Thunderous sounds crashed into the ears of all within the city. Buildings toppled like dominos in the rubble below. The cacophony of technological whines screeched through the air, stinging the sensitive ears of all around.
Bruce Wayne drove aggressively through the streets, dodging all the debris and other falling fodder. Screams and cries heard throughout the region were not unknown to him, so it was easy to block out. In the passenger of his Jeep, Helena Wayne sat on the edge of her seat wide eyed. She gritted her teeth uncomfortably, clearly trying to mask her panic. Though she learned how to keep her calm in highly dangerous and stressful situations, she couldn't be balanced.
"Dad, are you sure that he is ok?" Helena asked in a low deep voice. Hiding her cracking voice, Bruce answered unwavering, "He will be. You know Jason; he's a fighter like us."
Throngs of people ran the opposite direction where they headed, most of the noise deafened Helena, but then ring silently between the pulses of the large spacecraft that drilled its way into Metropolis. Jason Todd, simply known as the Red Hood, was trying to help evacuate the Wayne Tower located in Metropolis. Helena, simply known as the Huntress to the media, was on her way to rescue him. Bruce, famously known as the Batman, sped through the wreckage of the city to not only help people from the invasion, but to save Jason.
His reasoning to save Jason was more than just because he was a close friend and ally to help Bruce save others in the destruction of the urban terrorism, but because he knew Bruce couldn't fail his daughter. Bruce's mind's eye flashed to the day his parents died, remembering the very details of how it happened. He promised himself that day that no one would ever feel what he felt that day. Bruce swore to protect and serve-even illegally-without murder or guns, to keep people safe from the wicked.
The day Bruce broke his promise was when his son Damian Wayne died as his protégé, Robin. Bruce never agreed with the idea that his daughter, Helena, was a vigilante like him, he reluctantly allowed her to. The only comfort was that she, although only in part due to her mother, was a metahuman who had multiple lives. Unlike his half-sister, Damian was full human and died as a hero. Though he was retired as the Batman, Helena continued his work with the help of both Alfred and himself. Helena was fortunate in the sense that she had her father and Alfred as an adoptive grandfather, but suffered the sorrow of a dead mother and half-brother.
Both Bruce and Helena knew in this very moment, Jason could be alive or dead. Their friend was in the roar of hell, and they not wanting to bear another loss came for him. Jason suffered his own losses as a youngster with abusive parents. Running away he became a thug and tried to steal tires from the Batmobile, but Batman took him in as his protégé for a better life. Jason and Helena eventually began dating, to Bruce's disapproval. He always told Helena that no one, especially in Gotham, was good enough for her. If he had his way, Helena would never see Jason again. Bruce would feel guilty over this thought.
Helena and Jason were engaged, and from her perspective, Bruce warmed up to Jason. After all, they were perfect for each other; it wasn't like anyone in their family could ever have a "normal" life with others if they wanted it or not. Helena wanted to tell her father and Alfred that Jason and she were going to leave Gotham and live in a secluded place in Italy. Though she didn't tell her father about her's and Jason's "early retirement" from being a vigilante-which would make Bruce happy-it would depress him to know that Bruce's two family members outside of Alfred would leave him. "It's only temporary, not forever, we can always visit," Helena thought to herself. Bruce and Helena always crowded each other in the mansion; however, Thanksgiving and Christmas might not be enough visits for her father either. There was an in between needed between the couple's space and Bruce's. Alfred fortunately kept his distance perfectly.
Of all these thoughts that ran through their heads, in spite of the raging chaos, they focused on Jason. Alfred spoke over the earpieces, "You're almost there."
"Grandpa, did you get in contact with Jason yet? I'm having difficulty reaching his signal, I think it's the UFO-" She was cut off as the Jeep to a sharp right as Bruce helmed the speeding machine.
"Alfred, do you have his specific location? I'm calling the office now." Alfred responded, "You better hurry, I'm detecting a few bogies near you a few hundred meters ahead." Helena called out, "Use standard measurements please; I can't convert numbers in this noise!" Helena called out over the chaos that grew louder causing them to lose contact with Alfred. Their voices raised but were drowned out.
Slamming to a halt, Helena hit the tip of her forehead on the dash. Bruce said, "Sorry," while pulling her left shoulder upright. "I'm all right, but we need to find him." Getting out of the car, they both ran towards the Wayne Tower on foot since the debris was too much for the Jeep to handle. Helena's hairline was matted with blood, sweat and adrenaline pumped through her. Bruce used his phone to call inside the office pausing to watch the battle between the two aliens in the sky. Helena pushed forward.
The UFO near the Tower caused a wake of destruction, but the tipping point was when the small figure of General Zod and the other alien crashed into Wayne Tower. Helena ran toward the falling building for Jason like an idiot. Bruce watched, petrified.
"HELENA!" Bruce screamed with all his might. He ran for her, pulling her back. She resisted very well-which few could do against the Batman-scrambling for the Tower crying for Jason. Bruce held her back tightly. Pausing as the building finished falling, the massive dust clouds came, and the two ran into it. Bruce saw and helped a man pinned under a metal bar frame, but Helena searched on. In the sky, people watched as the famed Superman saved everyone when the UFO imploded and disappeared, as he took Zod elsewhere.
Eerie silence fell over metropolis as the dust settled. Helena's screams could be heard much better. "JASON! JASON! JASON!" Suddenly, Helena heard her name, "Helena!" Her head snapped his direction. Jason held a small girl. Bruce was catching up with Helena seeing Jason as well. A large concrete structure fell and fragmented near Jason, who turned his head behind him to visually absorb his impending doom. Jason threw the girl out of the way, yelping as she landed out of view. Helena couldn't run fast enough to Jason as she yelled out his name, "JASON!" Bruce called out for the both of them, trying to close the distance. Helena got to Jason first, "No no no no no! Jason, talk to me baby, talk to me!" Helena found Jason and saw that he was unconscious and pinned belly down by his back by a concrete fragment. Bruce caught up and helped her lift it off of him, just as Bruce did for the other man. Helena held Jason's now freed torso to her own, cradling his upper half to her. The image of La Pieta for some reason came into Bruce's mind as he saw his daughter hold her fiancé on the ground in a similar manner amongst all the slabs and rocks.
"Jason I love you, help's on the way." She sobbed.
"Helena, I love you. In the end it's ok, if it's not ok, it's not the end. Don't be scar-" He gurgled and coughed quietly. The final wheeze exhaled turned into silence, and the light left Jason's eyes. Blood drenched the ground, and Jason's handsome dirty face was vacant of life. Helena screamed and cried out.
Looking at the child who Jason saved, Bruce went over to her and asked her where her parents were. Pointing quietly with dried tears on her face, the child looked to the decimated building. Drawing in close, Bruce held the little girl close to him while taking his other arm around Helena's shoulders. Helena, still bent sobbing over Jason's lying form, was inconsolable. Bruce realized how he felt loss both personally from his friendship with Jason, but also loss of his daughter. The failure to protect her from loss and the feeling of guilt of sending Jason to the office that day must've killed whatever trust Helena had in Bruce. Bruce's empathy for his daughter's loss was an all too familiar feeling.
To his surprise Helena darkly said, "That man…whoever he is…is responsible for my beloved's death. Just because he saved many, he did so at great cost, and for me…it was the greatest price I've ever paid." Tears streamed down her face as she looked angrily at the sky. Bruce also looked to the sky feeling similarly. It was then they realized it was an "us versus them," but in the moment of Jason's death it meant that Superman no longer got the benefit of the doubt as a protector of humanity from either Bruce or Helena, but as a dormant threat like Zod.
Their epiphany would shape what was to come for a long time.
***TWO YEARS LATER***
Bruce walked into the Batcave with Alfred so they could work on a few gadgets that needed modification. Helena sat on a bench looking at a computer screen. Pulling out a cigarette, she took a long inhale and sighed. Alfred walked over and asked, "Helena, when did you pick up smoking?"
"This morning Alfred. It's not like I can die anyway." Helena replied nihilistically. Alfred looked at the poor girl. "I know you are grieving but do you honestly think that your self-destruction will bring him back?" Alfred asked gently.
"No. You didn't give me a reason not to be self-destructive. I have one goal and it's not saintly." Helena responded. Bruce peered over her looking at a picture of Superman. Bruce attempted to help, "I've noticed you call us by our names…"
"Yeah, so? You want me to continue to call you by our relationship 'daddy.'" Helena rolled her eyes sarcastically. They all knew Alfred and Bruce were the only family Helena had left but she cut herself off so if they did get hurt, she wouldn't feel as strong of loss. Just like Bruce after Damian's death, Helena became more brutal and violent with criminals than before. Now her only life was that of being a vigilante like her father. It was funny how two years ago she wanted to leave the lifestyle and now she wanted nothing but that. Bruce never encouraged her out of her grief because his grief forged him to be a dark guardian of peace in Gotham. He hated that his little girl didn't come out of Gotham as a good unscathed girl; instead, she became a darker version of him. Bruce thought he'd be a hypocrite if he told her to snap out of it.
Alfred on the other hand loved her enough to try and save the girl from her self-destructing grief-even if she did have multiple lives as her power.
"You know in your religion, self-destruction without asking for forgiveness leads to eternal Hell. I think you ought to consider doing well by your health so when you die you might be reunited with Jason in Heaven. I'm confident that God would put him there for you." Alfred tried to appeal to Helena's Catholicism after growing up with some influence from her mother's side of the family.
"I may not give a damn about my habits," Helena gestured to her smokes and drinks on the table by her computer, "But I'm not gonna jump off a damn bridge. I appreciate the concern but I already considered what you said anyways. Besides, I'm still trying to figure out if I am even able to die permanently, like mom."
Helena referenced to her enigmatic metahuman mother; Selena's power of multiple lives as well. Both Bruce and Helena figured out that her mother can heal from wounds that no normal person can like the mythical "cat with nine-lives." They suspected as long as the central nervous system isn't severely damaged, and no organs, limbs, or her head was removed; any trauma can render her unconscious and momentarily stopping other body systems. This gives the death-like state, but regenerates them back to life. Selena "died" thirteen times from fatal stab wounds, bullets, bleeding out, drowning, poisonous gasses, and such. Yet, the Joker simply snapped Selena's neck and she permanently died in front of Bruce and Helena. Since then, they suspected that Helena was the same way given that she has "died" about 27 times, or so they kept track of. After a while, it seemed normal and so they lost count for it seemed pointless to. Until Helena is permanently dead, they never really worried.
For the sake of Alfred's paternalism and Bruce's, Helena snuffed out the cigarette by burning it into her shoulder. She knocked her drinks and cigarettes into the garbage, but kept some fast food bags. Alfred smiled feeling accomplished that even in Helena's grief he could still help her out even in the smallest ways like her health.
Alfred walked over to the cowl to fidget with the voice modifier. Bruce came over to look at what Helena was working on. "I've run some more numbers into the system on Superman. I think I know his peak speed in flight as well as on the ground from these reports I've read. His strength also seems to improve with daylight given the flux in the average weight he can lift based on different cases. I've also recorded his other abilities in detail. I've already sent you some files. By the way, you still need to chase a few leads on various metals that can build you a better armor for the car; then again it could be used for other things. There's also news that Lex Luthor is trying to import something from the Indian Ocean from the Kryptonian wreckage with the politician's help. That might be a lead for us." Bruce scanned over her work and said, "Then let's go investigate. You want to meet Lex, Helena?"
Alfred's hand popped up, "I already have an invitation for you both to go to his gala." Helena smiled slightly, "You never cease to amaze." Bruce smiled at the fact that this was the first time in a long while that Helena seemed like herself in that small smile.