TITLE: Mastermind

AUTHOR: LOTSlover

CHARACTERS: Batman / Wonder Woman

RATING: T

WARNINGS: Author Chooses Not to Use Warnings

DISCLAIMER: I love Justice League, but especially Batman and Wonder Woman. Unfortunately, I do not own the characters and, if I did, things would be much different for them.

SUMMARY: Set during Grudge Match, Bruce stumbles on a mind-controlled Wonder Woman. Will he be able to save her before she takes out all the female League members?

Mastermind

"So, what brings you to Blüdhaven without an invitation?" Nightwing questioned him as he landed on the rooftop behind his mentor.

"I'm in the middle of an investigation," Batman stated.

"In my city," he replied, the annoyance in his voice more than obvious.

"Something is going on here," he told him.

"And that's supposed to explain what you're doing in my city," Nightwing pressed, growing more agitated by the moment. "If there's something wrong in my city, then I'll take care of it. You can return to Gotham now."

"Diana's not answering any of my hails," he elaborated. "I tracked her comm signal here."

"Why would Diana be here in Blüdhaven?" he asked, his brow furrowing in question. "She hasn't called or contacted me."

"I have no idea what she's doing here, but I'm going to find out," Batman told him, his hands clenching into fists.

"Not without me," Nightwing insisted.

"I don't have time for this," he roughly groused with a sneer, turning his back to his former protégé.

Nightwing glanced at his surrogate father, sensing there was more going on than what he was being told. "You're worried about her, aren't you?"

"I am," he admitted, his lips thinning into a forbidding line.

"And?" Nightwing pressed, crossing his arms against his chest as he stared at the Dark Knight's back.

Batman growled through clenched teeth, knowing that he'd trained him far too well. Dick could always tell when he was holding something back. He finally turned back to face him, wishing he could have taken care of this by himself, but he should have known that Nightwing would never let him invade his city without getting involved. He could hardly blame him. He was the same way about Gotham.

"Something has been going on with the female League members for the last week," he revealed. "They've been disappearing at night for hours only to reappear in the morning. Many of them return with injuries. Some League members like Fire have been missing for several days."

"And now Diana is missing too."

"Yes, but I'm going to get to the bottom of it tonight and put a stop to it," Batman stated with a sardonic edge to his voice.

"I can't imagine why they would be in Blüdhaven…unless…" Dick began only for his voice to trail off.

"What is it?"

"Meta-Brawl," Nightwing revealed. "I've heard rumors that Roulette has recently reinvented it, but I haven't been able to find out much. No one is talking about it. That means it has to be something big involving a lot of money."

"I have a feeling Roulette may be using our female Leaguers for profit," Batman growled.

"But how would she be able to get them to fight each other without their knowledge?" he asked. "Roulette is a martial artist. She doesn't have any special Meta abilities that allow her to control people's minds."

"Someone else is involved," Batman stated. "I imagine the Secret Society is ultimately behind this."

"We better put a stop to it before someone gets hurts."

Although worry about Diana's safety lingered in the back of his mind, Batman wasn't so much concerned about her getting hurt. He was more worried about her seriously hurting someone else and not realizing it. Her strength was formidable, rivaling Superman's.

He knew that she'd never forgive herself if she injured one of her teammates or an innocent bystander. Roulette had no idea the dangerous weapon that she was unleashing by controlling Diana's mind. Her self-control and decision-making ability had been stripped away, making her a deadly opponent to deal with.

He needed to find her as soon as possible.

XXX

They stood outside the arena, watching as dozens of people came and went. They needed to get in there without being detected. "I think we might have better luck if we went in as Dick Grayson and Bruce Wayne," Dick softly told him as they staked out the scene.

"Normally I might agree, but we may have to fight our way out of there if things get ugly," Batman stated.

Nightwing turned to look at him. "You think we're going to be forced to fight Diana?"

"I'm hoping it doesn't come down to that," he grimly replied.

"I hope you brought a tranquilizer gun strong enough to take down a super-powered Amazon or we'll both be in body casts before the night's over," Dick muttered.

"We're going to avoid that at all cost."

"You spar with her all the time," Nightwing reminded him. "I'm sure you have something up your sleeve to take her down if necessary."

Batman cast a sideways glance at him, not wanting to discuss any contingencies that he may or may not have for his Justice League teammates…including his lover. "Just be prepared for anything."

"Great," Dick muttered under his breath with a shake of his head. "That does not make me feel any better about this."

"Let's move," Batman rasped.

The duo stealthily made their way through the darkness into the parking garage below the arena. They carefully worked their way through the garage, past several expensive cars and SUV's while keeping out of sight of the security cameras.

Stopping before the elevator, Batman successfully managed to force the doors open. They took the elevator to the top floor, exiting only to be immediately swallowed up into the chaos that had erupted. People were running in every direction looking for an escape.

Seeing the pandemonium only caused the dread that already churned and roiled in Batman's gut to grow stronger. His fear was becoming a reality. He took off in a dead run, heading towards the danger while everyone else was doing their best to avoid it.

Nightwing followed close behind him, drawing his escrima sticks in preparation for the fight of his life. The arena practically shook with the destruction that was taking place, making it difficult to keep their balance. They didn't get far before they were met by enormous men dressed in tuxedos who were obviously intent on stopping them.

"Just what we need," Nightwing ground out, immediately leaping into action.

With brass knuckles on one hand and a Batarang in the other, Batman met Roulette's goons head-on, growling fiercely as four of them jumped him. Dropping the Batarang, he went for his taser, shocking each of them in turn in order to escape from underneath them.

With a grunt, he shoved the last unconscious body off him. He paused on one knee to catch his breath when another deafening crash shook the building. He looked up to see spiderweb cracks forming in the ceiling. If they didn't stop whatever was going on in the main arena, the whole building could come down on top of everyone.

He knew the person creating the destruction had to be Diana, but he had no idea who the person was that was getting the worst end of the deal by facing off against the Amazon. Whoever it was Diana was fighting was doing a decent job of trying to slow down the Amazon. He just hoped they survived it until they could put a stop to it.

Finishing off the henchmen, Batman and Nightwing raced towards the balcony of the arena in time to see Diana below talking to Shayera and Vixen who appeared to have suffered some injuries at the hand of Wonder Woman. Diana looked unscathed, but he couldn't say the same for some of the other female Leaguers who were being helped out of the arena by their teammates.

"Well, it looks like they didn't need our help after all," Nightwing said.

"Let's go look for the mastermind behind all of it," Batman stated as he turned on his heel.

"Don't you want to check on Diana?" Nightwing asked as he put his escrima sticks in their holder.

"No, I'll see her at home," Batman told him, spotting Roulette and Sonar being escorted out in handcuffs.

Nightwing snorted in amusement. "You got lectured about being overly protective, didn't you?"

"Twice," he simply stated, grimacing as he recalled that argument that had started early in the morning and had continued late into the night. The makeup sex had made it more than worth it. "Let's get out of here before we're spotted."

Nightwing laughed to himself as he followed Batman out. He never thought that he'd see the day that his father figure would be whipped by a woman. He guessed it took the right woman to do it and Diana was most definitely that woman for Bruce Wayne.

XXX

Diana flew through the secret tunnel of the Batcave, spotting the handsome Dark Knight sitting before his Cray computer system filing reports for the night. She smiled as she landed on the platform, slowly making her way towards him. His cowl and gauntlets were laying on his desk, his jet-black hair mussed from a night of patrol.

"How was your night?" she asked as she approached.

"Good…quiet," he simply stated, not wanting to give anything away. "Where have you been?"

"Evidently, I was in Blüdhaven," she revealed, crossing her arms as she leaned against the edge of his desk.

"Evidently?" he said. "What were you doing in Blüdhaven?"

"Fighting in a Glam Slam of some sort," she replied, rubbing her forehead as she tried to remember everything that had happened. "The details are still a little sketchy, but Roulette had the female Leaguers under her control. She forced us to fight each other for profit."

Batman turned his chair to face her, concern etched in chiseled features. "Are you hurt?"

"No, I'm fine," she assured him. "It's all just so disconcerting. Last thing I remember was being on a mission in Malaysia, and the next thing I know, I'm about to slam Shayera and Vixen's heads together."

Bruce watched as Diana visibly shuddered, a look of horror permeating her eyes. "What is it?"

Diana slowly shook her head as she tried to put her thoughts and feelings into words, wrapping her arms around herself as if comforting herself. "I could have killed them, Bruce," she softly admitted. "I was inches away from crushing their skulls."

"But you didn't, princess," he told her. "It sounds like you were stopped just in time."

"This time," she continued, her lips pursing. "I can't lose control like that ever again. It's too dangerous for me to not be in complete control at all times."

Bruce reached out and pulled her hand free, gently drawing her to him. Diana went willingly, settling on his lap as his arms enveloped her in a comforting embrace. "It wasn't your fault," he reminded her. "Roulette was controlling you and the others. You had no idea what you were doing."

"I know, but what if it happens again?" she softly asked, pressing her forehead against his temple. "I hate not being in control, Bruce. If I'm not in control, people could die. I could've killed my friends tonight, and it would have been all my fault. I could never live with myself if that happened."

"I won't let you lose control like that, Diana," he reassured her, rubbing her back in an attempt to soothe her. "I'll always be there to stop you."

Her fingers played with the strands of hair at the nape of his neck, stroking it as she struggled to come to terms with what had happened tonight. She drew a shuddering breath as she lifted her head to kiss his temple. "I know," she confessed as her lips found his ear. "Thank you, Bruce…for everything."

"For what?"

"For coming tonight," she revealed as she nipped at his earlobe.

"How did you know?"

"I caught a glimpse of a black cape up in the balcony of the arena," she replied, her hand caressing the side of his face as she shifted her position to straddle his lap.

His hands moved to her waist, tilting his head as she pulled back to gaze into his azure eyes. "I'm sorry," he apologized. "I shouldn't have—"

"Shhh…" she shushed him, cupping his jaw with both hands as her lips descended on his with a passion that surged through them both at that moment. "I know I was angry the other day about you being overprotective, but now I realize that might not be a bad thing."

"Really?" he murmured, the corner of his lips quirking with her confession as his hands found the release on her breastplate.

She pulled her breastplate the rest of the way off, dropping it onto the floor. "I guess it doesn't hurt to have someone looking out for me once in a while…just to make sure nothing goes wrong," she decided as she worked to remove his uniform top. "You wouldn't happen to know anyone who might like to handle that job…do you?"

Bruce groaned as she stood up long enough to remove her uniform before kneeling on either side of his hips. He reached up to cup the back of her head, pulling her down into a heated kiss as she braced herself on the armrests of his chair. "I am the only one who gets to handle you, princess," he said with a smirk.

She moaned throatily as his hot mouth found her breast, her hands raking through his hair as her eyelids fluttered closed. "I wouldn't want anyone else but you," she breathlessly swore as she held him against her chest.

"It had better stay that way," he murmured as he worked to release himself from his uniform pants, hissing with how uncomfortable he was becoming.

Diana gasped sharply as she quickly lowered herself onto him, fully enveloping him inside of her. "Always, my Dark Knight…always," she promised him as she began to rock her hips, savoring the feeling of being united with him again.

While it infuriated her that Roulette had taken control of her mind like that, it brought her a measure of relief knowing that Bruce would always be there to stop her if she wasn't in her right mind. She called out his name as they slowly worked to drive each other out of their minds, finding completion in one another.

The night's events may have been unsettling to her, but she was definitely beginning to feel better thanks to Bruce. Losing control with him was the only kind that she loved. She found she couldn't wait to do it all over again with him in their bedroom…if they ever made it that far.