The island of the Amazons was one of the places that still intrigued her. Kara really wanted to go but, at the same time, she was kind of afraid she'd draw the attention of the gods.
Also, she had been a man in her previous life; could she step into the island without earning someone's ire? Rao she really hoped so.
"Please, are you sure you do not want to attend the meeting with me?" Kori asked, holding her hands.
"Another day, Starfire." Kara shook her head and called her by her superhero name for the first time, making the girl beam. "Besides, you know I have a meeting later."
"Well, this is where we part ways then." Wonder Woman clapped Kara on the shoulder. "Do take my offer one of those days; we'd love to have Kori's friend over."
Seeing Wonder Woman's affectionate gaze towards her new protégée, Kara had to laugh. Yep, the woman had fallen for Kori's infectious personality alright.
With another hug, Kori and Wonder Woman flew away towards the Hall of Justice, leaving Kara alone once again.
Kara took the Zeta-Tube back to Fawcett City and grabbed the backpack she had left at the house before flying up again.
Instead of taking the Zeta-Tube towards her meeting, Kara found a deserted place and quickly ascended high above the clouds and beyond the sights of almost everyone. She didn't want to leave an electronic trail and, despite her technological skills, she was pretty sure she couldn't erase her details from the Zeta-tube network.
DC's technological geniuses were such bullshit.
Soon, she started approaching Gotham City and dropped beside a little gas station just outside the city limits.
She doubted Batman would have a way to track individual flyers entering his city but, seeing as he fought such beings fairly often, and was… well Batman, she wouldn't put it past him. It was better to be safe than sorry anyway.
Pulling out her burner phone, she called a cab.
Almost an hour later, she stepped out of the car in an alleyway close to Catwoman's bar. The establishment was still closed but, using her x-ray vision, she saw the woman sitting alone in one of the tables. Selina also had a lead box below the table and another, much smaller one, in her pocket.
Well that was the problem with having such well known weakness, people who were going to deal with you tended to acquire it.
At least it was a fairly obvious thing, after all, she may not be able to see inside a lead box, but she could certainly see the lead box itself and it was pretty easy to guess what was inside.
Kara really didn't know how her cousin kept getting surprised on all those comics. With the possible exception of Lex Luthor, people didn't build everything around them with lead, so it was pretty easy to see when something was suspicious even if he couldn't see what exactly it was.
With only an effort of will, she reconfigured the sunstone inside her new leg and activated the environmental shield inside it in order to block radiation. It had the unfortunate side-effect of also blocking most of the beneficial effects of solar radiation, but she was working to remedy that.
Maybe then Kal-El would accept his own version of the shield instead of being stubborn about it.
She understood that blocking his sunlight absorption would decrease his power, but he had been living under the yellow sun for decades now, he had enough reserves to function without it for a few years even while fighting someone, much less for a few minutes.
The shield covered her entire body with a shimmer, but then settled. It made her look slightly discolored, her clothes just a little less bright, her skin a little whiter, but it was hardly noticeable.
Approaching the bar, she knocked on the door and waited a few seconds, on her vision, Selina put a hand on the lead box in her pocket and got up from the table. Damn, she really had scared the poor woman in their previous meeting.
Kara knew she shouldn't have continued her deal with the thief. She was pretty sure Kal-El could lend her some Nth metal if she asked but, well, Catwoman was already trying to steal the metal, and asking him for every little thing still left a bitter taste in her mouth.
"You're early." Selina commented, but quickly shook her head and motioned her inside. "Nevermind, come in before the Bat comes knocking."
"Batman should be out of Gotham today, the sidekicks have a meeting."
"The Bat is finally letting the pipsqueak have some fun, huh. Good for him." They entered the building and Selina promptly grabbed a bottle of whisky, pouring two glasses and handing her one. "Come on, I got you what you asked."
"Good, you had any trouble?"
"Some, I found some remains of the ship you mentioned in Egypt, but it had already been looted and I only managed to steal a small sample."
"How small?"
"1.852 grams, to be precise." Selina finally let go of the box in her pocket and pulled out the larger container from under the table. "Plus, I think I got the attention of some powerful people when I did it."
"I see. Do you want to renegotiate our deal then?" Kara narrowed her eyes at the woman and Selina sighed.
"No, did you bring the money?"
Kara took her time opening the box and inspecting the metal, it was a broken piece from some computer, using her vision, she could already see only about half of it was Nth metal, but it was well worth the price in her mind.
"Here, 50 millions in gold and jewels." Kara put the backpack inside the table, almost breaking the wood over its weight. "It's up to you to find a way to use it though."
Selina eyed the backpack, but didn't move to take it, a few seconds later she sighed, "Could you at least move it behind the bar, please?"
Ah, right, despite being half filled with jewels, it was still not something a normal human could comfortably lift.
With a snort, Kara moved the backpack behind the bar.
"Say, is your offer of help still on the table?" Selina asked as she drained her glass of whisky.
"Exactly what kind of trouble did you get for this thing?"
"I heard about the kind of battle that went on in Fawcett city three weeks ago after your call, you know." She commented without answering the question. "About how a bunch of villains had joined forces to deal with Captain Marvel while the League was busy. The problem is, I don't think that's the only villain alliance around anymore."
Well, now Selina had her full attention. "Is that the kind of attention you attracted?"
"It's not certain, I don't have any proof of this, but it just doesn't make sense for it to be only a single villain." She confessed and pointed at the box with the Nth metal. "Stealing that attracted far too much heat, and from far too many sources for it to be just one person. I barely got back into the country alive."
"I see." Kara said, seeing the signs of exhaustion on Selina's face for the first time, the woman hid them well, but there were bruises all over her body and she had bags under her eyes. "Do you need a safe place to stay?"
"No, Gotham is the Bat's home, they won't be as brazen here, even if they manage to get me, it would still attract his attention and they don't want to be discovered just yet it seems."
Makes sense, with how united and powerful the League was, the only chance a villain alliance could survive is by remaining hidden.
Kara wondered which version of such an alliance they were dealing with. The Legion of Doom, The Secret Society, Injustice League, The Light, or something completely new? There were so many villain teams in DC she'd have to get a better idea of where things stood before she could say.
Damn, Kara didn't even remember there was a Monster Society of Evil before meeting Mr. Mind for the first time. She had always been more of a Batman than a Captain Marvel fan.
"It seems you're mostly safe here then, what exactly do you want from me?"
"A favor, you promised help dealing with any heat from the job so I want the ability to call on once if something turns up." She said while pouring herself another shot.
Kara considered it, Selina was a fairly benign thief all things considered and, if Kara got the woman killed for a job she ordered, Batman would never forgive her.
Plus, she'd probably only ask Kara to steal something or protect her from someone, it could even be fun… probably.
Batman wouldn't keep letting her escape if she was the kind of woman to hurt innocent people. Then again… Talia al Ghul was a thing.
"Fine, you get one favor, but don't be using my name to intimidate people. I don't want every one of my cousin's enemies knowing I exist by next week."
"Don't worry, you'll be the nuclear option in case everything goes to shit." Selina confessed and relaxed against the back of her chair while putting a hand over her eyes. "It wouldn't be in my best interest for them to be able to make countermeasures before I called you."
Grabbing the piece of Nth metal, Kara spent a few seconds prying the less useful materials from it. It was pretty easy to do since the Nth metal was the only one capable of resisting her Kryptonian strength.
When she was left with only a pure sample of the thing, she put it in her pocket. Snatching the fourth glass of Whiskey from Selina's hand, Kara drank it all in a single gulp and pulled the bottle away from the woman.
"Come on, you're looking like shit, go to sleep Selina."
"What are you, my mother?" the older woman complained, but got up and stretched her back. "Ugh, I really should have left this meeting for another day."
Kara started laughing at Selina's annoyed face. "I don't know why you called me if you have just gotten back in the city. I know I was in a hurry, but I could wait another day or two."
"I just wanted to be done with this whole thing." She turned to glance at the bag full of money. "It was almost not worth it, almost."
Kara left the Tin Roof Club very happy with her purchase, it may only be a small amount of Nth metal, but it was just what she needed to make herself safer. Better yet, it was something nobody but Selina knew she had and so, nobody knew they had to counter.
She took a cab back out of the city and then flew as fast as she could towards her hidden ship on the moon. Kara may have started using Kal-El's Fortress as a second home, but she still kept the ship hidden in order to have some privacy on her own projects.
Working on Nth metal without ruining its properties was hard, and not something her Kryptonian education had covered, but the Psions had some information about it.
At least the damn mad scientists were good for something.
Soon, she was able to separate the sample into four pieces and integrate one of them inside the casing of her prosthetic leg; besides putting it under her own skin, it was the safest she could keep it. Inside the Kryptium casing and very hard to separate it from her.
Not that Nth metal needed protection, but it would keep someone from simply stealing the metal from her.
The second piece she turned into a simple ring to wear around her fingers, something to help in her healing and so it could start getting acclimated to her body.
It would also allow her punches to affect magic beings, which was always a good thing.
The other two, larger samples she simply left on the ship, she needed to study the metal after all, and she wasn't certain some of its more exotic properties could be activated simply by wearing the thing.
Plus, it would be good to have some Nth metal in store in case she somehow lost what she was carrying.
When she finally arrived back home, it was already long past midnight and the lights were on in her apartment. Eager to find out how Kori's day had gone, Kara accelerated and entered the building.
Her smile dimmed a little as she saw Kori sporting a split lip, again.
Kori was one of the best martial artists on the planet, and nearly invulnerable, Kara had to wonder how the heck did she keep getting hurt like this.
What the heck, it was supposed to be a friendly meeting, not a free for all. Did any of the sidekicks even have the kind of strength needed to give her a split lip? "What happened?"
"Fury! Scandal! Vile trickery! Friend Kara, someone has violated your cousin in a most foul manner!"
"What? Violated as in…" Kara said in utter confusion, her temper already starting to rise, by Rao, if something had happened to Kal-El right after she met him…
"Some craven scientists acquired The Superman's DNA and cloned him, trying to create a weapon!" Kori stomped on the ground in indignation. "Worse, Superboy was not allowed to even see the sun while growing up!"
"I… see." Kara said in a measured tone, she was starting to get a suspicion she knew where this was going and she didn't like it, she didn't like it at all. "And what exactly was my cousin's reaction to this news?"
Young Justice wasn't the worst DC setting to be in, but it certainly didn't do the original Justice League any favors.
"The Superman was very affected, he seemed extremely hurt by what had happened, Friend Kara." Kori laid a hand over her shoulders in support. "He refused to face the clone at their first meeting."
Ah, it seems that, despite arriving so late, Kara would still have to teach her little cousin some lessons.
First, a shout to my patrons Xhaustedhero and AkumaSmaG for supporting my work.
For anyone who reads any of my other fanfics, I'm sorry, RL has kicked me in the face recently and I don't have the time or the inspiration to finish a chapter despite how much I try so it's gonna be delayed for a little bit more.
At least people on Spacebbatlles are very chill about chapters taking a long time to come out.
Still working from my phone, I seemed to be getting better using it but there are still some things that just come out wrong, hopefully not too many things.
___________________________________________
That same morning, Kara floated in front of the mountain, her mind deep in thought. She was feeling very… conflicted right now.
It's not like she didn't understand her cousin's reaction, she had been human once, a long time ago, she got why finding out you had a clone made in secret would affect him in such a way. Well, in a manner of speaking anyway.
There weren't any human clones walking around in her previous world after all, but she imagined the experience was kind of like finding out you had a son from a drunken one-night stand years after the fact.
Only, since Kal-El didn't consent to having his DNA taken, it was probably much worse.
Still, she kind of expected Superman to rise above such things. It was not like Superboy asked to be created after all. Kal-El could be mad at the scientists who created him all he wanted, but the boy needed help, now damn it.
Plus, she was Kara Zor-El and this was a DC universe, it didn't take her long to come to terms with the probable fact she'd have a clone made by one supervillain or another somewhere down the line.
Her Kryptonian education also didn't help in this aspect, at all.
On Krypton, nearly all Kryptonians were born on the Birthing Matrix, the DNA used was carefully selected and modified not only so they'd be more capable in the caste they were supposed to belong to, but also so they'd get joy from doing it.
Kryptonians didn't rebel against their imposed roles not because it was forbidden, but because they didn't want to, they were genetically designed to like their jobs.
Looking at things from a Kryptonian view, Superboy's birth was almost normal and only his accelerated growth was an anomaly. It was not like every Kryptonian pairing loved each other or wanted to be parents after all.
In fact, love between pairings was the exception, not the norm and, sometimes, their guild just needed a new member.
So, two thirds of Kara's mind was screaming at her that her cousin's actions were wrong and illogical and she should be giving him the beating of his life for abandoning a member of his own race like that. There weren't a lot of them left after all.
Still, she knew it would do no good right now and, more importantly, Superboy's situation came first. Kara would give her cousin the time to think about things in peace.
From the YJ show, she knew he'd take a long time to accept the kid but, maybe, just maybe, her presence had changed things for the better.
Right now, she had a newborn Kryptonian to deal with, even if he wasn't really a child. Since her cousin wasn't gonna be there for the kid, it was her job to take care of him.
Using her X-Ray vision, she pierced the layers of earth and stone over the secret base and sighed at the lack of protections it had. She really shouldn't be able to observe Superboy watching static on a TV, not from outside the building itself at least.
Why the hell was the League even still using this place for anything when every two bit villain knew it existed?
Well, it had some defenses and very advanced facilities for something a human could build, so it was better than any random house, but still…
Dropping fast, Kara stepped in the front entrance to Mount Justice and watched as the computer scanned her body before slowly opening the underground entrance. She floated down the mostly empty building while watching some robots doing a few last minute repairs and cleaning.
She followed the calming sound of static towards Superboy's location. The kid was sitting on a sofa in the mountain's living room while ignoring the robots working around him and concentrating on the TV.
"Hello there," Kara called out awkwardly as she dropped back to the ground beside the sofa.
Superboy wasn't surprised, he had probably heard her breathing or even her beating heart as she approached, he just grunted and gave a quick glance her way, then he jumped three meters into the air and fell back down with his fists lifted into an aggressive stance.
"Who are you?" he growled. "You're not a member of the Justice League."
Kara sighed at his aggression and sat down on the sofa. Crossing her legs, she looked at him without her x-ray vision for the first time.
He did look a lot like Kal-El.
Well, the Young Justice cartoon had established that already, but it was one thing to see it in a cartoon and another to see it in real life, with all the small little details.
"You're right, I'm not with the League. I'm here to find out how I'm gonna deal with you."
Slowly, Superboy lowered his fists, then he crossed his arms over his chest and glared at her. "Where is Superman? I thought he'd be the one to deal with me."
Was he pouting? Yes, yes he was pouting, cute kid.
"Kal-El is being a little stupid right now," she told him and turned off the TV. She didn't see the problem revealing his Kryptonian name since he didn't use it anyway. "I do somewhat understand his point of view, but that doesn't mean it isn't stupid."
"Is that… his name?"
"Right, you don't even have a name yet, fuck what were they thinking?" she covered her eyes with a hand and sighed again. "Come on kid, let's talk a little."
"Stop calling me kid!" he shouted at her and refused to obey, his anger already starting to rise.
Damn, she really didn't know how to do this.
"Alright, alright. Sorry," correcting her posture, Kara tried to be a little more serious since her approach wasn't working. "First, let me introduce myself, I'm Kara Zor-El, I'm Kal-El's older cousin."
"What?"
"Yeah, interplanetary travel and being frozen kinda inverted that order but, I was definitely born first," Kara told him with a nod. She looked around all the working robots and the empty space and came to a decision. "Nope, come on, we're leaving."
"What?" He asked again, still flabbergasted to be meeting a second Kryptonian.
"This place may make for a good base of operations, after installing some better security that is, but it's definitely not a home. Come on, you're staying with me from now on."
"The Justice League told me to stay here," he protested weakly, but Kara just got up and started pulling him away from the room.
"The Justice League stashed you here, you mean. Yeah, I'm gonna have to have some words with them too," she started to walk towards the exit when she remembered the boy couldn't fly right now. Turning around, she went back towards the Zeta-Tube.
She didn't really like using the things too much, she didn't have the time to study the network and she wouldn't put it past The Light to be able to access its records. Thankfully, Batman had approved of her initial paranoia and gave her a fake name.
Brika was a good name for an average flying brick package, wasn't it?
Kara took the kid back to Fawcett city but, instead of going directly back home, she stopped at an empty restaurant where they could have some privacy without having the kid become too defensive.
They sat at a booth and Kara pulled a device from one of her pockets, throwing it inside the table. She activated the sound blocker so nobody could hear their talk, soon a waiter came around and she ordered two plates of Beef Bourguignon.
"Come on, eat up," she told him as she thought about what to say.
Superboy actually dug into the meal with gusto, it seemed he had inherited her cousin's love for the meal after all.
"Alright, first we'll get you a name. Do you want to choose one for yourself or for me to give you one?" Kara asked. "I mean, if you have anything in mind it'll be great. but it's not like people usually choose their names, so there's nothing wrong about not knowing."
Kara had thought long and hard about Superboy's name, in the end, she decided there was nothing really wrong about Connor or Kon-El, and she didn't need to change it just to be different.
In some continuities, Kon meant abomination, but that had not been its first meaning, and it was not the meaning in this reality. There hadn't even been a clone war in her Krypton, much less a prejudice against them.
"I-I really don't know?" he asked in confusion as he looked at his own hands.
"Hey, I just said it's okay, remember, no need to be worried," she calmed him down. "How about this, my cousin is called Kal-El, El being the house name. I'll call you Kon-El since you're family."
"I… Kon-El?" the kid said with a little smile on his face. "I'm family?"
Kara knew she was throwing a lot on his plate right now; the kid was barely out of his tank before, so he didn't have much experience, but he did have the knowledge necessary to understand things.
Hopefully, getting him in school and interacting with a wide variety of people would help with his emotional development.
Also, no member of the El house would live without a proper education.
"But, I'm a clone…"
"Alright, wanna know a secret? For a Kryptonian, you're actually more normal than Kal-El," she let Kol-El digest that as she ordered a serving of ice cream as dessert. Scoping a spoonful, she commented, "Most kryptonians are like you, born from mixing DNA, Kal-El was the odd one, he was actually born the old school way, can you believe that?"
Kara continued to eat her ice cream as Kon-El slowly started to understand the situation he was in.
Truth be told, Kara really didn't want to be involved. Kon-El was created by The Light, and chances were high they'd find out about her existence if she got involved but, she just couldn't leave the kid alone.
She, Kal-El and the boy may have been the last Kryptonians alive today. No way could she let a member of her own race fend for himself like that.
Well, there was the phantom zone to consider, but that was a whole other can of worms.
"I guess this is a lot to take in right? So, what do you want to do?" she finally asked him with a welcoming smile. "I confess I was a little hasty to just take you out of the mountain, if you want, I can take you back while you think about things, but I'd really like for you to stay with me. I wasn't there when my cousin needed me, but I won't make the same mistake with you."
Despite her dislike of the place, Kara was willing to recognize Kon-El would probably be safe at the mountain for another few days, and her main reason for taking him out of there was to have a frank conversation without Batman -or anyone else- peeking.
"I-I need some time to think."
"I understand," she finished her ice cream and laid back against the stuffed chair, "How about this then, let me tell you a little about your family, and Kryptonians in general."
"I'd like that, yes."
So, she told him about their original planet. About how most Kryptonians were like him, born through a machine in order to fulfill a purpose in their society, but they could still grow to like different things, all in order to get him to relax a little and maybe help him find himself sooner instead of being angry because he wasn't Superman.
It was painful to talk about her home, but she managed to hide that from him without much trouble.
She wasn't even lying, spending a few months or even years training in a different guild was a common form of teenage rebellion on Krypton. It was even beneficial, they'd inevitably discover they liked their original guild more and the experience would make them better when they came of age.
A member of the Science Guild who spent a few years training in the Military Guild would understand their needs better after all and Kryptonians lived long enough for the lost time not to be a problem.
She also told him about the house of El, their story, their customs and their achievements, all in the hopes of catching his attention.
That damn cabal of clowns used telepathy to fill his mind with thoughts of filling Superman's shoes and fighting for Earth like that was all he could do. Kara did her best to change that assumption.
Kon-El was created from Lex Luthor and Kal-El, a member of the El house, it was impossible for him to just be an angry muscle-head who punched things and she'd make damn sure of that.
Eventually, she left a much happier and, perhaps, a little less confused with life, Kon-El back into the mountain with a new cell phone holding both her and Kori's number. She flew away from the mountain for a few minutes before her smile fell off her face.
"UGH! That was a mess! I kept confusing him and barely let him talk!" she lifted both arms up and almost yelled in frustration. "And I didn't even talk with him about the examinations!"
Kara knew for a fact there were mental commands implanted on the kid and she wasn't about to let them stay.
Also, she didn't remember anything being wrong with his biology, but Kryptonian DNA was incredibly complicated. She wouldn't put it past CADMUS to have missed something that's only gonna show up decades later or, worse, left something on purpose.
She'd have to talk with Kal-El about letting Kon-El into the Fortress but, if he said no for some reason, she'd just have to sneak the boy inside. Worst case scenario, she'd use her ship's medical bay, but it wouldn't come to that.
She had already left a message with the Martian Manhunter asking for a meeting, but the male was busy with something at the moment and would get back to her sometime tomorrow, probably his niece arriving on Earth.
Now, to deal with the second problem.
When night fell, Kara stopped far above the clouds and over the damaged CADMUS building. There wasn't anyone fixing the entrance, but the heavy machinery lay all around the place.
She tried peering inside the building, but Luthor was one of the owners of the place, of course it was filled with lead.
She considered her options. At first, she had thought about just mining enough gold to buy the entire thing but, not only would that reveal her existence to the world, it would probably not work. The Light, or even just Luthor himself, had enough political power to block any such move.
She also couldn't risk The Light moving the things inside when they learned of her attempt.
She'd bet Luthor had filled the place with all sorts of contingencies in case her cousin snapped and actually attacked it. The man was far too used to dealing with an angry Kryptonian… too bad for him he wasn't used to dealing with an angry Kryptonian's tech.
Lifting a small pouch from her waist, Kara opened it and turned it upside down, releasing a deluge of metal balls half the size of her fingernail. They fell through the air, but stopped right before hitting CADMUS' surface, floating a couple of centimeters above the ground. A second later, they activated their non disturbance mode and disappeared from view.
Kara may not have access to Kryptonian military drones, but high grade civilian gear could work just as well when dealing with Earth's technology.
Every little drone she released was equipped with a camera capable of mapping terrain and keeping track of living beings, a wireless transmitter untraceable by Earth's current technology and a cloaking device.
On Krypton, they were used to float above a Kryptonian and help them navigate without being lost, take pictures or recordings of important moments and information for later use, keep track of children and remain inconspicuous during everyday life.
Here on Earth, they were nearly undetectable stealth devices.
Opening a tablet in front of her, she ordered the devices to start infiltrating the facility and map out all its rooms. It wasn't instantaneous but, after only a couple of hours, she had a complete map of CADMUS underground and the drones were keeping track of all organic movement.
Thousands of Genomorphs of all shapes and sizes, dozens of scientists all currently working and even Guardian himself taking a nap in a resting room, all unaware of the machines watching them.
Ordering one of the drones to connect to an empty and unobserved computer wouldn't usually be possible, but Kara had made a few modifications so the drones were compatible with Earth's tech.
Soon, she had access to CADMUS systems through her tablet and released a wave of malware. Small, inconsequential programs that were so alien to CADMUS computers they wouldn't be detected as viruses and slowly took over every aspect on their systems, using The Light's own hidden programs to do so.
That's the problem with leaving backdoors in a computer system so you could interact with them without detection, someone else could make use of them if they had the right knowledge and equipment.
Kara had no doubt someone like Oracle, The Brain, Dr. Ivo or Dr. Morrow could quickly adapt against her programming, they were just that good, but CADMUS computers weren't really their focus, and Kryptonian tech was an out of contest problem the system just wasn't capable of fighting against without supervision.
With control over the building's computer system, Kara started downloading a copy of all the information they had, even the ones kept hidden on Luthor's secret little server. She also took the chance to install a program that would erase both her image and voice from any recording device in the building.
Alright, now what?
Despite her efforts, Kara's skills at stealth were about the same as her skills at fighting before meeting Kori, that is to say, she didn't have them.
Yes, she could avoid meeting anyone on the mostly empty upper floors, but the lower floors were a hive of activity and she still didn't have the time to adapt the drone's stealth tech to work with her clothes.
Worse, some of the Genomorphs were telepaths and she had no way to hide from them. "Alright, mental note, find a way to hide from telepaths, or at least block their powers."
Well, if she couldn't hide from the Genomorphs, she'd just have to get their help instead.
She quickly lifted her tablet to her face and changed the view to watch Dubbilex; since she already controlled their computer, it was easy to generate a message requiring his presence on one of the upper floors.
Then she dropped down. Using her speed and the darkness of the night, she managed to remain undetected by anything outside the building.
The ground floor was still filled with rubble, but she found an easy path down into the first underground floor which only had a couple of human workers, Kara avoided them and found an empty room.
Before long, she felt a weight settle on her mind, she knew she still didn't have the mental fortitude or training to resist his intrusion but, luckily, she didn't have to.
Instead, she tried to think about Superboy, their family connection and her intent to free the Genomorphs from their imposed slavery and hoped he wouldn't delve deeper.
She had to admit, it was somewhat of a gamble to let someone have access to her mind but, the second she felt him trying to delve where he wasn't invited, she'd use her speed to burst out of the building, even if she had to go through him.
She was pretty sure he wasn't a powerful enough telepath to incapacitate her before she was out of his range… or plastered him all over the hallway. She even made sure she was actively thinking about that too.
The automatic door to the room opened with only a small noise and the tall Genomorph stepped inside, his arms crossed behind his back.
"Greetings, Kara Zor-El. I apologize for the intrusion into your mind," he told her in an emotionless voice. "I can only say it seemed necessary from my point of view."
"I can see that, yes," she nodded to him in greeting and massaged her temples. "You didn't try to peek for too long, so I forgive you."
"Well, the image of my insides spread on the hallway in case I tried was most illuminating," he told her as he awkwardly extended a hand, then he continued. "It also seemed disturbingly likely, with the way you were thinking."
"Ah, I'd really like to avoid killing again, but mind control just leaves me on edge. Were you able to see why I came while you searched my mind?"
"I could see you're attempting to help my kind, but I have to confess, I retreated somewhat hastily after that vivid image."
Yep, Kryptonians were scary. No doubt about that.
"Well, I have three options for you," Kara told him while keeping an eye on the surveillance system. "First, I can just call the League again, I'm pretty sure the damn idiots were too tired from fighting Wotan, or too busy gapping at my cousin's clone to think about things but, after a round of yelling at everybody, I can get them to help free you guys from slavery… still don't know how they let that one pass.
"The second option is probably the safest, I'm pretty sure you guys qualify as a race of your own so, if I call The Green Lanterns and ask for asylum, they'd come over in a heartbeat to help you guys settle somewhere else. Heck, maybe Mars would take you guys; they're all telepathic shape shifters, so it could be easier for you guys to settle there.
"The third option would be a little riskier, I can help you guys take over," and here Kara leaned towards Dubbilex with a predatory smile. "I already have control of the building's surveillance systems and, with your telepathy, you can turn the tables on your so-called 'owners' without anyone even finding out."
"That is… three more options than I was expecting," Dubbilex said with a sigh. "I always believed Superboy would be the one to help us, and meeting the Justice League only enforced that feeling, even your heroes didn't really see us as anything but tools."
Kara's hands tightened into fists at his words, she really would like to argue with that, but she couldn't, not when what he said was right.
"I can only apologize for how the League dismissed you guys, I could say they're too overworked to pay attention to the little details. but it is no excuse, and slavery is never just a little detail."
"Why are YOU so willing to help us?" he asked, narrowing his eyes at Kara in suspicion.
"Many reasons, I'm pretty sure you were the one who organized things so Kon-El would be freed, so I feel indebted to you. Plus, as I said, I don't consider slavery to be a small thing and I have the power to do something about it," Kara said and scratched the back of her head, somewhat embarrassed by her next reason, "But I'm also doing this to stop whatever plans you creator's have for you, that's why I'm a little partial to the third option, I do need a base of my own, and a little help dealing with the bastards that created you. Having that help come from you guys and the base being one of theirs would feel somewhat… poetic."
"I see… and if I don't trust you, will you leave us alone?"
"I'm sorry, but no. I'm willing to let you choose how to do this, but I can't leave you guys as slaves no matter what you say," she considered things a little bit and completed. "Besides, I know for a fact there's another Kryptonian and a little boy hidden somewhere down here, so I'm raiding this place anyway."
"Impossible, I'm aware of every one of CADMUS projects, there are no records of another successful clone, Superboy is the only one."
"Wrong," she quickly browsed through the data she stole and turned her tablet towards the male. "They called him Project Match, he is in dire need of help and I WILL provide it."
Dubbilex didn't release his arms from his back but, with a light tug, the tablet slowly floated away from Kara's hands and towards his face, he quickly read the information about Match but, instead of giving it back, he started searching for information about Genomorphs themselves.
Kara let him. Dubbilex's face became angrier and angrier as he read on, finally he reached his own information and Kara swore, if she had been using a normal tablet instead of a Kryptonian one, it would have cracked in half as it was flung across the room.
"We accept," Dubbilex said without any hesitation in his voice. "They need to be stopped."
Kara grabbed the tablet back and couldn't help herself, she read what had bothered him so much. "Well... damn."
"Well, damn," Kara couldn't help but say as she read the information on the tablet.
She took a minute or two to read about the other genomorphs and felt sick to her stomach. She too wanted to throw the device away, the only thing stopping her was the fact its Kryptonian metal would probably break through the wall and kill someone, or at least alert the building to her presence.
The entire thing just hit far too close to her previous experiences at the hands of the Psions for comfort. It seems like Cadmus didn't just create the genomorphs from nothing or from a single genetic sample from an unknown race.
During Cadmus creation, the U.S. government saw some merit to Luthor's goals and quietly supported the project in exchange for data on the emerging metahuman threat.
The Genomorphs were actually created by using DNA from previous experimental subjects, humans who were experimented on by Cadmus in one of its smaller branch laboratories until they either escaped or died. The scientists had taken the DNA samples with the most promising powers and created the Genomorphs from them.
The current Genomorph types weren't the only ones created, just the only ones stable and useful enough to be mass produced.
Kara didn't recognize most of the names, but one of the subjects drew her attention, it seems like Dubbilex himself was created by using the DNA from Ace in the hopes of replicating her reality altering powers.
They were greatly disappointed, but not surprised, when he only showed signs of having her telekinesis.
It only left Kara angrier, she had been willing to give the Justice League a chance but damn, for them to have missed the Genomorphs even after Batman himself had shut down Cadmus human experimentations… how could they have fucked up so badly?
Later… she could deal with that later, now she had to focus on getting Match and Roy out of here, preferably, but not necessarily without anyone noticing it. "Alright, do you need my help taking over?"
"Depends," Dubbilex said in thought. "How exactly are you planning to take over? We could easily take over the building if we worked together and there are enough G-gnomes to mind control every employee but, either way, we would quickly be found out if we did so."
"I was thinking more along the lines of just… nudging the researchers away from anything we didn't want them to do, let them work on things we want while we gather information on their misdeeds," Kara confessed, she may have been a Kryptonian, but she wasn't really a mastermind or criminal genius. "Someone will still find out but, hopefully, when they finally realize there is something wrong, we will have enough information to get them all in jail… and it would buy me enough time to find a safe place for the genomorphs."
Kara didn't think she could fool The Light indefinitely, but she hoped they could do it long enough to be able to prove their identities to the Justice League and, more importantly, a court of law.
Worst case scenario, she'd still get some work done by Cadmus employees and Luthor would be paying for it.
It wasn't exactly a lawful thing to do, but Kara had long decided she cared more for what was right than for the law and she didn't really think her cousin would mind too much.
After all, he had been flying around and fighting crime long before the Justice League formed and had a UN charter. Vigilantism wasn't exactly legal either, as far as she knew.
"We can definitely do something like that," the leader of the Genomorphs said. "Usually, messing with someone's mind doesn't sit that well with me but, for those people, I don't think I'll have any problems."
"Good, I'll make sure to alter their electronic communications while you make sure they just… forget to do anything too unethical, hopefully we get a few months without detection."
"Likely," Dubbilex nodded while considering the people he… worked for. "We have been their servants for so long the scientists have become used to just ignoring us, nudging them away from noticing our activities will be easy if you can make sure we aren't caught on camera."
Kara wasn't exactly a programming genius. Her education had been more focused on producing hardware not software, but adapting the program she was using to delete her image so it would also include a few G-gnomes was easy to do.
"I can make it so no security camera notices any G-gnome where he isn't supposed to be but, if you want to do something big, you're gonna have to find a blind spot or warn me beforehand," then she pulled out a small casing and wrote her number on it. "If you need anything just use one of the employees phones to call that number. Also, inside the casing, there's a panic button, press it if you need immediate help."
"Thank you," Dubbilex bowed his head, his horns pointing her way. "This means a lot to us."
"It's nothing, I'm really sorry my cousin didn't do this earlier."
With their deal sealed Kara decided it was time to deal with the other problems in the building.
With access to Luthor's own secret server, she was able to find Match and Roy's locations with no trouble and, with Dubbilex and the G-gnomes, it was laughingly easy to traverse the building. She only had to modify the elevator data to indicate it wasn't moving and then walk towards it as if she owned the place. Right now, she kinda did.
It was incredibly easy for Dubbilex or any G-gnome to keep the human workers from even noticing her passage.
As they descended towards the storage area where Match was kept, Kara read about his situation.
It seemed like the complexity of Kryptonian DNA made his body really unstable. Not only did it have to be kept frozen in stasis to avoid further deterioration, it also had to be constantly fed with solar radiation to stop Match from dying.
Kara wasn't specialized in biology and she really didn't know if the Fortress had a solution for his problem. Krypton itself didn't deal very much with clones, much less failed Kryptonian clones made with Genomorph DNA as glue.
Although, Krypton scientists had been masters of biological, and even DNA manipulation, so there may be information about it on the Fortress.
She'd have to see what could be done, but there was a real chance she'd need to find someone trustworthy to help her solve it.
"It's really here," Dubbilex commented as the secret door opened revealing hundreds of stasis pods with failed experiments inside them.
"You didn't believe me?"
"You already proved how easy it was to infiltrate Cadmus computer systems," the Genomorph confessed with a blush. "It was entirely possible everything I read was something you put there."
Well… he wasn't wrong.
Kara shook her head and quickly located both Roy Harper and Match's stasis pods in her tablet. Both were locked in place, but could be moved with the use of a battery to temporarily power their systems, she went towards Match's first.
Despite being created through different methods, Match looked exactly like Kon-El, it made Kara wonder if that was how Kal-El had looked at their apparent age.
Mental note, make sure to ask for some photos from the Kents.
She made sure everything was in order with Match's pod, but didn't deactivate it. She remembered how the boy had reacted in the show and, despite her strength, she didn't know if she could subdue him without causing too much damage.
Kara stood there looking at the pod for a long time, her head twisting from side to side as she scratched at her chin in thought; Dubbilex eventually approached her side and asked. "Is something wrong?"
"Hmmm… I may have been a little hasty coming here," she confessed with some shame. She had just been staring at the clone with a single thought going through her mind, how was she going to bring the giant pod to the fortress? "I was thinking who I could call that wouldn't ask questions about a giant pod with a person inside and help me move it. Do you know if Wonder Woman has an invisible jet?"
"I… do not?"
Kara sighed. Well, it wasn't like she couldn't carry it there with her own arms but, well, flying around with an almost car sized pod above her head would be incredibly awkward.
Maybe she could call Batman? She could ask for help after she shouted at him about missing all this just a day ago. The only problem was that she still wasn't very familiar with the caped crusader of this universe.
Would he keep it a secret? Or would he try to take over the operation in the name of the League? Did she care if he tried?
Kara was surprised to discover the answer was no, no she did not. He could try all he wanted, she wouldn't let him.
In her mind, she had been making excuses for the way the League had just… missed an entire race of slaves right in the middle of the U.S but, after meeting and talking with Dubbilex, she could no longer pretend they hadn't royally screwed up.
Deciding to make a decision later, she went to check on Roy's own pod, even frozen as he was, the boy had a scared look on his face, he looked far too young to be captured by villains and his missing arm tugged at Kara's own strings.
She briefly glanced down at her own prosthetic and swore she'd grow him a new arm as soon as the Fortress cloning facility was ready. He wouldn't need to get a prosthetic from Luthor with who knew how many backdoors inside.
Then she glanced between the boy and Dubbilex and had a thought that brought a new smile to her face, it wasn't a very nice smile. "Say, just how good of a telepath are you?"
"I have to confess I'm a fairly strong telepath for a Genomorph, but there are G-gnomes who are both stronger and more skilled," he answered as he stared at the boy with some pity in his face. "Why do you ask?"
"Can you find and modify mental commands?" she asked, her mind working hard to think about the opportunity.
Didn't The Light like to use double agents to infiltrate the Justice League? She was already taking one of their facilities so, maybe she should take one of their plans too.
"That depends on how strong of a command it was and how deep it's been buried," Dubbilex said with a thoughtful voice. "I certainly couldn't disable a command created by someone like the Martian Manhunter but, if you can bring the subject to us and know what to look for, the G-gnomes are used to working with each other and there's enough of them to overcome just about anything."
"How… interesting," she suddenly couldn't contain herself and started snickering and then she laughed. "Muahahaha… wait where are you going?"
Dubbilex had retreated from her side and taken quite a few hurried steps away from her; at her question, he stopped and righted himself, but his red eyes avoided her own. "Apologies, Desmond used to laugh like that and it brought to mind some unpleasant memories."
"Ah, right," damn, she really had to stop with the maniacal laugh, it was cathartic, but she didn't want to give her cousin the wrong impression. "Anyway, that's for later. Can we unfreeze him right away?"
"I can get one of the scientists over if you need?"
"No, let me check their information first."
It seems Cadmus did indeed have the facilities necessary to unfreeze Roy, but it wasn't like Kara could just take him out of the pod. The entire process would take at least a day and his recovery a few days more to be safe.
With a sigh, Kara decided she would be flying with not one but two pods towards the fortress. Her takeover of Cadmus was far too risky and she wanted to leave as few vulnerable targets on the facilities as she could manage.
"Dubbilex, get their pods ready for transport, please, I'm gonna have to make some calls."
"Very well. I'll have a G-Troll bring the batteries over and move the pods."
Nodding to the male, Kara went back towards Match's pod, sitting down on an empty spot where another pod should be, dialing his number on her Kryptonian tablet. She smiled as his phone started to ring.
She really did love Krypton technology, no way would a human cell phone work this deep underground.
"Hello Kara, did you need anything?" Her cousin asked with a tired voice, Kara didn't know if she had ever seen or heard him when he wasn't tired. The League really was overworked. "I'm just getting home from League work if you could wait a little."
"Hi, Kal-El, we need to talk," She said with a serious voice. "When were you going to tell me there was another Kryptonian alive?"
"Kara I… it's complicated," He gave a huge sigh and Kara could feel the amount of frustration and exhaustion He was feeling even from across the phone. "He was made, Kara, made by my enemy to replace me… I just didn't want to get you involved and at risk."
"Kal you have Krypton's cultural data, you know being 'made' isn't exactly odd for a Kryptonian," letting her body slip towards the floor Kara rested her back against the support.
"He's dangerous Kara."
"He's a kid Kal, he needs help," Kara hit her head against the support in frustration. "I have seen what you have done for this planet, what you stand for, you're better than this."
"I-I know, I'll talk to him alright?" another sigh, another long pause. "Look, can we talk about this in person? You're still coming to the family dinner on the weekend right?"
"Only if I can take him too," when there wasn't a response Kara cursed in her mind. "Kal I won't say you're his father, but he is a member of the house of El, he's family."
"Alright, I guess I can introduce you two then."
"Kal, I already met the boy."
"WHAT?"
"I just said he was family, did you think I was just gonna leave him alone on that mountain?" Kara almost screamed back and had to take a second to calm herself, to remember her cousin was a failed being just like everyone else. She took another glance at the second clone inside his pod. "Look, don't think about him like he's your son, he isn't, just think of him as any other kid who suffered because evil people messed up his life, right now, he just needs help Kal."
"You're right," Kal-El eventually said as she heard him throw himself on the sofa. "You're right, is he still on the mountain?"
"Yes, I offered for him to stay with me but he needed some time to think."
"I'll talk with him tomorrow then. I really need to rest right now."
"That's all I ask," she told him and smiled, she'd still have to get back at him for his fuck up so he wouldn't think she'd just let it pass but, at least it wouldn't need to be anything drastic. "I'll see you on the weekend then."
"Alright, yeah," yet another frustrated sigh as Kara heard something breaking in his hand, then he relaxed. "And, Kara, thanks for calling me out on it."
"My pleasure, his name is Kon-El by the way, can't believe none of you guys even thought to give him one."
She turned off the phone and went back to looking at Match's pod. She had gotten her cousin to at least talk with Kon, but she didn't think he needed to face a second clone right now, one who was dying too.
Kara didn't have Batman's phone and a quick search on the internet with her device didn't uncover Bruce Wayne's personal cell phone, but she did find the Wayne manor landline on some private database.
She was still angry at the Justice League but, now that she thought about it, she couldn't justify keeping Roy hidden away from his adopted family. With some luck, Batman would manage to see the advantage of keeping the boy hidden and convince Green Arrow, she'd hate to see her newly formed plan be ruined because of her ethical standards.
By Rao, being a supervillain must be so much easier.
"You've reached Wayne Manor, how may I help you?"
"Hi Alfred, This is Kal-El's cousin, Kara, can I talk with Batman?"
There was a beat of silence over the phone and then Alfred took a deep breath. "Master Bruce will not be happy with this."
"Alfred, put Bruce on the line, please."
"Very well, it will be just a moment," Kara heard him walking for a minute or two before talking with someone. "Master Bruce, Superman's cousin wishes to speak with you."
"Clark wasn't supposed to share my identity," he said in a harsh, angry voice.
"My cousin didn't tell me you were Batman." She huffed.
"How did you find out?"
"I'm a Kryptonian under a yellow sun, how do you think?"
"Hmm, what did you need?"
"I was just curious, you guys had a Kryptonian, two green lanterns and the world's best detectives, how did you miss a second Superman clone and a frozen kid when you searched Cadmus?" she said in a conversational tone, "Particularly when it was the second time you guys dealt with a Cadmus problem?"
There was a long silence filled with barely contained tension before Batman spoke a single word. "Explain."
Kara was certain her device was secure from anyone trying to hear their conversation, both because her technology was so advanced and because nobody knew they had to counter it yet so, she did.
"I'll be there in twenty minutes," was the only thing the Bat said before turning off the phone, but Kara's enhanced hearing managed to hear a lot more.
The slight tremble in his voice, the shaking of his hand on the phone, the beating of his heart, the harshness of his voice, Batman was absolutely furious, almost beyond reason.
Without even touching the ground around her, Kara floated up and back to her feet, from the side, a huge G-troll came around the corner carrying a portable battery.
"Can I get a G-Gnome to help me bring Batman inside and make it seem like everything was in order?" Kara asked Dubbilex.
"Does he approve of our actions?"
"I doubt it, but he isn't saying anything yet and, after the way he dropped the ball here, do you think he has the right to say anything?"
Alright people, second chapter.
After my initial, and usual, knee jerk reaction of trying to justify all my choices I have been thinking about things and... (this really pains me) some of you guys were right. Looking back it really would have been better if I made it so Kara's influence in the timeline meant the JL itself noticed the problem with the Genomorphs and Cadmus. (See, I do think about what you say, I just don't like adimiting it out loud or in writing.).
Hindsight huh?
I have to say I didn't really start to write the previous chapter wanting to make the JL look bad, I never wanted to bash the JL because I love them, I think what they did to them in YJ is almost criminal and I wanted to write them better.
I'm also what they call a discovery writer, I do have a general plot in mind when I start writing things but if I lay it all on the screen before I start I just lose interesst in the story... it's not fun to write if I already know everything thats gonna happen and this is how the whole JL bashin kinda ran away from me.
This is also what happened with Mr. Mind's little plotline, the villain was never supposed to appear so soon, he'd only be a shady mastermind behind Amy (girl with lightning powers) attack, and he had only done so in order to gather information without risking members of the Monster Society and fully expected the girl to be defeated but, as I wrote, I let Amber escape after seeing the damage she was causing, in my mind she'd obviously go speak with her employer, the one who helped unlock her power and was kind to her, Mr. Mind would obiviously see the huge oportunity a depowered Captain Marvel was and show himself and the arc grew from there.
This has some very obvious downsides when writing in a serialized maner where chapters are posted often and one at a time, the main one being, I don't have the ability to revise everything or change things in earlier chapters to fix plot holes or things I didn't like later and the entire story usualy turns out VERY different from my initial goal.
Still, while not entirely happy with JL bashing, I am content with the way this fic is going, when the JL made the mistake the bashing became necessary, hopefully this is the last chapter where they are really called into question and, from now on, it will just be the JL improving thins.
Next week there will be another Kara chapter and then a Batman interlude in the same mold as my Superman interlude.
Kara watched as Batman approached Roy's cryo pod with sure steps, her x-ray vision going over his body on instinct. He was actually already wearing a lead mask, plus his utility belt had several lead pouches, but his armor was mostly made from different materials.
She could also see he had a recently broken rib and a cracked bone in his leg, she was impressed, the guy wasn't even limping. "Wow, did you make a lead mask in just 15 minutes?"
"I had it prepared as soon as I found out someone managed to clone Superman." He grunted back and stopped in front of the pod.
For quite a few minutes he just stared at the boy frozen inside without moving a muscle, even his breath was calm making Kara think he was doing some kind of mental exercise to keep his anger in check. Finally, he asked. "How long until it's safe to release him?"
"It'll take a day or two, but I was planning on moving the pod to a safer place before I started," she told him and handed the man the tablet with Roy's medical information. "I'll also be moving Match's pod before releasing him."
"The second clone?" Batman asked, but it didn't wait for her answer. "Good, we're gonna have to call Green Arrow and hunt down the copy soon."
"About that…" Kara started to talk, but almost swallowed her tongue when Batman's burning gaze turned her way. Damn, the man was intimidating, and he didn't even turn his head. "The current Roy has no idea he's working for your enemies."
"That is obvious," the Bat said and turned his gaze back to Roy. "As much as the League messed up here, the boy couldn't fool us for two years if he was aware of what he was doing, is it drugs or telepathy?"
"The later," hmm, it seems Batman could be sharp when he was focused on things.
"You know who's responsible?"
"Beside's Luthor you mean? I have some idea," Kara put the few mentions of The Light she had managed to find in Luthor's private server and showed them to the Caped Crusader. "I have a few suspicions about who the members are, but it will take some time to confirm them."
"I'll start looking into it," Batman told her as he turned his eyes back towards the pod, almost as if he was unable to turn away from it for too long.
Kara knew she really should tell him about her knowledge of the YJ show but… she couldn't do it. No, she didn't want to do it. She didn't want to tell anybody how much she knew about things, about the world and the monsters hiding in it.
She liked keeping it a secret, that way she would have an advantage against anyone she faced. Rao, Batman himself had counters to the entire League hidden away, she could have her little secret too.
It was another advantage keeping her from ever getting used or captured by anyone else again and she really didn't like letting go of those. Plus she could still tell him their identities in a few days, after she had time to think about things, then she could justify her knowledge by claiming she had investigated it or something.
Shaking her head she decided to change gears. "How did you guys miss this, the slaves, the secret rooms?"
"We were tired and they played us," the Bat confessed, his voice becoming even harsher as his free hand closed into a fist. "Fighting Wotan had been challenging and Luthor worked quickly, his political power meant we only had a limited amount of time to search the facility before turning the case over to the authorities. Only Superman and Flash could have found this place in so little time and they probably had countermeasures specifically made to counter them.
"When we didn't find anything dangerous inside the facility, we trusted the legal authorities to deal with everything else, including the Genomorphs. We failed here, all of us."
"And the Green Lanterns?"
"In order for the UN to accept the League, the Green Lanterns had to work under several restrictions, they can't use it to break into private or government data banks unless there's a life at risk, the situation here was already resolved by the time we arrived."
"The countries were afraid you'd find all their dirty little secrets?" Kara asked.
"Yes."
"You know, you guys are called the Justice League but, are you really fighting for justice or just the law?"
As they quietly observed things A G-Troll approached them and actually lifted Roy's pod with a single hand, then connected it to a portable cart with its own energy source, making sure everything was in order.
"The League has to change," Kara continued as Batman didn't give her an answer, her voice hard as she made the ultimatum. "I'm not an expert and I don't have your experience so I can't tell you how to do it, but it HAS to change, you can't drop the ball like this again."
"Yes," was Batman's single word answer.
"That's it, that's all you're gonna say?" she threw her arms up and started walking away from the man.
"We fight for what is right, Kara Zor-El," Batman finally said. "We fight so no child has to see their parents die in front of their eyes again, so an evil man can't take a kid and force her to fight until her own power kills her and, sometimes, that means following the law. I want nothing more than to arrest Luthor right now, but what do you think is gonna happen if I do so?
"I could capture him, I could gather all the information on his computers, I could spread all the terrible things he had done to every corner of this world and he would still not stay in jail a single day because I didn't follow the law," the frustration on the Bat's voice was clear for anyone to hear, Kara didn't even need her super hearing. "But you're right, the League has to change, we are making too many mistakes, our enemies adapted and we did not."
Kara just stared at the man for a few seconds, finally, she sighed. "I still feel like punching you."
"Do you still need any help with the Genomorph situation?" he asked, ignoring her latest sentence and looking at Dubbilex. "I noticed no human bothered with me coming down here."
"A lawyer for when they inevitably have to come out in the open would be nice."
"I'll get it ready," he watched as the G-Troll started wheeling the pods towards the elevators, then turned back to her with a considerate look. "I can see you have a plan, tell me about it."
So she told him, she spoke as they went up to the surface without interference, or even the notice of any worker, then up into the Batplane and right back towards Gotham City.
"What you're proposing will be risky, even for a Kryptonian, you'll be going against enemies that could give even your cousin a fair fight," he commented when she finished and Kara snorted.
"I'm not asking for permission, even if Roy and Green Arrow don't agree I'll still do it, it will just be harder," she answered as she thought about things. "I'm also not going to do this alone."
"They'll agree. I'll just have to keep them away from Luthor until they regain their senses and they'll agree," Batman lowered the Batplane inside the cave and opened the hangar door. "Who are you thinking of recruiting, your friend?"
"She was really excited about teaming up with the sidekicks, plus she isn't really the most discreet girl," Kara said and sighed. "Not that I am a master spy or anything like that, but I can remain hidden when needed, Kori is a warrior at heart."
"I have a few ideas about that," the Bat told her and took a few seconds to send her a message with an address, "If you want to investigate The Light go there, they'll help you."
Kara didn't recognize the address, but a quick search showed it was just a large house beside a cemetery in New York City and owned by someone called Cain. Settling the Plane down, Kara saw there were already people waiting for them with medical equipment.
Beside Alfred, there was also an old, white haired woman waiting for them inside the cave, she had an incredibly annoyed expression on her face and barely lifted an eyebrow as Kara floated out of the plane holding both pods above her head.
"Leslie Thompkins, my trusted physician," Batman explained as he started walking inside the cave.
The woman's frown deepened and she tried to his Batman's head with a cane. "What did I say about leaving with those wounds?"
"Don't."
"Exactly! So why did Alfred just wake me up asking for my help!" Kara almost snickered as she watched the old lady berate Batman. "Now, let me see what I have to work with."
Kara carefully deposited Roy's pod beside the woman and made sure to send all the information about his state to the Batcave's reserve servers which Batman had given her access to. They were completely isolated from the main servers even by her equipment, so he probably felt safer that way.
"Do you have a Zeta-Tube in the cave?" Kara asked.
"Yes, I'll give you temporary permission to activate it before calling Green Arrow."
"Thank you. I appreciate it."
"Green Arrow will probably need some time to process this, I'll inform you when we're ready," With a nod, the Bat just left her there and continued walking inside the cave until he was outside of her usual vision.
Kara turned away and started looking for the Zeta-tube, but she still heard his steps becoming uneven as he started limping outside her view. Finally, his steps stopped and she heard him punch the wall, then lay his back against it and release a deep sigh, filled with frustration.
Trying to ignore it, she finally found the Zeta-Tube and activated it, leaving the cave until Batman called her back.
.
.
.
Kara manipulated the Fortress controls and finished adapting the solar chamber to be able to house March's stabilizing fluid. Throwing herself back against the chair, she sighed. "How long until you can fully understand his biology?"
"Three days, his cells seem to be mostly defective Kryptonian cells, but there is an alien DNA mixed in and holding it together. The fortress database may not have the information needed to fully cure him."
"Not even by cloning him a new body?" she asked the AI.
"It would certainly increase his lifespan, but not solve the issue completely, his brain would still be composed of defective cells and eventually deteriorate, we could clone his brain tissue, but even Krypton was unable to ascertain if that would solve the issue or just create a new being."
"I see... would exposure to Nth metal solve the issue?"
"Again, it would delay the deterioration, but the cells are fundamentally wrong, it is unlikely to fully solve the issue."
"So, either I get a geneticist good enough to fix it, or I find a mage capable of transferring his soul," Kara wondered out loud. "Does the Fortress have any information about anyone who could help me?"
"Unfortunately, the great majority of such individuals are known villains, several scientists at star labs may be able to solve the issue given enough time and investment, but it is likely the clone would have already died by then."
"As for transferring his soul, again, the field is mostly dominated by villains, but Giovanni Zatara may be able to help with it, the former Dr. Fate or John Constantine however, are far more certain options."
"Ugh, right, there was that Fate debacle to deal with," Kara wasn't completely against Fate, yes the YJ version was a mind controlling asshole, but it could have easily been avoided if people didn't keep ignoring the man? Creature? Eldritch being?
The Lord of Order was a necessary presence in the universe, Kara doubted she could befriend the being, she'd always remember what he would have done by taking over Zatara's body, but she could respect it… somewhat. Its situation could have been handled so much better.
She could only imagine the state of the world's mystical problems after so many years without a Lord of Order to balance Klarion's influence. No matter how much of an asshole Nabu truly was, a Lord of Order was still needed and, at least, he was somewhat heroically inclined.
It would really suck to get rid of the helmet and get saddled with a dictator or mass murderer, not all order was nice after all. Kara was starting to see how the Justice League could be overwhelmed; she didn't even know where to begin solving problems.
No, that was a lie, she knew where she had to start, she had to get more allies, she had to get her own team, a team of heavy hitters capable of dealing with the likes of Klarion and Mr. Mind and coming out on top.
Maybe then she could make her cousin's life a little easier.
She did briefly think about getting the help from the team, but there was a problem. They were kids.
Sure it was fun to watch them work in a cartoon, but she just couldn't put them in the kind of situation she was planning on getting. In truth, the team was composed of kids with ages between 14 and 16 years. They most definitely should not be facing people like Vandal Savage and Sportsmaster, much less the eldritch abomination that was Klarion, no matter how much they protested they were ready.
For fuck's sake, they weren't even over the age of majority, they should NOT be risking their lives, she respected them for it, sure, but that doesn't mean she'd let them do it.
This is why there were child labor laws, damn it, and to think that she was mostly on the team's side when she watched the show for the first time.
At least she had to admit, most of the Team's troubles weren't the League's fault. At face value, their missions weren't anywhere as dangerous as they turned out to be.
Yes, they weren't ready for an infiltration mission on a foreign country, but Superboy, Miss Martian and Kid flash were strong enough not to be in any danger from average drug dealers and Robin and Aqualad had the training to deal with it.
More than that, almost all of their missions were like that, things they shouldn't have any problem with that went to hell because of things impossible to know were happening.
At least this time they'd have Kori with them, so they shouldn't get overcome by most dangers. Starfire may not have been the stealthiest of heroes, but Kara would actually give her a fair chance against almost any member of the Justice League, the girl was just that good a warrior.
With another sigh, Kara stepped away from the control panel and stretched her neck, now it was up to the Fortress to examine the clone in depth and try to find a solution to his defective genetics.
Who knows, it may not even be that problematic and its Kryptonian database may have a ready solution? Stranger things had happened.
It had been almost two hours since she arrived at the fortress and Batman hadn't called her back yet, Kara was starting to feel uncertain, had Green Arrow not agreed with their plan? Or was he taking his time beside his newly found foster child?
Kara's plan was simple: to use the Light's own creations against them, she had already taken over Cadmus and, with the G-Gnomes' help, she could deprogram both Kon-El and Speedy, getting both an uncompromised half-kryptonian and a double agent.
The Light's main advantages were their anonymity and the fact nobody knew where they hid, with Speedy freed from their mental commands, he could continue to act as if he was following orders and find out where they were.
The Light's main dangers were Klarion and Savage; if Kara could take out those two it would solve half her problems.
Not that she was underestimating Lex, freaking, Luthor but the main driving force behind this particular alliance were the two immortals who had been working behind the scenes for millennia.
At least she could trust Lex's xenophobia to turn him against someone like Darkseid in the end; she couldn't say the same about Savage, much less Klarion.
Unwilling to stay in place just waiting for an answer, Kara made a quick search on the internet and found what she was looking for, hopefully her first teammate. "Say, does the fortress have a shovel?"
"I'm sad to say Kal-El never felt the need for a shovel, but the fortress can easily produce one in a few minutes?"
"No need. It'll probably be faster without one anyway," Kara waved him and entered the Fortress Zeta-Tube, adjusting it to send her to New York.
As always, the Zeta-tube left her in a small, closed off alleyway where she could easily fly up, taking advantage of the night and her blank mask to keep her identity a secret.
From the air, she had to squint a little to be able to find where the Queen's was, but finding the memorial cemetery was actually pretty easy.
Making sure there were no guards around, she dropped on an empty patch of grass and tried to be as respectful as possible as she searched for one particular grave, finally she found it.
It read, in memory of Danette Reilly, 1924 – 1945.
Looking down at the ground, she used her x-ray vision and gave a sigh of relief to see the body was still inside, if a little bit deeper than she expected.
She hadn't been sure just when the woman had been exhumed and there was a chance she had come a little too late.
Considering the situation, Kara had been hoping the coffin would be closer to the surface and she could just… grab it and pull it up, but it was actually buried deep into the ground, it seems she'd have to get her clothes dirty. "I guess they did bury people 6 feet under back then."
With both her flight and the resistance of her body, a little bit of earth couldn't even inconvenience her, but she was annoyed she'd have to take a shower later.
With a sigh, she used her flight to start sinking into the ground until she could reach the coffin and pull it open, getting earth on her eyes felt kind of funny, but it didn't actually bother her, her eyes could bounce off bullets after all, and she had x-ray vision.
She quickly pried the coffin open and found Firebrand's body completely intact inside the wooden casket; pulling her up by the arm, she lifted the limp woman up and out of the hole in less than a minute.
Then she looked at the mess she had made and sighed again, the grave was less disturbed than if she had actually excavated it or pulled the entire coffin out, but there was still a large, uneven hole going down which was impossible to miss.
Lowering Firebrand's body beside her own gravestone, she considered the situation. "I do hope your problem is only a matter of hardware, I'm nowhere near as good at software stuff and I wouldn't want to mess up your personality."
Her clothes were already a mess, so she just started filling the hole she had made, then she got some grass from under a tree and laid on top of the bare earth before getting up and patting herself down. The grave was still a little lumpy, but nobody would notice it had been excavated unless they came very close.
Grabbing Firebrand's body, she smiled. "Now let's see what old man Morrow was capable of when he built you."
Kara couldn't wait to see if she could improve the woman with Kryptonian tech, Red Tornado may be one of the League's heavy hitter's but, when she was done with her; Firebrand would leave him in the dust.