Diana's Confidence

Deep beneath Wayne Manor.

The sound of the waterfall echoed endlessly through the Batcave.

The main medical area stood on a platform beside an underground river.

A custom Medical Pod sat at its center.

A high-powered artificial sunlight generator hung above it, casting harsh yellow light over the entire platform.

Clark Kent lay inside the Medical Pod.

Pale green nutrient fluid covered his chest.

Several sensor leads floated on the surface, connected to a vital signs monitor.

Bandages wrapped his chest, while a titanium-alloy exoskeleton brace locked his broken sternum and ribs in place.

Alfred stood beside the Medical Pod, tablet in hand, swiping rapidly across the screen.

Dense bar graphs of physiological data flickered across it.

Bruce Wayne stood at a weapons workbench ten paces away.

Dressed in a black bodysuit, he used a wrench to dismantle the forearm guard of the specialized armor Chu Men had shattered at the clock tower.

"Cell regeneration rate: twenty-three percent." Alfred read the figure on the screen, his brow furrowing. "That makes no sense."

Bruce kept working.

"The sunlight generator is already at maximum output." Alfred looked toward the man in the pod. "The concentration of Kryptonian cell-repair enzymes in the nutrient fluid is saturated, too. Based on Master Kent's recovery history, his sternum should have healed completely by now under this much sunlight."

"Internal injuries?"

"The puncture wound in his lung has stopped worsening, but the tissue is growing back extremely slowly." Alfred sighed and set the tablet on a nearby metal table. "Master Bruce, the problem isn't a lack of energy. His body is resisting the healing process."

Bruce stopped working.

He turned and walked to the Medical Pod.

Yellow light fell across Clark's face.

The face that usually wore a gentle smile was now white as paper.

Clark's eyes were shut tight, his eyeballs darting beneath the lids. His breathing was rapid and uneven.

The nutrient fluid surged with each breath, slapping against the walls of the pod.

He was dreaming.

There was no Metropolis sunshine in Clark's mind, no scent of ink from the Daily Planet.

Only rain, mud, and the smell of blood.

The roar of helicopter rotors echoed in his ears.

Lois's anguished cries stabbed at his eardrums like knives.

All he could see was the sole of a shoe descending with crushing force.

And the man's gaze as he looked down on him, along with those words—

"My rules are the rules."

Clark's eyes flew open.

He gasped for air, his chest heaving.

Pain shot through his broken bones, and he let out a muffled groan.

Nutrient fluid splashed across the floor outside the pod.

He tried to sit up, but the titanium-alloy brace pinned him beneath the fluid.

"Stay down." Bruce's voice came coldly from above.

Clark turned his head toward Bruce, who stood outside the pod.

Droplets ran down Clark's chin.

"Lois..." Clark's voice was hoarse, as though his throat were full of sand.

"She's safe." Bruce braced both hands on the edge of the Medical Pod and looked down at him.

"The Daily Planet helicopter landed safely in Metropolis. The military took them into custody. She's shaken, but she wasn't hurt."

Clark closed his eyes and let out a long breath. His tense muscles relaxed.

"You nearly died," Bruce said flatly. "If he hadn't changed his mind and let go, you'd be a corpse floating off the East End coast right now."

Clark opened his eyes and stared at the glaring yellow light overhead.

"He was too strong," Clark murmured, clenching and unclenching his fist. "I couldn't stop him."

"Because there are lines you won't cross," Bruce said, cutting straight to the point.

Clark turned to look at him.

"I reviewed the complete combat data." Bruce brought up a holographic display from the main console and moved it in front of Clark.

Footage of the fight at East District Dock played across the screen.

"You had reservations. You couldn't use your full strength." Bruce pointed to the footage of Chu Men forcing Superman back.

The image froze at the instant dark red light flared in Chu Men's eyes.

Clark fell silent. He wanted to say that he had gone all out at the end.

Bruce's fingers flew over the keyboard. Intelligence reports appeared across a dozen split screens.

"Look at what's happening out there." Bruce pulled up satellite surveillance of the Pentagon. "Three Air Force bases on the East Coast are at the highest state of alert. Two carrier strike groups are moving toward the waters off Gotham."

The display changed.

A classified document bearing a red seal appeared.

"Amanda Waller, director of A.R.G.U.S., issued a top-secret order. Gotham City has been designated a Class X exclusion zone. The military has sealed every route in and out. They've even deployed a submarine carrying tactical nuclear warheads."

Clark listened from the Medical Pod, his brow tightening.

"They want to destroy Gotham?"

"They wouldn't dare." Bruce gave a cold laugh and pulled up another set of data. "Lex Luthor's private jet landed at Gotham International Airport half an hour ago. He gave a televised speech stirring up hatred of superhumans, then went straight to the Iceberg Lounge."

"Luthor wants to recruit him?"

"Luthor is a businessman. He only invests in assets with value. The power Chu Men displayed is enough to make him take the risk." Bruce stared at an overhead view of the Iceberg Lounge.

"Now every gang in Gotham is doing Chu Men's bidding."

An alarm sounded from the main console.

The largest monitor in the array abruptly filled with static.

A string of ancient runes forced its way through Wayne Enterprises' firewall and took over the center of the screen.

"Sir, an unknown frequency is forcing a connection." Alfred hurried to the console. "The encryption is highly unusual. It doesn't belong to any existing military or civilian network."

Bruce studied the runes, wariness flashing in his eyes.

He recognized the script.

"Put it through," Bruce ordered.

The static cleared.

"Bruce." A cool, steady woman's voice echoed through the Batcave.

At the sound, Clark jerked his head toward the screen.

"Diana." Bruce leaned back in his chair and folded his hands before him. "Aren't you supposed to be restoring artifacts at the Louvre? Why get mixed up in this?"

"The Oracle Stone on Themyscira shattered." Diana's voice remained even, though her words carried enormous weight. "An echo came from deep in the ocean when a magical barrier was disturbed. The Council of Elders tried to trace its source, but they couldn't find that man's thread of fate."

Bruce typed, tracing the signal.

"Where are you?" he asked.

"North of Gotham, at the abandoned Stark Weather Station," Diana answered.

"You shouldn't be here." Bruce watched the red dot blink on the tracking display. "This place is a powder keg."

"I saw Luthor's plane from the air." Diana ignored his warning. "I also saw the gangs lining up outside the Iceberg Lounge to pay tribute. He's established control faster than I expected."

The channel went quiet for two seconds.

"Is Clark still alive?" Diana asked.

"He'll live. But we can't count on him anytime soon." Bruce glanced at the Medical Pod.

Clark gave a rueful smile beneath the nutrient fluid.

"I need all your data on him," Diana said, getting to the point.

Bruce wasted no words. He struck a few keys.

A massive compressed file went out over the encrypted connection.

"Sent." Bruce watched the progress bar. "But I should warn you: conventional tactics are useless against him."

"Get to the point."

"He has something similar to Clark's Bio-electric Force Field." Bruce paused, his voice turning grave. "And some kind of power he can unleash that we still can't identify."

Atop the abandoned weather station's iron tower.

Diana stood facing the wind, her red cape snapping in the night air. She looked down at the data package arriving on the miniature computer on her wrist.

On the screen, the image of Chu Men pinning Superman beneath his foot and raising his middle finger was impossible to ignore.

Diana lifted her head toward the brightly lit Iceberg Lounge in the heart of the city. "He's an anomaly through and through."

"Do you have a plan?" Bruce asked over the channel.

Diana's hand settled on the sheath at her thigh. Her fingertips brushed the sword hilt carved from the bone of an Ancient Sea Beast.

"I brought a sword." Diana drew Magic-Breaker. "It should work. Force Fields, magical shields, constructs woven from the rules of reality—they're all paper to this blade."

"If he relies on that Force Field, I'll cut through it. Then we'll see whether his body can withstand an Amazon sword without that shell."

In the Batcave, Bruce watched the audio waveform on the screen.

"Be careful."