Chapter Text
“I am the Oracle of Hades, cursed with knowledge of the dead,” the woman spoke. Her face was obscured by a deep hood and the shadows of the cave, her clothing in rags, some foul liquid bubbling in a pot above the fire. “Speak now, one question, and I will answer with the truth.”
Diana took a deep breath to steady her nerves, watching her husband’s shadow dance in the firelight. Lance turned to her, his face creased and serious, and nodded in grim encouragement.
“Oracle, I wish to know the fate of our daughter’s soul. Did she travel safely to the underworld?”
The Oracle grew very still. She paused for a long moment. For Diana and Lance it seemed to stretch on for hours, their hearts beating hard and in unison.
“I have only knowledge of the dead,” the Oracle breathed softly. “My vision does not extend to those still living.”
Diana’s breath caught. Lance’s heart leapt into his throat.
“But she… is dead,” Lance said, desperate to be contradicted. “Since a child. She did not live to one year old.”
The Oracle drew herself in, clasping her rags around her thin frame. “I have all manner of knowledge for those passed, but I tell you again, cannot answer for those still living.”
“What does that mean,” Diana spoke softly. “I have sat beneath her tree every day for fifteen years. I buried her body beneath its roots. She is dead. Themyscira has mourned her passing.”
“Then you have mourned another, Goddess,” the Oracle chuckled, a cruel grin spreading across her face, her eyes flashing wickedly as she came to understand. With a snap of her thin fingers, the Goddess and her husband were thrown back to their own world, and the doors to the Temple were sealed.
***
“I’ve found her,” Lance called, bursting into Diana’s office, nearly knocking the doors off their hinges.
Diana’s head snapped up from her computer. Lance stood there, panting heavily, almost unable to comprehend the possibility that maybe, just maybe, this time it was true.
“I think I’ve found her.”
“Truly?” Diana asked, unwilling to allow her hopes to rise yet again without cause.
“Truly,” Lance nodded, dashing to the desk as Diana cleared it, and laying out a blueprint for her to see. “I finally… I know why we haven’t found her.”
“Why, tell me,” Diana demanded, her eyes roaming the print.
“She is not here. She was taken across a bridge between worlds.”
“She is in the divine world? Among the old world left after the fall of Olympus?”
“No, further still. She is not on our Earth. Barry was right. His theory, about the Earth and how there are not one but many. Many Earths, all the same but equally different. With different people and histories, but all Earth.”
“And you think, somehow, she was taken to another?”
“Yes. And what’s more I think I know which one.”
“How do we get there?” Diana asked, and Lance couldn’t help but fall ever deeper in love with his wife.
“There is a gateway. Not like the path to Olympus, but like a portal. Find it, and we find her.”
Lance breathed out.
“She’s there, I’m sure of it,” Lance whispered, more to himself than Diana.
***
“This is it?” Diana confirmed, staring into the swirling mass of light and energy that lit up the forest glade, trapped between a great chrome frame.
“It has to be,” Lance nodded from beside her, his heavy black cloak feeling like a burden rather than protection. Just one more layer between him and his daughter.
“And we have no idea what to expect…” Diana breathed, sword and shield in hand, barely able to steady her heartbeat.
“None,” Lance replied, his heart rate matching hers.
“Then now is as good a time as ever.”
“For our daughter. May she be happy and safe… and forgiving.”
***
“We’ve been on Earth-38 for seven years, Lance,” Diana sighed in frustration, resting her head in her hands. “Why have the gods made it so impossible to find her?”
“I know, my love. I know,” Lance murmured, massaging his wife’s stiff shoulders gently. “But you have lived nine hundred years…”
“And I am afraid another thousand will pass before I see her again.”
Diana and Lance stood together in the kitchen of their penthouse in the centre of this alternate Metropolis.
Diana looked up as a breaking news alert flashed onto the screen.
Unmanned drone heading toward Metropolis. No Supers in sight.
A reporter began urgently delivering the report, his tone panicked. “So far, neither Superman or Supergirl have been seen in the vicinity. Speculation is that they’re off world.”
Another three minutes of panicked report passed, and it dawned on Lance the solution stood beside him.
“It sounds like Earth-38 needs Wonder Woman,” he smiled, though sadness tinged his eyes.
“I said I’d never interfere with the heroes and the history of this Earth,” Diana said, turning to face him, her original declaration becoming increasingly unimportant the closer the drone drew toward Metropolis.
“You’re just… picking up the slack from absent heroes,” Lance smiled.
“A drone is simple enough,” Diana nodded, and Lance felt their hearts beat a little faster. She’d missed this, and truthfully so had he. “I’ll call for you if I need a hand.”
Diana kissed him gently.
“Have fun,” Lance smiled.
“I will,” she returned and in seconds she had changed into her armour and was pushing their balcony door open, taking off from their balcony.
Lance leant down and began to pack the dishwasher, keeping one ear open to the news anchor.
Unknown to them, across the country in National City, their daughter sat alone at her desk, still analysing sales data from the last quarter.
Not three minutes later, the news anchor suddenly began stuttering excitedly. Lance continued to wash the dishes as he watched in amusement.
“Oh my god, are you seeing this, Bob? That’s… I don’t think that’s a super. Can we confirm… okay, folks we can confirm that this is not Supergirl or Superman. I think that’s a new hero. I don’t recognise the outfit, do you Bob? We have a semi-clear photo here, folks. It’s definitely a person. It looks… it looks like a woman.”
The news panel disintegrated into a babbling mess of excited speculation, and Lance realised just how much he missed his wife’s heroism and how she inspired every person who saw her.
“We have a clearer picture… that’s definitely a new hero. Wait. Wait I think I can see Supergirl… they’re meeting! They’re meeting!”
Lance watched as the screen and the blurry feed of Diana and Supergirl hovering in the air above the city, Diana still holding the disabled drone by its tailfin. They looked to be talking. About what he couldn’t tell, and neither could the news anchors, who began wildly speculating about the nature of the conversation. Lance discounted almost all of their suggestions immediately.
He put the kettle on to boil. Diana had always loved a hot cup of tea after saving the world.
***
“Mash potato, Kara?” Diana asked.
“Absolutely,” Kara grinned as she passed Lance the wine.
The three of them sat together in the Prince Penthouse dining room, sharing another dinner together to unwind from the week.
“So Kara,” Lance began once they had filled their plates. “You never did tell us if there was someone else you wanted to bring to these little dinner parties.”
“Oh, well, there isn’t. Not at the moment, anyway,” Kara blushed.
“Ah, but I know that look,” Diana smiled. “There is someone you have your eye on.”
“No, I mean, not really. I mean, you know, I’m almost certain it’s just me,” Kara stammered.
Lance just grinned at her, recognising far too much of himself in that blush. “So did I, Kara. But one night, after far too much wine, I took the plunge, and so should you.”
“No way,” Kara suddenly went quiet. “But you two are like… goals.”
“To this day it absolutely remains the best drunken poor choice I’ve ever made.”
“And I’m glad Epione kept filling your chalice. We might have kept that dance up for another thousand years.”
“So how did you two meet?” Kara asked, and by Rao she wanted to know. Diana and Lance had exactly the kind of married life she completely aspired to. Even after all this time, and all the great loves and epic romances they had in between, they still adored each other.
“I was born an Amazon, and raised an Amazon,” Lance told her, thinking back many thousands of years. “And I fell madly in love with none other than the Princess herself. And a Goddess too, mind you. And one night, after too many cups of fine wine, I kissed her, and to my utter terror and complete surprise she kissed me back. Thank goodness because if she hadn’t I might never have been seen again.”
“You make it sound like I would have tossed you over the island’s cliffs,” Diana smiled.
“You probably would have,” Lance grinned back. “You certainly could have.”
Kara sat watching.
“But Themyscira is a paradise of women,” Lance continued. “And I did not belong. So I left, voluntarily of course. But in leaving, I sacrificed my immortality.”
“But that would have been, what, a thousand years ago?” Kara asked, puzzled.
“About eight hundred,” Lance nodded. “Lucky for me the gods enjoyed my antics. I had no skills but the art of war. So I became a warrior of men. And so impressed and entertained was the god Ares that he granted me another ten thousand years upon the earth.”
“And when I left Themyscira, I expected my lost love to be long dead. No one was more surprised than I to find him smuggling innocents out of Germany during the second world war.”
Lance couldn’t help but grin a little wider. “But there I was.”
“There you were. And finally, the stars aligned, and there were no more rules or wars or a hidden paradise between us.”
“And together we have been ever since.”
“Whoa,” Kara breathed out. “You should write a memoir or something. Or maybe a YA novel because I doubt anyone would believe it’s non-fiction.”
“I believe Phillipus wrote an epic poem and she sings it every solstice.”
“Have you ever thought about having children?” Kara asked, and when the silence stretched on she worried she’d hit a sensitive chord.
Lance felt their joint heartbeat slow as Diana absorbed the question.
“We did,” Diana finally answered. “We had a daughter. But she died when she was not one years old, or so we believed.”
“So she’s… not dead?” Kara asked cautiously, suddenly aware she was treading on broken memories.
“We searched for the Oracle of Hades to ask if our daughter had received passage to the Underworld, only to find that she had not died at all, that she was still alive somewhere, somehow. It is why we came to this alternate universe. To find our daughter. And meet her. And love her, maybe.”
And then something dawned on her. “Kara, do you have access on this Earth to a Fortress of Solitude?”
“Yeah, I mean it’s Kal’s place really. But we share it.”
Lance lowered his fork gently, realising what Diana had.
“And does this Fortress of Solitude have Kryptonian broad spectrum scanning technology?”
***
“Initiating planet wide probe. One hundred forty seconds remaining.”
Diana took a deep breath to steady her shaking hand.
“Are you cold?” Kara asked, slightly perplexed.
“I do not get cold.”
“Are you… okay?”
“I am only nervous.”
“Ninety seconds remaining.”
“What will you do if you find her?”
“I do not know,” Diana admitted.
“I didn’t dare to dream,” Lance breathed. “Too many times we ran down paths that lead to disappointment. I cannot be disappointed. Not again.”
“Fifty seconds remaining.”
“Maybe the wait is over,” Kara offered, unsure how to comfort her new friends.
Diana slipped her hand onto Lance’s shoulder, and he lay his own on top, squeezing gently.
“Ten seconds remaining.”
Lance’s breath caught, and Diana closed her eyes in earnest hope.
“Scan complete. Match found.”
Diana and Lance leapt to the console as a green coordinate pinged on the map.
“Is that it? Is that all you can give us?” Lance demanded.
“Would you like to display the target data?”
“Yes!” Lance and Diana exclaimed in unison.
Lines of Kryptonian filed quickly up the screen, slowly decoding themselves into English. Her genetic data, her age and physical attributes, and slowly it revealed the person she had become.
Kara peaked over Diana’s shoulder, and her jaw dropped. “But… what?”
Diana and Lance couldn’t tear their eyes from the screen.
This was her.
This was their daughter.
“But… no. That’s not possible,” Kara said, stepping back, eyes wide. “She can’t be. I mean. She’s…”
Diana turned to face her, realisation dawning. “Do you know her?”
And finally, the name flashed up on the screen.
“Lena Luthor, are you kidding me? She… she’s my best friend.”
***
Supergirl shot from the sky with a thunder clap and landed on one knee, the dust from the rooftop billowing up around her red boots. Behind her, Diana glided to the ground, letting Lance slip out of her grip and land on his own feet.
“Over there,” Kara pointed across the city to the building lit with an enormous ‘L Corp’.
“She takes after her father, I see,” Diana grinned fondly, a million thoughts marching through her brain. In the back of her mind, one persistent and distressing thought refused to quiet.
Raised a Luthor. Raised a sister to Lex Luthor himself. Of all the people in all the worlds.
“What is she like?” Lance asked, unable to tear his eyes from his daughter’s building. She was in there. She was alive and…
“She is intelligent and dedicated and hardworking,” Kara smiled. “And successful. A born leader.”
“But is she kind?” Diana asked. “Is she compassionate and loyal and honest?... Is she a good person?”
She wasn’t sure she wanted the answer, and yet, she had asked.
Kara took a deep breath. “Yes. She is all of those things and more again. She’s… I can’t believe I didn’t see it before.”
“How are we going to tell her? How will we… approach this?” Lance asked almost absentmindedly.
“The only reasonable way, I suppose. Introduce ourselves as her birth parents,” Diana confirmed. “Everything else comes after that.”
“She was raised a Luthor, Diana. A Luthor does not easily trust.”
“Neither do Amazons. We can only try.”
***
“Tell her it’s urgent,” Lance insisted. “It is absolutely an emergency. I cannot meet later than today.”
“I’m sorry, Mr Prince. There is no available time today. It is past nine o’clock and Ms Luthor has left the office. Next Wednesday is the earliest time.”
“It must be today. Tell her… tell her it is the President of the American National Technical Institute for Oncological Pathology Enquiry.”
“I beg your pardon, Mr Prince, you’re the President of A.N.T.I.O.P.E.?” Jess asked, suddenly interested. Lena had mentioned them as a possible avenue for private donation.
“Yes, and this meeting is urgent.”
“Hold, please sir.”
The line went quiet and a jazz number began to play. Not eight seconds later, the phone reconnected.
“Mr Prince?”
“Yes.”
“The only time she will be available today is in ten minutes in her office.”
“I’ll be there. Thank you.”
Lance hung up and turned to Diana and Kara. For a moment he couldn’t speak. He was going to meet his daughter. In ten minutes, after twenty four years, he was going to meet his daughter.
“I’ll let you go,” Kara smiled. “If you need anything, you have my number.”
“Thank you, Kara. For everything,” Diana smiled, hugging her firmly. “You’ll hear from us soon.”
“Thank you for everything,” Lance said, hugging her too.