Chapter Nineteen – Justice League Universe
A/N: An early update. :)
Bruce got up out of the bed at the same time Wally had rushed in. Now he's pacing back and forth anxiously, holding Ko in his arms tightly. He's nervous. The League might have more members than the Lords but that doesn't help when the Lords are made up of the most powerful members of the team. They barely managed to defeat them the first time around. Now… now he's not sure.
It was always determined that the Lords' powers would return but the government at the time of handing the Lords over promised the League that they would begin working on specifically designed cells to hold them for when that happened. Bruce doesn't know if they had lied to them — Bruce wasn't there himself but Clark relayed the information to him and Clark wouldn't lie about such an important thing — or if they just didn't have enough time. Though that doesn't really explain why they didn't just throw Lord Superman in a red sun radiated cell. As for the rest of the Lords, well, Bruce can think of a few other ways to keep them contained even with powers.
"Bruce." Bruce looks over to Wally who was peeking out the door and is now approaching him. Wally begins to push him in the direction he wants him to go and Bruce has to refrain from growling and stopping him. He allows Wally to push him into a vacant closet. He looks worried as he brings his index finger up to his mouth in a shh motion. "Stay here." He then closes the door and Bruce is thrust into pitch blackness.
He tries to keep his heart beating normally but it's hard to do when one is trying to keep their son safe. He hears the medical bay door open and footsteps walk in. There's a pause before Bruce hears a familiar voice that isn't familiar at the same time. Bruce's heart is uncontrollable now because the man who is trying to take his son away from him is in the room which means Clark was unsuccessful in stopping him.
"I know Bruce is in here, Wally. I can hear him." Bruce places a hand over Ko's mouth just in time to keep the baby from squealing at hearing Lord Superman's voice.
There's the sound of footfalls and then the speed of Wally running. "I won't let you get to him."
"Out of my way Wally. I don't want to hurt you."
"You'll have to kill me before I let you anywhere near them," Wally says.
He hears Lord Superman sigh and then a bang that is accompanied by Wally grunting in pain. "You really shouldn't make that kind of proposition with me Wally. You're fast but not strong without getting higher in speed. You can't stop me." Bruce hears Wally struggling to breathe and guesses that Lord Superman must be choking him. "Come out Bruce or else I'll kill him."
"No… don't Bru…" Wally gasps as best he can. "Don't… worry about… me."
"I will crush his windpipe, Bruce." Bruce is shaking in anger, fear, he doesn't quite know. He squeezes his eyes shut and stays put. "You know I will, don't you?" Wally groans in pains. "Do you really want this Flash to die as well, Bruce? Just like ours? Look how it turned out in our universe." Bruce swallows the lump in his throat, trying to stay calm. "I'll give you to the count of five. At five I'll kill Wally and then go over there and take my son back. It's up to you whether I get him back with Wally living or dying."
Bruce drags in a shaky breath and say against Ko's head, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
Lord Superman clears his throat. "Now, one… two… three… four…"
"Stop!" Bruce barges out of the closet and confronts Lord Superman. "Stop."
Lord Superman is holding Wally by the neck, up against the wall, and on the other side of the hospital bed. He drops Wally with a smirk, Wally collapsing to the floor, and turns to face Bruce. His smile drops immediately when he sees Ko. "He's… he's so big." Lord Superman takes a step towards him and Bruce takes a step back. Lord Superman seems to flinch when he sees Bruce do this and stops walking. "How old is he?"
Ko turns his head to look at Lord Superman and stares at him. Ko blinks at him a few times as if trying to understand who he is before a wide smile forms on his face and he starts to squeal in delight. Lord Superman watches this and a slow, loving smile appears on his own face. "You can't have him," Bruce says.
Lord Superman ignores him and asks again without looking away from Ko, "How old is he?"
Bruce swallows thickly. "Three and half months."
"Ah," Lord Superman begins. "He can tell I'm his father."
"Of course he thinks you're his father. You look just like our Clark."
Ko starts to clap in delight, still looking at Lord Superman. Lord Superman's smile widens. "No, that isn't what I mean." He finally looks at Bruce, his smile transforming from loving to satisfied and smug. "Families have certain pack bonds." Bruce's heart sinks, already guessing what is about to be said. "I might not fit any of the castes but I can still form family bonds. My son is sensing that and knows I am his real father. A parent child pack bond."
"You're lying."
"Really? You think so?"
"You're trying to make me doubt myself and my son."
Lord Superman sighs in annoyance. "Believe what you want Bruce. You don't live in my world where these things are true so, of course, you wouldn't believe me. But I am telling the truth, isn't that right little one?" Ko laughs and claps his hands, kicking his feet in delight. "What's his name?"
There's no way in hell Bruce is going to tell this bastard Ko's Kryptonian name but using his real name might work to his advantage, "bond" or no "bond". "Clark. Your Bruce named him Clark."
Lord Superman's eyes snap to Bruce's again. "He… he named him after me?"
"Yeah, I don't know why he would." Bruce gives Lord Superman a mocking smirk. "Personally, I like to think he's named after our Clark."
Lord Superman rolls his eyes. "Right…"
"Your Bruce still loved you despite everything you did. He loved you so much that he even named his son after you. He wanted Clark to live here, with me and my Clark. He can have two parents who love him." Lord Superman opens his mouth to talk but Bruce holds up a hand. "I'm not saying you don't love him. I'm sure you do," he lies hastily. "But don't you want him to live in a world where he can have two parents? In a world that doesn't…" Bruce swallows nervously. "That doesn't have a group of so called superheroes that kill?"
"Our world is safer because we kill," Lord Superman says. "A lot safer than your world. And he will have two parents to raise him. Bruce will wake up when I get back with Clark and then he and I will raise Clark together." His eyes travel back to Ko. "We'll start our family the way it was supposed to be." Lord Superman looks Bruce in the eyes angrily. "Before you and your stupid Justice League came and ruined everything."
"I'm not going to let you take him."
"You don't have a choice." Lord Superman spreads his arms and Bruce holds onto Ko tighter. "Clark," Ko gurgles at Lord Superman saying his name. "Come to me."
At the same time Bruce tries to hold Ko even tighter, Ko uses his super strength to get out of his arms and fly to Lord Superman. Bruce watches in dismay as Lord Superman scoops him up and Ko rests his head on Lord Superman's chest, hand in his mouth. "Don't take him." Bruce hates how his voice sounds so desperate, so pleading. "Please."
"It's too late Bruce. He's my son." Lord Superman turns and floats out of the room, Ko in his arms. Ko never looks back at Bruce and Bruce feels his heart being ripped out of his chest.
Hearing a pained whine snaps him out of his shocked trance and he rushes up to Wally who is still on the floor. "Wally?" He crouches next to him. "Wally, are you okay?"
Wally groans, looking groggy. "M'fine B-man."
Bruce pats him on the shoulder and then gets up. He goes over to the intercom that is in the room quickly, and says into it, "Batman to all Justice League, do not go after Lord Superman. I repeat do not go after Lord Superman. Let him go." He then says, sounding more defeated than he wishes to be, "Let them all go." Bruce turns off the intercom and hangs his head. He doesn't want to just let them go, especially Lord Superman with Ko, but he doesn't want any more Leaguers to get hurt. Too many have already.
"Did he get him?" Bruce turns to Wally who is pulling himself up. "Did he get Ko?"
Bruce feels like his heart is in his throat. "Yeah, Wally, he did."
Wally sinks to the bed that Bruce was previously on, shoulders slumping heavily. "I'm sorry Bruce."
Bruce goes up to him and places a comforting hand on his shoulder. "It's not your fault Wally."
Suddenly the door to the medical bay opens and in walks Vigilante and Shining Knight, dragging a limp, unconscious, bloody Superman. "Sorry to just barge in here but we figured Superman should go to the private med-bay," Vigilante says.
Bruce gasps at seeing Clark like that. "Put him on the solar bed, now!" They drag him over there, put him on it, and allow Bruce to turn it on. They then leave when Bruce gives them a glare.
"Oh man," Wally sighs, looking at Clark. "This is bad."
"Clark will be fine and we'll get Ko back Wally," Bruce reassures. He grabs a hold of Clark's hand and squeezes it, saying more quietly so only he can hear, "We will."
…
Two hours. Clark has been out for two hours now. His wounds have all healed and so Bruce has turned off the sun lamps so he can crawl into the bed with Clark. He holds him close, head on Clark's chest so he can hear the beating of his heart. J'onn has stopped by a few times to check up on both Bruce's injuries and Clark but eventually Bruce sent him away to have J'onn rest. John, Shayera, Diana, and J'onn are also pretty beat up, their own fight having taken much out of them. They were patched up and then sent to their room on the Watchtower by Bruce to have them get some sleep. Wally is helping out in the regular med-bay that is made for non-original members. Bruce had also sent Alfred and the boys home, Dick telling him that he'll bring Martha home as well.
"I'm sorry Clark," Bruce whispers against his chest. They had to take Clark's clothes off because of the blood. Now they both are currently in hospital gowns. "I'm sorry I failed to protect Ko, I'm sorry I worried the boys, I'm sorry I worried you, and I'm sorry I gave you the impression that I don't care." He squeezes Clark closer to him. The bed isn't big and so Bruce is basically lying on top of Clark. "I do care Clark. I care more than you know. It scares me with how much I care, how much more I care about you and the boys and Alfred than I do of the League and Gotham, the world. It was never supposed to be like that, Clark. I was never supposed to care about anything more than Gotham and the world. But…" He rubs his hand along Clark's bicep, down his arms to his hand where he holds onto it. "But then Dick came along and showed me how important family is and then Jason and Tim… then you. You, who came into my life not too soon after Dick did and swooped my heart up into your hands and held it gently in your arms." Bruce smiles into Clark's chest, remembering the day the two of them first met. Dick was smitten off the bat and Bruce, loath to admit it, was too. "Then Ko… God, Clark, Ko is just… he's our son, our baby boy who has made us a family. I love him so much Clark." Bruce sits up and looks at Clark's sleeping face. "I love you so much." He then kisses Clark's forehead, whispering against it, "Come on, Sweetheart, wake up for me. Please."
There's slight movement beneath him and then Clark's soft voice can be heard. "Did you just call me Sweetheart?"
Bruce lifts his head and looks down at Clark. When he sees him awake with his own two eyes, he lets himself smile in relief. "That was the one and only time I ever will."
Clark chuckles lowly, obviously still in a little pain. "I liked it."
Bruce brushes Clark's bangs to the side. "How much of what I just said did you hear?"
"There was more?" Clark looks genuinely confused. "I only heard you calling me sweetheart and wanting me to wake up. Great timing by the way." Bruce doesn't know whether to feel relieved that Clark didn't just hear him being all mushy or if he should be disappointed. Clark is running fingers through Bruce's hair and looking sad. "He took him didn't he?"
Bruce nods. "Sorry." Bruce feels his eyes start to burn and Clark cups his face with both hands. He pulls Bruce down and Bruce buries his face in Clark's shoulder. "I'm sorry."
"Shh," Clark goes back to running his hands through Bruce's hair. "It's okay Bruce. It's not your fault. We'll get him back, I promise."
Bruce sniffles. "I don't know if Ko is going to want to come back."
He can sense the confusion Clark is feeling. "What do you mean?"
"Lord Superman said that in their universe there's this thing called pack bonds. Apparently he and Ko have a parent child bond and Ko could sense that."
"And you believe him?"
"You didn't see how Ko reacted to him, Clark."
"It could have been because he looks like me."
"I thought that too but… I don't know Clark, it just seemed… different."
Clark is now rubbing his back comfortingly. "Even so, even if they have this so called pack bond, I will not let him take our son from us."
Bruce sits up so he can look Clark in the eyes, nodding. "I won't either. We have to get him back Clark."
"We will." Clark pulls him down for a soft kiss.
A/N: Hope you enjoyed. :)
