Batman sat silently in front of the massive computer in the bat cave, a lone drop rolled down his left eye, he quickly wiped it away as he kept blankly staring at the screen. As if he were lost in thought, his mind flew through the many times he sat there from the first time he ever did, till tonight. There had been so many different occasions, the first time he sat blankly in front of the screen, undecided what he would do with it exactly. Sure it had many uses, but it was overwhelming. Through time he began getting accustomed to it, like writing reports and viewing as it displayed various alarms. Within time it became the bearer of information as he wrote profiles on every Gotham criminal, logs on which he would describe any important events that took place during every patrol. Sometimes it was way more personal as he read through that dreadful Gotham gazette edition, the one that contained the article of the 'Wayne Tragedy' or when after a mission he would profile through the pictures of those he had been too late to save. The computer eventually evolved into something more as it was hooked with the watchtower relay system. He had access to the world in more ways than one. Batman as well as Bruce had spent many hours of his life on it, but none of them were like this time. For the first time Batman sat in his computer feeling disdain, for the first time he had no use of the super-computer, Though he sat with his full Batman Regalia he felt stumped, But why would he feel like this. When he came home from patrol that night he knew his life had changed forever. He knew many things had become useless in his life. Things he regarded as life savers that he used every day suddenly became irrelevant. That day for the first time he had lost track of time. He didn't know he had spent the last five hours or so sitting silently in front of the screen. He wondered what filled the great screen, he had forgotten the last thing he had pulled up on it, was it a report? An alarm? A picture of his parents? Or live footage of a remote place on earth? But how could he forget? His reverie was cut short by a low buzzing sound from behind him.
He knew that sound, he had heard it for the last six years, but this time it was different, he had never truly heard the sound, it was so….
"Bruce, I was wondering where your where, you didn't show up for the meeting this morning and your com-link is off" came that familiar voice he knew all too well, but just like the buzzing sound he analyzed it differently.
Batman remained quiet, he swirled his chair around to where he was certain the voice was coming from, he tilted his head up to stare at Superman's form and stood.
"What do you want Kent?" Came his reply, although Clark knew it was coming, it was harsher than he anticipated, he knew something was amiss with his friend, but chose to steer clear from it, He knew Batman well enough not to interfere with his personal predicaments.
"I found some incriminating evidence that may put Luthor behind bars for a couple years, not even the best lawyers could get him out" Clark's grin permeated through his words, He took out a small shattered piece of glass with blood smeared on it. It was Luthor's blood, evidence he had found in crime scene in Metropolis. He would have had J'onn examine it in the watchtower but this was too close to home, and who better to share it with than his personal best friend. With one movement he tossed the small bag containing the evidence piece over to Batman, only to have it smash against his chest then drop to the cave's hard floor shattering to even smaller pieces.
Batman flinched as he felt the small impact on his chest but it was too late to react, he heard the small evidence piece, whatever it was shatter on the ground, it had been some kind of glass or breakable object that sounded like glass.
Clark stood there dumbfounded as he glared at his formal friend, He felt heat rise up to his face as he stared at Batman, was he so enraged that he didn't care about the evidence piece? Was he so arrogant to pass up an opportunity to help get rid of Superman's arch nemesis? With every silent moment a drop of anger added to supermans cup, he just stared at Batman who stood there like nothing happened.
Batman heard a cape flutter, which meant that Clark had moved but where?, he had not caught the direction in which the sound was moving, he was to caught up in the moment in which his friend might find out the truth. To be safe he kept staring at the same direction in which Kent had just been.
"What is wrong with you?" came Superman's growl, he noticed Batman still facing where he once stood, although Clark was now hovering over his left. Something was wrong with Batman, for all the years he had known Bruce, he had never seen him act this way, not in any situation. They'd been through happiness, victory, defeat, anger, sadness, loss, pain and much more, but never had he acted this way, so lost and confused.
Batmans response was the sudden drop of his shoulders, his empty gaze fell to his feet, he was caught with nowhere to hide, only to face the truth, the truth he had been hiding from the last few hours. He dreaded the moment where the sudden realization of what happened last night came down on him like weight of the world on his shoulders. His cheeks reddened as he tried to explain his peculiar behavior, "Clark I…I" He brought his hand to his exposed cheek lightning fast as he felt another drop begin to trace down his right cheek. He swiped it off carelessly leaving a red streak behind, after finally gaining the strength he continued, "I'm blind"
Clark stood there, dumb stricken, disbelief etched in every corner of his facial expression, superman found the strength to finally speak, "What? How?"
Batman began taking his cowl off slowly, for the first time; Clark noticed that his slits weren't glowing, in fact the small white glass portions were shattered inwards.
After uncovering his faces Clark was able to see the damage on his friends face, blood began dripping down his cheeks onto his chest; much of the blood had been kept concealed by the cowl, dried blood defiled his friends' face almost making it unrecognizable. Then Clark averted his eyes onto his friends own eyes, they where blood red, with small fragments of glass sticking out.
Clark gulped loudly as he stared in horror, "Does Alfred know?"
"No" came Batmans heavy reply, "I tried cleansing in the bathroom…. But.. I..I couldn't find it, so I just gave up"
Clark quickly moved to his friends side putting a light hand on his friends shoulder for support, he guided him towards the bathroom silently, at first Bruce was stiff and was reluctant to follow, but he let his guard down when he realized who's hands where leading him, it was his lifelong friend, his confidant and ally, a brother of sorts. The walk seemed eternal, he had never truly noticed how far he placed his Bathroom from the computer, he only knew they had arrived when he heard the water begin to run.
After cleansing off all the blood from his face, Bruce was beginning to look back to normal; it was still inconceivable that he was blind. How could this happen? How could someone like the Batman become hindered by something so….. Improbable.
Superman stood in silence as he watched his friend stare into the mirror, it was almost like he was staring into his reflection, if the look on his face was any indication, he could tell Bruce still had a hard time admitting it.
"Are you still there?" Batmans voice broke the silence, Superman noticed his voice was afraid, it was filled with uncertainty and fear, a tone he had never heard his friend use. Batman had been in the toughest situations that would make any other crumble under the pressure, but never had he shown fear. He knew his friend was stronger than him in more ways than one, but hearing him like this left him breathless, like the world would soon end. Truth was he held Batman on a pedestal, he was Superman's Superman, many times Batman had saved his life, when everyone looked at him for reassurance he looked at Bruce, he was his mentor and friend. He was strong because batman was strong, but now that his friend stood before in pieces, how could he be strong, what could he say?
"I'm still here" came Supermans weak reply.
As if he had know what Clark was thinking, Bruce took the highroad, he was batman after all, he should be the strong one, "Call a founders meeting, I will inform them of my resignation, though I need help to get up there" His voice sounded firmer, as if he was sure of himself although it was just a façade, in the inside he was crying, yelling, thrashing about aimlessly, he was scared.
"Aren't you going to inform Alfred? You should remove the glass from your eyes first" Superman took a little more strength when he heard Batmans stronger tone, it wasn't weak and confused anymore, it was surer of itself, It was more Batman.
"I may cause more damage by removing them now, Alfred doesn't have that expertise and neither does Dr. Tompkins, I would need J'onn to do it"
Superman nodded in acknowledgment but then felt stupid as his gesture went by unseen, "J'onn, beam us up, two for transport, and call for an urgent meeting"
Bruce placed his cowl back on and stared into the darkness as he felt a warm fuzzy feeling and heard the buzzing sound again. The ambience changed once more, it wasn't dank or cool anymore, It was the smell of metal and rubber that invaded his senses.
Superman placed his hand again on Batmans shoulder as he began leading him toward the conference room. The walk to Batman was dizzying and eternally long, every step he took was rigid and stiff as he felt like he would clash into a wall or a person. It wasn't that he didn't trust Superman, he just wasn't used to not seeing where he was going. As Batman he was always aware of his surroundings, granted his sight was not his main tool, but now without it he felt disoriented, like his other senses where unbalanced.
After entering the conference room the chatter of familiar voices died away and he felt eyes on him, he tried to shrug off Superman's hand off but chose otherwise as he still felt disoriented. He had forgotten the layout of the watchtower, and the layout of the conference room. He wondered why, he had been here for many years, he designed it, but for some reason no matter how hard he tried he could not remember any layouts. He followed Superman's gentle push as he now stood in front of the conference table, after clearing his throat Superman whispered close to his friends ear, "They're all here"
Batman nodded then licked his lips before he began talking, "I called this meeting today because effective immediately I am resigning from the Justice League due to a late development, I am unable to continue aiding you, That said I will continue to fund for the league and all its expenses, I hope you all respect my decision, I'am also handing Gotham over to Superman's jurisdiction, as I am no longer able to continue my mission, that is all" Batman tried to keep his voice even, he also tried moving his glance to each members faces as he usually did when he spoke, but he failed miserably.
"Wait you can't just quit! We need you! You and superman are the ones that started this whole thing from the beginning!" Cried out flash.
"Yeah you can't just run away now!" continued Shayera
"He is not running away!" Superman's voice came harsher than he intended, "I support him behind his decision and I hope you all do too"
"But why?" Wally continued
Batman kept waiting to hear her voice, to hear that strong firm voice that always seemed to send chills up his spine, but it never came.
"We will support you in your decision Batman, but we would like an explanation" J'onn's neutral voice pierced the ominous silence.
Batman's jaw clenched "READ MY MIND!" his retort came quickly, The Martian raised a brow, batman had never spoken to him in such a manner, he always was treated with respect, so this took him aback.
The League watched as batman began stalking out of the conference and stopped mere inches of the door, batman stood in silence with his fists visibly clenched. He didn't continue until he felt the reassuring grasp on his shoulder leading him out of the conference room into the teleportation pad.
Batman let out his breath he didn't know he was holding; He didn't exactly care for any their feelings right now, although Diana's silence stung, more presidential matters where perturbing him mind. Like the fall of the Batman, there was no one to carry his mantle, he had known he had to train someone to be able to do that, but he never knew it would be so early in life, he always thought he would be old and weak before that would happen.
Superman stayed silent, until they re-appeared in the cave, slowly Batman made his way to his chair, at least he could find the way to his chair from the pad in the cave.
"I'd like to be alone now Kent"
Superman sighed, of course he wanted to be alone, "If you need anything let me know"
Superman turned to fly out the cave before he heard his friend's lost and weak voice again, "Thank you"
A ghost of a smile appeared on Clarks face as he flew out of the cave, but his heart became contrite once more, there was no joy to be had in defeat, not in HIS defeat.
Batman sat on his chair for a long time, he wasn't sure if it was hours or just a few minutes as he had also lost the sense of keeping time, He was distracted by another buzzing noise directly in front of him. He heard the clicking of those heels echo through the cave.
"Leave Princess" was the first thing out of his mouth, but cringed at his voice, it lacked his usual authority, it was full of fear silver lined with defeat. He tried picturing her beautiful accented face when he realized he had also forgotten what she looked like, he began breathing unevenly when he forced his mind to conjure up her image but it seemed fleeting. The more he tried to picture her the more he forgot, it was his own worst nightmare.
At noticing his struggle Diana hastened her way to him and knelt in front of him, "Bruce, what's wrong?" her voice was worried.
He didn't answer he felt relieve once he heard her voice, it had brought his memory back, he could see her now, her beautiful skin, her blue eyes, raven hair, her smile. He felt peace for the first time that day.
"Bruce?" her voice showed more concern than before.
She moved to remove his cowl, she wanted to see his face, she wanted to see him again, she placed both hands at the sides of his cowl as she slowly began lifting it off, he'd made no move to stop her.
She felt dread and horror as she saw a mixture of blood and tears roll down his cheeks, if her gasp was of any indication she was mortified by the sight.
"Bruce what happened?" Her voice was shaky, as she was fighting back her own tears. She saw his eyes and saw him staring into the void, small shards of glass sticking out of them, instead of them being a beautiful blue and white, they where dreadful blood red.
Bruce only clenched his jaw as more tears and blood began dripping down his face.
It had been a couple of weeks since he had lost his sight, his world changed, it turned upside down. But in the midst of the chaos he found piece. He laid in his bed as he turned his head to where his Princess was laying, if he was right, she had her head propped up on a pillow and was staring directly into his eyes. His eyes where back to normal, minimal scarring remained, although his eyesight never returned, he acted almost as though could see again.
He flashed a smile at her, "What is it?"
"Sometimes I forget you can't see" although her voice was teasing he sensed sadness in her voice.
"Diana, you're not with me out of pity are you?" He asked uncertainly, he knew he loved her and he knew she loved him, but after his tragedy people had been kinder with him, more tolerant, what was to say Diana wasn't doing the same? No of course she wasn't.
"Of course not Bruce!" Her voice was sure and confident which caused him to smile.
"I know, I just wanted to hear you say it"
There were a few moments of silence before she broke it, "I love you Bruce, you know that"
His smile grew wider, "I can see it princess, it's a shame really, it took me to lose my sight to be able to truly see our love…. It's beautiful" almost instinctively he moved a hand to wipe a tear off her cheek.
Diana gripped his hand as she scooted her body close to his; she rested her head on his chest and listened to his steady heartbeat. His hand pulled her tighter against him, he turned his body to face hers as they both bonded in a tight embrace, he slowly inclined his head down to hers waiting for her lips to find his. As they met he intensified the kiss and let out all of his emotions that he kept inside, then smiled as he broke the kiss, "Sometimes I swear I can see you Princess, and you look beautiful"