Bab 56: Chapter 52
"You know, Batman was really annoyed about this place," Kal said, walking out of the elevator into her lava room. "I think he really doesn't appreciate the aesthetic."
Kara had made some changes, better settling into the Mountain lair, decorating it with several of her devices and making it more comfortable.
The lava chamber in particular was where she did most of her office work, with a kryptonian computer, a shelf against the lava screen where she displayed some of her trophies with her personal teleport platform resting at a side.
"You're not gonna ask me to get rid of my lair, are you?" she asked.
"Nah, I like it, really cool," he shrugged, walking towards the shelf where Dexter had a red cat bed. "Besides, I have a Crystal Fortress in the North Pole, Batman has his cave, we're not really ones to judge, are we? Although, I'd really prefer you called it a base, 'lair' is a little…"
"Fine, 'hidey-hole' then, if it makes you feel better."
"It makes the rest of the League feel better," he said, trying to run a hand through Dexter's fur. "I'm pretty sure Green Arrow thinks of his place as a lair too, he just never says it to the rest of us."
Dexter lifted his head, pupils narrowing towards the approaching intruder. Getting up, the cat hissed in anger before avoiding Kal's scratches and jumping out of his cushion on the shelf —he liked the small amount of heat that managed to transfer from the lava pool— to run towards the elevator.
For a second, the doors scanned the cat and, seeing he was alone, opened automatically to let him through. Kara had given him a free run of the place, only making sure nobody could use him to get through the locks.
If her devices detected he was accompanied by someone they didn't recognize or, worse, an enemy, the doors wouldn't open. The cat would then be teleported away by the device on his collar and the Mountain would activate every defense it had, throwing everything it could at the intruders while warning everyone she knew about the situation.
Nobody messed with her cat.
"Are the Titans up there?" Kara asked, worrying about the damage Dexter would do to them if left unsupervised.
"Nope, everyone is still in class," looking over the shelf, he touched Kara's portal gun, then the sheathed sword. "I didn't know you liked medieval weapons."
"I do, I really do, they're just not very useful for a Kryptonian," Kara shrugged. "That one's special, I was thinking of giving it to Billy or Kori since I can't use it myself."
"May I?"
"Sure, go ahead."
Grabbing the sword, Kal looked over the scabbard in the shape of a gray, humanoid arm before pulling it out, watching his reflection on the shining blade.
Kara just snorted and shook her head; of course he'd be able to wield it, pure of heart and all that.
"Didn't I see this somewhere?" he asked, swinging the sword in a practiced slash.
"Probably, if you've ever been to Manhattan's Museum of Arts, that is."
"Kara…" Kal sheathed the weapon, turning to look at her and lifting an eyebrow.
"Come on, I left an exact copy," she said, only slightly glancing up from her computer screen. "The League really should look into all the magical baubles running around loose out there, by the way. Leaving such powerful artifacts where anybody can get them is asking for trouble."
Kara hadn't been able to find the little asshole that was supposed to pilfer the magical sword of Beowulf, but she had left a drone at the museum for when he showed up, she couldn't wait to see his face when he realized the sword he came to steal was a fake.
As far as she knew, the guy was actually a normal human and all his powers had come from the sword, so the cops should be able to handle it. If not, the drone could do it. Without the sword, he was just a normal murderer.
"Fair enough," Kal released a frustrated breath, putting the weapon back on the shelf and looking at the small box at its side. "Is that it?"
Looking up from her notebook again, she glared at the box.
"Yep. Don't worry, only the inner casing is lead, the outer layer is strong enough I'D have trouble breaking it. Plus I programmed the lock to not open if the box detects any of us around."
Really, she had wanted to treat Match as soon as possible but, after finding out she was from a different dimension, Kara wasn't certain the kryptonite she had would even work on Match, so she had to borrow some from the Fortress and turn it gold. It took around half a day.
Even then, she'd usually not leave it just lying about —even if it WAS locked inside a metal box only slightly weaker than kryptium— but her lair, and yes, she would keep calling it that in her head, inside the mountain was protected enough she felt safe with the chunk here for a couple of days.
Grabbing the box, Kal saw a small red light at the side of a digital lock, the thing flashed once, but stayed red. He only looked at the box for a little longer before putting it inside his cape's pocket.
"Are you gonna take much longer? Conner should be getting out of school soon."
"Nope, just finished," closing the laptop, she got up. "Thanks for being here."
Kal looked down at her, the smile leaving his face for a second. "I made a mistake with Connor, the entire thing left me feeling… vulnerable and I reacted badly, but I'm not gonna do it again."
Looking at one of her cameras in the mountain, Kara saw Dexter was already napping on the sofa again, so she grabbed the phone and sent a quick message towards Kori. 'Leaving Dexter at the mountain, see you tonight.'
She didn't get a message back, but Kori was busy with Wonder Woman so that was understandable. She should be the first to arrive anyway and, even if not, Dexter was fully capable of getting back to her laboratory alone; she had seen him do it before when his tolerance for mortals ran out.
Getting the cat accustomed to the human interaction was going great, he could tolerate a few of the Titans and, even when he attacked them, M'gann had said she could sense it was no longer out of fear, anger or irritation, but because he simply enjoyed the exercise, using it as training for when it was really needed… most of the time.
Stepping inside the teleport platform beside Kal, she activated the device and disappeared from the room.
An hour later, all four of them stood in the Genomorph's underground medical facility, three of the El's fully in their heroic costumes while Match laid asleep in his suspension chamber. Dubbilex was the one to welcome them in, already out of his wheelchair and wearing a business suit.
"Welcome, Miss Zor-El, Brother, Superman."
"Dubbilex, how many times have I said to call me Kara?"
"Many. However, I prefer to remain professional," Dubbilex huffed. "Perhaps when you finally acquire a new CEO?"
Kara narrowed her eyes at the Genomorph, was he annoyed she was taking so long to find a substitute? Rao damn it, she really wanted to nab Lena from under Lex, but that would still take a little more time.
Dubbilex pretended he didn't see her glare, smiling at Kon and actually giving him a hug before waving towards the door and causing it to open with a thought.
"Sorry I can't come more often," Kon said, giving Dubbilex a quick smile. "How's everyone?"
Kara's focus quickly shifted, refocusing on the new look of the building. It had been a while since she last came here and there were a lot of changes.
She didn't really enjoy the whole organic look the Genomorphs had, but it was their workplace, she was hardly ever here and it did give a necessary sense of separation, making it harder to connect her bases as belonging to the same individual.
Soon, the clean scent of the laboratory started hitting her nose; the quiet hum of the biomedical refrigerators making sure the substances didn't spoil tickling her ears. Unable to help herself, Kara activated her X-Ray vision, looking around the installation and making sure she could see everyone.
She managed to catch several Genomorphs working in tandem with humans, glued to computers or doing experimentation with new substances. The medical equipment sent by Caldecott Industries was making a huge difference in what they could achieve.
Finally, she looked at the room where several treatment pods were arrayed; they varied in size, with two extra-large ones made specifically for the G-Trolls. In the middle of the chamber, doing some last minute checks in one specific pod, was Doctor Spencer.
The very sight of the scientists caused Kara to grit her teeth, she REALLY didn't like her.
Feeling a hand squeezing her shoulder, Kara turned to see both Kal and Kon staring at her with concerned faces. Grabbing Kal's hand, she squeezed it back and managed to give him a smile.
She wasn't alone here.
Confidence restored, she walked into the room, making sure to activate her heat vision enough so that her eyes had a small red shine to them —She was feeling more relaxed with their support, but that didn't mean she wanted Dr. Spencer to be.
She saw the Doctor bang her head against the lid of the pod when they entered, a thick bead of sweat running down her forehead as she gulped and straightened her back.
At her side, Kal gave her an exasperated look while Kon just shook his head in amusement; living with the Kents really had made him far more relaxed.
Staying beside the door, Kara stood with her hands behind her back and watched as her cousins worked together to install Match's suspension chamber beside the treatment pod, making sure everything was going fine.
"Don't worry, I made sure to check everything twice before calling you," Dubbilex said, pausing at her side. "Even if you still do not trust the Doctor, trust me."
"Fine. I guess I should tone it down before she makes a mistake out of nervousness," Kara sighed, hearing the woman start to apologize to her cousins and sensing she was being truthful.
"Despite her faults, she really is not a bad person, you know?"
"How is Karen? Did she fully heal from the fight?" Kara said instead of answering.
Dubbilex shook his head at her abrupt change of subjects, but he was a good enough telepath to sense she was serious about it even through her blocker –she'd have to improve it later– or maybe he just read it in her expression.
"She's well, we were unable to reverse the effects of the blockbuster, but it doesn't really affect her all that much," he finally said, turning to look back towards the procedure. "Contrary to humans, we're used to our family looking completely different, so the esthetic changes don't bother anyone."
"She's not interested in working in security? Maybe help out with Guardian."
"While I have no doubt she'd step up to the occasion were we ever so threatened again, she doesn't actually like violence," he said with a smile on his face. "In fact, she's perfectly content working on solar panel marketing. The deal with WayneTech brought us quite a lot of attention."
"Anything interesting?"
"Ferris Aircraft is interested in buying. They're looking to install them in all of their factories and use it in their space program."
At the center of the room, Kal finished the preparations, carefully laying Match's body inside the treatment chamber and taking the learning device out from around his head.
Kara didn't have access to a birthing matrix, nor did Match really need one, but she had been able to adapt a neural interface, incorporating several of the learning programs she herself had been subjected to before her birth.
Finally, Kal stepped back, giving the kryptonite box to the Doctor.
From her place at Dubbilex's side, Kara felt a sudden urge to blast the woman, incinerating her to ashes just for touching it, but she managed to stop herself.
"I should join her; I doubt you want the Doctor handling that for too long."
"Please, do."
Match's case was extremely complicated; he had almost completely kryptonian genes, with only a hint of genomorphs. Unfortunately, CADMUS hadn't been able to fully stabilize kryptonian DNA; his cells could absorb sunlight, but not fully process it, resulting in the very process causing them to slowly deteriorate.
The answer was to disable his sunlight absorption, stabilize the genomorph genes and then improve them until they could slowly substitute for where the kryptonian DNA failed.
The entire procedure would take a little over five hours. First, Dr. Spencer had to put Match into a healing coma, pumping his body full of healing agents that would supply the regeneration Match needed to survive once his kryptonian cells were deactivated and stopped empowering his failing body.
After that, the three El's had to stand behind a lead wall while Dubbilex opened the box, laying the small piece of gold kryptonite directly against his skin until the monitoring devices were sure his powers were fully neutralized.
Using a pair of lead gauntlets, the Genomorph retrieved the kryptonite, locking it back into the box and the treatment started, Dr. Spencer working carefully to stabilize the genomorphs genes.
Kara stood there the entire time, her eyes never leaving the pod, vision improved until she could actually watch the substances working on his body. She didn't completely understand everything, but she had spent a fair amount of time reading about the theoreticals, enough to recognize if something started to go wrong.
Technically, the machines should be able to do it better than her, but she kept her focus anyway. Kal and Kon at her side were equally invested.
Finally, it was done. Kara didn't need to see the Doctor collapsing against her chair to know he was stable. Together, they started approaching the healing pod, Kon giving her a wide smile while he and Kal rushed towards the clone.
Kara smiled back, slightly, her mind going back to her home planet, her family.
Standing back, she watched as Kal helped the boy get into a sitting position, her newest family member finally opening his eyes to take in the room with clear curiosity in his face instead of the anger she remembered from the show.
He looked exactly like Kon, only his eyes were slightly darker; still blue; but a darker shade, he looked around, confused, his movements still uncoordinated.
"Hi," Kal said, taking off his cape and covering the boy's body temporarily, not caring about the cocktail of substances still on his skin. "I'm Kal-El, your brother. Nice to meet you."
The clone looked up at Kal, then at the El crest on his chest, the clone's face briefly turning into a frown as remains of his indoctrination threatened to crop up, but he shook his head and dismissed it, his blue eyes finally meeting Kara's.
Posture straight, hands behind her back, Kara saw the clone was healthy, safe and sane. "Good, from today on you're the newest member of the El house," she proclaimed. "Welcome to the family, Im-El."
.
.
.
Two hours later, all four of them were sitting inside the Mountain. The Titans had already gone back home after a few hours of training, they'd all have school tomorrow.
Kori was making them dinner, with Kon keeping her company so she wouldn't put anything strange in the mix —he had not enjoyed the mustard cookies.
Dexter had briefly made an appearance, greeting her with a 'meow' when she arrived, but he had clearly had enough of interacting with other people, disappearing inside the mountain after Kara deposited the lead box back behind her lair's protections.
Im-El was sitting with his legs crossed, his mind still confused as he stared at his hand, opening and closing it into a fist. Turning towards Kara, he asked. "My name… is it because I can't be a match for Superman anymore?"
"Im, no, we'd never do that," Kal said. "We never cared about your power, CADMUS may have created you to be a weapon, but we're family."
"Despite Kal's routine decision to punch his problems in the face, the El house was always one of scientific advancement, not battle," Kara nodded. "Besides, we lived on Krypton. Being able to fly or bend steel with our bare hands wasn't exactly something we could do under our red Sun.
"CADMUS called you Project Match, but that doesn't mean it should be your name. Im-El was one of the El house's greatest minds, a direct ancestor from your paternal line and someone whose inventions affected our society for milenia. I also thought it would be easy to transition into Ian when you go to school with your brother."
"I…see, I think I like it," he said but didn't smile, his eyes going back to staring at his hand.
"Take your time," Kal said. "Later, I'll take you to the farm, Ma and Pa are quite eager to meet you."
Staring at the kid's confused face, Kara couldn't help thinking back to her own birth, the moment she walked out of the Birthing matrix, all the knowledge in her head but no personal experience to go with it.
She knew he'd be fine, the confusion was normal and, even if he didn't get a complete education from the neural transmitter, he had more than enough to start his life, a far cry from the instinctual creature she saw in the show.
"Everyone, I bring you edibles!" Kori flew out of the kitchen, Kon bringing a few plates with him. "Unfortunately, there were no ingredients in the refrigerator, so I could only prepare frozen meals, but they are still most appetizing."
Sitting on the sofa, Kori's head resting on her shoulders and her entire family with her, Kara finally felt herself relaxing, an unconscious smile growing in her face as she watched Kon telling Im all about the school they would be going to, Kal watching and making comments about how it was back in his time.
_______________________________________________
Thanks to Eric Faust for helping out with the chapter.
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