Fall of Justice

Requiems

A pale fog hung low on the grounds of Wayne Manor, like a veil carpeting the earth. Bruce and Clark carried the coffin on their shoulders, bringing it to rest at the open grave where Kara stood in silence beneath an arching willow tree which seemed to rain down from above.

Lois had just arrived. She had been questioned by police after her appearance on The Line but was released when she wasn't charged with a crime. She had heard too late of what happened and came wearing what she had on. Now, she joined Kara at the fourth grave in the small cemetery Bruce had constructed on the grounds. Martha Wayne, Thomas Wayne and Alfred Pennyworth all lay beside it.

The two men lay the coffin atop the grave so it could be lowered. Bruce stood back, admiring the chestnut casket. He hoped Dick would have liked it. His mind was full of useless thoughts just then, like the change in the weather, he noted how the chill of autumn had been giving way to winter's bite. And he heard Joker's voice echoing in the halls of his mind... "It's the connections... they keep you down..."

He wondered about the millions of people just a few miles away in Gotham who had no ties to what was happening here, the people who lived in oblivion of the horrors he had lived through. The injuries of friends, the deaths. Not always as Batman but invariably as Bruce Wayne. He had lost so much, nearly all there was to lose. What was it like to be one of them on a day like this? What was it like to not be feeling the hollow thing in your chest, the helpless regret of not having been there. What was it like not to feel like you had just lost a son? Would he be happier if there were no Bruce Wayne? If there was only Batman?

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you..." Clark began, "I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid," he finished and knelt to the lowering-device, slowly turning it, the casket fading in the fog.

Bruce closed his eyes, letting the sorrow he had been trying to keep at bay flow through him, filling every part. He welcomed it. He needed the sorrow to do what it needed before he could move on to what was next. First grief, then justice.

#

Renee ran her eyes over the board of photos, the Mills laughed and posed. Some were candid while others deliberate. Renee couldn't help but gravitate toward the photos of Lily, especially the younger ones from when they had met. Too much eye liner, short, rebellious haircuts. Behind her she could hear people whispering their condolences to Lily's parents. It was typical to find laughter and shared stories during a wake, but not here. Not this wake. An entire family in closed caskets, and the sting of it was just too painful to ignore.

Renee didn't want to believe what the others told her was the only truth. She couldn't understand how Supergirl could have done this, after all, the crime scene matched close to the Joker's M.O and Kara had mentioned Harlene Quinzel, who now went as Harley Quinn and was known to have helped the Joker facilitate his escape from Arkham a few years prior.

Yet, when Superman was given the chance to speak to the news, when he was face to face with their cameras, he remained silent. And Quinzel had been a young doctor before she met the joker. It was possible that Kara had come into contact with the Joker and that was why she had been missing for months before being brought to Arkham. Could he have done to her what he did to the doctor? Had Supergirl fallen to madness? There was no question she killed the orderly, perhaps Renee's hesitation to follow what the evidence pointed to came from the nostalgia attached to the memory of first seeing Supergirl flying around Metropolis, saving lives, helping the helpless. Finally, she had thought, a woman is the rescuer. The police force wasn't the easiest place for a women and seeing another female running into danger rather than away from it, a young girl swearing to protect her people, it made Renee proud to be a woman.

Renee had questioned Lois Lane after her television interview but had no grounds to hold her, Lois was not an accomplice to either crime committed the night of the escape, and had no proof that she had been with Superman for the past few months as she claimed.

Perhaps she wanted Kara to be innocent, but as she had discovered, Supergirl was only a regular person, a girl with a name and past jobs, the same jobs Renee had when she was younger. And she knew from years on the force that anyone was only one bad day away from becoming the Joker.

#

Clark took Lois' hand in his, they watched in silence as Bruce enclosed Nightwing's armored suit in a tall glass case. Beside it stood two others, the Robin, Dick's first, and Batgirl's, once worn by the commissioner's daughter, Barbara Gordon. Clark watched as Bruce blamed himself, if he had not allowed the others to join him none of it would have happened. Dick would be alive, Barbara wouldn't be condemned to a wheelchair.

But in both cases they gave him little choice. Clark remembered when Dick joined Bruce as Robin, Batman's partner. Bruce had been hesitant but Dick put himself in danger every chance he got, warnings of danger did little to dissuade him from going out and trying to prove himself. So Bruce taught the boy how to handle himself and eventually the two became a partnership which criminals feared and police admired.

Clark couldn't imagine his friends pain at the loss. "I need to talk to you," Lois whispered. Clark nodded and told Bruce he would be back in a minute, he knew that when they reconvened it would be to make a plan on how they would follow their only lead, and how they could snatch a member of the CIA without bringing the wrath of the United States Government upon their heads.

"Guys," Kara said from across the cave as she turned up the volume on one of the monitors. The red banner at the bottom of her screen told them all they needed to know: Martial Law Declared in Gotham & Metropolis.

"The President has not declared Superman an enemy of the state," the news anchor began, "...but in a statement released by the White House this morning, he said that the people of need to feel safe, and until we can speak with Superman and Supergirl and know more, we will do what we need to protect our own." As she spoke, shots of infantrymen and tanks rolling into both Gotham and Metropolis took over the screen.

"This is what they think of us..." Clark said, staring.

"They're afraid. Don't lose faith," Lois said..

"Maybe this is all I ever was to them... an alien who doesn't belong."

"You're more than that to those you saved, to their families... let them do what they need to feel safe. You'll show them what a hero is. You'll show them that you don't blame them for what they do when they're scared. I know it hurts... hey, look at me..."

Clark let his eyes fall from the screen, his heart beating heavy with the indignation that comes with being judged. But in Lois there was no anger, only love and understanding. A look was enough to calm him. A kiss enough to make him smile. "I want the father of my child to have faith in people," she began. "I want him to be heroic in everything he does, and that means letting people make mistakes and not condemning them for it."

He nodded, finding the good in him once again, the boy from Kansas who was taught to put others ahead of himself, who was taught that to serve was to be blessed. And he felt blessed, even among the horror and sorrow, he still had her, and she made things easier to take, he could never really put words to it but now he finally realized, he never felt like an outsider when he was with Lois. He wasn't an alien to her, he couldn't be, she was his home.

"Do you understand what I'm saying?" she asked. He nodded again. She rolled her eyes and pulled him down. She whispered in his ear, "You're gonna be a father you putz."

He pulled back, unsure if what was happening was really happening. "You're..." he began, she smiled wide and beautiful. He scooped her in his arms and did his best not to squeeze too hard.

"Everything okay?" Kara asked from afar. Bruce also watched, curious.

"You're gonna be an aunt... or you know, the cousin equivalent," he said.

The sorrowful air around her eyes broke as she realized what the news meant. Clark even noticed her beginning to tear up. She ran across the cave and hugged Lois. Bruce gave Clark and firm handshake and for a few moments, it was as if they were regular people celebrating the good news that comes with being a family. But soon enough it was time again to focus on the task at hand so that when the baby was born, this would all be a distant memory.

"Everyone get some rest," Bruce said, "...tonight we plan, tomorrow, we take Waller."