The Cadmus Web

Chapter 21: Audition

-Batcave-

Bruce was in his usual mood, dressed in his Batman costume he was at the Bat computer looking up details on a new crime ring that was starting to operate inside of Gotham they were obvious from out of town and were from another city trying to set up shop in his city. He knew how that would go over with the local crime powers it would mean increase in violence and if things got very ugly a full blown gang war. In those there were just too many innocent people that got hurt and killed in the crossfire. So he decided to stop it before it turned ugly.

He was trying to find the weak points in their organization with their businesses, looking for the fronts they were using for money for their operations, if he took them out it would be a step in the way of making it too much trouble to try and open shop in Gotham plus without any footholds it would be nearly impossible to keep their businesses and vices working.

That was when he heard the sound of the teleportation device used by the League. There were only a few people that could use that to get into the cave since only a few people in the League even know who he really was let alone where the cave was.

'If this is Clark trying to get me to help him train some of the new guys again or him trying to hide from Lois again by 'helping' me here I'm going to take out that piece of Kryptonite I've been saving away,' he thought to himself.

But the clicking of heels told him that it wasn't Clark. He stiffened a bit knowing only one person who would just walk right into his cave that wore some type of heels, or more precisely heeled boots. Then he could smell it, and not just any smell either but her smell. She always smelled of jasmine for some reason he figured it was whatever she put into her hair but there was a hint of something else in it that he could never figure out. He wasn't sure why she was here but he was conflicted with her and he hated being conflicted.

On the one hand he knew that he was attracted to her, hell just by looks alone any male would be, but it wasn't just that. It was who she was as a person, her sense of justice was as sharp and steady as any sword and she wasn't afraid to get her hands dirty either something that he respected. She had a code of ethics which were like his in some parts. He respected her and the fact was after all this time he came to care about her and that was dangerous.

He had been down this road before he had been hurt before too many times. Plus the Mission came first before his own needs. But every time she was around he had doubt, and he hated that. He couldn't afford to be conflicted or have doubts he needed to be sharp and focused. So he pushed her to arms length, keeping her just as a friend but to allow anything more would just be asking for trouble, besides he had thought of the logistics of it. An interpersonal relationship inside of the team wasn't always a good thing he had seen a few of the couples and what happened when they didn't get along from some personal reason.

"Hello Diana," he simply said to her not turning around.

Diana hated it when he did things like that, but pushed past it. "Bruce we need to talk."

Bruce had heard those words and in that tone so many times from would be girlfriends who had wanted more from him, so he usually dumped them and moved on. They were just to keep up appearances and hardly any of them he had even liked well enough to commit to. Unfortunately Diana was a whole other type and he couldn't use his usual things when dealing with her.

He turned around to face her and stood up to meet her face, normally his tall height was a bit intimidating but she was roughly the same height as he was plus she didn't respond well to intimidation anyway.

"I want to know what is going on between us," she demanded.

He looked at her for a moment before he said, "We're friends and we work together, what else is there?"

That got her pissed and he could see it, that was the one thing that he wished she could do and that was control her emotions more she was sometimes too passionate at times.

"Don't give me that Bruce, you and I both know that there is more to us than just friends. At least that's what I feel. Damn it why do you have to keep pushing me away? I want to try for something more but every time I try you always find some excuse to leave or skate around the topic."

"After everything we've been through I think I deserve to have some answers Bruce. You know that I care for you more than just a friend and I've been patient with you, I've waited but I can't stand this anymore. Of all the men I had to fall for why I fell for you I'm not sure, but I have Bruce and I want more than just friendship with us."

"That wouldn't be possible," Bruce said.

"Why? Why is it so impossible?"

"For starters it would complicate things in the team, you've seen how some of the couples get when they can't focus right when they get into personal arguments."

"That also happens to everyone else who isn't together it's part of being human," she told him although that also included those that weren't human. "Try another one."

"Fine then personal wise how would it even work? You can't hide your emotions so it will have to be as Batman that we date but I still have an image of Bruce Wayne to keep up. If I stop seeing someone people will wonder why and start to dig and I can't afford that it's hard enough to keep both my lives separate."

Diana hadn't thought about any of that, she had forgotten how Bruce kept his two lives separated and how complicated it would be. There was no way she wanted to date him while he had to keep up his persona of the playboy and 'dating' other women.

"Fine then we can date with you as Bruce Wayne," she told him bluntly.

Again he shook his head, "It still wouldn't work. Sure suddenly Bruce Wayne is dating a superhero but the longer that happens the more complicated things get. Your enemies will try to use me to get to you and that makes my life more complicated. Also the fact that you have to remain distant when I'm Batman in public or else people will wonder if there is anything going on between us, and some might start to think that Bruce Wayne and Batman might be the same person."

"I've thought about this Diana, and there is just no way to get around the dangers of this, as Batman I have many enemies and over the years people close to me have been used against me. Which happens in this business, look at how many times Lois Lane was put into danger because of her link to Superman."

She didn't looked convinced to him, "Are you saying I'm helpless? In case you forgot I can take bullets, being blown up, hit with a force that would kill a normal person and get right back up. In any case I'm the one that should be worried on who gets hurt between us."

"That's the other thing too," he said. "If we try this out then we would put the other before anything else and that can't happen. Too many people depend on people like us."

Diana walked up to Bruce and she wished he didn't have that cowl on, she wanted to see his eyes and see what he was really feeling at this moment. "Bruce please just tell me...How do you feel about me, about us?"

He looked at her for a long moment debating telling her the truth or not, but in the end she deserved the truth she had that much owed to her.

"I do care Diana, more than I should. Yes we're friends and yes I've wondered if we could become more and I've thought about it, wanted it...but like I've said it would be impossible for it to last. I don't want to make you into just another woman that I see and later dump, I can't do that to you and I don't want you to go through that kind of pain so I decided that no matter what I feel I should put my feelings aside."

Diana wanted to argue his points, she wanted to scream at him and yell at him that he was being stupid but she was having a hard time trying to find a logical way around his reasoning, "Isn't there any way Bruce? If there was some way for us to see each other would you at least try?"

Bruce had thought through it all but there was just no way, there was a part of him that truly wanted to try but he couldn't see it. But if this would get her to stop to move on then it was for the best, "If there was a way I would agree to it but I don't see anything do you?"

With that he turned away from her and went back to his work and she just stood there lost in thought. He heard the teleportation and he wanted to work but his hands just froze on the keyboard. He finally just sat back and sighed looking at the screen but not seeing what was on it. He shouldn't be upset after all he kept telling himself that there was just no way for it to work and to stop brooding on it, so why couldn't he just put her out of his mind?

For Diana things weren't going as well, she had ended up going back to her place and just crashing on the couch just staring up at the ceiling. There seemed to be no justice in the world, here she had finally managed to get Bruce to admit that he liked her more than a friend but then he had to pull his damn logic on her, sure he agreed that if she found a way for them to date he would but what was there?

After two hours of thinking in circles she had no idea at all.

'Damn it. How do the others handle things like this?' She thought to herself darkly. 'John and Shayera have no secrets from the world as everyone knows who they are. But who else is a couple?'

She thought of Peter and Kara and how they made things work, they had their own identities in life and no one knew who they were as superheroes even though Kara went by her first name among the League, just like Superman was just Clark Kent but that didn't help her at all since she...

She bolted up from her position as an idea was forming it was so simple that she should have tried it before. Sure she never felt the reason to try it but maybe this would work out but to make her idea work she would need a lot of help, she knew that Clark would be on the top of her list but she would need help with other things to help set it up.

A grin started to play on her face, "Bruce Wayne you are about to get a surprise."

-Elsewhere-

Donna wasn't sure if she was having a good day or not at the moment, she had gone to Vixen about the idea of getting into fashion photography and she had enjoyed the idea. It would be nice to have someone else that understood the life in fashion and being a super hero as well so Vixen took the young woman aside and they spoke to great lengths about Donna's choice. Vixen explained a lot about what the job was like and what to expect and any tips, she also managed to make some calls and here she was on the set of a photo shoot.

She was surprised by how many people it took to make one of these, she saw the models and the other staff, she saw a few men in suits a couple talking on phones, there was a large table with food and lots of water she would learn later just how hot it could get in the room with all the lights. There were other people running around, she saw a few putting on makeup for the women and others doing other odd jobs so she wasn't sure what they were there for. She also felt a bit out of her element at the moment, she had no idea what she was doing other than the lessons Peter had been giving her lately.

She wasn't sure where to go until a voice called out her name, she looked to see Vixen waving over to her and Donna walked over, she was a bit glad that she was in her normal clothing of jeans, a black shirt and red jacket that she liked. For some reason people didn't associate her with the name Wonder Girl when she wasn't in costume which was nice not to be noticed all the time. She smiled as she walked over to her new friend.

"I'm glad you found the place okay, Donna here are a few of the friends I have here." Vixen went on introducing various models. A blue eyed blonde named Julie, a red head with long hair and high cheekbones named Amanda and a Japanese girl named Kimiko.

"So this is the new friend of yours that wasn't to get into shooting huh?" Julie asked looking her up and down, "Personally we could use more women in this field because some of these men are just pigs at times."

"You're only saying that because you like women and don't try on hit on her either Julie I'm warning you," Vixen said to her. She was a good person but sometimes she worried that Julie's distaste for men came off as a bit too strong. She knew that Julie just put up a strong front at work just to keep men from who didn't know her sexual preferences from asking her out all the time. It just got annoying with the woman so she acted a bit like that from time to time. Although Vixen did admit some of the men could be pigs but that was the minority, men like that didn't last long in this business after all and only the truly professional stayed in.

"I think she's kind of cute, you ever think of trying to model youself?" Kimiko smiled at her tilting her head looking at the young woman. She had legs, an hour glass figure that she had to work hard herself to keep and those facial features looked like they were sculpted to perfection.

Donna just smiled and shook her head, "sorry but I prefer to be behind the camera."

"Well I hope things work out," Amanda said as she got up to the set up for the shoot, "but I have to get going my turns up and I just hope they turn out better than that last one I did."

"Oh it wasn't that bad, it happens." Vixen said to her which didn't seem to do much. There had been a slight mistake in one of the photos and part of Amanda's nipple showed you wouldn't know unless you were looking hard but someone had been and it had been posted all over the net. Amanda did do nude shots but only when she had something covering to hide things like that. Amanda had been a bit upset that a mistake like that had happened but unfortunately things like this tended to happen from time to time.

Usually they were caught before publishing but the odd one always seemed to slip out and most just accepted it as a hazard of the job.

Donna talked a bit more with the models until a man with dark hair and matching clothing and classes came over. He had a slight accent that Donna couldn't really place as he came over to them.

"Ah so is this the new blood you wanted to show me?"

"Yep, his is Donna. Donna this is the photographer Sven." Vixen introduced.

"A pity you don't want to share those looks with the world but alas it is the way of things," Sven said with a slight exaggerated motion with his hand. "So then, do you have any experience, other than the photos you took of Mari here?"

Now Donna was a bit nervous about this, she honestly didn't but she didn't want to lie to him. "No not really, I have gotten lessons from a friend of mine who is a photojournalist though. He's been helping me out for awhile now."

"Oh really? Anyone I would know?" Sven asked.

"Oh uh...I don't know, he works in New York at the Daily Journal, his name if Peter Parker. He takes a lot of action shots of heroes at work and takes a lot of Spider-Man images."

"Hmmm...Sounds familiar but I can't place the name with a face," Sven said deep in thought.

"Oh Spider-Man? Mari how come you never bring any of your super hero hunks here?" Kimiko asked. "I mean I would love to meet someone like Spider-Man, that suit really doesn't hide much and he's so strong and agile. Plus there's Superman and well enough said about him, and then there's Flash, Green Arrow, and others."

Vixen smirked at this, Kimiko was a super hero fan girl it took months for her to act normal around Vixen when they first met and over time they got into a real friendship although she still asked from time to time to set her up with some type of hero.

"Sorry but most of those guys are taken, and you know Spider-Man is seeing Supergirl." Vixen said nearly laughing at the memory of when that photo of Spider-Man and Supergirl kissing came out, those two got a lot of teasing from that and Flash made sure copies of the image were posted all over the Tower for a week straight.

"Well at least he has good taste," Julie smiled at her friend she had to admit Supergirl was cute if a couple of year younger than she preferred her women.

"Well then enough of that Donna please follow with me," Sven told her as they walked on.

"First you will see how I work, then you will assist me and then I will help you with taking of the photos." He told her in a serious voice and Donna just nodded her head. The rest of the day was a lot of work, she had to reload cameras and also concentrate on Sven's explanations of not only what he was doing but why. There actually was a lot behind what he did she was surprised to learn and it was more complicated than she thought but when it was her chance to take a few shots she was nervous but quickly put that aside.

She made the models pose into different ways, and she tried to make her own unique style to it, she wanted to show these women as beautiful but yet powerful in a way. To make them stand out more and seem confident and strong and yet still very feminine. Over time Sven gave her less and less advice as she managed to catch on pretty quickly. In fact Donna was starting to enjoy her work very much there was just something about the whole experience that was intoxicating.

She could explain it but she was really starting to like this line of work.

-Gotham City-

It had been over a week since Diana's 'visit' to the cave and Bruce was getting the idea that she had been avoiding him all this time. Well he couldn't blame her but he had to lay down the truth for her no matter how hard it was on both of them. Now he was hosting one of the Wayne functions again, he forgot which one it had been for before he saw the banner. It was for one of those get togethers that the rich and powerful put on to make contacts and deals on the surface of it being a 'charity' event.

At least the money for the dinner would go to a good cause it was the only reason he came to these things anyway, he hated the parties like this. They were so fake but then again was he any different? The mask he wore all the time when he was out in the public eye was just that, just another mask he wore only this one instead of bringing fear and terror had a charming smile and made strangers friends and woman swoon over him.

But that wasn't the real him, it was just something he had to do to keep his real life a secret. No one outside of his real family knew the real him, everyone here thought they knew Bruce Wayne but he sometimes wondered how they would react if they knew his real secret. Sometimes he could actually smile at the thoughts of the faces and reactions that would get him, at least he wouldn't have to put up with this little show of his anymore.

But the Mission was important, he was needed and as long as he was needed he would have to take the good and the bad. He was walking through the crowds of people, shaking hands, making jokes and fact smiles at everyone he met. Some of them he knew and there were those that he actually did like, although none of them were true friends, those he made on the battlefield as to him only a true friend was someone he could count on to watch his back. They were good people but he knew that they would fold under pressure.

He made charming talk with the many beautiful women that tried to get his attention and yes they were indeed beautiful and in all manners of shapes and sizes but they were only beautiful on the surface. Some of them he knew were very shallow, or only wanted him for his money or for other vain reasons. There were the select few that actually did want to get to know him and find the real Bruce Wayne, those he dated for a bit judging them to see if they could handle the real him. But in the end he was always disappointed and he ended things on a good note with them.

It was talking with someone that he felt someone walk up behind him, "Ah Mr. Wayne it's so good to see you again."

He stopped his surprise at that voice he knew that voice, the perfume was different but he knew that voice all the same. He turned around and he wasn't sure what to do because standing in front of him was Diana but not the Diana he knew. This Diana had on an elegant but yet simple dress that didn't show off too much and yet everyone could notice her beauty, her hair was done up high into a bun and she had on of all thin classes.

"Ah, yes Miss..."

"Prince, Diana Prince we met once before in fact I believe you still owe me a dance from that night," Diana smiled at him seeing in his eyes both anger, confusion, a little happiness and something else. He looked at her with a small look that made her cheeks feel slightly flushed and she liked that feeling.

Next up Chapter 22; Meet Diana Prince