A friend.

Bruce thought back to the events of the past 24 hours and of her entire life. Being Batman everyday was a fight against the impossible. Being randomly turned into a blonde Kryptonian girl and later an older version of that same girl was impossible. Yet there she was. For every second she spent in that body and on that parallel Earth, she regretted her decision to not just stay put and wait for Clark to return. Now he's dead in this reality. Her only hope of returning to normal gone in an instant.

"Yeah... I miss 'em too."

She heard a familiar voice. Her super hearing was able to discern the tone as one she'd heard before. Someone very close to her. Someone she'd lost long ago. A voice she spent countless nights wishing she could hear again just one more time. But it couldn't be... could it?

The blonde perked up, slowly glancing through her blonde hair. A hand rested gently on her shoulder. She looked up at the man clad in black peering down at her. He wore a batsuit similar to the one she sported when she was herself. But he wasn't her doppleganger, he was someone else entirely. She could tell by the distinct jawline with a five o'clock shadow. She was always clean shaven when she went out on patrol. The red eyes and red bat insignia reminded her of some old batsuit concepts Jason drew up in case he ever inherited the mantle. But this guy was no Jason Todd.

"But believe me, the last thing big blue would want is for us to sit around grieving for him. Same goes for Bruce and Diana."

That confirmed it. This wasn't a parallel Bruce Wayne she was speaking to. Then... who was he?

She slowly arose, turning to face him.

"You're...."

"I'm Batman."

"No... you're...."

Bruce studied his jawline carefully, her x-ray vision kicking in. She focused intently and saw through his cowl. Her eyes went wide, her mouth agape.

"You're.... my father...?"

"What?"

The Batman raised a brow. That was extremely confusing for him.

"No, I mean.... You're Thomas Wayne..."

"Thought you already knew that? I took up the cowl after my boy died stopping those bastards. You dropped the S and became Power Girl. Val-Zod became the new blue boyscout. We all went through some changes, didn't we?" He mused.

"Just try not to shout my secret identity out loud like that again, you got me?"

Thomas gestured to the oval shaped hole in her costume exposing her cleavage.

"Interesting design choice. Personally, I think you'd look better in black."

Thomas shrugged.

Everything her father had just said went in one ear and out the other. She stood there flabbergasted. She knew in her heart of hearts that the man that stood before her was not the same man she watched get gunned down in an alleyway alongside her mother when she was a child. But seeing his face through the mask, hearing his voice again, seeing him alive, it sent her down a rabbit hole of closeted emotions. Feelings she locked away for decades, buried underneath childhood trauma and used to justify her crusade against crime. If he wasn't dead... why did she become Batman in this world?