Justice League Femme

Chapter Twenty-Three: Wonder Woman

I slammed the bottom part of the hilt of my sword into Joker's temple, knocking him out. I turned to the others. "We got our answer. Everyone head back to the Batcave." I turned to Huntress. "And get her out of that demeaning outfit."

Harley let out a sigh of relief. "Finally!"

"Get Joker to Arkham, too," I said, "him and Harley need to be miles away from each other."

Batwoman sighed. "Wonder Woman, you know he'll just escape when he gets the chance."

"As long as he is far away from Harley," I responded, "preferably in a place where he can be watched over."

Batwoman nodded. "Got it."

The others looked to me. "So, if it's not him," Stargirl said, "what do we do now?"

I sighed. "To be honest, I'm not sure, but we...we will figure it out." With that, I led the others out of the Joker's lair.

It was late at night by the time everyone had left the Batcave. It only seemed to be myself, Barbara, Helena, and Kate, with Harley back in her cell. I looked over to see Barbara pacing throughout the cortex.

I walked over to her. "Barbara?"

She continued to pace, as if ignoring what I was saying.

I frowned at this. "I know this is not easy for you."

Barbara huffed. "No shit, Diana."

I watched her pace back and forth more. I sighed. "I wish I could get you the closure you deserve."

"How could've it not been him?" Barbara questioned. She stopped her pacing. "Every single damn sign pointed to it. Every single symptom, Diana. Ever since I got that hunch, I knew exactly how I was going to defeat the Joker, even after all the hell he put me through, just to prove that I could bounce back from him crippling me." She paused for a second. "And then...then it all falls apart."

"You do not need to prove anything to anyone."

"Easy for you to say," Barbara replied, "you're the daughter of an Amazon queen and a god! You are literally the embodiment of everything that's perfect. You don't need to prove anything to anyone because they all believed in you from the get-go. The other heroes and I, we have to, just so we're free from being convicted outlaws. Whenever one of us screws up, we have to rely on people like you, and Clark, and Bruce to prove that heroes like us can even be trusted." She chuckled. "Let alone even walk this Earth without people putting targets on us."

I sighed before nodding. "It is true," I said, "I am a demi-goddess, but I still had things I needed to prove when I first arrived in Man's World."

"And what's that?" Barbara asked. She paused for a second. "That you could prove to everyone that women can be strong? Good for you, they got the message."

I shook my head. "It was more than that."

"Then what, Diana?"

"I had to prove that I had good intentions."

She looked at me, blinking once.

"When I first came to Man's World," I explained, "I could have easily dominated the people here. I had been trained since I was a little girl to fight. Most civilians in Man's World do not have that luxury. When I became Wonder Woman, I had to show everyone that I would fight for truth and justice, not for power or greed. But after a while, I knew that as long as I stayed true to myself and my own morals, I would be able to do what was right." I looked at Barbara and gave her a half-smile, placing my hand on her shoulder. "I see a lot of myself in you, Barbara."