For you, my lovelies! Chapter Ten!
After privately convincing his alien hosts that he needed to return to Earth to take care of his daughter, Bruce was sent home. They had decided that as a human, he hadn't been responsible for anything, and had offered to send him home weeks ago. He had stayed with the rest of his fellow League members to speak for them. To his annoyance, they insisted on sending Clark back with him. Apparently, they felt bad for him since his own alien race had been completely wiped off of the universe.
Back in his cave, Bruce set to finding Selina. As his computers searched for the location of a necklace he'd given Selina, Clark came up behind him. "What are you looking for?"
"Who am I usually looking for? Why are you down here?" He snapped at his best friend.
Clark pulled up a stool next to him, "You seemed unusually upset. Besides, no one knows we're back. The way I see it, I've still got a few hours off." Bruce just shrugged, "So you're looking for Selina."
"And trying to find more about this girl." Bruce said, handing him the photo of Helena.
"I know her." Clark commented, looking at the picture.
"What?" Bruce exclaimed.
"Her name's Katherine Kyle, she works at the Planet with me." Clark said, trying to figure out why Katherine was in the Happy Harbor cave.
Bruce pretended to look interested in the program on his screen, "Tell me about her."
"Bruce, she's my friend. Why are you looking into her?" Clark asked, becoming defensive of his human friend.
Bruce looked at him, rage in his eye, "Apparently, she's my daughter. Selina told me she died. Needless to say, I'm going to have words with Selina."
"Katherine? Your daughter?" Clark laughed.
"What's so funny?" Bruce said darkly, not sensing anything humorous.
"She's so nice, and usually really easygoing." Clark said, trying to control his inappropriate amusement.
"She's nice?" Bruce said in a hushed voice.
Clark nodded, returning to his serious mindset, "Unfailingly kind. A little brash sometimes, but she means well. She's observant too, I guess that makes her kind of like you. My parents love her. She and her brother..."
Bruce's eyes snapped to him, "Her brother?"
Clark realized he'd said something his friend hadn't needed to hear, "Yeah, his name is Damian." He peered at Bruce, "No wonder he always reminded me of you."
"How old is this boy?" Bruce asked, looking up Katherine Kyle.
"He's fourteen." Clark said gently.
"He's not mine then. I haven't been with anyone since Selina, and I haven't seen her in sixteen years." Bruce stated adamantly. Katherine's public file popped up on the screen, and Bruce couldn't believe what he saw. "She's twenty three?"
"Yeah, she turns twenty four in a month or so." Clark supplied.
"Helena was born sixteen years ago. Helena's the only child I've had." Bruce mumbled.
Superman heard him though, "Helena? Are you alright, Bruce? Her name is Katherine."
"When she was born, her name was Helena." Bruce said, and he suddenly didn't want to confront Selina yet. He had to meet this girl.
He went to the Zeta-Beam, not caring if Clark followed or not. Once he reached the Cave, his eyes found the girl almost instantly. She was seemingly asleep, laying under a fleece blanket. Bruce found himself kneeling next to her, amazed by the perfect blend of him and Selina present on her face. Her blue eyes flickered open and she gasped, jolting back.
"Get away from her." A voice snapped. Bruce looked up, to see Red Arrow coming through the door from the kitchen with a glass of water in his hand.
Katherine raised her hand, waving at him to be quiet, "Red, it's okay." Looking unsure, Red came to stand behind her protectively, handing her the glass of water. She stared at the masked man in front of her, at the eyes staring back at her. "Who are you?"
"I could ask you the same thing." Bruce said. It was undeniable. She had his eyes. "What does the name Helena mean to you?"
Katherine sat up, pulling her hair over to the front of her right shoulder, "When I was eight, my mother would sometimes call me Helena. I thought it was weird, but with my mother, weird is a relative term." She reached her hands out and fingered the edge of his hood, she bit her lip and pulled her fingers back, "Are you my father?"
He nodded, "I think I am."
She traced his eyes, "Me too."
Bruce looked at the blanket that covered her and the water in her hand. His heart sank, "Are you sick?"
Katherine blushed, and Red wanted to crawl away. What a hell of a way to find out Batman is your father-in-law. "No, not sick." She pat her stomach, bringing Bruce's attention to it, "I'm pregnant." Bruce knew he didn't have the right to be pissed, but he was. He knew that this girl was twenty three, not sixteen, but he still wanted to beat Red a little. Katherine grinned at his expression, "I see where I get my evil eye from."
"Yup, definitely the same." Red said, looking at the ceiling to avoid Batman's glare.
She rolled her eyes, catching Red's hand in her own, "Relax, or I'm going to start freaking out. Kay?" Her voice was thin, and Red pressed a kiss to her hand.
"Sorry, Kat." He said, "Let me go check on the Team."
"Thank you." She said, sipping from the water, "The Team's gone to find my half brother. Cadmus took him." She informed Bruce.
"I know." He said, sitting a seat away from her.
"She told you I died, didn't she?" Katherine said, rubbing a small circle into her stomach.
Bruce nodded, "She did."
Katherine let out a catlike hiss, "Typical. I really hate her." Bruce couldn't say he disagreed with the girl. Selina had obviously gone to some less then legal efforts to keep her alive, but had he been given the chance, he would have done the same thing. It was Selina that had kept him from his daughter.
They just stared at each other, and he wished they were in a more private place so he could show her his whole face. He didn't get the chance to suggest going somewhere else, however, before the Team came in with a tall boy amongst them, "Damian!" Katherine cried, relief in every line of her body, standing, and rushing to them.
Damian clung to her, burying his face into her shoulder, "You're alright!"
She stroked his short hair,, "Yes, I'm fine. Red's been taking good care of me."
"I don't want him here." The teen grumbled, glaring at Red over her shoulder.
Katherine couldn't help but smile, "Be nice, D. This is more his place than ours."
The boy nodded, "Alright." Katherine looked over, and smiled at Red in triumph. No one was prepared for what Damian did next. He pulled an Auto-injector from his pocket, and pressed it into his sister's stomach. Katherine gasped, but the boy was already throwing himself at Red, screaming. "You did this to her!" Katherine removed the now empty injector from her skin, staring at it in shock. Nightwing grabbed at Damian, trying to wrestle him off of the clone. When Dick finally got him off, blood covered the boy's face.
"Let him go! You're hurting him!" Katherine yelled when she saw Damian wince in pain. She couldn't rationalize her brother as a threat, even though he'd just injected her with an unknown substance. She didn't feel any different, and could still feel her little girl kicking her ribs every few seconds.
"Did you see what he just did?" Dick yelled back at her, surprised by Damian's strength.
"Yes, but you're hurting him!" Katherine grabbed his arm, and pinched a nerve, forcing him to let Damian go. She then pulled Dick's arm behind his back, threatening to break it. "You don't ever seem to listen." Katherine let him go, and knelt next to her brother.
Damian immediately started sobbing, "I couldn't stop myself! Kat, I'm so sorry!"
Katherine held up the Auto-injector, "Damian, what was in this, and why attack us?" She asked calmly, finally sparing Red a look. She mouthed to him that she felt fine, and he glared harder. Although holding his bloody shoulder, Red looked more pissed than in pain, watching every move Damian made. Like Katherine, he knew how the kid was, especially when emotional.
"I don't know what it was!" Damian screamed, "Kat, I'm sorry! The doctor told me if I didn't give you the medicine, you'd both die!" He sobbed, and she didn't bother to ask why he attacked Red again. Damian had been expressing his hatred of her husband for five long years. That was one of the reasons she'd continued her training. Deep down, Damian terrified her. Selina had made him resilient, but Red had made him hate.
She tried again, barely controlling her own fear, "Damian, why would we die? And what exactly was in that thing?" Damian looked down, and Katherine forced him to look back at her face, "Don't you dare look away from me. Why would we die?"
"I don't know! All she said was that your heart's too weak, and the medicine would help you both." Damian mumbled. Bruce felt that sentence like a punch in the gut. Cadmus had fixed her heart, but not well enough. He understood, and so did a pale Katherine. Her heart could support her easily, but the added strain of a growing baby was too much.
Bruce picked up the discarded vial, and handed it to Dick, "Find out what was in this."
"I'm not your sidekick anymore." Dick hissed, pissed at the whole situation.
A slow grin took over Bruce's masked face, "I know you aren't, you're my adopted son. She's my daughter, and I want to know exactly what that boy just stuck her with. I'd go use your lab myself, but somehow, I think you like that option even less."
"So hold me when I'm here, right me when I'm wrong.
Hold me when I'm scared and love me when I'm gone.
Everything I am and everything in me,
Wants to be the one you wanted me to be.
I'll never let you down even if I could,
I'd give up everything if only for your good.
So hold me when I'm here, right me when I'm wrong.
You can hold me when I'm scared, you won't always be there,
So love me when I'm gone, love me when I'm gone."
When I'm Gone
By: 3 Doors Down
Any guesses as to what Dick will find? Disappointed that there wasn't a Bats/Selina confrontation? Me too..., but gosh darn-it, Bats wanted to meet his daughter! These characters are sort of driving the story right now. Liking it? Let's see if I can keep up with my rapid fire posting!
Thanks again for all of your fantastic reviews! Keep it up!
-Jenn