What happened to the Flash remained unknown to Ian.
High in the sky , amidst the biting wind.
"What were you doing?! Afraid people wouldn't know that you committed grand larceny?" Kara couldn't hold back her exasperation once they'd flown high enough.
Ian, however, had a ready explanation.
"Come on! I saw the reporter! Be reasonable, Auntie! I don't have your magic glasses. I needed some way to protect my privacy and identity!"
"A guy as handsome as me… people would dox me in two minutes flat. Then not only my dad, but probably your real identity would get exposed too."
It was an argument Kara found hard to refute.
"…"
Yes, Kara was still utterly speechless.
"You carry pantyhose around with you?"
She was becoming increasingly convinced Ian was more professional than a seasoned bank robber.
However.
"Are you kidding? I'm not a pervert, why would I carry that stuff around… I was resourceful enough to improvise. I rummaged through a passenger's dropped suitcase."
"And to preempt any projection from you, Auntie, let me state for the record: it was still factory-sealed when I found it!" Ian yanked the stocking off his head.
He didn't throw it away.
Instead, he fished around in his pocket (the one with a hole) and promptly decided to tie the stocking around his waist. His aunt's comment had reminded the young man: carrying a few useful props couldn't hurt. Ian was sure Uncle Bats would approve.
"We need to head north." Pulling out his map, Ian prepared to give Kara directions. Kara, who had previously wanted to just take Ian straight home, didn't stop him this time. Her interaction with the reporter among the passengers had made her realize Ian might not just be spouting nonsense from some episode.
"According to my investigation, this wastewater treatment plant is the most suspicious. It was only built last year, and it's right next to the drinking water plant. Anyone who's studied urban planning knows that makes zero sense."
Ian jabbed a finger at the map.
"You haven't even started high school yet. What urban management could you possibly have studied?" Kara sounded skeptical.
Ian was confident.
"I played Cities: Skylines! Don't you understand the value of a Five-Star Mayor?!" He wasn't trying to show off his big achievements, so after explaining, he pointed back at the map.
"Here, Auntie. Fly towards here."
He began navigating.
However.
"Feel around a bit more. See if I've grown eyes on the back of my head?" Kara was exasperated. While she possessed a super-brain, she didn't typically memorize the maps and layouts of other cities in her day-to-day life.
"You don't have Kryptonian telepathy?" Ian frowned.
Kara was completely baffled.
"Uh… should I?"
The term Ian used was utterly unfamiliar to her, deepening her suspicion about just what Clark was teaching the kids. Had Clark stayed on Earth for too long and mutated too much?
"Fine. I'll hold the map in front of your eyes then." Ian acted while simultaneously expressing profound disappointment.
Among aliens, it seemed Ultraman was still better.(T/N: Not reffering to DC Ultraman, but the Light Tiga Ultraman, idk much about it, but should be known to some readers.)
"Showing me the map doesn't mean covering my eyes with it! Give it here!" Kara had no choice but to snatch the map from Ian's hands to confirm the direction herself.
"My arms are short!" Ian retorted matter-of-factly.
"…"
Kara felt that familiar wave of helplessness wash over her again.
Her speed was very fast.
Ian hadn't even finished calculating how much XP he might gain if he jumped from this height before Kara had already arrived at the wastewater treatment plant marked on the map.
"Thud!"
A near-vertical landing.
Kara touched down in front of the rusted, massive iron gate of the sewage treatment plant. Ian smoothly jumped off her back onto the ground, deftly pulling the stocking from his waist back over his head.
"…"
Kara found this development difficult to comment on.
She rubbed her temples vigorously, deciding against offering meaningless advice again. Turning towards the plant, she pushed open the six-meter-tall metal gate with one hand.
The hinges shrieked in protest.
The sound resembled a pained wail.
Inside, the pungent odor of disinfectant mixed with raw sewage hit them, making Kara wrinkle her super-sensitive nose. Ian immediately clamped a hand over his own nose and mouth. The stocking muffled his voice, giving it a dull, startled quality, deeper than his usual tone.
"Ugh, this smell is like someone boiled durian in a vat of dirty socks." He always had these bizarrely evocative metaphors that made you feel like you were there, but left you imagining at how he made the connection.
A dozen workers in orange coveralls were busy within the plant grounds. They paused their tasks, casting curious glances at the sudden appearance of Supergirl and the stocking-headed guy.
However.
No one came forward to question them. Everyone was absorbed in their own work. If it hadn't been for the sight of Supergirl, someone usually only seen on TV, these diligent workers might not have spared them a second glance.
After all, work was far more important than celebrity sightings, and Supergirl was just another sight in Metropolis.
"Well?" Ian asked, unable to completely hide his nervousness.
But bolstered by his 'immortality buff', alongside the nerves was a distinct eagerness. He had a gut feeling he could level up significantly here.
"Let me see."
Kara raised a hand, signaling Ian to wait. Her eyes focused, her super-vision scanning the entire facility. Filtration pools, settling tanks, disinfection units… everything appeared to be functioning normally.
"Nothing seems off." Kara withdrew her gaze, looking at Ian in confusion.
"Not this one?… That can't be right. My super-intuition is screaming at me that something's definitely wrong here." Ian frowned, holding up his electronic device.
"It's also a LexCorp subsidiary. The buffs are stacking up." Ian waved the information he'd just searched up, though Kara's initial reaction was unexpectedly specific.
"You actually use the same model phone as me!" Kara sounded genuinely surprised.
She was about to say it was a proof of thier aunt-nephew bond.
However,
"I don't have my own phone yet. This is your phone, Auntie… I borrowed it." Ian blinked. His words instantly froze the smile on Kara's face.
"So that's why you were groping me on the way here!" The realization hit Kara belatedly.
She was beyond exasperated with Ian.
Her gaze finally shifted to the information on the phone screen: *Metropolis New Concept Wastewater Plant - Wholly Owned Subsidiary of LexCorp. Projected to Process 70% of City's Industrial Wastewater for Free!*
The headline made Kara's eyes narrow. LexCorp had a… stable reputation in superhero circles. More stable than Boeing's, even.
"You're right. Luthor isn't likely to engage in genuine charity. He always has his own agenda." Kara felt she should probably take a closer look at this plant after all.
Ian wholeheartedly agreed.
"Right? Right? I'd even bet my next therapy session to be with the Joker in Gotham that if Lex Luthor taking 'social responsibility' isn't part of some scheme, I'll hire the clown myself to be the psychiatrist!" He declared righteously.
Kara's expression turned strange at his words.
"Why are you rewarding yourself?" It was clear that after just half a day together, her view of her nephew had moved beyond mere prejudice.
"?????" Ian's face flushed crimson.
He was flustered and annoyed.
He was just gearing up for a fierce rebuttal when—
"Ugh! Ugh! Ugh!"
A violent bout of retching interrupted their conversation. Nearby, a gaunt worker suddenly dropped to his knees, hands clutching his throat, making choked, gurgling sounds.
His colleagues immediately crowded around.
"Mike! What's wrong?" A friend asked with concern.
But Worker Mike didn't answer. He violently vomited a stream of dark green fluid. It splattered onto the concrete floor with a wet splat. The deep green vomit seemed to glow faintly with a sickly green luminescence.
Not only that.
The semi-digested contents sizzled and hissed upon contact with the ground. Corrosive fumes rose in thin black tendrils as the tough concrete surface visibly eroded.
"No!"
The friend who had just spoken, along with other concerned colleagues nearby, recoiled in horror. They scattered like panicked ants fleeing a disturbed nest.
"It's happening again! Like yesterday! It must be some kind of contagion!" someone screamed in terror, abandoning work entirely and bolting straight for the main gate. They looked genuinely terrified.
"What's going on?" Kara tried to grab a worker to ask.
But the worker just gasped fearfully, "Contagion! Horrible contagion! Even Superman caught it!" before frantically struggling to get away from the "infected" man.
Kara had no choice but to let him go.
"Sir, are you alright?" Though she didn't have the big plums Ian wanted to see, she uttered the classic phrase anyway. She approached the kneeling, retching worker cautiously, remaining alert.
In response, Mike lifted his head.
"Help me!" The man's voice was a rasp of utter despair.
His eyes had turned a milky, opaque white. Greenish matter pulsed visibly beneath his skin. He opened his mouth as if to say more, but only a guttural, inhuman roar emerged. The man was undergoing rapid, horrific mutation. Green energy erupted within him- evil and terrifying.
It carried an overwhelming, erosive effect on biological corruption.
"Workers! Will Never Be Slaves!" The man roared.
Ian felt that the lines were eerily familiar.
~~
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