Diana let go of Bruce so that she could turn around to see who had burst into the ballroom. She found a masked thug stumbling and trying to regain his balance. Before anyone had more of a chance to react, a black object came flying through the air out from behind the still stumbling man. It quickly caught the man, and wrapped around his legs tackling him to the ground. There was a line attached to it trailing out the doorway that began to retract, which started pulling the thug back to the doorway. When he reached the door, everyone could see that it was Batman on the other end of the line. He grabbed hold of the thug by the throat and dragged him back through the kitchen area where each man disappeared from sight. Diana eased out of her defensive stance and looked around to find that Bruce Wayne was standing behind her. To her surprise, he wasn't giving off the feeling that he was afraid. "Are you alright?" She asked him.

"Yes." Bruce answered. "I had the best person next to me for protection in an Amazon warrior." Bruce smiled sheepishly at Diana, and she briefly turned her attention back to the doorway again. Something didn't add up. Batman was too busy to join in the festivities, but his version of busy way dealing with what looked like nothing more than a common criminal? Diana was really quite curious about that. However when she noticed Kal not making any move to follow, she returned her focus to the man standing next to her.

Eventually all of the people at the gala returned to their normal routines. Music began to play again and conversations started up as if nothing had just happened. Bruce continued talking to Diana as she still seemed to be interested in him, but her thoughts were still focused more on the man in black that had burst in after a criminal. "So, what's it like working with one Gotham's own personal hero?" Bruce asked her.

Diana blinked her eyes a few times before fully focusing her attention back to what Bruce had asked. "Who, Batman?" She asked before receiving a nod in confirmation. "He's quite mysterious actually. No one really knows all that much about him. My opinion of him is that he's frustrating and arrogant, but he still brings other qualities to the team that can't be dismissed. Kal believes he is a valuable asset to the League, and I have no reason to doubt Kal's opinion. He knows Batman the best out of all of us."

"Really?" Bruce asked while chuckling. "I think he looks like a lunatic in that outfit he was wearing. He's obviously a man that has to have some issues to do what he does every night."

Diana was surprised and slightly offended by Bruce's reaction towards her teammate. "Does that mean you feel that way about all members of the Justice League?" She asked.

"No no, not at all." Bruce back peddled. "It's just from what I've read and heard, the Batman spends his nights beating any criminal to a bloody pulp from the shadows almost like he was a ghost. The rest of you aren't afraid to be out in public and you seem to follow the rules of the law more so than the Batman does. I mean look at tonight for an example. He's not even here with you. It looks like he'd rather be out there chasing the scum on the streets than be here for a noble cause."

Bruce did make a valid point, Diana thought to herself, but he still wasn't completely accurate. "I still believe deep down that he is a good man." She retorted. "Perhaps his path is a darker one, but in the end he never kills and his end goals are in line with any other hero."

Bruce took a moment to absorb Diana's response. She was right. So he decided not to push the topic anymore and raised his hands in the air with a simple smile on his face, conceding to losing that debate with her before changing the topic. Diana continued her conversation with Bruce for a few more minutes before other socialites decided that they'd apparently had enough private time together. There were some jealous single women that wanted Bruce's attention, but he brushed them all off quickly and kept his focus on Diana. She began to wonder about the playboy image that John had warned her about, and just how accurate that was. A playboy after all would have enjoyed being sought after, and not focused on just one woman. Diana was certain that she enjoyed talking to Bruce, but she didn't plan on dating him. Yet he remained there with her up until he received a call on his cell phone from someone named Dick. Diana tried not to eavesdrop on the conversation, but she'd heard enough of Bruce's responses to realize that he was going to leave after hanging up.

Sure enough as soon as Bruce put the phone away he gently grabbed Diana's hand, raised it up and softly brushed his lips against it. "I'm sorry, I'm afraid I have to leave, but I wanted you to know that it was truly a pleasure speaking with you, and an honor to have danced with you as well." He said. "If you're ever back in Gotham, please look me up. I'd love to take you out to lunch or perhaps take you to see some of the sights in Gotham if you'd be interested."

Diana smiled. "You're welcome Bruce. It was a pleasure for me as well, and if I'm ever back in Gotham, I will be sure to do so." She watched as Bruce let go of her hand and turned to make his exit through the crowd. He casually waved to anyone trying to delay his exit, and soon disappeared from sight. Diana was quickly approached by Superman, who had seen the entire interaction between Bruce and her. "You two seemed to be quite chummy." He commented as he stood next to her.

"Bruce was an interesting person to meet." Diana responded. "What are your thoughts on him?"

"I'd be careful if I were you Diana." Superman answered. "He's not the type of person that you should be willing to trust easily. He's known as almost a womanizer. He squanders the money that was handed to him when his parents were taken from him as a child. According to some news reports, that stunted his development in some areas of his life. Especially when it comes to his personal life. He's also known as an adrenaline junkie, always looking for the next near death defying stunt to pull."

"Thank you for the warning Kal." Diana said. "I'll be sure to keep my guard up if I'm around him again. What about the event that happened with Batman? Shouldn't we get an update from him on his status at the very least?"

"Batman isn't the type to want help when it involves Gotham City." Kal explained. "We'll ask him during the next meeting, but otherwise I'd suggest leaving that incident alone. Batman is hard enough to work with at times as it is without trying to pull information out of him before he wants to provide it."

Diana nodded after hearing Kal's explanation, but her thoughts were more so looking towards her own course of action than his words. She spotted Commissioner Gordon once again, and refocused her thoughts on getting some time to discuss Batman in more detail with the Commissioner. She slowly mingled her way through the now beginning to thin crowd, and asked Gordon if she could meet with him later to discuss some thoughts and concerns that she had. Gordon seemed somewhat skeptical at first, but he informed her to meet him on top of the GCPD building where they'd first met and provided her with an approximate time. By the time Gordon and Diana had parted ways again, the crowd had cut in half as people were now making their exits so they could head home for the night. Even members of the Justice League had departed by this time. Diana took full advantage of not having to be on monitor duty until the next afternoon by deciding to stay behind. She went back into the main lobby of the building and requested a room. After receiving a key card and making her way to her room, she quickly changed into her uniform before flying out the window and heading to the rooftop of police headquarters. Diana wondered if she would beat the Commissioner there, but upon landing, that answer was quickly addressed. There was the white haired man in a brown trench coat, waiting with a coffee in hand. Diana made her approach easily known to the Commissioner. Batman had startled him enough with his silent arrivals. "Hello again Wonder Woman." Gordon greeted her as she touched down in front of him.

Thank you for seeing me Commissioner." Diana responded. "Please, call me Diana."

"Very well Diana, you can call me Jim." Gordon returned. "So, what is it that you'd like to discuss?"

She was slightly surprised at his directness, but then again he had dealt with Batman for a few years now. Perhaps that was the way he believed was customary with super heroes. She took a deep breath and began. "Actually Jim, I would like to discuss a mutual acquaintance of ours. I'm trying to learn more about Batman, and I'm sure you're aware that information is difficult to get from the man himself."

"Forgive me Diana, but before I would give you an answer to that, I have to ask why you have such an interest in him?" Jim asked.

"He is the only warrior that I've fought beside where I know almost nothing about." Diana explained. "Where I come from, trust among fellow warriors can be the key to being victorious or not. I've gotten to know the other members of the Justice League, but Batman seems to want to remain distant. I want to be able to trust every member of the team."

While what she said was true, it wasn't the main reason for her research. She had an ever growing curiosity about Batman that needed to be fulfilled with information and research. This answer was honest enough to hopefully get the answers she sought from Gordon.

"Well Diana that seems fair enough." Jim responded. "Although, I'm not sure that I will be entirely too helpful for you. I don't have any personal information on the man, and certainly don't know who he is underneath the mask." Jim looked for a hint of disappointment on Diana's face, and when he couldn't find anything other than her undivided attention, he decided to continue. "When I was a detective is the first time that Batman had been witnessed by some of Gotham's worst. The city was overrun by the mob at the time. There were dirty cops, lawyers, judges, and any other government official that would benefit the mob's activities that kept the good people from rising up. Gotham was incredibly violent back then. No one feared the police. After the Batman sightings started happening though, the police began finding criminals tied upside-down, hanging from buildings or lamp posts. They all said the same thing when we'd apprehend them. That there was a giant bat shaped like a man attacking them. These gifts were all left with condemning evidence of the crimes they were caught committing, so arresting them was never an issue. We knew there was someone or something out there putting fear into the criminal element. It was honestly a welcomed thing by cops like myself back then. Anything to help this city become safe again would be alright. Of course vigilantism is illegal itself, so once victims began to ID the Batman saving them, the current Commissioner couldn't ignore this anymore, and ordered the police force to arrest Batman on site. Over the course of the next year, the arrests began to move up from lower level criminals to the mob bosses themselves. When that happened, we had a new DA that seemed to be as bold and incorruptible as Batman."

"Are you referring to Harvey Dent?" She asked.

"The very same." Jim answered before continuing. "With Batman bringing criminals in for justice and Dent making sure that justice was served, things began to change. The dirty cops were getting caught and put away themselves, and for the first time in years, it seemed as though Gotham was beginning to get cleaned up. I was promoted to Lieutenant at the time and headed up the Major Crimes Unit. Batman seemed to grow to trust me, as he would show up unexpectedly to discuss the happenings in the city with me. We slowly began to work together, providing each other with useful tips to help get to the criminals more effectively. Then the Joker appeared. It wasn't long after that when the mob had kidnapped Harvey, and Batman went after him. The current Commissioner was also killed by the Joker to distract us from the mob, but you can't deter Batman once he is focused on something. He ended up locating where the mob was holding Dent, and he went in to rescue Harvey. I don't know the exact details of what happened, but somewhere along the lines, an explosion occurred, and Harvey was close enough that it left him disfigured. Batman more aggressively went after the mob like never before after that. I was asked to take on the role of Commissioner, and when I did, one of my first acts was to put the bat signal on the rooftop here. That allowed me to have a means of contacting him, and also to remind the city that he was out there every night."

"What happened with the mobsters and Mr. Dent?" Diana asked.

"Well, of course Batman tracked down the kingpins of the mobsters." Jim explained. "That is when he met face to face with the Joker for the first time. Batman ended up in a violent battle with the Joker while the mob kingpins ran off and went into hiding. Batman eventually was able to bring in the Joker, but Joker had blown up a few buildings and killed a large number of innocent people as well. Harvey lost his mind to a dual personality and became Two-Face when there was no justice served onto his kidnappers. Over the course of the last couple of years, it's been almost like a game of back and forth for control of the city. Whenever we think we are getting ahead, there seems to be another super villain to face. If it's not the Joker then its Penguin, Catwoman, Croc, the Riddler, Mr. Freeze, or who knows who else. What I've learned about Batman from my time working with him though is that he'll never give up, no matter the circumstances. He may be breaking the law by being a vigilante, but he is saving this city one day at a time as well. He's also brilliant and a great detective. Probably the best deductive mind I've ever met. I think you have a very good teammate working alongside you in Batman. You should be glad he is on your team."

The Commissioner was interrupted by a call on his cell phone. He answered, and after hearing what was going on in another area of the city he looked back up at Diana. She knew that their conversation had come to its end. "Thank you for seeing me Jim. I appreciate your time and wish you the best with this city and its people." Diana said.

"You're welcome Diana and thank you for coming out tonight. Also please thank the rest of the Justice League for me. You and your team helped us to get the donations we needed."

Diana shook the Commissioner's hand and took flight back to her hotel room. She wanted to take a shower before getting some rest and finding a means back to the Watchtower. Diana flew back in through the window that she had left her room from earlier and sat at the edge of the bed. It was dark in the room, but her eyes adjusted quickly. She reached down and removed her boots, setting them next to the bed before making her way to the bathroom. She flipped on the light switch and stood before the mirror for a moment. She thought about the story Commissioner Gordon had told her. He seemed very confident in Batman and all the good that he'd seemed to have done in just a few years. Sure there were some super villains to deal with now that weren't there before, but according to Jim, Batman had done more good for this city than not. He didn't even bring up the brutality with which Batman utilized against the criminal element. She now could better see and understand why Batman relied on fear after listening to Jim. He had told her that the criminals weren't afraid of the police, and perhaps Batman needed to instill that fear once again to bring the honest and good city officials back some of the power they needed to protect the innocent. That had to be just the tip of the iceberg with what made Batman who he was, and she definitely wanted to find out more.

Diana stepped over to the shower and turned on and adjusting it until the temperature was to her liking. She then removed her uniform and stepped into the now steaming hot shower. She enjoyed the hot water as it pelted against her muscles, causing them to loosen and eased any tension she had away. She just stood in there under the cascading water, enjoying the personal time that seemed to be such a rarity for any member of the Justice League ever since they'd teamed up. Each member surely had to enjoy some of the smaller things in life such as a nice hot shower. Eventually Diana worked up the motivation necessary to wash herself before stepping out of the shower. She dried herself off and wrapped a towel around her body and another towel around her head to help expedite her hair to dry more quickly. She didn't have any clothes for the night, but Diana never had a problem with sleeping in the nude before so she wasn't unaccustomed to doing it again. She opened the bathroom door and turned off the light before returning to the bedroom area and fixing her eyes on the oh so inviting bed waiting just before her.

~~ Batcave Two hours earlier ~~

Bruce arrived back home in less than half an hour after he'd ended his conversation with Diana. She had left him in awe by her presence that evening. She was not a stuck up princess in such a setting. He'd almost thought that she would fall back into a more royalty driven persona, but she'd remained the same person as she'd always been when around Batman. She still gave off an aura of being a completely independent woman, but at the same time she remained friendly towards anyone. She didn't come off as unapproachable at all. He found it peculiar that no one seemed to have the courage to walk up to her aside from the other League members. She was so friendly in fact that he'd unintentionally dropped his playboy fop act when he spoke to her. It was almost as if he subconsciously couldn't bring himself to lie to her like that. Being Batman was a large portion of his personality so that wasn't lying to her so much, but the playboy was just a decoy act. He'd concocted it only to serve as a deterrent for attracting attention to his nocturnal activities. Not having the desire to show her that act was surprising to himself. He wasn't disappointed though and actually enjoyed his conversation with her. He was also more than surprised both that she'd actually allowed him to dance with her, and when she also allowed him to lead. He'd expected that while she might have been willing to dance with him, he thought she certainly wouldn't allow him to lead her. If Bruce were honest with himself, he'd have had to admit that he actually enjoyed himself at the gala, and that was something that had never occurred before. It actually concerned and frightened him a little bit.

Alfred had noticed it as well even though he'd remained in the car the whole evening. How he was able to read Bruce so well was truly a mystery that even the great Batman couldn't solve. Alfred literally peppered Bruce with questions about what had developed inside the ball room between himself and the princess. Bruce eventually conceded to the old man's questioning and informed him that Bruce Wayne had danced with Diana. Alfred of course didn't buy any of what Bruce tried to supply him with. As soon as the car pulled up to Wayne Manor, Bruce jumped out immediately in order to avoid any more questions. He almost sprinted down to the cave where Dick was waiting for him, and had already changed back into the Nightwing suit. Bruce moved to the computer and quickly looked over the logs that Dick had typed in before spinning out of the chair and heading towards the locker area to suit up. Bruce knew that time still would mean everything, if his Justice League teammates were to actually call in for information about the perpetrator that had "crashed" the party, he had to be available online as soon as possible as well as have the Batsuit on in any chance for a requested meeting that he couldn't talk his way out of. Inside the ballroom, Bruce knew when he had to hit a button which remotely caused his cell phone to ring and open a channel to the bat suit. He couldn't take any chances on super hearing not picking up a voice at the other end of the line. He'd provided Dick with lines to be stated so as to seem like a normal father and son conversation. Bruce hit the button to initiate this portion of the plan when he noticed Shayera and John heading for the exit. His phone rang, and his "conversation" took place with Dick, affording him an acceptable reason to leave the gala. When he was suited up and left the locker area, Barbara was now standing next to Dick, and in her own Batsuit. "What do you think you two are doing?" Bruce asked growling at the surprise standing in front of him.

"We're going to either cover the east side for you or head to Bludhaven." Dick answered for them both. "Which would you prefer Bruce?"

Bruce hated it when he had no power in any situation. Especially when it came to who he allowed in his city. "Fine, you two cover the east side, but if you see any sign of the Joker, call me immediately and do not under any circumstances engage him." Bruce instructed. He wanted Barbara to be here for her first night back patrolling. As bad as Gotham was, Bludhaven was worse, and that was nowhere for someone to be that hadn't been patrolling regularly in quite some time. With that settled, Nightwing and Batgirl each took a bat-cycle and headed off together. Each was eager for Barbara to get her feet wet again. Bruce went over to the computer once again to perform some last minute checks before he headed out to patrol himself. Alfred was coming down with a steaming cup of coffee, but didn't even make it down the stairs completely when he saw Bruce climbing into the Batmobile, and quickly pulling away out of the Batcave. Alfred went over to the computer, and set the tray holding Bruce's coffee down as he looked at the screen to find out what had caused him to leave without even a sip of coffee. Such an act was not customary for Bruce. He always liked to have some coffee before heading out to help keep him sharp during patrol.

"Oh dear." Alfred said aloud to no one as he saw the cause of his surrogate son's abrupt departure.

~~ Present time ~~

Diana pulled the covers from their neatly tucked positions as she was more than ready for a good night's sleep. Her movement was halted though as she felt a breeze coming from behind her. She turned around to see the window she'd used earlier open. Didn't she close it when she had returned, she thought to herself as she walked over to it. She looked around for a moment at the city lights before sliding the window shut and locking it. Diana turned around and headed towards the bathroom, convinced that she had merely forgotten to shut the window earlier. She had been deep in thoughts from her discussion with the Commissioner, and something as simple as closing a window could easily have slipped from her mind. Besides, she was eight floors up from the street and no one knew that she was here. She hadn't even planned to stay the night in the city, so how would anyone else know about it, she thought to herself. Arriving at the bathroom door, she reached up and removed the towel from her head, gently rubbing it against her hair as she attempted to increase how dry her hair was just a bit more before escaping into a cozy slumber. Once satisfied with her hair being just a little damp, she took the towel and tossed it into the bathroom, and walked back over to her bed once more as she grabbed the towel that was tucked around her body. "I wouldn't take that off just yet, Princess." Her unexpected guest announced to make her aware of his presence, jarring her from her movement just in time to keep the towel up and covering herself.