After Lois died, the world was doomed.

Bruce stood on a rooftop in what had, not so long ago, been Gotham City. In the distance, hovering over the barren hellscape that had once been Metropolis, was one of Darkseid's ships. Nobody had figured out what purpose the ships were for, mostly because nobody had ever been on one. All they had ever seen was the column of flames the ships drew up from beneath the Earth's crust.

Since Darkseid's takeover, the few remaining heroes had been surviving in underground bunkers, trying to outlast the Parademons long enough to figure out how to stop Darkseid. Maybe there was no stopping him. Just under three weeks had been long enough for Bruce to about give up hope.

Lois had died on his watch. And the planet had paid the price.

Suddenly, he heard screams several blocks away and the hiss of Parademons. He could probably kill the Parademons and get whoever was being chased back to the local bunker before reinforcements arrived. Raiding parties were rarely over five strong, but when reinforcements came, it was like hell raining from the sky.

Bruce leapt off the rooftop and swung across the street with his grapnels, heading for the source of the commotion. He landed on a fire escape nearby and looked to see what was going on. Two people were trying to fight off no fewer than six Parademons. He was too far away to tell who the people were, but not too far for an accurate throw of a Batarang or two.

He grabbed three from his belt and threw them at the insects. Two dropped dead to the pavement, while his third target evaded the attack.

And saw him crouched in the shadows.

"Shit," Bruce muttered, leaping off the fire escape as the Parademon attacked it. He landed on the ground, and when he did, the two fighting the Parademons turned to see who was there.

And Bruce immediately recognized one of them.

Harley Quinn.

The girl she was with was young, couldn't have been older than a teen. Fear. It was all Bruce saw in her eyes, and was why the Parademons were after her and Harley.

Bruce grabbed more Batarangs and launched another attack on the Parademons, while Harley bashed another insect's head with her mallet. Bruce took down the two remaining Parademons with another pair of Batarangs.

Suddenly, he saw a trio of Parademons round a corner several blocks away. He knew without a doubt that the insects were headed his way – hell, he could practically feel the fear in the air.

Harley saw the insects coming too, and she and the girl ran over to him. "Bruce," Harley said, pointing to the girl, "get her out of here. I'll hold them off." She squatted down and smiled at the girl. "It's okay, Cassandra. Go with him. He'll take you to safety."

Cassandra grabbed onto Bruce, and he shot his grapnel into the rooftop overhead. They landed on the roof, from where they ran across several more rooftops until they were about halfway to the nearest bunker.

Bruce stopped.

She had killed Robin.

She used to work with the Joker.

But he couldn't leave her to be slaughtered by Parademons.

Too many people had died on his watch.

He ushered Cassandra behind a vent on the rooftop and said, "Listen, stay here. You'll be okay. I'll be right back."

Cassandra quickly nodded.

Bruce ran back to the street where Harley was, and found that she had killed one of the three new Parademons, but was now besieged behind a car by the other two. He checked his belt. Two more Batarangs, two more insects.

If he missed, he'd be out until he could restock back at the bunker.

But if he missed, he doubted he's even make it back to the bunker.

He took aim, focused on the Parademons' heads, and threw. Each Batarang hit home, and the Parademons dropped to the street, dead.

Bruce leapt down to the street and held out his hand to Harley. "Come on. We don't have much time," he said.

She took his hand and Bruce shot his grapnel into the rooftop again. But as they shot up the side of the building, he heard a laser blast. And felt Harley's body jerk.

They landed on the rooftop, and as soon as Harley went to stand up, her legs gave out under her. Bruce dropped to his knees and caught her before she hit the rooftop. Holding her in his arms, he couldn't help but notice the gaping hole in her chest. A Parademon laser. He looked over the edge of the rooftop and saw that one of the Parademons lying in the street was still twitching, but undoubtedly wouldn't last much longer. Not a threat, he decided.

But as he turned back to Harley, he felt something in him was about to break. He couldn't do this. Not again.

Harley looked down at her wound and gasped, "That looks…bad." She pressed her hands over the wound, but it was too deep.

"It's okay," Bruce said, as trying to convince himself as much as her. "You're gonna be okay."

"No…I'm not. And you...know it." She coughed and blood sprayed from her lips. "I wonder...where do you go...when you die...when the sky's dead too?" She looked up and pointed a trembling, bloodstained hand at the smog-choked heavens.

"Harley…."

She shot upright and gripped Bruce's shoulder, her fingernails digging into his skin even through his suit, a burning intensity in her eyes, her breath ragged. "Bruce…I want you to promise me something." She coughed again, and more blood carved a path down her chin. "Promise me…you'll find him…and you'll kill him. The Joker. Kill him…slowly."

Bruce hesitated.

"Promise me!" Harley begged.

Bruce shut his eyes. "I will. I promise."

Harley's head rolled to the side in his arms.

He opened his eyes and felt her neck for a pulse.

She was gone.

Bruce hung his head and let out a silent scream. The girl Harley had been with – Cassandra – how would he tell her?

A/N: First off, as usual, I do not own any DC characters.

I've been sitting on this story for a while, trying to make it as good as possible. I usually suck at writing serious, let alone, sad, stuff, so this was a bit of a challenge. It killed me writing this, though; Harley's one of my favorite DC characters. Hope you enjoyed it, though.

Please leave a review, I love to receive them!