I sat in the tall backed, leather armchair next to the fire in the study of the Wayne Manor, idly watching with my eyes only as Bruce paced back and forth across the area rug in front of me. His brows were furrowed and one of his arms crossed over his chest as the other rested atop it, with his hand holding up his chin in concentration.
"You know, you're going to catch that rug on fire pretty soon," I finally said with a full lack of enthusiasm. This pacing and complete science had been going on for the past half an hour. At first, I didn't want to disturb his brood but after a while it just became silly. Bruce stopped in his tracks, looking over his shoulder at me with a scowl. I found myself sliding down in my chair in an attempt to shrink myself. Man, if looks could kill, indeed.
"Kara, this isn't funny. The Joker is loose; this is an endless, vicious cycle that has been a whirlwind before you were even on Earth!" he bellowed at me. My eyebrows furrowed as I pushed myself from my chair and walked up to him, jutting my jaw skyward to look up at his face sternly.
"Bruce, I get that this is bad news. I get that with the Joker running around again; it poses yet another threat to Gotham City. What I don't get is why you're stewing over it and furthermore, why you're taking it out on me!" I retorted, crossing my arms over my chest with a huff.
"You wouldn't understand, Kara," Bruce said with a grimace as he began to turn his body away from me. I grabbed him lightly by the arm to turn him back towards me.
"Try me," I said lightly, a splash of concern flooding my face. Bruce raised his own hand to take the one that I had grabbed his arm with and held it delicately.
"Kara, this is my life. It is an endless road of curves, sudden drops, and random oceans to cross. It never stops," he said as he peered down at me. I became suddenly confused by his words and wondered exactly where he was going with this.
"Sounds pretty normal to me and I am even an alien on top of it," I said with complete sincerity. Bruce let out a sigh as he quickly turned away from me, running his hands roughly over his face in frustration.
"Kara I thi-," Bruce started to say before Alfred entered the room, clearing his throat.
"I am terribly sorry to interrupt, Master Bruce, but I wanted to inform you that Miss Barbara is here to see you and asked that her presence was announced this time due to…previous circumstances," Alfred said, seeming a little embarrassed to mention that last part. I would have smiled if it weren't for my current annoyance with Bruce. Bruce nodded in response to Alfred as a symbol to escort Barbara in and I turned to look at the doorway as her wheelchair rolled in.
"Bruce!" she bellowed as her hands worked feverishly on the wheels till she was directly in front of him. I took a few steps closer so that I, too, could be included in on the urgent news.
"When you called to tell me the Joker was back, well, after about an hour long panic attack that is, but after I calmed down, I went into Oracle mode and did some research as to his possible whereabouts," she said as she glanced between the two of us, her hands flailing about to emphasize her words.
"What did you find?" Bruce said with a scowl, his jaw squaring off sternly.
"Those random people that have had temporary powers because of those injections that have been floating around? The Joker is behind it all. He's been running this crazy business from Arkham by psyching out some of the guards and other inmates with outside privileges!" she exclaimed and my lips slowly began to part.
"Were you able to pinpoint his location?" I asked impatiently, even leaning in towards her. She shook her head slowly keeping her eyes on Bruce, knowing he'd be the one most affected by this news.
"Unfortunately, no, but that…wasn't all I found," she said hesitantly as Bruce seemingly caught onto this and narrowed his eyes at her.
"What is it, Barbara?" he said sternly. I could tell that he meant business with Barbara when he didn't call her "Babs". Barbara looked over at me for a long moment before she sighed and continued to tell us her findings.
"Joker…has figured out a way to vaporize kryptonite. Seems to like that its, well, you know…green?" She said meekly as my eyes widened immediately, looking over at Bruce who shook his head back and forth rapidly.
"He must have gotten word that Supergirl was spending more time in Gotham City; why else would he look to arm himself with kryptonite when he never even sets footin Metropolis?" Bruce bellowed as Barbara could only shrug in silence, biting her lip. I walked over to Bruce, putting a reassuring hand on his shoulder.
"Bruce, this doesn't mean anything…Kal was dealing with Luthor having every form of kryptonite known in a dozen forms and is still living to tell the tale. Joker doesn't even know the half of it, how could he?" I said quite sensibly, I was beside myself at my own words. Bruce crossed his arms over his chest as he continued to shake his head.
"This happens every time. This is why I can NOT have any kind of personal relationships. These villains in Gotham will stop at nothing to destroy anyone and anything they think even holds a fraction of my heart just to rattle the infamous Bat.Joker put you in a damned wheelchair for God's sake, Babs!" Bruce bellowed as he rand his hands through his hair.
"Bruce, I made the decision to be Batgirl on my own. I knew the risks going in, no one forced to me do it," Barbara said as Bruce barely took in her words before turning to me with a grimace.
"Kara, I can't do this. It's too risky for you and you have a big lug over in Metropolis who cares for you a great deal. I can't be the reason he loses you. I'm…sorry," Bruce said and my whole body went numb. I stared at him in disbelief, not even being able to speak before Barbara's yelp brought me back to consciousness.
"Bruce!" Barbara bellowed as I took a deep swallow before speaking so that my voice would not be shaky.
"You're joking with me right?" I asked with just a hint of hope in my tone. Bruce couldn't even dignify my question with a verbal response as he slowly shook his head from side to side. I could feel the burning in my eyes as tears began to swell. I squared off my jaw and quickly walked out of the room before I completely lost all of my dignity. I perched myself in a room a few doors down in the hallway, sulking onto a nearby couch and immediately tuning into the obvious conversation that was about to ensue between Barbara and Bruce.
"Bruce, what the hell is wrong with you? Kara is perfect for you! She is a flipping Kryptonian that can't be harmed by anything except kryptonite!" Barbara bellowed. I could just picture her wriggling around in her wheelchair as she said this, as her tone sounded insanely impatient.
"Precisely, kryptonite. She is not immortal," Bruce said.
"Really, Bruce? She is the closest to immortal, fend for herself, independent, superhero girlfriend you are EVER going to find! Do you really want to die alone, Bruce?" Barbara said with complete seriousness to her tone. Bruce didn't answer her right away, obviously contemplating her words.
"If that's what it takes," Bruce said simply and numbly. Barbara, too, paused a moment to contemplate his words before speaking.
"You love her," Barbara said and my eyes grew wide as saucers as my hand covered the gasp escaping from my mouth. Bruce smirked in response.
"I care abou-," Bruce started to say before Barbara immediately interrupted him.
"Bruce, I've known you for a very long time and my dad has known you even longer. You wouldn't be getting this worked up over this if you didn't truly love that woman. You…love…her. I would highly suggest you think long and hard before you actually go through with this. I have a feeling she's not the 'shame me twice' kind of gal," Barbara said and she had to smirk to herself. She was never that close with Barbara, but she was seemingly good at reading people. Bruce remained silent and before he could say anything to her statement, she could hear Alfred's voice joining the conversation.
"Master Bruce, again, so sorry to interrupt, but the Bat-Computer is picking up signals of Joker's whereabouts; I thought you'd want to know," Alfred said and I didn't need to have super hearing to know that Bruce was already halfway to the Batcave to suit up and head out. I immediately left the room, running down the hall, completely ready to fly off to help him, but Barbara wheeled herself in front me.
"If I could offer some advice…I'd let him take this one," Barbara said, peering up at me. I glanced up to see Bruce's form disappearing into the secret entrance to the Batcave and I sighed.
"He's going in hotheaded I should really-," I said as I began to move forward again and Barbara turned the chair to block me. I could easily bypass her, but I let her stop me anyway; it was for the best.
"Fine," I said, defeated, as I ran a hand through my hair. I was fighting off tears as I idly bit at the cuticle on my thumb. Barbara watched me for a moment before speaking.
"You care about him, huh?" Barbara said with a cant of her head. I peered up at the ceiling before letting my shoulders drop in frustration.
"He is...the singular person throughout my entire life since I've come to Earth that I've been able to be myself around. Even over Kal. People see us as these opposing forces that no doubt would ricochet off each other, but in reality, we just merge…perfectly. I'd really hate to be cheesy and quote Jerry Maguire but…he really does complete me," I said and Barbara smiled the most ridiculously cheesy smile I think I've ever seen in my entire life.
"You two are a walking romantic comedy. Pure gold," Barbara said as I smirked, putting my hands on my hips.
"Romantic drama more like it…," I responded as she shook her head and leaned back in her chair.
"Nah…definitely comedy, there always has to be a little angst to wake up the Hero. Makes the groveling that much sweeter in the end," Barbara said, still grinning like an idiot. I finally was able to offer a smile back before my heart began to race. I held my hand up to her as if to ask her to be quiet as I tried to listen with my super hearing. I shoved past her, yelling over my shoulder as I did so.
"Bruce is in trouble!" I bellowed, not waiting for a response or a disagreement as I changed into my outfit and flew out the front door. By the time I arrived on the scene, I looked down from my floating spot within the air to see Joker's hand holding a detonation device as Harley was currently distracting Bruce by making him dodge a swinging baseball bat. My eyes widened as I saw Joker's thumb push down on the button as the entire building they were in began to rumble.
Harley immediately slipped away into the shadows when only seconds later, the building started to collapse in on itself, but not before blocking the only entrance Bruce had to escape. I heard Joker say something to the effect of "Ta, ta," before I flew forward, catching the half-fallen building on my shoulders right before it collapsed on top of Bruce. I grunted with all my might because even though I had super strength, exceptionally large objects such as, you know, well, buildings or…airplanes, were still a struggle. My knees started to buckle underneath me as I took a deep breath, mustering the strength to not only hold the building on my shoulders, but to toss it backward and away from us. I yelled at the top of my lungs as my eyes squinted tightly shut. The burning sensation that was forming in my arms started to emanate throughout my entire body and then, finally, I was able to adjust the building to remain upright once more so that it wouldn't fall over into the adjacent building that was still intact. I breathed heavily and fell to my knees in exhaustion as Bruce ran over to me, kneeling on the ground beside me.
"Supergirl, that was…thank you," Bruce said as I looked over at him weakly. I gave a small smile as I leaned my weight into him. He accepted without hesitation as I let out a sigh.
"So, that's what it takes to prove I can take care of myself, huh, holding an entire building on my shoulders?" I said as I started to slowly regain my strength, sitting up again to peer on at him. He smirked lightly as he stared at me through the black orbs of his cowl. We were both caught off guard as the Bat symbol suddenly blazed in the foggy, night sky. Bruce was quick to respond to the call as I flew off with him. Once we landed atop the rooftop where the Batsignal resided, I was shocked to see the familiar form of the Joker tied to the Batsignal and he unconscious or worse. We both cautiously approached the body of the Joker, eyeing the note that was attached to him. Bruce removed the note to read it as I raised my hand to the Joker's nostrils, feeling warm breath hit it.
"He's still alive, what's with the note?" I asked as he handed me the note with a light smirk.
"Batsy, I've come to a crossroads in my life and I deliver to you…Mr.J. Do with him what you want, but we both know you'll take him back to Arkham. I'm skippin' town, ain't nothing for me here anymore. We're square now, right? J -HQ" I read aloud as I now smirked, looking over at Bruce.
"Well, are you square?" I asked with light amusement as Bruce turned to me to brush the hair out of my eyes that seemed to fall in my face from the wind gusts at the top of the building.
"If she's not around the Joker maybe she'll actually be somewhat…sane. I'll keep an eye on her. Was a big step, turning in her, 'Puddin' ' after all," he said as I couldn't help but smile at hearing Batman say the word, "Puddin' " just the way Harley had spoken it.
"How very alternative of you," I said, rather surprised for the slight change in character.
"I've seemed to have been doing that a bit more lately," he said as I felt a gloved hand wrap around my waist and pull me towards him, the nose piece of his cowl now touching my own nose.
"I was wrong; I think we can make this work. I want…to make it work," he said as he peered down at me and I grinned.
"Just don't make it a habit of letting building's fall on you…I might not always be there to rescue you," I said with a smirk and he smiled widely before kissing me ravenously.
"Well, isn't…that…sweet," the Joker suddenly said, a maniacal laugh infecting the air. I pulled back a moment, but Bruce immediately grabbed my face and turned me back towards him as a single fist rose and collided harshly into the face of the Joker, the laugh subsequently coming to a screeching halt.
-The End-
Note: Stay tuned for the epilogue!