Falls Like Rain

Summary: When the real world hits, Kara and her friends must make a hard choice
Warning(s): Spoilers for most of the series; AU; referenced character death; some references to violence; some torture threat
Pairing: Kara Zor-El/Barbara Gordon

###

She’d never expected this to happen.

Kara stood at the gravesite, looking at the headstone. More specifically at the engraving; at what the words said. Selina’s name; but it wasn’t the name of her secret identity, of course. Catwoman was the name that showed on the headstone. Along with the dates of her birth and death.

Death. So…so very final. She’d always thought they were immortal. That they were all immortal. They had powers. Abilities. And those who didn’t were so trained so well that it should have been impossible for any of them to have been taken down.

Selina’s grave was the only one, here on the grounds. Just below the statue of Kara’s cousin. Had he had to cope with the death of one of his classmates? He hadn’t told her, so maybe he’d been fortunate enough to get through his school years without losing any of his classmates.

The rain fell, mingling with the tears that slipped down her cheeks until she didn’t know what came from her and what came from the sky. Did it really matter anymore? The sky was weeping as well as her.

“I knew you’d be here.”

Kara glanced behind her, at the familiar figure of her best friend. Barbara Gordon was dressed in her Batgirl costume, as Kara was dressed as Supergirl. Somehow, it felt fitting to stand and mourn the loss of one of their own dressed in their superhero costumes.

After all, being a superhero hadn’t saved Selina from paying the ultimate price.

Barbara’s hands slid around her waist and Kara leaned back, letting her head fall against the other’s shoulder. “I don’t understand how she died,” she admitted, her voice low. “I know death is possible. I…I haven’t seen it, though. Not before now.” She turned in Barbara’s arms, wrapping her own around the other girl.

“We should go inside,” Barbara murmured, before kissing Kara’s cheek.

Kara turned her head to the side, so that their lips met. She could taste both tears and rain and closed her eyes, pressing against Barbara. “It doesn’t feel right to leave her alone,” she admitted, her voice low.

“She’s not alone.” Baraba wrapped her arm around Kara’s shoulders, stepping to one side of her. She pointed towards the grave; more specifically, gestured towards the plant pot that had been set next to the grave.

As if Barbara’s words, or perhaps her actions, had been some kind of signal, the plant’s leaves unfurled. A low yipping sound escaped as it shuffled closer to the grave, nuzzling against the rough stone.

Kara swallowed as more tears blurred her vision and she turned into Barbara’s embrace, drawing in her breath deeply before she pulled back and looked into the other girl’s eyes. “I’m ready to go back to the dorm,” she whispered. “But I don’t think I’m ready to stop grieving.”

“I know.” Barbara took Kara’s hand and led her back towards the school’s steps. “None of us are going to stop grieving,” she promised.

“Waller might.”

“I guess….” Kara took a deep breath as they entered the school. They walked along the hallway, holding hands as they went. They walked to their dorm room and headed inside, still keeping in contact with each other. And once they were safely inside, Kara continued her train of thought. “Selina can’t be the only one who’s died in the line of duty. She must have known it was a possibility.”

“Maybe she did,” Barbara agreed. “But maybe we’ve been too arrogant, assuming that we’re invincible just because of our abilities or training. We know that your weakness is kryptonite. It’s foolish to forget that sometimes, a weakness can simply be that there’s someone stronger or better trained than you are.”

Still holding Barbara’s hand, Kara walked over to the couch and sat down, pulling the other girl down to sit next to her. She then rested her head on Barbara’s shoulder and pressed a kiss against her neck before closing her eyes and sighing. “We can’t let anyone else die,” she whispered. “We have to work together. All of us.”

“Selina lost her life after trying to steal the wrong thing,” Barbara commented. “We don’t know anymore information than that.” She hesitated. “I can’t be certain, but I saw some of the case files my dad had on a series of murders that have occurred in Gotham.”

“Murders?” Kara pulled back to look into Barbara’s eyes. “You’ve never mentioned anything about that before.”

“I don’t hear a lot about the cases my dad works,” Barbara admitted. “I think he always tries to protect me. To keep the realities of what he deals with from me. But I’ve seen how they affect him. He has nightmares, sometimes. When he wakes from them and I’m at home, I wake up too. And I make him hot cocoa. With tiny little marshmallows and cream on top.” She smiled, though there was a slightly sad tint to it. “I ask him what he dreams about, but he won’t tell me. Maybe he would if I wasn’t his daughter.”

“You think Selina’s death wasn’t an accident?” Kara shook her head. “That’s not what Waller told us.”

“Maybe she didn’t want to scare us,” Barbara said.

“And maybe it’s better if we’re a little scared,” Kara said. “If she was murdered, we need to bring the killer, or killers, to justice.”

“I know.” Barbara stroked her fingers through Kara’s hair, threading them through the yellow strands. She then leaned forward and kissed Kara’s lips, one hand cupping her cheek. “But I don’t know of a way to get the truth,” she admitted, slowly drawing back from Kara.

“I do.” Kara flicked her tongue out over her lips, tasting what Barbara had left behind, and then stood. She grabbed her girlfriend’s hand and tugged Barbara to her feet, heading towards the dorm room door.

###

They were all gathered in Waller’s office. Well, Kara, Barbara, Diana and Harley were all in Waller’s office.

The woman was sat behind her desk, looking at the four of them. She’d heard out the theories and questions voiced by Kara and Barbara and now said, looking at Diana, “You don’t need the lasso of truth. I’ll answer the questions you have.” She paused. “I only didn’t tell you of Selina’s true fate because I wanted to protect you.”

“So she was murdered?” Kara whispered.

“Yes.” Waller spread some papers on her desk. “But I believe it wasn’t because she was deliberately targeted.”

“She was in the wrong place at the wrong time?” Barbara asked.

“How?” Diana questioned.

“Does it matter how?” Harley asked, sounding far more enthusiastic than the situation really warranted. “We go after the murderer and we kill them! That’s what we do, right? Get vengeance. Tie him or her up. Repay them back tenfold.”

“Harley….” Diana placed a hand on her arm.

Harley shook her off and looked at Barbara and Kara. “That’s what we do,” she insisted. “We get vengeance. We punish the people who’re bad. Who do bad things.”

“No, Harley,” Kara said. “We bring the bad guys to justice. If we take revenge on them, that makes us no better than the criminals themselves.”

Harley frowned and folded her arms. “How can they learn if they don’t get punished?” she demanded. “If all you do is lock them up, they can break out again easily. Like the female Furies. They keep getting broken out from Arkham Asylum and that’ll happen to whoever it was that killed Selina. We have to kill them first,” she insisted.

Kara turned towards Barbara. She wrapped her arms around the other girl and cuddled in close, taking comfort from her girlfriend’s presence.

“We seek justice, Harley,” Diana murmured. “Not revenge. If you seek revenge, you must dig two graves. One for yourself as well.”

“I won’t die,” Harley proclaimed.

“Diana is right,” Waller said. “Vengeance is not the answer. Only justice is.”

“But we need more than just the four of us,” Kara said. “If we’re to bring Selina’s killer to justice, to true justice, we can’t risk another one of us being taken. From now on…we work together. Always together. Never alone.” She put her hand out, palm down.

“Always together. Never alone.” Barbara repeated the words, her hand covering Kara’s; a warm, solid weight.

Diana echoed the words, placing her hand on theirs and gripping tight. Then, the three of them looked at Harley.

“Fine.” Harley placed her hand on top of theirs. “But I get to punch them in the face a few times before we lock them up.”

The End