Chapter 11

Wonder Woman stood in the middle of the lab, surrounded by humanoid animals. Two weeks ago she had been given information that another scientist was carrying on the work of the Cheetah with splicing animal and human DNA. With detective help from Bruce, she had found evidence that the Cheetah's protégé was creating their own Island of Dr. Moreau. She had come here to check it out and found the place apparently abandoned. When she walked into the lab everyone stepped out of their hiding place and she found herself surrounded by humans that had animal traits spliced into their DNA. There were birds, lions, bears, leopards, and other assorted humanoid animals that looked quick and powerful.

There was a female Cheetah looking down on her with an air of authority, and Wonder Woman guessed she was the one responsible for everything. "I was so glad you could make it Wonder Woman," the female feline hissed. "It is fitting you should be the first to see this, given the number of times you battled my mentor. I think looking around it is clear I have the imagination that she lacked. I have created an army she was never able to dream." A sly smile crossed her lips as she talked. "ATTACK!" she yelled.

All the animals descended on Diana at once. Some tried to ram her, some tried to claw at her, others tried to pick her up. While they were nasty and determined they were nowhere close to her in strength and agility. She avoided most of their blows and was able to absorb the few hits they landed. She focused on landing blows on them to knock them out without hurting them too badly. In a short time there were just a few left. They circled her as they sized her up. She looked around for the new Cheetah and found her near the door.

"You might have won this round, Wonder Woman, but you will never get me," she said as she ran off at lightning speed. The other animals that had been circling her attacked and she took care of them all. She looked to the door and thought about whether or not it was worth trying to go after the Cheetah.

All of a sudden the Cheetah came flying through the door hog tied and unconscious. She landed on the ground and slid past Wonder Woman. When she looked back at the door she saw her daughter walking inside.

"Good thing I showed up when I did, you might have lost one," Helena walked up next to Diana and stood next to her for a moment. "Maybe someone else needs to consider retirement," she said with a smile. Helena walked over to the main computer that had been built into the wall.

"Why aren't you in Gotham? Did your father send you out here?"

"It's morning in Gotham now, Mom," she replied. As she talked she ripped apart the computer in front of her. "All the criminals are in for the day. And yeah, Dad sent me out here because he thought you could use the help. Apparently I'm not the only one he can't believe is able to work alone."

From the way Helena was talking Diana could tell Bruce wasn't patched in watching everything she was doing at the moment. She wondered if it was because he wanted to avoid contact with her, or because he just felt Helena was her responsibility right now. "Your father only watches you from the cave because he still needs to fight crime somehow, and that's the best way for him to do it." Diana noticed Helena throwing the computer parts all over the place. "What are you doing?" she asked.

Helena seemed to find what she was looking for and pulled it out. "For someone who was married to my father and worked with him for decades you certainly picked up very little." She walked up to her mother and held up what she had in front of her. "Someone was funding this, and their hard drive should tell us everything."

Helena and Diana both looked up as they heard the roar of jets overhead. "I called in the authorities," Helena said. "It looks like they're here to round up the animals." She looked over at her mother. "Want to look at this with me? We can do it at the Batcave. Dad's doing work with the company, he won't be around to bother us and tell us we're doing everything wrong."

Diana was dumbfounded her daughter was making the offer for them to work together. She was quick to accept it. "Okay, lead the way."

Helena walked out to the Batwing and Diana followed. Rather than fly herself, Diana decided to ride with her daughter. They took their seats and Helena flew them back to Gotham.

"Dad enjoyed working with you," Diana heard her daughter say softly.

"What was that?" Diana asked, wanting her daughter to repeat it.

"Dad enjoyed working with you," she repeated. "He said it reminded him of old times."

Diana thought about what Bruce might have meant with that as they reached the cliff the manor was on top of. Helena flew the Batwing into the cave and landed it. She jumped out and walked to the computer without saying anything to Diana. She plugged the hard drive up to the Batcomputer and worked the controls to get it to download everything off the hard drive. The monitor readout showed it was going to take a while to decode everything.

"There's something you need to see," Helena said to her mother as she walked away from the computer and towards the lift down to the Batboat.

"What is it?" Diana asked as she followed her daughter. She stepped onto the lift with her and they descended as Helena explained things to her mother.

"You know how you said earlier Dad needed to stay involved as a superhero in some capacity."

"Yes," Diana answered.

"Well, merely serving as my computer expert isn't enough for him, apparently." They reached the bottom of the cliff and Diana saw tools and parts scattered all over the place. Jutted up against the cave wall to their right was a mannequin wearing a sleek and new Batman costume.

"Is your father constructing a new costume?" she asked as she ran to inspect it.

"It's either that or he is secretly starting a new clothing line. My bet is on the new superhero costume."

"How long has he been working on this?"

"At least two months, that was when I discovered it. He probably figured this would be a safe place since I never use the boat. I started to notice things were missing, though, and combed the Batcave looking for them. That was when I found this. He's obviously trying to make something extremely high tech. He must be counting on the technology to make up for what he lost physically."

"What do you plan to do about this?" she asked her daughter.

Her daughter let out an audible snicker. "I'm showing you this because I thought you could do something about it. The fact that he is doing this under my nose shows that he knows I wouldn't approve and had already discarded that as a reason for stopping. I thought that maybe there was something you could say to him that would get him to come to his senses."

Diana suddenly realized how little her daughter knew about the relationship she had with her father. "I learned a long time ago there was little I could do to change your father's behavior. Talking to him is useless. He is going to do whatever he is determined to do."

Helena let out a huff as she walked back to the elevator. "I thought you could at least give it a shot," she said as she walked into the lift. "Some superhero you are, too afraid to even talk to your ex-husband." Helena started up the lift. "I take it you can find your own way out," she shouted back at her mother. "You seem to be really good at walking out on us."

Helena's words stung Diana and caused her to think about the moment when she left Bruce.

Diana walked into the infirmary room to find Bruce and Helena sleeping. The three year old girl was still small enough to fit on the hospital bed with her father. She was sleeping next to him with her head lying on his chest.

Diana looked over the outputs of the machines he was hooked up to. Every reading indicated he was okay for the moment. From what Dr. Mid-Nite had said, Bruce would heal up just fine. It wouldn't even be that long before he would be able to go out on patrol again.

The thought of Bruce ever going out on patrol again scared Diana. She felt there were times Bruce forgot he was not invulnerable like all the other superheroes around him. They had a daughter now and she didn't want him putting himself in harm's way. He had to understand his time as a superhero was ending.

Bruce began to stir and Diana grabbed his hand. "I'm here Bruce," she told him.

He opened his eyes and looked down at their sleeping daughter. Seeing her brightened him up and he smiled at her. "I'm glad the two of you are here," he said. There was no fear in his voice. No sense he had been near death and come back. Diana made note of that as she thought about what she had to do.

She went to the intercom and radioed for Shayera to come in the room. She lifted Helena off the bed. The girl stayed perfectly asleep as her mother lifted her. She gave her to Shayera and asked her to take the girl to her room. She complied and left Bruce and Diana alone.

Diana waited a few seconds until she was sure Helena would be out of earshot before she started talking to her husband. "How fucking insane are you?" she yelled at him. Bruce seemed genuinely taken aback at what she said. "How in the hell can you take so many risks that could cost you your life? You of all people, who know what it's like to have a parent die on you, seem so unconcerned about putting our daughter through the pain of losing you."

"We're superheroes, Diana, this is what we do," he said to her defiantly. "You could die any day the same as me."

"No I couldn't," she yelled back at him. "I'm over two thousand years old for God's sake. I've never been in the infirmary. You practically live here now."

"Are you forgetting Superman even died," Bruce said.

"That's a horrible example. He was never really dead. He came back in a few months. You can't do that. You're not like us, Bruce."

"You're right, I'm not," he replied. "I know the horrors that even the lowliest criminals can inflict. I know how crime can destroy the lives of its victims. I made a promise to my parents that I can't take back now that it's a little harder to carry out. I have to do this, Diana."

Diana couldn't look at him anymore. She stood with her back turned to him and shook her head. "You may have to do this, but I don't have to watch you do this. I can't watch you do this. I can't watch you kill yourself. I sure as hell won't let our daughter watch it either."

"What are you trying to say, Diana?"

"I thought the World's Greatest Detective might be able to figure it out. I'm leaving you Bruce. I'm taking Helena with me. If you plan on get yourself killed then I figure we are both better off acting like you're already dead."

As Diana flew to the top of the cliff she thought about all the times she believed she had made a mistake leaving Bruce. She never corrected it because she knew her actions had damaged their relationship beyond repair. The break had been made and it could not be undone.

Wonder Woman reached the main part of the Batcave and looked around at all the trophy cases of Bruce's conquests that were lying around. She always found it ironic the man who seemed to take the least amount of joy out of being a superhero kept a personal museum of mementos.

Instead of flying straight out she took a moment to walk around the display cases. It had been two decades since she had walked through it all. It had not changed as much as Diana had expected it would.

As Diana looked through the displays she was transported back in time to when Helena was a toddler and she used to play in this area. She would run around and hide behind the cases until one of her parents tracked her down. When found she would let out a hearty laugh that Diana found the sweetest sound in the world.

Diana stopped in front of the giant penny and looked at her reflection in it. As a toddler Helena used to love to look at her reflection in the shiny metal surface of it. She would go so far as planting her face right up against it and kissing her own reflection. Diana was always afraid Helena was going to cause the penny to fall on top of her, but Bruce always scoffed at the notion that could happen. He always maintained it was firmly set in its holder and reminded her that even if it did fall on Helena, she was nearly invulnerable and it wouldn't hurt her.

Diana never had the confidence in their daughter's strength that Batman did. She knew her daughter would inherit much of her power, but wasn't sure just how much. She knew Helena's situation was analogous to Kara and her diluted Kryptonian genetics, which proved to make her much weaker then Clark on the invulnerability front.

Diana had lied somewhat about why she left Bruce. The main reason she took Helena away from him is she was afraid Helena would end up just like her father; reckless to the point of being suicidal. Helena was not immortal and Diana knew that she would one day have to see her daughter die, but she wanted that day to be as far away as possible.

As her daughter grew Diana was pleased to see just how much of her strength and invulnerability she inherited from her mother. She began to feel much easier about her daughter living a long life, even though she was always nagged by the idea she may one day have to face her own Doomsday.

In her time away from Bruce, Diana began to see him in a different light. She once again saw him as a cunning and intelligent hero who reached the heights of other superheroes through extra hard work and superior planning. She began to believe there was much her daughter could learn from him. She believed many of those things might one day help her stay alive in the face of a superior enemy.

Sending her daughter to live with her father was the most difficult thing Diana had ever done. It was a break that was not easy for her, but one she knew she had to make. The two of them needed each other.

As Wonder Woman flew out she thought about how her relationship with her husband and daughter were complicated by the knowledge she was going to outlive them. She had already made her break with them. She couldn't let them get close only to lose them.

The machines beeped with every heartbeat of Queen Koriand'r. The woman had been resting in silence for a while, trying to save up enough strength to deliver one last message to her two children. She took several deep breaths to provide her body with more oxygen before she said her last words.

She opened her eyes to see Maril and Richie sitting on each side of her. They were both leaning over the bed, watching her closely. Neither one made much movement when she opened her eyes and looked them over.

She looked around for Dick Grayson, her ex-husband. Her vision was weak, but she saw him standing in the back of the room, along with her brother, Ryalda. Now that she knew where everyone was, she concentrated on her children again.

They stayed silent as she looked them over. Her daughter, Maril, was the epitome of beauty to her. She looked like a young clone of her mother, save for the raven colored hair which she inherited from her father. Her son, Richie, was the exact opposite. He looked just like his father, except from the bright red hair he got from his mother.

Maril was alone while Richie was accompanied by his wife, Olivia. She was standing behind her husband, and had her hands on his shoulders to comfort him. Koriand'r didn't know much about Olivia outside of what her son told her. She had known her parents well and knew she took after the two of them. Kori knew she was a good hero and would make a fine wife for her son.

"Take my hand, son," she said as she pushed her hand out towards her son. She was so weak she couldn't even lift it up. Richie clasped her right hand with both of his.

As she talked her voice was weak and squeaky. It sounded nothing like what her children remembered. "You've made me proud son. You've followed in your father's footsteps and have become a powerful and noble superhero."

Kori glanced up at Richie's wife before she looked back at him and continued talking. "You have taken after your father in all ways, and I want you to know your place belongs on Earth. You have a city you can protect, and a wife who is at home there. Do not forget this place, though. It is part of your heritage and I hope your children will know about Tamaran and come here often on visits."

"Of course, Mom," Richie told her as he rubbed his mother's hand.

"Of course," Olivia added, reiterating what her husband told his mother.

Content with what she told her son, the Queen turned her attention to her daughter. She knew the girl didn't handle death well and expected her to be crying and inconsolable. Instead, Maril was calm and collected. Kori thought about how much strength and maturity her daughter was showing.

Kori pushed her hand out for Maril to take and her daughter grabbed it with her right hand and held it tightly. It hurt Kori at first, but she refrained from wincing. She didn't want her daughter to realize she was hurting her sick mother. After a few seconds Maril's grip loosened and Kori felt better.

"Maril, you have been a better daughter then I ever could have hoped to have. You have grown into a beautiful and kind woman and have become a great and powerful hero. I know if you were to stay on Earth you could become a great and respected leader in the League. Dick and Richie have told me you have many close friends in the League and that others look up to you. I am very proud of you for what you have accomplished."

Kori's demeanor slowly changed. Despite her illness she had been as joyous as she could manage. As she thought about what she had to say to her daughter, the joy disappeared. "I know you could have a great life if you stay on Earth, but your place is here. You are in line to become Queen and I know you will make a great one. I tell you to become Queen with a heavy heart as I know the sacrifices that are required by putting your people first."

Kori paused for a moment as she thought about what she wanted to say next. "I know you have suffered much in your life already." She didn't get specific about Rex's death, but Maril, Richie, and Olivia all recognized that was what she was referring to. "I know you might feel like your fate lies on this planet because you lost your love on Earth, but don't think that. Fate has given you this opportunity to become the ruler of Tamaran. Accept it and be the best ruler you can. Put the people first, but remember you do not have to accept everything and anything put forward to you as Queen. You are very wise despite your age, and I trust your judgment."

As Kori said her last words to her daughter her voice became softer and softer. When she was done she closed her eyes and leaned back. The Queen loosened the grip she had on Maril's hand, but Maril kept a firm grip on her mother. She could feel her hand was still warm, meaning blood was still flowing through it.

Olivia had been entrusted with the hand console that kept track of the Queen's vital signs. When she saw Kori become weaker she quickly took it off her belt and checked it. She had started crying heavily when the Queen closed her eyes, but gained her composure when she looked at the console. Maril was looking at Olivia and took that as a sign her mother hadn't passed away yet.

The three of them continued watching the Queen. Maril had retained her grip on one of her mother's hands and Richie had grabbed the other again. Maril could feel her mother's hand growing cold, but could see her chest still rise and fall, indicating she was still breathing. She glanced over at Richie and Olivia and could tell they had their eyes on the Queen, watching her chest move along with her.

It wasn't too long until there was no sign the Queen was breathing. For a while, Maril, Richie, and Olivia were unable to do anything. Finally, Maril saw out of the corner of her eye Olivia grab the console out of her pocket. Maril saw her look at the console screen and start crying harder than ever.

"Is she dead?" Richie asked with a cracking voice. Olivia was unable to speak and just nodded her head.

Richie started crying harder as well and his wife threw her arms around her. "I'm sorry," she said over and over as she rubbed his chest to try and soothe him.

Maril kept her composure. To the surprise of herself, she didn't cry at all. As Richie and Olivia comforted each other Maril leaned further over her mother and put her hand to her chest. She could feel through her clothes her mother's body was cold. She didn't feel her chest rising with any breaths nor did she detect any heartbeat.

Maril left her brother and sister-in-law with her mother's body and went to talk to her father and uncle. She knew they were aware of what happened, but spelled it out for them anyway. "She is dead. It is over," she stated to the two men simply.

"Are you okay?" her father asked her with a heavy voice as he put his hand on her shoulder.

Maril gently pushed his hand away to indicate she was okay. "I'm fine," she stated with a strong voice. She had duty and authority now and she had to live up to it. "There is business we should be attending to, I think."

"I will go and tell Galfore, so he can send the word out to the local media," her father said. We can also start with the diplomatic messages." In a surprise to Maril, her father bowed to her before he left the room. She smiled at the formality he was exhibiting.

"If you think you're up to it, you can come with me and meet with the Elders," her uncle said to her.

"I'll go with you and speak to them," Maril said to her uncle. "It appears my mother's death won't be the most unpleasant event of the day for me," she said as she walked out of the room with her uncle following her.