Chapter Five: Batman

Diana barely had time to register where she was before hearing a familiar deep voice, "Who the hell are you?"

Hearing that familiar tone that she had missed for the last thirty years over, Diana was stunned. Those years since had been a series of events that were more ridiculous than the last. Now, she somehow found herself in Bruce's cave... and she had no way of explaining why or how she had gotten here.

While a part of her didn't care she knew that Bruce probably would.

"Really Bruce, I thought you would recognize me" Diana replied in a teasing voice chuckling.

Bruce managed the barest hint of a smile at the voice, but his serious eyes bore into the woman that had barely managed to age at all standing inside the Bat-cave. Diana had always managed to get through the persona he projected. The only other person who could ever do that was Selina.

However, just as quickly as his mood had shifted into one of humor, it returned to his typical cold and calculating demeanor.

"And what does an old man like myself owe, to be graced by the presence of a princess like you?"

"Bruce, if there was an old person in this room… you'd currently be the youngest. Remember, I'm over three thousand years old." Diana said feeling relaxed in her old friends' presence. This wasn't the first time she had been transported to somewhere without the full knowledge of the reason, but at least she could see a familiar face.

"Diana, you still haven't answered my question. What are you doing here?"

"I… uh… Don't really know. One moment I was on Themyscira and now… I'm standing in front of your old suits. I'm just as confused as you."

"Magic," Bruce said spitting out the words as if they tasted bad in his mouth.

"Probably, but most likely this has something to do with one of the gods," Diana grumbled still but shrugged her toned shoulders.

"Right..." Bruce said arching an eyebrow. "Well, come on up. I was just having tea. Maybe we can figure out why such forces brought you back here again." Bruce said turning around and walked at a slower pace up the stairs to his mansion. When Diana left all those years ago, he felt the loss of her. Bruce would never admit it, but he had been in love with Diana for several years. Or at least as close to 'in love' as he had ever been, with the right circumstances he might have even married her.

In the end, there were just too many problems that needed their attention and they had decided to remain as friends. (Much to their own displeasure.)

Following behind him, Diana couldn't help wondering what the gods wanted to accomplish here. It was always the gods lately. They had ruined her life in more ways than one when they asked her to take over for Aries as the god of war.

All because she had feelings for him. Bruce, a mere mortal with no abilities…he was arrogant and more confident than any she had known before…and he was fearless. He had once stood toe to toe against alien tyrants. When his empowered allies had fallen, he refused to waver under the challenge, refusing to surrender and admit defeat in terror.

He was ready to lay down his life at a moment's notice, for his fellow mortals. Even some immortals wouldn't do such a thing, and Bruce was finite, and as she saw currently limited. He was selfless, brave, fearless, a protector, and a dark symbol of hope for the rest of the mortal men that he was so much like.

The others, they may embrace the principles she was raised to believe in…but he…he was a living embodiment of those principles.

Her impression of the Dark Knight was completely opposite of what she was raised to believe about men.

Batman had captured her curiosity. She found herself wanting to know more about him. But the years passed and she could never get back what was lost. She only hoped to get back to normal life soon, now that she had denied godhood.

Artemis and Hestia were surprised by her rejection of becoming a goddess of war, but it had never been in her plans to live on Olympus. She had once dreamed of a time of being the life of a wife, and a mother. Diana had given all of that up when she became war… and part of her hated the gods for that.

Though she might not be able to be a mother anymore, she still had the Amazons and maybe she hoped... Bruce.

---

"Who are you?" Terry asked speaking into the empty void.

Giggle, "You probably wouldn't believe me if I told you…" The voice said playfully.

"Try me."

"Oh, you're no fun, Terry." He heard her sigh then continue, "Do you know about the Greek gods?"

"You're right. I don't believe you. Thanks for saving my life but I have a murdering CEO that needs to be taken down before millions meet their maker." He turned around and started up the latter.

Terry was only a few feet off the ground when the voice spoke again, "So, what do you expect to do. Go to Bruce's cave. Sneak inside and take the bat suit. While one of the best detective of this time… What? Twiddles his thumbs?"

Terry paused mid-climb and stares blankly into air. That happened to be exactly his plan, but when she said it out loud it sounded a lot more moronic than it had inside his head.

"So, you're saying you have a better plan?" Terry asked.

Giggle, "Well I am a goddess. If you want that suit, why would you need to go to the cave?"

With a flash of light Terry felt the extra weight on his body, looking down he saw his hands and arms were now covered by the familiar fabric of the suit he had seen earlier that day.

"How did you..?"

Giggle, "Do you really want to stick around and ask questions? Or do you want to catch the bad guy?"

With a scowl on his face, Terry continued up the latter to the quiet streets above once more. Terry was a straight forward man, he liked things that made sense. This disembodied voice didn't, and he liked that concept even less.

As Terry climbed up from the underground of Gotham, he put the entire event out of his mind. It wasn't that he didn't find the fact a so-called 'goddess' curious. It was he needed to get justice for his father, and time was running out. Now he had the equipment to get that justice, and he wasn't going to sit around while that mad man hurt more people.

The technologies in the suit were definitely still state of the art, but it wasn't too far out of the spectrum that he couldn't understand some of its basic functions. Blasting off from the ground Terry spread his arms out and glider wings popped out allowing him to fly through the skies unhindered.

Terry couldn't help remembering the feeling of how he flew through the sky without the use of any equipment. Feeling the wind at his fingertips Terry found he could no longer access the skies as he had before. It was almost like the power was there calling out for him to use them, but there was a barrier between them. Terry had an overwhelming feeling of frustration, Terry just wanted to punch something.

Steeling his emotions, he guided himself to the flat of a tall building with a small flip. Bending down low he observed the 'Wayne-Powers' conference room across the street. The CEO Derick Powers himself, and who he assumed was the buyer of the nerve gas he was peddling were in the room. Their negotiations already underway. Terry assumed the deal hadn't been decided yet since two men seemed to still be in a heated discussion.

With the focus of his eyes, his vision zoomed in on the buyer's face. Suddenly a loading bar stating "Facial recognition initiated" popped up on Terry's optical display with information about the man in the room with Powers.

Name: Vilmos Egans

Occupation: Kaznian Minister of Commerce

Recent Activity: Allegedly visiting Gotham City to attend the World Trade conference. Due to the minister's country recently being surrounded by six armored divisions of the border of Kaznia, it has been speculated by local authorities that the Kaznian Minister is actually meeting an arms dealer. Though there are no current leads at the moment to that effect.

"Slammin', the old man really knew what he was doing!" Terry said examining the suit, it was even more advanced than he'd originally thought. Terry couldn't help smiling with the extra help it provided him, he might have a chance to actually get justice.

Gliding towards the building's edge Terry stayed to the corner out of sight, pressing his fingers to the window he listened to the conversation inside the room.

"…ultimate in germ warfare. A viral mutagen so quick-acting and evasive that no living cell could resist." Terry could tell the speech was practiced to perfection. Powers was naturally charismatic and had a long history of speaking in front of people which made him seem very likable. Terry doubted that many could resist the wordsmith as he performed his trade.

"It all started with experiments on plant life." Powers pressed a button showing a video of a plant in a clear airtight glass case, with a metal pipe connected to a machine.

Powers played the video which showed a hand reach out and press a red button on the machine. Suddenly a green gas exited the pipe and submerged the plant. They watched as the plant withered and died within seconds.

Smiling Egans' rubbed his chin stubble in a greedy manner, "Impressive, but we will want more than just to wipe out our enemy's crops Mr. Powers."

Powers' eyebrows raised slightly in delight while he attempted to hide his satisfied smirk, "Well then you should keep watching."

Pressing play once more the screen shifted to a different image, it was a similar airtight box but this time it had a calf inside. When another lab worker's and reached out to press the red button once more, Terry had to look away from the screen as the green gas covered the small animal as well.

Terry knew they were monsters but watching such a defenseless animal die such a horrid death, Terry felt rage build inside of him. Taking deep breaths Terry controlled his anger. He needed to catch these guys red-handed, so he couldn't be impulsive.

After the calf was completely turned to mush by the nerve gas Powers showed numerous clips of human experiments, and Terry didn't have to be in the room the know-how delighted Egans was with the prospective possibilities of the weapon.

"I trust these clips put to rest any lingering doubt, Mr. Egans."

"There is no cure?" Egans asked eagerly.

"Extreme heat or radiation, but after just three hours there is no hope of recovery." Powers smiled as he handed the last picture to the Kaznian Minister.

"Dust to… dust." Power's voice was casual but Egans' face paled as he looked at the final photo.

"Consider what a dose of this gas would do to the six armies on your boarders," Powers said lighting the pictures on fire. "Gone. Just like the wind. In a matter of hours."

Coming to a conclusion Egans stood and reached out his hand to seal the deal, "I trust the delivery is already on its way?"

"My men are loading the canisters as we speak, they'll leave tonight on hover transport. My assistant Mr. Fixx will supervise the shipment." The same man that had attempted to hold Terry in place on the bridge quietly stood in the room and nodded when their eyes turned to him.

"Excellent!" Egans said satisfied. "Goodbye, Mr. Powers I hope to see you soon."

"Yes, soon," Powers said enthusiastically.

Terry narrowed his eyes, "Yes, but only if you visit Gotham penitentiary."

Terry had a shipment to stop and a madman to put behind bars, and nothing was going to stand in his way.

---

"So Bruce, how have you been?" Diana asked in a crisp voice that made something inside Bruce come to life. He wanted to press down that weakness, he didn't want hope. He was already in his eighties; he didn't want to think what it meant that she was here.

"I've been getting by." He said replying to her question.

Suddenly another alarm sounded off in the mansion. Taking out a pocket device Bruce's scowl returns to his aged face.

"What is it?" Diana said.

"Somebody has taken my suit." Bruce's sharp eyes quickly shift towards Diana for a moment. Not seeing what he expected he stood to his feet and lumbered toward the cave.

"But, how?" She asked puzzled.

"My guess." Bruce replied with steel in his voice, "Magic."

Author's note:

Hey back again! Things picked up at work and couldn't focus on this FIC for the week. Hopefully, I didn't F*CK this up too much. Leave a comment and a review if you feel like it.

Also, what does everyone think of Kara being the love interest in the FIC? I was thinking I would split up the chapters every once in a while showing her perspective.

If it isn't painfully obvious at this point I'm using the animated series as a base for writing... Not the Arrow-verse TV series. I might use some comic book knowledge but not too much.