Gotc: Well I've got a grand total of like two days left to write before school starts again an consumes my entire life...stupid journalism...

Ace: You wanted to take the class.

Gotc: Yeah well, I didn't think I'd be stuck with idiots again this year. sigh But that's what fanfiction's for right?

Ace: Maybe in the world you live in.

Gotc: T-T Thanks Ace...I think I'll go jump in a river now...well after this chap maybe.

Ace: stops grabbing party stuff Darn.

Gotc: Squeaky!!!

Squeaky: Squeak! (If you haven't figured out that Gotc doesn't own this stuff by now, then you may want to join her in the bridge jumping thing.)

Ace: You wouldn't be interested in going would you?

Squeaky: Squeak. (Nope.)

Gotc: We'll let them figure this out. Read on! P.S: italics are also for other languages... you'll see.

Rise of the Guardian: Ancient Power, Modern Age

CHAPTER 3: More than Meets the Eye

In the rough downtown streets of Gotham, it didn't take long for Wonder Woman to realize that her costume attracted far too much unwanted attention, and drove away anyone who may have had any information as to the whereabouts of Ace Cooper. Most people on this side of Gotham wanted as little to do with the Justice League as humanly possible. She ducked into a clothing store, much to the surprise of the clerk, and picked out a form-fitting, pale green shirt, and a pair of jeans.

"No, p-please. I-it's on the house." The clerk said as she tried to pay.

Diana shrugged, and left the money on the counter anyway after a quick change, and put her costume in a bag . (A/n: personal relations, or the incognito thing will be on first name basis.) Now people were open and friendly, but no one had any idea who Ace Cooper even was. There was one boy who had watched a fight of his on t.v. several years ago, but when she asked if he was in Gotham, he just walked away laughing.

She was getting nowhere, and now it was well past noon and right in the heat of the day. She sat down on the banister of old boarding house for a break, when a commotion inside caught her attention. She didn't think much of it until she heard the unmistakable sound of things being thrown, and shattering against a wall or it's intended target. Deciding that maybe she should be moving on she got up from her seat, but before she started to walk away, the door to the building opened, and a man came falling backwards out of it. He tumbled down the stairs head first, and came to a rest half sticking into the sidewalk.

"LENA, YOU SHE-WITCH!!!! THAT HURT!!!!" He yelled back at the door rubbing the back of his head.

"That's what you get for getting two months behind on your rent!" An older woman shouted back at him, when you pay me back I"ll let you back in."

"But all my stuff's in there!!!"

"Collateral to make sure you get my money." She said in a matter-of-fact tone, "Now get moving Ace, money doesn't just fall from the sky you know."

The woman walked away, shutting the door behind her, leaving Ace glaring daggers at it. Diana stared at the man in front of her. The old woman had just called him Ace, and as far as she knew, Ace wasn't a popular name, but...There was no way that this could be the same man that had taken out Batman the night before, could it?

The man finally noticed Diana standing behind him, and craned his head backwards to get a better look at her.

"Oh hello." He said politely before hopping to his feet and turning to face her, "Sorry about all that. Name's Ace Cooper. You?"

Diana hesitated. It was him. He matched Batman's description perfectly, right down to the jean jacket.

"Oh, well you don't have to tell me your name if you don't want." He said pulling his hand back, "You just looked new around here, like you were lost or something."

"Oh! No. I was...just looking for someone." She said quickly. It wasn't a lie, and besides, she couldn't risk losing him now that she had found him, "My name's Diana."

"It's a pleasure to meet you Diana." He said with a smile, "I have a good friend who's name is Diana. Well, I've got nothing better to do for the rest of the day now that I'm homeless, so would you like a tour?"

"Oh great...Now what do I do? I can't get in touch with the League if I'm wandering around Gotham with this guy..."

"Diana, go with him," came Superman's voice over the com-link, "You hadn't reported in for awhile, so I asked J'onn to tap into your com in case you were in trouble. I've already contacted the rest of the League, so they already know what's going on. We'll be right behind you if something goes wrong."

"Um, sure! That sounds like fun."She said with a confident nod.

"Cool. Maybe we can find your friend while we're out. You run into all kinds of people on this side of town." Ace said leading the way.

Diana started to follow him as he continued to talk, smiling and nodding, but not really listening. There was no way this could be right. This guy was supposed to be some evil monster with connections in the Shade dealings, not the one leading her around the South District and talking about the buildings there and which ones he liked best. She was usually a fairly good judge of character, and while this guy was definitely odd, he wasn't dangerous. His eyes did catch here attention though. They were by no means easy to read, on the surface hey were bright, and happy, without a care in the world. But something ran deeper than that. She could see years of pain bleeding through them, especially when he called her by name.

"So Ace," she asked, "How long have you been in Gotham?"

"Hmmm..." Good question." He mused, "I guess close to six months."

"Where did you live before here?"

"A bunch of different places. Egypt, Japan, France, a tiny island in the South Pacific. I've been allover the world. Though I stopped traveling as much."

"Why?"

"Well, you get attached to people. And it just gets harder and harder to leave every time."

"So why didn't you just stay?"

"There were always a number of reasons. Money, wanderlust, a new opportunity. I've never been able to stay in one place for too long."

" Then what do you do?"

"Do?"

"Like a job."

"Oh! I don't have a job per-se, I'm more of a handyman. I do odd jobs here and there for different people." He said, " I've always been good with my hands, and I never learned any real entrepreneurial trade that just keeps the money coming in. When things were better, I could usually count on one big paycheck that I would live off of for most of the year, but recently I've been pretty short on cash."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be." He chuckled, " I do alright for myself when things get tough. What about you?"

"I do...a lot of volunteer work."

"Cool. Oh you're gonna love this place," He said changing the subject.

They rounded a corner and walked into a large plaza. A huge fountain decorated the center, spouting jets of water high into the air. Shops and stalls dotted the square, selling anything from fish to jewelry. The whole place buzzed with life. Kids played various games around the fountain, while their parents shopped the different stores.

"This place is beautiful." Diana said in awe. She could hardly imagine a place like this in such a rundown part of the city, much less believe that she was seeing it with her own eyes.

"Best kept secret of Gotham," Ace said with pride, " I must have stood here with my mouth open for five minutes the first time I saw it."

Suddenly, a group of happy kids started running towards them and plowed over Ace, some jumping onto his shoulders, others grabbing onto his legs and arms.

"Hey guys! Knock it off, I can't move! Come on I'm gonna-"

Ace didn't get to finish before he toppled to the ground, and lay in a laughing heap.

"Alright," He laughed, "Get off. There's someone I'd like you guys to meet. Everybody, this is Diana. Diana, everybody."

"Hello." She said with a smile.

"You're pretty." One little girl came up to her and said, "You look like a princess."

Diana blushed a deep red.

"Thank you."

"Ace!" She said, turning around, "Guess what?! Today's my birthday!!"

"It is?! Well just how old are you Anna?" He said bending down.

"Six!" She squealed, "And look! I got a new doll!"

"Well isn't that nice?" Ace said standing back up, "Hm. What am I going to get you though?"

In the blink of an eye, he snatched Anna up and set her on his shoulders, and trotted off to the nearest store with a trail of kids in tow. Diana followed despite herself. Once inside, Ace let Anna off and set her loose in the store, while he picked up several bags of groceries.

"Afternoon Ace." the storekeeper greeted them.

"Hey Sam," Ace said coming up to the counter, "Hey, you wouldn't happen to have Sarah's medicine in by any chance, would ya?"

"Ace, that stuff's expensive." Sam said seriously, "And I heard Lena kicked you out this morning too."

"I'll survive," Ace shrugged setting the bags on the counter, "These too if you don't mind."

"Ace!" Anna said running up to them holding a robin's egg blue dress, "Can I get this?! Please? It's so pretty!"

"Of course," Ace smiled.

"Ace..." Sam said worriedly

"Don't worry about it. Now how much do I owe ya?"

"Eighty-seven fifty."Ace counted out the money and handed it to Sam. Anna put on her new dress and ran outside with the other kids.

"Ace! I'm gonna go show my mommy ok?!" She called back.

"Alright! Hey, tell her I'll be there in a few minutes to drop off a few things ok?"

"'Kay!" She called before taking off for home.

"So, tell me something," Diana said heading down the same alley Anna had taken, "You don't have enough money to put a roof over your own head, but you're buying gifts for a six year-old girl?"

"Why not?" Ace shrugged, "You're only young once. Besides, she lives alone with her mom who has a heart condition. Happy days for a kid like that are far and few between. She should at least be happy on her birthday."

That was an answer Diana wasn't expecting. She'd dealt with pretenders before, people blending in making friend to disguise who they really were, but this seemed far too genuine to be fake.

Diana was so deep in though that she didn't see the trash can in front of her. Ace laughed as he helped her to her feet.

"You need to be a bit more careful," He chuckled.

"Well you could have warned me." Diana huffed walking off.

"Hold on! You dropped your bag!" Ace called after her and bending down to get her bag.

Diana's heart froze in her chest, and one of her manacles rolled from the bag as Ace picked it up. They both stared at it for a brief moment before Ace grabbed it too and handed them back to Diana, but not before looking the manacle over.

"It's make is beautiful." He said rolling it about in his hands, "It's as polished as silver but strong as steel. Who ever made this was truly an expert craftsman, I've never seen its equal."

He handed it back to Diana, who hurriedly stuffed it into her bag again. Ace shrugged his shoulders and walked ahead. For a moment, she thought she was in the clear, until Ace dropped to the ground and swung his leg at her feet.

Years of fighting instincts kicked in and Diana jumped into the air to avoid being knocked to the ground. Ace picked himself off of the ground and looked up at Wonder Woman.

"That's what I thought." Ace grinned, " Now, you mind telling me why you've been following me around all day?"

"Can't a superhero enjoy a day off?" Wonder Woman retorted.

"Please, drop the act. It's rather annoying."

"You attacked one of us last night," She said, "Don't tell me that you didn't think we would find you."

"Not this soon I'll admit. And for the record, he attacked me first." Ace pointed out

"Well now it's our turn." Superman's voice called as the rest of the League arrived

"Oh God. There's more of you?" Ace sighed exasperatedly.(A/n: not even sure if this is a word.)

"What did you think was gonna happen when you attack one of us?" Flash barked.

"You take it as a hint and keep your colored pajamas out of other people's business."

"Why you-!" Flash growled before attacking.

The Scarlet Speedster threw a punch right at Ace's head, only to have him sidestep at the last second and connect with a punch of his own. Flash crumpled over Ace's fist and dropped to the ground.

"Stay there, "Ace growled to Flash, "Now, are the rest of you gonna leave me alone, or do I have to make the rest of you look like nothing more than a bunch of kids at Halloween?"

"Sorry, but we don't take to kindly to threats. "Superman said diving out of the air.

This time, Ace met the Man of Steel head on, grabbing both fists meant for him, and stopping him dead in his tracks.

"No way."

Ace smirked as he threw Superman into Green Lantern, sending them both crashing an adjacent building. Out of the corner of his eye, he seen Hawkgirl bearing down on top of him, mace poised to strike. He grabbed the mace as she swung, and used her momentum to slingshot her into a nearby dumpster, then hurl the mace at a charging Wonder Woman, dropping her out of the sky.

"You guys are pathetic," Ace mocked, "If they call you Earth's greatest heroes, I am seriously concerned."

A blast of green light cleared the hole Superman and Lantern had crashed through, allowing them to climb back into the alley.

"Well," Green lantern said, "That Argon guy did say he was tough."

The name caught Ace's attention, and ignited a fire behind his azure eyes.

"What was that name?!!" He snarled at Lantern.

At that moment Hawkgirl's fist connected with Ace's face, knocking him backwards.

"You wanna call us 'pathetic' now?!"

Ace turned to her, his cheek split open and bleeding, but both eyes blazing with rage. He grabbed Hawkgirl and threw her hard into Superman and Lantern before taking off down the alley. Wonder Woman took off into the air in hot pursuit. He lead her through the twisting passages, and into an abandoned factory lot, where she finally manages to tackle him.

"What's so important about Argon huh?!?" Wonder Woman said pinning Ace to the ground.

Ace stared fiercely at Wonder Woman.

"Renhi tunhec Argon dacreli se comen nitu hali." He growled back at her, before kicking her in the stomach, and taking off again.

Wonder Woman watched after him stunned, unsure of what she had just heard. The language was ancient, older than Latin or Greek, and it was one she had never heard come from the mouths of anyone outside of Theymascara. It was Atlantean.

Gotc: Yay for the cliffie! Unfortunately I'm in a hurry, so short afterword here. Don't forget to review, cause they make me feel loved. I might be able to put up another chap, but if not, I'll be able to post again this summer. Thx for reading!!!!