{Earth-128-Gotham}

{July 29, 04:21 EDT}

It only made sense to send all of the Atlanteans to Gotham Bay. Even with the assurances of the Lasso of Truth, not everybody trusted the former Lord Aquaman, so of course some members of the Justice League had to go with them. Of course it made sense to send their Atlanteans, and the three Green Lanterns, as they could also move underwater.

That didn't mean that Aquaman had to like any of it. Lagoon Boy was happily chatting away with his counterpart, but Aqualad was keeping his distance from his alternate self and Tula's doppelganger, who were talking quietly together. Both of the John Stewarts seemed content to float quietly in place, regularly performing scans with their rings as they waited for the ships to arrive. Their intelligence had said to expect them to make contact at 4.30 sharp.

"I wonder where Lord Green Lantern is," Hal mumbled. "If they took his ring, they'd have sent him back to Earth in disgrace… No way he could've just gone back to his life, but I can't think where the hell I would go if that happened to me…"

"At least you don't have to look at him," Aquaman said quietly.

Hal looked over at Lord Aquaman. "Yeah, that's weird. Gotta be even weirder for you. But at least he's not our enemy just now, right?"

"I still don't like him," Aquaman growled under his breath.

Lord Aquaman caught his eye, folding his arms in a challenging expression. Aquaman took the challenge, ignoring Hal yelling at him to leave it as he swam over to his counterpart. "Artur is king now," he said, as much a demand for information as a statement of disbelief.

Lord Aquaman raised an eyebrow. "Not quite what I expected you to challenge me on," he said, "but yes."

"He's a child," Aquaman pointed out angrily. "The last time there was a child king of Atlantis-"

"The problems that Atlantis suffered under Marin the Young were entirely the result of the power struggle between his regents who were forever murdering each other," Lord Aquaman interrupted. "With Mera as regent, there have been no power struggles. None are capable of challenging her politically, diplomatically or magically, and as Captain of the Guard I myself have routed any less… open challenges to her position. As it happened, putting Artur on the throne was the only way to stabilize the kingdom. There is no need for you to interfere," he added sharply.

Aquaman diplomatically chose to not point out, for the millionth time, that the Justice Lords had attacked first. "Captain of the Guard… so Orm has disgraced himself here, too."

"If you mean that he revealed himself for the disgrace that he always was, you are correct," Lord Aquaman snorted. "Sending me back to Atlantis is chains was a gift from the gods to him. Atlantis was already conflicted-those who supported the Justice Lords, those who feared that our relationships with the surface would turn dangerous because of me, those who felt I had disgraced or abandoned Atlantis… you know how Atlanteans are. Put three in a room…"

"...and they'll have four different opinions," Aquaman finished quietly. "I remember Mother warning me of that before I took the throne."

Lord Aquaman nodded. "Atlanteans need a firm throne to lead them, and my throne was shaking, especially since it took over a year for my powers to return. Orm struck in that time, attempting to kill myself and Artur. Without my powers, it took great sacrifice to rescue Artur from the deathtrap Orm left us in." He gestured to his harpoon hand. "He believed that his ascension to the throne, after our deaths, would be easy-he was not me, which appeased those who opposed my rule, but he was of my blood, which satisfied those who had supported me and would no doubt be mourning my death and that of my son."

"He was of your blood," Aquaman said, a cold feeling in his gut.

Lord Aquaman looked at him, then sighed, shaking his head. "You imprisoned him, didn't you?" he said, as if Aquaman had done something mildly disappointing. "After what that treacherous snake did, you merely locked him up. I shouldn't be surprised."

"You killed him," Aquaman said, remember the overwhelming rage at the realization that his own brother was the one who'd nearly torn his kingdom apart. He remembered Tula's body, Kaldur and Garth's rage and pain, the powerful urge to put his trident through Orm's lying throat-

But he'd restrained himself. Orm had to see trial for his crimes, and he did, and he was imprisoned in the deepest, darkest cell that Atlantis had, in accordance with Atlantean law. But Orm hadn't raised a hand to Artur. Perhaps he'd planned to, but he hadn't had the chance. Aquaman wondered if he'd have been able to stay his hand if Artur had been in danger, or if he also would have...

"He attempted to kill his nephew, my son, in front of my eyes," Lord Aquaman said, as if he'd read Aquaman's mind. Perhaps their thought had followed similar paths. "And it would not be completely accurate to say that I killed him. His own collapsing plan put his life in danger, and I chose not to save him. I have lain awake many nights thinking of all the times that Orm was allowed into my family's confidences, left alone with Mera, with Artur… but I have slept soundly over the decision to leave him to his fate."

"And what did Atlantis make of your decision?" Aquaman asked.

Lord Aquaman grimaced. "As Ocean Master, he put great work into fanning the flames of discontent, and the divisions between the people of Atlantis did not die with Orm," he sighed. "Atlantis was on the brink of civil war. Orm was right about one thing-the largest number of people would be satisfied with a ruler who was not me, but was of my blood. So I stepped down, named Artur King and Mera his regent, and took Orm's vacant position as Captain of the Guard. War was averted."

"I must profess my astonishment that you did not take a more forceful approach to the matter," Aquaman said archly.

"By the time my powers returned to make that possible, Artur had been King for six months," Lord Aquaman said dismissively. "I made a vow to serve him as my King. Even if I were to break my word, I would not overthrow my own son. No doubt I could have united Atlantis by force, had I my powers-Atlanteans know the value of a throne. The Surfacers would have come to respect the benefits of the Justice Lords in time, too. It was not to be. I have had time to accept that and my role as it is now. Regrets are a waste of time."

"You truly regret nothing that you did as a Justice Lord?" Aquaman snorted. "Even though it nearly plunged your Atlantis into war?"

"I regret only one thing," Lord Aquaman said quietly. "Your world. We did invade, and we invited in war. Those who start a war have no right to complain about how it ends. But the one inviting war with you now is Clark, not I. So stay away from my Atlantis and my King. They are not your business. I let my brother die to protect it. I will not let Lord Superman or anybody else threaten it."

Aquaman met his counterpart's eyes. "Understood," he said, holding out his hand. "I will not bring war to you. Do not bring it to me."

"Understood," Lord Aquaman said, shaking his hand.

"Yeah, how about we focus on our job and work together to bring war to them?" one of the John Stewarts said as all three rings started pinging. "Ships are coming into the bay. A lot of ships."

"Not one of which will ever leave," Aquaman vowed, raising his trident.

{Earth-128-Gotham}

{July 29, 04:31 EDT}

Bluebird checked her watch again. It told her that it had been less than thirty seconds since she'd last checked.

A small but strong hand closed over her wrist. She looked up from the watch to the small space between Orphan's scarf and her hood where her warm brown eyes were visible. "I know," Bluebird said, "but we're never going to get everybody out before sunup."

Orphan just squeezed her wrist. It meant we're going to do all that we can.

Bluebird let out a breath. "Okay," she said. "The bay next, right?"

Gotham bay was so polluted that there wasn't any fishing to be done, but there were still things to scavenge from the miles of warehouses and sunken boats, if you knew what you were looking for. Bluebird and Orphan made their way along the piers, trying to spread the word from Catwoman: the army's coming. A tunnel's been cleared that'll let out on the far side of Bludhaven-go through there. Catwoman hadn't said how this mystery tunnel came to be, though Bluebird would bet her wrenches that the weirdoes who'd been to see Catwoman yesterday had something to do with it. So long as it got people out before Lord Superman's armies arrived, she didn't care.

They were halfway along the wharf when they heard screaming.

Neither of them wasted a second in running towards the source of the screaming. It was something that Cullen had said was going to get them killed someday, but as much as Bluebird hated worrying her brother, she couldn't hear trouble and ignore it. One night, Catwoman had heard screaming and hadn't hesitated to put some stiletto heels into some homophobic faces, and it felt like bad karma not to pay that forwards in every way she could. She didn't know why Orphan always ran towards screaming, except that the smaller girl was the best fighter that anybody had ever seen and had nightmares that woke her sobbing wordlessly and washing her hands for at least twenty minutes in any water she could find.

They both ran, even as they realized that the popping sound amongst the screaming was gunshots. They ran past people fleeing in the other direction, a handful of people turning into a torrent. They ran until they saw the ships coming across the bay.

Orphan saw them first, grabbing Bluebird and dragging her under a broken shutter on the nearest warehouse. The sun wasn't quite up yet, though the eastern horizon, now that they could see it, was a line of dawn light. Against it, they could see the military ships, gun-mounted and bristling with soldiers. There were no bodies on the ground, none in the water, but shots were being fired into the air.

Bluebird grabbed her phone, dialling from memory-programming in any numbers would be outright foolish, and she deleted her call history every time she made a call. "Cat," she said, as soon as the boss picked up, "there's ships coming in across the bay. They're shooting, but I don't think they've killed anybody…"

"They're trying to panic people, drive them into the city," Catwoman said. "The place is flooding with soldiers. If everybody's bolting out of their hiding places and running around in a panic, they'll be easier to pull in. Keep spreading the word of the tunnel. We'll keep it safe."

"Sure, we'll-what is it?" Bluebird asked, pulling the phone away from her ear as Orphan tugged insistently on her arm. The girl was pointing out at the water. "Yeah, I see… 'em…" Bluebird said, trailing off as she realized that shots were no longer being fired towards the land, but into the water. Screams and shouts were rising again, but they were coming from the ships, not the shore.

Every single one of the ships was visibly sinking.

"...Cat?" Bluebird said, putting her phone back to her ear. "I think we have friends in the water."

Orphan stretched her arms, rolling her shoulders, eyes on the shoreline as soldiers started to abandon ship, striking out frantically for shore. Some of them were visibly being yanked under the water.

"Then leave the soldiers to our friends in the water and keep putting the word out," Catwoman said, hanging up.

Bluebird pocketed her phone and tugged Orphan's arm. "C'mon," she said. "They're having a bad enough time without us. Let's send a few more people towards that tunnel."

{Earth-128-Gotham}

{July 29, 04:45 EDT}

"Hey," Nightwing called as he stepped out of the collapsed building that he'd been searching for refugees and spotted Redbird coming out of his across the road. "Behind your building-is the shortcut to the botanical gardens still good?"

"Don't know," Redbird said, looking back up at the building. "Where's the shortcut?"

"This way," Nightwing said, leading him around the back of the building. "There's a lot of edible plants in there if you stay away from the poisonous flowers room-there's probably refugees hiding around there. You've never been this way before?"

"Didn't really get into this part of the city much before Bruce took the cape from me," Redbird said quietly.

"Bruce took it away from me once, too," Nightwing commiserated. "I followed him to a fight with Two-Face when he'd forbidden me from going out, and I nearly got killed. When he took the cape… for a while, I thought he was going to kick me out, too. I'd gotten a bag packed and everything to run away before he could kick me out, but he caught me before I could. But instead of being mad, he was horrified that I thought he was going to throw me out… first time he ever really told me what he was thinking, when he told me that he'd been too afraid of losing me to let me keep being Robin. He didn't come out and say the words, but he came this close to saying I was more important to him as a son than a partner. I'd never imagined that I mattered to him like that…" He trailed off, looking over at Redbird again, wondering if he was causing his counterpart pain by describing how close he was to his Bruce. "Sorry, I'm babbling, you know how I am."

"No… if your Bruce said that, maybe that was what mine was thinking, too," Redbird mused. "I never fought Two-Face. I hadn't been Robin for long before he took away the cape and locked me up. He never gave it back. I barely saw him after that. The only person I ever saw at all was Alfred."

"I'm sure he wanted to protect you," Nightwing assured him, "it's just… from everything I've heard about the Justice Lords, they seemed to get it into their heads that right and wrong was up to them, and they didn't have to explain themselves to anybody. I guess there wasn't anybody capable of holding them accountable until they met the Justice League."

Redbird nodded. "What was it like?" he asked, looking up at the skeleton of the botanical gardens. Every single glass pane was gone, the place blackened with scars from an old fire. "Not the botanical gardens, I did go to them once. Poison Ivy. But… growing up with him. With Bruce. What was it like?"

"Nothing like Mom and Dad," Nightwing said, going up to the husk of the botanical gardens and peering inside, pulling a penlight out of a holster on his wrist and sweeping it over the ashy sludge inside the building, looking for recent footprints. "He's… well, I guess you mostly grew up with Alfred, so you know that he can be kinda distant, right? Like, I know he loves us, and he shows it in his ways, I just wasn't very good on picking them up when I was a kid and I just thought he was weird and quiet and formal."

"Yeah… I loved Alfred like a grandfather, but getting open expressions of emotions out of him was harder than pulling teeth," Redbird said, starting to climb up the frame of the gardens to get a better look inside. "Bruce was pretty distant too, when I first got there… I was kinda scared of him."

"Me too," Nightwing said, following him up the frame. "I mean, he learned how to deal with emotions from Alfred, so… it took a long time before I discovered that he wasn't aloof, he just had no damn clue what to do with me. When he was a kid, when he lost his parents, I guess he'd just wanted to be left alone, so he tried to give me space, but I didn't want that. God, I just wanted a hug, y'know?"

"God, yeah, I felt so touch-starved within days," Redbird groaned. "I mean, our parents, Auntie Karla, Uncle Rick, Johnny, they were all about the hugs and hair-tussles…"

"...and affectionate headlocks and surprise hoists," Nightwing chuckled in fond remembrance. "Sometimes I swear half the reason I wanted to be Robin was because in combat training, Bruce would hold my hand or touch my arms and back to show me how to position. He's still not much on the hugging front, really, but I learned that if I just hugged him, he'd never push me away. Worked pretty good on Jay, too…" He reached the curved top of the building. While the glass panes were gone, the steel beams still felt secure enough to walk on, and he did so, standing up and looking down into the dark, empty mess of the botanical gardens.

"Bluejay? Your Wally told us he was dead in your world," Redbird said, throwing Nightwing a sidelong look that he recognized exactly-the 'am I following a line of conversation that's going to hurt you?' look. He'd been throwing it at Redbird for ten minutes. "He also said that Bluejay was Robin in your world-not Batgirl's partner, but Batman's."

Nightwing nodded. It was strange to see Gotham spread out before him, pitch-black but for the grey light of pre-dawn picking out a cityscape that should have been familiar but was shaped all wrong, warped by collapsed buildings. "When Bruce brought him home, I thought… well, what with the Team and everything, I'd been branching out from Batman and doing more of my own thing for a while. I was starting to think of striking out on my own, but the idea of Robin not being Batman's partner didn't feel right. So I decided to give it to Jason. It was a way of showing that he was one of us now, he was family, he…" He hung his head, folding his arms over his chest. "He died because of it," Nightwing whispered. "I gave him my old costume and he died in it, because of how much the Joker hated us. Hated me."

"I should have been at the Manor that night," Redbird replied, just as quietly. "I was supposed to die with Alfred. I think… I think Bruce thought I had. When he saw me at the Fortress of Solitude, he didn't believe it at first, then he looked at me like… like I was the most amazing thing he'd ever seen."

"I think you were," Nightwing said, putting a hand on his counterpart's arm. "I know your Bruce did some awful things, and none of that's excused by the fact that he cared about you, but I know that he did. Love's a choice as much as a feeling, deciding that somebody matters more to you than you do, and that's a choice he made the first time he saw you. He decided that making sure that you didn't grow up suffering like he did was going to be one of the most important things in his life. I know it doesn't justify anything, but I have a sneaking suspicion it'll make you feel a hell of a lot better just to know that yes, he loves you."

Redbird smirked at him. "Uncanny how you know these things," he said. "I made a choice, too… I know you know this. Even though I can't replace my family, I still wanted to have a family. I wanted him to be my family, and all this time, I thought he didn't care about me at all… and I got to know Jason pretty well after Barbara got hurt and the three of us went on the run together," he added, "and if there's one thing he hates, it's people moping around when they could be doing something useful. He'd rather know you beat the shit out of the Joker than sat around crying over his uniform."

"Hey, I am a multitalented man and I did both," Nightwing said indignantly, looking to the west as the sun finally lit up the horizon. "Damn, Lord Superman really isn't messing around, is he? Look at that army rolling into Gotham."

"They've got to fight the greatest army in history before they get in," Redbird said, unholstering his grapple gun, "so let's hope magic weapons, super strength and invulnerability to bullets make up the technological difference well enough. Let's go find some more refugees."

"Enough moping around," Nightwing agreed. "Let's go do something useful."

{Earth-128-Gotham}

{July 29, 05:13 EDT}

I brought Jason up here the first time I met him, Batman remembered, looking over at the dark lump that was strewn in place of the constellation of city lights that he could usually see from the hill over the river south of Wayne Manor. To the east, the water was lit up with bursts of gunfire, flashes of searchlights and occasional green glows as the Atlanteans and Lanterns took out the ships meant to drive people into the city. To the west, the neat ranks of APCs, full of troops meant to sweep the streets for refugees, were falling apart under the onslaught of Amazons.

"He's coming," Superman said, shooting off as soon as he'd said it to intercept the oncoming Justice Lord.

"Go," Batman ordered, looking at the four speedsters carrying Kate, Julia, Red Arrow and Robin. They vanished, heading off around the city, planning to keep moving until it was time. Batman started off himself, running down towards the remains of the Robert Kane Memorial Bridge. In his mind, he could feel J'onn's faint presence, tracking all of them as they got ready to fight Lord Superman.

The bridge was entirely collapsed, but it wasn't too far for his grapple gun to reach. He couldn't go yet, though. He needed to be clearly visible to Lord Superman. "Where are you, Superman?" he asked mentally.

"Over the city-Superboys, I need your help to drive him north!"

"On it," Superboy-or maybe Lord Superboy-reported. Batman looked upwards, catching sight of the flying, fighting figures in the early dawn glow. They were moving almost too fast to track, but he saw somebody else fly up from the city to join the pair. Possibly one of the Superboys had thrown the other to make up for the lack of flight. A moment later, there was a sonic boom as Superboy flew over Batman's head and ploughed deep into the earth behind him.

"Superboy!" Batman shouted. He got a groan in replay, which told him that the young clone was probably alright.

"Batman, he's seen you!" Superman said urgently. Batman turned and fired off his grapple gun. He didn't have time to check on Superboy now.

As soon as his feet hit the ground, he heard a roar of rage from above. "Superman, I still need a few seconds to get into the city, we need a solid building overlooking!"

"I'm trying to buy you-" Superman's mental voice was cut off in a surge of pain. Batman kept running, hoping he could trust Superman to buy him just long enough to get into the city. He was expecting it at any second, but he still let out a gasp of shock as he was snatched off of his feet and slammed into the ground.

"YOU!" Lord Superman roared, his face inches from Batman's, spittle forming at the corners of his mouth, pinpricks of red in his eyes. "THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!"

"I'm not Lord Batman," Batman said sternly. He was walking a fine line, he knew, between keeping Lord Superman's attention and riling him up too much. He could be dead in an instant if he played this wrong.

But he didn't have to do it for long. None of the Flashes would be more than seconds away.

"No," Lord Superman growled, "but he turned on me because of YOU! He was one of US! He was the brain behind the Justice Lords! It worked because of HIM! I needed him this last year, needed him to get things back to normal, but you messed with his head-you-you-YOU-!"

"I didn't torture him," Batman said, as calmly as he could manage the bones of his arms fracturing under Lord Superman's grip. "I didn't burn him. I didn't imprison him. You did that."

Lord Superman gave a wordless scream of fury, lifting one hand and slamming it into Batman's chest. He gasped as he felt his collarbone break, cracks spiderwebbing across his armour.

"But you… know what… I did do…?" Batman gasped. Breathing hurt, but the red glow was building in Lord Superman's eyes. "I… distracted… you."

Lord Superman didn't move an inch as the smokebomb exploded against the back of his head. He blinked, started to look around, and then coughed violently as he inadvertently breathed in the spreading cloud of green gas. Over his shoulder, Batman could see Kate standing on the cracked roof of an old apartment building, lowering the grenade launcher that she'd used. Standing next to her was Flash, his bright red costume easy to spot if you weren't blinded with range and laser focused on the face of your greatest hate.

Lord Superman coughed more violently, struggling to stand. A second kryptonite smokebomb hit him on the side of the face, and Batman looked aside to see that Julia and this world's Flash had arrived. Lord Superman stumbled backwards, starting to cough up blood as he fell to his knees, struggling with inhaling two doses of kryptonite gas.

One Flash shot past Lord Superman in a blur of red that left his ankles cuffed in green kryptonite handkerchiefs. The other got his hands, pulling them behind his back. The poisoned kryptonian's resistance probably felt weak as a kitten.

"Batman!" Robin shouted as he and Bart appeared, leaning over Batman. "Are you okay?"

"Fractured arms, broken collarbone, fractured ribs," Batman grunted. "Arms around my shoulders, help me sit up." He tried not to lean too hard on the two boys, but his arms were nothing but pain when he tried to support his weight on them.

"I'll be having that," Julia said, pulling a comm out of Lord Superman's ear. "Flash, one've you be a love and take this far away from the gas cloud, get it to Superman, right?"

"Got it," one of the Flashes-sounded like Wally-said, taking the comm from her fingers and zooming off.

"You th-think you're gonna-stop the a-army coming-?" Lord Superman gasped between heaves, finally giving up and throwing up a mouthful of blood. The blood dribbling down his chin and staining out the white on his costume just made him look even more frightening, even knowing that he was bound, poisoned and helpless.

"Yes, actually," Kate said, holding out a hand. Robin tossed her his kryptonite smokebomb and she made very deliberate eye contact with Lord Superman as she loaded it into her grenade launcher. "Lord Batman woke up at three o'clock this morning. Goddamn miraculous, given what you did to him. He heard you giving orders from the Fortress. He memorized your codes while suffering from torture. Can't blame you for being mad about losing him." She hefted and aimed the grenade launcher. "But you're not going to hurt him, or anybody else, ever again."

J'onn slowly became visible as he descended to land with them. "Everybody is on their way here," he said. "The army is standing down. They got orders to do so, from the voice of Lord Superman, using Lord Superman's passcodes. It is over, Lord Superman," he said calmly. "For good, this time."

Lord Superman just spat blood at him. "It isn't over," he snarled. "You won't kill me, will you? You're weak, just like we were once, weak and naive and-"

Whatever else they were, they never knew. There was no more silence than a soft thunk and then a sudden hush as the light faded from Lord Superman's eyes, the rage draining from his face as he collapsed to the ground, the shaft of an arrow sticking out of the back of his head.

{}

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Sorry not sorry

This took ages to work on until I realized that I didn't want to one-up the scale of the battle at the Hall of Justice. I watched The Dark Knight Returns again because goddamn I love Carrie Kelley and I realized that the most important thing in any Batman/Superman fight is emotional punch (hey, BvS, you hearing me?). Short, sweet, right in the feels, and on consultation with my best muse and worst influence in this fandom, Isis_The_Sphinx, a motherfucker of a cliffhanger for you :)

Next chapter and epilogue will be much shorter, so they should be along a lot quicker.