"ARE YOU sure this is wise, Master Bruce? Alfred asked descending from an upper deck of the operations center into the launch area. They were in a secured area of the Martha. It was Bruce's second newest secret, a mobile Batcave at the heart of ship he named after his mother.
"I need to be certain, Alfred".
"The Royal Navy will be dispatching a ship to the area to study the quake."
"I know but they will not be looking for the signs." Bruce said as he covered his face with his dreaded cowl. The transformation was complete.
The Batman boarded the new Deep-Wing sub. It was based on the same principles of the Deep Flight project. Bruce Wayne used one of his many disguises to find out all he could about Deep Flight from its creators. Through various charities and donations and an up close and personal meet with the designer and machine itself, gave him all the ideas he needed.
Using the massive supercomputer in the cave, he had designed two generations greater than the Deep Flight project had been able to pursue. Of course, only he had access to composite materials and instrumentation needed for such an evolutionary leap and he had Hiro Okumura. Hiro had even added to the innovations he had incorporated into the design.
"Deep-Wing, preflight sequence." He called over the comm and the flight recorder began. The mighty plane-like submarine began to warm up its subsystems. "Flight Dynamics, Navigation, Sensors, Batwave Comms, Tactical, and backup systems confirm checks complete."
Alfred had been monitoring this on the Martha's port terminal where the Deep-Wing was currently hooked up. "Confirmed, Master Bruce. Deep-Wing is ready for flight. Martha will be recording and bi-directional comms are online. I am now deploying underwater Batwave array."
The Batman secured the command cabin and the sensors told him, the ship was secure for undersea flight.
"Deep-Wing ready for flight."
The Batman's fingers flew across the command panel, "Unhooking mooring clamps." Then came several clanks and the Deep-Wing slipped under the water. Power was transferred from the ship's engines to the drive train and into the twin pump-jet-propulsor and like a plane in water, the Deep-Wing cruised and began its descent deeper into Indian Ocean.
ALFRED LEFT the hidden command and control room and ventured to the upper decks. As he strode past several amazons unpacking relief medicines and food packs, Diana walked towards him regally.
"Alfred?"
"Yes, Miss Diana?" The older man paused. "How may I be of service?"
"Where's Bruce?"
"Ah, the Master is indisposed at the moment, Miss."
Diana had slightly adjusted her hearing's focus, searching for anybody within earshot. Satisfied that they were alone, she asked, "Don't tell me he went into the jungle."
"No, he did not." Alfred told her flatly.
"The Master sought to test a new toy- way beyond of course its manufacturer's recommended limit to... his phrase: I need to be certain."
"What egotistical thing did he do now?" Anger was rising in her.
"I may be unemployed in the next few minutes, but I suppose I could show you."
Alfred retraced for both of them the way towards the on-board "Batcave"- one of the Martha's secrets.
"BATMAN? ARE you there?" Oracle's face filled the massive onboard computer system. "Please pickup! I have the analysis you requested from the Watchtower's systems!"
Bruce where are you?
UPON ENTERING the mobile Batcave, Alfred and Diana could hear Oracle's voice over the comm. Both stroke quicker and Alfred activated the channel and accepted Oracle's.
"B," Oracle paused. "Alfred? Diana?" She was startled. "Where's Bruce?"
"As I was saying to Miss Diana,"
Miss Diana, somehow Oracle found it funny but didn't smile. She was sure Diana felt it was endearing. Oracle did, when Alfred called her "Miss Barbara".
Their old friend continued, "The master made use of his new toy to take a dip into the Indian Ocean."
"What the hell for!"
"His purpose, to study the quake and hence understand the Tsunami. However, the specifications Mr. Okumura transmitted about the new ship- gives me cause for concern. The Deep-Wing is not rigged to dive that deep."
"Bruce must really trust this Okumura" Diana stated it as fact.
"He helped design it- but the quake is about 4,000 ft below us. The Deep-Wing is suited to- pardon the term, "fly" for only about 3000 ft." Alfred said.
"What!" Both women said at the same time. "Aahhh!" Diana was clearly peeved. "This is why he did this! It's a ruse to get his ship in the area without attracting attention!" The realization that Bruce Wayne's charity work which helped fund her embassy's was a subtle manipulation on Bruce's part had caused anger to rise beyond their limits in Wonder Woman.
Just then, the Batwave, red-alert signal activated. "I believe, The Deep-Wing has reached beyond the ship's limits." As Alfred turned on the monitor, it wasn't the Deep-Wing that was in trouble. It was the Martha. Armed men were approaching the ship.
"Miss Diana," Alfred calmly started. "It is not Master Bruce who is in trouble. I believe we have company." He explained for the blind woman what he meant. An entire Army was attacking them. Though she was confident she and Amazon sisters could handle them all, the numbers might make the difference.
"Are you getting this Barb?"
"Yes, Ma'am."
"Get the League here now." She commanded. "Open a channel ship-wide if you please, Alfred."
"Done, Miss Diana".
"Attention all hands! This is Wonder Woman! We are under attack! Battle Positions!" As Wonder Woman made her way out of the Mobile Batcave to engage their enemy, she told Alfred, "Get him here fast Alfred."
"Yes, Ma'am."
DEEP-WING HAD attained 4,000 ft. The specs Hiro had sent recommended that that the limit was 3,000ft. The Batman knew the little ship could take this depth. He helped develop it. He knew the limits it could handle. Hiro was an engineer and engineers when they design, make "safety limits" to their work. The good ones did anyway.
The Batwave sensors were already lighting up. Huge amounts of radiation. His sensors also picked up hull fragments that could only come from a submarine.
The Deep-Wing had a layer of Cell Processors. Though commercially used as game consoles, he had employed them to provide the Deep-Wing massive computation capability. He would soon employ the same for his other installations and vehicles as well as his Batsuit.
The system was already nearing their analysis.
The earthquake, though could have been naturally occured in the region was artificially triggered. Someone went through all the trouble of building a nuclear bomb and used it as catalyst.
Batman ran the test twice. A 15 Kiloton nuclear bomb was detonated here. It had sent off a chain reaction leading up to the tsunami. The Uranium 239/240 proportions read 98.93 and 0.45 respectively. There was no doubt about it.
Why the satellites didn't detect it was another question to consider. He would need Barbara to confirm his suspicions.
The Batman was preparing to angle the Deep-Wing back to the surface when Alfred's signal came through. The depth must be interfering with the Batwave, which shouldn't happen, The Batman thought. He would have to check that later.
"Master-" There was a loud crackle of static, "trouble-"
"Alfred you are breaking up," The Batman said as the Deep-Wing reached 3,500 ft. "Repeat your message."
Then Alfred's face appeared clearly on the comm panel as the Deep-Wing reached passed 3,000 ft. "Master Bruce, we're under attacked!"
SUPERMAN WAS in Sri Langka. He was assisting Supergirl in constructing temporary shelters for the displaced families in the Region.
Nearby the Teen Titans had just arrived to provide assistance. They moved their flying base from Thailand where the disaster was pretty much manageable by International Relief Organization. The IRO redeployed the team to where they were most needed.
Sri Langka was turning out to be a humanitarian disaster. The rotting corpse of the victims lay unclaimed. Even with Superman's superspeed, it wasn't fast enough. Soon disease was setting in.
Food and water were fast running out. The Titans carried the fresh batch of supplies in days. Cyborg and Robin's first task was to build a water purifying facility in the various refugee sites.
Superboy, Kid Flash and Beast Boy's duty was to initiate decontamination procedures. While Wonder Girl and Raven's were to pass along food and medicine.
Then Oracle's Critic Alert sounded in Superman's ears. "JLA Emergency! Superman, Wonder Woman and the Amazons are in trouble! They are under attack by persons unknown on the Martha!"
"What!" Superman's eyes lit up.
"Flash and GL are en route! Batman, we're still trying to get a hold of him." Oracle reported.
"Acknowledge," Superman turned to Conner and Kara. "Superboy, Supergirl! Wonder Girl! With Me! Cyborg, have someone take over for Kara and Cassie! Diana's in trouble!"
The younger heroes tried in vain to keep up with Superman who was flying at top speed towards Aceh, Indonesia. The sonic booms they created echoed throughout the region.
As Superman traveled the distance from Sri Langka to Indonesia, his thoughts were on his friends. Diana better be all right. And where was Bruce? Wasn't he suppose to be with her?
DEEP-WING SENSORS had picked up the boarding party trying to gain access to the Martha. The Batman activated his submersible's weapon array. He aimed for the engines. Torpedoes left their launch bays and journeyed towards their targets.
The Captain of the Martha had wisely decided to withdraw to open water when the sound of alert was first rung. Yet the first wave had already descended upon them by the time the engines were powered up and the anchor retrieved.
Other than the secret weapons stashed in the mobile Batcave, the Wayne yacht had no weapons. And the captain had no knowledge of course of Bruce's secret compartment.
The Batman counted five speed boats and a light cruiser left. He disposed of the nearest speed boats to the Martha and fired his last spread on the light cruiser's rudder.
They impacted and but the damage was not sufficient to render it immovable. The Batman headed to the underwater docking port. He could do much more good on deck.
ABOVE DIANA had flown and provided a screen to the fleeing yacht as best she could. Her Amazons had drawn up their arms and were fighting of the first and second wave boarding parties. They were outnumbered two to one.
Who were these people? They even had shoulder mounted rockets. She had already deflected a number of missiles from hitting the Yacht as it sluggishly sped outbound to sea.
Their enemy's number was overwhelming. Her twenty amazon warriors were the best, but even with a Wonder Woman, the sheer number would soon overwhelm them.
She knew Bruce had arrived the moment some of the speed boats blew up.
Minutes later, she heard him save one of her Amazons. Diana wished she could see him as she heard him relentlessly engaged their challengers.
Then she heard them. The sonic boom was unmistakable. Superman, Superboy, Supergirl, Wonder Girl, Flash and John Stewart, the Green Lantern had arrived.
The tide was turning to their favor.
DAVID CAIN heard the unmistakable explosion of torpedoes impacting on boats. It was the cursed prat, Bruce Wayne. He must have brought along a submersible. Why he didn't engage early on was a mystery which he did not care to solve. It wasn't his concern.
He knew the insurgents would lose. He began to abandon his post. His orders were clear after all. He was to incite these fools into attacking Queen Diana's mission. The Justice League, he was told would come to their aid.
Winning, he was also informed by his principal, was not a priority. He would have argued otherwise it was not do-able, at least with this bunch alone. They could over run the Amazons in sheer number true, but without heavy metahuman support, these fools he knew wouldn't stand a chance against the Justice League.
From this distance just before he broke position, he could see his former pupil fight like a demon driven on that deck. His own daughter wouldn't stand a chance against the Bat, at least not like how he was fighting now.
Cain smiled knowingly. Soon, He thought.
When Superman arrived, he knew it would be a matter of minutes before it was all over.
David Cain silently withdrew into the jungle. His next stop would be Jakarta. Tomorrow he would be in a different part of the world as he was ordered to be.
TALIA AL GHUL walked the streets of Montreal. Snow had pilled up. It was dismal this time of year on this part of the world. Though the streets of this proud French speaking city were beautifully lined by artistically built Talia's thoughts were on many torrid subjects: Ra's Al Ghul, her father; Nyssa, her half-sister, Bruce Wayne The Batman. Then she thought what she wanted to do with her life. She had the gift of living many lifetimes.
The following morning, Talia Al Ghul boarded a commercial Airline just like anybody else, in first class though and its destination was the Swiss Alps.
FOUR AMAZONS and ten Wayne Foundation volunteers were dead in the wake of the terrorist attack on the Martha. In the aftermath, Bruce had order his ship's captain to set course for India at maximum speed.
He also handed Oracle several sets of bank accounts in various places around the world. His orders were to monitor those accounts and relay to him movements in those accounts.
LUTHOR WALKED into the English Castle. He was rather piqued at the invitation. Come alone. Simply signed, Ra's Al Ghul.
The last time he had anything with an Al Ghul, she sold his company to his competitor. But few people in the world knew where he was. Least of all one of his arch enemy's. He had also heard from the grapevine that Ra's was dead.
Then again, Luthor thought, so was he, supposedly.
A guard- a huge man greeted him. He did not speak only signed to follow him. The English Castle was damp. It was ancient. But he wasn't in England. He was in Russia. Ra's obviously had this pile of bricks transported.
The man in front of Luthor, opened a large door. Behind it, a spartan living room. He was ushered in and the door was closed behind him with a thud.
Inside a woman was preparing tea.
"Earl Grey?" She asked.
"I did not come here to drink tea. Where is Ra's Al Ghul?"
"Suit yourself," she paused as she tasted the blend. "Aaahhh. One of these days I must start my own blend. My father had his own."
"Your father is Ra's Al Ghul?"
"He was called that among many things."
"I did not come here to waste time. Where is he?" Lex's anger was rising.
"It was not my father who summoned you. I did."
"I am never summoned." She found his remark, amusing.
"I am sure your father will not find your using his name-"
"I am Ra's Al Ghul, Luthor."
"I do not understand."
"I was told you were a smart man. I suppose not as smart as the Detective."
"Batman." Luthor said bitterly. "I did not come here to be insulted."
"And I did not summon you here to make small talk. You will help me destroy the Detective and his Justice League."
"Destroy Batman! And the League? You must be delirious." Luthor laughed hard. "Young lady-"
"There will be a war-".
"War!"
"You will assemble a team of metahumans- the Legion of Doom."
"Legion!""
"You will engage the Justice League. "
"What makes you think, I want to destroy the Justice League?"
"Transport awaits you below this castle."
"My fight is not with the League".
"True."
"My fight is with the accursed alien!"
"And you have lost sight of that."
"And his friend- The Batman".
"True."
"The League is not my enemy, the Batman and Superman are."
"Without them and Wonder Woman, there will be no league."
"So, if we follow your logic, I must attack Batman and Superman."
"You will not win."
"Neither has your father, Al Ghul".
"Superman can inspire his League. He is the very symbol of hope. Wonder Woman, a master of war and ambassador of peace is his lieutenant who can lead the League in Battle. But without the Batman's tactical skills, they are nothing."
"What exactly are you suggesting?"
"Break them apart. Take care of the League and I will handle the Batman. Without the Batman, the League will fight toe-to-toe, raw brute power- they will lack the elegance of his perverted mind at the moment of crisis."
"Your father faced Batman before and he has not won. What makes you think you could?"
"My father and the Detective have clashed time and time again. Neither winning completely or it ended in stalemate. My father had a soft spot for the man his daughter, my sister loves and the man he trained and chosen as successor. I do not."
"Talia was in love with Batman!" Luthor found it ludicrous. "That's why she betrayed me! Sold LexCorp to Batman's ally Wayne! Wait- the Batman was trained by Ra's!"
Nyssa only nodded. With this admission, Nyssa knew Luthor's limits. Perhaps no one in the world knew how really dangerous the Detective was. Her father had indeed found a match worthy of him.
"If your father or the Joker or many others could not defeat him, what makes you capable?"
Nyssa stared Luthor straight in the eye. "I killed my father." Pausing for but a second, "I am Ra's Al Ghul."
An hour later and opening a channel to the Calculator, a Gulfstream V left the underground hanger of Nyssa's Russian fortress. Lex Luthor was aboard with a squadron of League of Assassins. Across the globe, the newly formed Legion of Doom and Lex Luthor are all headed to Northern Zek'nya.
THE TELEVISION in Nyssa's study was tuned into Gotham-Global News Network. Ironically, it was one of the holdings her archenemy Bruce Wayne had yet to acquire.
"Two hours ago, the NASA Transport ship, Hermes made a successful launch." Pictures of the Transport ship was being played on screen. "The Hermes is the second-ship of the line developed by NASA that had replaced the Space Shuttle. The Hermes is scheduled to link up with the International Space Station which is accelerating construction of the first Intra-Sol-System Ship, Enterprise." The networked displayed pictures of a partly built ship being assembled. "She is carrying parts to complete the Enterprise. Also the transport will be delivering much needed food supplies and a fresh crew to the ISS."
A button in Nyssa's secure phone flashed. It was the North American cell leader of the League of Assassins. The phone was secure enough from intercept by various organizations, including Echelon and the Justice League. However, Nyssa still limited their use. In this case, she had specifically ordered a report be made on their mission.
"Demon's Head," The cell leader bowed as he said so. "The Mission was a success."
"Splendid! Carry on," Nyssa said with a smile and the Cell Leader disconnected the transmission.
The male news anchor was quite handsome, Nyssa thought. Perhaps she needed to find a new lover, or perhaps a new toy. She mussed. Maybe later, she thought.
The news anchor had continued on with their headline. "A terrorist attack was made yesterday on the Mission of Queen Diana of Themyscira in Tsunami hit Aceh, Indonesia. Authorities are still investigating the incident. The mission was saved by the timely arrival of the Justice League. Billionaire Bruce Wayne and her royal highness were unharmed."
A female news anchor continued, "In related news, the reported relationship between Billionaire Philanthropist and Industrialist Bruce Wayne and Queen Diana of Themyscira has reached a boiling point yesterday as the couple are leading the mission to save lives in Tsunami hit Aceh, Indonesia... seen here."
Video of Bruce and Diana on the beach setting up their mission was displayed. "Rumors of impending marriage has rocked the Gotham society world... is the world's most eligible and elusive bachelor off the market?"
"FOUR AMAZONS are dead Bruce!" Diana was furious. "As is, ten of our volunteers! Wayne Industries volunteers! Don't you even care?"
The Justice League had gathered in the Martha's secret Mobile Batcave. Flash, Green Lantern, Arthur, J'onn J'onzz, Plastic Man, Superman, Wonder Woman and the Batman were around the mission coordinating board.
Bruce had removed his cowl and sat across Diana, unshaken by her anger. He had irk her again. Looking at Superman, his friend was not far behind Diana's anger.
"If you needed to uncover something about that earthquake, fine! Why drag all these people into harm's way just to act as cover for your paranoid delusions!"
Bruce stared at her but to each member of the League, it felt he was looking at each of them. Though his cowl was off, he still inspired fear in his teammates.
It took a moment for him to respond. He didn't feel he needed to explain. Yet he did something uncharacteristic of the Batman, he came clean about his motives. He spoke quietly, almost as a whisper as if to emphasize his point, "You and our people were never a cover for any operation I had. I thought that with you and the League around, we could actually send relief to these people. It would have been safer, than to send Red Cross or Red Crescent volunteers. Our people could defend themselves, Red Cross or Red Crescent people can not. I thought we could do real good here, to make a difference in the world as Bruce and Diana."
It calmed Diana and her anger at him dissipated. This man keeps surprising me! Why!
The Batman did not wait for his team members' reaction. If what he suspects is happening, then they were running out of time. Pressing a button on the board, each member of the league were shown the data he had acquired and analyzed. For Diana's sake, he spoke what he had just put on screen.
"The images you are seeing was data of the fault line where the earthquake occurred weeks ago. This," Bruce pressed a button again brought another screen, "Is an analysis made by the Deep-Wing and what is basically saying, a 15 Kiloton bomb was detonated here. That set off the earthquake and helped create the tsunami."
"Wait-" Superman was the first to speak. "You're saying that the quake and Tsunami were artificially created?"
"Yes." Bruce answered.
"Not that I doubt your work but have we confirmed this?" It was Flash who was asking.
"I had asked Oracle to evaluate the data."
Arthur did not doubt Bruce. He was the best. Nonetheless he turned to the Martian beside him and asked, "J'onn?"
"Everything seems to be in order." J'onn J'onzz replied.
"But why didn't NORAD or our League systems or any of the other monitoring systems detect this? We knew there was a quake. We knew there was a Tsunami, real time. Why not a bomb?" John Stewart asked.
"I had asked that same question when I found this evidence." Bruce replied. "I asked Oracle to dissect the Virus we had uncovered in the Watchtower. It is actually a worm and a virus. The worm gathered the necessary data the virus needed and created the virus. The worm had the viral template. We then checked the Global network including NORAD and other keep sites. One was sent to the world wide network to "hide" the fact that a 15 kiloton bomb was detonated, but not the rest of the picture. Another had forced the watchtower's communications and transporter capability to be rendered in operative for hours on end."
"Who would profit from such a thing?"
All eyes were on Bruce.
"I have my suspicions." Plastic Man turned himself into a giant question mark.
"Luthor," Superman simply said.
"No," Bruce said at once. "It is too sophisticated."
"Ra's then" Diana said.
"Ra's Al Ghul is dead." Bruce stated.
Everyone around him was shocked. "They've all come back to life, one way or another, why not now?" Arthur asked.
"Because I burned his corpse, took DNA samples from various random parts of his body and had it analyzed. It all checked out."
"Did you kill him?" It was Superman who asked.
Bruce stared at Wonder Woman and not at Superman, when he flatly replied. "No."
All three remembered their meeting at Superman's fortress about Ruin and Dr. Light. Relief washed over Superman. His friend stayed true to their course. Though Bruce did not stare at him, he knew his friend would count on him using his superhearing to detect if he was lying. The Batman didn't lie.
"Since there is not much for the League to do with this mystery, we will continue in our efforts to support International Relief Organization. Diana, with Bruce's permission to use his ship and resources, can you continue with your Embassy's mission?" J'onn asked.
"Yes," Diana wished she could see Bruce's eyes. They spoke volumes.
"Cyborg could use more people." Superman reported.
"The Amazons can provide assistance to the Titans. Cassie can help lead them." Diana replied.
"Jay and the JSA are in dire need of assistance as well." Flash reported.
"The Wayne Foundation will provide what both teams will need." Bruce replied.
"What about you Bruce?" Diana asked.
"Alfred will go with you Diana. I will continue with the investigation." The Dark Knight answered her. "J'onn, will there be more..?"
"No. I guess, we are done. Meeting adjourned." With that, Bruce headed up the flight of stairs and towards his computer.
"Guess the wedding's off," Plastic Man muttered.
"I heard that," Both Bruce and Diana said sternly.
Plastic Man let out a "gulp". Most of the Justice League headed for their transporters. There was other work to be done. Flash on the other hand zipped out and ran towards India. Superman flew back to Metropolis. Wonder Woman followed Bruce to his chair.
"I'm sorry," She started.
"I only wanted Bruce Wayne to be more than a prop... I want the Wayne family name to be remembered for their accomplished work just as you suggested. I was being selfish."
"I'm sorry, Bruce." She did not see the hurt look in his eyes as he returned to work.
Wonder Woman walked back top to the deck above them. Her Amazons were grieving. They needed her too.
THE MARTHA had approached the Indian Sub-continent coast line. Oracle still aboard her aircraft, Aerie One had a subprogram monitoring the various accounts Bruce had given her to watch. They flagged that US10 Billion moved from various accounts to another.
It did not happen simultaneously though. It was not made by one person along either.
Oracle was awaken by her computers alerting her to the transactions. She had immediately contacted Batman.
Five minutes later, the door to Diana's cabin opened. Bruce Wayne had slipped out and descended into the stairs and into the false-bulkhead that hid the entrance to the ship's Batcave. Thereafter, the Deep-Wing had launched with no one the wiser it was ever there.
The submarine was headed towards the Indian coast at faster speeds that the Martha could ever accomplish on a good day. The Batman was in full costume. In one of the inlets, Wayne had kept a hidden base, known only to his Bat-Family. Outside it was a Wayne Industries refit facility, but inside, it was a refueling and rearming station for the Bat-family for the eventuality of global operations.
When he joined the Justice League, the Batman thought he didn't quite need such mobile bases and stations. After his lost to Bane, Bruce had built mobile Batcaves around Gotham. Likewise after a series of Global cases, especially after clashing time and time again against Ra's, the Batman decided he too needed strategic bases across the globe so he had these stations built. Some, he had disclosed to Dick, Tim, Cassie and Alfred. Others only he and Alfred knew.
The accounts that he had asked Oracle to monitor were known accounts of The League of Assassins. Movement could only mean that Nyssa was on the move.
He knew Talia was the brains- she was well trained in business and had an astute mind for it. When she ran LexCorp, her business acumen in fact increased. He knew it was Talia who managed Ra's considerable business enterprise and laundered the illegal money it generated. It was one of the facts why Ra's was terribly hit when Talia left his employ to seek her own fortune.
Yet the analysis Oracle had sent him showed substantial money did move- which he knew Talia did those movements. But it was more than what was going to be needed in an operation.
The funds near as Oracle could determine moved to known Villains. The bulk went to Norther Zek'nya. Thats where Nyssa intends to strike next, the Batman thought. But how and why? The Batman asked himself.
The bigger chunk of funds were transferred from off shore accounts in the Cayman Islands and the Swiss Alps to various banks in Europe, in Asia and the United States.
Oracle was still determining into who's accounts that money went.
What were Nyssa and Talia up to?
Then Oracle told him that Kord Industries had changed hands again. Someone had bought the company for triple its stock price and that the new chairman would be heading up the company. Oracle reported that the new owner would personally be making the announcement at the Kord Industry German facility tomorrow.
That was Talia's move. Bruce was sure about it. But what about Nyssa?
Bruce Wayne had slipped into the Indian harbor and was en route to Delhi incognito. Nightwing and Batgirl were given instructions to be ready to move as was Robin. The latter was ordered to abandon his Titans post at a moment's notice. Not six hours later, a private jet left New Delhi bound for Germany.
DIANA HAD awakened the following morning refreshed. A smile spread across her face. Getting up, she picked up her discarded robes and walked out of her cabin. The morning sun greeted her warmly.
She walked towards Alfred who she heard was in the upper deck.
"Alfred? Where's Bruce?"
"Miss Diana, I had thought he spent the night in your company. His den and cabin are surprisingly empty."
"He did, but I woke up and he wasn't there-"
Through unspoken communication, both made their way into the Batman's secret mobile operations center. They had found the systems in passive mode. They had not yet noticed the Deep-Wing's absence.
"Can you get in touch with Oracle?"
"Certainly, Miss Diana".
"It's just 'Diana', Alfred." He was such a sweet man, she thought.
"Oracle," The woman information, intelligence, coordinating unit replied. "Diana. Alfred. What can I do for you?"
"Would you know where Bruce had gone off to?"
"Bruce? I thought he was with you?"
"He was last night. Now no one knows where he is. Can you lock into his transponder?"
"One moment, Diana" Oracle typed a series of commands on her computer. "It says here, he should be with you."
"Dear, me". Alfred said.
"Could he have taken the Deep-Wing to go probing the abyss?"
"And where would he go, Diana?" Bruce, where are you? Barbara Gordon asked herself.
"Bruce, where are you off to again?" Diana asked quietly. Both Alfred and Oracle heard her and the worry in her voice.