Never Simple: Fight

He loved to watch her fight. She always put her entire being into it; she wasn't just there physically, but she put her mind and spirit into battles as well. He would expect no less from her by this point, especially considering she grew up as a warrior. He remembered their first battle as a makeshift team together—against the alien invaders that had annihilated J'onn's people. He had heard her cry out when she thought he had been killed, and while he thought little of it at the time, it warmed his heart to recall it now. Of course, she barely knew him then. It was the first time he had seen someone so completely and utterly lost in something. All the others had ulterior motives at least some of the time; their minds always had other thoughts. He could see it on their faces. But not her. Just looking at her, he could tell that the one and only thing in her mind was the battle. He admired her devotion, and mildly wondered what it would be like to be on the receiving end. He was of the mindset, however, that there shouldn't be any affairs between colleagues. It was an argument he was having more and more trouble rationalising recently. Especially with John and Shayera involved. He didn't want there to be a questions of favouritism, or any sort of compromising situation. He frowned. His enemies could use her against him, too. He would not allow anyone else to be hurt because of him ever again.

"Batman, behind you!" The Flash yelled, zooming past him.

Without sparing a glance, he pulled out his grappling gun and pulled himself out of the way of danger. One of the creatures they were fighting barrelled through the spot he had just been occupying.

"Thanks," he said.

"Don't mention it, Bats," Flash replied, darting between two creatures.

Batman swung himself up onto the ledge his grappling hook had latched on to and looked down at the fight below him. He ran a few calculations through his head, then checked how many timed detonators he had. The League was getting overwhelmed by the sheer volume of numbers that these creatures came in, and they were tough to boot. If he could lure most—if not all—overtop of some bombs… Plan in mind, he slipped back down the ledge, drawing some detonators out as he went. He'd spotted the ideal location to set a trap, and it was bottlenecked as well. His teammates were keeping their enemies thoroughly occupied, so he was more than able to go about his business unnoticed.

His plan was simple: bury a number of small detonators along the sides and middle of the narrow location he'd picked, lure the creatures overtop, then detonate them. He wasn't sure how much time he had, so he moved quickly to finish burying them, his full attention on his task. He kept an ear open in case any of the others shouted for his assistance, but he was confident they could keep the creatures at bay a little while longer. Within a few minutes, he was finished, and made his way back up the ledge so he could see both the battle still raging and his bomb location. Crouching down, he spoke quietly into the comm unit.

"I need you all to lead as many of these things as you can into a bottlenecked area to the southwest," he said, pulling the detonator from one of his belt containers. "Once they're all in, get out on my signal."

He received a chorus of concurrences. As he watched the Leaguers slowly retreated to the southwest, into and then through his trap. He waited until almost all the creatures were squeezed into the small space before he called out,

"Now!"

The instant he saw his colleagues rapidly depart the area, he flipped the cap on the detonator up and pressed the button underneath. Two-dozen explosions decimated the narrow gorge and the creatures within it. The others joined him on the ledge. Flash leaned over the edge slightly and gave a low whistle.

"Man, you really did a number on them, Bats," he said as the smoke started to clear, revealing a littering of bodies. He glanced back at Bruce. "Remind me never to get on your bad side."

"Probably a good idea," Superman said.

"I didn't get all of them, though," Bruce pointed out.

There were at least six of the creatures left that didn't get caught in the explosions, although they looked dazed by it.

"Right," Flash said. "We're on it." The others' capes fluttered as he ran off.

Superman was the next to leave, and as Batman was about to follow suit, Wonder Woman landed in front of him, stopping his progress.

What is it, Diana?"

"You're not going back down there."

He glared at her. "What makes you think you can stop me?"

She smiled at him. "Bad choice of words," she told him.

Before he could say another word, she scooped him up by his arms and took to the air. He protested and wriggled a bit.

"What do you think you're doing?" he snarled. "You're no good in hand-to-hand combat with them, Bruce. I won't see you hurt unnecessarily."

"Who made you my bodyguard?" He continued before she could answer. "You know as well as anyone that I can handle myself in a fight—even one like this. There are always ways around anything." His voice grew deadly. "You'll want to put me down. I don't want to have to use force."

"If you think you can force your way out when we're this high up and I'm stronger—"

"Heights don't scar me," he told her. Then, "I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what—?" She didn't get to say more.

Bruce, against his better judgement but seeing no other way, pulled out his electrified brass knuckles and gave her a mild shock. Not enough to seriously injure her or even cause unconsciousness, but enough for her to release him involuntarily. He pulled out his gatling gun as he fell and took aim at a rockface nearby. Using that to swing to the ground, he kept the knuckles up, but turned up the intensity.

"Batman!" Superman yelled. "What did you do?"

The man in question punched a creature about to attack him and didn't flinch as electricity flickered over it, leaving it smoking and incapacitated at the least. Superman took out the last of the creatures and flew over to Batman. Flash and Wonder Woman joined them.

"Like to answer me now, Batman?" Clark folded his arms over his chest.

"What in Hades were you thinking?" Diana demanded, hands on her hips and her rage directed at Bruce.

"Uh-oh…" Wally said, backing away.

Bruce turned to look at her, undaunted by her anger.

"Why don't you tell me, first?" he said.

"What?" She appeared surprised.

Bruce moved closer to Diana. "Why did you try and prevent me from fighting?"

Wally and Clark exchanged a glance.

"You would have been hurt," the Amazon tried to explain.

"So?" Bruce's voice grew angry. "Don't you think I know that?" His eyes narrowed dangerously. "Don't you think I've been hurt before?" He leaned in so close their faces almost touched. "Has it stopped me from continuing to fight?"

"Uh, do you think we should step in?" Wally muttered to Clark. The taller hero gave his colleague a look.

"If you want to step in-between those two, be my guest."

"… Point taken."

"Well, no, it hasn't," Diana was saying.

"Then don't do it." Bruce's voice left no room for questions or arguments. With that, he turned sharply and stormed off toward his jet. Diana just watched him leave. The other two walked over to her.

"What was that all about?" Wally asked her.

Her eyes didn't leave Bruce's receding jet. "I tried to help him," she replied.

Clark patted her shoulder a bit. "He isn't the most gracious in accepting help."

"Yeah, Bats is really cranky. Like, all the time," Wally added.

"I should not have removed him from the battle… He's more than aware that he has no superpowers to help or protect him. But…" She sighed, closing her eyes. "I just did not want to see him hurt."

"You did nothing wrong, Diana," Clark said. "Batman's just…" He trailed off, searching for the right word. "Well, he's very picky about some things." Pause. "Everything, come to think of it. I don't think he likes not being the one masterminding the plan." Nevermind that Clark knew very well that Bruce felt he had to go above any beyond in physical training to break even with the rest of them. He knew the Gotham native broke his body more than he'd ever let on, and that it never really crossed Diana's mind that Bruce would have to do that to keep up with those with superhuman strength. Clark would never tell Diana, either; he wouldn't hurt Bruce's pride like that.

Diana opened her eyes and smiled at them. "You're right. Thank you. Now, let's head back home."

Bruce fumed silently as he flew back to his manor. He didn't bother going to the Watchtower first and ignored the beeps on his console that told him someone was trying to contract him. This was why he preferred to work alone. He didn't have anyone breathing down his neck, or sticking their noses into his business, and he didn't have to worry about anyone else, either. He needed some time away from the League… and from her.

Alfred greeted him as he landed his plane behind the mansion, out of sight.

"Home so soon, sir? I wasn't expecting you back yet."

"Plans changed, Alfred," Bruce said as he got out of the jet.

Alfred gave him a once-over. "What did you do?"

"Diana dragged me out of a fight temporarily. Said I'd get hurt and she didn't want that."

"And? It shows she cares about you."

Bruce looked over at Alfred, taking his cowl and mask off.

"It also means that she took two good fighters out of where they were needed." He shook his head. "We can't have things like that happening. No one wants anyone else to get hurt, but we should only do so much. We all know the risks." His eyes narrowed. "And taking me out of a fight just on the potential that I might get hurt is not tolerable."

There was a moment of silence that passed over them.

"She mentioned you being the only member without powers, didn't she, Master Bruce?"

"You know that doesn't make a difference in the long run," Bruce replied.

"Didn't say that it did, sir," Alfred said. "Only that she said it."

Bruce didn't answer him, only scowled and went inside his mansion. His thoughts drifted back to Diana. For all her grace while fighting, the woman was tactless. He sighed. Of course, her bluntness and honestly were some of the reasons why he liked her in the first place. He understood why she did what she did—all too well, really. It was the exact reason why he kept convincing himself that dating inside the team was a bad idea. If he needed any more proof than that, all he had to do was look at what happened to Sheyara and Jon.

Sighing, he climbed the stairs to his room to change out of his batsuit and try to relax for the night.

A/N: I didn't really expect to add on to this story… I originally intended this to be a different story, but then I realised that I could just add it on as a second part. Not really a second chapter, because it's not in a linear story format… but definitely a second part. I also have plans for a third, but I need to write it out.