Chapter 8: Confusion Never Stops
Wonder Woman flung herself forwards at full speed, soaring through the air. Bruce had gone. She recognised the cross-dimensional portal when she saw it, remembering their encounter with the Justice Lords. Wherever he had just gone, she had to go after him too... to help him. But even Flash wouldn't have been quick enough. The instant Batman stepped through it, the portal disappeared. Wonder Woman only just stopped herself from flying straight into the wall beyond where it had been.
"Oh, Hera..." she muttered when she turned back around. This wasn't good. It was more than just the portal closing. There were more sparks flying out of the machinery that had created the portal than there were raindrops in a monsoon. The man who she had ignored until then was having to dive away from his computer to avoid getting set alight by it. Within seconds, all that was left of the machinery was some smouldering remains.
It was obvious that the only means she had of chasing Batman was gone, but she was hardly thinking clearly right then. Her warrior instincts kicked in, her need to fight. That other man was just scrambling to his feet when Wonder Woman flung herself at him, sending him sprawling and crashing against the wall of the room. This was his fault, it had to be. He had taken Batman from her. He had to pay.
"What did you do to him?!" she screamed, flying forward with her fist ready to smash the man's teeth in. The man flung his arms up in front of his face, as if that could actually protect him.
"I didn't do anything to him!" the man screamed in panic, a mad panic. Wonder Woman halted her fist mere millimetres from the man's face, her own contorted in rage. "I just did what he asked! I thought I was helping save people! I didn't do anything to him!"
"Explain!" Wonder Woman growled. Combined with her angry look, it was an interrogation worth of Batman himself. Just to be sure though, she flung her lasso around this man, pulling it tight. She would not risk him lying to her, not when these answers could mean everything to her.
"He came to me!" the man quickly complied. "My name's Uriah Kincaid. Batman knew me. We'd... met before. He stopped me using other dimensions to get the money for my daughter's hospital bills, but he gave me the money instead. He saved my daughter's life without making me have to risk the world! I owed Batman everything. I wouldn't do anything to hurt him. He came to me. He needed a cross-dimensional portal, and he knew I could build him one. He told me he was facing an end of the world crisis, so I helped him!"
"If you want to help him, then send me after him!" Wonder Woman roared again. She was desperate. This was her best, if not only, chance of going after Bruce. Who else did she know with one of these devices just sat around waiting for her to use it? No one she could think of.
"I... I can't!" Kincaid stammered the words, as if fearing the consequences of them. When Wonder Woman didn't punch a hole through his head, he explained. "That was my only machine. Batman plugged something into it. It must have been some sort of self-destruct programming, but he told me not to touch it, so I didn't. There's no fixing it now, and I don't have the parts for a new one."
"Can you get some?" Wonder Woman quickly asked. "I have to go after Batman. It's vital."
Kincaid shook her head. Wonder Woman felt herself virtually drop. "It'd take me weeks, even with official help form your Justice League. Please, I thought I was just helping. Please let me go. I have a young family. I didn't know Batman was going to do what he did to you and the League!"
Wonder Woman didn't have to ask more to know that Kincaid did not know or understand anything more about the situation than he had already told her. His last statement had made it clear that he thought the reason Wonder Woman was so angry at him was that she had been hunting Batman for what he had done to prevent the League reaching him before he was gone, not the fact that she needed to, and had failed, to get to him. To save him.
"What did he do to them?" she forced herself to ask, but the conviction was gone from her voice. She was concerned for her other friends, but she knew that even if Batman had hurt them, he wouldn't have killed them. That meant virtually all of her concern remained with the man who had just disappeared.
"I'm not sure exactly, but you probably ought to go and check on them all," Kincaid answered. "Please. Just let me go."
"No," Wonder Woman growled again. This guy might not be a villain, but it was because of him that she had failed to reach Batman. It was his fault. He had to pay. "You possessed an illegal device, you're under arrest."
Kincaid didn't have a chance to react – other than with a horrified look – before Wonder Woman had him on the floor and bound him, tying him around the wrists and then against a pipe on the wall with her lasso so he could not escape. He sounded like he was about to argue more, but Wonder Woman did not wait to let him. She couldn't hear more from him right now. She flew off deep into the warehouse again, looking for the other Leaguers. She knew that, the way Batman had been acting in the last few hours, they could well be in a bit of a mess. Perhaps helping them would make her feel better.
She sincerely doubted it though.
He had said he was sorry. Diana had time to think about it now, now that her anger had had a chance to dissipate. It had gone, but it had been replaced by a deep sorrow that she did not really understand. Batman was acting oddly, he had seemingly abandoned the League, but he was still alive and in one physical piece, and so was everyone else, just about. Green Lantern was fine once he had awoken, finding Batman had deposited his ring only a short distance away, albeit hidden, from where he had lain unconscious. Shayera had had to be patched up somewhat, Flash had a broken nose and Superman had needed time to recover from his exposure to the Kryptonite, but what was most hurt was their respective pride over Batman having brought them all down so quickly.
But Bruce had said he was sorry to her. About what it wasn't clear, but Diana got the feeling that, with it being so directed at her, it was sorrow about how he had caused her to feel right now. Bruce never normally said sorry. Admittedly he rarely had reason to, at least in his own eyes. The only people he normally mistreated were criminals, not the type of people Batman would ever feel guilt about hurting. Yes, he was often cold to his friends and if he had been anybody else he would likely have said sorry for that, but this was Bruce. He wasn't anybody else. He was one of a kind. Being cold was his way of holding it all together in the long term, his coping mechanism after what he'd been through as a kid. Diana understood that. She just wished that, at times, he could open himself up for her, could show her the real Bruce that was the halfway point between the Batman and Bruce Wayne. The fact that he had actually said sorry, and to her, seemed like he had done just that.
And that just made her all the more sorrowful that she hadn't managed to stop him going to face this threat so angry and alone.
The Founders had gathered on the Watchtower as soon as everyone had recovered. Diana knew the rest of the League could tell that something was wrong without even needing to really look at them. Just the aura around the Watchtower was enough to make it clear. It was like every other member of the League and the Watchtower's civilian population were trying to stay out of their way, almost avoiding them.
They had enough clues that things were far from perfect with their seven idols. The simple fact that Batman was so obviously missing was the first one. Yes, as a part timer it was hardly rare that Batman would not be among them, but the rumours had already spread that Batman had gone off on his own and the League couldn't track him down. No doubt that was from Flash gossiping before he knew the extent of the problem, not understanding Batman as Diana and some of the others did. She didn't blame Flash. She just wished that the people wouldn't stare when she walked past as if she was about to break down at any second. Of course it didn't help that so many of the League's Founder's were bruised and battered. Flash didn't need to gossip this time for there to be rumours that Batman was the cause.
That, for the others, made this meeting of the Founders all the more urgent. For Diana, things couldn't be more urgent than they were already. Her mission was unchanged. She still had to reach Batman before it was too late. Just because he was a lot further away, that wasn't going to change. It just made her task a whole lot more difficult.
"Before I say anything here, I want to hear each of your opinions on this," Superman said as soon as the door closed behind the final Founder entering the conference room, not even waiting for them to take their seats. Kal considered Batman as his best friend. Of course he was feeling betrayed right now, a hurt beyond the physical of what Batman had done to him, even if he had allowed Batman to beat him as he had.
"I think my nose still hurts," Flash muttered first, seemingly fighting with himself as to whether he should feel the afflicted area. His comment was left ignored for now.
"He's lost it," Shayera chipped in. Her anger was evident. It was how she was, a woman with her heart on her sleeve as well as one who didn't react well to being beaten in any kind of fight, let alone one that left her as battered as this one had. Diana knew that her friend held no outright ill will towards Batman, but under the circumstances she also found it hard to argue with Shayera's point, especially with Bruce explaining nothingto her. Hera, if she wasn't so worried she would still be angry with him herself. If this was anyone but Bruce, she knew that anger would definitely be her strongest emotion right now. "Even for Batman that was dark. No one let me forget that I owe him a whack from my mace whenever he comes back."
"Now wait a second!" John Stewart interrupted, even if it was Shayera he was interrupting. His current awkwardness when talking with her these days was forgotten given the situation. Nevertheless, the was still something slightly amiss with how John spoke. "I admit his methods aren't what any one else we know would take. They're extreme. They hurt us. But this is Batman we're talking about. That man does nothing that he doesn't feel is necessary for the good of the world. He'll have is reasons for doing what he did. Now I'm not saying it was right–" John quickly stressed that part as Superman, Shayera and Flash all gave him an almost betrayed look – "but what I'm saying is that we don't know the full story. Batman did warn us not to follow him. There might well be a good reason why the rest of us couldn't go with him."
"Then why didn't he explain it?" Shayera argued in a raised voice, staring hard at GL. Diana was suddenly suspicious that the argument was becoming an excuse for those two to get out some much needed shouting at each other. That was only one of the reasons why she was already itching to leave this meeting, but she would see it through for a little bit longer at least. "Why not talk to us when he had us all on the comm beforewe even went inside? Why not explain it to us all in turn when he got us pinned down one by one? Turn us around instead of doing that. He didn't have to smash my ribs, or Flash's nose, or choke you, or assault Superman with Kryptonite, or..."
She paused to look at Diana as if she had forgotten how Bruce had harmed her to stop her reaching him. In truth, apart from some temporary splitting eardrums, Diana had been left completely uninjured. She knew that if Bruce had wanted to he could probably have brought her down as he had the others. Diana was confident that she would have been his toughest opponent, not having a Kryptonite of her own to weaken her, but Batman always found a way. Yet he hadn't tried. Perhaps he couldn't bring himself to. Perhaps there was a lot more that he hadn't told her... Perhaps she should actually be trying to find a new way to track him down instead of wasting time in this stupid meeting!
"None of us can know why he did that," she said instead of answering Shayera, having to force her usual commanding voice into place. If this meeting would accomplish anything, Diana was determined that it would be to calm people down and avoid Bruce being cast out by the League and branded a rogue hoodlum. "But I agree with John. We need to know more before we can start condemning Batman. We've made the mistake before of judging one of the Founders of the Justice League too early."
She said that last part very deliberately. Diana wasn't happy about having to remind Shayera the loneliness caused by her role in the Thanagarian invasion of Earth, but Shayera was seemingly Bruce's biggest doubter at this table and it was Diana's best weapon to stop her verbal assault on Batman. Shayera indeed seemed to back down, sinking slightly into her chair and letting someone else take up the reigns of the discussion.
"I also agree," J'onn spoke for the first time. As the only one of them who hadn't been at that warehouse, the Martian was best placed to give the objective, unbiased answer. Diana was glad he seemed to be on her...on Batman's side. "I detected no wholesale change to Batman's mental state prior to when this all began with the encounter with Deadshot in Central City. He has not, Shayera, lost it. Whatever this new threat he is facing is, it must have been the cause for him turning on you all as he did in Gotham. I see only one possible solution to this. In his own way, Batman harmed you to protect you from something worse down the line."
"But that's not how we do things!" Superman argued, matching Shayera's earlier disgruntled tone. Looking at him now, Diana could see why Bruce often saw Kal as just an innocent boy scout, albeit an incredibly powerful one. At the same time, she felt sorry for him, suffering the confusion and anger over what his friend had done to him. Or at least she would have done if she wasn't burdened with so much confusion of her own. "There's a reason we all came together as a permanent League instead of just banding together when things turned bleak. Its so that when there are threats like the one that's supposedly out there we handle them together, as a group. That way we can best handle them, and best protect one another while we do it. We're a team, allies, friends. If a mission is best solved alone, we talk it through beforehand and mitigate. We don't assault other members of the Justice League!"
"Bats does," Flash muttered under his breath, again ignored with his unhelpful comment.
"You've known Batman longer than any of us," GL pointed out with a shrug at Superman. "You should know by now that he's not like the rest of us. Don't forget he's a Gothamite – you can't grow up in that place and always play by the rest of the world's rules. I say we need to wait until he's back and then give him the chance to explain himself. Also allow for heads to get a bit cooler around here. Don't forget how often Batman's done things to save all of our butts before that the rest of us wouldn't even think of as options. I've just got the feeling that this is another one of those, that he's protecting us, and knowing Batman, so long as he saves the day he'll accept whatever the consequences of his actions may be."
"Agreed," Flash finally spoke in a manner that meant his comment was worth listening too. "Bats deserves that much, even if I'm next in the queue to whack him when Shayera's done. Its not like we've seen the last of him. Bats is too stubborn not to come back sometime, even if he isn't quick enough to stop what he's gone after first."
"Agreed," Superman finally relented too. No doubt he wanted to earlier if not for all the emotions raging around the room. He almost certainly wanted to find a way to forgive Bruce for what he did, but to do that he would need answers and for that, Diana knew, they would need Bruce back.
Shayera was nodding from her own seat as well. Diana could tell that this wasn't the end of it all. When Batman came back, it would all be brought up again. He might even do well to remain in the Justice League at the end of the day. To be honest though, Diana didn't care about that in that moment. She just wanted him to come back. She needed him to come back. She might know Bruce better than most after all their time spent together, might know how competent he was against any foe more than most, but she couldn't hold back the sense of worry that she maybe wouldn't be seeing Batman again. He had said sorry; maybe he had known that he wasn't coming back. No, she couldn't think like that. She had to keep up the hope, for herself and for Bruce. She had to believe in him. She had to believe he was going to survive this as he had survived everything else, even if he still wouldn't explain things to her afterwards.
"So what're we doing about this whole end of the world thing?" Flash moved things along. "I know Bats could well end up having sorted it already, but what do we do if he hasn't?"
"From what I understand, whatever Albert Westwood had discovered must be from a different dimension," J'onn took control now. As League co-ordinator, this was his time to lead things. "Without knowing what dimension this threat is coming from, or possessing the means to travel there, or even being able to ask Albert Westwood what the threat is, there is not a lot we can do. The whole League should be kept on high alert, ready for any level of worldwide danger at a moments notice. The Watchtower's sensors shall be set to focus for any signs of a dimensional rift anywhere on or around the Earth. And we should resume the hunt for Albert Westwood – Shayera and Green Lantern, as you started that task you can resume it. Take the Question and Green Arrow to help you search in ways beyond your own methods. I can think of nothing beyond these measures that would be helpful at this time."
"Right," Superman agreed with J'onn's plan, still sounding like the Batman issue wasn't resolved. Superman was the Leaguer Batman trusted the most – without the possible exception of Diana – and she knew the same could be said with the two men's names reversed. She knew deep down that Kal would accept Batman back eventually. He was too good a man to hold a grudge against another good man, even if they did things differently. It just might take some time after Batman had unleashed the Kryptonite he was only meant to have as a precaution in case Superman inexplicably broke from the path of good. "We'll get to it then, as J'onn suggested. GL, Shayera, if you need any further assistance I'll be happy to accompany you, scan Westwood's home with my x-ray vision in case there's something you can't see. I've found things before that even Batman's missed that way and I thi–"
He didn't get interrupted as such, but he was still cut off by a fellow Founder's action. It was Diana's. She had heard enough. Now that everything seemed settled and things were just wrapping up, she didn't want to hear any more. The bad thoughts were still stuck in her head. The thoughts of Bruce dying, or worse, facing this threat. The thoughts of never seeing him again. The thoughts of being alone. And the odd mix of anger and grief that came with it all.
She couldn't sit there any more with all that going on in her head. She'd end up smashing the table to shreds in frustration, just as she had with those droids in the training room. She had to get out of there, right that instant, and so she had not waited for the meeting to end or for Kal to issue any kind of dismissal for them all. She simply stood, and walked away.
At first she didn't know where she was going once she was out of the conference room. She was glad, though, that no-one seemed to be following her, hearing the sounds of the door to the conference room sealing behind her as she left. For a while she just marched down the corridor. Once again everyone else she saw there seemed to try to melt into the walls to avoid her, or they cast her querying looks as if they knew something was wrong. She ignored them all.
Soon afterwards, she had come up with a plan. Right now there was only one place she could go, she now knew. It worked so often for him when he had feelings to vent, and it did seem like the place would be in need of guarding for a while.
And perhaps, while she was there, she could try to figure some things out, if only her mind would settle to let her. Damn, she needed Bruce to come back.
Superman had made to go after Diana the moment comprehension had struck that she was walking away from the meeting. From the look on his face, it was clear that he was yet to understand why she was acting like this. Flash looked confused too, but J'onn and GL both seemed to share Shayera's intuitive knowledge. They also shared Shayera's belief that Wonder Woman needed to be left alone right now.
"Superman, let her go," J'onn was the one to stop the big Kryptonian giving chase. Just that was enough to delay Superman enough to allow Wonder Woman the time to get away and the doors to close behind her. Both Superman and Flash could still easily catch her with their speed, but they were obviously too confused to move, especially with J'onn's words.
"Why? I am seriously missing something in all this..." Flash was the one to prompt for more.
"I don't think you're the only one," Superman concurred.
John looked as if he was about to answer, but thankfully Superman and Flash were both looking at J'onn so Shayera had time to put a silent hand on GL's thigh to stop him, along with the subtlest shake of her head when GL looked suddenly at her. If even two of them started trying to talk Superman and Flash out of going after Wonder Woman as well as J'onn, those two would start to get suspicious of the truth. Shayera had decided when she had made her own deductions about Bruce and Diana that she would not interfere, that she would let those two figure it all out for themselves. Letting the cat out of the bag for Flash and Superman before those two were even ready to say it to each other wouldn't be helpful. Enough people seemed to have figured it out before they had themselves already. Thankfully, John seemed to catch onto Shayera's train of thought immediately. They had both figured out that the other knew while they were fruitlessly investigating Albert Kincaid's apartment the last time. Shayera had found it too hard to keep things from John. Despite what she had done, her feelings hadn't changed there.
"Diana blames herself for this," J'onn explained to the two unknowing heroes. Shayera knew what J'onn said wasn't a lie, not directly, but she also knew that he too was not about to divulge anything. Of course he would know. It was near impossible for a human to hide such feelings for another when they were both so often around a telepath, even if they didn't go around thinking the word love. "She feels that she should have followed Batman the moment he went after Deadshot so he at least would have one ally in the other dimension. She feels guilty about the potential risks he is facing and is worried about his fate. That has left her feeling angry and confused. She needs time to come to terms with the fact that there was nothing she could do, and time to understand this. I shall monitor her telepathically, but for now she needs time alone."
Superman and Flash both looked worried still. Just like everyone on Earth, and in its orbit, they cared deeply for Wonder Woman. Hell, every man on Earth loved her to some degree, whether they admitted it or not.
"Okay, J'onn," Superman relented at last. "But tell me if you want any help on this. Even putting aside the fact that she's our friend, we can't be without Diana as well as Batman right now. Make sure she's all right."
"I will, you have my assurances," J'onn confirmed. After that the talk around the table resumed to the matter of how best the League should act until the threat Batman had gone after presented itself or Batman returned victorious. Before that, though, Shayera could only think that the only way to truly make sure Diana was all right was for Batman to make it home alive.
And to finally let her in.
