General Waller was at her desk when Prince Wayne arrived, a quill in her hand and a report half-finished before her.
She heard them before the door opened. Wayne came in first, anger clear on his face. His guards filed in behind him, weapons already drawn.
"Prince Wayne." Waller didn't lift her eyes from the parchment. "What brings you here? With a lively group, as well."
Wayne set his sword on the ground. "I didn't think we would be at this point, Waller."
"Whatever do you mean?" she asked.
"Cease the act," said Wayne. "I know what you've done. How dare you? You've served since the time of my parents. Did you act like this then as well?"
Waller finished the last word on the page, capped the ink, and rose from the chair. She walked to the window, admiring the view. The city spread out below.
"This kingdom is such a beautiful place, is it not?" she said. "You and I… we've managed to guard them from tainted men and women. At least, until recently."
"Surrender, Waller, and we'll treat you fairly."
"...To think that you are one of them as well, my prince." A quiet breath came out of her mouth. "It's a pity. You were the best of us."
Wayne raised his sword and aimed it at her back. "I will ask once more. Surrender."
Waller turned from the window. There was a ring on her finger, a green stone embedded in the band, and the moment Wayne's eyes landed on it, his legs gave out. He hit the floor on both knees, his sword clattering against the stone beside him, and the strength drained from him faster than he could fight it.
The guards charged. Waller pulled a staff from her belt, a long shaft of dark wood tipped with an ice crystal, and swept it toward them. They froze before they could reach her, locked in place mid-charge. The cold came almost in an instant, it was now cold enough that fog curled from Waller's breath as she walked toward Wayne.
He was writhing on the floor by the time she reached him.
"It began with your parents," said Waller. "They took in the aliens from the sky. A grave offence. They risked the safety of the kingdom, and looked at what it brought this kingdom into."
She kicked Wayne. He grunted against the floor.
"This place will be ruled by humans. And humans alone. Not aliens of your like, or any aliens at all."
She drew her sword and was raising it when the door came apart at the hinges.
Queen Diana threw her lasso of truth across the room. It wrapped around Waller the moment it left her hand. Finn and Ciri came in behind her; they were the ones who had brought her here.
"Thank the gods we didn't arrive too late," said Diana, frowning, and she pulled the lasso. Waller slammed against the wall, the staff and the ring both knocked from her body.
Finn grabbed the ice staff before it hit the floor. Ciri snatched the ring and threw it into the corridor, away from Wayne.
Diana reached down and grabbed Wayne by the arm. He was still on his knees, strength is slowly coming back. "You okay, Batman?"
"You're blinded by rage," Finn said. "It's unlike you."
Wayne was still getting his breath back. "What do you even know of me?"
"It's true though," Finn said. "You knew that Waller had access to the weaknesses of the Kryptonians now. If she can plan these elaborate machinations, she's bound to be very careful and wary of plans failing. And you just bolt into her office like a headless chicken."
Wayne said nothing to that. He got to his feet as his strength returned, crossed the room to where Waller was pinned against the wall, and drove his boot into her shoulder.
"Did you kill Alfred?" he asked.
Waller met his eyes. "Yes."
Batman's fist tightened. "Take her to the dungeons."
Diana scoffed. "I'm not your servant, Prince."
Wayne exhaled. "Pardon me, your majesty. You've done enough for saving me, and for that I am grateful." He turned to Finn and Ciri.
Finn raised a brow. "I'm not your servant either. Not even a citizen of this place."
Wayne surveyed the frozen guards around the room, all his men, and shook his head. "I'll bring her there myself then."
—
Constantine's divination had used the ice staff as a medium to find its owner, and it had led them to a clearing outside the castle walls, far enough from the city that no one had stumbled across it yet. Captain Cold was on the ground, what remained of him, his head blown off.
Constantine crouched and examined what remained of the neck.
"There's an explosion seal on the base of the neck," he said. "It looks like Waller is good at these types of magic. From what the interrogation gained, Waller killed J'onn J'onzz using a similar seal magic. But the trigger was touch, instead of something like this. Simply put, he touched her, and just… combust in flames."
"What a horrible way to die…" muttered Finn.
He turned the staff over in his hands, quiet for a moment.
"Still, I think this… Captain Cold for the interesting artifact."
Constantine glanced at him. "You're not afraid of the Prince? You take a lot of artifacts already. The green ring… and now this."
"He doesn't need to know everything," Finn said. "So please do shut up."
"It's not my business anyway," Constantine said. "I'm no servant of the Kingdom of the El."
—
The three kingdoms held a feast when all was settled.
The great hall was packed: lords, soldiers, city folk filling every long table. The food came out in courses and the noise didn't let up for hours. It was in the middle of all that when Queen Lara rose from her seat and formally abdicated, offering the crown to Prince Wayne before the whole assembly. Wayne refused. But Kal-El declined. Zala also declined. With enough voices in the hall calling for Wayne by name to ascend, he relented. From that night forward, they called him the Bat-King.
Finn got what he had come for: a small lodge in the forest outside the city, somewhere quiet to rest before moving on. Ciri lasted a week staying put on that lodge. As The Amazons sent word inviting her to train under them in Amazonia. She accepted without hesitation and was gone before the week was out.