Chapter 11
"I was angry," Diana said quietly as she put the finishing touches on her attire. "I'd suffered some reversals on the battlefield lately - against Aquaman at Easter Island, then the Secret Society ambush, and now I'd been put through a building by a numbskull with nothing more than a good right hook." She looked ashamed. "I think all the time I've been spending with Audrey has allowed my fighting skills to deteriorate a little."
Hippolyta shook her head. "You can't expect to have the same amount of time for training when you have someone in your life. Still, it's good that you recognize this, and you will have to work harder in the time you do have." She smiled a little. "It's not a reason to cut down on your time with her, though."
"I wasn't suggesting that," Diana said. "I need more time with her, not less. Especially now," she added, sighing. "But you're right about having to work harder. With Superman gone, we'll all have to."
There was a knock at the door.
"It's too soon," Diana muttered crossly. "I need time to finish."
Her mother went to the door. "Yes?" she asked, opening it.
One of the Amazons who had accompanied Hippolyta from Themiscyra stood there. "There's someone here to see Diana," she said calmly. "A woman."
"Hawkgirl?" Diana asked, turning her head.
"Are all you Amazons so tall?" Audrey asked from behind the Amazon. Her head barely came up to the woman's shoulders.
"Audrey?!" Diana gasped. "What are you doing here?"
"Let her in, Daphne," Hippolyta said.
The Amazon disappeared as Audrey came in and closed the door behind her. "Haven't you heard? Heads of state from over four hundred countries? Did you think Kasnia wouldn't send someone?"
"You never mentioned you were coming," Diana pointed out.
"I wasn't sure if I could get away from my security detail," Audrey replied. "I didn't want to get your hopes up. I can't stay long, though. I don't intend to cause a scandal on such an occasion."
"I'll be watching for you in the crowd," Diana said. "Mother, this is . . ."
"I think I know, Diana," Hippolyta said dryly. "Princess Audrey of Kasnia, correct?"
Audrey smiled. "You must be her mother, Hippolyta."
"I am. Diana has told me much about you."
"She has mentioned you on occasion," Audrey responded. "Once I had the impression that you never spoke any more. I am happy to see that is no longer the case."
"Audrey, before you go," Diana said, "I was talking to my mother about something, and I wish you would stay until I finish."
"Sit next to me, Audrey," Hippolyta invited.
"I was telling my mother about the day Superman - was lost," Diana explained. "About how angered I was by my latest setback in battle, how embarrassed I was." She looked anguished. "Great Hera, it seems so little compared to how I felt after."
Then she turned away from them. "I was an easy target," she said softly. "So Toyman's shot was meant for me. That service should be for me today. If my reflexes weren't so poor, if I hadn't allowed myself to be knocked down and rendered such a sitting duck, Superman never would have been hit." Diana exhaled, resigned. "I deserve to be the one who's gone."
"Diana, no!" Audrey said, appalled, Hippolyta just an instant behind her. "That's a horrible thing to say! Even Superman would tell you it isn't so."
"Daughter, if it had been an ordinary bystander who Superman saved from getting hit instead of you, would you blame that person?" Hippolyta reasoned.
"That's different," Diana whispered. "I'm a member of the Justice League. I knew better than to let myself - "
"You and your teammates have saved each other a hundred times," Hippolyta said. "Any one of those times, you could have died saving them."
"I thought we got past this," Audrey added.
"What?" Diana asked, bewildered.
"In Kasnia," Audrey reminded her. "I blamed myself for not listening to you. You blamed yourself for not thinking things through fast enough. We agreed not to wallow in those kinds of feelings."
Diana chuckled bitterly. "How about self-loathing? Is that one of those kinds of feelings? Because the anger I felt when I was struggling out of the wrecked foundations was a thimbleful compared to the hatred in my heart when I held that simpering Toyman in my hands," she said murderously. "I looked at that fake grin, and I knew how self-satisfied he felt because he, HE, got to go down in crime history as the man who killed Superman. And I told him I was going to put a hole in his head. It wasn't enough for me to destroy the mask, Audrey. I wanted to destroy the face and the mind behind it too."
"That kind of emotion is understandable, Diana," Hippolyta said soothingly. "But you didn't, and - "
"I stopped because Flash got there first," Diana told them.
"Did he physically hold you down to stop you?" Hippolyta asked.
"No, he just held my wrist and talked to me, reminded me that the League doesn't do that kind of thing."
"Then the Flash didn't stop you. He just got you to think. You stopped you."
Diana shook her head. "Don't you see, Mother? It was another side of myself, and I only caught a glimpse of it, but I recognized it. I should have, because she sat in a cell on the Watchtower. I've asked myself how I could allow myself to choose who deserved to die so easily. I wondered if perhaps that other Diana was different, twisted in some way. Now I know how easily I could be her."
Hippolyta straightened and clasped her hands in front of her waist while Audrey watched helplessly, wanting to hold Diana. "You haven't asked about her, you know."
Diana blinked before realizing whom she meant. "I suppose I wanted to forget about her."
"She's doing well, in case you wondered. Some of the others murmured that it was a trick, that it was you in disguise, but the positions she debated in public quickly silenced them. They were words you could never utter, Diana."
"Maybe she didn't have a Flash to stop her," Diana muttered. And of course she didn't. Flash was dead in that universe, after all.
"Maybe," her mother acknowledged. "But I think she's beginning to see the error of her ways. It's hard. It means owning up to a lot of mistakes, a lot of guilt. Life will be hard for her, but that's what atonement is about. The thing is, I love her the way I love you, and it breaks my heart when I look at her and think, 'How easily she could have been you.'"
Diana watched her mutely as Hippolyta came toward her and cupped her cheek.
"I can't tell you not to feel this way, because it's natural for people to question themselves when things like this happen," Hippolyta went on. "I felt that way when I saw Amazons die. As a queen, I ask myself every time if I could have made better decisions." She looked at Audrey. "When she is queen in her own right, she too will have days like that. I trust she will work toward fewer rather than more, but she will doubt her judgment when they do come. From what she's said today, I think she's already had a night or two like that."
"I have," Audrey said quietly.
"And it's the mark of a noble soul that you do," Hippolyta told them both. "The other Diana took her guilt and her doubt and her remorse, and she tied them into a ball and threw them into a deep well in her heart. But they're starting to resurface now. You, however, know the difference between right and wrong, but you doubt your ability to always know which is which. Sometimes, that can be a very great strength, Diana."
Diana looked down. "I feel awful, Mother. I feel like I've let the world down."
"And in time, you will lift it back up," Hippolyta assured her. "And I am sure Audrey will try her best to lift you up."
Diana's mother stepped back to let Audrey go to her. The princess did so, wrapping her arms around Diana's waist and hugging her fiercely. "I am not strong like you," she said firmly, "but I will lift you to the stars if I have to."
She put her arm around Audrey and held her tightly. "I know," she said, kissing her on the top of her head.
There was a knock at the door. "Princess Diana," Daphne said from the other side of the door, "it's almost time."
"You'd better go," Diana sighed.
Audrey nodded. "We'll speak briefly at the service. No one will pay any mind then." Kissing her on the cheek, Audrey smiled at Hippolyta and let herself out.
The Amazon queen looked at her daughter. "She was quite a find," she said. "How did you meet her again?"
"A helicopter that fell from the sky," Diana said. She picked up her headdress. "Want to help me get this straight?"
_________________________
"I'm still a little confused," Flash said. "What did you mean when you said this was for his own good?"
"This" was in reference to Superman punching Vandal Savage in the jaw and knocking him out cold.
Superman scratched his beard. He'd learned to ignore it in the future, but now that he was back, it seemed to itch constantly. "It doesn't matter now," he replied. He considered it ironic that by saving the world, he had unmade the evolution of Vandal Savage into a human being.
Still, the Earth didn't have thirty thousand years to wait for Savage to learn the concept of "regret".
"I can't believe the United States was able to let him escape so quickly," the Martian Manhunter said.
"I can't believe they didn't tell us," Green Lantern added. He looked at Diana. "Do you know if they told your friend?"
She shook her head. "Believe me, she would have said something if they had. Perhaps they even think the Kasnians were complicit. Certainly I'm amazed he was able to escape. I guess immortality lets you learn a lot of tricks."
Superman's head went up. "I think Wonder Woman just gave me an idea," he said thoughtfully. "We should lock Savage up in the Watchtower for now."
"You don't think we should leave him for the Americans?" Hawkgirl asked, surprised.
"That's exactly what I think," Superman replied. "Only I'd appreciate it if you could go on without me."
"Need a shave?" Flash asked wryly.
"Actually, there are a few people who I want to see before they find out I'm alive from the press," Superman replied calmly.
"Try not to scare Lois," Diana said.
"Is it that obvious?"
"You should have seen her rip into Luthor at the service," John told him.
Superman turned to face him. "Lex Luthor was at my service?"
_________________________
Lex Luthor hung up the phone. Fundraising was turning out to be harder than he would have liked. He didn't want to threaten people with their dirty laundry. That could wait until after he was elected.
It looked like he was going to have to give her . . .
He swiveled around in his chair and found Superman standing in front of him. "Gaah!"
"Sorry, Luthor. Didn't mean to frighten you," Superman said, smiling.
Luthor scowled. "Just like a bad penny," he replied. Then he blinked. "What is that thing on your face?"
"It's a beard, Lex. I realize you probably don't remember what facial hair looks like."
Lex surprised him by laughing out loud. "I could have a razor blade made from kryptonite for you, if you like," he replied.
Superman rubbed his chin ruefully. Luthor had hit upon the crucial problem. His skin and physiology, combined with the yellow sun, didn't permit facial hair. Under the red sun, however, his beard grew fairly quickly. If he'd thought to shave it in the future, it would have been relatively simple. Now, however, he had to figure out how to safely shave hair which would not yield to conventional razor blades. "You must be so happy to see me, you'd grant me any request tonight."
"Actually, I am glad to see you in a perverse fashion," Luthor replied. "Did Lois tell you?"
"She did. It wasn't all for the cameras? Deprived of the opportunity of finishing me yourself?"
Luthor smiled enigmatically. "Even I felt the world was slightly askew without you in it."
"Oh, I was still in it. Toyman sent me thirty millennia into the future."
"Really," Luthor said, intrigued. "Was it a paradise? Hell on earth? Somewhere in between?"
"It's not important now," Superman replied. "It doesn't exist any longer."
"No, I suppose not." Luthor glanced at his watch. "I'd love to continue this chat, Superman - a rather unique banter we're having - but I'm working on my campaign."
"At this hour?" Superman asked, suspicious.
Luthor shrugged. "I'll let you in on a little secret, Superman. I'm a workaholic. Which is one reason why I'll win the next mayoral election in Metropolis, and why I'll succeed at it."
Superman raised an eyebrow. "Mayor?"
"I could run for Congress, true. Much bigger criminals than I have done so, and won. But after dealing with one during my stint as a CEO, I don't feel like joining a glorified board of directors."
"You'll try to exceed your authority if elected, Lex," Superman replied. "And I'll stop you."
Lex smiled. "The world doesn't feel so askew any more," he said before picking up the phone receiver again.
As Superman flew off, Lex dialed a number. "Buy now, while the market is still depressed," he said. "He's back."
____________________________
"Dearest," Audrey said affectionately, smiling broadly as she raised her hand to pinch his cheek. Then she slapped him across the face. "It's so good to have you back, Vandal. We didn't get to play nearly enough the first time."
"How's the old vegetable?" Vandal asked, mindless of the sting.
Audrey's smile became grim, yet triumphant. "He'll walk again soon enough, but his mind is sound. What, didn't you catch it on the news? Take him away and find some dark hole for him until I have time for him," she commanded some of her men.
"I think one of us should go with them," Diana volunteered. She was quite nervous, and it felt like it was requiring all her prodigious strength not to show it. "He's escaped from one army already."
"I'll do it," Green Lantern said.
"We must talk later," Audrey added, smiling. "It wouldn't do for your six comrades to enjoy my company while you sit in a dungeon somewhere. I'm quite the party girl, you know."
He nodded to her and followed the chained form of Vandal Savage to wherever they planned to hold him.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Princess Audrey," Superman said. "I was away during the previous incident."
"It's an honor to meet you, Superman," Audrey replied. "I thought the privilege would be denied me forever until a couple of days ago."
He gestured to the other members of the League. "I'm sure they need no introduction, but . . ."
Flash materialized in front of her in the merest eyeblink of a red blur. "The Flash," he said suavely, taking her hand and kissing it.
Her laugh was musical and delighted. "So it's true what they say about you."
"They?" he asked, looking at her knowingly.
"Yes, they," she answered, not about to let anything slip.
"This is the Martian Manhunter, and Hawkgirl," Superman said, gesturing to each. "Of course you already know Batman and Wonder Woman."
"Of course," Audrey agreed, sparing Diana a moment's glance. "I am sorry we never did have the opportunity to dazzle the Parisian paparazzi again, Wonder Woman."
"If we do," Diana replied, "I'm still not going to be pummeling them mercilessly."
Audrey grinned, and Diana wondered how many of the photographers taking their pictures were feeling a bit of nausea.
"I also want to commend you on your country's recent move toward democracy," Superman went on.
She straightened. "I think we can all agree that after what happened the last time, it's no longer safe for practically all the power in our country to rest in the hands of a king. It was my decision to grant greater powers to our elected assembly, although my father gave the decision his stamp of approval prior to its passage."
"Where is King Gustav?" he asked quietly.
"Inside," she said, gesturing to the manor doors behind her. "He doesn't like to be photographed or seen in public in a wheelchair. He still hopes he will be walking again soon." The merest hint of a shadow crossed her face before being banished by her queenly façade. "I am sure he is right," she added.
"Superman! Superman!"
The Justice League turned and looked at the crowd of reporters. "One question, you," he said, pointing at one of the men in front.
"Figures," more than one person muttered nearby.
"Alexander Foxx, from the International Bureau of the Daily Planet," the reporter identified himself. "Why has the entire Justice League come to Kasnia today, and why are they delivering Vandal Savage III into Kasnian custody, not back to the Americans?"
"The American government has not yet released information concerning how Savage was able to escape from their custody," Superman replied. "Nor have they explained why they failed to notify us or the United Nations that the man who corrupted the goals of the International Space Station, and who tried to wipe Paris from the map, had in fact escaped. Until the United States has conducted a thorough investigation of these errors, we feel it best if Savage remains in someone else's hands."
"Why here then?" Foxx asked. "Why the country that he formerly led?"
"Let's get something straight here," Wonder Woman told him, moving next to Superman. "There has been no evidence that the Kasnian royal family were in league with Savage. They were in fact his victims as well, as Savage poisoned King Gustav as a means to the throne. The Kasnians wish to see Savage remain behind bars as much as the rest of us do."
"Our visit is nothing more than a sign of our faith in the best intentions of the Kasnian government," Superman added, "which in recent days has transferred major new powers to its elected officials, creating a constitutional monarchy that I trust will one day become a full democracy."
"Wonder Woman! Is your visit business or pleasure?"
Audrey reddened slightly, but Diana smiled. "Business. Princess Audrey told me how rule has matured her. She says I'm too wild for her,"
There was surprised laughter from the crowd.
"If you please," Audrey said to the League. She looked at the superhero nearest to her and saw Batman staring back at her piercingly. "Let's go inside and introduce you to my father," she continued, shrugging off the Bat's inspection.
"You're saucy today," Hawkgirl whispered to Diana as they filed into the mansion on the country estate.
"It's the adrenaline," Diana replied, glad the hardest part was over.
Then she saw the stern face of the man who had no idea his daughter was in a romantic relationship with her, and she revised her earlier opinion. This would be the hardest part.
To be continued . . .
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