CHAPTER III: Piece by Piece

Again, Diana found herself sprawled out on the floor in the middle of nowhere. She cautiously pulled herself up into a sitting position as she looked up at the lifeless sky. It was near the afternoon, the sun was directly overhead. It was also in the middle of winter and it appeared to be around the vicinity of Gotham once again. But this time, she was out of the city boundaries and in the middle of what seemed to be a small park.

She lifted her chin and began to roll her neck. The fall had made her entire body sore and stiff. As she stretched, she noticed a park bench a few feet away. Slowly, she got up onto her feet and walked over to the snow covered bench. It had looked like it would be around freezing temperatures outside, but it hadn't felt like it, at least not for her. She swept the snow off of the bench and sat down.

As she swept the scenery of the park she sighed. It had been a long time since she's been able to simply sit down and relax like this. Though at the moment, relaxing was at the bottom of her list of priorities.

Diana crossed her arms and closed her eyes trying to meditate on what she could possibly do in her situation. The only thing she did know was that; it was the past, she's currently in Gotham, Batman does not exist (yet) and there was no way she could possibly get back home. And worst of it all, she seemed to be randomly fainting and teleporting. She shook her head in dismay; it seemed hopeless to even think about returning back to the 'present'.

Suddenly her eyes fluttered open feeling a presence near her. They widened in surprise, taking in the figure of the man who stood in front of her. He was tall, muscular and had a very well-built body. His dark hair, damp from sweat, stuck to his forehead. What attracted her the most were his bright blue eyes, they seemed to glow as they looked into hers. He had a small grin on his face as he observed her,

"Aren't you cold?" He finally asked her. His voice was deep and husky. She felt an instant attraction to the young man.

"No, not really," She smiled softly,

"You're bluffing! It's got to be at most zero degrees out here," He raised an eyebrow in amusement, his eyes turned into a vivid color of blue.

She could help but laugh at his tone of voice. It was odd to hear a serious voice speak in such a light tone. The only other person she knew of who had the same type of voice was Batman, and he was not the type to make such comments. Her expression suddenly dulled down at the thought of Batman and the Justice League, the young man took notice of the change and took a step closer to Diana.

"Is something the matter?" He asked softly. When Diana's head shot up and looked up at him with eyes that seemed to be filled with worry, he wanted to sit down next to her and comfort her. He turned slightly red at the thought of embracing a stranger.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to pry," he quickly began to regret asking her the question,

"No no, I'm just a bit…lost," Diana replied, she didn't know how to put her situation into words, but 'lost' was a great word to describe how she felt at that moment.

"Where do you need to go? I can try to help out, but it'd be better to just ask Alfred if anything," He looked at her with genuine concern, she couldn't take her eyes off of his.

"Alfred…?" She tilted her head to the side wondering who that might be,

"My butler," he replied bluntly, "but, he's more like an uncle,"

"Butler?" she looked at him carefully. He was wearing grey sweatpants with a black wind breaker. He just seemed like a regular citizen taking a nice jog in the park. But he DID have the looks to be accompanied with money.

"Yeah, which reminds me… formalities aren't necessary but it's a bit weird to be talking about my butler before we even properly introduce ourselves," He grinned and watched her in anticipation,

"Right," Diana nodded her head once in agreement and replied, "Diana Prince,"

"Diana," The young man mimicked trying to familiarize the name with his voice, "it's a beautiful name,"

"Thank you," She smiled gingerly at his compliment, even though it wasn't her real name. It wouldn't be the most delightful surprise for him to find out that she was actually a superhero.

"Mines Bruce," He took s a short break before adding, "Bruce Wayne,"

Diana's expression suddenly shifted into one of both, discomfort and disbelief. Bruce Wayne? The one she had seen just moments ago? But he was just a little boy! She looked to the ground trying to piece the puzzle together. Had she shifted through time once again? Does that mean there's a potential chance of getting back? This raised so many more questions, and even better, it meant that there was a chance.

Diana slowly turned back to face the young man who just announced to her who he was. Bruce Wayne? The notorious billionaire who played with the hearts of women? There was no way that this man could be Bruce Wayne. She eyed his features carefully. If he actually tried, he might have been able to pull off an appearance of a playboy. But she just couldn't believe that he was such a shallow person. Maybe the tabloids were wrong. Perhaps they just built up pointless lies to make him seem worse than he actually was. Until a moment ago, he seemed so normal, so down to Earth. There was no way he could be the pig the media portrayed him to be.

Bruce looked at her with concern by the reaction she had when he had told her his name. Maybe she was just another one of 'them'; the woman who just try to get at him for the looks, the fame and the money. He sighed in disappointment; she seemed so genuine, even though a bit unusual. She was wearing a swimsuit in the middle of January and not even a single goose bump showed up on her flawless skin.

"Bruce Wayne?" Her eyes were set on his. She had blue eyes just like his; penetrating, strong and vibrant. It was amusing to meet another person with black hair and a set of blue eyes. Her hair was long and wavy. He had a thing for woman with long dark hair, but it wasn't just that. Everything about her seemed to draw him in. Whether it was the way she laughed or cried, he knew that there was something inside of him that begged to know more about her. He involuntarily smiled at the sound of his name coming from her lips,

"Yes?"

"It's a beautiful name," Her grin touched her eyes making it impossible for him to not smile along with her.

"That would be the first time someone refer to my name as beautiful,"

"There's a first for everything,"

She couldn't help herself, she found Bruce too attractive for her own good. He was sidetracking her from finding her way back to the 'present', but there was something there. Something that was unseen. She didn't know what it was or how it even ended up there, but there was a deep connection between them two and she was sure he felt it as well. But, the next question had completely caught her off guard.

"Would you like to accompany me at a party tonight?" His expression wasn't an amusing one anymore, but rather one of determination, "it's being held at the manor and I needed a date, but I couldn't find someone and I was thinking it'd be great if you could go-"

"Yes," She smiled and giggled childishly at his invitation. Famous for being known as a notorious playboy, it was unexpected of him to ramble on and on in nervousness. "I'd love to,"

His smile touched his eyes, making her heart skip a beat. Was it possible for someone to be so handsome AND kind at the same time? Then she suddenly remembered her dilemma. She had nothing to wear.

Bruce seemed to notice Diana turn stiff and looked at her in worry, "is something wrong?"

Diana didn't even bother worrying over her biggest issue. Instead she worried about a different matter. She turned red at her next statement, "I don't have anything to wear,"

In reply, he just gave her a mischievous crooked grin and in a deep husky tone said, "I can fix that,"


*'Present'*

Superman walked into the room where Flash was untying Batman from the table. Clark's face was molded into one of worry and aggravation. He had heard the news that Diana had disappeared and that was all he heard from Hal. He was told to report to the room to hear the specifics from Batman himself.

He took a few steps into the room and then crossed his arms over his chest. He took a glance around and saw monitors and wires all over the place.

"What happened?" Clark asked trying to get straight to the point. They would have to figure everything out as soon as possible, before something potentially bad happened to Diana.

"I'm not sure," Batman, finally released from the table walked over to the monitor and examined it, "she just disappeared,"

"To where?"

"I'm not sure about that either, but it seems like she might've been teleported to the 4th dimension," Batman started to press buttons on the monitor screens opening up windows.

"Which means?"

"She's in the past," He turned around and looked at Clark whose expression was filled with worry and confusion.

The door slid open and J'onn walked into the room with Hal right behind him,

"Here he is," Hal muttered as he stopped at the doorway while J'onn walked up to Batman,

"You needed me?" The green Martian asked,

"Try to find Diana," Batman ordered his voice became darker,

"Batman, are you sure she might even be…alive?" Superman asked with a concerned tone,

"No," He replied bluntly with unsteadiness laced in his voice,

"We should bring Zatanna and Doc-"

"No, Magic's not going to do anything," Batman cut him off. He became aggravated. Was there anything they could do?

Batman looked over at J'onn in anticipation. Hopefully they could locate her and work from that, but there was a small chance that they would be able to find her. When the Martians orange eyes dimmed and looked in his direction, he already knew the answer and replied for him instead.

"She's no longer here,"


A/N: Thanks for the comments and support guys! :) It really means a lot and it gives me great joy to know that you enjoy the story.

Now, for this chapter... I didn't really edit it... I swept it once so there might be a few errors here and there, but I'll get to it and fix it up. Hopefully the pieces of the puzzle are coming together and you'll know where I'm going with it, but then again... I might pull a fast one on ya and make it the most unpredictable story. Puahahaha~ Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! :D

P.S I was contemplating whether I should make Bruce fat and hairy...but I realized it wouldn't exactly be a crowd pleaser :d