AFTER waking up, Jessica groaned at the thought of having to start her day.
She wished she could just be a bum, lay in bed all day, binge watch Homicide Hunter, and eat food all day but she couldn't. She had to be responsible. Throwing the heavy duvet off her pale legs, Jess lazily swung them off the edge of the bed. She got up and dressed.
Before she could do anything else, she noticed her balcony doors were closed. She clearly remembered leaving them open. She opened the large white distressed doors to find an object resting on her little table that was for decoration.
Emergencies
-Batman
It was a small touch screen phone that looked like it could be a flip phone from 2005. She furrowed her brows while walking back inside her room.
A red Jeep awaited her, ready to take her to her destination. She tossed her purse onto the passenger seat and drove off to the supermarket to get some groceries. When she got to the grocery store, she browsed the isles, enjoying her time out. She remembered what it was like to feel at peace, then again, something usually popped up when she was happy.
So, the rest of her grocery shopping was filled with endless thoughts of what if's. She began to load up her things onto the conveyor belt, watching the cashier scan the food items. "Okay, 167.50." The lady spoke. "Cash or card."
"Card." Jess said while grabbing her wallet from her purse. She swiped her card at the machine, loaded up her bags into the cart, and bid everyone a good day.
On her way back to her car, Jessica noticed a woman and her child begging for money. She stopped rolling her cart as her eyes locked on the small child. As she began digging in her bag for her wallet, she paused, seeing some snacks she was going to give the kids she babysits at times. Knowing the mother and her child need it more, she grabbed two or three bags with food and bottles of water before grabbing forty dollars.
She wheeled her cart over to them before smiling. "Here."
The mother grabbed the forty dollars with shock on her face. "No, no this is too much."
"This is nothing. You need it more than me." Jess reassured, patting the mother's hand. "Matter-of-fact," She grabbed a hundred from her wallet. "There." The mother stared down at the money in her hands as tears welled up in her eyes.
"But..."
Jess stopped her from talking. "I get paid in a few days. You need to take care of your child."
"You're an angel... no one has given us this much... the world needs more people like you, Salud!"
Jess grabbed the bags of groceries, placing them right next to the little girl who shyly thanked her. Jess pulled down her glasses, giving her a wink with a smile. The little girl's whole face brightened up at the familiarity in Jessica's eyes. With a stutter, she grabbed Jessica's hand. "C-Can I be like y-you?"
"With a smile like that, you can become anything your heart desires." Jess winked and stood up to roll her cart over to her car. She loaded up her groceries into the trunk of her Jeep and got into her car. She turned her gaze over to the family of two as they looked at what was in the bag excitingly. "I hope you find a home soon."
Jess smiled to herself, driving back home with a smile on her face, she parked in her normal parking spot and loaded all of her bags on both arms. "Ms. Kent, good morning!" A short old man smiled. "Do you need a hand with that?"
"Oh, hi Gio! How are you?" She asked, pretending to struggle with the bags.
"Just on my way to the bank, do you need some help?"
Jessica laughed, walking through the door that was being held open by Gio. "No, I got this."
"Ms. Kent, I apologize for stopping you in your struggles, but I noticed you still don't have a boyfriend." He motioned to a man, the same height as him, and a blue mechanics button-up shirt with a white wife-beater under it. He had his belly poking out from underneath it, making Jess try not to laugh. "Giovani Jr. is still available. What's a sweet girl like you to date my Vani, huh?"
They both looked to see Vani drop his wrench on his foot. In his jersey Italian accent, he began to shout obscenities. Jess scrunched up her face in denial. "I'm gonna have to pass on that one Gio."
"Hey, cutie!" Vani winked at Jessica. "Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?"
Jess chortled to herself. "Ah, no, but I did scrape my knee crawling out of hell." Vani's eyes widened as Gio laughed.
Before Vani can say anything else, Jessica was already walking up the stairs. "Goodbye, the love of my life." He sighed. Jess unlocked her door with ease, bumping her door open with her butt and kicked it closed. She plopped all her groceries down on her kitchen island. A loud boom outside before a gust of wind flushed itself over her window. They rattled in their spots. She didn't bother looking to see who entered her room from her balcony.
She heard her brother's footsteps walk down her hallway and into her kitchen. Clark stood behind his sister in his Super suit, watching her put away her groceries. "I have a door for a reason." She said, looking over her shoulder. "The least you can do is respect that."
"Superman can't just walk into your apartment building and knock on your door like a normal person." He stated with his arms crossed.
"What did I do?" She asked.
"They want us in D.C." Clark placed both his hands on her island counter. "They'll announce on the news when the go date is."
"You can go." Jessica shrugged while turning her gaze back to her fridge. "I didn't do anything wrong. This is your mess to clean up, I'm not doing it anymore." She held no interest in going to D.C. She knew there was going to be mass chaos the minute she and her brother landed on the steps of the Capitol.
Some people wanted to adore her and her brother, thankful for having saviors that watched over them, and others who were too ignorant to see that the twins were there to help them. "They want us both there." Clark sighed.
"Like I said, not my mess." Clark grabbed the final grocery bag from her. When she tried to grab it from across the counter, he pulled it further away from her. She huffed, rubbing her forehead with a hand on her hip. "What do you want from me, Clark?"
"We agreed to do this together, I'm asking you to do this with me."
"I wasn't the one who went into Africa to save Lois, ultimately murdering dozens of people Clark!" She hissed.
Clark stared at her with his mouth agape. "You think I killed those people?"
"When it comes to Lois, I wouldn't put it past you." She grumbled. "Sometimes I feel like you would go mental over her death rather than mine."
"That's not fair."
Jess pushed her curtain bangs out of her eyes with a hard gawp. "Now when has anything ever been fair between us Clark?" She asked. They stared at each other for a moment before Jess snatched her grocery bag out of his hand. "I'm not going to D.C., end of discussion." She turned around with a huff. "Trust me, I have a bad feeling about this whole situation anyway." It was true, she felt as though something terrible was going to happen. Usually, when she had that feeling, she was always right.
"You can leave the way you entered." She mumbled, throwing her freezer foods into the icebox. She heard Clark walk down her hallway again, flying right off her balcony. She closed her freezer door with a sigh, leaning her head against it. She understands herself, murdering someone to save everyone else but her brother? That man would not hurt a fly on someone's head.
"You were the only man in my life that made sense." She mumbled, turning her gaze over to her father's picture. "Should I go? I know Clark wouldn't do something as horrific as that woman claims but... why do I feel like he could?" She rubbed her temple. "I wish you were here." Her eyes landed on the phone Batman had left her, all though it was for emergencies, she needed to talk to him.
In three quick strides, she snatched the small smartphone off the counter. Before she could decide, her senses tingled; alerting her that it was time to save the world. She quickly switched into her suit and flew out of her balcony.
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WITH a deep sigh, Jessica plucked out pieces of leaves from her hair.
Runaway trains were nothing new for her, but it would be nice to avoid tree twigs and leaves from knotting themselves in her hair. She always looked like a caveman right afterward and ended up spending twenty dollars for restocking up on two new hair combs because her hair thought it would be hilarious to snap the bristles off; followed by the handle crumbling to plastic pieces.
She landed on top of the Daily Planet's orb for a tranquil moment. She loved watching the sun go down over the horizon. She always felt the most powerful while looking at the sun and somehow was always up right before it came up so she can feel its warmth on her pale skin. She was on top of the world, even though she felt like she was at her lowest.
Jess pulled out the phone Batman gave her with a gulp. She felt her heartbeat in her ears, she could not understand why he made her so nervous. Was it the dark brooding nature that dripped off him like water off a leaf? Or could it be the mysterious attraction he decided to show her lonely being.
She could have just liked the attention. "UGH!" She groaned in exasperation. "What are you doing to me?" She looked down at the call button with 374 showing proudly on the screen. "Here goes nothing." She mumbled before she pressed the phone to her ear. After just two rings, a deep voice drawled through.
"Is everything alright?" Batman asked, he sounded a bit panicked. "Are you okay?"
"Look, I know the phone is for emergencies, but I need some... advice?" Jessica squeezed her eyes together. She felt so dumb.
"I thought the note said emergencies." He grunted. "Not for personal calls."
Jessica raised an eyebrow. "So, your little visits from Gotham to my balcony aren't personal?"
He gave a low growl, making Jessica's skin crawl in little goosebumps. "I'm hanging up."
"No, wait!" She covered her mouth before sitting down on the planet. "I need your help." It was silent, this most likely meant that he was listening. "Remember how I said that I knew the twins?" He hummed in agreement. "Well, the lady, Superwoman, needs to show up at D.C. to meet congress and she doesn't know what to do." She mumbled.
"She knows what's going to happen and she's... afraid. She loves humanity with all her heart, but she hates how they treat her heroic saves as a burden." Jessica rubbed her forehead. "What would you do?"
She knew he was contemplating what he would do. "I don't save the world. I save the city of Gotham. The police department appreciates what I do but not all of Gotham does." She heard his hand hit his thigh with a deep sigh. "I know you care for this... friend of yours, but she can't make everyone happy. Believe me, twenty years in Gotham, you'll see what promises are worth."
Jessica gave a deep sigh before smiling gently. "Thank you, for talking to me and not hanging up." He grunted once more.
"I find it increasingly hard to stop myself from talking to you anyway." He shrugged. "Besides, hearing your voice makes my dark life just a little brighter."
"Is that a compliment?" She smirked with a smile.
Bruce felt himself smirk at her words. "Depends on what your mood is."
She bit her lip to stop herself from giggling like a teenager. "I don't know, there's this guy, tall, dark, and brooding."
"So, I assume he's your boyfriend?" He grunted out, trying to act like he sounded annoyed.
She finally let herself snort in laughter, handing flying to her mouth to stop herself from making too much noise. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to laugh."
Bruce smiled as he clicked on a couple of keys on his keyboard while Alfred watched from afar with a knowing smirk on his face. He caught a glimpse of Alfred lurking from beside him before rolling his eyes. "I have to go, remember, the phone is for...-"
"Emergencies only, I know." Jessica smiled before saying a sweet goodbye that made Bruce's cold heart warm up like the Grinch in the famous Jim Carrey adaptation.
"New fling Master Wayne?" Alfred asked, walking right past Bruce with that same smirk on his face.
The Wayne heir rolled his eyes at the tone Alfred held alone. "She's close to the super twins. She's an asset."
Alfred nodded his head as he began to mess with the Bat suit's armor. "That's not what the flirting sounded like."
"Could you please." Bruce sighed with his eyes narrowed at his butler. Alfred knew that is what happened when Bruce got defensive over a woman he cared for.
The butler raised his hands in surrender. "I won't speak of her any longer, I promise." Bruce turned back to the picture of Jessica on the screen, glasses down the bridge of her nose with a smile on her face. "She's lovely, isn't she?"
"Indeed, she is..." Bruce mumbled in agreement, not realizing the game Alfred was playing at. When he did, he snapped his gaze back over to Alfred. "Seriously?"
The older man merely chuckled in amusement. "I apologize, Master Wayne, when it comes to a good woman like that, I simply cannot help myself."
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LATER that night, Jessica flew to Smallville, Kansas, her home in her suit, she awaited her mother to come outside like a child all over again.
"I heard what happened." Martha sighed, grabbing her daughter's hand.
"I don't know what to do... some people... they make us out to be the bad guy." Jess mumbled to her mother. Martha was always there for her. She just hoped she was going to hear what she needed.
"People hate what they don't understand, but they see what you do, and they know who you are. You're not a killer. A threat?" She looked away with a sigh. "I never wanted this world to have you or your brother." She sighed again, the wrinkles at the corner of her eyes tightening. "Be their hero, Jessica. Be their monument. Be their angel. Be anything they need you to be."
Jessica looked straight ahead to the stars, maybe if she looked hard enough, her father would be there. "Or be none of it. You don't owe this world a thing, honey, you never did." Martha spoke gently, running her hand over Jessica's hair. Motherly advice for someone who truly needs it.