Chapter Text
It would go down in history as the single most devastating, society-altering act any villain has committed – at least on Earth.
The thing is, no one knew. Not Superman, not the Lantern Corp, not the Titans, not the world governments; not even Batman. There was no grandstanding ala Lex Luthor, no hidden clues like Joker would have provided, no chatter like a common terrorist cell would have left. If any of the other villains knew – Slade or Ra’s or Lex himself – they kept silent in the aftermath. Some of them were even affected, the ones who were in Gotham that night, anyway.
Superman himself went to Congress to testify against the creation of a registration, arguing that only doctors needed to know one’s second gender status – as it came to be called – in order to better assist their patients. He was persuasive enough, backed by many progressives, and the family members of those affected who had not been in Gotham that night, to lay to rest the issue of registration.
Future studies, conducted by Metropolis University faculty and medical doctors, only hinted at correlation and absolutely no causation for the stereotypes that had abounded regarding alphas and omegas during the lockdown. Such studies were conducted under the watchful, benevolent eye of those Justice League members who had not been affected. Even post quarantine, Wonder Woman steadfastly refused to let the US government engage in experiments aside from those directed by the FDA.
It took five years before Congress passed the A/B/O Medical Rights Bill guaranteeing that one’s status fell under the purview of doctor-patient confidentiality. The next year, there was a slew of court cases and the U.S. Supreme Court established that A/B/O status was also protected under attorney-client privileges, except in extreme cases where it could be scientifically demonstrated that the topic of the case was directly linked to someone’s status. Twenty years later, when Batman came out as an omega, the military finally allowed omegas to serve.
It took another sixty years and two generations of A/B/O population growth for it to become a protected class. This new legislation made A/B/O status as common as gender, race, religion, and treated in the same manner – legally and constitutionally speaking.
By then, several of the world’s heroes either were A/B/O or had A/B/O children. The most famous was Martha Grayson, Nightwing, leader of the Justice League. Martha was an alpha, her husband part-Super and an omega. The world celebrated the birth of their daughter and the 156th Congress’ passage of the Second Gender Equal Status Act the same day, the two headlines irrevocably tied as Nightwing and Flamebird were two of its most ardent supporters, alongside the current president, Lila Luthor, a beta.
The cherry blossoms bloomed that day on Capitol Hill, and once home at Wayne Manor, Martha and Jer-El held their daughter as they looked up at Martha’s grandparents, the original Nightwing and Red Hood, and thanked a villain known only as Nightshade for bringing them together.