Batman leapt out of the cockpit of his Batwing, and began striding purposefully through the hanger bay. He had little time to deal with yet another League meeting, and his patience was already paper thin. Earlier that day, Lucius had informed him of a law suit filed against the company. Just based upon the information that was supplied to the Wayne Enterprises lawyers, there had to be some form of information leak going on. The law suit in of itself was nothing more than a ploy to distract what was going on behind the scenes. Bruce was working on a few leads as to whom the leak was when Alfred had alerted him of the fact that he was going to be pressed for time to make it to the League meeting on time. Growling in response, he followed his butler to the Batwing and departed for yet another useless meeting.
The long flight up to the Watchtower gave Bruce's mind time to wander about, as he began to think about how he could shorten the time it took to arrive aboard the Watchtower. Also, even being a billionaire, the cost of fuel consumed by the Javelins and the Batwing was pricey, and Bruce's funding wasn't without end. There had to be a more efficient and cost effective way. He switched the Batwing onto auto pilot pulled out a sketch pad as his mind began concocting various different methods of travel. Perhaps picking J'onn's or Shayera's minds to utilize alien technology would bear some fruit. He would reach out to J'onn telepathically during the meeting when Superman began the useless portion where he brought up his thoughts on how to improve the Watchtower. Who did Clark think he was trying to come up with changes to make? Did Clark think he had Bruce's approval on an open checkbook policy? The only idea that Bruce even gave merit to came from Wonder Woman, and that was to add an Arboretum. It had dual benefits where it gave the Leaguers a place to escape the metallic confines for a bit, and it would help aid in the creation of oxygen within the Watchtower. Bruce had to admit that plants in the Watchtower wasn't too costly of an item to add, so he acquiesced to this suggestion.
Bruce had come up with at least five plausible options for traveling between Earth's surface and the Watchtower by the time he had landed. He placed the sketch pad down, leaving it inside the Batwing. Until he had decided on the best option, his ideas were not to be shared with anyone. Batman stormed through the Watchtower hallways, his patience growing ever thinner with each step he took until he reached the conference room. When the doors slid open, he was surprised to find only Wonder Woman there waiting on the others to arrive. "Princess." Batman greeted her as he trudged over to his seat next to hers and sat down. She glared at him in response. Batman chalked that up to the first of his strikes on getting under Diana's skin.
She looked back down at some papers set on the table in front of her. "Batman." She responded in a harsh yet quiet tone of voice. She grabbed the papers, leaned back in her chair for more of a relaxed position, and she crossed her legs before continuing in a less hostile tone of voice. It was still a tone that indicated she really didn't care, but was just establishing some interruption of the quietness that would otherwise be there. "You're early this evening. Normally there is a wager between the rest on who they believe will arrive last, you or Flash."
"Always keep them guessing, Princess." Batman replied. "I don't want anyone getting too comfortable thinking I have some sort of pattern."
She actually chuckled at that response. It wasn't meant to be a funny comment, but he couldn't help but to smirk at her response. Soon J'onn entered the room followed swiftly be a still talking Superman. Then Shayera and John arrived before finally Flash came running in with only seconds to spare before he could be considered late. There would be no betting today, Batman thought to himself. He then groaned internally as Superman began the meeting. Batman kept his eye on the clock as time passed by. Clark was infuriating him to no end with this pointless meeting. Batman was gripping the arm rests on his chair tightly. Wonder Woman glanced over as she heard the leather straining under Batman's grip. She shook her head slightly and returned her attention to Superman. After twenty minutes of listening to Superman, Batman couldn't take any more, and reached out to J'onn telepathically. He went over the five options he had come up with, and J'onn added some information to one of Bruce's ideas. It was quite helpful, and actually would make Bruce's idea possible. This would create a transportation method that could cut down travel time exponentially. Batman would just need to have a test subject to use as a guinea pig for the initial trial run. He looked around the table. Clark came to mind first, but that was only because of how annoyed Batman was with him at that moment. Using an invulnerable alien wouldn't help him with knowing that a normal human could make the trip without harm coming upon them. Batman then came upon a fidgeting Flash sitting across from him next. Perfect was the only word that came to mind for Batman. He would apply the technology J'onn had shown him just now and build a teleportation unit aboard the Watchtower. He also had designs on creating another platform that would control and offset any unauthorized teleportation to the Batcave, lest he willingly give up his secret identity. That was simply not an option. It was bad enough that Superman already had attained such information, but that was before Batman had determined the Kryptonian had x-ray vision. Back then Batman hadn't been afforded the proper time to research his target, but now he had that precious time to protect himself from losing that critical piece of information. He couldn't let anyone in on such information for the sake of not only himself but Alfred, Dick, Barbara, and now Tim.
As the meeting was finally coming to an excruciating end, Batman cleared his throat and raised his hand to gain the necessary attention to himself. "I have two items to address before we adjourn." Batman started. "First and foremost, I will be working with J'onn on creating a teleportation system to help expedite the travel time to the Earth's surface. Secondly, I would like to suggest that these League meetings be set to every other week unless something catastrophic is occurring. I don't have time to permit coming up here for a random status meeting every week."
Everyone looked at Batman with questioning glares. Wonder Woman's seemed to hold the most contempt. "Why do you think you are so special that it is just your time that is being taken up?" She asked. "You are not the only one that has a life outside of the League. Or is it something else that gives you reason to need more time? Perhaps you cannot keep up with the rest of us?"
Batman stood and turned towards Diana; shooting her a fierce glare. One that none of them had seen before from the Dark Knight. Batman was grinding his teeth, but before he could respond, J'onn chimed in. "I do not believe that was appropriate Diana. Batman does make a valid point in that these meetings are unnecessary unless something truly important is needing discussed. Such things as supplies can be handled every other week, and there would not be that much difference. I move that we vote to enact this request and make it an official policy."
"Seconded." Flash chimed in. The less boring meetings the better for the speedster.
A vote took place and only Wonder Woman was against. She believed the meetings could be handled differently, but didn't think they were unimportant in the least. The vote however being basically unanimous broke no room to argue for a recount, and the precedent was now set. With that resolved, Superman adjourned the meeting and the members began to disperse.
Batman was still red hot with anger at Diana's verbal attack on him and his abilities. Just because he was not a Meta didn't give her or anyone the right to question his motives. If only she knew how much Bruce Wayne and Batman had on their respective plates, she might then have an understanding. In fact he believed that no one; Meta or not could maintain the schedule that he was forced to keep. He waited until Diana and he were the last ones in the room before he grabbed her arm to get her attention. Sure with her strength she could easily rip her arm away and just as likely rip his from his shoulder socket in the same motion, but right now he didn't care. Batman seethed through his still clenched teeth. "I don't know what your problem is with me, but I advise you to get….over it."
Diana looked down at her arm where Batman's hand still had hold of it. She was surprised that this mortal had the nerve to lay a hand on her. She then looked directly into the lenses of his cowl. "You don't tell me what to do little man." She fiercely returned while poking him in the chest. "I am an Amazon and a warrior, and I will not tolerate being spoken to like that."
Diana then stopped poking Batman's chest, and grabbed his other arm before beginning to force him back towards a wall where she would pin him into submission. Before Diana knew what had happened though, Batman took his free hand and latched onto her wrist as he twisted his body and pulled her over his shoulder, slamming her to the floor. She was shocked by this, and now no longer questioned that something similar to this could have happened to Kal when he confronted Batman years ago. Her wide open eyes then narrowed in anger, and she was more than ready to begin battling with this mere mortal to show him who was in charge here. She rolled over and pushed herself to her feet, but when she looked up Batman was nowhere to be seen. How did he do that, she questioned to herself. A mortal male shouldn't be able to escape without some form of detection, but there was no sound or sight to indicate he had left the room. Damn that mortal man. He truly needed a lesson taught to him about dealing with Amazons. She huffed and exited the conference room to head to the Monitor Womb so that she could begin her shift.
Diana was truly upset to see that Batman was there already, and acting as though nothing out of the ordinary had occurred only moments before. Such an infuriating man, Diana thought to herself as she watched Batman going over the various monitors. She silently made her way over to him, but it was plain to see that Batman was well aware of her presence just based off of his body language. He became more rigid with each step she took towards him, and when she was close enough that she could practically reach out and touch him, Batman turned to face her in a more defensive stance. His paranoia served him well this time, and caused her to back off from her stance. Batman then focused his attention back onto the monitors, and Diana pulled up next to him so that she too could help monitor things. After a while, he slowly began working on the schematics for his proposed transport module. Diana flipped back and forth between watching the monitors and watching Batman as he worked nonstop. She had to add one thing to her short list of qualities that Batman possessed, and that was his determination to complete the tasks ahead of him. She couldn't help but to have a small sliver of admiration for what Batman does. And he only drank the hot dark liquid with no additions to it at all. If memory served her, it was coffee that he had. In fact, after the first couple of hours, it seemed that Batman basically lived off of it. He had consumed six cups of it, and when Batman left to retrieve cup number seven he brought back a second cup setting it down in front of her before he returned to his seat. Diana looked down at the dark liquid wondering just how she revealed that her curiosity had been exposed to him indicating that she was thinking of trying a cup for herself. She was curious to see what was so special about it. Perhaps this would be a topic to break the silence that had been in the Monitor Womb the entire time. "What is this for?" She asked.
"You were thinking of trying some were you not." Batman asked, but it came off as more of a statement.
"How did you know that?" She asked.
"I have my ways, princess." He answered and flashed a small smirk.
Was this man actually a telepath, she asked herself. And calling her princess again, he had to be doing that because he knew that it bothered her. She decided right then that she was not going to let this mortal get under her skin, and from this point on she would convince her mind into believing that it was a term of endearment towards her. And he was actually smirking at having thrown her off. She decided she would play along and see where that would take her. The man was a mystery to her at this point, and since they were going to be stuck together for a while, she decided to find out all she could and break open the mystery behind this man. She actually allowed a small smile to escape onto her lips with that thought. Although she didn't see it, Batman noticed the smile as well. He was now on high alert as to the Amazon's intentions, and he would have to be extremely careful with her as he believed that she had a high level of intelligence herself, even if she was still naive to the ways of man's world. He couldn't allow that naïve nature cause him to let his guard down.
Batman continued stealing glances at the woman next to him throughout the remainder of Monitor Duty. It was at times like this where he was thankful to have the lenses blocking anyone from seeing where his eyes were actually focused on. He made sure to keep his face and body pointed towards one of the various monitors at all times so as to prevent any possible tell showing what his other agenda was at the time. He was focusing on reading her body language. As time passed by, Batman's observations caused him to conclude that Wonder Woman's patience would only stretch so far, and she seemed antsy for a battle each time the monitors beeped to draw her attention to any possible danger. She certainly wasn't as anxious for battle as Shayera, but definitely didn't seem the type to shy away from confrontation either.
As the night wore on, Batman's attention slowly turned over to his city. He would occasionally flip a monitor to local Gotham news, and when that led to only slim results, he eventually began hacking into the police feed and sending it to his cowl so that he could listen in for any potential leads. Joker was on the loose again, and it was only a matter of time before he would make his presence known to the city once again. With the corruption of the Arkham intern Harleen Quinzel, the Joker had become even more dangerous. Quinzel had finally been caught helping Joker escape the confines of his cell, and was locked away herself, but that only seemed to add to the fuel of her desire to be with the Joker. She eventually escaped herself and had proven successful in breaking the Joker out time and time again as she was dressed up in a skimpy jester outfit wearing face paint, and calling herself Harley Quinn. Batman had researched her and found that she was a brilliant mind, but obviously delusional with a fixated obsession on one man in particular. Breaking Joker out was easy enough for her as she had utilized her gymnastics training and knowledge of Arkham's inner workings to the fullest. With the pair out on the streets yet again, Batman would have to be careful that he reviewed all of his surroundings before attacking and sending the clown back where he belonged. Batman almost hoped that the Joker would fight back so that he would have reason enough to put the lunatic back in a full body cast. The months afterwards where Joker was bedridden were some of the quietest for the city. Batman could then focus his efforts more on lower levels scum and the mobsters.
Going over some information on the clown had caught Diana's eye. "I take it that is the Joker you're researching?" She asked as she rolled her chair next to him. "He doesn't look so dangerous."
"Looks can be deceiving Princess." Batman responded before focusing again on the reports being fed into his cowl and researching them on the monitor in front of him.
"He is only a man." Diana responded coldly. "He wouldn't even be a challenge for me. I'm an Amazon warrior, and I doubt he could even provide me with a good work out."
Batman ceased in his typing and turned in his chair facing her. He again glared at her in silence for a moment before he responded in a slow, deep, dark voice. "I, a mere mortal man, put you on your backside just a few hours ago Princess. I would advise you to take someone such as the Joker more seriously. Your lack of respect for how troublesome he can be would be your own downfall if you were to face him alone."
Diana huffed in response and stood up, getting into a challenging position. Batman stood up and was almost asking her to try attacking him. Diana's chest began rising and falling in excitement at the possibility of a battle with Batman. Hopefully he wouldn't disappoint and be finished within the first minute. Batman then stepped forward, invading her personal space as his nose was only centimeters away from hers, and all his teeth seemed to be showing as he was snarling. Diana suddenly was taken aback by the overall closeness of this man before her. She knew from conversations with the rest of her teammates as well as what she had witnessed in battle that Batman was an intelligent man, but here with her for the second time this night he had shown absolutely no fear towards her. In fact based on her keen senses, she thought there was a chance that Batman believed he could actually defeat her. He certainly wasn't backing down to her based on her royal upbringings either. She was now intrigued by this man. She changed her stance to a more friendly one. "I apologize Batman." She said calmly. "You know this villain more than I, and I shouldn't be quick to judge."
Batman remained extremely close to her. He could feel her breath hitting him on the mouth. When she apologized, Batman took a moment to look into her eyes more deeply. If at all possible she was even more beautiful up close. His eyes traveled over her skin and he realized that she was not wearing any makeup. Her skin was completely flawless. Not even a freckle could be found from his observation. Batman remained in that close proximity with her for over a minute, just observing her and any reaction she had. Her facial expression remained serious, but her demeanor indicated that she was no longer trying to be confrontational. He finally took a step backwards when another tone came from the monitors. Batman quickly realized that it came from the monitor that had been set to Gotham. Without any notification, he immediately turned on his heels and headed for the exit.
"Where are you going?" Wonder Woman asked as she glanced at the monitor.
"Gotham calls Princess." Batman answered over his shoulder as he had reached the doorway.
She briefly looked over what was displayed, and saw that an explosion had occurred in the outer limits of Gotham's borders. She turned and quickly followed after Batman. "Wait!" She called forward to the man walking swiftly down the hall. "I'm coming with you!"
"No you're not!" Batman fired back without even turning his head. "Gotham is my city."
Wonder Woman took flight and headed straight to the Javelin bay. She was determined to go with Batman no matter what he said. When he made it to the bay area, she was standing before him with her arms crossed over her chest, showing a defiant stance. "I don't care who's city it is, you are not going to leave this Watchtower without me." She declared in her regal tone of voice.
"I don't have time for this." Batman grumbled as he moved to get around her. His progress was stopped by a forceful hand contacting his chest. He looked down briefly at the hand before he reached up to grab hold of that arm. Diana quickly maneuvered herself from his ability to grasp her arm, but still maintained between him and the transportation. Batman tossed a smoke bomb to the ground, and within seconds he was engulfed by it. Diana took a step back to help her be able to better view what was happening, but before she knew it she heard the engines come to life on the Batwing. She saw the canopy coming closed, and quickly flew up to it. There was just enough room to slip in underneath before it pinched shut. Batman was beyond irritated. "Get out!" He yelled.
"Look Batman, you can save time by just flying down there now, or you can fight with me until I decide to destroy every plane in here and leave you stranded for hours." Diana stated calmly. "It is your choice."
Batman didn't speak again, and only proceeded with the vertical drop he had decided to initiate. He just now had an unexpected guest. Her persistence was almost a match against his own will power, but time was of the essence here, and she'd caused him to waste enough of it already.