In the Middle of a Broken Constellation

Pairing: WonderBat (Wonder Woman x Batman)

Rating: T / 14A

Universe: N/A - Reader's Choice

The once determined woman who was leaping across Gotham City had suddenly become still, panic seizing her limbs. The call that Aquaman made was indeed something to be concerned about - the toxic, transformative sludge that was at the root of all of the Justice Leagues problems lately grown into a monster of its own - and truly, she was. Whatever this hazardous waste was, it was designed and spread throughout the United States as a means to cause utter chaos, meaning a battle with a humanized version of it could pose as a genuine challenge.

But if she herself took on that challenge, what was she leaving Jason to deal with all on his own?

She was only in the East End and still so far away from him. In the mid-afternoon on such a rambunctious Wednesday, looking out over Gotham from her perch upon one of its many rooftops, all Diana could see were stepping stones that were meant to take her to Wayne Manor. Leaving her quest now to help wrestle their mystery monster into submission would mean that she'd be abandoning the 'reigning member' of Batman's crime-fighting family and perhaps risking losing connection with him for a long while.

But that possibility wasn't high enough to ignore the call of her fellow Founder.

"Wonder Woman here," she felt an ach inside when she answered. Diana dared to carry on as she jumped to her next apartment building, gazing out over the skyline with a twinkle in her bright eyes. "Superman and I are out on a mission. Where are you located?"

"Off-...oast of -aine!" Arthur shouted into his comms, only for the disaster that he was facing to disrupt the connection. Diana could only assume what he was trying to say, given that he mostly supplied her with vowels and not too many hard sounds.

Luckily, there was a member of the League who excelled with managing dysfunctional technology. "Cyborg here. He's about one hundred fifty miles into the Gulf of Maine, veering towards Portsmouth, Nova Scotia."

"Thanks for the heads up! Flash here. I can be there in a minute, tops!" Declared the fastest man alive, with a slightly distorted audio on his line that implied he was already in motion.

The more people who chimed in on the matter, the more guilty Wonder Woman felt. Internally, she cursed herself and forced her voice to rejoin the call. "I'm outside of New York." A divergent truth if she ever heard one. It would take the same amount of time to cross nearly the same length of distance-

Until her empathetic heart managed to create a plan that only elevated her warrior mind's strategy.

Clearing her throat, she added on. "But I can join you in roughly twenty minutes." Which was true, when she recalled that inside the BatCave was Bruce's teleportation pad. If she could reach Jason, help him sort through the situation with Alfred while filling him in on Bruce, then create a communication link between them, she could confidently race off to Arthur's side and help him handle the monster!

It was a hectic plan, no doubt.

Nevertheless, if she could execute it properly, wouldn't require her to choose one disaster over the other.

"I can be there to help call shots from the air, but I can't risk being knocked into the water." Victor tried to offer his presence despite the damage that could happen to his electrical body if he fell into the gulf, and Diana wouldn't want him to take the risk either.

Apparently, despite his currently combative position, Arthur concurred as well. "-en keep y-ur-… ass home! -et's go, -lash!"

"Let's get this party started!" Barry nearly cheered into the main League channel before they were switched into their own private one.

Mumbling into her ear digitally, Victor remarked, "I really don't want to know what was clipped out in the last thing Arthur said."

"Neither do I," Diana agreed while trying not to laugh. Then, she tapped her ear piece to end the call.

With her disheveled plan in mind, she utilized the restlessness rattling inside of her to make her leaps longer, help her jump higher. After crossing the Sparrng River, she merely had Robbinsville and Crest Hill to work her way through before she would at least find herself in the same part of the city as Wayne Manor! She really missed her Mercedes in a moment such as this, though she doubted it was any easier to drive through such a commercial city during a post-lunch rush.

From fishermen bait shops to department stores to insurance offices, she bolted through Robbinsville with relative ease. She purposely stayed along the metaphysical border to Crime Alley, just in case she heard of any actual criminals acting out while passing by. Suddenly, Clark's comment about her extensive knowledge of the city replayed itself inside her mind and it made Diana pause thoughtfully.

She didn't see her geographical awareness of the city to be all that strange. Given their line of work as superheroes, despite Bruce's resistance, it was only a matter of time before some threat called them into Gotham. Once the argument had happened at the Founders' Meeting all those weeks ago, it seemed inevitably necessary to be prepared. She had enough time worrying about her friend to channel that energy into studying a simple map.

After all, as Diana, she only knew of the districts that entertained the rich and the famous.

The socialites, including the other Bruce.

The one she had only seen glimpses of, but never truly knew.

Her intuition had served her well and so she had nothing to be embarrassed about. Even generals in ancient times would try to map out enemy terrain before charging into battle - what was so odd about her taking the time to understand the layout of Gotham City?

Knowing the districts by name helped her to feel relief when she finally reached Crest Hill, as she understood just how close she was was to Bristol County, where Wayne Manor was located. There were many different manors scattered throughout her last stretch of the journey, which meant that she had to be much more careful about leaping over homes. Scenic, affluent, the area seemed like a wonderful area to have a home for a family.

Though perhaps the closeness of neighbours is why Bruce maintained his manor in the middle of nowhere.

Or perhaps it wasn't as peaceful as the design of the complexes would have her assume.

There was a large crash that tore her away from her perceptions, followed by a guttural cry. Inside one of the many mansions on the street in the Bristol Township, there was a major disturbance taking place. Based on the raw emotion she heard in that muffled cry of a man inside his home, it could have been abusive. It sounded personal and pained, before another hefty boom reached her ears.

For fear of some young victim at the hands of such a wild person, Diana let her emotions take over as she threw herself through the front doors of the home in question.

There were no lights on as the wind swept through the front hall, giving the drapery an eerie look as the floated lifelessly on the breeze. It was cold, dark and chillingly empty, but it made little difference as she spied a leather chair sprawled out in the entryway of what looked to be a living room. In no time at all, she leapt over the cushioned blockade and entered the room.

Only for a gun to be cocked next to her head.

Then, after a small pause, a sigh of relief.
"Wonder Woman!?" That emotional voice rang in her ears with a twisted sense of relief.

"Jason!?" she sounded pleased to see him, given the lengths she had literally traveled in order to reach him. However, that relief transformed into angered confusion when she motioned to the tattered living room they stood in. "What is all this? Why are you tearing up someone's home!?"

Putting his firearm back in its holster, he ever so casually walked around the damaged space and plopped down on the only seat that wasn't ruined - a floral love seat. "Don't worry, this house was blocked off years ago for a murder and no one's been back since. Well, I had hoped I'd find someone squatting here, but I guess I was GIVING HIM TOO MUCH CREDIT!" His shout was an obvious attempt to lure someone out of hiding if there was in fat another person in the house.

But after a few moments of an awkward silence between them, it was clear they were alone.

"You're lucky no one has called the police to this house," Diana chastised the young man, who looked like he was resting up after a hard day's work now that she had arrived. "I heard you when I was a few streets away."

Being cheeky, he decided to point to his ear and ask her point blank. "Metahuman hearing?"

The gaul he possessed was almost impressive. "Who are you looking for, here?"

It was almost rewarding that her question stalled him, stealing away the quick wit pace he seemed to thrive on. After racing through Gotham, being accosted by Huntress and contemplating abandoning Arthur and Barry so that she could save this young, rowdy, cocky man, Diana felt that she deserved some answers.

She arched a brow and crossed her arms, implying that she refused to move until she learned the reason why they both ended up in a warded off home.

Begrudgingly, he chose to behave and answered, "This is Drake Manor, the old home of the current Robin. At least, I think he is. Who the hell knows how many 'wards' Bruce has now, am I right?"

"And you thought he'd be here?" she interrogated him while looking around the space. There were feathers on the floor from the torn throw pillows, glass sectioning off the middle of the room due to a shattered table that once rested there, and even a massive vacancy on the wall where a large television must have been. Suspiciously, she looked to Jason.

His heavy shrug was much less enthusiastic than his earlier behaviour would have led her to believe. "He's not anywhere. I don't understand how Dick isn't at the manor, or how Tim is just MIA. Or what the hell is wrong with Alfred! I feel like I've stepped into an alternate reality where everything I knew here has been turned upside down on me!" His distress was palpable as he used his hands to indicate the directions he assumed his loved ones to be in; witnessing the intense display of loss and anger that stemmed from fear and sadness, Diana knew that Jason was just as mixed up in all of this as she was.

She felt she could empathize with him more so than she ever thought she could. "Jason, Superman and I went to visit Bruce."

His spine shot up straight, but for once, he didn't say anything.

So, she simply carried on. Diana moved to stand in front of him and dropped her arms so as to appear more welcoming than she had before. "When Superman used his X-Ray Vision on him, he said that he noticed… some type of damage done to Bruce's brain. At this point, we don't know what or who caused it, but we think that it might explain his behaviour for the last few weeks. I'm sorry."

It felt necessary to apologize to his next of kin, if Jason could be called that. From the way he spoke of Bruce's crime-fighting organization in Gotham, there was a large number of Robins and Batgirls and allies alike that assisted one another in times of crisis. As the seemingly black sheep of the bat-family - the one who was out of town, and therefore, possibly spared the same treatment of Bruce and Alfred - he returned to find everything he knew to be unlike what he remembered.

Diana could only imagine what it would be like to return to Themyscira, only to find her sisters or even her own mother treating her as though they had never met.

His blue eyes glossed over, and yet, they appeared lifeless. He stared at her without blinking, without moving, and she remained still as he digested her words. "So… is he in a hospital? Gotham General?"

Shaking her head, Diana tried to explain things to him without making everything sound just as confusing as it actually was. "No, he's at work today. It seems he's behaving normally as Bruce Wayne, but we don't know what this brain trauma has to do with him ignoring his responsibilities as Batman or neglecting the Justice League. It's too out of character for him, and we aren't sure how to proceed."

"Then why are you still here?" The question posed was rather confusing given the circumstances, but it was more a surprise when Diana realized that it hadn't come from Jason.

She watched the black sheep raise his firearm once again as she turned around to face whomever so dared to enter the Drake Manor, eavesdropping on their private conversation. As she spun around, she worried that it was in fact the police, or quite possibly a disturbed neighbour.

But never in her estimations would she have expected to see Cyborg shove the leather seat out of the living room doorway and join their unsettling talk.

At once, Diana wanted to question him, despite the reprimand she knew was coming. It seemed more imperative to ask Jason to lower his gun though, given the circumstances. "Jason, it's all right. Cyborg is a member of the League."

"Who has the power of tracking people down, it seems." Mocked Batman's ward, speaking just like his mentor in a way that would have made the old Bruce proud.

Realizing he'd lower his gun when he felt comfortable to do so, Diana reengaged with Victor as she turned back around to face him. Responding to his question, she replied, "I needed to check on Jason. Both Bruce and Alfred are behaving unlike themselves, and we left Jason alone with Alfred to go after Bruce. I couldn't leave him until I knew he was safe."

His sympathy didn't seem to commute at all. "Then why lie to us about it? How can we function as a team when one of us lies, let alone you?"

Despite knowing that she should simply back down and apologize, Wonder Woman felt it was vital that she stand her ground. "Superman was following his own lead, and then we were going to return to headquarters and approach you all with our findings. We wanted to see what information we could gather instead of coming back to you all with only our interpretation of the situation."

"That doesn't make it okay, and you know that." Was Cyborg's final evaluation of her explanation.

It took all she had not to sigh with frustration. He wasn't wrong, but he wasn't seeing it from her point of view either. She avoided mentioning Gotham City earlier to avoid a conversation such as this, as Bruce's ban on League members would surely make them all sensitive to those who took it upon themselves to visit.

If only Kal were here, since it was his idea too.

Thankfully, unexpectedly, Jason put his pistol away once again and chose to come to her defence. "Whether it's okay or not, we wouldn't have the information about Bruce's health if Superman and Wonder Woman hadn't come here. So maybe we can take the hostility down a notch."

Victor's mouth shot open, but Diana had had enough bickering for one day. "All that matters is we officially know there is a problem with Bruce."

"Cognitively," Victor stated even though it still sounded as though he wanted clarification. "If something has happened to alter Batman's mind, it could explain why he's been ghosting not only us, but the people who need that antidote. If I could take a look at where the trauma was, it'd be easier to determine what's been going on."

Jason snorted and walked over to stand at Diana's side. "I think he'd notice if a robot showed up at work and started scanning him for damaged parts" - they all could agree on that much - "but maybe you could squeeze Alfred into whatever plan you're trying to come up with? The guy's old and whoever went after Bruce clearly went after him too."

That remark startled so much, as human eye shot open wide, the red circle inside his robotic one shrunk as if surprised. "Do you think that someone infiltrated the manor? Wouldn't Bruce have a security system that would help protect him from this?"

"That's what you can do!" Jason cheered, seemingly steering the conversation in another direction. As Diana and Victor looked at him, he seemed renewed with a new idea. "Cyborg, was it? You can hack into the security system inside the Manor and see if you can find any sort of video to explain what happened. That's one of your robot powers, right?"

Victor eyed Diana as if to indicate that he was feeling exhausted due to the sporadic conversation they were having, but all she could do was concur with the young man. "It's definitely something that would help us make sense of this."

"I agree it's something we need to do," Cyborg concurred, sounding as though he was still strategizing while he spoke. "But given that we are talking about actual brain trauma in this situation, I don't think we can leave Bruce alone while we are trying to figure out who did this to him."

It was a thought that had crossed her mind as well, and so Diana immediately turned to Jason. "Would you be able to stick by him while we work on this? It might take-"

"No, that's not what I meant," it wasn't his intention to be rude, but Cyborg's blunt interruption stifled Wonder Woman's battle plan effectively. Once he had regained the attention of the room, he elaborated on a scheme of his own. "I think we need someone to get inside Wayne Enterprises and remain at his side. We don't know who did this to him or why, meaning we can't guarantee they won't strike again. It has to be someone that he trusts, so they can keep a watchful eye on him."

The room went silent as Diana assumed that the three of them began to ponder how this proposal was possible. Kal had revealed himself as a reporter to an amnesiac Bruce, and Cyborg would stand out if he approached Wayne Tower. Jason could try to get into the building, but now that Alfred had seen his face and treated him like a burglar rather than a friend, he wouldn't be allowed into the manor…

As her curious eyes moved from one face to another, she realized that both of the men were staring at her with some sort of expectation in their eyes. She didn't quite understand - were they expecting her to come up with the answer on her own?

Or… were they expecting her to be the answer?

More unrefined than she had ever been in her life, all Diana could do was spit out a rather noisey, "Me?"

Author's Note:

Sorry I am one day late this week! I had a job opportunity and it messed with yesterday's schedule. But I couldn't deny my readers this juicy chapter, as things are clearly about to be amped up! I hope you enjoyed, and that you look forward to where this story is headed! ~ Maiden