Bound Beyond Death

Author: Anime Ronin

Rating: R, on the outside (or 18, if you use the other system)

Summary: Before the world of Batman Beyond, there was a promise made by a certain Bat to a certain Amazon Princess – now, though, that old Bat has died and the Princess wants his successor to pay up.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

AN: Have mercy on me – this is my first BB fic.

AN2: Been a long time since I've watched any of the shows, so I've probably got a few dates and facts wrong – don't crucify me, please.

1/1 (I think)

There was once a legend that had put the fear of the gods and of devils into the criminals within Gotham City, and that legend went by the name of Batman – he prowled the city streets and skies, making the city safe and putting the evil criminals in jail (if they stayed there or not, that wasn't his call – he was, after all, not a Judge, not the Jury and, though he occasionally wished it, not the Executioner), and for a while, Gotham was safe. Then, though, he vanished after some thirty five years of service – some said that he had gotten killed, others said that he'd gotten tired of the constant fighting, but she knew the truth of what had laid the Batman low; a heart attack, of all of the things that had happened to Batman, it was the one thing that was probably the lowest on the list of things that would do him in, but it did just that, it effectively 'killed' the Batman.

Of course she'd visited him when she could, but as her job and responsibilities grew in number, her time away from 'work' and with her friend shrunk … and she felt bad about that, as she missed their spirited, if occasionally overly-vocal, debates over the right and wrong ways to do things. For nearly twenty five years, the legend of the Batman faded into myth, and nearly into antiquity, as Gotham City went through a Renaissance and then into a long, downward spiral of crime and depravity as the new century came and put a large foothold into the city – violent crimes were up, arrests were down, and the police were doing their best to keep the city afloat … and then HE returned, after a fashion. The costume was a black bodysuit, with a full mask, a blood red bat on his chest, and he was much thinner than she remembered, but The Batman had returned to the rooftops and skies of Gotham City, bringing the myth back with a vengeance.

It had taken her and the other members of the JLU all of ten seconds to realize that Bruce Wayne was not the one inside of the suit, obviously, as he was pushing 85 at the time of the new Batman's appearance, but while this worried many, she and Kal-El were not – both knew that Bruce would never allow anyone to soil the name he had worked for nearly four decades to build, and as time went on, that decision was apparently the right one as, after a few blunders and more than a few tussles with ever-present criminals, the Batman once again was putting the fear of the Dark Knight back into the criminals of Gotham, and of the world. She had later learned of Kal's offering of an invitation to join the JLU to the new Batman, and of the subsequent refusal of a full membership, and this had brought a smirk to her lips even as Kal told her 'the Bat hasn't changed at all, Diana'.

Diana wasn't sure how she felt when she got the news of Bruce's passing from his personal assistant, Terry McGinnis, one blustery cold day in February, but she knew that a large part of her had died with her friend – in an odd way, she had loved him, as much as she could love any man, and she knew she would miss him even as Terry McGinnis began to make the arrangements as per his employer's last wishes. Diana took that moment to study the young man – he was tall, lean, pale and young, but those were just the physical things that anyone could see; she had looked into his icy blue eyes and, in an instant, knew that he was the one within the suit, the new Batman, from the mountain of pure steel that she saw within him – one could not take up that mantle, that kind of responsibility, and not have that kind of internal resolve, but one thing that she also saw within him was a fire that she had never once seen in Bruce, a fire to prove himself. Bruce had always been cool, that fire replaced with a glacier of ice, but while Terry burned with a righteous passion to prove himself worthy of the title 'Batman', Bruce had always tried to prove that, in the end, people like him weren't necessary, that humanity would pick up the slack if people like him were not all around.

An hour later, the arrangements complete, Terry turned to her and spoke, "So, how long were you and Bruce involved?"

Her jaw dropped.

Terry had brought news of Bruce's passing to the JLU tower, as per Bruce's final requests, a whole two hours after the doctors had pronounced him dead in his sleep at his mansion – it had hurt when his friend and mentor had passed, but both of them had known that the day was quickly approaching, as both of them knew that it would happen, one day. Bruce had long-since prepared for the time, naming several people as his replacements in the Wayne-Powers side of things, and had also made Max the offer to help run and upgrade the things in the Cave on an as-needed basis, which, of course, his pink-haired friend had accepted as calmly as possible (Terry had been washing off the lipstick marks for hours, as Max had, for the first time in a while, been wearing said makeup). He, though, was another story.

Bruce had made sure that his grades were on the up-and-up by the time he had died, and now he was going to pass high school and was going to take his college entrance exams at Gotham U, but there were several other offers out there to be seriously considered as well – Superman had offered him, again, full membership with the JLU, Commissioner Gordon a job in the Gotham PD, and the same people who had been placed by Bruce wanted him to take up a figurehead role in the company, but nobody was putting pressure on him … and then SHE showed up.

He knew who she was, even though, sadly, she did not wear her costume of old anymore, from the pictures in the history books and on Bruce's walls, and Diana Prince had not changed in nearly 50 years, looking as young now as she did when she first came onto the superhero scene (though there was one point, about 25 years ago, when she had gotten her hair cut and dyed, and the less said about that, the better). She stood a hair or two taller than he did without his mask and subsequent ears, her body was built for both power and speed, but also to attract the male eye – he'd seen the numerous faked vids and pics on the Net, as everyone had, and made a point to never bring them or the hair thing up due to, as Bruce had once put it, her 'extreme way to show displeasure', which had later been expanded on 'she'll be you into a bloody lump of ground beef, McGinnis'. Her hair was still as raven as it once was, her eyes as blue as the sky on a summer day and, after his little question, her jaw was just about at her knees as she stammered slightly.

"What?"

He mentally grinned at the thoughts of actually winning a verbal confrontation with a JLU member, "Bruce spoke of you often and said that, after he passed, to not be surprised if you came by, so I'm asking how long you two were together."

She blinked several times and then her brain caught up to her, "We were not an … item, as it was once said, merely passingly acquainted with one another, Mr. McGinnis."

Terry winced, "Terry, please, or if you must, Terrance – Mr. McGinnis was my father."

She arched an eyebrow at him and nodded, "Terry, then – let me ask you a question, then, young man: how long have you been Batman?"

If she was looking for surprise, he didn't give her the satisfaction as he blandly answered, "Three years, four months, one week."

Diana looked at the boy, feeling slightly disappointed in the fact that her question had failed to get the reaction she had been shooting for – maybe she was out of practice? "How did you start?"

"My father was murdered by the CEO of Wayne-Powers, Derek Powers, a.k.a. Blight, and when Mr. Wayne refused to help me … I stole the suit." She arched an eyebrow at him even as he went on, not sure how to take his open admittance of STEALING from Bruce Wayne, "It took some convincing, but in the end I think it was Bruce who was convincing me what he knew all along – Gotham needed Batman, and I had the job."

"And now?" He looked up at her and she went on, "Do you still think that Gotham needs Batman?"

He nodded, "Unfortunately – one day I hope people like the JLU or Batman aren't needed … but I won't hold my breath."

She nodded sadly, "Man's world … the entire world … is often darker than we wished it to be." She walked over and sat next to him, "Did Bruce tell you why I was going to come here after his death?"

He shook his head, "Not much at all, but he said that it would be a debt of honor that he owed you … a debt that, if I can, I'll take up myself." He looked up at her and she could see the force of will that Bruce had inspired in all of those whom had worked with him, either in business or in the pursuit of justice – his voice dropped slightly and that steel became more present as she stopped talking to Terry McGinnis and started talking to Batman, without his suit on, "So what is it that you need, Princess?"

He wasn't surprised when she looked down, as if ashamed to ask what she was going to ask, "Terrance -" this was not a good sign, "Bruce told me, once, that if there was anything he could do, I had only to ask. This is what I have come here to ask."

"And that would be?"

Diana Prince looked into his eyes and spoke, her eyes sad, "I … Diana Prince needs to die."

He arched an eyebrow at her, "What?"

AN: Okay, that's it – should I even bother with continuing with this fic? Review, please.