Godfather Owl: Guardian of Batman

Bruce knew that the Sea Queen's worldview was fundamentally different from that of his own world, and he had mentally prepared himself for the clash.

What he hadn't expected, however, was the bizarre synergy between the Sea Queen and Diana. It left him as nothing more than a bystander, completely sidelined in this battle of warrior women.

Diana was ablaze with determination.

She wielded Hephaestus's reforged sword and upgraded Amazonian shield, both enhanced to match the might of Poseidon's Trident. Against such divine armaments, she held her ground with ease.

"For the honor of Themyscira!" Diana roared, slamming her armored boot against the ground, the sheer force of it cracking the floor beneath her.

Leaping high into the air, she raised her sword to strike the Sea Queen.

The Sea Queen responded with a whirl of her trident, conjuring three towering water tornadoes that swirled menacingly around her.

Faced with this aquatic assault, Diana's eyes burned with resolve. She brought her sword down in a sweeping arc, the blade cutting through the air with a shrill, razor-like sound.

The Sea Queen gripped her golden trident tightly, commanding the waters to converge, sending the tornadoes barreling toward Diana.

But just as the water funnels closed in, Diana spun midair, shifting her trajectory to avoid the brunt of the attack. Using the momentum of her turn, her blade gained even more force as she swung it again from an unexpected angle.

The Sea Queen reacted quickly, spinning her trident to summon a protective wall of water.

Yet Hephaestus's sword, honed to unparalleled sharpness, sliced through the water barrier as if it were air. The blade cut a clean path toward the Sea Queen.

Narrowing her eyes, the Sea Queen slammed her trident into the ground, summoning a surge of waves from all directions. Using the wave's momentum, she propelled herself backward, narrowly dodging Diana's strike.

In this first exchange, Diana had seized the upper hand.

Her mind was set on rectifying her past mistakes and dispelling the reckless desires that had led her here. Holding nothing back, she fought with singular focus.

The Sea Queen, meanwhile, realized that Diana was far more formidable than she had anticipated.

"So, you're one of those warriors who only gets stronger as the battle intensifies," the Sea Queen said, smirking. "Good. That's the kind of opponent worth fighting at full strength."

The battle resumed.

The two women clashed in midair, their weapons sparking and clanging as they collided. After a series of strikes, both landed firmly on the ground, ready to continue.

The Sea Queen thrust her trident, sending waves of water spiraling toward Diana.

Diana raised her shield, splitting the rushing waters in two. Pressing forward with sword in hand, she steadily closed the distance between herself and her foe.

Her relentless advance unnerved the Sea Queen, who shifted tactics. Surrounding herself in a protective sphere of water, she transformed into a colossal water elemental. Raising a giant hand of water, she brought it crashing down on Diana.

But Diana wasn't deterred. She flung her Lasso of Truth forward, threading it through the watery form to ensnare the Sea Queen's ankle.

When pulling the Sea Queen out failed, Diana used the lasso to propel herself directly into the elemental's core, engaging in close combat.

From a distance, Bruce and Kathoom watched intently.

"Diana's combat instincts are incredible," Kathoom remarked.

Bruce nodded in agreement. It was true—despite her often headstrong nature, Diana's battlefield adaptability was unmatched. Her skill was the result of five millennia of relentless training, a cumulative mastery that allowed her to dominate any fight.

It seemed the battle was nearing its conclusion.

Soon after, the water elemental collapsed, and both combatants tumbled out, drenched and exhausted.

Diana remained composed, but the Sea Queen was visibly shaken. Her grip on the trident faltered, her hands trembling—not from fear, but from the sheer force of Diana's attacks. Each clash of sword and trident had sent shockwaves of power coursing through her body.

The fight appeared all but decided.

Then, the Sea Queen played a desperate gambit.

In the blink of an eye, she dissolved into a spray of water, reappearing beside Bruce.

Before Diana could react, the Sea Queen lightly caressed Bruce's cheek.

Bruce: ???

He froze, completely baffled by the move. Before he could process it, Diana's enraged shout shattered the moment.

"Get away from him!"

"No," the Sea Queen replied with a sly grin. "Your man has quite the soft skin."

With that, the barrier holding back the surrounding seawater collapsed, and a massive tidal wave surged in, flooding the battlefield.

Caught off guard, Diana lost her footing as the current swept her toward the ocean depths.

Meanwhile, the Sea Queen grabbed Bruce by the collar, keeping him from being carried away by the waves. As for the small owl perched nearby, she paid it no mind.

"I don't usually like using men as pawns," the Sea Queen said, her voice carrying easily through the water. "But you've forced my hand. You're clearly her weakness."

Bruce was dumbfounded. Even in this situation, the Sea Queen managed to sound so self-righteous. If he weren't submerged and choking, he'd have given her a piece of his mind.

The water pressure around him intensified, and the last breath of air in his lungs was nearly spent. His vision dimmed as oxygen deprivation took hold.

"You look like you're struggling," the Sea Queen teased, watching him with amusement. "Should I give you mouth-to-mouth?"

Get lost! Bruce thought furiously, though he couldn't voice his protest.

The Sea Queen leaned in closer, her expression smug.

But before she could follow through, a brilliant golden light pierced through the dark water below, rapidly approaching.

It was Diana.

Her weapons were gone. Her long hair floated wildly in the water, her eyes glowed with divine radiance, and a golden aura enveloped her body. She was more than a warrior—she was a goddess.

The Sea Queen's pupils shrank in shock. She had never seen anything like this.

"Let him go!" Diana roared, her voice reverberating even underwater.

Like a missile, she rocketed upward and slammed into the Sea Queen, prying her away from Bruce. The force of the impact sent the Sea Queen hurtling out of the water, while Diana stayed behind to catch Bruce.

As Diana cradled him in her arms, Bruce instinctively held on tight, just as he had during their first encounter on Themyscira.

This time, Diana didn't pry him off. She held him firmly as she swam toward the surface, breaking free of the ocean's grasp.

Once they reached land, Diana gently set Bruce down. Not far away, the Sea Queen stood panting, leaning on her trident for support. She stared at Diana with disbelief.

What is this power? she wondered, shaken to her core.

Without a word, Diana turned back to the Sea Queen, her expression unyielding. The battle was far from over.

Bruce, recovering on the ground, shook the water from his hair just as Kathoom returned, encased in a water-resistant bubble.

"Well, well," Kathoom said, his tone almost playful. "Diana's really gone full goddess mode. This is a first."

He continued, "Back in the Wonder Woman movie, she only unlocked this power after Steve's tragic death. Now all it took was you almost getting smooched by the Sea Queen?"

"That's not it," Bruce replied, shaking his head. "There's no sign of her guardian spirit awakening. This isn't about me."

He scrutinized Diana's movements and noticed her fighting style had changed. It lacked the calculated precision of earlier. Her strikes were raw, primal—guided by instinct alone.

"She's not acting as a protector fueled by divine or human motivation. This is her animal instinct," Bruce concluded.

Kathoom flapped a wing inside his bubble. "Semantics! Instinct or not, the fact that you're her priority speaks volumes."

Bruce let out a sigh. "You always find the bright side."

Diana's aura blazed like a furious lioness defending her territory. And in her eyes, the Sea Queen had crossed a line.

For the first time, the Sea Queen looked truly shaken.

As Diana closed in with unstoppable force, the Sea Queen's desperation grew. It wasn't long before Diana's enhanced strength sent the trident flying from the Sea Queen's hands.

"Now's our chance!" Kathoom shouted, darting toward the discarded weapon in a flash of light.

Diana seized the Sea Queen by the throat, her eyes blazing with fury. She didn't wait for a plea. With a roar, she drove her fist into the Sea Queen's midsection, unleashing a devastating blow.

Bruce inhaled sharply at the sight before him. The scene was gruesome—blood dripped from Diana's clenched fist, her breath ragged and animalistic. She retracted her hand, now slick with crimson, and let the Sea Queen's limp body collapse to the ground.

"Gh-gh..." The Sea Queen's pupils dilated, her life force visibly ebbing away.

"Monster..." she rasped, her voice fading as her eyes lost focus entirely.

And then she was still.

Had she… died?

Thump!

A powerful heartbeat echoed through the air, resonating in Bruce and Diana's ears. The Sea Queen's body convulsed, the gaping wound in her abdomen rapidly regenerating. Her vacant gaze snapped back into focus, her eyes alive with renewed energy.

At that same moment, the previously calm ocean roared to life. Towering waves surged toward the horizon, a cascade of water upon water, growing ever higher.

"That direction—" Kathoom squawked, his eyes wide. "That's France! The waves are headed for France!"

The devastation was swift. The tidal wave crashed onto the northern coast of France, engulfing Normandy in a deluge that obliterated everything in its path, leaving unprecedented destruction in its wake.

Bruce's mind raced. He pieced it together.

"This is the cost of the wish!" he exclaimed. "The Descenders fight on behalf of the nations that summon them. Any harm they suffer is transferred to their host nation!"

The Sea Queen's brush with death had been mitigated—not by her own resilience, but because her injuries were absorbed by France itself.

"What a ridiculous power," Kathoom muttered, frustration tinging his voice. "Why don't I have something like that?"

"That's not the point!" Bruce snapped, bringing the owl back to the matter at hand. "The real issue is that we can't kill the Descenders!"

Kathoom hesitated, at a loss for how to respond.

Meanwhile, Diana remained locked in her primal state. She grabbed the regenerated Sea Queen by the collar, her fist trembling with the anticipation of another blow. If one death hadn't been enough, she'd simply kill her again—and again—until France could no longer bear the price.

"Diana! Stop!" Bruce shouted, rushing forward. But Wonder Woman was beyond reason. Her feral instincts had taken full control.

The Sea Queen panicked. She wasn't stupid—she could see that Diana was unrelenting. If this continued, France's ability to absorb the consequences of her death would be exhausted, and the Sea Queen would meet a true and final end.

"Help me!" she cried, not to Diana, but to Bruce. "You don't want an entire country's people to pay for my life, do you? Stop her, for their sake!"

Her voice cracked, desperation bleeding into her plea. "You can't even control your own woman? She's going to wipe out thousands of innocents! Say something! Cry, scream, do something!"

Bruce sighed heavily. As much as he hated to admit it, the Sea Queen was right. Diana's actions weren't her own—if he let her rampage unchecked, the guilt from such irreparable devastation would destroy her once she regained her senses.

He reached for the black lasso at his hip.

"This isn't about saving you," he said coldly. "But I won't let her lose herself."

With a practiced motion, he cast the Secret Lasso, wrapping it securely around Diana.

The result was instantaneous.

Her body, so brimming with unstoppable force, abruptly went slack. Like a marionette with its strings cut, she collapsed, unconscious. The primal energy that had consumed her vanished, leaving behind only a peacefully slumbering Diana.

"Huh?" Kathoom blinked. "How did you know to bind her hands?"

"Her hands?" Bruce asked, confused. "I tied her entire body."

"Oh… nothing, never mind," Kathoom said quickly, deciding not to delve into the lore too deeply.

Unbeknownst to Bruce, Diana's susceptibility to being bound was an ancient quirk of her character—a relic from the earliest days of her creation. In those times, despite her godly strength and divine gifts, binding her hands would render her completely powerless.

Though this weakness had long been retconned out of DC's canon, it seemed that the Secret Lasso—a relic from an earlier epoch—had somehow reawakened this forgotten vulnerability.

Kathoom's feathers ruffled with excitement as a wild theory formed in his mind. If the Secret Lasso can activate these long-lost traits, what would happen if we used it on someone like Superman? Would it restore him to his Golden Age or Silver Age power levels?

"Focus, Kathoom," he muttered to himself, shaking his head. No matter how intriguing the idea, convincing Clark to participate in such an experiment was a near-impossible task.

The Sea Queen stumbled to her feet. Her wounds had vanished, though her strength had not returned. Her trident—kicked away by Diana—had somehow disappeared entirely.

Her defeat was inevitable. Stripped of her weapon and her energy, she was in no condition to fight, let alone participate in the Descenders' war.

She glanced nervously at Bruce, then at Diana, now docile and subdued. The scene before her—a bound goddess and her unyielding companion—was unnerving in ways she couldn't quite describe.

"I'm leaving," she announced hastily, clutching her arm as she turned to go. "I don't want any part of whatever… this is."

"You're not going anywhere," Bruce said firmly, stepping into her path.

Before she could protest, Bruce snatched Diana's Lasso of Truth from her waist. With a deft throw, the golden lasso ensnared the Sea Queen, binding her tightly. She toppled to the ground with a startled yelp.

"You have secrets I need to uncover," Bruce said coolly. "When Diana wakes up, we'll figure out how to deal with you—for good this time."

He sat down between the two bound women, his expression unreadable.

The Sea Queen squirmed against her bindings, muttering under her breath, "What kind of dynamic do these two even have…"

But Bruce ignored her, his gaze fixed on the now-calm ocean. He waited silently for Diana to awaken, his mind already turning over the strategy for the next battle.

---

Ahem! Gather close, esteemed audience! Do you comprehend the privilege of basking in my radiance? Truly, you're witnessing history in the making—a performance unparalleled in the annals of Fontaine!

Ah, but don't get distracted! Let me be clear: this brilliance isn't conjured from thin air. No, no, no! It requires effort, dedication, and… well, a touch of your generosity. If you fancy being part of something truly extraordinary, do step forward here: [patreon.com/WiseTL].

Oh, but wait! You're probably wondering, "Furina, how can someone as magnificent as you need assistance?" To that, I say: why deny mortals the honor of contributing to such greatness? Supporting me is supporting art, and who doesn't want to say they were instrumental in a legend's rise?

Now, off you go. Make your offerings, and perhaps, perhaps, I'll acknowledge you in my next soliloquy!

— Furina ✨