Chapter Text
Some legends say that wings were gifted to humanity to bring them closer to heaven. It made it very easy for some to claim to be flightless, was to be cut off from god, and to be forever completely rejected from salvation in the afterlife.
Scientists say that winged beings had an evolutionary advantage due to a period of time long long ago when dangerous predators roamed the earth and climbed some of the tallest trees.
Some very “creative” people claimed wings were something given to people exactly 1,000 years ago by an alien dark lord named Urrox who would one day return to save them all once they’ve proven themselves worthy.
Bruce stirred in his sleep. He was harshly awoken to a harsh chill running up his spine and ripping him from the few precious hours of rest he had tried to force himself to claim. He opened one icey, silvery-blue eye and grumbled as he pulled his head from the pillow he had collapsed into. It was now decorated with a lovely drool stain that teased him with the prospect of the deep, restful sleep he had just been pulled from. He looked around at his dark oversized bedroom briefly as he rubbed his neck and stared at the blankets that now littered the floor. With a huff he turned to look over his shoulder and give a scathing gaze to the culprit… or rather culprits that had cast every bit of warmth from his body.
His own wings seemed to droop as if they had a mind of their own. A mind that Bruce was sure was dead set on making him as miserable and cold as possible. He looked at his phone that sat innocently on his bedside table. One glance and that light would rush into his eyes making it all the harder to attempt to fall back to sleep, but he reached over and grabbed it anyway, clicking it on to reveal a recent photo of him and his first adopted son – Dick Grayson - that Dick had insisted they take together. His eyes then fell on the time.
3:55 AM
“ Wonderful. A full hour of sleep. Has to be a record.” He thought sarcastically turning off his phone and rubbing his hands over his face.
He knew he was going to face a disappointed and worried look from Alfred. He tried to yank his covers back up over his form, but his mind had already begun to stir, already began to pace over cases to solve, upcoming meetings – promises he made that he intended to keep for once...
He tore his covers off and sent them flying off the king sized bed he had been rolling around on and pushed himself off and onto the cold floor – his wings dragged on the ground behind him like a loose cape that hung off his shoulder blades.
He stalked into the bathroom, flipping the light on and grimacing at the sudden bright lights that invaded his retinas.
The warmth of the water at his back as he put the shower on was more than welcome to chase away the bitter cold from his body.
He watched as a single black feather that had fallen from his wingspan circled the drain before stopping as it became caught in the metal. Bruce bent down and gingerly picked it up, rolling the wet feather in his hand absentmindedly.
His wings had been described as beautiful before, and maybe once he could have believed that. Not anymore. Not since the things that were supposed to protect him, supposed to keep him connected to everyone else, and let him soar into the clouds had failed him on that day – and failed him ever since then. He would never know the feeling of the wind whipping at his face as he flew through the sky ever again because of them.
He gripped the feather in his hand, feeling its delicate form snap and bend inside his fist, and carelessly tossed it into the waste bin on his way out of the bathroom.
----
Alfred, Bruce’s ever loyal and caring Butler that had been there for him his whole life - watched with weary eyes as Bruce stalked into the kitchen to fetch some coffee. Being the way that he was, he had already prepared some with the knowledge it was unlikely that Bruce would get any sleep at all.
No matter how much he hoped he’d allow himself rest, Alfred knew quite well that was naive of him to still believe in such a thing. All the hope in the world couldn’t make Batman rest it seemed.
"Trouble sleeping again Master Bruce?" He asked in a hushed voice.
Bruce nodded and sipped his coffee with a slight grunt. "Had a chill, damned things knocked my covers off again." He complained, curling said "damned things" up against his back.
"Perhaps you would have an easier time with them if you weren't so rude to them." Alfred quipped, pulling several eggs out to cook an early breakfast.
Even if Bruce wasn’t going to sleep he was going to make damn sure he had a proper meal.
"What have they ever done for me?" Bruce rolled his eyes with a huff - which Alfred recognized as Bruce's way of showing mild amusement even if his lips didn't curl up for many things these days.
"There's a league meeting today anyway, it's fine." Bruce said nonchalantly, trying to shrug off Alfred's look of slight disapproval that even now, as an adult, still managed to make the man feel a bit sheepish and guilty.
"Oh certainly, it's always good to be up and ready seven hours in advance." Alfred replied without hesitation.
“I do always like to be prepared.” Bruce said raising his coffee mug in a mock toast before smirking and stalking off to his cave.
Alfred frowned down at the pan of eggs that were nearly done, knowing he’d have to follow that man down all those stairs into the cave just to get him to eat. Calmly, he plated them along with fresh fruits and a few sausages.
On his way he stepped on something that gave a slight crunch under his foot. Balancing the tray with the breakfast on it effortlessly with one hand, he bent down and picked up a decently sized black feather… and soon realized several more were scattered along the floor leading down to the cave.
Once again, Superman and Wonder Woman were flying without Batman.
“ I’ll meet you there.” Batman had said firmly before turning his back to them.
“ B, wouldn’t it be better for us to go together?” He had said hopefully.
“ Is it urgent for me to be there right away?”
“ Well, no… but…”
“Then go, I have to get a solid grasp on the readings up here first.”
Clark bit his lip, staring at the ground below him for any sign of what could have been causing the strange energy readings the picked up in the watchtower satellite could have come from – but he was far from focused.
“Superman?” Diana asked, peering up at him from her flight path slightly below him.
Batman never flew with them or anyone else in the league. He would have thought that by now even someone like Bruce would trust them enough… trust him enough to want to…
“ Kal! ” Wonder Woman called right next to him, touching his shoulder to more insistently to knock the man out of his thoughts.
“Huh? What, did you see something?” He asked, scanning around trying to act like he had been paying attention.
Diana rolled her eyes and stopped her flight path, flapping her brown, gold and white spotted wings so she ‘hovered’ slightly in the air. Clark joined her out of concern for her suddenly stopping, though his gold and white wingspan was so massive it was hard for him to stay in one place by flapping, but one of his many abilities seemed to be the ability to hover to some degree and move in ways that wouldn’t come naturally to any human.
“You’re unfocused. What’s on your mind?” Diana demanded more than asked , crossing her arms.
“I’m not…” Superman began to argue but quickly found himself shutting his mouth as soon as he met Wonder Woman’s eyes. She only had to raise her eyebrows slightly for him to back down from his defensive stance.
“It’s just… Batman.” He admitted huffing and gliding in slight circles upside down around her thoughtfully before pausing again. “Doesn’t it bother you?”
“I’m sure he has his reasons.” The reasonable Diana replied very sure of herself. Though she then slowly closed her eyes and sighed. “But yes, it bothers me too.”
Clark relaxed his shoulders once it had been confirmed he wasn’t the only one feeling put down by Batman’s seeming refusal to share even one flight with his friends.
“I mean… we’re a team, we’ve all known each other long enough, right? Does…” Superman stopped right in the middle of his small rant, the thought had crossed his mind many times but he had never considered dwelling on it too long, and certainly not saying it out loud. He finally choked it out after a moment of struggling to allow the intrusive feelings to spill from his gut. “Does he just… not actually like us? What if he’s just using us, or he doesn’t actually care?”
Diana shook her head and put a hand on his shoulder. “Everything in me tells me that’s not the case. Bruce is…” She paused and looked up towards the sky in exasperation “ hard to read, but I could never believe he could have that level of distaste for us.”
They heard a few screams from the city down below them and immediately put their conversation on the back burner, speeding down to the source of the scream. They found a man on the ground trembling and covering his eyes.
Diana reached out to the man who flinched at first before growing wide eyed as he saw who it was. “Sir, it’s alright. We’re here to help.” She said calmly as she pulled him up to his feet.
Superman looked around, not immediately seeing any sign of a panic. “What did you see?”
The man looked even more startled as his head snapped around, eyes scanning all over wildly. “Wha… it was just there, I saw it! I swear!” He choked out, gripping at his own shirt like it was the only thing keeping him in one piece.
“Saw what ?” Diana asked again a little more insistently.
Superman whipped his head around as he heard another woman yell in surprise, the man followed the sound as well and yelped again soon after. “ That!”
They couldn’t blame the civilians for reacting in such a panicked way as more and more noticed the figure that stood - or rather seemed to float right there in the middle of the sidewalk. It was a shadow of something like a human form, with gaping white holes for eyes and a fuzzy white aura that gave off a slight fuzzy glow despite the negative pitch black space within its form. More of what was so startling about it was the feeling that settled in Superman and Wonder Woman’s stomachs as they gazed at it, waiting for whatever it was to make a first move. Both of them were struck by the incredible sense of panic that bit at the back of their minds like rabid dogs that whatever this was it wasn’t supposed to be there. Something about it caused an insatiable feeling that it shouldn’t be seen.
Superman nearly jumped and threw a punch as he suddenly became aware of a presence next to him, only to stop himself once he realized it was Batman who had seemingly caught up with them right out of nowhere.
“Is it attacking? I heard screams.” He asked, slowly raising his fists and arching his back in case he needed to fight.
Superman slowly shook his head. “No… it’s just… standing there.”
The figure slowly turned and glided towards them. It kept a steady pace, not seeming threatened or nervous - nor like it meant to attack.
Clark decided to walk towards it. It struck him that perhaps this was just a new being that didn’t mean any harm, and he should make a good impression or attempt diplomacy.
“Hello? can you understand m-?“ Clark began to ask, seemingly going in with an outstretched arm in a friendly gesture to meet the being’s stride -only to freeze as the being passed right through him and continued wandering down the street.
“Superman! Are you okay?” Batman asked rushing over to the perfectly still man scanning over him quickly.
Clark looked rather uncannily like a marble statue for a moment, lips curled slightly and jaw locked before he slowly began to move and slowly curled around himself, holding his own arms and pulling his wings around himself.
“Kal?” Diana asked attentively reaching towards him, sharing in Batman’s worry. She only took her eyes off Superman for a moment to look back at the unassuming being that just continued floating down the sidewalk.
Superman stayed still, Batman’s heart stopped for a moment when he realized the other man was shaking. In a slight panic – though of course being Batman, his worried panic manifested with a scowl and gritted teeth – he put a cautious hand on Superman’s shoulder, only to realize he was suddenly very cold to the touch. Even through his glove the skin underneath registered as inhumanly icy.
“He’s freezing.” Batman said out loud almost needing to confirm it to himself more than anyone else. One of the few key features that marked Clark as not being human was his core body temperature was decently higher than the average humans. Bruce had theorized in the past it might have something to do with the fact that he received a lot of power from the sun itself. For Superman to be freezing cold to the touch in any situation would send anyone who knew him at all into a panic.
Diana’s eyes darted to him in horror. “ Freezing? But he’s...”
“I know.” Batman grimaced before slightly nudging him towards Wonder Woman. Clark was still breathing, even if it was slow measured breaths as the man stared forward – completely unblinking. “Get him up into direct sunlight, I’m going to follow that thing and try to keep bystanders out of its path while I try to see what I can learn about it.” He ordered firmly, making himself let go of Clark’s shoulder as he began to sprint after the strange specter that had caused Superman to look so shaken. “If there are any more everyone should know not to make physical contact for the time being.”
“Got it. I’ll contact J’onn and update him too, see if he can find anyone in the league who might know something as well.” Wonder Woman added as she put an arm under Superman’s arms and effortlessly pulled the stiff man up onto her shoulder.
“Good idea.” Batman called back as he caught up with the shadow being that was still making its slow walk down the street.
Diana took off quickly leaving Batman who spread his arms and wings out a few paces in front of the being and barked to any civilians “Do not get near it!” A few people that hadn’t been paying attention flew up and far away from it, parents grabbing their children.
Batman pressed a hand to the communicator in his cowl as he continued to walk backwards a few paces in front of the thing to keep his eyes on it. “Alfred, can you hear me?”
“Loud and clear sir, is everything all right?” Alfred’s voice crackled slightly through his ear piece. Bruce wondered why he was going through to Alfred so clearly but his voice sounded so distant and slightly broken up in his ear.
“ Must have damaged the earpiece and not noticed…” He thought, deciding he would check it back in the cave.
“I need to give you a visual of what I’m seeing. I’m not sure what it is, my first guess is some sort of energy being. It walked right through Superman. He’s incredibly cold to the touch and seems shell-shocked. I had Diana get him out of here.” Bruce explained slowly.
He heard Alfred take off and move swiftly into the batcave to take a seat at the batcomputer where he turned on the connection between the computer and the camera in the batsuit.
“Good lord sir, looks right out of a horror film.” Alfred nearly fell over in his chair at the sight of the thing. “Suitably the only immediate results are cryptids and paranormal sightings.”
“Paranormal.” Bruce grimaced. The idea of the dead getting up to wander around again in any circumstance was not a thought he ever liked to dwell on.
Just then, the figure stopped. Seemingly crackling like static on an old TV like its connection with reality was fizzling out. It suddenly staggered, keeling over as it fell to the ground. Bruce quickly realized it was mimicking a movement like it had just been shot.
“Perhaps… it is a specter reliving its last moments.” Alfred pondered in his ear as the black and white form fell to the ground, the dark slowly becoming overrun with the white speckled glow before fading out of existence like it was never even there.
Bruce slowly nodded in agreement despite knowing Alfred couldn’t very well see him nod.
“Are you alright master Bruce?” Alfred asked slowly.
Bruce’s wings drooped as he stared forward at where the specter had been. Ignoring Alfred’s question he contacted Diana.
“It’s gone, is Superman alright?” He asked in a dull monotone.
“He’s… coming around. He’s not cold anymore but..”
“I’m okay… I’m okay… just…” Clark’s voice suddenly came over the intercom, Bruce could hear the shaky-ness in he voice as he struggled to form a coherent sentence but allowed himself a sigh of relief at hearing the other man speak.
“It stopped and fell to the ground like it had been sh… attacked then vanished.” Batman explained moving out of the public street. He reached over his shoulder, gripping onto his left wing and scanned around to be sure no more specters were wandering around as he did.
“Not to interrupt, but I’ve been speeding around and I’m seeing several more all over metropolis, I’m doing my best to move people out of the way.” The Flash’s voice joined in on the intercom. “Should we call Ghostbusters?” Barry added after a pause, trying to lighten the mood a little.
Batman rolled his eyes while Diana snickered.
“If only. I’d rather not deal with Ghosts.” Batman quipped in return.
“That would certainly explain it…” Superman said, still very slow in his response but significantly more coherent.
“What happened to you?” Diana asked. “To us it looked like you just... stopped functioning.”
“I’m having trouble putting it into words. It was just so cold . I suddenly felt so - miserable . Not even just that, It was like I came into contact with something I shouldn’t have.”
“Alfred suggested it could have been a spirit relieving its last moments based on the way it moved before vanishing. You may have felt what it had been feeling at the time.” Bruce hypothesized.
Even if Clark was physically unharmed he hated the idea of someone like him having to feel anything like that. Seeing Superman shake like that was as jarring and terrifying as watching an earthquake. Seeing earth and rock that seemed so solid and stable and safe suddenly ripple like water and break apart was something deeply unbelievable and unsettling.
Hesitantly he made himself ask: “Clark… are you sure you're okay?”
“Yeah… yeah I’ll be alright, thanks B. I’ll meet you back up at the tower.” Superman muttered.
“Roger that.” Bruce was unconvinced, but it wasn’t as if he was in any place to judge Clark for not wanting to admit to being very much not okay.
----
The core member meeting back in the Justice League watchtower had everyone bringing up more questions than answers. Apparently the magic users like Zatanna and Constantine had reported to not ever really witnessing dead spirits showing up like that randomly - Constantine specifically said it was less of a matter of someone bringing the dead back to life as much as someone just lifting the veil so the living could see what was already there.
“Is this some like M. Night Shyamalan Sixth Sense kind of stuff going on?” Green Lantern suggested. “Cause if that’s the case, we should be glad those things weren’t more clear otherwise we would have had a lot of traumatized people on our hands.”
“That isn’t just what happens when you die, is it? Just relive the same moment over and over?” Barry asked, bouncing his knee in accordance with his inability to sit still.
“I would hope not.” Bruce mumbled - not necessarily meaning to say it out loud. The thought of his parents reliving their death… or Jason … he clenched at his chest as he tried to force his mind to stay on track.
“In that movie the dead people reliving their last moments were going about it because they didn’t even realize they were dead.” Hal pointed out.
“Would you stop bringing up that damn movie that you spoiled for me?” Barry bit back.
“You're still mad about that Flash?!” Hal bit back with a ruffle his dark brown feathers. “Come on, it’s a 20 year old movie man! Everyone knows about that twist ending!”
“I don’t care! I didn’t know, and it ruined the whole thing for me!” Barry grumbled back raising his orangey-red wings that seemed to perfectly fit his speedster nature.
“ Focus . Both of you.” Batman growled causing Barry to jump and Hal to glare daggers at the dark knight.
“Superman, you haven’t said anything this whole time… are you sure you're al-” Wonder Woman began before Clark quickly interrupted her.
“I’m fine .” He barked suddenly.
Even Bruce took a few steps back upon seeing the look on Diana’s face from Clark taking such a petulant tone with her. She looked about ready to crush his head in her fist.
“ She could probably do it too.” Batman thought.
Superman immediately furrowed his brows and looked guilty from his sudden outburst. “I’m… sorry I didn’t mean for it to come out that way.”
“Now I know something is wrong. I expect that kind of attitude from Batman but never from you .” Diana said dropping her voice into a threatening tone as she slowly crossed his arms.
Batman would have been protesting any other day to her bite at Superman at his expense, but now didn’t seem like the time.
Superman slowly sunk down into his seat before leaning on the meeting table and putting his head in his hands. “I’m still a little shaken up I guess. It’s just… I felt him dying, and I don’t know… it was suddenly like someone I knew was dying.”
Diana’s gaze softened right as Bruce’s heart sank into his chest. Batman slowly stood up and crossed over to Superman, whose gaze snapped to him, watching the dark knight’s movements very carefully.
Slowly he put a hand on the man of steel’s shoulder and knelt down so he could look up at him.
“Clark, I’m not always the best person to offer comfort - but you can always come talk to me if you need to.” He said quietly.
As he watched the man’s brilliant blue eyes regain some of their shine since the incident. His thoughts drifted back to those horrible few years right after his parents death. Perhaps the only thing saving him from drowning in his own mind and memories was Alfred acting as his caretaker, and always reaching a hand out to him to lift him back up out of that dark place.
He only hoped reaching a hand out and offering the same thing to Clark wouldn’t drag him into the dark with him.
Regardless, Superman slowly smiled at him. “Thanks B, I appreciate it.”
He finally stood up, Batman following in suite as Clark returned to more a ‘leader’ kind of stance, expression turning more serious.
“I’m not happy about what I experienced, but I’d rather it be me than civilians minding their own business, or someone who's already experienced trauma running into that. All of us need to be hyper vigilant, and any sign of those strange energy readings will demand immediate action.”
Flash was the first to stand up with an eager smile. “I was already planning on doing a couple marathons around the earth today, I’ll make sure to keep my eyes peeled!”
“Good. I’ll continue to keep contact with Zatanna and Constantine in case more information becomes available on their end.” Batman added.
“If there’s nothing more anyone has to add for the time being - the meeting is adjourned.” Wonder Woman said with a soft smile, standing up.
The trinity stayed behind as the rest of the core members filtered out. Diana glanced at Bruce with a playful smile and a raised eyebrow.
“What do you know? There is some warmth inside that ice cold heart of yours.” She said nudging his shoulder with a soft mock-punch.
“I think you're imagining things.” Bruce replied, his scowl coming out as more of a smirk despite his best efforts.
Superman returned Batman’s previous gesture by placing his own hand on the Bat’s shoulder and softly squeezing. “In all seriousness, that really meant a lot to me B.”
“I may try very hard not to let a lot of things affect me, but I do understand that some things shouldn’t be handled alone.”
They all shared a calm smile, a peaceful moment that was precious in what always seemed to be a never ending battle.