Welcome to the Parade

Washington D.C.

"So who has the first question?"

Even as the words left his mouth Clark was thinking this was a mistake. He could feel every eye on him. Arthur and Diana had moved to flank him on either side. A mixture of anxiety and confusion seemed to almost radiate off them as they wondered what he was doing. That was something he was wondering too. This wasn't where he wanted to be, out in front. That was for others. He was more used to being the one asking the questions.

"So are there internal problems among the members of the Justice League, Superman?"

"No."

He didn't elaborate and pointed to the next in a sea of raised hands. The following series of questions he gave the same short answers too. The reporters were getting frustrated. He answered the questions, but he wasn't telling them anything.

"Are you quitting or have they forced you out after Dallas?"

"No, I'm still a member."

As he started to point to the next reporter, Diana decided to step to the microphone. With a smile, she gently, yet firmly moved Clark to the side.

"I think I can say for all the members, that Superman is still considered a valuable part of the team."

Taking her cue, Arthur spoke up.

"Yes we remain united."

"Even after he attacked you?"

Arthur and Diana had moved closer to the microphones, but Clark knew if he was going to do this he couldn't let them speak for him. He appreciated what they were trying to do, but he was here now. It was his actions that triggered this.

"What happened in Dallas was a miscommunication,' he started. "I take full responsibility for it."

Arthur seemed to want to clarify this, but Clark continued.

"The Justice League like all new organizations is going to have growing pains,' he explained. "We are all strong individuals that work together in times of crisis. We maybe have disagreements at times, but we are all dedicated to the same goal."

Arthur and Diana glanced at him. Clark thought he saw something in their brief looks that said 'are we?' but they quickly turned to the audience and reinforced this point.

"Yes, we stand together as always to confront any threats to this world,' Arthur said. "From internal or external."

"Let those that worship evil and its supposed might know this, the Justice League's collective power stands ready,' Diana added.

Clark almost smirked, wondering if Diana even realized she was paraphrasing the Green Lantern's oath. She'd just guaranteed herself several more attempts from Hal to pick her up.

"You're an alien, Superman, is that your goal too?"

There it was, the question that always came up. It was the reason Clark had always been hesitant to speak at events like this and stayed in the background. It was what governments, the military and the regular man and woman on the street still worried about with him. Diana started to object to the question and Arthur rose to his defense, but Clark knew he had to be the one to address it.

"I was born on another world, yes,' he said. "That world is gone and this is the only home I've ever known. I grew up here just like all of you. My values reflect that. I fight for Truth and Justice for everyone, but most of all for Peace. I look towards tomorrow like all of you and hope for a better world. I'm trying, just like so many others are, to contribute to that Better World. That's my goal."

There was an almost eerie pause in the crowd. The only sound was flash bulbs going off in the thousands. Every camera held a steady shot of Superman that was being broadcast to the world. He didn't flinch, but stood tall, as his words seemed to resonant through the crowd. He leaned into the microphones.

"That's all I came to say. I'll step aside for Aquaman and Wonder Woman as the leaders of the League to continue. They have my complete support. Thank you."

Clark took a step back and then lifted off the podium and ascended up into the sky. He disappeared in the next moment. Aquaman and Wonder Woman looked at each other for a moment and then turned to the reporters.

"Yes, a Better World, that's what we fight for,' Diana remarked.

"Who has the next question?" Arthur said with a smile.

Gotham

Bruce sat in front of a large array of monitors. The nain center screen had the Justice League press conference on it. He was just as surprised as anyone when Superman showed up. Bruce had mixed feelings about the press conference from the beginning. From a practical standpoint he understood it probably had to be done. Their effectiveness relied on the public at large trusting the League. Any doubt undermined what they were trying to do.

The problem he had with it was two fold. One, it just went against his very nature to be open and transparent about the inner workings of anything he was involved in. You handle it privately. People didn't need to know what went on behind closed doors.

His second problem went to the very nature of who he was. He was Batman. For all intensive purposes he considered himself the leader of the Justice League. Some in the group might grumble or quibble about it, but when the chips were down he called the shots. Again, he was Batman. Because he was Batman the problem was he couldn't be the face of the League. Batman was a creature of the shadows and had to remain something of a mystery. He couldn't be standing on a podium in broad daylight answering reporters questions on worldwide news feed.

This meant others stepped forward. In essence Aquaman was letting the world know that he was the leader and the spokesman for the Justice League. Bruce could look at this two ways. One, as a direct challenge to him for leadership or two, as another member doing what he was unwilling to do. Both views had validity.

There was also the matter of Wonder Woman being front and center at the news conference. It seemed five years had changed her from the rather naïve princess new to the world. She had gained confidence and understanding of the world around her. The news conference could in many ways be looked at as her coming out party. She was telling the world with saying the words directly that she was now accepting all the challenges that came and was a leader.

Arthur and Diana were strong personalities with natural leadership skills. The press conference could be seen as a shift in the basic dynamic of the group. The incident in Dallas along with other recent events had cause a reevaluation. Bruce wasn't going to be able to maintain the status quo as the defacto leader of the group.

This posed some problems and some opportunities for him. It seemed more of this time was being spent in Gotham and that was always his first priority. Others stepping up within the League would allow him to focus more of this time here. He could pull back from having a central role in the day-to-day operations of the League yet still maintain his influence. He still believed in a crisis he was the best suited for command, but he had to be aware of others stepping into more active leadership roles.

He wasn't one that liked giving up control of anything he was involved in, but the reality was clear to him. His role would change and he would be more in the background then before. That part was fine but he wasn't ready to give up too much control. Arthur and Diana brought many skills to the table, but Bruce still believed he had more experience. He'd been doing this longer than any of them, so he saw the bigger picture. He would let them be the faces of the Justice League, but he wasn't ready just yet to follow anyone else. He would pick his moments carefully to assert himself as still the on the ground leader when it mattered.

The wildcard in all of it was Superman. Bruce found his appearance at the press conference interesting. Knowing Clark a little better than the others members, Bruce could see Clark was uncomfortable in front of the microphones. It was something they shared, although for different reasons. Bruce had to smile as he listened to Clark give one-word answers to the reporters' questions. It seemed the reporter in Clark had picked up a few habits from those he interviewed.

Then something fascinating happened. Bruce found himself leaning forward as Clark articulated in a few short sentences his values and goals. By extension they had just become the League's goals and values. A better world, that was what they were all working and fighting for. Bruce had been around long enough to know that was the headline that would come out of the press conference. Man of Tomorrow speaks about a Better World.

Bruce sat back wondering if Clark even realized he'd just made himself the face of the Justice League.

Clark as Superman had started a little after Bruce had become Batman. While Batman began as a myth or an urban legend, Superman had burst onto the scene in broad daylight in all his Technicolor glory. The others were famous, but Superman was probably the most well known hero on the planet. He was the alien among us with God-like powers that was both feared and admired. Dallas had confirmed what many had been warning about, but now Clark had finally spoken about his goals and values. In many ways they were the same ones he had as a reporter, just on a grander scale. What this would mean for the future was something Bruce was keenly interested in.

He glanced at the large screen and could see the press conference was winding down. It had slipped into the entertainment; gossipy sort of questions and Arthur was trying to wrap it up.

Two things caught Bruce's attention on the smaller screens. A live report from Europe about an explosion of an illegal arms warehouse was coming in on the BBC. He switched it to the main screen and listened. The facts all seemed very straight forward, but then the reporter mention that sources had confirmed the vigilante The Huntress was involved.

At the same time an alert sounded from the Gotham Airport. Bruce had managed to install facial recognition software into the cameras so he would know who was arriving. If criminals and villains were planning anything in his city, he wanted to be the first to know they were there. Pulling up the live feed, he was mildly surprised to see Helena making her way through customs. He was sure she was The Huntress, but how could she be in two places at once? That was one of the questions that sprang to his mind. Others followed.

What was she doing in Gotham, his city?

Was this just another part of the game?

Who the hell is she, really?

He thought he caught something on the tape. He stopped it and backed it up. Yes, there it was, just for a tiny fraction of the second. She had looked up at the cameras and smiled. She knew he was watching her. Bruce pulled up everything on her flight, including the passenger list. He quickly scanned down it and stopped when he saw the name. She was definitely playing the game, he thought. If he had any doubt, the name she was listed under said it all. He actually laughed as he read it.

Helena Pennyworth.

Game On.

Rome

Karen moved around the small apartment looking for clues as to where Helena had gone. She'd gotten all her messages, but hadn't wanted to talk to her until now. Last night and this morning had changed things and she wanted to talk to her best friend in person.

Because of her rapid success in business and the attention it brought, it was sometimes hard to remember Karen was only twenty-two going on twenty-three. She had only been a teenager when she arrived here just like Helena. They'd both had to grow up fast to deal with their new situation. While for the most part they'd done spectacularly, well they were both still very young. Many firsts were still in front of them.

Clark wasn't the first man Karen had been with. As a beautiful young teenager and then woman out on her own she had certainly done a bit of flirting and hooking up. She had a healthy interested in the opposite sex like a majority her age. For the most part she kept it casual, but had crushed hard on a few. It was part of that growing up process that we all have to suffer through.

Now it felt different. Nothing about being with Clark felt casual. It felt too intimate, as if he were already too close. Her behavior towards him mirrored the conflict going on inside of her. She wanted to push him away, yet she'd gone to him. She wanted him to leave her alone, yet when he did she didn't like it. She tried ignoring him, but then got angry when he in turn ignored her. Worst of all, while her focus should have been on getting home, she found herself thinking about him.

Helena's clothes were gone and Karen knew she'd probably wiped the place clean of prints. Without a clue where Helena was at the moment, she grabbed a soda and sat down in front of the computer. It was a place Karen had always felt comfortable. She'd spent countless hours pouring over every bit of information she could about getting back to her world. It was how she first heard of Michael Holt and the quantum tunneler. Even back home, where her cousin had tried to keep her safe and away from the public eye she had explored the outside world through computers. She hit all the usual sites, checking messages and updating contacts and status. Arriving at a news site, she clicked on the link to the fire in the Italy countryside.

A groan escaped Karen's lips as she saw the reference to The Huntress. She knew how her friend's mind worked, so this had to be for a reason. Why would she want everyone to know that the Huntress was involved, Karen asked herself? It had to be an alibi, but for what? It took a few moments, but then she was able to piece together what she thought Helena was doing. An alibi was only needed if Helena popped up somewhere else at the same time. Given whom she was playing with it wasn't hard to figure out where she planned on popping up.

Gotham.

"You're playing with fire, Helena and you're going to get burned."

Karen was just about to closer her browser window when she saw the link to the Justice League press conference. She wondered if he would be there. The temptation was too hard to resist, so she clicked on the link. She watched the video. She froze it on the image of him at the microphone with Aquaman and Wonder Woman standing on either side. This was his world and that's where he should be, she thought. It wasn't like back home, but it still felt right that he should be front and center of the Justice League.

But where did that leave her? Did she have a place in his world?

No, Karen stopped herself, don't even go there. This isn't your world and the sooner you get back to where you belong the better. Don't loose focus on what matters, yet even as she told herself this, she couldn't help wondering if what mattered hadn't change? As hard as she tried, she couldn't dismiss that she'd slept with Superman. No, she thought, not Superman, Clark. Yes there were one and the same, but in her mind a difference had already formed.

Superman was her forty-year-old cousin back home. The man she had spent the night with was completely different. It should have freaked her out when she thought of it. They had the same names and everything, but they weren't the same. She wasn't related to this world's Clark Kent. There was already a Supergirl here. Just as Bruce Wayne here wasn't married to Selina Kyle, this world's Clark wasn't the same man as the one back home. The differences were so striking now that she couldn't even think of them as versions of the same person.

As she looked at the image of him on the screen she knew that different choices had been made. Just as her very presence couldn't help but change the timeline, it had already diverged from the one she was familiar with even before she arrived. So if everything was changed, Karen couldn't help thinking where they left her in this world.

Was there a place for her here?

Was getting back home still her priority?

What did it mean for her and him if she stayed? Would that mean she was changing what might occur in this world's future if she didn't go home?

She didn't have any answers to these questions. Her whole frame of reference was her own world and what happened there. More and more she was realizing she couldn't just overlay this world on that one. Too much was different, especially the people. Assumptions and views were going to have to change if she was going to accept the reality of her situation.

There were still bigger questions that she didn't have an answer to.

What did she want? What did he want? Did they want the same thing and did it involve each other?

Gotham Airport

Helena did her best to control her excitement. She'd been avoiding this city since she arrived, but now she was finally here. In a way it felt like coming home, but she wasn't going to fall into the trap of thinking if was the same. She moved along with the other passengers and stopped at customs. With a quick glance she spotted the cameras and even allowed a little smile. She assumed he was tapped into them and would already know she was here. That's just what she wanted. She stepped up the counter.

"Welcome to Gotham, Miss Pennyworth,' the clerk said. "Are you here for business or pleasure?'

"Oh, pleasure, definitely pleasure," she replied.