A/N: Sorry for it being a couple days late. I've been swamped with all the AP Summer HW I've been putting off. :P I also allow Batman to actually do something in this story, considering that, in the comics, he doesn't do anything at all. (And because, he's Batman, he's awesome.) Well, I hope you enjoy the chapter, even if it is a bit long. Spoilers for Justice League #11. I would appreciate any reviews. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own nothing. All characters belong to their rightful owners.

Chapter 4:

Impatience

I know this place.

Even before I open my eyes, I know where I am.

Crime. Alley.

I can feel it. That familiar sense of dread and despair. It washes over me just as it did all those years ago. The darkness that seems to linger in the walls. This place is dark, in every sense of the word. It swallows me. That foul stench of dirt and grime fills my senses.

This place. This monstrosity makes me feel as if my life will end. In some ways, my life did end in this alley. Maybe, Bruce Wayne never emerged from this alley. Maybe, Bruce Wayne died here along with his parents.

Opening my eyes, I take in the sight. Everything is just as I remember. The walls, cracking from time. The smells, traces of smoke and garbage. The aura, the unmistakable aura. It's exactly the same, everything's exactly the same.

What am I doing here?

Suddenly, I feel my body move, but I wasn't in control. I was only observing from a pair of eyes, a child's eyes. I couldn't move, couldn't speak, couldn't even blink. I was trapped into experiencing everything this boy was experiencing. Whatever he sees, I see. And whatever he hears, I hear. Who is this boy?

There are two people walking in front of him. A man and a woman, walking side by side, his arm wrapped protectively around her waist.

They were dressed very well, obviously of a wealthy status. Long coats and nice suits. Even the body I was in was dressed in a suit. I feel like I know these people, or at least that I should know them.

Then, my legs started running. He pushed through the middle of the couple, laughter echoing through the alley. Still laughing he turns to whom I suspect are his mother and father.

My heart stops.

Those faces, their faces, are exactly the same. That mustache. Those smiles. The same. And adorned on the woman's neck was a pearl necklace.

My mother's necklace.

I couldn't even breathe. This little boy is me. I'm reliving the worst moment of my life, again. I am stuck in my eight-year-old body, waiting for it to happen.

"You know, dad?" I hear my own voice speak, "That movie was pretty good, just like I said it would be!"

I can feel myself thrusting a roll of paper like a sword, no doubt pretending that I was a master swordsman.

Then, he faces- I face my father, "Can I be Zorro when I grow up?"

"Absolutely son," He chuckles. "But we'll need to get you a bigger sword."

I can feel the smile on my face. And I know that this smile will be the last one for decades.

My body continues to practice sword fighting.

"Take that you wicked tyrant!" I exclaim, thrusting my makeshift sword through the air. While my arm practices, I can hear my mother talking to my father in the background, something about nightmares.

I turn to look at them, only to see the smiles on their face vanish as they abruptly stop walking. Confused, I follow their gaze to see, in front of me, two eyes in the shadows, staring past me. They don't look at my father either, no, those eyes are locked only on one thing; the pearl necklace on my mother's neck.

My body instinctively moves backward, against my will. As I move behind my parents, I'm practically shouting on the inside, muttering all the curses I know. I already know what will happen next. I don't want to see it, I want- I need to prevent it, to end this nightmare.

I want to step forward. I want to protect my parents. I want to put all the skills I've learned to use, to save those closest to me. But I cannot. As much as I try, my feet are firmly planted on the ground, my hands, clutching my father's coat.

An overwhelming sense of dread overcomes me as I realize that I cannot do anything. I can't stop him. I can't end his life. I can't save my parents. All I can do is watch as he guns them down. Again.

My inner screaming does nothing as it falls onto deaf ears. No one can hear me.

An eerie silence follows, no one says anything. For a moment, the man does nothing.

But the silence is broken with the click-clack of a gun.

"I'll take that necklace, pretty lady." The animal demands as he outstretches his arm. His voice may not be that genuinely terrifying, but to me, even as I am now, it's the scariest thing I've ever heard.

My father takes a tentative step forward as I inwardly beg him to stay back. He pushes my mother and I behind him.

"Just take it easy. No one has to get hurt," He pleads firmly, "We'll give you what you want. Just calm down."

But, as he takes another step forward, I see the man's hand clench. His trigger finger pulling back. And as I watch, every single thing seems to slow down. His finger pulls the trigger, and I see it all. The bullet leaving the chamber, the crackling bang that follows. My eyes follow the bullet which seems to take seconds to sail through the air before it embeds itself in my father's chest.

The scream that follows will haunt me forever, it has haunted me forever. To hear that noise come from my mother, it seems inhuman.

That noise ends, however, when another bullet hits my mother. Another bullet, another bang, another thud, another death.

And with that he leaves, runs away. He doesn't shoot me, doesn't kill me even though I'm secretly begging for him to. On the inside, I'm screaming with rage. I've already felt the despair, I want to avenge them, to give that man what he deserves, but I can't.

This body, my eight-year-old body, is frozen, unable to move. I feel the wet stains on my face as the tears fall mercilessly. Then, the trembling sets in. My hands, my legs, my entire body is shaking. I can't even stand, so I fall to my knees, in between two dead bodies. The dead bodies of my parents. Blood starts to pool around their bodies and I see those pearls, those goddamn pearls, rolling in the their blood, coating themselves in a dreadful shade of red.

I watched it happen again. But this was different from my nightmares. Here, I watched from my own body, able to hear my own thoughts, but unable to do anything else.

I just watched it happen, again.

One shot. Two shots in the night. Just two seconds and they're gone while I'm left alone. Just a child with two dead bodies at my feet, the stains of their blood oozing around me, mocking me. And there's nothing I can do. Nothing but sit there, and wait.

To my right, the greatest man I have ever known.

To my left, the most caring woman I have ever laid eyes on.

And, in between their bodies, lay me, a child, wondering why he wasn't lucky enough to die this night.

As I sit there, I can actually feel myself die on the inside, just as I did all those years ago.

And as the eyelids on my face shut, as I try to forget the pain, to push past the horror that I just witnessed, the darkness creeps in and takes me.

The only thing I can hear now, is the noise of my tears hitting the floor before they mix with the blood of my parents.

Then, my eyes fly open, and everything is gone. The blood, the bodies, the pearls, everything is just gone. And I'm in the back of the alley again.

It starts all over again.

And I am forced to watch, until everything I feel just stops.

I know how this feels. To experience this pain, this misery, this feeling of hopelessness. It comes to me almost every night, haunting the few hours of sleep I do get. It steals my dreams, only to leave me with an empty feeling. I know this feeling and I know I can overcome it.

"ENOUGH."

It's my voice, my gravelly, cold, adult voice. It booms from the sky, ripping through the darkness, and shakes the ground beneath me.

And then I hear myself again. I'm talking to myself. I'm commanding myself.

"Wake up! Get it out of your head." And as the words thunder around me, this fake reality that feeds off my misery, induced by a madman, starts to break. Things start to disappear.

"Bury it Bruce!" And with that, it shatters. And once again, everything goes black.

This time, as I open my eyes, I see the familiar black of my gauntlets. I'm aboard the watchtower again. Groggily, I push myself off the floor as that blue aura dissipates from around me.

It's time to focus on the mission.

Looking up, I see the rest of the League, still trapped inside their minds. Each of them have a horrified expression on their face. As I focus on Diana, she screams. Forcing myself to get to her, to help her, to end her pain, I move.

And as her scream continues, I yell, "Diana!"

Wonder Woman

I feel so empty. My mother, my loving mother, turned to stone. I couldn't even protect her. I just want to stay here, holding her.

As I am embracing my moth- the stone statue mother has become, I hear a voice call for me.

"Diana!" It screamed, and I started to remember what happened.

I realized that this isn't real. Yes, my mother was turned to stone, but that is in the past. Now, we have a mission to accomplish. I have a purpose. We have to stop Graves, and we have to save Steve.

"Diana! Diana!" The voice screams again. And suddenly the ground begins to shake violently. Soon, everything I see is falling apart. And before the blinding light reaches me, I turn my head to steal one last glimpse at my mother.

I awaken to a cowl. I opened my eyes to find Batman staring at me with a look of concern on his face. Usually, I would see nothing on his stoic face, so to see him actually concerned for my well-being is heartwarming. It seemed that he was the one who saved me from the never-ending misery.

"Mother..." I muttered to myself.

"Diana, are you alright?" Batman asked, and I could hear the concern in his voice. I made sure to remember this, since I don't know how long it will be before he shows emotion again.

"Yes," I reply, noticing that he has one hand on my neck and his other under my back, "I'm all right. Thank you for saving me Batman."

He looks me over once, and then I see his entire expression change. The concern is gone, his usual black expression resurfaces. He gives me a curt nod to acknowledge that I am fine, and helps me up.

"Those attacks seem to trap us in a state of misery, stripping us of our will to do anything." He explains, "It seems, however, that an outside entity can help awaken those affected."

"Then how did you break through? There's no one else here."

"Unimportant." His jaw clenched for a second before it returns to normal. I wanted to push for an explanation, but he cut me off, "Right now, we need to wake the others and go after Graves and get Steve."

I'm not going to let this go, but I admit he's right.

He told me, "Go wake up Flash, Green Lantern, and Cyborg. I'll get Superman and Aquaman."

With a nod, I moved over to Cyborg. I shook him until his eye opened and he returned to normal. I do the same to Green Lantern and Flash.

I looked over and saw Batman finishing things up with Superman.

With everyone still shaky, we waited for a while to regain our composure, we definitely need it after what just happened.

"I couldn't save him." I heard Superman say. He's facing the ground, tears dripping over his face.

With a hand on his face, Green Lantern muttered, "My Dad's plane...it crashed."

"What did those things do to us?" Flash asked.

Naturally, Batman answered him, "Graves' spirits seem to feed off misery."

"What did you see, Batman?

He tried to hide it, but I caught it again. His face hardened, and I could see the anger and despair on his features. Whatever he saw definitely affected him more than he's letting on. "It doesn't matter," He stated, his voice detached, "It's over. Where did Graves jump to Cyborg?"

"He used the teleporters to get to Washington D.C." Cyborg said, "He's at a house belonging to Tracy Trevor."

Hera, no...

"That's Steve's sister." I snarled. I hope she's alright. She doesn't deserve to be in danger for any of with Steve missing...

"Let's move." Batman commanded.

Refocused, we all made our way to the teleporters. We will find Graves and we will bring him to justice.

Arriving at Tracy's home, I found her in the study, her face buried in her hands.

I walked up to her and put a hand on her shoulder. "Tracy?"

She doesn't answer me, and just sits there. I can see the tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Did you see that shimmering?" Green Lantern asked, "Graves just disappeared."

Concerned for what Graves did to her, I asked, "Are you alright, Tracy?"

She looked up at me with pure anger in her eyes and scolded, "Why couldn't you have stayed away from Steve?"

"I..." I tried to explain, tried to tell her that nothing ever happened between us. That I would never do anything to hurt him, he was my first male friend, but she cut me off.

"You already broke his heart. You crushed his self worth." I never meant for that to happen. "But he still dedicated his life to you."

I can't seem to find the words to speak. She continued, "He could already be d-dead because of you. My brother could be dead!"

You better bring him home!" She threatened me, bringing her finger up to point at me, "You better bring Steve home, or I'll haunt you for the rest of your life." And that just adds to my guilt. I have to bring Steve back. This is all my fault.

With that being said, she collapsed back into the chair and buries her face in her hands again as she sobs.

"I'm sorry." I tell her, "I promise, I'll do everything I can to bring Steve back."

She doesn't say anything else.

"Everyone, let's all move outside. We don't need to be intruding." Superman spoke.

We all moved outside to the front yard. As I walked I began to get impatient and I'm still riddled with guilt about what Tracy said.

Once outside, Flash walked up to me, "She's just upset, Wonder Woman." I appreciated the gesture, but it does nothing for me.

"No, she's right, Flash." I tell him, "This is all my fault. I should have never let us get as close as we did." We weren't a couple, were just friends, but spending a lot of time with a friend still puts them in danger. I have to find Steve and bring him back.

"We'll find who has Steve, Diana." Superman assured me.

"We already know." Batman stated as he closed a book, "His name is David Graves."

"Who's David Graves?" Green Lantern questioned.

"The author." Superman explained, "We saved him and his family during Darkseid's invasion. Then he wrote a book about us."

"I didn't finish it." Green Lantern admitted sheepishly as he rubs the back of his neck.

"But you know it catapulted us into the public's favor."

"Us kicking Darkseid's rocky ass did that. C'mon, Superman, it sounds like you admire this lunatic."

"As a writer, I did." Superman stated.

Then, Cyborg pulled up a diagram of five people as Batman used it to explain, "David Graves disappeared a few years ago. After his wife and children dies, everyone presumed he had, too. He was terminal."

"With what?" Aquaman asked.

"According to the files, doctors never identified the cause. They thought it was some form of cancer," Batman explained. I know he feels the need to be thorough with his investigation and research, but we were wasting time. All I needed is the location and I'm leaving to go get Steve.

"I have his last known address. A writing cabin in Maine." Time to go get Steve.

With that knowledge, I started walking away to get to Maine. Of course, as I started walking, Batman noticed and trailed me.

"Where are you going, Wonder Woman? He demanded.

"To Graves' cabin." I deadpanned, "I'm going to find him. I'm going to cut his head off. And I'm going to bring Steve home."

"This is a League mission, not a Wonder Woman one." He tells me, "And we don't cut off anyone's head."

"I do." I shot back, "And the more you hold me back, the more likely Steve's already dead."

"This wasn't just an attack on you."

"I need to do this myself." I stated. Doesn't he understand that this is my fault? I caused this problem. And I, sure as Hades, am going to fix it.

"I can't risk Steve's life." I tell him.

And, of course, Green Lantern decided to put his nose into this conversation. "So you don't trust us top help?" He asked.

"Lantern. I have this." Batman declared, his fists clenching at the interruption.

Then, I'm stopped by a green bubble. He is really getting on my last nerve. Hera, If he doesn't let me out I am going to...

"Steve's important to all us, Wonder Woman." Green Lantern tells me.

"Since when?" I asked, disbelief written all over my face.

"Since we know how much he means to you. You may not say it, but we all know why you cut it off, even if you didn't want to."

I'm getting really tired of people assuming things about Steve and I's relationship. We are not, have never, and never will be together. Is that so hard to understand?

Deciding not to even dignify his remark with another explanation of my platonic relationship with Steve, I decided to give him one last chance.

"Let me out of here, Lantern." I demanded.

"Don't be as stubborn as me. Graves took us all down, Wonder Woman. You need back-up."

"Let me out of here." This is it. If he doesn't...

"No." He stated as I turn to glare at him.

To Hades with it.

I turned and gave him a backhand to the face. His nose made a crunch noise and blood spills from his nostrils as he gets sent through his green barrier and into the air. I didn't want to fight anyone, but time is running out.

By now, a crowd of people have gathered, and they just saw me smack Green Lantern. I watched as he hits a car. Flash sped over to him to help him up.

As he helps Lantern up, Flash asked, "You okay?"

"Did you see that?" Someone from the crowd muttered while he took pictures, "Wonder Woman kicked Green Lantern's ass."

Making my way over to him, sword in hand, I heard him say, "Like hell she did."

And with that, he burrowed into my midsection, tackling me into the air, in a flash of green light. He wants a real fight? I'll give him one.

"Lantern?" Flash asked worriedly.

In the air, I broke free from his grasp to punch him in his stomach. He countered by smashing me with a green hammer. Not to be outdone, as the hammer tries to strike at me again, I slashed through it with my sword. It does however, manage to push me downward toward the ground.

"You've been dying for this, haven't you?" Lantern yelled, cocking his fist to try and punch me.

"This isn't giving me any pleasure." I tell him, but I can't help but add, "But I'm sure you've heard that before."

And with that, I sliced into his chest with my sword. It's not deep, but it still hurts as his blood spills out as he yells, "Ahhh!" And before he can counter me, I got to the ground, and put my body behind the punch I gave him. Not full strength, but it still sends him flying for the second time. But, before I can follow up, a hand grabs hold of my blade, stopping it in place.

"Diana!" Superman yells, "St-"

Before he can finish his command I turned and gave him a kick to the face. I don't want to hurt my teammates, but we are all wasting time. Why won't they just let me go to Maine?

Superman got knocked back into cars, but even that doesn't stop him.

In the background I heard Batman shouting out orders. "Aquaman! Flash! Get the civilians clear!"

"This is crazy!" Flash exclaimed before taking off.

"Cyborg, get to Wonder Woman and-"

"Batman," Cyborg cut in, "We have trouble. I don't know how he's doing it, but Graves is broadcasting this fight. It's on every station. Every computer. Every phone."

"Fuck." Batman said, "We have to end this and get out of here."

"The whole world is watching. I'm trying to scramble the signal, but he's bounced it across a dozen different satellites. It's going to take a minute."

"We don't have a minute!" Batman yells over his shoulder as he makes his way towards me.

While they were discussing the broadcast, Lantern felt the need to get hit again. He sped up to me and started shooting green energy blasts at me. With my bracelets I block all of them, sending them flying everywhere. In the background, I see Flash keeping everyone safe by getting them away from the scene. If it weren't for him, the ricocheted blasts could've hit someone.

As Lantern neared, he switched from energy blasts to a giant green gauntlet. With it, he tries to contain me again by wrapping me in its hand. When will he learn? Using all my strength, I broke out of his hold, destroying his constructed gauntlet and making him stumble to the ground.

Then, still in battle fury, I hear someone yell my name from behind. Thinking it's Superman again, I turn and swing my blade at the approaching person. But, as I laid my eyes on the person, they widen. Hera!

It's Batman. He's just standing behind me. His hands at his sides. His expression blank.

I was barely able to stop my blade before it struck him. The last thing I want to do is hurt him.

My blade stopped at his neck. But it still nicks him. Barely. I watched as a drop of blood makes its way from the barely perceptible wound to my blade, the shining silver stained by the crimson liquid. If I didn't stop, I would've decapitated him. Unable to even bear the thought, I couldn't seem to find my voice. I just stood there, eyes wide, with my blade still resting on his neck.

He didn't even flinch. Not even a twitch in the finger or anything. He just stood there like he is doing now, his face still infuriatingly blank.

He stared at me for what felt like an eternity before he commanded, "Cyborg. Get us out of here." His voice, cool and detached. Why isn't he yelling at me? Scolding me?

Then I noticed that everyone has made their way to us. And before we transported, I turn towards Batman again. The cold white lenses of his cowl met my eyes as the seven of us disappeared in a flash of light.

Even after we arrived at the cabin in Maine, he still stared at me, not saying anything. Not a word.

Finally finding my voice, I tried to explain and apologize, "Batman, I-"

He cut me off, "Don't. I don't care about your personal issues with anyone on this team. But, we have a mission to do, and a life to save. You can fight each other when the mission is over." And with that he turned to begin looking around the cabin.

"The broadcast, Batman-" Cyborg reminded us worriedly.

"We'll deal with it later." Batman responded, flipping through the pages of a book.

Still feeling horrible for everything I did, and for the fact that I almost killed him a few minutes ago, I made my way over to Batman.

I reached out with my left arm to grab his and once I have a firm grasp, I tried to apologize again, "Batman, I am really-"

He turned to me, his gaze colder than I have ever seen, and in an equally cold voice said, "We'll deal with it later."

A/N: Review Please!