Chapter 11

While Vulko and the other Atlanteans had been given permission to retro-fit the underwater cave to suit their needs, Mera and Tula were with Peter and the other members of the Justice League in the library of the Wayne Mansion where they were scrutinizing the trio of amazons before them.

"I don't trust them." John Stewart said.

"For obvious reasons." Batwoman said.

"What reasons?" Black Canary asked.

"The fact that they just showed up out of the blue and say they're here to help us." John said.

"The Atlanteans did the same thing." Element Woman said.

"Yes, but we had a representative of theirs to speak on their behalf." Cyborg said, indicating Mera.

"Sides, we can't just kill them." Lady Blackhawk said.

"Well..." Robin started to say.

"No! We're not going to." Batman snapped.

"It's not like they're completely human." the boy wonder said.

"They're Amazons." Black Canary said.

"Meaning?" Lady Blackhawk asked.

"They're warriors." Black Canary added.

"And we are not?" Starfire asked.

"They kill because they can." Raven said.

"And I thought they hated men anyways." Batwoman said.

"Well, not all of them hate all men." Peter said.

"Yeah, look at Diana and Arthur." Supergirl said.

"And if the Amazons and Atlanteans are working together, some of them might actually be more than associates and such." Superman said.

"You're suggesting romantic relations between the ranks of two warrior races? The king and queen is one thing, but the rest of them?" Zatanna asked.

"We live in a world where nothing is impossible." the Man of Steel said.

"We Amazons are not violent like the men of Mans World." Nubia said.

"Yet you claim to be warriors, wielding swords and spears and arrows with ease for thousands of years." Jonn Jonzz said.

"Meaning?" the dark-skinned amazon asked.

"Meaning... you might want to reevaluate what you actually are." the Martian said.

"The Amazon culture has forever been warriors. Peaceful warriors." Nubia said.

"You do realize how confusing that statement is?" Black Canary asked.

"We can settle that one later." Superman said.

"Yes, you said that you were sent here by the goddess Athena. For what purpose, exactly?" Peter asked.

"To find a means of defending this world against the coming danger." Donna Troy said. "Our Queen and her new king are rather... busy." she said sheepishly.

"Yeah, we know." Peter stated.

"What 'danger'?" Cyborg asked.

"Darkseid." Cassie said.

"Who or what is Darkseid?" Cyborg asked.

"A powerful alien warlord who seeks to enslave Earth and it's people to his will. To add this world to his ever-growing empire." Peter said.

The group looked at the Spider-Atlantean hybrid with shock and interest.

"So... he's kinda like a super-powered alien version of Hitler?" Batman Sr. asked.

"Pretty much." Peter agreed.

"How do you know all this?" Cyborg asked.

"Someone like Darkseid is too powerful and infamous not to be known." Peter said.

"I've never heard about him. And if I haven't, then the US government surely hasn't. And besides, you're from another dimension. How could you possibly know about him when we didn't?" Cyborg asked.

"It's sort of like being on the outside looking in. And besides, you didn't know that the government was holding Kal-El and Jonn Jonzz." Peter said.

Cyborg seemed to grimace at that. Another reminder that his own government apparently didn't trust him as much as he thought.

"That's different." he said.

"Only because you're too much of a boy scout to believe otherwise. Which they no doubt took advantage of." Peter replied.

Cyborg was getting a little upset at being kept in the dark. And not just by the heroes who clearly knew more about his own world than he did.

"Do you have information on this Darkseid character?" Cyborg asked.

"I do." Peter said.

"Show me."

The heroes followed Peter down into the Batcave where he booted up the information on his computer. Meanwhile, the rest of the heroes were talking to the trio of amazons. John Stewart and Element Woman were talking to Ebony, Flash and Black Canary were talking to Donna, and Supergirl and Zatanna were talking to Cassie.

"Here's what I have on Darkseid." Peter said as he showed Cyborg the information on the computer.

Ten minutes of reading information and analyzing the video files of Darkseid, the cybernetic hero had only one response.

"My God!" Cyborg gasped.

"Never took you for a Christian." Peter said.

"I'll take whatever help I can get nowadays." he said with a sigh. "In the last few days, everything I thought I knew, ever believed in and trusted, has be flipped upside down, stuffed into a blender, pureed, tossed into a microwave and burnt to a crisp."

"Wow. That's graphic." Peter laughed a little at the analogy.

"What I mean is, everything has changed. Everything is different. Thanks to you." Cyborg said.

"Uh... you're welcome?" he shrugged.

Cyborg just looked at the Arachnid/Atlantean hero with a smirk.

"Even you're different then when you first got here." he said.

"Yeah, and that was my choice." Peter replied.

"So you coming here and helping us was not your choice?" Cyborg asked.

"No. I was recruited for this. Inter-dimensional travel isn't my usual M.O. I'm usually a street-level hero. Catching muggers, bank robbers, breaking up crime syndicates, and, of course, the super-villain of the week. I even had my own Rogues gallery and everything. But I'm here now, apparently forever, so I'm making the best of it."

"Yeah, I know. You and Mera have gotten pretty close." Cyborg said with a smile.

"Yeah, we... have a lot in common." Peter said with a blush.

Looking at the files on Darkseid Cyborg sighed he turned towards the aquatic webslinger.

"Assemble the League. We need to show this to them." the cybernetic hero said.

"You got it." Peter agreed.

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(Two hours after the 'Darkseid briefing')

In the upper floors of the mansion, Thomas found his wife, Martha, in her old room, working on something.

"Martha, are you in here?" the elder Dark Knight asked.

"Here, Thomas." she said, sitting at her old sewing table.

"What are you doing?" Thomas asked as he found his wife working on something.

"Making myself a new costume." Martha said as she diligently worked.

"New costume? For what?" he asked.

"What do you think?" she replied.

"Martha, you can't!" he protested.

"Oh? Why not?" she asked indignantly at her husband.

"It's too dangerous!" he said.

She looked at him incredulously.

"'Too dangerous'? After everything we've been through these last twenty years, you think that we can't handle what's going to be coming?" she asked.

Thomas did realize how he sounded, grimacing at his own hypocrisy. They had changed severely in the last twenty years from a doctor and his socialite wife. Done things that would normally have been considered crazy and suicidal.

"We did those things because we had no other option. I was drowned in grief; you went crazy." he said.

"Thank you for reminding me." she said bitterly.

"We had each other, we had Bruce... but after our son died..."

"And thanks to Spider-Man, or Peter, he isn't. We have a second chance, Thomas. We can't lose that."

"But what you're talking about doing is..."

"Exactly what we should have become. We should have become a team to fight against the evil that took our son. But we didn't. We became each others worst enemies. Grief and madness took hold of us in different ways. But now, we have a second chance with Bruce. And we have a grandson as well! I am not going to stand by and let something happen to them!"

The pair stared at each other for several seconds before Martha spoke up again.

"If we are going to face this... Darkseid... then win or lose we do it as a family." she said.

Thomas looked at the outfit she was making. It was a simple pink and wine-colored outfit. Reddish-pink boots and gloves, a lighter pink colored cloak and hood over an eight-button dress uniform with holsters on the pants beneath the dress itself. There were also a pair of guns on the dresser. Guns that didn't look normal.

"Where did you get those guns?" he asked.

"I had Peter make them up for me. They don't fire bullets, but energy bolts that can tazer anything. Non-lethal... unless I shoot them numerous times." she said.

"Right." Thomas sighed, at least glad she wasn't going to try and kill anyone. But he also wondered if just letting her become someone else was a good idea too. "So... what are you going to call yourself?" he asked.

"I was thinking about... Black Orchid." she replied.

"Black Orchid? Really?" he asked, somewhat amused.

"Well, the first Black Orchid died several years ago. I kind of like the name. It was one of my favorite flowers a long time ago. So... why not?" she asked.

"Right. Why not?" Thomas mused with a heavy sigh as he looked at himself in the mirror that was off to the side.

"Something wrong, dear?" she asked, noticing his pensive stare at himself.

"I think it's time for a wardrobe change as well." he said, looking at himself in his bat-suit.

"Because two Batmen are confusing enough." she said. Three if you count that woman.

"So much has happened in so short a time. I feel like a shadow of my former self." he said.

"We both do. This isn't who we were meant to be." she said as she stood up from her work table and walked over to her husband.

"We were meant to be dead." he said, still staring at himself in the mirror.

"I know. But we're not. Neither of us are in our prime. We can't make much of a difference... compared to Bruce and the others." she said.

"But we can still help them. Because that's what family does." he said as she moved up to him.

The pair kissed, holding each after such a long time apart.

"I missed this." she whispered as she buried her face into his chest.

"So have I." he replied softly.

"We have so much to make up for." she said with a suggestive nod.

"Yes. I guess we do." he replied as he kissed his wife again.

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