Author's Note: We could be getting really close to a conclusion here... But maybe not. I guess we'll see? Either way, leave a review if you get a minute, I love to hear people's thoughts.

Diana woke up early the next morning, only to find that Bruce had once again slipped out of bed in the middle of the night. Wishing that he would just make things easy for once, she began the trek to the Batcave. He was exactly where she thought that he'd be; in front of the Batcomputer, running tests on one of his gloves.

"Would it kill you to stay in bed all night?" She murmured, wiping the sleep from her eyes. "Just once?"

"Tonight? Possibly." He said, sounding more excited than he had in a long time.

"Alright, fine, you have my attention. Just tell me what you found."

"I'll know in a minute." He bustled around the various screens of his enormous computers, stopping every so often to enter a missing piece of data. "I've been up all night thinking about how I could confirm or deny the Question's theory. Then I thought back to Strange's base. I couldn't extract him on my own, so I had to knock him out. Remember?"

"No... I was unconscious."

"Oh... Right." He said distractedly. "Well, either way, I knocked him out with a punch to the face. So I was thinking... And I found traces of his blood on my gauntlet. Do you know what this means?"

"You need to do a better job cleaning your equipment?" Diana guessed.

"Hilarious." Bruce grunted. "But no. It means that I can analyze his blood."

"Aright, I'll bite. What, pray tell, are you hoping to find in the blood sample?"

"This." Bruce said triumphantly, handing her a sheet that the computer had just printed. "Anabolic steroids. He's building muscle mass for something... Three guesses what he's doing."

Diana threw herself into a chair and leaned back. "So... It looks like that wackjob was right... Strange is even crazier than I thought..." She mused. "I still have my doubts though. I'm not sure that it was him. Strange doesn't seem like the type to run into a burning building. He's more of the chess player type who likes to move his pawns around the board while he watches, if you ask me. Why risk his own hide?"

"Who says it was a risk?"

"Oh, I don't know..." Diana said, scratching her chin in mock thought. "Should we start with all the fire?"

"I would've done it."

"Yeah, well maybe he's smarter than that."

"You aren't looking at this the right way... At least, you're halfway there. You're right about him liking to control the game; that's crucial. But the best way to control the game is to rig it. It was a risk, for sure... But no doubt an extremely calculated one. I don't think that he showed up at that fire by coincidence; he was on the scene before I'd even heard about it. That doesn't happen without some planning."

"You think that he planned with Firefly to kill him?"

"More or less. Strange helped Lynns escape, remember? I'd imagine that the murder bit was as much of a surprise to Lynns as anyone else, though."

Diana sighed. "I'm still not sold on this whole thing... He just doesn't seem like the hero type to me. What does he have to gain from all of this?"

"Obsession can work in mysterious ways. My guess would be that he's compensating for an extreme case of low self-esteem."

"He seems awfully self-centered for someone with no self-esteem. His rants could put Narcissus to shame."

"Some psychologists believe that narcissism can be a mask for a lack of confidence. Then again, you can't put much stock by those studies. The point that I'm trying to make is that he's, as the Flash would say, 'nuttier than squirrel shit.' I don't know what motivates him, but if the Question's right, then it doesn't matter. This is the first real lead that I've had about his future plans, and I intend to follow it through."

"Sure thing." Diana said dully. "Have fun, and be sure to just call if you need me to punch something, won't you?"

"Am I picking up on some subtext, Princess?"

"Bravo, world's greatest detective." Diana said sarcastically. "If you think that you're leaving me behind again, you're as crazy as he is."

"I don't have time to argue, I-" Bruce cut himself short and placed a finger against his ear. He was hearing strange noises from his comm link. "Batcomputer; retrieve comms data and playback.

The computer did as he commanded, tapping into his link to identify the source of the feed. The computer began issuing a series of feminine grunts and the occasional loud smack.

"Hey, Bats..." Catwoman's voice issued forth from the speaker. "Hope it's not a bad time, but I'm in a bit of a bad way, and I could use som- OW!" There was a final, loud thump and a moment of mad laughter.

"SELINA!" Bruce shouted into his communicator, but it was no use; the feed had gone dead on Catwoman's end. "Strange is making his move." Bruce grunted, running to prepare his suit. "That was Joker's laugh, I'd recognize it anywhere. Joker has Catwoman, and he's probably in Strange's pocket. Any second now, 'Batman' will show up and take them both out in one fell swoop."

"If you're right, then this is definitely a trap."

"I'm counting on it. But I won't be the one springing it. I'm ending this now."

Diana knew that he was right; she despised the Joker as much as anyone, and she wasn't terribly fond of Catwoman, but she knew that they were obligated to do everything in their power to save them, especially after what Catwoman had done for her the other night. "I hate it when you're right... Let's call in backup and go." She began to suit up as well.

"No. It has to be just him and me."

"Why?" Diana sputtered angrily. "Because that's the way he wants it? Have you learned nothing?"

"It's for the best. If he's copied the tools in my belt, he'll have a specially crafted guide to taking down half the League."

"Well, no matter what the case is... You aren't going alone. Under any circumstances."

Bruce considered what she was saying. "You may be right."

"You're damn right I'm ri- Wait... What did you just say?" She said, slightly dumbfounded. "I could've sworn that you just admitted that you were wrong."

"He's thinking like me... Or at least, trying to. He's in my head... So I need to get out. Look at this objectively and find a solution that way. Make sense?"

"No, but keep talking. I like where you're going with this."

"If I'm right, then he plans on killing me today..." Bruce's voice trailed off, and he stared off into space as though thinking intensely. "Probably slowly."

"Alright... That's not exactly reassuring."

"I think that we can use that to our advantage. It's perfect, really."

"Okay, I am really not following you at all here." Diana said, completely lost. "Just how does you dying a slow and painful death help us?"

"He'll have countermeasures set up; he always does. It's what I would do. But while he's focused on killing me, you can wait at a safe, undetectable distance and take him by surprise. After last time, he'll be keeping a close idea on radio transmissions from the area. That'll make secure communications impossible, and give him a false sense of security."

"It's not false if we actually can't communicate, is it?" Diana said. She had a faint idea of what his plan might be, and she didn't like it one bit.

"We won't be using radio transmissions. We won't have to, because what you're going to do is tap into my suit's vitals readings, wait until they spike, and then take him down."

Diana's jaw dropped. "That's your master plan? Bruce, that'll get you killed! Don't think I don't appreciate the gesture of faith, but that's insane!"

"It's our only chance. We won't be able to beat him without the element of surprise, and that's the only time that he'll have dropped his guard." He jumped into the Batmobile. "Of course, you can stay here, if you prefer." He closed the car's lid, and sped out through the cave's secret exit.

"Hera help me..." Diana groaned, wondering if she'd signed on for more than she'd intended with Bruce. "The things I do..." She shook her head as she flew after the Batmobile.

Author's Note: Will Batman and Wonder Woman manage to defeat Hugo Strange? Will Catwoman make it out of her predicament alive? Will I ever just get to the Goddamn point? Tune in tomorrow to find out, same Bat-time, same Bat-channel!

Actually before I go, I'm going to leave another little sequel teaser. Regarding the identity of the main antagonist. He's all too familiar to the League. You may know him as a Man of Wealth and Taste. What, you thought I was going to just say it? Never. Either way... I hope you guess his name.