I'm afraid that the angst will continue for a little bit longer, but I promise there will eventually be a happy reunion! Thanks for being patient and following along! :)

Chapter 14

Bruce sat at his computer in the batcave reviewing all the files that he had managed to download from Lex Luthor's lab before Lex had managed to block him. He sipped his coffee as his intense gaze sifted through the endless data Lex's scientists had managed to gather. It gave him chills.

Luthor was on the verge of duplicating his very own Meta. Whether he'd be able to sustain it for any length of time was a whole other problem, but now that Lex had Diana, he was that much closer to realizing his dream.

He internally shuddered at the thought of what Luthor and Grodd could be doing to Diana right now. Once he got what he wanted from her, Luthor could easily push a button and end Diana's life if he found his micro chip wasn't working to control her the way that he wanted.

Bruce rubbed his eyes in an attempt to banish that horrifying thought, suddenly feeling very tired despite having gotten five hours of sleep. He'd been forced to give into Alfred's demands to get some sleep when he began having difficulty connecting his thoughts, his vision blurring the longer he reviewed the files.

He knew that he'd be no good to Diana if he didn't get to the bottom of all this.

"Master Bruce, that sandwich sitting on your desk is meant to be eaten, not merely decoration purposes," Alfred reminded him as he came to stand behind him.

With a huff of obvious frustration, Bruce paused to take a bit of his sandwich before returning to his work. "Happy?" he grunted.

"Not particularly, but I guess it will have to do for now," the butler frowned. "Mr. Kent called for you while you were asleep."

"What did he want?"

"He asked that you contact him whenever you can," he replied. "He had an idea concerning Lex Luthor; something that he thought might help Miss Diana."

"What?" Bruce exclaimed as he spun around in his chair, a heated glare leveled at the butler. "Why didn't you wake me?"

"Mr. Kent told me not to wake you," Alfred calmly informed him. "He was going to go check it out for himself. He hoped to have more information when you contacted him."

"Damn it!" Bruce growled under his breath. "I told him to stay put on the Watchtower. He's going to get himself captured. Did he say where he was going?"

"No, Sir," Alfred shook his head. "Only that he hoped to have more information for you when you contacted him."

"How long ago was that?"

"Probably less than an hour ago."

Bruce checked his watch. He'd barely been up for fifteen minutes. "Batman to Superman."

"This is Superman."

"What in hell do you think you're doing?" Bruce growled at him. "You're going to get yourself captured. You knew the plan. You were supposed to stay on the Watchtower."

"Calm down," Superman bit out. "I'm just checking out a possible idea I had that could help Diana."

"Luthor has Wonder Woman by now," Bruce told him, his patience running dangerously thin. "Whatever idea you think will help her could be a trap. Where are you now?"

"I'm at Robotrix," Clark responded, growing agitated by Bruce's paranoia. "I was thinking about what you said about the micro chip in Wonder Woman being similar to the robots we fought. I decided to go to Robotrix to see what I could find out."

"I doubt you'll find out anything more, but keep it quick," Bruce grunted. "Then get back to the Watchtower. We can't afford for you to be captured too."

"When this is all over, we need to have a very serious discussion about your paranoia," Superman flatly stated.

"Fine, but when you find out I was right, I'm not above telling you I told you so," Bruce frowned.

"Are you going out again to look for her?"

"Yes, but I told you before, she will find us," he ground out in rising frustration.

An exasperated sigh came over the commlink followed by a pregnant pause. "I still don't like this," Clark finally stated.

"And you think that I'm having a picnic right now?" Bruce hissed, his hands clenching tightly. "She's out there somewhere with Luthor and Grodd doing God knows what to her and there's not a damn thing I can do about it."

"I'm sorry," he sighed heavily. "We'll do whatever it takes to get her back."

There was a long moment of silence while Bruce fought to rein in his anger before finally responding. "Just get in there and get out."

"Will do," Clark replied before trying to alleviate the tension. "If I didn't know better, I'd almost think that you cared."

"Don't get used to it," Batman snorted. "You just caught me at weak moment."

"I'll contact you again as soon as I…"

"Superman?"

"Oh no…"

"Superman!" Bruce barked his name as he sat forward in his chair. "What is it?"

"Diana," Clark gasped.

"Keep her busy," Bruce ordered him as he leapt to his feet. "I'm on my way."

Superman stared at Diana in stunned disbelief, his mind reeling as it tried to process what he was seeing now. This was no longer the same woman that he had come to love as if she was his sister, the one he called his best friend.

She stood before him a completely transformed woman, dressed in golden armor that glistened in the dim lighting of the room. It was similar to her usual uniform except this one had a very short skirt that hung in wide panels about her waist.

Her long dark hair was pulled back and braided. Her blue eyes danced with hatred that made him internally shudder at what Luthor had truly done to his best friend. Gone was the love and compassion that usually shined so brightly there, the warm glow of recognition that came with gazing upon a beloved friend.

"Diana?" he tentatively called her name, already dreading what he knew was about to come…another showdown.

Diana stared at him with hard cold eyes that seemed to see him and yet didn't. Her stance indicated that she was more than ready for a battle with him. Memories of their last battle several weeks ago sprang to his mind. He had hoped to avoid another like that at all cost, but unfortunately that wasn't going to happen.

He silently cursed to himself. He could already hear Bruce's deep growling voice in his head telling him I told you so. Why did he have to be right all the damn time?

"Diana, it's me," he slowly began, holding his hands up before him to show her he wasn't a threat to her. "I don't want to fight you."

"I'm disappointed," Diana frowned, her hands finding her hips. "I was hoping for a true fight against the infamous Man of Steel."

"Diana, you need to listen to me," Clark tried again as he took a step closer, feeling as though minutes were ticking by like hours as he waited for Bruce to arrive. "You need to fight whatever it is that Luthor has done to you. You belong with your friends…with the Justice League…not him."

"I'm no longer the Diana you once knew…Kal-El," she coldly spat out his name as she began to inch closer to him.

Clark racked his brain for a way to get through to her without having to actually fight her. He was afraid of hurting her, not to mention they were equally matched. Trying to contain her until Batman arrived was going to be next to impossible. He just hoped that Bruce had some sort of plan to stop her.

Hopefully he could reason with her, keep her talking until Batman arrived. "I'm your best friend, Diana. We've always been there for each other, helped each other more times than I can count. Let me help you now."

"I'm a goddess," she stated with a sneer of disgust on her lips. "I don't need help…especially from a man."

"But you accept Luthor as your master?" Clark shot back as they began to circle each other.

"He is not my master," she hissed, her blue eyes flashing dangerously. "He's my savior…my northern star, guiding me. He made me better."

"If you're a goddess, you shouldn't need to be improved upon," Superman reminded her.

Diana practically trembled with rage at his impudence, determined to teach him a lesson for his insolence. "He did not improve me," she scowled. "He merely helped me see the light."

"And what kind of light did he help you see?" he asked as they continued to circle each other. He wished Bruce would get here before this turned into an all out brawl.

"Stop asking questions and fight me already, coward," Diana yelled at him.

"What about Bruce, Diana?" he finally asked, deciding upon a different approach. "Are you willing to give him up for Luthor?"

Clark noticed the briefest flicker of confusion flit through her blue eyes before the micro chip abruptly interfered with the rush of thoughts and emotions that mentioning Bruce's name had suddenly brought up within her.

"He needs you, Diana," he pressed further, not about to back down now that he was getting the reaction that he had hoped for. "He loves you. You have to fight not only for yourself, but for him also. He won't survive if he loses you."

"Stop it," Diana sharply gasped as pain pierced her head, her chest beginning to heave now. Tears suddenly glistened in her eyes as her hands slowly uncurled as she stared at him. "Stop…you have to stop."

"You brought happiness and love back to Bruce's life," he continued as he carefully worked his way closer to her. "No one but you has truly been able to do that since he lost his parents…only you, Diana."

She stared at him, suddenly lost…confused. Her brain was trying to tell her one thing, but her heart was telling her something altogether different. "No, I…I…"

"It's true, Diana."

She froze at the sound of the familiar voice that suddenly appeared behind her, one that warmed her clear to her soul. She slowly turned on her heel, finding herself gazing at the formidable Dark Knight of Gotham standing behind her, his large imposing form enough to instill terror in the most fearless.

"I personally know how much you mean to Bruce," he deeply rasped. "He's told me. I know too because I've seen a change in him. You make him a better man, Diana. You mean everything to him."

Batman took a step closer to her only to watch her take two steps back away from him as if suddenly afraid of him. While it was heart-rending to see her like this, he knew that he was getting through to her. He could see it in her eyes. She was in there somewhere fighting to regain control, struggling to come back to him.

"Fight it, Princess," he growled. "Luthor may be controlling your mind, but I know that Bruce owns your heart."

Clark watched in amazement as Batman fought to reach out to Diana. Although his voice was that of the fierce Bat, he could feel Bruce's hurt as well as his heart behind the words. He could see that he was beginning to get through to her. Their bond with each other ran deep, far deeper than he could have imagined.

Superman inched his way closer to her as Batman talked to her, hoping to be able to grab hold of her before she tried to escape them. He hoped that Bruce had a way to drug her once they captured her because he doubted that he'd be able to hold her down for long.

An irate Amazon with Meta strength and abilities was not easy to subdue for very long even for him.

"Let me help you, Diana," Batman said with a sudden tenderness that stunned Clark. It was so surreal to hear such gentleness coming from him especially when he wore the Bat suit.

Diana slowly shook her head, a single tear suddenly breaking free to trickle down her cheek. "I can't," she whispered.

"I want to help you," he patiently told her again as he drew closer still. "Bruce is beside himself with worry about you. He wants you to come home…to him."

"We're losing her!" Luthor yelled from his seat beside Grodd as they watched the exchange from the security cameras inside of Robotrix.

"Her emotions are clouding her thoughts," Grodd tried to explain as he attempted to make adjustments to the signal on the micro chip.

"Do something, Grodd!" Luthor growled as he leapt from his chair and began pacing. "I want her fixed now!"

"I'm going to try upping the amplitude again," he informed him. "Let's just hope it doesn't end up killing her in the process or this will all be over."

"So what if it does," Luthor sneered as he came to a stop behind Grodd's chair. "We still have Superman and Batman we could use."

"Our best chance at this still lies with the Amazon," Grodd snapped as he furiously typed on the computer. "She's the only one who can go up against Superman and Batman. If we kill her off now, how do you plan on getting our hands on the other two?"

"We'll worry about that later," Luthor replied, folding his arms against his chest. "Let's just see how she does now. Are you increasing the signal intensity?"

"Hold on," Grodd scowled, his anger simmering just beneath the surface set to explode . "I'm almost done with the modifications."

"You ran all your stupid tests and said she was ready to be sent out," Luthor ground out. "You obviously have no clue what you're talking about."

"I warned you there were variables that could interfere with the micro chip, emotions being one of them, but you refused to listen to me," Grodd snarled at him. "There…the signal changes are being sent to the chip now. This should hopefully do the trick if we don't kill her first."

Batman felt a spark of hope begin to flicker inside of him as he talked to Diana, could see that he was beginning to get through to her. If he could just get her out of here and somewhere private, he could remove his cowl and allow her to see his face. It could be the one thing that could finally break through Grodd's programming in her brain and bring her back to him.

"Let me take you back to Bruce," Batman tried again as he came to a stop before her. "He's worried sick about you."

His breath hitched as he stared at her. She looked positively stunning dressed in armor of pure gold, her long raven hair braided. Past her, he could see Clark coming to stand behind her, keeping her safely pinned between the two of them with no place to go.

"Bruce…" Diana softly murmured his name, the corners of her lips curling slightly with his name, the warmth that suddenly flooded her heart.

Everything inside of her told her to fight, that they were the enemy, but her heart kept telling her something different…something that she couldn't ignore. She looked down to find Batman holding his hand out to her, waiting patiently for her to take it, to take her back to Bruce.

She slowly lifted her hand as she lifted her eyes to meet the white slits that stared harshly back at her. She bit her bottom lip as she fought against the sudden onslaught of pain that began to surge through her. The more she tried to fight it, the more intense the pain became.

Batman's heart was racing as she slowly raised her hand to take his. It took everything inside to keep from just grabbing her and pulling her into his arms in a fierce embrace, but he knew he couldn't do that. There were no doubt security cameras all over watching their entire interaction, Luthor and Grodd keeping close tabs on their prized possession.

Diana's fingers lightly brushed against the Batman's black gauntlet before suddenly pulling back as if she had been electrocuted. She cried out in agony as she grabbed her head, falling to her knees in excruciating pain.

"Diana!" Batman cried as he fell to his knees before her, grabbing hold of her upper arms.

She rocked back and forth as she held her head, the nauseating pain that gripped her unrelenting in its ferocity. "Make it stop…please, make it stop…" she begged through her tears, fighting to stay conscious.

Superman leaned over her, his hand finding her shoulder and feeling as helpless as ever as he watched her suffer such unimaginable pain. "Hang on, Diana," he told her.

"Luthor!" Batman snarled viciously, his gaze suddenly looking all around him. "Stop this now or I'll make sure you'll wish you'd never been born!"

He could feel Diana trembling violently in his hands, knowing he had to do something fast before Grodd and Luthor ended up killing her. His one hand released her arm, going to his utility belt and pulling out a small vial.

"Hang on, Diana," Batman murmured to her. "I'm going to get you out of here."

He ripped the cap off with his teeth but before he could jab it into her arm, Diana screamed in rage, her fist flying up to knock him backwards. She leapt to her feet, spinning around to face the Man of Steel. Clark instantly took a step back, not wanting to fight her.

Her cobalt eyes flashed with a fury unlike any he'd ever seen in her before, the Diana of a few moments ago suddenly gone now, suppressed once more by the powerful programming of the micro chip in her brain.

She seethed as she began to storm towards him, her fists curled and ready for a fight to the death. "Diana, I don't want to fight you!" Clark yelled at her as he continued to back away, trying to get through to her again.

She didn't respond this time as she suddenly took to the air, her fists plowing directly into his chest and sending him through the nearest wall. She abruptly turned around to find Batman nowhere to be found. She flew to the spot where he had just been lying on the floor, her furious gaze searching for him.

"Come out and face me!" she screamed into the air.

She turned in quick tight circles as she searched for him, turning around just in time to receive a flying black boot to her jaw that sent her sprawling backwards onto the ground. She immediately leapt to her feet, breathing heavily as she faced off against the Dark Knight.

A wicked smirk slowly broke across her face as she glared at him, but he refused to back down. His lover was still in there somewhere. He had gotten to her before and he would get to her again.

Diana swiftly flew at him, her fists cocked and ready to strike only to find the Man of Steel suddenly coming to stand between her and Batman. He quickly lifted his hands, grabbing hold of her fists and holding her back.

"Whatever you're going to do, do it quick!" Clark ground out as he fought to keep her at bay.

Batman raced to her with the vial gripped tightly in his hand. He jammed it into her neck just as she suddenly took to the air, hovering high above them. She ripped the syringe from her neck and threw it down at them. Superman swiftly took to the air as well; ready to catch her as Batman waited below for the drug to take effect.

"This…this isn't…over…." she groggily sneered at them, shaking her head as she fought to maintain consciousness as he vision grew blurry.

"Diana…please, let us help you," Superman begged her as he tried to draw closer to her, but she shot straight through the air, pounding a large hole through the roof and causing rubble to crash down upon both Superman and Batman as she disappeared from sight.