EPILOGUE: Two hours later, Lois was watching as Kara flew over to Kal, standing on a rock outcropping and thinking.
"A penny for your thoughts..." She gently squeezed him on the right shoulder. He looked at her. She could see sadness and indecision in his features.
"Kal...?" she prodded.
"You have Seyg-El's eyes, and Alura's lips."
She stared at him. "How do you..." She paused. "Something happened while Rao and Nara were healing your body." It was clearly not a question.
"I...was in between life and death, confused as hell...And then I met five souls, who helped calm me. Jor-El, Lara, Seyg-El and..."
Her eyes widened. "Mother and Father." she whispered, tears rising. "What...did they say, Kal?"
Lois watched silently as Clark rested his hand on Kara's sagging shoulders. She wiped her eyes and he hugged her. They both lifted off and flew back toward her in formation, landing seconds later in front of her.
Clark looked at her and nodded sadly, looking out over the frozen wasteland. "There was more to my past...to Krypton...to Jor-El and Lara...than I ever guessed. I...lost more than I thought."
"Well, Kara'd be able to help there. No one would be more able to put a...human...face on their culture." She looked at Kara, curiously. "What were your people like?"
"Fearful and isolated. We were so afraid of all who were different...Afraid of feelings. A great deal of technology and nothing to do but dwell on the past in your domicile...and sense the world dying around you." She hesitated, sadness on her face. "Krypton, eons ago, was so much like here. Diverse...vibrant...We had such wisdom, such potential...I wish we had recovered."
Kal gently put his hand to her face and gently lifted her head to look at him. "Keep that in mind...learn from it. We have people here that are like that. It's up to us to make a difference...and keep it from happening here."
He hesitated.
"We all make a difference in other people's lives...and it has NOTHING to do with powers...and EVERYTHING to do with heart. People have said I inspire others as Superman...and that's fine. But it's when I help as Clark Kent...when I come from the human vantage point...that I TRULY feel like I connect, like I make a real difference." He hesitated again, staring out at the white, frozen landscape. "Ironically, the people I admire the MOST...don't have any powers. All they have is their humanity ... and their courage. The police… The firefighters… who put their own lives in danger in order to save the lives of others. Doctors, Nurses, who give up their personal time to help heal others, Perry and Jimmy..."
A smile crossed his face. "Beautiful girl reporters..." Lois raised an eyebrow and elbowed him playfully.
Kara felt lost. "Kal, where do I go now? Do I come and live with you?"Superman was silent for a moment. How do we work this? he thought.
With Luthor in office, it would be a difficult task to get Oracle to hack into the government computers and give Kara an Identity that would hold up...
He contemplated what would likely happen if his nemesis, now President, got his fingers into Kara...It would only be marginally worse than handing Kara over to Darksied. He heard the crunching of snow and squeaking of wheels, and looked up as Bruce and Barbara came over...
"Clark, we're heading out." Bruce said.
"Kara, where are you going to go?" Barbara interjected. "I'd imagine you'd want to get settled about now."
Kara looked at the puzzled expression on Kal's face, and shrugged her shoulders.
Kal sighed. "Yeah, I was just thinking about that, Babs, but that IS a problem. I can't leave Kara at the Kents...Kon-El is living there already...people would start thinking they were running a boarding house." Kal took a deep breath, and then continued. "Lois & I can't take care of her full time either, and the Planet keeps us hopping to one story or another. Asking the President for help is, obviously, off the list, completely."
"What about me?" Babs said. "I've got room at the tower. Not MUCH, but it'd be enough to get her settled in."
Batman frowned. "I'm not sure about that, Barbara, you have a lot to do...WE have a lot to do in Gotham...It's not an...appropriate…home for her."
"Bruce, STOP IT! I made the offer, NOT you...Besides, I'd think someone with YOUR background would be encouraging this. She needs friends and family NOW more than ever. Getting into a 'normal' routine will help her tremendously." Barbara paused, eyes narrowed, looking up at the Dark Knight angrily. Then an evil smile crossed her face. "Of course, we could always send her to live with you. At least it would give Alfred company."
Batman grunted, but remained silent, staring down at the defiant former Batgirl...as he became acutely aware of one particular set of gray eyes quietly sizing him up...
"Just drop the knapsack on the table. You want something to eat?" Barbara opened the door to her refrigerator and sighed. "Ugh...I'm going to have to get down to the local Quik-E-Foods and restock. All I have is beef soup."
"That'll be fine." Kara replied. "If I could ask, what happened before…between you and Batman?"
Barbara sighed in frustration. "It's his reason for being…his obsession. He…has trust issues. There was a traumatic event years ago that scarred him mentally."
"His parents deaths?"
"Yeah, how did you…"
"He told me that when I awoke on the JLA moon base. He also mentioned that in his delerium."
Babs nodded. " That's it. I'm surprised he brought that up, though. For obvious reasons, he doesn't like to talk about it, but I doubt it's ever truly far from his thoughts." She paused, staring hard at the can of soup in her hands. She looked up at Kara with sadness in her eyes. "I think he probably asks now and then, 'Why me? Why was I the only one left alive?'. It's probably the ULTIMATE case of 'survivor's guilt'." Barbara paused, looking out the window and continued. "I'm not a psychatrist, but I've worked with him long enough to get a handle on him. I think that's why he has a tendency to be brusque and abrasive, why he pushes everyone away…He doesn't want to be hurt like that any more. He doesn't want to let anyone in for fear of that hurt…or hurting others if they care about him. It takes a long time before he trusts others and lets them in."
She sighed sadly. "For the most part, aside from his butler, he lives alone."
Barbara pulled another can out of the cabinet, and then continued. "Anyway, back on topic…that jab was my mean-spirited poke at his…paranoia.
Even his friends in the JLA found out the hard way about his caution. He doesn't trust them totally…and has been studying their strengths and weaknesses and preparing plans to stop them if they should ever turn against mankind. One of his enemies found these plans and took down the Justice League."
Kara looked at her in disbelief. "Yeah, I bet Kal stopped that."
Barbara shook her head.
"Diana stopped it?"
Barbara shook her head again. "They were ALL immobilized. Superman's skin had turned transparent, and his cells were painfully super-saturated with sunlight. Diana was trapped in a virtual reality world she couldn't get out of, and the rest fared no better. "
"Changing the subject…How do you like it here so far? Clark was telling me you spent time on Paradise Island." Barbara pulled two bowls out of the cabinets, opened both cans, and poured the contents into the bowls.
Kara was sitting at the table, her eyes golden, studying the computer system in the next room. "It was cool. I enjoyed meeting Diana and Troia and the rest of their 'sisters'. I LOVED their library...I just wish I had more time to delve into earth history." She stopped and watched as Barbara wheeled over to the microwave with the two bowls. "If you put them on the table, Barbara, I could speed up the process."
Barbara nodded, and placed them on the table. Two minutes later they were digging into their bowls hungrily.
Kara hesitated, and then reached into her bag, pulling out the gold memory crystal, her connection to a world long gone. She flicked the switch and stared at the holograms. Barbara watched silently. You can see the resemblance, she thought.
Kara paused, and then looked at her.
Staring at her past… facing her future, Kara began to tell her tale to her former best friend…
About a man named Jor-El, and his brother named Zor-El...
And that cold, doomed world they both fought to save...
END...For the moment...
"It's been a long road...
Getting from there to here...
It's been a long time...
But my time is finally here..."
Rod Stewart, 'Faith of the Heart'