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Broken Mirror (4/5)
A Justice League Unlimited Story
by BillA1
Copyright August 2007
Rating: (PG-13)
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CHAPTER FOUR
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Now the years are rolling by me, they are rocking even me
I am older than I once was, and younger than I'll be, that's not unusual
No it isn't strange, after changes upon changes, we are more or less the same
After changes we are more or less the same.

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Dennis Cuvier fumbled with the two bags of fast food as he knocked on the door of Kimmy's third floor apartment. Her five-floor apartment complex didn't have an elevator and Dennis was winded from climbing all those stairs.

He'd met Kimmy in college and had fallen in love with her. He knew she loved him as well, but not as deeply as he loved her. They'd been lovers over the last four years, but with Kimmy it was just sex, it was never 'making love.' Sometimes Dennis got the feeling that he was just a 'tool' to her and those feelings had intensified since the death of her mother.

Dennis had considered walking away from her when it became clear that she was using him to get assigned to Doctor Dorian's staff. But that was all he did - consider it. He knew he could never leave her if there was a chance that she would really care for him the way he cared for her.

"Who is it?" she called out from behind the door.

"Dennis...with dinner."

She opened her door and let him in. She looked terrible, he thought, and she was shivering underneath the blanket she had wrapped around her. She took one of bags from him and placed it on the table in the living room and sat down.

Her TV set was on the local news channel where some man was being interviewed about Hawkgirl being a criminal. Kimmy was smiling through her obvious discomfort.

"It's all over the news," Dennis said, realizing he was stating the obvious. "There have even been a couple of newspaper and TV editorials calling for Hawkgirl to turn herself in." He sat down next to Kimmy, placing the other bag of food on the table. Her blanket shifted, opening a bit and he realized she was naked underneath it.

She took a sip of the clear soda Dennis had brought for her. "I know. It won't be long now," she said. "One or two more appearances, then there will be more than enough calls for her to be locked up."

Dennis shook his head and wrapped his arm around her. "Kim, you know I love you and will do just about anything for you, but I'm not sure about this anymore. It took you almost 12 hours to recover from the effects of the last mutagen injection."

Kimmy moved away from Dennis' arm and stood. "But I did recover. The antidote works almost instantly, reversing the effects of the mutagen injection."

"Yeah, but it takes you almost twelve hours to recover from the mental side effects." And Dennis wasn't sure any more that she was fully recovered after the twelve hours.

Kimmy gave a small smile. It was the smile that he fell in love with. "But I did recover," she said, "and that's what important."

Dennis stood. "Yeah, but what happens if you encounter one of the Justice League or even Hawkgirl herself? Suppose someone shoots at you? Suppose you get shot."

Kimmy frowned at Dennis and wrapped the blanket around herself a little tighter. "I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. The goal is to get that dirty hawk punished for letting her people kill my mother. When she's behind bars then there will be some justice for my mom." She paused shaking her head and she looked up into Dennis' face. "I just know that if the Government can get her in custody alone, they'll never let her get out alive."

Dennis reached around to hug her. "Look, I just worry about you coming out of this alive." He paused before adding, "And whole." He leaned down to kiss her, but she pulled away and stepped out of his embrace.

"I know you worry, lover," she said. "So do I. Now you need to get off to the lab. Let the doc know I'll be in to do the research cataloging in the morning. I need to rest for a couple of more hours then get the costume ready for Hawkgirl's next appearance."

Dennis nodded and watched her walk back to her bedroom and close her door. He looked at the bags on the coffee table and then to the front door. As he let himself out, he wondered how much longer he could go on with her.

Or without her.

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(That night)

Batman never took anything for granted. Waller had told him that security for the facility would be minimized between 9:15 and 9:30, but Batman trusted no one. He decided he would get to the lab before Waller's 'minimal security' went into effect.

At 9 PM, fifteen minutes ahead of schedule, he attacked the video room security guard, gassing him to leave him unconscious for thirty minutes. After disabling the video camera controls, he made his way to Dorian's lab.

He had expected to confront at least one of the security personnel in the hallway, but no one was there. He turned the handle on the lab door. It was unlocked. He entered, locking the door behind him. The room was dark and using a small flashlight, he made his way smartly to a multi-drawer file cabinet in a corner of the room. Quickly picking the lock, he opened the drawer and searched the files. With his usual efficient style, he thumbed through the papers discovering that Dorian had initially started working on human DNA augmentation using leopard and Cooper's Hawk DNA. The record showed that work on the Cooper's Hawk augmentation had stopped three years ago because the test subjects later developed a psychosis whereas with the leopard DNA they did not.

He examined the photographs of the Cooper's Hawk test subjects and he saw the progression of control of the placement of the wings on the body. In the first set of photos, the test subjects had feathers all over their bodies and reminded him of the bang baby, Talon, who he met when he went to the city of Dakota and worked with Static. In later photos, the wings and feathers were isolated to the back of the test subjects and reminded him of a Thanagarian. A Hawkman.

He closed the file and pondered that someone had gotten hold of the mutagens from this project and was now using it. It was simply a matter of determining who and he wondered who had access to this work. He searched the files for the names of Dorian's assistants and his jaw dropped when he came across the name of Kimberly Ventris.

Oh no, he thought. Was this what Waller meant about sentimentality? He recalled that he'd tried to find Kimberly after learning her mother had died during the Thanagarian invasion, but she had disappeared without a trace. Later, he discovered that her father, Lloyd, had died in prison shortly before her mother did. Now, he felt ashamed to think that he had forgotten about her when finding her had been such a priority in the early days after the invasion. He looked up the home address of Ventris, the other assistant Cuvier and then Dorian.

He'd just put the files back in the cabinet when he heard the handle of the lab door jiggle. "Watchtower! Transport me to the Metrotower," he whispered pressing his finger against his ear. He was transported before the lab door opened.

It was 9:14.

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Kimberly wasn't sure what woke her up, but her sleep had been restless. She glanced at her alarm clock.

11:57 PM

She turned over and closed her eyes. Suddenly she opened them again and sat up. Her bedroom window was open and she distinctly remembered closing it before she went to bed.

"Hello, Kimmy," a deep voice said out of the darkness. Her heart quickened. She hadn't heard that voice in years.

"Batman?" She pulled her bed covering up to her neck. How long had he been in the room? Had he found her Hawkgirl outfit? "What are you doing here?" she bluffed.

"How'd you end up working for Dorian?" Batman said as he stepped out of the shadows.

"What? No 'how are you doing'?" she responded. "No 'how are your mom and dad'? Instead you sneak into my bedroom like you did when I was a little girl." An idea crossed her mind. She tossed the covers aside she'd been holding up to her neck revealing that she slept in the nude. "Do I still look like a little girl to you?"

Batman didn't move or say anything. He just continued to stare at her and after a moment or two of silence, suddenly Kimberly felt uncomfortable and reached for her robe at the foot of her bed. She put it on and got out of bed.

"I heard about your mother," Batman said. "And about your father. Also how you used a ten year old check to pay for your mother's funeral."

"What? There wasn't a problem with the check, was there? I told the undertaker to use it to pay for the funerals for others killed by those murdering hawks."

"The check was honored. How did the Thanagarians kill your mother?"

Tears formed in her eyes. "After we left Gotham when I was child, we moved to Metropolis. Shortly afterwards, that check from Mister Wayne arrived and my mom said the check was intended for my college fund. Apparently there was some sort of cash grant for college that Mister Wayne gave to children of criminals. At least that's what my mom said.

"But she didn't want to take charity so she never cashed the check, but told me if I need the money, it was mine. My mom worked hard to send me to college, never taking a dime she didn't earn. I worked and got a scholarship and then an internship at S.T.A.R. Labs and they also helped pay for my college. Then the invasion occurred. My mom was working as a waitress in a restaurant in Metropolis. She and I were supposed to meet for lunch at the park right off the Metropolis pier. I was late because I working on a weapon that shot dark colored, opaque plastic cocoons to exploit what we thought was a Thanagarian weakness, claustrophobia. My mom was in the park when a Thanagarian ship crashed into the bay. The crash generated ten-foot high waves that swept over the pier and washed over the park. My mother drowned and was swept out to the bay. It took two days for them to recover her body. That's how they killed her." She paused as she wiped away the tears. "Those dirty hawks killed my mother and they never paid for that. None of them paid for taking her from me and every single one of them should have, including the one you work with."

Batman said nothing for a moment and then repeated: "How'd you end up working for Dorian?"

Kimberly inhaled sharply. "We met and he offered me a job. Now you'll excuse me, but I want you to leave."

Batman moved to the open window. "You give Dorian a message. You tell him I've not forgotten he's already hurt a friend of mine. If I discover that he's responsible for this fake Hawkgirl as well, he'll find this planet is not big enough for him to hide on." He removed a device from his cape and shot something out the window. Then he stood there for a long moment with his back to her, blocking Kimberly's view of what he was doing. He looked down toward the windowsill and then dived out the window.

Kimberly ran to window and as she watched him swing out of sight, she shouted, "I'm not your messenger."

She closed the window and took a deep breath. She needed a drink.

Badly.

Suddenly she thought about her Hawkgirl costume and ran to her living room to check on it. She opened her living room closet and pulled out the stepstool that was inside, leaning, against the wall. She stood on the stool, pushed against the closet ceiling and removed a one-foot by two-foot ceiling panel. The costume was still there; hidden along with her helmet and wig exactly where she'd left it and it didn't look to have been disturbed. She put the panel back and stepped down off the stepstool.

As she walked to the kitchen, she considered making that drink a double.

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Carter, in his Hawkman guise, and Shayera watched Batman swing away from a third floor apartment window. Carter was surprised by the woman who came to window and yelled at Batman something about not being his messenger. They then watched as Batman swung away and then circled so he joined them on the rooftop after the woman had closed her window and turned out her light.

"Well?" Shayera asked.

"She knows something about the fake Hawkgirl," Batman said. "I'm sure of it."

"What makes you say that?" Carter asked, ignoring Shayera's 'this is Batman you're talking to' look.

Batman held his fist out toward Carter. "This!" he said as he opened his hand revealing a bunch of downy feathers in his palm. "They were on the windowsill."

Shayera shrugged her shoulders. "From birds sitting on the outside of the sill."

Batman closed his hand and put the feathers in his belt. "These were inside the room."

"If they match the ones from the bank holdup, then she's the fake Hawkgirl," Carter offered. For moment he really felt like he was contributing and he would later tell Shayera it was a great feeling until she said, "If they match, Carter, it only means that the fake was inside the room. It doesn't mean it was her."

Then Shayera turned to Batman. "But what I don't understand is why. Why me?"

"Your people killed her mother," he said. Shayera frowned and Batman added, "That is, according to her. But that's not the whole story. Her mother drowned when a Thanagarian ship crashed into Metropolis pier. It was most likely the prison ship that the rest of us were held on. We caused it to crash during our escape; so in a way, all seven of us are responsible for her death."

Carter heard Shayera's sharp intake of air, but she didn't say anything. For a moment, Carter felt sorry for Shayera and was sure she'd internalize this news into more guilt. As if she needed more of that in her life.

Batman frowned as he continued. "She wants revenge on all Thanagarians, probably through you." Then he turned to Carter and put his finger to his ear, "Hall, watch her window. Call me if she has any visitors that come through the window. Watchtower, beam Shayera and me up."

Before he could say anything both Shayera and Batman were gone. Carter gritted his teeth and cursed into the darkness, "Sure Batman. I have nothing else to do. I'll stand guard all night, but only cause you asked so damn nice! And for your information, Bats, it's Hawkman and you can go straight to hell!"

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"That was rude, even for you," Shayera snapped when they materialized in the Watchtower transporter. Batman started walking away, down the corridor, but Shayera wasn't going to let this one go quite yet. "Carter isn't one of your sidekicks," she continued. "He's the only one trying to help me."

Batman stopped and turned around to face her. She sighed loudly. "You know what I meant. He's trying to be helpful," she amended.

"I'm more interested in what you plan to do if the Ventris woman is the fake Hawkgirl."

Shayera would later admit to John that she was surprised at Batman's question. "Take her down. What else would I do?"

Batman wrapped his cape around himself. "Not this time. I'll be the one to deal with her. If she's responsible I'll handle her."

Shayera arched her eyebrows. "What? You have some history with her?"

Batman was silent.

"You do, don't you?" she continued. "What is she? Some old girlfriend?"

"No," Batman said emphatically. "But she's my responsibility." He turned and walked away as he said, "And mine alone."

Shayera folded her arms across her chest and frowned as she watched Batman walk away. "She may have been yours before," she mumbled under her breath, "but if she's that fake Hawkgirl, she's mine!"

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To be continued
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