As I said, had to drop a member of Kara's team to get this to work, I could have gone AU with this without loosing too much of YJ, but I decided not to.
The second member would have to be dropped as well, but he is canonicaly deceitful and likes to fake his power level and true nature, so I felt it was justifiable his appearances on the show were just him playing around. If it doesn't work for you... well damn it, consider it a minor AU element then, cuz I'm not dropping him too.
As a result of dropping a recruit, had to write something else at the end of the chapter, I think it turned out surprisingly well and I quite enjoyed writing the interaction.
Had to borrow some lines from canon, but this is fanfic anyway so I thought it was fair.
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"'Better than the Bat', huh?" Kara lifted an eyebrow at that, she had only been vaguely aware Detective Chimp existed in the DC universe and had no idea what kind of ma… animal? He was. "Well, you'll understand if I don't just take your word for it?"
Bobo just shrugged as if he didn't care, and maybe he didn't.
"What does the Bat want from me anyway, sending someone with superpowers like you?"
"And how do you know I have powers?" Kara asked, brimming with curiosity and trying to come up with a way to test the chimp.
"Alright, guess we're doing this then," his large hand grabbed the bottle and he took a swig, whipping his mouth with a hairy arm, he leaned forward. "I could smell grass and farm animals as soon as you entered the room; it's far too recent of a smell for you to have come from anywhere near here the conventional way."
"That means you either flew, ran or teleported here, I could see you arrived from the direction of the cemetery, yet there isn't a paved path between the graves and yesterday was a rainy day, since your boots aren't completely covered in mud, I tend to think you're capable of flight."
The chimp released the bottle and put a hand under his chin.
"There's some kind of field around your body disrupting the refraction of light, yet I can still smell you. You aren't floating above the chair and you're wearing metal, which means you wanted protection when you entered the building, but your shield doesn't fully block 'mundane' particles or protect against physical objects, even metallic ones."
"It's possible that the field blocks bullets and other such kinetic projectiles based on the speed they're moving, but why would you use such a specific shield when you could block far more and be far safer with a more generic protection?"
"The most logical explanation is that this shield blocks a particular form of attack, probably mental, magical or a unique weakness. Given that you're paranoid enough to activate it before even meeting me, but equally unworried about the protection not blocking physical attacks, I would say you don't fear them."
"Following flight and fearlessness towards bullets, the most likely complementary power would be super strength. And since you aren't carrying a weapon, you believe you're strong enough to face any human you may encounter without one. You could arguably do this with martial skill, yes, but your overall movement and posture nullifies that notion almost outright."
"A slight bulge in your clothes indicates a mask of some kind, but you aren't wearing a costume under your clothes, even a temporary one, and your body doesn't match any of the well known heroes. You're clearly new to the business, but since the Bat himself sent you here, you're probably a heretofore secret relative of one of the League's members… most likely Superman, Wonder Woman or the Martian."
Lying back against his chair, the chimpanzee looked at her with a smug smile to which Kara could only respond with a sigh.
She had to get better at hiding things if there were people like this just running around in DC.
"Impressive." She said and thought about her situation.
Had the chimp approached her of his own accord, she'd probably be getting really paranoid and would start to consider silencing the guy, but she was the one looking for help.
It seems like Batman couldn't directly help her so he sent her to someone with a similar skillset. She could use that, particularly against people like Luthor or Queen Bee, both of which hid behind the law to block the League's actions, investigation and public exposure was the most straight-forward counter.
As soon as she got out of here she'd have to do a more in-depth search on Bobo, but she decided to outline about her goals without revealing too much of her hand.
"Alright, I'm creating a team, people who can be discreet, but hold their own in case they're discovered." She began while watching the chimp's reaction.
"Hmmm… the Bat finally decided he'd had enough, did he?" Bobo said and scratched his face. "Must be annoying, having to keep to the charter."
"More like, I decided I'd had enough, and Batman agreed with me." Kara answered, frowning at him, the chimp nodded, conceding her point. "The way I see it, it's not that the League is unwilling to deal with the problem, just that it's best they don't have to… problems like this one could easily spiral out of control and set their cause back by decades."
"Alright, and how exactly are you thinking of… dealing with those problems?"
"I'm not looking to form a team of cold blooded murderers. Arresting people will always be the preferred option." Kara sighed and thought about the situation. "But I don't want the law stopping us from doing what's right."
"No boy scouts then, do you already have anyone in mind?"
"I already have a member, and maybe two more, but I could use your help looking for some of my candidates." She said and squinted her eyes. "You can find people, right? It's not just pretentious presentations of your logical prowess?"
"Yeah, yeah, I'm a fully trained private eye." The chimp pushed himself up and pulled a pack of cigarettes from under his seat, then put it in a pocket in his chest for easy access. "Want to give me a hint as to what we'll be dealing with?"
So, Kara started talking, she didn't tell the chimp everything or even every name, that would require more trust than just a referral, but she did talk about the Light, a cabal of supervillains working and manipulating things from the shadows.
Detective Chimp had questions, a lot of questions, eventually, she ran out of things she was willing to divulge without doing further research on the hero.
From the look on his face, Kara had no doubt he got far more from her than she did from him. But then again, she couldn't really be blamed for having a lot of trouble judging his reactions since he was, well, a chimp.
"I'll start asking around." He told her when they were done talking about the team and its goals. "Something like that doesn't start from nothing."
"You sure you want to risk it before I get the team ready?" Kara asked with worry, the Light were quite capable of silencing the chimp. "I can only provide so much protection by myself."
"Kid, I've been doing this for a very long time and if there's one thing I have learned, it's that criminals don't like being controlled." He took a drag from his second cigarette and blew it towards the fireplace. "The fact these characters have stayed hidden for so long means there's some powerful people involved, but it also means their minions will be all the more eager to backstab them at the first chance."
"Well, at least take this." She handed him one of her drones, "squeeze it and it'll send a signal to me with your location."
The chimp rolled the little metal ball between his thick fingers and brought it close to his eye, critically looking at all its little details, then shrugged and put it in his pocket together with the pack of cigarettes.
"Hah, it's not like I'll go around asking for this Light of yours by name, Kid, I'm sure the bastards won't say anything about a shadowy secret organization, but they'll still be eager to point me at their Bosses in hopes of stealing their places."
With their meeting concluded, Kara shook the chimp's hand and made her way down the stairs. Alice's door was closed and Cain was nowhere to be seen.
Kara swore there was something watching her inside the house, but, even with her improved senses, she couldn't find anything.
Feeling goosebumps starting to rise on her skin, she hurried out of the house. The sun had just set and the lights on the street were already on, but the cemetery itself seemed much darker than the hour indicated.
The feeling of being watched vanished, but she still hurried to follow the path out of the damn place, her steps becoming faster and faster as she walked.
"Leaving so soon, Miss Kara?" Said a voice from her side causing Kara to jump up in fright and turn around.
She had been focusing on the house so much that she hadn't been paying attention to the rest of her surroundings.
Cain appeared from between the graves, a small smile on his face and a shovel in his shoulder.
Kara's eyes narrowed as she saw old, dried blood on the shovel, but she couldn't tell if it was just some animal blood. He did interact with a heroic detective fairly often so it probably wasn't nearly as bad as it looked.
"Yeah, I don't think the house likes me very much." She joked.
"It likes collecting stories," Cain said while looking back at the house. "Maybe tell it a story next time you come?"
"I'll keep that in mind." She said, and hoped it would never come up.
Finally, Kara left the property and released a sigh of relief. She walked a few blocks away from the place before finally deactivating the beacon on her leg.
Then she pulled out her phone and started watching the images recorded from her drones.
Despite its looks, the thing pretending to be an old woman really was acting as a nurse and housekeeper to the woman inside the room.
Her devices still managed to start mapping the house, but, despite how long she had been talking with Detective Chimp, they just weren't done, and the information they had gathered made no sense.
Kara tried to retrieve the drones, but, as they followed exactly the same path they used to explore, they ended up in new rooms in the house.
After waiting for ten minutes Kara was forced to order them to self-destruct, only then did she release the breath she had been holding.
Magic, she hated magic.
Kara started walking again before releasing a frustrated sigh.
No, she didn't hate magic, it was actually incredibly cool. But, as a Kryptonian, things would be so much easier if it didn't exist.
Getting into a little coffee shop, she ordered a cup of it and started looking at the information on her phone again, deciding if she should approach her next meeting or ditch it for another day.
She was confident she could escape in case things went sideways, but this recruit was a powerhouse, and hadn't always been on the side of the angels.
Also, as Detective Chimp just showed, her identity was far too vulnerable.
She had planned to appear as just a normal human, someone completely independent from her heroic persona but, if Detective Chimp could determine she had powers with a simple glance…
Not like there'd be a lot of detectives on his level, at least if his claims of matching Batman had any validity but the concern remained.
In the end, she decided to go. She didn't know if she'd have any chance of another meeting if she ditched this one, and the man wasn't only a powerhouse, but also provided incredible utility. She'd just have to wear her mask while there and hope it was enough for the time being.
Paying for the coffee, Kara found an empty spot on the street, she put on her mask and flew directly up, too fast for any humans or common cameras to register more than a blur rising through the air.
Then she made her way towards Opal City. She had a meeting with a certain Richard Swift and his girlfriend Hope O'Dare.
Kara's search hadn't turned up any criminal activity for the Shade at this time, but her computer had found some suspicious historical records that indicated he had been active, using his powers on and off again around the world for hundreds of years now.
She wasn't entirely certain it was him but, even if he was only a metahuman in this version of DC, getting access to his powers before the Light would be a win.
Still, he did have a record of pretending to be weaker than he actually was and having fun by playing the villain, or hero, from time to time.
At least she had spoken with his girlfriend and confirmed the woman would be there during the meeting, it was unlikely he'd try to kill her with a loved one close by, and O'Dare didn't seem hostile to her. Quite the contrary in fact.
As she approached the city, she made sure to activate her beacon once again, then reconfigured the sunstone on her leg to act as an emergency teleport in case the man did turn out to be hostile.
It would ruin her prosthetic if she had to use it, but better it than her really.
O'Dare's home was a loft in a quiet corner of the city, Kara knocked on the door and the beautiful redhead answered. She was around 35 years old and still extremely fit, wearing a white shirt and common jeans. "You must be the one who called about Richard."
"What gave me away?" Kara asked with some amusement as the woman led her inside.
"I don't know, maybe the mask?"
"I'm surprised he even agreed to speak with me." She only knew the man from what little information she had gathered, and from her previous life, but he didn't seem the type to entertain a stranger.
"He didn't."
"Then… why am I here? Why invite me inside?" Kara could see the woman didn't have any animosity towards her, but springing a surprise superhero on someone like The Shade was never a good idea.
Maybe she really should leave, then again, Shade never killed a good superhero before, at least none that she could find. The man seemed to actually admire them.
"He's getting restless again, he thinks I don't see it, but he's been out of things for more than a decade now." O'Dare offered her a chair and sat in front of her at the table. "If he's gonna go out there again, I'd prefer he gets to adventure for the good side this time."
"So he is immortal then?" She asked in curiosity, trying to confirm if her information about his actions was correct.
"I don't know, but he hasn't aged a day since we first met." She sighed and supported her face with a hand. "It's hard, aging and watching him remain the same."
Kara didn't know what to say, then the room suddenly became a little darker, flakes of darkness started behaving as if they had mass, gathering in the shape of a man in the middle of the room, finally, The Shade teleported inside, his eyes hard as he stared at Kara with barely contained malice.
Then he looked at O'Dare and seemed to understand the situation, he sighed causing Kara to relax the grip she had on her teleport device.
Richard Swift looked like a slightly pale, but not unnatural 40 years old, he was well muscled and his hair was darker than any Kara had ever seen, his eyes filled with affection, and frustration, as he looked at his lover.
He was only wearing an overcoat over a simple black shirt and didn't have his signature top hat or cane, but Kara's eyes caught the sight of tendrils of darkness quickly retreating down his coat and out of view.
"I see you're having guests today. Hope, you should have informed me."
"Would you have come?" she huffed.
"For you my dear? Yes." He sighed and took off his jacket. "I feel more and more alive with every second I'm with you, I wouldn't pass it for anything."
He bent down and gave a light kiss on the woman's forehead before elegantly sitting down at the table with them.
"I know you've been itching to get out, to have fun like you used to do in the past." She glared at him.
"Hardly like I have done in the past, no. I was thinking of acting as a metahuman in another five or six years, one of the ones whose powers change their bodies, they're such convenient justification." He replied with amusement and turned towards Kara. "What do you think, white skin and black eyes to go with the shadow motif? I don't think I have clashed against any of this current Justice League yet."
Right before Kara's eyes Shade's skin lost color, darkness filled his eyes and it consumed even his eye sockets until they became round circles with red dots in the middle, his hair was covered with shadows and his cheeks sunk into his head until he resembled a skull.
"See, I knew you were eager to start your little games again!" O'Dare accused and with an amused laugh, Shade reverted back into his original form and combed his hair back.
"I can't deny that." He said and adjusted his perfect posture. "I thought I'd handicap myself, not use constructs very well and limit my portals to a certain weight or size?"
"How about a different game then?" Kara interjected, if she could get him interested… "I'm creating a team to fight against certain villains. They call themselves The Light."
"Ra's little group, yes. I'm aware of them." He told her and appeared to consider it before smirking. "It's just not the same… facing against a hot blooded hero, one filled with conviction and an iron will… I miss that."
"Well, the team isn't exactly supposed to be well known so, you can still play with the heroes if you want?" she offered. She didn't really want to condone villainy in any form, but The Shade always seemed to take it easy when playing around, and it could make for good training for Kori and the sidekicks.
The Shade looked towards his lover and O'Dare laid a hand over his own, nodding her head with a smile, he smiled back. "I suppose it could be interesting to fight without restrictions for once, and Ra's little group includes many who could face me even at full power. Do you have a way for me to contact you?"
"Here," Kara tossed him another of her drones, "You can get in contact with me by just squeezing the metal ball."
"Very well, I suppose our meeting here is concluded?" He asked and, after Kara nodded, got up and offered O'Dare an arm. "Come my dear, you did offer me a relaxing walk in your company, didn't you?"
Kara went out of the loft and watched as shadows covered the couple, then it dissolved like ashes, leaving no signs of where they had gone. Not believing her luck she deactivated the beacon once again and flew back to Fawcett City.
The Shade was a little more cold blooded than any of her other candidates, and perhaps a little too much even for her goals, but he also had standards, and she may need someone of his caliber to take on the Light.
She arrived home and, seeing as there was nobody inside, took a quick shower before going directly to work. Using the Kryptonian crystal in her bedroom as a computer, she searched the internet for information on Detective Chimp.
What she found was… promising. He was far less known than Batman but, amongst certain groups, there was serious discussion about whether he, the Bat or the Question was the best detective.
It quickly became clear the chimp was a hopeless alcoholic, sometimes incredibly rude, but also incredibly competent and trustworthy. Not ideal, but workable.
It also seemed like he was actually more experienced than Batman in dealing with magical mysteries.
Coupled with the Bat's support, Kara decided to give a little more trust to the ape.
Her computer had also managed to get the information for several addresses for people she had flagged as interesting.
Victor Stone was still a kid, Ted Kord was a business magnate with no interest in heroics, Maxwell Lord showed no signs of supervillany… yet.
More importantly, she had found the location of the Tower of Fate. Doctor Fate was an essential force of the universe, a natural enemy to Klarion, and, in the worst case, someone capable of helping Match.
Plus, Kara couldn't help but want to ask a few questions about her own state of being from the Lord of Order.
She also found the address for the future Elongated Man. The guy actually lived in the same city as The Shade.
A pity that he was still just a kid, his ability to shape his body was second only to a Martian, and the Plastic Man. Perhaps she could get Plastic Man involved instead, he still wasn't a member of the Justice League, right?
Still, there were a lot of names she couldn't find and she had no way of knowing if it was for lack of information or just because they didn't exist in this universe.
"Friend Kara, are you home?" Kori called from the living room as she arrived back from her training with Wonder Woman.
"In the bedroom, just a sec." Stretching her back she noticed she had been reading for two hours and decided to take a break.
Turning off her screen, Kara floated up in the air and to her feet, she stretched her neck and opened the door with a wide smile on her face.
"Welcome home Kori. How was the training?"
"Wonderful! Friend Troia finally managed to best me in a contest!" the redhead informed her with a nod, "it was a truly inspired match, I am proud of her improvement."
Kori had already taken off her boots and hung a coat at the door leaving her dressed in a comfortable set of shirt and pants.
"So, you don't have anything else to do right now?" Kara asked with some amount of hope.
"I do not."
"Come on then, let's relax and watch a movie or something."
Kara's visit to the House of Mystery, then facing someone like The Shade… it had left her exhausted and she needed to recharge a little.
Having lunch with Kal's parents had been wonderful, but it hadn't been very relaxing for her, always wondering if she was leaving a good impression.
"What a great idea, I will prepare buttery explosive grains while you choose the movie."
"It's called popcorn Kori!" Kara shouted after her and started looking for something to watch on the internet.
Eventually, she decided a silly horror comedy was just what she needed, the House of Mystery had left her rattled and making fun of something scary would help her relax.
Soon, Kori came floating from the kitchen with a bucket of popcorn and sat down on the sofa.
Kara stopped thinking about supervillains, or anything really, she just decided to relax, take the rest of the night off.
Kicking off her own boots, Kara threw herself on the couch, her feet hanging off the side of the sofa while her head tested on Kori's lap.
It made for a surprisingly comfortable pillow.
"So, when is the new sidekick meeting taking place?" She asked as she lifted her arm and stole a handful of popcorn from Kori's bucket.
Kara couldn't remember any of the show's exact dates even if her life depended on it, but she knew the team formed very soon after Kon's rescue.
Now it had already been over a week and there was nothing.
"The Batman has asked us to meet in nine days." she said and lifted her bucket to keep it out of Kara's reaching hands. "I am most excited to start training with them, the joint training with Billy was very enlightening."
Pointing the remote at the TV, Kara started the movie and adjusted herself, turning her face towards the screen and curling her legs until they fit on the sofa.
Kori dove into her popcorn, her nine stomachs working overtime to consume the entire bucket. Kara still managed to steal some every now and then, but Kori ate like her life depended on it, finishing the entire thing in less than ten minutes.
She wiped her hands on a tissue and turned towards Kara, eyes shining with interest.
"Friend Kara, may I perform braiding maneuvers on your hair? Diana informed me it is a common form of bonding between sisters, but I have never had the opportunity with Komand'r"
Kara glanced at Kori's fingers and, after checking if they were clean, nodded. "Sure, go ahead."
She too had never been this close with a friend, it would be unthinkable on Krypton and just… not something she had been interested in as a man.
As she felt Kori's gentle fingers running through her hair, Kara felt the last amounts of tension leaving her shoulders.
Releasing a breath, she closed her eyes and just enjoyed the sensation, the atmosphere. She felt safe, welcome, her body wasn't even hurting that much at the moment.
As Kori separated her hair and started braiding it without much skill, Kara actually fell asleep.
Almost an hour later, Kara woke up feeling better than she had… ever.
Her body wasn't in any amount of pain, she had a sense of peace around her and there was a pleasant scent in the air.
Hearing the TV still on Kara remembered where she was, without opening her eyes she asked. "Sorry about sleeping on you like that. How goes the movie?"
"I do not know, I dare not open my eyes!" Came the squeak from above her causing Kara to glance up.
The movie was right at its climax, with zombies running after the main characters and tension filled music.
Kori had a hand over her eyes and her shoulders were stiff with tension while her other hand gripped the sofa's arm, almost pulverizing its wooden frame.
Kara wanted to laugh out loud at the sight, but instead she carefully grabbed at one of her new braids, one of the more well made ones.
Slowly, she brought the end of her hair up and towards Kori's trembling face, then she tickled her.
With a scream, Kori jumped into the air until her body hit the ceiling, her movement throwing a laughing Kara to the ground.
The shining green glare she received back only made Kara laugh harder.
Kori attacked, her fingers finding purchase under Kara's clothes and starting to tickle her.
Oh, it was on.
Fifteen minutes later the both of them lay on the ground breathing hard and the house was a complete mess.
They had managed not to break anything, but it would still take quite a while to put everything back into place.
Kara's hurting lungs took a little bit of the joy away from her, but not much, and she still had a huge smile on her face when Kori floated up.
"Humph, now I will have to take another shower." She complained, but there was no bite to it. "I shall forgive you if you assist me to put everything back into place"
Kori extended a hand to help her up, which Kara ignored.
"Don't wanna." Kara denied, the carpet was incredibly comfortable and she wanted nothing more than to fall asleep again.
"Kara Zor-El!" Kori scolded, causing Kara to release one last snicker and float up to her feet.
"Fiiiine." She said to show how reluctant she was, but, when they started working together, they finished surprisingly fast.
When they were done, Kori took her shirt off revealing her white bra and sweat filled chest, Kara gulped and averted her eyes, not wanting to perv on her best friend but, after she turned around and started walking towards the bathroom, she couldn't help staring at her back as she went.
Unlike Kori, Kara had better resistance even wounded, she hadn't managed to sweat quite so much and decided to take her bath in the morning.
With a happy smile, she went to sleep.
CHAPTER 17
The next day she woke up late, taking a few minutes, she stretched her limbs and took a quick shower before looking for Kori, but the girl had already left the house, her training keeping her busy almost every day.
She decided to start her day by visiting her cousin while he was at work and finally get her documentation in order before she started recruiting again.
And maybe get his permission to look at the Fortress military tech too while she was at it.
Also, she wanted an excuse to see the famous Daily Planet and meet Lois Lane.
She also had to get her power armor ready, even if it was only the civilian version.
She had thought she could get by as a normal human, but Detective Chimp had guessed her powers with barely a glance so she didn't want to risk meeting anyone else without hiding her identity.
As she stepped out of the Zeta-tube in Metropolis she made a note to see if she couldn't crack the teleportation network and make her own version. It was just too convenient.
She'd probably get rich enough to be able to buy the entire LexCorp if she made teleportation affordable to the common people. That, or get assassinated by the transport industry.
She smiled as she saw the enormous skyscraper with the globe rotating on top of it marking the headquarters of the Daily Planet.
Kara walked through the doors and paused to look at the building's interior.
The entrance was an enormous open floor with panels showing prize winning reports written by the journal's own reporters, dozens of workers walking purposefully to and from the stairs and elevators.
From behind her, a young man came running inside the building. Kara heard him approach and stepped to the side, but the guy still managed to hit her back and bounce off, falling on his ass.
"Hey." She scolded, turning around to see a young redhead with a photograph camera around his neck.
"Sorry, I didn't notice you…" he sheepishly apologized as he looked at her face and flushed.
Kara smirked, she hadn't been bad looking in her last life, but she did enjoy her new and improved looks too.
Extending a hand, she helped pull the young man to his feet.
"Thanks. Jimmy Olsen, photographer," he introduced himself as his flush faded. Checking his camera to see if it was still okay, the man looked back at her. "Sorry for running into you."
"Don't worry about it." So, this was her cousin's famous friend, he was surprisingly cute. "You know, maybe you could help me find my cousin?"
"I'm sorry, who are you again?" He asked in confusion.
"I'm Kara Danvers, Clark's cousin." She introduced herself as the two of them walked further into the building and stopped blocking the doors.
"What? I didn't know Clark had any more family!" He exclaimed in surprise, clearly confused by the way things were turning out. "You're talking about Clark Kent right?"
"Yep, you know Clark's adopted right? I'm his biological cousin." Usually she wouldn't be so open, but she was in a great mood and felt like she knew the man from the comics. "We reconnected a few weeks ago."
"Huh, you know what, sure. Come on." He pressed the button to call for an elevator and turned towards her with a smile. "So, are you his only family, or is there a whole Clark clan out there?"
Kara thought about the question, and about both Kon and Match, then avoided his eyes and shrugged. "It's… complicated, I guess it'd be better to ask Clark about that."
"Yeah, I get that; don't wanna step on his toes or something right?" He nodded and dropped the subject.
"Hey, what kind of photos do you take? Is it just people for the Planet?"
"Yeah, I mostly take photos to go with the articles, but I love to take art photos and nature shots."
"No nudes?" She teased, causing the young man to swallow wrong and start to cough away from her, his face becoming red.
Heh, teasing people was surprisingly fun.
When the doors finally opened, a flustered Jimmy practically ran away from the enclosed space, buying himself time for his embarrassment to fade.
Using her vision Kara looked through the walls until she found her cousin bent over a table, discussing an article with Lois and an older male inside a private room.
Kara smiled, she just knew he'd be with Lois.
"You alright Jimmy?" She asked as she patted his back.
As soon as she spoke, Kal's head twitched, then he briefly turned towards her, even through the walls she saw him giving her a small smile and motion for her to wait before turning back to Lois to finish their talk.
"I'm fine." He said and glared at her, but there was no heat to it. "Come on, Clark should be at his desk right now."
She followed him inside the building, entering a wide open space filled with individual desks; Jimmy frowned when he didn't see Kal anywhere in sight.
"Come on, which desk is his?" Jimmy looked at her eyes for a second, but shook his head.
"Sorry, could you just… wait over there." He pointed to a comfortable waiting chair close to the wall. He was still in a hurry, but didn't want to just leave her alone at Clark's desk without supervision.
"Sure, I sent a message right before I arrived so he should be here soon anyway." She lied, glancing back towards Kal, she saw he was almost done with the discussion and decided to wait on her feet.
Jimmy seemed conflicted, looking between her and a room further inside the building. "I'm really sorry to just ditch you like that without Clark, but I really am late."
"Don't worry about it." Kara waved his concern away with a smile and watched him dash away towards his employer.
Not even a minute later Kal left the room, followed by Lois Lane. Miss Lane seemed completely distracted by something she was reading, but Kal motioned for her to come over as they walked towards their desks.
"Kara, good to see you!" he gave her a hug and turned towards Lois as the reporter raised an eyebrow and looked at him suspiciously. "Lois, this is Kara Danvers, the cousin I told you about. Kara, this is Lois Lane, one of the Planet's star reporters."
"So you're the famous cousin?" She took a moment to look Kara from top to bottom with a critical eye. "Yeah, I can see the resemblance. Weren't you in the hospital?"
Lois seemed to be really suspicious of Kara, her gaze never leaving Kara's face, as if searching for any signs of guilt.
Kara couldn't blame the woman, a new relative turning up out of nowhere with a medical emergency was suspicious even on her previous world, much less this one that was filled with supervillains and other ridiculous plots.
"I got better, still have to get treatment, but I don't have to stay in the hospital anymore."
"Expensive treatment, I take it?" The reporter squinted her eyes, her feet tapping against the ground as she thought Kara was taking advantage of her… wait, were they already married?
Kara remembered they had a son together but, since the focus was never on Superman, she didn't remember in which season they'd gotten together.
"Lois! Don't be like that." Clark begged while covering his eyes with a hand.
"It's fine Clark, I can see why your girlfriend would be worried." Kara patted Clark's back causing him to trip, almost dropping the papers on his hand. "And I guess you could say it's expensive, but I have the money."
"Oh, tell me more." Lois tried to shoulder Kal away and get to her, but her cousin grabbed her by the shoulders and gently guided her away.
"Lois, she's not here for an interview." Lois frowned at him, but still let him guide her towards her desk.
"Fine, I'll drop it." Rolling up one of the papers in her hand, she used it to hit him in the forehead to show her displeasure before walking away. "But don't you dare do that again or there will be consequences, Smallville."
Kal had a small smile on his face as he watched her go, then he turned towards Kara's smirking face. "Not that I'm complaining but, what're you doing here Kara?"
"Getting my documents back, mostly. I'm just starting to get my life in order and I kinda need them to even get started." She told him as she continued to look around the place with interest. "By the way, you and Lois? I tentatively approve."
Kara still hadn't had time to properly get to know Lois Lane, but what little she had seen was promising. The woman did seem to care about Kal and was very protective of someone she thought was taking advantage of him.
"Things with Lois are… complicated." He told her as he guided her towards his table, "I actually brought everything here since I was thinking of finding you later today."
Pulling one of the drawers, Kal handed her a thick folder, Kara took only a few seconds to check everything, but she trusted him and Batman to have things in order.
It seems that things would be even easier than she had first thought; her new identity already had an established tech company in her name, one that was seeing at least moderate success in the communication field.
"And Bruce's just giving me this? The factory alone must be at least twelve million and, from what I can see, there's quite a lot of cash available to my name."
The amount of money here was spare change compared with something like WayneTech, but Kara hadn't expected Batman to just give away millions.
"The… factory only exists on paper, or well… there's a building but it's really in need of repairs." Kal explained and looked around to be absolutely sure nobody was listening. "Bruce said the money in the accounts could be paid off some of the metals you already mined. Batman sometimes needs that kind of procurement done off the books."
She just nodded, Batman could have afforded to just give her the money anyway, but she didn't mind paying him back with the material she had already harvested. He probably didn't need it, but it would make her feel better not to owe him more than necessary.
"Right, thanks anyway. And about the access?" She probed.
"Kara… Krypton was very advanced, their military tech was dangerous." He said as he sat down, Kara bristled at his tone.
"Does that mean you won't give permission?"
"Look, I have yet to go through everything on the database, but I know there are some things in there that are just better forgotten or destroyed… or at least sealed away." He sighed and adjusted his glasses. "How about this, I'll give you access to anything defensive and, later this weekend, we can go over everything else together, then you get access to anything you can convince me you can safely use?"
Kara frowned; she hated how patronizing he sounded despite trying his best to be diplomatic.
Taking a deep breath, she tried to think about things from his point of view. Krypton was an advanced civilization, its military probably had access to planet bursting weapons and she was only 17.
More than that, she hadn't been on Earth for even half a year, he barely knew her really. It was still incredibly annoying, but she too wouldn't give a seventeen year old she barely knew access to military gear, even if they were family.
"Fine." She huffed in exasperation and glared at him. "I was already planning on working on my armor first anyway."
Kal stared at her with a strange look on his eyes as she said that. He started to say something, then closed his mouth as he thought better of it.
Shaking his head, he got back up and gave her a hug, holding her tightly against his chest. Kara was confused, but she did hug him back.
"I know it wasn't exactly what you wanted to hear, thanks for understanding." He finally said as he released her and sat back down.
"So, how's Kon taking living with your parents?"
"Surprisingly well." Kal told her, his face going back to the happy smile he usually had. "Bruce is helping with the adoption papers and he seems to enjoy helping out on the farm."
"What human name did he settle on anyway?" Kara asked with mild curiosity, with the way things were going he'd probably end up with the same name after all.
"Connor Kent. It's close enough he isn't likely to get confused." Kal glanced at a calendar on his table and tapped his finger against the table for a few seconds. "Say, do you have anything on the twenty first?"
"Not really, why?"
"I'll have to cover something with Lois so I thought you could take Connor to his meeting at Mount Justice." He told her with a sheepish smile.
"You couldn't make it?" Kara lifted an eyebrow in annoyance.
"I mean, it would be a little tight, but I could do it." Scratching the back of his neck he avoided her eyes, but continued to speak anyway. "I just thought, maybe you'd like to spend more time with him and meet the entire team together?"
"...You know what? Sure, I'll bring him there." Kori would be there too, and she could take the chance to find out what kind of changes Batman was making.
"Great, I'll update your Fortress access as soon as I'm done with work then."
"Right, thanks Kal, guess I'll leave you to your work now." She said her goodbyes, took her documents, then kissed him on the cheek and turned around.
While she was leaving the floor she caught sight of Jimmy getting yelled at by a fat guy and happily waved him goodbye.
As soon as she was out of sight she properly read all her new documentation, then decided to check her new property personally.
Her new headquarters was in a small rural town in Pennsylvania. The building itself was one of the biggest in the city, but it was currently almost empty, with only a couple of office workers dealing with some documents inside.
Kara would have to take some time to find out what really happened, but apparently, without any oversight, the CEO had stolen as much money as he could and fled, leaving management of the company, and the fallout, for someone else to deal with.
Without access to the money left from the owner's accounts, whoever was left was just doing their best to delay declaring bankruptcy.
Bruce probably didn't have the time to manage such a relatively small business and may have even forgotten he had acquired such a fake identity until Kara had asked for it; he probably had hundreds of covers he could use. It wasn't the end of the world if one was burned.
After checking on things Kara made sure she had access to the computers still within the building before she went towards the second building she now owned.
Her new factory was really just a huge abandoned building, most of its heavy equipment had been sold off or stolen and the remaining machines were just gathering dust while locked inside the expansive, mostly empty building.
It would take a bit of effort, but the location was good and Kara could already see the bare bones of her future technological empire here.
Kara had been thinking about her future a lot, as a Kryptonian she had access to incredibly advanced technology, but just giving it out didn't sit well with her. Just the thought of freely distributing crumbs of her knowledge like a benevolent overlord left a bad taste on her mouth.
It'd also probably cause damage to human society, making it dependent on alien knowledge and materials they couldn't even produce.
No, she wouldn't just give away her technology; instead she'd focus on getting a great team and have them reverse engineer various 'safe' items until they could be easily replicated.
Breaking things down until even the average human not only could understand and use her products, but also replicate them without her exotic equipment, materials or even her input.
She refused to follow the 'Reed Richards is useless' trope. Any improvements she made wouldn't just stay with her and die out if she was gone.
It would take far more time to get everything in order, but it would also allow her to make long lasting changes without causing damage.
And maybe, if she made some of her tech accessible to the common man, other advanced scientists would be forced to adapt in a positive way unless they wanted to go bankrupt.
For Rao's sake, Cadmus had been able to clone people and even create entire new species. But no, instead of working on making it cheaper so the average person could have access to the obvious medical uses, they just spent their time trying to clone Superman. What a waste!
In fact, it was the first order she had given as the new controller of Cadmus. Her own experiences and situation made transplants something of particular interest to her, so she had gotten most of Cadmus working on adapting its clone technology into developing affordable to produce transplant organs that wouldn't have a chance of rejection.
Strangely enough, even with cloning, transplanting a limb was still harder than an organ.
Limb transplanting wouldn't really save lives like producing a heart would, but it was the second priority for Cadmus anyway.
Using her vision Kara started surveilling the land surrounding her factory, making sure it had solid bedrock foundation; she was surprised to find there wasn't any water or mineral deposits anywhere close to her property.
With her technology, the entire thing would make for a great underground facility, just like Cadmus. Now that was an interesting thought.
Eventually, the Light would find out about her takeover of Cadmus and it would be good if she already had an alternative place for the Genomorphs by then. This small town was almost ideal.
A safe place to stay, a safe job at her factory so they could start their new lives and trustworthy employees she could use in her secret base… Who knows, depending on the people of the town they may even be able to integrate without much trouble down the line when Bruce's Lawyer got the Genomorphs' legal situation in order.
Until then, Dubbilex and the other G-gnomes could hide with illusions or she could give them holographic disguises.
With a smile, she made the call.
Dubbilex seemed eager for the chance, some of his more active Genomorphs were just begging to leave the facility and start exploring the outside world, even some of the G-trolls which would make things… complicated.
Most Genomorphs wouldn't have much trouble if they had a holographic disguise, but G-Trolls couldn't even leave Cadmus, the upper floors were just too small.
Kara promised that she'd have a teleportation device ready to bring them out of Cadmus without having to destroy the upper floors as she was sure she could get temporary access to the Zeta-tube network in a few days.
Damn, she had so much work to do.
Looking around herself, she dropped a handful of her drones on the property and ordered them to act as sentries. It wasn't really necessary yet, but the little devices were easy and cheap to make so it wasn't a loss and she thought it was better to be safe than sorry.
Finally, she found the phone of the one currently in charge of the company, a Mr Derrick Blackwell, and left him a message to set up a meeting.
She thought about getting a head start on getting things in order by using her superspeed to clean the place up a little, but… fuck it, she hated cleaning things up and she had more important things to do.
Like… eating lunch.
Finding a small restaurant in town, Kara sat at an empty table and started working on the future of her company. After thinking about it a lot she had decided to start with something that Krypton had been particularly good at, solar energy.
Kara was pretty sure she could improve a contemporary Earth solar panel by at least 200% using only human technology and without making it too expensive to produce, creating clean and cheap energy while making a killing and dominating the market.
The only question was, did she start slow… use only the money she had available to build up her resources with the panels before branching out, or did she start with a bang? She could probably get a loan from Bruce or at least a huge contract with advanced pay to supply some of his companies.
Who was she kidding? Of course she'd get Bruce's help, it would make everything from capital acquisition to recruiting to distribution so much easier and she wouldn't even feel like she was taking advantage since she'd make sure her tech was worth it.
In fact, she'd make it so it was Bruce who got the better deal. Her pride as a member of the El family wouldn't let her do anything less.
She laid back on the chair and started composing her proposal. She had to do things by the book if she wanted her company to work within the law, and so anybody looking wouldn't find it strange.
She didn't want to build a secret base and get it found out because she cut corners.
Jumping through the hoops necessary to get a meeting with Bruce and secure his support was annoying, but it would also put a certain distance between them in case anybody discovered her identity, or Batman's.
___________________________________________
A shout to Xhaustedhero, AkumaSmaG, Iori Daemona Angel, AlliterativeArts (Eric Faust), Icewing, Comics, DERMONIAN, Davvy chappie and Phillip Nguyen for supporting my work!
Supergirl 17The next day she woke up late, taking a few minutes, she stretched her limbs and took a quick shower before looking for Kori, but the girl had already left the house, her training keeping her busy almot every day. She decided to start her day by visiting her cousin while he was at work and fina...
"Thanks for bringing me here Miss Kara." Billy said for the third time, a bouquet of flowers held firmly in his hands. "I know you may not like her after what she did, but Amber really wanted to meet you and apologize."
"Don't worry kid." Kara said as she handed the guard their day pass and identification, the man checked their information on his computer and nodded. "Besides, I'm not heartless. I can give people second chances if they're working to get better."
The kid gave her a huge smile at that, a second later they stopped in front of a metal door and waited until the guard buzzed them through.
STAR Labs wasn't exactly a maximum security prison, but their preparations to protect their research were very thorough, and they did work with the Justice League to monitor and help meta-humans with dangerous or uncontrollable powers.
Seeing as Amy was still underage, had willingly handed herself over when rescued from Mr. Mind, and Billy had vouched for her as Captain Marvel, the law had allowed her to stay in one of STAR Labs' facilities if she also went through mandatory therapy.
"Hello, you must be Kara Danvers." said a middle aged woman as she saw them approaching. "I'm Sharon Banks, Amy and Amber's psychologist. I'm glad you could bring Mister Batson here, they both greatly enjoy his visits."
"They're still separated?" Kara asked as she shook the woman's hand.
"Yes, Amy was able to absorb the other two personalities we identified as her Id and Inner child, but Amber is still separated." The doctor said and stopped in front of a thick metal door. "Billy, why don't you go ahead and meet with them while I talk with Miss Kara?"
"Right, thanks for letting me see her Mrs. Banks." Billy took a breath and entered the room, his flowers in front of him. "Hi Amy, Amber."
"Billy!"
"Hey pipsqueak, about time you showed up again."
The door closed behind him leaving Kara alone with the psychologist. The woman seemed to be watching Kara's face in search of something so Kara just lifted a quizzical eyebrow and decided to wait her out. Finally, the doctor sighed.
"Right, I was told Amber had hurt you before. As her doctor I must know, are you here to yell at her or blame her?"
For a brief moment Kara just looked at the closed door and thought about it, did she blame Amber for her actions? A little bit, but the girl was only fourteen and had been abused by her parents.
Kara wasn't exactly the forgiving type but, surrounded as she was by people like Billy, Kori and her cousin, she couldn't help but want to be a better person.
She hadn't lied to Billy earlier, she was willing to give the kid a second chance. The girl hadn't even caused any deaths before she was controlled by Mr. Mind.
"I haven't exactly forgotten what she did, but I'm willing to forgive it, once." Kara confessed, to which the doctor smiled at her.
"Good. I wasn't completely certain if you should meet with Amber yet. It could do a lot of good to the girl, yes, but it could also set her back by a lot." The doctor looked at the door with a frown on her face. Turning back to Kara, she took a deep breath. "It's not a chance I would have taken myself, but I was overruled by Doctor Wilcox. Still, I'm glad my fear appears to have been groundless."
Kara prepared herself to enter the room, but decided to give Billy a little more time alone with the girls. "Say, do you know why they're still separated like that?"
"Doctor Wilcox believes it's something in her meta-gene reacting with Captain Marvel's powers. Amy and Amber were the only ones to retain their powers when separated. The Doctor believes their power has taken over and changed after getting super charged by the Captain's and is fuelling their separate existences."
"And you?" Kara had to ask, the woman really didn't seem happy with her superior's decisions.
"I believe they don't want to be united." Retreating from the door the Doctor sat down on a couple of chairs in the hallway then leaned back against the wall. "Amber's personality was formed as a way to protect Amy from the rest of the world; I believe she's refusing to unite with the original because she wants to protect Amy from the guilt she feels about what happened."
"Wouldn't it help if I forgave her?"
"Possibly, but not forgiving her could do far more damage." Lifting her glasses and scratching at her eyes in frustration the Doctor continued. "At this point I'm not certain they can ever be joined. We have been keeping the both of them in the same room and going through the same procedures, but they have been separated for such a long time their experiences have greatly differed."
"Is that a bad thing?"
"That's just it, we still don't know. I'm a psychologist and even in my area of expertise I'm not certain. They're the first known case of split personalities also having split bodies and her condition doesn't really have a cure." The doctor gave Kara a bitter smile. "The standard treatment is usually just tries to integrate as much of the personalities together as possible into one while finding a way to manage the dissonance, but they have diverged so much and are acting so independent from one another… It could be best to just stay as they are now."
"I take it that's not the healthiest option?" Kara had to ask.
"Again, we don't know. Can she even stay separated indefinitely or is their independence only gonna make it worse when it ends? That's not even considering the possible physical side-effects. We're doing our best, but her case is complicated."
Kara didn't know what else to say and the Doctor seemed to realize she had said too much leaving an awkward atmosphere between them that stretched for almost a full minute.
"Alright then, I think I've given them enough time alone." Kara finally broke the silence and opened the door.
Both Billy and Amy sat on her bed, their legs crossed while Amber was sitting beside them and pretending not to be interested. Billy had a cell phone out and was showing them some pictures while telling her about his latest training session with Zatara.
Beside the bed, Billy's bouquet of flowers rested inside a jar of water where Amy had put them.
All three of them lifted their heads and looked at her when she entered, Amy smiled at her, but Amber just avoided her eyes. "Hey, I heard you girls were receiving visits already."
"Yeah, Doctor Wilcox said we should start interacting more," Amy said while leaning over Billy. "He's even going to start letting us out of the lab for exercise."
"Yep, guy's an asshole, but at least he knows we're getting fed up with being lab rats."
"Amber!" The original twin scolded but Amber just shrugged.
"What? Are you gonna tell me he isn't an utter asshole?" Amber looked at her twin with annoyance. "Bastard tries to separate us every chance he gets."
This time it was Amy who avoided her twin's eyes, too polite to answer the question.
Kara frowned, wasn't STAR labs trying to keep them together to avoid deviating their personalities and experiences even more? Guess the good doctor decided they were better off separated. Either that or he was a complete bastard only interested in research data. Something to follow-up on later.
Grabbing a chair, Kara pulled it closer and sat together with Amber so they could hear Billy's story and watch him cast a very basic ball of light. Kara immediately looked for any cameras, but it seemed like the girls weren't monitored while in their room.
Amber seemed incredibly on edge with her, but she eventually relaxed and became much more focused on Billy's fledging magical abilities.
Kara thought the three of them looked incredibly cute together. Despite being older, the two girls hung on Billy's every word with Amy leaning over his body, their shoulders touching and Amber herself squeezed on top of the bed with them while peaking over her twin's shoulders acting incredibly interested in his fights as Captain Marvel.
An hour later, the Doctor knocked on the door and poked her head inside, warning them that visiting hours were over.
Billy hugged Amy under Kara's amused eyes, then he went towards Amber and the rebellious teen looked at Kara, then towards her twin and back at Kara. With a long suffering sigh, she let the boy hug her, her face flushed with embarrassment.
Kara managed to keep from snickering.
Just before they left the room, Amber grabbed at Kara's shirt, causing her to stop and turn towards the girl again. "What is it?"
"Are you alright?" The girl asked with a tiny voice, her eyes meeting Kara's with a desperate need. "Shit, I don't know how to do this. Look, I'm really sorry about what happened; I didn't mean to hurt people so much."
Kara looked at the girl again and saw deep regret. Putting a hand over her head she messed up her hair. "Look kid, I'm not gonna say it was nothing, but most of it wasn't really your fault. 'You' didn't kill anybody, or even hurt me that seriously. Just don't do it again and I can forgive you."
"I'm not a fucking kid," Amber slapped her hand away. "And I won't, I swear I won't."
She glanced back towards Amy, her face turning into a protective smile.
"Then don't worry about it. Just try to find a way to make up for the damage you caused when you're out of here." Kara told her and saw the Kid nod in understanding.
"Could you… could you find that little kid's name? I know I fucked up and hurt her family so I wanted to…" She swallowed hard as she seemed to gather herself. "To apologize."
"I'll find out." Looking towards the hallway Kara saw that Billy was already waiting for her at a corner. "I'll visit again next week, alright?"
"Yeah… thanks."
Kara and Billy stepped out of the building and made their way towards the Zeta-Tube, Kara still had a meeting with Kori and Wonder Woman for some training, but she wasn't in a hurry, it wasn't even three in the evening. Kori trained with her mentor until eight.
"Thanks for coming, Miss Kara." Billy said as he squeezed her hand. "I know I could come as Captain Marvel, but Amber is always on edge when I show up like that."
"It's fine. We wouldn't want your little girlfriend to be uncomfortable, now would we?" She smirked.
"Ack. That's not… nevermind." He just gave up when he saw the amused smirk on her face causing Kara to laugh out loud.
"So, which one do you prefer: the delicate one or the tomboy?" She couldn't help poking at the kid.
Once they were completely out of sight Billy checked his phone and got excited, releasing her hand he stepped back from her. "I'm sorry Miss Kara, but the League is calling for me. Shazam!"
With a flash of lightning, the little kid was gone leaving a large man in its place, Kara snickered again. "I can't believe you're fleeing in terror from me."
"Sorry, can't hear you, have to go." He said while avoiding her eyes, then he flew away as fast as he could, leaving a highly amused Kara behind.
Half an hour later Kara stepped onto Wonder Woman's private beach in Greece. She quickly made sure there weren't any cameras or surveillance devices turned her way and pulled her mask away from her face.
From further into the beach Kara saw Kori waving at her before taking a punch to the face for her distraction. Quickly refocusing, the princess started fighting back against Troia, their bodies floating a few centimeters above the sand as they traded blows.
Wonder Woman herself turned towards Kara and smiled. "Kara, Starfire said you'd be coming over today."
"Hello, and thank you for the invitation. Is that what she's gonna call herself now?" She asked, somewhat surprised despite herself.
Kara had already changed things so much she half expected Kori to call herself Wonder Girl or something.
"Yes, Princess Koriand'r decided to use the translated meaning of her name while acting as my apprentice." Wonder Woman replied. Lifting an arm in front of her face almost faster than Kara could react, the heroine deflected a starbolt towards the sea causing it to explode and shower them in a thin mist. "Do not aim towards the spectators. Not all of them are going to be as powerful as me and it creates a bad habit!"
"Apologies!" Kori shouted back while dodging a kick aimed at her head.
"They seem evenly matched." Kara commented and Wonder Woman shook her head.
"No, Starfire almost matches me in skill, she holds back to allow Troia to grow."