Justice Lords Limitless Act 2: EndWar

Part 1: Chapter 3

Diana lay in bed staring at the ceiling. She couldn't sleep. She'd been lying down since eight but sleep still eluded her. Outside it was raining rather harshly. A seemingly eternal downpour peppered her roof consistently with heavy raindrops that sounded more like dulled machine gun fire than water. The storm had started off rather slow but had picked up steam in the two hours since she'd nestled under the covers. A flash of lightning in the distance partially illuminated her bedroom and a second or so later came the rumble of thunder. She couldn't sleep, but it wasn't because it was raining cats and dogs.

As her eyes quickly adjusted from the flash of lightning, she looked out of her bedroom window to the street. She couldn't sleep because there was a curious sound outside, a sound not likely caused by the storm. She kept hearing a crunching around her window. At first, she thought it was her imagination running away with her, then when she could no longer write it off as a mere auditory hallucination, she thought it was the mild wind disturbing a tree branch. But now she was certain that the crunching noise was footsteps. Someone was rooting around the perimeter of her small home.

But I have no idea who or why, she thought to herself. Every time I look outside, I don't see anything.

She'd already moved, of her own volition, out of the apartment the Wayne Foundation had granted her and into a quaint condo in the more quiet outskirts of the west end. It was time for a new life. She was no longer Wonder Woman, after all; now she was Diana Prince, a friendly young woman who'd moved to Gotham from a small European town. It was a role she was playing so well that even she was beginning to believe it. Now, with her hair grown out and an unflattering pair of glasses on her face, she felt sure that she no longer looked like Lord Wonder Woman.

Again lightning flashed and again thunder crashed. She instinctively drew the sheets closer to her body. She never liked rainstorms. The turbulent weather always made her feel sad – as if Zeus himself was depressed. But who am I to play psychologist to a god? As she relaxed a bit in her bed, she heard the noise again, this time it was getting further away as if retreating.

She took a few moments to collect herself and then stood from her bed and crept to the window hoping to catch a look at her assumed creeper. With her back pressed against the wall, she peered outside just as another bolt of lightning seared the sky. In that brief flash of light, she caught a fleeting glimpse of a figure dashing across the street from her house toward a car parked along the road. She didn't even get a moment to process what she'd seen before something large and dark crashed through her window. She screamed.

The rain and wind shot in through the breach, but she disregarded the mess. Her attention was focused on the object itself: a worn, red brick lay on the now-dirty carpet nestled among shards of glass. Twine was wrapped around the brick and pinned to the brick by this twine was a folded note. With shaky hands, she carefully picked up the object and removed the damp paper. She read the message out loud in fear. "Now, even you can die."

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"Are you scared?"

The question caught him by surprise. Mawk had been droning on, admittedly a bit absentmindedly, on the firm couch in Dr. Morrison's office. He'd been going to therapy since the start of the year at his parents' behest. He didn't really think he needed it, but if it made his folks more comfortable, he'd go with it. He knew he was fine, so usually he'd carry out his own filibuster and waste time yapping and chatting for the hour. Sure, sometimes Dr. Morrison would ask a question, but this one was straight out of left field. Mawk looked at his therapist with an incredulous smile. "I'm... sorry? What?"

The therapist looked down at his notes. "These biweekly sessions are for you to deal with the trauma of that night. However, you usually talk about any and everything but the event. Why is that?"