Bella MacLeod's Twilight Fanfiction

The Wayne Legacy: Rise

By BetterInTexas

Chapter 18:

World Between Worlds

Kara found herself in a hospital, in an unfamiliar room, her father’s reassuring hand on her shoulder. There was medical equipment surrounding an incubator, monitors showing the vitals of the small occupant inside. She may not recognize the room, but Kara knew the small baby in the incubator was her. She had seen the pictures in the family photo albums.

She walked hesitantly to the incubator and looked closer. She felt a shiver race down her spine.

“I was so small.” Kara mumbled. “How did I not die?”

“Every time I saw you, all I could think was, ‘how can she not live’ ?” Thomas told her. “So much strength in such a small package. A lesser soul would have died. Not my Supergirl, though. Nothing can keep her down.”

“Why did you bring me here?” she asked. “I want to go back to the beach, or my creek. I don’t want to be here.”

Her father remained silent but pointed toward the door.

Kara watched a small, dark-haired boy she knew was Bruce come in and walk to her incubator, stopping short by several feet. He turned back and Kara followed his gaze to their mother who nodded encouragingly at him, a soft smile on her face.

He looked a bit silly to Kara wearing hospital scrubs, gloves and a mask but she supposed that was typical wear when visiting her.

He stepped closer and peered down at the infant.

“Hi… Kara. I’m, I’m… Bruce. You can’t understand me, but Diana and Mom said I needed to introduce myself.” He said quietly, timid and unsure.

“You are smaller than I thought you would be, but you are pretty. I like your eyes. Diana says you are my new sister. I’ve always had Diana, but we have always been the same age and like a lot of the same stuff… except Diana is really into dolls and I’m more into action figures. I, uh… I’m not sure what good I will be to you.”

Bruce looked around the room then let out a breath. “You see, I don’t know how to be a big brother. I don’t think I’ll be good at it. I don’t know how to play with dolls or know anything about girl stuff. Diana will take care of all that. Between her and Mom you will probably be shopping a lot. I mean if you don’t… you know. If you… when you get better is what I mean to say.”

The boy closed his eyes for a moment. “I’m sorry. I told you I’m not good at this stuff. I seem to say the wrong thing a lot. I’ll do my best though. You can… sleep in my bed if you get scared. Or if you ever want to get scared on purpose, like on Halloween, I know a lot of ghost stories. I’m good at camping and I know there are girls that like to camp, maybe you will too.”

Kara was surprised to see Bruce’s eyes watering. “I can love you though. I’m pretty good at that. I guess I can learn to braid your hair or something. You would probably like that… once you grow hair. Yeah, I’ll love you. I may not be that good at being a brother, but I can love you. You just got to get better. I know it’s tough. You’re a Wayne now though and Waynes are tough.”

Bruce smiled at the girl who was now looking at him, making eye contact at least. It seemed like she was reaching out for him, and he placed his hand on the incubator near hers.

“You are so tiny. You are going to get bigger and one day, you are not going to be sick anymore. I know that’s going to happen. Dad is the best doctor in the world. Mom told me where they found you. You had a tough start but stories like yours are supposed to have happy endings. It’s like a rule. I’m gonna help make sure of it. The happily ever after part anyway. I’ll do my best… I can promise you that.”

Bruce smiled at the little girl and left the room, to be quickly replaced by Diana.

“That was the first time Bruce met you.” Martha whispered to her daughter.

“He was so innocent then.” Kara realized. “You know before he left, I was scared of him. I never told Diana or Alfred. I kept it to myself. I didn’t think he would hurt me… but there was so much anger in him, so much rage. I could see him struggling to control it every day. I thought as he got older, the anger would lessen but it only got worse… did you watch over him while he was gone?”

Martha patted Kara on the shoulder and Thomas wrapped an arm around her.

“Yes, we did.” Thomas said. “It hurt a great deal to watch him in so much pain and be unable to do anything about it.”

“Where was he?” Kara asked.

“You should ask him.” Martha suggested.

Kara shook her head. “I don’t think I want to know. If I know, I have to deal with it. I like letting Diana deal with things. It’s easier that way.”

Kara heard her father sigh. “Are you going to live your life that way, Kara? Every time something uncomfortable occurs, you plan to put your head in the sand and let Diana handle it?”

Kara shrugged her shoulders. “Diana says with my work schedule it is important to minimize stress. If it doesn’t concern me, there is no reason to worry me.”

Thomas snorted and Martha sighed.

“I love that you and your sister love each other so much and are so close.” Martha told her. “But one day, Kara, you are going to have to put on your big girl pants and make your own decisions, face life on your own terms. You are going to have to grow up.”

Kara closed her eyes and she felt herself change location again, judging by the fresh breeze. Now she was back on the swing between her parents, at the beach house looking at the sunset. “I have made decisions for myself. She didn’t want me to see Tommy…”

“A damn good decision by her. Diana did well, right until she decided to give him a chance.” Thomas grumbled. “That boy is bad news, Kara. He doesn’t deserve to breathe the same air as you. You shouldn’t let him hold your hand. Who knows how many women those hands have been on.”

“Thomas!” Martha snapped.

“What? You think he deserves someone like her? She is brilliant, loving, beautiful, kind, and what is he? A womanizing, philandering, narcissistic ass…”

“Thomas!”

“… hole, whose father is morally bankrupt!”

“Thomas, that is enough!”

Kara took a deep breath. “So, you don’t like Tommy, Daddy?”

Thomas smiled and ruffled her hair, guiding her head to his shoulder. “Bunny, if I were alive, I would break every bone in that boy’s body the moment he tried to touch you in any manner. Not that it would come to that because I would never allow him into a room with you.”

“Oh…” Kara said. “I’m glad I won’t remember this if I wake up again.”

Martha took her hand. “You will wake up again. Don’t worry about your Dad. He would never think anyone was good enough for you.”

“I liked Ryan Choi.” Thomas disagreed.

“Thomas!” Martha sighed, exasperated. “Tommy has a lot of potential. He is changing just by being around Kara, finding his true self. Tommy is a fine young man…”

“You always had a soft spot for charity cases and lost causes.” Thomas grumbled.

“Dad,” Kara asked hesitantly, “you didn’t watch me and Ryan… did you?”

“Of course not!” Thomas said quickly, Kara feeling great relief. “But Diana knew.”

Kara’s eyes widened, shaking her head in denial. “No! She would have said something to me.”

“She had him picked up after you left that weekend and… ‘encouraged’ him to undergo a few days’ worth of tests for every conceivable illness known to man.” Thomas said proudly. “I raised that girl right.”

Before Martha could chide Thomas yet again, the sun went down, and the world began shaking. A bright flash of light appeared at the edge of the water, standing tall and opening wider.

Kara stood mesmerized, gazing at it longingly. She began walk towards it slowly, her arm raised in front of her as if reaching for it.

“Kara, we can’t stop you from going in.” Thomas told her, his voice sounding extremely worried. “But if you do…”

“If I do, I get to stay with you.” Kara told him. She knew what the light was. It was peace.

“If you do, you leave Diana behind. You leave her alone.” Thomas said, holding his hands up pleadingly, unable to touch her in this moment as it had to be her choice to stay.

“She has Steve.” Kara replied dreamily, inching ever closer, eyes losing focus.

“She needs you! Diana will lose her mind!” Martha exclaimed, the panic in her tone unmistakable. “Bruce needs you too, Kara! He is never going to leave that alley without your help. Alfred also needs you! He is hurting too.

“Your family needs you. The world needs you, Kara!

“Please, do not go in, baby. You fought to stay the last time you were here… fight again. Stay with us here. Once you cross that threshold, there is no coming back.”

Kara shook her head as if coming out of a daze. “That’s right… I was here. I want to go through so badly. I can feel the warmth. I would never be sick there.”

“I know, sweetie.” Martha assured her, reaching out though she couldn’t touch her either. “We know how it feels. It is wonderful and will always be waiting for you but not now… this is not your time. Please, Kara, stay here. It will keep tempting you, but you have to resist. You asked how you can fight? This is how… you resist it, Kara. Come back to the swing with me.”

Kara looked into her mother’s distressed eyes and nodded, taking a last look at the doorway of light. Finally taking Martha’s outstretched hand, she walked away.

---

Wayne Manor

At the manor, Eliza, Steve and Alfred all let out a relieved breath but were still extremely tense. Kara had gone into sudden cardiac arrest, her heart had literally stopped beating.

Eliza had worked quickly and skillfully, inserting a chest tube to drain the fluid that had built up in Kara’s chest cavity, the pressure causing her heart to stop. As the fluid flowed through the tube and out of her body, Eliza was able to shock her heart back into a rhythm.

“I thought we lost her.” Alfred said, a tremor in his voice.

Eliza shook her head, taking a deeper breath now that the crisis had passed. “The fluid buildup was rapid and seemingly random. It’s this damn virus. If it were airborne, we would all be in trouble. This isn’t some simple flu strain the woman poisoned her with. I’m fighting off the infection with cloned stem cells injected into her blood stream, but they are disappearing quickly.”

The doctor wiped sweat from her forehead and looked at Alfred. They were both pale and shaken.

“I thought we lost her too, Alfred.” Eliza admitted, her eyes tearing up. “She is a fighter and probably has a host of angels on her side. Let’s just hope they keep her safe until Diana returns.”

---

Themyscira

Bruce and Dig stood at the end of a row of the maze, watching Diana partake in a hand to hand battle with a minotaur. Neither men ever dreamed they would see a minotaur in real life, they were creatures of myth. Yet there it was… on nightmare island.

For the first time ever, Bruce had seen Diana thrown in the air. Instead of relying on strategy as she usually did, she opted to go with brute force and attacked the bull creature again.

So far, she had cut off its right hand, taken off a horn, absorbed four strikes of which she returned in kind and sliced its abdomen open, not enough to kill but definitely to wound.

Finally she sliced its knee tendon and the creature dropped, its head at shoulder level to her. Diana stepped behind it and grabbed the remaining horn, twisting and snapping its neck. She continued to turn until she finally ripped its head from its body.

Like the magic that caused it to rise in the first place, the rocky walls of the maze sank back into the ground.

“Should we have helped her?” Dig asked.

Bruce shook his head. “That is the first thing Diana has ever faced that pushed her. The cyclopes were no challenge. She needed the warm up. I have a feeling this Cronus guy is going to be a lot worse.”

The two men walked over to where she stood, breathing heavily, still holding the head by its horn. Bruce was not surprised by the wild look on her face, but Dig was chilled.

Bruce took his cowl off, reached out and touched her shoulder. “Diana?”

Diana met his eyes, hers seeming to burn from within, not really seeing him.

“We need to move so why don’t you drop the head?” Bruce suggested.

Diana blinked, coming out of a blood lust haze and dropped the minotaur’s head, taking a deep breath.

She nodded to the two, letting them know she was alright, and the trio left the small village.

Diana checked the skies and saw no gryphons or any other winged creatures. “It’s time to move and stop wasting time with skirmishes we can avoid. Prepare yourselves.”

Before Dig could ask what they should prepare for, he was flying in the air, Diana’s arms around his waist while Bruce held onto her shoulders.

He realized this wasn’t a flight, but a massive jump… incredibly fast and incredibly far. He hit the ground with a grunt, but not nearly as bad as it could have been.

The three had leaped the wall into the palace and were now surrounded by skeletons. It seemed every foot was covered with bones, armor and old weapons.

It was obvious the heaviest fighting had gone on here. Many of the skeletons were of cyclopes, a few minotaur, dozens of centaurs and other giant creatures.

Most were Amazons. The walls and dwellings around them were scorched and crumbled. Some walls were covered with soot as if they had been exposed to a heavy flame. Others were crushed with the shape of a human in them, making it obvious bodies were thrown with a high impact.

Bows, arrows, clubs, swords and shields lay all over the ground.

“This is probably where it started.” Bruce guessed.

“Put your helmet back on, Brother. We are close.” Diana said quietly.

Bruce agreed and slipped his cowl back on, while Dig scanned the area.

“To your left, Diana.” He whispered.

In a blur, Diana turned, lasso released, wrapping around a ghoulish figure similar to those they fought earlier, pulling it to her with a yelp. The creature landed at her feet.

Diana knelt next to it. “What are you?”

The creature looked as if he would avoid talking until his eyes widened and he took in the glowing rope around him in recognition.

“You have the Lasso of Hestia.” The shrill voice told her.

“What are you?!” Diana exclaimed, wrenching on the lasso, pulling it tighter.

“A creature of Cronus! Made from the dirt of the depths of Tartarus to serve him as a herald.” The monster cried out. “He commands us to watch your progress and report on your strength. He knows you, daughter of Zeus. He does not know the wraiths that accompany you.”

“Where is he?” She demanded.

The creature looked toward a wide hallway, entering the palace from the courtyard where they stood. “He rose at the birthplace of the godkiller. The gods were all gathered, the Amazons protecting their queen. Hera was dead by Zeus’s hand. Ares stood by his side while others were upset, declaring Hera could have been imprisoned. Those who celebrated your birth gave you their gifts… the gifts of the gods themselves.

“They never saw him coming. He broke the surface after taking the underworld with every creature the gods had created then cast aside, every creature that wanted revenge on Olympus and the Amazons.

“He has had his revenge. The remaining gods and Amazons are trapped in a prison in the underworld. To free them, you must go past him. You will never make it. He is stronger than you.”

Diana snorted. “If there is no other way, I will go through him… I have no choice. Are the Fates, the Moirai, imprisoned by Cronos?”

The creature nodded. “Yes, and your fate is unknown now… all fate is unknown.”

“That’s fine. I prefer to make my own fate, but I need them for my purposes… alive.” Diana stomped on the creature’s head, her boot crushing its skull.

“Man, that’s gross.” Dig mumbled.

Bruce was already scouting ahead, and Dig hurried to catch up. They came into what appeared to have once been a throne room. The throne was cracked, dried blood splattered the floor, along with more bones, weapons and armor.

“To the right.” Diana whispered.

The men followed her into a large chamber next to the throne room. In the middle of the chamber was a large hole, at least twenty foot in diameter.

On the far side of the room sat a small bed with an angled backrest.

“This is where you were born.” Bruce surmised, a solemn tone in his voice.

Diana took in the room briefly, then focused back on the hole in the ground. None of them could tell how deep it went or see anything of the bottom. It was a literal pit of darkness.

“Let me go first, make sure we don’t have a welcome committee waiting.” Diana said, then looked at Dig and Bruce. “Can the two of you get down on your own?”

Bruce nodded, handing his rappelling gun to Dig. “Every thirty feet, aim into the rock and fire. It will hold. Rappel down one hundred feet, then hit the second trigger on the right side of the weapon. It will release the cord and allow you to fall again. Repeat until you are close to the bottom. I’ll be there first and let you know when you are close.”

Dig took the weapon and nodded.

Diana jumped down into the hole and Bruce followed, while Dig took a deep breath, turned on the night vision in his helmet and jumped, making a mental note to ask Kara to upgrade the suit with a parachute.

A few moments later, Bruce heard Diana’s armored boots hit the floor and spread out his cape, the wind from his fall catching under it, allowing him to slowly glide to the ground.

Diana walked ahead slightly, searching for the source of the dim light that lit the ground they were on.

Dig slid to the ground and handed the rappelling gun back to Bruce.

“Nice tech. Where did you get it?” he asked.

“Nepal. I did a guy a favor and he gave it to me. It’s got nearly a quarter mile of chord in it and holds forty arrow heads that can break through anything short of steel and anchor.”

“Amazing. It doesn’t seem like it would carry that much. The anchor points… there is no way.” Dig said in apparent disbelief. “Is this magic or something too?”

Bruce grinned and placed the gun back into his belt, pulling the katana out as the two men joined Diana.

“There is a small torch not far, giving us light. It isn’t a straight drop, but it is steep so be careful.” She told her teammates.

Diana walked down carefully, sword at the ready, concentrating intently to hear to everything. She could hear her brother and Dig’s heartbeats.

Bruce’s heart was calm, and his breathing was steady. She suspected he had learned many meditation techniques in his years away to deal with fight or flight responses.

Dig also held his cool but his heart was racing. He had seen battle before and obviously knew how to deal with the adrenalin.

As soon as she reached the torch, she turned to speak to her brother to find him and Dig gone.

Diana turned back and found herself no longer in the dark hallway of Tartarus but in a graveyard. It was a graveyard she knew well. She was in front of crypt that belonged to the Wayne family. Her parents bodies were interred inside.

Diana had always hated this place. Her grandparents on her father’s side were also here. She had never known her grandfather, but her grandmother had been so sweet to her when she was little. Diana vaguely remembers attending the funeral at the age of six.

It was the first funeral she had ever attended but it wouldn’t be the last. She had lost both grandparents on her mother’s side two years later to a drunk driver, shortly after Kara learned to walk.

Diana saw a figure inside the mausoleum, covered in shade and carefully walked in. Looking around to her left and right were plaques with the names of those Waynes who had passed on. She was almost to the end when she saw her parents’ final resting place.

Beyond them, there should have been blank walls, no plaques, but there was another one.

The figure beckoned her closer, and Diana moved hesitantly, feeling her heart race. She was no longer in her armor and had no sword in her hand. She was wearing the same dress she wore to her parents’ funeral which should have been impossible because she burned it the next day.

Diana looked at the plaque next to her mother’s and felt sick.

~ Kara Elizabeth Wayne ~

“You weren’t good enough.” A familiar voice whispered in the wind.

Diana was finally able to see the features of the female figure.

It was her little sister.

Her skin was pallid, her face sunken in and cheekbones prominent. Her blue eyes were clouded over, a permanent fog.

“Kara?” Diana responded in a horrified, broken whisper.

“You said you would protect me, Didi.” An eerie echo reverberated in Kara’s voice, sending a shiver down Diana’s spine. “You said as long as I did what you told me to, I would live.”

“This isn’t real.” Diana mumbled. She reached out for Kara and recoiled when she touched her shoulder. Her body was like ice, muscles stiff.

“This is your fault.” Kara’s voice sounded hollow, her tone was accusing. “I had everything I wanted, and it was taken away… because of you. I died alone while you walked around the underworld, never finding what you were looking for. Only Alfred was here to bury me.”

Diana felt terror. She had felt it before, every time Kara became deathly ill, and she could do nothing but stand and watch Eliza treat her. She shook her head in disbelief, willing herself to break free from this nightmare.

“I called for you.” the voice continued. “I woke up before I died. I needed you to comfort me. I asked Alfred where you were, and he told me he didn’t know. You didn’t succeed and I died alone. I was cold and you weren’t there to hold me.”

Diana shook her head. “That’s not true. That’s not what happened. This isn’t real. I am going to find the Fates, get them to fix you… to heal you. I’ll go through Cronus to get to them.”

Kara dropped her head. “Diana, you have never fought anyone as strong as you. You have never been in a real fight. Do you really think you can fight an ancient Titan, one who captured your race and the gods of Olympus?

“You can’t win, Diana. You aren’t good enough.”

Diana knelt on the ground, feeling the truth in those words.

Kara knelt beside her. “I always wanted to go to Paris. I wanted to see the great pyramids in Egypt. We talked about it all the time. I wanted to see the Coliseum. You told me no. You always told me I had time, to be patient.

“My time has run out. Maybe if you give this fool’s errand up, you can return home somehow. Maybe you can be with me when I pass over.”

Diana shook her head and grabbed her hair with her hands. “You aren’t going to die. I can’t go on without you. Not you, Kara. I have lost everyone. Bruce abandoned us, Mom and Dad were taken from us but as long as I have you, I could move on, I could live. I won’t lose you. I can’t.”

“You already have. Look at me.” the voice said softly.

Diana met her eyes and saw they were now completely fogged over. Her skin was deteriorating, her entire body was withering away, decaying before her eyes.

Diana screamed .

While Diana was succumbing to terror and despair, Bruce was in a cave. He did not recognize it but didn’t need to. The flapping of the bats told him he was under Wayne Manor somewhere, most likely at the bottom of the sinkhole he had fallen into as a child.

This time Diana wouldn’t be there to bring him out.

A figure walked out of the darkness, one that had been forever branded in his mind. His parents’ murderer stopped in front of him smiling, the damn gun in his hands.

“Hello, kid.”

Bruce closed his eyes and smiled. “I’ve faced you before.”

“You cowered before me.” The spectre replied.

Bruce opened his eyes, still smiling. His arms stretched out. “I faced my greatest fear already. You were there and so were my winged friends. You weren’t fond of them either.”

Bruce watched as over a thousand bats flew in and surrounded him. His heart raced but he remained calm, basking in the feeling of darkness, the sound of the wings flapping, those horrible swarming sounds amidst the screeching of the flying rodents. They surrounded him and he accepted them, welcomed them. Soon, they were no longer biting, no longer hitting him. They encircled him in a living tornado.

Joe Chill stood wide-eyed, watching the Batman control the creatures from his nightmare.

Bruce reached out and directed the bats towards the man who took his parents from him. Chill was engulfed and screamed as the bats surrounded him. In seconds, he could not be seen. The bats dispersed and Bruce was alone.

Daylight lit up the cavern as the scenery shifted to a desert. He saw Dig on the ground a short distance away kneeling over a body. Dig was dressed out in desert combat fatigues. There were bodies all around, signs of an obvious firefight.

Bruce walked up behind him and saw Dig looking at the dead body of a fallen enemy, one who couldn’t have been more than eighteen, probably younger.

“Dig?” Bruce asked, touching his back.

The big man jumped and scrambled away from Bruce. He was terrified. “I killed this kid. I didn’t know… I didn’t know! It happened so fast. We were protecting this guy, this scumbag, and all the kid wanted was to kill him. He died… and I killed him. Now Kara is going to die.”

“No, she isn’t.” Bruce said emphatically.

“It’s my fault. I promised Diana I would keep Kara safe, I stayed by her side and still… some damn woman poisoned her! She is going to die because I failed!”

“We aren’t going to let that happen.” Bruce assured him.

“What if I kill another kid? What if I hesitate and it isn’t a kid but something that can kill all three of us? Kara is going to die then and it’s going to be on me. Kara is the first person I’ve ever protected who was worth protecting with my life and I failed.” He rambled.

Bruce sized up the situation, looking at the darting eyes and hysteria coming from the normally calm, former soldier.

Sighing, Bruce reared back and hit Dig in the jaw. “Better?”

Dig rubbed his jaw, shaking himself out of his confusion. “Thanks, I think.”

Bruce took off his cowl. “Something is happening to us, Dig. I’ve faced this before. The place I was at, the training I went through, I was given a hallucinogen, one that makes your deepest fears feel real. I had to learn to fight through it, to remain calm.

“Something or someone in here is doing this to us. I need you to stay calm and keep telling yourself this is just an illusion. There aren’t any kids here. Kara isn’t going to die, and it wasn’t your fault that an invisible witch poisoned her. We are here now.”

“Why aren’t you scared?!” the man asked.

“I’m terrified.” Bruce admitted. “I’m afraid I will stand by helpless while Diana is killed, unable to help her. I’m afraid Kara is going to die. I’m afraid she is going to die hating me, that both my sisters will die hating me. I’m afraid of feeling helpless again, just like when my parents were murdered in front of me. I am afraid of these mythological creatures I have no experience fighting.

“That’s good though. I welcome the fear and can turn it on our enemies. Weren’t you scared in combat?”

Dig shook his head. “I had nothing to lose then. The first person I’ve found in my life that really needs protection and is worth dying for, is dying and I can’t stop it.”

“You’re wrong, we can.” Bruce assured him. “Fighting for something is better than fighting for nothing. I’ve been a horrible brother, but I have become a warrior and I know when something is worth fighting for.

“Diana is going to need our help, she has never faced something like this, never known fear or the possibility of failure.

“So, that terror you are feeling? Let it in, embrace it and control it. It isn’t easy but if you weren’t capable, Diana never would have put her trust in you with the most important person in her life.”

Dig closed his eyes then opened them and took in the dead body of the boy he had killed. The child’s eyes were open wide as if not expecting death.

A tear escaped his eye as he placed his hand over the boy’s face and closed his eyes.

Bruce stood up, satisfied that Dig would be okay and focused on finding Diana.

“Diana, where are you?” Bruce whispered.

The world around him turned and instead of being surrounded by sand he was surrounded by tombstones.

Bruce didn’t have to wonder. He knew exactly where he was and immediately began walking towards the crypt.

Diana was inside where he expected her to be. She was wearing a black dress on her knees, cradling a skeleton that had strands of blonde hair.

“Diana?”

“Stay away from her! You can’t have her!” Diana screamed, clutching the bones tighter.

Bruce shuffled back and held his hands out in a calming gesture. While some could be paralyzed by fear, Diana was like a cage animal who would strike out easily.

“Di, it’s me… it’s Bruce. Look at me.”

Diana met his eyes with her own red-rimmed, wild ones.

“That’s not Kara in your arms, Didi. Kara is waiting for us at home. We need to get the three weird fate women, free them, convince them to heal her or beat them until they do.”

“I can’t! I can’t beat him! I’ve never been in a real fight in my life. I can’t win and she is going to die. I should go with her… I can run this sword through my heart, and we can be together with Mom and Dad. She never got to see the damn pyramids, Bruce!”

Diana was hysterical. He knew he had to reach his sister and the only way he could do that was to be her brother, not the Batman.

Bruce moved closer to her and dropped to one knee. “You can’t win? I’ve never heard you say that, Diana.”

“I’ve never had so much to lose.” Diana admitted, tears streaming down her cheeks. “I should have taken her to see the pyramids. I should have taken her so many places, given her so much more but I didn’t because I was afraid of losing her! I robbed her because of my fear and now I can’t even fight for her!

“He’s defeated gods! He defeated a nation of Amazons!”

Taking a chance, he reached out and touched her cheek. The movement and familiarity of his touch caused her to tremble, her eyes now focusing so she could truly see him.

“He’s never fought you, Diana. This isn’t real. He is playing on our fears, trying to weaken us before we reach him.

“Do you know why? Because he is scared of you. He knows he can’t beat you. He lost his freedom before and this time he is going to lose his life. Think about it, Diana. He can’t beat you and he knows it. You are going to free them all, you will get a cure for Kara.”

“He has an army.” Diana whispered, fighting to break through the fear, he could see it now in her eyes as she focused on his face.

“And you have us. We’ve got this, Didi. Our little sister needs us. Kill this guy and then take Kara to see the pyramids. If she is talking to me by then, I’ll come along. I promise to get along with the fiancé and even leave the bat suit behind.”

Diana shook her head, still struggling. “Kara is already dead.”

“Then where is she?” Bruce asked, reaching down to take her hands in both of his.

Diana looked at her arms and saw no body, no bones. She stood and saw the plaque that held Kara’s name was no longer there.

Diana was back in her armor, sword in hand. The despair on her face was gone, replaced with fury.

“There’s the crazy, rage-filled, domineering sister I love so much.” Bruce told her as he too stood, relief obvious in his voice and a huge smile on his face.

The twins and Dig were once again in a dark corridor.

“Thank you.” Diana told her brother, clasping his shoulder gratefully.

Bruce nodded. They all heard a moan and continued walking around a curved corner, weapons raised.

Embedded in the rock wall to their right was a body. They wouldn’t have noticed except the face was visible: dark, obsidian even, with red eyes and no hair or eyebrows.

“I am sorry.” The bodyless face said. “Since he imprisoned me here, I can no longer control my power. My purpose is to warn away all who dare to venture here. Who are you?”

“Diana. You are?”

“Deimos. Worry not of my brother. He died in the initial war.” The expression on the trapped god’s face morphed into one of hope. “Diana, Princess of Themyscira, rightful heir to the throne… daughter of Zeus and Queen Hippolyta. You have returned to free my family.”

Diana nodded. “I have, though not by choice.”

“Hecate.” The red eyes flashed. “I know she escaped. She has lured you here and refused to fight by your side. She always was a coward.

“My body is ruined, and I shall be trapped here for all eternity, but you can end my suffering. Use the Sword of Athena to break through this rock, pierce my heart and set me free. I need no mortal coil to live on with Hades.”

Diana nodded and listened closely, placing her sword to the rock near his beating heart.

Deimos spoke again, warning her. “Be wary, Princess. He carries a harpe sword, given to him by his mother, Gaia. The tip is made of the hardest diamond of this world. He killed his father with it. The prisoners are held behind enchanted bars, past the throne room and guarded by great beasts. Only an enchanted object can destroy the lock.”

“I understand. Thank you.” Diana told him.

“Thank you, godkiller. Cut him down and avenge us.” Deimos replied.

Diana pushed the sword into the rock and felt something give inside. Deimos gasped and then closed his eyes, his breathing stopped.

“Everyone okay?” she asked.

“I haven’t been okay since this started but I am in combat shape.” Dig reported.

Turning to her brother, she said, “Bruce, I assume your katana qualifies as enchanted.”

“It should.” Bruce replied. “If it isn’t, I’ll figure something else out. You engage him, Diana, keep his attention while Dig and I get past him and these guard dogs. We will succeed in freeing the prisoners and you are going to succeed in killing him.

“So… kill him, save the Fates, have them change Kara’s fate then figure out a way we can kill Hecate and still make it home.”

“Glad you are thinking ahead, Brother.” Diana told him, not having forgotten about Hecate for a moment and the revenge she planned upon the woman who had attacked her heart.