Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Mia Smoak-Queen was the Green Arrow

Brave. Quick-thinking. Deadly with a bow. Sharp in hand-to-hand combat. An excellent strategist. And when she wasn’t in her suit? A charming socialite with an impeccable memory for Star City’s high society. She had her father’s pedigree, her mother’s intelligence, and the presence of someone who belonged in every room.

But none of that could’ve prepared her for this mission.

She’d been investigating a suspicious trail of missing public funds—budget cuts in underfunded schools and community programs in Star City. The deeper she dug, the more it unraveled. The trail led to Central City, which is when she called in backup—her longtime friend and occasional partner in heroics, Nora West-Allen, also known as XS.

They worked well together—always had. This time was no different… until they saw who the lead investor behind the shady “improvement” projects was.

“Wait… isn’t that—?” Nora’s eyes widened as she stared at the screen.

“Sierra’s company,” Mia replied flatly, trying not to visibly flinch.

Maybe that should’ve been the sign to walk away.

“You sure you still want to do this?”

“We treat it like any other mission,” Mia muttered, already bracing herself.

Nora gave her a cautious look, not fully convinced, but went with it. She turned back to the screen.

“Sierra Anne Rodgers. Age twenty-seven. Graduated Harvard with honors. Majored in computer science, minored in data analytics. Co-founded Dexser a couple of years after graduating with her friend Dexter Anders.”

She paused.

“…Can I say something without you getting mad?”

Mia didn’t answer, just gave her a look that said, “Get it over with.”

“She’s kind of like your mom.”

Mia blinked.

“Computer science, smart, CEO—ring any bells?”

A beat of silence passed.

Then Mia groaned. “You’re the worst best friend on the planet.”

“You love me.”

“Debatable,” she muttered—but Nora caught the blush.

Mia wasn't a quitter. She brushed everything up under the rug, and they made a plan: They'd go to this new club in Star City that they knew Sierra would go to distract her. They planned to create a situation in which Sierra would be forced to leave the group, allowing Nora to hack into her systems and access the company's finances and other essential information that could aid their investigation and pinpoint the culprit.

When they were there, all the things Mia considered herself to be were out of the window. Suddenly, Mia was smitten because Sierra Rodgers looked as gorgeous as she remembered, with her jet-black hair and a red dress. Mia could only think that that was her ex, and she was terrified to interact with her.

"I can't do it."

Nora looked at her friend, ready to reap her a new one. When she saw Mia's devastated gaze on Sierra, Nora sighed.

"I can call in a favor, but you’ll explain to her the situation when she arrives."

(…)

The bass from The Star Nightclub pulsed through the floor, the air thick with perfume, laughter, and the low thrum of bodies moving to the beat. Lights spun lazily overhead, catching on sequins and sweat, on raised glasses and blurred outlines of strangers dancing like the night would never end.

Livia walked through it like it was nothing.

At over six feet tall, athletic, broad-shouldered, and purposeful, people moved out of her way without a second thought. She wove through the crowd with ease, ignoring the music and the flirtatious glances until she reached a table nestled against one wall, where two very familiar figures waited.

Nora West-Allen and Mia Smoak-Queen.

There were only two chairs, and they were already occupied. Liv leaned an elbow on the table, eyebrow raised.

“Well? Why’d you drag me out here?”

“We have a proposition,” Mia said, raising her voice above the music.

Nora pointed across the club. “See the girl with black hair and the red dress?”

Liv followed her gaze—spotted the group right away. Seven people, laughing, shouting, pouring tequila into tiny glasses, or skipping them entirely and drinking straight from the bottle.

“The one doing a five-second pour of tequila? What about her?”

Mia crossed her arms. “We need you to separate her from the group. Distract her.”

Liv blinked. “You called me out here to be bait?”

“It’s not like it took you long,” Nora said with a teasing shrug. “You flew.”

“I could’ve had plans.”

“We checked. Helena and Atlas are busy.”

Liv looked between them, suspicious. “Why can’t you do it?”

“Nora has a girlfriend,” Mia said quickly.

Nora gave a sheepish shrug.

“And me…” Mia hesitated.

Liv narrowed her eyes. “You got history with her, don’t you?”

Mia didn’t answer. She didn’t have to. Nora grimaced.

“Oh, for Rao’s sake,” Liv groaned, dragging a hand over her face. “You made me come all the way to Star City to help you deal with your ex?”

“We asked nicely,” Nora said with a grin.

“I hate both of you,” Liv muttered then sighed, she was already there, he outfit was already burned. “Three shots. Then I’ll do it.”

Nora whooped and bolted for the bar. Mia frowned.

“You drink?”

“Yeah. I’m twenty-two.”

“I just—don’t you have, like…” Mia wiggled her fingers, mimicking flight.

Liv laughed. “When I wanna have fun, I turn off my powers. Otherwise, alcohol tastes like battery acid with zero fun effects. It’s an art.”

Nora returned with five shots. They clinked glasses. Liv downed three in a row without flinching. Mia’s eyebrows shot up.

“Okay. Magic time.”

“You sure that won’t hit you all at once?” Mia asked.

“She’s fine,” Nora said. “You should come to more family gatherings.”

Liv smirked. She tapped a few buttons on her wristband, activating her facial concealment tech. Gone was Livia Luthor-Danvers. In her place stood Cass Lopez—wealthy, scandal-prone, mysterious. The kind of girl whose name appeared in gossip headlines with blurred paparazzi photos and untraceable quotes.

With the confidence of someone who could talk her way into—or out of—anything, Liv turned on her heel and headed toward the target.

From across the room, Mia and Nora watched Liv move like she owned the place. There was something effortless in her walk, her expression relaxed but calculating, like she was playing a game she’d already won.

“She’s not gonna pull it off,” Mia said, sipping her drink and piercing the scene with her gaze.

“She already did.” Nora pointed out discreetly.

Sierra Rogers had looked up. Liv said something—just a few words, too far to lip-read—but whatever it was, it made Sierra smile. Laugh, even. Then, with a small nod to her friends, she followed Liv away from the group, disappearing into the hazy lighting of the far side of the club.

“That was fast,” Mia muttered. “It took me a week to get her to say yes to coffee.”

“The kid has experience,” Mia said, watching the space where Liv had disappeared.

“Please. Half the people in National City and Gotham think she’s dating Helena Wayne; the other part think she’s free market. Add that up to her been one of the Luthor Heirs and her love for getting the people crazy with thirst traps. She’s got more press than Atlas right now.”

“I thought we all agreed not to pay attention to the tabloids.”

“Well maybe we should,” Nora said, narrowing her eyes. “Because clearly, they know something we don’t.”

A flicker of movement. Liv and Sierra. Kissing.

“Oh, she wasn’t joking about the magic.”

Mia didn’t say anything. She was too busy clenching her jaw.

She remembered Liv from years ago—awkward, shy, all limbs and robotics kits. No powers. Just that huge brain and an even bigger heart. She hadn’t seen her in so long. Not really. Now she was watching that girl press Sierra Rogers against a wall like it was nothing.

Was it the tequila burning in her chest?

Or something else?

Nora glanced sideways. “You good?”

Mia didn’t answer. She kept watching.

The Dexser logo lit up on Nora’s screen. The hacking had begun.

While Nora tapped away, Mia scrolled idly through Instagram, pretending she wasn’t refreshing the group chat every ten seconds.

Then—ping.

Livia LD: Well…
Livia LD: Sierra wants me to go to her place.
Mia: Try to stall. I’ll think of something.
Livia LD: Why?
Mia: …Do you want to go?
Livia LD: I mean
Livia LD: I’m already here
Livia LD: You asked me to distract her
Livia LD: So why not?
Mia: Are you drunk?
Livia LD: I wish.

Liv sent a sticker of Stitch peeling his eyelids open with the caption “ugh.”

Livia LD: She’s coming. Wish me luck 😘

Mia looked up in time to see Sierra pull Liv back into a kiss, then take her hand and lead her out of the club.

She felt her stomach twist.

“Nora,” she said sharply, “we have a problem.”

But Nora was already typing in the chat.

Nora: I was gonna tell you to let her go. This works. Trust the process. 😼👍
Livia LD: [sends a gif of a character winking]

Mia didn’t respond.

“Nora,” she repeated, lowering her voice. “I’m serious. Something’s off. She’s not acting like herself.”

“She’s fine. That was five shots for a Kryptonian. Barely counts.”

“She said her powers are off.”

“She’s still got a Kryptonian liver. I’ve seen her polish off half a bottle and still talk nanotech at Mach 3 and then proceed to destroy us at chess. She’ll be fine.”

Mia stayed quiet, chewing her lips. Nora nudged her shoulder.

“Relax, mother hen. She knows what she’s doing. Let her run the play. We’ll get the files. She’ll get a good story. Win-win.”

“But why’d you need Sierra at her place?”

“She has a biometric security system,” Nora said, not looking up. “Her company’s confidential files are locked behind zone-based scans. Her being in the apartment is the key. Liv being a distraction is the bonus.”

Mia didn’t like it. But she didn’t argue. Not yet.

Instead, she threw back the rest of her drink and told herself to let it go.

She even agreed to dance when a cute guy invited her to the floor. She let him kiss her. Let herself laugh. But the truth was already gnawing at her from the inside, and she knew how this would end.

Like everything else she ignored—it would explode in her face.

(…)

Liv was sound asleep, tangled in soft sheets and even softer limbs. Sierra's body was warm against hers, an arm lazily thrown across Liv’s waist. The city was quiet outside the penthouse window.

Until her phone vibrated. Once. Twice. Again.

She groaned, blindly reaching for it on the nightstand. It buzzed so insistently, so irritatingly, that she considered chucking it out the window if it wasn’t life-threatening.

Her screen lit up.

Mia Smoak (12 Messages):
↳ Wake up
↳ Liv
↳ I need to talk to you
↳ Balcony. Now.

Liv sighed and carefully slipped out from under Sierra’s arm. The brunette inhaled deeper but didn’t stir. Liv padded across the room and cracked open the balcony door, stepping into the chilly morning air in nothing but underwear and a messy bun.

On the other side of the balcony stood Mia. Green Arrow uniform. Mask. Arms crossed. She turned immediately when she saw Liv.

“Shit,” Mia muttered. “Aren’t you cold?”

Liv blinked at her. “I haven’t been cold since I got my powers.”

“Put something on. I’m freezing just looking at you.”

Liv rolled her eyes but ducked inside, grabbing the wrinkled pants and shirt from the floor. She threw them on haphazardly, then stepped back out and shut the sliding door behind her.

Mia didn’t say anything at first. Her jaw was tight. Her eyes unreadable.

Liv crossed her arms. “Alright. What’s so urgent that it couldn’t wait until the sun came up?”

A beat of silence.

“You weren’t drunk,” Mia finally said.

“Nope. Six shots. For me, that’s maybe three on the buzz scale.”

“And you came here… willingly?”

Liv raised an eyebrow. “You woke me up at this Rao forsaken hour for that? Really?”

Mia’s eyes dropped to the ground. “Yeah.”

“Why?” Liv’s tone turned sharp. “Because Sierra’s your ex? Or because you didn’t think I could make a decision without you holding my hand?”

“She kissed you,” Mia said softly, finally meeting Liv’s eyes.

Liv didn’t flinch. “Yeah. She did.”

“You let her.”

“I’m a grown-ass woman, Mia.”

Another pause.

“Do you still like her?” Liv asked suddenly. Her voice wasn’t sharp now—it was cold. “Because if you do, this was a real shitty way of dealing with it.”

Mia opened her mouth. Closed it again.

Liv’s lips curled—not into a smirk, but something sharper.

“You dumped her, remember? She told me.”

Still no answer.

“Amazing,” Liv muttered, stepping back from the railing and pacing once. Then she turned and walked toward the door, her words slicing like a whip over her shoulder. “Next time, don’t use me to clean up your emotional mess. In fact, don’t use me in general.”

She reached for the handle, then paused, a sly smirk covered by the shadows around them.

“She kissed me the moment she saw you at the table, by the way. Knew who you were. Said you looked good. So… thanks, I guess. I had a great night. Don’t expect me to return the favor.”

With that, Liv slipped inside and shut the glass door behind her.

Mia stayed on the balcony, frozen.

As the door shut behind her, Liv leaned against the cool glass for half a second longer than she meant to. Then she pushed off and vanished into the apartment.

Mia vanished into the city, an unknown feeling twisting in her gust.

(...)

Inside, Liv checked the clock. 6:02 AM.

Her stomach twisted, not in regret—she meant every word—but in that way it always did after a clean hit. The kind that made her feel a little too much like her mum, a little too much like Bruce. She knew she can do that but it didn’t meant she liked it.

She pushed off the glass and grabbed her phone, scrolling until her finger hovered over a familiar contact. Konner.

You up?

No response. He’d probably passed out after patrol. She locked the screen and tossed the phone on the couch with more force than necessary.

“Thanks for ruining my morning, Smoak,” she grumbled, rubbing her eyes.

She needed to think and relax, so she got the apartment clean. There were half-emptied glasses, tossed shoes, a trail of clothing that hadn’t been hers. She smiled, that was some great sex maybe she should wake Sierra just to remember the sweet sound of her moans but decided against it—courtesy first.

Instead, she made pancakes. With berries. And a little heart-shaped one on top, because if she was going to leave, she’d at least leave style and breakfast behind. She liked to leave a mark.

She was out of the penthouse by 7:30 and hailed a taxi; she didn't want any sightings of someone flying around the city on the news. Livia needed to take a shower and have a hearty breakfast because she was starving, also needed to prepare for the other reason she had come to Star City.

It was 11:30 a.m. when she walked down to the hotel lobby, energized and formally attired, ready for her appointment with Dr. Collins. But her good mood was interrupted by the two people in the hotel lobby, who, upon seeing her, approached her. Liv walked as quickly as possible without arousing suspicion of her powers, so she couldn't prevent Nora and Mia from catching up with her when she left the building.

"Liv, wait!" Nora said, grabbing her arm. As soon as the brunette turned around, she let go. The Luthor's glares were known for being threatening, and Liv's was no exception. But despite their actions last night, she knew the girls were good people, so she took a breath and relaxed before answering.

"Yeah?"

"We wanted to apologize for yesterday." When Mia said nothing, Nora nudged and signaled with her arm for the blonde to speak. "Isn't that right, Mia?"

"Yes, we should have been honest with you from the beginning."

"Should we or should you?"

"I should have been honest with you from the beginning," she said thoughtfully.

"OK."

"Perfect! Now, do you want to go to lunch with us?"

"Sorry, but no."

"Why?" the brunette asked, puzzled.

"I accepted your apology, but I'm still mad at you, so I'd rather not go out. Besides, I have other things to do."

With Nora and Mia wordlessly in her wake, Liv hailed a cab and headed to the university.

(...)

Liv walked calmly through the SCU (Star City University) campus, stopping first for a cup of tea at a stall. Several meters behind her, the girls blended in among the people.

"Did you do something?” Nora asked, Mia tensed only because her friend was in front of her and wouldn’t be able to see that.

“No, I didn’t” Mia lied and stood beside her, arms folded, expression unreadable. “And I said I was sorry.”

“You said it like someone who just read the script out loud.” Nora tilted her head. “Look—whatever’s going on with you and Sierra? That’s yours to deal with. If I had known that you still liked Sierra I wouldn’t had call Liv. Dragging her into it was low, even for emotionally constipated you."

“I don’t like Sierra. And I didn’t mean to hurt Livia.”

“Then maybe try not doing it again,” Nora snapped, tugging her hoodie up like she was gearing up for a sprint. She looked to Liv again. “She’s still pissed”

Mia looked to the direction that Nora was looking, Liv drop a fifty-dollar bill into the tip jar like it was a vending machine.

“How do you know that?”

“I just know”

“Still, something isn’t right. I know it. Sierra did her masters here.”

The brunette knew that no matter what she said, she alone wouldn't be able to make Mia see reason; she wished her other friend and Liv's brother, Konner, was here to help her like they usually did when Mia got into that paranoid act.       

"Maybe she knows we're following her and came here to throw us off."

"She's entering the engineering building, I say no."

They sat on one of the benches near the window where Liv was and listened to the first few minutes of the conversation with the help of one of Mia's devices, designed to intercept conversations at close range.

"Dr. Collins, thank you for accepting my proposal." The conversation was heard through the wireless headphones both girls shared. There was some static at the ends of words, but other than that, it was perfectly understandable.

"It's a pleasure, Miss Luthor-Danvers."

"Please call me Liv. Having to say my last name so many times will be tedious."

"In that case, you can call me Chris. Excuse me for asking, but considering who your mothers are, why didn't you go with one of them? Or with Wayne Enterprise?"

They heard chairs being dragged and something being placed on the table. The unmistakable sound of keyboard keys and the click of a mouse confirmed that it was a laptop.

"Although the L-Corp. The WE coalition is a leader in various fields of industry, and this one is no exception; I considered it unethical not to seek outside advice. Besides, perhaps some of your ideas could help me with the problem I'm stuck on, and I won't have to ask my mom for help," she said with a chuckle, which was accompanied by the doctor's laughter.

The two discussed the topic more in-depth—nanobots applied to medicine—so both girls realized it had nothing to do with the data they'd extracted from Mia's ex last night or with Mia's ex in general. But despite having proof that Liv had been telling the truth, the blonde was still somewhat paranoid, so, with the doctor and her friend's conversation in the background, Mia ate lunch with Nora, who had taken off her hearing aid as soon as they started talking about more technical topics.

"I don't want any spoilers about Liv's thesis," she told the blonde when she handed her the hearing aid, and Mia frowned. "And stop frowning; you'll get a wrinkle."

(...)

Two hours later, both girls watched as the brunette left the engineering building.

"Mia…" Nora said warningly, but the blonde ignored her and practiced hiding among the surrounding people. With no other choice, Nora followed her.

They both followed the brunette towards the university exit and saw that she had taken out her phone. Mia quickly took out her device to listen to the conversation.

"I have some fresh gossip," was the first thing the brunette said when she heard her call answered.

"Considering you normally get up this time on Saturdays, it's pretty impressive that you have gossip." A woman's voice came from the other end of the line.

"Well, my Saturday started earlier than usual, but I'll give you some context: I have two girls following me since I left my hotel, and they think I don't know about them. Funny, don't you think?"

"Livia, that's not context; you just raised more questions for me."

"As soon as I finish this, I'm going to your house, Hels."

But Mia wasn't listening anymore; she froze long enough for Nora and Liv to approach her.

"Do you want to talk somewhere other than in the middle of so many people?" The question didn't sound like a question but like an order. With a salesperson's smile that didn't reach her eyes and sent shivers down Nora's spine, she led both girls to an alley and, without warning, grabbed them by the waist, propelling the three of them through the air until they reached the roof of the nearest building.

They landed hard.

Liv let them go before their feet fully hit the concrete, already turning her back as she walked to the edge of the roof. Her arms crossed tight across her chest, jaw clenched.

Mia and Nora stood in awkward silence behind her, the city below humming like it knew better than to interrupt.

When Liv finally spoke, her voice was quiet. Controlled. But brittle.

“You know, it’s almost funny.”

She turned around slowly. Her eyes—green and sharp like a Luthor, but tired—landed squarely on Mia, then Nora.

“I thought the half-assed apology was the low point. But no. Following me like I’m a liability you need to keep on a leash? That’s new.”

“Liv—” Nora started, but Liv held up a hand.

“Don’t. I’m tired. I am so tired.”

She ran a hand through her hair, laughing once—but there wasn’t any joy in it. “I’ve been up since six because someone decided their unresolved feelings were more important than my peace. I had to smile and charm my way through an academic meeting while wondering if you were still crawling through my business. And then I find you—both of you—lurking like this is some B-rate surveillance op.”

Mia opened her mouth, but Liv didn’t let her get a word in.

“Was it not enough that you questioned my judgment last night? Now I don’t even get to go to a meeting without you thinking I’m plotting something?”

“You were acting off—” Mia said, but even she sounded unsure.

“I was acting like someone who’s trying to live her life. You think I’m sketchy because I left with a girl who literally offered? News flash, Mia—being single doesn’t come with a morality clause.”

As she spoke, Liv made more and more movements with her arms, raising her voice and anger with each word that came out of her mouth; Nora just looked at her with pity and apology while Mia kept her gaze fixed but empty on Liv.

"I'm sorry, Liv," Nora spoke first, stepping forward and raising her hands in surrender, her voice calm despite her suppressed anger. "I usually have Konner or William help me buffer her. I didn’t know about the six thing so I’m going to let this one crawly out of it.”

Nora glared at her friend, waiting for her to apologize, but the blonde froze in place, the same blank stare dancing in her eyes. Liv took several steps toward her, the blonde unfazed by the palpably angry Kryptonian, who was easily a head taller than her.

“I thought maybe it had to do with Sierra’s company—there was a chance—”

“And so, you followed me?” Liv shook her head, cutting her off. “You could’ve just asked. I would've told you. Instead, you pulled out the spy tech and treated me like a suspect.”

She paused. Her voice softened, but it was a blade wrapped in velvet. “I thought I meant more to you than that.”

That landed. Hard.

Their gazes held until Liv stepped back and looked at Nora apologetically.

"I'm sorry, Nora, but if you ask me for help again, I don't think I'll do it as easily as yesterday."

Without saying anything else, Liv shot into the sky, flying to Gotham, where her best friends were waiting for her with hot food from Alfred, ready to find out what had happened to their friend.

Mia looked down from the sky and found Nora, her arms crossed, her gaze angry and ready to speak.

"What the fuck, Mia?"

Again, Mia didn't speak, and Nora knew the blonde would do just that, but that didn't stop her from getting even angrier. The speedster faced her friend.

"I know you know you screwed up." Nora pointed at Mia with her index finger, "And I know you have issues with your feelings and emotions, but that's no excuse for doing what you did, and to top it off, you gave that stupid attempt at an apology." Nora was careful not to touch Mia because she could feel the electricity vibrating through her. "Until you fix your issues with Sierra and what you did with Liv, I'm passing on the information we learned yesterday."

Without further ado, Nora left, leaving the smell of ozone in the air. Mia was alone on the roof of the building, with so much noise in her head that all she did was stay there.

Chapter Text

Atlas Prince and Helena Wayne-Kyle have been friends practically since birth, which is only natural considering their parents are Batman and Wonder Woman. What was odd was that Superman hadn't had children around the same time, so the second generation of the golden trinity was nothing more than a duo until Liv came into their lives when they were 13. Although Liv didn't acquire her powers until years later, the three formed a lethal, efficient, and inseparable group.

It wasn't a surprise to the residents of Wayne Manor that one of his siblings' friends was home. It wasn't unusual for Alfred to have a snack at unusual hours, either, but it was a surprise to Dick to see Atlas and Helena alone in one of the chairs sets ouside, not touching their food and typing furiously on their cell phones.

Dick leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed. “Hey. You two good?”

Helena and Atlas didn’t look up from their phones.

“We’re fine,” Helena muttered, eyes glued to her screen. “It’s just… Liv called. Something’s wrong. She wouldn’t say what.”

Dick opened his mouth to ask more, but that’s when Liv appeared, eyes sharp, the tension radiating off her like a storm about to break. As soon as her friends hugged her. Whatever anger or exhaustion she’d walked in with—she let it melt for just a second in their arms.

Dick, wisely, backed out.

(…)

After a few minutes, the three of them gathered up their snacks and went to Helena's room. They closed the door, put on some music, and placed the plates on the floor.

“…So? Do we have to be your alibi, help you hide the bodies or something?” Atlas suggested trying to snap his friend out of her thoughts, which he succeeded in doing.

“No.” Liv laughed at the comment. “Before we start, I’ll call Konner. I don’t want to tell this twice.”

She put the call on speaker. It rang twice before her brother picked up with a tired grunt.

“You good?” Conner asked, still groggy.

“I will be. So. It all started yesterday when I got home from work. I was gonna stream that new game I downloaded—super chill night—but then my phone rang…”

She told them everything.

And when she was done, no one interrupted her. The room was quiet except for the occasional aggressive chip-crunching from Atlas.

When she finished, they were all furious. But Helena, ever the planner, just said, “Let karma handle it.” 

They crashed hard a few hours later, limbs tangled on beanbags and blankets, unaware that they were about to wake up in a different world altogether.

(…)

The air froze Helena's cheeks. She knew she should have closed her bedroom window before going to sleep. Now she's going to catch a cold, and her dad won't let her go out on night patrol...

Maybe Liv had stayed over, the young brunette thought, and I could stick close enough to her to get warm. Kryptonians are practically walking heaters.

Even without opening her eyes, the light was strong, she tentatively searched for her friend in her bed, but all she felt was earth. With a groan, she curled up into a ball, trying to get warm again.

Wait, why is there dirt in my bed? She thought.

Helena slowly opened her eyes. The light blinded her for a couple of seconds, but after blinking a few times, her vision adjusted. She wasn't in her bed, or even in her room, but in what looked like a clearing in the middle of a forest.

“Shit,” her hoarse, newly awakened voice broke the silence. “Where the fuck am I?”

The last thing she remembers is going to sleep after a quiet patrol with Dick. She got up and took a closer look at her surroundings. The treetops ranged from yellow to orange, the air was cool, and the daylight was golden, so she wasn't in Gotham City. A few feet away, Liv lay in the dirt, unconscious but breathing evenly. Helena knelt beside her, checking her vitals—fine. Stable.

A couple of minutes passed while Helena began to make her hypotheses, during which Liv began to wake up. Helena knew that her friend took a while to fully wake up in the mornings, so she let her speak first.

“Something’s not right…” It only took a second for Liv to be sat up and fully awake.

“Liv…” Helena called her, somewhat worried.

But Liv didn't answer her, instead she said a series of words that Helena recognized as a spell and as soon as her friend's eyes stopped shining in a forest green light, Helena could feel as if a blanket had been lifted from her eyes, now she remembered something different, the last thing she remembered was being on patrol with Liv in Gotham, her father had given them a mission, something that had to do with the recent power outages in the city but she couldn't remember more than that. Her hypothesis had been proven.

“Hels, speak before I see the smoke coming out of your ears.” The brunette activated her powers again and brushed the dirt off her suit as she stood up.

“The last thing you remember was being in Gotham?” Liv nodded. “Whatever we were investigating has to do with magic, hence the blockade and why it took you longer than me to wake up. We need to go back and report to Dad. He must be worried and know more about what happened.”

They started to check their phones.

“I don’t have reception. Do you?”

“Nope.”

They checked their wrist communicators. Broken. Out of sync. Helena’s said dawn. Liv’s said noon. The sky said dusk.

Both points should have been indications that something was wrong, but they attributed it to magic. They stored their suits in their respective rings, and Liv used her powers to listen to the nearest civilization. With Helena in her arms, they flew to said place, which turned out to be a town straight out of a television series.

“Where the fuck are we?”

“Stowe, Vermont”

Liv followed her friend's finger to a wall that welcomed them to the town.

“Sometimes I wonder if I need glasses.”

“Nah, you're just dumb.”

Liv punched her friend on the shoulder, and together they headed deeper into town in search of a place to eat. After asking some elderly people sitting on a bench and walking a few more blocks, they were seated at a diner booth with a sticky, laminated menu in their hands.

“I still don’t have a signal,” Helena said, surprised.

"There was a storm last night, dear. It usually takes a couple of days for the signal to come back. We're lucky to have power." The waitress practically materialized next to them, scaring Liv and causing her friend to laugh.

“What do they want?”

“I’d like the Deluxe Burger Combo and a strawberry milkshake, please.”

“And I have a club sandwich and a Sprite.”

“Right away, girls.”

As soon as the waitress was out of reach, they started talking again.

“I bet my Alfred cookie that when we come back, your dad going to give us a 1-hour sermon.”

“Of course I accept,” Helena said, still trying to communicate with the cave. “Because it’s going to take more than two hours.”

Despite knowing they'd be in for a rain of scoldings when they arrived, the two calmly ate their meals and ordered a slice of pie to share. With their stomachs full and their meal paid for, they headed behind the diner. After checking that no one was watching, they began flying toward Gotham. After an hour of flying, they arrived at what, to anyone other than them or any Gotham vigilante, was just another alley. Familiar with the place, they went to a desolate, old phone booth where Helena entered and dialed 555-580. She had already expected the robotic voice that asked for her ID and destination.

"D-34, Baticueva."

"We're sorry, but D-34 is not in the system. Please try again."

"D-34, Batcave," he repeated insistently.

"We're sorry, but D-34 is not in the system. Have a nice day."

Helena left the cabin with a bitter taste in her mouth and a thousand ideas flying through her head.

"What happened?"

"It didn't work."

"What do you mean it didn't work?"

"Something's not right," Helena said, staring off into the distance.

"Really? I didn't realize," Liv said sarcastically.

Helena rolled her eyes; she knew sarcasm was Liv's best way to deal with stress but still pissed her off sometimes.

"We need to figure out the connection between this and the blackouts."

"I'd also like to know what you know about blackouts," said a voice above them. They both turned around at the same time, but the figure was already heading toward the ground, landing in front of them. "And also, what you were doing trying to use that booth."

"Shit," they said at the same time.

The girls slowly raised their hands. Nightwing, better known as Dick Grayson, looked at them with that smile that gave small-time thugs the creeps. He looked like their Dick, but nothing they'd tried was right, so they didn't know if this Dick would react well to them.

"Do we trust him?" Liv asked Helena in Kryptonian.

"I don't know, everything we’ve tried doesn't turn out the way it should, so why does this?"

Nightwing squinted. “What language is that?”

"It's now or never, your territory, your decision, Flamebird." Liv hadn't taken her eyes off Nightwing, waiting for any movement that indicated an attack, and with the passing seconds, it was becoming more and more likely.

"Fuck it, let's test the waters” She stepped forward. “Nightwing. Don’t you recognize us?”

"Should I?"

The two of them broke into a cold sweat at that answer. Something was definitely wrong if Helena's older brother didn't recognize her.

"Actually, yes. We need to talk to Batman, now."

"I don't think that's going to happen."

"We don't want to fight with you."

"Really? It doesn't look like it," Nightwing said, approaching them as if he were a cornered animal, which wasn't far from the truth.

"Escape plan."

Without giving Nightwing time to react, Liv grabbed Helena by the waist and the two flew to the rooftops to start running.

"Shit," Nightwing said, reaching for the communicator in his ear. "Guys, we've got two possible metas near the transport pod by the dock, in pursuit right now."

Meanwhile, Helena and Liv were running through the buildings, trying to escape what they both knew was an inevitable confrontation if they didn't use Liv's powers to flee and regroup.

"What the fuck is going on?"

"I don't know, but we need Batman, and this was the best option."

"More like the quickest option. B will kill us when he finds out."

"He was going to kill us anyway for not reporting in what I estimate is a day, one murder at a time, Blue Bat."

The heroines moved easily and practiced across the city's rooftops, but after Liv nearly fell into an alleyway and fell into a building that definitely shouldn't be there, they became more cautious. It wasn't long before they saw more figures around them; the Bat-Family was already hunting them like a pack of wolves on their prey. Red Robin had already cut them off twice, and they couldn't stop him a third time, so now Nightwing and Red Robin surrounded them, but Liv could hear Black Bat and Red Hood lurking around to see if they needed backup.

"Something is wrong."

"Didn't we make that clear?"

"Yes but look at them! Is it just me or do they look smaller?"

Helena couldn't analyze what her friend said; the two vigilantes lunged at them, Nightwing going after Helena and Red Robin going after Liv.

"What language are they speaking?" Red Robin asked on air.

"That's what I was telling you," Nightwing replied, pulling out his escrima sticks to try to neutralize Helena.

"I feel like I've heard that somewhere," Red Robin threw a kick that Liv narrowly dodged.

Meanwhile, Helena was fighting a version of her brother who wasn't holding back, and it scared her but excited her at the same time. When would it ever happen again? When training, her brother fought well but always held a bit back. Still, they were in trouble if they didn’t defuse this quickly.

"We really just want to talk to Batman," Helena tried to reason with Nightwing.

"I already told you that it’s not going to work, so why don't you surrender and we can take you to jail for interrogation?"

“Then, I’m really sorry about what’s about to happen,” Helena said while blocking a kick and then shouted at Liv “Let’s make the heavy lifters go down, no weapons.”

As soon as she said that, both of them began to launch more offensive attacks. They both knew their opponents and knew how to beat them in their own games.

"I don't like our chances, FB."

"I'm still trying to resolve this in a civilized manner, please bear with me."

"Are they aliens? Metahumans? Don't you know Batman's policies? Neither of those two are in Gotham without his permission," Nightwing said, narrowly but elegantly dodging a kick from Helena.

Nightwing was always good at fighting; his well-timed acrobatics, combined with punches and kicks, made his fighting style both difficult to predict and lethal. If you weren't careful, you could end up seriously injured.

"I know all about Batman." Helena spoke to him in Romanian, and she could see how puzzled her brother was when she recognized his native language, giving her the advantage she was looking for.

Helena knew her fighting style; Dick played a huge part in her training. She'd been his partner for three years; her vigilante’s name matched his. While her brother knew her weaknesses and she knew his, this Dick didn't; so it was easy to start making him loose the fight. Helena didn’t saw when Black Bat came down but when she dodged a punch to the jaw from Dick, she was fighting Liv. Helena’s family wasn’t going to take much longer to come and play.

"Who the fuck are you?" Dick sounded angry, and his fighting style showed it. If he'd been holding back before because Helena looked young, there was no trace of that now.

"You should know who I am! Who we are!" Helena was faster than him and caught the older man in a headlock. "I don't want to hurt you, but we need help, and this was the fastest way to get him here."

"Flamebird, watch out!"

Liv got distracted. Since Black Bat was the one who came down and not Red Hood, she should had user her powers. Liv paid attention to the bats' communications too late, and before she knew it, Red Hood's tranquilizer dart was already in the air, as was Black Bat's fist toward her face. She only managed to alert her friend and turn her face slightly so Cass's fist wouldn't shatter with the blow, but she did manage to hit her mask, cracking it in one part.

Helena was now on the ground.

Liv took a few steps back and tried to look around for Jason, but doing that and fighting Red Robin and Black Bat at the same time without being able to use her speed was a real challenge. What she did see was Nightwing approaching Helena, fully intent on removing his friend's mask.

"Shit, just what I needed," she muttered reluctantly.

Liv decided to move a little faster than usual to grab one of her batarangs and throw it at Nightwing in a spin; the knife stuck in the side of his foot and made the hero take a couple of steps back.

"Don't even think about it, Nightwing!"

Of course, preserving her friend's identity cost her time, and now Red Hood had materialized on the rooftop, pointing a gun at her.

"Surrender, we're four against one and more are on the way. We'll take you to the police for questioning."

Liv wanted to keep fighting. Without powers, she could neutralize at least one of them; with powers, she could run away and not be seen, maybe find her mothers and figure out what the hell was going on in Gotham, but her friend was down, and Helena was right: if anyone could figure out what was going on without leaving their circle, it was Batman. And if things got ugly, they could always talk to Liv’s mother, and the process would go much faster. Maybe. If Lena Luthor didn’t freak out with the knowledge of her future daughter.

With a look that the Bat-Family thought was too similar to their own when they resign, the brunette raised her hands.

"I give up and I'll talk about whatever you want, but you have to take us to the Watchtower."

(…)

Mia was able to make it down to the rooftop of the building an hour after Nora had left her. She went straight to her brother William's house, who, upon opening the door and seeing his sister, let her in. There was no exchange of words between the siblings. Mia sat down on the couch, and William draped a blanket over her shoulders. Mia hadn't noticed she was shivering.

It seemed like seconds to Mia when her brother reappeared in her field of vision, carrying a cup of hot chocolate and a sandwich like the ones their father used to make them. William looked as Mia took half a cup and a couple of bites of her sandwich so he could be sure he could talk to his sister without her closing up like a clam.

“Ready to talk about whatever got you like this?”

William was always the more tactful of the two, the one with a calm character and clear thoughts. He was the first to know that she liked men and women, the first Mia told when had she lost her virginity, and she was the first to find out that he wanted to marry his then-boyfriend, although that occasion had not ended very well of William.

William knew that his sister took longer than the average person to process her thoughts and emotions since she was used to putting everything aside for the sake of the mission or others, so he understood his sister when she told him about what had happened, but he also knew that his sister was not entirely correct in her actions and that she regretted what she had done.

“It’s just… too noisy.” Mia covered her ears with her palms, hot tears flowing down her eyes and falling onto her pants.

“Breathe, Mia.” She didn’t know when her brother had changed places, coming to her side, taking his hands off her ears and putting his arms around her, trying to calm his sister and let her emotions flow more easily.

William never fully understood when his sister said it was too noisy, as most of the time he couldn't even hear the traffic or the birds. Searching online, he realized it was because his sister's thoughts moved so fast and so forcefully that they couldn't take shape; they only generated noise in her head, which caused her to freeze or become even more desperate, generating more noise in a cycle that was difficult to break. William just hugged his sister until he felt her breathing calm again.

“I know I was wrong,” she said, sniffling. William gave her a tissue to wipe it off, which she thanked with a look. “But I don’t even know why I’m like this. Do I still love Sierra? Does it cause me conflict to see Liv like this?”

William took a moment to think before answering. He knew that whatever he said had to be careful and empathetic.

"It's normal to feel this way, Mia. Emotions can be confusing and sometimes don't have a logical explanation. Maybe part of you still have feelings for Sierra, and seeing Liv in that situation probably fuels those feelings and creates this conflict in your heart."

He held her gaze, "The important thing is that you allow yourself to feel those emotions without judgment. You're going through a lot, and it's natural to feel overwhelmed. You don't need to have all the answers right now. What you need is time and space to understand yourself better." William pulled away from his sister. "And when you have your answers, you should apologize to Liv and Nora. Possibly Konner too, because Livia probably told him everything just like you're telling me."

William stood up and stretched, causing something in his back to pop, causing both siblings to laugh.

“You’re getting old,” the blonde mocked, to which her brother gave her the finger.

“You can stay as long as you want… but I have an appointment at around 8 and the plan after that is to come here so…”

Mia chuckled and stood, folding the blanket neatly and setting it back on the couch. “Thanks. But I think I need some time alone to sort through all this. And if I still don’t know what the hell, I’m feeling by tomorrow… I’ll apologize anyway.”

“That’s a start.” He gave her a look. “Just maybe try to show more emotion than blind rage when you apologize. People tend to respond better to that.”

Mia rolled her eyes and gave him a playful punch on the arm.

“Ow,” William groaned, rubbing his shoulder. “I never liked that you were stronger than me.”

“If you came to the gym with me once in a while…”

“No way. I threw up last time, remember?”

Chapter Text

Damian, Steph, and Duke were out of town for school. Batman was on route to see the disaster for himself, and Barbara was on video call from her base. The rest of the Bat-Family was gathered at the Watchtower, reviewing the fight footage with the mysterious—possibly metahuman—intruders.

But nothing made sense.

Dick couldn’t piece it together. First, Oracle had received a ping: someone was trying to use a Zeta-Tube to transport to the Batcave. That alone was enough of a red flag. When he arrived, he found two girls, both in all-black , arguing about Gotham’s recent blackouts. Strike one.

They were speaking a language he didn’t recognize. Strike two.

And when confronted, they didn’t hesitate—they leapt three stories without breaking a sweat and took off running. Strike three.

They were trouble. No question.

But it got weirder.

Their fighting styles were eerily familiar. Like they knew how the Bats would move before they even acted. Both girls clearly held back. Dick knew they had weapons, his siblings had search them before putting them on the batjet and confiscated two swords and arrows but they never drew them. And then there was the thing that kept looping in his mind like a bad audio glitch: the one he fought spoke to him in perfect Romanian. His native tongue.

And she’d said, “I know all about Batman.”

That’s when things spiraled.

They had outmaneuvered Nightwing and Red Robin—but barely. They’d needed Cass and Jason to help neutralize them. And even then, one of the girls had surrendered only on the condition that they’d be brought to the Watchtower.

Now, one of them sat calmly—too calmly—in an interrogation room, mask partially broken and seemingly unbothered. Her body language didn’t scream villain. It screamed Bat. The other one was still unconscious in the med bay, her mask stubbornly locked in place. Jason had tried to remove it and gotten zapped for his trouble.

Dick would normally laugh at that. But something about this whole mess left a sour taste in his mouth.

“I don’t know, 'Wing,” Jason muttered, only a domino mask concealing his identity, sweat dampening his hair. He was staring at the girl on the screen. “Something just doesn’t add up.”

“She spoke to me in Romanian,” Dick said slowly, eyes fixed on the same screen. “She said she knows all about Batman. I don’t know what to do with that.”

“And she had a Batarang,” Tim added, arms crossed tightly. “It came from her suit, not one of ours. That thing wasn’t standard issue, either.”

“All the more reason I don’t understand why we brought them here,” Jason huffed.

“She asked for the Watchtower,” Dick replied. “Said she’d talk, but only here.”

Before anyone could argue, Tim’s voice cut in.

“Guys, B is here.”

Four heads turned to the Zeta-Tube just as the familiar shimmer cleared to reveal The Dark Knight in full cape and cowl, looking like the storm he’d flown through followed him in.

All of them straightened instinctively.

“Has Oracle filled you in?” Cass asked.

“She has,” Bruce continued, already on bat mode. “Nightwing, you go first.”

(…)

Liv might have looked calm, but her heart was hammering against her ribs like it was trying to break through—no small feat, considering she was indestructible.

She forced herself to breathe. Inhale. Exhale. Focus.

Bruce had trained her for high-stress situations like this. She knew what to expect, and more importantly, how to fake control when her nerves threatened to unravel. Knowing B, he wouldn’t be the first to enter. He’d let someone else test the waters, see what could be shaken loose. Probably Nightwing.

Good. She could rattle him. That was the plan. Be such a pain in the ass that Batman had no choice but to step in himself.

The mirrored window on the wall gleamed. She could hear the heartbeats nearby—Bruce, Jason, Tim, Cass, observing.

The door opened. Right on cue, Nightwing walked in.

She didn’t move. Didn’t even acknowledge him. Just admired her nails, eyes half-lidded like she was waiting for room service.

Nightwing sat down across from her. “Okay, girl. Talk.”

“Yeah… I don’t think so.”

It took him a second to recover from the sheer audacity. “You said if we brought you here, you’d tell us what we wanted to know.”

“I did. I also didn’t give you my conditions.”

“Alright,” he said, leaning forward, “I’ll give you the privilege of telling me your terms.”

“Will you take them into account?” Her gaze finally flicked up—sharp, dark. The bored act dropped for just a beat.

“I’ll consider it.”

“Fine.” She leaned back as far as the cuffs allowed “But if they’re not met, I’m not talking.”

“You do realize if you don’t cooperate, we’ll toss you in a cell.”

“I don’t want to brag,” she said casually, “but I think we can break out of most of the places you'd throw us in.”

Cocky. Too cocky. The missing piece of her mask revealed just enough of a grin to make Dick grind his teeth.

“What makes you so sure?”

“I had really good teachers.”

That smug little shrug was pushing every button Dick had.

“Are you gonna state your terms, or should I go get lunch?”

Her stomach growled—unfortunate timing. Point, Nightwing.

“The first condition is no cameras,” she said, gesturing to the obvious one in the corner.

“Fine.”

“You and I both know that’s not the only one.”

The thought crossed Dick’s mind again—League of Assassins? A covert agency? A rogue squad trained by one of the heavy hitters? She knew too much. She was too composed.

“Just that one?” he asked.

“No. I have two more: Batman interrogates me. Alone.”

“You think you’re in a position to demand that?”

“I think I’m in a desperate position,” she said smoothly. “And come on, Nightwing. Who asks for Batman unless they’re desperate or unhinged?”

A voice crackled through the comms in the room. Bruce. “I’m not interrogating her alone.”

“Okay!” the girl said quickly. “Nightwing can stay. But the other two conditions stand.”

Seconds later, the door opened again—The Bat in full cape and cowl, shadow cutting across the floor as he entered. He sat down silently, next to Dick.

“Speak,” he demanded.

“There are still people in the other room,” she said calmly, arms crossed.

“How do you know that?” Dick asked.

“I can feel them.” She locked her gaze to the mirror.

Bruce’s comms lit up with Jason’s voice: “She’s watching me. Nope. I’m out. Tell me how this horror movie ends.”

Jason was superstitious. Bruce didn’t comment. Just made a move with his hand that his children understood as to go.

A small flicker of relief passed over the girl’s face. “Okay. Now ask.”

“What’s your name?” Dick asked.

“You can call me Blue.”

“You said you could escape any prison we’d put you in, Blue,” Batman said, his voice low and even. “How are you so sure?”

“Like I said—really good teachers.”

“Who?” Bruce asked. “Ra’s? Lady Shiva?”

She smiled. “You guys, actually.”

That made them both pause.

“I don’t remember training an impertinent child,” Batman said.

“Ouch,” she said, mockingly placing a hand over her heart. “That hurt. The part where you don’t remember me—I know I’m impertinent, and you love that about me.”

The cockiness wavered for a heartbeat. Her voice trembled, just slightly.

They heard it.

And they’d use it.

“Are you going to talk,” Batman asked, “or should we let you rot in a cell?”

She exhaled slowly. Some of the arrogance peeled away.

“What day is it?”

“What?” Dick frowned.

“The exact date. Our tech’s glitchy.”

“August 19,” Dick said. “2020.”

The moment the year left his mouth, she froze.

And then, without hesitation, she reached up and peeled away the rest of her broken mask.

Her appearance changed. Slightly. Her hair and skin lightened. Her eyes shifted from brown to blue with a slight tint of green.

“My name is Livia,” she said. “And I think we’re from the future.”

In the silence that fell in the room, a pin could be heard dropping.

"Yeah, sure," Nightwing mocked, breaking the silence.

"I can start saying things that only someone close to you would know, but I know that will only make you more paranoid."

Nightwing was getting visibly tired of her games. But Batman… Batman was watching the gears turn behind her eyes. He could see her calculating her next move.

“Shit,” Liv muttered, flipping her wrist to expose the small screen of her gauntlet. “Okay. See the icon labeled Team? Tap it. Then go to Flamebird, press it again. That’ll let you approach my teammate."

"For what, exactly?"

“So, you can run a DNA test,” she said flatly.

“Could you please stop being so cryptic?”

Liv ignored him. She didn’t care about playing the long game anymore. The moment she’d heard the date, her priority shifted.

Her gaze locked on Bruce, her tone ice-sharp. “You're going to find out she's your biological daughter. And I really hope you're still the good guys—because if you're not? Or worse, if any of you hurt her? Just remember—you may’ve trained me but for her, I will tear every one of you down.”

(…)

The Bat-Family watched as the computer ran the diagnosis for the third time and displayed the same result.

Confirmed relationship

Compatibility: 98.99%

The girl told the truth. The Flamebird was Bruce's biological daughter. They'd also run the girl's DNA to compare it to the database, and while the results lit a small spark of happiness in his chest, he couldn't ignore the thoughts in his head that whispered horrible things. The way his youngest son had been conceived and the fact that he couldn't remember how still sent shivers down his spine whenever the thought crept into his head.

"B?" Tim placed his hand on his father's arm, pulling him back to reality once more. He hadn't realized his sons were watching him, so he cleared his throat, trying to shake off those thoughts.

"I'm fine." He replied with a small smile, something rare to see when Bruce was wearing his suit, but normal to his children. "Let's recap. What do we know?"

"We've confirmed that Blue was truthful about at least this much." Jason pointed at the computer, looking out of the corner of his eye as Bruce went back into work mode. "What we don't know yet is, who is this Blue? Is she telling the truth? What language were they speaking? And finally, what do they know about the blackouts?"

"I know I've heard that language before…" Tim said thoughtfully.

The others began to offer their theories, while Nightwing and Batman remained silent. The old duo had a silent conversation that ended with Batman leaving the room and Nightwing asking his brothers to be quiet.

"They're all good theories, guys, but we also have to consider what she's told us and make sure it makes sense. Blue said she'd been trained by B, and assuming the other girl was too, it makes sense. Everyone saw how the two of them read our moves, almost as if they knew our fighting style. Plus, they had weapons and never drew them."

"But that can be done by studying us through videos or spying on us."

"Valid, but you also have to consider that when Flamebird was fighting me, she spoke to me in Romanian. It's not easy to find our identities, and on top of that, it's not common knowledge that I have Romanian ancestry. These girls know things, and we need to figure out if we can trust them."

(…)

On the other hand, Liv was resting her head on the table, still in handcuffs. She knew that with her powers she could have broken them a long time ago, been able to go check on her friend and escape from there to get something to eat, but her training told her not to show all her cards to her enemies, even if they wore the faces of her family. She could hear Helena's heartbeat, still relaxed by the tranquilizers. How long had it been since they arrived? Liv estimated around 4 hours, but with her technology not working, she couldn't be sure. Shit, this is turning into a headache; she would have to be careful with the information she said, or it could cause a butterfly effect. The only thing keeping her from collapsing was Helena's heartbeat; it had always been like a white noise that helped her relax or concentrate.

The door opened and Liv could tell who it was by the heartbeat or the aroma of coffee practically emanating from him, but she decided to lift her head and tilt it to greet Batman.

"You were right."

"I know."

Batman placed a tray with a sandwich and water in front of her, and the aroma registered in her head. Her stomach growled in protest, and Liv couldn't help but curse her Kryptonian metabolism. Batman pushed the tray toward her, so Liv began eating quickly, and when she was finished, the hero spoke again.

"How old are they?"

"We are 22 but Flamebird, Helena, is 3 months older."

"And who exactly are you?"

"Considering the year, my parents aren't a couple yet. But I'm sure you checked who Helena's mother was on the tests." After finishing her bottle, she twisted until compacted and placed it on the tray.

Blue knew how he thought, which worried him a little, but Batman didn't respond.

"Her full name is Helena Martha Wayne-Kyle, in case you still think I'm lying."

Batman and Liv had a starring contest for several minutes until Batman removed his mask, revealing a younger version of his mentor. Further confirmation of the predicament they were in.

"How did you get here?" he said in his normal voice, which visibly relaxed Liv.

"We're not entirely sure, we think it has something to do with magic, but the last thing we remember was patrolling the city and receiving a dispatch from you telling us to check out some place in Burnley. The next thing we remember was waking up in a forest in Vermont. We decided to go to Gotham because it was the closest."

"How do you know it's magic that affected them?"

"It was the only logical explanation." He didn’t needed to know that she could do magic, not yet.

Again, both remained silent. Batman knew it wasn't a very meaningful answer, but it was valid. It was becoming increasingly obvious that the girl had been trained by him.

"You know you're not helping your case, right?"

"Yes, but I need to see my friend. I've already told you a lot about Helena, and only because I know she would have done the same thing in my situation.” She rubbed her eyes “I know you want more information, but I don't know much about the time we're in or what things we can change if we risk trusting you and revealing things that will make you trust us more. It's a decision I can't make lightly or without her."

Silence fell again, and like the others, it wasn't awkward, but rather expectant. Bruce still suspected he was being manipulated for some ulterior motive, but they needed answers, and these girls could give them.

"What language were you speaking to each other?"

That made Blue regain his sly smile from earlier.

"Kryptonian."

(…)

Although Liv was waddling like a penguin—thanks to the handcuffs still shackling both her wrists and ankles—her nerves didn’t care. Helena’s heartbeat was awake and uneven, full of confusion and tension. Liv knew her friend was alert. Knew she was scared. She wanted to run, to hold her and reassure her, but she had to be careful with her strength.

So she did the next best thing: she skipped.

It looked ridiculous, but it was fast enough. And when the door to the med bay opened, she practically launched herself at Helena.

“Liv, thank God you’re okay.” Helena crushed her in a hug.

“Same here, Hels. But hey—we can’t speak Kryptonian.”

“What? Why? Where... are we?”

Then Helena saw him—the Bat, standing silently in the doorway. Her eyes flicked back to Liv, sharp.

“He knows. And I think your siblings do too,” Liv said quietly.

Batman stepped further into the room and, without a word, pulled off his cowl.

Helena’s first instinct was to launch herself into his arms. But... something was wrong. Not bad, but different. Younger. Sharper. Not her Bruce.

“What do you know? And what do they know?” she asked, voice dropping.

Liv sighed. “Almost everything, at least what I could tell without completely breaking the timeline. We needed him to trust us. So, I started with your DNA test.”

Helena groaned. “Of course you did.”

“Hey, I played it smart! I didn't tell them anything I couldn't back up. And him taking off the mask?” Liv tilted her head toward Bruce. “That means he knows you're legit.”

“I know” Helena sighed “This is just one big headache.”

Helena finally removed her own mask. She could feel his eyes tracing every part of her face—searching for something familiar, something his brain hadn’t quite caught up to yet.

“Well,” she said after a beat, “I think we should at least tell him who your relatives are. Build some actual trust and figure this out together.”

“Wow,” Liv blinked dramatically. “You’re saying this with your mouth. Growth!”

Helena shoved her.

Liv grinned, then turned to Batman. She held her cuffed hands out in front of her.

“Alright, enough theatrics.”

With a casual flex, she snapped the handcuffs like they were paperclips. The metal hit the floor with a satisfying clink.

“As you can see, I’m Kryptonian. That enough proof for all of you?”

She glanced not at Bruce—but at the one-way mirror.

The door opened immediately.

One by one, the rest of the Batfamily filed into the room.

Dick, arms crossed. Tim, already analyzing. Cass, watching silently. Jason... just scowling.

“So you could’ve escaped this whole time?” Jason asked.

“Yup.”

“And you didn’t?”

“Nope.”

“Why?”

“Because I knew if I didn’t let you lot detain me, you wouldn’t believe a word I said. Also,” she added, tossing a smirk toward Bruce, “he’s kind of scary when he doesn’t know you.”

Jason blinked. “Wait—you’re Kryptonian. How the hell did you feel us behind the glass earlier?”

Liv shrugged innocently. “I didn’t feel you. I heard you. Your heartbeats.”

Everyone blinked. Jason’s eyes narrowed.

“I knew exactly how many of you were in that room,” Liv continued. “And I also knew you’re superstitious as hell, so... I saw my opportunity to mess with you, and I took it.”

She gave him a little wink.

Jason pointed at her. “You little—!”

“Language,” Bruce warned mildly, brow ticked upward—his version of amusement.

Tim turned away to cough down a laugh. Cass silently laughed. Jason flipped the girl off with both hands.

Dick just sighed.

Chapter Text

Mia smoothed her clothes for the fifth time as she walked. She had traveled to National City to apologize sincerely. Even though she hadn't resolved her feelings yet, she believed it was necessary to do this and let the younger girl know that she was working on it. She texted her a few days ago to try to coordinate with her but hadn't heard back from either Liv or Konner. Mia didn't know where Liv lived, but she did know where Konner was. Now all she had to do was hope her friend wouldn't pretend he wasn't home and open the door for her. If not, her only option was to go to her aunt’s house and—The door opened and revealed her giant friend, his eyes bloodshot and a few days' stubble adorning his face, Mia frowned because Konner didn't like to grow a beard unless it was for a Halloween costume.

“Are you okay?”

The dark-haired man stared at her for a few long seconds—which felt like hours to Mia—before taking a step forward. Instead of speaking, he bent slightly, crouching just enough to press his forehead against her shoulder, arms hanging loosely at his sides.

It was awkward, their height difference always made hugs weird—but Mia didn’t care. She wrapped her arms around his back, holding him as tightly as she could. She felt the tension bleed out of him in slow waves, like a storm finally beginning to break.

“I was mad at you, you know?” Konner’s voice was choked with tears. When had he started crying? Mia squeezed him tighter. “But now we have a bigger problem than your stupidity.”

“Then it must be a very big problem.”

Konner just laughed, mixed with tears, and straightened up. Wiping his tears with the back of his hand, he allowed the blonde to enter his penthouse. Mia was familiar with her friend's home, so she went straight to the kitchen and took out the ingredients for hot chocolate. She returned to the living room where Konner was looking at his phone with a pack of tissues next to him. She handed him the mug, which he accepted with a smile.

“Thank you, these days have been… difficult.”

“You want to talk about it?”

The black-haired man took a sip from his cup, feeling the warmth travel to his stomach in a pleasant way. The whole situation made him feel cold, which should be impossible for a Kryptonian with powers like his.

“The same day you pulled your little shitshow—” Konner shot her a look. Mia’s cheeks flushed. “Liv went to Gotham and stayed there. Nothing out of the ordinary until Bruce got a call to ieiu in the early morning. He explained that the girls had gone on patrol and lost communication with them. Ieiu called me and together with Mom, we went to Gotham to help look for them, but we didn’t find anything in that stupid city!” Konner broke the handle of the mug in frustration, but Mia’s quick reflexes kept the contents from making a mess, and she placed both mugs on the coffee table in front of them. “Sorry… it’s just that we combed the city, talked to several villains, checked the sewers and the outskirts. Nothing. It’s like they disappeared into thin air.”

Konner dropped his head into his hands as he tried to control his breathing, the raven-haired man could feel his eyes burning with the need to unleash heat in an attempt to release frustration so he dug his palms harder into them, he couldn't deactivate his powers, what if Liv was crying out for help and he wasn't listening because he couldn't control his emotions? He didn’t know how long he stayed like that, fists pressed into his eyes, until he felt Mia’s fingers glide down his back. Gentle. Careful. Calming. Just enough contact to ground him without crossing his line.

“Thanks, I needed that.” he said when he finally relaxed.

"Don’t mention it."

They fell silent again, Konner relaxing further with the constant rubbing of Mia's fingers on his back, both of them staring at the unlit fireplace in front of them.

“What’s the next step?” Mia spoke after a while.

“Right now? Restore energy, direct orders from Alfred.” The man sighed, straightening and reaching for his cup on the table. Mia pulled her hand away and grabbed hers just to keep her hands busy. “Aunt Zatanna will be here in a couple of hours to rule out any magic involved, and I really hope it isn’t.”

"Why? Wouldn't it be better if she were involved? At least then they'd have a starting point."

“It's not that simple. If magic is involved, we must isolate the user's signature and identify it. If we can't identify it, we'll have to go to other channels, like Constantine or Lucifer, which could take a couple more days. Besides, I know my mom; if she knows magic is involved, Lena Luthor-Danvers won't rest until she understands it and reverses it, at the cost of her own health.”

Mia was silent for a few moments and then took out her phone to send a text.

“I sent Nora a message. She's mad at me too, but I hope she'll at least read it. We're going to help you.”

“You know, you need to check that temper of yours. It’s just causing trouble.” Konner had a slight smile on his lips and attempted a mocking tone, but considering the situation, Mia considered it a victory.

“And you should check those comments, I can always stick a kryptonite arrow in you just because I want to.”

“But you wouldn’t, you love me too much to do that.”

They'll be fine, Mia told herself in her head. They'll find Helena and Livia, you will be able to apologize, and I'll make a change in my attitude to avoid these problems. Yes, that's going to happen.

(…)

The Bat-family and the girls from the future made their way to the manor. It was the smartest option—contain the situation, keep an eye on them, and figure things out as a unit. They’d appeared in Gotham, after all. That made them a Bat problem now.

Cass and Tim peeled off to grab a few hours of sleep before school, while the rest settled in one of the manor’s living rooms. Alfred, ever the MVP, brought in reinforcements: food and drinks piled high enough to call it a feast.

“Snack” didn’t even begin to cover it.

There were mountains of sandwiches, towers of cookies, pitchers of lemonade, water, and coffee lined up like soldiers awaiting orders.

“She has a fast metabolism,” Helena explained, glancing toward her best friend.

"Thank you, Miss Helena, I'll keep that in mind," Alfred replied.

As Liv devoured her food, the Wayne siblings looked at each other with As Liv inhaled her fourth sandwich, the Wayne boys sipped their coffee and gave her appraising looks—trying to figure her out.

“So,” Jason said first, eyeing her over the rim of his cup, “you’re the leader?”

“Naturally,” Helena replied from her seat, perfectly posed. “Though my best friends have strong leadership qualities too. We balance each other.”

“Anyone else missing?”

“Yeah. Atlas—Wonder Woman’s kid.”

Jason raised a brow. “Huh. Always figured if Diana had kids, they’d all be girls.”

Helena smirked. “She surprised everyone.”

“And your alias, Flamebird… that’s from Kryptonian legend, right?” Dick asked, leaning forward, clearly curious now.

“Yep. Took it intentionally. The idea was always that I’d be your sidekick.”

Dick smiled; he might not have like Liv that much yet, but something told him that the short time he was going to spend with Helena would be quite enjoyable, even though he'd have to wait several years to fully enjoy it.

"You know, it's weird being almost your age and older than most of my siblings."

“How old is Damian in your timeline?” Jason asked.

"Oh, I'm not going to give you my birthyear."

"Shit."

The three siblings laughed, while Bruce, who was across the room, watched them with a smile. He loved seeing his children living together so domestically, especially after all the mishaps they'd had with each other and with him. Having almost all of them at the mansion that night made him feel unusually happy. Besides, he hadn't yet fully processed the revelation of having a daughter from the future. They needed to make a lot of plans and be careful what they said.

Bruce's train of thought was interrupted by Liv, who materialized beside him with half a glass of lemonade in her hand.

“They’re like this in the future too,” she said softly. “Even with the age gaps.”

They both watched as the siblings planned a prank for Tim in the morning.

“She looks like my mother,” Bruce murmured, barely audible.

"She knows it and she love it. She's even worn several of her dresses to some galas. She's broken the internet several times."

Bruce didn’t respond right away. They stood in companionable silence until a blur of air swept past him. When he turned, Liv was beside him again—but this time with a cup of tea in hand.

Bruce raised an eyebrow.

“I don’t like coffee,” she said before he could say anything. “And I asked Alfred. Chill.”

“You really are impertinent, aren’t you?”

“And you really love me for that.”

Bruce shook his head, but a corner of his mouth twitched upward.

“I wanted to ask,” he said, “the tech that changed your face—what was it?”

"It's a facial concealer. It was created to help new heroes who decided not to hide their faces from the public but wanted to add a level of security."

"Do they map your face and program new features?"

Bruce and Liv began arguing about the facial concealer when Helena interrupted. Without waiting for her friend to turn around, she dropped the cup she was holding. Liv became a blur to catch it and place it on the table.

"See? She's almost always attentive," Helena commented.

"Almost?" The brunette raised an eyebrow.

"Are you going to make me take out the list?" Her friend mirrored her expression.

"Let's talk business before B goes to work and I fall asleep on the couch," said the brunette, clapping her hands, diverting the topic and causing laughter from the others.

(…)

After a couple of hours of debates, raised eyebrows, and more than one headache, the five of them came to an agreement:

• The League would not be informed—too many unpredictable variables, and none of them wanted to think about what could happen if those dominoes started falling.
• Step one: confirm whether magic was involved. What kind, whose signature, how strong? Zatanna had been called and would arrive in a few days.
• If magic was the cause, they’d work with Zatanna—or, worst case, Constantine or Lucifer. But if not... they’d have to explore other options:
• Find a way to send a message to the future, hoping that future tech could help fast-track a solution.
• Build a time machine themselves.
• They needed to determine how the blackouts connected to the time displacement—because according to the girls, it was happening in the future, too.
• Until further notice, Helena and Livia would stay at the manor.
• Absent members of the family would be informed about the “guests.” If they returned before the girls left, then they'd be briefed properly.

All that remained was Selina.

And Bruce was... deeply unsettled by that part.

How exactly was he supposed to bring it up?

"Hey, love. You look stunning in that black silk dress with the slit up the side. Also, minor detail—two girls claiming to be from the future showed up at the manor. They’ll be staying here a while. One of them happens to be our daughter."

Yeah. That would go over just fine.

Bruce had never been particularly gifted at expressing emotions the normal way. Unfortunately, that flaw didn’t magically disappear when time travel or secret daughters were involved.

This was going to be a disaster.

Breakfast was normal, all things considered. With the house almost full and two new additions, a bit of chaos was to be expected. The kids seemed to get along well, although perhaps the fact that they'd become family in the future helped.

As everyone tried to adjust to the new dynamic, Bruce couldn't help but notice that Dick was still somewhat reluctant to live with Liv. Perhaps the girl had irritated him during the interrogation, but the brunette didn't seem to mind. Considering her attitude toward others, Bruce assumed Liv was confident she'd eventually get Dick to tolerate her. Or would simply thrive in annoying him.

Everyone went about their daily activities, while the new tenants helped Alfred clean. After that, Helena went to play video games, while Liv was finally able to sleep after 24 hours.

Chapter Text

Bruce was reviewing some WE files, everything chill, thinking what would Alfred do for dinner when he received a call from Clark.

“Bruce, why are there several hours missing from the Watchtower security tapes that just happened to coincide with the time you were here?”

“Because we needed privacy.”

“You cannot use the Watchtower as your personal interrogation site.”

“I financed most of its construction, so I think I have some right to it.”

“Bruce—”

“You may find out one day, you may not; it depends on no one but me.”

And with that, Bruce hung up. He rubbed his temples just imagining the headache his Boy Scout friend would cause if his journalistic instincts won out over his common sense. But he had more urgent things to do, like reviewing all the documents on his desk so that his three-day absence from helping the children of the future wouldn't weigh so heavily on his mind. He barely made it through two more lines before his phone buzzed again. This time, it was Diana.

“Did Clark tell you about the security tapes?”

“Yes, Bruce—”

“No comments.”

And Bruce hung up, not before hearing his extremely angry friend say: “Don’t you dare apply a CEO with—”

Bruce was going to be in trouble if he stopped by the Watchtower in the next few days. The good thing was he didn't intend to go, and any documents that were in the Watchtower were accessible from the cave. Sipping his coffee and smiling at the thought of the frustration he was causing his friends and coworkers, he managed to complete the remaining page of his current document before receiving a third call, this time from Selena.

“Hi, love,” his girlfriend purred from the other end of the call.

“Hi.” Bruce hoped the smile he had didn’t sound so silly.

“Just out of curiosity, when were you planning to tell me you adopted two more girls?”

Needless to say, the headache he had imagined came true.

(…)

As soon as Bruce arrived at the Manor, he took Selina to his office.

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, the girls from the future were bracing for the fallout. Helena radiated anxious panic like it was perfume. Liv, on the other hand, was practically vibrating with sleep, her body very much not prepared for this “being awake” nonsense. Alfred had made them both tea.

“I’m sure Master Bruce will know how to approach Miss Kyle with the situation,” Alfred offered gently, trying to calm Helena.

“That’s not what I’m worried about,” she muttered, clutching her mug. “What if they get mad and break up and I’m never born? What if she figures out who Liv’s parents are? She’s smart.”

“I’m flattered, dear,” Selina said from the doorway, making them both jump. “But even if I did figure it out, I wouldn’t tell Bruce. I’d just hold it over his head forever and mock his title as ‘World’s Greatest Detective.’”

Helena turned toward the kitchen entrance, face falling into guilt. But Selina approached and gently cupped her cheek.

"It's strange seeing your future daughter all of a sudden, yes, but it's not your fault. Besides, I just got confirmation that the grumpy guy over there finally decided to give me the ring."

Helena turned to look at Bruce, who was slightly blushing and avoiding looking at them.

“And you’re beautiful, obviously we were going to be related.”

They both gave each other the same radiant smile.

“I’m actually surprised you took all this so calmly.”

“After aliens trying to invade us twice a year? Time travel’s not even in the top ten. But do me a favor and call me Selina, alright? I know I look like your mom, but—”

“You’re not, that’s okay.”

“One more thing… is everything okay with the zombie-looking girl?”

Helena burst out laughing, startling Liv, who only groaned in response.

“She’s not a morning person,” Helena said, still amused.

Liv lifted a middle finger without looking up. “The tea’s not strong enough to deal with you.”

“Isn’t that something—?”

“Ironic considering the sun gives me powers? Yes.”

Liv muttered something unintelligible as she shuffled over to the fridge and pulled out a Red Bull.

“Liv, no.” Helena pointed at her with her mug like it was a weapon.

But Liv popped the tab and downed it in one go.

“Okay,” she said, eyes wide. “Which government do we have to overthrow today?”

“Alfred, could you please not restock those?” Helena asked, exasperated.

“Of course, Miss Helena,” Alfred replied, all grace and calm.

“Alfred, no! Pay no attention to her!”

“Do you want me to remind you about the time you finished a whole box of those?” Helena countered.

“That was final projects week and it was justified!” Liv pouted, holding the can. “They make my heart go fast.”

“How is she still alive?” Selina whispered.

“Pure luck.” Helena sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.

She considered hitting her best friend. Just once. Gently. Maybe it would knock some sense into that thick, over-caffeinated Kryptonian skull.

(…)

Two days had passed since Helena and Liv had accidentally arrived in Gotham. That thought made him smile like an idiot (by Bruce's standards, which was simply smiling for the sake of it), because it meant that his relationship with Selena would work and last long enough to produce a daughter who hadn't given any indication that they were divorced or dead, which was already a pretty big accomplishment. Returning to his daughter and Liv, Bruce had managed to learn a thing or two from them.

• They were both quite bright, graduating from high school at 16 and accepted to MIT. Their daughter and Livia studied robotics; Helena minored in finance, and Livia in history.
• Helena was working in WE's R&D and hopes to lead that area and serve on the board in the near future.
• Livia was studying for her PhD because she apparently liked speedrunning her studies.
• Both started training at age 13, but both officially became vigilantes at age 18.
• His group with Wonder Woman's son, Atlas, was known in the tabloids as HAL of Fame.
• Helena drank her coffee with a little milk and Livia preferred tea.

The calls from his fellow League members had increased. So far, all the original members had called him except for J'onn. The fact that he hadn't been around the Watchtower in recent days didn't sit well with his teammates. It wasn't as if he wasn't paying attention; he accessed the files from his computer in the cave. He sent Dick and Jason both days to check on for him, but his teammates didn't give up and even asked his children what he was planning, of course, received vague answers.

As for the blackouts, they didn't become more frequent, but they did last longer; where they used to last a couple of minutes, they now lasted for hours. Residents were starting to complain, so Bruce was analyzing the power plant plans, trying to find a weak point or something similar that someone could be attacking. He hoped the generators sent this morning from WE would prevent families from losing heat in the face of the low temperatures forecast for the next few days.

“If you keep frowning like that, you'll get premature wrinkles.” Her daughter's voice drew her attention, Livia was behind her; both had come downstairs in their suits. Livia was looking at the weapons, and Helena was looking at the map next to her.

It turns out the all-black version of their outfits was the stealth version, Helena had a suit similar to Dick's, with an orange bird and stripes running down the sides of the same color.

“You should be used to seeing me with wrinkles by now. I must be about 60 years old…”

“I won’t tell you how old you are in my present, that’s cheating.”

Bruce already knew the answer and Helena already knew that he knew, but it was fun to play along.

“You do remember that you two can’t go out on patrol, right?”

“Yes, Bruce, but we’re bored to death and we’re going to spar.”

Bruce followed Helena to where Livia was stretching.

“Do you need to warm up before exercising?”

“I blocked my powers so I could fight Helena, I need to warm up.”

“At least Atlas isn't here, otherwise he'd be doing the splits just because he could.” They both laughed, and Bruce just smiled. Helena started stretching as well. Bruce was going to ask Livia what she meant by blocking her powers, but the other question that popped into his head seemed more entertaining.

“What types of weapons do they use?”

“I use sai, and I also have a crossbow I can mount on my arm and special arrows.” Helena pulled the small crossbow from its holster on her thigh and demonstrated how it fits on her arm.

“And I have these babies.” Livia bumped her fists twice, sparks flying. “I can control if I want to tase someone, but I also have dual swords that can be assembled and make a bastard sword.”

“I can see who trained whom.”

“But today you'll see something different!” Livia announced in a presenter's voice. “We're going to fight Tonfas.”

The girls grabbed their tonfas and got into fighting stances before the fight began, with Livia striking first. Just as Bruce had expected, Helena had a style like Dick's, with fewer twists and turns but just as unpredictable, while Livia was a versatile offensive player but favored close-quarters combat.

Bruce wanted to keep watching the girls fight and see who would win. They were both very good at fighting and rightfully so, if they were able to sustain a fight with his sons. But a noise alerted the three of them. It came from the entrance to the vehicles in the cave, but it didn't sound like an engine. His wrist computer didn't warn him that any of his children had arrived, so without hesitation, he put on his hood and got ready. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw them do the same. The Bat lowered his guard when he saw it was Clark, but not his anger.

“What the hell was going through your head when you thought breaking in like that was a good idea?”

“Hello to you too, grumpy.” Superman landed in front of his friend and glanced at the two girls with hostile poses. “Did you have another adoption streak?”

“Superman, what are you doing here?”

“You’ve been practically incommunicado for three days, Bruce. We were worried.”

Superman stole glances behind Bruce; both girls were radiating hatred toward him and wearing white lenses on their domino masks only made the whole act creepier. Clark suppressed the shiver that threatened to run down his spine.

“I’m fine. Just training new recruits.”

“And was it so hard to tell us that over the phone? Or to tell Dick and Jason to tell us? And where are those security tapes you erased?”

“I was busy and sent trained representatives, I don’t see the problem.”

“Next time don’t be so evasive, just tell us you’re busy, please.”

Bruce didn't respond and Clark sighed. Typical.

“Don't think I'm just going to drop the camera thing like that.” Clark gave one of his trademark Superman smiles to the new members of the Bat Clan. “Nice to meet you. I hope we can talk next time.”

They didn’t move; in fact, it seemed as if the glaring daggers they were sending his way intensified. Clark coughed, trying to hide his discomfort, and left the way he came. It wasn't until a couple of minutes later that they relaxed. Bruce turned to the girls.

“What was all that?”

“What?” Helena said, taking off her mask.

“All that attitude toward Clark, aren't they supposed to know him?”

“We are not on good terms with the Ur-Naruk.” Helena said serious.

Bruce filed the word away for later; it was obvious it was Kryptonian, and it was a bad thing. Livia didn't object to her daughter's title for Superman, so they felt the same way. What has Clark done in the future to earn whatever that means?

It seemed the Man of Steel's visit had dampened their spirits, as they took off their suits and told Bruce they were going upstairs to play video games. When they left, Bruce texted Oracle and a few moments later was on a private call with Barbara and Dick.

“What happened, B? Are futuristic girls giving you gray hair?”

“Not entirely.”

Bruce briefly explained what had happened to both adults.

“I can ask Kara what that word means, but we'll need an excuse.”

"Can't we include her in all this? I don't think she'll tell her super cousin."

"First, we need Zatanna to tell us exactly what we're dealing with. Then we can start including people who won't be affected by the girls' existence."

“What did Z tell you?”

“She’s supposed to arrive tomorrow.”

“I have an idea,” Barbara said. “Ever since the kids arrived, I’ve wanted to learn Kryptonian, just out of curiosity. I can ask Kara if she wants to teach me, and then I’ll ask her the first thing you should know when learning a new language.”

“The bad worlds.” said his son.

“And that’s why you’re the brains of the relationship, love.”

“Someone must be carrying the neurons.”

“Good idea, guys, keep me posted.” With that and confirmation that they were both coming over for dinner, Bruce ended the call and leaned back in his chair, adding one more thing to find out to his already long list.

(…)

Helena felt somewhat guilty. Bruce had slept very little since they were here, and while it wasn't unusual for her to see him so focused on a problem that he ignored basic needs, it didn't make her feel any better. The good news was that Bruce had told them at breakfast that Zatanna would be arriving this afternoon, so they would finally know exactly what they were dealing with. They had already made plans for the simplest option, which was to send a message to the future, but if it got too complicated, the two had concluded they would have to involve Lena Luthor if they wanted to return as quickly as possible.

They were currently in the cave, supporting Oracle on Signal's daytime patrol like Helena or reading a book like Liv. Helena was the first to hear someone coming and saw on the computer that Tim was getting in on his motorcycle, so, since it wasn't someone unknown like yesterday, she continued with her own business.

Helena turned her attention back to the black-haired man when she heard someone else, and as soon as she saw who was with him, she nudged Liv.

“What?” she said somewhat abruptly, she hated being interrupted while she was reading.

Helena just pointed at the pair of boys who were getting closer and closer to where they were. Liv closed the book completely.

“Is that…?”

Both boys reached them. Helena could hear Barbara and Duke in the distance in her ear but they sounded far away, she was frozen in her place.

“Hey, girls. What are you doing?”

“Ah… wasting time.” Helena replied with the first thing that came to mind as she removed her hearing aid. Liv continued to stare at Tim’s partner, who was getting a little uncomfortable.

“Oh, I know B said that while we're here we're going to try to have minimal contact with the other heroes, but I couldn't stand another day without seeing my boyfriend.”

“Your boyfriend?”

“Yes… Conner Kent.” Tim pointed to the boy beside him “What’s going on with you two?”

“Shit.” That was all they said.

“Can you explain to us what’s going on?” Tim was getting nervous.

“Yeah, and do you know me or something?” Conner squeezed Tims hand a bit harder.

“I’m going to need vodka.”
“Amen,” Helena muttered, already done with the day. “Get some chairs, this will be tedious.” Helena put only one earpiece over one ear and told Barbara she would have to disconnect earlier than thought. Without waiting for a response, she hung up.

When Helena turned around again, Tim and Conner were sitting expectantly. The situation had become even more awkward.

“Okay, we're going to ask you a few questions just to be sure of our theory, but with how messed up our lives are, it's most likely true.”

“Conner, who are your biological parents?” Liv didn’t mince words.

Conner turned to look at his boyfriend, a silent question in his eyes, and when Tim nodded slightly, Conner spoke.

“Clark Kent and Lex Luthor.”

“And who do you currently live with?”

“With my dad, Clark.”

“Well, at least one version of him did care,” Helena murmured in disbelief, but Conner listened.

“What do you mean, a version of him?”

“Last question.” Liv turned her attention back to her. “Do you know a Kara Zor-El?”

“Yes, Aunt Kara. What’s this all about?” The guy was starting to exasperate.

“You’re from another reality, aren’t you?” Tim asked, connecting the dots.

“Apparently.” Tim groaned in exasperation at his sister’s response.

“Another reality? Tim, what the heck is going on?”

"They appeared a few days ago. We thought they were from the future, but a different reality is even more messed up."

“What’s new,” Helena complained sarcastically.

“Well, at least we won’t have to worry about messing with the timeline because it seems like we’re in another damn universe.” The panic in Liv’s voice was noticeable, even more so with the fact that with each word she spoke, the volume of her voice increased.

“This changes a lot of things, but we still need Zatanna to confirm it. We need to tell Bruce and—”

“And I’m going to get that vodka, anyone want some?”

Hands went up, and Liv went up to the mansion to get a bottle and glasses under Alfred's watchful eye.

“I hope you know that drinking alcohol at this hour is not very healthy, Miss Livia.” The butler practically materialized behind her.

“I know, Alfred, but this is worth it. Don’t worry, I’ll leave you some because you’ll need it after we finish untangling this mess”

Without waiting for the butler's reply, he went down into the cave. Liv poured the glasses, and everyone silently emptied them.

“Isn’t Conner my boyfriend in reality?” Tim asked after a moment of silence.

“Nope, he’s like 20 years younger than you.”

If the comment bothered Tim, he didn't show it, but Conner grimaced and rubbed circles in his boyfriend's hand with his thumb.

“They said one version had worried.” Now it was Con’s turn to confront them. “Are you referring to Superman?”

“Yes… in our reality, you live with Kara.”

“But Kara’s last name is Kent. How did they notice the mistake?”

“Oh, now I feel bad for calling him Ur-Naruk.”

“You did what?” Conner said angrily.
“In my defense—” Liv’s voice wavered for the first time. “It wasn’t meant to be cruel. It was the only word that fit.” She sighed and opened her mouth to start talking but took her some bits to find the words “‘Uncle’ Clark left Kara with some strangers when she first arrived on Earth, and almost 10 years later, he wants to have a relationship with her, and they had succeeded. But when you showed up, he didn't want to take responsibility, so you ended up with Kara, and almost like clockwork 10 years later, he wanted to try to have a relationship with you and Kara.”

“…Well, the insult is somewhat justifiable.”

“What does Ur-Naruk mean?” Tim asked, confused. It was a lot of information for so little time and coffee in his system.

“It’s a very strong insult in Kryptonian, basically someone without honor, and it’s not something you say to another person lightly. Kryptonian culture is based on honor, after all.” His boyfriend explained.

“Well, your Clark does sound like a jerk.”

“Yes, yes he is,” both girls said in unison.

(…)

Zatanna arrived an hour later, and by now the Bat-family members were aware of the new predicament, but they couldn't move forward without the conclusive proof the sorceress could provide. So, the duo sat in chairs while Zatanna performed her spells.

“Okay, first of all, I'm going to explain how magic signatures work,” the woman said when her eyes stopped shining and returned to their normal purple, pulling out a bottle of pocket-sized sanitizing gel, it was lavender scented. “It's basically something you leave on objects and people when you perform magic on them. You can't avoid leaving it, but it's a bit tricky to cast the analyzer spell that reveals them. What I picked up were two signatures, one more recent than the other. The most recent one could be described as something green, natural, and warm.”

“Oh, that’s me.” Liv waved it off.

“Can you do magic?” Jason asked incredulously.

“The short answer is yes, but I don't usually use it. What's the second signature?”

“The other one was older, but it showed more, as if you'd had contact with it multiple times. The best way to explain it is something sticky, like when your shirt sticks to your body with sweat on a really hot day and leaves you with a feeling of wanting to wash your hands. Whoever it was is very skilled. Based on the spell they told me you had when they arrived, there should be more of their signature on you, but all I found was a signature from months ago.”

“Is that all you felt?” Bruce asked seriously.

“No.” Zatanna looked at the duo sitting across from her. “They’re not from here, are they?”

“You just confirmed it,” Helena said, exhausted. One more problem to the list.

“At least we’re not altering space-time with our presence.” Liv tried to be optimistic.

Helena sighed, suddenly looking much less like a vigilante and more like a grounded kid dreading a lecture.

“Your mother is going to scold us anyway.”

"Yes, I know."

“Can we get back to the topic of Liv being able to do magic?” Jason said, raising his hand like he did in school.

“Yeah, that sounded interesting,” Cass agreed in sign language.

The girls looked at each other and concluded that it wasn't going to matter anyway.

“Well… in our dimension, one of my mothers is sensitive to magic, and I inherited that sensitivity. I’d been studying how to control them, but ever since my powers manifested two years ago, my magic has been somewhat… erratic.”

“She once tried to do housework like Mrs. Weasley and ended up exploding the dishes,” Helena mocked.

“I thought we weren't going to mention it anymore. Do you want me to mention one of your tragedies?”

“We’re not talking about that.”

“Wait, did you say one of your mothers?” Dick asked before the girls started fighting like they usually did.

“I’m another offspring of a Kryptonian and a Luthor, though my mom isn’t a psychopath, no offense, Conner”

“Non taken” The boy answered.

“And my ieiu’s last name is Danvers instead of Kent.” She said with an innocent smile.

Of course, Bruce already suspected both things, but confirming it gave him more satisfaction. On the other hand, his sons started asking the girls questions.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to ask them questions. Their reality seems very similar to ours,” Bruce suggested, then turned to Zatanna. “How can we attack this problem with magic?”

(…)

Bruce had sent the girls to bed, claiming that, while they weren't a risk to the timeline, they didn't yet know the long-term effects they would have here. For Liv and Helena, it was just an excuse not to let them go on patrol with the others. Liv, as always, was fast asleep in one of the guest rooms, which had become her bedroom for days, when she felt her watch vibrate, which was one of the few things that always woke her up no matter what. Still sleepy, she checked the message she'd received; it was obviously from Helena.

Are you awake?

With a quick movement, she sent one of the predetermined messages and listened to what her friend was saying two bedrooms to the right.

“Can you come here? It’s just… I had a nightmare.”

Without even thinking, she grabbed her phone and went to her friend’s room. As soon as she touched the bed, Helena looked for her friend's body, who welcomed her with open arms.

“Do you want to talk about the nightmare?” the brunette said, slurring her words.

“I don’t even know why I woke up, but as soon as I did, I started thinking, what if we can’t go back? What if we’re stuck here? Without seeing our parents and siblings? I mean, our parents are here, but they’re not our real parents and—”

“Hels, relax. We have access to the smartest minds on the planet, and even if we didn't manage to do it ourselves, our parents wouldn't rest until they found us.”

Liv hugged her friend tighter, not caring about controlling herself because she had turned off her powers before going to sleep.

“Let’s try to sleep, and tomorrow we’ll attack the problem with fresh minds, and even if Bruce doesn’t let us, we’ll go on patrol.” Liv yawned against her friend’s head, ruffling her hair.

“Sounds like a good plan.”

“Obviously, it was my idea.”

Liv's laughter sent a shudder down Helena's spine; they fell asleep like that, talking about anything and everything while cuddling.

In the morning, Dick went to check on his sister, but instead of being able to take a photo of the surely tender scene in which the friends found themselves, he was greeted by two batarangs, one wedged in the door and the other in the frame, both at face level.

“We woke up grumpy, huh?” Dick muttered, pulling the batarangs from the door and setting them on the dresser.

Liv groaned and settled back into bed but Helena straightened up and leaned her back against the headboard.

“You usually react the same way,” she said with a gruffy voice, tilting her head.

He shrugged and sat on the edge of the bed facing his sister, his gaze falling on Liv.

“Don’t even think about it, Dick.” Helena warned.

“You don’t even know what I’m thinking.” Dick had an innocent smile on his face, very innocent.

"I know that look, and I don't recommend waking her up with a prank or waking her up in general. She'll bite you."

“She bites?” His eyes widened a bit.

“You tried it once back home. She bit you. You had the mark for two days.” She deadpanned.

“Well, if you say so.” The black-haired man raised his hands in surrender, a smile playing on his lips.

“Did you have something to say, or did you just come to interrupt my sleep?”

“Z wanted to talk to you. Bruce and she were up planning last night, but there’s still not enough information to plan anything completely”

Helena pressed her lips together and looked like she wanted to say something but after a bit, her shoulders slumped “Are they waiting for us?”

“We put sleeping pills in Bruce’s coffee so he’ll be asleep later, Z is having breakfast.”

Helena grimaced at the mention of the sleeping pills, the thought that they were a problem and would never leave this dimension echoing in her head again.

“Hey.” Suddenly, Liv was awake and at her side, her hands on Helena’s shoulders. “Let’s inhale as much air as you can. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5… okay, now hold it…”

Liv's hands were warm and her voice calm, it only took a couple of breaths for Helena to calm down again but she couldn't look her brother in the eyes even though she felt his gaze on her.

"Why don't you go take a shower and then we'll go down to breakfast?" Liv spoke again calmly and gently, all Helena did was nod, get up, and go straight to the bathroom in her room. She had to control herself better, regardless of the anxiety coursing through her veins and the responsibility that rested on her shoulders. She was better than this. She was the daughter of Batman and Catwoman, she could handle anything that was put in front of her, even the anxiety attacks that insisted on controlling her thoughts recently.

In the room, Dick followed his sister with his eyes until the door closed and then he saw Liv.

"Is everything all right?"

Liv rubbed her eyes and sighed as she let her shoulders slump, when the water was heard running in the bathroom Liv turned to look at him. Her eyes looked greener in the dim light.

“Recently in our dimension, your dad became obsessed with a case that should have been Helena's, but she was busy with her internship at WE and a course she's taking. Long story short, B went out to fight the perpetrator after a week without sleep and was injured, badly. She feels responsible.”

Dick felt a cool sensation slider his spine, that had hit very close to home.

“Maybe I can help. We’ve all been there.” Dick broke the silence that had formed between them. Liv shook her head and got out of bed.

“Her brothers tried, Atlas and I tried, but she doesn’t want to talk about it. I think it has to do with the fact that she’s the youngest, and she knows her father has suffered too many wounds to continue taking what he’s doing lightly. From what I know, she’s talking to her psychologist about it, and we’re waiting for her to understand.” Liv grabbed her phone from the nightstand. “I’m going to take a shower too. I’ll see you downstairs.” But before closing the door to the entrance to the room, she stopped and observed Dick over her shoulder. “I know we got off on the wrong foot, but I’m asking you: not a word about this, Richard. She assumes I told you, and I want to believe you’ll respect the fact that she doesn’t want to talk about it. Don’t bring it up if you don’t want to upset her, please.”

Liv closed the door, and it wasn't until a couple of minutes later that Dick was able to think clearly enough to get up and leave. He had to respect what Livia had told him, but even though he'd only known Helena for a few days, his older brotherly instinct was to help his sister and take all the burdens off her, like he does with all his siblings. This was bad; Dick knew he couldn't control those instincts, but he had to give his younger sister some space. Maybe if he talked to Barbara about it, she could help him. Yes, that sounded like a good plan.

Meanwhile, Liv went to her room thinking that she needed to make sure Dick didn't interfere with Helena, she knew Dick and he was going to try to fix whatever was bothering his little sister and Helena, being the person she is, wasn't going to let Richard help her because she didn't even let her brother from her reality help her. Liv activated her powers as soon as she felt the ghost of a headache creep into her brain, no thanks, she already had too many other things to fix and not ruin.

(…)

The girls found Zatanna chatting with Alfred in the kitchen, cups and cookies between them. They sat down, and Alfred set breakfast in front of them: eggs Benedict and sautéed potatoes. Helena grabbed her much-needed coffee and poured some milk, while Liv opted for fresh orange juice. When the butler placed an extra plate of croquette madame in front of Liv, she stopped eating.

“Alfred, I hope you know you’re the greatest human being on the entire planet.” The brunette spoke seriously, directly into his eyes make him chuckle lightly.

“It’s a pleasure, Miss Livia.” The butler’s tone was formal, but a smile danced on his lips.

They ate in silence until Helena broke it a few moments later.

“Well… Dick said you wanted to talk to us.”

“Yes.” The sorceress brushed a few cookie crumbs off her casual clothes, which still had subtle purple accents that brought out her eyes. “Bruce and I were talking yesterday, and we thought it would be a good idea to go to the place where they appeared and do a couple of diagnostic spells. He also told me to tell you that there’s a map with the locations of the blackouts downstairs so you can see if the locations are the same.”

“That sounds like a good idea. We have a map of the outages up to the time we came here on our computers, so the comparison should be quick.”

“And that’s all the downstairs conversation I can tolerate in the mansion, ladies.”

“I’m sorry, Alfred,” both brunettes said in unison.

“Okay, I’ll see you downstairs when you’re ready.” With that, Zatanna thanked Alfred for the food and headed for the passage to the cave.

The girls ate as quickly as possible under the watchful eye of Alfred who-was-surrounded-by-animals Pennyworth. When they finished, they went straight to the cave to look at the map. On the supercomputer screen, there were two maps of Gotham with colored spots. The one on the left had a legend that said it was from four days ago and its spots were blue, while the one on the right was from today with larger, green spots.

“From what I remember from our map, the locations are pretty much the same” Liv analyzed the map on the cave computer while Helena clicked on her wrist computer. When she found what she was looking for, she flicked her finger up and down, and now there were three maps on the screen in front of the three of them, the spots on the new one were orange.

“There has been more concentration in certain areas, but compared to four days ago, they are practically the same,” Helena said, crossing her arms.

“Bruce said the strange thing is that they haven’t attacked power plants, but rather that the blackouts happen by section.” Zatanna had turned in her chair to face the girls.

“That didn't happen in our dimension either. The simplest way to get energy is to go to the source, but whatever's collecting this will have other plans.”

“Do you know if they haven’t found a pattern?”

“As far as I know, no.”

“We didn't find any either. Maybe we can run it through some recognition algorithm on our computers and hope something pops up.” Helena started clicking on her computer.

“Or we can program a new one, although I’d ​​have to see the codes they’ve already used and the one you’re using to see what we can do differently.” Liv tilted her head. “It might be fun to have something to do besides wait.”

“Yes, we can also see where they are with the program to communicate with our dimension.” Helena spoke excitedly. “I’m thinking about doing something similar to what we did in Shanghai with- “

“You guys really are nerds,” a voice said behind them. The three of them turned to find Jason, wearing sweats and carrying a water bottle.

Helena stuck out her tongue at him while Liv stuck out her middle finger.

“Says the boy who could spend hours talking about Jane Austin.” Helena mocked her brother, to which he made an exaggerated face of offense while holding his hand to his chest.

“Don’t you dare bring Jane into this.”

A computer chime interrupted the siblings' friendly bickering. It was a notification that the download of the program Helena was running had completed. Liv was closest to the computer, so she had it begin analyzing the map. Another notification appeared on the screen indicating the estimated waiting time was two hours.

“Well, I think that’s enough time to go check out where they appeared and come back. Jason, do you want to come?” Zatanna asked as she stood up from her chair.

“I’d like to, but I have some things to do.” The black-haired man scratched the back of his neck and wrinkled his nose.

“In that case, you owe us a mission with your company,” Helena challenged him.

"Deal."

(…)

The three of them left the purple portal, courtesy of a memory from Liv so Zatanna could get a handle on the spot. Upon arriving, Helena was about to point out exactly where she had woken up when Liv's arm stopped her. The brunette looked at her friend, but she was looking at a point beyond some trees with her head tilted to the side.

“Do you feel that too?” Liv asked the sorceress, her gaze never leaving the point.

“Feel what exactly?”

“Watch out!” The Kryptonian responded and grabbing both, she moved them with her speed to another side, in the place where they had been before there was a giant ball of earth, almost like stone.

“What the fuck?” Without hesitation, Helena pulled out her crossbow and one of her arrows. She didn’t know where that attack had come from, but she was ready to counterattack.

“There’s something in the air, similar to what you described in the cave but more like something that’s wrong… I don’t know how to describe-“

Liv was interrupted by another ball of dirt that looked towards them but this time Zatanna was prepared and raised a shield, the earth was destroyed when it touched the barrier, leaving a cloud of dust around them that they used to move and hide from their attacker.

“Aren’t your powers supposed to prevent you from using magic?” The sorceress’s eyes glowed with a purple aura as she waved her hands through the air.

“That’s the only ability that isn’t blocked,” Helena explained. “She can detect magic but can’t locate it with active powers.”

Zatanna didn't say anything to them for a few minutes, just murmuring incantations while continuing with her hand movements, it wasn't until she lowered her hands that her eyes stopped shining and focused on Liv, who looked at her nervously while biting her lip.

“Try to listen to your magic, how it behaves inside you and what it’s trying to tell you.”

“I can’t, my powers-“

“Just try it, we're hidden until we reveal our location.”

Liv sighed and closed her eyes to concentrate better, with controlled breaths she reached that spot her mother had taught her to find when she started to show magical signs. A place not very different from the one they were in, except that the smell of petrichor was perpetual and intense in its magical center. Liv wandered toward a nearby lake, the crunch of leaves under her feet grounding her. Just as she reached out to touch the surface—boom. The water exploded like a geyser, bringing her to reality where the poor trees were stripped of leaves and the orange leaves of the trees fell like confetti around them, all the trees except the one they were hiding behind. Heavy footsteps were heard behind them.

“I told you I couldn’t do it,” the brunette muttered, clenching her fists without looking up.

With a tug of her arm, Helena lifted Liv up and the three of them moved just in time to dodge another ball of dirt, with no leaves in their way they could see what was chasing them.

“Golems?” Zatanna scoffed, incredulous. “Who the hell even uses golems anymore?”

The three creatures seemed hastily made from brown clay, with blank expressions and branches sticking out of strange places, but they were large, heavy, and pulled out balls of dirt, roots, and stones as if it were nothing.

“Liv, can you see the totem inside them?”

The Kryptonian was locked in again, looking at the golems. “Head, left shoulder, and… the third one seems to be made of minerals and lead, I'm not sure where the totem is.”

“Suggestions?” Zatanna raised a barrier to cover the suggestions of the new attack they had just launched.

“I took care of the one on the left, Z took care of the one in the center, and Liv-“

“I love it when you let me demolish things,” Liv said with a shark-like grin as she began to fly.

The three of them got to work, Helena took out an explosive batarang and threw it accurately at the golem's head, when it exploded it revealed a part of a white object but it only lasted for a moment as the earth readjusted itself covering the totem again, the golem seemed angry or at least that was what Helena thought because she couldn't interpret the monster's blank expression but she could see that the ball it threw and dodged were more stones than dirt. Lightly, Helana ran towards her opponent and fired three consecutive arrows, one to the leg, two to the head. As soon as the arrows impacted on it, Helena took out her grappling hook and using a tree branch she rose and made an arc around the monster, which didn't try to stop her because it was more distracted by the three explosions of the arrows, Helena went straight to the head with her knee, expelling the totem and landing gracefully on the ground destroying the object with her foot with a small mountain of dirt and other objects behind her.

Watching the other two, Helena realized that Zatanna had also destroyed her golem, but Liv was having trouble, her opponent had several holes through which she could see through him, but her friend couldn't find the totem.

“Do you need help?” Zatanna asked.

“Nope, I’m going to apply the Superman method.”

"Superman Method?" Zatanna asked Helena, but before she could answer, Liv carried the golem through the air at impressive speed and brought it to the ground with the same force, creating a shallow crater. The golem disintegrated but was already reforming when Liv found the totem and destroyed it with her laser gaze.

"The Superman method is using brute force," the Kryptonian stated with a smile. Zatanna opened her mouth to protest but couldn't think of an argument that would stop the Luthor, so she decided to pinch the bridge of her nose.

“Are you all, right?” Both girls responded affirmatively. “Good, don’t touch the totems with your hands, wear gloves,” the older girl warned. “Then I’ll cast a couple of scanning spells on the totems and the area in general.”

(…)

Gotham may be gray most of the time, but from Bristol, the green landscape stretched for miles and the golden light of the sun caressed the horizon. Liv found herself soaking up every ounce of sunshine she could. Sometimes the sun helped clear her mind, and now she needed it more than ever. Saying a short prayer her ieiu taught her when she was little, she asked Rao for help focusing her thoughts. Her mantra was interrupted by footsteps behind her, but she didn't turn around. She knew who they belonged to and that she was safe with him.

“You’re not going to jump, are you?”

Jason expected the Kryptonian to jump in surprise; after all, the invader of his special place seemed very focused on her mind, but what he received was a giggle.

“I can fly, Jay. I think jumping would only be a faster way for me to get down.” Liv heard Jason’s weight shift from one foot to the other, his gaze burning into the back of her neck, so she patted the side of her head a few times. “I don’t bite.”

“That’s not what Dick told me.” The footsteps grew closer, and the ceiling groaned under the weight of the second oldest brother. He wore a faux leather jacket to protect him from the cold night air, unlike Liv, who was wearing a short-sleeved shirt and joggers. Jason lowered his feet onto the ledge and rocked them, lost in thought and focused on the shadows his feet made. Liv knew he wasn't going to speak first, so she took her time organizing the fluttering thoughts plaguing her mind.

“Do you know why I’m here?” Liv broke the silence. Their gazes were locked on two different horizons, miles apart. When she didn’t receive a response, Liv continued. “Zatanna told me to use my magic. I knew it was a bad idea, but I wanted to help, so I tried, and I left every tree but one with leaves, a burst of orange.”

Neither of them moved; the brunette knew he was going to answer, so she closed her eyes and inhaled the fresh pine scent. In the low sun, her hair seemed to glow, the strands catching light like gold thread—unnatural, yet soft.

“It’s autumn, those leaves were going to fall sooner or later,” he said softly, something telling him it was the right thing to do.

“It could have been worse. I could have hurt them.” The tremor in her voice disappeared as soon as she swallowed. “I know what happens when I use my magic and my powers at the same time, and yet I did it hoping this time would be different.”

Jason could almost hear Liv's heartbeat; it was beating as fast as his own.

“I’m afraid of going on missions with my family and losing control over my anger. These days I’ve learned to control it better, but since I was in the pit… I feel this energy bubbling up inside me, threatening to hurt those I love the most,” Jason felt Liv’s gaze on him, but he kept his upfront “but I know I’ll blame myself more if they’re in trouble, and I couldn’t help them because I was scared, even with Bruce. That was the reason I didn’t go on the mission with you guys this afternoon.” Jason lowered his hands and used both to support himself on the roof. “Believe me, I know how you feel, but your house’s meaning is literally hope, and my family risks their lives to save each other, so I think we’re kind of doomed.” They both laughed, the weight of the moment feeling much more manageable with their thoughts out of their heads.

“You know you trained me, right? You and Damian.” Liv turned to look at him, his white locks gleaming in the last rays of the sun.

“It shows,” the black-haired man snorted, to which she laughed.

“And that’s why I know you wouldn’t let a little thing take away your control and that your family will understand and help you if the problem is big enough or if you talk to them.”

They both fell silent again. This time it was Jason who broke it. “In the future, in your dimension, I…”

“They find a cure, you lose your superhuman abilities. I once asked you if you regretted it, you said you’d give them up again and again just to keep your peace of mind.” Liv bumped her shoulder into his. “When this is all over, I’ll come personally to help you, if it doesn’t interfere with the future.”

Jason gave her a smile; it may have been small, but it was genuine. A vibration from a phone caught both of their eyes; it was a message from Helena. A picture of Alfred's cookies, and below it, a message telling them to come down before their savage siblings finished them off.

“At least one thing hasn’t changed between our families: Alfred’s cookies are worth going to war for.”

“And I’m willing to cheat, see you around,” the brunette said with a wink before disappearing in the blink of an eye.

“Save me one and I’ll think about not killing you!” Jason shouted as he climbed down from the roof.

Chapter Text

While the others enjoyed Alfred's cookies, Bruce and Zatanna analyzed the results of the tests they had conducted. They both observed an object resembling a cross, made of a white, cylindrical material. It was browned into two pieces and covered in strange black symbols that, upon closer inspection, seemed to dance on it. The totem floated above a table and seemed to be enclosed in a transparent box, which you only realized was there because of the slight movement, like water covering it.

“What do you think?” Bruce asked his childhood friend, his gaze fixed on the totem but writing on a tablet with a special pen.

“This is bad, Bruce. Do you see this symbol here?” The sorceress pointed to a symbol of wavy lines crossed out by a circle, her eyes shined a slight unnatural purple light due to the magic she was passible performing. “It’s used in blood rituals. They drain you of energy when you first do it, but they’re extremely powerful. This one here,” she pointed to a Hagal rune, “Norse rune of awareness. There are also runes of strength, warrior, and harvest, and these are the ones I know. There are several I’ll have to consult with Constantine to rule out anything demonic.”

She sighed as she observed the object in silence before speaking again.

“If any of the symbols on it are tracking symbols or some kind of curse, the box spell will block it or break it if it’s too strong, so we’re good for now. What I’m 90% sure of is that this symbol is his signature”

Zatanna moved her hand and the box rotated, at the base of the totem was a symbol like that of a cedilla, at the tail of the C a line was born that crossed the letter diagonally and continued downwards making an unfinished triangle, it was the only symbol of a maroon, red color. Almost like dried blood.

“And the diagnostic spells you did at that place?”

“Same magic signature, stronger.” Zatanna massaged her temples, and after a moment of hesitation, Bruce placed a hand on her shoulder somewhat robotically, but her friend slumped her shoulders just the same.

“Go rest, Z. I’ll send my notes and the object to Constantine for you.” Zatanna tensed, which Bruce notice.

“Maybe…either way, I’ll go with Constantine.” She said the last part like a question, eyes closed as if bracing for something—even though Bruce wasn’t looking at her, she still heard his heavy sigh.

"Z…"

“I know, I know. It’s just… it’s complicated, Bruce.”

“You know you can talk to me about anything, right?”

Silence fell over the cave once again, the only noise being the chirping of bats above them. Zatanna turned to face her friend with a somewhat forced smile.     

“Yes, Bruce, thank you very much. I should be going now.” The sorceress said one word, and the box floated toward her. “Send me your notes, and as soon as I have the results, I’ll let you know, although everything seems to indicate you should transfer this case to the JLD. Bye, B!”

With a pop, Zatanna was no longer in the cave. The relationship between Zatanna and Constantine was something Bruce couldn't touch without causing conflict between his colleagues, but with what he had learned about her, he couldn't help but feel worried for his friend. The Dark Knight sighed heavily and decided to do what he does best: solve solvable problems, such as analyzing the results of the program the girls had installed, starting to document the totem's findings, and finishing the prototype to analyze the dimensional signatures or marks so he could know how to communicate with the other dimension. Bruce analyzed the last thing Zatanna said before leaving like that and snorted mockingly, delegating the case to the JDL, as if that were going to happen. He wasn't going to allow them to take this away from him, nor for them to enter his city or get near the girls without him exhausting every avenue first.

He took a sip of his coffee, tasting the bitterness as his mind processed the next step. He would never delegate the case to the JLD. Gotham and his family were his responsibility, and he would exhaust every possibility before letting either of them near him.

(…)

In the other dimension, things weren't so good. Both the Super Friends and the Bat-Family were trying to figure out what had happened to Livia and Helena, who had disappeared without trace during a routine patrol in Gotham four days earlier.

Being Kryptonian allowed you to have a lot of advantages, invulnerability, reflexes and strength far above those of humans, the ability to survive with little sleep, water or food, something not pleasant for Kara in general but she knew that, in an extreme situation, she could survive longer than a human without those basic needs so there were very few occasions in which Kara described herself with the word exhausted, like the first time she exhausted her solar reserves or the whole thing with the Anti-Monitor but not knowing what had happened to her daughter was nothing compared to those occasions. The uncertainty, the physical and mental exhaustion she had been going through these last few days was unbearable, as if a whirlwind encompassed all her thoughts and energies, focusing them only on getting answers, clouding her senses but it did not compare to the emotional exhaustion she was currently feeling, since she was not the only one who was practically dying to get a solution or answers about the whereabouts of her daughter and Helena.

In Gotham, Bruce and Tim wouldn't have slept a wink if it weren't for Alfred, who emotionally and physically manipulated them into getting some rest. Barbara had practically logged onto every satellite she could think of trying to find a clear picture of that day in that location, without success. The others were working double shifts trying to control crime and investigate. They had a theory that whatever had happened that night had to do with the increasingly frequent and long-lasting blackouts that were plaguing their city. Besides, that's what the girls were investigating before they disappeared.

And then there was her family. Sam had stepped in as interim CEO to give Lena all the time she needed. Alex was analyzing the scene from Gotham, going to the locations where the blackouts were occurring and performing forensic work alongside the Bat-Family. Her nieces, Eli and Ruby, along with the other members of the Super Friends, were attending to any issues that required Superwoman.

But none of those aspects worried her more than Lena's current state, her intelligent, stubborn, and determined Lena, who practically had to be drugged with sleeping pills by Alfred so she could sleep. Who was analyzing every crumb of evidence presented until it was squeezed dry and discarded. At least she wasn't alone most of the time; Konner, Mia and Nora were with her, both helping in her fields and ensuring that her beloved didn't go straight to madness after losing her daughter. Kara did her best, but she knew that if she stayed in the tower for too long, she'd be just like her wife, and then there was no one who could stop them from falling into the abyss of despair and madness that had stalked her actions for the past four endless days. She couldn't allow that; she had to be strong for her family.

Konner knew his ieiu was going to land before she did, privileges of super hearing and having memorized her heartbeat so he didn't take his eyes off the code he was writing, he was sure that this algorithm would finally be able to find what they were missing by analyzing the pattern of the blackouts, he knew that these two events were related, it was almost like an instinct that he couldn't explain, a whisper that he could almost hear, a word on the tip of his tongue. He had lowered his powers to the minimum because he had already destroyed 3 keyboards because he wasn’t able to control his emotions, having to peel his gaze from the screen and focus on his breathing. He didn't want his laser vision to be unleashed just from lack of control, that would only make his mother worry about him, and he couldn't allow that, he had to be strong. For Liv, for his mothers. A hand as cold as ice rested on the back of his neck, Konner hadn't even noticed the tension in his shoulders until he felt them relax under the sensation, the black-haired man turned over his shoulder to meet Mia, her brow furrowed in concern but insecurity still dancing in her eyes.

The blonde had made great progress with her emotions and expressions; physical support was her strong suit, although somewhat limited. It was still too early for her to engage in an emotional conversation, but that didn't matter because Nora was also there, and she was as good with words as her father.

“Hey Kon, I think that code can be solved while we get something to eat. Why don’t we go to your moms? Aunt Kara brought some food.”

Konner knew he had to eat, but for days now, food had tasted like strange textures in his mouth. He also knew he'd be wasting his solar reserves if he didn't take care of his basic needs. What if he needed to fight a Powerpuff Girls-type monster right now to save his sister or the city, and he didn't have any powers? With a sigh and more effort than he would have liked to admit, the eldest Luthor-Danvers sibling got up from his chair and followed his friends to the kitchen, but not before running the program. The other members of the "Find the Troublemakers" operation were in the kitchen.

It was Chinese food, and everyone was silently eating their orders, deep in thought, or, like Konner, passively trying to figure out the new code lines he was going to writing. They would have finished eating like that if it weren't for Nora, who started talking.

“Aunt Kara, remember when Liv and I tried to make a chocolate cake at your house and ended up making a non-Newtonian liquid?”

The Kryptonian let a small smile escape her lips,

“How do you get from a cake mix to that substance?” Mia asked mockingly. Nora smiled; this tactic needed support.

“We were 10, and it was our first time using the oven alone! I think it turned out better than expected.”

“Yes, and I also remember your brilliant idea of ​​putting the substance on a speaker and watching it “dance,”” Lena mocked.

“It looked cool, and we had 20 views on YouTube,” the brunette said with mock indignation.

“Remember that time Helena, Atlas, and Liv had that competition to see who could dance with most old ladies at a charity gala a couple of years ago?”

“Yes! Atlas would almost have become a sugar baby if his mother hadn’t come to his rescue.”

“Who won that time?”

“Helena, she always wins those. Still don’t know how she did that one been straight.”

The conversation began to flow, and with it, the spirits of the others. Little by little, the food disappeared, and the atmosphere lit. It wasn't the same without the two missing members, but things would be okay; they would find them, and they could make more memories together. Konner had gone to the bathroom when he realized that one of the programs, he had left running before going to eat had ended and hadn't made the noise he'd programmed to know this, so he decided to read the report it had generated. As his eyes traveled over it, his expression transformed from relaxation to concentration, then disbelief. He had seen those readings before, but where? In a trance, he began flipping through his files, but no one came close. He quickly moved to his mother's desk, frantically reviewing the loose sheets and computer files as if the report would magically disappear from his mind as soon as he stopped looking.

“So, what are you doing?” Nora tried to get her friend’s attention. He had taken too long, and she had gone to look for him, afraid he was crying, but instead she found a dark-haired whirlwind making a mess of the place.

For his part, Konner didn't notice his friend, being very focused on rereading the research he had found, making calculations and comparing them minute by minute to make sure that the crazy theory that was formulating in his brain made sense and wasn't a desperate attempt that was wasting their time. A deranged smile formed on his lips and soon after he began to laugh madly, still holding the paper firmly in his hand. The noise made the other members approach, encountering the scene. Kara slowly approached her son, afraid of scaring him, but as soon as her ieiu's hand rested on the boy's shoulder, the sapphire blue eyes characteristic of the House of El collided with each other.

“I think I have it.”

Without warning, and using his super speed, Conner cleaned up his mess and uploaded his report and the research to the screens. His mad scientist look made Lena remember her brother for a moment, but the black hair and sanity still present in his expression made the memory fade as quickly as it came.

“A few years ago, I designed a program to calculate the energy inflection in a given space and categorize it based on frequency. I wanted to know if I could differentiate magic from electrical energy in a scientific way—”

“That all sounds very interesting, Kon, but can you speak in English for those of us who don’t understand?” Mia said, trying to focus her friend’s thoughts without sounding too harsh, a goal she achieved because the dark-haired man took a breath and relaxed his posture. Now it seemed like he was speaking in front of the members of L-Corp’s shareholders’ table. Although the glow of excitement didn’t disappear from his eyes or his feet as he slightly floated above the ground.

“I had put the project aside, but with recent events, I picked it up again, finished it, and got it going, just to see what it would yield, and this is the result.” With a few clicks, a satellite map consisting of fine lines of different colors appeared. “It needs some polishing, but there it is. The report it returned shows different readings, but I’ll come back to that later. Compared to the blackout map, two colors are interceding in these areas.” On the screens, only purple and green lines were visible on the map, along with white spots representing the intensity and frequency of the blackouts. Sure enough, at least one of the two colors always interceded with the spots. “I knew I’d seen that pattern somewhere and—”

“Oh my God, how did I never think of that before? It’s so obvious!” his mother exclaimed in surprise, to which Konner beamed and floated to her side.

“I know, right?!”

“Do you want to share this with the class?” Nora’s voice had sarcastic notes, but they were overcome with emotion. If Konner and Aunt Lena were like that, it was 98% certain that her theory was true.

“Ley lines!” Kara replied in a eureka tone.

“Ley lines?” Nora asked.

"They are geometric alignments between places of power, ancient monuments, and spiritual sites on Earth. These lines are believed to connect significant energy points like mountains, temples, or archaeological sites, like Stonehenge," Lena explained, her gaze fixed on her computer as she typed rapidly.

“They’re basically extremely charged threads of magical energy that connect and overlap each other,” Kara explained to the girls’ looks of confusion at her wife’s explanation.

Lena stopped typing and now another map was displayed on the screen. This one seemed to be a scan rather than something from the internet. You could see the wear and tear on the page in the folds and the stains of time on its canvas, but the lines, although clearer and more defined than on Konner's map, were identical in direction.

“It's a concept that's closely held among magic users, since, if harnessed correctly, these lines can serve as a battery and prevent the user from running out of magic so easily or performing energy-consuming rituals, among other things.”

“Okay, I get the lines,” Mia began, her gaze fixed on the screens, “and that they’re connected to the blackouts and possibly Liv and Helena’s disappearance, but what worries me is what or who needs that amount of energy and what they’re going to use it for.”

The blonde's words left a weight on the room, this was much bigger than they had thought and, somehow, Liv and Helena had gotten right into the middle of it all.

Chapter Text

The program that Helena put on the computer was a bust but helped Tim to develop a new code that resulted in the discovery of a lot of ley lines in Gotham.

The quantity of different energies that crossed and flowed in the city was absurd, but it kind of explained the weirdness of the Bats and Birds domain. It also didn’t help Burce's obsession. The totem, the girls, and now this was adding up to a dangerous equation right in his city, it was worse considering that it intertwined with magic which was one of his least favorite topics; he couldn’t do it, he couldn’t control it, he couldn’t stop it from harming his family, he was stuck with theory but it could only do so much. He knew that he would need external help with this one but didn’t like the idea of Constantine lurking around, had already asked too much from Z, and didn’t trust any other magical user that much. Bruce grabbed his mug from his desk without taking his eyes off the monitor, a map with flowing lines occupying his attention but as soon as the liquid touched his lips he made a grimace in disgust, it was cold.

With a heavy sigh and a heavier push of his limps, he got up from his desk, back cracking with the effort. He could sleep a little and knock down some office work according to his clock and that was where he was going.

In the patio of the manor, Dick, Barbara, Helena and Liv were taking advantage of one of the few sunny days that Gotham allowed them, Lemonade, tiny sandwiches, chatter and music were flowing in the ambience. It was the first time that Barbara saw the outer-dimensional girls and she could see their parents in them, she didn’t know how the batboys didn’t put it together much sooner.

Dick still very much loved his little sister and didn’t know how the heck that happened in the very short time of knowing each other, according to the duo, brother and sister where inseparable although they had a gap of more than 20 years (the little shits still didn’t told them the accurate age differences), as for Liv, Dick was tolerating more the walking chaos she was, which was scary, was he developing an older sibling bond with the kryptonian? He hoped not, the girl wouldn’t let him live it up.

But all that peace was interrupted by a blonde tornado landing in front of the four.

“Dick, Babs, thank Rao you are here. You won’t believe what happened in the last couple of days and I know, I KNOW I should’ve called because you are normally so busy but like I’ve come to the realization that I like Lena, like, A LOT and I’m not talking in a like her as a friend type of like, I like her in a romantic way. And I don’t know how I didn’t notice-

Kara was pacing and doing a lot of hand movement as she rambled, so she didn’t notice the two extra people on the table. Normally, she wouldn’t mind, the extended batfam where cool but she didn’t know these people. Kara stopped pacing. They both had dark hair and dark eyes and were looking at her with a mix of amusement and shock. Kara’s cheeks grew hot under the scrutiny.

“Kara, dear.” Barbara grabbed her attention “These are-

“I’m Heather, and she is Casey.” Said the one closer to Barbara, her face had a weird glow to it, like something shinny dancing above it, the other girl had the same thing. Kara tilted her head slightly so she could focus on it but, again, Barbara spoke.

“They are staying with Bruce for a while.”

Kara eyed them with mistrust.

“They are good, Kar.” Dick trayed to calm her.

“It’s okay D, we can leave. We have something to do in the cave.”

Heather stood up, but Casey was still watching Kara with a look that she couldn’t identify but it only took the gentle hand of her friend to snap out of it and stand up too, with some sandwiches for the go, they were gone.

“Seriously guys, how are they?”

“Friends.” They told her at the same time.

“Just so you know.” The blonde leans to her friends as if she were telling a secret “They got something in her faces, I think they don’t really look like that.”

Expertly, the couple guided their friend into the topic that she arrived talking about. Meanwhile, both girls were listening to the conversation through the cameras in the cave, facemaskers off.

“Damn, I forgot that you don’t see the facemasker like we do.” Helena said rubbing her eyes, that was a close call. At no snark comment from her friend, Helena turned to see her.

The brunette was eying the monitor with her mouth slightly open, a mixture of longing and sadness flooded her glassed eyes, and the realization came to Helena like a lightning. Although they were younger and slightly different, she had seen her family like any other day but Liv’s ieiu had stopped aging normally at 28 due to her Kryptonian physiology, so this Supergirl sounded and looked exactly like her ieiu. And Liv couldn’t do anything. Helena could only imagine how much her friend wanted to reach out, to talk to her or simply be held in her arms.

Slowly, Helena felt the tension ease out of Liv’s shoulders, though a single tear slipped down her cheek. Gently, Helena brushed it away with her thumb.

“We’re going back,” she murmured. “This won’t be the only way you see her again.”

Liv knew that, deep down, but it didn’t stop the painful lump in her throat from burning, or her eyes from misting over as she watched this version of her ieiu laugh with Dick and Barbara.

(…)

Nightwing was gliding across Blüdhaven’s rooftops. It was a standard night: helping the occasional bystander or stopping a robbery by Blockbuster’s gang. So, he’d taken the liberty of gossiping talking with his beautiful girlfriend through the comms.

“Thank God Kara finally realized her crush on Lena. I was starting to think we’d need to lock those two in a dark room until they kissed,” Barbara teased, the click of her keyboard punctuating the background as she multitasked with the rest of the Batclan.

“I know, right?” Dick was perched on a building cornice, dangling his feet like a schoolgirl. “Wanna make a bet? I say it’s gonna take another five months before they start dating.”

“…I want to believe it’ll happen faster than that,” Barbara sighed, clearly unconvinced. “But for being a certified genius like Lena, and with Kara being pretty smart herself, they are unbelievably slow when it comes to crushes and romance.”

Dick chuckled. “So… six months for you?”

“Yeah. Winner plans date night.”

“Seems fair.”

Their conversation picked up again about twenty minutes later, after Dick stopped a purse thief with a solid whack to the head and tied him to a light post.

“Have you heard from my little sister? It’s been two whole days since I last visited, and I kinda miss her. Plus, she’s been weirdly radio silent.” The vigilante whined.

“The last I heard from Bruce; Livia was pulling a full-on Tim and hyper-focusing on something. Helena’s keeping an eye on her, apparently.”

“That tornado can focus for more than five minutes. I don’t buy it.”

“Well, she’s half Lena, and you’ve seen how Lena gets when she’s working on something.”

“True,” Dick admitted, “but that girl is such a Kryptonian. The only Luthor traits I’ve seen in her are her appearance and her snobbish taste.”

“Still holding a grudge from the interrogation?” Barbara teased, snickering at him.

“Nooo…” Dick replied, drawing out the word. “Okay, maybe just a little. She’s a little shit. That’s a Luthor trait too, isn’t it?”

“This conversation will continue later,” Barbara cut in, “but for now, you’ve got a breaking and entering at Sixth Street.”

(…)

Dick couldn’t let go of the idea of Liv pulling a "Tim," so the next morning, he made a trip to Wayne Manor. His first stop was the kitchen, where he enjoyed breakfast with Alfred and attempted to gossip—err, interrogate—the butler about the supposed situation with the future girls.

“Well,” Alfred began with his usual calm, “Miss Livia has been confined to the cave for the last two days. I’ve tried convincing her and Miss Helena to take a break, but ultimately, it took considerable effort from Miss Helena to make that happen. And don’t even get me started on Master Bruce…”

Although Dick was half-listening to Alfred, he couldn’t fully picture the brunette as being so intensely focused. What was she doing down there? What could possibly keep her attention for so long? Determined to find out, he made his way downstairs to the Batcave, armed with Alfred’s suggestion to try and wrangle the two obsessed scientists out of the bunker.

The cave was its usual eerie self. Bats chirped from the ceiling, and the occasional beep from the equipment broke the silence. It wasn’t until Dick went deeper into the cave—towards the workstations—that he saw the extent of the madness.

Bruce was occupying three tables, covered in papers scrawled with red, black, and blue handwriting. Various tablets displayed programs running at different stages, and the whole setup was littered with coffee mugs, pens, notebooks, and cables. Bruce’s intense focus was locked on a map that Dick assumed was a representation of ley line distribution.

On the other side of the cave, also occupying three tables, was Livia. She was a whirlwind, darting between tables, picking up various electronics, cables, and tablets, scribbling furiously with either a pen or a keyboard. This was when Dick truly saw the Luthor in her—not just her intellect, but the way she threw herself into her work with single-minded determination, pushing herself to the brink of exhaustion.

“Hello, Dick.”

A female voice broke his thoughts, making him jump. Helena had pulled the classic Bruce move, materializing from the shadows with a smirk.

“How long have you been there?” Dick asked, clutching his chest dramatically.

“Just a couple of minutes. Wanted to see if you’d spot me,” she replied with a shrug, walking toward a table that appeared to be hers. She had the same quiet confidence as Bruce. Dick followed her, taking a seat in the other chair. Her table was organized (compared to the others) and had a notebook, scattered pencils, a laptop with an IDE open, and three different drinks—water, soda, and coffee.

“So, Alfred sent me to herd the caffeine goblins,” Dick began, taking a sip from the water bottle. “What’s the situation?”

Helena sighed, leaning back. “Bruce is trying to predict the pattern of the attacks; among other things I didn’t ask about because I value my sanity. Liv, on the other hand, has been working nonstop to build a device that can pinpoint our location in the multiverse—or at least tell us how far we vary from your universe. She’s also coding the software to send a message across dimensions once we have the coordinates.

Dick blinked. “Coordinates?”

“We theorize that the energy signatures we give off are enough to pass through dimensions. So, theoretically, if we send a message to our dimension from here, it should reach my family in the cave on our side.”

Still processing, Dick watched as Helena grabbed a piece of paper and a pencil. “Imagine this side is your dimension,” she said, holding the paper upright like a wall. “And the other side is ours. With the right force…” She stabbed the paper with the pencil. “The message will pass through. Think of it like Stranger Things’ Upside Down.”

“Didn’t know you watched that show.”

“I like vintage,” Helena deadpanned. “Did you understand the explanation?”

“Stranger Things is not vintage!” Dick gasped in mock offense.

“That’s what you’re focusing on?” Helena raised an eyebrow. “Did you understand or not?”

“Yeah, I did,” Dick admitted, twirling a pencil like a scolded kid.

Helena sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Sorry, I’m just… stressed.”

Dick gave her a sympathetic smile. He knew how Bruce got when he was like this, and now he could see how the combination of Lena’s dedication and Kara’s power made Liv an unstoppable—but concerning—tornado.

“And what are you doing?” he asked, nodding at her laptop.

“Debugging. Liv knows her stuff, but her coding is a mess when she gets like this. If I see another spaghetti code, I might lose it,” she replied, scrolling through her work. “Also, I’m babysitting. Bruce sneaks’ coffee, and Liv sneaks’ energy drinks. They’d have made excellent bootleggers during Prohibition.”

“You are very calm for someone in your situation, I’d have threatened to cut the internet, like, in the first 12 hours.”

“I though about it with Bruce, honestly.” She said laughing, soda can in hand “But with Liv, we’ve got a pact—only one of us can be hyper focused on something at a time. She’s got me, and I’ve got her. It’ll be fine and if it doesn’t, I’m here to stop it.” Dick heard Liv murmur and swore in French a couple of meters to their left, tinkering with something. “That is also normal, she shifts to languages to concentrate. I think it was French, so she is working with cables” Helena added with a chuckle when she saw her brother’s expression.

Dick doubted that that’d end fine so he decided to help his little sister to control the caffeine goblins, and they could control Bruce with a subtle change to decaf and a couple of hours later he has been herd by Alfred to his bed. Now the only remaining was the brunette.

Dick though that it would take a lot more than try to cut the caffeine to put Livia to sleep but it only took Helena’s soft touch and voice to detour the Luthor-Danvers tornado to bed.

Dick thought that the project was going to take at least three weeks, but the brunette shut his mouth a day and 3 different languages later with a functional machine. It was the size of a fist and a disc form with a display screen in the middle

“Told you I could do it, leathcheann.” The raccoon smirked triumphantly, her slightly different colored eyes glimmered with a bit of arrogance.

Dick frowned. He wasn’t entirely sure what language that was but he was pretty sure she’d just called him an idiot.

“It wasn’t that I didn’t believe you that you could do it, it was a genuinely concern about the quantity of energy drinks you downed.”

“They were only two.”

“Two liters.” Helena was still a bit mad that she snuck that around her. “Anyway, now we use this and the code that I was working on, and we could theoretically send a message home.”

“That’s Great!” Dick hugged her sister “I’m defiantly going to miss you.”

“And me?” Liv batted her eyelashes.

“Nope, pretty sure I’m not going to miss you.”

“Connard” she said with an innocent smile.

“That one I know, is French.”

“He has brain cells! What a marveling discovery.” Now she was faking a British accent, and he wasn’t having it.

“Now you know how it is for your brothers when you act like that.” Bruce's voice came from behind them; the older Wayne was entering the cave looking freshly showered and shaved.

“I don’t act like that.” He defended himself.

“Oh, you do even in our dimension.” Helena added, “Liv isn’t normally that annoying, she is just probably just messing with you.”

“Aww, you know me so well Hels.” She flew a circle around the dark-haired girl.

Dick pouted, crossing his arms like an indignant child. Bruce reached them and asked to see the device, Liv passed the disk to him and the bat started to analyze it

“Pretty design.” He murmured, too engrossed in the new toy “Did you ended using the Hilbert Space theory?”

“Nah, We used a combination of Casimir energy, some string theory principles, and a lot of stubborn determination to code this thing.”

“Hmm, I can see how that can be used…” He gave the disk back to Liv. “Does it have a name?”

“You are not naming it.” Said Helena firmly.

“Why not?” Bruce asked raising an eyebrow, it gave Dick Whiplash because when Helena did that to Dick yesterday, she looked exactly like him.

“Because you have no creativity for that, Batcomputer and Batcave for example.” Bruce pouted at the roast from his other-dimensional daughter.

“Fine.”

“Dimensional chatter!” Dick contributed with a smile.

“I like it.” Helena beamed in response to his brother.

“Favoritism.” Bruce coughed, earning an elbow to his ribs from Helena. “Anyway, are you going to test it?”

“Hell yeah, we got your coordinates if they ask/need them, and the battery could theoretically last us 15 minutes.” Liv pressed a button on the disk.

The devices chirped and came to life. The little display showed some numbers, but they were watching the computer connected to it, which showed the whole aftermath of the program.

Looking for dimension…

The four of them were at the edge of their seats, watching as the dots grew, indicating that it was loading.

Dimension located.

Helena took hold of her breathing.

Establishing bridge…

It took ten minutes for the message to change but the letters that showed on the screen weren’t what the girls were expecting.

Critical error, bridge not found.

As soon as those five words appeared, the disk sparked and a little smell like something burnt reached their noses. An eternity in silence passed in a few seconds. Liv’s face remained carefully neutral as she placed the disk on a metal table to cool, but Helena noticed how her hands lingered on it for just a second too long.

“It’s alright,” Bruce said first, breaking the silence. “Could be the capacitors or the power source. Nothing that can’t be fixed.” He reached for the disk but recoiled when his fingers met the scalding metal.

“Sorry, didn’t realize it was still hot,” Liv murmured with a small, apologetic smile. She wiped her hands on her pants as if brushing off invisible ash.

Helena’s stomach churned. They’d worked for days on that device—sleepless nights, endless calculations—and it still wasn’t enough. Her fingers itched to grab the useless thing and toss it into the river beneath the cave, but Dick’s steady hand on her shoulder grounded her. She wasn’t alone, she needs to take a hold of her emotions.

“Well,” Liv clapped, forcing a cheerfulness that didn’t quite reach her eyes, “I think we’ve burned enough eyelashes for today. Bruce, I heard Alfred mention an important meeting at WE. You should head out before you start pacing like a maniac, again.”

Bruce sulked but obeyed, muttering something about “disrespectful children” as he left.

“And I think I’ll take a quick nap. See ya.” Liv exited next, her steps too deliberate, her tone too casual.

Helena stared after her, the weight of failure pressing against her ribs.

“You, okay?” Dick’s voice was quiet, concerned.

No, she wasn’t. But she wouldn’t admit that—not yet. Plastering on her best Selina Kyle™ smirk, she replied, “Yeah. I should probably make sure Liv actually naps instead of rebuilding the entire thing in her room.”

Helena went upstairs just because Dick Grayson had yet another whiplash because how the girl could embody Bruce’s intensity one moment and Selina’s effortless grace the next.

(…)

Her father always said, “The work matters, even when it doesn’t succeed.” And she desperately wanted to believe it, to understand the concept, to be this unmovable force that stabilizes everyone and everything around it, but she only wanted to scream, to go down and melt that piece of junk that they’d spent days building for it to just fail.

She needed to breathe. And to find Liv.

Because her best friend had just exiting a hyper-fixation patch, and for it to end in such a glaring failure wasn’t good for anyone. Helena had seen the way Liv’s hand lingered a moment too long when she’d set the disk down on the table, as if willing it to work even after the fact. She knew Liv too well to believe the nap excuse—her best friend only ever fell asleep mid-task or waited until nighttime to crash.

Helena found her best friend on the roof, legs dangling and eating a sandwich, a white mug with the Wonder Woman logo at the reach of her left hand. Helena held onto the window frame; her knuckles white with the tension that she was feeling—how could she be so calm in a moment like this?

“Have a sit bestie, you look a bit hangry.” The brunette offered another sandwich, as Helena sat beside her and took it, she saw a pile of them in front of the other girl. They sat there, in complete silence, Helena tried to eat but only managed to nibble the food, her stomach churning furiously.

“I know you, Livia.” She said firmly, setting her food to the side “You are not okay! You are upset! And more so because you have hope and dream, and you hoped that the dimensional chatter would work last minute!” Liv only shrugged “Say something! Blame me! Scream at me! I was the one that debugged the code, it was probably my fault that it didn’t work, right?!”

Helena’s hands were moving too aggressively, and they were too close to the edge for Liv’s liking. Gently, Liv grabbed her hands, holding them between her own. Helena’s eyes darted to her, glassy with unshed tears, her breathing erratic.

“I don’t blame you, Helena. I would never do that. And yes, I was overconfident that the disk would work the first time, and we were finally going home but it didn’t happen and it’s okay. We know our theory is still just that—a theory.”, Livia brushed a rebel tear that escaped Helena’s eye with her thumb. “I’m upset but I’m fine. I’ve been unleashing my frustration and chaos, focusing maniacally for days while you've kept the boat afloat. You know the deal—it’s my turn, darling.”

Like a tidal wave, Helena crashed with Liv’s body in a bone-wreaking hug, but she didn’t care because Liv was indestructible, she cried on Liv’s shirt, but she didn’t care because it’d dry, she wasn’t a rock for everybody around her but she didn’t care because Liv was there to be her rock.

“It’s okay, Hels. Take it out.”

Helena was stranded in a different dimension, she didn’t know how to go back to her home or even if it was possible to do so; there was magic involved, someone was harvesting energy for something bigger than they could even imagine.

But she did not care, because Liv was beside her at every step, corner, and wall of the way. And she was for her too.

Chapter Text

Helena woke up feeling rested— a rare luxury these days. For a moment, she could almost pretend she was home. The mattress, the warmth beside her, the rhythmic sound of Liv’s breathing—all familiar.

But then her eyes opened, and the illusion shattered.

She wasn’t home. And she had work to do.

After a quick shower, she checked her phone. Still too early for Liv to wake up. Perfect time for breakfast.

She headed downstairs, settling onto a stool in the kitchen. Alfred had his back to her, but of course, that didn’t mean he hadn’t heard her arrive.

“Good morning, Miss Helena,” he greeted, placing a fruit plate in front of her. “Breakfast will be ready in a minute.”

“Thanks, Alfred.”

She ate in silence, watching the butler move around the kitchen with practiced ease. A plate of waffles and a cup of coffee appeared before her, the fruit bowl disappearing like clockwork.

“Any plans for today, Miss?” Alfred asked, pouring her more coffee.

“I dunno,” she murmured, chewing slowly. “Maybe go back to the cave and see why the stupid thing didn’t work.”

“No, you are not,” a new voice cut in.

Selina Kyle entered the kitchen like she owned the place—which, technically, she kind of did. Dressed in black leather pants and a white blouse, her usual effortless elegance intact, she plucked a red leather jacket from the chair and draped it over her shoulders. A pair of round sunglasses perched atop her head.

“We’re going shopping,” she announced, snatching an apple from the fruit bowl. “You need to chill for a bit.”

Helena raised an eyebrow. “Do you think that’s a good idea? I know I mostly look like Martha Wayne, but I still look like you.”

Selina waved a dismissive hand. “Lame excuse, and you know it.”

“Liv might—”

“Liv sleeps like a rock until noon. Even I know that.”

Helena opened her mouth, but nothing came to mind.

“Took too long. You’re coming,” Selina said smugly.

“…Fine,” Helena sighed, defeated. “But let me change first.”

(…)

It took her fifteen minutes to put together a decent outfit, despite most of her clothes being hand-me-downs from Cass and Steph. When she finally came downstairs, Selina gave her approval once-over and smirked.

“Glad you have my sense of fashion.”

Helena had thrown on a cropped jacket over a fitted black turtleneck, paired with slightly loose, high-waisted cigarette khaki pants and black loafers.

Not bad.

They headed to the garage, where Selina opened the key box and scanned the options.

“Eeny, meeny, miny, moe… You’ll do,” she hummed, plucking a set of keys. A black Porsche chirped from the back.

Helena hesitated. The 911.

That was a bit much for a casual outing. She was used to attracting attention, but… she wasn’t at home. This wasn’t her city. Not really.

Selina must have sensed her hesitation because she nudged her gently.

“Relax, kitten.”

Helena froze.

That— that was exactly what her mother would say.

The familiarity sent a sharp pang through her chest, a harsh reminder of where she wasn’t. The walls of Wayne Manor had started to feel like a very elegant cage, and Selina—this version of her mother—was offering her an escape.

But Helena needed her anchor. The one piece of home she had in this place.

She needed Liv.

“Hey, hey,” Selina said, softening her voice, placing both hands on Helena’s shoulders. “Guess you got our ‘bolt when things get complicated’ instinct from both of us, huh?” She laughed lightly.

Helena forced a small smile, but her eyes burned a little.

“It’s okay to feel overwhelmed,” Selina continued. “But staying cooped up in here won’t help. It’s been a rough few days—you need to decompress. So, what’s it gonna be? Shopping? Or do you want to do something else?”

Helena took a deep breath, Selina’s words finally settled in. She was right. She was overwhelmed, anxious—but she still needed this.

“You’re right,” Helena admitted, relaxing just slightly. “I’d like to go shopping. But can we pick something… less extravagant? Maybe the Tahoe?”

Selina’s smile was soft. “Good call.”

Twenty minutes later, they were pulling into the Gotham Mall’s parking lot.

(…)

Shopping with Selina Kyle was an experience.

Armed with Bruce’s card, they made several stops. Bally for boots. Some high-end boutiques. Helena let Selina take the lead.

They were browsing a designer store across from a jewelry shop, which Selina kept eyeing.

“We can go in if you want,” Helena suggested, holding up a black top.

“No,” Selina said casually. “Promised myself I wouldn’t today.” Then, eyeing the top, she added, “Cute. Find a skirt to go with it—maybe one that works with your new shoes.”

They shopped in silence for a bit until Helena spoke again.

“So… do you only have your night job, or do you do something else?”

Selina inspected a purple dress. “Not really. And I don’t go out as often as I used to. Been trying to figure out what I want to do that doesn’t involve illegal activities.” A beat. “Unless the bastard deserves it.”

Helena snorted. “That’s fair.” She grabbed a champagne flute from a passing employee, taking a sip. “You know, my mom started a high-end security company a few years before I was born. She gets hired to test security systems—tries to break in and then gives them a report on how to fix it.”

Selina paused. “Huh. That’s actually a brilliant business idea.”

“Pays well,” Helena said with a smirk.

Selina finished her drink. “Might steal it.”

(…)

A few stores and several bags later, they took a break at a café, sipping coffee.

“So,” Selina said casually, stirring her drink, “you got a partner back home?”

Helena groaned. “Oh, come on. That cliché of a conversation?”

“What? I’m curious. Also, I have a bet with Alfred.”

Helena blinked. “You—roped Alfred into this?”

“Believe it or not, Alfred roped me into it.”

Helena rolled her eyes. “No, I don’t have a boyfriend waiting for me. My last relationship ended three years ago. Haven’t really had the time for a new one.”

Selina stirred her coffee, watching Helena over the rim of her cup. “So… what about Liv?”

Helena frowned. “What about Liv?”

Selina shrugged, a knowing smirk creeping onto her lips. “Oh, I don’t know. You two are pretty close. Share a bed. She calls you a dozen different nicknames.”

Helena sighed, clearly unimpressed. “She gives everyone nicknames.”

“Mm-hmm.” Selina took a slow sip of her coffee. “I’m just saying… the way you two look at each other sometimes? If I didn’t know any better, I’d think there’s something there.”

“There’s not.” Helena stabbed at her pastry with unnecessary force. “She’s my best friend.”

“Best friends,” Selina echoed, setting down her cup. “Right.”

Helena groaned. “Oh my God, stop. And before you say anything else—yes, I know that 80% of the family is queer, but I’m not.”

Selina raised a perfectly sculpted eyebrow. “Really?”

“Yes. Really.” Helena crossed her arms, her tone slightly sharper.

Selina held up her hands. “Alright, alright. Can’t blame a lady for asking.” She took another sip of her coffee, then smirked. “So, you haven’t had any action in a while.”

Helena choked on her drink. “What the hell?!”

Selina just grinned, entirely unbothered. “What? Just saying.”

Helena glared at her, wiping her mouth. “Very funny. But not having a boyfriend doesn’t mean I don’t have fun. After all, I am your daughter.”

Selina grinned, full of pride. “That’s my girl.”

(…)

They were going to the manor after a couple of hours and a ton of bags in the trunk, she can excuse the amount saying that some of the thing where for Liv and they were, but the great majority was for her.

“So, I’ve told you what I do, What do you do?” Selena asked above the soft music filling the silence of the ride.

“Well, I’ve been part of the board of WE since I entered the R&D department when I graduated at 20, I do charity, the night job and currently own a small cafeteria with Tim, we are trying to compete with the big companies in Gotham and trying to chain it.”

“That’s impressive, I’m sure your parents are proud of you.” Helena shrugged and took a big sip from her still to-hot coffee “No, you don’t get to do that.”

“What?”

“That, dismiss that your parents are proud of you because you aren’t even my daughter and I’m proud of you.”

Helena didn’t know what took her to say what she was about to say, maybe it was the fact that Selina looked like her mom but wasn’t, maybe she finally cracked the thing that not even her family could crack, maybe she was just in a spot where after two weeks she felt safe and warm.

“Last year, I was having trouble with this case about robberies to houses, middle class, no patter in location, profile or anything. I also was planning a charity event for the elementary schools in Gotham, Tim and I were still in negotiations about the cafeteria. Dad volunteered to help me with the case while a stabilized the other things in my life. I told him that if he had a lead, to call me no matter what.”

Helena sighed “Long story short, I hadn’t slept in some days and finally crashed on my bed when he got a lead, he didn’t want to wake me up, all my brothers were occupied in their own stuff, so he went alone. Got badly injured. All because I couldn't be more like you and balance my life better or more like him and stayed up just for a couple of days more.”

Again, her eyes burned but she refused to let the tears fall, she was looking to the window trying to avoid Selinas gaze. “I been having anxiety-riddled nightmares ever since, can’t sleep alone. That’s why Liv sleeps in my room most of the time.”

Selena stayed silent for a bit, Helena didn’t want to look at her but the sudden shift in trajectory made her, Selena parked on the side of the road and turned to face the girl.

“Oh honey.” Selina put a hand on top of hears “I think you acted a bit too much like us but also better.”

Helena turned; she wanted to scream all the arguments that she already had said to her family but the look of pure love that this Selina was giving her stopped her in her tracks.

Selina took the opportunity to explain herself. “If you think Bruce and I have our lives balanced then we do a pretty good job in your dimension because I know for a fact that we don’t. And Bruce has the tendency to not sleep until he resolves the problem which ends up in him been so sleep deprived that he doesn’t know where he is. You did overfill your schedule and didn’t sleep for days but in the end, you did delegate your task and take care of yourself. You don’t need to be like us because you already are better that us.”

It suddenly clicked, what her family had been saying, what the psychologist had been saying. She didn’t need to be like her parents, she was already like them but better, she was her own person.

In a sudden movement, Helena gave a bone crushing hug to Selina, who muffled an ‘off’.

“Thank you” The tears where out and she didn’t care “I really needed that.”

“You are welcome, kiddo.”

“When you two decide to have me or whatever variant, you are going to be a great mom.” Helena heard a sharp intake from Selina, she didn’t see but she also left some tears free.

(…)

Liv had some black joggers and a red hoodie stolen from Jason as her outfit when she arrived at the kitchen at 12:33 p.m. and went directly for the strong tea that Alfred had stashed in the back but before she even started to prepare it, she turned to the butler.

“Can I have this?”

“Of course, miss Livia.” He said amused. “The kettle still has water.”

She took out a mug and served her tea, both where having their tea and biscuits in silence, Alfred was reading the paper and Live had her eyes glued to the back of it.

“Something interesting in the back of my paper, miss?”

“Sorry, I was just solving the crossword.” She said, taking her gaze from the paper and onto the mug in her hands.

He looked at it and gave the page to the brunette.

“There are pens-”

“In the third drawer, I know.” She took a blue gel pen and started scribbling in her crossword, 10 minutes later it was done and neatly folded, the pen in the usual place and mug empty. She then started to tap her phone looking for a game.

“So, aren’t you going to ask where is miss Helena?” He eyed her from above his paper.

“Nah, I think she is in the mall or something.” She said absently, still embossed in her Sudoku game.

“She told you she was going with miss Selina?”

“She is with her? Weird.”

Alfred put the paper on the table and waited for Liv to catch the movement. She turned off her phone and tilted her head in confusion.

“Oh, yeah. I forgot that I’m not at home. I got her heartbeat memorized.” Alfred raised an eyebrow, “Well I got a ton of people that I care’s heartbeat memorized, even yours but, apparently, in this dimension you got a slightly different cadence. It takes some extra seconds, but I can get them. That’s why I said it’s weird.” She took and apple from the bowl and gave it a good bite “I knew that she is at the mall because of the distance and the amount of noise around her, but I’m not constantly checking on her.”

He hummed and pointed to the apple “Are you hungry? I can make you breakfast.”

“Nah, it’s too late for breakfast and too early for lunch, I can wait. Got my powers off.” She finished her apple “So, what are you planning for lunch?”

“Have any suggestions?”

“What do you think of Mexican food?” She said after a moment.

“I think we can do something with that, yes.”

“I’m thinking tacos, how many are we gonna be?”

“Well,” The butler got up and started prepping to cook “Masters Damian and Duke decided to stay in Europe, they found an exotic trafficking ring and are attempting to break it. Master Tim is on a roadtrip with mister Konner and Miss Stephany was with them but called miss Cassandra this morning to accompany her, they said that they are going to be backup for the boys, but I think that they wanted to see Prague.”

“Quick question, are Cass and Steph dating yet?”

Alfred watched Liv for a minute and started chopping vegetables.

“I knew that I was sensing something with them, but, as far as I know, they are not.”

“Curious, they started dating after high school in our dimension.”

“Another difference I am afraid, miss.”

“Can I help you cook?” Alfred eyed her suspicious “I promise I know what I need to do.”

The old man only knew that the girl was a ball of energy, probably was offering to have something to do while waiting for Helena to arrive but didn’t really trust anyone beside Jason to cook in his precious kitchen.

“I will do the dishes and clean the kitchen afterwards.” Well, Alfred was a simple man after all.

“Alright, but I’ll tell you what to do.”

“Yes sir” She did a military salute.

(…)

When Helena and Selina entered the kitchen, the smell hit them first—warm spices, seared meat, something slightly charred but in a good way. It was the kind of scent that made your stomach grumble even if you’d already eaten.

“Oh, Alfie, that smells amazing,” Selina hummed as she sauntered in, setting her bags down on a chair.

Helena raised an eyebrow when she spotted Livia at the counter, chopping onions with practiced ease. “Wait—how did you convince this Alfred to let you help cook?”

Livia shrugged. “Bribed him with cleaning duty, but I think I also earned his trust in the kitchen.”

“You can certainly assist me tomorrow,” Alfred remarked without looking up from the cilantro he was chopping.

Selina dipped a chip into an orange-colored salsa. “So, you can cook, kid? Who taught you? Because as far as I know, neither of your moms can.”

“Careful with that one, it came out way spicier than I intended—” Livia spun around just in time to see Selina pop the chip into her mouth.

Selina’s expression remained neutral for about three seconds before the spice hit. She coughed, eyes watering as Alfred calmly handed her a glass of milk.

Liv, very pleased with herself, turned back to the stove and flipped a tortilla on the griddle—barehanded.

Helena, utterly unfazed, took a chip and dipped it into the same salsa. “Liv was the one who cooked when we lived together in college.” She ate it without a single reaction, her spice tolerance ridiculously high.

“Because if I let Miss I-Burned-Cereal cook, we’d be dead.” Livia tossed the tortilla into a towel with the rest of them and put another one on the griddle.

“That was one time.”

“One time too many,” Alfred added, sliding a bowl of mild salsa onto the counter.

Helena groaned. “You’re supposed to be on my side.”

“Miss, I shall always be on your side… except when it comes to cooking. The Lord knows only Master Jason and Master Duke are competent in the kitchen.”

Selina smirked while Helena grumbled something about betrayal.

“Anyway,” Livia said, “to answer your question, our nana taught my brother and me how to cook. She’s Mexican, so we got the authentic recipes.”

“So, what did our dear Alfred let you do?” Selina asked, finally recovering from the spice.

“Well, I made the orange salsa and the tortillas by hand—flour, because Nana Blanca’s from the north, but we made corn too. I also helped with chopping and suggested we do a build-your-own-tacos station.”

Selina leaned against the counter, sipping her milk. “Alright, I’m officially impressed. You, kid, are full of surprises.”

Livia smirked. “Oh, you have no idea. Actually, the idea came to me when I saw the stained glass and remembered a—”

She stopped mid-sentence.

Her entire body went unnaturally still. The tortilla on the griddle began to burn, forgotten.

Helena immediately clocked it. “Liv?”

But Livia wasn’t listening. Her fingers twitched at her sides like she was trying to physically grab a thought before it slipped away. Then, suddenly, her eyes went wide.

“Oh, shit.”

“What?” Helena frowned.

Livia spun on her heel, her hands already reaching for something—her phone, a pen, anything to write this down. “Oh, shit, shit, shit—that stupid thing—it can actually—” She growled, ripped the tortilla off the heat, turned her powers on and bolted.

Alfred barely managed to step aside before Livia darted for the door.

“LIV—” Helena reached out, but Livia was already gone, sprinting toward the Batcave like a woman possessed.

Selina blinked after her, mildly amused. “Does she do that often?”

Helena let out a deep sigh, rubbing her temples. “You have no idea.”

Alfred, as if this were the most normal thing in the world, calmly set the tortillas aside and resumed cooking. “I suppose we shall wait on Miss Livia’s return before we eat.”

Helena stared at the now-empty doorway, still processing the chaos. Then she sighed. “I should go after her, shouldn’t I?”

Selina popped another chip into her mouth. “Probably.”

Helena groaned, stealing a bite of meat from the cutting board before turning to follow Liv.

Selina just grinned and grabbed another chip.

"Kids these days," she muttered, thoroughly entertained. Then, glancing at Alfred, she added, “Also, Alfred, you owe me some cookies.”

Alfred sighed, setting down his knife. “She still hasn’t figured it out?”

Selina smirked. “She doesn’t even know she likes girls.”

The butler shook his head, clearly exasperated. “Thought she was more attuned with her feelings...The slow burn is going to be insufferable.”

“Indeed.” Selina sipped her milk, completely delighted. “That one is on Bruce.”

“At least Master Bruce had the excuse of childhood trauma.”

(…)

Jason Todd was elbow-deep in his motorcycle engine, wiping grease off his hands when he heard the thunder of footsteps approaching. He barely had time to lift his head before—

BANG.

The cave doors slammed open, and a red blur shot past him, moving way too fast for someone who wasn’t using superspeed. It stopped and became human-shaped Livia at a whiteboard and then blurred again, the pattern repeated three times until-

“MOTHERFUCKER.” Came from the girl, whiteboard full of scrambles and head-eaching formulas.

“LIVIA KASSIUS LUTHOR-DANVERS IF YOU SO MUCH DARE GO TIM MODE BEFORE EATING I WILL-” Jason stopped her sister.

“Chill, shortstack, she already finished her chaos math.”

“And you are definitely not going to like it, princess” Livia was suddenly by their side with the whiteboard in question, sporting a frown and her notebook in hand.

“Care to explain, lightning bolt?” Helena rubbed her temples.

“I figured out” She smiles again, bouncing in her feet “So apparently I forgot a 120 when I was doing the conversion energy math, so I miscalculated the production and the capacitors burned, so that leaves that problem behind” She turned and pointed at the board with both hands “This is the shitty thing”

Livia started pacing “I was so focused on the dimensional energy being the key, but we’ve been thinking about it wrong—”

Jason wiped his hands with a rag, strolling over with a raised brow. “She does this often?”

Helena sighed. “All the time.”

“Rude,” Liv shot back, before jabbing a finger at her notebook. “Okay, so listen, the problem with jumping dimensions isn’t just about frequency alignment—it’s about stability. The ‘bridge’ we tried to create collapsed because the interdimensional vacuum isn’t stable enough to hold it for long. The energy signatures keep shifting, and we don’t have anything to lock onto it, like sunbeams on a stained glass when the sun keeps its natural cause.”

Jason squinted at her. “...I understood, like, two words in that sentence.”

Helena leaned in, scanning the notes. “So, we need something stable—Something that can withstand the shifting frequencies and anchor the bridge long enough for a successful transmission—Oh shit”

“Yeah, shit”

“What?” Jason asked.

“There is one thing that we can use, a Kandor Crystal.” Helena sighed.

“That sounds Kryptonian.”

“They are. They are used to store information, and their architecture is literally built on the principle of energy modulation and containment—”

Jason blinked. “Wait, so you’re telling me your dead planet had multiversal Wi-Fi?”

Helena shot him a glare, but Liv cackled. “Okay, not exactly, but close—Kryptonian crystals naturally attune to specific frequencies and maintain them indefinitely. It’s how the Fortress of Solitude functions without deteriorating, even after all these years.”

Jason tapped his fingers against the table. “So, you’re saying… if we get our hands on a Kandor Crystal, we can use it as a stabilizer?”

“Yes!” Liv crossed her arms, already dreading the interaction “And guess who has a whole stash of Kryptonian tech just lying around, collecting dust?”

The three of them exchanged glances.

“Clark,” Helena sighed.

“Clark,” Jason echoed

Liv grinned, clapping her hands together. “Field trip to the Fortress of Solitude, anyone?”

Jason immediately turned back on his bike. “Yeah, no thanks. You two have fun with Mr. Truth, Justice, and the American Way. I’ll be here, enjoying my earthly problems.”

Helena groaned, rubbing her face. “This is going to be so awkward.”

Liv just smiled way too wide. “Oh, don’t worry, it’s about to get worse.”

Helena narrowed her eyes. “...Why?”

“Because we’d need someone to vouch for us to enter the Fortress without creating a fuss so, Bruce will come.”

Helena froze.

Jason smirked. “Oh yeah, I’m definitely staying out of this.”

Helena groaned again. “I hate everything.”

Liv patted her back. “I know. Now grab your coat, we’re going to Antarctica.”

“I’m starting a pool bet, how long it takes before Bruce and Clark start passive-aggressively arguing. I got 5 minutes.”

“12, I need some hope in my life to endure this.” Helena said tiredly.

“You need to be realistic, I put my money in 3 minutes. Also, Jason, clean yourself, we made tacos, and they are ready.”

“Did you make a spicy salsa?”

“If you got the same spicy tolerance that my brother, you are going to suffer when it comes out.” Helena adds with a teasing smirk.

“That my favorite type of salsa. Let’s go girls. And do call me when you tell B about the fortress trip.”

(…)

After two weeks of radio silence, Bruce called Clark.

Clark knew Bruce didn’t ask for things—he told people what he needed. So, when the request for Kandor Crystals came in, Clark already knew he didn’t have a choice. Not when it came to Bruce.

What he hadn’t expected was that Bruce wouldn’t come alone.

As the jet landed, three figures emerged. Bruce, of course, but also two young women wearing masks—both clad in the unmistakable black of the Bat-family, though one had an orange bird emblem on her chest and the other a blue bat.

Clark swallowed the new recruits that eyed him like he took the last of Alfred’s cookies the last time he was on the batcave.

Curious. Scary but curious.

As Kelex retrieved the requested crystals, Clark crossed his arms. “So, what do you need them for?” He was a reporter, naturally curious.

Bruce didn’t answer. But the girl with the bird symbol did.

“To stabilize energy. The crystals are the only thing fast enough to adapt.”

Clark frowned slightly. “And can I get more details on that?”

“No.” The three of them responded in perfect unison.

Clark exhaled through his nose, raising his hands in surrender. “Just asking.”

That was when Kelex turned to the girls and spoke in its usual robotic greeting tone.

“Guests of the House of El, Lor-Varas.”

Clark felt the world slow to a halt.

That title…

It was Conner’s.

But Conner wasn’t here.

His entire body tensed as his eyes locked onto the two girls. Only one had frozen completely.

Clark took a step towards her, switching to Kryptonian. “Who are you?”

The white lenses of the domino mask looked at him with more shock, that didn’t help her case because it wasn’t confusion at a strange language it was shock at someone else speaking it, which meant that the girl with the blue bat understood. She was an unknown kryptonian, at his fortress, with his friend who was smart but still human. He could be compromised. Clark could feel his eyes getting hot with the laser charge only thinking about Bruce been in danger. He got closer, Bruce still hovering beside him.

“Are you going to answer, child?”

Liv was speechless, for once, she forgot all about kryptonian titles and second, hearing Superman, for all people, speak almost a flawless kryptonian was enough whiplash to send her on a reboot state.

“I can voucher for her, Clark.” The clam voice of Bruce tried to defuse the situation, but Clark’s gaze was solely at her.

Helena recovered first, elbowing her in the ribs.

“Are you gonna stand there or explain what the hell is going on?”

Livia blinked out of her trance. “Ah—sorry, I didn’t know Kelex could call me that.” She said quietly.

Clark narrowed his eyes. “Lor-Varas is the title for the heir of a noble house on Krypton.” His gaze flickered to Bruce. “She’s definitely Kryptonian and could be manipulating you.”

“I know what she is and no she is not,” Was all that Bruce told him. “They’re under my protection.”

But Clark ignored his friend, he needed to think and fast.

“Kellex, scan the girl. Tell your findings in English please.”

“Superman, what are—” The bat started sternly just to be cut off by the robot.

“Scan complete. The subject is 22 years, 3 months, and 12 days old. Genetic analysis: 51% Kryptonian, 49% Human. Kryptonian lineage confirmed—directly tied to the House of El.”

The words echoed through the Fortress like a thrown gauntlet.

Clark didn’t breathe.

"Explain that."

His voice was low—not cruel, not angry, but it carried that Superman weight, the kind that could stop wars or shift tectonic plates. He looked at Livia, not with suspicion, but with the burden of needing truth. The Fortress was more than metal and memory. It was sacred. It was safe.

Livia glanced sideways at Bruce, instinctively.

Bruce only said, “I told you. They’re under my protection.”

Clark’s jaw clenched. “That’s not enough. Not here. Not with her being Kryptonian. You know what this place means to me.”

“I do,” Bruce replied evenly. “But I also know what this means for them.”

“She is,” Helena interjected now, taking one step forward, folding her arms tightly over her chest. “But not the way you think.”

Clark’s gaze flicked to her. “Then explain it.”

“We will,” Bruce said. “But not here.”

Clark’s brow furrowed. “This is my Fortress—”

“And this is my case,” Bruce cut in smoothly. “We’ve spent weeks maintaining the balance between secrecy and security. You're late to the party, Superman.”

There was a long silence. One of those uncomfortable, thick ones, filled with more unsaid truths than lies.

Clark turned back to the girls.

The one with the orange bird emblem—grounded, defensive—instinctively shifted to shield the other. The girl in blue looked like she wanted to vanish into the stone walls, impossible though it was with her height and power barely concealed.

Clark softened. Not because he wasn’t wary, but because he knew that posture. Knew what it meant to be holding something too heavy.

He stepped closer and asked, quieter now, more personal:

“Then let me ask you this, Lor-Varas… If you’re part of my family—why didn’t you tell me?”

Livia winced at the sound of the title. Her posture straightened. Not out of pride, but preparation, this wasn’t a fight, but it felt like one.

She considered making a snarky joke. She wanted to. But unfortunately, this wasn’t just some stranger. This was Superman. And the Superman she knew was completely different from this one. This Clark was good, so she took a breath and prepared to dodge questions from the press like only a Luthor could.

“As Batman said,” she began, voice low and even, “you weren’t part of the original plan. So, we didn’t deem it necessary.”

Clark didn’t flinch. “But I’m in it now.”

Livia sighed, her tone tilting slightly toward dry Luthor logic. “Yes, but if this thing with the Kandor crystals works, we won’t be staying much longer. So… I don’t think it’s necessary for you to know.”

“You’re Kryptonian. You’re family.”

“Not yours,” she said quietly.

The words weren’t meant to sting. But they did. Just a little.

“But Kelex said—"

“We don’t interfere with your reality,” she added. “We’re not supposed to.”

Clark digested her words in silence, what they meant and opened his mouth to ask more questions, but Burce interjected the reporter.

“You’ll get your answers when it’s safe. But not here. And not now.”

Clark will relent—but he won’t forget.

Chapter Text

Although they had secured the Kandor Crystals, the tension inside the Batjet on the way back to the cave was thick enough to cut with a batarang.

Helena sat stiffly, her knee bouncing in restrained agitation, eyes burning holes into Livia, who sat across from her—arms crossed, hunched, gaze locked firmly on anything but her best friend.

Bruce said nothing, but he had settled into his classic "Dad watching the report card fall from grace" silence. It x`was somehow worse than words.

Finally, Helena broke.

“Well?” she snapped.

“Well, what?” Livia replied, more defensive than she intended.

“You should’ve told us.” Helena turned sharply in her seat. “That you were some kind of princess on Krypton!”

“I’m not a princess,” Liv muttered.

“That there even was a nobility system!” Helena threw her hands up. “You could’ve said something! Given us a heads-up! We walked into that ice cube blind—I walked in blind!”

“It’s a dead planet, Helena!” Liv’s voice cracked the cabin air, louder than she meant. “The system is dead. The people are dead. The politics, the honor codes, the noble house crap—it’s all gone. I didn’t think the old rank system would matter.”

“Kelex follows it,” Bruce said, calm but cutting.

Livia groaned and dragged her hand through her curls. “I didn’t know that. It’s not like I have a Kelex at home! That was one of the few times I’ve ever been to that Fortress. My uncle’s version isn’t exactly a five-star tour.”

Helena stared, lips pressed tight, fists clenched. “We’ve trusted each other with everything. Everything. And you didn’t even think to mention this?”

Liv finally met her eyes. “Because it’s never mattered. Back home, we joke about the titles. They’re relics. Mementos of the past life of my ieiu, nothing more than a history lesson, a what if possibility.” A silence fell between them. Not angry. Just… heavy.

“…Okay,” Liv said, softer now. “Yeah. That one’s on me.”

Bruce tilted his head ever so slightly in that ‘correct answer’ way he did.

Helena didn’t move. Not for a long moment.

But Livia wasn’t going to stay and find out the answer, they both needed space, more specifically, Livia needed to fly.

“I need a moment; I’ll find you two at the manor in a couple of hours.”

The brunette only looked at Bruce for permission and when he gave the littlest nod, Livia stood up and walked to the latch of the jet, with a punch to the button at one of the walls it opened, air entered thundering the cabin. Liv looked above her shoulder at Helena and gave her a faint smile before jumping into the golden sky.

The latch closed and the silence reigned once more in the Batjet.

(…)

One of her favorite things growing up was taking a flight with her ieiu, feeling the air in her face and brushing her hair was one of the best feelings in her life. She was very disappointed when she turned 17 and she didn’t have any powers yet so she started searching for spells to help her fly took her a year to master but eventually she could fly on a broom with her ieiu and her brother, it wasn’t the same speed or altitude, nor would it never be but it felt like a small victory. Soon after that her mum joins them and the four of them could fly. Although her mum wasn’t very fond of flying unless it was in her private jet that she specifically designed herself.

That was the day she had given up on ever developing powers but, apparently, she was very wrong.

She remembers the day when her powers manifested, she was in Gotham with Helena and like every few weeks, they got kidnapped. It happened so often to the Wayne Clan that they made a game after it. They’d compete against each other’s times and in real life with the vigilante closer to their location (mostly Jason because Crime Ally).

That day they were a bit different, these guys felt more desperate than the normal kidnapper, so she and Helena decided not to fool around and get out. They undid their rope bindings and climbed out of the window; Liv was in the window frame when the door of the room busted off its hinges reveling one of the guys waving a gun. They locked gazes and Liv saw in slow mow how the guy lifted the gun to her.

She let herself fall into the street; two floors down were the trash containers that hopefully still got trash to cushion her fall. Thankfully there were, hands quickly helped her out and the two girls bolted. Just in time because their heard a second shoot followed by the very distinct cry of “Shit, is the Red Hood!”

The girls didn’t stop until they saw civilization, that’s when Helena noticed.

“Shit, I think that was the closest call we got. Very on the edge of vigilante shit.” Liv started talking very fast, still running on high adrenaline but her friend didn’t respond.

Helena had her green eyes widened like saucers and very slowly gave Liv by her arm, shutting the brunet effective immediately. Livia followed her friend’s gaze to a place just below Liv’s collarbone. A perfectly carved hole stood in her shirt. The two of them stood frozen for only seconds, but the girls felt like hours. Livia was the first to react, untucking her shirt a clattering against the pavement thundered through their ears. A very compressed bullet was at their feet.

“Oh, my Rao.”

“Bloody Hell Liv, you got them!” Helena said picking the bullet from the floor and hugging her friend.

They squeal very scandalously, because Red Hood was beside them just a second later his posture screamed concern.

“Is everything all right miss Wayne-Kyle? Miss Luthor-Danvers?” Even though the voice was robotic, the concern was evident in it.

“Yes, thank you Red Hood.” Livia managed to say, her glassy eyes shown against the light

Helena gave her brother a signal, they’d speak of it later.

A couple of hours later her moms also found out but because Liv suddenly got her flight and somehow floated to one of the stalactites of the cave and couldn’t get down.

Liv still got the bullet in her room. She missed her room, missed her family, missed Atlas. Hell, she even missed Mia and Nora. Maybe that’s why she had flown to a familiar place, one mountain close to Italy, been sited on that altitude surrounded by snow calmed her thoughts.

She wasn’t angry at Helena, she knew her friend and sometimes she acted a bit to Bruce Wayne for anyone’s liking but still, it was a valid concern on an irrelevant theme.

“Is everything alright, miss?” A very familiar voice broke her thoughts and made her tense again, resisting the urge to look up because her domino mask was tossed to the side, Liv maintained her face looking to the ground as she turned on the face masker on. Only then could she look at the recently arrived person.

Supergirl’s hair shined like a golden crown around her head, floating with a little up and down movement in front of Liv. Her suit had accents of gold in her belt and clips of the cape, it was flapping idly with the faint wind around them.

She should bolt, she wanted to cry and wasn’t sure she could contain it this time. Not with a stranger bearing the face of her ieiu so close.

“Yeah just… needed a minute” Liv said hoarsely. She hoped that would do enough so Supergirl would go her way but Liv new better, and was expecting Supergirl to sit beside her

Supergirl did that and Liv’s muscles ached with the effort of not leaning into her. Liv could feel her familiar warm and sent but listening to her slightly difference cadence of her heart maintained the brunette grounded to the reality.

“You are one of Batman’s new apprentices, Casey, right?” The blonde said softly, like dealing with a scared animal, maybe Liv was giving that vibe, but she could restrain herself, not right now. Liv only gave a curt nod.

They stayed in silence for several minutes.

“I’m a meta, I can fly” She blurted, wanting to give an explanation to the how she got here in the first place.

“Good to know, I was already planning on speaking to Bruce if he left you here as a training exercise” Supergirl chuckled, trying to lighten the mood, but it only made Liv’s shoulders tense more. A fact that didn’t escape the blonde kryptonian “Hey, are you alright?”

“I… don’t… know.” Liv struggle to find the words, she wanted to spill everything, this has her ieiu… no, she wasn’t… but she looked and sounded so familiar.

“Hey, you need to breath, your heartbeat is taking a bit of a ride.” Her warm hand was placed in Liv’s shoulder, and it was like it burned, she wanted to recoil and at the same time lean into it. But she did as she was told and controlled her breathing.

“Thanks” Liv said quietly, she was certain that if it wasn’t for Supergirl’s powers she wouldn’t had catch it.

“You are welcome.” Supergirl shined a bright smile “It is normal for emotions to be overwhelming if you don’t tend them. You know, I used to have panic attacks when I first arrived at earth”

Liv didn’t know that. Her ieiu always seemed to shine all her life, she gave happiness, warmth and confidence to everybody she knew, sometimes she even gave off a slight light from her, in the literal way. Liv couldn’t wrap her head around her ieiu been anything but brave.

“Really?”

“Yeah, I was 13 years old when I arrived. Lost freshly printed in my mind. My cousin used to stay with me until I fell asleep again, asking me about the dream and then about the family and home we’d lost. Or about what I was doing in school or having interest at that moment to take my mind of things.”

They were silent again, she could feel Supergirl’s encouraging gaze brush her from time to time and it wasn’t until Liv traced a version of what she was feeling that didn’t include the multiverse she spoke again.

“We—my friend and I—we’re lost. I haven’t gone this long without even being able to talk to my parents, and now… now we don’t even know if we ever will again. I want to stay hopeful, but I’m tired, and I’m scared. I know my friend is too. And that means I can’t fall apart all the time…” Her voice cracked on the last word, and Liv let her face fall into her hands. They were cold, which helped a little. That, and her ieiu’s side hug.

Liv wiped her tears and looked at Supergirl, “Sorry about that, I’ve had a rough couple of days”

“It’s alright, little one” she said softly, a small smile adorning her face.

That right there may perfectly be Liv’s doom. That’d be exactly what her ieiu would have said in a situation like this. Liv only took a sharp breath and tried to keep herself in one piece.

“Thank you” Liv said with a watery smile, the only thing that she could manage beside giving Supergirl a bone crushing hug. Then she would definitely cry. She pushed herself from the ground, the snow protesting beneath her weight. “I should go”

Supergirl also stood up, finally seen that Liv was a good 10 cm taller than her. “You are tall, I don’t know how I didn’t see that before”

Liv only shrugged

“Well, either way, if you want to talk to someone I’m here. I know a thing or two about been lost”

Supergirl left with another bright smile. Liv watched her go, that familiar warmth lingering in the air like the ghost of a hug she never gave. Then, with a steady breath, she took off—bittersweet wind in her hair as she flew back toward Gotham.

(…)

Liv landed gently before Wayne Manor, she knew that Alfred hated when people sneak in or out from the windows, so she was entering from the kitchen door with her uniform already concealed in her ring. Thankfully, nobody was there so she could sneak a snack before the dreaded conversation with Helena, she knew that it would be a big deal, she already half-apologized but still, she hated fighting with her best friend. She quickly did some Bruschetta and washed the dishes, also picked some weird sodas that Helena liked and for some reason Alfred had already bought and followed Helenas heartbeat to her room, carefully avoiding anyone else. Liv sighed before knocking.

“Who is it?” The muffled voice of her friend came from the other side of the door.

“Me. I came bearing gifts”

There was a beat where Liv thought that Helena wouldn’t open the door, but she heard a shuffle of things, and the door opened. Her friend had her dark curls in a messy crown around her head and her shoulder of showing because of the large shirt that she was wearing, a not so common sight of her. She didn’t speak a word, just moved aside so Livia could enter. They both sat at the edge of the bed with the snacks between them.

“So, I know I already said that I was sorry, but I wanted to say it again. And, obviously, bribe you with food to make it stick.”

Helena analyzed the snack, then at her friend. She sighed before answering.

“I also wanted to apologize; I acted a bit too much like Bruce” She picked up one of the sodas an open it.

“Yeah, but I should have expected it and told you”

Livia opened her can and took a sip, they ate in a comfortable silence. She was on her second slice when Helena spoke again.

“You really joke about that stuff at home?”

“Yeah”

“Is just… I think I also got a bit mad because I thought that you didn’t though of that aspect of your culture is important. And I know that is a dead planet and it doesn’t matter anymore but… it is your culture too. Is like when we don’t really celebrate Hanukkah but do it Jewish food on time to time.”

Liv savored the question and the bite from her bread before answering.

“I still think is different, is nothing to do with religion, is more of a history thing. Nevertheless, I could told you everything that I remember about the nobility system… but I think after this is all over, we should ask ieiu about it to see if I hadn’t left something out”

“…yeah, I would like that.” She said with a smile.

“Well, get comfortable Hels because am going to tell you about the time when Krypton was an empire. Kinda like Star Wars”

They snuggled in the soft bed, drinks and plate empty while Liv told her friend about how the kryptonians were feared in some corners of the galaxy until the king at that time, Jed-El, thought better and ended the empire for a more advanced way of thinking and ruling.

“Wait, so you are a princess?”

“No because he abolished the monarchy. He gave up the throne and created a nobility system so the decisions could be taken by more people and have more points of view. But our rank was the highest…” she explained, but the added smoothly “That doesn’t mean I’m going to take your nickname, princess.”

Helena punched Liv’s ribs, taking out the air in them because the stupid one had turned off her powers. It took several wheezing breaths and laughs to continue.

“As I was saying” Livia started talking “We were the highest. The title of the House of El translated to First Light or Morning Light because we used to be the rulers of Krypton. Then you got the second level, these where four families—don’t ask me which ones because I was half listening when this was explained” Helena closed her mouth and Livia chuckled “Their titles translated to stars of the cardinal directions, and lastly, you got the lords of the 12 cities of Krypton”

“But you were called a different title?”

“Yes, because I’d be an heir. Konner and I would be considered Lor-Varas, which is the title you give to the first and second in line of a title. It translated to something like Light of Tomorrow. This was because the title goes to the one that is more capable, they did a test—again, don’t ask me for details— and one heir would inherit the title and the other would get the title of Keeper of the title. Also, when you married into one of this you got a title but I, for the love of Rao, cannot remember what it was.”

“You need to start paying more attention to this kind of things, I feel like am not getting the full gossip”

Liv only stick her tongue out and Hels flickered her finger.

“What was the purpose of the nobility?”

“Apart from taking votes on reforms, attending to parties and been the public face? Not much. They had extra votes though. We got three, the second level had two and the third level had one. The guild heads also had one. And you could be a guild head and a noble one, I think my great grandfather was the two of those or something like that”

Livia tilted her head back, eyes drifting to the ceiling as she exhaled, a rare moment of stillness settled over her. From her seat beside her, Helena couldn’t help but look.

In the silence, her eyes traced the familiar lines of Liv’s profile, now softened by the calm, golden light that filtered through the windows. The tension in her jaw had eased, her lips parted slightly, relaxed. And from this angle, Helena caught the way the light caught the eye that was just a shade too green to match the other. A flicker of heterochromia, like a secret only the light was allowed to know.

There, too, just beneath that eye, were freckles. Faint and scattered like stardust across one cheek. Helena had never noticed them before. Maybe because Liv was always moving—talking, sparking with chaotic energy, flipping off gravity like it was optional. But here, with her quiet for once, Helena saw her. Really saw her.

And she looked like a completely different person.

“You know” The voice of Livia startled Helena from her trance “My ieiu told me that her parents and Clark’s pleaded to the council to take action on their dying planet. They had four votes but not even that could help them prevent the fatality of their demise”

That took a dark turn fast but, Helena didn’t mind, their lives were a constant battle between light and dark moments.

“I think that some things are just… meant to happened and no matter how much you try they just happen. Krypton dying, us been stuck in here—meant to happen.”

The topics lighten up after that, they both talked about their talks with this version of their parents, about how they were planning on implementing the crystal, and what they wanted to eat at dinner. The dark passed. The light filtered in. And after two long weeks, they finally found color again—like a rainbow rising from the wreckage.

(…)

The soft hum of the Batcave’s auxiliary lab filled the silence between them.

Liv hunched over the workbench, sleeves pushed up, the faint glow of the Kandor crystal casting shards of blue-white light across her face. Helena stood at her side, arms crossed, studying the scattered schematics because Liv insisted on handling the crystal just in case it didn’t work around non-kryptonian people.

"You’re sure about this?" Helena asked, her voice low.

"As sure as I am about gravity existing," Liv muttered, typing a rapid string of commands into the console. She paused, rubbing the back of her neck. "But... this is Kandor tech. It's sensitive. One wrong calibration and we’re either fried or stuck in a time loop."

Helena smirked. "Sounds like Tuesday."

Liv huffed out a laugh, the first real one in hours, and turned to her. "I can’t believe you’re making jokes while I’m potentially destabilizing the space-time continuum."

“Your stupid ass needs to laugh some time, or I’d be dealing with a grumpy Livia speaking in Arabic and your pronunciation could use some work”

“Hey!” The brunette pouted, wires and left on the table “My Arabic is good, I just speak a different dialect sometimes”

There was a bit of silence, Liv turned back again to play with the wires and metal parts while Helena watched.

“Did you just learned a different dialect to piss Damian off?” Helena said raising an eyebrow with a knowing smile, Livia just shrugged.

“Oh, so I’m not the only one that suffers from your presence?” A new voice resonated through the cave, both girls turned to look one Dick Garyson entering with a red smoothie in his hand.

“The only one that is saved of it are Tim and Cass, I’m scared of them” Liv said while welding a cable very precisely. Dick just huffed and stood besides his sister, sipping his drink noisily. “If you think you have the same effect with that little stunt you are pulling sorry to tell you that I” Quick hands adjusted the circuits “am” She looked for a piece that looked like a cap of a water jug “done!” She put the cap on top of the circuits and with a click the two pieces snapped together. She showed the toy proudly to the siblings, Dick eyes her with a mildly irritated expression while Helena typed away in the laptop.

“Good, now we just have to wait for the simulation on the programs runs smoothly, then we upload it, triple check the capacitors, and we can give a go.”

"When you put it like that, sounds like you’ve still got a lot on your plate," Dick leaned lazily against the workbench, arms crossed and that familiar I'm about to be annoying smirk plastered on his face.

Helena shrugged without missing a beat "Kinda. It's mostly just waiting for the readings to stabilize, fixing things when they don't."

"Perfect. Then you've got plenty of time to explain to your favorite brother how the hell you jammed a shiny kryptonian rock into the dimensional chatter." Dick's eyes lit up mischievously

Liv let out a theatrical groan, flopping back in her chair like a dying star. "Ugh, why weren’t you here when we explained it to everyone else?"

"Because unlike you nerds, I have a life. Now c'mon, Blue Bat— science me." Dick grinned wider, completely unbothered.

They both rolled their eyes but still, Helena started explaining to her brother from another earth.

“The Kandor Crystal have Quantum resonance, that basically means that they vibrate or resonate to specific frequencies, what we are trying to do is be able to give the crystal a frequency so it can sort of latch into it and with that we use other overly complicated theoretic physics concepts to broadcast sound, image and, hopefully, other frequencies”

“… So you are basically trying to do interdimensional Facetime but you don’t exactly have the receiving IP direction” Dick tried to put his smoothie down on a table but missed for a couple of inches and the drink spilled on the floor.

Both girls stayed silent with a deadpan expression, who can someone be so smart and at the same time so dumb? They watched as Dick went for a mop and cleaned his mess. In the meantime, the program stopped with a ping, no apparent errors showed on the console so they connected the dimensional chatter to the computer and started uploading it.

“Oh, I miss not depending on cables to pass information” Helena eyed the loading bar on the monitor.

“I know right? People in here depend so much on them” Livia poked the cable.

“Okay, so two more questions” Dick reappeared beside them “One: how are you planning on obtaining the receiving direction of the other dimension and two: what do you mean you don’t depend on cables?”

“Actually, good questions” Helena said excitedly “So we are using something called anchoring. We, as the two objects that have a different vibration to this reality have the direction integrated in our bodies so one of us must touch the device for it to be able to identify the destination, otherwise it won’t work.”

“And as for your other question, we came from the future, is obvious that our tech is more advanced than yours.” Liv explained as she reclined on the chair “My mum developed a type of touchless data transmission that is more accurate and secured than Bluetooth and RFID while Bruce developed a broadcast system that works better than… what were the other companies?”

“Google and Amazon where the main ones”

“Yeah, those”

Dick was speechless because, for some reason he hadn’t though about that. He was ready to ask more questions, but the laptop pinged again, announcing that the uploading was complete. Dick could only watch as both girls worked simultaneously on checking the math behind the dimensional chatter, Helena finished first with a smug expression, it was one of the few times Dick saw that on her and it kinda reminded him of himself.

“Show off” Was the only thing that Livia said

“Are you good with math?” Dick asked.

“Pff, good with math? She is a math nerd!”

“Livia, concentrate or we will have more burned capacitors”

The brunette mumbled something but continued to do her calculations at a normal speed for some reason.

“But answering your question, yes I am, I used to compete.” She shrugged “And grumpy over there is pretty good at electronics, Atlas in chemistry. We three are a menace in physics”

Dick hummed and Livia finished, now the only thing left to do was try it. The air buzzed softly with the hum of the system holding steady. Dick watched as the final light on the device blinked green, ready to use.

He gave a low whistle. "So let me get this straight — you two hijacked a piece of alien tech, rewired it with future-science, and you're about to open a doorway to another dimension... on a Tuesday?"

"Wouldn’t be the weirdest Tuesday we’ve had." Helena said with a tired note in her voice.

Dick chuckled, shaking his head. "God, Bruce really did raise a bunch of overachieving lunatics."

“Technically he didn’t raise me, I just spend a lot of time with you, bat-crazy people” Livia brushed off and grabbed the device.

He took a sip of his now-empty smoothie, forgot it was empty, and sighed. "Alright. Let’s hope it doesn’t explode. Again."

Liv brushed her thumb against the surface of the device, giving it a thought before offering it to Helena.

“You should to it this time. Maybe you can rub some luck into it.”

Helena toke it with a small smile and, without giving it much thought, pressed the button. The devices chirped and came to life. The little display showed some numbers, but they were watching the computer connected to it, which showed the whole aftermath of the program.

Looking for dimension…

Helena didn’t want to see but Liv gave her the device so she needs to see, maybe it was also a plot to keep her rooted.

Dimension located.

She remembers that last time it took various minutes to do that, apparently, the extra boost of energy and the crystals were speeding up the process.

Establishing bridge…

It didn’t give her any chance to back up or doubt, the display on the disk changed to a bright blue and the letters on the monitor displayed big bold letters.

Bridge established, successful connection.

A projection came from the dimensional chatter, like a little television, it took a bit the get a clear image and when it did…

“It’s a wall” Helena deadpanned.

In the projection she could see a cave wall, in fact, it was the same cave wall that was in front of her without the projection.

“What?!” Liv said as she came to Helena’s side.

Helena couldn’t think above her racing heart, they’ve worked so hard again, they triple checked the math, they even did more simulations that before and everything said good, but now, the results were not what they were expected. Helena moved around and with the projection with her, the same things that were here were shown in the image.

“I cannot believe this” Helena muttered.

“Wait!” Dick said beside them. Helena stopped right on her tracks.

“What?” Helena was barely containing herself from biting Dick’s face off, if he did a joke about this, he could start digging his grave.

“Look at the table” he said with a grin spread in his face.

Both girls looked at the table in the projection, it was the same metal table in front of them, nothing special. Helena was definitely going to murder Richard Grayson, and nobody would ever find his body.

“Oh My Rao” Liv barely said “It’s empty”

And then, Helena truly looked at the table and it was in fact, empty. The difference was that the table physically in front of them was littered with mugs, cables and cans. Tears started to from in her eyes as she checked again and again the differences.

“Shit, we did it.” She said quietly.

“HELL, WE DID IT” Livia shouted excitedly.

“So, we’re looking at the things that we’d look if we’re in your dimension?” Dick observed the projection.

“Appears to be. Hopefully someone’d be at the cave” Helena started walking.

“There is always someone at the cave” Helena could feel Livia’s eyes roll behind her, but she ignored her, she was too excited to bicker with her.

The three of them started walking looking for someone in the projection. There were some minimal changes in the girl’s dimension, pieces of technology that Dick didn’t understand, more suits on display, some other gadget or chair moved but the cave looked mostly the same. It wasn’t until they reached the Batcomputer that they finally saw someone. There was a man slumped on the table, apparently taking a nap with his arms crossed covering his face.

“Brother!” Helena shouted making the man jump in his seat and look around. When the man’s green eyes locked with the projection Dick could feel his entire body paralyzed.

It was Damien, the adult version of that dimension Damien’s. It gave Dick whiplash, because he just spoke with his little brother a few hours ago, the 14-year-old was still in Europe, wrapping up the thing with the animal trafficking ring that Duke and him discovered and bringing home a capybara that definitely had a name, but he refused to share that detail with Dick.

“Sister!” The adult in the projection said excitedly as he stands, with a deep and sleek voice.

This Damien looked Dick’s age, he had finally grown or appeared to be very tall, maybe a bit taller than Jason thought he didn’t look buffed like him or Bruce, he looked lean like Dick, that kind of strong that came with constant movement. He had a beard, only a couple of days old judging by the state of it because he assumed that his little brother wouldn’t like to have a full-on beard like this grandfather and the kid always had preferred a cleaner look of himself.

“Are you alright? Are you in trouble? Where are you? Are you with Livia?” Adult Damien took a couple of steps to the projection. Dick’s breath hitched because up close he still looked like his baby brother, with the same bright green eyes but this time where full of concern.

“Yes, we are alright” Helena chuckled, suddenly a looked more relaxed than Dick had ever seen her, like a weight had lifted. “We are in a different dimension and yes, the gremlin is with me”

Livia took a step closer; Dick could only see her back but could clearly picture the sly smile dancing in her lips by her tone “Murshid” She tilted her head in a greeting. Dick recognized that word, it was Mentor in Arabic.

“Mubtadi” Damien responded with a smile. Apprentice. “Wait, did you say you were in another dimension?”

“It appears to be, we are currently with another version of the family in some years in the past”

Just like that, Damien took noticed of Dick standing behind the girls. Dick closed his slightly open mouth and the man in the projection smiled with all his teeth in a wry way.

“I see.” Damien exanimated Dick while he shifted uncomfortably and then put his attention back to his sister “But according to Father, the existence of other dimensions shouldn’t be possible after the Crisis with the anti-monitor”

“But alas, we are here” Liv shrugged. “We had to identify this dimension’s frequency and then our frequency, scrap this thing with spite and alien tech to even attempt to communicate”

“We only know that it has to do with the Ley Lines and that someone is behind this. Blackouts are happening in this dimension too.” Helena explained “That reminds me, brother, do you have something that could receive frequencies.”

He thought for a moment, then, green eyes snapped to the side. “Yes, give me a second” As he disappeared from the frame.

They heard distant shuffling sounds somewhere to the side of them.

“So…” Dick started “That’s how Damian looks in what? 20 years?”

“We are still not falling for that, Dick” Helena cut him, but he saw the smile she casted him from above her shoulder.

“He looks good” He put his hand on Helena’s shoulder.

“He is the best”

“Oh, so not me?”

“No, you are the annoying fossil of a brother”

“Fossil?!”

“Yeah, I can vouch for both of those statements” Livia added.

“You should at least respect your elders”

Helena was going to respond but older Damien interrupted.

“Found it!” He said, stepping again in the frame with a blue-looking computer in his hands.

“Alright” Liv took a square from her pocket with some buttons and a display bigger than the dimensional chatter “I’m going to pass you this dimension’s frequency so you can make a portal to here using our tech, or you can use the old Cisco’s tech that they used to use when traveling trou earths. Hopefully this works. Ready?”

“Shot, Luthor”

Livia pressed the button, nothing but a bip from the device in Damien’s hands confirming that something had been received.

“Let’s check it so we are sure the theory was correct”

“You based all of that in a theory?” Dick was incredulous.

“Richard, everything that we did right from the creation of the dimensional chatter was just a theory. I thought that we made that clear” Livia jabbed him, earning a chuckle from the other dimension Damien.

“So, he is basically like our Dick?”

“Yes, the perfect amount of how the hell is he still even alive and how the hell did he do that” Helena said with a bit of pride sparkling in her voice.

“Glad to know somethings never change.” Damien said fondly.

“Sorry to break the heart-whelming Wayne moment but, Dames, the frequency? We don’t know how long the battery will last”

“Yes, apologizes. Let’s check”

Livia made Damien pass the frequency through some program that they had found on the internet that nothing short of a miracle was also in their dimension and the results were the same. They had successfully passed their coordinates to their family. Just when Damien started to ask about the other dimension and their time there, a bit from the dimensional chatter cut the conversation. The screen had a yellow color and Low battery, please recharge on the display.

“We will see you again” Helena reassured, but nobody knew if it was for her brother, for herself or for both.

“And please tell my mothers and Konner that I love them and miss them very much” Livia interjected.

“Of course. Helena, Livia. 'ana 'uhibuhum” The last part was said quietly but the three of them heard it. I love both of you.

As Helena pulsed the button again, the image of the adult Damien disappeared in front of them. The three stayed in silence until someone new broke it.

“Is everything alright?” Bruce said with his eyebrows knitted with concern.

“Yeah, it is” Helena said with a smile and various tears rolling through her cheeks, Livia was in the same state.

Dick was still in shock, he got to see how his baby brother would grow, how he would carry himself and Dick could be prouder of the person Damien would become.

Chapter Text

TRIGGER WARNING: Nearly accidental dead experience.

Atlas knew he was dramatic.

He actually loved being The Eccentric One, The Drama King, a theater kid through and through. A Greek epic in the making — all the spectacle, just hopefully without the tragedy.

He knew it was pointless to hope. He had an entire arsenal of Greek tragedies disguised as heroic sagas that he could recite in his sleep, all screaming otherwise (with one exception — but the odds were pretty one-sided).

That’s what his girls always told him when they were gossiping — because he gave the most eccentric, theatrical, and devastatingly accurate responses. This time wasn’t an exception.

“Stars above, I thought it was going to be something tragic—like betrayal, or stolen earrings. But no. It’s just repressed feelings, poor communication, and the emotional maturity of a wet sponge,” he’d said after that gossip session with Helena and the Super siblings. They’d laugh. Helena had launched a pillow at his chest with deadly accuracy. Bullseye.

Even though he’d wanted to join the chaotic duo for a Gotham patrol that night, he’d headed home early. He was scheduled for an intergalactic diplomatic mission with his mother — his first official, on-the-books Justice League assignment, and he was genuinely excited about it. His first step toward becoming a real hero.

They were traveling to a planet about two days away at lightspeed — not exactly close, but nothing outrageous by galactic standards. Supposedly, the air smelled like a faint petrichor all the time and the people had pink skin and eyes similar to humans but in odd colors, like purple or orange. The planet was translated to English as Tiraxis.

Aunt Kara had actually been to a planet eerily similar in her youth, she had told him, she went with her dad on a science exchange mission with a couple of other Kryptonian scientists and she had a blast. When he asked her if she wanted to come with them, Aunt Kara said that she couldn’t. She didn’t give him a specific reason but with his aunt’s sad smile... Atlas knew the planet would bring her bittersweet memories that she would probably want to avoid. Still, Atlas was going to get her a souvenir.

They would be on the planet for an earth’s week, roughly two weeks and some days in-planet and, according to his mother, they would have some days to explore freely.

He was excited.

Diana and Atlas were received by General Zirek and his son, a reserved politician named Kalith, and his daughter, Selyra, a sharply spoken captain in the same branch as her father. After hearing their ages, he calculated that Kalith would be in his early thirties and Selyra in her late twenties by Earth standards.

The first day went smoothly, with the aid of some galaxy translators (issued by the Tiraxians. Apparently, they were a thing in the galaxy so the different species could communicate easily. Atlas was going to steal it.) the chat between the five of them flowed, it took some effort but at the end of the day, he was able to pull a smile from Kalith. And eat local food, which tastes a bit fishy but fine.

The next days were spent doing actual diplomatic work. They were supposed to help with the mediation of the two main factions of the planet that had been beefing for over 50 Earth years, the general had said that he was a neutral party and had volunteered to explain the situation to the externals so neither of the sides felt like they would be painted as the villain by the other.

As in every good war story, there were two main sides.

The Tekish, a family that ruled like the House of Atreus — sometimes wise, sometimes cursed. Obsessed with glory days and drenched in ancestral pride, but with foundations that ran deep.

The Ambers were the Icarus generation, chasing progress with wax and wings. They blamed the stagnation of their civilization on the Tekish’s apathetic reign and weren’t shy about saying it.

Eight years passed, and the factions couldn’t compromise. Eventually, they split — a division that felt very Berlin Wall, if you asked Atlas. But the Tiraxians didn’t need physical barriers to stay divided. Their ideologies were separation enough.

On one side: a quasi-monarchy ruled by legacy. On the other: a people’s council led by the founders of the Amber movement, open to all through vote.
Traditional vs. Liberal. Old vs. New.

Over time, both sides made strides in their own spheres, and even cautiously exchanged ideas across the divide. It wasn’t without tension — but it worked.

Until ten Tiraxian years ago.

That’s when a third faction rose: the Orgs.

The Orgs were after nothing but fire and ashes — a bloodlust without beginning or end. Like a mad Cerberus loose from its chains, they hunted not for justice, not for victory, but for destruction itself. They may have been Tiraxians once upon a time but neither side saw them as equals after the path of bodies and tragedy that they left behind them.

Atlas had heard this story before. Every planet had its own flavor of it. Earth had seen more than its fair share.

And, as The Art of War said: the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

So, a secret alliance was formed — Ambers and Tekish, side by side. Spies embedded deep within the Orgs, a united military force with something to fight for… and something better to hope for.

The Yakeshi War lasted six years. Countless lives were lost. But when the dust settled, the Ambers and Tekish looked to the stars — and wanted help building something better.

A future.

A compromise.

A united Tiraxis.

That’s where Wonder Woman and Aegis came in.

“This is very important to us, Miss Wonder Woman, we don’t want another war. Nearly everyone that you ask had lost someone to the pests that were the Orgs” General Zirek had a dark gleam in his African violet eyes “My beloved wife was one of them. I want a future where my grandchildren only look at memorials, not be part of them.”

Atlas didn't know what to say, but he bowed his head. Some stories need no theatrical embellishment to carry weight.

The meetings were held in the newly reconstructed capital.

The Ambers were adamant about preserving their change-driven way of life, insisting the people needed a clean slate — a true new beginning.
The Tekish, meanwhile, stood firm in their belief that tradition was what kept people united, especially in times of rebuilding. History, they said, wasn’t baggage — it was a compass.

The days passed, and all Atlas had done was listen to both sides repeat the same points in increasingly poetic phrasing:
why their vision was better,
why the other side needed to compromise,
and why they were the ones with the people's best interests at heart.

It all sounded like a broken record.

He told his mom exactly that during a late-night strategy meeting in their hotel suite.

Diana chuckled.

“Nobody wants to see their own failures, it is easier to see others.”

It gave Atlas an idea, he shared it with his mom, and they started to plan a way both fractions could become one.

The next day, Atlas wore his full regalia: his shield strapped to his back, sword at his side. Bronze gleamed in the sunlight, catching against the bold royal blue of his armor. He looked regal. He felt ready.

“For the past week” he began, pacing before the leaders of the Ambers and Tekish, standing alongside General Zirek and his family “we’ve heard why you side was the one that should dominate in this new era or Tiraxis. But you haven’t displayed the most important thing that we should consider: your weaknesses”

Both parties erupted — predictable, defensive, loud.

Atlas didn’t flinch.

Instead, under the watchful eye of the general, he drew his sword, flipped it into a spear, and slammed the butt of it to the floor like a cane.
The sound rang sharp and final. Silence fell like a curtain.

“Nobody is perfect in the universe, that’s a fact. So, if you’ll allow it, my mother and I would like to show you what we’ve learned so far.” Slowly, the leaders nodded, and he gave the floor to his mom, turning back his sword and receiving a slight wink from the general. He responded with a smile.

Then Wonder Woman spoke — and the room listened. She told the truth, plainly and precisely.

The Tekish were old but solid, antiquated but not obsolete, their traditions could be traced back as Tiraxis started to show intelligence beyond animals but didn’t like change.

The Ambers were ingenious but too proud, ready to embrace and be the change put only their view. Their ideas had made great advances to Tiraxians but despised the old ways.

They both didn’t like compromise, thought that their way was the only and righteous way but to succeed they needed to blend, to be one. Because if they didn’t, they would be at position zero —the ones that didn’t know their own history were bound to repeat it, the Orgs or something worse could boil below them and this time, maybe they would succumb.

Diana had painted that in the most beautiful but sharp way it could be explained, like a scalpel in the hands of a surgeon.

And Atlas was mesmerized by it. He always wanted to be like his mom, wise words and strong mind but right now, he saw the diplomat rather than the warriors and it cemented even more admiration in his body than before.

The leaders were speechless after that, wanting a couple of days to think about the outsiders’ worlds before continuing. They retreated.

In the meantime, Atlas visited one of the few museums left intact after the war. The experience was breathtaking — art from another world, full of symbols he didn’t recognize but somehow felt.
Also, his mother kicked his ass in a sparring match. Naturally. But he did almost nick her arm once, and he counted that as a win.

It took two more days to reconvene, and another three to draft the first version of a new Tiraxian constitution — a careful blend of tradition and innovation, with room to grow.
A good beginning.
A new era.

Atlas was ecstatic. His first diplomatic mission had been a success. That had to be the most eventful thing that happened on Tiraxis. Right?

Right?

It was a beautiful day. Selyra and Kalith had invited him to a beach with some of their friends — a proper celebration.
The sand was boney white, the water a strange, murky black. Atlas lounged on a blanket, basking in the foreign sun, when one of the locals called out, teasing him to come swimming.

He grinned and agreed.

He should’ve thought more about how strange the water felt — the way it resisted his legs, thick and sluggish. But he didn’t.

And suddenly, he was sinking.

No matter how hard he kicked, no matter how strong he fought, he sank like a stone into the dark. His lungs screamed for air. His eyes saw only endless black. Slimy tendrils brushed his limbs — plants, he hoped.

His last conscious thought before everything went quiet.

Helena’s going to kill me.

(…)

Altas woke up in a hospital. Or what appeared to be one, because when he tried to open his eyes, a painstaking white was all his eyes could see. He shut them, swallowing the headache that drilled his skull and the groan that wanted to escape from his lips, Atlas took a couple of calming breaths before attempting to open his eyes once more. It took some blinking but finally his eyes could adjust to the light in the room, that experience definitely took a tool from him, he normally didn’t need to do that for his eyes to adjust to light changes, one of the perks of having divine blood running through his veins.

As a joke of his mind, the feeling of his lungs burning loomed like a shadow, his heart razing in his chest. Atlas restrained a shiver, he wasn’t ready to analyze the… incident so, he concentrated on what was in front of him. The room.

The room had white walls white a single brown horizontal line painted across the four walls, the floors were light brown, like coffee with a lot of milk. His sheets were white and the blanket above him was a muted green, like his eyes. Calmer, he seized himself. He could feel his legs and saw his toes move under the blanket. He was about to try the same with his hands when he saw another hand intertwined with his, the same tanned skin color as him.

Diana. His mom.

She sat slumped at his bedside, forehead resting on the mattress, fast asleep. A small smile curved his lips. He gave her hand a gentle squeeze. Her head jerked up, eyes locking on his.

“Υιός...” she whispered, voice thick with emotion, eyes glazed.

“Μαμά” he croaked. His voice sounded alien, rough and fragile.

She crossed the distance in a second, wrapping him in strong arms. Atlas melted into her embrace, tears slipping down both of their cheeks. They held each other like that for gods knew how long, her eventually climbing into the bed beside him. A tangle of limbs, but perfect.

“What happened? Last thing I remember was I was at the beach with Selyra, Kalith and their friends”

“They invited you into the water. No one realized the ocean here affects carbon-based biology differently. You nearly drowned, Atlas.”

She squeezed his shoulders, Atlas basked in his mother sent and warm for comfort, trying to not remember the sensation of the water “It took some time and effort to get the ocean water out of your lungs”

He let the words sink, analyzing them just enough to comprehend what had happened to him, not the consequences of sensations. That was a job for later.

“How long was I out?”

“Three days, almost four.”

He hummed. Diana also explained that the doctors didn’t see any long- or short-term physical damage, mentally, it was another story and only time and therapy would tell. Doctors came not long after, doing a test on him to make sure he was okay, the general and his family also came to visit, apologizing greatly about what had happened but neither Altas nor Diana held them accountable, it was an accident and the good thing was that they acted fast.

Atlas was just tired, he had a great time in Tiraxis, and it was an amazing experience for him all he wanted was to go back to Earth, hug his dad, play board games and see his girls. He told his mom exactly that and only a day later they were abording their JL-issued league ship and saying goodbye to the Tiraxians.

He slept next to his mother the first night—he didn’t care if it made him feel like a child. He felt like one. They spent most of the next day wrapped in blankets watching movies while the autopilot and Diana’s occasional steering handled the trip.

On the final night of the journey, Atlas decided to sleep alone. He didn’t remember what exactly he’d been dreaming — just laughter, running, the feeling of chasing something — until the ground gave out beneath him.

Then, he was falling.

And instead of waking up in his quarters, he collided face-first with a patch of grass that tickled his nose. He sneezed.

“Bless you”

A man’s voice told him somewhere above him, Atlas pushed himself up from the floor. Stormy blue eyes were analyzing all his moves; those eyes were familiar.

“Where am I?”

“Let’s just say you are in a realm in between realms” The man said, he was seated in a large maroon chair that didn’t belong to all the nature beside them. He stood up and helped Atlas, the unknow man was easily a head taller than him, and Atlas was 6’ 2.

“Walk with me, Atlas”

Something wasn’t right, this felt too real to be a dream. Atlas pinched himself in hopes of waking up, but nothing happened, not even the pain. He jogged to reach the older man.

He looked to be in his late forties, with eyes that held the weight of too many battles. His skin was tanned, weathered by sun and time, and his brown hair was cut short — practical, no-nonsense. He didn’t talk for what felt like hours.

“What is happening? I was asleep. Are you some alien dream-hacker?” Atlas asked, barely containing his hysteria.

“Something is going to happen Atlas” The man ignored Atla’s questions with ease “We don’t know exactly what is causing it, but we know that it has happened too many times before”

“You are not making any sense, sir.”

The man stopped; a crooked  smile reveled a dimple in his left cheek “I see Diana raised a fine gentleman”

Knowing his name was one thing, it was his dream, but knowing his mom’s name — made the hairs in his arm stand.

“Easy warrior, I didn’t come here to fight”

That didn’t help but, Atlas forced himself to relax “Who are you, sir?”

The man chuckled “I thought you were smarter, I guess you can only pop so many intelligent beings from a lineage” he sighed and took a step closer to Atlas, who wanted to keep the distance, but the man grabbed his arm before Atlas could step back “Look at me, son, really look.”

He already looked, he portrayed himself like a well-seasoned general, he had the physique of a warrior. Something draws Atlas’ attention to the man’s eyes, familiar in a way he could pinpoint, and then he saw it. The eyes of the man in front of him weren’t normal, the blue color literally moved, like a storm was happening inside of them, swirling in a mixture of light blue and gray. He knew eyes like that, less mystical but the color was almost similar.

“You are Zeus” He breathed out, almost a whisper.

“Indeed”

Atlas stood there, frozen. What was his grandfather doing in his dreams? As far as he knows, he hadn’t contacted his mom in decades, he didn’t know him and now, Zeus was looking at him with familiarity but also, something lurking behind the thunderstorm in his eyes.

Zeus let Atlas arms go and started walking, Atlas following closely behind him until he was at his side again.

“You know you almost died,” Zeus said without turning.

Atlas swallowed, but didn’t answer. The knot in his throat kept him from it.

“You were, for lack of a better explanation, kissed by Lady Death and survived almost unharmed. I wonder why…” Zeus continued.

“Did you have something to do with it?” Again, his voice sounded so small, and he hated it, especially in front of the king of the Greek gods but he could help it. It was too sudden, too raw. Atlas cleared his throat “Did you tried to kill me?”

A thunder resonated in the back at the same time Zeus huffed, “If I wanted you dead, you would be dead or living a very difficult life. On the contrary, I helped saving you”

“Why?”

“Let’s just say you are blessed and with your waltz with the dead, you meet the criteria for another project.”

Atlas analyzed his words; He knew the stories. Refusing Zeus rarely ended well. He sighed; guess he was in the tragedy era of his Greek tale.

“Are you going to elaborate on that?”

Zeus smiled like a shark and another thunder ricocheted in the back.

“Well chosen, Aegis”

(…)

When Diana and Atlas landed back on Earth, he almost tackled his dad to the ground.

“Hey, Champ!” his father said, laughing a little. “How was the trip?”

Atlas didn’t answer. He just hugged him tighter — not fatally for humans, but close. He only let go long enough for his parents to greet each other with a hug and a kiss, then returned to his place like Velcro at his dad’s side.

The smell of herbs and bread, the warmth of his father’s body, the scratch of his raspy beard — all of it helped Atlas avoid thinking about those words. The ones he kept locked in the back of his mind.

“This will be dangerous,” the man had said, brushing invisible dust off his perfectly tailored gray suit. “We don’t know if you’ll survive.”

Not now, Atlas thought. Not yet.

The Prince family returned to their home on the edge of Portland, where fresh pine air clung to everything — a little too humid for Atlas’s taste, but familiar. They spent the day talking about Tiraxis, skimming past the near-drowning incident. Atlas hoped his mom would explain that part to his dad privately.

For dinner, his dad made beef stew with fresh bread. Atlas didn’t ask what the dish was called. He was too hungry, and it tasted amazing.

Later, he sent a message to the group chat:

Double A Battery: U 2 better have a VERY good excuse for not answering my texts
Double A Battery: Or being at the Watchtower to greet me
Double A Battery: I accept Alfred cookies as an apology

He didn’t think too much about it. He had a Monopoly game to win (he was absolutely destroyed by Diana — no comment), and then he went to bed.

Thankfully, no gods or grandparents visited him in his sleep this time.

The next morning, he used the Zeta Tubes to head to Gotham, with the intention of claiming his apology cookies and talking about anything but Tiraxis. But chaos greeted him.

The Batcave was a mess.

Not “just finished training drills” mess. Not “Tim forgot to put away the tools” mess. This was a full-on multiversal emergency mess.

Kara and Lena were hunched over a glowing console, shouting words like “dimensional integrity” and “temporal variance.” Bruce had the kind of frown that could curdle steel. Tim looked like he hadn’t slept for two days. Atlas was not touching that; he already got a near-death experience.

“...Okay,” Atlas muttered. “What the Hades did I miss?”

Dick was the first that saw Atlas, the older man jogged to him.

“Atlas! When did you arrive? I haven’t heard from you in a while” The Romani clapped Atlas’ back.

“We arrived yesterday” He said absently, his eyes roaming to the different people in the cave “Where are Hels and Liv?”

The older man grimaces. “You have a lot to catch up, come, we can use the back up in the streets”

(…)

They were in another dimension; his friends had been lost for as long as he had been out of the planet.

Atlas was standing a couple of meters in front of the portal; a semi-circle made from metal and wires, swirling a blue light with his arms crossed. He didn’t understand it in the slightest. But, at last, the portal was ready. It took 2 more calls to the girls on the other side; more blueprints passed between dimensions and 5 days to finish but the portal was stable and calculated to the correct destination.

A part of Atlas said that he did all he could to help the girls come back with the time he was on Earth, but a larger part was unsatisfied. He only helped for a couple of days, patrolling and carrying heavy stuff, not untangling the mess, not giving feedback, nothing.

May be if he hadn’t gone to Tiraxis, everything would be better, he could have help, he could have felt useful, he would not have his grandfather warnings echoing in his mind whenever he stood to still.

But that didn’t happen, he didn’t know, he couldn’t know; the signal for the communications didn’t reach that sector. He had stayed more time that intended. And that weight hung on his shoulders like a backpack full of rocks in a river.

Was that too soon?

Atlas gaze moved from the portal, to look around the semi-strange cluster of people in the Batcave. Aunt Kara and Lena, Konner, Bruce and Dick were obvious, expected even. The other members of the Batclan were out, some rogues were causing damage to their city and its people. Also expected.

Mia and Nora? He didn’t know how or why they were here. Both were at the back, eyeing the portal and whispering to themselves, heads together in their own world. Atlas had half of an idea to walk there and ask what they were talking about when someone interrupted the quiet discussion the families were having.

“I’m not asking permission. I’m telling you: I’m going.” A steady and cold voice resonated in the cave.

Konner Luthor-Danvers was challenging his parents and the Bat himself. Dick Grayson stood behind them, expression impassible and arms crossed, like he expected Kon to act like that —maybe he did, maybe that’s what the oldest son of Bruce would do.

“You’re not trained for reconnaissance.” Bruce argued coldly “That’s also my daughter out there.”

“And also, my sister” He crossed his arms towering Bruce Wayne “I’m invulnerable, if for some reason, something goes wrong I can extract the three of us faster.”

“I don’t like it” Kara interjected from behind her son.

“You don’t have to. Neither of you.”

He didn’t wait for further arguments. He marched toward the portal — and before Kara could even think to activate her speed — he was gone.

A silence rippled through the room.

“Told you we should’ve addressed his stubbornness earlier.” Lena deadpanned beside her partner who only sighed and slumped her shoulders.

“Wonder where that came from.” Said the blonde, tired.

Across the room, Bruce began to pace, muttering under his breath about outsiders not knowing their place.

“For fucks sake Konner” Mia’s voice came beside him, making Atlas jump. They weren’t this close before.

“Told you he would be doing that” Nora answered, her stance and matched Dick’s across the room.

“Yeah but… he is supposed to be the smart of the group” Mia’s gaze was locked on the swirling of the portal, like hypnotized.

“Then you are seriously screwed” Atlas voice sounded foreign to his ears. Both girls side eyed him.

“You know what, Atlas? You are right.” Mia said walking towards the portal, she turned around to see Atlas “Fuck that, and fuck you” And without missing a bit, she jumped into the blue light.

Atlas was baffled.

“Shit. For the record, I’m the one with survivor instincts” Nora told him before speeding to the light. After she passed, a green light flashed for only a second, but Atlas caught it.

“What the heck?” Kara’s voice was carried in the cave; she floated with speed to Atlas side. “Where are Nora and Mia?”

“They went there” He pointed to the portal “I’m going too”

“Atlas no” Supergirl’s voice and stance commanded authority but he didn’t care, his mom was practically a general and he still defied her some time to time. He was still breathing because she loved him, and he knew to choose his battles but still.

This was a battle he was choosing and going.

“Sorry auntie, I need to” He shuck her grip, applying more force than she was expecting and successfully getting free. He runs towards the portal to his friends. His safe space.

Before he could jump into the swirling like three people before him, the light turned off abruptly and Atlas was left there at the other side of the cave, still in his dimension.

“What the fuck did just happened” Bruce's voice sounded angry, but everybody knew him enough to notice the panic mascaraed in his tone. Atlas gaze traveled to his aunt; The Girl of Steel whole demeanor was torn apart like aluminum foil because it looked like she had just lost her two children in the blink of an eye.

Atlas has got his wish; help untangle the reason why his friends could come back home.

Chapter Text

Konner has never traveled through dimensions before. His ieiu tried to explain it once, she was telling Livia and him the story of the first time she traveled to another Earth to help Uncle Barry and Uncle Oliver.

“They were mean people and did mean things to other people” That’s how ieiu described all the shit-show that the Dominators did to an energetic 9-year-old and a very traumatized 13-year-old. Both were buried in a pillow fort in Livia’s room because Konner hated solitude and Livia loved slumber parties.

“So, they were villains!” the childish voice of his sister said, smiling without a tooth.

“Yes.”

“And Supergirl deals with villains!”

“Yes” their ieiu chuckled. “I had to travel to where Uncle Barry was, it felt like been underwater for a second and then popping up to a whole different place with people that you uncle had only mentioned but, we became friends at the end.”

“Do we know them?” Konner voice was quieter but full of curiosity.

“Of course! Auntie Sara, Auntie Thea are some of them. Let me tell you the story of your Uncle Barry’s wedding, that was a blast.”

“And you can continue the story in the table” another voice came from the door. Their mum was leaning on the frame, her long black hair loose from the tail that she used at work “Dinner is ready”

“You mean takeout is here” Ieiu mocked only to receive a soft smack on her back, courtesy of one mum and one of Livia’s stuffed animals.

“I will eat all the potstickers, Kara Zor-El”

“Uh, full kryptonian name. ieiu is in trouble”

Ieiu was, in fact, not in trouble after she gave mum a kiss. They ate dinner and Konner participated in the conversation.

It was a good memory, one of the first after his whole situation with Lex and Clark, which still gave him some trouble, but his psychologist told him that it was alright. Where was he? Oh, yeah, portal feeling.

It felt like a cold dip in slime, sluggish and frosty but it only lasted seconds. It was like walking in a whole different room but at the same time it wasn’t. He was still at the Batcave, but the furniture was different or in different places than he got acculturated but most importantly, the people. There were more people, and they were younger than he knew they were but most importantly—

“KONNER” His sister’s voice was the only warning he got to the blue torpedo that smacked his chest and somehow, he got a tick in form of Livia on his back.

“Missed you too, sis”

With Livia in his back, they paddled towards the other people in the cave. The next to greet him was Helena but she had de decency to be gentle and hug him like a normal person.

“Bat spawn” He greeted while ruffling her hair, Helena pushed Konner’s arm away.

“Kryptonian spawn” she said fixing her hair.

“So, you are the gremlin’s brother? Thank God you came to pick her up” This version of Dick complained with a huge grin on his face, clearly joking “She is very annoying”

“You know what? Maybe I should leave her here…” The smack Liv gave him resonated in the high ceilings of the cave “Auch!”

“You are very mean, brother” The backpack on his back chided.

“Yeah, yeah… Anyway, thank you for taking care of the girls, hopefully you will get your own versions of them soon.”

Livia detached herself from Konner’s back and went to say their goodbyes while Konner observed. Helena lingered with Bruce and Selena and Livia with Jason; the other three people hovered near Konner. The kryptonian felt a shiver down his spine and looked around to find Tim Drake looking at him like a gaping fish, Konner raised an eyebrow but that only seemed to worsen him.

“Master Tim” Alfred reprimanded, Tim immediately took his eyes from him and looked to the ground. The tips of his ears were slightly pink.

“You’d have to forgive him” Dick said beside him “In this dimension, he is dating you and you look older than his boyfriend, so I imagine my brother liked the version he is getting in the future”

“Dick!”

“What?! You were looking at him like a puppy!”

That gave Konner whiplash, but he wasn’t unpacking that. Nope. So, he preferred to just block the back and forth of the brothers. Thankfully, Helena and Livia didn’t take that long for her other goodbyes, and they could go home and kiss goodbye to this whole debacle.

Until the next problem attacked them, but they were used to it. Occupational hazards. The three of them walked to the swirling portal.

“Those were some pretty weird three weeks but, alas, we survived” Livia said, then clapped “Thank you all, we can stay in contact with the dimensional chatter that we left you. Love you, bye” And she jumped without hesitation into the portal.

Helena tilted her head at the portal. “If we explode mid-jump, I’m haunting you, Luthor-Danvers.”

Konner smirked. “Noted.”

She turned to the gathered crowd “It was… weird. But also, kinda great. Thanks.” A beat. Then she walked toward the portal with classic Bat understatement: “Guess this is goodbye.”

And disappeared into the light.

Konner lingered at the edge of the portal, watching the swirling light dance like sunlight on water. He exhaled slowly. “No offense, but I hope this is the last time I jump through a blue glowing hole to fix something.” He glanced at Bruce and Dick. “Thanks for keeping them safe. I owe you.” Then, with a small salute, Time to go home.” And he stepped through.

(…)

Konner was supposed to come out of the portal walking — like last time. So why, in Rao’s name, was he falling?

Fast. Toward concrete.

It wouldn’t hurt him, sure, but the sound would be enough to wake every bat in Gotham. At the last second, he kicked in his flight and slowed just enough to land in a seated sprawl instead of face first like a Kryptonian tortilla.

He sat up, muttering a curse, and immediately scanned the area — cycling through vision modes, listening for movement. No threats. No voices. Just a single water droplet hitting a puddle somewhere in the dark, echoing like a taunt.

“Helena? Livia?”

Right on cue, a sudden whoosh split the silence. A portal — greenish this time — peeled open above him, and Helena dropped through. Unlike him, she twisted mid-air and landed with practiced ease. Seconds later, Livia followed. She also spun to catch herself — but instead of landing, she floated down gently like a smug little balloon.

“This isn’t the Batcave,” Livia said flatly.

“Obviously, genius,” Helena snapped, eyes already scanning. “Kon?”

“No clue,” he answered, standing up and brushing dust from his jacket. “I just got here too. We were supposed to land back in the cave, like before. This looks like... an abandoned warehouse. Terrible acoustics.”

“Let’s look around, Liv, could you check the dimension we are?”

“On it, boss”

“How?” Konner asked. “We didn’t bring anything.”

“We’ve been toying with the Chatter this past few days” Helena explained while turning some boxes, “Added a few things, we are planning on adding it to the wrist computer in a future”

“Cool”

“Okay,” Livia called from across the room, tapping at a small device shaped more like a phone than the original disk. “The Chatter says we’re in our dimension. So maybe the portal scrambled? We did come through out of order.”

“Could be,” Konner said. “The portal color was off. But it’s mom-tech.”

“Good point”

“Shit,” Helena muttered.

“What?”

“Portal was tampered with.”

Konner and Livia hurried over. Helena had turned a crate, revealing a dark, scorched marking: A cedilla — but twisted. A tail that crossed the “C” diagonally, ending in an unfinished triangle.

“Shit,” Livia echoed, eyes narrowing as she fiddled with the Chatter. “Not this thing again.”

“Context?” Konner asked, frowning.

Helena did some steps back and started playing with her wrist computer, soon enough, two screens were floating in front of them. One was a recording from two different angles of a battle in some clearing, with dirt-like figures and a lot of rock throwing while in the other was a 3D model of a cross, made with what appeared to be white wooden cylinders rather than rectangles, it was craved with various symbols.

“When we’re trying to find out how we got to the other dimension, us and Zatanna got attacked by Golems” Helena pointed at the screen with the video, Konner could see more clearly that the recording where from Helena’s and Livia’s suits “Those things were powered by this, Zatanna called it a Totem” Helena spin the cross thing “and in all those symbols, guess which was the only one in red?”

Helena manipulated the image again and now it was showing the base of the Totem where the same symbol burnt in the crate before them was mocking them in marron red.

Konner stared. “So... same douchebag who caused the blackouts and got you trapped in another dimension... is behind this too?”

“Pretty much,” Helena replied, jaw tight. “Ugh. I just wanted to go home.”

“The Chatter seems intact,” Livia said, tucking it into her pocket. “But I won’t trust it until I check the Chatter for tampering too. For now, we assume different dimension and different time.”

“Okay,” Konner said. “Step one: figure out where we are.”

“Well,” Helena muttered, “all the boxes are labeled in English.”

“Motherfucker,” Konner said suddenly, squinting at the wall. Livia and Helena snapped their heads toward him — Konner rarely cursed out loud.

“We’re in Kansas,” he said. “Outskirts of Wamego.”

There was a beat of silence.

“Well,” Livia said brightly, “guess we’re not in Gotham anymore, Toto—”

“Shut up, Livia,” Helena and Konner said in perfect unison.

(…)

Somewhere else, in a moment long past — or not yet lived — the laughter of friends echoed in a cozy apartment.

Game night, as always, was a success in Kara’s book. Everyone needed to decompress after the chaos outside: President Marsdin’s forced resignation, the raids, the protests, and the imposter still running around in her name.

Kara felt voiceless. Powerless. But she had to stay strong — she was the face people associated with a “good alien.” That weight was crushing sometimes. Clark could walk away from this — he'd told the world he’d been raised here, human in all but DNA. But her? Kara had thirteen years of Kryptonian culture wired into her brain. English wasn’t even her first language. She could suppress the alien, blend in, dull herself down... but some days, it took more out of her than others. Like today.

“We’re heading home,” Alex called out, snapping Kara out of her thoughts. She was zipping up her leather jacket by the door, her girlfriend Sam at her side, thumbs flying over her phone — probably checking in with Ruby’s sitter. “Lena, need a ride?”

“No thanks. I’m staying tonight.” Lena shot Sam a look that sparked an entire silent conversation between them — all eyebrow twitches and barely-there nods. Kara could sometimes do that with Alex, but what Lena and Sam had was next-level. Lena had once said they used those tricks in boardrooms. Daily practice.

“Alright.”

“Bye guys, thanks for coming!” Kara called with a wave as the door shut.

The quiet returned like a heavy blanket. She dropped her shoulders and returned to the dishes, letting the warmth of the water and the rhythm of scrubbing pull her back into herself.

Today’s headline still echoed in her mind: a detainment camp discovered. The media was spinning it as a mystery, still “investigating ownership,” but Kara couldn’t unsee the images. Aliens who came here for a chance at life — tortured and caged because they didn’t look human like her. Or couldn’t pretend to be, like Brainy.

Arms wrapped softly around her waist, grounding her.

“Penny for your thoughts?” Lena’s voice was muffled, face buried against Kara’s back.

Kara shut off the faucet and dried her hands, then turned to face her girlfriend.

“Careful, Miss Danvers. If Alex walks in and sees you looking at me like that, she’ll have a stroke.” Lena’s smirk was playful and too damn charming.

Kara looped her arms around Lena’s waist. “Well, as fun as that would be, I kinda like the privacy of this being a secret.” She leaned in close. “Besides, they’re in Alex’s car, probably blasting Taylor Swift three miles away.”

Lena laughed and kissed her. Six months of dating, and still, Kara’s heart fluttered every time. Lena liked the privacy, too. When they were just “close friends,” the tabloids never shut up about them. Ironic, really — now that they were actually dating, the rumors had cooled.

Not that they were hiding it, exactly. Kara was pretty sure the team thought she and Lena were still dancing around the truth — mutual pining disguised as intense friendship. Which, fair. That had been the case… until six months ago.

It had been after game night, just like tonight. Lena stayed over at Kara’s insistence — she hadn’t in a while, and Kara had pulled out the puppy eyes. Lena couldn’t resist.

They curled up on the couch, watching a musical Kara swore Lena would love. Something about a waitress and a diner.

“It is bittersweet and it hits to close to home in some parts but I think you are gonna love it”

Kara had been singing along the whole time… except during one song. Lena turned to ask why she’d stopped and instead found Kara already looking at her.

Sparkly blue eyes. A softness that stopped Lena’s breath.

That was the moment Lena remembered why she hadn’t been staying over lately.

She’d been in love with her best friend for God-knows-how-long, but she’d only realized it a month ago — and since then, she’d avoided any night that ended in just the two of them. But the purity in Kara’s gaze made everything too real. A dream Lena couldn’t afford, because Kara was her best friend… and straight. Or so she thought.

Lena cleared her throat. The moment shattered.

The spark in Kara’s eyes vanished as fast as it had appeared, and Lena was torn — between wanting to see it again and bolting for the door. But her body refused to move, her heart hammering in her ears.

“I… sorry.”

The song played on. The next scene rolled, unnoticed. The musical was just background noise now.

“You know what? Screw it.” Kara grabbed the remote and paused the show. “I’m sorry if what I’m about to say makes you want to leave and never speak to me again. But I have to tell you, because you hate secrets, and you already know everything about me except this, and—ugh, Rao, why is this so hard?”

Kara got up and started pacing.

“I think I’m in love with you. I only realized it recently, and you’ve been avoiding me, and I thought maybe you knew, and you didn’t want to let me down face-to-face, but… I’d rather be let down. I just—if I say it out loud, maybe I can finally move—”

Lena didn’t let her finish.

She stood, crossed the room, and grabbed Kara by the collar — forcing the Kryptonian to stop rambling, to see her.

Then Lena kissed her. Intentional. Certain. No hesitation.

“Good thing I feel the same way,” she whispered.

They talked almost all night after that. Hesitant kisses. Nervous laughs. Gentle, exploratory touches. It was all so new… but so easy.

Keeping it quiet had been Lena’s idea, and Kara hadn’t minded. With Lena buried under the press fallout from Lex’s genocide, and Kara grappling with the impostor attacks in her name, neither of them needed more scrutiny. Besides, Kara was determined to prove she could keep this secret.

But unlike that first night, Kara was now quiet for different reasons.

She lay curled against Lena on the couch, arms soft around her, head resting just below Lena’s collarbone. Lena idly brushed her fingers along Kara’s arm.

“I’m still thinking about the camp,” Kara whispered.

Lena paused her movements.

“The fact that I couldn’t hear any of them,” Kara continued. “Maybe the building was lead-lined. Or maybe… maybe I wasn’t watching closely enough.”

“Kara.” Lena tightened her hold. “You’re a superhero, love. But even you have limits — as a person, and as Supergirl.”

“I know… it’s just—frustrating.” Her voice cracked slightly.

Lena didn’t speak immediately. She was an immigrant, yes — but not like Kara. Not like someone who had seen her whole planet die and carried that ache like it was part of her biology. Kara still struggled to talk about the darker pieces. But Lena could piece some of them together.

And still, to this day, she didn’t understand how Kara Danvers could hold so much grief — and still radiate so much light. The Kryptonian didn’t move, and Lena stayed by her side.

“I think I want to write about it” Kara broke the silence “I know that I normally do the pictures in Cat’s magazine when I’m not been her assistant, but I think I’m not that bad of a writer… I would do it anonymously, I got a big enough target in my back”

Lena let that information sink “Could I read it before you upload it?”

“Of course!” Kara turned so they were face to face “You would be the first one to read it, but not yet. I got more important things to do, like this” And just like that, Kara’s lips where on top of hers.

And for a moment, there was only warmth.

Somewhere else, however, something cold was stirring.

(…)

Three days had passed since game night — three whole, quiet, peaceful days. Which, given Kara Danvers’s life, meant that something had to go wrong.

When Brainy called her to their new base — far from the DEO and with full autonomy over which battles to fight — she knew something was up.

She landed softly on the balcony, cape fluttering behind her, and spotted Brainy already stationed at a console. But before heading to him, she made a pit stop in the kitchen for a bag of chips.

“What was so important that I had to rush away from photographing the protests downtown?” she asked as she flopped into the seat beside him, already mid-crunch. She offered the bag — he declined, as usual.

“Some weeks ago,” Brainy began, eyes never leaving the screen, “our scanners detected radiation patterns consistent with time travel. I contacted Team Flash — those tend to be their sort of messes. They said it was under control.”

Kara raised a brow but kept munching.

“No updates,” Brainy continued. “Then, a few days ago, another signature appeared — this one also included traces consistent with dimensional travel.”

Kara lowered the chip bag.

“I was going to call Team Flash again,” he said, fingers tapping out code, “but... I found some other things you’ll want to see.”

A digital map blinked to life on the monitor. One glowing red dot pulsed in the middle of nowhere.

“That’s Kansas,” Brainy clarified after a beat. “Outskirts of Wamego. Tourist town. Home to the Oz Museum and other Oz-themed attractions.”

“Also, not that far from Smallville” She left the chips bag on a near by table “I went there with the Kents a year ago, apparently Miss Martha also loves The Wizard of Oz”

Silence stretched across the HQ. Kara stared. Brainy didn’t do silence well — so he filled it.

“Did you know that in the original 1939 production, the Wicked Witch’s makeup was toxic? Humans shouldn’t wear copper-based paint — it stained actress Margaret Hamilton’s skin and caught fire during filming. Third-degree burns. Quite a terrifying—”

Brainy blinked, slightly put out. “You sure you don’t want more production trivia?”

“Brainy.”

“Right.” He sighed and tapped again.

A 3D overlay lit up the screen, showing an airborne scan of the area — three signature blips hovering in place. Two of them glowed significantly brighter than the third.

“I ran enhanced spectral scans. These energy signatures? The brightest two? I am 89.996% certain they’re Kryptonian.” He pointed. “The higher UV absorption rate of your species makes you stand out in environments like this.”

Kara’s posture stiffened. Her chip bag was long forgotten.

Steel settled into her voice. “Suit up. You’re coming with me.”

Brainy stood. “Naturally.”

Kara strode back to the balcony, wind tugging at her hair. Just before she leapt into the sky, she glanced over her shoulder.

“And tell the others to monitor our suit cams. Just in case.”

Then she was gone — a streak of red and blue slicing into the clouds.

(…)

Looking for tech scraps in the middle of nowhere — trying not to trip cameras or draw attention — was, although fun, a pain in the ass. Add to that the challenge of adapting antique tech into something functional, and the three of them had been operating at barely-controlled chaos levels.

Still, they had made progress. The jammers were working. The Chatter had been double-checked with both magic and tech. They had confirmed they were in their origin dimension — but a quick trip to a convenience store revealed they were over thirty years in the past. That discarded a lot of options.

“We’re not going to Gotham,” Helena said, wiping grease from her fingers. “We convinced paranoid Bats once. I’m not gambling on that again.”

“We also can’t go to National City,” Konner added. “If I remember correctly—and I know I’m—”

“Show-off,” Livia coughed, flipping him off casually.

Konner flipped her off right back. “Anyway. National City’s under stress — protests, anti-alien sentiment, Red Daughter trying to ruin Supergirl’s rep, and... our parents aren’t publicly out yet.”

“I always forget your parents dated for, what, a year before going public?” Helena muttered. “Anyway. That leaves us with: try to contact Team Flash, reach out to the Legends, or build our own time machine.”

“As fun as that sounds,” Livia piped in, finally abandoning the box of salvaged cables, “the Legends are the least messy. They know how not to screw the timeline. If that doesn’t work, we go to Uncle Barry.”

“We have a plan,” Helena said with a crooked smile.

“And a problem,” Konner said, head tilted upward. “Supergirl’s approaching.”

Face-maskers on. Fast.

Livia and Helena’s hair turned dark, eyes brown. Konner went blonde with light brown eyes. Just in time.

The whoosh of a cape signaled her arrival. Supergirl swept open the double doors of the abandoned warehouse they’d been calling home for the past three days. Brainiac 5 shimmered into view beside her, eyes immediately scanning the tech behind them.

She didn’t raise her hands, but her stance was coiled. Ready.

“Identify yourselves,” she said — calm, but commanding.

“We can’t,” Konner replied with equal calm. Supergirl hesitated, just for a second. “We’re not here to fight. We’re just trying to get back.”

“That doesn’t answer the question,” Brainy said. “You’re not in any DEO database. And your energy signatures… two of you are Kryptonian — or close enough. That shouldn’t be possible.”

Konner’s jaw clenched. Helena’s hand hovered near a flash bomb. Livia just smirked.

“Krypton was a big planet,” she said. “Maybe some people escaped too.”

“Blue,” Helena warned under her breath. Livia nodded toward the makeshift tech behind them. Helena understood — stall for time.

“But that wouldn’t explain why you’re carrying dimensional travel residue,” Supergirl pressed, stepping closer.

The trio stepped back in sync.

“Please don’t come closer,” Konner said gently.

“Or what?” Kara’s voice turned skeptical.

“Or we’ll vanish. And this time, you won’t find us,” Livia said flatly.

“Is that a threat?” Brainy asked, mostly curious.

“No, you schmuck. It’s a fact,” Helena snapped.

Konner felt them losing ground, what were the girls doing? He tried to rein it back in.

“We’re not a threat. We’re lost.”

“Then let us help,” Supergirl offered, stepping forward again.

Helena and Livia retreated. Konner stayed.

“You can’t,” he said — and his voice wavered, just slightly. Only Supergirl and Livia caught it.

“It’s against the rules,” Livia said softly, stepping to Konner’s side, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Just talking to you is bending things too far.”

“We can’t let you walk away without knowing who you are. You could be a threat,” Kara insisted.

“Then you’d have to trust us,” Konner said. “Or stop us.”

“You’d lose,” Helena added dryly, still trying to antagonize herself just in case all of this goes south.

“Or…” Brainy’s voice cut in, gentle but firm. “We compromise.”

(…)

Kara had agreed to wait outside and not eavesdrop while Brainy stayed. Half an hour later, she could enter the warehouse again.

“I’ve talk to them, scanned them and they are from the future, and they were telling the truth. They’ve agreed to do checkups with me, but they are going to leave.”

“Unfortunately, Supergirl, you don’t really have a say in this.” One of the girls says, the one with the utility belt. Supergirl opened her mouth but Brainy put a hand on her arm.

“They’ve agreed for you to be present while they pack up only because I begged”

The three people didn’t talk, they moved efficiently, especially both girls. They packed up their few belongings and stood again in front of both heroes.

“I’m going to throw a flashbang just in case you open your eyes.”

Supergirl closed her eyes and behind her eyelids she did in fact saw a flash of light, when she opened them Brainy and her were alone in the warehouse.

The flight back was… quiet. She had a lot of things to think about, but Kara still had to debrief with the team. She landed softly on the balcony, they were already there, around the main table. J’onn, Alex, Lena and their newest addition, Nia. Brainy materialized in the chair besides Nia, making the latter jump slightly, Kara sits down to Lena’s right.

“You were gone longer than expected,” Lena said.

“Please tell me the radiation wasn’t another time wraith thing,” Alex added.

Kara shook her head and started pacing. “Not a wraith. People. Three of them.”

“Three?” J’onn asked, leaning forward. “Who?”

“We don’t know,” Brainy said. His tone was level, but Kara noticed the way his fingers twitched by his side — a sign that he was processing something far faster than he was saying it.

“Not in any DEO database,” Kara said, rubbing her arms. “But two of them are Kryptonian. Or close. One of them… I don’t know. Human. I’m guessing New Jersey or Gotham”

Alex stood “Gotham? How to you know?”

“She said Schmuck” Kara shrugged “Nanny Fine says Schmuck, besides, they are trained. All of them were using face distortion tech I’ve never seen. Their faces shined.”

Nia, who had been quiet until now “So they’re hiding who they are — but not attacking?”

“They said they weren’t here to fight,” Kara confirmed. “Said they were trying to get back. One of them — the boy, who I think is one of the Kryptonians — was... calm, but protective. The other two kept him in check. Almost like... like they were trained for this.”

“Trained for evasion,” Lena said softly.

Brainy finally stepped closer. “They’re not a threat.”

Everyone turned to look at him.

“You sound very sure,” Alex said, skeptical.

“I ran scans, talked a little to them. It was the safest way to end the conflict, been from the 31^st century” He hesitated. “They didn’t lie.”

“You didn’t say that in the warehouse” Kara crossed her arms.

“There wasn’t time,” he said too quickly. Then more calmly “And I wasn’t sure how much you could hear.”

A long pause.

J’onn folded his arms. “You know something.”

Brainy glanced at Kara, then Lena. Then his gaze went to his hands.

“Yes, but I can’t tell you. The consequences could be catastrophic for the timeline” He looked up “Their presence here could be extremely destabilizing to the timeline. We need to be cautious.”

Alex scowled. “So, what, we just let them go?”

“I said they weren’t a threat,” Brainy replied. “I didn’t say we ignore them.”

Kara blew out a breath and sat down heavily beside Lena. “I don’t know what this is, but... they were scared. Determined, but scared. I think they’ve lost something. Or someone.”

No one spoke for a moment.

Finally, Lena placed a hand on Kara’s. “So, what’s the plan?”

Kara looked up, eyes hardening just a little.

“We find out who they are. Carefully.”

Chapter Text

Kara stepped out of the steamy shower to find Lena leaning on the bedrest, tapping away on her tablet. The blonde flopped dramatically onto their California King in Lena’s room, twisting onto her side so she could admire her beautiful girlfriend’s profile, lit softly by the screen’s blue glow.

“What?” Lena asked, without looking up, one eyebrow raised.

“Nothing,” Kara replied smugly. “Whatcha doin’?”

Lena sighed, eyes still focused on her work. “Reviewing the footage of your encounter with the travelers.”

“But Lenaa,” Kara whined, burying her face into the pillow. “We’re getting ready for bed.”

“I know, love. But… would you stay up a couple more hours if you had a snack? Because I think I’m on to something.”

Kara lifted her head. “Yeah, I could eat…” She smirked. “You.”

Lena’s entire face flushed. They’d been together for months now — the shift from best friends to something more had already reshaped everything — and while Lena was not a saint, she still turned into a stunned goldfish whenever Kara casually dropped a line like that.

Not in a million years had Lena imagined that the sweet, sunshine-incarnate Kryptonian she once knew had a dirty streak like this. The woman rescued cats and had lollipops for kids in her pockets. And yet—

“I was joking,” Kara added innocently, getting up. “I know you have an important presentation tomorrow and I don’t want you to be sore in the morning.” Then she paused at the door, gave Lena a shameless wink. “But tomorrow is another story.”

And with that, she vanished.

Lena was left alone with the echo of her own pulse and a very inconvenient pool of heat between her legs. Kara Danvers, the woman who once tripped over her own boots in the bullpen, had the audacity to leave her like that.

Lena had been to an all-girls boarding school. She’d had more than her share of under-the-table hookups in college. She thought she knew her way around intimacy.

And then Kara had ruined her. One night. One soft kiss turned furnace, one shift of hands, and suddenly Kara was leading. And all Lena could think now?

“I got bored in college,” my ass.

Lena shook her head; she needed to focus. Footage. She was watching footage. Right.

Kara entered a couple of minutes later, a big bowl of popcorn in her hands and took a seat beside a more controlled Lena. The blonde didn’t do anything more than chew her snack, she knew better than interrupt her girlfriend when she was focused. She still wants to cuddle with her when they go to sleep.

“You probably will think I’m crazy but” She typed in the tablet “But the man must be related to you” Lena turned the screen so Kara could see more clearly, the blond scoped closer to her girlfriend.

The tablet had a video comparation, in one side was the man —calming, protective. In the other was Supergirl in a hostage situation a year or so ago, it wasn’t the same movements to a tea but the mannerisms, the message that the posture gave. It was the same.

“Also, the first thing he told you was in the same cadence than you. Granted, he could copy that but this” Lena pointed to the screen “Is more of a learned by watching a long time than coping what I’m looking right now. It’s instinct.”

Kara analyzed the video for a couple of rounds, chewing slowly her popcorn until she spoke again in a quieter voice.

“So that’s how you see them”

“What do mean?”

“I saw a shimmer around their face so I couldn’t describe them even if I wanted. It was like a shiny and semi-translucid blanket in constant movement so I couldn’t describe their hair color, eye color or features even if I wanted to” Kara left the empty bowl on the floor “The one with the utility belt was the one that said Schmuck and makes sense, as far as I know, all the bats are obsessed with utility belts. So that leaves the girl that was been annoying as the other Kryptonian.”

“Do you really think she is a bat?”

“What other explanation to speak on new jersey slang and been with two possible Kryptonians in a mess like that do you got?” Kara flopped in the bed and grabbed a pillow to hug.

Lena left the tablet in the nightstand and lay beside the blonde; she brushed a stray strand of hair from Kara’s face.

“Are you alright?” Smooth accent on Lenas voice snaped Kara into reality.

“If it was only time travel I would…”

Kara didn’t need to continue, Lena knew what the blonde would do. She would move every rock on Earth to find them and help them, know them, protect them. Because if it even was a slight possibility of those kids been related to her, to the House of El…

“But it isn’t” Kara’s voice the silence in the room cut like a knife. “It has also dimensional travel signals and Rao knows what more.”

So, for the moment, her hopes would need to stay like that. Hopes.

Lena placed her hand in Karas heart “We can go to the warehouse and scan on our own”

“They cleaned thoroughly, I saw”

“Maybe we’re not going to find DNA but where must be more. Another type of energy that didn’t show in the initial scans and maybe Brainy did got but he isn’t going to talk about it.”

“Yeah, we could do that. After you presentation and the event uptown that I’ve got to cover I can pick you up and we can go and scan the warehouse”

Lena kissed the temple of her lover, she saw how her body relaxed beneath it.

“Brush your teeth and let’s go to sleep, darling”

“Sure thing”

Kara stood, and Lena watched her disappear into the bathroom — all warm light and heavy thoughts. If Kara could carry the weight of a dying world and still laugh like that, Lena would move earth and sky to ease the load — or at least share it.

(…)

Supergirl touched down outside the abandoned warehouse in Kansas with Lena in her arms, gently lowering her to the ground.
A quick scan with her x-ray vision confirmed the building was empty. Together, they stepped inside.

Lena pulled a tablet from her purse — sleek, matte black, with what looked like a scanner rigged onto the back.

“When did you build that?” Kara asked, eyeing it with open curiosity.

“I’ve been tinkering with it for a few months,” Lena replied, already activating the device. “Finally got a chance to test it.”

“…Can I see your notes later?” Kara’s voice was casual, but her eyes stayed on the scanner.

Lena looked up. Kara wasn’t looking at her — not directly. And that made Lena’s gaze softens. Kara had spent years pretending not to be interested in tech, trying not to draw more attention to an already-weird small-town teen. But lately, she’d been leaning in, curious, confident — herself.

“Of course, darling,” Lena said gently.

They moved through the warehouse with purpose, Lena’s scanner sweeping over dusty corners and loose wires. The readings matched Brainy’s report exactly, but she was still going to triple-check them back at her lab.

“They really cleaned up,” Lena muttered, nudging a half-crushed box with her foot. “Thorough.”

“Lena,” Kara called from across the warehouse. She was standing near a stack of crates, holding something in her hand. “I found a letter.”

“A letter?”

Kara passed it to her. It looked like a page torn from a notebook — the handwriting neat, narrow, and more controlled than either of theirs.

Hi Supergirl,

It was kinda obvious to us that, despite whatever Braniac-5 would’ve told you, you’d still come to check for yourself. You don’t normally leave loose ends.

We wanted to seize the opportunity, the crate where this letter is has a symbol burned in one of their sides, we know that it has to do with why we appear to be stranded here but don’t count with the proper equipment to scan it, so could you check it? We also think it has some magical signature — but again, we can’t be sure.

Hopefully this will keep you entertained while we find a way to go home, or this helps us in the way.

—K

“They know you well,” Lena murmured, folding the note.

“And I don’t like that,” Kara muttered, brow furrowed. But then she paused, narrowing her eyes. “Wait. There’s something on the back.”

Lena flipped it over. The handwriting was different this time — loopier, more playful.

P.S. We ensure that you couldn’t find us that easily this time ;)

Kara huffed beside her “Okay, that’s just rude.”

“Honestly, I admire the confidence.” Lena said dryly.

“I don’t know why, but this is giving Nightwing energy. Be annoying enough, and no one suspects you’re about to crush them”

Kara turned to the crate and spun it around. A symbol had been burned into the wood: a twisted cedilla with a jagged line slicing through it, ending in an unfinished triangle.

“Let’s see what our mystery pen pals left behind.” Lena said, the scanner rose towards the symbol.

(…)

Three days had passed since they’d landed in the past, and survival had been... improvisational at best.

Livia and Konner had stayed in their suits full-time underneath their normal clothes to block their signatures from scanners and satellites — not ideal, but necessary. Helena knew the basics of Kryptonian biology from spending so much time around Livia and her family: their metabolisms were faster, they processed sunlight into power, and their core temperature made them stand out on most scans if you knew where to look.

What she hadn’t known? Kryptonians could more or less photosynthesize.

They still got hungry — she’d heard their stomachs growl more than once — but instead of eating, they just drank more water and basked in the sunlight like plants. All so Helena could have most of the food. Because she was human. And they only had five dollars left from the hundred they’d scraped together on arrival.

They were currently holed up in an abandoned warehouse in rural Pennsylvania — sunny enough for the siblings, cool enough for Helena. They’d survived off gas station snacks, an old refurbished radio, and scavenged tech from dumpsters. The three of them had silently agreed: not desperate enough to steal yet. But Helena swore if things didn’t change soon, she’d personally embezzle money from this time’s Lex Luthor. She just needed a computer.

The situation was, for lack of a better word, precarious.

Still, they had a plan. Helena and Livia had managed to cobble together a working communicator from trash. It was configured to automatically switch channels, looking for the Legends if they were out there. So far, no luck. While that was running, they reviewed timelines — comparing what had happened in both dimensions.

“So you’re telling us the activity is almost identical?” Helena was scribbling in a beat-up notebook.

“It appears that way,” Konner said, projecting two timelines side-by-side from his wrist computer. “The blackouts line up exactly. Same length, same pattern — just offset by the date. Like they happened the same day, just 10 years and some months apart.”

“That confirms our theory: time moves at the same rate in both dimensions,” Livia said. She was absently fiddling with a new jammer — for what purpose, Helena didn’t ask. Sometimes Livia needed something to tinker with, or she'd get cranky. “Which means contact with the other dimension’s Bats would be pointless — that Bruce is probably still an emo med student pretending he wants to be a doctor.”

Helena snorted. “He was so emo. He was classmates with Auntie Harley and Scarecrow. They formed a study group to bitch about Freud.”

Silence.

Helena looked up.

Konner was staring at her, still buffering. Another side effect of the sunshine-and-water diet: longer reboot times. Helena swore she’d seen Livia blink out of sync yesterday — one eye, then the other, like some glitchy owl.

“Your dad has some crazy lore,” Konner finally said.

“What can I say? Waynes aren’t known for being particularly stable,” Helena replied, tapping her temple. “One of my ancestors was a bootlegger, and my granddad was basically a feral child obsessed with anatomy.”

“You’re forgetting your other side,” Livia chimed in leaving whatever she was trying to build to the side. She stretched like a cat, popping her back. “Your maternal grandfather was literally a crime lord.”

“Oh, right. Thanks.”

“And I thought the Luthor baggage was bad,” Konner muttered, shutting off his wrist display and flopping down between them. “So… how much longer until Plan B?”

“I vote two more days,” Livia said, folding her hands behind her head. “But before that? We’re robbing dear Uncle Lex. I want to hit a buffet before another round of stress.”

“Buffet?” Konner scoffed. “Come on. We can milk him for more than that. I’m talking Homer Simpson full tour through Louisiana — plus accommodations. And some designer clothes, papa needs a new outfit that says ‘stranded in time but still buzzing’ type”

“I like how you think, brother.”

Helena made a note to worry later about how well they synced when hungry. Photosynthesis-mode Konner was just as cheeky as Livia, which was concerning. Livia herself seemed to zone out mid-conversation, which was weirder.

They were probably a few hours from staging an elaborate heist on a vending machine when a shimmer of blue light made them all jump.

Brainy materialized in front of them.

“Jesus Christ, Brainy,” Konner barked, scrambling to his feet. “We gave you our location so you’d trust us, not so you could scare us half to death.”

Brainy didn’t respond. His expression was hard, his posture rigid. Full suit, arms crossed. “Do you know what we find examining the crate you left for Supergirl?”

“Obviously not, that’s why we left it. We don’t have the tech to properly do that.” Livia said, crossing her arms.

“Your crate, and for consequence your presence, triggered ripple effects on the timeline — serious ones.”

Konner shrugged. “We were trying to help. We didn’t expect it to backfire.”

“You didn’t expect? You’re from the future — isn’t that sort of your thing?” Brainy shot back.

“Knowing the future and living in it are two different things,” Helena said. “We’re not walking history books.”

Livia folded her arms. “If we wanted to cause trouble, don’t you think we’d have done it already? We’ve been dumpster-diving in rural Pennsylvania, not building doomsday machines.”

“I can’t rely on your word alone,” Brainy said sharply. “Especially not now.”

There was a long pause. Kara would have asked more questions. J’onn would have sensed the truth. Brainy just scanned, calculated… and decided.

“Apparently, I made a mistake trusting you,” he said. And with a snap of his fingers, metallic cuffs materialized around their wrists. Livia and Konner’s were visibly reinforced.

“Oi, dude, what the hell?” Livia said, Konner yanked at his, but they didn’t budge.

“Don’t bother,” Brainy said coolly. “They’re calibrated for Kryptonians.” He tapped his ear. “The outsiders have been secured.”

“You better not be recording this,” Konner muttered.

“I assure you, I’m not. I’m also going to allow you to turn your concealing tech.”

“And why exactly are we getting this VIP treatment?” Helena asked, stepping in quickly before either sibling could escalate. Hungry Kryptonians was one thing, hangry Kryptonians was something Helena didn’t want to try to control.

“Because you lied,” Brainy snapped. “You said you weren’t a threat. But we’ve found evidence to the contrary.”

“What kind of evidence?” Helena asked, tone sharp.

“The crate you asked Supergirl to examine contained traces of negative tachyons. I scanned you again today. You’re emitting the same signature. I only blame myself for not scanning sooner.”

“Okay, okay. Pump the brakes, Elphaba,” Livia snapped, glancing at Helena before resisting the urge to pace. “First of all — we didn’t know. Second, neither Kryptonians nor Humans produce those. Only speedsters and time wraiths do. Ask literally anyone in Central City’s division.”

“We’re as surprised as you are,” Konner added.

“It doesn’t change the fact,” Brainy said. “You’re coming with me.”

“To what? Lock us up?” Helena asked.

“So we can question you properly. We’ve invited Team Flash. If what you say is true, they’ll confirm it.”

“You know,” Helena said, narrowing her eyes, “you could’ve just asked. We would’ve played ball.”

“You disappeared the last time,” Brainy replied. He hesitated — just barely. “We can’t afford loose ends right now.”

(…)

Brainy had transported the travelers to an old DEO safehouse — one J’onn had quietly pulled off the official roster years ago, just in case. The containment room wasn’t built to hold Kryptonians — let alone two — but Alex hoped the newly designed cuffs would do the trick. According to Lena’s estimate, they’d suppress powers for at least six hours.

Still, Kara was on speed dial. Brainy was adamant nothing would go wrong.

Alex wasn’t willing to take the risk.

Now, she stood in the surveillance room, watching the trio behind the one-way glass.

The supposed Bat sat perfectly still at the interrogation table, posture relaxed, expression unreadable — clearly ready for the questions she knew were coming.

The man lingered behind her, arms crossed, back to the wall, gaze fixed on the door — but it looked empty. If Alex had to guess, he’d zoned out a while ago.

The other girl had claimed a seat at the far corner of the room, away from the table entirely. One arm draped over her eyes, head tipped back against the wall — the only sign she was awake was the steady bounce of her right leg.

“Ready for it, Agent Danvers?”

Brainy stood at the doorframe, posture rigid, still green-skinned and suited. A clear signal: all business.

“Yeah.” Alex turned back to the table and grabbed a tablet. “Let me lead this, okay?”

Brainy nodded. They walked into the room together, Alex entering first and sitting across from the Bat-girl — though her eyes remained on the tablet screen.

Alex knew she was stepping into a chess match.

And she would win — or extract as much intel as the trio (and the green alien beside her) allowed.

She looked up and met the girl’s gaze. No shift in posture. No change in expression.

“I wouldn’t try to talk to them,” the girl said first, her tone even. “He’s going to be annoying and borderline mean. And she’s going to be blunt and mean.”

Alex didn’t flinch. She knew exactly what the girl was doing: asserting control.

That wasn’t going to fly.

“And I suppose you’re going to cooperate?”

“No. But I’m going to be civilized about it.”

“As civilized as a Bat can be, right?”

The girl blinked.

Bull’s-eye.

“What makes you think I’m a Bat?” she asked, lifting one brow.

“Apart from the Jersey slang, the utility belt, and hanging out with two supposed Kryptonians? The superiority complex is a dead giveaway.”

A faint exhale — amusement or irritation — came from the other girl’s corner.

The Bat turned slightly toward her, eyes narrowing, then looked back to Alex.

“Let’s summarize what we’ve got, shall we?” Alex set the tablet down with deliberate calm “You arrived six days ago with traces of both dimensional and temporal travel. Supergirl went to investigate, and you claimed you weren’t a threat — convinced her and Brainiac-5 to leave you be. Then she finds a crate. With a symbol. With negative tachyons. And still, you’re asking us to trust you.”

She leaned in slightly, voice cool. “You’re a Bat. Be honest — if the roles were reversed, would you?”

The man stirred, arms still crossed, but his gaze sharpened. Present. Watching. Alex resisted the smirk that tugged at the corner of her mouth. If she kept pressing, he’d eventually say something. And that would force the Bat to recalibrate.

But the Bat didn’t blink. She shifted in her seat, tilting her head. Claiming the attention again.

“Did you find any trace of magic in the crate or on the symbol?”

Alex narrowed her eyes. “You didn’t answer my question.”

“Have you?”

Their stares locked, brown against brown. Neither flinched. Neither blinked. Neither giving ground.

“We’re still waiting on a magic user to confirm,” Brainy supplied from the corner, his tone level.

Alex broke eye contact to look at him — he was sitting perfectly straight, composed as always. Until her eyes cut toward him and he looked down. A flicker of discomfort.

She turned back to the Bat, catching the subtle flash of smugness in her expression. Alex’s jaw tightened.

“Just for the record,” the Bat said, voice measured, “and I’m sure you already listened to the recording — we didn’t know we had negative tachyons on us. But if we do, then I guarantee you’ll find magic in that crate. Sticky, slimy, powerful magic. And we didn’t put it there.”

Alex’s fingers drummed once against the tablet.

“You honestly expect us to believe that? Given your track record?”

The Bat shrugged. “Would it matter if I did? The outcome would be the same either way.”

Alex felt her nostrils flare. The man moved again — small, unconscious. She was getting closer. Alex could stand the Bat and little more.

“What was your endgame?”

“Getting back home.”

“Back to where? And where were you before here?”

That got her. Just slightly. A pause. A shift in weight.

“We already told you,” the Bat said, smugness returning. “We’re from the future.”

Alex let it hang, waiting. The Bat said nothing more. No elaboration.

“You’re not going to answer the rest?”

“No, Agent Danvers. I’m not going to answer that question. It’s classified.”

Alex raised a brow. “I never told you my name.”

“Είναι επειδή είμαστε από το μέλλον” came a voice from the far corner.

The other girl still hadn’t moved, arm draped over her face, but her leg had stopped bouncing. Her voice was calm. Almost resigned.

The temperature in the room shifted.

The man turned toward her, confused. The Bat’s smugness slipped — just a little — but she didn’t look shaken.

Alex kept her face still as she typed a quick note on the tablet for Brainy.

What language was that?

Brainy didn’t speak — he didn’t need to tap on the screen to write on the tablet.

Greek. She said that it’s because they are from the future.

Alex’s jaw ticked. A Kryptonian was speaking Greek?

She didn’t know what that meant yet. But Alex couldn’t dwell on that now; she had an opening and was going to take it. Alex tapped her fingers on the edge of the tablet, eyes zeroing in on the girl slouched in the far corner.

“Are you Greek?” Alex tried.

The girl didn’t move; didn’t even acknowledge she was listening.

“Cat got your tongue, or is that just part of the act?” Alex dropped the tablet again. “Because you seemed like the mouthy type in Supergirl’s video.”

A beat.

The girl shifted slightly, peeking out from under her arm — eyes half-lidded, annoyed and utterly exhausted. When her voice came, it was low and dry.

“I’ve had, like, four crackers and a ton of water in the last three days,” she said. “So, unless your next sentence is ‘we have nachos,’ I’d recommend aiming your aggression elsewhere.”

The Bat exhaled through her nose. The man smirked, barely.

Alex tilted her head. “You’re funny. That’s not going to get you out of this.” The sarcasm dripped in her words.

The Kryptonian girl let her head fall back against the wall, eyes on the ceiling. “Wasn’t trying to get out. Just stating facts.”

“You’re not denying anything.”

That finally got the man to shift toward Alex.

“Oh, come on,” he muttered from his place at the wall. His voice was low, clipped — the tone of someone one irritation away from snapping. “You think we wanted to be here? We’re barely functional, stuck in the past which apparently is allergic to facts, and now we’re getting grilled like this was our idea?”

Alex raised an eyebrow. “I wasn’t talking to you.”

“Then maybe start asking better questions,” he snapped. “We’re underfed, under-rested, and over-scrutinized. Try being civil, and we might—”

“Oh please,” the girl muttered, sitting up and rubbing at her eyes. “You’d still be rude if they brought snacks and a blanket. You’re allergic to not being a pain in the ass.”

“Yeah? And you act like you invented sarcasm,” he shot back. “You’re not helping.”

“I’m not trying to help, genius. I’m trying to survive without kicking someone.”

“You say that like I’m the problem—”

“Enough,” the Bat said.

Her voice sliced through the room like a knife on butter.

Just like that, both Kryptonians went quiet — back to slouched, detached poses. Impressive. But Alex had seen it before: Superman around Batman. Supergirl around Nightwing. That eerie Bat-Super dynamic. These three had it.

Maybe Alex could—

“Wasn’t Team Flash supposed to be here?” the Bat asked, voice smooth as silk, posture composed, hands flat on the table. “Or are we waiting for a dramatic entrance?”

A pause.

Alex’s gaze flicked across the trio. The Bat had retaken control of the room with a single shift in tone. She catalogued that, too.

“They’re inbound,” Brainy said after a beat. “Two minutes.”

The Bat smiled — cold, precise.

“Lovely. I’d hate to repeat myself.”

(…)

After that attempt at interrogation, Brainy had to attend to other matters, leaving Alex alone in the surveillance room. She reviewed the footage again, analyzing body language and vocal shifts while waiting for the experts on negative tachyons.

It took more than two minutes for Team Flash to arrive — much more. But Alex didn’t complain, she knew how difficult it was to make an appointment with a hero. Her sister had been very occupied lately.

Alex had expected only Barry, so it was a surprise when the Scarlet Speedster entered with a second companion: a young woman in a purple and grey suit, the letters "XS" proudly emblazoned on her chest.

"She’s my apprentice, XS," Barry explained as Alex’s eyebrow arched.

"Alright," Alex replied, her gaze narrowing slightly. "I hope you know this operation is top secret."

The warning was mostly for the younger speedster, who gulped.

"Have you been briefed on the situation?"

"We saw the transcripts and readings, and we thought —" Barry began, but his apprentice wasn’t listening. Her eyes had been locked on the mirrored glass since stepping in. Then suddenly, something in the room beyond caught her attention.

With a rush of air, she vanished. Barry and Alex went after her.

Inside the interrogation room, the Bat was the first to notice.

"XS?"

The man, previously zoned out since Alex had stepped out, suddenly came to life. He stepped forward just as XS reached him, and she threw her arms around him in a fierce, crushing bear hug.

"Oh, thank Rao," he breathed, instantly hugging her back.

"We thought—I—you—" XS stammered, trying to form words. The man just ran a comforting hand down her back.

A sharp cough interrupted the reunion.

Agent Danvers and The Flash now stood in the doorway, both wearing unsatisfied expressions — though for very different reasons.

"Care to explain, kid?" Alex asked, noting how the room’s tension had visibly deflated. Even the Bat and the other girl — who hadn’t moved much — now wore faint smiles.

"Oh, yeah," XS said, adjusting her position so she could keep an arm around the man’s waist while addressing the adults. Barry’s frown deepened. "We’re from the same future. I can vouch for them — and I can positively say that the negative tachyons they're carrying aren’t from them."

"Are you sure you know them?" Barry asked, folding his arms. "Any kind of security question?"

"Oh!" the man lit up, his grin unmistakable. "I know that answer! When XS discovered she liked girls—"

"Alright, buddy!" XS interrupted quickly, face flushed. "You can whisper the next part. Just to be sure."

The height difference was almost comedic — he stood at 1.95 meters, and she barely reached 1.54. He bent almost in half to murmur something in her ear. With each word, her blush deepened.

"Yep. Definitely my best friend," she confirmed, giving him a playful shove. He leaned back against the wall, rubbing his side, smirk intact. "Only now he’s acting more like his sister. That’s concerning."

"Side effects of our current diet," the Kryptonian girl — his sister, Alex now knew — stood up and stretched. "I would hug you, but my social battery is on the floor. So it’s more likely I’d bite you."

"Hello to you too, airhead."

"So," Alex said, drawing attention back to herself, "you four aren’t responsible for the negative tachyons?"

"We wanted to confirm," Barry said. "XS and a friend arrived a few weeks ago, and although we had our suspicions, we concluded that the levels weren’t generated by them. It was more like they’d interacted with someone carrying a huge amount, and the residual energy clung to them."

He added, "Besides, only speedsters can produce that type of energy. If XS was the source, her levels wouldn’t have dropped. But they have — steadily."

"You’re the expert," Alex acknowledged with a nod.

"Finally," the Bat exhaled, rising smoothly from her chair.

"You’re not getting rid of us that easily, Bat," Alex said.

"She’s a Bat?!" Barry squeaked beside her. Alex ignored it.

"Naturally," Helena replied. "But at least now you’ll stop looking over your shoulder and actually listen to us, right?"

"We’ll see."

"Can our first official request be some food?" Konner asked. "My sister wasn’t joking about the biting thing."

Alex resisted the urge to facepalm. These kids had brought tones of different radiations, dismantled her interrogation strategy, and were now casually requesting snacks like this was summer camp for time travelers.

This was going to be a very long day.