We finally learn about the rift between Jesse and her mother, Liberty Belle, and see if the dynamic mother/daughter team can resolve it!

We also get to meet a new hero who is not from the DC universe but we're going to have him join in on the fun in this alternate universe!

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New York City, Fifth Avenue

1301 Local Time

"Will this table do, ladies?" the Maître D asked.

Lena Luthor flashed a brilliant smile at the man. "Yes, thank you. This will do nicely."

He smiled at them and gallantly seated the Luthor and her friend, Jesse Chambers, before he left to fetch the waitperson for them.

Now Lena frowned when she noticed the look on Jesse's face appeared to be that of a death row inmate awaiting her last meal rather than that of a person looking forward to a reunion with her mother after spending more than a year apart. She was going to prod her friend to tell her what was going on when they both were distracted by the hustle and bustle of people carrying posters and signs rushing along Fifth Avenue toward one of the parks nearby.

"Where are they going?" Jesse asked.

"I hear there's a protest near that building owned by that misogynist, you know, that guy who hosts that stupid fake business show on TV."

"You mean the one who wants to run as a Republican against President Marsdin in 2020?"

Lena nodded. "That's the one. It seems the idiot got himself into a lot of hot water with people from both political parties for failing to forcefully denounce those Neo Nazis and White Supremacists who reacted violently to the counter-protesters at one of their demonstrations in Virginia a few days ago."

"That's right! Didn't that ass say, 'there were good people on both sides?'"

Lena snorted. "Yeah! Right! Like there's such a thing as a 'good Nazi.'"

Jesse chuckled along with her friend. "Or a 'good White Supremacist.'"

Lena then smiled. "I'm glad we were able to bring a little levity to brighten your day despite the fact it was due to an idiot's comments." Jesse then responded by staring down at the surface of their table. A concerned Lena Luthor now said, "Won't you tell me why you wanted me to be here as a buffer between you and your mother?"

A shameful expression clouded Jesse's lovely face at that moment. "I'm afraid to tell you about it, Lena."

Lena was gob smacked. She'd seen this woman face down a murderous super speedster and armed Cadmus men with a lioness' fearlessness. "Jesse," she said, reaching across the table to clasp her friend's hand. "It's me. You can tell me anything. I'd never hold anything you told me against you."

The blonde sighed deeply. "All right then. When we were in school, do you remember when I'd told you my parents had divorced when I was younger?"

She nodded. "You told me your mom had left your dad."

"Yeah. My mom was a straight journalist during the war and for a time after. My dad, though, was a more flamboyant character. He was actually a guy who was ahead of his time. He really bought into President Kennedy's 'New Frontier.' He believed that mankind had the power to push past its limitations to become exceptional. He created our company, Quickstart, as a public relations firm that also sold products and information on how anyone could push themselves to be a better, stronger person. He turned out to be a better huckster than that infomercial guy, Billie Mays, was. However, his philosophy was a turn-off for my mom. She got tired of it and left us when I was fourteen. Shortly after she left home, they got a divorce. I…I guess I never forgave her for breaking dad's heart and splitting up our family. So, after college, I joined my dad's company and mom saw that as me choosing him over her."

"That must have been a difficult time for you, Jesse."

Her friend laughed mirthlessly. "Maybe so, but it doesn't compare to the pain I put her through when I betrayed her."

Lena blinked thrice at that. "Jesse, what are you saying?"

The other woman actually whimpered and hearing that sound almost caused Lena to leap up from her chair to embrace her friend in a warm hug. "A year ago, my mom got engaged to a man who was only a few years older than me. His name was Philip Geyer. A month or so after she'd introduced me to him, he came by my office and asked me out to lunch to get to know me better. I agreed to go with him. That day he came onto me."

"He didn't!"

Jesse nodded sullenly. "I'm afraid so. At first, I rebuffed him but he wouldn't stop, Lena! One night, he came to the house I used to have and told me he'd fallen in love with me the first time he'd laid eyes on me and even though he was engaged to my mother, he could no longer live a lie. He swore to me he would break off the engagement in a way that would let her down gently and then…he kissed me."

"Oh, Jesse…"

The blonde reacted as if she hadn't heard Lena's gentle admonishment. "I knew it was wrong. I should have pushed him away. I suppose a part of me wanted to ruin her happiness, to punish her for how badly she'd hurt my dad and me when she'd left us."

Jesse paused then and glanced at Lena. The Luthor hoped that her expression showed she was not sitting in judgment of her guilt-ridden friend.

After taking a sip of water from her glass, Jesse continued her tale. "Anyway, what neither my mom nor I had known at the time was the fact Phil was a con-man. He'd intended to marry my mom so he could have access to her bank accounts and rob her blind. As for me, he intended to blackmail me so I'd give him money to keep him from revealing our affair to my mom and the press. If he'd gone public with what I'd done, my business reputation and my relationship with my mother would've been ruined! However, it all went to hell in a hand basket anyway when someone murdered Phil and left his body in my bed!"

"That's horrible! Did the authorities suspect you?"

"I think most of them thought I'd done it. Fortunately, a Detective Beckett, the primary investigator for the NYPD at the time, didn't think I'd be foolish enough to kill a man and leave him in my own bed. The detective is married to a crime fiction writer who has some connection to the Batman. The Batman investigated the crime scene and found that all of the windows and doors into the house were locked. There was no way anyone could get inside unless they were a ghost. So the Batman brought an old comrade of my dad and mom onto the case because he suspected the killer was from the supernatural realm. The Dark Knight consulted with Dr. Fate and Fate told him that only the Spectre, Captain Triumph or Fate, himself, could have committed the crime."

"Jesse, my knowledge of the mystery men of World War II is nowhere close to yours. Can you tell me more about these men?"

The look of fright on Jesse's face made Lena's skin crawl. "The less you know about these beings, Lena, the better off you'll be, trust me on this. Look, Batman is scary for a human being but he's got nothing on either the Spectre or Fate. Dr. Fate, according to my folks, is the embodiment of a mystical Lord of Order. They're ancient, powerful aliens who've been among us for millennia. As for the Spectre, he's kind of like an Angel of Death. Don't go looking for him to join our little club, understand? From what my folks had told me, he's even more powerful than Fate and I'm fairly certain Fate could handle either Kara or you. The Spectre is unstoppable except by one who possesses the Spear of Destiny. According to legend, whoever wields the spear could control the Spectre."

Lena wanted to scoff at these tales of supernatural entities that had been operating, virtually unseen, for nearly seventy years or so. However, considering her ring's abilities and the fact she'd encountered a fifth dimensional being who would be considered, by most people, a supernatural entity, as well as having battled sentient androids, made her hold her powder. "All right, Jesse. How about this Captain Triumph fellow?"

Jesse took another sip of water before she continued. "His name is Lance Gallant. He had a twin brother named Michael who had been murdered by Nazi saboteurs during the early stages of the war. According to Dr. Fate, to avenge Michael's death, some supernatural busy-bodies linked Michael's spirit with his brother's psyche, giving Lance super strength, invulnerability not as good as Kara's but decent for the time, the ability to allow Michael's spirit to roam about and report back to Lance on anything the spirit had seen, and the power to alter his physical appearance, size or shape."

"After the Korean War had ended, Lance had gradually withdrawn from the mystery man life and allowed his link to Michael to grow inactive. Although he'd been close to my Dad, when my parents had separated, he'd remained my mom's good friend and she'd told him about her relationship with Phil. Unfortunately, according to Dr. Fate, the decades of inactivity of Lance's link to Michael had driven the spirit insane. When Michael had found out about Phil's betrayal of my mother, he'd caused Lance to use his powers to alter his size to enter my home and confront Phil, who'd let himself into my house with a key I'd given him. Then Michael took control of his brother's body and killed the bastard. I guess Michael had wanted to punish me a little, too. That's why he'd left Phil's body in my bed."

"Dear God in heaven!" Lena muttered.

"I know. I never thought my life would turn into an extreme version of that Poltergeist movie. Fortunately for me, Dr. Fate was able to perform an exorcism that separated Michael's spirit from Lance and banished it to the afterlife. After that, a broken Lance, guilt-ridden by the fact that Michael had made him commit murder, confessed to the crime. Detective Beckett arrested him, though, he'll probably never go on trial for Phil's murder. I suspect the Batman pulled some strings to have Lance committed to Arkham Asylum in the hopes that some treatment would help Lance return to the man he'd been before. However, when my mom found out about Phil and me, she was so furious with me she didn't utter a single word; she just punched me in the jaw so hard she sent me flying through the wall of my home."

"Jesse, no!" Lena had to fight down the ember of anger that had begun to grow in the pit of her stomach in regard to Ms. Lawrence's actions against her daughter. Although the woman's anger and disappointment in Jesse was understandable, that still didn't justify the use of force against a family member.

"Lena…she had every right to lash out at me. You know, I should have stayed and let her beat the hell out of me. The Speed Force would have healed my wounds eventually. But…I…I just couldn't face her…see the hatred in her eyes. So, I ran off at super speed. For months, I've avoided her like the plague. Then I thought if I could hone my speed, become a better hero like she'd been, maybe I could begin to make it up to her for the terrible thing I'd done."

"No, Jesse. Your mother has super strength. If she'd hit you in the wrong place with too much force, she could have killed you. If she'd broken your neck, you'd be dead and your mother a murderess. The Speed Force wouldn't have helped either of you if that had come to pass."

Lena's observation, though, did nothing to alleviate her friend's guilt. Noticing this fact, the Luthor sighed. "So, you want me here to make certain the discussion between your mother and you doesn't take a turn for the worse, am I right?"

Jesse nodded sorrowfully.

"Okay. Then that's exactly what I'm here to do."

The blonde now looked up and Lena smiled gently.

"Thank you, Lena."

The Luthor gave her friend an elegant nod of her head just before she spied the approach of Jesse's mother in the company of a tall, muscular, very handsome man of African descent. She motioned with a glance toward the couple and Jesse chanced a glimpse in that direction.

Then the speedster gasped loudly and sputtered, "W-why the hell is Hancock here with my mom?!"

#

"John," Libby Lawrence whispered, "what if she only came back to the city to tell me she wants me completely out of her life?"

The dark-skinned hero sighed heavily. Sensitivity had never been his strong suit. Yet, Libby was an old friend from one of the few times during the past ninety years where he'd actually given a damn about something important. He'd served with Johnny and her on the All Star Squadron during World War II and they were among the few mystery men who, despite his outward appearance as a black human, had always treated him with both dignity and respect.

"Lib, the girl's Johnny's and your kid. I'd put good money down she's probably just as fair-minded as her parents were to me."

She gave him a sad smile. "Thank you for that, John." Then the smile ran away from her face. "I-I'd never, ever had struck her before. I'd never even given her a swat on the behind when she was a toddler! But she'd hurt me so badly…John…I simply lost control." Then she shook her head as if she was trying to shake a terrible image from her mind's eye. "I punched her so hard I sent her flying through an exterior wall! For a second, she just laid where she'd fallen and I almost fainted. I couldn't believe I had hit her like that. John…she was lying there so still at first I thought I'd killed her. I wanted to die then and there. Then I heard her moan." She regarded him now with a haunted look in her eyes. "I raced to her side, wanting to help her and beg her forgiveness but by the time I made it outside, she was already gone. She'd used the speed she'd inherited from her father to flee from me...her own mother. Yeah," she snorted, "the mother she'd probably thought had done her best to kill her own daughter. Oh, John, my little girl must have been so lost, so hurt and that bastard, Philip, may he rot in hell forever, had used her terribly. Yet, I didn't try and figure out what had caused her to want to lash out at me like that. I was so deeply hurt, all I could see was her betrayal and I just snapped."

In response, Hancock nodded slowly in an attempt, he hoped, to demonstrate he felt some empathy for his old friend's plight. In a way, he knew what she'd gone through. A decade ago, Mary, his bondmate, had told him how his inability to recognize her after waking up in the hospital from the terrible beating that had stolen his memory had broken her heart. That had led her to conclude she had to leave him to keep him safe. Yes, he understood the guilt anyone feels when they learn they've harmed someone they love.

As they continued strolling arm-in-arm down the boulevard, Libby glanced up at him. "John, I don't know if I could live with myself if Jesse decides she can't forgive me for what I've done."

"Lib…she's your kid. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. You're a good person and she's probably decent like Johnny was and you are. I'm sure she'll give you the chance to make things right."

Soon, they approached an outside café of a fairly ritzy restaurant just off of Fifth Avenue. Among the dozen or so patrons seated at the tables, he noticed a blonde who was the spitting image of Libby in her glory days sitting with a pale beauty with a jaw-line sharp enough to cut glass and dark hair gathered in an elegant pony-tail.

"John," Libby whispered. "That's Jesse!" she told him with tears in her eyes. "Isn't she beautiful?"

"That she is, Lib. She definitely takes after your side of the family, fortunately for her," he teased.

In response she gave him a saucy smirk. "Whatever Johnny's faults may have been, John, his looks weren't one of them. My ex-husband was a beautiful man!"

He grinned. "Now there's the confident hero who thought nothing of spitting in Hitler's eye! Ready to go have a sit down with your daughter and her friend?"

His companion inhaled deeply then exhaled slowly. "I'm ready."

"All right then. Let's do this," he said.

#

As the elder couple approached their table both Jesse and Lena rose to greet them. "Ms. Lawrence, I'm not certain if you remember me but I'm Lena Luthor. Jesse and I were roommates at boarding school."

The elder blonde gave her a friendly smile but it was dimmed by the fatigue that was plainly evident on her face. "Of course, I remember you, Lena. Thank you for accompanying my daughter to see me." Then the elder woman turned to Jesse and probed gently, "How are you, honey?"

The stunned speedster regarded her mother warily. "I'm fine, mother."

"I'm glad to hear that and I am so happy you agreed to see me. Oh, I brought along one of your father's and my old colleagues from our 'mystery men' days. John Hancock, may I introduce you to my daughter, Jesse Chambers, and her friend, Lena Luthor?"

The handsome man gave them both a thin smile. "It's a pleasure to meet you both."

After the younger women had reciprocated his greeting, Ms. Lawrence took the seat next to Jesse and across from Lena while Hancock sat in the seat across from the speedster.

Before either Hancock or Lena could initiate any small talk, Libby turned to Jesse and blurted, "Jesse, I know you probably hate me right now but please hear me out. Baby, I'm so very sorry for hitting you. I wish I could take it all back, I wish I had never lashed out at you. It never should have happened and I hope, one day, you can find it in your heart to forgive me."

Libby's daughter's eyes opened wide at her mother's words. "Mom, you don't owe me an apology. I'm the one who acted horribly toward you! I'm so sorry for what I've done, Mom. There's no excuse for my behavior. I'm also sorry about what happened to Philip."

Tears were now tracking down Libby's face. "Honey, I think I understand how much I hurt you when I left your dad and...you. I think, in a way, you tried to make me feel the pain I'd caused you. Jesse, sweetheart, please believe me. I never intended to break your heart. I didn't think the problems between your father and me would affect our relationship. Unfortunately it took this thing with Philip to remove the scales from my eyes."

Now Libby reached out gently and took Jesse's hand in hers. "When the All Star Squadron had been exposed to the shadow energies that had been unleashed after Dr. Fate's old foe, Ian Karkull, had died, we had no idea the radiation would extend our vitality and our lives. In fact, we were all concerned that the energy may have made us all infertile. Your father and I tried for many years to have a child and when you were born only a few days before Christmas of 1979, I can safely say both your father and I have and always will say you are the best Christmas gift we've ever received in our lives."

Apparently, for Jesse, that was when the dam burst. With tears streaming down her face she hugged her mother as if she was holding on to dear life itself. "Mom, I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry! I love you, mom! I love you!"

Lena could almost see the glow of contentment on Libby's face as she cradled her weeping daughter in her arms. "I'm so sorry for how I've wronged you, my darling. Jesse...you are the light of my life!"

In the meantime, even though Lena was touched by the tender reconciliation between Libby and Jesse, she suspected the tearful reunion was somewhat awkward for a man like Hancock. She'd heard a little about him from her brother, Lex, ten years ago. At first, Lex had thought the man was a Kryptonian like Clark. After further research, though, Lex didn't know what to think other than Hancock couldn't possibly be Kryptonian, particularly when he demonstrated the ability to create localized weather disturbances and to fly unprotected without any life support through outer space and land on the surface of the Moon!

Just as she was about to suggest to Hancock that they should leave their companions for a bit to give them some privacy, the sound from a nearby explosion caused all of the café's patrons to look toward the park where the city had given a permit for the protesters to assemble.

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Hancock is from the 2008 movie "Hancock." You can see his history and power set on Wikipedia.