Chapter 34

Helena needed to be on her way, but figured she had enough time to talk to Maril. She walked out of the Manor's front door to find the sun almost blotted out by all the Tamaranean ships flying over head. It wasn't hard for Helena to find Maril, flying all over the place and barking out orders.

Helena watched Maril for a few moments to detect the pattern in her flight. When she picked it up she was able to run to a spot where she could flag Maril easily. Even from a good distance, it was obvious her face had lit up when she caught sight of her friend.

"Helena, we were so worried," she said as she flew over and embraced Helena. The two of them were silent for a long time. For the moment they just basked in the feeling their closest friend was okay, and the worst of it was over. Helena felt comforted, even without Maril saying anything.

"I had to go after my parents when they followed Superman and his son. His son got away, but they're working on what he might be up to. They sent me out to gather some information for them." Helena's story was much easier to tell the second time around.

Maril broke the embrace and looked at Helena, puzzled. "Superman's son, what are you talking about?"

Helena sighed upon the realization there was so much information the others were missing. "Would you mind asking your stepmother about it if you see her? I don't think I have the time to explain everything to you. I mainly came out here to see how you are doing? Have you been inside to see you father yet?"

Maril hung her head in shame. "I don't know if I can do it, Helena. I don't know if I can see him like that?"

"I've seen my father in that condition a hundred times," Helena answered with a smile. "I know you have all kinds of horrid images running through your mind about how bad he must look. Once you see him and see all your images are false, you are going to feel so relieved."

Maril looked at Helena with hope in her eyes, but didn't say anything. "Let's go inside," Helena said to her as she led her towards the Manor. They walked to the Hall and paused at the doorway.

Maril stared at her father from the distance of the doorway. Helena could hear her breathing getting easier. "You're right," she exclaimed. "He doesn't look as bad as I've imagined."

"Why don't you go up and see him up close?" Helena said to her friend.

"Do you think he could hear me?" Maril asked.

"What?" Helena replied.

"You have more experience with this," Maril began. "There is something I want to tell him. Something that I think might help give him determination to pull through."

Helena had known her father to refer to things he could only have heard during times he was unconscious. "Tell him whatever you want," she said to her friend.

"Thanks, I can talk to him alone. I'm sure you have other things to do." Helena watched as her friend walked up to her father's hospital bed. Before she reached it the twins jumped out of their nearby chair and ran over to greet her. She knelt down and gave them a huge hug. She talked to them for a short time and then walked over to their father's bed. Helena saw the twins move back so Maril could talk to their father in private.

Maril leaned over and said something into her father's ear. Helena felt like a voyeur watching this scene, but she wanted to see if she could figure out what Maril was telling her father. She grabbed his hand and pulled it towards her, placing it on her stomach.

Helena knew immediately what Maril had told him. She was pregnant and was trying to let her unconscious father feel the baby. Helena felt like she was watching a private moment now and left the hall.

Finding out Maril was pregnant put a jolt into Helena. She was reminded of what would be lost if Lash and Brainiac returned, perhaps this time with a super weapon constructed from the knowledge in the Jor-El computer. She had to find out what they were up to. Her father had told her exactly what to do.

It was time for her to carry out her tasks, and she walked briskly to the back door and outside. As she walked out her communicator beeped. "Can you speak freely, Helena?" Barbara asked her.

"Yes," she said as she stopped.

"I'm out of clay," she confessed. "Your mother is doing well so she doesn't need it immediately, but if she is going to get back to normal she will definitely need some more."

"I can make it to Themyscira and get some more," she said as she ended the conversation.

As she was talking to Barbara she looked around the back yard. She saw the team of Amazons that had been at the camp. They were back by the stables tending to each other. She walked up to them to see how they were doing.

"How are you guys?" she asked them.

Artemis spoke for the group. "Not any worse then we've been before. Where's your mother?"

"Down in the Batcave," she answered. Helena didn't feel like telling the Amazons any more then she told the Justice League.

"And will our heir be coming out to see us?" she asked. "She has always cared about our well being. I can't imagine she would stay in the Batcave without seeing how we are."

"My mother knows you girls can take care of yourself," she said. "There is a lot happening right now and her attention is needed elsewhere. I will relay to her the news on your condition."

Artemis stood up and walked over to Helena so she could look down on her. The older Amazon was a good head taller then her. "I know we're obliged to follow you, princess, but if you are keeping information from us, there will be hell to pay."

Helena was not fazed by what Artemis said, even though she knew the sentiment was shared by all the other warriors. Helena had never quite been accepted as a royal by the Amazons. They had all lived too long to ever believe that a young girl like Helena should ever have any authority over them. Every time they addressed her as princess they did so with a sneer that indicated their contempt for her title.

"If you want to bother her when she's trying to save the world I will take you to her right now. Otherwise, I should be on my way to collect some information on what is happening right now. You are more then welcome to join me on my mission, unless you think you would be better suited staying here."

Artemis squinted her eyes as she continued to look down at Helena. "A lot of our soldiers are wounded and need tending to. We should stay here and prepare for our next battle, if there is one. I know you and know you would prefer to work alone. You can be on your way."

Helena waited to leave for a second so it wouldn't appear she was obeying the orders of Artemis. She walked away with them without looking back. She had known none of them would take her up on her offer to travel with her and was glad she was right. She needed to get some more clay from Themyscira and she didn't want the others to know her mother needed it.

Helena took out the controls to the jet she kept on her utility belt. She pressed the button to open the door and saw the opening appear. She jumped in the jet and closed the door behind her. She took off and set course for the Fortress, so she could fulfill her father's request of finding out what Lash was up to.

Helena thought about Lash and wondered what he could have possibly have planned. She thought about the fight they might have on their hands soon and how that would affect all her friends and family. She had almost lost so many people she loved just in the past day. She tried hard not to imagine what a prolonged fight would cause.

Helena entered the Arctic Circle and steered the plane in the direction of the Fortress. She slowed it down as she approached it. She brought it up next to the side door which was still open.

The scanners didn't detect anything, so Helena figured she was alone. She didn't know if Lash would be concerned about someone coming back here to try and find out what he was up to. He could have had a small detachment come here, but from the reports she had looked at on the way here he had completely abandoned Earth. He was concentrating on his next phase and likely wasn't concerned about someone trying to follow his tracks.

She jumped out of the jet and onto the ledge. She passed back through the door and this time refrained from looking in on Supergirl. She walked down the hall slowly, cautious of any sign someone else was in the Fortress. She found no signs and by the time she reached the main hall she figured the place was empty and she was safe. The main hall appeared just as she had left it.

Helena looked around at the remains of the fight that had taken place there earlier. Her crossbow was lying right in front of her. She walked up to it and grabbed, placing it in the new holster she had grabbed earlier. She was able to look out and survey the rest of the main hall. Her father's grappling hook was still hanging from the ceiling at the other end of the hall. She looked over at the ledge with the computer. From the distance she could see her gauntlets and helmet on the ground. She could also see her mother's blood all over the controls. She hoped she would be able to get the information she needed out of the computer.

She hopped over to the ledge and looked over the console. She tried to avoid noticing her mother's blood all over it. She had forgotten to ask someone how to activate it. She took a wild guess the main control would be the one in the center and was proven correct. A scanner protruded out and Helena didn't know what to do. When she did nothing it retreated and a holographic image of a man's face appeared before her. Khorana could tell it was Jor-El from the resemblance to Superman.

"You are not authorized to use me," a harsh but deep and dignified voice shouted. "Please identify yourself."

"KaraogLara," Helena said immediately. She hoped her father was right about the password.

"You are a friend of Kal-El," the face said. "I have not seen you before, but a scan of your facial features indicates a familial relationship with Batman and Wonder Woman. I calculate a 95% chance you are their offspring."

"Good guess, you're right. You can call me Helena. I need your help with something."

"How may I be of service to you?"

"A few hours ago you were accessed by a villain. I want to know what he searched your files for."

"You must be mistaken," the head of Jor-El answered. "No one has used me for several days."

She pounded her fist on the console in frustration. She had been afraid of this. Brainiac had apparently erased all traces of what he had done. There was apparently no way to find out what his plan was. Helena leaned against the computer as she tried to think about what her next move should be.

Her mind started wondering and she found herself thinking about the fight she had with Lash in this very room. She relived every move she made and every punch she threw. She suddenly remembered that when she punched Lash right in the forehead she hit Brainiac and a small piece of him broke off. She knew the smallest piece of Brainiac contained all the information of the program. This tiny piece would possess all the knowledge the main Brainiac did at the time it broke off from him. That should have included all the plans it had which required information from the Fortresses computer.

Helena jumped over to ledge where she had punched Lash and got down on her hands and knees to search the floor. The small piece of metal stood out on the clear crystal surface. She gently picked it up and inspected it. She jumped back over to the computer console. The Jor-El computer was the most advanced computer on the planet. If anything could extract data from Brainiac it was that computer.

Brainiac had gained access to the computer by kidnapping Superman. Lash had likely hacked into the main controls of the computer when its guard was down and it thought it was being used by Kal-El. Perhaps with a little warning it would be able to get the best of the villainous computer.

"I need you to extract some information from a computer," she said to Jor-El. "I have a small piece of it in my hand. Is there someplace I can insert this?"

A sharp crystal shard protruded from the console and opened up. Helena placed the piece of Brainiac inside it and the shard closed around it. She saw the inside of the shard light up and after a few seconds the Jor-El face above her started flickering. It disappeared and soon became replaced by flashes of random images. Soon those disappeared as well and the computer appeared to shut down. It started again and the face of Jor-El appeared above her again.

"The program you wanted to extract tried to take me over," the face informed her. "I pulled a few tricks on him and now have it safely sequestered. I have extracted all his information files."

Helena hoped this was authentic and not some trick of Brainiac. From what she had heard and read about him, he wasn't the kind to use deception like this. "Find the memory files from a couple hours ago, what information did it seek from you."

"According to the memory files, the primary information taken off of this computer concerns the mathematical formulas my human predecessor used to determine the fate of Krypton."

Helena was immediately stumped as to why that information could have been so important. She hoped there were files that would give them the answer. "The information he collected had to be sent to some other destination. Find that destination and we will be able to learn why he needed it."

"I found this information associated with files on the anti-life equation. These files are cross referenced with plans for a machine that can use the anti-life equation to destroy all of creation, except for anything protected inside a bubble the machine can create."

Helena's heart sank over the shock of what she heard. The League had dealt with villains creating doomsday machines before, but almost never one quite like this. And none of those other machines were built by super powered beings with huge armies that had just crushed them and left half the League on hospital gurneys. Helena had to lean against the console to support herself as the weight of what was happening hit her.

She realized she had to know more. There had to be a way to stop him and she was going to find it. "Search through the files associated with the machine. Tell me where it is on Apokolips and what is around it."

Above her holographic images of Apokolips appeared. The Jor-El computer appeared to be searching for the machine's exact location. It zeroed in on a partially constructed building. The building looked like a place and it was near a metal frame which appeared to be for a statue. A red dot appeared under the building as the computer showed the underground structure that housed the machine.

"It appears to be in an underground base that served as a laboratory for one of the warlords," the Jor-El voice told her.

"I'll need to examine this elsewhere," she told it. "Can you transfer all your files concerning the machine to a device I can plug into an Earth computer."

"Of course, just give me a second," the Jor-El computer told her. Helena waited and in a second a crystal shard propped up through the console. It opened to reveal a USB flash drive.

"Thanks," she told the computer as she grabbed the flash drive. She grabbed her gauntlets and helmet and ran out the way she had several times before. She jumped into the jet, and immediately set course for Themyscira.

She set the plane on auto-pilot so she could be free to search through the files the Jor-El computer had given her. She plugged the flash drive into the computer and brought up the location of the machine that she had been shown earlier. She looked through the entire area. The building under construction was identified as being Lash's palace. The metal framework was listed as being a statue of Lash. It appeared he had some grand ambitions.

She looked through the underground lair that was identified as Vunderbar's workshop. It looked fortified, but not obscenely so. As Helena looked closer at it she noticed there were tunnels underneath the workshop. It didn't look like there was direct access that way, but they could make an entrance if they needed it.

Helena located the files on the plan Brainiac and Lash had. From what the files said, the plan was to keep Apokolips protected in a bubble while the rest of creation was destroyed. New universes would then be created with Brainiac and Lash being their gods.

As Helena read through the files she realized how the doomsday plan wasn't centered on the machine, but was centered on the knowledge Brainiac possessed and the muscle Lash gave him to carry out his plans. The situation she was facing was very similar to one her father had faced when Owlman attempted to destroy all of creation.

Helena was the only person who knew the truth about what happened between her father and Owlman. Shortly after the Justice League had formed they had faced off against the Crime Syndicate, their evil counterparts from another dimension. The Syndicate had built a super-bomb that most of them believed would be used to make their Earth obedient to them. Owlman, the villain who built it, intended to use it to destroy all of creation. He had discovered if he used it to destroy Earth-Prime, it would destroy every Earth in every universe.

The Justice League had been facing off against the Crime Syndicate when Owlman took the bomb to Earth-Prime to carry out his plan. Bruce had found a way for one of them to follow him and he went to Earth-Prime to stop him. They could have sent one of the super powered heroes. Wonder Woman or Superman could have easily smashed the machine. Bruce insisted on going before either of them could speak up as he didn't trust them to do what needed to be done.

Her father believed Superman or her mother would have brought Owlman back to face punishment. Bruce understood that the real danger didn't just come from the bomb on Earth-Prime at that moment, it came from Owlman himself. As long as the knowledge of Earth-Prime's location and its method of destruction was known to Owlman, he could put endless plans in place to carry out the destruction he wanted. With the existence of the multiverse at stake, he couldn't take that chance. He had made a promise he would never take a life, but in this instance he had to make an exception. He fought Owlman and when the chance presented itself, he tied the villain to the bomb and sent him to another Earth as it was set to explode.

Helena was thinking she had a similar situation on her hands. The entire League could go in and apprehend Lash and Brainiac, but that may just delay the scheme. Brainiac likely existed in every computer of Apokolips and one of his copies could find a way to regain power, especially if he could find a way to free Lash and partner with him for his muscle. Given Lash's power, he could easily escape and try to find Brainiac again.

Helena was thinking the only way to keep the universe safe was to kill Lash. It would end the immediate danger as well as complicate things for any clones of Brainiac that tried to continue the work. Lash was the only thing holding Apokolips together right now. According to the files she was looking through most of the old warlords had been killed. Of course, new ones could always emerge. Once Lash was gone the planet would plunge into chaos. In the ensuing war it would be unlikely Brainiac could emerge to put his scheme into action.

As she thought about it some more, she realized there would be very few superheroes willing to do what needed to be done to stop them forever. Like her father several years before, she began to think she should just go after Lash herself, as she was the only one who would likely have the guts to do what was necessary.

The navigation computer beaped to indicate they were near Themyscira. Helena turned back to the piloting controls and took over. The island came into view and she guided the jet towards the beach that contained the clay she needed.

She landed it near the water and grabbed a canister as she jumped out of the jet. She kneeled in the mud and started scooping the clay into the canister. As she did so she continued to think about her predicament. At the moment, no one knew what Brainiac and Lash had planned. If Helena told everyone what was happening, the rest of the League would formulate their own plans that wouldn't do what was necessary. If she kept everything to herself she could put her own plan in action. Acting in stealth by herself, she just might be able to succeed.

"Are you trying to fit the whole island in there?" Helena heard a familiar voice ask. She looked up to see her grandmother standing over her. Her blonde hair waved a little as it blew in the ocean breeze. She noticed Hippolyta looking at the canister and she looked at it herself. It was overflowing with clay and Helena started scooping out the excess.

"I guess I should be glad that your mother doesn't quite need all of that," Hippolyta said. Helena remained quiet.

"So are you going to tell me how your mother is doing?"

Helena could detect the obvious anger in her grandmother's voice. She was keeping a lot of information from a lot of people. She almost broke down and told her grandmother everything, but remained strong.

"My mother is doing okay," she said as she stood up so she could look the queen in the eye. "She was injured badly in the battle, but with the clay I had she healed enough to at least remain stable. I need some more so she can heal completely."

Her grandmother continued to look at her skeptically. "If my mother was really bad off do you think I would be wasting time talking with you. Do you think I wouldn't be racing back to Gotham with all the clay on the island?"

The skeptical look on Hippolyta's face dissipated somewhat. "If your mother is injured, your father must be really bad off," she said.

"He's actually not bad off at all," Helena replied. "In the fight that injured my mother he got taken out early and spared a serious beating."

"What about my warriors?" she asked Helena.

"None of them died," Helena replied. "A few injuries, but according to them, nothing they haven't experienced before." She walked over to the open door of the jet and pulled out the lid for the canister. As she closed it her grandmother made a comment.

"You look like you could use some of that yourself," she said.

Helena wondered what she was talking about, until she remembered she was still covered with blood from the killing of the Furies. "None of this is mine," she told her grandmother.

"You still look like hell," she said. She tore a piece of her toga off as she walked over to the edge of the water. She wetted the cloth and then walked back to wipe the blood off her granddaughter's face.

"What about you, dear? Are you okay?" she asked her granddaughter as she lifted up her head so she could look at her. She tenderly wiped her face with the moist towel. The dried blood came right off.

Helena welcomed the comforting gesture. She had a huge weight on her shoulders and for a moment she wanted to collapse into her grandmother's arms and confess all the fears and doubts she had. She quickly put those thoughts out of her mind as she had to be strong and concentrate on the task at hand, just as her father taught her.

"I'm fine," she told her grandmother. She walked over to the jet and jumped in it to leave. Her grandmother yelled at her to wait.

"I came out here to give you something," Hippolyta said as Helena looked back at her. Hippolyta reached into a pouch and she hanging around her waist and pulled out Helena's engagement ring. She held it out and Helena took it.

"I found it in your room. I thought you would want it."

"Thanks," Helena replied softly as she stared at it.

Hippolyta spoke to her again and Helena could detect the concern in her voice. "Helena, I'm worried about you. Don't try and take on too much."

Helena wasn't pleased by the words of the queen. She looked up at her with anger in her eyes. "Don't worry about me," she shouted back. "I don't' need it." She closed the door and ran up to the cockpit.

Convincing the old Atom to re-don the belt and save Superman proved to be easy. While he no longer saw himself of being any use in battle, he did believe he could be of use as a healer. He agreed to stay silent about Superman's condition. It wasn't going to be hard for him as when he was done helping Clark he would immediately head back to his lab.

As she flew the Atom around, she thought about her plan for taking out Lash. The more she thought about it the more convinced she became the only way to permanently stop his plan was to kill him. The only problem was the difficulty in carrying that out.

When she was young her father had gone over with her all kinds of plans in case Superman went rogue again or the Kryptonian supervillains reappeared. He had studied all the information they had on their fight with Zod and his minions as well as Superman's fight with Doomsday. While Kryptonite was always on option in subduing a Kryptonian, it was never foolproof. Her father was never comfortable with only having one option.

Her father was never sure if her mother, the next most powerful superhero after Superman, possessed the strength to physically subdue or even kill a Kryptonian. He had studied the videos of Superman's fight with Doomsday to try and determine just what kind of force the monster was hitting him with when he 'killed' him. It took him a good amount of time to study them, but he eventually had a good idea of what kind of force Doomsday had packed in his punches.

When her father trained her, he spent a lot of time with her going over specific plans for specific situations. The return of the Kryptonian super villains was one he never quite had a good plan for, especially if they would be unable to send them back to the Phantom Zone in the same manner they did before. When the triumvirate face Zod the first time they were able to make use of a key bit of information. The ancestor of Jor-El who had entrapped them in the Phantom Zone had secretly implanted devices in them that could send them back if they ever escaped. They learned this from the Jor-El computer and while he didn't have all the information on how they worked, he had information for Bruce to figure out what they needed to do.

Helena's father always tested her abilities to try and gauge what she could do against a Kryptonian. She repeatedly had her strength tested to determine if she could physically subdue a Kryptonian in the way Doomsday physically beat Superman. Her strength was somewhat close, but not nearly enough to earn any kind of win in a fist fight.

While her father had always pledged to never kill, and developed elaborate plans to keep himself from having to do so, his plans for Zod and his minions were always different. He saw them as so strong and such grave dangers to the Earth that the only way to permanently stop them would be to kill them. In many ways any plans for killing them was academic as there was almost no force in the universe that could kill a Kryptonian, outside another Kryptonian. Bruce's research into Superman's death at the hands of Doomsday revealed just what kind of force it took for him to die. He scanned the universe and found only one such weapon that could deliver the kind of force it took to kill a Kryptonian: a hellspore from Apokolips.

A hellspore was a bomb so powerful it could create a firepit on its own. Even if someone could have gotten their hands on a hellspore and activated it, it would have been hard to use it to kill a Kryptonian. With their speed they could easily fly out of the way of the blast the minute they heard the explosion or felt the edge of the force of it. It was likely the only way a hellspore could kill them would be if they were trapped in the blast zone.

With Lash, Helena couldn't stop thinking it would be so easy to take him out with a hellspore. He was on Apokolips with armories full of hellspores all around him. If they could set one to blow and make sure he was trapped in the blast area, they could end it. In fact, they could set a hellspore under the lair that held the doomsday machine. With one blast they could kill Lash and destroy everything. It would be the kind of defeat that would demoralize anyone who might want to follow in his footsteps. It all depended on Lash being caught in the blast, though. There appeared to be few options for making sure that happened with any certainty.

While Kryptonite could take away much of his power, it would not take away everything. He would still have the strength to fight and subdue anyone who was holding it. Even trapping him in the presence of Kryptonite was unlikely to work. He would still have the strength to free himself and then throw the rock away so he could regain the ability to fly. The more Helena thought about the situation, the more she came to realize there was only one way to make sure he stayed in the blast zone. The only problem was that scenario required someone to make the ultimate sacrifice.