Ink Blot Horizon
New York
Sometimes the best thing a friend can do is just being there. It's not even the words said, but the physical act of being there that makes the difference. Helena put her arms around Karen and gave her best friend a hug. She didn't try telling her everything was going to be okay or chastise her for whatever mistake she thought she made. It wasn't the time for that. Just being there and silently reminding her she wasn't alone was enough.
The tears flowed awhile longer and then slowed. They stood together looking out over a city that seemed so familiar, but wasn't their own.
"You know,' Helena began. "I was watching a sitcom on television the other day and according to one of the main characters in this situation I'm supposed to offer you a hot beverage. It seemed kind of silly, but what do you think?"
Karen actually gave her a sad smile.
"Tea does sound nice,' she admitted.
Helena laughed.
"I didn't think you'd really want something,' she replied. "I don't actually cook, never had to, but I guess I could call down for room service."
The two friends moved back into the hotel room. Helena made a quick call and then moved over and sat down across from Karen.
"So do you want to tell me about it" She asked. "I assume it has something to do with Clark."
"Yeah."
Karen's head dipped and her smile disappeared.
"You followed him out into the alley.' Helena offered as a prompt.
"I-I was angry with him." Karen began. Her voice was soft and tinged with the obvious sadness. "I want to tell him how rude I thought he was."
"Yeah?"
"I did. He made some smart remarks in return."
"You didn't fight, did you?" Helena asked.
"No, well, I slapped him,' Karen admitted. "I started to slap him again, but he caught my hand and then …"
"What?"
"We kissed."
"Oh."
"We did more than kiss,' Karen reluctantly admitted. She sheepishly glanced over at Helena and quietly added. "A lot more."
"Oh."
Karen seemed uncomfortable remembering it. She fumbled with her hands for a moment.
"I'm not even really sure why,' Karen continued. "I think it was all the emotions of the moment, then something just happened between us."
"Are you in love with him?" Helena ventured.
"What? No, God no,' Karen replied.
"Then what?" Helena asked.
"I don't know what I feel towards him, really." Karen admitted. "We were both so angry and it just happened. I think he was as shocked as I was. One moment we were shouting at each other and then we were …"
Her voice trailed off as she looked down at her hands.
"Having sex,' Helena finished her sentence.
"Yeah."
Karen ran her fingers through her blonde locks, the confusion very apparent in her expression.
"I told him it was a mistake. I mean literally right afterwards. It just sort of came out."
Helena considered this. She could just imagine his reaction to that.
"He didn't take it well, did he?"
"No. He-He just looked at me and then-then walked away,' Karen replied. "God, I've screwed everything up. I was trying to avoid him and what do I do? Sleep with him. I'm sorry, Helena, I thought I was being so careful to keep us off their radar and now I've ruined everything."
"Hey, don't think like that,' Helena said. "There are worse things than having sex with a guy you're attracted to. It wouldn't be the first time you've done it, right? They were going to notice us sooner or later. Japan saw to that. We'll deal with it, just as we have with everything else since we got here. It will be okay, Karen, I promise."
"Batman probably saw me follow Clark.' Karen mused, still rolling it all over in her mind. "Now he'll be interested in us too. Well, more interested than he already was. I really fucked everything up tonight."
"Well, I think I may have contributed a bit to him noticing us,' Helena admitted. "Maybe flying Selina Kyle in tonight was a little too much. It was fun watching them together."
"You could have told me you were going to do that."
"You would have been pissed,' Helena replied. "I thought the surprise would be best for everyone."
"Well, it was a surprise,' Karen sadly said. "It was a night of surprises."
"Look, you said it yourself, having sex with Clark was a mistake.' Helena consoled. "There's nothing you can do about it now. You said he was as surprised as you, maybe he understood."
"You didn't see the look on his face,' Karen whispered. "I hurt him and that wasn't what I meant when I said it."
"What did you mean?" Helena was curious as to her friend's emotions.
"I'm don't know," Karen admitted. "I got scared and it just came out."
"What did you want to say?"
"I wasn't what I wanted to say, it was what I wanted to do that scared me."
"Oh."
"I feel like if I could just go back in time I could fix this,' Karen absently said.
"Even you can't do that, Karen," Helena replied.
"We'll never know until I try."
"How about you take a shower instead?" Helena suggested. "What's done is done. We'll get some sleep and tomorrow we'll figure out what to do."
Karen reluctantly nodded and headed towards the bathroom. As the door closed, Helena sat back trying to put it all together. Karen sleeping with Clark was going to be a problem. The question on her mind though, was what were Karen's real feelings towards Clark. Helena believed her when she said she wasn't in love with him, but that didn't mean she wasn't attracted to him. Helena had been getting that feeling from both of them all night. It made sense really, Karen was very attractive and so was Clark. Why wouldn't they be interested in each other? Add to that how limited they both were in who they could actually be with and it would be a surprise if they weren't attracted to one another.
It was in some ways like her and Bruce Wayne. Helena could admit he was a very attractive man, although that thought gave her a really creepy vibe. Table for two, incest on the menu came to mind and she thought she might get sick at the thought. God, just the idea of her dad in that way made her squirm. Sure, he wasn't really her dad, but he looked almost exactly like him. Stop, she told herself, stop freaking yourself out and focus on the issues at hand.
They were still fine. Clark's fixing their back-stories helped, but Helena had done a few revisions on that work. They were still flawless, but now they were more her style. As long as they stuck to them, they should be okay. Superman seemed more interested in Karen than anything else. After tonight he most likely never wanted to see her again, so as sad as it was to think, it probably worked out for the best for them. She felt sorry for Karen, but her father had taught her to put emotion aside and focus on the issues at hand.
The main issue was Batman. Helena knew he'd seen Karen go out after Clark. That changed things considerably. He would be very interested in them now. He already suggested he knew quite a bit about Helena Bertinelli, so that name was burned for good. They just needed to get out of the city tomorrow and put some distance between them and him. Helena knew he wouldn't give up, but she'd been trained by the best, an older, wiser Batman so it was a game she felt she was ready for. What she needed to do now was be prepared if he came at Karen instead. Putting herself in his place, that's what she would do. He would try and confront Karen, see if he could get her to make a mistake. Divide and conquer would be his strategy, Helena was sure of it.
She heard the knock at the door just as the shower stopped in the bathroom. It was probably room service with the tea, so Helena went over to answer it. When she opened the door, she found Bruce Wayne standing there. Helena closed the door on instinct.
"Shit!"
He knocked again. Thinking on the fly, Helena undid a few buttons on her dress and messed up her hair. That creepy vibe came back as she opened the door again.
"Mr. Wayne, you surprised me,' she offered. "I wasn't expecting visitors, as you can see."
She gestured to her dress and then quickly redid the buttons. God, I'm going to have nightmares about this for weeks, she thought.
Bruce smiled. He knew she was lying. He'd seen in the brief glimpse the first time her dress had been buttoned. He let it go.
"Surprising you was the plan, Miss Bertinelli,' he said. "So who is the tea for?"
The room service cart sat next to him. Before Helena could answer Karen called out from the bathroom.
"Is that the tea?"
"Um, yes, sort of, 'Helena nervously replied. She glanced at Bruce and he smiled even more.
"Are you going to let me in?" He asked. "It sounds like Miss Starr is ready for her tea."
Helena didn't know what else to do, so she reluctantly stepped aside and Bruce pushed the cart into the room. He didn't act like he intended to leave, so Helena finally closed the door.
"I'd say make yourself at home, but you seem to be already doing that,' she snidely said to him.
"I thought we could all have a chat." He replied.
"About what?" Helena asked.
"Yes, about what, Mr. Wayne?'"
Helena and Bruce turned to see Karen standing in the bathroom doorway. She was wearing a hotel bathrobe and drying her hair with a towel.
"Good of you to join us, Miss Starr." Bruce said. "Tea?"
He poured a cup and held it out for her. Karen slowly walked over and took it.
"Thank you, but what did you want to talk about Mr. Wayne?' Karen replied. "It's rather late and as you can see we weren't expecting visitors."
Karen had realized Bruce Wayne was at the door just before Helena opened it. She was shocked and flustered, but unlike her first meeting with Clark she had a moment to pull herself together before exiting the bathroom. Back home, Batman had always intimidated her more than she wanted to admit, but this wasn't back home and this wasn't the same Batman.
"I thought the three of us could talk about tonight." Bruce informed her.
"What about it?' Helena asked.
"Did you want tea too, Miss Bertinelli? I usually have a butler for this, but some times you have to adapt on the fly,' Bruce replied.
"No, just an explanation."
Bruce was staying in character, the playboy billionaire, but that didn't mean he wasn't going to try and get as much information as he could out of this visit. If these two were involved in the theft of his money, he wanted to know. It was a risk coming as Bruce Wayne, but until he had more evidence Batman would remain as his hole card.
"We never got to finish our discussion, Miss Bertinelli,' Bruce explained. "You know about how Interpol is looking for you or should I say someone with your exact name."
"I'm sure it's just a coincidence,' Helena offered.
"Of course." Bruce nodded. "A coincidence is one explanation, but a coincidence seems unlikely to be the most probably, doesn't it?"
Before Helena could reply, Karen spoke up.
"We might as well tell him the truth, Helena."
"What?"
"Mr. Wayne,' Karen continued. "Helena's real name isn't Bertinelli, as you might have guessed. She works for Starr Industries as my head of security. Corporate espionage is all the rage lately, as someone in your position is surely aware."
"Yes, I am aware, Miss Starr,' Bruce replied. "We've had a security breach recently at Wayne too. So you can see why I'd be interested in Miss Bertinelli showing up at the trade show."
"It's not my real name,' Helena said. "It's a ruse to flush out the real Miss Bertinelli."
She had wondered where Karen was going when she started, but now picked up on something they'd discussed months ago. Helena being head of security would explain her changing names as often as she did, if someone ever caught on to it. It seemed Bruce Wayne had caught on.
"So you're not the real Helena Bertinelli?" He asked.
"No, but I believe she is involved in some of the security problems at Starr so I thought I could get her to show herself if I pretended to be her,' Helena explained.
"Someone with her ego probably couldn't resist finding out who was impersonating her,' Karen added. Helena gave her quick snide look, but didn't openly object. She didn't have that big an ego, she thought.
Bruce had to admit their explanation seemed plausible, a bit too plausible for his tastes. They were good, but he believed he was better.
"So what is your real name, Miss Bertinelli?" He asked.
"West, Helena West,' she replied. "I have a brother named Wallis you could check if you don't believe me, but no one's seen him in almost 52 weeks."
"A whole year missing and you're not concerned?"
"If you knew Wally, you'd understand,' Helena explained. "He's always running off somewhere. I'm sure he'll turn up sooner or later."
That was a new twist, Karen thought, but Helena always was good at thinking on the fly. That was part of the ego thing with her. She'd have to ask later who Wally West was, but right now she wanted to turn the questions more towards Bruce.
"Isn't it a little odd that the head of a corporation as large as yours, Mr. Wayne, is doing this? Are you an amateur detective or something, besides being a billionaire?"
Bruce smiled.
"No, of course not, but I am interested when my money is involved,' He offered. "I thought since I was here, I might do a little poking around."
"What if I'd actually been the real Helena Bertinelli, Mr. Wayne?" Helena asked. "Aren't you running a big risk by confronting me by yourself? I might have overpowered you and held you for ransom? Or beat you to a pulp or even killed you when you confronted me? Isn't this a little dangerous for you, Mr. Wayne?"
Helena was back to playing the game now. Since she knew his secret identity, but he didn't know she knew, she had an advantage on him. She wanted to see him explain this all away.
"I studied a little judo,' Bruce offered. "I know a few moves. If it came to that, I thought I could use them to escape and call in my security."
Karen moved closer to him.
"That might have worked against one of us, Mr. Wayne, but two of us seems like a really big risk, doesn't it?"
Bruce saw what they were doing and smiled. The two women were now standing between him and the door. If it came to it, he was pretty sure he could handle them both, but that wasn't how he wanted things to go down. Flashing his best playboy smile at the two of them, he waved his hand in front of him.
"The hotel staff knows I'm here, along with a few other people, Miss Starr,' Bruce replied. "Surely two young women as lovely as you wouldn't take advantage of me, would you?"
There was a hint at something more in his tone. Karen did her best not to smile. Helena on the other hand, felt grossed out by the thought he'd just hit on her. Definitely going to have nightmares now.
"No, we wouldn't,' she said rather quickly.
'Good to know,' Bruce replied. "Besides, you seemed interested in Clark Kent tonight, Miss Starr."
"I wouldn't say that,' Karen snapped.
"I couldn't help noticing you followed him outside,' Bruce explained. "You didn't return, so you can see what people might think."
"People would be wrong,' Karen replied. "How do you know Clark Kent, Mr. Wayne? I don't imagine you two run in the same circles."
"We met at a press conference,' Bruce offered. "How about you, Miss Starr? How did you get so friendly with a reporter like Kent?"
"We're not friendly,' Karen flatly stated. "I met Mr. Kent in Metropolis when I heard he might be doing a story on my company. Given the nature of his usual reports I wanted to make sure he got the record straight. It didn't go well, Mr. Wayne."
Karen left out the part about it being she that was sort of the problem with that meeting.
"When I saw him at the trade show I decided to give him a piece of my mind. That's why I followed him out,' she explained.
"I noticed you didn't return."
"Let's just say Mr. Kent's manners hadn't improved,' Karen offered. "I just decided to head back to the hotel as the night was already ruined."
Bruce considered everything she had said. It sounded reasonable. From his dealings with Clark, he knew he could be difficult, especially with big business types, but he had a feeling there was more to the story then she was letting on. From his own observance of the two, they seemed to be deliberately ignoring each other all night. He could sense hostility between them, but there was something else. She clearly wasn't going to admit it tonight, so he would have to ask Clark next time he saw him.
Bruce looked at the two women and had to admit their stories seemed perfect. They had a reasonable explanation for everything. That was the problem for him, though; they had an explanation for everything. It's the basic mistake people who aren't used to lying make. They try and explain everything. The truth doesn't work that way. The truth is messy and people don't always remember the details. Most people couldn't tell you what they had for dinner three nights ago, let alone remember every detail of some past event. No, these two were hiding something, now he was sure of it. Tonight, though, wasn't the night to press them. He had his identity to maintain, so it would have to wait.
"Well, I guess that answers that,' Bruce said, glancing at his watch. "I guess I should leave the detective work to the professionals, shouldn't I?"
"Do you know anyone that can do that sort of thing?" Helena asked, a small smile on her lips.
"I'll have to check around,' Bruce replied. "I'm sorry to inconvenience you both, but I feel so much better after hearing your explanations. I can see you're ready to retire so I won't keep you another minute."
He moved towards the door. For a brief moment he wonder if they would try and stop him, but then they stepped aside. He smiled as he opened the door and turned to look at both of them.
"Sweet dreams."
With that Bruce closed the door and was gone. Karen took a deep breath and dropped down into the sofa.
"God, I was sure he was on to us,' she exclaimed.
"He is,' Helena replied.
Metropolis – A week later
Even the best of us have bad days. If you were actually happy and upbeat all the time, most people would think you're an imbecile or worse, insane. We all have bad days. Things don't always go right. We all get angry, confused, pissed and troubled from time to time. Sure, maybe not all at once, but there are times when it feels like that. Clark Kent was having one of those days.
The night with Karen may have brought it to the surface, but other factors soon added to his mood. The biggest issue he was facing was who was he anymore? He seemed to be caught between two worlds. He'd started out just to be a guy fighting for the common man in the streets, a champion for those that didn't have a voice. It was a tee shirt and jeans for a uniform, but now the world was changing all around him.
He now knew he was from a planet called Krypton. The amazing suit he wore now was from that homeworld. He was spending more of his time with others like him in the Justice League. People looked at them like some New Gods sent to save Earth from all threats. Clark wondered who was he supposed to be now? Was he meant to be a giant, global, inspirational figure? Was he supposed to be on the streets helping people or in the sky fighting alien invasions?
If that wasn't enough, his other outlet, writing as Clark Kent was slowly being undermined by the take-over of the paper. He was currently in the Suicide Slums doing research for an article, but he wondered if anyone would ever get to read it? It seemed his new boss, Morgan Edge and the other city leaders had a grant vision of a Metropolis Renaissance and were moving to make it a reality. Whole neighborhoods were being torn down and new modern buildings put up in their place. Metropolis would be the City of Tomorrow they proclaimed. Unfortunately, that city of tomorrow didn't include those in the middle or lower incomes.
It seemed the city leaders strategy was to act as if those people didn't exist. If they didn't exist, then there was no reason to worry about them. The poor would just disappear in this view of things. The reality was something far different. With each old building they tore down, they reduced the affordable housing not just for the poor in the city, but the middle class as well. Descent, hard working people were being pushed further and further away into smaller and smaller areas. Little ghettos out of the way, so the rest of the citizens didn't have to see the poor or working class.
These were the people Clark had set out from the beginning to help, both as a reporter and as Superman. He'd written a series of articles about what was going on but with each story they were moved further and further back into the paper. He'd gone to ask Perry what was going on. It had been the new parent company's advisor that had explained it to him. She said people were tired of reading stories like his. She even had a clever euphemism for it, 'Compassion Fatigue.' People didn't want to read about some poor schmuck that lost his job and was having trouble making ends meet, she said. They wanted action, scandal, gossip when they got home and read the paper or watched the news. Too much reality tends to turn the readers off, she said. Clark had pointed out that the 'news' is reality and those were real people suffering out there. She said she understood and didn't want to interfere with the paper, just help it become more successful.
Clark's articles no longer made the front paper or even the front section. They were relegated to the local news and on the inside pages along with the "what's happening in Metropolis this week' column in the paper. So again, if it's not on the front page, it doesn't exist, just like the poor people that were being squeezed out every day.
He turned to his blog, hoping the story would get out and maybe people would see what was really happening. It was frustrating though, for it was hard to gauge just how much impact it was having. It certainly wasn't getting to the eyes of the people that made the decisions, that he was sure of.
All these factors seemed to combine together. He was frustrated, angry and confused. He doubled his effort to expose what was really happening down here, but as fate would have it, the Justice League called. He didn't want to answer it. He had important business here, but it kept ringing. He finally answered. A giant army of killer robots was attacking Dallas, come immediately the message said. Dman it, Clark thought, killer robots, I don't have time for this shit! Grumbling to himself, Clark answered, saying he would be there in a few minutes.
Dallas
Five Justice League members stood in between the city and the giant robots. There were over a hundred of them and they were destroying everything in their path. Clark arrived about the same time as Batman and found the others discussing how they should handle the threat.
"Civilians are our first priority," Arthur said. "We need to keep their safety in mind."
"They seemed to be running on some sort of loop program,' Victor offered. "I can't get in to change it, but it basically wants them to destroy everything."
Hal and Barry had been offering suggestions, when Hal noticed Superman hovering above.
"Finally decided to arrive, huh?" He joked. "I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess you don't have any opinion on how we should handle this?"
Clark just gave him a cold look. It was Diana that spoke up.
"Are they alive?" She asked.
"No,' Victor replied.
"Then I can use my sword and destroy them,' she said.
"I like that strategy.' Clark said as he looked at Hal.
"Well, I'm all behind the Princess too,' Hal replied. He gave a smile. "Or in front of her if that's what she wants."
"I don't have time for this,' Clark said and then took off at the robots. Arthur and the others called for him to wait, but Clark wasn't listening. The anger and frustration that had been building all week finally had a target right in front of him, the robots. As the others tried to play catch up with him, Clark waded into the thick of things. The robots had some sort of blasters and they fired repeatedly at him. It stung, but he didn't stop. What it did do was make him even more pissed.
While Diana joined him in the destruction of the robots, the others stopped. They had always known their teammate was strong, but what they were seeing now was something else. Power, speed and the array of abilities at his command were breath taking. Against him the robots had no chance. Even Diana stopped as the destruction he created was beyond anything she had seen before. Annihilation was the only word for what he was doing to the robots.
"He's out of control,' Hal said.
"Who's going to stop him?" Barry replied. "I mean look at what he's doing. Wow!"
'We are his teammates, it's up to us,' Arthur weighted in. "Diana, can you use your lasso to reign him in?"
"Yes, of course,' she replied.
"Once he's in her lasso, I'll move in with my ring,' Hal added.
"That's not a good idea,' Batman offered, but the others were already moving.
Clark was letting all his frustration out. He tore the robots limb from limb and then melted the larger pieces with his vision. His fist drove through their heavily plated chests and pulled out wires. Nothing in this world it seemed could stop him. The lasso wrapping around his arms and pinning them to his sides said otherwise. He turned towards his teammates; the anger still pumping through is veins.
"Wonder Woman, get this off me!" he growled.
"Not until you calm down, Kal,' she replied, holding tight on the other end.
"Finally someone else is caught in that thing,' Hal said with a smile. "I won't be the only one that says some embarrassing truth, will I, Superman?"
Clark gritted his teeth as he fought against the lasso's power. He glared up at Hal.
"You want some truth, Lantern? Wonder Woman thinks you're a toad and is sick of your lame pick up lines! How's that for truth, flyboy?"
Hal almost blushed as he looked at Barry.
"I think that lasso hates me."
Clark was still struggling against the power of the lasso. Diana held on for all she was worth.
"Your friends in the military tried tying me up, Diana,' He growled. "I didn't like it then and I don't like it now. Get this off me!"
"Not until you tell us what is wrong with you!" She demanded.
"You want to know what's wrong with me? I'm pissed!"
In one incredibly fast move, Clark grabbed hold of the lasso and pulled. The force knocked Diana off her feet and she went tumbling towards him, still hanging on to the lasso. Her body made full impact against his shoulder. She was momentarily stunned and the lasso slipped from her fingers. As Clark slipped it off, he glanced down at what he'd done. He was just about to say something to her, when a series of green chains enveloped him.
"We can do this the easy way or the hard way, Superman, but you're done,' Hal firmly said.
"You never learn, do you?" Clark said in a mocking tone. "It didn't work on her, what chance do you think it has on me?"
He flexed and shattered the chains. He was holding Hal by the throat in the next moment.
"You should stick to those aliens in space you're always bragging about,' he whispered. "The one down here on Earth is a little out of your class."
He flicked an unconscious Hal away and then turned towards Barry. The Flash was moving towards Clark, but stopped when he pointed his finger at him.
"Barry, don't,' Clark warned. "You're not that fast."
Barry wasn't sure what to do. He stood there just looking at Superman. A batarang suddenly exploded against Clark's chest. He turned to see Batman, Aquaman and Cyborg moving towards him. Arthur fired his trident at him, but Clark snatched it out of the air. He looked at it for a moment and then used his eyes to heat up one of the large boulders near him. When it glowed red, he thrust the trident into it. With a quick breath he cooled it.
"Now you can have your sword in the stone moment just like the original Arthur, Arthur,' Clark growled.
Another batarang hit him, but it didn't make a dent. He turned towards Bruce.
"I don't think anything you have in your belt is going to work,' he offered.
"Karen Starr,' Bruce replied. A cold look came over Clark's features.
"Always the Batman first, huh?"
Bruce reached for the buckle on his belt, but a flash of intense heat came and melted the release. He glanced at Clark.
"Why don't we keep what's in your lead lined belt buckle as a surprise for another day, friend."
Clark a step towards them, but then crumbled to the ground grabbing his ears. Cyborg was emitting an ultrasonic frequency so high up and so loud only Clark could hear it. He screamed in pain and glared at Cyborg.
"You have to stop this," Victor said. "It's gone too far already. I won't let you continue. You'll have to destroy me if that's what you want."
Clark looked at him for a moment, the pain intense and almost overwhelming. He saw the expression on Victor's face and knew with one blast of his eyes he could stop the noise. That would most likely damage Victor severely. That wasn't what Clark wanted. None of this was what he wanted. He looked at all of his teammates and saw what he'd already done. The anger slipped away and regret rushed in.
"I'm sorry."
He took off, so fast he was out of sight in the next moment.