Order on Its Own: War

Chapter 13:

Fero pinned Kayra down and pushed his bo staff against her neck. Kayra struggled but his robotic strength was too great.

"Fero... stop... It's me..." she choked out "you're... sister..."

Fero's look of hatred melted away and he thought of his sister. She would share her rashions with him and take care of him. He was a year younger than her so they were pretty much babies at the same time. Their father had died before Fero was born and their mother died in childbirth so it was only ever the two of them.

"Kay...ra," he stammered, pulling his staff away from her neck.

"Yes! I'm Kayra! Your big sister!" Kayra exclaimed.

Fero looked at himself and ripped the metal bands from around his arms. A large portion of his lower right arm was gone and replaced with a red glass-like material that had several lights of dark red. The same kind of plating was delicately placed in his fingers and a black robotic finger replaced his pinky and ring finger. He put his hand to his face and felt robotics under his skin and his eyes turned red like Kayra's usually were but turned milky-white/blue from the cold.

"Fero?" Kayra said, gently.

Fero's skin turned blue and his black hair turned from light green to white. He ripped at the cybernetic implants with tears running down his face. He was left wearing a torn bodysuit. Kayra got to her feet and stood in front of him. Fero looked up at her, jumped up and hugged her. Kayra hugged her baby brother and comforted him as he cried from his experience.

"Kayra... It's all a trap... The Joining... its going to destroy that woman," Fero said "Her life's in danger,"

Kayra looked in the direction Zatanna had run and she pulled her brother along as she ran after the Magician.

Zatanna wiped her eyes and got to her feet. She was about to get moving when the walls, floor and ceiling began to close in on her. She curled up tight with her arms around her abdomen and the space began to get smaller around her.

"Please... for my child's sake... let me survive," Zatanna cried.

The enclosing space opened up and she looked to see Borg Boy with a wire plugged into the wall. Kayra was with him and Borg Boy seemed to look more Torranian with a percentage of his cybernetics ripped away.

"Zatanna, are you okay?" Kayra asked and she nodded "Oh, the Borg turned out to be my long lost brother, Fero,"

Zatanna got to her feet and walked over to them. She was stiff from curling up and she cracked her back.

"Fero? I thought you said he was dead?" she asked.

"No, I said he was missing," said Kayra "Now, c'mon, we need to shut this place down!"

They began running along the dark tunnels and Fero led the way.

Zatanna sat in the bathtub with the bubbles up to her chin and her hair pinned up. She sighed and got out with her violet robe pulled around her. She got dressed in her novelty Nightwing t-shirt and black pyjama bottoms. Zatanna opened the cupboard and took both the pregnancy tests out with the one she took a few days ago. She fell to her knees as she looked at the results. All three Clear Blue tests said the same thing:

Positive

2-3 weeks along

She couldn't believe it. She was pregnant. What if this one was a miscarriage like before? Zatanna couldn't put Dick through that again... she decided to keep it a secret from him until she was past month one. It wasn't going to be easy. She hated keeping important things from him and what's more important than their child?

...Earth...

Barbara sat by the window of her home and watched the fires as the sentinels neared Gotham City. Sam walked in and got on his knees beside her. He reached over and put his hand over her stomach. They looked at each other before Barbara looked over at the Gold Medal in the trophy case. She had been an Olympic gymnast during the 2020 Olympic Games when she was 19 but had retired to be with Sam. While fighting crime as Batgirl, Joker shot her in the spine and she was put in a wheelchair when she was 21. Barbara looked at him with appreciation and smiled. Sam was 5 years older than her and was currently 28-years-old. She leaned over the armrests and hugged her husband.

"I was thinking, for Sam, Jr., let's call him Sammy," Barbara said.

"Why are we so convinced it's a boy? There is a 50% chance of a little girl," Sam said "If it's a girl, we could call her Samantha and still call our child Sam, Jr.,"

Barbara laughed, finding the idea ridiculous. Everything fell quiet when the ground shook and a sentinel appeared at the edge of Gotham City. They looked at each other and Sam saw how the red fire illuminated Barbara's face.

"Sam... I'm scared," she admitted.

Barbara Gordon-Young... scared? Impossible! She was the most fearless person Sam had ever met. He shook his head and reassuringly kissed her on the lips.

"Don't worry," he said "It'll be okay. Let's just pack overnight bags and head for the underground incase that sentinel gets any closer,"

Barbara quickly wheeled over to a wedding photo and took it off the wall. They put some food, sentimental items and a change of clothes each in a backpack. They wouldn't be able to get the wheelchair into the underground so Barbara put the backpack on and climbed onto Sam's back.

The streets were filled with people running to the subway and other underground areas. Sam ran through the streets with Barbara clinging to him. They would have gone to the Batcave but it was on the other side of Gotham. Sam ran down the stairs to the subway and checked in with the soldiers there to protect the citizens. There were babies crying and all the Gothamites found a spot to wait it out. Sam lay a blanket out for Barbara to sit on and they stood their wedding photo up in front of them to remind them of home. Barbara rested her head on Sam's shoulder and relaxed when someone walked up to them.

"Barbara Gordon? I haven't seen you in forever!" it was Bette Kane, an old classmate of hers "Oh, I suppose it's Mrs. Barbara..."

"Gordon-Young," said Barbara "This is my husband, Sam, and this," she put her hand on her stomach "is Sam, Jr.,"

"You're pregnant?! Congratulations!" Bette said, kneeling down beside them "I have my own little boy, Tyson, he's 5. I had him when I was 21 with my husband, Hunter, but me and Ty-Ty's father are separated now, pending divorce,"

"Divorce? Oh, I'm so sorry, Bette, I hope everything works out for you," Barbara said.

"Yeah... Hey, do you know whatever happened to that cute genius kid in our class? What was his name... uh... Dick! Dick Grayson! That's it," Bette asked "Bruce Wayne's ward,"

"Dick's married now to Zatanna, his girlfriend of 4 years, and, now, they're having a child together," Barbara said "I was the Maid of Honour at their wedding and Zatanna was the Maid of Honour at mine,"

"Oh! So, that's who that was! I didn't think she went to Gotham Academy," Bette said "Well, I'm going to try and find my parents," and she left.

Barbara and Sam looked at each other after the encounter but they threw their arms around each other when the tunnel shook from the sentinel getting closer.