Wonder Woman frowned in confusion when, once she had made her entire tour of the Watchtower, she found none of her teammates: only secondary heroes and the new recruits.

Where are the others?

Just then her phone rang, signaling the arrival of a message. She grabbed it and opened it, noticing that it was from Black Canary and that the written text was accompanied by an address.

Reach us as soon as possible. Batman has a plan to arrest Renegade, although he hasn't told us what it is. In any case, get moving.

The demigoddess stood still for a few seconds, her previous confusion replaced by a growing cold anger boiling in her chest.

Batman had excluded her, Wonder Woman, from an official Justice League mission that aimed to arrest Renegade. The Gotham vigilante knew with absolute certainty that she would fiercely oppose this and that she would do anything to stop it.

And damned if he was right.

Diana clenched her jaw, her blue eyes turning colder than steel. She instantly disappeared from the Watchtower's empty meeting room, reaching the zeta tubes within seconds.

She had a mission to accomplish and a friend to save, no matter what the consequences would be for her status within the team.

Recognized: Wonder Woman 03

Wonder Woman stopped in mid-air and stared down, looking at most of the Justice League -not including Zatanna, she noted. They also excluded the sorceress because they knew that she, like Diana herself, would do anything to stop them from capturing the young anti-hero - standing before Renegade. She however was too far away to be able to hear their conversation and it was moments like these that she wished she had Superman's super hearing.

She levitated down, quickly reaching them. "What the hell are you planning on doing?" she growled, meanly pleased when she saw most of her teammates flinch.

Of course, Renegade had already noticed her and smiled at her. "Princess! I was getting worried when I didn't see you with them." he stated casually, nodding towards the other heroes.

Wonder Woman sent him a brief smile, glad that he was still okay, and then turned her icy, furious blue eyes on her teammates, her anger rising when most of them didn't have the courage to meet her gaze. She crossed her arms, narrowing her eyes menacingly. "Do any of you want to explain to me why I was excluded from this mission or should I force a confession out of you?" she growled, her hand grazing her trusty sword forged by the ancient gods and capable of piercing through literally anything.

Her gesture was a clear threat and everyone understood it immediately.

"The answer is very simple, Wonder Woman." Batman spoke sharply, meeting her furious gaze without any fear. "You were excluded because you are clearly emotionally compromised when dealing with Renegade."

"Emotionally compromised?" she repeated in disbelief. "Not wanting to arrest one of the greatest defenders of the Earth because he is one of the few who is actually making the world a better place through his killings, decreasing crime by many percentages internationally, is being emotionally compromised?" she growled protectively, feeling and ignoring Renegade's shocked look on her.

"You can't fight crime with murder." Batman growled. "He has no right to decide who lives and who dies."

"The decision is made when a person is guilty of inhumane and unjustifiable crimes." the demigoddess replied coldly.

"All lives matter equally. No one is superior to another and Renegade is no one to decide their fate."

"You cannot compare the life of a rapist or a pedophile to that of an honest citizen and say that they are of equal importance. Those who commit such inhumane and deplorable crimes deserve far worse than what the corrupt system should inflict on them. Often these types of criminals do not receive the right punishment."

"Renegade does not represent the justice system and therefore has no right to decide the punishment to be given to criminals."

"Renegade is in fact infinitely better than the justice system because he is not corrupt, he is objective and he inflicts right punishment on the scum of the world."

If possible the Dark Knight's gaze became even more icy, deadly and emotionless. "No one is above the law and that is exactly what Renegade is doing."

The Amazon let out a ferocious, dangerous growl at the vigilante's stubbornness. "If the law worked as it should and meted out a fair and proportionate punishment based on the severity, inhumanity and deplorability of the crime committed, Renegade would not feel the need to take the place of the law but that is because the system is corrupt and it sucks and Renegade is infinitely more effective than the system."

"Renegade is here and would like to intervene because he hates being ignored." the subject of the discussion interjected, raising his hand as if he were in a classroom and asking the teacher for permission to answer a question.

Batman dismissed him with a curt "No." as if he were worthless, without even sparing the seventeen-year-old a glance.

Diana felt her anger grow beyond measure. "Don't you dare treat him like that, dammit!" she snapped, invading the Caped Crusader's personal space and hitting him lightly with her index finger on the chest without ever taking her furious gaze away from him.

The force in her tap was such that he was forced to stagger backwards two steps. Batman straightened to his full height in an attempt to appear more frightening and threatening -an attempt which failed miserably as Diana had never been intimidated and scared of him and never will be- and growled. "Otherwise? Would you hurt a teammate to protect an assassin who deserves to rot forever in Belle Reve?"

"If you're going to keep acting like a selfish fucking stubborn asshole, then yes."

The two heroes continued to exchange cold, menacing glares, neither of them looking away first as they had no intention of losing this staring contest. After what seemed like an eternity Batman groaned, his eyes moving to look at something behind the Amazon's back.

"Now, Green Lantern."

Wonder Woman barely had time to blink before the next thing she knew she found herself trapped in a giant green bubble. She stiffened and with a deliberately slow and menacing movement turned, staring at Hal with eyes burning with anger. "If you know what's best for you release me, Jordan."

Hal gulped in terror at the demigoddess but straightened his back, sending her a shaky, apologetic smile. "I'm sorry but I can't do it."

Diana's gaze shifted to the other member of the Trinity who had remained uncharacteristically silent the entire time. "You really can't agree to any of this, Superman."

The hero of Metropolis gave her an answer without meeting her gaze, clearly embarrassed and displeased. "Renegade must be captured and brought to justice. He is too dangerous to roam freely. I'm sorry but it's necessary, Wonder Woman."

Diana felt disappointment, betrayal and anger coursing through every fiber of her being as she watched her teammates -her friends- not move an inch to oppose such senseless nonsense. Her eyes fell on Black Canary, the only one who had warned her of Batman's plan, and she shook her head in disappointment when she saw that the blonde didn't dare meet her gaze or do anything to stop it.

She never thought her friends would let her down, hurt her and betray her in such a way and damn if it hurt.

"Hell, no."

The attention of Wonder Woman and the other heroes shifted to Renegade who had lost all traces of lightness and playfulness.

Diana knew from experience that it was best to avoid a serious, non-joking Renegade.

"I'll give you ten seconds to free Wonder Woman. Otherwise I will personally ensure that each of you will spend the next few weeks healing from the wounds I will inflict on you." Renegade threatened them coldly, cracking his fists menacingly.

Despite the nightmarish situation, Diana couldn't help but smile slightly.

At least I know I can always count on Renegade, no matter what.

"Release her now or I will beat you down for the third time in a row and post videos of all three fights of me kicking your ass." Renegade cackled his creepy cackle that made all the heroes tremble. "I wonder how everyone would react to seeing their heroes get totally humiliated by a 17-year-old?"

"You will not emerge victorious this time, Renegade." Batman stated solemnly, taking a step forward from the entire team.

The mercenary tilted his head to the side in a seemingly innocent movement that actually came across as threatening, combined with the slow smirk that appeared on his face. "Oh? And why do you say that, dude?"

Batman didn't answer him but from his utility belt he grabbed four batarangs -the memory of what Renegade had called such weapons made Diana mentally snort in amusement-, two in each hand, and threw them. Wonder Woman saw how Renegade was about to dodge them but she was as confused as he was when the weapons stuck harmlessly on the floor in front of the young assassin.

"Bad aim, old man?" Renegade mocked him with a derisive snort.

The Amazon was forced to close her eyes with a grimace when an intense blinding white light emitted from one of the batarangs. Her muscles tensed at the mercenary's cry of surprise and she opened her eyes again, ignoring the stains obstructing her vision.

Her gaze immediately fell on Renegade who was rubbing the slits of his mask with various curses but her attention focused on the other three batarangs when she belatedly realized that they were flashing.

"Watch out, Renegade!

She shouted the warning when it was already too late.

Beams of ultrasound erupted from the three batarangs, causing practically all of the heroes to grimace at the sounds being so annoyingly intense and deafening. What happened next shocked both Wonder Woman and the rest of the heroes.

Renegade screamed in pain.

That was the first time ever that Diana and the others heard the mercenary scream in pain but it was like no sound they had ever heard. Renegade's was a heartbreaking, agonizing scream of pain that echoed loudly throughout the surrounding area.

The demigoddess didn't believe that the young assassin was even capable of screaming given his very high pain tolerance, let alone making such an agonizing, heartbreaking and lacerating sound. She gasped as if physically struck when she saw black blood flowing from Renegade's ears and with a ferocious growl she began punching the green bubble with all her strength, noticing and ignoring the grimaces of pain of Green Lantern out of the corner of her eyes.

With a clearly shaky movement despite the distance, with obvious effort Renegade reached for his utility belt just as Batman growled at Black Canary. "Now."

Diana's heart sank and she gave her friend a pleading look. "Please don't do this!" she begged as she desperately continued to hit Hal's bubble in an attempt to break it.

Black Canary gave her an apologetic look and turned away, ignoring the Amazon's other pleas, and after taking a deep breath she let out a powerful canary cry towards the mercenary.

The princess of Themyscira could do nothing but watch helplessly as Renegade fell to his knees with another agonizing cry of pain -which was even worse than the previous one, which she didn't think was possible- which tore her heart apart.

If someone of Renegade's caliber, the person with the highest pain tolerance she knew, couldn't bear this kind of pain, that meant that for him it was so unbearable, excruciating and agonizing that it was tearing him apart in a way that was impossible to describe.

And to see him so full of agony, pain and suffering without Diana being able to do anything to help him, was one of the worst experiences she had ever had in her entire long life.

Renegade's agonized screams were as long as the canary cry, which lasted for a period of time too long for Diana's liking, no matter how much she begged Black Canary to stop. Cracks began to form on Green Lantern's bubble, causing her to continue punching and kicking it with all her godly strength as she helplessly watched Renegade's state.

The sound of his screams was one of the worst sounds she had ever heard.

She watched with a pounding heart as Renegade's gloves became one with his dark black blood that began to flow profusely from his ears faster than the waters of a river, no matter how much he tried to block the flow of blood by holding his hands to ears.

The more his screams of pain continued the more Diana felt every fiber of her being grieve along with him the more she felt a fierce intense anger coursing through her veins, leading her to silently curse her teammates.

A movement from the side of her peripheral vision forced her to turn around and she paled slightly as she saw Batman pull a stun grenade from his utility belt.

Since when does he carry things like that?

It had become painfully clear that Renegade had sensory weaknesses and she feared that the stun grenade would be too much for even the mercenary to handle. She felt the adrenaline coursing through her veins, causing her attacks to become even faster and stronger than they were before, and she mentally cheered as she saw Renegade get up with obvious fatigue and grimacing in pain.

This exultation did not last long.

Wonder Woman opened her mouth to warn Renegade about the stun grenade but what came out were muffled noises due to the sudden appearance of green cloth over her mouth. She glared at Hal who didn't dare meet her gaze but was forced to close her eyes as another bright, blinding white light overwhelmed her.

Diana felt her heart stop momentarily and ice rush through her veins when she heard her ears ringing softly. An immense amount of fear, terror and horror fully overwhelmed her as for the briefest moment it was as if the entire world had stopped.

If she heard her ears ringing slightly from the explosion of the stun grenade, even though it was thrown relatively far away from her, then what did this mean for Renegade given that the stun grenade was thrown towards him?

Diana heard the greatest, deafening, agonizing and heartbreaking scream of pain that she had ever heard in her entire life lasting for a few seconds followed by the most absolute silence. With her heart threatening to burst out of her ribcage she reopened her eyes, gasping in horror at the sight her eyes showed her.

Renegade lay motionless in a prone position, a large pool of dark black blood forming on either side of his head as more blood continued to pour from his ears, making the pool even larger.

The demigoddess was completely frozen in place with horror, shock and terror.

NONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONONO

With a ferocious war cry Wonder Woman once again hit the green bubble with all her strength and it finally broke, forcing Hal to fall to his knees with a pained grunt.

"Now, Flash!" Batman barked ferociously.

No matter how immensely fast Wonder Woman was, her speed couldn't possibly compare to that of Barry who first reached Renegade's prone figure and then disappeared with him in a matter of milliseconds, leaving the unmistakable red and yellow trails behind. The demigoddess reached too late the area where Renegade was and she lowered her gaze, observing the large pool of dark blood with an inscrutable and emotionless gaze.

Her body literally began to shake with anger and fury that she had never felt before. She clenched her fists, oblivious to the nails that began to dig into the skin of her hands. Slowly the Amazon turned, meeting her clearly frightened and terrified teammates with the most ferocious, menacing and icy gaze they had ever seen.

The other heroes had witnessed Wonder Woman's wrath several times but each of them paled markedly in comparison to her current fury. They'd never seen her so pissed off, especially not at them, and each of them was as fucking scared as ever.

The demigoddess let out a ferocious, low, menacing growl that seemed to shake the ground beneath their feet. "I swear to Zeus that whoever dares to speak will meet the blade of my sword."

The heroes gulped in fear and Superman took a shaky step forward, raising his hands peacefully in the air. "Wonder-"

The next instant with divine speed -it seemed as if she had teleported- Wonder Woman found herself facing the Man of Steel who gasped and brought a trembling hand to the long bloody gash on his cheek as he observed his friend with a absolutely terrified, scared and intimidated.

"Close the sewer, Kal-El." she growled, spitting his Kryptonian name like it was poison as she placed her divine sword on her back. "Next time I won't be so lenient."

The heroes barely had time to blink and the next thing they knew, Wonder Woman was flying towards Batman - who never had a chance to counteract her- and punching him in the stomach with such force that the sickening crunch of broken ribs rang out clearly. The Dark Knight was sent at immense speed into the wall of an abandoned building which broke under the force of the blow and he disappeared from the sight of the heroes.

"Anyone else want to be next?" she growled as she turned to stare at the other heroes frozen in absolute fear and terror on the spot. They shook their heads frantically and she pursed her lips. "Cowards." she spat angrily.

With one last disgusted and angry glare in their direction Wonder Woman took flight, quickly disappearing from their sight and leaving behind an astonished and tense silence.

"Sometimes I forget that she possesses divine strength, resistance and speed that can be considered equal to that of Superman." Green Arrow shivered in fear, getting nods. He glanced worriedly at his girlfriend who was looking down in obvious guilt and pulled her into a hug, not surprised when she melted into him. "Let go, baby." he murmured softly to her, holding her close.

"I'm going to go see how Batman is doing." Superman muttered awkwardly, disappearing from sight.

The return to the Watchtower was one of the most awkward ever and they were completely terrified of Wonder Woman's reaction once they reached their base.

They dearly hoped that they would find Barry alive and began to send prayers to their speedster.