Kara crouched under her bed trying to find where she had put her Rao be damned sunstone adapter, she just knew she had left it somewhere in her bedroom.
Then she actually remembered who she was and almost cursed. Using only one hand she lifted the bed all the way over her head and finally found the damn thing resting just beside the wall.
"There you are." She gently kicked the device towards the middle of the room and lowered her bed back into place with a sight.
She really should have thought more about her actions, it would have been so much better to use her cousin's Fortress of Solitude to get Firebrand back into a working condition.
In fact, she had been halfway towards the building before she realized she didn't have a justification for how she knew about the android.
Now she had an inert android on her living room and had to make do with the technology she had on hand or in her spaceship, and not all of it was capable of interacting with human technology without help, even mad geniuses' technology.
Kara grabbed the adapter and took the chance to also grab some discarded clothes lying around her room throwing them into the washing bin. Finally, she started to make her way back towards the android.
From ahead of her she heard the apartment door opening, then a little girl's scream followed by a shout of "Shazam!"
Kara's eyes went wide as the large superhero burst through her door, damaging the wall and breaking the wooden frame with a worried look on his face, electricity was still cursing through his muscled form.
"Miss. Zor-El! Are you alright?" his eyes looked all over the room taking in her messy bed, the books spread around the floor and a sunstone crystal floating above a pedestal in the middle of the room with cables spread all around it. "Are you aware there's a body in your sofa?"
"Hi Billy," Kara sighed and took the chance to mess up the kid's hair, "It's not a body, it's an Android."
"Ah, I didn't know you could build an Android, Cool!" his serious expression melted from his face and he glanced at the damage he had done with a sheepish look, "Sorry about this then, I thought someone had attacked you."
"Don't worry about it." It really was Kara's own fault for leaving Firebrand just lying there anyways. "Is Kori with you?"
"Yeah, she invited me in after a joint training with Wonder Woman."
"Great, come on then." Kara made her way back towards the living room to see Kori looking at Firebrand's body with a curious gaze, "Hi Kori."
"Hello friend Kara, please, was this some vile miscreant you had to take down?"
"Nope, this is Dannete Reilly better known as Firebrand," She told them as she kneeled in front of the Android and laid the adaptor against its back. "I guess you can call her Red Tornado's older sister."
The crystal tip of her adaptor pierced right though Firebrand's false skin and connected to one of the cables inside her body. Quickly, it pressed itself against her form and started sending information directly to Kara's computer.
"So… you can't build androids?" Billy asked and Kara could hear the slight tone of disappointment on his voice.
"Billy, I can indeed build an Android," Kara bragged and started reading the diagnosis from her device. "I'm not skilled enough to create a sentient AI like Firebrand or Red Tornado but I bet I can build a much better body than this one."
Kara hadn't completed her studies in Krypton but her home planet had been so advanced she could be considered a genius in both mechanical and electrical engineering, and at least decent in many other fields of study.
Not biology though, she had always hated biology.
"Shazam!" Billy said and turned back into his 10 years old body since there wasn't anything dangerous "Cool… so, why do you have Red Tornado's sister in your living room?"
Kara thought about her answer, how much did she want to tell the boy and how much could she get away with hiding?
By Rao, they had already found her with the android in her home; it was kind of too late to hide everything.
From the side, Kori released a gasp and turned her shinning green eyes towards her. "Exultation, Delight, friend Kara, have you rescued The Red Tornado's sister from some nefarious villain and will attempt to reunite them?"
"I mean, I guess that's kinda right?" Kara said, she had wanted firebrand as an ally but she wouldn't keep her from meeting old friends if she wanted to. "I actually wanted Firebrand's help with something but, giving her a second chance in life was a huge part of why I choose her."
Kara had always thought Firebrand had gotten a raw deal in the show, sacrificing her life to save a friend only to be awakened several decades later, mind controlled, and forced to sacrifice herself again to stop Red Volcano.
At least Red Torpedo had gotten an entire life of his own before he was controlled by Morrow's robotic clone and had to sacrifice himself to stop his younger brother.
"Joy, I always knew you had a most righteous spirit." Kori's giant smile made Kara turn her eyes aside and blush from the praise. "Please, do you require any help?"
"Not right now." Kara took another look at Firebrand's body and sighed, "Look, can you two keep this quiet, at least for a now? I don't want too many people finding out about me or what I am doing."
"I… I don't know, are you sure you're alright Miss. Zor-El, you know the League can help you."
"Aw, are you worried about me Billy? How cute." Her equipment finished Firebrand's diagnosis with a flash and sent the information to her tablet. "Don't worry, Batman and some other people are gonna be helping me so I'm not doing this alone. Also, I told you to call me Kara already Billy."
"Yes Miss Kara."
"Ought I help you with your goal friend Kara?" Kori asked as she tried to read the information in the tablet. "It is avowed I am not a discrete person, but I can restrain myself if needed, and no villain yet knows of my existence, perhaps I could be of help?"
"Thanks Kori, but don't worry about it." Kara smiled at her but shook her head. "I know you're very eager to work with the other sidekicks and learn about Earth. Plus, I actually trust you to protect and help to train my new family."
"Truly? Has The Superman accepted Superboy as a member of the family then?"
"It's a work in progress." Kara said and sighed. "He let me bring the boy to meet his family this weekend at least so, there's hope. Ah, his name is Kon-El by the way."
"The Superman is a great hero, yes? He will not turn the boy away, even more so as you have acknowledged your familial relationship with him."
"I certainly hope so."
Looking over the information it seemed like Firebrand's memory was intact inside the Android and Kara wouldn't need to touch her programming, her supposed death was only a hardware problem.
Kara would need to take the heroine's body into her spaceship to do the repairs but it was nothing beyond her abilities, or resources.
"Anyways, how goes the training?" Kara asked as she carefully settled Firebrand's body into a chair and freed the sofa for her own use.
"Giovanni is great." Billy said as he grabbed a bag of chips and started eating. "I thought he'd just lecture me but he's actually teaching me spells even without transforming! Then we had a joint exercise with Wonder Woman."
"Diana is a great teacher! Today we went to The Mall of Shopping and partook of some of humanity ancient customs, the sharing of frozen treats and procurement of varied clothing while sharing stories."
"She took you shopping, then you had ice cream?" Kara asked incredulously.
"Indeed, Princess Diana said my martial ability was satisfactory and we should work on acquiring social skills!" Kori said while sucking on a straw inside a bottle of mustard. "She also informed me there will be a meeting in two days with the entire team."
Well, she wasn't wrong.
Taking in the information Kara nodded, the League was probably ready to give their sidekicks some freedom in two days then.
Kara wondered if they'd still form as a black ops team now that she had interfered, or would they become more like Teen Titans now that they had Kori?
"I'm gonna have to take Firebrand to the ship if I want to repair her." Kara informed the two of them as she picked up the android once again and put on her blank mask. "Ah right, Kori, do you mind if Kon-El comes to live with us sometime this week?"
"I do not, the apartment is of considerable size and his presence will be greatly appreciated."
"Right, see you later then."
.
.
.
"Welcome back mistress Kara." Said the robotic voice of her ship's AI as Kara entered the bay.
Kara had been improving her ship's capabilities a little bit every day since getting access to the Fortress and Kryptonian Tech.
She may not have access to military grade equipment but even civilian tech was an improvement over what the Psions had.
The ship was almost entirely covered in sunstone, with some of the mineral growing outwards from its side like a huge pimple. Kara had high hopes for how this particular project would turn out.
Sunstone was great like that, not only would it grow simply by absorbing sunlight, Kara could also program how it would develop making it take the shape of a second ship attached to the Psion's vessel.
In a month or two she'd have her own Fortress of Solitude parked on the outer side of the moon.
Only, it wouldn't have her cousin's base of information and be mobile. Then she could throw the Psion ship into the sun and be rid of the last of those assholes.
"How goes the experimentation?" Kara asked, she hadn't actually named the AI, it was far from being sentient and most of its programming was still made by Psions, she didn't want to get attached.
"Seventy percent of your projects have resulted in failure, another twenty two point thirty three percent have remained inconclusive and two new wavelengths of Kryptonite have been found."
The computer informed Kara with no emotion on its voice, she'd have to improve that when she finished growing her new ship, the cold and robotic voice gave her the creeps.
"Which experiments were inconclusive?" She asked as she laid the android on top of a metal bed and started gathering the necessary tools to open her up.
"One of the Kryptonite shards is still being subjected to experimentation and the current computers can't fully monitor the changes on the Nth metal samples."
Well, seems like she'd have to get better sensors then, could she make something capable of monitoring magic too?
Cutting off Firebrand's clothes Kara revealed the hole on her chest where Dragon King had shot her, at first look it really was no different from a normal human.
Since she was a Kryptonian, Kara didn't even need protection equipment, she used a saw to clean the damaged section of organic material revealing the Android's red painting underneath, then slowly cut her back open and revealed a myriad of damaged cables.
Thankfully, it seemed like the energy source for Firebrand's flame control wasn't damaged; only it's connection to her central circuitry and other essential equipment.
It seemed like Morrow had made it so any large damage to her chest area that pierced her organic coating would almost immediately turn her off. It caused her body to appear dead and prevented anyone from finding out she had been an android.
"Huh, I guess it was better to just recover the android later and then change its face." Kara muttered while working. "No need to risk revealing he had been able to infiltrate the Justice Society and get their guard up against his next attempt."
Repairing all the damage was impossible and producing suitable substitutes would take time so Kara made sure to keep Firebrand's memory and personality safe while taking out her pyrokinetick core for study.
In fact, instead of getting a substitute, she'd study Firebrand and reprogram some sunstone to be compatible to her core design.
Yes, the kryptonian technology would give Firebrand far more energy to work with and actually allow her to regenerate from damage while also making her more resistant.
A pity Kara didn't have access to kryptium or she'd truly make Firebrand a monster.
Still, with how modular sunstone was, it would be easy to allow Firebrand to change configurations. Kara's mind was immediately filled with canons and fire jets.
Wait, could she pack enough energy inside Firebrand for her to create a plasma sword? It would be hot enough to explode people like Kara had done with the Evil Eye but Firebrand could keep it as a last resort.
She was so giving the woman a plasma sword.
Three hours later she decided to take a break from working with the sunstone and take a look at the kryptonite variations, she was almost done with the damaged part of Firebrand's circuitry but, she still wanted to swap everything else before waking her up into a new body.
Making sure to activate her radiation shield Kara looked through the reinforced glass and smiled when she saw the two shards of Kryptonite she had created. It would need testing but…
A smile grew on her face as she got the perfect way of punishing Kal-El for abandoning Kon-El like that. She was pretty sure Kon-El wouldn't be able to appreciate the prank today but, in a few years, when he developed a little more?
Kara would take photos, so many photos.
Of course she'd have to think about something worse if Kal-El didn't get his act together after their family meeting but, until then, she could take it easy on him. He was her little cousin after all.
Her phone rang on her pocked causing her to snap back to reality, pulling out the device she saw it was from Batman so, she hurried to answer.
"Speedy will be in Star City tonight, meet us there by 7."
The Bat actually hung up on her before she could answer causing Kara to huff in annoyance. At least Dubbilex had already informed her, the G-Gnomes would be ready to work on Kon-El and Roy anytime she wished.
Satisfaction filled her, she tried not to think of the genomorphs as her minions, she really did but… it was hard.
"No, bad Kara, they're sentient beings you're currently helping escape slavery and fight against their oppressor, and you're trying to be a hero anyway." She chided herself as she looked at the time, she'd have to get moving soon if she wanted to make it. "Heroes don't have minions, they have sidekicks."
Could Dubbilex be a sidekick? He was certainly young enough for it.
Kara grimaced as she grabbed the respirator and opened the ship's hangar, as a kryptonian she shouldn't even need to breathe when under a yellow sun but, her damaged cells still needed oxygen far more often than she liked.
It took some time to finally reach Star City, Batman hadn't actually left her an address but, with how good her hearing was, a little bit of concentration was all she needed to sense him and Green Arrow talking on an empty rooftop.
She gently stepped into the roof and saw both heroes waiting for her there, Batman was busy reading something on his communicator, but Green Arrow was pacing from one side to the other, his arms crossed and his fingers digging into his skin in a way Kara was sure would have drawn blood had he not been wearing gloves.
"You're here," the Bat simply said as he glanced at her. "Speedy should be here in half an hour."
"Why would he come here?"
"Across the street is one of Brick's bases of operation… Speedy is trying to gather information on his activities and will be here to install monitoring devices." Green Arrow said as he finally stopped pacing and scratched at his tired face with both hands. "He's still using some of my supply spots for equipment."
"So, are we just capturing him them?"
"You're the one who found Roy, Big Blue's cousin right?" Green Arrow said and actually warped his arms around her body in a heartfelt hug. "Thank you."
"Ah, yeah…" Kara was left without knowing what to say, she patted the man's back and looked towards Batman but he was ignoring her. "Sooooo, the Bat managed to keep you from killing Luthor?"
She really had no idea what to say.
"Yes, God knows I wanted to, but…" releasing her, the man stepped away and shook his head as if it would help dispel his anger. "I don't even know what I should do. I think I know the clone for almost as long as I trained Roy."
Kara turned her eyes away from the awkwardness of the situation, what could she say to that.
"Are we taking him to Manhunter or the Genomorphs?" She finally asked Batman, the man glanced at Green Arrow for a second and turned off his computer.
"I spoke with Manhunter, while he could deprogram the clones he informed me the Genomorphs would be a better, safer choice." Kara lifted an eyebrow at this information.
"Isn't John far stronger than them?"
"Yes and, if we wanted to break his mind, that would be useful." Batman said as he approached the two of them. "Manhunter informed me unraveling, and even finding, such commands is more about knowing the mind you're working with and being careful than raw power."
"And the genomorphs have far better knowledge of the clone's mind." Kara realized as the man explained, but Green Arrow was still unsettled by the idea.
"Don't worry, Manhunter promised he'd look over their work once it was done but, the genomorphs really are the best option in his opinion."
Not that Batman himself seemed to be any happier about the prospect, from the way his body tensed at the thought. He probably still didn't trust the Genomorphs.
"How're we capturing him?" Kara asked.
If she had been alone she probably would just use his mental commands against him, she still remembered the clone would freeze if she said "Broken Arrow", but the information wasn't anywhere on Cadmus computers so, she couldn't justify using it. She had already messed up enough no need to make everybody even more suspicious.
"I'll try talking with the boy." Green Arrow said as he scratched at his beard. "Clone or not I still trained him for years, he'll listen to me."
"In case Green Arrow fails to convince him and Speedy manages to escape, we'll intervene and subdue the boy." Batman said and handed her a small black injector. "This should cause him to pass out in a few seconds, we can't risk him escaping and warning his handlers, willingly or not."
Kara nodded and they all retreated inside the building to wait for Roy to arrive, Green Arrow started pacing again while Batman just continued reading something. Kara started thinking about her future.
She had been making do with asteroid mining and selling gold in pawn shops but it wouldn't work for much longer, there are only so many pawn shops in the world before she had to find some, even less legal, other means.
There was also only so much gold she could sell before she crashed the market.
More than that, hauling gold back and forth just took too much time and felt like grunt work, there were far better things she could be doing.
Hmmm, how would she go about creating her own company anyway? She'd have to get an Earth identity and documents, then start hiring people who weren't too arrogant to work for a young woman.
There were so many kryptonian devices that could improve life on earth. It would still take a lot of work to adapt it so human's themselves could both understand, and produce, the technology but she could really make a difference.
She smirked, it would be so satisfying if she could use her own company to corner the market and drive Lexcorp into bankruptcy.
Better yet, she could work towards buying Lexcorp and turn it towards improving the world instead of killing Superman. By Rao, with how much more advanced Krypton had been she could even succeed.
Did she know any smart businessman beside Luthor in the DC universe? She'd need one of those as CEO if she wanted to take him on no matter how good her tech was.
She knew she had gotten the advantage over Luthor and the Light right now but she'd need some smart people on her corner when they started plotting against her.
Suddenly, Kara's head turned towards the side and she immediately looked through the building to see an arrow poking from the side of the brick wall, a thin rope tired too it.
Not even a minute later Speedy came sliding down the rope, using his bow as a handle.
Green Arrow traded glances with the two of them and nodded, then left the shadows of the building and started walking towards his sidekick.
Roy had leaned over the edge of the building and was watching Brick's employees working on the illegal building.
"Hello Roy, I heard you aren't answering your friend calls?"
Roy's head turned towards his mentor and snorted, "If they want to play house with the League I won't stop them, but I have real work to do."
"Come on Roy, you know that's not what the League wanted to do." Green Arrow sighed and sat on the edge of the building. "Look kid, you know that's not why we kept you from the space station."
Kara grimaced, noooooo, don't call him kid you idiot!
"Don't patronize me!" Roy slapped his mentor's hand and stepped away, "I don't need you cuddling me when I know I can do better. I'm tired of your bullshit."
"Roy… look, we really need to talk alright"
"There's nothing to talk about!" The boy snapped and pulled out another arrow from his quiver, "first you keep me away from any important mission, now you're even interfering when I'm doing something for myself. Stop trying to keep me down!"
It seemed like Roy really was done talking because he shot his arrow towards a street lamp, a second rope trailing behind it and growing taunt when it hit something solid.
For a second Kara though nobody would do anything and got ready to catch Roy herself as he put his bow over the cable, then Green Arrow moved with surprising speed.
A second arrow flew straight at the line and cut right through it, causing the cable to snap and almost making Roy fall on his ass.
"Look Roy, we really need to talk." Green arrow's only answer was an arrow to the face.
He dodged the projectile and closed the distance between them, using his bow as a club to hit Roy's legs and cause him to fall down.
"Stop it kid," he jumped over Roy's sweeping kick but got a punch to the stomach while in midair. "Uff, think about what you're doing, this isn't you Roy!"
Turning towards Batman Kara asked "Should we step in?"
"No, Green Arrow has it handled."
"We're just here to watch?"
"We're here in case he manages to escape, or has reinforcements." Batman said and finally turned away from whatever he was reading to watch the fight in silence.
Green Arrow and Speedy traded blows, using their bows as weapons to try and disable each other, but Kara could see they weren't trying to really hurt each other.
"Enough!" Roy managed to push Green Arrow away.
Faster than Kara thought possible they pulled arrows from their quivers. The kid was faster and shot his arrow at his mentor's feet, then jumped away to avoid the result.
It exploded, expanding foam and covering a large part of the rooftop in an instant.
Green Arrow had been ready, he knew his protégée was actually a faster shot than him and was already twisting aside before the foam had covered him, then he released his own arrow which split into four ropes to encircle Speedy.
The boy was still in the air and couldn't dodge, but he still managed to interpose his bow between the arrow pieces and stop the rope from completely locking his arms.
Falling to the ground, Speedy managed to reach another arrow and started to cut the cable but Green Arrow was faster.
Grabbing speedy's bow with both hands the older man pressed the boy down into the ground.
Roy tried a few tricks such as using gadgets in his legs or fighting dirty, but Green Arrow had taught him everything he knew and managed to overcome it all.
"Sorry about this Roy." The archer said and pulled away from his protégée, an empty injector in his hand.
"How…?" Roy asked in the ground, his voice already failing him, with a hurt look on his face, he only managed a single other word before falling unconscious. "Why?"
"Come, were taking the Batplane towards Cadmus."
"Not gonna use the zeta-tubes?" Kara asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Two risky, Speedy had access to the network, there's no way to know how compromised it is."
Approaching the sleeping boy Kara made to grab him but Green Arrow stopped her.
"No, let me do it." He wiped his mouth on his sleeve and got up from his sitting position, "Damn, I'm not as young as I used to be."
He looked down at Roy and sighed deeply, his face becoming a frown. "Sorry kid."
Then he lifted the boy in his arms and adjusted his mask with unusual gentleness.
The flight towards Cadmus was a quiet one, Batman wasn't exactly talkative even in his best days and even Green Arrow didn't seem up to talking.
Finally, Kara couldn't stand it anymore and spoke.
"Don't worry, we're fairly sure we can undo the mental commands without causing damage."
"Thanks, but what about Roy, the original one I mean?" He covered his face with both hands and quietly screamed for a few seconds. "God, this is such mess."
"You do know Kal-El's Fortress is creating a cloning facility as we speak right? Human body parts are far easier to make, Roy can have his arm back in a few months." Then she tapped her metal leg with a finger causing it ring. "Until them I can make him a substitute."
"Ugh, didn't we have enough of a mess with clones already?"
"Well, it's not really the same thing." Kara explained. "Krypton didn't deal with full on cloning of sentient beings, the religious guild came down on that really hard, but we could create tissue samples, organs and limbs for medical purposes, we used the patient's own DNA to prevent rejection."
"So, you'd just… grow him a hand?"
"It wasn't my area of expertise but, I think it was more like… building him a new hand using biological material?" She said, but it was more like a question, the entire thing wasn't really common back then, it was not like many kryptonians even needed such medical procedures in the first place. "I never really saw it in action."
"Right… sometimes I forget you guys are aliens with interstellar travel and other such things." He shook his head and lay back against the seat. "And... thanks, I'm sure he'll appreciate that."
An hour later Roy was inside one of the genomorphs pods with ten G-gnomes all around him, their little horns glowing brightly as they worked.
"How long is this going to take?"
"Once we knew the situation my brothers were able to locate several of the G-gnomes responsible for the initial work on the boy." Dubbilex told the worried hero. "None of us were responsible for his mental commands but we are familiar with his mind, it will only take a few hours to undo his commands."
Turning back to Kara, Dubbilex continued speaking.
"Once we are done here it should be easy to go over our brother Kon's own mental commands, in about the same amount of time."
"Thanks Dubbilex, we appreciate it."
"One last thing, one of my brothers informed me there was yet another clone of the boy on the facility."
"What?" Green Arrow whirled around to stare at the genomorph and even Batman started paying attention. "Where is it?"
"It seems like Guardian himself was an aged clone of Roy Harper the light decided to use as a bodyguard. We have already started looking over, and scrubbing away, any commands on his mind."
"Fuck!" The hero cursed and kicked the wall with his full strength, only his steel caped boots preventing his toes from breaking. "Godsdamnit!"
Batman turned away from the room and Kara decided to follow his example, leaving the incensed hero alone to vent his frustrations.
"You know what; I think I can let them recover for a week or two before I pitch my idea to them." Kara commented to the caped crusader. "As long as the light doesn't find out we have their mole I'm not in a hurry, and I do need some more time to improve my plan."
It was not like Kara had anything on paper yet, she had an idea she wanted to pitch to them, but it would take a long time to iron out all the little details and refine the idea into a working plan.
Without turning her way, Batman eventually started talking almost in a wondering tone.
"Over the years I have come to trust the League, we aren't perfect, we aren't infallible, and this showed just how much such failure can cost, but I have come to trust it enough that I don't need to watch over their shoulders for everything they do."
Kara wondered why he was speaking like this, yes the Justice League needed to be better, but he didn't actually own her the explanation.
"That means I'll be trusting Green Arrow to act as your connection to the League. I'll be too busy restructuring the League to micromanage your team." He said and finally turned around to look her in the eye, his eyes were hard and filled with a newfound conviction. "That also means I trust Superman enough not to immediately disable and interrogate you, despite all your little slips and the inconsistencies in your story, don't make me regret it."
Kara gulped, despite being a Kryptonian and having all sorts of contingencies in her costume, the Bat still managed to be intimidating.
As the hero started walking away from her Kara watched his retreating back remember something else and lifted a finger to call his attention but couldn't bring herself to speak, Batman stopped anyway. "What?"
"Ah, I kinda need some human documents?" She told him and the Bat nodded.
"I'll hand them to Superman when I next see him."
Bruce Wayne stood in front of a grave. It was a simple grave, with only a name and the dates of birth, and death, with far too few years between them.
As he knelt, he had to control himself to avoid crushing the bouquet of flowers in his hands. Releasing it in front of the gravestone, he lowered his head and closed his eyes for a few seconds.
Since when had he become so careless? So trusting as to leave matters in the hands of the authorities, not making sure they were followed through? He was from Gotham city, he should have known how corrupt the police and government could be.
He had mellowed out, working with the Justice League, people he both respected and, even rarer, trusted, had made him careless.
It would not happen again.
"Who was she?" Clark asked in a soft voice as he approached from between the trees.
Bruce sighed, he hated being so predictable that his friend could so easily notice what mood he was in. Then again, the Kryptonian missed very few things despite not being a detective himself. "Ace, she was one of Cadmus previous victims."
"You…knew about Cadmus?"
"Not the main laboratory, no," Bruce said and sighed again, but didn't explain further.
Once upon a time, Bruce had faced the Royal Flush Gang and, later, accompanied Ace in her last moments.
That particular division of Cadmus responsible for the gang had been isolated from the main laboratory, in another city and under government supervision. It had been built thanks to a government contract and, while still holding the Cadmus name, had very little to do with the current source of their problems.
More than that, Batman had made sure it wouldn't be active ever again.
Luthor had managed to escape that crime too, quickly shifting the blame onto the government and the supervisor while denying any direct involvement.
In his defense, not all of Luthor's companies were criminal in nature, and it really had been the government's fault that time. Batman had made sure of that. Not that the business tycoon hadn't managed to profit from it anyway by the looks of it, the Genomorphs themselves were proof of that.
"I'm calling an emergency meeting of the League."
"Another one?" Clark lifted an eyebrow and handed him a coffee cup.
"We need immediate changes," Bruce took a sip of the coffee and continued to look at the grave. "We also need to vote on the League's expansion, fast."
"What are you thinking?"
"We need to include normal people, delegate some duties and follow up on our work."
"You… delegating?" Clark snorted and shook his head in disbelief.
"The League has grown too big and too busy. I've started missing things Clark. I can't afford to miss things."
"Well, I can't say I don't agree. Lately, I've been acting as Superman too much, I miss just being myself," the man said and sipped on his own coffee. "How was she?"
"You were right," Bruce told him as he touched the tombstone one last time and turned away from the grave. "Her wounds weren't just from the accident."
And hadn't he made a mistake there too? The entire Cadmus situation had left him disoriented and confused and he had fallen back on old habits, threatened the girl as if she was one of his criminals in need of a shake down. Even worse, it was a mistake with so much potential to hurt his friend, his best and, perhaps only, friend.
He should have done better.
At the time, he had seen a superpowered Kryptonian far too comfortable with killing her enemies, and far too hasty on her actions, going after the clones and dealing with the Genomorph situation by herself, with no thought for the consequences of her actions.
So, he had threatened her and, only later, connected the dots. He almost immediately regretted it.
"You're sure?"
"She's fidgety, she doesn't realize it, but she flinches at small noises and keeps looking around as if afraid," he told his best friend while they walked back to his car. "She's also incredibly uncomfortable inside Cadmus, actively avoids looking in the direction of the scientists there and empathizes far too much with their experiments."
"It's not just, you know, her having empathy?"
"Not this much, she acts harshly and lets things slip when dealing with the experiments," Bruce said and looked his friend in the eyes. "She also knows more than she's telling us Clark, I won't look into it but… be careful."
"She's family Bruce, the Fortress verified she existed and its medical exams would have discovered if she was just a clone or another kind of trick," Clark sighed and looked up in frustration.
"I know, and I'm happy for you, just don't let it blind you."
"I won't."
Clark accompanied him in silence for a while, his own anger barely contained at what his cousin must have gone through. Diana's new protégée had been clear on her information about the Psions and, given her reactions, Kara must have been in their hands for some time.
"I also acted harshly. Her keeping secrets rubbed me the wrong way after everything that happened," he confessed as they reached his car and stopped.
"Ugh, this entire thing has left us all out of balance," Clark said and put a hand on his back for comfort. "You know, she's bringing the clone to our family dinner this weekend."
"I didn't, but I approve," Bruce told him.
"I knew you would, it's just so…" Despite being a reporter Clark didn't have the words to describe what he was feeling.
Bruce didn't press, letting his friend gather his thoughts. Finally, he pulled a folder from inside the car and handed it over.
"Here, your cousin's documentation, she's Kara Danvers now, adopted by an old couple, she inherited a small tech business in Pennsylvania."
"How'd you even get it so fast?"
"I already had it, it was a contingency in case I ever needed money without using the Wayne name, I have a couple dozen," Bruce told him with a smirk, he liked being ready. "I only had to make small changes to the name and gender to make it work."
"Thanks Bruce." Clark patted his shoulder for support and Bruce nodded, but his smirk fell away soon after, he wasn't felling very happy right now.
He drove home, his mind working overtime as he thought about everything he had seen, heard and read today.
Reaching his home, he went directly to his office and made sure to read about the League's activity today, after that, he also checked how Gotham was doing and if his presence was needed in the city.
A broken rib wouldn't stop him from doing his duty if it was needed.
Lastly, he checked up on Richard. The boy was still out with Kid Flash and would only be back by night. Bruce liked that, he liked that Richard still had a life outside the costume and wasn't driven by revenge, he liked that he wouldn't end up like him.
Hopefully, this new team would allow him to make friends, people he could trust at his side and that would keep him from growing bitter with the world.
Then he got to work. First was the new direction for the team. The League knew the teenagers wanted more responsibility, to get away from their mentors and work for themselves. It was also clear they wouldn't take no for an answer, they were teenagers.
Bruce wanted nothing more than to keep them under his wing for as long as possible, to protect them and teach them so they wouldn't have to make the same mistakes he did when he had started out, or face the same problems but, sometimes, that was impossible.
The team was supposed to be the League's "black ops" division, giving the teens something important to do which couldn't be done better by more experienced heroes, for the simple reason that the more experienced heroes couldn't do it.
It was important work, which the League really couldn't do if they wanted to keep their UN charter.
They'd be working on League information and their missions would be carefully chosen, so they wouldn't have to face anyone too dangerous, in theory. Batman knew how things could escalate suddenly when things went wrong.
The truth was, nobody would be fooled, the team didn't have the necessary training to remain undetected and their powers were very distinctive.
Even if they succeeded in a mission without immediate detection, it would still be pretty obvious who was responsible, the team would leave evidence behind but, so what? They weren't League members.
Of course everyone would know who sent them there, not only would it extend the League's reach without causing public or legal backlash but, hopefully, it would also stop villains from just flaunting their activity and daring the League to do anything.
It was against the spirit of their charter but, in truth, only Captain Atom would care, maybe, if he was forced to deal with it.
The League worked under the charter because it made things easier, made their arrests stick, kept their villains behind bars for longer and gave them access to more information and resources, not because they would be forced to stop saving people without it.
Now, Bruce was starting to change his mind about it.
With proof that there were entire teams of villains monitoring League activity, and some had even managed to infiltrate the League, it became too dangerous for the teens to work in the shadows.
Plus, with Kara working to make her own team, it may also be unnecessary.
No, instead of a black ops unit, he'll truly make them a team, something even better than the League.
The League, for all its ability and cooperation, was still a collection of individuals, they worked well together, yes, but they were still individuals. In a fight, the League was only as good as its members, the sidekicks could be so much more.
When he finished typing his proposal, Richard had already arrived, he took a small break from work to have dinner with him and went right back to the computer, time to deal with the League's new outlook.
The Watchtower would still have to be kept isolated and restricted only to full members, for obvious security reasons, but the Hall of Justice would have to stop being just a tourist attraction.
They'd have to hire clerks, detectives, office workers, medics, military advisers. It would take months of background checks to make sure no mole was inserted in the new chain of command, but it would be worth it.
Not only would it make the League's work much faster, it would also introduce the necessary human element to their work.
Clark may manage to keep his country boy outlook on life, but Bruce knew their colleagues could grow distant from the everyday people and that wasn't a good thing.
He worked throughout the night, typing away at his computer almost constantly, using his experience as owner of WayneCorp to create the barebones of the new League.
He knew he couldn't let things continue as they were.
He also prepared his own presentation to the League, it would be harsh, a crash course on everything they had left undone. Bruce was sure it would hit the League almost as hard as it had hit him. A punch to the gut that left him reeling, made him re-evaluate his own actions and find them wanting. It wasn't pleasant, it wasn't easy, but it was needed.
It would also force them to be better.
A gasp of surprise made him look up from his desk to see Alfred entering the office. "Master Bruce, what are you doing still working at this hour?"
Bruce looked through his windows to see the sun already rising through the curtains, he squinted his eyes and turned back to Alfred as his old friend handed him a light breakfast and his pain medication.
"I am capable of waking up early Alfred," Bruce tried to lie, but he knew it wasn't going to work on his old friend.
"Master Bruce, only a vampire is more averse to the sunrise than you," said Alfred with a frown while standing beside him, looking him over with a judgemental gaze. "Go to sleep, Master Bruce, or do I have to drug your drink again?"
"Fine Alfred, I can finish this later."
Alfred still kept checking up on him as he took a shower and only stopped when he was properly in bed, refusing to hear any of his protests and promising to take Richard to school in his place.
His mind was still working like mad when he laid his head against the pillow but, despite that, he felt his eyes growing heavy almost immediately. His last thought was that: he wasn't entirely sure Alfred hadn't drugged his breakfast after all.
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In a nearly empty room, Lex Luthor stood in front of the images of his fellow conspirator. Their true faces were hidden, but he knew them well, he wouldn't get involved with them without first knowing who he was dealing with.
Vandal Savage, a man he could respect, to a certain extent, the nominal leader of their little cabal, the immortal thought he was in complete control and Lex allowed him to continue such misunderstanding.
Klarion, some kind of manifestation of chaos, a childish and distasteful ally, but also a magical powerhouse nearly without equal and necessary if they wanted to remain beyond discovery.
Ocean-Master, an arrogant man that the rest of them barely tolerated, his contest of Aquaman's control over the oceans all that guaranteed his place amongst them, his lack of intellect only surpassed by the next member.
Queen Bee. In truth, Lex could barely tolerate the woman's stupidity, but her complete control over her country was useful and any other puppet they put in her place would probably suffer from the same failings.
No, he could accept the woman's ego when he knew she was the one taking the greatest risks, and the one they'd all throw to the wolves in case anything went wrong.
Ra's al Ghul, the ancient assassin, another man Lex could almost consider a peer, a pity their goals didn't really align. Lex stood for progress, while the old immortal kept to the past, as if it was somehow better.
Finally, The Brain, an impressive scientists, if a little too happy to take shortcuts on his studies, Lex would happily employ the man of given the chance. He was also the only one Lex wouldn't eventually have to deal with.
Truth be told, Lex highly disliked their little group, Savage was an arrogant and condensing leader who thought he could fool him with some fake rhetoric with no substance.
Ra's, clinging far too much to the past for his liking, they both believed in humanity, but Ra's thinking was far too primitive, too focused on nature and too little on what humanity could achieve.
The others weren't even worth mentioning, to stupid or too chaotic for his comfort.
Eventually, he knew he'd have to get rid of them all but, until then, he could use the group to finally eliminate the damn alien.
Superman really was so terribly annoying.
For a second, Lex considered just eliminating his companions now, if some of their true goals were successful they could grow into a real treat, he knew he could do it, even Klarion wasn't beyond his reach.
But no, that would be such waste when they could still be of use. And he did dislike the alien slightly more than he disliked pretending to respect Queen Bee.
"So, the League discovered the clone, did they find out anything else?" Vandal asked.
"No, the safeties against them worked well enough until I could get the authorities involved," Lex told him dismissively, the legality of the League's actions was a tool he was an expert at using.
"Good, did Wotan escape after the fight?" Was the immortal next question, the sorcerer's escape wasn't necessary, but it would be good to be able to use him again.
"The old mummy is very cunning. He managed to slip out in the confusion," Klarion answered while petting his damn cat. "Plus, I lent him a hand."
"The planned assassinations were all successful without the League to interference," Ra's revealed and all of them turned to their last goal for this particular action.
"Did the deal with our partner go well?"
"Their technology is still being calibrated, but Simon informs me we should have steady trade in a few months," Queen Bee said with a wave of her hand, her imperious voice almost making Lex wince.
Another thing Lex didn't like, deals with technologically superior estates never went well for the natives, and he had no doubt he was being handed the equivalent to shiny trinkets from their "partner", but he did need the information such trade allowed him to gather.
"Gentleman, our plans are going well and I have managed to contain any information leaks from Cadmus," Lex told them. "I'll send our employees the latest data on blockbuster's effect from Desmond desperate act but, if you'll excuse me, I have work to do."
They nodded to him and he stepped away from the monitors, the smile leaving his face.
All monitors turned off and, not even a minute later, Mercy walked into the room with the information about the assault on Fawcett city.
The others didn't really care about the city, or the villains responsible, but Lex had been alarmed to find the League had made two arrests and allowed another three to escape.
That was five supervillains working together, would their little Injustice League trick still work when someone else had done it first? Would the Bat be able to come up with countermeasures until then?
Sitting down, he started reading the report about the location of the final fight, reports of two new flying heroes, one of them capable of using sonic attacks, putting out flames and getting thrown through buildings, how… interesting.
Relaxing against his chair, Lex tapped his finger against two particular pictures, one of a dead Evil Eye, it's body exploded from a sudden discharge of heat, the second was of a single, thin, scorched line in piece of rubble, a very familiar scorched line.
"Hmm… is there another one of those damn creatures on the planet?"
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Far away from there, in a completely different plane of existence, a blonde being in the shape of a man sat on a throne of skulls, he wore tight, white clothes and a green cape that billowed out from behind him in a dramatic fashion to fall over his shoulders and down towards his legs.
He looked exactly like a typical supervillain, with sharp eyebrows and eyes that shone with green flame. Green flames also sprouted to life around him as he scratched at his chin in thought, he did not like the way things were going.
Originally, he was supposed to have plenty of time, his target would remain unprepared, his potential untapped, but something has changed. His target was learning much faster than he expected, growing in unexpected ways.
The being was still confident he could succeed, and time would make his eventual success better, but there was always a risk his prize would no longer be worth it if he took too long.
Innocence was such fragile thing after all, so easily lost.
With deliberate consideration, the being willed into existence five candles, five unlit candles.
Looking up the man started searching for just the right people to ignite them up.
Behind him, Satannus and Blaze traded glances, a barely contained eagerness on their faces.
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In a hidden base on the surface of Venus, Doctor Thaddeus Sivana watched over his old companion, the worm was grievously wounded, part of its body was missing from where its voice box had exploded, and there were burns all over its skin.
The single ally Mr. Mind had been able to escape with had also died. Once disabled, the spirits that powered Ibac had fled his body, leaving only Stanley behind and his body was only human.
The heat had burned his flesh and Sivana hadn't cared enough to save him, paying far more attention to Mr. Mind himself.
"I should have killed the boy," Mr. Mind confessed from his regenerating pod. "I wanted to find a way to drain the other aspects of his power, but I should have just killed him."
"My old friend, I confess that, now that I know Captain Marvel is just a kid, I am no longer as interested in him as I used to be," Sivana told the worm while playing with the storage of magical power they had recovered. "Not that I have anything against hurting children, mind you, but I just don't find him a worthy challenge anymore."
"Thaddeus, I'll have my revenge, I'll destroy both him and that cursed Kryptonian," the worm coughed into the minuscule microphone amplifying its voice. "Right after I destroy everything they have ever loved!"
"I suppose I still need something to test my inventions against," Sivana said and finally managed to settle the box containing part of the stolen power of Zeus inside one of his machines. "And I have never studied a Kryptonian before, would their flesh still be as resistant even when separated from the rest of the body?"
Unable to help himself, Mr. Mind's telekinesis rattled the little pod he was in with his anger. "Another one who will feel my wrath!"
"Still, we will need to gather the rest of the Society if we want to enter the game, my friend," Sivana said as he put on his goggles and started studying the magic. "Vandal is very protective of his little planet and, failure that he is, he does posses impressive allies."
Bent over the information on his computer, Sivana couldn't help but appreciate all the data on the device, despite his failure, Mr. Mind hadn't left the place empty handed.
Magic really was an interesting source of power, so versatile and yet so potent. He'd have to better study its effects and rules.
"Very well, old friend, perhaps I have been away from Earth for too long," he told the worm and approached the healing chamber and smiled down at the worm. "I have already sent out a call for our allies, Both the Justice League and The Light are just so filled with interesting specimen, I can't wait to get my hands on them heh, heh, heh."
Stepping away from the recovering work, Sivana turned towards the square box suspended inside another of his experiments, there were thousands of cables connecting to the device and part of its edges had been greatly damaged, but it still worked.
Pulling out a controller, he started pressing buttons causing the captured father box to spark, release a loud whine and, with a loud explosion, a boom tube formed in front of him.
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Far away from Earth, in a small corner of the Vega system, one of the myriad of Psion searching vessels finally retrieved the small beacon lodged into the side of an asteroid.
Quickly, the man-sized cylindrical device was grabbed by the vessel and brought aboard the larger Psion ship waiting close to the remains of their research station.
As fast as they could manage without damaging the thing, a team of the lizards started working on retrieving the information inside.
Months ago, this particular ship had received the distress signal from the research vessel, but it had been too far away and arrived far too late to render any aid.
It had scoured that particular part of space to gather all the destroyed pieces of the station, but the loss of data had been complete, someone had made sure all their computers were destroyed beyond any ability they had to repair it.
Still, the Psions hadn't completely given up, it was normal procedure to release several dormant devices containing copies of important information in case a Psion vessel was in danger of being destroyed or taken over.
If there was one thing Psion's hated above all else, it was the destruction of valuable information.
With how big the research station had been, there was no way any such device could store all information inside, but it could have valuable data and contain clues about what happened to the vessel.
Finding such devices in the emptiness of space was almost impossible, at least until they started broadcasting their signals, years later. It was actually an integral part of their survival strategy to prevent the attackers from finding them, but this particular one had gotten stuck on a nearby asteroid, such things weren't uncommon since the station had probably released thousand such data caches in every direction.
With a beep, the beacon received the correct password and started dumping its information all over their computers. It was exactly what they were searching for.
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A/N: I thought Batman threatning Kara was the equivalent of a dad with a shotgun talking with a random boyfriend.
Batman knows Kara is uniquely suited to hurting his best friend and he's being a little overprotective.
He was also under a lot of stress and defaulted to his usual MO with people lying to his face.
Also, HUGE thanks to my patrons Xhaustedhero, AkumaSmaG and Iori Daemona Angel.
Kara approached the door at a slow pace, she could hear Krypto barking inside the house and Kal-El talking with his mother, her steps faltered as she thought of that, would they like her?
She still found it hard to conciliate Superman, THE hero, with her little cousin, the same baby she had held in her arms and swung around before getting scolded by her uncle.
Quickly, she stopped paying attention to her increased hearing so as to give them at least some privacy, it wasn't an active power so she couldn't just turn it off, but she had learned to shift her attention towards something unimportant and whatever she didn't want to hear just faded into the background.
Finally, she turned to her companion.
Kon-El looked great, she hadn't managed to get him wearing formal clothes, but his wardrobe already included more than just superman t-shirts and she had managed to make him wear an elegant black shirt and jeans.
Kara took a moment to adjust his collar, then she combed his hair with her fingers, weaving them through his hair causing him to grumble, she just smiled.
"Do you have to do that?" He asked in an annoyed voice, an improvement from his constantly angry one, and tried to wave her hand away.
"Yes, yes I do." She laughed as she pulled the boy closer, "Come on, they're waiting for us."
Finally, she knocked at the door and felt some butterflies on her stomach.
"Don't worry, I'll get it." Said a male voice from inside, A few seconds later the door opened to an older man appeared, he looked at both of them smiled. "God, you really do look just like Clark, come on in."
"Excuse-me." Kara said and started walking inside when Krypto's white body flew right into her chest, the kryptonian dog actually made her take a few steps back as it licked her face causing her to burst out laughing.
Putting the dog down, Kara cleaned her face and stepped inside, Krypto having smashed through all the tension on her body.
"Thanks for having me." She told him as she walked inside.
"Nonsense, you're family." Martha called in from the kitchen. "Come in dear, I heard you liked my pie?"
"I did." She nodded.
Kon-El followed her inside, his head waving from one side to the other as if he couldn't believe where he was.
"Kara, Good to see you here." Kal-El appeared causing Krypto to immediately dash to his side; he scratched behind the dog behind his ear. "You know, I always dreamed of something like this happening."
Kara looked at him, there was a smile on his face and the usual tension was gone from his shoulders, his posture completely relaxed even as he briefly glanced at Kon-El, he really was at home here. Good.
"Kal-El." She greeted him with her own smile. "Hope we aren't late?"
"You know you can just call me Clark right, or Kal if you prefer." He said as he walked closer, taking a second to see she was feeling fine.
"I… Krypton wasn't exactly an informal place." She confessed sheepishly. "I have no problem with human names but, it just feels odd to use only first names for Kryptonians, I don't think I did that even for father."
"I see... well, you can take as much time as you want." Kal-El hugged her with a wide smile on his face, she managed to hug him back but soon pushed him away and glared at him causing him to tense, finally, he turned to the clone.
"Kon-El right? I…" taking a deep breath, he released a long, slow breath of air and laid a hand on Kon-El's shoulder. "I'm sorry for how I reacted on our first meeting; I hope you know you're welcome here."
"I… I am?"
Kal-El just starred, his eyes shifting away from the boy's with embarrassment, then, as he looked at Kon-El's face, filled with both hope and fear, he drew another breath and finally managed to smile, it was a true smile. "Of course you are, as Kara told you, you're family, now come on, help me put on the table."
Warping an arm around the boy, Kal-El pulled him further inside the house.
Kara just smiled as she saw the both of them walking together, then she looked to the side to see Jonathan smiling too, his face full of pride. "I'm glad to see the kid managed to get over it."
"You raised him right." She told him, then took both of his hands in hers and bowed her head. "Thank you, thank you so much."
For a second, the old man didn't seem to know how to react, then Martha poked her head out of the kitchen and scowled. "Jonathan Kent, what do you think you're doing treating the poor girl like that?"
"Ma, I just…"
"Come here girl, have you been eating well? You look a little thin."
With a smile Kara let herself be swept in the moment. Kon-El seemed almost completely lost as Kal-El and Jonathan started getting the table ready, a small, confused smile on his face while Kara started helping Martha prepare lunch by cutting vegetables.
Later, after she helped wash the dishes, they all sat on the porch and just talked, one of the cows on the farm was eating nearby and Jonathan pointed it out to them.
"They're used to it now, but you should have seen how confused the cattle were the first time the Kid lifted it up in the air as if it didn't weight anything." He joked, as he balanced himself on the chair. "His strength was still spotty back then and it slipped, dropped right on top of him and almost scared me to death."
"Was he hurt?" Kara couldn't help but ask.
"Only his pride, he wanted to show off so much and fell face first in the mud, I think we still have the picture I took." The old man laughed out loud. "I think he glared at that cow for a week later."
"Oh, pictures, can I see them?" She tried to disguise her eagerness but, by the looks on the old couple's face, she wasn't having much success.
"Of course, I'm gonna go get them." Martha said with unusual cheer and walked inside the house.
"Alright, I think that's my cue." Kal-El pushed himself up and looked at the farm. "Say Pa, you still wants that old tree gone?"
"Yeah, the new farmhand we hired killed the poor thing." Jonathan sighed with regret.
"Pa, you know you can always call for help, it wouldn't take me more than an afternoon to help."
"Ah, you're busy boy, plus it helps the local folk to hire from here." He waved... Kal off, Kal just shook his head and stretched his back.
Kara took a second to adjust her thinking, calling him Kal had felt so strange, to be so informal with another kryptonian. She still loved Krypton but she could admit it, the planet had been very cold.
"Come on Kon, help me out here." Kal called out causing Kon to almost jump out of his skin.
Kal was still a little uncomfortable with the boy, but he was trying, he really was.
Kon turned to her and Kara nodded with a smile causing him to jump to his feet and follow Kal, waving around the cows and further into the farm.
Jonathan waited until his wife was back before turning to her. "You know, we talked about it, but we wanted to hear your opinion first before we made it official."
"What?" Kara asked with curiosity.
"When Clark told us somebody made a clone of him we were surprised." Martha said as she handed her the picture album and sat besides her while looking around for the boys. "But we talked about it and are considering adopting the poor boy."
"If you agree of course?" The old man continued with a hurry.
Kara didn't know what to say, she had plans to get things ready for Kon, get him into school, find him a therapist to help develop his feelings and everything else, but she couldn't deny it felt… overwhelming.
Being sent to take care of Kal had also been overwhelming, but, at the time, the imminent destruction of her home world had left her numb, to the point she couldn't even think about it.
Could she let the Kent's raise another member of her family? What would her parents think of letting a human raise a member of the El house, again?
But… the Kent's had done such good job with Kal, could she be even half as good with Kon?
"Honey?" Martha called out as she laid a hand over her own causing Kara to turn towards her. "Honey, we know you just arrived on the planed, you're just getting your life in order. I know you want to take care of him, but we're here."
"And you don't have to stay out of his life you know." Jonathan said with a kind voice. "We can provide him with a human identity and a place to stay while you teach him about your planet."
Could that work? It was not like she couldn't fly here in less than an hour, from anywhere in the planet really.
In the end she nodded, Kon had the chance to have parents, real parents; she couldn't take that away from him. "If he agrees."
"Of course Honey,"
Whoosh!
Attracted by the sudden noise, Kara turned her head to see a large tree flying up in the air and towards the horizon, a few seconds later, Krypto almost broke the sound barrier as he flew after it barking like mad.
"There they go again." Was all Jonathan said before completely ignoring the wooden missile.
"Boys, right?" Martha commented with a sigh.
Concentrating, Kara looked thought the cows to see Kal patting his hands with a satisfied smile while Kon was starring after the dog.
Then Krypto came flying back with the tree on his mouth, the enormous missile was so large he couldn't even see where he was going and smashed into the ground causing both Kal and Kon to wince.
The dog dropped the entire thing at their feet before flying around the both of them barking again, his tail wagging so fast it caused a small wind to blow on the grass.
With a laugh Kal pushed Kon towards the tree and nodded, Kon looked between the tree and the dog a few times, then his fingers found purchase on the wood, he lifted in up on his shoulders but Kal Stopped him.
"No, throw it point first to avoid air resistance, like this." The older man adjusted the tree on Kon's grip and nodded.
Whoosh! The remaining of the tree flew again, a little slower but still flying out into the sky for quite a few kilometers.
With an eager bark, Krypto flew after it.
Kara turned back to the older woman and nodded. "Boys."
"Now, let me show that time Clark decide he was the second coming of the Flash."
From the corner of her eyes Kara caught the sight of Kal stumbling on the empty field.
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Kon decided to stay with the Kent's, they still had Kal's bedroom ready to receive the boy and, since he still wasn't certain what to do, Kara convinced him to try and stay with them instead of being alone on the mountain.
Together, she and Kal flew away from the farm and up towards space, they flew close together, so close that Kara managed to smile at him and speak.
"You may have redeemed yourself, but you know I'll still have to punish you for neglecting the kid, right?"
"What?"
"Yep, it's my prerogative as the older one." She nodded with a smile. "I get to punish you went you do something stupid."
"You're serious, but I…" Kal looked at her with amusement, then it became worry. "Wait, what kind of punishment?"
"I guess you'll find out."
"Kara…" he said in a warning tone but she ignored him. "Seriously, what kind of punishment?"
She just ignored him and accelerated quickly breaking through the clouds and further still, until their presence couldn't possible bother any planes, a second later Kal stopped beside her.
"Wanna make a stop at the fortress?" he invited, "I gotta leave something there first, but them we can stop on Metropolis for your documents, Batman left them with me."
"About that, did Batman talk with you?" She asked him with an uncertain voice, her face changing from amusement to a far more serious look.
"About what?" he asked back.
"I went to Cadmus after discovering Kon's existence." She scratched at her neck and decided to just say it. "There was a second clone Kal."
"What?" he just said with a stunned face, his body dropping a few centimeters in the air before his flight stabilized. "No, I searched the place."
"They made sure you and the Flash couldn't find it easily."
"What… what happened to it?" he asked, almost afraid to know.
"It was… a prototype, they couldn't get Kryptonian DNA right and he was deteriorating quickly, I left him on a healing chamber in the fortress, but it doesn't have the information needed to heal him."
They floated there in the air, Kal almost frozen between fury and horror, finally, he gathered himself and asked. "Is there anything we can do?"
"I'm looking into it, if you know a genius geneticist you can ask him." She said and took the chance to embrace him, he let her. "I can already think of several people that could help, he's gonna be okay."
"I… I'll see if anybody can help." He said after a few minutes. "Will you be coming to the fortress with me?"
"You're still going?" Kara said surprised.
"Yeah," his voice had a newfound conviction as he starred down towards his home, and towards Kon, "I'm not running away from this anymore."
"Good," Kara released him and looked him in the eye. "You really make your parents proud, the two sets of them."
"Thank you, are you still coming with me?"
"No, I have a different meeting waiting for me in another hour."
"See you tomorrow then?" he asked and she nodded.
"I'll drop by your house to get my documents."
With that, they said their goodbyes and Kara watched Kal flying towards the fortress, his acceleration almost immediately breaking the sound barrier with barely an effort until he was beyond even her sight.
Kara sighed, if he continued to make her this proud she'd have to rethink her prank.
Putting on her mask, she followed his example, exploding into action, going from zero to a hundred in barely a second as she made her way towards New York.
It wasn't that she was in a hurry, or showing off. Even wounded she was just that strong, the only thing keeping her from flying faster was the atmosphere of the planet, the heat generated by the air resistance wouldn't actually hurt her, but it could hurt things around her.
Eventually, she lowered herself gently in front of a cemetery, a large, old house just beside it; it was at least four floors high, made of wood and looked almost like a castle.
Looking at the old monstrosity Kara thought it wouldn't be out of place in a Scooby Doo cartoon.
Approaching the front door she saw the sign that read, 'House of Mystery'.
Kara wasn't familiar with the name but she briefly wondered if it had anything to do with the 'House of Secrets' from DC. She didn't remember it correctly but there was an episode on the… first season? Where it had showed up.
Making sure nobody was watching her she took off her blank mask and made her way towards the house, then she climbed the wooden steps and knocked.
"Come in Miss Kara, your companion is already waiting for you inside."
Kara immediately activated her X-ray vision, her hackles were immediately raised when she couldn't actually see through the walls, they weren't coated with lead but, even with her vision activated, she could only see the wooden door in front of her.
With a tap of her finger, her radiation shielding went up and input a communication signal towards the device on her bedroom, it sent a pulse towards the device every two minutes revealing her location and, if it stopped transmitting for more than half an hour, it would alert the entire League with her last known location.
Finally, she took a breath and entered the house.
The man who received her was short, he had brown hair combed up as if to make two horns on each side of his head, he had a pair of small glasses and held an Oil Lamp on his hand.
"I'm sorry Miss Kara but I'm afraid the house current lacks electricity." The man smiled and waved her inside. "Still, I think we make do."
From inside the place was enormous, it's lavish wooden floors shone with care and there were large candles on the wall giving everything an orange light.
In the middle of the entrance there was a large set of stairs going up the first floor and, at both of its sides were three sets of doors leading inside the house.
Kara caught a glance from one of the open doors and saw an old woman carrying a tray of food towards someone in a bed, then she looked again.
The old woman's face had cracks in it from which she could see a dark shadow almost leaking, her skin seemed as grey as granite and Kara swore something moved under her wrinkles.
Kara gulped and started preparing herself.
"Please don't, dear Alice is terminally ill, I'd hate to bother her with your fight."
"But that's…" She said and shivered.
"Her housekeeper, her only desire is to heal." The man said and led her up the stairs, "A very interesting story that one, but we're here."
For some reason Kara believed the man, still, she dropped a couple of surveillance drones while he wasn't looking and sent them towards the room.
He opened the door to a huge room; there was a fireplace lit and a single occupant sitting on a comfortable seat, a large cigar in his mouth and half a bottle of alcohol resting at his side.
"Come in, it's good you've arrived early." He said and glanced towards the bottle. "I was trying to think of twelve good reasons not to finish the bottle, but could only come up with seven."
Kara walked inside the place and couldn't help but stare at the figure before her; he was large, much larger than she expected to tell the truth, he was also a chimpanzee, a talking chimpanzee wearing an old detective costume, cap and all.
"Go ahead, stare all you want, not like it hasn't happened before." The chimpanzee mumbled and took another eager glance towards the bottle.
"Sorry, I know it shouldn't really surprise me but…" Kara shrugged and took a seat beside the chimp.
It really shouldn't surprise her, she had seen stranger things since arriving on Earth.
"Story of my life." The chimp shrugged and dragged on his cigarette, then he spilled it out. "So, what did the furry send you here for?"
Even as he asked, the chimpanzee's eyes were taking everything in, paying very close attention to her body posture and reaction.
"Furry?" she tilted her head in confusion.
"Tall, dark, likes to pretend he's a bat." He said with a tired voice. "Should leave being an animal to those born into it if you ask me."
Kara snorted and relaxed back against the chair.
"Alright, I'm Kara Zor-El pleased to meet you." Kara said. "I'm in need of a team; I guess Batman thought you could help me with that?"
"Well, I'm not much of a hero mind you, but, if you have someone in mind, I can definitely find them for you." He said and finished his cigar before straightening his back, "Bobo T. Chimpanzee, but you can call me Detective Chimp. The Bat may be the best Human detective in the world, but I'm better, it's just fact."
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That's right people, DC comics stands for Detective Chimp Comincs, I said it!
Detective Chimp best Detective in the universe!
Reject the Bat Return to Monke!
Next chapter, Kara trully starts building up her team!
A big thanks to my patrons A shout to Xhaustedhero, AkumaSmaG, Iori Daemona Angel, Carlos Barba, Comics, Icewing and Eric Faust for supporting my work!
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This week, patrons are able to vote on Kara's future costume!