Sarah

III

Dad and I share a somber look of urgency as our helicopter begins to descend upon the edge of Metropolis.

Above the city flies a large alien ship and around that fight two Kryptonians.

The ship is surrounded by a halo of glowing debris and shoots a laser down into the city.

Fighter jets are flying above us, shooting missiles at the presumed Kryptonian ship.

My eyes widen at the magnitude of the chaos and the size of the ship. It has a late center with three prongs reaching down that end in sharp points.

"What the hell?" I gasp and reaches out to take my hand.

Bruce Wayne has become and insanely protective father since Jason and Janet, but even still he allowed me to become NightCrow.

"You should have brought the suit," I whisper to him as the chopper nears the ground. Dad shrugs and jumps from the copter before it even lands. Once on the ground he holds out his arms and I hop down into them.

The chopper instantly pulls up, dad ordered the pilot to leave the area as soon as we got off.

Together we dash for a waiting armored car.

I jump in the passengers seat as dad starts the car and slams on the gas sending us careening towards the carnage. He flips on the yellow flashing lights on the roof and I inhale sharply.

Just in front of us a jet begins falling from the air, heading right towards the overpass ahead.

"Dad falling jet!" I exclaim and dad slams the gas again, speeding under the overpass seconds before the jet crashes.

The explosion shakes the car, but my dad isn't perturbed. I anxiously hold to the car sides and my seat as he tears trough the mostly empty streets of Metropolis.

Fire, debris and dust clouds occasionally force him to turn corners.

"I should have brought the suit," I mutter regretfully. Neither of us had time to grab the suits.

We have to do this as Sarah and Bruce Wayne.

"I'm calling Jack," dad says then grabs his cell phone and dials the number.

The high tech armored car immediately picks up the call on Bluetooth so dad can drives with both hands.

"Jack," dad says as soon as he picks up.

"Bruce," he greets in return.

"Jack, listen to me. I want you to get everyone out of the building. Right now."

III

Katherine Fault

III

"Jack! Is that Mr Wayne? He better be telling us to evacuate," I call to the older exec; my eyes remain on the Kryptonian ship out the window.

The city is falling to pieces around the ship and even worse are the buildings where the Kryptonians are fighting.

I glance to the side to see Jack staring at the Kryptonian ship as well.

III

Sarah Wayne

III

"Katherine! Katherine get out of there!" I exclaim frantically my chest seizing. Katherine is my best friend; I didn't know that she was in Metropolis today.

"You understand?" dad presses.

"Evacuate goddamit Jack! Katherine run!" I snap impatiently.

III

Katherine Fault

III

Sarah is coming, of course, her and Mr. Wayne are quite the heroes.

Once the seemingly gravity beam hits the ground nearby skyscrapers begin falling.

The Wayne Financial employees scream and back away from the windows.

"Away from the windows!" I yell and back away myself. Jack hangs up the phone and starts shouting at the employees.

"Let's go. Come on, start moving now, people. Let's go. The boss wants us out of the building. So, let's make it happen!" He instructs as calmly as he can.

The employees begin to flee for the stairs but I don't, I'm frozen beside Jack.

None of us will make it in time.

III

Sarah Wayne

III

"Jack. Jack!" dad yells but the line is dead.

Bruce continues taking turns as he faces cars crashing, planes falling, and firemen barricades.

My eyes go to the sky as a large fortress of some time crashes into the city taking several skyscrapers down in the process.

Suddenly my dad slams on the breaks and I lurch forward.

"Why'd you stop?" I question and dad nods to the crowd of people in the street. He steps out of the car and I follow in suit.

In the sky a plane, with lightning coming out of it, collides into the spacecraft. Projectiles launch in every direction from the ship and one lands right in front of the crowd.

There isn't time to react before it ignites and blasts at the crowd around us.

Dad grabs onto me, shielding me from the explosion while the others scream and run.

The dust barely clears, but I can still see the ship get sucked in by some sort of singularity.

Dad and I share a breathless look and begin running into the chaos.

I have to get to Katherine.

III

Katherine Fault

III

"Come on Mr. Daniels!" I exclaim and make for the stairs after the other employees. He stays by the window.

"Go Ms. Fault!" he yells. "I'm right behind you!"

Nodding I turn my back to the empty office and begin running down the staircase.

The magnitude of the death and desolation is incomprehensible.

I only make it three floors down when I realize Mr. Daniels hasn't followed me.

"Mr. Daniels ar-"

My words are cut off by a huge object flying through the floors wall only two feet in front of me.

"Oh my god!" I scream in surprise and lurch back. It isn't an object, it's a man.

The newer hero, Superman, I believe.

The building shakes and the lights flicker. I grab the railing to steady myself and stare at the man with wide eyes.

"Is whatever threw you coming?" I ask shakily. "Because if that's true you gotta get up, I think you're the only person who can fight him."

He groans and barely stirs. Despite the velocity and length at which he was thrown there doesn't seem to be a scratch on him.

So this is a battle of aliens, of people strong enough to demolish a town in less than an hour.

Swallowing thickly I push down my fear and approach the man.

Bending down I offer my hands to him. When he doesn't take them I grab his arms and pull with all my might. He barely moves, but I am determined.

"Come on! You have to get back up! You have to keep fighting! You're the only one who can save us now and you have to finish this. I know you probably never wanted this and I know you're so tired and in so much pain, but you have to keep going. You have to get up Superman and you have to be super, for just one more day."

Superman looks up at me with a morose expression but regardless he stands.

"I believe that you can."

"Thank you," he replies.

And when the evil Kryptonian comes barreling into the building and begins raining down hellfire in the form of lasers Superman shoots back.

III

Sarah Wayne

III

"Bruce your tower!" I call upon witnessing the alien, Superman, being hurled into Wayne Enterprises. "Oh Katherine please be evacuated."

Dad pulls out his phone and attempts to call Jack but the frown on his face says he didn't answer.

My gaze turns sour as a laser beam begins shredding through the Wayne Financial building.

III

Katherine Fault

III

The aliens fight it out with heat vision lasers that utterly destroy the building from the inside out. The attacker of Superman screams as the lasers come from his eyes, as if it pains him.

Standing on crumbling ground I blink away tears, I'm going to die here.

III

Sarah Wayne

III

On the ground my father and I watch in horror as the building collapses.

"JACK!!!" Father screams as I bellow out my own cry.

"KATHERINE!"

Desperation floods logic as dad takes my hand and we fearlessly run right into the falling debris, frantic to try and save someone. We are in contrast all the other citizens are running away.

The dust rushes up engulf us in a deafening silence.

Still holding tight to each other dad and I slow to a walk, the clouds of dust ruining all vision, the only thing that can be seen is the ruins.

It's eery and quiet, a police horse without a rider wanders past us; I barely notice.

Grief overcomes me and un to the nearest pile of debris, shoving all I can aside, searching for Katherine.

"KATHERINE!" I call as I claw through piles of rubble. "You can't be gone! You don't get to be gone! KATHERINE!"

III

Katherine Fault

III

"Please stop! STOP! You're killing him!" I wail as the enemy holds Superman's head to the rapidly decaying floor. The man, the news called him General Zod, pauses and looks at me with annoyance.

Superman meets my gaze and lets out a loud growling noise before throwing the man off him and right out of the skyscraper.

With that he materializes by my side and grabs a hold of me. I can only squeal in surprise as he flies right from the building as it falls.

Vision blurs with the speed he moves at and soon he's dropping me safely on the ground.

"Thank you," I gasp when my shaky legs hit the solid gravel. "I thought I was gonna die up there."

"I wasn't going to let you die," he replies and I smile.

"I mean of course you're Superman for God sakes," I joke.

He smiles at me, a smile that rivals the sun's shine, a smile I won't ever forget.

It barely lasts a second; General Zod comes barreling back into sight looking murderous.

"Another human to protect Kal?" he taunts.

Superman looks at me one last time and jumps from the ground and right into the General.

Zod punches him back down and directs his gaze to me.

He raises his head and his eyes begin going orange. Unlike last time he shoots the heated beams without so much as a pained groan.

Screwing my eyes shut I cower and brace myself for the burn.

It never comes, the beam hits directly above me and before I can even move a muscle I'm buried alive under pounds of rubble.

III

Sarah Wayne

III

"Mr. Wayne! Ms. Wayne!" Father grabs my wrist as our names are called and we both spin around to find Wallace Keefe. The poor employee is on the ground, his legs trapped underneath rubble.

Pushing aside my tears and sadness I stand and approach Mr. Keefe with my dad.

"I can't feel my legs. I can't feel my legs," he stammers and I reach down to take his hand reassuringly.

"You're gonna be okay," I murmur.

"We need help over here!" Dad shouts.

"Help me," he begs and grips onto my arms. "I can't feel my legs."

"You're going to be okay, you hear me?" dad states firmly and glances at the name tag. Dad hasn't met Mr. Keefe before; I have because I spend more time at the company building in Metropolis. "Wallace. What do they call you, Wally? Huh?"

"You're the boss, Boss," Mr. Keefe breathes out and Bruce gives an asserting smile.

Two people run over to help and dad backs up, placing his hands on the large metal bar over Mr. Keefe. The two helpers grabs Mr. Keefe by his arms and prepare to lift.

"Alright. You're going to be okay. Easy, easy. Come on," I coax and nod to father.

Dad nods and then lifts the bar. Wallace is pulled back, his lower legs visibly damaged.

"Oh my god. I can't feel my legs. I can't... I can't feel my legs," Mr. Keefe moans and the helpers coo at him in response.

Heart pounding in my ears I stand back up and gaze at the destruction helplessly.

"Katherine!?" I repeat again. "Katherine!"

Rapidly I spin around my eyes raking over every pile of debris, knowing that if I do find her it'll be her body.

My eyes find my father who is watching a young girl intently with a calculating gaze.

The debris pile above her shifts abruptly and dad lurches forward, grabbing her, and saving them both from crushing rubble. The debris falls between us and blocks blocks me from him.

"It's okay. You're going to be okay. You're okay, alright," dad soothes to the girl and holds her in a tight embrace. He's on his knees hugging her close, something he sided to do for me...and the twins. "Okay, you know what? We're going to find your mom. Where is she?"

The crying girl points at the destroyed skyscraper where Katherine was.

Dads face hardens and he presses the girl to his chest to comfort her.

All I can do is witness as meteorites fall on another building - along with the battling Superman and apparent evil Kryptonian out of the sky. Eventually another skyscraper falls and prevents dad and I from seeing the rest of the battle. Dads face is one of rage at what the Kryptonians has done while my expression is blank.

Hopelessly I fall to my knees and hang my head low.

Deep down I know no one could survive a fall from that height combined with a crushing building.

Taking a deep breath I ball my hands into fists and let out a guttural scream.

Wayne's must just be born with tragedy in their veins.

III

Katherine Fault

III

"Wake up! God, Katie wake up!"

The angry voice and the rapid shaking of my shoulder stirs me from the darkness.

Almost instantly I snap to full alertness, I've been buried alive.

"Oh my god!" I squeak and begin struggling frantically.

"Don't struggle! Stop moving!" the voice says again. "I'm serious you'll kill yourself if you keep this up!"

The fear stills me, and the owner of the voice sighs in relief.

And that's when I see her, the owner of the voice, she's above me holding the weight of all the gravel and dirt off of me.

Her red hair is falling down into my face and her dark green eyes are staring into mine.

"Who are you?" I whisper.

"You and I both know you know the answer to that question. I'm Sarah your imaginary friend," she responds somewhat sardonically. "My real name is Jacqueline but as a child you and your subconscious called me Sarah because she's your only friend."

"How am I not dead?" I utter in confusion.

"I'm protecting you," Jacqueline says simply. "Me and your own power."

"Power?"

"Yeah and shush, Sarah is coming looking for you."

I go silent and stare at her blankly, I have no idea how to feel about this. I must be going crazy if I'm seeing my old imaginary friend again, either that or I'm dead.

"Katherine? Oh Katherine please just be alive." Sarah's voice comes in soft whimpers.

"She's getting closer dear Katie, call out for help," Jacqueline instructs and I clear my throat.

"Sarah?" I croak, my throat has gone scratchy. "Sarah! Help!"

"Who said that? Try calling louder so I can find you!" Ah Sarah, ever the hero.

"Sarah!" I choke out. "Sarah!"

"Katherine? Oh my god Katherine?!"

Next thing I know debris is being shoved off and Sarah is pulling me into her arms. She begins sobbing and stroking my hair. I hug her back equally as relieved, but the shock hasn't worn off for me and Jacqueline is standing behind Sarah smiling.

"I thought I lost you."

"You won't lose me Sarah, ever," I promise and close my eyes.

I'm alive and that is what matters.