Chapter 4

Gotham; September 2nd, 14:07 EST

"Don't forget to pick up diapers on your way home," Donna said as she folded laundry with her cell phone cradled between her shoulder and ear. "It wouldn't hurt to get more baby wipes too."

"I won't forget," Dick promised over the phone. "Besides, it's still on the back of my hand where you wrote it this morning. I think we should start potty training. Then, we won't have to worry about buying diapers anymore."

"They're not even one year old yet."

"In some countries, they'd be potty trained already."

"We're in this country and we need more diapers," she ultimately decided. "I guess we can at least talk about it."

"Are they down for their naps?"

"Thank Hera, yes," Donna revealed with a sigh of relief. "Now that they're learning how to walk, they're all over the place. They are literally into everything, crawling this way and that…toddling here and there. We may need to get a sheepdog to keep them corralled."

Dick laughed as he flipped open his notepad to check his notes for the case that he was working on. "They're not sheep, Donna."

"No, they're much faster…and smarter," she groused. "If they start displaying powers like Nick and Kaia did, we could be in real trouble, Dick. It'll be them against us. I'm telling you. They'll conspire against us and try to outsmart us."

Dick audibly grimaced with the notion. "Don't give me gray hair before my time, Don."

"It's not my fault you fell in love and married me," she pointed out with a chuckle. "You should have picked an ordinary girl, someone with an ordinary life that possesses no magical abilities."

"Ordinary girls are boring and dull," he flirted with her. "I prefer a real challenge…one that keeps on my toes and rocks my world."

"A challenge that rocks your world?" she repeated with a laugh, setting a folded towel aside to put away. "Is that what I am to you?"

"No, not at all," he swore to her. "It's an adventure being married to you and I love every single moment of it."

"I'll take adventure over challenging…and I love you too."

"We need to go on a vacation," Dick suddenly decided. "Once this thing with Diana is resolved, I'm going to take you away from here for a few days…let Bruce and Diana babysit the twins."

"Jason and Artemis might not be a bad choice either," she mentioned, holding up a bath towel and using her chin to hold it in place so she could fold it.

Dick snorted in response. "Really?"

"They did great when they helped us when all four kids had the flu," she reminded him. "Besides, it might push them along in having a baby of their own."

"Or cause Jason to run to get a vasectomy," he corrected her.

Donna suddenly gasped, dropping the towel in her hand and causing Dick to sit up a little straighter in his car. "What's wrong?" he demanded to know.

"It's Diana," she told him, her heart racing with panic as an overwhelming void abruptly filled her soul. "Go, Dick! You need to get to the manor. Something happened to Diana."

"I'm on my way," he promised her as he turned on his lights. "I'll let you know as soon as I know something."

Hanging up, Donna immediately called Bruce, but he didn't answer which further heightened her already rising panic. Something was very wrong. She could feel it in the core of her being. The curse on Diana had finally revealed itself.

It was already here, and they had no idea how to stop it or who was behind it.

Batcave; September 2nd, 14:43 EST

Bruce paced back and forth; his arms crossed over his chest as J'onn examined Diana. The color was still absent from her face, her raven hair a stark contrast against her pale skin. She didn't appear to be in any pain, but it was difficult to know for certain. She had yet to regain consciousness.

He could hear someone running through the cave, recognizing Dick's pace immediately. "We don't know anything yet," he murmured without turning around as his eldest approached from behind.

"Donna felt it," he said without further explanation. Both understood the soul connection the sisters shared.

Bruce didn't really want any company right now, and didn't want to talk to anyone. All he wanted was for Diana to be all right, to wake up and tell him to stop worrying about her. He smiled to himself, knowing she would have a fit if she knew how frantic he was about her current condition.

She would be her usual compassionate self, wanting to comfort and reassure everyone around her. Instead of worrying about herself, she'd be concerned with the well-being of others. He wanted her to open her blue eyes and tell him everything was going to be fine….that she was going to be fine.

But everything was far from fine at that moment. In fact, it was damn terrifying not knowing what was happening to her. He had no idea if she was even going to survive this or be taken away from them…from him.

He heard Dick calling Donna, attempting to ease her worry, but it was more than difficult when they had absolutely no answers and no idea where to turn. He promised to call her again as soon as he knew anything, but Bruce had a horrible feeling those answers wouldn't be coming easily or any time soon. This was going to be a lengthy, uphill battle.

J'onn gently laid his hand on Diana's forehead, his eyes glowing brightly. Bruce held his breath in anticipation of what he would find when he probed her mind. He needed Zatanna and Constantine here as soon as possible to help them get some much-needed information.

How could he possibly help her when they had no idea what was going on?

J'onn finally straightened up, his hand falling to his side as he lifted his head. Bruce and Dick quickly closed the distance between them, Bruce immediately reaching for Diana's hand. He felt like his heart was going to pound right through his sternum at that moment.

"She's still alive, but she's in some sort of magical stasis," he revealed. "Her body is in a frozen status, but I was surprised to find a high level of brain activity. It seems that she's in a dreamlike state."

"Dreamlike state?" Dick questioned him, his face scrunched in confusion. "What could she be dreaming about?"

J'onn shook his head as he stared at his friend lying before him. "I was unable to access her dreams. There is some sort of a defense surrounding them, blocking me from entering her thoughts."

Bruce's expression grew grim as he gently caressed the back of her hand. "Is the baby safe?" he asked, doing his best to keep his darkening emotions out of his voice.

"Your daughter is perfectly fine," he reassured them. "I sensed a magical shield surrounding and sustaining her. She's being protected from whatever Diana is experiencing."

Bruce swallowed hard, trying to relieve the painful knot that had lodged in his throat. "Is Diana in any pain? Is she suffering at all?"

"No, I didn't sense any pain," he replied. "I felt a myriad of emotions from happiness to sadness…loneliness and love…but no physical pain or mental anguish that I could detect. It's as if she's continuing to live her life in her mind while her body stays frozen in time."

"We have to find out who is behind this and why," Dick commented. "We won't be able to help her without knowing more."

"Where do we even start?" Bruce growled angrily, voicing what had been bothering him from the beginning. "We have absolutely no information, nothing to go on. We have some witch woman putting an unknown spell on Diana as an infant—nothing more."

At that moment, Zatanna and Constantine appeared in the Batcave, making a beeline for Bruce, Dick, and J'onn. "Oh no," Zatanna gasped, fearing they were too late. "What happened?"

"She's in perfect stasis," Bruce informed them. "Do we need to do anything for her to keep her alive?"

"No, not for this," J'onn informed them. "This is a magical stasis. It's as if she's been frozen in time, perfectly preserving her body and mind, but the baby is still thriving and growing."

Zatanna clenched her jaw as she considered the information. "That is a difficult spell to create," she revealed. "We're dealing with someone who wields powerful magic."

"Do we need to transport her to the Watchtower?" Bruce asked.

"She's fine to stay here if you wish," J'onn told them. "At this point, she isn't in any danger as long as she stays this way, and the baby seems to be quite safe in her own magical cocoon that sustains her apart from Diana."

Bruce was relieved that Aphrodite had come through on her promise to protect their baby girl, but he needed to know more in order to help Diana. She couldn't stay like this forever. Nicholas and Kaia needed their mother, and he needed the woman that he loved by his side.

"Looks like we have our work cut out for us, Zee," Constantine said with a sigh.

"Don't worry, Bruce," Zatanna gently said, her hand coming to rest on his forearm. "We won't stop until we get to the bottom of this."

"Thank you," he murmured as if hearing her but not registering her words. He was unable to take his eyes off his wife as the magical duo disappeared from the cave without another word.

He silently pleaded with Aphrodite to please help them find out who was behind this. They needed more if they were going to help Diana. He had a feeling that more was going to require a trip to Mount Olympus if they were going to get the answers they wanted.

"Where are you, Diana?" he whispered to himself, his gaze fixed on her beautiful face.

Diana's Mind; September 2nd, 16:29 EST

Diana couldn't help but laugh as Bruce tried to escape the planned attack orchestrated by the twins. They were more than determined to get him wet with their super-soaker water guns they had received for their fourth birthday thanks to Uncle Tim.

"Stand still, Papa!" Conner yelled as he aimed his super-soaker at him.

"Yeah, Papa!" Claire agreed, lifting her water gun for a double attack.

"Why don't you try to get Diana instead?" he asked, growing slightly breathless from the prolonged chase.

"Nana looks too pretty to get wet," Claire explained.

Bruce gave Diana a confused look, the explanation doing little to settle his curiosity. To avoid the onslaught, he ran straight for Diana, grabbing her by the upper arms and maneuvering her in front of him to protect him from being soaked.

Diana couldn't help but laugh, elated that the twins were enjoying their birthday party. "I don't think it's fair of Papa to use me as a shield, do you?"

"No!" the twins chimed in unison.

Wrangling free, Diana flew up into the air, leaving Bruce unprotected and undefended. The water squirting quickly commenced, thoroughly soaking his shirt. "Okay, you got me…you got me!" he yelled, uselessly trying to block the spray with his hands.

"Dinner is ready!" Alfred announced as he exited the house with the last of the food he'd prepared for the special day.

Seven-year-old Kaia followed close behind with Grayson close on her heels. Grace was always trying to keep up with her big sister Kaia. The sight of her two daughters together like this brought great joy to Diana's heart.

Nicholas exited the house next, holding two-year-old Ethan's hand. Nicholas was already tall for his age of eight. He looked so much like Bruce did at his age, pride swelling inside of her. Ethan was the spitting image of his father Dick, a little boy full of boundless energy and a constant string of questions that kept his parents on their toes.

"Mama!" Gracie excitedly cried, running to Diana who swept her up into her arms.

Diana kissed her cheek as Grace laid her head on her mother's shoulder. "Where's daddy?"

"He went upstairs to change his shirt," she replied. "Claire and Conner got him all wet with their water guns."

"We go swim now?" she excitedly asked, lifting her head.

"You can swim after we eat."

"That was a complete shambles of a game!" Tim groused as he exited the house. "They were up by ten points almost the whole game then the fourth quarter happened."

Damian laughed. "It's all about who is ahead at the end that wins."

"Still not right," Tim complained. "They should've been able to pull it out."

"It could have been worse," Stephanie reminded him. "They could've gotten killed the whole game."

"That doesn't help, Steph," he decided.

Stephanie gave him a kiss to soothe his ire. "Let's get some food," she suggested. "That always makes you feel better."

"How are the wedding plans coming, Stephanie?" Diana asked her.

"It's overwhelming, but I think I'm finally getting some details confirmed."

"I tried to talk her into running away to Vegas to elope like Jason and Artemis did, but she wants a big wedding with hundreds of guests," Tim teased her with a grin.

"What was right for Jason and Artemis isn't necessarily right for us," Stephanie pointed out. "Where are Jason and Artemis? I thought they'd be here by now."

"Jason called and said they should be here soon," Diana told them. "Evidently Avery wasn't very cooperative after her nap this afternoon."

"It's the red hair," Dick teased as he joined the group with Donna. "She gets her temperament from her mother."

"You be the one to tell Artemis that," Donna said with a frown. "I'll take care of you after she breaks you in two."

Dick grimaced with a nervous laugh. "Are you kidding? I like my head the way it is—attached."

Bruce emerged from the house with a dry shirt on, rubbing his hands together. "Let's eat already. I worked up an appetite trying to escape the twins."

Diana set Grace down who quickly ran to her father. She was definitely a daddy's girl even more so than Kaia which was hard to believe. Bruce had a soft spot for his children but to an even greater degree for his daughters. They had him wrapped tightly around their finger.

She watched her family as they laughed, the boys trying to outdo each other to be the next in line, wrestling and shoving only to be scolded by Alfred. She loved this family that Bruce had started and that together, they'd been able to continue to build. She couldn't imagine any other life than this. While they'd had their fair share of trials as well as ups and downs, she loved every part of it.

Each new addition seemed to bring them all closer together, knitting a beautiful fabric called family.

Diana was suddenly assaulted from behind, nearly knocking her over as arms wrapped around her waist. A mischievous giggle escaped as Diana turned to find Cassandra had arrived. "You made it!" Diana cried, wrapping her arms around her daughter. "You're just in time to eat."

"I couldn't miss out on a…a birth…birthday party," she managed to reply, still struggling somewhat with speaking at times.

"Cass!" Kaia yelled, running to greet her.

Cassandra swept Kaia up into her arms, swinging her around in a tight embrace before releasing her. "Are you home forever now? Please tell me you're staying and never leaving again?"

"I don't know about for…forever, but I'm home for now," she promised her.

"Hey, Batgirl returns!" Tim yelled, happy to Cassandra was back.

Kaia gave Cassandra her usual skeptical look that was so Kaia. "I guess that'll have to do for now," she decided. "Just don't go away for a long time now."

"Welcome home, stranger," Bruce said with a grin and Gracie in his arms. "How was Tibet?"

"It was amazing," she said with an excited gleam in her eyes.

Bruce could tell that she had found the peace that she had been seeking for the last couple of months in Tibet. "You were definitely missed around here. The kids talked about you almost every day, wondering what you were doing."

Grace leaned out of Bruce's arms towards Cassandra who took her into her arms. "You're getting so big!" she exclaimed as Grace wrapped her arms around Cassandra's neck.

"She's definitely growing up fast…too fast if you ask me," Bruce said with a frown.

Diana's arm slipped around his waist as she leaned into him. "Bruce just has a hard time letting his children grow up."

"That reminds me," Kaia chimed in. "When do I get to start going out on patrol with you?"

Bruce immediately began shaking his head. "Nick can't even go out on patrol yet," he pointed out. "What makes you think you can go?"

Kaia shrugged her shoulders with a mischievous grin. "I'm better than him."

"Not by a long shot, Kai!" Nicholas adamantly disagreed as he approached, hugging Cassandra. "Glad you made it back. It's been so boring around here without you."

"That's not exactly true," Bruce commented. "You know there's always something going on around here."

Diana smiled to herself as she watched the rest of the family gather around Cassandra to welcome her home. Jason, Artemis, and Avery arrived at that moment. She didn't think that her heart could feel any fuller than it did at that moment.

She was so amazed at how wonderful her life had turned out. When she left the island, she had never dreamed that she would fall in love, marry Bruce, and build an amazing family with him. It was far better than anything that she had ever dreamed of when she was a little girl.

Bruce's arm slipped around her shoulders, pulling her safely against him as he kissed her temple. She knew this was where she always wanted to be—with him and the family they had made.

Themyscira; September 2nd, 17:11 EST

Artemis and Jason returned to the palace feeling utterly defeated. They had talked to every single person who had been in the palace the night the intruder appeared in Diana's room to cast that spell. Not one of them remembered seeing anything out of the ordinary, no other evidence of an intruder was discovered.

They still needed to talk to Phillipus, but she had been tied up with training exercises for most of the day. They were hoping to corner her this evening at the palace. Right now, they were both starving and more than ready for dinner.

"Artemis! Jason!" Hippolyta called as she rushed towards them.

They could both tell by the haunting look on her face that something was terribly wrong. "What happened?" Artemis immediately asked.

"Diana has fallen into a coma," Hippolyta informed them. "Bruce just contacted me to let me know. It looks like the spell has finally taken effect."

"But why now?" Jason questioned them. "It makes no sense. Why would you cast a spell only for it to be delayed by a thousand years?"

"That's what we have to find out," Artemis decided. "Is the baby safe?"

"Yes, Aphrodite has shielded the baby from the spell that is affecting Diana."

"This is crazy," Jason groused. "This is either a curse on Diana or some sort of revenge against you."

"We're not getting any closer to finding out who is behind this," Artemis angrily bit out. "We haven't been able to uncover anything so far."

"Come, let's eat," Hippolyta suggested. "We can put a plan together."

Entering the dining hall, the trio sat at a table already filled with various foods fit for a formal banquet. Jason thought he had died and gone to heaven as he began to load his plate. "Okay, we need to think about this logically."

"What do you mean?" Artemis snapped at him. "There's nothing logical about any of this."

"We should list the reasons why someone would want to put a curse on Diana," he explained. "Is it revenge against the Queen, Diana, or maybe the Amazons as a whole? Could it be because there was a new baby on the island? It might be one of those reasons or none of them at all. Maybe it's because of some future event that we don't even know about yet."

Artemis thoughtfully chewed as she considered it. "I just don't understand why it's just now taking effect. I know that Phillipus interrupted the spell, but there's something wrong with all of this…something that really bothers me, but I can't put my finger on it."

Hippolyta drew a deep breath, releasing it slowly through her nose as she shook her head. "I should have investigated it further when it happened…done more to find out what had happened that night. I might have been able to stop all of this years ago."

"It's not your fault," Artemis reassured her. "You petitioned the gods for weeks after for answers but didn't receive any response in return."

Hippolyta stared at her plate of uneaten food, going over the events of that night in her mind for the thousandth time. "When nothing happened after that, life just went on," she softly said, lost to her memories. "Diana grew into an amazing woman and warrior. I believed that Phillipus's interruption had disrupted the spell, keeping it from taking hold."

"There was no way for you to know," Jason pointed out. "Someone went to great lengths to make sure their identity was concealed, and the reasons were never discovered."

"We're assuming it was one person, but what if multiple people were involved?" Artemis speculated.

"Whoever cast the spell wasn't working alone?" Hippolyta questioned her.

"Maybe the person who cast the spell was on a mission for someone else?" Artemis hypothesized.

Jason huffed in frustration. "Why does it feel like everything just became that much more complicated?"

Watchtower; September 2nd, 18:01 EST

Superman's head fell to his chest as he listened to Batman, fear for his friends consuming him. "I'm so sorry, Bruce," Clark said, his voice choked with emotion. "Please, let us know if there's anything we can do to help you."

Superman listened for a few moments longer before finally ending the transmission as he lifted his head to look at Flash. "Diana is in a coma," he told him.

The doors parted as J'onn swept into the conference room, his typical grim expression appearing even more forbidding than usual. "I just returned from the Batcave. The baby is protected by a magical cocoon, and Diana is in a form of stasis, but I'm afraid it's not good. It's all magically based. There's nothing we can do to reverse it or change it without knowing who is behind this."

"This sucks," Flash griped, folding his arms against his chest as he leaned against the table. "John and Shay are gone, Diana and Bats are in trouble, and there's nothing any of us can do to help either of our friends."

"We can't lose hope," Superman told them. "Zatanna and Constantine are working on the magic angle to see if they can find out who is behind it and reverse it."

"In the meantime, we need to focus on doing our jobs and keeping Earth safe," J'onn recommended. "All we can do is be ready if we are needed."

"Agreed," Clark said, standing to his feet. "Hopefully, we'll get some answers soon."

"Yeah, but this could go on for months," Flash groused, throwing his hands up in the air in exasperation. "How long can Diana stay like that, and the baby be all right?"

"I have no idea," J'onn stated. "The baby may have to be taken cesarean section if Diana isn't awake by the time delivery comes."

"I can't believe this is happening," Flash groused.

"We'll get through it, Flash," Clark reassured him, his hand finding his shoulder and squeezing it in a sign of understanding and support. "We always do."

"What if this is the one time we don't?" he asked.

No one wanted to think about that outcome let alone provide an answer. Things were quite bleak right now, but they would do whatever it took to help their friends.

San Francisco, California; September 2nd, 18:53 EST

She rose into the air as she surveyed her surroundings, trying to decide just where she wanted to begin. A small smile touched her lips as thoughts of wreaking havoc ran rampant through her mind. She'd been created for this, itching for the moment when she could finally unleash her powers on the world.

She was most anxious to battle Wonder Woman. She was the reason that she had been created, the purpose for her existence. Destroy Wonder Woman and the Amazons. Her father Cronos hated the Amazons with a passion that seemed to run through his veins. That same hatred had been instilled in her as well.

Her dark eyes held a diabolic gleam that only hinted at the depths of the depravity that lived within. She lifted her hands, finally settling on how she would begin her reign of destruction. She wanted to make sure that she got Wonder Woman's attention.

As she waved her hands, the ground began to shake and rumble. People froze with fear, uncertain as to what was happening until concrete, and asphalt began to tear apart as if it was nothing but paper. Deep craters began to erupt all over.

Screams and cries for help filled the air as people started running in every direction, unsure which direction was the safest at that point. The whole city seemed to be held in the grips of the worst earthquake ever seen on Earth.

Cars were swallowed up by cavities that were splitting open. Bits of mortar and brick rained down from buildings, rubble crashing to the ground. A large corner from a building came hurtling towards a man below attempting to climb out of a huge chasm that had erupted in the sidewalk.

Flash suddenly appeared in time to snatch hold of the man, zooming him off to safety before returning to the heart of the disaster area. He immediately raced right back into action, grabbing hold of a woman and her son before rushing them several yards away.

Returning to the scene, he looked up to find Elongated Man had stretched himself into a large canopy. He was doing his best to catch falling bricks and debris, allowing people time to get to safety. Fire flew onto the scene at that moment, using her pyrokinesis to melt some asphalt that was beginning to split open.

Flash looked around, trying to figure out what was happening. This was beyond any earthquake he'd ever experienced before. Looking up at the sky, he spotted a petite female partially eclipsed by a fifty-story building. Her arms were raised as she continued to create mass devastation in the city.

"There!" Flash yelled, pointing at the girl. "She's doing all of this!"

Fire turned her attention to the teenager, flying straight at her and distracting her long enough to stop the quakes. Devastation looked up to find a woman of green fire flying towards her. "You're not Wonder Woman," she said, clearly annoyed. "I want the Amazon."

"No, but I'm still a force to be reckoned with," Fire retorted, flames shooting from her fingers at the girl.

Devastation merely smiled at her, using her dark abilities to alter Fire's empathy towards her. Fire stopped short, tilting her head in curiosity. Ice appeared at that moment to help, noticing how Fire was just staring at the young girl.

"What did you do to Fire?" Ice yelled, unleashing a snowstorm around the unknown villain.

"Don't hurt her!" Fire cried, using her fire to melt the snow and ice. "She's just a teenage girl! How can you hurt a child?"

"Child?" Ice questioned her. "This child is destroying a city. What has she done to you?"

"I…I don't know…" Fire stammered, shaking her head in confusion.

"Time to end this debate," Elongated Man decided, stretching himself wide and wrapping around Devastation.

"That's what I'm talking about!" Flash cheered, pumping his fist as Elongated Man brought her down to the street below.

When Elongated Man finally released her, they were all stunned to find Wonder Woman standing there. "What the—" Flash muttered in shock.

"What?" the Wonder Woman look-alike said, placing her hand on her hip. "Don't you know me?"

"You are not Wondy, so don't even try to pretend to be," Flash angrily bit out, knowing that his friend was in a coma fighting for her life.

"Fine," Devastation snapped, transforming back to herself.

"You're just a teenager," Elongated Man said, stunned. "Why are you doing this?"

"I am Devastation," she introduced herself with a smirk as Ice and Fire landed behind her. "I'm here to destroy Wonder Woman. Where is she?"

"She's not here," Flash stated, refusing to give up any information about Diana. "I'll have to take a message for her."

"I want Wonder Woman," Devastation bit out between clenched teeth.

"What do you want with Wonder Woman?" Flash demanded to know, his gut sinking with dread. Could she be connected in some way with what was happening to Diana?

"Let's just say it's…personal," she furtively responded, not willing to reveal her true intentions yet.

"I'm afraid you're going to have to deal with us," Flash insisted. "Wondy is unavailable right now."

"Fine, I'll just continue creating destruction all over the world until I finally get to face off against Wonder Woman," she spat out, flying straight up into the air, and immediately disappearing from sight.

"What in the world did she do to you?" Ice questioned Fire.

Fire put her hand on her forehead, shaking her head slightly. "I don't know," she replied. "One moment I was ready to take her down and the next I was filled with overwhelming empathy for her. I wanted to protect her no matter what. It's like I wasn't in control of myself."

Flash drew a deep breath, releasing it slowly. "Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse."

A/N: Ah, snap! Things just got real! :)

UP NEXT: Could Devastation hold the answer to what is happening to Diana? John & Shayera reach Thanagar. Nicholas & Kaia find out their mom is going to be gone for a little while.