"Uh, I think I may have dialed the wrong number." Red Robin said somewhat awkwardly: "I just slightly modified the summoning array, changing those redundant runes into strengthening ones, so... Sorry for the disturbance, I'll hang up now."
"Wait a moment." There was a hint of interest in the woman's voice.
"This is the first time a human has been able to contact me. Let me see the pattern you drew...interesting."
The amused sarcasm in Lilith's voice made Red Robin uncomfortable. He scratched his ear vigorously and said, "Could you stop blowing in my ear? It itches."
"It's not your ear that's itchy, but your heart."
Suddenly, a gust of dark wind blew above Red Robin's head. The room plunged into darkness. He felt like he was in a dark forest, standing before a massive pine tree.
Instinctively, Red Robin looked up. He saw a large, black serpentine tail. Looking further up, he saw a beautiful woman with red hair and green eyes looking down at him from the pine tree branches.
She seemed innocent like a young girl, but her gaze and voice carried an irresistible temptation. The black tail started moving, and soon, a demon, a woman with the lower body of a snake, appeared before Red Robin.
"A delectable little lamb." Lilith chuckled in a low voice, playfully swung the tip of her tail, and leaned in. Her red hair brushed against Red Robin's shoulder.
Red Robin was momentarily mesmerized by her, but swiftly, he managed to break free from her temptation. He fearlessly met Lilith's intoxicating eyes and asked,
"Why did the array I modified end up contacting you?"
"Perhaps it is destiny that brought us..."
"Was it the thirteen strengthening runes I added? Or was there a problem with the range of the mother rune? Or should I not have deleted the word 'tatu'?"
Lilith straightened her body and chuckled softly. "You're pretty interesting, little lamb. Do you know who I am?"
"You said your name is Lilith."
"That's right. But they usually call me the Mother of Storms and Disasters, the Mistress of Darkness, the Ancestor of Nightmares and Death - Lilith."
Upon hearing Lilith's true name, a flash of realization passed through Red Robin. He exclaimed, "Are you that Lilith? The first wife of Adam in Eden, the ancestor of vampires?"
"Exactly, I'm Lilith."
"I certainly summoned quite a being." Red Robin sighed, but showed no fear. Facing Lilith, he held out his hand and asked, "Since you're here now... do you need a Pope?"
"Compared to that..." Lilith slithered behind Red Robin, whispered into his ear, "Do you know what else I'm in charge of?"
"What?"
"Desire." Lilith chuckled softly, blew gently into Red Robin's ear, and asked, "How do you feel now?"
"I feel kind of cold."
"Not hot?"
"Of course not, your tail is freezing." Red Robin turned his head to see that Lilith's tail was winding around his leg.
He sighed and asked, "Can we discuss the matter at hand now?"
With a flick of her tail, Lilith "whooshed" back to her original position. Her tail gently struck the ground as she furrowed her eyebrows at Red Robin. After sizing him up and down again, she asked, "Strange... what do you want to talk about?"
"Do you need a Pope?"
Lilith was silent for a moment; she looked at Red Robin's face and said, "I don't deal with humans because they're filthy and frail. Those male humans who dream of me drown in their desires, trembling."
Lilith used some complex old grammar, but Red Robin could still understand the implication. He remembered from the European folklore that Lilith and her daughters would creep into men's dreams, leading them to nocturnal emissions.
"But you are a bit different from them." Lilith slithered around Red Robin in a circle and stated, "An interesting human boy, do you need my power?"
"I need your knowledge more."
"What do you want to know?"
"About vampires." Red Robin thought of their pursuit of Kaz. "A prominent human mage has been taken by a vampire. This could lead to war between the magic realm and the vampire clan. We want to know his whereabouts, can you help?"
Lilith stroked her own wrist and sniffed the air. "I can smell it... Looks like my nephew has been up to something. They're under the dock house at Plymouth South Port. I fear you must hurry, the smell of blood is fading."
It seemed Lilith wanted to say more, but Red Robin immediately switched to a completely rational mindset. The illusion vanished instantly. Stepping out of the array, he turned to the waiting Constantine and Boston and said,
"Under the dock house at Plymouth South Port. Kaz might be dying soon, we need to hurry!"
In Gotham, inside the lobby of Wayne Hotel, Diana waved at Nightwing, saying, "Over here! I'm over here! You're here to help Bruce with something, right?"
"Yes, Wonder... I mean, Miss Diana." Nightwing catches himself half-way through saying her title, still not quite used to seeing Diana out of uniform, which is why he hadn't immediately noticed her in the crowd.
"You can just call me Diana. Are you a friend of Bruce's?" Diana looks him up and down and says, "You seem somewhat like him, I mean in terms of your uniform taste."
Nightwing scratches his head; he looks around and decides to take off his mask and says, "Bruce might not have explained to you, but I'm Dick Grayson, a member of the Batman Family from another cosmos. Nice to meet you."
Diana, somewhat surprised, extends her hand to shake his, then teases, "I didn't realise you grew up to be such handsome, Dick."
Nightwing embarrassingly looks away, and Diana pats him on the shoulder and says, "Come with me. We'll find a secluded place to open the portal. The object Bruce wants is still with my brother."
Nightwing doesn't say anything but just nods and follows Diana. They end up in the underground parking lot of the hotel. Diana's hands light up, and as the light envelops them, they disappear with a swish.
Once the blinding light in front of him fades, Nightwing finds himself in a thick, lush forest. Diana flips her hair and says, "I can't take you directly to Olympus Rule, so we came to the Amazon first. Then I'll call Hermes to come get us."
Nightwing looks around curiously, to which Diana laughs and says, "What's up, curious?"
"A little, as the Amazon is off-limits to men. I've only seen these sceneries in travel advertisements."
"Generally, yes. But there are exceptions." Diana leads Nightwing through the jungle, and he sees a beautifully decorated cave appear in front of him. Upon entering, he finds it's been turned into a house. Diana explains to him, "This is my secret base. If I want to invite my male friends over, I keep them here. It's fine as long as they don't show up in front of anyone else."
Suddenly, a youthful male voice echoes in the cave, "Diana, are you going to see your brother at Mount Etna directly?"
"Yes, thanks, Hermes."
Again, a beam of light descends, and the first thing Nightwing feels after the dazzling light is the heat.
Diana advances a few steps on the volcanic rocks, sees the sweat on Nightwing's forehead, and frowns, "Doesn't the uniform your universe's Bruce prepared for you have a temperature adjustment function?"
"I'm not that sensitive." Nightwing says with a frown.
"It seems like you guys don't have much dealings with God Clan." Diana shakes her head, waves her hand, and a breeze surrounds Nightwing. Then she says, "It's not a matter of whether you can stand the heat or not. The temperature up in the volcano exceeds a thousand degrees. But it's fine like this."
"Thank you, Your Highness."
"No problem. Tell me about the Bruce from your universe."
Diana leads Nightwing up the slope and upon hearing her reference to Batman, he frowns and says, "You have to call him Batman, or he'll get upset."
"Well, he can't hear from a universe away... All right, Batman, tell me about the Batman from your universe. Is he doing okay?"
"He's... pretty good." Nightwing frowns again, "But he might be having some trouble recently. He had to send us to this universe to avoid them."
Diana's expression turns serious, and she looks at him and asks, "What kind of trouble? Is it related to his professor...?"
"I heard it was something to do with Darkseid, but I'm not sure. That's the Justice League's problem, Batman doesn't let us get involved."
Diana breathes a sigh of relief, murmuring, "I hope this isn't some new title for that professor..."
Soon, though, it seems something occurs to her. She repeats the name Nightwing mentioned, then says hastily, "He's confronting the New Gods? Can he win?"
Surprised, Nightwing looks at Diana and says, "Of course, he's Batman."
"But that's just it, you don't know..."
Diana hastens her steps, turns to Nightwing and beckons him, "Hurry up. We might persuade Hephaestus to open the storage and get you something useful!"
Nightwing is confused by her reaction, and Diane doesn't explain but this doesn't mean she's being mysterious. Instead, her understanding of Batman is different from Nightwing's.
Diana first met Bruce in Kent Farm, Kansas, when he appeared injured and weak. Clark had told her he had mental health issues, possibly unclassified autism so she couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for him.
Later on, witnessing Bruce and Shiller torment each other only reinforced her belief that Bruce was mentally unstable.
In short, Diana believed that Bruce couldn't behave normally and needs someone to care for him. Yet, she also acknowledges that Bruce's mind is a treasure on earth, and his wisdom is a priceless asset.
Now, hearing Nightwing mentioning that their universe's Batman is up against a formidable foe, Diana naturally assumes that an individual with mental health issues is striving to overcome his symptoms and use his intelligence to contribute to Earth's safety.
While this is accurate to some extent, when the Justice League in that universe met Batman, he appeared as a powerful figure with a well-thought-out plan, and continued to show such character. Over time, most people started seeing him as a demi-god, including Diana and Superman in that universe.
However, when Diana first met Bruce in this universe, he was an injured individual battling mental health issues. She couldn't imagine that Bruce could face such powerful foes himself, let alone join the fight without risking a lot.
The thought of another universe's Bruce risking so much for the safety of the earth, the righteous Wonder Woman naturally wanted to help.
So, the Amazonian Woman Warrior leaves Nightwing behind and hurries to the entrance of the temple, kicks open the door, and yells inside.
"Hephaestus, give me the key to the warehouse. I need to take something! FAST!!!"