The Watchtower briefing chamber was full.
All senior League members present.
Media drones streaming limited footage for transparency. After Coast City and Metropolis, public trust required visibility.
Clark stood at the center platform.
Vita stood opposite him.
Professional distance.
Always professional distance.
Batman observed silently from the shadows. Diana stood poised beside the console. Hawkgirl watched from the upper level, unreadable.
Clark cleared his throat.
"This won't take long."
His voice carried.
Steady. Strong.
But not invincible.
"The past few missions exposed something," he continued. "I hesitated. That hesitation put lives at risk."
Murmurs. Subtle.
Vita did not move.
Clark turned toward her.
"And part of that hesitation is unresolved history. Between myself and Vita Nova."
The room stilled.
Hawkgirl's wings shifted slightly.
Batman didn't blink.
Clark took a breath.
"I owe her—"
"Not here."
Vita's voice sliced clean through the chamber.
Not loud.
But absolute.
Clark froze.
The League watched.
"You do not owe me anything publicly," Vita continued, her tone calm but edged with steel. "And you do not get to turn personal regret into a League spectacle."
Clark's jaw tightened. "I'm trying to take responsibility."
"And I'm telling you," she said, stepping forward, golden eyes steady, "you lost that right."
The words landed heavy.
No one moved.
Clark's expression shifted — shock first, then pain.
"You don't get to apologize when it's convenient," Vita said quietly, but the microphones still caught it. "You don't get to rewrite what happened because the League is watching."
Hawkgirl looked away.
Diana's brows furrowed slightly.
Clark lowered his voice. "Vita—"
"No," she said. "This is not yours to fix publicly."
The silence that followed was brutal.
Batman finally spoke. "Enough. We have more pressing matters."
As if summoned by the tension itself—
The Watchtower lights flickered.
Again.
But this time…
They didn't stabilize.
---
Every monitor in the chamber flashed green.
Vines burst through ventilation panels.
Controlled.
Precise.
Not wild growth — targeted infiltration.
Poison Ivy's voice filled the chamber.
"Oh good. I love an audience."
Holographic projections of greenhouse facilities across Metropolis appeared.
Each one registered as a Wayne-funded environmental restoration center.
Clark's eyes widened.
Vita's expression hardened.
Ivy smiled on every screen.
"You see, little sister," Ivy purred, "when you play house with heroes, people forget who you belong to."
Vita's wings flared slightly.
"Release the facilities," Vita ordered calmly.
"Oh, I'm not destroying them," Ivy replied. "I'm improving them."
The screen zoomed in.
The plants inside were mutating.
Overgrowing.
Turning predatory.
Civilians trapped inside.
Clark moved instantly. "I'll evacuate the east sector."
Vita cut him off. "No. We go together."
Their eyes locked.
No argument.
Just necessity.
---
Batman rerouted the chamber into combat simulation mode to prevent further infiltration.
"Run joint-response scenario," he ordered. "Live calibration."
The chamber shifted into a projected battlefield.
Clark and Vita stood opposite simulated plant constructs — Ivy's mutated creations mapped into the system.
"Work together," Batman commanded.
The simulation began.
Clark launched first — direct, forceful.
Vita adjusted mid-air, calculating structural weaknesses.
"Left flank unstable," she called.
Clark didn't respond quickly enough.
A simulated vine wrapped around him.
The chamber gasped lightly.
Vita reacted instantly, slicing through the projection with precise energy bursts.
"Listen when I speak," she snapped.
"I don't need—"
Another construct surged.
They collided mid-air, movements unsynchronized.
Power against precision.
Strength against strategy.
The system recalibrated difficulty.
Hawkgirl stepped forward. "They're fighting each other more than the enemy."
Clark broke free. "Stop treating me like I'm unstable."
"Then stop behaving like you are," Vita shot back.
The simulation glitched violently.
Ivy's laughter echoed faintly through the hacked systems.
---
The simulation ended abruptly.
Batman dismissed the chamber.
Clark left first.
Frustration rolling off him in waves.
Hawkgirl descended from the upper level and approached Vita.
"You're pushing him."
Vita didn't look at her. "He pushed first."
Hawkgirl crossed her arms. "You're stronger now. Sharper. But leadership isn't dominance."
Vita's eyes flashed slightly. "I am not trying to dominate."
"Then what are you trying to do?"
A pause.
Vita finally turned to her.
"Survive."
Hawkgirl studied her.
"And what happens if he doesn't?"
That question lingered longer than expected.
---
Later.
Earthlight filtered softly through the observation deck.
Vita stood alone again.
It was becoming a pattern.
Clark stepped into the room.
This time, he didn't stop at a distance.
He walked directly in front of her.
"No audience," he said. "No League. No cameras."
She remained silent.
He dropped the symbol from his chest.
The red and blue dissolved into civilian clothing.
No cape.
No armor.
Just Clark.
"I made a choice five years ago," he said quietly. "I thought I was protecting you. Protecting the League. Protecting everything."
Her expression tightened.
"I was wrong."
The words weren't loud.
They weren't dramatic.
But they were real.
"I don't want to lead against you," he continued. "I want to stand with you."
Vita's eyes shimmered — not gold.
Something softer.
"You don't get to decide that alone," she whispered.
He stepped closer.
"I'm not asking to lead," he said.
"I'm asking for a chance."
Silence stretched.
Heavy.
Dangerous.
And then—
An alert.
Wayne greenhouse collapse confirmed.
Civilian casualties rising.
Ivy's escalation had worked.
She didn't just attack infrastructure.
She attacked Clark's legacy.
Vita turned toward the exit.
Professional mask sliding back into place.
Clark reached out—
But didn't touch her.
"Vita."
She paused.
Just slightly.
"This isn't over," he said.
She didn't look back.
"No," she replied.
"It's not."
And somewhere in Gotham's botanical underworld—
Poison Ivy smiled.
Because the deeper the crack…
The easier it is to split steel.