[Caterpillar] Chapter 46 - A New Era (Patreon)

While Wonder Woman and Naruto had been travelling and seeing the wonders of the universe and romancing each other, many other people did not have it as good as them. For example, the previous year had been a nightmare for Batman.

The Justice League disbanded shortly after Wonder Woman left the Earth. That is not to say that it was her act of killing Maxwell Lord IV that had caused the disbandment of the League. It was one of the factors, indeed, but the main reason was that everyone learnt about the AI, Brother, that Batman had created. Most of the members of the Justice League did not take it well that someone who was supposed to be their teammate and leader had created an AI of such complexity just so he could spy on them. Having lost trust in two of their main leaders, Batman and Wonder Woman, the Justice League disbanded within one month from the fateful incident.

With the Justice League no longer around, the crime rate skyrocketed over the past year. Without a brain to coordinate everyone and without the Watchtower's means of transportation (teleporters and spaceships) solo heroes could not deal with crime as well as before. They could only go back to protecting their home turf. As for regular policemen, they were out of their weight class when it came to dealing with metahumans.

Currently, Batman was in his Batcave, studying recent data on the sociopolitical situation of the world. Apart from the graphs displaying the spike in crimes committed by ordinary humans and metahumans alike, information on the armed conflicts around the Globe was also displayed on the large screen of his supercomputer.

In the USA, it had taken the intervention of the army to quell the violent and armed rioters. But the social unrest was far from gone. A separatist movement was born as a result of the army's actions against civilians and many states (not only the southern half of the country but from the West Coast and Midwest as well) were trying to leave the rule of the White House by taking a legal approach now. A referendum was going to be held within the next two months. Going by how things looked like, it seemed that the president would rule only over New England and the Mid-Atlantic. Most of the other states wanted to have nothing to do with the White House anymore.

The situation was even more tragic in the rest of the world. The United Nations had isolated the most populous country in the world both diplomatically and economically. The UN was threatening to invade China with their armies for the massacres committed by the so-called Liberation Army against the common civilians. The UN was pushing for abolishing the current regime, for the sake of the billion and a half people suffering because of it. However, the communist party was not intimidated in the least. Tensions were sky-high. The possibility of World War III starting no longer seemed as far-fetched as before.

In Myanmar, the army was still controlling the government and the rioters had organized themselves into armed forces that used guerrilla tactics against their oppressors. Tens of casualties appeared every day on both sides of the civil war.

In Africa, the rioters from Senegal had managed to overthrow the corrupt government but civil war ensued between the parties that wanted to take control over the country. The Central African Republic had also fallen under the violent assaults of the rebels and it became a paradise for crime lords. Mozambique had fallen prey to the assault of rebel forces as well and Somalia was now being plagued by increasingly bold acts of piracy.

Civil wars, riots, crime... it was chaos everywhere. However, Batman could do nothing about it. He was but a normal man. A wealthy and very intelligent person but still a 'regular' man nonetheless. He could not do anything significant by himself.

He took off his mask and rubbed his face in frustration. With a sigh, he operated the computer to stream the funeral of the Man-of-Steel. Superman's death had hit Batman the worst. For him, Superman had been not only the most powerful ally he had ever had but he had also been like a light in the darkness. Superman had shown him that justice did not always need to come from the shadows, that justice could come from the light as well. But that light had been snuffed out now. Only darkness remained.

He sighed again when he heard the touching speech of Martian Manhunter. But the solemn and sad atmosphere was abruptly shattered when over 10 hand grenades exploded at once in the midst of the crowd of regular people and killed hundreds of them. Batman was shocked.

"JOKER!" he screamed and slammed his fists on the keyboard.

Unlike how others would have expected him to react upon watching Supergirl kill the Joker with her heat vision, Batman was not outraged by her actions. He let himself fall on his chair like a puppet whose strings had been cut. Supergirl's words were still ringing in his mind:

"How many times has the Joker been arrested already? How many times has he broken out? How many innocent lives would have been spared if everyone wasn't too scared to do what had to be done?"

He buried his face in his palms. He had been among the first to condemn Wonder Woman when she killed Maxwell Lord a year ago. However, Superman's death and the chaos rampant in the world changed him. Supergirl's words and actions were only a catalyst that fastened the process.

Lifting his face from his palms, he looked at his hands. In his eyes, they looked as if they were stained with blood. He felt the weight of the world pressing on his shoulders. He started shaking.

'All the people I've murdered by letting the Joker live! No more!'

Normally, such a thought would have raised alarm bells in his head. However, at that moment, he was not in his right mind. He had just watched, live, hundreds of innocent people being massacred by the Joker and his goons.

When he looked back at the screen, it was just in time to see a cloud of smoke suddenly covering the entire plaza. In the next second, Supergirl and Starfire were gone.

⁂

Supergirl and Starfire gritted their teeth and braced themselves for one of the worst battles in their life. Fighting against their former friends and teammates was way worse than fighting against criminals. Nevertheless, they were resolved to not go down without a fight.

Just when the ex-members of the Justice League surrounded them and were about to attack, a dense cloud of smoke engulfed the entire plaza. Instinctively, Supergirl activated her X-ray vision but she only got to see a yellow and black flash of light before the world spun around her head. For a brief moment, her sight went dark. Then, what greeted her eyes was a sandy beach in a tropical or at least Mediterranean land if the palm trees and high temperature were anything to go by.

From the corner of her eyes, she noticed an unfamiliar silhouette and her first instinct was to punch.

Naruto had not been in his Sage Mode or any other chakra form to amplify his physique. He only had time to raise his arms in an x-shaped guard before the Argonian girl's terrifying brute strength sent him flying over the ocean like a skipping stone.

The next thing Supergirl knew was that a golden rope wrapped around the midsection and she was thrown onto the ground roughly.

Starfire was quick to come to her defence and shot a beam from her hands at the one who captured her friend but the person in question casually slapped her beam with the back of her hand right back at her. With an 'oof' sound, this time it was the Tamaranean girl's turn to be blasted away.

Supergirl managed to stand up in the meantime but Wonder Woman suddenly wrapped her leg around the lasso and then stepped on it, the pulling force making Supergirl get thrown back on the ground again.

"Enough!" Diana snapped at Supergirl and the blonde finally took the time to properly look at the woman in front of her: long, silvery-white hair, a tall and athletic body, dressed in a short and sleeveless white dress and wearing bracers, a golden tiara, golden pauldrons, golden grieves, and a sword and a round golden shield on her back. Her hair colour may have been different but everything else left no doubt as to who she was.

"Wonder Woman?!" Supergirl exclaimed in surprise.

Just then, Naruto also came back to the shore. He was soaking wet and he was sulking.

"I went ahead and saved her ass and there she goes, fucking blasting me across the ocean," he grumbled and threw a scathing look at his lover who had a shit-eating grin on her face. The princess was not even trying to hide her amusement.

Not a second later, a yell of "mister Naruto!" reached his ears and a human missile slammed into him. The young woman from Tamaran took in him a big bear hug. Naruto let Starfire hug him with a helpless look on his face. This girl was too honest and too affectionate for her own good. He could not bring himself to dislike her. He even patted her back gently a few times.

Seeing Supergirl finally coming out of her fight-or-flight state, Wonder Woman untied her.

"I'm sorry, I didn't look around properly, I attacked first. I thought you were one of the heroes that came to the funeral." Supergirl apologised.

"Understandable, don't worry." he waved off her apology.

"You came to the funeral as well?" The blonde girl said. It was more like a statement rather than a question.

"Yes, Diana wanted to pay her respects."

His words made her go wide-eyed.

"I thought you hated Superman?" she asked.

"I never hated him." Wonder Woman said. "We only fought because Maxwell Lord was mind-controlling him. We may have not been on good terms with each other when I left but I never wished for his death. Superman was one of the first and few men that I respected."

"You know, she's the one who insisted that we saved you," Naruto said.

"Thank you," Supergirl said. But then she looked down, her expression downcast. Fresh tears started falling from her eyes as she was reminded again that her adopted brother was now dead.

Starfire quickly came to her side and took her in a comforting embrace. It took a while for the girl to get her emotions under control. When she finally pulled herself away from the taller girl's arms, she heard Wonder Woman speak to her:

"I've talked it over with Naruto. You could come with us if you wanted. You too, Starfire, both of you."

The two girls were startled by her unexpected offer.

"After what you did, they will treat you the same way as they treated me," Diana said calmly. More than a year had passed since that time and she had gotten over her bitterness long ago. But Supergirl's situation was so similar to hers. She saw her as a kindred soul. She wanted to help her.

"We will teach you how to survive in the world outside. We will even give you a spaceship and teach you everything about interstellar travel. When I was in your place, I was lost. I thought all my friends hated me and that I was all alone in the world-"

"But we never hated you! We came to your apartment in New York later that day to tell you that we never thought anything less of you but we couldn't find you!" Starfire said empathically.

"I didn't know that...thank you. But that's all the more reason for me to help you. Back then, I don't know what I would have done without Naruto. I want to be for you two what Naruto had been for me." Diana said kindly.

Supergirl was so moved by her words that she almost started crying again. But then, a stubborn expression appeared on her face.

"Thank you... but I can't leave. Ma and Pa are still here. I can't leave them, especially not now after Clark passed away. I can't leave my friends either...Earth is my home."

As she spoke, her eyes started to glow, and it was not because of her heat vision. It was as if a fire was lit inside of her.

"Superman gave his life to protect the people of Metropolis. I won't tarnish his legacy by running away. I will take on his responsibilities. I will take his mantle. Now, it is my turn to become the symbol of hope. I will use my strength to protect everyone. And I will do everything to keep them safe."

What she meant was clear to everyone present there. She would not stop even from killing if that was what it took to stop someone from harming innocents.

'Clark's fear of hurting his enemies is what had gotten him killed...I will not make the same mistake.' she thought grimly.

Hearing how decisive and convinced she sounded, Wonder Woman sighed but she did not insist. She and Naruto had saved Supergirl and they offered to help her in the future as well by taking her under their wings. But that was all they could do. They could not take her away by force, nor did they want to. It was up to Supergirl and she had stated her choice clearly.

"You don't need to stay with me. There will be danger everywhere and we will most likely have to fight against many of our friends-" Supergirl began to say to Starfire but the redhead cut her off.

"Don't you dare to continue that sentence! I promised you, didn't I? We'll be together forever." Starfire said and planted a loving kiss on Supergirl's lips.

The blonde flushed a little at being kissed in front of two other people but she did not pull away. Instead, she wrapped her arms around her neck and pulled her deeper into the kiss. Going by Supergirl's reaction it looked like the kiss initiated by Starfire had not been just a spontaneous act on her part. The two girls were in a relationship.

⁂

"Penny for your thoughts?" Naruto asked Diana after he teleported the two of them to their ship and started flying through the solar system aimlessly, like one would go on a car ride just for the sake of it, without a destination in mind.

"Supergirl and Starfire...they have a difficult time ahead of them. However, if what I sensed from Supergirl is correct, I wouldn't be surprised if in 3-4 years Earth will be no different than how it was in the dimension of the Justice Lords."

"Is that such a bad thing?" Naruto asked.

"I admit that with Darkseid's impending invasion in the future, it would be much better if Earth was united under one central power...but I don't know about after that, in times of peace. Totalitarian regimes may work on some races and planets in the Universe at large but they never worked well on Earth, our history is proof of that."

"Are you going to stop Supergirl?"

Diana shook her head. "I have washed my hands off the Earth when they all prosecuted me for doing what had to be done. Supergirl has her own reasons for continuing the fight but I don't. With my mother and my Amazon sisters' departure a year ago, there is nothing left for me on this planet. I won't participate in whatever happens there."

⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂

AN: Batman's line "all the people I've murdered by letting you live" is actually from an animated movie. Search on youtube "Batman kills the Joker"