Chapter 9

Recovery

Inside the abandon warehouse Eris the goddess of Chaos was amusing herself while looking at the lifeless corpse of a police officer that was aspiring onto the cement floor. "When mortals bleed, they bleed well." She said in spiteful tone digging her long sharp finger nails into his flesh. 'Oh yes they do." She laughed. "Don't they, my sister?"

Aphrodite looked at her vile sister with disgust. "Why does death amuse you my sister?"

"It's just does." Eris replied. "The human's are so easy to knock off, all it takes is knifes, chemicals or my favorite guns and their pitiful lives slowly become a fading away. It's chaos at its best my sister." She said looking at the plant on the desk. "What is that for?"

"Payment ,' Aphrodite said. "for the service of a mortal that did well from my cause."

"Oh , you mean the one that helped the Joker poison Batman?"

"Indeed. I just wanted to give Batman a taste of what is to come. You see my dear sordid sister, if we wound the bat we also wound the princess."

Eris laughed. "Sometimes, you can be a lot sicker than me when it comes to revenge."

"Revenge, Hippolyta was never supposed to have a daughter. But our dear sweet sister of wisdom had to set in, because she liked that queen." Aphrodite dug her nails into the wood of the desk. "Rest assured I know how to make sure Diana will never receive a kiss from a moral man ever again. "

"How?" Eris asked. "You know that we cannot interfere with their emotions it's against the laws."

"You should better than that my sister, since you always break them. No, I have a plan that will destroy their love forever. First you get rid of the cause of the problem and then you created a little chaos with the end result of failure and angst. My main target is the mortal Bruce Wayne; I need to find the perfect way to get rid of him without taking his soul." She turned and looked at her sister. "I'm sure you have someone in mind that could contribute to our cause of destroying two lives?"

Eris picked the blood out from under her nails. "What punishment do you have in mind for Bruce Wayne?"

"A certain villain of Diana's that as an act of reducing men into pitiful creatures. I've used your countless of times to destroy lovers. Most of the men were morphed into creatures such as cows, rats and pigs but I want Bruce to be something that represents love."

Eris rolled her black tinged eyes. "Here we go, I know what you're thinking and I think it's a good idea after all he is the prince of Gotham."

"Indeed." The goddess of Love snapped her fingers and a white feature appeared into the palm of her hand. "Moonlight shines onto his flesh on after the third sun set he will mine."

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Down in the Bat cave …..

Alfred ripped the dark cowl off Bruce's head, revealing the lines of concern that appeared to be permanently etched on his face ever since "the Batman" was created on the night when innocence was lost to two bullets and vengeance was born. Diana carefully wiped away the thin lines of blood that were dripping down at the corners of his mouth with a warm cloth.

She watched Bruce's pale blood stained chest at it continued its shallow rise and fall; every breath was a struggle and strain on his heart. But it was the only detectable sign of life that she could see, and deep down it frightened her. She wiped Bruce's face with an ice cold cloth to bring the fever down and to stop him from going into shock.

Alfred looked at his master. "You've always been a fighter master Wayne." He whispered as he sighed. Alfred sat down in a nearby chair never releasing his grip from Bruce's hand.

"He's just gotta to make it Alfred." Diana said wiping the tears from her eyes. "He's been though this kind of injury before?"

Alfred shook his head. "He's never been through this kind of pain before. I have to call and call Doctor Tompkins. I won't be long."

"I'll stay with him." Diana replied as Alfred left the cave and headed to the lift. She bent down and kissed him on the forehead. There were a million words racing in her mind of what to tell him, if he could even hear.

"Bruce if you can hear me," she whispered. One of her tears landed on Bruce's cheek. "I just want you to know something." She looked up and took a deep breath in. "I love you."

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Leslie felt her heart break into when she heard those frightening words. "Where is he?" She asked.

"Down stairs," Alfred said. "In the cave,"

She nodded.

"Alright let's go see what the damage is."

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Alfred and Diana were in the kitchen at the table sipping cups of tea and munching on ginger cookies. Both of them looked worn out and tired from all the worry, stress and surgery.

Alfred smiled. "He's blessed to have a woman like you Miss Prince."

"I wouldn't say that Alfred. I use to not care about man's world. It's what I was bought up with, but then when I joined the Justice League and saw the courage of Bruce and the others I knew that I was wrong to judge."

"I think he saw something in you." Alfred said. "He respects your courage and how you never quit fighting for those you care about."

Diana looked at her cup "And I saw something in him that just made me want to love him."She paused and searched in her mind. "Can I tell you something Alfred?" She asked.

"You can tell me anything."

"Was Bruce ever in love with a woman before?"

Alfred paused.

"There was one, a very good friend of his that knew he was Batman. But because of his choice to be Batman she told him that she could never love him because he would always need to be Batman. Then that laughing monster tricked Master Wayne into saving another life instead of hers and because Master Wayne failed to save her, he hardened his heart and never loved another woman again."

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Bruce was on the medical table in the cave hook up to a breathing machine with tubes. Leslie was taking a blood sample from his arm. "You've always been a fighter Bruce, you're father God rest his soul always said that you had a gift from sweating out toxins." She placed her hand on his cheek. "You need to fight this infection Bruce."

Bruce could smell the wet pavement and gasoline in the alley as he remembered the touch of his mother's warm hand and the laughter of his father's voice. He was dreaming.

Thomas Wayne and Martha Wayne left Gotham Theater with Bruce holding on to each of their hands. He felt relax and wanted his father to carry him because his feet were aching from the growing pains that all children experience around his age.

"Where are we going Tom? Alfred is going to pick us up at the subway station."

"I thought it would be a nice night to walk. Gotham isn't really all that bad."

"By the looks of this alley I'm guessing your lying." Martha said looking at the rats on the trash cans.

"Mommy." Bruce said. "I'm cold."

"Tom give Bruce your jacket. I don't want our son catching a cold when it's so close to Halloween."

Thomas took off his jacket and wrapped it around Bruce. "There you go Bruce all nice and toasty."

Bruce nodded but it soon turned into a look of inner fear as he saw a dark figure emerged from the shadows walking closer and closer. His heart was beginning to pound as he gazed into the figures black soulless eyes.

"Can I help you?" Thomas asked stepping into front of his wife and son. The man wearing a worn out jacket pointed the gun at Thomas.

"Wallet. Jewelry."

Thomas nodded. "That's fine." He said with a calm voice tone. "It's fine . I'm reaching in my pocket for the wallet."

Bruce had a confused look on his face. He could feel his mother's pulse beating fast as she looked at the man with fear as the man jerk the gun with his eyes darting at him. Bruce looked at the gun with his both eyes and stared at it will listening to his mother breathe deeply.

Thomas handed the man his wallet. "Here you go. Take it and go."

The man grabbed the wallet and licked his lips .

"Now go and leave my family and me in peace." Thomas said looking at Martha and Bruce.

The man looked at Martha's neck. Her white pearls.

"I said jewelry you rich swine!"

Martha nodded and started to pull her wedding ring off her finger. The man jerked his gun at her neck.

"That's a lovely piece."

Thomas stepped in front of his wife protecting her. "Leave her alone." He growled.

Boom!

Bruce covered his ears with his hands and looked down at his father who was lying on the pavement bleeding through his chest. He had been shot .

"Thomas!" Martha screamed as the man reached for her pearls. "Leave me alone!"

"Gimme the damn pearls lady.."

Martha refused and tried to grab her down husband. The man shoots her out of his own anger and then yanked the pearls off her neck which broke the chain making the pearls spill all over the pavement .

"Mommy!" Bruce screamed in shock. "Mommy."

Martha didn't respond.

"Mommy!"

The man pointed his gun at Bruce with a snake like grin as he scooped but the wallet while keeping his shark like eyes on the young eight year old who had tears rolling down his face. He stood up and was ready to shoot the young boy but then he backed away for he saw something, a big shadow behind Bruce . It was like the shadow was protecting him . The man shook and then ran off into the shadows of the alley leaving a young boy alone, cold and angry counting the bloody pearls while tears hit the pavement.

He started to shiver. "Help me!" he cried out. "Anyone. Please help me ."

There was nothing just the wailing sound of the wind blowing the trash in circles. Bruce looked at his father.

"Daddy. Mommy. Come back . Please come back."

As Bruce dug his face on his father's chest he felt a warmth touch his shoulder. A comforting warmth that he's tears stop for a moment .

"You're not alone little one. "said a whispering voice from behind.

Bruce turned around and saw a woman standing there with long dark hair and ice blue eyes looking at him.

"Who are you?" Bruce said wiping his eyes.

"A friend."

"It's all his fault. He wanted to go down this stupid alley. It's his fault that they're gone."

"Shhh. It's no one's fault. I know your upset and angry but your parents will never leave you little one ."

"How? They're dead."

The woman knelt down and touched his chest. "They'll never leave if you keep their love and memories locked away in your heart."

Bruce dug his face into her chest and wept. "Why? Why did he kill them?"

The woman ran her hand down his back to try and calm him down. "I don't know little one. Sometimes men are villains of their own lives. It's the choices that men make that define who they are inside."

Bruce looked at his parents as he felt the warmth go away. He turned his gaze back to the woman and saw that he was alone.

Where did she go?

"Come back to me …"

Bruce awoke from his dream in a panicked state. He didn't know where he was, but he soon found him violently struggling to breathe against until now it had been the only thing that was keeping him alive. He quickly reached to pull the tube that was firmly tape to his mouth. As he was about to rip it off he felt a strong firm grip grab his hand.

No. Bruce, its ok, breathe into the machine." Leslie said in a comforting voice. Bruce jerked his body a little. He recognized the voice. "It's ok. I'm checking your pulse and if it's high enough I'll remove the tube. But for now get some rest."

"Leslie," Bruce said in a wincing whisper. "What happened?"

"You were poisoned with a rare blood toxin that was alerted to fit a plant enzymes, thankfully it only lasted for a few hours. But you will still feel the effects for awhile. So I strongly urge you to stay in bed for at least 6 hours." She looked at saw Diana walking down the stone steps. "There's someone here to see you Bruce ,"

Bruce turned his head and looked at Diana. "Princess," he said smiling.

Diana raced to the medical table. "Bruce, thank Hera, you're alright." She placed her hand in his hair it was drenched with sweat. "I'm going to stay here and take care of you."

"What like a nurse?"

"If you want,"

Leslie closed her doctor's kit. "I'll be up stairs with Alfred." She said smiling as the Diana leaned her head forward and kissed Bruce's lips.

"Aw, love; it truly is the best cure." The doctor said.

Bruce looked into Diana's ocean blue eyes. "Princess, there's one thing that I haven't been really good at and that is saying thank you. Without you I would be …"

Diana placed a finger on his lips. "Hush, the important thing is that you're safe from harm."

He smirked. "That's not the only important thing; I heard what you whispered to be Diana, when I was under the influence of the toxin."

The princess was trying not to blush. 'Bruce,"

He placed his bone chilling hand on her cheek. "Did you mean it?"

"Yes."