"Is it ready?"

A pair of hard green eyes turned to the source of the question. "It is. Are you?"

"If I wasn't, I wouldn't have asked for your help."

The tall, green-eyed man frowned and tilted his head in acknowledgement before returning his attention to a holographic console in front of him. All across its projection were vast, complex equations that integrated time, space, and—most importantly—relativity. His focus was only drawn away for a moment when he heard the telltale clicks of armor plates being affixed to a larger framework. His momentary glance alit on an almost equally tall figure whose back was turned to him, clad neck-down in a gray-black suit that clung to him like a second skin. With each new piece of overlapping armor, the suit disappeared more and more, concealed under a high-density ceramic carapace.

Green eyes returned to their task, laying in one final set of calculations, then pausing over the controls as they looked back to confirm that the other was too distracted by his equipment to notice a last-minute revision to the equation. At long last, he hit "enter" and confirmed the parameters of the device that had brought them both there on that overcast night. After doing this, he turned around and fixed his eyes on the armored figure's back, his arms crossed.

"Do you understand the ramifications if you fail?"

He paused for barely a moment as he pulled on a pair of form-fitting Kevlar gloves. "Yes."

Green-eyes nodded slowly, lips pursed tightly. "Do you understand the ramifications if you succeed?"

The other stopped entirely, letting out a hard sigh as his tone went frosty. "Just open the damn portal."

He shrugged and turned back to the console. "As you wish."

A single button-press sent a signal to a nearby device linked to the console, a large U-shaped metal arch coming out of a wire-strewn pedestal. Through those thick wires coursed flickers of bright gold, flowing in and in and in, until the entire structure began to hum with power. Within seconds, the inside edges of the arch began to glow with sapphire light, and a moment later, an explosive whir sounded as space-time folded in on itself and tore open entirely. Contained within the confines of the arch was a large, swirling ring of sapphire energy, its center darker than the blackest night. With a small sigh, green-eyes turned to the armored figure, looking him up and down and noting only one piece still missing from his ensemble: the silvery Y-visor helmet currently sitting in his grasp.

"I would wish you good luck," said the green-eyed man, "but I'd be lying if I didn't admit a small part of me hopes you fail…for your sake."

The other stared at his helmet for a second, then looked over at him with a bitter smile. "Guess you can add that to the long list of things we disagree on."

He tapped a certain place on the fabric on his neck, causing it to expand even further to cover his eyes, hair, and the area around his mouth and nose. His helmet went on over the retractable cowl, a near-inaudible click indicating its magnetic lock. After giving himself a last once-over, he strode toward the swirling portal and stood just beyond its mouth, taking a deep breath to calm himself.

"Safe travels, brother."

His helmeted head turned to meet those green eyes one last time before turning back to the portal. "Goodbye, Damian."

And with that, he stepped through into the infinite vortex of space and time.

…

Gotham City

16 years ago

Such a small thing had never before felt quite so heavy. Granted, she had seen keys and books no larger than normal weigh more than the average semi, but in this particular case she suspected the weight had less to do with composition than it did significance. Perhaps that was why she was going to be late to her own rehearsal dinner. A flight that should've taken less than an hour had stretched to two, giving her more time to think—or overthink, depending on how she looked at it. Even now, her stomach was tying itself in knots. Years of planning, preparation, and struggle were finally coming to a head.

And as she looked down at the diamond sparkling on her finger, she saw for the briefest moment a kaleidoscope of possibility that pushed a wide grin onto her face.

That grin faded to a curious frown when she caught sight of something else glinting in the faint light cast by the moon and streetlights. Her blue eyes widened in alarm when her instincts told her exactly what that glint was, and both arms shot up in front of her face a split-second before a high-velocity projectile struck a pair of concealed bracers. The illusionary magic over her bracelets faded with the impact, and the glint of the sniper's scope gave her a point of origin as she lowered them. A split-second before the second shot went off, her flight pattern altered sharply, a supersonic crack sounding in her wake as she plunged toward the shooter in a wide arc.

Another glint flashed through her vision from the window of the second-highest floor of a dilapidated high-rise, and a final shot streaked from that window, reflecting off her bracers before she crashed through fists first. Shattered glass, plaster, and wood scattered in every direction inward of her point of entry as her fists opened and fingers clamped down on the shoulders of the shooter. Her forward momentum pinned them to the ground and dragged them halfway across an open room before they came to a stop and she got a good look at her attacker.

She snarled and drew back a fist as her other hand pinned the shooter to the ground by her neck. "Minerva."

The feline woman pinned to the ground gave her a smile that was all teeth and savagery. "Diana. Fancy meeting you here."

Before her fist could even begin to move, she grunted as a hard knee was planted in her lower ribs, nearly throwing her off. Minerva's sharp pivot to the left finished the job, hurling Diana clean off into an elegant corkscrew that landed her in a wide three-point crouch. Cheetah's rifle came up to her shoulder as she rolled into a crouch opposite Diana, nearly getting a bead on her before Diana lunged forward and shunted the barrel aside with one hand while the other clocked Minerva in the jaw. A crouch-kick to the gut sent Cheetah flying into a far wall, separated from her weapon, which Diana quickly tossed to the opposite end of the room.

The cursed woman snarled and bared her teeth as her claws unsheathed, the two pacing around each other for a moment before Cheetah lunged for her face. Diana snapped her head away from the strike, countering with a shin-kick to the midsection that her opponent caught and tucked against her side. Using her momentum against her, Minerva pivoted counterclockwise and threw Diana toward the broken window. A brief touch of antigravity was enough to stabilize her falling arc and keep Cheetah in her sights. Apparently, she was taking no chances this time, because she beelined for the fallen rifle as soon as she'd released Diana.

Di was having none of it.

Her legs coiled and snapped outward, sending her rocketing forward into a flying knee that catapulted Cheetah out another window into a long freefall to a nearby rooftop. Diana followed in a much more controlled descent, landing some dozen feet off and stalking toward her with a menacing air.

"What are you doing in Gotham?" she demanded.

Cheetah coughed hard and smiled venomously as she pushed herself onto all fours. "I would've thought the rifle made that rather obvious, Wonder Brat."

Minerva's coiled position put her in the perfect stance to lunge for Diana, almost too fast to deflect. Diana's pant-suit was doing very little for her maneuverability, but at least she wasn't wearing a skirt. All the same, it hampered her movement just enough for Cheetah's claws to graze along her left thigh, drawing a thin line of blood. She countered a five-swipe combo with a backflip kick that landed solidly on Minerva's sternum and launched her onto her back. She hand-sprung back onto her feet only to be launched back by a flying forearm charge that slammed her into a nearby AC unit.

Cheetah reached back with a snarl, tearing off the jagged grate of the AC unit and hurling it at Diana. Her bracelets collided with it with a loud ping as she charged forward, the internal fan following a second later. The rest of the AC unit came last, dodged with a smooth airborne cartwheel that broke Diana's line of sight just long enough for Cheetah to lunge forward and slam her in the gut with a drop-kick. The wind was effectively knocked out of her as her side hit the gravel of the rooftop. Coughing hard, she clambered to her feet, her arms coming up to block a double falling claw swipe that left her vulnerable to a thrust-kick to the chest.

Dragging through the gravel, Diana scrambled to regain her footing as she felt a sharp breeze approach—and likely a set of claws to the back. That sharp breeze turned into an outright gale when an explosive whir erupted just between them, sending them both rolling through the gravel in opposite directions. Diana's head snapped up toward the source of the disturbance, eyes widening when she saw the roiling hole in reality. They widened further when it vanished, leaving behind a kneeling figure clad head to toe in steel-gray and black armor. The overall design and aesthetic were strikingly familiar, but what stood out the most was the helmet: Amazonian in design, but with a distinctly man-made flair.

As he slowly stood up, she noticed something else that immediately drew her eye: a pair of silver wings embossed on his chest, overlaid on a circular frame of red that made the silver stand out even more. When her eyes flickered to his helmet once more, she stopped short.

Whoever was in that helmet was staring right back at her with eyes like blue fire.

The moment of contact lasted for barely a second, but it was more than enough to make Diana uneasy. His attention shifted toward Cheetah, hands curling into tight fists. Apparently, what she saw in his eyes was even more unnerving, because she took one look at him and bugged out, leaping straight off the rooftop without sparing either of them a second glance.

Diana blinked hard in disbelief—she'd never known her nemesis to run from a fight. What the newcomer did next gave her a hint as to why she'd fled the scene so quickly.

He reached down to his right hip, pulled a slim, chevron-ended cylinder hanging from a multi-pouch belt; and flicked a switch on its side that sent a 32-inch blade and prong-ended crossguard unfolding from its upper tip. Without a word or any further delay, he leapt off the rooftop in pursuit of Cheetah, followed quickly by Diana.

"Wait!" she called, catching sight of him on his way down.

Cheetah, on the other hand, was nowhere to be found. It appeared his momentary delay had given her just enough time to break line of sight. Frowning, Diana returned her attention to the mysterious figure, whose descent slowed to a stop as he looked over his shoulder at her. His sword collapsed in on itself as soon as he met her eyes, and he took off toward a cluster of nearby buildings faster than she could catch up. He was flying at near-mach speeds, with every bit as much maneuverability as her, and he had a head start. As a result (despite the reflective nature of his armor), she lost track of him within a few turns. Even from a higher, birds-eye view, she couldn't seem to find him again for several minutes and figured he must have found refuge within one of the buildings.

Searching them all would've taken far too long, and besides, her objective was Cheetah. If Dr. Minerva was in town, she had one goal only: to make Diana's life a living hell. Having that happen on the night of her rehearsal dinner was unacceptable. As such, Diana backtracked toward the building where she'd tossed Cheetah's rifle only to find an empty room with two broken windows. Her teeth gritted.

She must've doubled back for it when we lost her. A frown creased her forehead as she looked down at her torn pants and sighed. Mending these is going to be such a headache.

Fortunately, the skin underneath had already mended, though the initial injury was little more than a scratch. It would be less to explain to the guests either way. Without a lead on Cheetah's location or the one who intervened, there was nothing more she could do but keep a weather eye out—and warn her groom-to-be of the danger. Ultimately, that was exactly what she did.

…

"A little liquid courage, sir?"

A tired, harried-looking Bruce Wayne turned to his faithful butler with a look that was bordering on pleading. "I really shouldn't. At this rate of stress, I'll burn through half our stock."

Alfred smirked wryly. "Price of being Gotham royalty, I'm afraid."

Bruce snorted and took a flute of champagne anyway, downing half of it in one go. If they only knew who the bride was. He frowned as soon as he was done chugging. Speaking of…

"Alfred, has she shown up yet? We were supposed to start almost ten minutes ago."

The butler hummed absently as he rearranged a tray of hors d'oeuvres. "Not that I'm aware of, however with the sheer volume of guests in the manor, I can't say that's surprising. If she hasn't arrived yet, there must be a very good reason."

Bruce frowned harder. "I should give her a call."

"Cool your jets, Brucie," drawled a familiar voice. "I doubt a woman like her appreciates a clingy man."

Bruce arched an eyebrow at her and the bespectacled man on her arm. "Well you would certainly know my type."

She laughed and held her date's arm closer when she noticed him getting a bit red-faced. "Easy Bruce, you wouldn't want my husband to blow a gasket now would you?"

He cleared his throat and looked around for any cameras before extending his hand to the…slightly taller man. "Mr. Kent."

The tiniest hint of a smile tugged at Clark's lips. "Mr. Wayne."

"Any chance of a Planet exclusive with you and the bride?" asked his wife.

Clark shot her a scandalized look. "Lois!"

She shrugged. "I'm just asking. As co-owner, I'd think you'd want your own paper to write nice things about you."

"Not that anyone would listen," Bruce replied. "I think they'd see it as nepotism."

Lois chuckled. "Fair enough." She glanced around. "You're right about one thing, though. She's late. Like, really late." She checked Clark's watch. "She's never this late for anything."

Bruce pulled out his phone and was about to dial when he caught sight of an unmistakable pearl necklace. He blinked twice in rapid succession to remove a speck of dust, his vision crystal clear and roaming over the tall, raven-haired woman effortlessly gliding toward him from amongst the crowd of guests. Three years they'd been together, and she still got him to stare like a teenager. Diana smiled knowingly as she sidled up to him and laid a chaste kiss on his lips.

"Sorry I'm late," she said, her tone clipped. "There was an…incident on the way here."

Lois and Clark looked between bride and groom nervously.

"Do we need to discuss this in private?" Clark asked.

She turned to him. "Bruce and I do. I'm sure you'll hear about it your own way."

He nodded slightly, taking the hint as the soon-to-be-married couple made their way into the empty study. Diana spent the next few minutes explaining her run-in with Cheetah in detail, from the weapon she used to the intervention of the mysterious armored man. By the end of her tale, Bruce was frowning hard.

"We need to cancel the rehearsal," was his first response.

"Bruce—"

"I'm serious. Attacking you tonight was no coincidence, and if she knows where you are, she'll try again. Having all these people around—and all the cameras—will only prevent us from stopping her."

Diana frowned. "And if we call it off now, she vanishes into the wind, probably along with whoever that man was."

Bruce steepled his fingers. "Which brings up another point. Did you recognize anything about him? His face, his fighting style? His armor?"

"I saw nothing of his face, only his eyes, and he never threw a punch. Though that sword of his was of peculiar design, and he certainly looked like he knew what to do with it. As for his armor…" She chewed her lower lip, shaking her head slowly. "I'm not sure. The helm certainly struck me as Amazonian, but they would never forge armor for a man; and the rest of his suit was much different. Overlapping plates as opposed to large pieces."

"What about the symbol on his chest? Did you recognize it?"

Her head shook. "Assuming an Amazon connection—which is unlikely—it could be a reference to the wings on my own armor. But again—"

"No Amazon would forge a suit like that for a man."

Another slow shake of the head. "There was definitely something…familiar about the design. And the way he arrived…"

"Gives us another dangerous unknown, yet another reason to cancel the rehearsal."

Diana gave him a reassuring smile. "Bruce, every window in Wayne Manor is bulletproof glass and she'd be assaulting a building full of Justice League members."

"Justice League members surrounded by press and cameras that have our hands tied."

She laid a hand on his. "If the worst does come to pass, I'm sure one or two of us can slip out undetected."

Bruce sighed hard. "I still think—"

She grabbed the sides of his head and made him meet her eyes. "Bruce Wayne, listen to my voice. We have been planning this wedding for the last nine months. I will not allow one cursed madwoman to ruin it."

He arched an eyebrow. "If something happens—"

"We'll deal with it—"

"—to you…" his lips pursed, "and it could've been prevented with a simple delay—"

"Then I will take full responsibility."

His voice went quiet and gravelly. "Di…"

"Bruce," she interrupted with a brief kiss, "Minerva has tried her hardest to send me from this world, time and again. Every time, she has failed, and that will not change tonight." She smiled. "I promise."

He sighed hard and nodded slowly, gently pulling her a little into his lap and kissing her. When they pulled apart, he laid his forehead against hers, eyes closed and voice quiet.

"I love you."

Diana smiled and whispered her answer against his lips. "I love you too." She stood up abruptly and grabbed his hands. "Now, let's get this show rolling."

Bruce smiled a little and let her pull him upright. "Yes, ma'am."

…

All in all, the rehearsal went swimmingly until the time came for Bruce to go up and await the bride, who was arrayed in a deep turquoise number for the rehearsal. Bruce himself was outfitted in one of his usual business tuxes and standing next to the groomsmen. Clark, of course, was first in line as best man. Next down was Dick Grayson, then Tim Drake, Barry Allen, and finally the ringbearer: a snobbishly dapper Damian Wayne, whose appraising yet bored countenance bespoke his opinion on the whole affair. On the bride-side, Lois Lane stood in the place of the maid of honor. Behind her were Barbara Gordon (who was using a Wayne-Tech spinal brace to stand), "Clara" Kent, Dinah Lance-Queen, and Shayera Hol (whose wings were concealed with a holo-ring Cyborg cooked up for the occasion).

All were arrayed in the finest fabrics Wayne money could buy, mostly for the benefit of the cameras. Speaking of which, all eyes were on Bruce as the officiator, a balding minister from a Gotham church Wayne Enterprises had recently renovated, began to read off the script for the proceedings. Bruce tuned most of it out, making a note to mentally review it later. The rest of his mind was tuned on the wall-to-wall glass spanning most of the room's back wall, near the entrance. The door and surrounding walls were the only parts not left open to outside view, and as such gave Bruce a fairly large panoramic view of the Gotham City skyline some three miles in the distance.

His heart and mind were racing, though not because of the rehearsal. Such a brazen attempt on Diana's life so close to their wedding was yet another in a long list of incidents leading up to this day. A more superstitious man might have seen it as a sign that it wasn't meant to be. But Bruce was as stubborn as they came, and the Batman did not succumb to superstition—he caused it. In truth, Cheetah's plot to end Diana didn't worry him so much as the new player. By Diana's own account, he'd emerged from some kind of dimensional portal at the exact moment she'd been in danger of being flayed by Minerva's claws. Though he'd shown no sign of hostility toward Diana, his unwillingness to communicate his intentions and the circumstances of his arrival raised significant cause for concern in his mind.

After all, it wouldn't have been the first time someone from another universe tried to start trouble—or brought it with them.

As the minister began to close in on the processional section of the script, Bruce's mind snapped back to reality, noting Clark and Dick giving him a concerned look. He sent a small reassuring wave in their direction before facing the entrance door. The room they were hosting the rehearsal in was one of Wayne Manor's many ballrooms, connected to the city-facing lawn by a short, enclosed hallway that led to a small garden and gazebo. Diana was waiting in that hallway to be called out, and Bruce's faithful butler was notably missing. Amusement tugging at his lips, he allowed himself a small smile as the minister called her out and a stock music track began to play.

He tuned it all out and focused on the door, which opened to reveal his bride, who in her heels was just slightly taller than the gray-templed man escorting her down the aisle. Bruce couldn't help but smile, his heart beating a drumroll against his chest with every step she took. After a small whispered exchange between Diana and Alfred, she looked up at him and met his eyes. For the briefest of moments, he forgot all about Cheetah, all about Gotham, about Batman, his life's mission. For that single moment of contact, there was only Diana. A few years, hell, a few months ago, even that brief lapse of focus would've terrified him. Now it was just something he'd learned to live with, a blessed perk of the life he now had outside his mask.

Bruce could never really turn the Batman off, and Diana knew it. It was one of many things she'd had to come to terms with as their relationship had evolved. But having met someone equally as stubborn and devoted to his mission gave him a new perspective, and a degree of balance he'd always dismissed as impossible. The Batman would never truly sleep, but he now knew his place.

The realization alone made him smile. Diana smiling back made him smile wider.

They both vanished when her eyes turned from his eyes to his chest, when mirth turned to horror, and she screamed his name a split-second before the far window shattered.

…

Diana's brief moment of panic was quickly offset by a realization that put her mind somewhat at ease: her husband-to-be was standing right next to Superman. When the sound of shattering glass reached her ears, her eyes snapped back and up, to the window currently spraying debris all over the entrance. Her massively enhanced reflexes allowed her to see it at last: a bullet, of the same shape and size as the ones fired from Cheetah's rifle, streaking straight toward Bruce's chest. She tracked its path back up through the window, the trajectory aiming above the treetops of the surrounding forest—which made no sense.

Cheetah didn't fly.

However, that was hardly her main concern as the supersonic projectile speared toward her beloved. In the millisecond before impact, she turned to face Bruce, expecting the hand of his glasses-wearing best man to snap out faster than mortal eyes could see and snatch it from the air. The actual intervention was a bit…a lot more high-profile. Specifically, the skyline directly above the platform occupied by the bride and groom's parties shattered, and the same armored figure from the rooftop descended feet-first between Bruce and the bullet. Two gauntleted arms crossed over his face, and the round shattered against them like cheap glass.

Diana had little time to process that before another break occurred and she whirled around to see another shot heading for her. She found herself harshly pushed to the floor when that same armored man flew past her and deflected the second shot with his left gauntlet. Her speed of perception returned to real-time, and Alfred grabbed her shoulders to haul her upright as the entire room descended into chaos. Another shot came through, stopped in its tracks once more by the mysterious rescuer as everyone scrambled to clear out into the adjacent rooms. Diana caught Bruce's eye from across the ballroom, exchanging a small nod as they went separate ways only to converge on the same spot: the study.

She'd been in and out of the house more than enough over the years to know every which way to and from that room. With Alfred running interference with the guests and press, and an unspoken agreement for the Leaguers present not to make a scene, Bruce and Diana approached the study's grandfather clock unopposed. Not a word passed between them as Bruce set the clock's time to 10:47. A loud click sounded as the clock swung outward, revealing a darkened passageway into the secret undercroft of the manor. Primitive stone and traditional masonry quickly gave way to more modern engineering as parallel strings of lights lit up the passage and illuminated the entrance of a high-speed elevator that opened to permit them entry.

As soon as the doors slid shut, Diana's stomach dropped a bit with their sudden acceleration, and she gave her fiancé a long look.

"I guess we know which side he's on."

…

Once they reached the entrance of the Batcave, it took them a scant sixty seconds to suit up. She always kept a spare suit in his cave for this exact purpose, though this one was redesigned to better fit the darker, grittier aesthetic of Gotham City. That particular acquisition was…well, she had a bit of help from the ladies. As point of fact, most of her bridal party had been there for that…event. Kara put her designing skills to good use, Dinah had some input with the aesthetics, and Barbara helped with functionality.

The end result? Her traditional red-and-gold breastplate had been changed to silver and a darker red, with a fiber-armored navy-blue jacket not dissimilar from Dinah's adding a little extra protection. The usual one-piece design of the top and bottom had been abandoned for this suit, giving her instead a set of navy skintight Kevlar leggings, with calf-high boots lined with ceramic armor plating. Her Bracelets of Submission changed little, considering they were bound to her soul and able to be summoned to her person at any time. The final piece was a steel-gray circlet bearing her classic red star, and was the last part of her armor to be donned before Bruce came from his own armor chamber and turned on the Batcomputer.

"I had Tim and Dick double back to the ballroom when the shots stopped coming, get data on the angle and trajectory of the bullets." Said data was reflected on-screen in a wireframe projection of the room they'd just vacated. "According to this, the shots came from beyond the treeline—" a long, glowing line was drawn from the manor, "—all the way from Gotham."

Diana's brows furrowed. "That's impossible. No one is capable of taking a shot from that far away. No one human anyhow. Not even Cheetah."

Bruce frowned. "Unless there was something special about the weapon itself. Why use a laser sight at such a distance? Factors of wind, humidity, and even Earth's rotation would've rendered it completely obsolete."

"Unless the rounds were drawn to the laser's path," came a new voice from the elevator.

They both turned to see a tieless Damian striding toward the computer. He hit a few keys before either of them could respond, bringing up a case file from a few months back.

"According to Black Bat, an arms dealer in Cambodia was peddling smart rounds to the local militia: self-propelled, laser-guided bullets capable of maintaining accuracy up to five miles from the target."

"Cheetah must've gotten her hands on a shipment," said Diana. "And with her abilities, she would've been able to keep the rifle steady enough to stay locked on."

Bruce continued the trajectory's path to a 3D projection of Gotham. "That gives us one good perch from which to hit both of us."

Damian snorted and crossed his arms, his smaller form giving the perfect picture of disgruntled heir. "How's that for irony?"

Bruce glanced back at him. "Suit up. Diana, you can get there faster."

She nodded and put an earpiece on. "I'll keep in contact, let you know what I find." Moments later, she exited the cave via the tunnel used for the Batwing, tapping her earpiece to establish a link to the Batcave. "What happened back in the ballroom?"

Damian's voice answered over her commlink. "No one was hit, and the shots stopped as soon as you two cleared out. You were definitely the targets."

"And the man who intervened?"

"Left the way he came, and went supersonic a few seconds later. Based on the direction of the sound, I'd say he went after the shooter."

Diana put a little extra power into her flight, going supersonic herself. "Then we need to hurry. If he finds her first, I get the feeling there won't be much left of whoever loses."

…

Damian's earlier comment about "irony" glared Diana in the face as she touched down on the rooftop perch from which the shots were most likely fired. Specifically, the central tower of Wayne Enterprises, which appeared deserted at first glance.

She tapped her earpiece. "Batman, I don't see any signs of—" she stopped short as something caught her eye, "—hold on."

Diana strode over to a rooftop AC unit with several score-marks, some that looked like claws, but one that looked considerably different, like a razor. She looked around for other signs of battle and found a small bit of concrete clipped off one of the safety rails. Tracing the path of battle downward, she spotted another set of claw-marks and began to piece together what had happened here.

…

Barbara Minerva was known for many things, chief among them a fiery temper matched only by the sharpness of her claws. So, to have her ultimate vengeance thwarted twice, in quick succession, by a player she'd never even heard of, was the greatest slap in the face she could've imagined. Thus, her vengeful fury was redirected to the newcomer, who'd taken off toward her at frightening speed as soon as Diana and her man-pet had cleared the ballroom. The entire magazine of smart-rounds was expended in the time it took for him to close the distance, not a single shot landing despite her precision.

His opening move was a flying shoulder charge that just missed her rolling form. She brought her rifle around like a bludgeon and managed to score a glancing blow on his shoulderblade. He rolled with it, touching down on the rooftop and sliding through the gravel a few paces while whirling toward her. Those cold blue eyes peered out at her from behind his helmet, sending an unpleasant shiver down her spine. What was it about this man that set her so on edge? Either way, her bulky weapon was becoming more of a liability than a boon at this range, so she slung it and unsheathed her claws with a snarl.

The little bit of his face she could pick out showed him snarl back and lunge to meet her in the middle. Magic claws met metal vambraces as he crossed his arms in front of him, both struggling, testing each other's strength.

"Who are you?" she growled.

He didn't answer except to push harder, getting her just off-balance enough to nail her with a low knee just out of her field of vision. The blow hurt, like getting hit with a flying cinderblock. The shin-kick to the lower ribs hurt worse and sent her stumbling a few steps. Baring her fangs, Cheetah surged toward him with a flurry of kicks to the head and shoulder. All of them were blocked in rapid succession with his bracers, his boxer's guard effectively turtling him up. Grinning madly, she used his constricted form to trip him with a vicious spin-kick that would've dislocated the joints of a lesser being. As it stood, he hovered mid-fall and fixed her with a fierce glare before planting both his feet in her chest and catapulting her back through the gravel.

He lunged forward before she could recover and shoved her into a nearby AC unit, then reached to his right hip and pulled something off his belt. Cheetah's eyes widened when she saw it expand into a 32" double-edged sword and swing for her neck. She ducked to the side and countered with a sideways swipe when his blade carved a long line through the unit. He snapped his head away from her attack, using his blade to parry her claws with inhuman precision. A torrent of strikes bore down on him from every direction, many of her attacks boring deep gashes into the AC unit when he dodged.

So caught up was she in maintaining her onslaught that she failed to notice one of his hands leave the hilt of the sword and retrieve a strangely-designed gun from his belt. She shrieked when a sharp pain pierced her lower right side, eyes glancing down to see a thin filament sticking out of her tawny skin. Her eyes widened in realization a split-second before he lunged backward and yanked hard with a growl, the force behind his pull hurling her toward the concrete rail on the far side of the rooftop and yanking the metal barb from beneath her skin. Pressing one hand to the small hole in her side, Cheetah looked up to see him flying toward her with murder in his eyes and that sword in his hand.

She threw her hands up in a guard, feeling the edge of his sword bite into her fingers as they wrapped around the blade, just managing to keep it away from her face. His forward momentum carried them both over the edge, and she snapped out a hand to grasp the rail as their combined weight pulled them down. They hung for a moment before a hard yank from below broke off the piece of the rail she was holding onto, sending them tumbling through the air. She released the blade of his sword and kicked him off, digging her claws into the building's wall and slowing her descent for barely a second before being grabbed again and carried into the empty air.

The pommel of his sword struck her in the face, her teeth snapping out at his face and finding only empty air as he used his air superiority to reorient them and get an arm around her neck. One of her hands was focused on keeping that accursed sword away from her, while the other tried to find a weak point on the arm currently throttling her. Near as she could tell, his gauntlets were all but impervious, so she aimed a little higher and clawed behind her, trying to gouge out his eyes. She had only a few seconds of struggle before her mind caught up to her environment and barely a split-second to brace herself before she crashed face-first through the roof of a building.

…

Diana cautiously descended through the hole, entering the top floor of a Wayne Enterprises warehouse scheduled for demolition. A blessed thing, too, since the place already looked trashed from their conflict. It didn't take much for Diana to follow the trail of destruction, though there seemed to be some overlap in places due to doubling back. A loud crash from two floors down caught her attention and prompted her to fly down the nearest stairwell, turning a corner to see the two locked in furious combat.

The "knight" had his sword-edge mere inches from Cheetah's throat, and same for her claws on him, but he had her pinned to the ground and gravity on his side. That ceased to be the case when she snapped her legs up to pinch his neck and shoulder in a triangle choke and twisted him face-first into the ground. She managed to slip his grip and slash her claws across his back, pulling a harsh yell from his throat and prompting Diana to surge forward. As she drew closer, she could see the effects of their battle on both of them: Cheetah had numerous bruises and small cuts strewn all over her body; his armor was perforated in a few critical points, blood seeping through some of them while others seemed more like grazes.

When Diana clotheslined Minerva into a wall, she could feel her old enemy's exhaustion in how little she resisted. Still, she knew better than to underestimate the cursed woman and kept her distance, opting instead to put a hand on the mysterious knight's shoulder.

"Are you all ri—"

He abruptly shoved her aside and lunged for Cheetah, sword held underhandedly as if to stake her to the ground. Diana got over her momentary shock and reached to her hip to hurl the Lasso of Truth around his armed wrist. The golden cord went taut a second later, stopping his flying form in its tracks and yanking him back-first against the ground. A groan passed from his throat as Cheetah snarled and took advantage of his prone state to lunge for his heart. Diana heaved hard, pulling the knight well out of Minerva's reach and into her own. She grabbed his shoulders firmly, both to keep his shaky form upright and restrain him from doing anything reckless.

"Hold on," she implored. "You're badly injured."

His piercing blue eyes glanced back at her from behind the helmet, his answering voice gruff and gravelly, but artificially so. "Not so injured to stop now."

He tensed a moment before once again attempting to lunge for Cheetah, but Diana put a quick stop to that when she snapped the Lasso's hold on his wrist once more, then attempted to loop the cable around his other arm as well. He juked his wrist away from her grasp and dropped his sword into his free left hand, using the blade as a lever to widen the Lasso's loop and free his right arm. She made a grab for his head, but he ducked sharply and used his sword's crossguard to nail the Lasso to the ground by its loop when he drove it in to the hilt. The knight sprung backward into a twist-flip that landed him in a sprint toward Cheetah, who had unslung her rifle and swung it toward him like a bludgeon.

He ducked her first swipe, countering with a rising uppercut that missed when she twirled around him and elbowed him in the back, in one of his injuries. He flinched as Diana released the Lasso and flew toward Cheetah boot-first. She ducked and rolled away from the Amazon, spinning into a wide rifle-butt swing aimed at Diana's face. One bracer came up to block the strike, caving in the rifle-butt partway, but Cheetah used her high stance to hit her in the knee with a snap-kick, overextending the joint just enough to make her kneel in pain. She didn't get the chance to follow up on it when the knight leapt over Diana's crouching form and nailed Cheetah in the face with a flying knee.

She handsprung backward, using her momentum to twirl into another spin and keep swinging her damaged bludgeon. Two more strikes impacted the knight's bracers before a third was stopped in its tracks. Cheetah tried to yank the rifle loose, staring at its point of impact in confusion until his unoccupied vambrace sprouted a trio of arm-blades with a threatening click. Those blades swung for her neck, just missing when she snapped her head back. He brought the arm in the opposite direction in a falling cut, shearing through the rifle instead when she dropped her stance and realigned it to block him. The ruined weapon was cut in two when the blades passed through the center of its barrel.

Cheetah's lower stance allowed her to plant both feet in his gut, lifting him off the ground and leaving him vulnerable to a counterattack with the unstuck half of her rifle. A single bludgeoning shot landed on his head as she simultaneously mule-kicked him across the room. The resulting impacts knocked the wind out of him and his helmet clean off, revealing a fiber-armored cowl underneath that obscured most of his features, including his hair. Cheetah windmilled her legs as she scrambled to her knees, grinning at him madly as he tried to regain his bearings. Dropping the dead weight, she galloped toward him on all fours, lunging with her claws extended, aiming to skewer him with all ten.

A flying shin-kick from the side broke four of her ribs and promptly put a stop to that.

Wonder Woman didn't let up for a second.

Backhand, cross, uppercut, knee. Diana rained punishment down on her old enemy until she began to stagger and lashed out with one last desperate attack that grazed her cheek. Diana's counterattack left much more of an impact. Her right fist drove into Minerva's solar plexus with bone-crushing force, winding and leaving her vulnerable to a follow-up tornado kick that snapped across her jaw and decked her instantly. Cheetah let out a small, incoherent groan before falling limp, her eyes slipping shut. Breathing a little heavily, Diana turned her attention to the de-helmeted knight, whose cowl revealed severe, youthful features. His eyes barely wavered from the prone murderer at Diana's feet.

She held her hands up to calm him. "Easy. This fight is over."

His eyes flickered to the sword pinning her Lasso to the ground. "Not until she's dead!"

He lunged for the weapon and tore it loose with a hard yank, flying for Cheetah's unconscious form and finding himself waylaid when Diana tackled him to the wall. He elbowed her in the gut, trying his hardest to get loose, and managed to throw her off. She used her momentum to snatch up the Lasso and snapped it around his left ankle before he could get any closer to his target. Another steady pull brought him back to her, his blade attempting to wedge itself into the loop to widen it again. She put an abrupt stop to that when her fist slammed the crossguard hard enough to snap it from his grip.

He sent two rapid punches at her head, easily slapped aside and countered with a grab of his collar that allowed her to imprison his right arm in the golden cable. He continued to struggle with all his might, but any time he tried to strike out at her, it was clear he was holding back. That made her objective—to restrain and effectively hogtie him—all the easier. Within moments, a few grappling moves and a cartwheel over his form later, and she'd ensnared all his limbs in the glowing cable, pulling it taut to render him immobile.

"Enough!" she shouted, standing behind him with her hands on the Lasso. "It's clear you mean me no harm, but this is not the way."

"It's the only way!" he insisted, his voice almost pleading as he lunged forward ineffectively.

"Stop," Diana ordered, the effects of the Lasso's hypnotic pull stopping him in his tracks—though she could feel him physically vibrating with resistance. "Who are you, and why are you so insistent on her murder?"

His shaking only intensified as he fought the effects of his entrapment.

Diana frowned and pulled the cable tighter. "The Lasso of Hestia compels you to tell the truth; talk. Tell me your name, and the pain will stop."

The knight's breathing became labored and clipped, his struggles against the Lasso and its wielder seeming to fade when Diana heard movement coming from the stairwell and was briefly distracted by it. His struggles intensified sharply at the diversion when he dropped his weight on his left side hard, pulling Diana slightly off balance. He also managed to free his left hand, which snapped to his belt and pulled something from one of its many pouches. She lunged downward to get hold of his arm again, but failed to do so before he threw the object in his hand with all his might.

Diana flipped over him, still grasping the Lasso, and snapped her empty hand out to try and catch it, but was prevented when the knight pulled back on the cable and stopped her in her tracks. Her eyes widened sharply when she caught a closer look at the object, its spinning arc bringing it ever closer to the unconscious villain at the far corner of the room. The rhythmic whir of its razor-sharp edges stopped abruptly with a snap when a living shadow dashed from the stairwell and stepped into its path. Diana took a breath, then another, and heaved a sigh of relief when she saw the Batman holding the thrown weapon, pinned between his palms.

He slowly lowered his arms, fingers wrapping around one end of it and holding it in front of his face to give it a closer look. His dark blue eyes widened in shock when he saw what she had only moments earlier, exchanging a look with his fiancé, who nodded in confirmation. Batman looked back at Cheetah, fitting her with specialized shock-cuffs before striding over to the captured fighter and holding the weapon in front of his face: a predominantly black, silver-edged blade.

Forged in the shape of a bat.

"Where did you get this?" demanded the Dark Knight.

When the knight's lips remained tight, Wonder Woman tugged on the Lasso, making it glow brighter. "Answer him."

His lips and entire face trembled with exertion at fighting the effects before he gave a little and quietly uttered, "From you."

Batman blinked. "Explain. Who are you?"

The knight's jaw clenched with inhuman strength as he fought with all his might not to answer.

Diana gripped the Lasso tighter, increasing its magical pull. "Tell us your name, now." When he continued to fight, her voice hardened. "Your name."

He kept struggling, looking on the verge of tears as his eyes darted between them. With a final tremble of his lips, he began to speak, his voice coming out in a hiss, raspy and clipped with exertion.

"Jason—"

Diana blinked as she sensed Bruce tense at her side.

"—Thomas—"

Bruce's lips parted and her eyes widened as all the pieces began to fall in place, a small part of her hoping she was wrong.

"—Wayne." With the final utterance, he heaved and gasped for breath, his secret out and efforts to resist for naught. "My name is Jason Thomas Wayne." His eyes slowly drifted upward, meeting Diana's as he looked at her piteously. "Hi Mom." His gaze shifted to Bruce. "Hi Dad."

Diana gaped at him in shock, Bruce keeping himself only slightly more composed.

Jason smiled ruefully and threw his hands up as far as they could go in his entrapment, his voice lilting with sarcastic mirth. "Surprise!"

AN: So…eight months. Wow. This is by far the longest dry spell I've had since starting on this site. I'm more than a little disappointed with myself. But, you can't rush art, and with my eight-month sabbatical came a slew of new ideas, including this fun little concept. If you know anything about me and DC Comics, it's that I am a manic Batman-Wonder Woman shipper, thanks entirely to Bruce Timm's depiction of the two in Justice League and Justice League Unlimited.

A couple years back, I'd had an idea to write a story detailing how they get together in my Earth-1 continuum (which blends certain Arrowverse plotlines and characters with classic DC), and I still plan to write that, but it occurred to me at some point that a number of authors on this site have already shown that stage of their relationship. There are a ton of slow burn BM-WW stories on this site, exemplifying how their relationship starts, yet very few I've seen that focus on the time when they're already together.

For me, that's the most important stage of any romantic relationship; it's where all the growth happens. That said, this story begins way down the line from that, about three years in fact, and as you've already seen, the Bat Family is a bit on the large side, and Bruce and Diana are about to be married. With that context in mind, that brings me to the main point of writing this story, yet another thing I've always wondered about when it comes to these two. Specifically, what it would be like for them to have a kid together.

Thus, Jason Thomas Wayne was born. I've spent months fleshing out his character and story, and I hope I can do him the justice he deserves. He will undoubtedly be the main focus of this story, since the title itself bears his codename, but I would be remiss if I didn't include a host of other related characters in the mix, both established and original. For those of you who've read Assassins and Queens…well, first off I'd like to apologize for that absolute mess that needs to be rewritten. I wrote it during an adolescent, hormonal stage where writing was my only escape from the nightmare that is high school, and it shows. For the few of you who liked it, Caden Drake will be making appearances in this story, along with two other original DC characters, one of whom you've already seen in another story.

Other notable appearances will include the Red Hood, Black Bat, and Supergirl, to name a few.

By the time I release this story, I will have written at least at least one solid story arc, so keep an eye out for more content in the next days. I am definitely looking forward to writing more, if I can keep my inspiration up for this. I'm starting to get my flow back, though, which is a great sign after eight months of inactivity. The last time I came out of a dry spell this long, I wrote non-stop for a solid year, so I'm hoping for the best.

Anyhow, I hope you enjoyed this newest entry into my library and are looking forward to more.

Drake out.

Musical Inspirations:

Wonder Woman - Wonder Woman's Wrath: start-1:11—fast-approaching target/Wayne Enterprises duel/grabbing the Knight, 1:11-1:20—"Hold on"/"Not so injured", 1:20-2:44—Wonder Woman vs Knight vs Cheetah/helmet knockoff, 2:44-3:08—flying shin-kick/Amazon beatdown/KO, 3:08-end—"This fight is over"/batarang throw/"Surprise!"