Chapter 46: Insight
"Fuck!" Kara shouted after she rushed past the spot where Kalibak had vanished from. She didn't expect that he would suddenly disappear, much less escape from their fight. Honestly, it wasn't an unwise move, but from the way Kalibak had presented himself during their fight, the choice to stay would have fitted him more.
Kalibak seemed to be the stubborn type and, for all his grandstanding, his boast of the 'invincible' Darkseid he sure as hell fled pathetically when his loss was all but confirmed. She couldn't blame him too much, though. In the fight, she had realized a lot of things, and having such a strong opponent made her use a lot more strength than what she was used to.
Previously, she had trained with Nathan and Raven to her best ability, and the gravity chamber had helped her reach a certain point, but she just couldn't bring herself to use more strength.
Nathan had assured her she could have continued on, and improved even further, but she always thought it was because he was a training maniac who didn't realize that some people didn't have the same endurance as him. Now she knew he was completely right. Thinking about how she almost started an argument with him made her feel guilty.
Of course, during training, she thought she had pushed herself to the limit, to the point of failure and that Nathan was inconsiderate, but now knowing how much stronger she could be made her realize that she had held back subconsciously.
Maybe it was because she didn't want to hurt Nathan and Raven or it was her fear of getting stronger and not being able to live a normal life, or it was just that back then she did not see the need to improve. Perhaps it was just because this was an actual battle and not a spar. Who knows?
Either way, now she knew she could be a lot stronger, and she still was able to control her strength without paying too much attention to it. There were no excuses for her to remain as weak as she had been just a day ago.
"Kar. Nate's telepathic connection is gone." Raven's voice suddenly called out, bringing her out of her thoughts.
"What?!" Kara spun around at that.
"It disappeared when we were fighting Kalibak just now and he still hadn't reconnected since then." Raven admitted.
Both knew that Nathan's communication wouldn't just disappear, at least not for long. Nathan had proposed this method since it would ensure their coordination. His connection wouldn't disappear voluntarily.
The radio silence would only occur either if his telepathic connection was disrupted or he got knocked out/killed. Knowing how strong Nathan was, she doubted the latter was the case.
Did Apokolips have the technology to disrupt psychic energy? If that was the case, they sure waited a long time to activate it. They should have used it the moment their invasion started, though maybe they knew Almerac didn't have any psychics? But then how would they even know that they now had someone that used telepathy to connect them? Was there a traitor among them?
Her mind raced a mile a second before she snapped out of it and realized that the reason didn't matter. She only needed to find Nathan, and everything would be resolved. The possibility of it being a trap to lure them towards Nathan's position didn't deter her at all. It didn't matter if it was a trap since she would try the same either way.
Just as she was about to head to his area, someone broke through the walls. The shrapnel of the broken metal wall burst out like a shotgun before scattering across the floor just a few meters away from their position. A familiar figure with red hair revealed herself as she slid over the floor after entering through the wall.
"Maxima, what are doing here?" First the radio silence, now Maxima coming here, Kara found it alarming. Fortunately, as she studied Maxima's face, she realized Maxima didn't seem distressed at all. Instead, she seemed carefree, like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders.
She had an easy-going and equally excited smile on her face as she looked around. "I heard you were fighting Kalibak and came to aid you."
"You knew we were fighting Kalibak? Did Shallot tell you that? Do you know where he is??" Only he would know their situation since Raven had updated him on our situation, as it initially looked like they weren't able to best Kalibak.
It was also after he told them he couldn't help them anytime soon since he was still dealing with the furies when she managed to 'unlock her dormant power', as Nathan would say. Kara believed she was still far from what Nathan believed to see in her, but she made good headway.
Her firing of questions seemed to have caught Maxima off guard as her risen eyebrows indicated.
"Yeah, after he knocked out the furies and Steppenwolf-"
"Wait, he knocked the furies And Steppenwolf out??" Kara knew they were on this planet somewhere, but she didn't expect that they were all taken out by Nathan. That had to be every serious threat Apokolips had sent for this invasion, at least of whom they knew of.
She didn't expect that Steppenwolf had been here as well, but from what Maxima told her, he was as dangerous or even more so than the furies. With them taken out, the invasion could be said as thoroughly stopped. Maybe that was why Kalibak had escaped in the end?
"Yeah, I was as surprised as you. He said he would have some fun before flying to the nearest camp in his section. Oh, and he told me to give you a hand in case you need it. So, I directly flew here. Kalibak might not be the most formidable of Apokolips, but he is still a new god."
"Hmm. He probably forgot to reconnect with us in the midst of having 'fun'." Raven muttered, but Kara had her doubts about her conjunction.
"Perhaps. I could see him do that..." Kara could easily agree to that point, "...but would parademons be 'fun' for him?"
"He is a fighting maniac." Raven shrugged slightly. She couldn't blame Raven for not knowing this, since she hadn't spent too much time with Nathan to get to know of all his quirks.
Maybe in her view, he would find every fight enjoyable, even against those several times weaker than him, since he enjoyed training her and Raven.
Although Raven couldn't be called weak by no means, besides him enjoying seeing her improve, he probably only enjoyed sparring with Raven because she had some versatile abilities which he could benefit from by experiencing them. The same could be said with Lady Shiva or any other skilled human fighter since they might not best him in strength, but they might be able in terms of skill.
For those that were weaker and less skilled than him, he was much less inclined to fight against them if he didn't enjoy spending time with them or wanted them to improve. In a fight like this where he would have to fight against thousands of average enemies? He wouldn't spend too much effort fighting it out with every single opponent.
Maxima seemed to have caught on to what Kara was worried about. She frowned heavily as she looked solemnly at Kara, "You don't think he would...?"
For all the thinking he usually did, he sometimes could be incredibly impulsive. Now that he had beaten most of Apokolips' forces...
"I think that was probably the only thing that would make him cut off the connection without telling me first. He knew I would object to it."
Raven switched between the two of us. "Could you fill me in?" She said in her usual monotone voice, though this time it carried a tinge of worry in it. Worry filled her as well.
"Parademons are savage and mindless beasts and on top of that, a lot weaker than Nathan, not opponents that he would consider worth fighting. Nathan probably headed to Apokolips to fight the only one that was left to stand against him, Darkseid." She thought for a moment before looking at Maxima, "Can your teleporter bring us to Apokolips?"
She leveled her gaze at her and stared at her for a moment before she spoke up to respond, "Kara, we don't know if he truly went there. If we headed there while he was here all along, we would just willingly walk into hell and he would have to rescue us."
"I..." Kara started, but she knew she had a point, "We will search his sector and tell your soldiers to keep an eye open for him."
"I will." Maxima said before she raised her arm to tap on her communication device, probably to ping her army. Before she could make the call, however, Kara grabbed Maxima's arm and stared at her.
Maxima paused as she was stared at by Kara before sighing out, "No, they had most likely blocked any foreign teleportation attempts, but... the leader of the furies Big Barda had carried a boom tube around. I assume they might work regardless of interference."
"Thank you."
"Just- just don't act rashly. Nathan will be pissed if something happened to you." With that said, Maxima gave them a phone-like device and told them to meet up with her at the prison when they are done before waving them off and opening up communication to inform her soldiers, while Kara and Raven headed towards Nathan's sector.
"Raven, can you sense him with your telepathic senses or something?" She asked her friend as Raven teleported them to the edge of Nathan's sector. Or as Nathan would usually insist, dimensional traveled here, even if it was a mouthful.
When they looked around, they saw several craters in the distance. Although Almerac's ability for terraforming was advanced, Nathan was still supposed to take it easy and not leave behind scorched earth wherever he went. He seemed to have rushed it in the end.
"Empathic senses, but yes. In the surrounding few miles aren't many beings I can sense. I will keep looking, but if he retracted his emotional leaks, I would have no way of knowing."
Kara nodded at that and continued to look around with her x-ray vision, looking deep into the ground in case he was buried in it during the fight, though if there was something that could knock him out and bury him underground, they would probably have felt their battle. Unless Nathan was overwhelmed without being able to resist. She shook her head and concentrated on finding her boyfriend.
It didn't take them too long to search the entire area. Raven had a pretty wide range with her empathic senses and Kara's speed. They covered everything in just about 5 minutes. Although it was objectively a short time, it probably was the longest 5 minutes of her life.
She met up with Raven again and could see that she was frowning slightly. With him not here or having connected with us again, meant the chances that something happened to him were high. She took a deep breath before calling Maxima to see if she or her soldiers had found any traces of Nathan. She doubted it since Maxima would have called her then, but she could still hope.
"No, we haven't-" Maxima started before Kara already looked at Raven, who nodded as a response.
"-found him yet. We already covered most of the surrounding areas. I think you are... already here," Maxima finished as she stared at the two who had dimensional-traveled to her side.
They were at the entrance of their underground prison, where the furies and Steppenwolf were supposed to be imprisoned. She glanced at the so-called new gods and found them lying on the floor of the new prison cell, specifically adjusted to contain them. It was part of an underground prison that stretched across the entire city and then some.
"I assume you haven't found him either." Maxima said before holding up a fist-sized mother box. "Let's get him out of there."
Kara opened her mouth but was interrupted by an angry glare from Maxima. "I hope you are not suggesting that I stay. He came here to help me and my people. I won't just abandon him to die on Apokolips."
She knew that look and knew that she wouldn't budge on that. Although she still didn't approve of Maxima, Kara had to admit that she was at least a decent person and friend. She shook her head, "I just thought you would have wanted to keep searching."
"We are dealing with Apokolips. Every minute counts and an army would just hinder us, and bolster their ranks, besides making us too obvious if we wanted to hide. The few of us will have to do." She glanced at Raven, who stepped forward to show her stance on this.
They activated the Mother box, and a portal appeared in front of them. No hesitation could be seen when they stepped inside. After passing through, they heard a distinct boom noise from which the teleportation method probably had its name.
The second it took to arrive at their destination, the atmosphere was tense. Kara was anxious about what she would find on the other side, but she would have to see it through. Her fist clenched anxiously moments before one of the probably most important mission in her life.
They passed through quickly. Instead of solid ground, they appeared in space, with countless asteroids floating around them. Most of them looked like half of them were melted before they broke apart.
Raven was quick on the task and provided them with a platform to stand on before putting up a barrier around them. None of them were too concerned about the hostile environment space offered, but this way they could stay in peak condition.
"Wasn't this supposed to bring us to Apokolips?" Raven asked as she scanned their surroundings.
Maxima looked at the mother box uncertain, "Mother boxes are sentient and have a connection with their owner. It took me a few threats to have it cooperate with us. It wouldn't surprise me if it screwed us over, but I don't think it is a problem with the mother box."
"If it brought us to our destination, then it seemed like Nathan had accidentally destroyed the planet during his fight with Darkseid." Kara declared as she looked around and through the asteroids.
"As much as I admire Nathan for his strength," Maxima began, "you obviously don't know the horrors of Darkseid and Apokolips. Darkseid had spread his tyranny throughout the ages and no one had bested him."
"Until now." Kara responded, to which Maxima just shook her head.
"I think I sense something." Raven suddenly called out, cutting in on their minor dispute. She slowly directed them in the direction she felt something. It didn't take long until Kara found something, as well. Her vision honed in on him like a missile.
She urged Raven to where she could see him. They arrived and immediately noticed the miserable state Nathan was in. He looked on the verge of death, and the three knew that he wasn't far from it.
He was covered in cuts, bruises, swells, and burns. His right arm was completely messed up and his elbows were cracked. They could instantly tell that several bones throughout his body were broken in his body which were merely held in place by the muscles surrounding them. There were even some bones that punctured through his skin, exposing themselves to the outside.
His rips were clearly broken in several places as well. With her x-ray vision, Kara could see them puncturing his lungs. He wasn't breathing, that was for sure, but fortunately, his heart was still beating.
What was even worse, his organs, muscles, and veins seemed to have been torn up from the inside. She was anxious just looking at him and did her best to keep her initial reaction to hug him in check. Raven gently picked him up with her telekinetic powers. Kara didn't even dare to touch him, in case she made his condition even worse.
Fortunately, they encountered nothing that could have killed them. Kara had expected to fight hordes of parademons and more of Darkseid's minions, or even Darkseid himself, but instead, they found only Nathan left. By the state he was in, this scenario was arguably worse than the one she had come up with in her mind.
...
Raven lifted Nathan's body and gently placed it on a meteor which she presumed used to be part of Apokolips as Kara glowered at the 'mother box'. It appeared to be indeed sentient. Initially, she hadn't believed it, but now it was refusing to create a portal back to Almerac.
She wasn't sure why it was refusing. Maybe a grudge formed because Nathan had beaten its owner? They couldn't be sure of the reason. Kara was furious before she chucked it back to Maxima.
"What about your teleportation device?" They had only used the boom tube version of teleportation because with that, even if Apokolips used anti-teleportation technology, it wouldn't obstruct them, or that was what they had hoped. Since the mother box didn't want to and there were no devices around to block them, they could just use the one from Maxima.
Though it didn't seem to be as easy as they imagined. The worry was downright radiating off Maxima in waves. She didn't make any move to hide it either. "We can't. I- I don't think he would survive my teleportation version. It puts a bit of pressure on the ones traversing in. It normally wouldn't affect the users. Some might not even notice it because it was already optimized to that degree, but in his condition, I am not confident that he would survive any transportation at all, much less a trip through a wormhole. Besides, our anti-teleportation device is still on. We would have to teleport to our space station before-"
"What?! We can't just stay here! He needs to be healed as soon as possible!" Kara was worried, angry, and felt helpless. Raven couldn't blame her. She didn't feel much better, seeing the only person who offered to help her in the state he was in.
"I can help him. Just make sure that I am not getting interrupted." Raven interjected, which made Kara halt before she could say something to Maxima that she would regret. She turned towards her and Raven could see the understanding in her eyes.
She had told them about her ability to heal others already. Not to mention that Kara was there when she had healed Maxima with Nathan's help.
Kara nodded solemnly before she and Maxima guarded their surroundings. Raven kept the surrounding barrier to ease the atmosphere around Nathan, but besides that, it didn't have any defensive measures. If they were hit by a meteor, it wouldn't hold on.
Other than that, she completely focused on her task as her hands hovered just above Nate's bloody chest where a little amulet was resting. She recalled her teachings and tried to empathically connect with Nate to take away his pain to speed up his recovery.
She had done it quite often. She was far from inexperienced and usually at this point she would have already connected with her target, but this time something was hindering her access.
It didn't take long for her to realize what the problem was. Although she hadn't known that it was this difficult with a telepath, she could feel him resisting her even as he lay here unconscious.
However, without the access to his emotions to take away the pain, she couldn't heal him, so she pushed on until her face whiplashed to the side, making her collapse on the meteor's surface.
With Kara's super-senses, it was easy for her to notice it. She rushed to her and propped her up, "Rae, are you okay?? What happened?"
Raven rubbed her cheek, "Nate telepathically 'punched' me in the face. He is resisting me. If it wasn't now I would have admired his defenses while being unconscious." [A/N: She didn't know that it wasn't Nathan that had been resisting her attempts. The nth metal amulet rested on Nathan's chest and it was where she had focused her healing ability, which made it block her ability. Him lashing out at her was indeed Nathan's passive defense though after her power build-up to a dangerous degree.]
"What. Does that mean you can't heal him??" Despair filled Kara's voice and her emotions reflected her distress.
"No. It just means I have to make him let me in. Don't worry." Raven reassured her, even though she herself didn't know if it would work. She hadn't done it for a long time, but she didn't exactly have any alternatives. It also relied on the person whether they would let her in. She wasn't sure if Nathan would allow her.
She stood up again and sat behind Nate's head. She telekinetically lifted him slightly off the ground, so he would float between her hands. Trying to empathically connect directly with him would cause the same scenario just a moment ago.
She would have to convince him to let her in and for that, she needed to enter his dreams. Dreams would be easier to enter since it technically wasn't included in most telepath's defenses, or at least that was what she had been told by her mentor.
Usually, dreams and the person's mind weren't distinguishable, but for telepaths, dreams are much more decoupled. In fact, most talented telepaths would use dreams as an added layer of defense, using dreams as a messy environment to confuse any attackers. She was sure Nathan would be the same, though with his condition he might not be in the shape of erecting a too strenuous defense, giving her the opportunity to directly talk to him.
Raven's mind easily slipped into the dream Nathan was manifesting. The surroundings were murky and messy as if all colors were mixing. She pushed through it with all her might. Nathan seemed to be more than out of it than she had thought since it only took her a few moments before she dug deeper.
The surroundings were dark for a moment and the thought that she had stumbled over another layer of defense entered her mind before she realized she wasn't surrounded by pure darkness. She was inside a gloomy hallway with only a distant light source coming from a small window at head height.
As she approached it, she realized the window was part of a heavy door. As she looked through the window, she saw a young man of impressive stature sitting at a desk with a phone in hand and a knife lying in front of him. His eyes were filled with a raw hatred that promised murder before he sighed out and it turned to helplessness and acceptance. The man picked up the knife.
Raven stepped inside, making the resigned man frown at her entrance, "What the fuck? Ra-Raven?" He looked at her, confused, but him saying her name assured her that this had to be Nathan. The tail that was swaying behind him reassured her he was the one she was looking for as well.
Fortunately, he recognized her instantly. She was worried that he wouldn't recognize her. With how close he was to death, she wouldn't be surprised to have found him utterly confused. To find his appearance change was up there in terms of unusual, especially considering that the body represented how the person saw themselves, but it certainly wasn't the strangest thing she had feared to encounter in his dreams.
"Nate. I must have access to your mind. You have been injured and I must heal you!" Raven implored, but her heart sunk a little when he looked at her, confused. It wasn't like he was looking at a complete stranger, but he looked like he was doubting himself.
"What? How are you here...?"
Before Nathan could continue with his rambling, Raven interrupted him, "Nate, listen. You have to give me access to your emotions or my ability won't work." She took his hands in hers, making him look at them.
He chuckled helplessly as he rubbed his thumb across the back of her hand before replying, "Access to my emotions? I...don't understand, but what else do I have to lose? , I am going to die anyway... Go ahead. Do what you want-"
As soon as he finished, images flashed across her eyes and incredible pain assaulted her as she went to work and healed him.
...
It took a moment for Raven to open her eyes again. Kara was relieved after seeing Nathan's injuries recede. His broken bones snapped back into place, while his cuts and bruises closed and faded slightly. His complexion looked more healthy as well. He wasn't completely healed, but the differences from before were worlds apart.
It could be seen that he wasn't in any critical condition anymore, though that made her focus turn towards Raven, who had stood up again only to stumble. Before she fell, Kara held her up.
Raven didn't look good at all. She pinched the bridge of her nose before looking at her, "I am fine. Let's just go."
"Are you sure you don't need a moment?" Kara wasn't sure what it was, but Raven looked like she had seen something that confused her.
"...I need a quiet place to meditate and rest now and I won't be able to do it here." Raven responded, to which she just nodded.
Nathan seemed to be fine, and she didn't want to remain here anymore. Kara picked Nathan up in a bridal carry while Maxima supported Raven as she activated her teleportation device.
There were some soldiers that immediately turned towards them from the city gates as they slowly lowered themselves to the city. They had to teleport just outside the atmosphere to not trigger the anti-teleportation field.
Maxima was instantly approached by the soldiers for some news about their successes. She arranged for Raven to get a place to rest and had her doctors take Nathan off of Kara. Though that didn't mean she would leave his side until he woke up.
...
A few hours passed before Raven returned from her rest. Raven gave her something to eat and drink, though Kara wasn't really in the mood for it. It didn't affect her if she went without eating or drinking for a few days. She was still too anxious, even after the doctors had reassured her that Nathan was fine, or even more than fine.
They joked about blasting him with their tank, and he would still be fine. Her glare made them flee really quickly.
"How is he?" Raven decided as she stood next to her, looking at the calmly breathing man on the hospital bed.
"He is fine...because of you." For the first time, she took her eyes off her sleeping boyfriend to hug her friend tightly. By all means, Raven had saved him. Her words made Raven smile slightly before the smile faded again. Raven loosened the hug to look into Kara's eyes.
"Kara, there is something I need to tell you." Raven started. Kara had a feeling that she had something to say to her. It probably had something to do with the other method Raven had used to make him let her in.
She wondered if something unforeseen happened as she healed him. Did something go wrong? She couldn't help it and imagine the worst scenarios of him never being able to wake up again or him losing his memories...
Raven hesitated for a moment before she steeled herself and directly told her.
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A/N: I think it was the first time I did an Author Note mid-chapter in which I explained something instead of a placeholder for pictures. Did it break the flow of the chapter, is it better to have it at the end like I usually do it? Let me know.
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