Claire wasn't entirely sure how she could have gotten out of breath just driving to meet up with the others at Wayne Manor - but here she was, panting as she got out of her car and convened with the others in the foyer, looking for one face in particular - one person to whom she owed, at the very least, an acceptable explanation for what had happened tonight.

"Lois," Claire said, hurrying over and standing in front of the red-haired woman, her face frantic and apologetic. "I'm so sorry - I had no idea Lex was going to do something like this -"

"Why would you?" Bruce interrupted, stepping up to the pair with a deep grimace despite the hand that Clark had gently raised in attempts at stopping him. "Why would you have known anything about this?"

Claire froze in place for a moment before she was able to steel her nerves to face Bruce, and she glanced at Clark, giving him a nod to lower his hand. She could face this. She could face him.

"I was her lead," Claire said with gritted teeth, avoiding meeting Bruce's gaze. "I told Lois about what was happening at Desaad's club. I told her that it was worth investigating and Lex knew that I was going to tell her. "

Bruce let out a low exhale through slightly pursed lips. Clark tensed visibly, while Diana, Barry, and Victor looked on - Claire couldn't help but feel like a specimen under a microscope. She held her breath, like prey attempting to play dead in hopes of being spared. She barely moved.

"Didn't I tell you before," Bruce said, his teeth gritted and his voice tight, his eyes clenched shut in barely contained fury, "that playing both sides this way would be a bad idea? Didn't I tell you that you couldn't keep this up?"

"You also told me I had a choice -"

"And there's clearly a right and a wrong choice," Bruce said with a booming voice, now fully stepping between Lois and Claire so that the darker-haired girl was forced to fully face him. Claire scoffed defensively, taking a step back from him and shaking her head incredulously.

"I'm going to be more careful now. I know I made a mistake -"

"And now, I'm telling you that you're not going to make any more under my watch -"

"Your watch? I'm not your sidekick, Bruce," Claire interrupted sharply, her eyes narrowing. "I can figure things out on my own."

Claire regarded Bruce for a moment as the color faded from his face upon hearing her words, and for a glimmer of a moment, she nearly asked what about her words had caused him to suddenly put up so little resistance. However, instead, she turned on her heel and stormed out the door. Once she had left, Diana cautiously stepped in front of him, glancing him over.

"What's going on?"

"Let her go," Bruce said shortly, turning to try and leave, only to find Diana sidestepping and placing herself in front of him.

"Bruce," she said, her brow furrowing in both concern and frustration as she reached out and firmly grasped his forearm, keeping him from leaving. "You can't disappear without telling us what's happening. We're your team."

"It's - what she said - you wouldn't understand."

"Then make us understand," Barry piped up, sounding unusually serious. Bruce turned to look at the younger man and inhaled through his nostrils.

This was going to be a difficult story to tell - not because a single detail had faded from his memory, but because he remembered his greatest failure all too vividly.

A few years earlier...

"What are you doing?"

"Suiting up," the young man named Jason Todd said, adjusting the mask over his face as he practically sprinted out to meet Bruce by the Batmobile. "What does it look like? Robin's ready for a promotion," he said with a hearty guffaw. "Let's go catch us a Joker -"

"This is a one man job."

The statement was so abrupt, so final, that it left Jason momentarily speechless. He paused, still standing in front of the Batmobile and staring questioningly at Bruce, the man who had been his mentor for over two years now. He laughed in disbelief and shook his head.

"Come on, Mister Wayne," he said, his forehead creasing. "I can help -"

"I don't need a sidekick on this one, Jason," he snapped, getting into the driver side door. Jason rushed around and made a grab for the passenger side handle, only to find it locked. Enraged, he banged his fist fruitlessly on the bulletproof glass window before running around to stand in front of the car.

"I'm not your sidekick!" he yelled, leaning over and banging his fists on the hood of the car in a futile attempt at stopping him. "I'm not your sidekick!"

But instead of relenting or responding, Bruce simply gave the engine of the Batmobile a mighty rev, causing the younger man to jump out of the way, giving Bruce an opening to speed down the lit runway out of the Batcave. From the momentum of the car flying by, Jason stumbled backwards and had no choice - for now anyway - except to watch Bruce Wayne speed away.

Jason Todd had been waiting for his chance - and he felt that he had been waiting more than long enough. He glanced around furiously until a sleek, black motorcycle in the vehicle bay caught his eye. It was in that moment he realized that if he wanted his shot at the Joker, he didn't need to change Bruce Wayne's mind.

He just needed to get there first.

Bruce Wayne had no way of knowing that those words would be the last he would hear from the young man. Neither Bruce Wayne nor Jason Todd had any way of knowing that Robin's first round against the Joker would be his last.

"What kept you?"

"The whole thing was a setup," Claire said, glaring at Lex as he sat with his legs crossed, sitting in the armchair in front of the fire of his father's study. Upon storming out of Wayne Manor, she had made her way (much faster, probably, than was safe or advisable) back to Metropolis, back to Luthor Mansion, and now stood before Lex, infuriated and just as short of breath as before. Lex, on the other hand, looked as relaxed as could be, as though he too had not just flown across town in a cybertronic suit of armor and gotten changed so he could be waiting for Claire as she arrived. "You tricked me."

"Tricked you?" Lex asked, bemused. Claire found her blood boiling as he gave a brief, nasally chuckle. "I didn't trick you in the slightest, Claire. I simply used all of the information at my disposal -"

"You used me to get to them," Claire interrupted with narrowed eyes. There was no need to clarify who she was referring to. Lex inhaled through his nostrils and leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms, meeting Claire's stern gaze.

"You never asked me not to."

"Because-"

Claire's voice cut off as she considered her answer. Because she knew it was no use. She knew that even if she had asked, even if Lex had agreed, it would have been a lie. At least a part of her had known that this would be inevitable, that this was what became of playing both sides.

Claire Branigan had never felt so stupid. She had spent so long trying to avoid the possibility of this happening that now, when she was faced with it, it felt completely unreal. She was walking a line between two worlds that could no longer be kept separate, faced with the decision of choosing between the two or accepting the consequence that came with failing to do so.

"You knew what I was when you came back here. You knew what you were getting into," Lex said matter-of-factly, standing up and moving so that he stood toe-to-toe with Claire, who couldn't yet look him in the eye. "You know that what I'm doing is bigger than you, or me, or us. This is a matter of... galactic proportions. Cosmic implications."

Claire's eyes fluttered shut for a moment in half-exasperation, half-exhaustion. She knew, of course, that Lex was right. The things inside of him which fueled his personal vendetta against Clark Kent and all those like was were deep, even central to his existence now. Claire had even once said it herself - those things had existed before her, and if she were to suddenly be absent from his life, they would persist without her.

"So what you're saying is," Claire began, "that I need to be careful around you."

"Claire. Claire, my clever, radiant, unshakeable Claire," he chuckled, tapping the bottom of Claire's chin upward with the side of his knuckle. "I thought you'd known that all along."

Lex leaned down and pressed his lips to hers in a move that was somehow both breathtaking and unsettling - surprisingly chaste, yet nowhere near innocent. Claire hesitantly took a step back, looking over Lex questioningly with an expression that Lex had to admit he loved. He thoroughly enjoyed vexing and perplexing the woman he loved. He chuckled and strode past her to the cart where the liquor bottles sat and poured himself a glass of butterscotch Schnapps - not bourbon - before pouring one for Claire as well. The smell of the drink was strangely comforting, and Claire took the glass from his hand.

"Besides, shouldn't we look on the bright side?" Lex said as Claire took an admittedly much-needed swig from the glass. "Desaad's command post is a pile of rubble downtown. It buys us time to get to the bottom of the Darkseid debacle."

"Buys us time?"

"Well, of course," Lex said before taking a swig of his own drink, then chuckling at Claire as though she had just said something very silly. "You and I both know that you're not going to let it go, and I can't very well let you take this on alone."

"I'm not alone. I have -"

"Bruce Wayne? Clark Kent?" Lex asked, cocking his head condescendingly. "Who delivered the lead to you on Desaad?"

"You."

"Who was by your side when you wanted to walk right into that lions' den?"

"You."

"Precisely," Lex beamed, looking genuinely haughty that Claire had responded this way without prompting. "So it'll be you and I at the finish line, whether you like it or not."

And it dawned on Claire that Lex no longer cared about working against the Justice League - at the end of the day, it was not about opposition. It was about winning, and Lex Luthor was determined, for the sake of his own pride and principle that the Earth did not belong to men who came from the sky, to win.

A/N

I know, I have been missing in action for a long time! Life has been hectic, but I'm trying my best to stabilize. All good things, but things that have been keeping me very busy. In any case, I pushed my way through writing a chapter because I wanted the opportunity to let everyone know that I hadn't forgotten about all of you, and I'm doing my best to keep chugging away. Some days are better than others. The fandom has been relatively quiet lately, so I'm hoping I haven't lost all of you!

There was a lot of skipping around in this chapter in the aftermath of the events at Club Desaad last time, so forgive the split perspectives. I hope you all still enjoyed the update, however brief it may have been, and I will hopefully have more updates to come! In the meantime, I am also open to one-shot/outtake requests that, if I get them done, I will post on Tumblr to keep my creative juices flowing! I have a little bit of a back log, but I am going to try and pick a few to do to help get my writing mojo warmed up again. So, send any suggestions or requests my way!

As always I appreciate everyone reaching out and letting me know that you're all out there. I haven't forgotten all of you, and I am so very grateful that you haven't forgotten about me! Until next time, cheers!