A/N: Typhon was the deadliest monster of Greek mythology. He was known as the "Father of All Monsters". He appeared as man-shaped down to the thighs, with two coiled vipers in place of legs. Attached to his hands in place of fingers were a hundred serpent heads with fifty serpents per hand. He was winged, with dirty matted hair and beard, pointed ears, and eyes flashing fire. (Source: Wikipedia & Theoi Greek Mythology)

Things get a little gruesome and angsty here. Hope you all enjoy the update! :)

Chapter 5

"You summoned me here?"

"Yes," Hades' deep voice boomed through his throne room, mingling with the snap and crackle of the torchlight lining the walls casting eerie shadows. "I have a job I want you to do for me."

"And what would that be?"

His guest sounded cautious yet interested, suspicious and yet intrigued by the unexpected summons to the Underworld. Hades slowly stood to his feet, his large looming presence causing a dark shadow to momentarily fall across the powerful being in front of him.

"I need you to create a little disorder for me."

"Just what kind of disorder are you interested in having me create?"

"The kind of disorder that will attract the attention of the Justice League, but more specifically my daughter."

His special guest smiled broadly with the mention of the Amazon Princess. "I'm sure I could come up with something extra special for her. Did you have something particular in mind?"

"Feel free to do whatever you want, but my daughter and the hero known as Batman are not to be killed," Hades instructed him as he reached for his goblet of wine. "You can do what you please with any of the other members of the little band known as the Justice League, but do not destroy my daughter or her soon to be mate."

"What are you up to Hades?"

"My daughter has chosen to join herself with a pathetic mortal man," the powerful god of the Underworld revealed. "I will not just sit back and allow this to take place, not without grueling trials to make them pay for what they are doing."

A soft chuckle fell from his visitor's lips. "You must really hate this mortal who has fallen in love with your daughter."

"I'm not very pleased with my daughter either at this point," he retorted, his fury more than evident. "She is an immortal Amazon and a princess no less. She is to conduct herself as such instead of allowing herself to be bedded by a worthless mortal. She deserves better than this Batman she has chosen to wed."

"So you want me to introduce a catastrophe into their lives to see how the Batman handles it?"

"Yes," he firmly stated without hesitation. "I not only want this mortal man to prove himself to me but also to make my daughter aware that I am most displeased with what she is doing. She will not be allowed to proceed with her plans until she and this man have proven their love for one another to me."

His guest slowly turned away from the powerful god of the Underworld and began a leisurely pace around the spacious throne room, inspecting the decorations that adorned the walls. "If I remember correctly, the Amazon Princess has seen quite a bit of heartache and catastrophe already over the last year. Hasn't that been quite enough already to prove that these two are meant to be together for all time?"

"What Diana thinks and what I think tend to be two very different things," Hades informed his visitor. "I believe that the Batman needs to be fully tried and proven worthy before I will accept this union. Not to mention, a heavy price must be paid for the choice she is making."

A small smile curled the corners of his visitor's lips. "Bitter, Hades?" the guest asked, glancing back over her shoulder. The woman paused before an exquisite statue of Hades' wife Persephone, running the tip of her fingers over the delicate lines. "I would've thought that you would have found a small soft spot for love in that stone cold heart of yours…or at least for your daughter."

"Diana has never truly been mine," Hades bit out, his anger rising. "She's always belonged to her mother, but Hippolyta is failing in her duty not only as the Queen of the Amazons but also as her mother by allowing this atrocity to occur."

"Sounds like you're more upset with the Queen of the Amazons than you are with your daughter," she commented, turning to face him. "Are you sure you're targeting the right person? Could it be because Hippolyta is the one who makes sure you stay locked up here where you belong?"

Hades snarled with her observation, his fingers clutching his goblet of wine even harder. "Hippolyta will pay for her part in my imprisonment, but right now it is my daughter who is my greatest concern. I am not completely without a heart, though. If this mortal Bruce Wayne survives the tests that I will put him through, then I am more than willing to allow him to have my daughter. We'll just see if he and Diana will be able to handle the price that she'll have to pay for her decision if they survive."

The woman before him stared at him for a long moment, her eyes narrowing as she considered his offer. "And what will I get out of all of this, Hades?"

A sinister smile spread across Hades darkly bearded face, revealing a set of gleaming white teeth. "Why the pleasure of creating chaos of course, Eris."

XXX

"Well, we're definitely going to have to do something about it," Superman grumbled, his patience already growing thin. "We can't just ignore this without making some sort of statement."

"I agree," John stated, sitting forward with clenched fists coming to rest on the table. "They gave the Justice League a black eye yesterday."

"This needs to be contained and now," Batman cut in. "We need to send a message that actions like this won't be tolerated."

"I say we let Batman handle them," Shayera suggested with a little smirk. "A lecture from him would be a horrifying punishment enough don't you think?"

"Not with what they did," Flash added with a rarely seen frown. "I think they should have to clean the entire Watchtower from top to bottom starting with my quarters."

"I believe they have already shown great remorse for their actions," J'onn informed the Founders. "I do think that some sort of punishment should be administered, though."

"Fighting between teammates especially in public is unacceptable even if they are rookie Leaguers," Superman angrily stated. "We need to send a clear message to the rest of the League that acting like this will not be tolerated."

Batman glanced at Diana sitting beside him. She had been silent through the entire meeting which had been usual for her over the last couple of months, her focus on the tablet lying on the table in front of her. He knew she had an opinion, but refused to share it for fear of her stutter resurfacing.

"What do you think, Diana?" the Dark Knight pointedly asked her, turning his body towards the Amazon sitting next to him.

The Amazon shot him a glare, a scowl forming on her face in a silent message that told him that she was most displeased with him right now. She drew a deep breath before slowly releasing it, feeling everyone's eyes focused solely on her.

They were all her closest friends and would never make her feel ashamed or embarrassed about her speech difficulty, but at the same time she felt like the weakest link in the chain. It felt like she was just being kept on the team because she was a founder and their friend despite the fact that she was a hindrance to the image of the League now.

"Whatever you think is fine," she quietly said, relieved when it all came out in one smooth flowing sentence as she picked up her tablet to begin scrolling through her emails.

Batman noticed how tense she was, the rigid set of her shoulders and the annoyance that had settled into her jaw. He knew she was mad at him for forcing her to talk, but he refused to allow her to just hide inside of a shell of fear. It wasn't her. It wasn't how she was raised and it definitely wasn't the woman that he knew and loved.

He was more than prepared to go toe-to-toe with her, fighting and pushing until he got his princess back. It felt like every time he got her to take one step forward, they went two steps back. Better one day to pulling away the next. He refused to coddle her or to sit back and let this go on anymore.

"No, I want your opinion, Wonder Woman," Batman bluntly stated, his tone hard and firm with determination. "Tell us what you think."

It was deadly silent as the other five founders all froze, staring at Wonder Woman and wondering how she would react to the challenge. They knew how she had been struggling, how difficult things had become for her.

They had all been worried about her as well, noticing how she had been pulling away from everyone and everything. The air was heavy with awkward tension, almost suffocating as they all waited for the Amazon to respond. It was obvious Batman wasn't going to let it happen anymore.

Diana pulled a lock of hair behind her ear, her jaw clenched with anger. She lifted her head with stubborn Amazonian pride as she turned to meet Batman's cowled gaze that was locked exclusively on her. "I agree with you that a me…a message," she started only to pause to calm her anger before continuing, "needs to be sssent…Batman."

Bruce internally bristled with the way she ground out his name. She was livid, but he didn't care. So was he. "And how do you propose we send this message?" he pushed a little further, noticing the pink hue that was rising to her cheeks from the fury simmering hotly within.

Diana gripped the tablet in her hands even harder, nearly to the point of cracking the casing. She was almost trembling with the anger coursing through her veins at that moment. She turned a dark glower on the Dark Knight who only stared impassively at her as he sat back in his chair with his arms folded against his emblem covered chest waiting for an answer.

She could tell he wasn't about to back down. Damn him to Tartarus. "A harsh pppunishment needs to be de…delivered."

Everyone breathed a sigh of release as she answered, hoping that would pacify Batman for the moment. They could all feel the rapidly heating strain between the two, ready to explode at any moment. Their arguments were notorious amongst the League, both stubborn and passionate and very heated.

"What sort of punishment would you recommend?" Batman questioned her further.

By now, Diana was seething, her fingers wrapping around the arms of her chair, nearly breaking it into pieces. Noticing how upset Diana was becoming, Superman decided to come to his friend's rescue, unable to bear seeing what it was doing to her.

"I think it would be best if…" Clark began, only to have Batman suddenly raise a gauntleted hand towards the Kryptonian.

"No, I want to hear what Wonder Woman has to say," Batman growled, annoyed by Clark's interference. Diana didn't need to be rescued right now. She needed to be pushed.

"Bruce…" Clark whispered in warning, his stomach sinking with how this was hurting Diana.

"Diana, tell us what you think we should do to these two Leaguers?" Batman pressed her further.

Furious tears began to gather in the corner of her eyes, but she refused to allow them to fully form. Her heart was beginning to pound as she turned her focus on her fiancé that she was on the verge of strangling. "We nnneed to su…suspend them for a week and put th…them on probation for a month," she spat out. "If they pr…prove they can wwwork as a team, then th…they can be reassigned tttogether for missions."

Every waited with bated breath, fearing for Batman's life at that moment. They knew he had pushed her because he loved her, but had he just pushed her too far?

Batman stared at her for a long tense moment, noticing the glimmer of tears that had momentarily formed in her beautiful cobalt blue eyes that were ablaze with fury at him. It caused his heart to clench knowing that he was hurting her, but he knew he had to do it to prove to her that she was not broken or useless. She was still Wonder Woman with a heart and a mind and an opinion that was invaluable.

"Good," Batman finally said, the stress in the room easing minutely as he unfolded his arms. "I agree with Diana. They should be suspended and put on a month's probation like she said. We need to make certain that nothing like this happens again."

Everyone sank back in their seats in relief that it was over except for a fuming Diana who suddenly stood to her feet as she gathered her things to leave. She was not going to just sit here and take this from him. He had no right to do that to her, to embarrass her in front of everyone.

Didn't he already know how hard this was for her to be here? Didn't he care what this was doing to her? How it was shredding her apart inside? It might just be a stutter to everyone else, but to her it meant she was no longer Diana, the epitome of grace and nobility…a fierce threat to evil and injustice.

Now, she was just a mockery, an insensitive flippant headline in a newspaper…a joke.

A steel-like grip on her forearm caused her to stop before she could turn to leave. She leveled a heated glare on her fiancé that silently warned him to let go of her or suffer the consequences for his actions. She could practically see his eyes softening behind the cowl, the pleading in his expression for her to stay.

Before she or anyone could say anything, Mr. Terrific's voice came over the sound system. "Superman, we have a crisis in New York City. There is a large ugly creature I've never seen before terrorizing the city. I think you all might be needed on this one."

"Get the transporters ready," Superman ordered him as everyone stood to their feet. "We're on our way now."

All seven founders raced from the room and down the corridor, Batman and Wonder Woman leading the way. Batman cast a sidelong glance at his fiancé, her anger with him still more than evident. He knew this was going to be a very painful conversation when this mission was over.

XXX

"What the hell is that thing?" Green Lantern yelled as they appeared on Park Avenue in New York City.

"Great Hera!" Diana gasped as recognition set in along with horror, her anger with Bruce suddenly forgotten. "It's Typhon."

Everyone stared in shock at the huge beast looming over them, trying to process what they were seeing. Its bottom half was that of a snake, two coiled vipers for each leg starting at its thighs. Its upper half was human with broad shoulders and long arms.

Instead of fingers, there were a fifty dragon heads on each hand, snapping and lashing out like whips. Enormous black wings were on Typhon's back, its human head having eyes scarlet like twin flames of fire. The stench of death itself hung heavily in the air, rank and nauseating.

"What is Typhon?" Superman asked, his eyes wide with dread.

"Isn't it obvious?" Flash quipped, his voice choked with panic and his head back as he stared up in stunned disbelief. "It's that big ugly thing demolishing Manhattan."

"He's known as the 'Father of all Monsters' in Greek mythology," Batman stated as he quickly assessed the situation. "He's the most vicious and deadliest of all creatures."

"He's supposed to be in the pits of Tartarus," Diana growled, enraged for a new reason now.

"Well, someone forgot to lock his cage," Shayera shot back as she instantly flew into the air to stop it.

"Shayera no!" Diana yelled. "Wait!"

"What is it, Diana?" Batman asked, watching as Shayera flew straight at the enormous monster.

The Typhon's crimson eyes began to glow brightly, liquid flames aimed straight at the Thanagarian coming straight at him. Green Lantern swiftly took to the air after her, creating a green bubble of protection around Hawkgirl just before the fire completely enclosed her.

John grunted as he felt the heat of the fire travel up his green energy beam, fighting to keep hold of his teammate and lover. He quickly moved back, pulling her away from the creature and back down to the ground where the others still were.

Releasing the bubble from around her, Hawkgirl sank to her knees, breathing heavily as she struggled to regain her bearings. "I have never encountered anything full of such evil before."

"We need to all hhhit it at the same tttime," Wonder Woman told them, taking full control of the situation. "I'll gggo for the head. Superman, you and Green Lantern tttry to take out the dr…dragon heads while Batman and Hawkgirl take care of the viper tails. J'onn, back up Green Lantern and Superman as best as you can.

"Flash, try to get as mmmany people out of here as pppossible until Mr. Terrific can send us more su…support. We'll nnneed you to help Batman and Shayera as soon as more of the League arrives. Be careful. Typhon is a very powerful, deadly creature. The fire it releases is not ordinary fire. It's fire from the Pits of Tartarus itself."

"Princess…" Batman began, a sense of uneasiness seeping through his body as pride filled his heart with her take-charge attitude. This was his lover in action, the woman that he had fallen in love with.

"We nnneed to go…nnnow!" Wonder Woman yelled, immediately taking to the sky without a second look at her fiancé or waiting to see if anyone was going to follow her orders or not.

Batman's chest was tight with fear as he watched her leave, so many things left unsaid between them and yet he knew that now was not the time. He knew that something was going on with this Typhon's sudden appearance, something that they were missing, but they didn't have time right now to dwell on it. They needed to stop this now before more people were injured or killed.

The ground shook violently beneath his boots as Batman raced to take out the left viper's tail, a loud roaring hiss nearly deafening as the hideous creature noticed the attack being waged on it. It seemed to shake with rage as it twisted and turned, unsure who to fight off first as six Leaguers all attacked it at once.

Superman and Green Lantern both had the same idea as they flew in and around the numerous dragons' heads, causing them to become tangled and twisted into knots. They swooped out of the way, trying to avoid the snapping razor-sharp teeth that were trying to tear them to shreds as well as the streams of fire that continually spewed from their mouths.

The Martian Manhunter continued to phase in and out, avoiding the red ribbons of fire that nearly sent him into a panic. He was forced to back off a couple of times in order to regain his composure before racing back into help, knowing that he needed to get through this for his friends.

Wonder Woman attacked with a fierce vengeance, pouring her anger with Bruce into the fight. Her mind raced with questions surrounding Typhon's unexpected appearance in New York City. It didn't make sense to her how he'd managed to escape unless someone set him free on purpose.

A wicked grin spread across the Typhon's face as the Amazon flew straight towards him, his eyes glowing bright red again. He hissed loudly at her, his serpentine tongue lashing out at her like a whip causing her to suddenly pull up hard.

She wracked her brain for a solution to this mess, trying to remember what it would take to banish the Typhon back to the pits of Tartarus. All she could remember about the creature was how even Zeus himself feared the creature, locking him in Tartarus where he couldn't get free.

Deciding on a direct approach, Diana flew directly at him again meeting him head-on, her fist connecting with his jaw in a bone-jarring hit. Momentarily stunned by her assault, it raised a massive arm, swatting at her like she was nothing more than a pesky fly.

From below, Shayera and Batman fought to contain the beast's viper-like legs that it used like powerful whips, taking out cars and buildings at will. Shayera flew in hard and fast, smashing the viper leg with her mace. The creature hollered in rage, whipping the end of its serpentine leg and throwing Hawkgirl into a building. Batman glanced back at her to make sure she was alright, watching as she slowly stood to her feet with a growl, grabbing her mace before going in for another assault.

He quickly reached into his utility belt and retrieved some super-charged Bat bombs, throwing them at the creature before ducking behind a pickup truck. The Typhon screamed out as the bombs exploded, its body shaking with rage. It threw its head back, fire shooting like beams out of its eyes.

Glancing up, Batman watched as Diana went in for a full-on assault, mercilessly pounding at the Typhon's head and chest with only minimal effect. It turned its flaming eyes on her causing Batman's heart to nearly stop beating. She threw her arms up just in time, her bracers taking the full brunt of the fire, but he knew they couldn't take all of it.

Smoke curled up from the flames that began to overwhelm her, surrounding her and blocking her from sight. Bruce's throat was tight with fear, his body rigid. "Diana!" he yelled before turning to his commlink. "Lantern! Get Diana out of there now!"

"On it!" John replied as he shot his ring in Diana's direction, wrapping her up in a protective green bubble.

He brought her down to the ground next to Batman, releasing her before swiftly turning his attention back to the creature that was now fully enraged by the multiple assaults being waged on it at the same time.

Diana immediately sagged, fighting to stay on her feet. Batman was right there by her side, grabbing hold of her to keep her upright. "I've got you, Princess," he murmured, immediately checking her over for injuries.

Blisters were already beginning to form on her forearms, her hands badly burned and bleeding. She smelled of ash, black soot streaking her face and body, but determination blazed like a deadly inferno in her blue eyes, telling him that she was not about to back down.

"I need a batarang," she breathlessly said, wincing as she finally stood under her own strength.

"You can't go back up there again," Batman heatedly stated. "Tell me what needs to be done and I'll do it."

"No," Diana adamantly insisted, holding her bleeding hand out. "I need to be the one to do it. We'll only get one shot at this."

"You can barely stand, Princess," he ground out, barely controlling his anger that was near boiling over.

"Give me the batarang," she spat out.

Batman's lips twisted into a furious sneer as he pulled out a batarang. "So damn stubborn," he growled at her. "Give me your lasso and I'll give you the batarang."

"Fine," she snapped, wincing as she grasped her lasso to give it to him.

Batman carefully took the lasso from her, afraid of causing her more pain than she was already obviously in. "Be careful," he ordered her. "You're not allowed to die on me, Princess."

"You too," she replied, giving him a faint smile before quickly taking off again without another word.

He watched her as she swiftly lifted up into the sky while his heart along with his stomach sank like a rock into his boots. He hoped that she'd be alright. "Hawkgirl," he sharply barked into his commlink.

"Yah," she grunted in response as she swung her mace again.

"I've got a plan," he rasped. "Try to get the two vipers closer together."

"Got it," she said, breathing heavily.

He forced himself to push Diana from his thoughts in order to focus on the task at hand as he started swinging the magical golden lasso. Before he could release it, though, the viper tail suddenly whipped towards him, coiling tightly around him like a massive snake.

"Batman!" Shayera yelled as she flew towards him to help him only to be caught by the other tail.

Shayera growled as she struggled to get her arms and wings free, but it was pointless. The creature was far too strong. She quickly looked around to find her mace lying on the ground several feet away from her. She winced as the beast suddenly tightened its coil around her, making it more than difficult to draw a breath.

Superman slammed his fist into one dragon's head only to have one rapidly slide around his middle, another around his legs and a third around his arms. He struggled against the dragons' hold on him, but to no avail. This monster from the Underworld was stronger than even him. He used his heat vision; trying to force it to release him, but it only tightened its hold on him even further.

Green Lantern wasn't fairing much better as he struggled against the fifty dragons' heads that were snapping at him and spewing fire. He tried to use his ring to contain the heads attempting to tear into him, but they were moving too fast. As he took care of one, another moved in to trap him.

He turned, ducking and avoiding a set of fangs only to be grabbed by four dragons at once. Each wrapped its long necks around all four of his limbs, subduing him. He grimaced as they all tried pulling him in opposite directions at once in an effort to rend him in two. Desperation began to rise as he struggled, searching for an escape and finding none.

Rings of fire surrounded the Martian Manhunter causing him to curl his body into a ball in an effort to avoid the flames as sheer panic took hold of him, paralyzing him. He felt his body begin to weaken, his mind going numb with fear as the flames shot higher and hotter around him. He cried out, grabbing his head as he fought to regain control that refused to be found within him now.

Batman gritted his teeth as he felt the coil constricting even tighter around him like a noose trying to steal his breath. It kept his arms pinned to his sides making it next to impossible to reach into his utility belt for another Bat bomb. He just hoped Diana was able to do what she needed to do in order to end this before he and Shayera were crushed to death.

He growled in frustration, cursing as he struggled for his next breath. He felt the pressure building in his skull, his ribcage near cracking. He craned his neck, desperate to see how Diana was fairing. He watched as she dodged the beams of fire shooting out from Typhon's eyes, narrowly missing being burned alive.

He stared in horror as the beast suddenly lifted his arm again with Superman tied up fast in its hand, backhanding Diana into a building and putting a large hole in the brick wall. He waited with bated breath for several agonizingly long moments until she finally flew out of the building and straight for the creature as if she'd been literally shot out of a cannon.

Batman grunted as the creature tightened its hold on him, further driving the air from his lungs. It felt as if his head was about to explode from the increasing pressure inside, waves of dizziness causing his head to spin. He feared this was going to be it, dying without being able to tell Diana the things he wanted to say to her. He didn't want things to end like this, their lives to end now being angry at each other.

Diana flew like an arrow straight for Typhon's chest, determined to stop this once and for all. She could feel the heat from his fire scorching across her back, but she ignored it as she stayed focused on what she needed to do. She blocked out all the sounds surrounding her, the pain that lanced through her body, her worry over Bruce as well as her friends.

She needed to concentrate on what needed to be done if she was going to stop this beast and save not only the city, but her friends…Bruce. She swallowed hard at the thought of losing him, of never being able to tell him how much she loved him, never being able to kiss him again.

With a fierce battle cry, Diana jammed the batarang straight into the monster's chest and deep into its black heart. Its head flew back as it released a bone chilling scream, knocking Diana away with great force. It suddenly convulsed, its hold on the Justice League loosening before abruptly disappearing from sight altogether.

Batman quickly broke free, dropping to his hands and knees, gasping for air. He drew in several deep breaths before scrambling towards the spot where Diana was lying motionless on the ground, her body creating a crater in the concrete. He jumped into the shallow hole, carefully gathering her up into his arms and fearing the worse.

"Diana…please," he breathlessly called her name, fear clawing at his throat.

"I…I'm al…alright," she murmured as she forced her eyes to open, attempting to sit up only to hiss in pain.

"Easy, Princess," he gently told her, helping her to stand.

The other founders quickly gathered around them as Batman helped her up out of the large cavity in the ground. "I need to get her to the cave right away," Batman informed them.

"We'll take care of clean up here," Superman grimly said, worried about his friend. "That was great work, Diana. You saved us all today."

Diana slowly nodded her head, trying to block out the pain that thrummed through her body. Keeping an arm around her shoulders, Batman hit his commlink. "Mr. Terrific," he said. "Two for immediate transport to the cave."

"Transporting now, Batman."

XXX

Bruce removed his gauntlets and cowl with a heavy sigh before turning his attention to his fiancé sitting on the medical table. She looked like she'd been to hell and back and yet she still managed to be as beautiful as ever. She was gingerly holding her burned hands in her lap, her expression stoic, but her blue eyes betrayed the pain that was truly she in.

He came to stand before her with the medical supplies in hand, setting them down beside her. His hands came to rest on the table on either side of her hips as he stood between her legs, struggling to gather the emotions teeming inside of him.

Unable to make his voice work, he did the only thing he could do at that moment, the only that could possibly bring some measure of peace to the turbulent storm that consumed his soul. He kissed her. Hard.

His hands slipped up into her thick hair, cradling the back of her head and keeping her where he needed her…safe and with him where she always belonged.

"Still mmmad at me for gggoing after Typhon?" she breathlessly asked as he pulled back, her eyes falling closed as he kissed along her cheekbone.

"Irate," he flatly stated, his eyes following the deliberate drag of her tongue against her bottom lip. "Are you still mad at me for pushing you to talk during the founders' meeting?"

"Furious," she replied before turning her head and crashing her lips against his, wanting to touch and hold him more than anything, but her hands were still burnt. She had almost lost him today.

The encounter with Typhon had rattled her considerably, stirring up fears about who had sent him and why. This was about the closest that they had ever come to all of them being killed. If she hadn't taken out Typhon when she had, Bruce and the others would be dead now. It made her sick to her core.

She felt a stray tear suddenly break free, knowing deep down that someone was sending her a message but she didn't want to think about who it could be or just what that message actually was.

"Typhon was sent for you, Princess," Bruce softly said as if reading her mind, moving his lips to capture her tear. He couldn't bear the thought of anyone taking her away from him.

She drew a shuddering breath as his lips continued to softly brush across her face. "I kkknow," she confessed. "That was wwwhy I had to be the one to sssend it back to Tartarus. The others were almost killed…you…you were al…almost…"

Her voice broke off with a shuddering gasp, unable to finish the horrifying thought.

"I know, but I think it was a test of some kind," he told her as he finally pulled away to begin cleaning her wounds.

His stomach churned with how badly she'd be injured as well as the sick dread that still swam deep inside of him. He didn't like the fact that one of Diana's deities was suddenly getting involved in their lives like this. They almost died today and what was worse was that he had a bad feeling this was just the beginning of something much bigger.

"Who could have released Typhon like that?" he asked.

"Any of th…them are cccapable," she admitted, her focus on his hands as he cleaned and bandaged her forearms and hands.

"What about Circe?" he questioned her, wanting answers as soon as possible so that he knew exactly what he was up against and who he was fighting. He needed to be prepared for anything in case they came after Diana again…and he knew they would.

Diana pursed her lips as she considered the malevolent witch. "No," she readily decided. "Circe has the power to do it, but it's just not her style. She'd sooner be there to humiliate us or turn us into some degrading animal."

Bruce thought for a moment as he paused to remove the upper half of his uniform in order to breathe a little better, grunting with the movement as he tossed it onto the medical table. He was definitely going to be sore for a few days.

"Bruce," Diana gasped at the purple bruises that had already formed around his ribcage. "Are your ribs broken?"

"No, just bruised," he responded with a frown.

"We need to tape your ribs," she said, moving off the table.

He took hold of her upper arm and forced her to sit back down on the medical table. "And how do you plan on managing to do that, Princess?"

She looked down at her bandaged hands in bewilderment. "This isn't ne…necessary. They'll be better by tom…tomorrow."

"Well then tomorrow you can remove the bandages, but until then they stay on," he insisted before moving around to the other side of the table to tend to her back.

"We're quite the pair, aren't we?" she teased, trying to lighten his brooding mood. "How many times have we treated each other's injuries right here on this table?"

"I don't know, but it's a good thing that we're engaged to each other," he said, hating to see her injured like this as he finally got a good look at the burns on her back. "No one else would have us."

Diana's chuckle turned into a long groan of pain as the antiseptic came in contact with a severe burn on her shoulder blade. "Yah, you're fine alright," Bruce stated with unmistakable sarcasm. "I'm redesigning your uniform. No more skimpy clothes for you, Princess. You're going to be covered from head to toe in flame retardant Kevlar."

"I…I th…think I'll pass," she muttered with disdain at the idea.

"I'll let you start patrolling with me if you let me design you a new uniform," he offered with a knowing smirk. "It'd definitely help cut down on the amount of time I have to spend cleaning you up after missions."

"You'd let mmme go out on pa…patrol with you?" she asked. Stunned, she twisted to try to look back at her fiancé, instantly regretting the movement.

"Hold still and maybe," he said, dabbing more antiseptic on her burns.

"Maybe?" she repeated, a single raven eyebrow arching. "You wouldn't have bbbrought it up if you hadn't been th…thinking about it."

Bruce's smirk broadened though she couldn't see it. "Let's just say I've been considering it. That doesn't mean a definite yes, though. We'll talk about it more after we return from our honeymoon. We need to figure out who was behind this Typhon appearance first."

Diana's heart sank with the reminder, knowing he was right and yet she feared the answer more than she cared to think about…more than she wanted to let Bruce know.