DISCLAIMER: I do no own nor take the creative rights to the characters of Batman, Superman, or any of the DC Comic Universe characters, places, or events. I do however take a small amount of credit for a new take on a Superwoman character introduced into the movie-verse of Batman Begins.

BATMAN created by Bob Kane

SUPERMAN created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster

BATMAN BEGINS story by David S. Goyer

BATMAN BEGINS screenplay by Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

I would like to give a special thanks to the anonymous reviewer named Superfan who reminded me of something rather important that I myself had forgotten.

Thank you.

- The Last Daughter Of Krypton

- Chapter Three -

The Secret

It didn't take even five minutes since the meeting of Bruce Wayne and Linda Kent for the wheels of chance, fate, destiny, whatever you wanted to call it, to start moving. After Martha met her daughter's new acquaintance, she was then taken over to where Bruce's parents were seated and introduced herself and Linda to them. There was a commonality between the two six-year-olds made known that neither picked up, even after they heard it spoken, and that was the blatant fact that both their mothers were named 'Martha'. However, while the adults talked amongst themselves, Linda led Bruce away to another spot that wasn't more than seven or eight feet away and sat down on the small overstuffed crushed velvet couch set up to be used by customers. Once situated in their new seating arrangements, Linda further delved into finding out more about this new friend she had come to now attach herself to so suddenly. Casting a sideways glance over at Bruce, Linda seemed to study him for a moment as he nervously stared back at her with a half glance.

"What are you looking at?" Bruce asked, somehow already knowing that she was staring at him, but for what reason he was clueless to at the moment and wanted to know.

Linda gave Bruce a small grin before answering him. "You silly." She stated the obvious with a laughing tone to her voice. "I'm trying to figure something out." Linda further explained her face becoming a bit serious in its expression as she still continued to stare at Bruce. Before Bruce could ask what it was she was trying to figure out, Linda answered him. "Are you different?"

This question caused Bruce to wrinkle his nose while a furrow began across his brow. "Different? What are you talking about?" he asked, clearly confused by what seemed to be a rather random question on Linda's part.

For some reason, the look on Bruce's face was all it took for Linda to just shake her dark head in response before again smiling at her new friend. "Never mind." She assured him and then looked over at her mother and Bruce's parents as they were laughing and talking about something. "I wonder what's so funny." Linda murmured aloud to herself as she watched them.

"Probably something only adults talk about or think is important." Bruce shrugged his shoulders and then glanced out the large window beyond the adults to where the black Roles-Royce was parked alongside the curb. Suddenly an idea formed itself within Bruce's mind, and for some reason he felt like impressing Linda even though they had just met. Looking back over at her, he slowly started to grin. "Hey, you wanna see my car?"

Linda seemed to perk up immediately at this and also return the grin forming still upon Bruce's face. "You have a car?" she asked in a rather excited manner but made sure not to become too loud and cause the adults to look over at them.

After Bruce nodded his head in responsive conformation, he grabbed Linda's hand nearest his own and slid down off the couch with his new friend following. The two six-year-olds managed to slip out of the coffee house unnoticed entirely and then walked a few feet down the sidewalk to come at a stop beside the expensive black car. Bruce still held on to Linda's hand as they stood beside the driver side of the car and stared at their reflections in the rather shinny surface despite the thin layer of dust that had accumulated from driving through a place mainly comprised of farmland. Bruce looked over at Linda and couldn't help but grin at the awed expression on her face.

"This is your car?" Linda asked after a moment of silence that had passed by now, her blue eyes shifted over to Bruce now finally. Bruce nodded with a rather triumphant look on his face which caused Linda to grin again before she found herself looking up at a much older man's face staring down out of the open window at her and Bruce with a rather pleasant smile on his face.

"Hello Alfred." Bruce greeted the older gentleman with a smile.

"Afternoon Master Bruce." Alfred returned while his gaze remained upon both children at the same time. He smiled warmly over at the little girl he hadn't seen before, but after spotting the fact that Bruce Wayne had her hand in his, Alfred could only guess the young master had found a new friend. "And who would this lovely young lady be?" he asked while nodding at Linda finally.

Bruce looked over at Linda in a quick glance before looking back up at Alfred. "This is Linda…what's your last name?" Bruce asked as he looked back over at Linda as he now realized he never did get her last name when they first introduced themselves to one another.

Linda, who was now having her turn of being nervous, held a bashful look on her face. "Kent, Linda Kent." She replied while staring down at her shoes and the sidewalk.

Alfred grinned at the bashful look on Linda's face as she stared down at the sidewalk and her shoes. "Well, it is a pleasure to meet you Ms. Kent. My name is Alfred Pennyworth, but you may call me Alfred if you like." He said and managed to bring the young girl's attention back up at him and received a rather pleasant smile from her as well. My, my what a beautiful little lady, and that smile is rather infectious to say the least. It'll do the young master some good to have a young friend his own age finally. "If I may ask, where are your parents Master Bruce?"

It was now after the second time hearing this that Linda furrowed her brow a bit and gave Alfred a rather confused look. "Excuse me Mr. Alfred, but why did you call Bruce – Master Bruce?" she asked while then looking over at her new friend with the same look on her face.

The sudden hearty laugh that Alfred gave just further confused the young girl. After the laugh passed, Alfred smiled brightly at Linda. "I call Master Bruce, Master, because I work for his family as their chauffer and butler. I have been since I first met Mr. Wayne in his younger years."

Linda nodded at this in her complete understanding, as her young mind was able to completely comprehend this to the fullest of the meanings extent. "So then, you work for Bruce's family?" Linda asked while looking over at Bruce, who was in turn looking at her.

Alfred chuckled lightly. "Yes that would be correct." He replied and then looked up and over at the door of the coffee house. "Looks like we have some company." He mused while spotting Mr. and Mrs. Wayne coming out along with a woman he presumed to be Linda's mother.

Both children looked over into the same direction that Alfred was and spotted their parents coming towards them while still chatting. Martha Kent came up to her daughter and grinned down at her after finishing her conversation with the Waynes. "Having fun?" she asked while noticing the amused look on her six-year-old daughter's face. After Linda nodded in response to this, Martha only grinned wider as she turned to Thomas and Martha Wayne. "My car is parked across the way." She stated while pointing out the vehicle that she had driven into town to get herself and Linda into downtown Smallville in the first place.

Thomas nodded to this and then looked to Alfred. "Alfred, I'd like to introduce Mrs. Martha Kent. She lives here in Smallville with her husband and daughter on a farm." Thomas introduced the two to each other and then after the formalities had been exchanged, he then further explained to Alfred the details of a plan they had made inside the coffee house. "Mrs. Kent has invited us out to her home for lunch. We'll be following her car out of town."

"Of course sir. Mrs. Kent, I'll wait for your lead then." Alfred stated with a courteous nod to her.

Martha nodded in agreement to this, and then after exchanging a few early directions and slight warnings about the road to the farm, Martha led Linda off towards their own car across the street. Following after her mother, Linda was a bit confused still after hearing the adults talk. "Mom, are Bruce and his family leaving?" she asked, a bit of disappointment now clearly written across her face as she looked up at her mother.

"Not quite yet sweetie." Martha answered while glancing down at her as they came around to the passenger side of their car. Unlocking the door, Martha waited for Linda to hop in first and get her seatbelt on. Once Linda was situated, Martha closed the door and came around to the driver side and got in as well. Once she had herself strapped in, Martha looked over at Linda. "Bruce and his family are coming over for lunch before they leave Smallville." Martha explained while starting the car and waiting for a clear opening before pulling out into the road.

The look on Linda's face would have had even a hard heart melting as her lips pulled into the biggest grin that even Martha had yet to see come from her. Seeing the grin, Martha couldn't help but grin as well as laugh jovially at her daughter's excitement. The whole car ride home consisted of Linda turning about in her seat every fifteen minutes to peer out the back window at the black Roles Royce following after them, and eventually Martha had to tell her small daughter that she needed to sit still now before she got hurt. Almost thirty-five minutes later, both cars pulled up the long gravel driveway of the Kent Farm and came to a stop within the large yard that separated the backside of the farmhouse from the large red barn itself. Before Martha allowed Linda to get out of the pickup truck, she kept her still a moment to speak with her concerning a few things that needed to be addressed.

"Linda, I know you already know this, but we need to go over the rules of having company over. Remember, no playing on any of the farm equipment, leaving the yard, and no picking things up that are much bigger than you. Is that understood?" she asked with a rather serious look upon her face.

Linda nodded her head with a smile attached to her lips. "Yes mommy, I understand. No playing on the farm equipment, no leaving the yard, and no picking up things that are bigger than me." Linda recited the rules back to her and then gave her mother a rather hopeful and expectant look, which caused Martha to laugh a bit before giving her the go ahead to get out of the cab.

Alfred had already gotten out of the car and come around to open the back door for the family to get out of their vehicle at about the same time that Linda's passenger side door swung open and the dark haired little girl leapt out. Martha stepped out of the cab as well and closed her door while taking notice of her husband, Jonathan Kent, coming out of the barn doors. Linda ran over to the side of the car that Bruce's parents were getting out from and waited off to the side patiently for Bruce to get out so that way she could show him their farm.

Jonathan watched his wife approach him and smiled affectionately at her. "Hello sweetheart." He greeted, a kiss being exchanged between them briefly before the question was asked. "Who are our guests?" He asked while nodding over at the Waynes as Alfred was closing the door of the car.

"Jonathan, this is Thomas and Martha Wayne, and their son who our daughter has now gotten a hold of, Bruce." She introduced her husband to the family while grinning at how quickly Linda had gotten Bruce to follow her off towards the barn now where a grown adult tabby cat was waltzing out of with a sleepy look upon its furred face. The formalities and greetings were exchanged between the adults and after Martha called out to Linda that lunch was going to be ready in a half hour, the four headed inside while Alfred remained outside to watch the two six-year-olds.

Linda picked up the orange tabby that seemed still too sleepy to bother with being picked up at the moment. "This is Streaky. My daddy got him last year to hunt the mice in the barn." Linda explained while then scratching the space between the cat's ears between its ears, this causing the cat to start purring immediately. "Do you wanna hold him?" she asked Bruce while holding the cat out towards him.

"He won't scratch me will he?" Bruce asked as he was hesitant at first to take the cat from Linda. But after Linda shook her head 'no', he took the orange tabby into his own arms and listened to it purr against his chest as the tabby seemed rather content to be held within his arms. "He likes me." Bruce commented while looking up at Linda, but then took on a thoughtful look. "Him purring does mean he likes me, right?"

Linda giggled while nodding to assure him that this was of course true. "Yep, Streaky likes only a few people, me, my mom, my dad, Pete, and Lana. But now it looks like he likes you as well."

The mention of two unfamiliar names caused Bruce to give Linda a rather confused look. "Who are Pete and Lana?"

"Oh, they're my friends. Pete Ross and Lana Lang, we go to school together." Linda explained while watching Streaky blink lazily in Bruce's arms before yawning in a wide manner. "Do you have any friends at home in Gotham City?" she asked while tilting her head to the side.

At this, Bruce became rather quiet for a moment and then looked up at Linda after staring down at Streaky for a while. "No." he murmured quietly.

Hearing this caused Linda to take on a rather sad look upon her face for a moment. How could someone not have friends? This didn't make any sense to her at all, but then again, Linda had Pete and Lana as friends since her first day of school. It was then that a sudden idea brightened her greatly. "I know, how about you and I be friends then!" she exclaimed happily.

"What?" Bruce asked while setting Streaky down on the ground as the cat was becoming a bit restless now. "You and me? But we don't live close enough to each other." He pointed out in comment as he brushed some of the orange hairs left behind on his shirt away. "How can we be friends?"

"That doesn't matter silly." Linda stated while grinning at him broadly. "Do you want to be friends?" she asked. Bruce nodded his head almost immediately to this, which shocked him at how quickly he had agreed to it, and this caused Linda to smile even more. "Then we're friends!" she declared while holding out a hand to Bruce, which he then took and allowed Linda to shake it with her own. "Come on, I want to show you the horses we have inside the barn." She stated, and then looked over to where Alfred was sitting upon the step of the Roles. "Alfred, come inside the barn with us and see the horses!"

Before lunch, Linda had shown Bruce and Alfred the several horses that the Kents owned, one a white horse that Linda called Comet and the other two colored brown named Titus and August. She showed them the loft that was cluttered with a bunch of old junk that Martha stored there for the time being, and even took them outside to the sheep pen behind the barn to show them the new baby lambs that had been born a few weeks ago. When lunch was called, they headed inside.

Linda and Bruce were the first to finish their lunch of course, and after asking to be excused so they could go outside and play, they left the adults to talk amongst themselves all over again while this time Alfred joined them.

Outside, Bruce and Linda were playing with Streaky on the porch steps for a good while before getting up and going back to the sheep pen to sit up on the fence and watch the lambs play with each other. As they talked together about random things, it was Bruce who broke away from the conversation as he took notice of something large and red off to their far left back behind the barn. "Linda, what's that?" he asked while pointing at it.

Looking over to where Bruce was pointing, Linda squinted a bit as she stared and then returned her face to a normal look. "That's the tractor. Why?" she asked, and then before anything else could be said, she watched as Bruce jumped down off the fence. "Bruce wait!" Linda called after him as he ran over towards the large red tractor that had lost most of its bright color due to years of use and weather beating. Her tone of voice was rather panicked, as she knew her dad had set the tractor up on blocks to repair something underneath the other day and had yet to set it back down, and had told her to make sure to stay away from the tractor until he was done working on it. "Bruce, please wait!" Linda shouted as she too now jumped down off the fence and ran after him. Bruce was already at the tractor and climbing up towards the seat by the time Linda reached him with a somewhat frightened look on her face. "Bruce you can't be up there." Linda stated while coming to a stop beside the tractor itself and motioned with a wave of her hand for him to come down.

Bruce looked down at Linda, as he was half way towards the tractor seat already. "Why not?" he asked while grinning a bit at her and then turned back around to finish climbing up the tractor. Seating himself in the dusty seat, Bruce adjusted himself a bit before then looking down at Linda with the grin still there on his face. "Come on Linda, come up here with me." He waved at her in a gesture for her to come up.

For a moment, Linda was a bit hesitant at first as she stared up at her new friend and his lack of fear, but then a sudden smile started to tug at her lips as Bruce begged for her to come up with him with his green eyes alone and boyish of all looks he seemed capable of for a six-year-old. Without another moment of hesitation Linda clambered up on to the tractor after Bruce, who moved over a bit in the seat to make room for Linda to sit down. Linda and Bruce looked at one another with large grins on their faces before starting in on a game of pretend farming. "We should plow the new corn field for Mr. Evans." Linda stated while standing up and pointing off to the far left passed Bruce. The spoken of field sat far out passed the Kent Farm some good several miles or so, but it was just pretend of course.

"Okay then. You drive since you know where the field is." Bruce stated while staring off towards the field Linda had been pointing out, and then looked over at her as she reseated herself next to him once again.

Linda giggled at this and set her hands upon the steering wheel. "Alright, then let's get going." Linda declared while turning the wheel slightly, but then again, it was just enough to cause the axel to move against the blocks keeping the tractor up off the ground. The sudden movement clipped the blocks and started a shutter through the tractor that caused both children to freeze immediately. "Oh no." Linda whispered as she felt the tractor shutter once more.

Before either one could do or saying anything else, the tractor groaned as it tipped sideways. Both Bruce and Linda gave startled cries as they found themselves falling with the tractor as a sense of fear washed up over them as they went down, and both children grabbed on to one another in a panicked embrace. It had all happened to them so quickly that by the time the tractor had fallen down on to the ground with a heavy thud, neither Bruce nor Linda could let out a cry loud enough for any of the adults to hear. A silence soon ensued that was rather eerie to say the least as the dust that had been kicked up in the wake of the tractor's tipping started to settle. The tractor itself had managed to flip in a manner that it covered both six-year-olds underneath its heavy body.

The silence that had started soon died out as a creaking groan of strained metal started up and then the tractor started to shift and move as if being raised up on a jack of some kind. One whole side of tractor was suddenly lifted up off the ground and Bruce stared up from his half sprawled position on the ground with wide eyes. Little dark haired and blue-eyed Linda Kent stood there over him with her arms stretched up over her head, palms flat, holding the tractor up like it was a cardboard box. "Bruce, move." She whispered in a strained manner as the terror of what had happened and what was going on now scared her still.

Nodding only once, Bruce scrambled out from under the tractor and got to his feet at the same time Linda was resetting the tractor right side up, but minus being on the blocks of course. Bruce stared at Linda with a slack jaw and large wide eyes as she turned about to face him with a somewhat guilty look on her face. For a moment, the ability to speak escaped Bruce completely but then his brain kicked back up and he nearly tackled Linda with a huge hug. "Oh my god! How did you do that!" Bruce spoke so quickly that it was miracle anyone understood what he had just asked. Pulling back off Linda, he waited for her reply.

Linda stared down at the ground. "I don't know." She started. "I've always been able to do stuff like that." Linda explained, but then stopped while her face showed a deep sense of complete panic as something suddenly struck her at that moment. "Bruce, you can't tell anyone what I did!"

This sudden burst caused Bruce to take a step back from Linda for a moment, as he was suddenly confused. "Why not?" he asked curiously.

"Because, my mom and dad said I'm not supposed to do that! If they find out I'll get in trouble!" Linda cried, her eyes starting now to water a bit at the perspective of getting into trouble after breaking the rules set down by her mom and dad. She never meant to use them, but it was her fault in the first place that the tractor tipped over, so in a sense it was her responsibility to fix what she did wrong. And fix it she did, but now Bruce knew about what made her 'different'.

Seeing how upset Linda was now becoming over all of this, Bruce couldn't get any words out as he was dumbstruck with what to say, and apparently his silence scared Linda as she suddenly burst into tears. Now becoming frantic at the fact that he had her crying Bruce looked around quickly for some unknown reason, whether it was to see if someone was coming or not who knows, but as Linda continued to cry, Bruce suddenly felt very sad himself as he stared at Linda. "I don't know what I did to make you cry Linda, but I'm sorry." He stated in apology, his voice was soft as he spoke to her. "Please stop crying."

"I…can't…" Linda hiccupped as she spoke and rubbed at her wet cheeks to rid them of the tearstains.

Not knowing why it was exactly that he did what he did next, Bruce reached out and set his hand upon the top of Linda's bowed head. "Please stop crying, it's okay, I won't tell anyone." He stated while now stroking the top of her head like his mother did to him when he was upset. If it calmed him down, then maybe it would calm Linda down as well. Apparently his assumptions were correct as Linda was starting to cease her crying.

"You promise you won't tell anyone?" she asked as she looked up at him with glassy blue eyes and a trembling bottom lip.

"I promise. I won't tell anyone about what you did, I won't tell my mom, my dad, or Alfred. The only people who will know will be you and me." Bruce gave her a small smile, which in turn caused Linda to smile a bit now. "I promise, cross my heart and hope to die." He declared while taking his hand off her head and making an X over the place on his chest the beneath resided his heart.

Linda sniffed quietly and then ran the back of her hand over her cheeks to wipe away the tears that still lingered. "Thank you Bruce." She murmured quietly in her soft tone of voice.

The smile that came next caused Bruce to grin a bit sheepishly as he felt a bit weird on the inside of his stomach, like there were little butterflies flying around in there. Looking down at his dust covered shoes, Bruce muttered a – "Your welcome" to Linda which was followed by a sudden hug from the dark haired girl. This action caught Bruce completely off-guard to say the least and caused him to go rather stiff almost immediately. Not more than a second after he was grabbed and went completely numb, Bruce relaxed as he felt…safe, in Linda's hold on him.

Linda only grinned at her friend. "It'll be our little secret." she stated while breaking off her hug to Bruce.

Bruce stared back at her with a somewhat blank passive look on his face and then slowly nodded. "Okay. Our secret, I promise to keep it no matter what and I won't tell a single person. Ever."