The flying monster he'd caught was proof enough to Bruce that his team would need to be formed—the half-machine, the speedster, and the Aquaman. They, however, weren't the ones that made him nervous; no, instead it was the goddess with the sword and shield. The one who claimed to be unlike any woman he ever knew when he first spoke to her. The woman he fought alongside. The woman who was there when Superman died.
It had been months since he'd last seen her face to face. He tried to tell himself that she was in his head because of his mission to find metahumans, but truthfully, her powers weren't the reason she'd taken over his thoughts recently. He was having trouble accepting what he felt for her, and he didn't dare act on it, not after Selina and Talia, even though he knew Diana was purer, better for him than either of them. She had a broken heart of gold, hiding from the world. In a way, she thought like him; the world was a dark place that, at times, didn't deserve saving, but she wasn't a mere mortal like him. She was a powerful, beautiful woman who could inspire others in a way he never could. He thought that made Diana the closest to perfect that he would ever see, and he was infatuated with her and all she was.
Even Alfred could tell that there was something going on with him because of her. Despite saying that he was only concerned in her skill set, Bruce knew he wasn't fooling his butler. He was falling for her, and he couldn't afford to do that. He couldn't allow for any distractions, especially considering the potential invasion brewing, yet somehow…Diana Prince still occupied his thoughts.
She was surprised when Bruce contacted her. She was under the impression that he was distancing himself from her; she hadn't heard from him since he had returned Steve's watch to her. Part of her thought that maybe it was because there was something going on between them. It was an almost completely foreign emotion. She had almost forgotten what it felt like to love someone, or, at least, she thought it was love. A century of loss, without Steve Trevor, had made her lose hope in man's world, but then she met Bruce Wayne.
He possessed all the good qualities that she saw in Steve; determined, confident, and courageous in the face of uncertainty, as he showed her in the fight with the Doomsday beast. There was no questioning that just like Steve was brave, so was Bruce, but there was so much that she overlooked with Bruce. Unlike Steve, Bruce trusted no one. Sure Steve might have had a dark side, seeing as he was a spy, but Bruce took it to a whole new level.
She knew how much darkness was in him—that deep down, he was blaming himself for Kal-El's death, even though Luthor was the one who was at fault. She knew the feeling all too well, for she felt the same way a century prior, and still could feel it decades later. She figured that Bruce would need a lot of time to get over his guilt, and her heart couldn't help but ache for him. There was nothing that she could do for him, though; he was always distant, and she figured he had always been this way. All she wanted was for him to know that the death of Superman was not a burden he should have to carry. Guilt could consume a person, and she didn't want that for him. He didn't deserve it; at least, she thought he didn't.
Bruce knew she was there without looking. He told her his security system had cost him millions of dollars. "Yeah, it looked expensive," was her response. He turned away from the Flying Fox to look at her, and found himself blown away. With a smile like that, who couldn't forgive her for anything? Some men bought flowers or jewelry for their women; he was willing to pay a few million bucks for an upgraded security system.
Being with her again was a feeling he missed. Her presence was enough to remind him that he wasn't going on some blind crusade. There were metahumans like her, with abilities that defied the laws of science, incomprehensible for normal men. Sure those metas weren't anywhere as beautiful as her, but his point still stood. Perhaps she was a reminder to him that there were superhumans in the world.
Or, once again, that's just what he told himself to explain what he was feeling.
They'd gotten thrashed by Steppenwolf. He was too powerful. But their defeat wasn't what irritated Diana; no, what made her angry was the lengths to which Bruce would go to try and win an argument. How dare he mention Steve? How dare he say that she has guilt issues, when he wants to bring a dead man back to life in order to alleviate his own shame?
Superman was at peace, she had no doubt. She knew Bruce could be a bit insensitive when it came to achieving what needed to be done, but apparently he had no boundaries. She tried to be nice, to tell him that Superman's death wasn't on him, but he was too stubborn. She knew he was challenging her to change the team's mind, that he was pushing for her to try and take control of the team and what they should do with the Motherbox, and she refused to give in.
He knew he'd messed up when he said the name Steve Trevor. He knew because she slammed him in the chest; not that he didn't deserve it. He just wanted her to know that she was being a hypocrite. How different could his remorse over Superman be from hers over a man that died over a hundred years ago?
It had been a while since he had allowed others besides his butler into his life. As a result of that, he had developed a habit of being unmercifully blunt. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't at least somewhat jealous of who Steve Trevor was to Diana, and he couldn't really stop that jealousy from bleeding through. Now that he had decided to bring her old lover into the argument, he wasn't sure if she would forgive him. He had pushed her too much, and he had no idea where they stood now.
Bruce decided that this wasn't the time for worrying about his relationship with her—whatever it was. Steppenwolf had two of the Motherboxes already; he had to focus on the mission at hand, that being to bring back the only man capable of defeating the destroyer of worlds. At least he tried to focus on that.
Because a part of him couldn't help but believe she was right about what he planned to do.
Even though she was opposed to bringing Superman back to life, Diana went to the Kryptonian crash site to support the alien she had fought alongside. Just as she predicted, Superman was changed when he awoke. Arthur was right, that death made you lose something. She tried desperately to remind him of who he was, but the Kryptonian wouldn't listen. He probably would've killed Bruce if it weren't for Lois Lane.
She wanted to be angry with Bruce for what he had done. She wanted oh so badly to tell him that she told him so, that he could have died, but when she saw him, sore and bruised, she was reminded of what she saw in him. He was willing to do whatever it takes, but he was just a normal man. Seeing him so tired, vulnerable, yet willing to find and defeat Steppenwolf and his parademons…it reminded her of the resiliency she had grown to admire in him.
He said she probably believed he ignored her when she spoke about the heart, but, at the time, she was too angry to even consider if what she was saying got through to him. Now, however, she knew he listened to her. In fact, he didn't need to; the fact that he knew to call Lois was enough for her to know that, although he seemed somewhat out of touch with his own emotions, Bruce was still capable of empathizing with others.
She told him why she didn't want to be leader. She didn't want to be responsible for what could happen, and she surely didn't want to be the one leading her friends into a battle that, at this point, was looking very bleak. She said that, if she were to be leader, every loss to her would be like Steve Trevor, and that she couldn't bear that burden. She wasn't completely telling him the truth, but he didn't push her, which kind of disappointed her.
The truth was that not all those losses would hurt the like Steve Trevor's. Only the loss of Bruce could hurt so badly as that. And she didn't want that on her conscience if the unthinkable were to happen to him.
Bruce was surprised when Diana went to see him alone; a part of him felt embarrassed that she had to see him in such a weak state. She wasn't angry like he expected, but instead she seemed the exact opposite. Her voice was calm, soothing almost. She saw his dislocated arm and popped it back into place as he spoke, making him wince. As if he wasn't already embarrassed.
Diana said she knew what he was trying to do in the hangar, before they resurrected Superman. That he was testing her, seeing if she would take leadership of the team. Of course she knew. She told him that she would always do what was needed of her, but that she could never be a leader. She said that as a leader, every loss would be like that of Steve Trevor. Bruce understood where she was coming from. Two decades in Gotham had resulted in the loss of more loved ones than he could bear, some through death, and others by worse means.
Bruce told Diana that she could continue her life in peaceful solitude when Steppenwolf was dealt with. She laughed in such a surprisingly relaxed way for a woman who was about to go to battle with him against a nigh unstoppable enemy. "If we get through the night," she said simply, as they grabbed a drink from a nearby cupboard.
Despite knowing that they were almost certainly heading towards their inevitable doom, he couldn't help but feel content in the moment. For just a few minutes, they could just forget the world, just be a happy man and woman with a couple glasses of booze. Having her with him was enough for the moment. He could only hope that after all this was over, they could share something more than alcohol.
One of the things I loved most about the Justice League movie was the way that Bruce and Diana's chemistry was portrayed. It was really a lot like the way their relationship was portrayed in the Justice League Unlimited show, which I really appreciated. After the movie, I knew I had to write a story about this. Please review if you enjoyed!