Author's Note: Here's a short update for all you readers. I was going to write a longer aftermath chapter, but decided to split things up for better organization. In the meantime, this will hopefully tide you over.
Neither DC, these characters, or JL is owned by me. :(
As soon as they crossed the threshold into Diana's bedroom, she pushed Bruce up against the wall and pressed her lips insistently into his. He returned the passion eagerly, wrapping his good arm around her waist.
Bruce was reminded about his pierced arm when he moved to grasp the back of her head in his other hand. Pain shot up the appendage, foiling the attempt.
"Diana, stop," he said, pushing her away.
She did as he requested, looking hurt. After all that had happened, the exiled amazon simply wanted to share her affection and gratefulness with him, to know that she had a measure of control in this time of crisis in which everything seemed to be erupting in chaos.
Diana scrutinized him, suddenly realizing the source of his upset. "Your arm," she said, examining the wound with a more critical eye.
"I've lost a good deal of blood already," the dark knight explained. "I can barely stand as it is, and I'll lose more when it comes out. It nicked a major artery."
"We need to get you to the medical bay," she said, stripping off her clothes in a frenzy and putting dryer, less transparent ones on. He'd only brought her here to get dressed, she realized.
"I can take…" Bruce began, vision blurring and balance being thrown out of whack. He groaned. "…myself. Someone should be manning the station."
Diana was already dressed in whatever she'd managed to grab, which turned out to be gym shorts and a sports bra. "I've treated countless battlefield injuries, some worse than that. I'm going," she simply stated. There was no room for debate, it was a fact. Bruce knew that there was no way he could stop her, anyway.
"Alright." He held out his arm so that Diana could support him. She took it, allowing him to lean on her as he limped into the medical bay.
Green Arrow was the one on duty at the time. From what Bruce had heard, Ollie was quite the doctor himself. It made sense. As the only other non-meta member of the League, he would have had to learn to patch himself up on occasion.
Hearing approaching footsteps, the costumed archer turned around. He jumped in surprise upon seeing the strange sight before him; Batman with an arrow shaft through his upper arm, dripping droplets of blood on the floor, and slumping over on Wonder Woman, who was even more scantily attired than usual. That certainly wasn't something one saw every day.
"What in the hell happened?" Ollie exclaimed, rushing over to help support Batman.
"It's a long story. I'll tell you later," he said with bated breath. The archer and the amazon got him onto a gurney.
"He's bleeding internally. The arrow punctured an artery," Diana explained. "I suspect that if we remove the armor, we'll see his lower arm turning blue," she said, already unfastening the seams that held the ablative plating in place. Her theory was confirmed when the trio saw that the interior of the suit, as well as the exterior of the arm itself, was drenched in crimson fluid.
Green Arrow rushed to assemble the necessary equipment to perform surgery. "You're welcome to give me a hand if you know what you're doing." Suddenly remembering how old Diana actually was, he corrected himself. "Actually, you could probably teach me a thing or two."
The ex-Wonder Woman ignored the comment, already getting started. Arrow followed in her wake, taking a supportive role as she did most of the work. In fact, he even found himself taking mental notes during the process. The only thing he'd really had to help her with was explaining the purpose of the various high-tech tools that weren't available on Themiscyra. Once she'd figured that out, though, Diana was using them more efficiently than Ollie could have.
It wasn't long until the bleeding was halted. The wound had been cauterized, sutured, stitched, cleaned, and bandaged up by now. However, Bruce was beginning to pass out from a combination of blood loss, pain, and mental exhaustion from resisting the influence of the Lasso of Truth. His mind felt…fuzzy, strained in a way that even he hadn't experienced in a long time. More than anything, he just wanted to sleep.
"He's weak," Diana said. "Let's get him some blood, now." She looked at Green Arrow as if waiting for him to say something. When he didn't, she clarified it for him. "We didn't do that on Themiscrya. I don't know how." Instead they'd used magic herbs and powders to seal the wound almost immediately, negating the need for blood replacement.
"Oh, right." Ollie was over by a computer in no time. "Let's see, got his type right here." He quickly retrieved a few bags of blood from cold storage and taught Diana how to properly give it to Bruce.
A few hours had passed, but Batman seemed to be in a stable condition by now. Diana's pounding heart could finally slow itself. She took a deep breath to calm her nerves.
"Don't worry; he'll be alright," Oliver said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "I know how hard that must've been for you." It was an open secret by now that the so-called 'WonderBat' relationship was in full force.
"Thank you," she said, acknowledging both his aid and his sentiments. Diana didn't take her eyes off the black-clad superhero, though.
"Look, if you don't mind me asking, what's the story behind all this?"
She sighed. Quite honestly, Diana had no idea what to say. Bruce certainly wouldn't want the gritty details circulating around the Watchtower. Frankly, neither did she when she really thought about it. More important was the issue of her not being Wonder Woman anymore. Should she tell him?
Oliver was good person. Ever since he had joined the League, he had been proving himself as a trustworthy, loyal, and committed member. She felt more comfortable telling him important secrets than many of the other non-founding members. Besides, everyone would find out soon enough when she'd be forced to resign.
"It's a long story," she began. They took seats next to the unconscious Bruce, Diana giving him the main bullet points. When she finished, the green archer was in a state of shock.
"That's terrible!" he exclaimed. "How could she do all of this to you? People like that seriously piss me off." The words hung awkwardly in the air.
"Join the club," she responded. The blonde man felt a little bad about stoking the flames of her discontent. He decided to change the subject.
"So, what are you going to do about not having any powers anymore?"
Diana sighed. "I suppose I'll have to resign."
"Don't talk like that, Diana. You've still got skills and abilities that can help us." When the raven-haired woman didn't answer, he went on. "Give it some thought."
She nodded, not really intending to. "Please, don't tell anyone else. I want them to hear it from me. In any case, I'm sure Superman will find out soon enough."
"Your secret is mine." Arrow yawned. He'd been up since yesterday morning, and it was 6:53 a.m. Nearly twenty-four hours.
"You should get some rest," she suggested. "I'm not lacking for sleep; I can stay with him."
Ollie shrugged. "Sounds reasonable to me." He figured if there was one person who would be totally committed to taking care of the dark knight, it was that woman. "I'll see you around some time."
As the man left, Diana drew privacy curtains around her and Bruce. The Watchtower was about to get a lot more active, and she knew he wouldn't want to be seen this way.
In fact, saying that seeing him this way put her in a state of unease would be a grand understatement. Bruce had nearly killed himself trying to save her. What he had went through, what he had sacrificed, what more he had been prepared to sacrifice, it was truly astonishing. And it was all for her.
Diana didn't know if she deserved it. Ever since they'd been together, he'd been in extreme danger because of her. She was a liability to him, a weakness. The wound on display before her served as a reminder of that. It was also a reminder of his mortal status, which made these considerations even harder to bear.
What if her mother, or other amazons following her orders, came after him? What if she was re-captured by her mother? Would he come back for her again? Somehow, she doubted the success of another rescue attempt.
Even worse, now that Diana was missing her powers, she'd be much more vulnerable in combat. Unable to deflect a bullet with her bracers any longer, she could easily imagine Bruce diving in front of her stop it. And if he was too late, and she died, he'd be crushed. That man's psyche was already so fractured, Diana doubted he'd be able to deal with a loss like that. It had been one thing when she was the most powerful woman on the planet, but now it was another matter entirely.
Perhaps it would be best if she willingly surrendered and returned to Themiscyra, especially since there was no way she could be a part of the League any longer. Her mother was no doubt furious, but Diana was confident she'd be welcomed back into the fold.
Breaking it off with Bruce would be useless. The feelings were already there. Maybe, just maybe, that stubborn man was right all along when he told her that it was best if they were separate. She, in her short-sighted stubbornness, had convinced him otherwise. The onus was all on her.
Diana got up and began to pace. What was she thinking? Was she really going to invalidate the extreme risk he had put himself through for her, make it so that he bled for nothing?
"What's wrong?" she heard a groggy voice ask. Diana wheeled around, seeing Bruce stirring on the gurney. She came over and put her hand on top of his.
"I was just worried about you. You should rest." Her attempts to redirect his attention were transparent. The fact that she was a bad liar was hardly a surprise, considering who she was. It was obvious that something more than the wound itself was bothering her.
"You're wondering what this all means," Bruce observed.
"Yes. I was just thinking…I'm not the same person you fell in love with. I'm not Wonder Woman. I don't have any powers beyond my slightly enhanced strength. I can't be a superhero anymore." Her head fell in shame.
A tense silence hung between them. Suddenly, Diana realized the implication of what she'd just said. "I'm sorry…I didn't mean to imply," she stammered.
Bruce pulled his mask off. "I know," he began, "and it's alright. You've lost something that was extremely important to you, something you care deeply about." He tugged on her arm, asking her to come closer. She complied readily. He cupped her cheek with his good hand. "You aren't defined by your superpowers, Diana. You aren't defined by the persona of Wonder Woman. You can still protect people, still be a superhero." Bruce paused, fixing her hair gently. "You're one of the most highly trained, skilled combatants on the planet. Your will is strong, and you still have your empathy, your personality. Princess, you ARE the same person I fell in love with, because I didn't fall in love with your superpowers, didn't fall in love with Wonder Woman. No, I fell in love with you, Diana."
Her heart and eyes felt like they were melting. His impassioned speech had put all her fears right in their place. Of course he was right. Not for the first time (and certainly not the last, she was sure) Diana wondered why in Hera's name this man always had to be so right all the time. It was almost like Bruce knew her better than she knew herself.
Diana grasped his hand that still caressed her cheek. She squeezed it tightly, having absolutely no idea what to say. What she could possibly even say to something like that?
"Bruce…" she whispered. "Did you…do you really mean that?" she asked, knowing that he did. He nodded slightly. "I'm so sorry," she tried to begin.
"Don't be," he said, cracking a faint smile. The couple giggled at the line that was quickly becoming a cliché between them.
Diana impulsively climbed into the bed with him, taking care not to disrupt any of the machines he was plugged into. They squirmed into a perfect position, arms wrapped possessively around one another. She snuggled deeply into his embrace, purring with pleasure.
"What did I ever do deserve someone like you?" Diana asked him.
Bruce chuckled. "I ask myself a similar question every day."
The couple stayed that way for a while. They just stared into one another's eyes and faces, trying to memorize every detail and savor the closeness as much as possible. It was especially delicious, considering the extremely narrow escape they'd made only hours before. To know that they were safe and that nothing would separate them was…magical.
After some time had passed in quiet serenity, an amazingly brilliant thought popped into the amazon's head. "Teach me," she suddenly asked him. "Train me to do what you do."
Bruce didn't like the idea, but denying that she needed help adjusting to fighting heavily armed thugs and supervillains without her old powers would be pure foolishness. Moreover, he could never have brought himself to crush her spirit like that.
Bruce had trained three Robins, as well as Batgirl, because he had realized that they all needed to fight crime; it was simply part of who they were. Even knowing the ultimate results, such as Jason's death and Barbara's crippling at the hands of the Joker, he'd still do it all over again. Diana was no different.
"Nothing would make me happier," Bruce mumbled with his eyes closed. "Are you going to be my Batwoman?" he said, grinning.
Diana stroked his chest, which had been bared when they'd removed his armor. At length, she said "No. I don't want to grow in your shadow."
"Fair enough," he said. Bruce had expected as much. Batwoman, though…it gave him an idea. Being extremely drained, he couldn't extrapolate the thought fully, so it just sort of dangled there, half-finished. "I promise you, we'll figure something out."
"It's not exactly like you're on a budget, is it?" she pointed out.
Bruce didn't hear her; he'd faded into unconsciousness already. Diana smiled, propping herself up on one elbow to watch him sleep.
Author's Note: Next update will be about Bruce helping Diana get set up in her new life. Working on it now!