TITLE: State of Mind

AUTHOR: LOTSlover

CHARACTERS: Batman / Wonder Woman

RATING: T

WARNINGS: Author Chooses Not to Use Warnings

DISCLAIMER: I love Justice League, but especially Batman and Wonder Woman. Unfortunately, I do not own the characters and, if I did, things would be much different for them.

SUMMARY: Diana is not in a good state of mind after finding out about that kiss Batman shared with Cheetah after being captured by the Injustice Gang. JL S1 E18/19

State of Mind

Diana finished her sweep of the east side of the warehouse, ensuring that the Injustice Gang hadn't left any traps or surprised behind. She was relieved that they had been able to get out of this close scrape with the super villains with minimal injuries. They might not be so fortunate the next time.

She couldn't shake the worry that sat like a rock in the pit of her stomach. Batman had been near death, courting Thanatos to deliver him to the ever-waiting Hades. It had unnerved her to see him so deathly sick, battling for his life like that.

He was always so strong and in charge, leading the battle and fighting side by side to the bitter end. To see him so vulnerable like that had created a knot of fear that she hadn't felt since she thought he'd died at the hands of the alien invaders soon after they'd first met.

This time, however, the fear felt different somehow, the worry heavier, but she wasn't quite certain why.

She made her way past the heart of Luthor's work station, pausing by the computer that was still running. Her eyebrows furrowed as she stopped to notice the security feed that seemed to be running on a loop of some sort. She saw a video feed of Batman contained in some sort of stasis field and restraints.

It caused her insides to clench with raw fury to see him restrained like that, her friend in danger. At the same time, she was angry with him for pulling out his IV and leaving the Watchtower to pursue Luthor and the others on his own without bringing any sort of backup. He was in no shape to be out of bed let alone going up against the likes of Luthor and his gang.

Diana's fingers curled into fists as she watched Cheetah lean in and kiss Batman passionately, her arms wrapping around his neck as she pressed herself up against him. The Amazon's nostrils flared with building jealousy, her chest tightening. Despite being restrained, Batman did absolutely nothing to try to deter her affections. In fact, he actually appeared to be returning the kiss. He was enjoying it.

With a growl of rage, a shower of sparks exploded, glass shattering and wires short-circuiting as she slammed her fist into the screen as ancient Greek curses filled the air. She was fuming with a renewed wave of anger. She had actually felt sorry for that pathetic little man, had worried over him.

"Coming, Wondy?" Flash called to her, pulling her out of her murderous thoughts.

"I'll be right there," she called back, doing her best to rein-in her desire to strangle the Dark Knight.

She had begun to feel an undeniable draw to him, an attachment of sorts that she was still trying to sort through and understand. There was undeniable fascination with him and his abilities that seemed so very unreal for a mortal man to possess.

"Princess," Batman barked from somewhere behind her. "Let's go."

She closed her eyes, drawing a couple of deep breaths in an effort to regain some semblance of control or risk throttling him the second she was within arm's reach of him. Turning on her heel, she stalked towards the door, stepping out into the bright sunlight.

"Took you long enough," Batman quipped with a small smirk. His tone held an unexpected playful edge to it, one that took her by surprise. She was not in the mood.

Diana lifted her chin with a haughty air as she stormed past him without so much as acknowledging him, mumbling something in Greek that was highly inappropriate for an Amazon princess to be heard uttering. It caused Batman's head to snap to the side as he watched her stalk past him, wondering if he had heard her correctly.

Something had clearly set her off, but he had no idea what it could have been. This was definitely not the same Amazon that had so curiously explored his chest with her sensual touch just a couple of weeks ago while he was recovering in the med bay.

"All right, everybody," Superman said. "Let's meet back at the Watchtower for a debriefing meeting. We need to analyze every aspect of how things went today."

"What?" Flash whined, his shoulder slumping. "Why?"

"Because we need to be prepared for something like this happening again in the future," Batman bit out, ignoring the angry princess to his right standing with her arms crossed against her chest. "They were well organized. Lucky for us, we were able to defeat them. We might not be so fortunate in the future."

"I agree," Green Lantern spoke up from beside the Martian Manhunter. "We need to make sure we are well-prepared for the next time."

"There won't be a next time," Flash pointed out. "We just rounded them up."

"They aren't the only meta villains out there," Hawkgirl reminded him.

"There will always be someone to step up and take their place," Batman agreed.

"Or escape," J'onn added. "Luthor and Ultra-Humanite were able to break free once. I wouldn't put it past them or any of the others to find a way of escaping their confinement."

"Oh, fine," Flash groused, looking for all the world like a petulant child as he kicked at a stone on the sidewalk. "But can I get a couple dozen hamburgers to go before we leave?"

"Make it…" Superman began, Flash disappearing only to reappear again in the next moment. "…fast."

"Was that fast enough for you?" Flash questioned him with a full mouth, his arms full of bags of burgers.

"Did you get any for the rest of us?" John asked, reaching for one of the bags.

"Hey!" Flash cried. "Get your own!"

John rolled his eyes as he folded his arms. "You're insufferable."

"Can we go now?" Diana angrily snapped, abruptly turning on her heel, her hair whipping behind her as she made her way to the shuttle that Batman had commandeered earlier.

Superman and Batman shared a look with each other as the others followed her without another word. "What's wrong with her?" Clark asked Bruce.

"No clue," Batman brusquely stated. "You're her best friend. Ask her."

Superman shook his head in amazement. "You could be her friend too if you were nicer and a little easier to get along with."

"I'm as nice as I need to be to get the job done," he evenly stated. "I'm not here to make friends or to participate in bonding rituals. I'm here to do a job—nothing more."

"Always the tactician," Superman replied as he released a sigh. "Maybe if you stepped outside your comfort zone, you'd find it a little easier to make friends instead of being holed up in that dark, gloomy cave of yours all by yourself."

Batman gave him a small smirk as he headed towards the shuttle, knowing that he was getting under the Kryptonian's skin. "I have friends," he maintained. "Some are just a little more law-abiding than others."

"Catwoman doesn't count, Bruce," Clark grumbled under his breath, knowing that the Caped Crusader had heard him. "I know you have a thing for her, but you really need to find someone better than her."

Bruce scowled at him, not bothering to tell his friend that he and Selina hadn't been together in several months. He'd broken things off with her when she refused to give up her thieving ways, knowing deep down that it would never work between them. Despite caring about her, it was more of a physical connection than one that actually involved the heart.

Climbing into the pilot's seat of the shuttle, Batman was greeted by a silently fuming Amazon sitting in the co-pilot's seat. Wally, John, and Shayera chatted amongst themselves in the back of the shuttle about some reality TV show, leaving him alone with a potentially violent meta.

While he normally appreciated, even longed for the silence that enveloped them both now, the lack of conversation with her was beginning to bother him more than he liked to admit. He risked a glance at the stony faced princess who was staring straight ahead as he strapped himself in, his mind racing through various scenarios that would account for her fuming state of mind.

Not even an hour ago, Diana had seemed so relieved to find him alive and in one piece. She had hovered close to him as if making sure he was truly all right before leaving to make a full sweep of the building to ensure nothing potentially dangerous had been left behind by Luthor or his gang.

Now, she appeared as though she would love nothing more than to rip his head off. He knew she probably was none too happy about him leaving the med bay and going after Luthor's gang by himself, but it was something that he'd had to do it. As the only non-powered member, he had to prove himself capable of being part of this team no matter what it took.

Deciding that was the most logical reason for her icy attitude, he allowed himself to relax slightly, the fatigue of the day finally catching up with him. He was certain Alfred could no doubt share in Diana's anger when he found out about Copperhead's attack and his subsequent escape from the infirmary, but he wasn't about to let that deter him from what he knew he needed to do.

Letting his mind drift amidst the tense silence, he realized that he missed the post-battle banter that he and Diana shared in the times that he actually allowed himself to decompress with her after a mission instead of racing back to Gotham as was his customary practice. Lately, he'd been finding himself sticking around after a mission for a little longer than was actually necessary; though he was loathe to consider the possible reasons why.

It was a bad habit that he was in desperate need of breaking. He needed to get his head back in the game, focus on Gotham and his mission, not what was happening on the Watchtower or flirtatious banter with Wonder Woman.

"Is everything all right, Princess?" he found himself asking despite his resolve not to as they drew near to the Watchtower.

"Yes…why wouldn't it be?" she snapped, finally turning to glare daggers at him.

"You seem a little…tense," he ventured further as he guided the shuttle into the hangar of the Watchtower, wondering why he was even bothering, but for some reason it seemed to matter to him.

"Everything's fine," she claimed, but her clipped tone and rigid posture contradicted her response. "You're safe; Luthor and the others are back where they belong. We won. That's all that matters, right?"

Batman didn't get a chance to respond as Flash abruptly stuck his head between the pair, a grin on his face. "Last one to the conference room is a rotten egg!"

Batman growled in annoyance at being interrupted as Diana immediately stood to her feet, following the others out without giving him any answers. He didn't know what was going on with her, but he didn't like it one bit.

He felt his own mood darkening with every step he took, his gaze boring holes into the back of her head as if trying to peel back all the intriguing and complicated layers that made her Diana in order to get to the heart of her current mood. For some reason, whatever was upsetting her was upsetting him.

Entering the conference room, he fought the urge to flee for Gotham. He really didn't have time for this, but he understood the necessity of a debriefing such as this better than anyone. They needed to make sure they had a cohesive team that was all on the same page in case something like this ever happened again…and he was certain that it would.

Taking his usual seat to Diana's left, he noticed how she immediately crossed her arms and legs in a very defensive posture, her jaw set with an angry edge. He knew she had a fiery temper, had witnessed it first hand on more than one occasion in the few short months since meeting her. He just couldn't for the life of him figure out what could have set her off or why he cared so much.

"All right," Superman began. "I really think things went well for the most part, but I'm sure there are some areas we could've done better or done things differently. How about we start first with Batman and his account of what happened?"

"You mean after he stupidly left the med bay to investigate Luthor without backup," Diana grumbled under her breath.

Bruce clenched his jaw, but ignored her jab. "I went to the warehouse to follow a lead," he began to explain. "They got the jump on me. When I came to, I found myself in a stasis field and titanium restraints."

"Wow!" Flash marveled at the news. "They had you locked up but good."

"Not really," Batman flatly stated. "I could have gotten out at any time."

Diana bristled with the newly discovered information, her lips twitching into a sneer. The insolent, despicable piece of dirt had unnecessarily thrown himself into danger only to be captured and he could have escaped at any time? She snorted at the thought as her anger simmered, causing Bruce to glance at her out of the corner of his eye.

She uncrossed her arms, her slender fingers wrapping around the arms of her chair as she focused on her breathing. She didn't know why all of this was making her so upset. It wasn't like Batman belonged to her or that she even held any feelings for him apart from admiration and respect. He was a teammate…a friend. Nothing more.

Then why did she want to strangle him with her bare hands?

"Why did you stick around if you could break free?" John asked with a frown.

Diana muttered something under her breath in Greek, Bruce's jaw clenching and unclenching in response to her curse. Her icy attitude and obvious anger with him was throwing him off balanced and he didn't like it. He was always in full control, but she was making it more than a little difficult.

"I wanted to see what they were really up to," Batman admitted, turning his attention to Diana in an unspoken gesture as he tried to make her understand why he did it. "It was better for me to be right there in the middle of it and keep an eye on them then to escape and lose them. That's why I waited for my chance to contact J'onn to let you know my position."

"So then you suddenly decided you needed us?" Diana quietly seethed.

Batman shot her a deadly glower, a low growl rumbling from deep in his chest as Shayera spoke up. "Why didn't they just kill you instead of taking the risk of keeping you alive?"

"Joker wanted to, but Luthor wanted me alive," Batman replied. "I wasn't really in that much danger."

Diana snorted her irritation again, causing Batman to tighten his grip on the arm rests of his chair, his lips twisting into a sneer. Superman either didn't notice it or decided to ignore it altogether. "Didn't they try anything? Try to get you to talk?" the Man of Steel asked.

"They managed to open my utility belt," he told them, obviously unhappy about that fact. He was already thinking of ways to counteract that ever happening again in the future. "That's how they were able to get into the Watchtower. I was able to manipulate Luthor's gang into doing what I wanted. That's how you were alerted to the bomb."

"How many of Luthor's gang did you kiss to accomplish that?" Diana muttered, a dark scowl fixed on her face.

Bruce's head snapped to the side to glare at her, stunned by her words. How could she have known about him kissing Cheetah?

"Whoa!" Flash exclaimed. "Who did you kiss, Bats?"

"Cheetah," Diana revealed, turning to look at Batman, a single raven eyebrow cocked in question as to the motive behind his actions.

"What is up with you and feline villains?" Superman demanded to know, clearly exasperated.

Batman leveled him with a lethal glare that told him to keep his mouth shut. Diana looked at Batman, wanting to know what Kal was talking about. "Feline villains?" she questioned him with a tilt of her head.

"It's nothing," he angrily bit out as he met her scowl, somewhat taken aback by the bewilderment that permeated her blue eyes.

"Oh, you don't know about Bats and his affinity for Catwoman?" Flash volunteered. "They have a thing going even though she's a thief."

"We do not," Batman ground out with mounting anger, his entire body rigid. He could practically feel Diana's glare burning a hole in his head. "There is nothing going on between me and Catwoman."

"But they were pretty hot and heavy if you know what I mean," Flash clarified with a smirk. "The Bat and the Cat of Gotham."

Diana's shoulders slumped with the startling revelation, a stab of dejection settling over her. Batman couldn't help but notice the change in Diana's demeanor, the way that her anger seemed to suddenly deflate only to be replaced by hurt.

"Diana, I—" Batman began, feeling the inexplicable need to explain himself.

"Okay, we're digressing here," Superman interjected, sensing he was losing control of the situation. "We need to get back on track. Batman clearly did what he had to do in order to help us find that bomb before the Watchtower blew up and to stop Luthor and his Injustice Gang."

Superman continued on with a lengthy review how the rest of the mission went, the others chiming in and giving their opinions about how they could have been more effective and efficient, but Bruce's focus was solely on the Amazon princess at his right. She sat with her hands in her lap and her head lowered, obviously not listening to the discussion.

He had baited Cheetah in order to gain her trust, to convince her to contact the Watchtower to warn them about the bomb that had been planted there. Did Diana really think that he was truly attracted to the feline villain?

He felt small measure of self-satisfaction with the notion that Diana was actually jealous, making him even more curious about what was running through that head of hers. Why would she care who he kissed or who he was involved with romantically? She was a warrior princess from a race of women who hated men. Was her time in Man's World beginning to change those beliefs?

"You know Luthor is going to try something like this again so we need to be on guard at all times," Superman told them. "If there's nothing else to add, meeting adjourned."

Everyone stood to their feet to leave, Diana making a beeline for the exit. She wanted to get out of there as swiftly as possible, returning to her quarters where she could hide and try to sort out these feelings inside of her that she wasn't sure she should be having. It went against everything that she'd been trained to believe and yet they were undeniably there. She just wasn't sure what those feelings actually were or what they meant.

"Diana," Batman called after her, determined to talk to her as he walked out into the corridor.

Wonder Woman came to an abrupt stop, drawing a deep breath before finally turning around to face him. "Batman," she replied, steeling herself as she tucked her emotions away, somewhat nervous to find herself all alone with him in the hallway.

Coming to stand before her, Batman unexpectedly found himself somewhat tongue-tied. He'd never felt the need to explain himself or the decisions he made to anyone in his entire life, but he felt the overwhelming need to this time. He had to know that things were all right between them again.

"Everything I did was to stop Luthor and his gang from hurting anyone, including the League," he rasped.

Diana nodded her head, a soft smile gracing her face. "I'm glad you did," she confessed. "You're still a πομπώδη κώλο for leaving the med bay and going after Luthor like that without any backup."

Batman couldn't help but chuckle with her derogatory term, knowing that truer words had never been spoken, even in Greek. "I've been called worse," he replied with a smirk.

She couldn't help but laugh as well, feeling a little better about what she had witnessed earlier between Batman and Cheetah. It still didn't explain everything including his so-called relationship with Catwoman that he vehemently denied, but she'd find out more about that too in time.

Her face grew solemn as they stared at one another. "I'm just relived that you're safe," she told him.

Before he could respond, Alfred's voice filled his ear. "Sir, your presence is needed back in Gotham."

Batman tapped his commlink. "I'm on my way," he responded, his expression instantly a stoic mask. "Duty calls."

She watched as he abruptly turned to leave, a pang of disappointment filling her chest. "Be safe, Batman," she called after him.

He paused in his step to glance back at her over his shoulder, the corner of his lips twitching slightly. "Always, Princess."

She smiled to herself as she began to make her way towards her quarters, hooking her hair behind her ear and deciding that a long hot shower and an iced mocha was just what she needed. These pesky feelings for Batman that continuously besieged her could wait for another day to deal with.

At least for now, everything between them was good once more.