Welcome to another chapter in this ongoing adventure. I am overjoyed with the responses and encouragement from everyone so far.
I want to directly thank LifeisCRUEL for his/her reviews so far. I am trying to slowly delve into more detail through each chapter, both as I do rewrites and when writing new chapters. I am currently doing my first fight scene that I am spending time trying to develop as coherently as possible.
Thank you for the reviews, keep em coming! :)
Also I do wish to clarify that this Batman will be more social and open, then you may see him in other fanfictions. He will still keep his stoic and unfeeling side, but Bruce Wayne's personality may rub off more noticeably on his Bat persona. Then again there's no telling what direction I may choose to take his personality.
I also envision Batman's outfit as the one from the Batman Arkham Knight video game, where it's more armour like, instead of the smooth texture seen in the animated series. It's just to tie it in with the type of armour the Amazon's wear.
For Wonder Woman's look, I see her as her JL and JLU appearance. Same outfit, same look and more or less same personality.
All right I'll stop yammering now and let you enjoy this next step in the journey.
(I will start titling my chapters now. Don't worry I'll make sure to go back and change the earlier ones as well)
Chapter 4: Out of the fire ball, onto the Island.
Batman felt disoriented.
The impact of the crash had knocked him out instantly, and when he finally regained consciousness he was hearing voices outside his pod.
He was unable to understand exactly what they were saying but from their tone he could tell they weren't hostile. Yet.
Regardless, he had to get out of this confined space. He could worry about the intentions of the people outside once he was out. Mustering up his strength, Batman began heaving upwards with his arms like he was bench pressing in the gym. Once. Twice. And on the third push the lid flew off.
Not wasting any time, the Bat quickly sat up and scanned his surroundings. Thankfully the filters in his lenses lessened the blazing sun's glare so he didn't get blinded from the lighting change. After a swift turn, the source of the voices became clear.
As soon as the pod opened, all the Amazons took a single step back, all falling into battle ready positions, hands on their swords. As the queen's personal guard, they were some of the most ferocious warriors on the island, and wouldn't take a chance when the queen and princess were here.
Diana and Hippolyta simply watched as a figure clad in black armor and a cape emerged, it's eyes replaced with slits of light and holding strange weapons in its hands. They looked like jagged pieces of metal, but upon closer inspection had very precise contours and edges. Clearly some kind of weapon. Halfway between a dagger and a throwing knife.
Batman carefully shifted his eyes to each of the women in front of him. They were all dressed in light armor with spears, swords and shields. He wasn't aware of any fighting force in the modern world that still relied on these sorts of weapons, so it was clear he was in for a discovery.
The Amazons shared Batman's confusion at what they were seeing. Almost every part of this… things appearance was unfamiliar to them. They could deduce he was wearing some sort of armor, and they recognized the cape draped over his shoulders, but beyond that it was all a conundrum.
For a few seconds there was total silence. No one moved a muscle, as each party assessed the other.
Finally, Diana's mother stepped forward, breaking the trance and announced in a regal tone:
"I am Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons. We saw you emerge from a ball of fire that came from the sky. We presume you were sent here by our Gods, but we were not informed of your arrival. Please tell us who you are and why you are here."
Bruce paused for a few seconds. This was a lot of new information he needed to process; but most pressing was that they seemed to have mistaken him for somebody else. Some sort of "godly gift" maybe? Never mind their belief in a polytheistic religion, his immediate worry was whether he should try to deceive them into thinking he was sent by their Gods, or just tell them the truth.
They did not recognize or react to his bat insignia, meaning he shouldn't be afraid of revealing himself as the Batman. However, the fact that they were Amazons, about which Bruce knew just the essentials, the next step in revealing himself as a man would most likely be more complicated. Accounts differed on what Amazons did to men who landed on their island. Sometimes they gave them a boat so they could leave, other times they formed romantic bonds and most of the time the man in question was simply killed on the spot and left for the crows to pick apart.
Be that as it may, trying to pass himself off as someone he was not wasn't any better. Baring the fact he had no idea who he could portray that would be of significance to them. If they found out who he really was, he would be a liar in addition to being a man, in which case he would be given much less wiggle room then if he were only the latter.
Deciding that honesty would probably get him farther then deception, Batman straightened himself, put away his weapons and spoke clearly:
"Pleased to meet you Queen Hippolyta, my name is Batman, the Dark Knight of Gotham City. I am afraid I have no connections to these Gods you speak of. My plane was shot down and I had to jettison before the crash. If you'd allow me to send out a distress signal, I can be gone within a couple of hours."
As he finished his speech, there were a couple more seconds of silence, during which the queen's guard started to tense up a little more prepared to attack at their queen's command.
The silence was finally broken when Diana took a step forward and curiously asked:
"You're a knight? I've read about those. You protect the innocent. Uphold justice. Fight against monsters. Are you that sort of knight?"
Bruce was surprised at this reaction. Out of all the things she could have asked, she decided to question him on his namesake. He smiled. If they were all as free spirited as she seemed to be, he shouldn't have to worry about his safety.
Hippolyta's words brought him back to reality:
"You're a man?"
Shit, Bruce thought, and it was all going so well.
"Yes, but I wish to assure you I mean you no harm, I only wish to leave…"
"Seize him", she spat.
Hearing their queen's words, her honor guard sprang forward; spears down, shields up, forming a circle around the Batman.
This wasn't good. He could probably hold his ground against these warriors, but for one there were definitely more back at wherever their base was, and second, any hopes for leaving peacefully would be basically annihilated if he engaged them. While he didn't like his odds, he wouldn't be caught trying to play pacifist. If they were intent on taking him down, he'd be sure to make them work for it.
Then an idea popped into his mind.
"What guarantee can you give me I won't be harmed?" he asked in a casual tone, relaxing his posture.
Hippolyta narrowed her eyes at him. He was surrounded and outnumbered, but was still trying to trick them into letting their guard down. Some things never change, she thought.
In a voice halfway between a growl and a shout she responded:
"You have broken the sacred law of this island. You will be tried and we will decide what do with you. However, if you wish to resist, we may simply kill you where you stand!"
"What guarantee can you give me that it will be a fair trial", Bruce continued, completely ignoring the armed Amazons surrounding him.
"We are Amazons. We live our lives truthfully and fairly, and your trial would be no exception."
"Do you swear it on your honor?"
Hippolyta was incredulous. This man was clearly plotting something and she was growing tired of it. She was going order her guard to kill him, but her daughter spoke up:
"I swear on my honor as princess of Themyscira that you will receive a fair trial and shall not be harmed unless our verdict dictates otherwise."
Everyone looked at Diana in shock, apart from Bruce who kept his face neutral.
They all knew what this meant. Honor was everything to an Amazon. Sullying it meant eternal shame in the eyes of the Gods, and none of the queen's guard would even consider tarnishing their princess's honor.
However, the man had taken no such vow, meaning he could attack them and they would be stuck an impasse between protecting their princess's honor and their service to their queen. It wasn't a choice they wished to make.
As everyone waited for Batman's response, he simply nodded, lifted his hands above his head and declared:
"I surrender."
