A/N: Thanks to all who reviewed! I kinda went on a spurt with this one, so enjoy! Oh, and to clear things up...I don't like Catwoman. As a character I think she's fun to read and fun to write, but only as a villain and NEVER with Batman. As in never ever. EVER! Since, as we all know, there is only one person for our Bats, and she comes in the form of an Amazon princess.

Chapter Six - Batman, Bruce Wayne, Bruce Wayne, Batman.

New Batman didn't waste time with allowing apparent father and son to get acquainted, and only dropped into a defensive stance, facing the villains. "We need to get out of here."

The one with long blond hair ran towards them, swinging what appeared to be a jack-o-lantern. "Leaving so soon? You didn't even take any party favours."

Suddenly a rush of golden stars erupted from the pumpkin. Somehow Diana didn't think they were going to be as pretty as they looked. The winged man's eyes widened behind his helmet. "Incoming!"

John raised his ring, creating a huge shield to protect them all. As soon as the stars hit the wall of green light, the effort of keeping it there was obvious on his face. It didn't make the new Batman relax. "That's not gonna hold!"

It didn't - soon enough the stars had melted through the shield, and they were dodging the explosions that hit the ground left right and centre. As the other villains approached, they scattered, each taking on a different one.

Diana found herself faced with what was apparently a clown with a ball instead of legs. She took a step back to gauge the situation before she attacked. He ignited a weapon that she'd seen before...in a Star Wars movie, if she had her films right.

He rolled toward her with vindictive pleasure in his tone. "Where d'you think you're going, sugar?"

He struck, and Diana raised her bracers to absorb the impact, but the action had no effect. Instead the jarring pain of an electric shock ricocheted through her body, and again when he attacked once more a few seconds later. She lashed out the second time, sending him flying back a few feet, but not far. She took advantage of the brief reprieve to acknowledge the pain still burning in her hands. What kind of weapon was that?

New Batman extricated himself from the creepy twin-things, and leapt into the air. "We're getting out of here, now!"

The winged hero was wrestling with what had once been a hyena, but was now mostly robot. "Not a chance," he groaned, flipping them again to avoid razor-like teeth, "hold the line!"

"He's right!" Diana yelled. "We're the Justice League, we don't run from a fight!"

She didn't have time to observe much else, since the clown with the lightsabre knocked her through several walls, stunning her. She dimly heard new Batman's reply. "I don't remember putting this up for a vote."

Diana picked herself off the ground in time to see some sort of device be smashed out of his hand. John called up to him. "Keep your head in the game, kid! There's always another way." He looked over at Static, lying in the remnants of a car. "Virgil, I need some cover!" he called.

Static nodded and created a ball of blinding light, then threw it into the sky. While the others were distracted, John created a vast green labyrinth. Rather than going into it though, the Leaguers (she assumed the others were Leaguers too) took to the air, new Batman carrying the original.

"I think we've lost them," John said.

They nodded, and followed the others. "Where are we headed?" the princess asked. "The Watchtower?"

New Batman glanced at her. "Not exactly."

They flew for about ten minutes before the winged man began to descend. They landed on the outskirts of the city, in what had once been the industrial sector. It looked as though it had been deserted for the last three decades. What by Olympus had happened here?

Static led the way toward one of the more dilapidated warehouses, and pushed the door open. That was it; no padlock, no PIN code, nothing. Just...a door, and a door to a rat-infested warehouse at that.

"This is Justice League Headquarters?" Bruce asked, sounding as if he expected a secret panel in the wall to open to the real JL HQ at any time.

Static stopped in front of a computer bank. "For now, we're all that's left of the League."

"You've travelled about fifty years into your future," young Batman told them.

John walked to Static, looking him up and down. "Last time I saw you, you were too young to drive. You look good for a man your age," he added, sounding impressed.

Virgil smiled wryly. "The miracles of modern medicine. Sixty-five is the new thirty."

Diana was barely listening - she'd always known when she was being watched, and she was now. But there didn't seem to be anyone else here, and the shadows were too thick to penetrate far. She looked, narrow-eyed, into them anyway. She lost track of the conversation as the feeling intensified. She was definitely being watched; whoever had their eyes on her...their gaze felt like fire.

She dimly heard Bruce's question. "And the Watchtower?"

"It's gone," new Batman answered. "We lost a lot of good people that day."

Disbelief welled up in Diana, taking her mind off the prickle of unease. "You mean Superman? J'onn? All the others?"

"Yeah," the winged man said wearily, pulling off his helmet. "You too."

"And the Batcave?" Bruce enquired.

A new, familiar, voice joined the conversation. "This is all we have left now." They all stiffened in surprise as Bruce stepped from the shadows. A Bruce gone grey with time, the angles of his face more pronounced, his shoulders stooped. A Bruce who looked like he'd forgotten what a smile was. "Deal with it," he finished bluntly.

At Diana's side, Bruce stepped forward toward himself. "Surprised to see me?" the older man asked with a smirk.

"A little," Bruce admitted. "I'm more surprised I lived so long."

The new Batman stepped forward between the two of them. "Batman, Bruce Wayne, Bruce Wayne, Batman. Or have you met?" he asked.

"Not now!" they both snapped.

"Great," young Batman grunted. "What did they used to call it? Stereo?"

"This is a little weird for everybody," the man who had identified himself as John's son said, stepping forward and offering his hand to John. "I'm Warhawk. Rex Stewart."

Lantern looked more than a little perturbed, but shook his hand. "Your mother…who is she?"

"Kind of obvious, don't you think?" Rex asked.

Bruce turned from his silent scrutiny of himself. "Even if it isn't, leave it be. You don't want to know too much about your future."

New Batman nodded. "Trust me, you really don't."

Static, apparently, wasn't happy to stay quiet. "Shayera was one cranky pregnant lady," he said breezily. "Although to be fair, if I'd laid an egg that size…"

John's mouth fell open, and Rex hastened to reassure him. "He's kidding, Dad. Not that I understand why you think this is anything to joke about," he added acidly to Virgil.

"Because we already won!" he exclaimed. "Think about it: if old Bruce is here, that means he already lived through this as Batman!"

Older Bruce did not seem impressed. "Flawless logic, except that I have no memory of ever going to the future and meeting my older self, or of anything else that's happening today."

Batman stepped forward. "Those historical buildings we saw on the street – the timeline's been polluted."

"So polluted that history itself is becoming fluid," his other self nodded.

Diana folded her arms. "We better compare notes."

"Not much to tell," Static admitted. "We're kept busy with his lackeys more than anything."

New Batman continued. "We still don't know much about him. Obviously he's a time-travelling warlord; he's littered the streets with buildings from other time periods."

"He's not a warlord – at least he wasn't at first," Diana said. "When we chased him to the old West, all he was stealing were historical trinkets."

"He's causing severe damage to the space-time continuum," Older Bruce said. Fifty years had really given him time to get ominous down. "The degradation is increasing exponentially."

"I've got something," Batman added, fingers tapping on the keys at the computer. "When we were in the old West I got a good look at his time belt." He ejected a disc from the computer and held it up. "I've written a programme that should disable it."

"If we can get close enough to upload it," Rex added.

"If we can get our hands on the belt, maybe we can stop any of this from ever happening in the first place…" All heads turned towards Diana as her form literally began to fizz out of existence, like a picture on an old TV screen. Apparently unaware of this, what was left of Diana turned to the younger Batman. "We could even undo the deaths of your friends…"

Bruce lunged forward to try and grab her, but where seconds before there had been a very solid Wonder Woman, now there was only empty air. "Diana!" For another few seconds, he just stared at the space she'd been as if it defied logic. She was…gone? How could she be gone? Diana was a constant, she was like the sun, or gravity. Gone?

"She…never left the island," his older self said, for once letting his emotions show. Exactly how Bruce was feeling; shock, and horror. It hadn't just been Diana who noticed how his older self watched her - Bruce had seen it too. He wasn't in love with Diana. He cared about her, a lot, maybe more than he had for anyone before her, but he wasn't in love with her yet.

His older self was.

When and where and how that changed, he didn't want to know. Wasn't sure he wanted it to happen anyway, since being in love with her hadn't helped him in this future. How could it help in any other?

But there was no denying the the old man in that chair now looked...heartbroken. Yet his expression was missing the bleak edge of black rage now creeping in to Bruce's heart. The bastard had taken Diana. She'd either never left the island...

"Or she was never born," he said darkly.

The new Batman came forward, looking at the screen. "Time is running out." As the men watched, the sky began to unravel, leaving behind only whiteness. "Literally."

"We need to find Chronos," Bruce said. This ends now.

"How? He could be anywhere."

He strode to the doors. "Sometimes the old ways are best."

"It's not going to work," young-Batman said. "You don't know your way around here. A lot of things have changed."

Bruce slammed the doors open. "Are criminals still superstitious and cowardly?"

"Yup," his older self answered immediately.

His voice dropped to a growl dripping in menace. "Good enough for me."

---

It was very bright here.

Wherever here was.

It had been dark in the warehouse, dark in the world there, but now...it was just white. Where am I?

She tried to say it, but here she didn't have a voice. She didn't have a body, she had no form at all. She began to understand, somehow. There was no time here, no places. And that was fine. It was...the space between reality.

"Hello."

The voice was echoing, but it was a voice. It wasn't hers, either. Where before there had been nothing, now there stood a little girl. Ebony hair and cobalt eyes. She was very pretty. There were no mirrors on Themyscira, but Diana could only imagine she herself had looked like this once.

Hello.

"Can't you talk?"

No. Where are we?

The little girl giggled. "You already know, silly. But don't worry. They'll fix it."

They?

"They."

Bruce and John, she assumed. Though what needed fixing? This blissful blankness was wonderful. There was certainly nothing wrong with it. But I like it here, she told the little girl.

Another voice joined the conversation. A boy's, this time. "Well I don't."

The boy looked the same as the girl - dark-haired and blue-eyed. Diana was puzzled. Who are you?

The boy shrugged. "The same as her," he said. "We're both part of you."

She remembered talking to J'onn as he explained the meaning of the yin yang - that no whole person can exist without elements of both male and female within them. She had not believed it then, but now it seemed to be irrefutable.

"You don't belong here," the girl told her.

But I like it here, she repeated.

"But what about u-"

The boy shut up as the girl elbowed him. "Not too much!" she told him.

How long will I be here for? Diana asked.

"Until he fixes it," the girl said.

Who?

"Batman of course. He's working on it, don't worry."

Diana would have smiled if she had a mouth to smile with. I'm not, she told the children. If Batman says he'll fix it then he will.

They both nodded solemnly. "We know."

"We're going to go now," the little girl said. "At least in this form."

They joined hands, and vanished. Diana didn't miss them - they were still part of her. And it didn't matter how long it would take in a place where time had no meaning. Bruce was working on it. He'd fix it.

She only had to be patient.

---

A/N: Yes, the end was for you, Hepburn. Review please!