The moment she saw him, Diana knew she looked upon great Zeus himself. The sweet aroma in Olympus' atmosphere was rendered smoky by his sheer presence- crisp, as if it had been lightening shocked. But it wasn't by his enrapturing aura that the Amazon identified the stern god; not the crackling electric slivers dancing around his fingers as he drummed them against his throne; nor the inscription of his name at the base of his marble seat.

He had her nose.

And her eyes. And mouth. And eyebrows. The same sleek midnight hair. By the god himself...she'd gotten his calves too.

"Father..." Diana stared in awe. She remembered herself a moment later, with a directed cough from a stern goddess sat to his right (the distaste in her eyes, the flock of peacock at her feet, and inscription on her throne labelled her as Hera).

Diana dropped to her knees, head bowed.

"My Lord." Keeping her head bowed, the Amazon continued her address. "Great gods of Olympus." 

She heard an untraceable humph. Aphrodite's throne was understandably vacant; Diana supposed it to be Hera once again.

"Rise child." Zeus commanded, and she rose.

Poseidon's throne too was lacking an occupant, Diana noticed, standing encircled by the mountainous thrones. She had spent centuries wondering at the kingdom of Zeus- the celestial realm of beauty so far from human imperfection.

They were in a glade. Plains of grass stretched as far as her eyes permitted; their marble seats, at least quadruple her height, stood alone as the only structures in sight.

She had pictured coliseums, amphitheaters, iridescent buildings spanning the heavens.

"Your confusion at our place of meeting is understandable, Diana of the Amazons."

The owl upon Athena's shoulder was easily Diana's size. It stared at the Amazon with as much intensity as the goddess herself.

"This serves as neutral ground between domains, sitting just without Olympus but neither in the sky, nor the sea, nor the underworld." Athena explained.

Diana nodded mutely. Did the goddess owe her an explanation? She put it down to Athena's wisdom.

"You are summoned for a matter of great importance child. Chaos itself seeks to uproot us." Zeus boomed.

Us. He had said 'us'. The gods were threatened- really threatened.

"We have heard the whispers." A goddess whose hands twitched with power- who's presence stained the air with the metallic twang of magic- droned. "They slink and slither at the edge of Olympus and search for crevices to slip through."

Hecate flicked a finger in the oracle's direction (Diana hadn't even realised she was there) and the woman quit her murmuring. She sat at Diana's feet, staring forwards blankly. The sound had hung in the background, her faint buzzing, and the Amazon almost missed the way it had eased the terse silence in the glade.

The twin throne of Artemis and Apollo- just as the other marble masses, but twice as wide to accommodate two seats- were occupied by the gods themselves, a bow in the hand of the goddess and a lute resting against Apollo's side. The hunter goddess declared, in a voice far too similar to Hippolyta, "Apollo and I have sought the source of the whispers. It is beyond Olympus- beyond the others."

Diana turned to the twin gods, nodding to her father before to not encourage his rage through disrespect, and asked, "Others?"

"Others." Apollo drummed slender fingers on the tip of his lute. "The...Egyptians..." the ground protested the word, rumbling as the gods unanimously winced. "Norse..." Apollo continued, but was cut off by his sister.

"There is but one note we have been able to decipher. A new word- not of our age." She leant forwards and frowned at Diana. "Darkseid."

WonderWoman was sick to her stomach. They hadn't beaten Darkseid the last time they'd faced him. The Justice League knew he'd return stronger...

And now he threatened the gods. Not just hers, but all of them.

***

The first to sense a disturbance in Themyscira's defences was Bruce's training partner. The Amazon stood to, frowning as she searched the sea.

"Sister, what do you sense?" Andromeda broke from practicing parries with Jessica.

Around them, her sisters in arms picked up their weapons and ceased their conversation.

"Magical disruption... something may be approaching- at arms sisters!" The Amazon commanded.

With Batman the only one amongst the three who could understand their Ancient Greek, Superman and Jessica were confused as to what was going on. However, sensing conflict, the Kryptonian stopped his lounging (he'd been observing Batman getting his arse beaten by the Amazon who'd raised the alarm) and observed with them. Having taken a moment to suss the shift in mood, Jessica clenched her fist and prepared to exercise the full extend of her willpower.

Then they were there. The five of them (in their not-so-colourful costumes) o what was intended as a rescue mission. A purple void closed behind them and the first Amazon charged, followed by the rest.

"Wait wait! Stop!" Superman sped to stand before the new arrivals.

Weapons bared, the Amazon's reluctantly halted, a second away from spearing the eye of one Richard Grayson.

"Father!" Damian called to Batman, going on to his toes and craning his neck to see over the battalion of warriors.

The warriors made a path through which the vigilante reached his son.

"What are you doing here Damian?- Dick?" He looked to his children.

"We came to un-kidnap you Bruce." Catwoman eyed the Amazon's and their pointy weapons suspiciously, toying with her whip.

Antiope asked, "You know these individuals?" In English: to which Superman and Batman launched in to a joint explanation with contributions from Raven and their other magical helper- Zatanna. Truth be told, the magician had always dreamed of travelling to Themyscira (it was one of the magic hotspots that she hadn't yet visited- having just ticked off the Duat).

Jessica wormed her way through the Amazons, greeting the would-be rescuers with a chirpy, "Hi!"
She tried for a casual tone, knowing that she wasn't as close to any of the individuals as Clark and Bruce were.

Much to her pleasant surprise, Raven met her with an amiable, "Hey." And a precious smile.

Jessica decided to like Raven a lot- she seemed very lovely. Whilst the rest were engaged in conversation, Raven opened one with the Lantern. Having never been good with small talk, Jessica was glad that Raven led the conversation. What she hadn't known was that Raven had struggled with small talk for years and had learnt certain tricks- open ended but not awkward questions supplemented with leading closed questions and a little bit more of the reins handed over to Pride.

And so, unwittingly, Jessica might have let slip that there was a certain very pretty Amazon that she'd been training with who was just so pretty and had such lovely hair and a lovely name and did she mention she was pretty??

Unfortunately, in life, Jessica Cruz often found herself to be Fortune's jester. Who was (of course) standing behind her, but that very Amazon?

Raven left Jessica and Andromeda to their own devices, only then noticing that the tense scene had dispersed. Superman stood on the golden shore with Dick and Zatanna. Meanwhile, Damian and Selena spoke to Bruce, beneath the shade of a tree. The demon caught her boyfriend's grimace as his father shared a quick kiss with Selena. Raven laughed- wasn't he such a dork?

Damian caught her watching him and scrunched his nose at her- facial expression that she returned. An Amazon that stood exactly halfway between the two of them observed the interaction with rolled eyes, chuckling. She moved her braids over her shoulder and shook her head, walking over to another warrior who'd just removed her helm.

This one baffled Raven. Her aura was...familiar. The Amazon frowned at the sand, drumming her fingers on the boulder that she sat on. Raven cocked her head and allowed her empathic abilities to figure out her mood; the conclusion came after a while (her entire person was shrouded in deep magical and spiritual protections)- she was trying to remember something.

Raven saw the eureka moment in her eyes.

Jumping down from the boulder, the woman beelined through her comrades, biting the inside of her cheek and adjusting her bracers. Raven's eyes followed her as she stood before Bruce and his family. The demon moved closer to the scene.

"You called him father." The Amazon said to Damian, eyebrows still drawn forwards. Bruce looked to her in confusion- he hadn't figured it out yet.

Robin shrugged without looking at her, "TT. That's he is my father."

At his voice, she trembled.

The Amazon ran over every detail of his face, "La'...la'...Abadan...mustahil.."her eyes bore in to him, full of hope.

Damian turned to her immediately. Her helmet was off and that sweet sound of home hit his ears. A gasping sob broke free of his lips and Damian raised his hands to his face.

"Ya hayati..." she reached a shaking hand out and he backed away.

Biting a knuckle, Damian looked from her to the sand to his father, at a loss.

"What is-" Bruce began...and broke off halfway when he realised. "-But it can't be..."

Damian searched the Amazon for some sign of forgery- something to tell him that it wasn't true. Yet he looked at the wizened woman, and the caged child in his heart broke free. She took him in to her arms and he held on for dear life, five years-old once more.

He hadn't expected tears. Truly, he hadn't known what he would do if he found her. His eyes trickled their salty desperation down her shoulder. Damian sought shelter in her embrace, breaking away only to blubber with her and snap back in to a tight hug as if they might lose each other if they left for too long.

"Oh my dear...my precious... I've got you my child-" she murmured to his shoulder in a tearful mixture of Mandarin and Arabic.

He pressed his forehead to hers -eyes closed and face scrunched- and sniffed, "Grandmother,"

She kissed his forehead and laughed with not a wrinkle more than she'd had when he was a child.

So that is Khadija al-Azraq. Raven thought. A tear rolled down her cheek and, in a rare moment, she thanked Azar for her empathy, for her soul could share in such a moment.

A.N:

Well my darlings, how are we all feeling? I thought that was a lil emotional. It was super fun to write also!
What do you guys think of the chapter??
I don't really know what else to say soo...thank you!

-Bats :)