Moving in a hurry, the masked man released his weapon on the counter and grabbed the large bag of money, running back into the bank vault while giving a few glances behind his shoulder, then he just moved faster, a bead of cold sweat running down his neck.
By his side, one of the other minions peeked through the vault door and swallowed hard, then continued to lift the discarded boxes, checking the numbers before pushing them back into the correct places.
"Shit, man," Darius cursed as he reached for a ring that had fallen under the table. "Why the fuck is she here? I thought she was never active two days in a row!"
Turning the huge bag over, David dropped all the money atop the table, then made sure it was neatly piled up. "I heard Superman had her training with Batman, maybe she already knew and was waiting for us?"
"Fuck me, did you see the video?" One of the other minions, someone he didn't know, whispered. "She was fucking brutal in Salem."
David had seen the video; someone had recorded the Justice League's battle at Salem and, after censoring whatever that… thing coming out of the sky was, they had released it on the internet.
The way she traded blows with that demon-like guy, her eyes red with rage as she ignored every blow he landed and just continued fighting… He shuddered. She was trying to kill the Villain, no doubt about it.
He had also seen the other video, the one people kept deleting, where she had calmed down, and it was even worse… the way she had cut off that kid's arm…
Finally managing to grab the ring, Darius gently put it with the rest of the jewelry and peeked out of the vault's door, quickly pulling his head back. "I hear she was gonna go Villain, take over the world and everything, but Superman talked her out of it…"
"You know I can hear you, right?" Came the annoyed voice from outside the vault, and they all winced, then doubled their efforts to put everything back into place.
Goddamnit, David had thought it would be easy money; they even had a metahuman with them this time!
Finally, all five minions stepped out of the vault and kneeled on the floor, cold sweat running down their faces. "We're finished, Ma'am, everything is back into place."
With a silent roar, his maw moving but no sound coming out, the small dragon attempted to turn towards him, his former boss trying to silence him in anger, but Supergirl just sighed, grabbed the black and white construct with her free hand and squeezed, causing the beast to explode and the ink that animated it to return to her captive's arm.
Shit, her eyes had started to glow, twin dots of red coming from under the lens of her mask and making her look terrifying. The boss really should learn to give up; they were not beating a super alien.
Fuck, more than that, even if they could, David really, really didn't want them to beat a super alien; he swore he could see the shape of Superman's fist out of the back of that Demon-guy in Salem. What if they beat his… cousin? And the guy snapped?
"You! I'll…" the Boss tried to scream, his tattoos coming to life again.
Annoyed, Supergirl slapped another construct before it could fully form, then tightened the hold she had on the villain's face. "Stop that already."
"Ack, alright, alright!"
The Boss was calling himself the Tattooed Man… for obvious reasons, and could animate the tattoos on his body, kinda like those Lanterns the League had, he was also super strong, but more like, fight a bear strong, not Superman or, clearly, Supergirl level.
Looking up from his position, David saw her squeezing the Boss face with one gloved hand, her fingers digging into his bald head in a way that must have been painful, their feet hanging a meter above the ground.
There was some kind of device on her glove, yellow lights flashing as it tried to do something to the Boss, but whatever it was didn't seem to be working, and David swore he could feel her frowning under the white mask.
Finally, the lights flashed red and, shaking her head, she dropped the man back to the floor and turned towards him, arms crossed. "Wait, David, right? Didn't I arrest you a month ago?"
"Ah," he winced, she fucking knew his name! He didn't want her to know his name! "Yes, Ma'am, bank robbery."
"Really?" she huffed. "Really? By Rao, how are you…"
Scratching the back of his head in embarrassment, he swallowed hard, avoided her eyes and answered. "First offender. Didn't have any weapons on me, never left the car since I was the driver… and Mom managed to get the money for bail."
David knew he wasn't gonna get that lucky a second time, even more so now that he'd used a weapon; he was looking at 20 years… shit.
Supergirl seemed to pause for a second, he even felt her eyes leaving him as she probably checked something under her mask, then shook her head. "And what? You thought it was a good idea to try again?"
"Had to pay her back," he mumbled, then released a long breath. "And I thought… Heroes aren't that common, what were the odds you'd show up again? Shit, now I'm really fucked, aren't I?"
Yep, he was definitely fucked, he just hoped she took a break after this cuz he heard from Jeremy that the jails were constantly overcrowded since she started working in Phoenix…
Heck, his lawyer had said it was why he could post bail at all… The Judges were being less strict with that because of how many criminals were getting arrested. It was gonna suck so fucking much.
Maybe he could escape in a year? He heard that happened often in cities with villains, and those were bound to increase with her here.
David thought it was stupid, if he was a metahuman, he'd certainly move to a city without a hero before doing anything, but that's just how life went… maybe becoming metahuman also messed with the head?.
He swore he could see her rolling her eyes at him, which was an improvement since they weren't glowing anymore, then she turned back to the Boss. "You, don't try anything; if I have to smash another one of your constructs, I swear I'll stop being gentle about it." Finally, she turned and flew towards the bank entrance.
Everyone seemed to release a breath. Darius even collapsed as he tried to adjust his position; his friend wasn't used to kneeling. "Shit, man, I thought we were gonna get it."
"Don't be stupid, she's a hero, they don't do shit like that."
"Tell that to Batman."
"No, seriously," Darius whispered. "I knew this guy who tried to shoot her, she said the bullet just bounced off and hit him, but Jonny swore she had thrown it back on purpose, almost hit him in the crotch."
They all winced again, even the Boss who seemed to be reconsidering his inevitable revenge plan.
"Say, about that bail thing…" One of the minions he didn't know asked David. "You think you can introduce me to your lawyer?"
—---
Kara sighed, that bullet had really bounced off… well, she could have stopped it, but it wasn't gonna hit anything important, and she was a firm believer in reaping what you sowed.
Maybe that would teach people to stop shooting at bulletproof supers and she could stop worrying about civilians getting hurt… Considering this particular crew, with the exception of the metahuman, surrendered immediately, it was even working.
Glancing at the information on her mask, she sighed. It seems like the tattoos really weren't magic; her draining device was unable to do anything to the villain. Thankfully, they weren't threatening for a Kryptonian, but she was getting tired of having to destroy them. The guys just didn't give up!
"Supergirl," the newly arrived police officer smiled at her. "Is that… a villain? Shit, it's starting, isn't it? We're gonna turn into Metropolis."
"Hey, don't blame me!" Kara quickly denied. "This guy was active way before I ever showed up."
She knew. She had checked the second she saw his costume.
The officer lifted an eyebrow at that, then shook his head and took in the tidy crime scene, all minions very obediently kneeling on the floor. He grimaced. "Ah, I wish you hadn't done that, messed with the crime scene, I mean."
In answer, Kara had one of the drones float towards the office; it was of the same model she had given the Justice League. "New law, those are now acceptable as forensic documentation in the US when a villain is present. Batman helped adjust the software."
"No shit?" The officer gave her drone a closer look, taking an ejected pendrive in hand with a bewildered expression.. "Guess we're not calling José for this one."
Around him, another five police cars arrived, the officers walking around them and starting to arrest everyone; they had even bought a metahuman suppression collar for the Villain.
On the screen of her mask, an alarm started flashing; it was time for her meeting with Hawkwoman. "You guys need anything else?"
"No, no," the policeman shook his head and smiled at her. "You know, some of the guys are getting annoyed you're doing our job, but I, for one, really prefer not having to deal with armed robbers, it also frees us to work on more cases. Keep up the good work."
Nodding, she flew up, her movement fast enough to almost send his cap flying. Breaking through the cloud cover, Kara connected with the Watchtower's database and asked for Hawkwoman's location, noticing she was on the other side of the country.
Briefly, she considered using a Zeta-Tube or one of her teleportation devices, but she was still early. She could fly
Plus, she was safe; her Moon base tracked her movements through Kryptonian security channels. The second she disappeared or was attacked, a priority alert would be sent to everyone, and a hundred battle Karabots would be teleported to her position.
That should be more than enough for her to escape or deal with the situation; even Kal would have to spend some time dealing with those.
With a sonic boom, she exploded into motion, climbing higher and higher in a diagonal direction until she reached the thermosphere, taking a second to enjoy the increased sunlight radiation before most of it was absorbed by the atmosphere, then she adjusted her flight, moving in a straight line across the United States towards her meeting.
Twenty minutes later, Kara twisted midair, adjusting her position to float slightly above the nearby trees, and couldn't help lifting an eyebrow as Hawkwoman dragged a large man by his leg.
"Hey," she greeted the heroine. "Should I come back later?"
For a second, the woman paused to stare at her, then seemed to realize something. "Right, almost forgot about the meeting," continuing to drag the struggling man, she shook her head. "No need, I'll be done in a moment."
"Can I ask…?"
"I swore I'd defenestrate the next idiot who made me track him through this damn forest and, by my wings, I keep my promises."
A quick search on the computer told her they were nine kilometers away from the nearest house… Kara could appreciate the dedication. "Isn't that police brutality?"
"Yes?" Hawkwoman nodded easily, then sighed. "Right, I keep forgetting that's against the law here."
"In Thanagar, it isn't?"
Releasing the leg she was still holding, Hawkwoman stopped for a second and shrugged. "It's expected we'll need to be brutal to stop crime, we've a law against excessive brutality, but this doesn't qualify," Cracking her neck, the heroine stretched her wings. "Anyway, I'm not a Terran police woman; the Justice League's charter is far more… flexible with such things."
"If you say so," Kara certainly wasn't about to complain about a criminal getting a few bumps. "I take it this happens often then?"
"There's a magical hotspot a few kilometers from here, and idiots always think it's a great idea to mess with it. Since it's close enough to my city and I've my mace, I'm usually the one sent to deal with it."
"... Want a ride?" Kara offered a teleportation platform appearing by her side after only a glance through the visual commands of her mask.
Hawkwoman stared down at the man. He was covered in little scratches and had several bruises; his clothes were completely messed up and a layer of mud covered his entire body. "Are we gonna be stupid and try to steal magical artifacts again?"
"No! No, no, no, I swear I won't!" the man cried out in the most pitiful voice imaginable.
Despite everything, Kara's nose caught the man's scent, and she could literally hear his body moving; he wasn't terrified, no, his body just reacted like someone tired and humiliated, crashing out from adrenaline while thinking about the results of his mistake.
"Fine, I'll accept that ride; he's not worth the time I'd lose dragging his sorry ass through the forest."
Their first stop was at a police station. Hawkwoman walked inside, then threw the guy out of a window and handed the recordings from her own drone to the police officer.
Landing on the platform again, Hawkwoman sighed. "Ugh, gonna have to pick up the bill later."
With a command, the platform teleported away, and both of them appeared at a prearranged spot at the Watchtower, where they proceeded to walk towards a meeting room.
"So," Hawkwoman said as she took off her helmet and picked up a mug of coffee. "Katar put on a petition with our superiors. They agreed to issue a tourist pass to Thanagar, under escort…"
Kara took a seat, taking off her mask to sip at her own coffee. "But?"
"Look, Kryptonian, politics isn't really my thing," Hawkwoman sighed, then took a seat. "Just how much do you know about Thanagar?"
"That's… complicated," Kara admitted, trying to think about how to explain it. "I know next to nothing about the planet's current situation, but Krypton had a lot of records."
That wasn't a lie, but most of Kara's knowledge actually came from her other life, still, she had no wish to spread that knowledge too much, her Cousin and Girlfriend were one thing, but everyone else had no need to know.
"I'll send you some common knowledge later," Shayera said, then took another sip of coffee and finally sat down. "Well, while you do get the tourist pass if you want —don't abuse it, by the way— the Council has also issued a diplomatic invitation, particularly for your Girlfriend. You can choose which one to accept."
Focusing on her senses, Kara stared at Shayera, taking in her tense muscles and the frustration in her features, the way her wings twitched, feathers flexing, the tips extending as if eager to take flight.
Hawkwoman seemed to want to say something, but seemed to be struggling with what to reveal.
"What would be the difference?"
"As a tourist, you'd be free to enjoy your vacation on the planet for a week, but you'd be barred from the First Citadel; they also wouldn't pay much attention to you."
Somehow, Kara doubted that, but she took Shayera's warning to mean she couldn't get a meeting with anyone important about technology exchanges or Kori's problems.
"If you accept the Diplomatic invitation, there would be an escort; you'd be allowed into the First Citadel and wouldn't be free to move alone, but it would open a lot of doors."
"I take it you want us to accept the Diplomatic invitation?"
Shayera paused, her frowning face seeming to consider how much she should say even as she took another sip of coffee, mostly to buy time.
"I don't know anything," Hawkwoman finally decided to say. "But Thanagar is not unsympathetic to Tamaran's problems; it reminds us of our own situation a few decades ago, and it's been hinted that agreeing to a military operation with an obvious righteous goal is a desirable outcome for some of the Council."
Leaning back against her chair, Kara thought about the Thanagarian's words… It seems like the Military Council of Thanagar was letting her know that, as long as they showed up as diplomats, they'd agree to help liberate Tamaran.
It wasn't what she wanted. Kara had hoped for a real vacation, but while she was certain she could eventually free Tamaran without help, support would make it much faster, and probably result in less collateral damage.
The only question was why? Kara knew they were a warrior race, but why were they so eager to start a war in another sector of the galaxy? A war that they really had nothing to do with?
"You understand I can't just agree, I'll have to talk with Koriand'r about this."
"The offer isn't really that time sensitive," Shayera waved her hand. "I'm sure my superiors would like to hear an answer soon, but they're not expecting anything in less than a month."
Politics wasn't really her specialty; Kori was far better at that than she was. Kara would have to see what she had to say about it.
"Say, is there anything I should know before going?"
"Not really," Shayera smiled at her, eyes distant with nostalgia. "Thanagar's gravity is greater than Earth's, and the buildings are mostly spires. A normal human would have difficulty moving, but both of you can fly, and it's not like a little gravity is gonna be a problem.
"They're not gonna let you use power armor on the planet, but some weapons and defensive gear are expected; they'll even respect you more for it. Just don't use any Nth metal and there won't be any problems."
"Nth metal?" Kara pretended to be surprised. "I really don't have any."
She didn't think her lie was gonna fool anyone, but she also wasn't gonna admit to owning any of the metal in front of a Thanagarian officer. Suspecting she had the metal was one thing; having her say it out loud was another.
Really, as much as they wanted, it's not like Thanagar had an absolute monopoly on Nth metal, or that they had a God given right to all of it in the universe… but it was better not to raise the question anyway.
"Sure you don't," Shayera snorted.
"Are you going to escort us?"
"Either me or Katar," she nodded, accepting the change in subject. "After some of my reports, the Council decided it was best if there was someone familiar accompanying you. You can either use your own ship or accept transport on ours."
They spent another half an hour talking about the details, things like monetary exchange she could use, what kind of equipment she'd be allowed to bring, and even how she was allowed to react to situations.
As a very martial species, Thanagar's self-defense laws were much wider than in most of Earth's countries, but the penalty for acting beyond them was also far worse; there would be no acts of vigilantism on the planet, that's for sure.
Finally, Kara said goodbye and left the heroine, then whirled around, hands raised in a defensive position.
"Oh, hey, sorry about the scare," the Flash said, looking a little sheepish as he stopped in front of her. "Kinda used to people either unable to see me or accustomed to my presence."
Relaxing, Kara smiled at him. "It's fine."
Really, it had been some time since Kara had been unable to follow any movement, but the Hero had been moving fast enough to be a blur even to her senses, and she had let instinct guide her.
"So, have you talked with Alen yet?"
"Not really," Kara shook her head. "Didn't even know he was looking for me."
"Met him yesterday at Jay's and he asked if I had seen you," the Flash shrugged. "Since I heard you were in the tower, I thought I'd leave a message," Peaking into the room, he waved. "Yo, Shayera. Is that coffee?"
In a flash of red, he moved into the room, returning to the same position less than half a second later, a mug of coffee in his hand.
"Thanks," Kara said. "I'll make sure to call him later."
"Anyway, I heard from the Big Blue you were into games?"
"Kind of?" Kara sighed. "Even if I drained myself, Earth's games would still be kind of slow for me, but with sunlight?"
Not that she would drain herself, not in a thousand years, and, if it happened, she'd make sure to remedy the situation as soon as possible, not play games.
"I get it," Flash nodded. "But a bunch of us still like to play tabletop, we're wondering if you wanna join this weekend?"
Kara lifted an eyebrow. Was her cousin trying to get her to socialize more? But she thought about it.
On Krypton, there were some good simulations, things that worked through a Kryptonian neural link, but she had never had the time to play them, always wanting to please her father, and, in her previous life, she never got the chance.
"Sure, just send me a message with the time."
"Great! I'll see you there."
While they were talking, her personal computer received a notification, so Kara took a second to glance down at it and smiled. It was Lena Luthor asking for another meeting.
Kara smiled. It seems like she'd be getting a new CEO for her company before going on vacation after all.
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