answers to reveiwers questions or statements:

rmarcano321: He is, in his own messed up Apokolips raised way.

lone ranger22: And it will be the first of quite a few truths that Diana will be forced to come and accept.

EroSlackerMicha: Nah, it'll be a while until Diana gets into any serious trouble that even Peter won't will be able to get her out of as Darkseid will have to inflict some kind of actual punishment on her.

Rakjo: Peter will have safeguards in place to prevent Ultron from getting too out of control. Will they last, maybe, maybe not. I have something in mind for Peter when he starts to collect the other stones. As for the web of Life, I'm thinking of introducing it.

cabrera1234: It'll be a whle until the two start to show genuine affection for one another. As for what the League has been up to, we'll see soon enough.

gunman: True, but not helping solve the problem wont make things better either. Humanity dosent have the best track recrod when it comes to learning and improving itself unless it involves weapons of mass destruction. Bekka and Peter's relationship, or past relationship will be explored as Diana begins to learn more of her husband.

superpierce: We'll see why the Highfather married Bekka off to Orion over Peter later on.

darthwolf: We'll be seeing this chapter. It may not seem outright dangerous but when you really think about it, it could very well be the most dangerous thing in existance.

Chaos Sorcerer: Yeah, but it's in Diana's nature to try and find the good in others, no matter how evil they seem. Sadly, Apokolips may very well break her before she finds any shade of good on the hellish world. Thanos will be a bit of both but he'll be largely based off the King Thanos we saw in the recent run of the Thanos solo series. Compared to Earth's heroes, Peter is pretty high among them thanks to his New God nature, and being the Son, even if a lesser one, of Darkseid. Now he won't be trading blows with the likes of Superman or Shazam, but against the likes of Aquaman, he could hold his own reasonably well and possibly even win with a combination of his unique powers, technology, and intelligence.

Boss Teal: Far as I know they aren't, I just made Kunla up on the spot and went from there.

Disclaimer: I don't own any Marvel or DC characters seen, mentioned or used.


It's been over a week since the incident outside Filiden's room that Diana has seen her 'husband'. After their less than friendly conversation, Diana has been doing everything in her power to avoid spending any sort of time with the man. It has come to the point hat Peter's robotic servant, Vision has had to play mediator between the two, and even then he was used rarely. Diana was certain that her not wanting to talk, see or hear her spouse was almost entirely on her end, Peter wasn't probably even aware of what she was doing and likely chalked up her absences to either poor scheduling in her duties as a Fury or he simply becoming to engrossed in his research and development to notice anything else.

Peter, in a dark twisted sort of way, was like Clark or even Bruce in that regard, he becomes so focused on something that he almost doesn't even recognize what's going on around him. Though the Amazon was positive that the things that were keeping Peter occupied would haunt even the inmates of Arkham Asylum's nightmares.

'If there was ever a person that was opposite of Clark in his attempts to find a way to help others with his studies of Kryptonian technology and science, it's Peter and his research to further advance Darkseid's desire to enslave and destroy everything' Diana thought darkly as she wandered down a empty hall, her boots making hardly any noise on the dark obsidian floor.

As she approached another juncture in the massive corridors that made up Darkseid's home, she heard a faint cry in the distance followed by a powerful shudder that caused Diana to almost stumble in surprise.

'What was that?' Diana thought with surprise, wondering if someone was attacking the palace before she noticed that no alarms were sounded.

Diana's eyes narrowed as her hand drifted to her sword's hilt and turned and headed for the source of the cry as another shudder racked through the palace. She kept her senses on alert, her eyes darting around the corridor and even glanced behind herself to make sure she wasn't being lured or led into some sort of ambush. Aside from the faint cry, she heard nothing else nearby, no Parademons, no Furies, neither of the children of Darkseid that she's met or even signs of Darkseid's slaves.

'Strange...' Diana thought as she cautiously made her way towards the source of the strange cry, wondering what could make such a thing in these dark evil halls.

If she didn't know any better, she could have sworn the cry was that of a baby.

Several minutes, and a few turns and down a stair case later, Diana had finally reached the source of the odd cry that she heard. Diana's eyes widened at the sight before her, unable to believe what was in front of her.

"By the Gods..."

It was a baby that she heard only a few minutes ago, no older than nine months old at most sitting in the middle of the massive hallway with several puddles of some sort of golden liquid around it. Diana took a quick look around before she approached the baby and made to pick it up before it turned back towards her. Diana froze mid-step as she stared into the child's eyes, they weren't like any eyes she's seen before.

To her, they looked like a piece of space was taken and put in each eye.

The baby quirked it's head to the side before it gave Diana a wide toothless grin as it reached out and made a series of gurgling sounds. Diana smiled at the small child and just moved to reach out and pick them up before she felt and saw the air around her, throughout the hallway, seemingly ripple like water after a stone was dropped in it.

"What-" she said before she suddenly found herself knee deep in a pile of mud while sections of the wall changed from the unknown metallic like stone it was into glass, wood, white marble, dirt and even ice!

Diana blinked as the walls changed into various states of matter while the ceiling seemed to lower and rise, expand and shrink in on itself and the floor around Diana's mud puddle changed to sand, to snow to ash and back to the normal metallic like stone it was. The space around the baby remained unfazed as it glanced up at Diana with happiness. Then in the blink of an eye, the hall was back to it's normal self, the puddle that Diana was in gone and the puddles of gold that Diana saw earlier were no longer puddles, instead they were-

"Parademons?" Diana said in confusion as she saw several Parademons around the small baby.

The foot soldiers of Darkseid all shivered as they made a series of clicks and hisses to each other before they turned their attention to the baby. Diana saw one of them reach for the child and was immediately in front of the artificial solder, her sword drawn and the blade raised to it's throat.

"Do not touch them" she commanded in a serious tone.

The Parademon rose while several others around her hissed but otherwise backed away. The Parademon that made to grab the baby looked at Diana with an unreadable expression before it began to growl as it's maw dripped with fire. Diana's eyes narrowed as she dug the tip of her blade into it's neck a little more, drawing it's blood.

"Stand down" she ordered.

The Parademon hissed again as it looked like it was about to move again before suddenly it fell apart into dozens of sheets of paper!

Diana's eyes widened at this before she looked on in shock as her blade turned to water and fell to the floor, dampening the sheets on the ground. The Parademons around Diana all hissed and backed away even further before they too turned to sheets of paper.

"What's going on-" Diana began before she heard the baby behind her begin to giggle and she slowly turned to see the child's eyes glowing.

After several seconds of staring at the baby, it finally clicked in Diana's mind.

"It's you that's causing all this" she said with shock.

The baby smiled up at Diana in that cute innocent way that all babies seemed to express, unaware of it's surroundings or actions. Diana stared at the child, trying to think of something to do before she heard multiple armored footfalls approaching her. Diana quickly grabbed the baby just as several Parademons turned the corner with a lone woman dressed in rags at the center. Diana quirked a brow at this and before she could say anything, the woman noticed her and the baby.

"By the grace of the source!" she shouted in obvious relief as she rushed towards Diana with the Parademons right behind her.

Diana's eyes narrowed slightly as she spoke "Who are you?"

The woman came to a sudden stop, seemingly noticing Diana for the first time while the Parademons behind her all hissed and muttered in their broken language. The slave swallowed nervously as she spoke, her eyes darting to the floor, afraid to meet Diana's own.

"M-My name is... my name is Enna" she said in a timid tone.

"What do you want?" Diana questioned as the baby in her arms cooed and tried to touch her face with it's small hands.

"I am the bay's caretaker" Enna said in a paniced tone as she held her arms out "Please, give her to me before-"

"What... seems to be the problem here"

Both Enna and Diana froze at the sound of Darksied's voice echoing through the hall. The former princess of the Amazons slowly turned around to see the ruler of Apokolips approach her at a calm pace. He was alone she noted, and his gaze was focused solely on the child in her arms. The Parademons behind Diana all hissed and kneeled before Darkseid while the woman, Enna, shook with pure unrestrained terror. Tears fell down her face as she stared up at the dark God and fell to her knees and bowed her head and whisper for mercy amongst numerous apologies.

"L-Lord D-Darks-"

"I did not give you permission to speak slave. Speak another word and I shall have you fed to the Parademons behind you" Darksied said as he came to a stop before Diana and the child in her arms. The baby cooed and awed up towards Darkesid while the dread lord looked into Diana's eyes "Why are you here Amazon?"

Diana tensed at the New God's tone and tightened her grip on the baby ever so slightly, her body tensed and ready to move at a moment's notice should Darksied try anything to endanger it's life "I heard something and when I came to investigate, I discovered this child-"

"My child" Darkseid interrupted, causing Diana's eyes to widen.

"Your child?" she said in disbelief as she looked down at the baby.

The child was one of the most beautiful and innocent looking beings she's ever seen, not a trace of malice within it. Yet, Darkseid is claiming to be this child's father, that it shares his blood...

Before Diana could question the legitimacy of Darkseid's claims, the dark lord kneeled and held out a massive finger towards the child. The baby stared at the digit with wide eyes before it reached out to grab it with a large toothless smile on it's face as it babbled incoherently. The air began to ripple and the ground shook as the baby's eyes started to glow, yet Darkseid remained still while Diana was trying to decide whether to shield the baby form such a evil being, or allow it's father to touch it.

Finally, the alterations to the room ceased and the baby's eyes stopped glowing as it touched Darksied's finger with it's hand. Darksied hummed as he stood and turned his attention to the cowering woman on her knees. His eyes glowed as he spoke in a dark tone that caused Diana to almost shiver at the sheer rage hidden within.

"Why is my daughter so far from her room?" he questioned, his low voice almost echoing through the tense atmosphere.

Enna shook as she tired to desperately find a answer to appease the New God, but her words couldn't make it past her tongue and she simply shook in terror. Darkseid frowned at the lack of response as he turned his attention to the Parademons.

"Answer my question, NOW!"

The Parademons looked up at Darkseid and began to answer in a series of clicks, growls and other unrecognizable words. Diana watched as Darksied's expression seemed to darken even further than she thought possible before he slowly turned his gaze back to Enna. His body trembled ever so slightly with sheer rage that even his daughter began to squirm from the tension rolling off her father.

"You. Let. Her. Wander. ALONE?!" the last word said with a bark that caused Enna to whimper and for the baby in Diana's arms to jump in surprise before settling and resumed watching her father with wide innocent eyes.

"Y-Y-Y-Your g-grace... I-I... I-" Enna began before twin beams of Omega energy shot from Darkseid's eyes and reduced the sniveling woman to ash in the span of a heartbeat, too fast for even Diana to react to.

The former Princess of Themyscria stared wide eye at the spot that was once a person while Darkseid turned his attention to Diana "Return my daughter to her room and find a new nanny for her. And make sure my daughter's guardian that lives within her room is still alive, I'd hate to have to make a new one if there is no need"

Diana's gaze flickered back to Darkseid and almost, almost flinched at the challenging look in his eyes, never before had she seen such a look in his eyes, even when facing defeat at Clark and the Justice League's hands. After several tense seconds, Diana swallowed nervously as she adjusted her grip on her apparent sister in law.

"As you wish..." she said with a slight bow.

Darkseid grunted at this before he turned his attention to his daughter and smirked at the look she gave him before he turned on his heel and began to walk away, leaving Diana alone with the baby and several Parademons who were watching her like a hawk watches a rabbit. After a few moments, Diana sighed and turned towards what she thought was the leader of this squad of Parademons.

"I don't suppose you know where this child's room is at?"

The Parademon nodded as it gestured for Diana to follow it while it's fellow foot soldiers took up defensive positions around Diana and her sister in law. Diana followed the golden armored alien being through the various halls of the palace, her attention torn between memorizing the route and to the bundle in her arms. The baby seemed quite taken by Diana's hair and began to try and reach for it with her hands only to smile as her knuckles brushed the very ends of the Amazon's raven colored locks. Diana found herself smiling down at the child as they neared what she could only assume was the infant's room.

The nearly two dozen stone statues of various Parademons around, before and even in the door of the room, the grass growing in irregular patterns on the walls and ceiling and ankle deep water may have also helped clued her in.

'This child's power is remarkable. I can't begin to imagine what she'll be capable of once she matures...' Diana thought as she eased her way through the transformed Parademons that were assigned to guard the room while her Parademon escorts simply knocked them over, causing them to shatter on the floor as they approached a second set of doors within a massive room that had it's walls, floor and ceiling changed to a variety of colors, some of which Diana had never seen before, and material that looked like a cross between fabric and paper.

Diana blinked at the state of the room before she glanced down at the child with a bemused grin "I'm assuming this was all your doing in your trek from your room?"

The baby responded with a laugh as she finally grabbed a piece of Diana's hair with her small hands and held on tight, or as tight as she could. Diana chuckled at the baby's playful nature as she entered the horribly warped doors and into a small room while the Parademons stood back and watched with unreadable expressions. Though they were silent, Diana couldn't help but notice that they seemed nervous almost, if their body language meant anything. Before she could give that thought any more time, she arrived at a raised platform in the middle of the sunken portion of the room, on the small platform was a crib with several thin blankets on the soft mattress within. Diana glanced around the room and saw that it was lined with some sort of odd small glowing disks, some of which looked either cracked or burned out. There was a number of small baby toys, or what passed for toys on Apokolips in one corner of the room, a door to what she could only assume was the bathroom in another while in the other was-

"Grrrrr…"

Diana tensed as she stared at a pair of glowing dark eyes at the farthest corner of the room, the entire space was cloaked in darkness. Diana stared into the rage filled eyes of the unknown creature that Diana assumed was the 'guardian' that Darkseid spoke. Given the Parademons at the door weren't attacking only confirmed her suspicions. The two maintained eye contact, neither one looking away as a dark tension filled the room of before a soft gurgle from the baby in Diana's arms ended it. The guardian's eyes darted towards the figure in Diana's arms and made some sort of grunt before it's eyes closed and Diana lost sight of the beast within the shadows. She could still hear it breathing, but even with her eyesight she couldn't see through the darkness and make out any distinguishable features other than that it possessed red eyes and was easily several feet taller than she was.

After a few moments of silence, Diana slowly approached the crib and began to set Darkseid's daughter in it. The baby looked up at Diana with a look of pure adoration in her eyes. Diana smiled down at the child and ran a small finger across her cheek, causing the child to laugh.

"I'll be back soon, but now I think you should get some rest little one" Diana said as she watched the baby yawn and quiet down. The Amazon casted a quick glance towards the corner that she saw the eyes and was greeted to two narrow glowing slits, the creature was watching her. After a few minutes of staring each other down, Diana spoke.

"I trust you can keep a better eye on the child?"

Her response was met with an angered growl before she heard it shift it's position and it's eyes closed.

Diana hummed at the response, so the creature was sentient to some degree, she filed that away for later before she gave the baby one last look before turning on her heel and making her way out of thee now sleeping child's room.

...

Half an hour later, and more turns and back peddling then Diana cared to admit, the Amazon found herself before Peter's lab once again and debated whether to go in or not before the door suddenly opened and Vision appeared.

"Good evening ma'am" Vision said with a small bow "Can I help you with anything?"

"Is my husband in?" Diana asked as she peered over Vision's shoulder to see if she could spot the New God within.

Vision nodded as he straightened himself "He is, do you wish to speak with him?"

"If he's not too busy" Diana said.

"He's never too bust for his wife, my lady" Vision said as he stepped to the side and gestured for Diana to enter.

'Somehow, I doubt that' Diana thought as she stepped into the lab and heard the door seal shut as her eyes adjusted the dim lighting.

Peter was there, sitting at a table that housed the semi-sentient suit he wore on the Agooma in a stasis field with small windows and texts orbiting it. Peter stopped in his work and glanced at Diana with a raised brow and spoke in a bored tone

"Yes?"

"Are you busy?" she asked, fighting down the annoyance she felt at the way he addressed her.

"Not really, just going over some oddities with my suit here" Peter said with a nod towards the stasis field before he typed in a few buttons on a holographic keyboard "What do you need?"

"I just met your sister" Diana said after a few seconds.

"Which one?" Peter asked as he glanced up from his work with a quirked brow "I have four you know, your gonna need to be specific"

"The... youngest one, I think. A baby" Diana said with some annoyance, she had a feeling he knew which one she might have met.

Peter's eyes narrowed slightly at this "You saw her? My father actually let you see Armria?"

"It wasn't his choice" Diana corrected as she folded her arms across her chest with a sigh "It appears your sister got out of her rooms, likely with the aid of her powers, and wandered around the halls until I stumbled across her"

"By the life of the Source" Peter said with wide eyes before he shook his head "I pity the poor nanny that was tasked with watching her. Father doesn't like it when his most favorite is lost track off"

"He's already dealt with her" Diana said with a saddened frown on her face "Your father barely let her get any words in for her defense before he destroyed her"

"What do you mean destroy her?" Peter asked with confusion.

"He used his Omega Effect to kill her" Diana almost snarled in anger at the almost casual manner that Darkseid committed the deed.

She suppose she could understand his anger, that of a father finding his daughter was left alone unsupervised, but to kill someone over it, when it wasn't even their fault...

"Wow" Peter said with a whistle "Never known him to be so merciful to someone that screws up tat bad when it comes to my sister's safety. He usually drags it out longer, days even weeks before putting them out of their misery"

"I suppose he was too enraged to consider such a thing" Diana said with a shiver running down her spine 'What could he do that's even worse than what I saw?'

"Diana..." Peter said as he shut down his terminal and looked right at her with a serious expression on his face "My father never acts rashly, even when he's lost in his rage like you saw. Every action he takes, he's calculated and considered down to a science, every footstep, every blink, nothing he does happens without him thinking it through to the point of almost inaction. He probably concluded how he was going to deal with the nanny, whoever it was, the moment he saw his daughter was with you and not her room"

"Then what was the point of killing her so quickly then?" Diana asked "You said he normally drags it out, why make it so quick?"

Peter responded with a shrug "Who knows. My father's actions are always a mystery, even Kalibak, the closest out of all of us to him, barely knows what goes through Father's head at times, if ever"

Diana frowned at this before she sighed and nodded "I doubt anyone will ever know what he's thinking"

"Probably" Peter agreed as he leaned back in his chair "I assume you took her back to her room?"

"I did" Diana said with a nod.

"What's the state of it?" he inquired.

"It was... heavily altered from what it's original appearance and state was" Diana said.

"Guess the dampers were overpowered... gonna have to fix them later" Peter said with a sigh before he turned to Vision "Go tell Beldam that we need to head over to my sister's later and repair or replace the power dampers inside"

"Very good sir" Vision said with a nod before he turned and quickly left the room.

"What about the 'Guardian' in her room, well it let you work?" Diana asked.

"It should, and if not, that's why I'm gonna bring Bedlam, it's his pet creation" Peter said with a shrug.

"What is it, the creature I mean?" Diana asked with a furrowed brow "It has to be powerful if your father believes it's a suitable defender for your sister, even with her powers"

"It's..." Peter paused as he tired to think of the right way to describe Bedlam's greatest creation "Let's just say it can take a beating and if you do happen to kill it, it wont stay dead long. To fully test it's abilities, my father set it on General Zod after we pulled him and a few other Kryptonians from the Phantom Zone and they refused to serve us... guess who won?"

"Hera..." Diana said with wide eyes.

"I don't think she'd have much of a chance either" Peter said with a dark chuckle "Even my father had some difficulty reigning it in afterwards... he almost had to destroy the thing before it submitted to him"

After a few seconds of silence, Peter typed in a few more commands for the holographic keyboard and watched as the various information windows and text vanished and he turned back Diana with an expectant gaze.

"Now, while we're still on the subject of my father, do you have a dress? Not one of the ones I've supplied you, but another?"

"...No" Diana asked with a confused look on her face "Why?"

"My father's marrying Mortalla in a week, and your gonna need a dress that's actually fit for a princess at a wedding, not something that's made solely for the purpose of getting a man's blood going and is easy to remove because of it" Peter said.

Diana blinked at this before she shook her head "I don't have any for... a wedding"

Peter sighed at this "I figured that's where you've been lately, getting a dress made for yourself. All of my other sisters have ones, hell some of my half sisters have already gotten there's done and sent to them. The hell have you been doing these past days? And don't say you were busy with missions, even Psylocke and Warbird found time to get their dresses"

"I was busy avoiding you" Diana said with a pointed look on her face.

"For what?" Peter blinked in surprise "The hell did I do?"

"You've already forgotten?" Diana asked with a mixture of outrage and annoyance.

Peter stared at Diana, a clueless expression still on his face before he shrugged "Apparently I already have, would you mind telling me what I forgot?"

Diana's response was a frustrated exhale through the nose before she turned on her heel and stomped out of his lab, leaving Peter behind even more confused.

"Seriously, what'd I forget?"

...


And done.

Next chapter, the dark lord's wedding and reception...