Chapter 17: History Repeats Itself

Diana and Bruce hadn't even been afforded the opportunity to take a step before men in tactical gear started to pour in from all entrance points into the lobby. It was more than obvious to both that these men weren't members of Gotham's police force, but rather government mandated soldiers. "Hold it right there!" One of them shouted as all the others drew their weapons toward the two heroes. Diana spared a quick glance over to Batman, who she noticed was anxiously trembling. She could tell that he wanted nothing more than to get back to his home and save his parents, and that he was very likely only seconds away from making an attempt to flee even though they were surrounded. Therefore it was time for something drastic to prevent him from doing something stupid like she'd feared he might be about to do. The current circumstances were about to make acting without thought more expected as loved ones were involved. She knew that Bruce wouldn't be able to live with himself if he couldn't save his family, and so she lunged.

Charging forward, the first soldier didn't even have time to react before Diana had slammed into him. Her actions started a small domino effect as neighboring soldiers tumbled over each other initially until others were eventually able to react accordingly. Just as she began to charge again, a few shots were fired, forcing her to react in order to protect herself, but by the time she'd deflected the last bullet, she was once again surrounded at gun point. This time she raised her hands in surrender, but only after glancing to the side of the lobby and finding no Batman in sight. Seeing this, she sent a silent prayer to Hermes with the hopes that he'd hasten Bruce's trip back to the Manor, and then to Athena in hopes of guiding him to safely rescue his parents.

The soldier that was seemingly in charge stepped in front of Diana while grabbing at his communicator on his shoulder. "We have the female in custody, but the male in black managed to slip away." He stated.

"Bring the female to me after you've properly shackled her." A female voice responded. "We'll deal with her friend later, but for now just make certain that you do not underestimate this one."

"Yes ma'am." The soldier replied before signaling to another to take Diana into custody. She remained non-confrontational as a soldier behind her placed one of her hands followed by another into some large and bulky shackles that went almost all the way up to her elbows. She wasn't concerned until that same soldier powered on the shackles and a blue aura grew around them. At that point, she made an attempt to break free and found that her attempts were in vain.

"Why are you holding me against my will?" She asked after realizing that breaking free had just become even more difficult.

"Follow us ma'am." Was the soldier's only response as the group started to file out of the Federal Reserve lobby, and when they all were out in the street Diana's eyes widened upon what she saw. There were odd looking military vehicles littering the streets and a large number of infantry forces on the ground moving about that hadn't been there before she'd entered the building.

"Doesn't this seem a bit excessive?" Diana questioned aloud.

"That all depends on you." The same female voice from the soldier's radio called out from in front of Diana as she stepped forward out of the shadows. Diana's intuition led her to believe that there was a presence this woman put off which screamed power as she approached. "Although now that you're in your bindings, I'd be surprised if you cause too much more of a ruckus."

"I wasn't aware that saving people was called that." Diana sarcastically mocked. "Now tell me, why do you want to detain me?"

"We did detain you because beings with super powers have been less than trustworthy to say the least." The woman answered. "Now if that's all of your questions, you're coming with me so that I can get some of mine answered."

"I need to be somewhere first." Diana retorted. "If you freely release me, then I give you my word that I'll return willingly to answer any questions that you have."

The woman actually snorted in utter disbelief. "No, I don't think so."

"Very well then." Diana stated. "If you wish to be unreasonable, then I bid you farewell."

Diana went to lift off into the sky, but found that she wasn't able to. There was a look of pure shock plastered onto her face upon realizing that she wasn't able to fly. "Those aren't just standard issue bracelets you're wearing honey." The woman explained with a victorious gleam plastered onto her face. "Thanks to the white Martian invasion and a little government funding, we were able to design shackles for your kind. Once they're locked onto you, all your powers are disrupted as you've just come to find out."

~~ Outskirts of Gotham ~~

Bruce was roaring through the streets on his way home. He wasn't stopping for anything as he ripped through traffic lights and dodged oncoming traffic whenever the need arose. Thanks to Diana's actions, he was able to evade capture, and that allowed him to be where he was currently. He hoped that she would be able to get away safely herself, but couldn't allow himself to dwell on that at the moment. The Joker was very likely at the Manor doing God knew what to his parents, and possibly to Alfred as well. That had to remain a priority as Diana wasn't in imminent danger.

So rushed was he to get to his parents, that he didn't even think to pull into the Batcave entrance. Instead he ripped right passed it, and continued on until reaching the gates that permitted entrance to the Wayne family grounds. Not wasting any time, he slammed the vehicle through, ripping the closed gate doors from their hinges. He then screeched to a halt while simultaneously unlocking the hatch. The car had barely stopped before he was catapulting himself out of the vehicle before sprinting up to the steps of the main entrance.

It was at the entrance to the Manor where Bruce finally paused. Even though panicked, his thoughts managed to go back to Diana's advice about barging into a battlefield without taking in your surroundings. It was going to take a bit of time to canvas the house before entering, and that was precious time he felt he simply didn't have. So to help compensate for that, he decided to use his knowledge of the house to his advantage by gaining entry in a position that would be more advantageous for him while at the same time seem hopefully be able to catch the Joker off guard as well. He then reached into a compartment on his belt and pulled out the gas powered grapnel gun, aiming and firing it up to the roof.

Making certain to be as silent and hidden as a wraith, Bruce slipped in through an upper level window of the west wing. Upon entering, it took his eyes a few moments to adjust to the darkness within the mansion, as no lights appeared to be on at all. What was more disturbing though was the lack of any noises either. It was almost as if the house had been vacated. Not wanting to waste any more time taking in the obvious, he quickly shook off any worrisome feelings as he made quick work of casing the upper rooms. None were found to be occupied by anyone, and there wasn't much of anything for someone to hide behind, which actually resulted in very little time being taken even though it didn't feel that way.

Bruce then very cautiously made his way down to the second level where the bedrooms were all located, but once again found that all was quiet. He didn't like the growing feeling inside that something was horribly wrong with the situation as he continued his search. The longer he was inside without locating anyone, the more he felt that uneasy feeling grow deep in the pit of his stomach, but he pushed through it knowing that he had no choice at the moment. He had to find them.

By the time Bruce made it to the first floor, he finally could see some light emanating from under a door separating that room from the corridor. He knelt down next to the door, very carefully placing one hand gently on the center of it. His mind churned with thoughts of how he wished at the moment that he had something like a fiber optic cable to peer into the room undetected. Instead he had little choice but to blindly charge in and hope for the best. As he stayed knelt down next to the door, after a couple of moments passed, he was just able to make out the sound of shuffling within the room. There was definitely someone inside, but who could it be and was there more than one person? He had no true way of telling, and decided that the best case scenario was a quick strike to hopefully catch the Joker by surprise so that he could take him down without sacrificing anyone's physical wellbeing. The decision made, Bruce pulled out a weapon that he'd concocted from a memory of long ago, and stood to his feet. He internally began counting down from three to kick the door open. Three….two….one….GO!

~~ FBI mobile headquarters ~~

"For the last time, what planet did you come from?" The government official frustratedly asked. "What powers do you have?"

"I come from Earth, as I've told you many times already." Diana huffed in equal frustration. "I am blessed by the Gods and Goddesses of Olympus. As an example, one such power I possess is the speed of Hermes."

"Okay, okay. It's painfully obvious that you're not going to give us a straight answer." The official concluded.

"But I have given you the truth!" Diana argued. "My name is Diana of Themyscira, and I am the princess of the Amazons. We are protected and blessed by the…"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, we heard that the first ten times." The official interrupted before turning to face a large shaded window behind him. Not seeming to get any reaction, he turned back to his detainee and rubbed his face with both hands. "Alright, let's try this from another angle. We don't believe you're Martian; white, green, or otherwise. No wings so you're not from that birdman planet, Thanagar."

Thanagar? Green Martian? Could they possibly mean J'onn? Shayera? If that was the case then where were they located? Were they being held prisoner? There were so many questions that she didn't realize when the interrogator had stood and leaned over the table, staring directly into her eyes.

"What are you hiding?" He asked.

Diana shook her head to clear her line of thought. She had to be careful with how she formulated her responses. While she was concerned for her other friends, she also needed to get out of there and back to the Manor in case Bruce needed her help. Taking in a calming breath she glared right back at the interrogator. "I've told you the truth. I am not from another planet. I've been blessed by the Gods of Olympus, and I need to go. The Joker is out there and is expecting me to show. If I don't then he's going to take more lives."

"You're not going anywhere anytime soon." That same woman's voice from before called out over the loud speaker in the room.

"Who are you?" Diana demanded. "Why have you taken me into custody? I've done nothing but tried to help those in need. You have no right to detain me."

"You're the one without rights." The woman answered as she walked into the room and replaced the interrogator. "Especially not when you continue to claim that you come from an island which doesn't exist, and are from a mythical race of extremely tall women that just so happen to have more powers than any other being from the Earth. We tend to frown upon hearing fairy tales and such nonsense."

"There has to be something that I can do to prove that I'm not trying to mislead you." Diana responded. "You don't understand the current situation. The Joker's taken hostages and will kill them unless he gets his audience with both myself and Batman."

"Ah yes, the man in black that you've been cavorting around with at night." The woman replied, obviously ignoring Diana's plea. "Let's talk about him. Why don't you start with his name?"

~~ Study of Wayne Manor ~~

Bruce slammed through the door violently, the wood shattering into pieces as he leapt into the room. Sure enough there were multiple people inside, and many of them intruders. He pulled the weapon from under his cape and pressed a button, multiple strings seeming to fire in different directions. Many of the strings fell harmlessly, but others stuck into some of the armed men. An electric current flowed instantly, shocking all the men that had been connected to one of the lines. Their bodies froze from the current until it eventually released them to fall into piled heaps on the floor.

"What an interesting toy you have there uhh, hmm." The Joker called out from the opposite end of the room as he spun around in a desk chair that had been facing toward a window. "What do we call you? That is an interesting design you have there. I'm not sure about the pointy things on your head though."

"Let. The Waynes. Go." Batman forced out through gritted teeth.

"Oh so serious." The Joker mocked. "Where's the babe though? I wanted both of you here for this."

"I swear if you harm one hair on any of their heads I'll…" Batman started to threaten before his eyes caught the glimpse of his parents bound and gagged on the floor behind a couch with Alfred being dragged next to them by one of the Joker's goons that had managed to avoid the tasering.

"You'll what?" The Joker taunted. "Give me a whoopin? No, no, that's not how this game is played. Wait here a moment. We can't start the show without your leggy friend." The Joker motioned for his remaining goon, and then waited as Martha was snatched up and carried over to him. "Now let's make a call to the media. We've got a killer story here to report."

The Joker grabbed the desk phone and started punching in numbers before placing the receiver between his shoulder and ear as he waited for someone on the other end to pick up. Sure enough after some gut wrenching waiting, someone did finally answer, and the Joker started to relay the current situation. It didn't take much persuasion with his voice being so recognizable, and soon he was reaching for a remote on the desk before pointing and clicking toward the TV that was mounted onto the wall to Bruce's left. Once he had the right channel pulled up, he leaned back into the chair while pointing something in Martha's direction.

Bruce wanted so much to just reach out and strangle the clown, but he knew that before he could get there, either Joker would attack his mother or the goon would open fire on Alfred or his father. Eventually what was on the TV cut for the breaking news. The reporter behind her desk quickly apologized for the interruption before describing what the Joker had relayed over the phone. "We now cut live to the criminal known as the Joker." She stated.

"Thank you Sharon." Joker gleefully responded. "Nice hair by the way. Who does your styling? I think I might need to give them a call."

"Mr. Joker, all kidding aside, we've been informed that you have something to tell everyone in Gotham." The reporter replied, trying to remain on topic.

"Oh yes!" Joker chimed as if he'd forgotten about the reason for calling. "I want to reach out to the other wannabe do gooder out there. You know who you are legs. If you're not at Wayne Manor in the next three minutes, then Gotham will lose one of its finest citizens. After another three then I'll send the other to meet them. And if that's not good enough, then I'll send your little black clad playmate with them."

~~ Interrogation ~~

"We're wasting time here!" Diana yelled in frustration. "Thomas and Martha…."

"Ms. Waller." Someone called from over the loud speaker, interrupting Diana.

"What is it?" Waller fired back.

"You may want to see this." The voice answered.

Waller rubbed a hand over her face in frustration. She didn't know what could possibly be more important than her current interrogation, but stood from her seat and left the room. While she was gone, Diana began attempting to break free of her shackles, praying to Hera for added strength, but receiving none. She then took in her surroundings. There had to be something she could use to power the shackles down so that she could break free. She stood from her seat and started to pace around the room. The table was made of metal, but the corners were all rounded. It wasn't likely that it would stand up to what the shackles could handle, but she decided to give it a try anyway and slammed her arms down as hard as she could. The table dented, but that was about the extent of her attempt to escape.

Waller walked back into the room a moment later to see the dents on the table, but the look she had walking into the room remained and was troubling to see. "Well, it appears that you were being at least somewhat honest." She stated in a troubled voice.

Diana was almost panicked by the deadly tone of Waller's voice. "What's going on?" She quickly demanded.

"The clown contacted local media threatening to murder the Wayne's if you aren't there within the next two minutes." Waller responded. "Why is the clown so interested in you?"

"He's insane!" Diana yelled. "You have to release me before he kills them or…." Diana stopped mid sentence as a searing pain shot through her head suddenly. She knew that there was a shift in time and had to accept it before the pain became to great, but her emotional state made that a difficult task as she tried to rub her temples only to be blocked by the shackles she was still in. She tried to steady her breathing, but the pain quickly became intolerable and all she could do was scream as she curled up in her seat.

~~ Study of Wayne Manor ~~

"Five minutes?" Joker whined as he looked at his watch. "This plan was for the both of you. I'm sure you're fun and all, but without the complete set you both won't get the joke. This just won't do, not at all. I'll be just a moment."

Bruce watched as Joker pulled a trinket on a chain out from around his neck, and then lit a lighter before holding the two in front of his face. As soon as his eyes pinched shut, Bruce lunged forward hoping to get a jump on the Joker's goon before he could fire a shot.

Joker heard the bat character jumping forward, but then time halted just before he drifted back in time. He came to a stop just after the two heroes entered the building and watched as the streets began to fill up with government vehicles. Soon soldiers were breaching the Federal Reserve building, and within minutes they were escorting the female hero to a semi trailer. So, she'd been taken into custody and that was why she hadn't arrived he mused silently. Well that certainly wouldn't do. These buffoons weren't about to take away from all the intricate planning that he'd gone through up to that point, and there was one surefire way to make certain that their interference wouldn't take away from his fun. A sinister smile formed on his lips before he pulled out that same trinket and lighter, and traveled even further back into time once more for a little more fine tuning.

~~ Minutes later ~~

Diana opened her eyes once the pain subsided and watched as she sat down to find herself in an interrogation room with the large mirrored glass window. She instantly knew that something was about to change, and she waited with baited breath to find out what. The pain had been immense again, so it was clearly something that greatly affected her memory, and she recalled what was happening before her as she continued her demanding and arguments. "Where is Waller?" She asked the now entering interrogator, wanting to speed the process along.

The interrogator was stunned at her questioning. "How did you…" He started before a faint whistling sound could be heard.

"Incoming!" A soldier yelled from outside the interrogation room, but it was too late. A rocket impacted the side of the trailer, and theresult was many casualties.

Diana had fallen to the floor from the impact of the explosion, but was otherwise unharmed. She quickly regained her bearings and sought out Waller, eventually locating the woman's slightly burnt corpse lying just inside the trailer. The life of Waller had more than obviously been taken. Knowing this, Diana knelt down and felt around until she located the keys to her shackles in the dead woman's jacket pocket. She then had to improvise getting the keys out of the pocket before using her teeth to pick them up and insert them into the lock. Guessing that the sequence of numbers to set herself free was the same as what enabled the shackles, she wasted little time in releasing herself before skyrocketing up through the roof of the trailer and heading straight for the Manor. She only hoped that she wouldn't be too late.

~~ Study of the Manor ~~

"She's on her way boss, just like you said." A voice came over the radio as Joker spun around in the desk chair.

"Good Benny." Joker pleasingly complimented, before focusing his attention on the bat character. "Soon the fun will begin."

The Joker rubbed his hands in giddy anticipation as his plan was coming to fruition. Bruce was fuming as he could only wait for whatever the Joker had planned. He knew that whatever it might be, that it was certainly not good, and soon both Diana and his parents would be in danger. Unfortunately the odds were also becoming more and more stacked against him as some of the goons he'd tased earlier were starting to rouse from their unconscious state. Within minutes the odds would be ten against two, and there wasn't a thing he could do about.

Diana didn't hesitate at all in flying through the front doors. "JOKER!" She yelled into the seemingly silent mansion. She was in no mood to play the clown's game.

Much to her chagrin though, the Joker was in an extremely playful mood. "Over here." The clown happily called out from the direction of the study. "We've been waiting for you."

Diana sprinted into the study to find Bruce standing just in front of her with his hands held in the air. He'd apparently surrendered which she knew meant nothing good as she took in the surroundings and eventually came across a group of men holding three hostages. All of the hostage's eyes widened upon realization of just who it was that the Joker had been waiting for, but Diana couldn't fret over that. Saving them was more important. "What are you playing at?" She questioned angrily.

"The game of life of course!" Joker responded as he pulled out something from the pocket of his lapel. "You see I've been waiting for someone to put a smile back on this poor clown's face. Ever since that bumbling S man disappeared there's been something missing in my life. Until you showed up to take his place that is, but unlike last time, the game pieces are so…much…more interesting."

"I'm not playing your games Joker." Diana barked. She was about to lunge forward until what the Joker had pulled from his pocket became visible just as he depressed a button at the top.

"I think you'll want to hear the rules before we begin legs." Joker taunted while dangling the device in his hands. "You see this is a dead man's switch, which is attached to the explosives that my esteemed associate Teeny strapped to each of your possible prizes. So let's get started with the rules of my little game kiddies. First you need to know that if you try to go after the host, then he drops the dead man's switch and kaboom! All three prizes get blown to smithereens. The only way to avoid that is you pick which one will live and let me leave freely. Teeny here will perform the executions at my command, and you can take comfort in the fact that you were able to save at least one lifefor only the cost of the other two."

"This is insanity. Why the Waynes?" Batman seethed.

"Well, because home is where the heart is." The Joker hinted before turning a bit lighter in his tone. "Besides, their time was coming to an end anyways. Can't have too many roosters in the henhouse after all, and if I'm going to run the city I can't condone any competition. So, who gets to be the lucky winner?"

"We won't choose one's life over another Joker." Diana called out defiantly. Both she and Bruce were instantly rigid as they saw the smile grow on the clown's face.

"What a noble response." Joker responded. "Or perhaps you just don't care for them all that much after all. Eh well. Either way, I'm sorry but that wasn't a valid response."

Joker began to laugh maniacally as he released the dead man's switch. Diana and Bruce lunged for Alfred and the Waynes only to be greeted with confetti and flags that said "BOOM" that protruded from the devices as theyall exploded harmlessly. Joker paused in his laughter for a brief moment before he pressed the button on the trigger once more, and that was followed by the sound of blades piercing through flesh on each of the three captives. Their eyes all widened at the instantaneous pain of being stabbed through the torso. It was immediately obvious upon reaching them that the blows were lethal.

Bruce began to shake while holding his mother before gently lying her down onto the floor. "You…MURDERER!" He shouted at the top of his lungs as he leapt toward the clown. Joker wasn't ready for such quick movement as Batman slammed into him and instantly rammed him to the floor.

Diana wasted no time, going after the Joker's henchmen and subduing all of them quickly with staggering strikes that returned them all to their previously unconscious state. She then spared a glance over to the two men tussling on the floor across the room. Bruce was savagely beating the Joker, who was laughing the entire time as he was continuing to be pummeled. "Go…on…." Joker taunted between blows to his head. "Stop me… the…only…way… you…can!"

Bruce released a feral roar as his rage consumed him. His gauntlet covered hands were soon stained with the Joker's blood. After a few more seconds of punishment, the Joker's laughter ceased, but the beating continued. Diana immediately flew over to him and grabbed an arm to stop him from going too far. "You have to stop!" She shouted to gain his attention.

"He deserves to die!" Bruce yelled as he fought to continue pounding on the demented clown. Diana was having none of that though. She knew that the man she was holding back would never forgive himself once he'd taken a life.

"No, you can't murder him." She pleaded. "If you do then you're only going to prove him right, and would be no better than he is."

"I don't care!" Bruce yelled as he continued trying to slip from her hold, but to no avail.

Diana dragged him away from the clown despite his fighting against her until he heard something. "Br….Bruce." A weak whispering voice called out.

Bruce immediately stopped fighting Diana and looked over to his fallen parents. "Mom?" He questioned as Diana released him and allowed him to drop next to his mother. When Bruce slid next to her, he instantly saw her fearful look, and to correct that he quickly removed his helmet so that she could look onto her son's face.

"My….my baby boy." Martha managed to say between tears as she forced a hand up toward her son who was now gently picking her up to cradle her in his arms. "Do….Don't….Do….Don't ki…"

"Don't talk mom." Bruce gently requested. "You need to conserve your energy. We're going to get you to the hospital. You're going to make it."

Diana knelt down next to Martha and Bruce while reaching over to check on Thomas and Alfred,and finding that their breathing was labored, but they were still alive for the moment. She was saddened to see clearlythat death was swiftly approaching. The only reason they were still alive now was likely due to the blades having not been removed yet from their wounds.

Thomas suddenly reached up and held Diana's hand, causing her to look him in the eyes. "B…Bru…Bruce." He coughed out. "Take….take ca…"

"Shh." Diana shushed as she tried to console Bruce's father to no avail. It was heart wrenching to sit through, but there was little else that could be done and they all seemed to know it.

Bruce very gingerly laid his mother down next to his father so that they and Alfred were all close together. He too checked on the vitals of Alfred and his father, and Diana took that moment to move over and hold Martha's hand. She looked up and a soft smile graced her features as Diana reached down to move some stray hairs out of her face. Their time was nearly ended, and even though Bruce was aware of it, panic seemed to take hold of him. "Fly them to Gotham general before it's too late." He barked as he turned to face Diana. "We can still save them."

"Br…Bruce." Thomas wheezed. "It's t…too late…son."

"No dad, it's not." Bruce tried to argue. "Diana can get you there in just a couple of minutes."

"T…Thomas…is right sir." Alfred called out to draw Bruce's attention. "We….we…"

"No. No no no!" Bruce cried out as tears began to stream down his cheeks. His father's breathing turning to garbled as the blood began to suffocate his airways. Bruce grabbed him by the hand and felt the sudden stiffening of Thomas' body through his grip until mere seconds later when the breathing stopped and his body became limp, his grip nonexistent.

Alfred was the next to meet the same fate just a moment later. Bruce was sobbing in between repeated chanting of no's as he held his faithful butler much in the same way he did his father. There was no time to grieve though as his mother's breathing then hitched as she fought for precious oxygen. Bruce immediately moved over to his mother's side while Diana continued to hold her hand. He gently lifted her up to cradle his mother lovingly as she looked into his eyes. "No mom, please don't go." Bruce begged.

Diana's eyes welled up with tears at that point. This was cruelty at its most extreme. Her heart broke for Bruce at that moment. Why had the fates been so cruel to such a good man? Not only had they taken his parents from him as a child in the original timeline, but now they were taking them violently again, and this time claiming Alfred along with them. She didn't know what she could possibly do to help him cope with such tragic loss, and all she could do at the moment was be there with him as she wept. He didn't deserve either fate.

She wasn't sure when it happened, but some point before Martha's last breath, she'd apparently tugged Diana's hand over to Bruce's and placed their hands together. Bruce had then lowered his head into his mother's shoulder immediately after she passed away, and squeezed Diana's hand as he continued to hold onto his mother's body.

There's no end to the depths that the Joker will reach to achieve his goals. Next chapter will delve into whether or not Diana discovers how the Joker changed the timeline. Hope it was enjoyable even though its a sad one. As always, please let me know if you liked it or not.