Irene felt uncomfortable waking up in a bed that wasn't her own, but she also found that she hadn't woken up as heartbroken as she usually did. Maybe what she needed was to not wake up every morning in the bed that she had shared with Clark.

The thing was that Irene didn't want to move one. Not entirely. In some way she wanted the pain, because the pain was a reminder of how much she was in love with him. Of how much he had loved her. Irene needed that pain.

Irene stepped out of the large guest room that Alfred had set up for her. The size of the quest room alone was almost the size of her apartment in Metropolis and she had always considered her apartment to be decently sized.

Alfred was walking down the hall towards her room with a tray in his hand. Irene couldn't help but wonder how he was able to guess when she would be up. Though she supposed that being aware of people's needs was his job. "Some tea Ms. Miranda?"

"I don't really drink much tea." Irene admitted but she still took the cup on the tray gratefully. "But thank you."

Alfred smiled slightly and it seemed that he was almost glad that she was here. "You will find that the tea will help ease the morning sickness."

Irene almost felt like her heart had stopped in her chest hearing him say that. She didn't want Bruce to lol know, she was afraid that he would treat her different for it. People usually tended to treat pregnant women differently, like if they were capable of less because of it.

"You know?" Irene questioned and Alfred simply nodded, and she couldn't help but wonder what about her face it away. "Does Bruce?"

"No. But Master Wayne is waiting for you in the workshop whenever you are ready." He replied before turning around and walking down the hall.

She quickly drank most of the tea, not wanting to seem rude, before she headed towards Bruce's workshop underneath the mansion.

Bruce was sitting in front of the computer, he was still dressed like Batman and it wasn't difficult to assume that he had been fighting crime in Gotham all night long. It was also possible that he hadn't slept at all since they had spoken last.

"Arthur Curry." Bruce said simply as if the name was supposed to mean something to her. He hadn't even bothered to look at her, he only spoke as if he had sensed her anger the room.

"What?" Irene questioned as she stepped forward until she was standing beside him.

"The man from the video in the Mariana Trench. His name is Arthur Curry." Bruce stated as more picture of Arthur Curry appeared on the screens around him. He looked rough around the edges and not someone who would be easy to convince. "He's currently living in Iceland."

Now that they had found all the meta-humans everything felt a lot more real. The threat that Bruce feared felt more real. Her dream felt more real too.

"Listen Bruce there's something I need to tell you." Irene began not knowing how she could even begin to tell Bruce about the dream she had. He would probably think that she was insane, Bruce was logical and definitely not the type to be superstitious. Normally Irene wasn't either but she couldn't simply ignore that Kara Danvers had been in a dream she had before she even knew that the girl existed. "You're probably going to think crazy."

Bruce expression remained the same, not that Bruce ever expressed a wide range of emotions from what Irene could tell. "Nothing surprises me anymore."

"Bruce... the other night I had this dream." Irene began not sure if this was something that she even wanted to share. But She had Bruce's full attention now as he waited for what she was about to say next almost looking tense. "I would even think of it as a dream really it was more of a..."

"Wait." He told her before he turned his head to the other end of the room just as Diana opened the door. "You know, I paid millions of dollars for this building's security."

Diana smiled as she approached them, and Irene could help but feel relieved to see her. She wasn't as confident as Bruce was that the meta-humans they found would be willing to help this unknown threat. But knowing that Diana was here did ease Irene's worries.

"You got your money's worth. Took me almost a minute to disable it." Diana looked around the room impressed, until her eyes stopped at the large aircraft that was sitting in the corner. "A new toy?"

"Prototype troop carrier." Bruce replied as he also looked up at the aircraft.

Diana sighed a look of longing and sadness flashing across her face. "I once knew a man who would have loved to fly it."

"The best minds at Wayne Aerospace couldn't make it fly."

"But you can?" Irene questioned unable to feel a little skeptical. Her whole life she had known Bruce Wayne to be an arrogant billionaire playboy, knowing that he was actually a vigilante and tech genius was difficult to wrap her mind around.

Bruce seemed slightly annoyed by Irene's skepticism, but anything seemed to annoy Bruce. "I have no choice. I need more range and I need more cargo. I think there's an attack coming."

"Not coming, Bruce. It's already here." Diana stated and the seriousness in her tone made Irene feel like her skin was crawling. Such simple words were heavy, and they were terrifying. "From what I've learned, they are things from another universe. They serve a dark power. An old power."

Bruce was silent for a moment as he became more serious if that was even possible. "What do they want?"

"To invade. To conquer. They came here once before, long ago. A great armada appeared in the sky, laying waste to all who opposed it." Diana said and the way she spoke it was like she knew this story by heart. Like if she had grown up learning of the invaders. "The leader of the invaders was a being called Darkseid. A name cursed and feared in every universe."

Diana took a seat, and it was clearly that they were in for one hell of a story. From the serious look on Diana's face what she was about to tell them was not going to be easy or anything that they would really want to hear.

Irene also took a seat as she waited for Diana to continue.

"Darkseid was met in battle by Earth's defenders. The old gods, men... Atlanteans before their descent into the sea... Amazons before their betrayal and enslavement and guardians from the stars. Their histories had taught them not to trust each other, not to hope for an alliance. To fight apart."

Hearing all of this only brought more questions. Atlanteans? There was simply no way that Diana had so casually confirmed the existence of Atlanteans. Irene wasn't surprised only curious. Very little tended to surprise her now.

"As Darkseid waged war on Earth, he found a secret there. A power hidden in the infinity of space. He called forth mystics who worshipped and controlled three objects... the Mother Boxes."

"Mother Boxes?" Irene repeated unable to hold back her question. She could sit through the talk of alien conquerors, Amazon's and Atlanteans and accept that it was all true. But there was only so much she could listen to without feeling the need to ask question.

"Indestructible living machines, made from a science so advanced, it looks like sorcery. To conquer, three boxes have to synchronize and join together into The Unity. The Unity cleanses a planet with fire, transforming it into a copy of the enemy's world. All who live become servants of Darkseid. Alive but drained of life. Parademons."

"I'm assuming they weren't successful?" Irene questioned knowing that if they had been the world that they were living in today would be terrifyingly different.

"Before The Unity could synchronize, the defenders of Earth attacked and fought as one. Amazons alongside Atlanteans. Zeus and his son Ares alongside the guardians from the sky. A golden Age of Heroes fighting together to defend life on Earth. They did what no world had ever done. Sent the enemies back into the stars. The three Mother Boxes never synchronized. The Unity never came to pass."

And as Diana co rubies the story Irene could t help but feel fear. She wanted to feel confident that Bruce and Diane along with the other four meta-humans they planned to recruit would be enough against the oncoming threat. But if hundreds of years ago the entire world united as one was barely enough against it then a broken world had no chance.

"In their retreat, the boxes were left behind on Earth. They grew weak. Dogs without masters falling asleep, awaiting their return. Fading from the view of the enemy, anonymous among a trillion worlds. The defenders of Earth made a vow. Men, Atlanteans, and Amazons. Each would enshrine and guard one of the three sleeping Mother Boxes according to the rites and rituals of their culture in case a box should ever wake again to call out to the planet Apokolips to return and conquer the only world Darkseid had ever lost."

Just last night Bruce had told her that Diana had previously shown no interest in helping him with the threat Lex Luthor had warned him about. Something had to have changed for Diana to be here now. For her to be telling them this story.

"They found a Mother Box?" Irene questioned and the answer was written on Diana's face."

"Something woke the box my people guard. It called out to the dark place... to one of Darkseid's conquerors." Diana confirmed, but she didn't seem afraid. She was a warrior after all and maybe she had faced worse than Darkseid of one of his conquerors. Or at least that was what Irene wanted to believe, she wanted to believe that Diana and Bruce could handle this threat. "The enemy is here."

Those words made it feel like the world was spinning around Irene. She was grateful that she had been sitting down or she was sure she would have fainted from the news.

"If he's here, where is he?" Bruce questioned finally speaking up. Irene could see in his face that he was ready for the fight, that he wasn't unfazed by anything the Diana had just told them.

"He'll be searching for the other two boxes. Hiding until he has all three. Until he's ready."

"Then we have to be ready. Us three and the others." Bruce declared as he looked between Irene and Diana.

Diana nodded a small smile in her lips. She seemed relieved that he was willing to fight, maybe she feared that what she had just told them would cause Bruce to turn away from the fight. "They said the Age of Heroes would never come again."

"No, it will. It has to." Bruce assured her and although Irene admired his bravery and confidence she didn't entirely share it.

"The others. Where are they?" Diane questioned as she looked to Irene, like if she knew that she had the answers.

Bruce and Irene took a moment to set up all the files that they had collected last night for Diana to go through. Their involvement in this wasn't certain, but they hoped that speaking to them would help.

But the truth was that Kara and Barry were both still college students, they were young and shouldn't need to carry this kind of responsibility. The weight of it all was too great. Even Irene felt it, and she was useless in it all. She wasn't special like they were, and finding the names of these meta-humans was all she had to offer.

"Number one is Kara Danvers. She lives in National City." Irene said as a recent video of Kara leaving the college library appeared on the screen. "If my suspicions are correct I think she may be Kryptonian."

Diana nodded taking in the information. She almost even seemed to relax at the mention that Kara might be Kryptonian. "Let's hope that she is. We could use a Kryptonian."

Diana couldn't have known how much her words had hurt Irene. They all knew that Clark should be here, that he probably would have been the one leading them.

But Clark was gone and the world was left weaker and more vulnerable for it.

Having noticed that Irene's mood had shifted Bruce took over and changed the focus to Arthur Curry. Irene couldn't help but feel grateful for it, the thought of Clark felt like an open would that would never close. The reality being that in some way Clark was always on her mind.

A frown formed on Diana's lips at the sight of him. "This was taken in the deepest trench on Earth. He must be an Atlantean. A water-breather."

"He lives in a small village in Iceland." Bruce stated as he pulled up more images of the man for Diana to see.

"Mixed-blood, then. Atlanteans can be tricky. My people went to war with them once." Diana informed causally as it Amazons and Atlanteans going to war was an everyday thing. Irene found that she wanted Diana to elaborate more even though they currently had more important things to focus on. "I'm not sure we can trust him."

"This is the third person. Disappears for 1/30 of a second here." Bruce pointed out as he kept replaying the same clip again. "One frame of video, see?"

Unlike Diana or Clark it seemed that Barry Allen hadn't been born with his abilities. He had an interesting story. His mother had been murdered when he was a child and his father had been imprisoned for her murder.

What was strange was the Barry Allen claimed that it hadn't been his father that murdered his mother, his statement had been that it was a yellow blur. Barry Allen's story was interesting enough as it was but about two years ago he had been struck by lightning and had been in a coma for nine months.

Irene was no scientist and new very little about meta-humans but she had a feeling that the accident was the source of his powers.

"Barry Allen. Central City. Go to him." Diana ordered as she looked to Bruce, and a Irene found she was glad that Diana was taking over. "I'll work on number four. Organic and biomechatronic body parts. He's a cyborg."

"I think I should talk to Victor, I know him from college." Irene suggested knowing that she might be able to get to him even though they hadn't spoken in years.

"No." Bruce said firmly.

"No?" Irene repeated annoyed that he was brushing her off so quickly.

"You should work on Kara Danvers. If she really is Kryptonian then it should be you." Bruce stated and although Irene understood his reasoning she wasn't sure if she was the right person for this. "I'll also fly to Iceland to talk to Arthur Curry."

Irene knew that there was no arguing with Bruce about this and she couldn't entirely argue with his logic. But maybe this was too personal, it felt like talking to Kara Danvers would only make make everything that she already felt worse.

And in some way it felt like maybe if Kara was Kryptonian then she was going to replace Clark. And that was selfish of Irene to not want someone to take Clark's place in the world.

But they needed Kara whether or not she was Kryptonian she was special and the world needed her.

A/N: It's been a while but here's another update! It may feel like there's not much going on right now but we're slowly getting to all the good stuff. The next chapter especially is one that I'm sure a lot of you will enjoy. Not going to lie I do miss writing Irene and Clark, but there's still a lot of exciting things to write.