It made her skin crawl every morning when she heard the two of them get up at the same time and get ready at the same pace. She used to hide under her covers and tune them out until she heard them leave their rooms and say good morning. They spoke of things she didn't understand and never once they had to explain to each other what the other meant. Sometimes, she waited until they were gone before leaving her bedroom to find containers of the previous night's takeout in the trash, and one waiting for her at the counter. Kon El or Kal El used to cook breakfast most mornings, but since Kal got his new job as co-chief editor and Kon ran a project at school, neither one had the time to anymore.
Kara had enough of them only eating takeout food and coffee. So what if they didn't gain weight? In the long run, this was bound to harm them powers or not. The only issue was that she had no idea how to cook. It was a miracle that she knew how to boil water. Even back in Krypton, she usually let the automatons do all the chores and cooking. Before that, it was the clones. It was because of that she didn't ask Kon El for help. In a sense, it felt wrong and degrading, for whom, she couldn't say.
"You are getting much better Kara," Kal El said to her one morning as he picked out fewer eggshells out than the day before.
"Thanks," she said picking at her bowl with fruit and yogurt. That morning she learned boiled pieces of fruit didn't taste that well with yogurt and so did the rest.
Kon El was staring at his burned piece of French toast as if it was poisoned but didn't say a word. She knew he only stayed because Kal El gave him a look the first time he tried to leave. When Kal El gave you the look you knew you had to do as he said. It was not often, but also, it wasn't usually unfair.
"I will be working on the spreads until late," Kal El said after finishing every single bit of food.
"Me too, I have to follow on a lead downtown, and patrol," Kon El said after eating the French toast in two bites and shuddering slightly.
"Want to bring some curry to the office?" Kal El asked Kon.
"You bet," the clone smiled brightly at the idea of food that wasn't prepared by her.
"Kara, want to come?" Kal El asked her.
"I don't like spicy food," she said remembering the first time she tried it she thought she was going to die.
"Well, if you change your mind you know where to find us," Kal El said before he left first.
Kon El stayed seated and eating at a slow pace. She wanted to him to tell her what she did wrong but he kept eating until not one bit of edible food was left.
"You didn't have to finish it after Kal El left," she said not feeling like finishing her own portions.
"Now you tell me," Kon El said with an exasperated laugh as he got up to wash the dishes.
"I wanted to see if you would finish it like Kal El," she knew he wasn't an exact clone of Kal El, but she couldn't help to observe the similarities sometimes, "I know he doesn't want to hurt my feelings."
"But you are wondering why I would finish it after he was gone," Kon El said as he kept washing, "you are getting better and the only real way to know how much is by trying it out."
"But why would you care? Besides Kal El," she knew Kon El would do anything for Kal El.
"Kara, I know you don't like it, but we are sort of a family. This is what family does," he said turning around and leaning back on the counter with an uncomfortable expression. She knew that like Kal El, he had a hard time expressing himself unless they were writing an article or something like that.
But that wasn't how her family in Krypton used to do things. If you messed something up, you got scolded and told how to fix it. They didn't put it in kind or hesitant words. It was always specific instructions. Here, the two of them ate her mistakes without complaint, they even praised her. She wanted them to tell her what to do.
"You okay?" Kon El asked her.
"No," she said glaring at the food she prepared, "I am sick of this. Why do we eat at all when we don't need it?"
"You two don't, I do," Kon said with a sigh, "though I don't really need much."
"Then why does Kal El do it?" she asked him.
"I have no idea," Kon El said with a shrug.
"You must! You are his clone," she said glaring at him.
"That doesn't mean I know what he thinks," he said glaring back at her.
"Then what are you good for…" she muttered to herself before the dishes in front of her exploded spraying her with bits of food and porcelain.
"That's what I am good for," Kon El said before she saw his face had turned red with rage. Then, a moment later his eyes widened in shock as if he had just realized what he did, "I am…"
"Go, I will clean up," she said standing up.
"I am sorry," he said before leaving.
It was her fault. Kon El was trying very hard to be nice to her, and she kept messing things up. He had defended her from Skyman, ate the food she prepared, and she threw back on his face the fact that he was a clone and not a perfect one of Kal El at that.
888
"Conner," she opened her bedroom door and saw Kal El knocking on Kon El's door. As they had said, they both arrived home late; Kon before Kal. But the expression on her cousin's face told her he was worried. "Do you want to talk about it?" Kal El asked temptingly though he didn't look sure he wanted to talk.
"No, I am fine," Kon El responded from within his room, "forget about it."
"What you said to Lois…" Kal El said.
"I will apologize to her tomorrow, good night," Kon El snapped at him closing the subject.
"Good night," Kal said halfheartedly before seeing her standing by her door "Kara, sorry. Did I wake you up?"
"No, I was already up. Everything okay?" she asked not sure if she should peek into Kon's bedroom.
"Come with me," Kal El whispered before they went for a late night flight. Once they were far from the city he asked her "have you noticed Kon acting strangely?"
"Well," he blew up her breakfast on her face.
"He seems easier to anger recently, but I can't tell why," Kal El said with a sigh.
"Maybe he is stressed. He has a lot of stuff going on," or maybe he had enough of her messing up.
"Would you keep an eye on him when you go to the Titans for me?" Kal El asked her.
"Me?" but Kon El was the one who had more experience.
"Just to get an idea of what could be going on," Kal El said giving her a trusting smile. She couldn't say no.
When they returned to their apartment they found Kon El was gone. He saw fear strike Kal El before he took a deep breath. She concentrated her hearing and soon caught the sound of Kon El flying towards the Titan Tower. She checked her communicator which informed Superboy, Red Robin, Thorax, and Green Lantern were all going on a mission. Multiple known criminals had gone missing through the country and they had a lead.
"Batman mentioned this," Kal El said after she showed him the message, "they all share something in common. They are the ones who bend the laws and get away, or fall through the cracks simply because there isn't enough evidence."
"Could they be working together?" it wouldn't be the first time the bad guys worked together.
"No, their backgrounds are way too different," Kal El before running a hand through his hair, "let us go to rest. They will be able to handle it."
888
Things ran much the same in the Titan Tower without Red Robin and Superboy for the most part. She walked through their garden filled with trees and flowers during her break. Though she was alone, she could hear everything going around. Red Star was flirting with Skitter again in the living room. Bunker, Solstice, and Tempest were on patrol. Kid Flash and Blue trusted Tempest to keep the other two out of trouble. Kid Flash was doing his best to keep Robin out of trouble, which was harder since he was also keeping an eye on Blue's little sister who was visiting. Blue meanwhile was in the kitchen monitoring the patrol and preparing lunch, as usual, with ease.
Typically, she liked to talk to Kyle because he was no stranger to otherworldly life forms. He didn't see her as strange in the way most earthlings did. Of all the Lanterns he had met, he said he had never seen other life forms that resembled humans as much as Kryptonians. He would talk about the chances that Kal El landed on Earth. He spoke of the tragedy and the emotions that such a story and others similar to theirs brought to his mind. Her voice had dried up the moment she saw him spill a tear as he looked at the sky and shouted that it was all too perfect to not be fate what brought the last Kryptonians to Earth. For them to meet…
She wondered if this was indeed Rao's plan. It sure followed the usual plots of the plays she used to watch with her parents in her younger days. The plays started with happiness, then disaster struck, and usually by sheer will and strength did the characters rose up again, but not without losing something dear in the way; friends, family, honor… anything could go. What did she lose? Her home, her identity, her family to become this being others looked up to for help. But there was something else she was losing. When she saw Kon El in the mornings she no longer felt hate or disgust, just uneasiness at times. It was like a layer of who she was, was being peeled away more and more she knew him.
She no longer thought what she wanted from the Titans was just to be a better protector. She wanted their company, some more than others.
"All Titans report to the debriefing room," Blue called through their communicators.
She was the first one to make it there and took her seat around the expansive circular couch. In the center was a table that worked as a projector. Blue placed a large tray with snacks for everyone as he went over what they would be talking about. He gave her a brief awkward smile as he worked silently.
"Where is Drake?" she didn't need to turn around to know Robin had entered.
"Only Titans," Blue said turning around to face Robin, Kid Flash and his little sister, "can you two go play somewhere else until we are done, and hopefully not get into trouble. Though, I know I am probably asking for too much."
"Pretty please!" Blue's eleven-year-old sister said, "I promise I will be quiet."
"No, we had a deal. You were going to do what I said or I was going to send you back home" Blue said frowning at the little girl who then glared at him before turning around and marching away, but not without taking some of the snacks with her.
"Don't treat me like a child Reyes, or I swear-" Robin started to say.
"Your mission is to make sure she doesn't get into too much trouble," Blue said not looking away from his work.
"What?" somehow Robin was able to make his glare more intense.
"I know Milagro; I know she is going to do something that will get her into trouble if left alone," Blue said, "you will be part of this mission too, but I just need you to look after her for a short while."
The boy glared at Blue silently, but the young man didn't even flinch before the kid snorted and then turned around and left.
"You got to teach me how to do that," Kid Flash laughed collapsing on the seat nearest to the snacks. But when Blue didn't share the smile with Kid Flash, they both knew something wasn't right.
"What happened?" she asked leaning forwards.
"Let's wait for the rest," Blue said, "it might be nothing."
While they waited, Blue used the tower's cameras to check on his sister and Robin. It seemed he had been right as the little girl had tried to use one of their boats to go to the city on her own. Robin stopped her before she created an illusion to hide from him, which got Robin to search for her.
"She is learning fast," Celine, also known as Skitter said as she and Red Star entered the room.
"Too fast," Blue said not happy at all about this.
Skitter and Red Star looked bashful as they sat next to each other. She didn't understand why as everyone knew they were seeing each other when they weren't in the tower. Then Solstice, Tempest, and Bunker returned worried. It was very unusual to interrupt a patrol like that. From aside from those who started the Titans, the tree of them were of their most experienced members all having looked after their home cities previously.
"We lost contact with Red Robin's team almost two hours ago," Blue said before displaying in the center table the site of their last known location. It was what seemed to be an old abandoned mining town in the middle of nowhere. At first sight, it looked like nothing living had been there in decades, but then Blue pointed out to recent tracks. Red's team had gone underground to investigate further, so they had assumed some of the signal would be gone, but after three hours it got the Blue Beetle worried. She thought he was right to be.
"I want to go," she said even before the words could form in her mind. She winced and waited for Blue to refuse.
"Solstice, you are coming too. I am also taking Robin with me. Kid Flash will stay in charge," Blue said after giving her a brief nod.
888
Okay, so she could fly and even getting teletransported made her stomach do a few flips. She saw she wasn't the only one when Solstice had flown behind some old wooden houses to throw up. Robin seemed to just teeter where he stood while Blue took deep breaths. Once they were composed they approached the mine's entrance. She wanted to ask why Blue had decided to bring Robin along since the kid wasn't officially a Titan but held back. Superboy had actually warned her about the kid and what he might carry on his belt. Was this why Blue brought him along?
"Something feels wrong with this place," Solstice said when she stopped at the entrance of the mine with a frown.
"I can feel it too," Robin said with a frown before he touched one of the walls, "this isn't man made."
She used her x-ray vision to try to get a better look, "there are lead deposits," she said with a frown, "I can only see a few feet ahead of us".
"I hope these little guys don't get lost," Blue said before a few metallic insects emerged from his hand and went ahead of them.
The deeper they entered the warmer the mine felt. The bug scouts returned with a mapped out layout of the strange mine, for the exception of one. They went down the path of the one that didn't return. It was steep and though Solstice assured her it had been less than an hour she felt they had been there for an eternity. It was getting too hot to the point where Blue offered to carry Robin on his back and the kid only threatening them once if they ever told someone.
Solstice like her didn't seem bothered by the heat. She guessed it had something to do with being energy in her current state. She thought that someone like Solstice would be seen as a goddess in some worlds. She believed her own world would have seen her as one of Rao's five daughters. Her onyx-like skin with cracks showing the energy she held inside, her shining white eyes and storm cloud like hair made her almost the perfect representation of Cie; Rao's daughter and goddess of confrontation, for without confrontation there couldn't be change.
"Drake was here," she snapped out of her thoughts as Robin jumped down Blue's back. The boy kneeled down and picked up a birdarang. The kid started looking around before declaring "there is no sign of struggle. He left this behind on purpose"
"What in the world is that!" Solstice shouted before she pointed at a creature watching them from the shadows with shining red eyes. It screeched at them with needle like fangs before opening its wings showing a small twisted and horrifying chalk yellow body.
"It's magic, stand back," Blue said before he shot it with his sonic cannon. The creature screeched again and then flew away into the darkness.
"Was that an actual demon?" Solstice was the first one to speak after a moment of silence.
"None of us have power over the mystical," Robin said looking for once unsure.
"And none in Red's group too," Blue reminded them before they kept on going, but now in complete alert.
She concentrated all of her senses to what was ahead of them, but she believed that the magic was keeping her from hearing what was really going on. Then, she heard something but she wasn't sure she heard it right. The deeper they went, the surer she was of what she was hearing.
"I can hear something, but it's very strange," she said stopping.
"How so?" Blue asked her. They had just seen a small bat-like demon, how much stranger could it get.
"It's music, and I think I have heard it before but-" she didn't know how to put it.
"We probably found a cult," Solstice said with a sigh.
"No, it's not like that," she said before biting her lip. Then she started repeating the familiar words "…Good times, these are the good times. Our new state of mind, these are the good times. Happy days are here again. The time is right for makin' friends?"
"It sounds like a cult chant to me," Robin declared unsheathing his sword.
"Very funny Supergirl, but this is-" Blue said making Robin sheath his sword again.
"I am serious," she told him with a worried look.
Blue didn't contradict and nodded before they went on.
"Kal El's Earth parents, they used to listen to that song," she now remembered where she had heard it before. Actually, it had been Mrs. Kent who listened to that song sometimes.
"Yeah, it's sort of an old song," Blue said with an awry smile.
"And catchy too," Solstice said before Blue gave her a questioning look, "what? It is."
"Stop wasting time," Robin said, "I can hear it too."
The rest agreed and she was thankful it wasn't magic playing tricks with her mind. Not long after, they emerged from the long tunnel into an immense underground cavern. The bottom at least a hundred feet below was filled with molten lava. From the bottom, crooked stone towers emerged like platforms where men and women stood dancing to the beat of the music they had been listening to. Though the music was cheerful all of those present seemed to be in immense pain and who could blame them. On their backs each one carried one of those demons like creatures they had spotted before; their fangs sank into their necks or shoulders.
"Well, this definitely wasn't what I was expecting," Blue said looking up at a glittering disco ball.
"I don't think any of us," Solstice said baffled.
"What is this?" Robin asked unable to make sense of what he was seeing.
"I think it's some sort of hell," Blue said before they heard another song play.
"…Young man, are you listening to me?
I said, young man, what do you want to be?
I said, young man, you can make real your dreams.
But you got to know this one thing!
No man does it all by himself.
I said, young man, put your pride on the shelf,
And just go there, to the Y.M.C.A.
I'm sure they can help you today.
It's fun to stay at the Y.M.C.A.
It's fun to stay at the Y.M.C.A.
They have everything for you men to enjoy,
You can hang out with all the boys..."
"A Disco Hell?" Solstice asked temptingly.
"Yes, Disco Hell," Blue said flinching as they watched for a moment at those people dance in a flawless sync to the song with grim exhausted faces. Then they heard a booming voice.
"Welcome, noble young heroes! My name is Dante and this is my inferno. I know that is hard to believe, but we are on the same side," a man with gray skin and red hair descended towards them with gray bat like wings. His eyes were completely red as those of the small demons and his nails were more like claws. He wore a tight black leather outfit as he smiled sinfully at them.
"I very much-" Solstice started to say but Blue stopped her.
"Are they all criminals?" Blue asked the man-like being.
"Yes Blue Beetle, but let us talk in my humble adobe. This view can become… tedious," Dante said never losing his smile before leading them up a set of stairs into what she found to be a very comforting launch with soft sofas around and refreshments. The temperature was somewhat cooler. It was nice for the exception of the panoramic window showing them the still tortured men and women.
"I recognize some of them. Embezzlers, crime bosses, some are murderers but they all got away," Robin said never looking away from the window.
"All getting what they deserve," Dante said proudly before one of the small demons flew into the room and sat on Dante's shoulder.
"I don't doubt it," Blue said making the rest look at him in worry, "but what is this place exactly?"
"Of course," laughed Dante, "I was but an archeology and theology student when I found this place, following some old legends regarding our little friends. They feast on pain, and misery, but for some reason they found a liking to me instead of killing me like they had done at one point with the whole town above us. I thought this was a sign, so I started bringing people who deserved to be punished. With the right cocktail, it wasn't hard to make each one of them believe they had died and were now getting what they rightly deserved."
"And the wings?" she asked not believing he had been human once.
"One day they just started to grow," the man shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal. "Either way, feel free to bring whoever you like, the more the better."
"It must be difficult to maintain an operation of this size," Blue said keeping a steady stare on Dante who laughed.
"Cunning, but not as much as you think," the man said with knowing smile.
"You are using this set to drain their accounts," Robin said unsheathing his sword, for once Blue didn't make him put it back.
"Blood money, how poetic, isn't?" Dante said not one bit intimidated.
"No, what you are doing here is wrong. Criminals or not, you are torturing them," she said preparing to fight.
"Where are the others?" Solstice demanded.
"Hm… where do you think?" Dante said before they heard the door they came through slam closed.
They all turned around to find Red Robin staring at them with a smirk and holding his staff. The next instant he threw a blow towards Robin who ducked down.
"You have to do better than that Drake!" Robin screamed as he swung his sword. It would have taken Red's leg hadn't the other boy jumped and kicked Robin on the jaw.
"I am not holding back with you anymore. You are nothing more than a miserable assassin!" Red shouted as he launched again at Robin.
"Red!" Blue shouted trying to reach them to stop Red before the panoramic window was broken and Blue got tackled by Thorax.
"You think you know it all! You are wrong!" Thorax shouted as he slammed his fist again and again against Blue's face.
"What's wrong with you!" she heard Solstice shout before she saw her flying out of the window chased closely by Kyle who was using his constructs to try to hurt her. Then, she saw something on Kyle's back. It was one of those demons. She turned around and saw the others had them on too.
"What are you doing to them!" she shouted at Dante as she lifted him off the ground.
"They have simply seen the light my lovely angel," the man ran a hand through her blond locks, she couldn't stop herself from shivering, "and so will you."
The next thing she knew was that someone yanked her back and then slammed her head against the ground. There were only a few who had the strength to do something like this.
"Kon El…" she cringed as he put more pressure into her skull.
"Shut up Kryptonian. You will receive your rightful punishment," Kon El said sneering at her.
"Don't make me hurt you…" she said trying to hold back her panic. She was being reminded of all their previous fights where she had no control over herself. She knew how bad they could hurt each other if not in control.
"Don't flatter yourself," he laughed at her before she twisted her body and punched him out of the room. He slammed into the ceiling making part of it fall towards those trapped below. She cursed before she raced to move those who would have been killed by it.
"Su-Supergirl?" one of the men she saved looked at her with wide eyes. In that moment, it was as if all those imprisoned woke up from a trance. They all looked at her with hope in their tired eyes.
"We will get you all out here, just be- gha!" she started to say before she was blasted into a wall. Her head rang as she tried to shake off the pain.
"Don't let those things get close to you!" she heard Robin shout from somewhere before she spotted one of the little demons fly straight at her in her dazed state. She hoped her heat vision had some effect in magical creatures before she used her heat vision on the creature. It screeched in pain before it fell down into the pool of magma.
"You didn't have to kill it!" Kon El was flying towards her, ready to fry her face with his heat vision.
"I am sorry!" she shouted before she launched at him and slammed into the opposite side of the cavern, effectively knocking his air out before she slammed her forehead against his. The whole cavern shook with the strength of the hit and she feared more rubble would fall. When she opened her eyes, she saw Kon El was unconscious. She sighed in relief before she pulled him out of the crater and tried to remove the demon from his back. The moment she did he started to cough, a small trail of blood slipped down his chin before the creature sneered at her, holding tighter to Kon El before he groaned in pain.
She couldn't get those things off them without hurting them. Careful not to wake him up, she placed Kon El on one of the platforms before flying back into Dante's watch room but she found him gone. Only Red Robin and Robin remained to fight.
"So sorry," she said knocking Red Robin out before Robin glared at her, "I know you had him, but I need your help." She looked outside where Solstice and Blue were working together to watch each other's back as Lantern and Thorax kept trying to get one of the demons on them.
"This way," Robin said before he pushed aside the large wooden desk in the back of the room to reveal a set of stairs going down.
They went down as fast as possible and came out into a ledge much closer to the pool of lava covering the bottom of the cavern. Here they spotted Dante removing his leather clothing.
"Angel, so sad you will die not knowing the touch of a man," he said with a knowing smile and extending his hand towards her.
"Shut up you freak!" Robin shouted throwing birdarangs to Dante who simply jumped back in the nude and fell into the lava.
"No!" they hurried to the edge and saw as his body sank into the lava, but he wasn't burning. Instead, he laughed maniacally as he disappeared below.
"That can't be good," Robin said with a grim expression. A moment later they watched as the lava started to rise and take the gigantic form of a man. She took Robin and flew back up just before a wave of molten lava hit them. She could stand it, she was sure Robin couldn't. They landed back on the watch room where the rest of their team had brought those who had been trapped. On the back, she spotted Superboy, Red Robin, Lantern and Thorax all unconscious.
"We can't fight that thing," Solstice said as they watched it grow bigger and bigger until its head almost touched the ceiling.
"Actually, I can… I think," she said clenching her fists, "I really don't like magic." She said before she flew straight to the creature that had become Dante and took a deep breath before blowing with all her strength.
"What are you!" the creature shouted before its surface solidified.
"Go Supergirl!" she heard someone shout before she took another breath as Dante raised an immense lava hand and froze it too. She had never used her ice breath so much and felt short of air. Then she saw the bottom solidify too before she spotted Kon El, minus small demon. With his help, she was able to finish faster.
"It won't hold him for long," Superboy said using his x-ray vision before she did the same. Inside, Dante was trying to fight his way out by heating further.
"It can't get out of this cave! Let's get going!" they heard Red Robin shout as he and the rest were already herding everyone out. It seemed the moment Dante merged with the lava he lost control over the small demons and them.
"You okay?" she asked as they went to join them.
"I guess it was my turn to get mind controlled," Kon El laughed rubbing his jaw, "you got a good left."
Midway out they heard a tremendous sound. Dante had freed himself but they were way out of his reach. It seemed Red Robin had found Dante's research and found the small demons could leave the cavern and the tunnels while the lava creature couldn't leave at all. The moment Dante had become one with it; he sealed his fate in that place for eternity, starving for pain and misery. At one point they spotted the small demons following them, they collapsed part of the tunnel. They really didn't want to go back there.
When they finally emerged into the surface, the sun had started to set. However, they weren't alone. Superman, Batman, and Hal of the Green Lanterns was there with a blond man wearing a long trench coat and Zatanna.
"Pay up Lantern," the blond man said after taking a long drag from his cigarette.
"Shut up Constantine," the older Green Lantern said handing the man a hundred dollar bill.
"You defeated Camazotz?" Zatanna asked them wide eyed. Later they would find Camazotz was one of the oldest demons in the world. In the past, his servants used to emerge through different caverns through the world until they got sealed up. Since then, it had weakened immensely. They didn't want to know how it was to fight it at full force.
"More like stalled it enough to get everyone out," Red Robin said giving her and Kon El a thankful look.
"Alright ladies and gentlemen, I am taking you to the nearest airport though you should be behind bars instead," Hal of the Green Lanterns said creating the construct of a cage to carry some of the people they rescued.
"We got rights!" one of them shouted.
"Kid?" Hal said looking at Kyle.
"Coming, see you guys back at the tower," their Green Lantern said creating a bubble instead of a cage around the others before they flew away.
"I take Kid Flash reported to you when we didn't return," Red asked Batman who nodded.
"The moment Zatanna heard where you were she knew what you were facing. It seems someone broke the original seal," Batman said looking Red and Robin carefully.
"Enough talking, let's seal this baby up," Constantine said walking towards the entrance of the mine.
"No sloppy work Constantine," Zatanna said following him.
"You two okay?" Kal El asked worriedly. Their kind didn't do well against magic most of the time.
"Yeah, why wouldn't we be? Oh right, she punched me," Kon El said before pointing at her.
"You- you were being controlled!" she said in her defense before she saw him smile, "Kon El!"
"Make way!" they turned around to see Thorax carrying an immense boulder towards the mine.
"Thorax!" Blue shouted before going after him.
"What? I am not risking someone breaking those things out again," Thorax said putting it down and then pushing it to block the entrance of the cave.
"Actually, it's not a bad idea," Constantine said as he kept working on the runes of the seal.
"Move aside," Solstice told the Beetles before she shot a steady stream of energy to melt the boulder into the entrance.
"I will see you later," Kal El said with an amused laugh seeing they weren't the only ones with a dislike for magic, "great work the two of you."
They watched him leave silently before she turned around to help to seal the cave even further with her heat vision. Then, she noticed Kon El was still looking up at the sky in the direction Kal El had left. She opened her mouth to ask if something was wrong, but then she spotted a pained smile on his face and an emotion she could recognize in his eyes.
888
Red Robin gave those who had been in the mission the next day to rest and relax. Kyle was on the roof working on a sculpture inspired by the little demons; no one was going near him thinking he had gone mad. The Beetles were away entertaining Blue's little sister and dragged Robin along with them. Red Robin was napping on the other side of the sofa after getting halfway through one of his horror movies. Solstice was in the garden with Celine enjoying the warmth of the day. Kon El had gone into town to the bookstores. He said something about losing his mind if he did nothing any longer. And she, she relaxed in the living room watching a nonsensical TV show before something dropped on her lap making her jump.
"Start with that," Kon El said leaning over the couch and pointing at the bag he had dropped on her.
She pulled the content out and found a book 'Healthy Cooking for Dummies'. She turned her head and glared at him.
"French toast doesn't need ranch," he told her.
"But ranch makes everything taste much better," she said with a frown.
"Not French toast," he told her with a raised eyebrow and questioning her reasoning.
"Oh," she said wondering why it was different for French toast.
"You lived with the Kents. I am surprised you don't know why he likes to eat with us," Kon El said before she noticed he had a heavier looking bag, probably filled with more books.
"With us?" she asked looking back at him.
"It's not about the food Kara, it's about spending time together," he told her seriously.
"Like he used to with the Kents," she said looking at him with wide eyes. He had tried to tell her the other morning by saying 'this is what family does'. She looked at the book feeling like a real dummy for not realizing it earlier. She remembered those first mornings when she arrived on Earth and Kal had her live with his adoptive parents. They didn't treat her like an alien or an intruder. To them, she was family and more than once she had to excuse herself to cry, overwhelmed by their kindness. It was thanks to them that she didn't fall completely into despair and started to believe she had a place in that new world. When they were gone, she thought she would never have mornings like that again. Kal El probably thought the same until they all moved in together.
She then thought of Kon El and his words. He said he had no idea of what was going through Kal El's mind, but he clearly did. She was about to call him a liar before realizing something. Kon El never had a meal with the Kents or even met them. To him, meals were something he did with the Team or on his own, maybe he thought it wasn't the same. She guessed it was different, but not entirely. Her head was starting to hurt trying to understand the mind of the clone. Then, she remembered the look on his face the night before.
"Next time we invite you just say yes, and for the love of Rao ask Blue to teach you how to crack an egg," Kon El said before he stretched and yawned.
"I am sorry," she said as he started to leave. He stopped and turned his head to look at her with a raised eyebrow, "for what I said the other morning."
"What's family for if not to drive each other crazy," he said with a short laugh before leaving her to her thoughts.
They were a family and they did drive her crazy. But she would never change them for anything in the world.
888
AN: Alright, so there won't be a new chapter for a while... kind of? I am going back and revising some of the chapters. I will rewrite some of them so keep an eye out for them. They will have (RR) next to the tittle for a month. If it has an (R) it means that it was only revised and not rewritten.