Disclaimer: Still don't own Justice League, Batman, Diana, or pretty much all of this dialogue. Although wishes do sometimes come true!
I'm going to push the envelope and hope for 8 reviews this chapter – it only takes a few seconds! All comments appreciated.
As always, perspective changes with –VvV-
Chapter 7, I Need You, by Lynyrd Skynyrd
"Oh, baby, I love you, what more can I say? Oh, baby, I need you, I miss you more everyday"
(I almost paired this with a Beatles song, but Skynyrd stands alone. So do the Beatles for that matter.)
Bruce's perspective-
Last night, as I had sat there holding Diana in my arms, I realized that I had been an utter fool about this entire situation, that I hadn't taken the time to listen to her or to respond to her worries as she had needed me to. I was uncomfortable with emotion, uneasy with displaying my feelings in any manner other than total gruffness. She had been looking for nothing more than reassurances, a few well-chosen words to allay her fears and to restore her confidence in our relationship. And with the collapse of the team, of the League itself, Diana could take little comfort in familiar surroundings, in her new friends and family.
I had walked out on her along with the rest of them. I had determined to not go back, to remain a solitary vigilante in the city of Gotham and to hell with the rest of them. I, just as J'onn, had gotten over the loss of a family; I had lost my entire world and survived. No, thrived. I had thrived on the challenge of turning myself into the hero known as Batman, on training relentlessly, on pursuing knowledge and tactics, on finely honing my body until I was nothing more than steel and stealth.
I had walked out, knowing that I was leaving behind more than just teammates, I had been leaving behind friends and a family of sorts, just as the others had been. But unlike the others, I had walked out on Diana, on us and what could have been. And, as time progressed, I had begun to regret that move, to understand that losing the team did not have to mean losing Diana as well. For better or worse, she had become an integral part of my life and I needed her in it. To describe her as the very air I breathed seemed too romantic, too dependent, and too needy. She was more the scent of the air – you often took it for granted but the tenor of the sweet perfume made the day easier, more bearable to do the carry out the everyday tasks that life entailed.
And so, unsure of my steps and my words, I had sought Diana out, knowing that she would take solace in nature, comfort in the little pieces of Themyscira that she could see in the world outside her homeland. Finding her had been bittersweet – I still could not find the right words, but I knew that I had taken the right steps. Wrapping my arms around her huddled figure, I had held her for hours without speaking, simply taking comfort in her heat and strength, in the fact that through it all, we had managed to cling to each other, to keep the spark going among the dying embers of the team.
Still, I understood that a dialogue still loomed in our future, that last night had merely been a gesture that we had not walked away from another, but in the grand scheme of things, there were bigger worries – about us and about our teammates.
We had left the night in silence, Diana returning to Wayne Manor with me, exhausted from the day and from her emotions. She had known that returning to the Watchtower would be difficult, but she hadn't had any choice – she was without any other home. And so, I had taken her in my arms and brought her to my home, to my bed, and we had re-forged the bond between us with unspoken thoughts and minimal physical contact. This morning she had returned to the Watchtower, still deeply troubled, but able to face the others. I had let her go with nothing more than a touch on the arm, a lingering caress and hours later, I could still feel the warmth of her burning my fingertips.
The lasting effect of her skin, however, was minimized when I donned my Bat-suit, ready to again step out into Gotham and protect my city. I had done so before League support and I would continue, no matter that the group was in shambles.
Winging through the air in the Bat-jet, I heard a voice resonate from my Justice League communicator, a device I had apparently left in the plane last night, obviously concerned with other matters and a certain passenger.
"Yo, Bats! C'mon, pick up, I know you're there!" While the inflection sounded like Flash, the familiar frantic tone to it, the dialect led me to believe that I was dealing with someone else indeed. But I decided to play along for the time being, allowing my opponent to tip his hand and clue me in to his true identity, although I had an inkling of who the likely culprit was.
"What do you want?" I asked, deepening my tone, lending a gravelly resonance to it – similar to the irritation that usually colored my voice when dealing with the often foolish Flash.
"I bit off a little more than I could chew with Sinestro," he answered quickly, voice raised in obvious agitation. "You gotta give me some help here!"
"Thought you didn't need any," I added in a rejoinder to his comments last night, his belief that he could handle both his abilities and crime-fighting alone. And again, his words led me to have faith in my assumption that this was not truly Flash, but an imposter. After last night, Flash would never have requested help so quickly, so easily, and especially not from me. Flash didn't usually find me the approachable sort, much to my relief.
"Well, I do now! I'm at the old North Hill subway platform. Hurry!" came the quick response in Flash's voice. I knew that I was walking into a trap, but at least I was armed with the knowledge that I did indeed know exactly whom I would be facing – and how to stop him.
I walked down the darkened subway tracks, the cracked and peeling tile lining my path, every step silent as my mind considered exactly what I would be facing when I reached my destination. Emerging from the darkness, the first sight I encountered was that of Flash standing over the prone body of Sinestro, watching the villain with an expression I rarely associated with Flash after victory in battle – irritation. Noticing my arrival, he looked over at me, his quick smile eagerly displaying pride at his accomplishment, at his defeat of Sinestro.
"Looks like I didn't need you after all, yo. But you can help me tie him up," he told me, gesturing towards the floor where Sinestro lay face-down on the hunter green and white tiles.
As he spoke, I reached into my utility belt, pulling out a two-piece batarang, pressing a button to release the equipment while keeping the second piece firmly in my hand.
"Catch," I said quietly.
The batarang flew across the air with a whooshing sound, landing directly in Flash's chest and he let out a yelping scream, cementing my conclusion that this indeed was not the real Flash. The heavy gauge wire that linked the two pieces of the batarang lay vibrating between us, the tension in the string reflecting the tension that suddenly lit the air as the imposter Flash realized that he had been revealed.
And I decided to enlighten him, to disclose that I had known from the start that this could not truly be Flash. "The real Flash would have been too fast for that."
Pressing a button on my end of the batarang, electricity shot up the wire that led into the fake Flash's chest, arcing and spitting as it encountered the man at the other end, the man fast melting into a muddy pile on the tile floor, groaning in agony, smoking and crackling, as he reverted to his true form.
As Clayface collapsed, from the opposite side of the muddy pile still writhing in pain, I could see the beginnings of a yellow glow as Sinestro leapt into the air, making ready to fire off beams of yellow energy. I threw another batarang quickly, having anticipated this approach and making my own preparations while Clayface had fallen. The weapon hit Sinestro squarely in the chest, throwing him backwards and he landed with a thud on the floor behind Clayface.
"What gave me away?" Clayface asked. I moved closer to him, hoping to take advantage of his pained state to recapture him, before answering the question.
"You overplayed your part, yo," I countered, staring insolently into the muddy face, the huge yellow teeth dominating the jaw and the eyes barely visible, rolled halfway back in his agony.
And then, somewhat to my surprise, a voice surfaced from the far end of the subway tunnel and as the figure strode forward, I could make out the stocky form of Gorilla Grodd followed by the other members of his little group – Giganta, Parasite, Shade, and Killer Frost. Before I could move to elude capture, I was ensnared by a muddy fist and darkness overcame my vision.
-VvV-
I had left Bruce that morning with little more than a touch, but it seemed that had been enough. After he had arrived last night, holding me closely throughout the night, I had found my strength again, the sense of peace that guided my actions and lightened my burdens. I had felt strong enough to return to the Watchtower, the only home I had known since Themyscira, to face my former teammates with temerity and confidence. I refused to retreat from my newfound home, and I marched out of the teleporter with eyes flashing and shoulders thrown back, leading with verve and the all-encompassing knowledge that I belonged here. They could all go to Hades right now for all I cared.
Now that I was on a more even keel with Bruce, I felt certain that things would eventually even out here with the League as well, once tempers, including my own, had died down a bit. If Bruce were willing to take the first step with me to restore our relationship to rights, at least in part, then I knew that the breech within the team would heal as well in time.
But the Watchtower that morning had been empty, utterly devoid of the other members. I knew that many of the others had their own homes on Earth, but I had felt sure that someone else would have ventured back to our headquarters, if for no other reason that to gather their personal items.
I spent the afternoon in solemn contemplation, considering the various twists and turns that had befallen me since I had left Themyscira – the friends that I had made, the victories I had achieved, both personal and professional, and the newly formed relationship that I had embarked upon. I had both followed my Amazon teachings to the letter and utterly disobeyed them in the last two years, not only by bringing men to Themyscira, but I had the distinct impression that my mother would be less than pleased that I had entered into a romantic union with a man.
In the midst of my period of deliberation, just as dusk was starting to fall over the cities of Gotham and Metropolis, I received a communication through my Justice League communicator. It had become habit to always have it on my person, one I had yet to try to break myself of so soon after our split.
"Wonder Woman, we need you!"
As Flash's voice echoed from the communicator, I picked it up, a little confused by why he was calling me by my title rather than my name, but I assumed it was due to his discomfort after the scene last night.
"Flash?" I asked in a slightly confused tone.
"We need you at the practice field. Hurry!"
Wanting to roll my eyes in irritation at the interruption, I nevertheless decided to follow up on the request, making my way to the practice field at an unhurried pace. When I arrived, I was surprised to find myself alone in the midst of the deserted terrain. I began to prowl restlessly, certain that Flash had called me with good reason and willing to exercise a little patience. As the moments passed though, there was no sign Flash. However, Superman and J'onn arrived within moments of each other, each of us eyeing the others with barely concealed anger and hurt as the minutes crept by.
And then, another arrival made her way down from the sky, wings fluttering in annoyance as she descended.
Her first words were those of anger. "Well, where is he?"
Crossing my arms over my chest and holding myself rigidly, I asked myself the same question. Where was Flash?
"You know Batman," Superman answered, "Always has to make an entrance."
Although I agreed with his statement, I couldn't believe that Bruce had actually called him. For what reason? He had given me the impression that he had taken the disbanding of the League in stride, or at least he had held himself together better than I had. Something seemed wrong with this entire situation. And why would Flash call me and Batman call Superman to the same place? The odds that the two men were together were practically miniscule.
"Batman?" Shayera asked. "Lantern was the one who called me."
"I heard from Flash," I told the group and suddenly, our looks of hurts changed to expressions of bewilderment and concern. What had happened to the other members of our team? Where was Bruce?
J'onn's eyes flashed deep orange for a moment and as I heard a noise from the roof of one of the nearby buildings, I heard him yell, "No!"
As gunfire erupted from one of our practice range, I realized that this was a trap, a lure to get the remaining members of the Justice League here, and while I worried about Bruce's safety, my immediate concern was myself. Eluding the gunfire, I crouched to the ground, watching as J'onn phased through the weapon and destroyed it with a twist of his powerful arms.
To our horror, robots began emerging, each of those that we had been using so recently to practice our teamwork skills. Now, they seemed to be mocking us that we had been unsuccessful, that our team was once again in jeopardy of failure and this time, our lives were at stake. As Shayera took to the air with her mace firmly in hand, J'onn began to phase through the mechanical men, removing their inner workings as he emerged.
I jumped on one of them, crushing him to the ground before turning to kick one in the abdomen, routing his attack with one well-placed red boot.
Superman also sprang into actions, using his fists to decapitate the robots, and we continued to fight, to stop the mechanical assailment by whatever means we could, individually.
As Superman prepared to use his heat vision to destroy the robots, he called out a warning, and I immediately ducked, but Shayera was not so lucky – the beam skimmed the tips of her feathered wings and as she fell to the ground, without delay she yelled out, "Careful!"
"I told you to get out of the way," Superman retorted, anger clearly present in his voice. His attention totally focused on Shayera, he didn't notice Parasite on the roof of the building next to him and the villain jumped on him, sapping him of his strength and powers as they grappled on the ground.
Giganta rose from behind the building to an impressive height, with Killer Frost lacing an icy path to position herself next to the enormous woman. I could see Shayera, just in front of me, clench her mace tighter as she and J'onn took off to battle the two women. Hearing a noise, however, I turned to see the figures of Shade and Sinestro on the roof behind me.
Unknowing of the fate of the others, I faced off with Sinestro, bracing myself and deflecting his yellow powered form of an axe with my bracelets. Then, he suddenly switched motions, instead of repeated stabs, he began to press down on my crossed wrists with the axe, and I groaned in exertion, trying to fend him off. To my left I saw the figure of Shade raise his staff to release a stream of darkness, and with no free hands, I couldn't think of a way to escape this additional attack. And then, I spotted one of the silvery pieces of the robots and, raising my foot, quickly kicked the metal at Shade, hitting his staff and forcing the darkness upwards, directly into the face of Sinestro. Caught off guard, he halted his attack, struggling to regain light, and I took the opportunity to disarm Shade with a powerful punch to his jaw, sending him flying backwards and collapsing against the side of a building.
I turned to see a yellow panther materializing from the darkness surrounding Sinestro, growling, claws outstretched and fully extended. I deflected his attack with my bracelets and he launched himself into the air, forming a shield of yellow in front of him, blocking my assault. Seeing him struggle to maintain the form, I continue punching the shield with all the fury I could muster, attention totally focused on destroying the blockade and defeating Sinestro.
Therefore, I was completely taken off guard when Parasite took off into the air, his momentum pushing me forward as he wrapped his arms around me, driving me to the ground and depleting me of all strength. I struggled to keep my eyes open but weakness seeped into my body and finally, I let my blackness overtake me.
Next Chapter: Love is a Battlefield – the team is forced to take on the Secret Society in a very public arena…literally…can they pull things together long enough to emerge victorious?