Disclaimer: Still don't own Justice League, Batman, Diana, or any of the rest of them. Although wishes do sometimes come true!

A small summary: This story is set during the episode "Secret Society" where the Justice League faces serious internal friction, constantly fighting and bickering amongst one another and Gorilla Grodd sets up a team of villains to exploit the League's falling out. If you want more, either watch it, email me, or read about it here!

Thanks for the reviews and I hope all of you are enjoying this take on "Secret Society"!

Again, the perspective changes with –VvV-

Chapter 3, Bad Moon Rising, by Creedence Clearwater Revival

"I see a bad moon rising, I see trouble on the way-"

Diana's perspective…

Our first teamwork practice had been a less than successful endeavor, but it had taught us a valuable lesson – we weren't functioning as a team, but as individuals laced together with a common goal. And unfortunately, it simply wasn't enough to keep us afloat forever. I had to admit that John had indeed had a point about teamwork, even if it was a concept that I was unaccustomed to thinking about. My sisters and I on Themyscira had always seemed to be a team – thousands of years of practice and training had bonded us together as nothing else and we had formed a sisterhood of trust, of teamwork.

Even after today though, I wasn't convinced that that kind of bond could be established here within the Justice League. We were a piecemeal group of individual talents and strengths, accustomed to working alone in many cases. Several of us were still establishing our roles here on Earth – myself, Shayera, and J'onn included, while others were loners by nature, including a certain someone I had recently found myself becoming involved with.

How could we establish an unbreakable bond when it was obvious that we only trusted one another to a certain point? Many members still had secret identities, like Bruce Wayne, and that knowledge was not something that they were wiling to share, even after months of working closely together. How were we supposed to trust each other in battle when we couldn't yet trust one another in life?

But I don't think John understood that. He was used to things being run in a certain way, a rigid way of practice that leads to perfection and to trust and I simply couldn't find it in myself to point out the flaws in his plan. Instead, I tried to keep a positive attitude, to see the constructive aspects of this new training regimen.

This afternoon, John had taken us to a deserted area, dilapidated structures dating a main street like those you find in an old western movie. The buildings had made me laugh a little at the absurdity of the situation – it wasn't often I found myself fighting outside an old-fashioned saloon. But after I caught John giving me the evil eye, I quickly turned my attention to watching my teammates take on whatever John could throw at them in a simulation exercise.

The landscape was virtually deserted other than the occasional cry of a hawk soaring through the sky and the old-fashioned buildings gave off an eerie feeling of total aloneness. For an exercise in teamwork, I was already feeling rather alone among this backdrop that time had forgotten. The feeling of laughter had faded and I focused instead on my teammates to see what John had in store for us.

It had started with Superman alone on the course, later to be joined by J'onn and Hawkgirl. Flash and Batman were nowhere to be seen, presumably off on other missions or busy with other matters, and I waited with John on top of one of the buildings to survey the action.

Superman began to slowly stroll down the street, head turning side to side to examine his surroundings and check for any abnormalities in the scene. Amidst his slow assessment, the figure of Darkseid sprayed up about ten feet in front of him and Superman quickly dispatched the villain with his heat vision, slicing through the middle of the make-believe Darkseid, the pieces falling to the sides on the dirt as dust rose in misty clouds of debris. Almost before I could blink, to Superman's right arose the figure of Lex Luthor, complete with his green jetpack suit and a smug look to his face. Superman again employed his heat vision, lancing the midsection of Luthor from shoulder to shoulder without breaking his stride.

As the top of Luthor toppled to the ground, the menacing figure of Brainiac appeared in the window of one of the buildings and again, Superman used his heat vision in order to dispatch him as well, a red beam slicing through the villain within seconds.

But the slue of arch-enemies still wasn't complete as yet another rose from Superman's right, formerly concealed by a large wooden barrel. The figure, rather tiny, popped up dressed in purple within feet of Superman and his fist made short work of this foe, crushing through the middle of the figure and sending pieces flying.

He continued down the street, eyes open and alert for any signs of danger, moving quickly and stealthily. Just ahead of him, another figure popped up and he moved to lance it with his vision when J'onn appeared in front of the recent pop-up, holding out his hand to signal Superman to stop and shouting out, "No!"

Superman relaxed and J'onn moved away from the figure to reveal a little girl grasping her teddy bear and smiling a beguiling grin, an utterly adorable sight.

Intent on maintaining my positive demeanor, I had told John that I thought the exercise hadn't gone badly, but he wasn't quite finished with the training of this particular group. After a few moments of silence, two armed robots appeared at the other end of the street, mechanically shooting at J'onn and Superman, easy targets out in the open. Hawkgirl took to the skies, using her mace to remove one of the robots before continuing her path in the sky, flying in a wide circle in order to dodge the bullets and take a pass at the other robot. Just before he swung her mace, I could hear her other teammates yelling at her to stop, but it was too late, as the mace landed, the robot blew up, the explosion toppling her and eventually landing Hawkgirl next to us on the rooftop.

John helped her to rise to her feet, reprimanding her and her teammates the entire team.

"It was booby-trapped," he told her in an obvious after statement.

"How was I supposed…?" Hawkgirl began to angrily counter, but she was quickly cut off as Superman and J'onn joined their fallen teammate on the rooftop.

"Either one of your partners could have told you," John stated as he turned to reproach the arrivals. "One's psychic and the other has X-ray vision."

And that had been the first of our lessons for the afternoon. So now, I sat covered in cuts and bruises courtesy of my time on the practice field, training to be a part of the Justice League team. After my time in the teamwork building exercises, I not only believed the exercises to be futile, but also painful. But I believed that John had a point and I was willing to indulge him and to make the sacrifice to better ourselves as a unit.

Somehow, I had the feeling that some of the other members would not be wiling to exercise the same level of patience…

-VvV-

I finally relented to join the other members of the Justice League at the practice facility a few days after John had made the initial suggestion. I knew that the other members had all made at least one showing, but, as always, Gotham was the first priority and my time was not to be wasted trying to make nice and being forced to play as a team. I didn't care what any of the others said – I was not meant to be a team player and I still felt no need to be mandated into servitude.

My frustration level had risen to new highs lately – tempered only by solitude and rededication to my mission. I was disheartened but unsurprised by the rash of recent escapes in Gotham and the overall ineptitude of the city's police force. I was irritated by the lack of sleep I was still facing, my health by and large beginning a steady decline as I spent nights patrolling the city of Gotham and my days ensconced at Wayne Enterprises maneuvering takeovers and playing the corporate game. And above all, my relationship with Diana had reached a peak and had yet to continue the steady climb into bliss – I couldn't even make time for her much less get my hands on her.

I was suffering from a serious lack of light and sweetness in my life that I had only recently come to appreciate and I knew that soon, my temper would no longer be able to be moderated, resulting in some unfortunate soul on the receiving end of my wrath and utter frustration.

As a whole, I didn't mind that Diana and I had decided to take things slowly – I was more than accustomed to the occasional cold shower – but lately our lives had steadily revolved in opposite directions, as if her vengeful gods had taken an unhappy view of our relationship and had decided to rectify the situation by not allowing us to be together in other than a work capacity.

And I was pissed.

How better to channel that emotion than to join the silly exercises invented by John Stewart in the hopes of creating team solidarity?

I arrived at the practice field just in time to join the team of Flash and Diana. We took our places at the edge of the deserted town and made our way steadily forward, backs to the open desert, when a horde of ten or so robots appeared, armed and steadily advancing on us. They began firing rounds and we sprung into action – Flash taking off down the wooden planked porches of the buildings, drawing fire he escaped with the speed of his feet. At the end of one of the porches lay a wooden barrel and Flash quickly tore off the top, slicing it through the air and beheading four of the robots with a single throw.

Diana advanced slowly forward, shielding herself with her bracelets, facing five robots with little more than her bracelets to protect her from the shots fired at her.

I immediately unleashed my grapple, hooking onto one of the roofs and letting the line carry me into the air. Reaching an altitude of several feet, I let loose with a series of batarangs with a grunt and exploding the robots opposite Diana. I could feel a look being aimed at my back, one that suggested Diana wasn't too happy that I had worked to protect her rather than work with her. But I knew that I was close to breaking point and I didn't want Diana to be the focus of my wrath; better that I leave before taking my ire out with immediate and potentially dire consequences to my fledgling relationship.

I threw one last batarang at the last robot, exploding it in its path and invoking Flash's ire for my trouble.

"Hey! That was my bad guy!"

As John landed in a stream of green between Flash and I, I strode up to him, pausing for a moment to utter the word – "Happy?"

"Call me when it's important. And not before," I told Lantern and without another word or look, I stalked off and into the descending Bat-jet, eager to put this entire episode behind me and hoping that I had managed to circumvent a clash of words between myself and Diana.

Next chapter: Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough – the tension heats up (and maybe erupts) between a certain twosome…