For months he had wrote the programs that would allow him to get everyone off of the tower in one swoop. He could not afford anyone but the three of them to be left behind. As he uploaded the program he began to doubt his purpose. What if he was wrong, what it if did not mean what he thought it did. What if this was the one place where the scenario played out differently. He shook his head, and silently cursed himself for being weak. He knew it would end up the same, he had looked at the math, even gone so far as to peek into alternate universes, and it always ended the same.

With that the programs were uploaded and everyone but Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman was returned to the surface.

Superman and Wonder Woman had been sitting with Green Arrow and Black Canary in the commissary, having a light snack when suddenly Arrow and Canary were gone. A quick glance by Diana revealed that she and Kal were the only to left in the eatery.

"Superman to Green Arrow", Kal quickly sent over the communicator.

"Arrow here, Canary and I are back on Earth and we are fine. What happened?"

Before Superman could respond, Batman came over everyone's communicator.

"This is Batman, the Watchtower is under emergency quarantine, please make no attempt to return."

Superman and Wonder Woman turned to face each other knowing that whatever had affected Bruce, this was the situation brought to a head.

With that Batman stepped into the commissary on the far side.

"Bruce what are you doing?" Clark was quick to ask.

"I know you will not believe this, but I am doing what must be done. I am sorry that it comes to this, but I cannot allow the two of you to continue."

"Bruce have you gone insane?" Diana asked "You cannot allow us to continue what does that even mean?"

"I will explain everything but first let us sit down so that we can be comfortable at least." With that Bruce reached up and pulled his cowl off of his head, returning his arms into his cape and using it almost to shield himself.

As all three sat down the look of pain and agony on Bruce's face was transparent. Bruce brought his arms out from his cape and placed them on the table, but his fists were balled so tight that it is a miracle he is not cutting off blood flow, Diana thought.

"I want to apologize for everything Clark, please forgive me."

"Bruce….." he began to reply while Bruce lifted his hands off of the table and opened his fists before blowing over them directly into Clark's face.

Superman immediately collapsed, Diana jumped to his side "Kal, what has he done to you."

"Diana, please" Bruce began "return to your seat and I will explain everything, and will get Clark the help he needs before things get too bad."

"What did you do to him," Diana growled.

"Powdered kryptonite, blown directly into his face while he was inhaling. He took it directly into his lungs causing him to pass out. It is not enough to harm him, merely enough to incapacitate him for five minutes or so."

"Bruce why", Diana stammered. "He was your best friend, and I know it hurt you that you saw the kiss, but are you really so self-absorbed that you would hurt him over it."

"Diana I would have been happy if you chose to be with anyone but him, and if I did not know what would happen, I would have been happy for the both of you. But answer me this, what happens with the two of you, both immortal, in love looking down on Earth, from your gilded tower. Do you even know Princess, because I can assure you it is nothing good. I have looked at it over and over, watched it end the same time after time. I will not allow that to happen while I can do anything about it."

"So your solution in to incapacitate Kal, and then what? Kill me."

"Diana, I would kill myself before I would allow harm to come to you. I am not here to hurt you, merely to talk to you and let you know everything. Then I will do exactly what is needed to help Clark recover and I will leave, or let you take me into custody, or whatever you want at that time." Bruce paused, and Diana looked into his eyes, expecting to see the same emptiness she had seen earlier.

Bruce's eyes were filled with love and compassion, and she knew that she believed him.

"Diana do you remember when you asked me why it would not work out between us and I gave you the reasons."

"Of course I do", Diana retorted harshly. The thought then occurred to her that she now knew what he meant when he had told her he lied.

"Well those reasons were lies. They served the purpose well enough at the time, but given the state of things I wanted to come clean now. The truth is that I have loved you since I saw you the first time, and I would do anything to protect you and be with you, but that is not possible. That is the real reason that I lied to you."

Diana frowned as though trying to make sense of the situation, trying to figure out where he was going with this. Was he trying to dredge up the past?

"Bruce, please know those feelings are gone now and I have moved on."

"I know, and that is what I wanted or at least what I thought I wanted."

"Wait so you get me to do what you want and then you attack the person I move on with, you selfish…" Diana said while beginning to rise.

"Diana please sit down, that is not what this is at all. When I tried to get you to move on from me, the real reason is because I could not bear to do to you what was done to me."

"Bruce that doesn't even make sense" Diana said trying to figure out where this was going.

"Diana you know what led to me becoming Batman was the death of my parents, the feeling that I had failed and that I wanted to protect others from the soul crushing pain that I felt."

"Bruce of course I know that," Diana replied softly.

"Well what happens if you and I became a couple, had children, and had any type of real relationship. You would watch me grow old and die, watch our children grow old and die. You would be left all alone, living forever with the knowledge of your love gone. For all these many years it almost killed me, but I kept going and fighting."

Diana began to weep softly at hearing this "Bruce if that would have happened we would have had time together, that is all that would have mattered to me."

Looking at the tears running down her face, Bruce steeled himself for what still needed to be done, and the knowledge that Clark was still unconscious.

"Diana I have spent my whole life trying to stop other from being in pain. I will not allow any situation where the woman I love can feel it because of my weakness."

"Bruce I…." Diana stammered, tears intensifying.

"And I know you moved on, and I was happy for you, until I realized it was with Clark. Not because Clark is wrong for you, but because you two are wrong for each other. If the two of you stay together then you will create what we fought so hard against with the Justice Lords. Think about it, the two of you living forever, slowly losing track of everyone who kept you close to humanity. It may take years, decades, even centuries, but it will happen. And as much as I love you, I cannot let that happen."

Diana was unsure of what to say or do. Bruce loved her and even though she moved on it made her felt like soaring to hear that. He was also attacking Kal and her for doing something that they had not done, and she knew they would never do. How do you convince someone that you will not do something?

"So what happens now Bruce?"

"I would like to give you a few things, then with your permission I will end this and the two of you will be free to go."

Diana, untrusting of herself to speak, merely nodded her acceptance.

Batman reached under his cape and pulled out an envelope and a flash drive. Holding them in his hand he looked down at them in a fashion that made her think he was unsure about what he was doing before placing them on the table in front of her.

"Princess, please give this envelope to Alfred. Tell him that I hope it answers all of his questions and troubles that I have caused him over the last year. " Bruce paused while looking at her, almost searching her face.

"The flash drive is for you. I would just ask that you watch it in private first, after that anything you choose to do with its contents is entirely up to you."

With that Bruce strode gently around the table until he was standing next to her. With a touch that was barely there he reached for Diana's hands slowly pulled her to her feet. Picking up the letter and drive from the table he placed them in her hand and slowly brought his eyes to meet her own.

"Diana, I have done so many things wrong, things with you, things with Clark, things with the world. I do not know how to fix them anymore, but I am going to take this path in the hope that I can at least make a better future for everyone, and while that will not absolve my sins, it does lift my heart."

Diana stood silently trying to absorb this, this man who stood before her, talking to her, but was someone that she had clearly never met before. Then she saw it, the one act that gave her an indication of what Bruce's final objective was in this plan, a single tear rolling down his cheek.

Bruce knew he had to act quickly, before he lost his resolve. He knew that this was the moment in his plan where he would be at his weakest point. Before he could give himself the opportunity to surrender to his desires, Bruce grabbed Diana, and pulled her in for a kiss.

Diana was shocked when he grabbed, and almost floored when he kissed her. She could not understand any of what Bruce was doing, and it was driving her crazy. To add to the fire she could feel the things that she thought were long gone returning to her, wanting her to preserve this moment, this man forever. And in that instant it was over.

Bruce quickly pulled away from her, looking at her with the vaguest hint of a smile, he said "Princess, I love you with all of my heart and every fiber of my being. I have loved you since I first saw you, and I will love you always. May your Gods watch over you and keep you safe for all time."

As Diana reached for Bruce, she wanted to tell him that there was an opportunity for them to try again. In that split second before she touched him, she felt the familiar pull of the transporter.