What If
Chapter 2 'Trust'
I can see his face almost falter. Bruce, my Bruce, was a strong warrior and proud. There is no doubt that this version of him is just as strong and proud, but he seems more vulnerable. I would not have seen the way his face fell, if not for the glaring monitor he faced. I know that going to him would be a mistake. That speaking to him would cause him to pull away from me, but Hera knows I can't leave him like this. I step toward him and I hear a soft tiny voice from another room. The girl walks toward the man she sees. She stumbles once, but refuses help. Moments later I watch as a the child clutches Bruce's leg.
"Dada!" The toddler says as she holds to him.
He turns to face me. His eyes daring me to even try to make a move toward the toddler. The innocent eyes of the little girl turns toward me. She studies me with courious eyes for a moment before she walks toward me and puts her arms out wanting me to lift her up.
"Hello little one." I say as I lift her softly.
I see her smile and she pulls herself into a hug. The little girl smells of ginger and jasmine. I look to see Catwoman standing facing me with a worried expression. The truth is obvious. The child is hers. She walks toward us showing no fear or reason to be afraid and talks softly to the little girl.
"Celeste, what have I told you about strangers?" She says softly to the toddler.
"I know mama." The little girl says as she holds to me.
"She's special." the little girl whispers.
Tears form at the corners of my eyes. The child could have been my own. If I wouldn't have let him push me away... I could be holding a child that was of my own flesh and blood. I don't feel anger or jealously, but I feel remorse. I feel saddened for what has happened to Bruce, and what has happened to those he loves.
I watch as Selina removes her mask. Her brown hair is short, and her green eyes shimmer. She looks at her daughter and then at me again.
"If she trusts you, then so can I. Celeste seems to have a sixth sense about people." Selina says.
"Batman we have another venom attack." A cloaked figure says as he nears us.
I know the voice and look to see Dick Grayson dressed far differently than his Nightwing self. The hood he wears covers his face, and draws into two points. The symbol of the Bat is on his suit, but there below it is a demonic looking wraith. A spirit of vengeance.
"Ra's is gaining more strength. With him in control of the government its almost impossible to attack him. Now he's unleashing his bastardized super soldiers in Gotham to draw us out." Bruce says as he slams his fists down on a table.
"Ra's controls the government?" I ask confused.
"Six years ago Ra's became public when he helped repel the invaders. He and his army of super soldiers was able to effectively attack and drive them back. Somehow he is able to introduce venom into their systems for a long term effect." Bruce says as he studies the focus of the attacks.
"he's claiming that he is trying to force the criminal element out of Gotham." Dick says with obvious distaste in his mouth.
"Have you tried to reach Ivy?" Bruce asks as he looks at Dick.
"She and Harley are dead." Catwoman says as she wipes her eyes.
"When did this happen?" Bruce barks the question.
"Two days ago it looks like. They raped them both and twisted Harley's head off. It looks like the forced an IV of weed killer into Ivy's veins. The bastard is killing our support Bruce. He has to pay!" Selina says in anger as she curls her hand into a fist.
"What about the league?" I ask stilling holding the child.
"Don't make me laugh. Ra's has implanted mind control substances into most other 'heroes'. That's why I we are where we are. The subway is lined with lead." Bruce says in contempt as he moves toward a chair.
"No... He controls them..." I say as the words start to settle.
He is controlling Kal, Wally, Shayera, Donna... Oh Hera, he's controlling my sister! I think as I look at Bruce.
"He plans on thinning out the world. What better way than to control those who could stop him." Bruce says as he looks at Selina.
"We'll fight." Selina says softly.
"Yes, but in the end I don't think it will be enough." He says as he puts his head in his hands.
I watch Bruce for a moment and then I see him stand tall. He looks at Dick who nods. Dick walks toward a section of the wall and presses in a specific block. When he does the block moves and I watch as part of the wall moves back into itself. I walk toward Bruce still holding Celeste and watching as the wall stops moving and begins to seperate. The movement is loud, but no louder than what one would expect to hear from neighboring subway tunnels. Once the wall is out of the way I look to see not one, but three tanks filled with green liquid. Inside of one of the tanks is Barbara Gordon. I close my eyes not wanting to see her like this. The former batgirl looks as if she had been through Tartarus and back. I can see where she had been broken and left for dead. Her eyes move slowly from everyone until they land on Dick. She seems to focus and then a voice speaks from the computer system next to her tank.
"I miss you." the voice says softly.
"I miss you too Babs..." Dick says as he places a hand on the tank.
"We have company Dick... Not a good time to be doing any floor play." the voice says with humor.
"We have to take what time we have." He says gently to her.
"Yes we do... What do you need Bruce?" She asks him.
"Are the H.A.R.D.A.C. replicants ready?" Bruce asks.
"The ones of myself, dad, and you are... but we don't need to the one for dad anymore do we?" She asks.
"I'm sorry Barbara." Bruce says as his gaze drops from her.
"We have to stop Ra's Bruce. I can transfer my mind to the replicant for a short time, but even with its added strength I can't take on the entire force he has sent here." Barbara says to him.
"We need the help Barbara." Bruce says.
"Alright... I'm connecting now." her voice says before she closes her eyes.
I watch as a body moves and comes out from behind the tanks. She is dressed like Batgirl, and she looks like she did once. Before asking anything she walks straight over to Dick and pushes his hood back. Taking a moment to smile at him she kisses him deeply.
"I wish I could make this my body forever." She whispers her voice rich with love for him.
"I do to." he says as he kisses her again and this time a cough gets their attention.
"We need to get to work." Bruce says as he watches the two lovers pull away from each other.
Barbara nods and smiles at Dick. She turns to Bruce and I watch as he lays out the information. I walk toward them and feel Celeste reaching for her mother. I hand her over to Selina who takes the child and coos to her for a moment before also walking over to look at the lay out of the city.
"Even with Barbara able to help us that is a lot of ground to cover." Dick says as he runs his hand through his hair.
"I can help." I say as I look at them.
"No offense, but other than being able to hack into Bruce's safehouse computer what skills do you have?" Selina asked as she raised an eyebrow at me.
She knew about the computer. It makes sense though. She had become more like Bruce, and Bruce could tell what someone did just by looking at you.
"I can do more than you think." I say as I drop the trench coat.
Bruce looks at me and growls for a moment, he holds up a scanning device and after a moment a pleased smirk crossed his lips.
"This really is a different timeline to you." he says as he looks at me.
"Yes." I answer
"You'll stick close to Barbara. We need the extra help. The soldiers are not going to be weak by any means. I've seen two of them take down Supergirl. She refused to be registered..." Bruce says before he stops and looks at the ground.
"They stripped her naked and took her before Ra's. She's been in his custody ever since. We've tried to save her a few times... The last time it cost Victor his life." Selina says softly as she touched Bruce's back.
"Victor?" I ask.
"Freeze. Mr. Freeze. A few of the criminals in Gotham decided to stand against Ra's and madness." Bruce says as he motions toward a plaque.
I look and see pictures of Riddler, Mr. Freeze, and Oswald Cobbelpot hang onto the Plaque. Under their pictures reads a simple inscription.
"Fallen, but not forgotten." It reads.
Before we leave Bruce insists that I either redress in the trench coat or wear Helena's old uniform. I look at the Huntress uniform and I start to understand. Helena had died in Gotham. She would be here helping Bruce if she wasn't dead. I nod and take her uniform into another room. To be the huntress is more than an attitude. It's to become a whole new person. Helena was sex on high heels as the Huntress. She knew that men would be distracted and she used that to her advantage. I remove my old uniform and place it on a dressing dummy. Taking a moment to study the Uniform now before me I smile as I dress in it. I walk out a moment later and look at Bruce from behind the Huntress' mask. He looks at me for a moment and a geniune smile crosses his lips.
"It fits you." He says.
I know what he means by it. It's not that Helena's own measurements matched my own, but the fact that I was also blessed by Artemis seemed to help. I allowed myself to become a hunter. I would find my prey and I would remove them from these streets. I look toward Barbara who also smiles softly before she slaps Dick softly on the butt.
"Don't get yourself killed tonight Grayson." She says softly to him.
"I won't if you don't." he says as she smiles at him before she leads me toward the tunnel to the right.
She stops and holds out a hand. Without a moments notice she tosses three bat-a-rangs and when they hit a flood of light fills the tunnel. She holds her hand up for another moment and then she motions for me to follow.
"Our security system. Those lights are deadly to anything that isn't mechanical." She says before we move through the area quickly.
"What are they?" I ask indicating the lights.
"Combination of various forms of radiation set up to affect a small area an no more. There is enough Green kryptonite radiation to bring down Superman in a matter of minutes. It's funny you know... Bruce knows who Superman is, but he has never used that his advantage." Barbara says as she shows me a ladder and we both climb.
"How does he know who Superman is?" I ask.
"A couple of years before the world went to hell Bruce investigate something happening in Metropolis. He dated Lois Lane for about a week, of course it was just business with Bruce. There is no such thing as dating with him. Bruce deducted who Superman was, and Superman cheated." Barbara says silently as we make our way to the roof tops.
"Why doesn't K... I mean Superman come for Bruce?" I ask.
"It's alright the world knows his name is Kal El. I think that the biggest reason is because it is too hard for Ra's to control him for long. He seems to only take hold of Superman's mind when he has to have him do something. Afterward it appears that Superman can't remember what happened." She says as we stand on a building and look toward the darker slums of Gotham.
"Kal is fighting then." I say.
"In his own way, but we can't trust him. We can't trust anyone on the League until this is done with. Ra's has to be brought down, and after he is... I fear that most everyone is going to suffer a little." Barbara says as she looks at 'her' hands.
"What do you mean?" I ask her.
"Wonder girl... Donna... She did this to me. We had worked together before, and when I saw her here I tried to help her. I was going to kill those nanobots in her head, but... She was too quick. If Dick didn't show up when he did... From what we understand when the Nanobots are deactivated they will remember what they've done." Barbara says lowly.
I look at her and try to force the picture of Donna hurting her so badly from my mind. The idea that my sister was at the mercies of a mad man was bad enough, but to know that she was being used to fulfill his agenda made it worse.
"Is there a way to free them?" I ask.
"The scanner Bruce held. It has a neutralizing code to the nanobots, but you have to be right up on them. Bruce tried to use it on Superman. And even with him fighting... He managed to hurt Bruce pretty bad." Barbara says as she launches a grappling line and swings toward another building.
I follow her and when we land I hear the sounds of something being thrown against a wall. Standing down on the street is a group of men dressed in black. The leader of them has a woman in his grasp. I watch as they bring a needle toward her and the woman tries to fight. I look beside her and see John Stewart laying on the ground twitching. Not waiting I dive toward the soldiers and knock them away from Shayera.
"Huntress? You're dead!" one of the soldiers shouts toward me.
I smirk and fire a bolt toward his groin. Super strength or not he falls holding himself. Shayera looks at me and then at John. I shake my head and she nods. I see the sadness in her eyes.
"Get 'em! The bird bitch hasn't been injected yet!" One of them screams.
I launch a grappling line toward the top of the building and grab Shayera. The both of us zip into the air and soon we stand on the building and watch the group of soldiers try to find a way to us.
"I know you're not Huntress." Shayera says as she looks at me.
"How do you know that?" I ask.
She lowers her head in shame.
"Because I killed her." She says her voice ridden with guilt.
I watch Shayera hug her self. I can see the hurt, anguish, and anger in her eyes. I can tell how hollow and used she feels as she stands there. I watch this as a form walks up behind me. I can see Shayera's eyes grow wide and she tries to step away from the form. I hear determined steps and look to see Barbara staring down Shayera.
"YOU!" Barbara says with venom in her voice.
Before I can react Barbara has closed the distance and grabbed Shayera by the shoulder. She slaps the Thangarian hard before grabbing her Shayera's red hair and forcing her down to find Barbara's knee waiting.
"You killed you bitch! You killed her and then you held me while Donna... You held me down while she took everything from me!" Barbara's voice more of a scream than actual words.
"Barbara, wait." I say.
She turns toward me her eyes cold.
"Why should I?" She asks as she holds a frightened and now wounded Shayera.
"She's not under their control. She remembers what she did." I say softly.
Barbara looks at Shayera and then at me. I can see the anger inside of her. The pure hate building up. She can't touch Dick unless she is in this false body. The chances of becoming a mother are now gone, and everyone she loved is wounded or dead. I know that Barbara longs to snap Shayera's neck, and by the goddesses she has the right. Then I watch her let go of Shayera. Barbara walks toward me and I expect to be punched. I expect to be told this is a mistake, but what I get is someone needing a friend to hold her and be her shoulder.
Barbara leans into me and sobs long and hard. Tears fall so hard and fast from her eyes that I can hardly understand how a mechanical body can produce them.
"It's all gone... My life with Dick... I'm stuck in a tube... I'm stuck in a goddamned tube forever... I... I wanted to have children. I wanted them with Dick and that's gone." She whimpers softly.
I watch Shayera look at her with shame and guilt in her eyes.
"I can't bring it back... But I can help you pay the bastard who caused some major payback." Shayera says.
I look at Barbara and see her force herself to return to the harden warrior she had become.
"I'll take you to see Batman first, and then we'll talk." She says as she hands Shayera a blindfold.
I look at Shayera as I carry her. She allowed herself to be blindfolded and then to be carried by Barbara and myself. Instead of heading back to the entrance by the manhole we return to the abandoned Railway station. I watch as Barbara walks toward what appears to be an empty track and press against a solid object that wasn't there. For a few moments nothing happened, but then a door opens and I could see the inside of a railway car.
"Get her inside." Barbara says
I nod and carry Shayera inside of the invisible train. The doors hiss shut and then it begins to move at a quick pace.
"So this was how I was transported?" I ask.
"You where found by Selina right?" Barbara asked.
"Yes." I answer honestly.
"Then yes this was how you was transported. Selina doesn't like going through the sewer system while escorting anyone blindfolded. Too much trouble down there." Barbara says as the train enters into a long tunnel.
"What is it like? What is the world like in the timeline you come from?" She asks me.
"You and Dick are not together. You are still good friends, but... you went for Bruce and... Things happened." I tell her.