It was dark in April's room. When her name was called, she appeared from the shadows by the door. "Martha! I'm so glad you're okay!" She said, going to hug her friend.

Bruce sighed. "Lori, I'm sorry. You know I don't mean to worry you. It's not as bad as it looks." He tried to cheer her up, though he had a feeling it wasn't working.

"Your an idiot." Lori smiled at him. "I'm just glad it's over know you can rest and we can live the rest of are lives without worrying." she kissed him gentle.

"We need your help oh and I'm going to kill your brother." Martha explained and by the time she was done she was pacing a scowl on her face.

Bruce gave her a pained look. He didn't want to worry her, but lying to her wasn't an option. "Lori...you know it's not over. THe president will have heard about all this. Clark will show up sooner or later." He said. "Please try to trust me. I have a plan, and I won't be working alone. And after that, it really will be over."

April sat on her bed, listening. "Ah, so that's it." She sighed. "Martha, I have to confess that I had an idea of what Cal was doing. I had no idea it was so huge, but I knew it had to be done. And I knew I'd have to be there to clean up the mess once everything came to a head. I'm sorry I didn't say anything. If I had known exactly what he was up to, I would have. But anything you need now, I'll help. Anything at all."

"Well say your sorry and go to jail for a little while." Lori blinked at him. "Just sleep." she let him rest and went to get him food a soft smile on her face.

Martha stared at her. "never mind." she set her mouth into a scowl. "Your both going to regret this after." she growled. "Me or father will be in touch." April could tell she was mad. "I'll see you later." she vanished without another word. She got home just in time for the missile warning to be broadcasted. Her mother was watching the news a soft frown on her face they both gasped when the power went out.

Bruce wanted to say something, but Lori left before he could. Lori seemed intent on ignoring the obvious. Was she in denial, he wondered, or was she giving him a chance to do what needed to be done without lying?

"Martha, wait!" April called, but her friend was already gone. Frustrated, she started pacing. "This is what I get for trying to do the right thing. She's so stubborn! What am I supposed to do, anyway? I can't keep them both happy. She's too uptight and he still has no idea what he wants! Why put me in the middle?" She fumed.

"Sorry sis, I didn't mean to put you in a bad position." Cal said from the doorway, making April jump. "In my defense, you wouldn't be in this position if you hadn't snooped into what I was doing." This earned him a death threat, and he raised his hands. "I only wanted to help. Nothing was ever going to change without a catalyst, so I provided one." He defended himself as he cradled his injured wrist. "Apparently I just can't do good. Even when I'm doing something right, it's wrong." He paused as the power went out. "What the hell?"

Lori shivered and began to board up the house with Martha's help. "It seems Clark took a big hit." She mused when she got to there bedroom. "Seems like a bad guy could take advantage of his weaker state." She said it without turning around.

Bruce nodded, though she couldn't see him. "It seems like it." He agreed. Did she know? She had to. Lori wasn't stupid. "Lori, could you get a message to the twins for me? I'd like to talk to them." That, at least, was true. And he had more than one reason for it.

"Alright love." Lori vanished downstairs and called the twins worried about Bruce but if she didn't know she wouldn't try to stop him.

"What's the plan? How do we tell mom? What do we tell mom?" Martha sat on the bed. "Is it weird that I'm scared?"

"To answer your questions in order: we'll discuss the plan once the twins get here. We won't tell your mother, at least not until it's over. When we do, we'll tell her the truth and hope she doesn't kill us. And no, it's not weird. It's perfectly normal to be scared." Bruce said.

"You aren't going to die are you?" Martha clung to his arm. "You can't die." she buried her head into his chest.

Bruce looked surprised. He didn't answer for a second, debating whether to tell her the truth. "I can't promise you that I won't die, Martha. But I can promise that I won't stay dead for long. You'll just have to trust me, okay? It will all make sense soon."

"OK." Martha blinked when the twins entered. "That was fast."

Bruce raised an eyebrow. "Did the two of you learn to teleport recently?" He asked.

"We were already on our way when we got the message." April said. She noticed Cal's silence and elbowed him in the ribs.

"Ow! Uh...I wanted...to apologize. I didn't think you'd get hurt. I was trying to help." He said, looking at his feet the whole time.

"We'll talk about that later. Right now, I need all of you to help me. After that display, we all know Clark will show up soon. I have a plan to beat him, but I can't do it alone. Will you help?"

"Absolutely. Whatever you need." April said.

Cal nodded. He wanted to make up for Bruce getting hurt. "Yeah, of course."

Once they knew the plan Martha stared at the door. "What do you want to tell mom?" She asked glancing at Alfred who had joined them. "If your planning to erase any trace of the cave she'll need to leave the house."

"I thought I'd tell her to visit Gemini for a while." Bruce said thoughtfully.

"That should work. Mom is always saying how she'd like to spend time with auntie Lori." April said.

"She's going to be devastated." Martha sighed. "She won't last long." She stood. "Let's get to work."

Cal nodded and stood, helping Bruce get up as well.

"Right. The sooner this is over with, the better." Bruce said.

Martha found her mother sipping wine. "Mom...I think you should visit Auntie." Lori looked over and sighed "alright." She kissed the girls forehead. "Be careful sweetheart." She went to pack and found Bruce. "Be careful love." She gave him a kiss. "Came back in one piece." She left before she could cry and attacked her best friend clinging to her.

Pausing in his preparations, Bruce took a moment to kiss Lori. "I will. I promise." He said. He watched her as she left, not taking his eyes off of her until she was out of sight. Then he sighed and went back to getting ready. "Cal, come help me with this. Your powers can probably manage better than my old hands."

Gemini was sitting on the couch with Lucifer at her feet, doing a crossword puzzle. Next thing she knew, she was on her back with Lori hugging the life out of her. She blinked, then hugged her friend back. "Hey...what's wrong?" She had a suspicion. "Does it have anything to do with my twins leaving without telling me? Are they okay? What about Bruce and Martha? Tell me everything you know."

Lori started to babble explain tears rolling down her face. "And I'm afraid I'll never see Bruce alive." she noticed how Joker's head perked up at that idea and cried harder.

Gemini sent a death glare at Joker and motioned him to leave the room. "Oh, Lori. I can't tell you not to worry, because you will anyway...and so will I. But if he's got it all planned out, and he's got Martha and the twins to help him, then I know he'll be safe. Those kids won't let anything happen to him." She said.

Lori nodded and buried her head into her friends shoulder looking a little like a child.

"Everything's ready dad." Martha approached him then after a moment she hugged him tightly.

Gemini did her best to comfort her friend while trying not to worry herself.

Bruce nodded. "Right. The only thing left is to meet him." He hugged her back. "I'm counting on all of you."

"Don't worry, we've got everything under control." April said confidently.

"Yeah. I promise you won't regret counting on me." Cal said, determined to make sure it was true.

Martha hugged him a little longer than lead the twins away clinging to April's hand they bad never seen her look so worries but once the plan started her worry faded away as she focused on her job.

April went to her assigned perch above where the fight would take place. Her job was to use her telepathy to distract Clark at just the right moment. She had only one shot, and it had to be perfectly in sync with Cal and Bruce's movements.

Cal, on the opposite side, was in charge of firing the shot that would make or break them. He waited, nervous but patient, his powers ready to go as soon as they were needed.

Bruce, in the armored batsuit, waited for Clark to show up. For some reason, he didn't feel nervous at all. Just...calm. After this, it will finally be over. The thought somehow comforted him.