Hi guys, back with another one! Hope you guys like it, only a few more chapters to go. Enjoy~

- Batcave -

"Alfred!" Bruce called out. He gathered an unconscious Diana into his arms and jumped out of the Batwing. He quickly carried her to the med bay and laid her out on the examination table. He heard the running footsteps of his butler from behind him. Bruce took off his mask, and Alfred saw for the first time in a long time-a hopeless man.

Without speaking a word, the two of them quickly got to work and hooked her up to check her vitals. They made fast work with the medical supplies. Alfred pulled some blood from her and ran to the bat computer to run some tests, while Bruce remained with her.

He kneeled by her and gently took her hand into his.

"Don't do this Diana," he whispered to her, pleading her to come back to him, "I can't lose you too,"

His eyes stung as he fought back the tears. He watched her pained expression as he hoped to God that she would wake any moment. But in the back of his head he knew it was futile.

"I love you too much," he whispered as he planted a kiss on her fingers, "not like this Diana, you can't leave me like this,"

Bruce's eyes softened as he felt the urge to tear his heart out and scream. All of the fears he had faced head on all these years were collapsing onto him in that very moment. All the fighting, the pushing and loneliness that he had burdened, it meant nothing right now. He was no longer Batman, he was just a man who was holding on so desperately to the love of his life. He never wanted to feel this pain ever again, not after his parents, no after losing Jason once, not after all that he had been through. He wasn't sure if he could live through this if Diana didn't. He needed her, just as much as she needed him right now.

He felt a calm wash over him as he realized what he needs to do. Placing her hand back by her side, he leaned in and gave her a kiss on her forehead as he gently tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. Bruce took a moment to take in the image of her laying there, pained and teetering between life and death. The image of her in that state drove him, it would remind him of what he needed to do.

"Master Wayne, where are you heading? I haven't treated your wounds yet," Alfred asked as he watched him head back to the batwing.

"I'm paying the good Doctor a visit," he muttered before taking off in the plane. Alfred turned back to look at Diana. Today was a day of reckoning.

Gotham -30 Minutes Later-

"Bruce, I've got Dick. He's gonna be okay," Jason announced through the comlink.

"Make sure he's cleansed of all the toxins," Bruce answered. He was standing on the roof of the building across the one that Hugo Strange was in. He was able to track him down easily thanks to Jack's beginner mistakes.

"On it already. Where are you? I'll come help you,"

"No need, I've got this under control," Bruce replied back cooly. He didn't want Jason to get involved in any of this. This was his fault. Diana, Dick, Jack, Tommy… it was all his doing and he was going to do everything he could to make it right.

"Bruce you can't keep shutting us out," Dick's voice weakly called through his comlink, "We know you well enough to know you're blaming yourself for all this. But it's not your fault...Let us help,"

"Just make sure she wakes up," Bruce instructed before turning off his comlink and turning his attention back to the mission at hand. He searched for any signs of movement in the apartment. The curtain by the window shifted slightly here and there but he couldn't tell if it was a draft or due to someone's movement.

He pulled out his grapple as he readied himself to charge into Strange's apartment. There's a huge possibility this might be a trap, but it was a risk he needed to take for Diana. If there was a cure for the serum, Hugo Strange would have it.

Batcave – 10 Minutes Later-

Jason paced back and forth while Alfred treated Dick's head wound in the medical bay. He felt uneasy and frustrated that Bruce was out there alone.

"You're gonna burn a hole in the ground," Dick muttered.

"Yeah, hopefully deep enough to dig Bruce in if he doesn't come back alive!" Jason yelled in frustration, "He's so infuriatingly stubborn,"

"I know, but if anybody can get what he wants, it's Bruce,"

"Right because he wanted this to happen to Diana," Jason sarcastically muttered as he shrugged his shoulder towards Diana's direction where she laid unconscious on a hospital bed,

"You know what I meant…" Dick grunted as Alfred tightened the bandaging on his head,

"I just hate that he put us through all this training and then just decides he wants to do things solo," Jason grumbled, taking a seat by the batcomputer.

"With good reasoning,"

"How much good has that done him?" Jason threw his hand in the air in frustration, "I just want him to retire already, all this angst and shit is getting to me,"

"I can tell, you're starting to white," Dick chuckled, throwing an obvious joke at the spot of white hair on Jason's head.

"Real classy," Jason spat back as he raked his fingers through his hair. After the lazarus pit, parts of his hair had gone permanently white. He hated it at first, but Donna said she liked it because it gave him some personality to his appearance.

"Any word on Barbara?" Dick changed the topic, his voice was more concerned now. Scarecrow had used his toxin on him and he let her name slip. The last thing any superhero wanted was for their loved ones to get caught in the crossfire. He knew he could trust Tim and Damian to take care of her, but he wouldn't rest until he knew she was okay.

"Yeah, they've got their eyes on her, she's with Commissioner Gordon," Jason replied.

"Good," Dick let out a sigh of relief. He wanted to make sure they kept her under surveillance. Scarecrow had gotten away before Jason came, but he'd surely surface again sometime soon. Crane was an impatient man.

"Best get some rest Master Grayson," Alfred started to pack his med kit in an orderly manner.

"Not a chance Alfred, lot's of work to be done," Dick hopped off the table and walked towards the batcomputer.

"Perhaps you don't need to be related to pass down stubbornness to the next of kin," The butler quipped.

"What was that Alfred?" Dick called from behind the computer,

"I'll ready the tea," Alfred dodged the question as he made his way to the elevator that led to the main floor of the manor.

Jason stifled a laugh as he walked over to where Dick sat. He watched silently as Dick went through the archives searching for something that would help explain what was going on with Diana. Things weren't adding up, it seemed like there were a lot more players in the game than they originally thought. It started off with Tommy and Harvey, and now they were suddenly facing Hugo Strange, Toymaster and Scarecrow. How did they let an operation this big slip through their fingers?

"I'm worried about Bruce," Dick muttered as he continued typing away at the keyboard. Jason raised an eyebrow, he was somewhat glad that Dick agreed with him about that. But at the end of the day, Huge Strange and Scarecrow were out there somewhere and the best person for the job was Bruce.

"Yeah, but he'll get through this," Jason placed a hand on Dick's shoulder, reassuring him that their mentor and father would make it back to them, "she will too,"

Dick turned to glance over at Diana who laid on the bed. All he heard was the steady beep of the monitors and her ragged breathing. She was stable for now, but there was still a long road ahead for her recovery. They didn't know what was going on inside of her, what the serum contained or what it would do to her. They could only hope that Bruce would be able to get some information from Strange before it was too late.

"Yeah," Dick nodded in agreement, they both needed to be okay.

-Gotham-

Bruce pressed his body against the wall to hide his presence. The apartment was huge but barren. There was no sign of someone living there, no furniture or warmth whatsoever. He scanned the area for any clues as to what was going on, but there was nothing there. Did Strange clear out his apartment? How long ago? He needed answers and he was becoming impatient trying to find them.

He quietly but quickly made his way around the apartment searching for any hints as to where Hugo Strange might've went. The listening enhancers of his cowl picked up a faint sound coming from down the hall. He stopped in his steps to turn towards the sound. It sounded like weak breathing. He glared intently at the closed door of the closet from which the sound was coming from. The chances of it being a trap were ridiculously high but Bruce needed answers ASAP. He was desperate to save Diana. Knowing it wouldn't be his wisest decision, he stomped over to the closet and swung open the door.

The lenses of his cowl widened as he came to realize who it was that behind the door. It was Bane, his limbs were but the size of Bruce's wrists, and you could see the bones almost protruding out of his skin due to the lack of flesh. The once massive man was reduced to nothing but a skeleton. From under his mask, the frail man looked up into the eyes of Batman. His dull eyes begging for mercy and for all of his suffering to end. Bane tried to say something, but his words were lost in his lack of strength. Realizing he wouldn't be able to reach the ears of Batman, he slowly lifted his hand which had a neatly folded letter.

Bruce carefully reached out to take the note from him, inwardly cringing at how much Bane had struggled to even lift his arm. What had happened to him? It literally looked as though he was sucked dry of his life-force.

Unfolding the note, he quickly read what was written in black ink across the piece of paper.

Dearest Batman,

The world as you know it is coming to an end.

Sincerely,

HS

Bruce's jaw clenched tightly, he was too late. Strange knew he would be coming here, he was a step ahead of him. But why would Bane be here? Of all people, why would Strange leave him in this state?

He looked back at Bane, he was barely able to support himself, let alone breathe.

"What happened to you?" Batman asked, his voice serious but not as menacing as it usually was, "Why did Hugo Strange leave you like this?"

The weak man just looked back at him blankly. Bruce started to feel his anger simmer below the surface, there was no time for this. Diana's life was on the line.

"Why are you here?!" Bruce crouched down towards the man, he knew he was starting to get to him. He may be weak but that didn't mean he would pity him, "Where's Hugo Strange?!"

Bane lifted a shaky finger to his mouth and opened it slightly. Bruce gritted his teeth as he tried to understand what he was doing. Bane curled his fingers around the edge of his mouth and pulled slightly, in order to help himself open his mouth wider.

Bruce narrowed his eyes as he came to understand why Bane wasn't saying anything to him. It's because he couldn't. His tongue was cut out.

He took a step back as he tried to think of what he should do now. This one was useless in terms of information, all he knew was that Strange knew that he was coming for him. This was all planned out, everything. Bruce was falling for all of his tricks, running right into everything. He needed to think harder, how can he catch up to Strange?

Bane started to mumble something, he couldn't make out what he was saying but the former cartel leader was making small motions with his hands. He tapped his forearm and made the motion of an injection. Bruce stayed silent as he tried to decipher it. Bane continued to make more motions, he made an impression of glasses on his face and then made another motion that looked like he was injecting something into his arm. Bruce lowered his chin as he tried to fill in as much of the blanks as possible.

"The serum...it's from you?" Bruce asked. Suddenly a rapid beeping flooded the room. Bruce stood up and searched around for where it was coming from, but it was coming from all around him. Had he triggered some sort of alarm when he said the word 'serum'? The place was rigged and he had no idea. He cursed himself for being such a fool and jumping into things without thinking ahead.

He looked back down at Bane whose eyes were wide with the realization of his current situation. He told Batman something important, but it was all a game. Strange wanted him to tell him. He wanted all of this to happen. The sick bastard had used him up as a resource like some animal and was now playing him as a pawn in this game with Batman.

Bruce acted quickly and reached down to grab Bane so they could flee together. But as he reached down the grab the man, he noticed a collar on his neck that he didn't see earlier. There was a red dot that was blinking in sync with the beeping. Bane had a bomb attached to his neck. Without a second thought, Bruce reached down and tried to remove it, but it was tightly secured around his neck. There was a small wire that wrapped around the inside of the collar, so that if he tried to rip it off, it would detonate.

The beeping got faster and Bruce closed his eyes as he tried to think of what he could possibly do in that situation to help save Bane. He was a villain, but he was also a victim. Bruce made a vow to protect anyone and everyone in this city, no matter what the cost. Bane was no exception to this.

He pulled out every tool he could find useful in his utility belt and tried to figure a way to use it to remove the collar. He tried to ignore to quickening sound of the beeping and mustered all his focus into saving Bane.

He felt a weak hand push on his gloved hand. Bruce looked up from the collar and saw the pleading and agonizing eyes of a man who had given up. Bane pushed once more on Bruce's hand, motioning for him to leave him. He didn't have the strength to push him away completely, but he hoped that the caped crusader would see it in his eyes that he accepted his fate.

Bruce refused, knowing that there had to be a failsafe for a bomb like this. There had to be something. He let go of the collar and quickly ran around the room searching for something, anything that would stop the bomb. He felt himself getting frustrated and angry, there needed to be something he could do.

His eyes roamed the room, trying to create possibilities and equations as fast as his genius mind could muster. His eyes caught one tile of the ceiling that had what appeared to be small finger markings on it. The dust covered it unevenly and it appeared to have been touched recently. He quickly walked under it and pulled it down using his grapple.

Bingo. There was a device hanging where the tile was a few seconds ago. Bruce scrutinized the device looking for a way to disarm it, when he realized the numbers displayed in it were far too low. The number 2 bore into his eyes as it shifted to 1. Everything suddenly slowed down as he turned to look at Bane who sat on the floor a few feet away from him. The once menacing man looked back at him with eyes filled with grief before he closed them and accepted his fate.

Bruce yelled for him to take cover and ran towards him, but he was violently thrown backwards. His lungs filled with smoke and fire as his blue eyes turned red from the reflection of the explosion. The image of a broken man he couldn't save forever engrained into the very core of his being-just like all the other ones. And with them, would be Diana.

"BRUCE!" Diana jolted up screaming, her voice hoarse from her exhaustion. Her blue eyes were wide with terror and confusion. She turned to the direction of which she heard footsteps running towards her. None of them were Bruce, she knew it.

"Diana? You're okay!" Donna ran to her sister and gave her a tight hug, "gods, I was so worried,"

"Holy shit," Jason said out loud, "It really worked,"

"What worked?" Diana asked, her voice filled with worry, she didn't know what was going on.

"My prayer to the gods, sister," Donna smiled as tears formed in her eyes, "They said you would be okay,"

Diana tried to smile back to her sister, but found it hard to. She felt a void in her heart, for some reason she felt as though she lost something she'd never get back.

"Where's Bruce?" She asked,

"We're not sure," Dick answered, his arms crossed over his chest, "He cut off his comms looking for Hugo Strange,"

Diana closed her eyes as she tried to process everything. Of course he would stubbornly just go and do his own thing, making everyone worry in the process.

"Where was he last seen?" She asked as she tried to get off the bed. But Donna kept her there by placing a hand on her shoulder. Donna turned to look over shoulder to give Jason and Dick a glance. The two young men nodded their heads slightly in understanding before turning on their heels to give the two women some privacy. Diana felt the tension and looked down at her sister who still had her hand on her shoulder.

"Donna, what's going on?" she asked worriedly.

"Diana there's something we need to talk about," her sister started,

"Can it wait till later? Bruce might be in danger,"

"I think its best we discuss it now," Donna couldn't look into Diana's eyes, she knew it was something bad.

A/N:

There you have it! Let me know what you think, I love to hear your thoughts and opinions :)!

Until next time~