Life can change || Invincible x DC

Disruption of the Natural Order

Barbara drove into the Batcave on her motorbike, she could barely keep her eyes open. She had been patrolling for the whole night before, then going off to college where she then did another night of patrolling all without a bit of sleep. She was hoping to get at least a few hours of sleep at the mansion, but she wasn't too hopeful; her ribs hurt from being hit in them by a metal pipe, it was sloppy and not something that would have happened if she had been fully awake, but none the less she still chided herself for it.

Parking her bike next to the Batmobile she hopped off with a little difficulty, her muscles burned from the exhaustion she felt. Running across buildings and fighting the entire night wasn't an easy task and yet she felt like she had to do it. Mark was gone, for good this time, she never got to see them after their last encounter, her childhood friend, someone who meant a lot to her was gone. She spent many days weeping and feeling bad for so many different reasons.

She felt envy for her friend Kara as she had lived the dream of living with Mark and even having his child —though if she was honest she wouldn't want one so soon. She also felt guilt at not having done more to prevent this from happening, maybe if she stopped Bruce from hunting Mark in the first place then things would've been different. Dick was dead too, they had known each other almost as long as Mark and she had, they trained together and went on missions together. She watched him turn from a little brat into a hero.

Dick was a real hero in the end, not like her who hadn't been able to save anyone. All she could do was try to make up for the mistakes she had made and save as many people as she could in their memory; she stopped talking to her friends and even started skipping her evening classes. She had about 18 missed calls from her dad, but it didn't matter, the only thing that mattered was this, her mission.

She limped down the walkway to the Batcomputer where he sat, not Batman, but Bruce Wayne. 'I'm not the only one taking Dicks death hard,' she thought to herself. But she couldn't find it in herself to care, especially since she had been told that he was the one who gave the order.

"Firefly has broken out of Arkham, he'll probably be looking to get some equipment before going on a rampage, I've noted down the possible locations he might visit," Bruce said to her as he brought up a map with multiple red dots on it.

"You'll have to ask Tim or Damian, I can barely stand and I have classes in a few hours," Barbara said as she kept walking towards the elevator.

"Negative, Tim is investigating a new cult that has sprung up in the sewers of Gotham and Damien is helping with the Titans," Bruce replied.

Barbara scoffed "Titans? Dick is gone, Raven is gone, Beast Boy is gone, what titans are even left," she said emotionally.

"If you're so concerned about this then maybe you should deal with it!" She shouted at Bruce before walking to the elevator and leaving the cave.

Bruce sat there in silence rubbing his eyes before continuing with his work. He wouldn't put on the costume again, he didn't deserve to be called a hero, his choices as of late have led to the deaths of so many people both friend and foe. He wouldn't don the name Batman again, he didn't deserve to.

All that was left for him was preparing the earth for the eventual invasion, but he wouldn't do it the wrong way this time. 'I'm sorry Dick,' he thought to himself.

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Clark walked with his younger brother Connor as they made their way to the board room. Connor had been made a full-fledged member of the Justice League for his actions in Bialya, he had protected his teammates from bizarro long enough for Superman to reach him and take him out. "You did well today Connor," Clark said with a smile as he put his hand on his shoulder.