(AN: I Want to take this chance to once again thank everyone who has been reading and reviewing. All of you make writing this possible. I also want to thank JanaGirl123 for co authoring this, and I want to thank The Lady Isis for the use of Rachel Grayson and Benjamin Gordon. Also she has been kind enough to loan me the biggest part of the cast from Parallels. Anyway, Again thanks Isis. Lastly I want to say that for the moment there will be a bit of a hiatus between chapters. I'm currently working on a new Novel and I want to try and get it finished. When I'm done, and reviewed it for errors, I'll let everyone know. If you want updates on the novel, follow me on Facebook. I'll post a link on my profile. Thanks guys again for reading.)
Reflections: Through the Looking Glass
Chapter 11
"What do you mean you were raped?" Q asked in surprise.
"They made me have nonconsensual sex with a guard." Victoria clarified, "It was Luthor's idea. She wanted to see what it would take to break a member of the League. Unfortunately for me, she had a member to torture right in her hands."
Vic nodded slowly, digesting the information, "…When did it happen?"
"I don't know." She admitted, "It was hard to tell. Between the torture itself and the fact there wasn't any sunlight or a clock in the room I really don't have a clue."
"I remember." Vic muttered as he thought of the room they'd kept him in, "CADMUS was Hell. Did they do it when you were conscious or…?"
"No, well, sort of. While they were electrocuting me and showing me the awful visions there-there was a nice one." She began, "Halen had just rescued me from CADMUS and was carrying me home in his arms. We walked into our room and he laid me down on the bed, kissing me all over. I was so happy to be home, so damn happy… But when I opened my eyes for real, I saw a guard sliding out of me."
Vic remained silent knowing if it was him telling the story he'd want it that way.
"I lost it." She admitted quietly, "I yelled at him and swore I'd kill him once I was free. But it didn't matter. He told me it wasn't rape if you liked it and…I liked it, a lot. I thought Halen just wanted to get a little rough; it hadn't occurred to me that… Anyways, he called over his friends and did it again without the simulator as they cheered him on."
"Luthor always was twisted." Vic murmured, "How did Halen react?"
"Not very well. At first he didn't even know it happened."
"Why not?"
"I didn't tell him." She sighed, "I blamed myself for it. The first time it happened I not only enjoyed it but couldn't tell Halen's style in bed from another man. I felt like a whore."
"Figured as much." Vic replied, "How did he take it when you finally told him?"
"He said it wasn't my fault and that he loved me." She smiled gently, "He held me in his arms until I fell asleep whispering to me that everything was going to be okay and that he'd find those responsible for what they did."
"Sounds like something Helena would do."
"Makes sense, I mean they're basically the same person." Victoria noted, "What about Helen? How did she react to you being tortured?"
"She tied up Superman's fanboy to a chair to get his attention then requited the Man of Steel to break into a government facility to rescue me." Q snorted, "We'd only been dating for a month, but she still went through all that to save me."
"We got lucky." Victoria smiled, "We found the two people on the planet everybody overlooked but us."
"You're right." Vic agreed, his mind deep in thought, "We did."
(Vic and Helena's Apartment – Conspiracy Room – two hours after the meeting on the Watchtower)
Vic looked over the materials in front of him and stared at a photo of Lex Luthor smiling that disgustingly over-confident smirk of his. He shouldn't have been surprised about what Luthor had done to his double on her Earth. The truth was he was surprised that Luthor didn't have it done here, but then again he would have if it had been Helena that was caught. A rush of anger filled Q as that possibility took root. If anyone hurt Helena, especially like that, he wouldn't rest until they were served the justice they deserved.
That must have been how Halen felt when he found out about it. If Halen was like Helena then how he made Luthor pay wasn't too much of a mystery. Helena herself was to passionate to just go and break Luthor's neck; she would have wanted to make him face what he did. She would have attempted to see if there was any remorse on his face, and when she discovered how empty the bastard really was she would have begun to break him physically until his body matched the kind of emotional pain that he would have gone through.
Vic thought about this as he shut down his computer, standing up and cracking his back. He wondered how he would have felt if it was him. While he sincerely doubted Luthor would have had him raped like he did Victoria, there were a few scenarios he could imagine himself in.
Though the fact wasn't very well known, when Superman was brainwashed and turned against the Earth he was also tricked into believing he was not only the son of Darkseid, but the lover of Lashina. When Granny Goodness brainwashed him he had no doubts that he was indeed the lover of the lovely Fury, and had slept with her more than once. Of course once he had been awakened and remembered everything he was ashamed and mortified by his actions.
It took a long time to forgive himself for betraying Lois; almost as long as it took to forgive himself for betraying Earth.
The possibility of something along those lines happening to Vic was unsettlingly probable. He gave a silent prayer of thanks it hadn't. After everything he went through in CADMUS he knew he wouldn't be able to look Helena in the eyes after doing something like that.
He could only imagine how Victoria did it with Halen.
(Earth 1 – Saint Mary's Catholic School – Gymnasium)
Helena watched has her double stretched and shadow boxed for a few moments before he stopped and looked at her. As odd as it was, the two seemed to know everything about each other, so it wasn't that surprising when Halen asked, "What's bothering you?"
She knew denying it would be pointless; after all, this was basically her with a dick. He would be able to tell what was bothering her no matter how many times she dismissed it. Frowning, she took a seat on one of the benches, "I overheard Victoria when she talked to Vic about CADMUS. I know what the son of a bitch, or actually just a bitch, well whatever, had done to her."
Halen let out a sigh and sat down next to her, "What would you like to know?"
"How…?" She bit her lip as she tried to figure out how to best phrase her question, "Why couldn't…? I mean I always thought… How…?"
"How could I not notice? From what I've see Vic is every bit has secretive as Victoria. Knowing that about him then you should know the answer to your question. Victoria feared that I would hate her, that I would never forgive her, and that I would think less of her. I didn't, and I never could."
"What changed? What made her open up to you?"
"She paid a visit to Master Dragon and she told her something that she already knew but couldn't trust because she was so close."
"He-"
"In our world Master Dragon is Renee Dragon, a she."
"She had to explain to Victoria that you would be able to take it, that you wouldn't leave." Helen said slowly, "Victoria couldn't accept it on faith."
"Exactly." Halen nodded, "Victoria believes in me and she trusts in me, but when it comes to something as terrible, dark, and evil as that then she fears that she is too close to me. In her mind her judgment is clouded because of how close she is to me."
Helena thought about it and realized how much it sounded like Vic. A look of worry flashed across her face as she wondered if something like that had happened to him
"I wouldn't worry. It seems like your Waller is more controlled than the one on our Earth." Halen assured her.
"How do you know about Waller?"
"I asked Victoria. She had already gotten everything that your league knows about CADMUS in a few minutes."
Helena rolled her eyes, "God, she is Q on another world. I remember this one time Vic and I tried to go on vacation but instead of getting to go to the beach we ended up in jail because he hacked the country's government files."
"I remember that." Halen laughed, "We ended up spending it in a jail cell."
"God I was pissesd." Helena snorted, "I yelled at him for almost three hours straight."
"Then there wasn't anything to do." Halen continued for her, "So I suggested we pass the time in a more pleasurable manner."
"Oh yes, I remember that to. We ended up getting it on in the cell."
"Good times." Halen cracked, "Well, until the warden showed up. The creep asked if he could join us!"
"That was sadly one of our better outings." Helena admitted, "I wonder what they're doing now."
(Earth 1 – Vic and Helena's apartment)
Vic walked toward the couch and looked at Victoria has she lay sleeping. He watched her twitch in her sleep and for a moment he wondered what she was dreaming about.
(Victoria's dream – Earth 12 – Rachel Grayson's Apartment)
Victoria ran toward the front door of the apartment and pulled it open expecting to see her babies. She instead looked at the garbage bags in the blood soaked room. Her hand covered her mouth in horror has she stepped back and felt a body behind her. She turned to see Franklin Reeves standing behind her. Blood soaked his dirty white tank top has he stumbled back, "It wasn't my fault! I thought that they where someone else's!"
She tried to tell herself it was only a dream and that when she woke up Halen would be next to her telling her so, but it did little use. Against her better judgment she spun around on her heels and ran towards the bloodied Franklin Reeves.
When she was only inches away from his cowering frame he suddenly disappeared as the world changed around her.
Victoria looked around herself to see that she was standing in the middle of an alley. A chuckling voice caught her attention and she turned to see Stephanie Mandragora holding a large revolver. The long barrel gleamed in the poor light as it was pressed against Franco's small head, "I was denied the pleasure of killing the last Bertinelli when he was the last Bertinelli. Although Halen is not the last Bertinelli anymore, I will kill his only male heir before moving on to him and ridding the world of the Bertinelli bloodline!"
Something small and made of metal hit the woman on the head as she suddenly collapsed onto the ground. Whether she was dead or not didn't bother Victoria as her son squirmed away from her grasp and bolted towards her.
She caught Franco in her arms and hugged him close against her. The small boy looked up at her and whispered, "Mama, don't leave us again."
"I won't, baby. I won't ever leave any of you like this again." She murmured before everything faded.
(Earth 1 – Vic and Helena's Apartment)
Victoria looked around and let out a sigh. The dreams had become better; she actually held her first born this time. Her eyes roamed around the living room for a moment until she saw Vic standing in the kitchen.
"What are you doing?" She asked.
"Helena and Halen are coming back; don't want them to fix eggplant again." He explained.
"Are you cooking?"
"Cook? Hell no, I'm ordering pizza." Vic snorted, "Helena forbade me from cooking after I caught the oven on fire last time.
"Do you want to cook?"
"No. Do you?"
"No."
"Then I suggest we order it."
(Earth 12 – Rachel's Apartment)
Rachel looked at the print out again. Bella's suggestion about going over the last communications had been a good start and she had learned that Halen and Victoria said that they were in Gotham before the signal cut out. She had asked Ben to get into Star Lab's computer files, but it was going to take a few days to sort through all the information. Fortunately one of the first things he uncovered was that an experimental dimensional gateway had been accessed and used.
Rachel walked into her bathroom and started a hot bath, happy that she had the chance since Isabella and Renee were both taking a nap and Franco was with Ben at Subway getting a sandwich. She started to slip into the water when her eyes fell on a box marked for this month. Frowning, Rachel opened it and looked at the pads and tampons staring back at her. Her breath caught in her throat as she realized that her period hadn't started.
Worry crept up on her as she began to replay the month back. It was possible, more than possible, that she could be pregnant. Though she did want kids someday that day was far into the future. Before another second could pass she grabbed a Wayne Tech pregnancy test and looked at it. Despite it being far too early to tell, she felt relieved. Having the test somehow made her feel better, almost as if she could always check to be certain. She placed the test back into the cabinet and decided that if her period didn't show in the next month she would take it.
God, if I am then how is Ben going to take it? She wondered.