Batman used his good arm to shove himself to his feet, shrouding his shoulder in his cape and already checking where the bullet ended up. A quick glance told him that both Wonder Woman and Shayara were still alive, Jack unconscious between them. Most of the other criminals had disappeared although Batman spotted both Queen and Livewire suspended in one of Lantern's green bubbles.

"Deadshot," Batman bit into the microphone, "Tell me someone got him."

Superman floated up onto the roof, the man in question firmly grasped by his collar in the large hands, "Right here. Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Batman said dismissively, hoping Superman wouldn't bother to x-ray him.

The rest of the League joined them on the rooftop, "And we aren't chasing the rest of them down because?" Shayara asked.

John looked annoyed, "They disappeared into Shade's cane again. They could be anywhere by now."

"Great," Flash squinted, "now what? We just wait around again for them to cause more random chaos?"

"We get Batman medical attention." J'onn said simply, "He took the bullet to his shoulder."

"I'm fine," came the persistent growl. The League's face quickly flashed from confusion to analytical, as they checked Batman over for injuries.

Flash choked slightly on his own tongue, "Is that why you jumped off the roof? Taking a bullet for the chicks? Wow Bats, that's real gentlemanly of you."

Batman turned with barely a hitch, his cape swirling around him and hiding the blood, "I need to talk to Deadshot." Superman didn't relinquish his hold, "Now." Batman reiterated eloquently.

Superman squinted at Batman and he mentally groaned when he was told, "Not until you get that shoulder looked at, I think the bullet passed through cleanly but you're still going to need stitches. Better safe than sorry."

"Boy Scout," Batman mumbled so only Superman could hear him.

The Man of Steel's grin was irritatingly wide, "I try. Doctor, then interrogation."

"I'll go to the cave." Batman said, knowing it was pointless to argue. He'd just sneak up to the holding room in the Watchtower once he was out of sight.

He felt something jab him in the back of the neck, "Nice try Princess," he commented dryly, "My suit's reinforced against pressure points, unless you intended to push hard enough to kill me."

Wonder Woman crossed her arms and glared back at him, "You're going to the Watchtower infirmary, otherwise I know you'll just sneak off on your own and let that fester for hours."

"I'll be fine."

Wonder Woman slammed him on the head and the Dark Knight dropped unconscious at her feet. Her teammates started at her in wonder and Diana shrugged, "It was the most direct method, he did save my life after all, I'm just returning the favour."

They watched as Diana picked up Batman and carried him in her arms. Lantern finally broke the silence, "If he doesn't kill you for the knockout carrying him like a baby is going to push him over the edge."

Shayara winked at him, "I'm sure our Princess thinks it's worth it if she gets to see that 'great body' up close and personal." Diana was caught somewhere between a glare and a blush.

Batman awoke unhappy, not that this was an unfamiliar sensation, but he couldn't quite remember why he was particularly unhappy this time. He shifted slightly on what seemed to be a bed and felt a burning pain in his shoulder. That sensation was quickly dampened by another, the soft rub of a sheet on his bare chest. Batman's hand flew to his face as comprehension dawned on him. He was in the Watchtower infirmary for his blasted shoulder wound.

His fingers met nomex instead of skin and the relief was palpable.

"Trust me, it was tempting," a light voice said with a comedic influx, "but J'onn said that you didn't need another reason to kill me." She smelt like peaches and dust. Batman opened his eyes and saw Diana sitting beside his bed, casually sipping an iced mocha.

He allowed his eyes to linger for just a moment, knowing that they were safe behind the cowl and finally saying, "I don't appreciate my teammates harming me."

She rolled her eyes, "Harming hardly, you do more harm to yourself on a weekly basis. I doubt a little bump on the head is going to slow you down if a bullet to the shoulder was hardly a consideration."

He said nothing, Batman just pushed himself off of the bed and scanned the room for the top half of his uniform. Diana pushed him back down, "Oh no you don't," she said, "I've got something to say and you're going to sit there and listen to it. I would remind you that you'll pull your stitches but somehow I feel a better argument would be to point out that I have this," she held his uniform top loosely in her hand, "and you're not likely to go traipsing around Gotham half naked."

He sat back and folded his arm across his chest, ignoring his shoulder and feeling oddly exposed. Even Bruce Wayne always wore full shirts, no-one got to see these scars, "Make it fast," he said coolly, ignoring his internal narration which alternated between the Bat's 'steal the shirt' and the playboy's 'you're shirtless with Wonder Woman, wink wink'.

"I just wanted to thank you for taking that shot," Wonder Woman said, "Shayara and I weren't paying attention to Deadshot at all and we both appreciate the risk you took. Shayara would have been here too," she added quickly, "but I believe she's got a bet with John on how fast you'll kill me and she can't be in the room to interfere."

Batman nodded, "That would potentially affect the test results." He got up to leave again and once again Diana stopped him. "My uniform now." He said testily.

Wonder Woman shook her head, "I wasn't finished." His eyes narrowed but he leaned back against the pillow as she continued, "I was going to ask you if there was anything I could do for you in return. I know you don't like metas in Gotham but with your injury you should really take it slow. I could help you out..."

"Unnecessary." Batman interrupted, "I'm fine."

She smirked slightly, "I assumed you'd say so. Still the offer stands, I know that we save each other's lives frequently but things seem a little more personal once someone jumps off a roof into a bullet for you. I would like to return the favour." She handed Batman his shirt back, "let me know."

"I'll keep it in mind." There was a fat silence in the room as he tried to pull the top on properly but couldn't seem to quite get a full rotation from his shoulder.

"Let me help you with that," she said softly, knowing that he was hardly in a position to refuse. She took his silence as acquiescence. Reaching out slowly Diana began to work the thick fabric down his back, careful not to jar his shoulder. Filling the empty air she said, "I'm surprised you didn't tell me your request was to stay out of Gotham."

Batman didn't reply. Diana internally shrugged and continued with her task, slightly distracted with the mess of scars that lay on the back before her. Some were white, some were red, some straight, some jagged, some round, long, short, all battle scars. She ran her finger over a short, dark semicircle, curious at its strange appearance. He jumped as though she'd burned him, the shirt more or less falling the rest of the way down.

"My apologies," Diana felt guilty, knowing that perhaps she had crossed a boundary, "but I was curious. I'd never seen a scar quite that colour." In truth she'd hardly seen any scars at all, Amazons healed too quickly to accumulate them.

Batman surprised her with an answer, "Ravenous plant, tried to infect my bloodstream."

Diana didn't have a reply to a comment like that. It didn't matter, he was leaving anyways. She moved to return medical supplies to their appropriate shelves, and tripped. She couldn't remember the last time she'd genuinely tripped, the ability to float usually prevented irritating things like falling over.

Batman reached out to steady her and Wonder Woman's eyebrows shot up in surprise, "That's twice in one day you've saved me," she said wryly, "not great for my Amazon pride."

"Pride does go before a fall."

Diana did a double take. He was Batman, everything he did was intentional, which lead to one interesting conclusion, "You just made a joke. A horrible joke, but still…"

He stepped back towards the door and she thought she saw the faintest hint of a smirk, "Keeping you on your toes."

"Of course, always training," Diana said knowingly.

"About Gotham…"

She cut him off, "Fine, fine, I'll leave Gotham alone."

He shook his head slightly, "Princess, I doubt anything could keep you from annoying me for more than a week. As long as you don't interfere with my work, I think I'll save my wish for something more substantial." Batman's cape swished with the shadows as he turned, "Besides, you'll never find me unless I want you to."

Diana could have been offended as she watched his retreating back but she was too delighted to care. Activating her comm link she said, "Batman didn't tell me to stay out of Gotham."

"So?" Flash's voice popped over the line.

Shayara explained, her voice was grinning, "That's tantamount to him giving permission to be there. So Diana, get that date before he changes his mind."

"I'm working on it." She grumbled.

Alfred was not happy with Bruce. Despite the new shoulder wound, Batman had teleported directly into the cave and immediately began pouring over interrogation footage of a man Alfred recognized as Deadshot. The master was apparently referencing it back to Lex Luthor as Alfred spotted a file dedicated to his presidential campaign hovering on the desktop.

"You really should be resting." Alfred tried for the fifth time.

Batman's fingers flew across the keyboard, "There's no time."

"You'll work yourself to death sir, if you're not careful," Alfred said, having heard this argument before. The answer however was new.

"That's someone's intention." Batman said flatly, "I need to make sure they don't succeed."

Alfred gave up trying to dissuade Bruce and shot a little lower, "Perhaps the League could help you?"

A list of Luthor's funds popped up on the screen, and with a few keystrokes Batman highlighted five, "The League works on a reactive basis, I'm the only proactive one."

Alfred couldn't argue. Master Bruce was right, the League saw something and they hit it. There wasn't a lot of preparation or detective work involved in that. "Perhaps Masters Richard or Timothy sir? Or Miss Barbara could be of assistance."

"They have their hands full with Gotham." Batman appeared to be tracking the funds across multiple servers, websites and countries, "Between the big-names being in prison, my shoulder and Shayara's attempted murder, I will have to take a night off from patrol."

Alfred looked too pleased so Bruce had to add, "Just one night Alfred, no more."

"I'll take my victories as they come sir."

The proximity alarm went off and all external camera feed came up onto the screen; Wonder Woman was casually strolling down the drive.

The cowled eyes narrowed, "Alfred, perhaps you should go upstairs."

The butler was already on his way, "And perhaps sir, you should change attire? And might I suggest a blazer sir, you're going to need something to hide the wound."

"What-ya-doing?" Kayla Wayne leaned casually across the back of a computer chair, trying to see what Tim was doing on his laptop, "Secret stuff?"

Tim grinned, "Not exactly." He slid out of the way to show an online auction site, an ornate dagger visible on the screen.

Kayla took one look and groaned, "because there just aren't enough weapons stockpiled around here."

"I'm not bidding on it, just admiring." Time said sadly, "I mean look at that price."

Kayla did so and whistled softly, "That's one expensive piece of metal. So like, what's so special about this one that it merits that kind of dough?"

"Technically nothing," Tim said with a slight blush, "nothing quantifiable at least. But," he added, trying to redeem himself, "apparently this particular dagger has special, mystic qualities."

One brown eyebrow shot up, "Uh detective boy, I hate to break it to you but I doubt that's legit. It's just to get sales. Heck, I bet you could find a magical toaster on here if you really wanted to."

Tim flashed her a look, "Please, I checked it out first. You can trace this dagger back to the correct time period and geographic area. I already know that it did come from a covert group of shaman-like individuals who were believed to have mystical powers. This is one of their daggers." He said confidently. "The only thing I can't be sure of is if their daggers were truly blessed or if that was an exaggeration."

"I'll bite," she replied, "what's this thing supposed to do then? Fly? Glow? Become undefeatable?"

"No-one knows," Tim admitted, "that detail was lost to time. Although the legends say that they automatically activate once the dagger has claimed 100 lives and any life it does take is automatically notched onto the handle."

"How many does this one have?"

"I can't see the whole handle because there's only one picture," Tim pointed out, "but I'd guess there's about 95 notches on there."

Alfred flew past them, "Master Tim, Miss Kayla, you may wish to make yourselves scarce."

"Why?" Tim stood up immediately, experience telling him that Alfred never rushed. Alfred could move quickly but there was always a certain air of efficiency and nobility, this felt different.

"Wonder Woman is almost here." Alfred cast a discerning eye over the manor, ensuring that everything was in its proper place.

"I'm out of here." Tim said, vaulting up the stairs. Bruce crashed after him, coming out of the study at full speed.

"Hi! Nice to see you too!" Kayla called after him, then, "wear the blue shirt, it makes your eyes look better." She rolled her eyes at the world in general, "you people need to just take a chill pill and calm down."

"I'll leave that to your discretion Miss," Alfred said, "I assume you will not be moving upstairs?"

"Not unless you tell me I have to," Kayla shrugged but there was a very familiar smirk on her face, "I'd rather not miss this. Why is she here?"

"Unfortunately we are in the dark on that particular subject."

"Ah Brucie will be fine then, he practically lives in the dark."

The doorbell rang and despite the pleasant chime, it sounded menacing to all of the manor's occupants.

Sorry updates are going to be slower for a bit as life becomes a wee bit more hectic.

Also Happy St. Patrick's Day