Disclaimer for whole fic: I own nothing. Not a sausage. Or a bean even.

A/N: Had a sudden glut of story ideas, so here's one. Enjoy.

Chapter One – Where Are We?

"Have I mentioned how much I hate paperwork?"

Bruce looked up as Green Lantern sat down, a soda in his hand. "Just a few times," he said dryly.

"Seriously, taking down two bad guys results in eight forms? Whose idea was that?"

Bruce said nothing, only looked at him. Lantern quickly got the message, but stuck to his guns. "Well it's not one of your brightest," he pointed out.

Batman smirked and sipped at his drink. "Bad day?"

John shrugged. "Not a good day."

The chronometer inside Batman's gauntlet beeped twice, signalling 1800 hours, and within a few minutes the commissary was flooded with League members coming to eat. Hawkgirl entered, which caught John's attention, swiftly followed by Wonder Woman, which caught Bruce's.

Both men watched as Shayera and Diana reached for the same tray. The Amazon let go as if the tray was red-hot. Her angry and bitter voice carried all the way into the seating area of the cafeteria. "By all means," she said venomously. "You first."

John and Batman turned back to their drinks. "Diana's carrying a grudge," GL noted, not surprised. Apart from himself, Diana had taken the Thanagarian's betrayal hardest.

"She'll get over it," Bruce said dismissively. "How about you, carrying anything?"

John blinked. "What, Shayera?" He shrugged. "We're cool. Giving each other our 'space'. I'm seeing Vixen now." Batman just looked at him. It didn't take long for John to become uncomfortable. "I'm very happy," he asserted, not knowing why he felt the need to justify himself. But then Batman did that – sometimes your mouth just opened with no instructions from your brain.

The corner of Bruce's mouth curled up. "Uh huh."

Annoyed, John tried to shift focus – Bruce might know his weakness, but John knew his too. "Anyway, why are we always talking about my love-life? What's going on between you and Diana?"

The smirk on Bruce's face disappeared as fast as it had formed. "Nothing. She's a respected colleague."

"Uh huh," Lantern mocked.

Bruce put his drink down with a small noise of annoyance. "I don't have time to pursue a relationship. My work is too important to allow any distractions."

Still not convinced he'd gotten the Batman quite to the babbling phase, John took the decision to keep mum about the fact that Diana was walking up behind Bruce, a wide smile on her face as his words reached her ears.

"Diana's a remarkable woman, she's a valued friend, she's…" Suddenly Batman's entire posture stiffened, them immediately slumped. "…standing right behind me isn't she?"

Diana grinned, putting her food on the table and an arm around Bruce's shoulders. "Don't let that stop you," she encouraged. "Keep digging."

When the alarm went off, Bruce was out of his seat faster than Wally could have managed. "Intruder alert, dormitory deck A. Intruder alert, dormitory deck A."

The three of them sprinted down the corridors of the Watchtower, ending up in the one containing the quarters of the founding members, including Batman's rarely-used room, in which he kept some nominal supplies – a spare utility belt for instance. They found an unknown man groaning as he pulled the belt out of a hole that he'd apparently melted through the wall.

Batman wasted no time; he pulled out a batarang and threw it, lightning-fast, at the man's hand. It impacted onto his fingers, and he dropped the belt with a cry. "Argh!"

"Who are you?" Batman demanded. "How did you get in the Watchtower?"

The man backed away, looking very scared and flattening himself against the wall. "Y-You aren't supposed to see me…" They stepped closer, and he panicked, putting his hands up in a defensive posture. "Stay away! No-one's supposed to know I was here!"

Without another word, he pressed something on his belt and disappeared into a glowing wormhole. Diana dived in first, swiftly followed by the Dark Knight before John himself moved inside it. Immediately, he was rebounding hard off the very solid walls of the tunnel. Acting on instinct, John raised his ring and created a bubble that encapsulated Bruce and Diana as well. It didn't stop them rolling around inside the bubble, but at least it didn't hurt as much anymore.

The source of the light in the tunnel grew progressively brighter as they neared the end – in a burst of whiteness they shot out to bounce on the ground. John retracted the bubble.

"Everybody ok?"

Diana stood up and shielded her eyes against the glare. "Where are we?" she asked, looking around. Desert, as far as the eye could see. Suddenly there was the unmistakable sound of a gun being cocked from behind them. Slowly, the three of them turned around.

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A/N: Yes, it is a re-make of The Once and Future Thing, but of course with a BMWW twist ;) Review please!