Chapter 28

Helena was the first to head up as she knew she needed her rest more than the others, given her injuries. She was going to head straight to bed, but when she exited the study she noticed the light was coming from the Great Hall. She knew her father would have that set-up as a makeshift hospital and that Dick would be in there.

She walked in to find Dick lying in a hospital bed in the back corner of the room. As she approached the bed she could see he was asleep, along with the twins, who were lying on each side of him. Barbara was obviously awake and was working on her tablet.

Barbara smiled weakly when she saw Helena. "How is Dick doing?" she asked the woman.

"Okay, for now, as long as there are no setbacks." Helena could detect the fear and sadness in the woman's voice. She took a look at all the machines that Dick was hooked up to and tried to read what she could understand. He was apparently stable, but there was no way to know if that would hold.

"He's in an induced coma," Barbara told her

"How long will he have to be out?" Helena asked.

"A couple of days, at least," Barbara replied.

"This might all be over by the time he wakes up," Helena explained. "Tomorrow-"

"I know what you guys are doing," she said as she held up the tablet. "I figured you would have a bug in the cave and I hacked into the feed."

Helena smiled at the woman's ingenuity. "I'm more than willing to help out," she said. "You were right, Maril's going to come. She could never stay away when we were in trouble."

Helena was going to ask her some questions about tomorrow, but was interrupted by the sound of Harriet smacking her father on her sleep. "Can I ask a favor of you, Helena?" Barbara asked.

"Anything," she replied.

"Can you take the twins and put them in their own bed. They would probably sleep better there and they wouldn't disturb Dick."

"Of course," Helena answered. She carefully picked up Harriet so as not to wake her. She held the girl against her with one arm and walked over to get James. She had a little bit more difficulty picking him up with one arm, but she got him against her chest in the same manner as Harriet.

She walked out of the hall, but looked back at Dick and Babs just before she made it out. Barbara wheeled herself closer to Dick and laid a hand on him. Helena realized she partly wanted the twins taken so she could have some private time with her husband.

Helena didn't have any trouble walking while carrying both toddlers. They weren't heavy to her, but carrying both of them was a little awkward. It was especially tough because she was trying to walk without waking them up.

Helena carried the twins up to her floor. She knew there was at least one bedroom with an open door she could just walk through. The bedroom across from her own had its door open and she kicked it all the way open as she took the twins inside. Its window had a blast door covering it, but enough light made its way in from the hallway that Helena was able to see her way around. She walked to the bed and did her best to kick the covers back. She gently put each kid in the bed and then pulled the covers around them.

Despite her best attempts to be extremely gentle, Harriet woke up. The girl started trembling as she looked around with her wide eyes. "Where's Mom?" she said in a fearful voice. "Where's Dad?"

"There just downstairs, sweetie," Helena answered as she kissed her forehead and rubbed her stomach to try and comfort her. "Your mother just had me bring the two of you up here because she thought you would be more comfortable. Your father is doing just fine."

"What's happening out there?" she asked as tears started to fill her eyes. Helena knew instantly she was talking about the invasion that she had seen take out the clock tower.

"It's all quiet, right now," Helena answered as she continued to stroke the girl's stomach. "Your Uncle Bruce has made the manor the safest place on Earth. Nobody is going to be able to touch us in here."

"What about everyone else?"

Helena knew this question was going to be a little bit more difficult to answer. "Well, the army that invaded isn't doing anything right now. They seem to be taking a rest. We are going to be out there tomorrow. I know we can beat them."

Harriet looked away from Helena. She knew the girl understood they had little chance of taking on a whole army. "Don't worry about us, Harriet. Tomorrow your sister is going to be here with an army and they will beat back this force."

Harriet's attitude changed and her eyes beamed with joy hearing about Maril's army. "Really?" she asked.

"Yes, really," Helena answered. "Now get some sleep. It will seem like Maril gets here quicker if you're sleeping for most of it. Now I'm going to be across the hall. Don't be afraid to come in if you need anything." Helena kissed Harriet on the forehead again and walked out of the room. She closed the door gently to make sure she didn't wake up James.

As she walked across the hall to her room she thought about the conversation she just had with Harriet. "Don't make me a liar, Maril," she said to herself.

As Helena entered her room she heard the sound of voices and immediately took a defensive posture. It didn't take her long to realize the voices were those of her parents and Lois. She had left on the speaker for the bug and it was still relaying everything it picked up. She ran over to it just to catch the end of the conversation.

"So, it's settled then," her father's gruff voice said. "If Lash and Superman go anywhere we will follow them in the jet. We can't leave Clark on his own."

Helena heard the two women voice their agreement. She then heard footsteps as they all went up the stairs. She cursed them for making plans behind her back like this. She was especially mad at Lois, who was acting hypocritically by leaving her out of their plans. Helena knew she was going to have to make her own plans to follow them. She turned the speaker off and then tried to get some sleep.

Diana was surprised to find the bedroom dark when she entered. She hadn't expected Bruce to hit the sack so quickly. He had gone directly to their room while she had shown Lois to one of the guest rooms. She had talked a little with Lois. The conversation must have lasted longer than she thought.

She could see fine in the dark and made her way over to her dresser. She took everything off and then crawled into bed naked. She slid over next to her husband, pressed her body against his back and wrapped an arm around him. She brushed her hand against his bare chest as she kissed the back of his shoulder.

She rubbed her hand against his chest and felt the old, wrinkled skin. She thought back to how big and muscular his chest had been when they were first married. She kissed his neck and laid her cheek on his, feeling the skin that was beginning to become flabby. It pained her to think about how old he had become and how he was still going to go out and fight tomorrow, despite it.

"Checking to see how sturdy I am?" Bruce asked his wife. She was surprised to find out he was still awake.

"Maybe just a little," she admitted.

"Are you that ready to deem me an invalid?"

"I'm just worried about you, Bruce," she whispered in his ear. "I love you and need you and would be devastated if anything happened to you. You should know this already."

Bruce stayed silent as he didn't know quite how to respond to his wife. He hated to admit he was thinking about his mortality more and more. He knew he couldn't stay home tomorrow, he was needed to badly. He hoped this would be the last mission he would ever have to partake in.

Helena tossed and turned in bed. When she had come up to her room she had felt too wired to actually sleep. She was proud of herself for convincing the others to actually fight and she was anxious to see her plan put into action. She knew she needed to be rested, though, and did her best to try and get some sleep. She was hampered by her anger over knowing her parents were planning things behind her back.

She tried to do what she could to calm herself down. She tried to think about the importance of this mission in the hopes the feeling of gravitas would convince her body to go to sleep. Thinking about the mission just reminded her of all her friends who were imprisoned. Her mind especially focused on Connor. She had no way to know for sure if he had been captured, but she knew there was a good chance he was. As she thought about him she started getting fearful that the worst had happened to him. She remembered the conversation she had with Maril on the day they had been told Rex had died. Maril had said she could feel Rex was still alive. Helena wasn't able to feel anything about Connor. She wondered what that said about their relationship.

Helena tried to do everything she could to get herself to sleep, but nothing worked. She finally decided to get some fresh air. She opened the window and stepped out onto the roof. The cool breeze felt good against her. She looked around to make sure there were no ships flying around that might be able to spot her. As she looked around she saw Clark sitting on the top of the roof, looking up at the sky.

He wasn't paying attention to her and she wondered if he knew she was out there. She immediately realized this was a stupid thought because with his senses he would have heard her the moment she stepped out.

She walked up to him. "Would you mind some company?" she asked.

"Of course not," he said without looking back at her. She sat down by his side. "Looking at anything in particular?" she asked.

"Just the empty sky," he said. "Brainiac doesn't have any craft in space above the atmosphere," he said. "At least none in the portion I can actually see. Hopefully it will stay that way. We don't want the Tamaraneans to have to face the forces the moment they come out of hyperspace."

"Unable to take your mind off an upcoming mission, you're becoming more like my father every day."

She could see Clark snicker in the moonlight. "That might not be such a bad thing," he said. "He always had the mental toughness to do what needed to be done," he said.

Helena was unsure what he was trying to get at. "What do you think needs to be done?" she asked bluntly.

"I need to betray my own flesh and blood," he said.

Clark had put up a brave face earlier, but she knew the fact they were going up against his son had to be causing him great anguish. She tried to think about what her parents would do if things were reversed, and knew they probably wouldn't be doing as well as Clark was. He was stronger in comparison to them than he realized.

"What do you see yourself having to do?" she asked.

"I don't know, exactly," he said. "I don't know my son, but I do know Brainiac, and he now has a bond with Lash-El, a bond that would not have occurred if he hadn't seen my son to be as heartless as he was. Their plans are likely not good, and they must be stopped no matter what the cost."

Helena wasn't sure how far Clark was willing to go and she wasn't sure she wanted to find out. "Are you sure your son is not unwillingly being controlled by Brainiac."

He snickered again. "I know the world he grew up in and I know the woman who raised him. Outside of his genes, he is not my son at all."

Helena was both reassured and taken aback by Clark's words. She was reassured that his connection to Lash-El would not cause him to hold back, but it was still shocking to hear him talk about his own son that way. She was uncomfortable thinking about it and left him alone as she didn't want to hear any more from him.