IMPORTANT
A/N: This is the sequel to Infinite Legacy, a fanfic by Kipling Bunny. If you've not read that fic, then this one will make very little sense, and may not be to your taste. If you have, then read on and I hope you enjo - this is supposed to explain the backstory to what's going on in the last chapter :)
DaisyJane is my beta-reader on this, and she's been amazing with all her help and tips, so lots of thanks to her!
He would be hard to chase but good to catch,
And he could change the world with his hands behind his back,
You can find him sitting on you doorstep,
Waiting for a surprise,
And he'll feel like he's been there for hours,
And you can tell that he'll be there for life
Daydreamer,
With eyes that make you melt,
He lends his coat for shelter
Plus he's there for you when he shouldn't be
But he stays all the same, waits for you then sees you through.
Daydreamer—Adele
Chapter One
Alexandra Wayne was having a bad day. Her brother Thomas was having a good day. This, in consequence, only made Alexa's day worse. The root cause of Alexa's bad day was one Drew Campbell, and the cherry on the cake was Thomas being named 'Bachelor of the Year' for the sixth time this year alone. That was just eye-roll worthy.
Drew Campbell was a small-time soap star with whom she'd had a brief fling while they both happened to be on vacation in Bora Bora. It had been fun, they'd both had a good time, and miraculously the paparazzi hadn't found out about it. Until they'd been given an all-access backstage pass by Drew himself. Kiss-and-tell didn't cover it—Gotham had woken up to the gossip that Alexa Wayne liked to be in control in the bedroom, at all times, and that her favourite position was –
Alexa gave a disgusted shake of the head at the stack of newspapers lying in the recycling trashcan. It was mostly a fabrication. And so what if she liked to be on top? Her mother was an Amazon—Alexa was an Amazon. Not that any of the sleazebags gathered outside the gates of Wayne Manor knew that. Those same sleazebags had followed her out this morning, tracked her all around Gotham, shoved camera lenses in her face and generally blinded her with flashes for the entire day. She could still see dots now. The temptation either to crush the cameras to powder or simply fly away had been almost overwhelming. But the will to protect her family's secret was, regrettably, stronger.
There was a sudden roar of noise from down by the gates. She looked out of the window, her sharp eyesight easily picking out the approach of her brother's Mercedes coupé. He seemed to be slowing down and stopping, and then actually talking to them … ugh!
When Thomas entered the house, Alexa was waiting for him. "Why would you talk to them? They're pests, Tommy, barely better than vermin –"
"And my reputation lives and dies by what those 'vermin' think," he returned, going into the kitchen. He pulled a bottle of mineral water out of the fridge and took a long swig from it. "Besides, why do you care? It's not like you were in love with the guy."
"That's because he's a complete ass, and what I care about is the fact that, once again, my life is on the front page of every gossip rag in America! I'm pissed off at all of it, Tommy, and it doesn't help that you court those slime balls at every opportunity!"
Since she and her brother had come forward give years ago as the 'official' Wayne heirs—with DNA to prove it—the press had been all over both of them. Their father had been very clear about how to attract attention, and what had worked a hundred years ago still worked now, more or less. But Alexandra, in particular, hated it. If it had been left up to her, she would have lived as a new Wonder Woman, no need for a secret identity and no need for any of these theatrics. Unfortunately, Bruce had been very clear about that too. Gotham needed a Bat. It always would. And Bats operated in darkness, in shadows and secrets. Alexa's argument was that it had Terry. But nothing would change the fact that Terry, like Bruce and now Diana, was aging. Of course for Bruce, it was the second time, but he'd taken the wise precaution of not returning to active duty. He had squandered his first lot of golden years, he said, and he didn't intend to do so again. So Alexa and Thomas had joined their big brother in cleaning up Gotham. And been extraordinarily successful. So much so that Thomas hadn't patrolled in months, and Terry had been able to devote most of his time to the company, and inducting Thomas in how to run it properly. Batwoman now operated mostly alone, but without any detriment to the still-falling crime rate. And she had to admit, it was fun, watching thugs who weighed in excess of two hundred fifty pounds piss themselves when she materialised out of the gloom. It was the flip side of being Batwoman that she did not relish—the vapid, shallow, spoiled, silly little rich girl. Admittedly, she had probably been spoiled as a child, and she was a very rich girl, but she wasn't shallow, she considered herself mostly sensible and she definitely had hidden depths. One didn't spend every summer of their childhood living and training on Themyscira and not gain hidden depths. No one could teach a lesson in humility better than Phillipus.
Thomas' expression softened. "I know you hate it, and I'm sorry. But I don't have an alternate solution, and if you don't either …"
"I know," she nodded shortly. "Those are the rules we play by. I don't know how Dad ever did it."
"Lots and lots of practice. It's not so bad, once you get into the pattern."
"I'm not sure I want to practice, Tommy. It all seems too messy."
"Getting messy is the fun part," he grinned.
Alexa frowned at him, but the twins were interrupted by the ringing of the phone. She picked it up. "Hello?"
Immediately, a hologram of Terry formed, miniature and standing in the palm of Alexa's hand. There would be a miniature of her in Terry's hand on the opposite end. The holophone base unit—a standard communications device in most homes now—was projecting it.
"How are you doing?' her eldest brother asked.
She sighed. "Don't even ask, Terry. I keep thinking there aren't any fresh humiliations left and then they always find new depths to plumb."
"It'll get better, once you have someone. Someone real, I mean."
She smiled at the kind expression on his face. "Well, I'll be on the lookout for my soul mate then. Unlike some people I know …"
Thomas, his mouth full with potato chips, asked, "What? I'm looking for my soul mate too!"
"Yeah, you just happen to be going through as much ass as you can while you're at it!"
Thomas did not rise to the bait—and she had been fishing for an argument—and only winked at her and left the kitchen. She returned her attention to the phone. "Sorry, Terry."
"You seem stressed. There's nothing else going on, is there? Mom and Dad alright?"
It had taken some time (and more with Bruce than with Diana), but for most of Alexa and Thomas' life, both Terry and Matt had referred to their parents as Mom and Dad.
"As far as I know. It's just frustration."
"Want some company on patrol? Or how about I just take over for tonight? Been a while since I had a chance to stretch my legs, as it were."
"Thanks, but I need to punch somebody. I just hope it's not a slow night."
"I don't know," said Terry, looking thoughtful. "Maybe a slow night is exactly what you need. There are other ways to get rid of stress, besides beating the crap out of people. Why not just stay home tonight, relax? Take a bath, watch chick flicks, and get an early night."
Alexa smiled. 'That does sound tempting. Are you sure you don't mind?"
"Not at all. I'll be over at about ten, ok?"
"Sure. See you then."
"Bye."
Terry's image flickered and died, and Alexa closed her hand. A whole evening stretched out in front of her—no parties, no fundraisers, and no patrol … she had no one to please but herself. The prospect of so much liberty was a little daunting. Well, it wasn't quite liberty yet. She still had to fill in the personal evaluation for the logs from last night. Thomas had filled the majority in, as he always did. She went down to the cave to do that, and then spent a little time going through some martial arts exercises. It was not quite as good as sparring against an opponent, but it kept her limber. In the absence of GL or J'onn (virtually the only members of the League who presented her with a challenge), her own imagination would do.
Right on time, at ten p.m., Terry arrived. He looked genuinely quite excited. "Man, it has been so long since I've done this!"
"Are you sure you'll be alright?" Alexa asked, now beginning to change her mind. It had been months—more than twelve of them, in fact—since Terry had been out in Gotham.
"Do I look out of shape to you, Lexie?" he asked, ruffling her hair like he had so often when she was a kid.
She pushed his hand away with a peeved expression. "No, you look fine. But you could be rusty –"
"Lexie, I'm not rusty. Stop worrying—you look like her, but you're not Mom."
"Duly noted. Please be careful though."
He went to change, and came back again in the black and red Batman ensemble. "Hey, still fits!"
Alexa snorted. "Do you want me to monitor from the cave?"
"No, I want you to get some sleep, kiddo. Matt knows I'm out here, and Tom also has his com-link on if I need back-up. Now march your butt up those stairs and have some fun. Barda'll be here any minute."
"Barda?" Alex asked, startled.
"Yeah. You can't do chick things without another chick, or so Dana tells me."
She laughed. "Thanks, Terry."
"You're welcome, now git."
She got, and went upstairs to put some popcorn in the microwave. When it was all popped, she poured it into a bowl and opened a bottle of chilled Sauvignon Blanc. Then there was a knock on the door, and Big Barda greeted her with a hug.
She hugged back with a laugh. "Jeez, Barda, you saw me two days ago!"
"I know, but I haven't had a girls night in in longer than I can remember! It is one of the best things I discovered after moving to Earth." She held out a bag to Alexa, and inside were assorted cosmetics. "Look, I got nail polish, face masks, scented candles—and I've got chocolate and cheesecakes too. Not sure if I missed anything, but I figure you'll have whatever I don't."
"Well, I have popcorn and booze, so that'll keep us going for a while. Come in, please."
By eleven, both superheroes were green-faced (the face masks), glasses of wine each, pink fingernails, blue toenails, and were giggling at the movie. It was strange, considering their difference in age, but Barda was Alexa's closest female friend. Whether it was what the press had taught her or her own bad taste in people, she'd found it difficult to make many friends outside of her family. Her sisters-in-law, Mira and Dana, she loved, and her nieces and nephews (not all that much younger than herself) were always fun to be around. There were some League members she liked, of course, but the Waynes were one of the few 'dynasties' in the meta world. Not that she had any snobbery over lineage, it was just that she needed to know who she could trust before she … well, trusted them. Right now though, she had no compunction against completely enjoying herself. Barda was her best friend, and as for trusting people—they had saved each other's lives countless times. She also shared many characteristics with Alexa's Amazon sisters (like having little patience with any of Alexa's bull crap) and getting drunk with someone was always a good way to bond. It took a lot to get either of them that way though (especially when she didn't have any Amazonian wine), so they were already five bottles down, and Alexa was only starting to feel tipsy. A bit more and she'd be drunk though.
The facemasks came off after the allotted half hour, with no noticeable difference. Both women had flawless complexions even before the masks went on. Alexa had just reached for her glass again when the phone rang. When she answered it, Thomas appeared, dressed in a tuxedo and hunched over, speaking quietly. His expression was frantic though.
"Why the hell aren't you wearing your com-link?"
"I'm –"
"Never mind—Terry's in trouble. He contacted me asking for backup and then the line went dead, but I think I heard an explosion. Last known position was by the old stadium. Get out there and find him. I'm coming home."
Alexa sobered instantaneously at this news. "Alright. Let me know if you get anything else."
"I will. Get going, and be careful."
When she put the phone down, Barda looked serious, and completely sober. "What do you need?"
"Go to the Metrotower, make sure the infirmary is ready for Batman—victim of an explosion, we don't know how serious. After that, can you come back to Gotham and help me look if I haven't found him by then? I might need your help."
"Got it."
"Thanks."
Alexa sprinted to the cave, changing her suit in under a minute and slipping her mask on. She was just lifting into the air when Thomas' voice went off in her ear.
"Alexa."
"News?" she demanded, wind whipping through her hair. "I'm en route."
"Don't bother, Terry's safe. Superman saved him."
"Superman?"
"I know, I was shocked too—but you better get to the Metrotower. Terry's not in good shape. I'll meet you there."
"Acknowledged."
She ordered a transport to the Metrotower, and then marched to the infirmary with her head full of questions. Was Terry all right? How badly was he hurt? Was there still a chance he could – And Superman? What the hell was Superman doing in Gotham? Although the Man of Steel did tend to come and go, he wasn't a real member of the League anymore, and hadn't been publicly seen for years. He swooped in and saved the day, and then disappeared again. Neither Alexa nor Thomas had ever actually met him, though apparently he had been a guest at her parents' wedding. She knew Terry had worked with him before though, so maybe that was why he'd stuck around this time.
Arriving at the infirmary, she found Terry surrounded by doctors, unconscious and covered in cuts and bruises. A cloth mask still covered his face though—anonymity was as much revered now as it had been in the old days. She felt a jolt of fear for her brother. He'd obviously been badly hurt before, but one could never tell how bad the next one was going to be. And it had turned out like this. I knew I shouldn't have let him go …
Standing about six feet from the foot of the bed, arms folded and looking almost as concerned as she felt, was Superman. At least, she assumed it was him—he looked mostly the same as the stock footage she'd seen before, only older. There were a few grey streaks in his hair, fine lines around his blue eyes.
He looked around when she went in, the corner of one black eyebrow flicking up. She nodded. "Superman."
"Batwoman."
She shook his hand briefly—not as hard as she'd expected, but maybe he was holding back—then nodded at Terry. "How is he?"
"Broken ribs, broken wrist and collarbone, fractured skull and some internal bleeding."
She forced herself not to sound horrified. "Any cerebral haemorrhaging?"
"None. The bleeding is because a rib punctured one of his lungs."
"And the explosion?"
"Inque. She escaped," he added, almost apologetically.
She shook her head. "You got him to safety. That –"
The doors hissed open again, and Thomas entered—now there were two Batmen in the infirmary, but this one was looking at Terry too. "Well?" he demanded.
She rattled off what Superman had told her, and then introduced them. The two men greeted each other, Thomas wincing a little bit at the handshake, and then the three of them watched the doctors work on Terry. The twins spoke only once, briefly, Thomas talking in an undertone that only Alexa and Superman picked up.
"When do we call Dana?"
"Not yet. Wait till we have something to tell her."
Another twenty minutes, and the doctors stepped back from Terry, and his siblings rushed forward. He still looked awful, and he was still definitely unconscious. "When will he wake up?" Alexa asked.
"Impossible to say for sure, but he will wake up. It could be tonight or it could be tomorrow morning. For now we'll put him in one of the private rooms, and you can take his mask off if you want."
Thomas disappeared to get Dana, and Alexa and Superman went with Terry into the private room. It had no security cameras, and a PIN code locking system on the doors. She gave it to Thomas—Terry's birthday—and then removed the mask. She had prepared herself not to flinch, but even so it was difficult to hold back a gasp. He looked terrible; his nose was definitely broken and his lip was split, and he had two black eyes.
She sighed. "I shouldn't have let him go …"
"Is he not still patrolling regularly?" Superman asked.
"No, not anymore. It hasn't been necessary, especially at his age. Normally I'm out there, but Terry offered tonight. And I agreed against my better instincts."
She pulled the blankets a little more over her brother, and then faced the Kryptonian, taking him in more fully. He wasn't wearing the red and blue that had been his trademark, and there wasn't a cape in sight—instead he was dressed in black and white, silver here and there. It was altogether less Earth and a lot more Krypton than she'd imagined. Maybe that was where he disappeared to, she speculated. Had he been off-planet?
"Not that I'm not eternally grateful you were there, but –"
"What was I doing in Gotham?" he asked with a little smile. "Batman—Bruce—would have demanded to know the same."
Alexa let out a small chuckle, quite aware of her father's less than friendly reputation. "I'm not demanding. If you don't want to tell me, you don't have to."
That got her another raised eyebrow and another small smile. "I came to see Terry. We've worked together in the past and I was curious to see how Gotham was doing. It hadn't occurred to me you and Thomas would be part of it all already. I mean I knew you existed but you're all grown up …"
They were interrupted by the entrance of Thomas and Dana, the latter of whom took one look at her husband and immediately burst into tears. She rushed to Terry's bedside, and held his hand tenderly, kissing it.
"Wh-what happened?"
"It was my fault, Dana," Alexa said. "I let him take over from me tonight. If I hadn't –"
Dana shook her head firmly. "No, it's not your fault. He was looking forward to it … I know he was. Believe it or not he's missed the action. Now what happened?"
"Inque is back, apparently. We're not sure whether she ambushed him or if he disturbed her doing something. Either way she escaped."
"And he'll definitely recover?"
"Yes. Superman saved his life."
Normally, Dana might have been awed or nervous about being introduced to possibly the biggest legend of them all, but all she said was a tearful, "Thank you."
He nodded modestly, and Dana turned her attention back to her husband. Alexa approached the bed, gingerly putting her hand on top of Dana's. "He should wake up by tomorrow morning … do you want to stay here?"
Dana wiped her cheeks. "Am I allowed?"
"You're part of the Batclan, Dana, I'm pretty sure you're allowed," Thomas said with a smirk. "Do you want to?"
"I don't think I can leave him."
"Alright. What about the girls, do you want them to come stay over at the manor?"
Terry and Dana's two daughters, Marie and Helen, were sixteen-going-on-seventeen and fifteen, respectively. "They're with Matt at the moment, I think they'll be okay there for tonight. When – When do you think he might be able to come home?"
"Not for a while. Once I've come up with a decent cover story we can have him moved to St Chad's, so at least he'll be in Gotham."
"And how long will that take?" Dana asked.
"Give me two days," Thomas, ever the master of spin, said.
Out of the corner of her eye, Alexa saw Superman move silently to the door, and exit. With a final squeeze of Dana's hand, Batwoman followed. She had something she wanted to suggest. "Superman."
He paused.
"Thank you. I'm the strongest member of the League but we get our asses handed to us more often than I'd like. Terry might be injured but he'd be dead if you hadn't been there." She moved out into the corridor with him. "Do you have time for a coffee before you go?"
"Um, sure," he said with a shrug. The movement made him seem, for a brief moment, a bit more human.
Once they had their coffees and were seated in the commissary, Batwoman embarked on her proposition. "Come back. Come back to the League, and not just as a heavy hitter when we need you. We need you for other reasons too," she stated.
"I don't really …" he started.
"And I think you need us too," she interrupted giving him a steady look while placing her gloved hand on his. "Not just as allies but also as friends. You look lonely, Superman. I don't like seeing loneliness."
She could see the pain flash across his eyes and the smile he gave her, though kind, was also a bit sad. "You're less like your father than I thought you'd be."
"I have two parents," she smirked.
He let out a rusty laugh. "How foolish of me to forget. She'd slap me if she heard our conversation."
"Yeah she would, Superman," Alexa laughed knowing that her mother never liked being underestimated even in regards to her daughter's personality.
"Kal," he said drawing her from her thoughts. "I'll come back, as long as you start calling me Kal. When you get to my age … 'Superman' just sounds pompous."
She smiled. "Nice to meet you, Kal. Call me Alexa."
A/N: Review please!