Fall of Justice

Fallen

Bruce sat at the foot of the empty bed, the disheveled sheets and scattered clothes a reminder of the occupant who had recently left after only one day of rest. He wondered where she would go, what she would do. He had tried to give her money but she refused to take it, so he transferred money directly into her account.

Bruce looked to the mirror standing on the open closet door just ahead, he was in his black suit and dress shoes, his hair combed, his face shaved, he had been ready to go for hours but he couldn't make himself walk out the door.

The front door bell rang. He went downstairs and opened the door, Lois was also dressed in black. "I'm sorry, I couldn't," he began. She walked in, surveying the large empty home.

"You've been to enough funerals," she said. "It's okay. Besides, I wasn't sure I could explain how Bruce Wayne knew Clark Kent to the guys. Where' Kara?"

"Took off this morning." They remained there in silence for a moment. "Coffee?" he asked, she nodded and followed him to the kitchen.

"I didn't know billionaires could brew their own coffee."

"Alfred taught me. Said if I can beat up bad guys I could learn this," he said giving her a cup. She took a sip and winced. "Yeah he was wrong about that," she said and put the cup down. "I don't like you here all alone," she said.

"This was always how it woud go. It's how it is for any of us. Except Clark," he said.

She smiled at the comment but he could see she was holding back tears. Bruce knew that the fact that she was able to go to the funeral of the man she loved, then come here to check on him told him all he needed to know about Lois Lane, the only person who would come back from all this relatively the same as she went into it, it told him she was the strongest person he had ever known. "...Have you done the other thing?" she asked.

"Couldn't do that either," he said. She took his arm and they moved to the library where he pulled at the candle holder and a book. The shelf slid open. He led her down to the Batcave.

"Are you sure about this?" she asked. He opened the vault where the the Batsuit resided.

"I killed someone. A cop who was doing what she thought was right. I'm no different than any of them anymore."

"You had to," she said. "To save Kara."

"Exactly. Now I know if I have to kill, I will, and that's not what Batman is, it can't be."

Lois moved beside him, both looking at the empty suit ahead. "Maybe it's not batman, but it is human," she said.

He took the suit down and mounted it on a glass encasement, the fourth suit added to the row of retired heroes. "You did a lot of good," Lois said.

"I'm not sure I feel the difference out there. Between now, and before Batman."

"I do," she said. "Gotham does." She rested a head on his shoulder. He watched the suit, his identity, his home. He couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to have to wear the mask of Bruce Wayne all the time.

#

"You were never here," the man repeated to Kara as he handed her the envelope. She nodded and walked out from the back of his shop to the busy city street. She had spent nearly all the money Bruce had transferred to her account on this one purchase, but it was worth it. She looked inside the envelope. A passport, driver's license, social security card, even a resume'. A new identity, a new life.

The glass of the storefront ahead reflected someone she barely recognized, not only because of her blond hair, but because of the eyes. They were no longer the eyes of the optimistic young superhero that little girls looked up to and men respected. Something had changed in her, something more than the obvious, something fundamental.

"Miss Ryan?" the receptionist called. Kara didn't turn, she sat on the bench in the waiting area just outside the office, her focus on the window, lost in thought. "Miss Ryan," the receptionist said again. Kara looked at the woman, it was the first time someone used her new name to address her. "She'll see you now."

Kara stood, following the woman across the office. Phones rang, people chatted and laughed with their coworkers. Desks and photographs, conversations and coffee. A normal life. She took a deep breath and smiled.

#

Lois handed her purse to the guard outside the hospital room. The man rummaged through its contents, of course there was no weapon, but he did find her digital recorder. "No recording devices, you'll have to leave your phone as well."

"Hang on to the bag," she said, throwing her phone inside. The man put the purse down on the chair beside his own and opened the door for her. He had to move entirely out of the way so she could fit through the frame, her belly now home to a baby thirty weeks along and growing. Lois stepped inside.

He looked worse than she had imagined. He had maybe a few days left. The air had a smell of a tart cleaning product which tried but failed to mask the other odors in the room. She moved up to his bed, dragging the wooden chair across the floor so she could sit beside him.

Luthor's eyes were open, he stared at the ceiling though the television was on. "Hello Mr. Mayor," Lois said. She found it hard to hate him at this state, even after what he had done to Clark, looking at him now, she felt as if he was already getting all he deserved.

"Lois Lane..." he whispered from beneath his oxygen mask.

"Yes," she smiled, resting a hand on her belly. His eyes widened when he saw it. "I'm afraid you weren't entirely successful in ridding the world of Superman," she said.

At first his eyes betrayed terror, rage. Then he relaxed... Luthor smiled, "The clown was right, control is an illusion."

"At times, yes. But right now, I would like to think we have the ability to control one thing... that is... what happens to the people who were involved in his death. You're dying, but they, the others, they live on..." she said, looking him in the eye. "I can't have that."

"I'm sorry you got caught in the middle."

"My child will grow up without a father because of what you did. You owe me, which is why you're going to help me."

"You want the clown killed?"

"No, he's at Arkham, let him rot. But the others, I want you to kill them for me."

"Why would I? There are always casualties in war."

"You're going to help me because you don't realize what you did, but that's why I'm here. To show you your mistakes... The people who helped you kill him did so because they wanted to be more powerful than superman, and now, they are. The thing you feared him to be, that is what they've become, and you made it happen."

"Waller," Luthor said.

"Yes."

Luthor watched Lois. He raised his hand, pointing a closet in the corner of the room. Lois made her way to it. She looked inside and found a phone. She took it and brought it to him. He found a contact, someone she couldn't see and started typing: W A L L-- "Everyone," Lois said. "Anyone who took part in his death." Luthor nodded, he continued typing. Lois looked at the final message, two names, Waller was the first, and the second she didn't recognize; LAWTON.

"Thank you," she said. He gave her a slight nod.

Lois left the room, taking her purse on the way out, she rested her hand on her belly as she moved down the corridor, making her way to the empty elevator. The baby kicked when she got inside. "I know, baby. Me too."

#

The old guard moved through the corridor, looking at each resident as he passed by their doors. He had worked here for many years and never had the halls of Arkham been so silent. As he approached Joker's room, he looked inside and found him sitting up in his bed, quietly looking at the wall ahead.

"Hey," he said. The Joker turned only slightly, he said nothing, but he was listening. "How come you never laugh no more?"

The question was met with a long silence, the guard wasn't sure he had been heard, then the Joker spoke. "The world's no fun anymore," he said. "What's there to laugh about?"

The End