X

"The problem – so to speak, but I would hesitate to call it that – with the narrator then is that he sees his state of happiness as a disease. But at the same time, he's enraptured by the prosody of life," Zari finished his statement with a slight nod of satisfaction when he saw that his audience was captivated. He glanced over at Diana and gave her a half-smile, which she returned, beaming.

Zari's last novel had just received an eminent literary prize. Diana had traveled with him to London for the week as he participated in the ceremonial aspect of the award. Tonight was a panel discussion with past winners of the prize, and Zari was addressing a select crowd, Wonder Woman among them – a fact not unnoticed by the British journalists.

Diana, who had forgotten just how distracting the paparazzi outside of Dhaka could be, was trying valiantly to remain as neutral as she could. But tonight, Zari made doing so difficult. She sat in the front row with a smile as the panel moderator cleared his throat, and then she heard the swift sound of a transmitter coming to life, and then – "Diana, there's something here that you should see."

The Batman.

With a hand on her ear, she rose from her seat and quickly walked from the room into the hallway; she heard the sound of clicking cameras upon her departure. "What is it?" she asked. Her fingers began to tap in anticipation.

"I can't talk now, but meet me by the old Gotham Skating Rink as soon as you can. I'm sending the coordinates to the Watchtower." With that, he was offline.

Diana scowled. It would take her time to readjust to working with him. When she heard the faint sound of applause, she peeked into the room she had just left and saw with relief that the event was ending – the panelists were rising from their seats, as was the audience. Luckily, she caught Zari's eye at that moment. "Gotham," she mouthed as she motioned to the west with her hands. Zari winked at her and held up his hand in farewell.

Satisfied, she returned her attention to her comm. link. "This is Wonder Woman requesting transport."

"Ah, a skating rink," came Shayera's voice after a moment's delay, "Date with Brucie?"

Diana hadn't expected to hear from her friend. "Of sorts," she answered breezily. "I think he has a lead for me." And with a flash, she was gone.

--

Batman was waiting for her in a dark corner; had she not worked with him countless times before, she would have missed his presence completely. "Did I interrupt something?" he asked when he saw that she was wearing a dress, although his voice registered no concern over the fact.

Diana peeled off the dress and tossed it aside to reveal her armor. "That's a Chanel," she rued as she placed her tiara on her head.

"Pity," he answered dryly, and a corner of Diana's mouth lifted. Without warning, he shot his grappling hook into the sky and flew into the air and she took off after him.

Soon, they were in the manager's booth of the promised abandoned skating rink. No one else seemed to be in the building but them. "Isn't this inherently conspicuous?" she asked when she saw him draw his cape over his shoulders and step into a shadowy corner of the cramped room.

"One way window," he answered, "And this place is too small to do them any good." He was right. With all of the equipment in the room, there was barely a yard of room between him and Diana as it was.

Despite the spatial circumstances, Diana took a seat on the sole chair placed in front of the control board; it released a cloud of dust upon contact with her. Bruce betrayed his discomfort with a quick cough that he seemed to cut short out of pride. "Why are we here?" she asked finally.

He straightened his posture even more. "The night you came to me at the docks I was investigating a series of mysterious shipments involving Rupert Thorne and a man named Slick. It turns out that they're just brokering the exchange for someone else. Whom, I don't know…yet."

She crossed her arms. "And?" she demanded.

"One of the buyers of the shipments will be here tonight."

Half-expecting the answer, she pressed, "I don't see what this—"

"Diana, the shipments are canisters of the same liquid as the one you obtained in St. Petersburg."

If she weren't already sitting, she would have been unsteady, somewhat lightheaded with the thrill of anticipating a good fight. It could all be over tonight. "Well, stakeouts with you were always interesting," she admitted as she adjusted her position to look out the booth's window. Even though he was washed in darkness, she saw his mouth twitch as she turned away.

--

Diana, who had been resting her chin on her hand, sat up when she saw the lights of the rink flicker on. Behind her, she felt Bruce shift, and when she turned to see, she saw that he had a hand to his ear and his eyes were narrowed – he was listening in. When she returned to her observation of the scene, she saw that a small group of people had gathered at the periphery of the rink, half of them in the same black jumpsuits that she had encountered so often in the last few weeks.

Then at once, the surface of the rink was covered in a sheet of ice.

"Victor Fries?" she stared in astonishment.

Bruce gave a dangerous growl when Mr. Freeze appeared into view to confirm it. The villain's red eyes glowed ominously, causing the crowd of people to part in order to allow him to walk onto the rink.

"That's Slick," he told her, indicating a man in a business suit approaching Freeze. They watched as Slick's assistants dragged several crates onto the rink, struggling to keep them in order on the frictionless ice.

"Have you got skates in that belt of yours?" Diana asked when Batman moved to stand next to her. In response, he clicked open a compartment of his belt and pulled out two blades, which doubled in length with a click.

"Decorative and functional," he replied dryly, his eyes not leaving Freeze.

"Ah," was all Diana could think to say.

They watched Mr. Freeze and Slick exchange some words, and then it was time for the former to inspect the shipment. He broke the staves of one of the crates with a blast of icicles from his hand, and then inserted a syringe into the canister within. He followed this by saying something else, which made Bruce shift slightly. "He's looking for someone to test this batch on."

"Let's not give him a chance," Diana declared. Before Batman could react, Wonder Woman had hurtled through the window separating the booth from the rink and was tearing through the air towards the syringe Freeze was brandishing.

Despite her speed, she was met with a blast of ice from his hands, which she managed to deflect with her gauntlets. At the same time, she was hit with a blow to her side that sent her flying in the opposite direction. Her trajectory was blocked by a solid figure in a less solid cape –

"I can manage Freeze," Batman barked, "See if you can take care of the shipment." With a nod, she unfastened her lasso from her side and was pleased to see that his hand was already outstretched. Their eyes locked for the briefest of instances, and then she shot across the room to the crates, which were quickly being moved by Slick and his companions.

Although there were a dozen of them to deal with, Wonder Woman hardly found it a challenge. The fight was made more interesting by the large shards of ice falling from the ceiling, and when one of her opponents discovered that it was possible to slice through her skin with his skates, they all began to employ that tactic. Soon, the air was filled with the sound of metals striking as Diana blocked their bladed kicks with her gauntlets. The endless supply of blood droplets bouncing on the ice only added to her high spirits.

Truth be told, some of her attention was focused on Bruce. Whenever Freeze seemed to have a good shot at him, she would fling one of her combatants to unsteady the villain. Once, when she was attacked from the back, Bruce had somehow been nearby and had peeled her assailant off of her – he was keeping an eye on her as well.

And just as Diana was deciding on how to create a hole in the ceiling to begin hurling some of the canisters into the nearby river, she saw that Bruce was down, that he was slowly rising to his feet, that Freeze was moving his hands back, ready to deliver the final blow –

"Batman!" she cried, and bolted towards him. Before Freeze's icy blast could hit its intended target, she had pushed her teammate out of the way.

But what happened next was less clear. As she and Freeze began to battle, one of his blasts managed to knock her over, sending her sliding across the ice, only to be greeted by another shower of icicles. In the flurry of ice that followed, she felt a sharp pain and then – she suddenly felt her blood circulating slower – her heart beating less – her limbs going numb, a coldness spreading from her periphery to her spine – she sensed that Batman was nearby now, perhaps saying something, and then –

it was over.

AN: I don't think I've mentioned this, but I started med school recently and I'm still getting used to it, so around exams it's almost impossible for me to make time for anything but the library. Thanks for being patient with me while I wrote this chapter.

Also, a note about the two characters that are pains-in-the-ass for many of you. About Zari – he's meant to be a generic nice guy and a plot device above all else. I'm getting annoyed lately that I rely on him so much to keep the story moving, as I don't really like OCs in general. Now as for Talia – I should come clean: I think she's HOT, and after Andrea Beaumont she's my favorite one of DCAU Bruce Wayne's love interests.