Chapter 13: Smoky Mornings

*Flashback on Batman's Homeworld*

Bruce cringed internally, how did Clark get him to agree to come to this stupid thing? The league was celebrating its 5th year anniversary, Bruce had objected vehemently to his presence being needed, but the other founders somehow convinced him otherwise.

That's how he found himself on the teleportation pad, holding 7 cakes for the dessert later.

J'onn greeted him as he materialized, "Welcome Batman, I see you were able to procure the desserts we requested.

Bruce answered with a grunt and carried them down the halls towards the main assembly space where the party was taking place.

Flash had outdone himself this time, Bruce saw that the hallways were filled with streamers and balloons. Bruce could only hear his justification later when Bruce would undoubtedly find the party bill under "necessary" league expenses.

As he entered the main assembly he scowled a bit. Almost all the leaguers were present, there was a dance floor with flashing lights and a DJ, a fully stocked bar area, a few tables playing cards, and a full buffet line of food. Yup, Bruce was gonna kill Wally.

Being in a function like this, and in costume, just felt wrong to Bruce, he was going to leave the cakes and make an escape but before he could Clark spotted him, definitely on the lookout to make sure his friend didn't leave prematurely.

"There you are!"

"Clark this is stupid. I'm leaving."

"Oh no you're not, you promised at least an hour."

Bruce scowled and slumped his shoulders in a small defeat, "...Fine."

With the boy scout satisfied, Bruce quickly went to get a drink. People made sure not to be in his way as he went to the bar.

"Give me an Old Fashion." He said gruffly, he needed a drink that matched his mood.

Green Lantern was suddenly by his side, "So...how you holding up being "social" tonight?"

"Just kill me now Stewart."

John laughed, he and Bruce had definitely gotten a bit closer over the years, even sharing lunches and conversation now and again, "You know, a party is supposed to be fun…"

"I go to enough parties."

"Oh right, the fake ones, with the fake friends."

Bruce raised an eyebrow at John, "What's that supposed to mean Lantern?"

John raised his hands in mock surrender, "Nothing, just that this is a rare opportunity to have a fun night with people you might actually respect."

Bruce couldn't help but smirk, "What makes you think I respect you?"

"Oh haha, laugh it up, I'm serious though, lots of people want you here. Especially some of the women I've heard."

Bruce nearly choked on his drink, "You're nuts."

Just then a scarlet blur appeared, leaning up against John, "Nah it's true bats, a lot of girls in the extended league have crushes on you, I dunno why…. It's not fair haha, I don't hear any about me! Why?!" Wally cried in mock anguish.

John shoved him off, "Wally you have a girlfriend...but it's definitely just because they think he's a bad boy and mysterious….if only they knew what a baby he is in our meetings."

John and Wally laughed as Bruce scowled even more at the words.

Bruce couldn't help but now notice a few stares in his direction from some of the newbie leaguers. Ugh.

Just then he was saved as Clark decided it was time for speeches.

Everyone was quiet and respectful, laughed at his jokes, and listened as he recounted adventures, hardships, and more.

Bruce couldn't really care to listen but his ears picked up the speech as he heard her name.

"...Wonder Woman, and others we've lost would be so proud of how far we've come. We've all lost something and that's why we're here...to stop others from losing the things we have, whether it be homes, family, friends….what we do, matters! To the League!

As people cheered, Bruce decided enough was enough, he stealthily made his escape. Stalking back to the teleporters, he was stopped by his friend's voice.

"Wait…"

Bruce turned to see Clark coming out of the party after him.

Bruce sighed and rolled his eyes but turned to address the man of steel. "I've had enough tonight, Clark. You guys have fun, really."

Clark gave his friend a small smile. "You still miss her huh? We all do," Clark saw how Bruce tightened up at the implication, "I think us three could have been great. The perfect representation of all that makes this league great."

Superman turned to look out the window, "Do you remember all those stupid tabloids when we first formed the league? Everyone thought me and her were a thing because of how similar and patriotic our costumes seemed together."

Batman smirked now as well, "I remember Lois having a field day with you after that."

Clark laughed, remembering having to explain that whole thing, "To be honest, I always thought you two would have gotten on pretty good, seemed I was right, until...you know…"

Now it was Bruce's turn to look out towards space, seeing just how small the earth was.

The boy scout continued, "I know you never talked about it with anyone...what happened there...and i'm not asking you to. But you know I'm always here if you need anything."

Clark laid a hand on Bruce's shoulder. He expected Bruce to swat it away but surprisingly, he left it there for a good few seconds before nodding, "Thanks….I...Appreciate it."

With that, Bruce turned and left, leaving his friends to celebrate the rest of the night without him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Diana woke up with her head swimming, she was groggy and could barely open her eyes at first. She heard movement around her and finally she was able to open her eyes to see light streaming into the cave they had slept in.

She was greeted by a small body hunched over her. A young girl, around 12 years old. Diana smiled and tried to speak through her dry mouth, "Lit..little one, what is your name?"

The girl looked like she wanted to speak but instead spelled out her name in the dirt instead, A-L-R-A.

"Alra?"

The girl nodded.

"Can you talk?"

She nodded again.

"Will you talk right now?"

At this the girl sat back and hugged her legs as she shook her head vigorously.

Diana gave a small smile in understanding, as she looked around she noticed the cave was empty, except for them, "Where is everyone else?"

Alra pointed out the mouth of the cave, then turned around and grabbed something. Diana saw she had grabbed a waterskin and a leftover piece of bread. Seeing the food made her realize just how hungry she was. She gratefully accepted the food and drink, feeling much better after scarfing down the bread. Not as dignified as she'd usually be, but she also usually wouldn't be waking up injured in a random cave.

Just then, a familiar face strode into the cave.

"Pleione!"

The guard had a relieved smile on her face, "My queen, it warms my heart that you are now awake and conscious. You had us all very worried."

Diana nodded, "Help me stand, I have spent too much time down."

Pleione gave a small frown, "My queen, are you sure that's wise?"

The queen frowned back, "I appreciate the concern, but that, is an order."

Her guard nodded, before helping her up, Diana's arm wrapped around her shoulder, the raven-haired queen walking side by side with the auburn colored Pleione. As they exited the cave, the white light temporarily blinded her.

Once her vision cleared, she could see that the forest they were in looked out over the surrounding valleys, but visibility was severely limited as smoke and fog was filling the trees. Diana's breath hitched as she noticed that a large potion of smoke was originating from a blackened spot in the distance, a spot she knew must be New Hippolyta.

Feeling her emotions swell though, she shook her head and pushed them down, no, there was no time for that now.

"Where...Where's everyone else?"

"Thea, Chase, and the stable owner, Cleondra, are currently hunting and foraging for some food up the side of the mountain, Thea has her bow.

"And the man...Bruce?"

Pleione gave a little look at Diana, smiling before pointing straight up. Diana was confused but looked up, straining her neck till she saw a figure perched on the top of the cliff. He looked like a statue, not moving as he looked out over the forest, undoubtedly on a watch for any enemies following them.

Her guard whistled a shrill high note that seemed to draw his attention down to them. Diana saw as he fired a small projectile into the ground before jumping off the side, it appeared to be a kind of rope as she heard a small whirring sound as he descended at a fast, but controlled rate. At the last few feet, he somehow disengaged the lock at the top and fell the last few feet, landing smoothly in front of the two women.

Diana was a little confused, "How did you do that?"

Bruce looked a little confused but then realized she meant his grapnel gun, "Oh, on our way out of the arena, we passed the cells and Pleione grabbed my utility belt for me from the lock-up, she knew it had weapons and tools in it we could use."

Diana nodded, a little curious now to see what other tools he had in that little belt, her guards had tried to open it when they first captured Bruce but there were some dangerous security measures on it, they had decided to lock it up until after they decided on what to do with the man, "Hmm, I wonder why we never thought of things like that."

Bruce looked at his belt, then back at her and shrugged, "If I had to guess...conflict, war, competition, they're some of the best sources of innovation and invention. With the whole world under one banner, without the need to develop these tools and weapons, it looks like things just kept to ancient tradition."

Diana furrowed her eyebrows, not sure if he was insulting their ways, "There's nothing wrong with tradition."

Now it was time for Bruce to give a small chuckle, "Easy princess, I didn't mean to offend, just a possible explanation."

Diana huffed in annoyance, "I am not a princess…"

Bruce caught himself with an expression Diana couldn't place, "True, not really anything at the moment." he said as he raised an eyebrow and turned to look out down the mountain.

Diana started to voice her thoughts, angry at his dismissal, but then stopped. He was right. She wasn't really a queen right now out here. Suddenly she felt smaller than she had in a long time.

She was saved from awkwardness though as the rest of their party was coming back from their foraging. Pleione saw their sunken faces, "Anything?"

Thea shook her head, "Everythings gone, the smoke has made most of the animals leave and most of the vegetation is further down the mountain, where the fires and those armies are. As they finished getting to them they sat on the ground, a little under the haze.

Bruce nodded, "Your queen is awake, we need to leave, we've stayed here too long."

The others nodded in agreement as Bruce continued, "I think we should make for the nearest cities, raise the alarms and give people as much time to prepare as we can."

Pleione added in, "That would be Artemia, a day's journey south and 100 leagues from Athens after that."

Bruce nodded as he seemed to get his bearings of those locations, Athens a seemingly familiar name to him.

As they spoke though Diana could only feel herself becoming more frustrated, as she felt left out, unimportant, and useless to the conversation. She had her own ideas for what needed to happen, "No!" she yelled out.

Her sudden outburst shocked the group but immediately quieted them down to listen, she was still their queen.

Diana paused before forming her words, "...This is all wrong, Ares and Hades shouldn't even be allowed to be doing this, something's wrong with Olympus, I must find out!"

Bruce interjected, "It is happening though Diana"

"I…I know, but the Gods, they can fix this."

"And what if they can't, would you waste this time letting more of your people die?"

"No of course not…I…I need time to think."

Pleione paused but then stood up at a soldier's attention, "I think your points are valid Bruce, but I must stand with my queen, whatever she chooses, I will follow."

Then the little boy Chase shouted into the conversation, "But what about the other cities, we can't just leave them to die!"

In a few moments everything devolved into arguments for both sides, no one knowing what exactly to do. What was the right course of action? The shouting escalated, to the point no one noticed the two gray soldiers approaching from behind. One of them raised a dagger towards Diana…

The words were cut short as Bruce suddenly threw a batarang between the group and it impaled itself in the soldier's body. The man looked down at it but didn't react in pain. Bruce lunged across the space and followed up with a brutal uppercut that sent the man flying. Thea had responded immediately with her bow, impaling the 2nd man's skull with three arrows before he went down, turning to dust on his impact with the ground. At the same time, Bruce had picked up the first man by the throat, and slammed him into a tree with enough force that his opponent burst into bones and dust.

Diana was slightly taken aback by the quick and savage actions of Bruce's attack, "I thought you didn't kill?"

Bruce turned back with a stoic look, "They're already dead."

The look quickly turned to anger though, "A scouting party, we need to leave. Now."

The stable owner, Cleondra timidly spoke up, "But we still don't know what we're doing?"

Diana stood to her full height, and although holding back a wince of pain, held her position, "I have to see the Olympians first."

Bruce growled in frustration, racking his brain for a quick solution, "Fine, fine. We'll do both our plans. Pleione…you and I will go with Diana to see these gods and figure out what's happening. Thea, John, Cleondra, Chase, and Alra will go on ahead to warn the cities of the impending attacks."

John started to protest, "Hey, no way, I'm coming with you."

Bruce scowled at him, "No John, I need you to help them get where they need to go, these kids will need protection. Food. Water. I need you to help them."

John didn't seem happy, "But.."

"Not a discussion."

Sounds of marching boots could be heard in the distance now.

Pleione stepped in for support, "We're out of time. This is the plan. May the gods smile on both our ventures."

Without another word both groups ran to acquire their supplies and ready the horses. Within three minutes they were all set. Bruce mounted his horse with an injured Diana. Pleione followed on another one, not far behind.

Bruce turned and gave a nod to John, which his friend returned, before John and the others took off across the mountain.

Diana seemed uncomfortable having to share the horse with Bruce, but they only had so many, and she was still recovering from her wounds, she couldn't ride on her own.

As Bruce took the reins though he spoke, "Well Princess, lead the way, I don't know the way to Olympus."

Without a word, Diana pointed to the direction they needed to go, and they took off, galloping through the smoky haze of the morning.

Been a super long time since an update but I hope you like this chapter. Never putting the story on Hiatus or stop, but I'm sorry that some updates have come so late. Thanks for your continued support of this story. Remember to review what you think if you want. Thanks!