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Rich Kid with Issues	By : AthenaPhoenix Category: DC Verse Cartoons > Justice League Views: 11139 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Justice League, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

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Disclaimer: If you recognize it, it's not our character and is used without permission. We aren't making any money from this story.

Part Six: Rules

Diana landed as softly as she could on the rooftop, hoping to catch him by surprise. Though the only time I've ever seen him caught off guard was when Amanda Waller insinuated that she knew his secret identity.

A deep voice sounded from the shadows. “I thought a princess would do me the courtesy of RSVPing.”

She turned in the voice's direction and replied simply, “You knew I'd come.”

He stepped into the light. “Indeed.”

“You gave me a new uniform, so you obviously didn't want Wonder Woman. Who am I to be tonight?”

He looked her up and down and noted how alluring she was even with most of her body covered. The tantalizing memory of what lay underneath the spandex made him have to stifle a shiver.

He forced his voice to remain level. “Nyx.”

She gulped. “Goddess of the night? Daughter of Chaos and…” A wave of coldness trickled down her spine. “I'm impressed by your knowledge, but I think that's rather…presumptuous. I'm not sure she would be amused. The last time she was angry, Zeus hid in Hephaestus's workshop. A god armed with thunderbolts isn't intimidated easily… no, deadly Nyx is not to be trifled with.”

Diana paused for a moment. “Perhaps ‘Nemesis’? She is the goddess of justice and vengeance. I know firsthand that she admires your dedication to her cause.”

Bruce was nonplussed. Will I ever get used to someone who drops the names of gods like they were celebrities? “Too bad…the stars are because of Nyx.”

“Bruce, there is no way that I will pretend to be Nyx. All the gods fear her. You certainly should. She scares Zeus.”

“Even more than Hera?” Batman's voice was guileless.

Diana just glared at him and muttered something in Greek that sounded rather rude.

Batman ignored her and continued. “Fine, Nemesis. You're in my world tonight, and I make the rules. And the first rule is: no powers. If you want to fly, use this.” He tossed her a utility belt similar to his own, but smaller. “The grappling hook is in the leftmost compartment.”

Buckling the belt around her waist, she patted the aforementioned pocket and replied, a bit testily, “Leftmost compartment. Got it.”

Again, he ignored her tone. “The second rule is: you do exactly as I say. No improvising.”

“So we're going to play a Gotham-wide game of Batman Says?” she retorted, remembering Flash's explanation of Simon Says.

He shot her a Bat-glare in response.

“And the last rule is: no matter what the situation is, I enter first. Always.”

It was on the tip of her tongue to ask why, since with her meta strength and reflexes, she could react faster and presumably protect him better than he could protect her. But she stifled the impulse, knowing that now was not the time to broach the subject. Besides, Gotham was his city, after all, and she was mostly unfamiliar with it.

Her temper calming, she decided to lighten the mood. “What happens, Batman, if I follow all of your rules like a good girl?” A sly smile crept across her face. “Will I receive a reward?”

Despite her attempt to bait him, Diana was still taken aback when he lunged at her, pulling her toward him, back into the shadows. Expecting him to kiss her harshly, she was surprised when he lightly touched his lips to hers, as if he were brushing a feather over them. She was reminded once again of the strict control that Bruce Wayne seemed to exert over all aspects of his life.

“I'll make it worth your while, Princess,” he murmured. “Trust me.”

He reached into his utility belt and pulled out what looked like a long dull black strip of flexible wire, each end capped with a tiny sphere of the same color. He bent the wire into curved shape and then, to Diana's surprise, placed one of the dots right behind her ear. Batman continued shaping the wire around her jaw, until it barely reached the corner of her mouth. She moved her hand and touched the wire, noticing it had melded itself to her skin.

Batman's voice was suddenly businesslike. “This is a wireless set. Just speak in a low voice, Princess. The upper sphere is an earpiece.” He paused for a moment, then turned so that his back was facing her.

“Can you hear me?” The earpiece made his voice seem to come out of everywhere.

“Yes,” she replied, now too intrigued to bother being annoyed.

“Good. We'll use this for communication, of course. It's extremely well encrypted – even the Thanagarians didn't break it. Robin and I used the earlier generation of it. Hope you can keep up half as well as he did.”

Diana's eyes narrowed. “By all means, Batman, continue to annoy the Amazon. We're famed for our mildness and understanding,” the last with gritted teeth.

Batman acted as if she had just made a comment about the weather. “Glad to hear it. Let's start.”

Impossible man.

* * *

Before they had descended from the rooftop, Diana had taken a moment to imagine herself in her new persona. Mentally praying to the goddess of justice and vengeance, she had implored Nemesis to look favorably upon their actions and to endow her with whatever graces she was willing to bestow.

The first thing they did was make their way to a service alley at street level. Batman and Nemesis landed softly on the pavement, just inside the angular shadows cast by the overhead lights and buildings.

Nemesis looked at him quizzically and held her hand palm up, in a very Continental expression: now what?

He smiled a lopsided grin, then spoke softly softening his consonants to make his whispering even harder to hear. “Lots of muggings in this area. Perps aren't meta. They've got to walk. This is a good place to see them go by.”

Nemesis was beginning to enjoy herself. The whole thing reminded her, perhaps incongruously, of hunting in the wilds on Themyscira when she was young, waiting for the prey to come into the clearing. This could really be fun. I get to see Bruce make some hapless criminal panic and wet himself. She suddenly realized, chagrined, what her mother might have seen in Hades. Guess we both go for dark and brooding. How…disturbing.

If he asks me to eat a pomegranate, I'm leaving.

Batman raised his right hand suddenly, and pointed soundlessly toward the street. Nemesis looked and her vision effortlessly revealed two – no, three figures moving quietly on the opposite sidewalk.

Her sight panned to the right. In the distance, a couple of people were walking quickly. Their body language indicated fear. Potential victims. She looked up at Batman and pointed, first at the gang – that was what it was – and then at the two, who were looking around apprehensively, not yet fully aware of the danger they were in.

“Plan?” she asked softly. It occurred to Nemesis that if they just broke up the mugging, they might not learn whether the thugs were part of a larger gang. “Should we try to find out which gang…”

“Crips.” His jaw tightened. “Good for producing carbon dioxide for plants. Nothing else.” He paused. “Don't go soft on me now, Nemesis.” His voice was very cold.

His world, his rules And she found herself grinning. Let's hunt.

The three gangbangers were milking the situation for all it was worth, making sure the two pedestrians were as off balance as possible. The leader had a mocking, gravelly voice. “I'm sorry. You must be lost.”

His companions laughed cruelly. “Yeah. Lost. Lucky we're here,” one put in, his eyes gleaming.

The couple stopped, paralyzed in fear. Nemesis could see them clearly now – two women, shift workers, most likely. Her jaw clenched. I am going to enjoy this. She started towards them.

Instantly, Batman raised his hand. “Rules.”

For Hera's sake, Bruce. What are we waiting for?! These people need help now. But she stayed where she was.

As if he could read her thoughts – maybe this communicator can do that? – he said simply “Not illegal.”

Not illegal? Well, of course what we're doing is not illegal! What are you… Then she understood. They were waiting for the thugs to do something illegal.

“Innocents in danger,” she replied. Bruce's minimalism is contagious.

“There's still time. We're superheroes, remember?” was his sardonic reply. I don't envy Robin, Nemesis thought sarcastically. No wonder he formed the Teen Titans.

The thugs were still toying with the women. “I like the tall one,” one of them leered.

“Yeah,” said the leader, “she's tight. Maybe.” A cruel laugh. “Wanna flip for who goes first?” He took out a quarter.

This time Batman had to physically restrain Nemesis. “Wait!” he whispered fiercely. He knew he would lose this kind of battle eventually, so he elaborated. “If we take them now, all we've got are unsubstantiated verbal threats. Maybe menacing. They'll be back here in two days. Justice, remember?!”

Nemesis was so angry she grabbed a rock and ground it slowly with her left hand. It barely made a sound as it crumbled.

Unable to take the mind game any longer, one of the women started screaming. Batman nodded as if checking something off a list. He took out a small disk from his utility belt and pressed it against the wall of the alleyway. It swiveled on itself soundlessly and split in two like a clam opening. The top part rotated forward and faced the scene, recording.

He then extracted a tiny sphere and tossed it towards the gangbangers. It rolled silently toward them, going past them and behind them. Last, Batman slid out his batarang.

“I'm coming for you.” Nemesis realized with a start that the voice – Batman at his most menacing – was coming from the tiny sphere that had now settled itself behind the gangbangers. In poor light and with all the detritus on the sidewalk, it was completely undetectable.

All three thugs pulled out guns, turning to face the voice. Batman smiled savagely. “Assault with a deadly. Now they're mine.” He threw his batarang at the leader, who didn't even see it coming. A thud, and the leader was down.

The other two were now terrified and started firing wildly, still in the wrong direction – it was all too fast for them to realize what was happening.

“The women!” Nemesis cried.

Instead of answering, Batman exploded from the alleyway, hurling himself at the two remaining gangbangers. Nemesis ran toward the two hysterical women and put herself in front of them, her bracelets gleaming in the lamplight. “You're safe,” she said with a backwards glance. But her eyes were glittering coldly, watching as Batman dispatched two of the gangbangers.

Batman was about to finish off the last thug when he remembered his manners. He gestured toward her. “Will you do the honors, Nemesis?”

Nemesis regarded him with cool detachment and started walking towards the remaining thug. Slow, unhurried black boots echoed on the pavement. Her black costume seemed to focus and concentrate the shadows, so that it seemed that a piece of the night sky was walking, slowly, unhurriedly, relentlessly, toward the remaining thug. Her hair and eyes seemed to be of deeper dark still – a writhing mass of shadow framing two swirling, bottomless black pools. The wind stopped suddenly, fearfully holding its breath, and the Gotham night became still and shrank away – lest they be noticed, regarded, by what was walking down the street.

The soft trickling sound of piss on leather boots could be heard, coming from the thug as he soiled himself.

Wordlessly, dispassionately, Nemesis grabbed the man by the throat and lifted him up. She seemed to grow somehow – or the world became smaller – as she kicked the gun away and regarded him. He was a pup, not even a man – maybe seventeen? He continued to soil himself, his eyes so wide they were practically round, his teeth chattering.

“Remember me,” she said, in a distant, cold voice.

He nodded frantically, whimpering.

“I'm always here. Always.” Her grip was tightening and his arms flailed in panic. Yet her voice kept that unearthly, unnerving calm, a fury so deep and all-encompassing it had transcended anger and become as placid as a lake of venom.

She took her free hand and extended her index finger. She pointed it at his chest and started pressing it into his rib cage – slowly, casually. He would have yelped in pain, but his windpipe was almost closed.

Batman was looking at her, starting to look concerned when he saw the thug's eyes bulging, started hearing his ribs giving way. He opened his mouth as if to say something. Is she… Nyx?

A soft breeze rustled Nemesis's hair, and suddenly her voice changed, becoming casual. “But… you're lucky. Batman is here. He's by the book.” The other two thugs were bound and gagged now, and were looking up at their companion in abject terror.

With a flick of her wrist, Nemesis carelessly threw the thug at the wall. He hit the wall and crumpled, the wind knocked out of him. She had barely flicked her wrist.

“Nemesis is not.”

The women were just standing there, as if made of stone. One had been biting her lip, unaware of how it bled.
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Rich Kid with Issues