CH3: This Isn't a Date

The Batmobile sped through the snowy streets of Gotham in hopes of intercepting the vehicles trailing the shipment of toys. From there the plan was to follow them to the facility where the gang was holding up and finally figure out what they were doing with them.

Wonder Woman sat passenger side observing the light displays as they ventured through downtown. Couples were holding hands sharing a hot chocolate while others were taking pictures, saving the memories on their mobile devices.

"Do you ever see yourself making fond memories with anyone special?" Diana Asked.

Batman merely continued to drive.

"I remember there was a time where my only love was that of battle and the desire to be the strongest Amazon warrior there was. But that all changed once I left the island during the White Martian invasion to help man's world survive it."

The Batmobile rounded another corner and entered the freeway accelerating well over 100mph.

"But as close as I was to my Amazon sisters, I never really shared their hatred of men. Sure, most are animals and some of them can be pretty nasty, even the ones without super powers. But women can be awful as well."

The Dark Knight finally broke his silence. "That's because this world, and everyone in it is inherently evil."

"I agree, which is why we should not take for granted the good that also exists within it. See, the Martian invasion brought out the very worst in some people due to the chaos and I thought my mother was right about your kind. But the chaos also brought out unexpected goodness. While some were taking advantage of the ruckus, others were working together to help those who were in no condition to help themselves."

"What's your point Diana?"

She tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear and turned her gaze towards the Dark Knight. "The good people in your life are a blessing. So you shouldn't push them away. And who knows, if given the chance, you might be surprised by what they have to offer."

Batman's composure was beginning to falter. He knew Wonder Woman was getting the wrong message and a cringe of guilt briefly appeared on his face. "Look, it's not about trust, it's about…"

As he was about to be frank with the Amazon, Batman noticed the semi-truck with the last shipment of toys up ahead. He slowed down and remained behind multiple vehicles so as to not alarm the hijackers.

"From here on we will follow them to their hideout. Stay focused."

Diana looked annoyed since the genuine response from Bruce was interrupted by the task at hand but she understood. They trailed the truck and it's escorts to a massive warehouse on the pier. There were no people around the proximity and the main entrance was patrolled by armed guards. Batman parked the vehicle in a secure place and ejected both Wonder Woman and himself to a neighboring ridge. Both parties snuck onto the suspicious warehouse's roof from there and observed through the glass skylights the operations that were going on.

The toys were being unloaded via forklift by the crateful. It was like a disassembly line; Multiple thugs were opening the crates while the next "station" would remove the toys from the packaging and toss them aside. What was being kept was the box the toy arrived in. Batman narrowed his eyes as he observed the lackeys split the cardboard backing of the package and pull out a small bag of white powder and empty it into glass vials.

"Cocaine."

"Seriously? That's what these thugs went through all that trouble for? Unbelievable." Diana scoffed.

Batman took out a batarang and threw it at the transformer in charge of that vicinity. It exploded and took out the power inside.

"Take out the ones with guns first." He instructed as Diana smirked.

The confusion in the warehouse evolved into chaos once the skylight was shattered. Batman glided in with his cape fully opened and landed on a thug with an AK-47 and managed to disarm multiple others with batarangs. Wonder Woman threw the forklift at a stack of crates, toppling it onto several thugs. By now everyone's eyes had adjusted to the dark and those that were still armed began to unleash barrages of bullets towards the duo. Wonder Woman took point and deflected all the slugs while Batman threw a concussion grenade at the group.

(BANG)

While the thugs were disoriented the two heroes ran towards them to finish them off.

"For the record, this is the worst date I've ever been on." Wonder Woman said as she grabbed a thug in each hand and threw them into the pile of discarded action figures.

"This isn't a date." Batman retorted as he punched another one in the face following up with a roundhouse kick to his abdomen.

"Oh right. The Batman doesn't date. Unless of course it helps with his crime fighting agenda." Wonder Woman grabbed a crate that was still full of product and hurled it at a concentrated area of thugs.

(CRASH)

"Why are you so afraid of letting anyone in?" She continued.

Batman wrapped a thug with his bola and kicked him towards Wonder Woman who tossed him into what used to be the forklift.

(BAM)

"My work is too important to allow for any distractions."

"Right... Distractions like Talia al Ghul and Catwoman?" Wonder Woman asked skeptically.

By now the thugs were either unconscious or in pain and pretending to be unconscious. They would rather be arrested than to continue fighting two members of the Justice League.

Batman on the other hand would rather be fighting the Joker instead of being grilled by all of these questions. "Those are platonic working relationships."

Diana stood about an inch from his face. "My ass. If you're going to lie to me, at least make it convincing. You're standing on really thin ice right now."

Batman tilted his head in exasperation and swiped his arm in a dismissing motion. "What do you want from me?"

"What I want is…"

The dark warehouse was suddenly lit up dimly with emergency power. The red lights spread evenly along the walls radiated like red beacons illuminating a dark room. From the end of the warehouse a large, tall man emerged in a trench coat and fedora.

"You two argue like a married couple, it makes me sick."

The individual ran straight for the superhero couple and with brute force knocked both of them into the side of the semi truck trailer leaving a massive dent on the side. Diana was the first to recover.

"That stupid little man. You all right?" She grabbed Batman by the arm to help him up.

"Yea, just got the wind knocked out of me."

"He's going to have it a lot worse, believe me." Diana cracked her knuckles eager to even the score. Unfortunately, her thirst for a fistfight was temporarily put on hold due to the sound of gunshots from where the discarded toys were. The goons who had pretended to be knocked out earlier were instilled with confidence now due to the mystery man.

"Keep them busy. I'll take care of the 'little' one." Batman ordered as he rushed to engage the assailant.

The Dark Knight threw a bola at the mystery man's torso binding him. He then leapt and used his momentum to drive a fierce kick right into his gut. But to Batman's surprise, his adversary was only pushed back a few feet or so.

"That wasn't very nice señor Batman." Since he was still in close proximity the hostile headbutted Bruce and knocked him to the ground with a deafening sound.

(CRACK)

Bruce cried out in pain and held his head with both hands as if he had a migraine.

"Oof. That didn't sound good." Breaking the bola's bind the adversary removed his tacky fedora and overly large trench coat to reveal a large muscular man with a black luchador mask with spikes around its neckline. He wore a black tank top, black pants, and attached to his left arm was a device housing a red tube whose length extended all the way to is brain.

Batman got up off the ground and tried to find his balance. His vision was disoriented and he was pretty sure his skull was fractured. "Bane…"