In the Middle of a Broken Constellation

Pairing: WonderBat (Wonder Woman x Batman)

Rating: T / 14A

Universe: N/A - Reader's Choice

For someone who claimed to be able to avoid succumbing to any nervous energy, it panicked Diana when she was obligated to stand with her interviewers. It must have been some business tactic of theirs - to keep the conversation short and sweet, to see if her enthusiasm was just as willful as the process in which she made her application happen - but it was counterproductive for her to leave in that very moment.

"Who knows when we'll be this close to Bruce again! We're only at 22%, and I can't do anything if the scan doesn't finish." Victor knew of her comprehension of their plan. The wailing on the other end of their connection was almost therapeutic, as it allowed her to hear own concerns aloud. Living vicariously through her friend's panic would allow her to formulate a new plan of action with a quickly salvaged sense of calm.

She fixed her skirt with a plastered-on grin, then offered her hand to each of them. "Thank you for entertaining my sudden urge to change careers. I can only hope you were more so impressed than you were put off." Her attempt at self-deprecation was meant to encourage them to praise her, to hear themselves admit that they enjoyed the effort she had put forth to shake up her entire life.

Lucius had shook her hand softly and let his mouth fall open as if he was about to speak, but with Bruce Wayne in the room with them, that was unlikely to happen. In fact, he had held his hand out while waiting for her to turn to him so that it was her responsibility to reach for his gesture. Their palms met when she leaned in and the force he applied clearly housed an ulterior motive. Was it to intimidate her? Impress her, to know her boss' boss was strong?

Either way, it was much too prideful and misguided for any man to think he could strongarm an Amazon.

She was unafraid of his eyes when he tried to leer into her, as she knew those eyes all too well. She was even less frightened to match his might when her hand shake offered them the chance to arm wrestle right there in the boardroom. While a flash of shock appeared behind that intense stare of his, he managed to mumble out. "I'm sure Lucius is used to someone disrupting him at home all the time, anyway."

He stole away her chance to be commended, that devious Bruce! Just for that, she made sure to lift up their hands just a tad and perform a proper shake while her future boss managed to get a word in. "And the man who is typically responsible for disrupting me is the one approving of you doing that."

"Who, me? It's more my company than anything else." Suddenly cheeky, Bruce pretended to give her a secret look that warned her of Lucius fibbing. Their hands were still connected, his expression was something familiar, and it nearly undid the knot on her spine that kept her upright. There were times when she had him by her side and she wished for this level of comradery, and here she was, playing a part in order to get close to him right away with her heart thundering in her chest.

Was this the effect Bruce Wayne had on unsuspecting ladies?

Lucius' chuckle grew louder as he stood next to them, and it was only then that Diana realized how inappropriate it might seem to her potential employer that she had yet to let go of Mr. Wayne's hand. Her elbow jerked back but she hoped she recovered smoothly in their eyes when she contributed to the banter. "Well, since you warned me that emulating you wouldn't get me the job, I promise that'll never happen again, Mr. Fox."

Bruce being unable to hide just how galvanized he was by her joke amused them both and Lucius nearly coughed over his laughter. Just as he had trampled on her hope of being complimented, she made sure to tear down his expectation of being recognized as the powerhouse of such a renowned company. It was so natural for her to smile at him with her triumph written all over her face.

However, the merriment of their conversation was paused when a knock was heard at the door. "Ah, that's for me," Lucius grumbled as he composed himself, looking to the watch on his wrist. "Come in!"

Slowly, a young man with round glasses peeked his head into the room, hesitant but dutiful. "Mr. Fox? We have Mr. Hunt on hold for you on line two. Would you like to take the call here?"

"No, no. I'll return to my office. Ms. Prince, it was a pleasure. Hopefully, your boss is just as quick in sending over those documents I need as he is at vouching for you. Until next time." With a polite nod of his head, Lucius made his way over to the door and the timid young man, patting him on the shoulder as they made their way down the hall…

Leaving her alone with Bruce.

He must have been confused as to why the air was so heavy between them. Without a third person to provide some levity, Diana felt their natural chemistry - the sort that could explode on a moment's notice - rest upon them with that familiar sense of caution. Perhaps he'd just assume it was attraction and let the sensation provide his ego with yet another reason to inflate. Regardless, she knew what it was: disagreement, drastically different methods of strategizing coupled with equally fierce desires to always be the first to strike.

Which was why it was almost adorable when they both attempted to speak at the same time and she was able to witness Bruce crumbling ever so slightly, if only to be polite. She made sure to take advantage of the opportunity. "I hope I'm not keeping you from a meeting of your own, Mr. Wayne?"

"I think everyone here gave up waiting on me a long time ago," He admitted to her with very little prompting, not afraid that he had most assuredly angered a few of his possible investors or board members in his time as head of the company. "So they'll survive without me for another few minutes." Then, he stuffed his hands in his pockets and stood still in front of her.

"Oh?" The question fell from her lips as the insinuation sat with her: Bruce was making time for her of his own accord, without any scheming required on her part. It was just as flattering as it was disheartening, as she wondered if there was a part of him that itched to remember who she was while the sparks of their bond flickered between them.

Did she feel familiar to him?

Did he feel comfortable with her without knowing why?

Was he trying to figure everything out on his end while having forgotten so many facts?

As if he could sense her plummeting mood, Victor hummed to her softly. "We're at 44%, Diana."

She recovered in the blink of an eye and added more to her breathy utterance. "I don't know if a bad cop is as effective without a good cop to balance him."
"I was the good cop." He reminded her, but all Diana had to do was tilt her head at a small angle, arch a brow his way, and Bruce offered a revisition. "In the beginning. Had to keep you on your toes, you know."

"It was definitely one of the most interesting interviewing tactics I've seen, considering I didn't know Mr. Wayne was going to be here."

She meant to keep things light, she truly did. But there was something in his tone that resembled the Batman when he dared to observe her without any hesitation or reservation. "You don't strike me as the type of woman to be intimidated easily, Miss Prince."

That remark felt dangerous. She heard a warning in the back of her mind that recognizing anything about his offhand opinion would result in a shift between them. He could have meant his words as a compliment, but it sounded like a thinly veiled flirtation.

It felt like one, too.

She was much more used to an overbearing Bruce - the man beneath the cowl tended to take control and refused to let moments pass by in conversations just so they could end faster. The man in front of her loved to let words resonate during the following silence just so their impact was heavier, enough to leave someone breathless while they scrambled to form a response.

The Amazonian in her refused to falter to a challenge, despite the dangerous line she was toying with depending on what she did next. Wickedly, intentionally, her lips parted slowly as though she was trying to conjure a response out of thin air. But then she confidently fired out, "I'm not."

Then, she waited for his reply.

However, that was her mistake.

It was like a crackling of thunder before a lightning bolt struck the earth. It nearly devastated her when the shock ran through her body, with her toes catching fire as if the land beneath her was suddenly ablaze. When Bruce heard the defiance in her tone, he took in a breath so deep, his chest swelled beneath his suit in a way that resembled the inflation of her heart. With two simple words, she had somehow stole away the blaze attitude of Mr. Wayne and had discovered a happy medium between the man he had become and the hero she once knew. He felt tangible when she saw him scowl and for a moment, she imagined that he would reveal to her that he had only been playing some sort of role the entire time.

No, instead, he murmured low. "Good." He even attempted a smirk, but there was something about the demand of a cordially smile that felt much too heavy in that moment.

"Hey," a whily ex-robin chirped through her ear piece. She didn't think he was speaking directly to her despite how clear his question was. "Is she my new mommy, and no one told me?"

Diana nearly gagged on the necessity she felt to respond to such a remark.

Instead, she merely cleared her throat while Victor updated her. "57%, and that's with me trying to amp it up as best as I can."

Exhausted, irritated and complete flummoxed, it was all she could to come up with a response without making it obvious that she wanted to rip her earpiece out of her ear. "For the foundation, you mean?" She felt back onto her professionalism in order to avoid crossing anymore lines and making this interaction delve into uncharted, unsafe territory.

Now it was Bruce's turn to clear his throat, and he went so far as to remove his hands from his pockets and cross his arms over his once swollen chest, now hiding his emotions from her in such a stunning shift that Barry himself would have been impressed. "Exactly. As great as the work is, there will be challenges."

"Such as?"

"Well, many socialites lie and say they'll donate money to keep face, then play dumb when you follow up on their fake generosity. We also have other organizations whose CEOs want the tax benefit of dropping anchor in certain parts of the world, so they'll definitely try to bully you out of your place. But worst of all, there are people in this very city that like to play the role of some comic book villain and stop us from getting resources out from this very building to those in need." Bruce spoke with such zeal that he released one of his hands from his criss crossed arms in order to help illustrate his feelings towards such despicable people.

Hearing him speak with such undeniable intensity didn't impress Diana, because she knew of his heart and the power it held. What really overcame her in that moment was a sense of loss: if everything he had just told her was true - and even this confused version of him could reference the villains that plagued the city - why was he so dead set on keeping Gotham City so pure of any other heroes?

Why was the League banned from helping him when it sounded as though both of his identities had a heavy burden to bare?

Just imagining what she had agreed to take on now that she had applied to work for the Wayne Foundation made her square her shoulders in preparation for the upcoming battles she'd surely face.

"But it's still a great city." He felt compelled to add, it seemed, perhaps in response to her standing taller as a gut reaction to his warnings.

His love for Gotham ran so deep, and it made her recall her adoration of Themyscira in order to catch a glimpse of that type of affection felt like. It made her think of the terrain, the signature beauty of such a paradise, and all of her sisters that still lived there alongside their queen…

"I imagine it's an even better city because of the love and devotion your parents put into it." She made sure to smile softly while daring to make such a remark. In her research of the company, she learned that both Thomas and Martha Wayne had their own foundations that were dedicated to bettering the lives of Gotham's citizens: Thomas' was medical like his career whereas Martha's focused on supporting orphanages and charities that she helped even in her pre-marital life. The amount of good that the Waynes did for this city seemed to be in their blood.

To her surprise, it was a comment that Bruce merely shrugged off. Not in a way that implied he was bashful, but in a honest bland reaction to her praise. "Yeah, it's a shame that they don't get to see it though."

Assuming he was suddenly fronting for his grief, Diana tried to cover up her possible insensitivity. "I'm sure they're proud of what it's become, though."

She had genuinely believed that her socially acceptable end to such a delicate topic was foolproof, that she had made a mistake and her backtracking was infallible. But when she heard Bruce's response, she almost felt her blood run cold. "Maybe if they called sometime, I'd know."

"Call?" It was all she could do not to stutter whens he spat the word out.

Her shock didn't seem to be Bruce's priority, his eyes growing hooded as he spoke. "Or email, or Skype. Lots of ways to communicate nowadays, but retirement must keep them busy… Shall we?" Suddenly, they were leaving the boardroom as gestured by Bruce, who took it upon himself to head into the hallways first. He nearly stomped through the doorway and unknowingly ended his connection to Victor's scan.

Given the silence in the room and the absence of a percentage update, it seemed as though they were all too stunned to care.

Bruce had been made to forget that his parents were dead, and that on its own was a very huge clue in the mystery of what had happened to him…

Author's Notes:

What!? Bruce doesn't know about the biggest moment in his life!? I am trying to move a bit faster and focus less on making this story seem like a comic, you know? So I hope this chapter makes it feel like you're getting more meat out of the story!

Also, please let me know if you prefer the chapter at this length? I wrote one page less because I worry the length is too much. I'd appreciate your feedback, and I hope you stick around for the next chapter! ~ Maiden