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Bruce had never considered himself to be a particularly religious man, the death of his parents had only scrubbed any traces of the fragile notion of some savior in the sky from his mind. Yet, there was something about Karen that challenged the concept, that challenged him, even in death, she still radiated a divinity that left him awestruck. She made him want to believe. She gave him faith.
Bruce’s tattered heart swelling at the hologram Victor had projected, red cape billowing majestically before as he graced with the sight of seeing her fly, just one last time.
The plan had been set and they were in agreement for better or worse, the threat of Steppenwolf and his army was unwinnable without her …
Still, Bruce couldn’t exactly feel proud of the notion of reviving her only to ask her to fight again.
He watched as Arthur carried her body in his arms, wading into the amniotic fluid of the genesis chamber. They weren’t particularly close, but Bruce had been able to read through the facade the half-Atlantean boasted about being stronger alone, as he saw the silent admiration in every hard line of his body while cradling the young Kryptonian’s corpse.
His chest tightened, that tingle of reverence burning at the base of his skull as he watched her body sink into the pellucid pool, the sight an echo of a baptism where she floated beneath the mercurial fluid.
Drones bobbing around the cavernous space, the only true source of sound in the vacuum of their grief.
Lights winking and the distorted voice of the ship’s AI humming to life as Victor interfaced with it, swiftly assuming command. At the mention of Luthor having compromised the ship’s power, Bruce couldn’t help but grit his teeth in loathing, even now that manic bastard still tarnished this place - this space that was rightfully hers.
“I might be able to do it.” Barry explained, nervously kneading the spot between his eyes. He descended into rambling, a kind which bordered on endearing in comparison to Luthor’s deranged; Bruce was ashamed to admit he had stopped listening the moment the hope to reunite with Karen bobbed back into the realm of possibility.
“I might be able to wake the box...If that’s s-still what we want?” The speedster stammered.
“It is, do it.” Bruce said instantly, a nervous flutter was abound in his belly as Barry gave a solemn nod before vanishing in a streak of red.
A functioning drone hovered above the genesis pool, a rainbow of color refracting on the alien metal of the motherbox in the machine’s pincer grasp.
With Barry in position it was only a matter of moments until they achieved the impossible, until they breathed life back into a god.
“The ship’s begging me not to wake the box-” Victor explained with a grimace, his remaining human brow creased in confusion.
“This action is irreversible.” The AI warned, it’s monotonous voice still somehow conveying the apparent distress.
“It’s afraid,” Victor continued, “It knows Steppenwolf will come for it-”
“We know that already, continue!” Bruce growled, his frustration mounting. Perhaps being a man amongst gods made him vulnerable, but he knew with or without Karen, Steppenwolf would pursue the motherbox in their possession.
He could feel Diana prickle in uncertainty at his side, but he ignored it. For all of their combined strengths as a team, they were nothing without Power Girl. And perhaps worst of all, he was hopeless without Karen.
“This is a bad idea.” Arthur said amidst Victor’s countdown.
“No it isn’t - keep going.” Bruce demanded.
“We need to abort now.” Arthur persisted, limpid sea green eyes reflecting an expression Bruce knew well - fear .
“Just do it,” Bruce snarled, voice coming out in a thunderous sound through the cowl’s microphone.
In a matter of moments, it all unravelled. The only proof that anything actually occurred in the blink of an eye was Barry colliding with the far wall of the ship in a crackle of lightning and puff of smoke.
Bruce’s gaze remained intent on the pool, on Karen, where she resided like a dragonfly trapped in amber as power swelled threateningly through the air. The hairs on his nape stood on end as the chilling voice of the ship’s AI rang out.
“The future has taken root in the present.”
Victor’s towering mechanical body jerked, his red eye blinking with feedback.
“Get down!” He bellowed suddenly as the tidal wave of energy seemed to crest over them, and a geyser of water erupted through the chamber, and punched clean through the roof.
There was emptiness in her mind, jumbled thoughts and confusion. Clashing languages all rushed to leap from her lips as she struggled to articulate, struggling to think beyond the jagged pieces of unfamiliar memories knocking together in her mind. All pieces to a puzzle that she couldn’t see.
Where am I? She thought to herself, feeling gravity buoyant beneath her feet as she hovered effortlessly through the air. Her bare feet touching down against achingly familiar polished stone as she stood before the crumbled remains of a monument.
Who am I? She thought as she blinked owlishly at the outpouring of love visible in the sea of flowers surrounding the mass grave.
If you seek her monument, look around you, the letters were scrawled in fraying white paint against the stone.
So she did, carefully glancing over each shoulder for another sign, for more pieces to the puzzle. Her hair falling loose from the pins it had been lovingly styled with as she angled her head when she spotted the severed head of a statue. Was it her monument?
Her spine stiffened at the sound of the commotion of a crowd gathering behind her. They were strangers, four of them to be exact. An almost amusing amalgamation. She blinked and peered through each of them, eyelashes fluttering, they weren’t entirely human, but they weren’t like her either.
One stranger, more metal than man, began to lurch, body trembling like he was trying to shed his skin. All heartbeats spiked when she narrowed her eyes at him. He looked like a puppet, fighting against the pull of his strings, when he suddenly fired a blast of energy that whistled past her head.
She turned to observe the crater left in the monument over her shoulder, smoke billowing where the blast had impacted.
They wanted to hurt her …
“Kara Zor-L, no!” A woman with a familiar face beseeched, while the name she called out gave her pause, the lingering threat of another attack didn’t.
Feeling heat smolder behind her eyes, she unleashed it, raw molten energy firing forth against her perceived threat. The fiery beams blasted the metal man away, carving through concrete and metal alike with ease.
“She’s confused, she doesn’t know who she is.” The dark haired warrior in the center explained, and the brief flicker of hope that existed in her at the prospect of getting answers, was swiftly stomped out as the other woman unsheathed a sword.
They all wanted to hurt her.
Turning back to the severed head of a statue laying on the ground like the rotted skull of a giant, the blonde hefted the weight effortlessly above her head, hurling it down in the brunette’s direction like a meteor. She wrinkled her nose in distaste when the other woman’s blade easily cleaved the stone in two.
“Arthur, we need to restrain her.”
More strangers lunged in her direction with weapons brandished, and durable as they were, they still sailed through the air when she swatted them away.
A snarl bubbled in her as the brunette returned, glowing lasso in her grasp, the blonde gritting her teeth when the binds curled around her forearm. When the other woman tugged on the golden length of rope, she pulled back.
“Kara Zor-L, the last daughter of Krypton, remember who you are…”
Her body tensed, every muscle coiled as more memories flooded her mind. They were a slow trickle, like a leak in a pipe, a steady drip into her mind. Each one rippling the image of the last.
Kara , she thought, recalling the name her parents had given her, that’s me…
More images flashed through her mind, destruction and loss, the death of an entire race.
“Tell me who you a-” Pulling harshly on the rope, the brunette hurdling in her direction with momentum. Why couldn't they understand, she just wanted the pain to stop. Catching the other woman with an unrelenting grip on her armor, the Kryptonian sneered at her before flinging her away.
The fighting raged on, more bothersome than it was threatening. They were virtually strangers, nameless, faceless things that seemed hellbent on hurting her. While hovering in the air, the blonde saw something that gave her pause, like a dark spot in the corner of her vision. She turned to face it, enamored by the way it remained dark under her gaze, a splatter of ink against the light of day.
Unlike the rest, this one wasn’t frightened. Unlike the rest, this one was human.
“Karen,” The peculiar dark spot panted, the sound striking the leaking pipe, turning the steady drip of memories into the unrelenting flood of a busted dam.
I think I would’ve remembered meeting you…
Don’t just nod, Karen, say it back to me...
The world needs you, Power Girl...
Each memory returning, one after another, her head swimming with him, swimming with them. The warm rumble of his voice, the steely glint of his dark eyes, the heat of his mouth and press of his hands.
come back to me, Karen…
A quiet sound burning in her throat, tears gathering in her eyes as she drifted down to the ground, like gravity was his to command, and her along with it. With one reverential look she was sucked into his orbit, pulled under the tide of emotion he stirred in her. Her bare feet meeting the pavement, polished toes poking at the scuffed front of his dark boots with such little space between them.
“Karen?” A shiver snarled down her spine at that dizzying rumble of her name, leaning into the cautious curl of his gloved fingers against her nape. A sigh spilled from her lips at the comfort that accompanied his touch. She nodded gently, peering up at him through wet lashes, a tentative smile pulling on her lips.
“Do you remember-” Bruce began, his staticky voice tight.
“Bruce Wayne,” Karen supplied hoarsely, “I know who you are.” Heart cresting behind her ribs at the resplendent sight of his smile. Rao , it was brighter than the sun. How could she have forgotten him?
She was quick to gather him in her arms, all towering six plus feet of him held securely against her as she pushed off the ground, breezing up into the sky.
Bruce grunted when they finally landed, lightheaded from the rush of flying, his vision sharpening just in time to glimpse Karen’s almost dreamy smile. The subtle point of her chin fitting neatly between his fingers. Her head lolling into his palm with a contented sigh.
He stared down at her, admiring the way the dim Gotham sunlight made the freckles on her nose glitter like little flecks of copper, her hair glinting like spun gold when he ran his fingers through it. She was just as beautiful as he remembered, big blue eyes that haunting shade of fire that burned too hot. She leaned against him, docile and perfectly content, like nothing had ever happened, like he’d never known the extraordinary torment of losing yet another person in his life; the pain of losing her.
Though her clothes couldn’t boast the same invulnerability as she did. The blouse she had been buried in was in tatters, buttons missing and hanging open around her generous bust. Her bra was still miraculously intact, the unembellished beige garment was visible through patchy holes in her top.
Karen shivered, sucking in a small gasp as Bruce thumbed at the flawless skin of her right breast, the spot where she’d been mortally wounded. He circled the flesh with gloved fingers, marveling at the lack of a scar.
“Bruce…” She whispered his name, airy and delicate, making a swirl of heat slither down his spine. He’d heard her make that kind of sound before, at Luthor’s charity event all those months ago, when he’d had his hands all over her. God, that wasn’t what he was trying to do, not when she’d just been resurrected, not now.
“I’m sorry,” He rumbled guiltily, voice strained even to his own ears, watching as her hooded eyes creased with a smile.
“Don’t be.” Karen purred, her smile widened as Bruce pulled off his cowl, detaching both it and his cape to wrap her in it. She beamed up at him, her powerful body swallowed up in the dark fabric.
Bruce glanced around, heart sinking when he finally realized where she’d taken them, the powered down bat signal sitting a rooftop away.
“You brought us here?” He asked gently, his voice still rough despite no longer wearing the cowl. Karen simply gave a little nod in response, it all felt very clandestine, being back here with her. Though in a way it nearly felt like rewriting history, like reclaiming the path Luthor had set them both on.
“I’m sorry about your, uh, friends?” She murmured after a moment, and Bruce couldn’t help but snort out a quiet laugh through his nose.
“They’ll be fine.” He assured, of the group he was easily the most breakable.
“I’m sure you’ll get along fine,” He rumbled, smiling more in her presence in a few short moments than he had in the arduous months without her.
“Oh, totally,” Karen agreed with an endearing husky chuckle, “I mean, we just really,” she clicked her tongue, “made such a great impression.”
Bruce felt alarmingly content when she sank against his chest, her adorably dimpled chin propped against the breadth of him as she gazed up at him with those big blue eyes.
“What are you doing with all of those people?” Karen asked, her voice a hint more serious and doubly curious.
“Filling a void,” He replied instantly, watching her eyes soften knowingly in a way that made his throat itch with emotion.
“How big is this void that you need that many people?”
Bruce felt his chest swell with a glittery warmth at the adoring look fitted on her pretty face.
“About 5’7”,” He hummed with a fond crinkle of his nose, watching her smile turn endearingly bashful. Stroking a hand over golden hair, sighing in wonder as she happily arched into the touch he offered. She seemed swallowed up by that fleeting bliss for a little while, sitting under the bleak sunlight piercing the perpetual haze of Gotham’s cloudy sky, wrapped in his arms. When her eyes opened his stomach coiled in discomfort as her eyes darkened, a steadfast stormy blue that spoke of her obligation to this planet, to these people.
“What else do you need them for, Bruce?” Karen asked firmly, though he was worried she had already determined why. She had been through so much in such a short amount of time, she had already given so much of herself, he hated the idea of having to ask for anything else, even if they needed her...even if he did too.
“There’s a war coming, hell - it’s already here.” He admitted, jaw tense as he watched her brow crease defensively.
“We can’t do this without you, but, I-” Emotions came creeping up his throat unbidden, solidifying like a lump of cement, making each breath scrape him raw, “I can’t ask you to-”
The words were cut short by the sudden press of her lips on his, a quiet wanting sound spilled from his lips to hers as she pulled his face down between her hands, desperate and aching. His grip tightening around her, practically crushing her invulnerable body against him as her arms curled around his neck, stubbornly keeping his mouth to hers. His heart was hammering hard, thunderously loud in his chest as she rested her forehead against his cheek, lips tingling and eyes wet.
“You don’t have to ask,” Karen murmured warmly, thumb rasping across his stubble as she stared up at him imploringly, blue eyes all the brighter with tears shimmering in them, “I’ll be there, Bruce. Always.”