Hello again, what's up everyone and how are all of you doing? I hope you are reading the original story on Fanfiction.net and this repost here to see the differences and I hope you like both just as equally. I have another chapter ready for you today, hope you all enjoy!
The Past/ After Metropolis Incident
"Lois, Metropolis, it's all gone," cried Diana as she lay in Bruce's arms. They were in the Batcave, having just come back from what was left of Metropolis. Diana had completely broken down as soon as she had left the Batmobile and sobbed into Bruce's shoulder.
Stroking her hair, Bruce's mind was on something else. In his rage, Clark had interrupted his interrogation of the Joker and brutally murdered him. "This far from over," Bruce replied.
"You're right. We have to find Lex and try to establish calm around the rest of the world. Maybe we can help build.."
"I wasn't talking about Metropolis, Diana," Bruce interrupted. Wiping away tears, Diana looked up with a confused expression on her face.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"Clark needs to be calmed down before he kills someone else. I have a feeling he's going to something very stupid. Dangerous, even."
"But Bruce, the Joker deserved it," Diana replied.
"It's not in Clark's nature to kill. His mind is broken and we all need to be ready for what comes next, whatever that may be," Bruce countered. Pulling away from Bruce, Diana looked at him with a shocked expression on her face.
"How could you say that? Bruce, your best friend just lost everything he cares about and you don't look like you even care," Diana began. "If the Joker had blown up Gotham you know he would do anything in his power to help you."
"I know that, Princess. But we still need to be ready for any future attacks. Whoever gave the Joker that nuke is still out there and we need to find him as well." Standing up from his chair, Bruce activated his coms.
"Batman to Justice League," he said.
"Green Lantern here," answered Hal.
"What's wrong Bruce?" sad Barry.
"Where's Superman?" Bruce decided to get straight to the point.
"Last I heard he was at the Fortress of Solitude," answered Hal. "I don't think he wants to be disturbed though."
"Good. I need everyone to the Watchtower ASAP. Batman out," Bruce turned off his coms and looked at Diana, who had begun to look a little pale. Rushing over to her, Bruce grabbed her arms to steady her. "What's wrong?" he asked.
"It's nothing Bruce, I'm fine," she replied. But seeing as he hadn't moved, she continued. "I've just pushed myself a little too much the past couple of days, that's all."
Relaxing his position, Bruce's face, however, hadn't relaxed from his concerned expression. "You can stay here. I'll get Alfred to take care of you while I'm out." Before she could argue however, Bruce silenced her with a deep kiss. "Don't worry, I'll fill you in when you're better," he finally said after releasing her.
"No you'll fill me in as soon as you get back, understood?" Diana sternly replied.
Flashing her with his trademark smirk, Bruce stroked Diana's face. "Of course Princess." Standing back up and pulling his cowl over his face, he walked over to the teleporters. "When you're ready J'onn," he said, not taking his eyes off Diana.
Waiting till Bruce was gone, Diana stood up and raced to the nearest ledge and vomited her guts out. After what seemed an eternity, she finally wiped her mouth and turned around, only to be startled by Alfred. He had a concerned look on his face.
"Are you alright, Miss Diana?" he asked.
Wiping her mouth again, Diana tried her best to look as healthy as she could. "I'm fine, thank you," she lied. Unfortunately Alfred was almost as good as Bruce when it came to detecting lies.
"Miss Diana I know that you're not well because I just witnessed you spill your entire entrails into the depths of this ghastly cave." Realizing she been caught, Diana dropped her facade and slumped to the floor, leaning against the railing. Unable to contain the tears she had been holding back, she began sobbing uncontrollably into her hands.
Waiting for Diana to finish, Alfred walked over to her and kneeled down so he could look at her at eye level. "Does he know?" he inquired.
"No," Diana sobbed.
"How long?"
"6 weeks."
"Why have you not told him?" Diana turned to look at him.
"I was going to tell him yesterday but with all that's been happening I decided that Bruce didn't need to distraction."
"I can assure you Diana, Bruce will not be distracted by finding out you were pregnant," Alfred calmly said.
"Yes he will. He won't let me out into the field and and he'll always be worrying about me wherever he goes and no matter what I do," cried out Diana. "Besides, I thought it unfair to give the news when Clark just lost his wife and child."
Alfred thought for a minute before saying- "Of course. If you wish to keep this a secret for the time being then that is fine. but you should know that Master Bruce is going to find out eventually."
Diana looked up to see her fiancee's surrogate father staring at her lovingly.
"I know. I'll tell him after all this chaos has been cleared up. Thank you Alfred."
"My pleasure, Miss Diana."
The Present
After she had finished sobbing and nearly passed out, Diana slowly pulled herself together. The Amazon looked back into the Dark Knight's eyes, thankful the cowl was off and he was looking back into hers. They used to be able to read each other so well before, it was almost as if they could share each other's thoughts without uttering a word. Then, it was a struggle for either to determine what anyone was thinking. Except in this moment, where time seemed to skip backwards for them. Bruce could feel the anguish in Diana and knew from her pained expression in her eyes it was from an external force in this prison. A prison he had reperpoused to give criminals and members of the Regime a second chance. He may as well have abused the Amazon himself. As for the Princess, all she could feel now was relief. It felt so comforting to be in the arms of her Dark Knight. It felt good to be heard. To have him care, even if it was only about her well being. She could see through any attempt to conceal this if chose to, but no such effort was made.
Diana didn't want this to end, but unfortunately, even this moment of respite came to a close. "Tell me what's been going on. Diana, please let me help you." Her former fiance spoke so softly, if she hadn't been entwined in his presence she might not have heard it. The Amazon didn't want to face this situation right now, but she knew that the World's Greatest Detective would not drop it so she would have to answer it eventually. However, the self defense mechanisms she had built up over the last two months kept her tight lipped. She would only say in vague terms, "The guards here are less than kind, and are not very hospitable. Let's just say that, if things aren't done their way... it's the high way." Bruce heard this, and decided that the best course of action now would be to try and be her ally. To gain her trust so she would tell him what is going on so he could put a stop to it. That this was also the best way he could probably get her to see the Regime and Superman were wrong.
"Diana, I know things aren't what they used to be between us. I want to help you, and I will do everything in my power to do so. Is there anything concrete you can safely share with me?" Bruce asked, and after receiving a silent shake of her head no, he pulled her close to him and held her tight. After that, he got up and helped her to her feet, and led her on unsteady legs to her cot. "I will be back tomorrow. We'll continue this dance of ours then." Batman hoped that the Amazon would catch the hidden message in those words as he slid the cowl back over his head and the armor of his suit locked it in place. As he left her cell, the Dark Knight ran over all the different ways he could handle the situation. He obviously couldn't just go home and leave it to Cash to report to him anything that happened to Diana, as it was obvious that something did yet nothing was told to him sooner. This left only a handful of possibilities as to why that was, and one of them was that the warden was complicit in what was transpiring, and that was something that would be painful to the Dark Knight as well. The other scenario was somehow the guards were getting away with it and he had to generate a lists of suspects, gather evidence and execute a plan of capture.
It was no different than a mission on the streets of Gotham, but even Batman knew this one was of a more personal level. So, the Dark Knight resolved to first return to the cave and access Belle Reve's record servers and begin his investigation.
Alright, that's the end of the chapter. I added a little bit here and there to add some length to it, but other than that this one is mostly the original and I hope you all like it. I will be posting another chapter soon so let me know what you all think.