DISCLAIMERS/NOTES

1. This is a fan fiction based on characters owned by DC Comics. I DO NOT OWN THEM. This is just for fun.

2. My continuity branches off after the end of Season 1. So the last episode to occur was the two-part "The Savage Time". No Season 2. No JL Unlimited.

PART 9

Batman walked down the many corridors of the underground complex. It had not taken him long to realise that Luthor was using a nuclear fallout shelter as a hideout. There were massive rooms, designed to keep food and drink supplies. The complex was designed like a house, with corridors and rooms, to give a feeling of warmth and home to anyone who had to stay there for a long period of time.

Batman wondered just how large the shelter was. Luthor must have invested millions in its construction.

He came across a metal door. He turned the handle and entered the room.

It was like a massive gas chamber, with canisters, tubes and pipes running for metres in every direction. In the middle of the room was a large pumping machine, and Batman heard the noise of the inner mechanisms working away. Somewhere, this machine was pumping gas.

He looked around at the canisters. They were all labelled, but he would have recognised them regardless. Ether, chloroform, halothane, even hospital anaesthetic. There was enough knockout gas here to subdue a whale for weeks – or metahumans for days.

Batman realised Luthor must have been using the stuff to keep the Justice League at bay. They were probably in some chamber or compound, with the gas on some kind of continual pump. If kept there long enough, they would die.

Suddenly, Batman heard movement from down the corridor. He kept to the shadows, slipping out of the room. He hugged the wall and looked around the corner - to see a red-and-silver-clad masked man with a can in his hand.

Batman approached him slowly, silently, then reached out and grabbed him by the shirt, forcefully yanking him off his feet and holding him to his face by the collar.

"You're not very good at taking advice, Deadshot."

Deadshot looked shocked, but appeared to recover quickly. "Yeah, well, I don't listen to my shrink, Batman, so what makes you think I'll listen to you?"

Batman ignored the joke. "Where's Luthor?" he growled.

"Mr. Anti-Hair? He's getting ready for the big party. Everyone's invited – all your Justice League buddies."

Batman's eyes narrowed. "What's he got planned?"

"Let's just say… Superman's gonna watch everyone he cares about get it."

"Luthor's going to kill the League," Batman surmised. "And he's going to make Superman watch?"

"Hey, you ARE the world's greatest detective," Deadshot said.

Batman shook the mercenary violently. "Where's Luthor keeping them? TALK!"

"Well, I would, but…" Deadshot suddenly put a hand on Batman's arm, and a short electric shock burst out from his palm. Batman screamed in agony and let go of Deadshot. Taking his opportunity, Deadshot punched Batman in the face with his padded glove. Batman fell to the floor, shaken, still recovering from the electric shock.

"Just a little device that I like to keep in my palm, Batman," said Deadshot. He then kicked him hard in the gut.

Weakened, Batman looked up to see Deadshot standing over him. The mercenary then placed his foot on Batman's bad shoulder, and a jolt of pain shot up his arm. As Batman gritted his teeth, Deadshot lowered a gun to his head.

"Time to say goodbye, Bats…"

However, Batman quickly removed a tiny batarang from his belt with his left hand, and, like lightning, flicked it to his right hand, then poked it into the barrel of the gun.

Deadshot pulled the trigger… and the gun, blocked, exploded in his hand.

"Arrrrrrrrrrrrgh!" Deadshot shouted as he flew back from the shock.

Batman slowly stood up. "Just a little device that I like to keep in MY palm," he said.

Enraged, Deadshot charged towards the Dark Knight. "Raaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrgh!"

Batman remained still, then pulled his arm back and punched Deadshot right in the face, breaking his nose and smashing his eyepiece.

Deadshot slumped to the floor, out cold.

Batman held his hurting left shoulder and sighed. That was too close. He was in no shape to be there. But he had to be. He was the only chance the League had.

He returned to the gas pumping room. He had to find some way to turn the machine off before it was too late.

He hoped he still had enough time.

/

Batman examined the pumping machine, not sure where to begin. There was no simple "Off" switch; it needed a series of commands to shut it down. Luthor almost certainly password-protected it. Batman considered just demolishing it, but it was a massive, and the noise of him destroying it would attract attention before he could do any real damage to it.

Suddenly he received a message from his ear communicator. A voice called his name. It was Diana.

"Batman, are you there…"

Batman put a hand to his ear, activating the device. "Yes, Diana, what's happening?" He noticed her voice sounded pained.

"Batman, there's several of them… they've got Superman…"

Batman narrowed his eyes. This he did not plan on. Now it was just Diana and he against the Injustice Gang. "Where are you?" he asked.

There was silence for a moment. "I need help here," she eventually replied. "I'm not sure where I am. I…"

Suddenly, Diana's voice broke off, and the line went dead. "Diana!" Batman shouted. "DIANA!"

He quickly removed a tracking device from his utility belt and homed in on Diana's communicator. Unlike the other Leaguers, hers was not deactivated, merely not working. It must have been damaged in someway.

Getting a lock on her, Batman raced towards her location. He found he could not run fast enough; his fight with Deadshot had taken more out of him that he thought, and he still had not rested enough after his injury. It was only a minute or so before he felt tired. And Diana was a long way away…

Eventually, he reached the area where her communicator signal was coming from. He stopped and caught his breath. He was exhausted. He looked down and saw an exit door on the floor. Diana was somewhere beyond that.

He opened the door and saw a ladder leading downwards. He climbed down and, upon reaching the end, jumped off and found himself in a deep cave.

He knew there were caverns below this area of country, but he had no idea they were so huge. The caves went on as far as he could see, disappearing into distant darkness. He looked at the tracking device and began walking in the direction the signal was coming from.

As he zeroed in on Diana's location, he calculated that he must be over one-hundred feet below ground. He also remembered there was a deep abyss in this area. He feared Diana had somehow fallen down.

But she could fly. She would be in no danger.

Unless…

Unless the Gang did something to her. Knocked her out, or weighed her down. Or…

Batman shook his head. He had to forget about what MIGHT be, and just find her.

It took him an eternity to reach the signal's location. He stopped and looked ahead of him. There was complete darkness. He was about to reach for his torch, when he heard a voice from a distance away.

"Batman… are you there? Come in!"

It was Diana. She was still alive. She was somewhere here, hidden in the darkness of the caves.

"Diana!" Batman shouted.

"Batman!" he heard. "I'm down here!"

He ran as fast as he could, following the sound of her voice… then stopped short of death.

He ground to a halt as he saw the outline of the edge of the ground beneath him. He avoided plummeting by inches.

He looked down and could make out the abyss below him, with no end. "Where are you?" he said.

"I'm down here," came the answer.

Batman removed his torch from his belt and shone it down the cavern. There, he saw Diana, hanging on by her lasso, which was tied to a petruding piece of rock, a few metres down the cavern. "Are you alright?" he asked, worry in his tone.

"I can't fly," she replied. "Luthor shot me with… some kind of laser. I can't concentrate enough…"

"Don't worry, I'll get you up from there," said Batman. He removed his grappling hook from his belt and pressed the release trigger. The hook shot out, but he stopped it with his hand and held it. He then lowered the grapple down to Diana, keeping a hold on the hook. "Take hold of it," he said.

Diana reached up for the grapple, losing her grip slightly on her lasso. She slipped a few inches, barely managing to stop herself. Pebbles and dirt fell around her as she slid down the rockface.

"Diana!" Batman gasped, but breathed out when he saw she had regained a hold of her lasso and stopped herself. He lowered the grapple a foot lower and she caught it.

"Now, press the trigger, and the line will retract." Batman released the hook and Diana pressed the trigger. The hook retracted back to the grapple.

"Now," Batman instructed, "Fire diagonally upwards, aiming for the rock behind me."

"OK," Diana said, and aimed a few feet from where Batman was standing. She pressed the trigger and the line shot out. The hook hit the rock and imbedded itself in. Diana yanked it a couple of times to make sure it was secure.

"OK, press the trigger again to retract," said Batman.

Diana did what he said and the line pulled her up the abyss and to safety. She kept ahold of her lasso as it slipped off the petrudment it was hooked onto as she passed it.

She settled on the ground next to Batman and fell to her knees. He rushed to her side and held her, to steady her. "Are you alright?" he asked softly.

"Yes," Diana said. "I'm just a bit tired. I was holding on for quite awhile. I'm still a bit weak…"

Batman looked down and saw the burn mark on Diana's leg. "Luthor's laser," he commented, not really asking.

"Yes," she said. "I'll be alright. We have to stop Luthor. We have to get back to the main base."

"No," Batman said. "I've found what's holding the others. It's a pumping machine with tranquillising gas. They must be in some chamber, being fed the gas. We'll be of better help to them if we shut down the machine first."

"OK," Diana said. "Let's go."

They walked back to the ladder leading back upto the hideout. The entire way there, Batman kept his eye on Diana, staying at her side and helping her keep steady. She was still weak.

Two injured Justice Leaguers against several highly dangerous villains.

The situation did not look good at all.

/

Batman and Diana arrived in the room housing the pumping machine. "This is it," Batman said. "We have to destroy this machine."

"Easy as that?" Diana asked.

"The gas will take some time to stop," he said. "From what you told me, the Gang are holding the Leaguers quite some distance from here. It will take awhile for the last of the gas to reach them. Once the machine is destroyed, I calculated it'll take about twenty minutes for all the gas to be used up."

"We better get a move on then," Diana said. She walked over to the door, and began pulling at it. However, it stayed where it was. Diana strained as hard as she could, but the door would not move.

Batman instinctively put a hand on her shoulder. She jerked her head at the contact. Almost immediately, he realised what he had done and quickly removed his hand. He had to stay focused. He could not allow himself to get lost with the woman he loved.

"You're still quite weak," he said as flatly as he could, but his concern still showed. "Take a minute for your strength to fully return."

Diana released her grip on the door and turned to him. "I don't know what's wrong with me," she said.

Batman looked at the burn mark on her leg. "Luthor probably shot you with a synaptic bullet. It's designed to weaken the nerves in the body and generally make a person feel awful. But given your heightened metabolism, you should recover in a few minutes."

"We can't wait forever," Diana said. "Luthor's about to kill the others!"

"I'm hoping he'll wait until he has all of us," Batman said. "He already has five, and he thinks you're dead. I'm hoping that he'll wait for me to turn up before puts his plan into action."

"Still, we can't just sit here," she sighed.

"We're not in any position to mount a rescue," said Batman. "There is no way we could hold off the entire Gang until the gas wore off. We're both hurt already. We have to wait."

Diana looked at his shoulder. "Yeah… I'm… sorry about that."

"About what?"

"You're shoulder. It's my fault you were hurt."

"It's not your fault," Batman said sternly.

"How can you say that?" Diana snapped. Batman was taken aback. "I was there to protect you, and you still got hurt! I was useless!" Diana slumped down on a bench, putting her head in her hands.

Batman looked at her. He could not allow the woman he cherished to feel responsible for his injury. "Diana…" he said, "You weren't responsible. I knew what I was doing. I moved you out of the way so you didn't…" He stopped himself.

She looked at him. "Didn't what?" she asked.

"I…" Batman stuttered. He did not want to admit that he could not bear to see her hurt either. "I did it so you didn't… put yourself in unnecessary danger."

Diana's face softened. "Unnecessary? Batman, nothing's unnecessary when it comes to you…" She suddenly stopped herself and looked away.

Batman was incredibly conflicted. He wanted nothing more that to hold her, to comfort her and never let her go. But he could not. He had to keep his dark, cold image. He had to remain the Batman. He had to…

Diana closed her eyes.

He had to…

"I'm sorry," she said quietly.

He…

Her head fell.

He…

He went on his knees and looked at her. He took her hand in his and held it delicately. She looked up at him slowly as she felt the contact.

"You must be disgusted with me now…" she said.

Batman shook his head slowly. "That could never happen, Diana…" he whispered. He stroked her cheek with his other hand and smiled slightly.

Diana stood and Batman followed her up. They stared at eachother for a long time.

The moment was undeniable. Their feelings for eachother had come to the surface. Holding back was no longer possible, no longer important. They had lost themselves in the moment. There was no holding them back anymore.

They leaned closer to eachother, and their lips met gently. A few seconds passed, before the contact ceased.

They looked into eachother's eyes.

They kissed again, their passion intensifying. They pulled themselves closer to eachother, and their lips were locked, inseparable. Batman held her firmly by the waist as Diana wrapped her arms around the back of his neck.

They stayed together, locked in their embrace…

TO BE CONTINUED