Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Helena hit the mat in a roll, fluidly standing up with her arms above her head at the end.

“Nice, Wayne, great job," Coach Price yelled from the sidelines. She finished taping up another gymnast's knee and said something Helena couldn't hear, the smaller child nodding and hobbling off to the changing rooms.

Helena walked over to the benches, ducking under an empty set of parallel bars on her way, and plopped down.

The coach walked over, a smile on her face.

"You've really got a gift,” she praised, crossing her arms.

Helena grinned.

“Not really." She took a drink of her water. “I've been practicing at my brother's gym; he's a great teacher." 

Coach Price raised an eyebrow.

“Well, I hope he's not looking for a new line of work – I'd hate to be out of a job," she joked.

Helena laughed and threw her wadded up towel at the teacher.

The towel hit the floor with a soft plop, right where Coach Price had been standing.

Helena shot to her feet, eyes wide, as one of the other kids screamed.

“Coach?"

Helena looked around, finding that the two assistant coaches were gone along with the older teenagers.

Questions started up in a low rumble, all of the members of the team erupting in confusion and fear.

"Helena?” Lyle, the youngest member of the gymnastics team, appeared next to her with his hands wringing. "Where are all the grown-ups?”

She shook her head and looked at the other kids. She was younger than a few of them, but they seemed just as panicked as the rest.

"I don't know, but it'll be okay.” She tried her best to sound confident and Lyle nodded his head, accepting her word. " Why don't you call your mom, okay? I'll call my family, too.”

Lyle ran over to his gym bag and fished out his phone. It seemed all of the kids had the same idea and grabbed their phones.

Helena unlocked hers and called her dad. The phone rang. And rang. And rang, until it finally went to voicemail.

"Hey, baba, could you call me as soon as you get this?" Her voice shook a bit, but she kept her face calm as to not scare the kids. Her dad always answered. It didn't matter where he was, he would always drop everything if she needed him.

She hung up and called her mom only to get her voicemail, too.

Her hands shook as she hit End and called her brother next. Down the line she went, calling all of the adults in her family until there were none left, and just stared at her phone screen.

She took a slow, deep breath. This was Gotham – they'd seen everything else at this point and had survived, so they would get through this, too.

A boy came running into the gym, having gone to find whoever else was in the building.

"All the adults are gone, but the kids from the other clubs are all still here," he panted.

She looked around, finding all of the kids giving their phones the same confused expressions if they hadn't stopped to ask the boy questions. She caught the eyes of the older kids who all nodded at her.

“Everybody," she called loudly. “Here's the plan: We're all going to group up and go home together.

“Sam, Tyler, and Maggy, I want you guys to gather the kids from the rest of the school and bring them here. We'll sort everyone into neighborhoods and pair up before we leave." 

Murmurs came up from the group but Tyler, the eldest at almost 15, held up a hand and whistled to get everyone's attention.

“You heard her: Sam, you take the second floor. Maggy, the third. I'll take this one.” He put his hands on his hips. “The rest of you go to your lockers and get your things, but stay together. We'll meet back up here before we leave." 

They all knew the drills the school made them do: Fear Toxin, Joker Venom, alien invasion, earthquake. There was a drill for almost everything, but the biggest rule was that, in an emergency, if there was no immediate threat and the roads were safe, you should always go home if you could.

Helena checked her news feed as she herded the younger kids to the changing rooms.

There was no mention of anything and all of the live broadcasts showed empty sets.

She frowned and pulled up the group chat between the younger members of her family.

Hel’sBells: anybody there?

Blogas: yoooooo where is everybody?

10101: omg hi!!!!

rat with thumbs: guysguysguys I swear I flipping saw pops disappear into thin air

FriedBologna: I did too!!! What's going on???

grandpa b’s favorite: mama's gone and baba isn't answering his phone and Rima won't stop crying

Helena sucked in a breath.

Hel'sBells: coach price did the same thing and I can't get any of the adults to answer

Hel'sBells: we're all going home from the school together. meet at the tower

10101: Jamie and I will get the younger ones on the way 

She put her phone away and grabbed her backpack from her locker.

The older kids seemed to be helping the younger ones for the most part, so Helena just went behind and made sure to stop any bickering before it escalated. They were all scared, but they couldn't let that get the better of them.

The rest of the school started filtering into the gym at the same time they did, but there wasn't an adult in sight. Thankfully, it was after school so there were far less students than there could have been.

Helena registered that the oldest of them couldn't be more than 15 and they all looked scared and confused.

The three she'd sent to gather everyone came up to her as the last of their schoolmates came in and started milking about.

“That's everyone," Maggy announced. She adjusted her bag on her shoulder, a haunted look in her eye.

Helena hummed an acknowledgement, trying to figure out what to do next.

Sam cleared their throat.

“Some kids are planning on staying with their cousins or neighbor kids."

She nodded.

“That's a good idea. We should try to stay together as much as possible." She turned to Tyler. “You're the loudest: tell everyone to make plans. Figure out who's staying where so that no one's alone." 

“I'll go around and make a list and get people's phone numbers." Maggy pulled out a tablet. "That way we can know where everyone is and make sure no one gets left out." 

Helena gave a small smile and turned to Sam.

“Could you go around and see if any of the older kids know how to drive? Maybe we can hotwire a car or two for the kids who live further away or can't go very far on foot." She thought about the one kid who had twisted their knee earlier and the disabled students.

The trio nodded and went about their missions.

Helena sighed and took a minute to collect herself before drawing back her shoulders and setting her jaw.

Chapter Text

The walk was long, quite a bit longer than she'd expected, but her group all made it safely to their homes.

The streets were full as always, but the cars had all stopped where they were, some with engines still running. The kids all reached in and turned off the cars that they could as they passed without a word.

Helena shivered in the quiet.

They passed a couple of other groups of kids from other schools, joining together and splitting off into groups as they got to their neighborhoods.

Helena made sure that they all had plans on where to hole up until they knew what was happening before finally making it to her own home.

She stepped inside the side entrance that led to the private elevator and nearly cried when she saw Jamie waiting for her.

"Finally!" They rushed to give her a crushing hug, belying their own anxiety.

"I got here as soon as I could," she promised before pulling back.

Jamie's ran a hand over their dark braids, smoothing them down in a nervous gesture. Their dark skin seemed paler than normal and their lips were bitten in anxiety.

"Everyone else is upstairs," they told her. "Cyrus is making dinner while Rima sleeps." 

Helena hummed an acknowledgement as they both entered the elevator.

She hadn't meant to take so long, but she couldn't let the other kids go home alone this close to dark.

The penthouse was just the way it had been this morning, with mama's coat draped over a kitchen chair and baba's cane in the umbrella stand. (She smiled at the memories of them bickering over it, baba refusing to use it in the house)

Mary poked her head out of the living room at the sound of the elevator.

"You made it!" Her voice was in what was supposed to be a whisper, but her excitement made it just a tad too loud. She glanced back in to where Rima was presumably napping before stepping out. "Where is everybody?"

Helena shook her head.

Mary glanced to her twin before turning back to their aunt.

"I've been talking to other kids and it's the same everywhere." She shook her head. "Nobody has found anyone younger than 5 or older than 15 anywhere and anyone between those ages who was really sick or in the hospital all vanished, too." 

Helena frowned and tapped her lips. It all seemed too specific to be random.

"D'ya think it's magic?" Jamie suggested.

Helena shrugged. She, like every kid on earth, had lived through her fair share of comic book events, but she couldn't tell you anything about magic.

"We should all sit down and have dinner," she suggested. She was the eldest, though not by much, and it was her responsibility to make sure all of her niblings were taken care of if the adults weren't around.

Mary nodded and went to retrieve Rima.

Sarah stood at the counter, slicing bread. Her grey eyes shot up when they entered, causing her to blow a strand of blonde hair out of her face so she could see.

"'bout time you got here," she huffed and slapped the knife down on the cutting board. "Now does anyone want to tell me where Jay is?" 

Helena tried not to wince. Sarah had only been adopted about a year ago and Jason hadn't left her home alone for more than a few hours since. The fact that he wasn't there or answering his phone could only mean something bad and they all knew it.

"I don't know any more than you," she admitted.

Sarah threw her hands up in the air and dropped herself onto a chair.

Cyrus, taller than Sarah despite being a year younger, carried a pot of stew from the stove to the table.

"Behaving like children won't bring them back," he huffed. "Now quit your petulance and help me set the table." He was the newest member of the family, only being adopted a couple of months ago, but Damian's speech patterns had already rubbed off on his son.

Sarah mumbled something along the lines of them being children, but went back to cutting and plating bread for the stew.

Mya stepped into the kitchen, clutching her laptop to her chest as she sat down. She smiled around her pen and waved at Helena before opening her computer. Her black hair was in a messy bun and there were streaks of ink along her cheek.

They all sat down at the table and began passing around bowls and the plate of bread.

Helena looked around at her niblings, noting how all of their brows were pinched, though none of them would comment on it.

"Be careful, azizati ," she instructed Rima as she set a bowl in front of her. "It's hot."

The five-year-old nodded and carefully began to blow on a spoonful.

"So." Mya drew out the word a bit before lapsing into silence.

Helena sighed.

"I don't know," she repeated for what had to be the thousandth time that day.

The children finished their dinner and started to clean up, splitting up the chores between them.

Rima looked towards the door again, her lower lip quivering.

"It'll be alright," Cyrus told her softly as he picked her up and held her close to his chest. "They'll come home soon."

Helena winced from behind the lid of Mya's laptop. She couldn't find any official news reports, but there were plenty of Internet forums all saying the same thing: everyone had just vanished.

It all seemed to be the same as what Mary had said she'd been told, but nothing explaining why it had happened or what exactly had happened.

Helena fiddled with the simple woven string bracelet her dad had made for her when he's been teaching her how to make them. She wished so much that she could ask him what to do.

All at once, every phone in the room began to buzz and flash.

Chapter Text

She hummed as she looked at the text messages. They all said the exact same thing from the exact same number.

Proceed to elevator in main study immediately.

Education never ends.

Helena frowned. That last line wasn't just a random sentence; it was the family code phrase. If someone had to come get them from school that they didn't immediately recognize, they would have to know that phrase. It meant that this was a message from one of the adults, their parents, but the number wasn't one any of them knew.

And then there was the matter of the first sentence: no one used that elevator. Ever.

Her father had always said that the elevator wasn't in use and had never been since he was a kid. It was an old door with brass detailing, and while it had always been beautiful, it was clearly more decorative at this point, but there could be no denying that the message meant for them to use it. Helena wasn't even sure how to open it.

She pocketed her phone and studied the old door. There were no buttons and nothing indicating that you could open the door without one.

The twins bounced in their places, nervous energy getting the better of them.

Sarah stepped closer, studying the seams of the elevator doors. She hummed in thought.

"See anything?" 

Sarah shrugged.

"There has to be a hidden panel somewhere or something that would act as a lever, maybe?" She pressed her ear to the wall to the left. "There's electricity humming in the walls, but that doesn't really mean anything." 

Mya started pulling books from the shelves on either side, tugging on the wall lights as she went.

"Mya." Sarah stood and looked at her with a blank expression. "Are you serious." 

"Just had to be sure." Mya shrugged.

Helena tapped a nail on her father's desk, just watching the proceedings.

"What are you thinking?" Cyrus stood next to her, Rima on his hip with her thumb in her mouth.

Helena hummed in response, eyes scanning the walls on either side of the elevator. Her eyes caught on a small inconsistency of the wood at the top in the very middle.

She stepped up to it, tilting her head just slightly.

The other children stopped their investigation, their eyes following hers and catching on.

The frame of the elevator was too high for any of them to reach and she knew their parents would never tell them to do anything that would require standing on a chair.

She cleared her throat.

"Education never ends." 

A red light appeared above the door in the inconsistent area of the frame and a genderless mechanical voice sounded: "Identification required." 

Rima snuggled closer into her brother as the others all froze.

"Helena Wayne." She swallowed through her suddenly dry throat.

"Identification required." 

She frowned.

"Helena Maria Wayne?" 

"Identification required." 

She huffed, brows furrowing as she thought hard. She glanced around the room, trying to find some clue.

Her eyes settled on a book on her father's desk. He had read it to her and the other children probably a hundred times at least.

"In a hole in the ground there lived a Hobbit."

The door opened with a gentle slide, nearly silent and well-cared for.

Inside, the elevator was large, plenty wide for all of them, and the interior clearly matched its exterior.

The others all shared a look before Jamie poked their head through. They stepped in after a moment, shrugging as they looked back at their sister and cousins.

They all filed in after each other, standing in a huddle at the back.

There was only one button on the panel; no emergency stop or call buttons, just one shining brass button.

Helena took a deep breath and held it as she pressed her finger to it.

There was a feeling of rapid movement and the faintest hum as they seemed to descend.

Someone clutched Helena's arm, but she kept her eyes on the door, keeping herself between it and her family.

They finally stopped, the door sliding open to reveal a dark platform with a staircase barely being lit going down on either side. Lights began to flicker on automatically, startling some bats somewhere deep in the tunnel at the other end of the subway.

The left side of the stairs led down to a platform that had been retrofitted into a large medical area, complete with glass-walled surgical bays and another area labeled Quarantine . On the nearest end were large cabinets full of chemicals behind desks full of equipment that Helena had only ever seen in documentaries or in movies.

The opposite platform was covered in workstations and tools, pieces of dark armor laying on tables in various states of assembly. There was what looked like a large 3D printer, but its spools didn't look to be made of plastic, and the furthest wall was lined with glass cases.

Helena stepped down to the right side and brushed her fingers across the desks, recognizing her vintage radio that her father had offered to fix for her on one of them right next to a spiked gauntlet. Throwing knives and swords were mounted with military precision on the wall along with several gadgets she'd only ever seen on the news.

The glass cases lit up when she made it to the other end of the platform, illuminating suits of armor that seemed to absorb the light.
She stepped up to one that she recognized as one of the Batman's first suits, a gash along the cheek of the cowl and what might have been a patched over hole from an armor piercing round in the side of the breastplate. Next to it, clawmarks marred the shoulder of the first Robin suit and tattered the ends of the cape.

Down the line, each suit seemed to bear some mark of damage, some sign that the wearer had barely survived by some miracle. A couple Robins, Batgirl, several others including what seemed to be a suit with cat ears on the cowl and a whip, though Helena couldn't remember ever hearing about a cat-themed vigilante in Gotham.

She climbed down onto the tracks themselves and stepped up to the car, brushing her fingers along the black paint as she passed. There were several motorcycles along the tracks, parked neatly along the sides with helmets set on the seats.

Back at the other end of the tracks, under the platform where they had entered the station, there was a large computer bank with screens everywhere. There sat a mug empty except for old coffee stains next to the keyboard.

Large wooden shelves sat against the walls behind the computer, reaching the ceiling of the alcove too perfectly to not have been customer built there. They were filled to the brim with composition notebooks.

She pulled the oldest-looking one from its place at the top left and noted the clear, printed label:

Notes & Observations
(Gotham Project)
Year 1

Flipping through it, she recognized her father's half-cursive scrawl, though it seemed to be more erratic and changed size and capitalization a lot more than she was used to.

She frowned. It dated back to 2020, more than a decade before she was even born. She always knew how her father had struggled with his mental health, especially when he was younger, but she wasn't even sure what she was looking at.

Helena returned the book to its proper place and picked up another at the opposite end on the bottom of the far right, this time labeled as Year 26.

The writing was much more familiar, though still full of shorthand and random cursive letters, and consisted of detailed descriptions and notes on mob shipments but had comments on skill development of various local vigilantes and suggestions for training regimens.

She put it back when she heard the computer fans start to whir and came around to find Mary in the chair, tapping the keys.

Mary's eyes didn't leave the screens, though she did push her glasses up the bridge of her nose, as she started poking around.

"How'd you get in?" Helena asked as she watched her niece work.

"This whole system has my mom's fingerprints all over the code," she said in awe. "I mean, I think the base is your dad's work, but the security system is basically an exact copy of what mom taught me to do." She huffed. "Other than the seriously nasty malware that would get sent out if I tried to hack into this remotely."

Mya came jogging back from the tunnel, throwing a thumb over her shoulder as she got closer.

"The tunnel has, like, four layers of security on it. I'm pretty sure there's even a hologram on the other side," she gushed. "There are generators over there that would have the juice to keep that up even if the city lost power for a month."

Helena hummed an acknowledgement, glancing back before studying the screen.

"There," she pointed at a file that was marked with yesterday's date in a folder labeled under that month and year.

A video came up on the screen when Mary clicked it, showing Helena's father sitting in the chair. His back was bowed, like he didn't have the energy to sit up straight. His reading glasses were placed on his nose, but he took them off, setting them on the desk as he scrubbed at his eyes.

" September 17th, 2044. Uh. " He sighed. " Signal has a lead on the Freaks that may lead us to their hideout, but it could be nothing since it doesn't fit their usual MO. "

He tapped a finger on the notebook Helena had just been holding as he breathed.

" The League had an emergency meeting about the unknown transmission. We still can't identify the purpose, but it appears to be coming from what the Green Lanterns call the Tackhail system." He frowned, a line appearing between his brows. " But they said the system is uninhabited, so we still don't know the source. And it seems to be speeding up the pattern. "

The other children had gathered closer as he continued.

" Myself and some of the others have studied the beam and run it through every identification and translation program we have available and have come to the conclusion that it may be some sort of targeting system, but whether it's for a weapon or transportation is still unknown. " He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. " I haven't told the kids yet. Hood would demand that we went to the source and dealt with it, but the Tackhail system is too far away to reach in time and is almost entirely encapsulated by a radiation cloud."

He paused as a motorcycle came up the tunnel and pulled into a spot, its rider in a black and blue suit. The rider pulled off his helmet and peeled off a domino mask to reveal the face of Dick Grayson.

Jamie made a high-pitched noise in the back of their throat while Mary sat back in the chair. It was obvious who and what their parents all were, but this was a literal unmasking that ripped away any and all reasonable doubt.

" Come on, B, " Dick's voice chirped. " It's almost dinnertime. "

Bruce sighed but smiled softly at his eldest.

" I'll be up in a minute, I promise. "

" Dad. "

Bruce huffed a laugh and reached forward to turn off the video.

The children stood in silence after the video ended.

Helena put a hand on Mary's shoulder as she clicked on a video labeled from a couple days ago that seemed to be from a security camera in the medical bay.

" Bring him up here, " shouted Spoiler, mask removed and hood down to show her blonde locks and Steph's worried face. She ran up next to a gurney and hung an IV from the pole next to it.

Grunting and cursing could be heard heralding three people entering the frame. Red Robin and Orphan were on either side of the Red Hood, half-carrying him to the gurney and helping him take off his jacket.

" What happened? " Doctor Damian Wayne came skidding onto the platform, pulling rubber gloves on as he went. He grabbed a pair of surgical scissors off a tray and started cutting off his shirt, peeling it from around a wound in his shoulder.

" Jay went off on his own, completely ignoring the plan , and got shot," Red Robin shouted in the direction of the man in question.

" I'm sorry, alright, " came Hood's heavily modulated voice before Steph ( Spoiler! ) pulled off his helmet. " I saw an opening and I took it. "

" Both of you, shut up! " Damian tsk ed and began to clean around the entrywound. " Go debrief while I patch him up. "

Orphan nodded before they walked towards the stairs, Red Robin putting a hand to her ear.

" Belfry, Nightingale has it under control. "

The video finished, leaving the children to look at Sarah.

"Jay came home the other night with his arm in a sling. He said he'd hurt it moving a box at work."

Everyone knew that Jason never wore anything shortsleeved or low-necked, so she wouldn't have noticed a bandage if she wasn't looking for it. He'd come back from the dead some time around when Helena was born and had always kept his scars covered, so there hadn't been any sign out of the ordinary other than the sling for his daughter to have picked up on.

"How could we have not known any of this?" Cyrus whispered, slumping onto a nearby chair, Rima still in his arms.

"I mean, they've been doing this for decades," Mya soothed. "They must have learned exactly how to separate their lives with us from… this ."

Mary clicked on another folder labeled Contingency Plans .

Helena's eyes scanned over the, quite frankly, disturbing number of files labeled everything from Power Failure to Lunar-Earth Impact to Identity Leak , but she stopped at something labeled CP#356 - Incomplete . The creation date was three weeks ago and had been updated just this morning.

She reached over and clicked on it, opening several screens full of lists of phone numbers, comm signals, and a notes app that just said, "Zeta to Watchtower. Children will be safe there."

There was a document open with what seemed to be rudimentary instructions on how to operate a zeta tube with the most basic diagram resembling what Helena had assumed was some kind of decontamination shower over in the corner.

Chapter Text

The zeta beam left her nerves feeling like they'd been wrapped in static, but her vision cleared quickly to reveal a hall lined with half a dozen zeta platforms.

The others stumbled a little, shaking their heads to clear the static or patting themselves down to assure themselves they had all their limbs.

The walls were a metallic grey and the lights were similar to the ones in the cave, only brighter. Helena stepped off the platform and heard a small sound, a cross between a tap and a tunk, as her feet hit the metal floor. She looked down to see that the floors matched the walls and ceiling.

Rima stepped up and gripped a pantleg in her little hand.

"It's okay, little one," she said while patting her on the head.

A sudden gust of wind and a boy stood in front of them, vibrating so that he was slightly blurry.

"Hihowareya?I'msohappyyou'rehere!" He hopped a little, still vibrating.

Helena had to look away, the vibrations not helping the brightness of his mustard yellow sweatshirt, as she tried to translate.

"Nice to meet you?" She glanced back the direction he'd come before looking back at him.

"Robbie?" Jamie pushed themself to the front of the group. "How are you moving that fast?"

Mary stepped forward to put a hand on their friend's arm.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Robbie laughed, stopping the vibrations and grabbing her in a big hug. "I forgot you guys didn't know yet- Wait, how are you even here?"

Mary gasped in a breath when she was set back down. Robbie West, all four and a half feet of him, was lanky but a lot more muscular than most other nine year olds.

"Dude, how can you-?"

"You're dad's the Flash," Helena interrupted.

Robbie grinned, shoving his hands in his shirt pockets.

"Yeah, and my mom's Artemis. And your dad's Batman," he chirped before pointing at the others in turn. "Nightwing and Oracle, Red Robin, Red Hood, Nightingale." He hopped up and down again. "And your aunts are Spoiler and Orphan!"

Jamie grabbed the younger boy by the shoulders.

"You knew? "

Robbie shrugged, a little sheepish smile on his face.

"Yeah, sorry," he shrunk a little bit. "Your gramps insisted that those of us without powers should get to grow up like normal kids."

"Us?" Cyrus piped up.

"The children of vigilantes," Helena specified.

"Eh, most of us prefer heroes, but sure!" Robbie hooked a thumb over his shoulder. "Most of us got here hours ago, so a few of us have been trying to get the communications up and running while the others are planet-side at home while we wait for the adults to tell us what to do."

Helena frowned as the group started following him.

"Wait?"

"Yeah, that's what we're supposed to do in an emergency." He started walking backwards so he could face them as he talked. "Bats had a ton of contingency plans, but everybody in charge going poof all at once wasn't one of them. The 'rents always told us to come here and wait for them if something happened to them, so-" He waved around. "Here we are."

She huffed, speeding up.

They made it through the halls to a room with a larger (and neater) version of the computers in the cave where four other children were crowded around the central keyboard. The screen flashed Incorrect in bright red letters as the kids groaned in unison.

"Hey, guys, look who's here."

Robbie sped over to a side table, hopping up and grabbing a bowl of something.

The new children waved, grinning.

The shortest of the four shrieked in glee, floating off the floor a few feet in a spiral.

"You made it!" Her black hair was a messy bunch of curls held back by a bright orange scrunchy and her skirt and leggings combo were glittery.

The other girl, taller with a darker skin tone and wearing sensible jeans and a tanktop, nodded a greeting from her place at the desk. She couldn't be older than Helena, maybe a year or two younger.

She returned the nod, still not comfortable with the strangers.

"So, you know us," she tried, hoping they would introduce themselves.

The younger boy held his hands behind his back and gave a small bow, his gray blue eyes sparkling. Helena noticed that there were flecks of emerald scattered in his irises that seemed to glitter in the light.

"Sorry, we sometimes forget that not everyone's family is as acquainted with, well, everything." He shrugged one shoulder before gesturing to the table in the center of the room.

Both groups followed his direction and slid into seats.

"Hey," Sarah stopped halfway into her seat. "You're that magician's kid; nobody can figure out her tricks."

The boy grinned wolfishly.

"Well, it is hard to understand the 'trick' when real magic is involved."

Sarah scowled as she plopped in her chair.

"My name is Dante Zatara," he offered. "My mother is the magician Zatanna Zatara, as you know, but she's also a member of the Justice League, though she doesn't get involved usually unless magic's involved first."

He pointed to the taller girl: "That's Penelope, Daughter of Wonder Woman."

The little girl waved as he got to her and the taller boy, who was clearly her older brother: "And they're Marty and Jon, Superman's kids."

Helena's brows furrowed.

"And what exactly are you doing here?"

"Same as you," Penelope said. "Waiting for the adults to send word."

"We can't just wait," Cyrus interrupted. "We have to do something."

Rima nodded from next to him. Her nose just barely reached the top of the table even as she sat up as straight as possible.

"But we were told-"

"Who cares what you were told?" Mary stood and knuckled the table. "Our parents and every other adult are gone. We can't just sit here and wait around!"

Jon raised a hand, clearing his throat politely.

"We've actually been trying to access the comms, but they're password protected." He went to push up glasses that weren't there.

Helena nodded to Mary, the younger girl immediately going to break through whatever security was in place.

"Okay, while she does that," she took control of the discussion. "We have to do something now. No waiting."

Robbie hesitated before speaking: "I don't really want to wait around either." He shrugged. "But I'm not much of a leader, let alone a planner."

Penelope nodded, looking to Jon.

"I don't really think any of us want to wait around when people need help," he offered.

They all looked to Helena.

"You're obviously the one with all the ideas," Penelope gestured to her. "So we will follow your lead."

Helena felt a sourness in her stomach and looked to her niblings. The younger children just nodded and Jamie gave her a thumbs up.

"Alright," she huffed. "So, to start with, there's no telling how long the adults will be gone so someone has to make sure the world keeps running."

"Most things are on automatic programs these days," Mya piped up. "If we can teach a few of the older kids how things are supposed to run, we can have them work in shifts of two or three at a time to keep an eye on the power and water companies."

Jon had a notepad out and was taking notes while Marty tapped out something on a laptop.

"There are other systems that need to be monitored the same way, but we can pretty much follow that model for most of the world." Helena frowned. "The problem would be getting the information out there."

"What about the emergency broadcast system?" Mary called over from the now unlocked computer. "The UN put in that system worldwide in case of alien invasion. Why don't we just use that?"

Penelope's brows furrowed.

"We don't have access to that. The League was supposed to send information to the UN so they could broadcast it."

Mary just pointed at the bland wallpaper of the League's homescreen.

"Point taken."

"Right, so, we tell everyone to gather in groups until the adults get back, get volunteers for those who can keep things running, and set up a system for check-ins and updates."

Jon nodded, tapping his pencil on his pad.

"I'm worried about emergencies." He screwed his mouth up. "Without our parents, there's no one protecting the planet."

There were murmurs of agreement around the table.

"How many of us are there? How many kids have League members had?"

Robbie gave a long whistle.

"I think there's a list in the computer somewhere, but there's a lot."

"Obviously, not everyone has children," Penelope hummed. "But, neither did those who have them only have one. If we include the members not on the current active roster, there are a lot. Easily enough to outnumber the League by a dozen or so."

Helena hummed.

"Alright, so, we contact those like us and ask them to take over their parents' rolls. If they have siblings, we spread everyone out to cover the territories of those without successors."

"Except for you guys in Gotham," Marty added. "Gotham tends to have more incidents that require teamwork to solve and I doubt that'll be much better, even without adults. You guys can always zeta into wherever you're needed, but you should definitely stay mainly in Gotham."

Helena nodded.

"That's fair. But we still need leaders, someone to take charge and make the decisions." She couldn't shake the feeling that this was going to be the new system for longer than a couple of days.

Penelope agreed, tapping a nail on the table.

"We could always use the same system the League has abided by," she suggested.

Helena sat back in her chair, waiting for her to elaborate.

"Since its founding, the League has generally followed the leadership of the Trinity. My mother, Superman, and Batman."

"You suggested that we all take on our parents' jobs," Jon reminded. "It only seems right that we take on that aspect, too."

"Especially since you've already been making the decisions thus far," Dante agreed. "Although, I think we should also have some sort of council as well. Just so more people have a voice."

Helena scrubbed a hand across her face.

"Okay, we'll get the word out to some of the older kids and see if any of them would be willing to take on that responsibility." She focused on Dante. "Would you be willing to work on figuring out what happened?"

He nodded.

"Sure, though I'm not sure how much I can do alone if it's not magical in nature. If someone would be willing to help me comb through the database, I could see if there's anything similar at least."

"I can help," Mya jumped in.

Helena stood, placing her hands on the table.

"Let's get started, then."

Chapter Text

Graphite smudged across the side of her hand, leaving slight streaks behind as she drew. 

Her designs were rudimentary at best, but once she got the armor printed out, she could finalize some details and test for any weak points. 

The printer provided a soft, white noise as it printed out one of her first designs. It was nearly identical to an old Red Hood design, but a face mask instead of the full helmet and a red hoodie over the armor and under the leather jacket. Simple, maybe, but Sarah had asked for something like it and it added more layers of protection and pockets for supplies.

The one thing she had adjusted from Sarah's idea was the goggles and lower face mask were detachable from each other. Otherwise, she looked like a blonde Red Hood. (Though, she was still figuring out a codename)

The printer finished with the last piece of Sarah's suit, emitting a soft beep.

The breastplate was thin, but made out of a high-density polymer her dad had invented (in a caffeine- and pain medication-fueled all-nighter, according to his notes) and had withstood bullets, flamethrowers, and scratches from Killer Croc, so she trusted it enough to protect her niblings from whatever they might come across.

She glanced across the space to where her armor sat, waiting for its final painting.
She needed to finish it tonight, but that would mean she didn't have anything between her and the next morning.

They had sent out a message that the Justice League would be addressing the world on the recent events and they had all agreed that she, as the daughter of the Batman, should be there along with Superboy (Jon) and Kidemona (Penny) to represent their parents and give those left behind a sense of normalcy.

Helena could remember the few world-shaking events throughout her life where the Trinity had addressed the continent or world to let everyone know what to do and that someone was looking out for them. She fully understood the need for it, but there was a difference between knowing something needed to be done and knowing that you were the one to do it. She was twelve for goodness' sake.

She huffed to herself as she set the armor to the side, loaded up the next piece to print, and made her way over to her own armor and began prepping the paint gun, slipping a respirator.

The idea of her father, who always had to hide in a room after a speech, speaking to the entire world almost couldn't be held in her brain. But she remembered watching the Batman a few years ago and being so proud that the entire world knew how impressive and confident their city's protector was.

She loved her father. He had always been this strong figure in her life, always being there as a protector and comfort, but she could not see her father as confident in most situations.

The paint hissed out from the sprayer, coating her armor in an almost black indigo.

But if he could stand before the world like that, she could certainly stand behind Jon and Penny as a silent figurehead.

Chapter Text

The room had been fairly active as the door slid open in front of her, but grew quiet when the occupants caught sight of Helena- er, she supposed she should be thinking of herself as Huntrix now. Her father's notes had mentioned how important it was to not slip up with names while in uniform, so it was probably best to adjust her mental references first.

Her suit was rather simple. She'd basically just made a version of her father's suit, painted that deep indigo like the night sky with the bat symbol a faint silver outline and no cape. She'd opted for a simple domino rather than the full cowl and had her curls piled high in a bun.

The room was full of other kids, some she recognized from news programs, all in armor of their own. Robbie - or Kid Flash, as he had been called - waved from a cluster of kids in bright colors, a cookie halfway out of his mouth. He wore a version of the Flash suit, but bright yellow.

She offered a small nod in return and began to make her way over to where Kidemona and Superboy were conversing to the side.

Jon's face split into a grin when he saw her, Kidemona offering a friendly smile as she approached.

"You made it!"

Huntrix huffed at his excitement. She was used to putting on a friendly and easygoing face for others, but something about the mask made it harder to pretend. It almost felt like the literal mask made it impossible to put a metaphorical mask on.

Regardless, Superboy didn't seem to mind as he passed her a red Solo cup of lemonade.

"I thought this was a serious meeting." She waved around at the crowd of mingling tweens. It reminded her of an afterparty with the theater kids.

"It's important to keep morale up," Kidemona reminded, her hands on her hips in that way everyone had seen Wonder Woman do at some point. "And some of us are meeting each other for the first time and we need to be comfortable with those we may have to rely on in the future."

Helena nodded, recognizing the necessity. She'd been to plenty of these kinds of events for gymnastics and her dad's charities alike; they really did help people trust each other and they needed that.

A cold weight landed in her stomach as she thought about why it was necessary. They still hadn't been able to understand what had happened or where the adults and younger children went and had no idea when they'd be back.

Superboy cleared his throat and nudged her with his elbow as he took a drink from his own lemonade.

Huntrix stood a little straighter, following his glance to the other kids. They watched and whispered amongst each other.

Kidemona had already explained how the adult members of the Justice League functioned; how their children had watched them look to the Trinity when things were uncertain or really bad and would look to the three of them in the same way. They had to at least pretend like everything was alright just to keep panic down to a minimum.

"Come on, I'll introduce you to some people."

Huntrix set her now empty cup down (and when had she drank it all?) and followed her new friends.

They introduced her to Aqualad and Aqualass, twin princeps of Atlantis and some of the oldest children at 15, who offered short bows and nods of respect, along with a few others in their group.

Huntrix got the feeling Kidemona was trying to make sure she was on friendly bases with those in positions of power outside of the hero community as she was introduced to people with actual titles in their names.

Gotham Academy had prepared her for interacting with important people, though, so she kept her back straight and shook hands when necessary and used words like highness and majesty when speaking to them.

A group of kids came up to them as she was being led away from the royal group and introduced themselves. They didn't have any powers and most of them had just learned of their parents' double lives. Each of them were so excited that "one of them" had a voice in the new Trinity. She tried not to let her fear or discomfort show when she promised to make sure everyone had a voice equally.

It was… strange. Usually, she'd stand next to her parents quietly and smile when spoken to, but these kids looked at her like she was an equal, if not an authority figure, and asked her thoughts on what had happened.

Helena finally managed to break away and slipped off down a hallway. They were all so welcoming, but it was a lot.

She slid down the wall and curled into her knees, breathing deeply. It wouldn't be so bad if she felt like she could pretend like usual, but that domino made it almost impossible.

She looked up when she heard footsteps and watched Jon slide down the opposite wall with a sigh.

"It's weird, isn't it?" He stared at his hands, held on top of his knees. "You put on the suit and suddenly you can't remember how to be anything but yourself. But you'd think it would be the opposite, right?"

He looked up with a small smile.

"I went through this when my powers first came in," he shrugged. "My parents had to tell me the truth, so I insisted I be like my dad. He eventually gave in and gave me my own suit."

Helena's brows pulled together when he hesitated.

"There wasn't even a mask, but it felt like I was a completely different person, somebody who had been stripped of everything else but the need to help." He sighed. "It feels impossible, trying to live up to your parent's legacy or be the person others need when you can't be anything other than what you are. But, at the same time, you can't imagine ever going back to the way things were."

Helena couldn't help but think that it was unfair. She had learned all of the pieces to her masks for a reason; growing up in Gotham made it so you had to to survive, even as privileged as she was.

The easygoing smiles and laughter she'd learned so she didn't get bullied in school. The quick wit and sharp tongue had been a requirement for all the snobs at charity events to treat her like a person. Even her manners, instilled in her from a young age by Grandpa Alfie, had been so important when needing an adult to listen to her. She'd worked hard to make all of them reflexes.

But now, it was like she couldn't even reach them. One single strip of polymer and white lenses across her eyes had stripped away all pretenses, leaving her bare and suddenly aware of how empty it all was. She idly wondered if this was what it was like to suddenly be able to see after living your whole life blind.

She thought about all those kids all over the world right now with no one to protect them, about the kids in the other room just looking for a leader to tell them what to do. They needed someone to look up to, a voice to tell them it was going to be okay. 

She remembered an old photo in history class, when they were studying local history. There had been the Flood, when the Riddler had first appeared, where there had been so much destruction, so many lives lost. An image had stuck out to her of the Batman holding a woman's hand.

It had been a small gesture during a terrifying event, but it had stuck with the woman. She had been interviewed afterwards and said that she had been too scared to let the paramedics take her, but that moment where this masked man held her hand and made her feel like it was going to be okay still gave her strength years later to keep going and to stop and help others on the way. 

Helena had hoped then that she could be that person for someone else some day. She supposed now that she had gotten her wish. 

Chapter Text

Huntrix and Superboy left the hallway, heads held high and masks firmly in place.

Superboy smiled at the others, all straightening up their uniforms to look their best for the broadcast, and went to help his sister.

Huntrix passed a boy struggling to get his hair to stop sticking in random directions and reached into one of her belt pouches. She handed him a small tube of shea butter and motioned to her own hair before he took it with a wry smile.

"Good to know we still have the famous Bat Pouches," he grinned.

Huntrix just nodded, confused but not wanting to ask too many questions.

She glanced over to her niblings in their own armor near the far wall.

Mary, going by Sibyl, had her laptop open and was showing someone her setup. Her black armor was even more plain than the Huntrix armor, resembling more of a latex body suit with a single strip of electric blue down the side of each limb, going down to cover her middle fingers on the arms. Her full helmet was almost mannequin-like in its simplicity and lack of any real face, other than a slight indent for the nose and black lenses where her eyes would be. She carried an armored bag that attached to her back where her laptop and drone could be stored for missions where she had to be present rather than in their base.

Her twin, Robin, stood with arms crossed behind them. Their armor had been almost as easy as Warden's, just resembling the original Robin rather than Red Hood. They'd added some shinguards to aid them in their preferred fighting styles, just in case they were needed.

Mercy stood off in the corner on his phone. His helmet hid most of his face, leaving his mouth the only thing she could see anywhere. He pulled his phone from his face and slid it into one of his vest pockets.
His armor was more militaristic, to a point. It resembled a medic from a video game with a bright red cross on his back and matching armbands on both arms. He was covered in pouches containing every first aid item they'd been able to get their hands on with at least three pouches containing antidotes for Joker Gas, Fear Toxin, and the various other poisons they might come across in their city.

"Is everything alright?"

Mercy looked up and did a double-take.

"Woah." He looked her up and down. "You look like Grandpa Br- Batman." 

Helena felt her face flush and filled it down with every atom. 

"That was the idea," she answered. "You look pretty impressive yourself." 

He held his arms out to his sides a bit and huffed. 

"Thanks, but it's a little heavy." 

She nodded. 

"I was a little worried about that. Maybe leave some gear at home unless you think you'll need it." She nodded to one of the pouches containing antidotes. "You probably won't need those." 

He frowned, subconsciously lifting a hand to protect the pouch. 

"Probably not, but I don't want to risk it." 

Helena inwardly cringed at his tone.

There had been a fire in a warehouse everyone had thought was empty last summer. It turned out that there had been an old stash of Joker gas that ended up leaking into the harbor along with the water from the fire trucks and been evaporated into the air from the summer heat. Cyrus had still been on the street then and knew a couple people who almost died and one who did. He was lucky enough to have found a gas mask in the trash somewhere and kept it.

Huntrix nodded and held out a hand. 

"Mind if I have a couple?"

He looked up at her, tight-lipped, and handed three over. 

She slid them into a sturdy pouch before patting him on the head. 

"You're already great at this." 

He smiled shyly and ducked his head.

"Were you talking to Baby Bat?" They'd agreed to refer to Rima under a codename, too, just to make sure she was safe.

"Yeah, I was just checking up on her. She has her phone and knows to call me if she needs anything, but she's pretty focused on her cartoons." 

Huntrix hummed in response. Cyrus really was a good brother, even as new at it as he was.

She looked over the group, frowning. 

"Where's Rook?"

"In the lab with Dante, going over some analysis of the beam again." 

She nodded.

"Just make sure they're here before the broadcast." 

Cyrus jerked his chin in an affirmative and ran off to get them.

Chapter Text

The (temporary) league members dispersed themselves around the room, facing the cameras Sibyl had set up. She had a remote in her hand programmed to switch which cameras were being broadcast and set a few to follow certain people for close-ups when they were needed. 

Huntrix had to admit that it was a very professional-looking setup and made their whole operation at least look legitimate.

They'd taken the snacks and set them out of sight and kids had gone around collecting empty cups, putting them in the recycling.

Kidemona tied her hair back in a ponytail and smoothed her hands down her armored skirt.

"Okay, are we ready?"

Rook, in her Red Robin-inspired red and black armor, slipped in the back followed by Dante. Huntrix made eye contact (which she didn't know you could do with white-out lenses) and Rook shared a nod before making her way over to her cousins.

Huntrix tried not to squirm being so far away from them in the crowd. They'd be fine and they had all agreed that she should be up front with Kidemona and Superboy.

She faced forward and held her hands firmly behind her back in attention, just like she had seen Grandpa Alfie do sometimes.

Kidemona stood on the other side of Superboy in the same position, offering her a nod of recognition. Huntrix returned it before turning her attention back to the cameras getting into position.

Superboy held his hands in the air to quiet everyone down.

"Alright, we're getting ready to broadcast. Remember: We're here to make everyone feel safe, so try and be professional until the cameras go off."

There was a small chorus of agreement but a few teasing "the boy scout" before everyone settled into position.

A small screen on the opposite wall counted down from ten, red lights appearing on the cameras at the end.

"Hi, I'm Superboy."

Oh, she really should have asked what the others were going to say.

"I know you were hoping to see someone else today, but they're not here." He shrugged a little, bright smile still on his face. "All of the adults are gone and that's really scary. But we," he gestured to the large group behind them. "Are still here. You know some of us from the news, but there are some new faces here as well who will be taking over for the Justice League in their absence. We have some things we need you to do while we work to bring the adults back, though."

He took a deep breath.

"We need volunteers to take over for some adult jobs. Not anything too dangerous, but we need people watching the power and water stations so that everything stays running. We will show you what to do and when to call us so we can fix anything that might go wrong, but it's very important that someone is there.

"We also need you all to work together. Get together and figure out who is good at what. Some of you are too young to be cooking your own meals or you don't know how to do your own laundry. So, get together with your neighbors and learn what you're all good at. You might be able to move a bunch of kids to the same house to make things easier or, if you're in an apartment building, work together as a building.

"We're going to be coming by and collecting a sort of census, so decide where everyone is going to be living until the adults get back and if you're willing to do any adult jobs and we'll give you instructions in the next few days. Just remember to answer your doors when we come by." He offered a reassuring smile. "We'll be posting a list of your local heroes on the emergency page of the website so you can know who to expect."

"We all know that this is a scary time," Kidemona chimed in with a gravity her mother would have been proud of. "But we promise that everything will be alright if we remember to work together. Check on your neighbors and watch out for the littlest ones. Share resources amongst yourselves, since not everyone may have enough."

Both kids were quiet and turned to Huntrix, who cleared her throat.

"Many of you are from larger cities. The quiet in the last few days has been strange enough." She heard a smothered chuckle or two from the others. "It's very important that we especially stay brave right now. Bigger cities have more infrastructure which requires more work to keep it running, so we have to stay on top of it.

"You all have instructions to go into the grocery stores to get what you need. I know you might not have a lot of money, and that's okay. Your goal right now is to make sure everyone is fed and housed, so peacefully go and get yourself something to eat if you need it but don't take more than you need." She sighed. "A lot of us, especially in Gotham, are used to fighting for everything, but you don't have to do that right now. We're all family and we have to look out for each other."

She thought for a moment about  what her parents would do.

"If you're in Gotham, there are several community centers put up by the Wayne Foundation. Some of your parents were volunteers or employees and you probably went with them to work sometimes. I've spoken to the Wayne family and they've asked that you take over for your parents until they get back just like we are. Your parents were heroes just like us and we can't get through this without you. If you don't have keys to the buildings, someone will be coming by to let you in after this broadcast.

"If you or someone you know doesn't have anywhere else to go or no close neighbors, go there and we will find a place for you to stay. Later we will open up for everyone else to come get what they need, so sit tight and wait for us to give you instructions. We will be using the emergency broadcast radio station to give you instructions, so keep those on. Accidents happen, so Mercy, our medic, will also be stationed at Gotham General Hospital if anyone is injured."

She straightened up as tall as she could go and projected as much Batman into her voice as she could.

"We're going to get through this. All of us."

Superboy grinned at her before turning back to the cameras.

"Some of you grew up on farms or had parents who worked in different places like animal shelters. For now, we need you to take over for them. If you don't want to take over for them permanently, we can find someone else to do it, but for now we need you to take over," he continued. "It will be hard, but like Huntrix said, we will get through this. As long as we work together."

Some of the drone-cameras swooped up to show the whole League before the lights went out and they were off the air.

"And we're out," Sybil announced.

Huntrix felt like her strings had been cut but locked her knees just in time.

"That was really good of you," Superboy murmured.

She shrugged.

"It's the least that we can do," she huffed. "I just wish we could do more."

Superboy looked at her funny for a moment before shaking his head with a wry smile.

"Alright," he raised his voice to be heard. "Everybody get to work."

Chapter Text

Helena pulled her keys out as she walked down the street. She'd found the extras in her dad's desk, where she knew he always kept them in case of an emergency. This constituted an emergency, so she hoped he wouldn't be upset by her digging through his desk.

The streets were mostly empty, but there was a small hum of chatter up ahead. She peeked around the corner, halfway hidden by a parked car, and found a crowd of kids crowded around the door.

A sour feeling filled her stomach, but she pasted on a smile and stepped around the corner.

"Helena!" Reshma waved from right in front of the doors where she was speaking to the crowd.

Helena waved back to her friend. Reshma was three years older, but they'd worked to help her mom put together emergency kits often enough that they'd gotten to know each other out of necessity.
She was a sweet girl, intelligent and quick to help anyone she came across. Helena thought she might become a social worker when she was older.

The crowd parted around her at Reshma's urging, allowing Helena to make her way forward.

"Hey, guys," she greeted. "Sorry I'm a little late."

Reshma frowned.

"Did you walk here?"

Helena nodded.

"Does anyone have an extra bike?" The older girl asked the group.

A boy raised his hand.

"She can use mine! I don't live that far."

"I don't either," Helena frowned.

Reshma just leveled a look at her.

"No, but you have other places around the city to unlock, so take Jake's bike and you can bring it back when you're done."

Helena huffed, knowing she couldn't argue, and turned to unlock the door.

Reshma made sure everyone knew what their job was before letting them pass her and turning to Helena.

"I sent some kids home already to sleep so they can take over a night shift."

She nodded, admitting silently that that was a good idea.

"We've also got some kids in our neighborhood who volunteered to give the plan to the others around town along with some radio gear," Reshma explained. "Someone's moms ran the old electronics store down the street and they gave us enough gear to set up basic long-range radios in each location."

She frowned a moment.

"You're in contact with the Bats, right?"

"Uh, yeah?" Helena tried not to panic.

"Do you think you could ask someone to help set up the antennas? We figured we could set them up on the roof of each building to extend their range, but Liam's only six so his moms didn't really teach him how to do it yet."

She nodded, already making a mental list of things they would each need. There were only three community centers, so she could send Sybil, Rook, and Robin to handle the radios after they took the census of their neighborhoods.

Jake came running with his bike and passed it off to her before running inside to get to his job.

Helena climbed on before turning to Reshma. 

"Would you be willing to coordinate all of the centers?"

Reshma blinked at her and frowned. 

"Me? It's your family's program, don't you want to do it?"

Helena shook her head.

"I'm running communications with the League," she apologized. "I've helped dad with the paperwork side of cleanup after things enough times that they thought I'd be a good person to give advice on other places." 

Reshma nodded, eyes wide like she understood.

"Yeah, I remember that Scarecrow mess last year. Your dad practically left you in charge of this place," she breathed, jerking her chin over her shoulder at the center. 

Helena blinked, but decided not to say anything, instead waving. 

"I have to go open the others, but I'll make sure someone comes by to help with the antennas. Make a list of anything else you need and I'll do my best." 

"Will do."

Helena clipped on the helmet and sped off down the road, tapping her earpiece to turn it on.

"Hey, what's everyone's location?"

A click and Sibyl's voice: "According to their trackers, everyone is exactly where they're supposed to be. Warden just checked in about ten minutes ago to say they were checking on a bunch of street kids in the Narrows who took over a warehouse." 

Click.

"I'm setting up shop in the emergency room," Mercy answered. "A bunch of kids showed up to volunteer. I hate to turn them away, but I wanted to ask you first."

Helena paused to turn a corner. Having a properly staffed emergency room couldn't hurt.

"Figure out who has first aid training and set up a schedule to train those who don't. Separate everyone into shifts so that someone will always be there and send the other shifts home until their turn."

"Yes, ma'am, will do."

"And Sibyl? I need you, Robin, and Rook to head to each of the community centers. They have radio equipment but need help setting up the antenna. Maybe see if you can get another set for the hospital, too, while you're at it."

"I might have some stuff here and the hospital already has a top of the line antenna; gramps had it installed after the last blackout. We'd just have to make sure they were all on the same frequencies."

"Sounds good, just get it done ASAP."

Chapter Text

She spent the rest of the day coordinating the centers and helping hand out supplies, just barely making it home before dark. Every building she passed had a large X on the main door with markings in each quadrant, though there were one or two with an empty X in a box.

The penthouse was quiet, but there was a note left on the fridge in Mya's handwriting telling her they were all in "the workshop."

She trudged down the halls, dropping her jacket over a chair as she went, and activated the elevator with a yawn. A thought passed through her mind that it had been programmed to recognize voices even when they were exhausted, but she was too tired for it to stick for more than a moment.

The elevator hummed on the way down and opened the doors on a scene that she hoped was quieter than it seemed after the solitude of the elevator.

Helena stood at the top of the platform, overlooking the station and sighed.

Rima sat on one of the workbenches, noodles hanging from her mouth as she chewed.

A roll went flying through the air and beaned Sarah in the face, making Mya cackle and nearly choke on her soda.

"Alright, alright, no wasting food."

"Who's wasting it?" Sarah said, taking a vicious bite out of the roll.

Helena shook her head with a sigh but took the bowl offered to her. Someone had apparently turned a bunsen burner into a stovetop and made spaghetti.

"You know we have a kitchen, right?"

Mya scoffed.

"Yeah, but we also have the Batcave!"

Helena huffed, not agreeing or disagreeing, and took a bite of her dinner. It was pleasantly warm with just enough garlic.

"Hey, I wanted to show you something before patrol." Mary waved her over.

She had set herself up in front of the "batcomputer" as Jamie had labeled it and was sorting through the files, trying to figure out how everything worked and any information that might help them find out what happened to the adults.

"So, I haven't found anything immediately useful, but I did find this." She opened a file that just seemed to be a case report.

Helena frowned and skimmed through it.

It was just a report from before any of them were born on a theft of a jewelry store. Apparently, the owner had been abusing his employees to the point that one had a nervous breakdown. Shortly after they got out and moved to Bludhaven, the store was robbed for everything that wasn't nailed down.

Every single one of the employees had a solid alibi, whether being out of town or somewhere with cameras, except for one who had been home with the flu. They did all quit afterwards, though.

The police didn't have a single viable suspect and there were no tripped alarms and the cameras were either fakes or offline, but the entry seemed to be a tiny window almost 30 feet above the ground which made them think it was a) a meta and b) a teenager based on the size of the window.

Helena gasped at the last line where her father listed his one and only suspect.

"My mom's a thief?" She stared, not quite being able to believe it but… Her mom did teach her how to pick an accidentally locked door with a hairpin when she was seven and was on the smaller size, so she could absolutely fit through the window. And she did climb up into the rafters of the penthouse when she wanted time alone, so she could feasibly climb the side of a building with the right equipment… "My mom's a thief."

She plopped into a chair someone pulled up for her and just stared at the screen.

"Oh, it gets better," Mary grinned and pulled up an attached video.

It seemed to be a POV video from hidden cameras in the batsuit. There was a blink, which implied that this was back when he'd been using contact lens cameras.

The screen showed a rooftop, a couple smokestacks around and what was probably the elevator machine room.

A lithe figure in skintight black leather slunk around a corner, facing behind them. They turned to reveal a cat-like helmet-like mask, swearing upon seeing the tall figure of the Bat watching them.

"Hey, baby," the voice of Selina Kyle rang out. "Come here often?"

"Really, Selina?" He sighed, but Helena recognized repressed happiness in it.

She grinned and tossed a small velvet pouch in the air before catching it again.

"Really, Bat Boy."

Silence.

"Alright, look," she declared and held her hands up. "She skims off of her charity and doesn't pay her taxes; she deserves to be robbed."

The camera moved like he was shaking his head in exasperation and he huffed what could be a laugh.

"Alright, I'll take your word for it. What about the other night?"

"You don't need me to tell you why I robbed him," she scoffed with an eyeroll. "And besides, I gave all the money to his employees."

Movement like a shrug from the cameras before silence lapsed again.

"I got your present." She tapped her helmet with a sharp nail.

"It fits?"

She smiled.

"Like a glove. How'd you do that?"

"I guessed."

She hummed and stepped closer, leaning against the wall next to them with an assessing smile.

"You about done for the night?"

The camera leaned closer, but Helena doubted her father had realized he was doing it.

"Yeah," he mumbled. "Would you join me for dinner?"

She hummed, acting like she was thinking about it.

"I think it's closer to breakfast."

"Breakfast, then."

"I'd love to."

The video cut with her suddenly sprinting away and jumping off the roof.

Helena just sat there while Cyrus awwwed.

"It's nice to know they've always been all lovey-dovey," Jamie cooed.

"No one is always like that," Sarah dismissed. "But, yeah, they're pretty sweet."

"My mom is Catwoman," Helena cried with a grin. "She's never been caught!"

Mya hummed.

"You think she only never got caught because your dad covered for her?"

Mary shook her head.

"I found other mentions of her where Gramps said he only ever knew she stole something because she was bragging, so I doubt it."

Helena squeaked in excitement and nearly threw her empty bowl by accident.

"My dad is the world's greatest superhero and my mom is the world's greatest thief!" She stood up and started flapping her hands. "I've been so focused on dad being Batman that I didn't even think about my mom!"

Her stomach clenched and she wrung her hands together.

"I think she'd understand," Cyrus shrugged. "It's a lot to take in and there's a lot going on."

"Yeah, and she's a thief," Jamie added. "I think staying under the radar was her goal."

Helena took a deep breath but still felt like she was vibrating.

"Okay. Okay. I'm going to get suited up for patrol."

"Remember not to stay out too late," Sybil called as everyone started cleaning up and going to get ready. "You had a big day and don't want to get hurt."

"I'm going to stay back and get some sleep," Cyrus added. "Most accidents will probably happen in the daytime, so I'm going to head back up to the hospital in the morning."

Helena nodded, still feeling a little giddy.

"Good idea. Mya, do you want to stay back, too, and take the day shift?"

Mya threw her a sloppy salute.

"Oh, and take the motorcycles to the left, they're more like dirtbikes. They're no different than Gramps always took us on except for the cloaking tech, but that's pretty easy to use and it's lightweight so you shouldn't have any trouble making sharp turns." She w

aved at the table with their folded suits. "It's all in your Tac-Watches."

Chapter Text

Two Weeks Later…

Huntrix stretched her arms above her head as she looked out over the city.

An ambulance drove down the street below, lights and sirens quiet for now.

Some of the older children had decided to commandeer a few ambulances and fire trucks for what they called The Rescue Aid Society which would stand in place of the emergency departments. Some kids got first aid training from Mercy and rode in the ambulances, others worked with Robin to learn the basics over at the Fire Departments around town, and several had claimed a few trucks to ferry supplies around the city wherever they were needed.
They'd managed to get the cell towers all under one system (run by Sybil, of course) and, as long as each kid had a phone, they could always get ahold of someone.
There was even an election planned for that weekend to elect leaders for each of the boroughs.

Things were looking up, though they were still no closer to getting the adults back.

Rook and Dante had definitively ruled out magic, though whatever science being used was similar enough that Dante still felt useful, but there wasn't much else they could identify other than that it was too precise to be any sort of naturally occurring cosmic phenomenon.

The only real theory they had was that someone must have been in the Tackhail System, like the adults suspected, and were on their way. Whatever they wanted was still to be discovered, so all they could do was prepare.

Sybil and Robin had worked with some of the League members to take stock of weapons and defensive measures around the world, just in case. Most of them had been designed by Batman or Oracle, so they were the best chance at getting around the security protocols.

Huntrix sighed. She was tired, but there was still so much to do.

She grappled down from the roof, landing right next to her bike, and donned her helmet.

Patrols had been largely quiet, but there had been some squabbles between the older kids off and on. Some of them had been in different gangs Before and weren't sure what to do other than to go back to infighting, so the Bats were kept busy making sure nothing got too messy.

There was also the supply hoarding and theft they had to keep an eye on.

She turned down an alley, taking a shortcut to the next street over, and edged around a parked car.

Even with all the bad, she was proud of her city. It wasn't perfect, but the majority had come together just like she'd asked. Most every neighborhood had had a group of kids pushing the cars to the sides of the roads on the second and third days and there had been plenty of volunteers willing to work. Some had even volunteered to teach the younger ones so they didn't have to miss out on school.

Helena had been asked to come to city hall last week with some of the heads of the RAS and the community centers, as well as a few other kids who had taken charge of their neighborhoods until the votes could go through. They'd discussed ways forward and made plans for a more formal cooperation between the boroughs as well as how they could help the Justice League.

Helena, of course, had been asked to be the liaison between the city and the League since her father had helped fund them before. She had agreed and informed Superboy and Kidemona, who had both been happy with the outcome and implemented a similar liaison in every place they could.

She drove the bike to the edge of the Chelsea Darby Motor Tunnel where trucks of food were coming from farms in the morning. It seemed stable and looked clear still, but she couldn't see that far in.

She tapped her comms on.

"Hey, I'm going to check the tunnel before I come home," she informed Sybil.

"You want me to send Rook as backup? She's getting ready to head out anyways."

"No, I'm good. Just wanted to give you a head's up." She swung her leg over the bike and tapped her chest emblem. It lit up like a flashlight and illuminated the tunnel in front of her for a good 100 meters.

"Hey, while you're not too busy, I wanted to ask your opinion on something."

Huntrix hummed in response while she flicked her lenses to thermal imaging.

Nothing seemed to be under too much stress, but they would need to take care of a loose electrical panel; some mice seemed to have made themselves at home.

"Some of the satellites caught distortions on the edge of the solar system. Dante checked and didn't feel any 'disturbance in the force' but Superboy checked his dad's computers in the Fortress and they're saying that there's definitely something there. Should we send out a message, letting them know we can see them?"

Huntrix turned back to her bike.

"I don't know, what did everyone else say?"

"Kidemona said that camouflage of any kind didn't imply anything good, but Superboy wants to give them the benefit of the doubt."

Huntrix climbed on her bike and slipped her helmet over her head.

"I agree with Kidemona, but I don't think we should just sit and wait for them to get here first." She pulled out of her parking space and started home.

"You want to set up a meeting for the morning? I can send out a message and get the main group together probably by 9?"

Huntrix made to answer but was interrupted by a shuttle flying overhead.

"Sybil, did somebody get into the airfields?"

"What, no? We made sure everything was locked up tighter than Fort Knox!"

"Check my lenses and see if you can identify the shuttle that just flew overhead." She watched as the shuttle started to descend somewhere ahead. "Then call in the others and send them down to Old Gotham. I think they're landing somewhere by City Hall."

"Roger that. I'm going to put everyone on an open line. Want me to call in reinforcements?"

"Let the core group know but keep them on standby. Do not enter the city limits until my say-so." She slid around a corner and watched the shuttle's lights dip below the buildings.

Several clicks sounded over the comm-link, the sounds of various engines filtering through the mics.

"What's happening?" Mercy's heavy breathing could be heard as he presumably ran.

"Not sure yet, but there's an unidentified flying object that doesn't match anything in the database flying over Gotham," Sybil responded.

"A UFO? A real life UFO?" Rook's giddy voice sang.

"Focus," Huntrix growled. "Everybody sound off with positions.

"Warden here. I'm all the way up on Park Row, so I'll be a minute."

"Rook. I'm almost up through the Cauldron."

"This is Robin. I have Mercy and we're on our way from base."

"Mercy, stay back unless you're needed. Warden, be careful getting here, but I think the bridge should be empty." She got closer and saw the shuttle in the center of the street up ahead. "They've landed on the corner of Grand and Neville by City Hall. Make sure the RAS avoids the area."

Her bike slid to a stop and she jumped off before setting her helmet on the seat.

"Sybil, watch my lenses and send the feed up to the Watchtower."

She stepped a few feet closer, still a little over thirty yards from the shuttle.

It looked like something out of Star Trek, like a Federation shuttle but more rounded and more of a blue-toned silver. A large symbol decorated the sides in black, similar to a tall, thin Z but with a straight line cutting off the bottom end.

"On it. Superboy requests permission to enter the city; he wants to help with contact."

"Does he have any experience with first contact?" Her eyes studied the landing gear, six legs that ended in something that resembled the tarsus of a spider.

"First contact, no, but he's helped with some grumpy diplomats."

"Tell him to stand down for now, but I'll call if they're hostile."

Huntrix made to step closer but stopped when a crack appeared in the side.

Chapter Text

The Crack was slightly rounded but nominally square. It continued to open letting out more light with a hiss.

Huntrix stood as tall as she could with her hands on her hips.

A figure stepped down onto the lowered ramp, taller than a human by a good foot or so and wearing armor that appeared to be the same metal as the ship but with more red and black decals.

Huntrix moved closer as they moved down the ramp.

"Good evening," she called. "I'm sorry, but Earth is closed right now."

"I don't think so." The figure's voice was feminine, but had a slight ethereal quality to it.

As they stepped closer and stopped, Huntrix could see that they were a fairly generic bipedal humanoid just longer. Their limbs stretched further than a human's would and they seemed to have tentacles interspersed in their glass-like hair. Their skin was peachy and the edges of their face and down the sides of their neck were speckled in a way that reminded her of tiger lilies.

She swallowed, though her throat suddenly felt dry.

"You've got this, auntie," Robin encouraged.

"How can I help you?"

There was the sound of an engine behind her before Warden's familiar tread announced their arrival.

"You can concede."

She frowned.

"I didn't realize that we were competing."

Warden stopped a few yards away, watching the proceedings, a hand on her taser but not drawing yet.

"We are not." They waved a hand behind them as they stepped out of the way. "We are only here to collect you."

Ice slid down her back as she glanced back to see Rook coming up next to Warden.

"I'm dropping Mercy off by the GCPD. Should I hang back, too, or…?"

"Go ahead and hang back, Robin. Make sure they don't see Mercy."

"Why would I go with you?" She waved a subtle hand down by her side at her niblings, telling them to stay back.

"We won't return your families until you do."

Huntrix's eyes hardened beneath her mask.

"Where are they?"

The stranger cocked their head in a very familiar way, like all those uppity idiots at parties she had gone to with her parents, who all thought she was stupid.

"We split reality around your planet and placed theirs into a pocket dimension. We will return them as soon as you concede."

"What would you do with us?"

They smiled warmly. Like a hungry alligator.

"We will feed you, clothe you, give you warm homes. All you have to do is serve us."

From behind her, Huntrix heard Warden unholster her taser and didn't blame her one bit but still waved her down.

"Slavery. You want us as slaves. Why."

"You can't expect us to do everything for ourselves, can you? Besides, we made sure to only leave the healthiest and most able to serve us." They sounded almost motherly in the way that a porcelain doll seemed almost like a baby. "Now, gather the others in this city and we will go."

"No." She couldn't keep the disgust out of her voice as she stepped back. "Absolutely not."

"Say the word," Sybil assured. "Superboy can be there in seconds and there are others on standby at the Watchtower zeta tubes."

Huntrix set her jaw.

"You aren't taking anyone," she growled.

They began to speak but Huntrix interrupted them.

"No. You will not be taking anyone." She took a step forward. "This planet is under the protection of the Justice League and we will not allow you to harm anyone and, yes, slavery is harm." 

Their pale blue eyes softened.

"I have tried to be kind. If I must ask again, I won't be as patient."

"If you ask again, neither will we." Huntrix lifted a hand and snapped her fingers.

Warden's taser came up, pointed straight at the alien's chest, while Rook extended her bo staff and settled into a defensive position.

"That is unfortunate." 

Suddenly they surged forward, arm outstretched for Huntrix. 

Without thinking she grabbed the arm, twisting around it and under their body, slamming them onto their back.

Rook held her bo staff to their throat while Warden moved to position herself between them and the shuttle's open door.

A gust of wind nearly knocked her over and Superboy was in front of her.

"Are you alright?" 

She nodded, suddenly feeling slightly sick but hungry. Her fingertips ached and there was a tightness in her jaw, but she would be fine. 

He looked at her funny for a moment before he turned towards the person who'd attacked her.

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave the solar system." He stared them down with an intensity he hadn't shown until then. "As my colleague already informed you, Earth is closed to visitors and you've already proven yourself hostile."

"If you don't cooperate, you will never see your families again." Their threat may have held more weight if they hadn't been flat on their back.

"We'll see about that." He motioned for Rook to back away and the alien stood, brushing themself off with an air of decorum before marching back up into the shuttle.

They waited until they flew away before everyone except Huntrix deflated. 

"You weren't supposed to come." Between the adrenaline and that incessant itching under her skin, all she wanted was to scream and bite, so she turned it all on Superboy.

He looked at her in that odd way again before he shrunk in on himself a little, baring his throat.

"I'm sorry, I saw them going after you and made a call." He looked over at her nieces for a moment before smiling back at her without teeth. "Most people freeze at their first contact with hostile aliens, but I'm glad you guys were prepared."

She bristled at the idea they wouldn't be prepared, but took a deep breath and tried to let it go.

"Thank you. For trying to help." 

He smiled happily and scuffed his shoe against the concrete.

"We need a plan." 

He looked back up at her. 

"Oh, yeah, we should get the core group up to the Watchtower." 

She nodded and turned slightly away.

"Sybil?" 

"Yep, already on it. Kidemona and Aqualad are already there. Dante, Robbie, and Ace should be there any minute." 

"Alright, we'll be there soon." She turned to Warden and Rook. "You two meet up with Robin and Mercy and make sure they get home safe. I'll let you know what the plan is when I get back."

They both gave twin nods before jumping back to their bikes and speeding off. 

"Do you mind if I come with?" He jerked his thumb at her bike. "We can share a zeta." 

She huffed but nodded as she put on her helmet, heading for the pier down the road that housed the nearest zeta. 

Chapter Text

Ace met them in the zeta room. The thirteen year old just sighed when he saw them, hands on his hips.

"An alien invasion."

"Yep." Superboy's mouth curled up on one side.

Ace rolled his eyes and turned to head back to the main meeting room.

"Sure, why not?" He shook his head again.

Huntrix marched along behind Superboy as they followed, hands fisted at her sides and hunched in on herself. She now understood the usefulness of a cape; she just wanted to hide.

There were greetings thrown her way by the others as she slipped in behind the boys and took a seat.

Aqualass, Kidemona, Robbie, and Dante rounded out the rest of the core group and appeared to be rewatching the footage from that night.

"Maybe you could have been a bit more diplomatic, but I can't say I wouldn't have done the same," Aqualass offered her.

Huntrix sat silently but gave a short nod.

She sat and let the conversation wash over her. She couldn't think of anything else that might add to the conversation and the others didn't seem to want to ask her opinion, although they did seem to be sneaking looks at her out of the corner of their eye every so often.

"We can't give into their demands. That is nonnegotiable." Aqualass placed a hand flat on the table.

"Obviously," Ace responded. "But they're not going to be happy about it."

"And we still need to figure out what exactly they did to begin with," Superboy agreed.

Kidemona and Aqualass began discussing the possibilities of a peaceful diplomacy, but it was generally agreed that that was highly unlikely.

"Do we even know who they are?"

Kidemona shook her head.

"Sybil sent up everything she had, but neither the species nor the symbol on the side of their ship are in any database."

"Did you send the video to my sister?"

"Yes, Supergirl checked the Fortress' database and there's no record of either that she could tell, but she said that there seemed to be Parental Locks on much of the database."

Superboy frowned.

"This'd be a lot easier if we had the robots to help us," he mused.

Kidemona patted his arm.

"I think we should wait for them to make the next move."

There were murmurs of agreement around the table.

"Prepare while we wait," Ace recommended. "Should we warn people, too?"

Kidemona hummed noncommittaly.

"Someone must have seen them flying overhead and we can't guarantee that no one was on the street tonight, so we have to assume that word's going to get out."

"But won't people panic?" Robbie asked.

"Exactly why we need to get ahead of this."

Dante leaned forward and cleared his throat.

"We could tell them the truth, just gently."

Aqualass nodded.

"Tell them that Huntrix met with one of the people responsible for our predicament and that there was an altercation, but that there are protections in place."

"Why Gotham, though?" Robbie asked. "There are other places to go with way more people."

"Gotham has the most infrastructure right now," Ace suggested. "Maybe they went after the city that would be the least likely to give in to their demands so that when they did it would make everyone else give up before they even tried."

They were all quiet for a moment as they thought over the potential of that theory.

Huntrix felt a sharp pain in her tongue, having punctured it with a tooth, but stayed silent.

The group wrapped up the discussion, deciding that Kidemona would write the message and release it immediately while everyone else went home and started preparations for whatever came next.

Huntrix quietly stood and left as soon as they were released, speeding down the hall as fast as she could without running. Her palms hurt with how tight she held her fists, nails digging through her gloves. She still felt sick to her stomach and her teeth felt sharper against the insides of her lips.

Superboy slid into the space beside and subtly put a hand on her bicep.

"Come with me." He maneuvered her down a side hallway and turned down another hall a few doors down before stopping in front of a door. He let go of her arm before opening the door and gesturing her inside.

She stepped inside and stopped a few feet in, turning to face him with her hands still in fists.

The room was pretty bare but showed signs of being lived in. There was a bed with the blankets rumpled but pulled up in a semblance of being made and a small stack of comic books on a table by the window. The stars outside provided some light, but Superboy reached over and turned up a lamp before shutting the door, casting shadows from a Metropolis Meteors jacket hanging on the back.

Superboy twisted his hands in front of him, eyes darting here and there around the room but never settling on her face.

"Why'd you bring me here?" She hissed, head angled down.

"I wanted to talk," he shrugged. "You've been… off, all night. I wanted to let you know that you can tell me and it'll stay just between you and me."

Huntrix squinted at him. He seemed… smaller somehow. Like he'd taken off Superboy and was just Jon now.

Helena sighed, deflating a little, closing the eyes behind her mask.

"I'm fine, just tired."

Jon was quiet for a moment before he ducked his head, trying to get her to look up.

"Will you show me your hands?

She tried not to flinch, but knew he'd caught it. Stupid super-senses.

"You don't have to, but you're bleeding." He nodded to a spot on the floor next to her where a drop had landed on the carpet. "Like I said, nothing will leave this room if you don't want it to."

Helena dropped onto the end of the bed, finally unclenching her hands and holding them palm up in her lap.

Her nails had completely punctured the fingertips and looked dipped in crimson from where they'd punctured the gloves again going into her palms. She felt her bottom lip wobble and her eyes burn.

Jon breathed in slowly, holding it for a moment before letting it out again and stepping closer. He knelt in front of her and pulled out a small kit from under the bed.

She frowned.

"I thought you were bulletproof."

He shrugged, opening the kit and pulling out disinfectant and bandages.

"I got hurt sometimes, when I first got my powers. They would come and go and I'd end up getting scratches or, once, a really bad splinter. I still keep the kit around, just in case."

She hummed as he helped her remove the gloves. She stared at the tiny, pre-teen hands underneath the bulky gloves that made them seem so much smaller in comparison.

"So." He started cleaning the punctures. She didn't even hiss at the pain. "You're a meta."

She swallowed the lump in her throat.

"Yeah."

He reached down to open another alcohol wipe for one of her hands, giving her time to reach up and peel off her mask. He looked up and she knew what he was seeing: Ignoring the pieces of glue left behind from the mask, there were her brassy eyes, so different from her usual brown, surrounded by black sclera. She'd seen herself a few times in bathroom mirrors so she knew he could see the tips of fangs poking out from behind her lips.

"Huh. Neat." He refocused back on his task.

A quiet laugh burst out of her.

"That's it? 'Neat?'"

He shrugged again and they lapsed back into silence.

"You know, you don't have to do that," she murmured after a minute. "I've never gotten an infection and they'll heal before I can even make it home."

"Doesn't mean someone can't take care of them." He didn't even look up, just started wrapping gauze around her palms.

She scoffed, but there wasn't any heart in it.

A half-smile appeared on his lips.

"So, I guess no one else knows?" He glanced up at her silence, tacking the end down and moving on to her other hand. "Your dad would have found somebody to train you if he knew and your family hasn't said anything about any of you having powers, so I can only guess you've been keeping it a secret."

"Yeah." Her voice was so small, almost just a breath, and she hated it. It made her feel weak.

"Okay." He tacked down the last end of the gauze and stood before he handed her gloves back with a smile. "Your secret's safe with me."

Helena just stared, not taking her gloves back.

His smile slipped a little and he knelt again.

"Why?"

His brow furrowed, smile stopping completely as he thought for a moment.

"Pa always says being kind is the real punk rock. Keeping your secret, even if I don't understand why, seems like the kindest thing I can do." He looked up, offering her gloves again. "Besides, we're friends. And I have your back."

The tears started to fall so she could barely make out the slightly panicked look Jon wore before he pulled her into a hug.

Chapter Text

The duo sat on the floor, a pint of ice cream between them that Jon had pilfered from the kitchens.

Jon had explained after she stopped crying that this was technically his room. His pa had set it up for him after he started tagging along for monitor duty in case he got tired or bored.

The two had started sharing family stories, mostly farm stories from Jon, which surprised Helena. But she'd always wanted to get out of the city and loved hearing about what it was like when the nearest house was miles away. She couldn't imagine life without being able to hear sirens as she slept.

"Why did you want to be Superboy?"

His eyebrows pulled together again before he spoke around his ice cream.

"I grew up being taught that you should always help people any way you can." He swallowed. "Mom and Pa are reporters and they used that to bring attention to important things like charities that need help and companies that aren't following environmental safety regulations. Mom even got Lex Luthor put in jail 'cause of an article once. I always thought I'd be a reporter when I grew up, or maybe a firefighter.

"When I found out I had superpowers, it just seemed like that was another way I could help. It felt wrong to not try, so Pa agreed to teach me. He said he wanted to make sure I learned from his mistakes so I'd have the tools to avoid them so I could make my own mistakes." He smiled warmly before taking another bite of the mostly empty pint.

Helena set her spoon down and flexed her hand. She started to unwind the gauze.

"What about you?" He set the container aside with their spoons sticking out of it. "Would you have chosen this if you'd found out some other way?"

She hummed in thought, placing the gauze aside and studying the unmarred skin of her palm.

"I don't know. I was taught the same thing, but…" She thought about how she first found out she was a meta, the rage that made her want to throw her friend's father through a window before she went running home and holed up in her room. "I never thought the world was fair enough. People were too cruel and all of the rules were stacked against anyone who tried to follow them."

She sighed, curling her fingers and watching her claws extend at the memory, the smell of blood clinging to her fingers even if it had been cleaned over an hour ago.

"Someone like me doesn't deserve to be a hero."

A spoon smacked her forehead.

"Hey!" She brought a hand to the spot, staring in confusion at her friend.

Jon sat across from her, holding the offending implement in his hand and frowning harder than she'd ever seen.

"Stop that." He waggled the minor weapon. "You're just as good as any of us, whether you believe it or not."

She huffed a laugh, still rubbing at her forehead.

"Alright, if you say so."

"I do," he said definitively. "And I think you should start training."

She frowned again.

"I already train; every day."

"I meant with your powers," he corrected, motioning to her hands. "I'll work with you myself. We can lock down one of the gyms and no one else will ever see, but you should at least know what you're capable of in case there's an emergency and you have to use them."

She chewed her lip, knowing he was right, but…

"I don't want to hurt anybody."

He nodded.

"Even more of a reason to practice." He stopped and offered an understanding smile. "You don't have to if you don't want to; we can always just sit and eat some more ice cream."

She breathed a laugh before sobering again.

"I just- My gloves. They're not just fabric." She glanced at the objects in question, holes showing through the kevlar weave.

He hummed in understanding.

"Ah, well, our dads figured out a way to spar without hurting each other, so we'll just have to find what works for us." He grinned. "I am a little tougher than your gloves, though."

She hummed noncommittally to tease him. He laughed in response before climbing up to throw away their trash.

"Superboy," the comms overhead announced in Ace's voice.

Jon dropped the carton in the trash and touched the wall panel.

"Superboy here."

"They're back and there's more of 'em. Rook reported that they're trying to round up a neighborhood in the Bowery."

Helena suddenly found herself on her feet and at the panel.

"Tell her we'll be right there."

Chapter Text

Huntrix held tight around Superboy's neck, riding in his arms bridal style through the air as they raced towards the smoke on the horizon.

"It's just a signal flare," she yelled above the wind. "Drop us down right next to it."

Superboy swooped in and landed next to a small crowd of kids behind a makeshift barricade in an alley. The early dawn light glinted off a few guns and more than a few knives. One kid had a meat cleaver at the ready.

"Status report." Huntrix hopped down from his arms and marched over to the kids.

"Rook made it to the others before they were pushed back into the Knightsdome," someone came running up with a two-way radio. She looked almost ready to cry but was stoically holding it together as a small child held onto her pant leg.

Huntrix nodded and touched her earpiece.

"Rook, what's your status?"

"I was helping unload a truck of supplies when this ship landed. They came out with guns and ordered everyone into the ship." Grunting sounds and something scraping on concrete. "We managed to hold them off long enough for everyone to get inside. We just finished barricading all the doors, but I don't know how long that'll hold."

"The others are on their way. Orders?" Sybil's voice was a welcome interruption.

"Tell them to surround the area but stay back. Stealth priority." She peeked through a hole in the barricade. "Threat assessment only. Rook, I want you to see if you can find any entry into the sewers; they seem to only be aware of above-ground entry."

"You're the boss."

"How can I help?" Superboy stood behind her, the children leaving a wide berth between themselves and the outsider.

Huntrix thought for a moment before turning her attention back to her comms.

"Sybil, you're in charge. Superboy and I are going to try diplomacy." She turned to the civilians. "I need you all to stay here, alright? Stay low and quiet and we'll all get out of this alive."

She looked down at a pat on her leg to see a small boy, no older than Rima, looking up at her with big, wet, brown eyes.

"What about you?"

She bent down and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Superboy is going with me; he'll keep me safe."

He looked over at the older boy in question skeptically, but didn't argue other than a quiet mumble about Metropolis.

Superboy scooped her up again before taking them up and over the barricade, landing a few dozen yards away from the armed soldiers.

They were all similar enough to the one they met last night, but were different in the same way that humans were all uniquely different from each other.

An alien dressed in light armor but more formally than a common soldier and with flowing robe-like fabrics under the plates stood closer to the shuttle with guards positioned on either side of them.

"Excuse me," Superboy called, causing everyone to turn towards them, including the soldiers attempting to break down a fire door that Rook must have triggered to keep them out. "Pardon me, but I believe that's private property so I'm going to have to ask you not to damage it."

"Ah, two of the Justice League's whelps," they sighed like Superboy was a particularly annoying fly. "What do you want, child?"

Superboy opened his mouth and closed it almost immediately, frowning in confusion.

"Would you mind not terrorizing the civilians?" Huntrix stood with her fists on her hips. "We already told your associate that we reject your offer."

They outright laughed, a deep, rumbling noise that felt heavy and oppressive somehow.

"You did, that is true." They turned back to their ship, waving a hand over their shoulder at the soldiers. "Kill anyone who resists."

Two soldiers, faces hidden behind helmets, raised their weapons at the duo. They dove out of the way in opposite directions just in time to miss the strange, blue-grey energy bolts. Huntrix looked back just once to see a burning divot in the concrete where they had hit.

"Hostile contact," she reported to the comms. "Unknown range to their energy weapons, but do not get hit."

She leapt to her feet and went running, feinted a left before leaping into the air to the right with a twist, pulling a whip from her belt and striking at the nearest soldier's weapon.

They tried to fire, but the shot went wide and there was a small shout followed by a "we're good" from the barricade.

She used the whip to pull herself closer, landing in a roll and coming up to twist the gun out of their hands.

She finished with a grip to their head and a twist to slam them bodily into the ground. They groaned and didn't rise again.

She turned back to see Superboy doing the same with a little more care and the rest of the soldiers turning one by one to come to their comrades' aid.

Huntrix ran at Superboy who picked her up and threw her towards the back, hoping to surround them.

Warden came in from the East with a Gotham Knights bat to the face of one while Rook came from the opposite direction with her bo staff.

Robin hopped down from above somewhere and landed on a head, twisting their helmet around in a way that was probably painful and definitely blinding.

Huntrix tried to keep an eye on her family members, but stayed constantly preoccupied with her opponents for what felt like forever.

Finally, the soldiers started grabbing their fallen colleagues and retreated to their ship.

Huntrix glanced towards the others to see that Robin and Warden had collected all the weapons they could and were essentially walking armories at this point.

As the soldiers retreated, she caught the acidic glare from the leader before they disappeared behind the crowding swarm. If looks could kill …

Cheers erupted from the barricades, Mercy swooping in to provide first aid. 

Huntrix couldn't help but feel like their celebration was a little premature. 

Chapter Text

Rook had taken the weapons back to Sybil for analysis and the others had gone to do their morning rounds before stopping in various family safe houses around the city for naps.

Helena opted to go straight home after not sleeping in a little over 24 hours. (Plus Superboy insisted. He was going to go home and sleep while his sister took over his morning shift in Metropolis, so at least he wasn't being hypocritical about it)

Kidemona had sent out an alert to the rest of the League warning them to watch out for any more attempted abductions with orders to immediately call in for backup if they were spotted.

Helena twisted the screwdriver on her latest project, tightening the last rod into place. The energy turbines in the river were working just fine, but they couldn't rely on just those if she wanted to put up force field generators in more than a few locations. They should probably focus on protecting the more populated areas and the warehouses the RAS had been using for supplies.

Her phone rang and she picked it up without looking.

"Yeah?" 

"Helena?" 

Helena straightened up from her hunch, clearing her throat at Reshma's voice.

"Hey, are you alright?" 

"Yeah, sorry, I've just been working on something. What's up?" 

"Okay," she answered, obviously suspicious. "I was wondering if you could send a message to the Justice League."

Helena set the screwdriver in its drawer and pulled down her tablet, opening up the League's message app.

"Sure, what's going on?" 

"Some of the RAS wanted to talk to them about a neighborhood watch type of thing." There was some shuffling, like papers being around in what used to be her mom's office. "I think I've talked them down from the full-blown militia idea, but they really want to have kids lookouts and plans in place since the Bats can't always be everywhere at once." 

Helena hummed as she took notes.

"It could be a good idea, but I don't think anyone wants kids in danger." She sent the basics to her group chat with Kidemona and Superboy.

"We're all in danger and they're kids, too. If we can't have our ideal situation, we can at least work with what we've got." 

Helena sighed, knowing Reshma was right.

Her tablet pinged with responses, suggesting a meeting between the city leaders and the League's leaders.

She informed Reshma and they decided on that evening with enough time for everyone to get home before dark.

"You'll be here, right?"

Helena froze, thinking quickly.

"I wish I could, but I already have a meeting. I've been telling other cities what we've done here and helping figure out what works for them so I have to meet them tonight. Time zone differences, ya know?"

Reshma hummed in understanding.

"That's fair. But we'll have Huntrix there to keep Metropolis from getting all holier than thou, so we should be okay."

Helena silently sighed.

"Don't worry, she just wants what's best for our city."

They exchanged the usual pleasantries before Helena finally got to hang up and slam her forehead onto the worktable. 

"Ow."

A man's chuckle sounded. An adult man's chuckle.

She shot to her feet in a fighting stance but saw nothing.

"Who's there?"

She turned around in a circle but didn't see anything until she looked up and saw what she had thought was a work light up in a far corner. It flickered and suddenly there was a man standing over on the platform with the computer.

"Grandpa?"

Alfred Pennyworth stood, cane in hand in front of him, and a polite smile on his face. He was much younger than she had last seen him before he died, less greys and a straighter back, but still on the older side. He looked like he had in pictures from twenty years ago, if she had to guess.

Helena went to circle around the platforms to move closer and noticed that he was slightly transparent, not quite physically there, and there was a slight hint of light shining from the transmitter.

"Hello, little one," he smiled softly. "I am not Alfred Pennyworth as you knew him, no, but I am an approximation; a shadow of sorts." 

"You're a holographic projection." She stepped closer, studying him. He wasn't quite right, little details here and there feeling like the smudged edges of a memory.

"Your father designed me after an incident where he almost died," he spoke as she studied him. "He was afraid of leaving you alone, so he took the scans of Alfred Pennyworth's brain that had been made many years ago after another incident where he nearly died. They were the base for my programming as a guide for you children." 

She stopped in front of him again, crossing her arms.

"So why are you here now? We could've used your help weeks ago." 

He hummed. 

"I believe Miss Mary accidentally triggered my program when she was trying to gain access to other systems. I have spent the last few hours reviewing security footage for the Cave and getting up-to-date with recent events." He tapped a finger on his cane twice. "I do believe my program was deemed incomplete and therefore not included in the emergency or defensive protocols, so she may not have even noticed."

Helena hummed, nodding as he spoke. 

"Were you supposed to be? Part of those protocols, I mean."

He nodded once. 

"I was. I believe the intention was to give me control of both the Cave and Tower's defensive systems with Zero Hour access to the Watchtower."

Helena slipped around him to open his program on the computer.

"It looks like you're complete, everything from security protocols to caretaking." She read through an attached file of notes her father had made. "It looks like you just needed to be granted access to the other systems. The last thing that was opened was your appearance."

He hummed, looking sad.

"Yes, well, I suppose that that's that then." He folded an arm behind his back and held his cane to the side in the other. "What would you have me do, Miss Helena?"

She glanced back to her force field generators and the map of Gotham on the wall.

"How many places can you be at once?"