One day Prior
Gotham airspace was a no-fly zone for anything not cleared by the Oracle. That included Amazons who were extremely pissed. Diana had gotten the signal from her old communicator. If Bruce was asking for help it had to have been serious. She had some clue about the world she was flying into, but she made a promise to defend this world and she would keep it despite the anti-air shells currently trying to prohibit her flight. When Lara first brought her the old communicator she thought it was malfunctioning. But time went by and the signal continued. Lara urged her to answer it and see what it said.
The Batman's voice came from the communicator "Alpha level alert. All leaguers respond immediately to these co-ordinates." An image came up that showed where to meet. Diana recognized the coordinates of the manor and the Batcave.
"Ohmygoddess Mommy that was Batman wasn't it? Are we gonna go Mommy? I'm big enough now right? I wanna go, can I go?" Lara knew all about the Batman. He was her third favorite hero after mommy and daddy. She wanted to go and meet him, but she also wanted to do something else. Lara wanted to find her father. She knew her sisters and grandma Hippolyta were wrong about her father. He wasn't a coward and he didn't run from them. She just knew that her father was in pain wherever he was, and she knew she could help him feel better.
Diana consulted her mother on the matter. If the world was in trouble, she knew she needed to respond and the Amazons may need to be ready for war. Bringing Lara would have been a bad idea if she was flying into a firefight. Lara's powers were getting stronger and her skills as an Amazon were unheralded at her age. She still needed to learn control, but a live test would not be preferable. Hippolyta warned her of the state of Man's world. Still, Lara was very insistent on seeing where her mommy and daddy played hero and meeting mommy's old friends. No one on the island could say no to the little princess so she came with her Mommy to see the Batman. But now she was unconscious in her mother's arms after tanking an anti-air shell to the face.
Diana rose higher to avoid the shells but found she was being engaged by fighter drones as well. She had expected a friendlier welcome after being invited. With only one bracer free she blocked the lasers being shot at her as she headed to the manor. As she got closer to the manor the shells stopped coming and the drones simply followed. If Bruce had knocked her baby unconscious she was going to do the same to him. She carried Lara gingerly through the manor doors as they opened for her automatically. The hallways lit up to show her where to go and she descended into the cave. Selina approached her with some sort of robot and ushered her to a medical table where the robot began to scan Lara.
"Scanning complete Mrs. Prince-Kent. No internal injuries detected, but Miss Prince-Kent has a minor concussion. I would suggest administering fluids when she awakes and allowing a day for bedrest. I'll go make-up the guest room now." The robotic voice spoke like Alfred and it caught Diana off-guard.
"Diana I'm so sorry. The world governments have been trying to test our borders, so the automated defenses are set to disable with extreme prejudice." Selina looked worriedly at Diana. The amazon's rage was well known, and she had seen it firsthand.
Diana calmed her breathing as she responded "I suppose I should have called to say I was coming. Where is Bruce? I'd like to hit him."
Selina checked to see if she was serious. "He's too old for you to be beating on him like the old days. If you wanna punch something go to the training room. It's got settings to handle some of your anger if you need it."
"So he isn't here?" Diana began to look around the cave. It looked almost the same as the last time she was here, before she left for Themyscira. A few upgrades here and there. The Batman was nothing if not a creature of habit. "I was responding to his hail. Is the world not ending?"
Selina smiled a bit. "It's getting there, but we have been trying to slow the pace of the apocalypse. He sent out the emergency signal to bring as much of the league back together as he can."
Diana remembered that the Batman never needed help, especially in Gotham. "Has the world really lost itself so much?"
"I'm afraid so" Bruce clanked down the steps to the cave in his armor. His batsuit used more protective plating now which sacrificed his speed. But he was getting slower, so he needed more protection. "Didn't expect you to come so soon or bring the child. Bet you had to put that to a vote too" Bruce said mockingly. Old habits die hard. And painfully.
Diana began to step toward him before Selina grabbed her arm as gently as she could. "What my lovely husband meant to say was thank you so much for coming and our home is available to you for the duration of your stay. Right darling?" Selina was pleading with her eyes for him to say something smart.
"No." Bruce replied nonchalantly.
Diana blurred forward and grabbed Bruce by his neck to pin him against the wall. "Give me one reason why I should not send you to Hades myself."
Bruce stared at her expectantly as he waited for her to realize he couldn't say much of anything with her hand around his throat. Diana realized this and dropped him promptly while maintain her proximity to him.
Bruce cleared his throat "I can give you 2 reasons actually. The first is that the world government is searching for your little paradise. You all are next on the list after Gotham."
Diana interrupted him "They will lose any battle they start with the Amazons. We are prepared."
"Then this next one will get your attention. I know where Clark is." Bruce waited for her reaction.
Diana's eyes went wide, but she had no time to digest that information. Lara was waking up.
"Ugh. Did I get hit by a minotaur or something?" Her vision was blurred, and the room was dark to her. "Mommy?"
Diana rushed to her side and took her hand. "I'm here sweetie everything is going to be okay. You just got a little bump on the head that's all."
"Why is it so dark?" Lara's vision was getting better and she realized that it was just dark where they were.
Diana rolled her eyes as she said, "The Batman is nocturnal sweetie sunlight actually hurts him."
"That's silly mommy Batman has no weakn-" Lara stopped abruptly as she realized what her mother had just said. They were in the Batcave. With the Batman and Catwoman a few feet from her. And someone else lurking in the shadows. "Ohmygoddess we are here aren't we!" Lara shot up and tried to fly around before slumping back into her mother's arms dizzily.
"Careful sweetie you need to lay down and rest since you hit your head." Diana helped her sit up, so she could try to stand.
"Do you have anywhere she can lie down and rest?"
Selina perked back up "Yes we have a room right up the elevator where she can rest for as long as she needs."
Bruce called out" Damian show Lara to the guestroom." Everyone was puzzled at his call out except for Lara who stared at the figure in the shadows till he revealed himself. Lara was giddy. Batman, Catwoman, and Robin all in the same room and she was meeting them! This day could not have gone better, except for getting shot out of the sky and having a giant headache.
Damian walked forward and nodded to his father then waited for Lara to follow. Diana was amazed she hadn't felt this other person at all. Her senses were much to fine tuned to miss something like that. Who trained this boy?
"You can follow him Lara I'll be up shortly." Diana eyed the boy carefully.
"Ohmygoddess I can't believe I'm getting to meet you all." She walks up to Damian. "Hi Robin, I'm Lara." Damian looks at her hand before shaking it.
"Follow me" he replies gruffly. He doesn't like that she is as tall as him even though she is 5 years younger, but father was expecting him to be nice, so he would be.
They went up the elevator before Diana looked backed to Bruce and spoke with a grave voice "Where is he?
Bruce strode to his computer and took his cowl off. "He's in the Arctic and as far as I can tell he's been there a while."
"The fortress? I thought it was destroyed." She had a thousand questions and her anger didn't dissipate as she realized who needed to answer them. "How long have you known?"
Bruce considered lying but he knew lying to the Herald of Truth was futile especially in this scenario.
"A few months, but it was only a theory till I caught a glimpse of him sitting outside the rubble of the fortress 2 days ago. Hacking into the satellites is a little too dangerous for Oracle now but it was worth it to get his location." Bruce brought up the image for Diana.
She could only stare at the sight. A single dot on the screen with a flowing red cape behind it. The dark symbol of the house of El emblazoned on the cape.
Bruce took her silence as an invitation to keep speaking. "I'm not sure what he's doing up there. But I'd guess he's in bad shape. I need you to bring him back, so we can have a chance at ending this mess."
"I'll bring his corpse back if he doesn't answer my rage." Diana was practically seething at this point and only got angrier as she stared at the screen. She looked quickly to Selina.
"Can you watch over Lara for me? I'm going to go to him." Selina nodded before responding.
"We'll make sure she is safe and that she rests before doing anything."
Diana kept her gaze on her "Do not let her follow me. She doesn't need to see whatever is going to happen up there."
"Try to bring him back in one piece please, we have a world to save you know?" Bruce smirked as Diana turned to yell at him. At this rate his humor would kill him before death got the chance.
Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews, reads, favs, and follows. Chapters 2 and 3 are kind of lengthy but I wanted to use them to set the table for the story moving forward. Kal and Diana's "meeting" will play out from here and consume multiple chapters. Hope you enjoy and thank you all again!
