Moving in a hurry, the masked man released his weapon on the counter and grabbed the large bag of money, running back into the bank vault while giving a few glances behind his shoulder, then he just moved faster, a bead of cold sweat running down his neck.
By his side, one of the other minions peeked through the vault door and swallowed hard, then continued to lift the discarded boxes, checking the numbers before pushing them back into the correct places.
"Shit, man," Darius cursed as he reached for a ring that had fallen under the table. "Why the fuck is she here? I thought she was never active two days in a row!"
Turning the huge bag over, David dropped all the money atop the table, then made sure it was neatly piled up. "I heard Superman had her training with Batman, maybe she already knew and was waiting for us?"
"Fuck me, did you see the video?" One of the other minions, someone he didn't know, whispered. "She was fucking brutal in Salem."
David had seen the video; someone had recorded the Justice League's battle at Salem and, after censoring whatever that… thing coming out of the sky was, they had released it on the internet.
The way she traded blows with that demon-like guy, her eyes red with rage as she ignored every blow he landed and just continued fighting… He shuddered. She was trying to kill the Villain, no doubt about it.
He had also seen the other video, the one people kept deleting, where she had calmed down, and it was even worse… the way she had cut off that kid's arm…
Finally managing to grab the ring, Darius gently put it with the rest of the jewelry and peeked out of the vault's door, quickly pulling his head back. "I hear she was gonna go Villain, take over the world and everything, but Superman talked her out of it…"
"You know I can hear you, right?" Came the annoyed voice from outside the vault, and they all winced, then doubled their efforts to put everything back into place.
Goddamnit, David had thought it would be easy money; they even had a metahuman with them this time!
Finally, all five minions stepped out of the vault and kneeled on the floor, cold sweat running down their faces. "We're finished, Ma'am, everything is back into place."
With a silent roar, his maw moving but no sound coming out, the small dragon attempted to turn towards him, his former boss trying to silence him in anger, but Supergirl just sighed, grabbed the black and white construct with her free hand and squeezed, causing the beast to explode and the ink that animated it to return to her captive's arm.
Shit, her eyes had started to glow, twin dots of red coming from under the lens of her mask and making her look terrifying. The boss really should learn to give up; they were not beating a super alien.
Fuck, more than that, even if they could, David really, really didn't want them to beat a super alien; he swore he could see the shape of Superman's fist out of the back of that Demon-guy in Salem. What if they beat his… cousin? And the guy snapped?
"You! I'll…" the Boss tried to scream, his tattoos coming to life again.
Annoyed, Supergirl slapped another construct before it could fully form, then tightened the hold she had on the villain's face. "Stop that already."
"Ack, alright, alright!"
The Boss was calling himself the Tattooed Man… for obvious reasons, and could animate the tattoos on his body, kinda like those Lanterns the League had, he was also super strong, but more like, fight a bear strong, not Superman or, clearly, Supergirl level.
Looking up from his position, David saw her squeezing the Boss face with one gloved hand, her fingers digging into his bald head in a way that must have been painful, their feet hanging a meter above the ground.
There was some kind of device on her glove, yellow lights flashing as it tried to do something to the Boss, but whatever it was didn't seem to be working, and David swore he could feel her frowning under the white mask.
Finally, the lights flashed red and, shaking her head, she dropped the man back to the floor and turned towards him, arms crossed. "Wait, David, right? Didn't I arrest you a month ago?"
"Ah," he winced, she fucking knew his name! He didn't want her to know his name! "Yes, Ma'am, bank robbery."
"Really?" she huffed. "Really? By Rao, how are you…"
Scratching the back of his head in embarrassment, he swallowed hard, avoided her eyes and answered. "First offender. Didn't have any weapons on me, never left the car since I was the driver… and Mom managed to get the money for bail."
David knew he wasn't gonna get that lucky a second time, even more so now that he'd used a weapon; he was looking at 20 years… shit.
Supergirl seemed to pause for a second, he even felt her eyes leaving him as she probably checked something under her mask, then shook her head. "And what? You thought it was a good idea to try again?"
"Had to pay her back," he mumbled, then released a long breath. "And I thought… Heroes aren't that common, what were the odds you'd show up again? Shit, now I'm really fucked, aren't I?"
Yep, he was definitely fucked, he just hoped she took a break after this cuz he heard from Jeremy that the jails were constantly overcrowded since she started working in Phoenix…
Heck, his lawyer had said it was why he could post bail at all… The Judges were being less strict with that because of how many criminals were getting arrested. It was gonna suck so fucking much.
Maybe he could escape in a year? He heard that happened often in cities with villains, and those were bound to increase with her here.
David thought it was stupid, if he was a metahuman, he'd certainly move to a city without a hero before doing anything, but that's just how life went… maybe becoming metahuman also messed with the head?.
He swore he could see her rolling her eyes at him, which was an improvement since they weren't glowing anymore, then she turned back to the Boss. "You, don't try anything; if I have to smash another one of your constructs, I swear I'll stop being gentle about it." Finally, she turned and flew towards the bank entrance.
Everyone seemed to release a breath. Darius even collapsed as he tried to adjust his position; his friend wasn't used to kneeling. "Shit, man, I thought we were gonna get it."
"Don't be stupid, she's a hero, they don't do shit like that."
"Tell that to Batman."
"No, seriously," Darius whispered. "I knew this guy who tried to shoot her, she said the bullet just bounced off and hit him, but Jonny swore she had thrown it back on purpose, almost hit him in the crotch."
They all winced again, even the Boss who seemed to be reconsidering his inevitable revenge plan.
"Say, about that bail thing…" One of the minions he didn't know asked David. "You think you can introduce me to your lawyer?"
—---
Kara sighed, that bullet had really bounced off… well, she could have stopped it, but it wasn't gonna hit anything important, and she was a firm believer in reaping what you sowed.
Maybe that would teach people to stop shooting at bulletproof supers and she could stop worrying about civilians getting hurt… Considering this particular crew, with the exception of the metahuman, surrendered immediately, it was even working.
Glancing at the information on her mask, she sighed. It seems like the tattoos really weren't magic; her draining device was unable to do anything to the villain. Thankfully, they weren't threatening for a Kryptonian, but she was getting tired of having to destroy them. The guys just didn't give up!
"Supergirl," the newly arrived police officer smiled at her. "Is that… a villain? Shit, it's starting, isn't it? We're gonna turn into Metropolis."
"Hey, don't blame me!" Kara quickly denied. "This guy was active way before I ever showed up."
She knew. She had checked the second she saw his costume.
The officer lifted an eyebrow at that, then shook his head and took in the tidy crime scene, all minions very obediently kneeling on the floor. He grimaced. "Ah, I wish you hadn't done that, messed with the crime scene, I mean."
In answer, Kara had one of the drones float towards the office; it was of the same model she had given the Justice League. "New law, those are now acceptable as forensic documentation in the US when a villain is present. Batman helped adjust the software."
"No shit?" The officer gave her drone a closer look, taking an ejected pendrive in hand with a bewildered expression.. "Guess we're not calling José for this one."
Around him, another five police cars arrived, the officers walking around them and starting to arrest everyone; they had even bought a metahuman suppression collar for the Villain.
On the screen of her mask, an alarm started flashing; it was time for her meeting with Hawkwoman. "You guys need anything else?"
"No, no," the policeman shook his head and smiled at her. "You know, some of the guys are getting annoyed you're doing our job, but I, for one, really prefer not having to deal with armed robbers, it also frees us to work on more cases. Keep up the good work."
Nodding, she flew up, her movement fast enough to almost send his cap flying. Breaking through the cloud cover, Kara connected with the Watchtower's database and asked for Hawkwoman's location, noticing she was on the other side of the country.
Briefly, she considered using a Zeta-Tube or one of her teleportation devices, but she was still early. She could fly
Plus, she was safe; her Moon base tracked her movements through Kryptonian security channels. The second she disappeared or was attacked, a priority alert would be sent to everyone, and a hundred battle Karabots would be teleported to her position.
That should be more than enough for her to escape or deal with the situation; even Kal would have to spend some time dealing with those.
With a sonic boom, she exploded into motion, climbing higher and higher in a diagonal direction until she reached the thermosphere, taking a second to enjoy the increased sunlight radiation before most of it was absorbed by the atmosphere, then she adjusted her flight, moving in a straight line across the United States towards her meeting.
Twenty minutes later, Kara twisted midair, adjusting her position to float slightly above the nearby trees, and couldn't help lifting an eyebrow as Hawkwoman dragged a large man by his leg.
"Hey," she greeted the heroine. "Should I come back later?"
For a second, the woman paused to stare at her, then seemed to realize something. "Right, almost forgot about the meeting," continuing to drag the struggling man, she shook her head. "No need, I'll be done in a moment."
"Can I ask…?"
"I swore I'd defenestrate the next idiot who made me track him through this damn forest and, by my wings, I keep my promises."
A quick search on the computer told her they were nine kilometers away from the nearest house… Kara could appreciate the dedication. "Isn't that police brutality?"
"Yes?" Hawkwoman nodded easily, then sighed. "Right, I keep forgetting that's against the law here."
"In Thanagar, it isn't?"
Releasing the leg she was still holding, Hawkwoman stopped for a second and shrugged. "It's expected we'll need to be brutal to stop crime, we've a law against excessive brutality, but this doesn't qualify," Cracking her neck, the heroine stretched her wings. "Anyway, I'm not a Terran police woman; the Justice League's charter is far more… flexible with such things."
"If you say so," Kara certainly wasn't about to complain about a criminal getting a few bumps. "I take it this happens often then?"
"There's a magical hotspot a few kilometers from here, and idiots always think it's a great idea to mess with it. Since it's close enough to my city and I've my mace, I'm usually the one sent to deal with it."
"... Want a ride?" Kara offered a teleportation platform appearing by her side after only a glance through the visual commands of her mask.
Hawkwoman stared down at the man. He was covered in little scratches and had several bruises; his clothes were completely messed up and a layer of mud covered his entire body. "Are we gonna be stupid and try to steal magical artifacts again?"
"No! No, no, no, I swear I won't!" the man cried out in the most pitiful voice imaginable.
Despite everything, Kara's nose caught the man's scent, and she could literally hear his body moving; he wasn't terrified, no, his body just reacted like someone tired and humiliated, crashing out from adrenaline while thinking about the results of his mistake.
"Fine, I'll accept that ride; he's not worth the time I'd lose dragging his sorry ass through the forest."
Their first stop was at a police station. Hawkwoman walked inside, then threw the guy out of a window and handed the recordings from her own drone to the police officer.
Landing on the platform again, Hawkwoman sighed. "Ugh, gonna have to pick up the bill later."
With a command, the platform teleported away, and both of them appeared at a prearranged spot at the Watchtower, where they proceeded to walk towards a meeting room.
"So," Hawkwoman said as she took off her helmet and picked up a mug of coffee. "Katar put on a petition with our superiors. They agreed to issue a tourist pass to Thanagar, under escort…"
Kara took a seat, taking off her mask to sip at her own coffee. "But?"
"Look, Kryptonian, politics isn't really my thing," Hawkwoman sighed, then took a seat. "Just how much do you know about Thanagar?"
"That's… complicated," Kara admitted, trying to think about how to explain it. "I know next to nothing about the planet's current situation, but Krypton had a lot of records."
That wasn't a lie, but most of Kara's knowledge actually came from her other life, still, she had no wish to spread that knowledge too much, her Cousin and Girlfriend were one thing, but everyone else had no need to know.
"I'll send you some common knowledge later," Shayera said, then took another sip of coffee and finally sat down. "Well, while you do get the tourist pass if you want —don't abuse it, by the way— the Council has also issued a diplomatic invitation, particularly for your Girlfriend. You can choose which one to accept."
Focusing on her senses, Kara stared at Shayera, taking in her tense muscles and the frustration in her features, the way her wings twitched, feathers flexing, the tips extending as if eager to take flight.
Hawkwoman seemed to want to say something, but seemed to be struggling with what to reveal.
"What would be the difference?"
"As a tourist, you'd be free to enjoy your vacation on the planet for a week, but you'd be barred from the First Citadel; they also wouldn't pay much attention to you."
Somehow, Kara doubted that, but she took Shayera's warning to mean she couldn't get a meeting with anyone important about technology exchanges or Kori's problems.
"If you accept the Diplomatic invitation, there would be an escort; you'd be allowed into the First Citadel and wouldn't be free to move alone, but it would open a lot of doors."
"I take it you want us to accept the Diplomatic invitation?"
Shayera paused, her frowning face seeming to consider how much she should say even as she took another sip of coffee, mostly to buy time.
"I don't know anything," Hawkwoman finally decided to say. "But Thanagar is not unsympathetic to Tamaran's problems; it reminds us of our own situation a few decades ago, and it's been hinted that agreeing to a military operation with an obvious righteous goal is a desirable outcome for some of the Council."
Leaning back against her chair, Kara thought about the Thanagarian's words… It seems like the Military Council of Thanagar was letting her know that, as long as they showed up as diplomats, they'd agree to help liberate Tamaran.
It wasn't what she wanted. Kara had hoped for a real vacation, but while she was certain she could eventually free Tamaran without help, support would make it much faster, and probably result in less collateral damage.
The only question was why? Kara knew they were a warrior race, but why were they so eager to start a war in another sector of the galaxy? A war that they really had nothing to do with?
"You understand I can't just agree, I'll have to talk with Koriand'r about this."
"The offer isn't really that time sensitive," Shayera waved her hand. "I'm sure my superiors would like to hear an answer soon, but they're not expecting anything in less than a month."
Politics wasn't really her specialty; Kori was far better at that than she was. Kara would have to see what she had to say about it.
"Say, is there anything I should know before going?"
"Not really," Shayera smiled at her, eyes distant with nostalgia. "Thanagar's gravity is greater than Earth's, and the buildings are mostly spires. A normal human would have difficulty moving, but both of you can fly, and it's not like a little gravity is gonna be a problem.
"They're not gonna let you use power armor on the planet, but some weapons and defensive gear are expected; they'll even respect you more for it. Just don't use any Nth metal and there won't be any problems."
"Nth metal?" Kara pretended to be surprised. "I really don't have any."
She didn't think her lie was gonna fool anyone, but she also wasn't gonna admit to owning any of the metal in front of a Thanagarian officer. Suspecting she had the metal was one thing; having her say it out loud was another.
Really, as much as they wanted, it's not like Thanagar had an absolute monopoly on Nth metal, or that they had a God given right to all of it in the universe… but it was better not to raise the question anyway.
"Sure you don't," Shayera snorted.
"Are you going to escort us?"
"Either me or Katar," she nodded, accepting the change in subject. "After some of my reports, the Council decided it was best if there was someone familiar accompanying you. You can either use your own ship or accept transport on ours."
They spent another half an hour talking about the details, things like monetary exchange she could use, what kind of equipment she'd be allowed to bring, and even how she was allowed to react to situations.
As a very martial species, Thanagar's self-defense laws were much wider than in most of Earth's countries, but the penalty for acting beyond them was also far worse; there would be no acts of vigilantism on the planet, that's for sure.
Finally, Kara said goodbye and left the heroine, then whirled around, hands raised in a defensive position.
"Oh, hey, sorry about the scare," the Flash said, looking a little sheepish as he stopped in front of her. "Kinda used to people either unable to see me or accustomed to my presence."
Relaxing, Kara smiled at him. "It's fine."
Really, it had been some time since Kara had been unable to follow any movement, but the Hero had been moving fast enough to be a blur even to her senses, and she had let instinct guide her.
"So, have you talked with Alen yet?"
"Not really," Kara shook her head. "Didn't even know he was looking for me."
"Met him yesterday at Jay's and he asked if I had seen you," the Flash shrugged. "Since I heard you were in the tower, I thought I'd leave a message," Peaking into the room, he waved. "Yo, Shayera. Is that coffee?"
In a flash of red, he moved into the room, returning to the same position less than half a second later, a mug of coffee in his hand.
"Thanks," Kara said. "I'll make sure to call him later."
"Anyway, I heard from the Big Blue you were into games?"
"Kind of?" Kara sighed. "Even if I drained myself, Earth's games would still be kind of slow for me, but with sunlight?"
Not that she would drain herself, not in a thousand years, and, if it happened, she'd make sure to remedy the situation as soon as possible, not play games.
"I get it," Flash nodded. "But a bunch of us still like to play tabletop, we're wondering if you wanna join this weekend?"
Kara lifted an eyebrow. Was her cousin trying to get her to socialize more? But she thought about it.
On Krypton, there were some good simulations, things that worked through a Kryptonian neural link, but she had never had the time to play them, always wanting to please her father, and, in her previous life, she never got the chance.
"Sure, just send me a message with the time."
"Great! I'll see you there."
While they were talking, her personal computer received a notification, so Kara took a second to glance down at it and smiled. It was Lena Luthor asking for another meeting.
Kara smiled. It seems like she'd be getting a new CEO for her company before going on vacation after all.
Kara adjusted her business suit, then used her super vision to look through several buildings at the lone woman sitting in the busy restaurant, two security guards seeming to keep watch on her.
Lena Luthor had asked for a meeting in a week to discuss her proposal, but she hadn't been willing to wait, changing the time to only a day later, something Lena had disliked, but eventually agreed to.
In truth, Kara had kept in contact with Lena since their last meeting; the two of them sometimes traded articles about new tech and even asked for each other's opinion on personal projects.
Nothing important, and Kara couldn't really say they were friends, but there were very few people who could even try to keep up with her when talking about tech, and most of those were villains.
The raven-haired young woman was dressed in a black business suit, her hair tied in a ponytail, and she wore just enough makeup to be elegant; she was also drinking a cappuccino and had a stack of papers with her, one of which she was reading with an unhappy expression on her face.
Still, as Kara used her surveillance drones to watch the location, an upper-class restaurant owned by one of Lexcorp's subsidiaries, she wondered if it wouldn't have been better to accept the delay; it wasn't like she was planning to leave the planet in less than three weeks anyway.
Accelerating her thoughts, Kara went through Lena's file one last time. After their first meeting, it seems the woman attempted to depose Lex, convincing several of Lexcorp's shareholders to side with her.
Unfortunately, her brother had been the better player in that particular game, probably because he had been better prepared, years of bribes and blackmail paying off.
Lex managed to both retain his position and punish Lena for trying, taking away several of her projects and demoting her as punishment. That appears to be when she decided to quit the company.
There had also been several threats made on her person, something the Police seemed to be taking quite seriously.
Finally, Kara's car parked in front of the restaurant, one of her disguised Karabots opening the door for her. Taking a second, she closed her eyes and sighed… she really wished she could have resolved everything through her cellphone.
Not that she disliked Lena, but Kara had already dealt with her patrols, then spoke with Hawkwoman and even met with the Titans this week, there was only so much interaction she could take… and she'd definitely prefer to be home messing with her affordable teleportation network right now.
Still, she knew she'd enjoy talking with Lena, it was just difficult taking the first step.
With fluid movements, Kara finally grabbed the briefcase with her company's files, then walked into the building, her super vision finally noticing the nearly imperceptible discrepancy in the air around Lena's table, something small enough even her drones hadn't caught.
Kara frowned. Was that a hologram, a magical illusion, or an energy shield?
Pretending to look for Lena, Kara instead used her X-ray vision to look inside Lena's slightly too wide briefcase, analyzing the complex device hidden in it, an interesting machine fueled by some kind of alien galvanic cell.
It took her 15 seconds, but she finished going over the design and relaxed. The device was simply an interesting shield generator, unnoticeable to normal humans, but capable of blocking the vast majority of conventional weapons.
Kara could do better, but it was still impressive; anything that could fool her drones was.
"Evening, Miss Luthor," she said, walking through the shield and approaching the table. "Despite the circumstances, it is a pleasure to see you again."
"Miss Danvers," Lena smiled, but it didn't fully reach her eyes; she wasn't happy to have lost her struggle against Lex. "Please, call me Lena, we've certainly known each other enough for that."
"Then call me Kara. I take it you've reconsidered my offer?"
"Yes, it seems like Lexcorp has become more… disappointing than I first thought." The businesswoman sighed, taking another sip of her cappuccino.
"A very common realization nowadays," Kara couldn't help saying with a smile, despite everything, Lex was still struggling to restore Lexcorp's reputation from her latest leaks.
"I suppose it is," Lena nodded. "Also, congratulations, I learned of your latest cooperation with Caldecott industries, very well done."
There was an edge of bitterness in her words, something Kara couldn't really blame her for; they both knew most of the medical advancements discussed in that deal had been made by Cadmus… with Lexcorp resources at that.
"May I ask, why did you decide to meet me here?" Kara asked while ordering her own coffee. "Don't mistake me, it's incredibly amusing to poach you away from Luthor in one of his own restaurants, but you didn't strike me as someone willing to do that."
Taking another sip of her coffee, Lena thought about her answer, her eyes glancing to a pile of papers beside her. Finally, she leaned back and spoke. "You may, and I'll answer you if you answer one of my questions first."
"I'm intrigued, ask."
"Why are you going after Lexcorp? I've been keeping an eye on your company," Lena said, tapping some of the documents at her side. "Not only are you preparing to sell a lot of technologies from Cadmus, you're also starting development in several areas that directly oppose some of our interests, as well as collaborating with our main competitors and even acquiring our assets… myself included, why go to all this trouble?"
"You don't think you're worth poaching?"
"Oh, I know I am, but you didn't answer the question."
Kara leaned back and thought about how to articulate her thoughts. True, she had aimed at Lex Luthor because he was her cousin's nemesis, at least at first, but that was no longer the only reason.
"Lex Luthor offends me," Kara confessed. "He's brilliant. When I heard stories about him, I knew he was a terrible person, but he was also great, a human capable of facing any alien, dealing with any situation. I almost admired him.
"And yet, when I knew I had a chance to interact with him… I discovered that he deeply offends me; Lex Luthor has the money and the brain to elevate humanity, and yet he uses it to step on them; if he could, he'd keep them all firmly under his boot and only throw them scraps so they may praise his name."
"I hate to defend him, at least right now, but Lex does believe in humanity," Lena said.
"I'm sure he says he believes in humanity, and maybe he even thinks he's telling the truth, but does he act like it?"
In some realities, Lex Luthor was a paragon of humanity, but even without Superman, she didn't think that's what he'd become in this one. No, he didn't act like someone who wanted to make humanity great.
Luthor only believed in himself and, if he ever conquered the planet, maybe he would make it better, but only as long as he was the one doing it, and only so it would be more impressive when he showed it off.
"I'd have disagreed with you before, but those latest developments…" Lena shook her head, then sighed. "As for your question, my brother is being irritating, I decided to pay him back in kind."
"Please, tell me more," Kara said, leaning forward on her chair.
"As I informed you in our call, two assassins were arrested trying to kill me; it's one of the reasons I wanted to delay this meeting. I can't prove it, but I'm sure Lex has put a price on my head."
Kara lifted an eyebrow. Despite the gravity of the situation, Lena seemed more tired than afraid, as if the whole thing was frustrating. "Your brother wants to kill you?"
"Oh, he doesn't expect them to succeed; he was just being petty." Putting her mug down, Lena started playing with a pen by her side. "I'm almost sure I'm no longer in any danger, but just in case, I've been staying in Lexcorp buildings since then. The company can't afford another scandal, and if an attempt is made, I want the damage to be on his properties."
That certainly explained the shield generator on her briefcase, what a strange family…
Then again, Kara's own upbringing hadn't been exactly normal, and she was pretty sure her father would have killed Uncle Jor-El and taken over the house in a heartbeat if he knew he wasn't going to side with Zod beforehand.
Not that he didn't like his brother, or wasn't loyal, but his loyalty to the El house was greater, and a successful rebellion would have saved more lives.
"Do you know what's most frustrating?" Lena asked, twirling the pen on her hand. "Lex was the only one who made me feel welcome in the family, so I tried my best to be a good sister, but I know he respects me more now that I've stopped trying."
"I'm sorry?"
"Don't be," Lena shrugged. "I shouldn't have ever mentioned it. In any case, have you brought me the updated contract?"
"Yes," passing a folder to the woman, Kara took a moment to check the feed from her drones again, but there were no signs of assassins. "You'll have to pass by our office in Metropolis later to discuss all of your responsibilities, of course."
"Of course."
"Are there gonna be any legal troubles with Lexcorp?"
"A lot of what I did for Lexcorp was not in my contract, and the non-compete clause is overly broad," Lena said, glancing up from the paper. "Normally, Lex would still pursue things even if it's non-enforceable, but with Lexcorp's current troubles, the shareholders wouldn't agree with starting another losing legal battle."
Finally, a waiter delivered Kara's own coffee, so she leaned back, giving Lena the time to read the entire contract. She probably wouldn't be signing it today, having to have a lawyer look it over, but they could discuss adding to or changing things.
Turns out Lena wanted to change a few clauses, and she wouldn't agree with a non-compete as broad as Kara wanted, but they did come to an acceptable compromise, then spent another hour discussing Lena's current shield generator.
It had been her own design, something she made at home and so, not owned by Lexcorp, unfortunately, it was also far too expensive for commercialization, or even military use… Not that Kara had much interest in that particular market.
Military contracts were lucrative, but humans could kill each other well enough without her help; she'd keep her more destructive tech for personal use, thank you very much.
Two hours later, Kara teleported back home, arriving at her designated room through one of her teleportation platforms, quite a few new ideas in her head.
Lena couldn't yet contribute much to Kara's more advanced projects using Kryptonian tech, but she was still brilliant, and was very gifted with simplified equipment, things that could be mass produced by current human tech level.
With a loud 'meow' Dexter squeezed into the room as soon as her security features finished verifying her identity and the door opened, tail up, he almost ran to Kara, then seemed to realize how it looked and stopped, slowing down a lot.
Kara smiled. It seems the cat didn't want to appear too eager.
Picking the cat up, she touched noses with him before kissing his forehead and releasing him on the table of the waiting room before he could start complaining. Some physical contact was expected, but Dexter would only tolerate so much from his Kryptonian.
"Aw, did you get rid of your bell again?" she sighed, scratching him between the ears.
Entering her house, Kara dissolved the nanomachines that made up her shoes, then floated a few centimeters above the floor, one of her drones cleaning up the last remains of yet another critter on the rug.
Pulling what remained of the roasted chicken she ate for lunch from the fridge, Kara used her heat vision to warm it up, then started tearing strips from its breast while using her personal computer to make a collar configuration for the repurposed Fog.
Hmmm… maybe she shouldn't stop at only a Dexter-sized one, a collar and a few ropes could be very fun.
Jumping onto a chair, Dexter gave her another 'meow' before staring at her with large eyes. So, she threw him a piece too. He sniffed it, gave a few licks, then meowed again, louder.
"...Fine," Kara grumbled, then had to pick the chicken back up and cut it into smaller pieces… was she spoiling him too much?
Dexter devoured it all, then took a seat on her lap and went to sleep as Kara sent a copy of Lena's updated contract to both Dubbilex and her company's lawyer; hopefully, they'd have it all sorted out by the end of the week.
"Kara, it is most wonderful to see you!" Kori almost shouted, coming from their own zeta-tube entrance. "How was your meeting with Luthor?"
"Kori," Kara smiled, then noticed the slight bruises on her girlfriend's face, as well as how hard her heart was still beating and the glow in her eyes. "It was fine, we'll still need to go through all the legal steps, but at this point it's basically guaranteed. Were you having fun?"
"Yes, Friend Troia invited me to her home," floating through the air, Kori opened the fridge and grabbed a water bottle filled with mustard, then grabbed a straw from the drawer and started drinking. "Hmm… The Amazons were very welcoming, and I was allowed to do the sparring with Queen Hippolyta."
"Is that where you got the bruise?"
"Indeed, I was not apprised of her condition as a demigod, it was glorious!" taking a second to scratch Dexter as he 'meowed' at her, Kori took a seat and gave her a huge grin. "I shall not be underestimating her again."
Yep, while Wonder Woman should be stronger, Hypolita was a daughter of Ares, and she also had a few millennia of experience under her belt; her being able to deal with Kori wasn't that much of a surprise.
"You talked with her about the amulet?"
"Certainly! She has agreed to be present whenever we find a solution. More than that, she has also offered one of her hiereia's assistance with Friend Adom's quandary."
"Hiereia?"
"I believe you would call her a priestess, yes? Friend Adom's powers do not come from the Greek; however, by beseeching Hades, we may speak with his spirit."
"Friend Adom?"
"He provided assistance against the demon, did he not?" Kori asked, cutely tilting her head. "Also, Queen Hipolita has told me stories of his deeds, I would quite like to call him a friend."
"Hmph, it better be just a friend," Kara mumbled. Teth Adom had looked quite handsome when she had seen him with Neron. "Not sure if that would work, one of the gods empowering him may take exception, but I guess if Theo Adams could trick the Wizard's spell… It's certainly worth a try."
"It would also present you with a chance to visit the isle."
"I guess," Kara said, sighing. "You know, I just haven't had the time to go, what with the new company, keeping up with villains and trying to adapt some of my tech."
"But you like sparring!" Kori pouted. "And I greatly enjoy seeing you sweating, mayhaps Friend Io could even craft you an Amazonian costume!"
"... Fine, I promise I'll take the entire weekend off to visit." Kara loved staying home and tinkering on her computer, but she had been meaning to get back to training. "But only if you wear a costume too."
"Joy! Excitement! I am agog with anticipation! It shall be a most glorious weekend!" floating up from her chair, Kori glomped her, raining little kisses on her face as the two of them started floating up in the air.
"Ack," Kara struggled, trying to get away from her excited girlfriend. "Do you have to drink so much of this stuff? Your mouth tastes like mustard!"
"You… do not want my kisses?" Kori finally stopped, pulling back and staring at her with large, green eyes.
Kara swallowed hard, but she recovered quickly. "Begone, foul trickster!" she cried out, taking the chance to break free. "I've become wise to your ways."
Kori had used the puppy dog eyes one too many times; she wasn't going to fall for them again. Kori was surprisingly innocent in many aspects, but that did not extend to manipulating Kara.
"You think I am… foul?" Kori said, lips trembling and her pupils dilating like a cat, leaving two massive green orbs, their light dimming.
"No… of course I…" Kara started to say, then managed to break free, realising she had lost the chance to flee. "Ack, no fair!"
Now she'd have to endure Kori's kisses, the humanity! Although… Did that apply when neither of them was human?
Before they could continue, one of Kara's alarms went off, and the two of them froze for a second until Kara recognized which one it was. "It's from Poison Ivy's room."
"But, she was scheduled to awaken in four more days, yes?"
"Yep," Kara said, using a command to reconfigure her nanomachines into a holographic projector displaying the villainess trying to break out of her room using what little plants she had available. "Guess I was wrong, botany and medicine aren't my strongest suit."
Thankfully, she had moved Ivy's room far away from her base; in fact, it was currently inside one of her sunstone ships orbiting stealthily around the moon, far away from anything Ivy could use to empower her plants. It was one of the reasons Kara thought her recovery would take so long.
With another command, Kara cut the nutrient feed going into Ivy's path of earth, which should at least make it harder for her to continue growing her plants.
"Do you require assistance?"
"Not really," Kara shrugged, adjusting her messed-up clothes. "But it's not like it would hurt, and it's nice having you around. Let me just fix this mess."
Concentrating, Kara moved at superspeed and, four seconds later, she had put everything back in place, refilled Dexter's food and water, and was ready to leave, her nanomachines forming into her usual Supergirl costume as they teleported just outside her moon base.
Using her mask, Kara accessed the cameras in Ivy's room, seeing the woman was completely out of her cocoon and trying to use its remains to grow some of her plants, the pitiful amount of earth in the room making it extremely difficult.
"Did you not separate The Poison Ivy's room from your base?" Kori asked.
"I did, but I later moved her into a smaller ship with a dimensional anchor. I guess we could still have teleported closer, but given the thinness of the atmosphere, that would only save a few seconds of flight."
Launching off the platform, Kara exploded into motion, Kori only a few meters behind her and, soon, she reached the orbiting sunstone spaceship, almost smashing into the crystal before she could stop herself.
Alright, maybe she should take a few days to train flying in space, it was so much faster than in the atmosphere and the lack of friction made maneuvering… odd.
Without a sound, the outer crystal shifted, revealing a small entrance room into the ship, then it closed behind them and a second door opened with a 'hiss' as air was sucked into the room to fill the void.
The sunstone research ship was small, not as small as her fighters, but it only had three real rooms, all of them no more than 35m², it meant that, as soon as they entered, Kara could see some of Ivy's plants hitting the wall of her cell.
With a deafening strike, the crystal wall groaned as a green vine the size of her head struck against it, a hairline crack forming all along the location before the crystal regrew.
Hopefully, Ivy would be coherent enough to talk.
With a command, Kara made the entire wall almost transparent, seeing Ivy using two vines to strike at the outer wall, trying to do it fast enough that the material wouldn't regrow in time.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Kara said, making small openings in the crystal so her voice would pass through.
Ivy whirled on then, one of her vines smashing into the wall in front of Kara as a reflex, her eyes wild with both anger and fear but, despite being transparent, the crystal hadn't lost any of its toughness.
Even that brief moment was enough for the opposite wall to regrow completely, resetting any progress Ivy had made and causing her to growl when she noticed. Then she took a deep breath and adjusted her position, one of her vines curling around her legs for support.
Ivy took a few steps away from them, her vines whirling on the ground, and seemed almost eager to continue attacking, her eyes taking in their appearance and only slightly relaxing when she was sure they were women.
Finally, one of the thicker vines rose from the ground and formed into a seat, a few flowers blooming around it. Crossing her legs, Poison Ivy studied them, her eyes lacking any warmth, but at least they weren't wild.
"Really?" She said, "Then it's a good thing you aren't me. My babies and I have places to be, so either open this or try not to get in my way; this room won't hold me for long."
"Probably not," Kara nodded, making a note to reinforce the walls, maybe give them a few more days of growth to gain better density. "But, even if you succeed, you won't like the result. I don't think the vacuum would kill you, but it can't be a pleasant experience."
Ivy narrowed her eyes. "You're lying."
"I'm not, but try to sense any other plant if you want, that should be proof enough."
"Space? So that's your plan, how cute," she said in a mocking voice, but Kara could see the signs of unease. "Desperate, but cute, the Light must be very afraid of me."
"Not with the Light," Kara shook her head, using some of her equipment to get a better read on the woman. "I owed Selina a favor, and she asked for help locating you. Unfortunately, she also told me you're not exactly at your best after having to regenerate so much, and I don't want to cause any deaths by just releasing you, even indirectly."
"...What?"
"Really, by all accounts, I should hand you over to the police," Kara said, pacing in front of the transparent wall. "But, with how things are, you'd probably end up in Arkan again, and I've no confidence they'd actually help."
By her side, Kori nodded. "Friend Robin does say they have a terrible performance history."
"You're heroes?" Ivy asked, and Kara could see some sort of hidden tension leaving her, heroes didn't kill, enslave or torture after all.
"Indeed," Kori said with a smile.
"More… heroically inclined, I'd say, hero is a bit much," Kara said, getting a reproachful look from her girlfriend.
"Hmmm, interesting," Ivy said, adjusting her position in a way that Kara couldn't help appreciating… damn, she was hot. "You must know you can't keep me here forever, nature always adapts and so do I."
"Honestly? I probably could," Kara shrugged, consciously keeping her eyes on the villainess face. "But your power can be very useful, and you were getting better before…"
"You think you can save me?" Ivy asked, leaning forward and resting her face in one hand.
Kara licked her suddenly too dry lips. On her mask, a new warning signal came to life, her sensors starting to pick up something in the air, the ventilation system automatically increasing in strength.
Damn, she had been careless!
With a command, Kara sealed the villainess' cell back, then did a more complete scan of the ambient, finding microscopic amounts of pollen starting to saturate the air. Her mask had a filtration system, but the casual costume left a few parts of her skin exposed, and Ivy had slowly been taking advantage of it.
Inside her cell, Ivy stared at her, an amused smile on her lips.
A few commands later, and Kara had her nanobots clean her skin, then form a thin barrier around it, immediately feeling her control returning. Ivy was still extremely hot, but not impossible to ignore anymore.
Instead of opening the room, Kara grew a speaker on the wall and sighed. "That was uncalled for."
"You can't blame a girl for trying," Ivy shrugged.
"Hmpph, I am most certainly capable of it," Kori said, glaring at the villainess. "While I do not fully understand Friend Supergirl's insistence on monogamy, I will not allow you to use illicit ways to influence her."
"Don't try that again," Kara said in a much harder voice. "It won't work and I'll have to take away the rest of your plants."
"Oh, very well," Ivy rolled her eyes. "Can you at least tell me what happened to the rest of the… what was it we were called? The Injustice League?"
"Not anymore, let's just say they were dealt with," Kara said. "I've a proposition for you."
Ivy took a moment to think, but then she nodded. "I'm listening."
"The doctor you were seeing, give me her number and agree to restart your treatment, and I'll transfer you to the moon. You won't have a lot, but at least you'll be closer to the green than you are here."
Ivy seemed to consider the offer, some of her vines twirling in the ground and seeming to multiply despite the lack of nutrients in the ground, one of Kara's sensors registering some kind of magical connection.
"And after? You're not gonna try to keep me here indefinitely."
"You're not on Earth, and I'm not a member of the Justice League; there's no law requiring me to hand you over. When your psychologist says you're ready, I'll be happy to drop you somewhere you don't have an arrest warrant."
"I… need to think about it," Ivy finally said, her vines starting to fully take over the room. "Can you restart what you were doing before? My babies are starving."
"I'll start the nutrient feed again, just speak out loud when you're ready," Kara said. "Also, don't make me torch the room."
Cutting the sound, Kara made the wall return to its original configuration. That was probably the best she was gonna get from the villainess right now.
During the entire talk, she could see Ivy struggling to keep from insulting her and, despite how she looked, she knew it was an act; the villainess still wasn't doing very well.
"I do not like her," Kori said, still glaring at the wall.
Kara tried to put herself in Ivy's shoes. If she had been with the Psions and then woke up in another cell, under yet another person's power, she didn't think she'd react quite as calmly.
"Give her a chance, I don't think she was at her best."
"Very well," Kori nodded, then hugged her from behind. "But I shall not be forgiving her a second time. I know how much you despise being controlled."
"Thanks," Kara laughed, floating out of the ship again. "Race you back to earth?"
Kara adjusted the frequency again, checking the numbers on her screen before closing the casing, watching as several locks snapped in place in order to keep it firmly attached, then she used her own senses to see if there was no undue stress inside the device.
Even with her kryptonian senses, one of her advanced machines would have still been better, but the small piece of Nth metal inside, when subjected to her current project, seemed to disrupt most of her monitoring tech, so her vision and hearing would have to do until she found a way of overcoming the interference.
Stepping out of her experimental chamber, she watched through the crystal window as the replication device touched the Sword of Beowulf. For nearly a full minute, nothing happened, then her re-imagined Amazo scan found the correct waveline of energy, and the Nth metal made the connection.
"Yes!" Kara almost screamed in excitement, watching as her magic storage started to fill.
Taking a breath, she realized she had started to float up from the floor and quickly came back down, but the achievement was still worth celebrating.
Not only did she have a way to refill her magical batteries, but she also made her first step in replicating Amazo's ability to copy powers. It would still be a long time before she could do it in a few seconds and at a distance, but it was working, at least on magical sources.
"Kara Zor-El," Kori's angry voice coming from the intercom interrupted her good mood. "I am most displeased with you!"
Crap, she used her complete name, Kori never used her complete name!
With no idea what she had done wrong, Kara turned off the experiment, ordered one of her Karabots to put everything away, and hurried out of her home laboratory, quickly flying up into the house.
"Ah, you're home early," Kara said, pushing a lock of hair behind her ear and looking up at her girlfriend. Crap, it wasn't even midday, which meant the tamaranean had come back from her time with the Titans much earlier.
"Friend Kara, I recognize this will be arduous. Know that it shall be even more so for me, but I believe it is necessary," Kori nodded, crossing her arms with a very serious voice. "I shall be doing the withholding of the sex."
"What? Why?" Crap, it must be serious if Kori was pulling out the big guns. "Shit, I was supposed to meet with the Titans today, wasn't I?"
"The issue is not uniquely regarding the Titans," Kori said, her body lowering until she was stepping on the ground. "You have also not contacted The Green Lantern as you pledged to The Flash, nor have you called upon friend Danette in several days."
"I… Shit. I'm sorry."
Kori was right, for quite a few days now, Kara had been finding excuses to stay at home, delaying answering messages and, while she still went out for necessary trips, she had been spending more and more time in her laboratory.
Did she really get lost on her experiments so much, or was she purposely avoiding interacting with people outside the absolutely necessary? No, there was no need to try and fool herself, she was perfectly aware that she had been avoiding people.
It was still not to the point she had started making excuses to skip patrol or refused to answer phone calls, but she had been avoiding initiating any interaction.
"Your apology is accepted. However, the ban of the sex remains," Kori nodded, struggling to keep her face angry. "Please, when was the last time you participated in an activity for fun?"
"… Tinkering in my laboratory is fun."
"That does not count."
"I… honestly can't remember," Kara usually made her own fun when patrolling Phoenix, but she didn't think Kori would accept that as an answer.
She really couldn't recall when was the last time she did something purely for fun, she had fun with Kal and Kon, but that had always been a secondary reason while doing or talking about something important.
She was used to this, on Krypton, she didn't think there was anything she ever did without reason. She did amuse herself doing a lot of experimentation or inventing things, but everything had a goal, even meeting with other scions were more for networking than fun.
"Besides, we're leaving on vacation soon. You know I have to get everything in order before we leave, and I wanted to finish a project."
Kori wasn't impressed, shaking her head. "We did not agree to a vacation so you could work harder, or avoid your friends."
"Fine, I'll call Dani."
"That is unnecessary," Kori smiled at her. "I have already contacted her, we shall do the going out this weekend with friends Selina and Troia."
"…Alright then," Kara said with a dumbfounded voice, but she was kinda glad Kori had taken the initiative.
It wasn't ideal, but being dragged around by her extroverted girlfriend was much better than closing herself off, and Kara liked that she cared enough to do it.
"Just so I know, exactly how long is this sex strike going to last?"
"It is a most serious punishment," Kori said, biting her lips in thought and almost faltering before she gathered Dexter into her arms for support and steeled herself. "There shall be… a four-day halt in our sex life. It is for your own good."
Kara would be annoyed, but Kori just looked too cute, and this was probably her way of staging an intervention without involving anyone else. Besides, she could survive four days, probably much better than Kori, even.
"What about kisses?" She lifted an eyebrow in question.
"… Kissing is allowed," Kori nodded after some thought. "It is a first offense. But I am still cross with you!"
Fair enough, Kara couldn't deny she deserved to get called out on things, and she did appreciate the help.
"I also contacted The Green Lantern and bade him come over. You are idle tomorrow morning, yes?"
She was planning to continue experimenting, but now that she'd managed to get her device to work on the sword's magic, it was more about testing how stable the connection was and trying to fine-tune things, nothing she couldn't automate.
"I am," Kara closed her eyes, then took a deep breath and decided she wouldn't stay holed up at home anymore, at least not today. "Thanks again. Do I still have time to meet with the Titans?"
An hour later, Kara was facing Kon on the mountain. The Titans were taking turns sparring with each other this morning, and they had invited her to participate as soon as she left the teleporting station.
Circling her little cousin and accelerating her perception, Kara feinted left, then delivered a straight punch to the face.
Kon dodged, moving much faster than she expected, then he grabbed her arm and, in one single movement, pulled her out of balance, delivered a disorienting jab to her face, and executed a perfect throw over his shoulder.
For a moment, Kara felt the world whirling around, but then she recovered, using her flight to stop with her back about ten centimeters above the floor, then she twisted her arm and grabbed her cousin's wrist.
The boy was so satisfied with his apparent success he didn't even resist as she pulled him, swinging his body around in a circle and smashed him face first into the ground before he could recover.
"Heh, maybe in a decade, little cousin," Kara said, getting to her feet and rotating her shoulder… her cousin had grown stronger than she expected. "You're still not considering flight in your battles."
"Ugh, did you have to use full force?"
"You just saw what happens when you don't," Kara shrugged. "If you hadn't let momentum finish that throw I'd never have managed to stop myself."
Pulling him to his feet, Kara accepted a cup of water from Kid Flash and stepped out of the fighting ring, giving way to Aqualad.
Still paying attention to her senses, Kara heard the boy-wonder trying to sneak up on her, but she didn't react until he was standing right behind her.
"Nice save," he said, trying to be as sudden as possible.
"Gah!" Kid Flash almost jumped, sending a glare to his friend. "Do you have to keep doing that?"
"Yes," Robin nodded, then turned to her. "But as I said, nice save, he almost had you there."
"Debatable," Kara snorted… the pipsqueak was right, but she wasn't about to admit that. "What do you want?"
"Why do you think I want anything?" Kara lifted an eyebrow; the boy tended to avoid her as much as possible after all. "Alright, Catwoman was asking about Poison Ivy."
She snorted, but reconfigured some of the nanomachines on her costume into a screen to check on the Villains.
"Interesting," Kara said, leaning forward as she stared at the camera monitoring Poison Ivy's new habitat.
"No," Robin said. "That's not the answer I want to hear, nothing good ever comes from 'interesting'."
"Calm down, it's nothing serious, she's not even on Earth right now."
It had only been a day since Kara had landed the research ship back on the Moon, releasing Ivy into a mile wide protective dome near one of the poles. There were few amenities yet, and only a limited supply of water and soil, but there was an advanced computer which could program sustone.
Indeed, it seems like Ivy was already making use of it, ordering the computer to grow several pieces of advanced equipment.
She had also started some early preparations in order to terraform the land; some of her plants seemed to be removing toxins from the ground, storing them in large fruits while others were trying to adapt to survive the harsh environment.
Small vines were also working to infiltrate the ground, trying to extract more water trapped in lunar regoliths, the layer of loose material atop solid bedrock… With minimal success.
Without running water or wind, the Lunar soil had never suffered erosion, being extremely sharp, enough that even the thinnest root would suffer damage trying to dig through it; there was also the complete lack of organic material to sustain life.
But Ivy WAS making progress, it would never work outside, the Moon just didn't have an atmosphere for it, but inside a proper dome, with an artificial atmosphere and radiation protection…
Kara disassembled the screen, then started considering how easily she could expand the dome, and how she could acquire better materials for Doctor Isley to work with.
Honestly? She could probably achieve similar things by buying an island or land from a small developing country, but anything she produced here on Earth would have to deal with political pressure if she grew large enough.
Not that there wouldn't be political pressure if she developed the Moon, but she could easily ignore that, after all, what were they going to do, send a Supervillain or the Justice League after her?
"Supergirl," Robin spoke, reminding her that he was still waiting for an answer.
"Tell your future stepmother not to worry, Doctor Isley is awake and perfectly fine. I'll be getting her some psychological treatment soon."
"I'm sure she'll be glad to hear that, but when are you handing her over?"
"I mean… I'm not?"
The boy wonder sighed, even closing his eyes for a few seconds. "You know it doesn't matter that she's on the Moon and the authorities can't get to her, right? You're still committing a crime in the US by helping her evade capture."
Leaning back, Kara took another drink of water as she thought about the situation. If she was honest, she didn't actually care to follow any laws she didn't personally agree with, and she was powerful enough that most governments would look the other way anyway.
But her cousin did care, and she also had no wish to put him into a complicated position.
"Look, do you really want Isley back in Arkham? Because we both know that's the only location capable of containing her… Well, that or Belle Reve, but she really doesn't belong there."
"… Batman isn't going to like this."
"Fine, if the League as a whole asks me to hand her over, I will, but I am providing help, trying to actually make her abandon crime."
She'd hand her over, alright, but Kara also had no compulsions about using money to influence her case, and she could probably manage to do it legally, too.
Besides, they wouldn't; the League had more important things to deal with, and most would support her attempt to make Isley better; they did it to their own villains often enough.
"Supergirl," Red Tornado called her, the android being the League's contact with the Titans for today. "A moment if you will."
"Sure," getting another glass of water, Kara walked with Tornado to the side.
"This is a personal matter, but I've reviewed the work you did on my sister several times… I wish to ask, how difficult would it be to adapt her design to mine?"
"I mean, I didn't blackbox that part of her design," Kara shrugged. "I thought you were already building an alternative."
Red Tornado seemed surprised, then a little embarrassed as he answered. "I...was, however, there seems to be a problem of compatibility with my software, I had hoped it was something you did to protect your technology."
That was surprising, as far as she knew, there shouldn't be any problems adapting the synthetic skin and sensory equipment, at least not between models from Doctor Morrow.
"I can take a look if you want but, if I had to guess, contrary to your siblings, you were never built to mimic a human, your core programming simply lacks the necessary code to understand the sensations."
"That is unfortunate," he said with a neutral voice, but Kara could sense a much larger disappointment from the android.
"Look, my suggestion is to use whatever body you've built for a month," she said after some consideration. "Your programming is hyper adaptive and capable of change, it may only be a matter of time until it learns to interpret the new data and, if not, I can look into doing it manually."
"Thank you, I believe I shall do that, although the new body makes me slightly uncomfortable."
Turning to the side, Kara heard footsteps coming from inside the mountain. It seems like Kori had finally decided to join the team in the training room.
"Friend Sphere, you are being fatuous," the tamaranean said, arriving from a hallway in the mountain. "She will not dismantle you, I promise."
"Yes," Zatanna said, walking at her side and petting one of the super rabbits. "Kara may be scary, but from all accounts she cares, she wouldn't hurt you."
In the middle of the two girls, the hyper advanced sentient sphere rolled, its eye-like red lens swirling to focus on Kara before it slowed down, trying to put Kori between them.
"Actually, even if I did dismantle her, I guarantee there would be no damage," Kara quickly reassured the interesting piece of advanced technology. "In fact, I think she's still a little out of it, so she'd be better than ever once I finished fixing and reassembling her."
For some reason, Sphere stopped entirely, red 'eye' quickly swirling towards the nearest exit.
"Cut it out," Kon growled, releasing Aqualad from a hold, then pointing at her nanomachines starting to take the shape of various tools behind her. "And dismantle that, you're not touching Sphere."
When did she… Guess she'd have to take a look at her current neural control, it was getting a little too responsive for her liking.
"Fine, you know I'd never do anything without permission, but I swear she wouldn't even notice if I…"
"No," Kon crossed his arms and shook his head, his words leaving no room for discussion.
"Tsk… it's just, she's New God technology! Krypton had some examples of it, but I was never allowed to study them, and she is still damaged, I know I could fix it."
"See, there truly is nothing to fear," Kori patted Sphere's metal shell. "She simply desired to assist in fixing the damage done by Psimon."
Kara nodded, as someone who was still missing a leg… even if a substitute was already being cloned now that her damaged cells were fixed, she wanted to help make Sphere whole.
Being able to study New God tech was just a bonus… Granted, a very nice bonus, but not the goal.
"Why are you here anyway?" Kon asked, approaching the sentient machine and giving it a friendly pat.
"Friend Sphere informs me she has noticed a 'Boom Tube' forming in sensor range; she believes her friends have arrived to rescue her."
Kara vaguely remembered something about that, but she couldn't recall any of the details, probably something from the comics or an unimportant episode of the show…
"I see, are they coming here?" Robin asked.
Kara snorted. "Only if they already knew about the mountain, even New God tech couldn't sense anything here, not anymore."
The mountain's safety features may have been a joke before, but she had a lot of time to change that; there was no way they could sense Sphere's location.
Well, she wasn't about to underestimate New Genesis; they and the Guardians were some of the handful of civilizations more advanced than Krypton, so maybe they could locate her with a focused scan, but not if they were searching the entire world, or even just the country. It would have to be something focused on the city.
Rolling a few feet away from Kori and Zatanna, the New Genesphere shifted with almost no noise, turning into a neat red motorcycle with two turbines behind her.
Kon smiled and started to mount the Sphere. "Guess she's eager to meet with them."
"How about we don't reveal our hideout's location?" Robin asked, shaking his head at Kon. "Supergirl, you still have a teleportation platform large enough for Sphere?"
"Yep, I can take everyone if you want? And good idea, they'd probably sense Sphere the moment she was out of the Mountain, better to teleport away and let it remain hidden."
"Pass," Kid Flash said, starting to stretch now that it was his turn against Aqualad. "Unless you guys think you need the help?"
"Titans," Red Tornado said, interrupting the discussion. "I apologize, but what are the chances Sphere is wrong about who she sensed? The information I have is that Boom Tubes aren't used only by New Genesis."
"There is no doubt," Kori shook her head. "Friend Sphere said she recognized the signature of the Motherbox who created the Boom Tube."
"Understood. And what are the chances the League could establish a conversation with them?"
Sphere released a new string of sound, to which Kori nodded, her ability to learn languages with a touch somehow having worked on the machine. "She said it is improbable. Any envoy from New Genesis would not want to interfere on Earth, Friend Sphere is surprised they are even here."
"I see," Red Tornado said, seeming to think about his next words carefully. "I understand the Titans wish to operate independently as much as possible, but you have agreed to League's supervision, I'd like to at least oversee the meeting."
"I'm going," Kara immediately said. "I don't want to miss the chance to get some scans of New God tech."
More importantly, whenever New Gods were involved, it was always related to Apokolips, and Kara had no intention of being caught by surprise by any of their plots, or to let those she cared about get anywhere close to them without a fuckton of protection.
"I don't think the entire team is needed for this," Aqualad said, causing everyone to look at him. "If they're only here for Sphere, then showing up in force may seem overly aggressive."
"I can send the platform back as soon as we're out of here," Kara said. "You guys can keep watch and, even if they start blocking teleportation when we meet, it won't have too wide a range; you can always appear close by and be there in less than a minute using the Bioship."
"I will also be logging the information on the League's servers," Red Tornado said. "If there are any problems, they'll be warned."
"So, who's going?"
_____________________________$$$$__________________________________