A/N: Oh… my…..GOD! It's an UPDATE! Yeah…I haven't given up on this story, it just is so hard to write sometimes. I have most of the story written in my head but for some reason it's hard to type it down. I hope you all forgive me for taking so long between updates and I hope this doesn't suck too bad.

Also, I'm not sure if the Batwing can fly into space or not. But for this story lets pretend that it can.

Disclaimer: I no own JLU. Or much of anything.

Footwork

Phase Three

Picking Up the Pieces

The Watchtower was silent after the attack by Task Force X. The majority of the heroes that had been on the Tower at the time were in the infirmary, those that had only minor injuries were cared for and sent out to make room for those with worse injuries. Atom Smasher was still unconscious, and until he regained consciousness, he took up the majority of the infirmary. Which in turn forced Batman into sharing a room with Vigilante, and thus Shining Knight by default. The cowboy had woken for a short while, but remained incoherent muttering about being taken out by his own guns. The knight had been by his bedside at every chance, Bruce thought he felt guilty for letting his friend get injured. After he realized that he was thinking about their feelings, he had personally informed the next medic to enter the room, that one way or another he was going home. Whether they released him or not.

He received a message from Alfred that morning that someone was coming up to bring him home, since he technically was still in intensive care, wearing a neck brace and could no way fly himself home without making his injuries worse. He expected Nightwing, maybe even Tim bringing the Batwing up on Auto-Pilot. Instead he watched as the Batwing sailed into the shuttle bay and landed. He frowned when it was Question that exited the plane. The faceless man didn't pay attention to the large scratch that had somehow managed to mar the otherwise pristine surface of the craft, or the fact that he had landed in two Javelin spaces as he made his way towards the infirmary. Bruce scowled.

Alfred had filled him in on the details as he drove. The morning that Vic had scheduled his break in, Batman had broken in as well. Vic scowled, if Bruce hadn't gotten in his way he wouldn't have gotten caught. He politely requested that Alfred would inform 'Master' Bruce that he wished to speak with him, only to be informed of the rest of the former days events. Cadmus had launched a kryptonite warhead at Superman, and Batman had stopped it with another suicide mission. He had been recovered from the Javelin wreckage among the waves by Wonder Woman and was currently in intensive care on the Watchtower and again, the teleporters were down. That was when Vic and Bruce the dog began their cross country trip to Gotham.

Three days later Vic pulled the car into the garage at Wayne Manor only to don the faceless guise of The Question and request Alfred to set the Batwing on Auto-Pilot and set off for the Watchtower, leaving Bruce to Alfred's fine care as he went to fetch the dog from the tower.

He didn't feel bad about the scratch, after all the plane had been on auto-pilot. He certainly hadn't fiddled with the controls and then madly scrambled to re-set the auto-pilot when he discovered that it could be turned off. As he strode through the halls he noted the repair teams. He entered his room on the tower and went through the staff files. Glancing over their backgrounds and mental evaluations he choose the most likely three candidates and sent them in an email to the Martian for a mind scan. Then he went to collect the dog.

A divider had been placed in the center of the room. Vigilante was asleep on his side. Shining Knight was gone, probably to get something to eat since the chair beside Vig's bed seemed to have been slept in. Bruce was glaring at the ceiling. Vic mildly glanced upwards to see if there we're laser shaped holes maybe Bruce's life or death experience had given him heat vision. That was just what the League needed. A Batman with looks that could really kill.

Thankfully the ceiling was still in once piece, but now Bruce was directing his glare at him. It didn't phase him, if anyone of them had the right to be angry at the other it was him. So his plane had a scratch on it, (Alfred would probably have him buffing it out before the night was over) his secret identity was probably spread all over the station by now. He pushed the wheel chair over to the bed and offered Bruce his cowl. When it wasn't immediately snatched from his hands he cocked his head to the side.

"So do you want every repair crew on the station to know the identity of Batman then?"

"We need to talk," was the growled response. Vic frowned and tossed the cowl against his chest.

"We can talk on the way back to the Manor. Vigilante could wake up or Shining Knight could come back at any moment. I thought that you were in a hurry to leave?" Bruce grunted and nodded pulling the cowl over his head then attempted to climb into the wheel chair. Vic didn't help him, he knew Bruce wanted to do this himself. He needed to be able to do it himself. He turned the chair with his good arm and when he started to leave Vic fell into step beside him.

Vic hadn't spent much time in space, but he marveled over how quiet it was. Javelin's engines roared but the Batwing was silent. Neither man wanted to break the silence, but Vic knew Bruce would saying something eventually, until then Vic would wait. He wasn't angry at him anymore, he knew that Bruce had done it for the good of the team, but he would appreciate the explanation from Bruce himself.

The craft shuddered slightly as it re-entered the atmosphere and Bruce started to speak. "I won't apologize for what I did. It had to be done, Clark didn't trust you. In the future the two of you may have to work together. We can't risk having a rift in the defenses. Haven't you noticed that Superman's opinion of you directly affects the way that some members of the league act?"

He had made a note of the fact, but as he hadn't put too much thought into it. Most of the members of the league that disrespected him and mocked him had been present at sometime when he had an argument with the kryptonian. Bruce's logic was reasonable, he was forgiven. The rest of the ride back to Gotham was a comfortable silence.

"What is a dog doing in my house?"

Vic grinned cheekily at the billionaire as he kneeled down and whistled for the dog. He came at a run, slamming into Vic's chest and smothering him with kisses.

"Bruce Wayne I would like you to meet my new friend Bruce Sage. We met in Amarillo and have been buddies ever since haven't we Bruce." The beasts tail whipped back and forth and he sniffed inquisitively at the new person that he was meeting. Deciding that he was safe Bruce put his front paws onto the arm of the wheelchair and smothered his face with kisses. The billionaire's face was priceless, the Batglare didn't work on canines. After Vic pulled the dog off and started a game of fetch Alfred appeared beside Bruce with a towel.

As he wiped the drool away he watched the mutt chase a thrown stick. The tricolor dog looked as if he had a mixture of Great Dane in him, Bruce liked Danes. They had one when he was a child, it had died around a year before his parents murder. He hadn't thought much about dogs since then. But as he watched the mutt running across the lawn he thought that having another dog in the future might be a nice addition to the family.

A/N: I didn't have kids WB when I was a child, so I didn't have the privilege of watching Batman Beyond. But I watched a few episodes and the movie Return of the Joker and I loved Ace!