Injustice: Broken Family

Not The One You Should Be Apologizing To

The multiversal battle to stop Superman's regime was long and taxing. But in the Insurgency's desperate time of need, they summoned the prime world's Superman, and he set the world straight. Right away, he defeated the Regime Superman, ending his tyranny once and for all. With the Regime destroyed, Superman and his tyrannical allies were arrested for their crimes against humanity. Not only were these Regime Leaguers arrested, but Charity also defeated her wicked mother in combat, and regained her throne as the rightful queen of the Crystal Empire. Ruby Tafita was stripped of her royalty like Diana, and she would stand trial on Crystalia for her sins. Had it not been for Kevin and Bruce's intervention, Ruby would have been executed, so instead she was sentenced to life in The Phantom Zone, a fate worse than death. Justice was finally done.

It had been a week since the Regime was destroyed, and Bruce was no longer a criminal, as were the rest of his allies. He could now go back to a semblance of a normal life, even if crime and corruption would inevitably come back. He was visiting the prison where Superman was. The disgraced Kryptonian wasn't the only one in the prison, other League members were there too, such as Victor, Damian, and Andrea. Bruce was at the prison for technological observation, in case there ever came a day of escape. It was like visiting Arkham Asylum to observe every crook and nanny, every feature that could produce a potential escape. As Bruce wrote down notes, he saw Andrea for the first time since she joined the Justice League. Oh they saw each other during those 5 years and clashed every now and then. But this was the first time Bruce had seen her since she was arrested. She was in a prison cell and wearing the standard prison uniform. "Bruce?" Andrea asked, looking at him. Bruce looked at Andrea with cold indifference and said, "hello Andrea."

"How long has it been since we've seen each other without the costumes?" Andrea asked. "Oh come now Andrea, you of all people should know that Bruce Wayne is my mask," said Bruce. "I figured as much," said Andrea, "how are you and Kevin holding up?" Bruce's face was neutral as he said, "relieved, for the most part. I, on the other hand, as much as I want to celebrate the idea that justice is finally done, I believe that corruption and crime will come back. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but some day." Andrea got closer into her cell and said, "since you're here Bruce, I just want to say, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for it all. I'm sorry that I left you when we could've gotten married. I'm sorry for getting you scapegoated when I killed Buzz and Chuckie. And I'm sorry I sided with Superman. I should have known that I was making a mistake doing that..."

"I'm not the one you should be apologizing to," said Bruce, "if there's anyone you should be apologizing to, it's our son, Kevin." Andrea looked down in shame. Bruce glared at Andrea and calmly said, "You hurt your son. You raised him to be a good person, and I was willing to believe that you had changed for the better, and yet you went back to your old ways, and by doing so, you turned your back on him. When a boy loves his mother, it's an even bigger betrayal when she disowns him and labels him her enemy instead. You chose Superman over Kevin, just like you chose vengeance over saving me all those years ago. I can forgive you for falling into that abyss. But Kevin, he's different. Your betrayal psychologically scarred him. It broke my heart seeing the hurt in his eyes, even if he tried to mask it like I did. You and I both know what it's like to mask our hurt." The scariest thing with everything Bruce said to Andrea was that not only was he right, not once did he raise his voice. He was very calm. He wasn't yelling like it was an interrogation. This only made his fury much more frightening. Andrea was starting to get emotional and she said, "I know... You're right..." She looked at Bruce and begged, "Bruce... If you see Kevin, please tell him that if he's ready to speak to me again, I'll be there..."

There was a look of sadness in Bruce's face. This was still the woman he once loved. Once. He shook his head and said, "I can't promise that Kevin will immediately come see you. But I'll do the best I can. Goodbye Andrea." A couple hours later, Bruce saw Kevin at Wayne Manor. Kevin was making a sandwich as Bruce said, "hello Kevin."

"Oh hey Dad," said Kevin, "what's up?" Bruce sighed and replied, "while I was on technical observation with Clark's prison, I saw your mother." Kevin's smile dropped and said, "I see... Was she angry?"

"More regretful than anything," said Bruce, "she's starting to realize how wrong she was about everything. She wants to see you again, son." Kevin leaned on the cooking table and hesitated. "Will I be a bad son if I don't want to see her right now?" Kevin asked anxiously. "Of course not Kevin," assured Bruce, "I'm not expecting you to immediately go there. I even told Andrea that I couldn't make any promises. I understand if you feel bitter about it. And I understand you have responsibilities as a Green Lantern. After all, you were on Oa at Hal and Sinestro's trial last week. Take all the time you need to decide. It's up to you. And I will not hold anything against you." Kevin now pondered what to do next.