Chapter 21

Diana fought to open her eyes, to even draw a deep breath. It felt like she was being held under water, chained to the bottom of a dark murky lake that refused to release her. Every breath she drew reminded her that she was alive and she yet she felt as though she couldn't draw nearly enough air to survive.

Memories came floating to the surface of her muddled mind, images of friends and events all intermingled and intertwined into a tangled knot that she felt she could never unravel. Bruce's face suddenly appeared in her mind as well, creating a quiet longing that helped dispel a measure of her panic. She knew she had to fight whatever was happening to her for him.

She suddenly felt someone's hand gentle against her cheek, warmth coalescing in her core in hopes that it was him. "Bruce?" she whispered hopefully.

"Far from it, my dear," he snorted.

Diana grimaced at the sound of his voice so close to her, the feel of his vile touch against her skin. She sluggishly pulled away from his contact with her only to have him follow her. He took her face in both of his hands, holding her firmly where he wanted her. His breath was hot against her face, making her flinch with his close proximity.

"Time to wake up, Wonder Woman," he cooed sweetly to her. "Shake off the cobwebs. We have much work to do before your two friends arrive to rescue you."

Friends? She groaned as she forced herself to swim past the murky effects of the gas on her brain, the events after the gala rushing to the surface as well. Batman. Superman. Luthor was using her to get to them.

"I won't let you…use me…to get to them," she groggily murmured, forcing her eyes open.

"I don't believe you're in much of a position to disagree," Luthor chuckled softly. "And seeing how you've obviously lost your powers, either temporarily or permanent, you are unable to object to what we have planned for you."

Diana sneered at him as she fought to gain control of her senses. "Do whatever you want with me, but leave Superman and Batman out of this."

"Your request is quite noble and endearing, but I'm afraid I must refuse your gracious offer," he smirked. "We will be doing whatever we want with you regardless of your powers."

Diana tried to raise her arms only to find she couldn't move at all. She finally looked down to find herself strapped to a chair. Gone was the white dress that she had worn to the charity gala and in its place was a medical gown.

She internally shuddered at the thought of this madman touching her, wanting nothing more than to rip his throat out. It gave her great satisfaction, though, knowing what Bruce would do to him once he got his hands on him. She had no doubt Luthor wouldn't be walking out of here without assistance.

Luthor watched as Diana tried to squirm beneath her restraints. "Don't bother trying to break free. Even if you do somehow get yours powers back, you won't be able to use them. I have a steady IV of a neuromuscular inhibiting agent to keep you semi-drugged. I'm not taking any chances now that I'm this close to destroying the Justice League."

"The Justice League works as a team," she spat out, her words sounding somewhat slurred even to her. "Do what you want with me, but you'll never be able to bring down the entire League. They will fight you with their last breath if need be."

"Actually, it'll be you that they will be fighting once the brain transformation is complete," he told her, backing away from her.

Diana glared at him as he stood so smugly before her with his arms crossed, the dark wicked gleam never leaving his eyes as he stared at her. She felt an overwhelming urge to kick his ass.

"I would rather take my own life than fight for you against my friends," she scowled.

"You won't have much of a say in the matter when it's all said and done," he informed her. "And once I have Superman and Batman under my control, neither will they."

"We will find a way to stop you," she seethed, her rage boiling. "And when I get free, I'm going to erase that self-satisfied arrogant smirk right off your face starting with my fists."

Luthor chuckled as he slowly closed the distance between them again. He leaned down, placing a hand on each of her thighs, his face an inch from hers. "Save that fiery spirit of yours for the bedroom, Wonder Woman," he seductively said before dragging his tongue across his lower lip. "When this is over, you will be begging me to take you."

"I'd rather be sent directly to the pits of Tartarus than to ever allow someone as vile as you to touch me," she hissed with deadly intent, her blue eyes like twin infernos.

Luthor grinned before leaning in and kissing her hard on the mouth, his hands stroking dangerously high on her thighs. Diana tried to fight against him but it was useless, the drugs in her system had sapped what little strength she did have.

He pulled back with a cocky smile. "There's plenty more where that came from."

Diana spit at him, disgusted with the taste of him as well as his crude behavior. She watched as Luthor calmly wiped the spit from his shirt just a moment before his fist connected with her jaw.

He suddenly grabbed her roughly by her hair, tugging hard as he glowered at her. "You're making this much more difficult than it needs to be," he fumed. "When this is all done, you'll be all mine."

"Don't have too much fun with the Wonder Babe without me," the Joker screeched as he approached.

"Just letting our beautiful guest know the rules," Luthor replied, releasing his hold on Diana before moving away from her. "Are we ready to finally begin?"

"All systems go," the Joker grinned. "I just wish I could've seen the look on the Bat's face when he finally caught up with that limo only to find Wonder Woman's dress and no Wonder Woman. I bet he just about went berserk thinking I had outwitted him!"

Diana grimaced, knowing how frantic Bruce would be by now, but it wasn't his fault. She had known the risk and was determined to do this regardless of the dangers. They needed to do something to stop Luthor and the Joker.

And now that she no longer had her powers, she knew that she could at least do this to help.

She angrily tried to open her mouth, sharp pain shooting up the side of her head. She was pretty certain he had cracked her jaw with that hit, but she had more important issues to worry about right now like what they were planning to do with her next.

Despite the drugs in her system, she tried to make a mental note of her surroundings, attempting to fight back the fog in her brain in order to figure out an escape plan of some sort. She was definitely not going down without a fight.

"Let's get started, shall we?" Luthor announced, rubbing his hands together.

Before Diana could respond, a man in a white lab coat and red Converse sneakers suddenly moved in front of her and began attaching electrodes to her temples and across her forehead. The man refused to make eyes contact with her as he worked, choosing rather to just focus on the task at hand.

He was young with dark hair and even darker eyes, his appearance not reflecting his actual age. He completely ignored her curious stare as he began to attach the wires. There was a quiet determination about him, one that told her he would not be easily swayed to help her. If he at all had any second thoughts about his participation in Luthor and Joker's insane plan, he certainly wasn't showing it.

"We're ready to begin," the young man announced as he pulled a tray of needles and bottles of drugs over next to her.

Diana immediately recognized the bottles as the memory enhancing drug the Joker had stolen from Wayne Pharmaceuticals. She couldn't figure out how an investigational drug could be used to alter the mind, making her want to hurt her own friends. On the other hand, she didn't think that she really wanted to find out, but knew she wasn't going to have much of a choice.

Her heart began to race as he picked up a needle and syringe, using his teeth to remove the cap from the needle. He drew up a large dose of the experimental drug before slowly injecting it into her IV. She felt an immediate icy rush race up her arm as the drug entered her body.

She gritted her teeth, silently cursing the fact that she didn't have her super healing to help counteract the effects of what they were about to do to her. She was going to have to fight this every step of the way through sheer will alone. It was all that she had left now.

Luthor smirked as he watched Wonder Woman's countenance harden even more, her jaw clenched tightly in utter defiance. He admired her fierceness, her intensity and drive. She was definitely a force to be reckoned with as well as a beautiful woman who would look good on his arm, both as his lover and his personal bodyguard if she got her powers back.

Diana fought to hold her head up as the drug began to pump through her system, combining with the other meds circulating through her veins. The room began to spin wildly creating a sudden rush of nausea to well up inside of her.

Memories thought long forgotten began to surge like a powerful electrical current through her mind – images of her mother, her Amazonian sisters came first, swiftly followed by more recent memories. She remembered the first time she came to Man's World, the first time she met Superman…Batman…Shayera, Green Lantern, Flash and J'onn.

Sweet memories such as her first kiss with Bruce, the first time they made love in the training room began to warm her clear through to her toes. Images of friends injured or lost, terrible trials and painful arguments crashed down over those happy memories, threatening to obliterate them.

Her head began to thunder mercilessly, her vision beginning to swim as she fought to remain conscious. The intense invasion of memories bombarding her mind was almost too much to withstand, bringing with it a tidal wave of emotions that tore at her heart, threatening to rip her apart.

Tears began to fall against her will, the onslaught too much to handle as she rapidly relived one memory after another, her emotions like a runaway rollercoaster of rising joy to crushing anguish, from intense passion to overwhelming heartache.

Her heart was thundering wildly in her chest as she fought to keep hold of the control that was swiftly slipping through her fingers faster than she could hold onto it. The faint blare of monitor alarms told her that something was terribly wrong with her, her world beginning to crash down around as her blood pounded violently in her ears.

She knew she had to do something before they began ripping her mind to shreds, before she lost all sense of who she was. She forced herself to focus on thing, one person, one face.

Bruce.

She swallowed back a shuddering cry of anguish at the pain that suddenly trembled through her. She strained with every bit of strength she could muster in order to center all of her energy and thoughts on the man that she loved; the one that she knew with all her heart was going to be coming for her.

XXX

Bruce sat at his computer in the gloom and dimness of the batcave with his head cradled in his hands, fear for Diana like claws imbedded painfully in his heart refusing to release. She'd been missing for over thirty six hours how with no trace of where Luthor had taken her.

Clark had been scouring Metropolis with his x-ray vision as well as LexCorp for any information that he might be able to uncover. Bruce had spent the entire night combing through every inch of Gotham he could possibly cover, searching for any sign of where she could be.

So far, they had both come up empty handed.

Bruce's fingers dug into his hair, trying to press the hammering headache from his skull, but to no avail. He felt such a deep ache inside as if someone had reached inside of him, scraping him empty and leaving him completely hollow.

And that bottomless pit seemed to only deepen the longer that she was gone from his life.

"Master Bruce," Alfred suddenly said from behind him. "I brought you some coffee."

"Thank you, Alfred."

His voice sounded rough and worn, almost hoarse with exhaustion and the simmering sense of panic that clung to him. Bruce turned around and took the offered cup, his state of overwhelming distress obvious.

Dark shadows had formed beneath his eyes. Stubble lined his jaw, his hair sticking up at odd angles and the fierce intensity that flashed in his blue orbs all spoke of his torment, his steel determination to get her back.

"Master Bruce, might I suggest that you try to get a couple of hours of sleep?" he recommended. "You are not going to be any good to Miss Diana if you drop from exhaustion."

Bruce knew Alfred was right, but he couldn't afford to sleep right now when the Joker and Luthor were doing God only knew what to Diana. He'd never be able to forgive himself if he didn't get to her in time.

"You have not slept since the night before Miss Diana was taken," he reminded him. "You can't keep pushing yourself like this."

"I have to, Alfred," he angrily snapped as he drained his coffee cup, turning his attention back to his computer. "She's counting on me to come save her and I have no idea where she even is."

"You'll find her, Master Bruce," Alfred reassured him, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. "You always manage to find a way."

"But what if I'm too late this time?" he growled. "What will I do then? How am I supposed to live without her?"

"We can't think like that, Master Bruce," Alfred frowned with a furrowed brow. "Miss Diana is very strong-willed just like someone else I know all too well. She won't give up so easily no matter what they may do to her."

Bruce snorted. Truer words had never been spoken. "I know, but without her powers, I don't know how long she can hang on for."

Just then, a message from J'onn at the Watchtower came in. Bruce immediately pulled his cowl back on before accepting the incoming video feed. "What is it, J'onn?" he gruffly asked.

"We just received an encrypted message from an unknown source addressed to you alone," he grimly informed him, one of the seven founding members aware of Wonder Woman's current missing status. "Would you like me to send it to you or keep it contained here at the Watchtower for your analysis?"

Bruce froze with J'onn's words, his entire body rigid. "No, please send it immediately."

He swiftly began typing, setting up containment fields around the incoming message. His heart was already beginning to race with hope or dread – he wasn't certain which at that moment. It was a tossup at that point.

He opened it with bated breath, fearful of what he was going to find. Nothing could've prepared him for what he saw, though. He heard Alfred's sharp gasp from behind him, but he quickly blocked him out, focusing instead on Diana, for any clues he could pick up in the video.

"Dear Heavens," Alfred whispered, his hand flying to cover his mouth in shock.

The camera was pointed directly at Diana who was restrained in a chair in the center of a large room. She was dressed in some sort of medical gown, metal bands across her arms, legs, chest and throat. Wires were attached to her head; an IV hooked up to her arm. She was white as a sheet.

Tears trickled down her face, a purple bruise in the shape of a fist marred her jaw. If it weren't for the metal band across her chest and throat, Bruce feared that she'd never be able to hold herself up.

White-hot rage seeped into every fiber of his being as he watched her cry, her fingers gripping the arm of the chair so hard her knuckles were white. His own jaw clenched tightly as she gritted her teeth against the obvious pain that was being forced to endure.

She suddenly opened her mouth, a soft rasping cry the best she could muster at that moment, causing Bruce's insides to twist painfully in response to her. He began to tremble from the fury roiling through him in hot violent waves.

All of the sudden, the Joker stepped in front of the camera again blocking his view of Diana. He cackled hysterically, causing Bruce's heart to hammer even harder against his chest wall with an overpowering sense of helpless rage.

"Hey, Bats!" the Joker greeted him. "As you can see, Lexie and I are having a great time with the Wonder Babe. I think she's anxious for you to come join the fun."

The Joker then stepped aside to reveal Luthor standing next to Diana now, causing Bruce's lips to curl back into a hateful sneer. He watched as Luthor ran the tip of his finger along Diana's face, a smirk dancing on his lips.

"Lex is particularly enjoying his time with the Wonder Slut," the Joker snickered as he stepped back into camera shot. "All we're missing is you, Bats. See if you can find us before it's too late."

The screen suddenly went black, Bruce's fist slamming down on the desk with a fierce growl that made even Alfred jump. The only sound in the batcave was that of Bruce's exerted breathing as both tried to absorb what they had just witnessed.

After several long moments, Bruce finally spoke, his gravelly voice revealing his inner turmoil. "I was afraid for so long of letting Diana in," he rasped. "And now I'm terrified of living without her."

"With great love can come great pain, Master Bruce," Alfred gently told him. "But it's always worth the risk…especially with someone as special as Miss Diana is. Now, go do you what you do best and find her."