We're all insane
In a beautiful way
We won't change, until the tide comes
The tide comes
We're all insane
In a beautiful way
We won't change, until the tide comes
And pulls us all away

-Insane by The Word Alive

It had been a long time since they had been here. It brought a lot of memories of simpler times, of when they were first starting out with the concept of the League. Never had Diana thought they would return to it, but considering everything that had transpired, it was at least serviceable to their needs.

The Amazon was seated at a table in the middle of a warehouse. There was plenty of space for the sparsely placed furniture—meaning they only had the table, a few chairs, and a nearby counter with a coffee maker placed on it. There had been a lot more once, but once they moved into their now-destroyed headquarters, they had taken much of what they needed there.

Since it was daytime, sunlight poured through the large windows that were placed at regular intervals high upon the walls, even through the large plastic sheets that hung over them. The air was stale, the result of the disuse of a large fan that was primarily used to move the air around.

Also seated at the table were John Stewart and J'onn. It was good to see the Green Lantern back on his feet. His exposure to the dust-like Joker Venom had proven to be more debilitating than previously believed and his presence had been missed. He had taken a leave of absence to recover and was just returning to active duty.

In fact, they all had taken time for their personal projects. Diana had spent these last three months protecting Gateway while searching for any leftover plots devised by the Joker. As luck would have it, it seemed the mad clown had left her city largely alone. That had been a weight lifted off her shoulders when she came to that realization.

While she had kept up with the activities of the others, there wasn't a lot that required the team to assemble. Central City and Metropolis were slowly rebuilding, though each had their own challenges. According to Flash, the citizens were wary of each other following their mass Jokerization. Trust was slow to build, but like the city itself, it was being restored.

The same could not be said of Superman and Metropolis, unfortunately. It did not help that Lex Luthor was stoking the anti-kryptonian sentiment, keeping some thing that should have died down by now still burning as brightly as it had following the attack. The MPD had been calling upon the Man of Steel less and less as well. The misery Superman felt was palpable whenever she saw him.

Diana had no doubt that the current distrust would eventually go away given enough time and distance from the actual attack. Patience was its own virtue here. In fact, she intended on talking with Superman after the meeting; she highly expected he was in need of comforting words from a friend.

Speaking of which, after all the time since the Joker's capture, there had been a distinct lack of Batman's presence. It had taken three weeks for the Amazon to realize that she hadn't seen him in awhile. In fact, they hadn't spared once in the three months period.

That hadn't been for lack of trying. Diana had made multiple calls to the Batcave, the last being two weeks ago. Each time she had successfully gotten in contact with the man, he would deny her request for a spar, claiming that he did not have the time to participate. At first she had accepted his refusals at face value, seeing as they all had been tried physically and emotionally lately. That had changed lately as she had become more and more annoyed with each denial. There was still some issues they need to resolve and she was determined to see that done.

Hopefully that would be occurring today. Yesterday, out of the blue, she had received a communique from the Dark Knight, requesting her presence at the old Justice League building—the warehouse in which she current waited in. They had original used this place in the early days of the League to meet and conduct their activities. It came as no surprise to find out that Batman had found this out.

That's when a door open, causing the three heroes to look towards the front entrance. Passing through the doorway was Hawkgirl, a mace dangling at her hip. There was a shine to it that told Diana it was relatively new. It made sense because her old mace had been rendered unusable and thus required a replacement. It seemed that's what the Thanagarian had been up to during the League's hiatus.

The redhead paused for a moment as she looked at the room's inhabitants. "This is all who came?" she asked, surprise evident in her voice.

"Yeah," John answered her gruffly, his arms crossed over his chest. "I know Flash is in route, but haven't heard anything from Superman."

Hawkgirl approached the table, taking a seat in her old chair. Amusingly enough, they all had taken the seats they had prior to the construction of the Justice League Headquarters. "And what about the guy that called this meeting? Where is he?"

"Not here," the Lantern said, shrugging his shoulders.

"He should be here," Diana added, trying to be reassuring. Surely Batman had a reason for not being present at the moment.

"He better be," the Thanagarian muttered. "I was in the middle of something when he pretty much barked at me to be on time. If he can't be on time, then I don't see any point why I have to be."

"What were you doing?" the Amazon asked, hoping that a change in subject would relieve her sister of her foul mood.

"Nothing too important. There was a high speed chase I was in the middle of stopping when the guy calls, asked if I'm busy, then orders me here." She paused for a moment. "Should I be surprised he even knows about this place?"

"I was at first," John admitted, "but then I remembered who I was talking with."

"It would seem we weren't the only ones keeping tabs," J'onn offered.

That was when the doors opened again, this time Superman appearing in sight. The Man of Steel did a visible headcount on them before he began to walk towards them. "I take it we're still waiting for Flash?" he asked humorously.

That was a welcoming sign to Diana. Normally when Superman wasn't in a good mood, he did not joke. Though she could see that the Kryptonian was tired, it wasn't due to his issues with his city. Still, she was going to have a word with him later.

"We're also missing Batman," John informed him, leaning back in his chair as he sought to get more comfortable.

Superman, oddly enough, didn't seem perturbed by that. "Either he's going to give Flash a run for his money on how close to being late they'll be, or he's already here."

That caused multiple heads to turn to him. "What makes you think that?" Hawkgirl questioned him.

Superman just shrugged his shoulders. "No reason. He usually just pops up when you least expect him to. I don't see why this would be any different."

Now that was a fair point. Though Diana was certain the vigilante wasn't in the building—something her heightened scenes would have informed her if he was indeed here—Superman's idea was not without merit. Confident in her abilities as she was, Batman had managed to sneak up on her on a few occasions.

John and Hawkgirl, in the meantime, had looked to J'onn. "Do you sense him here?" the Green Lantern asked him.

J'onn didn't even bother doing a sweep as he shook his head in the negative. "I've checked every so often since I arrived and I have not detected Batman's presence."

Suddenly, a stiff breeze blew by, and Flash was suddenly in his seat, leaning back in his chair with his arms propped up behind his head and his feet crossed at the ankle on the edge of the table. "I'm here," he announced lazily. "I haven't missed anything, have I?"

"Just in time, as always," John grumbled more to himself than anyone. Then in a louder voice, he said, "We're just waiting on Batman now."

That caught Flash's attention. "Huh? Bats isn't here?" His head turned from side to side as he looked about the room. "Would you look at that," he remarked.

"I guess that means he's officially late," Hawkgirl surmised, crossing her arms over her chest. "Someone call him up and see what's taking him so long."

Diana was more than ready to volunteer. Her hand was even next to her ear when she noticed something. The area around the six of them had suddenly begun to brighten, a white light blinding her to the point where she squeezed her eyes shut. Faintly she heard surprised cries from the others.

And then the air around her was different. Even through her closed eyelids, she could sense the light was gone, allowing her to brave opening her eyes. The moment she did so, she found that she was no longer in the warehouse, but in a place of metal and steel.

If the warehouse was considered big, this new place was massive. What looked like multiple levels reached high up, a center column emerging from the floor and ending up at the ceiling. There were a few balconies extending out from the column, along with a bridge or two that criss-crossed from one side of the room to the other.

Surprisingly, the Amazon was no longer sitting, finding that she was standing in a wide open area that circled around the cylindrical room. It was the same with the rest of the Justice League. The only thing of note was a large glass window, one that repeated at various intervals around the level. She frowned. From where she stood, the only thing she could see through the window was darkness.

"What is this place?" Hawkgirl asked in awe, her head turning this way and that as she looked at everything.

"No idea," John answered her, walking over by the window. His head happened to turn towards the glass, which made him stop in mid-step. "Oh my God," he gasped.

"What is it?" Superman asked before he floated towards the Lantern, Diana doing the same. In fact, everyone was heading towards their comrade, only to focus right on the window. Landing, Diana did the same and discovered just what was captivating everyone's attention.

A large planet was visible through the window now that she was closer to it. The whites, browns, blues, and green made it truly a sight to behold. Faintly, Diana wondered if this is how the Gods saw their world from Olympus.

"Guys...I think we're in space," Flash said then.

"Indeed," J'onn agreed with him. "The question, however, is how."

"Perhaps I can answer that."

Collectively, their heads snapped around to find Batman standing in plain sight, his cape covering his body from sight. "Welcome to the Watchtower," he greeted them.

"Watchtower?" Superman asked incredulous before a thought appeared in his head. "Do you mean—?"

"This is the new headquarters of the Justice League."

Suddenly, Diana realized just why the vigilante had been absent these last three months. He had been consumed with designing and building this place for them. A warm feeling began welling up in her. She couldn't wait to explore this place.

"You had this place built just for us?" John suddenly asked. "Just in the last three months? That's pretty fast for a place that has to be this technologically sophisticated."

"Built, no," Batman replied as he turned around and gazed at the center column. "This is an old observatory satellite that was abandoned over a decade ago. I've spent the last couple of months having it upgraded, refurbished, and equipped for our needs."

His hand then extended out from beneath his cape, gesturing to the rest of the Watchtower. "There's a Monitor Room, conservatory, kitchen, hanger, medical facilities, and reactor. As you're already aware, there is also a teleporter at least until a spacecraft can be built as a backup, or for interplanetary missions."

"Should I be surprised he was able to build a teleporter?" Flash asked in a hushed whisper.

"He would have had access to the blueprints of the original one due to the download of the black box," J'onn replied to him, not bothering to lower his voice, instead keeping his normal stoic tone. "It wouldn't have been too difficult to construct one from those.

"Whoa, whoa, wait a minute," John interjected then. "If he rebuilt the teleporter, then what's going to stop another maniac like the Joker from using it to get up here and then crash it into Earth?"

Batman turned his head to regard the Lantern. "I've taken the liberty of updating the security protocols. Along with access codes, biometrics will determine if the access code matches the user's biological imprints. Height, weight, and build, along with a few other internal checks will make sure only Superman can use his access code and not the Joker. The same goes for everyone."

"Impressive," Hawkgirl complimented him, stepping towards the dark-clad man. "Mind telling me how you got all our data? I'm pretty sure you didn't just eyeball us and got it one hundred percent correct."

"You're right," he acknowledged as he returned his attention back to the rest of the space station. "I got it when I beamed you up here."

"I'm assuming a computer recorded these values when you activated the teleporter," J'onn stated. "So now that we're in the system, I'm assuming that we cannot teleporte others without some security protocol activating."

"If you're wondering if you can randomly teleport a vigilante to do an undercover mission for you without their permission, no, you won't be able to do that." A bubble of humor welled up within Diana at those words. While it was a parting shot, she knew better than to accept the man's words at face value now. He was most definitely teasing them.

"If you are wanting to do such a thing, a new profile will have to be added before transport, and then it has to be done on the Watchtower itself. Otherwise, the target won't be teleported up. If, for some reason, the target is teleported up without matching biometrics, the teleportation pad goes into lockdown where a cage made out of a space-age polymer will descend down and trap whomever is on the pad."

"Pretty sure that won't contain Superman," Hawkgirl remarked.

"No, it won't, but anyone with Superman's strength isn't going to try and teleport in, they'll just bust in through a wall," Batman returned bluntly. "Which in the case of a hull breach, the station also goes into lockdown and will close off any room to protect the rest of the station from the vacuum. In other words, don't try and break this place, otherwise you'll die."

There was a short silence before the redhead replied, "Fair enough."

Again, there was a silence before Flash loudly cleared his throat. "Soooo, are we going to get the grand tour?"

"I spent most of the morning making sure the Watchtower was operational, so no, I'll have to decline," Batman answered, much to Diana chagrin. "I'm expected in Gotham, so I'll leave your tour up to you."

Then the vigilante walked off, heading to a different part of the space station. Watching him go, Diana glanced to her comrades, seeing they were beginning to congregate together to discuss this new development. Seeing as no one was paying her any mind, she followed the departing vigilante, entering a large hallway that she hadn't noticed before.

Though she wasn't trying to be stealthy, Batman seemed to think she was as he merely tilted his head to a side even as he kept walking. "Is there something you want, Wonder Woman?" he asked.

Speeding up her pace, the dark-haired woman caught up to him. "I was beginning to wonder if you had lost interest with us," she attempted to joke. She wasn't sure if her humorous anecdote was accepted considering the Dark Knight didn't laugh. "You've been busy the last few months."

"I have," he acknowledged.

"So, is there a place where we can spar? I do hope you included such a facility."

"There is; unfortunately, I don't have the time now to show it to you."

Diana couldn't deny that she felt disappointed in the answer. "Would tomorrow be better for you?" she asked.

Batman actually looked to her, considering her request. Then, "It would—0700 is alright?"

A smile appeared on the Amazon's face. "That works for me, though are you sure that's not passed your bedtime? I hear bats are nocturnal."

"Sounds to me like you're trying to worm your way out of this."

Diana tilted her head up haughtily. "You should know better than anyone that an Amazon never backs down from a challenge."

The corner of the man's mouth twitched up into a smirk. "We'll see about that."

It was then they reached the end of the hall, two large doors sliding apart diagonally. The room the two entered appeared to be the hanger Batman had mentioned earlier. In fact, the Batwing was parked there, it's canopy still opened.

"You flew up here?" the Amazon questioned, giving him a sidelong look.

"You thought I was going to try the teleporter on me?" the vigilante retorted, sounding as if that was the most absurd idea he'd heard. "No thanks. You all seemed more willing to be apart of the testrun."

Diana's mouth dropped open. They had been the guinea pigs for this new teleporter? Why that...that…

"Is that all we are to you?" she growled lowly. "Test subjects? People to be shut out when you deem it necessary? After all this time, why do you still keep us at arm's length?"

If Batman was surprised by her outburst, he didn't show it, nor did he respond, which only aggravated the Amazon. "Our collaborations should have taught you that we are worthy of your trust and respect. None of us deserved to be sidelined, especially when you decided to involve an untested warrior."

This time the dark-clad man deigned to reply. "I made a judgement call and it worked. The Joker didn't expect Batgirl to show when she did and she was instrumental in his capture. Up to then, he had anticipated every single one of our moves. Something needed to change and I made that decision."

"Yet, you could not consult us? Why? It wasn't like the Joker could read minds and pluck the idea out of our heads," Diana retorted.

"How do you explain the Joker obtaining Superman's access codes?" Batman countered, something that made the dark-haired woman pause. "He didn't need special powers, remember? He watched, he planned, and prepared every trap and every attack to the most minute detail. When confronted with that, I had to make the choice, for better or worse."

"So you couldn't include us in that plan? Do you consider us that incompetent?"

"You know I don't think that." The vigilante closed the distance between them, standing mere inches away. "If there had been a way, I would've done it, but there wasn't."

There was a bitter taste in Diana's mouth at that admission. She wanted to believe the man's reasoning, but her upbringing refused to accept it. There was always another option, another way to accomplish the mission. She had to make him see this. "You could have still consulted us. There is a reason we are part of the Justice League; we are all more than just the sum of our powers. You're evidence of that."

That silenced the Dark Knight. It was a few moments before he admitted, "Point."

"You're not alone," Diana continued to press. Just because he had acknowledged her argument did not mean he had accepted it. "You can count on us to be of assistance, no matter what the situation. We can see things that perhaps even you hadn't considered. Trust us."

Again, the vigilante was silent, but ultimately he let out a sigh. "That's something I will work on. I'm not-"

"A team player," the Amazon finished for him, a small smile growing on her face. "I know."

Batman smirked in return. "Touche." What was best described as a comfortable silence fell on the two. For now, Diana was satisfied with their talk.

That changed when the vigilante spoke again. "Before I forget, I'm intending on taking a leave of absence," the dark-clad man said, sending a wave of shock through her. Here she was seeing him for the first time in months and now he was going away again?

"Any particular reason?" she prodded, trying to find out some sort of answer.

"I have a trip I need to make and there's no telling how long I'll be away." Batman stopped walking and turned to face her. "Hopefully it won't take too long, but I'd rather not be in the middle of it and have the comm link buzzing in my ear."

"Oh. So when do you intend on leaving?"

"Tomorrow, after our spar."

The smile returned to Diana's face. "So I'll get a chance to wish you a safe journey."

"If that's how you see it, Princess."

So he wanted to play coy, did he? Well then, let's see how he reacts to this.

Closing the distance between them, Diana leaned in and gave him a chaste kiss on his lips. Much to her satisfaction, the vigilante seemed stunned by the gesture. "That's some incentive for you to show up tomorrow," she whispered lowly to him. She then stepped back before turning around, walking back the way she had come. "0700," she called back over her shoulder, a reminder of their agreed upon time.

She was nearly by the door when she faintly heard, "See you then, Princess."

The plane landed with a soft jolt. Hands still gripping the joystick, Batman just sat in the cockpit, eyes staring blankly out of the canopy glass.

Despite his physical inactivity, his mind was a whirlwind of thoughts—mostly out of confusion. Diana's farewell on the newly-activated Watchtower had been...unexpected to say the least. Yes, he had noticed her growing presence around him, but he hadn't seen it ever getting that intimate, even if it had been a quick peck of a kiss. She had changed the rules on him at some point.

That was just another thing he'd have to contemplate later.

Though he had been hard at work taking that old Waynetech satellite—one that had been up there since he had been a boy—and retooling it, there was a lot more he had been working on. His conversation with the Joker had opened up a lot of questioned in spite of his more logical self refusing to believe them.

There was no way he and that madman were the same. The clown was a pathological liar, that much he knew without a doubt. He had seen the psych evaluations and reports done at Arkham, heard the recorded tapes of the sessions, and all he saw was an evil man that could manipulate and use even the most guarded of people.

A common subject in the tapes had been the Joker's origin itself. How did he become the way he was, what had created him, where he had come from—many different psychiatrists had tried to learn the truth, but each one had received all sorts of answers. Abusive parents, problems with loan sharks, a near-death experience with a catfish of all things had been some of the stories told. Some were variations of others, but there was never one single commonality in each story. A psychiatrist had once confronted the Joker about the inconsistencies with his alleged past.

The Joker has simply said, "If I'm going to have an origin story, it might as well be multiple choice!"

A look of disgust appeared on the vigilante's face. The canopy slid open, allowing him to climb out and land on the cave floor. If there was one thing that the Joker's attacks on the Justice League had proven to him, it was that the psychopath was fixated on him. His madness was focused solely on him. Had Batman been more associated with, say, the Birds of Prey, he had no doubt the clown would have targeted them instead, his ultimate goal remaining the same.

He needed to know more.

Marching through the cave, he headed to the stand where his armor was displayed. Standing in front of it, he deactivated the systems throughout the suit before he began taking it off piece by piece, starting with the mask. As Bruce removed his gauntlets and hung them where they belonged, he was considering his next step.

With everything he knew, there was no point in trying to dig up the Joker's past. It was most likely lost to the passage of time with the green-haired man the only person knowing the complete story. Getting that information was not worth the aggravation.

So what did that leave? Well, if there was one thing Bruce was good at, it was getting into the mind of the criminal element. It was how he preyed on their fears, using their imaginations against them. It seemed it was time that he entered yet another mind.

In order to do this though, he had many things that needed to be done. Getting time off from Wayne Enterprises wouldn't be too much trouble. As CEO, all he needed to do was inform Lucius that he'd been out of town for awhile and that was that. For his night job, however, that was something else entirely.

The Birds of Prey would need to be informed. As much as he wasn't a fan of leaving the city in the hands of others, it wouldn't be the first time that he had left for personal reasons. Black Canary would be able to coordinate with Huntress and the Batclan once he told her of his intentions.

As he began taking off the body of his armor, he paused for a moment. If there was anyone that deserved to know of his absence, it would be Gordon. Considering how difficult it was to re-establish their working relationship, keeping the police commissioner in the loop would go a long way to keeping their status quo. Pulling off the armor and placing it on the stand, he mentally began planning out tonight's patrol, one that would allow him to deliver his messages without inconveniencing him.

And speaking of inconveniences...

"Cassandra," he called out, one hand running through his dark hair. He didn't hear the girl approach, but he did feel her presence.

Turning to his left, his eyes fell on the girl, still in her Batgirl suit, though her mask was firmly in her hands. Her assistance had been invaluable when apprehending the Joker. Without her, the madman would have gotten away.

Unfortunately, having given her a taste of working as Batgirl would make keeping her off the streets all but impossible now.

He had wanted a slow immersion, steadily integrating the girl into his patrol and subsequently fighting the criminal element. His hand had been forced that one night, putting her into action, and even allowing her to drive one of the motorcycles. The next patrol he did would be as a duo rather than solo.

However, she had never been out on her own, thus Bruce couldn't trust her not to perform his duties in his absence. Mentally sighing, he knew he had to take her with him.

"We're going on a trip," he told her, the girl's eyes widening in surprise. He knew what was going in her head the instant it occurred. He had never taken her out of the house before even when he had been hunting down the Court of Owls all over the world. This would be new for her. "I need you with me," he continued unabated. "Get out of your armor and prepare a bag."

Cassandra stood still as she tried to make sense of the words. "Help?" she asked, pointing to the supercomputer.

Bruce frowned. It seemed she wasn't sure what his intentions were. "No," he said, shaking his head, which only added to her confusion. He then gestured to himself. "Help."

Cassandra pointed her hand at him in turn. "Help?"

The dark-haired man nodded. "Help."

She then looked down at her suit, both of her hands reaching out to grab the ends of her cape and opening it up, her arms spread wide. Though she didn't say anything, her implication involved the necessity of her suit, that much he was able to interpret.

"We'll be taking that with us," Bruce told her. "For now, take it off." He then gestured to his own suit for emphasis.

That finally made sense to her. Dropping her cape, she nodded her acknowledgement of his order. However, she paused for a moment, going so far as to bite her lip. That caught Bruce's attention as he watched her curiously.

The young girl then tightened her grip on her mask and raised it with both hands up in front of her, showing it to the billionaire. "When?" she asked, the latest word she had learned.

"When we return," he answered her. Walking, he made his way to the large computer, taking a suit in the chair. "Computer: bring up the location of Guam."

Immediately, a geological map appeared on screen, showing the island of Guam. More importantly, he was looking at the north side of the island. He had heard rumblings through dark channels of a research facility there. The things done there were strictly experimental with enough red tape to make sure anyone looking for it would give up long before they found it.

Bruce wasn't just anyone, however.

He had been chasing down a lead on a Court of Owls member when he had stumbled upon this information. Initially he had wanted to shut it down, but other matters ended up taking precedent and he had forgotten all about it. As it turned out, perhaps that was for the best.

"Goodbye Gotham," Bruce muttered to himself as he continued to stare at the image.

"Hello Zur En Arrh."

To Guest for Chapter 21: I hope you wish was everything you hoped it'd be.

To Guest for Chapter 20: Thanks!

Death of the League comes to an end at last. I'd like to thank everyone who read, reviewed, and enjoyed the story. I really appreciated the feedback. This was a fun story to write out, a few details here and there notwithstanding. As mentioned here and there, I took quite a bit of inspiration from Death of the Family, The Killing Joke, and Injustice: Gods Among Us. Their fingerprints are all over the place lol.

For the record, I do know the significance behind Zur En Arrh and its place in Batman: RIP. My fellow co-author Anonymous Void and I have plans for it though, so we're making a change. You can find out all about it in the next installment, Ten Houses of Deceit. The story is currently being written, so look out for it. AV's taking the lead on this story, so it'll be posted under his account.

Once again, thanks to everyone that enjoyed the story.

Until next time,

ShadowMajin