| Superman's Sister | b.w.

4 | f o u r

4 | Shadows

THE night of the gala, Bruce made his way into the Batcave while grumbling to himself. He'd lost the biggest piece of evidence that was going to help him with this, what seemed like, impossible puzzle. Sitting in his chair, he ran a hand through his graying hair and looked at the blank screen in deep thought.

To his annoyance, his mind wandered to the reporter that he wanted to dance with earlier in the evening. Not expecting her to be so sassy and snarky, but did it with some type of class.

He could tell she was tired from the way she tried to hide the obvious dark bags from under her eyes. Besides the fact that she looked absolutely amazing in that blue dress, he just couldn't come to a conclusion on why she was so guarded. It annoyed the detective that he couldn't read her like he does other people, she's a harder puzzle.

Of course, he was not one to judge. He dressed up as a giant bat every night and prowled around Gotham City. He could tell he was a little rude about how he approached her. He should have noticed the sound in her voice when they first met each other.

She sounded so unimpressed. He was usually one to read people so easily but he was just off his game.

Bruce typed away at his keyboard with speed. Jessica Kent was what found its way into the search bar. He was curious about who this woman was, big time. His current relationship with Selina Kyle was starting to become almost... painful.

With the loss of Jason and struggling with the amount of work from Wayne Inc. to being Bruce Wayne and Batman were starting to take a toll on the man.

Although he wouldn't trade being Batman for the world, he just wished he could drop Bruce Wayne. That little boy died along with his parents all those years ago.

The computer came up with only one result. Clicking on her file, he began to investigate curiously. "Jessica Alieen Kent... graduate valedictorian of Smallville high?" He hummed in surprise. "Valedictorian? I'm impressed." He continued on. "Graduated with a doctorate and head of class from the department of Science, human, and technology but a journalist at the Daily Planet?" He tapped his chin. That one didn't make sense. "Why would you give up science for a journalist job? Not much to uncover about you is there?" Bruce mumbled to himself.

One thing, in particular, did surprise him, what surprised him was her birth certificate. April 18th, 1986. The day the Meteor showers happened in Smallville, her hometown. He decided to do some more digging, maybe there was more than what he thinks. He typed in exactly that: Smallville Meteor Showers, 1986. Multiple files popped up onto his screen as Bruce began to click onto them.

TEEN GIRL MORPHS INTO THE BODY OF LIONEL LUTHER.

LESLIE WILLIS BLAMES SMALLVILLE METEOR SHOWER FOR LOW RATINGS. TRIES TO KILL LIONEL LUTHER.

TWINS FOUND BY MARRIED COUPLE.

Oh? That piqued Bruce's interest. He clicked into the article, studying the picture that was plastered on the front. It was of two children, wrapped in a blanket, in the arms of the married couple. They were twins for sure, same height, same nose, eyes, everything.

Bruce then suddenly realized why those eyes felt familiar. He remembered that it was the same newspaper his father was reading the morning his parents were murdered. "You were orphaned..." He leaned back into his seat. "Just like me."

He rubbed the back of his neck tiredly and looked back at the screen. He turned off everything in the cave and headed upstairs to get some sleep. He just hoped the night terrors didn't find it's way to his dreams.

BATMAN, a visibly more aged Batman, steps out of a set of heavy metal doors in desert clothing over his cowl. He walked out onto the sandy cliff, the wind running past pushing up the beige material; causing a storm of itchy sand. Bruce scanned his eyes over the landscape, rows, and rows of skinless buildings that have been abandoned. The door he walked out was one of a stone bunker in a seemingly desertic location, covered in ruins and barbed wire.

Pillars of fire similar to volcanoes surround the area. Bruce looks through a pair of binoculars. A fleet of trucks arrive in the ruin compound. Bruce walked down the way he came and trudged through the mountains of sand. He approaches a truck as its back door opens. Having a brown trench coat on, he walked up to a man and asked a question. "Do you have it?" He asked. "The rock?"

"Yes, follow me."

Batman hesitantly walked into the truck, this shipment that was in this truck could be the key to ending this god awful war. Before Bruce could realize what was happening, he looked into the container to see nothing but wires connected to a green bulb. The clicking of a gun is what alerted him.

"I'm sorry..." The man whispered as Bruce raised his arms in surrender. This was a trap. Troopers with the Super Twins emblems as shoulder patches reveal themselves to Batman and his allies.

Another soldier points his rifle at Bruce. He holds his hands up, and by turning around sees his men being executed."No!" He screamed, kicking the false lightbulb into the man that was holding him at gunpoint.

Angered, he begins a killing spree, gunning down and brutally beating the multiple Troopers working for Superman. Although he manages to take down most of them while big bug-like creatures, their teeth were sharp, skin scaly, and their smell for fear stronger than any other, invade the area and abduct many of his resistance fighters, Batman is overwhelmed by the remaining troopers, who could barely restrain him. He snaps one of their necks but then is brutally beaten down and restrained by the other troopers.

Seeing the damage that Batman was inflicting on the troopers and their inability to restrain him, one of the monsters knocked him unconscious.

It wasn't until Bruce snapped his eyes open with his arms above his head a few hours later to realize the trouble he was in. He thought it was all a horrific nightmare.

He recuperates chained up in the bunker with his remaining allies, eyeing them helplessly.

Superman himself lands in the bunker, and his troopers, reverently, bow before their leader. He approaches Batman, swiftly murdering the other allies with his heat vision. Bruce was certain his sins were about to be cashed in today. What he did could have been avoided. Now, he needed to fix his mistakes but now it was too late. He was a dead man walking.

Superman then unmasks the infuriated vigilante with a scowl. Bruce was breathing heavily, staring his enemy in the face. Clark looked to the mask in his hand then dropped it to the floor. "She was my world... My other half..." He swallowed the lump in his throat. "and you took her from me." Batman looked shocked then his expression changed when he saw Superman's expression change from sad and regret and back to anger. "And now..." He placed his hand over Bruce's symbol of what he believed to be justice. "I'll take what's most valuable to you."

Superman yanked his hand back and plunged it into Batman's chest. Bruce screamed in agony as the dream changed, with his eyes still squeezed shut, he opened them and ran his hand over his chest.

No hole.

Bruce was standing on the street of Gotham. He looked to see a couple coming out of the distance. He noticed them getting closer and was able to make out who they were. It was him and the reporter from the gala. He was confused about the whole situation until he got the picture.

He was going to ask them a question when he saw it. A mugger appeared out of the shadows, a gun pointed at their direction. Bruce pushed her behind him with narrowed eyes.

As Bruce watched from the alleyway, the snapping of something from where he was caught the mugger's attention. Jessica took it upon herself to attack the mugger. The other Bruce went to jump in when the sound of a gunshot was heard. "No!"

The woman fell back into his arms as the mugger ran off. Bruce found himself now in his dream Bruce's place. He shockingly watched Jessica breathe words, her final words, out of her bloody mouth. "Be happy." She mumbled, her hand resting on his cheek.

"But, I don't..." He couldn't form a correct sentence.

"Don't let him win..."

"Who?"

"Don't let him create a monster..." With that, her eyes dilated, her skin became cold, her heart gave out, and the life from her was ripped away. Bruce felt the memory of his mother dying the same way.

A loud scream ripped from the confines of Bruce's soul, waking him up from his awful nightmare.

A nightmare that was a warning.

BRUCE awoke from this nightmare to find a distorted and unstable blue portal of electricity right in front of him. It appeared from the corner of the cave, papers flew everywhere, creating a mess that Alfred would scold him for. Inside it is a mysterious time traveler, a man, in all red, was reaching out to him.

"Bruce!" The voice echoed. "It's her, Bruce, it's Jessica!" Bruce watched the man with a confused stare. What was he talking about? "Am I too early? I'm too early!" He hissed to himself. "You were right about everything. Fear him!"

As if in a blink of an eye, Bruce yet again woke up from the never-ending dream. He ran a hand through his hair. He was confused about the entire matter, what was happening to him?

FOR the rest of the time he spent in bed, with this woman he had no reception of bringing home, Bruce couldn't seem to get the dreams out of his head. This.mysterious reporter was plaguing his mind. Superman killed him, most likely over the reporter, and the man in red with his warning.

Bruce shook his head and looked at his watch, a dream, it was nothing but a dream. "1:30..." He sighed and rubbed his face. The white bedsheets beneath him were wrinkled and sprawled out in different directions, his pillows tossed onto the floor. He then realized who he had, in fact, slept with, reporter Vicki Vale. He was in for a serious s**t show with her for sure once she found him not in bed with her.

He began to think about it, if Jessica is important. Should he get to know her? Put his detective skills to work?

He rolled out of bed and headed down to the cave. He felt a bit like a stalker in some way, but he needed to know. He needed to prevent the end of the world from Superman. Writing down her address from the computer, he suited up, hopped into the Batplane, and headed to Metropolis.

FINALLY making it home, Jessica dropped her shoes by her entryway and closed the door. She grumbled to herself at how bad the traffic was in Metropolis, you would think at close to midnight people would be off the streets. Jess dragged her feet to the bathroom, took a shower, and made sure to treat herself with hot water. She scrubbed all the makeup off her face, washed and combed her hair, brushed her teeth, and put on her pj's.

By the time she finished, it was already 1:30. Hungry, she wandered over to her kitchen and opened the fridge to see what goodness she could discover. Jess decided to settle on a plum, devouring it till only the seed was left. She licked her lips in happiness, throwing the seed out. She could always depend on food to make her happy.

Who needs a man when you have Olive Garden?

Jessica walked back to her room with a little skip in her step, she was finally going to get a good night's sleep. She didn't have to work until Tuesday, she was all set. She opened up her balcony doors that were inside of the room, allowing the cool air to enter her room.

She laid down on her comfortable bed and rolled the blankets up to her chin, the warmth engulfed her and she knocked out like a light.

No more than 20 minutes later, Jessica snapped her eyes open to a thud at her balcony. Jess placed her glasses on her face and climbed out of bed, slowly walking to where the sound was. The white transparent curtains of her room were blowing with the wind, creating an almost silhouette of the dark entity outside her room. When she pulled back the curtains, it was gone.

Absolutely confused, Jessica walked out to the terrace; the stone-cold underneath her bare feet. She could have sworn she saw someone out on her balcony. "I need to sleep..." She mumbled, turning around while rubbing her eyes under her glasses. She paused, when she noticed the shadow of a man, hanging upside down, engulf her frame.

Slowly looking up, there it was, hanging upside down like a bat. Jessica was ready to scream when the man wrapped its hand around her mouth. "Don't scream, I won't hurt you." He spoke gruffly. She frantically shook her head yes, she could use her powers but that would give her away. She had to comply unless absolutely necessary.

She scanned her eyes quickly over the man and noticed the symbol on his chest. The Batman. "I'm going to remove my hand now." The deep octave of his voice sent shivers down her spine. Jess stared into his chocolate eyes for a moment, he confused her like a jigsaw puzzle.

She didn't have that feeling as she did with Lex, he was different. Slowly, Jessica nodded her head yes. When he removed his gloved hand from her mouth, she instantly began to ask a question. She needed to figure him out and fast.

"What are you doing here?" The bat stayed unmoved in his position.

"I wanted to ask you a question." Jessica crossed her arms, her long, still damp, hair covering her shoulders. He disturbed her, well needed, sleep for a question?!

Bruce couldn't help but admire her. The way her right foot curved upward as all her weight rested on her left leg, her hips leaning to the same side. The moonlight illuminated her creamy skin in the right way, almost making her look like an angel.

"And what is that exactly?" She asked, snapping Bruce out of his thoughts. Back on track.

"What's special about you?"

"Excuse me?"

"Superman himself has taken a liking to you and the other female reporter, Lois Lane." He asked as Jessica slowly nodded her head.

"What's it to you?" She asked with a raised brow, she didn't like where this was going.

"Why do you trust him? After all, he's done? Along with his twin?"

"They try to help people to the best of their ability, I mean, I saw her kill his own kind to save a family from being killed." She explained. "If anything, those two are heroes to people like you, they're misunderstood." She narrowed her eyes at him, moving closer. "What have you done? Punish people by being the judge, jury, and executioner?" She snapped with sass.

That seemed to have struck a nerve with Bruce, the man jumped down to his feet with his cloak covering his boy, making him more menacing. "You don't know what I've done, what I've been through, what I've seen." He growled darkly. "Those people out there in Gotham are nothing you've seen before. They are murderers, s*x traffickers, pedophiles, and the list goes on. I do what's best for the people in Gotham! What have those twins done? Take people away from their families!" He bellowed with his hands clenched into tight fists. During their argument, Bruce was walking closer to her, leaving Jessica no choice but to walk backward.

"It's not like that!" She countered, feeling her back hit the thick stone ledge. "T-They didn't mean to cause all that destruction, it was Zod's doing!"

"That's what they told you? Are you that naive?" He spat. Jessica slapped him across the face, catching him off guard.

"You dare come into my home!" She hissed, going to push him away but Bruce grabbed her hands and pulled her closer to him.

"They are the real monsters. The sooner you realize that, the smarter you will be." He growled. Jessica looked up into his eyes to see he let his guard down. He was broken, he lost someone... people... too many for someone to stay sane. She looked down at his symbol to study it, it's seen things as well.

"Maybe... you're the one misunderstood." She mumbled, looking up at him. Bruce stiffened slightly at the feel of her fingertips running over his chest. He watched her intently, she was different from Selina, Talia, and Rachel. He barely knew her and felt so connected. He wanted to know her. He needed to know her.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"Trying to evaluate my next move."

"And that is?"

"Trying to see if you can be saved." Bruce looked away with a deep sigh, one he didn't want to let go. No wonder why the twins took such an interest in her, she tried to look for the good; no after who they were.

"Can I trust you?" He asked again.

She looked up to him with her bright blue eyes. "Well I can keep a secret, so yes, you can trust me." She whispered gently, the vibe hit her like a book to the face. He wasn't menacing nor was he as awful as some people make him. He was just a man looking to do the right thing. She felt herself move closer to him, grabbing his arms in her small hands. He hesitantly placed a hand on her waist, it was as if he couldn't control himself. "Can I trust you?"

"I've..." He looked away. "I've lost people... people who've trusted me." He mumbled with a sigh.

"Don't be hard on yourself, I've met people that trusted me. When you realize that you can't be god, that you can't save everyone, you won't blame yourself as much." Jess explained gently, sorrow in her blue eyes.

"That's why you're so special... " He started. "you don't give up. Even with every emotion going on in your head, nothing will stop you from helping someone else. You know what it's like to fee...-"

"Broken..." She mumbled, she felt herself leaning in closer to the giant bat she just met; he seemed to be doing the same. She thanked God for the Batman holding her up, if not, she would have fallen to the floor.

Her heart raced, her spine tingled, and her hip burned at the feeling of his hand on her at all. When she felt her nose brush against his masked one, felt his breath fanning over hers; there was knocking on her front door.

She began to panic, who was at her door at two in the morning? "Who's that?" Bruce asked, seeing Jessica was panicking.

"You need to hide!"

"Why?"

"When I open...-" She turned around to find him gone. "I'm gonna have to get used to that." She mumbled but took no time to wonder where he was. She calmly walked to the door the best she could and slightly opened the door. She had to pretend to be tired. She was met with her brother with his hands behind his back.

"Clark? What are you doing here so late?"

"I had a feeling you were in trouble."

"No, I-I'm fine." Jess heard a small whine. Confused, she crossed her arms. "Well Clark, if you missed me you could have just said so." He shook his head with a nervous chuckle.

"No, no, that wasn't me."

"Then what was it?"

"Well, I thought you would like some company."

"So?"

Clark pulls out a small white puppy from behind his back, to Jessica's surprise, its eyes lit up red. She started to freak out. "Oh my god, he's so cute!"

"While I was saving those people in Mexico, something else came up in a lab. People had run and left him in a cage. I noticed he could set things on fire with laser vision. I thought he was perfect for you, also to make up for being a not so good twin." He explained with his signature nerdy smile.

"Clark you shouldn't have..."

"Well, you're welcome. Now I'm gonna go home. Lois is probably wondering where I am." With that, he kissed her forehead goodnight and left for his apartment downstairs. Jessica smiled and took the small dog in her hands, she smiled and kissed his nose.

"I'm going to call you Krypto... the super dog." He wagged his little tail and put his paw on her face, licking her cheek as if in appreciation of finding him a home. Jess chuckled then went back inside. She nervously looked around, wondering if Batman was going to pop up out of nowhere. She used her X-Ray vision to look for his body heat.

When she found he wasn't there, she gave a sigh in disappointment. She looked down at Krypto to find him sleeping in her arms with his paws hanging off. Jessica carried him to her bed, placed him on the bed, and went to close the balcony doors. She paused, deciding it was best to leave it open. It was hot after all. She got in bed and put the blankets over herself and finally got some well-deserved sleep.

A few minutes after she had fallen asleep, Bruce quietly jumped down from his hiding spot on the roof. He looked to see her sleeping form on the bed, knocked out with a puppy right next to her. He stared at her for a moment before closing the doors to her balcony. He was addicted to this woman and he knew she was going to be the death of him. One way or another, he would protect her.

Even if his life depended on it.

THE next morning, Jess woke up to small little paws hitting her face. When Krypto noticed he wasn't getting anywhere, he began to lick at her face. Jessica laughed gently and picked up the small pup. "Alright, alright, I'm up, I'm up!"

She sat up with a yawn then placed him down onto the floor, Krypto's small little face was sniffing all over the place. "Well looks like you and I are going to Pet-Smart today."