonian a basic introduction about the House of Wayne and its permanent as well as temporary members. It seemed that the Queen already knew about Bruce Wayne's sons and knowing the Dark Avenger's secret identity, had made the connection between Richard 'Nightwing' Grayson and Timothy 'Robin' Drake….and even though she might not say it aloud, she respected and marveled at the courage of the three 'men'.
"The master is on his way," Alfred supplied without any question from either of the guests. "He has asked me to you and her majesty to the….downstairs."
"Very well," Clark automatically turned towards the grandfather clock, while Alfred had to draw Hippolyta's attention from the portrait she was looking at….the portrait of a smartly dressed mustached man, and an equally beautiful woman. Thomas and Martha Wayne, the names read. 'His parents.'
"Downstairs?" Superman had avoided revealing the 'cave' secret, feeling that she should see it first hand.
Reaching the clock, Alfred set the time and pressed the secret button to open up the entrance to the bat-cave.
"He's here," Clark spoke over his shoulder. He had caught the echo of the approaching batwing as it flew through the cave tunnels leading to its hanger.
---
Earlier,
"Bruce," the red-white-and-blue clad form of Superman stood next to the batwing. Hippolyta had expressed her desire to meet the man her daughter was in love with and had chosen for a life-mate. In accordance with her wishes, he had come forward to approach Batman as he returned from paying homage to his departed love.
Batman had seen both Superman as well as his Amazonian guest. He also knew the reason why it was Superman standing in front of him and not the Queen itself. The Boy Scout must have told her that he would be able to convince him….if anything went wrong.
At getting nothing from the Dark Knight, Superman started to speak. "Queen Hippolyta would…."
"I know what she wants," Batman knew enough about Amazonian physiology to know that their conversation was loud enough for the Queen's ears.
"And…." Superman looked at his friend both hopefully and well as with support. He knew what Bruce must be going through. He would have gone through the same had it been Lois who had…who was gone.
"Manor….front door," Batman's instruction was short and to the point. He wanted not Superman, but Clark Kent to come to Bruce Wayne's house, although he was making an exception for Hippolyta, not because of her title, but because of who she was….Diana's mother.
With that, he walked past the Kryptonian and climbed into the cockpit of the bat-shaped jet.
----
Hippolyta had overcome her initial confusion over being led into the bowels of the earth, the stairs and the surrounding darkness reminding her Lord Hades and the pits of his fiery domain, and was staring wide-eyed at the technological marvel surrounding her. Diana had been correct, his beliefs and his obsession, both ran deep…..very deep.
Reaching its parking space, the batwing touched ground, its hatch opening automatically to let its occupant out.
The way Batman climbed out of it, told Superman about his teammate and more importantly friend's physical condition. If nothing else, the investigative reporter inside Clark Kent was observant of his surroundings, and although he might have been among the last few people to know about Diana and Bruce…even after repeated hints from many of their teammates, particularly the executive counsel members, he did notice the more than necessary squaring of the shoulders of the Caped Crusader. In addition, the evidence table that had been full yesterday, was more than three quarters empty, telling him that all the missing-cleared up pieces had been catalogued and run through the whole gamut of Batman's stringent testing procedures.
"Your Highness," Batman stopped a few feet away from the two guests. "Clark."
"Bruce," Clark hoped that Batman would remove the mask and meet the queen as Bruce Wayne.
"Batman," Hippolyta's steeled voice addressed the 'BAT', however as if on second thought, she softened her tone and tried again, this time calling to the man. "Mr. Wayne."
At getting no reply, she continued. From what she had seen and heard about Batman both from her sources, Diana and recently from Superman, this sort of behavior was Batman's norm.
"I-I have an invitation for you," both men seemed intrigued, although only Clark's reaction was visible. "I would like you to come to Themiscyra."
"Why?" The question was blunt.
"We are…." Hippolyta started to explain about the formal burial the Amazons would be organizing for their returning princess and the memorial following it. "For Diana….for her memorial."
"No," Batman's answer stunned even Clark, let alone Hippolyta. Both of them had expected that given that there were no chances of anyone finding out Batman's secret on Themiscyra, there would be no objections on part of either Batman or Bruce Wayne.
"Bruce," Clark tried to step in.
"No," this time the answer was even tighter. "Men are not allowed on Themiscyra."
"We-I am ready to make an exception in this case," Hippolyta respected the man trying to honor Amazonian rules and customs.
"I am not," Batman's eyes closed behind his mask. "There was….there is no exception made with Diana. Until that happens, I won't accept any made for me."
"This is for Diana," Clark was the one speaking now. Hippolyta's words had been choked in her throat, and by the reminder that she did not allow her daughter to return to her birth home….and also that it was she that had exiled her own, her only child in the first place.
"No, it isn't," Batman gritted out, turned away and walked away to the evidence table.
"Now, if you excuse me, I have work to do."
-----
Back on the world with currently two Wonder Women,
"You really need to work on your approaches. I could hear you coming three blocks back."
"Yeah, nice to see you too," the masked teenager grinned, flashing his pearly whites to the masked original.
"So, what the deal?" The blue and black clad crimefighter leaned back from the roof's edge and settled down on the rampart. "You sounded jumpy on the phone. What happened now? It can't be him, you were too excited for that. Problems with the Titans?"
"Nah," a green-gloved hand flipped and did away with that suggestion. "The Titans are going along just fine, that is if you ignore Bart's inability to complete even one thought before enacting it, Conner and Cassie's on again off again thing and Beast Boy and Cyborg, well you know them."
"Yeah," a wistful grin accompanied that answer. "Those two, they have been going at it ever since the first Titans got together, and I bet they'll keep on going even after they retire to the old age home for senile superheroes. So, what else is there…?"
"Its him," replied Tim Drake, the current teen wonder.
"Bruce?" Questioned Bruce Wayne's son and heir to both the Wayne and Batman legacies, Dick Grayson aka Nightwing. "What happened to him?"
"Nothing happened to him," Robin replied quickly. "Well not exactly. He has something cooking up."
"Cooking up?" Nightwing's amusement was clear to the ears.
"Yeah. I got it from Cassie, who overheard Oracle, who was with Canary at the time, who got it straight from…."
"Green Arrow," the elder of the two and more experienced detective got it right in one. If the information came from Barbara through Canary, the most likely source of that 'gossip' could only be Oliver Queen, Mr. Motor mouth himself….at least when it came to Black Canary.
"Yeah," Robin did not even bother to ask how his senior reached to that decision. It was common knowledge. "So like it was saying, something went down on the watchtower. Something-someone came through, someone who GA said looked like Wonder Woman. She-it-whatever was escorted off by B, Superman, the real Wonder Woman and the rest of the executive counsel, and that is the last anyone saw or heard of it. However, later, Superman and Flash came to Arrow and told him not to mention what he saw to anyone."
"So, naturally he told Dinah about it," Dick inferred. "But what does this have to do with Batman?"
"He has been acting strange since day before yesterday," Robin informed him. "He had just gone upstairs," he jerked his thumb towards the moon. "He said he would come back within a couple of hours, but later he asked Batgirl to fill in for him. Said something had come up."
"So? There is nothing odd with that," it was common when there was a league emergency. Even though Gotham always came first for the Caped Crusader, he made exceptions…sometimes, especially since Cassandra Cain had gone fulltime as Batgirl and Tim's father had allowed him to return to Robin.
"Yeah, but then he didn't even come tonight," Robin informed him. "And he has asked me not to come to the cave; instead he wants me to use the Batgirl-cave"
Nightwing did not bother asking for how long. Knowing Batman better than any of the other Bat-clan members, he knew that Batman doled out information on a need to know basis, hence if Robin hadn't told him about the time-period of the validity of this particular order, he mustn't know about it himself.
"Even A-man is acting funny," Tim used his and Dick's codename for Alfred Pennyworth, the glue that kept the bat-clan together. "I called him today, and felt that he knew something."
"He always knows something," Dick answered with a smile. In fact, he himself had some confidential secrets that he had stored in the Pennyworth vault.
"So?" Robin looked up to his elder brother. "What's the plan?"
"The plan is, we are not going to do anything," Nightwing answered tactfully. "You follow his orders and work with B-girl. Give me a couple of days, I'll see what I can dig up."
"You sure you don't want me doing any digging of my own," the youngster asked hopefully. "We could get Babs in and…."
"No," the denial was instant. "Leave her out if this…at least for now. Lets keep this between us."
"'k" Robin returned half-heartedly. Tim Drake was first and foremost a detective, in fact that was one of the main reasons he got the job in the first place. "But, as soon as you find something…"
"I'll let you know," Nightwing supported with a lop sided grin. "Better get going now. Its your patrol time."
"Man, you are as bad as him," Robin mock complained as he raised his hand and fired his grapple. The next moment he was gone, leaving a contemplative Nightwing.
Confirming that he was indeed alone, Nightwing reached up and pressed his communicator fixed behind his right ear.
"Yes," the gravelly voice of Batman sounded over their secure and more importantly private frequency.
"We need to talk," Nightwing also lost lighter tone.
"Queen?" A one-word question.
"Yes." A one-word answer.
"Tomorrow morning," that meant Dick Grayson should visit his father, Bruce Wayne at Wayne Enterprises. "Eleven."
------
Back in the Bat-cave,
Batman had just finished going through the report of the tests that Dr. Leslie Thompkins had run on the supposed Diana.
What she had inferred and what J'onn already concluded from his own tests, was the same thing…..the woman currently living under his roof was indeed Diana, and he was not talking about the Diana he already knew about.
Not only were the two Wonder Women genetic twins, they were also physically the same, except the weight and certain physical differences (read chest, waist and hips), which given the pregnancy and its related effects was expected.
J'onn tests also confirmed his….the other Bruce Wayne's identity as the father of the twins (also confirmed).
'How is this possible?' He asked himself. 'How can there be a Batman, who not only has familial relations, but also has them with a meta. What about the problems, the security, his secret identity, protection from his enemies….his vengeance…..his bitterness? What about his vow? His mission?'
'There couldn't be a Batman who is like that?'
