Diana and Bruce continue looking for clues as to who is responsible for changing the past, and it triggers something from within.

Chapter 10: What Triggers a Memory

The trip to the scientist's home was rather uneventful for the most part. Bruce had spent the short flight telling Diana about his findings; or rather lack thereof regarding her other friends. Even though he'd found nothing though, she could still see a determination in his eyes and knew that he was far from giving up on his search. It almost seemed that the more time she spent with him, the more and more of the Bat that seemed to emerge from within him. She knew that deep down the Bat was always inside of him; a part of his life, but seeing how quickly that personality was growing caused her to wonder if her being around Bruce was such a good thing for him. He seemed to be so much more happy in this timeline than the Bruce that she'd come to know over the years, and a large part of her wished that he could remain as happy as he was now. Bruce had done enough in her timeline to deserve that happiness. At the same time though she knew that he seemed to want to be around her, and that sense was also growing. She'd picked it up from his body language toward her and the way that he looked at her. The other part of her didn't want him to become the Bat because he simply wasn't ready for it.

During the car ride Diana silently thought about how she'd spent the last few nights scouring over the entire city, and it was simply put one of the most dangerous places to be at night. She even struggled at times dealing with the sheer violent nature that seeped up through the streets as soon as the sun set without succumbing to it and taking a life. Even the actual Batman would have problems with everything that she'd seen and tried to put a stop to. At the rate she was going, it would take years to return Gotham to how it was with Batman protecting it for years and having already established himself as a threat that any criminal would fear by the time she'd arrived in the corrected timeline. Just like every other night, the most recent one had come and gone with mixed results as a good portion of the people that she rescued were nowhere near as appreciative of her intervention as she recalled them being in her own timeline. Undeterred though, that night she'd managed to interrupt a small convenience store robbery, ten mugging attempts, sixteen separate brawls outside of bars, and four rape attempts. Eventually though she'd had enough of the questions about why she was doing this almost as much as she disliked the fear of her simply because she had powers. She was clearly using her powers to help and not destroy, and she couldn't understand why the people of this timeline struggled with their quickness to judge. All of this only brought her closer to the conclusion that this Bruce wouldn't survive it very long even with all of the technology he had at his disposal. After all he only had what could at best be defined as a modest training regimen of MMA, and nowhere near the amount that would be required for him to actually stand much of a chance in becoming the vaunted protector of Gotham. Thinking of this Bruce taking on the streets also brought a more bone chilling fear to her, and that was if he'd ever come to be in front of the Joker. She hoped that before he did try and venture out into the night, that she could focus her attention on the Joker and bring him down. Then there would at least be some semblance of hope for a city that was seemingly without it, and perhaps with that time this Bruce would have a better chance to prepare himself. She simply knew that it was an inevitability and her attempting to talk him out of it would only strengthen his resolve to push onward.

Diana thought back to how her night had ended with hours spent coming across and running out of leads to go off of before she'd decided to call it a night and pick up where she left off the next evening. She was hopeful to find someone there that could and would lead her to the demented clown. With the Joker behind bars, it would be easier to track down and subdue his crew of followers, just like chopping off a snake's head. Then if time permitted during her mission, she would focus on the mob and bring them crashing down from their prominence too. She wasn't about to start with the low level crooks either. Instead she planned to have Bruce help by finding her the names of the most powerful and influential mobsters and she was going to bring them all in. If they ended up getting released as they had time and time again with Kal, then they'd still have to stay in the hospital as they recovered from the bones that she intended to break. With the plans for her late night activities running through her mind, she noticed for the first time that she was being watched. "Is something wrong?" She asked.

"No, no." Bruce answered with a pleasant smile. "I was just wondering what was going through your mind is all. You seemed a little preoccupied with your thoughts."

"Just…." She started to deceive him by discussing the scientist again, but thought better of it as she simply wouldn't lie to him, even if it was in what she believed to be his best interest. "Just thinking of how I'll approach going into Gotham tonight moving forward. I want to have the Joker incarcerated before he can do any more damage in the city."

"Were you able to find anything promising to go off of?" Bruce asked, and Diana regrettably heard him perking up by the tone of his voice. He was excited to hear about her efforts toward Gotham, and she knew that there were underlying reasons why.

"No." Diana answered before turning to look out of the rental car window. She was beginning to regret letting him in on the knowledge that he was the one to keep Gotham safe at night, but she simply wouldn't lie as the truth was the only approach worth taking. Although she'd almost been forced to explain the reason behind him becoming Batman, and barley managed to avoid that. It was a relief that he'd focused on the what's and how's of him becoming Batman rather than the why. She only hoped that he would remain silent when it came to that question. She could only imagine the devastating effect having that knowledge would do for him. How would someone react if they were to find out that all of the great things they could accomplish and do for a great many people in the world was possible, but at such a great cost? It was difficult enough for her to deal with, and she was on the outside looking in.

"What's wrong?" Bruce asked with concern laced through his voice. He'd noticed how she turned away when the topic returned to Gotham City, and wondered why she'd suddenly become so sullen.

Diana picked up on the concern immediately and forced herself to turn away from the window to face Bruce. She put on a bright smile and reached for his hand. "Don't be concerned about me Bruce." She said in an attempt to ease his worries. "It was just a frustrating night, and I'd rather look forward to where we're heading."

"We've all had nights like that before so I can certainly understand." Bruce replied before revealing a brilliant smile with a look that told Diana that he knew something she wasn't aware of. She'd not seen those eyes with this version of Bruce before, but with him adding the full smile compared to barely a smirk, she found that she really liked what she saw. "Since you want to look forward to today, then the good news is that we're here, and so is the professor."

Diana began to question what Bruce was saying until she'd looked to where his eyes were fixed as the car slowed and pulled into the driveway of the scientist who had just gone back into his home. He looked startled by the sight of a car pulling into his driveway, and that was likely the reasoning behind his fleeing. Diana and Bruce climbed out of the car and she went right to the front door before she began to knock. "Dr. Schwartz!" She called out. "Please, we just have a few questions."

"Haven't you people heard enough?" Came the voice of the scientist through the door. "I've told my story over and over to the authorities. I have nothing more to share. Now please go away."

"I'm afraid we can't do that." Bruce replied. "There are some things about your account of that day, and they don't add up. We promise that we won't take up any more of your time than absolutely necessary."

"No!" Dr. Schwartz yelled through the door. "Go away!"

Bruce turned toward Diana and gave a shrug of his shoulders along with a look that told her that they weren't going to gain access without some form of force. So she returned to the car for a moment to grab her duffle bag, and slung it over her shoulders. She surveyed the area for any onlookers, and when she was sure everything was clear, she took flight and went around to the back door of Schwartz's house. It was a sliding glass door and happened to be locked, but one swift tug was all it took before the lock snapped and allowed her access to the professor's house. She stepped in to see the scientist as he was staring back at her. He'd seen how she'd managed to break in and was startled to where he seemed to be petrified. She took that opportunity to subdue him and didn't allow him the chance to do anything else before grabbing him by the arm and escorting him to the front door where she unlocked and opened it for Bruce. She then took the good doctor to a dinner table chair and sat him down. "We're not here to hurt you." She began gently. "But we believe that you might've intentionally left out a major detail regarding the account of what happened that night. All I'm asking for is the truth."

Schwartz attempted to swallow down the large lump that had formed in his throat. "I…I don't know what you're talking about." He said hesitantly. "I swear."

"How did you avoid the attempt on your life by your daughter that night?" Bruce asked.

"We know that you weren't aware of what Clara was planning until after the attempt on your life was made." Diana added for good measure and to attempt to throw the doctor off a little. She hoped to get a reaction out of him, but couldn't see any if there was one. Still though his eyes were telling her that he knew more than what he had shared. "Who warned you about what she was planning to do?"

"N…no one." Schwartz answered somewhat defiantly. He was scared but he wasn't slipping. He'd given his word and he intended to keep quiet. "I'm afraid you're mistaken."

"You're lying." Diana accused instantly. "And you're beginning to try my patience Dr. Schwartz."

"What could be so important that you're so adamantly refusing to reveal?" Bruce questioned. It was at that moment where Diana almost wished that the Batman was there. He'd have gotten the answers they were looking for already. At the rate they were going she started to believe that she was going to have to pull out the Lasso of Truth, but that was until Bruce continued to interrogate. "You stumbled when we asked who warned you. I'm no expert, but that tells me that you weren't being honest with us. So who was it? What did they do or say that would cause you to hide the truth? We're not leaving without some answers, so why not do yourself a favor and just tell us what really happened. Start at the beginning if you like, but we want to know who you're protecting."

The professor gulped again as he tried and failed to moisten his dry throat. He took Bruce's prompt and told the story from the beginning of how he'd come home. Both Bruce and Diana let him recount what happened up to the point where he described how his daughter had claimed that he'd struck and tried to poison her before he came to the point of the story they were waiting for. "Clara came out of the bedroom and approached me from behind." The professor claimed. "If not for her stepping on a creaky floorboard I wouldn't have turned in time to avoid being stabbed. I reacted out of fear and shoved her away, and she tumbled over the couch and knocked her head against the coffee table. That gave me enough time to get back out of the front door, and then I called the police."

"You haven't told us anything." Diana said in a frustrated and raised voice as she unzipped her duffle bag. "We've wasted enough time, and if you'll not give us the truth willingly then I have ways to extract it from you."

Bruce stood quickly and grabbed the arm that Diana was using to reach into the duffle bag with. "Diana, what are you doing?" He asked in a quick whisper. There was a look of concern mixed with some form of fear on his face until she pulled out a seemingly golden glowing rope. He was still confused, but seeing that she wasn't holding a weapon like a gun, he chose to release his hold on her arm. "What are you going to do with that?"

Diana formed a noose at one end and tossed it over the professor's head before giving a light flick of her wrist which caused the lasso to become taut around the professor's neck. "This is the Lasso of Truth." She explained. "The one that is bound by it is compelled to speak the truth when being questioned. I'd hoped that we could've appealed to Dr. Schwartz's honesty, especially since he witnessed my entrance, and that means he's already aware that I have powers." Once finished with her explanation, Diana then focused her attention onto the professor. "Now then, why are you hiding the truth of that night from everyone?"

"Because I was asked not to reveal he was there that night." Schwartz finally revealed.

"Who was this man and why didn't he want you to share his bravery?" Diana pressed for more.

"I don't know who he is." The professor began to answer. "There was a flash of light, and when I turned to see the cause, there was this man dressed in black slamming some weapon like a nightstick into the back of Clara's head. She still was still holding the sword in her hands when she hit the floor. I don't know why he wished to not be recognized, but he clearly didn't as he told me that I was to keep from even mentioning anything at all about his presence there, or else he'd make sure Clara didn't fail the next time."

"Is that all this man mentioned?" Diana asked. "And what else can you tell us about the man?"

"He also said that he'd be keeping tabs on my actions." The professor recounted. "And he said for me to continue the good things that I was doing for the world with my research, and before he left he mentioned to me that he had more lives to save before he disappeared into that same bright light from before. He was wearing something that looked like police protective gear along with a ski mask and gloves, and he was covered head to toe in black. He also had a strange necklace with a medallion on it that he pulled out just before he disappeared."

"We're done here." Diana stated to Bruce before focusing once more on the good doctor, but she missed the contemplative look that Bruce had plastered all over his face after hearing the professor's last answer. "Rest now and when you wake, you will believe that this was merely a bad dream." The professor proceeded to close his eyes and once his breathing became labored; Diana removed the lasso from him and tucked it back into her duffle bag before standing and making her way to the front door.

Bruce remained quiet as they exited the house and started the car before pulling out of the professor's driveway. When they'd remained quiet during the next two miles down the road though he became impatient with the questions that he had, and began blurting them out in succession without allowing one to be answered before the next was being asked. "What was that? Why did Dr. Schwartz just give up the answers when he wouldn't before? What else can you do that I don't know about?"

"I suppose a good place to begin with telling you what this is." Diana began as she reached into her bag and pulled out the golden rope. "This is the Lasso of Truth. It was forged by the fires of Hestia from the Golden Girdle of Gaea. There are many powers that can be drawn from the lasso. As you saw, it compels those bound by it to speak the truth, but it also can restore lost memories, is known to have the capability of healing the holder's body or cure insanity, and it is unbreakable. You've already discovered most of my powers on your own, and the last is one that you wouldn't otherwise be able to know for many years as I am an immortal and won't age like a normal human. With you now knowing of the lasso as well, the only thing left is my armor which I've also stored inside this bag, and I've been wearing it underneath the darker clothes when I've gone into the city at night."

Bruce glanced over as Diana pulled out the armor piece by piece as she showed him the tiara, breastplate, belt, and boots. "Seems to lack protection from attack in certain areas." Bruce surmised. "What if you get hit where your armor doesn't cover you?"

"Let me worry about that when the time comes." Diana responded confidently as though she believed it wouldn't be very likely.

~~ Gotham suburb ~~

John was sitting in the living room with his father while his mother was finishing with the dinner preparations for later that evening. It was a quiet afternoon at the Samuelson house, and he was never more thankful for the calm. The night before when they'd all arrived from the airport had been very busy as John's father was just finishing up the preparations for Sarah's graduation party. It was a blessing for his parents that everything seemed to go well the entire evening. Friends and family had all started to arrive just as John had settled his things away, and that was fortunate for him because he'd realized as he unpacked that he'd mistakenly brought the Triangle of Light along with him instead of storing it in his designed secure location when he wasn't planning on using it. At first he separated the two pieces and secured them in different locations, but then he thought better of it and combined the two before slipping it over his head.

When the party ended, John helped his parents clean up as Sarah stayed with the last of her friends that hadn't left yet. Soon though as the sky began to darken they'd all made their exits in order to head home. Even the suburbs of Gotham weren't completely immune to the violence that came out at night it seemed. It was when he noticed the nervous looks of the few stragglers as they left that he began to question why, but soon all the guests were gone and his family was all safe and sound inside their home. Seeing how happy everyone was together was what he'd hoped he could be responsible for with his ability to travel back into time, and it served as proof to him that he was doing good things even if his mind was splintering more and more with each trip before eventually pulling itself back together. But that was part of what this time was for, to help him center his thoughts. The rest was just to enjoy some free time with his family.

John was planning on taking his sister out for a movie after dinner. It'd been too long since he'd gotten to have some quality time with his sister since he'd saved her all those years ago. Sure there were memories of his time growing up with her in his life rather than not, but sometimes he felt it was almost more like looking at photos in an album rather than actually experiencing them for himself. Tonight was going to be different. He was going to experience this moment and there'd be nothing that was going to steal that away from him. It would be more than just another picture in his mind. That was going to be a gift to himself that he'd felt he more than deserved. Sometimes it was the little things that meant the most and something as simple as seeing a movie at the theater was going to be one to cherish.

~~ Wayne Manor ~~

Something was wrong. Diana could sense it as Bruce had seemed to put some distance between himself and her. He'd isolated himself for hours in his physical therapy room, even declining to join everyone for dinner. She wondered if pulling out the Lasso of Truth and revealing all of its powers could be the cause of this change. Bruce had seemed to be so accepting of all her powers up until that point though, and she couldn't see why that would've changed. He had been so different in that area from seemingly everyone else, but perhaps even he had his own limitations. She didn't do much in the way of easing his parents' concerns either as she sat at the dinner table with them and did more poking at the food in front of her rather than eating. She figured that they would assume there was some form of argument between Bruce and her that had been the cause, and until she knew what it was, she was willing to let them believe that. After dinner, Diana went to the study and stood in front of the grandfather clock watching as it ticked the seconds away. She knew that each second meant she was one more second closer to failing in her mission, but Bruce was weighing on her mind more than anything at that particular time. "I'm sure that with some patience and compromise between the two of you, that whatever trouble you both are facing will be resolved." The voice of Thomas Wayne stated from behind her. She almost jumped at the sound of his voice. He'd managed to sneak up behind her without her noticing. Until now she thought only Bruce was capable of such a feat.

"I'm sorry." Diana responded quietly. "I didn't know you were behind me."

"I didn't mean to startle you Diana." Thomas apologized as she turned to face him. "But after dinner and seeing you here staring at the clock there, I thought I should say something to ease at least one of your troubled minds. Normally I'd just discuss what is right in front of a guest, but I doubt you would be interested in me going on about how that grandfather clock goes back to the times of the Civil War. Besides, Martha's proven to be more successful at getting through to Bruce when he gets like he's been today, so I thought giving it a try with you might be more beneficial."

"I appreciate the offer, but I'm actually not entirely sure what I did to trouble Bruce." Diana responded as her arms instinctively wrapped around her own body in a protective hug.

"Then I wouldn't worry about it." Thomas consoled. "My boy is quite taken with you. Has been since the first day he laid eyes on you. Whatever this is, it'll pass and when it does he'll be willing to talk it through with you. He just seems to have this innate need to understand things before he wants to share what it is that confuses him. I know from experience how infuriating at times it can be, but in the end Bruce always has done what's right."

"You must be very proud of him." Diana assumed.

"Yes, yes I am." Thomas concurred. "Martha and I couldn't have asked for a better son. We've always believed that he was meant for great things in his life. The only thing that we hope for though is that he continues to make time for his own happiness, although I think that's being addressed." Diana gave a confused look upon hearing that, but that only caused Thomas to chuckle as he turned to leave the study and let his words sink in for the young woman that had captured his son's heart. "I can't give you kids all the answers. Some are better off to be figured out without instructions or having your hands held and being shown the way."

Diana heard Thomas chuckling again as he made his way down the hallway. She waited until the chuckle turned into a faint echo before turning back to face the clock, and she began to process through all of what Bruce's father had shared with her. She was already aware that Bruce held an attraction toward her, but how could it be more than mere lust? They had only known each other in this timeline for a couple weeks, and already his parents were apparently picking up on something that they themselves were missing. Could it be more than lust so quickly? She'd heard of fairy tales and of love at first sight, but never really believed that it was possible. After all, you couldn't possibly know what type of a person someone really was by just looking at them. Maybe that was what was troubling Bruce. Perhaps he'd realized his feelings for her and then saw how complicated things could become when he had apparently begun having romantic feelings for an immortal.

Inside his training room, Bruce was back to laying into a heavy bag with thunderous punches. He'd been doing this intermittently ever since he'd locked himself away from everyone else. There was something not sitting well with him that he needed to work out, but this time seemed to be much different than any others. Sure he'd been frustrated or angered to the point of needing to go after a punching bag, but never before had he gone at it for hours. There seemed to be something inside of him that was driving him to continue punishing the bag. His knuckles had all long since been shredded apart and bloodied, but he seemed to welcome the pain. He knew after refusing to leave for the call of dinner that there would be speculation as to why he was absent, and likely especially so from a certain Amazon immortal. While he did feel badly about the probability that she'd assume her revealing all of her powers to him as the cause for his self imposed isolation, that simply wasn't the case. He found that he actually enjoyed knowing someone with so much power and having the compassion and desire to use it only for the benefit of others. She was trying to use her powers to make Gotham a safer place to live, and that was being done two fold as she was trying to correct the timeline as well as going out into the city at night. She'd mentioned that if they restored the timeline, Gotham would have its protector in him becoming a hero in his own right. He knew that he could develop the technology in this timeline, but she'd also indicated that he didn't go through all of the training that his alternate self had. In reality he hoped that they would succeed. A safer Gotham was what his family had wanted and fought for over the years, and it was that thought which was troubling him. Not for them working toward a safer Gotham City, but more so for the when. "Bruce." He heard his mother call as she'd apparently used a skeleton key to unlock the door and enter the training room.

Martha saw her son breathing hard as he was hugging the punching bag, almost as though it was the only thing holding him upright. She wondered just what it could be that had worked him up into such a frenzy. Alfred had assured her that the trip from the airport was quiet and uneventful, and that whatever the issue Bruce was dealing with didn't seem to result in his asking for Diana to leave. In fact Alfred added that Bruce took Diana's hand as a gentlemanly offer to help her out of the car which she did accept. So it was just a matter of finding out what was actually troubling her son and attempting to help him see his way through whatever it was. "Bruce." She called out again as she began to walk over toward him. "Don't you think it's time that you let go of whatever it is that's bothering you? We were all concerned when you didn't join us for dinner."

"I know, and I'm sorry mom." Bruce offered. "I shouldn't have stayed up here all afternoon long, but I've just been trying to figure something out."

"Well why don't you discuss it with Diana?" Martha suggested. "I'm sure that whatever it is, the two of you can work it out if you just talk it through. Your father and I know that there's something special about this girl. Don't let her slip through your grasp sweetheart. We think that she could be the type of person that only comes around once in a lifetime. It's the same way I felt about your father when we first met."

Bruce let go of the bag and turned to face his mother. What she'd said was true, more true than she or his father could even imagine, and it was true that he felt something different about Diana than he had with any of the other women that he'd dated. "Mom, it's not Diana." He said much to her relief, but that only lasted for a short time as he continued. "It's about something that a professor we visited today said. He was saved by a man in black, and he said something that caused me to think about something."

"What is it honey?" His mother asked even though she wasn't sure if she really wanted to know.

"He said that the man in black told him to continue doing good for the world." Bruce explained. "It made me think about that time when we were all saved. To what that man said to us, but I can't remember it all clearly. I need someone to help me go over that night again. I need to know if this was the same man."