Paradise

Crash

Tonight looked the same as any night on the island of Themyscira, but Diana felt a definite unease in her heart for her homeland's safety this night.

Selene's torch illuminated the night sky in the absence of Apollo's flames and the island bathed in the shine as beautiful as it had ever been during Diana's lifetime. The princess spurred her mare to increase to a gallop as she conducted her assigned patrol of the western shore.

It was not unusual to the royal to carry out the same tasks as her mother's warriors; for Diana was a warrior, as was every woman on Themyscira including Queen Hippolyta herself. This was the isle of the Amazons; every woman earned their place in a society free of the oppression of men to keep it so.

Diana's unease grew as the moon passed its peak in the sky. She was certain she could hear an unnatural thunder out to the seas and beyond the island's protective magic barriers, but the sky was cloudless for miles in all directions. The only answer she could find lay in her warrior's instincts; a battle.

The princess halted her steed and turned her head to the oceans crashing upon the cliffs she had moved atop. "Hera, please let me be wrong," she uttered as she gazed over the endless water. Nothing happened for a time that passed in silence filled by the growing tension in Diana's heart, then...

BOOM

The sound ripped through the peaceful silence as a light rivaling that of Apollo's sun ignited the night above, barely a few miles from the shore, it lasted mere seconds but scared Diana more than she would have thought possible. 'I am a trained Amazon warrior and the Princess of Themyscira!' she scolded herself. 'I will meet any threat to this land with my blade.' Despite these defiant thoughts Diana could not reassure her carrier so easily and had to reign in the mare's panicked motions with force. "Calm yourself my friend," she whispered gently to the beast, "I will protect you from any threat with the same strength as I would any of my sisters." Her words did to all purposes calm the animal, but princess knew that she would have to be careful in her commands.

"What could defy Nyx's veil so strongly, I wonder," Diana muttered as she refocused her eyes over the water. Within moments she received an answer. A massive bird, although clearly not a bird, soon came into view spewing dark smoke from its left wing and was struggling to maintain its flight. Fear clawed back into her mind in the realisation the 'bird' was headed for Themyscira at an alarming speed, clearly hoping to find refuge. She pulled the reigns of her steed and spurred it directly to full speed to south east to meet the 'bird' as quickly after it landed as possible, knowing the other Amazons would join her soon after with the same goal.

Diana kept her eyes to the western sky and watched as the 'bird' approached her homeland. As it neared the shoreline its unnatural qualities became ever clearer. It made a choking mechanical noise similar to that of a sword being sharpened, it was actually made of metal and definitely of human construction and its shape was one she would associate with the bats of a cave rather than the birds of the sky. "Just at what extent will Ares stop giving Man the tools to destroy life?" Diana growled as she turned her horse to enter the forest the 'bat' was now passing over.

The bat's trajectory and speed put it to crash half a mile into the forest and if any person was in control of it Diana knew the one place any woman with reason would chose to land. However, she felt she knew this was a man's creation and a man's weapon or toy and, given her teachings, whether he had reason was something she could only hope for.

A tremble rushed through the ground as a mighty crash signaled the bat's landing and once again Diana had to fight her own and her steed's instinctive panic. She entered the clearing moments later and halted her steed at what she saw. An onslaught of destruction; the bat had ploughed through the ancient trees as if they were maize leaving a fiery tunnel littered with debris in its wake.

Diana motioned the horse tentatively, so as not to panic the beast, to move toward the beginning of the trench that began to the nearside of the clearing before slicing through the ground and cutting past the undergrowth of the trees on the farside. The horse obeyed reluctantly, but refused to move past the edge of the disturbed earth, in acceptance the princess dismounted from her steed. She gave the frightened creature some comforting words before turning to the tunnel.

Drawing her sword from the belt of her chiton in her right hand and taking the shield on her back in her left, Diana made her way down newly created path. The mechanic bat had come to a rest a fair way into the trees and was smoldering in the aftermath of its crash, but it was stationary as she approached.

As she came within ten yards of it Diana stared in awe at the shine of the blackened metal of the monstrous thing in the light of both the flames and the moon. Before now she had never thought the forging of such a machine possible and the fact it flew defied all knowledge of technology her current studies had shown her. The single break in the metal was a glass area near what would be guessed as the upper part of its face and was curved outward in shape. The metal was misshapen in several places and smoke still poured from its left wing. She decided to circle round its right side and kept her eyes trained on the reflective glass dome.

In an instant the lack of motion was ended as something hit at the glass from beneath. Diana stood with her strongest defensive stance ready for anything as the mirror like eyes of the bat cracked on the second hit. On the third a black hand shot through shards of glass into her vision and was rapidly followed by a forearm and elbow, which proceeded to knock away any remaining glass.

The figure that emerged from the mechanic bat's eyes made Diana freeze with a definite feeling of dread, even though it was obviously injured, the being emitted a power and darkness that was overwhelming. A bat? No not a bat, far too human to be one. It was clearly a man from the tone of the heavy breaths that now met her ears.

This Man-bat was taller than Diana, not by much but still so, and his body was encased in darkened armour adorning a bat-insignia on the chest and he wore a black cape cut to the shape of bat wings, adding to the effect. His face was covered by a mask, not a helmet, which hid everything except his stone carved jaw line and his eyes, which were closed in evident pain. His actual body was well defined by his armour and she could easily sense that he would be a challenge to overpower for any warrior and as he lifted himself from his vessel she had to admit she was impressed.

Although she was endowed with strength greater than other Amazons, who were blessed with strength and immortality by their protective goddesses, this Man-bat did intimidate her. Yet, she did not allow herself to be scared as a result of such basic instinct. She knew what her basic instincts did not and that was the power her body wielded.

The Amazon princess allowed herself no more time to dwell in these thoughts. "You there, man!" Diana shouted from her position, metres from the bat like craft. "Who are you? And what is your purpose here?" The creature was now clutching his right side, presumably due to an injury, but any evidence of it was hidden from Diana's eyes by the darkened tone of the suit.

His head snapped up to look at her, with his eyes open. For one agonising moment fear gripped her, not fear for her own safety, but of the despair and pain in his steel azure blue eyes. In this instant it consumed her mind and refused to let her escape. This man had suffered badly and it was far beyond anything she could hope to understand. It even crossed her mind that he may have experienced a greater grief than her mother, Hippolyta, and her sisters did at the hands of Heracles. This feeling vanished from the eyes within seconds and allowed her freedom, but she would never forget.

The Man-bat brought the cape round his front to cover any evidence of his injury and stood straight with no sign of pain in his jaw or eyes. "Where is this?" The power in his voice immense, but it was wasted on Diana as she would not let herself give in to a command from an intruder.

"I ask the questions, you are the intruder! Now answ-"

"Ancient Greek dialect, archaic dress and weaponry with ancient Greek patterns, and a female warrior with a clear prejudice toward men," the creature interrupted, "Is this Themyscira?" The simple deduction stunned her to silence and that was her downfall. "I'll take that a yes."

"Mind your tongue! Speak as I dictate!" She yelled trying to regain some authority, frustrated at how easily she was being manipulated, lifting her sword toward the man. "Your very presence is a breach of our laws and you will answer my questions. I will then take you before my mother, Queen Hippolyta, whom will decide your fate."

"You mean the time of my execution, don't you Princess?" The man replied with a monotone expression, silencing her once more. Diana's frustration rising further from the fact she had unwittingly told an enemy her status.

"Your Highness!" The voices of her fellow Amazons felt like a sense of relief washing Diana, soothing her immature anger. The Man-bat turned his face to the nearing shouts from the clearing before moving back to her.

"It seems I only have time to answer your first question Princess," the Man-bat stated as if it was certain.

"You will answer them all, you cannot escape, surely you realise that." Diana said back, finally advancing towards him. She was given a new found confidence from her sisters' arrival and the man's menacing demeanour began to lose its effect. However, he then reached inside his cape as if to draw a weapon at which Diana reformed her stance. "DO NOT RESIST OR I AND MY SISTERS WILL BE FORCED TO KILL YOU!"

"We shall see Princess," was the answer. The man pulled out his 'weapon' which appeared to be no more than hand sized box. He then aimed one end toward the high reaches of the trees further from the clearing and with simple motion of his hand it exploded and rope shot from the box and tied itself around a far away branch. Diana simply stood in awe-like confusion as he prepared his escape, but before he completed his actions he faced her again. His voice then took on an almost god-like power as he answered her question. "I am the Batman and I will not follow the laws of a society that is afraid of humanity."

With that the rope tensed and he was pulled in the darkness of the woods.

Diana remained in the same spot, frozen by his words. "Your Highness! Diana!" The yells' of her mother's sister and general, Antiope, finally brought Diana from her shock causing her to blink in confusion at her worried aunt. "Are you okay my niece? You should not scare me like that. Her Majesty would never forgive me if any harm came to you." The elder Amazon chastised, before looking to the wrecked mechanic bat. "What happened here?"

"A man has trespassed in our sanctuary, General." Diana stated reinstating some formality into the situation. She glanced around at the large squad that had accompanied Antiope and gave her orders. "Send word to my mother and have your soldiers search the surrounding forest, focus on the eastern expanses. I leave this task to you for you have far greater experience. However, I want him captured alive. That is an order." Despite an instant of distaste on her aunt's face at the clarification the general issued the order to the letter and soon only Antiope and Diana remained near the bat craft's impact site.

"I beg your pardon, your Highness," Antiope approached with curiousity, "but I am surprised you would make such a clarification." The latent hatred in the woman's words was obvious to even the comparatively innocent ears of Diana, and from what Diana knew of her aunt's past in Patriarch's world she was sympathetic.

"Something he said about us, Amazons not women, bothers me," Diana answered gazing up to the now setting moon. "Whether he dies in the end is of no concern to me beyond how I value life in any living thing, but before he does I will make him repent those words."

"What could he know of us?" The older woman seethed in offense, disturbing the calm night, before reigning in her temper and continuing. "Our goddesses have protected us from Man for so long, how could he even know of our existence, let alone judge us?"

"He knows of us, I promise you that," the princess replied not turning from Selene's torch. She did not continue her explanation further, nor did she allow the general any chance to question further as she ended her skyward gaze and made her way back to her horse. She left her aunt to calm her anger, knowing that Antiope would scold herself for such a lapse in control especially at such a vague explanation.

As she mounted her mare Diana made a promise to Batman in her heart. 'I will show you Batman, we are not afraid of Man. Our way of life is the only way to live in peace, free of corruption that Man is responsible for. You cannot see it now because you are a blind fool of Patriarch's World. You may be a man yourself but I have felt the pain that breathes within you, the darkness. I will show you our world, which is free of such pain, the light.'

"You will take back your words, Batman." With her resolve stated Diana spurred her horse and made her own way into the darkness of the forest.

A/N: Okay I'm putting in a real note now. I've altered it slightly i.e. the ending's a little more detailed (and a little better I hope) and I've got rid of a few typos. I just wanted to post it last night because I got really carried away until really late (technically really early) but looked at the clock and rounded it up rather hastily. I've been trying to write a completely different BM/WW fic for ages but have failed as far and when I turned to this idea it just flowed out of me. I'm hoping my interpretation of WW isn't too far off, if anyone has any probs let me know. Please read and review/flame.

As I'm answering one reviewer I'll answer all:

Grendle: Thank you, I doubt it's 'perfect' but I'm glad you liked it.

DJ: Thanks, I'll try not to disappoint.

Mischief: Thanks, and not much. I've changed the summary now but it's not much better, is it?

Kairan: It takes a legend to know a legend... that's a poor answer I'll explain how he knows don't worry. I'll try to be quick.

Ygirl: I haven't really read the comics either, mainly the cartoon, but I do know the basics of that storyline... I think.

Hepburn: To start; thank you for the praise, criticism and advice. No, you haven't offended me in the slightest, having to answer to the pointing out of flaws allows improvement (which my writing needs!). The rest of our discussion was very informative, thanks again and now I'm off to write!

A/reupload: Thanks for all your reviews, and the more recent support too, this has now been slightly edited and a new chap too, I hope you enjoy.