Prologue: Fathers

8:30 pm, May 7, 1970, Smallville, Kansas.

A wealthy couple drive in their blue Chevy Impala convertible. The man's name is Thomas Wayne, and sitting next to him is his lovely pregnant wife, Martha. The two of them are discussing their unborn child's future, as well as the child's name.

"Rose. Emily. Constance."

"Constance? Really?"

"It was my grandmother's name!"

"How about...Bruce."

"Bruce? Sounds like a boxer! Pug-nosed. A real heavyweight. Besides, we're having a girl. She'll grow up to be a doctor. And an architect. Possibly also an astronaut."

"I love you, Thomas. And occasionally agree with you. I agreed to become Mrs. Wayne. I agreed to spend our vacation driving cross-country. Pregnant. But this is where I draw the line. We're having a son, and his name is going to be-"

"LOOK OUT!" With a loud screech, Thomas pulled the car to the side of the road. A fiery object flew out of the sky and nearly hit them, but landed in a now burning section of the cornfield. After taking his breath of relief, Thomas got out of the car to inspect what nearly hit him and Martha. "That was amazing..."

"What was it?"

"Some kind of comet-my stars-it's a vehicle-" His inspection of the fallen object showed it to be an advanced, technological sphere. All the technology appeared to be centered around a single, glowing, yellow crystal of some kind.

"Don't you go near that! It could be dangerous!"

"Amazing! It's cold to the touch." Thomas moved his hand closer to the glowing crystal.

"That doesn't mean you have to touch it! Thomas Wayne-"

"No, it's okay! It's-" Once he touches the crystal, a large light flashes before Thomas's eyes, making him think he should really listen to his wife more often.

The last thing he hears is Martha warning from the car. When he wakes up, he sees that he's not in Smallville anymore.

He finds himself in an alien surrounding. Everywhere he looks, he sees people dressed in robes and tunics, some light and some dark. The buildings appear to be made of crystal, and flags on the sides of the buildings that have hieroglyphic symbols in a language he doesn't recognize. He looks up and sees not only flying vehicles, but that the sky shows the cosmos, and a giant red sun.

Thomas is perplexed by his situation. He feels intact, physically anyway. He ponders as to whether or not he's dreaming, or hallucinating. Thomas begins to wonder if he's dead, then he sees floating men in suits come towards him, and decides that if dead is the case, Heaven has incredible toys!

He settles against the thought of being dead. After all, Thomas Wayne is a doctor, a scientist. He trusts empirical evidence. He could hear the conversations, feel the heat of the sun. A red sun. This is real. This is happening!

Thomas hears one of the floating men speak to him directly. He doesn't understand the language, but he doesn't need to. A robed man with a full beard, mustache, and combed hair comes to Thomas's rescue. Thomas notices something about his rescuer. He can hear it in his voice. A natural authority when he speaks to the suited floating men. Thomas likes him already.

The two walk away towards what appears to be a parked floating car-like vehicle. "Welcome, my friend. My name is Jor-El."

"Thomas Wayne. Wait- You speak English?"

"Come. It's not safe to speak here. Paranoia runs high in these difficult times."

Thomas is confused, this man doesn't look the least bit surprised to see him. "Where am I?"

"Your body remains safely on your planet. But your mind is given form on the planet Krypton. Thousands of light-years from your home." Jor-El start's the car with a whirring sound as they fly towards the destination he wants to take them to.

"This is impossible!"

"You sound like the bureaucrats I recently had the displeasure of addressing. I'll tell you what I told them. This isn't impossible. This is science." Science. He could really speak Thomas's language. They reached their destination, a large cave-like opening in the crystal that formed everything around them, with a large symbol at the entrance that looked like an S. "Thomas Wayne, welcome to the House of El."

Once they are out of the car and inside the cave-like house, Thomas sees lights and statues everywhere. "Why did you bring me here?"

"I need your help-"

Suddenly the two are interrupted by a female figure. A robed, pregnant woman comes around the corner. She speaks to Jor-El in the alien language, in a stern loving wife way. Thomas sees that she's beautiful. Almost as beautiful as his Martha. Thomas gathers from the conversation that the woman's name is Lara. Thomas thinks the name is lovely. But he notices the look on Jor-El's face, saying that he was hoping to avoid this. Thomas decides it's best that he doesn't say much. He greets Lara in the alien language as best he can, hoping he got it right.

Jor-El takes Thomas to the door of another room and opens it by pressing his palm to the wall.

"My wife uses that same tone with me."

"I suppose some things are universal."

"You're having a baby? Martha and I are expecting our first in a few months!"

"Yes. Our first child as well. A son. And that is why I have brought you here." The enter the room and Thomas finds he's in a laboratory. "This is my laboratory. For months I have been searching the heavens, looking for a safe place to send my child."

"Send your child? I don't understand..."

Jor-El pulled up some holographic images with his machines. "Unlike your world, so vibrant, so alive, Krypton is dying. For months I have been trying to convince the ruling council of the truth. Soon our planet's unstable core will explode, destroying every living thing."

"Why can't you leave? Find a new home somewhere..."

"It is too late. Our civilization once spanned hundreds of star systems. But war and disease have crippled us. We have become a race ruled by paranoia and fear. After the collapse of our empire, the ruling council banned all interstellar travel." Jor-El pressed a button and a small spacecraft came out of the wall. "I have the means to construct only one ship capable of sustaining life. A ship small enough to escape Krypton's orbit without the council's knowledge. If I send my son away inside, he will be the only survivor of Krypton."

"But why am I here? How can I help you?"

"I have sent probes to habitable worlds throughout the galaxy, so that I might find the planet best suited to be my son's new home. When you touched the crystal in the probe, it sent your consciousness here and reproduced your physical form as a tactile hologram. The effect is only temporary, but the data I receive about your biology and environment is invaluable. As is the chance to meet face to face. For me to learn about your world through you. As I seek a new home for my son, I consider how each world would change him. There are civilizations that value knowledge above all else. And others that measure their heroes by their scars. I have even breached the space between dimensions to find a planet whose inhabitants live like gods. And then we have your planet. It's unique characteristics make it a suitable habitat for Kryptonian life."

Thomas is unsure what to tell Jor-El. Does he say that Earth is where he should send his only child? "I can't lie to you Jor-El. We're not the most peaceful corner of the galaxy. We have a special talent for embracing the worst aspects of our nature. But I believe that humanity if fundamentally decent. I come from a troubled place called Gotham. But it's my home and I will do everything I can to save it. I think most people on Earth feel that way about their homes. I can't tell you where to send your son. But if he does come to Earth, I know he'll have a chance at a good meaningful life. And if I found him, I'd raise him as I would my own."

Jor-El lights up, as though he'd heard the thing he's been wanting to hear all along. "Thomas, there is something you should know. Your yellow sun..."

Thomas saw his hands start to disappear. "Wait-What's happening...?"

"The probe's effect is wearing off. You will soon awaken on your planet."

Thomas began to fade even faster. "Wait. Do you even know your child's name yet? If we ever get to meet..."

"Kal. His name will be Kal."

"Kal. Yes. If we have a boy, Martha wants to call him Bruce..."

"Bruce. It is a good name." Then Thomas finally faded away from the House of El. He found himself back in the cornfields of Smallville, Kansas. Martha was standing there, worried.

"Thomas, what just happened?"

"Martha, we need to gather all these pieces, I suspect we'll have a visitor soon."

9:01 pm, February 22, 1971, Gotham Observatory.

Thomas Wayne had spent the last few months trying to prepare himself for a lot of things. His wife Martha had given birth to their son, Bruce Kane Wayne, three days ago. Kane was Martha's maiden name. Thomas was wondering if he would be ready to be a father not only to his biological son, but also to the son of Jor-El.

He also pondered what Jor-El was trying to tell him about Earth's sun before he left Krypton. How and why would that effect things?

Thomas sat looking through the telescope at Gotham Observatory as these things ran through his mind. For months, he'd not only been trying to understand the technology of the Kryptonian probe that Jor-El sent, he'd also been searching the heavens for any sign of a small ship. Thomas joked that it would be like the stork coming from outer space. The technology was incredible, but the probe wasn't enough for him to study and reverse-engineer.

Two nights after the event, he told Martha everything about his mental journey to the alien world. She found it hard to believe at first but came to accept it. Martha even found the idea that she would be raising two sons delightful.

But this night, Thomas Wayne is focused on searching for the Kryptonian child's vessel to show itself in the sky. Soon, he sees a moving object moving across the sky. At first he's thinks it's another plane, but he notices that it's not moving in an airplane-like pattern, and it's not flashing a blue-green color like a plane. It appears to be getting closer and closer. Thomas soon realizes that this must be the vessel he's been searching for, and it's coming towards him.

Thomas gets up from his seat at the telescope, runs out of the building, and into the street. He looks to the sky and sees the object getting bigger and closer. From where he was standing, the object looked like a ball of fire descending from the sky. Mr. Wayne runs down the alley next to him and finds that it's a dead end. He wants to see this vessel up close, but not so close it would kill him.

Thomas turns around fast when he hears the sounds of the object approaching him. It has a whirring sound to it, then a booming crash noise when it smashes through the buildings and two yards in front of Thomas. He takes steps closer to it, the flames start to die out, revealing a crystalline rocket-like vessel. Thomas puts his hand in front of him, feeling the heat coming off the crystal ship start to cool off. He touches the ship once, but immediately pulls it back because of the heat. A few more seconds and it is alright to touch the craft, and upon further inspection, a large hole is visible. Mr. Wayne leans his head in to inspect the hole, and to his horror, finds the skeleton of a baby in the fetal position.

Various onlookers shout for an explanation. Some are shouting that it was an attack by the Soviet Union, or the Reds or Commies as they call them. Others are also panicking that it's an invasion of men from Mars.

Thomas hears the sirens come closer, but he doesn't care. He just feels saddened and ashamed that he didn't save his alien friend's only child. He failed.

10:18 pm, February 24, 1971

Somewhere over the Atlantic, a heavy Thunderstorm makes itself known. On the roaring waves, a cargo ship and its crew struggle to keep things together. Inside the captains quarters, a man of Arabic descent sits a desk writing in his journal. The man's name, Ra's Al Ghul. Translated his name means the "Head of the Demon". Although, despite his Arabic descent, he looks and sounds more like an Englishman. He is thought to be a legend among many, except by those who either know him, serve him, or have made the mistake of angering him. Ra's is what many might call an eco-terrorist, because he believes it is his mission to restore the planet to what he considers its former beauty.

A surprising fact about Ra's, is that he embodies the phrase, "older than he looks". He is 600 years old, something many consider impossible. For Ra's, he achieves this by bathing in the rejuvenating waters of a pool he calls the Lazarus Pit. Ra's knows the location of every Lazarus Pit all over the world, and having been a frequent user of them, he knows more about them than anyone else in the world. The main affect of the pits is to heal the sick and injured, and, as rumored, to raise the dead. Unfortunate side-effects of the pit are that anyone who uses them will suffer from a temporary insanity as well as increased strength, possibly due to adrenaline from the insanity.

This night he is traveling by sea. His destination, Western Europe. His business there is to try and topple the economy of Europe. He would achieve this secretly with his global organization called the League of Shadows.

Ra's is interrupted from his thoughts when he hears a loud thump on the deck of the ship. At first he dismisses it as cargo falling everywhere, but then one of his servants knocks on the door.

"Enter."

A man of Indian descent enters the room wearing a soaked black raincoat, "Master, there is something you must see."

"What is it?"

"The storm has caused something to wash aboard our ship. An ancient, black chest of sorts."

Getting up, Ra's turns towards his servant, "Bring it to me."

The Indian man motioned for the men outside the door to bring the chest in. Despite what the Indian said about the chest looking ancient, it appeared as though it was recently made. An inscription on the lid of the chest was written in gold, but written in a language that didn't use the Latin alphabet. It also appeared to be locked.

"We do not recognize the language Master."

"I do." Another aspect of Ra's Al Ghul was that he has genius-level intellect and is very resourceful when it comes to information. He had learned many different languages over his six-centaury longevity. This one is no different, Ancient Greek.

Ra's translates the inscription aloud, "'This chest contains my daughter Diana, from now lost paradise of Themyscira. The gods have ordered her destruction, but I, Queen Hippolyta, cannot allow this to happen. So I have cast her out to sea in the hopes that Poseidon will not claim her for Hades. Whosoever finds this chest, I pray that you will raise my child as you would your own. She will prove to be an invaluable treasure to you who find her.'"

Ra's finds this odd, "Open it."

The men pick at the locks and they open the chest. At first Ra's thinks that he will find the skeleton of a baby girl, but instead he finds an alive and crying baby girl.

Ra's and his men look at the baby and each other in bewilderment. Ra's reaches down and holds the baby in his arms. Cradling her.

"Shh, shh, there, there, my dear, you are safe now. Safe in the house of Al Ghul. My little Talia."

Author's note: Well that's the prologue of this story. I've thought of doing this for some time now, and I hope I can make a story that everyone can enjoy.

This story is based on the idea of an amalgamation of Batman and Superman. I'm not the first to use this idea, because a similar story can be found in the pages of the Elseworlds story called, "Superman: Speeding Bullets" where Superman basically grew up in Batman's place and became his own version of the Dark Knight. Though in that story he eventually became Superman at the request of Lois Lane.

Read and Review! Constructive criticism only please.