(General P.O.V)

(10 hours earlier)

Diana and Bruce faced each other.

The training room was full of cracks, charred metal and smoking holes. The spar had been going on for 10 minutes already. And both combatants looked winded.

Diana more than Bruce. Her hair hang loose after a particularly nasty attack from a pulse canon construct.

She also had some burns on her shoulder from a slow block, being late in protecting herself with her shield.

The heat from the flame thrower Bruce had created had not been regular flames. Regular flames couldn't hurt her. She was a demigod.

That wasn't to say she hadn't given back as much as she'd got. Bruce's upper lip was torn. However the bleeding had stopped.

Also upon closer look, he was favoring his right side, a construct of a cast around his right forearm.

Diana had immediately gone for the hand where the Green Lantern ring had rested. The spar was more than just a spar. It was a bet of sorts.

The League wanted Batman to stay in the Watchtower so that they could monitor his health.

Batman wanted to go back to his city but had surprisingly agreed to reach a compromise.

"You're stronger than I expected Bruce, though I have to say, I'm still surprised you agreed to this bet. You win, you leave. I win, you stay in the Watchtower for as long as we want."

The Amazonian said, dropping her shield to the floor while lowering her center of gravity.

Her forearms came up in a plankration offence stance. It was obvious she had decided to stop playing around.

"Are you ready to lose?"

The Amazonian enquired, her face devoid of any worry or fear. She was determined to win.

Not only for his health but because he was a danger as well. The incident in Gotham wouldn't have happened if Batman's actions had been closely supervised.

They were a team. One of them running off on their own in wild abandon was counter-productive to their mission.

Bruce who had been silent up until then brought his ring up.

"Well?"

He asked.

"Target at 100% immersion. Brainwaves under full synchronous effect with the with hard light environmental constructs. Proceed with shutting down the target's neural activity for a limited time?"

The AI in the ring answered in a detailed format.

"Negative. Immobilize."

He coldly replied before adding,

"Non-lethally."

There was a pulse from the ring.

Diana's hands fell to her sides as her knees shook. Then they followed her toes to the ground as she fell, lying on her belly, immobile.

She couldn't even talk. Only blink. What...what was this?

The Justice League members watching the fight from the outside of the energy field erected around the training room were all in shock.

"Did I miss something? What just happened?"

Green Arrow asked the others.

Green Lantern Guy whistled.

"So the Bats landed Hal's ring. And is using it better than I ever saw Hal do."

Superman placed his hand on Guy's shoulder.

"Be respectful. He was our teammate."

He said.

Guy looked around and saw the same unfriendly look on Superman's face on everyone else's.

"Sorry."

He shrugged off the hold looking down with a frown.

"He was a friend too. I just...it doesn't feel like he's really gone."

From the side, Zatara frowned as well. Yeah, he could relate to Guy's words. It didn't feel as if Hal was dead. Gone yes, but truly dead? He had his doubts.

"Excuse me."

The magician said, turning around to leave.

"Off to somewhere Zatara? Can I join you? Batman's giving me the creeps."

Shazam said, looking inside the training room to find Batman standing in place, talking to the green Lantern ring on his finger.

The magician thought about it for a second. He was hesitant but having the champion of the gods where he was going wasn't a bad idea.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Now he just hoped he'd find the Devil in a good mood. There was a reason why Lucifer was feared across all creation. When you had his power, you could do anything, anytime, anywhere to anyone.

"If you insist."

Zatara responded.

"It must be something important for you to leave out of the blue Zatara."

Superman said.

"Especially now."

He added, looking through the energy membrane at Bruce.

Inside the training room, Bruce walked forward, his spare costume undergoing changes before their very eyes. While his costume from before had been predominantly black and gray, now a new color was added to the mix. Green.

Lots of green.

Batman stalked forward towards the downed Diana.

"Thank you Diana. You allowed me to familiarize myself with the ring's capabilities."

He told her, looming over the Amazonian.

"Is that why your ring doesn't seem to have the normal restrictions?"

A voice called out as the others filed into the sparring room.

The ring projected an holographic pad above Batman's wrist.

"I can't think of anyone better to have a ring that can kill."

The Dark, now Green Knight responded in a self-aggrandizing way.

Stewart frowned from the forefront of the group. He targeted Diana with his ring, scanning her.

"Target's body seems to suffer from a paralysis effect. Condition will wear off in approximately 29 minutes and 46 seconds."

The ring informed the former marine.

Stewart crossed his hands together.

"You're coming with me to OA. The Guardians have requested your presence."

He told the Green Knight who was busy, typing away at the projected key pad on his forearm.

"You're not really listening to me, are you?"

Stewart shook his head.

"We're worried about you Bruce. Don't shut us out now. We've lost Hal, the least we can do is to try and make sure we get through this together."

Black Canary told him.

Batman stilled, turning towards them.

"What do you think I'm doing? Within the last couple of minutes, I have come up with a way to subdue any villain we might encounter, identified potential risks in our systems and then fortified them."

The new changes were highlighted on the ring's projection. The Leaguers looked at each other in surprise.

"Not to mention, created an Algorithm that can learn from our fighting abilities and combat skills to make the sparring room more efficient."

He added.

Guy pushed his elbow into Atom's side.

"I told you he could use the ring better than Hal."

He whispered.

However in a room full of superhumans everybody heard him.

Dawnstar and Karate Kid shared a glance. Maybe this is how it all starts? The functions of the Algorithm Batman was talking about sounded very similar to what Brother Eye could do.

"You should have consulted the rest of us Batman."

Superman spoke up, hitting him with a frustrated glare.

Batman cocked his head to the side.

"Why?"

The simple question left everyone dumfounded.

"We'll get Diana to the infirmary."

Hawkman told the others as he and his wife stepped forward, grabbing the Amazonian by her shoulders and leaving the room.

Superman wished he could follow them,instead of dealing with this new Batman.

Once they were gone, the air in the room became tense.

"Bruce, I think you should remove that ring on your finger. It is undermining your better judgement."

Black Canary softly but firmly said.

"No."

Batman immediately refused, adding,

"The ring is the ultimate utility belt. I don't need to worry about stocking up on projectiles or smoke bombs the next time I'm in a fight with Killer Croc. The fight against Trigon would have gone different if I had it at my disposal."

He calmly turned towards his friends.

"The only way it's getting off my finger is by force. Are you willing to go that far?"

Superman floated forwards, hands crossed over his huge chest.

"If it comes to that? Yes. We need Batman not whoever this is."

"I won the bet, thus allowing me to leave if I want to."

Batman reminded them.

"Clearly you didn't care about that. You just wanted to learn how to use the ring on your fist."

Stewart cut in.

"It seems we cannot agree."

Batman replied, fully facing them now.

"I am still not completely familiar with the Ring's core functions, maybe you can help with that."

He told the Leaguers gathered but his eyes were on Superman's. The Kryptonian's own vision started to glow red at the implied threat.

"Ah, okay. Time out, time out."

Green Arrow came in between the two.

"I don't think the Watchtower can handle a face off between a Kryptonian and a Batman with a Green Lantern ring."

"Besides, did you forget we have guests?"

The archer pointed his thumb at Dawnstar and Karate Kid.

Superman's eyes started glowing.

"This is not over Bruce."

Then he flew out, everybody turning to watch him leave.

They rounded up on Batman only to find that he had disappeared as well.

A scan showed that he had teleported away.

Stewart sighed.

"We should do something soon. He's getting better at using the ring's capabilities."

(General P.O.V)

Jim Gordon rubbed his eyes. Occasional dizzy spells had hit him ever since he'd woken up. His body was still weak from his coma.

He also had a migraine. But that could be attributed to stress.

Of which he could blame it on a lot of things. For starters, dealing with the fallout of the fight between Davi...no, (his name was Scarlet Devil now), and Trigon.

Gotham had been destroyed, only to be brought back whole, just missing over 10,000 souls. The city had faced worse before...but this was easily a top contender.

He had to go through the missing persons files while dealing with concerned and worried family members.

He also had to deal with his own family. His wife was equal parts worried about him and equal parts angry.

They had grieved for him and once he was back, instead of spending time with them, he poured himself back into his work.

Then there was the other thing. He could see things. They came in flashes, never too concrete.

And he also had this weird intuition. It made working the cases easier due to this mild Clairvoyance but also worried him.

What if it didn't stop there? What if he lost control and turned into the Scarlet Devil's beast form?

"Jim."

A voice said from his back. It was familiar, taciturn and containing a growl.

A small smile appeared on the commissioner's face as he turned around.

"So you finally decided to show..."

Gordon's words cut off as he gaped.

"You're...green..."

He muttered, perturbed.

And true enough, the plates around the Batman's body armor glowed a soft green. The bat logo on his chest was different as well.

At the center of the logo was the symbol of the Green Lantern corps.

There was also the fact that the dark knight was hovering in the air, a shroud of green aura outlined across his body.

Seems like Gordon wasn't the only one getting upgrades. Through his weird intuition/clairvoyance Gordon could easily tell how much power Batman was packing. It oozed off him in a controlled hum.

The Dark Knight landed on the rooftop, his black cape flaring around his body in that familiar way Gordon had come to realize allowed criminals to underestimate him.

"You called."

Batman said curtly, breaking the commissioner out of his thoughts.

Gordon sighed, stopping his hand from reaching into his trench coat pockets for a cigarette.

And so begun the talk about laser guns in the hands of criminals, the raid on Falcone, the same man's death, penguin's death and Gordon's suspicion on who was behind it based on witness statements.

All Batman had to say to that was,

"I see. Tell your men to not approach if they chance upon the Scarlet Devil. He's mine."

He added with another growl, this one containing an undercurrent of violence.

Gordon frowned, the Dark Knight's words bothered him.

"Let's not forget he's just a kid. You catch him, bring him in. Let the Justice system handle it."

Batman was quiet for a while.

"Of course."

Gordon nodded, uncomfortable with Batman's brief pause in answering but choosing to let it go.

He turned around to shut off the bat signal.

"The missus and I were thinking..."

Gordon turned around and found himself all alone.

"I hate when he does that."

The commissioner commented gripely, turning around to walk towards the door leading off the rooftop.