New Project

(Seeking recommendation votes~)

Gotham City.

The almost year-round gloom hung directly over the dark, modern metropolis, with flashes of lightning even flickering within the eerie haze. A torrential downpour poured down from the clouds without warning, striking the somber streets with loud, dense patters.

Barbara Gordon sat in her wheelchair by the window of the clock tower. Rain cascaded down outside the window like a waterfall. Looking down at the city through the watery iris felt like gazing at a slumbering demon.

Years ago, she too had been one of the city's costumed vigilantes. Batgirl, that had been her codename, but that was before her legs were crippled by a gunshot from a green-haired lunatic wearing clown makeup. Now, she called herself Oracle, one of the world's top hackers, providing logistical support for the caped crusaders from this vantage point high above Gotham.

She had always hated rainy days, even after living in this perpetually overcast city for so long.

A crisp "ding" sounded from the elevator behind her; it was a direct elevator accessible only to a select few with clearance. She maneuvered her wheelchair to turn around and saw Huntress appear at the doorway, panting heavily with one hand braced against the elevator's side panel. Her hair was disheveled, a corner of her purple cape was torn, and she looked quite disheveled.

Barbara raised an eyebrow. "You didn't notify us that you were back in Gotham."

She and Helena had always gotten along well, and that hadn't changed even though Helena had since jumped ship to work for the government.

"I've been at my Gotham hideout for the past couple of days until they kicked me out—all for this," Helena said, stepping forward and pulling a USB drive from her belt. "Please, I need your help. This is important."

Barbara took the USB drive and asked, "Let me guess, Bruce doesn't know yet?"

"I haven't told him," Helena replied nonchalantly.

"Then perhaps you should consider it," Barbara said as she inserted the USB drive into her computer. "He is your father, after all. You can't keep going on like this forever. Besides, he needs you."

Helena remained silent, offering no reply.

Barbara skillfully opened the USB drive on her computer. The project named "S.D.E. Project" quickly appeared on the screen, along with a warning dialog box and a password input field that Helena had encountered before. Barbara frowned as she read the name aloud, asking, "Is this what made you look so disheveled? It must be pretty important then."

"I was just trying to access its contents, and they pursued me like I was Public Enemy Number One," Helena said. "I tried to crack it, but failed, and it automatically sent a warning to the higher-ups' servers. I only managed to copy the data. But be careful, if the decryption fails..."

"It might upload data and expose our location. Thanks for the warning, you've really brought me a hot potato," Barbara said, though she sounded like she was complaining, there was no hint of backing down on her face. She stretched her slender fingers as if preparing for a major undertaking.

"But you'll handle it, right?" Helena asked. "You always do."

"Of course. Just watch with your eyes wide open from behind."

Barbara said it lightly, but in reality, it was far from easy work. For the next half hour, she didn't utter a single word, her gaze fixed intently on the computer screen. Helena watched her fingers dance nimbly across the keyboard, lines of green code scrolling by on the black background interface like a surging river. Though she couldn't understand much of it, she could tell it was a difficult battle. Barbara's expression was stern, like a chess grandmaster facing a formidable opponent, engaged in a fierce, exhilarating exchange.

Helena wisely waited quietly to the side, not daring to disturb her. She pulled a chair over and sat down, feeling a bit drowsy.

After a long while, the scrolling code on the interface in front of Barbara finally stopped. A successful decryption prompt popped up right in the center of the screen. Even Helena, watching from the side, couldn't help but feel a thrill akin to clearing a hellishly difficult game.

Barbara let out a long sigh, feeling as if she had completed a marathon. "This thing you wanted to see is quite something. It's military-grade encryption—no, even beyond that. I can barely remember the last time I had to crack such a troublesome security protocol."

"I told you it was important," Helena said impatiently, leaning over the back of Barbara's chair. "Hurry up and open it, what's inside?"

Barbara clicked open the folder. The long list of related individuals that Jay had seen before them was the first thing to appear. Barbara clicked on the subsequent folders one by one, and the detailed information told them a story about alien exploration and a Kryptonian visitor who had descended to Earth in response to humanity's invitation, just as Jay had heard from the project's sole survivor on the other side.

"So, that's the origin of that Kryptonian kid," Helena clicked her tongue and muttered.

"Who?" Barbara asked in surprise, still processing the information. "You mean it's real? A Kryptonian we didn't know about has been hiding on Earth, and you've met him?"

"Met him, Bruce has met him too," Helena said casually. "Maybe I can introduce you next time we have a chance, he's a pretty interesting young man. Wait, is there an attachment here?"

Barbara finally noticed the attachment they had almost overlooked due to their astonishment. It was named "S.D.E-NEO," and it seemed the plan had a sequel.

They thought the parts they had seen before were astonishing enough, never expecting that the truly suffocating content would only begin here. When Barbara opened the attachment, Helena felt her breath catch in her throat. She couldn't help but doubt the veracity of the information recorded here, as it was simply too incredible.

If this was true, then everything they had seen, experienced, and lived was nothing but an unimaginably vast deception.

Metropolis, Hospital.

Nightfall quietly descended upon the sleeping Metropolis. The sun gradually hid itself behind the silhouette of the city under the night sky, and artificial lights streamed in through the single window of the hospital room. Kara had been by the bedside for several hours. Lois lay there, still unconscious, her face pale, showing no signs of waking.

The large hospital room was utterly silent, the "beep beep" of the heart rate monitor sounding particularly jarring.

Jay landed on the balcony without making a sound, like an intangible breeze, but Kara eventually noticed him. She quickly walked out and soon noticed the fatigue and sadness etched on Jay's face.

"He was right in front of me, that poor old man," Jay said dejectedly. "We... we were probably this close. But I couldn't save him."

"Jay..."

"I should have saved him," Jay said, ignoring her interruption, still dejected. "I should have reacted faster, gotten him out of that house before the fire. I should have sensed that bomb earlier... I..."

"Jay," she said, gently stroking his face and looking directly into his pale blue eyes, now clouded with gloom. "I don't know exactly what happened, but I can imagine, because we've both been through it. But you have to remember, it wasn't your fault, okay?"

"I watched him burn to ashes before my eyes," Jay said softly, holding her hand. "It felt like... it felt like I was the one dying in agony."

"I know," Kara said softly. "We all feel that way, and you might feel even more of it, even worse, in the future. The trick is to remember that this pain doesn't belong to you. And because of that, we have to help those who are suffering. You have to remember, even with our great powers, we are not gods. We are all just trying to make the right choices."

Jay was silent for a moment, then asked, "So this feeling, it never goes away, does it?"

Kara nodded. "No, they don't."

Jay looked down at the brightly lit city below the balcony and took a deep breath.

"Thank you," he said. "I feel better now."

After a pause, he added, "I have to go."

"I can help," Kara said.

"No, I need you to look after Lois, and my parents too. They could all be in danger," Jay said. "I don't know who my opponent is yet, but they threw a missile at my office. And just when I found someone willing to give me information, they blew up that house."

Kara couldn't help but cover her mouth. "Rao above, what happened?"

"I don't know yet. But what I do know is that this has become my problem," Jay said, already floating back into the air. "I have to figure this out. Can I ask you to look after them for me?"

"Of course," Kara nodded. "Go, do what you have to do."

"Thanks. I'm really glad to have you by my side, truly."

He gave a slight smile, moved, and turned into a blue blur streaking into the night sky.