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All original characters are the property of Celgress.
Justice League High – Episode Two Night Terrors Part I
By
Celgress
Wayne Manor just outside of Harmony, early evening
Diana felt sick. She had not intended things to go this way. Why was Bruce being so damn stubborn? Why couldn't he see what he meant to her? What did they mean to each other? Didn't their love matter?
"Diana please don't leave angry," Bruce said grabbing her arm when she whirled around to leave the library where she had been directed by the Wayne Family butler Alfred Pennyworth.
"How can I leave any other way, huh Bruce!?" Diana said bitterly turning around to face Bruce with tears in her eyes. "I confess my feelings that I love you and you say it doesn't change anything!?"
"I'm sorry Diana, but I have to know the truth about the murder of my parents before I can move on," Bruce said.
"What you really mean is that you want to know if Lionel Luthor was involved," Diana said shrugging out of Bruce's grip. "And if he was but you still can't prove his involvement in a court of law then what, Bruce? Would you attack him maybe kill him to avenge your parents?"
"I, I honestly have no idea what will happen if I uncover evidence of Lionel Luthor's involvement in the death of my parents," Bruce confessed turning away for a moment unable to meet her gaze.
"Tell me," Diana said.
"Tell you what?" Bruce asked.
"Tell me there is nothing between us, that you don't love me every bit as much as I love you. You'll never see me again I'll walk out this door forever, Bruce." Diana challenged.
"I won't do that," Bruce said firmly.
"Why?" Diana said.
"Because I do love you, Diana. I've loved you since before I knew what romantic love meant the day we first met when we were kids in kindergarten playing in a sandbox together. I always have and I always will love you." Bruce said.
Diana's expression immediately softened. "Please Bruce, forget this vendetta. Come back to me to our friends. Live a normal life with us. Be a teenager be happy." She reached out and gently stroked his cheek with her left hand. Bruce took her hand in his own and kissed its back an expression of longing on his face.
"I'm sorry Diana, more than you'll ever know," Bruce said letting her hand slip from his grasp.
"So am I Bruce," Dianna said leaving the library once more on the verge of tears.
"Good luck dealing with him Alfred, I think you'll need it," Dianna said taking her coat from Alfred as she entered the massive foyer a few minutes later.
"Ms. Prince you seem distraught. Can I get you something before you depart?" Alfred asked.
"No, I just have to clear my head," Diana said with a weak smile.
"Is my cousin being pigheaded as ever?" Katherine "Kate" Kane said. A few years older than Bruce and his friends the twenty-year-old red-haired woman was Bruce's first cousin on his mother's side. Ever since the death of his parents, Kate had taken Bruce under her wing becoming more akin to a big sister than a more distant biological relation.
"Ask him," Diana snapped before she could catch herself. "Sorry, Kate I know you are just trying to help but I've had enough. Five years have passed and Bruce isn't getting any better. While I accept losing his parents the way he did was devastating I can't compete with a pair of ghosts for his love, none of us can. I'll see both you and Alfred around Kate, goodbye." Diana was out the door a second later.
"Goodbye Diana," Kate said.
"Farewell Ms. Prince," Alfred said a sympathetic look on his face which stood in stark contrast to his typically stiff manner.
Kate stormed into the library not long afterward in spite of Alfred's instance that Bruce was in "one of his moods" and "needed time alone". "I knew you are stubborn but I didn't think you are also a fool, cousin." She said causing Bruce to glare up at her from his book.
"If this is about Diana may I remind you-," Bruce began after putting down his book only to be swiftly cut off by Kate.
"God, how could you?" Kate ranted. "You have somebody that loves you yet you drive her away without a second thought. Some people never find someone who truly loves. How can you be so ungrateful?"
"I gave the situation more than a second thought, in spite of what you might think," Bruce said he was unhappy with his cousin's allegation. "Maybe you're projecting your our situation on mine. Have you considered that possibility?"
"Don't you dare bring Maggie into this," Kate said her eyes narrowing. Ellen "Maggie" Sawyer had been Kate's long-term girlfriend until Maggie's conservative parents convinced their daughter to break off the relationship after Kate proposed. "Our situations are completely different, cousin. Maggie loves me. She wants to be with me, she's told me so, but can't because of her shitty parents. You, on the other hand, refuse to be with Diana because of your obsession with Lionel Luthor. Is a scumbag like Luthor really worth passing up what might be your best chance at happiness? Your parents wouldn't want that. Aunt Martha and Uncle Thomas would want you to be happy, not miserable."
"Now who is crossing the line?" Bruce said a dark expression on his face.
"Fine, wallow in self-pity all you want. But a word to the wise. Don't expect Diana, me or any of your friends to be waiting for you once you've grown tired of the pity party. Life has a way of moving on whether we want it to or not." Kate said before leaving the library. Once more Bruce was alone with his troubled thoughts.
Prince Residence in Harmony, evening
"Now who could that be at this hour?" Hippolyta exiled Queen of the Amazons or "Helen Prince" as she was better known around town remarked. Glancing up at the kitchen wall clock she noted it was 10:30 pm. When she opened her front door she was greeted by the sight of a blurry eyed puffy faced Lana Lang. The girl had obviously been crying. "Hello," Hippolyta said.
"Is Diana home, Mrs. Prince?" Lana sniffed.
"What happened to you, dear? You look terrible." Hippolyta could not help but ask.
Hippolyta wondered if perhaps Lana's Uncle Jon had physically abused the teen in a moment of anger or even lust. Men were all alike as far as she was concerned. The brutes only cared about two things power and plunder, including unwanted sexual advances.
"I had a fight with my Uncle Jon. Can I stay here tonight?" Lana said.
"You poor dear. Did he hit you?" Hippolyta said.
"No," Lana said quickly. "We had an argument that's all. I'd rather not go home right now."
"Did you walk all this way?" Hippolyta inquired knowing Lana lived outside of town.
"Part of the way then I called an Uber." Lana lied. In truth, Lana's curiosity had gotten the best of her she had tested out her flight ability. Turns out she needed practice as she spent more time falling out of the air than flying.
"Come inside you poor dear before you catch your death of cold," Hippolyta said noting the early fall chill in the night air.
"Thanks, Mrs. Prince," Lana said wiping her moist eyes.
Lana wondered inside like she was in a daze. In fact, she was in a manner. Learning she was not human and that her identity was stolen devastated Lana's sense of self. She felt adrift uncertain of everything. How could her uncle have lied to her for her entire life? Was he even really her uncle? Sure he said he was but he had already lied so many times to her and everyone else in town, could he be trusted now?
"Donna go let your sister know her friend Lana is here," Hippolyta ordered her youngest daughter who was in the process of coming downstairs.
"Ah, mom do I have to?" Donna whined. "My favorite show is about to start."
"It's recording, now go get your sister young lady," Hippolyta commanded.
"Fine," Donna pouted heading back upstairs.
Donna returned not long afterward with Dianna. Donna then headed off to the living room to watch Mysticons pulling out her smartphone as she did so. Donna and her friends Kara and Barbara would always set up a three-way video chat and talk about the program whenever a new episode aired. They would fantasize about how cool being superheroines with secret identities would be.
"Oh, my god Lana what happened?" Diana gasped seeing the state of her friend.
"I had a fight with my Uncle Jon. I had to get out of there. Your mom already said it was okay if I crash here tonight. I hope you don't mind, Diana?" Lana explained her situation for the second time that evening.
"Of course I don't mind. How could I? Lana, you're my best girlfriend." Diana said embracing Lana in a warm hug. "You can stay with us until you feel comfortable going home, right mom?"
"Yes dear," Hippolyta said.
"You can sleep in our spare room across the hall from my bedroom. I'll make the bed for you myself." Diana said breaking their embrace. "It'll be like a sleepover for one."
"Thanks," Lana said feeling her tears on the verge of returning only these were tears of happiness.
"I better go before Donna gets too excited," Hippolyta said referencing Donna's habit of physical playing out the Mysticons fight scenes. They had gone through three TV sets already that year. "If you girls need anything call me."
"Will do mom," Diana said.
Hippolyta walked towards the living room. She shook her head when she heard a call of "wa-hooo" from her youngest daughter. Diana giggled hearing her sister's antics. Donna was such a ball of barely contained energy at times.
Diana led Lana to the spare room where she made the bed. Lana pitched in so the task took no time. Lana then followed Diana down into the finished basement of the spacious suburban home that was the family rec room. Diana offered Lana a soda from the minifridge which she declined. Soon the pair sat on the old sofa near the pool table chatting or more exactly Diana chatted while Lana sulked.
Lana's smartphone buzzed. She removed the device from her pants pocket. It was another message from her "Uncle Jon" the twentieth in the past two hours since she ran away from home. He wanted to know where she was. Lana laid the smartphone between her and Diana ignoring the message.
"Who texted you?" Diana said.
"Uncle Jon," Lana answered Diana the tone of her voice flat. "He wants to know where I am. He claims he's 'worried about me'." Lana openly scoffed at the last bit.
"Maybe you should let him know you're here, so he won't worry," Diana suggested.
"Let him worry. I don't give a crap." Lana said in a rather un-Lana type way. Diana was a bit taken aback. She was used to her friend always being in a bubbly mood not a dark and sullen one.
"I take it from your tone that your guys' argument wasn't over a new pair of shoes or an overuse Wi-Fi." Diana joked.
"He lied to me, Diana. In fact, he's been lying to me since I was born." Lana said.
"What do you mean?" Diana asked frowning slightly.
Lana sighed deeply. "Diana, can I trust you with a secret a big secret?"
"How big?" Diana said.
"The biggest like Earth-shattering," Lana said.
"I've never told anyone else any of our secrets so shoot," Diana said.
"Are you sure? There won't be any going back after I tell you. Everything you think you know about the Universe will change." Lana said getting off the sofa. She stood in front of her friend a no-nonsense expression on her face.
"Why are you being so dramatic Lana? Surely your secret can't be that big?" Diana said.
"Trust me it can and is," Lana insisted.
"Okay, go for it I'm ready," Diana said playing along. Whatever Lana wanted to tell her it was likely that the other girl was blowing matters way out of proportion.
"Are you sure? This is your last chance to back out." Lana said.
"I'm sure," Diana said nodding her head.
"Remember you asked for this," Lana said.
Lana closed her eyes. Diana watched first with skepticism then mounting confusion as Lana stripped out of her clothing without opening her eyes. Lana's body slowly almost painfully morphed into something else. The thing was covered in smooth green skin. It possessed solid red eyes, an elongated inverted diamond shaped head, talons for fingers & toes along with a long bony tail with a bladed structure at its end. In general body type the thing remained Diana of the creature from the Xenomorph movies mixed with a human. Other than the feminine face the only other feminine things about it were the moderately sized breasts which graced its chest.
"Ta-da," Lana said in a far deeper voice opening her eyes. She heard a thud. Diana had fainted and fallen to the floor.
An Abandoned Warehouse, 3:00 am
Joe Chill was nervous. This was nothing unusual for him. The small-time thug had been a worry wart most of his life. But tonight was different. Joe was back in a place he vowed to avoided the sight of his most notorious crime, the town of Harmony. It had been the promise of a major payoff for fingering his former boss Lionel Luthor that had drawn him back.
Lionel Luthor was the one who ordered the hit on that rich couple the Waynes for a reason he never divulged to Joe. Joe's orders were to kill the whole family that fateful night including the couple's ten-year-old son. But when Joe locked eyes with the boy he panicked, he couldn't pull the trigger. That face had haunted his dreams ever since. He would never forget that face or those eyes filled with such heartbreaking lose such impotent rage. Joe hoped his mysterious benefactor showed up soon the place was giving him the creeps.
Silently a thick red smoke filled the confined space of the interior of the warehouse. Joe did not notice the smoke until it was already too late. He was soon enveloped totally within the choking crimson bank. A hooded masked figure in a tattered grey robe suddenly loomed up in front of him.
"Joe Chill you were warned never to return." The electronically altered voice of Phantasm boomed. "Tonight your angel of death arrives." Phantasm struck Joe down with the scythe that took the place of its right hand nearly cutting his body in half through his midsection.
Not five minutes later young Bruce Wayne arrived at the warehouse. It was he who had arranged Joe Chill's return with an offer of five million dollars. He searched the now smoke-free room for the hood without luck. He was about to give up when he noticed a blood-stained shoe poking out from behind a pile of empty boxes. He pushed the boxes aside to discover the eviscerated body of Joe Chill.
Before Bruce could react further than a gasp he heard police sirens. The warehouse was quickly surrounded by four police cruisers. Six police officers poured inside while two more guarded the entrance. Leading the charge was Lieutenant Harvey Bullock the heavyset second in command of the Harmony PD. By his side was his longtime partners the lovely dark-skinned Detective Renee Montoya guns drawn. Both veteran cops wore hard expressions on their faces. These melted away when they beheld the sight in front of them.
"Holy cow it looks like a slaughterhouse it here!" The usually unflappable Bollock exclaimed.
"Dios Mios," Montoya said crossing herself with her free hand. "Hands up," She ordered an instant later.
"I can explain," Bruce said putting down his briefcase full of unmarked bills then he raised his hands high overhead.
"Save it for court young fella," Bullock said pulling out his handcuffs while Montoya and the other officers covered him. "Bruce Wayne I hereby place you under arrest for murder."
Bullock read Bruce his rights but the teenager did not hear a word of what was being said. The only thing he could think of was how badly he screwed things up. His life was over before it had begun. There was no way he could beat this murder rap. Who else in Harmony aside from him would be a suspect in the slaying on Joe Chill? Besides the police thought they had caught him literally red handed. Who would believe his story? He had told no one about his plan to entrap Joe Chill.
'I'm sorry'," Bruce thought thinking of his friends, Alfred, Kate and most of all Diana.
To Be Continued